During the heyday of DIY indiepop in Sweden there were so many great bands. I have covered many on the blog and the list will probably never end. There’s been effort to compile and document some of this great music. But with the rise of digital music I feel this will never happen. Who will buy compilations after compilations of very obscure music these days? Seems very unlikely for anyone to invest on a project like that. A shame really.

One of the very good bands from that period was Dreams End from Gothenburg. I was reminded of them when I was looking and scrolling at this Johan Jacobsson’s instagram about indie memorabilia. He had posted a photo of the fanzine Wish I was a Josef Storm fanzine. On the front cover of this zine the name of Dreams End is listed along some other names like The Lotus Eaters, Harper Lee or Rocky Dennis among others.

As mentioned they hailed from the west of Sweden. The band was formed by Olof Larsson, Per Beijer, Thomas Thulin and Jonatan Malm. Per was the bassist, Jonatan and Thomas were on guitar, Olof sang. He also is listed as the one who wrote all the songs.

There is a self-released CD-R that probably was released either in 2002 or 2003 with 7 tracks. I think this is the first release of the band. The songs were “She Touched My Hand”, “Showdown”, “Cold Fight”, “Love”, “Death Disco”, “Linda” and “Angel Ride”. Important to note that “She Touched My Hand”, “Linda” and “Death Disco” are early versions of the songs that would later be properly released.

Another CDR from the same period is the “Baby/Laken” one. This one had five tracks, “Baby”, “Showdown”, “Laken”, “Never Never” and “Never Again”. Never had the chance to listen to any of these tracks.

“Death Disco” 7″ came out in 2004. It was on the Smashing Time (SMT-007) label, a label that as you may know would later transform into Luxury Records. On this 7″ the band had three songs, “Death Disco” and “If You Could Only Know” on the A side and “Linda” on the B side.

Lastly they would release a 7″ on Dolores Recordings as part of their singles club. It was a split 7″ with the band Hospitalle who I have written in the past. The catalog number of this record was Dol 164 and it was also number 34 in the singles club.

Dreams End contributed the song “She Touched My Hand” on the A side. Hospitalle had “Let’s Not Tell Our Sad Stories”. 300 copies of this record were made. It is a good one.

The band also appeared on some compilations. All CDR. The first is the 2005 comp “Popkonst, Love & Understanding” (POPK12) with the song “Death Disco”. Then in 2006 that same song appears on “Live På Join Our Club!” which was a celebration of bands that had played this Gothenburg club which includes bands Im familiar with like My Darling YOU!, Strip Squad or Compute. And lastly in 2009 they had the song “Never Shy” on Series Two Records compilation “Series Two Compilation Vol. 17” (ST45).

Looking for more info I find an article on Göteborgs-Posten, a newspaper in their town. The article dates from October 20, 2005. There it is mentioned that the band’s album was to be released around that time but sadly their label (was it Smashing Time?) was struggling with money and couldn’t put it out. It is a shame… would have loved to hear that. I suppose the songs were recorded?

Other than that we learn about his influences, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Broder Daniel and Cyndi Lauper. He also couldn’t remember where the band’s name came from…

If they were on other bands after they spli? I could find that Jonatan would later be on Jesus/Baby. On Discogs the other members don’t have any other bands listed.

And then I lose their trail. I wonder if there’s a chance to listen to all of their unreleased songs. Would be fantastic!

EDIT – Jens Wall, a reader on Facebook, shared with me a Soundcloud link for Olof Larsson! I didn’t know this existed. Very cool. Here there are Dreams Ends demos including “Roses” (from 2002), “Baby” (2002), “Cold Fligh“, “Julian” and “Vingar” which is dated as of January 8th of 2017. This last one must be a reunion recording? Or Olof solo? Also check out some other recordings by him!

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Dreams End – She Touched My Hand

Sundsvall, Sweden. The mid 80s. A band called Common Sense plays indiepop and releases in 1986 a very fine single with “Eye to Eye” as the A side.

This record is listed on Discogs. Probably self-released as no label is listed. The B-side is “Sweet Surprise”. We also know that the songs were recorded in the autumn of 1986 at Alpha Recording Sweden.

