transcript] -> _dreams_never_end________[book]__[part 5/?]_
'dance dance to the radio'
[transcript] -> _dreams_never_end________[book]__[part 5/?]_
hi no'ers,
here's the fifth part
of this story...
hope you enjoy it..
later
-1
[synopsis]
the birth of joy division, their early shows,
and some more controversial subjects..they
meet tony wilson, rob gretton, and a college
student named gillian gilbert..
[legal note]
this use is allowed under the context
of the material being used for 'review'
and 'articles'.
-----------------------------cut here---------------------------
[transcript]
[chapter2:page 21]
'the house of dolls' continued to haunt ian curtis, especially
the image of innocent human beings enslaved for the entertainment
of others. in some respects, it seemed to be the perfect
metaphor for the way warsaw had been manipulated by the music
industry around them. they felt like prostitutes at times, forced
to stay in a small wing of a very large prison (obscurity) until
called upon by the wardens (music industry power brokers). the
name for the prostitutes' prison wing in 'the house of dolls',
and the name warsaw assumed at the start of 1978, was joy
division.
the 'joy' of the title contrasted humorously with the band's
pessimistic outlook. the new name also ended a problem clubs
were having in mistaking warsaw for warsaw pakt, a punk group
which had just released an album. joy division made their public
debut on january 25, 1978.
the show took place at pip's in manchester, advertised as a
warsaw concert to help the fans make the transition from one
name to the other. despite some confusion that almost caused
ian to miss the gig entirely (he'd had a few too many drinks
before showtime), and a fight in the audience, which muscled
dockworker peter hook broke up, the concert announced joy
division as the quartet's official new name. they resolved
to change it again if anyone left the group, or died.
stiff and chiswick records hosted a battle of the bands at
rafters on april 14, 1978. joy division and sixteen other
acts showed up for the competition, the winners getting a
recording contract with the eclectic stiff label, and
presumably, fame and fortune. the playing order was
determined at random, because everyone wanted to perform
first before the judges lost interest and went home.
the last name drawn from the hat read, 'joy division'.
waiting for their turn, the group walked to the bar for
a drink, and sat next to itv's tony wilson. one of the
music industries power brokers who held the key to
success. wilson had distinguished himself as the first
english tv host to feature punk rock. no doubt on hand
this evening to do some talent scouting himself, he
arrived with warsaw's electric circus performance strong
in his mind. certainly, one of the bandmembers should
introduce themselves? ian introduced himself by grabbing
wilson on the collar and saying, 'you b*****d! you put
the buzzcocks and sex pistols and all those others on
the telly, what about us?' barney and steve prised thier
singer off and dragged him away. hooky, meanwhile, tried
to con everyone he saw into taking the 'headlining' spot,
but nobody fell for his scheme. joy division were stuck
at last place.
they walked onstage at around ten minutes to two in the
morning, and blazed through four songs that none of the
judges and few of the audience stayed to hear. they felt
miserable, believing they had missed an important
opportunity. yet all was not lost: rob gretton had
complimented them on a 'brilliant' set, as did a friend
of theirs, a college student named gillian gilbert.
even tony wilson enjoyed them. the contest had been a
real 'stiff test', but joy division were winning over
all the right people in spite of themselves.
a few days later, ian shared wonderful news with his
bandmates. after visiting the offices of rca records,
hoping to get some free iggy pop posters, he met
derek branwood, the company's northwest promotions
manager. ian gave branwood a copy of 'an ideal for
living', and branwood liked it enough to pass it on to
his assistant richard searling and grapevine records
president john anderson, who were forming their own
punk record label. searling and anderson wanted to
release a full-length joy division lp, and the band
thought this was a great ida. they even attempted to
fulfill the duo's request for a cover version of the
song 'keep on keeping on', but the best they could do
was adapt some of the licks
[chapter2:page 22]
into a new composition they entitled 'interzone', named
after a william s. burroughs novel.
[synopsis]
joy division starts recording in the studio,
changes are made to some of the songs, and a
new manager appears..
[legal note]
this use is allowed under the context
of the material being used for 'review'
and 'articles'.
-----------------------------cut here---------------------------
[transcript]
[chapter2:page 22]
joy division had already perfected their material onstage,
so recording the songs was a quick and easy process lasting
only the first four days in may. they taped eleven songs, with
arrow studios engineer robert auger operating the recording
equipment. 'the drawback' began the album on a powerful note,
full of galloping drum tracks, catchy melodies, and ian's
vocals mixed loudly enough so that his lyrics could be
understood. all four songs from 'an ideal for living' were
re-recorded. the entire band sang the chorus of 'walked the
line', a bold anti-nazi statement that could only
discourage the festering suspicions about joy division's
political sympathies. the wonderful 'novelty' was also
taped, the slow and lumbering intro suddenly charging into
the body of the song.
