Biography of Lemming Meringue

Biography of Lemming Meringue

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A New Beginning

It was New Year’s Day 1985. Ken arrived at Exeter St Davids station with his suitcase and guitar, ready to begin a new life. George was supposed to have met him there. Due to being completely wiped out by the not particularly fun shenanigans of New Year’s Eve, he failed to show.

Nevertheless, Ken managed to find his way to his new bedsit in Pennsylvania Road. With his cases safely deposited, he set off to Wud HQ in Grosvenor Place to see what had happened.

There he found a number of faded bodies groaning and recovering. After a while, the music began.

One of the biggest and most enthusiastic supporters was George’s girlfriend, Yvonne. She sat up in bed and began writing a diary of everything that took place. This document may still exist…

First Exposure

After a couple of rehearsals, Ken and George were keen to start performing live. They decided to try a few of the local open mic nights, such as the one at Topsham Folk Club and at the Jolly Porter.

Ken had a rather lovely acoustic guitar, a rare Flambeau Lowden. He was immensely proud of it. Before proceedings began, in a stage whisper clearly audible in the next county, he would hiss, “My guitar is the best guitar in this whole room!”

Whenever the next performer took their guitar out of its case, he would whisper loudly enough to be heard in northern France, “My guitar is better than that one as well!”

The Flambeau was strung with super-heavy strings and was “a real pig” to play, even though it did sound splendid. George would give a resigned sigh at Ken’s tiresome antics. He set about blistering his fngers and interjecting the odd dry remark.

Ken would sing full of gusto. His performances were a little over-the-top for those kinds of venues. Many of the older members would wince a little, or smile quietly to themselves at Ken’s brash youthful bluster and eager enthusiasm.

The actual musical performances were very good and Lemming Meringue quickly gained respect and reputation.

Occasionally Ken and George went busking in Exeter High Street during the cold days of early 1985, pre-Wud. On one such occasion a passer-by left a packet of Tunes (decongestant sweets for when you have a cold) in the guitar case instead of coins.

Ken, who didn’t actually have a cold at the time, took it very personally. He was most insulted and disgruntled. His vocal style did tend to be a little nasal. He couldn’t bear any kind of criticism even at the best of times, which made teaching him a new song a bit challenging. George was highly tickled at the man’s thoughtful gift and laughed, which made Ken even more disgruntled.

Plug In, Move Out

A cassette bootleg exists of the first electrified Lemming Meringue gig. We shall try to bring it to you someday.

The show was to be in the drama rooms of Exeter College at lunchtime. Entry was free and it was very well attended. It was nearly the end of February 1985, just a couple of days before the property lease expired and everyone had to vacate the premises of Wud HQ.

Despite a whole day being lost just a few days before the show, due to unforeseen and entirely unwanted disruptions, everything felt as if it were coming together.

The day before the gig, the dress rehearsal was held at Wud HQ. It involved setting up the PA as if it were showtime. It was in an attic room and the skylight windows had to be opened to accomodate the speakers poking out a little on their stands, which was rather chilly.

A bit of pre-show blapping took place, broadcast to the neighbourhood. Graham, who would go on to play drums in Wud, The Ug Brothers, The Subterraineans and Alien Heat, remembers this most fondly. He heard the blapping as he walked along a nearby street and decided to drop by and join the assembly.

Ken simply didn’t seem to see the potential fun of the dress rehearsal situation. He became somewhat annoyed and uncooperative when George and then other people present suggested he introduce the songs they were about to play, as if they were actually performing the show. George and the redoubtable Cliff wanted to try to time the probable length of the entire performance. Eventually, everything necessary was done, cleaned, soldered, packed and made ready.

Just before the start of the actual show, history repeated itself!

Exactly as he had at the Now gig at Sidbury Colleseum a year earlier, Dave Wareham got up on the stage and accidentally knocked over the mic stand, damaging the mic. However, it was soon fixed this time by a variety of volunteers, keen to hear this new band. The show was able to go ahead without a delay after all.

A number of songs were given their first public airing that day. Many of the songs in the Lemming Meringue set had a whole new lease of life. To work as an acoustic performance in a folk club, numerous songs could not be adapted satisfactorily.

Lemming Meringue were finally able to unleash what they felt were the genuine versions of their songs. The recently composed Change and the year-old song that George had originally written for Now, 1984, were both big favourites with the crowd.

All in all everyone was very happy with how things went. A few photos were taken during the show, which you can see in the gallery. There was an after show party back at Wud HQ. The next day it was time to pack up and leave that place forever.

Party Time

The second and last electrified Lemming Meringue gig was at the Riverside Club, Exeter. It was a concert for the Exeter College Easter Ball in 1985. Friend of the band and photographer Jon Dawkins took photos of the event.

The Riverside gig was memorable for several reasons.

There were two other bands on the bill that night. Lemming Meringue would be on first. Next would be English Verse, a very slick and well-rehearsed original indie alternative rock power trio. They had a song about a “bad game, throw it away”.

Damien was the headline act. Their song Dizzy was quite famous and may have even been on the singles chart. They had a lot of television sets on stage.

The sound engineer for this show was Dave Blencowe, owner and founder of local PA company dB Sound. He somehow managed to do the worst mix of anything, that any of us remember hearing, ever.

Lemming Meringue consisted mainly of one guitar and one vocal. Surely not too challenging to mix, even for somebody whose ears were filled with mashed banana and who had never touched a fader in their life, right? Wrong!

The band began and the guitar was so quiet that George immediately thought he had broken the string he was riffing on. He counted them while he was playing and all six were still in place. People in the crowd looked at each other and the band, slightly confused. They could see the guitar was being played but could hear almost nothing. Certainly nothing that sounded like a guitar.

Then Ken started singing. His vocal was so deafening that the band and audience alike recoiled from the stage monitors and speaker stacks in shock and pain at the sudden blast of decibels. Ken backed off the mic quite a lot and at the end of the first song George cranked the amp up so the PA wasn’t needed so much. The show continued in this vein to its conclusion. Dave, immersed in his book and his sandwiches, headphones on, remained utterly and studiously oblivious to the sound in the hall. Unbelievable.

Nevertheless, the gig seemed to go very well. The songs were received with enthusiasm and the crowd, especially in the mosh pit, seemed to love everything that had gone on. The band drew enough confidence to abandon the Lemming Meringue name and proceed… as the mighty Wud!