The 15th have emerged with some stunning material taken from the late 80’s – early 90’s, equal to the likes of Stockholm Monsters, the bands only released vinyl 7″ is available in strictly limited quantities which features some shimmering timeless guitar pop. Gigslutz spoke to the bands lead singer Trevor Johnson to get the full history of the band, all the following words are Trevor’s own writing:

 

The 15^th. As an introduction and angle to approach the band I would like to present them as one of thousands of bands who existed for a short period of time yet remained unheard of outside of their postcode.

As with history in general it is only ever told by the victors, the successful or privileged ones and so leaves out a massive proportion of the overall story. Within the story of The 15th you won’t find reflections of hedonistic nights on tour, point scoring junkie rock and roll excess. You’ll find a simple tale of young adults who brought their issues but who had a mutual love of music and channeled it through the band and took the opportunity of the DIY ethic to play against the odds.

They all came from North East council estates, no formal musical training, everything learnt and encouraged through the punk period of the late 70s and into the eclecticism and audacity of post punk. There was no local ‘scene’ to gravitate to and become part of which would have facilitated opportunity and help. At least during the punk scene of the early 80’s you had a readymade audience to play to, whether it be a small crowd or more, a punk band would grab people’s attention enough to put on a gig and the fact more and more kids were joining in with this so called second wave these gigs would happen in every town and bring the like minded together.

Forming a punk band you knew there was a center to gravitate to, for The 15th in the mid to late 80s no scene existed, at least not in the north east. Plenty of bands existed but they played here and there, recorded singles or appeared on compilation LP’s but you’ll be hard pushed to name many bands who became known outside of the area. Also, The 15th were just a band, they didn’t carry a label. It was ‘indie’ merely because they were independent. What they were, was genuine. They wanted to create on their own terms but of course wanted the help from a record company to facilitate this and get their creations heard far and wide and their recordings produced with quality.

Unfortunately they would have been seen by any prospective record label as ‘just’ one of thousands to choose from and at this point needed to be an instant saleable asset in the eyes of businessmen, rather than seeing potential for growth. And so, 40 years later it’s not about ‘selling’ the band but more about people discovering a little gem in the single and meditating on a moment in time. It may lack the production expected by a more digitally demanding ear of 2026 but what it lacks in this it makes up for in sincerity, heartfelt honesty and it’s own character. There may be millions of fantastic musicians out there but only a percentage who can convince you that they mean it. Not looking for adulation or narcissistic demands but only to create a piece of art and present it as itself. This is how it felt to be in a band in the 80s for some of us.

Can you please tell me abit about your upbringing?

My upbringing is one of very working class, father an electrician for the National Coal Board, my mother Factory worker then cleaner. As kids our playground included empty buildings ready to be demolished. Streets of housing where one by one friends would leave these terraces to live in the newly built council estates as part of the modernization of north east towns who’s industry was being closed down. We would also play in these work sites as they were being built. Forget about health and safety, we would be swinging on scaffolding and putting our footprints or writing our names into the newly laid concrete. Even though the Moors Murders had happened relatively recently there didn’t seem to be any fear or anxiety and so we didn’t think twice to take a ride in the construction worker’s lorry as he transported old soil from where there was to be the new bypass. Another time my sister and myself avoided being abducted by a guy in a Land Rover but afterwards still didn’t feel any fear or anxiety. We just carried on rummaging through old houses, working men’s clubs, cinemas, pubs, shops and what seemed to be endless burst water pipes. We never had time to be bored yet had little in the way of toys or possessions. A football or a bike with brakes were luxury items. Educated at a Roman Catholic School this is where I learned about authority and the contradictions of religion. We were kids and forced to go to confession, where you had to confess to being guilty of something even when you hadn’t done anything wrong. You couldn’t go in and say you’d actually being good. You had to lie to be forgiven!

What was the first music you can remember hearing?

