Why did The Seahorses only officially release one album?

 

  

 As someone (uncredited) said, every band should make just one album and then split up. The Seahorses were one band that did this, splitting after releasing one album, Do It Yourself. 

    But why did they split up? And is there any truth in the rumours that the only reason that band founder, and former Stone Roses member, John Squire called them Seahorses, was because The Seahorses was an anagram of He Hates Rones? 

    When John Squire left the Stone Roses in 1996, he began looking to start a new band. In 2002, Squires admitted this was a rash reaction to leaving his previous band rather than a carefully considered next move.

     Squire recruited bass player Stuart Fletcher, who he saw performing in York for a local covers band, The Blue Fins. Stuart was a stand-in for their usual bass player, who couldn't play the gig due to illness. 

    Next to join was Chris Helme, the band's lead singer. He was spotted busking outside a Woolworths in York by Squire's guitar tech, Martin Herbet. As he said on the TV Show later with Jools Holland in 1997, "I was outside Woollies, beats working, I was making more money busking than when I was working." The guitar tech took a tape from Chris Helme and sent it to Squire. He continues, "He (Squires) came to see me, so he must have liked it. He was a bit put off because I used to sing with my eyes shut, sitting down playing guitar."

    Squire auditioned two singers for the Seahorses, Chris Helme and Sean O'Brien, previously a member of the Warrington group, The Steamboat Band. Chris Helme was eventually chosen. Several drummers were auditioned before finally recruiting Andy Watts, who had previously gigged with Stuart Fletcher and also knew Chris Helme. The band lineup was now complete. 

     The band was interviewed in the NME in April 97. The band's name has been mentioned a lot, as an anagram of The Seahorses is "He hates Roses." Is this band name a sly dig at his former bandmates? 

Squire said it was a coincidence,  he said he "Just kept seeing them everywhere. I dreamt about them a couple of times, then I went to this bar and they had cocktail stirrers in the shape of seahorses. I looked in a dream dictionary, which said, ‘Symbol for travel and adventure’. Then I looked in an encyclopedia, and it said a lot of people think they’re fantasy creatures. So they were ideas that appealed to me.”

And the fact that ‘The Seahorses’ was an anagram of ‘He Hates Roses’, 

"I don’t hate the Roses. I’m proud of what we did, and our heritage.”

In January 1997, the band travelled to Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A., to write and record their debut album. Squire wrote eight tracks (Love Me And Leave Me with Liam Gallagher), while Chris wrote three, including Blinded By The Sun. The album was released on 26 May 1997 and went straight to number 1 in the U.K. album charts, where it was certified Gold for sales. 

    Chirs Helme was a songwriter too, John admitted early on that despite liking a couple of Helme's songs (including "Blinded by the Sun", which he re-arranged for the album) – "Yeah, he can write the odd tune but I don't really like them and it might be a problem later on if he wants to record them with the band." 

    This became a major stumbling block as they returned to the studio to write and record their follow-up album, its working title minus blue. Mentions between Chris Helme and John Squire were coming to a head. 

    The core issue was a clash between John Squire and Chris Helme regarding songwriting and musical vision. Squire, known for his guitar work and songwriting in The Stone Roses, had different ideas for the band's direction than Helme, who also wanted to contribute more songs. 

    Later, he saw that his contributions were being ignored, and the unfinished songs he was trying to finish were all John's. 

   Stuart Fletcher later revealed that he witnessed Helme "turn a Larrivée guitar into matchsticks during that session." Squire walked out of the studio and didn't return, so the sessions were abandoned, and the group split up.

On 01 March 1999, John Squire announced the break-up of The Seahorses

    Stuart Fletcher says this about the band breakup and the aftermath, "We sat down and had a meeting, and differences couldn’t be resolved, so that was that. Apart from my guitar, which I refused to hand over, all my gear was sold out from under me to pay off debts, which I later learned never existed. Thankfully, it was the only thing I was left with in the end. I had more equipment when I joined the band than when I left it, as they sold all my amps. I remember Chris telling me he walked past a music shop in Doncaster and then walked out minutes later with his own amp! As John was the only member of the band signed to Geffen, we never knew if he had any debt when we separated or we’d recouped as Chris and I have never seen any sales figures or band accounts then or to this day."

    While the second album was never officially released, a bootleg version later surfaced. This bootleg includes songs the band worked on before the split, including "Tombraid" and "Night Train".

    Chris Helme now tours as a solo singer. On 26 May 2022, Chris played an acoustic solo performance of Do It Yourself at Bridlington Spa in East Yorkshire. The gig marked 25 years since the original album release date of 26 May 1997.

    John Squire has been involved in several projects since the demise of both the Stone Roses and the Seahorses. In late 2023, Squire started working with Gallagher on the album Liam Gallagher & John Squire, which they released on 1 March 2024. Squire and Gallagher announced their debut tour on 26 January 2024, with sell-out performances in Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester, Newcastle, London, and Dublin.