CAUSTIC

HISTORY

Well, you asked for it ....

The day after Christmas 1986, a new musical force came into being in London's leafy suburb of Twickenham, a force that was known as Peyote Fly the Chillum Egg. Formed in a hurry to play at a friend's party, most members had been playing their instruments for less than a year, and the noise they made was atrocious (mainly piss-poor Hawkwind covers that turned into an excuse for a jam halfway through, also a few pub-rock classics). However, the line-up included all four Caustic members, who had only known each other vaguely beforehand, as well as Paul on 'wibbly-wobbly noises' (meaning that he'd just got a Roland SH-09 synth for Christmas, and was therefore in a position to provide the final word(?) in Hawkwind-sounding authenticity). This line up continued playing parties and getting marginally better at what they did. Some time during 1987 Paul left and Rob joined on flute. At Rob's suggestion, the somewhat unmemorable name was dropped in favour of the cunningly acronymious Light and Sound Department. In time, Rob too left, but this didn't halt the band's meteoric rise. Soon, they were writing their own songs (some which were not all bad), and they even played a few proper gigs, supporting bands such as Los Bastados and The Senseless Things at Richmond College and the Clarendon, Hammersmith (which was demolished in their honour one week later). However, by this time Dan had been accepted for a three-year degree course in far-away Bristol. Even a change of name to The Toxic Avengers could not avert this disaster. What was to have been this line-up's last gig together never occurred - the party aboard the Subterranean Enterprise where they should have played was raided by the police before any of the bands got to play. In Autumn 1988 Dan left for Bristol and, although the band continued for a while, with Arthur on bass and new members Ruan on guitar and Matt on vocals, things gradually petered out. Thus ends the first chapter of the Caustic story.
Interlude. In London, Arthur formed bands of his own - Bumarap and Safe as Milk, and for a while played guitar in The Skies. John drummed for The Revs. David suffered the infamous exploding head incident, and spent some time as the guest of aliens somewhere off-planet. In Bristol, Dan played a few gigs with The Vibronoughts, and when he finally returned to London he teamed up with a group of jazz musicians for jam sessions. All four went their own ways, but stayed in contact from time to time.
In 1993, Arthur and Dan got drunk together after listening to old Light and Sound Department tapes and reminiscing. It was true; some of those old songs weren't all bad. As John had recently left The Revs and Dave had been seen emerging from a beam of light somewhere near the A316 Chertsey Road, they decided to get the 'lads' together again. New songs were written, drinks were bought, pleas were made, and finally the greatest spacepunk outfit this side of Neasden were reunited, this time under the moniker Gulch. However, things were different this time. Being somewhat publicity shy (not to mention a bunch of prima-donnas) the band did not play in public until they had been practicing for another year. Also, gone were all the cover versions. Somehow, they never seemed to come out as intended, and writing your own material came more naturally, particularly to Arthur (a self-taught musical genius). When the band did finally play again, it was at a party at Dan's house in Hounslow. The response was phenomenal - not least from the police, who had received complaints from as far as two miles away! However, a combination of laziness and nervousness meant that the band still spend most of their time in the studio, learning new songs, deciding they were no good, throwing them out again and learning more new songs. In November 1995, re-christened once again as Caustic, they decided they were finally ready to step up their plans for suburban domination. A series of well-received gigs followed in the small venues of London, plus a virtual residency in the cramped back-room of The Red Lion, Teddington on Thursday nights. Now, they await only the completion of another demo-tape before seeking a wider audience in larger venues.
Did I miss anything? I don't think so.

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