First memory of hearing music is vivid and has me sitting on the stairs aged around 6 with my older brother’s black dansette mono record box. A handful of singles included a couple of Beatles, ‘Please Please Me’ ‘She Loves You’…..The Supremes, The Happening, Dave Berry, ‘Mama’, as well as a 78rpm of a thunderstorm sound effect. From here I loved watching Top of the Pops on a thursday and took an interest in the music around me and which still play a soundtrack of that time for me. I can literally relive a moment through a particular piece of music, be it ‘Stardust’ Matthew Southern Comfort reminding me of  hippy youths at the time sitting on a  street corner near my house on a glorious summer’s day, drinking cider. Or T Rex ‘Get it On’ reminding me of my older cousin and her glamorous friends dancing to it one New Year’s house party in their platform shoes and wide collars, even wider trousers. I also became mesmerized by the musical instruments I’d see in a local shop. Those Vox valve Amps, Ludwig drums, Gibson guitars. All in my memory through warm tones of a red orange.

What was the more serious music you can remembering hearing?

As I said I was listening to the chart hits, be it the glam of the Sweet, Bowie etc or the soul of Motown, even new electronic sounds coming through like Tomita ‘Snowflakes are Dancing’  but in early 1977 I heard the Sex Pistols and even though it’s a bit of a cliché, everything changed. It was through this and a mutual friend that I first met Andy who would be my collaborator in The 15th.

It was like opening up a Pandora’s box of fresh new music which was delivering by the week. This led to listening to the legendary John Peel every weekday evening religiously 10 till midnight, tape recorder at hand to record any signs of New Wave, although it’s here where I became fond of Reggae too. As well as Peel and often overlooked over on Radio Luxembourg on a Sunday evening I’d listen to ‘Street Heat’ hosted by Stuart Henry. I can’t emphasise enough how exciting these times were, how fast everything was coming at you and how fresh it was. Some still try to claim that punk was one dimensional but apart from the contrived bandwagon jumpers no two bands sounded the same and were only called ‘punk’ because as we now know eveything has to have a label on it to sell. I quickly moved on from the Pistols, although still liking The Clash, we had everything from Wire, The Adverts(TV Smith and overlooked lyricist), Television, Desperate Bicycles, Swell Maps, Suicide, Metal Urbain. Throbbing Gristle. Myself and Andy became immersed and knew so much more than your average punk who would want only the likes of The Damned, Generation X, etc etc. By 1978 things only became more interesting and lead on to……..

What about forming a band?

The first time being in a band even entered our heads was hearing The Prats on John Peel. These were kids like us and sounding awful but great at the same time. Punk had given the green light for many to form a band but it still didn’t feel possible for the likes of us , but on hearing The Prats it really felt that being musically challenged didn’t matter. Punk was now ‘really’ about attitude.

And so this would have been late 78 or early 79, myself and Andy managed to get guitars. The cheapest from our mothers’ catalogue and where you were able to pay in instalments. Another friend bought the cheapest Bass in the same way and we started rehearsing in Andy’s bedroom. My father had no idea and bought me a home made amp which was lucky to push out 10 watts before dying. The bass player had a 15 watt practice amp and Andy played through his recently acquired stereo record player. This had the most amazing sound quality and dwarfed our amps in comparison. Andy took to the guitar like a duck to water and although just bar chords at first he got some good punky tunes going. I didn’t have the fingers for guitar so quickly put it down and started drumming using boxes. The Bass player struggled too and so stripped it to one string to make it easier and from there we managed to put together a few tunes and invited other kids in to watch us perform. We would do this in various people’s houses, always ending in a cacophony of noise but having great fun and feeling like we were finally in a band.

Although Andy really was coming along naturally with his guitar he would only ever want to play to friends or impress the girls and so didn’t want to take it any further. The Bass player was never going to be a musician and so he gave up on that and preferred to look and play the part of punk rocker whereas I really got the bug and had already started writing lyrics which tended to play around boredom and teenage angts.

What about singing?

Singing didn’t seem plausible to me and so I managed to buy a really modest, old drum kit from a kid who had played in a school band. I definitely had rhythm and so was able to hold my own on drums which led me to join other friends’ band which played punk by numbers but a great vehicle to express myself. We would play at local youth clubs, organise ourselves, build our own stage and get a decent crowd  which was always fun but eventually I realised it was my time to shout out the lyrics I had been putting on paper for the last year or so.

