| Background: | group_or_band |
| Pink Peg Slax | |
| Origin: | Leeds, England |
| Genre: | Rockabilly, Western Swing, Cajun, Indie Rock |
| Years Active: | 1980–1988, 2012, 2022 |
| Label: | Batfish Incorporated, Red Rhino Records, Halfcut Records, Raucous Records, Cherry Red Records |
Pink Peg Slax are a rockabilly band from Leeds, England, formed in 1980. The band recorded a number of sessions for BBC Radio One, including for John Peel, and received day-time Radio One airplay during 1984-88. However, the band's records were commercially unsuccessful, and they never signed to a major label. Pink Peg Slax appeared on the 2023 Cherry Red Records release Where Were You?, a history of the Leeds indie music scene in the 1980s.[1]
The band formed as The New Fauves at the University of Leeds in 1978, with Pete Barker on lead guitar, Tim Strafford-Taylor on bass, and Tony Bullock (later Gordon Wright) on drums. Mark Wilson joined on lead vocals and rhythm guitar in 1979. They played gigs on and around the university campus and at Leeds punk venue the F Club. They adopted the name "Pink Peg Slax", after a track by Eddie Cochran, after playing a one-off rockabilly gig with their friend Jon Langford, drummer for The Mekons, at the 1980 Summer Ball at the university's Charles Morris Hall.
Pink Peg Slax continued to play in and around Leeds. Mark and Pete also did gigs with The Mekons and Pete played guitar on various Mekons recordings in 1981.
Graduation from Leeds University in July 1981 caused a hiatus in Pink Peg Slax’ activities and it wasn’t until January 1982 that the band came together again in Leeds, this time as a trio without drums with a more lyrical, less rock-based sound. Bass player Tim Strafford-Taylor was living at the same address in Leeds (Leicester Grove) as Soft Cell’s Marc Almond and played bass on the B-side of Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.
In the spring of 1982 the trio became avid and well-paid buskers in York (busking being illegal in Leeds at this time), and having honed a very tight act, recorded a live session for BBC Radio Leeds in April 1982. The band then took their instruments to the Cote D’Azur in the South of France and their busking attracted large audiences in the streets of Juan-Les-Pins and Antibes. Eventually in autumn 1982 Pink Peg Slax went into Ken Giles’ studio in Bridlington,[2] this time with Mark’s brother Richard Wilson[3] on drums, and recorded 6-7 Park Row, Scared Man, Li’l Jean and So What (I Just Need You). Nothing was done with these tapes at the time, but they confirmed to the band that they were a tight act and could sound good on record. "Li'l Jean" eventually appeared on the compilation vinyl LP The Kindness of Strangers[4] in 1988.
The band played regularly as a trio at Le Phonographique in the Merrion Centre, Leeds, a basement nightclub which became a nexus for the Goth scene in Leeds. Mark Wilson’s solo career as Vince Berkeley was beginning to take off, dinner-suitedly crooning 40s Sinatra standards with a fairly sophisticated jazz guitar backing. Pioneering Leeds promoter John Keenan[5] took an interest and put Mark on at the 2nd Futurama festival in North Wales, and he received favourable reviews in the UK music press. He played a few gigs opening University gigs for Mari Wilson (no relation), then riding high in the UK charts, and Alexei Sayle, the BBC’s anarchic stand-up “alternative” comic.
Towards the end of 1982, the band had decided on the rockabilly sound of the 1950s Sun Records as their musical paradigm. Tim Strafford-Taylor decided that an authentic rockabilly approach required an authentic rockabilly instrument, and he acquired a double bass from Scheerer’s Music Shop in Leeds, and quickly mastered the slap-bass technique made famous by the band’s bass hero, Elvis' original double bassist, Bill Black. Pete Barker was spending more time at his home base in Newcastle, and to continue as a rockabilly trio, the band asked a frequent fan of the band’s appearances at Le Phonographique, Ant Hanlon, to join on drums. Despite only deploying a solitary snare drum initially, Ant brought exuberance and enthusiasm, as well as access to a vast collection of rare rockabilly records.
Ant was studying at Leeds Polytechnic and he managed to get the band a few gigs doing supports at the Ents Hall, which was probably the best venue in Leeds in the 1980s. Pink Peg Slax also did a residency at Central Park/Ritzy[6] in Leeds in early 1983.
