annalise and the messiah

For most of the 1990s my friend Julia and I (pictured above in about 1997/8) were in a band together. To begin with we had a few more members and we went through a few different names, but ultimately the band was just us two and we were called Annalise And The Messiah. Before we were able to get into pubs, we spent almost all of our free time writing and recording songs, making T-shirts, writing stories about ourselves, even making a film, which I really wish I could share here, but I only have on VHS. We used to distribute our "albums" to anyone who gave us a blank tape to copy them onto. We also gave copies of our tapes to celebrities and bands that we liked. Two bands actually asked if they could cover one of our songs, though neither came to fruition. I have a postcard somewhere from Tim Wheeler (from Ash) thanking us for our "disturbing" tape and asking us if we'd mind if Ash covered Sheila The Impaler. Can you imagine finding a postcard like that on your doormat at the age of 15?! Very exciting!

Another of our band's highlights came in 1995 when we sent off a demo tape to Melody Maker. We were highly sceptical that it would ever actually be reviewed, but the very next fortnight, there was Annalise And The Messiah featured in the national music press! At the time I was 15 and Julia would have been 16. I don't think many people could understand why were so excited about such a scathing review, but to us this was the best thing ever and it still makes me laugh even now.

I was particularly proud that our lyrics were misquoted. Instead of, "You, you are the mango fruit of my bum," we actually sang, "You, you are the pamanga fruit of my bum," the pamanga fruit being a fictional fruit from an episode of Power Rangers. (Well, durr!)

I have lots of our songs stored right here on my computer and would actually love to share some of them with you in all their lo-fi greatness (you can hear Julia's mum cleaning the doorbell in the background to one of the songs) but have no idea how I would do that. Maybe one day!

Here are some pictures of how I looked back in those halcyon days. With green hair and a ridiculously flat stomach at T In The Park in 1995, sporting a rucksack I made myself out of a pair of my old school trousers and a top from the charity shop. I haven't really changed much, have I? Well, apart from the flat stomach!

And here I am in Julia's bedroom wearing a vintage top from a car boot sale and the tiniest little Union Jack mini skirt that I loved and my mum hated.

If anyone knows an easy way to share mp3s on Blogger then do let me know and I'll put up a selection of our tunes. I'll also add that postcard from Ash if I can find it.

I'll be back tomorrow with another very different press feature featuring yours truly...