Thanks again to Harvey!

++ Did the Tender Engines form immediately after the breakup of The Odolites? What was the main reason to put a band together again?

When the Odolites split I had a few songs stored up and had a creative burst so wrote a bunch more. So the tascam 4 track was put to good use and I probably recorded about 20 songs in that initial period. So really the band was just a vehicle for the new songs and I didn’t have too many plans beyond that.

++ Why did you choose the name Tender Engines?

Andy’s son Scott was a young tacker at the time and watched a lot of Thomas & the Tank Engines. I think it was Ringo Starrs dulcet tones that drew him in! So I think Andy suggested it as a name. I like the paradox one word soft and delicate and the other dark and gritty! The name is also a good reflection on the lyrical content as I tend to teeter between between portraying a fairly normal everyday life but with some darker overtones because I read too much Jim Thompson & George P Pelecanos.

++ On the band there was only you, Harvey, and Andrew, recording as the Tender Engines. Was it easy to record this way? How did you work out playing the instruments?

Andy and I started out together in Noddy’s Revenge back in Tasmania in the early 80’s. At the time the Odolites formed Andy was out of town so wasn’t around to play bass. A year or so after we moved to Melbourne Andy also moved over with the band the Fish John West Reject. So he was living around the corner and I’d get him around to play the bass parts on my four track recordings.

On our first trip to the studio though we got a few other friends around for some quick rehearsals and then pretty much recorded it live in the studio. After the drawn out process of recording the Odolites album I really wanted to get back to basics and just bang it down as live as possible. The studio was a little 8 track place called Phantom Tollbooth based in a warehouse.

From memory the other players on that session were Andy, Mark Narcowicz from the Fish John West Reject (guitar and backing vocals), Paul Stothard (organ) and Tim Gleeson (drums).

We recorded A Legend Never Fails & Clinging To The Wreckage in that session plus songs that would later be used as b-sides Under The Same Roof, Final Kiss, A Night At The Fair and Leaving Town. There is one unreleased track called Candyhouse which is a re-record of an old Noddy’s Revenge song.

++ I bet it must have been tough to play live with this lineup, right? How many gigs did you play? Any particular one you remember the most?

Yeah we only played a handful of shows, usually just when other Summershine artists offered us a support. I doubt we played with the same line up twice. It’d be Andy and I plus whatever drummer & second guitarists was around. We supported the Sugargliders (or was it the Steinbecks?) a couple of times. We also supported Ripe. That was a good show from memory. I think we had Ted (from the Odolites) on guitar for that one.

++ All of your discography was released by the legendary Summershine Records. How do you ended up there? Did you send a demo? How do you remember Jason Reynolds? Any anecdotes with him?

I first remember Jason as a bit of a boy about town. He had a program on the local radio station and ran club nights playing all the latest indie singles. He started coming along to Odolites shows and he’d always come up for a chat after the show. He purchased a record store called Exposure and as luck would have it he offered me part time work in the store. Summershine started during the period he had the store so he kinda had to release my records because I was working for him!

Jason was a big fan of Postcard and Creation and I think he wanted to be one of the Alan’s. Did he refer to himself as the President at one stage or am I just making that up??

++ What was the regular record deal with Summershine, was it with contracts or was it just the usual indiepop fare of having a beer together and saying, let’s make it happen!?

More the later, although Jason didn’t drink, so I had the beer and he sipped on a mineral water and did most of the talking! I don’t recall there being a contract but maybe there was. It was fairly casual though. I gave him the finished recordings, his girlfriend put the artwork together, the distributor tried to get them into the stores. As time went along most of the singles sold on export rather than locally. Unfortunately the label didn’t get the kudos it deserved here in Australia at the time. I think the great thing about Summershine was that Jason would track down overseas bands like East Village and Velvet Crush and this helped gain international attention for the Australian bands on the label as well. There aren’t too many other Australian labels as highly regard and as collectable around the world now as Summershine so full credit to JR for what he did with the label.

++ The first single “Clinging to the Wreckage” has that wonderful B side, “A Legend Never Fails”, what is this song about?

I look on it as a double A-Side single and there’s a lyrical link between the two also. Clinging To The Wreckage is part one of the story where a gravediggers son from a sheltered home meets up with a wild girl from the big bad city. She gets him do bad things like listen to the Sex Pistols! Eek! But then in part 2, A Legend Never Fails, he meets the same girl 5 years on. She’s mad as ever but she tells him she’s mended her ways, found God, and tries to preach to him. Part of her method of preaching is to recount her former deeds, which to him, are far more enticing than her current life anyway. “See her eyes shining bright, as she tauntingly describes, all the times that she had, when she was bad, oh how she woo’d them”. Both songs are 9 parts fiction 1 part fact. Well, okay, maybe 50/50!

Musically I was really into Felt at the time and insisted on having an organ on the songs for this reason. I was looking for that kinda Dylan Basement Tapes organ sound that Felt had on the Ballad of the Band EP and Forever Breathes The Lonely Word album.

++ “With Regret” was released on 7″ and CD. The CD was released months later with four exclusive songs. The 7″ included “Under the Same Roof” which wasn’t on the CD either. Was this a label move? I ask cause, say a song like Girl from the Hinterland could have been such a fine single by itself!

The EP was designed to be an EP in its own right rather than a single with 4 b sides. I think the reason to do the 7” was just that Summershine’s reputation was built on 7” singles and the CD Single was seen as a bit of an extravagance at the time. I’ve still got a boxful of them so someone got that one right!

This recording session was recorded at a decent studio, a place called Whirled, and produced by Ted, my old partner from the Odolites. He played guitar as well. I’m glad you like Girl from the Hinterland. In hindsight it was one of our best songs and lyrically has that dark but delicate blend that I referred to earlier.

++ The “Ex-Pop song” and the “Something Wicked” singles included demo versions of songs. Was that on purpose? Why wasn’t the finished recordings included?

EX-Pop Song and Something Wicked were both recorded in the one session also at Whirled with Ted in the producers chair again. We wanted to spend a bit more time on these and I think the finances were all put towards getting the 2 tracks right and there was no money left for b sides. Ted also plays guitar on these recordings and plays a killer solo on Ex Pop Song. I think Ex-Pop Song is one of the strongest things I’ve written and Something Wicked one of Andy’s best. The demos are actually left over recordings from the Wreckage/Legend sessions. Not sure why we called them demos. Probably thought they were of inferior quality! I’m pretty sure both singles were released on the same day in another cunning Summershine marketing ploy!

Ex-Pop Song also appears on Just A Taste the Slumberland Summershine compilation but under the name Pop Song 1. From memory this was the working title and we must have just finished the recording and not settled on the song title when we sent the track in. Just A Taste is a great compilation and credit to Mike at Slumberland and Jason for putting it together. It’s the only American release I’ve been on and I’m sure it’s a major reason why people in the US know of the Summershine label!

++ I know the existence of thirteen songs, the same that are listed in the Twee.net discography page, are there any unreleased stuff from the Tender Engines?

Thirteen, was it that many? Let me see now, recordings released on Summershine…..

1. Clinging To The Wreackage
2. A Legend Never Fails
3. With Regret
4. Under The Same Roof
5. Girl From The Hinterland
6. By His Side
7. Before She Met Me
8. Waiting For The Rain
9. Something Wicked
10. Ex Pop Song
11. A Night At The Fair
12. Final Kiss
13. Leaving Town Again

We also did This Girl Black Girl for a Go-Betweens tribute album called Right Here. That would be the last thing that was released actually. The Go-Betweens are one of my favourite bands ever and I begged Hippy Knight (the label that released the comp) to include us although most of the other bands were better known and a lot more active than we were.

Early on we also had 3 tracks (Leaving Town Again, A Night At The Fair and the otherwise unreleased The Last Party) on a fanzine cassette called Sparrows, A Melbourne Pop Compilation. Other bands on the cassette are Captain Cocoa, the Fish John West Reject, A.D., Ripe and the Sugargliders.

There are heaps of unreleased things if you count all the 4 track and (now that I’ve stepped up) 8 track recordings. I prefer to look on it as work in progress rather than unreleased though! I can only find one song that we recorded in a studio and didn’t release and that’s “Candyhouse”. There was a more serious attempt made to get something happening with the band after the EP and we actually started recording an album. All the tracking was done but then the studio we were recording at had to close because a ballet school opened next door and complained about the noise. It wasn’t us surely! So the studio disappeared and unfortunately so did the master tapes. It was a shame because that line up of the band actually rehearsed regularly and, to my ears at least, was sounding really good. It was Andy and I, a guy called Ed on drums, a guy called Tim on organ and Andy’s cousin Mark BJ Austin on 2nd guitar. Shortly after BJ joined the Paradise Motel, yet another bunch of Tasmanians trying to crack the mainland. They made a better fist of it than most and were based in London for a few years.

++ I read that “Ex-Pop Song” had a limited run of 500 copies, I guess that’s why it’s hard to come by! What about the other records, do you have a rough idea on how many copies were pressed?

I’d be surprised if there were more than 500 of any of the 7” singles. Most releases on Summershine were kept to one pressing only so unless a band was big enough to justify a bigger initial pressing I think it’d be 500.

++ As an Australian guitar pop fan, how did you see what was happening in New Zealand. Did you enjoy the bands from Flying Nun?

Yes, loved those early Flying Nun bands. If I was to name my top 3 all time indie labels it’d be Postcard, Creation and Flying Nun. I started getting the Flying Nun singles in the mid 80’s and I think the first ones I came across were the Chills “Pink Frost”, Verlaines “Death & the Maiden” and the Clean “Getting Older”. It’s hard to think of 3 better singles on any label!

++ What was the biggest highlight of the Tender Engines four years life?

If there was one highlight it was probably hearing that John Peel played the first single on his show! I used to tune in to his ½ hour weekly show on the BBC World Service (Short Wave) and he turned me on to so many bands.

++ Why did the Tender Engines decided to stop making music? Where you involved in any bands after?

Did we break up?? I really don’t know where the last (err) 15 years disappeared to. I’m really proud of all the things we released and disappointed that the daily grind took over and music fell by the wayside. I haven’t done anything else so I guess you can say I’m still a Tender Engine! Dozens of songs half written but don’t know what to do with them! Andy has a band called the Dunaways with Mark Narcowicz (who played on the first Tender Engines recordings), Martin Witheford and Graham Rankin (ex Odolites drummer). They have released a couple of albums that are worth tracking down and they play live occasionally. Ted, Andy and I get together every few months for a counter meal at the pub and talk about old times! We should probably talk about making some new music, but it seems easier to talk about old times!

