It’s been ten years since the death of Tony Ogden (30 May 1962 – 26 July 2006).
William Anthony Ogden was born in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport (Greater Manchester) in 1962. He studied art and design at Stockport College in Greater Manchester. From 1977-1979, Ogden played drums in a punk band, The Blackout, which also included Dave Conner (vocals), Gordon King (bass), James Fry (guitar), and Julia Adamson (guitar) — all fellow art and design students.
In 1982, James Fry and Gordon King were drawn by music to the city of Sheffield (see the documentary: Made in Sheffield). With a Casio MT32 borrowed from Jim’s older brother, ABC‘s Martin Fry, the two began making music together as World of Twist with a friend from Northampton, Rory Connolly, on saxophone. The band’s name 
was a reference to Decca‘s budget-priced “The World Of…” compilations, launched in 1968 with The World of Mantovani.
Around 1983 they were joined by Ogden (again on drums) and Andy Robins (synthesizer). At the time of his joining World of Twist, Ogen was living in Manchester. Apparently he disliked the idea of living in Sheffield and compromised by commuting from Chapel-en-le-Frith, located midway between the two cities. Ogden was then co-operating a freight company, Alligator Express, with future World of Twist manager, Dave Hardy.
After Robins quit, Andrew Hobson (bass) and Nick Philips (organ) came on board. A collection of demos recorded on a TDK C90 cassette in 1984 or ’85 were released as Wigwam. The tracks included were a cover of “Thunderball,” “44,” “America,” “Casio Soul 5ive,” “The Big Theme,” “Ice Rink,” “Tonight,” “She,” “NSEW,” and “Skidding into Love.” They reflect that from the beginning World of Twist were influenced by synthpop, spy film score, Northern Soul, and Roxy Music. Of the tracks, “America,” “The Big Theme,” and “NSEW” show the most promise and suggest that fellow struggling Sheffielders Pulp were likely taking notes.
Soon after recording the demos, likely in 1985 (although some sources claim 1988), the band cut “The Sausage,” “Skidding Into Love,” and “Space Rockit“at The Music Factory, in Rotherham. “The Sausage” is almost completely at odds with the then-prevailing sensibility of mid-’80s Sheffield, and predating Denim‘s mid-’90s mash-up of ’70s sitcom themes and chintzy electronics by more than a decade. Those recordings wouldn’t see an official release until 1992, after the band’s dissolution, when Caff Records released the songs as a CD single.
In 1986, the band members organized a club night, World of Music, but the members grew increasingly disillusioned with Sheffield and soon after went their separate ways. Fry moved to London to pursue photography. In 1988, Hobson, King, and Ogden moved to Manchester where they shared a house with Martin Wright of the band, Laugh (which later evolved into Intastella). The remaining members of World of Twist added Alan “Adge” Frost on synthesizers and visual effects, Julia “MC Shells” McGreechin on “swirls and sea noises,” and Angela Reilly on visual effects. Ogden agreed to take over vocals, but not as drummer and thus Nick Sanderson (formerly of Clock DVA and The Gun Club) was brought into the fold. Fry returned as the band’s photographer and occasionally, lighting technician.
In August 1990, a sold-out gig at the Manchester International where they were supported by Intastella, one of the few bands with whom they shared an aesthetic. Both bands were introduced by comedy duo Vic and Bob. Early in the year they released a four-track demo featuring “The Storm,” “Blackpool Tower Suite,” “The Spring,” and a cover of The Rolling Stones‘ “She’s a Rainbow.” Although only the latter could fairly be characterized as “baggy,” World of Twist were perhaps inevitably lumped into the Madchester scene, sharing a geography and danceability with their Madchester peers, if little else — more apparently inspired as they were by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Detroit proto-punk, the creations of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, glitter rock, Joe Meek, and Krautrock than acid house and psychedelic rock.
Surprisingly, they ended up signing with Virgin subsidiary Circa — then known for sort of adult alternative and sophisti-pop bands like Hue & Cry, Neneh Cherry, Julia Fordham, and Millions Like Us. Virgin, like all the London majors, were apparently eager to sign a Madchester band. On 22 September, the newly-signed band recorded a Mark Goodier Session at Studio 5 in London.
The band’s first official release was “The Storm” b/w “She’s a Rainbow,” the final production of Martin Hannett, and released on 15 November 1990.
