Steve Giles - DARK Interview
DARK are a heavy psych group from Northampton that released not only one of the most rare, and most valuable LP's in the UK, but are part of the cosmic puzzle of the heavy/proto metal sound of the 70's. Its founder, Steve Giles, put the group together in '68 while attending school, and before they knew it they had begun touring the local circuit playing gigs. They decided to record their six track LP with Alan Bowley over at S.I.S. Studios in just one weekend in '72. They only released a handful of their homemade records to friends and family and the rest is history! I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Steve about his early days with DARK as well as the historical details that set the foundation for the legendary LP, 'Dark Round The Edges'. Enjoy!
When did you first begin playing music? Did you play any other instruments outside of the guitar? Was music something that was familiar around your household growing up?
I first took playing music seriously after Christmas 1965 when I was given a Spanish style acoustic guitar. Teaching myself to play, I got on ok but struggled a bit with the wide fretboard, having quite small hands with limited spread. I pestered Mum & Dad and they eventually relented and bought me my first electric on 21st of October '66. I've never really played any other instrument although I dabbled a bit on piano as we had a baby grand at home. Both Mum and Dad were musical. They both played the piano and Dad had played sax in jazz bands when he was younger.
Are you originally from Northampton? What was it like growing up? Did you attend many of the rock shows in your community, or in London? 'The British Invasion' was in full swing during this period, I'm curious to know what groups inspired you the most that later transpired to Dark?
Yep. Northampton born and bred. I had a great childhood with my younger brother Tim. My abiding memory is of Summer Holidays to the South Coast each year. We always went to a hotel just outside Milford-On-Sea. We were still going there until 1970. That year I met other musicians there and we formed a band, rehearsing on acoustics - and cardboard boxes. We cajoled the weekly dance band to let us play using their instruments. That went down quite well - basically doing a couple of Blues numbers plus a Cream medley. I first knew I wanted to play guitar having seen Hank Marvin play with The Shadows in the film 'The Young Ones' in 1962. Once I started playing with my electric, I discovered Cream & Hendrix, etc. I had already decided, once I got my electric, that I wanted to form a band so no one band inspired me but did encourage me. Likewise with my playing. I taught myself, being inspired by others (mainly Clapton) but not copying anyone. Basically learning which notes to play and then jamming along to tracks while my style evolved. I saw quite a few big bands in the early 70's, some at Leicester De Montfort Hall, but most at The Rock Club in Wellingborough - Where we supported Status Quo, not long before we recorded the album.
"I had already decided, once I got my electric, that I wanted to form a band so no one band inspired me but did encourage me"
Did you play in any other outfits prior to Dark? Or engage with different creative pursuits?
DARK was my first band. I formed another band at the same time at Youth Club - which I called 'Synapse'. My Dad had a photographic business (which I joined on leaving school) so I was always interested in photography. It was in The Cellar under his shop where DARK rehearsed from inception to 'Dark Round The Edges' - and then later when rehearsing for 'Anonymous Days'.
You guys toured, and played shows from 1968 until the release of the LP in 1972. I understand you were in school during this time as well. Can you tell me about those early days prior to the release? Did you guys play the material that's found on the record that whole period? What were those early shows like?
'Toured' sounds rather grand. In reality we stayed basically within a 20 mile radius of our home town. Performing at gigs, most of which we arranged ourselves, in local halls. We were at school from forming in '68 until I left in '71. We initially played Cream & Hendrix covers plus songs written by Bruce Duncan, our first bass guitarist, with a few of my own. Those would have included 'Maypole' & 'Live For Today'. The others on the album I didn't compose until after leaving school. We would have been very immature and probably self-indulgent but we actually went down very well with audiences and built up quite a following that followed us from gig to gig.
How did the deal with S.I.S. Records come about? You guys recorded the whole thing in a weekend, correct? That must have been an exciting 48 hours to say the least! You also wore many hats within the group as the writer, musician/vocalist, creative control, and the producer. Can you tell me about the overall vision you had for 'Dark Round The Edges'?
