Just over 21 years ago the first ever edition of Joyzine was published online. It wasn’t long after that we first came across South London punks The Fades, and our paths have crossed many times since, with countless articles on the site, guest spots on The Joyzine Radio Show, headline sets at Joyzine gigs and plenty of good times besides.
Many Joyzine favourites have fallen by the wayside over those two decades, but The Fades have shown remarkable endurance, releasing a succession of great albums of pulsating punk rock, developing their sound with every release while still retaining an ineffable Fades-yness throughout that has kept them sounding fresh and exciting without compromising on their identity.
As they prepare to release a new expanded edition of their debut LP Social Misfits on 22nd November we caught up with frontman David Lightfoot to find out about the music that his inspired him over the course of his life.
1) What is your earliest music-related memory? What do you remember being played at home when you were a child?
My Dad was a massive Steve Harley fan and I have vivid memories of my Brother and I listening to Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel with my Mum and Dad before bedtime. My Dad used to like playing songs and making stories out of them with the lyrics. Everything from the Stranglers ‘Waltz in Black’ to OMD ‘Maid of Orleans’.
I remember that we both had blue pyjama suits and my Dad would tell us a story around the song ‘Tumbling Down’ and the lyric ‘Oh dear, look what they’ve done to the blues, blues, blues…’ soldiers marching to war and being abandoned. We are also all big Chelsea FC fans, so it had even more significance with the blues reference.
2) What was the first record that you ever bought? Where did you get it and do you have any recollection of the experience?
We used to always get given music at Christmas or Birthdays and stuff – I remember Bon Jovi and Kiss, or Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’, but the first actual record I went and bought with my own money was from HMV in Richmond. It was a copy of ‘Meet the Raisins’ by the Californian Raisins on vinyl. I think I initially bought it because I loved the cover and used to love the Claymation films. After listening to it though I realised there were some great covers of some classic R n B and soul bangers n there. I still have the record to this day.
3) When did you really start to develop a passion for listening to music? How did that come about and what were you into at the time?
I think that thanks to my Dad there has been a huge passion for music from a very early age. With the stories he used to tell using music and the imagery that conjured up in my imagination it developed a deep understanding and appetite for music. He had a huge record collection and used to DJ for my school at the school discos and events. It was fantastic to be able to spend time delving in to his vinyl collection by myself or with my family. He used to tape all of the music shows on TV too, we had a massive collection of VHS tapes with every episode of Top of the Pops and Grey Whistle Test and stuff. I wish I still had those….
I remember one time when I was about 8 years old, I came home from school and put ‘Maid of Orleans’ by OMD on the stereo and lay on the floor and cried cos I was feeling a little glum. I needed that release and I recognised the association with the music. Also Dad had told us the story of Joan of Arc being burned at the stake, so we knew that it was sad musically, but also lyrically/thematically.
4) What was the first gig that you went to? Where was it and what was it like?
This is a hard one because memories are a little hazy, but I believe it was Big Country at Wembley with my parents.
5) What are your memories of starting out making music? What was the first song that you learned to play?
My uncle gave us an acoustic guitar and an electric bass one day. My brother picked up the bass and I started playing the guitar. I fell in love with the feel of it in my hands and the way I could make sounds and chords and music come out of this piece of wood. It was like magic. It was like being gifted my own magic wand. It became like an extension of myself. How I could conjure up these sounds from the air, from the universe. I could learn songs I loved and create my own. I never looked back.
I believe one of the first songs I learned to play was something like ‘In My Life’ by the Beatles, or ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ by Cream. I started learning Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Rolling Stones, the Who and all music that had great guitar lines and guitar heroes. ‘Say it Ain’t So’ by Weezer and the Hendrix version of ‘Killing Floor’ were some of the first songs that I ‘covered’ playing with my Brother and mates once we’d got a band together.
6) What was your first band/musical project? What music was influencing you at that time? What are your memories of playing your first gig and are there any recordings out there?
The first ‘official’ band I started with friends from school and my brother’s mates from college was called ‘Drift’. We were your typical first band setup, where you don’t quite know what you are yet and you’re basically playing and writing songs that you’re good at, or have been listening to recently, but we were also writing in that same vein. We’d have really slow and sad/anthemic indie rock stuff, then blues, then funk and hard rock. It was all over the place. A mixture of Hendrix, the Cure, Weezer, the Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Parliament, Gong, David Bowie, all sorts! I loved it!
There used to be an open mic night at the Bull and Bush in Richmond called the Crawdaddy Club – where the Rolling Stones were discovered back in the 60’s – and we’d get up and play there. It was an amazing time, when even an open mic night would be packed full of eager punters. All of our mates from school and college would come to every gig. We’d pack out places in Fulham and Putney with hundreds of kids. There are some videos knocking around – I will get them digitised one day.
