1984 - 1989

A TRIBUTE TO A SHIT KICKIN' TRASH BAND

You'll search high and low on the web for information about this band but the chances are you won't find any. Why? Well probably because they, along with many thousands of bands from all eras never made it to vinyl. That doesn't mean to say they weren't any good, by all accounts they were offered a few shady deals along the way which may have led to greater things but somehow it just never came together. A great pity because if ever a song deserved committing to vinyl then the self penned mighty 'Muscleman' did! Hence, after a few years of dragging themselves around pubs, clubs and toilets (literally!) in Essex, Hertfordshire and London, and trying to deal with the awful 'pay to play' policy that so many clubs practiced, they drifted apart following a final gig at the Deptford Crossfields Festival in the summer of 1989.

So where were Harold Beaver coming from? A good place to start would be the name, - a joke! A search on the web for the name Harold Beaver will reveal that he was the guy who edited Herman Melville's Moby Dick! Absolutely no relevance to anything whatsoever. The band apparently chose the name for this very reason. Here was an anti-aesthetic much in the same vein as the punk ethos. Of course it was a joke that no-one really got and it definitely didn't meet the studied 'cool' requirement of all those 'serious' psychobilly and garage bands on the circuit at the time (who so often took such a dour faced wide berth of the band). Harold Beaver were 'trash' and proud of it!

Just as an aside, another obvious interpretation of the name was expressed at Harold Beaver's debut gig when they supported Thee Milkshakes at Clacton's legendary Westcliff Hotel. Here, a drunken Wild Billy Childish on being heckled by the Harold Beaver contingent came out with probably the most wonderful way NOT to woo your audience this writer has ever heard. (As it happens, the sheer trashy brilliance of Thee Milkshakes meant that the audience were won over later anyway.) Have a listen (coming soon!). A truly 'childish' moment! (sorry, had to put that in)

So in the great musical evolutionary scale of things 'Trash' probably sits just below 'Garage', it is intentional musical anarchy and a band can bring whatever ingredient they want to the party. Harold Beaver brought a dodgy name, unpretentious humour, serious non-musicianship, a singer who was a brilliant front man, trashy covers of old nuggets, garage band covers, a few original songs, tuxedoes, split Levis, mean flat tops, Smiffy's underpants, alchohol, some pretty women, a loyal following and above all, some GREAT shit kickin' trash music.

This website then, is a tribute to Harold Beaver and all the other bands who, like them, presented a great home grown alternative to all the other 'eighties' mediocrity that is now spoken of with such growing affection. Also to all the fans without whom the whole scene just wouldn't have been possible.

 

A dedication also to Chris Chisnall of Spasmodic Caress and The Schizodelics - Gone but not forgotten !!!!