The Radio Interviews

There was tremendous media interest in the Highpoint concert. Here is a selection of the radio interviews.

Further band and booking information can be found on CA$HBACK’s website: johnnycashback.com

Yet another news item on BBC’s Look East about Ely.

A columnist in this month’s edition of The Oldie magazine claimed the cathedral ‘never stops asking for money’ and that staff are ’snooty and grasping for money’.

It costs £5.20 to enter the cathedral for tourists, but Look East forgot to mention that residents of Ely are entitled to an annual pass for free!

Do you think you should pay to enter a place of worship or is Ely Cathedral just seen as another money-grabbing tourist attraction?

Although I am not sure if Network Rail’s Kate Snowden realises that we are still compelled by law to measure road distances in miles going by her comment: ‘We had to build a temporary road that was over a kilometre long’.

That was aired recently at 7pm. Many of you probably didn’t get to see it so you can now view it at your leisure.

This is what the BBC had to say about the segment:

According to The Tea Guild, a panel of highly qualified tea-tasting experts, the place to have the best cup of tea is Peacock’s Tearoom in Ely, Cambridgeshire.

So does this mean that Ely is the home of the most discerning tea drinkers in the country? First things first - Hardeep finds out what is so good about the Peacock’s Tearoom’s tea, seeing as it has won the UK Tea Council’s Top Tea Place 2007 award.

The owners, George Peacock and Rachel Lemkov, tell Hardeep that it’s the whole experience that counts. From the décor and delectables to the brown china cups, it all adds to the traditional tearoom experience, and in doing so, the taste.

Tim knows exactly what he’s talking about when it comes to a brewHardeep slurps his way through several different cups, guided by Tim Clifton, who has spent 40 years in the tea-tasting business. It’s clear Tim knows exactly what he’s talking about when it comes to a brew. Hardeep clearly doesn’t…

However, by the end of his crash course, Hardeep feels well equipped to go and evaluate the most famous benchmark of tea-drinking tradition - a cup of builder’s. On site, Hardeep tests the builder’s tea for briskness, brightness, freshness and flavour but, actually, he’s more concerned about the lack of biscuits.

The most famous benchmark of tea-drinking tradition - a cup of builder’sNext up are the residents of Ely. To test their credentials as tea connoisseurs, Hardeep treats them to a fine looking tea party in the middle of the town square, where he serves them a choice of three teas: a fancy one, a bog standard builder’s, and a blend of his own Masala tea. Which one will they prefer in this char challenge?

Though some find his tea a bit too sweet, Hardeep relishes the few compliments it does get. Whether it is the tea capital of Britain or not, what is clear by the end of the tea party, is that the people of Ely certainly know what they like when it comes to their tea.

There were highlights, one being a 3 hour video of footage from a long forgotten festival affectionately known as ‘Redmere’. Redmere (six miles from Littleport) Festival was the brainchild of Mick & Lee Gillett who, at the time, were heavily involved in the Ely Music Scene with their own band Wild Party Productions.

Redmere highlighted local talent - established as well as new bands. It was one of the new bands that stole the festival and the sad thing about their performance is not many people saw them. The festival was poorly attended and the band played two early afternoon slots, far too early for the masses that arrived later for the headliners. The band in question was Soham’s Nutmeg.

Nutmeg, in 1986, were a raw 60’s influenced garage band with a singer that had so much energy that you really need to watch the footage to comprehend.

Andrew Clifton (who set up Molesworth Records based in Sawtry while at school!) was one of the first people to see potential in Nutmeg and released the celebrated 12″ single “And In England They’re Going Mental”. What follows is a history of Nutmeg in the words of Andrew Clifton. Andrew kindly agreed to allow us to reproduce his article to tie-in with this early Nutmeg footage. All of Andrew’s other band associations can be found on his music publishing website, Leave’s Music.

