Though it was written by Brad Nack (a former boyfriend of Tracey's) for his own band, The Tortilla Flats, "I Walk The Earth" is the perfect signpost to describe the first few years of Voice Of The Beehive's existence. The early days were charac-terized by much motion: transcontinental moves by the girls, relentless promotion and touring, tons of product output by the record label.

The first step was founder Tracey Bryn's wanderlust. In the early 1980's, Tracey followed her then-boyfriend, Brad Nack, from sunny Southern California to not-so-sunny London, England. The trip was planned more as a vacation than a permanent stay, but much like one her rock heroes, Chrissie Hynde, Tracey took to London and decided to stay.

Tracey had been inspired by British music for years, classic pop bands like the Kinks and the Beatles, as well as current outfits like Bow Wow Wow, so staying in London to be a part of the scene that spawned such great music seemed only logical. Tracey had always wanted to be in a band (and, indeed, had already been in a short-lived "psychedelic garage band" back in California called The Boys). Once in London, she joined another short-lived outfit, The Love Bombs, in which she learned the fundamentals of playing and writing music on guitar. "Just A City" was one of the songs that emerged from this period.

Shortly after The Love Bombs broke up, Tracey invited her sister Melissa Brooke Belland over for a short holiday, which evolved into a permanent stay. The girls, who'd once pledged as young sisters to be in a band together, set out to make that dream a reality. Their first step towards that goal was establishing themselves on the London indie music scene. The girls became good friends with bands like Zodiac Mindwarp And The Love Reaction, My Bloody Valentine, Gaye Bykers On Acid, and Bill Drummond (of the KLF). Indeed, Tracey and Melissa's first appearance on record was as backing vocalists on the track "Married Man" on Bill Drummond's country and gospel-tinged first solo album, The Man. Though their vocals are mixed so low they're almost impossible to pick out, the girls were billed for the first time in the liner notes as Voice Of The Beehives [sic].

On a sidenote: The source of the band's name has been misidentified for years. No one is quite sure where the myth started, but at some point someone printed a story that claimed that Voice Of The Beehive got their name from an old Bette Davis film of the same name. The story became a much-quoted fact, but the "fact" of the matter is, that story is patently untrue. If you believe it, I challenge you to find a Bette Davis film of that name. Rather, Tracey and Melissa went through a series of lackluster names, among them The Fashion Don'ts, Down Worm and The They Monster. Finally, they hit upon the phrase "Voice of the (fill in the blank)." A mock dialogue between Tracey and Melissa, which appeared on the liner notes of the later London Records compilation album Giant, as well as the Midja Pack 12-inch release of "I Say Nothing," is telling:

Melissa: "Tracey, I'm sick of L.A. -- All this sun, sand and surf crap is getting me down."
Tracey: "And you can't find any decent cider 'round here!"
Melissa: "Right! Hey, I got an idea -- let's go to London!"
Tracey: "And live in squats in Bow with outdoor toilets."
Melissa: "And freeze our asses off."
Tracey: "...when it's not pissing down with rain."
Melissa: "And meet some cute guys."
Tracey: "And form a band."
Melissa: "And call it...?"
Tracey: "Voice of The..."
Melissa: "Grapefruit?"
Tracey: "No!...BEEHIVE!"
The dialogue is a little silly, and more than likely made up by London Records staffers, but the manner in which the band's name was selected was accurate. Fill in the blank until you find something that sounds good, and voila! Thank heavens they didn't go with grapefruit.

Shortly after recording with Drummond, the girls met Mike Jones, a Welsh guitarist who owned his own 4-track studio, and Voice Of The Beehive as a band officially started taking shape. The trio, using a rotating line-up of guest bassists and drummers, put together a few demos and sent them to various labels. Food Records, an independent label run by Andy Ross and ex-Teardrop Explodes founder David Balfe, was the first label to show an interest. Food offered the Beehive a one-off record deal.

In the meantime, Daniel (Woody) Woodgate and Mark (Bedders) Bedford, both former members of Madness, caught a Voice Of The Beehive gig at the Bull And Gate in Kentish Town. Acquainted with the Beehive's manager, they asked if they could gig with the band a few times, and the band readily agreed.

At first they tried to downplay the Madness connection --they didn't want to be seen as "the new Madness." And though Woody and Bedders played on the first single, "Just A City," they were not pictured in the band photo that appeared on the 12-inch release, nor were they billed as band members (they only received a thank you credit on the sleeve).

