Thanks so much to Suzanne Muckley for the interview! I knew Blue Summer from the great tape compilation “You Can’t Be Loved Forever vol.3” but they were so obscure and there was no information whatsoever online. So it was great to find a bit more about them at last! Enjoy!!

++ So let’s talk about Blue Summer! I really want more people to hear and know your tunes! When did the band start and who were the members? How did you all meet each other?

I met Tina Lusher at college in 1984 doing a Art Diploma course in Harlow, Tina showed me some of her music and songs she had written but had never performed, from this we did some of her songs for Rag week in the Harlow town centre, I was probably the more confident and did a lot of singing in church but nothing other than that, but I like to think i gave Tina the confidence in her song writing to pursue it.

From Rag week some how we got together with my friend Tony Bennett (drums) and Angela Black (trumpet) also on the same course, and started gigging at college, as people saw us and liked us our venues got better mainly in and around Harlow with the exception of Exeter university which was great fun. We entered the Harlow Rock contest twice and i think we got through to the semi finals both times if i remember rightly.

++ What about the name Blue Summer? Where did it came from?

The name Blue Summer came from me and Tina i remember one night in the pub the Jean Harlow we was thinking of a name and it came from us both loving the summer and the colour blue!

++ On the Harlow Bands page it says that you had some sort of relationship with The Pharaoahs, The Neurotics, The Pillage People and Travis Cut. What was the connection?

The Pharaoahs, The Neurotics, The Pillage People and Travis Cut are all bands that we played with or supported probably mainly at The Square in Harlow, some were also in the rock contest, Tony Bennett (our drummer) went on to play with The Pharaohs and they still play once or twice a year still now so tony tells me mainly abroad they are a rockabilly band, I also used to be friends with some of the players.

++ So what were you listening at the time?

Music wise we was probably mainly into indie music at the time, although Tina loved Haircut 100, we loved Everything but the Girl, The Go-Betweens the list could go on.

++ So who wrote the songs? What was the creative process in the band?

Tina wrote all the guitar music in the band and most of the lyrics I remember I wrote two of the songs lyrics, the trumpet and drums were made up by Tony and Angela.
We didn’t have a bass player for some time, and then we met Paul Howard who was in various bands and very talented and is still a musician today, he became our bass player for quite some time while still doing other stuff of his own, Paul was older than us and more in the know and was a great inspiration for Blue Summer.

++ And why didn’t you get to release a record? Or at least record more songs?

I wish in some ways that our time was now as I think its much more easier to get a demo or some sort of deal than years ago and I think in them days you didn’t have that reality that you could be famous that people do these days, if you get what i mean.

++ The only song I know from you is the fun and poppy “Listen to Me”! What were the other songs on the demo tape? How did they sound like?

The song Listen to Me is one of the songs that was after my time and I wish you could hear some off our old songs as some where great, everyone’s favorite was “Beach boy”, people always remember that one and another one we did at the end of the end of the sets was “Now your going away from me’.

The band carried on and did a demo tape which we had been saving up for with our gig money unfortunately for me i never got to do this which i know regret. They gigged for a while but then Tony left the band to go into the Pharoahs and the new drummer was my sisters husband (at the time) Simon Thomson. I don’t really know why the band split after this but I guess they drifted apart, i will ask Tina.

++ What about gigs? Did you gig a lot? Any in particular that you remember?

We did a lot of gigs and loved it, I think i was the main organizer of the band that’s just the way i am but we all had input and a lot of the times we got asked to gigs either as main or supports, The Gamekeepers was a band we played with a lot as I was going out with Anthony Sullivan at the time so we either supported them or via verso depended who organized the gig.

++ When and why did you call it a day? What did you all do after? Are you all still in touch?

We were together for a long time it must have been about 5 years all in all, of which Paul left the band to pursue hes own stuff and that’s when it all went down hill in my eyes, we got a new bass player who i never got on with personally and the feelings where mutual and at the time as life does my life was changing and getting a career and also I bought a horse which took a lot of my time, I then split from the band which at the time was a bit messy but we stayed friends but had drifted apart and for some time went different ways.

I work in Repro and am a retoucher on magazines, Tina of whom I am really close with works in the shoe fashion industry and still plays her guitar but just for pleasure, we still have a jam now and then, but as we live 100 miles away from each other that’s as far as it goes.
Angela moved to Indonesia and is now married and lives there and is a English teacher, she came over and stayed last summer so still in touch and good friends.
Tony runs hes own business and i speak to him on facebook occasional, and still plays with the Pharoahs.
Paul Howard is still doing hes music and has made records and does gigs, I speak with him also on facebook and hes says we should get together one day for a gig.
The other bass player cant remember his name so don’t know about him and Simon, my sister divorced him some years back but as far as i know hes not doing anything musically.

++ Looking back in time, what was the best, the highlight, of being in Blue Summer?

I think we all loved our Blue Summer days and loved being in the Rock contests and gigging.

++ Thanks again very much! I hope the demo can be found and rescued one day! Anything else you’d like to add?

When I see Tina next I will speak to her about if shes got any music I can forward to you, I know the Rock contest was videod but we never saw it wish we could get hold of it.

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Listen
Blue Summer – Listen to Me

Thanks so much to Bart for the lovely interview! Don’t think Bart needs an introduction as he has been in bands like The Cat’s Miaow, The Shapiros, Pencil Tin or even Girl of the World. Nowadays he has been releasing under Bart & Friends, and later this month, well, in a couple of days, we’ll be releasing a 7-song mini-CD part of the Cloudberry Classics series. It’s hard to cover everything Bart has done, so this time we focused on Pencil Tin, but here’s hoping for more interviews later this year!

++ Hello Bart! How are you doing? How is Melbourne’s summer treating you?

Its been kinda wet. As in floods. But for the most part summer has found me working in the garden. Not very rock n roll but it’s the life I lead these days.

++ For those who don’t know, we are releasing a new little CD this month under the Bart & Friends name. What can people expect from it?

It’s sort of like a concentrated or distilled version Bart & friends. Its 7 songs in a bit over 8 minutes, all from the 90’s, all with me singing lead vocals. All were on the long list of potential inclusions to my live sets last year and some even made it all the way.

++ On one interview you said that The Shapiros, Pencil Tin, and Bart & Friends, are all the same thing. In the end they are you plus some good friends collaborating. And I thought, it would be cool to learn more from some of these “obscure” projects of yours, I say obscure because everyone associates you with The Cat’s Miaow as soon as they read your name. How important and how satisfying are these “side-projects” to you?

I guess more accurately I should have said what I do in each of those bands is the same and its what the other members bring that sets each band apart. The thing with all those bands and also the Cat’s miaow is that they each include another really talented song writer which stops me from getting too complacent and inspires me to try and lift my game. They were all pretty well of equal importance to me. It was never a case of “ooh, this song is pretty good, I better save it for the Cat’s miaow”. There’s this quite manic period from 93 to 95 where I probably wrote 90% of my back catalogue spread across the Cat’s miaow, Pencil tin and the Shapiros.
Pretty much all the bands ran to a natural conclusion with no unfinished business with the exception of the Shapiros. I think if the Shapiros had of continued for more than 6 weeks it possibly would have become the band I’m best known for. There was still a lot of untapped potential in that band, it would have been interesting to see what we could’ve achieved over 2 years.

I don’t mind being “Bart from the Cat’s miaow”. I’m flattered that the band is remembered at all. I’m quite surprised how the band is increasingly being referenced, with lyrics being used as titles of blog posts or even blogs themselves, and used as a point of reference in reviews. It’s quite gratifying to have become a small part of the lexicon of indie pop.

++ So how did Pencil Tin came about? What triggered you three to start recording together?

Rob was playing bass in the Sugargliders and I knew he wrote songs so I nagged him into forming a band with me as outlet primarily for his songs. I think you need to put this in the context that the Cat’s miaow was still only releasing cassettes at this stage and the Sugargliders were on Sarah, so there wasn’t any real advantage for him to play with me.

++ Why the name Pencil Tin?

I liked the way at school everyone customized there pencil tins with stickers and thought it made a good band name… sorry.

++ Your first release was the Poignant 7″ on the Quiddity label. You had already released with them a Cat’s Miaow 7″. And it seems you had a good relationship with them. I believe I bought lots of Library releases through them when they were Drive-In. But how did your relationship with them start? Did you ever meet personally?

This may not be correct as it’s such a long time ago, but I think Mike may have got in touch with us to buy a Sugargliders tribute cassette we had put together for their last show. Or possibly thru Dave Harris, we met a lot of people thru him. We were the first band on the label so he must have contacted us rather than us sending a demo? I may have been in DC at the time so the initial contact could have been with Andrew which is why I’m so vague about it. I never did get to Grand Rapids but I’m sure Andrew did a couple of times. It’s not too big a claim to say without Mike I’m pretty sure no-one would have heard of the Cat’s miaow and definitely Library records would never have happened.

++ So yeah, perhaps Poignant is the most known Pencil Tin song. So, what is the story behind it?

That’s one of Rob’s songs so I can’t say with any certainty but I always thought it was about him and Bianca. I do know that I wanted to give recording in a studio a try after a couple of years of home recording. As it turned out I hated the whole process but I loved the results. I’ve only done home recording ever since.

++ And it also has a video, was that Embassy Cafeteria your favourite place to hang out?

That was the only time I ever went there. It was near where Rob and Bianca lived. I’d forgotten we’d even done it until I stumbled upon it on youtube a couple of months ago. It was fun to make as I just had sit and eat a donut which was about the full range of my acting capabilities. I generally hate posing for photos but I can actually watch this without cringing. I really wish I still had that shirt.

++ How did the creative process work for you three by the way? Who did what?

It was either Rob or myself writing the songs, we’d bring finished songs to the band and whoever wrote it, sang and played guitar and the other played bass. Bianca didn’t get much of look in she was so quiet. Initially it was just me and Rob, it took us ages to find a drummer, by which time we’d already written a dozen songs. Early on Rob and I would rehearse once a week and each practice we’d each bring a new song.

++ That makes me wonder, how did you all get to know each other?

There was a circle of friends centered around Dave Harris (Munch videos, he made that Pencil tin video) which included amongst others, Josh (Sugargliders) Rob (Sugargliders, Earthmen) Andrew (Cat’s miaow) Ian (Super falling star) and myself. There were loads of other people as well, it wasn’t like an exclusive club for members of indie pop bands only. There were probably more dentists than anything.

++ And did you ever play any live shows with Pencil Tin?

No, we were meant to play at a party at Dave’s but the others got cold feet, so the Cat’s maiow stepped in and made a rare live appearance (third and last, there’s a distinct lack of ambition becoming evident here) as a 3 piece. You can hear it as the live songs at the end of Songs for girls to sing.