A Personal Recollection Of Nutmeg

By Andrew Clifton (in 2001)

I came across Nutmeg when I was on the panel judging the 1985 Cambs Association of Youth Clubs Bands Competition held in Sawtry. Nutmeg were representing Soham and came second to the mellifluent Peterborough reggae group Quadro. Nutmeg were inexperienced but had a raw garage band vitality. Their short sharp songs such as “Walking Into Town With The Girls”, “It Came Together (It Wasn’t Easy)” and “Shit Off, Scotty!” were idiosyncratic but also clearly rooted in teenage experience. With his swirling long hair, unfashionable 70s gear and wildly energetic performance, Tom Dalpra was a particularly engaging frontman. As much of their set was spent retuning and restringing, he also had to work hard to keep the audience’s attention between songs, a talent he quickly perfected.

During 1986-7 I booked Nutmeg for a couple of gigs and they showed the Sawtry Village College performance hadn’t been a fluke. They improved in leaps and bounds, Tom quite literally. And, as Maria Barbieri pointed out in a Scene And Heard review, Matthew Hobbs and new member Rich Scurrah looked the archetypal rock guitarists. Simon Palastanga played bass and Neil Taylor drummed.

And in England they’re going mental

“And In England They’re Going Mental” was the funniest and most striking part of Nutmeg’s performance, Tom improvising verses of what was happening in other countries between guitar freakout choruses to the title refrain. We agreed they would record it as their first single, at The Music Room, a new Peterborough studio which was basically the staff and equipment of the demolished Stix moved along Fitzwilliam Street into Live Music. The song’s spontaneity was preserved by recording versions live in the studio. Dave Colton engineered and Baz Voce spliced together the best two halves. “You’re The Only One” had some equally surrealistic touches. “Walking In The Rain” was much more conventional. I recall having to arrive late from a gig I was promoting; as I walked up the stairs I heard the playback of this unfamiliar song and thought I had come the wrong day.

Released in 1987 as a 12″ EP, “And In England They’re Going Mental” received positive reviews across the board, from Music Week through NME to Underground. At first it seemed it would be as successful as the Pleasureheads’ release and I was not surprised when the band’s manager told me the distributors had informed him it had sold out. Having regretted not releasing a second Pleasureheads single, I had resolved to follow up this EP quickly. The band had mentioned recording a cover version, and in an unreleased Seeds track called “Did He Die?” I thought I had found a perfectly bizarre sequel to “And In England”. Sadly their manager told me this was a direction they no longer wished to follow. Instead Nutmeg were adding classic rock songs to their set to broaden their appeal, and their song writing was moving in the same direction.

Just afterwards, I discovered that lines must have been crossed somewhere: although it had sold rapidly at first, hundreds of the EP remained unsold. Perhaps this was because, surprisingly, it hadn’t received a single play on national radio. I don’t know, but this was a bit of a shock. Despite a repromotion (featuring ads designed by young fans of the band) when Nutmeg won the 1988 Cambridge Rock Competition, I ended up receiving unsold boxes from Backs.

Nevertheless “And In England”’s uniqueness ensures a trickle of sales to this day, as collectors gradually find out about it. A decade ago I discovered that the record had been used by a West Indian broadcaster to accompany a clip of an England cricket team batting collapse. Last year (2000) a New Zealander, phoning in to Mark Radcliffe on Radio 1, revealed it had been used ‘down under’ for the same purpose. What a pity England have started winning again!

The only way is up

The early months of 1988 saw Nutmeg on a roll the like of which most bands can only dream. Their manager made them a limited company and released their favourite song “Why You Lie” on their own Fenrock label. Nutmeg entered the Cambridge Rock Band Competition and beat over forty other groups to become the first ever unanimous winners. They won several of the contest’s other prizes, including a new Washburn axe for Matthew Hobbs as best guitarist. TV producer and dj Trevor Dann (who would soon become head of music at Radio 1) proclaimed Nutmeg his favourite band during his five year stint presenting “The Rock Show”. But topping it all was the acclaim of one of the judges, John Williams, head of A&R at Polydor Records. He said, “I’m going to make you stars.”

By the summer it had all turned sour. Williams booked them into a top studio with John Jacobs. They found it an overwhelming experience. Nutmeg were at ease with Jacobs but felt that Williams had a different agenda. He suggested removing some members of the band. Tom Dalpra believed Williams was more interested in him as a solo performer. This seems to be borne out by the session tapes which have Tom’s piano-playing way to the fore and the guitars mixed low.

