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

Thanks so much to Pete, Rocker, Yoland and Glenn for the interview! Big hugs!

++ You have quite an up to date page, and a great interview by Kieron were almost everything is covered! So this is quite a tough job for me. So I’m going to go for some obscure facts if that’s okay? First thing I wonder is if you were involved in any pop bands after or before The Rosehips? I only know Rocker was on Flatmates and Ant and Mark 2 had the Venus Beads.

Glenn: Keyboards in Trouserdog – a Fall tribute band who don’t play Fall songs.

Yoland: In 26 years, when I’ve retired and if I live that long, I will be forming the perfect prog-folk-surf-punk band in tribute to my favourite purveyors of those genres. Any takers?

Rocker: I was a part-time member of Bristol-based band Flying Saucer Attack (sequencing drums, playing keyboards, production & co-wrote a couple of songs). I also played keyboards for a few other Bristol bands e.g. McDowell, The Family, Spectrasonic.

Pete: Around the same time as the Rosehips, I was in the Speedpuppies. Mark 1 played drums with us after we’d done a couple of gigs with a drum machine. We tried to sound like the Shop Assistants – surprise, surprise! Liz, our original singer, wore shades and stripey tops during our rehearsals but left when we got a gig because the thought of playing in public terrified her. The Speedpuppies recorded one demo (we sent a copy to Sarah Records) and did about six gigs before things fizzled out. After the Rosehips had split up, I was in Jack in the Green with Corinne and Caroline, with Mark 1 again playing drums. We played around ten gigs and recorded two demos. After that, I was in Trilemma – a two piece recording band, who didn’t play live. Trilemma ran the Blue Minnow cdr label, recorded the Crowded Wilderness 7” ep for Kitchen Records, gave away our lp, “Push What Is Collapsing” with Robots And Electronic Brains fanzine as a subscribers freebee, recorded a mini album called Caveat Emptor, released by Fence Records as part of their Picket Fence series and recorded various songs which were issued with paper fanzines. And now I’m in Horowitz.

++ You recorded a cover version of The Chesterfields’ “Ask Johnny Dee” for the Sweet William flexi. Why did you choose this particular song? And how did you end up on this rare flexi that came with the Two Pint Take Home fanzine?

Glenn: We liked the original and were friendly with the Chesterfields even though we thought their music was a bit drippy! So we thought it would be funny to ‘punk it up’ a bit. I doubt they were very impressed.

Yoland: As a general rule, everything should go faster, but once speeded-up this transmogrified into Echo Beach (Martha & the Muffins 1970-something), which amused us greatly, because it was a mild irritant to the beautiful Chesterfields, or so I recall.

Rocker: Before my time!

Pete: Mine too, though I think I popped down to the studio during the recording.

++ You shared that flexi with The Fat Tulips. Years later, when the band had already split up, the Bloodstained Fur 7″ appears on the Tulip’s label, Heaven Records. I guess you had a close relationship with them?

Yoland: So close I remember nothing, they must have used Rohypnol.

Glenn: I’m not sure I even met the Fat Tulips except for Mark of course.

Pete: I’ve got to know Mark more since the Rosehips split up. I used to be over in Nottingham watching gigs in the early 90s, bumped into him a few times and went to his wedding. It’s only since meeting the Cut Outs that I’ve spoken with Paul, who was one of the Fat Tulips Nottingham contingent, who used to arrive at our gigs armed with cut up newspaper confetti!

++ But why did it take that long for these tracks to be released? How did Heaven decide to release it?

Glenn: I have no idea about how it came about I’m afraid. As usual I wasn’t paying attention.

Rocker: I was going to release it on my own (planned) record label, Bhaji Records (It’s catalogue number was Onion1) – but when the band split up shortly after the recording sessions, I decided not to proceed with it, as we used to sell most of our records at our gigs (before t’internet) so it would probably have never broken even. When Heaven Records heard about the tracks we’d recorded they offered to release it – it was one of our finest moments, in my opinion! And I still have a box of them in my spare bedroom.

++ How involved were The Rosehips with fanzines?

Yoland: Other than answering questions and fooling about, we weren’t, were we?

Glenn: We got sent loads of interview questions and always tried to reply but they were all very samey.

++ Did any of you ever make one?

Rocker: I never did – but I’m sure Pete and Glenn each did.

Pete: I didn’t make one at the time, no. Glenn wrote one though – Vandalized Idol.

Glenn: Yes, Vandalized Idol which was shit.

Pete: It’s a great little zine – it’s about time you did a second issue!

Yoland: Iconoclastic Cardies?

Pete: Oh yes, Iconoclastic Cardies – I was a bit slow off the mark! Twenty years too slow! I put the first issue together to mark the 20 year anniversary. Lots of people contributed to it. The colour version was referred to as “like a holiday brochure” – thanks Jamie!

++ Chaotic Brilliance was your own label, right? Your only release was The Sympathy for the Rosehips? Or was there something else? In any case, did you ever think releasing some other bands when you set it up? If so, which bands would you have dreamed to release?

Rocker: Chaotic Brilliance was Ant’s label – in those days the right-wing Tory UK government ran a scheme called the Enterprise Allowance Scheme – basically it was a way of fixing the unemployment figures. If you were on the dole you could set up your own business, and still get an allowance from the state, instead of the dole. So your name was removed from the unemployment figures – making the government look better. The advantage for the individual was that you no longer had to pretend to be “looking for work” ie go to job interviews and on courses, in order to receive your dole. I expect a similar scheme to be announced any day now. So Ant was able to devote his time and effort to setting up the record label. As far as I know, no other releases were planned – unless Ant can tell you different!

Glenn: Our favourite group was The Membranes, and the label name was taken from one of their record sleeves, so I guess they would have been the ‘dream band.’

Yoland: Ant should’ve got in there before the big Tom Jones revival, put out the back catalogue and retired.

++ Why on the Secret compilation you didn’t include all of your recorded output? Maybe it was too much? After all it included 22 songs already. Will we ever see those tracks that missed the cut on CD someday?

Glenn: I thought it was everything but as I say I don’t often pay enough attention. Rocker dealt with all that really.

