A Fierce Pancake
A Fierce Pancake is the second and final album and only full-length studio album by Anglo-Irish experimental rock band Stump, released 7 March 1988 on Ensign Records. After the band had enjoyed some underground success in the 1980s, including the release of their critically acclaimed "Buffalo" single and Quirk Out mini-album in 1986, the band signed to major label Ensign Records and began work on A Fierce Pancake in 1987. A major part of the recording process was undertaken in Berlin's famous Hansa Studios, where many of the band's favourite albums by other artists had been recorded. Recording sessions were very tense and problematic. The band initially worked with Stephen Street as engineer; he departed the sessions to work on Morrissey's Viva Hate, a decision the band would regret. Electronic pioneer Holger Hiller produced the Berlin sessions, a choice taken by bassist Kev Hopper whose recent interest in sampling and similar experimental techniques that Hiller was known for had grown, much to the other band members' disdain, who felt that Hiller and Hopper's direction was not to their liking.
A Fierce Pancake
Hopper's personal relations with the band grew increasingly strained and he left the sessions. The band returned to London where American electronic producer John Robie produced other parts of the album. His pop-centred production ethic was at odds with Hiller's avant-garde approach, but like Hiller, his approach was not to the band's liking. Hugh Jones ultimately mixed the album at Britannia Row Studios in London. The final album mixes avant-garde, funk and rock sensibilities that mix "jagged melodies that take abrupt left turns" with its "increasingly odd songs".[2] Joseph Neff of The Vinyl District recalled that the album's "bent was deeply non-conformist yet not substantially indebted to punk precedent. It was surely bizarre, but was also highly structured."[3]
The album was released in March 1988 on Ensign Records, with two singles released from it; "Chaos" and "Charlton Heston". The latter reached number 72 on the UK Singles Chart, but the album was not a commercial success, despite receiving favourable reviews from critics. The band split-up later in 1988, making A Fierce Pancake their final album. It went out of print in 1990 and only briefly returned to print in 2008 as part of a compilation album entitled A Fierce Pancake & Before: The Complete Anthology. However, today the album is praised as a "cult classic".[4] Mike Patton named the album one of his favourite albums.[4] Critics have noted the album may have influenced later bands, and one critic called the album a "significant precursor" to post-rock.[3]
Background[edit]
Stump formed in London in 1983. Initially featuring several line-up changes, the band settled in 1985 on the line-up of former Microdisney members Mick Lynch (vocals), Rob McKahey (drums), Kev Hopper (bass) and Chris Salmon (guitar). Becoming popular in indie circles for the band's unique, experimental sound, they built a following and released the four track EP Mud on a Colon in 1986 through the Ron Johnson record label. According to The Quietus, "the four tracks suggest Stump came out of the womb fully formed; the beguiling mélange of thwarted funk, traditional Irish drum rhythms (many of McKahey's time signature are concomitant with that of Irish jigs, usually performed in 12/8 time) and Lynch's lyrics, which tended to play continual tricks with the English language, piling up Surrealist imagery with a humorous scorn for syntax."[5] Their song "Buffalo" featured on the NME's influential cassette compilation C86, featuring 22 tracks from bands within the British indie music scene, although Stump were said to stand out from the other jangle pop bands associated with the scene due to their quirky avant-garde bent.[5]
After their success with their C86 appearance, the band recorded the mini-album Quirk Out, which included "Buffalo", and self-released the album on 26 September 1986, and was hailed by Melody Maker as "one of the pleasures of 1986",[5] and stayed in the UK Indie Charts for 26 weeks, peaking at number 2.[6] The combination of the band's relentless touring and a specially filmed memorable music video for "Buffalo" for Channel 4 alternative music show The Tube prompted major record label interest in the band, and the band subsequently signed with Chrysalis Records offshoot Ensign Records. Hopper recalled that, "at first, we heard that Ensign were only interested in Mick," Hopper says, "because he was a good frontman and they saw him as the main guy in the band. I wasn't surprised at this; I can understand why that might be the case. A lot of record company people don't understand how bands work."[5]