The band is formed by Carl Sandberg on vocals, Peter Svedin on guitar, Thomas Johansson on bass and Niclas Holmgren on drums. The songs are produced by someone with last name Svensson. This same Scensson arranges and performs strings on the songs.

There are no other releases nor compilation appearances.

There is a photo of the band on the front sleeve of the record. Then there are individual photos of the band members on the back.

There is a venue in their town called Pipeline. They will perform 3 times there. The first time in August 22 of 1986  alongside Blue Parade, Krunch and The Grisblinkers. The second time would be on October 25, 1986 with The Congress. Lastly on December 26 of the same year they play with Brufords, Fyrtiosju, Crompojkarna and Red Marut Blues Band.

The website Blaskoteket has a post about them. It seems to be an interview from February of 1987 with Niclas Holmgren, the drummer. He mentions that their influences are The Smiths, Lloyd Cole and Prefab Sprout. He says too that “Eye to Eye” is a promotional single for the English market. Did that work at all? Did they get any attention? Would be good to find out. According to Niclas they were going to Stockholm for a promotional gig, maybe they were going to check them out there. Then the plan was to go and meet representatives in London.

That’s all there is about them online as far as I know. If anyone has more details about this really good sounding band let me know!

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Common Sense – Eye to Eye

My last post was about Chubb, a band from the early 90s that I discovered on Soundcloud that had 3 very nice songs. That same Soundcloud account had a bunch more songs from a previous project called Chic & Vinny.

Chic was the vocalist and guitar played on Chubb, Vinny was the bassist. This was clearly their previous band.

One thing I couldn’t figure out was where they hailed from. I had the idea they were from around Manchester or even as far away as Liverpool. Their recordings were done in Macclesfield.

For Chic & Vinny there are more recordings, we find Braincell Blues which has some cool trumpets by guest player Colin Duff, “Futile” which is a top track that I could imagine in many compilation tapes from the time,

The recordings were made by Hursty at Station House in New Brighton in 1986.

Interesting enough they have rerecorded “Futile” in 2020. It is uploaded in their Soundcloud. They say that they did this as the original version had damage. They also slowed down this new version.

There are two other tracks that was recorded in 2020, while on lockdown. They are “Edelweiss” which is the band’s tribute to a local band with that same name and “Forever“.

Then in 2021 Chic and Vinny continued recording. Each recording at their own home their parts. In 2021 they wrote and recorded “Thought for a Day“. Here I discover thanks to the credits that Chic’s real name is Cliff Williams. Maybe he used Chic to not be confused with Cliff Williams from AC/DC?

And lastly there’s “Walking My Way” that is undated but clearly is from this latter period, not the 80s.

Not much more information if you google about them. So I think we’ll have to wait if by any chance we hear from the people in the band. I look forward to learn more about Chic & Vinny!

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Chic & Vinny – Futile

I’m checking out a Soundcloud account called BoyfromChubb. Why? Because I’ve find out about the band Chubb which recorded some demos in the early 90s that sound quite good! Let’s see what information there is…

First thing I notice is that there are a ton of songs. I’m mainly interested in the tracks by Chubb. There are a few: “I Need Your Love“, “Arctic Cathartic” and “Trainsurfing“.

By clicking on these songs I find out that the band was mainly a three-piece formed by Chic on vocals and guitar, Corky or Mike on guitar and backing vocals and Vin on bass. Then there is some information about where these songs. All songs were recorded by someone called Duffy in Macclesfield around 1992. Corky plays guitar on “I Need Your Love” and Mike on the two other songs.

Then there are a ton of songs by Chic & Vinny as a duo. This project seems to predate Chubb and have a very good sound! I should dedicate my next post to them. But I’m here thanks to “Trainsurfing” which is great. I look at the location where it was recorded, Macclesfield. They could hail from there, or also from somewhere close by like Manchester, even Liverpool. Who would know?

Sadly I can’t find more information without last names of the band members. The name of the band doesn’t help either. I get lots of hip-hop results, go figure.