Yoland: Output as in “put out” yes, output as in every learning curve and exercise along the way, no and neither should it.  If J K Rowling released the napkin version of Harry Potter, it would have failed to fulfil its potential (which we did anyway) and never made it to book two, for example.

Rocker: I think we included almost everything! Omissions I can think of:
“Ask Johnny Dee” – the master tape was never returned after the original flexi was cut – we could have taken it from the flexi – but the quality was considered too poor;
“A Slow Painful Death To Vivisectionists Everywhere” – there are two versions – one with Yoland’s spoken vocal, one without – can’t remember which was on the compilation but it was such a long track that we wouldn’t have put both on the same CD
“Bloodstained Fur” there was a short version on the 7″, and I think we put the longer version on the CD.
Oh, and there are a few dodgy cover versions we played live, such as “Too Much Too Young” by The Specials, which I could never play drums fast enough for.

Pete: The cover version of the Stones’ The Last Time just about makes it to the first line at the end of the compilation – there’s a full version of that somewhere. It was only recorded live though. We had a bash at Sonic Youth’s Star Power in rehearsals but never recorded it. There’s a live tape from the Punk Rock EEC Mountain from 1986 and a live tape from Stoke in 87 or 88.

Rocker: No plans to release anything else but that live version of “The Last Time” is on the “1989Live” CD which I put out on my own LocalUnderground label at the time of “The Fucking Rosehips” (aka The Parallelograms) gigs in late 2007. It was recorded at our penultimate gig – supporting The Wedding Present at a Greenpeace benefit in Plymouth – there’s also a fantastic sleeve pic of us all looking very young, stood in front of a sign saying “Bristol Centre For The Deaf”, which happened to be just opposite our Bristol rehearsal room. I still have a few copies if anyone wants one!

Rocker: On the subject of the compilation – we have no copies left. The last thing I heard from Leonard Roberge of Secret Records was that he had some copies left under his bed, which we would like to buy! However we have lost contact so if anyone knows how to contact Leonard, please pass on my email: rockerq@aol.com

++ Did you ever think about releasing an album?

Glenn: Nobody ever asked us. I can’t imagine it would have been any good.

Yoland: I think we were developing and changing too much to have had an album’s worth of comparable tracks at the time.  There was one in us, about 12 months after we ended!  It’s a bit like the output issue: some stuff is what you do when you’re learning and most bands learn before they release.  And don’t get all Sex Pistols about it – gigs are different, but committing to vinyl is another thing.  The Pistols didn’t make a record as shambolic as their first gigs. We on the other hand, never did a gig as shambolic as our first recordings….

Rocker: Neither line-up of the band ever had enough material to fill an LP – pretty much our entire recorded works fitted onto one CD!

Pete: Making a whole album never crossed my mind. I always thought we were more suited to 7” singles or 12”s eps.

++ How many demo tapes did The Rosehips record? Are there any songs on those that never made it to proper releases?

Glenn: No idea, sorry.

Yoland: Our very first “lets see what we sound like on tape” experience took place in a studio, which would have been just fine, if (a) the studio had no bloody cat and an owner who had heard of housework or (b) I was not horribly, anaphylactic-ly allergic to cats. You can play a guitar with a cat allergy, briefly, but singing requires the ability to breathe!  Dave was very accommodating about the toilet facilities and the phobia though, so it could have been worse.

Pete: There are a couple of demos from 1986. Of the nine songs “Cracked It”, “Trucker’s” and “A Much Bigger World” were never released in any form. The other tracks were all re-recorded and ended up on the Subway releases. On the two Bristol 1988 demos, Caffeine Fuel Injection” was never released, neither was the vocal version of A Slow Painful Death. When I Want Your Opinion was remixed by Rocker for the b side of the Heaven Records 7”, but the unreleased demo version has an audible vocal! The other tracks on the Bristol demos were re-recorded and ended up on the Sympathy 12” and/or the Secret compilation.

++ What about the Airspace! compilation where you contributed “Crazy Kind of Normal”? How did you end up here?

Glenn: I think it was a charity in Bristol, therefore a Rocker connection.

Yoland: Is the answer: Rocker had a hot air balloon?

Rocker: I think they approached us, so we gave them a track from one of our Bristol demos – I think Rupert from the Groove Farm, and Sara Tacchi their driver, had something to do with the charity – there’s quite a hotch-potch of bands on there! (We used to play a lot of gigs with the Groove Farm)

++ Tell me… what’s the deal with Judy’s Boyfriend? Is it a real story?

Yoland: Somebody Glenn knew? Was Glenn the boyfriend in the tale?  I wasn’t Judy.

Glenn: No it’s just a combination of Judy is a Punk and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend by the Ramones.

Rocker: It was the fastest song we ever played!

++ What happened at the Manchester Boardwalk gig that you got banned!?

Yoland: Our lovely friends got slightly carried away with the shredded paper (before shredding machines, so that was dedication!) The paper covered the venue, probably gave the cleaners a fit and it soaked all the brandy out of my glass.  In addition, the new manager was a twat and tried to give us a drugs lecture, which I didn’t take kindly too, being a loyal and regular paying-customer of said venue, not to mention a stroppy young thing from a village where drugs were just the reminiscences of hippy parents.  Years later I did find myself in Moss Side with a mate needing gear, it was easier and quicker than buying bread, but hey – the man was still wrong about us. We were from Barlaston – still a drug free-zone and best kept village – ish.

Glenn: Nothing happened really except the janitor had to spend an extra 5 minutes sweeping up confetti.

Rocker: I really don’t remember being banned – although we did have a bunch of people who travelled to our gigs in a van, spent the journeys tearing up old telephone directories, and threw it as confetti when we played – that would probably have been enough to do it (although I went to see Grace Jones last week, and would you believe it, she’s copped our idea!)

++ What other gigs spring up to mind?

