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Listen
Love Minus Zero – Fade Away

Thanks so much again to Satori and Ishida for the interview! I interviewed them not too long ago about the superb Japanese band Daffodil-19 and today it is time to interview them about their first band, the legendary Penny Arcade! The band reissued all of their songs from previous releases and unreleased not long ago on a CD on Kilikilivilla Records called “A Girl from Penny Arcade” which is a must for any indiepop lover in the world! Classic, timeless, songs abound on it. If you have never heard them, this is a perfect time to do so!

++ Hi Satori and Ishida-kun! Thanks again for another interview! This time we’ll talk about your first band, Penny Arcade! But it was your first band? Or had you had any other band adventures before?

Hello again, Roque, and thanks for your interest in Penny Arcade. Penny was my first band to play our original songs.

++ We talked last time of Daffodil-19 and now I am curious how would you compare each band? What was similar and what was different in the way the band functioned?

Both are amateur bands.  I was a college student when we started Penny, so we had nothing but time. We were young and naive, too.
With Daffodils, we all have full time jobs, so everything is time constraints.

++ I don’t know if I am right or wrong with what I’ll say, but the first time I heard Penny Arcade I couldn’t tell it was a Japanese band. It sounded like a British or American band to me. Even the vocals, it was hard to find a Japanese accent. What do you think of this view of mine? 

We had no Japanese bands we wanted to be alike.
As for the accent, I spent 3 years of my childhood in the suburb of Philadelphia, so that explains..

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

Buzzcocks, Magazine, Joy Division, Jazz Butcher, Cocteau Twins, Young Marble Giants, Girls at our best!, Pale Fountains, Eyeless in Gaza, Bauhaus, Velvet Underground, Wedding Present , Red Lorry Yellow Lorry , Echo & the Bunnymen, A Certain Ratio, Felt, WIRE, Jesus & Mary Chain, The Monochrome Set, Swell Maps, This Heat, The Chameleons, Gang Of Four, Sad Lovers & Giants

++ I also could dare to say that you were the first proper indiepop (or neo-aco) band in Japan. Or at least among the first. What impact did it cause? Was there a big fanbase at the time for this sort of music? Was there support from venues, radio or press?

There was no word “indiepop”, at the time, and we were quite different from what people expect with “neo-aco”.  So I doubt we had any impact on anything.

There were no fanbase, no scene, just a small circle of friends, but we influenced each other a lot.  And they were the only ones, who supported us.

The biggest support was from “eikoku ongaku”, a fanzine ran by Asako Koide, my college mate.

++ You told me last time about other bands you’ve been in, but what about the rest of members of Penny Arcade? What other bands they had played in?

Sotomura-san (drummer) played in various bands, when we met, he was in Grimm Grimms (not Grimm Grimm), and Anna Karina, both psychedelic bands.

As for Ishida-kun, we explained in the Daffodil-19 interview, so will skip that.

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

Ishida-kun and I met at Aztec Camera’s first Japan tour in 1985.  Later that year, he made a compilation tape for his friends’ bands (including Bachelors, Monkey Dance Club, etc). It was something he did it for fun (he said it was an imaginary label, but it today’s term, you could call it a self-release on an independent label).   And there was a release party on the Christmas Day. Everyone who attended this party had to do something on stage. Singing, dancing, magic etc… I teamed up with Ishida-kun (guitar), Saito-kun (bass) and with rhythm box, we were an instant band, and called ourselves Penny Arcade.  Since we had no skill to do covers, we wrote several songs on our own.

Next spring, we restarted as a band.  Saito-kun left, so asked Eko-chan (Eko Hatakeyama) to join us.  (She used to play the bass in the Bauhaus cover band with me!)

I guess we recruited Sasaki-kun (our first drummer), right after our first gig.  He was in a band called Paint Box (not Paintbox).

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Sasaki-kun was with us for about a year, and after he left, Sotomura-san joined.  His drums were so powerful, we became louder (and wilder).

Karino-san (acoustic/electric guitar) joined as the final piece.

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

At Penny, each member wrote their own part.  For example, Ishida-kun would come up with chord progressions or riffs, and we all wrote our parts.

For me, I wrote lyrics and vocal part that comes with it.  (I never thought it was a melody)

It took time and interactions, but it was natural for us.

We practiced at rental studios (like most of other bands in Tokyo).

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

I got it from William Burroughs novel, “Wild Boys”.

At first I wanted to name it Penny Arcade Peep Show, but am glad we kept it short, for lots of reasons…  🙂

++ Your first release was a 1987 7″ single on the label Studio Penta. Who were behind this label and how did you end up releasing with them?

There was a contest ran by rehearsal studio, Studio Penta.  Someone sent our tape (without letting us know), and we got a call to play in the competition.  We accidentally won this, and 7inch release was the prize…

Our first recording was a nightmare.  We were notified that they cannot record real drums (WHY?).  So we borrowed LinnDrum, but soon found out that it was half broken. We struggled until midnight to program 2 songs.

We were extremely tired and fed up, but had to finish by morning. When we recorded all the materials, the engineers said they will “finish up” later.  So we did not even touch the mixing console. I still hate listening to this, as this is not our music at all.

But looking back, we were lucky that experienced this on our first single.  (Lessons learnt!)

++ And prior to this release, had you had made recordings? Or were the two songs on the 7″ your earliest recorded material?

This was our first studio recording. Before that, we only made cassette tape demos on the 4-track multi recorder.

++ This 7″ has a very particular art, who made it? And what does it mean?

It’s something I drew in high school.  (I don’t know what it meant. I guess I just wanted to paint color compositions.)

++ Then came a tape with the two other “first” indiepop bands from Japan, Lollipop Sonic and Debonaire. A tape called “Akko-Chan’s Anorak Party!” on the Boshi label. I have a few questions about it. The first is how did you end up working with Akiko and the Boshi label? Was she back in Japan at that time?

Akko-chan was living in her hometown, Nara.  I guess she was a college student, when she started the Boshi label.  She was a friend of Koide-san (eikoku ongaku), and asked us (Lollipop Sonic and Penny Arcade) to do a show in Kyoto.

This was the summer of 1987, and the show was  “Akko-Chan’s Anorak Party!” (we called it “Anorappa” for short)

The tape is a live recording of that show.

++ Second, were you all friends? Were Penny Arcade, Debonaire and Lollipop Sonic part of a cohesive scene? Were there other bands that you liked in that period?

++ And third, there’s an acoustic version included of “A Boy from Penny Arcade”, does this song remain exclusive to this release?

There is another “acoustic” version of this song on the CD, but if you are talking about acoustic “live” version, this is the only one.

++ Then a self-titled album was released in 1992 with Wonder Release Records. Why did it take almost 4 years for a new release? What happened in the meantime?

Penny Arcade was active from 1986 to 1989.

This CD released in 1992, is actually a reissue of self-released cassette tape we sold on our last gig in 1989.  (We recorded this album as memoirs for ourselves.)

++ And how did you end up working on Wonder Release Records? Care telling me a bit about this label?

Wonder Release was Venus Peter’s label.  Yoda-san, the owner, did not know us when we were active.

But rediscovered us as Ishida-kun’s former band.

++ This album is truly wonderful, it had 10 songs of pure pop, from “Bicycle Thief” to “Green Telescope” and more. A song that caught my attention was “T.V. Personalities”, was that sort of a tribute to the Television Personalities band?

Not actually… (sorry)

Someone asked me what does Television Personalities mean in Japanese, and I said “uhh. That’s like TV talent – people you see on TV”… After that conversation, I wrote this song..

It was inspired by the band name, but not about the band.

++ Many of us rediscovered your music thanks to the KiliKiliVilla compilation “A Girl from Penny Arcade” that came out in 2016. It is a wonderful collection of indiepop that I suggest everyone to get. How did this compilation came about? Whose idea was it to put it together?

It was Yoda-san’s idea.  (He is the one who originally reissued Penny in 1992.)

In fact, he has been asking me to reissue Penny for more than 20 years.  He asked me every once in a while, so I thought it was just a social greeting (like asking “how are you?).

But on the fall of 2015, he sent me the URL of his new label, KiliKiliVilla. I clicked it and there was a video of Not Wonk playing a live show.  It was awesome.

I watched it for 30 minutes, and replied, “Your new label is fascinating.  We are OK to reissue on this label.”

So thanks to Yoda-san for his passion and patience, that Penny Arcade’s music is available today.

++ Are there still any unreleased tracks by the band? Or everything has been released?

Everything is included on the reissued album.  Even early demos, which were for band members only.

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

Ishida: I just loved the weddoes too much.  That’s all.

Satori: For me, it was very buzzcocks inspired song. 🙂

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

Ishida: “Flowers” – It’s probably because this is the very first song, we wrote as Penny.  I have so much feelings about this song.

“Boy Supreme”- This is the first song we made out of Satori-san’s vocal melody.  We recorded on the MTR (porta 2)(which I’d just bought at the time) with rhythm-box.

“Blissful Deserted” – This the first song, we recorded as Penny at the proper recording studio. I played the acoustic guitar, I borrowed from EB (of Bachelors).

Satori:  “A Boy from Penny Arcade” -This is one of our early songs, too.  I wrote it as our theme song, but about “long lost” penny arcade show.  Like being already dead in the beginning… 🙂

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We played about once a month… so quite a lot..

A young friend compiled the list of our gigs from data of old play-guide magazines recently.

I was so amazed, because we were playing so many shows.  (Most of them, I cannot remember at all)

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

Probably, the last gig on December 1989.

Lollipop Sonic opened for us.  (They were already the Flippers’ Guitar, but appeared as Lollipop Sonic.)

++ And were there any bad ones?

Early ones, when we had very few friends.

++ Did Penny Arcade appear on TV?

Never. We were just an amateur band.

++ When and why did Penny Arcade stop making music? 

There was this battle of the band on the TV (called “Ikaten”).

When the show started in 1989, all the sudden everyone was in so-called “indies” band boom, like frenzy.

It was social phenomenon in Japan.

We did not want to be part of anything like that.

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

(Will skip for Ishida-kun, please refer to Daffodil-19 interview)

Sotomura-san played with various bands, Here is Eden, Blue bongos, Advantage Lucy, (and of course) Daffodil-19, etc..

He joined the Sherbets in 1997, Number the. in 1999 (both bands are still active).

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

We reunited in 2017, and played with Philips, (also reunited) Bridge and (also reunited) Debonaire.

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

Probably “Anorappa” in 1988.

It was like a school trip, and we got to meet new friends outside of Tokyo.

