The 'Basement Demos'

[Gaijin]

I'm looking for info on the so-called 'Basement Demos'.

I have no idea when this session took place, nor which tracks were recorded. Some sources list Good Things, Body Electric, Alice and 1969, but never all together and include no dates or location.

Finally, as there is so much duplication across a multitude of ROIO's, I'd appreciate knowing which bootleg/s offers the best versions available.

[paint it black]

Feb 1982 Basement Demo - 1969/Good Things/Alice

i would need to delve into my paperwork and i can't be arsed

http://www.lak.co.za/pib/

might answer some other questions

[Being645]

I've tried to sum it up here, but hell ... questions remain ...

http://sisterswiki.org/Kenny_Giles_Stud ... mos_-_1982

[Gaijin]

Thanks for posting the links.

I'd chanced upon that wiki page previously (but strangely haven't been able to navigate to it directly since).

Certainly some questions remain, but Being645 has done very well to collate the various bits and pieces. Nice one.

I still have not gotten around to finding these demos, but do doubt that they date from February 1982. Feb to Nov is a long time to sit on a recording as good as Alice/Floorshow. Especially as John Ashton was involved. When in '82 did the Furs and Sisters share a stage?

There are also the so-called 'portastudio' demos. (Supposedly also recorded at KG Studios - though why the Sisters would pay for studio time and then record to portastudio doesn't seem to have been questioned). They may or may not include the demos of Candle/Burn, Driver and the slow version of Good Things (presumably the first version). These would seem to fit somwhere in between the CNT session and the Alice session.

But this is just guesswork.

I'm off to find these Alice demos now.

[robertzombie]

Read this: https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=4109

[Gaijin]

This is copied from that other thread:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Keeping the original track numbers to avoid confusion.)

13 Good Things (York, Alcuin College, 1st gig, 16.02.81)

May'81, Sisters Demo Tape (aka Floorshow EP)
14 Floorshow (Demo)
15 Lights (Demo)
16 Teachers/Adrenochrome (Demo)

Basement Demos, 1981
1 Untitled demo (Body Electric diff lyrics)

Demo, late 1981
2 Good things (1st Demo)

Kenny Giles Studio, Bridlington, Feb'82
5 Adrenochrome (CNT Demo)
6 Body Electric (CNT Demo)
10 Adrenochrome (CNT Reverb Demo)
11 Body electric (instrumental)
12 Adrenochrome (instrumental)

(?)Kenny Giles Studio, Bridlington, Summer'82 (Seemed a more likely date, as this looks like a later session than the other one.)
3 1969 (Basement Demo)
9 Good Things (Unreleased Basement Demo)
4 Alice (psychedelic Intro. Demo)

7 Anaconda (Demo)
8 Phantom (Unfaded edit)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is no help - now there are basement demos happening at KG Studio?

[robertzombie]

I think his studio was a basement.

[Dan]

This is no help - now there are basement demos happening at KG Studio?

Discard the word basement(could be a bootleggers addition anyway) and just call them demos.

[Gaijin]

Is the Good Things (1st Demo) the 4 minute version? Could it be that it originates from the same session as the Untitled demo version of Body Electric?

EDIT: Was this version used on the Good Things + 2 live tracks bootie?

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

I think his studio was a basement.

There's a rare pic of the KG Studios mixing desk here :


with engineer John Spence (later of Fairview in Hull) on the chair. @Fodderstompf posted a brief interview he did with John on HL a few years ago :
https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic ... 17ae071d1c

[spiggymr7]

KG Studio in 1982 ... with March Violets ....... and .........Spiggy.

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

KG Studio in 1982 ... with March Violets ....... and .........Spiggy.

Another great find, @spiggymr7. Thanks for sharing !

[paint it black]

[spiggymr7]

Yes P.I.B , same day

[Being645]

Yes P.I.B , same day

Which day exactly? Let me know and I'll abduct all these pretty pics to the according SistersWiki page ... ...

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

Is that the one from the Violets website, PiB ? Who took these photos ? Loz ?? An engineer ? A friend visiting the studio ?

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

I'm looking for info on the so-called 'Basement Demos'.

I have no idea when this session took place, nor which tracks were recorded. Some sources list Good Things, Body Electric, Alice and 1969, but never all together and include no dates or location.

The new John Ashton interview pretty much answers your questions. Spooky how thirty three years later this info is confirmed only a week after you asked the question !

[Gaijin]

I've not checked it out yet NVL - I did see thread though bandwidth is fast running out. Will have to recharge before downloading this video clip.

Any chance someone was taking notes while watching?

[Gaijin]

The songs were Alice, Floorshow, 1969, & Good Things.

I'd figured on there being a second Floorshow demo. It's refreshing to get some hard facts.

[paint it black]

The songs were Alice, Floorshow, 1969, & Good Things.

I'd figured on there being a second Floorshow demo. It's refreshing to get some hard facts.

I suspect those four are the portastudio demos. Timing ties with jp sessionish I thunk jon langford was behind the basement demos

[Swinnow]

The Sisters supported The Furs in the Riley Smith Hall at Leeds Uni in early October 1982 during my Fresher's week there, memory tells me it was a Tuesday night, the first time I'd come across the girls.

[Being645]

The Sisters supported The Furs in the Riley Smith Hall at Leeds Uni in early October 1982 during my Fresher's week there, memory tells me it was a Tuesday night, the first time I'd come across the girls.

This one
http://sisterswiki.org/Tue,_05-Oct-1982

[Gaijin]

Thanks Swinnow.

That would mean that they did the Peel Session before the demos that are in circulation doesn't it?

The tracks that are assumed to be the demos recorded in Andrews' flat with JA are quite rough when compared to the BBC session. They sound like they predate that session.

Could this mean another, earlier session took place, and that the demos originate from that, rather than the pre-production session at Andrew's flat?

[paint it black]

Could this mean another, earlier session took place, and that the demos originate from that, rather than the pre-production session at Andrew's flat?

that's what i wrote. but what do i know

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

The Sisters supported The Furs in the Riley Smith Hall at Leeds Uni in early October 1982 during my Fresher's week there, memory tells me it was a Tuesday night, the first time I'd come across the girls.

Was indeed the Tuesday night, free to get in, and my first Sisters gig too, @Swinnow. This gig was the subject of the first post on my blog, if your memory needs jogging any further. Hard to believe that they recorded it within a couple of weeks of it coming out. The Furs and The Sisters played York the following night too, so they can't have spent long in KG's studio if this chronology is correct.