Bob Tilton | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Arnold, Nottinghamshire, U.K. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1993–1999 |
| Labels | Subjection, Southern, Sousaphon, Genet, Armed with Anger |
| Spinoffs | Wolves Of Greece |
| Spinoff of | Downfall |
| Past members |
|
Bob Tilton were an English post-hardcore band, from Arnold, Nottinghamshire. Formed in 1993 by former members of Downfall, the band helped to establish the mid-1990s UK emo scene alongside Liverpool band Dead Wrong. Following the release of their debut EP Wake Me When It's Springtime Again (1993), the band gained attention of the mainstream music producers, magazines and labels, however the band refused to interact with the industry. Their debut album Crescent was released in 1996, its fusion of emo and post-rock becaming a reference point for many subsequent post-rock groups. Following the album's release, the band became less active, as the band's member spread across England for university, disbanding in 1999. Their final album, The Leading Hotels Of The World (2000), was released posthumously.
Bob Tilton formed in 1993 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire by guitarist Neil Johnson and bassist Mark Simms alongside former Downfall vocalist Simon Fern and drummer Allan Gainey. [1] Their first show was in March 1993, opening for Revolution Summer band Christ on a Crutch, alongside Nottingham punk band Slum Gang. When Fern and Johnson were organising this show, the band was named Static, however he had created the poster using an image of American televangelist Robert Tilton. Before the show took place, a friend suggested the band derived their name from Tilton, due to Fern's interest in religious imagery and his opposition to the capitalisation of Christianity. [2]
In their early days they perform frequently alongside Liverpool band Dead Wrong, who later called them "our best friends in the scene." [3] This led to the 1993 EP Nothing New, which featured Dead Wrong, Bob Tilton, Kitchener, Bugeyed and Kito, released through Armed with Anger Records. [4]
While attending a Quicksand show, the band hired Chay Lawrence, guitarist for Holbeach emo band Tribute, to play second guitar. [5] Lawrence departed from the band soon after due to his relocation to London to attend university. [6] During a show at Bradford's the 1 in 12 Club, the band were approached by Ian Simpson, owner of Subjugation Records, who booked them studio time with Andy Sneap on 2 January 1994. [7] Lawrence dropped out of university three weeks later and returned to Nottinghamshire, however did not inform the members of Bob Tilton, feeling embarrassed at his perceived academic failure. Soon, Lawrence attended a Bob Tilton show, where Johnson approached him, asked him if he'd moved back and whether he'd like to rejoined the band. Lawrence accepted. [6] Subjugation released the band's debut EP Wake Me When It’s Springtime Again later that year. [7] The EP and the band's live performances were instantly successful in the underground. [8] Around this time they were being courted by music executive Seymour Stein and record producer Rick Rubin. [9] The same year, they released a split EP with Cowboy Killers and Billy Rubin, released through First Strike Records, and contributed a track to the Subjugation Records EP with Dead Wrong, Tribute and the French screamo band Fingerprint. [10]
In March 1995, the band released their second EP Songs Of Penknife And Pocketwatch, which they promoted with a headline tour of the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, with support from Fabric. [11] They embarked on a second tour of mainland Europe in June, playing four dates in Sweden, in addition to Munster and Belgium. [12] That same year, they recorded a Peel Session for BBC Radio 1, [13] and played the first Camden Crawl festival with Kenickie and Quickspace. [14] [15]
Their debut album Crescent (1996) was recorded with instruments tracked in Johnson's parents living room, and vocals in a disused flat in Lenton. [16] A 1996 article by NME noted them as having gained a "new-found indie stardom". [17] The band began to be active in both the northern England hardcore punk scene and the southern England indie rock scene, a fact that led to backlash from the hardcore scene. [18] Around this time, the band began to expand throughout England, with Simms relocating to Leeds for university, and Lawrence moving frequently. [19] They were booked to perform at the Bedford Esquires in May 1997 with Mogwai, but did not show up. [20]
