part1 (Japanese)
PART ONE: Our Hero is Born and Departs His Native Land for England. He Receives An
Education and Joins a Firm, But Soon Goes Off to Form His Own Company - Calcutta to
He's Frank.
V: Your full name, sir?
Ganesh Seshadri. Should be Seshadri Ganesh, the last name being mine- my father is
Balakrishna Seshadri, his father was Surdinam Balakrishna, and so on, but the name was
voluntarily "westernised" at my birth, probably because he married a
"westerner".
V: Your family and birthplace?
Bid: One brother, Vishnu. two years older.
Born in Calcutta. My father comes from (near) Madras, but worked in Calcutta. Many of his
friends married Europeans, and there was this
multi-national community there. All spoke English as the common language. I went to La
Martinere school, was taught in English, but was also taught a bit of Hindi and Bengali
(the last being the language local to the Calcutta area)- can't remember these, though.
My Father is Brahmin Indian, mother is Anglo-American (American passport, but
dual-nationality).
My American grandfather flew Sopwith Camels in WW1, and was the captain of a merchant oil
tanker in WW2. He chewed tobacco, and drank a bottle of whisky every day.
V: When and why did your family relocate to England?
Bid: Must have left in 1965, but spent about six months apiece in Montreal and New York
before coming to England. Don't know why the move, I never asked.
V: How did you meet Andy Warren?
Bid: Andy and I were in the same year, also in the same "house"- the year was broken
up into six "houses", so we met early, were in the same football team, etc.
It was only when we both started playing instruments that we met outside of school,
though quite a few boys were also in various scratch/jamming bands, and we often
played with others. I have no idea if anyone else went on to be professional. We did
meet people in bands from other schools, and once "auditioned" some girl who,
I think, went on to form Girlschool. She later told someone that she thought we were
weird and frightening, and didn't want to know. Oh, dear. I think it may have been a
Kim McAuliffe?
V: You once said you and Andy weren't the sort to go to college?
Bid: I left school at 17, I just couldn't stand it any more. In this country, at the age
of 17-18, one specialises in (usually) 3/4 subjects, I was taking
Mathematics, Chemistry, and Sculpture.
Andy did finish school and went on to The London School Of Economics, but dropped out
after one day (I think this is actually true).
V: What did you read and what music did you listen to in your school
days? I've read that you admired Restoration poets. You once recommended them for aspiring
lyricists.
Bid: Now, I'd recommend them first to learn to read and write- but why, since their
public can't.
Reading poetry was just one way of learning a little about lyric writing (better than
reading others' lyrics), as learning songs from chord sheets was to writing music.
Certain periods of poetry are more lyrical in this context, i.e., rhythmical, repetitive
metres, etc. Swift is a good example, though not an outstanding poet in the sense of
"artist". I am more influenced by this period for technical reasons than any
other.
My musical faves included Genesis, Yes, ELP, Strawbs, etc., but also Leadbelly, Big Bill
Broonzy, Willie McTell, and that lot. I went off prog-rock, as it started to go, er, a bit
shit- Relayer, Brain Salad Surgery, etc. Around this time bought R'n'R Animal, so got into
the Velvets by this route. I was
very impressed by the simplicity and power.
V: Was the Black and White Minstrels material recorded when you were
in school?
Bid: The songs that were recorded then (later on B&W) were done with Andy and another
school friend (on drums). I took them, in my innocence, to a few record companies
(including Virgin), who declined (imagine me in my school shorts- not quite).
V: What was your role in Adam Ant's first band, B-Sides? Guitar?
Vocals? Who was writing the songs?
Bid: I joined the B-Sides as a guitarist while Adam was still there- we rehearsed his
songs, and he was the only one singing. When he left, I
started writing more seriously, both by myself and with Andy/Lester Square.
When Adam "re-appeared" (see below), you could either say that I was not as ked
back, or that he started a new band, I can't remember. I did get them their first gig, at
the ICA, but I can't remember if this was intended for me and I had to
"relinquish" it, since I no longer had a band- I was "told" this by an
Ant-fanatic, and I can't be bothered to argue.
