BANE - SERPENTS & DOVES

A ramshackle collection of peculiarities to tie up the Bane loose ends.

* From the What Happens Next sessions 1985
^ Rehearsal 1985
~ Demos 1986
# James & Nick live 1986


Digging * - A reworking of an old song, part of the mammoth recording session that yielded 27 tracks.

What Do You Want? * - About the sixth try at this one, but you can’t beat the first, acid-addled version.

Mandy * - We just thought it would be a laugh.

It Shows ^ - I couldn’t understand why some of my chums were still taking drugs...we were done with that weren’t we?

Am I Safe? ^ - A largely improvised rock monster jam, see the film Enemy Of The State for more information.

The Lonely Genius ~ - Whilst my girlfriend waltzed off to the ball alone because I refused to wear ‘black-tie’, I stayed at home and convinced myself that everyone apart from me was an idiot.

Invisible Enemies ~ - Just an attempt to stop a chum being as paranoid as I was.

Maybe ~ - One that Nick and I jammed out one chilly April day. It’s not about anything much really.

Better Than This ~ - I met an amazing Irish girl who used to au-pair for an extraordinarily famous rock star’s wife. The same night we met, we got absolutely paralytic on home-made champagne at a party we crashed on Hadleigh Road and I think we broke the shower (fully clothed naturally). When we stripped off to dry our clothes, and I wouldn’t let her have her wicked way with me (what was I thinking???!!), things turned nasty and she had to be taken away. I got a postcard from Ireland a week later, very apologetic; and I never saw her again. Amongst the most intense six hours I have ever experienced. I hope she’s OK.

Dear Friend ~ - A good pal had succumbed to the various nastinesses that life throws at us all, and booked himself into the local loony-bin to be dosed up on largactil for a bit. I didn’t know what to say, so I wrote this and took the tape and a walkman with me on a visit. Whilst there I was massively beaten at table tennis by a guy that recited Pink Floyd lyrics all the time. Well, I say all the time, it was only when he was awake.

I'm Not Depressed ~ - Oh yes I was. John Rowe (part ring-master, part poet story-teller and godfather of everything interesting in Suffolk) came over one day and heard this. When it had finished, he quietly suggested that I “get some help”. Just that advice frightened me enough to pull me out of whatever quagmire I had stumbled into.

It’s Not The End Of The World ~ - Those that know, know.

Too Tough To Die? ~ - People are not indestructible. So why did some of the people I cared about think they were?

Kangaroo # - A valiant attempt at capturing Alex Chilton’s wigged-out genius in the back room of The Old Times with only a guitar and bass as ammunition.

The Meaning Of Pain # - It was like Live Aid had never happened. I was annoyed to find myself faced with a spotty soap-haired ingrate from a 23rd rate thrash band complaining about how tough life was in Sudbury. Give me strength...

Holocaust # - I finally met Alex Chilton y’know, he had a handshake that felt like a wet fish. Disappointing really, but I suppose one shouldn’t expect too much of one’s heroes.

James Partridge