The Wishing Stones

A B O U T T H E W I S H I N G S T O N ES
The Wishing Stones
London / Glasgow Autumn '86



Releases:


Beat Girl (7") Sep 1986
on Head Records - HEAD 2 


New Ways (7"+12") Apr 1987 on Head Records - HEAD 6 


The Old Road Out Of Town (7"+12") 27 Jun 1988 Sub Aqua Records - AQUA 1 


Dead's Man's Look (12") Nov 1988 
on Sub Aqua Records - AQUA 5 

Wildwood (LP) Dec 1991 
on Heavenly Recordings - HVN LP 04 Lost In The Well, Wildwood, Long Time Coming, Spitchwick, Big Black Sky, Hanging Tree, Too Many Mansions, Slow Wheel's Turn, Dying On The Vine, The Long Road Out Of Town, Dead Man's Look 



On compilations: 
The Sound Of Leamington Spa Vol.1 (LP+CD) 23-Oct-2000 
on TweeNet Communcations - TWEE 5
and Firestation Records - FST 8
and Bilberry Records - BILB 5 
- Beat Girl
Online
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Record Label – Sub Aqua / Heavenly
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After wandering around the site a bit, I head back into the Market Stage where The Wishing Stones are just about to start. Admittedly I had never heard of them, but a quick glance at the programme suggests that this could be an extremely interesting performance. It seems they were a late 80s alt-country revival act, known for some excellent live performances and one outstanding album, over which critics still get in a lather. They do however appear to have a handful of hardcore fans who still think of them fondly enough to buy tickets for the festival. One woman has an old Vinyl of the said record which she excitedly gets signed.The band themselves look like the stereotypical aging rockers who were once in a really good band back in the day, and they seemed to be genuinely excited themselves about brushing the cobwebs away after not playing together for a staggering 20 years! And their performance is just brilliant. It’s alt-country, but with a real almost post punk kick to it. Their style sounds pretty timeless as most class acts do, and I really get the feeling that I and the other 100 or so people sitting down in this intimate tent are really seeing something special. Vocalist Bill Prince is every bit as good as Michael Stipe at this, and I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a country guitarist as controlled and brilliantly subtle as John Niven. These lot really could have been legends, but it was never to be. As they crash through their final number with the powerful (and quite comical) Lost in the well (which I will have in my head for the rest of the weekend!) I feel almost sorry for the band having to play in front of such a small number of people when they really should be on the main stage late in the afternoon. They don’t seem to mind at all though, and neither do the handful of people packed in the tent, who had just witnessed something brilliant. One of the members of the Epstein later claims them to be the band of the weekend. I’m just glad I saw this, which could have easily been missed. The Wishing Stones were definitely my flukey catch of the weekend. FROM INCENDIARY MAG.COMIt's 1988, Caroline Coon's predicted date for the end of the influence of Punk Rock. It's Spring and London, in the full ripened years of Enterprise Culture, sees its youth overdosing on style facism, commodity-buying and credit binges. Meanwhile, back in the world that never went away, that smoke-infested demi monde of pub backrooms and college bars, a band called THE WISHING STONES are presenting something for the disenfranchised to buy into. After flirtations within the narrow parameters of 'indie pop' (and several line ups) Wishing Stones mainman Bill Prince was now fronting a blowzy-but-deft rock'n'roll quartet. Wandering into Camden's Falcon pub in April, I witnessed (along with three men and a dog) one of the most searing guitar duels I'd heard since wearing out the grooves on Television's 'Adventure'. With Prince-all Stratocaster and gritted teeth vocals - was John Niven, his Billy The Kid, six string cohort perpetually raging full on. Here were frontmen steeped in the Dylan / Robertson, Hell / Quine and Verlaine / Lloyd - style Fender - toting double acts; and in Andrew Kerr and Stewart Garden, the Stones had an effectively unobtrusive rhythm section. But it wasn't all guitars. Bill Prince is a songwriter in the grand tradition, literate, but never name - droppingly verbose, his lyrics are little paranoid dramas, couched dreamy metaphors, all tossed out with that lugubrious voice - part doom - laden, part starry - eyed and almost innocent. After two great singles on the Sub Aqua label, the band split on the verge of a major tour. In March '89 I saw their last gig, bombing in front of 100 Spacemen 3 fans at the Notre Dame Hall when a ropey PA and the smell of patchouli oil overcame the miscast quartet. Their parting shot, 'Lost In The Well' was a fitting sayonara. The album The Wishing Stones had been working on in the Winter of '88 finally saw the light of day on the Heavenly label in 1991. For anyone who ever liked Punk Rock, Neil Young, Television or, erm Paris in the Spring, here's another vital item for your collection. DAVID SHEPPARD
