Manchester 1982; and THE INCA BABIES crawled from the desolate and yet bohemian Hulme landscape dragging with them a sound that was at odds to just about everything on offer in the UK at the time. They drew influence from The Cramps, Link Wray, and The Birthday Party who not only provided a musical reference point but also showed the boys from Hulme just what to do with their hair!!
November 1983 saw the release their own self released single ‘The Interior’ – John Peel played it once and promptly offered the band a prestigious live session, and so began their chaotic journey from the concrete skywalks to the front cover of Sounds, taking in extensive tours right across Europe, the old Eastern Bloc, though due to the murder of their agent they never graced the USA. On the way they released a total of six singles and four albums each one selling well and rewarding The Inca Babies with very respectable Indie Chart placings – this in the days when chart placings arguable mattered.
The band themselves described their sound as “swamp blues”, it was certainly dark, and at times constricting, though towards the later stages of their existence they evolved as mainstay Harry Stafford explained “during the last two albums we refined ourselves into a bluesy, trashy rock outfit laying the way for the Pixies and then Nirvana (!?).”
They were blighted by an ever evolving line-up, the final ensemble even included Clint Boon on keyboard, though this mix and the resulting album ‘Evil Hour’ was not well received; then in 1988 the chaos overcame them; as Stafford states “we folded the band when we just couldn’t manage to keep one constant line up. The back bone of me and Bill was fine, but endless different drummers and guitarists was a pain, and so we decided to form another band - but one without a drummer at all, instead using a drum machine and metal percussion. (Hound God With A Tumor)."
The Inca Babies then lay dormant, that was it until in 2007 Anagram Records (via Cherry Red) released the retrospective CD ‘Plutonium 1983-87’
It was this reflective attention that sparked founder members Harry Stafford and Bill Marten to reunite, Goldblade drummer Rob Haynes was brought in and work began to craft a new Inca Babies; sadly this was not to be as tragedy struck when Bill Marten died suddenly in 2008, however after a period of reflection Stafford felt it fitting and recruited ex A Witness bass player Vince Hunt into the fold to complete ‘Death Message Blues.'
I asked Stafford whether ‘Death Message Blues’ could be interpreted as a lament…
“Most of the tracks were already written for the album and so if they were laments they were for other subjects…but I take your point that some of the tracks took on new meaning and interpretation with Bill’s death. ‘Gates To The Tunnel Of Song’ was about lost love, and now to me seems completely about the loss of life/ loss of a friend.
He goes on to state “It’s impossible to lose a close friend, and not have something to say about them… some songs are about him and for him."
What we find here is that The Inca Babies remain a band entrenched in their own brand of the blues, but a band that has clearly developed, there is certainly much more musical sophistication than previously evidenced. I ask Stafford if the occasional remark from journalists accusing them of perhaps running to closely alongside the likes of Nick Cave is unfair…
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“If you’re going to operate within the same musical spectrum as other artists, then pick the best. I hear all kinds of influences in all kinds of music, it’s the way we absorb and create music these days; on the whole I think it’s very healthy. The best thing about the rules of making music is that there are no rules."
Stafford is quite right, what The Inca Babies have created here is an album of vivid narratives, gripping poetry and melodic depth:
“Bewildered’ is about madness” comments Stafford “There are a hundred ways to die, but you’ve got to find one way to live.”
With ideas from Shelly and Ginsberg it’s a journey into the abyss…
Stafford continues…“Death Message Blues” is about trying to get to a dying relative in time; before the trip becomes a funeral visit, had overtones of death and funerals, but as I said before was about an event 30 years earlier."
This is one of those albums which probably demands your individual attention rather than to be played collectively. It is gentle, deeply evocative, and passionate.
There are lighter themes as Stafford explained “Tumblin’ Man” was actually about what it would be like to fall through space like some kind of superhero but done in the disguise of a folk singer on a stoop. Just a strange idea that now could be re-interpreted to mean something else I suppose…”
‘Death Message Blues’ has been released on the band's own resurrected Black Lagoon Records – As Stafford explained “Black lagoon Records never officially folded, and when Red Rhino and The Cartel went bust (1987) we were actually in the black, not by much though, so I don’t feel bad re-launching the label with a new album."
With a new album available I was keen to press Stafford as to the bands future…
“We are having fun traveling the world, playing gigs and putting out records. I would say at the moment it’s more of a hobby than an indulgence. As long as people are interested; then we exist to please them."
"It’s not a career so we don’t need to get anxious as to how many units we are shifting because if we shift none, no one gets hurt. I personally have always loved my time in the Inca Babies and will continue to do so unless anyone complains too loudly, but then I’m getting a little deaf in my old age.”
The Inca Babies play Gullivers, Manchester on the 30th April 2011.
Inca Babies on MySpace
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