Hear a rare recording of The Jesus and Mary Chain at their breakout gig in 1984
The Jesus and Mary Chain, formed by Jim and William Reid, made an earnest and impactful attempt to revive punk for the mid-1980s audience. Like the early punk rockers of a decade before, the East Kilbride assemblage prided themselves on simplistic yet unprecedented compositions precursory to the noise rock and shoegaze movements to come.
After being spoiled by the late 1970s punk explosion, the Reid brothers felt cheated by the synth-pop craze of the early ’80s and set their sights on bringing a rough edge back to rock ‘n’ roll. “It was perfect timing because there weren’t any guitar bands. Everybody was making this electronic pop music,” William said of the band’s formation in a 2002 interview.
The initial set-up for the band was fittingly crude, with Murray Dalglish’s drum kit limited to just a floor tom and a snare. Taking a leaf from The Velvet Underground’s Moe Tucker, he would play the floor tom upright by hand. Meanwhile, Hart played his bass guitar with three strings; this string count was whittled down to just two by 1985. “That’s the two I use,” Hart would explain. “I mean, what’s the fucking point spending money on another two? Two is enough.”
Barely equipped, the initial four-piece struggled to clinch gigs in their local circuit and often stole fleeting stage time by turning up at venues and claiming to be a support act. As their dream dictated, the sound was unlike anything on the British charts at the time. William’s guitar would drone out of tune with a heavy feedback effect, unknowingly beckoning a new epoch for guitar-driven music.
“Onstage, we’re one of the sexiest groups you can imagine,” Jim said of the group in 1985. “Three or four guys in leather, rolling around and showing their backsides to the audience,” he added, referring to their unorthodox alienating habit of facing away from the crowd during performances.
After having very little impact in the Glasgow area, JAMC relocated to Fulham, London, in May 1984. Within weeks, one of their early demos fell under the nose of Creation Records boss Alan McGee, courtesy of Bobby Gillespie. After hearing a screeching yet ostensibly alluring soundcheck, McGee signed the band on the spot and became their first manager.
November 1984 saw the release of the group’s debut single, ‘Upside Down’. At around this time, Daglish quit the band over money disputes and was swiftly replaced by Gillespie, who had already formed Primal Scream in 1982. On November 23rd, The Jesus and Mary Chain played one of their early breakthrough gigs at The Ambulance Station on Old Kent Road. The venue was borderline unofficial as a hippie squat that sometimes hosted gigs for up-and-coming rock acts. The evening was only Gillespie’s second or third live outing with the band.
The supporting acts were Revolving Paint Dream and The June Brides. Notable faces in the audience included Emma Anderson, a future Creation Records employee and member of Lush, Chris Mowforth from Silverfish and Grant McLennan of The Go-Betweens.
As heard in the live recording below, the gig ended with Jim Reid riling up the audience, shouting, “Where were you six months ago?” Decades later, in an interview with Dagger, Phil Wilson of The June Brides remembered the evening as one of the most memorable gigs he’s ever played.
“It was just the most exciting concert to be at in the world that night,” he said. “They [JAMC] had just started, but it was plain that something very big was going to happen with them – they were so exciting live.”
Listen to the Ambulance Station gig of 1984 below.
