The Birthday Party, Leeds Warehouse, 6th May 1982

That Andrew Eldritch was a huge fan of Australian post-punk band The Birthday Party was a matter of public record in the early 1980’s, with the TSOM singer name-checking Nick Cave’s ensemble alongside the likes of The Stooges when discussing influences or contemporary bands which he admired in magazine or radio interviews.  A source close to the band in those days told us in an earlier post on this blog: “Most of The Sisters lived in a typical Woodhouse Terrace [studentsville Victorian terraced house] dump with the windows covered up….I was good friends with Craig so I went by frequently. They just listened to The Stooges and The Birthday Party all night, smoking copious amounts. Even in the dark room Andrew never took off his leather jacket or his dark glasses, and never said a word. He was like a god to the collected masses! Someone would say, “I think Andrew wants to hear Junkyard [The Birthday Party's 1982 album] and someone would dutifully put it on! Later, someone would say, “Andrew wants everyone to go away.” So everyone did! It was hysterically funny, the disciples really followed the piper...” As we saw in another previous post, TSOM had the privilege of supporting their heroes at London’s ZigZag club in July 1982, but did they also support the Antipodeans a couple of months earlier in early May of that year, back in their Leeds heartland (pun intended)? This was the question recently asked to me by Phil Verne, administrator of TSOM 1980-1985 Fan Page on Facebook, and de facto leader of a long-term ongoing loose project to tie down as definitive a TSOM gigography as possible for the 1981-1985 era.

The initial evidence for the gig having taken place with TSOM as support band appeared mixed. On the one hand, the Sisters were listed as the support band to The Birthday Party for their gig at Leeds Warehouse on 6th May 1982 on the Songkick website, as the Oz band toured the UK in support of their current album Junkyard. On the other hand, no other evidence had yet surfaced to support this claim, and the events of the July ’82 London gig (with Eldritch asking The Birthday Party via a third party if they liked TSOM) implied that this would have been the first time that the two bands had played together.

However, further evidence was soon forthcoming, thanks to Dino Wiand, son of the late Mike Wiand, the legendary American-born entrepreneur who created the Leeds Warehouse. Following his father’s sad passing a couple of years ago, Dino has set up a FB page devoted to the club’s golden era of the 1980’s, building up an impressive archive of material and using his father’s own records to piece together the history of the club. Dino kindly checked the Warehouse calendar for the month in question,  and noted that TSOM were indeed pencilled in as the support act for the night. “But it's from 4 weeks before the gig. It’s possible that it was changed after the booking,” he added (to a discussion on the topic on the TSOM 8085 group).

This latter possibility was confirmed by Si Denbigh, lead singer of the March Violets and long-time Nurse to the Doktor in more recent years, who joined in the discussion. “The Violets definitely supported the Birthday Party at the Leeds Warehouse,” he stated confidently. “I know for a fact that we supported them at the Warehouse, it was one of the high points of my life. I don't know if the Sisters ever opened for them at the Warehouse or not….It was a very early gig [for the Violets]. They [BP] were one of my fave bands. I remember Tracy [Pew, BP bassist] told me we blew them off. I believed him - it made my year!”

Although this first-hand eye witness account seemed to be the definitive proof that the Violets were the support act, Si’s mention of BP bassist Tracy Pew left open a small window of doubt. Pew was in fact in prison at the time of the May gig and therefore unable to travel to the UK, with band member Rowland S Howard’s brother Harry filling in on bass for the Warehouse gig. When asked about this, Si very reasonably replied : “ Maybe it was Rowland or his brother or someone else on bass. In my hazy memory I was sure it was Tracy, though to be honest they were f---ed up days and the Birthday Party were the most f---ed up band going. But brilliant. I saw them many times.”

Further doubts as to whether the Violets support slot was on this particular date were raised by Dino, who recalled that from his reading of the Warehouse records, The Birthday Party had played twice at the Warehouse. However, the wonderful archive site which lists all known BP/Bad Seeds gigs has The Birthday Party playing only three times in Leeds, the first time being at Tiffany’s supporting Bauhaus in early 1981, and the third time being in late 1983 at Leeds Poly, with the May 82 Warehouse date under discussion here sandwiched in the middle.

That it was the Violets and not the Sisters who supported The Birthday Party on that May evening was finally confirmed by two other sources. The first was top TSOM researcher Mark Andrews, currently preparing his forthcoming book on the band’s early days. Corroborating Si Denbigh’s recollections, he confirmed that “in ‘Leeds Student' newspaper, there was an interview piece with the Violets in late May 1982 which mentions a recent support slot with The Birthday Party at The Warehouse.” Andrews also recalled a recent interview which he has done with Violets guitarist Tom Ashton, who also had very clear memories of an early support slot with The Birthday Party at The Warehouse.

Further confirmation came from Geoff T, a regular contributor to Dino’s excellent Warehouse FB group. He too had very strong memories of this particular gig, despite attending many there over the years. “It was definitely the March Violets who supported The Birthday Party that night,” he told Phil. “I remember Roland Howard had one of his guitar pedals stolen from the stage at that show - it was quite a big deal - so it's easy to recall that night.” This was a tale which Geoff had earlier recounted on the Warehouse FB page, an incident which other contributors also remembered. “They went offstage at the end of the gig, and as usual the audience cheered for an encore. In that short gap before they came back on, someone in crowd down the front stole one of Roland Howard's guitar effects pedals. Despite an eventually very exasperated and pissed-off appeal by the band, to the crowd for its return, (and a request for security not to let anyone leave) it never was, at least to my knowledge. I recall that the culprits were holed up in a cubicle in the gents’ toilet but don't recall the outcome...”

After some Googling, I stumbled across the relevant issue of Leeds Student, and discovered the article which Mark referred to, plus a review of the gig itself (headline act and support band reviewed separately), fully corroborating the evidence above in every respect, with the additional detail that the Violets were rewarded for their efforts at only their second ever gig with an encore. There was also a letter complaining (justifiably?) about the review of the Warehouse gig:

The stolen pedals story may explain why the setlist on the Birthday Party archive site seems particularly short at just six songs! But sadly, these recent revelations mean that we must remove another gig from the TSOM gigography, but on the other hand, there is now fully documented evidence of the first three Violets gigs - supporting the Sisters at Keighley in March 82, the Birthday Party at the Warehouse on 6th May and then headlining at the Up-Zone Videotheque at Belinda's on 17th May.

Thanks to Si, Dino, Mark, Phil, Geoff and others who have helped to clear up another question mark about the “early days” as we creep ever closer to a definitive gigography for the Sisters.