Picture of Philip
by Roger's Brother
Paintpot Records of Chester, 1982
Picture of Philip by Roger's Brother, the second release on Chester's Paintpot label from 1982. We found it in the Garden Lane loft under a large cardboard box full of old kettles and toasters. It was out of it's cover and ingrained with 40 years of dust and biscuits (Rich Tea, possibly Malted Milk) acounting for the rather crackly reproduction on these tracks. Please take this into account when listening to this lost gem.
Mention ‘Paintpot Records’ to the ageing gig-attending population of Chester and the likely response (if you get one at all) will be ‘Roger’s Brother!’. But some Chester ultras may say: ‘Oh Holy Mary, do you remember Paperback Marxist!’.
Well yes, actually, yes we do. We will return to Roger’s Brother, but Paperback Marxist were three lads who shook Upton back in 1982, with their harsh analogue industrial cacophony and German-accented Ballardian shouting ubiquitous that autumn and winter, wherever gloomy youths in overcoats would gather (mostly Angels nightclub). Made up of trainee teachers Dave and Dave, zookeeper John and Rula Prohaska on ‘programming’, Paperback Marxist burned very brightly on the local scene for about six months, with interest from Probe Records probably being their finest hour. Some work in the fanzine archives reveals that Rula appears to have been entirely fictional, with an interview with one of the Daves revealing that ‘She’s an exchange student from Gdańsk, she can’t always get to gigs’. Hmmm, I think we understand.
Paperback Marxist put out a frantic single (‘Fernsehen’) and a more thoughtful EP (‘Hamburg Sud Terminal’) and then thankfully split up, with only the taller Dave left to steer Paintpot into its brief moment in the sunlight as the home of later-nearly-successful Roger’s Brother's first single, ‘Picture of Philip’.
‘Picture of Phillip’ may well be the wettest record ever made, in a period notable for fey, trebly accounts of jumpers lost on beaches, flowers bought but never delivered and boys chewing their lips while plucking up the courage (and the change) to buy an ‘Um Bongo’ and some Poppets from Angela in the newsagents. ‘Picture of Phillip’ made Sarah Goes Shopping (our personal favourite) look like Motorhead and the June Brides (awful) sound like the UK Subs. The three wistful youths comprising Roger’s Brother were Parkin, Ben and Russell, from Westminster Park. Recorded in Parkin’s dad’s garden retreat (shed) on a borrowed four track, only 50 copies were pressed and sold largely at their Community Centre gigs and through the post after John Peel played it once, described it as ‘winsome’ and read out Parkin’s address.
‘Picture of Philip’ and it’s b-sides ‘Felt Heart’ and ‘Kim Philby’ appeared on a local compilation cassette (‘New Futures’) at the time and now Speedboat present shiny new mp3s taken directly from the original vinyl .
The record didn’t make any serious waves, but it covered the costs of the pressing and allowed Dave from Paperback Marxist to hope for bigger things. He was correct here in the sense that someone from Virgin heard the single and signed Roger’s Brother to an onerous one-album deal. Subject to the work of a ‘stylist’ and the oversight of producer Martin Rushent, the boys produced one single ‘Oh Theresa!’, which removed all traces of the band except Parkin’s reedy voice and styled them in big white shirts and backwards flat-caps. ‘Oh Theresa!’ peaked at 223 in the charts and the album never happened.
Roger’s Brother leave only two more traces on the available record: an appearance on the BBC’s lunchtime show for students and people on the dole ‘Pebble Mill at One’ which followed a same day cancellation by Buck’s Fizz. Even ubiquitous daytime presenter Marian Foster looked ill at ease as Roger’s Brother mimed ineptly to a song they clearly had minimal involvement in. A month later Sounds gave the following clarification: “…can confirm that Roger’s Brother will NOT be touring with Girls’ School, what we meant to say was that Roger’s Brother will be touring some girl’s schools. On the Wirral.” Copies of ‘Oh, Theresa!’ still turn up on ebay, with a possibly apocryphal 12-inch including a remix and ‘O, Thérèse!’ bonus track where Parkin - you guessed it - sings it in ‘O’ level French. Le pauvre salaud.
The taller Dave from Paperback Marxist has just retired as Head of legal services at a London Borough. He’s just bought a vintage Fostex, ‘just to kick some ideas around’.
(Jake) Parkin from Roger’s Brother doesn’t talk about his nearly-pop career. His children are in their late-twenties. If you asked them what he was interested in they would say ‘Er…maybe Formula 1?’.
Russell played slap-bass in 80’s jazz-funk cocktail combo Spirit Level, who were genuinely awful. He teaches music at an FE college and still pushes his jacket sleeves up to his elbows.
No word on Ben's whereabouts.
Rula went to another college. In another country. On the other side of the Iron Curtain.