Notsensibles - (I've Just Had Enough) Brother EP.
Review by Fran from YoureSoOldStreet.co.uk
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The Notsensibles arose from a North East Lancashire musician’s cooperative and first started playing in 1978… “why on Earth are you reviewing this now then?” I hear you wonder. Simple fact- I love them. AND… as if that’s not reason enough…they have now reformed and are gigging again after depriving us for over 20 years!

This EP was originally re-released to coincide with the co- operative’s 2005 reunion gig, who’s line up included “Notsensibles”, “Tiger Tails” and the band that was to later become the forerunner of a fresh faced, militant and angsty “Chumbawamba”- known as “Chimp eats Banana”.

It was a DIY scene that I wished I was able to experience first time round: exciting, fresh, thought-provoking, etc etc.. but there is always that one band that just wanna be “daft as fook” and have a good time. (There are only so many militant vegetarian, Crass tribute bands you could enjoy before you just wanted to have some fun). Notsensibles had silliness down to a fine Art, Gawd love ‘em.

Due to their recent revival, The Notsensibles EP- a mish-mash of demos, fucking about with the mixing machine and live recordings, is available through their site and Eli Records (Notsensibles.com or elirecords.co.uk). It is a wonderfully shambolic, silly, yet surprisingly melodic punk gem. Some of you may be familiar with their most well-known track: (I’m In Love With) Margaret Thatcher. Think a thrashier, more humorous and adrenaline fuelled inspiration to the Artic Monkeys, with a smattering of jaunty synthesizer and you’re only just beginning to scratch the surface of this highly underrated pop punk outfit.

The EP starts off with the demo of (I’ve just had enough) Brother- catchy riffs, frenetic percussion and tongue-twisting high speed vocals. A real pogo-ing number. Billy Jacobs (At The King Georges Hall) is a slower paced riff driven rock n roll track about the joys of Northern gigging and being stalked by a local journalist. I love the raw vocals, occasional giggling and out of sync percussion that you get with demos. It’s sometimes even better than hearing the finished result. And this was certainly no let down.

Although, I have to say that the demo version of Margaret Thatcher (sent to John Peel infact) will never quite cut it if, like me, you heard the Single recording first.…But because it’s such a energetic, witty parody of itself in places (the Jilted John-esque vocal choruses and the refrain: “I go red when she’s on the telly- ooh.. I think… she fancies me!”) it will always be one of my top punk tracks of all time. It just never seems to age, and will still fill a dance floor of punks, indie kids, and rockers alike. Not bad for a bunch of lads from Burnley. Heh.

So- if you like your retro pop punk and are going to get excited about any band reforming this year- The ‘Sensies, re-emerging onto the scene to save us all from emo, will have you wetting your knickers with joy.

INSTANT CLASSIC SLEEVE NOTES

All songs written by Notsensibles except "Ploppy" by D. Hunter. This record was recorded at Cargo Studios, Rochdale; Colin Richardson engineered it. Notsensibles and Simon Lanzon produced it. Big thanks go to: firstly, Rough Trade for everything they've done, then Simon Lanzon for being a grand chap even though he's old, and to the following people who are dead boring: Bob the Slob, Colin, Next Door's Water Buffalo (an in-joke; y'see, it's all about when Sage once returned home to find ... etc), Boffo, Dan, Midge, Quent, Muz)?, Spider, Croz, Gilly, Maggie T. and all those who came to the Vicars Tea Party, Sue B, Tubby Pickles (Three cheers for Tub! And make that 3 bitters and a Lager, quick), also to all Mummies and Daddies and to everyone who thinks this record is smart, all at the Railway Workers' Club Nelson, big thanks to the North East Lancs Collective (NELCOL), and can I point out that Tinkerbell is a fairy, Tomi is a mod, Sage is a Spaceman, and Roger has a sausage-nose.

This album is brought to you be the fabbo Snotty Snail Records ("Coming Out Of It's Shell", "Leaving A Trail Into The Eighties" etc.) from Burnley, Lancashire and if you want to write to or contact Notsensibles, write to Gary Brown at 89 Holcombe Drive, Burnley, Lancashire, ok? Alternatively, you could write to the Nolans instead, care of Epic Records. They are a fine band, none of your loud punky noise ... Take Rolf Harris for example: Never a superstar but always respected in the "music biz" (as we call it). Will Notsensibles ever gain that kind of respect? Never! But not to worry:- Just remember, this is an Instant Classic. If you look hard enough you might find yourself on the cover, then you can show your mates and they'll be dead impressed.

