DOWNLOAD INCLUDES FULL COLOUR FRONT AND BACK COVER ARTWORK PLUS A PDF OF GIZZ BUTT'S LINER NOTES AND SONG STORIES.
GIZZ BUTT NOTES:
Janus Stark Headhunter mini-LP waffle!
CRACKDOWN AT SUNDOWN: PRODIGY TO BE OR NOT TO BE?
We’re going to start this story from May 1998. A number of important things happened in that particular month.
The Prodigy played at Martyrs’ Square in Beirut, Lebanon on 9 May, and it proved to be a life changing and very revealing event because the things I witnessed that day would certainly leave a mark on me.
A few days after the gig I got a phone call from The Prodigy’s co-manager John Fairs. He had a go at me for some of my “antics” on that day. He was complaining that my actions nearly got my balls shot off. Also, there was the matter of two stories published in the press. A bunch of journalists in the lobby, pretending to me to be uber-fans, had offered to take me to the 'Hope for Peace' monument in Yarze, also in Lebanon. It was on the journey there that this suspiciously friendly bunch revealed they were journalists, pretty much spying on me all day, going on to print nearly everything I said and did which may have been deemed inappropriate. Hence that telling off from John Fairs.
The Janus Stark album ‘Great Adventure Cigar’ was released on 11 May, and it was announced that the song ‘Clique’ would be on the soundtrack for the film ‘Dead Man’s Curve’. Peterborough journalist Krista Terranova interviewed Janus Stark for a massive spread in the local paper, seeming to be an ambassador for the band, but one year later she would sell the story “Gizz plans to leave the Prodigy”, after interviewing some of my friends.
But let’s go back to when I was presented with a contract from the lawyers representing The Prodigy, which was dated 18 May 1998. It was this that signaled the beginning of the end of my time in the band because I refused to sign the contract as there were a number of unacceptable conditions which the lawyers would not budge on.
At this time, the producer of ‘Great Adventure Cigar’, Terry Thomas, was managing Janus Stark and looking after me whenever possible. Terry sent a fax to Prodigy’s lawyer Paul Spraggon in reply to the contract I’d received. He did not receive a friendly reply as I received another negative call from John Fairs telling me to “Get your man off Paul’s back.”
On a personal level, me and Tracey were living at our new address at 10 Fletton Avenue in Peterborough. We’d moved there in January from 19 Henry Street, which Tracey was now renting out to a friend of mine called Danny Breene, a well-known character on the local Peterborough scene who’d previously driven for the English Dogs.
On 16 June, Prodigy began a USA tour, and a few days into that tour, after the Seattle gig, I asked Tracey to marry me on 18 June, planning to get married soon after, in Peterborough, on 7 August.
On that June USA trip, I also managed to fit in a meeting with Nigel Harrison of Blondie, who then worked for Interscope Records.
There were several odd things that happened on that States trip, including a show with Green Day who indeed stole the show, a meet up in Detroit with one of my heroes, Killing Joke’s Geordie, but Keith didn’t take too warmly towards him, whilst another night ended with myself and Leeroy being ‘abducted’ by someone ‘giving us a lift to the hotel,’ going off route and instead, taking us to their art gallery. Additionally, there was an enormous gig in Miami which was simply the largest disco you can ever imagine (not exactly my ideal setting!), and in New York there was the strangest aftershows I’ve ever been to in my life, on the first night Bono and Puff Daddy were competing for attention, and on the second night we met Madonna who was lovely; she put on a great party in her apartment afterwards that I went to.
The Prodigy shows which followed were all enormous festivals, everything went smoothly without any hitches until disaster struck in Japan after Fuji Rock, when there was an incident in the notorious Tokyo Night Club, the ‘Lexington Queen’. The next day was my thirty-second birthday, and I was returning home with the intention of concentrating on my upcoming marriage to Tracey and our honeymoon, trying to shake off the feeling of impending doom after everything coming apart at the seams in Japan.
After this time off I would reconvene with The Prodigy for a tour of South America and then fly back to the UK to play Reading Festival 1998, which unfortunately didn’t go 100% smoothly as there were disagreements before the performance! Behind the scenes, plans were afoot!
