Suck On The Pastels, New Musical Express, 25th January, 1986

Five singles old and The Pastels aren’t as funny as Lloyd Cole. Nonplussed Neil Taylor wonders why. Pastel shades Lawrence Watson (see)
In tests, eight out of ten journalists said as hip cats they didn’t prefer The Pastels. In market research, awash with tales of four labels in as many years, dubious discs, dirty dufflecoats, and patchy performances, figure suggest that many of the public toe the journalistic line. It has been said that when Stephen Pastel incessantly echoes the title line to the rather-immortal ‘I wonder Why’. A lot of people wonder why, also. I wonder why ?
" The thing about The Pastels, " begins Stephen, main sweetie, annoracked and afflicted with a perpetual sniff, " is that The Pastels released their demos as singles. In retrospect, that has probably not been a good thing. It’s meant that we’ve been through a few record companies – Whaam !, Rough Trade, Creation (RIP), and our new one – and rather hurriedly released singles when perhaps the time wasn’t right. We’ve made mistakes. We went to Rough Trade (to release ‘I Wonder Why’) when Alan McGee wanted to release records by us simply because he was a fan. Rough Trade promised us they’d make us into the new Aztec Camera. Luckily, they didn’t. I don’t think I could even face being the old one ! "

The Pastels – Scottish, naturally- formed two and a half years ago but the current packet of four –Stephen, Brian, Bernice and martin – have been together for one and a half years – one and a half stormy years. The tail end of last year saw the release of their current single ‘I’m Allright With You’, released surprisingly on Creation records. It was a surprise because up until Creation, The Pastels had never released more than one single for any label. Howerver, fitting in with their image, at the time of the release of the last single they were being thrown off Creation. And yet, with five releases – some of them admittedly dodgy – in 30 months, The Pastels have become relatively influential in their soft-pop field.

" When you say we’re influential, " continues Stephen, " what you probably mean is that our attitude to our music has been influential. There was a time, initially, when we felt very alienated from other groups but now it seems that there are a lots of groups who have things in common with us. In Scotland, all Brian and I had in common was that we hated all those other scottish groups – groups like Simple Minds. Simple Minds, for instance, are comedy and they always have been. There’s an awful lot of people remember their pub days when they used to huddle ‘round a synthesizer looking pretentious, thinking up Velvet Underground or sub-standard Velvets type songs. Anyone remember ‘Chelsea girl’ ?

" We formed The Pastels just for the hell of annoying these people and it’s healthy that the tradition can still be carried on. Today the new Scottish comedy act is Lloyd Cole. The thing that is particularly funny about Lloyd Cole is that people treat him with respect as a lyricist, and it’s so patently obvious that respect is what he so desperately wants. Why do people get into groups ? Some people maybe want money. Some people maybe want girls. Lloyd Cole wants respect ! "

This is, of course, fighting talk coming from a group notorious for its lack of lyrical concern and famous over the country over for odd dubious performances. The Pastels sound has always been that of pure pop, an amalgation of terse, tuneful guitars and Stephen Pastel’s light and fragile vocals. The band has definitely toughened up its live performances in the post-Mary Chain period and their singles, starting with the brilliant ‘I Wonder Why’ and travelling through to the current ‘I’m Allright With You’, have progressively got harder. But you wouldn’t have to be an irate Lloyd Cole fan to be able to accuse The Pastels of being a) completely wimpy and miserable to boot, b)pathetic lyricists, and c)possibly both a) and b).
" Well I don’t think lyrics are that important, " comments Stephen. " If people say we’re wimpy they usually mean our lyrics or my singing is wimpy. In my opinion treating lyrics with high regard is only one step removed from printing them on the back of the sleeve. I’d rather write simple lyrics around a great tune than sit at home like you know who being a 14-year-old bedroom poet who wants nothing more than respect from his music teacher. Let’s face it, the only lyrics you notice are the offensive ones ! "

Last year The Pastels parted company with Creation Records. Performing last november on a ‘Creation Night’ at Riverside Studios with The Membranes and Slaughter Joe, it was agreed that the running order for the evening would be decided on the toss of a coin, despite the fact that in some music papers The Membranes were billed as headliners. The Membranes lost the toss and an argument between the bands started. Quickly it developed into a Creation v. The Membranes contest. The Pastels sided with The Membranes. On the following morning both bands had been thrown off the label.

" Of course as this year develops, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the best Creation can hope to achieve is to become the new Cherry red : at worst, like Postcard, it will sink without trace ".

Springtime should see The Pastels firmly placed with a new label. In the meantime, there’s an uneasy, slow-burning tension surrounding the group. Their soft-coated hard exterior has always been more well suited to annoying pop rather than truly concentrating on producing it. They exist in an awkward comfort, able to snigger at pop because, I suspect, they know their limitations.

" We don’t want to end up like those ex-memebers of Altered Images you see aimlessly wandering around Glasgow, " comments Brian. " It’s a tragedy, they constantly reform failed groups because they can’t do anything elses and, worse, they simply don’t know how to give up. "