Damarge Audio Tracks

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Main Bedroom Demos (early 1983) ::

Bodyrock

[6:24] :: real :: mp3

Final bedroom recording from 1983. The rhythm track was laid-down using a Moog Source and a rented E-mu Drumulator (very early sampled drum machine). The bass could have been higher in the mix but the mix-down was completed by Cliff and Kirt before Oaf could arrive and check the levels.

20,000 Souls

[5:14] :: real :: mp3

Final bedroom recording from 1983. Backing track laid-down using the E-mu Drumulator. The mid-section effects created with the Moog Source only. Vocals were treated using a borrowed early (borrowed) Ibanez DM2000 digital delay unit.

The Awakening

[5:10] :: real :: mp3

Final bedroom recording from 1983. Backing track laid-down using the E-mu Drumulator and the dreaded (classic?) "clap-trap" syn-drum thingy. The "frog effect" was a serrated clave played by Snowboy.

For M.P.

[7:13] :: real :: mp3

Final bedroom recording from 1983. The words came from a poem by Rick Hawkins (about a very good school friend of ours who tragically died in summer 1981). This song cries-out for 24 tracks but we did our best on our 4-track. The tape on the original master ran out right at the end - thus clipping-off the last 4 seconds or so. This version has the missing seconds fade-out added back (levels are slightly different though).

Bonjour

[2:24] :: real :: mp3

Recording from 1982 (unlike the other tracks here). Used for the introduction in 20,000 Souls and was also submitted to the 1982 Roland Synthesizer Music competition - no placing (no surprise there).

Gigs ::

Cliffs Pavilion

[17:05] :: real :: mp3

Recorded in October 1983.
This is a medium-quality soundboard recording (a soundboard cassette copy) of the band playing three songs at the Honky Tonk Music "Battle of the Bands" competition on a Sunday in October 1983. The band played (in order):
20,000 Souls
The Awakening
Bodyrock
This concert has a really great no-nonsense ending. Unfortunately we came second due to highly suspect and partisan judging. See the Live page here for details.

Pink Toothbrush

[45:05] :: real only

Recorded in February 1984.
Appalling sound quality!!
This is the only recording of the main part of the gig (the 1st and most of the 2nd song are missing). The sound quality is mostly poor but at the beginning it is terrible - however this remains the only surviving recording of 3 of Damarge's latter songs: OBN, Heteroman and Bostok & Chandler so we felt it was worthwhile preserving them here. Read about the exploits at this gig on the "gigs" page! A great gig, good performance that does not really come-across on this recording. The songs here (in order) are:
OBN (excerpt) VERY POOR QUAILITY
Bostok & Chandler (poor quality)
Heteroman
The Awakening
In Remembance of M.P.
Break On Through
Bodyrock
Break On Through
Bodyrock

The encores are not given here due to space limitations.

Zero 6

[18:34] :: real :: mp3

This is a rare recording of a 100% live rehearsal performed live by the band in Kirt's bedroom late 1982 for the gig later that day. The tracks are as follows:
20,000 Souls
Jazz-Funk
20,000 Souls (reprise)
Are You Getting Enough (Sex In Your Life)?
In Remembrance of M.P.
The gig itself went OK - find out more from the gigs page

Chesters

[33:18] :: real only

Recorded on 8th February 1984 at "Electro Night" at Chesters, High Street, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK.
This tape was thought long lost but a copy surfaced recently and while the quality is generally awful it does have the only recording of Hashcake - a track that all the band members forgot about until now! The recording itself was only clear on one channel (right) with the left channel being very low in volume and muffled. The tape runs-out near the end of Bodyrock but we do get most of Snowboy's rap.

Hashcake was essentially a "filler" in that we had to do the gig and simply did not have enough material for a full set so Kirt rushed up to London, hired the E-Mu Drumulator (again) and knocked-up a pretty hardcore (some would say 'gay') electro-dance backing over which the band played. Hashcake is an appropriate title as the track was never really 'written' per se rather, as you can hear, it was really just thrown together. The bassline is quite excellent though and the insertion in the middle of Snowboy scratching live on the "wheels of steel" with Charley Brown and a Grandmaster Flash record was genuinely advanced and novel for the time.

