Issue Two Band Interviews - Lady Jane

Lady Jane were a four piece rock band from Hull. Members were Stu Forester, Shaun Walby, Dicky Rich and Tony Thresh. We caught up with Lady Jane after they played a gig in the autumn of 1983 at the now demolished New York hotel in Hull. It was a great gig and they were really rockin’.

By way of a follow up I found that Lady Jane released a three track EP called “The Sheer Power of Rock” which was recorded at Fairview Studios in 1983. The A side was “For You Tonight” and on the B side was “Out for the Count” and “Whiskey and Leather”. The video for Out for the Count features some rare photos of the band performing a gig at Peppermint Park in Hull in 1983. 

I also found a reference to Lady Jane's EP on the New Wave of British Heavy Metal website and the Encyclopedia Metallum websites. I wonder what happened to them beyond the EP?

Here's what was published in Kindred Spirit...

It’s usually very difficult to describe a new band without either annoying everyone by making derogatory remarks, or alternatively boring them stiff with a list of ever-reliable comparisons. However when the ‘new band’ in question is Hull based rockers Lady Jane it’s almost impossible to fall into either of these traps. Dedicated, determined and potentially promising, Lady Jane are ready to take on the world.

Apart from lead guitarist Stu Forester, visually the band don’t give the impression of being ‘just another set of head bangers’. Their material is appealing if not altogether original.

“Forever Together”, “Gonna Write A Song For You” and “Whisky And Leather” are sounds which couldn’t fail to drag clads of denim clad rock fanatics on to the dance floor to shake their heads in unison.

Their live act is also very much alive and kicking. Clouds of coloured smoke drench the stage as lead guitarist Shaun Walby leaps high in the air and vocalist/bassist/frontman Dicky Rich encourages audience participation, thus keeping everyone on their toes. The only member of the band heard but not always seen is drummer Tony Thresh.

After one of their recent gigs at the New York hotel in Hull I managed to have a brief chat with Dicky Rich and Shaun Walby in order to find out a little more about Lady Jane.

Once upon a time...

Shaun: Me and Rich have been performing since we were at junior high school. 

Rich had a bass - he taught me how to play “Walking on the Moon” - I bought a guitar. Then we formed a really early band called Warrior, which was all heavy metal-let’s-just-go-make-a-noise y’know. Then Stu joined and we formed Lady Jane, played for about a year then split. We got back together about six months ago with this new drummer with his 1700 of kit.

Dicky: He hasn’t brought it all with him tonight!

Songwriters?

Shaun: Me and Stu write most of our material and Rich joins in as well when he feels like it... when his brain works!

Influences?

Stu: The Thompson Twins.

Shaun: Well we’ve all got our own separate ones, but generally it’s an American rock sound.

Dicky: We’re very individual.

Other local bands?

Shaun: We’ve a lot of poppy bands. We’ve seen Emerald, but with them you get back to Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, which has all been done before I’m afraid. Like you’ve seen tonight we’re trying to bring something new into it, but as for the rest of the Hull bands everyone’s trying.

Dicky: The problem with Hull bands is they won’t get out of Hull. They just stick in the same place - like the Vets - they’re a very good band but they won’t get out. There’s a bloke who’s trying to get us on a three month tour of England after January headlining. We still want people to know we’re from Hull though. We are proud of it.

Audiences?

Shaun: There’s a lot of straight people about.

Dicky: They’re squares...

Shaun: Since punk it’s become sort of intellectual to sit down and say, “Oh I don’t like this band. I’m not going to enjoy myself.” So we try and change all that. We just jump about on stage for an hour.

Punk?

Shaun: I like the early stuff, though it was great but the Exploited and all that lot... (raspberry noise)

Dicky: What the punks did was they went out and played for nothing. It’s ruined the music industry.

Shaun: Now bands like us want to try and make it... We’re gonna pay for our PA tonight and that’s about what we get.

Dedicated or just plain ambitious?

Dicky: We aren’t bothered about money at all.

Shaun: I’m in my job for another four weeks until I can afford a new guitar then I’m chucking it. I just get so depressed.

Future plans?

Shaun: We’re gonna play Hull for a while and try and get gigs around Doncaster, Grimsby. Then we want to try and get down to London. We’ve a few contacts trying to get us places eg The Tube at Christmas. There’s four bands on at Tiffanys, we’ll probably get 20 seconds or something sick like that!

Any final messages?

Dicky: We love everybody!

Shaun: We’re just a young rock band hoping to make it and if anyone wants to give us support then we’re gonna really party to them.

*Update April 2018*

Following a post on Sydney Scarborough’s Facebook page  (Sydney Scarborough was an independent Hull record store frequented by pretty much all music lovers in the Hull area in the 80s) I was really pleased to make a connection with Lady Jane’s bassist/vocalist - Richard Hood. Richard has kindly provided me with additional information about the band’s ‘The Sheer Power of Rock’ EP. Here is what he had to say:

“The singles with the homespun picture sleeve became sought after by

collectors after Lady Jane's inclusion in the encyclopedia of the NWOBHM which was a limited edition book published by Macmillan in Germany around 2008 as far as I can remember. This exposure has put these recordings on rock fans playlists world wide. The songs were recorded at Fairview Studio in 1983 with John Spence as sound engineer and sold through Sydney Scarborough, HMV in Hull and at local gigs for about £1.50 each. 1000 EPs were pressed by Mayking in France I believe. 20 or so were sent to record companies and promoters, 200 ish were sold locally and the rest have gone missing, probably in a loft in a house in the midlands!”

As far as what band members of Lady Jane are up to these days, Richard still writes and plays with the Made in Hull band along with Bernie Laverick, and they are looking to be doing some open mic nights with local banjo player Rob Sedgwick soon. Check out the band’s Facebook page for more information 

I’ve also been able to make contact with guitarist Stuart Forester, who has had a really varied musical career. Here is what he told me:

“After Lady Jane I formed Rich Rags in the late 80's and toured the UK extensively for five years building up a pretty good following around the country. We released an EP 'Bedlam'  and an album 'Psycho Deadheads From Outer Space' . and were underground cult favourites with Kerrang magazine and the like, although never breaking through to the next level and consequently split in 1994.

After that I formed Sugarkill and released an EP 'Solidgoldspastictraction' in '97.

I moved to London in '98 and worked as a sound engineer and roadie for various bands such as Echobelly and Rialto at the tail end of the Britpop scene and was briefly the guitarist with fleeting NME darlings Gay Dad with whom I toured Europe and the USA.

Melonstone was a studio band I played with for a couple of years, we were a two guy/two girl heavy Fleetwood Mac-ish type sound.

I became weary of the rock n roll scene and drifted into a folk/acoustic sound and have since released three albums as a solo artist, 'Pennies For Gold', 'A Yard of Ale' and most recently 'The Good Earth'.

After seventeen years of London dwelling I moved to rural Aberdeenshire in 2015 where I keep chickens, grow vegetables and sing to the cows in the field next door!”

Details of Stuart's recent recordings and much more information can be found on his website http://stuartforester.com 

So far I haven’t been able to make contact with Shaun Walby or Tony Thresh but I will of course update accordingly if any new information or photos find their way to me.

You can follow me on Twitter for updates.

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