Headstone

AKA as the Pat Fish or "The Jazz Butcher". In 1996, Fish (now Headstone) had formed a new band (out of the ashes of "The Jazz Butcher" and "Stranger Tractors") with other Northampton-based musicians, eventually settling on the name Sumosonic. Sumosonic was a mix of rock, rap, techno, pop, and dance all jammed up and psychedelicized. One of the other names he had considered, "Audio-Aquatic", surfaces in the lyrics to their debut single, "Come, Friendly Spacemen", released by Creation on 5 December 1996 (CRESCD 242). The band had their live debut in London 11 March 1997. Though the band included Fish as a guitarist, their sound was built far more around sequencers, and the rhythms were more dance-orientated. The lyrics, however, displayed Fish's customary wit, political awareness, and sense of melancholy absurdity. Much of their first and only album, This is Sumo, had been recorded in demo form by September 1996; the studio version was released on 26 January 1998 (CRECD 204). The vocal melodies, even when sung by other members of the band, have many of the characteristics of Jazz Butcher tunes. There are also clear continuities with the Black Eg material: "Destroy All Monsters", a song about French nuclear arms testing the Pacific, borrows melodic elements from the earlier outfit's "Bel Air." Sumosonic were not well supported by Creation, and were dropped after their first album. The last gig noted on the band's website was 19 September 1998. However, members of the band continued to work with Fish as the band Wilson, whose live debut, on 1 March 2001, included the previous band's "God's Green Earth." Wilson have continued to gig regularly in Northampton, Oxford, and London.