The Reluctant Stereotypes

Index of this page:

- Information

- Articles

- Lyrics   

The Label (1980, WEA)

1. Factory Wit

2. Side With Him

3. Back To The Greek

4. Plans For Today

5. Sunday Tears

6. Reluctant

7. Lofaska

8. Reverend Green

9. Visual Romance

10. Confused Action

11. MOD

12. The Label

Articles etc.

Asylum chic (source unknown)

(below photo: STEREOTYPE Paul King, modulated funk style)

Reluctant Stereotypes. Venue.

"WHY IS everyone looking so apprehensive?" asks Reluctant Stereotypes' singer Paul King in surprise, as they take the stage. It must have been intense worry that he saw on people's faces, the effort of calculating how many meals you have to forfeit in order to buy a drink at the Venue. Certainly they can't have been apprehensive at the thought of seeing the Reluctant Stereotypes perform.

The band has finally broken free from their restrictive 'ska' categorisation, the really blatant ska numbers such as 'Lofaska' and 'Confused Action' having been banished from the set, numbers that could have been intensely popular if put out on vinyl more smartly when they were written, in late '79.

Although they still plug their album verbally, that particular style has been outgrown and cast off as they've pushed ahead to where they really want to be. Their new songs are characterised by Paul King's ringing forceful voice, complemented by Steve Edgson's delicate clarinet. 

However, just as this melodic combination begins to soothe and lull, the senses are jolted by the return of the sharp bouncy rhythm. This basic, quirky foundation stops the melody from becoming self-indulgent - it's just refreshing! 

Of the new material, 'Money' bemoans the lack of, and is suitably plaintive and discordant. 'Nightmare' features haunting clarinet and a low-key reggae beat that runs throughout their music, sliding into moderated, modulated funk at times.

From the past material, 'Visual Romance' has been retained, the poignant tale of a man in love with a lady newscaster. The thudding bass line is the throb of desire, coupled with the pure ethereal veneer of the clarinet. This and 'Factory Wit' showcase the mime talent of Mr King as he encounters the thick glass of a tv set, or mindlessly works on an endless assembly line.

However, although they've shaped up musically, the Reluctant Stereotypes have slipped badly in the fashion stakes, being all dressed alike in the most unattractive garments more suitable for asylum inmates - better get smart, soonest.

Sharon Amos.

* Avant Skarde (source unknown)

Reluctant Stereotypes...

A great name but hardly one that trips off the tongue, but then there's nothing easy about Reluctant Stereotypes except to say that they're one of the best bans to have emerged from the Coventry explosion with more than a 50% chance of not nly surviving the boom but establishing themselves as a force for the 80's without relying on passing trends. Mike Davies reports.

I first encountered the band three years back at a Melody Maker contest when they were known as The Ens and played a carefully constructed yet apparently anarchic brand of free-form jazz rock while throwing in a variety of visuals that crossed the Theatre of the Absurd wih the Temperance Seven. A sort of Frank Zappa / Soft Machine / Bonzo Dog mutation of Hatfield and the North. Hard to grasp. Equally hard to assimilate at forst impression, although I was much taken with their obvious individual talent. I continued to be impressed and they continued to develop and we both continued to be impressed by the lack of favourable reaction. The next year they again enetred the contest (this time with their new name) and again reached local finals and agin I felt they shouldn't go down to the massacre. I hoped I was right but I don't think the band agreed. I think I was and in many ways this article is an explanation of faith.

The Ens were formed in 1974 but it wasn't until classically trained clarinetist Steve Edgson joined in '75 that they began to move in their eventual direction. At this time, they were a straight jazz-rock outfit drawing references from Henry Cow and that herd, being very intense in jumpers and jeans. Edgson felt that some sort of visual element was needed to give an easy access into the music. Influenced by Burlesque's stage approach Edgson began to shape Ens into a new presentation.

Their sets were invariably unpredictable... although musically they were rarely less than impressive. The sound was often uncomfortable but if ou bothered to listen it was always challenging, and worth the exploration. he shifts and subtleties of numbers like 'Arabs' , 'The Rounds' and the masterly 'Swing' has a deliberate anti-commercialism that indicated the semi-alienation approach to the audience. But you still remembered them in the dark on the way home.

