Just when I was about to post up Leeds' Legendary Len Liggins and his band The Ukrainians as 'missing in action', what should jump out of my radio speaker but a new single with a familiar folk twist to one of the Sex Pistol's jolly ditties - Anarchy in the UK. The Ukrainians are back, and I for one am happy to have those men from Leeds enliven up daytime radio. But what happened to them and the legendary man? Curiosity got the better of me.
In the days of old, one would have suspected they'd won a lifetime's trip to a distant Gulag, but post Perostroika, I found out that it was something more serious - Record company hassles. In fact it's the traditional story of record label woe which had sent the band into hibernation. I was glad to see that The Legendary man's enthusiasm had not been dented.
So how did the man become legendary?
Len's been a charismatic action figure in Leeds for more years than anyone cares to remember, but let's stick him in 1982, when he was running an 8 track recording studio with colleague Andrew Middleton. Lion Studios was a small but happening /drop-in place near the city's railway station, and one that soon had the talents of Leeds knocking on its door. It must have seemed an obvious step to him to create his own record label, 'AAZ records' ('An Apple and a Zebra' - in case you wondered). Out of the cauldron came its first release, 'Giraffe in Flames' [1983] (did anyone say Dali?), a major compilation of bands in and around Leeds. The highlights of it were Nick Tozcek, Party Day and The Sinister Cleaners.
As for gigs, Len rose to the challenge of poet and compere, as part of the Leeds Fringe Festival in 1983.
Never one to sit idly by, Len had begun a band called The Sinister Cleaners. It was a trio of diverse songsters which produced Dylanesque tunes with a pop beat that bounced over the wasteland of Leeds. AAZ became its natural home, where they released the brilliant and feted single, 'The Gnomes of Zurich' [1985]. However, the band's diversity was also its undoing and it soon expired. Unperturbed, Len continued alone and released several more singles including 'A Remedy for Bad Nerves' EP, (which featured the stark industrial sounds of 'Lead'), and later the truly wonderful 'Yuri's Hair Salon' - which hinted at his later chosen path.
Len began to play a few solo dates and I caught up with him one night supporting Party Day in Sheffield. Although it was 'supporting' in the loosest of the word, more like performance art. On stage he was delivering his songs accompanied by a backing tape, whilst he was sat in an armchair and watched the TV. A tall living room lamp behind the chair added to the overall ambience. I wasn't sure if Sheffield was ready for him that night.
During this time, he produced and edited his own fanzine, ROAR, which was a damn good read even if its print was, at times, microscopic. ROAR was a genuine rarity, in that it had sympathetic local advertising that actually helped it rather than attempted to destroy it's individualistic flavour. The fanzine ran to several issues over the next few years and covered much of the local indie scene before it folded, "It had reached its natural conclusion".
So how come this creative man suddenly jumped centre stage and still managed to maintain credibility. Well strangely enough like others, I knew of Len's passion and language skills in all things Russian as originally he'd arrived in Leeds to study them. But one could not have laid such a bet with Ladbrokes that Len was ideally placed for it to be so useful to him. Then one day Leeds' main indie band The Wedding Present had decided to do something different for the next John Peel radio session, and Pete Solowka asked him if he'd like to 'join in' for the day by singing and playing violin. What started as a passion had found it's home. The session was such a success that it was re-aired 5 times - a record in itself. Thus spawned an EP release based on the songs from the session by The Wedding Present (minus David Geddes the singer), and then Pete left to form The Ukrainians, with Len.
An inspired release soon followed that of an homage to The Smith's - 'Pizni iz the Smiths'. Four songs re-worked as Ukrainian folk songs and it became a major public success for the band.
To date, The Ukrainians have released several CD's combining a mixture of original and traditional Ukrainian folk songs in their own inimitable style. As one of Britain's best exports they were to play centre stage at the main square in Kiev on Independence day. And like the homecoming of the prodigal son, The Ukraine has taken to them like long lost sons.
After the silence, they're back with a wave of productivity that would warm the cockles of any five year plan. The first part of the schedule is: 'Drink to My Horse' a live CD, the aforementioned homage to the Sex Pistols,EP CD, a compilation CD entitled 'No. 1 International Ukrainian Group' out soon, a brand new CD for 2003 in the works and live UK dates due for October 2002.
It's good to see that Leeds' adopted son still has a few strings to his bow.
