The Dancing Did
Encyclopedia
The Dancing Did were a British post-punk
/folk punk
group formed in Evesham
in 1979, who were described as "a cross between the Clash and Steeleye Span". They released an album in 1982 and split up the following year.
and was roped in for two DIY independent singles, with the eponymous single in 1979, and then in 1980 for "Squashed Things On The Road", both on their own Fruit & Veg label. Both singles were imported & distributed into the USA via Neil Kempfer-Stocker's Wired Muzik firm. The band's name derived from "didicoi", a term for gypsies.
Supporting The Photos that year at a local gig convinced Tim he wanted do a lot more of it, while Martyn insisted they needed a band, and so recruited his drumming friend Chris Houghton. A capable local muso Mick Davies (aka Dick Crazies) joined on bass, soon replaced by Stuart Dyke, who only appears on a recording for a Chainsaw fanzine flexi-disc of "The Rhythm Section Sticks Together". Dyke was killed in a car crash in 1981 (which led to the formation of the band Finish The Story
by his girlfriend Nicola), by which time the Dids were making quite a live reputation for themselves and getting a lot of positive press.
Replacing Stuart was John Wallin, better known as Wally, who soon gave way to Roger Smith that year. They released a single, "The Lost Platoon" with Stiff Records
in 1981, and then switched to Kamera Records in 1982 to release two singles, "Badger Boys" and "The Green Man And The March Of The Bungalows", and an album, And Did Those Feet.
The band split up in 1983.
To quote writer Mick Mercer
, who regards them as his all-time favourite British group:
, Chat
, and Q
, and had no further musical activity.
Dormer joined the band's former roadie Bod in the burlesque rock 'n' roll outfit The Big Beat Band, performing around the Cotswolds at balls and country house parties. He went on to own a clothes shop before becoming a mobile phone salesman.
Roger Smith studied farming, and worked with Rhythm Oil, and then Underneath.
Martyn moved to the West Country where he was in folk duo, Man Overboard, and currently plays with Skiffle Haze. He is also forming a duo with Bill Smarme, The Red Hot Lovers.
Drummer Chris Houghton didn't play for a long while but then joined covers band The Bassetts, which led to R&B specialists The Disciples, which in turn morphed into a pub/club/function band of the same name. After leaving the Disciples Chris returned to the blues/r&b vein as a founder member of Doctor's Orders whose tagline is 'good time blues blues with a twist of funk, rock, swing & jazz'.
The most recent development in his musical career is his teaming up with 20 year old songwriter/singer/guitarist Emma Howett to form (with others) the lively Will Dance For Chocolate whose music was described by a local reviewer as 'unashamed bubblegum pop' and by Emma as 'Stalker Pop'.
, with bonus live tracks and B-sides. Dave Thompson
, reviewing the album for Allmusic, described "Wolves of Worcestershire" as "almost Shakespearean in its lyrical vision", and called "Squashed Things" "the sound of The Cure
meets The Wurzels
".
Cherry Red release (CD MRED 320) bonus tracks:
and Steeleye Span
", and "Edwardian rockabilly". Many of the band's lyrics have countryside themes, covering topics such as fruit-picking. Writer Dave Thompson described the band: "punkabilly madmen who looked at the directions drawn by Dexys on the one hand, Ten Pole Tudor on the other, and then drove a gap-toothed grinning juggernaut through the heart of all of them". Record Collector
magazine, reviewing the reissued album described the band as "a theatrical, intellectual outfit with a driven sound somewhere between early Bunnymen
and Southern Death Cult
", calling them "a true English oddity".
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
/folk punk
Folk punk
Folk punk , is a fusion of folk music and punk rock. It was pioneered in the late 1970s and early 1980s by The Pogues in Britain and Violent Femmes in America. Folk punk achieved some mainstream success in that decade...
group formed in Evesham
Evesham
Evesham is a market town and a civil parish in the Local Authority District of Wychavon in the county of Worcestershire, England with a population of 22,000. It is located roughly equidistant between Worcester, Cheltenham and Stratford-upon-Avon...
in 1979, who were described as "a cross between the Clash and Steeleye Span". They released an album in 1982 and split up the following year.
