Thanks so much to Cristoph and Chantelle for the interview! Ampersand were a San Francisco band that in the 90s released an amazing mini-album on Fantastic Records. This mini-album is actually available to listen on Bandcamp, on the Stars on Fire, Bandcamp! That’s because Christoph, now in South Korea, has been recording music under this name and making top songs. So if you want to go down memory lane, remember those days of the San Francisco scene, The Aislers Set, The Fairways and more, you are going to enjoy this!

++ I only know one release of yours, the self-titled CD on Fantastic Records. But before that, had there been any previous recordings by the band?

Nope.

++ How did you end up working with Fantastic Records? How was your relationship with them?

I sent out a bunch of demos. They liked what they heard. They had released some awesome stuff, so I was thrilled to get that email from them. I printed it out and stuck it to my wall.

++ I feel this label had a great catalogue, lots of great bands of the period, were you friends with them? Perhaps played gigs together?

We played with #Poundsign# and Aislers Set. I loooved Juniper and of course Black Tambourine.

++ I also couldn’t find any compilation appearances by the band other than “Tokyo Girl’ appearing on a Beikoku Ongaku compilation, is that right?

That’s it.

++ And how come there weren’t more releases by the band?

We split up in 2000. There was always tension about continuing, and so I ended up in Japan….

Chantelle: We wanted to do some festivals but not all of us could or wanted to.

++ Are there any unreleased songs by the band?

Two, I think. One dubbed “New Zealand,” and I can’t remember the name of the other, though I had liked it.

Thanks so much to Tom Heaney for the interview! I wrote about the Edinburgh based band Elephant Noise some time ago and was lucky that Tom Heaney, one of the band’s drummer and who the song “New Town Tom” is about, got in touch with me. He was very kind to answer all my questions and tell me more details about his time in the band!

++ Hi Tom! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? 

Hi Roque, I’m good thanks. I haven’t spoken with the band members of Elephant Noise for some 28 years so hopefully my memory serves me well.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?

I was lucky enough to have 3 older siblings growing up with very eclectic tastes all-round. All of my siblings and my parents loved listening to music, although I was the only one to pick up some instruments and play. My oldest sister was into disco, my second oldest sister was into Motown mainly. My older brother was only a year older so we shared our musical tastes as well as a room. I came of age in the post punk era around 1979, 1980 and beyond. There was so much variety at that time. We liked Krafwerk, Talking Heads, OMD, Depeche Mode, Aztec Camera, Orange Juice to name but a few. My first interest was playing drums, I used to play with tupperware boxes and wooden spoons – drowning out my sisters and brother’s favourite records. My uncle played guitar and sang Bob Dylan tunes and old Irish folk songs at family gatherings, I would sit hypnotised by the sounds. I eventually got a drum kit and an acoustic guitar. Drum lessons would follow with gigs very closely behind that. It didn’t take me long to get on the road. I’ve done gigs on bass, drums, guitar and a bit of keyboards, a jack of all trades but a master of none.

++ Had you been in other bands before Elephant Noise? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?

I was around 22 years old when I joined EN and had been gigging regularly for around 6 years already. Punk rock was still a big deal when I attended secondary school and not surprisingly my first band at school was a punk outfit. Another band at school I played with was a MOD band playing The Who, The Jam etc. By the time I had left school I was doing 3 to 4 gigs a week in covers bands. I think it is a good thing there are no recordings that I know about.

++ Where were you from originally?

Edinburgh is my place of birth although my family moved 15 miles outside Edinburgh when I was 6 months old. We moved to Livingston New Town which was built as an over-spill town for mainly Glasgow but also Edinburgh families. It all means that I don’t know Edinburgh that well even though it’s on my birth certificate.

++ How was Edinburgh at the time of Elephant Noise? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

In 1991 Scotland was still riding on the crest of the musical wave that started around 1988 with bands like Deacon Blue, Hue and Cry, Love and Money, Wet Wet Wet etc. That was a very polished, blue eyed soul sound. But scratch the surface and there was hundreds of less well known bands doing great things or instance Teenage Fan Club, Goodbye Mr McKenzie, The Silencers, Future World Moves, The Pearlfishers, Cocteau Twins.  At the time Edinburgh was full of live music venues. Most pubs would have some live music at weekends, and certain city center places would have live music every night. With the University community filling up the bars and clubs audiences were a bit more open minded about what to listen to. There were some good independent record stores at the time although with my gigging schedule at the time I didn’t have much time to browse through them.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

I was the second drummer meaning I missed the start of the band but I’d imagine the guys all got together at University as they were all attending or had attended Edinburgh University. My involvement with the band started when I received a phone call from a drumming friend of mine in Livingston who had just been for an audition with Elephant Noise. He didn’t feel the gig was right for him but thought it might be more my style. I called the singer Neil Barber for a chat and headed into Edinburgh for an Audition. My friend dropped in a three track demo cassette for me to listen to before I went to get a feel for the style and songs. To be honest I was a fan from the first listen. They were rehearsing in what can only be described as a broom cupboard on the ground floor of a local council run community center in Edinburgh. Once I had set up my drum kit I quickly realised I was taking up most of the room so put some of my gear back in the car. It was the first time meeting the guys in person, and if my memory serves me correctly their old drummer was there to wish me luck which was a nice touch. It was obvious from the very start that I was of a very different background to the guys. They were all University educated and came across as very middle class, and here I was as a joiners son without a qualification to my name trying to keep up with the conversation. Don’t get me wrong they were extremely polite, friendly and welcoming. Neil the singer was very talkative and opinionated, definitely the band leader I thought. Neil the bass player came across as very quiet, thoughtful, a bit serious at first. Stuart the guitarist was a gentleman and very friendly. At the time I was very shy, still am, and nervous socially. It was a relief to finally get playing some music after the introductions. My experience of playing lots of different styles with different musicians stood me in good stead and I fitted in to there sound reasonably easily.  I believe I was offered the job on the spot or the next day, I really can’t remember sorry.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

As mentioned above we rehearsed in a very small room in a community center just outside Edinburgh city center. Normally it was three times a week, sometimes more or less if we had a gig at the weekend maybe. The creative process from my memory usually started with a very basic idea, riff, chord sequence. We’d jam round it and find some variations on it, getting a verse, chorus, bridge structure maybe. Neil Barber would sing ideas over the top, finding melodies and harmonies and some words. We’d record what we came up with on a 4 track tape machine and the guys would take it away. At the next rehearsal Neil would have some lyrics written and the song would start to take shape. We’d jam the track, discuss the pros and cons, then jam some more, then discuss what we liked what we didn’t like until finally it was a finished song. It was always exciting bring a new song out to gig.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Good question. I think it originated from Stuart’s guitar gymnastics. He used to mimic sounds with his guitar, like a car revving away through the gears on the track Motorway. He used to do an elephant impression on the guitar and so it probably came from that.

++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

That’s a really tough one. I think the band sounds very unique, my opinion is that the influences aren’t very up front and obvious. The band all had different tastes in music and brought it all to the writing process. It’s hard to say what comes through. I’d heard the band’s sound during my tenure as something between The Smiths and REM.

++ And I want to ask too about Scottish pop, being quite a fan myself. If you were to do a top 5, from the top of your head, which bands would you pick? 

These questions get harder and harder Roque. I’m delighted you have an interest in Scottish music. My top 5 would change depending on my mood but if I were to put it to ink I’d say No.1 The Blue Nile, No.2 Deacon Blue, No.3 Aztec Camera, No.4 Simple Minds No.5 Am I allowed to included David Byrne since he was born in Dumbarton?

++ As a band you only released one record, the “Elephant Noise” EP on RUB Records. One thing I was wondering was that it came on this label where it is its sole release in the catalog. Was RUB Records your own label? Was it a self-release? What does RUB stand for?

The EP was financed by money that Neil Barber had secured as a gift if I remember, and it is the only release that I’m aware of. I have absolutely no idea what RUB stands for sorry. There was a run of 1000 vinyl records pressed and a quantity of cassettes perhaps 500. There can’t be many cassettes still around.

++ Was there any interest by labels to put out your music? Perhaps big labels?

Yes, there was interest, and I remember playing a gig in Dundee which was attended by at least one record company rep. Neil Barber was a great communicator and promoter who would have definitely phoned every single record company in the UK at the time, and beyond probably. There was no record deal came from it unfortunately.

++ Tell me about the art of the jacket. It looks like a painting of perhaps a Spanish street? Is it a real location or what inspired it?

The front sleeve is a sketch by a local artist by the name of Carolyn Burchell. I met her at the time. She travelled quite a bit sketching as she went I understand. There is a finished painting of the sketch which she calls Caceres. Caceres is a town in Spain she must have visited. You can google her collection to view it. I believe she was a friend of Neil Barber’s and submitted the sketch at Neil’s request. I think it looks great.

++ What about the photos on the back? Where were they taken?

I think those photos were taken in Raymond Albeson’s tenement flat in Edinburgh. He was yet another friend of Neil’s who had been persuaded to help out. We all look very serious don’t we?.

++ The songs on the record were recorded at Pier House Studios. How was that experience? Was this your first experience at a proper studio?

Pier House was near the harbour at Granton in North Edinburgh. It was basically built in an old town house. Looking back it was my first experience of a professional recording studio and a good one. It was fully analogue, safe from the new digital technology emerging at the time. We recorded the 4 tracks in a day or two, with the drums, bass and rhythm guitars going down together. Then the overdubs, lead guitars, vocals and harmonies were done later. I remember sitting in the control room being blown away by the sound. It was amazing. My only gripe is that the opening fill for This Song is Our Friend was negatively impacted by the compression and sounds a bit odd to my ears now, though I’ve no hard feelings.

++ Aside from the songs on the record you did record a few demo tapes. These would later appear on the compilation “Remember the Big Time” that had 13 songs. Are these all the songs the band recorded? 13? Or are there more that you know?

There are far more songs than the 13 that are on the compilation but I’m not sure how many were done before my short tenure and after. I have some old demos that I had transfered to digital years ago but most of those have been released on the compilation. The demos I remember had three songs each and released on cassette around 1989, 1990 before I joined. Demo 1 was Hearsay, Wallpaper Tour, In My Room I think. Demo 2 was In Secret Dreaming, Lost to The World, Cactus Talk. There was a third with a song called Almost Home but I can’t recall the other tracks. There was a song called Black and White which may have been on the third one. Another unreleased track was a song Eleven O’Clock Alarm. I have the demo of it, I’m not certain it was ever included on a release.

++ You didn’t appear on any compilations either, right? I couldn’t find any information.

I played on all 4 songs on the EP plus Motorway. That’s 5 songs from the compilation.

++ From what I read in the liner notes of the compilation the band had a following, so it is kind of surprising that you didn’t get to release more records, why do you think that was?

We’ll that might be partly due to the drummers. When a band member leaves it puts the band on the back foot and kills the momentum. I have to take some responsibility for that. But they were a fantastically talented band with a following and should have done more.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “New Town Tom”, which I believe you are the subject of the song! wondering if you could tell me what’s the story behind it?

Neil Barber had coined the phrase Newtown Tom to describe me before the song came about. When I decided to leave the band Neil wrote the song about me/to me. Not long after I’d left Neil invited me to a gig they were doing supporting the Pearlfishers at The Music Box venue in Edinburgh which I attended with a good friend of mine. Neil told me in advance he had written a song about me which they were about to debut at the gig. The gig itself was broadcast on a local radio station which was a big deal at the time. So there I am in the packed out venue with Elephant Noise playing a song about me and it’s being broadcast everywhere. Very surreal. I didn’t get the chance at the time to assess the lyrics but I’ve had every opinion on it since. I’ve thought of it as a bit bitter and insulting. I’ve also thought it affectionate and positive. To be honest I think its heartfelt and honest just like everything else he wrote so I’m good with it. I have part of Newtown Tom from the live broadcast on tape. For years I didn’t have the first verse.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Elephant Noise song, which one would that be and why?

I think I’d choose Halloween Day. Its an epic. It has a real momuntum about it and great chorus.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We were desperate to get out and promote the record and played everywhere and anywhere in Scotland. Glasows famous King Tuts Wah Wah hut wasn’t long open then and we played there. Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Livingston, even Carlisle in North England.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

The Carlisle gig was memorable as we got onto the local radio station in the afternoon for an interview and to promote the record. Lets just say I hope that no one has a recording of that interview, it must have been truly awful. We got shown the door earlier than expected after Neil questioned Jason Donovan’s sexuality live on air.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Not really, we only suffered sometimes from being the wrong band at the wrong gig. I remember we played a local park festival in Edinburgh. You had kids running around playing football in front of the band and families who were expecting a cover band playing the up to date top 40 tunes. And there we were playing our serious Indie pop numbers. I like to think we won them over but then again I might have miss judged the mood at the time.

++ When and why did Elephant Noise stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

I left the band during the recording the song Motorway at a studio in Penicuik south of Edinburgh. To be really honest, I don’t know. I heard the supported Jools Holland on Tour for a bit and released Newtown Tom and seemed to be doing ok, but I haven’t had contact with the band since just after the gig I attended.

++ Has there been any Elephant Noise reunion?

Not that I’m aware of. I believe all four original members are still friendly so I wouldn’t rule it out. I’d still say it’s unlikely.

++ Was there any interest from radio?

Local radio was very supportive and played the EP regularly. They done a feature on the EP as part of an emerging talent spot which I have recorded somewhere. As mentioned before we got some local radio support around Scotland and Carlisle although that latter door is firmly shut.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We got some nice write ups in local and national papers. The good thing about having the vinyl EP was that it opened doors that demo tapes couldn’t. The photo on the right at the top of your blog about the band is a cutting from a local newspaper who sent a photographer out to get our picture. We are sitting in a tree which was in the grounds of the community center where we rehearsed.

++ What about from fanzines?

I’m not sure about the details but there was a local Edinburgh fanzine that had an Elephant Noise feature. I think it was called Meadowbank Thistle fanzine. I’m guessing now sorry.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

I can only comment for my time in the band and would say that recording the EP was the best experience and legacy. The re-emergence of interest in rare vinyl has made it a bit of a collectors item now. I think the tunes are great and the recording is unique and timeless.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I tend not to have any time other than for work and family now. I’m no longer playing music and rarely get a chance to properly listen to good music. Hopefully that will change in the future.

++ Have been in Edinburgh twice and really enjoyed it, but would love to hear from a local, was wondering if you could recommend any sights, record stores, traditional food or drinks that one shouldn’t miss?

Good to hear that you have ventured over. It really is a great city. I live in the North of Ireland now and haven’t been in Edinburgh for a while so I’m maybe not the best tour guide. I’d recommend the Innis & Gunn Tap Room on Lothian Road. Excellent craft beer brewed locally and amazing food. I would definitely recommend anybody to visit Edinburgh and Scotland. It will blow your mind.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say thanks for the interest in the band and reaching out. Let me know if you or your readers have any further questions, I’d be happy to answer.

