A message from Andy Martin of The Apostles

Posted on November 9, 2008November 12, 2008 by Penguin

Andy Martin 3rd EP session

I assume the ‘Ian S’ is Ian Slaughter? If so then ‘hello Ian’. Any comment here purporting to come from me I actually have to send via e-mail to Andus first because I am unable to contribute to sites like these for technological reasons. There have been 2 or 3 people sent out greetings to me on this site but they’ve not left their e-mail addresses so I couldn’t respond to them even if I wanted to. I only see excerpts from this site when Andus sends them to me – usually when there’s some stupid argument about who played what instrument in The Creeping Nobodies in 1983 and which audience member stole their glue bag etc. It’s bizarre reading comments by people discussing The Apostles when I had forgotten about all that crap by 1990. This doesn’t apply to you, Ian, but it’s such a pain having to use Andus to post these comments I’ll say it here as I’m hardly going to be a regular contributor to this thing. So, for the record: punk died in the 1980s. The 1980s are gone and they’re not coming back. Punk is dead and it’s not coming back. Instead of droning on and on about what you did in the 1980s and who hit who at this or that gig, why not concentrate on what’s happening NOW and THINK AHEAD! Just a thought.

In case anyone else out there wants to release Apostles stuff on vinyl or CD – fine but please ask Dave Fanning first, purely out of politeness and common courtesy. For myself, I think ALL the tracks we’ve ever released should be available as free downloads. If I had my way, UNIT would no longer release CDs – they waste natural resources anyway – but the artwork and music tracks would be issued purely as digital downloads FOR FREE since that way our music is no longer a part of the capitalist commodity exchange. Never mind about that hoary old argument ‘oh but then you won’t make any money from sales of your music’ well we don’t make any bloody money from sales of our CDs anyway so who cares? If I want to make a profit, I work overtime or find another job – music, art and literature should all be free.

Also, thanks to the excerpts Andus sends me from this site, I have now counted no less than 4 occasions when poor Penguin The Peacemaker has had to jump in like a referee with ’steady on, chaps, keep it civil’ type messages. Penguin, referees are generally paid damned good wages – so you should start charging KYPP a decent fee.

If anyone wants to have a go at me (they usually do) then it’s no good posting angry retorts on this site (unless you want to see how long it takes for Penguin to leap in with ‘come on, folks, calm down, keep it friendly’), instead you can pester me at unitunited@yahoo.com.

KYPP: GOT THIS LATER ON via ANDUS IN REPLY TO MY FIRST COMMENT:

Penguin, you may copy and make available for FREE DOWNLOAD any tracks by UNIT on your site. Forget The Apostles, they were crap, they were for the 1980s, they aren’t relevant any more and, be honest, we really weren’t very good – the only half decent musician we had in the band was Chris Low and by the time I’d finished ‘mixing’ the tracks you couldn’t hear what the poor sod was playing anyway – hear the tracks done properly with UNIT, especially as nearly half the tracks recorded by UNIT don’t even have me on them (which is probably why they sound so good).

The same goes for any artwork – bung it all on there, whatever you like – but I think if you’re going to make Time To Think available then you could warn people that UNIT material does NOT sound like that, i.e. it is recorded properly in a professional recording studio and that I am never allowed anywhere near the mixing desk so everyone can expect a decent production job!

Apostles official site

203 comments

Penguin • Post Author •
November 11, 2008 at 9:41 pm

Hi Andy (via Andus) always good to get a message from you.
Just to recap please contact Andy on unitunited@yahoo.com if you wish to.
I know ‘Quick’ Phil R (from King Cross 1978/79 times) asked for a contact for you Andy but I forgot to get back to him. This email has just reminded me! Better late than never I suppose.
Will ask Tony Drayton for a pay rise Andy, may get a pint of cider at Christmas thats all I signed up for originally. Maybe two pints from the boss will make things all right.
Do you want any Unit stuff up on post 86 section Andy, stuck Academy 23 the other day, and may put up Time To Think 7″ at some point.
Very glad to see you are ok with downloads to people that are interested in the band’s work throughout all incarnations.
Martin C
November 11, 2008 at 11:22 pm

Wow, what happened to this post? Didn’t even get a chance to listen to it

All I saw was a rune, half a tune…and the damn shebang flew off inta the moon ((C) Lee Marvin, 1967)
baronvonzubb
November 11, 2008 at 11:27 pm

Oh well. That could’ve been quite good.
Very confusing that Andus is Andy and Penguin is the peacemaker, when I thought he was a very naughty boy.
Tony Puppy
November 12, 2008 at 1:20 am

Interesting Andy, very interesting. If you want to publish any of your writing on here (like the way Josef Porter’s story is on here) please contact me via Andus or the contact option in the page header above.