Their progress was, however, interrupted in March1983 when Mark Wilson began touring his solo act (appearing as Vince Berkeley) nationwide as support to popstar Mari Wilson and The Wilsations, covering the main theatres and venues in Great Britain, finishing at the London Palladium. Mark was being managed by the prolific John Keenan, who also got him a tour opening for Alexei Sayle, who reg;ularly appeared in the hit TV comedy The Young Ones on the BBC, again at the nation’s major venues.
While the Slax were continuing to appear at colleges they were getting a reputation around Leeds as a lively, fun, rocking trio. Unlike other rockabilly acts, the Slax wrote their own stuff, sometimes lampooning the “straight” rocking fraternity in songs like The Whip Hotel, which was about the notorious old pub[7] in the centre of Leeds which was the de facto HQ for Leeds Teddy Boys (and girls), Rockabillies and Rockers. After headlining the Grove[8] Music Festival in August 1983, John Keenan was sufficiently interested to put the band on at the 3rd annual Futurama festival at the Queen’s Hall Leeds in September 1983. With their single snare drum and cymbal, a double-bass amplified with a gaffered-on vocal mic and a tiny 10 watt guitar amp, the Slax doubted their set-up would fill the enormous venue, but the huge PA did the heavy lifting and their appearance was covered in the Sunday Times and the national music press.
Aware they needed a product to move the band on, the Slax returned to KG Studios in Bridlington in November 1983. Simon Denbigh, who’d been in Charles Morris Hall,[9] Leeds University, with Mark Wilson, generously agreed to put out a single on his Batfish Incorporated[10] label, which was an outlet for Denbigh’s band The Batfish Boys (itself a side-project to Denbigh’s other band, The March Violets. The Slax supported the March Violets at York University in Autumn that year.). Denbigh even provided some of the artwork for the record sleeve. Batfish Incorporated operated under the aegis of Red Rhino Records, the York-based Indie label that was part of The Cartel independent record shop distribution group (the band had agonised about going ahead with Denbigh’s offer since a local record shop owner had offered to both manage them and pay for the single’s recording and promotion). Dripping (My Love For You)[11] was released in March, 1984.The song was about the band's favourite drink, Holsten Export lager. Pink Peg Slax had chosen to produce the single themselves, and despite its lightweight sound, it immediately found favour with BBC Radio’s legendary DJ John Peel. The Slax secured a gig at Leeds Polytechnic opening for Peel’s Roadshow, and gave him a white-label copy, which he immediately played. A few months later, John Walters, Peel’s producer, rang up and offered the Slax a ‘Peel Session’.
Around this time in1984 the band began using pseudonyms, for both stylistic and practical purposes. Mark was already known as Vince Berkeley (from The Berkeley Hotel in Leeds 2, which had a notorious residents' bar frequented after-hours by Leeds musicians). Tim became Chet Taylor; Ant Hanlon became Abner Cavanagh and Martin Foakes became Martin Le Fou.
The first Peel session for the new 4-piece Pink Peg Slax was recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studio 4 in London in June 1984, just a stone’s throw from Abbey Road Studios, and a place of equal prestige. The band brought their mates along to speed up the recording of the choir-like backing vocals, and also to bump-up the fee, which was paid per musician. The songs recorded were:
Produced by Mott The Hoople’s drummer Dale Griffin, It was broadcast 3 times.
By now Pink Peg Slax had signed a manufacturing, publishing and distribution deal with Red Rhino Records in York, and they needed a new offering. John Peel urged the band to release “Bippo” from their session as a single, but as the BBC’s fee for using their master tapes was prohibitive, the Slax decided to re-record another of the session’s tracks Self-Pitying Stan[12] as their next release. Tim remembered the Soft Cell record he’d worked on as being produced at The Box,[13] so the Slax trooped off to Heckmondwike to record it. Red Rhino agreed to the band’s own imprint, Half-Cut Records,[14] being used as a label.
Prior to “Stan” being released, John Walters was on the phone again, offering a live session at the Institute of Contemporary Arts as part of the Harp Lager-sponsored Rock Weeks events. Peel had personally chosen all the bands, with all the performances recorded for broadcast on his or Janice Long's programmes. The advance publicity for the event proclaimed, "John Peel is putting the fun back into being pretentious."
