Cloudberry Cake Proselytism

2010 has been so busy for me that, aside from preparing a couple of interviews, I haven’t had much time to update the blog.  At my workplace, at the newspaper, we’ve been working extra hours because of the Haiti earthquake and the Super Bowl that’s happening this weekend. On top of that I still have some freelance job to take care of, some website for a shopping mall. Yes, I’ve been totally swamped. I’ve always liked working under pressure and with tight deadlines so that wasn’t a problem. What was worrying me was that I didn’t have much inspiration, first to write on the blog, and second to finish the fanzine. I had finished it some weeks ago, but then I had second thoughts about an article, and decided to write something totally different instead. So here we go. It went to print on Monday. So hopefully that will be out at last.

Some weeks I’ve been working 7 days, and the rest 6 days. I wish I could update the blog more often for the 5 or 6 people that read it. But don’t despair. I do have good news that don’t include the word work. I booked a flight for the New York City Popfest in May, and also a plane ticket for Indietracks. You’ll get to see me a lot this year. Terribly sorry for that.

I get to work riding the bus. Usually takes me around 25 minutes. I live in this big island called Miami Beach, at the southern tip, which is commonly called South Beach. Everyday I walk across Flamingo Park and then four more blocks till I hit Alton Road. The bus stop is on the other side of Alton Road. It’s some green bench with no cover, so if it rains, good luck. There is not a pedestrian cross to get to the other side either, but I still cross the heavy traffic avenue. I just need a little patience till it’s clear for crossing. Then I calmly wait for the “S” bus while I listen the latest CD I’ve got on my cd-player. I know, I know, I still haven’t got around to get one of those iPods. That’s one of the few things I don’t care about modernizing myself. I mean, what’s the point? Having an iPod usually means the destruction of the “album” format. Who the hell listens a full album, from the first song to the last one, on their iPod? No one.

When I arrived to Miami the bus fare was US $1.25. It didn’t change for years. When the gas prices skyrocketed a couple of years ago they changed it to $1.50. A couple of months later they decided, let’s take advantage of the commuters and ask for $2.00. It’s a ridiculous price for the service.

Picking up old Cuban women on every corner, greasy muscular guys that seem to have escaped from Gold’s Gym, the thirsty construction workers hiding their Natural Ice on Burger King cups, the Hassidic Jews from the Hebrew Academy with their particular attire, posh girls with bright polished toenails from the renowned Miami Ad School, the smelly homeless with their human-size backpack, and European tourists with Hawaiian tees on their way to “Jungle Island”, the S bus runs steady till 5th street where we turn right and take the McArthur causeway towards downtown.

We have around 3 million people in the metropolitan area. And we have one public rail system that is a joke. It doesn’t connect Miami Beach with Miami, which lies in the continental area, on the Florida peninsula. It goes nowhere but to Dadeland mall. And it costs $2.00 to ride on it, the infamous Metrorail. There has always been talks about expanding the rail service, making it go at least to Miami International Airport. Supposedly this will happen by 2014. We’ve always hoped that we’d have a train on Miami Beach, at least some sort of monorail, something to get from here to there. From the library on 19th street to my favourite schwarma spot on 10th and back to Lincoln Rd to the movie theatre.

South Beach is the only area in Miami that has pedestrians, that is pedestrian friendly. Everything else in Miami is only car friendly, just like most American cities. The city acknowledged that and implemented these 25-cents-fare little buses that circle South Beach that makes it more or less manageable, though waiting for them takes forever. But to get to downtown Miami, where I work, I have to take the $2.00 regular bus which is usually a headache.  I can only dream that a train will be built one day connecting our island to the mainland. How long will it take me to take this dreamy daily train to work? Perhaps 5 minutes!! I’m so close! This would be so perfect, my daily train. I really look forward moving to a city with trains. New York, Berlin, London…

Or Gaubretière près de La Roche sur Yon? Where?! That’s where The Little Rabbits are from. A French band that penned the fantastic “The Daily Train” tune that was released on a compilation called “Contrasens” in 1991. It was released by the FNAC, which is like a Borders store but ten thousand times better. But let’s stop ranting and complaining, now enjoy this fantastic tune that is a classic for Japanese indiepop fans!

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Listen
The Little Rabbits - The Daily Train

Thanks so much to Martin King for the interview! For those who are living under a rock The Desert Wolves have just released (or should I say re-released?) their Pontification album with 4 extra songs! All of them brilliant! You can find it at the Firestation Records HQ. Also you can find the glorious Desert Wolves on myspace here.

++ How are you doing? How has 2010 been so far?

Been sorting out some minor corrections and a book proposal for my PHD-which is on The Beatles.

++ You just released, or should I say, re-released, the Pontification album with four extra tracks on the Firestation label. Would you care telling me a bit about each of these four songs? Why weren’t they released before?

“Skin Deep” was one of the final demos we did along with the Gunmetal Jaguar.i never really liked it that much so left it off the album-i have warmed to it a bit! La Petite Rochelle was released on the Rochelle 12″. “She Wore My Sweater” was recorded in the same session as “Mexico” -8 track genius- but i never really liked the way it turned out. “Passion in the Afternoon” has a sort of U2 rumble on it as an alternative but we liked the other version better .

++ Are these all the unreleased Desert Wolves songs, or are there still some more laying around somewhere on dusty tapes?

There are no more tracks but there was a Desert Wolves mark 1 which Nick and Dave Platten were in and there are some demos -they were a bit more punky-did boredom as an encore-that sort of thing- Dave would be able to tell you more and about the origins of the name.

