Music for biscuits

.cent, Issue 8

In the autumn of 1966 television sets across the country were showing ads for Tuc biscuits and Toast Toppers with soundtracks by The Mike Sammes Singers.
Forward to 2006 and Paddy Whitacker, Jonny Trunk and Martin Green have assembled in their north London studio to discuss where television ads, folk music and whimsy meet.

Paddy: This is interesting, as for me nostalgia is whimsy, its not necessarily truthful, its that looking back through rose coloured spectacles which you do in childhood.

Jonny: Our work is crafted from our own journeys; it is our nostalgia. Fuzzy Felt Folk is our most recent cd and that came about because Martin was playing a record at…

Martin: Well you were playing a record…

Jonny: … At your house. Martin came up with the phrase fuzzy felt folk when we were listening to it, which we then chose as the title for our cd because fuzzy felt is a nostalgic toy. Over the course of two years we compiled all the nostalgic, whimsy, childish oddities that we could, licensed the name and put out the compilation. There is music from the television series Vision On and from old French cartoons and animation for children. It is so odd and there is a dark side to it, which makes it so whimsy.

Paddy: I love Fuzzy Felt Folk because we have always been interested in this nostalgic music, which somehow originally got pushed to one side, in as much as we liked it but it was hard to find a framework for it. So, when Martin came up with the fuzzy felt thing it created a lovely framework for the music. The vibe of the music is something that goes right back through to the Mamas and Papas, the Carpenters and the hippy west coast sound. It probably dates back to before then actually…

Martin: It dates back to the Beach Boys really. It is interesting as whilst folk is all so innocent it can be filthy as well.

Jonny: It is filthy. The traditional Folk songs are all about sex and killing; death and war.

Paddy: When do these folk songs date back to?

Jonny: From the 18th century. They were compiled in the 20th century by the Soul Society’s Cecil Sharp, then people such as Tony Arthur, she was a presenter on Playschool, made traditional albums.

Paddy: Did she?

Jonny: … Which are evil about witches and death. Folk music started out as black, dark and filthy, just like fairytales and, as Grimms and Disney stripped the darkness away from fairytales, so Folk music became lighter too. There is that rhyme about the old woman that lived in a shoe which is all about a whore isn’t it; her shoe being her private parts.

Paddy: That is so whimsy! It is so dark! There is Peau d’Ane too which is a French historical fairy story dating back centuries, the moral of which is it is not good for girls to sleep with their fathers. It is about a princess and a king in this case. It’s fabulous French folklore. The music is by Michel Legrand, the fabulous French composer who did Windmills of your Mind. It is very whimsy and beautiful music, superficially it is one thing, but the subtext is this twisted idea of sleeping with your Dad. It is incredible that from something that was so deeply disturbing came sunny and innocent music, like sunshine Pop and The Free Design.

Martin: The Californian sound of sunshine Pop is definitely at the commercial end, the soft end, of the hippy scene. The Free Design were an American band; two brothers and two sisters. They were the most cult out of the sunshine Pop groups and the most prolific – you can hear their influences on a lot of 90s music such as St Etienne and Stereolab.

Paddy: Their music is so whimsy!

Martin: It is definitely whimsy and was very influential on 90s music. The 90s were a very reflective period where we were constantly looking back over the 20th century and pulling out the bits that we found exciting. One of the areas we were passionate about was film music, television music…

Jonny: And children’s television music…

Martin: And that’s where we draw a lot of our creativity from. Mixing soundtracks together like the melody of the television series Record Breakers with Play Away.

Paddy: Which you then played at the club, Smashin…

Martin: … Of course. Smashin was like a party in your bedroom and we would just find different records and put them all on. It was very chaotic…

Paddy: But an exciting time…

Martin: It was 1990 when Smashin started, which was a purist time – it was very inspiring when it pulled in a handful of very like-minded people. At that time everyone had forgotten about Folk music…

Paddy: … Well yes, in fact I think from 1968 to 1978 there was a much greater awareness of folklorish things than we have now. That part of the early 70s was Laura Ashley, Victoriana and the worldwide recession and everyone was going back to basics.

Jonny: It has come back recently though. It has gone full circle. Folk is back now and it is definitely whimsy. Vashti Bunyon is the most wistful musician who made one record and is now a folk superstar. She sings with a tiny whispering voice about her travelling to the Hebridies and riding a horse. Her track is now a T-Mobile ad.

Paddy: Oh, which one is that…?

Jonny: The tum te ta te ta (Jonny hums the tune)

Paddy and Martin: Oh yeah that’s her! (Paddy claps)

Paddy: See how whimsy is that! and that’s right at the front of your consciousness now. If you call up and try to top up your bloody mobile all you get is that. The flip side is that there is a need for something that has been lovingly crafted…

Jonny: Our work is always lovingly crafted. The idea behind Fuzzy Felt Folk and Music for Biscuits is emotive. Music for Biscuits came about from Mike Sammes, who was the British man who formed the Mike Sammes singers.

Paddy: We are big fans.

Jonny: They backed Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, The Two Ronnies, you name it, any vocal harmonies on television shows…

Martin: … And Pop

Jonny: … From the 60s and 70s was created by them.

Martin: They even did the Beatles albums…

Jonny: Mike Sammes died three years ago just after I managed to get in touch with him. His neighbour called me up and said you have got to come over to the house as all of Mike’s stuff is going to be destroyed tomorrow…

Paddy: He had no children or family.

Jonny: … So the whole place was being stripped by the house clearers. Items of any value had been unscrewed and taken away. Under a big pile of old newspapers I found a little box and on it said things like ‘Tractors’ and ‘Tuc’, you know, like little Tuc biscuits. Inside the box were all these quarter inch reels and I took them away and bought them here to Paddy… (Paddy claps) because Paddy has the equipment to deal with vintage reels.

Paddy: We played all the reels and discussed what to do with them. The best thing about it was the quality of the recordings in the first place, they were amazing and beautifully performed. The soundtracks were rare television ads that had been lost from the 60s and 70s. It is all very whimsy. There are so many adverts for biscuits like Tuc and Chocolate Viennas. That is why we chose the title ‘Music For Biscuits’.

Jonny: The cd, like all of our work, is all our nostalgia. We will not rest until we have found pieces of music. If anyone can find it we can.

Patrick Whitaker is a Sound Curator, one half of leather specialists design duo Whitaker Malem www.whitakermalem.co.uk

Jonny Trunk is the Head of Trunk Records, renowned record collector, archivist, DJ and occasional performer www.trunkrecords.com

Martin Green is a legendary DJ to the stars, club entrepreneur and international dandy.