Describe your time with The Wedding Present in five words:

"My mate thinks you're s**t"

Tell us exactly why you left The Wedding Present?

I must admit this is all ancient history nowadays, it's not something I mull over. A lot was written in the "Thank Yer, Very Glad" book, though I don't think any of us were very happy with the result. I do still feel sad sometimes about the personal side of everything, because for a couple of years we were very good friends. If TWP had never taken off, it's quite possible that we still would be.

The original source of disagreement was really about money. People can have different opinions about the rights and wrongs of song writing credits (and my own opinion has changed a bit since), but my relationship with David changed when he began to earn more than the other group members. We were living on £50 per week at the time and it made quite a difference, although I must admit the others didn't seem so bothered. Although I could see that David wrote the main body of the songs, it wasn't like we could get other jobs (though Peter did supply teaching) and this was the main body of income for all of us. We sorted out a compromise, but it cemented the fact that it was "David's group" and the others used to refer to him as "boss". I still remembered that it hadn't felt so much like that at the start, and not accepting this was my mistake. I should have accepted the situation or left then. I was very into music (all the stuff we heard on Peel), very proud of the stuff we were doing, and had opinions about the sound.  A reputation for aggression was exaggerated by David later to justify the things that happened, and if the rumour I heard is true about the title of "Why Are You being So Reasonable Now?" being a reference to me, perhaps it just shows we didn't understand each other.  

I did feel claustrophobic on tour sometimes. Although I like travelling, we played over 150 gigs in 1986 for example, and I just wanted to be at home, see friends and do my laundry! I remember bursting into tears on one occasion in Switzerland - I just wanted to stop for a moment. Being in a group is like being in a relationship with the other group members, and it is possible to lose a sense of reality after a while in the confines of the van.

Later on, David started trying it on with my girlfriend, who was our roadie on tour, though we'd been going out since before the band started. The others didn't know about this, and I was asked not to say anything by her, but the result was that I did become increasingly grumpy.  During the last European trip I made a comment about leaving after the following tour. I certainly did feel frustrated, though I didn't do anything about it and am not sure I would have. In a way, it would have been good if we had all talked about it, because though I knew Keith was talking about leaving too, I didn't realise how much I had alienated the others who didn't know the reason for my mood.

I got a letter at home over Christmas telling me I was out. It was very sudden, and I had no idea it was coming at that particular moment. I went up to Leeds straight away, but they had already sorted out a replacement, so weren't interested in any kind of negotiation. David sent Sara (my girlfriend) a letter the same day, which arrived at her house first, so she told me about the whole thing on the phone. Sara's letter asked her to stay with the group. If David had got his way, he would have taken away everything I had in the world at once. Happily he didn't.

In the first few months after leaving The Wedding Present, what aspects of being in the group, if any, did you miss the most?

TWP were very successful during the immediate period after I left, and the records were still very good too. I found myself temping in Brighton, filing at first, terrible jobs, though things did get sorted out after a while. I couldn't stay in Leeds, where the band were everywhere, so I went back south. It's safe to say I missed quite a lot! Not the happiest period of my life.

I remember one temping job where the old men who worked there would look over to you and give you a tut and a "what a waste of a young life" expression. TWP were on TOTP that month....  

Any regrets? Do you sometimes wish that you were still involved?

Not now, no. I have a lovely family - partner Carol and baby daughter (Sara and I split up in the end over the idea of kids, but a long time later). The sheer number of members the band has had tells me things cannot have been all happy plain sailing since.

It's a shame how things were handled on all sides though, and I'd have liked to have been on "Kennedy". Would have given people more reason to do their "Too Much Apple Pie" impersonations...

People tell me Seamonsters is very good too, though I've not heard it. I'd like to have been in the band for another year or two perhaps and left on a friendlier note, but I've played on some great records, and done nine BBC sessions with three different bands. I can't complain, and I feel very lucky to have been involved. I'm also proud to have been an original member of TWP and The Popguns rather than joining when the sound was already there.

Keith remembers me saying once "I want to be as big as Marc Riley with The Creepers".

Do you have any song, or performance that you consider to be your defining moment with The Wedding Present?

George Best sounds a bit dated these days, but I'm proud of it for its day, and it's nice when people tell me how important it was for them (normally people with as much hair as I have!). Though people may have different opinions about their favourite, I'm told it's still the biggest selling WP album.

Do you have a favourite Wedding Present record that (a) you played on, and (b) you didn't play on?

a) My Favourite Dress b) Kennedy.

