Thanks to Duncan Steer for the interview!

++ I’m one of those fifteen people in the world that would know more about Pastel Collision. Let’s have a background check to start! How did the band start? Who were the members? And where was the band based?

The main band members all the way through were myself and Gaynor, who was the singer. Along the way we had about, erm, 30 other people playing with us including about eight drummers and various trumpet players. Gaynor and I met via an advert in a long-forgotten music paper called Spiral Scratch. She was looking for someone to help make trumpet-fired indie-guitar magic happen. Within about four months of meeting, we had got a track on a 1992 LP released in Preston called ‘Reclaiming the guild’. It was a local community project to celebrate music in Preston. People still sell this album on eBay, on the basis of our song, which is an early, slow version of our first single, Young, with very good drumming. When we became a trio, Gaynor and I were joined by Jim Brunt, who lived in a metal dome, owned every Erasure and Pet Shop Boys record and could make the same amount of music as the other 27 people we’d had in the band put together.

++ You played between 1994 and 1997 as Pastel Collision. During those years indiepop was just an underground thing. The times were indiepop bands appeared on the music press were long gone. How was the scene during that time in Manchester? Any other great bands?

I don’t think we were really part of any real scene. We supported Heavenly once and I suppose some might say that they were the kings/queens of our little corner of indie pop. I was always into the brilliant Man From Delmonte, who were a very very poppy Manchester band that split up in about 1992. I suppose the NME stopped writing about proper indiepop years before but there was always John Peel and Mark Radcliffe, who were doing shows on Radio 1: they both played our records.

++ Only 13 gigs in 3 years. Why was that?

We were always more into recording. Tell me this: how many times have you seen a band live that sounds really really good and really inspires you? And how many times have you heard a record like that? For me, the numbers are 1) less than 10 and 2) more than 100. It was hard for us to rehearse and become a good live band, in any case because of living in different towns all over the country: in the studio, it’s all about your pop ideas – which we were really excited about. At gigs, it’s all about rehearsing a lot and being brilliant musicians and showmen which, possibly, we weren’t.

++ In the release department you didn’t do bad at all, 4 singles in 3 years. That’s a good ratio isn’t it? Which was your favourite Pastel Collision track? Any good anecdote about any song you’d like to share?

Well, one of my ambitions was to produce a song that would make people say, ‘What’s that? It’s brilliant’ when they heard it on a compilation tape. So, on those terms, ‘Wherever You Go Take Me With You’ is our No 1. I even saw it listed on a web forum as ‘the best song that no-one else knows about.’ About the highest acclaim you can get when you’re on a micro-indie label, I guess. Anecdotes? When Mark Radcliffe played our song, Young, on national BBC Radio 1 in the UK – which was a massive, massive deal – we didn’t hear it. But someone we knew heard it. And Radcliffe said, ‘If you know anything about Pastel Collision ask them to get in touch’. And our friend didn’t tell us this until about 18 months later. Hmmmm.

++ How did you end up releasing the single on Billberry Records, a label in Germany? It’s strange that you haven’t been showcased on the Leamington Spa series yet, especially as Billberry is among the labels releasing those records.

Sven from Bilberry records heard our first single Young and asked us to do a single for him. Unfortunately, it didn’t come out very well. Yes, the Leamington Spa people have been in touch with me but we haven’t yet appeared on one of their compilations.

++ I read that you were pop fans. Do you still follow the indiepop scene at all? I read on the Twee.net biography that you all loved the Would Bes, The Siddeleys and The Popguns! Wow! You wore the best influences on your sleeves!

Well, I do think that people who like those bands would like Pastel Collision… But I always liked things beyond indie pop and still do. What is quite interesting is that our type of music is always seen as quite old-fashioned and yet every single year there’s a new successful(ish) band trying to do roughly what we were trying to do (but usually with more money and success and, to be fair, ability). I guess the line starts with the Rezillos in 1978 and goes up to Ida Maria in 2008. And I also wish we’d thought of doing what the Pipettes did a couple of years ago. Maybe we still will. BTW I love Class of 2000 by Amida on Plastilina and recommend everyone to listen to it.

++ I know after Pastel Collision you formed Kaleida (and let’s save that for another interview!) but what about before Pastel Collision? Were any of you involved with any other bands?

Gaynor played cello on a Peel session for a Dutch band called Donkey who – I may be wrong – were a bit like the Fall. She also played for a group called Witchknot. But we had many many people play gigs with us – once, at a gig in Camden, our trumpet player was Andy Diagram of James (yes, THE multi-million selling James. I can’t believe this but it’s true.); we started out with a drummer called Chick who used to be in Cornershop – and he went on to be in another John Peel band called Formula 1 with a girl called Kerrie, who played trumpet and keyboards for us. And two of our records were released by our biggest early supporter, Hue Williams of the Pooh Sticks on his own label. You could do a good indie family tree if you could be bothered

++ Growing up in Manchester, how big was The Smiths influence on you?

