THE FLAMING GNOMES – A BRIEF HISTORY.
Way back in the halcyon days of 2007, a challenge was laid down to see who could record the best version of Pink Floyd’s classic first single, Arnold Layne. This was a competition hosted by David Gilmour in conjunction with EMI and Myspace to celebrate 40 years since its original release and to promote the release of Gilmour’s reworking of the song.
The prize for the winner of this competition was a days recording in the famous Abbey Road Studio and your logo designed by Storm Thorgerson of Hipgnosis fame. The Flaming Gnomes consisted of William Hayter – Drums, Sam Smith – Guitar and Vocals, Rick Cullen – Bass and Martin Gimson – Keyboards, four musician friends from Hertfordshire who were hastily assembled to commence recording. The band name was derived from Flaming and The Gnome which were two songs from The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Pink Floyd’s first album.
The track was submitted to the competition organisers, but sadly was not judged to be the winner. At that point the band went in to hibernation.
About a year later, an enquiry came from Keith Jones of Fruits De Mer Records asking if we would record a single for them with a view to releasing it on 7 inch vinyl. Keith had heard our version of Arnold Layne and felt we could produce something for them. After lots of thought and deliberation the two tracks chosen to record were Care Of Cell 44 by The Zombies and Love Song With Flute by Caravan. Our brief was to add a bit of our own personality to the songs rather than record straight cover versions of them.
The summer of 2009 arrived and so too did the single, on loud technicolour vinyl and a fabulous piece of artwork by Jeff Cummins, previously of Hipgnosis. We may not have got Storm, but we got the next best thing! The release was followed by the bands one and only gig to date on the 13th December 2009 at The Corn Exchange in Hertford.
The vinyl single had sold out of its limited run of 300 copies a while back, so the decision was taken to release all of the tracks on digital download to make them available to those who were not able to get a vinyl copy, or who didn’t have a turntable.
The future of The Flaming Gnomes is still undecided. Various threats have been issued to record and release a follow up single, however it remains just that at the moment, a threat!
For those of you that may be interested, you can catch up with the continuing saga of The Flaming Gnomes by visiting and liking us at www.facebook.com/theflaminggnomes
Happy Listening.
A FEW WORDS FROM FRUITS DE MER RECORDS.
The Flaming Gnomes
Early-doors, on the road by six, miss the traffic, sunrise, already feeling sick. Morris Minor, Formica and fags, boot at the back, stuffed full of bags. Summer holidays before flights were cheap, head for the coast for shutdown week. Heading down the Canterbury way, a caravan, a fairground, a week away. Narrow lanes, hedge-lined, roads worn away. Windows down, radio play. Pirate stations, surge and fade, AM signal like the sea we’ll wade. Tunes like these that ebb and flow, setting the pace for dad to go. It’s left, it’s right. Want a bet? For the hundredth time, are we nearly there yet? Paddling, wading, throwing a ball, transistor radio sat on a towel. Bag of crisps, shandy bass, local characters, cooking on gas. Hissing, crashing, wave on wave, watch the tide, a secret cave. A cell of sorts, the girl next door, burned by the sun, but wanting more. Week flies by and back in the car, radio signals from way off far. The last lingering tangible thing, that follows us home as we sit and sing. Sing along to that week’s score, a telephone number for the girl next door. The Flaming Gnomes hark back to these times. They come from Ware in Hertfordshire. This is not near the sea... More info soon.
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