Spin,
Listen And Dig - The Spinning Wighats
- For a time in 1986, it looked like The Spinning
Wighats were to be the biggest band in the world.
Then as quickly as they appeared, they vanished,
leaving a legacy of just 4 releases for us to
treasure. The band were always shrouded in
mystery, closely linked to The Long Ryders, yet
ultimately they remained elusive.
- Comprising of W.Pleasure, W.Funn, W.Wolff and
A.Hoosier (their first names being the biggest
mystery) the band issued a series of releases
through underground channels befitting their
obscure status. The first of these, Christmas In
New Zealand (LYN16928 ) was issued in late 1985
as a flexi and given away at gigs in the UK and
the States. Originally credited to Pleasure/Funn,
the track has recently been attributed to The
Long Ryders. It was a startling introduction to
the band with a great line in humour and a
ludicrous, catchy chorus.
- The band's next appearance came in August 1986
courtesy of UK magazine Bucketfull Of Brains,
number 17. This time we were treated to two live
cuts from a 1985 Mean Fiddler gig. Encore From
Hell (BOB 11 LYN17840), credited to the whole
band was another humour trip as the band read out
a series of critical reviews over some jazzy
jamming, before launching into a great version of
The Long Ryders' 10-5-60. The release brought the
Wighats to a lot of peoples attention and they
capitalized on this by following it up with two
further releases in the late summer/early autumn
of 1986. The first of these was another live
track from the Mean Fiddler gig. Baby We All
Gotta Go Down (Seventeen 06) appeared on issue 6
of What A Nice Way To Turn Seventeen, a full
length vinyl album/magazine produced in the UK.
The track was another cover, this time of a Danny
And Dusty song from The Lost Weekend, an album
released the previous year featuring members of
The Long Ryders, Green On Red and The Dream
Syndicate. Almost simultaneously the band issued
what turned out to their final release. A studio
version of I Can't Hide (the Flamin' Groovies
track) on a flexi was given away with issue 28 of
the US music paper The Bob (catalogue number
real.006). It was arguably the best release of
the band's catalogue and a fitting way for the
band to end their all too brief career.
- So just who were these mysterious heroes? Some
claim they were the alter ego of The Long Ryders.
Certainly most of the Wighats' releases carried
photos of or articles on the US underground
guitar band in close attendance. What A Nice Way
To Turn Seventeen even listed the individual
members of the Long Ryders as playing on the
Wighats' contribution! A further hint comes in
the name A.Hoosier. A hoosier is an inhabitant of
the state of Indiana - Long Ryders' bassist Tom
Stevens came from Elkhart...Indiana. No pictures
of The Spinning Wighats appear to exist, though
Pleasure and Funn are credited as "proper
luncheon companions" on The Long Ryders'
State Of Our Union LP, whilst Pleasure is also
credited with playing organ on The 'Ryders' Two
Fisted Tales album, further adding to the
blurring between the two bands.
- We may never know who The Spinning Wighats really
were. Nothing more has been heard of the band or
its individual members since the late 80s.
However, we can say that they were an obscure 4
piece who dominated the underground music scene
for just over a year before disappearing into
greater obscurity. Their glorious music remains.
Spin, listen and dig.
(The above article first appeared in Issue 5 of Rebels Without
Applause).
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