From THAT PETROL EMOTION RECENTLY'O.K whats the greatest LP you have , which you think only you and a couple of other people like? I have 2. The First is "Crazy on the Weekend" by Sunhouse. Gavin Clark the singer has a voice to die for. The Cd dissapeared without trace when it was released. Shane Meadows the director even used the bands music in his early films (He is a mate of Gavin's) but even that didn't seem to help them. The next is for fans of Television and Creedence, The Wishing Stones "Wildwood", this was released long after the band had broken up and one of the first releases on the Heavenly label. Bill Prince Singer/ Guitarist is now Deputy Editor of GQ. Guitarist John Niven has just published his first novel "Kill Your Friends". I love the guitar interplay of the band, great stuff!'
Review of Weather Prophets / The Wishing Stones Nottingham Mardi Gras
THE WRITE STUFF (From Sounds June 1988)When rock writers form bands of their own, the results are invariably disappointing – either a cynical commercial gambit or a turgid risotto of every band they’ve ever liked. Not so The Wishing Stones, led by former journalist Bill Prince.
After a shaky start and many line-up changes, they now have a fine clutch of Songs and two excellent guitarists in Prince and John Niven.
And they’re so confident now that, whereas most under-publicised indie groups in a strange town would panic and belt out their fastest number first, the Stone start with ‘Abyssinia’, an initially barely-audible ballad neatly set to a ‘White Rabbit’ beat.
The climax of their set – and an indication of their direction – is the twin assault of ‘Slow Wheels Turn’ and ‘Old Road Out of Town’, the latter their current single. Both of which are lengthy guitar songs full of wonderfully taught solos.
Review of The Wishing Stones, London Dingwalls Phil Kaufman Club
WISH COME TRUE (from NME 30th July 1988)
In this the summer of Strummer, I’ve already seen artists as diverse as Living Colour, The Icicle Works and Kill Devil Hills covering The Clash. No surprise then to find the Wishing Stones encoring with another Uncle Joe song. Except that they’re clattering through Trash City, the great man’s current single! But then, this evening is proving to be very strange.
…and brilliant, and shocking. In the six months since I last saw them, y’see, this mob have metamorphosised from The Wishy Washy Stones to something not far removed from The Rolling variety! Ruthless corner Stone Bill Prince is the resident Frankenstein, having elbowed the trio of fragiles that used to pick demurely at his songs and, following a quick trawl of Barlinnie gaol, replaced them with a bunch of see-you Jimmy Glaswegian rockers.
The quantum leap between the two line-ups is doing my head in. It’s like returning from an extended hol and discovering that a favourite little sister (a giggling schoolgirl when you left) is now a knuckle-dustered enforcer for the local smack dealers.
And there’s no gentle introduction to this new wimp-free world either. The first note from John Niven’s guitar is a jagged, metallic bastard that would have had the MK one Wishies clutching the smeeling salts, but which here is merely typical, a harbinger of boom.
The Wishing Stones Rock! And grin at each other for their audacity. Bill Prince’s evocative postcards, like ‘New Ways’, are barely recognisable beneath the contusions. The initial shock subside, but the amazement doesn’t as guitars duel, unhinged solos strut about unaccompanied by a responsible adult and Prince, I swear, tilts the mic-stand crowdward in the classic Bad Company manner. And we, suitably, Can’t Get Enough.
Full! Leather! Trousers! At the extreme of their New Ways, are Rawk n Roll with metal studs and double chilli sauce, almost cloddish. But those moments are swamped by the ones where all this new-found energy launches Prince’s guitar on thrillingly chooglin’ excursions into the flight paths of the Gods Young, Robertson, Verlaine and Fogerty. The ascent of the sinister, shuddering ‘Dead Man’s Look’ to its triumphal climax takes all of 10 minutes; I still sulk when it ends.
Six months ago The Wishing Stones would have left the stage to polite vegetarian applause from behind the curtains of fringe; tonight people are rabid for an encore. The choice (if not the unrehearsed rendition), of Trash City, spotlights the sumptuous vein of inspiration / luck The Wishing Stones have currently struck and confirms my impression that these were proceedings of the decidedly Monster Crack variety.
Danny Kelly
The 'where are they now file'  
Bill Prince
John Niven