Spasmodic Caress were one of six acts who featured on 4AD's first-ever compilation 12" Presage(s), released in September 1980.
Peter Ashby, the bassist Spasmodic Caress, has written this account of the bands history.
1. In the Beginning
I apologise in advance for the vagueness of some of the dates etc. but I didn`t keep a diary of this stuff and some years have passed.
Spasmodic Caress was formed sometime in 1979. Its founder members were Pete Masters who sang and operated the wasp synthesiser, Peter Ashby(me) on bass guitar and Rue (never knew his surname) who was the original guitarist and writer of the music to our first few numbers.
All of us hailed from what has always been a hotbed of inertia; that jewel in the costume jewellery crown of fun-packed boredom; the British holiday resort and every Londoners dream location…Clacton-on-Sea, notorious for being the scene of several mod and rocker battles throughout the decades . I had started my musical odyssey in schoolboy band Frenzid Melon (a duo in the main), popular with peers at school for poking fun at various other pupils and staff members and swearing a lot, unpopular with teachers at school for poking fun at various other pupils and staff members and swearing a lot. We were courted by Virgin records no less who could spot a scandal when they saw one but fortunately good sense prevailed (ours that is) and that dalliance never came to fruition. I don’t know the musical history of other Spaz (as we became affectionately known) band members but feel fairly certain that they hadn`t played in any bands before.
Along with every other self-respecting misfit in the locality we used to hang out in an infamous pub called Reg Browns, purveyor of not so fine beers and general mayhem masquerading as a good time. At first none of us knew of each others existence, but due to a stint of guitar playing in a band called Blank Screens I came to the attention of Pete Masters who had been writing some lyrics and wanted a vehicle for the expression of these scribblings.
He approached me in Reg Browns one fine day and communicated his desires and asked if I would like to take a look at some of his poetry with a view to forming a band. He said that he had already found a guitarist and I was duly ascribed the role of bassist assuming that I wanted that responsibility and pending the aforementioned lyric viewing. I do not remember if Blank Screens had come to a natural conclusion or whether I was still playing with them, but after seeing Pete`s meanderings I thought that maybe he had something and that maybe this was where it was at.
An initial practise was held round my house (my parents house you understand) consisting of me plonking an electric guitar and Pete playing a tune for the one and only time on the wasp synth: it was strictly used for sound effects after that and then only if he remembered to play it which he usually didn`t. Rue was not in evidence on this occasion. The music made this day bore no relation to any subsequent practise. For the first practise proper we hired a hall- the council owned John Groom Hall, long since pulled down and that became our place of choice for practising even though the council always had complaints about the noise we made. I have a cassette recording of this and it reveals that we still had no drummer at this time and that Pete Masters had no control over the wasp which seemed to have a will of its own and would produce the most ungodly howls despite his best efforts to placate it. Also that day we were beset by kids climbing on the roof-a pretty dodgy roof at that- and it`s quite hilarious to hear Pete chasing them off. For most of this practice we worked with