Nutmeg rebuilt morale with a return visit to Dave Colton’s Music Room which recaptured their ’60s R’n'B/early ’70s heavy rock guitar-fuelled live sound. Any hopes that Polydor would release the sessions as a debut album were quickly dashed. The disappointment compounded Matthew’s drink problems which would lead to long absences from the line-up.

No release on Polydor also meant no more bookings by the powerful Asgard agency who had given them several prestigious support slots. But live performance was what they did best, and on the road they went, clocking up five gigs some weeks, despite holding down full-time jobs. They also secured a Monday night residency at Gossips in Soho. Reviewers often compared them to Iggy Pop and the Rolling Stones, but increasingly this was for their tough, sharp sound rather than just their choice of cover versions.

The famous publishers Sparta Florida signed them. With the help of a £7,000 bank loan, Nutmeg recorded ten songs at the impressive Minstrel Court Studio in Royston. The resulting album, “Electric Putty”, was released on vinyl, cassette and CD in editions of 1,000 each on the Ground label. Depressingly, both the LPs and cassettes were faulty and had to be re-made, causing the launch to be delayed until Spring 1990. No matter; it received plaudits from the likes of Melody Maker, Kerrang and Metal Hammer, all of whom followed up with even better live reviews.

Nutmeg struck up a friendship with the equally hard-gigging but better-known Senseless Things who, at that time, recorded for the indie Decoy Records. The first time Nutmeg had supported them, the Senseless Things admitted they had been “blown off the stage”. To their credit the Things gigged regularly with Nutmeg thereafter, usually as their support.

This was in contrast to another incident I witnessed where Nutmeg performed a Red Nose charity gig in Sawtry. The support act was a young metal band from the American air base at Alconbury. They were cock-a-hoop at having won an inter-base talent contest and, spurred on by their large and drunken entourage, demanded at the last moment that they should headline. Nutmeg took this in their stride - an early night for a change! Predictably they were awesome. Not only a brilliantly rocking band, but Tom entered into the comedic spirit of the charity by stripping down to his red nose-decorated underpants, ripping them off to - shock horror - another pair underneath. There was no way the metal band could top Nutmeg. Indeed they struggled to make any impression on the satiated audience, most of whom wandered away, leaving the disillusioned Americans to fight amongst themselves. Word spread quickly at Alconbury and it was so humiliating that the band changed its name, re-emerging only after months of woodshedding.

Nutmeg announce their disbandment

Through the summer of 1990 there was a big buzz about Nutmeg in London as the band to see for a fun time. The arrival of US bands such as Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees and Mudhoney, who professed the influence of late-’60s/early-’70s British rock groups, suddenly made Nutmeg seem ever so contemporary. Booking agency incompetence meant a North American tour was cancelled the day before they were due to set off, but things looked better in 1991 when Nutmeg were signed to Hawkwind’s management agency. Their tour-mates, The Senseless Things, signed to the major, Epic. And yet, despite the evidence of “Electric Putty”, A&R men still saw Nutmeg as “only” a live act. Eventually Nutmeg announced their disbandment “for contractual and financial reasons” and played their farewell gig at The Junction in Cambridge on August 1st, 1992.

Sadly Matthew Hobbs died. Simon Palastanga joined The Chaps for a while and is now a dj. As well as recording solo tribal dance-related work, Richard Scurrah formed Earthstar with Neil Taylor. Tom Dalpra found his spiritual home in The Lonely, “a Cambridge institution” that has played ’70s music since the ’70s, and he also guests on Kimberley Rew’s latest album. All four have been involved in some of Tim Harding’s bizarre T.H(c)3.2 and arTcH projects on his Pretentious Moi? label. Tim has been trying to persuade them to write a book about their experiences. Campop News says Tom has released an autobiographical video which includes Nutmeg concert footage.