Yoland: Other gigs, TJ’s, Plymouth, Norwich Arts Centre, Glastonbury, any gig in Bristol…

Pete: TJ’s Newport with Darling Buds – the wooden stage, a distortion pedal with a dodgy connection and using Harley’s great Fender amp; Ashton Court festival – second amp channel set way too loud and waking a few sleeping hippies when I stepped on the pedal – lovely! Travelling alone midweek after work (possibly to Salisbury?) and arriving with a minute or two to spare before we were due on stage – the soundcheck had been done earlier. I walked straight into the venue, met up with the others, went straight to the stage, plugged in and we played our set. How professional! Playing with the Valentines in Bristol and hardly being able to hear the kids speak to me at work the next day is another memory.

++ Glenn says that you were essentially a Shop Assistants tribute band. Would you agree with that?

Rocker: I think that’s Glenn being self-deprecating! When I first saw The Rosehips you could certainly see similarities, but the Rosehips sound was already distinctive.

++ How many times did you see the Shoppies live?

Glenn: I only saw the Shop Assistants once as I recall – in Stoke. Could be wrong.

Yoland: Once, but they were great!

Rocker: I saw the Shoppies around 20 times – their early gigs as a five piece were just sublime – perfect mix of noise and melody.

Pete: 7 or 8 times. Wherever I could get to, really – Manchester International, Birmingham Burberries (some photos on the inner sleeve of the Shoppies album are from that gig), Wolverhampton with The Legend, Stoke Shelleys….I sent them a small gift at one time, chatted with them backstage  and exchanged a couple of letters with Alex. Oh – the fan-worship!;)

++ Funny enough years later there was a Rosehips tribute band! Now they are the great Parallelograms! How did you feel about having a band playing your tunes?

Glenn: The Fucking Rosehips struck me as a very funny joke, especially the name. It was good to see them when they played in Stoke and I was quite proud. They were a fucking sight better than the Rosehips.

Yoland: Thought it was a wind-up, then humbled, embarrassed, shocked and to be entirely honest, I never understood why they didn’t do any of the best (i.e. later) stuff. Lovely bunch of folk.

Rocker: I love The Parallelograms – shame Markie has run away to the other side of the world – Pete and I actually guested live a couple of times with “The Fucking Rosehips” as their tribute band was known – and Yo joined us once for a couple of verses of “Designer Greed” – and I do think that’s the closest thing to a reunion you’ll ever see!

Pete: The Parallelograms are great! As the covers band, they played our songs with a similar spirit to us and many bands of that era, that’s what struck me. Markie told me the story of their how they named themselves: Chris Mabbs and Markie were talking about lost indie bands from the late 80s and apparently Chris said something along the lines of “the fucking Rosehips were amazing”, so that was the name they adopted for the covers band. Like Yo, I feel humble, proud and a little embarrassed.

++ “A slow painful death to vivisectionists everywhere” was recorded for the Animal Liberation Front, as far as I know. But was this for a special release? Or just something you thought it was right to do?

Yoland: Yes, it was a benefit.  Or just something you thought it was right to do? –Yes it needed to happen & personally I find it abhorrent that the cause has fallen off the agenda, that the public have been tricked into believing its necessary to torture Beagles, monkeys and mice to advance medical science and that animals face more cruelty and less respect now than then, as the likes of Cook it, Kill it, Eat it & the bush tucker trials demonstrate.  Last week a dog was thrown from a car on the main one-way system in Stoke and don’t even get me started on the Kennel Club & breeding e.g. Rhodesian Ridgebacks born with spina-bifida (hence the ridge) and the healthy ones (no spina-bifida: no ridge) destroyed…

++ Did you ever hear from them?

Yoland: Hear from the ALF? No, they’re probably all in prison for suggesting A Slow Painful Death for Huntington Life Sciences (these views are my own & the ex-Rosehips cannot be held accountable etc etc.)

Rocker: We were asked to contribute a track to a compilation LP – but being the Rosehips it took us a year to record it – and by then either it had already come out, or had been abandoned, or we’d lost contact with whoever it was putting it out, so no, as far as I know we never heard any more from them.

Pete: The vocal version was the one earmarked for release.

Glenn: I never heard from them.

++ The most difficult question of it all, will Stoke City stay in the Premiership?

Glenn: We will know more at 5pm on Saturday. Personally I think they’ve made it too difficult for themselves by fucking up away from home.

Yoland: But potentially the easiest answer! Not looking good (sorry Glenn, any detectable smugness from Charlotte?)

Pete: Charlotte is Glenn’s girlfriend and she supports Port Vale, Stoke City’s local rivals!

Rocker: totally uninterested in sport – I occasionally partake of a little chairobics, though.

Pete: It’s not looking good!

++ Still no Rosehips babies?

Glenn: Both Marks have one or two I think

Rocker: Only The Parallelograms – we think of them as our babies

Yoland: – Some people have let the side down on that front… I have two babies, both with dubious parentage, absent fathers (but a devoted mummy), waggy tails and a total of seven paws between them (again, because some human bastard saw fit to keep 30+ dogs all inter-breeding and fighting and didn’t even get vetenary attention when my little one got her paw bitten off – he just dumped her, pregnant – nice) A theme seems to have emerged.  Doggies are asking for dinner, the fire needs more coal, but the snow has stopped.  Take care, Yo x

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Listen
The Rosehips – I Shouldn’t Have To Say

Thanks so much to Pete Geoghegan for the interview!

++ You’ve made it to Wikipedia, meaning you are an important band in popular music. See, smaller bands’ pages get deleted. Are you surprised by it? How do you feel about it? What is that that Mighty Mighty left to POP!?

Important is not a word any of us would use. The internet is still a bit of a mystery to us all. We’re 20th Century boys. What is great is that people have access to our music. As for our legacy? Mick is such a great songwriter. If it wasn’t for him, I’m not sure the rest of us would have attempted to write. So on a very personal level I’m glad of that.

++ You said you started the band over a shared love of soul music, Postcard Records, The Velvet Underground and Socialist Worker Party politic. What was your favourite Postcard release? What do you think was Postcard’s legacy?

Mick and Hugh were the postcard fans. My favourite is Blue Boy by Orange Juice – raw power and emotion. Again – legacy? A label responsible for Orange Juice, Joseph K, Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens….it speaks for itself.

++ How involved were you all with the Socialist Worker Party? How important was for the British to be involved in these parties during the Thatcher years?

