FLOWERSHOP
"Ten Foot Tall"/"Faraway"
(Molesworth Records HUNTS 4)
coverpage
introduction
The Blue Mist
Darkness At Noon
The Pleasureheads
Nutmeg
Flowershop
The Charlottes
The Nightjars
80's Cambs rock(c) Andrew Clifton 2000-1
Flowershop first appeared on the Cambs rock scene in March 1986 as the regular support band to The Children Of Some Tradition. COST were Huntingdon's big hope at the time - easily filling the local halls and pubs, and spearheading a brief burgeoning of young rock bands in the town - so it was quite a baptism of fire. Flowershop rapidly improved, initially with Katie Campbell on vocals, but she moved to Surrey the next year. Through 1987 Flowershop usurped their erstwhile patrons.
I booked the group for the Glasshouse in Peterborough. Flowershop became very popular there, especially with other musicians. They also stood in as welcome last minute replacements, once despite a road accident on the way.
Flowershop comprised brothers Ben (vocals/bass) and Dave Jordan (guitar) together with their next door neighbour Mike Cartwright on drums. Their cited influences were Echo And The Bunnymen and Joy Division, but the most distinctive aspects of their sound were Ben's driving trebly bass guitar and emotive vocals.
I offered them a singles deal in mid-'87. The band recorded at Flightpath Studios with Tim Harding producing (not the "T.H(c)3.2" Tim Harding, but the one unfortunately referred to locally as "the other Tim Harding") but the first recordings contained errors, and they felt they were playing too fast on the next. They also changed their minds about choice of B-side. Flowershop voluntarily paid for the next sessions. I was less involved than, on reflection, I should have been. In the indie spirit, I believed that the band should have artistic control.
Unfortunately they sent the tapes for these sessions to local magazines and radio, and even to the national Underground monthly. I suspect that this was in the spirit of market research, but it meant that imperfect versions of the songs had received airplay and lukewarm reviews even before their release on vinyl. Reading through old magazine interviews now, I can see that the lads weren't as confident as they always seemed to me at the time.
They couldn't decide on the flipside, and altered the A-side "Ten Foot Tall" several times. This had originally been a five minute song in three sections. The second section comprised tense acoustic playing, and the third a reprise of the first section's theme as a loud electric climax. The problem was that the first section, which dragged a little, was just over three minutes long: which meant that most radio stations would fade the record before the dramatic playing started. (This mistake had been made on Mithrandir's "Dreamers Of Fortune" on my New Leaf label.) Radio Cambridgeshire illustrated my point when they did exactly this to the "Ten Foot Tall" demo tape they played to publicise a Flowershop gig that autumn. I suggested that if this was to be the A-side, the first section should be shortened so that the exciting ending would be heard.
Eventually, despite another last minute change of B-side, Flowershop rushed the tapes to the nearby SRT pressing plant in early 1988. They collected the finished discs too, as a member of The Children Of Some Tradition (who was also rumoured to be joining Flowershop) was designing an original sleeve. Flowershop's demo tapes had been artily packaged, even in their own slipcases, so this seemed reasonable justification for another delay until May. But the sleeve never appeared, decimating the record's marketability.
I was disappointed when I received the finished single. Instead of shortening the first section of "Ten Foot Tall", they had just removed the climactic third section. It now sounded, as reviewers pointed out, like two different songs stuck together. The band had shortened the track, albeit marginally so, but in the months of re-recording they had forgotten the reason why! On the other hand, it did display the essential elements of the Flowershop sound, and it gained them gigs at the Mean Fiddler and other London venues in the summer.
I hadn't seen the lads for months - and, as it turned out, I never saw them again - but I was disturbed to hear from friends, and even read in a magazine review, that at their gigs they were selling the records for "peanuts". What happened next is unclear. The local press said they were on the verge of signing a publishing deal with Polygram. Mutual acquaintances told me that Flowershop had put on a showcase gig for the company, but no-one from Polygram turned up and in a fit of pique they threw all their records into the crowd. By September 1988 Flowershop were no more, their break-up coinciding with those of The Children Of Some Tradition, and Graham And The Mushrooms with whom they had also gigged regularly. Thus the brief flowering of a Huntingdon rock scene wilted away.
There were attempts by various ex-members of the above to form new bands, but eventually Ben, Dave and Mike re-emerged as a Sub Pop-influenced band called Turtle Noise. They gigged a little and recorded a demo tape, but Mike decided to leave for university. Ben and Dave also performed on some Tim "T.H(c)3.2" Harding recordings.
Flowershop had sent me a £20 note with the promise of more to follow. It never came. The rumours rang true. I decided to give up.
So how come you can continue the Molesworth story?