Diesel Park West

The first time most people may have heard of the band would have been around August 1987 when the indie single “When the Hoodoo Comes” started to get played on night-time radio, leading to a full session later that year which really got tongues wagging.

By late 87 the band had become available hot property in London with the majors all forming a disorderly pack of signature chasers. Overnight sensations? Not really. There had been some formative years grimly holding on to principles while music in the UK was being led by some seriously transparent early-mid eighties “artistes”. In fact strange as it might seem now, the guitars position as the pivotal popular instrument looked to be at an end. There were guitar bands of course and the worldwide success of U2 ensured that record companies were constantly looking for something similar, but the influences of the previous decade (with a few exceptions) had largely been unhelpful. By early ’88 however things were starting to change a little and Food records were signed to EMI Records in order for the label to get its hands on the Indies latest band… Diesel Park West. Now with major backing, the band started to record the debut album which was soon to have a considerable impact, “Shakespeare Alabama”. Although the album never delivered a huge breakthrough hit single it did generate enough influence on the times and create such a buzz about the band to ensure them a special place in the bigger picture.

Three whole years however were to slip by until the second album “Decency” was to surface. In true major label style there had been a lot of executive positioning ready for the inevitable massive breakthrough. Like all dead certs it never quite worked out the way it was meant, and despite an “almost hit single Fall to Love” in early 92, the band were divorced by the overweight EMI and seemed set to follow the well worn path of other major-label victims…thank you and goodnight. Well no! Not at all, in fact for a variety of reasons the creative rivers were really starting to flow at this point.

The band had forged a strong musical identity onstage, drawing upon its own musical influences which are now acknowledged as being seminal. As rock has grown older with an unexpected dignity, names such as the Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, Big Star, the Brian Jones era Stones and Love are mostly free from misguided taboos which had been largely born of ignorance. Free to operate within its own taste Diesel Park West have so far gone on to release five independent albums which have all maintained a high critique for the band.

The band entered the indie sector which obviously couldn’t provide the major promotional backup and international profile of EMI but any sort of external shackles were at last off. “The Corporate Waltz” in 1993 might be taken as evidence that if the band been retained by the major a breakthrough would have indeed followed. The hugely (then) influential Q Magazine stated that ‘when the marketing department at EMI hear “The Cats Still Scratching” it will have them eating the carpet.’ And so it proved in a way because that song remains the only Diesel Park West song ever to be playlisted on UK national radio (a vital ingredient for a hit single) albeit and ironically on Virgin radio and not the all powerful beeb. This album swirls and delves right into the heart of the band’s subconscious vision with songs “Where Will The Birds Sing”, “Good Times Liberation Blues”, “Old Mans Bluff”, or the great pop swing of “Vanity” leading the way.

It’s a given in rock n roll lore that second albums can often be a bit awkward or difficult to get right because of various energies used by the writers being syphoned off for the actual process of promoting a debut record. This, a largely unacknowledged factor in the Diesels’ camp, is what happened between late 89-90. It speaks well of the band that they nevertheless delivered tracks of quality such as “While The World Cries Decency” and “Fall To Love” for “Decency”, the “difficult second album”.

It is however “The Corporate Waltz” which provides the clear white light of proof that this group from the English Midlands should have dominated rock for at least a good decade instead of the dreary Mancunian tones which actually did. Sonically it carries the perfect balance of pure spirit mixed with a deliberate and knowing rock edge, a combination often spoken of but achieved rarely by many bands. Label affiliates Blur broke through (after holding on to their deal with EMI using one finger nail) with the third album “Parklife” and so it could have been with DPW but fate, having mischievously decreed otherwise, decided they were to run through the jungle fully laden with no maps or support. This band however proved to be more than tough enough for the task.

To be continued…