Quel Dommage and Xcentric Noise Records

Quel Dommage were a Hull based post punk band who built up a strong local following throughout the years they were active. They played their first gig at Dingwalls in Hull in May 1983 and their last at Hull’s legendary Adelphi Club in 1986.

Their line up was as follows:

Mike Farnill (bass/vocals)

Andy “Tommo” Thompson (guitar)

Dave Lofts (drums)

Ian Muir (keyboards)  

Their sound was reminiscent of Joy Division and their live act highly atmospheric. Throughout the years they were together Quel Dommage were an integral part of the local music scene, with guitarist Andy being the creator of the Xcentric Noise record label (1980-1986).

Quel Dommage released one single on Xcentric Noise in 1984 entitled “Bright Lights” which was given airplay by John Peel as well as on local radio back in the day.

On the B side was Music For Serious And Solemn Occasions (A Song Of Thankfulness And Praise) and Amendment  

To celebrate Quel Dommage’s 30^th anniversary, an album entitled Drogo Beat was released in 2013 on Andy’s online label - 3 Trousers Music - featuring previously unreleased studio recordings from 1983 to 1986 and the single 'Bright Lights' from 1984. 

In 2016 they released their First and Last EP, which featured the first two studio demos and the last two studio recordings

Drogo Beat 

 

No Word Against Youth

Amendment

Solitary

Stand up for Yourself

Quel Dommage

Wait

Rhythm in Life

Listen to Me

Drogo Beat

Instigator

Know What’s Wrong

Waltz

Bright Lights

First and Last EP

Quel Dommage

Instigator

No Word Against Youth

Stand Up For Yourself

All tracks are free to download from 3 Trousers Music by entering Zero.

Their Fear of God track  featured on a compilation tape called The Twilight Zone released on the Zeiga Recordings label in 1984. This tape also featured Punctured Tough Guy and Les Zeiga Fleurs, both of who I featured in earlier blog posts, along with a number of other Hull based bands. Check out this page on the excellent Hull Music Archive website for full details. 

As mentioned above, Quel Dommage’s guitarist Andy (Tommo) Thompson was the creator of the Xcentric Noise record label, responsible for many recordings throughout the early 80s. I found a really excellent feature written by Andy, which provides a history of the label that is well worth a read. 

Andy will also be remembered by many music lovers from the Hull area from when he worked in Hull’s late great independent record store – Sydney Scarborough. Check out their Facebook page for more info.  I remember spending many a happy hour browsing in Syds as we used to call it on a Saturday afternoon. I am also eternally grateful to Andy for being so obliging when it came to selling copies of Kindred Spirit in the store too. In fact of all the outlets where my fanzines were on sale, they seemed to fly off the counter the quickest at Syds.

Also of interest is the review of Xcentric’s Grievous Musical Harm compilation on the Swedish Punk Fanzines site and a review of the Beating the Meat compilation on the Carry on Screamingblog. 

I was really pleased to hear from Quel Dommage’s guitarist Andy who has not only provided me with most of the rare photos accompanying this post (cheers Andy!) but given me an update about all the stuff he’s done both before and after Quel Dommage too.

Now living in London and working as a photographer he is still actively involved in the music scene both with his online label 3 Trousers Music and his latest band – Mouse. 

Prior to being in Quel Dommage he was in a band called Plastik and he played at two of their three 1980 gigs. He went on to write songs as Rinky Dink and recorded with different friends, as well as starting Bella Figa with classical guitarist friend Blue Yates.

Check out the 3 Trousers website for links and downloads to material by all of the aforementioned bands.

In addition to this Andy did a remix “Believe in Hull” to tie in with Hull being UK City of Culture last year. He is a big Hull City fan and has recorded tracks Stick Your Jellied Eels up Your Arsenal and Hull City Going Up 

As far as the other three band members, any information about what they’ve been up to since QD would be greatly appreciated.

It’s been a pleasure for me (and yet another trip down memory lane) listening to Quel Dommage all over again whilst putting together this post. My personal favourite track is No Word Against Youth, but have a listen for yourself. There are links to every track mentioned in this post.

The interview below featured in issue 4 of Kindred Spirit.

Quel Dommage – or “what a pity” for the benefit of all you non-French speakers – are one of many Hull bands who must almost certainly be on the verge of better things.

