Edsel Auctioneer
Encyclopedia
The Edsel Auctioneer was a band formed in Leeds
in 1988 by Ashley Horner (guitar/ vocals), Phil Pettler (bass/ vocals), Aidan Winterburn (vocals, guitar) and Chris Cooper (drums). They were named after the ill-fated Ford automobile whose front grille was supposed to have resembled a woman's pudenda. Best friends with Pale Saints
, they lived on the same street in Leeds, Harold Avenue (which spawned the so-called Voice of the Harolds).
in Glasgow
but this never got released. Instead the songs found their way to BBC Radio 1
DJ
, John Peel
, who described in Offbeat
magazine the moment he heard the cassette he drove off the A12 to Suffolk in shock. Peel subsequently invited the band into Maida Vale to do a session. They recorded four songs ("Brickwall Dawn", "Blind Hurricane", "Between Two Crimes" and "Place In the Sun") and it was broadcast in late 1988, and again in 1989. On the back of this they signed to Decoy Records, a sub-division of Rhythm King Records that also was the home of Mega City Four
. They recorded their first single
"Our New Skin" / "Strung" in Camden with Iain Burgess
and followed this with an EP
"Stickleback" / "Bed, Table, Chair" / "Necessary Disease" / "Unbroken Line". These first two releases were collected as a mini-album
, Voice of the Harolds. The music has often been classified as something like Dinosaur Jr., Hüsker Dü
and My Bloody Valentine, although there were also traces of The Byrds
, the Monkees
and sixties garage bands as well as the Go-Betweens
and Pixies.
At this time, they were moderately successful in the UK, supporting Teenage Fanclub
, Ned's Atomic Dustbin
, Senseless Things
, The Telescopes
, Buffalo Tom
, Silverfish
, The Lemonheads
and The Wedding Present
. They were televised on Transmission, an early morning ITV
show and Snub TV
on BBC Two
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuu0A_LdbE) where Aidan Winterburn the lead singer can be seen attempting to stop security beating up his brother in the crowd.
Chris Cooper left in 1992 to join Pale Saints
and Tris Williams joined the band as replacement.
Edsel Auctioneer recorded their first proper album Simmer with Chris Nagle (who had produced The Charlatans) in Edinburgh
and Strawberry Studios
in Stockport
in late 1990. The record label
had financial problems, and the album was not released for nearly a year, by which time a lot of momentum had dissipated. The album spawned a series of singles including "Starfish" (which included a cover
of Madonna
's "Borderline
") and "Undertow" in 1992 and 1993. The label subsequently folded and the Edsels were forced to look for another label. Alias Records
(home to Archers of Loaf
and Yo La Tengo
) came to the rescue in 1993 after they played the CMJ festival in New York
and toured the US
. Their second album The Good Time Music of... was recorded in Huddersfield in 1994 by Steve Whitfield (engineer of The Cure
) and released by Alias in 1995. The album spawned one single "Summer Hit", an atypically breezy bubblegum pop song with Meriel Barham from Pale Saints singing back-up. The album also had a guest spot from Paul Yeadon from Bivouac
. The album was not commercially successful, and the band broke up in late 1995 with various kinds of job and family obligations taking over.
Phil Pettler and Chris Cooper (Bluebell carriage cleaner) now play in the Leeds
based pop-punk band, The Terminals, Aidan Winterburn is a lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University
and writes for Grafik magazine in the UK; whilst Ashley Horner is a film-maker in Newcastle running Pinball Films. He has recently completed his first feature length film, The Other Possibility, (aka Kaz), which featured music from Edsel Auctioneer.
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
in 1988 by Ashley Horner (guitar/ vocals), Phil Pettler (bass/ vocals), Aidan Winterburn (vocals, guitar) and Chris Cooper (drums). They were named after the ill-fated Ford automobile whose front grille was supposed to have resembled a woman's pudenda. Best friends with Pale Saints
Pale Saints
Pale Saints was formed in 1987 by Ian Masters , Graeme Naysmith , and Chris Cooper in Leeds, England. The group began as a jangly indie pop band, influenced by Primal Scream's early sound.-History:...
, they lived on the same street in Leeds, Harold Avenue (which spawned the so-called Voice of the Harolds).
Career
In early 1988 they recorded a number of songs for a small independent record labelIndependent record label
An independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of or outside the organizations of the major record labels. A great number of bands and musical acts begin on independent labels.-Overview:...
in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
but this never got released. Instead the songs found their way to BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
, who described in Offbeat
OffBeat (magazine)
OffBeat is a monthly music magazine in New Orleans, Louisiana first published in 1988. It mainly focuses on the music scene of New Orleans and Louisiana. It covers wide range of local music including R&B, blues, brass bands, jazz, cajun music, zydeco, to rock....
magazine the moment he heard the cassette he drove off the A12 to Suffolk in shock. Peel subsequently invited the band into Maida Vale to do a session. They recorded four songs ("Brickwall Dawn", "Blind Hurricane", "Between Two Crimes" and "Place In the Sun") and it was broadcast in late 1988, and again in 1989. On the back of this they signed to Decoy Records, a sub-division of Rhythm King Records that also was the home of Mega City Four
Mega City Four
Mega City Four were an English indie/pop punk band who were popular in the UK in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Mega City Four consisted of guitarist/vocalist Wiz, his brother and rhythm guitarist/vocalist Danny Brown, bassist/vocalist Gerry Bryant and drummer Chris Jones...