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Listen
Elephant Noise – New Town Tom

Thanks so much to Laz for the interview! You may know Laz’s current bands, Bubblegum Lemonade or Strawberry Whiplash, both releasing terrific records on Matinée, but many years ago he was in an amazing band called The Sherbet Fountains who didn’t release any records but did record some songs that are true pop nuggets! Time to discover them!

++ Hi Laz! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? How’s Bubblegum Lemonade? Is there a new release coming in the near future?

Hi Roque.  I’m very well, thank you.  I’ve been busy working away in my small studio, recording new songs for Bubblegum Lemonade.  I have a brand-new BL album pretty much finished, although it won’t be coming out till sometime next year.  I’m thinking of calling it Going Deaf for a Living, on account of a tiny bit of Tinnitus which I had been suffering from a couple of months back, it has cleared up now, thankfully.

In the meantime, I’m continuing to write additional new BL songs which could be substituted onto the new album in leu of the ones that are already there.  One song, Out in the Streets, I originally wrote circa 1996 for my, then, band The Stepping Stones, we used to perform it live.  If it makes the final cut, it’ll be one of the oldest songs to have had an official BL release.  A couple of other songs on the next album, Moving to LA and New Clothes for the old Gods, have been bumped off at least a couple my previous albums at the last minute; I have now re-worked them, and they will eventually be given an official release.  I hope.

There’s a couple of new songs coming out from Strawberry Whiplash very soon.  The lead track is very much in the same vein as early period Primitives.  The b-side is a cool jazzy number.

I’ve also been working with Sandra from Strawberry Whiplash and my good pal Kenji from Cay Hips on a new project called Time Between.  It’s a Matinee Recordings super group.  We are planning on putting out an album in the new year, and the good news is that we already have six out of the final target of twelve songs completed.  I think that the album is quite different from what any of us have done before, I am pleasantly surprised by the way that things are developing.

++ How would you compare The Sherbet Fountains with Bubblegum Lemonade? Are there any similarities? Many differences?

Both bands are pop, that’s for sure.  Subject wise, the SF songs perfectly sum up how it felt to be a teenager in the mid-1980s.  But BL’s songs, such as, First Dance for the Last Time and You Can’t go Back Again, are definitely moving into middle-age territory.  The SF demo had six songs recorded and mixed in around six hours, whereas I spend about a month, on and off, recording each BL song; although I do try to make them come across as though they are being performed by a group of musicians standing in a room, blasting it out in one go, lol.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?

I must have been around nine y/o, and I was walking around the family home carrying a battery-powered radio, and ABBA’s Money, Money, Money came on.  Great tune, of course, but what struck me as being interesting was that catchy pop music could also say something interesting about the world.

Our house had an old red and white Dansette record player and a large pile of 7” singles picked up from charity shops and jumble sales, there were a few T Rex and Monkees singles in the collection, they turned out to be a vital grounding in pop for the young Laz.

We never had a television till I was around ten, so until then we had to make our own entertainment; being creative, using our imagination.  All of my other five siblings have continued to this day to write poetry or create songs.  In saying that, I wasn’t naturally musical in my youth, it took me a while to learn how to even tune a guitar.  Thankfully, guitars have frets, which makes them easier to play.  I wouldn’t say that I was bad at Music at school, but the teacher graded me as a D flat, ha!

I shared a room with my brother Michael, he was a year older than me (and still is).  When he was fourteen, he started to learn the guitar.  I wasn’t interested myself at first, but when I saw how popular he was playing at house parties, I decided that I wanted some of that kind of attention, and decided to learn a few chords.  Michael would get me to play chords through the 12 bar blues sequence while he improvised / jammed over the top; fun to do, not such fun to listen to, ha!

In the early 80s, similar many of the boys at my school, I liked bands like Madness and The Jam, that was until one of my older sisters started seeing a new boyfriend, he brought rock / metal music into our house, we all got into that for a short while, but those bands were thrown out like a sweaty pair of leather trousers when the likes Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, REM, The Rain Parade, Game Theory, Rainy Day etc started to come through.  One of my older brothers was a Mod, so I’d hear him playing The Who and The Kinks, etc.  I personally think that Kinks were the best British band of that era; best song writing, best musicians, not that it’s a competition, of course.

This was the point in time when I started to move away from mainstream music.  There have been times, through the years, when the music that I happen to love manages to become part of a popular wave; late 80s indie, Madchester and Britpop.  My sister’s boyfriend also introduced us to The Velvet Underground, I’ll never forget the first time that I heard Sunday Morning, it sounded so contemporary.  I was also, under my very own steam, getting into The Monkees, The Byrds, The Yardbirds, Leonard Cohen, Francoise Hardy, Astrud Gilberto, etc.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Sherbet Fountains? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?

I had been playing music with my school pals, but nothing formal.  Then I joined up with my brother playing blues covers in his band, The Badger Brothers.  In late 1986, I joined a band with some friends which was called The Jaggy Nettles, great fun, but we never got around to playing any gigs.  None of these bands made any proper studio recordings.

++ Where were you from originally?

I was born and grew up in the town of Kilmarnock, it was famous for many years as being the home of Johnnie Walker whisky, and for being the place where the poet Burns’ first edition was originally published.

++ How was Kilmarnock at the time of The Sherbet Fountains? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

In the mid-80s, most of the bands that played the pubs and clubs of Kilmarnock were blues or rock bands, but the local Council started diverting some of the youth funding form sporting projects towards the creative arts; putting on Sunday night gigs at a town centre Council owned venue, and setting up a rehearsal room in a dis-used gymnasium changing room.  The idea was to give the kids something positive to put their energies into.  So, from this enablement grew a diverse scene, each band taking the lead from their own favourite artist and writing their own songs in that style, looking back, it was brilliant.  And most of the bands got along with each other too.

It had a couple of great record shop, one of them had the unimaginative name of Home Entertainment Centre, but there was a great selection of records on offer inside, it’s where I bought my 12” copy of Just Like Honey for 99p.  It’s also where I bought the Real World 7” by Baby Lemonade, the guy behind the counter quipped to me, ‘do you like pop music?’ ha!

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

In 1986, me and Ally T, the singer of The Sherbet Fountains, attended different schools, so she wasn’t someone that I would have met by chance. But as it happened, I had a school friend called David K, a good-looking chap, he looked like he could have been in the Mary Chain with his naturally frizzy hair sticking out at the front, and his black biker’s jacket, anyway, he was going out with Ally T, and I would bump into them in the town centre or at local hip musical happenings.  In time, me and Ally T became friends, and we would chat on the phone and I would pop up to her parents’ house in the evening to drink tea and eat Hobnob biscuits and share news of great new songs that we had heard on the radio.

Ally T’s best friend was Maggie, who lived nearby, and they had been writing songs together.  Whilst they were both musically talented, trumpet and violin, they needed someone with a guitar to give their melodies some context.  Ally T sang the songs to me and I fitted some chords around the melody.  I wasn’t a very good guitarist at this point, but I knew all the majors and minors and could play barre chords, so I was covered to an extent.

The idea of The Sherbet Fountains as a band was Ally T and Maggie’s, they weren’t ready to leave childhood behind, just yet.  The song, Going Back, by The Byrds summed up the feeling perfectly.  Shortly after, me, Ally T and Maggie played our first ‘gig’ at a friend’s house party, much to the amusement and appreciation of all in attendance.  It had been worth me learning a few chords on the guitar after all.   This was the band’s first line up.  One thing worth mentioning is that we were all friends first and band members second, if we weren’t in a band, we’d still be hanging out together.  Most bands are the other way around.

So, I played guitar, Maggie played the drums and Ally T sang, but convention dictated that we needed a bass player.  My brother Michael had been helping me work out the chords for the cover songs which The Sherbet Fountains had been playing, so he was the perfect person to draft in on bass duties.  This was SF MKII.

Due to musical differences; we thought that we were musical, but he thought differently, Michael left to concentrate on his own band after a couple of gigs, so Maggie’s younger brother David Dunsmore, who was only fourteen at the time, joined on bass.  He wasn’t a bass player, he wasn’t even a guitarist, but he learned very quickly.  Just a couple of years later, David went on to play bass on almost all of the songs on the Trashcan Sinatra’s debut album, Cake.  He would much later form his own band, Tesco Chainstore Mascara.

A Little later Maggie moved to violin and my friend Gordon joined on drums.  This was the band’s fourth line up.

The fifth and final line up was Ally T (lead vox), Maggie (violin), Dave (bass), Laz (guitar, occasional vox), Gordon (drums, posters, puns) and Gordon’s girlfriend Clare (keyboards).

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

To start with, Maggie and Ally T would come up with ideas and I would put chords to them.  When David Dunsmore joined, he too would work out the chords and even come up with a few songs with Ally T.  I never came up with any songs for the band until the later period; I wrote a cheeky song called Stuck Together.

In 1988, Ally T and Maggie started further education and the Fountains stopped playing gigs.  Me, Gordon and David Dunsmore formed a band called The Spaceheads, I started writing songs with David at this point.

Back to the Fountains in 1987, my parents’ house was a semi-detached cottage, so there was a room towards one side of the building which was sufficiently far away from the neighbours to allow us to make a little bit of noise, so we could practice there.  We may have practiced at the Dunsmore house on a couple of occasions, and we definitely practiced in a proper rehearsal room and in the local authority owned ex-gymnasium changing room.

Here is the process and the credits for the SF songs…

In the Picture was an early SF song.  Maggie wrote the words, Ally T the melody, Laz the chords.  Laz and Michael came up with jangling the guitar motif.

Another early song, Look Before You Leap, mostly written by Ally T; words and melody, and Laz worked out the accompanying chords.  We never recorded this one professionally, there’s time yet, I suppose.

Unpredictable was written after Dave joined the band, he replaced Michael who went on to concentrate on his other band, The Badger Brothers.  Ally T wrote the lyrics and melody, Dave the guitar chords.  Laz supplied the twang.

Too Big World is another Ally T / Dave collaboration.  Ally T, lyrics and melody and Dave chords.  Maggie drums.

Mr Murray, Ally T words / melody, Dave chords.  Arpeggio guitar picking by Laz.  Maggie drums.

Everyone’s Gone, reflects the cold war paranoia of the 1980s.  David, chords and lyrics, Ally T wrote / helped the melody, Laz arpeggio guitar picking.  Maggie drums.

Build a Wall, Dave, lyrics and chords, Ally T melody.  Maggie drums.

Sometimes, Maggie, lyrics, Maggie and Ally T, melody, David chords.  We never recorded this one.

Stuck Together, lyrics, melody, chords by Laz.  Bass, David.  There’s a live version of this song, it’s very poorly mixed, unfortunately.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Ally T and Maggie chose the name, at the time there was a trend towards regressing back to childhood, or in our case, not leaving childhood in the first place, ha!

++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Going by the cover versions that we played at our early gigs it would have to be, Talulah Gosh, Blondie, The Saints, Buddy Holly, The Primitives, Meat Whiplash, The Jesus and Mary Chain.  Ally T and Michael liked The Fall, Maggie liked Echo and the Bunnymen, David Dunsmore liked Pink Floyd and The Beautiful South (a little later), Gordon liked The Jam and The B52s, I liked the Byrds and The Jazz Butcher.  Early period My bloody Valentine is definitely where I took my guitar sound from; pure white noise fuzz.

++ And I want to ask too about Scottish pop, being quite a fan myself. If you were to do a top 5, from the top of your head, which bands would you pick? And why do you think Scotland produces such quality pop music? Is it something in the water?

The top 5 Scottish bands that I actually still listen to on a regular basis are:  The Jesus and Mary Chain, Orange Juice, The Bachelor Pad, Strawberry Switchblade, Meat Whiplash.  There are so many other, but I’m only allowed five.

Scotland producing so many great artists could have something to do with it being a small country, which makes it easier for a band to gain some kind of national recognition.  Or, perhaps it has to do with our melody rich Celtic heritage?  Or the fact that the Velvet Underground albums are on the schools Music syllabus (only kidding).

++ On Youtube there are a couple songs by The Sherbet Fountains, “Unpredictable” and “In the Picture”, that are from a 1987 demo tape. Was wondering of course, what other songs were on this tape?

Sirocco Studio Demo (Summer 1987)  1.  Too Big World  2. Build a Wall  3. Unpredictable  4. In the Picture   5. Everyone’s Gone  6. As Tears go by

++ And these demo tapes, did you usually make them all DIY? Did you sell them at gigs? Did you make sleeves for them?

We each received a second-generation master cassette from which we made our own copies, we gave these copies away to friends.  I don’t think that we ever actually intended on selling any of them.

++ Checking out an old Myspace page you had, I know there were more songs, at least 6 more, right? I see song names like “Too Big World”, “Try to Make you Understand”, “Build a Wall”, “Everyone’s Gone”, “As Tears Go By” and “Nothing at All”. How many demo tapes did the band put together? Can we put together a demo-graphy? What songs were included in each tape?

The Sherbet Fountains (Demography)

Ghettoblaster Recordings (Sirocco rehearsal room, January 1987, practicing just before our first gig)

1. Train From Kansas City
2. Really Stupid
3. Look Before You Leap *
4. Don’t Slip Up
5. I’m Gonna Love You Too
6. Ghost Ships
7. Steaming Train
8. We Found a Way to the Sun
9. Look Before You Leap [re-arranged version]*
10. I’m Gonna Love You Too [Mike mix-up]
11. Ghost Ships

* Sherbet original

Sirocco Studio Demo (Summer 1987)

1. Too Big World
2. Build a Wall
3. Unpredictable
4. In the Picture
5. Everyone’s Gone
6. As Tears go by

The song that you mention, Nothing at All, is, most likely, actually called In the Picture.  When Dave was putting them up on MySpace, he was guessing the names, ha!

++ And so, were did you usually record your songs? Did you normally use the same recording studio? What about a producer?

The Sherbet Fountains had two visits a studio.  The first was Sirocco in Kilmarnock, in the summer of 1987.  We used a little bit of money that we made from gigging, £60 approx., and hired its 8-track room.  The Engineer was years ahead of us musically, but didn’t have our sense of Indie or even Pop, lol.  In the 1980s most Engineers tried to make you sound like Genesis; fortunately, we only had six hours to record six songs, so there was no danger of that happening.

Later on, we played a gig for a friend’s club night at Kilmarnock’s legendary Vikki’s Nite Club, and in leu of payment, he agreed to have us come over to a community-based recording studio that he had access to, in a small town near Kilmarnock.  But due to technical problems with their equipment, the recordings were never finished, which is a real shame.  It was an exciting day out, though.

++ Are there more recordings by the band that we haven’t mentioned?

I think that I’ve mentioned them all.  There are tens of recording by The Spaceheads, the band that me, David and Gordon fell into afterwards.

++ How come there were no proper releases by the band? Not even compilations?

The reason for us being in a band was to hang out together as friends and to play gigs, there was a period where we were playing a gig every two weeks.

++ Was there any interest from labels to put your songs out?

The purpose of the Sirocco Studio demo was to send out to get gigs, putting out a record wasn’t a priority at the time.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “In the Picture”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Ally T reckons that In the Picture was inspired by the struggles with emotions of being a teenager. And is about daydreaming and escaping from reality.