++ What was the main reason that made you decide it was time to re-release the masterpiece that Pontification is?

The re-release idea really came from nagging by Uwe at Firestation!

++ So let’s go back in time… how did The Desert Wolves start? How did you get to know each other

I joined in late 86 as a mutual friend told me they were looking for a new singer -we did our first gig at the international supporting the stone roses in jan 87.

++ How did you end up signing to Ugly Man records? How was your relationship with Guy Lovelady? Any anecdotes you could share?

The Ugly Man connection was already made when I joined. Guy Lovelady was a great amateur enthusiast in the spirit of the times, always at gigs and often came down to the studio.

++ Where any of you involved with other bands before being part of the Desert Wolves?

I was in a band called bee vamp in the early 80s-some tracks just released on a Manchester musician’s collective cd on Hyped to Death label-also 2 indie 12″ and a peel session in 81-with Jim Parris who went on to form Carmel. I then formed the Harbour Bar -on one of Leamington Spa collections-a short lived easy listening band years ahead of its time!! A few gigs and one demo.

++ I have some questions about your songs, first of all, was Rochelle a real person, or was her a character you invented for the song “Speak to Me, Rochelle”?

Rochelle was a real person but i just liked the name. The main inspiration for most of the lyrics was a fairly new relationship with the woman i am now married to. “Besotted” and “November” in particular.

++ Also, I’ve always meant to ask you, have you ever been to Mexico? You seem to be a big Mexican food fan for sure, tacos and burritos

Never been to Mexico. The song was inspired by a Mexican restaurant on Oxford road in Manchester in 80s: “Amigos”.

++ What about “Passion in the Afternoon”? Does it have to do anything with Rohmer’s movie by the same name?

“Passion in the Afternoon” is about autumn afternoons in my flat! There is a scene in room at the top with Laurence Harvey and Simone Signouret that has a similar feel but I only discovered that afterwards.

++ Is it me, or it seems you have an interest in cars, especially vintage ones. Am I right? I mean, from the Vermont Sugar House artwork for the 7″, the album, and even the new Desert Wolves album artwork. Also you did write a song called The Gunmetal Jaguar!

I had a 62 sunbeam rapier in the mid 80s which was used on the artwork for “Love Scattered Lives” and in the video-hence its revival in nes artwork-i now have a 77 Daimler of the sort that is on the Vermont Sugar House cover-the 60s obsession was mainly me-stems from childhood and never went away-Iam a big collector.

++ What about the video for “Love Scattered Lives”? How did that came about? What are your memories from recording it?

The video was shot on a budget of £20 by someone called Liam Khan who went on to work with the Pet Shop Boys and New Order-for a larger fee i suspect-it was a great day out on the Yorkshire coast.

++ I think you are such a great lyricist, so I have to ask, where does the inspiration comes from? And how easy was to make music with the whole band? What was the creative process?

As with the Vermont Sugar House tunes started mainly with Dave-some Nick-and then I would add lyrics when we were happy with the tune. The recording of “November” is a first take and the first time i had sung the lyrics. I recently read that Bryan Ferry did that with “Love is the Drug”. I like that sort of thing.

++ How do you remember the Manchester scene from back then? Any bands you enjoyed? How did you feel about the whole Madchester thing?

In retrospect I feel very lucky to have been around the Manchester scene-from the factory in the late 70s where i saw band like the B52s/Pere Ubu/Buzzcocks/the original Human League-through the collective and The Hacienda-Madchester was a lot of un clubbing wise but i am more an 82-87 Hacienda person. Loved The Smiths and New Order but not as much as Orange Juice. And I have a deep nostalgia for a time when most people I knew were in a band.

++ When and why did you decide to call it a day?

Musical differences i think-some dispute because i couldn’t sing like Scott Walker- the fact that no one but Scott Walker can etc etc. The Wolves split at a foolish time, just before the Roses thing and everyone getting signed. Hated the Inspiral Carpets and the Mondays vastly overrated and the fact that the Roses were considered plod rock between 86 and 89 and had a national front following has been erased from pop history.

++What happened in that gap between The Desert Wolves and Vermont Sugar House?

Dave and i just kept writing in the gap which eventually resulted in the Vermont Sugar House stuff.

++ Are you still in touch with all members of the band? What are you all doing nowadays

Dave and I now work in academia, Nick at the EU in Brussels-saw them at Xmas. Richard went on to be a successful tour manager, he did the Spice Girls first world tour. Craig was thought to be dead based on assumptions about his lifestyle but he has posted something on youtube (re: the video).

++ We should do a Vermont Sugar House interview some time Martin! But are there any future releases coming? Should I expect some more great songs from you in the near future?

Not sure if there will be more Vermont Sugar House stuff-have a couple of nice songs kicking around and have bought a very nice 1966 Burns Baldwin so who knows.

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Listen
The Desert Wolves - Speak to Me, Rochelle

The Palisades from Perth, Australia! Such a fantastic band that only recorded around 11 songs. All of them top-notch! I was lucky to grab once their retrospective on Egg Records, and now even more lucky to have been in touch with Ian Freeman from the band. He was kind enough to answer all my questions!

++ Thanks so much Ian for being up for the interview! Most of us are going through a cold winter but down in Australia you are having a great summer! How have you being enjoying it so far?

The summer break has been great. Lots of days at the beach trying to perfect my surfing technique. I got a 9′2″ mal that gets a work out when ever possible.