7) What are your memories of starting The Fades? What was your first release and what do you think now when you listen back to it?
The Fades evolved from a band I started at college in Kingston (Jon Vick from The Moths was on drums at the time).
I was on the first music course at Kingston college and I met a load of great like minded friends. We had a brilliant teacher who encouraged jamming and rehearsing, and we used to play at studios in Hounslow and Kingston. We did gigs in front of the rest of the class and stuff – places like the Grey Horse, the Peel and the Rifleman. I started writing some good stuff and I was also writing at home with my Brother. I remember at one of these gigs the tutor said I reminded him of Tom Verlaine from Television, so of course I went and bought that album the next day which became a big influence on me. I decided now that I wanted to sing and play guitar too ‘cos of the bad experiences I’d had so far with other singers.
It wasn’t until University (where I went to avoid getting a job) that the band really started happening. We started out as Molotov Cocktail and we’d done a demo of my song called ‘Music is Killing Me’, we sent it in to Steve Lamacq on BBC Radio 1 and he played it!
My old school friend Jonny was on the same course at Uni and he joined and we got a ‘pro’ drummer friend who worked with my Dad to join on drums and off we went!
I still really like that first demo. I think we captured something pretty cool and authentic. There’s a nice DIY energy to it and the sound of something fresh and brand new (we’d probably only really existed in that form for a couple of months)
8) Which band/artist do you think has had the biggest influence on your music over the years? What is it about them that inspires you?
That’s a really tough one as I don’t think there is only one artist or band. People are a collection of influences and experiences.
I’m influenced by everything from those moments as a kid with my parents record collection and video tapes; Steve Harley, the Stranglers, the Beatles etc, the songs that they were playing and were around as I was growing up; Depeche Mode, the Cure, Erasure and the songs that I was discovering through friends, research etc; Television, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Doors.
I guess the first bands that I felt like were really mine was around the grunge period. Nirvana were a massive influence, Soundgarden, Red Hot Chili Peppers (John Frusciante), Weezer, but also Britpop came kicking in; Radiohead, Blur, Supergrass and of course the stuff that wasn’t really Britpop too like The Auteurs and The Stone Roses, The Wedding Present. And then later the garage rock scene with the Strokes, the Libertines and the Hives and bands like that came along. It really felt special at the time cos we were kicking about as the fully fledged Fades by then and it seemed like there was this brilliant scene around London with the Buffalo Bar, Metro Club and Barfly and stuff. Gigs everywhere! Joyzine was obviously a big part of this too and I’m sure you can attest to how exciting it all was.
9) Who are some of your favourite current artists? What do you like about them?
I’m really into the Kane Strang album ‘Two Hearts and No Brain’, some of the more ethereal lo-fi stuff out there like Ffion Regan and Mount Eerie. I got really into Vundabar and the album ‘Gawk’. I’m also enjoying this sort of surf rock, garage rock revival that seems to be happening, bands like Wine Lips, Bad Nerves and stuff like that. I’m just enjoying the authenticity of the music and it reminds me of the scene back in 2003.
10) You’re releasing a special 20th anniversary edition of your debut album Social Misfits soon, how has your approach to making music changed since you started out, and how has your sound developed over that time? Is there a particular song on the record that is particularly special to you for any reason?
It’s funny because I think my approach to making music has actually come full circle back to when we recorded that record again. I’m going back to trying to capture the sound of the moment and not over produce or over think everything too much. We recorded most of ‘Social Misfits’ on a Fostex 8-Track reel to reel at the drummer’s flat. At the time this was due to logistics and costs/available tech rather than necessarily a conscious choice, but I really think it has captured something.
Not just because we were young, keen and eager – before time and experience may have jaded us a little. It’s also because we were slightly naïve and limited technically. The songs seemed easier somehow. I want to try and get back to that, but with the added experience and sound that we have developed. We know who we are now.
‘You Say’ is the song for me that really captures the essence of the Fades. It’s got a lot of the elements of our sound – a nice mix of indie/garage/rock/ska/punk/soul – ‘punk soul rockers’ I believe we called ourselves at the time. It was also the lead single from the album and the track that really established us as the Fades. I remember hearing it on the radio around December 2002, weeks before it was actually released, Zane Lowe had picked it up on XFM and it was getting played loads on the station. It was incredibly exciting, memories of Pete (Genepool Records) phoning us to say he’d heard it and then loads of calls and messages from family and friends hearing it ‘in the wild’. There really is no better buzz than hearing your record on the radio.
The 20th anniversary reissue of Social Misfits is out on 22nd November, preceded by a single ‘Missed The Point’ on 15th November – watch the video here
The Fades play their annual Xmas party at the Fighting Cocks, Kingston on December 18th – tickets
The Fades: Website / Facebook / Instagram
Interview and photograph by Paul Maps
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