Fun Time - Música

Despite Two Very Strong Singles The Soldier Dolls Remain One Of The More Internationally
obscure Of The Welsh Punk Bands From The Early Eighties Probably Because They Only
played Outside Of Wales Once – And That Was Their Final Show! The Soldier Dolls Formed In
1981 After A Short Period Under The Unfortunate Moniker Of Animation And Played Their
first Show In September Of 1982 – A Show They Actually Gatecrashed Rather Than Were
invited To Play At. This Seemed Something Of A Trademark For The Band Seeing As Decent
gigs Were Few And Far Between At The Time.
“None Of Us Could Play A Note... And I Really Mean That We Couldn’t Even Tune Our Guitars ”
laughs Fester Recalling Those Pre-Soldier Dolls Endeavours. “We Didn’t Have A Drum Kit
and Both Myself And Evo Wanted To Be The Drummer So We Had A Pact… Whoever Got
their Drums First Would Be The Drummer And The Other The Singer! Thank God He Got His Kit
first Mine Came A Few Months Later So I Ended Up Singing He’s A Fantastic Drummer.”
The Original Line-Up Of Andrew ‘Fester’ Mae – Vocals Dave ‘DKA’ Alderman – Guitar ‘Slow’ Bob Humphries – Bass And Dave ‘Evo’ Evans – Drums Recorded Two Tapes The
‘Ten Track Sampler’ And The ‘From The Cradle To The Grave’ Demos And It Was
apparent Even From These Earliest Studio Efforts That The Soldier Dolls Had A Lot Of
potential.
“That Original Line Up Was In My Opinion At Least Twenty Years Ahead Of Its Time ” Reckons
Fester. “The Music Was A Mix Of Hardcore Metal And Pure Punk… Which Seems To Be
much More Popular Now Than It Was Back Then. The Bass Player And Drummer Were Really
into Heavy Metal Which Helped Give The Band Quite A Different Sound.”
“Musically We Were Much Faster Than A Lot Of Other Bands... Before It Was ‘trendy’ To Play So
fast ” Adds DKA. “And We Had A Big Yank Influence As Well Especially On My Part As The
guitar Player. We Even Had A Sense Of Humour… When Most People Were Turning Into Po-
faced Fuckers!
“I Actually Probably Prefer That Earlier ‘mark 1’ Period ” He Admits With The Benefit Of
hindsight. “It Was Tighter - Maybe More Bombastic - And Was When We Really Captured The
real Spirit Of The Band. We Probably Took Ourselves Too Seriously Afterwards…”
Soon After The Second Tape Was In The Can Evo And Bob Left For Musical Pastures Anew Taking With Them Much Of The Metallic Edge Enjoyed By The Band’s First Incarnation. They
were Replaced By – Respectively – Matt ‘Morph’ Gray Who Eventually Ended Up Playing
guitar In The Darling Buds! And Jamie Richards.
This Line-Up Was The One That Appeared On The Band’s Two Subsequent EPs And At The
majority Of The Shows They Played.
“Another Reason Why Evo And Bob Quit ” Explains Fester “Was That Everywhere We
seemed To Play Trouble Seemed To Follow. The Skinhead Movement Was Picking Up Pace
and Violence Came With It Like Hand In Glove. At One Gig Some Guy In The Crowd Was
spitting At My Then-Girlfriend. I Didn’t Like It And I Jumped Off Stage And Gave Him A Slap. I
thought At The Time It Was Quite Justified… However He Was ‘in’ With All The Skins And That
was The Beginning Of The End For Tranquillity At Our Gigs.”
“Those Gigs Were Disorganised Violent Rowdy Affairs ” Agrees DKA. “We Played To
anyone And Everyone Who Would Listen Young Kids Punks Skins Whoever. I Remember
being 100 Percent Into Playing Every Show Possible Logistics And Monetary Matters
weren’t A Concern Back Then - We Just Got Up Got Stuck In And Sweated Our Balls Off For
very Little Reward. Big Deal!”
In 1984 The Soldier Dolls Self-Released Their Debut EP ‘What Do They Know?’ On Their
very Own Scream Records The Label Being Ran By Guitarist DKA. A Three-Song Affair Featuring The Tracks ‘Gotham City Is Dead’ And ‘Be Like You’ Alongside The Anthemic Title
track It Showcased The Band’s High-Speed Gruff-Vocal Approach To Decent Effect But They
weren’t Particularly Happy With How It Turned Out And Only Bothered With A Bare Minimum
of Promotion.
Later That Year They Recorded Their Second EP Which Was Unleashed By Scream Late In
‘85. Partially Funded This Time Around By Revolver/Cartel Who Were Handling Distribution
duties ‘A Taste Of Blood’ Was To Be The Band’s Defining Moment And Was Pressed On An
appropriately Garish Red Wax. Their First Release To Be Blessed With A Solid Thick Sound All Four Tracks Tore Along With A Vengeance But It Was On ‘Iron Curtain’ That The Soldier
Dolls Found An Intensity So Urgent It Was Breathtaking.
After Hitting Such A Peak The Only Way Was Down And The Band Slowly Disintegrated.
“That Second Line Up - The One On The Records - Went Fairly Gradually ” Confirms Fester. “I
think That Jamie The Bass Player Really Wanted To Play Guitar He Just Got Tired Of Playing
bass. So We Became A 3-Piece And I Played Bass. By That Time I Was Writing All The
songs And I Was Trying To Get A More Commercial Feel Happening . DKA And Morph Didn’t
like The Way It Was Going So After Playing In Bristol With The Folk Devils We Called It A Day.
That Was Late 1985.
“We All Did Other Things Later But For Me It Was Never The Same…”
In Fact DKA And Morph Started Up Slowjam Whilst Fester And Jamie Played Together In
Highway 4 But Neither Band Hit Quite The Same Spot As The Raw Youthful Angst They Had
exorcised Whilst In The Soldier Dolls.
Incidentally The Ex-Soldier Dolls Members Now Reside Abroad Having All Emigrated To
the Sunnier Climes Of Spain And France – And In The Case Of Fester Canada – During
recent Years. read less