Back in 1985, the brilliant guitar pop of ‘Go Out And Get Em Boy’ was the Wedding Present’s first single, and in the intervening decades, it’s fair to say that David Gedge and the Wedding Present have done exactly that. Their blend of shimmering guitar tunes, often with a rockier overtone, and lyrics capturing love won, lost, heartbreak, romance and everyday escapades has endeared this Leeds bunch to thousands of music fans across the globe.
Never ones to rest on their laurels, 2025 finds The Wedding Present busier than ever. A 40th anniversary tour is currently underway, a 40th Anniversary quadruple boxset has recently been released collating some of their musical highlights and rarities from across the decades, there’s a new EP out in December, not to mention the musical based around Wedding Present lyrics ‘Reception’ by playwright Matt Aston, which having completed a successful run of shows is hopefully being taken to theatres around the country next year.
What better time then to catch up with the Wedding Present’s David Gedge to find out about the highs and lows of the last four decades, and what the busiest man in indie rock is up to next.
The band are part way through the aforementioned 40th Anniversary tour and when we speak on the phone he’s in a relaxed and cheerful mood, just before soundcheck. I start by wishing him and the rest of the band a Happy 40th Band Birthday!
“Thank you very much!”
Celebrating forty years is a major achievement, when you started how long did you think you’d be going for ?
“Well, that’s an interesting question that a few people have asked me recently. When the band started, obviously you’ve got no idea if anyone is going to like you. We did the first single and it could have been the last single for all we knew. We didn’t really plan any length of time. But then on the other hand, I’ve always felt like this is what I was meant to do, which sounds a bit pretentious, like when somebody asks you when did you want to be a musician, I’ve always known that somehow that I was going to be in a group. So even if this band hadn’t become successful I would’ve started another one and done something else connected to music. So on one hand I didn’t plan for The Wedding Present to be forty years old, but on the other hand I’m not surprised that we are because of what I am really. It’s what I do, it’s what I’ve always done really.”
So the maths degree wouldn’t have come into play at all then, it would have been music all the way?
“Well, that was just because I’m quite sensible really, I’m not particularly rock n roll! (laughs). I mean, I had the idea that maybe I should have a degree, partly because I was good at maths, I thought, I could just do this at University and then I’d have a backup, if the musical career completely failed. I do use it, I do the accounts I suppose but apart from that, I‘ve not really utilised that. It’s funny, you know when I did that maths degree, then I went on the dole and my parents were appalled, they were like ’you’ve been working for three years, you’ve got a degree and now you’re signing on!’ I was saying ‘well, mum I’m gonna be famous! (laughs). Which didn’t go down too well, but yeah it kind of all worked out in the end I guess”
Over the last forty years of the band, what do you think has become easier for you in terms of writing, recording and playing live, and what has become more challenging if anything
“I think a lot of it has become easier because of technology. In terms of writing, I mean people can write at home now on computers, send files around. With touring you’ve got GPS now, mobiles and laptops, and when we started there was none of that, you were looking at an A to Z, trying to work out where you are! So that’s all got a lot easier. I think the hardest for me is, because I’ve never wanted to repeat myself, I’ve always been very keen that the band change direction and move on each time, so often we’ll be writing or arranging something and I’ll be like ’no, I feel like we’ve done this before’. Obviously the more you do it, the more you need to try and avoid repeating things, so the challenge is to try and not do that. But then I’m quite lucky because you know I’ve had quite a few line ups over the years and during that time I’ve definitely met a lot of people who have brought extra things to the band, new directions, so it’s actually worked out ok really but that is quite difficult sometimes.”
Just getting back to that point you made about people bringing in new directions, Rachel Wood who’s in the band now brings a cool rockier element to the band, so how has that changed your approach to song writing?
“Well, we’ve always oscillated, people always ask me what kind of music we play and I’ve always said it’s indie music but it’s like indie pop and indie rock and we’ve always gone between the two. Some of them are more indie pop with jangly guitars and stuff and some of them have gone a bit more intense and a bit darker and stuff. Since Rachel’s joined it’s definitely swung back to the latter, it’s funny because the guitarist before was Jon Stewart from Sleeper, and he was definitely more of the indie pop persuasion. Then since Rachel’s joined it’s gone back to the other side of it. It’s two sides of The Wedding Present that we’ve always had I think”
The new tunes are sounding great from what we’ve heard so far. You played a few from the upcoming Maxi EP on the session you did for Marc Riley on the Riley and Coe Show on 6Music recently. The Maxi EP is obviously a partner to the Mini EP you released back in 1996, so what was the thinking behind the new EP?
