Today we make it to our seventh birthday at the blog. It was also on a October 6th of 2008 that we published our first post here on the blog! VERY EXCITING!! How many more years will I keep doing this?!

Not many news this week in indiepop it seems. Looks like once a month we get a lot of exciting news of releases, events, gigs, etc. and then the rest of the month gets very quiet. Not entirely quiet though, I mean, have you checked the song “Taken” by Tiny Fireflies that is now on Soundcloud? It’s gorgeous. It’s a preview of their forthcoming album. I’ve been looking forward to it for a very long time.

Then Los Bonsáis have a new video too, for the song “Vacaciones Permanentes”. I love when I see images of the UK on these videos. I miss it. Again, even if I sound repetitive, it’s so odd that this year I didn’t visit that country. Instead I’m off on vacations to Italy next week. Just for 11 days, not permanent vacations as the song says.

Desperate Journalist, another favourite band of mine, have a new video as well for the song “Perfect Health”. It’s a much simpler video than their previous ones, but it works really well. The song is a beauty too. Like all their songs. Still missing their first CDR and that really pains me. Another band with a new video is Chorusgirl. They have a fantastic promo video for “Oh, To Be A Defector”. They are releasing their album on Fortuna Pop soon. Good eye (and ear) on this one Sean Price.

Last but not least there’s Love Signs from Australia, who I’d love to see release something (don’t do what other Aussie bands are doing!! just putting out digital releases out!!). They have a video for “Not Used to Losing” which is very nice song. Really like the vocals on it.

Perhaps you know even more stuff that is coming out?

I’ll keep it short then this week. As I said, there’s not a whole lot to cover, or even anything to discuss really. There’s a lot of work to do though. There’s interviews to be written, there’s new bands to discover, and so on. On top of it all there’s the label and we will have Don’t Cry Shopgirl in a couple of months ready for you as it’s been pressed at the moment. It’s just a matter of waiting now for me.

And start my last Cloudberry fanzine too. Can’t forget that.

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Savlon is an antiseptic brand that was introduced containing the two agents, cetrimide, an antimicrobial detergent, and chlorhexidine gluconate.

I actually bought Savlon the last time I was in the UK. We don’t have that in the U.S.

Going to stores abroad is always exciting, the different brands, the different packaging, even the different prices, make me curious. In that sense going to a Boots in London, though not fun, is interesting to me. In general I’m not into shopping at stores. I think the only stores I like are record stores because you don’t go looking for something specific, and you can end up finding something very special. I guess this can apply to clothing stores and book stores and so on for other people, but for me, that sort of dynamic only happens at a record store. So no, I didn’t have fun finding Savlon in Boots. Even the aisles are arranged differently than in a CVS or a Walgreens.

But that’s how it is. I actually like them a bit better there the stores. I feel you see less of that ugly carpeted floors that the US stores love having. You don’t see much of that in the UK. It’s more like proper tiled floor. I think that’s better. But no, I’m not here to talk about the difference of stores in different countries. That’s not the point of the blog at all. I think it has to do with indiepop music, with guitar pop. And today I wanted to recover a cool band from Leeds, The Savlons.

Where to start? Let’s say 1988. There’s this flexi on the Panic Recordings label (FLX701-1) that had three bands from Leeds. All very short songs. One of the bands went to become pretty well known. You guessed right?

The Panic Flexi included The Pale Saints with the song “Children Break”, The Savlons with “…And What’s More”, and The Surprising Adventures of Kerry Fiddles with “Shiver Me Timbers”.

Discogs lists some notes about this release:
P/s = plain die-cut cardboard sleeve, with stickers (9.5cm x 9.5cm) covering the holes.
Several different postcard-inserts exist. Copies might just have one postcard or possibly up to five.
Some copies (possibly approx half of the 1000 apparently pressed) were given away with ‘Shoot The Tulips’ fanzine; remaining copies were distributed to, and sold by, the bands themselves.

To be honest I’ve just bought this flexi through that store, from a Russian seller, so I’m a bit nervous to see if it will arrive or not. Never bought a record from a Russian seller, I’ve heard some horror stories before, but this one at least had very good feedback.