Well, I didn’t grow up in Manchester but I went to college there… But I loved The Smiths and was definitely inspired by them – though I don’t think our records sound very much like the Smiths. Really, I think they sound more in the spirit of the sort of records Morrissey always said he liked – 60s girl group stuff, Twinkle, Sandie Shaw etc and modern versions of them like The Would Bes and the Primitives. I always wanted our records to be very definite – so some people would hate them but some people would love them. There were so many average indie bands with nothing unique about them, as if they were embarrassed to stand out. Lazy, tuneless idiots with no ideas, just making a noise. Our records were quite full-on, poppy, trumpety, wilfully lightweight. You could tell what they were meant to be – even if you hated them.

++ On the last single, “Wherever You Go, Take Me With”, you worked with Mike Jones from Voice of Beehive. How did that experience with a chart topper go?

Working with Mike was probably the best thing we did as a band – because he had actually made chart records and knew how it was done. Our first single, Young, was made with Steve Mack from That Petrol Emotion – another proper producer. But our second and third singles were just made with studio engineers – the guys who work at the studio – and you can certainly hear the difference. We wanted to make real pop records and Mike had the recipe and lots of little studio tricks, as well as a fund of showbiz stories. The Beehive had worked with some big name producers and Mike had obviously learned a lot from them, too. When you go to a studio and you’re quite a new band, you really do need to have an engineer or producer who knows what you’re trying to do. It’s not just a case of ‘plug in your guitar and sing into that microphone over there.’ It’s a real art.

++ There’s a lovely video shot on Super 8 of that single. Was this your idea or Siesta’s? It’s great, it’s one of your best songs, but it is also quite different from the other singles. This is much closer to Kaleida. This is also the time when the band becomes a trio. What was happening at the moment? So many changes!

We changed to working as a trio because it was easier to get the results we wanted. As Pastel Collision, we sometimes had eight people in the band, which was very hard to organise – even in terms of travelling to gigs or rehearsals. We were also keen to get out of the indie pop ghetto – we wanted to make records that sounded like they should be in the charts, even if they had no real hope of getting in the charts. We wanted to do something that sounded more like mainstream pop: maybe our early records sounded quite old-school mid-80s indie, like the June Brides or the Shop Assistants or the Brilliant Corners. By the time we did Kaleida it was 1996/97 and we thought we could still be indie while using computers and playing in tune, like St Etienne, say. It’s really nice that real serious indiepop fans tracked us down via fanzines and stuff like that but our real ambition was to reach quite a ‘normal’ audience,without losing the real hardcore! A lot of indie scene people from that time had no ambition of trying to sell a lot of records: they loved selling 300 records to the same 300 people who always wore the same stripey T-shirts and flowery dresses even though they were actually aged 46. Maybe it was physically impossible to get a proper indie record in the charts – but you could still sound like you were trying. Hence ‘Wherever You Go’ and the Kaleida album. The video was made by our friend Mike Hodgkinson and it’s all his idea. He lives in Los Angeles now and is going to be a famous director. Look him up on youtube. He did the world’s first pop video to be made entirely on a mobile phone, for the fella who used to be in the Catherine Wheel. We had a day out at Herne Bay in Kent with locals standing by watching us while we were being filmed. I expect they thought we were a proper band. ++

Siesta is known for being a very picky and difficult label. Also it’s known for it’s exquisite catalog. How did you end up now in a Spanish label? How was the relationship with Siesta.

I think I asked them if they would like to release a record for us and they said ‘Yes’. Siesta seemed quite nice people and reasonably ambitious but we weren’t able to get the record promoted in the UK. This was all pre-Myspace and pretty much pre-web, so everything was really indie and it was quite hard to get your name known unless you had a label who knew how to get you heard. And we never did. Siesta did get us to go on a trip to Spain, though, where we appeared on Spanish National Radio 3 with Jesus Ordovas, who was Spain’s answer to John Peel. We did a half-hour interview on his show, through a translator, and played three of our songs, which was amazing. We also played at a festival. Unfortunately, the festival was held in a student town during the summer holidays on World Cup final night, 1998. Hmmm. But we were playing with Eggstone, who had big connections with The Cardigans, and were really good and really friendly – so, again, it felt like we were connecting to something pretty cool.

++ Gaynor’s voice is one of my favourites in indiepop world! Do you all still keep making music? Maybe one of these days you’ll surprise us with a Pastel Collision reunion?!

We would love to do some more records. I am free on Thursday.

++ What was the best part of being Pastel Collision? And the worst? Do you miss anything?

The best part was the Jesus Ordovas show – getting driven out to the edge of Madrid to this giant, mysterious concrete building of the Spanish national radio at 9 o’clock at night- and then going on their No 1 pop show! It felt like the Bourne Ultimatum. Or getting letters from a fanzine editor in Japan who wanted to do a special issue about us. All amazing. The worst part was doing a band in the pre-internet days where it was so hard to get the message out even to the people who did like you. And, more specifically, the record we did with Bilberry – Trouble with a Capital T – which was quite a good song but came out as a completely hopeless record. Depressingly hopeless. Maybe I shouldn’t say that because some people like it. But there you are.

++ Why did the band decided to call it a day?

I don’t know. We did our album and video and little festival show as Kaleida for Siesta in 1998, did demos for a new album in our house and then just kind of stopped. I suppose we’d done our best and not had a massive response. It just felt that no-one beyond the fanzine hardcore was really hearing our music, even though at least some of it was quite good – so it’s easy to kind of drift on to doing other things.

++ One last question, when will we see at last the Pastel Collision retrospective CD?

