The Dancing Did

The Dancing Did
Origin	Evesham, Worcestershire, England
Genres	Folk punk
Years active	1979 (1979)–1983 (1983)
Labels	Fruit & Veg, Stiff, Kamera, Cherry Red
Past members
Tim Harrison Martin Dormer Roger Smith Chris Houghton

The Dancing Did were a British post-punk/folk punk group formed in Evesham in 1979, who were described as "a cross between the Clash and Steeleye Span". They released an album in 1982 and split up the following year.

History

In 1979 vocalist Tim Harrison convinced school friend and active guitarist Martyn Dormer to join him on his musical quest. Tim's brother Ollie played drums with The Photos and was roped in for two DIY independent singles, with the eponymous single in 1979, and then in 1980 for "Squashed Things On The Road", both on their own Fruit & Veg label. Both singles were imported & distributed into the USA via Neil Kempfer-Stocker's Wired Muzik firm. The band's name derived from "didicoi", a term for gypsies.

Supporting The Photos that year at a local gig convinced Tim he wanted do a lot more of it, while Martyn insisted they needed a band, and so recruited his drumming friend Chris Houghton. A capable local muso Mick Davies (aka Dick Crazies) joined on bass, soon replaced by Stuart Dyke, who only appears on a recording for a Chainsaw fanzine flexi-disc of "The Rhythm Section Sticks Together". Dyke was killed in a car crash in 1981 (which led to the formation of the band Finish The Story by his girlfriend Nicola), by which time the Dids were making quite a live reputation for themselves and getting a lot of positive press.^{[citation needed]}

Replacing Stuart was John Wallin, better known as Wally, who soon gave way to Roger Smith that year. They released a single, "The Lost Platoon" with Stiff Records in 1981, and then switched to Kamera Records in 1982 to release two singles, "Badger Boys" and "The Green Man And The March Of The Bungalows", and an album, And Did Those Feet.

The band split up in 1983.

To quote writer Mick Mercer, who regards them as his all-time favourite British group:

“The Dancing Did were also unique, not something ascribed to many bands. Like an unholy union of Punk, Folk, Rockabilly/Bebop and true English Goth imagery, you can plot them on a creative line somewhere between CS Lewis, Alan Garner, Mervyn Peake, P. G. Wodehouse and The Avengers; Pagan legends, various ghosts and Vikings invading village greens rubbing lyrical shoulders alongside nuclear war, feral wolves and burning witches. What other band could have started a song with the lyrics, ‘Take good care of your petticoats Alice, if you want to play cricket with your brother’? Hell, I’m shocked that their final gig wasn’t honoured with a Spitfire flypast, but you can’t have everything.”

Post-band activity

Harrison became a magazine designer, working for Punch, Chat, and Q, and had no further musical activity.

Dormer joined the band's former roadie Bod in the burlesque rock 'n' roll outfit The Big Beat Band, performing around the Cotswolds at balls and country house parties. He went on to own a clothes shop before becoming a mobile phone salesman.

Roger Smith studied farming, and worked with Rhythm Oil, and then Underneath.

Martyn moved to the West Country where he was in folk duo, Man Overboard, and currently plays with Skiffle Haze. He is also forming a duo with Bill Smarme, The Red Hot Lovers.

Drummer Chris Houghton didn't play for a long while but then joined covers band The Bassetts, which led to R&B specialists The Disciples, which in turn morphed into a pub/club/function band of the same name. After leaving the Disciples Chris returned to the blues/r&b vein as a founder member of Doctor's Orders whose tagline is 'good time blues blues with a twist of funk, rock, swing & jazz'.

The most recent development in his musical career is his teaming up with 20 year old songwriter/singer/guitarist Emma Howett to form (with others) the lively Will Dance For Chocolate whose music was described by a local reviewer as 'unashamed bubblegum pop' and by Emma as 'Stalker Pop'.

And Did Those Feet

And Did Those Feet
Studio album by The Dancing Did
Released	November 1982
Genre	Folk punk
Label	Kamera

The band's only album, And Did Those Feet, was released in 1982 by Kamera Records. It gave the band their only chart success, reaching number 25 in the UK Independent Chart. After being unavailable for many years, it was reissued in 2007 by Cherry Red, with bonus live tracks and B-sides. Dave Thompson, reviewing the album for Allmusic, described "Wolves of Worcestershire" as "almost Shakespearean in its lyrical vision", and called "Squashed Things" "the sound of The Cure meets The Wurzels".

Track listing

Original Kamera release (KAM 009):

1. "Wolves Of Worcestershire" - 5:15
2. "The Rhythm Section Sticks Together" - 1:47
3. "On the Roofs" - 3:39
4. "Squashed Things" - 3:47
5. "The Headmaster And The Fly" - 3:43
6. "Ballad Of A Dying Sigh" - 4:39
7. "Charnel Boy" - 3:56
8. "Badger Boys" - 3:58
9. "The Dancing Did" - 3:39
10. "Within The Green Green Avon O" - 3:12

Cherry Red release (CD MRED 320) bonus tracks:

1. "Dancing Did" (single version) - 3:12
2. "Squashed Things On The Road" (b-side to "The Haunted Tea Rooms") - 3:10
3. "The Green Man And The March Of The Bungalows" (7-inch single a-side) - 3:50
4. "A Fruit Picking Fantasy" (b-side to 'The Green Man...') - 2:51
5. "The World's Gonna End In Cheltenham" (b-side to "Badger Boys") - 3:26
6. "Wolves Of Worcestershire" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 4:16
7. "Badger Boys" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 3:47
8. "Charnel Boy" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 4:23
9. "Green Man" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 2:59
10. "Lost Platoon" (Live at Cheltenham College 1981) - 2:59

Musical style

The band's music has been described as "rustic rock 'n' roll", resembling "a cross between the Clash and Steeleye Span", and "Edwardian rockabilly". Many of the band's lyrics have countryside themes, covering topics such as fruit-picking. Writer Dave Thompson described the band: "punkabilly madmen who looked at the directions drawn by Dexys on the one hand, Ten Pole Tudor on the other, and then drove a gap-toothed grinning juggernaut through the heart of all of them". Record Collector magazine, reviewing the reissued album described the band as "a theatrical, intellectual outfit with a driven sound somewhere between early Bunnymen and Southern Death Cult", calling them "a true English oddity".

Discography

Albums

• And Did Those Feet (1982), Kamera - reissued in 2007 by Cherry Red with several bonus tracks

Singles

• "Dancing Did" / "Lorry Pirates" (1979), Fruit & Veg
• "The Haunted Tearooms" / "Squashed Things on the Road" (1980), Fruit & Veg
• "The Lost Platoon" / "The Human Chicken" (1981), Stiff
• "The Green Man and the March of the Bungalows" (1982), Kamera
• "Badger Boys" / "The World's Gonna End in Cheltenham" (1983), Kamera
• "Six Word Hex" / "House on the Edge of the Wood" (1983), Kamera - withdrawn

External links

• Official website
• The Dancing Did on Myspace
• Cherry Red entry
• Martyn's Journal
• Skiffle Haze
• Will Dance For Chocolate on MySpace