Tractor (band)

Tractor is an English rock band founded in Rochdale, Lancashire by guitarist/vocalist Jim Milne and drummer Steve Clayton in 1971. Both had been members of a beat group, The Way We Live, since 1966. They are notable both for their appreciation by John Peel and Julian Cope, but also for their longevity because as of 2007, they were still performing. The band was produced initially by schoolfriend sound engineer John Brierley.

In the early days, the main marketing tool of unsigned hopeful bands was to send demo tapes. Accordingly, a tape was sent by John Brierley to Elektra Records part of the CBS group. Clive Selwood was the CBS UK operations manager and he listened to the tape and liked what he heard. He and his partner DJ John Peel signed the band to their Dandelion Records label. Peel had a fondness for Rochdale, having worked in a cotton mill there before becoming a DJ. Clive Selwood came to Rochdale to sign up the band.

The group was booked into London's Spot Studios and finished the sessions within two days, and in January 1971 the band's debut album, A Candle for Judith was released, credited to The Way We Live. The release, named after Clayton's then girlfriend, later wife, earned immediate critical acclaim "...impeccable in both technique and emotion"... Al Clark writing in Time Out in London in 1971.

Meanwhile, Peel bought the band recording equipment and a stereo PA system. He also convinced the band to change their name. Looking out of his kitchen window at Peel Acres in Suffolk, he spied a tractor in the fields adjacent to his house and recommended it as a name to them. Tractor's first release after the name change from The Way We Live was a 7-inch maxi single – "Stoney Glory"/"Marie"/"As You Say"—for Dandelion. They also backed up another Dandelion act – Beau — on his Creation album (1971). All of this recording was done in an attic and bedroom studio of a terraced house in Edenfield Road Rochdale, which John Peel named Dandelion Studios, Rochdale to tie in with his record label Dandelion Records.

The duo's first full-length follow-up was released in 1972. By January 1973, the album was earning positive reviews. Sound engineer John Brierley was eventually replaced by former The Way We Live singer Alan Burgess and, along with Chris Hewitt who would eventually manage the band, Milne, and Clayton, the group began building a studio in Dawson Street, Market Street Heywood, Lancashire, named Tractor Sound Studios, again partially financed by John Peel. This studio would feature in a BBC film about Rochdale, Heywood, and John Peel, when the band and Chris Hewitt revisited the studio in December 2006. In September 2009, the location of Tractor Sound Studios was celebrated with a blue plaque as a testimonial to the members of Tractor and John Peel. Unveiled by Steve Clayton, Peter Hook-Joy Division/New Order), Rev Mike Huck and Chris Hewitt The plaque is mounted on the front of the building. The part finished third album for Dandelion, which was to be eventually released in the 1990s as Worst Enemies, was recorded at both Chipping Norton Recording Studios, Oxfordshire and Tractor Sound Studios, Heywood.

Tractor eventually left the Dandelion label, which had effectively ceased to operate for about 17 years in 1973-confirmed by John Peel's article on Dandelion ceasing for a while in 1973

Tractor then recorded a single in their Heywood studio, the reggae-tinged "Roll the Dice", released on Jonathan King's UK Records label.

In the summer of 1976, Milne and Clayton and manager Chris Hewitt recruited bassist Dave Addison and teamed up again with studio engineer John Brierley, now the owner of Cargo Recording Studios at that point based in his house on Drake Street. They recorded another single "No More Rock 'n' Roll" / "Northern City", which was issued on Cargo Records of Rochdale and made the newly invented NME Indie singles chart. It also appeared on the 1977 punk compilation LP, Streets. The "No More Rock'n'Roll" single was released to coincide with the 1977 Deeply Vale Festival, a North West England music festival of the 1970s which the band were heavily involved in. At this point Tractor Music- PA Company and Music shop moved into premises along with Cargo Studios on Kenion Street, Rochdale. The whole street became a music complex during the 1970s to the 1990s with many well known bands including Joy Division buying equipment here and hiring PA's from Tractor Music and recording in Cargo Studios, A blue plaque was put on Tractor's building in Rochdale in 2009 to celebrate its use as Cargo Studios, Tractor Music and Suite Sixteen Studios.