THE STAIRS

The Stairs were truly one of the great long lost bands of the early nineties. The Liverpudlian four-piece love of retro pop formed the basis of a cool mix of psych and R'nB that promised so much but in the end delivered very little.

Not that the band were to blame. Far from it. In Edgar Summertyme they had a charismatic and colourful lead singer with a distinctive bluesy growl that put a prime Mick Jagger to shame and with an obsessive heart for attention to detail. They had the look and the cool to match. The seminal EP 'Weed Bus' is now a collectors item and the only album 'Mexican R'n'B' is packed with pop classics unashamedly ripped off left, right and centre from every obscure 60's band there ever was.

There was plenty more where that came from as well. Edgar was a musical nut with big ideas of how the band would develop but their record company, Go! Discs, lost interest and the music press, as ever, were indifferent to their retro leanings after the initial hype.

This wasn't a fad thing, or spurious attempt to jump on a 60s bandwagon. This was serious stuff for the Stairs. The charts were still full of bland shit. The feel and energy of great 60's pop stood out from all the dross so why not interpret it for new audience too young to witness it first time around? The Stairs were the real, authentic thing. A treat to retro fans everywhere. Their demise is a real sad loss and Edgar presence is missed greatly. He was a great guy who, along with fellow song writing genius Lee Mavers of the La's, seems to have fallen foul of the trapping of success. The two were recently reported to have started song writing together but the last we heard from The Stairs was about three years ago and they were thumping out heavy blues based rock complete with ten minute drum solos(!) to a dwindling fan base that was evidently destined to keep the band languishing in obscurity. A far cry from their effortlessly cool pop leaning of yore.

I spoke to Edgar at the height of their brief fling with the fickle world of fame.

The Stairs are arguably Liverpool's most colourful and lively addition to the live circuit, their obsession with the late '60'sand early '70's reveals a most welcome and authentic interpretation of the finer elements of popular music.

In this exclusive interview the good humoured singer Edgar Summertyme talks about his band, his dreams and his honest guv defence to his musical intentions.

The Stairs have released two fine singles and the release of their debut long player "Mexican R&B" has already received rave reviews with the NME classing it as a "startling debut, triumphantly free of creative compromise and without the slightest whiff of the wannabe commercialism that has tinted so many debut releases".

Interested? Then read on.

-Lets start at the beginning, how did you all meet Edgar?

"Erm, a mixture of YTS and through friends really."

-How long have you been together?

"Two years with gaps and intervals."

-How did the deal come about with Go! Discs?

"We were already on Imaginary (small indie label based in Oldham, Lancs - Ed), but we didn't 'sign' to them. We done the 'Weed Bus' EP and Imaginary done a few things like, then let's go to the court and a couple of things like that. We got a bit peeved. Go! Discs said they wanted to buy the EP and sign us. So we done that really."

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Why choose Go! Discs?

"It's like, they're the smallest major, with the biggest distributor. It's safety you know, there's about 30 people in the company, something like that and I know most of all the faces, most of the names. There's not many major record companies you can say that about."

"When we left Imaginary though, we didn't leave them in the lurch, we're gonna do an album of covers for them. We've done two so far for them like. We're doing that at home on the porta-studio."

-What's gonna be on it?

"Stuff like, covers from around '65. Erm, the odd Dutch thing from the '60's. Like our new EP, there's 'Russian Spy and I'. There's gonna be more Dutch songs, things like that. Yardbirds covers. I know loads. It's just choosing 'em!"

- Sadly this album never came it which was a real shame. But Edgar must have recorded hundreds of demos over the years. Surely someone out there must have enough faith and money to out it out one day.

-Edgar talks at a breakneck speed with a real passion for music. He talks like he's got the greatest job in the world, and do you know? He probably has. Let's talk about the image of The Stairs. They dress neatly in second hand regulation '60's gear, what does Edgar think the definition of Cool is?

"If you don't mention the word, you've probably got it, huh, huh, huh!"

-And Edgar doesn't need to mention it, this guy IS cool as f--k. The Stairs ARE cool, with a capital C. But you don't go around saying it do you?

"Oh no, I like to make a point about normality and how ridiculous the music scene is generally. We don't stand ourselves on pivots or anything like that. Except when we're on stage. But we can't help that though. Ha, Ha!!!"