The band made their national television debut on Channel 4’s The World, where Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood likened them to “The Velvet Underground on acid.”
On BBC’s Juke Box Jury, norm-authority Bernard Sumner incredulously described them as “a bit ‘we are weird’.” In the end it topped out at #42 on the national pop charts. If there’d been regional charts, it might’ve topped them in the North and on 23 December they played a sold out gig at the Manchester Ritz, again supported by Intastella. On 29 December 1990, World of Twist returned to Sheffield to play The Leadmill. The support band was Pulp, for whom the gig was also a homecoming, as they’d relocated to London in 1988.
On 16 March 1991, World of Twist again played The Leadmill with Pulp opening (footage available here). Music writer Simon Reynolds described World of Twist as “camp sublime” and “kitsch-adelia” but by then both descriptions could’ve as properly been applied to both bands. In 1991 they played the Manchester Academy and The Hacienda. On 27 March, they played a sold out show at the London Astoria, supported by Saint Etienne (whose new singer Sarah Cracknell made her debut that night) and Sensurround. Five songs from the performance were shown on Granada and on 25 June they recorded a Peel Session.
World of Twist disbanded, although in 1993 Fry, King, and Sanderson joined Rob Marche and Stuart Boreman in the shambolic and glitter revival cult act Earl Brutus. They went on to release two albums, (somewhat ironically, with Sanderson as the more-than-capable vocalist) both worth tracking down: Your Majesty… We Are Here (1996, Deceptive Records) and Tonight You Are The Special One (1998, Fruition). After that band’s dissolution, Sanderson played drums on The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s album Munki and in Jim Reid‘s Freeheat. Sadly, he died on 9 June 2008 of lung and lymphoid cancer at the age of 47. According to his obituary, his idea of heaven was driving a train whilst listening to Steve Hackett’s Spectral Morning. Fry and King next joined Laurence Bray, Stuart Boreman, Stuart Wheldon, and Vincent Gibson as The Pre New.
After the World of Twist, Ogden moved back to his parents’ home in Stockport. He didn’t stop making music either. Between 1992 and ’95, he and co-writer John West recorded demos on an eight-track which came to be known, amongst the band’s 
hardcore fans as The Lost World of Twist album. The recordings were, however, neither lost nor truly World of Twist and Ogden and West hoped to professionally record and release them as Man, Myth, and Music. The tracks include the instrumental “Roll the Dice,” the wonderful “Coral Sea,” the equally wonderful “Love Affair,” “Hot Young Blue Star,” “The Red Sea of Emotion,” the instrumental “The B-Link,” “New Electric Pop and Soul,” “Chewing Gum,” and a cover of “MacArthur Park.”
where he was headed and he revealed “I spent four years on smack watching Third Reich movies because the good guys always win.” He also told revealed that his new project was called Bubblegum (or later, Bubblegum Secret Pop Explosion), and he released a digital EP titled Escape in the Love Machines. The tracks included were “Honey,” “Steal Your Love,” “Veronica Always,” “Sadness Is My Name,” “Escape in the Love Machines,” and “Planet Fades Away.”
FURTHER READING & THANKS TO:
John Robb‘s “World Of Twist- the great lost Manchester band”
Julian Marszalek‘s “A Law Unto Themselves: World Of Twist In Their Own Words”
Bob Stanley‘s “The perils of being ahead of your time: World of Twist and Five Thirty”
Lovers of Twist!!! (World of Twist)
*****
Eric Brightwell is an adventurer, writer, rambler, explorer, cartographer, and guerrilla gardener who is always seeking writing, speaking, traveling, and art opportunities — or salaried work. He is not interested in writing advertorials, clickbait, listicles, or other 21st century variations of spam. Brightwell’s written work has appeared in Amoeblog, diaCRITICS, and KCET Departures. His work has been featured by the American Institute of Architects, the Architecture & Design Museum, Boom: A Journal of California, the Craft & Folk Art Museum, Form Follows Function, Los Angeles County Store, Skid Row Housing Trust, and 1650 Gallery. Brightwell has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, LAist, Eastsider LA, Boing Boing, Los Angeles, I’m Yours, and on Notebook on Cities and Culture. He has been a guest speaker on KCRW‘s Which Way, LA? and at Emerson College. Art prints of his maps are available from 1650 Gallery and on other products from Cal31. He is currently writing a book about Los Angeles and you can follow him on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
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