Zeuhl 5

A Chance Meeting With

Nurse With Wound

.......... well, not so much a chance meeting, as my visit to Nursing HQ was pre-planned, but I did show up a bit late, so it was a bit chancy from the word go.

The relatively long journey from West to North London gave me a chance to mull over what little I already new about NWW.

I already had a passing acquaintanceship with Steve, but Heman and John were both unknown quantities. These three form NWW.

Steve is quite well known in Eurorock circles (for want of a better cliche) as a dedicated collector of early German and other European records - indeed, of all manner of esoteric productions. He also had a closer interest several years ago with many musicians who have since become legends, but were at that time languishing in relative obscurity. He once went on tour with Guru Guru, and when Cluster came to England in search of a deal, it was at Steve's place that they stayed. One time, it was well on the cards that he would become involved in cover designs for Harmonia among others, and he had plans to write a book on early German rock music. Also, he tried to entice some tapes out of Grobschnitt's oddball drummer Eroc with a view to releasing them in some form. All this and much more .......

It was also Steve who invested some time (and also money I should think) in Aura before it slid out of view.

Then along came NWW.

There must be more to NWW than a series of random scratchings and scrapings. Hence my journey.

When I eventually squeezed myself into Steve's tiny room upstairs in his parents house, along with the Nurses, I discovered that all the herbal remedies had gone up in smoke, leaving our three heroes well relaxed and inclined to discussion. The conversation revolved around, of course, NWW and also music in general, with Herman remaining the quietist, preferring to hide behind a 'tache and an enigmatic smile. His reticence leads me to suspect that he has criminal tendencies - he didn't feel obliged to enlighten me on his past and present activities, a sure sign of guilt. The other Nurses should be told about this. Any information you've got on this guy, then send it on right away. There are careers at stake.

Most of the talking is done by Steve, with John listening fairly intently and putting over the occasional comment and qualifying remark. John works at the BBC. Perhaps that's enough to make anyone keep themselves to themselves:

"It's hard enough talking to anyone there about anything, let alone music."

As Steve puts on a cassette of the second NWW album, a list is produced from somewhere. This is, I'm told, a provisional tally of what the Nurses consider to be the thirty most original records. The bulk are already chosen, all that remains is to debate over a few of the more contentious ones. I scan the list, and although I pride myself on my ability to stay reasonably abreast of what's going down (I'm not the world's greatest collector but I'm an inveterate fax'n'info gatherer), I've only heard of half a dozen or so of the names, and probably only heard two or three of the actual records. Most of them are before my time - long lost obscurities from all over the place. There is very little I can offer in the way of mediation - but, and it's a big but, this list is of great significance because it's already becoming clear to me that NWW's music has arisen precisely for the reason that these records no longer circulate (or records like them), and the key to understanding the motivation behind NWW is to probe a bit deeper into the mentality of the collector, as represented by these three particular specimens.

As far as collecting goes, NWW exist in some kind of mutually supportive three way relationship, a symbiotic union if you like. Steve has the most records of the three, a lot by English standards, but fairly average for an American minor league status. In terms of quality, however, Steve could beat most people hands down. He has records stashed away that if your average Face Out reader only knew about them, then it would be causal of a mass freak out... John has the least, around 400 or so, the really essential stuff. For the rest, he can always tape 'em off the others. Heman's collection would lie somewhere in between, I discover after much probing .......

Between them, they can reckon to have a very good chance of hearing about most records around, and of getting to actually listen to the vast majority.

Let's look at Steve's experiences as an example. Collecting is an integral part of his life. He started years and years ago, around the time when German rock music was just beginning to emerge with it's own sound. He used to hang around in Virgin in the days when they were sh*t hot on imports, and also the (since bankrupted) Fox record shop in South London (or Vixen as it was known to mail order customers), scouring them for obscurities, like KK music and altogether heavier sounds. Picking up on sleeve contact addresses, he went onto the continent calling in on these people, who were often so amazed that anyone was at all interested that it was relatively easy to pick up on their records and get to know what they were up to. Many of these records never travelled outside Germany or France, which was a different thing altogether. France has a long history of bands putting out a limited number of records on their own labels (encouraged by the absolutely pathetic attitude of the French companies, who tend to treat some home grown talent like sh*t). These records would vanish almost as quickly as they appeared, and many a time these bands would never be heard of again. It was, and still is, the devil's own job to get hold of these records. It needed frequent trips over there to keep in touch, and on these trips he would have to buy up most of what he was seeing simply because he might never see them again (outside someone else's collection!). Often Steve would get almost laughed out of the shop be the staff when he approached the counter with an armful of records.

Closer to home, collecting for Steve meant tramping around second hand shops and keeping a close watch on bargain bins. It has always been the case that one can find even the rarest records at ridiculously low prices - some records are so obscure that they often aren't recognised for what they truly are. It takes more than a pinch of luck to find these records. One's chances can be dramatically improved by getting into the shops as much as possible, maybe even cultivating some of the assistants. A matter of flicking through every item, day in, day out, all the time .......

Such is the lot of the collector. It takes years of practice before you rally have a chance to get to grips with the subject ....... title, label, line up, sleeve, country of origin .......