In 1998, they recorded their follow up album, over the course of a total of two weeks spread over a year, largely in the basement of Simms' house in Leeds. [21] They performed at the January 1999 NME Awards alongside Mogwai, Bonnie Prince Billy and Clinic, [22] and soon released an instrumental split EP with Beligan emo band Reiziger. [23] That year, Southern Records re-released Crescent, gaining the band significant attention outside of the hardcore scene. [24] Chay Lawrence soon departed from the group to attend Central Saint Martins. [25] His role being filled by Ralph Hamilton from Useful Idiot. The band's output slowed significantly at this time. [26]
They announced their imminent disbandment in April 1999, following the departure of Gainey. [27] They were offered a spot supporting Fugazi and the Jesus Lizard at the Brixton Academy, however declined, wishing the exposure to go to a newer band. Instead, in Spring 1999, Bob Tilton played their final show at Bunkers Hill Inn in Nottingham supporting Ligament and Lazarus Clamp. [28] The 1998 recording was released as their second album The Leading Hotels Of The World in 2000, featuring a softer sound. [26] It was released through Sousaphon Recordings, an imprint of Southern Records that was established specifically for this record. [29]
Following their disbandment, Fern and Johnson formed the band Wolves of Greece. [30]
Critics have categorised their music as emo [31] [8] math rock [32] and post-hardcore. [33] A number of publications coined the term "scrunchcore" to describe them, referencing Fern's tendency to scrunch himself into a corner while performing, a term which CMJ New Music Monthly writer Lois Maffeo called "a precursor of the 'emo' label to describe emotionally driven punk". [34] Other publications noted them as "emo kings". [9] [35] NME referred to their debut album Crescent as "arty post-rock emocore". [17] The Leading Hotels of the World saw a stylistic shift to indie emo. [36] Bandcamp Daily writer Simon Czerwinskyj noted them as and "hyper-emotional punk". [37]
The band's style was chaotic, [38] incorporated elements of noise music, [39] and used amplifier feedback. [40] A 1994 review in Overall There Is A Smell of Fried Onions magazine called them "the piss poor man's version of Youth of Today". [41] Their songs were largely written by Johnson. [42]
They cited influences including Moss Icon, the Nation of Ulysses, Heroin and Born Against, with Simms also taking elements of indie rock. [43]
AllMusic writer Stephen Cramer retrospectively noted the band as "certainly influential in the transformation of the new elegant form of punk: emo". [44] They have been cited as an influence by Kagoule, [45] Hookworms [46] and David Gamage of Rydell, Joeyfat and the Couch Potatoes. [47] In his memoir, Stuart Braithwaite cited Bob Tilton as one of the motivations for his band Eska to sign to Love Train Records, and called Fern "the most intense singers I'd ever seen, truly a force of nature." [48] Chris Leo of the Van Pelt called the band their "brothers in arms" and that they "made sure we linked up with that crew on our first UK tour in 1997". [49]
Kerrang! listed them as one of "20 bands who didn’t get the respect they deserved". [13]
While a band, they did not allow their labels to send out review copies and did not partake in interviews, [22] despite this, their single "Penknife and Pocketwatch" was awarded Single Of The Week by the NME. [8]
Albums
EPs
At the opposite end of the sonic spectrum, Bob Tilton were quite possibly the most organic and unpretentious 'emo' band to ever come out of the UK. They formed in Arnold, a quiet suburb of Nottingham, during early 1993, when vocalist Simon Fern and drummer Allan Gainer from Downfall met guitarist Neil Johnson and bassist Mark Simms.
We had our first show booked in Nottingham supporting Christ On A Crutch and Slum Gang [March '93] and we hadn't decided on a permanent name for the band. Neil and myself were booking the show and decided to cast our own band as one of the supports; the name we had at the time was Static although, personally speaking, I wasn't crazy about it.
The flyer I constructed showed a picture of Robert Tilton, the evangelist. I was writing stuff at the time on organised religion and religion as business, but also loved religious imagery.
Bob Tilton were the new emo kings and our best friends in the scene. We'd play with them a lot and, although they usually headlined, we always blew them off stage.
"I remember getting the 'Consolidation' EP on Armed With Anger and thinking, 'I want to play shows with all these bands and blow them all off stage!'" laughs Andy. "This was after about five rehearsals and we still sounded like total shit,... Inspired by the aforementioned 'Consolidation' compilation, Andy put together the 'Nothing New' EP in 1993, which was a split release between Bradford label Armed With Anger and Preston's Kwijibo and featured – as well as Dead Wrong, of course – Bob Tilton, Bugeyed, Kitchener and Kito.