-Another great feature of Edgar was his humility. His feet were firmly on the ground, reaching for the stars. You couldn't help but like him. Our paths crossed a number of times and Edgar always remembered you and would come over for a chat.

-What was your favourite fashion movement?

"Obviously, 20 years ago, Beatniks and hippies. I think they were very nice people."

-What styles don't you like?

"The only thing is, that I don't really like is, Basketball boots and all that. There's not things I don't like, there's things I just don't do myself."

-How do you write the songs?

"I sort of write them, dictate them to a certain extent and people add their own things. We are starting to write more collectively, 'cos its a burden you know. The first album was all written by me, with bits here and there from Jed and there's jams at the end of the songs and things like that".

-What do you write about?

"I basically try and write songs about not shitting on people and things like that. They're sort of anti-establishment in a sort of a gormless way. In a sense you can't really notice they're anti-establishment. But they are."

-So would you hide or disguise your lyrics in a way to get more recognition?

"Well, I'm subtle, that's what it is."

-Do you try to reproduce a sound you've heard before?

"Yeah the sound more than the actual notation of the music itself. We're very conscious of it. We just don't like the 'new' sound, basically. All the bands nowadays, they do sound the same, they all have the same 'modern' sound, although they all sound different. That's what we're after, to sound different from the old bands but the same 'sound'."

-What do you think of the Beatles and Rolling Stones nowadays?

"Erm, in respect I feel sorry for them, but in other respects I don't because during their youth, they were there. They did have it, whether they've lost it or not...to me it seems like they've lost it, but to them...you can't know what's going on unless your inside their heads really. So I just think of it as they were sound, but they're not anymore you know."

-What do you think the Stairs will be like in 20 years time, can you learn from their mistakes?

"Yeah, I think we can, Ha, Ha, Ha!...We'll just won't go out with any Chinese people or blond American ladies. We're sure that's what's done it, you know!"

-Do you want play in bigger venues as you get bigger?

"I don't know really. That's the type of thing that's really not up to us. It's a record company thing. They sell the records and if they still want us to do concerts they'll push us into the stadium. But I can't really see it happening to us".

-Does Liverpool inspire you in anyway?

"Like most cities, it inspires me to wanna leave it and go and live in the countryside."

-Do you think the place is romanticised?

"No, I don't think so, I think you just think that if you live there you know. I think it is nice to visit, providing you don't go there with a snobby state of mind."

-How important is music to you?

"It's my all...apart from eating biscuits in bed and reading. Ha ha ha!"

-Do you think music has healing powers!?

"I don't know you'll have to ask a doctor! Ha, ha!"

-Do politics interest you in any way?

"Er, I'm a 'Slowdownist'."

-Hmmm, but are you happy with the way other people seem to run your life?

"No I'm not, but my answer is everything should slow down, so we can work the things out, rather than go bleurrrghh! and think that they'll work out. And we find out five years later they'll be totally fucked up as history has shown over and over again."

-What are your opinions on the music business?

"It's all a bit 'Tinsel and Knobhead', you know. That side of it I hate. Somebody's gotta come along and not be 'Tinsel and Knobhead', show the way and that's what I'd like to do."

-What improvements would you make to the music business?

"I'd get rid of all the A&R men in the world...except Chas Smash, he's our man!!!"

- The very same man who is in Madness, no less. The writing was on the wall for the Stairs when he left Go! Discs to reunite with Suggs to re-launch Madness.

-Mark E Smith of The Fall recently blasted bands who copy other bands, what do you think to this?

"I think he's quite right in a way. He's a good bloke Mark E Smith like. I think the way they went about it was a totally different way that we went about it. We're trying to learn from those people, we're not trying to steal from them. One day I hope to be doing something that's not borrowed completely from the past but I mean, they did it as well. The Fall did, so they can't really talk!"

-Will you always record in mono?

"That's just a particular sound for the singles we're doing at the moment like. The album's in mono as well."

-How do you think the Stairs' sound will progress from here?

"Aw, I know how it's gonna progress. 'Cos we've wrote the songs. More into soft psych first, then gradually fading out into er, well I suppose the easiest way to describe it is, we're doing a degree in R&B, to do a Phd in Psychedelia. That's what I always say, Ha Ha!"

If you are a fan of the Stairs and would like to add your own tribute to this band then e-mail me and I will add them to this page with more photos and stuff.

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