Maggie wrote the words, Ally T the melody, I put the chords to it.  The main riff was most likely created be me and my brother Michael.  Notice at the end of the song, how I keep on playing for a little while after the rest of the band is finished, I hadn’t realised that the song had ended and kept on playing, fortunately it worked out well.  Sounds like I meant it to happen.

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Sherbet Fountains song, which one would that be and why?

My favourite is Look Before You Leap, Ally T, words and melody, I worked out the accompanying chords. It has a great melody and is, of course, a great piece of advice to remember in life, ha!

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

I’ve never completed a Sherbets gigography, but I think that it might be something between ten and 15 concerts.

++ I found a flyer online of a gig where you and Andrianne supported Blood Red Roses at the Cheers Bar in Kilmarnock. Out of curiosity how were these bands? Did you usually play with other indiepop bands?

Blood Red Roses, as you may have guessed were a local Goth band, they were friends of ours from the music scene, and lovely guys to play a gig with.

We played a few other gigs with indie pop bands such as The Big Gun, who had an indie hit with Heard About Love, which is possibly one of the best indie pop songs ever.  The tambourine player from the band, Andrew O’Hagan, is now a novelist and recently wrote a book, Mayflies, which is partly about what it was like to be in a band / musical gang back in 1986.  We also played a gig in the nearby town of Ayr with The Close Lobsters.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Our best gigs were the club nights at Kilmarnock’s Vikki’s Nite Club, many of our friends were there and there was a great atmosphere.  Dave Dunsmore once accidentally smashed a stage light with the end of his bass guitar as he turned around to talk to his sister, who was behind the drums.  Rock and Roll.  He has yet to throw a television out of a hotel window, there’s still time for him to do this.

At the beginning of the very first live SF gig, I was quietly confident and relaxed because I thought that nobody would be bothering to pay any attention to us, but when we finished the first song (Steaming Train, by Talulah Gosh) there was a genuine and quite loud rush of clapping and cheering from a group of punters who had approached the front of the stage while I was busy looking at my fretboard.  After that, I became quite nervous.  It was quite the buzz.

++ And were there any bad ones?

I must have blocked them out, lol.

++ When and why did The Sherbet Fountains stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? I remember The Search Engines I think?

Ally T and Maggie went off to University towards the end of 1988 (I think) so that put the kibosh on the Sherbets musical career.  Gordon went off to Art School.  Me and Dave Dunsmore started up The Spaceheads immediately.  Gordon would play the drums with the Spaceheads whenever he was back in town over the Christmas and summer holidays.

The Spaceheads became a musical monster; by the time that we played Dave’s high school graduation party, there were around six of us in the band, there was a new singer, Gordon Harrow, and I was ‘relegated’ to the role of lead guitarist.  It was a great gig, for the band anyway. Good times.

Me and Dave kept The Spaceheads going as a duo, even after we both moved up to the city of Glasgow in 1991, still recording on his four track.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Circa 1989, David joined the Trash Can Sinatras to play the bass.  He toured with them and played on most of the songs on the first album.  After he left the band, he used the money that he had earned and bought a Yamaha 4-track and an Alesis drum machine.   David was, for a short time, in a band called Barflies (with Ally T), at the hight of MySpace he formed Tesco Chainstore Mascara.

Me and Ally T got back together circa 1995 in the band The Stepping Stones.  Ally sang and played the trumpet. She is currently in a band called Heist, they have just released a new single.

I’ve been in a few other bands…

The Jaggy Nettles [bass guitar] (1986 / 87)

The Badger Brothers [bass guitar, blues covers] (1986 / 87)

Dilithium Crystals [drums, 60s garage band covers] (1988)

The Spaceheads [guitar / vox, original indie pop material] (1988 to 1992 approx)

My Little Underground [guitar / vox, original shoegaze material] (1990)

Sunburst [guitar / vox, MBV kinda thing] (1991)

The Stepping Stones [guitar / vox, original indie pop material] (1994 to 1997, approx)

The Search Engines [guitar / vox, original indie pop material] (1999 to 2002, approx)

Strawberry Whiplash (circa 2000, still active)

Bubblegum Lemonade (circa 2005, still active)

++ Has there been any The Sherbet Fountains reunion?

Ally T lives in France, Dave and Maggie live in the middle of England, Gordon (final line-up, drums) lives in England.  Michael still lives in Kilmarnock.  I live in the suburbs of Glasgow which is a forty-minute drive from Kilmarnock.

++ Was there any interest from radio?

I don’t think that we sent any tapes out to radio.  We didn’t know that we could.  Later on, whenever The Spaceheads would have a gig coming up, we’d post off a new song on a cassette to radio DJ Peter Easton who had a cool show on BBC Radio Scotland, and he’d always play it and mention the gig.  Peter was one of the very few guys who championed early releases by The Wake, Boy Hairdressers, BMX Bandits, The Vaselines, The Pastels, etc.  Thanks Peter.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We’d send pictures and gig information to our local newspaper, and usually get a little write up.  The trick was to have the press pack delivered to them just at the right time; not so early that they’d forget to put it in, but not so late as to miss the publishing deadline.

++ What about from fanzines?

The Sherbet Fountains once got a write up in the English fanzine Sowing Seeds (issue three).  We shared a page with Remember Fun, who were our friends at the time

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Ally T says, ‘There weren’t highlights for me – it was an ongoing adventure and just brilliant spending time with like-minded people, I guess the Sherbet Fountains was a highlight in my life.’  I agree, creating life-long friendships is the best.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I love to play Table Tennis, if I had a house big enough, I’d have a large table tennis room in it.  To be honest, I’m a ‘good’ player, but I will never be a great player.  That whole thing where you make the ball spin in several directions as it flies through the air is beyond my understanding.  Top spin and back spin, that’s about my level.  The main thing is, though, to learn your opponent’s game, and try not to get beaten by 11 to 0, lol.

I’m a little bit better at Badminton, my technique is to make sure that the shuttlecock is returned at a great hight and as far towards the back of the court as I dare send it; that way my opponent can’t return with a smash shot.  I’m really not overly competitive when it comes to sport, I view it as fun and exercise.

I like reading.  Fiction books are fun, my favourite Fiction authors are Jasper Fforde and Magnus Mills.  but these days, I mostly read musical biographies or musical history.  I’m currently just about to finish the book C86 And All That, I’ve enjoyed discovering how Alan McGee pulled all of the early Creation Records roster together.  Also, I wasn’t aware how much of a cultural debt we all own to Dan Treacy from the Television Personalities for bringing together the fun of mid-sixties psychedelia and the DIY attitude of punk rock.  Thanks Dan.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

People always say that the music which was being released when they were in their late teens was the best music ever; in my case, it really was, ha!  (only joking)

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Listen
The Sherbet Fountains – In the Picture

Thanks so much to Colin Brown for the interview!! I wrote about the Liverpool band Personal Column some time ago in the blog! Happily Colin got in touch and was keen in answering all my questions about his great 80s band! Oh and they also have a website, so check it out!

++ Hi Colin! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

How am I ?  I am fine, recently retired and loving it.  I stopped playing completely when Personal Column split though I have never stopped writing lyrics. I have recently started playing again, purely for enjoyment.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My first musical memories are watching Ready Steady Go and Top Of The Pops on TV.

The first single I ever bought was You Were Made For Me by Freddie And The Dreamers and my first LP was A Hard Day’s Night by The Beatles.

My first instrument was an upright piano I had at home, as well as an electric guitar.  The first keyboard I played in PC was a Casio which in those days was state of the art.

While growing up I listened to 60’s and 70’s pop, then went onto groups like Yes, Jethro Tull, and still my favourites to this day, Peter Gabriel era Genesis.

++ Had you been in other bands before Personal Column? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

I was never in a group before PC and never thought I would be.  I was a lyricist who ended up playing in the band because we couldn’t find a keyboard player.

++ Where were you from originally?

I was born in Liverpool, as were everyone in PC.

++ How was Liverpool at the time of Personal Column? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Liverpool, when PC were active, was like most working class areas cured by unemployment, the miner’s strike and Margaret Thatcher.

Our favourite record shop to get the more obscure music we like, was Probe Records, which had a

good selection of punk and reggae and is well known because Pete Burns, the singer from Dead Or Alive, worked behind the counter there.

There were not many venues for bands to play in Liverpool.  The best and most well knows was a

pub called The Masonic, which had bands on 7 nights a week and anyone who was anyone played there.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

The band started when I put an advert in a music magazine for someone to put my lyrics to music and Marc got in touch because he only lived half a mile away.

We wrote songs for a couple of years and then decided to put a band together.  Mike knew a bass

player, Mike Hayes who knew a drummer called Mike McCarroll and they both joined.

Just before the two Mike’s joined we rehearsed with another bass player called Marc O’Toole who left because he had too much college work to do, though a couple of years later he found fame and fortune in a group you might have heard of, Frankie Goes To Hollywood ?

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

The creative Process?  I would give Marc a bunch of lyrics and he would look through then and pick the ones he liked and put music to them.  Then we would get the band together and work out.which songs would sound good live.

We rehearsed at the main rehearsal rooms in Liverpool, The Ministry, most of the gigging bands rehearsed there including Teardrop Explodes, Echo And The Bunnymen and Black.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

We were looking for a band name and one night Marc and I were having a writing session and during a break we noticed his girlfriend was reading a newspaper and was reading the personal column and we both liked that and now we had a name 🙂

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Influences on the band?  The Beatles, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, Steely Dan etc.

++ Your first two releases came out on Contrast Records. I was wondering if this was your own label? Or who were behind it? How was the experience of Contrast Records?

Contrast Records was our own label, run by Marc and me and our manager Royce.  We started it because we couldn’t get any serious record company interest.

Contrast Records only released our first 2 singles and we didn’t release anything by any other bands.

++ Before releasing the first single, had you had any recording studio experience? Perhaps recording demo tapes?

Before recording and releasing our first single, Ignorance Is Bliss, we had a lot of experience in recording studios and recorded a lot of demos of various quality.  I have a lot of demo and rehearsal tapes which will never see the light of day.

++ The art for the “Ignorance is Bliss?” 7″ is very simple and quite different to your next two releases. Who came up with it? Did you usually design your sleeves?

To be perfectly honest the art, if you can call it art 🙂 for the first single was Marc and my idea, we were running out of time before it was printed, ran out of money, and must have been in a drunken moment thought of the design, I think it is terrible and probably one of the worse sleeves ever 🙂

We did design the sleeve for the second single but had learnt from the first and the second sleeve, in my opinion is far better.

++ The next release is the wonderful “The Same Old Situation” 7″. At this point there had been some lineup changes. What had happened?

The line up changes had been coming fr a while, we were not that happy with Mike’s drumming and sacked him which was not a nice thing to do as he was a lovely guy.

We got Terry Sterling in and rehearsed like mad and played a week after, Mike the drummer came along and after the gig said he could now understand why we did it, and he remained a good friend.

We also recruited Rob Boardman who was a very experienced guitarist who had played in a few Liverpool groups, notably “The Jazz Babies” who recorded a superb session for John Peel.

++ How was the experience of working with Steve Power and at Pink Studios? What was a recording day like? Beer and pizza?

To be honest I cannot remember working at Pink Studios, although I know we did.  Steve power was a lovely guy but I cannot remember that session at all sorry 🙁

Roque, of course, just remembered we recorded our second single with Steve Power in Pink but I just cannot remember anything about that session.

++ Lastly you would end up signing to Stiff Records to release your last single. How did they approach you? Were there any other labels interested in you? And how was working with them? Did it make a big difference for distribution and promotion?

Stiff Records boss Dave Robinson heard a Peel session, got in touch with out manager, we went down to see them about signing to them although no contract was offered.

Somehow we got railroaded into agreeing to record an album for Stiff in Coventry.

The day before we were due to start recording Royce got a phone call from the MD of CBS records, saying they wanted to sign us and offering us double anything that Stiff were offering.

We foolishly turned CBS down, which turned out to be our worse decision ever I think.

We recorded the album, which turned out to be terrible, the production was so bad, we refused to let them release the album.

They still said they wanted to sign us and put out the single Strictly Confidential which we were proud of but sadly became the first Stiff release not to get into the UK top 200 singles, for to number 205 I think.

Then our manager went to meet Stiff to sort out the contract and they had changed everything about it, so that was the end of them.

I guess their distribution was good, but not in our case  their promotion was terrible, really I think they had lost interest in us, the only thig they did was get us on the German version of Top Of The Pops, “Formal Eins” which was a wonderful experience.

They had only pressed 10,000 copies of the single in Germany, which sold out in the week after our TV appearance but Stiff refused to press and more so that was the end of that 🙁

++ This last single was released in 7″ and 12″ formats. Was wondering what format do you normally prefer for singles? And how exciting was it to get international releases for this record in Spain, Netherlands and Germany? Did you end up going to these countries?

To be honest we didn’t even know that there had been 12” versions of Strictly Confidential released until many years later but apart from a promo copy of “Strictly Dancewise” I have never managed to track one down.  I know the Spanish one had 4 versions on, 2 of which I have never heard.

++ The 12″ version was exclusive to Spain and it included a dub version and a long mix versions. Who made these and what was your take on them? Was that where your music was going?

Since I wrote the above I haver managed to buy a copy of the Spanish 12” which is great and have also bought a copy of an Australian 7” and I know there is a Dutch release and I am sure many more I don’t know about?

++ You recorded your first Peel Session in 1982. That must have been amazing. Who did you work with on the recording? How long did it take? Did you meet John Peel!?

Doing the first Peel session was great.  I cannot remember which session it was but Dale Griffin, the ex drummer from Mott The Hoople produced one of our Peel sessions and he was a lovely guy and a great Producer. Recording the session started at 1pm and you had to record and mix the 4 tracks that day so it was pressurised but the results are great.

++ Then there was a second Peel Session and a Kid Jenssen Session. Which was your favourite session then? and why?

My favourite session was the first Peel one.  We all went to our managers house on the night it was first broadcast and it was a magical night. Hearing John Peel say how much he loved our songs was magical, we never thought he would like our music because it was too poppy, luckily he did.

We met John Peel a few times and he was a genuinely lovely man.  We did an interview for his show and I have a tape of it which I treasure.

++ I read that you signed a publishing deal with ATV music. Does this mean your songs were owned by Michael Jackson?!

Yes, our songs are now, or were, owned by Michael Jackson, so now I guess his estate owns them?

++ There was an album recorded for Stiff Records too, right? What happened to it? Why was it never released?

We did record an album for Stiff Records, we recorded it in Coventry but the results where terrible, the production was so bad we refused to have it released.  With hindsight maybe it would have been better to let it be released, at least it would have raised our profile.

++ From what I’ve read there are more recordings by the band. Are there plans to release them?

We have very many recordings and there are no plans to release them, I honestly do not think there would be any interest in them, we are not exactly well known.

++ Have you ever thought of putting them together in a retrospective release?

