Thanks so much to Péter Palátsik for the interview! The Legendary Bang, well, they are legendary in my book! They were a fantastic band from Itzehoe/Hamburg in the late 80s, early 90s, that released a couple of singles on Marsh-Marigold, both of them truly fantastic. Fast guitars, frantic guitars, great energy, and catchy lyrics mixed with boy and girl vocals, were their trademark. They should have been big! Enjoy the interview!

++ Hello Péter! How are you doing? Whereabouts in Germany are you these days?

I live in Berlin, which supposedly is the coolest city in the world, but honestly since I stopped going out much, I can’t really tell anymore. I see many tourists who seem to enjoy themselves very much. No, honestly, if you think about music, Berlin is maybe not the most vibrant place to be. Berlin is all about fashion, art and maybe clubbing.

++ How did The Legendary Bang start? Was it your first band?

Phew, let my try to remember. It’s such a long time ago. I guess it all started with the C86 sampler and the Smiths breaking up in 87, or so. Jens, Martin and me, we were schoolmates and I guess, Jens maybe had the idea to form a band.
Maybe you also need to ask him these questions. Jens was always the one documenting everything we did with the band, also having the idea and the urge to record the first sessions on tape and trying to sell them on the school yard. He always had a very good sense of marketing.

++ Who were the members? How did the recruiting process work out?

First it was Jens, Martin and me and two other friends. They left the band soon, though, as soon as we started to actually play instruments, play more gigs. It took several tapes with weird noisy songs that sounded more like BIG FLAME on drugs than real music.
When I moved to Hamburg and met Oliver from Marsh Marigold, the whole thing became much more serious and when Britta and Sandra joined the band, we actually only then really became a band.

++ Where does the name The Legendary Bang comes from?

You should ask Jens, he knows the answer, I don’t really remember, haha!

++ How did you find out about indiepop? Who would you say were the main influences of the band? Just out of curiosity, were you big fans of The Wedding Present?

I started listening to THE SMITHS, when I went on a school trip to England in 84, or 85. They were a revelation to me as much as bands like ORANGE JUICE, THE GO-BETWEENS or THE PALE FOUNTAINS, AZTEC CAMERA, THE STYLE COUNCIL, etc. But the C86 sampler was like a bible to me. The last song on the record was My favourite dress by THE WEDDING PRESENT and that was the moment I thought: “I want to play music!” I started to learn how to play guitar and because it was so difficult, I was actually mostly interested in playing very, very fast!
So, yes, the WEDDING PRESENT were a major influence. Still, when I listen to early Weddoes, it gives my the chills of pure excitement.

++ Those late 80s, early 90s, in Germany seem to have had lots of noteworthy guitar pop bands. Why did you think that happened? What do you think triggered that?

Good question. Maybe it started with BERND BEGEMANN and his band DIE ANTWORT or with the FAST WELTWEIT cassette sampler. Suddenly from everywhere bands popped up and played wonderful music. At those times everyone wanted to be in a band. Strangely enough not much of it is still left. Most bands are forgotten. Who still knows DIE FÜNF FREUNDE, although I still believe, they are until today the best German pop band, ever!

++ How was it like in Itzehoe? Were there any other bands there? Did you ever move to Hamburg?

Itzehoe was hell and I always wanted to leave as soon as possible. In retrospect we had a pretty fun time, though. I guess, especially Jens, Martin and me, we made the best of it. And having a band was like being in a gang, or so. Than, after high school, I was the first one who moved to Hamburg, because I started studying. There I met Oliver Goetzl at a GO-BETWEENS concert and we immediately connected. He was very upbeat and talking about his label, selling records from a plastic bag. He then listened to one of our obscure tapes and wanted us to record a 7″. Oliver actually was the very first person who said that we were good, haha! Until then we were just hanging out in Jens’ bedroom, torturing our instruments and screaming nonsense over pure noise and silly beats from a Roland TR-303.

++ As follows from the fact that Germany is not known as a bastion for indiepop or the kind of music that Marsh-Marigold would release, how did it feel coming from a town like Itzehoe, and then being known the world over, at least in the indiepop scene?

We didn’t feel special or anything, at least not for me. I just wanted to get out and I also didn’t take the whole band thing too serious. Like I never wanted to be a musician, I always wanted to make movies. Actually the first time I met some very nice Japanese guys at the last Sarah-Records event who not only knew our band but also where totally excited to meet me, while HEAVENLY were playing on stage, I realized for the first time that maybe some people out there actually may have liked what we did.

++ I read that even before signing to Marsh-Marigold, you were already friends with Oliver. How come? Did you go to Hamburg often?

As I said, I met Oliver at a GO-BETWEENS concert. SO, please see above.
Meeting Oliver with his spiky earring and his energy and love for music, or Sonja Commentz or Henning Fristzenwalder from DIE FÜNF FREUNDE, who both still are very close friends of my who I love dearly, was like meeting the coolest people on earth.

++ How did you get a deal with Marsh-Marigold? Was it with contracts and all, or just a handshake and some good German beer?

We never signed anything. Mainly because Oliver was afraid that as soon as Marsh-Marigold would become too big he would have to pay taxes. We also paid for the studio and the producer, who was Carol von Rautenkranz, the guy who discovered TOCOTRONIC.

++ Speaking of which, which is your favourite beer?

Haha, I don’t drink much. Since I live in Berlin, I sometimes like to drink Astra, because it’s this shabby beer from Hamburg. But I like it.

++ You started quite noisy but during time you became more and more mellow. Was there any reason behind that?

Very simple: We actually learned to play our instruments. Still Jens for example refused to play anything else than C, G or D minor because everything else was rock music in his opinion.

++ How do you remember your gigs? Were there always a big crowd? What are the ones you remember the most?

I remember we once had a smoke machine. Where was that, again? Anyway. We played in front of 10 people and sometimes more. Once we played a festival in Leipzig and the place was packed! I remember we rocked that place.

++ First 7″ was “Big Bluff”, and it’s great! Was it the first time you went into a recording studio? How was that experience?

Thanks you for the compliment. That is very kind of you. That was actually really the first time we went to a studio and the recording took ages. We also paid for the whole thing ourselves, because Oliver never had any money to pay for the studio.
Recording was difficult for us, because suddenly we had to play very exact and precise. Two things that didn’t really fit to us. I remember we had a few fights and I also remember sitting in the mixing and didn’t hear any differences. We recorded the record in one day and had, I guess two days of mixing, which didn’t interest me at all, because I could never hear any difference.

++ Your second 7″ was dedicated to “Louise Brooks”. Why? Were you a big fan of hers?

Henning from DIE FÜNF FREUNDE was always in love with Audrey Hepburn and me, I was obsessed with Louise Brooks. She had the most astonishing career, being one of the most beautiful women of her time and when she had enough of acting she worked as a salesgirl in New York. She also was a heavy drinker and married a millionaire, just to divorce him only a few months later. She just didn’t care what others were thinking of her. She even had a one-night affair with Greta Garbo and she at that time we recorded the record was my ideal of the woman I wanted to be in love with and because I had just read her biography LULU IN HOLLYWOOD, I convinced the others to pay tribute to her by naming the record after her.

++ On this record you released maybe my favourite songs of yours: “The Sound of Love”. Care to tell me the story behind this song? It’s so good!

I wrote that song because I loved TALULAH GOSH so much at that time and wanted to do something with a similar energy. Also Jens and me always talked about the perfect pop song which in our opinion had to be under 2 minutes. That’s actually why it’s so fast and has no C-part. Sandra was suffering so much playing the drum part that fast to keep the song short and if you listen carefully, you hear how much she is struggling to keep the tempo straight. I still love the song and I think it’s maybe one of the best songs, we ever recorded. It’s a sweet and simple pop song. Carol von Rautenkranz maybe had the biggest influence on the song. He totally understood what the songs needed and kept it very pure and simple. He also had the idea to tweak Britta’s voice for the background singing of the song.

++ Have you seen the “Happy” video made by a Japanese fan on Youtube? It’s really fun!! Why didn’t you make a video back in the day?

I like it a lot and am still proud of that video. I don’t know the story behind it, though. Btw. I just watched the women’s football finale and the Japanese women played brilliantly against the USA.

++ What about the artwork of both 7″s, where did you get those photos?

Jens is the master mind behind the art work. He can definitely tell you more, if you ask him.

++ Oh! and what about this… is there any secret formula to make short songs? Seems nobody can do so these days!

I don’t know, we had so many ideas and songs we wanted to play, but for example at a concert we always played with one or two more bands which left us with maybe half an hour of stage time. We actually only tried to play as much songs as possible. Also we were still influenced by Punk, where the songs can be very short as well. Especially Jens listened to a lot of Punk music. And any song longer than 3 minutes was Hard Rock and lame. An exception was playing some noisy wall of guitar sound for ages at the end of a song, just like MY BLOODY VALENTINE or THE WEDDING PRESENT. That was fun to play.
Actually at that time lots of it was sort of ideology. Short songs like in Punk music, also THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN never played a concert longer than 30 minutes – and we liked that idea a lot. A while we only played 10 songs and whenever we had a new one, an old song had to go, so we always only played the best songs we had.

++ You moved to Budapest, right? Why was that? Didn’t you miss much being in the band?

I started studying directing and screenwriting at the film school in Budapest. I didn’t give up playing music, though. With two class mates from film school we formed a band called RADIATING HAPPINESS and I played solo as ELSEWHERE for quite a while. I had written tons of songs during that period, but never recorded anything which is a shame. I still regret that.

++ When and why did the band split? What did you all do after?

The split up is a sad part of the story and I think I rather not talk about it, especially because when we met for rehearsing for this one gig at the 10 year Marsh-Marigold festival, there was suddenly this guy singing the songs I had written and sung. After I had left the band, they had continued with a friend of Jens, singing and when we rehearsed I felt like I had to beg for singing my own songs. That was sad.

++ What do you think of Kristallin’s tribute song “The Legendary Bang”?

Great song, great band! I wish them all the best!!!

++ Is there any chance that the band will ever reform? Maybe even for a one off?

You never know, although I’d be quite surprised. If we might play again, I promise we play “Sound of love”!

++ On the Twee.net there is a Legendary Bang CDR listed as “Noisepop Helden aus Flethsee”, what was that about?

Flethsee is the hometown of Jens.

++ Are there any unreleased tracks of the band still? Have you ever thought of putting together some sort of retrospective compilation?

Jens is working on something, I suppose. But there are no unreleased tracks as far as I know.

++ What are you doing these days? Do you still play music? What other hobbies do you have?

