Wooden Baby

Wooden Baby is a 1980s band that featured members of British psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles.

History

Wooden Baby is a little-known 1980s band which featured, among other members, Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton of Ozric Tentacles and Eat Static fame. Little is known about the early days of the band, but it apparently evolved from a prior project in which Pepler had played called The Funeral Party.

Initially, Wooden Baby was a fairly conventional band influenced by the Goth and Punk sounds of the era. However in 1987 it changed direction somewhat as Pepler joined Ozric Tentacles and met Joie Hinton, who like Pepler was fascinated by the emerging acid house and techno genres. Hinton was soon part of Wooden Baby and they began recording material along with a third main member named Charlie Daniel and a bassist (known only as Nick).

Over the course of 1988, Wooden Baby recorded and released three independent cassette-only albums. Guest musicians on some tracks included Ozric guitarist Ed Wynne and Steve Everett, who at the time was playing keyboards and synths at Ozric live shows. Wooden Baby also played live a number of times, particularly at the infamous Club Dog events held at the Sir George Robey pub in Finsbury Park, London. Unfortunately, the lack of a proper record deal meant they could only ever reach a limited audience, centered around the free festival and Club Dog scenes of which Ozric Tentacles were a part.

In 1990 with the acid house and rave scene growing all the time, Pepler, Hinton and Everett stopped working on Wooden Baby material and chose to focus on the dance music elements they had been exploring. With this new direction they chose a new name, The Pants, but quickly found this caused problems as some promoters refused to put it on flyers, believing it to be a joke!

Perhaps sensibly, they decided on another name change, and settled on Eat Static.

Musicology

Despite Pepler's experience as a drummer, Wooden Baby employed a drum machine which gave their sound the feel of electronic music rather than that of a conventional band set-up. Many of the tracks featured vocals, from either Pepler's goth-tinged singing or the at-times-crazed wailing and shouting of Daniel. The lyrical themes were often dark and ominous, lending an extra "edge" to what was already very darkly psychedelic music.

In its later guise, Wooden Baby fused elements of goth, punk, techno, acid house, ambient, industrial and space rock. For example, "Exorcism of Anu" could easily be a The Sisters of Mercy track; "Impossible Maze" has fast-paced, punk-esque vocals; Hawkwind's style is heard on tracks like "The Birds" and "Execution", while "Bath Scum" brings to mind "Theme from S-Express", and is an early example of the dance music themes that Eat Static would explore in the 1990s.

Discography

Albums

*Forbidden Pastures (1988)
*Stuck in the Mind Cage (1988)
*Embalment (1988)

Known "bootleg" recordings

*Live at Deptford Crypt (1989)