The Rosehips
Ay up!
OK, this is basically what occurred. The Rosehips were formed in January '86 for "something to do" 'cos we lived in Barlaston, a little village outside Stoke-On-Trent (Stoke is where the North begins and the bad beer ends). Originally there were four of us: Glenn (guitar), who had a proper job, Ant (bass) and Mark (drums) , who were both at college and Yo, who was still in high school. The popular explanation for Rosehips is that we needed something beginning with "R" so we could be near the Ramones in the record shops - although we didn't really expect to get out of Glenn's bedroom nevermind make any records.
Our first gig was at Barlaston village hall, our second in Bristol with the Flatmates. that night we signed to the very happening Subway organisation label., thereby becoming officially "cute", but that whole cute thing wasn't so much about twee-ness, as is the common misconception, it was and still is about DIY, the old punk ethos. First release, "The Last Light" appeared on the Subway comp. "Take The Subway To Your Suburb." It was just a rough demo we'd done in Stoke. We had to get it transferred onto 1/4" in a hurry - 2.30 am. When the transferring machine-thing (technical term) didn't have a plug on it, Dave had to make a connection out of aluminium foil, it was a fuckin KitKat wrapper or something. That guy was nuts, he moved to Iceland soon after, as if Stoke's not cold enough.
Mark 1
Our first EP happened in Bristol around the corner from a chip shop that sold "roll-off peas" not the stick-on mushy type that us Northerners were used to. Anyway we were pretty stunned when it charted. Apart from the demos, which were done in Bristol, all our other stuff was done on Tamworth, Staffs. around the corner from an Indian (starting to see our priorities yet?) There was no handy food shop near the demo studio so "Jan the fan" used to make these mega cheese sandwiches for us.
Mark 2
To start with it was dead simple, our transport was Ant's mini, that's all of us and the gear. We'd travel listening to old punk stuff, US hardcore, the stuff we loved. We'd do gigs, sleep on floors and play out 2 minute songs in 27 seconds flat. Lead by Mark, we got faster and faster until he spontaneously combusted and left in '87. At this point, Pete joined on extra guitar and Rocker - the Flatmates drummer, who'd just swapped his stool for an ejector seat and become and ex-Flatmate (an event that we Rosehips mourned with a specific "big beer" evening) - sat in for us until Mark 2 joined, then Rocker switched to organ. Now we'd got some real cred. members: Pete was a teacher and Mark's dad used to play with Sandie Shaw!
Ant
Our best gigs were the ones where our Spider did the sound. We stopped Shakespeare once; the theatre people across the road couldn't hear themselves above our sound check. They were pretty annoyed so we were thrilled. Spider was ace. He was in cool band The Seers, he drank a lot, took the piss out of us and could skate well. Things got a bit more complicated with six members and our sound changed a lot, because of Rocker's unfeasibly large organ, or some other juvenile explanation.
Rocker
All in all we spent three years having a laugh, so mission accomplished then. We met some sound people and some sound engineers (I hope that translates). We drank beer, ate oatcakes, ate curry, played with some cool bands (Mega City Four, Wedding Present, Senseless Things, Groove Farm, My Bloody Valentine, Chesterfields, Darling Buds, Thrilled Skinny, Talulah Gosh, Lush, Inspiral Carpets), had more beer and more curry then gave up and died. Our last gig was in Bristol on 13/6/89.
Pete
The aftermath: Glenn still has the same proper job, Pete's still teaching, Rocker's still a dentist and is in Spectrasonic, Mark 1 runs a studio, Ant and Mark 2 formed the Venus Beads and Yo works for the council. None of us are married and to the best of our knowledge there are no baby Rosehips - so there's a relief! We could bore y'll with a giant gratitude list, but instead we dedicate the whole thing to Jan* for making us cheese butties and dancing in the middle of our practices. Thanks for checking this out and as we say in Stoke - t'ra!
Glenn
* This is pronounced Yan by us and Yarn by him, just to cause confusion on the guest lists!
Text written by Yoland for the booklet accompanying "The Rosehips" CD released by Secret records in 1998.
Yoland
Home Page Confessions Of A Teenage Rosehip Posters, Tickets, Flyers
Discography Spider and the Rosehips Final Gig Review
Pete and the Rosehips Secret Records Compilation review
