
It's all about the stragglers. One of the last of that weird legion of forgotten 80s/90s English bands to evade redscovery, Walkingseeds' records possibly make more sense
now than they did "then" - the usual case of the rest of we mere mortals requiring a decade or so's distance to play catch-up...
Formed from the rubble of The Mel-O-Tones, Liverpool's legendary purveyors of psychedelic grunge (& initially naming themselves The Corinthians), Walkingseeds were enthusiastically championed from the off by John Peel (of course) & Mark E. Smith (I first saw them live supporting The Fall on the Bend Sinister tour in 1986 - who'd have thought MES was a Nabakov afficiando, eh?). Maintaining their longstanding relationship with
Probe Records, their Knew Too Much debut was a (relatively) sophisticated updating of the original Mel-O-Tones' sound, though "
sophistication" possibly wasn't the first thing on their agenda when they went in to record it? A thuggy amalgamation of early Iggy & The Glitter Band, it's one of those records that always had me leaping up out of the armchair to inspect the stylus for dust, only to find out it was
supposed to sound like that! Their Marque Chapmanne 12" (via their own, shortlived Moral Burro label) violently upped the fuzz/aggro levels & segued directly into the raucous Skullfuck LP, a twisted & unsettling musical pedal-bin of nasty Nuggets, Butthole Surfers & Blue Cheer influences with a cheeky Grateful Dead-derived title (inspired by Mouse & Kelly's iconic "skull & roses"
sleeve). Superior records all, though their Peel sessions from the period are even better (search 'em out).

Upwind Of Disaster, Downwind Of Atonement appeared in 1989 (the band having hooked up with the much-missed Glass label in the interim). Recorded at New York's Noise studio with palpable genius Mark Kramer (Shockabilly, Bongwater, B.A.L.L., et al), Walkingseeds had obviously spent their recess concentrating on writing songs rather than merely jamming around a few borrowed, obscure riffs & the results still sound phenomenal - far more melodic than their earlier releases (though the
disruption factor is still very evident) & often genuinely psychedelic (rather than just sounding like they'd necked a stack of drugs before recording). Songs like "Slow Dance Of Golden Lights" & "Wreck Of The White Star" share the same wistful 60's shambolism as homeboys The La's (with whom they briefly shared a guitarist or two) but none of the frustrating purist retro-introspection. Elsewhere, "Sexorcist", "Mad River" & "Ocean Drain" (a petulant flicked-V in the general direction of Liverpool's nostalgia-entrenched local music scene gobshites - "
The Greatest Album Ever Made", my arse!) remain 3 of their finest songs. A contemporaneous Clawfist Singles Club 7" - remember
them? - features The Bevis Frond covering "Sexorcist" on one side while Walkingseeds give his "Reflections In A Tall Mirror" a seering once-over on t'other - cop a
listen, it's a belter. The Bevis Frond would return to produce their Sensory Deprivation Chamber Quartet "dwarf"-LP a few months later &, again, it's an absolute must-have (I'll retrieve it from The Shed one of these days, just you wait & see...). I'd not heard Upwind Of Disaster... for several years (again, my copy's stowed away in The Shed) until Anon. sent me a link for it c/o this blog a few days ago. It's a hitherto unknown (to me) CD edition with a couple of extra songs, including a snotty thrash through Blue Oyster Cult's "Transmaniacon MC" (previously visited on one of their ace Peel sets). I've hardly stopped playing it.
Walkingseeds made a few more LPs after this one, then fizzled out into The Del-Bloods (one 7" on Seminal Twang) & then obscurity. The last I heard, monster guitarist Bob Parker was parodying stadium A.O.R. in Batloaf ("Meat Out Of Hell", etc). If anybody knows what crazed vocalist/affable lunatic Frank Martin's now up to please get in touch...
28IF