Wud: 1984 (live)

What this episode covers

Wudsongs by Wud Wud was a band based in Exeter in the mid-80s. The name ‘Wud’ comes from a special word that everyone used to say again and again when they were very stoned, which was often. The word stuck and we named our label after it. Ken Staple – vocals, guitars George Davies – guitars, vocals Marc Greatorex – bass Graham Barbe – buckets, tambourines, bowls, grass bucket, round files, mic stand legs, etc Recorded live using a cassette machine in the room. Everything was plugged into an HH 5-channel PA with spring reverb, circa 1975. Graham had no drums but was so keen to play we arranged an assortment of things, including the grass bucket from the lawnmower, various buckets, Ken’s tambourine, George’s young sister’s toy tambourine, some crockery and kitchen equipment, and an assortment of other objects for him to play. The results were surprisingly good. Everything you can hear here was recorded as follows: 19th August 1985 – What’s Going On, Take It Or Leave It, The Sidewalk Song, Planets, Dream, Planet Earth, So Begins the Crying, White Noise – ending Side 1 of the cassette. 21st August 1985 – Jamming…, Magic, Hard Times (Flashback Part 2), Fading, New Socks and Underwear, Losing Your Grip, Indian Summer, This Time Tomorrow, The Mirror, That’s No Way to Pay a Bodyguard, Julia (curtailed)- ending Side 2 of the cassette. 21st August 1985 – Julia, Flashback, Leaving Me Here, 1984 (the start of Side 1 of what became Laughing Sun’s Cander cassette. 22nd August 1985 – Piestnia Za (just George and Marc, nobody else present). 4th September 1985 – I Know I Know You, Frog, Change (Change didn’t fit on Side 1 of the cassette and was placed at the beginning of Side 2, before Laughing Sun started playing their Cander songs later that same day). Wud was just on the brink of becoming quite good when the band folded not so very long after this, due largely to the personality clash between Ken and George. We tend to feel that Wudsongs is probably the most definitive collection of Wud’s songs, even though some of them are arguably not the best versions recorded. It shows what potential the band did have, even though it was never fulfilled. The trio of Marc, Graham and George would go on to perform together again in Laughing Sun and The Ug Brothers, among others. A few months after the band broke up, Ken became a born-again Christian and disappeared even further up his own fundamental orifice. He has not been seen or heard of for decades.

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