Part Three

["Richard" <richard@li...net.au>]

thanks again to Paul Vearncombe for the typo correction.

Part Three
Watch these Hands: Writing Swagger

As I mentioned in part two, 1988 was an odd year for Blue Aeroplanes with 
key personnel moving or re-locating. An outfit with a lesser vision would 
have fizzled out at this point - in one sense it was the year of 
"continually falling apart". If you consider that Miracles was recorded 
21st July - 2nd August 1987 .. it would be two years before more 
significant commercial recordings took place. Having spent the latter half 
of 1987 playing with Bristol indie group Five Year Plan, at the end of the 
year I succumbed to the trend and moved to London.

Back in Bristol Gerard unearthed a couple of contenders to fill the slots 
vacated by Ruth, Dave and Nick. Significantly Angelo became a full member. 
A young singer-songwriter from Glastonbury called Rodney Allen became the 
group's "singer" (I had given him his first gig in Bristol at my clube 
night at The Thekla, following a call from his dad). Andy McReeth on bass 
worked in a Bath music shop (he was a friend of a friend called Jill, who 
let it be known he was up for the gig). 

My diary from the year lists lots of shows, and I think Gerard's way of 
dealing with the contractual wrangle with Fire was just to get a line up 
out there throwing shapes. January '88 records shows in Brighton (Zap 
Club), Aldershot, ULU. February saw us at Leeds University, Central London 
Polytechnic. March has the Town and Country Club in Kentish Town, and er 
Wendover, while April has Gloucester, Albany Empire in Deptford, Derby, 
Leeds. And so it goes on through the year - Bristol, London (Dingwalls, 
Tunnel Club), Bath, Dudley, Salisbury, York, WOMAD, Ashton Court festival. 

Despite living in a different city I was still into Gerard's vision and I 
could see he was passionate about becoming better known, as a poet and as 
an artist. We would meet at the Arnolfini or a cafe in Park Street, or my 
new haunts in London. He always had great ideas and talked endlessly about 
music and art. He liked to win every argument. John his brother would 
prefer a quiet game of chess than risk a debate ...

The dynamic of the writing sessions changed; sans Nick and Dave we got on 
with a seriously commercial set of songs. In the back of my mind niggled 
the 20th Century Composite Rock Song mantra, but the band had moved on a 
long way from the idealistic days of the Art Objects and in the end the 
writing became more conventional, or commercially realistic depending on 
your point of view. I remember Angelo with his unique combination of Guild 
and tape echo unit, presenting the riff of 'Stones to the group at the 
Impulse rerehearsal room, an awesome moment because it was obviously a 
classic. At the same session Weightless was written. I wrote the joining 
passage between the two songs. Rodney was already a good writer of course, 
and at this time he contributed Love Come Round (though i seem to remember 
i wrote the middle eight) and Different Now. With What it I is sat down 
with the specific aim, like Cowardice, of not noodling but writing a real 
piece with light, shade and suspense .. the first chord was inspired by 
the D6 of Spirit's Farther Along. I just added a sus4 to it. Then repeated 
the shape with a barre on the 5th fret. That Michael Stipe eventually sung 
backing vocals on the track was pretty dandy. Along with Stripped, 
Cowardice and Miracles it is my favourite song contribution to the band's 
ahem oeuvre. The Applicant was an uncharacteristically rocky moment for 
me. I borrowed the "change" chords from The The's This is the Day ... C, 
Am, D7, F. For years i was rather chuffed to be sharing a writing credit 
with Sylvia Plath. 

On October 2nd 1988 the band embarked on a two month UK tour. This was a 
turning point for the band, leading to the major label breakthrough with 
Ensign. Andy had settled into the bass, Rodney brought new fans to the 
group, charmed by his singing style. With Angelo back in the line up there 
was a new chemistry, with the two Johns - Stapleton and Langley - and 
myself completing the three guitar line up. The tour started at 
Southampton Uni and made its way up and down the motorways, taking in 
places like Leeds, York, Workington, Manchester, Glasgow, Aldershot, 
Cardiff Chapter Arts and London (Woolwich Tramshed and Camden Dingwalls). 
The bookers, Allied in London, saw us as a reliable act capable of drawing 
an audience pretty much anywhere. By this point Weightless, And Stones, 
The Applicant, What it Is, Different Now and Love Come Round were all in 
the live set (if with slightly different lyrics to the recorded versions), 
as well as material from the newly released double album (hey with 
gatefold sleeve) Friendloverplane, like 88 Out, Stripped and I Wanna Be 
Your Lover. 