Anyhow, I want to think there are readers in the north of England that might remember them and would have a clue about them. If so, leave me a comment on the blog!

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Chubb – Trainsurfing

Lenoir is a city in and the county seat of Caldwell County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 18,263 at the 2020 census. Lenoir is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. To the northeast are the Brushy Mountains, a spur of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Hibriten Mountain, located just east of the city limits, marks the western end of the Brushy Mountains range.

Didn’t know about this town to be honest but that’s where today’s band comes from.

The Jones! Active in the 80s and probably not known outside their town or their state, though I’d be happy if that I am wrong. The cool thing is that the band had some activity on the web about ten years ago when they set up a Facebook page, a Soundcloud and a Bandcamp too.

The Bandcamp is actually a compilation of their recorded output. Possibly not all of it though. The “Don’t You Said” digital compilation has the subtitle “Some of the Best of The Jones”. That probably means that it is not a full retrospective but a selection of their tracks. In any case they are a lot of tracks. There are 26 in total! These are “”Carpet Made of Hair”, “Pretending to Be You”, “Everybody’s on Vacation”, “Music Without Numbers”, “Mary No”, “How to Get What She Wants”, “Wordless Industry”, “Smell the Coffee”, “Precious Little Head”, “Bingo on my Breath”, “You’re Gonna Die Soon”, “Never Melissa”, “Gern Blanston: Marine Biologist”, “Pretty Albatross”, “The Natural Beauty of Wood as Soon Through Plastic Eyes”, “To See the World”, “Congratulations”, “What is the Frequency Kenneth?”, “Nowhere”, “You Can’t Break Steel Anchors”, “Supply and Demand”, “This One Could be the One”, “All I Want”, “Wait for Me on the Moon”, “Its Alright” and “Kiss Me Kate”.

We know that the band was formed by Chris Church on guitar and vocals, Mike Church on drums and John Green on bass and vocals. Safe to assume Chris and Mike were family?

There are lyrics for all the songs on all of their websites.

Going through their Facebook. I see some images of posters. I see the words Granite Falls and Morganton. I want to think Granite Falls was a support band and the band played in Morganton which is a quick 30 minute car ride from Lenoir. Or it could also be that Granite Falls is a location of another gig. There is a town of that name 20 minutes away from Lenoir.

Then there is  a piece of paper that contains 3 sets, 52 songs and within them about a dozen of cover songs. It is a huge list but here it is:
Set 1: “The Only Thing”, “Just My Imagination”, “Supply & Demand”, “To See the World”, “Kiss Me Kate”, “Like Wow Wipeout”, “If Only I”, “Wishing Well”, “How to Get Wot She Wants”, “Shake Rattle & Roll”, “Araby”, “Lesson #1”, “Cinnamon Girl”, “R U Trying to Kill Me”, “Crutch”, “That Box”, “Badge” and “Smell the Coffee”
Set 2: “Figure of 8”, “I Left”, “Teenland”, “Mary No”, “Flat Top Beach Bowl”, “Him of Me”, “The Cost of Possibly”, “Bing on My Breath”, “Crusin 4 Contusions”, “Congratulations”, “My Fall”, “Message in a Bottle”, “Precious Little Head”, “Music W/Out #’s”, “Billionaire Bach”, “Stupid Girl” and “Let it Be Me”
Set 3: “Midnite Hour”, “Carpet Mock”, “Everybodys On Vacation”, “Nowhere”, “Pretending to B U”, “Veronica”, “Better Be Home Sane”, “Dream”, “Flags of All Nations”, “2 Little Tlitlers”, “This I Could B”, “Go!”, “All I Want” and some more. The image is not clear for this set. There are a few songs I’m missing.

John Green also has a Bandcamp, there he has uploaded “Pretty Albatross”, but it is a different one, it is not The Jones one. It is a demo from that time though, and it says that John still isn’t sure he even presented this track to the rest of the band. I follow this thread and find his own website (last updated 2015). I see that he describes himself as a husband, father, singer/songwriter, performing musician, web developer and scouter. Very cool!

