photo by Brittney Bollay
David Gedge has had one of the longest running and most prolific careers of any British band growing out of the late 80′s and early 90′s alternative era. His band The Wedding Present, formed in 1985, has produced nine albums to date and countless singles, and while that band was on hiatus, Gedge was creating music as Cinerama with his then girlfriend, Sally Murrell. Unlike the Gallaghers or even mid-career The Cure, The Wedding Present wasn’t filling arenas with bombast but rather perfecting the romantic pop song, in their own fashion. Gedge’s longevity may come from the fact that his band never really glommed on to a particular scene -- too young to have been part of the 4AD/goth/80′s romantic scene, too old to be true Britpoppers, too noisy to be shoegazers, and too punchy to be C86 janglers, The Wedding Present rather combine elements of each into sometimes brash and noisy, sometimes alluringly melodic songs that have always seemed somehow to be about getting screwed over in love. And as we know, hearts will forever be broken, just as they’ll forever mend, and like that, The Wedding Present has returned again and again, each time with a new lineup, but always with Gedge putting himself out there for us all. And thankfully so... The Wedding Present released their latest, Valentina, just two weeks ago and previewed a handful of new songs during their performance live on KEXP from Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop during our SXSW broadcast (see photos and read more about it here). Check out their full performance, bookended by Weddoes classics “Brassneck” and “My Favourite Dress,” now:
...and if you’re in Seattle, be sure to see them tonight at The Crocodile, as they perform their Steve Albini produced ’91 album, Seamonsters, in its entirety!