History
In 1979 vocalist Tim Harrison convinced school friend and active guitarist Martyn Dormer to join him on his musical quest. Tim's brother Ollie played drums with The PhotosThe Photos
The Photos were a British new wave band fronted by Wendy Wu, who had a top 5 album in the UK in 1980.-History:The Photos were originally a punk band named Satan's Rats that formed in Evesham, Worcestershire in 1977, with the first stable line-up of Paul Rencher , Steve Eagles , Roy Wilkes , and...
and was roped in for two DIY independent singles, with the eponymous single in 1979, and then in 1980 for "Squashed Things On The Road", both on their own Fruit & Veg label. Both singles were imported & distributed into the USA via Neil Kempfer-Stocker's Wired Muzik firm. The band's name derived from "didicoi", a term for gypsies.
Supporting The Photos that year at a local gig convinced Tim he wanted do a lot more of it, while Martyn insisted they needed a band, and so recruited his drumming friend Chris Houghton. A capable local muso Mick Davies (aka Dick Crazies) joined on bass, soon replaced by Stuart Dyke, who only appears on a recording for a Chainsaw fanzine flexi-disc of "The Rhythm Section Sticks Together". Dyke was killed in a car crash in 1981 (which led to the formation of the band Finish The Story
Finish The Story
Finish the Story were formed in Evesham in 1981. The original members were Nicola Mumford, Garry Smout and Peter Bright . Finish the Story were very much a part of the 'Evesham Scene' which included bands The Photos and The Dancing Did...
by his girlfriend Nicola), by which time the Dids were making quite a live reputation for themselves and getting a lot of positive press.
Replacing Stuart was John Wallin, better known as Wally, who soon gave way to Roger Smith that year. They released a single, "The Lost Platoon" with Stiff Records
Stiff Records
Stiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
in 1981, and then switched to Kamera Records in 1982 to release two singles, "Badger Boys" and "The Green Man And The March Of The Bungalows", and an album, And Did Those Feet.
The band split up in 1983.
To quote writer Mick Mercer
Mick Mercer
Mick Mercer is a journalist and author best known for his photos and reviews of the goth, punk, and indie music scenes. He has photographed the bands Tragic Venus and Blondie in the UK and Europe.He publishes a monthly online magazine called "The Mick"....
, who regards them as his all-time favourite British group:
“The Dancing Did were also unique, not something ascribed to many bands. Like an unholy union of Punk, Folk, Rockabilly/Bebop and true English Goth imagery, you can plot them on a creative line somewhere between CS Lewis, Alan Garner, Mervyn Peake, P. G. Wodehouse and The Avengers; Pagan legends, various ghosts and Vikings invading village greens rubbing lyrical shoulders alongside nuclear war, feral wolves and burning witches. What other band could have started a song with the lyrics, ‘Take good care of your petticoats Alice, if you want to play cricket with your brother’? Hell, I’m shocked that their final gig wasn’t honoured with a Spitfire flypast, but you can’t have everything.”
Post-band activity
Harrison became a magazine designer, working for PunchPunch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
, Chat
Chat (magazine)
Chat is a British weekly women's magazine, published through the IPC Media group, and edited by Gilly Sinclair. The magazine includes mostly real life stories....
, and Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
, and had no further musical activity.
Dormer joined the band's former roadie Bod in the burlesque rock 'n' roll outfit The Big Beat Band, performing around the Cotswolds at balls and country house parties. He went on to own a clothes shop before becoming a mobile phone salesman.
Roger Smith studied farming, and worked with Rhythm Oil, and then Underneath.
Martyn moved to the West Country where he was in folk duo, Man Overboard, and currently plays with Skiffle Haze. He is also forming a duo with Bill Smarme, The Red Hot Lovers.
Drummer Chris Houghton didn't play for a long while but then joined covers band The Bassetts, which led to R&B specialists The Disciples, which in turn morphed into a pub/club/function band of the same name. After leaving the Disciples Chris returned to the blues/r&b vein as a founder member of Doctor's Orders whose tagline is 'good time blues blues with a twist of funk, rock, swing & jazz'.
