Hugh Whitaker and Dave Hemmingway

(originally posted 1/20/09)
Hugh Whitaker
and
Dave Hemmingway
both of The Housemartins

When I first started this series on drummers I immediately was curious about The Housemartins. And immediately I learned that drummers are often somewhat disposable members of bands. I'm infinitely disappointed that until I looked into it, I would have never guessed that The Housemartins had several drummers.

Prior to recording, Chris Lang was the drummer for The Housemartins. Whitaker (once drummer for The Gargoyles) was drummer on their first album...and apparently went on to prison for trying to kill someone with an axe. Hemmingway was drummer on their second album and went on to form Beautiful South.

I first heard the Housemartins in high school when I worked at the local pool. There was a guy who worked there who was in college, and he introduced me to both The Housemartins and Erasure. When I left for college myself, my new partner in crime, Mapback had cassette copies of the two Housemartin albums...one of the many things that I loved her for at the time. The Housemartin's were just obscure enough to seem really cool. They still are. Listening to them still makes me think of driving down a New Mexico highway with the windows open...or of Mapback accidentally hitting record instead of play and recording herself saying "oh shit" in the middle of a song.

Based on the date, I think this might be Whitaker:


I'm assuming this is Hemmingway (especially since he's singing):