I write screenplays for movies and television and direct commercials and movies. With Henning from DIE FÜNF FREUNDE and CAMPING we were thinking of recording a bossa nova version of a LEGENDARY BANG song, let’s see what comes out of it.
For my movies I like writing music or working closely with the composer on the soundtrack. I also still have a few songs that are waiting to be recorded once. Maybe with the new techniques like Garage Band. Let’s see 😉

++ One last question, and I need some suggestions here. I think I’m going to Hamburg later this year and I want to visit another cool town around and I already knew Lübeck. Is there any other nice town worth a visit around there?

Come to Berlin and we have beer together!

++ Thanks a lot Péter! It was great fun to interview you! Anything else you’d like to add?

These were a lot of questions. If I think of anything else, I write to you.

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Listen
The Legendary Bang – Sound of Love

Thanks so much to Steve Fanning for getting in touch and for the interview! Great Scott has been a band I’ve been trying to track down for so long since I fell in love with “You’re Off Again” years ago thanks to a mix CD a friend sent me. Later I was able to find the Hoopla tape reissue on vinyl and wrote a bit about the band on the blog. Happily there are many more songs, some which I’ve heard already and they are truly fantastic! Hopefully there will be more news about an upcoming release soon!  For now, enjoy the interview!

++ Hi Steve! Thanks so much for being up to this interview! How are you doing?

I am doing very well thank you. Nice to hear from you once again.

++ The information about Great Scott on the web is almost nonexistent. So let’s start from the beginning, you were based in Brighton, right? was Great Scott your first band?

Great Scott was a band, formed and based in Brighton.

++ How did the band start? Who were the members? How did you all new each other?

It comprised of Howard Bathos, Claire Bower, Steve Fanning, Bill Cox of How Many Beans Make Five, the Popguns and The 14 Iced Bears fame on Drums and our Bass Player, Jake. A previous member, Neil Jones, was on Bass prior to me, Steve Fanning, on vocals and guitar, joining along with my Bass Player from another, Jake.

All of us, including How Many Beans Make Five and the Popguns lived in various shared houses together around this period, i.e. 1987-1992. We all knew each other from college or just the social scene in which we were involved.

++ Why the name Great Scott?

The name Great Scott I believe was penned by Howard Bathos, as a sort of very English exclamation.

++ Did you gig a lot? Do you remember any gigs in particular? Where was the furthest you played from Brighton?

Unfortunately, we did not that many Gigs, probably between five and six Gigs. Two of which were at the old Escape Club in Brighton, which was then known as the Apple Orchard’s, supporting the Chesterfields and the Brilliant Corners. We then did to Gigs supporting How Many Beans Make Five, one in Horsham, at a Club called Champagnes and another at Ilkley College in Yorkshire.

Claire and I also did a Charity Gig for Brighton Housing Trust as a two piece, backed up by two work colleagues/

++ The first song I ever heard from you was the trumpet-licious “You’re Off Again” on the Hoopla reissue on vinyl. How did all those trumpet lines came about? And if you don’t mind, care telling me the story behind the song?

The Trumpet’licious ‘You’re Off Again’ was put onto the Hoopla Tape, which was organised of Grant Lyons of La De Da Records.

Claire is responsible for the lovely Trumpet tones, just as she is on ‘The Very Best Part’.

++ The Hoopla tape was originally released by La Di Da, perhaps the most important Brighton label at the time. How do you remember the scene around it during those years? You know, How Many Beans Make Five, John Cunningham, Grant’s Kitchen?

The scene at that time, and in particular those bands on the Hoopla Tape, including John Cunningham, with whom I actually did a great deal of backing singing on his solo albums, during the 90’s, was typical of all the bands knowing each other and playing in the same venues, as well as drinking in the same haunts.

I did actually attend a coupled of Gigs in Grant’s Kitchen, most notably the How Many Beans Make Five, in or around 1986/1987. They were legendary.

++ The second song I heard from you was  “The Very Best Part”. How did that one ended on the Kite tape? Do you remember who made it? Are there any anecdotes behind this song?

‘The Very Best Part’ was a song that I wrote reflecting back on a relationship that had ended a year or so previously and I presented it to the band, which thankfully liked it too and agreed to record it to be on the Kite tape compilation. This was produced and engineered by Grant Lyons of La De Da Records, as of Hoopla Fame.

++ Lately I’ve heard four more songs of yours, how many songs did you recorded? Care listing them? And which one is your favourite?

Unfortunately, we did not do a great deal of recording, although there was a whole stack of songs waiting to be recorded, some of which I have recorded subsequently and some of which I did actually play in fledgling bands with John Cunningham, although we never unfortunately got much further out of the Studio.

I suppose by favourite is ‘The Very Best Part’ and ‘Another Part of Town’. ‘Another Part of Town’ was one of the very first songs I wrote, really inspired by a kind of Buddy Holly feel as you can probably hear.

Unfortunately, it didn’t offer anything back in the day as we really didn’t push ourselves. I suppose we were all pursuing other avenues and it is only when I look back that I wish we had concentrated more, and at least for prosperity, or our own satisfaction, recorded more than we did.

++ Why didn’t you get to release anything back in the day? Weren’t there any offers?

I don’t believe we received any offers, but then again, as I say, we did not really put ourselves about as we should have done.

++ So when and why did you split? You moved to the States after, right?

The split really just happened. I went to live in the States, when I actually returned a Year later, to a house that I was then sharing with the ‘Beans’, they all moved over to the States, but unfortunately I never reformed the band with Claire. By that time, the other band members had actually gone and of course we lost our drummer in Bill, when he went to the States with the rest of the ‘Beans’.

++ What was your favourite thing about San Francisco? Any favourite places there? Do you think live int he US is very different to the one in UK?

Living in San Francisco was absolutely brilliant. It is very similar to Brighton insofar as it is quite bohemian and multicultural place with a great laid-backed attitude and not dissimilar in its architecture and social scene.

++ What are you doing nowadays?

These days, I am a Solicitor in Brighton. I have a small practice together with another person who deals in Immigration Law, and I do mainly Family and general Litigation.

I spend most of the Summer doing as many of the Festivals as possible. I am very fortunate that a friend of mine, who runs a Marquee Company, very kindly ensures that I get to go along to as many as possible.

++ What would you say, looking back, was your highlight as Great Scott?

My highlight of Great Scott was probably the funny ol’trip we took up to Ilkley College. For some reason the promoter there, and his girlfriend, had booked How Many Beans and us as their support. When we arrived we discovered that it was Half-Term, that there was no one else on Campus apart from these two and the Janitor. We actually then did a Gig, which was mainly attended by lots of our friends who lived nearby, i.e. Manchester, and those who had come up for the road trip, only to then descend upon the promoters Halls of

Residence to spend the night.

They were quite naïve types and I am not quite sure that they knew what had hit them.

++ I may go to Brighton next month, I wouldn’t mind if you give me some tips on what to see, where to eat, in your town…

If you come to Brighton, which I very much invite you to do, then of course do look me up, then I would suggest picking up one of the Listings Magazines and you will find plenty to do Gig wise and any otherwise.

++ Thanks again a lot, anything else you’d like to add?

All I would like to add Roque is thank you very much for the kind words that you wrote about our Band and our songs. Keep enjoying your music.

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Listen

Great Scott – The Very Best Part

Thanks so much for Phil Paterson for the interview! A month ago I wrote about the great Scottish band Future World Moves. Happily Phil got in touch with me and was up for answering some questions! It’s a great read, and yes, if you are in Scotland, you have to try haggis, neeps and tatties, I look forward to some of that next Monday in Glasgow! Enjoy!

++ Hi Phil! How are you? Any exciting plans for this summer?

I am planning a trip with my wife to the north of Scotland this august to Applecross for two weeks. Ahh peace and quiet!

++ So you’ve always been based in Livingston, right? Was there any music scene there at all? Any bands that you’d recommend from when you were around?

In the early 80’s and 90’s we were based in Livi. There was a music scene then but it was predominantly punk or heavy metal, of which we were neither. This was never a problem for us as we all drew our influences from both sources and drew an audience from both genres.

The bands that I could recommend would be punk bands like, the Skrotees, Bayoneting Babies or Goodbye Mr Mackenzie who were from just outside Livingston in a place called Bathgate. The later of which the backing singer/keyboard player went on to front Garbage.

++ I saw that Livingston is kind of in the middle of Glasgow and Edinburgh. What are the advantages of that? Music-wise and living there?

Being stuck in the middle between the two cities meant we did not really suffer from the long standing rivalry between the two. We could easily go to either city and be warmly welcomed. Livingston after all was a major overspill from Glasgow in the late 60’s to mid 70’s.

++ Let’s talk about the band. First and foremost, what came first the song Future World Moves or the name of the band? Where did you get that phrase from?

I believe the band name came first but don’t quote me on that after all it has been a few years down the line and my memory may not be quite as sharp as it once was, ok, so its isn’t as sharp as it once was. The first name I can remember us having for the band was Suspended Moves. But this may have came from the merger of FWM (Bren and Gerry) with (Bob and myself). In the very early stages of the band one of our first songs was named Future Moves, I can only take it that it came from the creative mind of Gerry or Bren.

++ So was this your first band? Who were the members and how did you knew each other?

This was our first attempt at a real band, previous to that Bob and I were learning how to play, whereas Gerry and Bren previously had a school band together. We were very fortunate that we all grew up together so we were friends long before we were band members. This stood us in good stead. It meant we had by passed the teething problems that most young bands go through after being together for a few years. I have known Bob since I was 7years old, Gerry since he was 3years old Bren since I was 19years old and Alex was a later addition for me but knew the rest of the guys from school.

++ Did you really were around 1981 to 1991?

Yeah i guess we were around for that length of time although it never felt long to us. I can only attribute that to us being friends first.

++ You were telling me you were more of a live band than a studio band. So what would you say were your three best gigs, and why?

We loved playing live. We had a powerful sound live of which we never really managed to capture in the studio environment. The studio did help to fine tune our playing and writing skills but you could not beat that live raw emotive sound that we produced.

++ I hear some Chameleons in your tracks, could it be? Who would you say influenced your sound?

Funnily enough I don’t believe any of us had ever listened to the Chameleons. It was one I had to check out when you made the comment. I could see where you were coming from. Our influences have been so varied. Reggie, Punk, Classical, Heavy Metal, you name it we would listen to it. I must admit though I was huge Clash fan and still am. Great music never really fades away.

++ So only one release, the 12″, right? There seems to be a bunch of unreleased tracks though. What happened? Why didn’t you get to release more records?

We were in the studio a few times before we decided to release the mini album in 1988. Anytime we could all club together to make a recording then we would do. But to create the album was another story. Firstly the cost was beyond us and secondly we had no management or record company that showed any interest at the time. So it was an exercise in business for us to release the album under our own label and do all the foot work ourselves. With the help of a local financial backer and distribution company we managed to record, print and distribute 1000 albums only as a limited edition. So trying to get one now is almost impossible. Saying that I found a record shop in Tokyo, Japan selling obscure vinyl records. Low and behold they had our album for sale. None of us have any idea how it managed to make its was to Tokyo 23 years later. Well, I guessed I could have walked quicker.