There were no jobs, the miners were on stike, Nelson Mandella was still in jail, nuclear attack still iminent…the divide between left and right, rich and poor was a lot clearer in those days I think. It was dificult not to be politically active. There was a benefit gig to play every week! People seem more apathetic these days but that’s a generalisation. I wasn’t old enough to vote when I joined the band! It was a long time ago.

++ Who were Mighty Mighty? When and where did you got together? Why the name?

Mick (my brother) and Hugh met in the early 80’s and palyed in a band called Domestos. They formed Mighty Mighty (Curtis Mayfield song), Russell joined on bass, H on drums and I was last to join. I said to Mick one day, “If I buy a keyboard, can I join the band?”. He said, “Yes”. Simple as that.

++ How much luck was there to appear on the NME C86 tape? How did you end up there and how did it help the band after? What is the song “Law” about?

Luck? Yeah. It’s all based on luck. Ask any band. There are plenty of talented acts out there who we’ll never get to hear. It helped tremendously. We got a lot of exposure for a band with no manager or agent even, at that time. Law? I think it’s about a dangerous girl. You’ll have to ask Mick but he’ll probably insist on having a lawyer present!

++ Your first release was “Everybody Loves the Monkey”… what do you mean by “the monkey”? I was wondering about the Girlie label, who ran it? and why the catalog was organized by the word GAY?

Again, you’d have to ask my brother. The only monkeys I’ve ever seen live in zoos. We ran the label ourselves. It was very primitive and great fun. Russell and I got through quite a few Pritsticks putting the artwork together. Gaye is H’s partner. We used their house as head office. It was just a little “thankyou” to her.

++ How involved were you in the Birmingham scene? I’ve noticed you were really close to The Sea Urchins, with members of them appearing in your record sleeves. Which other bands were good friends with you? Was it a friendly scene? Or did you have any problems with any bands?

Don’t think we were ever really aware of a scene. There were bands we shared the bill with who we admired. Pigbros were great. Bridget, Robert and James (Sea Urchins) were friends. I played with them very briefly in my mum’s front room. My sister has a family with James’s baby brother so there’s still a close connection. I’m off to London to see Bridget at the weekend.

++ You did gig a lot! What were your favourite gigs, those that you still remember vividly?

Aberdeen. Everybody’s fave. The power/lights failed but we played on. It was just great fun. Fantastic crowd.

++ You were also part of the first flexi released by the legendary Sha La La! How did Throwaway ended on Matt Haynes label? Were you followers of his labels? Would you have liked to be in Sarah?

Pete: I haven’t a clue how we got on the flexi. I guess he asked us. I think we may have been more at home on Sarah but then if Chapter 22 hadn’t come along, we probably wouldn’t be talking to each other today.

++ How did you end up on Peel’s show?! Was that the biggest highlight of Mighty Mighty?

He played Monkey. That was the highlight as far as I was concerned. I remember Russell and I jumping up and down. Recording the sessions was fantastic. He insisted on introducing us on stage once. We still miss him. He can’t be replaced.

++When and how did you signed to Chapter 22 Records? Who were they?

Erm…1986? Craig Jennings…don’t think I spoke a word to him. I was very young and shy. I use that as an excuse quite a bit.

++ Early this decade you end up releasing all your back catalog on Vinyl Japan. Was there always interest from Japan? How rare are these CDs now? I’m still looking for copies of the BBC CD and “A Band from Birmingham”! How did you end up releasing in Vinyl Japan, an historic indie pop label!?

We had no idea we’d been picked up by them but were thrilled to be available on CD now as well as vinyl. Craig was behind it. Think it helped to claw back some of the studio costs for him. I don’t think we had much of a fanbase in Japan in the 80’s. It really was great to find out that people were still interested and listening. We’re trying to track down any remaining stock. We’ll let you know if we find anything!

++ Were any of you in other bands before, during or after Mighty Mighty?

We had a few funny side projects – Russell Burton’s 15 Minutes, The Velvet Underwear (feat. Bridget Sea Urchin), The Kitchen Cinq (feat. Derek Hammond of Yeah Yeah Noh – our friends and fave band – how could I forget them!). Hugh left and formed The Belfast Cowboys, releasing a mini-album on Swordfish. The rest of us played as The Raree Show, quite a different sound, all guitar and three lead singers! Pre-MM? The usual garage and college band sort of outfits. Nothing of note although Domestos were really quite good.

++ How important was the fanzine culture of the eighties? How involved were you?

The fanzines were crucial. Before the major weeklies picked up on you it was the enthusiasm of the fanzine editors that started to spread the word. No internet remember. Again, it was all part of the homemade/handmade aspect of music. It goes on now but the tools available are so sophisticated these days, it’s barely comparable.

++ What is that that you miss from the pop scene back then? How different do you think it’s from today? Do you still listen to indiepop?

It was a much smaller world and by that I mean there were fewer of us. It seems saturated these days and there are good and bad points to that. People were not really interested in forming or listening to guitar bands so you really did feel outside of the mainstream. It wasn’t conscious, it was just what we loved. We were extremely naive, as were most of the bands back then. Kids are a lot more savy these days and perhaps they need to be. I still listen to music. I still make music. Indiepop? Sure. If I like it, I like it.

++ Why did the band decided to split up? Will there be a reunion gig?

Hugh wanted to leave. We let him go. With hindsight, I think it was a mistake. We should have soldiered on. We had no deal, but we started without a deal. It’s quite easy to loose sight of why you do what you do. Hindsight though. Easy for me to say it now but I was very young and shy at the time….A reunion? We hope to play Indietracks this Summer. We’re scattered here, there and everywhere so it will take some organising. We’ll see.

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

Thanks for talking to us. Looking forward to getting The Leaking Machine out on Cloudberry. Maybe we can find some lost MM tracks for you!!

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Listen
Mighty Mighty – Gemini Smiles

Thanks a thousand to Tommy Cherry for the interview!

++ How did The Bachelor Pad start? What were the members doing at that time?

