14 June 2023

Back to 23 Skidoo

When last we left the band, Sam Mills & Tom Heslop had been dismissed & 23 Skidoo was now the trio of Fritz Catlin, Johnny & Alex Turnbull. 
 



The departure of Sam & Tom was not reported in the press. Shortly afterwards the band was added to the line-up for the WOMAD festival, held at Shepton Mallet in July. There the new Skidoo performed a ritual to 'banish' their previous incarnation. They decided not to use traditional instruments, but instead to improvise a performance with instruments made of scrap metal using multiple tape loops (at this time, 1982, literally looped sections of tape). The ritual of banishing, invocation, & healing mirrored the changes that had occurred within the group. At 11am on a sunny July 17th morning 23 Skidoo, with heads shaven & faces camouflaged, took to the stage. They were joined by David Tibet of Psychic TV on thigh bone trumpet. The bleary-eyed festival crowd, expecting a trendy funk band, were greeted by a wall of noise. Some fled, but those that remained witnessed Skidoo at their most confrontational. While expectations were shattered, Skidoo's radical mid-morning gesture was missed by the music weeklies & passed unreported at the time.

Late September/early October 23 Skidoo took part in a short package tour of Belgium, arranged by Les Disques du Crépuscule billed as Move Back-Bite Harder. Here's the 27 minute loop-based recording from Tielt on October 8th. 

 

23 Skidoo - Move Back - Bite Harder live, 1982.
all decryprion codes in comments
 
 
 

Using new material combined with recordings from the WOMAD festival & an October 22/23 recording session from Dartington College, the new Skidoo released The Culling is Coming on February 4, 1983. Carrying on the William S. Burroughs connection, each side is 23 minute long.
 
23 Skidoo - The Culling is Coming, Operation Twilight OPT23, 1983.

Side 1: A Summer Rite-11Am 17.7.82 -
Banishing
Invocation
Flashing
Stifling
Healing (for the Strong)

Side 2: Dartington Gamelan -
G-2 Contemplation
S-Matrix
G-3 Insemination
Shrine
Mahakala
 
 


The Culling met with some hard resistance from critics & fans alike & 23 Skidoo started having a bit of a hard time getting live gigs. No record labels were knocking at their door. Midway through 1983, the band had a chance meeting with Peter ‘Sketch’ Martin of the Britfunk duo Linx. Sketch was trying to move away from commercial music at the same time 23 Skidoo were trying to cozy up to a more commercial sound. The result was the single Language.
 
 
 
 
23 Skidoo/Sketch - Language, Illuminated Records ILL 3812, 1984.

Side A -
Language
Side B -
Language
 
 
 

 
The move towards more commercial music since their meeting with Sketch also resulted in the release of Coup, a tight dance version of a track the band had been playing for some time known as "Coup in the Palace". This outstanding funk single featured a classic bassline from Sketch & horns courtesy of Aswad. Coup had definite commercial potential, but the absence of a 7" version meant no radio airplay, hence, no chart hit.
 
 
 
 
23 Skidoo/Sketch - Coup, Illuminated Records ILL 2812, 1984.

Side A -
Coup
Side B -
Version (in the Palace)
 
 
 
 

However, once more the brush with commercial success & the Britfunk paranoia halted this arc of 23 Skidoo's trajectory. In August 1984 the band released Urban Gamelan. This album essentially erased any lines of acceptance from fans & critics again. For the album tracks, both singles were omitted, to be replaced with alternate takes. "Coup" resurfaced in radically different form as "Fuck You GI" & "Language" in sparse percussive form now entitled "Language Dub".
 
 
23 Skidoo - Urban Gamelan, Illuminated Records JAM 40, 1984.

Face One -
Fuck You GI (23 F.P.M.)
Fire
Misr Wakening
Jalan Jalan

Face Two -
Urban Gamelan, Part One
Sirens
Helicopters
Kongo-Do
Language Dub
Drunken Reprisal
Coup de Grace
 
 
 
 

It will be another sixteen years before the next phase of 23 Skidoo kicks in. As I sez last month: "From this point onward, 23 Skidoo morphed into another enity. That, however, is a story for another day (next month...hint...hint)".

Stay tuned dear listener,

18 comments:

  1. Move Back/Bite Harder
    3VMDIBFFw7_mcZ99mRZd4LFnM8xSb9bH_aH7wdoLxgM
    The Culling is Coming
    oFxPKHho9tacKsqCX3P7goPOiebfC4aThBXejfumnt8
    Language
    F_YHoRGTZs1TacPSWIeESRBFyEB1iw41XDYhtsvNyxY
    Coup
    U8ii5uhBkpGKwALWtB8Nvz0Yp_FV0pbU420t41k6us8
    Urban Gamelan
    EEznEHqAscLZXmouGVXysUNj6jNCJkkStKaaGqq5p2k

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Third installment coming soon. Thanks, brah.

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  3. Merci beaucoup, what a great band

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you're enjoying. More to come.

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  4. I have an issue of the Irish punk zine Vox that included Cathal Coughlin's poem "Message from the Temple ov Mickey Mack":

    My name is Mickey Mack
    And I'm from the boggy pass
    So take your thigh bone trumpet
    And shove it up your arse

    Didja know the Turnbulls' dad was a famous sculptor?

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  5. Thanks for the poem. Being from Cathal I'm guessing it's about Mick Lynch from Stump?

    William Turnbull's art was as radical as the Turnbull Brothers music.

    Alex sez: "Bill cared if people didn't like his work," he says. "But do you change what you do if they don't? No. That was Bill. My brother and I inherited that gene."

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  6. I assumed that the "Temple ov Mickey Mack" and the "thigh bone trumpet" were digs at TOPY. Your mention of David Tibet playing that arcane instrument made me think of the poem.

    Sounds like Bill Turnbull was a punk before we knew what punk was!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Man, the threads that entangle events grow ever thicker.

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  7. Good to see that people are still sensitive to poetry in this harsh times.
    Getting ready to listen to this, most I never listened to.
    Great line-up for the Antena Hillcrest club too. Probably these groups are far more apprecciated today than then...

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  8. I plead ignorance, anonymous. What is the Antena Hillcrest club & who are their line-up?

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  9. Well, check the picture you posted for the "Move back" record.
    Must've been heel of a gig. Wonder how that venue was like.
    Sometimes the smoke impairs my vision too.
    Some brazillian charm for the weekend
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no7LcxDuHjM

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the clarity. I couldn't find any artwork for the Tielt recording so used a poster from the same tour but Leuven. My mudded mind! Overlooking the obvious. Also thanks for the link.

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  10. Oh, sorry for not signing.
    Diego

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  11. Thanks for the 23 Skidoo! And all your work here. herr k. from germany

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, kind Herr. The final installment of the 23 Skidoo saga next month. Stay Tuned.

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  12. Thanks for 'Urban Gamelan'. I've got the LP but no working turntable and it's been years since I last heard it.

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Always glad to share old long-unheard favorites. Thanks for the comment.

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