From:         [email protected] (Rob)
Date:         1996/10/30
Newsgroups:   alt.music.4ad

This is an "exact" transcript of an Obituary to Chris Acland that
appeared in the UK newspaper, "The Independent" on Monday 21st
October 1996.  All copyright remains with them.  Any inaccuracies
other than those of spelling are theirs (and I think that there
are 1 or 2!) and I claim absolutley no responsibility for them.
If any information about some of the references in the article is
needed, please post them to alt.music.4ad rather than emailing me,
thanks!

In the late 1980s, before grunge and Britpop, shoegazing (so called
because performers were doing literally that, staring at their feet
while playing) was the buzz word on the UK indie scene and Lush,
whose drummer Chris Acland committed suicide on 17 October, prime
exponents of that much misunderstood musical genre, along with Ride
Slowdive and, My Bloody Vaientine. After the early success of the
Spooky album (a top ten entry in 1992), Lush floundered somewhat,
but came back with a vengeance and three hit singles earlier this
year.  The band was formed in 1988 by Miki Berenyi (vocals / guitar)
and Emma Anderson (guitar / vocals), two disaffected students who'd
met at Queen's College (a girls school) in London and edited the
Alphabet Soup fanzine. At the beginning, the group also comprised
drummer Chris Acland (who was at the time Berenyi's boyfriend),
bassist Steve Rippon and vocalist Meriel Barham who soon departed
to form the Pale Saints. Despite early shambolic live performances
at the Falcon in Camden, Lush's early etheral sound brought them
to the attention of 4AD supremo Ivo Watts-Russell. The alternative
label of Beggar's Banquet, 4AD had already achieved a modicum of
success with the Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil and Lush seemed
to fit the mysterious style, distant image and art-house sound of
the imprint.  In October 1989, their first release, a mini-album
entitled Scar appeared. and the incestuous British music press went
into overdrive and praised it to the heavens. However in a rather
perverse move, the fourpiece decided to follow it with a series of
EPs (the "Mad Love" and "Black Spring four-trackers) and singles
("Sweetness And Light" and "For Love") and, even though these were
gathered on the Gala compilation, Spooky, its debut album proper
didn't appear until January 1991. Produced by Cocteau Twin Robin
Guthrie, the album found its niche among the student constituency
and reached number seven on the listings.  By then, Phil King, a
former New Musical Express journalist, had replaced Steve Rippon
on bass. With this injection of new blood, Lush toured the world
and found themselves on the Lollapalloza tour, along with Pearl
Jam, Ministry, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice Cube and Soundgarden.
However, while the American acts all clicked on their homeground,
the British band - the opening act - struggled and were early
casualties of an increasingly insular fanbase. Following appearances
in Japan and Australia, Lush started work on their next record.
But the four-piece lost momentum once more and didn't release their
second album, Split until June 1994. They tried to make up for the
delay by putting out two singles (Hypocrite and Desire Lines) on
the same day and painted a London cab with a variation on the sleeve
of Split but to no avail. In the music press the knives were out.
Lush had started to live up to their name too much and became the
rockbiz number one party people around London.  Miki Berenyi claimed
that that reputation grew because journalists always noticed her
distinctive red hair in a crowd, but the excuse rang hollow. Hacks
were willing them on to do the decent thing and break up. Howard
Gough, their early manager, lost faith and was replaced by Peter
Felstead (who also looks after the Boo Radleys). Looking back on
that difficult period in a Select magazine interview which appeared
six months ago, Chris Acland admitted he "went through a phase of
feeling a bit useless. I wasn't really doing anything with my life,
I was waiting for someone else to do it for me, because me and Phil
don't write the songs. And I didn't want to carry on living like
a student. When you start heading towards 30, you want to get out
of that, because it's so easy to drift. It's quite an undignified
existence, being in a band. After a while, you begin to feel a bit
of a fake.  And it ties you to London. Really l'd like to make
loads of cash and buy a country house.  Things didn't look good
for the band. Sleeper, Echobelly, Elastica and Skunk Anansia were
the boy/girl acts in the news and on the charts but, in a fit of
pique. Lush soon rejoined them and proved how influential they'd
been.  Earlier this year, the band came back stronger than ever
with three hit singles ("Single Girl", "Ladykillers" and "500")
and a bouncier crispier sound on the Lovelife album which documented
some of Emma Anderson and Miki Berenyi's relationships. The fourpiece
appeared on Top of the Pops, The Big Breakfast, Alive and Kicking
and toured consistently.  Acland had started to write material for
the band ("Sweetie", the B-side of "Single Girl" and "Piledriver",
a track included on "500") and was the inspiration behind a track
called "Ciao", originally penned by Miki Berenyi because the drummer
wanted to sing. But Acland was joking and Lush recorded the song
with Jarvis Cocker from Pulp a band of fellow Indie strugglers
who'd finally hit the big time. Radio stations got a promo version
of the track but, wary of bandwagon-jumping accusations, Lush opted
for "500" as a single instead and Lovelife disappeared from the
listings.  Although originally from the Lake District, Acland was
a keen Tottenham Hotspurs fan and, along with members of Moose and
the Cocteau Twins became the Lillies, to record a humorous flexi-disc
entitled "And David Seaman Will Be Very Disappointed About That"
which was stuck on the front of The Spur (a football fanzine)
following the team's victory over North London rivals Arsenal in
the 1991 FA Cup semi-finals.  But under the jokey exterior darker
forces were at work.

Following a tiring American tour Acland fell once more into depression
and was considering quitting the band.  He went to visit his parents
in Cumbria and took his own life on Thursday.  People will read
some significance into the fact that Acland hung himself like Joy
Division singer Ian Curtis who committed suicide in 1980 on the
eve of an American tour. Lush, their record company and their
management are said to be devastated at the news; they have cancelled
their forth-coming European tour and are considering their future.
The track "When I Die" written by Emma Anderson about the death of
her over-bearing father forms a sad epitaph to Chris Acland's career
which had seen many ups and downs but seemed to be heading towards
new horizons:

If you walked in now, I wouldn't start I wouldn't frown
And if you just appeared I wouldn't cry
Or think it weird
'Cause you are still around 
You're in the air, you're in the ground
And you can't go away
I'm afraid you're here to stay
Curse the English day for what it forces us to say
Banish all the pain,
'Cause when I die, I'll see you again.

by Pierre Perrone.

Christopher John Dyke Acland, Drummer and songwriter: born    
Kendal 6 September 1966, died Kendal 17 October 1996. 

Last Modified: 1 December, 1996
Reality - [email protected]