We had no large audience, nor hits (not even near hits), but we had friends who loved and supported our music for all these years.  (30 years!)

That is more than anything.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you for rediscovering us!

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Listen
Penny Arcade – Coming Down

Thanks so much to Taku and Miki for the interview! The two of them form the Japanese duo Smokebees! I’ve been a fan of their music since I discovered them a year or two ago! A bit late I admit! But I really like their tunes and it was with sadness that I hear they are calling a day. Because of that I wanted to talk to them about this band and other things too!

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

Taku: Hi there. Thank you for having us! I’m doing ok, still trying to stay musical. Right now, I’m preparing for a show with my solo project called desksnail.

Miki: I recorded some music after nights of not sleeping for a new project called “h-shallows“. (It’s named after Heavenly + Shallow (a tune from Heavenly)).  I’m releasing a new work with h-shallows soon. Please look forward!

++ 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?

Taku: I first picked up my guitar at the age of 15, I think. I’m from a musical family so everyone at home could play one or more instruments, and it was just natural for me to play something.

Miki: I listened to ’80s, funk, soul and Yumi Matsutoya as I grew up since my parents liked them a lot. My first experience with music instruments is from elementary school; I played the drum in a marching band. I first picked up the guitar when I entered university.

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

Taku: The first band that I ever joined was called “traffic light”. It sounded like the La’s, Teenage Fanclub, and other bands from Glasgow. It’s about 7,8 years ago now but I still like the songs and listen to their songs sometimes. After that, I started my own project called desksnail. It’s more minimal but I try to put a lot of ambiance in the tunes. You can find my soundcloud if you are interested!

Miki: I had already belonged to Girl President and with me! before we started Smokebees. Girl President is a lofi alternative pop band led by the wife of Katsyuya from CAUCUS. With me! is led by my friend aota, a musician/illustrator. I first joined her as a supporting guitarist, but I ended up as an official member of the band. With me!’s genre would be neo-acoustic, anorak, and guitar pop. Currently, I am involved in a crazy number of bands, such as Red Go-Cart (indie pop, dream pop), Minor Toast(post-punk, hardcore), Broccolies (garage rock, punk), and three berry icecream (soft rock, indie pop). Please check out my bands’ bandcamps and soundclouds for release info and so on!

++ Where were you from originally?

Taku: I’m from Tokyo. I’ve lived in other cities like Melbourne, Akita, and Aarhus after graduating from university.

Miki: I was born and raised in Yokohama. I studied in London for a few months two years ago.

++ Are there any bands in town that you like? Were there your feavourite record stores? What about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Miki: Boys Age is a musician we respect so much and he is a great friend of ours. Whenever we organized our own concerts, Boys Age always played, and Kaz (the main person from Boys Age) helped us on bass for one of our live shows.

I have many favorite record shops, but I especially recommend “disque blue very” in Tokyo, and “FILE-UNDER” in Nagoya. The pubs I’d recommend are “NONSUCH” in Tokyo named after XTC, and “Donzoko”, a pub loved by famous Japanese writers.

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

Taku: Miki and I got to know each other through our music projects. I think the first time we met was when I played the guitar with a project called “with me!”. In 2014, desksnail used “It’s a Wonderful Life” by Sparklehorse for background music when entering the stage. This surprised  Miki apparently because she had never found anyone who liked Sparklehorse. This was the trigger for starting Smokebees. In two years we decided to form a band respecting the experimental spirit of Sparklehorse.

++ Has there been any lineup changes?

Taku: So Smokebees started as a two-person band, and no one else has been involved in the core of the band. We do invite people to play gigs with us, though. Kohey, the guitarist, a friend of mine from college, Sakurai, the bassist from with me!, and the drummer, Yuki Kawasaki, who is in several bands in Tokyo including Boyish.

Without their support, we couldn’t have survived the album recording and the release tour!

++ What are the future plans for the band? Are you playing in other bands simultaneously?

Taku: Well, this might sound surprising, but we’ve decided to stop the band as of September 9th. We know this is not the best timing to stop the band right after the full-length album, but it’s the conclusion we both agreed on. Part of the reason is that we’ve done so much more than what we thought we could on the album, and we are satisfied and a bit overwhelmed by the process. Another reason is that there is so much else going on in our lives and the amount of dedication we can put into music feels different than what we had 3 years ago. On the bright side, we both are so satisfied with our album and we are very proud of that. Also, we both will keep playing music with other music projects, so please follow our activities!

++ Also you are involved with a project called the Smokebirds, right? Tell me a bit about it? Is it just a live project or are there releases? How did it come about?

Miki: Smokebirds was a one-night live performance project by Yoko Satori(Penny Arcade, Daffodil-19, Marble Hammock) and Smokebees. I asked Yoko to perform with us for Smokebees’ album release party. We played songs by Daffodil-19, Smokebees, and desksnail as well as covers of The Velvet Underground and Pervenche. The band had a set of minimal instruments respecting Young Marble Giants.

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

Taku: We exchange data on the Internet. One of us may create a demo, and the other adds stuff. Or one of us almost finishes the tracks and the other gives opinions and feedback. When we started the band I lived in Akita (550km away from Tokyo) so this has been our process of making music. After my settling in Tokyo in 2018, we sometimes went to a studio together for recording, but we kept this process for song-writing.

When we practice for live shows, we go to some rehearsal studios in Tokyo. They have everything we need for a band practice including drum sets and guitar amps. So you just have to carry your guitar. It’s very convenient.

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

Taku: Since we started as Sparklehorse fans, we named our band after their lyrics. I’ll give you a clue: it’s from their third album, and you have to omit a few words to find “smoke bees”.

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

Taku: We cannot talk about our music without naming Sparklehorse. Sparklehorse was the start of us and has always been the guide. There are of course other bands which influenced both of us. For example, some music Miki recommended to me, like Yurayura Teikoku and Grandaddy, have influenced our songwriting, I suppose. Especially when it comes to mixing, I learned from them a lot.

Miki: The majority of the inspiration for the band comes from Sparklehorse, as Taku mentions. Other than that, I got a lot of inspiration from Misophone, Taku’s recommendation, and Mice parade and Sakana. We both like Mice Parade and Sakana from when we were at university.

++ Your first release was a CD EP called “Swimming Souls”. Was this record self-released or how did you put it out?

Taku: It was a self-release. Our good friend Katsuya Yanagawa from CAUCUS helped us master the CD. It was right before I went to Denmark for my job, so we had to finish the EP within the summer. I remember staying at Miki’s place to finalize the tracks until the last train.

++ I notice that there are few copies remaining, how many did you press? And also tell me a bit about the artwork, where was this photo taken?

Taku: Haha, yes, we made 500 copies! I suggested the number because I was confident that it was a great EP! Now that the band is stopping, we have quite a few remaining copies haha.

The photo is taken in Myanmar by a friend of mine. I thought the reflection of the house and the dark sky represented what we wanted to express.

++ Then in 2017 the fine Galaxy Train label released the “Sunstroke EP”. Something that caught my attention is that you included a cover of the song “Jesus’ Blood Has Never Failed Me Yet” by Gavin Bryars. Later on you’d cover the band Pervenche on the following tape you released. What other covers did you record? Or maybe covers that you played live?

Taku: Thank you! We got to know Gavin Bryars through Sparklehorse, and we really wanted to try our version of the song. Kaz from Boys Age sings the repeating vocals, and it brought us attention, too.

We like doing covers from time to time. We’ve performed “Wandering Ones” by CAUCUS, “Summer Feeling” by Jonathan Richman, “Season of the Shark” by Yo La Tengo live and recorded Either/Or by Elliott Smith. Oh, and of course, “We Surely Become Happy” by Pervenche. It’s a hit from “Tonal Memory”!

++ How did you end up working with Galaxy Train? How was your relationship with them?

Miki: We got to know Galaxy Train through red go-cart. If I remember it right, the owner of Galaxy Train came to “New Moon”, a party red go-cart held with us in January 2017, and this resulted in the release of Sunstroke EP.

We released the full-album from Sauna Cool because they offered us first, but we have been really good friends with Galaxy Train and we appreciate them a lot.

++ Then the 2nd tape I was talking about, “Tonal Memory”, was released early in 2019 on the label Sauna Cool. I don’t know this label at all. Care telling me a bit about who are they?

Miki: Sauna Cool is run by Shota Kaneko, the leader of a three-piece band called Teen Runnings. Teen Runnings has worked with Jon Greece, who produced Dum Dum Girls and Crocodiles, on an album release, released a split 7’ with the Lemons, and performed at SXSW2013. Sauna Cool itself has received positive reviews, too. Their first release “Sauna Cool 1” was valued for its uniqueness. The compilation album involved shorter-than-thirty-second songs by 51 Japanese indie bands. Recently they’ve had a few new releases, and they’ve invited TOPS to perform in Japan.

++ On this second tape some songs from the first EP appear. Are they the same versions of the songs? Or are they reworked versions? Why did you decide to include them?

Taku: The second tape “Tonal Memory” is released from SAUNA COOL as an introduction for the album. We put songs from the first EP and two new recordings to introduce ourselves to the fans of the label. We remixed remastered the songs from the first EP.

++ Lastly, last March you released your first album, “Imaginary Lights Never Fade”. The artwork is very curious to me. What does it mean?

Miki: I have been a huge fan of the artist Sakura Fantasma, and I asked her to do the artwork. She is based in Yamanashi and Europe, and she is known for the exotic and yet comical tone of her artwork. The artwork for our album is a collage from an old photo album she bought in Northern Europe and was created after she heard a few demos from our album.

++ This album has 11 songs! Some of the songs were recorded by a good friend of mine, Katsuya Yanagawa from Caucus. How was that? And were was the album recorded? Any anecdotes from the recording session?

Miki: Katsuya helped us record “Begin Again” and ”Miyoko”. He’s been a friend of mine for about 10 years now because of Girl President. The drums were recorded at a recording studio in Tokyo, but we recorded the bass and the guitars at a recording room in his place. The process was very smooth thanks to Katsuya’s expertise, but when I was playing the guitar for Miyoko, I got too loud so Katsuya was worried about getting complaints from his neighbors.

++ There’s a song on it called “Miyoko”, was wondering if it is inspired on a real person called “Miyoko” or perhaps not?

Miki: “Miyoko” is the name of a friend of mine. This song was originally a birthday present for her 10 years ago. Back then, I was into songs with Japanese names such as “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” by Flaming Lips and “Yuriko” by Monoland. I rearranged and recorded it to put in the album.