++ Going back to that 7″, it says on the back cover “all songs by Pencil Tin except the bits we pinched from The Smiths”. What are those bits? Or is it just a joke? 🙂

No, it’s true. The last few lines of In dreams.
“And I want the one I cant have, and it’s driving me mad, it’s written all over my face”
I want the one I can’t have – Meat is murder

++ Next release was the “A Gentle Hand to Guide You Along” album on Bus Stop. How did you end up signing with them? And how do you feel about the album 15 or so years after, do you think it has aged well?

See, I always think of them in the order they were recorded rather than released. This was recorded in June 1994, a year before Poignant was recorded and probably came out 2 years later.
By early 1994 Rob and I had about 12 songs written and as both of us were abut to embark on separate and hopefully lengthy overseas adventures (mine turned into the Shapiros) I thought it best if we recorded them for posterity. At this stage we hadn’t played with Bianca, so she heard the songs for the first time the afternoon we recorded them at a rehearsal studio down at the docks in an old warehouse. They were recorded really quickly with a near enough is good enough approach to the playing. I don’t think we imagined them ever getting beyond a cassette release. We must have sent a copy of to Bus stop along with the Cat’s miaow’s From my window as Brian offered to release both on CD. Unfortunately between then and the CDs being released the label ran out of steam and they sat in limbo for ages before finally coming out a few years later and I don’t think they got much distribution and probably no promotion. Which was frustrating at the time but having run my own label I know what it’s like so I don’t hold a grudge (which is odd, cause I usually do?)
I don’t think many people have heard this CD, Brian gave me big wad of promo copies a few years later which I was giving away to people who bought the Cat’s miaow re-issues just so people would hear it.

How does it hold up 15 years later? I think it’s got some really good songs on it but its let down by the playing and singing which is pretty rough around the edges. There’s only so much you can pass off as “naive charm”.
Even now I still find it hard to believe we were on Bus stop. I feel quite privileged to have been on the same label as 2 of my favouirite bands from that era, Veronica Lake and Rocketship.

++ Favourite song on the album?

The first one, Friday. One of Rob’s, it’s got a good groove to it.

++ You mostly recorded in 4 track right? What do you like about it? What are the advantages you think?

I like the control. You can do it inhouse (ie get Andrew to do it) and not have to try and convince someone else about what you’re trying to achieve. My limited experience with working with engineers in studios is that it’s really hard to translate your ideas thru someone outside of the band who doesn’t know what your frame of reference is.

++ And last release was a split, on your own Library Records along with another project of yours, The Shapiros. I’m kind of curious of those drawings you included in the sleeve and the record labels. Where did you get them? Oh! and why make a split of it, instead of just calling it Bart & Friends?

Good question. The drawings I pinched from a book of fashion illustration, possibly on the history of Vogue or something. I never had a great deal of respect for copyright. Seeing as I only wrote one of the Pencil tin songs and Pam wrote the lyrics to the Shapiros songs, to try and claim them all as mine is a bit of a stretch. I guess the difference between the other bands and Bart & friends is the others have some semblance of democracy while Bart & friends is more of a benevolent dictatorship.

++ And then what happened? Why no more releases? Are there still any unreleased Pencil Tin recordings?

It ended because Rob and Bianca had begun writing songs together and had formed their own band Paparazzi and wanted to focus their energy on that. What they were coming up with was infinitely better than Pencil tin. Sort of a Saint Etienne / Boo Radleys hybrid, Bianca it turned out was an amazing guitarist. You get glimpses of it on Rob’s solo album and they recorded lots of demos but never got it together to have anything released unfortunately.
I rehearsed with them once playing bass with the purpose of putting together a live incarnation but they couldn’t find a suitable drummer so it never really happened.
No unreleased Pencil tin songs I’m afraid, the cupboard is bare.

++ Do you still see Rob and Bianca often?

No, unfortunately. Rob moved to London and then I moved to the country and we’ve lost contact along the way.

++ Last time, and first time, I saw you was in Berlin. How did you like that city? And the crowd? You were monopolized by our dear friend Christos most of the time though!!

I loved Berlin, despite nearly getting run over by bicyclists twice. It’s somewhere I’d definitely like to visit again. The crowd was amazing, there were some down the front singing louder than I was. I’d never experienced anything like that before. It was quite touching, nearly brought a tear to an old man’s eye. Christos probably didn’t talk to me for more than half an hour which was barely any time at all. It’s not everyday I meet a fan as thoroughly charming as he is and it did my ego no end of good. I really should have talked to him more about the Sunny street tho, they’re easily my favourite band of the past 12 months.

++ Thanks Bart, and so looking forward to the release date, anything else you’d like to add? Any future projects coming up? I heard a Bart & Friends album is around the corner?

There is a CD of new songs tentatively scheduled for around April, we just need to do some minor finishing touches and mix it. Scott from the Summer cats sings on quite a few of the songs I’ll possibly also play live with the full line up around that time as well for the first time which I’m really looking forward to. Me playing live solo is a bit of dancing bear act, it has some novelty value but in the end bears can’t dance and I can’t sing and play at the same time.

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Listen
Pencil Tin – Poignant

Thanks so much to David for the interview! Sirens only released one flexi and they remained in obscurity. I found some time ago a video of theirs on youtube that sounded great. I was lucky enough to contact David from the band to learn a bit more about this long lost Exeter band!

++ Hello David! Thanks so much for getting in touch! I was really curious for long time about the video you posted on Youtube from your old band. Care to tell me how did this video came about?

Hi, Johnny (drums), Steve (guitar/vocals) and myself (bass) were studying film at Art College and we shot this video on 16mm Newsfilm and got the local news station to tag it onto their developing reel for free (in those days C86 the news was shot on film). I filmed it in my student bedsit. Simon Pledger was in the band at the time and it’s him in the video.

++ So let’s go back in time, when did Sirens start as a band? And how did you all knew each other?

We met at art college where we were studying fine art. That was 1984-1986. Exeter Art Colege has closed down now – but it was a great time. We were allowed to do anything!

++ Was this your first band?

Yes

++ So how was Exeter as a scene then? Any other good bands that you enjoyed there? Which clubs did you hang out at?

There wasn’t much of a scene in Exeter at the time, although a band called The Visitors had featured on an Are You Scared To Get Happy flexi disc. But the local scene was many pub acts and covers bands… there were no decent venues but we used ton put on a few bands at the local Arts Centre including the likes of The Flatmates. Also bands like The Wedding present and The Wolfhounds were playing at the time. Mainly we used to go and see bands in Bristol which had a great indie scene, I remember a club called the Tropic and something called Big Rock Candy Mountain where we saw bands like The Pastels, The Groove Farm, Mighty Mighty etc.

++ What about gigs? What were your favourites? Any anecdotes you could share?

I remember we played with I Ludicrous – a great band – at the Sir George Robey in London. What was that song – Preposterous Tales In The LIfe Of Ken MacKenzie? There was an exciting scene at the time with bands like The Sea Urchins, The Shop Assistants and many more. We were also really into bands like LOOP and Spacemen 3… although the band Steve and I always followed around when they toured the UK was The Cramps.

++ There was a flexi release, right? I’ve never heard about it. When was it released? Was it only that song from Youtube released on it? Was it self-released?

Yeah we self released that Flexi to be used on a ‘zine. Of which the name I have now forgotten. It was our only release although there are more recording knocking aound somewhere.

++ Why and when did you decide to split?

I think we split up when Steve moved to Bristol. Johnny went on to play on a band called Moose and I joined Mad At The Sun (which later became Annalise)

++ After the break up, you went to form a punk band. Usually it’s the other way around isn’t it? That’s cool! Anyways, what big differences were there between Sirens and Annalise?

Yeah shortly after Sirens split I met a guy called Martin Edmunds in Hendersons record shop on Exeter Fore Street and we had a mutual love of the US hardcore scene of the time (Minor Threat, he Minutemen, Black Flag and Guy Picioto’s band Rites Of Spring. MArtin said they needed a bass player and I went to a practise right away. We then decided to bring a bunch of bands from the DIY scene to Exeter and started putting on bands like Snuff, Senseless Things, Fugazi, Verbal Asault & Victim’s Family.)

++ You also started a club in Exeter, The Cavern. Tell me a bit about the story behind the club, and perhaps which have been the best nights that have been hold there?

After a while putting bands on in local pubs got to difficult. In those days pub landlords saw bands as a guy with a hammond organ playing covers, so when bands from the hardcore scene like Cowboy Killers turned up to take over their skittle alley it wasn’y long before they decided to pull the plug!. We realised we needed our own venue and approached the owner of a closed down bar called The Hop And Grapes to see if we could do shows there. That was the start of The Cavern. Our first ever show there was on St Valentine’s Day 1991 with a US punk band called QUICKSAND. At the time we set up a loose collective known as Hometown Atrocities and released a couple of split EPs. One of them is extremely rare now because it features the first recorded performance of Thom Yorke. He was part of the Hometown Atrocities Collective and was in a band called Headless Chickens with Shack from Lunatic Calm and Flickernoise.
We have done ten of thousands of bands since then including the likes of Sick Of It All, Muse, Coldplay, LaRoux, Samiam etc etc. Its the Cavern’s 20th anniversary this St Valentine’s Day….

++ Let’s wrap it here, thanks again for the interview! Anything else you’d like to add?

The Exeter scene has a few strong bands in it these days. Pippa (who owns the Cavern with me) manages a cool punk & roll band called the Computers who have just signed to One LIttle Indian and there are also OK PIlot, The Cut Ups, Iko, and loads more…who have grown up seeing shows at the Cavern.

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Listen
Sirens – Running Round the Garden

Thanks so much to Mark Hodkinson for the great interview! The Last Peach were a great guitar pop band from the early nineties that sadly didn’t break through. They released two 12″ singles, Jarvis and String-Like and received many positive reviews. Nowadays Mark is a writer and he runs his own publishing company, Pomona Books.

++ Hi Mark! Thanks for being up for the interview. You are a writer now and your latest was “The Last Mad Surge of Youth”, which I just ordered. The promotional blurb is really compelling to any music lover: “a novel about bands, growing up, moving away and getting famous, suicide, staying at home and getting bored, fanzines, the bomb, love, alcoholism, egotism and self-doubt.” Was the nostalgia for those 80s what inspired you to write it? How autobiographical is it?

I wanted to write about what I know about and that period felt particularly intense in terms of emotion and hopes. The book follows the characters into middle age, so it isn’t solely based in that period. There is some element of autobiography in the book, as there is with almost any work purporting to be ‘fiction’ but most of it is from my imagination.

++ How much of The Last Peach is in the book by the way?

Very little. I was 26 when I joined The Last Peach. Before that I was in two other bands – Untermensch and The Monkey Run. I tended to plunder this period for material because that’s when I was first starting out and doing so much, meeting so many people. I think it was a richer pool from which to draw inspiration, anecdote etc. We were more child-like and open with our dreams and one another.

++ So okay, let’s talk about The Last Peach, which I’m very curious about as there is almost nothing online about your old band. You had been in a couple of bands before though, right? How different were they to The Last Peach?