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Listen
Tender Engines – Girl from Hinterland

Thanks so much to Lucy and Chris for the interview!

++ When did the band start? How did you all come together as A Craze?

Lucy: It started in 1982. Chris & Lucy had both been working with other bands but were looking for song writing partners and a mutual friend introduced us.

Chris: David Stephenson ( the mutual friend ) brought Lucy round to a flat I was living in Queens Park London – I knew of Lucy in Cambridge before moving to London – She had a unique style…

++ What’s the meaning under the name A Craze?

Lucy: A fad!

++ How did you end up on Paul Weller’s Respond label?

Lucy: Chris sent him a demo.

++ Were you big fans of his music? How do you feel about his socialist views in running the label? If I remember correctly he even wrote on a sampler album, something like “Business is a polite word for dipping your hands in shit”

Lucy: Both of us were big fans and both loved the idea of the label, it seemed a really exciting opportunity, something fresh and innovative.

Chris: Didn’t really think about it… Or see it in the running of the label…

++ Paul also produced the first song of the 12″ “Wearing Your Jumper”. What anecdotes do you remember while recording this track?

Lucy: It was all done in one day! Vocals & guitar were put down first. Great, friendly atmosphere.

Chris: I recall we played Paul the song – we’d recorded on a cassette tape machine and he said it reminded him of Dionne Warwick and so we booked a studio in Victoria London and went in and did it

++ How was the experience of working with Mick Talbot (Dexy’s, Style Council)? What did he bring to the sound of A Craze on these recordings?

Lucy: Mick was a lovely guy to work with. Very easy going. He added an extra jazzy feel to the song.

Chris: Mick was always very friendly and had a great feel to his playing on the Wurlitzer keyboard – Steve White was on percussion.

++ Maybe my favourite song of the 12″ is the catchy “She is So”! What a fantastic track! Is this a real story? I really identify myself with lines like: “I’d give her books to read / I wanted her to grow / Not that I wasn’t learning to”… fantastic really!

Lucy: Yes, it is partly made up from a friend that I had when I was at school and partly taken from an experience that had happened to me!

++ What was the creative process for A Craze? How did songs shape up for you?

Lucy: I wrote the words and Chris wrote the music, then we would put the two together and create the melody.

++ What bands influenced your breezy and POP! sound?

Lucy: Motown, Michael Jackson, Chic, ….. etc

Chris: Pop from the 60ts Pop from everywhere !!!

++ Your only other song released aside from the ones on the Wearing Your Jumper 12″ was “Keeping The Boys Amused” on the “Love The Reason” compilation LP. Did you record any more songs? And if so, why didn’t they see the light?

Lucy: Because we never managed to get another recording deal.

Chris: We defiantly had more songs…

++ How did the re-release of the 12″ on CD in Japanese label Trattoria happened? There are some liner notes there that I can’t understand! More or less… what did it say, you know?

Lucy: I don’t know the answer to this.

Chris: I only found out it had been released when I started getting emails from Japanese to my myspace saying how much they loved the A Craze CD

++ Where the band members involved with any bands involved prior or after A Craze? Tell me a bit about them?

Lucy: I was in The Hearththrobs, a student band that played in the colleges in Cambridge.

Chris: I was in The Users – who had one of the very 1st UK punk 7″ entitled “Sick Of You” although we were just trying to be a proper Rock ‘N’ Roll band. This year a compilation CD was issued entitled The Users Secondary Modern 1976 – 1979 on Bin Liner / Detour Records.

++ Why did the band call it a day? What are you all doing nowadays?

Lucy: I left because I wanted to earn some money !!! I am now an HR Advisor and also I make mosaic sculptures of bottoms & bosoms.

Chris: If Lucy left – I guess I must have left too !!! I now run – buy the clothes – take the photos for www.cxlondon.com – Independent Pop Fashion, Gifts & Accessories. I’ve also started writing and playing again after being inspired after singing and strumming at the inspirational Granchester Meadows Memorial for Syd Barrett in 2006.

++ Anything else you’d like to tell all the pop fans out there?

Chris: Looks like there will be an A Craze Compilation CD full of buried treasures… release this year… a must for all true Pop believers…. Check google in about 3 months time

Twitter… Join Me… – http://twitter.com/chris_free

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Listen
A Craze – She is So

Thanks so much to Seori Burnett for the interview!

++ Hello Seori! Summerhill starts after the Snakes of Shake break up. What had happened? Why do you decide to start a new band?

The Snakes of Shake had been going to record an album for Stiff Records. this was shelved but a company called Making Waves came in and we recorded the same album ‘Gracelands and The Natural Wood’ for them. Shortly after the release of the record they went bust which made promoting the record difficult. The whole process had become a bit disillusioning and I felt the band had probably run its course. The guitarist at that time was Neil Scott who had previously played with Everything But The Girl and was Living in London, I was still in Scotland. As so often happens it seemed time to move things to the centre so I relocated to London and Neil and I worked on starting a new band together.

++ Why did you call the band Summerhill? Is there any reason behind it?

The name Summerhill came from our original bass player Isabel Monteiro who later went on to have a more successful career with her own band Drugstore. We were aware of the Summerhill school started by alternative educationalist A.S. Neil and empathised with the ethos of free choice and a truly democratic set up. The name seemed to sit well with our new inclusive and collaborative venture.

++ Was it easy to gather people to form Summerhill? I noticed you changed drummers quite often!

The drummer situation seems Spinal Tapesque doesn’t it. It wasn’t always easy to get the right people because at the beginning Neil and I had a very strong vision of the feel and sound we wanted to create. Basically at the core of Summerhill # 1 was Neil Scott, Keith Gilles on bass and myself and when we reformed it was Tom Crook on guitar with Keith and me again. Some people left some were asked to leave but thankfully there’s nobody I wouldn’t talk to anymore.

++ Were any of the band members involved with bands before Summerhill?

As I’ve mentioned Neil had been in EBTG and our drummer on Lowdown Iain Shedden had been in the eponymous Australian band The Saints. My brother also played drums with us and he had previously played in Scottish garage rock outfit the Primevals who continue to record and play to this day.

++ What was the aim of Summerhill’s music? What were your influences, I think your music has as much of country and folk as of pop!
Originally I was into American garage punk, Shadows of Knight, Standells, Electric Prunes as well as the Stooges, Velvet Underground, Neil Young, Television, Patti Smith, the Ramones etc. a lot of late 70s New York in other words. Neil and I shared many influences and particularly the more experimental edge of the Byrds, Murmur/Reckoning REM and the self styled ‘Cosmic American Music’ of Gram Parsons. Deep in my psyche things as diverse as the Incredible String band and Sun Ra were also at play.

There was always a tension between the more experimental and the straighter melodic approach of country and folk. I had started to feel that folk and country with its links to Scottish and Irish music had more resonance for me than the blues based side of rock’n’roll. I guess our aim was to fuse a more experimental visceral guitar sound with the melody and harmony of folk/pop music. It’s probably more evident on our first album Lowdown rather than West of Here where the workings of a major label smoothed off the edges before the experiment was developed enough.

++ As a Scottish band, how influential was Postcard’s ‘Sound of Young Scotland’ sound? Which where your favourite Glaswegian bands to share a gig with or maybe to just go and enjoy a gig from them?

I think that the influence of Postcard cannot be underestimated. The other night there was a documentary on UK tv about Rough Trade which made the claim for that label kicking off Indie Music in the 80s. We can debate whether this is the case or whether the ethos had already started with the Punk labels in the late 70s but for my money Postcard and particularly early Orange Juice epitomised what later became accepted as Indie with their homemade slightly amateurish but free approach to making music.

I was just starting to play gigs at that time and it was exciting to have something like Postcard going on in your home town attracting all the London media attention. I saw all the Postcard bands at the time but my favourites were Josef K who were from Edinburgh and another Edinburgh band on Postcard’s rival Fast Pop called the Fire Engines.

++ Did Summerhill gig a lot? Any particular gigs you remember? and why?

We did four UK tours and numerous other one-offs. We played a lot at a tiny pub backroom club run by Geoff Barrett the man behind Heavenly Records. The club was called the Phil Kauffman Club after Gram Parson’s infamous roadie, the gigs there really helped build us up. This was before the days of smoking bans, there was no ventilation, one narrow exit from the room and a deafening PA, a classic rock’n’roll dive, brilliant.

The best gigs were all on the way up, we played Dingwalls a famous old London venue and that’s when I realised something was happening. We were still driving our own van and didn’t have any roadies, it was a great gig and afterwards the promoter came up to us with me expecting the usual “we can only give you £50″ instead he said here’s your share of the door £400. On the way down it was a lot harder there were still some good nights but the thrill is gone and the audience gets it too.

++ You released in a couple of indie labels as Demon or Rocket 5 but also on a bigger one like Polydor. What was the difference between working with them? How did you get a deal with them and was it much harder to work with them than with an indie?

Youv’e done your homework! We released one ep on Rocket 5 a label started by a friend of ours in Scotland and then signed up for a mini album, ‘Lowdown’, with Demon. Lowdown received great reviews and as the gigs improved the major labels came sniffing around.

At the end of the 80s there was a financial bubble much like the one which has just burst. Majors were offering large advances so you tended to take the best deal on offer rather than critically evaluating the company and the people. We signed to Polydor which in retrospect was a mistake. We naivelly thought it was obvious what we were about, you only had to read our reviews but majors often buy something and then try to turn it into their own product to shift as many units as possible. REM were still to break big and they couldn’t see how to deal with or develop a left field folk/rock/pop crossover. They spent too much in production, got cold feet, the baggy seen exploded and we lost our way.

In comparison indies were where music fans lived, they could be fickle, purist and skint but in retrospect we should have done another record for Demon instead of grabbing the cash.

++ You released a single convering “Wild Horses” by The Rolling Stones. Did you do any more covers?

We covered ‘It happens each day’ and ‘Don’t make Waves’ for a Byrds tribute album under the pseudonym of Static. In the latter days of Summerhill we used to do ‘Song For You’ by Gram Parsons in our live set.

++ I’ve heard mixed reviews about your second album “West of Here” and raving reviews about “Lowdown”, your first album. How do you feel about both albums? Which release of yours is the one you are more proud about?

I guess I’ve covered a lot of this above. The songs on West of Here are just as good and in some case better than on Lowdown but the arrangements and production are too safe, and the prolonged recording process sapped the energy from our performance. Lowdown is an imperfect execution of a strong vision and West of Here is a one legged affair. When I occassionally do listen back there’s lots to be proud of on both but I also have ambivalent feelings about both. If I had to nail my colours to the mast Lowdown.