++For this album I notice that Disk Union got involved. That must have helped distributing and getting attention to the album, right?

Since Sauna Cool is supported by Disk Union, we were able to distribute our album on their sales network. We’re grateful to them because without their nation-wide distribution network we couldn’t have reached as many listeners. It was amazing to see our album displayed at Disk Union shops.

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

Taku: There are no unreleased recordings. We’re not very efficient songwriters, so we basically put all the recordings into releases. There is one recording you can only find on Soundcloud, though. It’s “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, a Christmas tune we covered only on Soundcloud.

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

Miki: It’s such an honor to have “Made for Faking Strong” as your favorite! It is a song I made after struggling for half a year. Whenever I find myself in a slump I go out to the sea, and this song was also made at the sea in the end of summer.

The hidden theme of this song was “Smokebees’ version of ‘Sensitive’ by the Field Mice,” so you can find the essence of Sarah Records. Also, parts of the song, like guitar combinations, are inspired by new and old indie-pop like Beach Fossils, Real Estate, and Felt. The lyrics are by Taku, and my favorite phrase is as follows:
450 tons of reality
Through that, you swim your days|
(With) looming fear of a whale

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

Taku: I’d choose ”Begin Again”. I like both the EP version and the album version. I didn’t know I was able to make that kind of large scale song with over 50 tracks. Writing this song made me believe in myself a little bit more. With help from the great players, we can sound like Slowdive!

Miki: It’s hard to decide on one song since all of the songs mean a lot to me. I’d choose “Ancient Lies” if I were to choose one. This is the very first song I wrote for Smokebees, and without this song, we would not have had the three years of Smokebees. Even though it is from the first era of Smokebees, it never gets old and still sounds fresh.

++ What about gigs? Have you played many?

Taku: We’ve performed 19 gigs in total in these three years. We had only been performing with the two of us until the album recording started. While recording, we started to perform with the band. We thought that it was easier to create the sound we wanted with a full band.

We’ve played many shows in Tokyo, a few in Nagoya, and one in Denmark.

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

Taku: For me, the last one at Shibuya 7th Floor was an epic. The floor was packed, the band worked so well, and DJs and other bands’ performances were great.

I have to mention the one in Denmark as well. I wanted to perform in Denmark while I lived there so badly that I asked my friends to let us use their rehearsal studio. It was a small concert with only a handful of people watching, but It was so nice to perform in front of people who helped me settle in a new environment.

Miki: I’d say the last show at Shibuya 7th Floor, too.

The groove of the band was at the highest at this point since we all knew this was gonna be the last performance. Also with help from Mayumi Ikemizu(three berry icecream, ex Bridge) and Daremo Shiranai Tokoro, we were able to play the songs how they should sound almost perfectly. The other performers did a perfect job, and it was an unforgettable night.

By the way, our first show in 2016 was at Chigasaki, where we brought a crazy amount of gear into a cafe-like venue and tried a very experimental performance. This was very tiring and we’ve decided not to do this again. This might have cast a huge influence on how we ran the band. haha.

++ And has there been any bad ones?

Miki: When we were invited to play an in-store show right after finishing the making of the album, we had to stop playing the encore song in the middle because we didn’t remember how to play the song. We didn’t think about an encore at all but we tried “Lights Of Home”, and we couldn’t remember the chords and we had to stop…haha.

Taku: Hmm… I agree with Miki. We totally forgot to prepare any extra songs for the in-store event. It was embarrassing but funny.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio? TV?

Miki: We haven’t got on TV, but we got on the radio once. Disque blue very introduced us to a program called ”Hickory Sound Excursion” by FM Matsumoto. It was our first time being on the radio, so it was a great experience. We played “Ontario Gothic” by Foxes in Fiction which is our favorite tune for traveling.

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

Taku: No we haven’t got anything from the press.

++ What about from fanzines?

Miki: When we were invited to Mito, where aota of with me! lives, she made a special zine featuring us. It included introductions and interviews with all the performers for the night. I was so happy that I still keep it as my treasure.

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

Taku: It’s a tough question. These three years have been amazing. I could never have achieved this much only by myself. I’ve experienced a lot of things that I wouldn’t have without Smokebees. We did have some bad times, but the experience itself is radiant and spectacular. I’d say these three years have been one of the highlights in my life!

Miki: I can say the three years has been a highlight of my life, but maybe releasing a full album is the greatest highlight. Although there were challenges, we managed to make a piece of work which I am confident to say is the best I can do for now. I wanna take it with me to my grave when I die.

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

Taku: I like reading and cooking. I don’t make anything special now but I like the process of cooking. It’s a small project you can work on in your kitchen. I think it’s similar to songwriting in that it requires subtle adjustment and inspiration, and when it’s done, you can enjoy the result on the spot.

Miki: I have so many hobbies like movies, modern ballet, handcraft, architecture viewing and so on. I go out to see architecture whenever I get long holidays. It’s interesting because it is a physical, large-scale work of art, and because it influences the lives of citizens by being a part of the scenery.

++ Never been to Japan. 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?

Taku: Tokyo has countless touristy places. Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, Yoyogi park, to name a few. I think Asakusa is good because you can enjoy the traditional and modern scenery at the same time. Food is a great attraction of Tokyo! Try Yakitori (Japanese chicken sticks) with beer at izakayas (Japanese bar).

Miki: I recommend Asakusa, too. You can experience the combination of Japanese tradition and modern culture. I also recommend the islands in the Seto Inland Sea. They hold the International Triennale and all the islands are filled with art. The Teshima Museum in Teshima is my museum and piece of architecture, so please consider visiting there if you have a chance.

Any Japanese food will be good, but my recommendation is soba and sushi!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Taku: Well, thank you Roque for having us on your blog! It’s an honor. This was a great chance to dig deep into our history and the whole band activity right after we stopped the band. It’s a little bit sad, I have to admit, but the music remains and you can always revisit Smokebees. Please follow our music projects as well; we both will keep on playing music!

Miki: I got to know Cloudberry through CAUCUS and Boyish, and I have been listening to many releases by Cloudberry records, and have been reading your blog. So it is amazing to think we’re finally being interviewed.

It is an honor to talk about our activities with this opportunity even though Smokebees has stopped. It’d be great if you, the readers, keep enjoying our music. Please follow our new music activities, too!

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Listen
Smokebees – Made for Faking Strong

Thanks so much to Gerry Cooke for the interview! Some time ago I wrote about The Beautiful Strangers, trying to find info about this London band that only released one 7″ back in the 80s. Happily Gerry came to the rescue and able to answer my questions! Enjoy!

++ 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?

I was brought up in a care, but being in care gave me the opportunity of having a record player and access to records.  I remember listening to the Beatles, ‘She loves you’ on repeat play for hours. My first instrument was a recorder, which I learned by ear.  I started playing bass in 1977; again I learned to play bass by ear.

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

Yes, I was in a few bands before the BS, the notable ones were ‘The Ya Yas’. We were an R&B band, more mod than boogie (as reported in Time-out magazine, a London based Mag). With this band we made recordings with some of the members of Madness.  The two founders of the band Phil Payne and Phil Saxby went on to form the band ‘Arnold’. Mark Saxby also played with X-ray Specs in later years.

The other band was ‘Hearts Agas’, a bit of a glam rock type band. We made lots of recordings and did loads of gigs around West London in the early to middle 80s.  The guitarist from that band, Jo Almida, went on to play with the band ‘Dogs d’Amour’.

++ Where were you from originally?

I am from South East London, born in Chelsea.

++ How was your town at the time of The Beautiful Strangers? 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?

South East London during that time was great.  There were great bands everywhere and record stores on every street corner.  As for the pubs and venues there were loads. I played at many of them.

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

The band had already formed when I joined it.  I was asked to play in the band by the ex-drummer, of  ‘The Ya Yas’. He told the other members of the band that he knew a great bass player; I auditioned and was asked to join them.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Yes, in 1985, I left because my first child was about to be born.  They took on another bass player; he lasted just 6 month and then left.  I re-joined the band and not long after we went on to record ‘Elizabeth’.

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

I was given free range to play and create the bass lines. I was given the chords and went on from there.  As for practising, If my memory serves me right, it was in a studio near London Bridge, Borough Market.

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

I don’t know, you’ll have to ask Keith Sparrow, he can be found on FB.

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

The main influence behind the band were ‘The Smiths’.  My own influences were Paul Gray from ‘The Hot-rods’ and Bruce Foxton from ‘The Jam’.

++ As far as I know you only released one 7″ back in 1986. This was a self-release, right? How did that work for you, doing the label part? Did you enjoy it? How many copies were pressed?

Yes, just one record, and yes it was a self-release.   You’ll have to ask Keith about the artistic side, he did all that. 1000 copies were made.

++ You named your label Two Zeros Above. I was curious about the name, what does it mean?

Again Keith and Sheila (the guitarist).

++ Were the songs on the 7″ your first proper recordings? Or had you had any experience in recording studios prior to them?

No, they weren’t.  I recorded with Polygram before.  I also recorded in Pathway Studios, with ‘The Ya Yas’ and some of the members of ‘Madness’.

++ The songs on the 7″ were recorded at Elephant Studios with John Hurst and Nick Robbins. How was that experience? Any anecdotes that you remember?

Jon Hurst…  I remember that I didn’t have a lot of money during that period; I had 2 kids by that time and no spare money to buy new strings so I had to record using old strings.  It was also during the time of the printers strike so every time we finished recording we had to battle through the protests of the Wapping printer’s strike.

++ On the back of the sleeve there are photos of all of you and I was wondering where were they taken? And also why does your name appear as Jerry instead of Gerry?

They were all taken in Keith and Sheila’s back-garden.  My name was spelt with a J and not a G because in those days I just thought it was cooler with a J!

++  Why weren’t more releases by the band? Was there any interest by labels to release you? Maybe big labels?

We did record a second single, ‘Family’ in 1986 at London Bridge Studios and it was produced by Mark Dearnley.  Who went on to produce an Album by ‘ACDC’. Some labels were interested but nobody seemed to know what to do with us unfortunately.

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

Yes as above and lots of demos.  Again ask Keith.

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

Keith wrote the song so you’ll have to ask him.

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

‘Heavens’, which is the B side of ‘Elizabeth’.  Because it was a complex bass line and when we played it live, it sounded as good as the recorded version.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We played loads, all around London and Brighton.

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

We played at the Herne Hill Tavern, we supported a big band, it was either ‘The Bigger Splash’ or ‘The Mystery Girls’. I can’t remember.  What I remember was the entire place was rammed and the crowd adored us. It was a great gig.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Yes a couple, Camberwell, we had an audience of 2 people!

