A few weeks ago a singer, a bass player and a guitarist stood looking down at a very old PC and paused before pressing the button. Said PC had not seen a current for almost two years, this particular machine was very old even back then. After a couple of attempts, BIOS fiddles and hardware re-seats we got where we needed to be. Nurse Landslide was alive and all her treasures were again available to us.
Last weekend the machine rolled once more and a very good time was had by all. We had reached escape velocity, inertia be damned…….
The Sisters Of Murphy are (to a small degree anyway) back, affordable firepower, if you fancy a bit……..
The Smurphs had their very last ever gig on the 4th of September 2009. Laid it to rest, put it to bed and walked away (too easy). It was the right time and there would definitely be no more, ever ....
Not wanting to rail against any rock n roll clichés there were two “one night only” returns due to the massive amount of interest and constant badgering from promoters and fans (that last bit is bullshit).
So what have the Smurph’s been up to over the last four years? Sid still avoids civilisation by living outside of the people republic but is now a married man and working to make the world a far better place than it is as he is just that kind of guy. Mark also got married and became a dad.
He continues to rock elsewhere, ride motorcycles and generally be the coolest man on the planet. Paddy plays around like a musical whore, be it purple, HUP, function or flow. Staying on message with the appropriate scene (thoughts on a postcard) Ian and Mya are both now long standing members of Ed’s mighty Rhombus (Goth but good!) and continue to write and gig in that configuration. Mya, finally tamed, has also become a Mrs in the intervening downtime and Ian continues to have better ideas than everyone else, but the masses are sadly not keeping up!!!
Looking ahead, certainly Sid, Mark and Paddy are again up for a bit more now and again so we will just have to see how that pans and who is involved. Since the button was pushed though, it would seem a shame to not play all the treasures therein at least once.
Personnel
Elvis Impersonator - Sid
Bass - Mark
Lead Guitar / Programming - Paddy
Rhythm Guitar (2011) - Ian
Backing Vocals (2011) - Mya
Drums - Nurse Landslide (The beep is dead….)
Elvis Impersonator Number 2 (2013) - Vince Scissorhands MD
Elvis Impersonator Number 3 (2013) – Tim Synystyr (The Marching Men)
Engineer - Graham Lees
Flag Bearers – The Marching Men
Dave moved down south......very down south. Sid returned to do those gigs with a closer proximity to him whilst Vince (Eldo Rev 3.0) made the relevent noises up north or in "civilisation" as we call it. Mya had a crisis of interest, this continues to be the case. This "tour" looks like being the last. We love this old machine but everything has to end and, well, its an excuse for a knees up and your all invited, even those with crimped hair and cobwebs.
We had a very emotional night on August 22nd when the old guard was on their way to be replaced by.... well, the older guard. Sid left us for different big smoke. "Dangerous" Dave is back after a chance meeting in a local hostelry saw him jump back into action on our behalf. This may be a temporary measure though as he intends to move down under and wasnt keen on the commute so.... The Smurphs remains the thing we all have in common in spite of all our other projects, always there, plodding on. I was going to mention albums, but i wont bother, I dont think they will either. Mr Eldritch, if you can hear us.... put the kettle on... aye ?
Having actually found the end of the monochrome rainbow we were devastated not find an album.... hey ho!
We find ourselves further away from the last official release, further away from so called "classic" line-ups
and further away from anything that might help us get some work. Have the Sisters become an urban myth? if so, what does that
make us? Still, now we have a residency in the same pool of amino-acids the real thing crawled from. We could have played at
the seaside but unfortunatly didnt and we LOVE the place where all the trains go.
Get this..... The Smurphs keep getting more gig offers..... and the Love God Von still wont write us some more material ! Nobody is more suprised about this than us..... do we mean the gigs or the album ? Go Figure.The line-up is now stable.... only took 5 years. We did a WAKE set, and due to the sound actually wished we were dead ! A busy year ahead for us little Smurphs. Origional projects abound taking us in various directions, and one unorigional one-off which is likely to be, quite frankly hilarious ! Through this mish-mash of musical talent and wannabe determination its comforting to know that for the time being that old pair of comfy (comfortable for those not of Yorkshire) slippers, The Smurphs, is being worn with suprising regularity. 5th Anniversary is coming up, we are hoping to be spending it in a kilt's... only time will tell. 5 years, who would have thought it. Heres to the next 5.... LOL !?!?!?!?
The Smurphs, a five piece, heck. A backing singer, Temple never sounded so good and Sid could just concentrate on "being Eldritch", nice. Guitarist Number two, number two..... not a typo, Rob gone, presumably happily married..... ho hum. Ian steps in, an old friend and it turns out a piece of the puzzle that fits even better than ginger thought ! Things look good and more importantly sound great ! So, the dilemma... take the odd gig or give it a bit of a push, i suppose only time will tell.
With the installment of new croaker Sid, and a second guitarist Rob (now missing!), two new smoke machines (one called spiggy.....probably) and a slightly bigger but now obselete processor, 1999 saw the odd gig here and there....
Sadly, after the sillouetted trios last gig a certain amount of friction was coming to a head between Ginger
and Dave. Due to time constraints and other pressures on Dave, and Gingers obsessive approach, the band and
Dave parted ways amicably. As it happened the last gig was a corker for the band, so "better to burn out than
to twist your ankle".
1996 found Ginger on a PC, getting used to pleasures of sequencing. Searching for a reason
to sequence, he looked at his T-shirt thought fondly of Sister Sludge, and contemplated the
pleasures of dry ice and floods(lights) .
Long suffering friend and bass player Mark was
up for it and so the long, lonely quest for a second guitar player and singer began.
In the pub one night, and Sister Sludge's old guitarist was spotted. A tap on the shoulder,
and introduction and he too showed willing. Keith and his twelve string were on-board, and
he even knows the Vonny bloke!!!.
Sister Sludge's old singer, and very good he was too,
sadly declined the offer. Undeterred, instrumental rehearsals flew into full swing.
The biggest (ahem!) proverbial shoes, however, were still to be filled.
One night Ginger bumped into friend and bass player Dave. Dave was asked if he knew of any
singers and through his inebriated haze said he wouldn't mind a go. He surprised the shit out
of Ginger.
So the line up was complete, but disaster was soon to strike....
In a complete lack of media attention Keith got a good job in London and fled his beloved
Yorkshire Hills.
Still, 43 Sister's songs and a debut gig later we look forward to playing with him in the future.
love,
Paddy 'Ginger' Galvin
"I never lived above a chemist and I can't speak Chinese"