++ How political were the Summerhill during those tough last years under Thatcher’s rule? How was Glasgow during those years compared to 2009?

In a public way apolitical, in private very much against what the Thatcher years had done to Britain and angry about the lack of compassion. I can’t really speak for Glasgow then or now as I left in January ‘87 but I know that when I went back the prosperity in London and the South East was not reflected in my home town where it wasn’t hard to find areas with fire bombed houses, security meshes inside shops and communal stair wells with needles blood and human waste. It appears to me that Glasgow has steadily improved since the late 70s but there are still bad pockets of deprivation.

++ Out of curiosity, what is the best Scottish beer and the best Scottish dish for you?

My current favourite is Fraoch which means heather in Gaelic. It’s a light golden sweet hoppy ale. Best Scottish dish, Cullen Skink which is a chowder type soup made with Smoked Haddock, potato, milk and onion.

++ Why and when did the band call it a day? What did the Summerhill members do after?

The last time Tom, Keith and I sang together was at my wedding in 1998. The last record was a CD ep ‘No Matter What You Do’ in 1994. Of the Lowdown lineup. Iain Shedden lives in Sydney Australia plays in a couple of bands and is the music editor of the Australian newspaper, Keith still lives in London and teaches music business and production and does standup comedy. Neil returned to his home in Hornsea near Hull and still plays locally. Of the last incarnation, Tom as you know, is still in music and does a few things including his own ‘Band of Hope’. Our last drummer Ben has a musical project called Bonobo Banjo, check out their myspace site. Me I’m a crofter (very small traditional Scottish farm)in the northwest highlands of Scotland with my wife three children, sheep pigs, chickens and friut and veg still harbouring ambitions t o make more records when I get time.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

When Neil and I were plotting the rise of Summerhill and writing together we’d take a break and clear our heads by watching films like the Terminator and laugh out loud. I’ll be back!

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Listen
Summerhill – Don’t Let it Die

Thanks so much to Paul Dackombe and Peter Higgins for the interview. Check out their retrospective album “The Ones That Got Away” on Fastcut Records!

++ I’ve done a search on the internet, on google, and most, if not all, the results came from Japan! Have you ever been there? Do you get many fan mail from there?

No we have not been there, although we hopefully will at some point. We seem to have developed a decent size and loyal fan base across several cities in Japan where they like English music from the 80’s. We do admire their taste!

++ Not surprisingly the album “The Ones That Got Away” was released in the great Fastcut Records from Japan. Why the title of the album? What would you like the listener to get from it?

These songs were written and recorded over a relatively short period of time while we were listening to some great 40’s and 50’s Be Bop stuff from the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davis etc. The jazz influenced material was nothing like the songs were were writing before or since, so in a sense they were of their time and to some extent forgotten. You could argue a bit like 40’s Be Bop is today. Yet we still think there are some great tunes and well crafted songs there with interesting arrangements. The title of the album seems to sum that up nicely.

++ You said, on your myspace bio, that you stopped playing live in the late 80s and concentrated in writing. Why was that? Are these songs the ones that appear in the album?

We had a large band, of around 7 or 8 players including a 3 or 4 piece brass section and simply the logistics of trying to keep all that together when live music in the UK was on the decline (and boy band pop was coming into the mainstream….eeuugghhh) was very tough. So Pete and I decided to go into a period of concentrating on writing and recording. Most of these songs did get a decent amount of live play towards the end of our live appearances, but a few, notably never Gonna say and Come Into My World, got very little, if any.

++ So let’s go back in time… how did the band start? what were those things that made you want to be in a pop outfit?

Pete started the band and went through a few players before he and I met. I was brought into the band by the bass player, with whom I’d played in another outfit with. Pete and I instantly hit it off and quite soon after he and I were writing all the material and running the band, changing personnel where we though right for the sound and image. That’s the way it has been ever since about 1980 / 81..ish!

I would say the things that made us want to be in a band are the same. A need and desire to write and play music coupled with growing up in the same part of the world and being influenced by the same sorts of music:

60’s British pop / rock (Kinks, Beatles, Faces)
70’s rock (Who, Bowie, Roxy)
Punk / New wave

Then throw in some Northern soul and you have the sounds that influence our writing and production.

++ Why did you decided to move from Warrington to London?

The North West of England was not the liveliest of places at that time, the Manchester scene would emerge a few years later. We had just won the north west battle of the Band competition (beating Rick Astleys outfit – International rescue who went on to win it the year after and from which Rick got signed to SAW) and despite that were very disappointed to find there was not much live work around in the area. Pete’s brother Tim (our sleeve designer) was at art college in London and we though, let’s just go. So we piled everything we all had (6 band members) into the back of a transit van and moved home…never to look back.

++ Why did Explained Emma wore 50s style suits? How many pairs of them you had?!

We had so much 50’s clothing it was not true. We were professionals in the art of Saturday morning jumble sales which is where we got most of them. There were some import shops in London like Flip and Covent garden market that also sold 50’s American clothing, but our brand of de-mob style suits were best found in local church hall jumble sales, so that’s where we would go most Saturday mornings. We always believed you have to look different to your audience, you just can’t get up in jeans and T shorts, so we always made an effort on the image side and that was style we liked. It was different to what everyone else was doing at the time (80’s shoulder pads and luminous shirts!).

++ One of my best friends is called Emma, so I have to ask, why did you choose the name Explained Emma?

It’s from a line in a book…we think Emma by Jane Austen…. Pete just liked the alliterative sound of it. He came up with the name.

++ You played in bars, clubs and even warehouse parties, you even played at The Hacienda. Which gigs do you remember the most and why?

We remember most, if not all for different reasons. Sometimes the emptiest where you have 5 people show up are memorable, but the Hacienda was a great couple of nights. We played on the same night that Madonna was on the dance floor doing Holiday on roller skates (at the time we though, what the hell is that all about!) that was memorable and we played a great show. There are many other shows that stick in the memory, mostly when we played really well and had a great crowd or some unforeseen event occurred. A few include the Rock garden in Covent Garden, London. Warwick University, Edinburgh and Oxford Universities. All memorable for different reasons.

++ Your music is quite varied, from be-bop jazz to indiepop. from swing to post punk. Did all these styles happen at the same time or they happened in specific time frames of Explained Emma’s career? What were your favourite bands at the time, those that influenced you?

Influences were as I mentioned above. Our writing style did evolve over time, we were not writing Jazz and indie / new wave all at the same time, but there was some overlap. I guess we tried to bring a different way of playing to all the styles we write in. We try and treat each song as a stand alone thing, rather than copy a formula. It’s not easy though, try as hard as you can and similar themes will come out based on your influences.

++ When was the original “Unnecessary Strain” single released? What label was it on? Any anecdotes you remember from those recording sessions?

It was released in 1985. There is so much we can remember anecdotally about the release of that single, from the way in which we financed it, through to it being released on the BBC Oxford Road Show (a major music Friday night programme at the time). To do it on our own label at the time with very little money and then to have it played on prime time radio and TV was a huge buzz.

++ Did you release anything else prior the “When My Heart Rings” on Fastcut?

No Naoki approached us asking to release some material. We sent him a few songs that we though might work and he chose When My Heart Rings.

++ How was your appearance at the BBC Oxford’s Road Show?

Great fun. The entire filming process was memorable. They were doing a small 3 minute documentary on what bands do to promote themselves and liked our approach, so they cam and filmed us for 3 or 4 days to recreate the making and pressing of the single, from rehearsal, through recording, mixing, mastering and production. The we went up to the TV studio on the night the show went out and got some great press and radio as a result.

++ What was the best thing of being part of Explained Emma? What is that that you miss the most?

The best thing is clearly the songs we have written and the guys we played with. Some great musicians and great guys. I won’t say too much about how great the songs are! Pete and I remain close friends today and we still see a few of the others, most notably Dave Molyneux the bass player (with whom we are working on a new album). We both miss playing live the most, but let’s see how things go in Japan and who knows.

++ When and why did the band call it a day?

We haven’t and I guess we never will. As I mentioned in the last question, Pete and I together with Dave Molyneux the bass player are working on a new album which we will release in late summer this year. Dave Formula of Magazine is producing and playing keyboards and we have brought in a couple of new guys on vocal and lead guitar. We are very pleased with how the songs sound. More on that in due course.

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

Our pleasure. We would just like to add a big thank you to Naoki and all the people in Japan who continue to show an appreciation of our songs. That is truly fantastic and has been the springboard for several things.

Paul and Peter.

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Listen
Explained Emma – All Chewed Up and Spat Out

Thanks so much to Paul D for the interview! Look for a new 3″ CD by The Artisans on March 15th as part of the Cloudberry Classics series!

++ The band went through many line up changes? How many people went to be in The Artisans in total? Why did all these changes happen?

7 people in total. Basically people got bored and left! Unfortunately we had a few members in the beginning that weren’t committed enough. and ultimately found rehearsing every week a bit tedious. It probably was, but you have to put the work in….

++ When and where did the band start? What was the main reason to start a band?

For me, it was listening to bands of the C86 era that inspired me to take up the guitar. The natural progression of this is to play in a band – everyone wants to be a pop star!  I joined my first band. as I happened to be at school with the brother of one of the members so got asked to join one day. That split up through musical differences (a cliché but true). A shame really as  I thought there was a fair degree of potential – after that I started The Artisans

++ Why the name The Artisans?

There was no real reason for it. It was just suggested one day and stuck. on account that it sounded ok and looked good written down.

++ Who were the bands that you enjoyed at the time? Did you get a chance to gig with any of them?

I was listening to all sorts at the time. Post punk, Orange Juice, C86, Sarah records. Looking back there was some great stuff released. Still enjoy listening to it.

Sadly we never got to gig with any of these bands.  Our live performances were few and far between. Another consequence of line up changes – you’re never gig ready!

++ In 1992 you release your only 7″, the fantastic Jazz Serenade! You put it out on your own Infidel Records, how was this single received?

It seemed to go down quite well with those that heard it. We were quite popular in Japan by all accounts. John Peel played it on his radio programme and not long after the Rough Trade shop in London got in touch to ship copies out there. (Apparently Peel’s programme was recorded and broadcast in Japan.)

++ Do you remember any reviews?

I can’t recall any reviews in the music press, but I think a couple of fanzines at the time made encouraging noises about us.

