Back in 1998 John Peel played a new single by the intriguingly named Not Bit Of Wood that I liked so much so I bought it the next week. Fast forward to 2002 and I read some rave reviews of an album titled 'Cedars' by a group I'd not heard of before called Clearlake, so I took a chance and discovered my new favourite band. The album was brilliant, and it didn't take long to back-track and get their debut 'Lido', which was every bit as good. What I'd never realised until researching this post was that Not Bit Of Wood and Clearlake were in fact the same band, with a name change imposed on them by their record company. The band came together in Brighton in 1998, and comprised Jason Pegg on guitar and vocals, David Woodward on bass, James Bancieri on drums, and James Lewis on keyboards, and they recorded and released their first single under the name Not Bit Of Wood in 1998, with 'Bad Hair Day'/'Perfect Setting' picking up a lot of airplay on the John Peel Show. They also recorded an album called 'Musikland', which included both sides of the single, plus another eight songs, two of which would later be re-recorded for inclusion on the first Clearlake album. 'Musikland' was pressed up on CD but it never received an official release, so I'm including tracks from it on this post. Not Bit Of Wood signed to Domino Records subsidiary Dusty Records in 2000, but the label asked them to change their name from Not Bit Of Wood to something a bit less 'odd-ball', hence Clearlake. With the signing to the label came a line-up change, with Sam Hewitt replacing James Lewis on keyboards, and they released a re-working of 'Winterlight' from the 'Musikland' album as their first single in January 2000. The limited edition release was awarded Single of the Week in a number of music publications, and it gained airplay on Radio 1 as Mark and Lard's record of the week, resulting in it selling out within a fortnight, and breaking into the Top 100 of the UK singles chart.
They followed 'Winterlight' with the much-acclaimed singles 'Don't Let The Cold In' and 'Something To Look Forward To', and their debut album 'Lido' was released in April 2001 to mainly rave reviews in the U.K. music press, with NME proclaiming that "in terms of sheer charm and lustre, Clearlake leave their contemporaries out in the cold". The album included another re-recording from 'Musikland', this time of 'I Want To Live In A Dream', and after a slot on 'Later... with Jools Holland', the single 'Let Go' followed, with an affectionate cover of Neil Young's 'Cinnamon Girl' on the flip. The band then started work on their second album, with 'Cedars' being released in February 2003, and like 'Lido' before it, it was greeted with almost universal acclaim, and this is when I first heard them. Bancieri left at the end of their U.K. tour supporting 'Cedars', with drummer Toby May stepping in as his replacement. Having now discovered this great new band, I had to wait three years for their next album, with 'Amber' coming out in 2005, produced by frontman Jason Pegg, but with founding member Sam Hewitt leaving the band just as the album was being completed. After that things went a bit quieter, although the band were still writing and gigging, and they played their only show of 2007 at The Brunswick, Hove, in September of that year, where they debuted seven new songs. 2008 was a far more active year for Clearlake, recording new track 'One Of A Kind', which was released as a web-only single on 9 May via their website, while a further single, 'Dark Blue', was recorded in the same way in August 2008 and released the following month. The band started 2009 by releasing one final single from the new album 'The Credit Or The Blame', but to date the album from which those singles were supposed to be taken has never been released. As an epitaph to a brilliant but much under-rated band, here is a collection of rare tracks, including their single and exclusive recordings as Not Bit Of Wood, plus non-album b-sides from Clearlake, while they were still signed to Domino Records. If you like what you hear then do check out 'Cedars', as it really is an excellent album.
Track listing
01 Bad Hair Day (single by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
02 Perfect Setting (b-side of 'Bad Hair Day')
03 Change In The Weather (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
04 Ice Cream (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
05 Lie In (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
06 I'll Kill Myself (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
07 The Weekend Is Nigh (from the 'Musikland' album by Not Bit Of Wood 1998)
08 Let's Get Out Of Here (b-side of 'Something To Look Forward To' 2000)
09 Daybreak (b-side of 'Something To Look Forward To' 2000)
10 Don't Lie To Yourself (b-side of 'Let Go' 2001)
11 Cinnamon Girl (b-side of 'Let Go' 2001)
12 We All Die Alone (b-side of 'Can't Feel A Thing' 2003)
13 I Want To Walk (b-side of 'Can't Feel A Thing' 2003)
14 What's It Like Where You Are (b-side of 'Neon' 2006)
15 How Long (b-side of 'Neon' 2006)
16 Chemically Free (b-side of 'It's Getting Light Outside' 2006)