++ Let’s talk about the release. It is wonderful! I think my favourite song is “This Particular Day”. Would you care telling me the story behind this song?

This Particular Day is a song about waking up in the Scottish highlands listening to the crashing waves of the sea on the shore and being completely overawed by the splendour of the Scottish landscape. Leaving you with a feeling that anything in life is possible.

++ And what about your favourite song on it?

My personal favourite is ‘Its Time’. We were always very political in our content and this song just said it all for me. It was also the most unusual chord sequence that I had ever played thanks to Gerry (chord master) McCart. But my favourite songs never made it to the album, but that’s a story for another time.

++ And what about that photo on the cover? Where was it taken?

The photograph was take by myself, hence the reason for my absence. But I manage to get my face on the back cover. It was taken in the doorway of an old street in Edinburgh called Niddry Street just of the Royal Mile. These were underground living quarters over a hundred years ago possibly two, where people would literally live under the streets in the pitch blackness and dampness. It was used at the time of the photograph as practice rooms. It was so dangerous to practice there because of the dampness. For example, I can remember us all being in there in the dark and damp standing on wooden crates so as not to be electrocuted with the 6inches of water on the floor. Crazy times.

++ Looking back, how do you remember those late 80s? It feels it was the heyday of guitar pop, you agree? What were your highlights being on Future World Moves?

I loved the 80’s. The music was just on the turn again with the new wave and new romantics, none of which really moved us. Punk gave us the inspiration to play anything we wanted. We felt that we didn’t need to fit into a certain genre or pigeon hole. I would say there are to many highlights to name them all but first and foremost having the opportunity to grow with your mates and have a great time creating music did it for me.

++ Why did you split? Are you all still in touch? What do you do these days?

Its difficult to say exactly why we split. I’m sure there were many reasons. Personally, I had a young family to take care of and had to concentrate my efforts to make some cash. We have never stopped being in touch even though Bob(the bass) now lives in the land of Oz. The rest of us still play together in some form or other.

++ You are now in a cover band called “We’re Not Iguanas”, care to tell me a bit about that?

WNI was formed to have a bit of fun as a collective between quite a few musicians. We wanted to just gig but do it locally and consistently playing songs we loved from our past. So Were Not Iguanas was born.

++  And what about original music? Are you still making any? I’d love to hear!

We are still creating original music albeit a little slower than in the past. As you said in a comment on your blog, Life does get in the way.

Its not something I thing we could easily give up. Its in our blood.

++ As you are Scottish, I must ask, do you know how to make a good haggis, neeps and tatties? What would be your favourite Scottish food?

With due care and attention, and definitely not in the nude! My favourite Scottish food is Haggis Neeps and Tatties funny enough.

++ One last question, why does Scotland always produce great music?

What can I say? We are just very talented creative people. I guess if you suppress something (people) long enough eventually something has to pop. And so I guess we are lucky it comes out in a creative manner and not any other way.

++ Thanks again so much, anything else you’d like to add?

I would just like to say many thanks to yourself for this opportunity to chat about the album and band Future World Moves. Its been a while. Rock on Roque, keep up the great work.

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Listen
Future World Moves – This Particular Day

Thanks so much to Chris Lewington for the interview! I had written about the amazing Bicycle Thieves on the blog some months ago and I was lucky that some days ago Chris got in touch and filled in the gaps! Ghostdance is one of the best songs I’ve discovered this year, and now after reading this interview, I like it much more. Enjoy!

++ So The Bicycle Thieves… was it your first band? How did the band start? How did the recruiting process work?

The band was my third proper band. There’s a sort of thin line of progression of band members through my other bands. I was first with The Silence a sort of new Psychedellic band around 1981/2. There was a bit of a scene in London then of bands doing late 60’s psychedellic influenced stuff and we drew quite a lot from American 60’s bands like Love and the Byrds. Theres a compilation album called Splash of Colour of bands of that time that The Silence have a track on. The Silence morphed into The Habit, a bit more Gothie type of thing and that in turn became the Bicycle Thieves around 1985 with myself, Steve Penfold the drummer from the Habit and Graham Robson bass and Alisdair Nelson guitar recruited from adverts in the music press.This was the line up that recorded Louise/Ghostdance. Later on Dave Goode replaced Graham and Mark Burdett replaced Alisdair when he went back to New Zealand. Plus a sax player Ian Derbyshire and this line up recorded Waterfront.

++ Where were you based? And why the name?

We were based around south east London Deptford area as that’s where most of us were living at the time and its always been one of those areas in London that has a vibrant music scene going. I’ve always been a bit of a film buff, in fact I came to London to college at film school at the LCP.So I fancied the name of the Italian film as quite a poetic name for a band. So have several other groups through the years it would seem.

++ Did you gig a lot? Are there any particular gigs you remember?

We gigged mostly around London. Later on we went further afield and did gigs up and down England. Only ever gigged once abroad at a festival in Po in France which was one of the more memorable gigs. Gigs at the Marquee in London were always special because of the places association with all the classic bands that have played there.

++ Were there any bands that you enjoyed the most to play with at gigs? And how close did you feel to the guitar pop scene, the so called c86, that had just exploded in the UK?

I can’t say I was particularly aware of any c86 scene at the time. I was mostly influenced by American west coast bands from the 60’s and more singer songwriter stuff and then when people like REM, Lloyd Cole, maybe the Postcard bands came along they had something in common. Alasdair the guitarist was a fan of early REM and added that essential jangly guitar sound. Later on Alisdair left and his replacement Mark Burdett was a fan of the Australian band The Church so later stuff like Waterfront has that sort of feel to it. We played with all sorts of other bands from Stiff Little Fingers to Captain Sensible.

++ Who were behind the Sun Zoom Spark label? Was there any major label interest?

Sun Zoom Spark and Clearspot were both our own labels. Both had a Cpt Beefheart link in the name. That came from Steve the drummer. Waterfront gained a lot of major label interest because we were getting it played on daytime BBC radio 1 and in those days there wasn’t the huge variety of radio stations that you have now. Apart from Capitol if you were listening to pop or rock radio it was going to be Radio 1. So for a brief point in time it created a stir because we were basically an indie band that had gatecrashed the majors party. We did a distribution deal and got a management company with the idea of keeping control over what we recorded and put out but now having the finance to do it on the back of this. But we were basically overtaken by events. It was 1989 and the Manchester Stone Roses/Happy Mondays thing started to happen. We kind of quickly became yesterdays news as everyone’s attention was focused on bands up north with more dance cross over rhythms.

++ Let’s talk about the releases! I’ve only got the Waterfront 12″ which is really nice. Care to tell me about the recording process for this one? And what about the photo on the cover? I find it very evoking!

Waterfront was recorded over a couple of days at Greyhound studios in Fulham. I’d written the song about all the redevelopment over in the docklands area of east London where I was living. The photo was one we found when we went to the docklands archive. As you say it was a very evocative photo. Don’t know who it is or who took it but it was taken in the past when the area was still dockyards and kind of evoked that sense of loss that the song was about.

++ I do have to say I enjoy the Ghostdance 7″ even though I still haven’t had the chance to find it. I find “Ghostdance” to be an underrated guitar pop classic! I was wondering if you could tell me the story behind the song? What’s the Ghostdance? 😉

Ghostdance started off with some guitar ideas that Alisdair had and we kind of worked on them and I came up with a top line melody and we fashioned it into the song. We didn’t write a lot of songs together and that was a shame because when we did get down to co writing we came up with some good stuff. I know on your blog you’ve mentioned about the Native Americans story of the Ghostdance and I was aware of that at the time but really I was using the phrase more in terms of memory. It was a song about evoking and reminiscing so its the sort of dance of the ghosts of your memories type of thing.

++ And what about “Louise”? Was it based on a real Louise?

Louise was kind of inspired by a couple of relationships neither called Louise though. I kind of think of it as Bruce Springsteen meets Wuthering Hights.

++ So that was your whole discography? 2 releases? or maybe there were compilation tracks? Are there unreleased songs maybe?

There were just the two single releases Ghostdance/Louise in 86 and Waterfront in 89. The large gap between the two due to the collapse of the original band and getting the right people on board again for Bicycle Thieves mark 2. Dave and Ian who joined the band in about 88 saw us play our last gig at Queen Marys with the old line up. Mark the next guitarist was again a music press advert. Yeah there’s lots of unreleased songs. We had more than an albums worth of demos from around Waterfront time most of which are probably better quality recordings. We also re recorded Louise with Tony Visconti producing around that time.

++ I read that both your records received a good amount of National Radio airplay. Maybe you got played even by John Peel? How hard was it back then to get your music heard? In pre-internet times?

Getting you music heard was hard back then because there were few radio stations and the only one that really counted was radio 1. We were very in house. I was ringing up the radio producers and doing all the plugging. Ghostdance got plays with Janice Long on evening radio 1 and Waterfont got much more extensive radio play on Capitol and daytime radio 1. Mike Read of all people really like it and picked up on it and Tommy Vance played it a lot. John Peel was not a fan unfortunately.

++ Looking back in time, what would you say was the biggest highlight of The Bicycle Thieves?

The biggest high ight for me was definitely hearing Waterfront played for the first time on afternoon radio 1. I’d managed to get through to the producer of the show who said they might play it and then hearing it was just a great release of years of pent up hopes and frustration trying to get your music heard. There it was and you knew that another 20 million odd people up and down the country were hearing it too.

++ So what happened, why did you split up?

We split up in 1990 for the simple reason that we couldn’t get a record deal. We’d done a lot off our own back but in the end you need the finance to keep making records and at that time you needed a major record label. There’s been times in pops history where I think you could do it truly independently like in 76/77 but 89/90 wasn’t one of them and any ” indie ” labels at that time were usually backed by major money.

++ Have you been involved with music since?

My next band after the Bicycle Thieves was a folk type set up “The Famous Blue Raincoats” but we never ended up putting any singles out. After that I just did songwriting. I currently play live with a covers band still with the old Bicycle Thieves drummer Steve. We’re called Kings of Oblivion – another name used by umpteen other different bands.

++ What did The Bicycle Thieves consider themselves? Indiepop? Pop? Punk? Rock?

I guess I’d call the Bicycle Thieves indie. Indie is kind of as much about how you do things and put your music out and for the most part we were truly indie in that sense. As a sound we might have strayed a bit to much into mainstream rock maybe. I don’t know. People like the NME and John Peel ignored us maybe because our sound wasn’t indie enough but you know you make the music that you make. Others tell you what niche you fit into or don’t fit into.