I was a huge fan of Martin Cotter’s guitar. He was in the Wee Cherubs at the time. Then about 1985 a lot of things happened at once. The Cherubs broke up, I first heard The Jesus & Mary Chain and I went to a new club in Glasgow run by Bobby G called Splash One Happening…I instantly left the band I was in (The Oysters) and recorded some demos with Martin and also Graham. The songs were Jack and Julian, Girl of Your Dreams and Norwegian Wood. Splash One was amazing…the first time I walked through their doors I heard Treason by The Teardrop Explodes. I felt I had come home at last…every record they played was fantastic. It was a scene. Within a year every major town in the UK had a copy of Splash. Then came the fanzines…it was like punk but with groovy Warhol kids instead of all those lumpy Clash fans and Sid idiots. I have a lot of fond memories of that period. We sent the demo to various fanzines and got a good response. Offers to play live meant we had to expand the line up. Fortunately, I was sharing a house with a keyboard wizard David Harris (who is a genius!) and Willie Bain from my old band The Oysters stepped in to play bass. Our first gig, thanks to Jim Honey of Simply Thrilled was with Baby Lemonade and Jessie Garon and The Desperadoes. It was a gas. We signed up for a record deal with Mike Stout the same day Andy Warhol died so he called the label WarholaSound.

++ Who or what were the band’s main influences? Was it a dream at all to have your own bachelor pad?

Oh gosh! I think David Harris got it right when he said it was a head-on collision between The Buzzcocks and Syd Barrett. But we used to just chuck everything in there. Martin and Graham were big Smiths fans, I worshiped at the alter of psychedelia and David was just plain encyclopedic! The house we shared in Queen Square, Strathbungo was the closest I’ve been to a pig in shit…happy, that is!

++ What was the songwriting process like? I ask as most songs were credited Cherry-Cotter. Was it an easy task?

We did co-write a couple of songs, but mostly that was a Beatlesque conceit. Competition was much more rewarding than co-operation…a lesson I was to learn at a cost in real life too.

++ Was the band too self indulgent or was that one of their strengths?

Everything we did was to please ourselves. The Self was all.

++ The production on “Tales of Hoffman” was pretty extreme on some songs, was that deliberate and would you do it the same way again?

Our second single Do It For Fun was the most fucked up production ever, so after that the album sounded as smooth as a baby’s bum to me. But then, I was incredibly stoned at the time. I wouldn’t do any of it the same way again…once was enough!

++ The Coroners Wife seems very different from the other songs, how did it come about? Any chance the video for this song will appear on Youtube?

As far as I can remember The Coroners Wife was the first track recorded for the album sessions and it was mostly just Martin and me. We used a drum machine and later David did some overdubs. It was also a brand new made-up-as-we-went-along-in the studio type song, whereas most of them had been played before by the band in a live situation. I loved The Coroner’s Wife and petitioned to have it released as a single. Don’t know what happened there. I had no idea that anyone was interested in this stuff anymore, I’d see if I can dig it out and will post it.

++ You also recorded another video, for Country Pancake! When and where was this recorded? What do you remember of the recording session for this one? Was it true that it was included in an NME tape?

Country Pancake was recorded in 1989 and was meant to be our third single for Mike Stout’s WarholaSound. This never happened due to the collapse of the independent Cartel distribution (Red Rhino etc). But that is why a video was shot and that’s why we gave it to the NME for inclusion in their CND benefit video which also included Sonic Youth and I think Primal Scream. It was the first proper promo film we had ever done and it was filmed at the same studio where we did all our recording, Toad Hall Studios in Glasgow by Ali and Beanie. Beanie (Ian Carmichael) went on to form the classy indie-dance unit One Dove and is one great engineer and producer. We shared a great love of Sparks, T-Rex and David Bowie with him and he was always great fun to work with. It was a snowy day in January and we pretty much just made it up as we went along. When we had finished we noticed a box of dressing up clothes in the corner and spontaneously tried everything on. Ali kept filming it and speeded it up in the edit and that’s how it ended with the notorious “frocking-up” sequence. The ”Zaba daba daba” chant at the end was a reference to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s The Man In The Jar. S.A.H.B. were the first and greatest band I ever saw live…still!

++ Was it planned that the debut single had one song with a chorus going “Hey Hey Hey” (Jack & Julian) and another with a chorus going “Yeah Yeah Yeah” (Albums of Jack)?

Yeah. I think they are both powerful and holy rock and roll mantras. Yeah Yeah Yeah is also one of my favorite Alice Cooper songs from the mighty Killer album and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are also one of my favorite bands. Karen O is the female Ziggy.

++ How important was Jim Kavanagh for the band?

Jim was the first person to ever show us any interest. Although he only really dug one aspect of the band…the pop. He didn’t really get our rock side. But that was ok. I don’t think we should have signed up for his Egg Records though, and it did all end in tears. I was at my wits end by then and was a bit heavy on him at the time which I truly regret, so if you’re out there reading this Jim I’d like to offer my sincere appy-polly-logies. I should have broke up the band when Martin left and we limped on past our sell-by date for a while. It all made me…um, less than happy, shall we say? But I am glad his thing has had a new life on-line. He deserves it for all his sheer enthusiasm.

++ “Tales of Hoffman” was released on a pretty well known label, Imaginary Records, home of bigger bands such as The Chameleons or Cud. How did you end up in this label and how different was the relationship between you and them compared to the one with Egg Records?

Imaginary Records was a weird thing. We’d had a really close relationship with Mike Stout for a couple of years. Then he arranged for Imaginary to put out the album and we duly toured with Cud (who were awful! Nice guys but music-wise, just awful!) and we never saw or heard from Mike again! He just vanished off the face of the earth. I heard a rumour that he was seen working as a croupier in a Singapore casino! I don’t think there was any truth in it but that’s how odd it was. Wherever you are Mike, all the best. You were a diamond geezer. Imaginary were just that…imaginary! They didn’t seem to exist. They never made any contact with us at all. We used to joke about using a ouija board to get in touch. The lack of support caused us to drift which led to Martin leaving and the whole endgame of The Pad. It was all very odd but somehow all very typical too.

++ You had “Girl of Your Dreams” on a Sha La La flexi which are quite legendary especially as this label will later become Sarah Records. Were you a follower of these labels? What do you think of these C86 sounds being mythified?

