Levitation tonight – in session for Mark Goodier at BBC Radio 1 and recorded on March 28, 1992.
Levitation formed in 1990 in London. The band consisted of frontman Terry Bickers (formerly guitarist with The House of Love), drummer David Francolini, guitarist Christian Hayes, bassist Laurence O’Keefe and keyboardist Robert White.
Levitation first played low key shows in France supporting Ride, and in Belgium supporting Galaxie 500. The band signed to the independent label Ultimate Records and released their debut release in April 1991, Nadine/Coppelia EP. It was made “Single of the Week” in Melody Maker, but received a negative review in the NME. Original bassist Joe Allen appeared on early recordings “Nadine” and “Paid in Kind”.
Through 1991 the band toured extensively, supporting the likes of Pere Ubu, All About Eve, the Psychedelic Furs and Hawkwind. The band were dropped from a tour supporting Transvision Vamp, officially because their equipment required too much stage space, but reports suggested that the headliners were worried about being overshadowed by Levitation who were receiving a lot of press due to Bickers’ profile from his work with The House Of Love. The band also received further press attention from outlandish and eccentric comments Bickers would make to the press, which often displayed a fondness for conspiracy theories, leading him to be labelled “Bonkers Bickers”.
In November 1991 a compilation album, Coterie, was released collating tracks from the band’s previous releases along with new live recordings. The album was the first to be released in the US, via Capitol Records and saw the band play their first dates in Los Angeles and New York.
Levitation released their debut album, Need for Not on 4 May 1992, and the slogan “May the Fourth be with you” was used in advertising. Throughout the summer the band toured with Cardiacs, and performed at Reading Festival. The band didn’t tour the album in the US as Bickers refused to go, with O’Keefe commenting that “Terry was acutely paranoid of America and failed to join us in New York and started to be a real drag”. He described the moment as “the exact point at which the dynamic changed irreparably”.
Bickers announced his departure from Levitation onstage at the Dome in Tufnell Park, London the following month on 14 May. He proclaimed from the stage that “Levitation certainly are a lost cause as far as I can tell. We’ve completely lost it, haven’t we? Haven’t we?”. The band had played Glasgow the previous night, and due to transportation problems had had no sleep. O’Keefe commented that “obviously the demons within and the repressed emotions were released, along with all the other toys from the pram”.
The band were reportedly plagued by continuing and escalating rows (Francolini would later describe Ludwin as “a vapid, careerist fool of a man and a complete waste of time”), and it was announced in October 1994 that the band had finally split up.
As a reminder of early, enthusiastic days – here are Levitation as they were heard on Mark Goodier’s program over BBC Radio 1 on March 28, 1992.