Apparently, it is hope that by the year 1998½ Notsensibles will have achieved absolutely nothing whatsoever (This is no surprise). How about a word or two on the boys themselves? Sage wishes he was a Spaceman, he flies so high with his lovely girlfriend in the sky, maaan. Gary Brown is in dire need of a shave: stubble & trouble. Kevin likes Star Trek and "nobody knows who smashed them drums, Ploppy he say he's gonna kill them bums", Roger is a gardener, he cuts down trees, mows the lawns and collects bees in jam jars! (What a silly hobby). Haggis is handsome, he has big ears, doesn't mind the skit, it's the flicking he fears. POETRY! By the way, if you want a copy of the Nel Collective fanzine "The Cat Ate The Dog's Dinner" they're 15p: from NELCOL, 2 Hammerton Street. Burnley.

We're goin' to di seaside to catch di fish ... hey! We're goin' to di country to drink di cider - we're going to di rubber underwear factory to sample di goods, hey man, HEY!

Have you always wanted to know about the origins of Notsensibles? Once upon a time the lads decided to form a band, er, fate played the straight man & they haven't looked back since. Here is a simple poem for simple people by Sage.
Pap and piffle
oh if I were a papist monk
i'd pap all day
and piffle all night. ... Wasn't that super?

In the left breast pocket of one Steven Hartley (E.S.W) was found a dead snail, dead in the aspect that it was not alive, when only yesterday he had swum the english channel in order to raise money for the "keep our snails snotty" fund. When asked by one Michael Hargreaves what he was doing with a dead snail in his left breast pocket, he replied: "keeping it cool". Steven Hartley, due to his poor mental state is in a band "Notsensibles" as well as working part-time posing for Give Way signs.

Cynthia said that she saw the "awful punksters Notsensibles" at a College Rag Dance in Burnley. "Do you know what?," she told her Mummy later, "they got £200 for that horrid, horrid noise, and they even showed their bottoms on stage". Mummy agreed, and said that any group which wrote in the toilets must have dirty horrible hands.

Whilst on this subject, perhaps a quote from Michael Tapie's "A New Beyond" may help to elaborate somewhat: "When form, transcended, is heavy with the possibilities of becoming, it will be fully elaborated between the terms of the risk this ambiguity sets up, offering itself as marvelously contained in what will always be, for man, the most intoxicating mystery of all: the human condition with all the fantastic marvels it can claim".
Now this is exactly what Kevin was saying to Sage as they coated the park gates with dog muck to win the Park keepers' attention.

Anyway, now that you've actually got this far I shouldn't think you're actually STILL IN THE SHOP or something, so now it's safe to actually say what is actually on the actual album itself. It's a cracker. This is not just a marketing ploy, because you've already bought it - anyway, here is a run-down of what's on it:- "Instant Classic", "Girl With Scruffy Hair" and "Freedom" are all dead old, relics from "playing at Catholic Workingmen's Clubs" era about 2½ years ago (incidentally, also included then were "One Chord Wonders" by Adverts and "Runaway" by Slaughter & the Dogs). "Big Willy" isn't on the track listing but it's smart, the voice is Sage with a hat on. "King Arthur" is a recent song about the intricacies of the T.V. series and is a lovely song for joining in; OY!! Pull down your trimmings to Notsensibles! "Death To Disco" was Notsensibles' first single and here is the introduction.
Cynthia: Daddy ...
Daddy: Yes dear?
Cynthia: Can I go to the Disco, Daddy?
Daddy: Er, no, Mummy and I are going out to dinner this evening - I'd rather you stayed in and looked after young Jeremy Charles ...
Cynthia: But Maude's going!
Daddy: Maybe, yes, but Maude's got rather a reputation.
Cynthia: (crying) But I want to go to the Disco!
Daddy: Yes but darling, you must realise ... these Discos are for common working class people -
Cynthia: It's not fair!
Daddy: Darling ...
Cynthia: I'm going to my room, and I never want to speak to you again!