When we get into the loft and find all the old master tapes. It’s a frightening job but we could do it for money.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen

Pastel Collision – Wherever You Go, Take Me With

Thanks to Mark ‘Sparky’ Marrable for the interview!

++ The last gig in London. What do you remember from that day? Why did you take the decision to break up?

The last gig was in London at the now defunct “Powerhouse” in Islington.It was an odd day as we had taken the decision to split about 2 months earlier, so to us it didn’t seem so fretful as it was for friends and fans. Grant La-Di-Da’s Mum Terri (who was our manager) and his then girlfriend were in tears in the dressing room while we joked around about never having to see each other again. The gig itself was a good one. The only thing I really recall about the actual show is Bob giving a little speech about the crap way we had been treated by the promotor! Never was one to bite his tongue was Bob. After the gig I remember feeling relieved it was over and we’d put on a good show. Other than that nothing really.

++ You had a triumphant tour in Japan just before breaking up. How did you end up playing there? Which cities do you played? What was the best of that trip? Any new food that you tried?

I was sitting at home one evening when Terri rung and said she’d got us 3 gigs but we wouldn’t be getting paid. I was pretty annoyed until she said they were going to be in Japan! Apparently a group of rich kids had a thing were they put some money in the kitty each week and once a year they wqould invite their favourite band over to play..and that year it was us. It all happened just as we had taken the decision to split but the chance to go was to great to pass up. We played one gig in Tokyo and two in one day in Osaka. We were told we pulled more people in Tokyo than Primal Scream had a month earlier. The promotors were just brilliant. We didn’t have to do a thing for ourselves and anything we wanted they made sure we got it. They used to take us site seeing, which without them would have been almost impossible, imagine being in Oxford Street or Times Square and not being able to read and you’ll get the gist. However at night after we’d been dropped at our hotel we would sneak out and wonder round back street bars on our own. We were taken to Kyoto on a day off which was special, very old and traditional. The things that amused us most were the beer vending machines in the street (there was even one in the bank!), ashtrays at pedestrian crossings in Tokyo and the site of a Southampton Corperation bus in Osaka. That was really weird as Bill the drummer is from Southampton and theis bus used to run on the route passed his house! In the 8 days we were there we ate nothing but Japanese food, lots of sushi and saki. I can’t remember what it was but at the farewell meal Bob ate something that turned out to be part of the table display and no one told him until he swallowed it.

++ How different are popkids in Japan to the ones in UK?

Japanese pop kids were very western looking. Very c-86ish with a touch of fifties clothing. We were warned that they don’t clap after every song but go mad at the end of the gig. This we found to be untrue. They aren’t to self consious to dance (unlike the ultra cool crowds we were used to in Brighton in particular). They were really appreciative of us being there and mixing with them and asking them questions about Japan. Thats advice I would give anyone,in a band or not, is show interest and they can’t do enough for you!

++ Going back in time, 1986, how did the band start? Did the C86 of that year was a huge influence on you?

The band really has its origins in London and Ipswich. Bob and I used to play as a duo dubiously called “I Don’t Go With Girls” in London playing music that sounded like a cross between kids tunes and lift muzak. I moved to Ipswich and formed a band with old school friends, Simon Spittle and Adam Harvey, taught myself to play guitar in about 4 weeks and we were off! After not achieving anything in two years Adam left and Simon and I played a couple of gigs as a duet. At the last one Bob come and played with us, we did some of his new songs and he played on some of mine. It was here that the idea of putting a traditional 4 peice band first came up. But within two weeks Bob and I had decided to move to Brighton and Simon,because of his career decided to stay put. When we first got to Brighton we were living in a tent and supporting ourselves by busking outside a cafe in Brighton’s famous Lanes area. It was here that we were befriended by two waitresses (Kate and Alison, yes THE Alison).Not long after I had gone back to Ipswich to collect some belongings one weekend and when I got back we’d got a drummer! The girls had introduced Bob to Bill who they were at University with and he joined straight away. Jon joined after we had done 3 gigs and again while I was away visiting family. C-86 didn’t really have that big an influence on us apart from it creating a thriving music scene in Brighton for us to get gigs in. Bob’s musical tastes were towards Dylan,Van Morrison and Robert Johnson while mine were taken from the postcard bands of 6 years earlier and poppier new wave bands such as the Buzzcocks.

++ Which bands were the ones you enjoyed to play the most during those three years? How was the scene of Brighton back then?

The bands I personally enjoyed playing with were The Wishing Stones and Colorblind James Experience. Both brilliant live. Its a shame The Wishing Stones split so soon, I think they were one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live. If you’ve a copy of “Dead mans Look” drink half a bottle of whisky and close your eyes and you’ll get the idea. Lovely guys to boot.

++ Any memories of playing at Grant La Di Da’s kitchen or garden?

Grant’s kitchen! Ha! Yes we did that. Well the others did. I was so pissed off my face i couldn’t remember any of the songs and at the last moment Jason Smart (also on La-Di-Da) took my place. He was pretty good considering. I sat in the hallway chatting with Suzanne before Grants dad hauled her off the toilet alledging she had graffittied the wall (wrongly as it turns out) So pretty messy and unprofessional night out really!

++ Everything you recorded was compiled on the hard to find One Last Look compilation but one song, right? How did this record end up being released in King Record in Japan? How is that that you never got a copy of this edition, only touched one?