++ One last question, well, two, as Im always curious about this with British people. Do you like Marmite? And, do you prefer a lager or a British ale?

I do like marmite. Better than vegemite. I usually use it in cooking to enhance the flavour of spinach with pasta. I drink beer and no its not warm its just not served ice cold like American beer. Lager is what they drink in Europe. Nothing beats a nice cool pint of foaming Old weassels testicle

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Listen
The Bicycle Thieves – Ghostdance

Thanks so much to Steve Hill for this interview! The Marmite Sisters were  a fantastic Leicester band in the late 80s and early 90s that released many tapes, 2 flexis and one 7″. Shambolic and fun, they are one of the era’s best kept secret. If you want to get a hold of both flexis you can do so by writing Steve to timebox11 [AT] btinternet.com. You can get both for £1.50 plus P+P depending on where you are in the world. Thanks again Steve, and enjoy the read.

++ Hi Steve! Thanks so much for being up for the interview. So I have to start with this question, is marmite your favourite spread?

Marmite’s OK but not my fave spread. It’s best on toast on a rainy winters day with a mug of tea.

++ You all were already in a band called Anonymouse before becoming The Marmite Sisters, what were the differences between these two bands? Did you get to release anything under Anonymouse?

The Anonymouse formed in 1984 when we were all 14.We did our first gig in Nov 85 and recorded some basic 4 track demos. We did a couple of Yeah Yeah Noh covers and were similar to their early releases. Name change came when the original drummer and bassist left.

++ So was Anonymouse your first band? Or had you been involved with music before? And how did you all knew each other?

Our first proper band. We were all at the same school.

++ And how did the name of the band come about?

The name came about after Graham had a dream about finding a dead mouse in a Marmite jar.

++ You were based in Glenfield, Leicestershire, right? I just read there are only 10,ooo inhabitants. What did you do there for fun?

Glenfield and fun are not words usually used together.

++ In the early days you released many tapes, how many of those songs appeared later on the flexis and the 7″? Do you happen to have the tracklist for the tapes “Kick Donkey”, “Songs of Love and Lawnmovers”, “Demos” and “Bowled A Googly”? Am I missing any other tape?

“Kick Donkey” (1988) was our debut release with the first “real” line up and the only one with Graham Barnfield on vocals. It was basically a practice tape recorded in Iain’s (bassist) bedroom but captured the band perfectly.8 songs in 20 minutes plus banter and mistakes.Shambolic but right. “Songs of love and Lawnmowers” (1989) had a more C86/jangly style and had two pop highlights in “I don’t wanna” and “Madman on the Bus”. After another line up change we released the “Tug” flexi (early 1991) and the “Bowled a Googly” tape. None of the tracks appeared on future releases.

++ And why release your stuff in tape? Was Tea Record & Tape Co. your own record label? If so, how did you like the business side of music?

Tapes were the cheapest and quickest way to release music. I ran Tea as a “hobby”. Flexis were preferable but money was short. We sold over 1200 flexis overall just from mail order and gigs which I felt was ok but hardly a viable business.

++ Did you play lots of gigs? What are the gigs you remember the most and why?

We gigged sporadically til 1991 and then heavily until late 94. Early highlights include supporting The Membranes, Poppyheads and Orchids. After that we had regular local gigs supporting bands like Stereolab, Moonshake, Huggy Bear, Eggs… Gigs with local bands such as Prolapse, Cornershop, Ammonites. Towards the end we did regular gigs with Gag and The Keatons mainly in London. We once let Huggy Bear use all our gear to do a impromtu set at a Piao gig. Was great to see them playing my guitar covered in trainspotting stickers.

++ How was the PIAO festival by the way? I would have loved to attend that!

We opened the Piao festival but i saw little of it. Remember the Beatnik Filmstars playing their guitars with beercans but little else.

++ Your sound is great, I love the fast guitars! Which other bands from that time did you empathize with?

I always felt we sounded like the Wedding Present crossed with the TV Personalities. I liked the shambling bands of the day but favoured bands like The Wolfhounds and McCarthy or the weirder Ron Johnson bands like Shrubs and A Witness. C86 was a great time as all these bands were so diverse.

++ Your first flexi was the Tug EP. It says there that the song “Trevor” was written by a band called Trevor. What is this all about?

Trevor was written by Neil whilst at Uni in Devon. The exact facts behind this are vague at best.

++ The second of your flexis was called Belper. What was your relationship with Belper, Derbyshire? Doesn’t look like much happens there?

Belper was chosen as a title only and not with any significance.Very little of what we did had any true depth.

++ Which of your songs is your favourite and why?

I like “I dont wanna” and “Madman on the bus” from the early line up. Its scratchy but tuneful and captures the early spirit.The flexis still sound good. I like “Nothing to get” of the Meller Welle single and “Semi Detached” + “Pre Nuptial” of the last recordings. I felt we actually sounded like a “real” band on these…..

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

We called it a day in late 95. The main reason for me was seeing Guided By Voices in Nottingham that year. Simply the greatest gig i’ve ever seen and after that i couldn’t see the point in trying. I haven’t played guitar since (apart from drunken air guitar)

++ What is the connection between The Marmite Sisters and The Minogues and Cavalier Approach?

The Minougues was Neil and Daves band that ran at the same time as the Marmites. Great and daft pop songs. I really wanted to release a single by them called “Mr Duck” but somehow it never came about. One of only a few regrets. Cavalier Approach were Iain’s first band from 1983/4.We used to cover the song “Dont touch my fence” about neighbours boasting over the size of their greenhouses. Very English.

++ I’m always curious about this on bands that were around in the 80s, did you consider yourself indiepop or something else?

We were very indiepop.Too talentless to be anything else.

++ What are you all doing these days? Are you all still in touch?

We are in very very infrequent contact with each other. Only Paul is still in a band called Black Fingers (heavy ,stoner rock). My last musical outing was guesting on the debut Volcano The Bear release “Y’ak folks Y’are” where i can be heard mumbling and shaking stuff. A great record despite this.

++ Your last release happened when the band had already split up. It was the Gricers EP on the Meller Welle label from Germany. How did this one happen? Why was it released posthumously and how come in a German label?!

“Gricers” was recorded a year before it appeared.Jorg liked the tracks but was struggling to get it released. By the time it came out we had nearly split and so couldn’t promote it properly.

++ In 1995 you recorded 9 songs which later in 2002 you remixed then for an EP that never got released.  Will it ever be released? Are these songs similar to your earlier ones or much different?

Our last recordings were started in 1995 but we still needed to add extra guitar and mix it when we ran out of money. We spent 3 days in 2001 finishing it but its never been released. It’s a shame as it would have been a good full stop on the band. Has 3 of our best tunes but no ones ever heard them…..

++ You know I would love to see at some point a retrospective album of The Marmite Sisters, are there any plans for the future for the band? Maybe a reunion gig? 😀

The band will never reform. I still have plenty of flexis available should people need them.

++ Now, looking back, what was the biggest highlight for you as a Marmite Sister?

Biggest highlight for me was touring with Cornershop in 1993. Playing at being in a band for 3 days whilst living in a car. Kinda summed it all up.

++ One last question, Leicestershire’s biggest contributions to English cuisine are Pork Pie, Stilton Cheese and Red Leicester Cheese. I’ve never tried any, but if you were to choose one?

Stilton is England’s finest cheese but its a love or hate kinda food.Red Leicester often tastes like the plastic its wrapped in and is best eaten melted on toast.Pork pie is great but i ain’t ate meat for 26 years so maybe I’m not the best judge.

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Listen
The Marmite Sisters – Semi Detached

Thanks so much to Michael Wille for the interview! He was the man behind the great German label Blue Records that released the “legendary” 7″ by The Sheets among other gems by the likes of Suffering From a Hangover or even the Wedding Present related The Ukrainians! A bit obscure yes, but very much worth checking out all of their releases. Enjoy!

++ You are not in Germany anymore, you live in Taiwan! How come?

Yes, I currently live in Taiwan. My job brought me here. I am working for a german company here in Taiwan and I am the only German with 200 Chinese colleagues.

++ You founded Blue Records. When was that? And why did you decide to start a label?

Blue Records was a labour of love. A love for Edwyn Collins actually. It must have been 1989 or 1990 when Edwyn Collins was touring on the back of the “Hope and Dispair” LP. I was totally in love with the song “50 Shades of Blue” from that LP at that time. And after that excellent Edwyn concert I just knew what to do: I was to form a record label of the name BLUE RECORDS and each release shall bear the prefix SHADE. And BLUE RECORDS SHADE 50 was to be a record by Edwyn (a version of “50 Shades of Blue” of course). So that was the big plan which somehow never materialized. I made it up to SHADE 007.
But I am still hopefull to complete it some day…
The name Blue Records to many people sounded very uninspired and boring, having more interesting and hip named labels around like Blam-A-Bit, Roman Cabbage or Frischluft. Well, but at least it made sense to me.

++ Where were you based? Was there a scene and good bands around your town?

My home was in Kleinostheim which is a very small place quite close to Frankfurt. Back in the early 90s, Frankfurt was a really great place to see live bands.
We had the Batschkapp, Negativ, Cooky’s, 3Königskeller, Volksbildungsheim, the KuBa in Hanau (not too far a way). So many bands were playing, I remember 1 week where we attended 8 concerts in 7 days.
One concert every evening either in Batschkapp, Negativ or KuBa and then on monday late night (after a attending a concert in Batschkapp) one of the infamous Cooky’s midnight concerts. I saw Talulah Gosh, Galaxie 500 and other great bands playing monday night at 2 AM to a 50-100 or so people. So it was actually a very good time for seeing bands playing live and discovering all kinds of new music.

++ How close was that German indiepop community of the early nineties?

There were many excellent labels around at the time! Frischluft of course, Blam-A-Bit, Steinpilz, Mermaid, Viel-Leicht, Eiswürfel, Roman Cabbage, die schwarze 7, Marsh Marigold – you name them (you seem to be an expert of the German indie scene of ha time!).
I did not have too much contact with them at the time but I sure bought their stuff which was released then.

++ Your most known record was the first one, The Sheets 7″. You were telling me they were supposed to be big. What happened, why didn’t they? How did you get to sign them? Maybe they sent you a demo with lots of fabulous songs? What happened to them after the 7″?

Well, I guess you should have an interview with Joern-Elling Wuttke to find out about that (he was singer, guitar player and mastermind behind the band). All I know is that I saw the band live and I fell in love with them right away.
Right after the gig I asked them if they wanted to do a record with that Label that only existed in my head (I came fresh from the Edwyn Collins gig) and Joern-Elling agreed.
The band had a full album worth of songs recorded by then (of which I have a tape copy and I can confirm its all excellent stuff – a lost classic!) and they were about to sign to a major label. But then again, things dont always go the way they should.
The Major Label deal never materialized, the band fell apart, Joern-Elling developed a love for more electronic music and got famous with his other Alter-Egos like ‘Alter Ego’, ‘Acid Jesus’, ‘Sensorama’ or ‘Warp 69’ to name but a few.