"Here we were watching Quicksand, they were fantastic, afterwards this AC/DC cover band comes on, I remember Neil and Karl were gabbing, they both come over to me, they're like 'Hey, do you wanna play second guitar in Tilton'... and I was like 'Uh, yeah" just kind of freaking out because I thought Tilton were the shit at the time. So, I went down there for a couple of pratices
I ended up going to university for like three weeks and telling Tilton... I didn't call Neil to say I'm back or anything... and Tilton were playing gigs, so me and Karl we went to go see Tilton and I remember Neil saying 'What are you doing here?' and I'm like 'Well, I dropped out of university', and Neil was like 'You didn't call or anything?'and I was like 'I was a bit embarrassed' and he's like 'Get back in the band, you idiot'... During this time they'd recorded the first 7 inch I think, so I wasn't on the first 7 inch
After their debut at the Narrow boat, Bob Tilton played another dozen shows in 1993 in places such as Birmingham, Leicester and London, but most significantly one at the Bradford 1 In 12 Club, where their explosive set was thoroughly enjoyed by Ian from Subjugation. This paved the way for the band's first EP, the urgent 'Wake Me When It's Springtime Again', which they actually recorded with massively acclaimed metal producer Andy Sneap on 2 January 1994.
Dead Wrong then contributed the tracks 'Gut' and 'From Prison Diary' to a three-way split 7-inch, 'Electroplating The Dead', for First Strike Records, where they appeared alongside Billy Rubin and Cowboy Killers; also the track 'Time Was' to the 'Autonomy' 7-inch for Subjugation, another compilation this time shared with Bob Tilton, Tribute and Fingerprint.
The following year saw a second well-received 7-inch on Subjugation, 'Songs Of Penknife And Pocketwatch', which was promoted by tours of both the UK and Europe. "They were the only two tours we ever undertook as such," reveals Simon. "We had four shows booked with Fabric in March 1995: Liverpool, Glasgow, Kirkcaldy and Manchester."
Our second tour was more successful: six shows in Europe during June '95. We did one show in Munster, one in Belgium, with Reiziger and four in Sweden. It was a great experience, although much of this I can no longer remember. Rob from Kito kindly drove us and one prevailing memory I have is of being threatened by a gun-toting, bicycle-riding Swede.
The debut Bob Tilton album, 'Crescent', was recorded in 1996, albeit in a rather unorthodox way and it remains a beautiful, poignant listen even today, at once both noisy and melodic (in a bleak bitter-sweet way), painfully fragile yet naively powerful. "I wouldn't change anything about it," says Neil, justifiably proud of what is probably the band's definitive recording, "and reckon it'd be pointless to worry about it either. We recorded the instrumental tracks at my parents' house. We wanted to record in the garden, but opted for the lounge; that was all done on a four-track again. The rest was recorded in Lenton, above a friend's flat. We saw that the place was unlocked and borrowed some really primitive recording stuff (eight-track cassette); Mark set it up so we had all the amps and stuff in separate rooms. We put mattresses up against the windows and were just about to go for a take.
We would go up north and do punk all-dayers at the 1 in 12 or some squat in Leeds, and then we'd go down to London and there would some kind of north London indie promoters all-dayer and it'd be a totally different crowd, you know? Not at all punky, more just kind of London indie. It was in two camps at once, it was fun there at the time, we were bridging the gap. A lot of people in the punk scene weren't too happy about it at the time.
Everyone in Tilton was starting to spread out, Mark had gone to university and he was in Leeds, the rest of the guys were in Nottingham, I was moving around all over the place.
"We recorded 'The Leading Hotels Of The World' throughout 1998, in bits and pieces basically. Neil tells me it was two weeks recording time spread over one year – which is crazy! – and it was predominantly recorded in the cellar of Mark's house in Leeds where he was based and studying. "The sound of the band obviously mellowed overall and, listening to it now, I wish I could re-record some of the vocal parts. By that point, though, the writing was becoming harder and didn't feel as natural as it had been. I don't think we ever set out to purposely change direction; it just travelled its own route, but the passage wasn't easy."