It was here where I went on to form my band Task Force which has a story to itself. This being chronicled briefly in Ian Glasper’s book ‘A country fit for heroes’ which gave recognition to hundreds of unsigned punk bands from the 80s and on reading revealed how similar a lot of the stories were even though the bands lived at different ends of the country.

It was here where I got my first experiences of recording in a studio and finding myself on record with a track on a local E.P.

Years later we would release more on an Italian Label and even today looking likely that another, a mini LP will be released

How long did the band last for?

The band existed for 2 years playing in a very volatile scene, the anger of the songs spilling over into the audience and where frustration of the particular socio political climate at the time left a lot of spilt blood and damaged souls who needed an outlet for their anger, which punk rock provided for a few years.

Amongst this backdrop my lyrics were a mix of frustration and anger, slightly nihilistic at times, sold by an anarchic philosophy, but in contrast lyrics for The 15th became much more thoughtful. Existential but hopeful, even through a melancholic sound.

Did you enjoy songwriting?

In song writing I found a way of expressing myself in ways I wouldn’t in conversation. People around me wouldn’t have wanted or being able to discuss such topics. Introspection is feared by most and avoided yet through songs I think people relate safely. I hope people can relate to the songs on the single. Inside Out is commentary on banality and how we walk blindly into a circle line where days become weeks, weeks become years and we’re no further forward in our understanding of ourselves, distracted by a life designed to keep you hollow, fit only to serve the wheel of capital. They despise thinkers and I think why this song will remain relevant through time, but I want the listener to gather hope in themselves rather than slip into a helpless futility. I have watched mental illness increase over recent years and I think the music scene or at least those behind it take advantage of existentialism in young people and pull them into an abyss, sold as ‘belonging’ to a ‘type’ and so you should buy into the whole image, which can be damaging, even fatal. Ever since Ian Curtis I think we have a perverse idea of authenticity in art such as the only great ones are the suffering and better still, dead. I want people to gather strength through music like I did, not sink. I’ve listened to so-called miserable music most of my life and the truly great ones have only ever carried me through with resilience.

With Rumours of Rain I listen to it now and wonder how a twenty something could be prophetic. I mean it suits my age now as it is reflective and warning of the broken promises and high hopes that life offers. Again its of a fighting spirit, the final words “solitude only brings remorse (and a view from a window),,,,I’m back!

How did The 15^th form?

When Task Force finally dissolved in 1984 myself and Bass player David Emberson carried on rehearsing with various musicians trying to move on the sound as we had begun to at the tail end of the band’s existence. Somehow, I can’t remember how but we persuaded Andy to start rehearsing with us. He had really come on in his playing style and with David being a developed Bass player too we could start to look at some interesting tunes which were at this point being influenced by that jangly sound in what we would still call post punk. It’s worth noting that Andy had issues relating to anxiety and why he would include this in his name late.

Between 1980 and 82 he rarely left the house, suffering from this fear of being attacked in a time where its was possible, even likely if you had a particular style. It was very tribal and grown men would be known to attack you for looking different. This affected Andy a lot but it also helped him improve his guitar skills and listen to a much more varied collection of music which would include those 60s Psychedelic bands from the West Coast of America and the Syd Barrett era of Pink Floyd. Together with David who’s influences  were even more varied to include Cat Stevens, The Raincoats, Scott Walker, The Monkees and Gabriel’s Genesis. For me I was listening to The Chameleons, The Church, Pale Fountains as well as punk/funk and industrial…..and reggae. Regardless of our listening preferences we just put down what we were able but definitely a melancholic sound we carried right through. The reason I can give is as I have said about my deep thinking and reading of philosophy at this time and I could only deal with what I was thinking, how I seen the world and my place in it. As with bands in general I don’t think the others knew what I was singing about, there was no conversation. Away from the band we lived relatively separate lives, although friends.

Did the band rehearse a lot when you initially formed?

We rehearsed without a drummer for some considerable time, recording in the vein of Swell Maps and their home recordings, churning out half baked pieces but amongst them some gems which are sitting around somewhere on cassette I’m sure. I’m not sure about the chronological order of the drummers we used but just before that we used a really primitive drum machine which just didn’t suit our songs and so were forced to try and convince any of the few we knew to come on board. As soon as they did the sound took shape and we started gigging tended to end up sounding like a punk gig. We were still young and immature and so alcohol would be consumed and hinder playing abilities. We really wanted to write great tunes but playing live we couldn’t take ourselves seriously. Despite the sound being melancholic we wanted to have fun. We were a paradox in that way.

