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1994, Sonikd
During the late 80s, Alison Shaw was in college, studying Spanish and Spanish Literature while her brother, James, was in Portsmouth, England, learning the drums and becoming involved in music. Though these two experienced a more or less typical childhood as far as sibling rivalries are concerned -- "getting on fine" one moment and "fighting like mad" the next, they didn't spent much of their teens together: Alison lived with their mother and James with their father. Thus, forming a band was not something they had envisioned, and certainly not something they had anticipated. It's not like Alison had sung in front of her mirror with a hairbrush as a kid, dreaming of being in a band "when she got older." It definitely wasn't a vision she had while studying at the university, where she was intrigued by her courses. However, while in college, she always felt a sense of lingering doubt and hesitation about the ways her university career would fit into her then nebulous future. "I didn't know what I wanted to do, I just knew that it was destined to be something creative," says Alison. Without definite plans or alternatives, she "rebelled" and dropped out of college, much to the chagrin of her parents. The rest is history, the history of the (according to Melody Maker) sibling-based "antidote to the Manchester wave in Indiedance," the Cranes.
"When I came back from college, (James and I) got together and found out that we were interested in the same sorts of music." Thus, their mutual regard for such bands as Joy Division and the Cure and various Foetus and Nick Cave projects fueled their passions for music and songwriting. "That's how it started, but it took a while before we felt like we had learned to play any instruments or that we could have anything to contribute. Those first couple of years we didn't play many gigs. It was just Jim and me trying to learn how to write songs." This was the formative period, the experimental stage when the multilingual (English, German, French and Spanish) Alison drew from her love of languages and literature while Jim interested himself in the effects of various tape recordings and distortions.
What Alison refers to as their "first record" came out in 1989, completely funded and produced by this sibling team. "We put all our energy into it because we'd given up everything else and we had taken out a huge loan to buy equipment. It was all our time and all our money and all our energy -- everything had gone into it."
They lived in Portsmouth and weren't connected to any sort of thriving music scene. They didn't have much experience playing gigs, but this was the furthest concern from their minds. "We were just relieved that the record came out, and we didn't really expect any reaction to it." However, their lack of expectation didn't damper their success. Their album had fallen into the hands of the god of U.K. radio, the influential John Peel, who asked them to record a session with him just the week after the album's release. "Suddenly, it was really exciting ... it all kind of happened in a week."
And that was just the beginning of "things falling into place." The brother and sister team recruited new members Mark Francombe, who Alison describes as "the arty one who made a bunch of our videos," and Matt Cope, "the really practical one who's into computers, very organized, and the best looking -- all the girls think he's sexy." In1991, the foursome releasedWings of Joy, the band's first "proper," full-length and major-label debut on Dedicated. Shortly thereafter, the Cranes were sought out by two of their biggest fans, Robert Smith and Simon Gallup, to embark on the worldwide Cure tour in support of Wish. "It's one of those things that we're most thankful for in our lives."
What a thrill it was. "When I was 18 and 19, I used to have Cure albums permanently on my record player. It was brilliant; it's the best tour we could have imagined. For bands like us -- you don't get the chance to tour the States, you don't get to go to Florida and Mexico. It made a big impression on all of us," Alison adds.
Not only did it make a great impression on the band members in a personal sense -- the fact that they were touring with one of their favorite bands (not to mention that Robert took the stage to play Alison's missing vocal parts on guitar when she became ill in France, near the end of the tour), but also, the realization that the Cranes could convey their musical vision to masses of eager listeners worldwide. In addition, the Cranes were, for the first time, exposed to masses of obsessive fans who were eager to come into contact with the objects of their admiration: "We were just kind of in the middle of the Cure situation. The hotel where we stayed in Mexico was nearly surrounded by screaming fans; it was crazy. Somehow, a bunch of the fans had gotten ahold of the numbers for both of our rooms -- they were phoning all night, looking to speak to the members of the Cure. It must be tough; I guess they've adjusted to it and they know how to deal with it, but it certainly seemed weird to us."
Though the Cranes have not reached Cure-levels of mass popularity, the experience of that worldwide tour was, in a lot of ways, the spark that ignited the fire. Wings of Joy reached new heights on the Top 40 charts, and the follow-up single remix by Robert Smith, "Jewel," became the first Top 30 single in Britain and Norway. By the time the band toured for its 1993 release, Forever, 1,000-capacity venues throughout Europe and America were being sold out. The members were getting mobbed, and they suddenly had fans inviting them to clubs and parties right and left. "There was one guy in England -- he started staying in a hotel a couple of doors away from where I lived, and he used to come 'round, knocking at the door. It was a bit creepy," Alison admits.
James' interest in classical and film music and Alison's enchantment with French literature, in particular Jean Paul Sartre's eerily expressionistic play, "The Flies," inspired the Cranes' third album, Loved. This October1994 release is supposedly part one of a two-part set -- the half which expands "the ever-Cranesian universe of orchestral splendors." The prospective 'part two,' The Flies, is to feature Alison's vocals sung entirely in French over a film score-type composition written by James, based around the Sartre play.
Shortly after the Loved release, the Cranes embarked on a European tour which was to end around Christmas. Word has it that the United States will be graced with a five-week tour beginning sometime in early February. "I hope to see you in Ohio," says Alison. Hopefully Cowtown will make the cut.
© Sonikd 1994
Reviewed by Julia Aerling
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