Heartland

WARNING * long post*

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to a secret 40th birthday party in Nottingham for an old friend of mine Richard Hunter . Richard was Salvation's manager waaaaay back & we've been good friends ever since . Unfortunately we'd already planned with other friends to see Melissa Auf Der Maur at the Cockpit in Leeds.
A few days ago I had a message on my answerphone from Danny , Salvation's singer asking me if I was going to the party . Being ignorant like I am I never called back & then last Thursday Danny phoned me again telling me that I REALLY ought to go . When I started mumbling on about Melissa Auf Der Maur's legs he decided to let me in on the secret that the old band were planning on doing a short set to suprise Richard . It's maybe 15 years since they did their thing & for most of that time a couple of them weren't on the best of terms .
Phone calls were made , plans were changed (thanks to other friends for being understanding) & off we went to Nottingham . The only room we could get was on the penthouse floor of the Royal moat House hotel so it ended up being quite an expensive trip .The party was a good one , the cherry vodka shots were fantastic , & it was great to catch up with everyone , a few that I'd not seen for 12 years .
So , 10pm & Richard was brought to the front of the hall & asked to say a few words to everyone who'd turned up for him , he was pissed & the speech was something to behold LOL .He was then given a present to open which was a Salvation t shirt with ONE tour date on the back for last night . As he was trying to work out what it meant the curtain that was hiding the equipment came down & the band said happy birthday & kicked straight into the first song "The Answer" . Besides being the manager Richard was also a huge fan of the band & has spent the last 15 years hassling them to play again but to no avail . The fact that they'd done this just for him really meant a lot & there were a few tears shed . The band did "Debris" , "She's an island " and "Listen to her heart" . They went down really well , people were dancing , taking photos and *ahem* recording it all for blackmail purposes.
The band would have played more songs but for a couple of things . Three of them got together a couple of weeks ago & had a few run throughs over a few bottles of wine , the other two didn't rehearse with them until yesterday afternoon after they'd set up in Nottingham .....in fact one of them was in South Africa until Friday evening . It didn't help that of the four songs they'd chosen, George and Adam had never even played two of them in their time in the band so they had to learn them from scratch yesterday .
The microphone was passed to Richard Hunter afterwards for another speech & it was one of the funniest things I've ever witnessed .Pissed and emotional - fantastic combination .
Full credit to the five members of Salvation for putting this together for one of the nicest blokes you could ever wish to meet . Considering the circumstances it was a scaringly good performance . They were MUCH tighter than they should have been & sounded pretty much as they did back in the mid-late 80's .
As for anything regarding Salvation in the future they have all moved on to other things & two of them now live down south so I don't think getting back together full time is a possibility ....however ......at different stages of the evening I talked to each of the band & not one of them said for definate that they wouldn't do something again .

Lastly , remember that I had tickets for Auf Der Maur at the Cockpit in Leeds ...well the funny thing is that the Cockpit is Richard Todd's club who just happens to be Salvation's bass player , so a fanfare played while he got out his wallet & gave me the money back for the two tickets I'd bought . When I asked about the booking fee though he told me to f**k off .

fantastic evening .

six photos here are from last night (near the top)
http://www.nigelkurt.com/gallery/photography/

That's cool! Especially the bit about the Auf Der Mar tickets! But, who are Salvation? are they connected to the Sisters?

Black Shuck wrote:That's cool! Especially the bit about the Auf Der Mar tickets! But, who are Salvation? are they connected to the Sisters?

http://www.mixi.net/Sisters.Of.Mercy/Re ... Salvation/

Formed in Leeds in 1983, SALVATION, released their first 12" on the MERCIFUL RELEASE label later that year. The release of "Girlsoul", produced by ANDREW ELDRITCH, also marked a distinct lack of activity for the next 2 years. They more than made up for this, as 1985 saw the recording [this time with the MISSIONS's That Guitarist in the Producers chair] of the "JESSICA'S CRIME" 12". The release of this single heralded the beginning of a relentless touring schedule that didn't let up for the next 6 years.

Most excellent, I know none of your crew Biggy, but I was moist of eye by the end of your post.
The human race will not die, it will go on and on...

i'm gutted i couldn't make it biggy

thanks for the invite though. most cool of you

Got to see Auf Der Maur last night in Manchester after all - ace

few pics added to my site - http://www.nigelkurt.com/gallery/photography/

Didn't one of them work in jumbo records when it was in the merrion centre ?

radioactive kid wrote:Didn't one of them work in jumbo records when it was in the merrion centre ?

I think it was one of the guitarists called 'Choque' or something similar.
Didn't he gon to play with The Hollow Men.

Strangely enough, I was reading an online interview with the drummer from Doctor & the Medics last week (don't ask why!).

He said that Salvation were a regular support act to the Medics in late 85-early 86, and used to play a cover of Spirit in the Sky.
To cut a long story short, the Medics decided to record it & had a huge hit, Which caused Salvation to hate them with a passion. Which is understandable.

I had a Salvation boot from the Duchess in Leeds were Danny introduces Spirit sayng "We still do it better".

Well I never knew that. I bet they hate that Gareth Gates as well.

Yes , it was Choque that worked in the Merrion centre . He then moved to the old Crash records up near the Uni . He left Salvation when he thought the Hollow Men were going places . Ben was the better of the two guitarists anyway & Choque's 2nd replacement Adam was much better than Choque too . Choque had the strong image though .