Another nice little detail I found was that there were band t-shirts. There was one that was available with the band on an aeroplane for their Wicked Aviation Tour from 1989 and 1990.

And then a trove. Chris Church has uploaded on Bandcamp a compilation called “It’s Our Own Vault” that includes a whopping 65 tracks! There is also a bit of story about the band. We learn that sadly Mike Church, his brother, passed away. But the band was always them three. They were active between 1987 and 1990. In 1989 the band entered a regional battle of the bands and they won. The 65 tracks were recorded mostly on Chris’ portable Tascam 4 track, a few others in a studio and at least one in the production room of the radio station where John and Chris worked.

It also mentions that Chris and John reconvened in 1993 and released a tape called “Ample”. It was released by a label called Wee-Knee Records from Boone, North Carolina. Not sure what the tracklist was for it.

In any case, I’ll close this post with all 65 tracks!!!!
“How To Get What She Wants”, “Pretending To Be You”, “Burn The Big Top Down”, “Carpet Made Of Hair”, “To SEE The World”, “Congratulations (live)”, “Pretty Albatross”, “All I Want”, “Never Melissa”, “1,000”, “Music Without Numbers (live)”, “Wordless Industry”, “Alright”, “You Can’t Break Steel Anchors”, “Supply And Demand”, “Go”, “Nowhere”, “This One Could Be The One (live)”, “Wait For Me On The Moon”, “You’re Gonna Die Soon”, “Bingo On My Breath (live)”, “Gern Blanston: Marine Biologist”, “The Ballad Of Most Likely A Figment”, “The Natural Beauty Of Wood (As Seen Through Plastic Eyes)”, “Mary No”, “What Is The Frequency, Kenneth?”, “Everybody’s On Vacation”, “What’s Coming Down”, “The Present Presence Presents”, “War Is Heck”, “Crutch”, “The Hurting War”, “Umbrella”, “Like You Are Today”, “The Coast Of Possibly (live)”, “Steve Loves Dawn”, “Down”, “Precious Little Head (live)”, “Dodging Bullets”, “Eight Arms To Hold Me”, “Paper Train (live)”, “Mrs. Ostentation”, “Pretty Ugly”, “Billionaire Bachelor”, “Strange How You Won’t Come Down”, “It Will Never Last”, “Moodflag”, “Better Get It”, “Monica Vs. The Good Humor Man”, “Giggle Box”, “Cruising For Contusion (live)”, “Love Elbow”, “Here It Comes Again”, “Credit”, “If You Favor One, Never Fall Down”, “Apparent Apparel”, “News, Blah, Gran & Ollie”, “Dream (live)”, “Smell The Coffee”, “I Love Your Mouth”, “Pretending To Be You (live)”, “Blind Ears”, “Decisions, etc.”, “How I Became A Devout Vegetarian (For 15 Or 20 Seconds)”, “Kiss Me Kate (live)”

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Listen
The Jones – Carpet Made of Hair

Happy New Year!

Back again to blogging after some weeks of holidays.

I’m again thinking of Swedish bands from the early, mid-2000s. Today one that is quite obscure, and who I suppose will find very little information online: Deep Frozen Lettuce!

I had discovered the label Små Krullig Får thanks to All of My Brother’s Girlfriends. AOMBG was a band I was friends with at the time. I used to chat on Soulseek and eventually ended up including one of their songs on the compilation “¡Es Pop Mamá!” that was released in Peru thanks to the Revista 69 magazine. AOMBG had released on the Små Krullig Får label. Actually the only release listed on Discogs for this label is the “Second Album on Cassette” by them.

The label, whose names translates to small curly sheep, released in 2004 a tape by Deep Frozen Lettuce! called “Business”. This tape had the catalog number 002 and included 6 songs “Everything & Space”, “All-Star Crew”, “Good Times”, “I Fell in Love at the Library (cassette recorder session)”. “Cherry Tree (porta session)” and “The Truth in a Song (computer session)”. Worth mentioning that the last 3 songs are listed as ‘new extra tracks’. I want to guess that originally there was a release just with the first three songs and then on the tape the other 3 were added.