Again we have never thought of putting them together in a retrospective release because there would not be enough interest in them.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Same Old Situation”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

“The Same Old Situation” was inspired by the political unrest in the UK in the 80’s, with Thatcher as prime minister closing all the mines and destroying the unions. The same thing has happened to ordinary people since time begun have been exploited and used by the bosses/upper classes and the same old situation repeats endlessly and sadly always will.  That is what inspired the song.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Personal Column song, which one would that be and why?

If I had to choose a favourite song it would have to be “Strictly Confidential” because Stiff flew us over to Munich to record a video for the German version of Top Of The Pops called Formal Eins and that was a highlight of our career. I also loved “A Woman’s Place” because a girl we knew said we could not write a song from a woman’s point of view and we wrote the song the next day.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

We played a lot of gigs in Liverpool and played quite a few Universities and Colleges around the country.  We also played a lot of benefits for “Rock Against Racism.”

We also played at a festival in Switzerland, once in Zurich and once in Basle.

The Basle gig was one of the worse we ever played because when we got to the club we were playing in and were waiting to play there were a couple of men in there wearing full SS uniforms and with us having a black singer it was not a nice atmosphere, as soon as we had finished playing we got out of there as soon as we could.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

In 1985, when the Live Aid concert was held at Wembley Stadium, There was a concert help at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool called Liver Aid which we played in.  It was then the biggest venue in Liverpool and anyone who has ever acted or played in a band wanted to play there and it was an amazing experience.  The highlight was when, as an encore, all the performers went on stage and sand Imagine.  One of the best moments of my life.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Sure there were bad gigs, The Basle one was the worse but we had gigs, like one in Portsmouth University, which was a five hour drive from Liverpool.  When we got there the promoters told us it was half term and we ended up playing in a massive hall to about 10 people which was no fun.

++ When and why did Personal Column stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

Personal Column broke up because we were fed up of banging our heads against a wall and getting nowhere but releasing 3 singles and recording an album was an achievement and with hindsight we should have kept going but Marc and I had just lost our Publishing deal and we were deep in debt and couldn’t see any way forward.

To be honest our first couple of years were the best, when we signed our publishing deal with ATV Music we were put under a lot of pressure to write less political material and to my eternal shame we did try but really our, well certainly my, heart was not in it.

I kept on writing with Marc and he signed with Elektra Records and recorded an album, Too True, which sank without trace. An example of how stupid records companies are,  the album was recorded at a cost of $500,000, and that is in 1985 but when the first single Let Them Stare was released a plugger said he could get it into the US top 20 for $10,000 and Elektra refused to pay saying they had spend enough.  Madness.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

The rest of the band continued playing in bands but none of note.

++ Has there been any Personal Column reunion?

Never been a Personal Column reunion, never really thought about it and to be realistic there would not be a great demand for one though Marc plays solo gigs these days and when he plays Personal Column songs they go down a storm.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

We did get a lot of radio plays.  Strictly Confidential got into the BBC top 10 for radio plays but sadly that did not translate into sales.

++ On TV you appeared on Granada’s Exchange Flags. How was that? Did you appear in any other TV programmes?

The Granada Exchange Flags appearance came about when we got a call from Granada asking if we wanted to appear and of course we said yes.  It went out live so it was a nerve wracking but enjoyable experience.  After we finished I went into my local pub for a pint and as I walked in the whole pub applauded which was highly embarrassing.

We appeared on local TV a few times and of course on German TV.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We got a lot of gig and single reviews in local papers and in the NME and Melody Maker, we even got mentioned in Elvis Costello’s column in the Daily Mail, he said how much he loved our band which was great.

++ What about from fanzines?

There were 3 main fanzines in Liverpool in the early 80’s, One called “Breakout” another called “The End” which was written by members of a local group called “The Farm” and another called “The Garden Party”. We were regulars in all of them and I have copies, somewhere, of all of them.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Looking back it is hard to pick a highlight but if I could pick 3 they would be :
1 Releasing our first single, everyone who ever plays in a group wants to do that.
2 Playing at The Empire for “LiverAid”.
3 When Strictly Confidential was released, signing on for unemployment benefit on the Monday, flying first class to Munich on the Tuesday and staying at the Munich Hilton Hotel. Then on Wed going to a film studio on the black forest and recording the video for Strictly Confiderntial and then flying back to Liverpool in to get my unemployment benefit, now that was surreal.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

What other hobbies do I have ? Well, all my life up to now and I guess forever music has been my obsession and first love.
I also love football and support 2 teams Everton FC and Tamworth FC.
I also play online chess a lot, I am not very good but I enjoy it.
I love reading as well, mainly books and magazines about music.

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Listen
Personal Column – Same Old Situation

Thanks so much to Bobsy for the interview! This one came out quick, just two weeks ago I wrote about Bobsy on the blog and almost immediately got back in touch with the Singapore bedroom pop maestro. Here is our conversation!

++ Hi Bobsy Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

I’m good! Still play the guitar, a bit of ukulele, and the piano occasionally, but no new songs or recordings.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Growing up, my Dad used to play lots of classical music, symphonies and operas. Probably my earliest music memories are of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Puccini, Chopin, playing in the living room in the evening when he got home from work or on weekend mornings. Not very indiepop I know, but definitely a great music education.

As a child I tried the flute and the piano but didn’t stick with it. Taught myself to play the guitar at 10 when my older brother started lessons. He showed me a few chords, and I took it from there.

++ Had you been in other bands before Bobsy? If so, how did all of these bands sounded like? Are there any recordings?

No other real bands other than Bobsy, just messing about in rehearsal studios with friends. 

++ How was Singapore at the time of Bobsy? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

The music scene in Singapore was kinda small back then. There were some good bands around though, my favourite was probably Humpback Oak. There was only one really good record store to speak of, called Da-Da. The rest were mostly mainstream top of the pops stuff.

We used to go to this place called the Substation, which would feature indie and alternative acts. Personally I just didn’t like going to gigs so I seldom did.

++ When and how did the project start? Were there more band members at any point? On Myspace for some reason it mentions you being based in Australia?

I think it must’ve been 1997. I actually lived in the UK from 1994-1998 when I attended university there, and most of the songs were composed and recorded during that period. So any mention of Australia is really way off the mark.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice? How was the infrastructure for Bobsy?

The truth is that Bobsy was just me, my guitar, and a cheap casio keyboard. It was the embodiment of “bedroom pop”. I would write the words, then set them to music.
Never been to a recording studio or used any professional equipment. Everything was recorded on a tape deck and a cheap karaoke machine in an upstairs bedroom in a rented house on a quiet street.

I didn’t have a mixer so I would record the songs part by part in a series of overdubs.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Bobsy is made up of my then-girlfriend’s (now my wife) name, and my initials…

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

At the time, I really liked Sarah Records, particularly Blueboy, The Sugargliders and The Field Mice, as well as East Village. But I don’t think I set out to sound like those bands. Bobsy sounds the way it does because all I had was an acoustic guitar, a cheap casio keyboard, and my voice.

++ As far as I know you only released one 7″. How come?! Why weren’t there more releases by the band? This 7″ that you released came out on Drive-In Records and Moonscreen Records in 1999. Wondering how did the relationship with these labels start?

I had only recorded 5 or 6 songs at the time, and the best 3 were The End Of April, Letting Go, and Find The Lost Years. I put the songs on about 7 or 8 demo tapes and mailed them to indiepop labels all over the world that I liked. A couple replied, but only Mike Babb at Drive-In agreed to release it, which was nice because I got to be on the same label as Buddha On The Moon and the Lucksmiths, which were two of my favourite bands.

++ Tell me about the 7″. Where was it recorded? Why did you include just two songs?

We couldn’t fit all 3 songs onto one 7″, so we chose the 2 that seemed to go together best.

++ And you being in Singapore and these labels in America, I wonder if you ever met them?

I never did meet Mike (or Eric of Moonscreen). But I am still in contact with Mike on Facebook. I think these days he works as a sound engineer.

++ The artwork for the 7″ has always been a mystery to me. What is the photo of? Your sweater?

The artwork is a photo of a scarf crocheted by my then-girlfriend. The drawings on the record labels were also done by her. The cover was originally in full colour, but that would’ve made it too expensive to print so it ended up just in one colour. (Full colour version attached).

++ You did appear on a few compilations, in Hong Kong, Italy and the Philippines. Later on you appeared on a digital compilation by the blog SEA Indie. It feels like between Asian indiepop fans there was interest in Singapore indiepop, is that right? Wondering what would be your favourite Asian indiepop bands all-time? What about for Singapore?

I think back then the Asian indiepop scene was just really starting to grow and there were not many indiepop bands who were known outside of their own countries. So I guess the fact that a band from Singapore had a single released on an American label was something special.

My all-time favourite Asian band would probably be Moscow Olympics from the Philippines. And still Humpback Oak for Singapore.

++ On Soundcloud there are a bunch of other songs that weren’t released. Were they intended for releases perhaps?

The cover of What We Had Hoped was supposed to be for Drive-In 50, a tribute to The Sugargliders, which sadly never did get released.
Strawberry Window likewise was meant for a proposed tribute to East Village that didn’t get past the idea stage.
Marine Parade and Find The Lost Years would probably have been on a 7″ single.

++ Included are covers of “Chelsea Guitar” and “Strawberry Window”. Why did you pick these two songs? Did you use to cover any other songs?

Chelsea Guitar is my favourite Blueboy song… As you can see I covered the bands I loved. Other covers – The Mayfields, Northern Picture Library, Anything Box (?!).

++ Are there still unreleased songs by the band? Or everything was released?

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “The End of April” though I must say it is very hard to pick just one, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

It’s a song about being away from home and apart from someone you love, and looking forward to the day when you’re together again. True story.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Bobsy song, which one would that be and why?

The End Of April – because of the story behind it and because it probably encapsulates the entire story of Bobsy in one song.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

We never played a live gig, mainly because we never had the opportunity to. But to be honest, I don’t think I was prepared to play live even if there had been a chance to.

++ When and why did Bobsy stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We never got to release more records because most of the other songs were still work in progress, and I never did get around to finishing them. I came back to Singapore in 1998, started work, got married, had a family…

++ Was there any interest from radio? TV?

I think The End Of April did get some airplay on US college radio… definitely not on TV

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Maybe a couple of blog reviews, the Sofa fanzine, that’s about it!

++ What about from fanzines?

Vernon did a nice interview back in 2010 for a local Singaporean fanzine called Trigger, which I’ve attached for your reading pleasure.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Just getting our songs released on a 7″ record was a dream come true… and knowing that there are people out there who heard our music and liked it too.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

These days my main hobby is collecting, restoring and repairing watches.

++ Never been to Singapore, so would like to hear from some locals for some recommendations by a local, like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

Must-see places in Singapore are Gardens by the Bay, Unesco-listed Botanic Gardens, and the Zoo. Singapore is a food lover’s paradise… there is a long list of local delights that are all not to be missed. We have what we call Hawker Centres where there are rows of stalls selling different food and drinks. You’d need to stay for at least a month to try everything!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

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Listen
Bobsy – The End of April

Thanks so much to Mathew Homberger for the interview! I wrote about the Melbourne band The Silent Reach in the past and some days ago Mathew reached to me to tell me a bit more about the band. I told him, why not do an interview so we could share the information with everyone, and here it is! Please enjoy!

++ Hi Mathew! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Thanks for the questions. I continued making music for years. I’d still like to be playing but can’t as I am recovering from an accident, hopefully soon.

++ I notice you are now based in Singapore according to Soundcloud, is that right? Since when have you been there? Is there any good music there that you like?

Yes I live in Singapore. Been here since 2003, except for the year 2011, Melbourne. There are many Philippine bands here, they are quite musical but often play covers. The most recent international acts I saw were U2 and Patti Smith.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

For music memories, my father had a German restaurant and I remember the Oom Pah Pah music. Not at all refined but an expression of spirt. I first learnt to play music in high school, percussion, I think music was part of the Arts subject. My first instrument was the bass guitar. I learnt to play bass in my bedroom at home first without an amp, then a little 5Watter. I would try to play along with music while listening. The bands I first listened to were Joy Division, Bauhaus, the Church.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Silent Reach? If so, how did all of these bands sounded like? Are there any recordings?

I’ve never played in any other band. Along with bass I took up guitar and piano and bought equipment for a home studio. An 8 track recorder. Yes there are a couple of recordings during that period on SoundCloud. In an article you mention “crystalline” among my recordings.

++ Where were you from originally? Melbourne?

Born and bred in Melbourne, Australia, to German immigrant parents. I have lived and worked in Germany, staying with my uncle and then renting in Munich.

++ How was Melbourne at the time of The Silent Reach? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Melbourne is an artistic place, lots of buskers and painters. Near my high school there was a really cool street in Prahran called Greville Street with a record shop, Greville Records. During my youth vinyl was the order of the day. Audio tapes were the most portable medium, walkman cassette players. I had one and could listen to my music anytime, I say my music as it was possessive.

Other bands around during our day were: the Marnies, we lost battle of bands to the Earthmen, Ripe, Eden, we supported Sea Stories, so many bands! One of my favourites musicians even to this day comes from Melbourne, “Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds”. Other bands I liked in my youth included Brian Eno, Not Drowning Waving, Bauhaus, Yazoo, This Mortal Coil, The Church, Japan and David Sylvian… Some of the most renowned Melbourne venues might include The Prince of Wales, The Venue, The The Old Greek Theatre. Bands often played at local pubs. In Australia the word Pub is derived from public bar at a hotel.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

The Silent Reach started from like minded friends at high school. My identical twin brother Martin played nylon classical guitar. He had a good friend named Greg. At high school Greg also took up guitar, they would often play together at his place. A friend of Greg’s, Andrew, was learning drums. Rehearsal started at his family home. Watching Martin practice in our bedroom I took up bass. We would all meet at Andrew’s place and rehearsed together for about 4 years eventually taking it to the public. When we went public I worked in a pub, The Perseverance Hotel, where we first played. Really the band grew naturally out of friendship, I too was friends with Greg at primary school. Being an identical twin Martin couldn’t leave me out of the picture.

++ I read there were many lineup changes. How many people were involved then? And when did all these changes happen?

Six people played for the Silent Reach. Originally it was a 4 piece, Andrew Lawrence, Greg MacPherson, Martin Homberger and me, Mathew Homberger. That was the line up when we released the Melancholy Love Song EP. We got a new drummer and recorded the “S” CD, renamed online to “Secondment”, and were a five piece at the time with Steven Zafir playing keyboards. Our third release was to be “Narcissus”. All members of the band were old friends. Andrew left the band after the “Melancholy Love Song” EP when Scott joined and Greg left after the “S” CD when Steven joined, there was overlap.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

We rehearsed once a week at a place for that called “The Dane Centre”. We would often write new material at these rehearsals, they went for about 6 hours a session.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Another good friend’s grandfather was a journalist and author, Osmar White. He wrote a book called The Silent Reach, we liked the title for a band. I think the book was about Papua New Guinea, I’m not sure. We liked the title in reference to music. Silence being the dichotomy of sound, and Reach being an attempt or hope.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

The Durutti Column
This Mortal Coil
Nick Cave
Classical guitar music

++ As far as I know you only released one 12″ and it was self-released. Wondering why did you choose to put it out that way? How did you enjoy doing label stuff like promoting, distributing the record?

