Renaldo & The Loaf

Renaldo and the Loaf are an English musical duo formed in 1977 consisting of David "Ted the Loaf" Janssen and Brian "Renaldo Malpractice" Poole. The two released six full-length albums, one live album, and three self-produced demos. Renaldo & The Loaf attempted to replicate the sound of synthesizers using acoustic instruments. They manipulated tape loops and muffled and detuned their instruments. David Janssen and Brian Poole met each other at school in the spring of 1970, when they bonded over a love for Tyrannosaurus Rex and began to play guitar. The two had been recording together as early as 1977, creating sound experiments that neither considered 'songs'. During this period they, along with friend Terry Nichols, worked on a four part instrumental suite titled 'Segment', which was completed in the spring of 1978. After deciding to attempt a more song like structure in September 1978, the duo adopted the moniker Plimsollline, and discovered a newspaper ad from a record label named Raw Records asking for artists. The duo responded to this by sending a demo tape, and were quickly signed. At the suggestion of label owner 'Lee', the duo recorded an album and EP titled 'Behind Closed Curtains' and 'Tap Dance In Sushi' between September 1978 and April 1979, but shortly after the completion of the material, Lee and Raw Records disappeared, and the tapes were shelved. This brief encounter with a record label gave them the confidence they needed to approach larger labels like Virgin and Rough Trade. During their correspondence with Rough Trade, Geoff Travis suggested that the duo invest in a good multi-track tape recorder, a piece of equipment that would become essential to the sound of their debut album, Struve & Sneff. By the time the duo began recording Struve & Sneff in April 1979, the two had already adopted the name 'Renaldo & The Loaf'. The sessions for Struve & Sneff became a routine for Poole & Janssen. They would discuss new material and ideas during the midweek, and meet in Janssen's bedroom to record the next Saturday. They were both heavily inspired by the popular synthesizer bands of the time, but were unable to afford keyboards themselves, and so recreated synth-like noises using tape effects and treated guitars. Struve & Sneff was completed in September 1979 and was sold through mail order between 1979 and 1983 in a limited quantity of 250. While on Holiday in San Francisco, Brian Poole visited 444 Grove Street, the headquarters of Ralph Records and The Residents. While there, Poole unknowingly met with a member of The Residents, and gave him copy of Struve & Sneff. The Resident listened to the first three tracks, and told him it was excellent. Shortly afterwards, the two began a mail correspondence, where The Resident expressed interest in signing the band to Ralph. During these correspondences, the duo recorded and sent Ralph Records two demo tapes, Songs For The Surgery recorded from November 1979 to Mid 1980, and Hats Off, Gentlemen! completed in Autumn of 1980. These, combined with their debut, were enough for Ralph to sign them, and Jay Clem, representative for the label, met with the group in England. After this, the two started working on their first LP, Songs For Swinging Larvae, recording and writing new songs for it throughout late 1980, as well as overdubbing material from their Ralph demos. The album was finished in November 1980, and production on its follow-up, Arabic Yodeling, began almost immediately afterwards in December. Lyrically, the album was inspired by classical European literature, with "Medical Man" being a direct adaption of the first chapter of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Sign of the Four, "Spratt's Medium" being inspired by Samuel Beckett's Endgame and "Ow! Stew the Red Shoe!" taking lyrics from four short stories by Beckett found in a collection titled 'First Love'. The album title itself is a play on Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swinging Lovers. Prior to the album's release, Poole and Janssen travelled to San Francisco in late February to film a music video for Songs For Swinging Larvae in March. The idea was originally to film a video for "Is Guava A Donut?", but Ralph representatives suggested making the video a narrative about a recent abduction story. The video, directed by Graeme Whifer, would combine three songs recorded during the album's sessions, "Spratt's Medium," "Lime Jelly Grass," and an outtake, "Melvyn's Repose." They knew the video would be controversial, but thought it would get them noticed. After the video was completed The Residents invited the duo for a jam session in their studio. After the session, The Residents suggested that they record an album together in the remaining three days of their visit, through applying overdubs to the session. On the second day, they were split into two groups. Brian Poole and his half of The Residents were set to devise lyrics and singing, while Dave Janssen and his half were set to consider overdubs. On the third day overdubs would be recorded, and on day four it would be mixed. This demo tape was titled 4 Daze but was left incomplete when the two returned to England. A few weeks later, Poole and Janssen were sent a new version of the demo with additional overdubs by The Residents. Songs For Swinging Larvae was released in the US through Ralph Records on April 10, 1981, and in the UK two months later in June. Following the release of Songs For Swinging Larvae, the two sent another demo tape The Serious Collection, to Ralph Records in July 1982. The material was later developed into much of their third album, Arabic Yodelling. Arabic Yodelling was inspired by Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry and the works of Charles Baudelaire, and was the first album by Renaldo & The Loaf to feature a guest musician, violinist Dave Baker, who was a friend of Brian Poole's, who Janssen never met. It was also their first album to feature traditional keyboards, as the group had purchased a Casiotone 202 for use as Renaldo & The Loaf. The album was completed in January 1983. Unlike Songs For Swinging Larvae, Arabic Yodelling would not have a UK release. When The Residents visited London on their Mole Show tour on June 28, 1983, David and Brian met with The Residents backstage to discuss the advancement of the 4 Daze material. The Residents had time in their schedule to finish it in September, and so three weeks of the month were chosen to complete the album in. Unfortunately, Janssen was unable to get time off to visit San Francisco and so Poole alone attended the sessions, taking with him tape loops created by Dave, a Bouzouki, a Rababa, and a reed instrument known as a Mesmer. Sessions for the album continued over three weeks, with The Residents' usual equipment being in transit since their Leicestershire Mole Show performance in July. They used a Yamaha Keyboard, a 'Resitar' electric guitar, a drum machine and a violin, used by Snakefinger on the track "Africa Tree" The album, Title in Limbo, was released in November 1983. Title in Limbo was the biggest financial success of any of the duo's projects and gave Renaldo and the Loaf the budget to improve their recordings. Brian Poole created a home studio which, unlike Janssen's bedroom they had worked in previously, featured full mixing equipment. Janssen felt this somewhat stifled his creative input, now that he was no longer able to record whenever he felt like. The duo also now had a sampler, a Roland TR-606 drum machine and a Korg SDD-1000 digital delay unit. They began recording their follow-up to Arabic Yodeling in 1984, with sessions continuing throughout 1985 and finishing in late 1986. During this period the duo released two archival works, a re-edited LP version of Struve & Sneff, which included five outtakes from the original sessions, and, in 1985, a compilation titled Olleh Olleh Rotcod. Rotcod contained rare tracks by the band, as well as two excerpts from the Elbow is Taboo sessions, "Critical/Dance" and the title track.