I have no idea how the CD got released on King Records. Must have been a licensing thing. I touched one once in La-Di-Da’s office but was told it was Terri’s and they had only been sent one copy! Doesn’t it have pink and blue all over it? Grant recently told me he has got me a copy so fingers crossed.

++ Have you tought about having a Myspace for the band? There’s so many bands from that time that have jumped to the Myspace bandwagon

Yeah have thought about about Myspace. But until recently neither Bob or I realised there was still an interest!

++ What was your favourite HMBM5 song?

Favourite song? Bloody hell! Its changes. But it would be one of the following..Simon, Sweet Torture, I could well believe that, Courting Disaster or The Incredible Percy Mayfield. The Brighton fans particularly liked Blue in the Face and Courting Disaster. I once saw The Popguns do a brilliant cover of The latter.

++ Most (or all?) the songs were penned between you and Bob Lucas. What was the creative process of the band?

Bob and I wrote all the songs. We only wrote two together, Lets get this thing finished and Simon. The former named because we weren’t going to the pub until we had finished it! and it fitted with the subject matter. Bob wrote very slowly whilst I wrote incredibly quickly. For every song we actually played there’s probably a dozen that I/we rejected. When I had written something I would play it to Bob and then we’d take it to rehearsals for the others to help arrange.Because Bob had so many bits of lyric that had no song he would often add some lyrics to my songs. Sometimes I didn’t even notice this until we recorded them!

++ Just out of curiosity, who are Simon, Suzanne and Alison? I guess Percy Mayfield is the American musician right?

Simon was the singer that got away! Bob and I had known him since we were 9 years old (Bob and I have been friends since we were 3) Simon sadly died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome 12 years ago.Alison was the waitress from a previous answer who I had a turbulant relationship with. Suzanne was a girl who I shared a flat with. I can’t remember exactly what she’d done to piss me off but we’re still friends. She was the drummer in Liquid Faeries. Which brings me to your last question.

++ Bob, Bill and Jon left to America after the band split. You stayed in the UK playing in another La Di Da band, the Liquid Faeries. I have the 12″, it’s quite different from HMBM5! Tell me a bit more about that band?

Liquid Faeries originally started as a four piece all girl band. They then got a boy bass player and guitarist. I was asked to join as a stop gap originally, playing just the one gig where they supported the Beans. Kate the singer then asked me to join full-time to add,as she put it “a commercial element to the song writing”. As it came at a time when HMBM5 were thinking of splitting ,and I lived with the other guitarist I said yes. The Milkstar E.P. isn’t anywhere near our best stuff..the demo’s done after that were great. The band split when Ann (Suzanne) left and we replaced her with a over trained jazz drummer who couldn’t get the hang of it and the two couples in the band also split! Very messy.

++ Do you still make music today?

Do I still play? For my own and my girlfriends amusement yes. I write occasionally because its a good way of venting things. When I play any Beans stuff its normally Bob’s songs,which I am still trying to work out (to much use of E flat!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
How Many Beans Make Five – I Could Well Believe That

A big thanks to Allan Kingdom for the interview!!

++ Do you still keep in touch with fellow Siddeleys? Do you miss at all those late 80s? if so, what is that that you miss the most?

Yes, I still keep in touch with Johnny Johnson, and to a lesser extent our last (and best) drummer David “Clynchey” Clynch.

There’s not much I miss about the late 80’s to be honest. Apart from having a full head of hair. Some might see them as Halcyon days, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

++ How did the band start? I read Johnny met you at Bay 63? What kind of music and bands played at that club?

Johnny had a great attitude when it came to selecting band members; She wanted to form the coolest group in London, it was vital that the Siddeleys looked good, and went to the “right” places.
Bay 63 was a great club with an excellent booking policy & I saw many great bands play there. It had been around for years – the Clash & Madness used to play there when it was called Acklam Hall. Every so often, promoters would put on week-long series of shows featuring the bands from Creation etc. The Shop Assistants were playing the night I met Johnny. The night before I’d seen the Mighty lemon Drops. Edwyn Collins was in the Audience.

++ The guitar playing in The Siddeleys is a favorite of mine, the perfect jangle, the elegance, it’s precious! When did you learn to play guitar? Who inspire you? What kind of guitar did you play!?

Thanks! I was inspired by a couple of friends to pick up the guitar in High School – they would spend their lunchtimes playing songs like “Rip It up” by Orange Juice in the music room, and I felt left out! After leaving school I was unemployed and that’s when I taught myself to play guitar. After a year or so I was invited to join my 1st band, which was formed by the Brilliant Michael Harris, who also played trumpet on Sunshine Thuggery and was the lead guitar player in Reserve (as well as my post Siddeleys band).

I was a huge fan of the Postcard records stable, and all of the bands featured great guitar players: Edwyn Collins, James Kirk, Malcolm Ross, Roddy Frame, Robert Forster & Grant McLennan. Grant Mclennan’s lead guitar sound was of particular importance, I remember standing at the front of the stage during a Go-betweens show just to determine which pickup/effects combinations Grant used on particular songs. This was the sound that I applied to stuff like “Wet Wednesday”.