Most people in the 80s got this flexi when they bought the Shoot The Tulips fanzine. The first issue. I don’t own an original copy of it, but many years back Pete from The Rosehips, Horowitz, and more, made photocopies for me. Loved reading it. I actually found a web page about this fanzine and in there I could find some important information about the zine and the flexi:

Shoot The Tulips was born the day my sister said those words in her sleep. I already had a Darling Buds interview done, which was to be for WILTBS2, except it never happened. So I started off on my own. Approached by some people in Leeds to invest some money into a flexi they were putting together, the first flexi I was involved with featured Pale Saints (Children Break), The Savlons (..And What’s More) and The Amazing Adventures of Kerry Fiddles (Shiver Me Timbers).

The flexi also came with four different postcards, featuring each band, plus a Panic Recordings one. I got 500 of the flexis, the bands got the other 500. Total sold of this issue 500. Pale Saints released a second demo and ended up choosing between 4ad and One Little Indian who was gonna pay their wages for the next few years… Jason from The Savlons ended up in Liverpool band The Stairs for a short time, Graham from The Savlons now plays in a band called Geese. Kerry Fiddles was Jane Fox from the Marine Girls and the rest of The Savlons have been spotted in pubs around the country…

Bands featured – The Darling Buds, Bob, The Sainsburys, The Orchids, The Corn Dollies, Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, Mega City 4, cartoons (Johnny Twaddle Lives in Bristol)

http://sweetfoolthemouth.co.uk/shootthetulips/index.html

Pale Saints were Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper. They formed in Leeds, after Graeme and Chris spotted an ad Ian placed in April 1987. They spent their first year playing gigs around the Leeds area, until eventually a deal was made, with another local band, The Savlons, as well as a friend of the band (Jane Fox, from The Marine Girls), to put out a flexidisc, in the summer of 1988. Funding was made available, 1000 flexis were made and sleeves were glued together, half available with a York based fanzine and the remainder shared by The Savlons and the Pale Saints. The flexi featured four different postcards, featuring one of each band, and one for the label, Panic Recordings.

The track ‘Children Break’ came from their first demo tape, released in 1988, called ‘Some New Songs By’ – the songs featured were ‘Wasting My Time’, ‘Children Break’, ‘The Way The World Is’ and ‘Sea Of Sound’. ‘Wasting My Time’ made it onto a Bi-Joopiter compilation tape, called ‘What Feet’, and a compilation with another fanzine, called ‘Are You Ready’. The band started to get gigs around the country, some in Stoke On Trent, another in Lancaster…

Still, we don’t get a proper story of The Savlons. Who were they really? We know there was a Graham and a Jason in the band. But who were the rest in it? We know they went to be in bands The Stairs and Geese, but I couldn’t find anything about them online either. Such mystery!

On the Pale Saings gigography page I could find some concerts that The Savlons played with them:
– 1.8.1988 Georgian Club, Lancaster:   supporting BOB, also supporting were The Savlons
– 25.8.1988 Leadbelly’s, Stoke-on-Trent: supported by The Savlons
– 23.9.1988 Haddon Hall, Leeds: supporting Esmeralda’s Kite, also supporting were The Savlons

Then my only other find happens on Youtube. There’s a song by The Simon Guild Guitar Experience, which has Stewart Anderson from Boyracer in it (check the amazing Welcome To The Wetherbeat Scene 1988-1991 CD). They were from Leeds as well and they had recorded a song called “Jason Savlon Used My Amp“.

That’s all really. Couldn’t find more. I love this song by The Savlons even though it’s so short! I wish to listen to more from them. I wonder if they actually released anything else on any other compilations. Or if perhaps they recorded any demo tapes. Their boy/girl vocals, a bit kind of The Vaselines, are a treat. Top stuff!

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Listen
The Savlons – …And What’s More

Not much to say this week. Lush will reform, play a show and release a box set. I think that is the news. Everything else at the moment is just accessory. And that’s fair. It’s good to see this comeback, that so far will include a concert in London and a box set reissue. But what else there is to talk about when such big news eclipse everything else?