Did the band have original songs from the start or did you play covers?

As for covers I can only remember having Wire’s ‘Outdoor Miner’ and The Velvets ‘Sunday Morning’ in our set. All other songs would be our own compositions. Either they were too challenging or we respected songs too much to destroy them, I’m not sure.

With various drummers we played occasional gigs but as for a following, again in this area a band would usually be followed by friends and a few people who would come out of curiosity or hearsay.  It really was a difficult area to blossom as a band and even the studios were just a handful, only Guardian, who put out Toy Dolls records, punk band Red Alert plus a handful of forgotten and Kitchenware who only had 3 bands on their roster including The Kane Gang and Hurrah! And were clearly looking for chart hits.

Did the band tour much in the years you were together?

We didn’t find any opportunities for support slots either so as I said in the very beginning we were of the many thousands of bands only known to a handful and usually written out of the story, which I personally find wrong because I feel each has merit in the fact they “got off their arse” as a Mr Rotten screamed in 1976.

It’s worth noting that at this time in this area even rehearsal space was hard to come by and cost money per hour which we could hardly afford. We would find ourselves in pub basements, club back rooms during the week and finally an official space run by an organization following the closure of the local steel works but which was run by tired old blues folk who challenged you to phone up at a certain time to book a suitable slot. Many times we were denied and so we were struggling to put the time in. Also with regards to recording in the studio, it was done through the same people who never understood us or our sound and showed contempt for us favoring their friends for studio time. Recording was by the hour and so depended on what we could afford and when in there setting up time was costly, they would be reluctant to listen to your ideas and as a vocalist I would have to sit around all day to put tracks down and usually had to accept the first take with possible overdubs but no chance to correct mistakes or give effect to the vocals to enhance it.

There’s a single that you’ve recently released, but in the the years 1986-1988 did you have any material that you wrote, recorded and played live?

On recording those 2 tracks for the single, the drummer was nowhere to be found after weeks of rehearsing for it and so on the day there was a guy called Dave hanging around who said he could play the drums and who agreed to get his drums there quickly and put his tracks down after just listening to a couple of run throughs. It’s why you hear such a flat drum sound as he kept it simple, just being in time.

Even though we weren’t happy with the recording, through the Prince’s Trust I had procured a grant to press 300 singles and so we decided to go ahead. When they arrived they were blank and so we mostly used it as a demo, sending it off to record companies in the hope that they would take an interest and help us re record it professionally. We gave some to friends and managed to sell some but were left with around 200 when we felt flat enough to put the boxes away in storage where they sat for 37 years. One memorable moment was John Peel playing it. Only the once mind you but that was like getting a number one hit. Later in time my wife seen them as clutter and constantly nagged to throw them in the bin. Even if disappointing they still held a value for me and so I never gave in. How relieved I am that I stuck to it., what with the current interest. It could have been so different. It’s only through Dan, Andy’s son that they are now being heard and bought by a new audience, a willing audience who appreciate the past and see it’s value. It has helped me listen again and I can feel something in it again and to hear that it’s being ‘liked’ is humbling and satisfying that it has worth. And so this isn’t a rerelease it’s actually the original records which would be great for us to see in others people’s collections and valued, enjoyed. If the interest remains it would be great if one of these Labels who specialize in rereleasing old records would take an interest and put it out. I think Dan has unearthed a new audience and I think it would be worth reaching out to as many as possible. Even though we’re older the record remains as it was and again I’ll reiterate that its genuine and sincere. It should speak to whoever and whatever age.

Did the band have plans at that time to record more material?

The band didn’t give up straight away. We recorded ‘Happy to be Happy’ and ‘So Unreal’, at a short lived studio in Gateshead, although it took us 2 attempts. The first time we arrived it was shut due to unforeseen circumstances and when we finally recorded we rushed it due to by the hour payment  as usual and found it less than what we had hoped for. Although a demo should always show potential and not  necessarily perfection, in retrospection these tracks show at least potential.