“It’s a very tenuous link really (laughs). “It’s just because we did ‘Going Going’ a few years ago, and that was a double album, then we did ‘24 Songs’ which ended up being a triple album, as we had extra tracks on it, and then we’ve just released this compilation ‘40’ which is a quadruple album, and I was just thinking this is getting crazy we’re adding an LP every time! So I had this idea to go back, and just do an EP, and then it dawned on me that next year is the thirtieth anniversary of ‘Mini’ so I thought, let’s do something like that again, let’s do a six track ten inch record. Because that was called ‘Mini’ I called this ‘Maxi’, and I kind of engineered some of the lyrics around motoring again. That’s it. There’s no real connection. I think ‘Maxi’ is a much more darker, rockier set of songs than ‘Mini’ was. ‘Mini’ was more of the indie pop side of things. I think it’s one of the best things we’ve done to be honest ‘Maxi’, a lot of people have said that too. Obviously, maybe it’s Rachel coming in, giving the band a new lease of life in a way but certainly we’re all very happy with that collection.”
In that recent radio session for Marc Riley you also mentioned the Wedding Present musical, and mentioned that it was great to hear the songs sung by proper singers. I think you’re doing yourself a bit of a disservice there David, you’ve got a great voice it’s perfect for what you do.
“Well thanks, it’s very kind of you to say, but I know they are great singers. You know sometimes you hear people sing and you just think wow this is a different world. Obviously I make the most of what I’ve got but it was actually quite moving really to hear songs like ‘My Favourite Dress’ sung in such a great way by these people, and because they’re actors as well, to do all that as well as singing, plus they’re all musicians as well, and dancers, they were able to kind of act it as well as sing it in a way. It was really impressive and it makes me want to investigate a bit more of that really”
Is it going to be taken on the road?
“Yes hopefully. It ran for just two weeks in Leeds. It’s a big kind of operation really, I think there’s about fifty people involved in it, cast and crew, choreographers and all the rest of it, costumes, you know it’s a lot more than what I’m used to. I’m used to four people in a band plus a sound engineer plus a roadie, it’s a bit smaller! So it needs funding basically, I think he’s applying for an Arts Council grant, and if he gets that, he wants to do six weekends across the UK. He seemed quite optimistic actually because he said that one of the many things that can swing it for a grant is a) good reviews, and he had loads of great reviews for it, b) media attention, and again there was quite a lot of that. There was BBC News, and The Guardian did a massive piece on it, so armed with all that, maybe he’s thinking well I’ve got a good chance of getting some kind of funding for it. I mean he’s already working on a sequel so he’s very confident.”
Going back to the radio sessions, that one you did recently was probably your best yet. How do you decide which songs to play for a session?
“For that one, well I’ve got a spreadsheet (laughs). We’ve done quite a few of them, I think it’s about fifteen or seventeen or something, and I’ve got this list of all the tracks we’ve done. So my thinking was, it’s four songs, and I wanted to do a couple of the new ones that are going to be on Maxi’ cos they’re fresh, in our minds as well. Then I was looking back and because of the pandemic we didn’t do anything when ‘24 Songs’ came out so I thought we’d do ‘I Am Not Going To Fall In Love With You’ for that. It’s one of my favourite Wedding Present songs of recent times to be honest, I thought it would be nice to do that in session. Then because we’re on this 40th Anniversary tour, we should do something that reflects the history of the band, and when I checked my spreadsheet, we’d never done ‘My Favourite Dress’, so I thought that was an obvious one to put on there as well.”
I’m really surprised you hadn’t done that one before in session!
“Yeah so was I really, so I thought yeah we’ll do that one!”
You always have so much going on, and another thing you’ve got going on is your annual ‘At The Edge Of The Sea Festival’ in Brighton. Why is that so special to you and how did it first start?
“The reason I started it was, well we were in a Little Chef actually on tour, and we were talking and somebody said it’s odd when you have a support band on tour with you for a week or two, and you get to know them really well, and you enjoy them and get to watch them every night, and then often you never see them again, and it’s like it’s a shame isn’t it. So we thought, let’s do this one off festival where we can bring back some of our favourite support bands over the years, so we did that and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s a good opportunity to champion new bands who people have been recommended to me or who I’ve discovered. Then also some ex-Wedding Present members have got new bands as well, so over the years it’s kind of evolved into this festival where it’s a bit of everything now really, and I love it! It’s a lot of work, it’s quite small. It’s just this little venue on the seafront in Brighton, we do it every August and it sells out every year. It’s only 500 capacity. It’s sort of my Christmas in a way! (laughs). I look forward to it every year. We started live streaming it a few years ago, during the pandemic it was postponed so we did a sort of online version, and people liked that so much we livestreamed the actual real version. So we’ve done that for the last few years, and that has had people watching from you know all over. Thank you for watching from, where as it, er Uzbekistan! That was really strange! I gave them a shout from the stage, and there was somebody also actually at the festival who lives there and his phone was buzzing cos he was getting all these texts saying ‘you’ve just been mentioned!”