++ Who’s the girl on the 7″ cover by the way?

Good question. No idea it’s an unknown ballerina.

++ Why didn’t you get to release more records? The other songs I’ve heard from you are as good!

Just the way it turned out. We lacked a proper distribution deal for the Jazz Serenade 7” so sales were slow and as a result we lacked the necessary funds to put out a follow up release. Of course Slumberland Records gave the opportunity to issue a couple of tracks on the ‘Why Popstars Can’t Dance compilation.

I did get a call from Albert at Sunday Records who showed some interest in doing something, but nothing came of it.

++ You caught Slumberland’s attention in 1993 and contributed two songs to the Why Popstars Can’t Dance compilation. How did Mark got in touch with you? It seems such a process, it wasn’t that common at that time that American labels were working with UK bands.

I’m not sure how Slumberland got to hear of us. It might have been through our friends at Heaven Records / Fat Tulips. We very nearly didn’t appear on the compilation as they mislaid the tape in a box of other demos!! It was a big thrill to appear on a compilation with the likes of Stereolab.

++ Did you get any American fans after this release?

Not many that I know of. I did get a couple of fan letters from the States though.

++ Something I always like to ask is about the fanzine culture, I find fanzines, not only amazingly interesting, but also a reactionary, cultural and inspiring devices. I wish there was something similar today. Did you or the band were involved with fanzines at all?

I loved fanzines. In a way the ‘fanzines’ of today are internet blogs. But while they provide useful information they lack the intimate nature of thumbing through a real document. It’s similar with music downloads replacing actual records or CDs.

What really comes out from reading old fanzines is that they were written by people that really cared about music.

++ On the Leamington Spa compilation booklet you say that you took the “classic” indiepop route. What do you mean by that? Do you still listen to indiepop

I was referring to the fact that we took the Do it Yourself option in releasing a 7” on our own label, rather that wait for someone else to offer to do it. A lot of bands seemed to take a similar route in the 80s/90s. Once you look into it, it’s not difficult to do, just a question of getting it all organised.

Yes, I still listen to indiepop. Probably haven’t got my finger on the pulse quite as much these days though.

++ Why did the band split? What are you all doing now?

I think in the end, we justed started to drift a bit. The line up changes didn.t help as sometimes it felt like one step forward and two steps back. I was struggling to write anything  and lost a bit motivation for it all.  I’m currently writing and recording some new material with ex vocalist/bassist Julie. Dave (drums) is living and working in Leicester. Sadly, I’ve lost complete contact with everybody else.

++ What was the best of being part of The Artisans?

Probably the thrill of hearing John Peel play our 7” on national radio

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to express my thanks to all concerned at Cloudberry .

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Listen
The Artisans – Jazz Serenade

Thanks to Tom Crook for the interview!

++ Who were Sometimes Sartre? When and where was the band formed? How did all of you come together? Did you knew each other from high school maybe?

Sometimes Sartre were Jonnie – vocals, Jon – drums, Jack – bass, Chris – guitar and Tom (me) – guitar, all friends from Highdown School in Caversham, Reading, UK, and fans of 80s British indie such as Aztec Camera, The Pale Fountains, Prefab Sprout, Orange Juice etc. Also joining us here and there were a girl called Donna who played keys and sang too.

++ I’ve heard a couple of songs, but I’ve always wondered if you ever released any records? What about contributions to compilations? the only one I know is Good Book to the You Can’t Be Loved Forever #1 tape.

Two songs were released as flexi-disc singles – These Kind Colours and Homelovin’ Boy. There may have been other compilations, but no proper label was ever involved, although Cherry Red once expressed an interest.

++ How many demo tapes did you record? What was the total output of recorded songs by the band?

I think we recorded maybe a dozen songs, maybe a few more. All very lo-fi thanks to lack of money. i could get a CD together if you’d like.

++ Why do you think Sometimes Sartre didn’t become more of a known name of the guitar pop scene of the time? You did have good songs, so what happened?!

In the late 80s, Britain discovered ecstasy and dance music and indie bands had to get some funky beats. The Sartres never evolved.

++ Why did you choose the name “Sometimes Sartre” for the band? Were you influenced by him?

This was the fault of our drummer, Jon Bartlett. I never knew what it meant but i couldn’t think of anything better. Carved Smiles was also in the running.

++ Music wise, which bands were your favourites at that time?

See above, and add to that Everything But The Girl, The Daintees, Felt, Hurrah! and REM.

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

Yes, lots around Reading, then London. Mean Fiddler was our highlight. Also supporting Stone Roses.

++ Were any of you involved with other pop bands before or after Sometimes Sartre?

Jonnie, Jon and Jack started a band called the Lucky Bags. Jonnie the singer is now in A&R at Sony. I’ve kept on playing – played guitar for Summerhill, then worked as a session player for the likes of Mew and Amy Winehouse. Now actually singing my own songs under the name Band Of Hope and playing bass for a band called Holton’s Opulent Oog.

++ How involved were you guys with the fanzine scene of the late eighties / early nineties?

Just local fanzines such as You Can’t Be Loved Forever.

++ The biggest highlight? What do you miss the most from those days?

The biggest memory is just making music with your best mates.

++ When and why did the band call it a day?

I think it was 1990. College, jobs, girlfriends all got in the way.

++ Thanks so much for all your help and answers, anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for the interest. You’ve got a cool label there…..very Sarah or Creation sounding bands. This MySpace site was set up so the rest of the band could hear some of the old long lost recordings.

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Listen
Sometimes Sartre – Good Book

Thanks so much to Gordon Will for the interview!

++ Hello Gordon! Thanks so much for doing the interview. The first thing that surprises me is that you never had a proper release. Why was that? Where there ever any plans to do a 7″ or something?

Hi Roque and thanks for asking me – please forgive any rambling. I was surprised to find interest in songs we recorded 20 years ago, let alone someone would be wondering what happened to us!

Well, I don’t think we ever thought about making a proper record, none of us had enough money to finance it ourselves, we weren’t particularly well organised. There was never any interest from any record companies. the Tayside area was slightly off the beaten track – most interest in bands seemed to be in the central belt, maybe Dundee was tainted by the memory of Danny Wilson. The A&R men would probably would have been put off by our ‘chaotic’ and under-rehearsed live shows!

With the internet it now seems to be so much easier for young bands to distribute their music, publicise themselves and generate a following – internationally even! Getting your music heard back then was the difficulty, now the problem is knowing what to listen to – the downside of digital music is the lack of LP sleeves! – how can I find good music if I can’t see what it looks like? Some of the band sites are quite impressive though and I think you just have to work out which bloggers cover the kind of music you like *cough* http://www.cloudberryrecords.com/blog/ *cough* and go from there, particularly if you’re not part of any ’scene’.

++ Do you agree with Mike Innes from They Go Boom! when he says you were Arbroath finest? Or was there other bands from the time that you’d like to recommend?

I don’t think I’ve heard that before! We may have been Arbroath’s Finest purely by being Arbroath’s Only! There was actually another band in Arbroath – I think their name was something like ‘the BlueMoonDogs’ – they played mainly punk cover versions in a pub-rock style. I bought my first guitar from the lead singer – it had an action you could drive a double-decker bus under and terrible string-rattle, the neck also had a nasty habit of loosening itself from the body, I think it was manufactured somewhere inside the USSR, possibly  to discourage western-style degenerate music.

++ How many demos did you record? Is Now That’s What I Called Furniture Vol-2 one of those? What was the total recorded output of the band?

We recorded 2 demos, each took 4 hours to record and consisted of 3 tracks. Apparently this is quite quick (it certainly seemed to frustrate the studio guys!). Despite the little time that the studio had to tamper with our sound I think we all thought that we sounded a little over-produced in places. There were a couple of other songs it would have been good to record, but I think we put down the best of what we had at the time.

The tapes sold quite well, however, with copies going all over the UK (a lot seemed to go to Hampshire), some to Germany and I think one ended up in Japan.

Some copies had extra ‘live’ tracks recorded onto the spare tape. I thought it may have had some following when I found a pirated copy in the Avalanche shop in Edinburgh a few years later! We had some air-play on Radio Scotland’s influential “Rock on Scotland/Beat Patrol” hosted by Peter Easton, who now seems to spend his days as a lowly continuity announcer. (Another promising career……

++ How did the band start?

Basically we just started as a group of like-minded people attempting to make the music we liked to the best of our abilities and have some fun doing it – I don’t think there can be any better reason for starting a band. Anyway, first came the Scubas (Self-Contained, Unlistenable and Bloody Awful) formed by myself and my friend Grant early summer 1987, no gigs or recordings, but notable songs were “driving along in my 100a” about grant’s rusty old Datsun 100a and also a wailing cover of “leaving on a jet plane”. Wendy was recruited into the line-up after meeting her at a party at her sister’s house. Somehow – probably after reviewing our practice tapes – this line-up disbanded, with myself (on bass – once described as not so much playing it as fighting it.) and Wendy (guitar and backing vocals) joining her cousin Lynn (vocals) and Ian (guitar, Lynn’s sister Alison’s boyfriend – are you following this, there will be questions later – Arbroath is a small place!) along with drummer, John (Lynn’s cousin Susan’s (actually Wendy’s sister) boyfriend – yup I’m making this worse…), in his band the Gold Blades. That line-up recorded one demo at Dick Gibson’s (No relation to anyone of us) studio in Carnoustie and played several gigs most notably supporting Motorcycle Boy in Edinburgh. The Gold Blades effectively split when I formed the Sohfas with Wendy (guitar, vocals and songs) and her sister Susan (Bass) and John inevitably on drums. The songs were written mostly by Wendy and me – Wendy supplying most of the lyrics and music being written jointly (Wendy would insist on inventing chords, so it became interesting when trying to remember how to play them).

++ Where any of you involved with any pop bands before or after the Sohfas? Did you ever reform as the Fur Cough?

John, Ian and Susan were in Arbroath’s previous finest: Henry and Mary and also I think the Wilderness Children. Wendy and her sister Susan were Skinnipin and I came from the Scubas. After the Sohfas split I played briefly with The Candy Store Prophets practised once with friends as Janice FudDuster and had a few practices with another bass player from Arbroath (…no I don’t want to try playing stuff out of that C+W songbook – me learn? surely it’s supposed to be fun – and I don’t really think Orange Juice had a C+W guitar sound anyway!)  but nothing came out of it. I have picked up my guitar a few times and written a couple of songs for the up until now back-of-my-mind-and-unrealised Shinola.  John has continued drumming and has been involved with a prolific number of bands.

