The start of the Final Years!
At this time the line-up of the band had recorded and played together for the last two years but internal strife erupted between some members of the band which ended up with Dean Tyler being somewhat crudely ousted. Not our finest moment. During this unsettled time we went back to PIJ Studios to record “Each to Other” for Dean’s Swirl label. His one and only record release but a good song perhaps worthy of more than a flexi.
On 17th February 1995, after playing the Louisiana in Bristol, Nick decided to leave the band. It was the end of an era but Nick had always been a square peg in a round hole. That’s not meant to be a swipe at the man but he would be the first to admit it. By this time we’d also ditched the drum machine and brought in Tim a “real” drummer. The first rehearsal with Tim was one of those moments where we collectively thought shit – why did we spend so long with a drum machine?!. We only played a handful of gigs with Tim before our last show in Oxford in early 1996 but we were a much better live band during this time. Most of us lived in the same house so we actually rehearsed at rehearsals rather than discuss Eastenders, had mildly better equipment and did everything a bit more professionally. The line-up was now Jamie – vocals and bass, Scott – guitars, Dean – guitars, Tim – drums and Kathryn – vocals.
During 1995 we wrote some of our best material and with this line-up recorded our single ‘Wasted Away’ and ‘Wish Coming True’. This would have come out on Sarah if they hadn’t decided to wind up. Instead it was financed by Spoiler Records (run by Tim and his mate Phil). We hired a promoter to push the single who later appeared in a special report on Watchdog committing various misdemeanours. Needless to say, the single never got off the ground.