DERIK & THE DISASTERS, the new band featuring Del Greening from Peter & The Test Tube Babies and Charlie Harper, have announced their debut album.
Lined up for release through Damaged Goods this Autumn, the self-titled release finds the punk elder statesmen joined by Vicky Smith from the Ramonas on bass and Marley Perez (Charlie's grandson) on drums. The first taste of the project comes in the form of the single 'New Palestine'.
“When I was a teenager, Charlie Harper was my hero,” Greening reveals. “I saw him on Top Of The Pops snarling through ‘Stranglehold,’ like a man trying to start a riot on his own, and that was it. I was in. Not long after, I was crushed against the front barrier at Crawley Leisure Centre, watching the UK Subs, half suffocated, probably deaf for three days and loving every second of it.
“I met Charlie a few times over the years,” he continues. “Always seemed like a decent chap. Then he started turning up at Peter and The Test Tube Babies gigs, not just casually, either. Every time I looked up, there he was, front row, arms folded, watching my hands like a mechanic inspecting a suspicious engine noise. Slightly unnerving, if I’m honest. I kept thinking, what does he want? Should I be playing better? Afterwards, he’d come over. “Love your guitar playing. We should do a project together…”
With both bands dialing back on the gigs in recent years, the Brighton-based musicians had an opportunity to begin working together, with the results taking shape in Brighton Road Studios in October last year.
“We set up, and Charlie suggested we just start jamming until something happens,” Del explains. “I fucking hate jamming, I find it pointless. So, I voiced my opinion. 'What's the point of just endlessly jamming for hours in a studio that we're paying for? It's not as if a hit is just going to suddenly pop up from nowhere.' 'That's how I wrote ‘Stranglehold’, Charlie snapped back. Fair point!
“He also mentioned that the Subs' classic track ‘Warhead’ had also emerged from a jam but had been discarded and disliked by ex-guitarist Nicky Garrett and ex-bassist Paul Slack and had been thrown in the bin, which he retrieved; 'The song outlived them both,' Charlie laughed. Was that our first argument? I’m not sure. I knew there weren’t gonna be many.
“We’d finally got everything plugged in and ready to record, guitars humming with feedback, everyone poised to go, then Charlie would suddenly start telling a story. Ten minutes later, he’d forgotten who the story was about, where it happened, or why he’d started telling it in the first place. By the end, even Charlie looked confused! He then suggested a couple of chords, A and C, and after going around in circles for 20 minutes, nothing seemed to be happening. That's when I got out my latest song, ‘Deadlines’. I had typed out the chord sheets, arrangement and lyrics, and I distributed them around the studio floor for everyone to see. We tried it, and it sounded fantastic. We then did another one of Charlie's ‘Cyber War’, and the original jam produced ‘Divide’, then I threw in another riff, ‘Lost’, which I’d based around a brass riff idea that I’d written on my son‘s Casio keyboard he had used for his school music lessons. Not a bad result, four songs in one six-hour session. Third of an album, maybe?”
With most of the drum tracks recorded and Marley heading off on tour, the sessions continued at engineer Ali Gavin’s tiny back-garden studio in Aulburn Village in Mid-Sussex.
“The routine quickly settled in,” Greening explains. “Ali engineered. I layered guitars and vocals. Charlie sat behind us, throwing in ideas, stories, lyrics, or complete confusion, depending on the hour. Somehow, out of all that chaos, the album slowly began to take shape.”
With Harper briefly sidelined by period of ill health, the other Disasters worked on some songs in his absence. “The three of us ended up recording a couple of new tracks, ‘Scars’ and ‘The Disasters’," says Greening. "Vicky played bass while Ali engineered, then jumped behind the drums while I handled the guitars. We sent the rough tracks over to Charlie. He loved them. By the final sessions, the album had become something none of us had expected. Not really a Subs record and not really mine or a Charlie solo record. Something completely different.”
“What I wanted on this album,” Charlie told Greening, “was that thing you do at the end of the Test Tubes set. Peter’s already gone for a beer, but you’re still out there, stretching the guitar out, and the crowd are hanging on every note. “That’s what I wanted, and that's what you gave me.”
Set for release on 30th October, Derik & The Disasters is available to pre-order here.
Look out for a major feature on Charlie Harper in the next issue of Vive Le Rock! Out at the end of August!!