++ When the band started some of you lived in Dundee and some in Arbroath. Was this a difficulty for the band or a good thing? Did you all up end up living in the same place at all?

Is it the at the start of “A Hard Day’s Night” that the Beatles all go home to a terrace, open their front doors and end up in the same house?

Although Arbroath and Dundee are only about 20 miles apart it did have an effect on practising. Booking practice rooms, travel, lugging kit about. At the beginning we just practiced in my bedroom (how clichéd is that?) but over time that became less practical – we needed proper amps and stuff.

Me, John and Susan all ended up staying in Dundee. A while after disbanding me and John shared a flat for about a year or so

++ What bands were you listening at the time that influenced your sound? Do you still listen to any indie pop

Ooh, band wise we listened to: the Smiths, the Fall, Orange Juice, Mudhoney, Strawberry Switchblade, Half Man Half Biscuit, Jonathan Richman, Sonic Youth, Trixies Big Red Motorbike (”White Horses” only tho’), Beat Happening, Galaxie 500, the Chefs, Young Marble Giants, Spacemen 3, Ivor Cutler, Sarah Records, GoGos, Girls at Our Best, 60s Psychedelia, the Pixies, Buffalo Tom, Revolving Paint Dream, Meat Whiplash, Altered Images, Beat Happening, Big star, the Beat Poets (the late 80s Scottish one), Pastels, Tiffany, Jesus and Mary Chain, Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, Fire Engines, the Go-Betweens, Rezillos/Revillos — I haven’t attributed who liked what, purely to protect the guilty

I still listen to mostly indie music – I have a deep aversion to chart/mass market music although I am now more indie-mid now than indie-kid! I have always liked music ‘on the edge’, singing that sounds just like it’s about to go off and musicians playing just on the edge of their technical abilites. Actually anything that just has that spark of genius teetering on the abyss of madness. Well, that and a cute poppy tune does it for me every time. Not hard to please, am I? A fragile voice and some vaguely discordant music……

Currently: you’ll be able to see what I listen to once I can get scrobbling working from my zen to last.fm via Linux! In the meantime though I’ve been listening to a lot of the bands I was listening to back then, Young Marble Giants sound particularly fresh – I think they sound even better now. And there’s something fascinating about Orange Juice’s “Wan Light”? I can’t decide whether it is genius, madness or sheer folly

Recently I have been listening to: Camera Obscura (can they do no wrong?), tompaulin, Stereolab, Aberfeldy, Asobi Seksu, ballboy, emmy the great, Pizzicato 5, Postal Service, I am Robot and Proud, printed circuit, Herman Dune, the Voluntary Butler Scheme, Cake on Cake, Stephen Malkmus, Frightened Rabbit, I did go through a Belle and Sebastian phase, but I seem to like them/hate them in about equal measures – just too fey/twee at times

++ What about gigging, did you gig a lot as the Sohfas? any particular gig that you remember the most

Gigged a wee bit, probably around 20 in total mostly in Dundee (West Port Bar, McGonagles, DRCU), but also Aberdeen, Perth and Glasgow.

I always enjoyed our spirited cover of ‘Touch Me I’m Sick”.  I remember one of our better gigs was with the Fat Tulips downstairs in McGonagles in Dundee, I think I still have one of their T-shirts somewhere! The rest of our gigs either passed by in an adrenaline/beer fuelled haze or have been repressed by my more critical faculties. We had an old Eminar, Australian made, valve-driven guitar amp that took days to warm up and made an alarming electrical humming noise – probably due to it being ‘recovered’ from a skip a few years earlier. It was known to inspire fear in others (It still works, retaining its comforting, yet at the same time, alarming hum.

++ Where does the name Sohfas come from

I think I made that one up – Doh Ray Me Fa Soh Lah Te Doh – FaSoh -> Sohfa. Probably a comment on our musical abilities!

We were always a bit unsure of our name – there was always much discussion about changing it, hence “Fur Cough”, “The Melon Farmers” etc

++ On the Everlasting Happiness fanzine there’s a description of the Sohfas, it says “Gunpowder gelatine, Dynamite with a lazer beam, Guaranteed to blow your mind, Anytime” Do you agree with it?

“Talcum Powder, Jelly Snakes, Dyno-Rod with a Bailey’s Cream, Guaranteed to blow your nose, possibly.” would probably have been more accurate. When we were together the Inspiral Carpets had the moo “Cool As F*ck” t-shirts which everybody and their dog seemed to be wearing. John had the idea that we should have similar “Cool As F*ck-All” t-shirts made up. I think I may have made a design for them, but we never had any produced. It really should have been our band motto: “the Sohfas: Cool as F*ck-All”

++ You contributed to a couple of compilation releases: “Mind The Gap tape”, “Positively Teenage”, “Turquoise Days” and “Everlasting Happiness”. Do you remember how did you end up in these releases

I think someone asked nicely! It’s surprising how much these tapes seem to come up when poking around the internet, the recording quality on “Positively teenage” though seems particularly dodgy – I think that’s where the rips of ‘Thorns’ originate, the copy of ‘Stuck on the Shelf’ must be ripped from “Mind the Gap” (They got the title wrong!

++ As many of these tapes included fanzines, let me ask you how involved were you in the fanzine culture of that time

We had little involvement in fanzines, bar buying them. There was one which we had to produce a page for, this was done in the middle of a bit of band-name angst so two copies were made. One as the Sohfas, the other as The Melon Farmers. We ended up sticking with the Sohfas though. Fanzines were great, but often of variable quality – reproduction and content: I have some fanzines that we struggled to read, they look like they’ve been run off a photocopier calibrated by Mr Magoo. Don’t even get me started on the often bizarre choices in colour scheme – can anyone actually read red text on slighty lighter red background? Once you got over that they were usually quite interesting, I can’t remember the names of the really good ones – I’ll have to have a rake around the boxes in the garage. A free tape, flexidisc or set of badges was usually the deciding factor in a purchase

++ What were the places where the Sohfas used to hang around in Arbroath? Has the city changed much since then

THE place to be in Arbroath was called Tropics, not quite sure why, but all of us went there. The DJs occasionally played good music, however for the most part it was chart stuff being dance to by the local sweaty youth brigade. It closed a few years ago. Arbroath has changed little over the years…..

++ Why did the band called it a day? What do you miss the most from those days?

I think we all just agreed that we had given all we had at the time and that we couldn’t see any way forward from where we were. I think I miss most the sense of trepidation and excitement of playing live. The constant feeling of everything just about to go catastrophically wrong was interesting to say the least. Oh, I also miss letraset.

++ One last question, can you cook an Arbroath smokie?

Ah, this is the trick question! Technically an Arbroath smokie has already been cooked;

The haddock are first salted overnight to preserve them, they are then tied in pairs using hemp twine and left overnight to dry. Once the Smokies have been tied and dried, they are hung over a triangular shaped length of wood to smoke. This kiln stick fits in the middle of the pair of Smokies, one fish either side. These kiln sticks are then used to hang the dried fish from the smoker’s mouth. When lit using either a lighter or more traditionally a bundle of dried heather the smoker the proceeds to inhale the resultant, slightly toxic fumes. The traditional garb of 3/4 length plaid is worn throughout the ceremony – facial hair is optional, but preferred for both male and female participants. Although anti-social this process is seen as a rite of passage: from boy to man, from girl to woman. After coughing has subsided the fish are then extinguished by stamping out the flames with a pair of Highland Brogues accompanied by the traditional Scottish Reel “I Should Be So Lucky” played, of course, on a ukulele. Not a dry eye can be seen in the whole town. Deaths by “Smokieing” are not uncommon –  ginger beards can be highly flammable, the are victims categorized by their burnt hair and wizened appearance. The introduction of filter-tipped haddock have mitigated the worst of the effects of inhalation.

Apparently they can also be smoked in a barrel.

But where’s the fun in that

Thanks for interviewing me, it’s good that people enjoy these tracks after so many years.

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Listen
Sohfas – Thorns

Thanks to Harvey for the interview!

++ Who were The Odolites? When did the band form?

Ted Lethborg (lead guitar vocals songs), Gary Aspinal (bass vocals songs), Graham Rankin (drums) and myself Harvey (guitar vocals songs). We formed in early 1985 in Burnie, Tasmania. My partner and I had spent about 8 months in Europe doing the backpacker thing and I caught up with Ted when we arrived back in Tasmania. We started working on songs and recording them on a 4 track porta studio. It was a really productive time and most of our early material was written in the ensuing few months. We then invited Graham and Gary to join and started playing shows in Burnie and Hobart.

++ The band started in Tasmania but then relocated to the Australian, mainland, to Melbourne. Why was that?

We did some recording at an 8 track studio in Mole Creek, which was totally the back of nowhere as the name suggests. A farmer had a small studio on his farm which he used for recording jingles for the local radio station. Our previous bands had both recorded albums there. One of the features of the studio was a spring reverb he’d set up in an old watertank. In fact that was about it for features as it was pretty basic but a fun place to record.

We recorded a bunch of songs and thought we’d send them to all the ‘mainland’ record labels that we could find addresses for. It resulted in a stack of rejection letters saying something like “we think you show potential but we aren’t looking for new bands at the moment” which, smart cookies that we were, we knew really meant “we think you suck, stop wasting our time”. However, when we’d given up hope and confined ourselves to a life of playing Sweet Home Alabama and Cocaine on the Tassie pub circuit we had a call from an excitable chap called Bill Tolson from Rampant Records. He’d done well to track us down because we were setting up for a gig at the local pub and the bloke behind the bar came and found us. He said “there’s some smarmy bugger from the mainland on the phone for you boys. Can you make it quick?” Anyway, the upshot was Bill loved the recordings and if we wanted to move to Melbourne he’d release them on his label. We loaded up the Kingswood and went across on the boat a few weeks after that!

++ I’ve never heard from 80s guitar pop bands from Tasmania, would you care recommending me some? How was the scene there back then?

Ah yeah, it was pretty dire to be honest! As a band in Tassie you pretty much played the handful of pubs that put on live bands on Friday and Saturday night. I think they called them raves or rages at the time but most of the places were just oversized barns and your job was to keep people drinking! So the upshot was most of the bands were cover bands playing current top 40 schmuck and a few classics that always included (the afore mentioned) Cocaine and Sweet Home Alabama. For some reason they were staples in Tassie in the 70’s and 80’s and I imagine still go down a storm today!

