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Second Balcony Jump
(c’86-’87) Paul Pomery (bass), Nick Murton (drums) and ?.
Probably named for the Billy Eckstine and Gerald Valentine written track that appeared, in late ’62, on Dexter Gordon’s Go LP, we first hear of Second Balcony Jump at a Buzz Club local band night on 15 November ’86. Here they supported Steel Bill and the Buffaloes, FRA, and West One, at the West End Centre, Aldershot, with The Jeremiahs being added late. Two months later, on the 10 January ’87, the band were back at The Buzz Club supporting The Brilliant Corners and Bluetrain.
Between these two Buzz Club appearances, on 21 December ’86, they supported Mega City Four at The Old Schoolhouse, Woking. They went on to support both Jim Jiminee and International Resque at Fleet Football Club, and later morphed into Pomeroy.
Bassist Pomeroy who’d also been in Black Easter.
Gallery:

15 November 1986: Flyer for Steel Bill and The Buffaloes supported by West One, FRA, and Second Balcony Jump. Source: West One 
10 January ’87, Second Balcony Jump openned for The Brilliant Corners and Bluetrain at the Buzz Club. Aldershot, Billy Eckstine, Black Easter, Bluetrain, Buzz Club, Dexter Gordon, Fleet Football Club, FRA, Gerald Valentine, International Resque, Jim Jiminee, Mega City Four, Nick Murton, Paul Pomeroy, Pomeroy, Second Balcony Jump, Steel Bill and the Buffaloes, The Brilliant Corners, The Jeremiahs, The Old Schoolhouse, West End Centre, West One, Woking -
Overdrive Records
Overdrive was a UK label based out of a house on Upper Weybourne Lane, Farnham, before moving to Bristol and may have been a personal label. We have tracked three 7″ releases to date all by Richard Ashworth, backed by White Dub: M3 Revisted [ORDER 1] from ’78, Surrey Skyline [ORDER 2] released in ’79, and Babes in the Wood [ORDER 3] published in ’80.
Gallery:

Front cover of 1978s “M3 Revisted” by Richard Ashworth and White Dub 
Back cover of 1978s “M3 Revisted” by Richard Ashworth and White Dub 
Sleeve front of 1979’s “Surrey Skyline” by Richard Ashworth, and White Dub 
Sleeve back of 1979’s “Surrey Skyline” by Richard Ashworth, a d White Dub 
Sleeve front of 1980’s “Babes in the Wood” by Richard Ashworth with White Dub. 
Back sleeve of 1980’s “Babes in the Wood” by Richard Ashworth with White Dub. -
Limelight Recording Studios, Aldershot
(c’87-88) In an area, off to the left of the main entrance of the West End Centre, Aldershot was Limelight Recording Studios, run and operated by one Brian ? and his wife, who had come to Aldershot from London, where they’d “worked in the music business”.
It housed an 8-track set up. The F1-11s recorded a 2-track demo there in the summer of ’87, as did West One at some point.
Brian, who was Welsh, was aided by massive Marc Bolan fan Terrence, who reportedly had changed his name by deed poll to Terrence Rex – How true this is we do not know.
Gallery:

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Carpenters Arms, Camberley
When the Carpenters Arms was built, it was surrounded by residential property. Today, sat on the corner of Park Street and Princess Way, Camberley it is retail that dominates. Now a Greene King pub it hosted bands in the ’80s and 90’s, and reportedly still does today.
Our knowledge of bands who performed there is limited but we do know that on 28 June ’93, Who Moved the Ground? played at the venue. Then a few years later, in ’98, the Carpenter’s Arms, hosted Mindwire for an acoustic set on 26 March; the band returning on 4 April with The Simon Bell Band.
Gallery:

Mindwire Mailer #3 from 1998. Source: Mindwire 
Carpenters Arms, Camberley -
Headley Grange, Headley
Built in 1795 ‘to shelter the infirm, aged paupers, and orphan or illegitimate children’ – it was a workhouse. On 23 November 1830, during the labourer uprising, it was sacked by rioters from Selborne. The damage failed to close Headley which continued as a workhouse until 1870 when it became a private house and given the moniker Headley Grange.

In 1961, and several owners later, a Mrs. Smith started letting the house to visiting Americans, and then as a hostel for Farnham School of Art students. Headley was then rented by various recording agencies and for a period of five or six years it became a live-in practice / recording studio for the likes of OMD, Genesis, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Bad Company, The Pretty Things, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, and Clover.
Zeppelin and Genesis both recorded in the drawing room, and in 1971, it was at Headley, that most of Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven came into being, in a single day. In fact, parts of Led Zeppelin’s albums Led Zeppelin III, Led Zeppelin IV – the LP’s Black Dog being named for a Labrador Retriever that hung around the building, although old footage shows a German Shepherd -, Houses of the Holy and Physical Graffiti were composed / recorded at Headley Grange. Jimmy Page has described Headley as “somewhat rundown; the heating didn’t work. But it had one major advantage. Other bands had rehearsed there and hadn’t had any complaints.”
The English rock band Help Yourself were residents of the Grange twice, in ’71 and ’73, when they perfected tracks for their Beware the Shadow and Strange Affair LPs.
The eponymous Bad Company went platinum five times over, and through the bands association with Peter Grant it had been recorded at Headley using Led Zeppelin’s mobile studio in November ’73. The Grange was booked and the studio installed, but Led Zeppelin were nowhere to be seen, delayed for two weeks. According to Paul Rodgers “Peter told us that if we were quick, we could probably use the studio to lay a couple of tracks down. We steamed in and put the entire album down.”
It was in ’74 that Genesis ‘retired’ to Headly Grange to work on their next LP; and later that year The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway was released.

Genesis outside Headley Grange c’74 The house is no longer let, reverting to a quiet private residence. In 2009, for the documentary It Might Get Loud, Page revisited the building and discussed how the drums for When the Levee Breaks were recorded. That sound, captured in Headley’s three-story hallway, is one of the most recognizable openings to a rock song and has been heavily sampled by the likes of Björk, Massive Attack, Sophie B. Hawkins, Enigma, Beastie Boys, Eminem, Ice-T, Dr. Dre, Simple Minds, and Anthrax.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith at Headley Grange in July 2014 In July 2014, Spitfire Audio arranged for drummers: Chad Smith of The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Roger Taylor of Queen, and session drummer Andy Gangadeen, who has drummed with the Spice Girls, Basia, Lisa Stansfield through to Jeff Beck, to visit Headley Grange and recorded samples in the same hallway as John Bonham.
Gallery:

July 1974: Genesis at Headley Grange during the writing of ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ 

Jimmy page and dog in the front garden of Headley Grange 
Headley Grange Andy Gangadeen, Anthrax, Bad Company, Basia, Beastie Boys, Björk, Chad Smith, Clover, Dr. Dre, Elvis Costello, Eminem, Enigma, Farnham School of Art, Fleetwood Mac, Genesis, Headley, Headley Grange, Help Yourself, Ian Dury, Ice-T, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, Led Zeppelin, Lisa Stansfield, Massive Attack, OMD, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Paul Rodgers, Peter Grant, Queen, Roger Taylor, Selborne, Simple Minds, Sophie B. Hawkins, Spice Girls, The Pretty Things, The Red Hot Chili Peppers





















Human beings takes me back to 1981. Followed them all over the Surrey reading area for a year a great band and 3 good guys playing well written songs of the era. I wish john Tim and steve well what ever they are doing now. Should reform for a few shows just like Oasis but do the wooden bridge.
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