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

We broke-up at the beginning of 1987, because we didn’t seem to be going anywhere.  Keith and Sheila went on to other bands, John disappeared. As for myself I have been involved in many since.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

For a few week ‘Elizabeth’ was played on Radio one.    We were on ‘Singled Out’ – hosted by Janice Long. The song was reviewed by Kirsty Maccoll and Peter Powell.   And Capital Radio played it too.

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

We had good reviews about the single.

++ What about from fanzines?

Keith was a cartoonist and he created his own fanzine.  Keith had a database of followers and he used to create the fanzine is and send it on to people.

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

It was the first time we heard ‘Elizabeth’ on the radio.

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

I have been involved in motor racing during my life.  I raced in a French championship on my 50th birthday. I worked a racing circuit for 11 years here in France.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

I am still playing bass.  I am currently involved in 2 bands here in France.  A recording band called ‘Nephast’. You can find our album ‘You Have To Know’ on Deezer, Amazon and most of the download websites. Some of the local radio stations have played a few of our songs.

I am also involved in a band called Black Jack V.  We are a covers band, 60,70,80,90 pop-rock. We play most weekends in pubs and bars here in South West France.

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Listen
The Beautiful Strangers – Elizabeth

Thanks so much to Tomohiro for the interview! For you who don’t know him, he was part of a fantastic Japanese indiepop unit called All Twin’s Birthday that released a superb 7″ on the Behavior Saviour label that our friend Masahiro (from Love Mushrooms and Tricycle Popstar – both interviewed in the blog) used to ran in the early 90s. Aside from that 7″ they appeared on some classic Japanese compilations but we always wondered what happened to them! Luckily now we’ll get to learn more about them! Join me!

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

Hi, Roque! I’m good. I’m still making music.

++ 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?

First music memories? That’s a tough question.
When I was an elementary school student, I listened to 60s / 70s US & UK rock, junior high school student, I began to listen to the standard of jazz, and high school student, finally I began to listen to guitar pop and neo-acoustic.
I became crazy about 50s / 60s modern jazz before listening to new wave and twee pop. It may be a slightly strange music career.
My first instrument is guitar. How did I learn? My own way.
I played  and played my guitar. I slept every night with holding my guitar.
At home while growing up, I mostly listened to the good old music, not hit song of the time.

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

Before All Twin’s Birthday, there are not any recording.
I played only cover songs. When I joined All Twin’s Birthday, I wrote original song for the first time.

++ Where were you from originally, Tokyo?

From Chiba-city (famous for novels of the cyberpunk).

++ How was your Tokyo at the time of All Twin’s Birthday? 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?

I was able to check out gigs of many 90s bands.There were good record stores in Nishi Shinjuku: Vinyl Japan, ROUGH TRADE SHOP etc.
As for legendary venue, Shinjuku JAM was very good (closed December 31, 2017). We played many times there.

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

We were students of the same university. We talked about music.
The taste of our favorite music was similar very much, so we formed a band.
Yuka Banno (great bassist) and Bo Suzuki (great drummer), they have a great talent. I was fascinated by them. And I can sing and play the guitar. So it did not need the recruitment of members.

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

I played guitar in my room to write songs. I usually practiced in my room as private studio.

++ Something I find very interesting is the amount of great Japanese indiepop bands that started appearing in the 90s! I was wondering if you have like a top 5 Japanese indiepop bands? And also if you would recommend some that are not very well known?

Probably you have a detailed knowlodge of Japanese band than me. So I am not suitable for choosing top 5 Japanese indiepop bands. But I try. All 5 bands were splendid, so this list in random order.

・SPEED WAY STAR was splendid anorak band. Their performance was always great. But they released neither album nor single. They contributed only one song to compilation CD “What Do You Want A Japanese To Do? -The first Vinyl Japan Sampler.

・HARMONY IN YOUR BATHROOM was based in Osaka. OEAMOM was released by CONPACT FAST RECORD in 1998. It is difficult to easily categorize their music. Keigo Matsumura (leader of this band) has a great talent of composition. He is active now in a band called BLINDDATE.

・Love Mushrooms, well you know Masahiro Kodama’s another unit.

・Bridge, well you know most important Japanese indiepop bands!

・Chicago Bass. After Bridge stop making music, Mami Otomo joined this band. Chicago Bass is great Japanese alternative band.
This band’s bassist Kayoko Yamauchi has a great talent.
She, Yuka Banno and I joined band named Milk Film afterwards.

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

Josef K, The pastels, Television Personalities, Haircut 100, Brilliant Corners and Primal Scream… the list of examples is endless…

++Your first release was a 7″ on the label Behavior Saviour. I was wondering how did you end up working with Masahiro and his label? How was your relationship with them? How did you meet?

There were three key persons and our demo tape.

First key person is Sin Makino. He was organizer of live show named LOST PIECES. We played some gigs at his live show, he offered to play gig in Osaka. We went to Osaka (by Shinkansen?) and performed.

Second key person is Takako Kasa. She was organizer of live show in Osaka. The night we performed in Osaka, we met her. I presented our demo tape. she was a friend of Masahiro. She gave Masahiro our demo tape to listen. This demo tape (titled “live in a B/W movie) was not live recording, that was studio recording, include “Everytime We Say Good-Bye” plus 4 songs. Not for sale, for promotional use only. I like to watch the old b/w movies, so I would expect to add meaning to our demo tape “Lifetime in a B/W Movie” just like daydream.

Third key person is Kazushige Kanazawa. He was a shop assistant of the record shop (ROUGH TRADE SHOP), organizer of live show named “LOVE SO FINE”, too. And he offered to play All Twin’s Birthday & Masahiro (Tricycle Popstar). We met at the gig, and we liked each other’s performance. A few days later, Masahiro sent a letter to me, “Do you release 7inch from my label?”.

++ And you did work with Masahiro at least on one song, “Everytime We Say Good-Bye”. Was there ever an intention of forming a band together?

There was not ever an intention of forming a band together.
Masahiro was producer of All Twin’s Birthday in a sense.

++ This 7″ had two songs, “I Second That Love” and “Rudy Van Gelder’s Secret Note”. Where these your first proper studio recordings? Had there been demo tapes before it?

Not proper studio recordings. We brought small 4 track cassette MTR into rehearsal studio to recorded basic track (bass, drums and rhythm guitar) of two songs. This material transferred my 8 track cassette MTR and overdubbed vocal & chorus part etc…
8 track MTR is very big and heavy, so hard to carry. However Masahiro & I had same type 8 track cassette MTR. I went to Masahiro’s room with mastertape only, and was able to do a continuance of the recording work. For example, “I Second That Love”s organ part was recorded Masahiro’s room. I am a lucky man.

++ And I have to ask, are you big fans of Rudy Van Gelder?

Very nice question! The answer is yes! He is a great recording engineer. I respect him so much.

++ Why were there no more releases by the band after this record?

I hoped to work with Masahiro, but he emigrated abroad after “I Second That Love” was released. We exchanged air mail about All Twin’s Birthday’s full album. In all honesty I wanted to record same way of “I Second That Love”. But we could not meet, there was not yet email. And there was American label’s offer of the release, too. But did not come true. If now time, it might come true.

++ Aside from the 7″ you did appear on two compilations. Both times you contributed the song “Everytime We Say Good-Bye”. Was there a reason to choose that song twice?

If I remember correctly, label side chose the song, not me.
But arrangement of the tracks for each compilations were different, so I agreed to their plan.

++ One of this compilations was called “Let’s Muc Out on Sound” that was releasde by Loose Sound in Japan on tape. I don’t know nothing about this tape, so I was wondering if you remember who was behind it? if it came with a fanzine? or any details at all!

Loose Sound was a cassette tape label organaized by Takako Kasa. “Let’s Muc Out on Sound” included “Everytime We Say Good-bye” (“Live in a B/W Movie” version). She released our 1st official 5 songs cassette tape titled “live in a B/W movie Vol. 2”
(limited 100 copies) And she published a great fanzine entitled “RED RUBBER BALL”. And she was organizer of a party named “red LOVER ball”, too. She’s still so cool!  I’m grateful to her.

++ The second compilation was on Behavior Saviour and was the great “Behave Yourself!”, and so I wonder if there are more compilation appearances?

“Everytime We Say Good-Bye” of “Behave Yourself!” version was added new arrangement by Masahiro. He added organ part to basic track of “Live in a B/W Movie” version. I thank for what he did. There are anecdote about “Behave Yourself!”. Masahiro wrote a song. He intended to record the song in “Behave Yourself!”. Thereafter he noticed the song’s climax resembles “Everytime We Say Good-Bye” ‘s climax. So he entitled the song “Last Time I Say Good-Bye”. It’s a joke for him. On the other hand, “Everytime We Say Good-Bye” I quoted from a title of the standard of Jazz. Lou Reed quoted from a title of the standard of Jazz, too. “Beginning To See The Light”, “After Hours”, etc… I was influenced by him. SOMEONE INFLUENCES SOMEONE LIKE THAT. We contributed songs to some compilation.

++ What about unreleased tracks?

There were not a few tracks.
And there were many unrecorded songs, played only gigs. I hope to record those songs someday.

++ It is hard to pick one, but I think my favorite All Twin’s Birthday track is “Everytime We Say Good-bye”, was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this song?

In a sense it was the song I wrote for the first time in my room.
Before I wrote the song, I made the music from parts of jam session at rehearsal studio. And the song I wrote lyrics in English for the first time in my life.

++ If you were to choose your favorite All Twin’s Birthday song, which one would that be and why?

“Nothing Like Our Way”. I wrote this song immediately after writing “Everytime We Say Good-bye”, And we recorded for
“live in a B/W movie Vol. 2”. However I think I could not record it well. We played the song at live show many times. The song often played ending of gigs. And we recorded the song again. However I am not satisfied that recording. I hope to challenge recording satisfactory version someday.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? All over Japan?

We played many gigs, usually performed in Tokyo, played once in Osaka.

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

“LOVE SO FINE” organized by Kazushige Kanazawa. Cause, I was able to meet Masahiro. There was a large audience. Many people danced to our music, and seemed happy.

++ And were there any bad ones?

That’s a tough question.
“LOVE SO FINE”. Cause we was not able to rehearse that night.
The gig held in the middle of the night. Before “LOVE SO FINE” began, different live show was carried out, but it was not over on time. So we did not have time to prepare enough. It was bad to my heart to go on the stage without sound check. A good thing and a bad thing often happen at the same time.