A few USA labels were interested in licensing the ‘Great Adventure Cigar’ album; Capitol Records, Interscope and Trauma.
Another label, Earache Records, had reached an agreement with Trauma Records, being offered a $600,000 video budget. Out of this advance, $125,000 went to Earache, $100,000 to the tour budget, and $100,000 for a video, which didn’t happen! The rest was for marketing. Terry asked them straight, “what’s in it for us?” They came back with, “you get the tour.” In the end they managed to get Shop and Pinch £200 a week for the period that we were touring, and it worked out to a total of $5,000.
Trauma then wanted shorter versions of some songs, so Terry remixed ‘USA versions’ of ‘Floyd (What Are you On?)’, ‘Panic Attack’ and ‘Every Little Thing Counts’ in July, with the latter song managing to get on the soundtrack for the film ‘Disturbing Behaviour’, which was getting a big push in the USA at the time. My publishing company BMG were then pushing to get Earache out of the picture, arranging a meeting with a radio plugger, me and Terry.
Whilst this was going on, Terry called me up to list various points on the Prodigy contract, saying that I can’t sign it without some changes.
Things seemed to be happening fast with Trauma then wanting ‘clean edits’ of ‘Enemy Lines’, the first song on the album. Their subsequent god-awful edit sounds like there’s a glitch in the track.
Researching my diary for 1998 I have…
Janus Stark
USA radio tour
October
21: LA Whiskey
23: The Yuctan, Santa Barbara
28: Denver KTCL radio show
29: Pensacola radio show
30: Miami WZTA radio show (With Lenny Kravitz)
November
1: Orlando radio show
2: Tallahasse, Floyds
3: New Orleans, House of blues
4: Birmingham, The Nick
6: Nashville, 328 performance
7: Cincinnati, Top Cats
9: Genes High School
11: Chapel Hill
12: Washington, The Bayou
13: Hartford, The Brickyard
14: Astbury Park, Birch Hill
(New York… Tracey came to visit me)
18: New York, Irving Plaza
20: Providence, The Met or Manchester, The Spider’s Web
21: Boston, Bill’s Bar
22: Killington, Pickle Barrel
December
4: Huntingdon, Vinnies
10: Wilkesbar, Scrantons
11: Roanoke, Top Floor Charles Dickens
12: Washington, the Bayou
13: Augusta
14: Charleston, Cumberlands
16: Boston, Mama Kinmusic Hall
17: San Antonio
18: …flew home
Between August 1998 and New Year’s Day 1999 there had only been one Prodigy gig so basically, I’d been able to concentrate on Janus Stark.
This tour was extensive and whilst it was going on we were exposed to some of the mightiest talents out there at that time. Some of the shows were enormous showcases and it was a humbling experience to witness.
Earache had licensed the album to Trauma Records in the USA, home to the very successful Bush and their other latest signing The Flys, who we shared this tour with.
I’d managed to blag Trauma into buying a Roland VS880 hard disc recorder with the plan that we were going to write material for our second album whilst on the bus! Amazingly, they were into this idea!
When December 1998 rolled round, and with us about to fly out to the USA again, our setlist looked like this:
‘Substitute’ had been chosen from a list of possible covers which had included ‘Star Man’, ‘Lounge Fly’, ‘No Feelings’, ‘Standards’, ‘Just What I Needed’, and ‘Live And Let Die’.
Looking back now, I have no idea why ‘Barriers’ or ‘Enemy Lines’ are not in the set or why ‘No Way’ is in there?
On 12 December, ‘Every Little Thing Counts’ reached No 32 in the USA Billboard Chart and along the way also had the decoration of being the second most ‘added to radio playlists’ song of 1998!
By way of a contrast, it was just a few weeks later, in January 1999, when one of the Prodigy lawyers called me to explain they would not move on any of the disputed points within the contract.
Better news was immediately incoming however, when the cult film’ Varsity Blues’ was released on 15 January with ‘Every Little Thing Counts’ on the soundtrack. This was a big deal as the film was nominated for a Grammy.