They first formed in July 1982 and have since increased in popularity locally, especially over the last six months, due to extensive gigging in the Hull area including a fairly well received support slot alongside of Chelsea. And the release of their debut EP within the next two or three weeks should hopefully see them (or at least give them the opportunity to) take a couple of leaps and bounds further up the ladder.

Their personal music tastes cover a wide range of styles, from the Cult Maniax… sorry Andy… ***CULT MANIAX*** https://www.facebook.com/CultManiax/ to Ian Dury, but their own material is imaginative and moody with an aggressive edge.

Seeing as the only occasions I have actually had the opportunity to hear the band playing has been at a live gig (the PA systems not always doing them justice) I wondered if their lyrics matched up to the overall heavy atmospheric feel of the music?

Mike:    There isn’t any underlying message behind them. Some of them are about violence in town, some of them are about emotional upsets, some are romantic. They’re about all sorts of things.

Do you think good lyrics sometimes detract from the musical content of a song?

Mike:    I listen to the lyrics first. I think they’re the most important part of a song.

Andy:   I would say the music is more important, but everyone has a different view of it.

Which lyric writers do you admire the most?

Andy:   Rat Scabies.

Mike:    Ian Curtis. I don’t know what he was on about half of the time but I liked it! His lyrics only really made sense after he’d committed suicide.

 

How do you go about putting a song together?

Ian:       It usually starts with a guitar riff, then we put the bass line in.

Andy:   We write a song, get the mood for that song, then we’ve got a lot of lyrics which we keep until we find the right melody to match, and we piece the two together.

Mike:    Lyrics and music can quite often be six or seven months apart.

Where do you do your recordings?

Ian:       We’ve been to Ken Giles’ studios at Bridlington three times, but he’s moved to Wakefield now. He’s opened a big place with an eight, 16 and 24 track studio.

Andy:   We need a 16 or 24 track to record a single. We’ve been using eight tracks which is a bit limited. Each studio has its own sound, but I think you have to go out of Hull to find a good one.

Have you ever thought about making a video?

Andy:   We had one of our recent gigs filmed, more to see what we looked like on stage than anything else.

Do you fancy doing a film set type video like Indians in Moscow?

Andy:   I suppose it’d be a change to do something like that, but it doesn’t appeal that much.

Mike:    I can’t stand seeing pop groups trying to act. I’d rather see a video of a band playing live on stage.

Andy:   A good video is one that attributes the song.

Do you think you’re influenced by anyone in particular?

Andy:   We are our own influences. We all have different tastes in music, but it doesn’t mean that we take after a certain band. We’ve been likened to the Cure and Joy Division but we don’t take after them.

What are your views on feminism?

Andy:   Well… it’s each to their own really… (very non committal lads!)

What about the women at Greenham Common?

Andy:   They’ve made great sacrifices to be there and personally I sympathise with them.

Are you all pro CND?

Mike:    I don’t want a nuclear war, it’s the last thing I want.

Andy:   It’s logic isn’t it? Who wants to blow up?

Ian:       Perhaps I don’t know the full facts, but the way I see it is that Russia’s got nuclear bombs, so we’ve got to have them too as a deterrent. There hasn’t been a war since 1945 and I think it’s stopping a war. I think these secondary missiles are pointless though. We’ve got nuclear bombs which could write the world off now and they’re trying to build better ones?!!

Andy:   When they could be putting the money to better use.

So what’s the next step as far as Quel Dommage is concerned?

Ian:       The next step must be to play somewhere outside of Hull... Leeds, Manchester, somewhere like that.

Andy:   It’s a vicious circle. You’ve got to have a single out and recognition before you can get a gig out of Hull. We’ve written to places and rung people up but we’ve had no luck. A lot of the people who put on gigs want to make money, and if you’re nobody they don’t want to know you. The ideal thing would be to get a gig supporting a big band.

Any last words?

Andy:   I’d just like to say that the Hull scene at the moment is pretty shit. Just because there are certain bands getting media and press attention doesn’t mean that Hull has a worthy scene. It’s up to the bands to help the scene develop – they should be helping each other out instead of being so proud and ignorant, as some bands are! It’s about time to took this town to the f***ing cleaners!!

Right… erm… anything else?

Andy:   Many thanks to anyone who has made the effort to experience Quel Dommage, oh and I don’t smoke!

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