TEARDROP EXPLODES KILIMANJARO

Langer reconnects with Julian Cope, one of his old Liverpool muckers, and the duo polish the crown jewels – “Treason”, “Reward” – on the band’s debut album WINSTANLEY: We came in late on Kilimanjaro. It had almost been done, by Bill Drummond and [manager and keyboardist] Dave Balfe. We did three songs: “Reward”, “Treason” and, I think, “Books”. LANGER: It was the Liverpool collection. I’d played in Big In Japan with Ian [Broudie] because Bill Drummond was away, and The Crucial Three [Liverpool band featuring Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie] were hanging around at [legendary local club] Eric’s. Deaf School had opened Eric’s in 1976, and then a whole scene started. When it came to Teardrops making a record, their drummer [Gary Dwyer] was a massive Deaf School fan; not so much Julian. But Julian was fine. We all got on. WINSTANLEY: They came to us before the LP and we cut “Treason” at TW. It was a cult hit. Later we did “Reward” and it went Top 10, so they re-released “Treason”. LANGER: The chorus to “Treason” was originally the outro. When I first heard it, I thought it sounded like the chorus. Balfe said, “Oh, we can’t do that,” but it worked. And “Reward” was going to be a B-side, but as soon as we started working on it, it jumped out. WINSTANLEY: The record company really didn’t like the trumpet solo at the end. They wanted to replace it with a guitar solo. We refused. LANGER: There was only one trumpet, but it sounded enormous! The whole point was that the character in the song was enhanced by the trumpet. Putting a guitar solo on was an old-fashioned rock mentality. We were breaking into new territory.