Description
Tsunami is the sole album by the British hard rock band Tempest, released on Budj Records in 1980. The album was recorded by Shaun Wallace at Homestead Studios in Randalstown, Northern Ireland; with John Coulter producing.
Obscure gem from four guys on a small Ballymena, Northem Ireland label featuring a primitive garage new wave guitar/keyboard rocksound not unlike Amaziah. «One Chance» makes for a formidable opener with synthesizer and piano joining raw grungy electric guitars. «Prodigal Son» take a more melodic route with tempo variations and a solid electric lead, followed by the breezy acoustic jazz-edged «Easy Love». Some prog edges on the moody mysterious synth-heavy «Cells». The driving new wave beat returns on side two for «I Need Your Love» and «The Ending». Electric bass gets a good groove going on the climactic closing «Tunnel». A fun little album, well worth tracking down. Same label as What Of The Night. [Ken Scott, The Archivist]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Once Chance”
A2. “Prodigal Son”
A3. “Easy Love”
A4. “Cells”
Side Two
B1. “I Need Your Love”
B2. “The Ending”
B3. “Tunnel”
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Budj Records.
[youtube_sc url=”no5_T_frSQg” title=”Tempest – Tsunami” autohide=”1″ rel=”0″]
The story of Budj Records
Budj Records were an interesting, if somewhat controversial label founded in 1979 by John ‘Budgie’ Coulter. John, the son of prominent Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Robert J. Coulter, was a student at the University Of Ulster, Coleraine. The label itself was based in Ballymena, in the heart of County Antrim’s ‘Bible Belt’ and it caused quite a stir by specialising in Christian punk and heavy metal music! Says John ‘ Budj’s real message was that Jesus Christ could revolutionise your life. Budj used the medium of punk to communicate that message’.
John, himself a ‘born again’ Christian since 1972, states the reasons for forming Budj as firstly “a form of rebellion against those in my father’s congregation who were opposed to my interest in punk and metal and targeted at those in the community in which I lived who tried to impose a Victorian-style code of behaviour on a ministers son”. And secondly – “It was a chance to try to get the Gospel message across to young people through the medium of punk & heavy metal, as Christian music at the time was dominated by the Country & Western or traditional Gospel genres”. As John, being a Christian, didn’t indulge in the usual things teenagers experimented with – sex, drugs, booze etc., he channelled his own teenage rebellion through his taste in music.
Adrian Wylie, an old school friend of John’s from their days at Ballymena Academy, had formed a Christian punk band called ‘What Of The Night’ while studying at Bath University, England. The band line-up was – Wylie (lead vocals), Jem McKay (rhythm guitar), Hugh Betteridge (bass), Trevor Marshall (drums) and Matt McArdle (lead guitar). Back in ‘77, before being ‘born again’. McArdle had been a member of legendary Birmingham punk band The Killjoys, whose singer Kevin Rowland went on to find fame and fortune with his band Dexy’s Midnight Runners! McArdle was also heavily involved in the London, Manchester and Coventry punk scenes, and regards several members of The Buzzcocks, The Clash and The Heartbreakers as personal friends. John Coulter recalls “I had originally suggested that What Of The Night be called The Clergy. It was intended that they would walk slowly on stage dressed as clerics, complete with traditional religious dog collars. It would be to the sound of monks’ chanting with a single spotlight focused on the drums. The band would take their places and then suddenly launch into a full-blown punk number. In the end, the idea and name were dropped as it was thought that it would be too blasphemous”.
In early ‘79, What Of The Night recorded a demo tape at the BBC Radio Bristol studios. This helped them to win the title of ‘Best new gospel band in the UK’ after entering a competition to find the best new gospel bands in the UK on Anne Nightingale’s BBC Radio One show. Their reward, to gain exposure through national airtime on Radio One. The rest of ’79 was then spent recording material for their debut album, at a studio near Glasgow, in Scotland.
Their self titled album was released on Coulter’s newly formed Budj label, amid a flurry of publicity in the local press, at Christmas ’79, and immediately came under fire from Christian fundamentalists who believed Punk and Heavy Metal to be the ‘music of the devil’, so they waved placards and boycotted the shop selling the records in Ballymena. The band also came under attack from punk purists who regarded it with suspicion due to its Christian sentiment! Despite the opposition, the three thousand copies of the album which were made (50% on vinyl and 50% on cassette) sold enough copies to enable Budj to record and release a second album, this time by Christian Heavy Metal Band, Tempest, who came from Belfast. Again three thousand copies of this album were released, half on vinyl, the rest on cassette. The third and final release was a cassette only album by the Dire Straits and Eagles influenced Christian Rock band Therefore, who hailed from the Ballymena area. Three thousand copies of this release were issued on cassette only. However, by this time in 1981 Coulter had graduated from University and had decided to pursue a career in journalism rather than the music industry. [spitrecords.co.uk/budj.htm]
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