++ Another one of your releases as a 7″ by Klaus Cornfield, the leader from Throw that Beat in a Garbagecan. My German friends don’t think it’s right that I like Throw That Beat a lot! I think because they were big! How did you know Klaus, and what do you think about Throw That Beat? Do you have any favourite release or song?

Yeah, sometimes people seem to dislike bands once they get “big” or “famous”. But never mind, Throw That Beat were really good and a bunch of sweet people.
I still love “A Kiss from you each day (keeps the doctor away)”. After I saw Throw That Beat at a open air, I just bumped into the band somewhere out in the crowd. They were just chatting and drinking a beer. So I said Hello and started talking to them a bit.
After some beers the idea of making this 7″ of Klaus with Buddy Love was born (and later repeated on another 7″ for Teenage Kicks Records from Augsburg).
Klaus is actually a very nice fellow and he now enjoys sort of success as a comic writer and musician in his band Katze.

++ The other record that surprised me very much was the Suffering from a Hangover 7″ “Note: It’s Open, Push and Go EP”. It’s great, pure indiedpop! I’ve never heard anything about them before. Care to tell me a bit about the background of this band?

Actually I knew the band for some time and they passed around demo tapes. After agreeing to release the Forsakes 7″ (the singer of which is brother to the guitar player of Suffering..) we also talked about doing a 7″ with them. I didnt like the early tapes too much but the band improved a lot and they grew on me, so we ended up doing the single. They later got a support slot for a Throw That Beat tour. There are still tons of tapes and unreleased songs, some ended up on a Fan Club only 7″ in a tiny edition of 50. Some members of the band I still see from time, I am thinking of doing a 3-CD retrospective with them hahaha…

++ The last record I listened from your label, the Forsakes 7″, was a bit different, much more rock than indiepop. Was there a particular reason to broaden the sound of the label?

I first heard the singer of the band singing just with accoustic guitar and loved it. I wanted to do a record just with him but later I heard him with his band I was really into that too. They sounded like Buffalo Tom, Lemonheads and Moving Targets, well, sort of. That was how it worked, I heard some music and if I liked I asked if they wanted to a 7″. No contracts or big money, loads of DIY and enthusiasm. Spending nights at a friend over designing he cover and he labels on he computer, cutting inserts for the single – you know that too I guess.

++ Then there are more releases on your label. Care to complete the discography for me as there is nothing online about it? 🙂

SHADE 001 The Sheets: Candyman 7″ 1991
SHADE 002 Forsakes: Jellycow 7″ 1992
SHADE 003 Suffering From A Hangover: note its open, push and go 7″ 1992
SHADE 004 Klaus Cornfield visits Buddy Love 7″ 1992
SHADE 005 Band of Susans: Now 10″ 1992
SHADE 006 The Ukrainians: Live 10″ 1993
SHADE 007 Suffering From A Hangover: Fan Club 7″ 1993
SHADE 008 (just released a record with a German punk band here in Taiwan under a new label name) 2010

++ Was there any plans for other releases then?

As I wrote before, my great dream of heaven was to release a record by Edwyn Collins for SHADE 050. Well, just 42 releases to go ;o)

++ Is it true that maybe you will bring back the label?

Actually after almost 20 years of sleep I just did another 7″ with a German band. I agreed with the band to not reveal any details though…. And SHADE 009 is in the pipeline and should see light of the day very soon. I will send you a copy of that – its a big name and big suprise….

++ You were also telling me that you’d love to do something like a Deutschland 86 compilation. That will be one of the best things ever! I’d love to do something like that, I’d love to see something like that. Which bands from that period, with that sound, were your favourites?

I thought of a D86 compilation (the Deutschland version of C86) since there are so many lost gems around by German bands (many ow which you seem to unearth on your blog!).
But I guess I will leave that to Firestation Records, a Leamington Spa german band edition – I think that would be excellent.
These guys have a really great taste and talent in finding hidden gems and have done a fantastic job with the previous Lemington Spa records.
My take would be The Sheets (of course), 5 Freunde, Honigritter, Die Moosblüten, Die Merricks and Most Wanted Men (though I think their entire recordings have been released by Marsh marigold) to name the obvious choices.

++ As a person who has had a label, how do you see labels nowadays? Do you think there is still space for them? Many people say that with the mp3 revolution there’s no need for labels, you know?

I hardly ever download anything. Buying a CD or vinyl, unpacking it at home and reading through liner notes and booklets is just as much part of the fun as listening to the music itself. I love your work with lovely designed inserts, hand-numbered and loads of info and your thoughts. I read all the inserts….
Labels sort of put a label on the music (as the name suggests) and I know if I buy a record on Cloudberry, Matinee or Fortuna Pop I cant go wrong. So definitely yes, Labels are still important to me.

++ What was the highlight of yours running Blue Records?

I hope the highlight is still to come with the release of SHADE 50. Other than that it was meeting all the bands (The Ukrainians, Band of Susans, Klaus Cornfield and all th eothers) and hanging out with them.

++ Oh! how can I forget to ask this, how did you get into indiepop in  the first place?

Oh I dont remember clearly but I do remember listening to Klaus Walters “Der Ball ist rund” on the radio, Monday evenings. He first played The Chills to me and I loved that band ever since that day. Klaus Walter had a very diverse but always excellent taste in music. He was sort of the German John Peel (minus the bands playing live in his show).
And then there was this classmate of mine Felix, he ran a Fanzine called NOW! and we went to a lot of live gigs at that time together. Running the fanzine and writing about the gigs got us guest lists places in all major concert places. Thats how we could afford seeing so many concert while being a student. And every week I would go to Frankfurt main station, one of the rare places where you could get hold of a copy on NME or Melody Maker, the British music weeklys. I found out about new and exciting bands first in those mags.

++ Okay, let’s start wrapping the interview. But first, I need to ask  you something that matters to me a lot. I’m very curious about this. Is Taiwanese food much different from Chinese food? Is there anything in particular there that is superbly good?

Taiwanese food is not as ‘mean’ as mainland Chinese offerings can be. People here don’t eat dog, scorpion or cockroaches (all of which I have been offered in China, and scorpion is pretty good actually). It seems traditional Taiwanese food uses very little salt but rather focuses on the original flavors of the dishes. I love the local Beef Noodle Soup, 3-cup-chicken and the excellent Taiwan Gold Medal Beer.

++ And is there any good Taiwanese indiepop?

Surprisingly there are some very good Taiwanese indie bands which I regularly see live here like WonFu. (I also sent you a CD of one of the local bands, hope you liked it.)

++ One last question, how many records are in your collection?

Sometimes I feel tempted to count them but its too big a collection, maybe a a couple of thousands records, flexis, CDS and tapes (I treasure my big box of C86 tape samplers from the early 90s…)

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Hope I make it to one of the future PopFests and we can have a beer together… (ed. I hope so too!)

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Listen
The Sheets – Crashing

Thanks so much to Neil Sturgeon for the interview! A Chocolate Morning was a great guitar pop from Glasgow, Scotland, that gigged a lot and released two great records. Both of these are very hard to find, going for crazy prices on eBay. If you’ve never heard them before, now it’s time for you to do so. Enjoy!

++ Hi Neil! How are you doing? I see you are still making music! When was the last time you picked up your guitar?

I play most days, I’m fortunate in that I am able to do music full time just now. I also started a new label last year which consumes a lot of my time. There’s a lot of admin involved which is quite demanding but it’s important to remember to set time aside for playing and songwriting which is after all the main reason I’m doing what I’m doing.

++ And how much of a departure is the music you make today compared to A Chocolate Morning?

A lot of the same influences are still there, to this day I feature some ACM songs in my solo gigs and I recorded a new version of one of our singles ‘This Isn’t Mine’ which is on my recent EP ‘Ride The Tide’. I would say the bands main infuences to begin with were classic 60’s bands like The Byrds and The Buffalo Springfield as well as contemporary acts of the time like REM, Echo & The Bunnymen and Julian Cope although we also loved some of the Manchester scene of the late 80’s / early 90’s. Like a lot of guitar bands of that era we were inspired too by American bands like The Long Riders and later The Pixies, Buffalo Tom and Nirvana. I still love all of those bands so I guess the music I do now will still have a bit of all that in there somewhere! Biggest influence of all was probably Neil Young and still is for me come to think of it..

++ So let’s go back in time, to 1987. That’s when the band started right? Who were the members and how did you all knew each other? Were there many lineup changes?

Myself (Vocals, Guitar), John Dunsmore (Bass) and Derek Speirs (Lead Guitar) started the band and were there til the end..I knew John from school, and Derek and I grew up living near each other, we all had similar tastes in music and started getting together to rehearse regularly when we were about 17 years old. We had a Spinal Tap-esque knack of losing drummers though, our first drummer Neil McMahon left to spend more time on his football career, we also had a fine German drummer called Klaus Suhling who then left as he was also sports minded and was a trampolining champion!
Eventually Tony Provan joined us around 1989, Tony was very influenced by the Manchester / dance scene but didn’t have the same love of the other music we were into at that time..he played on our first EP release but shortly after that Nory Wright joined the band who was a perfect fit for us both in playing style, musical taste and personality. Nory played with a cracking band called The Strange Creatures before us, they sounded like The Stooges and MC5..sadly they split but luckily for us it was at the time that Tony had left ACM so we were delighted when he agreed to come on board with us.

++ Where does the name of the band comes from?

It was actually the title of a (bad)! song I wrote! Although the song was poor I liked the title as it reminded me of some of my favourite psychedelic band names like ‘Strawberry Alarm Clock or ‘The Electric Prunes’. Our earliest band names were The Reactions (named after The Who’s early label) and The Fraugs before we settled on A Chocolate Morning..

++ You were based in Glasgow which is a hotbed for indie music, and indiepop of course. How do you remember the city back then? Where were the places to hang out and to go watch bands? I was there last February for the first time and I really liked it!

It was and still is a city that produces great music, in the 80’s there were a lot of mainstream acts from Glasgow who made it really big but we were more interested in the indie scene at the time. Unfortunately as I was too young I just missed out on the ‘Splash One’ scene in Glasgow in the mid 80’s although I did get to see a lot of those bands like Primal Scream, BMX Bandits & Jesus & The Marychain in the late 80’s when I was old enough to get in to pubs and venues. I think if I was pushed to name the best Scottish album of the 80’s I’d probably go for ‘High Land Hard Rain’ by Aztec Camera which still sounds great to this day. There were plenty of excellent venues in Glasgow at the time, the Student Unions at Glasgow & Strathclyde University always had the best touring indie bands and I saw some memorable gigs there. We also played a few times at a venue called Rooftops, there were great club nights there which usually featured a live band. I saw The Stone Roses there in 1989 when they were just breaking which was very exciting. And of course there was Barrowlands which I still think is one of the most special venues in the world!