Untermensch were quite punk, really. We couldn’t play particularly well so we made a noise. It was a good noise, though, often built around driving bass lines. Some people have said we sounded a bit like the Dead Kennedys, which is fine. Although we lacked musical acumen we were devoted to at least trying to sound original, having something to say lyrically, and from the age of 16 (when we formed the band) we had a real, almost innate understanding of Art and integrity and how we were delivering the whole thing to the public. I know this sounds pompous but it was essential back then that everyone had a manifesto. I cover this approach in the novel, incidentally, how it was all very politicised and do-or-die.

We evolved into The Monkey Run when we realised we didn’t really fit comfortably in the ‘anarcho-punk’ movement. We wanted to broaden the sound. This was mainly inspired by hearing The Smiths early singles and a wonderful group called The Chameleons. I realised I could pick individual strings rather than whacking them all really hard. We were of the Manchester era that later spawned Happy Mondays, Stones Roses, Inspiral Carpets etc but just missed the boat. We played shows with The Stones Roses, Chameleons, Wedding Present etc, did Radio One sessions etc but we never met that one person (manager, label rep) who believed in us enough to take us on.

++ How did The Last Peach start? Who were the members and how did you know each other?

I packed in The Monkey Run in 1989 when I sensed we just weren’t going to ‘make it’. The music we were playing was still great but we kept getting false hope – labels asking for demos etc and then passing on us. It had become a slog – sending out tapes, hustling constantly and it wasn’t fun any more. About this time I started buying records from a store in Hebden Bridge (West Yorkshire) and the kid working there kept recommending lots of great stuff – I remember he was switched on to Kitchens of Distinction early on and most things he recommended were great. He was called David Cooper and had his own band, The Last Peach. They had already done local gigs and had a review in NME. He had just had some kind of fall-out with the rest of the group and we decided to have a jam. I brought along Pete Betham who had drummed towards the end with The Monkey Run and it worked really well. Darren Sharp, a friend of David’s played bass – he’d been in The Last Peach in a very early incarnation, I think: a lovely warm and funny bloke. I saw in David a real ambition and he had these great songs and catchy guitar riffs. I had a clear thought that being in a group with him would be more fun than The Monkey Run because he was a great organiser and grafter. I resolved that I’d be happy to play rhythm guitar, suggesting the odd minor chord here and there, but basically playing a supporting role to David. I’d been the ‘boss’ (or perhaps just thought I was!) most of the time in previous groups, which I enjoyed most of the time, but it can be a bit much and it means you take all the knocks far more personally than other band members.

++ I guess because of your writer background you were the lyricist?

Nope! I don’t think I contributed a single word or phrase to The Last Peach. Again, David had a clear idea of what he wanted to sing about and I liked his lyrics a lot. They were very conversational, nothing fancy or self-conscious – great little stories about our little lives and the people we knew. I always knew I’d one day be a writer and I much preferred the idea of novel writing to squeezing up thoughts to fit lyric meters etc.

++ Why the name The Last Peach?

David was in the garden (as a kid) mucking about with a peach and his mum shouted: ‘Hey, what you doing? That’s the last peach…and a legend was born.

++ The band hailed from Halifax/Hebden Bridge. How was the scene there back then? Any other good bands in town? What about venues? Which were your favourite spots? I guess you hanged more in Manchester proper?

The only band I really fell for was Wonky Alice, who we also put out on Pomona. They were fantastic – a cross between the Bunnymen, Pink Floyd and The Chameleons, but much more of themselves too – out there, musically and lyrically. We played the local Trades Club a few times in Hebden Bridge which was okay but our best gig ever was at The Return Club in Halifax, which was a sort of nomadic gig. On this particular evening we played in a sports centre and as good as sold it out. The nearest thing I can think of is the Nirvana video for ‘Teen Spirit’. The place went totally, utterly mad. We had kids all over the stage, falling into the amps, the drum kits. After each song I remember this roar went up. Each of us were grinning our heads off and I think we knew that we were in the middle of one of the most memorable nights of our lives. I’d played sell-out shows with The Stone Roses, and The Chameleons before, in Manchester, but it wasn’t like this. The Halifax crowd were there for us, so it was all the more special and it was out-of-control, on the edge. There was no security or anything, just the local lads that put on the gig, and we were all overwhelmed, in a nice way – there was no fighting or recklessness, just droves of kids piling on, like Assault on Precinct 13 or something. I may be exaggerating! A bit.

++ And I wonder, living in Manchester, how important were The Smiths for you all?

Life-changing, that’s all. They absolutely distilled everything about the environment and times we were living through and turned it into perfect art. I feel people like Morrissey have some kind of ‘visitation’ that enables them to say so much so succinctly and imaginatively over a short period of time. Marr, too, but this time on guitar. All those wonderful, wonderful tunes.

++ In 1992, Melody Maker named you “Tip for 1992” along Suede and Pulp. They broke through but sadly you didn’t. Why do you think this happened?

Again, we didn’t meet the right people. That’s all the difference is when you get to a certain point. We had fantastic tunes, a real commitment and understanding but, along the way, no one took a gamble on us. We played with Pulp once. They were always a great band and deserved their success. It’s a fine line, making it and not.

++ Your first release was the 12″ single “Jarvis”. Care to tell me a bit about this record? Was this a nod to Pulp by any chance?

Jarvis was the surname of David’s girlfriend at the time: nothing to do with Pulp. I’m not sure, but I think the song is a paean to her redemptive powers. David was at a low before she came along!

++ Also on this 12″ you included “Miles Over There” which is such a beautiful song. Do you mind telling me the story behind this song?

Sorry, that one was already written before I joined. We re-recorded it later. I always felt it was a bit skeletal sounding and wanted filling out but I might be wrong.

++ Second release was the “String-Like” 12″ which has kind of an odd cover artwork, very different to the bright coloured first single. Was there any reason for this? Did you as a band design them?

I found some postcards in a second hand shop and passed them to David who always did the graphics. I thought the design he did was brilliant. We just liked the image. David did all the artwork on the first single, pretty much independently. We liked it – four feet, four socks, four lads in a band that shook the Calder Valley.

++ Which was your favourite song of yours? And why?

Back of her Sleeve was always good to play live.And so was Jarvis. They were all great!

++ Both singles were released on your own Pomona Records. How did Pomona Records started? Where did the name come from? What was first, Pomona Records or Pomona Books?

I formed the label, purposely to release the band, and later Wonky Alice. I’d done similar with The Monkey Run. We had a manufacturing and distribution deal with APT who covered most of the costs, so we had all the ‘fun’ of recording, designing, promotion etc. The label came a long while before the books.

++ So what happened, why no more releases? Why no album? Were there more songs recorded that still remain unreleased?

I think David sort of grew up and lost a good deal of his ego! He became more tolerant and compliant and kind-hearted – all the things that work against you becoming successful. It’s always a lot easier if you’re a despot. He got heavily into the cooler elements of dance music (trip-hop etc) and tried to move us into that direction. I think this led to some discontent from the rhythm section and I was struggling a bit, too. We should have done an album, that would have been a lovely memento of the times, at least. We didn’t fall out or anything. I’m still best friends with David, Pete and Darren, and that’s a rare thing.

++ What about gigs? Any anecdotes you could share?

I’m not good with anecdotes. I recall the gigs all being rushed and nervy. It’s such a bizarre thing to do, standing in front of people showing off. I never truly got used to it.

++ When and why did you split? Where you involved with bands after?

I can’t remember when we split exactly – 1994? I’ve had an on-off thing with John Matthews (ex-The High) called Black September. We’ve done a couple of albums on Pomona. I was a massive fan of The High and tracked down John and he kindly agreed to ‘join’. It’s not a ‘proper’ band though – we’ve never played live. It’s the very occasional strumming and messing and recording. I’m proud of the records, though. I woudn’t put anything out I wasn’t proud of..

++ Just out of curiosity, what are you more passionate about, writing books or making music?

Books. I feel you can grow old far more graciously writing.

++ Looking back, what was the biggest highlight of being in The Last Peach?

Probably that mad gig in Halifax, or the numerous sessions in David’s cellar where we made some great noise and I always looked forward to seeing these very funny, friendly, happy (most of the time) blokes.

++ Alright, I’ve been listening to The Monkey Run stuff now, it’s really good! I wonder how those songs have flown under my radar. I will probably ask you for an interview about them some time soon. But let’s wrap up this one now. Anything else you’d like to add?

Do stuff. It’s fun.

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Listen
The Last Peach – Miles Over There

Thanks so much to Brian Price for the great and thorough answers! It’s indeed a treat that Peru are back, and hopefully I will catch them live soon. If you have never heard them, definitely be on the lookout for their split 7″ with Mary Queen of Scots on ebay or, just go ahead and buy their new retrospective compilation “Across Blue Skies” from Jigsaw Records. I recommend it dearly.

++ Hi Brian! I heard the Peru show at Big Pink Cake Weekender was a nice surprise for the attendees. How did you enjoy it? Any future shows planned?

It was very enjoyable and we received some really nice, positive feedback about the performance which is very reassuring. I was quite nervous as it was the first time I’d performed as a ‘frontman’ for 18 years but, all in all, I was very happy with how things went and the reaction we’ve received.

As for the future, we’re keen do more shows wherever we’re wanted and there are a couple of shows lined up already – we’re playing in Cambridge on April 2 and we’re very excited to be heading over to Limoges in France to play at the annual Popfest there on July 9. Hopefully, we’ll be adding more dates in the coming months…

++ So what made you have a comeback with your old band? It’s different people in the band now, right?

I hadn’t listened to, or played, any of the songs for a good few years but, inspired by watching lots of live indiepop bands at Bristol’s excellent Big Pink Cake club nights over the past few years, I picked up my guitar again and started playing again with a sort of vague dream that I might perform again in public and maybe even record some new Peru songs.

I didn’t think it would actually happen though and I was certain no one really cared about the songs we had recorded back in the 1990s.Then, in early 2010, a couple of things happened that inspired me to turn the dream into something concrete.

The first was at a Big Pink Cake night where I was introduced to Marianthi who told me that she had loved our song ‘World of Jason’ which appears on the first Shelflife Records release ‘Whirlwheels’ for many years and she knew nothing else about Peru. So she was surprised to meet the person who wrote the song and equally I was amazed someone I had met in Bristol had heard the song, never mind liked it!

The same night, a certain DJ/record label owner from Peru was playing at Big Pink Cake and he told me he had bought our debut 7” purely because the band was named after his home country!

Around the same time as that, I received an email out of the blue from Chris McFarlane of Jigsaw Records saying he’d collected up all the tracks we’d released on various ‘90s cassette compilations, as well as our 7” on Waaaaahhh! and the track which Shelflife used. Chris asked if I would be interested in him releasing them as an album on Jigsaw?

