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What can a record from nearly 40 odd years ago open up, beyond nostalgia, retrospection and a sense of manufactured romance that never really existed? Knocked together by an ill-adjusted group known as Garage Class from a nondescript town in provincial England called Alsager, ‘Terminal Tokyo’ and ‘I Got Standards’ are compulsive anthems made in a vacuum. Rough, bolshie, intent on stance and agitation, alive with something else. A pair of tunes that responded to the mediocrities of circumstance with an incredulous drive. Both favour motion, disdain, their own dishevelled ‘standards’ above obliging considerations. They’re a reminder of what the best kind of DIY music can be. Bonding over a mutual appreciation for the likes of The Stooges and the New York Dolls, the earlier incarnation of Garage Class - known as The Pits - kicked up their own scrappy reaction to the punk movement. Comprised of Tim Shutt aka The Subliminal Kid (vocals), Phil Murphy (lead guitar), Clive Williams (guitar), Lynne Sanders (bass), Phil Bourne (drums / bass on studio recordings) and later Jon Gilhooly (drums, vocals), they made an impressive amount of noise in their own region but never enjoyed widescale acclaim. Before long the constituent members moved on. But, as revealed by a late unreleased offering like ‘Someone Spiked My Drink’, there were distinguishing facets to what they created. A raucous energy, traces of strange and rudimental experimentation, a bitter sense of amusement. The group saved their best for last, or rather, for when they were already a finished prospect. Subsequently the original release of the 'Terminal Tokyo' single in 1984 was a posthumous one, only ever intended as a means of covering the costs Shutt had incurred in eventually pressing up the record. He had missed the boat the first time round; the single had originally been recorded in 1980. It had also transpired that the single featured the ‘wrong’ vocal track, a mistake the rest of the band weren’t too keen to put The Pits' name to. A surprising dispute given their iconic, nonchalant charm. Perhaps the perceived wrongness is the crucial ingredient? In any case the Garage Class name, coined by their ‘Svengali’ manager Steve Hurt but disliked by most of the band, was consequently adopted by Shutt, becoming an apposite pseudonym for one of the most disorderly, distinctive and intoxicating singles of the late '70s & early to mid-'80s period. Although the conception of ‘Terminal Tokyo’ seemed mired in misfortune, there were signs all along that The Pits and, by extension, Garage Class were never built for glory. Their time together was littered with bad luck and they displayed a habitual animosity towards conventional acceptance. Too much aggro, too much hubris, too much mishap. The parents of the band’s guitarist Clive Williams had a mansion with a rehearsal space which they rarely used; a privilege which didn’t suit their impulses. Their first few live shows ended in the police getting called. At one point they could have taken the esteemed title of ‘Best Band in Stoke’ but they were mysteriously disqualified. There’s something sublime about causing such conceited provocation in the mundane fringes of England in the early '80s. In a recording of one particularly fractious live show the band performed as The Pits, everything is derailed by an irate Scotsman who ferociously lays into them. Elsewhere there’s a recording of an interview at around the same time with Phil Murphy, the band’s lead guitarist, an exchange which is set to such a heightened tone of performative arrogance that it becomes farcical; a lout masquerading as a genius. Besides all this the ‘Terminal Tokyo’ artwork displays a box of sex toys used by geisha girls, a so called "Happy Box". The band had originally intended for the single to be distributed in cigarette boxes. Evidently notions of modesty, professionalism, practicality – and therefore commerciality – were never high on the agenda. Despite a story shaped by disruption, ‘Terminal Tokyo’ did manage to gain the approval of that last unanimously respected gatekeeper John Peel, as well as a portion of recognition from NME. Success, though, was short-lived. It never cut through. Meanwhile ‘I Got Standards’ never saw the light of day. Even so, both tracks are marked by an air of coolly abrasive bravado that seemed to defy the dispiriting realities the band faced. One line from ‘I Got Standards’ goes some way to encapsulating not only their defining temerity, but their eventual fate too: "I got plenty of style and I know where the cash is/ I bought a new car and I hope that it crashes". n one short act The Pits and Garage Class made marginal, primitive, emphatic punk music loaded with desire and resentment. The release of their finest moment was in many ways an accident, a fiasco that gave rise to a classic. Over the years ‘Terminal Tokyo’ has become an acclaimed artefact of UK DIY, messthetics and the other names given to a pluralistic scene that was far more interesting and diverse than what have since become the routinely hailed legacies of the time. Its unique appeal has been widely recognized. Jon Dale celebrated the single in his exhaustive and essential The Story of UK DIY for FACT Magazine, and original copies have regularly changed hands for a foolish 40 quid or so. With the inaugural release on Outer Reaches, a new label by yours truly, ‘Terminal Tokyo’ is rightfully restored and ‘I Got Standards’ is given the release it always deserved. There’s an alternative slant on ‘I Got Standards’ too, courtesy of Optimo’s JD Twitch. Like Muslimgauze remixing Swell Maps, it’s a rework version that finds a latent and formidable contemporary momentum within the track’s terrific unruliness. Ahead of the single’s release the group’s frontman Tim Shutt retraces the eventful pre-history and lifespan of Garage Class, the group that, in their own dysfunctional way, made a ‘hit’ record when no one was listening.