I’d also realised that the USA tour had refueled my interest in USA alternative bands such as Stone Temple Pilots, Jane’s Addiction, Everclear, and Lit, so in that first month of 1999, we found ourselves trying to persuade Trauma Records to put up an advance for the next Janus Stark album so that first batch of demo recordings came together and here we have some of those songs being developed and recorded between January and May 1999, with all of this new mini LP being recorded in my old house in Peterborough.
Around this time, I’d purchased a Soundcraft FX 16 mixing desk and my first Apple Mac with Logic Audio plus an 8-channel sound card. Armed with this new tech and, alongside my Roland VS880, I was off and ready to discover the world of home recording.
This entailed the drums being set up in one room whilst the guitar cabs were in another, with Peterborough Premier PA company’s Shaun Pearce lending me a multicore and lots of cables,
Terry Thomas once again helped me with the initial set up. Our then number one soundman, Walter Jacquiss, came to the house to set the gear up with Tom Gordon and Andy Hawkins chipping in as well, all these people really helped me out and I think we achieved some very good results.
New songs really were being written at a fast rate, and we were also writing songs for the ‘Whatever Happened To Harold Smith?’ film soundtrack. Janus Stark were also asked to play a cameo role in that movie, to be filmed in Sheffield.
Janus Stark also toured in April 1999 with Pitchshifter, doing some headline shows. This really was a busy time for me, and it would perhaps reach its inevitable conclusion exactly one year on from when that problematic first draft contract had been drawn up.
So, it was on Tuesday 18 May 1999 when I received another call from John Fairs, this time to say that I was no longer needed in The Prodigy.
The axeman had been axed… but what a journey I was about to go on after that call….
INDIVIDUAL SONG STORIES
1. HEADHUNTER
In the previous year I’d experienced various times with some people (not all I must add) who were very unsympathetic and indifferent to the variety of pressures that were going on in my life.
Emotionally, they had ‘very deep pockets.’ They just couldn’t reach far down enough to give anything.
So, my question was, with all this… ‘How do I fit in the big picture?’
I wondered how much all of this was just a mirage. Smoke and mirrors. I wanted someone to save me! Terminator 2 had been on TV when Arnie travels back in time to save the boy. It was like he was crossing the universe to save this kid. He was a saviour, a messiah if you like. That was what I needed! I needed an Arnie!
The theme of ‘Headhunter’ therefore popped into my head. In a sense I wondered if I was comparing the headhunter character to Keith and/or Liam. ‘The Headhunter’; two meanings, one for the practice of collecting a human head after killing the victim, the other of seeking out a recruit for a high-level job. I connected this with my own audition experience with The Prodigy.
The Prodigy had kind of saved me, but I felt disappointed because of the strange way that some of them, some of the management, and even some members of the crew behaved towards me once I was established in the band.
I was in the band and travelling with them but then excluded from photo sessions and interviews, it wasn’t what I’d expected or been promised (by the band leader) and it felt uncomfortable. There was more than that though. The tour party had a masseur called Heidi and she was held in high regard by band and management. She would really look down on me and regularly throw disapproving glances and jibes. It became an in-joke. When Kieron Pepper came into the fold on drums, he was immediately accepted, much more so than me. He was a true friend to me and still is, but looking back now, I can see that the dynamic in the band changed, and I missed how it used to be. Now there was a gulf between me and the others. I’d been through my past touring life in Punk bands, travelling in transit vans, sleeping anywhere, and eating whatever was available. My Prodigy years were therefore incredible at first but in the latter period there was a growing feeling of isolation. So, then I started to have these thoughts. Is this for me, should I move on? When the masseur is accepted more by the band than their guitarist, is it time to move on?
How can you say goodbye to something that is so high?
Musically I really like this song ‘Headhunter’, it was recorded in my old house in Fletton Avenue, Peterborough, as I’d recently managed to blag a Roland VS880, a hard disc recorder, plus I’d purchased a Soundcraft FX 16 mixing desk and my first Apple Mac with Logic Audio and an 8-channel sound card, I really was off and ready to discover the world of home recording.