++ When and why did All Twin’s Birthday stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

Probably it was about 1997. I think that we wanted to try something new. I joined some units. After that, I joined 3 piece band again. The name of this band is Milk Film. Yuka Banno (all twin’s birthday’s bassist) and  Kayoko Yamauchi (Chicago Bass’s bassist) sang and played the guitars. And we recorded and released CDs.

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

Bo Suzuki is active as a instrumental band’s leader of Noahlewis’ Mahlon Taits.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

Reunion? God only knows…

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

I think probably our song did not play on the radio.
On the other hand, many DJs played our 7inch at club, and still play.

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

Fanzines gave us some attention than the press.

++ What about from fanzines?

For example, our long interview (14 pages) was published on STEREO CASTANETS CHANNEL (just 7inch size fanzines) with an article on (or interview of) Kahimi Karie.

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

We played as opening act before Television Personalities of their Japan tour! I brought their 1st album on that day, and I was going to say to Dan Treacy,  “Can I have your autograph?”. But I was not able to do. I have been impressed just to watch him. Their performance on that night was great and moved me so much.

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

I like reading novels, essays and poetry by American writers and poets. The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, In Watermelon Sugar by Richard Brautigan, The dogs bark by Truman Capote
and great poetry of William Carlos Williams.

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

I think Shimokitazawa is splendid place for popkids. Personally, Ochanomizu and Kandajinbouchou are my favorite towns. There are so many musical instrument stores, new and old bookshops,
record shops and coffee shops (I especially like Sabouru, very nice coffee shop!).

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks Roque! Your questions inspired me! I thank all friends who cooperated to answer this question. And I thank popkids of the world.

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Listen
All Twin’s Birthday – Everytime We Say Good-Bye

Thanks so much to Paul McAllister for the interview! I wrote about Scale the Heights some time ago and Paul was kind enough to get in touch and also to answer all my questions and tell the story of the band! If you’ve never heard about this wonderful Irish band, I suggest to discover them now! You will enjoy them for sure!

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

Never really stopped ! work life and kids tend to slow you down a bit but I guess if its in you it never really leaves you . Liam and I are involved as of today with a band called The City Remains. We will be releasing an eponymous 10 track album early in 2020.

++ 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 memories were listening to the radio in my dads car at a very young age, there was no real scene of radio in the house because of the TV so the car radio was the first real space that I listened to music in. At 5 years of age my first instrument was a small set of drums (from Santa clause) a bass drum, a snare and a cymbal, red and gold in color with thin plastic skins that you could leave a dent it if you hit it hard enough. My early musical listening was confined to what my parents listen to, early memories are of Frank Sinatra, James Last, Abba… their musical influence and pedigree I will admit was somewhat lost on me at such a young age.

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

The first band that I was in was a school band with Liam (who I played with in STH) on bass and and another fellow student called Dave Howlett on Guitar, a 3 piece band playing Joy Division covers and the like , there are no recordings that I know of….just as well!! not sure if the standard was all that great…LOL

++ Where were you from originally, Maynooth?

No, I was from Lucan initially (a town on the outskirts of Dublin but then moved closer to Maynooth (my school town) to a town call Celbridge, it was there that I met Liam who lived in Maynooth along with Dave.

++ How was your town at the time of Scale the Heights? 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?

Maynooth was pretty much out of the loop musically 30 years ago and beyond the pale, it had a growing college but it was relatively quiet in terms of music scene there. A lot of bands outside Dublin faced different challenges in terms of trying to find places to play and an audience- most roads led to Dublin in terms of finding places to play at the time- hence we looked to the city to provide us with places to play for the most part initially. Its pretty different now of course thankfully. Venues were for up and coming bands almost all in Dublin City the likes of the Baggot Inn, The Underground, New Inn all great in their different ways. We started with supports in places like the Underground and Yellow Pack nights where a few bands might play on a Monday night in the Baggot Inn for example and progressed from there really to our own gigs in those venues building an audience. Maynooth had no record stores as such so if you wanted to get something you went to Dublin on the bus to somewhere like Freebird records or Golden discs on Liffey Street if memory serves.

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

Well I knew Liam from my school days and we both had a good keen interest in music both listening to it and making it, the origins of Scale the Heights as a band started in a hairdressing salon in central Dublin strangely enough. Somebody was able to get the salon after hours to meet and practice so we all tracked into the city to meet, I remember it was the top of Grafton Street which was and still is a major shopping area in central Dublin I think we started early in the evening once the shop had closed, Lord knows what passers-by thought of the jangling guitar of a burgeoning band coming from the hair salon at 7 o’clock in the evening. Liam and Dave met in Maynooth and Dave recruited Tony the guitarist whom he previously had met separately elsewhere as I recall.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

With the exception of two keyboard players that we tried the lineup remained the same throughout the bands life.

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

The creative process for the band was always fun, coming up with new tunes and ways to play them in the early days was always an enjoyable task, like most bands the creative process goes through changes as the band mature as Liam would’ve come up with a lot of the original ideas for the songs But once the band got stuck into the basic idea they as most songs do morphed into something bigger than the sum of its parts, there were plenty of studios and rehearsal rooms in Dublin most of them fairly grotty and dirty but they served the purpose for us and all the other bands in the Dublin gig scene at the time, some of my earliest practice memories were at Liam‘s house.

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

I think overall we had wide range of individual musical tastes between the four of us as a collective unit. What we all agreed on was that the song was king so to speak and that guided us. Sound wise it was guitar ,bass ,and drums etc so that dictated our basic sound which you can hear. Influences would have been varied but off top of my head bands such as REM, The Go-Betweens, Replacements, The Chills all were on our radar and influenced us musically and as we matured their antecedents. Apart from the songwriting influences Tony the guitarist had a big say in the overall sound of the band he grew up playing music and was the best musician in terms of experience . His family if memory serves were involved in the covers, show band era in Ireland as players. He had a great knowledge of good country music (Gram Parsons is a memory of being introduced to by him) for example which he shared with the others and made the self taught Liam and I up our respective games and improve as players.

++ From what I understand your 1988 demo won the Carling/Hot Press Award for best unsigned act, is that right? There were three songs on it, where were these recorded? Was it your first time in the studio?

Like most bands at the time we recorded a lot of demos most of which I think still exist in one format or another and of course the tape was the main medium for archiving ones first efforts, and I think some of them are still around, there were always plenty of songs to choose from as our set list grow considerably while we were gigging. we took a lot to the studio but good studios were expensive at the time. We recorded in a few different studios in and around Dublin over the lifetime of the band . I personally found the studio at the time a little underwhelming, interesting and educational , but it never came close to the feeling of playing live for me.

++ And how was that contest? How did you enter? What was the prize?

We basically filled in a form and sent a demo tape I think and hoped for the best that someone would listen. The contest was over a few heats and then there was a final gig with all the finalists in Cork at a great venue called Sir Henry’s, where we won I feel based on song quality and live ability. We were given musical gear and a four track also which at the time was great and very useful for us to use.

++ So you went to record with WEA a single, was there any chance of them signing you or was it always a one-off deal? How was the experience of working with a big label?

The deal with WEA was part of our prize on winning the Carling hot press band, I think it was always a one off deal but we never really pushed them to give us more, the song that you refer to that was recorded at lab studios was called So Soon, I can’t recall if there was any specific reason that we chose it as a B-side I guess we just liked the song and it offered a degree of contrast to the A side

++ You also recorded a Fanning Session in 1989, where you played four songs. How was that experience? Did you meet Dave Fanning?

It was a fantastic experience , working with Dave and the engineers was a great education. Ian Wilson was the producer. I remember that recorded the songs in one take , the engineer was a bit blown away on how well rehearsed we were we spent no time at all getting the tracks down , I guess it was a reflection on how focused we all were on playing our music at the time.

++ And are there unreleased tracks? There were a few that I found on the Fanning Sessions blog like the wonderful “Down the Hill”… has there been plans to put some sort of retrospective release at some point?

There are plenty of unreleased tracks, Dave put a compilation together a few years ago, a mixture of live and demos i think, no plans to do anything with it…. but you never know, songs have a way of finding an audience long after they have been written sometimes.

++ Someone on my blog commented that you had a wonderful song called “When the Rain Comes”. Did this one exist? Care to shed some light about it?

Wow that’s one of the early ones !! one of the few songs that we used a keyboard to carry the riff and the feel of the song. Great that someone still remembers it.

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

The title is from the writer & poet Robert Graves autobiography of the same title. Published about his experiences in the run up to and during the first world war. The song itself was inspired by a conversation with someone Liam met who was previously very materially “successful” but who realised that they needed more to be fulfilled hence they gave up one way of living and withdrew to start again elsewhere under different circumstances. Liam wrote the song after that encounter I believe.

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

The band (as many bands do) went through changes in our song structure, tempo and style, we would have had 2 or 3 of those so there were songs from each phase that would have enjoyed the title as favorite in the early days songs like where will we be, two wives, and proud of you stick as highlights, how much longer as another that I loved to play as well as listen to later I guess songs like Harper, down the hill , blind mans clothes.

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

There were loads of highlights too many to mention, but for me one of the best was a Gig we did in the Olympia Theatre Dublin, we opened the show with Dave walking on to a blacked out stage holding a candle gently singing silent night (must have been around Christmas) as he got to the end of the second sentence he stopped said “F$%k this” blew out the candle , the lights came on and we ripped into the set , lots of fun. One of the funniest things I remember was a gig that we did were the promoter either got the date wrong or something like that ..anyway nobody turned up, but we played anyway , during one of the songs Dave who had either a radio mic or a very long mic lead left the stage during one of the numbers and went to the loo !! while still singing , the sound of band cranking out a tune without a singer on stage and the sound of running water as Dave used the toilet himself is something that will never leave me…….ever!

++ And were there any bad ones?

There were I’m sure , but we did a lot of gigs that its hard to remember now

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards? I hear you were in the Latecomers?

Liam and myself still write and record together (Liam has never stopped writing). Tony did go on and play with some other bands and he still plays today, Dave dabbled in some musical activities I believe. The Latecomers name was really a tongue in cheek placeholder for a musical project myself and Liam have been working on in recent times. We will be releasing an album early next year called The City Remains. Its something we have really enjoyed doing and looking forward to releasing soon.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

We did get together a couple of times a few years ago and it was great. Still tight, plenty of energy, as a drummer I smiled as the muscle memory kicked in and I found my self playing fills and tempos on auto pilot….. while playing I thought OMG I can still do this but I have no idea when this song ends!