'transmission', written in protest at the decline of pirate
radio stations featured an instantly memorable chorus -
'dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio' - which would
make it an audience favorite at joy division concerts. 'ice age'
followed, a vivid fantasy about an earth of the future
locked in an eternal winter, and 'shadowplay' ended the
album on a malevolent note, the final thundering chord and
cymbal crash drifting off into nothingness. here, at last,
was a disc that gave indications of the scope of joy divisions
potential.
the bandmembers signed contracts with searling and anderson on
the night of may 4, right after they had finished recording, only
to find out they'd agreed to a royalty deal far below the
british average. anderson overdubbed sythesizers onto 'no
love lost' and 'transmission' to give the lp a richer sound, and
this distressed joy division even further. the band loved music
first and foremost, and to have an outsider tamper with their
songs worried them. they allowed searling to present anderson's
final mix to rca, but made no promises about letting anybody
release it.
as stephen, ian and hooky tried to forget their troubles
by rehearsing at t.j. davidsons, rafters dj rob gretton
appeared in the doorway. they knew he was a fan, but had
no idea why he'd shown up. 'what's he doing here', they
wondered. barney arrived shortly thereafter, and with a
grin he explained, 'this is our new manager'.
terry mason was a very dear friend to everyone in joy
division, but he wasn't a very good manager. gretton,
on the other hand, was experienced and geniunely excited
about the band. having left the panik because they wouldn't
listen to him, gretton wanted to manage joy division,
and all four bandmembers agreed he was the man to do it. 'i
used to be sort of a roadie for joy division as well,' gretton
later said. terry mason became the groups road manager, and
gretton told everyone to sit tight and see how the 'rca
album' resolved itself.
-------------------------------------------------
[synopsis]
we see some of joy division material getting
exposure, and they go to the factory..and play
there...and we meet an art student, peter saville.
[legal note]
this use is allowed under the context
of the material being used for 'review'
and 'articles'.
-----------------------------cut here---------------------------
[transcript]
[chapter2:page 22]
virgin records released the compilation lp 'short circuit:
live at the electric circus' in june. as the first
publicly available release to feature joy division,
it exposed many people to the group, although
unfortunately virgin had chosen the mediocre 'at a
later date' - with barney's quote about rudolph hess -
to represent them. short circuit din't serve the
band well.
about a week after the records release, joy division
appeared at the factory, a weekly event held at
manchesters west indian russel club. the factory
was co-organised by tony wilson and an actor named
alan erasmus in an attempt to revitalise the
manchester scene, which still hadn't recoverd
from the loss of the electric circuit. as wilson
explained, the factory club, 'came about purely
because alan erasmus and i started managing
durutti column, which wasn't so much a band that
existed, but one we created around two members
of another group. we rehearsed them for three
months, and by that time, you want to do your first gig.
[chapter2:page23]
we decided we didn't like any of the places in
manchester, rafters had become boring, there was
no interesting place. so we decided that the best
thing to do was to actually open a place, which is
what we did. we went into stuyvesant town in new
york. we went to this guy who was a white gangster,
trying to borrow the russel club just so the
durutti column could play there. we thought,
'if we're borrowing it for one-night, which the
guy said he would do, why don't we borrow it for
four consecutive friday nights, give the event
a name, give it an identity, invite some of the
other groups we know onto the bill.' and thats
how it grew. by the time that may came there
were four nights and a whole load of bands played.
we approached joy division to play in june, and they
said , 'yeah'.
the name factory came about not as a tribute to
andy warhol's factory club in new york, as many
have believed, but, 'by accident, really.' wilson
said, 'i was walking down the street in manchester.
alan erasmus saw a sign that read, 'factory
warehouse sale', and said 'why don't we call
(the new club) factory?' at the time i said, 'thats
fine' but the warhol connection never occured to me.'
joy divisions factory night was advertised with a
slick-looking poster designed by an art student
named peter saville. wilson recalled meeting saville
after a patti smith concert: 'i was walking out,
and this kid came up and said, 'uh, hey, i know
you do a lot of things, if you ever need a
designer, i'm the man, i'm the greatest. i'm a
young kid, but i'm a great designer.' i got
his phone number, and two or three months later
rang him up and said, 'do a poster (for factory).'
that was the beginning of my relationship with
peter saville.
[by claude flowers, 1995]
-----------end document-----------
transcription : -1
research : claude flowers
layout : generic Designs
text : claude flowers
concept : claude flowers, new order
thanx : claude flowers, bs, gg, sm, ph
(c) : 1995 omnibus press
'shes lost control'