All of this made me think ‘maybe now is the time to get Peru back up and running!’ I then asked Matthew of Big Pink Cake if he would let a reformed Peru play at the forthcoming Big Pink Cake weekender in Bristol. He said yes – so I thought, shit, I’d better contact my old bandmates and see if they’re up for it!! Initially, the plan was to have guitarist Steve Woodward and bass player Chris Smith on board. Both were both keen to do it but a number of events transpired against us and we weren’t able to make it happen, so Thom and Jim – guitarist and bass player from Bristol band The Kick Inside – stepped in late in the day and did a brilliant job. The great news is they’re happy to continue and we now also have The Kick Inside’s drummer, Alex, on board too.

++ Are you planning to record new songs?

Absolutely! I’ve been busy writing some new songs since the Big Pink Cake weekender and once The Kick Inside boys clear a few other commitments they currently have, we’ll be getting together to rehearse and then record those.

In the meantime, there’s talk of a 4 or 5-track EP of 1990s Peru songs which didn’t make it on to the Jigsaw album possibly coming out on Dufflecoat label… If that happens, that will draw a line under the ‘90s stuff I deem suitable enough for release, and I’ll then concentrate on new stuff, with hopefully a 7” or EP of new stuff to follow the Dufflecoat release. If no one else wants to put any new stuff out, then I’ll look at doing it myself.

++ So, Peru started in Derby right? How come you are in Bristol nowadays?

My parents and I moved from Glasgow to Derbyshire in 1985, when I was 13, and I lived there for 10 years before moving to Edinburgh to study Journalism in 1995. After that, I worked on a newspaper in Devon before moving to a paper in Bristol in 2002. I’ve been here ever since.

++ Alright, let’s go back in time? How did Peru start? Who were the original members? How did you know each other?

At the start of the 1990s, I was playing drums in The Millers which was a noisier band with influences such as Fugazi, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Husker Du etc. However, I’ve always had a pretty wide taste in music and was quite immersed in the whole C86, Sarah Records, fanzine-type scene, collecting 45s and buying fanzines and tapes.

My friends and I used to go to a brilliant indie night at Rock City in Nottingham and beforehand, we’d generally meet at my place, drink a few beers and listen to records in my bedroom before heading to Rock City. Chris Smith, my best mate from school, and John Coolin, who we met at a party and knew from an indie band he played in called Kim’s Balloon, jokingly said one such drunken night that we should start an indiepop/Sarah Records-style band.

At that stage, I had only ever played drums but wanted to do something different in this new band, so I said I’d play guitar and sing. Chris, who didn’t play any instruments, said he would learn bass and we both hoped John – a real musician – would keep the whole thing together!

So I acquired an acoustic guitar, learned a few basic chords and attempted to write some songs. Chris got a bass and picked it up pretty quickly and off we went! It really was as simple as that. A little while later, in early ’92, Zoe Head joined on keyboards but left in November ’92. Her sister Kay also joined us for one recording session and one gig. John left sometime in 1993 and Steve Woodward – who was in my other band The Millers – teamed up with Chris and I. That final line up of Steve, Chris and I proved to be the most productive and was responsible for some of the better Peru material, in my opinion.

++ You know I’m from Peru, so the first time I read that there was a band called Peru I was thrilled. I wondered  why would anyone name the band with my country’s name. What was the reason?

Chris and I are massive football fans and when we were thinking up ideas for possible band names, we came up with Cubillas and Chumpitaz, the surnames of two Peruvian footballers we remembered from 1970s Panini sticker albums we bought as kids. We almost went for Cubillas but decided it was a bit too obscure, so we somehow settled on Peru instead – plus we also loved the famous 1970s Peru kit with the red diagonal band on the white shirt.

++ And who had the idea to have a Peruvian flag as an insert of the split 7″ with Mary Queen of Scots? That was such a treat for me!

These were, of course, the days before the internet/photoshop etc, and everything we did was very, very DIY, mainly due to lack of resources and money. It was established the sleeve for the 7” would be fairly plain but each band would have an insert to put their contact details etc on. We initially wanted to have a photo of Cubillas photocopied from a Panini album, but we needed to keep some white space free to stick down some contact details/info and it wouldn’t have worked. So we found a photo of a Peru flag instead, photocopied that and put the info onto the white spaces.

++ Alright, talking about that split 7″, that was the only proper release, right? Of course, until now that we have the Jigsaw CD. But why? Why didn’t you get to release more stuff during the nineties?

We had put some stuff out via the usual tried and tested method of the compilation tape and the next obvious step was to do a 7”. Richard at Waaahhh wrote saying he was starting a 7” Singles Club and asked if we wanted to be on the first one. As money was short and we couldn’t really afford to self-finance a release, we said yes and Richard paired us up with Mary Queen of Scots. We already knew Chris Lam from MQOS via correspondence from compilation tapes/fanzines etc, and we both like each other’s songs, so we went ahead with it.

Unfortunately, we didn’t do a great job of recording the two songs which appeared on the record – it sounds really muffled. We had to do it very quickly and only had a borrowed 4-track recorder and I think we just tried to cram too much on to it. Plus, John (who was in his final days with the band) badgered us into putting a brand new song he’d written called ‘Down’ onto the record when he’d originally planned to use ‘Oasis’ and ‘Kim’s Balloon’. It meant we had to learn ‘Down’ immediately and record it there and then, without any rehearsal or work on arranging it etc. Listening to it, you can really tell!!!

After that, we were supposed to release Roundabout as a 7” single on the German label Meller Welle. In true Peru fashion, we somehow didn’t get around to recording it in time or something, and the label ended up getting fed up waiting and released the songs we eventually sent them as a split cassette with a band called Lament.

The only other thing released ‘properly’ was the aforementioned ‘World of Jason’ on Shelflife’s ‘Whirlwheels’ compilation CD in around ‘95/’96.

++ You did appear on many compilations though, do you remember on which and what songs? I don’t mind you sharing the whole discography here!

Er, I don’t remember how many tapes we appeared on, but there were many! I started my own fanzine, Long Live Vinyl, mainly as a vehicle to promote Peru and get the name out in the open – again, for younger readers, this was what you did pre-You Tube/Myspace/Facebook etc etc. I also compiled tapes to release with Long Live Vinyl – the first being a split tape featuring, unsurprisingly, my two bands at the time, Peru and The Millers!

Other ones I remember us appearing on included C92, which featured a song called ‘Wonderful’ and one other, I think? Also – Kim who did the Bliss/Aquamarine fanzine/tape series put quite a few of our songs on those, as did David McLaughlin (aka DMCL) who ran the Fluff label which released early Boyracer/Hood output.

I reckon Chris McFarlane could be your best bet for a definitive cassette compilation discography! He even has versions of Peru songs I don’t even remember recording, never mind sending out to anyone!

++ What about gigs? You played lots? Which ones do you remember the most and why?

No, we only did a handful of gigs – all of them in 1992. The first was with The Marmite Sisters at the Princess Charlotte in Leicester. The rest were either in Derby or Nottingham and included supporting Heavenly at The Dial in Derby.

We also played a few gigs with the great Derby indiepop band The Almanacs which were probably the ones I remember most fondly. To be honest, we weren’t very good as a live unit at that stage. It was only 6 months or so earlier that I had first picked up a guitar and sang in front of anyone else – singing or playing guitar weren’t my natural ‘instruments’ and I found it too difficult/stressful to do.

So Peru became a ‘bedroom only’ band after our final gig in November 1992. (Playing drums was a different matter – I loved every minute of that!)

++ Was Peru your first band by the way? How involved were you in the indie/guitar pop scene of those days? I mean, I assume that being in Waaaaaah! made you a cutie? Or I’m wrong?

No, as I mentioned earlier, I played drums in The Millers, who grew out of an earlier band called Spacerat. Once Peru began, I was fairly involved in the indie/guitar pop scene, I guess, as I was running my fanzine and issuing tapes, as well as playing gigs with Peru and The Millers and going to see lots of bands.

On reflection, it was a great time for music – particularly in Derby which had a great little venue called The Dial where we saw the likes of The Sea Urchins, Brighter, The Orchids, The Field Mice, The Telescopes, Ride, Teenage Fanclub and even Primal Scream (in their leather-clad Ivy Ivy Ivy phase)!!

There was also a Sarah Records package tour with Another Sunny Day/St Christopher/The Field Mice on the same bill – but there were only about 20 people maximum there as it was close to Christmas and most of the students had gone home!

Over in Nottingham, there seemed to be far less going on than in Derby – although we did often see The Fat Tulips play or bump into Mark, Paul or Sheggi and gigs we went to.

We also followed a Brighter/Blueboy joint tour around the country thanks to our friend Lisa having a car and being willing to go to silly locations!

Whether all of that confirms me as a cutie or not, I don’t know. But there was a sort of indie scene, I guess, and you would tend to meet the same faces at the same gigs and club nights.

++ What about fanzines? did you have any favourites back then?

I used to buy any I could get my hands on, or swap for copies of Long Live Vinyl. As for favourites, I can’t really remember, sorry!

++ How did that release happen by the way? Did you know Richard?

The Waaahhh single?? I only knew Richard though writing to each other to swap fanzines/flyers etc. He just asked if we wanted to do the split 45 and we were happy to do it.

++ So who is Jason from “World of Jason” and “Sammy”? And Kim from “Kim’s Balloon”? What are the stories behind these songs?

Jason is an old school friend I haven’t seen or heard from for about 20 years. The song ‘Sammy’ isn’t technically a Peru song. My brother, Mark, and I were recording a batch of his songs (Marcus) which I went on to release as a split cassette with Johnny Domino (another of Steve Woodward’s projects) through Long Live Vinyl, and I was just jamming the two chords which make up the song. Mark began jamming along and we recorded the guitar parts. He didn’t want it to be an instrumental so I quickly scribbled down some words and recorded a vocal part and he then added the harmony vocal.

It needed a title so we went for ‘Sammy’ which was the name of our old red setter dog. The irony is that Chris McFarlane at Jigsaw said it was his favourite ‘Peru’ song and wanted it on the album – so there you go!

‘Kim’s Balloon’ was named after John Coolin’s former band, which he had named after his niece, Kim.

++ Why and when did you split?

As is often the case, we never officially split. The difficulty we had – and I guess the reason why we didn’t release much stuff back then – was that we were rarely in the same place at the same time. John went off to study in Manchester while he was still in the band, then after he left and Steve joined, Steve went off to study in Sheffield. Things slowed right down when I left for Edinburgh. We did record a few songs when I came back during holidays, but it was getting more and more difficult to carry on so it just fizzled out…

Chris and Steve did record a few songs together in my absence – one of which, Horror Story, appears on the Jigsaw album.

++ What happened after? Were you involved in other bands?

While Peru was still stumbling along, my other band The Millers fizzled out, too, and Steve and Giles from the Millers started Johnny Domino – a kind of lo-fi / alt-country combo.

Some time in ’94, I joined a new band called Boy Scout which featured Marc Elston from Bulldozer Crash, Nick Glyn-Davies, who was in the original White Town line-up, and Rob Fleay who played bass in The Almanacs and was involved in loads of other things too. This quickly became quite a serious band and we courted some major label interest for a while. Unfortunately, it coincided with me being accepted for a place on a Journalism degree course in Edinburgh which I started in ’95. We tried to keep it going with rehearsals and shows during holidays but I felt I couldn’t properly commit to a band based in Derby while studying in Scotland so, after summer ’96, I reluctantly left Boy Scout.

