Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes

Formed from around, and within, the Edinburgh indie-pop scene of the mid 1980's, Jesse Garon And The Desperadoes had a distinctive guitar-jangle sound with male and female vocals.Strong, Martin C.:"The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", 1999, Canongate, ISBN 0-86241-913-1] The band took their name from Elvis Presley's stillborn twin brother, Jesse Garon Presley.

The original members were:
* Andrew Tully - guitars/vocals
* Angus McPake - bass guitar
* Fran Schoppler - vocals
* Margarita Vasquez-Ponte - drums
* Kevin McMahon - guitars
* Stuart Clarke - guitars

Tully and Vasquez-Ponte were also members of Rote Kapelle a band that was active from 1985-1988.

Early releases

This initial line-up recorded the first two singles, "Splashing Along" and "The Rain Fell Down", on Narodnik Records. With the departure of McMahon and Clarke, Bruce Hopkins and John Robb were drafted in for third single, the "Billy The Whizz EP", these being replaced on a more permanent basis by Michael Kerr (of Meat Whiplash). Next release was a flexi-disc featuring the track "Hank Williams Is Dead" along with a track by The Fizzbombs, a side-project of Margarita and Angus, along with Ann Donald of The Shop Assistants. Moving to Velocity Records, the band released two more well-received singles, "The Adam Faith Experience" and "You'll Never Be That Young Again", followed by first album, "A Cabinet Of Curiosities", which collected the tracks released to date.

Second phase

In 1989, Kerr left to join The Darling Buds, and the band returned in 1990 with single "Grand Hotel", a reference to the IRA bombing of Brighton's Grand Hotel, the venue for the Conservative Party conference. Tully described this as a 'fuck Thatcher and fuck the IRA for not killing her when they had the chance' song [Press release for "A Cabinet Of Curiosities"] - the band never afraid to be controversial. The album "Nixon" followed, and in October 1990, they released their final single, the "Hold Me Now EP".

Discography

Singles

* "Splashing Along" (Oct 1986, Narodnik, NRK001 [7"] )
* "The Rain Fell Down" (Mar 1987, Narodnik, NRK002 [7"] )
* "Billy The Whizz EP" (May 1987, Narodnik, NRK005T [12"] )
* "Hank Williams Is Dead" (1987, Wild Rumpus, ? [7" flexi] )
* "The Adam Faith Experience" (Jan 1988, Velocity, SPEED001 [7"] /SPEEDT001 [12"] ) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJc4JdY4g4 video]
* "You'll Never Be That Young Again" (Jan 1989, Velocity, SPEED002 [7"] )
* "Grand Hotel" (Jan 1990, Avalanche, AGAP002 [7"] ) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8bdbIiWAQE video]
* "Hold Me Now EP" (Oct 1990, Avalanche, AGAP001 [12"] )

Albums

* "A Cabinet Of Curiosities" (Jan 1989, Velocity, SPEEDLP111 [LP] )
* "Nixon" (Mar 1990, Avalanche, ? [LP] /ONLY CD 001 [CD] )

References