In 1998 Nutmeg reformed for a one-off gig. Nutmeg earn a place in rock history as one of the “nearly bands”, who really deserved to make it. They are certainly a fondly remembered part of Cambs rock history. Unfortunately their memory could be swamped by the number of other Nutmegs. Currently there are at least three bands of that name in America, one in Germany, another in Sweden; and the Australian Nutmeg has released records too. But I bet our Nutmeg was the only one named after the soccer ploy…

The rail line, mostly used by freight trains, was closed near Ely station but no-one was hurt.

Eleven of the EWS train’s 37 trucks fell on to their sides with two hanging over a bridge over the River Ouse.

One Railway services from Peterborough to London have been affected and an accident investigation is under way.

The bridge was damaged by the derailment so the River Ouse was shut to river traffic and a path was sealed off for safety reasons.

The train involved was travelling from Mountsorrel in Leicestershire to Chelmsford in Essex carrying aggregates.

Officials from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) are at the scene.

British Transport Police were liaising with the RAIB but were not carrying out any inquiries into the incident.

Engineers have been assigned to remove 11 derailed train carriages left hanging on a bridge over the River Great Ouse and work could take six months.

County and district Cllr Bill Hunt has called on the county council to put pressure on Network Rail to complete the work as quickly as possible and advise businesses on how they can file for compensation.

Cllr Hunt, who represents Haddenham on Cambridgeshire County Council and Stretham and Wilburton on the district council, said: “My concern is that there doesn’t seem to be any great sense of urgency. This is affecting businesses, tourism, people using their boats and fishermen. Footpaths have been closed and we need to put pressure on Network Rail.

Here is last night’s BBC Look East coverage.

The sisters lived separately, Davina with her father and Jasmine with her mother. On the social networking website Bebo they had discussed how much they missed each other and wished that they could live together again.

Of all the social networking sites, Bebo emerged as the place where friends turned to reconnect and console each other over the tragic loss of their friends. On the girl’s personal webpages the focus has turned to remembrance and many friends (real life & online) have left messages of sympathy on the site.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths remained unclear last night, but it is believed that the mother made a telephone call to a friend, understood to be a special constable, who then called an off-duty policeman.

Local & National Press ‘Dig The Dirt”

Truth does not sell newspapers and coverage of this tragedy in many newspapers (national and local) has been quite vulgar.

It’s interesting to see how the tabloid media scourer social networking sites like Bebo, Face Book and MySpace in these instances and then find dig to find the worst in people. The truth is, if you read any teenagers page on these sites you will find the same boasts of excess and exuberance. Its called growing up!

The Sun newspaper has reported on the ‘wild girls’: “Davina, 16, boasts about stealing and fighting, while Jasmine tells of her love of booze — even though she was just 13.”

The paper also alleged ‘a former friend’ of Mrs Kumari-Baker claimed she earned a reputation for affairs as her marriage failed.
The female pal said: “She was sometimes called the village bike.”

According to the Daily Mail, “officers are trying to discover what sparked the violence, amid speculation that the mother attacked her daughters after rowing over their drinking, smoking, stealing and fighting”.

It said: “Their mother, who divorced the girls’ father three years ago, is thought to have recently been dropped by a long-term boyfriend.”

Messages Of Sympathy

If you wish to pay your respects you can do so by leaving messages at the girl’s Bebo web pages:

Jasmine’s Bebo web page.

Davina’s Bebo web page.

In the Middle Ages, the East of England was the richest corner of the nation and the Norman conquest of 1066 led to the first construction boom in our history.

The visionary Normans used their building skills to demonstrate their power over the local population. Ely Cathedral would take 300 years to complete, with its intricate stonework and majestic nave. But 1,000 years later it still towers over the Fens.

Says David Dimbleby: “There were no architectural drawings, there was no architect. Working with little more than a set square, some compasses and a grasp of geometry, medieval masons were able to raise this glorious building to the heavens.”

David joins modern-day stonemasons as they restore the cathedral, and embraces tradition by leaving a time capsule – including TV schedules and a Mars Bar – for future generations to discover.

Video © BBC TV 2007

Ian Brown of the Stone Roses once remarked, “It’s not where you’re from (that matters) it’s where you at.” Well, I think he was half right. With Crossland it may have been more a case of, “You can take the band out of Ely. But you can’t take Ely out of the band”. We got close. But close to what?