That flexi made it as Single Of The Week in Sounds (a popular UK music weekly) so that was really funny. It also got us a lot of gigs up and down the country. I loved Matt Haynes fanzine Are You Scared To Get Happy. He was a real passionate ranter and not at all twee. He was also really funny. My one big regret is not getting to know him better. I think The Bachelor Pad should really have been on Sarah. It was our natural and spiritual home. I also loved Bob Stanley’s Caff fanzine. It was filthy and hilarious. Real punk rock Joe Orton sort of vibe. These were my sort of people. Good home folks.

++ Maybe you can help me on this one, do you remember anything from the Milky Way flexi? I can’t find any information about it aside that you had Sunshower Sun included on this one!

I have no memory of that whole episode at all…I have a feeling that Jim and Martin might be the ones to ask.

++ I always wondered about many of your songs as they include people’s names like “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown”, “The Albums of Jack”, “Jack and Julian”, “Jack McLean in disguise” and “Abu Nidal’s Bus”. Are these songs based in real people too? Are these true stories? Is it always about the same Jack?

There was a bit of a trend for name-songs then. I think it probably came from the whole Lou Reed/Velvet Underground thing, y’know…Sweet Jane, Caroline Says and all that. We all wanted to be in the Velvets in those days. All the clubs aspired to be like the pary scene from Midnight Cowboy too! Lemme see, Jenny Brown, she was real. She had a show on Scottish Television at the time called Scottish Books which I used
to watch after rehearsals. I think I developed a crush on her. Jack McLean was a drink sodden, misogynist journalist with The Glasgow Herald that Martin had a strange love/hate relationship with. Jack and Julian was more archetypal. I had been reading about the origins of old English nursery rhymes like Jack and Jill and Jack just keeps cropping up all over the place. Jack is everyman…Jack o’ Lantern, Spring-heel Jack, Jack in The Box. Remember that bit in Performance when Harry Flowers says “I know you. You’re Jack The Lad”! The Albums of Jack was a Martin title and the line doesn’t actually appear in the song. It actually went by the working title “My Love of Giraffe”! which was the name of a cheap toy rip-off of My Little Pony! The night before we recorded it Martin and I were watching the worst movie ever made, You Can’t Stop The Music starring The Village People and one of the characters said “wait till you hear the albums of Jack” and Martin said that we should call the song that. That is actually my favorit Pad song. It still makes all the hairs on my plotty stand endwise.

++ What do you consider was the highlight of The Bachelor Pad?

For me, it has to be the gig we did in Lincon with The Telescopes. That and Grant Morrison writing us into the plot of a John Constantine Hellblazer comic book. A tape of our second single Do It For Fun is so noisy that we jam the nuclear bomb and save the world. What a gas to be in a DC comic. Thanks Grant. We used to do some gigs with Grant’s band in the early days and on Grant’s first television interview I dressed up as a nurse and administered him pills throughout…it was duly banned!

++ Will we ever see all the Bachelor Pad’s tracks on a retrospective CD?

I dunno…do you want to put it out?

++ Why did the band call it a day? Did any of you get involved with any other bands after?

We should have called it a day the day Martin left as the whole thing was based on our dualist energy…we were Jack and Julian I suppose. Be careful what songs you write, they may come true! In 2000 I recorded an albums worth of songs with Stewart Christmas under the name The Whores (of Perception) and we played a couple of gigs at the 13th Note in Glasgow. But that is a whole other story, in fact I could write a book about it! Julian Cope was heavily involved. We imploded as fast as we created, yet despite this it was probably the best band I was ever in and the music was superior to anything else I ever did. If you are interested I will send you some MP3s. I think we may have been truly before our time!

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Listen
The Bachelor Pad – Jack and Julian

Thanks so much Roger Källs for the interview!

++ Hi Roger! Tell me how did some Norrköping kids got together and made amazing guitar pop? What was that reason that made you make such music?

In that time most kids either played heavy metal or progressive rock(post punk with swedish lyrics)but I was really into the 60’s stuff and powerpop such as the Jam, Blondie and Paul Collins Beat. It was quite a hard time to convince my friends to go that way.

++ How did you know all the band members? Were you high school friends or maybe neighbors? Why, during the whole Saturday Kids lifespan, was there so many lineup changes?

The first setup were the only ones that really dared to play good f*****ng popsongs with a simplicity and stand for it.Those were the people that also a few years later started indiepop fanzines and brought us live acts from England such as the Wedding Present. The music scene in Norrköping turned in to be a kind of a collective (music and arts) and we all knew each other well. Some people played in one band 1 or 2 years and then they’d went on to another band. It wasn’t such a big deal. I wanted to go on with my ideas and some wanted to go Madchester And probably I was a real angry and stubborn young man as well.

++ Where does the name Saturday Kids come from?

The Jam. Saturday’s kids. The song was about working class kids who only lived for the weekends. It was about us.

++ It was 1987, were the sounds from England’s C86/indiepop popular in Sweden? What was the way for Swedish kids to know new music? Did you have some kind of John Peel there? Maybe you had great record stores?

We had a fanzine called Sound Affects, a local radio channel with the same name, a record store, Pet Sounds, a record label, Ceilidh and lots of kids that arranged concerts. Our John Peels were Terry Ericsson and John L Byström from Sound Affects (RIP) and OIa Hermansson (the founder of Ceilidh who discovered Cardigans)

++ What other bands from the late eigthies in Sweden would you recommend?

Wannadies, Popsicle, This Perfect Day

++ Your first release was “Four Beautiful Songs in D’d”(1990) on the SND label. Which songs were included in this 7″? Who were the SND label? I haven’t found much info from them!

Our first release was actually on a Ceilidh compilation but after that it was “Four beautiful ..” Happiness, Me and my brother, Affected Faces and Down. The SND label was the other record label in Norrköping by the time. A bit more into the progressive rock scene. Less indiepop. SND stands for “skit ner dig”…..shit in your pants…..as I said..more rock

++ After that you end up releasing the 5″ “Things Do Happen” on Ceilidh. How did you end up signing to local label Ceilidh? Were they friends?

Yes and fans. Ola Hermansson always preferred us as the best live act at that time.