A little poking here and there, I figure it out. Originally it was a CDR called “Dude Man! Yeah” that had the first three songs. Later on this CDR was discontinued. And then the tape was released with the extra songs.

Now, I also have the suspicion, and a blurry memory, that the person behind the band and the label was the same one. I am also pretty sure he was based in Lund, Sweden. I think the first name would have been Filip.

Other than that there’s absolutely no more information on the web. It is a shame. Anyone remembers this cool sounding project?

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Deep Frozen Lettuce! – Good Times

Aeons ago I wrote about the Spanish duo Toilettes. This is what I said:

Toilettes: I heard “Observatorio” on the CD16 and thought, where does this beautiful lo-fi racket comes from? They hail from Barcelona and they are two girls, Joana Mallol and Julieta Caprara. They have a tape out (I don’t know if it is still available) on Discos Walden/Discos Populares and it includes 8 songs, all which you can stream on their Soundcloud. This is really, really great. Pop that reminds of flexi girl-fronted indiepop bands like The Felicitys, The Definite Article, or even Talulah Gosh!

It’s been almost 10 years since the release of their self titled tape. And I am honestly confused in how come their music didn’t make more of an impact,  and how they didn’t release more records. And on top of it all, did Joana and Julieta continued making music with other bands?

The “Toilettes” tape came out on May 19, 2016, on Ediciones Populares (EP09) and Discos Walden (DW52), both Spanish labels. I am much more familiar with Discos Walden who has released many bands I enjoy as well as some top-notch books related to indiepop and DIY. The album only had 8 tracks, all songs under one minute. The longest song clocks 1:39 minutes. Imagine.

The tracks are “Observatorio”, “Coge el Dinero”, “Salgo a la Calle”, “El Metabolismo”, “Dulce Hogar”, “Persiguiendo el Mal”, “Serpiente de Papel” and “Viaje a Zurich”. Julieta played electric guitar, electronic drums, backing vocals. Joana played keyboards and sang. The music is credited to both and the lyrics to Joanna.

As mentioned earlier, their track “Observatorio” was part of the terrific compilation “CD16” that my friend Joel released under Impermeable Records (IR-CD001). A compilation that captured the great moment indiepop was having with a great crop of bands in 2016.

On the band’s Soundcloud we encounter a few tracks not present in the tape like a cover  of the Bananas song “Salí del Cuerpo” or the song “Bye Bye.”

The band had set up a Facebook page. But there’s really not much in it. A photo dating from April 2015 says that they were preparing for their first gig.

I look for more info. I see that Julieta made the artwork for the Barcelona band Pacífico’s album “Muévete” in 2016. On this band I know both good friends Toni Amaya and Óscar Huerta played. Maybe they know more about Toilettes? I also believe that Joana made the video for the song “Buen Pastor” by the Barcelona band Miedo.

I find a gig where they played. They played the Ladyfiesta de Invierno on December 18, 2015, alongside Lucius Works Here, Pentina’T Lula! and Les Suques. I think this was in Barcelona.

I keep searching. I see that Julieta is actually from Argentina. She also goes under the name Jay and has been living in Santander prior to the Toilettes. There she was playing guitar with the band Meryl Streep and made cool fanzines like the one for Soma Records. She also Djed at a bunch of places like Metropole, Opium, Gareje Sónico or Zeppelin.

As far as I know the duo was based in Madrid. Julieta must have moved.

I read that a video was made for a song. I am not sure which song. I read the director was filmmaker Marçal Forés. Anyone knows? I can’t seem to find it in Youtube. But I did find another connection between the director and the band. Marçal made a film called “Amor Eterno” in 2014. I haven’t seen it. But it looks like Joanna was part of the actors in the movie.

And that’s what I could find. The two disappeared after Toilettes. A true shame as the tape was wonderful really. A burst of perfect pop. I hope they are involved in a way or another in music, or in the arts. Would be great what happened to them.

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Toilettes – Observatorio

Panache means a flamboyant, confident style or elegance, but it can also refer to an ornamental plume of feathers.

