NOIR - A Brief Yet Convoluted History

By TIM DRY
Way back in the mists of time TIM DRY, poised to go off to London to study Mime, finds himself drawn to a TV show called "IN CONCERT" featuring SAILOR. He finds this intriguing, not only because there are no Electric Guitars, and they seem to be so different to the current state of play interms of Pop, but also because of the imagery and romanticism of the songs. Flash forward to 1985. Tim has subsequently become very well known as a Mime Artist and a Pop Persona, partly through his work in the group SHOCK, but primarily as half of a duo called TIK AND TOK (but that's another story in itself!). He finds himself taking part in a bizarre promo for some quirky Scandinavian Pop Group (whose name has slipped away) alongside BARBIE WILDE (ex SHOCK-ETTE) but also GEORG KAJANUS, taking a day off from DATA. We do not want to delve into this promo too deeply, except that it was produced by David and Kathy Rose, who had been working with Georg and HENRY MARSH on a project called "THE KID".

Another flash forward - it's 1995. Georg is now living with Barbie Wilde (who, coincidentally is Tim's ex-partner). Tim says to Georg, "WHY DON'T WE TRY AND WRITE A EUROVISION SONG CONTEST ENTRY?" Georg agrees with a sly glee, and they set to work. What came out of their collective brains was a rather charming little number called "TALKING". To their horror it became apparent that they had to perform the song themselves, as part of the new rules for Eurovision. Being both not only of "A Certain Age" but also very elegant and stylish, they discovered that they were both proud owners of black and white shoes, as worn by sleazy characters in Films of the '40s and '50s, so they christened themselves THE CO-RESPONDEDENT BROS. Needless to say, "TALKING" was far too quirky and classy to make it to Eurovision (a relief, really!) but in spite of, or because of, this they find themselves enjoying a burst of musical creativity that neither had enjoyed for quite a while. Georg has a basic backing track for a song called "WALKING", Tim adds some ZZ TOP-esque guitar, a bassline and a set of lyrics about the underbelly of romance and passion in Paris, et voila! Probably the best and most underrated single of the 90s (tongue slightly in Chic here!).

They meet a strange, eccentric manager in a bar in Chelsea, whose history is as long and varied as those of our two heroes, who gets them a one-off single deal with a German label named KOCH. Astoundingly, they not only pay for Tim and Georg to cut a single, but also give (?) them #18,000 to go off to Munich to make a promo......

Tim and Georg now call themselves NOIR - The perfect name, for reasons I'm sure you can guess! Their promo is shown on T.O.T.P. 2, and "Live And Kicking" (Oh Dear!!) and they have 9 or 10 demos finished. The nameless Manager fails to secure them a proper deal with a Record Company (which is amazing considering their history). Then, out of the blue, comes an offer not only to present a new food and drink series for Channel 4, but also to write the theme music. Which they did.....

This was not so weird for Tim, with his history of Acting and Mime, but for Georg it was very strange indeed. A pleasant diversion but not really where his creative heart lay. And so, with reluctance they decide to call it a day. They were absolutely prepared to grab this opportunity with both hands, and devote themselves to it. But the world of Pop is a strangely small-minded one - you can have artists with no discernable talent reaping the benefits, and at the same time artists with talent in spades more often than not don't get a sniff. Tim and Georg still firmly believe that there is a market for the music they made. It's not tied into any musical phase or style, but it has passion and romance and energy.

Georg is currently hard at work on his solo compositions, which will astound everybody, and Tim creates his own music and digital illustrations. They are still the very best of friends, and both are pleased that they created what they did when they did.

These are the NOIR songs:

These are all demos, but because of Digital recording they sound good. They need a good mix in a studio, and a bit of tweaking. The astute amongst you will notice a lot of songs ending in "-ING". NOIR had a misguided notion to call a possible album "ING"!!!! But luckily they scrapped the idea... There are at least 3 other singles in amongst the songs. If there was a demand for, or an interest in this material it may be possible to make available to fans a CD of hitherto unheard music....


(C)1999 Tim Dry.
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