In recent times, Steve reckons that this type of activity is producing an ever diminishing return. Either the album supply is becoming exhausted, or people are getting more suss, or a combination of factors. The conversation turns to the Freeman brothers, who are surely becoming England's most active collectors, certainly of Euro sounds. Steve marvels at how they manage to acquire so many records. I reckon it's because they haven't given up, and they're steadily building up a network of contacts. Not of the wrong sort either (those cynical people who turn their hobby into a virtual business of the worst kind, parasites taking advantage of people's good faith by extolling the rarity value of a record in order to gain the maximum return); mainly regular sorts who are basically into the music. Steve can also vouch for the fact that Steve and Al are now turning up records from bands that even seasoned collectors would be hard put to identify.

The full complement of NWW have been terminally interested in music for a long long time, long enough to have developed a certain restlessness. Maybe it's decadent - surely, you might ask, there comes a time when the hobby ceases to exert it's fatal fascination as the magic and mystery wears off - but they do consider that a lot of true invention in terms of music is sadly lacking. As John says -

"There are so many non-originals around. You can virtually pin down the absolute innovators to a recorded output of just a few albums, from those people who've actually said something totally unheard of."

Which brings us round full circle to the list of thirty records.

I think that what really pisses them off is the current pre-occupation with style over content, which has been going on now for three or four years, where so many pretentious poseurs have got their little orbits worked out and settled into their own cosy niches. For people who value the sound above all other considerations, there is precious little to hold the attention. The collecting ethic for all three Nurses boils down (to a greater or lesser degree) to the sound. NWW are into sound and noise. If there isn't much exciting sound and noise coming out, then there are only two things to do. Either you put up with it, and allow yourself to be eased out of your habit, all the time bemoaning that 'they don't make 'em like we used to find 'em', or else you go out and do it yourself.

NWW chose the latter course in the only way they new how to. They got hold of a studio, gathered together all the 'instruments' at their disposal, and went in there and did it.

That is what NWW amount to, in essence. In practical terms, it wasn't quite like that I shouldn't think. They would have to get their finances organised (they put up their own money), sort out a sleeve, get the record pressed, etc, etc. Also, suss out the feasibility of the whole idea.

The music was something else altogether. All three are dedicated non-musicians (again, to a greater or lesser extent, but more of that later). For them, the instruments were not so important, depending on what they could find, the idea was to go into the studio and make appropriate noises. Instruments included a beat up cello, and assorted percussion, synth, etc.

They turned up at the studio, piled all the garbage that passed for instruments out of a van into the studio, and proceeded to bash, blow and smash the sh*t out of it, much to the amazement of the engineer, who was more used to the standard sort of rehearsed compositions you normally get from earnest young groups making their first forays into the world of recording.

The results eventually found their way onto vinyl as 'A Chance Meeting On A Dissecting Table Of A Sewing Machine And An Umbrella', which is all you need to know about the music, as this record is just about impossible to review without making a tit of yourself (in NWW's eyes anyway).

This record is more than the evidence would lead you to believe. There are many years of listening experience behind this record, and most of this experience was put to good use after the basic row had been safely put away onto tape. Although they would probably deny it, I think that perhaps the only concession they have made to anything previous is to attempt to get some of the spirit of the pioneering German groups of the late '60s / early '70s, when the possibilities for experimentation were virtually unlimited, or so it seemed to musicians who had burned their boats and turned their backs on the then world of commercial music - dangerous times spiced up with a spirit of adventure and innovation.

To get this affect, or more correctly, to get the effect they sought, NWW spent hours and hours splicing tapes and mixing it all up. They put more time into the production than the studio recording, working on the spontaneous basic tracks with the only concession to convention being the addition of 'commercial guitar' courtesy of the engineer, Nicky Rogers, which in retrospect the Nurses regret. It was Rogers, after all, who slipped them into the studio ....... Rogers got his come uppance when he got booted out of his job when The Boss caught up with him.

It had already been decided to release the album as a limited edition of 500. I asked John if this wasn't being elitist. He shrugged.

"I don't see that. As far as I'm concerned, 500 should cover the people who genuinely would be interested."

What happens if there are more than 500?

"Shouldn't think so. We've still got a few left, and if we see any in the second hand shops, then we buy them up. Most records of this sort get recycled to a certain extent."

I suspect that they would like collectors to be searching out their records in ten years time.

NWW don't want to seduce you into buying their records because of any false ideas about image or propaganda. They do not make records for you personally. They make records to satisfy themselves. The music you would maybe like to hear comes from the accumulated listening experiences of three ardent music collectors. It was only after they became involved in production chores that they discovered just what power lies in the hands of studio technicians. They have taken this power themselves. The concept of Nurse With Wound and subsequent spin-offs screams out to you - get up and do it yourself. But your own way.

Many people who have bought the first album have written in to NWW expressing various degrees of dislike, from calling the music 'rubbish' to purest venom. Records are falling into the hands of those who fall outside of their own frame of reference.

The more dissenters, the more comfortable, in a perverse sort of way, they feel.

To illustrate the point about the 'wrong hands' - Rough Trade declined to distribute the first album on the grounds that it had a degrading, sexist cover. Word filtered back to Virgin Records, who are big in the business of exporting records to the Continent. Nothing like a bit of controversy for some publicity, eh? One day, a call came in from Virgin (allegedly from the Big B himself) enquiring into the possibilities of taking a few hundred off their hands, on the condition that the sleeve for the second album might just be, er, you know, similar? No thanks, said Steve - we don't need this. (Is this really true, Steve?)

NWW as a concept is a compromise - one of the main characteristics of a collector is that his tastes are individual. The NWW camp is rent with, ah, creative tension, and 'musical differences', surely a healthy sign if they can hold it together.