The boyfriend of my best friend's sister was member of a film society which had premises in Military Road, Northampton and, being interested, I went along. They were converting the premises into a recording studio, mainly to produce sound tracks for their films, but branching out into recording local bands. DARK was one of the first to go in during April 1970. We went in again in late '71 with a different line-up and then, after Ron joined on bass I wanted to go in again. I could see we'd probably split up as we couldn't get many suitable gigs. I wanted to get something tangible down that I could keep after we did split - so I paid for the sessions and album production. We recorded all 6 backing tracks on Sunday 9th July 1972 and I went back on 3 subsequent evenings to overdub vocals & guitar. It was a very enjoyable few days.
The overall vision was just to capture the best we had become over those 4 years, after line-up changes - the latest being the addition of Martin on 2nd guitar only a few weeks before we went into the studio. He had just split his Wicked Lady band and saw us supporting Status Quo on May 6th. He was friends with Clive and Clive asked him if he fancied joining us for the album. He did - but had very little time to rehearse, so we took the pressure off him by suggesting he didn't play on 'Darkside', being the most intricate to learn. He features on the raucous solos in 'The Cat' and 'Live For Today' - and does those amazing effects during 'Zero Time'. I also created the sleeves for the album by hand sticking actual photos (that I printed myself) on to plain white sleeves. As I was paying for all this myself, I kept costs to a minimum by only doing about 24 gatefold sleeves, only 12 of which were color. Everything else was in B&W - including around 50 sleeves. I also produced the lyric booklets that came with each album by stapling photos on thin paper together.
"The overall vision was just to capture the best we had become over those 4 years"
I feel like for anyone reading this they're already aware, and rightfully so, of the clout surrounding not only the original small batch pressing, but the various bootlegs made over the years. What did you initially make of this? It's a fairly similar tale for a lot, if not most, groups of that era, but you guys take the cake! Was there any sort of resentment, or negative emotion towards the fact that this was your hard work, your masterpiece, and you received very little to nothing for it?
Yeah! It was a double edged sword really. Sure, we were annoyed that others were cashing in on our name and hard work and we weren't getting anything out of it - but we were getting legit deals as well - so quite probably all the bootlegs were spreading our name around, which made the album more popular around the globe. The one thing that did stick in our throats most - was Akarma. Having done the original legitimate deal in '98 (which we DID get paid for) with a contract that stipulated we would get paid for further represses - they continued to press until 2011 - and never paid us a penny for any of them. Completely ignored all attempts at contacting them, exploiting a little known loophole in Italian Intellectual Property Law that allowed them to do it! So I suppose, in a way, all those bootlegs were a bit of a back-handed compliment.
What's the story behind each song, were there any other influences outside of music that made its way into your writing? What was your process like as far as structuring the songs, and the music? The first time I ever heard 'Zero Time' I was completely floored... Stunning, heavy, and earth shattering! What was your choice for gear in those days?
To be honest, most songs didn't have any specific inspiration. I composed mainly by messing about on the guitar until something clicked. Then I worked on a melody, leaving the actual lyrics until last.
'Zero Time' - the basic song came about by accident, as usual, although this was probably the only song I composed with the album in mind. I did spend a bit of time on the lyrics for this one, but I can’t remember what inspired them now. Probably the 'doom laden' feel of the song.
'Live For Today' - probably inspired by The Cold War of the time.
'The Cat' - possibly by a break-up with a girlfriend, maybe even the girl on the cover who I had been going out with but not when I took the photo.
'R.C.8 - This riff was deliberately worked out, then transformed into the track it is now.
There was a bit of inspiration for the lyric. The ‘Everybody loves a little baby’ part came about after an altercation outside a mate’s house during a party. We must have upset some neighbors across the road somehow. I went out to my car, and they really let rip – calling me all the names under the sun! As if they’d never been young – eh? Anyway, it just got me thinking. They didn’t know me, or anything about me. If they’d met me as a baby, they’d have probably been all cooey-cooey, but just because I was now a long haired youth, I was BAD!! The title is just a play on the first three words of the lyrics – ‘I see hate’. That’s why the labels on both the original and the Authorized Machu Picchu release have the title “R.C.8. I see hate”.
'Maypole' - I think this was probably my first ‘proper’ composition. As usual, I stumbled upon the chord sequence. I then worked on a melody, then the lyrics. I’ve had a lot of grief about these lyrics!