++ What other bands from Glasgow did you like? Any of them influenced your sound, or even, to start the band?

By far the biggest influence on us by a Glasgow band was the emergence of Teenage Fanclub in the late 80’s, we shared a lot of similar influences and it was a
buzz seeing them getting bigger and bigger, ‘A Catholic Education’ and ‘Bandwagonesque’ were huge favourites on the cassette player in the vans we toured and travelled around in. There was also a brilliant band called Thrum who I went to see a few times and were amongst the best live acts in Glasgow in the late
80’s / early 90’s.

++ So I read that you played around 150 gigs! That’s a LOT! Which are the gigs that you remember the most and why?

Yes, we loved playing live and by the early 90’s had earned a good reputation for our live gigs which meant we found it relatively easy to get bookings in the UK. We were around at the time that King Tuts Wah Wah Hut opened around 1990 and played some brilliant packed out gigs there. We also got some good support slots too, supporting Teenage Fanclub, Ian McNabb (Icicle Works) and Thousand Yard Stare in Glasgow which was a great boost at the time. As we were very much an indie band without financial backing our gigs outwith Glasgow tended to be in groups of 4 or 5 dates at a time as opposed to continuous touring. There was a promoter in the north of England called Darren Poyzer who was especially good to us..he would arrange gigs there and allow us to base ourselves at his flat which was a big step up from sleeping in the van!

++ What about the experience of Kelvingrove Festival? I hear that was your biggest highlight as a band. How does it feel to play to 6000+ people?! Nervous?

That was a gig run annually by Radio Clyde, the biggest radio station here then..it was a scorching hot day and easily the biggest crowd we had played to. I don’t remember feeling too nervous, probably because we were at the top of our game as a live band by then. We were delighted to be offered a slot there as it was a bit unusual for them to feature an indie band in the line up at that event and it went really well for us that day. With Nory now on drums our live sound had become a lot heavier and dynamic and we loved our time on stage that day.

++ You released two records, both of them seem to be very rare and hard to find. How many copies did you press? And who were behind the labels “Still” and “What’s Happening”?

I think we pressed 1000 of each, the ‘Wasted’ ep was self financed, for the next single a good friend of ours Kenneth McLaughlin kindly invested funds to get it
released. I have occasionally noticed copies of both records selling for alarmingly inflated amounts on e-bay in recent years! The biggest bummer was when we were waiting to get the ‘This Isn’t Mine’ pressed the pressing plant went bust just after we had sent them the money to do it. After a few threatening phone calls they eventually sent us a box of records of which about 200 of them were broken and warped. On top of all that we had designed a gloriously colourful psychedelic sleeve, when we opened the box we were dismayed to find out that the sleeve had been printed in black & white!

++ Is it true that there might be a chance for a re-release of your songs plus unreleased stuff at some point?

I’ve always felt that we should have managed to release an album as we certainly had an album’s worth of good songs by the time we finished. We recorded a lot of demos which I hope someday soon to release, the band is still remembered fondly by some and it would be nice to open the archives and make the tracks available for the first time.

++ So alright, the first release was the “Wasted” EP in 1991. A four song slab of fine vinyl. Why did it take you 4 years to get your first release? What do you remember from the recording session for this record?

It was the first time we had a settled line up so we decided to make our move and release something. We started it in the summer of 1990 at Studio 2 at Cava Studios in Glasgow, we only had limited studio experience and as a result didn’t quite manage to capture our live sound on vinyl. The sessions were fun though, I remember working on sound effects for our live favourite ‘Today Is Today’ and rolling around the studio floor laughing at some of the odd noises we were making with our pedals. I’m afraid we weren’t too disciplined at those sessions, there was a fair bit of alcohol and various other substances present and the title of the EP pretty much sums up where we were at!

++ The second release came out a year later and it was a 7″ that included the fantastic “This Isn’t Mine”. Care to tell me what’s the story behind this song?

I still enjoy doing that song as it’s one of the strongest choruses I’ve ever written I think. Musically you can hear The Byrds or Teenage Fanclub in there, I was
obsessed by Gene Clark at the time and tipped my hat to him in the bridge of the song with a hint of the riff from ‘Feel A Whole Lot Better’..further proof of The Byrds influence is that we named the label after one of our favourite Byrds songs ‘What’s Happening?!? Lyrically it was based around something that a friend of mine was going through at the time, it was originally called ‘This Isn’t About Me’.. It was a double sided single and the flip side ‘If You Want Me’ was probably our most popular song from the live set, listening to it now you can hear the Manchester influence a bit, the drum rhythm reminiscent of The Charlatans or
Inspiral Carpets..

++ By the way, was there any major label talk at all?

Around 1991/92 we were hotly tipped to do big things, I remember fielding a lot of calls from record companies at that point who had been tipped off by their sources in Glasgow about us. It was a stressful time as we didn’t have a manager and we could probably have done with someone to steer the ship in the right direction. The major labels in London didn’t seem to like our demos enough to make the trip to Glasgow though which was a pity. As one of the bands in the city with a buzz around us we were invited to participate in an A&R night at King Tuts in Glasgow, it was an experience I didn’t enjoy though, we weren’t at our best that night and a new Glasgow band called Glass Onion made the night their own on the way to becoming the next big thing as Travis..

++ Another highlight of yours was  being played by John Peel. How important was John Peel for you guys as music fans?

He played ‘This Isn’t Mine’ on his show, it was probably the most influential show in Britain for indie bands and it felt like a breakthrough moment when he featured us on it. We didn’t have national distribution though to take advantage of the airplay and our records were hard to get outside Scotland. I listened to his show a lot but given the eclectic nature of his tastes I would only like maybe about 20 per cent of the stuff he played, that 20 per cent though tended to make up for the other 80! In Scotland there was a similar show called Beat Patrol which featured new music and was the first airplay we ever had, I remember bass player John had just passed his driving test and we were out in the car when our song came on the radio, it was one of the most satisfying and thrilling moments of my life.

++ Looking back. what is that that you miss the most from those days?

Probably the hope and expectation and camaraderie that comes with being in your first band. Everything was new and exciting. I’m fairly lucky in that I still enjoy most of the things like recording and playing live that I did back then. The live scene was healthier too I’d say, the indie scene was thriving and I think it was easier for bands to build up a following over a number of years by playing student unions and small venues. These days you are more likely to see students going to a handful of big festival gigs per year than supporting and empathising with new up and coming acts in the smaller venues from what I see.

++ And then what happened? When and why did you call it a day?

There was a definite sense of disappointment at the apathy towards us by record companies, we had been together for a few years and were tired and broke really.
Ironically we played our most high profile gigs in our final year together and were at our best as a live band. In 1994 I started jamming with other people and it was noticeable that a lot of the energy and enthusiasm that had powered ACM had faded in comparison. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if we had stuck it out another year or two and released an album.

++ Are you all still in touch? What do you do these days?

We are still good friends although most of the band have got families now and aren’t actively involved in music. Recently we got together socially for John’s 40th birthday and had a great time reminiscing about our days with the band and we plan to get together to do something with our old demos and film clips in the near future. After ACM I released a solo album and then played in another Glasgow band called The Goldenhour who released 2 albums in 2003 and 2005 and fulfilled my love of playing 60’s garage and psychedelia. I’m currently working on a solo album which is produced by Teenage Fanclub’s Raymond McGinley which has been an amazing buzz for me. I’ve released 2 singles from it on my new Buzzwagon Beat Label in recent months and the reaction to both has been great.

++ This is a pretty obvious question, or maybe a silly one, but I was wondering what are your favourite chocolates?

Hehe..I like most types of chocolate although you can’t beat a slab of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk!

++ Thanks again so much for being up for the interview, anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you Roque for your interest in my old band, I’ll post news of any future A Chocolate Morning releases on my site at www.neilsturgeon.co.uk

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Listen
A Chocolate Morning – This Isn’t Mine

Thanks so much to George Howard for the interview! Don’t confuse these Lotus Eaters with the ones from Liverpool as they were from Boston, US. They released 3 7″, two on the fabulous Harriet Records and then disappeared without trace. Happily George joined me down memory lane and well, it came out as a lovely interview. Hope you enjoy!

++ Thanks so much for being up for the interview George! How are things? I hear you are in New Orleans these days? Correct? You didn’t go through Katrina, did you?

Hi. Things couldn’t be better. I’m a lucky dude. Currently we’re on Martha’s Vineyard, but, yes, we’ve (my wife and two kids) been splitting our time between New Orleans and MV for the past six years. We did go through Katrina, yes. At the time my son hadn’t been born, but my wife and – at that point – six-month old daughter left two nights before the storm, and holed up in Memphis for a while before heading back to the east coast for about four months. We decided we really had to return, and try to do what we could to help for the city we love. as i don’t know how to drive a forklift, I decided my biggest contribution would be to teach; so I taught in entrepreneurship, management, etc. at Loyola’s College of Business.

++ So let’s go back in time, were the Lotus Eaters your first band?

Yes, Lotus Eaters were my first band.

++ So how did the Lotus Eaters start? How was the recruiting process? Were you all students at the same university perhaps?

The singer, Vanessa Tanaka, and I had gone to high school together, and then college, and we started writing songs together. Then, fortuitously, I saw Joan Wasser riding her bike through Kenmore Square with a violon case on her back. At the time, Joan had bright red hair – so she was easy to spot/follow – and I literally chased her down, and said we needed a violin player. Oddly, she agreed. Then we met Greg Jacobs (drums) and Bill Mitchell (bass) – all of us were Boston University students.

++ Why the name The Lotus Eaters? Were you then aware of the also great Liverpool band of the same name?

I was a literature major and really dug both the Tennyson poem and the section in the Odyssey Oddly, no one in the band really did any drugs, so it wasn’t maybe the most accurate name. I (obviously) wasn’t aware of the Liverpool band when I cooked up our name (remember, this was pre- Google-search days). I don’t think that many people in Boston (or the US) really were.

++ How do you remember those early 90s in Boston? What were other great bands to see in town? And where did The Lotus Eaters used to hang out?