The drums were set up in one room and the guitar cabs in another, and I used the same guitars to track ‘Headhunter’ which I’d used to record ‘Every Little Thing Counts’.
Interesting trivia: The chorus of ‘Headhunter’ is, near as dammit, a reversal of a track from ‘Great Adventure Cigar’! I used that trick more than once. It helps to explain that unusual chorus. What song could it be? You’ll have to find out for yourself!
2. PLASTICINE
I’d been to visit my friend ‘Lanx’ of the electronic dance band Shades Of Rhythm; all the band were based close by in nearby Whittlesey where they had a studio. Lanx let me borrow his Vintage Roland JX3P synth which I started to noodle around on, before one day, while jamming with Tom Gordon, I came up with the main riff to ‘Plasticine’. The tune is definitely a nod to an obscure Beatles B-side called ‘She’s A Woman’. I’d met a really nice guy called Matt Biffa who worked for Air-Edel, the company providing music for the film soundtrack ‘Whatever Happened To Harold Smith?’ Matt had a collection of Lovetone analogue effects pedals which he let me borrow. I used those pedals in this song as well as other songs in this set. He also had an apartment in Emperor’s Gate, South Kensington, London where we used to hang out. It was ace! So swish!
Regarding the lyrics, the phrase “unhealthy acceptance” came to me in January and the ‘Plasticine’ song title was a play on words, Plastic Scene! However, it was also referring to not being able to hold on to money. It slipped through your fingers; it dropped through your pockets because they/it melted like plasticine. A bit psychedelic. All these songs had a psychedelic touch to them. I’d also had firsthand experience of hanging with very wealthy people, what they held as their priority was designer labels, houses in the country, sports cars, etc., which led me to making a few notes about at the time:
“Treats and toys that children crave.”
“Go faster stripes on your pocket strings.”
“The elastic concept of wealth, but can you put a price on mental health?”
Keeping on top of all that is a full-time job and costs a lot of people their sanity, their livelihoods and in some cases, their lives. It became the norm that I would notice people actually inspecting each other’s labels. They all shared the same clothing brands, the same holiday resorts, the same tastes in restaurants, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but I was new to this world and although I get it, I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Of course, to an extent I’m a ‘victim’ of it as well. For instance, I still favour Gibsons, Fender or Ibanez guitars and Marshall amps. Certain trainers, jeans, shirts too… in a sense, I’m no better.
It’s an unhealthy acceptance, a ride that I’m on until I’m able to get off it but nowadays I certainly appreciate what I have, rather than craving for more. A prison of materialism?
3. GATECRASH
This song resembled an earlier Janus Song called ‘No Way’ which found its way into our live set. Slow and grinding - fuzz box heaven!
This song was kind of autobiographical in some ways, but it was actually written about someone I had met who had come into our circle. It was about meeting someone who is too keen, maybe overpowering, maybe overbearing.
They want you to like them. I guess they want it too much and they immediately show habits which annoy you, but with tolerance the real person can shine through. I think essentially, the lyric deals with issues of
trust and distrust. It also must have something to do with the endless parties that I was attending at the time. I remember one hilarious incident at the Met Bar involving Boy George. I’ll tell that story another day.
4. MY BIONIC EYE
When I was searching through my mini discs, I’d totally forgotten about this one. I couldn’t believe how much work I’d put into it and now I regard it as a little gem. There is so much detail here with the song changing key several times along with the various harmony vocals, guitar overdubs and additional synth. It’s far more complete than my memory at first recalled and would have made a welcome addition to any second Janus Stark album at that time.
This song is also the odd one out of these seven tracks because it was completed and recorded after 18 May 1999, however, I’ve included it here because the initial idea came about as early as January, and was then simply called “Shuffle rhythm track”. The actual concept came from the cover of the ‘Great Adventure Cigar’ album and an early January lyric I was working on spawned the line “There’s nothing they can make that I can’t penetrate.”