Although the band were associated with the C86 scene, Hopper. who was essentially Stump's "conscience" according to McKahey, had begun working with samplers. Hopper recalled "I was into the more avant-garde sample side of things. "But, at the same time, people were starting to slot in great chunks of other people's records [into their music], looping them and all that, half my friends stopped playing guitars and started programming guitars and using Ataris, including myself. Eventually, I bought an Akai S900 sampler. It was an absolute murder to program and operate and had about one second of sampling time. I was quite obsessed with sampling, I saw it as the most radical and exciting instrument of its time. The idea to pluck a sound from nature and then turn it into an instrument was a revelation."[5] However, his fascination with sampling was met with disdain from his bandmates, with McKahey calling it "a complete fucking disaster".[5] Despite the clashing musical ideas in the band at this time, nonetheless, they set out to record their next album, and first full album, under the spirit of their new record label. Hopper recalled "the songs had continued to evolve since Quirk Out and now with some money behind us we were ready to record our first full album and felt it was time to try a different producer."[7]
Release[edit]
The album was released 7 March 1988 on LP, cassette and CD by Ensign Records, an offshoot of Chrysalis Records.[12] It was their first CD release.[13] The band played a short national tour in promotion of the album from 5–20 March[8] and later undertook a European tour supporting Hüsker Dü.[14] The album title, A Fierce Pancake, means "a deep conundrum" and is taken from a line from the writer Flann O'Brien's book The Third Policeman, written from 1939–1940 but not published until 1967.[15] Lynch felt that Flann O'Brien's writings were "almost a prerequisite for the rest of the band."[8] The album cover was a "very conscious" continuation of the O'Brien theme, and is a photograph by Fergus Bourke that McKahey found in a Christy Moore songbook; McKahey recalled "Look let's try and offshoot this quirky image with a beautiful image of a donkey on the Aran Islands," and "everyone agreed."[8] The album was dedicated to the life and works of O'Brien and Wilhelm Reich.[13]
"Chaos" was released as the album's lead single on 7" and 12" formats on 12 February 1988,[16] and was promoted with music magazine advertisements and a £70,000 music video directed by Chris Gabrin. Hopper said "I was never clear why ["Chaos"] was chosen [as the first single] as there was no discussion beforehand or formal band meeting with Ensign, but I heard from Rob, much later on, that Mick had lobbied hard as it was his favourite track."[7] Grainge recalled "we went with ‘Chaos’ as the first single, which is nuts, probably the most nutty single, to hear that on Radio 1 a few times was pretty bizarre."[8] "Charlton Heston" was released as the second single in July 1988, and spent five weeks in the UK Singles Chart, debuting at number 96 on 23 July and eventually reaching number 72, its highest position, on 13 August.[17] Its music video, directed by Tim Pope, featured the band performing in front of frogs and received enough airplay on MTV "to inspire a small scramble for copies of A Fierce Pancake."[3] The twelve-inch single of the song, entitled "Lights! Camel! Action", was a collaboration with The Irresistible Force.[18] A single-sided twelve-inch EP containing four songs from the album was distributed to promote the album.[19]
The album did not chart in the UK Albums Chart, and "didn't do as well" as the label had hoped, and was ultimately the band's last release on the label.[8] Chris Salmon recalled that "to be perfectly candid, I think Ensign was the kiss of death basically. It seemed very flattering at the time, ‘a major’ and all that, but what a disaster in retrospect. We should have been picked up by a Cherry Red, or a Rough Trade or something. It was very strange signing to a major. I don’t actually know why they chose us, I don’t know what they thought they were going to get. We had a lot of momentum behind us, we had Peel behind us, and then suddenly everybody thought we’d died, and we just disappeared off the scene. From two weeks for the first album to nine months for the second one and it split the band because it went on for too long."[8] In the United States, though not a commercial success, A Fierce Pancake received "its share of university play, particularly late at night."[3] The album's commercial failure caused the label to re-release "Buffalo" as a single, despite the song being over two years old; it did not chart, and was the band's final release during their lifetime.[8] A Fierce Pancake was the band's last release, and the band split-up later on in 1988 due to the numerous issues that singing to a major label had given them.[9] The album was deleted from print in 1990,[1][20] and, although not returning to print in its original form, a digitally remastered version was included as part of 2008's A Fierce Pancake & Before: The Complete Anthology compilation, itself out of print today.[1]