I had some communication with BBP Records the other day who tell me, “just to let you know that Andy Martin will be going into the studio very soon to remaster all of the Apostles vinyl releases including the unreleased double LP and 7″ for release on CDR by BBP.”

This contradicts some of Andy’s comments in the first paragraph of his message, things like “I had forgotten about all that crap by 1990” and “Instead of droning on and on about what you did in the 1980s…why not concentrate on what’s happening NOW and THINK AHEAD!”.

But hey Andy’s a contradictory guy, that’s what makes him so cuddly.

Finally, regarding Martin C’s comment – was there originally some download associated with this thread? Or am I just getting confused again?

BBP can be contacted at bbp_distro@hotmail.com
Penguin • Post Author •
November 12, 2008 at 1:36 am

I think BBP has got it wrong Tony, think this is Chris Low’s project. Nowt to do with Gogs. Andy knows of Chris’s remixed singles (and extra tracks) CD, whether he feels it is a ‘runner’ in 2008 I don’t know, but like he says up top I doubt it. The amount of cash to professionally remix seven LPs and an unreleased double LP would be staggering if using the master tapes. You could do it on the cheap via a direct rip of the vinyl onto harddrive and fiddle with it that way with some quality software but that will not sound half as good as a decent remix completed in a studio.
The CD will sell though as the resurgence of interest in the U.S and Asia by a much younger generation for the Apostles should get some royalties to Dave and Andy at least. I heard some remixed stuff from Chris project some time ago now. Sounds a little better than the singles did.
I took the download and post down due to some tracks appearing in the future (the same reason why I have not ever put the five 7″ singles up on this site from the beginning of this sites exsistance, because I knew Chris was working on getting as many master tapes as possible to work on, etc etc). Maybe Gogs can come on the site and let us know if that CD from BBP is something different to the one Chris is working on remixing right now, and any further details.
Notice you state nothing of the pay rise that Andy mentions I should get!
Do not want to get nasty but reckon two pints at christmas or I go on strike.
The balls in your court mighty Puppy Overlord, my master. *Bows head three times*
Martin C
November 12, 2008 at 2:00 am

I don’t want to piss on anyone’s parade, but Spurs are playing tomorrow night, so who cares? Ok, we’ve lost a rare Apostles tape – but pull together folks, nobody ever said life was gonna be fair – just tell me the link below doesn’t push in front of SPK to the front of the dinner queue – industrial bacofoil cosmonauts are we! PLAY LOUD! Smash THE BUSINESS!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4z8NfsiZOAU
Penguin • Post Author •
November 12, 2008 at 2:04 am

I have not lost a rare Apostles tape. Got it right next to me, HA!
Come On You Spurs…over and out going to zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Ian S
November 12, 2008 at 10:48 am

Hello Andy, yes it is me. Sorry I missed you on bonfire night, but I got the call back of seven o’clock and was already settled down south of the river with dinner cooking.

Will drop you a line at unitunited, would be good to see you.
Chris
November 12, 2008 at 12:14 pm

just to clarify; again, this is most definately a case of crossed wires as Andy has not been in contact with Gogs or BBP for years.

Additionally it would obviously be impossible for anyone other than me to have any involvement in the ‘remastering’ of any of the early EPS as the master cassettes are in a box in my flat and have never been lent to anyone. And as Andy said in an email to me only last night he has absolutely no interest whatsoever in any of the old material, and even less in being involved in any projects facilitating their re-release which is why I have been entrusted with this project. Which has only been initiated as the early singles now sell for absurd sums on Ebay and , more fundamentally, the 7″ single versions of the songs were of atrocious quality due to the amount of music on each side of the records. And as Andy would generally diplicate cassettes in the early 80s in mono via two connected tape recorders, a true reflection of these recordings has never been heard.

