Fact Check for The Quietus, please

[MAndrews]

I'm the Road Kill who did the recent interview with the band in The Quietus ...

I have a much longer piece on early Sisters and Leeds coming out in tQ to co-incide with the November tour. Just have to finish it ...

One knotty problem is the chronology relating 7VP to the writing and releasing of Alice. I've interviewed Andrew and he's "chronologically unreliable", in his own words.

Basically I would like to find out if Alice was written in 7VP. And/or demoed in the cellar of 7VP.

Alice came out mid-Nov 1982. I'm assuming it was written, demoed and recorded over a short time period not long before that, but was the classic 7VP line-up of Pearman, Taylor, Shearsby in residence at the time?

Will also test out the 80-85 Group, but I'd be interested to hear what Heartlanders know first.

[road_kill]

From: https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=24602

On the Sex Wax n Rock n Roll FB page John Ashton wrote:

Alice 8:2 Mixer. I used one just like this as the front end for my trusty Tascam Portastudio 144 on which I recorded the demos I produced for the Sisters Of Mercy in 1982 at Andrews house in Leeds .. The songs were Alice, Floorshow, 1969, & Good Things. The following week we were all off to Kenny Giles Studio in sunny Bridlington to do it all again but this time on an 8 track machine! The rest as they say, is history. Footnote: On the way there Craig Adams serenaded us with an a cappella version of Bohemian Rhapsody that went on for a good portion of the journey. Fun times!

All I got, sorry...

[mh]

The db.tsom.org site gives it's live debut as 10th July 1982 which, if true, puts it's origins a little earlier: http://db.tsom.org/songs/concerts-setli ... _1982_gigs_ (this site is semi-defunct and hasn't had it's gig lists updated since 2003).

Our own NVL's blog gives the same date and a bit more info about the show: http://sistersfan.blogspot.com/2016/04/ ... ondon.html

[paint it black]

From: https://www.myheartland.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=24602

On the Sex Wax n Rock n Roll FB page John Ashton wrote:

Alice 8:2 Mixer. I used one just like this as the front end for my trusty Tascam Portastudio 144 on which I recorded the demos I produced for the Sisters Of Mercy in 1982 at Andrews house in Leeds .. The songs were Alice, Floorshow, 1969, & Good Things. The following week we were all off to Kenny Giles Studio in sunny Bridlington to do it all again but this time on an 8 track machine! The rest as they say, is history. Footnote: On the way there Craig Adams serenaded us with an a cappella version of Bohemian Rhapsody that went on for a good portion of the journey. Fun times!

All I got, sorry...

They're the basement demos July 82. The Peel session was late August then the single was recorded September 82 and released 21 Nov. First live was I think 4th July

[MAndrews]

Thanks for providing the live debut date and for the extra Ashton info.

I've seen his YouTube clip and have always assumed "Andrew's house" was 7VP.

If the demos of the 4 songs that were recorded a week later at KG's in Bridlington were indeed in a recorded in a basement, then that makes 7VP, which has a basement, highly likely.

I've never quite got my head around the exact chronology of the demos and versions that appear on various bootlegs.

Alice was written "on a sofa in 10 minutes". The front room of 7VP is likely but not certain. The demoing and recording do look almost certainly to be in the 7VP era though.

Any more clarification welcome ...

[Nikolas Vitus Lagartija]

They're the basement demos July 82. The Peel session was late August then the single was recorded September 82 and released 21 Nov. First live was I think 4th July

Gig listed as the 4th July was in fact the 14th so the 10th is still possibly the first outing for Alice. It is certainly the earliest recording of the song to have surfaced, according to @spiggytapes. It may of course have been played at the Venue gig with Nico just a month earlier...

[paint it black]

yes basement at 7VP