However, there were a handful of original bands that managed to gate crash a few of the venues or, did what we did and started our own club nights. In the 70’s there was a band called the Innocents who had a hit with an amazing power pop song called “Sooner or Later”. It’s well worth trying to track down. There was a great band from Hobart in the late 70’s early 80’s that I used to go and see called Dingo Rose. They split into 2 other good bands B Culture and the Ex-Catholics. As luck would have it Ted and I are trying to get a compilation album together of Tassie bands from the period. Stay tuned!

++ The Melbourne scene, in the other hand, was a thriving one, with important bands that later would be part of the Summershine label. How did you enjoy moving there? Was it the best decision for the band? What were your favourite bands from Melbourne back then?

When we arrived in late 1985 Summershine was still a few years away and it was pretty tough breaking into the Melbourne scene. The live circuit was controlled by a couple of booking agents and to get gigs we had to do a lot of supports, often for unsuitable bands. I think we fell into a bit of gap between what happened in Australia in the early 80’s with bands like the Go-Betweens and the Triffids (who we adored) and then a much more vibrant independent sector that started in the late 80’s.

++ All your releases as The Odolites happened in a label called Rampant Records. Care telling me a bit about this label?

It was owned and operated by Bill Tolson and run out of a record distributor called Music Land. We sent them our demo because we really liked a band on the label called Honeymoon in Green. I think by the time we got to town though they were taking a break as I don’t recall them playing too much. The big band on the label at the time was Not Drowning Waving and they went on to do really well. Other bands on the label included the Hollowmen and Sea Stories and we played with those bands a lot, especially Sea Stories. They ended up getting a deal in the USA and recording a couple of albums with IRS. Great band, check ‘em out.

++ Somewhere I read about Andrew being part of a band called “Fear of Dance”. How did this band sound like? Were you or other band members involved in any bands before forming The Odolites?

Well spotted! Yes, Andrew (Ted) and Gary were in Fear of Dance and Graham and I were in a band called Noddy’s Revenge. We set up a club called the Big Ears Club in Burnie Tasmania in 1983 and both bands played the club on a regular basis. It was in a pub on the waterfront that didn’t have too much going on apart from some warfies drinking in the main bar. After the 2nd week we were packing the place out (it did only hold a few hundred though)! It was the place to go in North Western Tasmania for a couple of months and then, like all smart promoters, we quit while we were ahead and closed the place.

Fear of Dance and Noddy’s Revenge were both influenced by Punk and New Wave stuff that was around in the early 80’s. Noddy’s were probably into the poppier side. We were big fans of Orange Juice, Josef K, the Jam, Go-Betweens, Echo & the Bunnymen. Fear of Dance were a bit more art school and into the Birthday Party, Pere Ubu, Magazine & Joy Division. Both bands did some cassette only albums that were recorded at the Mole Creek studio where the Odolites later recorded.

++ “Let the Rickenbacker ring”.. is that a Rickenbacker being played in Chimes? This song is what guitar pop should be! What do you recall from recording this first single? For many this was your best song, do you agree?

Sure was a Rickenbacker. I loved my Ricky and Gary also had a Rickenbacker Bass. It was one of the earliest songs from when Ted and I started working together. The lyrics kinda reflected the excitement I was feeling re the music we were discovering at the time and the feeling that we were really onto something special with our new band. We were also mocking some of the awful cover bands around in Tasmania at the time especially one in Burnie called U Clap 2 (I kid you not) who went out of their way to be annoying.

Chimes was certainly the song that received the most attention and a live favorite along with Too Much To Dream off the EP. I have other songs that I prefer but I like sentiment of the lyrics, the chiming D chord and the Rickenbacker ring!

I’m really pleased that people from the other side of the world are finding out about the band and Chimes seems to be the song that’s attracting people. How I wish we’d had the world wide web in 1986!

++ There’s a video for this song, right? We’ll be ever see it on Youtube? That also makes me wonder if there will be a retrospective for The Odolites material.

Hmmm, yes there is but I kinda doubt it’ll make it to You Tube. I saw it recently for the first time and it was very ‘4 go down to the forest’. Lots of wandering around in the trees and bad miming. It does show off the Rickenbackers to good effect! My hair was a lot redder, Grahams blacker, Teds curlier and Gary had more of it than he does now.

++ Kathleen’s Tantrum was also a 7″. There was an EP called Persistence of Memory. Twee.net lists an LP called Face Down in the Violets. What’s the full discography of the band?

Persistence of Memory EP was first in 1985. It was five tracks recorded at Mole Creek in Tasmania that were included in the demo we sent out. Chimes was also recorded as part of that session but a decision was made to hold it back for a single and to record it again in a better studio.

Chimes 7” was next in 1986. On the flipside of this was a great song that Gary wrote and sang lead on called As Fresh As Monday + another song called Room With No View. There were also test pressings made in the UK for a 12” of this that was going to be released on Rampant via Rough Trade. For some reason the Rampant and Rough Trade deal didn’t happen so the single didn’t see the light of day.

Kathleens Tantrum 7” was the single lifted off the album so must have come out in 1987.

Face Down In The Violets LP after numerous delays was released in late 1987. Unfortunately we’d decided to split before the album was released and just did a few shows to promote it before calling it a day.

Chimes was also included on a compilation called Running Rampant and a track called Tender Object was on a split EP called the Users Club with Sea Stories and a couple of other artists.

++ Which release would you recommend to the first time Odolites listener and why?

I’d go with Chimes and Persistence of Memory. I think they had a spirit that we didn’t capture on the album. There are plenty of good songs on the album but the production and performance let it down. We do have plans to remix it though so it’ll be better then!

++ Do you know anything about the tape “Like Flies in the Face of” where Chimes was also included?

I’ve come across a reference to this on the net but haven’t been able to track one down so not sure if it was actually released or not. I have no idea who put it together but it seems to be on a German label.

++ What were the influences of the band? Had English guitar pop, the so-called c86, arrived in Australia at the time? Was that influence to you at all?

C86 itself didn’t influence us too much although I did buy a lot of those records. I think we were influenced by a lot of the same bands that influenced the C86 bands. When I came back from London I bought back a tea chest full of singles, tapes and fanzines that I’d picked up in the UK. It included all the early Creation singles and I’d seen some of those bands play in London (Jasmine Minks, the Loft, Bodines, Biff Bang Pow). I’d already been a big fan of Postcard and all things Scottish from around that period (Orange Juice, Josef K, the Scars, Fire Engines, Aztec Camera etc.) and Creation felt very much like Postcard mark 2 when I heard those early singles. In London I also bought every fanzine I could get hold of. I particularly remember one called Hungry Beat that was named after a Fire Engines song and talked about the Scottish bands, the Creation bands and also back tracked a bit to 60’s bands like the Byrds & Love. When I arrived back Ted was really getting into 60’s stuff including the Nuggets and Chocolate Soup For Diabetics compilations. So I think we really clicked with what we were listening to, both new and old, and it had a major influence on our early sound.

++ I’m quite new in my knowledge of the Australian indiepop scene, but I’d love to know if there was a fanzine culture there as well, or how was it?

I don’t recall there being too much around in the mid 80’s but a few things sprung up in the late 80’s around the time Summershine started out. We had some great independent record stores in the 80’s. Melbourne had AuGoGo, Collectors Corner, Greville, Gaslight and Exposure for starters and Sydney had Phantom and Waterfront. They were import stores predominantly so stocking what they could get from overseas plus all the local independent stuff. They tended to be the places where you heard about new bands. AuGoGo, Phantom and Waterfront all had really active labels as well.

++ Another question that haunts me since forever… during those late 80s in UK many terms appeared as C86, twee, indiepop, cuties, anorak, shambling. What terms did you use in Australia for this kind of bright guitar pop?

Indiepop was probably the main one. I don’t recall the others being used much. US bands were much more popular here in the late 80’s than UK bands so things like twee and C86 tended to have fairly negative connotations.

++ When and why did the band called it a day? What did you guys did after breaking up?

We quit within a few weeks of our album being released so late 1987. The album recording process was a really torturous one for us and we were pretty disappointed with the end result. We moved from Tasmania to Melbourne in late 1985 with high hopes and got off to a pretty good start. Persistence of Memory and Chimes were both really well received by the media but we found it hard to build a decent live following in Melbourne and it was even more difficult to build a following interstate. I think what we were doing was just a bit off-kilter with what was happening at the time. So we’d lost a lot of momentum by the time we got to record the album and when that became a drawn out process we kinda decided it was too hard.

After the split Graham joined another band of ex Tasmanians trying to make it on the mainland the Fish John West Reject. He still plays with guys from that band in a band called the Dunaways. Gary had his own band called the Somerfields that did one EP. He then joined a group called the Killjoys who’d played gigs with us in 1987. I think the Killjoys still play occasionally. They have a really strong female vocalist and indiepop fans would like them. Ted surprisingly hasn’t had his own band post Odolites but has done some production work including producing some of the Tender Engines stuff. Who they you say?? The Tender Engines are my only post Odolites band and released a bunch of singles on the Summershine label in the early 90’s.

++ What was the best thing you remember of being in The Odolites?

My fondest memories are of the early days back in Tasmania. The four hour drives to and from Hobart for gigs and the roadhouse fast food along the way. Op shopping for records and paisley shirts. Writing and recording songs in the sunroom of Teds house with a view across Burnie to the smoke billowing out of the pulp mill. Magic!

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Listen
The Odolites – Chimes

Thanks so much to Dave Driscoll for the interview!

++ Where does the name The Aurbisons come from? Is there any meaning behind it? Why were you never sure about the name?

There is no meaning to it.  THE AURBISONS was my idea.  Many thought it was a play on Roy Orbison & we were sometimes billed as THE ORBISONS.  I do have a fondness for the “Ooby Dooby” one but the name came from when I was on holiday in Scotland as a kid.  I remember reading in a Scottish “local” paper of some Swiss tourists by the name of Aurbison (I know it doesn’t remotely sound Swiss) got themselves stranded on an island & the editor made the headline “Stranded, the Swiss Family Aurbison” … It just stayed in my head.  Stephen wanted us to be called WUBBERY, as in the way the Bugs Bunny character Elma Thud pronounced the word “Lovely”.  The idea being that if any body in the bar had missed us play, but would ask “who has played & what were they like!” It gave everybody the chance to say “They were WUBBERY, & they were … WUBBERY!”   In retrospect, I think Stephen was right. It would have been cool to come on stage & say “Good evening Ladies & Gentlemen, we are WUBBERY” Personally, I think Stephen was just trying to compound my already pronounced peach impediment.