Other influences were the Smiths of course, but also Tom Verlaine from Television and Sterling Morrison. For me a good Saturday night in 1985 was sitting at home alone playing along with a copy of the Velvet’s Live 1969 LP. That’s where the Sunshine Thuggery strum comes from, playing along with “What Goes On”. But just playing with friends, and especially Michael, was where I learned the most. Being relatively untutored meant we had to rely on al lot of hard work in order to get good. The Siddeleys were a good band, (as opposed to a group of individual musicians) the way we played together was very important and the sound we had together was pretty unique. I heard “what went wrong this time” at a club recently, and it sounded great!
I saved for months and bought a Fender Jazzmaster. That was my main guitar & was featured on all the Siddeleys recordings, (the mental lead guitar on “are you still evil” is the Jazzmaster) though I also had a Fender Telecaster which I preferred for live shows. The Jazzmaster was somewhat unreliable & tended to go out of tune. We played in Manchester once & the Jazzmaster broke a string in the first verse of the first song.

++ How did you end up releasing on Medium Cool? There are some really nice bands there, like The Waltones and The Popguns. It was only a 1000 copies run, right? And that was ‘limited’ back then… now 1000 records is soooo much!

I’m not sure how the deals were made to be honest. I know Andy Wake had an early demo & liked what he heard. I believe he actually offered Johnny a solo deal, but she declined & requested that the Siddeleys as a band be released. Our relationship with medium cool was pretty fragile, and when they omitted to include our name on a poster announcing the fall releases, we knew it was time to move on.

Yeah, but you have to remember that singles were the only way that people were able to consume music. In the pre-digital world, you didn’t have a choice. No MP3s, iTunes or even CDs.

++ What do you think about Medium Cool selling all their back catalogue to Cherry Red?

Great! I believe there is a compilation being produced at present.
On New Year’s eve 1982 I bought a copy of “pillows and prayers” for £0.99, which is a great Cherry Red sampler. I’m very happy if the Siddeleys become label-mates of the Marine Girls, the Monochrome Set and Felt.

++ What about the Sombrero Records release? How did that happen? Did Torquil McLeod (Reserve) had some influence on this one?

We knew David “Payney” Payne through his brilliant fanzine “Trout Fishing in Leytonstone”. He had put out a number of fanzines and was looking to move on to his next project, which was a record label and club. Inspired by Richard Brautigan, the label was christened Sombrero, after Sombrero Fallout, and the club became the Cool Trout Basement.

I don’t recall who met Payney first. It could have been Torquil. I understand he’s a cloudberry artiste now. You should interview him!

++ Who designed the covers of the 7″s?

The Medium cool single was put together by a designer, who used the original materials provided by the band. I designed the logo which appears on all of our releases. It was drawn by hand on my mum’s kitchen table.

A friend of Payney’s pasted together the Sunshine Thuggery cover, again using my hand-drawn type and a photo taken by Andrew and Johnny.

++ Lately there has been lots of talk about mp3 blogs / free sharing of music on the poplist and there has been controversy about what labels are for. What do you think about labels, what do they represent for you?

To me, labels mean community, a sense of identity, a cohesion in both music and design. Before the Unfortunate Drummer Incident there was a real community surrounding Sombrero records, Bob had an 8 track demo facility in Somerset, 140 miles outside of London that we used & the weekends were usually fun. The Sha La La flexi disc was recorded there. Reserve, the other band on sombrero were my friends – I had gone to school with Michael the Guitar player & introduced him to Torquil.

++ You recorded 2 Peel Sessions! That must have been a blast! Was that, you think, the highlight of The Siddeleys? What do you think Peel gave to indiepop?

The Peel sessions were amazing, but absolutely terrifying. The pressure was enormous: record 4 songs in a day, all of which must be broadcast quality, with only the barest of overdubs, knowing that the entire country will be able to hear them.

Peel gave so much, not just to indie but to the British (and in many respects global) music scene. He was the only way anyone could get their music heard, and in turn, I derived most of my musical education from listening to his show.

++ There was going to be a third single, right? “You Get What You Deserve”? Why didn’t it ever happen?! I can’t believe there was no interest at all! Being such a MONUMENTAL song

Sombrero had no money left for us and no-one else wanted to release our records. And sadly, that was it.

++ What is this story about you having a haircut all the time? Very stylish Allan! 

We weren’t scruffy indie rockers, that’s for sure. At the time my hair was very short & a haircut at my local barber shop only cost £1.50, so in order to keep it really sharp looking, a trip to Neville’s was in order. Neville was an artist – he could simultaneously chain-smoke, watch the horse racing and still give you a decent trim. But it’s a very British, almost Mod thing. We all loved going to Camden Market looking for 50’s suits etc. It was always flattering when were referred to as “the Debonair Siddeleys”.

++ What were your favorite bands at that time to play a gig with? Who would you have liked playing with but you never did?

We played with our fellow Sombrero artists all the time, especially at the “Cool Trout Basement” Club run by the folks behind Sombrero and Medium Cool. Our friend Richard Formby also organized an all-nighter boat trip on the River Thames, where all the Sombrero bands played. But really, I enjoyed playing with anyone who wasn’t a jerk. The Chesterfields were great, talented and friendly. Jesse Garon & the Desperados were another great band. 14 Iced Bears were cool.