++ You’ve been involved in many bands like Mars Bastards or Header, but I’m going to stick to Palisades questions on this interview. But I do wonder if this was your first band? I’ve heard about some band Peppermint Drops and another one Homecoming… but I’m not sure.

Well, I it was all a little fast paced at the beginning. I got offered the job as singer with the Homecoming by Gil Bradley and Mandy Haines who were friends of mine. That same weekend I was out at a gig and saw Jeff Baker who was playing with the Peppermints and asked how it was going and he told me they needed a new singer. So I jumped at it as they were actually playing gigs and a bit more organised. In the end I only played one crazy show with the Peppermint Drops in a place called Boyup Brook which is sorta like “deliverence” country. We supported The Stems.

++ The Palisades were formed around you and Jeff Baker, right? How did you both meet? And then how did you decide to start a band?

I was a friend of Jeff’s sister Sue. We are both a little younger than J.B. so when he would go out, we would sneak into his room and play all his groovey records. I got to know him through that and going to see gigs. When the Peppermint Drops folded we just decided we would continue on together as we were both into the same scene and liked similar music etc.

++ How did this creative partnership work? What was the creative process behind it?

In the beginning Jeff had a large kitchen with a huge round table. We would catch up at his place two or three times a week and just throw ideas at each other across the table. He was studying English literature at uni and would lay out sheets of poems and I would cut out lines from each of them and paste them together. I think we just put half finished ideas down onto a cassette player for later reference. Maybe one out of every 5 songs would make it to a rehearsal. Out of the rehearsal maybe one out of two songs would make it to the gig. Out of the set list of say 20 songs we only recorded a few, maybe 10.

++ How did the other members came to be in the band? How was the recruiting process?

Well I was trying to play guitar at the time and another of our friends Gary was playing bass but neither of us were getting very far. Jeff had some friends from his contacts with The Stems. Velo Zupanovich who played bass with Dom in the Gostarts and Guido Berini who played guitar with Velo in a band called The Rayguns. He recruited them then we found a drummer Richard Nash. Gary was asked to leave and I was asked to stop playing guitar and concentrate on singing!

++ Why the name The Palisades?

Jeff came up with it. He was into the shapes of words back then, and probably still is. He liked the way the P and the d offset each other, the repetition of the s’s and the way the a and l almost make a d. After he put so much thought into it how was any of us going to object.

++ The Perth scene in the 80s seems so vibrant! How do you explain that explosion of guitar pop bands in the city? As you were around, I have to ask, was there a band in Perth that was great but no one has heard about? I mean, we’ve all heard of Summer Suns, Stolen Picassos, Charlotte’s Web, etc etc… but maybe you remember some other?

Perth is one of the most isolated citys in the world. The music scene has always been pretty vibrant, basically because you have to make your own fun. If you didn’t you would go nuts through lack of things to do. So you start a band, or mange a band, or open a club, or start a shop selling cool records and t-shirts because literally nobody else was doing it. Why guitars? Acappella doesn’t cut it and synths were so expensive I guess. Bands were popping up and blowing out so fast. My fave band of that time were Traitors Gate who my friend Andre Scannel sang for. He was very into Velvet Underground, Joy Division and Echo and the Bunnymen and they sounded like a mix of all that. I only have one blurred photo of them live. I don’t think they ever recorded. Kim Williams band The Holy Rollers were good too. Rabbits Wedding were another.

++ A friend of mine once made me a copy of the Out of the Woodwork tape, but neither him or me have any information on it. Do you know anything about it? I know there were two of your songs there, but I have no clue who released it or when…

Every year or so someone in Perth puts a compilation out of who ever is playing the scene at that time. It’s usually called something like “Edge of the World” or “Way Out West” or “Look At Us We’re Trying Really Hard”. The motives behind them were always a bit suss and a bit sad. We did it for promotional reasons as did all the bands. I cant remember what we put on there or who else was involved.

++ You appeared on a compilation and a flexi, both released by a radio station. Was this something common back in the day? Radios supported independent bands?How did you end up on these releases?

Radio 6NR was a uni run station. Jeff was going to uni and managed to get us a slot on there every Tuesday night 9 to midnight. We got to spin all our latest records and have a bit of a laugh. It was great fun. Unless you liked listening to the usual FM playlists there was no radio station playing the stuff we liked. You couldn’t hear Elvis Costello, R.E.M., Lets Active, The Smiths any where except 6NR and 6UVSFM another uni station which later turned into 3RTR. And all these radio programs were being run by our friends and other band members. This is where I first heard Big Star, Television, Gram Parsons so many great bands…it was an education every night. Then a mag came out and a flexi disc on the cover. We were really lucky to do one. I think the Kryptonics did one. The mag would have news on local bands and gigs coming up.

++ How did you end up signing to Easter Records? How was your relationship with Neil Kim? Any anecdotes you could share?

Kim ran a shop called White Ryder Records?. I had been going in there since I was about 16. I would go in days in a row and just look at the records I wanted to buy as I had no money. You could stand there for hours and listen to Kim and his pals spin great tunes. So we all knew Kim for ages. Kim had put out my mate Ian Underwoods bands ep (The Kryptonics) and Jeff had done Summer Suns releases with him. He was very relaxed about the whole thing.

++ What do you remember from recording this mini-LP? And how many copies were there made? I can’t yet find a copy for myself!

