Singer/songwriter Phil Wilson was the front man for The June Brides. Phil, along with Simon Beesley, formed the band in 1983. With jangly guitars, trumpet and a driving rhythm the band created some of the best English pop – or pop anywhere – during the mid-80’s. Many have considered The June Brides as the link between early Postcard label bands and Creation Records artists. Calling it a day in 1986, Phil and the band left us with several strong singles and a highly acclaimed album. Mr. Wilson has gone on to release some of his own solo singles and an album in 2010. Phil’s brand of songwriting has been very influential and many recent and current bands hold him in high esteem. There was even a tribute album in 2006. We’ll talk about this and much more in this interview.
Thank you Phil for participating in this little Q&A session.
Phil, talk about your early life. Where were you born?
I was born in Peterlee, in the North East of England. It was a New Town, built for coal miners and their families. We moved from there to Coventry when I was 3, and I lived there until I was 14. I’d like to paint a picture of a beautiful, idyllic, childhood…but it wasn’t that. My Mum is/was fantastic, but my step-father was a violent alcoholic. There was a lot of abuse. It probably explains my passion for fairness and decency, and my fear of authority.
What are some of your fondest memories of your youth?
The times when my step dad wasn’t around!
Was music usually playing in your household?
There was a fair bit of music. I remember my dad’s card playing sessions (he lost, got drunk and violent). But he would usually play with West Indian pals, so I heard a fair bit of reggae at an early age. I love reggae in spite of all that…
Were either of your parents musically inclined?
Both of my real parents could sing. Which may be a bit of a surprise if you’ve heard my singing. My mother had been a soloist in choirs when young, and my dad sang country and western music in the Working Mens’ Clubs in the North East of England. You can hear his magnificent yodelling (with me on guitar) at the link below, should you be so inclined.
https://soundcloud.com/phil-wilson-2/waiting-for-a-train-dick-wilson-and-the-spotted-cowboys
Siblings?
My brother Andy has released electronic music as Sunseastar and Raudive Bunker Experiment. It’s music about as far away from the June Brides as it’s possible to be!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdW-ZpL2CP0
Can you recall one of the first 45’s or albums you got?
I can, and it’s not cool. It was a Country and Western compilation album (“Music Country Style”). You had to collect wrappers from Cadburys sweets and send them off to get the LP. In retrospect, it was a pretty good comp, and it introduced me to Johnny Cash and The Byrds if nothing else.
Name some of the bands you liked early on?
Again, not cool! Pre-punk I was obsessed with 10CC, Wings and Queen. I used to keep scrapbooks on each of them. Wish I had them still, as they would be fascinating. But all went in the bin after punk happened and my life was transformed.
Did you take guitar lessons or self-taught?
Self-taught, with some help from my friend Paul Strudwick. Pre-punk, it had never occurred to me that a kid like me could be in a band. Bands were for proper musicians. Punk definitely changed that idea for me, and meant I could try myself.
What was the name of your very first band?
The Smoking Beagles! It was a punk band, formed at school. There was even a badge – even if only one copy of it ever existed 😉
Was International Rescue your first “official” band? Did the name come from the TV series “Thunderbirds”? Any releases under this moniker?
“International Rescue” was a joke, to be honest. It was simply a bunch of friends who formed a daft band to enter a talent competition and parody it by being completely awful. Wasn’t our fault that we then won a few rounds of the competition and ended up having to play some concerts. We stopped doing it pretty quickly. I made electronic music solo for about a year, and then started The June Brides, who really were the first proper band I was involved with.
Rescue never had any releases. The name was, as you suggest, inspired by the TV series…
The June Brides formed in 1983. Talk about the formation of the band.
Well, it was very simple, really. I had a bunch of songs, and was sharing a squat with some students, some of whom happened to be musicians and into similar music. The band coalesced naturally.
What influences did each member bring to the table.
It was a diverse mix. We’d all been into punk, but people had moved on to Jazz, Funk, Post-punk and other sounds. We tried to mix them up – even doing a cover version of “Shake Your Body Down To The Ground” in early rehearsals. Luckily, no recordings exist to demonstrate our musical ineptitude at that point 😉
Now Alan McGee, head of Creation, became interested in you guys. Why did he decide not to sign you to his label?