We supported bit the House of Love and My Bloody Valentine, & both bands were snooty, unfriendly and obnoxious.

++ What do you think about the scene today? Any similarities, differences? I think bands back then were more political, more true to themselves. Maybe I’m wrong?

I have no idea what “the scene” is today, I’m afraid. I get the impression it’s only a couple of hundred kids, scattered around the globe.

The Siddeleys weren’t part of any scene, really, we were an individual band that happened to be around when a bunch of other bands who drew on vaguely similar influences were also around.

There was little to no camaraderie between bands outside of the Sombrero fold. When we did bump into groups we had previously played with on tour, we were friendly & pleased to see them, of course.

We were political people but our music was more concerned with personal politics. It would have been absurd for us to have written a song about Thatcher.

But you are right about us being true to ourselves.

I can only speak for myself, but I think there wasn’t such a stereotypical “indie pop sound”. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that were weren’t really taking our influences from our contemporaries. The Siddeleys weren’t huddled around the stereo dissecting Primal Scream B-Sides, we were more influenced by 50’s Rock and Rollers, pre-Beatles pop such as Adam Faith, Joe Meek and Johnnie Ray.

++ Any favorite bands today?

I hear this Robert Forster guy is quite good.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Siddeleys – My Favourite Wet Wednesday Afternoon

Thanks to Darrell Mitchell for the great interview.

++ How did the band came together? Were you friends in high school? neighbours? football fans?

The band started up with Baz the drummer and me. We went to the same school in Wallingford near Oxford, but I was a few years older (still am!). After I’d left school, Baz’s dad asked if Baz could play the drums with me and a bass player called David Tomlinson who I’m now playing with again. Baz was a spotty fourteen year old, with thick glasses and his Dad thought it would be good for him to have something constructive to do, as he wasn’t doing very well at school. A few years later the band morphed into Home and Abroad after bass player Ian Norrington joined. We put an ad in the local paper and he auditioned and we went from strength to strength. Ian lied about his age as he was a few years older than me and thought we would mind.

++ What football teams you support then?

Ian supported Ipswich Town, as he was from Suffolk. I supported Swindon Town (someone’s got to!) and Baz went to watch Reading, but always secretly supported Liverpool.

++ Alison is one of my favourite songs ever. Who is this Alison girl? Or maybe it’s not a true story?

Alison does exist, but I changed the name. Partly because no one would have bought a song called Sharon, and partly because I didn’t want her to know. Sharon was really gorgeous, but couldn’t help falling for horrible men who treated her badly.

++ It was released in a label called Zebra Records. I will be honest to say I never heard about that label, can you tell me a little bit more about it?

Zebra/Zebre records were based in High Wycombe and run by my friend Sid. It sort of ended up being our own label in the end.

++ After that release, a flexi came out on Lovely Records. It was a split with the marvelous Rileys (god I love that band!). You also released many tracks on tape compilations, maybe you can help me keep the count? How did all these happen?

I’ve lost count of the different compilations too I’m afraid! Our manager Barry promoted us in a wide variety of countries and quite often there was a different compilation for different countries. Also we had more material than most bands and wanted as much as possible to be recorded and released, which is great now as there is so much to remember us by.

++ Which bands were your favourite at that time?

Baz and me were inspired by punk and new wave music above all else, British and American, including the Clash, The Jam, Talking Heads, Magazine, Elvis Costello…….. After that we really liked anything poppy with real instruments. Our songs always had a hook. I’ve grown up loving the Beatles. Ian liked complete crap, so it’s best not to go there!

++ How involved were you in the fanzine culture during those C86 years? Do you see any advantages between them over today blogs?

We did end up being part of the fanzine culture, but didn’t really notice at the time. I’m a bit scared of computers, so I rarely read blogs, but it’s the same thing really. I love people being moved enough by the music to write about it. I liked fanzines because they were so disposable and that fitted in really well with whatHome and Abroad was about. Three minutes of pop and throw it away. We were always straight on with the next thing. We didn’t worry about perfection, we embraced our flaws. We wanted to be out there doing it. There were so many fanzines at the time that often the floor was littered with them after gigs.

++ How did the Elefant / Home and Abroad relationship start? I’ve heard there is a tape Luis released?

Our manager Barry made the contact with Luis and he was really in tune with what we were trying to do. There is an Elefant tape, called In Search of the Obvious.

++ Smoky Town is the first vinyl release of Elefant, this is legendary! What memories you have of that record? Any anecdotes you’d like to share?

Smoky Town was one of the songs I’d written that we didn’t quite know what to do with. It didn’t really fit in with our set of noisy electric pop. We recorded it in a scrap of studio time with Pippa Hall guesting on backing vocals. She works in film now I understand. The song is about two untidy lives getting together and starting a relationship and was about my wife at the time. She never found it too complimentary and I guess it isn’t a conventional love song!

++ There is an unreleased album by Home and Abroad that you will make available on the web. Care telling a bit more about it?

Baz had to leave the band due to a problem with his wrist. Kenny Stone replaced him and we started to lose our throw away image. Luis asked us to do a new album, but it was never released. I really wish we had. I’m still really proud of it after all these years and I’m so pleased that some people are still interested in hearing it.

++ Home and Abroad silently left the indiepop league…. what have you been doing through all these years?

