Sub Sub

As teenagers all three members of Sub Sub were in various bands. Twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams biggest moment being in Static Mist and winning the BBC's Battle of the Bands local heat. (Someone somewhere still has this on Betamax!). Jimi Goodwin was in local band The Risk. After school and spending months of nights sweating on the dancefloor of The Hacienda in 1989, Jez and Andy bumbed into their old school friend Jimi at Hot night. There was an exchange of conversation with the twins explaining that they were working together on some House tracks and would Jimi be interested in joining? Jimi said yes, although he thought it was more one of those conversations you have that were quickly forgotten in the sober light of the day. However Jimi got the call and went to see the twins who already had one composition nearly completed, a breakbeat track called Spaceface. Jimi helped work on another track, Ecto-jam Sub. They were pleased with the results and borrowing £500 from Andy and Jez's mum pressed a 12" white label of the two tunes. It sold out immediately through local shops such as Eastern Bloc and Manchester Underground. Another load was pressed, which also sold out, spreading the tracks underground popularity to clubs such as Warrington's Legends and Stoke's Shelley's. Every penny was paid back to Jez and Andy's mum! The band were picked up by 10 Records, the track re-recorded and put out with a picture cover of Jodrell Bank satellite dish. After the club (but not commercial) success of Spaceface the band were dropped by 10 Records and signed to Rob Gretton's Rob's Records. With songwriting credits split equally three ways they put out a collection of well received underground EPs including the superb instrumental Coast EP. In 1993 the band had an unexpected UK number 3 hit with Ain't No Love (Ain't No Use). The band's friend Melanie Williams sung vocals on the track- a disco-house monster that rocked the dancefloors. They played Top of the Pops twice, the first time with a mirrorball perched on an old scruffy upside-down wooden stool. They also appeared on Channel 4's late night yoof program The Word along with Sean Ryder and Zippy and Bungle from Rainbow. In 1994 the LP Full Fathom Five was released and a few more EPs, but none of them causing much of a stir in the charts. By this time the band had brought in full time female vocalist Nina Henchion, but the relationship wasn't a great one and only lasted for a year or so. The band were busy doing PAs and gigs at various clubs, raves and festivals often going on stage at 3am, all a bit worse for wear! From the success of Ain't No Love... the band had been able to afford to rent their own small recording studio in Out of the Blue Studios, Blossom Street, Ancoats. Around this period after Nina left, the band looked for a permanent male vocalist and spent months auditioning for a prospective frontman. Rob Gretton kept trying to convince the band that Jimi had a great voice and would be a the perfect singer for the band (Jimi already sang on a lot of the demos). The band's sound was becoming less electronic, and they started to move back to the instruments they had played before the dance explosion - guitars, live drums and bass- but still keeping an electronic edge and using samples. One strange evening Tricky popped in to the studio and there and then layed down some vocals (in one take) over an instrumental the band had been working on. The track was released as Smoking Beagles. The band also recorded with Bernard Sumner (New Order) on This Time I'm Not Wrong. A video was shot for this song. In 1996, whilst the twins were celebrating their birthdays, an electrical fire caused by a rain leak, started at the studio. After a night partying Jez and Andy returned home to a telephone message from Jimi. They met up at the burnt studio as quickly as they could. As Jez said "everything was destroyed, the master tapes, the desk, even the couch". Jimi had turned up first to find a fireman sitting on a melted amplifier playing his acoustic guitar. Miraculously, only the manager's extensive (and expensive) record collection remained untouched by the heat and flames. Using back-up DATs the band had at home some songs survived, many of them later released on the Dutch and Austrailian only LP The Delta Tapes. After much thought the band decided that a name-change would be a good idea and a catalyst for a fresh start. They moved into a studio rented from New Order in Cheetham Hill and started writing tracks. After a few arguments the boys decided to call themselves Doves and Jimi took on the role as lead vocals...(See Doves)