1: Mystere 5 "No Message": This was the first single ever released by Flicknife, so it makes sense to talk about it first. At the time 'The Electric Chairs' had been having some legal issues that prevented them from releasing tracks under that name... Or even their own names. Thankfully, the Music Gods were smiling on them and through Henry Padovani, a friend of Frenchy’s, they became the first act on Flicknife. The resulting track released under their new name was an instant indie hit. Peaking at #3 in the UK indie charts and even charting in France with Carrere, a major label.
2: Hawkwind 'Motorhead': Is it possible to talk about the history of Flicknife without mentioning Hawkwind? But this was not the Hawkwind that most people know... A more pared down version, consisting of just Dave Brock, Alan Powell and Lemmy, this was Lemmy's vision for the band... His idea of how they should have been. This track was huge for Flicknife: not only did it sell ~50 thousand copies, giving the then fledgling label some financial breathing room ~ it also brought them front and centre in the UK indie music scene, leading to working with such bands as The Barracudas, Alien Sex Fiend, Glen Matlock’s London Cowboys, the Saints and so many more, cementing its place in music history.
3: Charlie Harper 'Stolen Property': This was the first album ever released by Flicknife. Featuring most of the members of the U.K Subs, plus a smattering of Mood 6, Charlie's version of 'Pin Ups' is fantastic. More importantly though, making this album was a great laugh! Working in a tiny 8 track studio alongside Charlie, it was like hanging out with friends. There was no pressure, the whole thing was done in the space of a week, a lot of fun. The icing on the cake was when the album did really well, it showed that we needed to up our game and start releasing more albums.
4: Hawkwind 'Chronicle Of The Black Sword': This album was MASSIVE. Massive album, massive tour... Massive costs. However, we had faith, even going as far as to remortgage the family home to fund the album! And it paid off, in spades when the album sold and sold and continued to sell for years. It wasn't all great though, there were some problems with distribution which lead to the album not doing as well as it could have done (should have been Top50 not Top75), but it still pulled great numbers, so it could have been far worse!
5: Jeremy Gluck and Nikki Sudden with Rowland S Howard, Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Epic Soundtracks (dubbed the 'First Indie Supergroup' by the press) 'I Knew Buffalo Bill': a release that's even bigger than the list of contributors! This was probably the best album of our first ten years, it's now become a real cult classic. It was a real pleasure to watch Rowland and Jeffrey work... I've always been a fan of 'The Gun Club' so getting to work with Jeffrey was amazing. Plus it was fun spending hours on end in a car with Rowland... In which time he said a grand total of about 10 words!!!
So, there they are! The tracks that made Flicknife the legendary label it is today...or so they tell us. How many have you heard?
Catch you on the Flipside.
The Flicknife Kru.
