Stormclouds/Jellymonsters/Jellyclouds

Note: Because, During this period, the Stormclouds & Jellymonsters story is inextricably entwined, I have linked them together (along with Jellyclouds) on the one page.

RR: "In order to keep playing, Christine and I teamed up musically and became The Jellymonsters, recording at home but also doing a handful of live gigs. At last the local council took pity on us and re-housed us in our current apartment here at Linden Close. So Christine and l made a bunch of songs (in the winter of 1986) but the trouble was that in flatland you can upset the neighbours so easily kicking up the sort of din that The Jellymonsters made, whereas Steve Lines - who now owns Acid Tapes - had a house where the noise wasn't such a problem. He had his own duo called Stormclouds, which was Louise Allen on vocals and he played the instruments. So basically we started a recording-only project of Jellymonsters and Stormclouds: like, The Jellymonsters would play one song and Steve would put a bit of bass on it for us, Louise might put on a bit of harmony vocals and then ~ all on my Portastudio - we would do a Stormclouds song and Christine would sing a bit of backing vocals and I'd play a bit of lead guitar or something. So we ended up with two different tapes but which have all of us on them: Stormclouds had "It's Raining Still" and The Jellymonsters "Two True Believers" (on which Adrian Shaw can also be heard, to wit on "Two True Believers" and "Living on my Own"; Simon House played the violin on "Because of You" and "Month of Sundays", L) both of them were eventually released on Acid Tapes. So we cut the equivalent of two albums in under six months and that includes the writing of the songs, with me recording, arranging and producing. It was incredibly complicated but very fulfilling at the same time.

Meanwhile, the live work continued with another Roundway Down mini festival where Chris and I performed a Jellymonsters set. Also, there was a sort of Doctors Pond reunion at the Mardenbeat "Psychedelic Summer" party. Mardentapes had released "Monster !n The Marden" (number five in the catalogue) which included Tony Orchard & The Goods; back in 1986 "The Goods" was me: I recorded and sang everything on those sessions. That was followed by The Chaos Brothers (their second tape in the series). Previous releases had included "My Brain Collapsed" (this was before it was released by Alan Duffy on Acid Tapes). So of course the next two releases on Mardentapes (in 1987) were the Stormclouds and Jellymonsters cassettes (numbers 7 and 8 respectively). Both tapes originally came complete with limited edition, full-colour cover lyric books. Then Steve Lines took over the Acid Tapes empire and we moved over to that label. Paul Ricketts released his Jingle Jangle Tapes as well, and I had more songs on that. All this was sort of to celebrate my fortieth year; as it were. But at the end of all this recording we said "this is all a bit silly, why don't we join together and go out as a little four-piece?" So we welded the names together and went out as The Jellyclouds, which is a wonderfully ~ silly name, and we did gigs all over the place; nothing too big, but we went down to play several days in Bristol, Bath and Basingstoke. Basically, we did a lot of gigging together and it was my first six months on the road for quite a long time, when we played as support band to a folk/rock group from Bradenstoke (near Wootton Basset) called Red Jasper (who had a mini album out on Rough Trade, called "England's Green And Pleasant Land", L.) (*****Red Jasper CD bekijkeb ****) We actually travelled hundreds of miles (the four of us plus drum machine) squashed inside a blue mini-van that leaked petrol alarmingly. Whenever we arrived at a gig we'd fall out of the van and reel around for some time completely overcome by petrol fumes.

This little deathtrap on wheels was fondly called the Jellymobile and was wont to be seen trundling over Britain's country roads transporting the band to exotic places like The Sir George Robey in Finsbury Park, the Swindon Arts Centre, The Half Moon in Putney, The Compton Bassett Shades Party, The Fleece and Firkin in Bristol or The Red Lion in Brentford. In another of my rather vain attempts to capture the spirit of the age, as it were, I'd like to quote directly from the pages of Mardenbeat magazine, the roving reporters of which were constantly following the exploits of local bands. I'll just pick out a sentence here and there, to get you into the feel of things:

The Jellyclouds didn't play because the van was blown up in Calne and couldn't do more than a few yards. Why Steve and Louise didn't do a Stormclouds set I don't know. Maybe nobody asked them. (July 1987?)

The Granary gig was cancelled because the bloke who'd booked the gig was on holiday and the Granary knew nothing about it. A pity because it was only a short walk from my house. (July 1987?)