Also, whilst i’m sure only Andy would confirm this I very much doubt there is any ‘unreleased’ Apostles material awaiting release, lest of all a double LP. I’d imagine any such recordings would long since have seen cassette release.

Penguin, the versions you have heard of the original EP tracks were simply the digital dumps with no remastering whatsoever. I can assure you the final ‘release’ version will be a more than dramatic improvement on the poor quality of the vinyl versions. though you are right that commercially, such remastering would be a prohibitively expensive procedure which is why this project has taken so long.

Hope this clears up any misunderstandings once and for all.

And please, let this be the last on this subject. I shall inform Micky of any developments re the CD release and these shall be duly posted up here.

For information on what Andy has been doing for THE PAST 25 YEARS please email him at the address he has provided: unitunited@yahoo.com

Thank you & Goodnight. CL
Nic
November 12, 2008 at 1:57 pm

Always funny to read Andy Martin’s comments, although they usually contain a hearty amount of cobblers (as does the post above)…
🙂

Looking back to the past:
http://www.archive.org/details/Countryblues/CountryBlues.mp3

Thinking about now and looking to the future:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zwmUOJR-GwA

Incompatible? Non…
Phil R
November 12, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Oh I love Ninja tunes! I wonder if Coldcut were punks at one point
andus
November 12, 2008 at 3:47 pm

It will be brilliant to have those 4 early singles produced properly Chris. I look forward to it, I played my copies only once, awfull transister radio sound, but they are bostin tracks, and will be superb when done properly.
andus
November 12, 2008 at 7:44 pm

Has any one heard of a punk band called Hysterical Combat, circa. 1982-84, they only released 3 or 4 singles, they were from Liverpool, Bootle I believe. The first single was called. Feeling down, can’t remeber the b side, the 2nd was an ep, of Walking Around/Lust For Life/The Parsons Poseurs/Bottle Head. Can Anyone help me out with this, as Bottle Head was a superb track. But I cannot find them or their stuff anywhere. Well, its worth a try.
andus
November 12, 2008 at 7:56 pm

The lyrics went something like this.

I get up in the morning
Feeling rather slow
But my brick head is always on show

I’m a bottle head bottle head
wasting my time
Bottle head Bottle head
feeling fine

Out in the streets they come and they go
walk right past me
but they don’t know.

I’m a bottle head bottle head
wasted my time
bottle head bottle head
give me some wine.
andus
November 12, 2008 at 8:07 pm

I saw them play in Hackney in 87 during their short reunion( about 2 weeks ), I was gonna interview them. One of them asked me if I knew the Hackney Hell Crew. but I never did get to interview them as they buggered off to some party. I think the main man was a chap called Slug.
Chris
November 12, 2008 at 8:38 pm

haha, not quite ‘bottle head’ but you just reminded me of this:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LzpN9ce_qF0

(song starts at about 2.10)

ENJOY! 🙂
andus
November 12, 2008 at 8:53 pm

Classic video Chris. reminded me of Fish Cakes by Bauhaus.

I remembered the title of that ep now, it was called The Bootle full people ep, it had a picture of Bootle on the cover with the band in the background. I sold it years ago when I was skint.
andus
November 12, 2008 at 9:23 pm

They play a gig at the Regression club I think it was called, supporting a band called Screamer and someone else
andus
November 12, 2008 at 10:20 pm

This is a classic

Reporter gets high in a matter of seconds trying to report on a marijuana burn! HILARIOUS! …

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=04i8RO-P7qg
andus
November 14, 2008 at 10:26 am

Penguin, If you do put any UNIT stuff up, you might want to go for, Fire and Ice or Untied And United or We Are Your Gods, cause those cds are no longer available.
Penguin • Post Author •
November 14, 2008 at 10:34 am

Thanks for the tip, will bring all the CDs (about 12 of the buggers) back to Penguin Towers from my work tonight and stick one of the above on.
andus
November 15, 2008 at 12:22 pm