Sadly and still quite unelievably Ian died in a motorbike accident. It’s still hard to believe. I carried on in bands called the Simpletons who recorded an album called ‘Men Who Wear Pyjamas’ and later with Edna who released an album with Holier Than Thou records called ‘Beekeping for Beginners’. I had a break for a few years to have some babies and I’m now back with Baz and Barry (The Occasional Orchestra) again doing songs under my own name and with Stumble on the Valves with Barry. Check us out!

++ Anything else you’d like to say to the popkids out there?

Stay pop and do it for the music popkids!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Home and Abroad – Alison (Please Don’t Fall)

This interview happened September 2007

++ Tell us a bit of your first release “A Short Melodrama”. What are your expectations?

It was meant to be an EP but I think it turned out to be more of an album. That mostly because I wanted to “get rid of” all the old songs that otherwise would be stuck in a computer folder forever. The songs together form the story of my past two-three years, not chronological though. You have to piece them together!

++ You signed for a new little label called Cosy Den Recordings, that many haven’t heard about it. Why do you decide to do so? What are your future plans release-wise?

My first proper show was at Cosy Den (Gothenburg) in late April this year. It was a very intimate atmosphere at the club which was great since I don’t have a lot experience of playing live. The audience was really nice. Later, Mattias, the very enterprising guy behind the label and the club “Cosy Den” asked me how I felt about an EP release. Of course I agreed to release an EP, it’s not like I’ve had many offers before, and besides I know Mattias takes an active interest in the bands that play at Cosy Den, which also was what I experienced before and during the show in Gotheburg. I knew a first time release at Cosy Den would mean being in safe hands! Later it also turned out he’s really good at marketing the CD’s!
There are no future plans. Maybe I’ll record some new songs some day soon. No one knows.

++ When you play live you count with the help of your friend Agnes, what does she bring to After School Sports? What are the pros and cons of being a one-person band?

Recording songs alone means you don’t have to compromise with anyone else, which is one of the pros. But playing them live all alone is maybe one of the cons, so that’s why Agnes plays with me. She brings a lift to the vocals with some lovely pitches and since she is one of my best friends she also makes it all a party!

++ Your songs have a very strong sense of humour, what are your inspiration for writing such witty songs? How does the creative process works for you?

Maybe they become witty because they are honest, and by that maybe ridiculous too. I don’t write artificially, although with a twist of self distance.

++ Before being .. School Sports you had a wonderful band called The Never Invited to Parties, can you tell us a bit about it?

It’s still a mystery that people even know about The Never Invited to Parties. It was me and my best friends, 14 years old, rehearsing 1,5 hours every week with a neo-metal drummer who someone literally placed in our band to make sure our rehearsing hours was not just a waste of time. Our classmates had never heard about such a thing as indie pop, despite that most of our very few actual gigs happened to occur at our school.

++ Which are your favorite bands nowadays from the Stockholm music scene? What about the main influences for your band? Would you say you’ve been influenced by Swedish tweelectro bands like Action Biker or even Compute?

I would say my main inspirations are the mix of indie pop/twee and the mainstream pop of the 90s that I listened to when I was about 10. I think my goal sometimes is to sound like a girl who’s trying to sound like a random radio hit, but sadly fails to do so. Concerning the Stockholm music scene there’s not much to say. Besides, I’m not very updated. I get influenced by the bands of people I know or just random music. But OK I like Rough bunnies a lot. And Erik Halldén and Strawberry Fair. Action Biker is sweet but I’ve never heard Compute.

++ How would you define a perfect day for Alice? What will you do? What else do you like doing besides music?

Well I’m actually not very involved in music. Or maybe I am but I don’t feel like I am. And I think the perfect day always depends of what you did the day before.

++ What are the values of indiepop? Do you think indiepop can make a difference? Do you believe that there is in an indiepop international community?

Yes of course but the border between indie and mainstream is not very clear. Everyone wants a radio hit and everyone gets one! I don’t know if indie pop’s still indie. Or is it just Sweden? I don’t know.

++ If you could make three wishes, which will they be?

I would want a machine that could change other people’s actions in any way I want. A nice ending to the short melodrama. And world peace of course.

This interview was done on February 2007.

++ What’s been cooking in your studio in Bordeaux?

We worked on new songs between 2002 & spring 2006. Now I’ll wait until the next album release to work on new songs.

++ When is the new album coming out? It’s been a 6 year gap already since the last release Le Fumalin, what can we expect from this new album?

Next june, Hopefuly! It took so long because we had a lot of problems… First, Dogprint, that was to release Le Fumalin all over the world (except in Japan because Clover released it there), went bankruptcy. Then it took me so much time to finish new songs; I also started photo seriously ( http://www.watoowatoo.net/photo ). Then we had a problem with another label, blablablah… Btw, i’m very happy with the new album. I think we did much better than before: songwriting, arrangements, mix & mastering, vocals… Also, the album is still very pop, probably indiepop, but we have broadened our horizons with electronic, jazz, bossa & even 70’s funk influences!

++ How does Watoo Watoo compose their songs? What are their main influences?

The only instrument that I play quite well is the bass, but I compose with the guitar, or sometimes the keyboard. I usually start playing a few chords then the rest comes. I like writing lyrics under the pressure.