Meanwhile, down at the Disco, five evil men trying to put a stop to class distinctions and social injustice with an "Ooh that funky beat just drives you WILD!" ... "Ploppy" is a tale of a paranoid beatster, who (incidentally) still doesn't know who break dem skins; Dan Hunter is not a Notsensible, just a square - shaped songsmith trying to get famous at someone elses expense. (If you want to express your disgust ring him at 0282 26123).

On the other side there's "I Am A Clone", another oldie, followed by "Little Boxes" the B-side of Margaret Thatcher, which was described in the Burnley Express as a "scathing attack on modern-day housing". Oh yeah? "Sick Of Being Normal" is a song you listen to whilst getting ready to go to the pub for the fourth time that week, why not try going with just your underpants on for a change?

"Love Is Like Banging My Head Against A Brick Wall" is a long title but not as long as the 60's classic "She Wore An Itsy-Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" by someone that nobody will ever remember. "Because I'm Mine" comes on now so get out of your chair and bop along to the fast bits, annoy the carpet! "Wrong Love" you can just clap along to, and (unless you're a worse singer that Sage) sing along with. If you listen closely you can just catch the faint tinklings of a sweet chorus of Notsensibles in the background. "Blackpool Rock"? Well, a cracker with Roger having to stop short at the end to light another fag. The voice at the end is the infamous Simon Lanzon (manager), who rushes into the studio to discover a meat and potato pie shooting towards his person from the fag machine. If you've listened intently you should have heard lots of other things, all nice surprises etc. And if you're one of the lucky first 17,000 purchasers you will by now (no doubt) have noticed the presence of a free sausage which you can tie to your nose. Such fun! Incidentally, Rosko's done his back in again.

Well, it's interesting facts time once again and today's little snippet concerns Sage, for lo and behold! He looks in the sky each night and cannot believe his eyes, for there in front of him are two stars. Two stars / (Soz-Sage knows). "And tell me, Plopper," Said Jacobs handing the prize-winning cheque to Kevin, "what did happen to those skins?"

Our next little diversion concerns Kevin's complex about starting drumming too late in life. Tell us more, Ploppie! "Well I once dreamt that I met Carl Palmer, and I said to him, 'er, Carl, I get dead worried about the fact that I started drumming late in life'", and he said to me: "There's no need to worry Kevin - I was three before I could do a proper roll".

THE HOP TRAFALGAR STREET BURNLEY
Tuesday - Live Entertainment! Burnley's own
NONE - SENSIBLES

So far, Notsensibles have released two singles: The first, "Death To Disco" E.P., features "Death To Disco", "Coronation Street Hustle" and "Lying On The Sofa", it's on the Bent label and is probably quite hard to get hold of now. The second was "I'm In Love With Margaret Thatcher" on both Redball Records and Snotty Snail Records, it featured "Margaret Thatcher", "Concerto No.2" (unlabeled), "Little Boxes", and "Garry Bushell's Band Of The Week". There was an earlier version of this album which was slightly differently mixed and had some different tracks; it's not as good as this one.

Snotty Snail Music is managed by Simon Lanzon and is (basically) the North East Lancs Collective's label: this is its first major record, and you may agree that, given time, it could prove to be very unsuccessful. If you want to start your own label, don't call it Snotty Snail 'cos we thought of it first.

A riddle: If wallpaper goes on walls, and toffee paper goes on toffees, what does toilet paper go on? WELL, "I've just been to the Toyshop with Mummy, Tra la,la la la - I've just been to the Toyshop with Mummy, Bought a brand new car - took it home to show my Daddy, he was very pleased, he said if I was very lucky, I could have another one next week! Tra la la la la, Tra la la la la ..."

What is it about Notsensibles which makes them so disarmingly good? Vibrant personalities? Pure, yet brash, pop songs? Innocent naivety? Or perhaps the was Haggis eats his own snot? (Ha! shattered your wide-eyed illusions!). Sage, too, is an "eater" - but he works in a dry atmosphere and so says that for eight hours a day his snot is uneatable. None of the others so much as take a sniff, for they are nice boys; they have been brought up to either wipe or flick, depending on the immediate surroundings. Snot-eating is a particular taboo subject: lesser men than I would be disgusted and appaled at such talk - BUT SOMEONE MUST SAY SOMETHING. Likewise, does the Queen pass wind? But that is another matter. (I think she must have an official scapegoat who volunteers to take the blame for all Royal smells).