This weeks selection. 2.00pm Cheltenham. Comply or Die 10-1
Penguin • Post Author •
November 15, 2008 at 12:28 pm

What odds the mighty THFC rolling those saps at Fulham? The game itself and then out on the streets?
andus
November 15, 2008 at 12:56 pm

5/4 Penguin. which is good odds.
andus
November 15, 2008 at 12:57 pm

And I will give 4/7 on the police winning after the match.
Penguin • Post Author •
November 15, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Ta, will mull on it for a time…
johng
November 15, 2008 at 9:43 pm

cottagers come from behind to do the spurs.next hot tip andus?
😉
andus
November 15, 2008 at 10:55 pm

And comply or die fell or pulled up, don’t know missed the race. but Fair Along won at 10-1. so I got my money back. and Aston Villa beat the Arsenal to send my football accumulator down. cxxts,
andus
November 18, 2008 at 10:09 pm

COSMOGRAPHY.

Alone,
A knight in isolation,
I am a gash in the eye of absurdity,
Collected with others
I have no discern of myself,
Thoughts become a mish-mash
Looking into the eye of the whirlpool….
In the company of others I am manifest !
Desolate displacement
upon displacement,
Impossible connection
both inside and out;
I have no choice,
Reality is stripped of all meaning,
While stars shine
incandescently from within;
This endless flatland is surreal,
You cannot put a name to it,
It cannot be pin-pointed,
It cannot be appraised,
This is no accuracy
in measuring the chaos
of ordered confusion;
And there is no solace either,
only the empty gate, leading nowhere;
There are no solutions in these dried up ruins,
( real life is clandestine )
Not even a reference-point, a guide for the lost,
Not even a furnace, a purifying all consuming fire,
Not even a ghost, or a shadow to scare our steps.
Memories that clutch, screaming, clawing,
Dragging us back to some abstruse definition,
Softness on the coldness,
A bloated mass of abstracts.
Elucidation evades us,
Indefinable fragments emaciate themselves;
The labyrinth is incoherent !
We turn and turn again,
not knowing from where we start,
or where we will end;
Adversity sucks at our power
and we become antipathetic;
With each step forward,
We walk into the shadow,
With each shadow,
We step forward;
Petulant in our prudence.
And god sleeps in a splintered alcove,
Jailed by our idea of it,
We pray for guidance
and close our eyes,
We plead for help and turn away,
Soliloquy in place of empathy,
Vehemence over instruction.
What a dark dark coming we have had of it,
Pressing against our own faces,
The desert turns its head
astonished at its own valour !
It seems so obvious sometimes,
that there should be four of us,
The two that are inside
and the others external,
All ghosts in appearance.
…And the others,
Walking alone in bewildered company,
Caught in the spell of language.
This is the cold wall,
Which we came to examine,
We assess its front,
Scrutinize its length,
Question its peak,
and observe its foundations,
But we cannot see the juxtapose,
Nor what may be hidden on the other side,
In this awesome ! limitless !
infinitely inexplicable space;
The dust is asking questions. !
We cannot cease from exploration,
we move nearer to our destiny,
Yet all our exploring
has been but a desert that walks upon another,
This is the way of the stars,
not in time,
because time is relative,
not from here the time of others;
The chaos that searches for order
Finding only itself.
We do not know where we go,
or from where we came,
Who we are, Why we are,
Or where we are,
Whichever way we look,
Within or without,
The horizon stretches from view;
Inwards and outwards,
Time here and time there,
Past, future and present,
Endless endless analysis,
Incessant unremitting appraisal,
We reach out from this point;
and the paradox confounds us !

Andy Nunn
Pete
November 21, 2008 at 6:28 am

Penguin, please can you drop me a line off-site. ukhcskin@yahoo.com concerning the TTT 7″ (and A23 vinyl).

Cheers
andus
November 22, 2008 at 1:05 pm

This weeks selection. 105 haydock, According to Pete, 8-1
andus
November 22, 2008 at 2:14 pm

According to Pete wins at 11-2
baron von zubb
November 24, 2008 at 12:33 am

That was nice Andy Nunn. Poetrys the way forward. More on that later.