The Stance

HistoryIn late 1989 John Vincent met up with Matt Holmes, singer in an indie-pop outfit called The Moving Jelly Brothers. MJB had been fairly successful but were coming to the end of their useful life. Matt Holmes has established himself as something of a producer and had worked with such diverse acts Candy-Flip and White Town – both of whom would go on to have number one hits in the British singles charts. Holmes’ most recent project had been a collaboration with former drummer Steve Hardy as ‘Aliens Smith & Jones’. The duo had produced a dance version of the theme from the TV series ‘The Invaders’ and had established a good creative partnership.

Vincent was keen to learn the basics of production and co-opted Holmes to ‘show him the ropes’ and, as Hardy had been doing some studio engineering at Holmes’ studio, he sat in on the sessions.

The resulting material that emerged from these sessions was so exciting that Vincent asked if he could write some lyrics to accompany the track and to record them. Holmes and Hardy contributed more lyrics and added some backing vocals. The result was Headstrong, the first Stance song. Another two songs, Money & Love and The Quiet Earth followed quickly and, aware that the songs needed something else, the trio invited Nick Gascoigne to lay some guitar tracks down. Gascoigne had no previous performing or recording experience but was known to Vincent, Holmes and Hardy through various friends, all of who had sung his praises as a guitarist.

At this stage there was no intention of incorporating Holmes, Hardy and Gascoigne into the Stance format, but an opportunity arose for the Vincent to perform the material live and, not liking the isolation of the solo performer, asked the others to form a scratch band to back him on the night.

Holmes took on live keyboard duties and joint lead vocals and Gascoigne remained on guitar. As there was no call for a drummer (all the songs having sequenced drums) Hardy was given the relatively unfamiliar position of bass guitarist. The position was largely superfluous as the bass lines too were sequenced but Hardy was able to add a few subtleties as well as adding back vocals.

The gig was a success and the band gelled into a proper working outfit. Holmes abandoned the now defunct Moving Jelly Brothers and became the Stance co-front man with Vincent. Hardy took over Holmes’ keyboard duties for live performances dropping the bass guitar except for on the band’s version of FR David’s ‘Words’.

The band soon came to the attention of local entrepreneur Sean DeVine who had been responsible for getting local funk-rockers The Beyond signed to EMI Records. DeVine offered to take over management of The Stance.

The band settled into an extremely prolific period of writing and recording and within a few months had produced a considerable body of work. In early 1991 they travelled to London to demo material for Rondor Music – formally part of A&M Records – at their Parson’s Green facility (scene of the notorious Sex Pistols signing party in 1977)

The two songs laid down at Rondor, She Said Goodbye and Thorn In My Side would be the last the band recorded together. On the verge of signing a major record deal, Matt Holmes was persuaded to leave the band to pursue a solo career. Holmes’ decision was prompted by DeVine and The Stance’s A&R at Rondor, Michael Stack, both of whom disliked Vincent’s material and its Avant-Garde overtones. The band played one last gig without Vincent and split acrimoniously mid 1991.

Matt Holmes continued to pursue a solo career but gradually the emphasis shifted to him writing material for other artists. After a year with Rondor his contract expired and he left the music industry eventually becoming a turf accountant before settling as an IT consultant in the NHS.

Nick Gascoigne suffered an extended bout of ill health but on his recovery continued to make music in a minor capacity, recording and gigging with his own band. He has subsequently become an accountant.

Steve Hardy left music altogether for several years, went to university, had his own health problems and began pursuing a career as a freelance writer.

John Vincent went on to form the similar-sounding Score, which recorded several demos but never gigged. Ironically Matt Holmes, who had by that time buried the hatchet with Vincent, produced the Score’s demos.

In the mid-nineties the Stance briefly reformed to record a song called Happy Jesus although the reunion was brief and not intended as a permanent move.

In 1999 interest was again rekindled in The Stance by the website nearlymadeit.com – a tongue in cheek website that looked at the careers of bands that imploded on the cusp of cracking the ‘big time’. The website asked for an interview with the members and also asked if there was any material that could be included for download. Deciding that most of the original material sounded too date, Holmes began remixing some of it, which then led to plans to re-record some tracks with the original line-up. As a direct result of these re-recording sessions Vincent and Holmes began writing new material and plans were laid for a new Stance album.

Nick Gascoigne declined the invitation to participate in a full-on Stance reunion instead confining his contribution to a few recorded tracks. Mark Fox, a friend of Hardy’s from university was invited to join the band as guitarist and the new line-up completed the recording of the album and made plans to perform live.

The resultant album, Energizer, met with critical success and sold well on the foreign markets, reaching number one in some Dutch charts. It was also widely played on college radio in the US with the opening track ‘I Am Legend’, receiving particularly heavy radio play. A remixed version of the album was also made available but was only produced in small quantities. Likewise, an album of the material recorded in the early 1990’s was released under the title of ‘Temporal Feedback’.

In 2002, following the promotion of Energizer Matt Holmes decided to leave The Stance – something he had always intended to do as he no longer felt inclined to be part of a working band. He has since begun pursuing a career in local politics.

The remaining members of The Stance have continued as a three piece and are currently writing and recording material for their third album, which has the working title of ‘Radical Departure’. This album will largely see the technology that earmarked the first two albums eschewed in favour of a more conventional set-up of guitar, drums and bass and will see a return to more avant garde themes. Producer Bill Bentley will produce the album as well as taking on the mantle of ‘associate member’ handling some writing, vocals and keyboards.

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