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AWAY
Best of The Bolshoi
- AWay II
Books On The Bonfire
Mary *
Lindy's Party
Happy Boy
Sunday Morning
T.V. Man
A Funny Thing...
Waspy
Foxes
Please
Master Of The World *
Someones Daughter
Giants
Pardon Me
Barrowlands
West Of London Town
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- Mail order release - mid June
- * new 1999 recordings
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- Extracts from press releases
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- Autumn 1984 - singer / guitarist Trevor Tanner and drummer Jan Kalicki emerged from deepest Wiltshire to form the Bolshoi. Having hitch-hiked to the darkest wastelands of Woolwich to seek their fame and fortune, the boys recruited bassist Nick Chown and within 3 months had guested live with The Cult, Lords Of The New Church, Wall Of Voodoo, The Redskins, March Violets, culminating with a headline show at Londons famous Marquee club in January 1985, selling it out on word-of-mouth alone.
Their first single,’Sob Story’, was released that spring, followed by a mini-album ‘Giants’ which included the irresistably anthemic ‘Happy Boy’. The Beat magazine, November ‘85 said of ‘Giants’: “Strong on broody melodies, driven along by forceful rhythms and crashing splinters of trebly guitar, all showing enough fire and ambition to crash through the dark undergrowth of the post-punk jungle... admirable stuff”. Praise indeed, and as Melody Maker underlined, “The Bolshoi have vision and lyrical flair - a refreshing alternative to some of the rancid pap that currently clogs up the charts”. The remixed single of Happy Boy was variously described as “an accessible introduction to their subtle charms” (Record Mirror), “impressive and charismatic” (City Limits) and “fabber than before... entirely confident” (ZigZag). (all the early singles and ‘B’ sides were collected on the expanded CD re-issue called ‘Bigger Giants’)
“I don’t think we sound like anyone else” concedes the charismatic Trevor. “That’s not a conscious thing - we simply do what we do. We’re like a ‘real’ band... we’re real people who actually enjoy what we’re doing, work well together and are unaffected by what’s going on musically outside. I’m not saying we’re different, but people have diverse impressions of us. I don’t know what we sound like, and I don’t think anybody else knows what we sound like either!”.
Growing to a four piece with the addition of Paul Clark on keyboards, the band continued to build on their live following and finally released a full length album ‘Friends’, in September 1986 which included singles ‘AWay’ (“an understated mini-epic which easily overruns the chronically abbreviated runway of charts ‘80’s style” - Sounds) and ‘Books On The Bonfire’. Sounds again applauded “the musical artistry of this album... this flowing stream of vinyl perfection... if you’ve seen this group you’re already hopelessly addicted”.
“So who are these four young men and what makes them so special? Firstly, let us introduce Trevor Tanner, the groups self appointed visionary and lyricist. Outwardly extrovert and with a mesmerising stage presence, The Bolshoi’s lead singer and guitarist belies a dark and pensive nature. He is acutely observant of society’s shortcomings and is not scared to draw attention to them in his songs. Next, Jan Kalicki, the polish connection, on drums - a sensitive and artistic soul. Nick Chown is the affable bass player and last, but not least, is Paul Clark who is a northerner with an appalling sense of humour - something which the whole band share.”
“Adventurously entertaining at the best of times, with live performances that dramatically demand attention and equally powerful vinyl workings, The Bolshoi’s subtly humerous melodies, effective dance beat rhythms and memorable choruses easily entice the listener. Sagaciously confident performers, The Bolshoi produce clear, charismatic pop that’s effervescent, bold and ultimately longlasting. They are a very special band”.
In January 1987 The Bolshoi released a remix of their finest single so far, AWay, entitled AWay II, which also featured in the soundtrack of Jonathan Demme’s ‘Something Wild’. A hectic touring schedule took them to the USA, across Europe from Norway to Italy, the UK supporting Peter Murphy and Spear Of Destiny as well as headline London dates (in fact the band became very well travelled, with a South American tour and even shows behind the iron curtain in Poland, East Germany Hungary and Russia.)
Apart from touring, 1987 saw the band recording new singles, ‘Please’ and ‘T.V. Man’ and their second full length album, ‘Lindy’s Party’ which was released that September. Despite favourable reviews and further international touring it was all over and the band drifted apart.
- The final postscript is left to Trevor Tanner in his sleeve notes for The Bolshoi’s long overdue ‘Best of’...
“Furtive, backward glances from a speeding car, intense apathy followed by spontaneous combustion. Long international flights with visits to the cockpit to discuss philosophy with the Brazilian pilots. Sad, introspective binges in various ‘old mens’ pubs in South London. Ridiculous outbursts, followed by reconstructive surgery. These are some of my immediate recollections of life with The Bolshoi, never the easiest band to be in. From the humble beginnings of a broken face (making too much noise) in the darkest regions of the west country, to the dizzy heights of malaria shot madness, on a ‘chart topping’ tour of South America. It was never, ever dull. I suppose the main thing that kept us together was our friendship, we were all great mates, honest. When we weren’t ‘working’, we spent a lot of time in those aforementioned pub, arguing about anything we could disagree about. I honestly do not know another band who spent as much time together. We were best friends with our management too, like a big, dysfunctional family, always, well nearly always, fun. The question I am most often asked is, “what went wrong?” Well nothing really, it just wasn’t fun anymore. We didn’t want to go into a stuka like spiral of decline (like so many others) so we just ..stopped. These days, Paul lives in Seattle, master of a thriving electronic music cult. (You can check it out :wwwelectronicmusic.com). Nick, to the best of my knowledge, is still ‘Nicking’ about in south London. I don’t know much about Jan, I believe he is (still) an elusive renegade, somewhere in California. As for me, I’m just doing my best to be a "happy boy", and for the most part, I succeed. My album "Master of the world" is finally finished, and I finally learned to drive a car! So here at last is a glorious retrospective of some of our finest moments, and two of my newest ones. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you : The Bolshoi. "The best band that nobody’s ever heard of", a direct quote honestly. Thanks to anyone who ever cared, you know who you are.”
- Trevor Tanner
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