Just prior to the first single's release, on January 28th, 1987, the band played the ICA Rock Week, a series of concerts at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts to showcase independent labels and their new acts. However, when corporate sponsor EMI Records announced that a condition of their sponsorship was that every band had to contribute tracks to a special compilation album, the original line-up changed drastically.

Voice Of The Beehive was one of the bands that stayed on, and early live versions of their songs "Sorrow Floats" and "What You Have Is Enough" can be found on the albums On The Dotted Line (Here) and On The Dotted Line (There), respectively, which were both released in July of 1987. After the ICA show, Mark Bedford left the band to form his own outfit, Butterfield 8, and Martin Brett stepped in to fill his place. The band line-up, as it would be known for the next several years, was set.

In March of 1987, Food Records released the "Just A City" single in 7-inch and 12-inch formats, and the buzz on the band was great. The single performed very well on the independent charts and got plenty of radio airplay, so the major labels immediately started calling.

The band quickly signed with London Records (a subsidiary of Polygram), over second place Go! Discs, because "there was something about that youthful drunken label that was so appealing." And though they lost the Beehive to a major, Food Records and David Balfe benefited greatly from the deal as well. Food signed a distribution agreement with EMI that remains in place to this day, and David Balfe signed on as the Beehive's manager.

With the ink on the contract barely dry, the London Records machine chugged into high gear, starting a flood of Voice Of The Beehive product that would continue for the next two years. "Just A City" was re-released on 7-inch and 12-inch formats in April of 1987, with different cover art and different b-sides (the 12-inch included the band's cover of Led Zeppelin's "D'Yer Mak'Er"). The singles were released in conjunction with Food Records, the only time the two labels would officially work together again on a Beehive project.

The next several months were spent on the road, touring extensively with such acts as Boys Wonder and the Proclaimers, as well as in the recording studio. In July, the EMI On The Dotted Line LPs were released. In September, London released Giant, a compilation release of several of their current signings. Voice Of The Beehive were represented by the track "Beat Of Love" (the same version that would later appear on Let It Bee). Also in September, Sounds magazine (a music paper like NME and Melody Maker) included a freebie 7-inch EP with one of their weekly issues. Voice Of The Beehive's "What You Have Is Enough" (an early version that is much different than the version fans would later get to know and love) appeared alongside tracks from three other bands: the Primitives, the Soup Dragons, and the Band Of Holy Joy.

In October 1987, London released "I Say Nothing" in a variety of formats (including two 7-inch variations, and three different 12-inches). Almost immediately, the band took flak from the prudes at the BBC, who demanded that the lyrics "she says I get it every night" and "he'll rip you right in two" be changed. The band obliged and the lyrics became "she says I see him every night" and "he'll rip your heart in two," but Radio 1 DJ Janice Long continued to play the original and the band eventually thanked her for doing so in the Let It Bee liner notes. The single quickly disappeared from the markets because of the offending lyrics and the band was none too pleased. Fortunately, they were able to keep the original lyrics on Let It Bee, and in live shows even changed one of the lyrics to "she says I fuck him every night" (this wily lyrical fix can be heard in the live version of "I Say Nothing" that appears on the "Perfect Place" CD single). The band also made a video, their first, for "I Say Nothing." Hoping to incorporate a little Madness-style fun into the video, the band performed the song on a soundstage and goofed around a lot. The girls also cleaned out their wardrobes for this one (they go through what seems like dozens of colorful costume changes). There were also two versions made of this video, one for the UK, and another for the US (which simply has less split-screen effects and fast cuts).

The rest of 1987, and much of the first half of 1988, was spent on television. Voice Of The Beehive, and especially Tracey and Melissa, became fixtures on British music programs, talk shows, and children's programs. When they were asked about their frequent appearances on shows aimed at very young kids, the girls claimed that they loved doing it because it got them on stage in front of an audience that wouldn't normally be able to attend their adults-only club gigs.

In February of 1988, the band released their third single, "I Walk The Earth." Again, London Records pumped out a variety of formats, including two 7-inches, a 12-inch and a CD single. A video was produced, this one directed by Cure video veteran Tim Pope. In it, the girls could be seen bouncing around a room filled with clothes and other "stuff," while the boys in the band played their instruments and looked on in amusement. Turns out, though, that the room is actually a large suitcase. Get it? Tracey and Melissa hated it. At the time of the video's release, British music shows were more likely to show short snippets of videos instead of the whole thing, and so they only showed the middle part where the girls bounced around, looking silly, and not the ending which explained the silliness. Like "I Say Nothing" before it, the song barely grazed the Top 40, but the Beehive's profile was growing. The TV appearances were paying off.

