18 April 2023

The History of Dogs

Alan Boorman & Richard Sothcott started their musical quest at the age of 6 in 1979 by recording the army field telephone conversations of a group of chickens, then playing it back while hitting a 4 string guitar & a biscuit tin. It was with this beginning, when horses were the size of rabbits,  that Wevie Stonder began their quest into the unchartered depths. It led directly to Itchy Genius & M.C. Hat to begin their crusade. 

 



By July 1993, now twenty, they were armed with an Amstrad 3 track Studio 100, a Johnny Guitar & a Casio PT82. The first recording session with this new equipment soon resulted in a failed cover version of Stevie Wonder's "I Just Called to Say I Love You" .

This marked the true birth trauma of Wevie Stonder.

After inserting the resulting cassette into Brighton Music Library, recorded over the b-side of a Steve Reich LP (giving it it's own Dewey Decimal Number), Stonder soon began to expand. 

 



By 1994 Chris Umney had joined. Several years of recording over the same 3 track cassette ensued. There quickly followed a short-lived artistic career featuring live music-theatre performances such as "Carrot the Dog Opera"& an international mail art exhibition "The History of Dogs" which Chris toured around Brazil in 1998 in a large shopping bag. It was through all of these experiences that the group discovered their own true "Cack" style. They have ventured onwards over the following years to produce many great & varied works.

In 1999 a new member, Henry Sargeant (actor), became a permanent feature & disturbing interactive live element, with his ever growing props box & legendary 3 foot cock hat.



Shortly afterwards Nadir al-Badri also joined the ranks, gracing Wevie with additional tuba, midi trumpet,  minature fretless bass, & occasional bee costume. He can often be seen at Wevie gigs dancing like John Travolta whilst encouraging the audience to speak into a tube. The Wevie live show consists of many things other than purely the music: films, competitions, audience participation, onstage fighting & often, a large number of wigs. 

 

 

Wevie Stonder - Drawing on Other People's Heads, Skam SKALD006, 2002.
decryption code in comments

Und    
Cowboys    
Supertaps    
Kenkeneb    
Shredni Vashtar    
Gamilnutbike    
Quest of the Sacred Baboon    
St. Michael's Mount    
Mike Mulligan    
Guido's Alphabet Garden    
Chubb Rock    
Hunter    
History of Dogs

Enjoy,

5 comments:

  1. 8exaqje7SKeu-wGKdrhCEtvethqfuULr-4UK1OidEHg

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the history lesson. I adore Wevie Stonder, possibly more than Stump, and knew nothinig about them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Everytime I listen to Wevie I am transported by their music to another, more wonerful world. I have the Eat Your Own Ears CD if you are interested. Thanks for the kind words.

      Delete
  3. Just returned from serious internet troubles. Nice album! Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Welcome back, my friend. Glad you got the internet SNAFU worked out.

    ReplyDelete