About Company
About Wud Records
Wud?
Wud rhymes with thud, blood and mud.
Wud doesn’t rhyme with good, should or wood.
Wud definitely doesn’t rhyme with lewd, food or dude.
Wud is a regular verb. To wud is to do your thing your way without the adverse influence of direct external interference.
In a Thesaurus, wud would belong with freedom, tolerence, autonomy, independence, alternative, underground and weird.
Wud has been considered to be an acronym. It is not an acronym! It is a regular verb! (stamping foot)
So for historical purposes… The abbreviation ‘wud’ has been considered to stand for The Wud Union of Devon, which we quite like, even though it doesn’t really. In 1985 a couple of people tried to popularise the idea that wud stood for ‘we use drugs’. Whether or not such usage might have been true at various times is a moot point, it is factually wrong.
The actual origin of the word ‘wud’ came from when a few of the founders would gather together at Zaphod’s house and smoke bongs of Nepalese Templeball. These fledgling wudders would giggle and say “Wud wud wud wud wud wud wud wud wud!” because they were too stoned to say anything more coherent.
Brief History of Wud Records
Wud began as a cerebral concept that was shared by a few musicians in January 1984. They would gather together informally on an ad hoc basis as described above. Many of them played music together in various permutations and combinations. In January 1985 some of them formed a band which they called Wud. Despite some commercial success and considerable interest from the press and the music industry, the band folded late in 1985, largely due to the incongruously disparate nature of the personalities within the band.
In April 1986, Wud Productions came into existence thanks to the Enterprise Allowance scheme. This gave the whole concept a stamp of officialdom and a bank account with the word ‘Wud’ printed on every page of the cheque book, which seemed pretty cool at the time. Many days and weeks were spent recording bad songs, badly. Unsurprisingly the whole shebang was never terribly successful, although it did continue to lurk in the background for many years, during the various incarnations of Masters of Drone bands, The Subterraineans and Rough Terrain.
When an opportunity arose to take over a community space and make it into a rehearsal room for all the local musicians, a public facility which was completely non-existant in Exeter in the late 1980s, a few wudpeople seized the opportunity and made Bandspace happen. Over a period of time Bandspace received funding from various charitable organisations including Dayspace and The Prince’s Trust. All of the founders of Bandspace left apart from George, presumably not wanting the responsibility nor having to make the time. The project grew and became such a successful non-profit community initiative that George was nominated for, and won, a holiday to Spain for his work. Wud existed in the background during this time, occasionally recording or promoting events.
By 1991 Wud Productions had become a conjoined twin of Silent Running Studios, which was a state-of-the-art eight-track facility that was both a commercial enterprise and the birthplace of Dark Company. Silent Running shut its doors for the last time in 1994 but Wud Productions continued to rumble along on its own, having enjoyed some success in Europe and Asia thanks firstly to Dark Company and then The Ug Brothers.
By the time the internet began to become a ubiquitous force for good, it was clear that the wudders needed a voice online. First came The Wud Site, but after its initial build it was impossible to make that work the way it was intended due to limitations of time, resources and differences of opinion. These were between the creative ideas for how the site should be and the technical boffins who were needed to implement those ideas. After a lengthy period of stagnation with The Wud Site, the Wud Records website was created in 2008. Soon after, the old website simply disappeared altogether.
Since 2008 the remaining wud posse worked on digitising, finishing and releasing the music of all its associated bands, both legacy and active. We have also used the website as a platform to allow others to hear the wonderful music of bands we have loved from days gone by, whose music is no longer heard. This is our Archive section. There is a lot of work to do and as we are busy with jobs and familes and so on, it takes time.
In 2017 Wud Records left the uk where it began and moved to a location in the forests of central Europe, about halfway between Prague and Munich. There we have managed to rebuild our three studios and continue our work, even though it has taken a monumental effort to do so. We anticipate that a lot more material will be coming from Wud Records in the coming years.
Many wudbeings and associates have come and gone in all the years gone by. Some have been born, others have died. However, we continue and we shall endure.
Our Current Team
* George Davies (founder, co-director, audio consultant, A&R, composer, multi-instrumentalist, production, engineering, mastering, website, wudmaster, Dark Company, Flicker)
* Sam James (co-director, A&R, marketing strategy, social media, production, engineering, mastering, copyright, law, correspondence, art and design)
* Kim Davies (accounts, tax, telephone, international relations)
* Dan Davies (internet guru, web design, social media consultant, technical troubleshooter)
* Pok (founder member, musical genius, bardic ubermeister)
* Q. Wim Lijkkes (The Bastard Sons of Dennis)
* Derek Broom (The Bastard Sons of Dennis)
* Yuri Nation (The Bastard Sons of Dennis)
* Chuck Palmer (The Bastard Sons of Dennis)
* Maxx Damage (house bass player, electronics, production, mastering)
* Sven Stiglund (house drummer, moving large and heavy objects)
* Zak Black (guitar in Dark Company)
* Barry Bridges (guitar in Dark Company)
* Josh Reynes (keys and horns)
* Udo Hartmann (DIY, repairs, electrics)
* Tessa Davies (bwabbing, being funny and cute)
Founder Members – no longer present
Graham Barbe (honorary member)
Sarah Billen (honorary member)
Yvonne Crone
Dave Danielli (honorary member)
Jack the Frag
Marc Greatorex
Di Kotas (honorary member)
Angie Osbourne (honorary member)
Andreas Schoeter
Cliff Smith
Ken Staple (honorary member)
Sean Talbot
Zaphod
Namedrops
Over the years the various members of our team, past and present, have worked with or been friends with, these bands and musicians, in approximate chronological order:
The Rolling Stones
The Who
Hawkwind
Motorhead
The Barron Knights
Ozric Tentacles
Black Roots
Gong
Ten Years After
Iron Butterfly
The Levellers
Muse
Metronomy
Reef
Dorje
Toska
Rod Stewart
Lemmy Kilminster (Motorhead)
Dik Mik (Hawkwind)
Sam Myers
Billy Bragg
Gordon Giltrap
David Gilmour (Pink Floyd)
Joe Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult)