Oh, it was such a great time. Clearly, I remember it through the gauze of nostalgia, but I’m going to go with that (why not?). In the Boston rock continuum, it was sort of the last great stage; Aerosmith, J. Giels, the Cars etc. were sort of gone, and the next wave (Christmas, Zulus, Volcano Suns, Dumptruck, the Neats, Scruffy the Cat (more on them in a minute), Mission of Burma (mach 1) had done the major thing, and none of them had really exploded. And so the scene we were in had descended from that. Blake Babies had started to ascend and sort of set an example to follow. Obviously, the Lemonheads, too. But there was just this amazing amount of creativity and sort of community. You had little labels like Pop Narcotic and (not so little) Tang!, Harriet, etc. and just the general feel that Boston had shrunk. I think it was sort of its Athens, GA moment. Out of that came our little band, but, more importantly, artists like Mary Timony (Helium), Dambuilders (who “stole” Joan away from us), Mary Lou Lord, Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, Fuzzy, Gigolo Aunts, and my favorite band (maybe of all time) Amoeba Cross Section (which was Keith Grady, who later played a lot with Lotus Eaters and Greg Jacobs), and so many more I’m forgetting. I don’t really put us in the same category as, for instance, Morphine (who came out of Treat Her Right), Pixies, or Throwing Muses as those bands seemed to transcend geography.

In terms of hanging out, we all lived either together, or in close proximity in Allston Rock City. Joan, Mary, and Keith lived in the same house as Dave Derby and Eric Masunaga from Dambuilders. I lived with Greg. So, yeah, lots of fun nights with amazing music. It’s really an experience I hope my kids have when/if they go to college; just lots of sharing of ideas and support.

++ Harriet Records is considered one of the finest pop labels of America. How do you feel about their roster of bands and how did you end up releasing with them?

We were really honored. I’ll never forget we were playing a show at the Middle East, and Tim Alborn (Harriet founder) was standing next to Stephin Merritt watching us. Tim was sort of bopping around and digging it, and Stephin for most of the show was his implacable, but somewhat approving self…until we decided to do a truly misguided and terrible version of “See No Evil.” Stephin just stood there and shook his head disapprovingly the whole time. Even still, Tim approached us after the show, and said he wanted to put out a record. It was a really happy night. Tim had/has great and idiosyncratic taste. Obviously, any sane person would be honored to have any type of association with Magnetic Fields, and many of the other bands on the label.

++ That first 7″ contains my favourite two songs of yours “Falling” and “Fishing Boat”, they are just great pop gems! Who would you say influenced your sound? And do you mind telling me the story behind these two songs?

Thank you. Well, we sort of wore our influences on our sleeves. Listen to “Falling,” then listen to either “7 Chinese Bros.” or “Green Grow the Rushes,” and you’ll get a pretty good sense of where I was coming from. Peter Buck was the older brother I never had. not only did he influence pretty much every note of guitar I’ve ever played, but (from his interviews) he turned me on to everything from Jack Kerouac to margaritas. I’ve actually had the chance to awkwardly thank him for that.

Fishing Boat sort of shows some of the more disparate (i.e. non-REM influences). I was deeply into some of the English folk stuff (Fairport, Nick Drake, Van’s “Astral Weeks” et al.), and those they influenced (Waterboys, etc.). I really love/loved the sound of wood – mandolins, acoustic 12 strings, dulcimers, violins, etc. – and tried to incorporate that into what we did. But then, it all got run through sort of a Feelies-filter.

I don’t know…as they say in New Orleans it’s just all gumbo and lagniappe.

++ And I have to say I love the artwork on this one. Even though it’s simple, that compass and the greenish-blue paper is very evoking. Who came up with it?

Again, thank you. since I’m telling my secrets, that was very much influenced by (wait for it) an REM t-shirt from the Little America tour: a line drawing of a bicycle. I cooked it up, and I *think* I drew it, but, more likely, my girlfriend at the time (and, later Lincoln ’65 bassist, and now fantastic stained glass artist), Anna Johansson, a tremendous artist, drew it.

++ After that you released two more 7″s, one on your own Slow River Records and another on Harriet. Which of the three is your favourite?

I don’t think I even remember what the songs were. I do know that one of them had a sort of “rock” (or as “rock” as we got) track called “Top of the World” on it, that Keith Grady just tore up the guitar on – I liked that one a lot.

++ Are there any more releases? Why didn’t you get to release more stuff? Maybe you have a drawer full of unreleased songs? 🙂

There are a lot of songs. As to why they weren’t released. We sort of dispersed as we graduated. I went to Providence, Vanessa went to SF. It’s OK, it was a nice moment in time, and I’m glad we documented some of it.

++ Did you play lots of gigs? Any in particular that you remember?

We did play quite a lot. as above, the gig that led to the Harriet records was memorable. I remember we played a gig at a BIG club on Landsdowne street (which was outside our usual Allston/Central Sq comfort zone), and, for some reason, the stars aligned, and it was a mob scene, and we played well, and it felt something like a victory party.

++ When and why did you call it a day? Did you have bands after that?

Again, we moved after we graduated. I started a band called Lincoln ’65, which was more Neil Young/Uncle Tupelo/Townes Van Zandt influenced, and we put out a few things, and played around a bunch.

++ Are you all still in touch?

We are tangentially in touch (Twitter/FB is good for that).

++ I do know you started a label called Slow River and you eventually became president of Rykodisc. How fast did all this happen? Care to tell the whole story? And why aren’t you involved with record labels today?

Long story. Again, being in that amazing crowd I was so blessed to be a part of, I really wanted to get the music of my friends (Helium, Amoeba Cross Section, etc. out). So, I figured out how to press up 7″ singles, and just sort of went for it. That led to a really fortuitous meeting with Charlie Chesterman (whose band, Scruffy the Cat I had LOVED), and I convinced him to let me put a CD. That went pretty well, and I put stuff by Sparklehorse, Ed’s Redeeming Qualities, Vic Chesnutt, and Juicy, and was able to make a deal with Rykodisc, where they sort of let me do what I did, but gave me some more resources. That led to putting records out by Purple Ivy Shadows, Josh Rouse, Fan Modine, Tom Leach, Future Bible Heros, Disque 9, and a bunch more. Then Ryko was bought by Chris Blackwell. He and I hit it off, and he asked me to run Ryko, which I did for several years prior to it being sold to Warner.

I then started teaching and went back to school (got an mba and a law degree), and developing other things. For instance, I helped with the founding of TuneCore, and Artists House (www.artistshousemusic.org), etc. I’ve been fortunate to stay involved in the music/entertainment business (working with artists like Carly Simon, Mark Isham, Kristin Hersh, and companies like Wolfgang’s Vault, Daytrotter, and Paste Magazine). So, while not involved in “labels” I deal with them every day, and feel proud to still be actively trying to affect the culture in a positive way, which is exactly what I wanted to do when I started Slow River back in the day.

++ And how do you see, after working in labels, this moment in the record industry. You think digital downloads will make physical records obsolete at some point? Or you think there will always be space for a fabulous slab of vinyl?

I worry less about the physical v download issue, and more about the negative impact on revenue when we move to an almost entirely streaming model. Labels/artists who are used to $7/transaction will be lucky to get $.007 / transaction. so the model has to evolve (it will).

As for physical – it’ll always be there. The recent (happy) vinyl resurgence has less to do with sound quality and more to do with the fact that we as humans desire to share things, and hold things, and vinyl represents what Hugh MacLeod (and others) refer to as social objects. So, yeah, they’ll always be there, and it would be wise for other industries (I’m looking at you, books) to understand this.

++ I know you’ve written books about it, but would you mind giving some free tips to those who want to start a label?

Hmmm. Look for ways that you can embed a social component into your venture. I’m passionate about social entrepreneurship, and i think if more creative types took the time to understand this, it would relieve some of the tension associated with monetizing art (s.e. looks at impact as well as profit in terms of success metrics).

I also think you have to understand value and expectation alignment in order to succeed.

It’s sort of too long a topic to reduce here. sorry. But, I’d say if you have the impulse to start something (label, whatever), listen to it, and do it. the cost of failure is very low these days, so it makes it all the more reasonable to take a stab at something.

There’s lots of good advice out there (Artists House (www.artistshousemusic.org), Hugh’s blog, Seth Godin’s blog, my blog, etc.)

++ One last question, is there any secret skill of yours that not many know?

Thank you. I don’t really have any secrets (skills or otherwise), but I’m a surprisingly good cook (if I do say so myself). I also know a good deal more about the capital markets and commodity/pm exchanges than people might guess.

++ Thanks so much George! Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for your interest and your very cool blog, and for allowing me to page through my mind on this Father’s day morning – a nice gift.

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Listen
The Lotus Eaters – Falling

Thanks so much to Bernd Wagner for the interview. I also want to thank Christian Bauer for helping for this interview to happen. The Wide Plains were a great guitar pop band from Worms, Germany, in the late 80s. These days they are back together and sometimes they play live. Lucky those who get to see them! Let’s hear their story.

++ Hi Bernd! How are you doing!? Whereabouts in Germany are you these days? Still in Worms?

To make things a little bit easier I’ll first introduce you to the band.The Wide Plains reformed in 2010 are:
Andi (keyboards, backing vocals)
Bernd (vocals, guitar, trumpet)
Christian (bass)
Jürgen (drums, backing vocals)
Robert (guitar)

Andi is a new member. In the early days we had another guitar player (Michael) who now lives too far away to join the band again. Except me (living in Mainz) all the members of the band live in Worms (the town is not named after these little animals speared on fishing-hooks).

++ How was the scene back then in Worms during the late 80s and the early 90s? How did you like it? What were your favourite places to hang out?

Around that time it wasn’t too bad in Worms. We met in clubs, pubs, coffee-shops and discotheques called “Fabrik”, “Kanal”, “Schwarzer Bär” or ”KD” which all have one thing in common: they don’t exist anaymore. When we were bored we went to Mannheim or Mainz. Most of our favourite bands from abroad played live in a club called “Batschkapp” (still existing!) in Frankfurt, a town, you might have heard of (in contrast to those mentioned before). For example we went there to see Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, The Go-Betweens, Felt, Biff Bang Pow, The House of love,The Woodentops,The Triffids,The Chills,The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream,The Charlatans and many many more.

++ What about fellow bands? Were there any other guitar pop bands in town?

In the late eighties Worms was crowded with guitar-pop-bands. It all began with “Autumn’s Chant” in 1984 (with later Wide Plains members Bernd and Robert amongst others). When “Autumn`s chant” split up in 1986 “The Blue Eyed Bandits” (Bernd),”The Blue and White collar workers” (Robert) and a little bit later “The 7 Roberts” (Robert) were founded. Around that time Jürgen played in “The Rayn”, Christian formed “Drab Hotchpotch” while Andi joined “The Wallflowers” and later “Sonic Flower Groove”. After all the “Wide Plains” started in 1989.

++ How did you knew each other?

Robert, Michael and me went to the same school. Apart from that Worms is a rather small town and all the bands knew each other.

++ What about the name? Where does it comes from?