Pump it up!

Crossland were already established in Ely by the time I arrived from Cambridge in early 1989. Their formative EP releases, ‘In Your Hands’ and ‘In Shame’, had received a good local response so they were heading in the right direction even though they found themselves without a singer in the Spring of that year. They asked me to join and I thought, “Yeah, why not?”

In early 1989 there were a number of guitar bands (REM, the Pixies, House of Love, Wonderstuff) kicking out against a mainstream of advancing rave culture, depressing Stock Aitken Waterman pop pap and a quagmire of unmentionable bland brand names doing the stadium circuits. Plus ça change… So, on joining Crossland I thought, “Great, I’ve found a bona fide guitar band!” At last there was hope for the local music scene!

Already a veteran of the Cambridge scene at 22 I was impressed and revitalised by two things I found in Ely:

1) A voracious appetite for ‘real’ guitar music. I was delighted that Ely seemed to be living a few years in the past; a more innocent time when the songs of The Smiths, The Ramones, The Jam, The Undertones, The Hoodoo Gurus, early Elvis Costello and, yup, U2 still seemed to hold a real resonance for people. Not for Crossland the commercial cod-funk, string slapping bass players and other muso meanderings that had blighted the Cambridge music scene.
2) The loyalty and cameraderie that people showed each other. Even to the extent that they were almost suspicious of outsiders, ie me. But once you were in, boy, were you in. It was almost like entering a religious sect with the Minster Tavern as their ‘church’. And it wasn’t just the band members who stuck together but practically everyone else too: mates, drinking buddies, girlfriends, family, etc. Call them what you will but I’d never experienced such a great bond of friendship and affection before.

Never was this illustrated more eloquently than when a double decker coach load of Crossland fans and the band went up to Bradford on five separate occasions during 1990 to be involved in a Northern ‘Battle of The Bands’ competition. (We reached the final eleven out of two hundred entries.) On one occasion when we were unloading the gear almost every passenger on the coach took one piece of equipment with them (a cymbal case here, a guitar there) until all 50+ pieces of equipment had been carried to the side of the stage. Talk about loyal support. Onlookers probably thought it was a 50-piece band arriving!

Another time was when we took part in another competition called ‘Hit The Write Note’, promoted by Radio One and held at The Marquee club in London (we came second out of over 4,500 entries). The noise the people from home made on those nights brought a lump to my throat… FANTASTIC!

Lee Marshall – The anchor and the fulcrum of the band. And rock solid drummer.
Ritchie Taylor – Keyboards, singing and effervescence; a never-ending source of positive vibes.
Pat Hall – Guitar maestro who really held the key to our sound.
Psyche (aka Tony Watson) – Bass. The ‘mortar’ that held all the bricks together.
Clint Davis – Our stalwart, mediator and manager. Had all the right rock ‘n’ roll reference points.
And me, Chris ‘Crossland’. The crooner.

Ensconced in our cellar under the antiques shop opposite the Lamb Hotel (now Hunky Dory records) was a haven where we could hide from the rest of the world and hatch our ideas and plans to conquer… well, Ely. In fact, if you go down there now - in a quiet moment - you can still smell the odours and hear the plangent sounds of Crossland reverberating in the walls. We wrote good songs that worked well live making us stronger than the sum of our parts. Songs like Party Piece, Any Pretty Body, Life Goes On et al. Really Big Nothing was the album at the time.

Walking like we should

There wasn’t much of a ‘scene’ as such in Ely during 89/90; that came later. The Color Factory, however, were good friends doing their own thing. On their night they were the business: a mean lean power-pop machine. Crossland and The Color Factory sometimes shared stages and crossed paths when they appeared on the same local record label, Freefall records, releasing a string of excellent 7” vinyl singles. Walking like they should indeed!

However tenuous the connection between the bands, you could say one of the local scene highlights was the 1990 Cambridge Band Competition when This Replica (from Soham), The Color Factory and Crossland all ended up in the final six at the Corn Exchange with some top performances - especially from This Replica. They should have won on the night.

