7. The Wedding PresentGeorge Best
Before Lambchop was Lambchop, we were called Posterchild. One of the things that inspired me at that time was David Gedge’s articulate expression of complex ideas through aggressive music. Later, we did a show in Paris with the Wedding Present, and that was a big moment for me. Personally, the Wedding Present in all its magnificence was really the band with the guy from the Ukrainians in there. For a while, we totally wanted to emulate that, but we tried many things. It only came to mind to do such because I didn’t think anyone was fucking listening. Also, David Gedge is a Northerner, and I’m drawn to that. Maybe it’s the accent, but there’s definitely a thing about music from Manchester and the rest of the region that moves me in way that’s different to the South of England – although I have loved some music from down there as well. At that time, Manchester seemed to be one of the most interesting places in the UK, with so many great ideas coming out of there. It’s like New Orleans or something. Still is – I was listening to Cabbage the other day, and I was like, "wow, here we go again". I love the accent – it was very noticeable to me when we would make our monthly trip to London to go to the orthodontist, and it was a completely different culture. I’m very fond of that, in lots of ways. I like Sheffield Wednesday, and Lancashire Cricket.