Following the second MM rejection the band were fired into positive action and change and Edgson went down to London for advice from Oval on releasing a self-help single. Better than expected, Oval took up the single for release. It was a 3 track EP containing 'The Rounds' but the band opted for 'The Lull' as the plug side and Oval went along as an act of faith. It picked up Peel play and scored good reviews from people with two intelligences to rub together and eventually shifted 1000 copies.

In late 78 Paul Sampson graduated from fan to band member bringing a new, if not immediately apparent, feel to the music. Although the band continued in their jazz groove Sampson was experimenting more with white reggae - at a time when The Police had yet to make any sort of impression. "It was avant-garde reggae, more avant-skarde actually." By this time Ens had taken on a vocal attack with Martin Bates - aka Salvador Darling - who wrote the lyrics to Steve Haddon and Peter Bosworth's music.

Their angular anti-commercialism was stull prominent but now the musical differences in the band began to crack and the lack of success didn't help. Peter Bosworth - the guitarist - was keen to start his own studios and eventually it was a case of split Ens. This gave the chance to implemet a new approach. Steve: "Musically the development of the band went from straight jazz-rock band to a straight jazz-rock band with visuals and the second stage was when we introduced vocals for those people who didn't want to hear just instrumentals. When Peter left we decided to write music that was more commercial. We'd been the Ens for five years and we'd had a lot of problems with the name - being called the Ends, Hens, that sort of thing - whereas it actually meant a state of being, very heavy and existential. So we became the Reluctant Stereotypes in June / July 79 before the third MM contest we entered and we took the nam to sound more modern and meaningful, and it also fitted the attitudes we had to the music. When the first version of the Stereotypes split leaving Paul and I, we started from scratch and adverstised for new musicians but it was more a question of attitude that we were looking for. If someone was a great musician we still weren't going to have him if he didn't have the right attitude for the band. We wanted someone who wanted to be successful and professional and who was young with no ties. Musically anyone could improve with practice. We'd go to the rough pubs in Coventry and I'd be in a white tuxedo with a bow tie and we'd both be wearing eye make-up so people we saw knew what the band were about. Tony, the bassist, we got straight away but we had a lot of problems with the singers, some real strange people.

"Eventually Paul King - who sings as Winston Smith - rang us up and said he'd heard we were looking and would we like to try him. We'd actually considered Paul when we were the Ens because I'd met him in a fashionable clothes shop in town and he'd been very visually striking, but at the time his vocals weren't quite right. We did have him just sit at a table on stage, drinking a glass of wine and posing: the audience threw beer all over us. Now he's had vocal training at drama school and he's much better."

I reckon he's vocally individually distinctive and certainly his dramatic training has stood him in good stead as a visual presenter. In action he's an imposing and mesmerising figure adding extra emphasis to the soaring treble vocals that suddenly swoop into insidious menace. With Paul acting as a focal point visually it meant that the band can concentrate more on a hard-hitting musical delivery with a danceable directness edged against a lyrically and melodically subtle undercurrent.

For their debut Stereotypes single, the band recorded 'She Has Changed, Not You' with the punning instrumental flip 'Ben Shirtman'. At this stage they still hadn't got a regular drummer - (now filled by Colin Heanes) - so they brought in ex Ens Paul Brook, and since they'd yet to add King, Paul Sampson took the vocal parts. Originally the track was to be released on Horizon Studio's label but an airing on 'Rock On' brought major label interest and eventually they signed to WEA. Unfortunately due to various delays the single didn't appear when interest was at its highest to the initial impact was lost. It's a superb number with a relaxed flow to the gentle ska rhythms, full of sunshine with the lilting clarinet lifting it beyond the categories of any other ska single. Acker Bilk meets Specials?

The obvious response is that this is yet another coventry band following the trend. Steve: "It was a problem at the beginning and we've obviously benefitted from the Coventry scene and the interest in it but now hopefully we're going to succeed at our own level." That level's remarkably high and to set the standard they followed up with "Confused Action", another gem of a single styled similarly to the first but with sufficient difference to escape accusations of carbon copying. It too bombed out the two together selling less than the Oval release - although much of the problem stemmed from record company attitudes to the band regarding promotion on a sales level, because airplay was quite strong. Their manager has been assured the WEA regard the band as a priority album act rather than a singles outfit, and I trust they implement those assurances.