On February 26, 1988, the band stopped by the Radio 1 Studios to record an Evening Session that would be played on the air a week later, then released as a 12-inch and CD single a year later. Needless to say, they didn't play "I Say Nothing." Instead their set consisted of two b-sides ("No Green Blues" and "Jump This Way") and two cover songs (the Comsat Angels' "Independence Day" and the Velvet Underground's "Jesus").

In May of 1988, London Records released the fourth single, "Don't Call Me Baby." Derisively called (by the band) "the piss take that made it big," the song took its title from a line uttered by Ann-Margret to Elvis Presely in Viva Las Vegas. Released in seven different formats, including three 7-inches, a 10-inch, a 12-inch, a CD single, and a Video CD single (which could only be played on European PAL standard laser disc players), "Don't Call Me Baby" was the band's biggest chart hit to date, reaching a high of 15. Two videos were produced for the single. One, a simple blue-tinted, black-and-white studio performance with a few animated squiggles and jots flitting about the screen (this is the version that would later play on US television). The second was set in a drive-in theater, with the girls driving the car (and the boys stowed away in the trunk) and the original video being projected on the screen.

"Don't Call Me Baby" preceded the release of Let It Bee by a month. Driven by that single's success, Let It Bee reached a chart high of 13 in early July. London Records was so delighted by the back-to-back successes that they quickly churned out a re-release of "I Say Nothing." This time the song was released with the sanitized lyrics, new cover art, and a slate of new b-sides. Like the three or four singles before it, "I Say Nothing" (Mach II) hit the market in a slew of different formats: three 7-inches, two 12-inches and a CD single. The re-release charted much higher, peaking at 22 on July 23rd. The band, meanwhile, was in the midst of a successful British tour with Big Bam Boo and A House opening up.

The fall of 1988 saw Tracey and Melissa doing a bit of moonlighting from the Beehive. First, they contributed a cover of "Five Feet High & Risin'" to 'til things are brighter, a Johnny Cash tribute album. They were billed on the record as Tracey and Melissa Beehive. Also, sometime in the fall, the girls put in a appearance in the video for Crazyhead's "Time Has Taken It's Toll On You." They didn't sing in the video, just danced like go-go stowaways from that old 60s show, Laugh-In. November found them popping up as vocalists on The Bomb Party's cover version of "Sugar Sugar." The girls also sang lead and backing vocals on the b-side, "Do The Right Thing."

Back on the Beehive front, London Records was pleased enough with the summer re-release of "I Say Nothing" to give "I Walk The Earth" another try. The single came out in six different formats: three 7-inches, a 10-inch, a 12-inch, and a CD single. While the single puttered around the bottom of half of the British Top 100, the band turned their attention to America.

In November, Tracey joined her boyfriend, Steve Mack of That Petrol Emotion, at a college radio convention in New York City. The buzz on the Beehive in the US was growing (MTV was able to squeeze a few spins of "I Say Nothing" onto their playlist between the glut of hair metal bands that clogged the channel in those days, and college radio played the song enough to get it up to #11 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart) and That Petrol Emotion was gearing up for the release of their next album, End Of The Millennium Psychosis Blues. It only seemed natural that a double bill tour of the US should be planned, and it was decided at that time that one should be set up for early 1989.

In the meantime, back in England, London Records released "Man In The Moon" to compete in the brutal British Christmas single derby. For once, London pulled back the reins and only released the single in 7-inch, 12-inch and CD single formats. The song didn't perform that well on the charts, but it didn't matter. The band had turned their attention to America anyway.

February and March of 1989 found the Beehive travelling to America, opening up for the Petrols. And I'm sorry to say this about my pals in the Petrols, but the Beehive stole just about every show. The tour was such a success for the Beehive that they were forced to do two additional daytime concerts in Los Angeles alone, just to meet the fan demand.

The enthusiastic response that American fans showed the Beehive was surely welcome, but upon returning home to London the Beehive were completely exhausted. They'd been going at it relentlessly for more than two years now, and they were aching for a period of decompression. Tracey and Melissa tried to throw off everything related to the Beehive, and just be regular girls, enjoying time with their boyfriends in London and their family back in California. The guys returned to life with their families, as well, and except for a few sporadic appearances here and there (like the Reading Festival in September and a few surprise club gigs under the name The Buzzing Barbarians), Voice Of The Beehive pretty much ceased to exist for the rest of 1989.

But, as we all know, the taste of honey lingers. The voice in Voice Of The Beehive wouldn't be silenced for long.

Jump to Part 2

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