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In February 1996 three young Newport art students shambled into Big Noise Recorders, a studio next to Cardiff city centre, which I owned with friend and business partner Ceri Collier, to record a five-song demo with a grant from the Prince's Trust. I had a suspicion that the day would be slightly different than most as Andy Fung, an already unusual singing drummer, had come to the session armed with a saucepan to supplement his drum kit. When they launched into the song “Tiny Shoes” I knew this was not a run-of-the-mill Oasis-a-like session that had become a staple of the studio in the mid 1990’s. They were fierce, angular, tight, had cool two-part harmonies with crazy lyrics, often relating to various foodstuffs, what was not to love? Ceri and I were looking to set up a record label at the studio and Derrero seemed like an excellent first signing, so we invited them back to record what would become the basis of the Derrero (Blue) album. Most of the music was tracked in a single day, with a few extra days recording vocals and overdubs, even in those days of analogue tape and live tracking this was an impressive feat, with songs such as “Dipstick” “Guppy” and “Cockroach” coming out of those sessions.
The “Small Pocket Machine” EP followed soon after featuring the brilliant “Stoned Rider” which included a review of the band shouted by Andy in the middle eight, in fact there was a lot of shouting on all the records we made together, both on the recordings and sometimes at each other!
Things were starting to happen, with great reviews and support slots with Super Furry Animals, Catatonia, Grandaddy, Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, Sebadoh and a film with John Cale, so we launched into recording songs for the second album and had some fantastic sessions where we all pushed really hard to find new sounds and approaches for the songs. Personally, I learnt so much about production on those sessions and the philosophy that “anything goes” helped make some really wonderful recordings. “Radar Intruder” came out of these early sessions, myself and Ceri knew, even from the earliest demos, that this song was great, which it proved to be, opening many doors and becoming a favourite of the late
great John Peel (who in his earlier days was a radar operator) which led to several sessions for his shows at the BBC Maida Vale studios. We ended up with so many songs, recorded in various studios, including the beautiful and probably my all time favourite Derrero song “Unstraightforwardtune”. Ash, Dave and Andy had also been joined by Mary Wycherley on keyboards and vocals which added a lot to the band Sonics. Andy was providing quirky, gorgeous artwork and Mary, the videos. Everything was looking positive, but…..
This was a hard time for the studio and the label, with a compulsory purchase order due to the development of the Cardiff Bay area and a long legal fight over compensation which held up the release of the album, it was frustrating for everyone. Against this background we released the “Radar Intruder” EP and “Fixation With Long Journeys” (an apt title) album, to positive reviews, but with the Big Noise Recordings label winding down, our working relationship with the band was nearing an end. We did release a single “Ariel Angel” on the Boobytrap Singles Club, a Sony Music funded label set up with Huw Stephens and Geraint John, but it had become time for the band and ourselves to move on. I recorded with them one last time, a BBC Radio session in 2002 after they’d released the beautiful “Comb the Breaks” album, it was a fun, happy, positive, creative day with people who would become lifelong friends, in fact it felt like the first day we had spent together in February 1996, except the saucepan was missing!
To see the band return nearly two decades later with a classic Derrero album such as “Time Lapse” is heartening and joyful, music spans lives, friendships and never dims with the passage of time, welcome back you beautiful, shambling people.
Greg Haver, producer and musician, January 1st 2020.
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