++ Who were The Aurbisons and how did the band start?

Initially it was me & Stephen Mark Harris, & Tony Jenkins (Tonedef, Jenko67) who I put the cassette compilations “Abigails Birthday Party” & “Uncle Arthurs Pop Parlour” together with.  We just scrambled covers together.  In fact we actually supported A RIOT OF COLOUR for a couple of gigs which can only be described as “interesting”.. That more or less petted out.  Tonedef lived more than two hours away on his motorcycle (which he kept falling off of) & he had by then found a love interest in the form of his (quite gorgeous) Wife.. So his time was limited & we were more than quite disorganised.  Thus myself & Stephen started to try & write songs, ably assisted by Andy Bennett on bass & Sean Johnston on drums.

++ You told me that you wanted to play like Josef K, what was are your favourite songs by them? How did the Sound of Young Scotland came into your ears?

I loved JOSEF K to point of pain, that trebly guitar just sent me.  You have to remember I was guitarist by definition of the act of actually owning a guitar, not having any remote aptitude or ability to play the thing.  The first three chords, well more like the first three strums of JOSEF K’s “Endless Soul” was the first thing I learned to play that sounded remotely like you could recognise it.

The first song I heard by JOSEF K was “Chance Meeting” as played by JOHN PEEL.  My favourites are “It’s Kinda Funny” “Missionary” “Sorry for Laughing” & the PEEL session version of Alice Cooper’s late 60’s “Apple Bush” .. It’s funny when I first saw the name of the band before I heard them on PEEL, I remember just from the name, thinking that they were a synth duo.. Wow did I get that wrong!

++ Where any of you involved with any other bands before or after The Aurbisons?

Me & Stephen played together in the dreadfully named (& frankly dreadful sounding) HINDU KUSH..

Stephen previously had formed a group for a Keele University battle of the band night called GIVE US A SONG, CLIFF.  Various members would contribute as backing combo to the MULBERRY CEILINGS, Andy did something under the name of COURGETTE SANDWICH & Sean was drumming for THE ROARINGLY SLENDIDS who on occasion could  be roaringly splendid.  To be honest it is all a bit of a mush in my head. Basically, it was a bunch of friends all doing slightly different things & helping each other out.

++ You only recorded one demo tape, right? Which songs were included in it? How many copies were made? I ask as maybe one day, I hope, it will show up on eBay!

The songs were “Creatin’ A Fuss”, “Holy Cow”, “Debbie Rix” & “Melt”

++ It was recorded at La-Di-Da’s studio, did Grant never offer you to be released on his label? How was your relationship with him and his mum?

I think we may have been the very first band to record at La-Di-Da studios. La-Di-Da studios being an old 4 or 8 (I can’t remember which) track desk in Grant’s bedroom.  I suspect at that time Grant wasn’t thinking about a label.  From what I remember of Grant he was (& probably still is) a lovely guy.  His Mum Terri, was great fun inasmuch that she was really supportive of Grant but pushy.  Grant was very laid back, & I suspect probably very good at lying on his bed thinking great thoughts, painting great pictures, & imagining great music.. Terri was very much “Grant, you got to make some money out of this!”  Not in a nasty way, but in a, we have bills to pay, food to buy, Grant please can you contribute rather than a lie on your bed listening to Astroturf grow, kind of way.  We clocked, very early in the day that Terri’s kept offering us tea & coffee so she could charge us for the biscuits.  We quickly, decided that if anybody left the house it was their duty to surreptitiously return with biscuits which we would eat when Terri wasn’t around.

++ Why wasn’t there any ambition for releasing a record?

I can’t remember it ever coming into our psyche.  I can’t remember having any ambitions whatsoever, which was a bit against the grain at that time, as there was a number of bands local to us you felt had quite an air of desperation to “make it” about them, although I was never sure what constituted making it.  For us the main plan was to play & have some fun. Trying to make a record would happen when we got better .. THE AURBISONS didn’t get better!  I’m quite happy to go to my grave knowing that we had a song that rhymed; Alzheimer disease, with cars crushed by chimneys & trees, Charlton’s defeat of Leeds & even my violent streak.

++ Which gigs do you remember the most and why? Is it true that your biggest fans were some skinheads?

There are two gigs that immediately spring to mind.

First a gig at Frimley Community Centre where we played with NORTH OF CORNWALLIS & BLUETRAIN.  The gig was fine, well as fine as we got.  It was getting there, that was the issue.  Firstly, we managed to get our friend Jason (Basin, Basin) to help us.  I was sat in the front of his car with a bass amp on my lap.  When we got to the venue I turned into Douglas Bader.  I tried to get out of the car but the bass amp had managed to preclude any blood from circulating in my legs & thus as I tried to get out of the car, I fell flat on my face into the gravel drive, much to the amusement of everybody.  When I had gained my composure, I started to lug equipment into the venue only to be confronted with an octogenarian woman with a mop, who (gesticulating quite aggressively, with said mop) shouted “Ere what you doing?  Get out!  Get out!!”  We had managed to find a community centre in Frimley, not the Frimley Community Centre.  Frimley is not a big place & certainly doesn’t require an abundance of community centres.  We managed to find the right venue just in time.

Secondly, we played with THE HEPBURNS at an Arts Centre in Bracknell.  The sound was appalling; something had gone wrong with the bass amp & the vocals were non existent, to the point that Stephen had a strop.  The result of which made the rest of us want to play all night!  What was funny was Stephen changed the lyrics to more or less, “I can’t hear a f**king thing” to every song … It took the offering of many beer tokens before he would talk to us again.  What made it even funnier, is that Jason (Basin, Basin) gave him a lift home & a journey that would normally have taken 40 minutes took 3 hours as he went the wrong way on the M3 & kept missing turnings back from the M25 …. Bless!!

Yes, our biggest fans were a small group of skinheads (we didn’t know them at the time) who would come to our gigs & shout “Woahhhhhhh you’re sh*t!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” after every song.  It’s funny, if they weren’t there we kind of missed them.  I later found most of them were in a band called DRINK BRITAIN DRY.  They were fantastic & ahead of their time.  They were funk-punk with white boy rapping over the top, the basic opus of their songs, being the glorification of getting completely munted.  At the end of their set the band would throw down their instruments, grab the singer & carry him on their shoulders & lay him on the bar.  Genius.

++ What’s the story behind the song Debbie Rix? It does remind me to Brian Rix :p

Stephen wrote most of the songs but this was one of mine.  When I first wrote it is was called “Reasons to hate a Saturday night” a reference to a spectacular unsuccessful relationship I had when I just left school. Girlfriend at the time suggested it reminded her of THE BRILLIANT CORNERS “Brian Rix” so Stephen was very quick to dub it “Debbie Rix” … Debbie Rix was an early 1980’s UK television presenter & has nothing to do with the song.  On occasion, people would jump & down to this, sometimes with some vigour.

++ You covered The Daintees “Roll On Summertime” occasionally, which other songs you liked to cover? What were your favourite bands at the time?

We would occasionally cover THE LOFT’s “Why does the rain?” which Stephen would sing “Why does THE RAIN, always play the West End Centre!” because they did.  My favourite was playing with BLUETRAIN we had a go at their song “Parade” … A great song thoroughly crucified!!

At that time it is hard to say how wonderful THE WOLFHOUNDS were live,  I also had a huge fondness for CLOSE LOBSTERS, THE JUNE BRIDES, THE HOUSEHUNTERS, STUMP…. THE GO-BETWEENS I remember being really good at this time.  To be candid it’s a pretty big list, don’t get me started!

++ Did any of the songs of The Aurbisons appeared on any compilation aside from Holy Cow on the first Leamington Spa?

On various cassette compilations but I couldn’t tell you which ones without digging through boxes of rubbish in the loft.

++ You were quite involved with fanzines, right? Did you made many? What were your favourite ones at the time?

“You were quite involved with fanzines, right?” … Well no.  The booklets that came with the compilations were really just that.

I would occasionally write for other peoples projects if they asked.  I do remember a lass saying she wouldn’t include an item I did on the “Room At The Top” in her fanzine (& I genuinely can’t remember which one it was) as I made reference to the super powers of THE LEGEND inasmuch as that on the gigs I went to at the Chalk Farm, Enterprise, he would dance in the face of the singer of the support band like a demented big nosed twat, wearing a “Pete & Dud” overcoat, but would go downstairs when the main band were on, but if a review turned up in the NME, there would be no mention of the support band, whom you thought he liked, but praise for the main band.. Mind you I’m sure if they had the windows open upstairs, he could have heard them from downstairs, outside next door’s ice-cream parlour.

The fanzines I liked most back in day were either: passionate beyond belief (Hungry Beat), useful tips…”How to get a subsidised meal at the BBC by pretending to be a band doing a PEEL session (Attack On Bzag) or just plain amusing (Rox).. I think my favourite was TRENDY HENRY.  It would have one word reviews.  The headline would be ‘THE VIOLENT FEMMES The Venue 17th July (1984)” & the review would be “Raunchy!” or “THE COCTEAU TWINS The University Of London Union, 13th December (1983)” & the review would be “Screechy!”   I was at that gig & THE COCTEAU TWINS were indeed screechy.

++ You now run the great Fruitier Than Thou blog. Do you believe that blogs are the fanzines of today? Or do you think both formats are different?

The reason I did my little blog was to keep in touch with friends overseas, as a look see of what I have seen recently & what I have dug out of the loft from the past, nothing more. It is always out of date.

Fanzines are alive & kicking.  Even though I’m old, fat & balding, I still go to a lot of gigs & I can assure you that I am often accosted by young girls with far too many pin badges or lads with their trousers hung so low, that the belt required to keep them up will most likely restrict their ability to reproduce in future life, asking me to buy their fanzines.

Internet publishing in the form of blogs, myface or spacebook are great, as you have the opportunity to instantly hear of others with similar interests & can get a response immediately (whether you want it or not).  Be honest, we most likely would not be having this correspondence without it

However, I still like the idea of something physical, that somebody has put together, rather than just a digital representation on a screen.  I still think there is a lot of joy to be had by postal communication.  Also, it is sometimes nice just to read something between bands or on a train home.  The odd / amusing ones are the ones I like.  A girl sold me a fanzine a month or so ago & I am annoyed because I can’t remember what it was called, or the band she was interviewing other than it was a Japanese punk band.  The format was like yours, a list of questions, but the band had sent back all the answers in Japanese hiragana & she had just printed as she received it.  I like to think the answers if translated read something like “I don’t understand this, why have you sent me this….” etc.