What can a record from nearly 40 odd years ago open up, beyond nostalgia, retrospection and a sense of manufactured romance that never really existed? Knocked together by an ill-adjusted group known as Garage Class from a nondescript town in provincial England called Alsager, ‘Terminal Tokyo’ and ‘I Got Standards’ are compulsive anthems made in a vacuum. Rough, bolshie, intent on stance and agitation, alive with something else. A pair of tunes that responded to the mediocrities of circumstance with an incredulous drive. Both favour motion, disdain, their own dishevelled ‘standards’ above obliging considerations. They’re a reminder of what the best kind of DIY music can be. Bonding over a mutual appreciation for the likes of The Stooges and the New York Dolls, the earlier incarnation of Garage Class - known as The Pits - kicked up their own scrappy reaction to the punk movement. Comprised of Tim Shutt aka The Subliminal Kid (vocals), Phil Murphy (lead guitar), Clive Williams (guitar), Lynne Sanders (bass), Phil Bourne (drums / bass on studio recordings) and later Jon Gilhooly (drums, vocals), they made an impressive amount of noise in their own region but never enjoyed widescale acclaim. Before long the constituent members moved on. But, as revealed by a late unreleased offering like ‘Someone Spiked My Drink’, there were distinguishing facets to what they created. A raucous energy, traces of strange and rudimental experimentation, a bitter sense of amusement. The group saved their best for last, or rather, for when they were already a finished prospect. Subsequently the original release of the 'Terminal Tokyo' single in 1984 was a posthumous one, only ever intended as a means of covering the costs Shutt had incurred in eventually pressing up the record. He had missed the boat the first time round; the single had originally been recorded in 1980. It had also transpired that the single featured the ‘wrong’ vocal track, a mistake the rest of the band weren’t too keen to put The Pits' name to. A surprising dispute given their iconic, nonchalant charm. Perhaps the perceived wrongness is the crucial ingredient? In any case the Garage Class name, coined by their ‘Svengali’ manager Steve Hurt but disliked by most of the band, was consequently adopted by Shutt, becoming an apposite pseudonym for one of the most disorderly, distinctive and intoxicating singles of the late '70s & early to mid-'80s period. Although the conception of ‘Terminal Tokyo’ seemed mired in misfortune, there were signs all along that The Pits and, by extension, Garage Class were never built for glory. Their time together was littered with bad luck and they displayed a habitual animosity towards conventional acceptance. Too much aggro, too much hubris, too much mishap. The parents of the band’s guitarist Clive Williams had a mansion with a rehearsal space which they rarely used; a privilege which didn’t suit their impulses. Their first few live shows ended in the police getting called. At one point they could have taken the esteemed title of ‘Best Band in Stoke’ but they were mysteriously disqualified. There’s something sublime about causing such conceited provocation in the mundane fringes of England in the early '80s. In a recording of one particularly fractious live show the band performed as The Pits, everything is derailed by an irate Scotsman who ferociously lays into them. Elsewhere there’s a recording of an interview at around the same time with Phil Murphy, the band’s lead guitarist, an exchange which is set to such a heightened tone of performative arrogance that it becomes farcical; a lout masquerading as a genius. Besides all this the ‘Terminal Tokyo’ artwork displays a box of sex toys used by geisha girls, a so called "Happy Box". The band had originally intended for the single to be distributed in cigarette boxes. Evidently notions of modesty, professionalism, practicality – and therefore commerciality – were never high on the agenda. Despite a story shaped by disruption, ‘Terminal Tokyo’ did manage to gain the approval of that last unanimously respected gatekeeper John Peel, as well as a portion of recognition from NME. Success, though, was short-lived. It never cut through. Meanwhile ‘I Got Standards’ never saw the light of day. Even so, both tracks are marked by an air of coolly abrasive bravado that seemed to defy the dispiriting realities the band faced. One line from ‘I Got Standards’ goes some way to encapsulating not only their defining temerity, but their eventual fate too: "I got plenty of style and I know where the cash is/ I bought a new car and I hope that it crashes". n one short act The Pits and Garage Class made marginal, primitive, emphatic punk music loaded with desire and resentment. The release of their finest moment was in many ways an accident, a fiasco that gave rise to a classic. Over the years ‘Terminal Tokyo’ has become an acclaimed artefact of UK DIY, messthetics and the other names given to a pluralistic scene that was far more interesting and diverse than what have since become the routinely hailed legacies of the time. Its unique appeal has been widely recognized. Jon Dale celebrated the single in his exhaustive and essential The Story of UK DIY for FACT Magazine, and original copies have regularly changed hands for a foolish 40 quid or so. With the inaugural release on Outer Reaches, a new label by yours truly, ‘Terminal Tokyo’ is rightfully restored and ‘I Got Standards’ is given the release it always deserved. There’s an alternative slant on ‘I Got Standards’ too, courtesy of Optimo’s JD Twitch. Like Muslimgauze remixing Swell Maps, it’s a rework version that finds a latent and formidable contemporary momentum within the track’s terrific unruliness. Ahead of the single’s release the group’s frontman Tim Shutt retraces the eventful pre-history and lifespan of Garage Class, the group that, in their own dysfunctional way, made a ‘hit’ record when no one was listening.
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