What constitutes a musical supergroup? Well, I'm hoping that most people's definition will be vague enough to go with me on this, although I'm guessing for most, a prerequisite will be that you have heard of at least 75% of the groups members?!
So, we are talking Cream (perhaps the best known of them all), The Traveling Wilburys, or maybe even Them Crooked Vultures (with members of Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin and QOTSA).
Well, I'm talking about a band that perhaps only I remember, which only ever released one album and a handful of singles and contains a range of people you may not be all that familiar with.
When America meets Manchester
Laura Elisse Salenger was born in 1962, and raised in LA, the daughter of a TV executive with CBS, before they moved to Chicago when she was 10. Studying at the prestigious liberal arts Bennington College in Vermont, the young Salenger then formed a group, Banda Dratsing. She also adopted a new stage name, Brix, coming from one of her favourite songs by The Clash - Guns Of Brixton.
Somehow, she discovered, and fell in love with, the work of The Fall, which was quite an achievement in early 80s Chicago, given that they largely flew well under the radar back in their native England (unless you were a devoted listener of John Peel on the radio). What is perhaps even more serendipitous, is that Brix literally bumped into lead singer Mark E. Smith at their show in Chicago in April 1983 (he was carrying some beers back from the bar).
They got on well, and before you know it, she had swapped cold and hip Chicago for cold and slightly less hip Prestbury, near Bury in Greater Manchester (she would later note that on arrival, "it was grim".). It was serious though, for she and Smith were married that same July. What's more, she was in the band, and has been credited for adding a more mainstream dimension to the bands otherwise abrasive output.
The Fall: L.A. (Promo video - this was a Mark E. / Brix co-write)
She has often been seen as a bit of a Linda McCartney figure in The Fall, in the band because of her husband with little contribution musically, but like Linda she added plenty, and especially adding some lighter notes to the music. "I feel I just bought out what was needed. I wasn't calculating in any way - I just did what came naturally to me, and fitted in where I could. When I came in it was like and already painted canvas, so I just added light and shadow where I could."
The Adult Net
After a year or so in England, married and a key part of The Fall, Brix Smith wanted more. Mark E. Smith ran the band in his own way and it was most definitely not a democracy (he would be the only constant member in their 42 year career), and his wife wanted a creative outlet of her own.
So, in 1984, borrowing Simon Rogers, Craig Scanlon and Karl Burns from The Fall, she set up The Adult Net. They managed to get a deal with Beggars Banquet, and would put out four singles across 1985 and 1986.
Firstly, in April 1985, was a cover of the successful psychedelic track, Incense & Peppermints, by Strawberry Alarm Clock. Her bandmates gave themselves humorous names on the credits - Ottersley Kipling (Rogers), Silki Guth (Scanlon) and Mask Aiechmann (Burns), being joined by producer John Leckie (credited as Swami Anand Nagara).
The Adult Net: Incense And Peppermints (Audio only - keeps the psychedelic feel)
Scanlon depart before the second single, Edie, which came out that November, and was a tribute to American actress Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol's muses from the 1960s. She had also been the subject of Edie (Ciao Baby) by The Cult and, it is said, Bob Dylan's Just Like A Woman. Burns now left at this point.
The Adult Net: Edie (Audio only - more of a post-punk style)
The first of two releases in 1986 was White Night (Stars Say Go), another cover, this time of a song by The Lines. NME noted that they seemed to be 'trying to cross Hawkwind with the Shangri-Las'. The band by now was just Brix Smith and Kipling (Rogers), and fourth single Waking Up In The Sun crept into the UK chart at number 94.
Unspun Web
Brix Smith had pulled together an album's worth of material by 1987. It was going to be called Spin This Web, but she wasn't happy with the end result and it never saw the light of day. She was now without a record, a record label or indeed much of a band (it was just her and Rogers).
The pair bought in Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, formerly the engine room of indie legends, The Smiths. They, in turn, recommended Craig Gannon as an extra guitarist, who had also been the unofficial fifth member of The Smiths. She needed this for a live show she had put on in London, which had the sole purpose of trying to lure Geffen into signing her band. The show was well hyped and a sell out, and Smith would recall to Dave Jennings in Melody Maker, "I was practically catatonic I was so nervous. So I did the best that I could, and the next day Phonogram started ringing."
In fact, The Adult Net ended up signing with Fontana, a subsidiary of Phonogram.
On these early works, Dave Jennings wrote in Melody Maker, "The singles have been glossy, smooth, with neatly layered harmonies and sweet melodies over the occasional spool of barbed guitar."
The Honey Tangle
Smith yet again had to assemble a band almost from scratch, in order to record an actual debut album.
Brix Smith (guitar / vocals); Craig Gannon (guitar); James Eller (bass); Clem Burke (drums).
James Eller was also a member of post-punk band, The The, at the time - and you may be more familiar with Clem Burke, as he is one of the greatest rock drummers of them all, and has been the cornerstone of Blondie from the beginning. They also used the services of Craig Leon to produce the record, who has also worked with The Ramones and Blondie, with backing vocals provided by folk-rock musician Cassell Webb.
The Adult Net: Waking Up In The Sun (Official music video - a song right out of the Brian Wilson playbook, and that is no bad thing!)
The name of the LP, The Honey Tangle, was taken from a racehorse that Smith had seen on the TV.
The Adult Net: Honey Tangle (Audio only - bit of a Bangles vibe on this one)
The Adult Net: Tomorrow Morning Daydream (Audio only - soaked in the 60s)
First single, Take Me, edged them closer to a 'hit'. reaching number 78 in the UK. John Wilde in Melody Maker called it "a shimmering cascade of syrup and speed." Where Were You was a cover of a tune by The Grass Roots and reached the dizzying heights of number 66. They had also re-recorded Waking Up In The Sun, which also crept into the Top100.
The Adult Net: Where Were You (Official music video - glorious, chiming pop tune)
Untangled
Sadly, despite being a beautiful blast of sunshine pop (I remember Melody Maker describing it as Pet Sounds meeting Parallel Lines, which is why I bought it), the album somehow failed to chart.
It proved to be a tough eighteen months for Smith. Her marriage to Mark E. Smith was falling apart, which also meant she was out of The Fall, and then with no success for her album, Fontana dropped the band. By October 1990, it was all over.
James Eller returned to The The, Clem Burke continues with Blondie to this day, and Craig Gannon has played with a number of artists, including Black Grape, Terry Hall, Edwyn Collins and Roddy Frame.
Smith returned to The Fall for a few years in the mid-1990s, then formed Brix & The Extricated, with former Fall mates Steve and Paul Hanley, who released three albums. Then she released a solo album in 2022, that included contributions from her friend Susanna Hoffs, and had a touring band that included Debbie Googe of MBV.
So, was The Adult Net a supergroup of the alternative music world?
Yes, I believe so.
It was never more than a vehicle (albeit temporary in the end) for Brix Smith's musical output, and band members came and went - but the make up of the band met the requirements. There were multiple people from The Fall, a critically acclaimed if somewhat cult band; there was half of The Smiths, arguably the biggest British indie band of the 1980s; and Clem Burke - not just one of the finest drummers of them all, but in Blondie, one of the most successful pop-rock bands of the last fifty years.
The output might have been limited and largely unheard - but not for a lack of talent.
Here it is - the one video there is (that I am aware of) with the album line up all in it - and it is a fantastic pop song too!!
Comments