This is the first number recorded after the departure of UJ (Zhang Yao Min) from UNIT as a performing member of the group. I wrote it as an act of defiance, to prove to myself we could continue in his absence...even though, frankly, I didn’t really believe it!Colin had only recently joined the group – he made his debut on our previous album, the 2 disc set Civil Disobedience. Fritz began to adopt a more prominent role perhaps to compensate for the absence of UJ and I quickly improved my keyboard technique...although this is definitely not evident here! The track is a rarity among my works because it only uses 2 chords as opposed to my usual 2 dozen. Personally I find the track goes on a little too long – after 2 minutes I find it too repetitive but not everyone agrees and it has garnered radio play.
Although most of the text is by me, 2 lines (milling through the grinder, grinding through the mill, if this is not an exercise, could it be a drill) are by Wire. This signalled a sudden realisation that all 3 current group members possessed the complete recorded studio repertoire of works by Wire. Later we decided to pay homage to this by paying actual tribute to this magnificent group: we each selected one of their tracks and made our own arrangements of them. Thus (also available on this site) you can hear our versions of Used To, Marooned, Song 1, Go Ahead and You Can’t Leave Now, all recorded in 2012.
I’m looking around, awaiting my turn,
like flickering flames that slowly burn –
the more I listen, the more I learn.
Milling through the grinder, grinding through the mill,
thinking of those bastards I’d really love to kill –
if this is not an exercise, could it be a drill?
I’m looking around, awaiting my turn,
like flickering flames that slowly burn –
the more I listen, the more I learn.
Andy Martin (vocals, piano), Fabian Fritze (bass guitar, viola)
and Colin Murrell (drums) + the voice of William Burroughs.
If you have enjoyed this track we recommend you check out these works by UNIT on this site
A Study Of Alkaline Metals
Barbara's Bridge
Another Faded Fragment
The Quasar
Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes
A Normal Child
Donations to our finances can be made ([email protected]) if you wish to support our future work.
In 2016 we released our 30th album (Fast – Clean – Cheap) and with it an era passed. We realised it is neither necessary nor desirable to continue to issue our work on compact discs. The process is expensive and time consuming (pressing CDs, printing booklets and tray cards, buying jiffy bags, going to the post office – it’s so 1990s) so now Band Camp exists, an avenue is presented by which we can release our work to the public directly. Our projects will be obtainable from this address:
unit-united.bandcamp.com.
IMPORTANT NOTE: The paypal address for our Band Camp and Lulu sites is now [email protected].
In addition there are currently 12 books available. These are proper books in print, not fake, ersatz ‘books’ you see advertised on the internet these days as ‘e-books’. They can be purchased from lulu.com. Type ‘Andy Martin – Grange Hill’ to locate them.
[email protected]