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

As a young band we got a fair bit of air time on radio 2 ( part of our national broadcaster RTE) with Dave Fanning the Irish version of John Peel… at least for our generation. We were also invited to record some sessions for broadcast during his show. We also got local airtime when touring throughout Ireland

++ I did notice you were on TV at least once, playing the song “Disposable”, where was this? Did you play any other songs that time?

Yes we appeared on other TV shows during the period playing other songs such as Goodbye to all that and Blind Man’s Clothes

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

i I think its fair to say that we had built up a good reputation as a live band working hard , and gigging on a regular basis, that brought us to the attention of the press. we had a particularly good relationship with Hot Press a Dublin based music publication , who often came to see us during one of our regular residencies in Dublin. We where an energetic and melodic band and the press that we received reflected that at the time I think in terms of those who were interested in what the band was doing. We had strong advocates who helped in the early stages of the band and encouraged us to develop further. We were relative outsiders at the time in terms of being a non Dublin City based band who had to build an audience from scratch and the positive attention we got helped those who were curious to come along and see the band at the time.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say to your thanks for your interest and for taking the time to do this, I enjoyed the quick trip down memory lane with you. All the best.

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Listen
Scale the Heighs – Goodbye To All That

Thanks so so much to Matt and Mike for the interview! The Chalk Giants never split, they’ve continued making music since they started back in the 80s when they released their classic EP “Throw it Away”! They have a new album coming up called “Restart” that I can’t wait to hear! To keep up to date with them check for news on their website! And if you want to know more about them, learn the story behind this superb indiepop band, well, look nowhere else, read this interview!

++ Hi Matt and Mike! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? You have a new record coming soon called “Restart”, right? Tell me a bit about this release!

Matt: Hi Roque, we’re really happy you’ve asked us to talk about The Chalk Giants, it’s really appreciated, thank you. We’re excited about Restart, that’s the working title of our next album – all written but only half recorded. The original idea was to write about friendship in all its many forms – though we’ve also ended up with songs about politics, Trump and whiskey. 

Mike: That sums it up perfectly. Its half-recorded, and we’re impatient to get it in the can and share it. And open the whiskey, obviously.

++ 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?

Mike: I guess a Recorder in infant school doesn’t count?  My first and only love is the guitar really. I picked one up when I was ten years old, and really started to take it seriously from fourteen.

Matt: For me, I wanted to be like my older brother who played a mean bass. I started by working out the notes to The Jam’s ‘In The City’.  Funnily enough, I’m digitising my old cassettes right now and have realised I was actually a pretty good bassist for a fourteen year old! 

++ What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Matt: I shared a bedroom with my brother who was an original punk. While I was playing Lego, I had a backdrop of Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash. At the end of my teenage years it was all about The La’s, The Woodentops, The Housemartins and local bands like The Jeremiahs. 

Mike: Well my earliest musical memory would be my parent’s Beatles compilation tape they’d play in the car. That taught me to love harmonies and cracking tune. I had no problem with belting these out on the back seat. Like Matt, a shared love of The La’s, Woodentops, Housemartins – with an extra sprinkling of the Smiths, Everything but the girl and the Cocteau Twins.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Chalk Giants? What about the rest of the members? I know you were in Enamel Animals and The Hammering, how did they sound like? What similarities were there with The Chalk Giants?

Matt: The band names tend to change more often than the members! Every real band I’ve been in has been with Chris (our bassist), right back to The Diplomats, who became Enamel Animals.

Mike: I joined Matt and Chris from “House, Mouse”, and together we formed The Hammering. 

Matt: We were then lucky to get Pete, the drummer from the Mudcats, and had a short stint as a The Enamel Animals again before finally settling on The Chalk Giants. 

Mike: And as you can probably imagine, the sounds matured with our musical and song-writing ability!

++ Where were you from originally?

Matt: all the Chalk Giants went to the same school in Reading. We started hanging out from around seventeen. We are a little spread nowadays, but it’s probably fair to say the seaside town of Weston Super Mare is now where the Chalk Giants come together most often, where the White House Studios are located. 

++ How was your town at the time of The Chalk Giants? 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?

Matt:  looking back now I can see Reading was a hotbed of creativity: there were places to play, record and rehearse, a very supportive local Radio Station program hosted by Johnathan Richards and Barry The Fence, who instigated the “Beyond The Fence Begins the Sky” compilation album, plus of course these great bands like The Jeremiahs, The Complaints, Beyond The Blue, Home And Abroad and The Mudcats. There was a lot going on.

Mike:  yeah, surprising how much opportunity there was to play as a band back then. Think it’s pretty difficult for young bands these days to get a gig.

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

Mike: Sixth form threw Matt, Chris and me together, and the music followed soon after. Pete was actually a neighbour of mine when I was growing up. He was super cool – could play drums, bit of guitar, piano, and harmonica, and was already gigging with school and college bands. When we needed a drummer, he fitted into the group perfectly.

Matt: We’ve frequently called on Pete’s piano and harmonica skills, and he has also learned the accordion. It’s just a matter of time…

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

Matt: Mike and I have perfected our song writing:  I have intense bursts of writing lyrics while Mike generates this incredible music and sees the arrangement. We discuss and refine a little, but really it’s straight from my pen to Mike’s guitar. 

Mike: Certainly a Chalk Giants song is never really complete until we’ve all whacked our own stamp on it. It’s one of the joys of creating for me. You never know what the other guys are going to bring to it.

Matt:  We started by practicing at our parent’s homes. Chris’ house came with wonderfully eccentric parents and beer. 

Mike: ahhh the beers..!

Matt: Hearing the same song practiced over and over can be quite torturous though, so to save our loved ones pain we switched to a rehearsal room in Reading. 

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

Matt: It really was the famous Cern Abbas hillside figure. If you don’t know it, Google it – that’s all I’m saying. 

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

Matt: I guess we were four guys with four different tastes, but there were some cross-overs like The Woodentops and The Housemartins (which you can occasionally decipher in some of the early recordings). But I see some of our earliest material as being pretty original in a quirky way – I’m a great believer that creativity can spring from a lack of technical expertise. 

Mike: I think latterly James has also become an influence in the way we write songs, but as Matt says, it’s the four of us that make the sound we make, and it’s always had that Chalk Giants core running through.

++ “Throw it Away” was released by yourselves in 1991, on Mousse Records. How was doing the music part and the label part at the same time? Did you enjoy it?

Matt: We thought of it as a demo, a way to get record company and press interest.

Mike: Was it really 1991??

Matt: Ha ha, yeah! No doubt, we were lucky as the band concentrated on the music while our manager and friend, David Shaw, organised the manufacturing. 

Mike: We’ve always been blessed with great friends: all our artwork was created by Mike Cook and we even used an original print from our artist friend Ian Phillips as the cover. 

Matt: I loved doing the record, it was so exciting and the final sound still gives me goosebumps.

++ This record was produced by yourselves and Martin Nichols, how was that experience? And where was it recorded?

Mike: The recording studio is pretty much our band home now, we know what goes where and why. Back in those early days recording was new and exciting. Knowing you are recording your first record is thrilling. We were all together and having a ball – we even used to sleep on the studio floor. 

Matt: Dave (Shaw) did a great job organising that 12” vinyl. We cut it at Abbey Road and the quality of the manufacture matches the recording. When you put that record on the turntable and hear Chris’ bass lead in, it just blows you away. The recording has stood the test of time – it still packs a punch.

++ Since then you have always worked with Martin, what does he bring to the table? Why is he important to you?

Mike: We like to think of Martin as our own George Martin. He understands us well, and gets the best out of us. He’s got a good ear and makes sure we don’t take any wrong turnings!

Matt: He is certainly patient, and honest with his feedback, and cares about the quality leaving the door. His experience and knowledge is mind-boggling. I can’t recommend Martin and White House Studios enough. Did you read about the Bob Marley tapes discovered in a basement a year or so back? That was Martin you took the old reels, cleaned them up and squeezed out the songs. Awesome.

++ The record includes four songs, and of course I love them all, but I have a soft spot for “Throw it Away”. Was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this track?

Matt: Being in love is a wonderful thing, but love can be a destructive force too, like when it’s obsessive. Throw It Away is about ending an obsession, letting go and moving on to better times. When you throw away the baggage you are free to find the positive.

++ Later on, in 2004, you re-released this EP on CDR. Was it to coincide with the new interest in the band thanks to the Leamington Spa series where you were featured? Or what was the idea behind it?

Matt: that’s exactly it, the excellent Leamington Spa compilation stimulated interest – ours and others, and we responded. 

Mike: we discovered there are parts of the world where we are getting radio play. In reality though, the biggest change was in ourselves. We started doing some seriously good work together again. 

++ In 2004 you put out a compilation of all your songs called “These Things I’ve Done. A Compilation of The First Ten Years”. These include recordings from many sessions like the “Clean Up Yourself” and “Giantkiller” sessions. Then there was an album called “Mammals All” that included songs from other three recording sessions. I was wondering two things. One if there had been lineup changes during these recordings and second, where does the name of these recording sessions come from?

Matt: These Things I’ve Done helped us draw a line under our first years and set us up for newer things. Mammals All was recorded without Pete the drummer and, although the songs are strong, the vibe is missing. That’s why we’ve not restocked Mammals All on CD. As for session names-

Mike: I didn’t know we had session names!

Matt: Sorry Mike, that’s the archivist in me! The session names are simply taken from one of the songs we are recording. The exception is “Back Together” because that’s when Pete started to drum for us again. That session was great – the vibe came right back, tenfold. 

++ There are a few songs I notice that remain unreleased like “Eh Jump E?”, “The Last Table in the Sun” or “Beautiful Hell”. Why is that?

Matt: Eh Jump Eh was always intended to be a single, but that never happened, and Last Table in the Sun just never worked – and we’ve only ever released songs that are the best we can do. Beautiful Hell wasn’t quite there for me either, but I think you liked it Mike?

Mike: I did – yeah – we shouldn’t really go back, but if we did, I reckon we could give it another crack.

++ Then came two more releases in this decade, “Animal Carnival” and “How Stars Fall”. You have never stopped making music, right? Or has there been any pause in the band?

Matt: We’ve never completely stopped since we were at school, though we’ve had bouts of suspended animation. Mike, Chris and Pete are family. In fact, better than family – we have never argued about anything between us, ever. 

