After a couple of years of myself (Andy), John, Merv and a Yamaha drum machine, Hidden took off round about January 1993 after weekly practises in the Woodthorpe Inn, Heaton Park.

Prior to Paul Wilkinson ( Wilkie ) joining, it was mostly rock standard covers, with Merv and Andy writing melodic songs to try and displace woeful versions of 'light my fire' and 'enter sandman' from the setlist... with Wilkie's live experience with 'acoustic motorbike' and dj residence in Bury's premiere indie club (well, the only one), Hidden started to gather momentum.

After a barnstorming debut gig at Monty's nightspot (shown above,), on the same bill as 10 days monarchs and Nothing, Hidden were booked in to support a local band called Mr. Soft ( later to become Elbow ). Originally an acid jazz band leaning on tightly organised hammond organ riffs by Craig Potter (this was 1993 where the goatee and ponytail were ubiquitous), Mr. Soft were signed to a label which then ran out of money, and after years in limbo as the next best thing to come from Bury since the police (the anti crime establishment not Sting and co), Elbow evolved and developed a dedicated following. This enables me now to poke fun with an adolescent photograph of main man Guy, as I have not quite played on any stage at Glastonbury or had Mercury prizes!

became

original Soft poster from 1993

An even better band at the time was Mule, who helped bring a little bit of New York and Seattle into Bury, by being the first band to shave their heads (unthinkinable at that time), substitute DMs for Adidas sneakers, and move everybody on from covers of Enter Sandman.

Anyway, back to Hidden. Now this little video clip is really awful quality, but in those days barely anyboy had a camera, or phone so bear with me.

Hidden Line-up Andy Lepki bass guitar Phil 'Richie' Gallier electric guitar Paul Wilkinson vocals/acoustic guitar Dave 'the rave' Jones drums Mervyn McManus keyboard/guitars John Doyle guitar (sacked feb 93)

Hidden decided to sack John as the 50's/metal combo wasn't really working in the indie scene. Ironically, it's John that's working in the music business now ! the sacking was the only time in his life Wilkie was quiet and left Lepki to do the dirty.
So a few days before supporting Mr Soft, there was a change in the line-up, creating a more pared down sound. Something about that 2nd gig didn't quite work, probably due to the usual bollocks soundcheck/using other people's system/not being turned up high enough... Soft were also a tight ship at that time, with sales targets (anything over 40 tickets sold at 1.50 would be profit for Hidden), colour posters and an overall professional sheen.

As the carefully selected set-list had removed the flops from the previous gig; Bitter Dreams was painstakingly crafted and pretty painful to listen to, with its frequent rhythm changes and over-serious lyrics missed the cut, along with Time, a ballad of Lepki's which could have made a 3rd double album's worth of Use Your Illusion. So with 12 minutes lopped off, Lepki and Rich decided to jam on stage to fill up some time, and pioneered the 10 minute 2 chord marathon 'I Hide'... they had all watched the recently released Doors film, and figured they could have a piece of that.

Even before Nirvana did their famous 'unplugged', hidden returned to form with 'Godzilla', an acoustic gig on a happy bank holiday... songs were starting to become established, tunes like 'It was you' written by Merv but ripped off of EMF became a slack classic, and Like Today was Paul's tour de force, singing " inside you around you but never behind you, i'll always live for today "... The enterprise of Godzilla was not exactly lucrative, but it was clear that Monty's could be filled up on any night of the week if you charged less than 2 pounds and would play some REM and Senser afterwards. There were not that many places that 17 year olds from Bury Grammar could get in without fake ID, and Monty's was always more liberal than the average club, and it was significantly cheaper to share a cab back to Whitefield form there than Manchester.

The best music Hidden ever performed was their last gig, in Middleton town hall... moving away from their monty's home, the sound was becoming ultra slick...

rich added the je ne sais quoi when playing the drums, alternating between genius and madman at the drop of a spun drumstick, banging out reni rhythms, literally beating the living shit out of someone else's kit...

hidden's 15 minutes came to an end when wilkie finished college to start university down south, and lepki decided that the weekly dedication should maybe come to an end...

there were triumphant performances from lepki, wilkie and rich in prague, busking on Charles Bridge in the summer of 94, and at the odd party here and there, but for the members, it was time to move on...

merv and richie joined greg, garlick and the rochdale bunch in rainbow junction, wilkie did his solo stuff, literally haven't seen dave for years, and lepki did some solo bits and pieces with baines, and teamed up with merv a bit later for a concept called 'bra'...

supporting gip and substation philosophy, ( both bands having a presence from the ubiquitous baines ), bra were 3/5 of brand ( hence the name ). as was usual on the night of a gig, each party was relying on the other to bring a crowd. in some ways, this gig showed the best and worst of baines; his persistent enthusiasm to music meant that he didn't mind playing to the singer's girlfriend and one member of bored bar staff. myself on the other hand, knew there was a critical mass necessary - a big crowd would generate an atmosphere, people would probably get drunk because there were other people there who they would like to get drunk with, and sneaking in the slipstream, any band could play, aided by the high spirited mass with an excuse to come out for a cheap wednesday night out, and by association develop a bit of a following. bundle together a bit of an indie disco afterwards and you could have a good time.

it became apparant as gip's set went on that they were bringing nobody, apart from the singer's girlfriend. on top of this, they were quite possibly the worst band i've ever seen, yet would probably sound strangely fashionable today.

luckily, pj was working the bar and was dishing out generous measures of free booze

heaven reinvents itself, shapes into something new... creating opportunities, the prize worth working through... more than a single chance, more than it ever seems... with your timeless lethargy, appearance now redeems

i hide when things get tougher, i hide when things get tense, i hide when what i've got to say is more than i can sense... i hide behind the distance, i hide behind my mask, i hide when what i really want is too much for me to ask