It’s tough, right? The other important announcement came from Firestation Records. They will be releasing a bunch of records that no one can miss. They are essential:
– A reissue of The Hardy Boys’ “Wonderful Lie” 12″ – A reissue of Ala Pana Fuzo’s “Friend” 7″ as a 12″
– A reissue of The Dubious Brothers album “The Foresight Saga” on vinyl as well
– The Love Parade, on both CD and vinyl, gets the treatment we’ve been expecting for a long time. A retrospective compilation called “All We Could Have Been (1989-1990)”. 15 songs that I can’t wait to have them at home.
– And last a retrospective for the obscure band The Banzai Babies called “The Sun’s Still Shining”

Another record that has been released lately is that of Rose McDowall’s. It’s called “Cut With the Cake Knife” and it’s available in CD and LP. It’s out on Night School Records and it’s a reissue of the limited 2004 release on Bad Fairy Productions, though the songs were recorded in their entirety in the late 80s. “So Vicious” was always a favourite song of mine, so it’s good to be able to have it on record, and not just in MP3, now.

I also got on the mail the McCarthy reissue on Optic Nerve. The 7″ that was included in the pre-order looks and sounds great. The album I haven’t played yet. But I was very happy to get such a big booklet, with lots of photos as well as the posters that accompany the release. Now where do I find frames for European size posters in the US? IKEA, right?

And last but not least our friends from Pretty Olivia Records in Spain have also a reissue. This time it’s for the great New Zealand band The Wild Poppies. The record, a double LP, is titled “Heroine: The Wild Poppies Complete Collection (1986-1989)”. Another record that can’t be missed.

So, after reading all this, how does your wallet feel? Skinnier? Mine starts to worry me!

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Perth is a city in central Scotland, located on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county of Perthshire. According to the preliminary 2011 census results Perth, including its immediate suburbs, has a population of 50,000. Perth has been known as The Fair City since the publication of the story Fair Maid of Perth by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott in 1828. During the later medieval period the city was also called St. John’s Toun or Saint Johnstoun by its inhabitants in reference to the main church dedicated to St. John the Baptist. This name is preserved by the city’s football team, St. Johnstone F.C.

Last week we were talking about a band from Perth, Scotland. I think we should do it again this week. And also another band that many years ago I was introduced to by Takashi, that strange Japanese man who knows so much about indiepop but it’s not so keen in sharing his knowledge with the rest.

The Divorce Brothers. What a good name for a band I thought. They only released one record, and their legacy on the web is non-existent. There’s absolutely nothing written about them aside from Takashi’s blog and the always reliable for it’s taste From a Northern Place blog. Discogs lists the record, released on Separation Records (Left 1db is the catalog number) in 1986. It was a 12″ EP, running at 45rpm and included 5 songs:
A1. To Understand
A2. That First Kiss
B1. Walk Out the Door
B2. The Divorcee
B3. The Liquidator

We know the members of the band too:
– Ian McIntosh on vocals and guitar
– Abe McIntosh on guitar
– Ged Lerpiniere on bass
– Paul Caswell on drums
– Derek Anderson on keyboards

Liz McKenzie did backing vocals, the engineer for the record was Dick Gibson and the producer was Reg Bottomskelp. The cover was designed by Nick Wright for Nature Morte and the band photos on the back cover were Jim Lees’.

There are a bunch of thank yous on the back too. I guess the names I can see as famous is that of Billy McKenzie of The Associates. I wonder, perhaps Liz, who was doing backing vocals for the band, was related to him? Also a club is thanked, one called Soul Kiss Club. Wonder if any of you ever attended it?

That’s all I could find really about them. The song I’m sharing is amazing, you are going to love it if you don’t already. I wonder though what happened to them, how come they only released one record, if they were involved in other bands, and what are they up to these days.

Also, it’s been a long time since I had these songs as MP3s, maybe someone can help me with them. I think they were lost when my hard drive got fried like 4 years ago. I don’t own the record, but if anyone has a spare, that’d be nice too!