You’re really prolific in terms of song writing so how do you keep the motivation up, do you get up each day and think, right I’m going to write a song today, or do you have to do it when you feel inspired
“I get inspired all the time. You know even on the drive down today from Glasgow, listening to some music in the car and thinking yeah that’s a great idea that some band’s done. It makes me think I want to get writing again, so there’s never any lack of inspiration. Lyrical inspiration is everywhere, the way I write is just what people say to each other really. I’m always hearing things which I think would work in a song. I do carve out periods of time where I’m not doing anything else and just focus on writing. I just make notes really, I’ve got a little file of lyric ideas, and little recordings of riffs and thigs. Then at some point I’ll sit down and spend a week putting it all together and Rachel will send me some ideas as well, and other band members will. It’s important to demarcate a period cos, as you’ve said, if you didn’t I’d just be doing different things really (laughs). I’ve got the festival, I’ve got the tour, and I’ve got my autobiography which is like an ongoing project.”
Yes that’s the graphic novel autobiography isn’t it?
“Yes. We’ve released Volume 1 and Volume 2 now and we’ve got Volume 3 on the way. I’ve written it all, and it’s currently being illustrated. So by the time it’s proof read and everything, that’ll come out sometime next year, possibly early next year. It’s one of my favourite things. It kind of gets shelved a little bit as I suppose it’s less important in a way than all the other things but whenever I’ve got any free time I tend to be working on that. I think workaholic is the word you’re looking for here” (laughs!)
With so much going on, what’s the secret to keeping a happy tour bus and keeping relaxed on tour? I can see on this tour you’ve been to the Cheddar Gorge and you had a cream tea somewhere too.
“We’ve had our fifth cream tea today! We’ve never had a tour of cream teas before but we seem to have this little tradition. I mean it’s not always happy, if I’m honest. It’s a bit like the Big Brother house sometimes, you’ve got all these people twenty-four-seven, in each other’s pockets, in a venue, in a hotel, in a van, in an airport. I think for me, because I’ve been doing it for so long now, I’m aware of it. So whereas maybe in the past I would have been annoyed by something, now I just think ah, just let it go, tomorrow will be fine. I kind of look at the bigger picture, that we’re in this amazing band playing this great set, travelling the world, that is the main thing. If someone’s a little bit annoying, that doesn’t matter. But I think that probably comes with experience more than anything! Oh and cream teas!”
You grew up in Manchester, you’re playing The Ritz on this tour, do you get much chance to visit when not touring and how has the city changed in your view?
Yeah I do actually, and Manchester’s changed a lot hasn’t it. My mum used to go out dancing at The Ritz! It depends on our itinerary how much we see to be honest. When we were in Dover, recently we were there quite a long time so we had chance to have a look at the white cliffs and everything, and the Cheddar Gorge we saw, but it depends on the day and how far we’ve driven and what the schedule is really. That’s one of the benefits of being in a band really, the travel. I’ve been to loads of places I wouldn’t even have dreamt of going like Mongolia, Vietnam. It’s always very flattering that people will pay for you to go and play concerts in places like that.”
Well done again for going for forty years
“Thank you. It kind of makes me feel old!” (laughs!)
With that the hardest working man in indie pop darts off to soundcheck. The evergreen and invigorated Wedding Present are sounding as exciting today as they did all those years ago. They’re a band who have have transformed the alternative music landscape over the last forty years, yet are also constantly pushing forwards. “The boy Gedge has written some of the best love songs of the ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ era. You may dispute this, but I’m right and you’re wrong!” said John Peel in 1999. Fast forward to 2025 and that statement still rings true, given the strength of the brilliant ‘24 Songs’ released in 2024 and the upcoming ‘Maxi EP’. Happy 40th Band Birthday to one of, if not the, most quintessential and utterly brilliant indie band around.
The Wedding Present 40th Anniversary Tour:
October
15 Portsmouth – Wedgewood Rooms with Scare Taxi
16th Norwich – Waterfront with The Loft
17th Sheffield – The Foundry with The Loft
18 Liverpool – O2 Academy with Mozart Estate
23 Birmingham – O2 Institute with Mozart Estate
24 Oxford – O2 Academy with Mozart Estate
25 London – O2 Forum Kentish Town with Mozart Estate
26 Stowmarket – John Peel Centre with Paolo Ruiu
November
16th Minehead – Butlins Shine On Weekender
17th Holmfirth – Picturedome
18th Buxton – Opera House
David Gedge Duo (Semi Acoustic)
November support from Darren Hayman
7th Hull – Wrecking Ball Arts Centre
8th Lincoln – Southside
9th Leeds – Old Woollen
Maxi EP – released 5th December 2025 (Clue Records)
The Wedding Present ‘40’ – Out Now (Clue Records)
Wedding Present Photo Credit: Karl Kathuria
From the early days of creating handmade zines, in a DIY paper and glue style, interviewing bands around town, then pestering Piccadilly Records to sell them, to writing for various independent mags such as Chimp and Ablaze, writing about the music I love is still a great passion. After testing the music industry waters in London with stints at various labels, being back in my hometown again, writing about this city’s vibrant music scene is as exciting as ever. All time favourite bands include Sonic Youth, Nick Cave, Patti Smith although anything from electro to folk via blues and pysch rock will also do nicely too. A great album, is simply a great album, regardless of whatever musical cage you put it in.