We recorded the lp in two sessions. Recording was very expensive back then so we played our arses of and saved a few thousand dollars and we went into the best studio in Perth called Planet with John Vilani who is sadly no longer with us. We did side one in there on the day Liverpool played Everton in an F.A. cup final. Having grown up in Liverpool this was a huge deal for me and I had to keep running out to check the score then back in to do vocal takes. Agony! The second side we recorded in Shelter Studios with Andy Priest?…Kim was on board by now. I remember Kim got the records pressed and they had a printed lyric sheet insert that had to be put in each one. We sat at his place and did everyone by hand. 1000 copies? this was the day Kim introduced me to Pet Sounds. Shit, the hairs on my neck just stood up!!! I think Da Da Records in Perth still has a few copies floating about.

++ I did find the Egg Records compilation, which is such a fantastic compilation of all of your releases plus an unreleased track. But I do wonder if there are still more unreleased tracks from The Palisades? maybe hiding in some old dusty tapes?

Sorry thats it. I do have a cassette of us rehearsing live but its very rough. There are about 7 or 8 unreleased tunes on there. Turkish Delight, My New Address.. cant remember the rest.

++ What are your favourite Palisades’ songs?

It’s hard for me to be objective. When I listen to them now I hear song writers on a learning curve. Like looking back on your primary school days. Light As Air was one of those round table songs. As is Today of All days which I still play on guitar to this day. So I guess I will take those two. Oh and The Jetty.

++ What about gigging? Did you gig lots as The Palisades? Any particular gigs you remember and why?

We did heaps of shows. We supported The Stems a few times, The Go Betweens, The Triffids, Hunters and Collectors, Falling Joys plus we got to play heaps of shows when going out to a gig was the thing to do so crowds were big like 300, 400 to a local band which was massive. I cant remeber any one show in particular. Being back stage with the all those bands was huge and seeing Mark Seymour warming up his vocals before a show was a huge moment for me personally like..”Shit, this is serious buisness here”. Up until then I didn’t take singing very seriously, just a bit of a giggle really. When I saw you could be as professional as a guitarist or drummer about it I really started to listen and learn.

++ Okay, I said I’d stick to Palisades but this I do want to ask, would you care to tell me a bit about the Pelicassos Brothers? I’ve been looking for songs for like forever but never to find anything. Was there anything released? Or at least, are there any recordings?

Martin Gambie and I got together on days where there was not much going on in the Palisade or Stolen Picassos camps. Our bands would play together often and we even had a song called “Weeping Woman” which was the name of the Picasso painting that was actually stolen.He got me into Mamas and Papas and obscure vocal bands and I would try to convince him of the merits of The Fleshtones or Jellyfish. We would jam a few of our favorite tunes together and a couple of covers like Dylans “You Aint Going Nowhere” and “Swan Swan Hummingbird” by R.E.M. and practice our harmonies. The we started playing a few gigs as a duo and I finally got to play 12 string! Then we would get rolling drunk. I do have a tape with two songs on it which I discovered the other day. I hadn’t listened to it for over 20 years! It was never released and one of the songs is just humming no words but the other song is great.

++ What about the tribute band the Pale Sadies?

You have got to be joking?

++ There is a moment when you all decide to move to Sydney, why was that? Then you came back to Perth, right? Was that when the band broke up?

First our drummer Richard Nash left the band and was replaced by Chad then Dave Hale, then Guido left and we decided to play as a four piece. Then Jeff and Dave quit to pursue other interests. Velo and I decided to continue on as the band had quite a following and we were getting heaps of shows. So Gil Bradley from The Homecoming replaced Jeff on guitar (who went on to start the Rainyard) and Duncan McMillan came in from the Stolen Picassos to play drums. We recorded a few songs with this line up of which “Memories of Old Flowers” and “Deaths Echoes” made it onto the Palisades cd on Egg records. Sydney was where all the record companies were at the time and all the new pop bands were coming out of Sydney so we decided to move there. Velo quit and we got Mandy Haines in from the Homecoming/Rosemary Beads to play bass. We played about 15 shows there and went down well but we never really got a foot hold. Jeff was sending tapes of The Rainyards stuff and it sounded like all the fun was back in Perth so we moved back. I just hung out for a year and then Jeff and I started the Mars Bastards with Gil on guitar. There were five line ups with the Palisades and each one had its own distinctive sound.

++ Are you still making music? What are some of Ian Freeman’s hobbies?

I still play in a band with Jeff called The Lazybirds here in Melbourne. Shaun Lahore from the Mars Bastrads plays drums with us and Dave Johnstone and Phil Natt from Ammonia play guitar and bass respectively. We have recorded a 7 track EP but have no label so are sitting on that at the moment. Hobbies??? Well, I surf. I am a chef so I cook and eat out. And play gigs when ever possible!

++ Thanks again for doing this interview, anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. It was heaps of fun. Take care.

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Listen
The Palisades - Alternatively Wednesday

Hope Stew doesn’t get mad if I call him an indiepop legend! But he is! And so, I’m very thrilled to have had the opportunity to chat with him about his most known band, Boyracer. He has been in many, you know, right? He also runs the great 555 Recordings label if you didn’t know. Check more of their stuff on myspace and on their own website. But that’s it for introductions, please enjoy our little interview!

++ Thanks Stew for making this interview. It’s hard to cover on a single short questionnaire everything you’ve done but let’s try it! So 2 feet of snow this past week? So it snows in the desert?

Oh yes. We are in the high desert here, 7000 ft above sea level. We get pretty extreme seasons, which is one of the reasons I love it so much.

++ Boyracer is mostly you, Stew, and lots of friends that have stepped in to play with you. What was the line-up that lasted the longest? And if you had the chance to do a sort of an all-star lineup, who would you choose?