The third single has predictably done bugger all but 'Plans For Today' is a definite move away from the earlier releases' bounce, much more of a sultry menacing white reggae again characterised by the use of clarinet and King's vocal acrobatics. It's far more than entertaining, as is all their work. "It's music for the feet, sure, but it's music for the head too." A comment that applies to the album 'The Label'.

"Basically they've all got a message if you care to listen but in a live situation it's much more directly dance music. We're not a bunch of angry young men with something to say like a lot of bands appear to be, but we do want people to listen to our music and have a look at what we're doing. For people who sit down and listen to the words I think there's a lot they can identify with. We're not preaching but we are commenting for people to make up their own minds. We don't want people to follow us because of what we are or what we do, but because they understand what it's all about. The album's called 'The Label' because people feel they have to label everything before they can consider it. OK, so we call ourselves a 'pop band' but that really doesn't mean anything. So may people can't like you unless they know you're part of something.. It's the 'you've got long hair you must like heavy metal' approach. We want all sorts of people to appreciate what we do. You don't have to say, "I like the look of the Stereotypes, therefore I'm going to dress and act in a certain fashion. I suppose we could play modern pop and dress as jazz-rockers but for your own survival you can't do that, you have to look a little bit right to be accepted at all. Sadly it's general reaction both in the press and with the public that unless you look like they expect you to they don't understand what you're doing. I feel that a lot of people come to see us simply because they don't have to be tagged. People always try to label you but we're doing our best to fight back."

The album should make the fight easier because although it maintains an overall sound and feel the material within is quite varied. Edgson's clarinet gives it a distinctly individual edge which has already singled out the band for review praise from most papers. I've reviewed the album briefly in Buzzings so here I'd like to single out a few numbers for extra comment.

'Factory Wit' kicks off, a number concerned with those people who feel the need to belong to the herd. "It's about people who work in factories and use TV catch phrases all the time. A lot of people who don't have anything to say come out with some sort of mass produced identification. Steve, Paul and I (Paul Sampson) have worked in factories so it's not just an idle observation."

'Reluctant' is obviously an important number for the band philosophy. "It's just saying that people feel they have to go out wearing particular clothes ti impress people, times being led by the trends."

'Lofaska' with its Russian bass line is another pun in the Ben Shirtman vein: loafers + ska. OK. One of the best numbers is 'Reverend Green', the only remnant from Ens days, with the great line, "Lord forgive this humble sinner, he's not bad he's just a beginner". Add to that the breezy 'Side With Him' with its idiosyncratic lyric line - a feature of their work - 'Side with him countfull lost time', and the dynamite 'Visual Romance' plus the other cuts and you've got a very strong debut album. 'Sunday Tears' accentuates the jazz undercurrent to re-emphasize the levels on which the band operate and thematically it's interesting to note the overall concern for people in restrictive situations in modern life, a strong emphasis on factory life and formulated existence.

"I don't think you can ignore the fact that there are people in this situation, loads of people who are stuck in their factory jobs and I know how they feel and I feel for them," says Sampson. "The songs aren't about people who work in factories because I meet people who are quite happy doing what they're doing. It's purely for people like myself and Steve that don't enjoy their job and want to get out but can't because they need the money and security it brings. The reluctant stereotypes if you like. It's an observation that's all. We like people to agree but if they don't then at least it means they're happy. A lot of people need labels and we're not taking the piss out of them, but if you are a stereotype then please be aware of it." 'Be reluctant when you're being led' says the lyric.

Decide for yourself about the band and their music but at least be aware of them and don't dismiss them because they don't wear your own label.

"We see others from our streets point

Very rarely do we bother to cross the road

Safety kerbs drop sudden as our paths

reach their end

And our gutters then revealed tell us all

.......

I opened out and gave you feelings

Expressed desires and wants

You claimed to be happy to have never

known such life

But still you label was missing"

The Label.

* Reluctant Stereotypes article (Musicians Only, 15 November 1980)

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Website: Copyright © 2008 Audrey Scheres