In the early days Lou was the bassist in Red Guitars. First single Good Technology was championed by the late, great John Peel who played it on Radio One. It made number 1 in the Indie chart and number 11 in his Festive Fifty. Two albums, a handful of Peel sessions and top ten Indie hits later they had toured with The Smiths, appeared on The Tube, The Old Grey Whistle Test, Oxford Road Show, John Peel’s Sounds of the Suburbs and loads of European TV shows. They were fiercely independent, played hundreds of gigs, went out to dinner with Richard Branson, and eventually signed to Virgin Records … you can still visit them here, and check out our 30th Anniversary Good Technology Competition.
After that Lou made NME and Sounds’ records of the week with The Planet Wilson. “Crazy-James-Chance-meets-Holger-Czukay…Lou’s bass playing is unbelievable – not just the tunes she invents, but the actual sound of her fingers hitting the strings, Mike Watt of Firehose is probably the only person who could match this.” (David Cavanagh, Sounds). They were highly acclaimed by just about all the music press, played loads of gigs, released two albums …
Still making stunning sounds on her Vintage Fretless Musicman Stingray Bass Lou plays in Loudhailer Electric Company and dub n slide bass with medieval-with-attitude fusion collective Celtarabia.
Meanwhile, Rich – also a bassist – was getting rave revues in Where? magazine “Catchy tunes and bass lines reminiscent of the Red Guitars”. Well, fancy that. Later vocalist and poet Rich performed to sell out audiences with Ozric Tentacles, Nick Harper and Tribal Drift and more.
Both Rich and Lou played some of their favourite gigs at the legendary Hebden Bridge Trades Club nights of the year – Christmas Eve, Bonfire Night and Riverside Festival.
Next up Skeleton Trailers, click here to read Lou’s David Bowie Stories