In the early 1980s, English band The Insane Picnic (styled as the insane picnic) were one of the pioneering D.I.Y. cassette bands, composed of members Peter Ashby, Barry Douglas Lamb

Barry Douglas Lamb

-Musical career:He has released a number of solo albums which are avant-garde / electronic / industrial in nature. The album "Dusk" is perhaps his best known solo work . During his most prolific period, Lamb had regular correspondence with fellow contemporaries Bryn Jones of Muslimgauze, members of...

 and Owen Turley. They recorded several releases for the English independent record label Falling A Records

Falling A Records

Falling A Records is a Essex, England based independent record label formed in the late 1970s, and heavily involved with the D.I.Y cassette movement of the early 1980s...

. As well as regularly appearing in many fanzines they were also often featured in the mainstream music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 papers with favourable reviews in Melody Maker

Melody Maker

Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...

, Sounds and NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, also featuring on several occasions in the Sounds Obscurist chart

Sounds Obscurist chart

The Sounds Obscurist Chart was a music chart in the weekly UK music paper Sounds. It was as an alternative to the main sales driven record charts allowing a place for bands and music outside of the mainstream to be recognised....

 and Psychedelic

Psychedelic

The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...

 chart and were favourites of pirate radio

Pirate radio

Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...

 stations "Liverpool City radio" and "Andromeda

Andromeda

Andromeda may refer to:* Andromeda , a damsel in distress of Greek mythology** Andromeda, also known as Andromeda chained to a rock, a c...

".

Discography

• Four Days in April — 1981, cassette-only EP (Falling A, catalogue number EBS3)
• Four Days in April — 2004, CD reissue (Falling A, catalogue number EBSCD1)
• "Romance"/"Politician's Promise" — 1983, cassette-only single (Falling A, catalogue number EBS5)
• Magistrates and Saints — 1986, 12" vinyl ep (Falling A/Waterfall, catalogue number waterfall 2)
• This is the Winter Darkness — 2004, CD album (Falling A, catalogue number FASA1; recorded in 1985 and originally intended for vinyl release, it remained unreleased until the 2004 CD issue)