On the recording you can make out some comments of the audience and also the (well-stoned) sound technician saying "I have no idea where they're going [with this]". This sums it up quite nicely as we hadn't a clue either! Tracks performed that night (in order):

20,000 Souls
The Awakening
Break On Through (To The Other Side)
Hashcake (part 1)
improved scratching by Snowboy
Hashcake (part 2)
In Remembrance of M.P.
Bodyrock

Damarge (misc.) ::

Cold

[2:04] :: real :: mp3

Recorded early 1983. This excerpt is the only surviving recording of the 5 minute original which was lost ages ago in a mad tape clear-out. It was 'performed' (it is just a tape recording with little actual live playing over the top) just once at Chesters, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, UK (8th February 1983). This uses a 'sample' (not in the sense we use the term nowadays) from an obscure avant gard duo called The No Set Ensemble who performed late one weekday night on BBC Radio 3 and (somehow) Kirt managed to tape. This sample is made great by the fact it uses a (fabulous) Moog Modular Model IIIC - the greatest synth ever in the history of mankind.

I Feel Love [6:46] :: real :: mp3

Essex Radio Interview

[13:28] :: real :: mp3

The DJ was Dave Gregory (who now does a variety of voice-overs). It was recorded on the night of the "technically challenged" Chesters gig. While Kurt and Snowboy were slaving at the club trying their hardest to get the gear set-up Cliff and Oaf were being given the red-carpet treatment by Dave Gregory who had been playing the bedroom demos quite a lot on his evening show for Essex Radio FM.

Early demos

[37:22] :: real only

Here is a collection of all the Damarge demos lumped together in a jumbled mass of badly recorded self-indulgence. Lots of tracks here. Maybe (when time) will list. Until then "enjoy" the this long (and maybe arduous) compilation!

Backing tracks

[30:55] :: real only

Another long compilation here. A collection of backing tracks used for the live shows and as rhythm tracks for the bedroom demos. Pretty awful but here they are anyway!

The backing track for live performance using analogue synths and the E-Mu Drumulator. The fade-outs of the sequence line were made to hide the timing mistakes made as they were played by hand (not automated as no affordable step-time sequencer was available). This master is given freely - if you want to try and make your own mix or version please do so - so long as you let us know and give credit where credit is due.

Various Non-Damarge Tracks ::

Rob Paveley:

[3:48] :: real :: mp3

Strange history and connection to Damarge here. Rob Paveley (and someone else whose name has been forgotten) recorded this cute electronic ditty around 1984. To be honest it should have been a smash hit. Nothing happened to the song after it was puportedly touted around various record labels so Rob (the brother of Mark who is remembered in the Damarge song In Remembrance of M.P.) "gave" this song to Oaf to do what he could with. Obviously nothing happened but we feel it is worth sharing this little classic with the world. (Rob played with Speedballs - a GREAT Southend mod-type band from late 1970's who recorded a genuine classic and collectable 7-inch No Survivors).

Jean-Michel Bill

:: HP parts 1 to 3
pt.1 real :: pt.2 real :: pt.3 real
pt.1 mp3 :: pt.2 mp3 :: pt.3 mp3

Not a Damarge track exactly. Recorded mid 1985. Credited to Jean-Michel Bill and features an Oberheim Matrix 6R and Yamaha QX7. A deliberate Jean-Michel Jarre rip-off. Original track title was "Helium (parts 1 to 6)" (Ha!) - but the final 3 parts were never recorded (Kirt went to college). "HP" stands for 'Hyde Park' (reasons unknown).

Triple O

[2:53] :: March On London
real :: mp3

A great one-off 1-song offshoot from 1986 with a flaming punk anthem recorded specifically for an aborted compilation LP of Southend bands.

The band were [L-R]: Dee-Dee (drums) [last name unknown], Cliff (vocals), Phil Wiltshire (bass), Oaf(guitar) and Matt Carrington (guitar)

Oaf

[2:53] :: 3 tracks from Neuf Oaf Beouf
Malceurrse Waltz [2:54] :: real :: mp3
Back In My Town [5:19] :: real :: mp3
Pint Of Ben Please [3:53] :: real :: mp3

Three tracks from Oaf's solo LP Neuf Oaf Beouf Sur La Plat - his short-lived solo-electro venture. The Malscheeurse Waltz song was written by Kirt who played it to Oaf one day and as it is so catchy oaf could not get the tune out of his head so he laid it down for prosperity. "Back In My Town" features Rob Paveley and "Pint Of Ben" features Mark 'Fizz' Farrell on supa-funk-ay guitar (his trademark)! The LP was unreleased and featured some great tracks (the LP title was made by Kirt and again shows his incredible incompetance with French).