Stuart went into a loony bin, and came out as Adam. He called his wife Eve, and I didn't
speak to him again, though I later auditioned his wife as
a singer.
V: I think Andy Warren did stay in the Ants until Malcolm Mclaren
took over as their manager?
Bid: I *think* that's why he left, or didn't return when they split & reformed into
two bands, Ants and Bow Wow Wow. He couldn't stand the idea of making an idiot of
himself, wearing make-up, etc.
V: Lester leaves the Ants, forms The Zarbies & the Ectomorphs
with you. At this point you rehearse early versions of later Mono Set songs?
Bid: Yes.
V: Any gigs to speak of?
Bid: Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary College, both teacher-training colleges.
With Jeremy Harrington on bass and the same drummer who I'd made the school demos with.
Jeremy left and returned to the MSet later.
I can't remember the first gig, I suppose it was nothing special.
V: How did you get signed to Rough Trade?
Bid: It wasn't that difficult to get signed.
V: So, how seriously did you take it at the time? Did you see it as
a long term thing, or a just chance to record a single?
Bid: Didn't think about it, it was just our first deal, hooray, etc.
V: And Mayo Thompson produced the early singles? He's Frank (Slight
Return)?
Bid: Mayo actually produced the He's Frank/Alphaville RT single, not the Slight
Return one. The latter was recorded earlier (with Simon Croft), 1978, but released later,
just after we'd left RT. Both Lester and I preferred the
Slight Return, earlier, version.
I'm fairly certain (i.e., not really) that the discography on the official site is
correct, so you can refer to it. Geoff Travis (head of Rough trade), of course, had
nothing to do with any recording. The band produced three RT singles, Mayo the
"first" He's Frank/Alphaville.
V: Were you more or less calling the shots in the studio during
these single sessions?
Bid: Yes, but we complied with Mayo's suggestion as to the slight rearangement of He's
Frank.
V: Mr. Potts joins in Feb. '79, around the time of The Monochrome
Set single? Did he do the "Night Gallery" style film at this point?
Bid: Well, he was a friend from the first time we met him, and he was "around" a
lot, as he lived in the house we rehearsed in. But I think the Acklam Hall was the first
time we used his films at a gig. I supposed he kind of joined us then- I can't precisely
remember.
The Night Gallery film was made in early 1980, after we'd recorded Strange Boutique (Dec
'79), and before its release (April '80). The old geezer (who plays the Rod Serling role)
was our manager, Mike Collins, who also managed Wire and some others, and later Blur.
The Night Gallery was not itself used live; it was meant to be a promo film, to be
transferred to video- though I don't think that happened at the time.
Out-takes and extra bits shot were used, and it was only around this period that Tony
started to make films specifically for the gigs, rather than use footage that came
from his other work.
V: Were there ever any misgivings about using the films at gigs?
Bid: Well, some of what he did was great, some crap. I didn't really care what he did, we
usually left it up to him.
V: I saw XTC in San Francisco, must have been the early eighties.
They ran colored film leader behind the band while they played.
Bid: When I saw XTC in New York, 1983, they'd ripped off all our films- the abstract ones
were identical. They didn't use this show in the UK.
V: How did one of your early bassists, Jeremy Harington, join?
Bid: I can't remember exactly when Jeremy Harington joined, maybe Autumn 1978?
Anyway, he was effectively sacked at the end of the 1st US tour (end Sept 1979), we were
then lucky that Andy Warren was free, and got him in right away- his first gig was at the
end of Oct. Jeremy came back from the US 2 weeks after the rest of us, and was then
sacked. He may have then gone back- I don't know what he did after this. Though I met him
twice over the next 15 years, I've only just very recently made contact with him again,
and am now waiting for his filler piece for the "other" section of the official
site. We now send each other PC games.
By the way, the original sacking was not acrimonious on my part- he didn't really fit into
the band, exactly, and was too unreliable.
V: Your first gigs were in the middle of Punk. How did you deal with
the audiences?
The throwing/spitting wasn't too bad, and didn't last very long, but was tedious. Other
had it a lot worse- some came off stage streaming in spit,
but they usually deserved it.
(to be continued to part 2)