++ What about the Pet Sounds tapes? These are quite rare items, sought after by collectors. Do you remember how did you have some songs on those compilations? What other Swedish fanzines were there at the time? Was there a big fanzine culture in Sweden?

The Pet sounds tapes are so rare that I’ve almost never heard of them. True! There were fanzines but I seldom read them. Just Sound Affects really. Can’t remember the names.

++ How difficult was to gig or release records for a pop band back then? I have this idea, which could be wrong, that those days Sweden was infested by metal bands and it was hard to get your stuff out to wider audiences.

It was hard but it created a “do it yourself” attitude. No band from Norrköping were big in a wider meaning.

++ How many bands have you been involved with? I know that now you dedicate your time to Northern UpBeat and Absolute Beginners. Any others?

The Way (my first), The Gwen Stacys (directly after the split from Saturday Kids).

++ How do you feel about the incredible explosion of Swedish pop bands during this decade? It’s impressive, really! How would you try to explain this phenomenon?

A mixture of municipalities that were willing to help us with cheap rehearsal rooms and studios (we could get some fundings through the studies circle organizations). A Swedish phenomenon and our interest in all Anglo-Saxon culture??? Cold weather??

++ Having recorded for different formats, what do you prefer, vinyl or CD? and why?

CD……. I’m lazy and it seems to have a longer life.

++ It was just the time of the first big Swedish indiepop wave with bands such as Cloudberry Jam, Club 8 or even The Cardigans when Saturday Kids split. Why was that?

I was a bit bored. We all had developed different taste in music. I wanted to create a more narrow concept. A pure mod band (the Gwen Stacys). So I did!

++ I want to visit Sweden badly, but never really thought about going to your town, if I was visiting Norrköping and I could only visit one place, where should I go?

My place!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Keep on keeping on

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Friday night, I’m working the late shift. The newspaper’s in-house activity is usually very quiet during weekends. All graphics have been done beforehand and unless there’s an emergency, a last minute catastrophe, some serious shooting or god descending among the mortals, on Saturday and Sunday you’ll get old news. When I was in school, I used to play soothsayer with some girls telling them what would show on the front cover on the weekend. That always impressed. The future was always built over the past and the past was the future. And the present? Well, 1, 2, 3, it’s already the past.

The past is always haunting me. I have a little obsession with it. When I was a kid I always thought I was going to be an archaeologist. My house was built over an ancient cemetery and a block away there was a huge mud city (Huaca Pucllana) many centuries old. My dad told me that when he was a teenager that place wasn’t closed for tourism. It was open, and he would go biking there and often find some ancient remains, vases, combs, textiles and even mummies! That was inspiring for me, that under my feet I could always find lost treasures. And that’s how I feel about The Holsteins today.

Right in front of my nose lies a treasure chest containing two songs of this Belfast band. That’s what the “25 Silver Jubilee” compilation on Germany’s Meller Welle Produkte is. “A Year and a Day” and “Count the Stars” are on repeat right now. I have my huge headphones on and, while they warm my ears a bit on this cold day, I’m enjoying these lovely tracks. Why have they been forgotten? I don’t get it. They had proper releases plus many compilation appearances. They were played by Peel but not even a mention on Twee.net. The past has had no mercy and buried them six feet under. Time for some digging. Prepare the shovels.

After some time researching, the only source of information I could find was this complete website with a large bio and a short interview, which I’ve read eagerly. Here are some important bits and pieces:

* The first album “Angel Train”, was released in 1994 by the German label Bullet! Records. It is a vinyl only 10 song album that seems got many favorable reviews. The track Drugstorm was played on Peel that same year. The record sold out.

* As the album was such a success, the label offered a second release, this time on CD. In 1995 the band releases “Pop-Gun Riot”, a 5 track EP. And again the reviews were positive.

*By 1997 The Holsteins were Niamh Rooney on vocals, Davy Burton on lead guitar, Pete Major on rhythm guitar, Brian McNamara on drums and Chris Birt on bass. Under this lineup they released their last record, the 8 track album “Sub Rosa”, on Shiny Records, which seems their most popular release as it’s the only one listed in RateYourMusic.

*Thanks to this album they caught the German popkids’ attention again and were asked to contribute, these two songs I keep listening, to the Meller Welle compilation. And on top of that, they did a split 7″ with die Blumen des Bosen on the Kactus label.

But what happened after that? Can it be that after many releases they fall into oblivion? And what about the questions I have? like, why did they name themselves after the black and white patterned cows, the world’s highest production dairy animal? Do they find it funny that there is a Holstein region in Germany, the country where they were most popular? Would I ever come around those two early demo cassettes they recorded? Would some crazy person take advantage and offer me their albums for 50 dollars each? All I really know is that I want to listen more from Niamh’s swooning voice. But if you know where the past has left our Northern Irish pop comrades please inform about it! Don’t be silent! You don’t want to be the undertaker’s accomplice, do you?

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Listen
Holsteins – A Year and A Day

Thanks to Rich Lindsay for the interview!

++ You were quite young when The Ammonites started, right? how old were you? where you all friends from school?

Yes, we were all school friends. We must have been 14 years old. The idea of forming a band originated from being bored in History lessons.

++ How come being so young you made jangly pop? how did you get influenced by this music? I ask because it’s not that common, most kids in their teens know mostly what’s on the charts, they don’t dwelve on the music that’s been cooked in the underground!

I think the jangly pop thing really started when we discovered Sarah Records, the Sea Urchins etc. and later The Byrds. It was initially bands like The Smiths and The Housemartins – who had broken out of the underground scene and had some chart success – that made us aware of an independent/alternative music scene. But, the real twee indie pop stuff was heavily influenced by the Sarah stuff.

++ You released many, many, tapes with Rutland Records, as well as your 7″. How did they came to know your music? Did you feel part of a scene in Leicester?

Rutland got to know us because we sent them a demo tape we’d recorded on 4-track which featured the first recording of “Day in the Sun”. They liked it and kindly offered us a chance to share their practice room and release a few things on their label. Looking back there was definitely a sense of a Leicester music scene. I guess a lot of that is thanks to the existence of pub venues such as The Princess Charlotte, O’Jays and the Magazine where young, unknown bands had a chance to play regularly in front of an audience. The guy that was running the Charlotte gave us some really good support slots at the time. Supporting Cud was one particular highlight.