. They recorded their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Our New Skin" / "Strung" in Camden with Iain Burgess
Iain Burgess
Iain Burgess was a British record producer and audio engineer. He helped define the sound of the Chicago post-punk music scene in the 1980s and early '90s, working with a number of key underground bands, including Big Black, Naked Raygun, The Effigies, Get Smart!, Ministry, Bloodsport, Pegboy,...
and followed this with an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
"Stickleback" / "Bed, Table, Chair" / "Necessary Disease" / "Unbroken Line". These first two releases were collected as a mini-album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Voice of the Harolds. The music has often been classified as something like Dinosaur Jr., Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü was an American rock band formed in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1979. The band's continual members were guitarist Bob Mould, bassist Greg Norton, and drummer Grant Hart....
and My Bloody Valentine, although there were also traces of The Byrds
The Byrds
The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...
, the Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
and sixties garage bands as well as the Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens
The Go-Betweens were an indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Australia in 1977 by singer-songwriters and guitarists, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan. They were later joined by Lindy Morrison on drums, Robert Vickers on bass guitar and Amanda Brown on violin, oboe, guitar, and backing vocals,...
and Pixies.
At this time, they were moderately successful in the UK, supporting Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...
, Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Ned's Atomic Dustbin
Ned's Atomic Dustbin are an English rock band formed in Stourbridge in West Midlands in November 1987. The band took their name from an episode of The Goon Show. The band were unusual for using two bass players in their lineup: Alex Griffin played melody lines high up on one bass, and Mat Cheslin...
, Senseless Things
Senseless Things
Senseless Things were a British indie punk band, who were active on the UK festival circuit in the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Career:Senseless Things formed around the musical partnership of songwriter Mark Keds and Morgan Nicholls , who as eleven year old schoolboys in Twickenham, Middlesex put...
, The Telescopes
The Telescopes
The Telescopes were formed in 1987 by Stephen Lawrie and could best be described as a noise/space rock band - the Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and Spacemen 3 being influences and contemporaries.-History:...
, Buffalo Tom
Buffalo Tom
Buffalo Tom is an alternative rock band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1986. Its principal members are guitarist Bill Janovitz, bassist Chris Colbourn, and drummer Tom Maginnis. The band's name is derived from the band Buffalo Springfield and the first name of the drummer.-Career:Dinosaur Jr...
, Silverfish
Silverfish (band)
Silverfish were a UK-based indie rock band, which formed in the late 1980s, and first performed in Camden in 1988. The band split up in 1993....
, The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads
The Lemonheads are an American alternative rock band first formed in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member....
and The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present are a British indie rock group based in Leeds, England, formed in 1985 from the ashes of the Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, Buzzcocks and Gang of Four to more varied forms...
. They were televised on Transmission, an early morning ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
show and Snub TV
Snub TV
Snub TV or simply Snub was a alternative culture television programme that ran from 1987 to 1989. Originally produced as a part of the Nightflight in the USA, it went on to success in the UK and other countries...
on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEuu0A_LdbE) where Aidan Winterburn the lead singer can be seen attempting to stop security beating up his brother in the crowd.
Chris Cooper left in 1992 to join Pale Saints
Pale Saints
Pale Saints was formed in 1987 by Ian Masters , Graeme Naysmith , and Chris Cooper in Leeds, England. The group began as a jangly indie pop band, influenced by Primal Scream's early sound.-History:...
and Tris Williams joined the band as replacement.
Edsel Auctioneer recorded their first proper album Simmer with Chris Nagle (who had produced The Charlatans) in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and Strawberry Studios
Strawberry Studios
-Formation:The facility was originally called Inner City Studios and located above a music store in the town centre. In early 1968 it was bought by Peter Tattersall, a former road manager for Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. Tattersall invited Eric Stewart – then lead guitarist and singer of...
in Stockport
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...
in late 1990. The record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
had financial problems, and the album was not released for nearly a year, by which time a lot of momentum had dissipated. The album spawned a series of singles including "Starfish" (which included a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's "Borderline
Borderline (song)
"Borderline" is a song by American pop singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released on February 15, 1984 as the fifth single from the album, by Sire Records. Written and composed by producer Reggie Lucas, the song received remix treatment from Madonna's then boyfriend John...
") and "Undertow" in 1992 and 1993. The label subsequently folded and the Edsels were forced to look for another label. Alias Records
Alias Records
Alias Records is a small American indie-rock record label based in California.Alias has released albums by American Music Club, Archers of Loaf, Yo La Tengo, The Loud Family, Too Much Joy and Knapsack among others....
(home to Archers of Loaf
Archers of Loaf
Archers of Loaf is an American indie-rock band originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, formed in 1990. The group toured extensively and released a total of four studio albums, a collection album, numerous singles and EPs, and a live album which was released after the band broke up in...
and Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
) came to the rescue in 1993 after they played the CMJ festival in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and toured the US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Their second album The Good Time Music of... was recorded in Huddersfield in 1994 by Steve Whitfield (engineer of The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
) and released by Alias in 1995. The album spawned one single "Summer Hit", an atypically breezy bubblegum pop song with Meriel Barham from Pale Saints singing back-up. The album also had a guest spot from Paul Yeadon from Bivouac
Bivouac (band)
Bivouac were a British alternative rock band from Derby who were active in the 1990s. They released two albums on the independent label Elemental, before being signed by DGC/Geffen for the 1995 album Full Size Boy.-History:...
. The album was not commercially successful, and the band broke up in late 1995 with various kinds of job and family obligations taking over.
Phil Pettler and Chris Cooper (Bluebell carriage cleaner) now play in the Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...
based pop-punk band, The Terminals, Aidan Winterburn is a lecturer at Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds Metropolitan University is a British University with three campuses. Two are situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England while the third is situated in Bhopal, India...
and writes for Grafik magazine in the UK; whilst Ashley Horner is a film-maker in Newcastle running Pinball Films. He has recently completed his first feature length film, The Other Possibility, (aka Kaz), which featured music from Edsel Auctioneer.