Welcome to the latest Squire newsletter, where we put the kettle on and discuss one of our most favourite pastimes alongside music and walking the dog - drinking tea!
A few of you have enquired what the picture was on the 'No Time Tomorrow' demo video from a couple of weeks ago. It is actually a ceramic glazed ‘tea tray’ from the Squire tea set!
Pictured here, is the complete set of tea pot, two mugs, the tray, and a vase! They were commissioned and made by Babzotica in 1996, and represent the perfect marriage between music and tea!
Babzotica was a boutique that started in Camden Market during the 1980s before relocating in the mid 1990s to 4 French Place, just down from Toe Rag Studios at 10a French Place, Shoreditch, London, United Kingdom.
So the area was not only a destination for 60s influenced garage bands recording with Liam Watson in Toe Rag Studios, such as Billy Childish, Thee Headcoats, Holly Golighly, and the Medway scene, but Babzotica also became a vital stop-over for fashion, news of events and a space to hang out!
Babzotica relocated to Australia but are still in business, and they also organise the annual ‘garage’ Wild Weekend in Mallorca.
Toe Rag (above) is also where Ed Deagan engineered before setting up Gizzard Studios where Squire recorded the second half of September Gurls! Both Toe Rag and Babzotica moved from Shoreditch during the redevelopment of the area. (The White Stripes recorded the Elephant LP after the studio had relocated to Hackney)
The tea set depicts all the iconography that is a mix of mid century mod, 1960s, garage and rockabilly styles, typical of their pop culture aesthetic. So Vox guitar amplifiers, Rosetti semi acoustic guitars, Farfisa keyboards and percussion adorn the designs along side go-go girls!
It didn't take long to find a reference for tea in the Squire lyrics - we actually found one on the Sugarplum album! ‘Wake Me Up’ opens with the line:
Baby turns the telly on
And wakes me every morning
With a tea tray smile...
Indeed nothing will wake you up better than a good cup of tea!
Squire are not the only band obsessed by tea! The Beatles have their own dedicated magazine called The Teatles celebrating Teatlemania with an unbelievable number of photos of The Beatles drinking tea!
Apparently John Lennons brew of choice was Typhoo teabags with two sugars and milk.
While Paul celebrates this month of September with more tea!
You can see the Squire tea set in action in the video below! At the recent Brighton live concert, we met a fan who insisted we play ‘I Put My Arms Around Her’ from the Hits From 3000 Years Ago LP next time we play live! It's a very rare song for the live set, and the last time it was played was possibly 2006, since we rehearsed it in preparation for a concert in Chippenham! We have found a copy of that actual rehearsal and you can hear Squire play the song! We decided it was the perfect partner for the video of the tea set going around!
We're off to put the kettle on again!
All the best from Squire