HOPPER
Don’t be alarmed if you’ve never heard of Hopper. Too few did in the short time they existed between 1992 and 1998. I came to them on their second single, ‘Baby Oil Applicator’ which I heard Steve Lamacq play on the radio one night when he was distracting me from doing my homework. It was good, but then the album, English and French came in 1996. It featured a song called ‘Ridiculous Day’ – and amazing, strange, unsettling artwork. ‘Ridiculous Day’ was the dizziest, dreamiest thing I’d ever heard at that point. Like John Barry doing Throwing Muses. Singer Rachel had the strangest delivery too; every bit of intonation you expected her to do, she did the opposite. And then… nothing.
It’s tough to find much of Hopper’s music on the internet, though there is a decent John Peel session here. May I recommend you purchase a copy of the album, here.
And read this chat with Rachel Ratajski…
Hey Rachel. I loved Hopper, specifically the song ‘Ridiculous Day’, which was a single in 1996. I thought it was the most euphoric thing I’d ever heard…
“I liked that one! It was Bernard [Butler]’s idea to put strings on the song. We had a string section come along to the studio, RAK, to record. Unfortunately, I was ill on that day, so I didn’t get to see them. My memory of writing that song is very dim after so many years, but the music is uplifting and yet the lyrical content is the opposite. It’s supposed to be read as quite claustrophobic and contained…”
You were signed to Factory Too, the label Tony Wilson set up in 1994 after Factory went down in 1992. What do you remember about Tony?
“My memories of Tony are fond ones. He was a generous man and he believed in us, sometimes more than we did ourselves. It was a bit of a strange situation to be in [signed to Factory Too] as I guess typically the Manchester music scene was more male dominated and he picked this southern, bespectacled and geeky looking girl to sign. I remember one time he marched us into the Haçienda, smiled to the security guards and said, “step aside these people are going to be huge” I said, “which people Tony?” quite bemused.”
It’s stories like that which are the precise reason I started ‘Indie Heaven’…
“Tony made sweeping gestures of kindness which I sometimes was a little bit shy to fully accept. I do remember that one time we played a gig and he sent me a bouquet of ten red roses. The band Northern Uproar were onlookers and couldn’t fathom it. “She looks like a teacher” one of them said.”
Bernard Butler produced your debut album English and French. Nigel Godrich, fresh from working on Radiohead’s The Bends, engineered it. Do you have any memories of those guys?
“I was happy to work with Bernard as he immediately accepted working with us after hearing some demos of the band. I think he understood where I was coming from and the music resonated with him. He made us work very hard in the studio, but it was a fun experience. Bernard and Nigel were easy going and good to be around creatively.”
Before Factory Too you put out a couple of records on Damaged Goods. I loved, and indeed, love that label…
“Ian from Damaged Goods was aware of my previous band [Andalula's Locket] before Hopper. When I arrived in London at eighteen, I spent years writing songs and played what was then known as the toilet scene - venues like the Bull & Gate in Kentish Town...”
I’m interjecting to say RIP the Bull & Gate…
“There was a big independent scene going on at that time, very thriving and I was glad to meet Ian and release some music for him. It was exciting as I knew he was the man who put out the first Manic Street Preachers records.”
You got a lot of comparisons to other female fronted bands of the era. Obviously this is silly and being ‘female fronted’ isn't a genre. But I also thought you were a lot artier and strange sounding than a lot of the bands that were cited as comparison…
“I agree with you. Those lazy comparisons totally pissed me off! Some people in the industry were going around saying we were a Sleeper rip off. To make this comment means they didn’t listen properly. The lyrics, my stage presence, my punk mentality and my whole approach to the business of making and releasing records was totally opposite.”
Okay, here’s the big question. Hopper: what went wrong?
“Yeah, it ended too soon and I do feel we could’ve stuck together more. It was disappointing. London Records pulled funding from Factory Too. Tony hawked our demos around but no one took him up on it. Bernard got our bassist Chris [Bowers] some work touring the States with Edwyn Collins, which was cool, but Bernard also wanted Chris to join his band, which he fronted. We had a meeting and I was told that Bernards’s band had to be the main priority not Hopper. This was a tough thing to hear and was one of the reasons why the band collapsed because I didn’t want him to view Hopper as a secondary option.”
Well, it was a mighty shame. But you’re still making music!
“Yeah, whilst I enjoyed being a vocalist I didn’t want to stagnate. I wanted to learn new things, so I began to teach myself guitar and took drum lessons for two years. The songs that I wrote whilst teaching myself guitar became my solo project, Rachel Kyriaki - some of which are available now on the usual streaming platforms.”
Oh, don’t worry, I’ll link to them. Okay, to wrap this up, is there any chance I will ever get to see Hopper live. I missed out last time. Purleeeeeeeeeease…
“I think there’s no chance that we’ll ever get back together. Unfortunately the interest is just not there. I met Paul [Shepperd], the guitarist, last year at a gig he was playing. He’s now the guitarist in a Cardiff based band called John MOuse. It was great to see him but I know he’s busy and happy with that band now. The drummer Matt [Alexander] moved to Australia. I asked Chris if he’d like to work on some songs together but he declined. He doesn’t play bass anymore but is a visual effects animator.”