JOHN WOODRUFF REMEMBERS.....
I first met The Trend when they came on a local Manchester radio show I was co-presenting with Peter Sharratt called Saturday Rock. We featured many local punk bands including The Buzzcocks, Magazine, Echo and The Bunnymen, Chris Sievy (a.k.a. Frank Sidebotham), Graham Fellows (a.k.a. John Shuttleworth), John Cooper Clark, Ed Banger and The Nosebleeds and so on.
Peter and I worked with The Trend’s personal manager, Richard Vincent, to try and get the band signed and this eventually resulted in the deal with MCA and the Wishbone Ash UK tour support.
I “produced” some of the Trend records including the tracks “Teenage Crush” and “Cool Johnny” for the first single on Trendy Records and “Routines” which was the B Side of the band’s second single on MCA Records. “Routines” was recorded in true punk style in a bedroom with the drum kit on a piece of 8 x 4 chipboard resting on car tyres to try and stop the noise going through to the room underneath. I think we used take 3 as the finished master because by that point the man across the road had come round and explained that we were keeping his baby awake and if we didn’t stop playing he’d ram the guitars and drum sticks up our arses.
Jake, Steve, Rev and Charlie were the permanent fixtures in the band and the creative driving force. They were all great songwriters and Steve was a particularly good lyricist. Charlie’s brother, Richard was a great organiser and he acquired a huge bus for the Wishbone tour and had a 45 gallon drum of diesel fuel in the boot so he didn’t need to buy fuel on the road.
As is usual with bands, drummers came and went. Jon Rood, the original, was probably the best fit for the band. After his departure we auditioned countless replacements but couldn’t find anyone so I got behind the kit. I think I was 29 at the time and really should have known better!
Anyway, for the most part I really enjoyed it and was part of the line up for gigs at Dingwall’s and The Rock Garden and played for the John Peel sessions recorded at the BBC Maida Vale Studios. I was also behind the drums for several months for the weekly residency at The Duke of Wellington pub in Salford. It was here that Liam Sternberg saw the band. He was a “proper” Record Producer who had worked with bands on Stiff Records and he was an important influence in the signing to MCA.
Liam produced the first Trend single for MCA and the A-side of the second and then Tony McCauley took over for the last single with “This Dancehall Must Have A Back Way Out”.
Nicky Knott was The Trend’s last drummer and unquestionably the most technically competent.
To this day, with successful guitar bands like Artic Monkeys, Zutons and so on, I can still hear The Trend style in there. It’s an ageless thing with original, quirky lyrics that speak to the concerns of everyone who’s ever been a teenager, snappy guitars and slick vocal harmonies – a typically English sound.
The Trend are sadly no more – Long Live The Trend!
Lots of love.
©Detour Records