© Fotos & Words by Steve Drury

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• In 1983 John Walters was back as producer and it was JW that went to the gigs, to find the new bands for the show. I had tried several times to get him to any of our London dates; the Clarendon, the Embassy even the Greyhound, but without success (date clashes?)
• I knew Peel already liked our music and he’d recognised something wonderful within it (from our chats), but it seems that Peel’s taste for seeking out the unusual in non-specific music areas, had played against PD. Later 1984 would be remembered as Peel’s fascination for non-electric cowpunk music.
• As the second single came out, it coincided with not only Peel’s show being reduced to 3 evenings a week (so, less sessions) but also Richard Skinner left his Radio One early evening show for daytime diatribe (that was a lot of wasted effort on my part, trying to secure a session).

Only a matter of time. The momentum was gaining; More noticeable gig dates for the band were on the horizon (including London), a feature or two in the weeklies were in the offing, agents were ringing back. So things were going well . . . but events moved on; I left in Sept ‘84 and Martin became unwell and eventually left the band a few months later. The band needed to re-organise.-

Funnily enough, here’s a familiar story from years earlier, Peel was the first to play the Def Leppard EP nationally (1979) which began the stampede to their recognition, but they didn't fit the 'Session' criteria, and therefore probably didn't need one. I knew Joe at the time, and had he been asked to do a Peel Session, he would have sold all the band's mothers without hesitation to do it. Peel was that vital to numerous generations and genres. Long Live Peel. Forever missed.

Peel Radio Shows - Wow, more recently I’ve managed to unearth even more material from the web and friends. Now were up to four of Peel’s Radio 1 show playlists; the first one featured ‘Rabbit Pie’ on 6 March 84 (the only track to interest him from the ‘Giraffe in Flames’ comp LP) and so far, I now have lists for ‘The Spider’. The test copy was played 3 April 84, and the actual single on 15 May 84, 18 May 84 and 2 July 84.

Many thanks to Kris W and The Perfumed Garden. I’m still searching for more! Where are the listings for ‘Row The Boat Ashore’ (…19 July 83?) and ‘Athena’?

John Peel

That elusive Radio One Session for John Peel was the recognition that bands desired, and then sometimes collapsed like a black hole afterwards. This seal of approval from The Master was essential, not only did it give you credibility, it also served as a trampoline to greater things (if you were lucky).

So what happened? Why no session? Even though Peel was enthusiastic about the band and even played the test pressing of ‘The Spider’ single on his

Show a week before its release, we just didn’t get that final . . . ‘nod’. With hindsight it's still guess work worthy of Sherlock, but I believe it was a combination of several factors;

‘Good Night and Good Riddance: How Thirty-Five Years of John Peel Helped to Reshape Modern Life’ (Publications Page), PD gets a name check.

"But I see someone much more charming"