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Listen
The Divorce Brothers – That First Kiss

Hello indiepop darlings. How are you? I have some news for you, now you can preorder the Don’t Cry Shopgirl 7″ on our website. Scroll down to the Coming Soon releases and there you’ll find a nice button. I’m very excited about this release, as it’s so good and has taken a long time to happen. It includes 4 perfect slices of pop, and it has been dressed in a beautiful sleeve painted by Amanda from Alpaca Sports. It’s all very Sweden, and it’s all very friendly, the kind of record I love releasing. I hope you all like it!

Let’s see. Last week I saw Ed from Shelflife here in NYC and he gave me the new Red Sleeping Beauty 7″. I love it. I think everyone should get a copy, it sounds like classic RSB, back to the 90s. I miss that sound (even though I wasn’t listening to indiepop back then! I was just a schoolboy!). What I mean is, there needs to be a jangly revival! I don’t mind the noisy guitars, but I miss listening to crystalline guitars and clear vocals. There are not many releases that have that sort of sound these days, don’t you think?

The other big news this week was the announcement of the dates for Indietracks 2016. It will happen on the weekend of the 29 to the 31 of July, in the same place, at the same time, at the shed, at the church, at the main stage, on the trains. I know many friends have already booked their hotels. Should I? At this point I don’t think I’ll make it, though I really want to go again. I guess I will perhaps wait for the first announcements. I know that by doing so everything will be more expensive, hotel, airfare, etc. But I think it’s my safest bet at the moment. I miss it though so much, seeing friends and having a good time with them. I think many of my best weekends in my life have happened there, at what was the best indiepop festival for sure.

Then my indiepop week has been very quiet. At home I listened time and time again the compilation Firestation released of Reflection A.O.B. and while I walked the streets of NYC I listened to the Flyying Colours CD Shelflife released with their two EPs. I’m catching up with releases, and I know I have to get The School, Alpaca Sports and Jessica and the Fletchers new albums. I also broke the piggy bank this time and took a chance and ordered the Go-Betweens vinyl box set that Domino is re-releasing once again, I guess for the ones that missed it the first time around and also to make some big bucks so they can release ugly bands.

Also I’m patiently waiting for my Optic Nerve order with the McCarthy reissue (and 7″ reissue). I think this one will make me very happy even though I own this record already. But then, there’s nothing wrong with having many McCarthy records at home. They are the best band ever (the only shame is that Cherry Red owns their catalog), but what can you do. Nothing in the end is perfect.

I still read the “Pequeño Circo” book at nights. It’s so long, but it’s such a pleasure to read it. I didn’t live the indie scene of Spain, but reading about all these bands that meant something to me when I started listening to music is really exciting and nostalgic too. I’m already by page 600 and even though there’s still more to read, I don’t want it to end.

And that’s more or less what’s happening in my indiepop life. What is happening in yours? Have you discovered any amazing bands? Bought any cool records? Would love to know how all of you are doing.

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Do any of you know about The Frazers?

Today I was just thinking about them. I remember I was introduced to them by Takashi, the Japanese guy that once was very nice and generous, who loved sharing songs with me and the rest, but suddenly turned bitter and angry. I wonder what happened to him.

Online there’s barely anything written about them. There’s two unlisted videos on Youtube and an entry on the From a Northern Place blog. Takashi has written on his defunct blog too about them, but he only wonders about why this record is so obscure (well, according to Google Translate).

On one of these videos (actually not a video, but you know, a song on Youtube) though, on the one for the song “Selfish”, the singer of The Frazers actually commented 5 years ago. He says: “The first disc i ever played and sang on, with a band that was called The Frazers. we were so young. feels like a hundred years ago. amazing guys. such laughs. good times. good friends. still feel proud of it. cheers! Ricky”

So we know the first name of The Frazers vocalist. I inspect his Youtube acount and see he has uploaded a bunch of songs by Scottish bands, from Perth, from Dundee. I wonder if he was involved in any of them? Athletico PoP, Grapefruit, Spiral TV, The Amazing Love Bees, are some of them. I had never heard these bands, and they actually sound good!  Hard to pick one for you to check, but I would say check ‘Carnival Headache” by The Amazing Love Bees, a bit él sounding! If you have the time, check them all of course.