The gigs were professional, while retaining the chaotic unpredictablity 
that marked the early days. With Wojtec spirallaing round the stage 
pulling out guitar leads like shoelaces, you could never guarantee 
finishing a song in one piece. A show at the Colston Hall was attended by 
a number of major record labels, and after lengthy discussion which had 
taken up much of the year, Gerard was able to terminate the contract with 
Fire and sign the band to Ensign, joining the likes of World Party and 
Sinead O'Connor. I know it says in the sleeve notes to Huh! that Ensign 
caught the Aeros bug at the Electric Ballroom, but always understood it 
was the Colston that swung it. Whatever, Gerard knows very well that for 
an ambitious band to get anywhere it has to have the distribution, media 
visibility and financial momentum that a happening label can provide. If 
anyone is looking for a reason why we're still waiting for a new 
Aeroplanes album in 2004, then it may be because Gerard is stubbornly 
holding out for a big(ish) company to put it out. Procrastination to some, 
but waiting to make the right move has given him a longer innings than 
most. He understands how the industry works. 

It was make or break time for me. Did I want to do this? I had no money. I 
was 28. Something inside of me had had enough of the rock and roll thing, 
and I was suddenly fed up of being in someone else's idea. The political 
and altruistic side in me said "do something more useful". I bowed out of 
the short tour that took place in January 1989, though  I rolled up at the 
Town and Country on the 26th expecting to take part. I immediately felt 
unwelcome; there was a new Bristol gunslinger in the band, and i was not 
moving at the same tempo. So my replacement was to be Alex Lee, a friend 
of Rodney's. I let go. Ensign publishing gave me 500 quid for each of What 
it Is and The Applicant. 

The band lost no time in becoming eligible for a knock at the big league - 
at some point Jacket Hangs was written and the band suddenly went stellar, 
recording and releasing Swagger and headlining London venues like the 
Astoria and the Powerhaus. Audiences en masse rotated arms like helicopter 
blades, and chanted "Rodney, Rodney" for the encore. I saw them at 
Hammersmith Odeon, supporting REM on the British leg of the Green tour, 
swelling with pride at the songs I had written and how the group had 
developed into a tight, exciting and vibrant proposition, but hardly 
recognising my old friends who had understandably gone a bit distant, as 
the demands of impending fame and a major label deal took over. 

"Dont you regret leaving when you did?" is a question I am asked 
sometimes. But no, not really. When I consider the directions my life took 
after the band, I would not have missed them. You have to move on. The 
Blue Aeroplanes is fundamentally one man's life journey. Those of us that 
have hitched a ride remember it with huge respect. Highs like headlining 
the ICA, Glastonbury Festival, BBC Maida Vale studios, the plastic 
sheeting, the massed guitarists for the Breaking encore .. and lets not 
forget the riders, from reindeer steak in Oslo to fish and chips in Port 
Talbot, and always a bottle of something special ..

I thought they did a pretty good job on Swagger, though I would have liked 
to have played on the ones I wrote. y'know, who built the space? But so it 
goes. 

In 1991  I joined forces with Dave Chapman and an Australian singer called 
Anthony Elliott, to form Geography of Love. We made a cassette-only album, 
Workers of the World ... Relax! and did a fair few gigs, including 
supporting A House (Endless Art) and the Aeroplanes at the Harlesden Mean 
Fiddler in 1992. But all the music I made in the 90's and beyond (to this 
day I'm in three bands, playing, writing and recording same as ever, is 
probably off-topic for the list. 

Mine and Gerard's path crossed a few times in the ensuing years, in 1994 
at the ten year Mean Fiddler anniversary shows, in 1987 producing 
Beautiful Is at J&J's in Bristol (still not released) in 2001 at my home 
studio to record Multinational for the Evensong label sampler, while 
producing Caroline Trettine and Ian Kearey on their solo albums Ten Light 
Years and Preaching to the Convertible, and December 2002 at the Fiddlers 
in Bristol. Great night. I somehow suspect it wont be the last. Once an 
Aeroplane .. 

over and out, Richard Bell, Australia, February 2004

.... its the rocket motors, they've fired!