Then there’s a lot of work involved in recording the music. Since I started recording on my computer (in 1999 or 2000), I’ve become more demanding with the sounds & the arrangements. I want something as “beautiful” & perfect as possible! So I work with friends, particularly guitarists. For the new record, Anthony Rochester who lives in Tasmania (this is exactly the other side of the planet for us) plays guitar on one song! A friend of mine who lives in the Reunion island (13000 km) also plays on another song. Internet is very useful to send music tracks to the other side of the planet.

When I started Watoo Watoo, I just wanted to make beautiful pop songs. I “stole” chords patterns & lyrics from Felt. Now I still love Felt but I have opened my ears to bossa, jazz, electronica & other kind of music… But whatever arrangements & instruments I use, I think the songs still remain pop because of the melodies & Pascale’s sweet voice.

Btw, we never rehearse like any bands. I write & record a song, & when it’s almost finished, I ask Pascale to add vocals.

++ You’ve released on a label I’ve always seen with curiosity which is Clover Records, I think their releases have always been really good. How did you ended up releasing so far away? How was that experience?

I was in another indiepop band called Mumbly, on the german label Marsh Marigold. They were friends with Clover, which even released a 7″ with 4 bands from the label (including Mumbly). Then some Clover bands came to tour Europe. I saw them in paris, where I lived then. They were good & very nice. When we finished Le Fumalin, I sent them a CD & I put some catfood packages in the envelope (Clover is mad about cats!). Then we agreed to release the CD with them in Japan, & with Dogprint in the rest of the world. Eventually I had to release it myself because of Dogprint bankruptcy. Working with Japanese people is strange. They will send you 6 emails one day then won’t answer for 2 months! I had already read that they feel that working on something is more important than doing it. This is true! Call that cultural differences!

++ I’ve read that you are not releasing with Skipping Stones the new record, I bet there are many more labels interested. What happened with them?

After making us wait for 6 months, they decided that they didn’t have money anymore to release the cd. We had contacts with some other labels, but some couldn’t release the CD soon because their planning was full. Letterbox Records can release it soon. Gav is a very nice guy & his new label is very good.

++ Something I’ve noticed is that you’ve played in 2 Popfests, one in New York in 1997 and one in Paris in 1998. With who did you shared the bill? How did you like that experience?

The NY popfest was absolutly great! The Best Wishes were very good. The day after us, Holidays was playing their last show & many people were crying during the set. People were nice, funny, many came to us to say thanks, that was sweet. The strange thing is that when we played, we were still jetlagged (our plane landed a few hours before we go on stage). This is why we look exhausted on the pictures! In Paris, I played with Mumbly & Watoo Watoo, & also with other bands that never released anything. It was also quite funny.

++ It’s funny that I uploaded to videos to Youtube of your live performance on TV. Not many indiepop bands get to play in TV, how did that happen? Would you do it again?

It’s a local TV channel, from Bordeaux. Basically, any band that can play 3 chords without mistakes is booked on this show. The guy who played the drums with us on the show had already played with 2 other bands on this TV channel!

++ What bands from France would you recommend us? How much has the Chanson Francaise influenced Watoo Watoo?

Les lollipops, that eventually became evergreen (now Verone) made IMHO the best indiepop French 7″ ever, about 12 years ago. I wouldn’t recommend many French indiepop band – but many “Chanson” bands/artists.
Julien Baer, Jean Bart, Mathieu Boogaerts, Albin de Simone, Keren Ann, Jean-François Coen, my friends from Gypsophile, Pascal Parisot… & some people from the older generations, who are generally very famous here: Serge Gainsbourg, Charles Trenet, William Sheller, Alain Souchon, Alain Chamfort, Jane Birkin, Alain Bashung, etc. Does Brisa Roché count? She’s californian but she lives in Paris. last year she made the best record in the last 20 years!

It is clear that some of my songs sound “chanson”. Well, it just depends on the mood I’m in when I compose!

++ I know you are a big Antoine Doinel fan! I’m a big fan of French Cinema too. What are your favorite movies from all time? And what about in literature?

Yeah, I named my first son Antoine! I adore the 4 Doinel movies, by François Truffaut. I also love good comedies (Yves Robert, huge here but I guess his name didn’t cross the ocean), Italian 50/60s cinema, Woody Allen… In fact, I like lots of movies that 80% of people would find boring & plain flat (also add Rohmer here!)

Literature: I love Science-Fiction (PJ Farmer) & French 19th century litterature (Hugo, Zola, Maupassant), & JP Toussaint, a Belgian contemporary writer. But when I started working on my PhD/thesis, I had to stop reading as much as I did before, because of lack of time -isn’t that sad?-.

++ Tell me about Mumbly, your other band! What’s the story behind it and what does it future looks like?
Mumbly was my 1st baby… I wanted to make a band that could play as perfect pop songs as Felt! We released “Being Ernest” (a tribute to Ernie from Sesame Street!) on Marsh Marigold. Then we never broke the band, but we haven’t rehearsed for 5 years because we don’t live in the same cities. Hopefully one day I’ll finish mixing the songs we started recording in 1999! In 1994/5, Watoo Watoo was just a side project – I had many songs so I recorded them quick on 4 tracks with Watoo Watoo for Mumbly members to choose the songs they wanted to play. Then I realized that Watoo Watoo might be better than Mumbly :).