Clinic – Live At Reading Festival 1997 – BBC Radio 1 –
Clinic for the middle of the week. Clinic are an Indie/Alternative/Experimental/Post-Punk/Neo-Psych band from Liverpool who got started in 1997.
From their Wikipedia page:
Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Ade Blackburn and lead guitarist Hartley (born Jonathan Christopher Hartley, Liverpool), formed the earliest incarnation of the band around 1984, initially known as “Sunny Rainy Afterlife” and offering home-made demo cassettes through a local free circulation magazine. By the late eighties, the band had renamed itself “Jellystone Park”, with Ade and Hartley joined by drummer Steve ‘Captain’ Dougherty, who later went on to join Creation signings, “One Lady Owner”, and bassist Derek Finn, a local music teacher. Following a brief hiatus, and a one-off appearance by Blackburn and Hartley in a covers act, Sean Durney’s L-Ego, supporting the post- A Flock of Seagulls combo, “An Almighty Atmosphere”, Dougherty was replaced in 1988 by Sean Durney, previously drummer with an acoustic agit-pop outfit also part of a mini-scene centred on the Birkey pub in Crosby, Liverpool. The band by this time was based in a former storage room at the Regent Bingo Hall in Crosby (now St Mary’s College Sports Centre), where Blackburn was a bingo caller. Finn departed and was replaced by Rich Stevens, and following his departure, for a short period by Paul Entwhistle, also of Liverpool band, Spontaneous Cattle Combustion.[4] Entwhistle was subsequently replaced by Brian Campbell (born Brian Campbell, Liverpool) after Durney spotted him playing in a band at The Crosby Squash Club. The band recorded two demos in 1991, both being released by Museum Records under the guise of “Jellystone Park” in 2011, and The Dark Side of the Birkey [6] in 2012, along with a flexi-disc in 1992. Durney also departed in 1993, being replaced on the drum stool by Carl Turney, an associate of Campbell, and the band renamed itself “Pure Morning”, recording an album, “Two Inch Helium Buddah“, for Radar Records in 1996.
With the line up unchanged, the band again renamed itself, to Clinic, the following year and soon developed early notoriety for featuring instruments (primarily keyboards/organs) that were acquired at various jumble sales and flea markets. Shortly after, the EP I.P.C. Subeditors Dictate Our Youth was released on their own Aladdin’s Cave of Golf record label. The EP made the top ten of John Peel’s Festive Fifty at the end of the year, and two other self-financed singles followed in 1998.
Blackburn’s distinctive acidic vocals are a trademark of the band, and they are also known for wearing surgical masks and costumes while performing, as well as in promotional photos. The band are known to wear different costumes depending on the circumstances of the show: for example, an outdoors show would have them in Hawaiian shirts, while indoor shows would have them in their trademark scrubs. During an interview, Blackburn reveals the sound of the album the band are promoting while touring has an effect on their attire while performing.
Ade Blackburn has said in an interview that Clinic wear surgical masks on stage as a homage to San Francisco bands Crime and The Residents. “…I like the way there was a visual side to what they did, but it wasn’t something too serious. It was like a tacky pun on the band name. I liked something a bit more ridiculous like that.”.
So if you’ve been curious to know more about Clinic, or know about them but haven’t heard them, here’s a chance to listen to one of their earlier concert appearances via the Reading Festival in 1997, captured faithfully by BBC Radio 1.
