213 WONKY ALICE, Submariner, Leicester Princess Charlotte, Wednesday 24 June 1992

Hmmm. We lost our way around Stow-On-The-Wold, spent 20 minutes trying to find the venue on arrival in far-flung Leicester, then found out our intended headliners, The Belltower, had postponed due to illness. What a way to spend my birthday!

Still, we were here, so cut our losses and ventured in for 2 rather than 3 bands. I'd never heard of either, so a voyage of discovery for me, and at least it was only £2 entry and they served Copperhead cider!

Submariner were first on and played an excellent set, reminiscent of Cud, Ride and Power Of Dreams with it's insistent energy and pace, but full also of excellent songs. The boy can sing too!

Wonky Alice came on at 10.15, and were superb, thankfully; they played a great set of dynamic rock with lots of oddball lyricism and tempo changes for good measure. Clive and I had a bloody good bop down the front and went backstage to congratulate the Wonkies afterwards for making it a worthwhile birthday trip after all. They've got a dreadful name, but even so it's a name to watch!

225 WONKY ALICE, Sunshot, Windsor Old Trout, Tuesday 10 November 1992

Hey, they've changed the entrance at the Trout! Perhaps that accounted for the poor turnout - people couldn't find their way in, so didn't bother! Sunshot's lead singer ironically announced at one point, "don't push at the back as the people at the front are getting crushed," to a virtually empty hall. A weird 2 girl, one chap one drum machine combo, made a noise which was at times oddly appealing in a pseudo Goth Curve/ Banshees vein, and at other times grating and chaotic. The jury is still out on them...

Luckily we had the Wonkies to rescue us from the tedium of the disinterested Windsor clientele. My 2 gig buddies and myself all freaked out down the front as the band took to the stage dressed in matching black polo necks with silver "W" motifs (clearly made of cardboard and tinfoil, but hey, that's their DIY ethic for you!), and dashed (or should it be, "warped") through a great set of supermarionation cosmic dance pop. At times like the early B52's played at 78 RPM (an explanation I, struggling for comparisons, offered to a curious punter), other times sounding like a late 60's space opera theme tune (especially Karen's sinister bass lines), but overall unique, thrilling and impossible to keep still to. So we didn't.

Went backstage afterwards, for mutual compliments and autographs. A great gig!

236 WONKY ALICE, Bleed, Bath Moles Club, Friday 2 April 1993

First gig back at this tiny, difficult to get in, hole in the wall Moles venue for over 6 years; good thing Beef is a member! We got in at 10.30 - virtually first in, forgot it was such a late one! - and hung out with Wonky lad Yves prior to the support band, Bleed, on at 10 to 11. A shame every song had to be a manifesto, as they were OK in a sub PJ Harvey kind of spiky blues way. The female vocalist however needed a soapbox, not a stage, for her liberalist beliefs which, whilst finding sympathy, left a bad taste when they're rammed down your throat all the time!

Sloshed the taste out with a few ciders before getting Wonky down the front, as the band came on at 11.30. Myself, Clive and Beef formed a 3 man moshpit as the band kicked into a surprisingly powerful "Sirius", and a subsequent astonishingly titanic set of their unique, sinewy mutant dance, spacey and unpredictable. No manifestos here, thankfully; just songs about space! A superb "Crazy Caterpillar" encored and rounded off Wonky Alice's best performance yet. Hung around afterwards, backstage with the band, helping them to finish their rider. They're in Bristol soon - so are we!

240 WONKY ALICE, Supp. The Bardots, Bristol Mauretania, Tuesday 27 April 1993

Despite being first into this venue tonight, we didn't manage to get on Wonky Alice's comprehensive guest list (which numbered 35 - mainly from locally based distribution company Revolver), unfortunately, although promises were made about us being on it next time! My first gig at The Mauretania - a dinky little pub venue with an oddly carpeted dancefloor, which gave the impression of dancing in someone's living room!

However, that didn't stop us from getting down the front and having a good old bop to Wonky Alice's set. They're getting better each time I see them, I reckon, and tonight they were rapier-sharp, insistent, itchy and atmospheric. Music it's impossible to keep still to, they totally spaced out the sparse crowd with their sci-fi mutant madness.

Off the dancefloor, sweaty as bollocks, I then kept a watching brief at the bar for headliners The Bardots; as, it seemed, did everyone else! They were OK in a Pale Saints/ B Movie shimmering guitars-y kind of way - damning them with faint praise, I know - but they played like a band who knew they'd been blown offstage by their support before they even turned up. Tonight belonged to Wonky Alice!