| Track | Single / Album |
|---|---|
| They’ve Got Me In The Bottle | Secret Records SHH 101 |
| I Get Pain | Secret Records SHH 101 |
| Personality Counts | Secret Records SHH 105 |
| Brainstorm | Unexpected Noises |
| Fun People | Culture EP |
| Working In A Farmyard In A White Suit | Culture EP |
| Careering | Culture EP |
| Jive Jive | Secret Records SHH 119 |
| Funky Zoo | Secret Records SHH 142 |
| Fun With Music Pt.1 | Fun With Music EP |
The first two tracks are also on the 1980 ‘Unexpected Noises’ LP
Embed from Getty Images
Martin Atkins lead singer of Brian Brain at the Moonlight Rooms (1980)
Brian Brain playlist
My dear dead mum’s best friend for many years was Eileen, and her son was Martin Hooker, founder of the record labels Secret Records and Music for Nations. At Secret Records, in 1980, he signed Scottish punks, the Exploited and New York band, Twisted Sister. At Music for Nations, he kick-started the career of Metallica in the mid-1980s. Martin died in November 2019 aged 66, but when I was a youth of only 20 years old in 1978, I saw him during a visit to his parent’s house in Pinner. We chatted about music a bit and I didn’t see him after that. So, I was delighted, a few years later, when he sent me a clutch of records, some of which were by the subject of this top ten tribute, an obscure artist(s) called Brian Brain.
Actually, Brian Brain is the pseudonym for drummer Martin Atkins, probably better known for his work with John Lydon’s Public Image Ltd from 1979-1980, again from 1981-1985 and at the end of the 80s, with Killing Joke and then Pigface. In-between times he formed Brian Brain with Pete Jones on bass and Bobby Surgeoner on guitar. In a 2003 interview with the poet and lecturer Vittorio Carli, Martin Atkins described his band Brian Brain as “early punk/anarchic performance art meets disco madness”, which does explain a lot.
The band’s first (of two LPs, Unexpected Noises, was released on 29th August 1980. It contained several singles, including the one that made the Indie Top 40, They’ve Got Me In The Bottle, a synthy, experimental, PIL influenced song co-written by John Madden, about being trapped by the confines of modern life. It sounds as if Martin Atkins is singing in the room next to the recording studio. As a lot of his material sounds like this, I’m pretty sure they knew what they were doing.
This was released on 28th March 1980, but recorded the previous year. The cover of the single features Martin Atkins gurning his way through a range of facial expressions. The B-side, I Get Pain, which is also on the album, is a better song, with some really tortured singing and a ticking clock in the background, the only constant, as the singing descends into complete chaos by the end. Wonderful stuff and a definite BB top 10.
On 8th August another single was released to chime with the album coming out. The song chosen as a 45, Another Million Miles with self-explanatory jet airplane noises included, isn’t as strong as the B-side, a melodic little ditty called Personality Counts. He could write a very decent tune when he wanted to.
Unexpected Noises is a mixed collection of songs that Martin Atkins felt the need to explore with his Brian Brain project. He wanted to get out from behind the drumkit, move around and dance a bit. He certainly succeeds; no one could accuse him of being lethargic.
A track called Our Man In Hong Kong jogs along nicely with a mock oriental synth sound before we’re off again with some more rasping vocals. The Hots For You gallops along in an inoffensive way without doing much very memorably, and The Asthma Game seems like a filler, not the band’s finest moment. Brainstorm, an instrumental that follows, is very atmospheric and reminiscent of Tangerine Dream, although they wouldn’t be the first band you’d associate with Brian Brain. The title track, Unexpected Noises, is a drum-laden tale of more angst and frustration. The only thing interesting about the 1 minute and 30 seconds of the next song is the title, Dirty Dealing In The Lone Star State. The even shorter 1 minute and 21 seconds of Turn It Into Noise does what is says on the tin. By comparison, the epic 1 minute and 48 seconds of I’m Suffocating is quite disturbing and I just hope Martin didn’t suffer too much doing the vocals for this one. The final track on the album is Jet Boats Up The Ganges, a strange instrumental that ends like a David Attenborough documentary soundtrack, with the calls of exotic birds growing more intense and eventually drowning out the music all together.
Unexpected Noises is raw and uncompromising, as if Martin Atkins just dares you to like it. And if you don’t, he’s not going to lose any sleep over it for sure. During a 1982 interview, he describes how he threw the album together quickly after being sacked by PIL and said it’s basically an album of demo tapes. Despite its flaws, it is a unique collection of songs that will intrigue as much as infuriate the listener. Grit your teeth, keep an open mind, play it loud, draw the curtains and dance.
Later that year, on 19th November 1980, there emerged a 12-inch EP called Culture with four tracks on it: Fun People, Working In A Farmyard In A White Suit, At Home He’s A Tourist, Careering. The cover of the EP is a strange one; it looks to be a photograph of the appalling Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, March 1960. Quite why that was chosen, when one of the songs is called Fun People isn’t clear. Not to me at least.
