The Chemistry Experiment Story

The Chemistry Experiment were formed in St. Ives one evening in 1987 by school friends Archie Girlschool and Carlton Wokesley. With only an old Spanish guitar and Casio keyboard for accompaniment, they quickly recorded a series of lo-fi, low in kicks, low calorie laments on their father's hi-fi system, which they jokingly named "Paragliding Tortoise No.7" after a particularly vivid dream of Archie's. Handed round to friends, the tape quickly became a local legend, prompting the duo to form a full band in order to begin playing live shows.

By the end of 1987, the Chemistry Experiment were augmented by flutist Calvin Pzchortsy, drummer Mathew Collins and bassist Wilma Bear, and the five-piece began to rehearse a live set, consisting of songs from "Paragliding..." together with a number of new songs written by Archie and Carlton.

But fate was soon to deal a cruel blow to the fledgling band. One night in August 1987, as Wokesley was cycling home from the local pub, he was hit by a speeding car. He was rushed to hospital, but had sustained severe injuries. Carlton remained unconscious in hospital for several weeks before losing his battle for life.

Though severely handicapped by the loss of one of their primary songwriters, The Chemistry Experiment vowed to continue in remembrance of Carlton, and recruited keyboard player Gregory Harrison, who despite being nearly ten years senior to the rest of the band was to become one of their longest-standing members. Gregory, who had played in punk band The Frantic Elevators along with Simply Red singer Mick Hucknall, was also to provide a much-needed contact to the music industry.

The first Chemistry Experiment gig went ahead in December 1989, supporting local band The Yay-Yay Birds. Despite being poorly attended, the gig proved to the band that they could play live and Harrison organised a London show designed to showcase the band to the record industry.

Unfortunately, the show was a disaster - Bear had to be rushed to hospital after the third song due to a number of electric shocks received from her microphone, caused by an inebriated Pzchortsy urinating on the PA system. The Chemistry Experiment were quickly banned from the venue and getting London gigs in the near future would prove very difficult indeed. However, not everyone was unimpressed - Colin Gatsby, who ran a small independent record label, Slating Longberry Records, liked the band's attitude and offered to release a limited edition record.

The record, "The Underground Cows of Mozambique", was released in April 1991 and despite receiving a slating from Record Collector magazine, sold its 500 copies within a month. Despite initial plans to release another record on Slating Longberry, the band's soon to be legendary low output saw Gatsby gradually lose interest in the band, and eventually move his base of operations to Madrid, Spain.

The next Chemistry Experiment record was not released for another 3 years. This record, "Real life is not much like real fun", was a far more up-beat affair, released on their own Peanut Factory imprint. Unfortunately, the band's laziness and inexperience in running a record label meant that "Real life..." sold poorly, only receiving national distribution almost a year after its initial release.

Public disinterest and inter-band fighting reached such a level that, on November 17th 1996, the band decided to go their separate ways. However, an extraordinary event was soon to alter the course of the band forever.

Walking in the woods one night, Collins claims to have been visited by the spirit of founder member Carlton Wokesley, who urged the drummer to try to reform the band. Wokesley claimed that in the time since his death, he had written over three hundred potential hits, which he would donate to the band in order to make the Chemistry Experiment famous.

Collins immediately called each of his estranged band members to tell them of the supernatural news he had received. Although initially dubious, each member eventually agreed to give The Chemistry Experiment one last try, and a rehearsal was scheduled. It soon became clear that something had changed in the band, when after only a month of practise the band had almost an hour of new material ready to play.
Despite the enthusiasm running through the band at this time, it was soon clear that things had to change. Such was the intensity of Collins' psychic songwriting connection, that he was finding it difficult to communicate his ideas quickly enough from behind his drum kit. It was a mutual decision that the line-up should be re-arranged to suit this strange new situation, and each of the band members save the now tee-total Pzchortsy, quickly settled into their new roles, with Bear now taking up the keyboard, Harrison on drums, Girlschool playing bass and Collins moving to guitar and vocal duties.

The first fruits of this newfound lease of life were released on the home-recorded Giraffe Album in late 1997. Combining eccentric pop poetry with sombre and experimental ballads, the Giraffe Album demonstrated the band's new-found confidence and eclecticism and was to become a minor hit after one of the tracks, "Big Tom Steely", was included in the soundtrack to the British made independent film, "House of the Goldfish".

The e.p, "Hatchet and Barrel" soon followed in early 1998 and was followed shortly by a 7" of Giraffe Album demos, "Agua de Beber" on Short Fuse records. Concept e.p, "Be My Postman" was released in early 2000 on Fortuna Pop, though the release was hampered by legal battles over the use of samples on its centrepiece track, "Milo Marcelo".