FEATURE WET WET WET
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ust what is it about Wet Wet Wet that elicits such extreme responses? On a recent Top ()f The Pops, Jarvis Cocker brandished a placard expressing his contempt for the band. while Liam Gallagher is rumoured to have visited Scotland with the intention of playing a couple of gigs before seeking out Marti Pellow to wipe the seemingly indelible grin from his lips. Not for nothing was Pellow nicknamed Smiler at sehooL
Critics too have found less and less over the years to get over-excited about. The NMlz‘ even went to the length of describing Pellow as a satanic figure loathed by the tramps under
10 The List l-l4 Dec I995
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Wet through: Wet Wet Wet are keen to be seen as a unit
As Wet Wet Wet grace their home ground of Glasgow with yet more sell-out dates, the essence of their undying popularity is being dissected in two books. Brian Donaldson does his own research on the Wets phenomenon — and ends up drenched.
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Waterloo Bridge. And yet the Wets command a loyal and burgeoning fanbase that buys and adores the records. Now fans have the joyous prospect of a brace of books on the Clydebank four to unwrap this Yuletide.
Over in the lavish coffee table corner is W)! Wet Wet Pictured by writer Mal Peachey and photographer Simon Fowler. Published by Virgin and created with the band’s thumbs-up, the book contains. against all the odds. pages of glossy snaps in direct contrast to its lean biographical detail. Lurking in the investigative. some-holds-probably-barred bracket is Mainstream’s Wet Wet Wet: A Sweet Little Mystery. written by Brian Beacom of The Evening Times.
lf Lech Walesa had not brought the phrase ‘solidarity‘ into the public domain, it seems a safe bet that the Wets would have emerged as the true purveyors of collectivism. A ‘look out for one another' policy is the solid cornerstone from which they have evolved — a philosophy preached within the band and to the wider public.
For Mal Peachey this is the sole reason the band exist today. ‘Obviously that solidarity has been threatened but they’re incredibly protective,’ he explains. ‘When they go out drinking. the other three can get away with a quick nod here and there, but Marti gets a lot of attention. not all of it wanted. I think staying in Glasgow has been the saving of them, whereas