Pink Peg Slax performed Cajun Feast, Bippo, Bippo (Bop, Man, Bop) and new songs Hole In My Shoe and Buzz-Saw Fiddle. The session was broadcast on 3 December, 1984, a few weeks after Self-Pitying Stan hit the shops and the independent charts.Both 45rpm singles had garnered respectable reviews in the three main UK music papers (NME, Sounds and Melody Maker), and “Stan” was played on early-evening BBC Radio One, but the band’s sales were dogged by their refusal to compromise with either the indie market or the rockabilly market. Despite regular contacts with the major labels, none went beyond encouragement and kind words.
Through 1985 the band kept gigging round colleges and universities and in the capital and they kept in touch with John Peel. In July that year the Slax were back at Maida Vale Studio 4 to record their second recorded Peel Session, produced by Andre Jacquemin. The songs recorded were:
The Slax were joined by Clive Webb (known as Colin Modérne) on piano and Richard Wilson on bass drum (on 'Momma'). 'I Saw The Light', one of the highlights of their live set, was a Hank Williams song. Mark Wilson was able to insert a Jimmy Cagney impression at the start of 'Excuses'. The session was broadcast twice in May, 1985.
Red Rhino and its publisher, Screaming Red Music, were keen for the band to release an album, and Pink Peg Slax had been writing steadily, so that they were able to record 14 songs for their debut album, Belting Out A Tuna.[15] Mark Wilson was becoming fascinated with cuisine and cooking, and culinary references peppered his songs; TV celebrity chef Keith Floyd shared the band’s musical culinary/rock’n’roll and drinking obsessions, and provided suitable sleeve notes (Floyd later used various Slax tracks as background music on Floyd On France[16] and Floyd On Britain and Ireland[17]) . The band decided to use Off Beat Studios[18] in Kirkstall, Leeds, because it was cheap, good, had a great engineer in Tony Bonner and was opposite a great Tetley’s pub. To maximise the Cajun feel of several numbers, the Slax brought in Mike Hirst, who had a genuine single-row Cajun accordion. Martin Foakes supplemented his fiddle work with piano and mandolin. Colin Modérne provided authentic Jerry Lee Lewis-style pumping piano.Released in spring, 1986, the songs on Belting Out A Tuna were:
Again the record received good reviews in the UK national music press, and following a guerrilla-style visit to Radio One’s producers, some afternoon and early evening airplay. Unlike other rockabilly bands and even some of the other Indie bands, the Slax records were on sale in major music shops, thanks to The Cartel and Rough Trade, and they could be found under “P” in HMV, Virgin Megastores, Tower Records and Our Price, as well as the independent record shops. Despite the nationwide gigs, national radio, national music press and the odd TV appearance, however, the major labels remained uninterested.
Keen to capitalise on live appearances with John Peel, The Pogues and a short tour supporting The Mission (Goth drinking pals from The Faversham pub in Leeds), Pink Peg Slax returned to The Box at Heckmondwike to record a 45rpm 4-track 12 inch EP, The Sound of the Meanwood Valley.[19] The cover art featured the band in various locations around Leeds with the front divided into four “7 inch single” picture-sleeves. The songs covered a deaf railwayman, a drunken pig, a recent assault on the bass player, Tim, and an imaginary dial-an-excuse service.
Track listing:
The record was well-received in the national music press on release in late 1986 and for once sold well.
After recording the EP, Martin Foakes left the band to pursue his outdoor coaching career. In the meantime, Simon Clay had joined the band on rhythm guitar and backing vocals. Simon used the name Simon Anderson (in honour of his idol, Gerry Anderson, the puppeteer) but also liked to be known as Dream. He brought musicality, ideas and lunacy to Pink Peg Slax (though the proportions of these qualities occasionally varied).
Mark Wilson had known Andy Kershaw when they were both at the University of Leeds, and when the latter became a BBC Radio One DJ with an emphasis on “roots” music, the Slax decided to pursue this connection. When they met at a Slax gig at the Astoria[20] in Leeds in 1986, Mark convinced him to give the band a session on his evening show. Kershaw, unfortunately, did not favour the Maida Vale studio used by John Peel, and the Slax were surprised to be sent to the Yellow 2 Studio in Stockport, Greater Manchester. Unaware of the gilded history of the place (as well as being used by The Smiths at the time, as Strawberry Studios it was where owners 10cc had recorded their massive hit records and had also been used by Paul McCartney and Neil Sedaka), the Slax found an unsympathetic engineer and producer and unfamiliar equipment. To make things worse, the band was under-rehearsed and the Dixieland Jazz quartet Mark had brought along got hopelessly drunk in the pub next door while the engineers tried to fix the atrocious sound. The producer refused to use the ramshackle Dixieland brass tracks on the broadcast session, and the day ended with unpleasantness on both sides, as well as domestic violence amongst the jazz band and its spouses.
