The Chefs
McCallum had drawn an illustration of a dancing chef, called Ken Wood, with an accompanying rhyme, "Food".
[2] In 1979, the Chefs, with 'Muttley' on drums, contributed two songs, "Food", and Carl's "You Get Everywhere", to Vaultage 79, a compilation produced by Brighton's independent record label, Attrix.
The local newspaper, the Evening Argus, organised a photo shoot with all the Attrix bands standing outside the record label's shop in Sydney Street.
It included "Thrush", "Boasting", "Records and Tea" and Evans' love song "Sweetie", a live favourite.
It was a song about romantic obsession, and the gulf between real life and fantasy: ‘I know if I catch you it might turn out/That it's not as much fun as I'd hoped that it would be/ ‘Cause wishing and waiting it what it's all about/ And dreams are worth ten times more than reality.’ McCallum described "24 Hours" as an 'attempt to write a song that sounded like Donna Summer', and said that it was a true story: 'I fell in love with a fat scaffolder'.
The Chefs’ first John Peel session, broadcast on 11 May 1981, included Evans' "Love Is Such a Splendid Thing" and McCallum’s "Northbound Train".
There was also "One Fine Day", with music by Evans and lyrics by James McCallum, posing a list of comically absurd questions within the song.
'[6] The Chefs' jangling guitar arrangements and bright pop melodies pointed the way towards the C86 sound, but stood out in the fashion-conscious London of 1981, when the Goths and New Romantics were at their height.
There were plans to make an album, and the Chefs recorded nine songs at Alvic Studios in West Kensington, in a session produced by Mike Robinson and Richard Preston.
Interviewed in 2013, McCallum described the recordings as "very drum-heavy as the drummer got into tribal drums after hearing Adam and the Ants.
In 2012, McCallum told Everett True, 'They tried to get me to wear make-up and girly clothes, but I was a total tomboy and would have felt like a drag queen.
Like Evans, McCallum also wore western clothes, but her new band, Helen and the Horns, was closer to jazz and country music.
Reviewing the collection for the eMusic website, Andrew Gibson concluded, "The Chefs' lively mixture of fun and social acuity might easily leave them forever chained to their age, were it not for the sheer quality of their tunes....Like the Smiths and countless ensuing indie-pop heroes...The Chefs turned forlorn emotions and humdrum surroundings into triumphant music.
"24 Hours" echoes Donna Summer's top/terrifying tune, borrowing the bassline, even utilising its change from major to minor.
Alongside five songs familiar from Peel sessions, there were four previously unreleased compositions: Evans's "Lucky Hello" and "Land Ho" (a reworking of "Love is Such a Splendid Thing"), and McCookerybook's "Commander Lonely" and "Baby Small".
[13] On 25 January 2023, Helen McCookerybook and James McCallum reunited to play duo guitar arrangements of Chefs songs at the Betsey Trotwood pub in Clerkenwell, London.
