'96, The Grahamless Gigs

[Mad Bastard]

I was thinking about this a while back, with a lot of people seemingly uninterested in the last load of gigs due to no Clint, what was the general feeling about the gigs after Graham left? Was there much of the same kind of thing, uninterested due to no Graham? I wasn't on the net much back then so didn't really hear much opinion about if all at the time, just interested to know what the general feeling was.

[Onket]

What were the dates of them?

I went to see the Poppies in Nottingham in 1996 and can't remember even noticing that there was no Graham. Maybe he did feature for that gig, I dunno?

[Mad Bastard]

Heh, maybe my brain's gone haywire and I'm imagining things. Could've sworn there were gigs after he left, were there?

[Onket]

No, you're right, I just want confirmation of when.

I saw them on the 26th June 1996 at Nottingham Rock City. I know this as it was the night that England lost on penalties to Germany in the semi final of Euro 96, and they had that on a big screen in the bar area before the gig.

[kwvp]

Yeah. There were a handful of Holsten Indie Party gigs around Feb 96 followed by 5(?) gigs in the Summer including Reading Alleycat and finishing with Nottingham; then Roskilde.

The gigs seemed very severe. Serious. A far cry from the days of Galaxian Patrol. Can't really compare 'Grahamless' to 'No Clint'. One was a continuation after a single departing member. The other is a complete reinvention...

[Mad Bastard]

[Snackula]

Did the internet exist in 96? I got my info back then from NME and the info service. I didn't know that they were playing at Alleycat and it was about ten minutes away. I didn't know that Graham had left.
A mate told me about it later, said it sounded more industrial. I would have gone if I'd known

[RolexTharsus]

I remember reading in the ENEMA that they'd split in '95 then heard on Radio 1 (Steve Lurpack & fat bearded Joe Riley's Drinking Session) that they hadn't split & were now a 6 piece with the Buzzard as a full time member?!

[Onket]

[statusthimble]

I saw them at Manchester Rockworld that June. Only found out about it a few days before by picking up a flyer in a record shop in Leeds, advertising it as 'last UK show of 96'. We got chatting to Fuzz before the gig and he said what was actually going on, ie Roskilde and then that's it. As for the gig, I remember it sounding great, more driven, but as has been said, more serious. None of the joy I remembered from the amalgamation era. Great seeing the Buzzard live, but no Gra bouncing around. They just looked tired, Clint particularly.