Doktor gets a drum roll
QUESTION Rock band The Sisters Of Mercy’s famous drum machine is called Doktor Avalanche. Is it the same one they started with?
THE Sisters Of Mercy were one of the best Goth bands of the 1980s and early 1990s, best remembered for their cadaverous frontman Andrew Eldritch, hit album Floodland, brilliant single This Corrosion and their unique band member – Doktor Avalanche.
Though the only constant member of the band with Eldritch, Doktor Avalanche has been through many incarnations.
The band formed in Leeds in 1980 with Eldritch on drums, but he soon recognised he wasn’t good enough. He bought a BOSS DR-55 Doctor Rhythm drum machine, renamed Doktor Avalanche for its cascading rhythms.
It was replaced by a series of Roland machines: the TR-606 Drumatix, TR-808 Rhythm Composer and TR-909 Cloud. For debut album First And Last And Always, the Doktor was an Oberheim DMX, a classic machine memorably used on New Order’s 1983 hit Blue Monday. The album’s success meant the Doktor could be upgraded to a Yamaha RX5, the machine favoured by the likes of The Pet Shop Boys and A-ha.
This was a major transformation, for Doktor Avalanche had become a drum sampler. While a drum machine is an electronic device that generates percussion sounds that you play using touch-sensitive pads, a sampler is an electronic device that records, alters and plays back digital audio.
You can distribute the sounds across a musical keyboard or play them automatically.
It was during this time that Eldritch was briefly joined by bassist Patricia Morrison and the band bought their most important sampler, the Akai S900, used to record most of Floodland, though they used an Akai S1000 on stage. The first digital Doktor appeared in the form of a set of Compaq portable PCs. In recent years, the Digital Doktor has been moved to a custom-built laptop. Modern t e c hnology means Eldritch can access historic samples for an authentic sound.
Nick Edwards, Gloucester.
QUESTION How has having the same name as a famous person affected your life?
BEING called Barry White has certainly led to some amusing situations. These mostly entail goodnatured banter and endless requests to ‘give us a song’. It always happens when I have to give my full name.
Over the years this has become a bit boring, so it was with foreboding that I approached the receptionist at a garage to sign for work they had done to my car.
After years of hearing the same old comments, I’ve developed a method of dealing with these situations.
So as I signed the documents, I said to the young lady behind the desk: ‘Don’t bother asking me to sing, because I don’t do requests.’
After checking my signature on the form, she replied: ‘ That’s all right, Barry, I know what you mean – my name’s Tina Turner!’
Barry White, Malvern, Worcs.
QUESTION What are the most depressing Yuletide songs?
FURTHER to the earlier answer, in many cases these dour Christmas songs are so depressing that they’re funny.
One example is Emmy The Great and Tim Wheeler with (Don’t Call Me) Mrs Christmas: ‘You promised me paradise, but all I got was snow and ice.’
Over a cheery tune, Mrs Claus laments being left alone at Christmas again. I’m Gonna Get Well Away by The Piranhas has: ‘Nothing makes me more miserable than too much Christmas cheer / The only good thing about Christmas is it only happens once a year.’ ‘Boring’ Bob Grover goes off to the pub rather than suffer Christmas with his family.
Dead Dead Dead, by Juan Schwartz (the pseudonym of South Park co-creator Trey Parker), has: ‘So look long at that Christmas tree, It may be the last one that you see / Decorate your house in green and red / ’Cause some day you’ll be dead.’
He sings about appreciating your l i f e and f amily because you never know what may happen tomorrow.
The Humdrum Express song The Day After Boxing Day has: ‘I smiled and greeted the family as they arrived on Christmas Eve.
‘Three days later they’re still here, can’t get the freeloaders to leave.’
Spitting Image entertained us with Santa Claus Is On The Dole: ‘The reindeer have been sold for glue, you might as well be naughty.’ The premise is that Santa has been made redundant because giving away gifts doesn’t please the taxman.
The Long Blondes song Christmas Is Cancelled has: ‘Oh no, don’t worry about me. I’ll just have fish and chips for tea. I’ll watch the Queen and go to sleep.’
After a broken relationship, Christmas alone isn’t fun.
QUESTION How did Glutton Bridge, near Buxton in England, get its unusual name?
GLUTTON BRIDGE is a picturesque cluster of farms and cottages. A bridge crosses the River Dove north of Longnor and marks the Staffordshire/ Derbyshire boundary.
There is a local story that the bridge derives its name from the wolverine. This mammal, which resembles a small bear, is the largest member of the weasel family.
Its scientific name, Gulo gulo, comes from the Latin word for glutton. However, this seems farfetched as the wolverine became extinct in Britain in 6000BC.
The first known reference to Glutton Bridge is 1358, when it was known as Glotunhous. Local historians suspect the bridge is on land that belonged to the Le Glutun family. Simon Le Glutun was recorded in Pipe Rolls – English treasury records – in 1201.
On Glutton Bridge, you can witness the rare phenomenon of a double sunset behind a limestone outcrop known as Chrome Hill. In good weather, for a short time around the summer solstice, the sun sets south-west of the summit of the hill and begins to re-emerge almost immediately from its steep north- eastern slope. After fully reappearing, the sun sets for a second time at the foot of the hill.
Lesley Thorpe, Buxton, Derbys.
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