Mike: Something sort of clicked after Mammals. It was a bit of a transition point, and drove us to writing all of Animal Carnival before we hit the studio to record it. During the recording of Animal, we’d even written half of How Stars Fall, so we were on a new wave of creativity. Restart takes it on again, and I’m really pleased with how it’s shaping up.

++ These two albums are available for free to download from your website. What do you think of this change, from the days you started in the 80s, where records were the norm, to today when digital music is every day much more preferred?

Matt: I have mixed views. The music is accessible now, but it also means we don’t make any money. In some ways I guess it’s going back to the start. We used to duplicate cassette tapes, make our own covers and sell them at gigs. More often or not we’d give them away. I suppose there’s no real difference when you look at it like that. 

Mike: the music scene has changed so much in such a short space of time. Whilst the web has turned the industry on its head, I do think there is a lot of innovation still to come and, the creativity is still happening out there, so I’m optimistic. If nothing else, the ability to make and publish music has never been easier. 

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

Matt: ‘Cut The Green Grass Short’ from Animal Carnival. It’s my best lyrics, and Mike brought it to life hauntingly. The song has everything I want to say about the impact of violence and conflict on ordinary people and, if I’ve had a few drinks, it can make me cry.

Mike: That’s a hard one…  From the early days, I’d have to pick Stay in England. The joy of singing that live has never left me. The energy on stage, with your friends…heaven! More recently I’d have to pick ‘Collapse Collide’ from How Stars Fall. I had a very hazy idea for the song which Matt took away and then created the brilliant lyrics and story. Musically it’s as close as you get to the Chalk Giants DNA.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Matt: Thinking back, in those early days, a fair few – but extremely rarely these days. We seemed to play a bar called Cartoons in Reading frequently. 

Mike:  …come off it, Matt! Cartoons was a second home for a while!

Matt: Ha! Yes I guess so! And actually, Mike and I last played together in a bar in Scotland a few months back: it was the first performance of a new song called “I will be here still” which is ironically all about friendship. Get us in a bar with a guitar and a bottle of whiskey and we will probably be the last to leave. 

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

Matt: a certain student union in London where I slept with the Entertainments Officer to get the gig and, despite Chris being pegged to his bass amp by a 3 foot guitar lead – it was the longest lead he could find – a storming performance on stage (if not perhaps in the bedroom). 

Mike: I recall we had a big crowd and a rider – I think we thought we had hit the big time!

Matt: also, what was that bar in Reading where we played a cover version of One More Time by The Clash? ‘Purple Turtle’ maybe? We rocked that night. Or indie’d rather.

Mike: And don’t forget the After Dark Club where the vocal mics were seemingly hooked up to the mains electricity and gave the singers a belt in the chops!

++ And were there any bad ones?

Matt: the worst was probably playing in a rough biker pub in Reading, where none of our usual support turned up except for a handful of good friends, one of whom was wearing a tweed jacket and a cravat. It was a tense night. 

Mike: Of course, we should have rehearsed up a The Ace of Spades, then we would have raised the rafters.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

Matt: Well we are still together as a band, and rehearse for the studio, but those performances are safely behind closed doors. I’m thinking it’s about time we did play a gig though – I want to demonstrate I can actually play guitar now without breaking a string on the opening number.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Mike: Our friend Mike Cook was into Radio big time, he even had his own pirate station for a while. He helped us make friends with Johnathan Richards and Barry The Fence who hosted “Off The Wall”, a program dedicated to local bands and indie music. We made frequent appearances, and appreciated going through the free bins of promo records and being able to take what we liked.

Matt: Plus, for reasons we don’t understand, we get radio play in The Philippines today – I have no idea why we have so many fans there, but we’re grateful and very appreciative.

Mike: Maybe a first gig in Manila then?

Matt: Good idea!

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

Matt: Without getting overly sentimental, the pleasure of four friends who went to the same school, have played in the same band for years and continue to have a laugh together making serious music. That’s worth more than a hit record.

Mike: Totally agree. Also, I think we’re pretty proud of what we’ve done and what we continue to do. If we didn’t love it, or the magic faded, we’d stop – but I still get that buzz as new tracks come together and we all get into the recording booths to make something happen.

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

Matt: You’ve made me realise all my hobbies revolve around music, in one form or another!  I do some occasional writing, but even my short stories get strip-mined for lyrics.  

Mike: Does consuming single malt whiskey count as a hobby?

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Matt: Thanks Roque for the interview. We always love the chance to chat about the band and music.

Mike: We feel honoured to appear on your Cloudberry blog among so many of those other great bands! Thank you!

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Listen
The Chalk Giants – Stay in England

Thanks so much to Mats for the interview! I wrote about Close to Carmel a few posts back and was lucky to get in touch with him and to ask him many questions about this little known Swedish indiepop band! Discover them here on the interview but also on the new Bandcamp they have set up with  all of their songs!

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

Fine. Still recording and making sounds

++ 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?

I remember my older sister making tapes of her favorite songs. Taping them off the radio and making little collages on the cassette cover. 80’s type of music, ballads and Stock Aitken and Waterman type dance numbers. Always sounding over saturated with the bass booming and the synths soaring. I still got some of the tapes, the are magical.

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

Later around when I was 12-13 I got into the punk scene. It was interesting. All this loud and anti authoritarian music was quite different for a timid kid coming from a quiet home in the suburbs. It was liberating. I took the train to the nearest town (Lund) and started buying records. It also made me want to pick up a guitar and make noise and so i did. I probably started with the bass first, playing with friends at the youth recreation center. It sounded horrible. A year later we had a band called ”the Benson Band”. We played live quite a bit. The music was a strange blend of punk and funk and surf with a horn-section. Basically we were a partyband. No recordings were made but we went into a studio once. We were so young and it wasn’t important to have a demo back then. We probably broke up around 1996. By then I had moved to Malmö and started recording my own music at home. First on two tape recorders and then I got a Fostex 4 track porta for my 17th birthday. Inspired by the lo-fi scene and especially the solo stuff Lou Barlow made, I started spewing out hundreds of noisy pop nuggets, learning my craft. At that time I became very isolated and depressed and eventually dropped of school.

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

A Few years later I meet Jens, the drummer for Close to Carmel, online. It was in a forum dedicated to ”Soft Rock”. I had switched my music interest a bit, from moody lo-fi to sunny 60’s music and was collecting vinyl from this era. He, and some others, was starting up a club i Malmö with that kind of music (the first of its kind in Sweden) called ”incense and peppermint” and asked me if i wanted to come. I later discovered that he also made music and we exchanged cd’s. I thought hes songs were great and so we decided to start a band! This must have been around 2003. We hooked up with another guy, Anders, on bass, that Jens had played with before (I think they played some kind of symphonic rock) and got a little rehearsal space at the docks and soon we had a couple of songs. Mostly we brought complete songs to rehearsal and then arranged them for the band. I sang on mine and Jens on his. We tried to use vocal harmonies as much as possible, as we all three sang, and it sure sounded good at the moment with all these reverb drenched overtones bouncing around the room but sadly we never did capture that sound on record. I guess our influences were from the 60’s. Someone compared us to that ”Notorious Byrd Brothers” record and I guess it has some similarities. I was really in love with singers that had a high pitched angelic voice like Curt Boettcher and he was a big influence on me.

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

The band name came from a song I liked with the band Fun & Games. It was a very spontaneous choice, I was looking thru the albums tracks on the cover and picked one that sounded good. Carmel seemed like a nice place. I’m a movie buff and liked the old Roger Corman and AIP films from the 50’s and 60’s. They shot many scenes at Carmel. Ragged rocks and endless deserted beaches by a stormy sea (I’m sure it looks quite different toady) so I knew about the place.

++ There is very little information on the web about the band. Is the “It’s Close to Carmel” the only release you put together? Where did you record the songs on this CD?

We recorded the tracks on a digital porta-studio and put them together at my place. It was all very low budget with crappy equipment and a very basic recording program. The process was pretty rushed and the music came out a bit sloppy. I surely wanted it to sound more sophisticated but we decided to keep the songs and that became our demo. Today I think they sound ok. I probably like Silhouettes the most because I recorded it myself and took some time on it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Some other people heard the demo like Henrik from Caroline Soul. He liked it and we arranged a show together. It went alright i guess. Playing live was always a double edged sword for me, it was quite a pleasurable pain. There wasn’t many shows after that one. I remember one we played an acoustic set on a outdoors festival with cows mooing in the background and I got stung by a bee. And one we played in Lund at a student-club where we won some best demo band price and was put on a compilation (the song ”Sandy”). There wasn’t many places for small bands to play and there really wasn’t any local scene. Malmö was much smaller town back then. And we were a lazy band. No one knew or cared about us because we never tried to promote ourselves or sell our record and we weren’t smart or trendy.

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

There were some problems in the group, lack of ambition and too many compromises. Jens and I didn’t work together very well. It was frustrating I quit many times and finally we decided to sink the ship. That must been around 2004. I made a promise to never play in a band again and the next thing I did was to join another band ha! That was Pet Squad. Jens started playing with Caroline Soul and Anders got married. I continued with my solo lo-fi project Mind Control Hands and had some success but that is another story. Today I play noisy and nostalgic music with a friend. The Band is called Tiny Bats and we are working on releasing a cassette in a couple of months.

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Listen
Close to Carmel – Let the Light In

Thanks to The Crooner, Skychild and Mr. Undecided for the interview! Impossible Tymes was a band that was related to the great scene that revolved around the This Happy Feeling scene in Greece in the early and mid 90s. Funny enough there songs weren’t released on this label, but they were on a few demo tapes and on a split 7″ on Elefant Records that they shared with Next Time Passions, a band they shared members with. If you have never heard about them, this is a good time to do so, as many of these classic Greek bands are getting new attention thanks to the work of the Make Me Happy label!

++ Hi all! When and how did Impossible Tymes start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

We met through music. One Night Suzan and Next Time Passions were the first indie pop bands in Greece. We played gigs together. Suddenly we realised Crooner (from ONS), Skychild (from NTP) and Mr.Undecided (also NTP) love psychedelic pop. And BANG !!

++ And where does the name of the band comes from?

From our popadelic subconscious !

++ How was the creative process for this band? Was it different compared to One Night Suzan? It was at Sunnyside Studio right?

Yes it was at Sunnyside studio, an old, low-ceiling but very sunny basement, filled with colors and music. There was an idea or a guitar riff and then together with wine, beers, laughter (and sometimes pizzas with Pepsis ) we started adding elements to that idea. i think the difference compared to the other bands was that we let it go, we were open-minded to the music we made and used any super power we had in our hands.