While studying in Edinburgh, I played drums in my brother’s Mark’s band – a little ramshackle, country-pop outfit that has had a residency in a Glasgow bar for the last 20 years or so!! It was always great fun and involved lots of drinking as well as playing and singing! That ended when I moved to Devon in 1999 but I’m happy to say the band is still going and I always join in for a few songs every time I visit Glasgow.

++ Fast forward, 2011. I have in my hands the “Across Blue Skies” CD, a compilation of your recorded output on Jigsaw Records. But it was missing the song “Cubillas”, right? But hey, Cubillas star in the cover. What a player he was! What do you remember about him?

As I said earlier, we were huge footy fans and we remembered Cubillas and his teammates from the old Panini sticker books. Also, as a Scotsman, I have always had a bit of love-hate relationship with him as I have nothing but admiration for his play and the two great goals he scored against Scotland in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina – but he also broke our nation’s heart as his goals effectively made it impossible for us to qualify to the next stage of that tournament! After we named the band Peru, I was determined to have a song called Cubillas – so I wrote a little instrumental and named it after him. For some reason, Chris McFarlane didn’t want it on the album, but it will get included in something soon, maybe on the Dufflecoat Records EP?

++ And hey, tell me about this CD, how come Chris find out about you? And what do the people that have never listened to Peru can expect from it?

He somehow got a hold of my email address and just wrote out of the blue in early 2010. He said in the email that he didn’t think I’d be interested in releasing stuff and probably didn’t want to look back or think about the band, but he was wrong and I was delighted to hear from someone in the US who knew as much about the band as I did!! I’m grateful to him for getting the CD together so quickly and for his support. What can people expect? Some honest, from-the-heart melodic and mainly melancholic indiepop songs recorded between 1992 and 1996.

++ Let’s wrap it here, see you in London Popfest? We have to continue the beer drinking but no soul club this time!

Yes, I look forward to catching up for another beer or two at the London Popfest – maybe not as many as last time, though. ☺

++ Alright, thanks again Brian, anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you! And thanks to everyone who has bought the album, downloaded tracks, helped, encouraged and given words of support so far!

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Listen
Peru – World of Jason

(Some beautiful jangly guitars)
“We are going to have a party next Saturday night, if you feel alright, come tonight…”

Can you guess this song is from Germany? I didn’t. I remember the first time I heard it back in October 2009. I had just arrived to Hamburg after some days in Essen visiting my mother. It was quite a special occasion in Hamburg, it was the 30th birthday of one of my dear friends. Also that weekend, as documented in the blog, was one of the best ever, with the legendary Sunny Street gig at the Hasenschaukel. But the first day I arrived, not many were around. I came a bit too early. So that afternoon Andreas and me went over so many records. We started with a collection of all Nine Steps to Ugly recordings. Later on a similar collection by Grab Grab the Haddock. While the music played I went over his boxes of old 80s tapes, filled with demos and rare compilations, among them his own Everlasting Happiness. Then sitting on the comfy couch and flipping through his fanzine collection. Suddenly some jangly guitars coming from the turntable caught my attention. The girl singing could have been the cutest ever, her voice I immediately adored. Who the heck are this? “This is from 1986”, Andreas tells me, “And they are from here, from Germany”. I was thrilled!

I would have loved to be in this small town party the vocalist invites us all listeners. Wonder in which small town of Germany she lived. Then Andreas wisely skipped many songs, and turned around the 12″. On the other side a dreamy “You Didn’t See” makes me melt. “They are the Love Set, but this is seems to be all they recorded” he shrugs with a smile. What a shame I think, they deserved a record deal, an album, some singles, some EPs, some flexis, some maxis, a DVD even! This is jangly guitar pop at it’s finest, innocent, fragile, but with lots of nerve, and feelings, and hope. And this is from 1986!! Love Set were on par with their English counterparts, even ahead I believe. This sound didn’t  happen until 88 or so with The Fat Tulips I think. Anyways, it doesn’t really matter who came in first, does it?

This two songs appear on a compilation called “Beat All the Tambourines” released by the eponymous label and published by Constrictor. As far as I know, this was their only release. It was distributed by another German label, Pastell. Most of the songs, including the two Love Set tracks, were recorded at Fright Train Studio in Duisburg, making me think that it must have been a small town in the Ruhr region. Funny, as that’s the area in Germany I’ve visited most places and small towns. Maybe I’ve passed by their old house or their old hang-out walking one day. Also on this record there are appearances by the well known and great Most Wanted Men and many unknown names for me like Montgomerys or Xavier Says No. This bunch of unknown bands, not really up my street though.

After coming back to the US, some months later, I receive a package from the great Jörg Winzer, great friend and indiepop know-it-all. It was a copy of the 12″. I was the happiest, even took a a photo of me holding it. It was such a surprise. He remembered that during the next days in that holy Hamburg weekend, I often put the record at Andreas turntable. First thing I did upon getting it was ripping the songs out from the vinyl and playing them many many times. Second step was to try to get in touch with the band, you know, detective work. So the research started.

The only names to appear on the record are those of M. Gülicher and T. Shock. It wasn’t that hard to find that it was Mattias Gülicher and even found a website he owned, a distribution company called “Grand Harbour”. Sadly there was no reply after my email asking to do an interview. He also seem to have played on Fenton Weills who will soon have a 3″CD on our dear Werner’s own Edition 59 record label out of Berlin. Also I could find that Mattias is from Cologne, but that’s not a small town. Perhaps, they liked leaving Cologne for some small town parties on the weekend in 86? Could be.

Now it seems that T. Shock was really a Katrin Shock, a K. Shock. She was the girl that sung so beautiful, and what a beautiful name she had, Katrin. Ah! And she also wrote the lyrics. What a talent! Wonder if she ever got to sing again in a band. Wonder if there are more recordings by Love Set. Wonder if I will ever hear from Mattias. Wonder if someone would finally do a compilation of the great guitar pop that happened in Germany during the late 80s and early 90s, some sort of Leamington Spa series, but of Germany. There are so many great songs and bands. It would be so good.

Anyways, enjoy! And let’s hope next Saturday we are invited to a small town party.

Oh! and a “love set” is a set in tennis in which the loser wins no games.

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Listen
Love Set – Small Town Parties

Thanks so much to Richard Lane firstly for getting in touch after reading my previous post of Snog6 and confirming me that they didn’t snog each other. And secondly, for this great interview telling us a bit more about his old band. What a great track is Misery! Enjoy once more.

++ Hello Richard! First of all, thanks so much for getting in touch! How are you? You were telling me that Snog 6 were based in Sheffield? Do you still live there? How are the preparations for holidays going on?

Life’s pretty good cheers. Snog6 were a Sheffield band but i have moved around the country a fair bit since then. We started in 1992 and finished in 1993 so it all seems a very long time ago!! Holiday preparations are still not really going but it has snowed so we might get a white Christmas,

++ So let’s go back in time, when did Snog started out? Because that was your first name right? without the 6? And who were the members?

Snog6 met in a basement in Sheffield. It started out with Reg (bass), Al (rhythm) and myself (jangly indie) with Kate (vocals) and Nigel (drums) soon joining. In true spinal tap style Nigel changed to Andy – a rock god of a drummer.

++ How did you all knew each other? Was it easy to get together the band?

We all loosely knew each other and when we got a few songs behind us it kind of all fitted together. We practiced twice a week for a few hours and then started gigging.

++ Was Snog your first band? Were you always into guitar pop by the way?

Snog was my first band apart form the odd jam. For most of us it was our first and last taste of fame except for Kate who got onto top of the pops (it was the English pop music programme of the time MTV for the early nineties 😉 )

++ So what happened, why the name change? What were the threats of the original Snog band?

Snog threatened court action so as we all lived in the postal code area s6 it seemed a sensible change of name. I always hated it though I wanted us to be “Goodnight Mr President” Monroe’s last words

++ Who were these other Snog by the way? I have never heard about them!

Neither has we until the letter popped onto our door mat!!! 🙂

++ So alright, you made two demo tapes. Do you remember the tracklist of them? Was that all you ever recorded?

The first demo was “Truth” and “Close Your Eyes”. The second was “Misery”, “Truth” and I can’t remember the last song, sorry.

++What do you remember of those recording sessions? Any anecdotes you could share?

Rushed would be the word. We recorded each song in 3 hrs as we had only 6hrs time in the studio. We used the Sunday morning slot as it was cheapest. And I had to go and watch a football match for the second session. I wasn’t popular but at least we won!!!

++ What about gigging? Did you gig a lot? Any particular gigs that you remember dearly?

We played about 8 gigs. the best by far was for a student battle of the bands. Really good set up, good lights and pa and the crowd loved us. It was from there that we were offered a single on the “Does Your Dog Moult EP”.

++ How did Misery appeared on the 7″ compilation “Does Your Dog Moult?”? Do you remember?

They saw us at the band competition. John Peel played the single a couple of times (the best British DJ ever just ask anyone who knows!!!)

++ Looking back in time, what do you think was the highlight of Snog 6?

John Peel, playing live and recently finding out that 20 years later we had gone worldwide!!

++ So why call it a day? What happened after? Did you make music?

I still make music but only as a hobby. I’m a head teacher now. We split up due to artistic differences or the fact we couldn’t stand Kate. You decide 😉

++ And what about these days? When was the last time you picked up your guitar?

I play the guitar most days, record a little on garage bands and still occasionally play live with friends. i was the band at my own wedding.

++ Thanks again Richard! Anything else you’d like to add?

Happy days will do it for me!!!

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Listen
Snog 6 – Misery

Thanks so much to Fabien Garcia for this interview about the beloved French band Caramel who released on Marsh-Marigold, Harriet and Aquavinyle! Here we talk about Caramel, the Limoges Popfest that he organizes and sheep testicles with garlic and parsley. Great interview! Hope you enjoy 🙂 You can check more songs of them on their myspace here.

++ Hi Fabien! How are you doing? I hear you are already planning the next Limoges Popfest for 2011! Anything you can reveal about it yet?

Hi Roque ! Yes, we (the « Anorak Team ») are already thinking and working on our next Limoges Popfest. The second one, in last month of July was so cool, welcoming and enjoying bands like Northern Portrait or The Electric Pop Group, that we want the next one to be great too ! It should happen the second weekend of July 2011. What can we reveal about it ? At the moment, we’re thinking about which bands we would like to welcome. Some of them could possibly come, others not… Anyway, one band is sure for the moment to come and play here : Peru, from Bristol. We met Brian at the last Big Pink Cake Weekender in Bristol. He’s a very kind guy and he automatically answered « Yes! » when we asked him if he would like to come and play here in France for our Popfest.

