String was composed as a funky bold guitar dance groove. The drums introduce the rhythm and the piece builds from there upwards. Dave wrote some lyrics and the song evolved into the band's live set, gaining a new title on the way. Sadly these things have all been lost in the mists of time, and possibly to Graham's "tape void" as well.

This recording features a completely unscripted improvised section where George goes off into some kind of new part that Dave and Graham manage to follow effortlessly. That particular section never appeared in any other performance ever again and was probably caused by a moment of lack of concentration by the guitarist as he looked out the window to the street below and probably spied one of the Ug Sisters, or a potential new one at least. The Ug Brothers did a lot of window posing back in the day and would often draw a crowd that way.

George famously performed an impromptu and highly inebriated solo version of this in a Polish bar after a local covers band had finished their set. It brought the entire place to its feet with much joyous stomping around the dancefloor in approval and the band returning to the stage to jam along.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Lookout was a rare slow number by The Ug Brothers. George wrote the music, drawing inspiration from Reasons by Dark Company and Could Have Lied by Red Hot Chili Peppers. He also wrote some lyrics and a melody which was incorporated into the eventual guitar solo on the later Cute But Weird release.

After George took this piece to the band as an instrumental, Dave wrote new lyrics. He drew inspiration from a girl called Grace that he met at a party one night and composed a new melody which Natalie later adapted brilliantly for the key-change section.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Grin was never performed live and never had a full set of lyrics written for it. It was going to be a song about smiling at strangers in the street. The piece developed from a rather unusual one-finger chord that appears after the Dm in 5th position. An updated version of Grin is slated for recording by Flicker.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Homeless and Boneless was named as it was written at around the time that one of the Ug Sisters became simultaneously homeless and single. It was written as a rather wistful and melodic guitar piece with the guitar responding to the call of the bass in the opening section. The only lyrics that were ever written for this were "Look at the dream we made" and the song was never performed in public.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Kate's Leotard was composed as a guitar piece in early 1995 and would have been very new when this recording was made. The bass sets out a repetetive platform on which the piece is built. No lyrics were ever written and this piece was never performed in public. Flicker are planning an updated version of this for future release.

The title Kate's Leotard comes from a parody of Kate Bush, performed perhaps by the Not The Nine O' Clock News team, singing about how the largely male public would like access to the inside of the leotard worn by the wonderfully talented and beautiful Kate Bush, a sentiment with which the Ug Brothers wholeheartedly concurred.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Sunflower was composed as a guitar picking exercise after George was shown an entirely new and rather splendid way of playing a Cmaj7 by Amble. It is another piece that The Ug Brothers never performed live. No lyrics at all were written for this. The title Sunflower came from those flowers being rather fashionable and Amble's sunny flowery nature. An updated version is planned for recording by Flicker.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Take Me Up is a veritable chordal orgy that begins on the wrong beat, often fooling dancers. It originally came from George's guitar, and he wanted to start a song on a weird beat - in this case, the two. It is one of the early Ug Brothers songs and was an ever-present in their live set. During the song's formation, Amble jammed some wonderful tenor sax along to it, which was highly memorable and joyous. Even Graham wrote some lyrics, the rap part in fact. They were the only lyrics he ever contributed to The Ug Brothers and the rest of the words for Take Me Up were mostly Dave's with a few by George.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Paperchase was one of the first songs that The Ug Brothers performed and it has a curious history. It began life when George went to Totnes to see the final degree performances of some music students at the art college there in the early summer of 1990. The most striking thing for him about the entire performance was the music played by the main guitarist of the event, on "a crusty old Aria Pro 2". Time signatures, modes and a rough, clunky yet delightful sound was the inspiration for the piece of music that George subsequently composed.

Upon taking the piece to Alien Heat, George's band of the day, they took up the music. A set of lyrics called Ulysses seemed to go with it quite well. Unfortunately, Alien Heat was about to disband in a rather violent and fiery set of situations and the piece became a solo acoustic guitar piece.

Eventually when The Ug Brothers formed, they revisited the ground that was once Ulysses. New lyrics were written by Dave, it was retitled as Paperchase, and the song rapidly became a live favourite, with its various virtuoso passages and Rush-like big sound.

After The Ug Brothers disbanded, the tune was again taken up by Dark Company, although the lyrics - which Pete confessed to not caring for as they were about somebody who he no longer liked - had gone astray. It is scheduled for recording to Dark Company's Old Hands album as Dark Company's sole instrumental, separate from the & Co material.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

White Water began life as a bass groove by Dave, to which George added guitar and Graham the tom-tom twinklings at the beginning. Then there came a key change and finally some surfing-related lyrics and thus was born perhpas the most well-known song by The Ug Brothers.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Ug Music/Explicit Music 1995

Second Act has a certain amount of history to it and this rather untidy and untogether version of it does the piece no justice whatsoever. Back in the days of Rough Terrain, that band had a song called At One, which had an army of chords with very long names, and numerous key, tempo and time signature changes. Danny Bouget, Rough Terrain's drummer, nailed it easily. George felt he needed a tougher challenge and composed Second Act, named thusly as many people seemed to mis-hear the name At One and thought it to be Act One.

There were lyrics about being born, and probably reincarnated, although they were never really on the table. George plays the rhythm guitar part here rather than lead guitar part to try to keep the thing together. As there are frequent time signature changes, many musicians find this piece rather challenging and The Ug Brothers didn't develop Second Act significantly further, despite initially being up for the challenge of performing it live.

Second Act was later performed with some success by The Bastard Sons of Dennis on two acoustic guitars with Andy (Derek Broom) playing George's Ug part and George (Chuck Palmer) playing the lead. We hope to be able to find and release a decent recording of them sometime in the future.

These recordings of instrumentals – or Ugstrumentals – by The Ug Brothers were made at Graham’s flat in Fore Street, Exeter, above the Real McCoy Arcade during the late winter of 1994/5. They are most of the set of The Ug Brothers, including various pieces that were never performed live due to having had no lyrics written for them.

There are no vocals as Natalie was not there on the occasions that these Ugstrumentals were recorded. The idea was to have something to listen to and work on with a view to creating lyrics, and also as a karaoke tape for Natalie to sing along to when practising. Few further lyrics were forthcoming as things turned out. These Ugstrumental pieces still sound wonderful and full of interesting musical ideas. The concept of Ugstrumental pieces such as these was later developed by the Flicker project.

Copyright (c) Wud Records 1995, (p) Explicit Music 1995