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