We made some demos at home and sent copies to various people in an effort to get concerts. Alan McGee was the only person who was interested, and he started putting us on at his “Living Room” club. Virtually nobody else wanted us! We got popular at this club fairly quickly and soon became a headlining act there. Alan was always really supportive and keen. I’ve heard it said that so many people suggested to Alan that he sign us to Creation that he thought it would be “too obvious” a thing to do.
Who is Joe Foster and what was The Pink Label?
Joe was in the Television Personalities with Dan Treacy at the same time as we were starting out at Alan’s club. He was also a friend of Alan McGee’s and helping him run The Living Room, and became Creation’s “in-house” producer. He was behind the desk for many of the label’s early releases. Simon Down was another helper/friend involved with Alan and The Living Room. Simon started The Pink Label to put out The June Brides’ stuff, precisely because Alan wouldn’t do it!
I guess I’m not alone in thinking “Every Conversation” from 1984 is one of the band’s best tracks and one most associated with your sound.
It’s definitely a song that we simply cannot miss out of a set! Think there would be a (polite) riot if we missed it out 😉
Were you pleased with the results of the mini-LP There Are Eight Million Stories…? The critics and listening public must have been keen. The album shot to #1 in the UK Indie Charts and remained on the charts for an extended period.
Yes and no, really. I was pleased with the songs, and really happy about the way it was received by people and the music press. But it sounded a little thin. I remember hearing final mixes in the recording studio, and the songs sounded immense. Playing the vinyl was a real disappointment after that. I think it wasn’t mastered very well, so lost some power in the cutting. However, remasters have been done and we’re hoping improved versions of those and the rest of the Junies’ output, will eventually see a release.
Let’s talk choice of producer. Why John O’Neill of The Undertones and That Petrol Emotion fame?
John produced the album as a return favour for us. In short, That Petrol Emotion had been trying to get their first single out really quickly. They approached the Pink Label to see if Pink might do it. Fortunately, Pink had studio time booked imminently for the June Brides to record. We let TPE have our studio booking so they could get in and record their first single. So John said he’d produce our album when we could get new studio dates in return. We were huge Undertones fans so it was an honour to work with him. And he was a joy to work with.
Why did you decide to move from The Pink Label to In-Tape?
Pink had signed two fabulous bands, The Wolfhounds and McCarthy, after our success and the label was understandably keen to get behind them. We kind of thought that we’d be better off moving on now that the label’s enthusiasm for our band had waned a bit. Also, In Tape had their eyes set on the pop charts rather than the indie charts, and we thought that was something we should be aiming for, too…
Marc Riley, the owner used to be in The Fall, right?
He had been, indeed. And was famously kicked out of the band for standing up to Mark Smith and punching him!
On In-Tape you guys released 2 singles, 1985’s “No Place Like Home” and “This Town” (1986). What recollection do you have of these discs?
I was really proud of them both, as I thought they had shown a proper development of the band. We had changed our sound, and I believed I had grown as a songwriter. I was really disappointed when they failed to get as good a reception as our earlier records had. That disappointment was the seed that started the end of the band…
In ’86 you opened for The Smiths on the Irish leg of their tour. How did that go? Did you have any interaction with the “headliners”? Any juicy gossip? LOL
“What happens on tour stays on tour”. You know the rules 😉
It was a really interesting experience. The concerts were mostly terrific. Morrissey had been kind enough to praise the band, and the audiences were therefore willing to give us a chance, and we went down well at all the gigs.
The Smiths were pretty tightly controlled by their management on the tour. So there were precious few chances to actually interact. And Morrissey only showed up for the actual concerts, only to be swiftly removed from the building almost immediately after the band had finished their set.
What do you remember about The Peel Sessions?
The weirdness of the BBC studios! It was very much more like being in an academic institution rather than anything to do with rock’n’roll. However, it may have been a bit sedate in atmosphere, but the speed at which you had to record made for an intense experience. And the sessions sounded great in spite of being rushed.
The June Brides called it a day in 1986. Reason(s)?
We were tired and poor. A few years into being in a band and we were still all living in shared squats and living on the dole. It just seemed to have lost momentum and it felt as if continuing would only produce diminishing results. Also, seeing how controlled and ordered life for The Smiths had been on tour made one question whether being a pop star was anything like as much fun as it had been cracked up to be. So we knocked it on the head…
Why did Alan McGee decide to sign you as a solo act?