Erm… I’m not sure what the longest line up was. I think myself, Jen and Ara supplemented by whoever else was available and wanted to help out. I think the most exciting line is always the current line up, which for the Slumberland reunion shows will myself, Jen, Ara, Chuck (Bright Lights) and Mario (From Bubblegum To Sky/Ciao Bella etc). I’m not sure if that is “All Star” but it is as competent as it gets in terms of playing live.

++ Have you been involved in other bands before Boyracer? Or was this your first adventure? Where did the inspiration to start came from?

Oh lots of bands, you should check out “The Wetherbeat Scene 1988-91″ CD we put out. Its a 35 CD comp of bands I was in during highschool.

++ Why did you call the band Boyracer?

A Boyracer is an expression from the North of England that describes a young boy who spends lots of money souping up a crap car and then driving it recklessly to impress girls. Sort of showing off with something that isn’t really worthy of showing off with.

++ You’ve covered many songs. But I’m wondering which is the one you are more satisfied with? or at least your favourite?

Well, I love to play music and its always fun to put your own twist on someone elses song and try and make it your own. I like all 15 of the songs on our Boyracer Jukebox Vol 1 very much. I think our version of Bonnie Tylers “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” is pretty remarkable.

++ How did you end up on Sarah records? Was it easy to be the noisy band in the label?

We used to put shows on in Leeds for a bunch of bands, not just Sarah bands, and usually we would book ourselves as the opening band. We where asked by Matt and Claire out of the blue to do a 7inch. It wasn’t easy at all being on Sarah as not many people who came to the Sarah shows or bought Sarah records liked us. Likewise, people who did sort of like us hated all the “twee crap” surrounding the label. There where, let us not forget, some truly dreadful and gutless bands on Sarah at the same time we where involved. Its funny how Sarah is viewed nowadays as an amazing label because at the time, in the UK at least, it was really uncool to be on Sarah. But I always thought Matt and Claire where fantastic people who I still have huge respect for.

++ But your first releases were on Fluff Records, a way noisier label, with bands such as Liechtenstein Girl and Aspidistra. And they were from Leeds too! Were you good friends? How did you meet the Fluff
Records people?

The mysterious “DMCL” who ran Fluff just wrote to us after we had been on a few compilation tapes. We sent him a few songs and he put them out. At the time he lived in Loughborough, and I had a job driving Artwork to and from Leicester from Leeds, so used to call in on him and play records in his bedroom. He was a pretty crazy guy who I suspect took too many drugs and burnt out. (His band was Leichtenstein Girl). He disappeared after a while, and no-one knows where or what he is upto.

++ You said once that you felt more comfortable with being Slumberland Records than in any other labels. Why didn’t you continue releasing there?

Not sure. Mike stopped asking us, not through any falling out, Im still in touch with him all the time. He has lots of new bands and I guess The Pains keep him busy. Although having said that, I did just record a 7inch with Matt Hartman as The How that will coupled with 2 new Boyracer songs, that be coming out on 555/Slumberland just in time for the Slumberland 20th anniversary shows.

++ What about starting 555 Records, what was the main reason behind that? It would be nice to do a whole interview about the whole label sometime…

The main reason was to release a record by our friends Hood. At the time I was sharing a house with Richard, and they had a bunch of great songs that remarkably no-one wanted to release. So we did. It wasn’t really meant to be an ongoing thing, in fact none of the first 10 records even had catalogue numbers on them.

++ I find it funny that you once wrote a song called “Bring me the Hair of Phil Oakey”. Have you seen photos of him today? He goes with no hair at all! But what’s the story behind this song?!

Always loved the league. Fine baritone voice, lovely mane of hair. Always liked  men in mascara.

++ I do have to ask you about one of my favourite songs of yours “My New Shoes”, I just want to know what is it about, and how did you come up with it? Easy question!

Gosh. Erm… that’s as song I wrote 16 years ago so I don’t really remember specifics. But the gist of it is putting new shoes on a table is meant to bring bad luck. The lyrics I suppose are about deliberately bring bad luck upon yourself. I usually don’t think about writing songs much at all and certainly don’t enjoy dissecting my own output. I strive for a less conscious way of writing and recording. Pretty much everything I have ever done has been done very quickly. Initially because we couldn’t afford studios back in the day, but nowadays because I think any kind of “art” should be spontaneous and from within, you think about it too much you will destroy it. I hate pretension in any kind of “art”. Most of the recordings I have ever made have always been 1st,2nd or 3rd takes. (Apart from the drums. You have to get the drums right or the songs never work).

++ What about gigs, you’ve played tons! But is there any in particular you are more proud of?

I guess the Emmaboda festival in Sweden. Our biggest gig, and outside too. It was broadcast on Swedish radio. One of my favourite live moments looking out into a few thousand people. Of course it was a festival so they weren’t there to us specifically…

++ Why did you decide to move and stay in Flagstaff, Arizona, of all places. You don’t ever miss the city life?

I run a cattle ranch with Jen out here in the desert. Actually where we live isn’t technically Flagstaff as we live in the middle of nowhere completely off the grid with no roads, solar power, and we pump our own well water. Surrounded by cows, pigs, chickens, horses etc… It would break my heart to ever go back to living in a city. I’ve lived in cities most of my adult life. Once you get in tune with the seasons, which you have to do quite quickly when you have 400 cows, city life seems so ugly.

