I was just a bit too young to catch grebo legends Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine at their peak. I was still in primary school when they released seminal single ‘Sheriff Fatman’, were banned by the BBC for ‘Bloodsport for All”s attack on racism and bullying in the British military (released shortly after the outbreak of the Iraq war) and had their first gold album. Still young enough to care who was awarded the ‘Worst Haircut’ award at the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party when guitarist Les ‘Fruitbat’ Carter infamously rugby tackled an armour-clad Philip Schofield live on air. Barely breaking into adolescent acne when they reached number one in the UK album charts and were permanently banished from Glastonbury for insulting Michael Eavis onstage when their headline slot was cut short.
And so it was Straw Donkey, their 1995 singles compilation that first introduced me to the South London duo’s euphoric mix of massive indie/pop punk guitar hooks, with synths, samples and drum machine beats influenced by the acid house scene. The collection has now been reissued as a newly expanded and remastered edition on double LP vinyl and CD/DVD via Chrysalis Records.
Packed with fantastic tunes, mashing up genres in a way that was experimental but always accessible, with Jim Bob’s lyrics perfectly balancing sensitive and highly political topics, from slum landlords to consumerism to poverty to child abuse, in a measured and hard-hitting but understandable and often humorous way, songs like ‘The Only Living Boy in New Cross’ (which I was recently surprised to hear in my local shopping centre as part of Lewisham’s year as the London Borough of Culture), ‘Sheriff Fatman’ and ‘Anytime Anyplace Anywhere’ forged a dedicated community of fans, who returned in their droves when Carter reformed for a series of reunion gigs between 2007 and 2014.
The new version of Straw Donkeys features all of the classic Carter hits and adds the bands’ promotional singles, ‘Road Rage’, ‘Stuff The Jubilee! (Extra Special Radio Only Version)’, ‘Airplane Food’, ‘And God Created Brixton’, and ‘The Undertaker And The Hippy Protest Singer’, as well as new sleeve notes by Jim Bob and Fruitbat, while the CD edition includes a DVD featuring the Straw Donkey video collection, with audio commentary by the duo. If you’re already a fan, it’s a fantastic documentation of their biggest hits, and adds a little more insight into some favourite tunes. If you’re not, it’s a perfect place to start on the way to becoming one.
With the album taking us all back to those heady hads of the early 90s, we thought it the perfect time to catch up with Carter frontman Jim Bob to ask him to share some important songs and artists from his life.
Watch the full playlist here and find out more about Jim Bob’s selections below.
1) What is your earliest music-related memory? What do you remember being played at home when you were a child?
My mum’s record collection. It wasn’t that big but there was a lot of Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra, and music comedy albums by Harry Belafonte and Peter Sellers. My mum was a singer before I was born, so she was always singing in the house.
2) What was the first record that you ever bought? Where did you get it and do you have any recollection of the experience?
A junior school friend gave me an old seven-inch single copy of ‘Zabadak!’ by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich when I was about (a guess) eight. But the first record I think I bought was a rerelease of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’. I loved ‘Working Class Hero’ on the B-side, mainly because it had the F word in it. Twice.
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?
When I was nine, my older sister would have been about eleven and she’d have her friends around the house and they were all into ska music, stuff like ‘Double Barrel’ by Dave and Ansel Collins, and ‘007’ by Desmond Dekker. I loved listening to that stuff. And a few years later my sister had a boyfriend who’d bring his Supertramp and Bad Company records round. I got really into to that sort of rock when I was fourteen. That was probably when I decided I wanted to be in a band. Then I met likeminded people at school and I became a teddy boy for a short while and got into fifties rock ‘n roll. The rock and rock ‘n roll genres, along with all the pop music I saw on Top of the Pops came together via David Essex, who I most aspired to being.
4) What was the first gig that you went to? Where was it and how was the experience?
The one I remember is Queen in Hyde Park. 18 September 1976. It was a free gig, Kiki Dee, Supercharge and Steve Hillage played as well. Kiki Dee performed ‘Don’t Go Breaking My heart’ with a cardboard cut-out of Elton John. I went with my stepbrother, who went to the toilet and got lost. I didn’t see him for hours. Left on my own, surrounded by dope smoking hippies I was terrified. I can still smell the patchouli.
5) What are your memories of starting out making music? What was the first song that you learned to play?
The first song I performed in public was the Buddy Holly song ‘Rave On’ at our school Christmas disco, and the first songs I learned to play on the guitar were ‘Summertime Blues’ and ‘C’mon Everybody’ by Eddie Cochran, mainly because I was shown how to play them just by putting one finger across the fretboard and moving it up and down the neck. I also learned how to play ‘The House of the Rising Sun’, which I think is still the first song a lot of guitarists are taught nowadays.
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?
Apart from the one Buddy Holly song at school, I was in a band called ‘Jeepster’. We practiced in bedrooms a lot and finally played a gig in a youth club in Southgate in North London. I was the singer, I owned a small PA, a microphone and a microphone stand. I thought we were going to take over the world. I left my job when we got the youth club gig. The rest isn’t history. We never played a second gig. We had a song/poem called ‘Nine Stone Weakling’ which ended with me tearing a phone book in half. True story.
7) What are your memories of starting Carter? What was your first release and what do you think now when you listen back to it?
We started the band very quickly, almost as an emergency, when our previous band Jamie Wednesday split up and we still wanted to play a big we had booked. Me and Les wrote a few songs and recorded some drum machine and synth bass tracks in two weeks and played the gig. We were called Bob for that first gig, and I think one other gig after. We recorded the backing tracks and our first four albums in the same studio in a back garden in Mitcham, South London. When we got our first single deal for ‘A Sheltered Life’ we had to record it at the label’s own studio. We were never happy with the way it sounded to be honest. It sounds better now, with the benefit of a lot of time.
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?
Lyric writing wise, definitely Elvis Costello. And The Jam for pretty much everything else. Elvis and The Jam got me at that prime moment in my life. A lot of the stuff I was into in 1977 and 78 is the stuff I still play the most now. The first albums by Talking Heads, Television, Wire, XTC, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Stranglers and X-Ray Spex.
9) Who are some of your favourite current artists? What do you like about them?
I love Bright Eyes. Conor Oberst’s voice, his lyrics, and how he lets himself go live, with no apparent concern for whether he’ll be able to play the next gig. I’ve loved all of Father John Misty’s albums. Lisa O’Neil is brilliant. And Johny Brown and the Band of Holy Joy keep on putting out great and different records.
10) Carter’s singles collection Straw Donkey has just been reissued, listening back, how did your sound develop over that time period? If someone is coming fresh to Carter’s music, never having heard you before, which song would be the best place to start to help them to get what you’re about?
I suppose out sound changed as we got better at what we were doing. ‘Sheriff Fatman’ might be a good place to start listening. It sounds pretty developed to me, not like a song from a first album.
Straw Donkey… The Complete Singles is out now on double vinyl and CD/DVD and all the usual streaming services. Order your copy now via Chrysalis Records.
Jim Bob plays Gigantic All-Dayer in Bristol on 9th May and will head out on tour with The Undertones in November – all dates and tickets here
Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine: Website / Facebook / Instagram
Jim Bob: Website / Facebook / Instagram
Article by Paul Maps
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