coverpage
introduction
The Blue Mist
Darkness At Noon
The Pleasureheads
Nutmeg
- on Molesworth
- on Fenrock
- on Ground
Flowershop
The Charlottes
The Nightjars
80's Cambs rock(c) Andrew Clifton 2000-1
Nutmeg after Molesworth Records
By the summer it had all turned sour. Williams booked them into a top studio with John Jacobs. They found it an overwhelming experience. Nutmeg were at ease with Jacobs but felt that Williams had a different agenda. He suggested removing some members of the band. Tom Dalpra believed Williams was more interested in him as a solo performer. This seems to be borne out by the session tapes which have Tom's piano-playing way to the fore and the guitars mixed low.
Nutmeg rebuilt morale with a return visit to Dave Colton's Music Room which recaptured their '60s R'n'B/early '70s heavy rock guitar-fuelled live sound. Any hopes that Polydor would release the sessions as a debut album were quickly dashed. The disappointment compounded Matthew's drink problems which would lead to long absences from the line-up.
No release on Polydor also meant no more bookings by the powerful Asgard agency who had given them several prestigious support slots. But live performance was what they did best, and on the road they went, clocking up five gigs some weeks, despite holding down full-time jobs. They also secured a Monday night residency at Gossips in Soho. Reviewers often compared them to Iggy Pop and the Rolling Stones, but increasingly this was for their tough, sharp sound rather than just their choice of cover versions.
The famous publishers Sparta Florida signed them. With the help of a £7,000 bank loan, Nutmeg recorded ten songs at the impressive Minstrel Court Studio in Royston. The resulting album, "Electric Putty", was released on vinyl, cassette and CD in editions of 1,000 each on the Ground label. Depressingly, both the LPs and cassettes were faulty and had to be re-made, causing the launch to be delayed until Spring 1990. No matter; it received plaudits from the likes of Melody Maker, Kerrang and Metal Hammer, all of whom followed up with even better live reviews.
Nutmeg struck up a friendship with the equally hard-gigging but better-known Senseless Things who, at that time, recorded for the indie Decoy Records. The first time Nutmeg had supported them, the Senseless Things admitted they had been "blown off the stage". To their credit the Things gigged regularly with Nutmeg thereafter, usually as their support.
This was in contrast to another incident I witnessed where Nutmeg performed a Red Nose charity gig in Sawtry. The support act was a young metal band from the American air base at Alconbury. They were cock-a-hoop at having won an inter-base talent contest and, spurred on by their large and drunken entourage, demanded at the last moment that they should headline. Nutmeg took this in their stride - an early night for a change! Predictably they were awesome. Not only a brilliantly rocking band, but Tom entered into the comedic spirit of the charity by stripping down to his red nose-decorated underpants, ripping them off to - shock horror - another pair underneath. There was no way the metal band could top Nutmeg. Indeed they struggled to make any impression on the satiated audience, most of whom wandered away, leaving the disillusioned Americans to fight amongst themselves. Word spread quickly at Alconbury and it was so humiliating that the band changed its name, re-emerging only after months of woodshedding.
Through the summer of 1990 there was a big buzz about Nutmeg in London as the band to see for a fun time. The arrival of US bands such as Soundgarden, The Screaming Trees and Mudhoney, who professed the influence of late-'60s/early-'70s British rock groups, suddenly made Nutmeg seem ever so contemporary. Booking agency incompetence meant a North American tour was cancelled the day before they were due to set off, but things looked better in 1991 when Nutmeg were signed to Hawkwind's management agency. Their tour-mates, The Senseless Things, signed to the major, Epic. And yet, despite the evidence of "Electric Putty", A&R men still saw Nutmeg as "only" a live act. Eventually Nutmeg announced their disbandment "for contractual and financial reasons" and played their farewell gig at The Junction in Cambridge on August 1st, 1992.
Sadly Matthew Hobbs died. Simon Palastanga joined The Chaps for a while and is now a dj. As well as recording solo tribal dance-related work, Richard Scurrah formed Earthstar with Neil Taylor. Tom Dalpra found his spiritual home in The Lonely, "a Cambridge institution" that has played '70s music since the '70s, and he also guests on Kimberley Rew's latest album. All four have been involved in some of Tim Harding's bizarre T.H(c)3.2 and arTcH projects on his Pretentious Moi? label. Tim has been trying to persuade them to write a book about their experiences. Campop News says Tom has released an autobiographical video which includes Nutmeg concert footage.
In 1998 Nutmeg reformed for a one-off gig. Nutmeg earn a place in rock history as one of the "nearly bands", who really deserved to make it. They are certainly a fondly remembered part of Cambs rock history. Unfortunately their memory could be swamped by the number of other Nutmegs. Currently there are at least three bands of that name in America, one in Germany, another in Sweden; and the Australian Nutmeg has released records too. But I bet our Nutmeg was the only one named after the soccer ploy...
Continue the Molesworth Records story.