Hot Water in session for John Peel

Bangor post-punk band Hot Water have a radio session aired on John Peel’s Radio One show.

Tracks: Dark Fooling Man, Boxer, Back To The Beach, Motorway.

Line up: Brenda Prescott (voc), Sheila Macartney (voc), John Lovering (gtr), Annie Williams (keys), Paul Shroud (bass), Jeff Taylor (sax), Roy Smith (perc), Owen Hughes (drms).

Recorded at Maida Vale 30.08.78

Owen would later run Cob Records in Bangor

Speaking in 2012, Annie said, ‘Had a band practice last night and three of us from Hot Water (Paul and Brenda) put our heads together and came up with some memories. We got the session after asking John Peel to come and see us playing in the Marquee. This came about because we played support to a band (name escapes us but will ask others) at Yale College in Wrexham and their gear didn’t turn up so they used ours and jokingly we said – give us a support spot at the Marquee – they kept to their word. We sent an amusing letter to John Peel telling him we’d lick him all over if he came to see us and left a big red kiss on the letter. John Walters produced it and Paul remembers him listening back to each track on a tiny little monitor – like a trannie. When the recording went out Paul was in hospital in Liverpool having a major operation next day and in instead of calling him Paul Stroud he was referred to as Paul Shroud which cheered him up immensely!’

Speaking in 2022 after finding the audio for the session on YouTube, Owen Hughes says; ‘It reminded me that the band had played one of the songs from the session ‘Back to the Beach’ on the television programme Granada Reports which went out live on November 28 1978 with Tony Wilson introducing it. Things seemed to go well and while walking down a corridor at the Granada studios I had a door opened for me by none other than Ken Barlow of Coronation Street..it was the thing that impressed my mum most about my musical career!
‘Because it went out live we never saw the show at the time but it was arranged for us to have a Phillips VCR recording of it. The VCR was an early type of video recording (before Betamax and VHS) but hardly anyone had a player at the time. We eventually found a local college who had one and we all trooped ove there to watch what turned out to be our only televisual appearance – it was rather good! However at some point over the following years the tape disappeared and we never saw it again. If anyone out there in facebookland has any idea as to it’s whereabouts it would be great to hear from you…‘

He continues, ‘Yesterday I also found the ticket for the Students Union Christmas Ball from 1978 when John Peel came up to Bangor to DJ with us – exactly 44 years ago today!! It turned out that he had not booked any accommodation so he ended up staying in our tiny spare bedroom. I think he was disappointed with my complete lack of knowledge about football but we bonded over a mutual admiration for the great Texas R+B singer Delbert McClinton whom John had known from his days DJing in Dallas.’