Introduce yourself

[jason]

I wondered where Ben was. Ben please add gossip/news/etc.

Hello, I am Jason. Long time fan and returning pweination person. My current interests are pwei, zombies and computers. I'm fairly certain this hasn't changed much since I was about 8 years old -well pwei since 17/18.

Pwei make me cry in a good way.

My youngest daughter can rap "can u dig it"



Social services have been informed.

[NasalScarecrow]

Howdy! I can't even remember what my old username was so I'll start afresh.

I'm Alex, 26, originally from Hull and now living in Manchester.

I'm gonna stick my neck out and presume I'm one of the younger ones here. It was through pure chance that I even discovered them (around 1996, through the Prodigy collaboration). Curiosity compelled me to check them out, and subsequently, it didn't take me long to spend all my school dinner money on buying their back catalogue across a multitude of formats. Given that I spent the following few years wondering why I never heard any mention of them anywhere, you can imagine how chuffed and gratified I felt to see them in '05 in Birmingham. Remains one of the greatest evenings of my life.

[errorsupply]

I came to the poppies by way of an orientation session when I was hired for my college radio station in California back in 1988. The DJ who was leading the session was orienting myself and another new hire on the console and the two records he had picked out were Now for a Feast and a Closer (Joy Division). He happened to mention that his favorite song was the PWEI cover of Love Missile F1-11. While I thought the idea of a indie/garage-style cover of the SSS song was clever, I didn't pay it much attention, but the band with the awkward name remained logged in my brain for some reason.

Fast forward a short time and I was in the car, listening to a commercial radio station and There Is No Love Between Us... came on the radio. When the DJ reviewed the tracks played, I experienced a sense of cognitive dissidence-- how could the low-fi band of Love Missile F1-11 put out this forward looking, dance friendly and decidedly pop single? Not too long after (Go) Box Frenzy was released and I was hooked from that day on, like an ear worm crackhead.

As if the music wasn't enough in itself, the band put on a hell of a live show and had that carefully manipulated image created by the good folks at tDR. I became something of a completist on both counts-- I did my best to collect everything PWEI I could find and as a result I ended up with most of it (cassingles, 7", gatefold 7", 12" picture disks, LPs, CDs, Future Music issue, the Random compilation, etc) as well as much tDR crap as I could get my hands on (their swatch watch, the Emigre issue, other band releases, etc). It continued even after the band broke up, picking up Golden Claw Musics, getting into BRA (12" singles, LP's, and their FSUK mix), Fuzz's records (12"s, LPs), Clint's soundtrack work (and exposure to movies like Pi and Requiem for a Dream) and some Vile Evils digital singles.

Back in the olden days of the web, when the original line-up was still a going concern, the PWEINation website was a great place to pick up hard to find singles and other items, especially for someone living in San Francisco where many of the limited edition releases were never made available. I also remember this website had a T-Shirt that was based upon the Amalgamation design and some stickers that we printed up from the 'Nation. Big props out to Tezzer for all the work he did for the site back in the day.

After a band breaks up, there's only so much more fandom I could obsess over and eventually I found my way to other bands that I could throw myself into. A few years back at a sts9 show I wore one of my two remaining PWEI shirts (this one from DDMA, a red long sleeve one with Craig on a skateboard and a gun on the back) and I was amazed at how many people asked "is that a Poppies shirt" (side note: the other shirt is a sample it loop it fuck it eat it shirt with the Cure for Sanity design on the front and US tour dates on the back). It's amazing how a band that had such a big influence on the art and music of the future didn't have a larger following. Then again I imagine if it was PWEI found the fame and NIN was the smaller band, I would have probably gotten sick of them by now.

About a year ago I moved to Glasgow. The only person who seems to even recall the band that I've spoken to is my boss and, despite him being a huge hip-hop head, his memories of the poppies is related to the Now for a Feast indie days and isn't even aware of the This is.. This period. This surprises me because my NME reading 20-year old self would see all types of reviews (gigs, singles, LP's) and adverts for the latest releases all the time; even looking at festival announcements, you'd find them second headline for Saturday night. I just assumed that everyone knew who they were on this side of the pond.