We reached a point where we thought it was time to release a record and see where that took us. There were many bands in Melbourne who self released, afterwards we became a known band.

We had a serious manager at the time who arranged various radio interviews, we were also in newspapers. The record was distributed by Polyesther Records, the CD by Mushroom Records. I am told our releases were also distributed in New Zealand, a Japanese guy told me he bought it there. And a good friend bought our CD in Prague when living there. We were distributed globally in stores that carried obscure bands.

++ Where was it recorded? Who produced the record?

That EP was recorded at Bakehouse Studios, a 24 track in Melbourne, produced by Dane Simpson. Our CD was recorded at Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne produced by Miranda McGlaughlan. It was a 48 track studio, definitely a step up from Bakehouse.

++ Were there any labels interested, at any point, to release your music?

Yes, I remember playing a gig specifically for a label. Indeed we were close to signing several times. I remember a label saying show us the song that will break you… They liked our stuff but were interested in how much money might be made, how successful we’d be. It’s always hard to predict success for any band let alone a new one.

++ What about the trees photo on the sleeve of the record. Where was it taken?

At the time of release I was living with a newspaper photo journalist and I found that photo amongst his work. It seemed like a dying forest, we all liked it’s mood.

++ I read that the song “Secondment” was released on CD in 1991 but couldn’t find any information about it? Tell me about this release? Who put it out? Did it have B sides?

“Secondment” is the online name of our CD. It was originally titled “S” and came out in 1991. I also changed the online cover.

++ And supposedly there was to be another single with “Narcissus” right? What happened? Why wasn’t it released?

Narcissus was to be a 3 track EP, containing the single Three. It was only partially recorded. Ordinary life started to take hold for members around then. The usual culprits; jobs, relationships, travel. We were still musically ambitious but got distracted by life.

++ You didn’t appear on any compilations, right?

Appeared on a ‘made in Melbourne’ compilation.

++ Are there still unreleased songs by the band? Or everything was released? Maybe you put demo tapes?

Yes, many unreleased songs. At rehearsal we often came up with something new. Our last gigs had several songs that were building towards another release. Composing music is an act of communication. I’d love to be doing it today, may soon enough, but as a result of an accident the right side of my body doesn’t work properly. I need the right hand for guitar and piano. I try to communicate in other ways, write a bit. Perhaps I’ll find a new way to communicate more like music that encompasses feel.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Melancholy Love Song”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

It’s the first song the band ever wrote. Lyrics for all songs were written by Martin, but I did add a couple of lines in Melancholy when breaking up with a girlfriend;

“muffle noise, it is here, hot coffee shivering, these people everywhere

And now I ask, 
is it me, 
oh your face it shines,
so comfortably”. 

Musically we were inspired by the classical guitar. Melancholy love song was our first, so innocent. We followed the standard band trajectory at the time of falling into cynicism and becoming ever grungier.

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Silent Reach song, which one would that be and why?

Probably “She Fall”. Tough to choose one though, many would say Teddy Bears is our best. Then again I reckon “Three” is a pretty good song. “I’ve Been Dying” touches a raw nerve. I find it really hard to pick one track. To recommend a song for a first listen, maybe “Three” best sums up the band.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Yeah, lots of gigs, a couple of residencies, support gigs. At times we played a gig a week. A guesstimate, around 100 gigs.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Playing at the Old Greek Theatre with Gondwana Land and Double Cross. But our best gigs were solos at Gershwin room in St Kilda, a suburb of Melbourne. I remember playing at the Venue, a large place where internationals sometimes played. One night an unknown person came up afterward a show and said we were like Joy Division. Quite a compliment by my estimation, they didn’t know Joy Division were a favourite.

++ And were there any bad ones?

It’s a little disheartening when only about 10 people turn up to watch a gig. There were a few hard yards in the early days. I think I once gave back as good as I got from the stage.

++ When and why did The Silent Reach stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

The band kind of disintegrated naturally, other interests became more pressing. I’d say we were done and dusted by 1998, maybe a little later. I held some vague hope until I moved to Germany in 1999. It was certainly over when after returning to Melbourne I moved to Singapore. In Singapore I started composing and playing at home, I wrote crystalline here which you mention on a webpage. When I moved back to Melbourne for a year in 2011 I thought to try again but nothing ever came of it. It’s one of those things music, it never leaves you. We always try to communicate accurately. I believe music is good for emotional, non factual, comms.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Verdaine, Stephen Zafir and Scott MacKenzie. Another friend who is a musician also played with them, Lisa Gibbs.

++ Has there been any The Silent Reach reunion?

Not yet, we are all over the shop. Europe, Asia, Australia. There is always an interest, but then again maybe it’s a good time to explore other means of communication beyond language.

++ Was there any interest from radio? TV?

Interviews on 3RRR and 3PBS radio, a couple of newspaper articles, maybe a mention on TV.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Not really, as mentioned sporadic.

++ What about from fanzines?

Did they exist in the 90s? There were a few regulars at gigs. We would meet them after shows, we knew a few people by name. I wouldn’t call them groupies but some might.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Just following a personal ambition and forming a band. Truly, a highlight of my life. To pursue art and acquire freedom of thought through music, expression, lateral thought. It changed me about as much as my education.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I try to write keeping accounts of my thought and actions in a blog, https://mathew-homberger.blog/ 

On this site there is also the draft of a book I’m writing called “Coma, Memory, Belief”. There’s an older version on Kindle and Google. I’m still focused on communication. Music communicates feelings I think, the modern poet.

++ Never been to Melbourne, so would like to hear from some locals for some recommendations by a local, like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

The Paris end of town, opposite parliment there’s a restaurant called the European, a little doorway to the left and up the stairs a bar called Siglo, I used to frequent the Supper Club below. I once lived in Fitzroy, very close to the city, walkable, the main road there is Brunswick Street, lots of great cafes and bars, it actually where the band started, thre Perseverance Hotel. Maybe hit St Kilda, South Yarra / Prahan is also a good area. That was were I first lived out of home, the Fitzroy. You do need to know where to go, I like alleyways, Melbourne is full of them, and the best restaurants are there, Movida a favourite, but also Flinders Lane, Little Collins St is pretty good.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Not really, don’t get me started. I suspect Covid19 is the result of over population, I expect it’s a sign of things to come. I’m often considering evolution, after the industrial revolution we have become ruled by the dollar.We say we value life, what about the poor. I should mention AI, it presents opportunities for evolution. Robots taking care of all our physical needs allowing us to focus on Human Intelligence and things that can’t be replicated by AI. Maybe the Arts, Literature, Poetry, Love etc. I have a technology and spiritual business with my wife that explores the non material world https://www.themetaphysicsalliance.com/

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Listen
The Silent Reach – Melancholy Love Song

Thanks so much to Jimmy and Gérôme for the interview! I discovered the Nantes band Nos Etés Trop Courts on the OVVK Archives Bandcamp that Jimmy runs and it was quite a surprise! I had interviewed Jimmy about his band Les Autres in the past and wasn’t aware he had been involved in this cool sounding band before Les Autres. So I immediately asked if he was up for a 2nd interview! He asked Gérôme to join too and now  thanks to them and this interview I have a better picture of the Nantes scene and the band! Hope you enjoy!

++ Hi Jimmy and Gérôme! Thanks so much for being for this interview! How are you? How is France at the moment? Have things relaxed a bit now? Are there any plans for this summer?

Gérôme: It is of course a strange period but it’s ok. Thank you interviewing us on Nos Etés Trop Courts. Some people were glad to see that our “Sunshine demo EP” from January 1992 was out, particularly Nantes indie pop underground people. We are honored to see that some people from other countries enjoy the music we made during the golden period of the shoegaze movement.

++ Last time I talked with Jimmy about Les Autres. I wasn’t aware then about this Nantes band that came before. Was wondering then if you both had been involved in other bands prior to Nos Etés Trop Courts?

Gérôme: It’s fascinating because I never talked about that with Jimmy.  l played in a few new wave/4AD style bands before Nos Etés Trop Courts. The first one, Ramsesghom that I began in 1989 (I was 19 years old) played some Joy Division, The Cure early albums and Sisters Of Mercy covers. The second, Abecurria, in 1990 was more into And Also The Trees and Cocteau Twins stuffs, the reason whythere was a loud bass played with a mediator (like the one I played in the second demo of Nos Etes Trop Courts) and some aerial guitars with delay. But Nos EtésTrop Courts which started in the first months of 1991 was my first real coherent and harmonious music experience.

Nos Etés Trop Courts was still playing when I started another band, Crash, in January 1992 which would be the more successful band I would be in (like Jimmy with Les Autres). Jimmy re-released the first (July 1992) demo of Crash in OVVK last year. When we originally released it, it was broadcasted on a national radio show, had been reviewed in Les Inrockuptibles, a national magazine dedicated to indie music. Tracks from this demo were also featured on various International indie pop cassette. compilations:  https://ovvkarchives.bandcamp.com/album/demo-1.

Between 1992 and 1996, Crash was more into Swervedriver, Dinosaur Jr or even Mudhoney pop core scene. Here is a German indie pop compilation from 1994 (Garage Flowers) with some tracks by Les Autres (with Jimmy) and Crash (with me): .

https://www.discogs.com/fr/Various-Garage-Flowers/release/4354533

In 1994, I started another band with Pascal and Pat’ (From San July), which was more into dissonant pop and post rock, Snowfan. And in 1996 I also made a side project, a hardcore skate band called Nosegrab.

Jimmy: Nos Etes Trop Courts was my first real experience in a band even if I made some rehearsals before with two girls under the moniker Chrysalide (there are no recordings from that band and believe me, only the name of the band was nice haha).

A bit before Nos Etés Trop Courts I started to write songs on the  bass influenced by various bass players such as Simon Gallup of The Cure, Peter hook of New Order and most of all at that time Ian Masters of Pale Saints especially the bass chords. Some of those songs ended up being played by the band such as Nos Etés Trop Courts, Waiting (renamed Leaves Return To Dust after I left the band), Y’A Des Jours Sans and Only Of The Night. But on the 4 track recorder we recorded the first demo, I recorded more songs, some of which I had planned for Nos Etés Trop Courts before leaving the band and songs that I had recorded up to 1992-1993 when I joined Les Autres. I’ll release them soon on Ovvk Recordings under the moniker Diaphane which was the name I originally suggested for the band but it was rejected by some of the members. These demos are “rough” and unfinished versions. Diaphane was an indie pop project strongly influenced by The Cure, The Sundays, New Order, The Wedding Present, The Lavender Faction(…) and even The Field Mice in a certain way. I plan to call the demos Indie Pop Themes as they all are instrumentals.

++ I did ask Jimmy about this last time, but would love to hear from Gérôme. What are your first musical memories? What was the first instrument did you get and how?

Gérôme: I was born in may 1970. My first musical shock was when I was 14, the San Francisco Bay Area thrash metal guitar sound (Metallica, Slayer, Exodus…). But a few years later, the shoegaze scene was really fascinating because there was some loud noisy guitars with heavenly voices. Really chaotic noisy panorama landscapes with beautiful melodic voices. With Jim’ and other friends we saw Lush and Pale Saints in Nantes, January 1990. It was their first gig outside England. We loved that so much.  A revelation.

++ Who else was in Nos Etés Trop Courts? And how did the recruiting process work?

Gérôme: In February 1990, I saw an ad pinned on a wall notice board for student in the hall of the faculty of literature “noisy pop band seeks guitarist”. That’s how it worked back then, before the Internet. I called the phone number when I got home. The group had been founded a few months earlier by Pascal and Jimmy (who had met each other through classified ads), then Marielle began to sing, then Guillaume, the drummer joined them. We rehearsed in a school, Guillaume’s father was the supervisor so we had access to the premises. I arrived a week or two after Marielle started singing. This line up is the one on the first 4-track demo (recorded in June and July 1991) which was just released here: https://ovvkarchives.bandcamp.com/album/sunset-demo-ep

Then (for the 1991-1992 academic year) the group continued but Marielle went to study in Lille and was replaced by Fabrice (who later released records under the name of River). Jimmy also left at that time because he was starting university  in Rennes (where he will meet Les Autres). That’s why I play the bass on the second demo (in addition to the guitar).

++ How was Nantes back then? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Gérôme: Nantes was starting to get really hyped in the early 1990s. There was an indie pop group that played a lot called The Little Rabbits. We saw them in Nantes in April 1991 opening for The Pastels and then in January 1992 with Lucie Vacarme and The Boo Radleys.

There was also a young woman who was probably around 17 or 18yrs old, she published some cool fanzines, released various cassette compilations from the Sarah indie pop scene (she knew Matt and Clare). She also released minimalist pop singers from Nantes like Katerine or Dominique A. and knew musicians from the Scottish pop scene (BMX Bandits, Teenage Fanclub, The Vaselines, Captain America…). Here you can read an interview (in French) I did with her more than 20 years ago: https://section-26.fr/les-anoraks-sages/.

In Nantes, some musicians started to play shoegaze a few months after Nos Etés Trop Courts, bands like 1000 Spirales, San July or RIP. There was also a cool club, “Le Floride”, the DJ, Laurent, was the manager of the “Little Rabbits” he also had a radio show and would launch a few years later the esteemed vinyl record store “Black & Noir”.

If readers want to know more on the local scene and hear local indie pop bands of that era, there’s na 8 hour radio program I made on Jet FM (a local station from Nantes).It’s a retrospective of indie pop bands from Nantes (1989-2012) :  http://jetfm.fr/site/Vendredi-25-mars-de-13h-a-18h-en.html

There’s a cassette compilation, “Biscuits Nantais”, featuring various bands from Nantes mid 90’s indie pop scene (featuring a track by me under the moniker Norb’urt) : https://www.discogs.com/fr/Various-Biscuits-Nantais/release/12190640

I also wrote in the fanzine “Les Jolies Melodies” edited in Nantes by Franck Vergeade, who is now music Editor in chief of the national magazine Les Inrockuptibles, but it was in 1993-1994 and Nos Etés Trop Courts had already split at that time.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Gérôme: I realize I don’t know much about that. I joined the band, partied with the musicians of the band (Marielle, Jimmy Pascal with other friends), but I don’t know anything about the lyrics either. I wasn’t involved in the writing of the lyrics. However, I know that “Nos Etés Trop Courts” was taken from a poem by Charles Baudelaire called “Chant d’Automne”. A beautiful text, a bit sad and nostalgic, full of spleen, like the lyrics Marielle used to write.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Gérôme: The first few months (early 1991) Jimmy would bring in basslines and we would build songs around it. Everyone did what they wanted, listening to the others. Guillaume had played in a funk band before coming with us,so we sometimes tried to ask him for baggy sound rhythms and patterns. Secondly, after a few months, I started to bring songs composed on my guitar, with a grid of chords and melodies. For example, on the second demo (Sunshine EP), late 1991, you can hear the difference between the first two tracks that Jimmy composed on the bass and the next two that I composed on the  guitar. Pascal had good ideas for arrangements. Then, especially the second year, Pascal also brought some songs.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Gérôme: At that time,we were really into the shoegaze news. Each month we discovered new Eps (especially Pascal). We liked Slowdive, Ride or My Bloody Valentine of course, but also The Field Mice and other bands from Sarah records, Pale Saints, Lush, Chapterhouse, Teenage Fanclub, or even Swervedriver or Aspidistra. I remember Jimmy was very fond of The Wedding Present and Talk Talk. I also listened to Jesus & Mary Chain and discovered the old albums by the Velvet Underground (I first heard about the Velvet Underground with Joy Division’s “Sister Ray” cover on the live album Still).