SICK OF BEING NORMAL
Sick of being Normal, just another one in a million,
My life's an empty space, I'm just another nonentity
Lots of things they promised me -
Lots of things I could have been -
I'm sick of being Normal, SICK OF BEING NORMAL!

There we are, the crux of the matter: the answer in a nutshell: the problem solved. Five boys in search of a haven in the midst of Ordinariness. Just like Led Zeppelin; in fact, Notsensibles' version of "Stairway To Heaven" is truly amazing. Haggis is into Santana, Roger is into Hawkwind, Gary likes Gong, Kevin likes Emerson, Lake and Palmer and Sage likes Black Sabbath. (Think I'm joking don't you?).

Anyway, to finish with may I quote a young lady called NICKY of 3a Delahays Road, Hale, Cheshire (061 - 980 6790 apparently), who wrote in to Manchester fanzine "City Fun" months ago: "When you've heard enough of the misery of the Fall and Joy Division - good though they are ... when you need cheering up by an evening out that doesn't require too much concentration ... when you ... oh, stuff it. It's quite simple. Go and see Notsensibles if you get the chance. They're a scrawny bunch of five from Burnley (marvellous Lancashire accents). Their songs are quirky little observations which always ring true. They have a singer Haggis of seemingly limitless energy who is immensely likeable and can only be described as sweet. For goodness sake, relax and smile a little".

That just about sums it all up. All of this writing except for bits of it by Dan, Gary and Sage was by Boffo who did the front cover too and who is also immensely likeable.

The Notsensibles - Instant Punk Classics.
By Greenmuse. from antiMusic.com

I even tried to gas myself, but I just can't get it right. I make a balls of everything I do.

Every so often in a young man or woman's life there is a certain song on an unknown box set's cd that is so bizarre and oddly catchy they just have to find the entire album. In this case it was a tune with a title of "(I'm in love with) Margaret Thatcher" by some band called the Nosensibles. I was in my shed tearing open a package that a friend sent me containing a lot of his fine, fine artwork and some cd's from the afore mentioned mystery box set that had 4 cd's worth of classic late 70's punk rock. Being a punk rock and music in general afficionado that already had most of the material himself, he sent these cd's to me. Going on title alone this was the first track I listened to. I was instantly greeted a terrace chant of "I'm in love with Margaret Thatcher, I'm in love with Margaret Thatcher, I'm in looooove with Maggie tee" then it cuts into the verse. Oh the verse, sung in the most screechy and nasally voice possible. Complete with equally screechy and nasally la, la, la, la, la's. this song struck such a chord with me, I think I listened to it 3 times in a row just make sure I was hearing what I thought I was hearing. Later I had to have the album, with luck I found it in a trusty Captain Oi catalog, I found it at Amazon before this, but I don't want to give them any of my money. Within a week I had the cd in my hot little hands. Much to the dismay of Miss Muse I popped it in the cd player (usually I respect her hatred of my music by waiting till she is asleep or I just wait 'till I have to drive somewhere and pop in the cars player). She tolerated it well until the tune "Death to Disco" where the already screechy vocalist goes into a BeeGee-esque falsetto. Finally she had enough and asked just what the hell it was I had her listening to. This has become the stock reaction from people who hear it for the first time.

This is one of those rare things in life that are so. . . . Awful to a majority of the population, they are ingenious. (Like Wesley Willis) the songs as a rule are very well written with one foot firmly in the realm of greats like Monty Python and Benny Hill and the other foot in the land of the Clash and Buzzcocks.

Comparisons to Monty are not something I throw around willy nilly. But to me, the perfect way to describe this band is: if the Python's started a punk band. songs like "I am the Bishop," "I don't wanna work anymore," "I am a clone" and "Instant Classic" could very well have been done by those wacky Brits I hold so dear. In fact, "Instant Classic" starts with a little skit that I'm sure John Cleese was in, it goes: "Good morning, this is Steve. Today, I'd like to talk about the Plough. The Plough is an easy to spot constellation that is shaped like a Plough. This is where it gets its name. Another easy to spot constellation is the Big Willy, so called because several stars in the shape of a big willy can easily be seen in the eastern hemisphere. This morning David and I went star spotting. Unfortunately, we couldn't see any as it was daylight, but we hope to have better luck tomorrow morning." Then it goes into a kick ass song.