++ You know the other day I was looking at the photos of the 2010 edition of the festival, and saw that grill with lots of meat, looked so tasty!! I thought: “that is a proper indiepop festival! Not just silly tofu but proper food for the crowd. How can people expect to party with a weak stomach? We need some proper food! French people do know how to eat.” What other highlights did you have from this year’s edition?

« How can people expect to party with a weak stomach? We need some proper food! ». That’s what we believe. And we don’t want people to starve if we want them to party during all the night. Well, we always wanted to organize the popfest in a very friendly way. People pay 15 euros and that’s all. Then, everything is free during all the weekend : the food, the drinks, the concerts, the fun. Cos’ yes, fun, fun, fun, that’s what we want. We want people to feel good. So there’s good food, as specialties from our region that people can discover, good drinks, as some beers from our region (yes, here we have great beers ! Hé hé), and good concerts. What can people expect more from a Popfest ?

The highlights from the 2010 edition of the festival ? First of all the Northern Portrait concert which was absolutely fantastic. One of the best concert I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen many. Then, The Electric Pop Group gig which was also excellent. Then, all the people dancing behind the two bands. I also remember how much the guys from Northern Portrait and The Electric Pop Group are really kind people. It was great to meet them. The French Defence concert, which came from England and is an Anorak Records’ band, was also a great moment. And finally, I must note the concert from my own band, Pale Blue Eyes which was a good moment. So my girlfriend, who doesn’t like indiepop, came to me and said : « I thought your music will be boring but your concert was great. And your songs are really jangly ! ». These were some of the highlights of last Popfest. But there were many others.

++ So yes, as you said, we’ve done an interview before, one about Anorak Records, that sadly disappeared when my old blog was hacked. Ah! Shame! But now let’s talk about Caramel, one of the greatest indiepop bands ever born in France. How did it come to be? How did you all get to know each other?

Caramel… Hey, very old memories… This was so long ago. Well, the band started in 1992. First of all, the band consisted of Denis (bass and vocals), Isabelle (vocals and tambourine) and me (guitar). I met Isabelle because at the time she was… my girlfriend. I met Denis one day in a record shop here in Limoges. I was buying a Saint Christopher 7 inch and he was buying a Field Mice 7 inch. Both were Sarah Records ! I told him : « This is a great record and I love the Field Mice ». He replied to me : « I love the Field Mice too and I love Sarah Records ». A friendship was born. We met again and he told me he would like to start a band. We did that. During a few rehearsals, a friend of Denis played drums with us. Then, the guy had to left the town for his studies. So we decided to ask a good friend of mine who knew how to play drums, Stéphane, that I knew when we were in high school, to come and play with us. He said yes. We played in this four people line-up during a few months, and starting to record a demo on a 4-tracks tape. Olivier Roussilhe, from the band Lol (later Verdurin) recorded it for us. We decided to send the demo to some labels we liked, only a few ones first : Sarah Records, Siesta Records and Marsh-Marigold Records. Three days after we sent the tapes, Oliver Goetzl, from Marsh-Marigold Records, phoned to me and asked : « Do you want to release a record through my label ? » We automatically said « Yes! ». He asked then another question : « Do you want to come and play for the Marsh- Marigold Christmas party ? » We replied « Yes ! » too. We were in November and the concert was one month after. We had never played live… And we needed another guitar player… Well, during these days, I’ve met Guillaume. I was in the street, wearing a Fat Tulips tee-shirt and this guy came and talked to me : « I love the Fat Tulips ! And Brighter is my favourite band ! » Then he told me he was playing guitar and had a demo tape. He asked me if Anorak Records would be interested in releasing some songs from his band (who will become Doggy). After listening to his songs, Denis, Isabelle, Stéphane and me thought it would be great if he could join Caramel. He said « Ok ! ». He did one practice with us and then directly came and played with us in Hamburg for the Marsh-Marigold popfest. A great one, including also Acid House Kings, Red Letter Day, Poprace, Die Fünf Freunde and Red Sleeping Beauty. A few months later, Olivier came with us to play keyboards. He played on our first mini LP. Then, for our second LP, Mike, from They Go Boom !!, came to play keyboards with us instead of Olivier. This is the short story of the beginnings of Caramel.

++ Was Caramel your first band by the way? How did you learn to play bass? Do you play any other instruments?

No, Caramel wasn’t my first band. Before that, I’ve been playing with some friends in bands called My Crystal Chamber and Poppin’ Candy. But nothing remains from them… Hopefully. I’ve never learned to play bass because I play guitar. Anyway, I’ve never learned to play guitar too. I don’t know the music. No one ever teached it to me. I’ve been starting playing all by myself. Trying to find cool tunes. Other instruments ? I know how to play the kazoo. But they never want me to play it… I don’t know why… hé hé… It seems I like the buzzing sound of this instrument and many people don’t. Which is a shame, I believe.

++ So okay, why did you choose the name Caramel? Do you like caramel flavoured stuff by any chance? haha

Well, we decided to choose this name as it was sweet and as we needed to find one quickly because of the deal with Marsh-Marigold. We wanted a name that was both French and international, that anyone could understand. And Caramel is the same in French and in English. And yes, we liked caramel, candies, lollipops and things like that.

++ I’m curious, was there any other indiepop band in Limoges then aside from you? Where were most of the popkids  based in France back in the early nineties?

When we started Caramel, we were the only indiepop band in Limoges. Here, at the time, everyone was listening and playing in punk or hardcore bands… That was quite difficult to find some gigs and venues in our town. Anyway, we didn’t care. But at the time, we also had a radio show, on a local radio, here in Limoges. It was called first « Drinking gazoline » and then « Pop corn ». By the way, we manage to get in touch with some popkids here. And some of them started bands. A few years after Caramel started to play, there were some other bands in Limoges : Dale, Shag, Blooming Park, etc.

In the early nineties, there were popkids everywhere in France : Rennes, Brest, Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montauban, Strasbourg, Paris, Lille, Marseille, Nice, Montpellier, Lyon, Clermont-Ferrand… and many many more. Most of them great people and, unfortunately, some really bad ones… Anyway, it was really exciting. Cos’ there were a lot of fanzines, labels, bands.

++ So how did you end up releasing in a German label, Marsh-Marigold, and not in a French label, considering during those years there were plenty of cool French indiepop labels?!

As I told before, Marsh-Marigold was the first label to ask us to release something. We immediately accepted because it was, after Sarah Records, our favourite label. After that, we didn’t had to search for another label. At the time, Marsh-Marigold Records was already some kind of « cult » label. Really adored by the popkids… Which made some bands and people in France jealous from the fact we were on this great label.

++ Did you get to play shows in Germany because of this relationship? Did you play in any other countries?

Yes, we went to Germany to play shows because of the relationship with Marsh-Marigold Records. Oliver offered us the opportunity to play there and it was always great concerts, and now great memories. Yes, at the time, we also played in Belgium and of course in France.

++ What was the best show that Caramel played ever? What anecdotes do you remember about it?

Our best show… I think in fact of two particuliar shows : one was in Bordeaux and it was very powerful. There were not a lot of people in the audience but they really seemed to enjoy it and danced a lot. The second one was our last show ever, in Hamburg, Germany, for the Marsh-Marigold Christmas party of 1996. We played fast and it was really jangly and fun. The sound was fuzzy and we enjoyed it a lot.

++ What were you listening during those days? Did you consider yourselves Poppunkgaragemods? That’s quite a term!

We were listening to all the great bands there were at the time. Our main influences were the bands from the C-86 so called scene, mostly The Pastels and The Housemartins, and some early punk bands like The Undertones or The Buzzcocks… There were also bands like Talulah Gosh, The Fat Tulips, Strawberry Story or Heavenly that influenced us a lot. And we also loved bands from Sarah Records, Bus Stop Label, Heaven Records, A Turntable Friend Records, Summershine Records, K Records, etc. No, we didn’t consider ourselves as « poppunkgaragemods ». It was a kind of private joke. We were indiepop kids !!!

++ What about ¡Olé Zamora!, why that name? What’s the story behind that? Anything to do with Zamora Football Club?

The name of the CD « ¡Olé Zamora! » was just another joke for us. Zamora is the name of Olivier, our first keyboards’ player. As I do, he’s got Spanish origins. When we were recording the first mini LP, we thought it was fun to use his name. So no, nothing to do with Zamora FC.

++ Eventually you did release on a French label, on Aquavinyle. Did you ever get to meet them? How did you end up signing with them and not continuing with Marsh-Marigold? Tell me a bit about this label as I don’t know much.

Yes we released a 7 inch on Aquavinyle. It was a label ruled by Thomas, a friend of us who was living in Bordeaux. So yes, we often met him. He also used to organize some concerts for us in Bordeaux. Through Aquavinyle, he also released 7 inches from Blueboy, Bouquet and a few other records. Well, we didn’t properly « sign » something with Aquavinyle. Oliver, from Marsh-Marigold Records, always let us do what we wanted and release records with labels who wanted to. But most of our songs were recorded for Marsh-Marigold, of course. Oh, and at the time, we also contributed to many many compilations tapes for labels and fanzines around the world : England, USA, France, Japan…

++ So this 7″ was the great Johanna. Let me guess, one of you guys had a crush on a Johanna?

No, no one of us knew a girl called Johanna. It was just another joke about a character from a french TV soap called « Hélène et les garçons » who was very popular at the time in France. This girl, named Johanna, was absolutely stupid…

++ And the last release was a 7″ in the great Harriet Records. You did release only on cool labels! How did you end up signing to a label across the Atlantic? And why didn’t you get to play here in the US?

About the record with Harriet, it’s Tim Alborn who used to get in touch with Denis. He just asked to him if he wanted to release a 7 inch through his label and, of course, we accepted his offer. For us, it was an honour to release a record with such a great label. It was one of our favourite at the time and we were pleased to release that last record with him. Why didn’t we get to play to the USA ? No one ever asked us too. And just after the 7″ with Harriet, we decided to stop the band. Anyway, I must say that at the time, things were not so easy as they are nowadays. So, going to play in the US was just a dream.

++ Looking back, which of your releases was your favourite? Do you have any favourite song?

I think my favourite release was the « Triangle » 7″ released through Marsh-Marigold. Picking up just one song from us would be difficult… Maybe « Pas tous les jours dimanche ».

++ What about telling us something about Caramel that no one knows about?

We recorded our songs in a wine cellar. And this is absolutely true. Isabelle’s grandfather used to be a wine merchant. He lived in a small village in the countryside near Limoges. When we wanted to do some recordings, we all went to her grandparents’ house and stayed there during the days we needed to do the recordings. And the first time we did that, he told us it would be great to record the songs in the wine cellar. We thought it was a good idea. So we did most of our recordings there. Maybe the wine barrels who were there also had a great influence on us…

++ You also recorded a video for “L’ete ‘en Ville”, one of my fave of yours! Any anecdotes you could share about the video? Seems like it was fun to record!

