“ W e l l   t h a t   m u c h   i s   t r u e ,   i t   w a s   i n d e e d   m e
W h o   c r e a t e d   s a i d   a n t h e m   f o r   o u r   G a r r y   L e e
S o   I ’ l l   l e a v e   y o u   w i t h   t h a t   a s   w e   e n d   t h i s   m o n t h ’ s   s h o w
H a v e   t h e   m o s t   s p a c e d   o u t   C h r i s t m a s . . .   a n d   l e t   y o u r   f r e e d o m   o v e r f l o w ! ”

o

Oh yes, there's history there, and I thought it would be fun to share some of it with you as we come to the first edition of Mick Magic's Radioshow To The Stars made for the Overflow network (Dark Life was already well into production when Captain Garry Lee invited us on board)! So let's start with that original 1992 theme, which you can listen to here whenever you like it, download it if you wish, and sing along till your heart's content, we're nice like that. Mostly. I'm thinking it was probably recorded in the Autumn of 1992, there being no mention of it in the Summer '92 Update edition of The Mmattrix. It was just the two of us that produced it, myself on synths and guitar, Leonie Jackson on vocals, and it ultimately saw release on "The Radio Cracker Tape", a compilation we put together for a local Christmas charity, in the December. Got Record Of The Week on said FM station too, played in full at 8:30 every morning, so I always made sure I had the radio in the taxi tuned in to 101.4 FM, oh be still my pounding ego.

o

And that wasn't the only radio related tape associated with the Overflow either, there was the infamous Mmattland Community Radio episode, the April Fools joke that still haunts poor Garry to this very day. He has begged me to smash the it with a mallet, grind it to atoms, douse those atoms in petrol and destroy it totally and utterly in a blast furnace. As Hal 90 would put it; I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that. It's just a digital file on a server these days, the original master cassette long having left this world. I feel like I'm rubbing salt in the wounds by offering listeners the chance to download it. May he find it in his heart to forgive me. The whole story is best told in the original words from the time, because it and my long weekend at Overflow HQ, all of 33 years ago, were both documented in the hallowed pages of The Mmattrix, produced with a typewriter, Letraset and double sided sticky tape, reprinted on the next page...

o

   Mmattland Community Radio (C-90 + Inlay)

(Music & Elsewhere, MMATT 35, July 1992)

   Freedom Overflow (6:29)

(from "The Radio Cracker Tape", Music & Elsewhere,

 MMATT 37, December 1992)

Shortwave, the final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship Overflow
Their continuing mission;
To explore strange new music
To seek out new beats and guitar riffs
To boldly go where no waveband has gone before…

It’s a bit of a storm
It’s on my radio
It’s a bit of a storm
It’s Freedom Overflow
It’s a bit of a storm

From the depths of mega-space came the Starship Overflow
All to save the human race from the horrors on the radio
And he said “Hello, Planet Earth, we have come to set you free.”
And he said “Take me to your leader, I am Captain Garry Lee.”

Into orbit came the craft, many miles above the ground
The transporter beam locked on, into Colchester they beamed on down
Now I can’t wait for the weekend to turn on my radio
So have the time of your life, let your freedom overflow

The Black Widow at his side, he appeared down on the street
Jolly Roger flying high, they were dancing to the freedom beat
And he said “Fire up the transmitter, get the station on the air.”
And he said “We’ll play all the music that the others wouldn’t dare.”

So the station hit the air and the word soon spread around
So now all around the world you can tune in to a brand new sound
Now I can’t wait for the weekend to turn on my radio
So have the time of your life, let your freedom overflow

Music & Lyrics by Mick Magic © 1992
(*though he admits the little speech at the beginning sounds a tad familiar…)

o

CONTINUED...