Westwon

Westwon were a dance / rock fusion band formed in 1987 and reasonably well known for supporting Gary Numan on the 1987 Exhibition Tour.

Marc Heal took over as vocalist following the departure of original frontman Bill Colbourne after the recording of a full length self-titled CD that was released by Canadian label Brouhaha in 1988.

The line up in early 1990 was Marc Heal (22) on vocals, Si Rapley (25) guitar, Graham Rayner (22) keyboards, and Mick Caddick (25) on drums.

In June 1990 Westwon signed to UK metal label Music for Nations on the FAA imprint, releasing two singles: "National Radio" (1991) and "Control" (1992). The dance remixes of "Control" were actually fair sized club hits and scraped into the lower reaches of the national chart.

By the time of the single releases, the band became a two-piece with only Heal and Rapley remaining. A second full length album was recorded but never released.

Westwon disbanded in 1992 and Heal went on to form Cubanate with Graham Rayner.

UK Demo Chart Interview - 1990

Demo Chart magazine was a short lived title that promoted unsigned UK acts. Heal's interview appeared in the May 1990 edition when Westwon reached number one in the magazine's chart.

Marc Heal:

In May 1987 I formed the band with a slightly different line-up. After a few rehearsals, we went and did a rough demo. We weren't gigging and didn't really have much of an idea how to go about it, but being in the belief that you don't know until you try, I started calling concert promoters to try to blag a support slot. I had no luck because they all wanted massive buy-ons, just to have the privilege of playing, and if you think 50 pounds to play some pit in London is a rip-off, try this offer - 2000 pounds to support A-Ha.. and that's before hotels, travel etc.

Eventually I spoke to Tony Webb, Gary Numan's father and manager, who asked me to send a tape in. I did, they liked it, and they offered us the support on the 1987 Exhibition Tour, FOR FREE. People may slag Numan off, but who else puts their money where their mouth is when it comes to helping new bands?

We toured the UK in September, including dates at Manchester Apollo and Hammersmith Odeon, and went down very well indeed. Gary was very supportive and produced another demo with us after the tour. We picked up a good following and played some packed London gigs in early 1988. Things started to roll - managers and record companies started to call us to arrange showcases. At this stage we were approached by an Indie label. They were a French Canadian label who were unknown in this country, but had lots of money, and Colin Thurston as an in-house producer. Colin had produced, amongst others, Duran Duran, Human League, Gary Numan, Kajagoogoo and David Bowie, so you can imagine we were very keen to work with him. Most importantly, they put a deal on the table which offered albums, money, videos and so on.

Actually we had severe doubts about the deal, and so did our lawyers; the points were outrageously low and the legal framework was extremely restrictive. But the fact was - how many bands do you know with record company interest? This was a deal, it was fact and they would fly us to Montreal to record the album.

We flew out to Canada in June 1988; the deal had still not actually been signed because there were a few clauses that were so out of court that not even the thrill of the moment could persuade us to accept.

The album, for various reasons, turned out to be a nightmare - chopping and changing studios, engineers who only spoke French, and the band all split up and demoralised. We were abroad, dependent solely on the record company, with no management support at all, and none of us with enough French to understand what was happening anyway!

At this point, halfway through the album, they demanded that we sign the deal as it stood, with all the unresolved clauses. We'd given up our jobs, and the only money we had was what the company had given us. They even had our tickets home. I was bitter but I couldn't see what else we could do but sign the deal. Anyway, I figured nothing too bad could happen, so one night we got pissed and signed...

When we got back to the UK to mix the album, we had a few surprises. We found that a lot of the tracks had been partially re-recorded with dodgy French session musicians. Our protests at this and other incompetent production decisions were met with indifference. Then things really started to fall apart.

A short European tour was promised, but was cancelled at the last moment. Advance cheques bounced (but cleared just before they were in breach of contract). Release dates were put back and back and back. Videos were put on storyboard then cancelled 24 hours before the shoot. You could never find out what was happening - no-one was in at the record company, meetings would be arranged and then they wouldn't turn up.

By January I knew things were badly wrong, but there was no legal way out, or none that we could work out, so I decided that we needed a manager. As it happened, we had been approached by a good medium to heavyweight manager at the time, so I arranged a meeting between him and the record company. Imagine my surprise when he informed me that the company had told him that Westwon were not a good management prospect because of my chronic speed habit, which was news to me! In retrospect, it was obvious why they didn't want the guy around.

The only way out, it seemed, was if they failed to fulfill their recording commitments which basically required them to record another album by November, which was pretty ironic considering the first hadn't been released! After we announced our intention to record they started squirming, because of course, they didn't have the money to go ahead.

The final deadline was January 9th 1990, and on failure to fulfill their commitment, we were finally free.

When I sing "I used to trust the BBC and CBS and the NME, but now I know it's all gone wrong"... you'd better believe I mean it!

The Canadian label that Heal refers to, Brouhaha, called the interview "both fascinating and one-eyed". The Head of A&R for the label at the time recently claimed "the facts are that the label spent in excess of £70,000 recording and mixing, but Westwon refused to promote the first, eponymous album by insisting on a complete remix which would have cost an additional £25,000. Brouhaha, quite rightly, refused to do so, and this was the reason for the fallout. No management dispute, simply a change of the goalposts once the game has started, given that the band were involved in the creative process from day one. I believe the original album is an unreleased classic, and the label still retains ownership of the master tapes".

ong Lineup - 1990

*National Radio
*Control
*Sleeping Beauty
*All Tomorrow's Parties
*Halloween
*Love you to death

Track listing - Westwon Canadian CD - 1988 (Brouhaha CDCUE10)

1. Arena
2. Julia
3. Violence
4. Berlin
5. Decadence (1)
6. Dead Model
7. North American Girl
8. Blue
9. England
10. Cover Girl
11. Love You To Death
12. Decadence (2)
13. Julia (Ext'd)
14. Arena (Ext'd)

ee also

*Cubanate
*Ashtrayhead
*C-Tec
*Pigface