Yes, it was real good fun to record it too. The father from of a friend of us was the director from a psychiatric hospital in Limoges. We needed a big room all painted in white. He told us : « There’s one in the hospital, I’ll ask to my father ». And his father agreed. So we all went there, with one camera and many many friends. Xavier and Sylvain, two friend of us who were students, told us they could record it. Xavier was studying cinema in a school in Angoulême. The recordings were done in two hours. Then, he went to do an internship for the Scottish TV. The guys there helped him to do all the film editing. Now, Xavier is working for the local TV here in Limoges. Sylvain is working in a TV in Paris. It was their first filming experience.

++ After listening one more time to your songs, I wonder, are there still any other songs that never got properly released?

I think all our songs were released. I can’t remember one that was not. But it’s so long ago that I’m not sure about it.

++ So when and why did you call it a day? What did you all do after? Still in touch with everyone?

The band stopped just after our last concert in Hamburg. It was in the beginning of 1997. We had to stop because Denis went to study and live in Wales, Isabelle went to live in Paris and Stéphane went to live in Toulouse. After that, Guillaume and me started another band called Corner Kick. We did some great concerts here in France but we never released any record. Guillaume also kept on doing his songs with Doggy, his solo project. Now, Stéphane also plays with him and he also plays with my new band, Pale Blue Eyes. Denis played in several bands in Cardiff and then in England where he’s living now. We’re still all in touch except Isabelle who’s now in Paris which is not so far away… So maybe, Caramel will play again one day… Why not for a future popfest in Limoges ? Who knows ? 😉

++ Ah! I could continue with more questions, there’s lots to ask. But let’s wrap it here. Again with a food question, what’s Limoges specialty? Can you cook it? 😉

Limoges food specialties ? There are so many ! My favourite one is the limousine hotpot. It’s not made with a big car. This name is because « Limousin » is the name of the region where we live. It’s made with salted pork (legs and flat ribs) and a big chitterlings sausage, cabbages, leeks, carrots, turnips, potatoes, two cloves of garlic, an onion studded with cloves, a “bouquet garni”, pepper. I know how to cook it and I like it a lot. One other very typical is the sheep testicles with garlic and parsley. But I don’t know how to cook it and I don’t like it a lot.

++ Thanks Fabien! Anything else you’d like to add? See you in London Popfest?

Thanks Roque for the interest in Caramel !!! Will I go to London Popfest ? I really hope so but I don’t know it yet as I’ll maybe working when it’ll happen. Anyway, I look forward to go and see you there !

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Listen
Caramel – L’été En Ville

Thanks so much to John Martin for the great interview and the exclusive mp3 for the blog. The Hermit Crabs were a great band that released a split flexi with the 14 Iced Bears and a 12″ on Thunderball Records. Enjoy!

++ Hi John! Thanks so much for doing this interview. So first things first, how come you are both J. Martin & Greg Waverley as you told me on the comments section of my Hermit Crabs post?!

Hi there Roque, the reason for the two names is quite simple: Greg Waverley was the nom de guerre I went under as a Hermit Crab. But when it came down to writing credits I felt it best I use my real name in case we made any money from the songs, which we didn’t!

++ So how did the Hermit Crabs came to life? Who were the members and how did you all met each other?

The members were myself on vocals, Marky Hellings on guitar, Peter Hunt (Malibu Mo) on bass and Steve Perry (Bam Bam Baruso) on drums. We lived in a small town, so you tended to gravitate towards the people who were into the things as you, and with us it was music, so there was a network of people who would hang out. Marky and Mo had played in bands together and Steve had been in a band with another friend of mine. Me and Marky started messing around making music in 1985 with Marky singing and guitar and me on bass. At first we were doing odd soundscapes with echo machines and effects pedals, but the music started to take on more structure and Marky wrote some lyrics to them. We played a gig as The Deckchairs and we got Steve to play drums on the night even though had never rehearsed with us! I remember it as a great gig. We were all big fans of the Velvet Underground, so in my mind it was a beautiful cacophony though the audience may have begged to differ! Anyway, after that, I packed the bass away and we continued to rehearse in Marky’s bedroom and write lyrics together. The songs sounded quite summery and upbeat so we hit on the surf theme and carried it on into the look of the band and that’s what became the Hermit Crabs.
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++ Were in the UK were you based by the way?

We all lived in Harlow, Essex, which a town roughly 25 miles from London.

++ What about the band’s name? Why did you choose it?
I think Marky came up with the name. Because of the surf punk thing we were doing, it seemed quite apt, seeing as hermit crabs lived near the beach and were a bit odd, not having there own shell and being a bit scuzzy!

++ Was The Hermit Crabs your first band?

Other than The Deckchairs and a million other bands that were nothing more than a name on a piece of paper, yes!

++ Let’s talk about releases. So Surfin’ Vietnam appeared on the “Let’s Try Another Ideal Guest House” compilation among many other well known bands. How did you end up in this fund-raising release?

Graeme Sinclair, who was affectionately known as Beer Monster used to come to our gigs and after a while we got chatting. He was in the process of putting Thunderball Records together but was also involved in compiling “Let Try Another Ideal Guest House” and he asked us if we had anything to put on it. We had recorded a demo after winning some studio time in a local rock contest and the strongest song was “Surfin Vietnam”, so we gave him that.

++ You seem to have had a close relationship with 14 Iced Bears, releasing the split flexi, and also your 12” on Thunderball Records, being labelmates with them. Were you all friends? How did this relationship happen? did you play gigs together?

The connection was more to do with Graeme as he was friends with Rob (14 Iced Bears). Although we played a few gigs together, we didn’t have anything to do with them socially as they were from Brighton, which was 90 miles away.

++ Talking about gigs, did you gig a lot? Any gigs in particular that you remember?

As far as I can remember we gigged quite a lot! The ones I remember normally ended in chaos. On one occasion we were supporting a band called The Wigs at The Clarendon, which was quite big on the psychobilly scene, so it was always quite edgy to play there. Anyway, one of our fans mysteriously known as the Blue Nosed Crab Crazies decided to set fire to The Wigs backdrop in the middle of our set which neither impressed band or management and we were promptly told we would never play the venue again! And on another similar occasion, an A&R from RCA records organised a gig for us supporting a band made up of all the uninteresting ones from Adam & The Ants. The A&R man was in the audience with a couple of other chaps from the label to check out his new wards with a view to make a smash hit! Also in the audience, however, were the Blue Nosed Crab Crazies, whose only intention was to shower the Hermit Crabs in beer, invade the stage and have a laugh. Being of a similar mindset, we joined in with the Crazies and reciprocated the beer thowing with great gusto. This didn’t go down well with the management and they pulled the plug on us about three songs into our set, creating our own mini riot. We thought this was brilliant and incredibly punk rock, but unfortunately Mr RCA a didn’t share the same view, and decided not to pursue us any longer, a classic case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!

++ Alright, let’s not get off the track, back to discography, so the 12”, I’ve never seen it. Care to tell me a bit about it? Which songs appeared there? Any anecdotes about recording it? How did you sign to Thunderball?

The 12” was recorded in 1988 at Electro Rythym Studios in North London. Graeme Sinclair was keen on getting something out on Thunderball as were we, so he paid for the pressing and printing and we paid for the studio time, there was no signing to the label as such. The tracks were Yeah!, Octopus Love, Surfer Girl Metallica, I Think We’re Alone Now and Yeah! (Cake Mix). I can’t remember how we chose what songs to record other than they were the strongest ones from our set, but I remember recording I Think We’re Alone Now had a bit of kitsch value as Tiffany had a version out at about the same time and we thought we might get a bit of airplay! As far as anecdotes are concerned, I remember that we drank quite a lot so by the time it came to mixing, we were off our heads and our audial faculties were’nt up to much. Needless to say the songs sounded terrible and we had to pay for anothers day’s studio time to get them remixed!

++ Did you have any more songs? Maybe you released demo tapes?

There were quite a few more songs all based around the surf genre but I can’t for the life of me remember all the titles and that goes for the other songs on the demo we recorded, which is long lost.

++ And so, what’s with all the Surf references? Surfin’ Vietnam and Surfing Mice?

As I mentioned earlier, it came from the sound of the music we were making, so we took it a stage further and built a whole ethos around the band. It also allowed us to create our own alter egos and write some pretty daft songs without getting too precious about it!

++ How do you remember those days? There were plenty of great bands! Did you feel the scene was very supportive? Any favourite bands or people related to the scene that you liked?

In all honesty, we didn’t feel like part of any scene. The “twee” scene was more Graeme’s thing and although we got associated with it through the label, in our minds, it wasn’t what were doing, we thought we were Rock Gods!

++ In a nutshell, what was the biggest highlight of The Hermit Crabs?

Bringing out the 12” and getting “Single Of The Week” in the N.M.E. which was and still is a very influential music weekly.

++ When and why did you call it a day? Were you involved with music after?

After the 12” came out, we felt we had achieved everything we had wanted to and in all honesty the fun had started to go out of it which was the the only reason we were to doing it in the first place. There was no game plan and we had no ambition other than to have a good time all the time, so we called it quits! As for carrying on with music, Marky, Mo and myself didn’t, but Steve played on in various bands. I never considered myself a musician anyway, I was more of a gobby show-off with access to a microphone!

++ Are you still in touch with the rest of The Hermit Crabs? What are you all up to now?

I am still in contact with Marky who still lives in Harlow and works in accountancy. Mo moved to New Zealand and now makes furniture and I have no idea what Steve does for a living, but I know he is a grandad which makes me feel quite old! I work in advertising now but my alter ego Greg fell in with a bunch of Hell’s Angels whose need for self expression led them to form a traveling circus act which was considered outré, even by Jim Rose standards. Greg’s act was best described as a variant of the trapeze idom. Unfortunately, a diet of mescaline shot straight into the eyeball and absinthe played havoc with his balance and he was last seen shouting at cars from a pimped up bath chair in the South London!

++ Thanks so much John! I think you’ve solved many mysteries now! I’m wondering though how you’d definite The Hermit Crabs? Indiepop? Punkpop? or just pop?

Surfpunk Rock Gods!!

++ One last question, do you know anyone that has a hermit crab as a pet? 😉

Not that I’m aware of!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say thanks for helping me recall all the stuff!

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Listen
The Hermit Crabs – I Think We Are Alone (taken from the radio)

Thanks so much to the great Peter Hahndorf for being up for this interview. It is an honor to finally interview one of the nicest friends I’ve met through indiepop. So if you don’t know who he is, well, probably you are reading the wrong blog. Peter is the biggest indiepop activist on Earth!!

++ Hallo Pete! It was so nice to see you again in Berlin, and Indietracks! How does it feel to be back in Bremen after so much traveling?

It’s quite weird; my life style here is so different compared to the last two years on the road in Latin America. I spend most of time working in computers which is fine, I did miss that, but otherwise life is very uneventful and trips like the ones to IndieTracks and the popfests in Berlin are a welcome change. I am already looking forward to my next big trip.

++ Talking about Indietracks, why do you think nothing like this happened back in the late 80s or early 90s, they heyday of indiepop?