What happened between 1989-1990, did the band naturally come to an end?

At some point The 15th became just David, Andy and myself again after including various members on drums, guitar and another Dave on keyboards. Here we brought in second guitarist Wayne who was a relative of David’s and younger  to bring in some fresh ideas. Wayne was more of a rock guitarist and influenced us to take on a Bob Mould’s Sugar song, a Porno for Pyros song and even a Camel song. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back and Andy departed not interested in this new sound. I did agree but encouraged David and Wayne to work with me on some electronic tracks which included ‘When the Bough Breaks’ and ‘Theme 90’ which I still think would have made a good single. This wouldn’t see us playing live and so once again we recruited another drummer and guitarist, friend’s of Wayne who brought what was now veering toward the grunge sound of the time. I found myself out of sync with their sound. I tried to be aggressive again in my approach but I had moved on so much from my punk days and although we gigged and recorded this was the end for me. To be honest the others had taken over the band which was now called Black Honey and their attitude was so removed from mine and why I personally see grunge as the beginning of the end.  It felt so heavy, weighed down in sludge. It didn’d speak to me like music had spoken since I was a child.

By this time I had settled down with a partner and child and I preferred soundtracks like Kinobe, Millenia Nova, Fila Brazilia and the chilled sounds of Trip Hop as well as David Holmes,DJ Shadow, UNKLE and the Ninja Tune crowd.

Have you and of the other band members kept up doing music?

Around 2000 I felt like retracing my past through Radio and managed to present my own show for nearly 20 years Another Music in a Different Kitchen which played very much in the theme of John Peel, bringing punk,postpunk,punk/funk/industrial,goth,electronic,reggae,dub. During this time I managed to reach a worldwide audience and began interviewing bands, mostly local and giving them a chance to tell their story in human terms. It was very revealing and I realised that every band who ever existed through this punk and post punk scene deserved to be heard. I was tired of magazines and documentaries perpetuating myths around the usual suspects, bloating their importance and pushing these other bands further and further into insignificance.

It was also here that I managed to find myself back in a band after so many years. I was invited by Gary Chaplin who was the founding member of Penetration in 1977 but who had left a year later to release records under Soul on Ice and then go off to university. Through my show and interviewing him I managed to reignite his enthusiasm and liking experimental videos I was making he asked me to join Quarterlight and bring the visuals and electronic sounds. During this time we supported the likes of The Pop Group, Band of Holy Joy, The Nightingales, Theatre of Hate and receiving a good reception, someone once describing us like This Heat, which was a compliment for me but Gary being a guitarist first and foremost  needed to be seen as such and became less interested in the experimental side and so I decided to leave leaving him to turn the band back into a guitar based outfit.

Through the 90s or early 2000’s Andy did record and play live again with a 1977 style punk band along with Wayne called Barse who recorded a few CD’S and records for a Finnish label. Andy’s anxiety stayed with him always and to get through a gig he would have to down a bottle of vodka and along with drug use he became worse to the point of leaving the band and having a couple of kids including Dan, but everything has taken it’s toll and he once again rarely leaves the house, coping with prescription medication. He has contributed guitar to some of Dan’s work with his outfit Zenxith but otherwise rarely picks up his guitar . As for David he basically left town with his family around 30 years ago only to be seen briefly at Simon’s funeral around 20 years ago.Simon was the second guitarist on the single and was our Ton Verlaine lookalike. One of the drummers, yet another David, this time Wiggy, his nickname, died only last year after years of drink issues brought on by the death of his partner. Wiggy had drummed on the tracks ‘So Unreal’ and ‘Happy to be Happy’.

Will the band reform?

And so for the band getting back together its nearly impossible and to be honest I’m not a fan of bands trying to recreate something they had in their 20s. The songs remain and should be listened to forever but should a band of old codgers really try to bring it back to life? I think not.

I would never say never in recording. If we could find him and bring David back who knows.

Finally, whats on your turntable at present?

On my turntable at the moment is the Tuxedomoon LP Desire from 1981. The basslines are sublime.

 

The 15th can be found on Bandcamp and Instagram