Testimonial 66
I first heard the cardiacs last september. A good friend and I, both drummers, were on our way to a Gamelan troupe we participate in, when he asked "Have you ever heard the Cardiacs?". When I shook my head no, his eyes lit up with indignation (indigestion?) and quickly spiraled through his ipod to find the band. I was floored, amazed, and stupified, but thankfully that was my only taste for a little while and I was able to pass it through my system and pretend it had never happened. Then, two weeks ago, this same "friend" made me a cd featuring several albums in Mp3 format. He gave me "The Seaside Treats" and "Heaven Born and Ever Bright". I cannot stop listening to this band. I cannot stop wanting to learn more, and hear more. I get angrier by the day that it took me over a decade to stumble upon what might very well be the end-all-be-all of music as I know it. I’ve been transformed. I’ve heard (and thanks to youtube…SEEN) too much to ever pretend that I’d never heard this band. I’m thankful for the shattering awareness that this band delivers, and I will be so, every day, for many many years to come.
David Bodie
Testimonial 67
My mate bought a thing call "the Slaughterhouse". He liked Carter who featured on this box set. 2 Cardiacs songs were on it…Goosegash and Buds and Spawn. I’d never heard nothing like it. I was a bit tiddly and bounced on his bedroom floor, which annoyed his Nan. That very same night I had to help my mum look for our cat in some bushes. Anyhow we sort of bought and shared a copy of On Land and In the Sea and The Night Waves Sessions. I thought the music was funny and quirky but at that tender age I never really took it seriously.
Fast forward to about 2002…I found a tape of On Land & In The Sea and memories all came back. I looked up Cardiacs on the interweb and was amazed and thrilled to seem that they still existed. Even more thrilled to see they still did gigs. However due to bad planning and stuff actually finally got to see them for the first time last November after a bloody long wait and its changed my life. So far, 10 months later I dont think a day has passed without me listening, talking about or at least thinking about Cardiacs. I kick myself for not making the effort earlier to see them perform live..but at least I now have and last November at The Astoria has made me realise that;
1)they are without doubt my favourite band,
2)i take them seriously although I usually end up having a little smirk on my face ( any other bands do this to anyone???)
3) I am mad
Thankyou
Matt (Strugz
Testimonial 68
Is this a testimonial…
I bunked off school, and almost accidentally went to bed with a girl.
Then I met her boy who told me the world ran in 5/4 time – so I did.
Now I am nearly as old as Tim (in fact I have always been that way, but never nearly as old as Jim).
My son is old beyond his years - but aren’t we all at that age?
I must give Tim and everyone my love again – I wonder what became of that girl?
Also, I still owe Tim Quy a fiver but with compound interest it must be at least enough for a meal at a well known chain of pizzerias by now. I think he’s waiting to claim his fortune when I make my millions through nefarious deeds – he’ll have a long time to wait for I am almost saintly in my boringness now. On the other hand we were in a rowing boat when he lent it to me so perhaps there are special rules that apply in relation to the claiming of such debts – who was the captain of that boat I wonder; I think it was Mr Luckman.
And why did we never break our noses on the paving stones and parking meters?
Robin
Testimonial 69
This is my testimonial:
One evening in October 1984 I went along to the Clarendon in Hammersmith to see Chelsea, because I was a part time punk and didn’t have anything better to do. There was a loud and blaring punk band on and they were very good. Then I went to the bar to get a beer and when I came back there was a bunch of six people on stage with painted faces and funny brown uniforms, and the music was all stop-start and a manic weird singer who kept saying childish things to the audience in between songs, and sometimes in the middle of songs. The backdrop was a banner with ‘The Insane’ on it, so I thought this band was the Insane. And I thought that was an appropriate name. At the end of their set, they stood in a line and all sang ‘holding these things in my hand, and I end up singing everything’ very slowly. I thought they were the best thing I’d ever seen, and I still do.
I can’t remember when I discovered they were Cardiacs and not the Insane, but I started going to see them regularly at the marquee and at the Greyhound in Fulham, and before long I started going everywhere around the country to see them. I took my friends, and they all started going regularly too. We all loved them, and we still all do. Once, I bunked work and followed them around Holland in a pink Mercedes mini bus, and a gruff fellow called Mark Walmesley kept forcing us to go into the gigs early and buy him beer, and we did.
Cardiacs are always there. Others come and go, but Cardiacs don’t. They’re always there. And unlike other bands, they aren’t stars. They talk to their fans like they are friends, and they are. I think they have shaped my personality greatly and despite the fact I have seen hundreds of bands and like hundreds of bands, Cardiacs are way different and way better. It is fair to say I love them like they are part of my family - they have reached the parts of my soul no other band can reach. I think many other fans feel the same. There is nothing like the atmosphere at a Cardiacs gig, and there is nothing like the atmosphere that surrounds the band and its doings and its personality. Unique.
I left England in 1993 and travelled for two years or more. Once, feeling lonely and cold in Java, I wrote something like this to Tim Smith. It sounded sickly and sticky sweet like this testimonial. But he didn’t reply. I know he means well though. One time, many years ago, at the Marquee, I allowed him to use my neck as a prop while he puked in the sink after a particularly successful gig. How come he was allowed to break the nausea rule?
Cardiacs are an unshakeable part of my life. I’ve grown into adulthood and beyond with them. Love is a strange thing, but that’s what Cardiacs mean to me.
See you all tomorrow at the Astoria.
John Lapwood
Testimonial 70
I first saw the Cardiacs on The Tube many years ago and have been in love with them ever since.
I have only seen them live three times, to my shame, and although I was once a member of the fan club I have never really been one for clubs and simply didn’t renew my membership.
I have had a turbulent and often confusing life, and until a couple of years ago I had two anchors to my untidy sanity, my love for the Cardiacs and my love for my cat, Sen.
When my cat died I stopped listening to a lot of my favourite music as Sen and I often sat enjoying it together, and sentiment can be a tortuous thing. However, in recent months I have been rediscovering just how incredible the Cardiacs are. Just last night I decided to look for the hidden track I believe to be called " In Secret Like Swans " as I couldn’t for the life of me remember which album it was on. I hadn’t heard it in nearly eighteen months and the result on finding it was that I had a huge grin on my face and a feeling of such overwhelming joy that I had to write this testimonial.
There will probably never be a better sound in all the world than the Cardiacs.
I await news of their next tour with great enthusiasm.
Tree.