I think IndieTracks is a unique event, the location is terrific and it’s great that people with such fantastic taste in music are willing to do the organising. There were the large festivals in the 80s like Glastonbury and Reading where the bigger bands played. And also some smaller one-day festivals usually put on by a label. I guess email and the internet also makes it much easier to organise these things and publicise it with a much smaller budget.

++ What were your highlights of the festival? Do you still insist that that Madonna song is the twee-est of all time?

I thought the Pains were fantastic, it was also great to see The Pooh Sticks, Primitives and Orchids again and they all showed they are still up for it. Of the new bands, I enjoyed The Felt Tips the most. I did miss Allo Darling but saw them later in Berlin and they were so amazing and are currently my favourites.

Madonna’s “Dear Jessie” is certainly HER twee-est, I usually don’t use the word ‘twee’ to describe any music, but here it comes to mind, maybe it is because of the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Mx7nUDx3dQ)

++ By the way, did you get to take some of your records from London to Bremen this time?

I actually did ship my London record collection to Germany before I headed out to Latin America back in 2008. Storage was expensive and I couldn’t find a safe and cheap place in London. It’s nice to have the two collections together for once, I also found quite a few doubles.

++ So let’s go back in time. First thing that I come to wonder, someone so involved with indiepop, and you never got or tried to have band. Or you did?

No never, I guess the closest I got was playing tambourine on some recordings with friends. I just never got around to learning an instrument. I guess I am just a fan and help out in the indiepop community with the things I am better at.

++ How was the scene in Bremen? Where there any good indiepop bands there?

Nope, no good bands. No good places to go to either. For a while we had a great radio station and fantastic gigs in the nearby small town of Oldenburg, but otherwise we always had to travel to Hamburg for gigs and clubs. I met some other indiepop fans through my fanzines but overall Bremen never was a good place for indiepop.

++ Your brother had an indiepop label though, right? Did he discovered this music first? Or how was it? For some reason I picture you two listening to John Peel all the time together haha

I am five years older than my brother and I guess you can say I had a strong influence on his musical taste. He was in “Die Moosblüten” and released a few singles and a tape on his label “Steinpilz Tonträger”. I don’t think he listened to John Peel much, except when his band was played. The shows were on late, around midnight or so, and I would usually tape the whole thing and then copy the good songs over to another tape the next morning. That way I could fast forward through a lot of the things I didn’t like. Then I would double-check with my friends who would do the same to make sure I didn’t miss anything. My brother would then get a filtered version of the shows.

++ And then, John Peel thanked you on his show, Peter from Bremen, that must have been quite a highlight for you! What do you think is his importance for indiepop?

I guess he mentioned me quite often as I did send him German records all the time. I think the highlight was when he called me on my birthday to ask whether he could play some songs from my “Mind The Gap” compilation tape on his BBC show and read out my address so people could order it. When I got back to my birthday party nobody believed it when I said “that was John Peel on the phone!”.

I met him several times in London and also had the pleasure to stay at Peel Acres and look through his collection. He was just very important for so many musical genres. For indiepop in particular I think it was significant for a new band to be played by him, as it was one of the few ways to get heard by a national or even international audience. He helped me to discover many new bands, but I don’t think indiepop as a whole would be very different without him. It was just a nice and easy way to discover new music through the radio. I haven’t done this for a long time.

++ Most people know you because of Twee.net, the indiepop dictionary. Something that I really enjoy is that there are more biographies showing up and articles. But I know you plan in making it grow, make it more interactive as well. What updates or new additions are you planning for it? Maybe that crazy idea we talked about in Hamburg many years ago, have it have it’s own social network?!

To be honest I don’t have any big plans for it. I would love to have more content and more people writing and contributing to it. The idea of a social network was there in 1995-96 with the “who is who” list (now the indiepop directory) but I guess that was too early. In the times of FaceBook, MySpace and last.fm I don’t think there is a need for anything else. How many more social networks do you need? With the Indiepop list and the Anorak Forum and especially Facebook there is enough “social networking” out there.

I use the TweeNet Content Management System (which is used to manage the pages on twee.net) to try out new technologies that I can use in my job. I don’t spend much time on the content/public site but I am always open to ideas and suggestions.

++ You also run Clarendon Records, part responsible of the Leamington Spa releases, and also the Siddeleys and Hey Paulette compilations. Are there any other plans in releasing records? And how much of a saying you have on the releases? Oh? And why the name of the label?

Except for more volumes of Leamington Spa, I don’t have any imminent plans. I would have loved to have done the Bodines compilation, but Cherry Red is doing a good job with all these re-releases. With all my traveling going on I am not so involved with the Leamington Spa compilations either. When I lived in London I was the UK part of our collaboration and tried to find contact details for the bands and met up with them. Nowadays we get most contacts online when people are searching for their old band name.

Clarendon was the name of a venue in Hammersmith, West London in the eighties. Bands played both upstairs and in the basement of The Clarendon Hotel, which is no longer there, now a shopping mall and bus station. Many indiepop bands played there at the time including the Siddeleys who played their first ever gig there. So when I was thinking about a new name for my label before the Siddeleys album came out, this came to mind.

++ Don’t get angry with this question! But what do we do with the indiepop list and all these silly kids posting nonsense? When you go to the archive, you notice so many great discussions and interesting information. Perhaps, now the real “indiepop-list” is really on facebook or twitter?

Well, I’ve been on the list since the first day in 1994 and for quite a long time now I only follow it very sporadically. But once in while there is still an interesting discussion. Back in the day it was the only place online to find indiepop information. Now there is so much competition and in many respects Facebook and Twitter have taken over. Also, many people spend a lot of time on blogs, so Roque, rather than writing all these great blog posts on your site, you could just post them to the list, right? If everybody would do that rather than blogging, it would be a quite an interesting place again.

++ You made some fanzines, that now you can check online, even though they are in German! What happened to the writer Peter? It would be so great if you blogged or something. I know you have many stories! Why don’t give it a shot?

If you could read German, you would know that I am not much of a writer. Back then I was naive and it was okay to do a fanzine. It’s a bit similar with my traveling, I wrote quite a bit on my travelog when I was in Asia, but hardly anything when in Latin America. Maybe I just got lazy, if people want to hear stories, they have to meet me.

++ Also you started the Mind the Gap mailorder and then you let Jörg run it, right? Why the change? And why did it stopped working?

It is a lot of work to run a mail order business, and most people who do it by themselves only do so for a few years. I loved it, because I met many people through it. I was a student at the time and rather than going to university I spent my time on Mind The Gap. Eventually I decided I wanted to finish my studies and get a degree, and Mind The Gap had to go. I was lucky that Jörg took over and he did a great job with it for much longer than I did. I guess eventually he got tired of it too, or at least needed a break and like many others now sells stuff online.

++ I was impressed by your collection, and how organized you have it, even ordered with alphabetically separators. A collection of t-shirts, of pins, of flyers, of everything really. I’m wondering what are your most precious pieces in that collection and why?

Hmm, I am not really much of an obsessive collector type, I just have the advantage of having enough space, so I don’t have to throw away or sell things. But I do like organizing things. I guess I have some rare records, but the items that come to mind are usually the ones that have a story attached to it. The ones that you didn’t get in the mail or bought at the local record store. I remember staying at Tim Gane’s house and he told me about the plans for his new band, and I said “Stereolab” would be an awful name. A year later I was back and helped with cutting the sleeves for their first 10”, so that record is both very rare and has some memories attached to it. Other examples are when I was looking for something for a very long time. When I was in Melbourne in 2008 I finally found a copy of the MacGuffins 7” which I was looking for since 1991. I found it for $1 in an old record store – those are moments of joy. Or the first edition of Eggstone’s ‘Shooting Time EP’, a friend in Sweden had just bought it and it was so good that he just had to buy more copies and send them to some friends.

++ After so much traveling around the world, where were you most surprised to see indiepop fans?

In most cases I wasn’t surprised at all, because I already knew they were there. I mean, even in Indonesia it is not that you meet people with Tullycraft T-Shirts on the street. All the people I met around the “third” world are people I was already in touch with. Sure in the US and Japan, you meet people at shows and in record stores, but that is expected. It is usually nice to get introduced into a local scene and see how many people are involved. This was great in Bandung in Indonesia or in Manila for example. The indiepop moments in Latin America were limited to places like Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires or your old stomping grounds in Lima. I was surprised to meet some people in Bogota, Colombia because I did not know about them and they got in touch with me because they read I was coming to town. I remember having a long chat with the guy behind a pharmacy counter in Christchurch, New Zealand about the Bats and the Chills. But for him they were local bands from his university times and he didn’t really know any indiepop bands from abroad.

++ Tell me what has been the best gig you’ve ever attended in Germany and in UK. And why?

Gosh, that is hard to tell, so many. I would throw in the Close Lobsters in April 1988 in Oldenburg, so much energy both on stage and in the audience. I would also mention the Field Mice as a two-piece in May 1989 in Hanau, at that time I got really into the Sarah stuff and that was the perfect example. For this year I have to say ‘Mighty Mighty’ in Berlin. There were many great ones in the UK and if I had to pick one, maybe The June Brides, again the energy on stage was unbelievable. Not that I only enjoy the old bands, but I guess they still stand out. Best of the 90s would be Magnetic Fields and Belle and Sebastian on a square in the old town in Barcelona in 1997. Beautiful location, two amazing performances, much better than any other time I have seen them.

++ Now, without giving it too much thought, 5 obscure indiepop releases that you’d recommend.

I guess there is not much obscurity out there anymore but here goes: Johnny Rasheed: Inspiration CD; The Whipper Snappers – You never look back 7”; The Sandkings – Rain 12”, The Mandelbrot Set – A Place Called Kansas CD; Ornamental – Crystal Nights 7”

++ How do you see indiepop 10 years from now? Do you think there are still things to fight for? Are we in the right track?

On the right track to where? I think indiepop will live on and will be around in 10 years. There will always be ups and downs. I mean right now I walk into HMV in London and they have The Pains and Allo Darlin as released by Fortuna Pop, that’s great. There will always be fantastic new bands that get me excited; I don’t see that stopping any time soon. The internet brought the community much closer together, but I hope we can keep physical labels and records alive, it would be a shame to lose that. It seems there are always new young enthusiastic people like yourself or the Berlin pop crowd that bring in new energy. We have too much of a good thing to let it go.

++ And last question, what has indiepop given to you?

Many, many very good friends.

++ Oh okay, now seriously, one last question, are you still up for making the indiepop museum in London? 😉

I’d love to, my records are collecting dust at my parent’s house and with me traveling around the world most of the time, it would be nice to put them to a better use. The problem of course is money and a place to put a museum. So if anybody in London has a nice big room, let me know. I think it would be enough to open one evening a week. The idea is to have not only all records browsable, but also fanzines, flyers, T-Shirts, badges etc. and to be able to listen to any indiepop through some listening stations. Next time I live in London I will look around, rent is just bloody expensive there. I would also need donations from other people, as my collection is nowhere near complete.

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Listen
The Whipper Snappers – You Never Look