"We recorded 'The Leading Hotels Of The World' throughout 1998, in bits and pieces basically. Neil tells me it was two weeks recording time spread over one year – which is crazy! – and it was predominantly recorded in the cellar of Mark's house in Leeds where he was based and studying. "The sound of the band obviously mellowed overall and, listening to it now, I wish I could re-record some of the vocal parts. By that point, though, the writing was becoming harder and didn't feel as natural as it had been. I don't think we ever set out to purposely change direction; it just travelled its own route, but the passage wasn't easy." the album was the last thing Bob Tilton put their names to, as they broke up soon after its release.
But it wasn't until Southern Records got involved in '99 and re-issued 'Crescent' on CD, along with the promotion and distribution of their new album "The leading hotels of the world' that they really gained more widespread popularity.
From that point I was in the band through to about '99 I think... I only left the band because I really went to uni... I got into Saint Martins in London.
Following the underground success of 'Crescent', Chay Lawrence left the band and was replaced by Ralph Hamilton, although it would be three years before their next release, the much lighter sophomore album The Leading Hotels Of The World. "Losing Chay was tough," concedes Simon. "We were never the most prolific band, but we had our own momentum; once Chay left we lost that momentum, I think and we were floundering a little. Ralph was a friend who was studying in Nottingham; he used to play in Useful Idiot and was both a lovely guy and a great guitar player.
Internationally acclaimed emo pioneers BOB TILTON have unfortunately called it quits after drummer Al decided to call it a day.
"Our last gig could have been at the Brixton Academy with Fugazi and Jesus Lizard! But we thought, as it was such an amazing bill, that a band that were going to keep on playing should play instead, so our last gig was actually at the Bunkers Hill Inn in Nottingham; we supported Ligament and Lazarus Clamp opened up. I think it was spring 1999… Everyone came back to mine afterwards and there was a massive argument involving Marc from Plunger, who was living in Nottingham at the time!"
Jointly on Southern and Sousaphon Recordings... Sousaphon was Bob Tilton's own imprint and only used for this release.
After Bob Tilton, Simon and Neil played together in Wolves! (Of Greece), who released a self-titled 10-inch in March 2004, before splitting that same year. Neil, who works for a refugee housing organisation and Mark who lives in London and does freelance sound and camera work, both still make music in low-key bands, while Chay now lives in Chicago with his family and Allan is a happily married graphic designer in London. Sadly, Ralph died in a car crash ("We all miss him," offers Neil).
Bob Tilton is one of the few bands who deserve the emo tag , as emotion formed the primary inspiration for their music.
Within a year or two of the album's release, for example, the UK boasted many bands which can reasonably be described as math rock in their general orientation, such as Bob Tilton (from Nottingham), Reid (Glasgow), Baby Harp Seal, Bilge Pump and Polaris (all from Leeds).
Nottingham, England's Bob Tilton was once dubbed by the British music press as "scrunchcore," a style of music unique to the group and its lead singer Simon Feirn, who made a habit of scrunching into a corner of the stage to deliver his anguished vocals. Call it a precursor of the "emo" label to describe emotionally driven punk.
And as if that isn't enough emo fans we also have a local supergroup THE THIRD ESTATE who recently played with emo king BOB TILTON at the 1in12 club.
Chaotically driven emo-core in the vein of Bob Tilton but with a lot less thrusting force.
Most of the Bob Tilton stuff at the time was coming from Neil, I would come to band practice and he was the guy coming up with like 99% of the music... he would come up with the riff and start playing it we would just kind jam along with it and most of the time he would say 'Chay I want you to play this over it, and sometimes he wouldn't and I'd make up my own stuff.
With Mark bringing some indie-rock influences and both Simon and Allan worshipping Born Against and Nation Of Ulysses, not to mention Heroin and Moss Icon, early Bob Tilton was far removed from the more fragile sounds the band evolved towards and nothing really like Slant or Fugazi, the two bands to which BT are most often likened.
Then Bob Tilton went on. We'd played with them before... you can't help judge your work against your peers sometimes, and these guys were leading the way. I looked on them as an inspiration and a reminder that we could do better
Another band that had put music out on Love Train was Bob Tilton, a Nottingham hardcore band named after a US TV preacher. Bob Tilton refused to play on stages and had one of the most intense singers I'd ever seen, truly a force of nature.