To rectify his earlier daftness at failing to sign the June Brides! I remember at the time him talking to me about wanting Creation to be the UK equivalent of the Elektra label. And he reckoned I Could be Creation’s Country Joe. Make of that what you will…
Which of your solo singles are you most pleased with?
I like ‘em all! I’m proud of being willful enough to put out an Americana sounding single immediately after the June Brides. And then following that up with a flamenco influenced one. And then coming back 20 years later with one that sounded like the June Brides again!
I always figure that you owe it to be people to try and change and to present them with something unexpected and new…although I do recognize that career-wise this might not be completely sensible…
Ok, let’s talk about the tribute album. Speaking of 2006’s Still Unravished. Who approached you first about this project? Must have been a proud moment. Talk about some of your favorite covers on the album.
It was the idea of Emmet Ó Briain, who ran the Yesboyicecream label. What he really wanted to do was to put out an album of new recordings, but I really wasn’t up for it at the time. So he figured the next best thing would be a tribute album.
I *really* loved the project. It felt to me that the cover versions proved that the songs had some worth in their own right. They could live independently of me, as it were. The Starlets version of “Sunday to Saturday” actually made me cry the first time I heard it. But all the tracks on there were really interesting takes that I enjoyed. The whole thing makes me feel immensely proud and honoured…
Talk about your Industrial Strength EP (2008). I find that quite a departure from what you had been doing.
It was never really meant to be an official release. So, let me explain…
I had started getting back into the idea of writing songs, but didn’t feel confident enough in my abilities to leap back into it. So I decided to record a load of songs that I loved, and that had shaped me in different ways. I hoped that the experience of learning the songs and adapting them to my limited abilities would help me in re-learning some of the craft of songwriting. I recorded indie pop songs, post-punk stuff, C&W, pop songs and industrial covers. Mike Schulman at Slumberland got to hear some of the tracks and suggested that the 4 cover versions that subsequently made up “Industrial Strength” would make for a coherent release. So I let him do it!
In 2009 you, Simon, Jon and Frank reunited for a one-off show. How did that turn out?
It was just a one-off, in celebration of my brother Andy’s 50th birthday. It was great fun to do, particularly as we played with the German band S/T. I always enjoy playing with groups coming from a totally different scene/sound to ours. When the band started in 1983, we often played with punk and industrial/electronic bands, so it was great to do so again after all those intervening years.
God Bless Jim Kennedy was the title of your 2010 solo album. Who is Jim Kennedy?
Jim Kennedy was my grandfather. He met my grandmother when she was 15 and he 16. She became pregnant with my mother. But he died at aged 17 before my mother was born. So, I’m very grateful for his brief existence…
In 2012 you guys reformed again and this time released your first single in 23 years! Then a second single in 2014. So the magic was still there?
Well, we never had a tempestuous falling out. We remained friends. So playing together again when the time eventually felt right was quite natural. Whether it was magic is not really for me to say! But it was definitely fun.
Also, back in 2012 The June Brides released the album Between the Moon and the Clouds. There are also a few of your solo tracks on there too.
Yeah, but it was never really an actual LP. Just a catch-up CD for anyone who might have missed a bit of the intervening years…
Has the Cherry Red released compilation Every Conversation brought you some new fans?
I think so. There was definitely an upturn in interest after it came out. I found myself talking to young people from all over the world who had discovered the band. It felt great!
What’s happening currently in the Phil Wilson camp?
Am having a quiet time. I really don’t know if/when there will be any new music. The timing doesn’t currently feel right. But things change, and the need to create can creep up on you when you least expect it.
How about in the immediate future?
A weekend of friendship, dancing and possibly a modicum of alcohol at the Glas-Goes Pop festival on 5 and 6 August. This will be the first June Brides concert since Barcelona in 2016, and it might possibly be our last ever. Should be damned fun, whatever…
What interests you outside of music?
I live on Dartmoor, Devon – which is a beautiful part of the world. So getting into nature, cycling and picking wild mushrooms are the things that help keep me mostly sane.
Family life?
Just my wife and myself. It’s enough 😊
Well, thank you so much Phil. I’ve enjoyed taking this walk with you down memory lane.
Tending The Pale Bloom 