The name “Wide Plains” was Jürgens`s idea. Having just been to U.S. he suggested to name the band after a suburb of New York City. We thought it sounded really cool and agreed. Months later Jürgen had to admit that this suburb`s real name is “White Plains” but at that point everybody already knew us as “The Wide Plains” and so we left the name as it was.

++ You released the song “One Bright Day” on a compilation tape on the Heaven Sent label. How did you end up doing so? Care to tell me a bit about this label too?

The owner of the “Heaven Sent”-Label was a guy named Ralf Hoffmann, nickname “Hopemann”, who, by the way, was also a member of the above mentioned “Sonic Flower Groove”. He was a guitar-pop-maniac and released several compilations, mainly on tape. Apart from bands of the region some better known bands from abroad also contributed songs to these compilations, for example “14 Iced bears” from the U.K. (do you know them?). Some of these tapes seem to have found their ways to Japan. 20 years later a Japanese guy called PomPom Takashi stumbled upon one of these compilations. As he liked “One bright day” very much he put it on “Youtube”.

++ Did you have any other releases? Perhaps some demo tapes?

We released the tapes “New hope for the lonely” and “Spring valley stories” as well as a vinyl-EP with four songs. A few days later we split up. So we sold only a few pieces. Most of the records are still stored away in a cellar somewhere. You may have one if you like (and if we`ll find them).

++ I read on a Youtube comment that you plan to digitise all the tracks you recorded. How is that going? I’d love to listen to these songs!

The only songs that haven’t yet been digitised are those on the E.P. mentioned above. They reflect our late “Madchester”-period.

++ How many songs were recorded by the way?

In the late eighties/early nineties we probably recorded about 20 songs.

++ What about the songs on the ReverbNation page? Are these new ones? They sound so good! You’ve never lost your touch, huh! What’s your favourite song of your repertoire then?

All the songs on ReverbNation are old and were recorded in the late eighties/early nineties. The song with the video is the only new one on ReverbNation. It`s a demo version of “Scanxiety (waiting for the scan)” which is currently one of our most favourite songs. But we are working on new material which is even better than we expected when we re-united. Hopefully it will be finished at the end of summer. We`ll let you know!

++ You are still going with Wide Plains, but there was a long hiatus, right? What happened in that interval of time?

As you can imagine we`re not in our twenties anymore. When we split up in 1991 we were all students in different subjects. In the following twenty years we worked in different jobs, got married or split up and got one to four kids. One thing that we always shared and that distinguished us from many of our contemporaries was our ongoing passion for (the right) pop-music, especially guitar-pop.

++ I noticed you have had some gigs as of lately, how are you enjoying them? Any new gigs coming up?

Our biggest problem is the lack of time for rehearsing, recording and playing live. We’ll probably play two or three gigs this year (next gig: 30th of July) in the region.

++ How do you compare these gigs to the ones in the past? What has been your favourite gig you’ve played and why?

The audience has grown older too. That`s one of the reasons the concerts aren’t as lively as they were in the early days.

In my opinion we played our best concert in 1991 when we supported “The Jazz-Butcher” from the U.K. (I hope you know them) in Mainz. It was great and unforgettable experience to play in a big and sold-out location in front of hundreds of people supporting one of our favourite bands.

++ I’m wondering, especially because of your sound and because you started in 1986, how influential were those c86 bands from the UK? Did you have any favourites? Did you feel your sound and spirit was akin to what was going on in the British isles?

This is a serious question. Although we all listened to the C86-bands and went to their concerts the Wide Plain`s influences are quiet heterogeneous. I could fill pages with the names of all the bands which we loved and grew up with, also the new ones if they only sound like the old ones, for example “The Pains of being pure at heart” or “The Head and the Heart” to name just a few. Listen to BBC6 music and you`ll know which kind of music we prefer.

++ Giving one last look to the past, what do you think was the biggest highlight of The Wide Plains as a band?

As I already mentioned above and I`m sure the others would agree, the biggest highlight was supporting the “Jazz-Butcher”.

++ So what is ahead for The Wide Plains? What can we expect in the future from you?

I ‘d prefer to tell what you can not expect from the Wide Plains in the future: I suppose we won`t go on tour in Japan or the U.S..

++ You know, I’ve been around many cities around Rhineland but never been to Worms, I’m wondering if you can tell me what is there to visit in your town? I can probably visit next time I’m in Germany 🙂

If you’re interested in history,for example the reformation and Martin Luther, Worms is the right place to go to. If not you should visit other German cities.The music scene has changed dramatically. There are still bands with many different genres but I`m not sure if there are still any other or younger guitar-pop-bands around. Most of the musicians in our age nowadays play in cover-bands. If you nevertheless decided to come to Worms you’d be very welcome.

++ Oh! and as a big fan of German beer, I always have to ask this question, what’s your favourite beer?

Although we also drink beer, the region between Worms and Mainz, named Rheinhessen, is better known for its famous wine. If you like to try a typical white wine from here ask your local dealer for a very dry “Riesling” from “Rheinhessen/Germany”.

++ Alright, let’s wrap it here, anything else you’d like to add?

You didn`t ask for the reasons of our reunion. Apart from the Wide Plains song who turned up in the internet after 20 years (see above) which was one motivation to start again it has something to do with painful hamstring-muscles and Ian Brown (former singer of the Stone Roses). Unfortunately 11-month year old Jonathan sitting next to me is getting louder and louder. So let`s wrap it here.

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Listen
The Wide Plains – One Bright Day

Thanks so much to Mike O’Sullivan for the interview and also to Paul Davies, also part of  the mighty City Giants! If you’ve never heard about this band well, prepare yourself as they were great! They only recorded one 7″ back in the late 80s but it’s such a good single that well, it’s timeless. Good thing is that they recorded much more stuff and will be available sometime soon it seems! Keep your eyes peeled!

++ Hi there! Thanks so much for being up for the interview. Are you still in Tooting these days? Or where in the world are you? What about the rest of the band members?

Hi Roque, Andy, Paul and myself still live in London- we all used to live and rehearse in Tooting. Tooting was best known for a very funny sit-com called ‘Citizen Smith’, he was a lazy, disorganized revolutionary Marxist called Wolfie, who led a rebellious group of half-hearted friends…very funny!

++ So just out of curiosity, what does Tooting has to offer? Never been there! And was it true that you were massive there?

Tooting is a town in South London, a brilliant place for Indian food! Our band posters used to claim that we were massive in Tooting, of course we were the only band in Tooting and even though our record sold more than Madonna’s in the local record store- there was a touch of irony involved in the statement…

++ Let’s go back in time. When and where did the City Giants start as a band? How was the recruiting process? Where did you knew each other from?

Andy and Mike the drummer were friends and posted an advert in the New Musical Express, looking for a bass player. I’d just moved to London from Cardiff to start Art School, answered the ad and joined the band. Paul used to come to our gigs and loved the band and joined later.

++ And why the name City Giants?

The band were originally called the ‘Southern Movers’ and one day with no real discussion we changed it. Andy came up with the name and it stuck.

++ Were the City Giants your first band?

I guess we all tried to form bands before we met, we were all pretty young at the time, so this was our first proper band!

++ How do you remember those early days of the band? Lots of practicing? What did you do when you weren’t making music? Where did you all hang out?

Practicing was great fun, we used to rehearse above a Fish and Chip shop in Tooting which was probably detrimental to sales for the owner. We always had lots of friends hanging out, doing comedy dancing and sing alongs etc.. We were all students at the time and when we weren’t practicing we were gigging, we played about 50 gigs in an 18 month period. Most of the gigs were in London and Cardiff/South Wales.

++ So let’s talk music. Was there a certain reason for you all to be in a band? Any sort of inspiration?

We were all massively into music and still are, how can that ever change? We were only just discussing coming across people who claim not to be into music, what does that mean?

++ You only released one 7″ single. Care to tell me a bit about each of the songs that appeared on the record?

We released only one single, the three songs were the three newest songs we had at that moment in time. I guess they sum up much of what we were about. All three songs were one take recordings played live in the studio. The first and third songs are typically frenetic and up tempo, the second more melodic. Our gigs were always very boppy/dance orientated affairs. Lyrically, many of the songs were tongue in cheek, boy meets girl disaster/comedy tales, sometimes melancholy, sometimes ridiculous.

++ It’s such a fantastic record I have to say. You released it under your own “Give it a Blast Records”. Good name for a label! How did you like that part of the music “business”, you know, selling, promoting, distributing?

I guess like many bands, we were so busy playing, practicing and doing our day stuff that eventually we ran out of steam on the business side of things. One of the highlights was meeting John Peel at Radio 1, who was kind enough to chat and play our record. We had a number of big/small record companies and management interested but weren’t really prepared to compromise in terms of leaning into the pigeon hole that might have made us more attractive commercially. Ultimately, we loved playing live and were prolific song writers, but eventually you come to a crossroads and we had to stop. It’s very exciting to start again with a bit more wisdom and experience. The same passion is still there!

++ Why didn’t you get to release more stuff? A little bird told me there are plenty of unreleased tracks!

We’ve got a dozen or so tracks from that time which are being re-mastered now and we are just considering who and how that album will be released. We’ve been amazed at the interest from all over, especially from Japan!

++ Perhaps there were demo tapes that you sold at gigs? Do you remember that?

We’ve got loads of live gigs recorded and even an early DVD of a gig in London, with some unfortunate nakedness and some very comical audience dancing.

++ So yeah, what about gigging? Did you gig lots? What was the furthest you played a gig? Any favorites?

We played a lot in Cardiff and remember breaking down on the way to a gig once which wasn’t good, not exactly rock and roll getting to the gig being towed by the AA truck. We played lots of small/medium sized venues in London, they were all good fun.

++ I heard you are going to have a track featured on the Leamington Spa Vol. 8! Care to tell me about this song?

150 seconds of genius!

++ That compilation series covers lots of great bands from the late 80s in UK that shared that great guitar pop sound. Did you have any favorite bands then?

Lots of different influences from different eras. Everything from rockabilly, punk, soul to rare groove,

++ Also during that time there was a big explosion of fanzines covering these kind of bands. How involved were the City Giants with them?

Not at all, always good to get nice reviews though..

++ Alright, so the sad part, when and why did you call it a day?

At the time I think we fulfilled various musical ambitions even though not commercially successful at that time, ultimately life goes on and timing is everything!

++ After that, were you involved with music?

Very much so, but I think we all wished we had stuck at it with the City Giants. It’s bizarre to bump into people on the street after all these years who still quote your lyrics to you with a little smile.

++ And what are you all doing these days?

Hopefully going to record a few new songs very soon and maybe even some gigs in the not too distant future.

++ I hear there might be a retrospective album including lots of unreleased stuff, is this true? What are the plans for the future?

The retrospective album will be ready in a few weeks, I’ll send you a copy asap!

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Listen
City Giants – Little Next to Nothing