++ You totally considered yourselves popkids, right? If not you wouldn’t have written Teenage Pop-Kid Dreaming. But what does being a popkid during the late eighties / early nineties meant? How could you tell someone was a popkid?

At the time we recorded the record we were desperately trying to be a bit punk and garage. By then I was basically writing most of my stuff by ripping off tunes from Pebbles records or late 70s British punk. I don’t think anyone can deny there’s a large portion of Pete Shelley in the vocal on “Teenage Pop Kid Dreamin” and “Coming Down” is based on pretty standard 60s pop-garage riffs. So the pop kid reference was slightly ironic, mocking our pop kid image and the twee pop kid scene. Maybe we were trying to distance ourselves from the indie pop thing but at the same time we were pretty much confirming we’d never ever be anything else but pop kids. Even now, 18 years later, I’m still a teenage pop kid. Still dreaming too!

++ Do you remember how many tapes you put out on Rutland? Was there any particular difference between the recording of these than the 7″?

I looked at the list of tapes we had done the other day and I can’t remember for the life of me what was on all of them. As far as I recall, all the tapes were 4-track recording which we did ourselves. The single was recorded on 8-track by Alan Jenkins of The Deep Freeze Mice and Ruth’s Refrigerator.

++ What was the biggest highlight of The Ammonites?

There were a lot. Some of the support slots, as mentioned. Playing the big municipal music festival in Leicester and gigging in London … and people actually turning up to watch!

++ Were The Ammonites a gigging band? Which particular gigs do you remember the most?

I refer the Right Honourable Gentleman to the answer I gave above!

++ How involved were you with the fanzine culture at the time? Did you ever wrote one?

We never wrote one, no. I remember being amazed how many fanzines took an interest in us. Doing interviews with Spanish fanzines and having flexi disks released in Japan … It was all a bit mental really.

++ I know you were part of many tape compilations, but there are some I don’t have a clue about them, maybe you can give me a hand with any details you might remember? I’m wondering about “And they Call it Pop” on Fragrant Records and “Just Another… Compilation” on Flippin Ace Records

And then there’s stuff like that which we never knew anything about. Or maybe I just can’t remember. I have no idea about either I’m afraid.

++ About the 7″, I’ve always wondered about the cover, it has some sort of Bridget Riley imagery on it, who designed it?

The cover was just a load of black and white pop art which was meant to look terribly 60s to go along with the garage/psych image we were desperate to cultivate. It featured a copy of a portrait which John (the original drummer)  painted of his brother Steve (who had played guitar in the band before leaving to go to university). Incidentally, their other two brothers now play in Ambrose Tompkins with Robyn.

++ How did the the split Flexi on the Boshi label happened? Did you ever meet Akiko?

That was another one of those things that just seemed to happen and completely amazed us. I don’t think we did ever meet Akiko.

++ Was The Ammonites the first band for all of you? Were any of you involved with pop bands during or after The Ammonites existence?

The Ammonites was the first or second band for us all. Robyn has always been involved in various bands, basically because he’s a brilliant musician. He’d switched from guitar to drums for the Ammonites and wanted to keep playing guitar so he was playing with the Calender Dream at the same time, for instance.

I know John got very close to a proper break-through playing drums with ex members of Blab Happy. On John Peel and all that. But in the end I think the album just didn’t sell.

The Ammonites was always “my baby” so I only ever had the one band. I had a long break from active involvement in bands until a few years ago, I got a band started over here in Germany. We called ourselves the zero five, had a lot of fun with it. But for some reason I went back into retirement a year ago.

I’ve already mentioned Ambrose Tompkins. Check them out if you don’t know them. They’re very cool.

++ Why did you choose the name The Ammonites?

To quote one particular fanzine: “because they are as boring as old sea fossils”. I guess that’s the kind of mini backlash you face when your guitarist has an affair with the girl running the fanzine, only for her to get back with her ex boyfriend (the guy running it with her). Ha ha ha

++ Have you ever thought about putting all your songs together on a retrospective CD? I heard there were rumours of Rutland doing this and even a working title “Rain and Ruin”, was this true?

I never heard about that. Robyn put something similar together with all the old demos but that was just a private thing, not for release.

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

Rob had left to go to university. Rob had played bass for use since 1988 and had been the final piece in the jigsaw to becoming a “proper band”. I think when he left, the momentum was gone and the balance was all wrong. We replaced him for a few weeks or months but never gigged again. Shane (guitarist 1989 – 1991) and I were getting listening to totally different music and seeing less and less of Robyn socially. In the end, Robyn said he was calling it a day and it was clear that there could be no Ammonites without him. So that was it.

What are we all doing? Well, this is what I know. I’m not in regular contact with everyone.

Robyn (guitar/vocals 1987 – 1989, drums 1989 – 1991)  – Still living in Leicester, is married and has two (I think) sons. Plays with Ambrose Tompkins. And I should drop him a line!

Rob (bass 1988 – 1991) – Was living in London a long time and is now back in the East Midlands too. Sadly I haven’t spoken to Rob for a long time.

Steve (guitar 1989) – I had a recent update from his brother John and he’s now teaching in Italy apparently.

John (drums 1987 – 1989) – Living in a cave house in southern Spain and judging by the amount of YouTube links he sends me, he’s still a teenage pop kid and doing a lot of dreaming!

Shane (guitar 1989 – 1991) – I think he’s back living in Leicester. The last time I saw him he was playing in a band but finding it hard because they wanted him “to play the guitar properly!”. Don’t know what he’s up to now but I’m pretty sure whatever it is he’s being a total star at it.

Jim (bass 1991 very briefly) – I’m afraid I have no idea. I lost touch with him very quickly after the band split and I went to university. Years later though, having finished at university my then girlfriend and I got invited to dinner one night. I think my ex was studying with the girl who invited us round. Anyway, we turn up and this girl’s boyfriend is none other than Jim. That was pretty amusing.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just many, many thanks for giving an old fart the chance to pretend he’s a pop star after all this time.

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Listen
The Ammonites -You, Me and the Sun