Who was Panache? It was the alter ego of Kristofer Lecander from the south of Sweden (not sure which town or city, anybody knows?) who released a couple of records in the mid-2000s.

I must say I was not very familiar with his music back then, I remember hearing a song here and there, but didn’t pay attention. I’m just rediscovering the music and listened to the track “The Streets Are Calling Your Name” and thought it was different and nice. So yeah, time to dig and find out more information.

Panache released an album on the Japanese label Rallye Label (RYECD01) in 2005. It was called “Black Letters” and included 11 tracks: “A Mind Forever Voyaging”, “Breeze Whispers”, “Disco in the Sky (I Won’t Go Back)”, “Remington Blues”, “When There’s No Tomorrow”, “Breeze Whistles”, “Counterfeit Astonishment”, “The Ivory Field of Flair”, “Jodorowsky Hijinx”, “The Flourishes of the Quadrille” and “Bombyx Mori”. All songs are credited to Kristofer. Dexter Cliff is credited for additional guitar, bass, brass, scratch and electronics. Both of them are credited as producers. Anna Cooper does guest vocals on “When There’s No Tomorrow” and Odd Lecander played guitars on “Counterfeit Astonishment”. Tracks were recorded at home in Held Bay and at Dexter Cliff’s studio in Ore Island between May 2004 and February 2005.

Four years after the release of the first album, in 2009, Panache releases a 10 song album called “Fractions”. This was released just digitally, as Mp3s. It had 10 songs “This Past Future”, “Every Floor is a Dance Floor”, “The Streets Are Calling Your Name”, “Never Return”, “Heartbreaker” with guest vocals by Hanna Brandén from Name The Pet, “Someday, Someday”, “Swirl”, “Silly Love Song”, “Too Much Time” and “Fractions”. The album was available on the band’s website which doesn’t exist anymore.

I wonder how the Japanese label Rallye found about Panache. Maybe online, songs were available to download around 2004? Or maybe like many Swedish bands of the time released some CDRs?

Aside from the albums we know that the song “Conditional” was part of the 2005 compilation CD “Rallye Cloack 2 “The Swim Sweet Swedish” Compilation” (RYECD012) and the 2008 cassette comp “Vänskap 002” had the track “Solitude in Springtime”.

And that’s really it. Couldn’t find any more info about Panache! Anyone remembers the band? What about Kristofer? Was he involved in other projects?

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Panache – The Streets Are Calling Your Name

Hailing from Birmingham, here are the Surf Drums.

I can’t believe I haven’t dedicated a post to this classic mid-80s band yet. I honestly thought I had! But it is never late, right?

The band’s first release came in 1985 on a label from their hometown called Swordfish Records that had released all sorts of music, not necessarily indiepop. On this label the band released “Take It With Me This Seven Years” 12″ EP (SWF 003). It included four songs, “Take it With Me” and “Stone and Silver” on the A side and “This Seven Years” and “Everything” on the B side.

On the album we see David Kehoe singing and playing acoustic guitars (he also wrote the songs), Richard Left on lead guitar and backing vocals, Ann-Marie Taylor on keys and backing vocals, Michael Laffoley on drums and Colin Packwood on drums. The songs were produced by Bob Lamb. Record sleeve was designed by D.T. and the band’s photo was taken by Gareth Owen.

2 years later we see the band releasing “Walkaway” perhaps their most known release. This one came out on 7″ and 12″ and was released by Kaleidoscope Sound (KS-703). This label was founded in 1986 by Joe Foster, who you must know from Creation Records, Rev-Ola… and also for playing as Slaughter Joe and producing so many bands. The 7″ version had “Walkaway” on the A side and “She’s Not Giving” on the B side. The 12″ included “Tell the World” as a second track on the B side. The record was produced by Joe Foster and the sleeve was designed by Rob Boyle.

That same year the band releases “Black Tambourine” again on Kaleidoscope Sound (KS705). This one again is released as a 7″ and 12″. The 7″ had the title track on the A side and “All There Is” on the B side. On the 12″ the song “On My Way” is included on the B side. The songs were produced again by Joe and recorded at Loco Studios Llanhenrock in Wales and Rich Bitch Studios Selly Oak.

