The Doctor’s Pond

The Doctor’s Pond crawled out of the primal slime in the autumn of 1985. Steve Lines was a member of The Tryp with Rod Goodway and Paul Ricketts. In September 1985 they began recording their album “My Brain Collapsed” which was eventually released on Acid Tapes in 1986. These sessions were conducted in secrecy; therefore they needed a cover story. The trio decided to tell everyone they were recording as The Doctor’s Pond, a name Steve had taken from a previous band he was in who didn’t like it (preferring the far more mundane ‘Nightshift’). It was decided that each member would also write a song called “The Doctor’s Pond”. A new version of Steve’s song is included here while Rod’s was released on the first Ethereal Counterbalance album and Paul’s remains unreleased.At one Tryp recording session a local band tuned up at Rod’s door and asked if he’s like to do a support slot. He said yes, if he could bring a band, and so The Doctor’s Pond was born. Simon Bewlay was recruited on drums and Keith Wilson was drafted in and taught to play bass. Rod Goodway: “I went onstage with Steve Lines (guitar), Simon Bewley (drums) and Keith Wilson (bass) with me playing slide guitar and singing The Gun Club's "Walking With the Beast" among other songs. This was the first live performance (with me involved) of the band known as The Doctors Pond. The second time we played as this line-up the Tryp album was finished and we had actually rehearsed a set of songs that included "When Fate Deals its Mortal Blow" "The Spin" and "Walking With the Beast" by The Gun Club plus Danny & Dusty’s "Song for the Dreamers" and, to finish, "Sister Ray".At the end of 1985 the band went trough a line-up change. Keith Wilson left the band, Dave Seal joined on guitar and Steve swapped from guitar to bass. Immediately they began to write original material. Steve version of “The Doctor’s Pond” was resurrected and new songs came thick and fast. However just as the band was ready to gig, Rod left. Rod: “1985 was the year Christine and I were forced to move out of our beloved cottage, so while the actual eviction notice was hanging over us I felt I could no longer keep regular practice dates with The Doctors Pond, which was a shame really because by now we were playing our own stuff, but anyway I quit the band in order to stay close to home for our last few weeks there.”His replacement was Mike Humphreys, with whom Steve and (later) Simon played in The Chaos Brothers. Dave Young was brought in on bass and Steve moved to slide guitar, but a motorbike accident meant Dave had to leave the band after only a couple of weeks and Steve moved back to bass. This line-up played a couple of gigs and then split up. A month later they had reformed and played a couple more gigs that included all previous members.And that was it. Rod went on to The Jellymonsters and Magic Muscle, Steve to Stormclouds and The Chaos Brothers and Simon and Mike to The Chaos Brothers. But the story doesn’t stop there. In 2007 Steve and Mike decided to get together to record an album of material by The Doctor’s Pond. As there weren’t enough original songs for a full album (the band only had six self-penned numbers) Steve began to write new material. The band is in the process of recording their debut album at the moment in Ken Flynn's Swamp Studios, Calne. Lookout for its release on Rainfall Records sometime in the summer.