The La's
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The La's were a Liverpool-based band of the late 1980s and early 1990s, consisting of eccentric frontman Lee Mavers (vocals), John Power (bass, backing vocals) plus a series of guitarists and drummers. They were responsible for the original version of the famous pop song "There She Goes".
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Biography
The group attracted the attention of several record labels after a series of performances in their home town of Liverpool in 1986. They signed with Go! Discs.
The band's first single ("Way Out", released in October 1987 on Go! Discs (GOLAS 112)) was mixed with producer Gavin McKillop, but attracted little notice at the time. It was given a thumbs-up mention by The Smiths' frontman Morrissey in the music magazine, Melody Maker. Five thousnand copies were pressed.
The La's gained success as a live act and drew comparisons to the Beatles, due to their origins and Mavers' expressive lyrics. They continued to perform, however at a national level. Bootleg demo tapes copied from a session at the Picket rehearsal studio in Liverpool in 1986 circulated and succeeded in creating a minor buzz.
Another single (from a different recording session), "There She Goes", was released in 1988 with the B-sides "Come In Come Out" and "Who Knows". The song garnered some attention and airplay, but performed poorly in the charts. The music video for "There She Goes" features the La's scampering through Liverpool streets and was filmed on a handheld camera. The song has been used on several soundtracks, including the films "So I Married An Ax Murderer" and "Fever Pitch".
After working with producer Jeremy Allom at the Pink Museum Studio in Liverpool in May 1989 the band were set to release "Timeless Melody" (GOLAS 3) as a single. While it became a "record of the week" in the UK magazine New Musical Express, Mavers was unhappy with how it sounded and it remained commercially unreleased. B-sides included a version of "Clean Prophet" that is still not officially released to this day, and a blues jam entitled "Ride Yer Camel" which ran for about nine minutes. This record is extremely rare.
The group then spent several years recording and re-recording their intended album, with a constantly changing line-up, where only the core of Mavers and Power remained the same. Discarded producers included The Smiths' producer John Porter, John Leckie, and Mike Hedges.
The lineup settled with Neil Mavers, Lee's brother, as drummer, and Peter "Cammy" Cammel as lead guitarist. With this lineup they entered the studio yet again in December 1989 to attempt to record the debut album with producer Steve Lillywhite at Eden Studios, London. These sessions were the band's last, and was were an album was finally made.
Recognition, at least critically, came in 1990 when the self-titled album, The La's, was finally released. The album included, among new material, re-recorded versions of all the previous singles, including a remixed version of "There She Goes" re-released as a single. This time around, the song reached number 13 in the UK singles chart.
Additional singles from the album included the LP versions of "Timeless Melody" and "Feelin'". Both did reasonably well, rearching chart placings in the top 40. "Feelin'", thanks to a box set special edition release, reached the top 20. However, the band split before the 1991 release of "Feelin'".
Amid rumours that Mavers had vowed not to record any new material until after the first catalogue had been re-recorded to his satisfaction, scrapped sessions remained a constant problem for the La's and their increasingly frustrated record company.
The band actually walked out on the Lillywhite sessions, due to complaints that Lillywhite used vocal guide tracks on the LP. This left Lillywhite to piece together the released LP from guide tracks by himself. Upon release of the album the band played several more live shows before dropping out of the limelight.
No releasable studio work was completed on a second album, despite Mavers' many unreleased songs and, according to local sources, endlessly recording them by himself in the privacy of his own home. The de facto breakup of The La's came when Power formed a new, more commercially successful but less critically acclaimed group, Cast, in 1993. "Cast" is the last word of "Lookin' Glass", the last song on The La's album.
Mavers was never comfortable with media attention or with the results of all his recording sessions. With a few random ex-La's he resurfaced to play with Dodgy, Paul Weller and Oasis in 1995, although he has since claimed this was to raise funds, as oppose to stage a full-blown comeback.
In 2001 The La's was re-released in the UK, under the Universal label. It featured the album, now digitally remastered (although audibly identical to the original), plus previously available B-sides "All By Myself", "Knock Me Down", "Clean Prophet", "IOU Alternate", "Over", yet the release is missing many B-side tracks that most La's fans found essential.
In March 2005 The La's announced a three date UK reunion tour ahead of an appearance at Japan's Summer Sonic festival, followed by dates announced in the UK and Ireland, with the line-up of Lee Mavers (vox, guitar), John Power (bass), Jay Lewis of band Cracatilla (guitar) and Nick Miniski (drums). They will play on the Sunday of the Glastonbury Festival 2005.
Discography
Singles & EPs
- "Way Out" - October 1987- Did Not Chart
- "There She Goes" - November 1988 - UK #59
- "Timeless Melody" - May 1989 - Did Not Chart
- "Timeless Melody" (Re-Issue) - September 1990 - UK #57
- "There She Goes" (New Version) - October 1990 - UK #13, US #49
- "Feelin'" - February 1991 - #43
- Fever Pitch EP (Contained "There She Goes" amongst songs by other artists including The Pretenders) - May 1997 - UK #65
- "There She Goes" (Re-Issue) - October 1999 - UK #65
Albums
Compilations
- 2000 - Breakloose: Lost La's 1984-1986 (Viper) Did Not Chart