Listening to the songs, you notice a clear change of direction of the band sound from their first release compared to their “Walkaway” single. Their first release is rockier.

Looking for info I learn that the band used to play “You Got My Number” by The Undertones at their gigs. I also learn that Michael Laffoley left the band in 1987 to be replaced by Paul Tibetts. A year after Paul and Anne Marie left the band to the Korova Milkbar who released some records on the Subway Organization.

Kehoe and Left carried on and recruited Pete Tweedle, the former drummer of The Primitives. They split from Joe Foster and tried to negotiate with Wayne Morries, The Primitives manager, for a management deal. This never happened though it seems a tour was planned with The Primitives, Birdland, The Impossibles and themselves. This last lineup of the band may have recorded a demo but it is not clear.

What is clear is that Richard Left would end up playing in the final Felt record, “Me and a Monkey on the Moon” and then joining his former bandmates on the Korova Milkbar. Another interesting bit of information I see is that Ann-Marie Taylor married Richard March from Pop Will Eat Itself.

There was a Facebook page for the band to my surprise. It says the band was resurrected? I wonder if they played a reunion gig or something. There are some cool flyers of gigs, see that they played with Mighty Mighty, Bounty Hunters and Filipinos. Also at Dingwalls where they supported Felt, The Jasmine Minks and Bradford. There’s another gig at the Barrel Organ, with just themselves. Then on the Saint Etienne website, we see that Bob Stanley reviewed a couple of their gigs, one from August 15, 1987 at Burberries and another on November 21 of that same year where they played alongside I, Ludicrous at the Sir George Robey in London. Another one dates from May 3, 1987, when they played with The Gun Club and The Highliners at the Astoria in London.

Pete Paphides also mentions them on a post just a few weeks ago.

I keep looking and see that David Kehoe now goes under the name David Keogh. Under this name he has published a book called “The Accidental Gangster: Part 3: Volume 3” that came out in 2016.

It seems they had a good following in Birmingham. So yeah, I am quite curious to know what our friends from Brum remember about them. I am especially curious to know if more songs were recorded, especially with that last lineup, how did they sound like?

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Listen
Surf Drums – Walkaway

The Salty Pirates from Halmstad, Sweden. Also active during those early 2000s. Good band. Whatever happened to them?

It was the days of CDRs and so they released their music that way.

Discogs has listed one release, “We Thank the Lord Each Day for the Apocalypse”, which was self-released with 6 songs, “Did You Ever Feel Like Fucking Up?”, “The Alien Invasion”, “Black Minds, White Lies”, “My Academic Beard”, “I Lost My Virginity to the Sound of Per Gessle” and “Skogspromenad”. The only detail about this release is that it came out in 2004, on an Imation CDR (remember those?). On the back of the sleeve we see a website for the band which these days doesnt exist anymore, today it is actually own by a company in Florida that does Painting and Renovations and also called Salty Pirates.

Then I track down another release, this time from 2003, called “Make Bombs Not Popsongs”. This one had four songs, “You Got Your Seatbelt and Cars are so Safe”, “Somethings Beautiful are Ugly”, “Fire Deathstar, Fire” and “All That Glitters Can Be Gold”. This EP was produced by Mathias Söderlund and mastered by Klas Holm during the summer of 2003. You could download the EP from their website back then.

I also learn that the band’s original name was Happy Tom. Then they changed to Salty Pirates. They would eventually change their name again, in 2008 they became The Weather in Sweden.

I keep searching.

On Youtube I find a track called “Common Sense” that my friend David has uploaded. It seems to come from a release called “Back with a Vengeance”, it has a date of 2007.

I see a post by Jerry Boman dating from 2005, where he reviews a gig of them at a club called “Thursday I’m in Love” at the Respekt club in Göteborg (I think).

I also think they played Emmaboda at some point. What else? They seem to be a five-piece band.

Other than that not much info. Anyone remembers them

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Listen
Salty Pirates – You Got Your Seatbelt and Cars Are So Safe