As for The Medics & Spirit in the sky , they never ever played it until they had heard Salvation do it . Danny & the others were a little pissed off at the time but it's not something that they harped on about or anything . In fact I think they found it quite funny after a while .

I saw the Medics last year for £1 in Brannigans . They did their ONE hit and panned the set out with glam rock standards - Ballroom blitz , 20th century boy etc . The wierd bit was watching them do Parklife by Blur and Common People by Pulp amongst others . It was possibly the worst gig I've ever been to .

biggy wrote:I saw the Medics last year for £1 in Brannigans . They did their ONE hit and panned the set out with glam rock standards - Ballroom blitz , 20th century boy etc . The wierd bit was watching them do Parklife by Blur and Common People by Pulp amongst others . It was possibly the worst gig I've ever been to .

Mr. Snowey and I saw them play their one hit at Nottingham Rock city when they supported Rosetta Stone. The highlight of the set was when the singer chose to stage-dive the audience - who magically parted to allow him easy access to the floor

I thought miracle of the age was a great single before the spirit in the sky no 1, it all went downhill from there.At least the sisters kept their credibility(well up to 1985 anyway).

[quote="] Mr. Snowey and I saw them play their one hit at Nottingham Rock city when they supported Rosetta Stone. The highlight of the set was when the singer chose to stage-dive the audience - who magically parted to allow him easy access to the floor [/quote]

What Mrs Snowey failed to mention is that when matey boy jumped out into the crowd he somehow landed on us. The next thing you heard over the PA was "OWWWW My Balls"

The moral of the story is don't get on the wrong side of Mrs Snowey....

getting back to choque for a second, does anyone know if black star liner still going?

i have the "bengali bantam youth" cd and its superb

(think massive attack, but drawing from asian influences rather than jamaican influences)

http://www.mutinysounds.com/film/musici ... rliner.php

radioactive kid wrote:I thought miracle of the age was a great single before the spirit in the sky no 1, it all went downhill from there.

Agreed, they were a good band 85 - 86 especially live.

They performed a cracking outside broadcast on the Whistle Test from Bristol Bierkeller. It was around the time of Miracle of the age, they performed the single plus 'No one loves you when you've got no shoes'.
Wish I still had that on video.

Please.

Dr. & The Medics?

Chairman Bux wrote:Please.

Dr. & The Medics?

I know. Tony Headley is next.

biggy wrote:Yes , it was Choque that worked in the Merrion centre . He then moved to the old Crash records up near the Uni . He left Salvation when he thought the Hollow Men were going places . Ben was the better of the two guitarists anyway & Choque's 2nd replacement Adam was much better than Choque too . Choque had the strong image though .

He also used to DJ Friday nights at the Warehouse. Happy days - nights even - playing 'spot the band members trying to outcool each other in the cocktail bar'

I used to live next door to Dannys other half, Maria, a few years back as well. Is Danny still working in the alt.rock record shop by the Corn Exchange?

mik wrote:

biggy wrote:Yes , it was Choque that worked in the Merrion centre . He then moved to the old Crash records up near the Uni . He left Salvation when he thought the Hollow Men were going places . Ben was the better of the two guitarists anyway & Choque's 2nd replacement Adam was much better than Choque too . Choque had the strong image though .

He also used to DJ Friday nights at the Warehouse. Happy days - nights even - playing 'spot the band members trying to outcool each other in the cocktail bar'

I used to live next door to Dannys other half, Maria, a few years back as well. Is Danny still working in the alt.rock record shop by the Corn Exchange?

yep - the one half way down kirkgate... name begins with W - "wisdom" or something?!? i forget

Quiff Boy wrote:

mik wrote:

biggy wrote:Yes , it was Choque that worked in the Merrion centre . He then moved to the old Crash records up near the Uni . He left Salvation when he thought the Hollow Men were going places . Ben was the better of the two guitarists anyway & Choque's 2nd replacement Adam was much better than Choque too . Choque had the strong image though .

He also used to DJ Friday nights at the Warehouse. Happy days - nights even - playing 'spot the band members trying to outcool each other in the cocktail bar'

I used to live next door to Dannys other half, Maria, a few years back as well. Is Danny still working in the alt.rock record shop by the Corn Exchange?

yep - the one half way down kirkgate... name begins with W - "wisdom" or something?!? i forget

That's right Quiff W..hellraiser records

Ah yes , Maria ...I remember Maria . He's not been with her for years . Stayed round there once after something or other at the Warehouse.... Grooving with Lucy I think .

well obviously i meant a "H"

Yeah, I found out he worked in Hellraiser the other week after I'd mentioned I'd seen Danny in WendyHouse and a friend pointed out I could have seen him any time in Hellraiser.

Was good to see them at the Heartland night last Saturday too.

I wonder if we could encourage them to do more gigs????

Blondelass wrote: I wonder if we could encourage them to do more gigs????

i'm pretty sure we could....











watch this space, as they say.

so, which one were you Blondelass? all these people coming out of the woodwork!

welcome

Quiff Boy wrote:so, which one were you Blondelass?

oh yeah. you'd be one of these people on here then?

http://blondelass.fotopic.net/

durrr

'ey up!

http://blondelass.fotopic.net/p5296498.html