Rock on brothers & sisters.

err, 40
glasgow

[Chilo]

Hi Everyone,

I thought maybe I should introduce myself.

I'm not sure how my love for everything PWEI started, I remember the Sounds single with Crazyhead, The Jack Rubies (Wrecker of Engines, Tune!!!), can't remember the other band. I remember going to see my mates in Manchester just so we could take them to see this new band that we discovered (some how),
they were at Poly there, and one had a band called Metal Monkey Machine, now something to do with Elbow, anyway I digress.
Then the same year 1987. Glastonbury, what a brilliant sunday lunch that was. Fuzzbox, Stump, GBOA and the Poppies. Later that year, Acid Daze, now that was one I'll alway try to remember The Damned as Naz Nomad, PWEI, GBOA, and Dr and the Medics, finished off with Hawkwind (which I tend to have a love/hate relationship with).

From then on, it's been the Poppies all the way (Well and GBOA, Neddies, Stuffies etc) I'm not really sure how many times I've seen them now. I've even been places where they were supposed to play and didn't (UB40 play the blues, St Andrews Football Ground). They've had some brilliant support on the way, I noticed a Yeah! God avatar. Noisgasm what a good album. Neddies obviously. Some very strange occurances, I remember a few extras dancing around a cut out of Stonehenge (very funny). Graham in a cherry picker at the Marquee (which is not really big enough), when he had broken his leg.

So good memories.

Looking forward to see the new PWEI, good luck to them all. Will be there at London Colchester and Norwich.

Well that's a brief history and description. Signing off.

Gav

[daryltaylor]

Hi there...

I've been a Poppies fan since about 1988 and at 1 point i had 40 or so different t-shirts, most the vinyl and all there albums on cd. also have a few rarities like promo's on vinyl and some rare badges they bought out. Looking forward to being on the forum with like minded fans.

Daryl.

[jason]

HI
Welcome and thanks for posting on the introduce yourself bit.

[statusthimble]

Hi everyone,

I've been into the Poppies since first being introduced to them by a mate, I think when This is This had just come out. I seem to remenber being played stuff off that and Box Frenzy the same day, and was hooked.

Didn't get to see them live though until the amalgamation tour (Leeds T&C). Then at the free Heineken Festival the following year. (By the way, sorry to be picky but in the 'On Patrol' section (July 1995) it should say Roundhay Park. )

In 96 I remenber being with some mates in one of the indie record shops in Leeds and we picked up a flyer advertising a gig in Manchester a few weeks later, stating 'last UK show this year'. We didn't even know there'd been any that year! So off we went, very excited, hearing they'd be doing Their Law, all very good, then got chatting to Fuzz beforehand. Only to find out, Not the last UK show this year lads, no. Last ever. We're off to Roskilde tomorrow then that's it. I think the term 'musical differences' came up but I can't remember if Fuzz actually said that or it was amongst my mate Scott's ceaseless questions! That put a bit of an edge on an otherwise great gig, I seem to remember Clint looking a bit tired, like he wanted it over, but that could easily have been influenced by the converation we'd just had.

Then fast forward to Reformation, the Saturday (I think) of the Brum gigs. Possibly the best show of the lot, though having seen the Wolverhampton '94 footage on Youtube, I'm wondering whether the Leeds show that year sounded that good and I just can't remember it properly! Now I'm still debating with myself whether to see the new incarnation in Sheffield next month.

Like I suspect a few others on hear, my girlfriend is getting sick of hearing them / about them now. She loves Clint's soundtrack work, but the rest just doesn't do it for her. She is rather fond of calling them Popweetis, after initially mis-hearing me, and now loves doing it on purpose.

I am most looking forward to the next 3 re-releases, and if DDMA gets sorted, any of the unreleased 96 stuff. I have a vague recollection of new stuff being played back at that gig in Manchester, but was far too refreshed to remember it!