Where it’s at

There was certainly a dearth of venues in Ely at the time. However, for Crossland it was always more a question of trying to break out of Ely; even if it meant traipsing over to the Bristol Fleece & Firkin on a Monday night. Glasgow for the weekend? We’d do it, no problem. Getting gigs at London venues such as the Camden Falcon and the Bull & Gate in Harlesden was also a priority. The Ely pubs just didn’t seem to want to put on live music so it was left to us to make our own entertainment. And we did - with some pretty impressive sell-out shows at the Centre E, the Maltings (twice) and even the Paradise Centre during the 90/91 period.

By early 91, with most of Crossland in their mid twenties, things had changed a bit. By now the Ely Standard was actually running a local Rock Scene column and a local music rag called ‘Sonic Cathedral’ was throwing up some younger bands. We were probably deemed part of the ‘old guard’ by the new arrivals. It felt like some of them were like little terriers, nibbling at our ankles. We weren’t in any mood to mix with them and I guess it was a sign that the scene was outgrowing itself already and forming subgenres. Either that or we really were past it!

The summer of ’91…oh-oh yeah!

Crossland reached a ‘peak’ of sorts in the summer of 1991 when, following our London exploits, we joined up with the Radio One road show on the southcoast. No sleep ‘til Torquay then… Rubbing shoulders with the likes of DJs Richard Skinner, Bruno Brookes, Liz Kershaw and acts such as The Barron Knights and Voice of The Beehive was unlike anything we’d done before. We recorded at Matrix Studios in London where previous clients The Smiths and Adam & The Ants had been before us. We had national as well as local airplay and had been interviewed on the nation’s ‘number one’ station… Yeah, in a funny kind of way we did think we were touching the coat tails of celebrity.

But with the end of the summer came the end of the fun. The record deal never materialised and it was John Gammon (at the time manager of indie wannabes Kingmaker) who commented with admirable honesty and prescience: “If you don’t make it on the back of all that attention you never will.” It was a bitter pill to swallow. So we spat it out and dusted ourselves down for a re-launch on the back of what would have been our second album (Rinky Dink). But it wasn’t to be. Apart from a memorable headline gig at The Junction in the summer of 1992 to promote our new single ‘Seven Figure Silks’, internal differences had fatally nibbled at our ‘Crossland’ core.

And in the end…

Maybe it was partly a case of us being too close to home to want to fly the nest. I think where you’re from will always have a bearing on where you’re at. Sorry Ian. So in the end I guess we were close… to Ely. But faraway from the magic, the madness and the broken promises of the music industry. And, anyway, there was other fish to fry. But that’s another story…

Crossland Video

There are quite a few amateur videos and audio recordings of Crossland, most were recorded by Karl Bedingfield at local gigs and some audio recorded at Crossland’s practice room, ‘the cellar’.
Little Downham’s Mick and Lee Gillett also recorded 2 video demos for the songs ‘Party Piece’ and ‘Any Pretty Body’ at studios in Little Downham in 1991 for their video production company ‘The Demonstration Company’.

Party Piece promotional video filmed by Mick & Lee Gillett (1991)

Crossland come second in ‘Hit The Write Note’ competition (1991)

Crossland Audio

1. Crossland at the Radio One roadshow: Ely Online discovered an old cassette tape of Crossland performing on the Radio One roadshow. It was taken from the mixing desk and gives a little insight into the pre-show before Radio One’s Bruno Brookes went on air with his roadshow.

2. Protect Me: This is a live version of ‘Protect Me’ that was recorded in their practice room, ‘The Cellar’ in Lynn Road, Ely.

3. All Swing Together: from their unreleased 1992 CD ‘Rinky Dink’.

4. Trick Of The Light: also from their unreleased ‘Rinky Dink CD’.

5. Ephemeral: also from their unreleased ‘Rinky Dink CD’.

Crossland Images

Crossland Slideshow

If you click the image below a pop-up slideshow will start of all photos Ely Online currently has uploaded on out Flickr account.

The race was won by Oxford despite Cambridge being ahead early in the contest.

The feature has an interview with Martin Whitworth, one of the eight that made up the Cambridge crew of 1944 along with interviews of the current team .