We were also really into the New Order first albums and The Cure (especially Faith and Desintegration). You can hear the influence on my Y’A Des Jours Sans guitar melody.

At that time there was an incredible label in Nantes called Lithium Records. We liked its bands, especially Candle and Lucie Vacarme. We also appreciated the minimalist singers’ wave (mainly in Nantes), Dominique A., Katerine, M. de Foursaings or Yann Savel.

Jimmy: I think that the two main influences are Pale Saints for the bass style and The Field Mice for the way of balancing the drum machine with the bass line and guitar chords. There’s also a bit of early Ride influences on the track Nos Etés Trop Courts. I love the guitar parts that Gérôme plays on Only Of The Night, it reminds me of The Cure in their Faith period. And when I wrote the bass line of Waiting (aka Leaves Return To Dust) I remember being influenced by several bass lines by The Sundays:  Can’t Be Sure, Hideous Town, Skin & Bones…

++ I am only aware of the second demo of the band that is up on Bandcamp. Do tell me about the 1st demo. Do you plan uploading it? What songs were on it? Where and who recorded it?

Gérôme: The first demo was recorded in June 1991 by Jimmy with his 4 track cassette recorder and his old drum machine. Pascal was doing his national service. I think he was not here, so there is only my guitar.

On the first demo Jimmy’s bass is amazing, really huge.It’s a rough analogue sound but I love it. I try a lot of different things on the guitar. “Nos Etés Trop Courts” is orthodox shoegaze, but with a clear guitar sound for the chorus, “Y’A Des Jours Sans” is influenced by New Order and “Only of the Night” is more, mellow, eery, atmospheric.

It’s Marielle singing. Marielle had no singing experience in fact, her amateur performances (she sometimes sang out of tune) were precisely what we defended. We also liked (what we heard about) the texts of Marielle, very personal and fragile, like the ones of Y’A Des Jours Sans where she explains that some days, she is depressed and does not want to get up. Pascal said that was “authentic “ indie pop and at that time I was learning what were lo-fi, DiY attitude and underground subculture. I remember it was a revelation when  Pascal, Marielle and Jimmy saw the Pastels in concert. They were shy and friendly, with a rough sound. Pascal enjoyed their show a lot. At some stage I would always play a wrong note in the guitar chorus of Nos Etés Trop Courts, right at the end of the track. My friend Jérôme (the future lead singer of the band Crash) would make a point of telling us, but Pascal would then reply “We don’t care, we play what we want”. That always stayed with me.

Jimmy: Yes, they were recorded in my bedroom at my parents. There is a first demo version of Nos Etés Trop Courts, an instrumental rehearsal version of Leaves Return To Dust (working title: Waiting), Y’A Des Jours Sans and Only Of The Night (two unreleased songs). Marielle is on vocals and wrote the lyrics.

And so yes after you sent us the questions for the interview we released it here: https://ovvkarchives.bandcamp.com/album/sunset-demo-ep

++ The second demo is titled “Sunshine EP” and has two girls on the cover. I find them very familiar but can’t figure out who are they… do tell!

Gérôme: We all had 4 cassette tracks recorders and drum machines at the time. Pascal had just bought a new drum machine and had offered to manage the recording. I thought it was a good idea (besides he recorded other pop bands in the years that followed). He had a half-hollow guitar. We can hear the subtle feedback he made at the end of “Walk Of Nones”;-).

++ Was there any other demo tapes?

No. Only rehearsal recordings

++ And normally these demo tapes you released, were they mostly for promotion purposes, to send to radio and magazines? or did you perhaps sell them to fans?

Jimmy: I think we recorded the first demo for fun. At the time we recorded it we didn’t plan to find gigs or try to have a review in a fanzine or a magazine. Also, we didn’t have a manager, we were real beginners.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Jimmy:  The last unreleased songs are on Demo #1 and so there are some songs that I started when I was still in the band that I will release under the moniker Diaphane.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Leaves Return to Dust”,  so what’s the story behind it?

Jimmy: I can’t tell you about the lyrics, we’d have to ask Fabrice but when I wrote it on the bass I was deeply influenced by The Sundays, listen to their first album, it’s obvious 😉

++ If you were to choose your favorite Nos Etés Trop Courts song, which one would that be and why?

Jimmy: Leaves Return To Dust is probably my fav too. I think that my second fav would be Only Of The Night. Probably because I didn’t even remember that one until Gérôme told me recently he had it on a cassette. Even though I always remembered the bass line, I forgot we demoed it and didn’t hear it in 28 years. I can tell you it’s fantastic to discover a song that you wrote almost 30 years earlier!

There’s something very touching on this first demo because it’s really naïve, you can hear clearly that we’re beginners. But still, you can feel that we got the hang of writing and I love this dark/melancholic mood hesitating between a light Indie Pop mood and a darker Post-Punk / Cold Wave one.

Gérôme: My favourite song is Nos Etés Trop Courts.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Jimmy: When I was in the band, we played only one outdoor gig during the national French music day (Fête de La Musique), the 21st of June 1991. But as Gérôme said they played with the second line-up in the local Club called Melody Maker in 1992.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Jimmy: Sadly, I don’t have a good memory of that period. I think that the best anecdote is that we would almost all have amazing musical experiences with Les Autres and Crash a few years after that, opening for great bands such as The Wedding Present or The House Of Love.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Jimmy: Hopefully, no bad ones as far as I can remember 😉

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Jimmy: Probably to play in this small but hype local club, Melody Maker.

Gérôme: Or probably being an underground band, but in the popular music avant-garde of that time, playing shoegaze at the same time as Ride or Slowdive edited their first album.

++ Never visited Nantes but would love to go one day, maybe I can ask for some suggestions? Like what are the sights I shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks I should try?

Jimmy:  In my last interview for Les Autres you were supposed to try crêpes in French Brittany, remember Roque? Did you try?

To be honest this part of the Atlantic coast is not the best place in France when it comes to landscapes.

But if you go a bit further north-west and you visit French Brittany, which I think you did in the past Roque, the coast is beautiful in many parts and there are really nice small islands.

You could also go to this village where Gauguin and other impressionists stayed at the end of the 19th century: Pont-Aven. There’s a nice little impressionists museum. Also in Carnac you could see what is probably the biggest site of menhirs (standing stone) in the world and which is contemporary to Stonehenge.

In Nantes the main thing is the Castle of the Dukes of Brittany. In Nantes, Anne de Bretagne was the last Duchess of the independent Brittany (connected to Great Britain) until she married the King of France (16th Century).

Gérôme: I Love Nantes and the people from Brittany. It deserves to be known!

++ Lastly one non-music question, one about football. Do you support Nantes or Rennes?

Jimmy:  Neither Nantes nor Rennes. I’m personally against professional sport which is in my opinion one of the strongest tools for mainstream-corporate culture to alienate people. Sorry to be that serious on that matter 😉

Gérôme: The only thing I like about football is to be with friends watching games. But you must be a connoisseur, because there is indeed the Breton derby Rennes vs Nantes.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Jimmy: Just thanks again for your support and what you do Roque to keep alive the spirit of independent music of those years !

Gérôme: I’d like to add 2 things:

The first one is that if Nos Etés Trop Courts has produced almost nothing, most of its musicians did a lot of things afterwards. Marielle worked in music. First at the Olympic, the main concert hall venue in Nantes, then she started a business of booking bands and managing others.

Pascal played in several bands (Crash, Snowfan, Hafner, Newell…) and started an indie record label, Cindie. He began with a cassette compilation titled Ces Chères Têtes Blondes :

https://www.discogs.com/fr/Various-Ces-Ch%C3%A8res-T%C3%AAtes-Blondes/release/2259390

Then he released singles and albums.

Jimmy played in Les Autres, and I played in Crash, then wrote in Magic RPM Magazine and became a sociologist studying music. Crash and Les Autres had a lot of press, made records and concert gigs.

Fabrice released several vinyl singles as River:

https://www.discogs.com/fr/artist/379522-River-5

The second one is that Nos Etés Trop Courts was a band that lasted a short time. Formed in January 1991, and died in June 1992. We have never been to a professional studio but spent very little time outside of rehearsals saving a few titles on 4 cassette tracks. These tapes were never shown outside of the band’s 20-plus fans until Jimmy released them on Ovvk Recordings. The first demo was recorded in June 1991 at Jimmy’s. The second demo, Sunshine EP” was recorded in October 1991 by Pascal and I. Jimmy and Marielle had just moved to other cities for their studies. We continued to hang out with them, but Fabrice came to sing after we met him. He put his voice on our music on January 1992. This second demo, Sunshine EP, was really in the wave I think.

https://ovvkarchives.bandcamp.com/track/nos-etes-trop-courts

It has the sound of the time. It is part of the history of indie pop. But we did not realise it counted at the time. Pascal didn’t like Fabrice’s way of singing that much, he thought his way of singing was too technical, too professional, too clean. For Fabrice, it was a revelation to play with us. He listened to things like Front 242 or Depeche Mode before he met us. He heard shoegazing music with us for the first time and was enthusiastic when he first heard that kind of sound. Because we did not realise the precursor dimension of compositions like Leaves return to dust or Nos Etés Trop Court. We did not broadcast these recordings at the time and  we did few concerts. We had not shown them on compilations even though people today tell us it was great. And your reaction confirms it to us. That’s life anyway.

Have a nice day and thank you for your support!

Thanks to Sonia Stewart for the English correction.

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Listen
Nos Etés Trop Courts – Leaves Return To Dust

Thanks so much to Dave Webb for the interview! I wrote about the fantastic Wolverhampton band The Weeping Messerchmitts on the blog some time ago. Just after the label Optic Nerve was announcing that they were re-releasing the “Nothing Yet” 12″ as a 7″, Dave Webb get on touch and luckily he was up to tell the story of the band!

++ Hi Dave! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Yes I am very well with good health, keeping fit at the gym, although its more my social club, working mainly weekends as a full time musician. Now singing and playing guitar in clubs in and around the Midlands as “Dave Jonson”, accommodating each clubs specific style and needs, but preferring the 2 x one hour Indie sets, covering the Cure, Mighty Lemon Drops, Inspiral Carpets, Morrissey and the likes.

 ++ Just a few days ago the label Optic Nerve was announcing that they were going to reissue your one 12″ single as a 7″. How did this happen? How did they track you down? Was it a surprise to you?

A complete unknown to all of us, they had been tracking us previously but couldn’t find any of us, but they finally got through to Mark Jeavons, and it snowballed from there. It was a surprise but not shockingly, as we have been approached previously by companies mainly in America.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My first musical memory was being taken as an 11yr old to see Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Bham, to listen to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture, which left an imprint on me to this day. Then through the 70s ,especially the Punk stage and the 80s synth and then indie scene.

My first instrument was Guitar, my elder brother Steve played bass in a band and forced me to learn A and D chords so he could practice the bass line to All right now by Free..Which held me in good stead, cus I saw the clash on TV and saw Mick Jones playing the two chords I knew, and that was it ,I was off on a journey.

++ Had you been in other bands before Weeping Messerchmitts? What about the rest of the band members? If so, how did all of these bands sounded like? Are there any recordings?

We had all been in bands before but only performed local to our surroundings. We have recordings but only on old cassettes made by our mates .hahaha, great times.

++ Where were you from originally?

Mark Alexander the bass player and Garry Oliver the Guitarist came from Sedgley, Mark Jeavons the Guitarist escaped from Bilston, I still live in Tipton and Simon Atkins the drummer came from Hammerwich.

++ How was Wolverhampton at the time of Weeping Messerchmitts? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Wolverhampton had thriving musical venues, with many bands, but fortunately the two Marks and Garry had school friends in The Mighty Lemon Drops and we kinda hung out together but with musical differences, they had a few years on us but gave us opportunities to support, and our first gig was to a packed Wolverhampton Polytechnic, further gigs were added and we flew with them till gigs started coming our way to headline. We owe them a lot.

Other bands were the Wild flowers and Pop will eat itself, that we performed alongside, The Sand Kings and the Honey Turtles I remember were 2 particularly good bands, they supported us at JBs in Dudley, which was our home, (the press gave us the Wolverhampton badge). As for venues JBs in Dudley was THE place to be seen and heard, our first night there was rammed.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

The band started in a pub in Sedgley where M, M and G put together a few ideas over a pint, a few weeks later a cassette with song ideas was made in Mark j’s bedroom and then the best knock on my door ever arrived. I had been in a band with Garry a few years earlier (Quirks) learning the ropes , we all split amicably and as I say a few yrs later the knock on the door. Mark (bass) and Garry played the tape and said would I write melodies, words, sing, and do I know a drummer.   At the time I was in the company of Gary ODea a drummer of another band The Prototypes, a Ska band of local lads. I approached gaz and we formed what was then, “The Railway Children”.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

We practiced at Sam Sharp Project in Wolverhampton centre right opposite the train station, Run by a Jamaican guy named Granville, We practiced and mixed with a fantastic bunch of people, what fantastic times we had there ,practicing was a joy, which I feel reflected our tone. During the first main year of gigs we had an offer from Jerry Cott , Guitarist with the Boomtown rats to manage us, which went well for a few months, then offering to change the look and output of the band, we disagreed  and he stepped out the soon after , on which Gary O Dea, drums, left. Simon Atkins was nothing at all to do with our look and music, a long haired rocker in spandex he turned up after advertising in the melody maker. He was and still is awesome, a word I never use. Within a month the jean jacket and jeans with an indie haircut used to turn up to practice.  What a talented man.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

During all this time we were the Railway Children performing , Timebox , Cricketers, weekly indie venues in London, On the tails of the Lemon Drops at the Leadmill in Sheffield, then our 3rd or 4th JBs Gig we had a call in the dressing room, “This is Virgin Records, You have to change your name ,our lawyers need to issue paperwork to you ,can you give me an address?, “fuck off ya prick “,was my response.

But as we found out they had signed a Manchester band who had pinched our name…we used the press (NME ,Sounds, and especially Record Mirror) over the next few months to our advantage as they would pick up on all our hard work and fan base. But with the Mighty Virgin lawyers on our backs, we struggled to get to a name as The Railway Children was imprinted in our mindset.. Practicing one night Mark J came to practice and opened a ww2 book, the heading of the chapter was “Weeping Messerschmitts”. Immediately I said that’s it, it just fit with all of us. Then began the hard work of starting again.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Influences were many but we were gladly mentioned in the Music press as a “younger Smiths” kind of feel, we all had Punk in our veins, who hadn’t at that time???? but with many many others types of sounds, my major influence was Bill Nelson, although never used him purposely as an influence ,I’m sure the melodies must have been guided by him.