The journalist Krista Terranova ran a piece in the local rag, she had interviewed a local acquaintance called Danny Breene who was renting Tracey’s old house. It was Danny who’d given them the story that I was planning on leaving the Prodigy. That ‘revelation’ couldn’t have come at a worse time. My days may have been numbered but this certainly didn’t help. Danny had picked up the vibe, when he’d been around us, that things were shaky for me in the Prodigy camp and decided to give Krista some juicy scandal so that she could grab a feature which she of course, did. She managed to get page 3 with this story!
5. BRUCE LEE
My first note for this began with the line “Meeting the needs of the modern lifestyle…” This song was built from the themes of macho masculinity,
fertility, girl power, and therefore questioning my role as a husband and a possible future father.
I’d made a note from a postcard I’d received of Indian symbols and their meanings, hence “Thunderbird sacred bearer of happiness”, whereas the names Bruce Lee and Charles Atlas (who was famous for the advertising slogan “Are you tired of having sand kicked in your face?”) appeared thus.
All these interesting notes helped to create the lyric for Bruce Lee, which musically doffed its cap to Stone Temple Pilots and of course… The Beatles. I recorded this song a number of times and with different people but here it is played with the ‘Great Adventure Cigar’ line up of Shop, Pinch, and myself. Shop always heavily praised this song, and he once told me that I suffered from a lack of confidence which had led to me turning my back on this set of songs. When I reacted by saying that I thought “Pinch didn’t like what I was writing and was dismissive of the ‘Great Adventure Cigar’ album…”, Shop answered by revealing that “…he didn’t like being told what to do.”
6. STANDARDS
This is our version of The Jam song ‘Standards’ which is from their ‘This Is The Modern World’ LP. I’d actually also played this a little bit on and off as a guest in a Jam tribute band called Setting Sons. They’d performed at mine and Tracey’s wedding when I’d jumped up on stage with them (of course!) I then joined the band at a couple of local shows and even appeared with them when they were asked to play on the TV show ‘Live & Kicking’, presented by Zoe Ball.
We did our best to do this song justice with a little Janus Stark treatment by adding some tasteful guitar overdubs, but also worthy of note is the little voice at the end muttering “MKay” - in that ‘South Park’ Mr. Garrison voice!
7. BIRTH OF A NATION (FIRST VERSION)
This is more of a song sketch or prototype, which came together on the tour bus whilst on the Janus Stark USA tour. There would be further improvements made on it, but this is included as it was the first thing written using the Roland VS880.
It was meant to be an anthem for New Year’s Eve 1999, which everyone was getting excited about, especially the conspiracy theorists for the new millennium.
The line “everybody’s burning the candle at both ends,” summed up the ridiculously busy time I was experiencing; tours, marriage, house buying, record deals, album released, songs in films, USA licensing, USA tour, more films, media coverage, more tours…
It certainly made me think.
These are notes written at the same period:
“Leaving your job”, “Risking being homeless”, “Going through changes”,
“Compelled to leave the tranquility of a situation” and “You’ve given them good service but now it’s the end of that era…”
You can see that I was subliminally aware that the writing was on the wall.
Transforming themselves from the final 3-piece line up of the English Dogs, fronted by The Prodigy live guitarist Gizz But,
Janus Stark released the critically acclaimed 'Great Adventure Cigar' LP in 1998, before the original line up split. Returning with new members a near 2-decades later they put out two equally brilliant LPs: 2019's 'Angel In The Flames' & 2022's 'Face Your Biggest Fear'....more
supported by 5 fans who also own “Headhunter - mini LP (T&M 056)”
Just bought this morning Ginger, hopefully not too late for you to get the full financial benefit. Also of course thank you for the music, you're a legend ❤️ midland potato
Dead Cross, Retox, and Qui members dish out subversive hardcore with an indignant smirk; come for the riffs, stay for the synth experiments. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 31, 2024
The Canadian pop-punk band deliver their biggest-sounding album to date, rooted in full-bodied production and cheery nihilism. Bandcamp Album of the Day Apr 5, 2022
The punk legends return with their first studio album in 35 years, featuring reworked fan favorites as well as all-new material. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 22, 2020