++ You spend quite some time in New Zealand and pressed records in Australia as well. What is that that you miss the most from the antipodes?

They’re always up for a beer and good time… no, really, an amazing amount of remarkable music has always come out of Australia and New Zealand and continues to do so.

++ Can we expect anything from Boyracer in the future or was the last record really the last one?

I thought we where done as Boyracer, but when we where asked to play the Slumberland anniversary shows although I had reservations I finally said yes. But I wanted to do something new for it, and not just have a nostalgia trip. I certainly feel with Boyracer the last 5 years of records we made where the best. Sadly not many people have heard the last 5 years of records we made, as we have no distro and none of those records even sold 100 copies. So I wrote and recorded 2 new songs which will be the aforementioned split single with The How. So, even when I want to stop I guess I can’t…

++ What was the biggest highlight so far for you as Boyracer?

Having John Peel tell me “Excellent punk rock” after he witnessed us playing 16 songs in 22 minutes.

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Listen
Boyracer - Passionflower

Some time ago I wrote a little piece about These Future Kings, a fantastic Australian band that seemed to have disappeared out of the blue. No signs on the internet about them! But Perry White, one of the members of the band got in touch and has been so kind to give me an interview and tell me more about his band! Thanks so much Perry!

++ So let’s get into business, how did the band start? How did you all knew each other?

TFK birthed in about 1985/86 after I met Charles at Monash University in Melbourne. He was studying Arts, I was studying science and we knew of each other through a mutual friend who encouraged us to seek each other out. I think we met through the Uni radio station at which we both had shows. We were both in separate bands at the time: I was in one called Polar 1500 and he was in Gothic Farmyard. Both bands were playing rather extreme music and we discovered we shared a passion for melody and guitars and had very similar musical tastes. We began writing together and knew we had to be in a band together. I was sharing a house with Mark Freeman (drummer) then, so he was an obvious choice. Steven Johanssen (sax and keyboards) I brought with me from Polar 1500 and Claudia White (bass) is my sister so I asked her to play simply because we didn’t have a bass player.

++ What does the name These Future Kings mean? Was it easy to decide on the name?

TFK is a phrase from the Tibetan Book Of The Dead which I found and I don’t think anyone else had a say in it. I don’t recall any discussions or alternative suggestions.

++ Bury My Bones is such a great track! What is it about? How did this song came to life?

‘Bury My Bones’ started as Charles’ guitar riff around which we played. We usually wrote by Charles or I bringing a riff or chord sequence to the band and everyone jamming on that initial idea. A structured song would usually rear its head from the jamming and I would write the lyrics last to fit the musical structure. On occasion, I would bring a completed song to the band or Charles would bring the music and I would bring the words.
‘Bury My Bones’ is vaguely about the idea of killing one self to give birth to another self; the idea of keeping moving and growing. But really I can’t speak for the guy who wrote those words - he was very young, a little lost and I guess looked a little like me.

++ I’ve only listened the Bury My Bones single so I’m still hunting for the Carnival LP. Can you tell me a bit more about the album? How many songs were included? What about the recording process? Your favourite song? Any other anecdotes?

‘Carnival’ was an absolute pleasure to make. It was the first time we had planned a recording session and our first time with a producer - Tim Cole/Mr Bo - who was a member of probably the biggest Indie band in Australia then - Not Drowning Waving.
The bulk of the recording took place in winter and for their acoustic properties, we decided to record in the basement of silos of an abandoned Flour Mill in Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne. The place was being used as a squat by friends of ours - it had no running water, no toilets, no heating but somehow the electricity was connected. The silos were near a major train route, so most of the recording happened very late at night after the trains had stopped.
I remember it being cold all the time, drinking a lot of Port wine to keep warm, all of us tired but urging each other on to play better - we were high on the music, the ambition, the promise of it all. And occasionally the dope.
We spent about 8 days at the mill, then did overdubs in a studio in Elwood and I think finished the recording and mixing in about 12 days. All up, perhaps the best recording experience of my life.
‘Carnival’ has 10 songs and is divided into a ’showside’ and a ‘ringside’ built around the carnival idea. I think all of us would nominate a song called ‘My yellow room’ as our favourite. I hope you get to hear it one day.

++ There was also a mini-LP released in 1986 right? I couldn’t find any information about it at all! What about this one? Does it really exist?

Our 3 releases on the Rampant label are completed by our first release, a four song e.p. called ‘After This’. We recorded it as winners of a community radio station 3RRR’s ‘Battle of the Bands’ type show.
There is also a compilation live LP called ‘Hair of the Dog’ from a venue called The Punter’s Club’ on which we have a track ‘A face to break a thousand hearts’ and several songs on cassette fanzines, etc. And our never-released 2nd album ‘Via Dolorosa’ which we recorded for Rampant, but the label crashed before it was released.

++ What were you listening at the time? Had the influence of the Flying Nun label from New Zealand already reached the Australian coasts?

Our infuences…hmmm… I personally was most influenced by local or Australian bands like The Go Betweens, The Birthday Party, The Laughing Clowns, The Triffids and many more. I was much more influenced by bands’ attitudes and their quirkiness than their music per se. Musically, I think we were influnced by a lot of guitar-based, melody fuelled music. I remember Charles loved tasteful guitar stuff like The ComSat Angels; Mark loved mainly American trashy stuff like Camper Van Beethoven, The Violent Femmes and their ilk; and I think we all loved Joy Division, some punk stuff, Echo & The Bunnymen, etc.

++ How did you end up signing to Rampant Records? How was the relationship?