I haven't heard much from after I left, not because I wouldn't like it, but because I knew I would...   

The thought of which venue/festival performance sends a shiver down your spine?

Hearing the crowd singing the words to "A Million Miles" over the top of our playing at Leeds Poly in late 1987 and the stage invasion in my home town of Brighton shortly afterwards spring to mind.

Oh, and 1st March 1985 in Allerton Bywater supporting Dik Dik Dimorphic. My first gig, and I was terrified as I'd never played the drums before in public. We went down pretty well though...

Tell us something that not many people know about David Gedge?

David has a 2:1 in Maths, went to school with The Chameleons and once did a song called "Thatcher the Snatcher".

Have you seen The Wedding Present or Cinerama since leaving the band?

I always felt like seeing TWP after I left was a bit like watching your girlfriend shagging someone else, so no. We even supported them one time with The Popguns, but I'd been working in London that day before the gig, so used my return train ticket and left before they came on. Cinerama, yes, seen them, but it's not the same and I didn't see them play any of the old songs. I was away when TWP played recently, though seems like they are Cinerama renamed. I wouldn't have a problem seeing them at all.

What is your relationship with David Gedge like now, and would you consider re-joining The Wedding Present?

Things are fine on a superficial level nowadays. David lives near Brighton, and we've bumped in to each other. We always chat and went for a curry a few months ago. He did ask me to play with him (along with a couple of friends I was in a band with) on his first Peel session - what became Cinerama. I played guitar actually. We played Kerry Kerry (renamed after one of the friends involved) and three others, but he was trying to find a radically different sound, though it was difficult with what were basically pop songs. It didn't work out mutually, and ended amicably. I'm still not keen on the early Cinerama stuff, though one of my guitar lines and some vocals from Kerry made it on to the single. Not played by us though!!

Life's too short for grudges, and I wouldn't have a problem playing with David again, though with my family and job, I couldn't do it full time. I think it's better for bands to look forward though.

What are you doing now?

Nothing musical, though I still go to gigs. I've got a decent job in IT and help look after my daughter, who's 15 months old.

I'm still very interested in music, and the other passion - football (Brighton & Hove Albion and St. Pauli). I wheeze round the 5-a-side pitch every week, and I've even been known to get the Subbuteo out every now and then...  

Have you got a box of 'TWP Stuff' in the loft? Tell us what's in it?

A vinyl copy of everything along with test pressings. I used to collect all the tapes of gigs and practices, though I gave some of these away a few years ago to a good home. I've got quite a few unreleased songs from the period knocking about, though there was normally a reason why they are unreleased!

Shaun Charman Specific Questions:

What has happened to the Popguns?

I saw the Popguns earlier this year. They reformed to play a mate of guitarist Simon's wedding, and played a gig in Brighton while they were at it. I left them amicably, but was never as keen anyway. I do think we made some good records, but their music taste was always lighter than mine. They made a couple more albums, and faded away rather than officially end. They're all still great mates so it would be easy for them to reform. Even while I was in the band, I was never part of their social circle. They had a couple of drummers after I left, and used the last one for these recent gigs. I was funny for me to watch though - every fill and beat was in the same place, I didn't think it would be like that. I think the recent gig was a one off - I saw Wendy and Simon on the train on the way back from Disneyland recently with their two kids! That's what they're mainly doing...

In a way I've always thought it was ironic that I ended up in The Popguns as at the time I left, I was arguing against selling out and watering down. I ended up in the Popguns and they made Seamonsters. Hmmm...  

How did you join the Wedding Present in the first place?

I answered an advert on Leeds University Notice Board. It was for a drummer, but I had never played the drums in a band, only swapping instruments at practices with other bands having been a bassist originally. The advert said The Chameleons, The Fall, Josef K etc. When we met, we found we liked loads of other stuff in common too - The Membranes, Folk Devils, Three Johns etc (that dates it!). They had had a succession of drummers, and think they were delighted to find a musical kindred spirit. I remember roadie-ing for them one time at the University and the drummer had about 15 tom-toms and a mullet! I don't play on "Go Out And Get 'Em Boy!", only the B-side, because it had a quiet bit in the middle where I could get a rest! The drummer on "Go Out..." was from another band I was in at the time. I learned how to play in between the first single and "Once More", and I do think this had an influence on the speed of the band. I was always playing as fast as I could, and as I got better, I got faster..!

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Something and Nothing would like to thank to Chris Williams