++ Do you feel there was a scene back then? Most bands said there was none, but some others do say yes, what do you think about it?

I can’t remember any specific scene..  What scene are you referring to?  I suppose it depends on how specialised your interest is.  I have always had quite an eclectic taste in music so I suppose my scene was “the stuff that I liked”   Certainly at the time I was listening to more pop music.  I certainly didn’t feel part of any scene, musically or geographically.

++ Why did the band call it quits?

Stephen wanted a bigger band, then a smaller band & he was going to Germany.  Just doing different things really, we are still in touch although we are separated by different parts of the world

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

If we didn’t have bad luck… Hey we wouldn’t have had any luck at all!

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Listen
The Aurbisons – Holy Cow

Thanks so much to Stephen and Marc for the interview!

++ Bulldozer Crash had a drummer on the first single, right? How did the band start and how did it end up being a duo?

Stephen: The drummer was Lee (Patrick) Skelly from the Prescriptions and who is now in the Peas. Patrick also designed the Sarah Said sleeve. The band was originally called Bulldozer Clarts and that was me and Geoff Suggett, but he left and found fame with the Lavender Faction. We would later record together again as Kosmonaut, Geoff also took the photos of the fish on the cover of Imperfection. I carried on by myself and asked Patrick if he would help me record some of my songs, he said yes. We went into the studio and recorded three songs but my voice was rubbish, so I left the studio gutted. Graeme Elston who at the time was in in the Love Parade (and it was he who suggested Crash instead of Clarts) put his brother Marc’s name forward for vocal duties, we returned to the studio and Marc added his vocals to those first three songs. I smiled for a week after I left the studio that day.

Marc: I was at a loose end after university and missed making music, the student bands I was in  had done a bit of recording but I was always a sideman, Bulldozer Crash gave me the opportunity to boost my ego as a singer plus I was able to work with Stephen whose enthusiasm always impressed me.

++ Your first release came out on Sunday Records, the best American indiepop label (I think that’s a fact). Also two later singles came out in the Rolling Meadows label. How did you end up releasing there? Usually British band at the time would release in British labels, you know.

Stephen: Albert who ran the label had heard the Bulldozer Clarts song “Walks Away” on my Positively Teenage compilation tape and wrote and asked us if we would be interested in releasing a single with his soon to be started label. I have a feeling he believed the little fib I told on the back of the PT fanzine that we had just toured the UK with the Pale Saints. We did send the first demo tape “Meek” which had the two songs from the first Sunday 7″ and “Recollections” to lots of UK labels but none of them were interested, I still have all the reject letters.

++ That first single was Sarah Said. It included “Changing”, one of your most upbeat tracks, as the B side. Was “Sarah” a nod to Sarah Records? Which bands were you listening at the time? I can see that you were very influenced by the jangly guitars, but also with some noisier bands as you did a “Changing” version with lots of feedback!

Stephen: Most of the original lyrics to Sarah Said were quotes from Matt’s AYSTGH fanzine, but I had to change  them, maybe a few did get left in though. I was listening to all sorts of bands at the time, The Byrds, The Beatles, The Jam, Stone Roses, East Village, Razorcuts, Choo Choo Train, Springfields, I still listen to them now. Changing was my Dinosaur Jr. song, well I thought it was.

Marc: I always loved jangly guitars from The Byrds to the first Primal Scream album, I think it’s a Celtic folk thing. I felt more comfortable with our jangly side, I could never rock as hard as Stephen.

++ Automatic Smile was your second single and on this one you worked with Jyoti Mishra from White Town. He added keyboards and also produced the single. How did that happen and go? Where you a fan of White Town at the moment?

Stephen: Jyoti recorded and produced everything else we did after the first single. I was already a White Town fan, having wrote about them/him in my Fresh Air fanzine and we used to write letters to each other. We ended up working with him after a chance meeting in the Derby branch of Vision Express. Marc was working in there during his summer holidays and Jyoti came in to get his glasses fixed, they got talking and our first recording session at Satya Studios was booked.

Marc: The recording sessions with Jyoti were a breeze and he ironed out our musical creases an absolute treat. Weekends of creativity and talking nonsense about music…pure joy!

Stephen: I loved everything about my visits to Derby , I remember catching the train down before I learnt to drive and then shitting myself the first time I drove down. I thought I was the bees knees, carrying a guitar on the train, it was what I always wanted to be, in a band, recording songs and there was even someone daft enough to release them! I couldn’t have been happier at the time. I loved it in Jyoti’s bedroom studio , we would say “can you make the guitar sound like the one on the new Dinosaur Jr. record” and he would. The time he started muting the guitars at the start of Only Baby Heads Smiling, I can still remember thinking at the time this sounds fucking amazing, to my ears we had turned into Kraftwerk. Or when Jyoti added the strings and horns to Marc’s song Upwardly Mobile Friend it suddenly it was a soul song. The moment was later spoilt by Marc by mentioning Swing Out Sister!

++ Third single is in a label I really love: Heaven Records. You can’t have enough of those little Heaven zines! But something that does surprise me is that there is barely nothing written about Bulldozer Crash in these zines. Do you have any idea why was that? Why did your only British release was on this label?

Stephen: It was actually our second single, those were the first songs we recorded with Jyoti. It just became our third because Albert worked faster than Heaven. I’m not sure why we never featured in any of the Heaven fanzines, maybe they didn’t like us? They wanted us to sign a publishing deal with them, we didn’t want to and we didn’t hear much from them again. They only ever sent us one copy of the single each and that was it, at the time I thought it was a mite stingy of them. I’m sure they must have boxes of unsold copies tucked under their beds. Years later I read an interview with a Fat Tulip and they said they  released our single because Albert Sunday had asked them to.

Marc: My best Bulldozer song was on this release, I must find the demo, it was one of those Eureka moments.

++ To close your discography you released a fourth single, Headfirst and then a mini-album, Imperfection, on Sunday Records. Was it any different to record for this format than doing it for the singles?

Stephen: It didn’t feel any different because I’m sure we were supposed to be recording a 6 track 12″ and  a couple of songs for a compilation LP Ulrich from A Turntable Friend was putting out called “Calling At Duke Street”. When Ulrich told us he didn’t want to use them, Albert suggested putting all eight onto a mini album.

++ Which release of yours is the one you came up happier with the end result and why?

Stephen: I like them all for different reasons, I wouldn’t be able to pick just one, sorry.

Marc: I love Mrs Robinson’s Daughter, it has funkiness, brevity and a story…a proper pop song.

++ There was also a couple of songs on different compilations, do you remember where did they appear? There’s two on a Japanese one called “Behave Yourself”, there was the cover of Po’s Fay on the Sunday flexi…

Stephen: We had quite a few songs songs released on a few of the Sunday compilations CD’s (Sunny Sunday Smile,(I took the photo on the cover of that one) A Different Side of Sunday, Rollling Meadows – Songs about Our Past) and two songs on Behave Yourself which was on a label called Behaviour Saviour . The original version of Changing with a ton of feedback was included on numerous compilation tapes at the time, I’m afraid I don’t remember the names of them all.

Marc: The version of Fay was recorded before I  was aware of the wonderful device called a Capo…very difficult for me to listen to now!

++ I guess it’s a silly question, but why Bulldozer Clarts on the Positively Teenage tape?

Stephen: See the answer to question 1, it was just the original name. Clarts is a northern term for mud!

++ Why did you name the band Bulldozer Crash?

Stephen: We thought it sounded good.

++ What about gigs, did you play often? What were your favourite bands in Durham?

Stephen: We only played two gigs, one in Derby at the Victoria Inn  supporting Pure or Eva Luna, not sure which and the Heaven/Sunday gig in Nottingham both in 1991. The Love Parade will always be my favourite band from Durham.

Marc: I thought The Crimson Mints were like Pretenders and Graeme reckoned Final Kick from The Liberty Ship album was pure Crimson Mints… I was going for a Pretenders guitar style so it makes sense. I wish we’d played live more often, in some ways The Liberty Ship were a full band version of the ideas I had in Bulldozer Crash.

++ How big and exciting was having the Woosh club so near? What did it bring to people like you?

Stephen: The Woosh club was excellent, it used to be on nearly every friday night upstairs in a a pub called The Broken Doll in Newcastle, it was run by Stephen Joyce and he put on all the great indie bands of the time, I saw so many of my favourites, seeing them inspired me to write about them in my fanzine. Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes , 14 Iced Bears, The Siddleys, The Driscolls, The Pastels, Vaselines, (although those last two weren’t at the Broken Doll), I also discovered lots of great local bands like The Gravy Train, The Sunflowers,The Nivens, The Crimson Mints and the Love Parade. They knocked the pub down years later. I used to record most of the gigs on a really crappy tape recorder stuffed in my pocket, I recently listened to a Jesse Garon gig and the sound quality is atrocious, much worse than I remember. Looking back we were quite lucky to have such a club.

++ I know you kept doing music after (should be another interview!) but why and when did you call it a day as Bulldozer Crash?

Stephen: I don’t think we ever did call it a day. Although it’s now ten years since we did any recording together. We are always threatening to do something again but we never do. Maybe one day.

Marc: Distance and real life ended B Crash, I wanted to play in a full time rehearsing band. I never consider us split up…where’s that Rickenbacker?

++ I know you Stephen did one of the BEST fanzines ever “This Almighty Pop!” (should be another interview as well!), but did Marc was involved at all with the fanzine culture?

Marc: I dabbled but never for fanzines, I did a bit of blogging on music more recently. I found the indie-purism hard to understand as I have broad musical tastes.

++ You are still involved in indiepop till this day. What differences and similarities do you see between those days and the scene today? Do you have any particular stance on MP3 releases?

Stephen: I don’t ever remember the music I wrote about in my fanzine being called indiepop back then, not sure when that started? It was just indie music to me and that’s what Bulldozer Crash music was, I think? Today everything seems to get done a lot faster. The internet is great for that, the instant communication is certainly something I like, even though I do miss real letters. Blogs are great too for finding out about new bands, I just wish there was more paper fanzines. I don’t like MP3 only releases, I much prefer something to hold, vinyl or CD. I do still rip my cd’s to my computer and I like the fact that I can take lots of my favourite songs with me wherever I go on my ipod.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Stephen: Thanks for asking the questions, it’s nice someone remembered us. If any one wants to have a listen  I’ve put all the songs we had released and a few unreleased ones too up here maybe someone will enjoy them. http://www.box.net/shared/tar4nsm3n0

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Listen
Bulldozer Crash – Automatic Smile