I’d never heard of 4AD Records when I did this single for a local band called The Past Seven Days, and no wonder, it was just their second ever single! If I’d had half a brain I would have seen of they needed any more work doing…
I knew The Past Seven Days guitarist John, as we both worked for a time at the Peak National Park offices in Castleton. In his spare time John was playing in local groups and one day came in with some demos of his new group, which I was very taken with. I helped out by photographing the band at local concerts and doing their publicity shoots as well (one I recall at the top of the big hospital building, where their drummer worked and had access to some interesting areas!).
I cannot recall how the band came to the attention of 4AD, probably via a cassette demo, but John asked me to put the sleeve together. I had done some work for EMI by this time so he knew I could produce something professional. There was no money but he lived in a commune and they offered to cook us a decent dinner one night so… I think the band had come up with the idea of the building (it is credited to Eileen Swain; it is called The Fountain Precinct on Leopold Street) and rain, but it was then up to me to figure it out after listening to the demo several times. I assembled it all as flat camera ready artwork on card. The office building I screened at quite a course level. For the rain, I crumpled pieces of newspaper up and shot these directly on the reprographic camera base at different sizes, to give the cascade effect. These were then cut out carefully and pasted over the photo. I’m a bit of a serif person, and the simple italic worked for me. There seemed no need for the titles on the front so we added these to the back. I think I had the band’s name larger originally but 4AD suggested it could come down a bit, that was the only change they wanted. The red and black colour scheme seemed dramatic, and I then reversed it for the back. This included a vague band photo, which I assembled from some live photos to make it look like one shot, and put it inside a poorly exposed frame to play with the notion of a border disappearing. I also wrapped the final bit of paper round so it turned up on the back.
I have a feeling I may have shot the artwork myself onto film and sent that down. We were really pleased with the test sleeve which arrived not long after, and the single sounded very good. 4AD designed the label. Most histories of the band say they ‘vanished into obscurity’, but that’s not quite true. 4AD were very pleased with the single and offered the group an album deal and a 12″ second single. I got the demos for the single (Airwave, which was again excellent) and remember trekking out to an obscure hill near Alfreton to spend an afternoon photographing a radio mast (with a sky filter) for the cover, and then mocking it up. However the group decided to turn the deal down, you would need to ask them why, and the chance never came again. They were without a doubt my second favourite Sheffield group (The Comsat Angels win by dint of their longevity) and brilliant live. Amazingly the 4AD track does still surface; many people know it from a later 4AD collection and it also appeared on a rare set the label issued only in Japan, and it turned up as recently as 2019 on a compilation of the cities pop music. John and Max the bassist do still play in bands locally.
I do still have the artwork in the loft somewhere (and the mock ups) and will photograph these for the site when I next turn them up…
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