I've been looking forward to this a lot. I love Wire Assembly, partly for their music, but more than anything because no one else seemed to love them. There have been a few times where I've been the only person in the cinema (the 2pm weekday showing of Tarkovsky's Sacrifice at The Anvil in Sheffield in 1986, for example), but Wire Assembly hold the dubious distinction of being the only band where I was the only one in the audience who wasn't either 'on the door' or going out with a member of the band. I think even then I didn't talk to them much; just sat back, "I've paid my entrance fee: entertain me!" That was upstairs at The Hallamshire on West Street in Sheffield — probably the venue I saw them in most times, though there was also Graves Art Gallery, the Mappin Gallery (supporting Derek Bailey, I think) and possibly The Grapes.
Occasionally I sought to persuade them to record a follow-up to this cassette, and I think one was planned for some time. But sadly I guess few were echoing my demand; then John Hanlon, one third of the band, left Sheffield, which put paid to the recording and the ensemble.
Google can't seem to find me a single reference to Wire Assembly's existence. I've only discovered one passing mention on the Neil Carver bio on Martin Archer's site. This is sad, and needs changing. Even Peter Stubley's profile of John Jasnoch on his European Free Improvisation site fails to mention John's work in Wire Assembly. So, for the record, here are the unabridged sleeve notes and credits for the cassette, reproduced from the original which is in the old sans-serif font that mid-80s daisy wheel printers used.
SIDE A
Worrals
Worrals Goes East
Robotnik
L. L. the Disco King
Out Walked duB
Primary
V. Returns
Strung High
SIDE B
All Of It, Why not . . .
Chi-ken
The Bend
The Ringer/Almost Thinking Of You On A Clear Day (buzz mix)
Recorded in Sheffield '85
All compositions copyright Wire Assembly
WIRE ASSEMBLY are. . .
John Hanlon (acoustic/electric guitars)
John Jasnoch (acoustic/electric guitars)
Neil Carver (acoustic/electric guitars)
Outside of Wire Assembly, I think John Hanlon made at least one documentary (about the Sheffield Pensioners Action Group, SPAG!) under the umbrella of Sheffield Independent Film, but the John Hanlon's that you'll find on IMDb aren't him. I noticed many years after he left Sheffield that a John Hanlon was credited as guitar technician on some of Neil Young's albums, but I was disappointed to learn that that wasn't him either. Neil Carver was a psychiatric nurse last time I heard. Since his Wire Assembly days, he's added a large number of children's toys to his instrumentation. If I ever knew what John Jasnoch's day job was, I've forgotten, but he now plays ud, mandolin, bouzouki, ukulele and probably banjo as well as guitar. His latest project, Ransac, is, remarkably, reported to "song based" — more at his MySpace.
I still like the music. As befits the ensemble's name, it sounds alternately like coathangers dancing, like halyards click-clacking against the masts of sailing boats (one of my favourite sounds in the world, in small doses), like large springs being coiled, and like a cable car changing gears as it passes an intermediate pylon.
I wish I could turn the cassette into MP3s for safe keeping. I've just made a copy on to mini-disc, but there's always the risk that that too will be unplayable in future decades.
If you come across anything to add to the story of Wire Assembly please comment below.
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