We had a great relationship with Bill Tolson from Rampant. We initially sent him the completed songs for what became ‘After This’ and he signed us for an album based on that. He was very keen on the second album as well but the company folded.

++ On the Bury My Bones single you worked with Warren Ellis from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, how was that experience?

I knew Warren (Ellis) through mutual friends and we got on great together. He was playing in other bands and somehow ended up joing TFK for about a year. He was great fun to work with - ‘Bury My Bones’ is the only thing we recorded with him, apart from some live stuff. Ultimately though, he didn’t really fit into the band as we already had a ‘featured’ instrument (the sax), and Warren wasn’t a background sort of player. We loved the violin though and ended up recruiting Jennifer McCutcheon into the band on viola. She plays on ‘Carnival’ but only joined the band after the recording.

++ Did These Future Kings gig a lot? Any particular gigs you remember the most?

TFK played a hell of a lot, as did most bands at that time. It’s also a particularly Australian thing I learnt later on for bands to play themselves halfway to the asylum and really hone their talent that way. The Triffids and The GoBetweens were particularly famous for this. We played on average 4 shows a month basically anywhere that would have us. I think my favourite show was supporting The GoBetweens at a beautiful theatre in Melbourne called The Old Greek Theatre (now demolished). We were throwing sparks that night and went down really well in front of 800 people, maybe the biggest crowd we played to. A close second would be our first show in Sydney in an underground venue in Kings Cross. We had driven straight up from Melbourne (about 10 hours) to the venue to sound-check, then did a press interview, and just before the show a drunk threatened to slash me up with a broken bottle! I remember shaking for the first three or so songs and not being able to hold the chords down on my guitar. The show went great.

++ Why and when did you call it a day? Were you involved with music after?

TFK ended not with a bang but a whimper, I suppose. We gradually became disheartened shopping the second album around after Rampant folded. Claudia and Mark decided to leave music altogether and do something ’sensible’ with their lives. Charles and I continued writing and playing together and in the late 90s formed a band called The Lost Highway, which was very enjoyable but got nowhere, again through the difficulties trying to get a release for our album ‘Amarine’. Charles does not play music at all, but got heavily into the music business and now runs a music-related consultancy business in London. Claudia never played music again and is now married with 2 children. Mark is now a print journalist and is marrried with a couple of kids. Steven also stopped playing music after TFK. I am still writing and playing under the name P A White, and hope to have an album out around August this year.

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Listen
These Future Kings - A Rumour of Angels

Photo: sitting on the gate from left to right are Michael Green, Tim Slater, Dave Wick, John Lindsell and the Dave Fletcher.

A couple of days ago Michael Green, The Nightjars guitarist, got in touch with me. I had written a blog piece about his band many months ago asking for some more information about it and somehow he stumbled upon it. How thrilling! And he has been so nice to tell me the whole story of the band with me, and of course, I want to share with you all. Also he scanned a promo photo of The Nightjars, plus an interview on a Cambridgeshire zine called “Scene and Heard” (part 1, part 2, part 3). Also he asked me to upload the B side “Hang Me Out Dry” which he said: “was only of my favourite things we did.  I remember writing the original chugging (C F Am F I think….) riff, sat on my amp, playing it to the others and then Tim Slater improvising the slide guitar bit over the top straight off the top of his head, it was all pretty instant really which are usually the best ones.” And I can only agree, it’s fantastic tune!

And here is the whole story:

The Nightjars were formed from an amalgamation of two bands - The Giant Polar Bears and Red Over White.  Original band members were Johnny Lindsell (vocals) Dave Wick (bass) Brendan Costello (guitar) and Dave “Fletch” Fletcher (drums).  The name was Johnny’s idea - he is a bit of an ornithologist on the side and came across it in a bird book, thought the nocturnal animal / mesmerizing call bit was cool. Personally, I much preferred The Giant Polar Bears but wasn’t in the group then so didn’t have a say!  The thinking at the time was it was too close to The Mighty Lemon Drops (well done on your referencing of influences in the article by the way - spot on) - turns out there’s another band now from Manchester call The Nightjars (part of me feels like contacting them to suggest calling themselves The Giant Polar Bears….much better name but there we are!)  Brendan eventually emigrated to Australia to manage a mine somewhere and on-board came Tim Slater, who at the time worked in a guitar shop in Cambridge.

Somewhere around 1988 the band decided they wanted to fill the sound out by adding another guitarist.  I lived in the same village as Johnny (Wistow, Cambs) and he’d heard I played guitar.  The band at this point were in their mid to late 20’s, I was 15.  So I get a knock on my door one day asking if I’d like to audition for the band - one of the most nerve-wracking decisions I’d had in my life!  Half of me was “YEAH!”, the other half was “but I only know half a dozen chords and how to play a power chord…..”  Anyway - I agreed and that afternoon had an audition in a pig barn (yep…) where the band practiced every Sunday afternoon.  I passed the test, was thrown a bunch of tapes to learn the songs and told I’d be playing my first gig that Thursday Night in a snooker hall in Ramsey. Spent next 3 days furiously learning the songs and it went like clockwork - one of the best nights of my life, I was officially a rock star….!