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

++ As far as I know the only release by Impossible Tymes was the split 7″ with Next Time Passions on Elefant in 1994. How come there was no release on a Greek label? Why there were no other releases by the band?

We were never really a Greek band.. We were (and still are) some friends sharing a passion for Psych pop. This was obviously not enough for the greek mega labels (ha ha). The plan was to release a 7″ on This Happy Feeling, but This Happy Feeling already had contact with Elefant ( we used to exchange singles with Elefant, we liked their stuff, they liked ours etc). This led to the idea of the split  single (2 This Happy Feeling bands released by Elefant!).

++ I read on a Greek blog about the first demo, that you had some extra help from members from Kissamatic Lovebubbles and Next Time Passions. What songs were on that demo? And who helped in the recording of this first demo?

Yes it’s true. We had friends from Pillow and Kissamatic Lovebubles and others, anyone was welcome to join us. The demo was titled IMPOSSIBLE TIMES and songs are THE THINGS YOU LOVE, A BRISTOL SUN BEHIND ME, OBVIOUSLY IN LOVE and a cover of Biff Bang Pow! WOULDN’T YOU. We had extra help from George (lead singer of Pillow) and Alexandros (from Pillow too) . Konstantinos (the drummer of KLB) helped us later, for some live gigs).

++ There was another demo tape which was called “Popadelic”. Was wondering about this second tape, if you remember what songs were in it and if it was similar the recording as the first one?

In “Popadelic” we didn’t collaborate so much with friends from other bands. It was mostly the 3 of us, and I would say the sound was more psychedelic than pop, whereas the first tape was more pop than psychedelic…The opening track was called “Intro” (not a very original title…) in which we played different instruments than usual (e.g. Crooner played bass, which is what Skychild normally did…etc). This was a really weird and unique instrumental gem….Some other standout tracks were “Maybe Tomorrow” and “I can hear the stars”…

++ You did appear on many compilations during the 90s mostly. There aer a few that I’ve never heard about like the one called “Psychedelic Gew-Gaw Presents: Universal Mind”. This was part of a magazine in Greece, right? Care telling me a bit about it? Who were they? Did they normally support indiepop bands?

Sorry, we don’t remember anything …

++ I knew about the “Pop Secrets” compilation on Noise Records, but there was another compilation released by Noise called “See Dee”. I believe it is a mix of guitar pop and electronic music. I have a feeling that at this point the indiepop scene of Greece was moving on, moving towards electronic experimentation in a sense. Why do you think this happened? Why was indiepop kind of left behind? Was it because of lack of support perhaps? or just the normal course of things?

‘Don’t look back’ and ‘Shape of things to come’ are two of our favourite 60s songs…the titles and  lyrics are your answer !

++ Then there’s one tape called “A Love Like Lead!” that was released in Japan with had so many great bands in it. Again if you have any background info of it, that’d be great!

A Japanese compilation?? We had no idea about it. Tell us more…

++ You did a cover of The Field Mice’s “Coach Station Reunion” and Biff Bang Pow’s “Wouldn’t You”, were this easy choices? Are they perhaps some of your favourite songs? Did you use to play any other covers?

Yes, all three of us loved these songs and these bands…we also played “Stars Die” by Porcupine Tree at one gig…maybe we did some more covers, but memories are lost in the mist of time…

++ What about unreleased tracks?

There were “lost tapes” like every band has. But now we found the lost tapes and they’re not lost any more hahahaha…. so from those tapes we have a “NOS” in the Make Me Happy Records compilation ” A sparkle from the past”. Find it and enjoy it !

++ Maybe there are future plans to get all these songs reissued at some point?

Future is not here yet, so wait and see …

++ It is hard to pick one, but I think my favorite Impossible Tymes track is “Dreambrushpaint”, was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this song?

We chose  some great chords, then added a bunch of dreamy lyrics, re-worked a couple of  sections from favourite psychedelic songs, put all these in a pop blender and served  it with a twist of crazy innocence…

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

All the songs we made are our favorites, so we can’t choose only one.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We did some special appearances with extra help of course. In one of them we performed wearing masks!

++ When and why did Impossible Tymes stop making music? 

I don’t think we stopped. We still make music but you just don’t know it. No one knows 🙂

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

We never split up, we are just in different coordinates (north, south, west…). We just need the planets to align !

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

We always have attention from the press, we just don’t know it.

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

Living the psychedelic pop dream

++ Thanks again! I am really enjoying these interviews and learning more about the fantastic Greek scene of the 90s. Anything else you’d like to add?

All answers were by Crooner and Skychild. Mr Undecided couldn’t decide if he wanted to answer.!!

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Listen
Impossible Tymes – Dreambrushpaint

Thanks so much to Chris Munday for the interview! I wrote about the West London band Accent on the blog some time ago and Chris got in touch and was willing to tell me a bit more about the great band he was in in the early 80s! If you have never heard about them, it is time to discover them!

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

My pleasure thank you for asking me to do this interview, I’m doing ok thank you still doing a little bit of songwriting with a friend from my last ever band Salad not the band of the same name that stole our name that featured a certain MTV presenter lol, just ideas.

++ 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 memories my Mum and Dad had a band in the 60s no one famous and I remember seeing them play and really growing up in that environment so music was always playing, I’m self taught started playing drums around 16, I always remember hearing on the radio the song “Woodstock” and “Killing Me Softly” sticks in my mind bands like 10cc and just general chart stuff early 70s then I got into Rock then the punk bands Stiff Little Fingers, The Motors, The Damned.

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

My first band I was in were called Mayhem really fast punk band around 1979,then Les Verbal Screamers,Then Fear we used to be The Meteors regular support act in London,not sure what bands the other guys were in before Accent and there is a live Fear recording from 1981 as a support act to the Meteors at the 100 club in Oxford street but I don’t have a copy sadly although its out there somewhere.

++ Where were you from originally, West London?

Yes I was born in Paddington lived in Notting Hill gate through the 60s then the 70s in Harrow North West London.

++ How was your town at the time of Accent? 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?

Harrow and surrounding area has produced quite a few artist over the years Elton John was from Pinner, Simon Le Bon Duran Duran, Iain Baker Jesus Jones and Jamie Stewart, The Cult bass player, went to the same school as me. There was a venue called the Roxborough pub many punk bands played there including Gothic punk band Ritual. Jamie Stewart’s first band before he joined Deathcult then The Cult. Record shop called Sellenby in South Harrow still going but in Ruislip now was my local.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process? Is it true you joined the band through an advert in a music paper?

Accent started in 1981 Brian and Mick formed the band, I joined in 1982 I took over from John Webb who was drummer at the time who was Gary Numan’s foster brother he left and played saxophone for a while in his touring band,we also had Guitarist Robin Yates who joined at the same time as me he played Keyboard on the single, I saw the advert in a music paper and went for the audition and got the job.

At the same time that I joined Accent in 1982, Robin Yates joined. Robin had taken over from a guitarist with the name Dave. Sorry I don’t remember his second name. And then Robin was replaced a few months before we recorded “We Are Lost” with Steve Flynn.

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

We used to rehearse at first in a School in Hounslow then at Survival studio in Acton West London Brian was the main guy for all the arrangement with Mick adding the music but we all threw in ideas.

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

Mainly The Jam and The Police various punk bands but the Jam were the main influence.

++ You only released one 7″ in 1984. It was on a label called Motion Records. Tell me a bit about the label. Who were behind it? Was it yourselves?

Yes Motion Records was a self financed label that Brian created to put the single out.

++ The 7″ had two songs, “We Are Lost” and “(Intro) Blue & Royal Line”. Both were recorded at Abbey Road Studios and were produced by Tony Clark. How was that experience? Was it the first time going to a proper studio?

It was an a real experience the studio and working with Tony Clark was amazing his knowledge of music is incredible he worked with The Beatles was engineer on 2 Paul Mcartney and Wings albums his work with John Lennon Stevie Wonder so working with Tony was brilliant.we had all been in studio before doing various bits.

++ What about before this 7″? Did you have any other recordings? Perhaps demo tapes?

There are demos from a studio in Euston and a live Albums worth of material we recorded in Manchester Square of which only Brian has a copy in fact i spoke to Tony 2 days ago and he wants to get that copy and put it out if he makes contact with Brian.

++ Were there any compilation appearances by the band?

No.

++ And are there many more unreleased tracks by the band? Have you ever thought of putting together some sort of retrospective?

No unreleased tracks.

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

Blue and Royal Line and Northern British Solders Son melodic tracks loved playing them and If only which was really catchy song.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? How was the gig at Stamford Bridge?

As a band we played 50 or so gigs, I never played Stamford Bridge I had 3 months out the band before returning this was for personal reasons a few months after we did “We Are Lost”.

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

Kings Head Casual beat club but my favorites was the Greyhound Fulham and Rock Garden.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Can’t remember bad gigs.

++ You also were involved with a club called the Casual Beat club. What was that about?

The Casual Beat Club was upstairs of the Kings Head, Fulham.

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

Can’t remember exactly I left then soon after band split not sure reason why, I went on to form Salad with Martin Collison and Mick Lewis and Mick and Brian started Turquoise Blue.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

Yes reunion was talked about but only if we ever found Brian and if Mick still was up for it I definitely would do in fact 3 years ago I was speaking through social media to Peter Hooton The Farm singer and he thought we had reformed and offered us a support at the O2 which would of been amazing if we had been back together I have talked with Tony Clark about this also it all depends on Mick and Brian the interest is definitely there.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

No radio play at all.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention? You were on the cover of Sounds once, right? How did that happen?

We got a press interest we got a 2 page spread in sounds just after we recorded We Are Lost which i done Mick has a copy still of us then a couple of months later during my 3 months out the front cover.through Garry Bushell editor of sounds.

++ Then not so long ago there was a documentary called “Casuals” were Accent was featured. Were you in this film? Have you seen it? What do you think?

The song was featured and Mick is in it and Garry Bushell I have not seen it but Cass Pennant did send me a copy a few years back.

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

Recording the single “We Are Lost”.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have? Are you a Chelsea fan?

Queens Park Rangers. Hobbies wise not really any but my family and Christian faith are my life now.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

I enjoyed my 3 and a bit years less 3 months lol in Accent I was a bit gutted I must admit having done all the recordings and playing on the single to miss out on the cover shoot and most of the press photos have been of the band during my 3 months out of the band but that was then, my faith has replaced any disappointment I had then. Looking forward to that runion gig though if it ever happens.

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Listen
Accent – We Are Lost