Kershaw broadcast the session at the end of 1986 and like most people, was underwhelmed by it. The songs committed to tape were:
Mark Wilson wrote the songs. Colin Modérne again provided piano. The Dixieland Jazz Quartet was called Autumn.
While the Slax enjoyed all their gigs at clubs, colleges and universities around the land (and the extensive carousing that accompanied them) in March 1987 they rejoiced when they joined a UK tour with original 1950s American rock’n’roller, Sleepy La Beef. Sleepy wore a ten gallon hat, stood nearly 7ft tall, weighed close to 20 stones and dressed completely in black. He’d played with Chuck Berry, Elvis and Gene Vincent in the 50s and did over 300 gigs every year. Sleepy was a walking encyclopaedia of rock’n’roll guitar, and Mark Wilson’s playing made vast strides simply by watching him night after night. The next month the Slax actually backed Sleepy at London pub rock fixture the Sir George Robey. They brought both double bass and electric bass and asked him to choose. He wanted both.
In late 1987 Red Rhino asked the band to come up with a new album. Pink Peg Slax were keen to expunge the memory of the disastrous Kershaw Session and again re-recorded a couple of BBC session tracks in the far more relaxed setting of Off Beat Studios in Leeds. On the album, 12 Songs Never Recorded by FRANK SINATRA,[21] the Slax changed direction slightly by including blues and calypso numbers, and bringing in sax and layers of percussion. Martin Foakes also returned with his fiddle and Clive Webb brought more “pumping piano”. The joke about vicarious use of a (much) more famous personage (inspired by a 1950s MAD Magazine article) continued onto the front sleeve, with a rendition by Nigel Winfield (who illustrated all the band’s records after “Dripping”) of Pink Peg Slax being embraced by Ol’ Blue Eyes himself. The record came out on Rhino’s Ediesta label.
The12 Songs Never Recorded by FRANK SINATRA were:
The band sent a cassette of the unreleased album to Ossie Munnig in Munster, West Germany, who promoted a tour of major German cities and towns, including a foray into Austria. Simon Anderson was so smitten by Cologne that he moved there permanently in the early 1990s, but the Slax all loved the audiences, the scenery, the money, the accommodation, the food, but above all, the beer. Pink Peg Slax were doing more and more gigs and getting better UK press, so were delighted to return to West Germany in May 1988 where they were promoted on a month-long tour by Michael Bohl of West Berlin, now with Martin Henderson (ex-Skeletal Family, ex-Batfish Boys) on drums The gigs were bigger this time and they shared the bill and the tour bus with The Waltons, a country/hillbilly trio from West Berlin.
However, major success had eluded Pink Peg Slax and Mark Wilson decided he needed a proper job. He went back to college in late1988 to study computing, and worked as an IT consultant from 1993 until the present date. Tim Strafford-Taylor left Leeds and the band in 1990, also working as an IT consultant.
They were both reunited on NHS Spine Programme[22] from 2003 to 2007 and did some gigs together as Pink Peg Slax with Ant Hanlon returning on drums.
In 2012 the band digitised their back catalogue and BBC sessions to produce a “best of” CD, Rock-A-Beery Boogie,[23] which was released on Raucous Records. The songs selected were:
By the time of the CD’s release, Mark’s son Francis Wilson was playing rhythm guitar, and eventually joined the band on double bass.
Pete Barker, the original Slax lead guitarist and founder member, re-joined the band for regular gigs in 2019 and Pink Peg Slax recorded their first wholly new release, Evil Evil Evil Nice Nice Nice,[24] [25] with Graham Wardle on drums, since 1988. Martin Foakes also provided fiddle on Autumn, Headingley. A streaming release only, E3N3 was the first Pink Peg Slax commercial release (via CD Baby) to feature punk rock (Bunt Ruane). It was recorded at Valley Wood Studios, Leeds in 2018 and released in March 2022.The "nice" sounding songs were:
The "evil" sounding songs were:
Mark Wilson wrote the songs. The title was a quotation from English comedian Tommy Cooper's Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde spoof.
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.[26]