Layers Of Earth

Some 20 years ago, I was in the best band I would ever be in. Now don’t get me wrong; there were some great bands I was a part of. Love Canal, Black Janet et al. Magnificent people and great times. Hell, there was even some success in there with development deals, press and great audiences. But nothing will ever be as neat as Some People’s Children.

A sequenced bombast of musical influences coupled with technical achievement. That was us. Talk about a combination of crazy things: Thomas Dolby meets Duran Duran in a minefield strewn with the bodies of Kate Bush, Mike Oldfield, Paul Simon and Ennio Morricone. All of this was done with a complex arrangement of digital and analog gear, drum pads and samplers. Top it off with me singing in one of the worst British accents of all time, and you have one truly unique musical exercise.

It was also utterly unmarketable.

We had fun and played lots of local shows. People liked us enough to keep us on the air of the local high-school indie station for years after we had disbanded. Production-wise, it was (and still is) one amazing sonic construct. Considering that it was all made in a garage filled with things like a Roland S-50, a Prophet 5, a Roland JX8P and a Prophet 2002 sampler run through an old Mac slaved to a 1/4 inch real to real. Crazy. We played out with the set-up, too! It remains one of the most aggravating and rewarding projects I have ever been a part of.

That garage belonged to the long-lost member of SPC, Tip Ledgard. I had been looking for him for a number of years, and even have a bit on this very website calling for him to get in contact. At long last, he found me last week. He’s in Spain, and must have a deal with the devil. I submit the following:

Tip in 1988 (second from lbottom, if you can see it):

Tip today:

Though I could go on and on about the quality of the recording and the band itself, it was the people in it that made it the best band ever. We practically lived at Tips house. We scraped together food and gas money, cherished roaches and dreamed art together. No pressure, no expectations, no A&R people to satisfy.

Now, most of Some People’s Children have become Some People’s Grown-ups. Except for maybe Tip. He still looks like he’s 20, carefree and fun-loving. A Pan of sorts, throwing large snowballs at the constraints of adulthood. Gotta love it. Through him, 20 years ago seems like only yesterday.

Now, if we could only get him to donate some of that great hair to Timmy…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 24th, 2007 at 12:16 pm and is filed under Music.