They’re not supposed to mean anything. Having written the chord sequences and melody, I just jotted down the first words that came into my head so I had something to sing as I progressed the song!
A bit like Paul McCartney with 'Yesterday' – initially he sang “Scrambled Eggs”! Unlike that song, though, I never got around to changing the lyrics because I had taken it to rehearsals as it was and we all got used to it that way - so they’ve remained as they were in that first draft! That's where the title came from though: "The elephants were dancing round a Maypole and a tree"
I was recently made aware that there's a book by Derrick Thompson entitled, 'Have Guitars... Will Travel' that captures the music scene of Northampton between 1967 and 1979. I know you are a photographer, and there are photos that you took in this book. Can you tell me about your fascination with cameras? What was it like capturing those moments in the local scenes?
Yeah - I've already touched on this. I came from a photographic family. My grandfather moved to Northampton from Hove in 1908 and established 'J. R. Giles - Photographic Artist' on Wellingborough Road. It later became 'J. R. Giles & Son' when my Dad joined the business. He was in Photographic Reconnaissance during the war. I joined the business from school in '71 and eventually took it over calling it 'Giles Photography'. So - I was interested in photography from an early age. I didn't actually go around to local gigs taking photos. The pictures of mine in the book are mainly from commissions I had to do publicity shots. Local bands knew of me and that I was a photographer so asked me to do those shots for them. I took the group shots first on the developing St. James Mill Road industrial estate in Northampton.
It was basically just one big building site at that time in 1972. The building we are standing in is now MTS Power Tools. On the gatefold versions, the inside front cover that contains the album information and track listing is from the same photo session. I took the photos, either with the help of our roadies, Kenny & Mark, or by setting my Rollei medium format camera on timer. The inside back cover is a montage of shots taking during the recording session by Reg Bason on the 9th of July. Sometime later I came up with the idea for what is now the ‘famous’ front cover photo.
The girl is Frances Hamerton. She was the daughter of a local vicar and I originally met her when we both did paper-rounds. She was a girlfriend for a while, but not at the time I took the photo. She could well have been the inspiration for “The Cat” lyrics. I saw her walking past my parents’ house one day. I was in the front room where I later took the photo, and the idea of the cover photo just sprang to mind. So I dashed out, explained to her about the album and asked if she’d mind posing for the shot. After a bit of thought, she agreed!
Funnily enough, that shot was not the front cover on the original album. That was the shot of Clive, Ron & I on the building site. The cover wasn’t a gatefold in the traditional sense of the design and on that version – if you imagine a normal single LP sleeve – the ‘Car’ shot, with the album info, would have been the front making the group shot the back. On those ‘gatefold’ versions, I glued a flap which folded over the sleeve opening, so if you opened the album like a book, the group shot was the front and the photo of Frances was the back. On the single sleeve versions the group shot was obviously the front. Over the course of time, the photo of ‘The Girl On The Settee’ became synonymous with the 'Dark Round The Edges' album so most folks assumed that was the front cover. Consequently, on most new releases, it now is.
I know we've spoken off, and on during 2020, is there anything you've been working on during quarantine? What has your experience been like during these rather dark times?
Dark Times? No pun intended, I assume? It's now been over a year since I got together with the latest members. I'm not sure what will be happening with DARK, as a band, once things get back to some sort of 'normal'. I've recently been going through all my old tapes from the mid '70s until we recorded 'Anonymous Days. I've just put a CD together - 'Sessions After DARK' which comprises compositions from Ron & I recorded during the mid '70s. Some recorded in a studio I built in my Parents' loft and some at SIS - after I took it over when they vacated the premises. Other than that I'm thinking of remixing 'Anonymous Days' again and possibly doing a double CD album with that and rehearsal tapes - which might include 2 or 3 tracks that we tried & discarded. I'm frequently contacted by labels asking to put out DRTE again - so that will definitely happen at some point plus, maybe, albums with different tracks. We'll see. Any definite information will be on DARK's Facebook page.
Is there anything else you would like to further share with the readers?
I think we've just about covered anything of any importance, to be honest. Thanks very much for giving me the opportunity to relate this to your readers.
All the best - and Stay Safe!
Dakota Brown