++ As we were saying earlier, you only released one 12″ single on Uptight Records in 1986. How did you end up working with this label? Was there any interest from other labels?

We were approached by 3 major labels, Polygram, Island and Stiff records,  but the best deal was when Upright approached us. We had been in a few studios recording so we could sell tapes on the black market, But Upright paid for us to go into Rich Bitch Studios in Bham to do the three tracks on the 12 inch.

++ The Uptight label had some fine bands in their catalogue like The Doctor’s Children or Yeah Jazz. Were you familiar or friends with any of the bands on the label?

Yes we did many London gigs with Yeah jazz , a fine bunch of lads, although no one understood our Black country accents so we kinda never got too friendly..Plus we were needing to drive back to the midlands to get to work next day.. Never worked with Doctors Children although I remember they had some decent write ups.

++ One thing that surprised me was that 8 years after the record was reissued in Spain. Were you aware of that at the time? Do you have a copy of the Spanish single? And there was also a compilation appearance in a Spanish comp called “Lo Mejor de los Ochenta”, the best from the 80s. I suppose you have many fans in Spain? Is that so?

We had no knowledge of the Spanish connection, although I had mail from a Spanish Music reporter during the time we were gigging, but as for the Old Gold issue, nothing. The compellation album I have only recently heard of in the last 3months. Again, a complete surprise. As for fans in Spain, I hope we have, and long may they be there.

++ Tell me about the art for the 12″, where does the front cover comes from? And where was the back photo taken?

The artwork was chosen by us from my various pieces proffered by Upright, it just fitted the mood of the track. The back photo was, and still is, my worst nightmare, we had been recording in Rich Bitch and came out at 3am in the morning, knackered, Jerry Cott had put me through my paces after everyone had done there piece while they were fresh and awake, I was knackered when I recorded the vocals, we left and before we drove back he took some photos one which was used for the back cover, the band thought I had a moody look so I agreed, but as soon as it was released, it was the only fault, the new 7inch will be different.. at long last……hahahaha

++ There was a promo video for the song “Panthera Parvos” that was recorded at the British Federal Tipton and JBs in Dudley. How was the experience making the video?

My younger brother martin was doing a Degree in Media and had as part of his work ,to create a working video, he approached us with his team and took the set up to JBs Dudley and over the fields by the Black Country Museum and shot it, It was a weird experience but pleasantly rewarding.

++ Have you heard the cover version of “Nothing Yet” by Terry Malts? What do you think of it? Are you aware of any other covers of your songs?

I think that’s just an error, that’s me singing. I know an American band Pale Spectre got in touch and ask me if I would allow them to perform Nothing Yet on a tour they were doing, which I gladly agreed.

++ Are there still unreleased songs by the band? Or everything was released?

We have loads of unreleased songs, we kept them away from Upright even though they were great to work with we understood the industry.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Nothing Yet”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

“Nothing Yet” was a token of our attitude to Margaret Thatchers Britain at that time, along with my failing marriage the two seemed to blend into purposeful and meaningful, (to us), words. The Guitar riff was created by Mark J, I just hummed over it and wrote a few words, not wanting it to be heavily burdened with political and personal connotations I repeated the verse to be memorable, the “na na na na” section was memorable in itself with the crowd always singing it on the way out the venues. One of the reasons maybe to release it as the single.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Weeping Messerchmitts song, which one would that be and why?

Truly and honestly, we had no favorites we enjoyed performing all of the tracks…any that never made it to the stage we shelved and reworked or dropped.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

I played about 50 gigs , when I left the band they did a further gigs .

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Best gigs?? For crowd participation would be Wolvo Poly, The Leadmill with the Lemon Drops and every JBs gig.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Never Had a bad gig, although we played the Coach and Horses in West Bromwich, which was  a Heavy rock venue and 3 people turned up , one with his dog, he just sat and had a pint at the back. Also had a gig in Hereford where Heavy Rockers tried to stop the gig by throwing chairs about the place. But in both we played well, just the wrong venue.

++ When and why did Weeping Messerchmitts stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

I stopped singing to try to save my marriage, what a twat.. we split 2 yrs after I left the band.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Mark Alexander left the band in 87/88 and joined The Wild Flowers, Then returned to full time employment but continued to play the pub and club scene with a covers band, funnily enough with Messerschmitts Garry Oliver. He continues playing at home as he is now a professional driver with royal mail.

Mark Jeavons carried on writing and played briefly with The wild Flowers front man Neil Foley. He is currently not performing but still does home recording ideas for future times.

Garry Oliver has never stopped performing, still to this day his covers band, having a relaxed approach to the music industry and performing as and when the need arises.

Simon Atkins  left and started a record shop alongside playing with Roxy Magic, The UKs finest Roxy Music tribute band, which he still does to this day.

Dave Webb had a barren period from 88 to 93 musically, but was approached to front Midland show band Baktrak, winning multiple awards from the Industry, when the band split Dave formed two duos, one of which he played alongside Ray James of “Cum to Bedlam” fame, after that Dave went solo working the greater Midland clubs as guitar vocalist “Dave Jonson”, and still performs as a full time artiste.

++ Has there been any Weeping Messerchmitts reunion?

We were going to reform a few yrs ago when the JBs Book was released but though twice about it. But maybe now the single is re released its more tempting, we all still play in one form or another.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We had major national music press coverage for gigs, write ups and the release of the single of course.

++ What about radio or TV?

We were discussed on Radio 1 show Janet Long due to our unusual name, but not as far as I know never played on daytime national radio. We had local success with BRMB, Beacon Radio, Radio WM, Shropshire Radio and some local community radio stations. As for TV, I wish !!!!

++ What about from fanzines?

We had many fanzine interviews but looking back we didn’t take them too seriously, answering questions with alcohol and pornographic innuendoes….but yes fanzine were rife in the eighties.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

The biggest highlight for us as a band was the feel on stage, we knew the songs were good, we knew we looked good, and we knew we sounded good, But we wasn’t big headed or cocky, we just did our job and let others climb on board if they felt the need.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

For me Hobbies are out the window, im a full time musician who makes 90% of my tracks so I concentrate on making my backing tracks sound good, the best compliment I have, is that I sound like a band on stage, that to me, is priceless.

++ Never been to Wolverhampton, so would like to hear from some locals for some recommendations by a local, like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

Being a Black Country lad, I would recommend the Black Country Museum and the Canal Experience next door, a fantastic day out . The Fountain Inn in Owen Street Tipton offers a great range of traditional ales and excellent pub food, also the Jubilee pub in Powis Avenue Tipton offers the best curry in the area.

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Listen
Weeping Messerschmitts – Nothing Yet

Thanks so much to Bernd for the interview! I wrote about Gloom of the Grave on the blog some time ago looking for any information about this obscure German band who hailed from the Hannover area. I had discovered them through a song on Youtube that my friend Heinz posted and I thought it was really good. And yeah, this post helped and Bernd got in touch and he was kind enough to answer all my questions!

++ Hi Bernd! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque, I am fine, thanks for inviting us to an interview. I am not active in music anymore. Some former band members still do music but some don’t. Time is changing in life ☺…

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My first music experiences were I think about 1980 when I played drums in a two members band (guitar + drums).  The drum was self constructed out of cartons, metal pieces and the heating radiator in the children’s room. Was fun, with ten years age. At about 13 years age I started playing bass guitar.

++ Had you been in other bands before Gloom of the Grave? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Yes I played in school bands mostly together with friends who also came to join in Gloom of the Grave.

++ Where were you from originally?

I originally come from a small city near Hanover in Germany. In this region Gloom of the Grave was situated too.

++ How was Dresden at the time of Gloom of the Grave? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

I moved to Dresden later on so our experiences with other bands are from Hanover. It was a quite active rock band scene in Hanover at the time Gloom of the Grave existed (1989 until 1995) with some very good bands. Maybe “Scorpions” is the most popular band from Hanover if people like them or not. Another band from Hanover coming out in the early 90ies was “Fury in the Slaughterhouse”.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

We started with playing in school bands in about 1986. In 1989 we changed the name into “Gloom of the Grave” and therefore also changed our music style. As we already knew each other from school and from old bands there was no real recruiting process at the beginning.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Some few changes were during the years. The drummer changed his role to the singer (like Genesis ☺) so we got a new drummer. And the keyboardist also changed.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

I think everybody of us had some contribution to the songs in terms of music and lyrics. Some ideas emerged at home and some during our music rehearsals.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

We have a song called “Gloom of the Grave” and this was the basis for the band name. Our intention was to give some dark impression.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

At the end of the 80ies we were strongly influenced by bands like Sisters of Mercy, Fields of the Nephilim, the Cure etc. so we also tried to create a dark sound. Compared to other bands who don’t want to be to be restricted to a certain music style we wanted to fulfill all clichés. We wanted to be a goth band☺.

++ One thing I am curious is that you have these jangly pop songs and then you have some other more darker songs. How did this duality work for the band?

In fact our attempts to create a dark sound were “interfered” by pop influences. Our past bands were more like pop bands and I think some of my former band members had very good melodic inspirations to put into our songs. This is why it resulted into a mixture of dark songs and pop songs. Of course every band member had a special musical contribution to the work.

++ Your first release was the CD single “La Guardia” in 1991, is that right? Or were there previous releases or recordings by the band? Perhaps demo tapes?

The first proper record release of Gloom of the Grave was the CD La Guardia, some tapes before existed only from recordings in the rehearsal room but they were not really suitable for a demo tape.

++ I was very curious about the name of the CD “La Guardia”. Where does the name come from?

The name of the CD is originated from the title song “La Guardia”. It is a song about the airport LaGuardia in New York. When a band member of us had been traveling to New York he made the observations described in the. Somehow it is a song about globalization, about alienation, about losing his relation to his home.

Another song on the CD is “Behind the Fence”, a song about the incidences during the political changes in east and western countries in 1989. In the song the situation of people from former Eastern Germany people is described as being stranded in the embassy of Prague in order to refuge to Western Germany. At the time of our musical activity at the end of the 80ies this was a major incident and had a big influence.

++ This CD was self-released. How did that work for the band? Did you enjoy taking care of pressing the CD, promoting it, doing label work in general?

The 3 song record “La Guardia” was recorded in a studio belonging to a friend of our singer. I think it is always a great thing for a young band to record your own songs in a studio, to release these records and to get some kind of feedback. It was a very nice experience for us, together with all the related work like labeling, contacting music magazines and so on.

++ Then in 1995 you released an album called “Serenity”. I wasn’t aware at all of this album. Who put it out? Where was it recorded?

The album “Serenity” was recorded in two studio sessions, three songs in Hanover in 1994 and seven songs in Hildesheim in 1995. The record was finally released by the German label “Idol Music”. For this CD we shortened our band name into “Gloom”.

++ How was the experience of recording an album? Much different to the early single?

To record a whole album was a good experience too. It was a good time to stay in a studio for a relatively long time only making and recording music, to get a feeling of doing something like professional music activities for a limited time. Especially during the recordings in 1994 we were quite enthusiastic about the studio work. Unfortunately we had to finance most of the studio activities and record pressing by ourselves even though it was released by a music label. Finally we had about one day time per song for recording and mixing. Of course this is not enough time to get professional results.

++ The only other notice of releases of yours is on a compilation called “72 Minutes” that the label Pigs Can’t Fly released in 1993. You contributed the song  “Time To…”. Who were behind that label and how did you end up on this compilation?

We came to this compilation by an advertisement in the German music magazine Zillo from the person of Pigs cant fly who organized the CD compilation. He also organized some funding to realize the compilation.  Good idea to enable amateur bands to release their own songs on a compilation. We sent the CD “La Guardia” to the organizer of Pigs cant fly so the song “Time to get away” was finally chosen as a contribution of the compilation CD.

++ So the CD single, the CD album and the compilation, are them all your discography or are we missing something? Are there more songs by the band? Unreleased?

These three CD´s is the full discography of Gloom of the Grave. There are some more songs existing but they were only recorded on rehearsal room tapes and on live concert tapes.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Time to Get Away”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

“Time to get away” is a song about escaping from his old life, from bad experiences and maybe from lovesick into a new life or to a new place where you want to be. This is why it is called Time to get away (like time to escape).

++ If you were to choose your favorite Gloom of the Grave song, which one would that be and why?

Apart from “Time to get away” which probably is one of our best songs my personal favorites are “Profound Sleep” and “Pavements Grey” on the album “Serenity”. For me these two songs have some very good song writing. As far as I know “Profound Sleep” was close to getting some contribution for another German CD compilation but it never came to this.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

With Gloom of the Grave we were playing a number of gigs between 1989 and 1995, predominantly in our home region in Hanover and the surrounding. Most of them took place with other bands, for example as a support gig, some of them on festivals as well.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

We had a gig in Hanover as a support of the British band “And also the Trees”. For me this was maybe the best gig of Gloom of the Grave. “And also the Trees” was one of my favorite bands at that time and it was the only gig we had with kind of an” international act”. And the reaction of the audience for our support gig was also not too bad.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Yes, sometimes the room was almost empty when we had a gig and people were standing at the bar drinking beer instead of paying attention. This was less motivating but it is normal, most bands probably know this situation.

++ When and why did Gloom of the Grave stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

At the end my motivation to continue was very low and I think for the other band members it was the same. And maybe at some age other things get more important and time is limited. Everything has it´s time. Afterwards I didn’t play in a band anymore.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Our drummer changed to another band and our former singer and maybe also keyboarder still have some music activities.

++ Has there been any reunion gigs?

No, we didn’t make music together since 25 years. Our guitar player asked us to have some sessions again. But it is difficult if you are living in different places of Germany. But who knows…

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Not really. I think one of the songs of the CD “La Guardia” was once played on a radio program called DT64, that’s what I have heard from a band member.

++ What about TV? Made any promo videos?

No we didn’t make a promo video. But we often recorded our gigs with VHS videos. It is funny to watch those videos after a long time. Especially if some things went wrong during the gigs.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We had some feedback from the local press but not a lot. Gloom of the Grave was not big enough to get some relevant attention from the press. But of course we were always proud when something was written about us in the press☺.

++ What about from fanzines?

Like in conventional press we were not really “registered” by fanzines. The only thing I remember was a review of our CD “La Guardia” in the music magazine “Zillo” in which the CD evaluation by the author fortunately was not too bad.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Difficult to say…There have been a number of moments with much satisfaction for all of us. It was during some of our gigs (even in school prior to Gloom of the Grave), during the recordings or only when a new song was created.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Bernd: If I find some time I like to do some hill / mountain hiking, cycling or skiing in winter.

++ Never been to Dresden. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

Dresden and its surrounding is a beautiful place to visit. It is kind of touristic here too. Some historical city part of Dresden has been rebuilt after bomb attacks in 1945 so it is definitely worth to visit the city. And the surrounding is great too, mostly with hilly areas and places for rock climbing and Nordic skiing in winter.

