1988 - Caribbean Club, Ipswich
Classic early pic of Ed taken by Steven Adams. The beads and the Frankfurter t-shirt point to the possibility that this was taken before Ed left the Stupids. By the way, the Franfurter shirt was hand-drawn by our good friend - and mad Stupids fan - Matthew Fletcher who was then drumming in Tallulah Gosh. He later formed and drummed in Heavenly, but sadly committed suicide earlier this year. He also did a great Sink t-shirt and an awesome Stupids one. Nice bloke.

1988 - Newport, Wales
Rare pics of the 2nd line-up featuring Ed & Paul (of course) with Blind Lorenzo Hoss on vocals and Redwood Pete on drums...in fact you can only see the back of Pete's head in the second picture, but at least he got in. It was always weird playing Newport: as if The Abs weren't enough to contend with all by themselves, we also had the recurring "Girls From Splott" nightmare. Notice how Ed still has hair and that the hippy look is in full effect. Steven Adams took the photos. On the way back from this we drove overnight and were so tired we started hallucinating. Ed heard bells and Steven started seeing things...not enough Jolt Cola to go 'round obviously.

1989 - Berlin
Snapshot backstage in Berlin on the first night of our 1989 Euro tour with The Instigators - to whom we owe a msassive debt of gratitude by the way since they got us out of the UK and into Europe for the first time. Photo was almost certainly taken by their singer Andy 'Tez' Turner. Loads more pics from this tour on the way.

1990 - Bristol
Couple of groovy pics taken at a show in a church crypt in Bristol. Naked Raygun and the Cowboy Killers were the other bands on the bill. I think a guy called Andrew Testa took the pics, but I might be wrong. Anyway, they're pretty damn good. Paul is wearing the Number 1 t-shirt of which he was justifiably proud. In the second picture Memphis can clearly be seen halfway through the "pulling-a-face-while-the-left-hand-grabs-the-Donnie-Osmond-style-cap" routine which became his trademark. TRIVIA ALERT: The first picture was taken during a chorus of "Squirrels" (Paul & Ed playing 'G' and Memphis singing...it could only be one song!).

1990 - London
All photos taken by Bert Queiroz in the Highbury/Finsbury Park area of North London and were going to be used on the "Another Love Triangle" album that we had just recorded. Unfortunately Memphis decided to go back to the States shortly after and so we had to get some new ones done when Kermack joined.

1990 - Tufnel Park, London
Pics taken by Andrew Testa (and I'm positive this time) at a show we played w/ No Means No and The Joyce McKinney Experience. It was Memphis's last show for the band and the drum kit was at the side of the stage. We got a decent write-up in Flipside from this gig and used another of Andrew's photos as the back cover of the "Don't Burn The Hook" EP. Our label guy at the time (now gainfully employed running Matador UK), Rob Tennant, can be half-seen on the extreme right of the first photo.

1990 Germany
On our very first Euro jaunt in 1989 we had the very good fortune to meet up with exiled American, Alfred Bradford and he becasme a pretty good friend over the next few years. Apparently he now runs a record store in Munster called, Green Hell. Stop in there sometime and say 'Hi' from Sink. Anyway, he was also a dab hand at the old snappage and here are some shots he took of the band in Bielefeld (Hey Bobo!) and another town on the first of our 2 Euro tours in 1991 - February. In know for a fact that the last picture was taken during a ramshackle rendition of The Box Tops classic, "The Letter" - also I remember that The Dambuilders (later to tour Europe w/ Chocolate) were in the audience that night.

1990 On Tour In Europe...Again
In 1990 we toured Europe and the UK for 9 weeeks with Shudder To Think. We took loads od pictures and here are 3 of the most pointless. After one show in Italy we stayed in a hostel/hotel that had obviously once been a very grand stately home so we thought we'd use the backdrop for a photo session...this was about the best shot we got (you should have seen the rest!). A couple of days later we found ourselves playing in Sasuolo (still in Italy) and our local guide, Umberto, took us to see what he called the 'mud volcanoes'. We had a blast and I should probably put some more shots up from here. For now this one will have to do. Both shots by Claire Howe. On the tour Shudder taught us how throw an American football. In Hannover our friend Sabine caught Paul in action (watched closely by Coach Hill) and she sent it over to us as a postcard a couple of months later.

1991 Mama Sink's Country & Blues Revue
Euro tours were always pretty good for doing a couple of really low-key acoustic shows in punk bars and youth clubs. Here are a couple of dodgy photos (taken by Suezanne Hall) at one of these 'events' in the south of Germany somewhere. Although John doesn't look like he was involved, he actually was and you can see his arm in the second shot on the extreme right. Note also Kermack's bleached dungarees and Ed's silk pyjamas...fashion plates! Back in London we actually put on a couple of shows under the above title and got loads of friends involved (Senseless Things, Snuff, Mega City 4, The Revs etc.), the audience had a blast and our soundman Chris Yapp got to sing lead on the encore of "Barbara Ann".

1991 Recording "Vega-Tables"
Snapped by our old mate Steven Adams (who had moved from Ipswich and got a job on a local paper in Gt. Yarmouth) these pics show the band practising in the studio immediately prior to the start of recording for the "Vega-Tables" album. Things to look out for: Kermack's bleached look (he had a pair of dungarees to go with the t-shirt - see above!) and Ed's old man's fake fur hat.

Odds'n'Sods (as Kermack would say)
Snap taken in 1991 at The Borderline in London by Aussie snapper, Wayne Widdowson. Almost certainly one of the last Sink shows in England - the last one ever was in December 1991 in at the Fabrik in Hamburg by the way. Ed's Telecaster definitely confirms this as a post-"Vega-Tables" gig.
Taken from an interview we did with Melody Maker in 1990. Kermack in full Keith Moon mode w/ the tweed jacket. Shot by a MM staff photographer on the stairs in the Vinyl Solution offices. This is just before John joined the band.
Good friends and supporters in London in the early days were Paul and Simon from The Sausage Machine club at the White Horse in Hampstead. We must have played there 10 times over a 2 year period with bands like Snuff, The Doughboys, Silverfish etc..it was a tight squeeze but there was always a great atmosphere. Mystery photographer.
John, Ed & Kermack snapped during the recording of the third Sink session for BBC Radio 1's John Peel show in May 1990 - the one that the bootleg single was taken from. Ed wanted to get the acoustic to sound the way The Stones always got them to sound in the early 70's albums. Quote from the ever-so-helpful (NOT!) producer, "You play it like the fucking Rolling Stones and I'll make it sound like the fucking Rolling Stones." Photo by Neil Emery.
The first press shot. Taken by Wendy Chilton in the Broadgate Centre, London (right next to Liverpool Street Station), this appeared in all the big music papers in the UK to accompany reviews of our debut album, "Another Love Triangle" in 1990.
The second press photo. This time snapped by Claire Howe (after a similar shot taken by Bert Queiroz in 1989) and used by City Slang to promote the "Vega-Tables" album. The location is the front wall of Paul's old house.