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Pete Kember – Jason Pierce – Will Carruthers – Johnny Mattock
A one-off Paris gig. The May 1988 newsletter shows that this gig had been planned for a while and was originally supposed to take place at the end of May, but it was presumably delayed following the departure of Pete Bain after the 20 May 1988 ULU gig (the 16 June 1988 Tunnel Club gig also didn’t take place).
The chapter “Waves of Joy” from Will Carruthers’ book Playing The Bass With Three Left Hands details Johnny Mattock’s unpleasant return journey by ferry.
The poster (courtesy of Mark Lascelles) is a bit of a mystery, consisting almost entirely of the Sounds review of Performance and making no mention of a venue.
The piece from a 2022 edition of Les Inrockuptibles shows that photographs were taken.
Text of Les Inrockuptibles piece
MÉMOIRE NEUVE
En 1988, Spacemen 3 jouait à Paris. Un concert si confidential qu’il n’est répertorié nulle part. Pourtant, Renaud Monfourny, le photographe des Inrocks, y était et a fait cette photo dy groupe. La retrouver en 2022, c’est comme découvrir une photo inédite du Velvet Underground gamin. Texte Joseph Ghosn. Photo Renaud Monfourny.
Regardez ce groupe, ces garçons: sur cette photo, ils ont un air juvenile, une étranger innocence retrospective alors qu’à l’époque ils paraissaint teigneux et dangereux, précédés par une réputatuin tenace de junkies infernaux – après tout, l’un de leurs credo, qui deviant le titre d’un de leurs disques, était bien Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To… Des années plus tard, ces petits Anglais, nom de code Spacemen 3, sont devenus l’un des groups les plus influents de leur époque. Ils sont le Velvet Underground du rock indé britannique, avec deux têtes pensantes: Sonic Boom et Jason Pierce. Pas un groupe psychotrope ou auteur de rock bourdonnant qui n’ait écouté leurs disques, considérés comme autant de pierres philosophales.
Ici, ils sont à Paris, au pied de Montmartre. Renaud Monfourny les prend en photo dans les coulisses de La Locomotive, où ils vont jouer dans la nuit, vers 2 h du matin, devant une vingtaine de personnes. Un an plus tard, ils seront au Rex Club. Un pleine nuit aussi. Avant de se séparer brutalement et ne plus hamais se parler. Amour, haine, frères ennemis, rock extreme, managers retors, seringues, pilules, guitars fétiches et une poignée d’albums splendides, don’t leur troisième, sous influence soul droguée, Playing with Fire – chef-d’oeuvre liminal émotionnel et décati. Les éléments de leur légende sont si impeccables qu’en 2022 leur reputation n’en finit pas de grandir.
Récemment, l’un des members du groupe, Jason Pierce, alias désormais J. Spaceman, était de passage à Paris, toujours dans le même quartier, en bad de la Butte. Il était là pour parler du nouvel album de Spiritualized, groupe qu’il tient depuis la fin de Spacemen 3. En apprenant qu’un T-shirt d’époque de son premier groupe se négocie ua bas mot autour de 1800 euros, Jason eut un air à la fois atterré et flatté: “Qui aurair dit à l’époque que Spacemen 3, marginal et peu complice des autres groups qui tenaient alors le haut de l’affice, serait considéré comme l’un des plus importants? Je crois que nous étions les seuls à croire en nous…”
Translation of Les Inrockuptibles piece
NEW MEMORY
In 1988, Spacemen 3 played a show in Paris—a gig so obscure that it isn’t listed anywhere. Yet Renaud Monfourny, the photographer for *Les Inrocks*, was there and took this picture of the band. Rediscovering it in 2022 is like finding a previously unseen photo of the Velvet Underground in their early days. Text by Joseph Ghosn. Photo by Renaud Monfourny.
Look at this band, these guys: in this photo, they have a youthful air—a strange, retrospective innocence—even though, back then, they seemed surly and dangerous, dogged by a persistent reputation as hell-raising junkies. After all, one of their credos—which became the title of one of their albums—was *Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs To*… Years later, these young Englishmen—codenamed Spacemen 3—have become one of the most influential bands of their era. They are the Velvet Underground of British indie rock, driven by two masterminds: Sonic Boom and Jason Pierce. There isn’t a single psychedelic or drone-rock band that hasn’t listened to their records, each of which is regarded as a philosopher’s stone.
Here, they are in Paris, at the foot of Montmartre. Renaud Monfourny photographs them backstage at La Locomotive, where they are set to play later that night—around 2 a.m.—before an audience of barely twenty people. A year later, they would play the Rex Club. Also in the dead of night. Before abruptly parting ways and never speaking to each other again. Love, hate, warring brothers, extreme rock, devious managers, syringes, pills, cherished guitars, and a handful of magnificent albums—including their third, the drug-fueled, soul-inflected *Playing with Fire*, an emotionally raw, decadent masterpiece. The elements of their legend are so impeccable that, in 2022, their reputation continues to grow.
Recently, one of the band members—Jason Pierce, now known as J. Spaceman—was in Paris, visiting the same old neighborhood at the foot of the Butte. He was there to talk about the new album from Spiritualized, the band he has led since the end of Spacemen 3. Upon learning that a vintage T-shirt from his first band was selling for at least 1,800 euros, Jason looked both stunned and flattered: “Who would have thought back then that Spacemen 3—an outlier with little affinity for the other bands dominating the scene at the time—would come to be regarded as one of the most important? I think we were the only ones who believed in ourselves…”