Regarding food Dresden is especially famous for “Christstollen”, a traditional Christmas Cake. And this region has some similarities to nearby Bohemia and Bavaria, which for example means good local beers.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Bernd: Maybe just a short comment to Cloudberry Records I think it is a very good idea to pay attention to smaller indie bands in the internet on this platform and also to bands which do not exist anymore sometimes for decades. This is rare so thanks again Roque for this opportunity of having this interview.

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Listen
Gloom of the Grave – Time to Get Away

Thanks so much to Greg Appel for the interview! The Lighthouse Keepers is of course a legendary band from Australia and probably you all know about them. But did you know Greg has just published a book about the band? It is available here. I ordered my copy, and I suggest you do. Because of that and because I like the band I also asked if he’d be up for an interview and he was! Exciting! So here it is… now if I can convince him to do a Widdershins interview next 😀
Oh! and they do have a Facebook page. Become a fan!

++ You have just released a book and a CD, I think many indiepop fans will be interested in it! Can you tell me a bit about them? Where can you buy them? What is included in the book and the CD? And there are different versions, right?

The book is basically a memoir with a focus of the band I wrote songs and played with ‘The Lighthouse Keepers’,  we played for a few years in the mid eighties in Australia.  Good fun, pretty different from what was around, and in the end I think we just got a bit lazy.  But that was the nature of the band.  It’s available (Australia and world) at https://www.spontaneousfilms.com.au/books.html

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Much of this is in the book, and I will put in a few excerpts.  My first instrument was actually the Ukulele. Then….

my mother dates Christmas 1975 as the beginning of the end when my father re-gifted me his barely strummed acoustic guitar, although she played a part, organising guitar lessons at home every Wednesday afternoon with a vaguely sinister-looking man who got around in long socks and shorts. In our middle-class world, all good parents gave their children tennis and music lessons. And so teaching these things became a great job for anyone who was ‘interested’ in the young. My sister doesn’t agree with me about the scale of damage our music teacher, Mr Cranfield, did to our young psyches. He didn’t discriminate between the sexes either. I just knew when he sat next to me, and the creeping hand came out, I felt uncomfortable and moved a bit further down the couch. It was only years later when we talked about it that I realised what was going on.  And justice was eventually dealt out to Mr. Cranfield. He apparently ended up in prison, where he died. But that was the start of my relationship with the guitar

++ Had you been in other bands before The Lighthouse Keepers? I read about The Grant Brothers and the Guthugga Pipeline, are there others? How did they sound like? Are there any recordings?

Before Guthugga Pipeline (around 1979), which was a sort of punk band (Half covers/Half originals) and The Grant Brothers – a short lived Canberra band where I wrote most of the songs, I did whacky music tapes with Gavin Butler who was in Guthugga Pipeline with me.  They were ‘rock operas’ based on Monty Python type humour with many Australian marsupials and assorted characters.  I also made my brothers and sisters join me in a band if that counts.

++ What about the rest of the band members?

Hairy (S O’Neil) from LHK was in both the Grant Brothers and Guthugga Pipeline and continues to play to this day with the Cannanes and about 100 other bands.  Juliet was a closet singer guitarist, the eventual drummer played in a Sydney band called ‘the Particles’ which Hairy also played in

++ Where were you from originally? Canberra as Wikipedia has it?

Yes and no.  Three members myself, Juliet Ward and Hairy were from Canberra.  But we started the band in Sydney where we met ‘Blue’ Dalton and Steven Williams the drummer.  Both Sydney residents.

++ How was Sydney at the time of The Lighthouse Keepers? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

I think this is covered in the book again.  But Here

Our inner-city (Sydney) scene was a scene within a scene. It was a small world but bigger than punk in Canberra. It was also quite diverse and punks were a minor part of a kaleidoscope of creatures. Some in paisley shirts, some in cheesecloth, some in leather. Traditional garb like flannelette was popular too. Sydney smelt different. Leaded petrol fumes, wisteria, cigarettes, beer. There seemed to be other young people everywhere and not a lot of effort was required to engage with them. Everyone was your friend. Everyone also seemed to be in a band. You didn’t have to like their band—you probably didn’t—but you’d go and see them anyway. We were also united by an antipathy to whatever what was perceived as mainstream.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Believe it or not we got together for a talent quest at a tertiary institution I was ‘studying’ at. We won with a barking dog!  Blue joined Me, Juliet and Hairy and a guy called Tim Palmer, who became a well known ABC journalist.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

The dog and Tim Palmer left fairly peaceably we recruited Steven Williams on drums after our first recording.  The single ‘Gargoyle’.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Excerpt

Did the Lighthouse Keepers want to be mainstream? I don’t think any of us thought about it that much. But we must have had some aspirations: they grew as our audience grew. I enjoyed writing songs, getting them played and seeing what would happen. In those days, I might write a song before breakfast and then another after it. The morning was always a good time. The late morning—to be exact. You might still have a bit of a hangover, which would loosen up the cogs of creativity. From early on, I made sure they never did become Top 40 songs. I did this by giving each song a title that was totally unrelated to any of the lyrics. This was certain to confuse any potential customers. For example, ‘Ocean Liner’, ‘Love Beacon’, ‘Wilderbeast’ and on and on through my back catalogue. I named the songs like objects or animals.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? Is it true you originally were called the Light-Housekeepers?

No, it was done by committee and endless votes (see book).  But I did come up with the name.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Quite eclectic everything from the Smiths, to Motown, to 40s American pop, and good Country and Western.  Between us the band had all sorts of records.  Hairy was a punk/Detroit fan (as well as a lot of UK stuff).  I also quite like some of the mainstream acts of the time.

++ Originally, I read, you put some tapes together before the release of “Gargoyle”. How many tapes were they? Were these demo tapes? Or where these sold at gigs? Have the songs included in these tapes been released eventually?

I’m not sure what these were.  The Gargoyle recording was a tape, and we did actually record Patsy Clines “I fall to Pieces’ at the same session.  Just never put it out.

++ Your first 7″, “Gargoyle”, came out on your own Guthugga Pipeline Records. I can tell where you took the name! But why did you decide to self-release? Was there no interest from labels? And how did you like doing the label stuff, dealing with pressing plants, distributing, etc?

From memory, we didn’t even approach a record company.  We just did it.  It was cheaper to make our own labels and do hand drawn covers.   There were hassles with pressing it, but it sold well for what we had planned.  The book has a hand drawn covered edition, to kind of recall the process.  It’s been good fun.

++ This 7″ was recorded at Dream Studios for $50! Was this your first experience at a proper recording studios? Or you all had experience? How long did it take to record the 3 songs?

Again in the book, but it was done over a few nights.  And we also did the 4th Patsy Cline song

++ “Gargoyle” actually had a promo video. Where was it recorded? And who made it? Yourselves?

his was from my Media course.  I could use the equipment and also pass units.

++ Then came “The Exploding Lighthouse Keepers” where you added Steven Williams as a drummer as well as a manager. One thing I have to ask is about the artwork, as the previous release and this one have a very particular look and feel. Who came out with the drawings?

It was inspired by the hand drawn Gargoyle covers, but this time we thought we’d just colour in one drawn version that I did actually.  I draw like a 10 year old. Stick figures etc.

++ After these two first releases the album finally came. “Tales of the Unexpected” was released in 1984 on Hot Records. I have to ask then, how did you end up on this label? And how was your relationship with them?

Some people fell out with Hot Records and particularly Martin Jennings.  But we just kind of moved on, and started a new band in the end.  They were good for us at the time and helped us get to the UK and Europe, which we would never have done without them.

++ You were now labelmates with The Triffids and The Laughing Clowns. Did that help get more attention to the band?

The Triffids were pretty good friends at that time,  The Laughing Clowns were idols of some in the band.  I think we would have felt good to be on that label. It actually had some great stuff on it in retrospect.

++ How different was recording the album compared to the previous releases? Any anecdotes you remember?

From book

we ended up doing about a week of late-night recording sessions at Paradise Studios, in Kings Cross. This was a big studio for us, but by doing it after hours we could save a lot of money. We were young enough then to do without sleep for a while. It felt like things were starting to happen. Paradise Studios was owned by Billy Field, who had a retro-sounding hit with ‘Bad Habits’. I think he put the money from that into this fairlymodern 24-track studio. He never appeared at the sessions, but the studio always had a faint smell of eighties fairy dust.

++ Then two more 7″s. “Ocean Liner” also got a promo video and you wrote on Youtube that it was a big budget clip. Is that so? How much did it cost to make?

I was joking in that Australian way of saying the opposite to what I meant (which isn’t always that funny).  It cost nothing – I did for my Media course.  I love those clips.  I think they capture the mood.

++ Lastly there was the “Ode to Nothing” 7″, and that was the last ever release, right? You also used the name of this song for a compilation released in 2011, would you say this was one of the most emblematic songs of the band? And how come this was your last release? Was there plans for more?

We didn’t plan it as the last release, but in retrospect it was a good one.  It actually sounds well recorded and warm.  Not too much Eighties effects that wrecked a lot of records in Australia at the time.  (our next band’s album a good example)

++ In 1986 Waterfront Records would release a compilation, then in 1992 Phantom Records would release a much more complete compilation. How did this compilations came together, and I wonder if the Phantom Records one is the most complete one? Is it missing anything?

It was pretty comprehensive.  I don’t think ‘I fall to Pieces’ has ever been out. It’s probably lost.  Patsy’s version is quite a lot better in memory, but still it wasn’t too bad.  Great song.

++ The Phantom compilation has this comic strip on the back cover, who made that? What’s the story of you playing at Central Park for free?

That’s me again with the ten year old styled art.  Another joke. I think I’m a frustrated comic on some level.  Sorry.

++ Oh! And who is on the front cover photo of the “Imploding” compilation on Waterfront?

Again me.  I can’t remember why we decided on that.  Juliet was the obvious choice, so we made that one.  It was the wrong one.  I didn’t really enjoy having huge posters of my head around.  But I looked a lot better in those days.

++ Are there any unreleased tracks by the band or has everything being released?

We did record only recently 2 new songs.  One ‘Hoogle Waltz’ from the old Lighthouse Keepers set, the other ‘Shadowlands’ from a musical comedy I wrote many years after the band. They’ll be available any day.

++ Oh! And how come Egg Records didn’t release your music when they come back? I mean they did release The Widdershins and included “Springtime” on the “Souvenirs from Egg Record” comp… it would have been very cool!

I not sure why not.  Nice they put anything out.

++ I think my favourite song  is “Ocean Liner”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Check the book on that. But it’s definitely one of my favourites too.   It’s really a love song, with a slightly dark overtone.  Juliet sings it beautifully.

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Lighthouse Keepers song, which one would that be and why?

I’m going for Ocean Liner.  It just works well with bands limited skills and creates a mood.  I have about 5 I really like.  These include Gargoyle, Ode to Nothing, Time of Evil and something else.  Some of the material doesn’t do a lot for me now days.  But I’m old eh.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

I’m running out of answering energy.  But check book, it’s amazing how many. It was a couple of years of 3 or 4 a week?  Maybe not always.

++ You even toured the UK, right? Which cities did you play? Did you get a chance to do any touristy stuff on the side or it was all gig after gig after gig?

We played in London, and Leeds Uni.  It was a bit of a slog by then.   But not that many gigs, more a slog to hang around without much money in a large unfriendly city.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Europe had the best and worst shows we experienced eg Rotterdam 1985…..

I do remember this Rotterdam show clearly. It was definitely the biggest audience we played to in Europe and was a great success. We’d got lucky in getting Jesus and Mary Chain’s prime slot at the festival. Not a totally compatible band perhaps. So at the start of the show, there was a bit on an exodus of crowd, but also an influx. We went down a treat and everyone was happy. We got to taste a bit of the rock star lifestyle too, backstage. The Triffids were playing this same festival and were already hardened partakers

++ And were there any bad ones?

That would be London on our first show.  From book…

20 SEPT 1985 HAMMERSMITH CLARENDON

Nick Mainsbridge, Audio guru, 2017

I hated live mixing and this was a good example of why. It was a Hot Records night in a sort of a cave. There were posters with three bands and twelve bands turned up and then they only played for twenty minutes. They’d spray-painted concrete all along the back of the stage in a curve at the back, which looks okay but if you’re a sound mixer, it’s your worst nightmare, because the sound from the foldback bounces directly off the back wall into the microphone and you have uncontrollable feedback. It was a disaster—I ended up pointing the foldback wedges at the audience and the band couldn’t hear themselves. There were twelve people there or something. It was the worst gig in the world—I felt sorry for the Lighthouse Keepers.

++ When and why did The Lighthouse Keepers stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? I know of the fantastic The Widdershins…

After the European tour it all seemed a bit much. The usual sort of inter band friction.  Myself and Juliet broke up as a couple, which was difficult.  But we still kept going musically in the Widdershins.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Hairy has been the musical of us.  Check the ‘family tree’ at the end of book.  He’s been in millions of bands. But the Cannanes is his staple.  Blue has played on with all sort of bands including the Honeys.  Juliet has been a solo artist.  I’ve played with my brother in OneHeadJet and also made the musical comedy ‘Van Park’.

++ Has there been any reunion gigs? I believe more than a few, right?

Yes not too many. Just the right amount.  May not happen again, Who knows?

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Only 2 JJ (ABC as in Austraian Broadcasting Commission the public station) and the alternative stations of each city.   Definitely not commercial radio.

++ What about TV?

Again on the ABC a bit.

++ What about the press? Did they give you much attention?

Yes some.  Check the book for some press.  It definitely helped.  Even a little review in NME.

++ What about from fanzines?

David Nichols did a few articles for Distant Violins, and there’s been a few that I can’t recall.  There’s one in the appendix of the book.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

I think it would have to be the last show.  It was packed.  We thought we were stars.  Sydney at it’s best.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I love putting on shows and they often involve music.  I have a lot of camera gear and sound equipment.  Some of this is for pleasure – some for work.   I guess I surf.  Especially since you can’t do much else at the moment

++ Never been to the Sydney or Australia in general! So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

Ha – Ok.  Not many can stand the long flight to Australia.  And at the moment it’s not even allowed.   I live near Sydney but out of the city.  Australia has great coast.  It’s a pretty good place.  Is it boring?  Only if you can’t make your own fun. Which is what that band was about.   What would I recommend.  I just got back from Broken Hill.  That’s pretty amazing.  Weird, Outback, where strange characters meet.  I think they are searching for the real Australia.  But something went askew.  Lots of movies made out there.  Not all of them good.  But it’s interesting.  Sydney’s beautiful but expensive and different now.  Still US dollars go a long way here.   I think the wild side of Australia is great, yet we all cling to Cities and the coast.  Visitors seem to like the people here.   We are very civilised.  It’s much more diverse than it used to be.  For the better.   Food and drink.  It’s actually very good.   Try a coffee if you’re from the US.  Flat Whites – I think they may come from here.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

If you’re still reading this and interested.  Buy the book.  It’s graphically amazing for the price.  Writing isn’t too bad either.   It was fun to put together.

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Listen
The Lighthouse Keepers – Ocean Liner