The Revolving Paint Dream / Biff Bang
Pow!
My humble approach on partly solving the
relative mystery that was The
Revolving Paint Dream can still be found in the
archives ...
To the best of my memory, Andrew Innes and
Christine Wanless are also
credited on the sleeve of the second Biff Bang
Pow! LP, _The Girl That Runs
The Beat Hotel_. Fair enough considering that
"Someone Stole My Wheels",
"The Happiest Girl In The World" and "If I Die"
are basically Revolving
Paint Dream songs.
In fact, the cancelled second Revolving Paint
Dream 7"
sheduled for September '84 (!) was supposed to feature both "Wheels
On My
Scooter" (= "Someone Stole My Wheels") and "Sunny Days" in exactly the
same
versions that appeared a couple of years later on the "Someone Stole
My
Wheels" 7"/12" under the moniker of J.C. Brouchard With Biff Bang Pow!.
More recently I learned from David Musker
(The Televison Personalities / Jasmine
Minks / Slaughter Joe) that he also
played on a fair share of Revolving
Paint Dream
recordings.
Besides, is anyone in the possession of the
demos by Christine's other band
at the time, The Formica Tops (who were also
supposed to release a single on
Creation Records back in the early days) ?
Only thought I'd ask again now
that the
number of subscribers has increased considerably, I'd love a copy
of said
recordings (and any unissued stuff by The Revolving Paint Dream, for
that
matter).
____________________________________________________________________
From JC Brouchard :
I won't provide infinite details because one
thing's for sure :
I did not understand everything that was
going on at the time !
I'll mostly confirm what was
mentioned :
the line up for the first three
albums
basically stayed the same :
Alan McGee - Vocal/Guitar
Richard Green
- Guitar
Dave Evans - Bass
Ken Popple - Drums
(that was the live line-up, though in 1986
in Reims, Andrew Innes and
Christine Wanless were also on
stage)
With help from Andrew on organ and guitar,
and it's true that Joe Foster did
not only produce. I think he also played
mouth organ and guitar. Another
thing's for sure : it's him playing feedback
guitar on "It's make you
scared" (I saw him record
it...)
I confirm too that "Someone stole my
wheels", "Sunnydays" ("Someone"
b-side), and at least "There you go again"
too are Andrew's babies. I'd even
nearly bet that BBP! do not play at all on
these songs, which, if true would
actually make them more Revolving Paint
Dream songs than BBP! songs...
A thirt thing's for sure : I didn't take any
part in the recording of the
J.C. Brouchard with BBP! single !
My only contribution was posing for the label
photo...
Now that Creation is actually completely over,
I do plan to write my version
of the JC Brouchard story, but it will take
time!
the compilation I issued last
year
with the only new song officially released in the 1990's by The
Jasmine
Minks (the wonderful ballad "Blown away") is still
available...
Live happy.
_________________________________________________________
JC BROUCHARD "Me and Alan McGee"
"Me and Alan McGee", this is the title chosen
by Vivonzeureux! Records for
this collection of all the tracks I have
recorded for Creation in the 1980's as "spiritual advisor" to Alan McGee, the
Creation Records founder and the leader of Biff, Bang, Pow!,
and this is a
title that suits me perfectly !
True, it is Alan McGee who "created" JC
Brouchard, in 1984, but I don't know
exactly when.
Maybe it was
when he received my order coupon for a set of the three singles
by his old
band The Laughing apple that he was selling at a discounted price of £2
the lot.
Or more probably it was after I had
come back to France, after staying in London, when I put
up the first
Creation concert in France, at the MJC Claudel in Reims (on november 3rd
1984,
with The Jasmine Minks headlining, and Biff, Bang, Pow!
and
The Jesus and Mary Chain supporting)
and that he announced me that the
first BBP! album, "Pass the paintbrush, honey",
would be dedicated to
me.
Which was done and, from then on, JC Brouchard
was born. I had become a genius.
Alan trsuted me with running Non Stop
Movement, the Biff, Bang, Pow! fan club I
went on tour with the band.
I joined them in the studio. Liner note by liner note, I became Alan's guru,
the spiritual advisor to
the band without whom nothing would have been
possible. Alan proposed me to
release a single with BBP!,
"Someone
stole my wheels", then took inspiration from me for the title of
the next
single ("The whole world is turning Brouchard", which was considered
at one
point for the title of this compilation).
When I told Alan that I had
translated "Chernobyl baby" into French, the
prefabricated hit he had
produced for
Baby Amphetamine, he arranged for me to record this song
with The
Revolving Paint Dream in their studio on
the Isle of Dogs, in
London.
Unfortunately, this song, like its B
side, a
cover in French of one of the tracks
from the first Revolving
Paint Dream album, had remained unreleased until now.
JC Brouchard's adventures made me live some
unforgettable moments
(I have not enough space availble to tell
you
about all of them here), and made me travel, from Aberdeen to Toulouse,
and
from Morlaix to Hamburg,
passing through London and Paris.
Of course, it is Alan who put an end to the
myth, in february 1988,
by quitting brutally the french BBP!
tour
halfway through, in the most rock'n'roll fashion, the day after a
concert
that had all the worst punk traits
(Alan spitting to the face of the
promoters and insulting the audience
during ALL the concert),
leaving
alone with Momus who, armed only with his acoustic guitar,
had the very
heavy responsiblity to make up for BBP!'s absence the very
same evening, in
a night-club in Sète,
croweded with people who looked they were just
out of a club on
Carnaby Street in 1966 !!!
JC Brouchard, may 2002