DJ MARK RADCLIFFE WAS presenting his popular Hit the North show on BBC Radio 5 during the early 1990s and he became the only mainstream DJ to give the What Say You? EP any national airtime. He also invited us onto his show in Manchester to be interviewed.

During this chat, I had a moan about the media focussing on Manchester and ignoring Liverpool in the process. But Mark really knew his onions and we were very grateful for the airing he gave us. He even knew that it had been Fairground Attraction's Graham Henderson who had played accordion on our track ‘Two Step Angel’. He knew about me being founder of The La's and some of the other band members also having spent time in that band. I was surprised. He played ‘First I Feel You’ off the EP and the opening track off The Pool of Life, ‘Rakin’ Em Down’ – all fifteen seconds of it!

The Onset started playing a string of support shows with Half Man Half Biscuit, who were back performing after their self-imposed break. Nigel and the boys were still on top form too. They were determined not to ‘tour’ in the traditional sense – it was more like two gigs a week at most – but there were some fantastic shows and the majority of them were packed to the rafters.

I took ten What Say You 12-inch EPs into Probe and left them on a sale or return basis in June 1991; around the same time as we went into the Pink studio in Liverpool to record ‘First I Feel You’ for a slot on Granada Reports. These were still times when local unsigned bands could get a slot to showcase themselves on regional TV. Remember those days? Bring it back!

From the Pink we were taken to an old abandoned warehouse down at the docks near the Pier Head to perform the song for the TV cameras. I recognized the place instantly: it was the same setting Rapido had used for The La's’ slot on their programme … even more synchronicity! It was a great experience and we felt a lot of much-deserved energy from the excitement of our momentary delivery to sure-fire fame and recognition on screen.