The most recent development in his musical career is his teaming up with 20 year old songwriter/singer/guitarist Emma Howett to form (with others) the lively Will Dance For Chocolate whose music was described by a local reviewer as 'unashamed bubblegum pop' and by Emma as 'Stalker Pop'.
And Did Those Feet
The band's only album, And Did Those Feet, was released in 1982 by Kamera Records. It gave the band their only chart success, reaching number 25 in the UK Independent Chart. After being unavailable for many years, it was reissued in 2007 by Cherry RedCherry Red
Cherry Red is a London-based independent record label formed in 1978.-History:Cherry Red grew from the rock promotion company founded in 1971 to promote rock concerts at the Malvern Winter Gardens...
, with bonus live tracks and B-sides. Dave Thompson
Dave Thompson (author)
Dave Thompson is the British born author of over 100 books, largely dealing with rock and pop music, but also covering film, sports, philately, numismatics and erotica....
, reviewing the album for Allmusic, described "Wolves of Worcestershire" as "almost Shakespearean in its lyrical vision", and called "Squashed Things" "the sound 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...
meets The Wurzels
The Wurzels
The Wurzels are a British Scrumpy and Western band...
".
Track listing
Original Kamera release (KAM 009):- "Wolves Of Worcestershire" - 5:15
- "The Rhythm Section Sticks Together" - 1:47
- "On the Roofs" - 3:39
- "Squashed Things" - 3:47
- "The Headmaster And The Fly" - 3:43
- "Ballad Of A Dying Sigh" - 4:39
- "Charnel Boy" - 3:56
- "Badger Boys" - 3:58
- "The Dancing Did" - 3:39
- "Within The Green Green Avon O" - 3:12
Cherry Red release (CD MRED 320) bonus tracks:
- "Dancing Did" (single version) - 3:12
- "Squashed Things On The Road" (b-side to "The Haunted Tea Rooms") - 3:10
- "The Green Man And The March Of The Bungalows" (7-inch single a-side) - 3:50
- "A Fruit Picking Fantasy" (b-side to 'The Green Man...') - 2:51
- "The World's Gonna End In Cheltenham" (b-side to "Badger Boys") - 3:26
- "Wolves Of Worcestershire" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 4:16
- "Badger Boys" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 3:47
- "Charnel Boy" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 4:23
- "Green Man" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 2:59
- "Lost Platoon" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 2:59
Musical style
The band's music has been described as "rustic rock 'n' roll", resembling "a cross between the ClashThe Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
and Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....
", and "Edwardian rockabilly". Many of the band's lyrics have countryside themes, covering topics such as fruit-picking. Writer Dave Thompson described the band: "punkabilly madmen who looked at the directions drawn by Dexys on the one hand, Ten Pole Tudor on the other, and then drove a gap-toothed grinning juggernaut through the heart of all of them". Record Collector
Record Collector
Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
magazine, reviewing the reissued album described the band as "a theatrical, intellectual outfit with a driven sound somewhere between early Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
and Southern Death Cult
Southern Death Cult
Southern Death Cult was an English positive punk band in the early 1980s. It is now primarily known for having given its lead singer and parts of its name to the multi-platinum hard rock supergroup The Cult...
", calling them "a true English oddity".
Albums
- And Did Those Feet (1982), Kamera - reissued in 2007 by Cherry RedCherry RedCherry Red is a London-based independent record label formed in 1978.-History:Cherry Red grew from the rock promotion company founded in 1971 to promote rock concerts at the Malvern Winter Gardens...
with several bonus tracks
Singles
- "Dancing Did" / "Lorry Pirates" (1979), Fruit & Veg
- "The Haunted Tearooms" / "Squashed Things on the Road" (1980), Fruit & Veg
- "The Lost Platoon" / "The Human Chicken" (1981), StiffStiff RecordsStiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976, by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
- "The Green Man and the March of the Bungalows" (1982), Kamera
- "Badger Boys" / "The World's Gonna End in Chletenham" (1983), Kamera
- "Six Word Hex" / "House on the Edge of the Wood" (1983), Kamera - withdrawn