In short, this is the band that if I had a band, I would want them to rip their sound off of. At a past Reading festival I believe (I might be wrong on the name of the festival) the Notsensibles got a standing ovation from Steven Pearcy of Sham69 fame. I don't think I need to say more.

INSTANT PUNK CLASSIC SLEEVE NOTES

Punk arrived on the dinner plate and Burnley, Lancashire, greedily tucked in ...and promptly threw up Notsensibles, the youth club band (first year spent without a bass player) grew up covering Slaughter & The Dogs and wearing their school uniforms with safety pins.
They'd skive off to go to Manchester - where you could buy stuff by Pork Dukes, Metal Urbain, The Adverts, John Cooper-Clarke's first single, Ramones albums. Roger was the musician - a parks gardener who had one of those synthesisers with a million knobs on: a leftover from pre-punk love of twiddly-twiddly dinosaur artrock.
Sage sat by his record player trying to play guitar along to Buzzcocks. Kev - Ploppy - couldn't sing (despite knowing all the words to the Nosebleeds "Ain't Been To No Music School") and so he bought a drumkit and Haggis took over on vocals. Haggis sported huge dinnerplate badges on his black dufflecoat and had Kate Bush's first album along with "Nasty Nasty" on green vinyl. He could sing. Gary was poached from rival punk band The Pathetix, part of the mushrooming Central Lancs punk scene. Now all they had to do was try and keep time with each other.

They auditioned at workingmen's clubs, playing their songs at half-speed in the hope that the promoter wouldn't work out what was going on - and then, on the night of the gig, they'd turn up with a sizeable punk following and race deafeningly through the set in front of seventy pogoing idiots and half a roomful of shocked blue rinses. At the half-time bingo break (I'm not kidding) the promoter would quietly pay them off and everyone'd have to leave.

Notsensibles' charm was their naivety. They hammered their way through the catchiest pop songs with a wide-eyed ineptness which would have The Undertones looking like serious musos.
They bounded their way around the stage, sang about their mates, took the piss out of everyone and everything, and barely realised the glorious, singalong chaos they were creating. Their recordings were slappy and spontaneous, and their clothes never matched the postaway punk look that most bands sported - Sage was for a while infamous for buying huge trousers and taking them in, widthwise, to absurdly tight circulation-stoppers, Kev was the first person in Burnley to bleach his hair, whilst throughout the band's career, Roger stubbornly kept to flares and feather-cut. As Sage's dad remarked when they were first getting the band together - "you're ...you're not sensible!"

This small-town eagerness translates best on the earlier, slapdash songs - the strange time signatures, the messed-up endings, the "let's just stand around a microphone and make something up" approach. "Lying On The Sofa" was a classic of its time - a sort of pre-slacker's hymn - whilst the idiocy of "Coronation St. Hustle" or "Death To Disco" are balanced by the catchy pop beauty of "Wrong Love" and "Girl With Scruffy Hair".

Then came "(I'm In Love With) Margaret Thatcher". Meant as neither a pro - nor anti-Thatcher song. It revolved around the idea that no-one was too sacred to get the piss taken out of ...
Notsensibles' collision of absurdity and popular culture, their love of sarcasm, their ability to bring stupidity and notsensibleness to pop, all pointed to this being the point at which the band utterly glorified their own ridiculous singalong naivety.

From this time on the band fought to keep control of their own ideas, whilst being swept clumsily along by a media-led industry. Notsensibles lost. Food-battles in motorway cafe's, tantrums, fist-fights, arguments about money, overhyped London gigs ...and worst of all, the time and money to make real records - the pop was becoming rock and you could smell the dreaded ideas which took out the sillyness, the abnormality, the stupidity.

And Notsensibles, if nothing else, were profoundly and beautifully stupid. We loved them because, whilst they wanted so much to be good, they succeeded better at being fantastically notgood. We loved them because they were scruffy oiks who seized on punk, twisted it around, and made it laugh at itself. And we loved them because - well basically we loved them because they really did make a balls of everything they did. (Oh, and they could write good tunes, too).
D. PLYVALE