Taking the songs at face value it seems as if Martin decided to come out and party a little, as Fun People is a highly charged shout-along with a host of characters revealed to be … F-U-N P-E-O-P-L-E. Working In A Farmyard In A White Suit is an infernally catchy song about being a victim, or a “sitting target” as he describes himself. In a farmyard wearing a white suit you’ll always attract any of the sh#t that’s around, is what I think he’s saying here. The chirpy song title is repeated and repeated as the song winds down.
At Home He’s A Tourist is a cover of a Gang of Four song and Careering is another cover, this time from PIL in 1979. The Brian Brain version of Careering is stronger and gutsier and, although I was never keen on the original, his take on it is a BB top 10 entry.
They spent some time in the USA in 1982, but didn’t get the record deal they hoped for. The tour featured their new(ish) single, Jive Jive, that had been released in the UK in November 1981.
The people at Secret Records must have had high hopes for this one, as it came out in an expensive gatefold sleeve. There was an accompanying video, a garish, fuzzy affair with Martin and his chums larking around in the sitting room of a house, pretending to drive a car, a Pontiac no less. All the time encouraging everyone to “Jive Jive” along with them, as they lurch around in an uncoordinated way. It had the potential to have been a minor hit but I never heard it played on the radio. The single was teamed with a live version of Hello To The Working Classes.
In October 1982, Secret released a 7-inch and a 12-inch dub version of Funky Zoo. This was the last Brian Brain recording to feature Pete Jones and he was now accompanied by Margot Olavarria (from the Go-Go’s) on bass, Geoff Smith on guitar and Mark Morris on keyboards. Funky Zoo was close to being a great song, with the obligatory 1980s horn additions. I can sense the fun of the Piranhas in this one. It appeared to me that Martin decided to embrace a more optimistic sound and this is a catchy, pumping song that deserved much more recognition.
He rested the Brian Brain project for a while before leaving PIL for the final time in 1985, and resurrecting BB on his own Plaid Records label. A new Brian Brain EP with four new songs came out in July that year called Fun With Music with the title track plus Big Drugs, Happy? and U.S.A. It was released in America the following year. Fun With Music (Part One) opens with these words of sage advice, Heroin kills, stay away from pills, if you use cocaine, wave goodbye to your brain. The other EP tracks have similar content and they show how much he was influenced by his time in America, so it’s no surprise that he now lives there.
I mentioned earlier that Brian Brain was an obscure artist; Martin Atkins, however, is far from unknown. He has carved out a flourishing career as an author, commentator and lecturer on touring, entrepreneurship, marketing and event management.
There was a second album released in February 1987 called Time Flies When You’re Having Toast and a single from that, Who Hung The Monkey? emerged in May 1987 on the Moving Target label. The B-side was Monkey Mix. The video for Who Hung The Monkey? is another out of focus, shambolic looking affair with the band members careering around a kitchen. Looks like they enjoyed themselves, though, which is probably the whole point of Brian Brain. Nature sounds like the lyrics are partly covered by Donald Duck, but seems to be mainly about trees and swimming in the sea. I really don’t know what he was doing on this one. At least Positive Thinking the third track has some form and substance with a message, If you don’t want it, you’re not going to get it. Watching TV (With My Baby) is distinctly weird, as we’re guided through the trials of watching television, but enlivened with the options of popcorn (no thank you), or chicken (yes please, but it makes him sick), then suddenly he’s off to Japan, but quickly returns to watch some more TV, with his baby. I think that just about covers it.
The album picks up with the fifth track Austrian Style which is a distinct improvement and I wish he had done more with the mesmerising sound he created here. The next track, Style, is a quick-fire vocal effort with a decent enough hook going on. Sex For The Sake Of Sex isn’t great and it’s followed by Big Drugs from 1985. The penultimate song, Don’t Tell Me About Your World, sounds to me like he’s run out of ideas. The final track, Happy, with its hotel early morning alarm call intro of you want to wake up happy never really wakes up, although the repeated crashing chords would probably do the job in real life. This song is also from a couple of years before.
I hadn’t heard Time Flies When You’re Having Toast until now and I was disappointed in it. It didn’t appear that the band had moved on and were still content to just make music that was an echo of their better, older songs. I may have got it all wrong and I’m sure there are people out there who love it.
Most of the band’s gigs in the mid-80s were in the USA and their swansong appears to have been an EP from 1989 called Brian Brain EP featuring four songs: Black Man/White World, Heard It Through The Grapevine (yup, that one), Fun People, Flies. Released on Martin’s own Invisible label in the USA. It’s not surprising that the best track here is the 1982 song Flies.
It’s fair to remember that this material is now over 40 years old and while Martin Atkins has higher profile bands in his varied career, the Brian Brain period was a way for him to do his own thing for a while. I’m personally glad he did as it gave me some great songs that I still play today, particularly, the early ones from Unexpected Noises.
Martin Atkins interview with Vittorio Carli (2003)
Brian Brain biography (Last FM)
Alan Haines is now retired and enjoying not going to work but doing things he wants instead, such as reading, listening to music, researching family history and walking the dog.
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