Once again I get on the case of those elusive Jellyclouds as they continue to gig with Bradenstoke's Red Jasper. I thought tracing them down would be a cinch - the posters up around the town advertised all the dates. But it wasn't that simple. First gig was The Crown, Bristol. The Crown? Only one Crown in the whole of Bristol then? Neat trick Steve. However as Mardenbeat's ace roving reporter - expenses paid - I followed a hunch which led me to the first gig. When I entered the joint I felt slightly conspicuous - I wasn't wearing a leather jacket, I didn't have long hair and I wasn't clutching a bottle of Newcastle Brown. Yep, a bikers pub, full of greasy hoods and rockers. I threw back a vodka Martini and then ordered another - this time I drank it (drinking problem eh?, L.). Both The Jellyclouds and Red Jasper went through their sets and were almost totally ignored by the audience. Before the show got underway there was some guy dressed in a fig leaf trying to kiss a dame who's birthday it was - this got audience reaction. I figured there were worse jobs than working for Mardenbeat. Piper Dave announced the next gig at Hollywood, Bristol and blew their cover. The poster said 4th August but Dave let slip it was really on the 5th. (25th July 1987, The Crown, Bristol)

Hollywood, the smallest dive in the world and believe me I've seen a few. I went up to the bar, ordered a stiff drink and waited for it to relax. I look about - every wall is covered in mirrors, get three people inside and it looks crowded - hell it is crowded. I looked out of place; I felt like a jerk but my weights were at home. The sets were spoilt by very bad sound mix and both bands played pretty lacklustre performances. Me I hung around trying to get out of the mirror maze and wondered if the Bradenstoke festival was a joke or if it was really on. (5th August 1987, Hollywood, Bristol)

It was both. I wandered around Bradenstoke for about twenty minutes before I found the site and by the time I got there The Jellyclouds were halfway through their set. When I saw the pitiful sights in the field I almost turned around and went home -the groups outnumbered the audience. I stayed long enough to see the Jellymobile trundle off towards Calne then I made some lame excuse and limped off to the Jolly Trooper to figure out why these gigs are being kept so secret ... (9th August 1987, Bradenstoke Festival)

The Jellyclouds play a set which even they're pleased with and earn an honest to goodness encore. The night only turns sour when the landlord takes £30 of the takings to pay the four bouncers he hired. A tight spot but they manage to squeeze it.
(13th August 1987, Bridge Inn, Bristol)

Stumbling onto the stage to the sounds of The Tryp Overture Jellyclouds took a while to sort themselves out. They were obviously having problems with their sounds on stage too - but to us punters it sounded OK... One thing that strikes me with Jellyclouds is that they are all having a jolly good time when they are playing ... There's two main ways to rate a Jellyclouds set: either enjoying it from the audience or by listening to the group tear it apart afterwards. I don't recall a local band who were so consistently critical of themselves ... (22nd August 1987, The Link Centre, Swindon)

I walk in - the lights are low, but that's okay I just duck. At the bar I spend twenty minutes trying to decide what beer to drink (you should come to Belgium, mate, you could die of thirst trying to decide, L.). This pub has more hops than a kangaroo. The Jellyclouds once again hit the stage to the sound of The Tryp and play a set to an actual audience! They go down pretty well. Hanging out at the bar I discover that the next gig - Salisbury, is off. Is this another of Lines' smokescreens to get me to waste my time? (2nd September 1987, Fleece And Firkin, Bristol)

Tracking down Jellyclouds is almost a full time occupation these days; everything is conspiring against me - even Venue magazine. I read there that Jellyclouds were playing Longacre Hall on Thursday, but when I arrived there was nothing happening, Jellyclouds were in Basingstoke - I was in Bath. Don't they want an audience? Anyway I asked Jellycloud Steve Lines what the gig was like:

SL: Don't even ask. It was terrible. It took us one and a half hours to get there in the Jellymotile, breathing petrol fumes all the way. Then we had a tour of Basingstoke, which I've already had with Mark Angel on the way to Brighton, and I didn't really want another, and finally we got to the College. As soon as we arrived we were on stage and playing a set that was so bad I wished I could just leave my guitar feeding tack and walk off the stage. No soundcheck, the PA sound was terrible with no top on the vocals and Rod, with new strings on his guitar, kept going badly out of tune. We were still high from petrol fumes, I was sober and we just weren't into it. It's just as well you never made it. Where were you?