Over the next 3 years we gigged extensively and made a handful of demos, culminating in putting Acid In Your Face to vinyl.  We were by far and away the best followed band in the Cambridge area and supported the likes of Teenage Fanclub (to be eternal regret I broke my hand the night before and had to sit the gig out), Throwing Muses (remember being horrified that they got paid £1500 for the gig and had a rider that included white towels, while we did the whole thing for a case of Red Stripe) and many others.  This was our forte - playing live - and we knew it, Johnny wasn’t the best vocalist of all time though he was an outstanding front man and we weren’t the best of musicians (bar Tim Slater) though we could certainly hold our own. Live we had some kind of X-Factor that seemed to draw the local youth to us more than any other band, I cant really explain it but it was like we were all part of the same club. Tim went on to be features editor for Guitarist magazine but I have no idea what he, or the others, are doing now - ironically it was by putting his name into google that I found you last night.  I’ve also found another guy who I think replaced me in ‘92 and claims to have played on “Acid in your Face - NME Single of the week”. I’m very tempted to email him to say a) no you didnt and b) it was never NME Single of the Week!  I see you have this in your article, I’m sure we didn’t but aforementioned band above have done, it may be that you are confusing the two?  Would be very interested to know where you got info from though, would make my day if we had and I’d forgotten! From memory I think we may have made the John Peel show though…?

So - this was a big big part of my life from 15-18 but in ‘91 I finished school and passed exams to go to University in Manchester.  At the time there was some interest from Rough Trade records, which turned my head a bit but in my heart of hearts I knew we’d never make it so left the band and went to University, where I met my now wife etc etc and the rest is history. I joined a band up there called Dream Baby Dream (now if you want to talk horrendous band names….) but it just wasn’t the same and have just plucked along on my own since, writing the odd thing here and there for my own amusement.  Ironically, when I moved to Manchester - the other end of the country - I found the single in a record shop in the bargain bucket!  Each week it went down 10p in price until the last time I saw it it was going for something like 5p and disappeared - whether someone bought it or it was chucked away who knows.

Out of interest, I nearly fell off my chair last night when I saw the single cover on your site, the cover is one of my mates (Paddy Hulson) holding Johnny’s baby daughter Poppy. Poppy must be 20/21 now - unbelievable.

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Listen
The Nightjars - Hang Me Out To Dry

Remember to support your local mailorder. Remember that physical records are prettier and more valuable than a mp3. Remember that indiepop is alive, it’s not a cold little digital file. Indiepop is not to be caged in your ipod. And if you forgot about how inspiring it is, here are two stories to keep believing!

Pebble Records

The United Kingdom has been blessed with a new indiepop mailorder and it’s called Pebble Records. It’s also a label and they have already signed Sarah legends The Orchids and the best new band according to Twee.net poll: The Cavalcade. What is good news also, is that both bands have albums and singles to be released this year!

Behind Pebble Records there is a nice chap called Michael who is a hardcore indiepop lover. How do I know that? Well, he has a demo tape of the Ruth Ellis Swing Band. I mean, in my book, that’s WOW! Also I find it funny that years ago, in 2007, I bought some records from him on ebay, some Waltones and Wishing Stones 7″s. I bet he doesn’t remember, I only found about it today while going through old email. But something that is for sure, is that since that time he was doing a fine job sending well-packaged records. That I do remember.

The idea of Pebble Records is mostly to centralize indiepop in UK. To create a store that caters the indiepop hungry, same as what Fraction Discs does in Sweden or Vollwert in Germany. It’s surprising there wasn’t a store like this in UK, as it has the most bands and probably the most indiepop fans than any other country in the world. So Pebble Records is here to fill that gap and so far they are doing it in a brilliant way.

It has been not that long since they opened. It was on mid-November with a clear intention and idea:

Indiepages

Did you notice that Indiepages is back! It’s been many months since Chris decided to have a break. I missed his weekly reviews, his nice webshop and of course, the demo of the week. Things were very quiet at the indiepages site, only the message board was up and running. Don’t know if it was some sort of new year resolution but Chris is back. Back in top form, with more energy and more ideas for running his fantastic page, which won this years Twee.net poll award as best indiepop page. It’s true that he won’t be doing as many reviews as before, but that’s fine, we can all live with that, right? I see some doubtful faces now. Okay. What about if I say that he will be so busy running a REAL, a physical, store in his own Seattle. A RECORD store. Weren’t all record stores closing down? Well, maybe, but here’s one that is opening!

Here’s what Chris has to say about it: “Why the sudden (and seemingly crazy) decision? Well, there’s a high-end stereo shop in a great location here that has a subdivided second floor which they’re renting out to small businesses and artists for very un-Seattle prices (a little over a buck a square foot per month!). Besides myself, there’s a death metal-themed record shop, a clothing boutique, a second-hand record dealer and an artist that uses her space as a studio. The whole thing’s pretty cool, actually! It will be a record shop and mailorder that will be committed to:

• Selling records from bands/labels that we like & admire to the pop kids in Seattle and online.
• Putting an emphasis on helping smaller bands & labels from around the world that don’t otherwise have much distribution outside of their own area.
• Offering everything at a very low markup since we have barely any overhead; we find it much more important to introduce people to great music than turn a profit!
• Having fun doing all of this, of course!”

Chris has named the store Jigsaw Records. Does that name sound familiar? That was the name of his old label, one that released beautiful records by Rocketship, Cessna, Poconos, Leslies among others. Now it’s not a label anymore but a fine record store! One that will open quite soon, March 13!

So at last, the US will have a fine and fair mailorder. How much we’ve missed that. I know it wasn’t in the US exactly, but since Poppolar went down, there hasn’t been a good indiepop store on the web. This are the good news we’ve been waiting here for so long! Thanks again Chris!

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Listen
Nixon - Bedsitters of the World, Unite!