The Tea Set
The Tea Set was a Watford post-punk band who were formed from the ashes of The Bears by drummer Cally Cameron and bassist Ron West. They brought in keyboard player Mark Wilkins and Nic Egan and later Duncan Stringer. Nic Egan was a friend of Cally’s from Art School and they had designed sprayed clothes for The Clash and Ramones and posters for Phonogram. Note: Cally appears on the front of the legendary Phonogram punk compilation New Wave; can you spot him? Nic has also contributed to Sounds where he did The Bears first feature.
The Tea Set chose their name with care. “We wanted a name that people couldn’t use to pigeonhole us. The Tea Set doesn’t really conjure up any particular type of thing, except that it is obviously English, and we really enjoy being an English band.“ Johnny Black. Zigzag #102, June 1980
The band unsurprisingly had a strong art school aesthetic. The complete package of sound and design shows a playful experimental side that quickly developed into a sound of their own that’s a cross between Swell Maps and Wire but with their own stamp.
We put a lot of effort into it all. When a band puts something out, it’s a package of three things. Live gigs, records and the packaging of both those things. Some bands get one or two of them right and the other one flat on its back. We try to get all three right. Johnny Black. Zigzag #102, June 1980
Like their covers, they looked to subvert established form with their songs.
… we don’t feel obliged to work to the rules. With a song like B52-G we can say a lot in 50 seconds with no rhymes at all. It’s simply a list, a chant, but it works. It can be used as a means of communication of ideas, or of non-communication, to put certain people off.
In addition, their stage act and look was pretty theatrical and Nic wasn’t a slouch in the looks department either though this description from a Zigzag interview suggested otherwise.
Nick Egan has much in common with the Frankenstein monster. He’s about 9 feet tall, looks like he was put together out of spare parts, and seemed to have a heart of gold underneath. Johnny Black. Zigzag #102, June 1980
Their first two singles, which fall in this site’s time period, were again on Phil Smee’s local record label Waldo’s Records, which The Bears’ debut was on.
The first single, released in April 1978, features On Them, Sing Song, Grey Starling & B52G and was a mixture of punk, post punk playful noise and almost psychedelia as the band found its feet. It’s also noticeable in its sleeve design with a lavish eight page beautifully designed cover and booklet filled with a combination of info and useless info along with some shots of the band designed to confuse and intrigue.
The second single in 1979, Parry Thomas, had all the attributes of a hit record. Fantastic funky synthy tune and vocals and strangely danceable to; a 12” would have been a floor filler. Arguably, its subject matter about the racing driver John Godfrey Parry-Thomas who was trying to get his land speed record back and his alleged death from a snapped drive chain taking his head off as a catchy chorus probably wouldn’t have helped! Its cover saw the band re-enacting the mad hatter’s tea party (geddit?) from Lewis Caroll’s Alice In Wonderland book.
The record came out once more in a fold-out poster sleeve, with a stamp-printed envelope containing a free tea bag, and Waldo’s Records Business Card. The sleeve was available in other background colours and some singles had other stuff inserted.
Like their name, their music defies easy categorisation. Parry Thomas, probably their most accessible song to date, could be described as menacing disco punk, Gey Starling as experimental thrash pop, On Them as tongue in cheek power cord electronic rock. And they wouldn’t have it any other way. Johnny Black. Zigzag #102, June 1980
A John Peel Radio 1 session in March 1980 saw the band on an upward trajectory along with continuing good live and single reviews (see the Dave McCullough one further down the page which is a pretty good appraisal of the band). The band even played an unusual one supporting loveable cockney sing a longers Chas & Dave!
But it wasn’t all plain sailing. The band signed to UA’s Modern Records (run by The Stranglers then manager Ian Grant & publicist Alan Edwards) but apparently were still signed to Waldo’s and there was the threat of legal action. Despite this, they prepared to record.
A chance hearing by Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers) of the band on the radio led to him offering to produce the band’s next single which for some reason ended up being a rework of the Spencer Davis track Keep On Running. It wasn’t supposed to be – Contract Killer was – but Hugh suggested doing the cover track first and blew virtually the whole budget on that.
The band supported The Stranglers on a tour, which tightened their performances up and also played with The Skids, Iggy Pop, Pretenders & Clash. They then started laying down tracks for the album but it all came to a halt when United Artists was sold on in late 1980 and The Tea Set were no more.
Whatever their connections, the Tea Set work hard to create a music that is worthwhile as well as enjoyable. For just a little of your hard earned cash they’ll deliver black plastic full of good music, wrapped up better than the average mummy.
So maybe their subject matter and their stance looks a bit arty. At least their art’s in the right place. Why not join? Johnny Black. Zigzag #102, June 1980
Egan and Cally would go on to an extremely successful graphic design career creating cover art for The Clash, The Ramones, The Cult, Bob Dylan, Bow Wow Wow and others as well as directing videos for Duran Duran, INXS, Oasis, Sonic Youth and many more! Cally likewise would remain in the creative arts doing marketing, A&R and creative director at a number of major labels and for such artists as Jean Michel Jarre, Talk Talk, Scott Walker, U2, Tricky, and PJ Harvey among several others.
Waldo’s Records would eventually become the world-famous label Bam Caruso.
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