MB: I was in Bath.

SL: Bath? That's where we're playing tonight.

MB: Yeah, I know. (1st October 1987, Queen Mary's College, Basingstoke)

When I arrived at Longacre Hall it was full of about fifty or so very dirty looking punk/hippies and Jellyclouds were just getting ready to go on. I had thought that Jazz Aliens were the first band on but Jellyclouds opted to play first. (2nd October 1987, Longacre Hall, Bath)

Getting Jellyclouds a support slot with The Motivators at this gig was a good idea, as it was the only way to get in unless you had a ticket. There was a limit of 80 and, if The Miller is to be believed, the gig was sold out. (16th October 1987, The Jolly Miller)

Turning up at the Swindon Town Hall was probably not a very good idea but we asked the nice girl at the desk for directions to the Arts Centre and discovered that it was next to the Sex shop. Inside it was rather like a small cinema, with No Bar and No Beer Allowed In! Consequently we went to the pub first. The only good thing about this venue is that it's got a car park nearby... The Arts Centre had a proper stage which was made good use of, Jellyclouds being one of the more "visually pleasing" local groups, which means that they're not ugly, they 1ook good and they dance a lot, except Steve Jellycloud who affects a "God I'm really bored" pose. Interesting to note that Christine, who hasn't been playing too long, was dancing ahout all thru' the set, whereas a month ago she couldn't move and play at the same time. Mayhe soon she'll be able to sing backing vocals as well, 'cos she's got a pretty damn good voice herself. Anyway, at the end of the set they leave the stage, guitars left feeding-back, and, having recently been called a Jellycloud groupie by Dave Young, I rushed to their dressing room in search of some pervy sex. "Terribly sorry" they apologise, "but we're in rather a hurry to get to a party and we just haven't the time."
(17th October 1987, Swindon Arts Centre)

Ah, the romance of being a rock star. I'd like to thank all those fearless reporters who risked life, limb and indeed mind in the combat zone of rock'n'roll, where bottles are flying, the air is thick with the smoke of a hundred illicit substances, and dozens of unwashed bodies recall memories of the first battle of Ypres: Matthew Quinn, Pete Bradley, Martin Weston, Henry and others of their intrepid ilk. But enough of this idle banter, let's wind up the Jellyclouds story. This is Rustic Rod speaking:

RR: "However, we burned ourselves out by Christmas '87 (much like Mardenbeat magazine itself did roundabout that period, L) and '88 rather got taken over completely by Magic Muscle. But Jellyclouds had sort of done enough gigs, you know, really it would have been time to make an album as Jellyclouds; but nobody had picked up on us, so Steve and Louise went back to Stormclouds. They've made a flexi for Unhinged which I believe has done quite well in a couple of radio charts; I know there was a Swedish radio station (I think) that got it as number one in the playlist (the song was called "The Creature from Galaxy X" and it's a jolly little ditty indeed, which was also featured in The Magic Mushroom radio show, needless to say, L.). Quite recently, there was their 7" "Lost in Space" of course, and they're also on the new Adventure magazine double LP, as well as on an EP that came with the Swedish magazine New Kind'a Kick. And they've got about ten cassettes out on Acid Tapes. I should say they're ripe for a record deal really, 'cos Steve's got loads of songs and Louise has got a beautiful voice. But yes, that was the interim period: I was between my solo gigs and getting the new Magic Muscle trip back together and I moved house in amongst all that (it was more of an eviction really, leaving our cottage and coming to a flat in town). It was more like a total eviction process. And in amongst all that craziness, as I say, we cut two albums and went out and promoted them, just for something to do, you know. But I don't know, I think it doesn't wear you down if you've got the right attitude and you don't take... well you don't take too many drugs, you don't take any naughty drugs at all and you don't drink, that's bad poison for my liver, so I don't drink at all. And if you keep yourself in shape, the more gigs you do, the more energy you generate; it's like a dynamo. So there's Rustic Rod, the human dynamo, looking further ahead...

The demise of The Jellyclouds seemed to mark the end of an era as far as Rod was concerned, leaving him with enough confidence to leave CaIne (musically speaking, that is) and re-enter the world stage as a professional musician.