The band only released one 7″ on The Thistle label in 1988. The catalog was SRT8KS1420. There were two songs on it, on the A side was the amazing and upbeat “Selfish” and on the b side another guitar pop gem called “Get it Right”.

Safe to assume that the band hailed from Scotland I think, but I think that’s the only conjecture I can make at this point. This is is as obscure, and as good, as it gets!

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Listen
The Frazers – Selfish

Thanks so much to Penny Priest for the interview! I wrote just some weeks ago about Penny because of her amazing song, “Sometimes”, that was included in one of the best indiepop compilations, “Manchester North of England”. It was the only song I knew existed from her and I was always so curious! So it was really cool to finally be in touch and learn her story!

++ Hi Penny! Thanks so much for getting in touch! I was always so curious about your song on the compilation “Manchester North of England”, so I’m very glad to be able to talk to you! So let’s start with the questionnaire!  So, what are you up to these days? Are you still based in Manchester?

I left Manchester 24 years ago! I was there as a student, doing a psychology degree at the university and then a teaching qualification. It seemed difficult to get teaching jobs in Manchester at the time, so I moved to the East End of London where I started my teaching career. It’s a long story but I later re-trained as a clinical psychologist and now live and work in Shropshire, a county kind of sandwiched between Birmingham and the Welsh borders.

++ Are you originally from Manchester? And how has the city influenced you in your music? I mean, a city with so many amazing bands, especially in the 80s, it must have been amazing time to be there, no?

I’m not from Manchester. I was born in Frimley, Surrey (the south of England) and then moved north to Hull after my dad was left a house there in his aunt’s will. My sister went to Salford University (next door to Manchester) and I liked the vibe when I visited there, so eventually ended up there myself. (My mum also went to Manchester University in the 50s, whilst she was a Catholic nun (!!!) and my son is about to start there this weekend!). It was great being in Manchester in the 80s, although I wouldn’t say the city influenced my music. When I write songs, I’m probably more influenced by other artists and music I like, regardless where it’s from. Having said that, I do feel an affinity with Irish music and Spanish music. There was plenty of Irish music in Manchester when I was there. A particularly good band at that time was Toss The Feathers.

++ And would you say the city has changed much? Back then what were the venues you used to go to? Or the pubs were you hanged with friend? Are they still around?

Well, it’s hard for me to say whether it’s changed much as I’ve hardly been back, although was there just last weekend to drop my son’s stuff off at his halls of residence. For a while back then, I used to live in an area called Rusholme, which was full of great curry houses. That has really changed now; far less curry houses and more Turkish and Afghan places with lots of shisha lounges. Apart from curry houses, I used to enjoy going to the Irish club in Chorlton cum Hardy, where I also lived for a while. I spent quite a bit of time in the Beech pub on the green there, too. For gigs, we would go to the university unions, or the International, the Boardwalk, the Green Room and the Band on the Wall. I don’t know if any of those are still there! I spent a fair bit of time in many of Manchester’s great pubs, but it’s hard to remember all the names and when I went up there the other weekend, at least one of those was no longer a pub.

++ When did you start making music? And did you always play under your name or were you also involved with bands?

I started making music probably when I was about four years old, sitting on a swing in my garden, singing tunes to myself. Once I learned to play the piano, I started writing tunes and even whole musicals. I also learned violin and wrote a string quartet at one point which actually got performed by myself and some friends! Around the age of 11 though, I began to feel restricted by the culture of competitiveness around classical music and I also began to think it was a bit uncool. So I gave up the violin and piano and a few years later picked up the guitar and just naturally started writing songs on there. I first performed at open mic nights near where I lived in Hull, which was not strictly legal at the age of 15, as a fair few pints of ale would also be involved! Probably the most important springboard for me was getting the opportunity to record a demo tape in my local BBC studio, BBC Radio Humberside. It was my big sister, Monica, I have to thank for this as she introduced me to her friend who was a sound engineer there. I sent that initial tape to John Slater, the journalist on City Life, who reviewed it and became my manager.

++ For the recording of your songs, did you have a proper band? Or how did that work?

Mostly I did gigs on my own, or paired up with one other friend. I longed to have a band behind me but it never really worked out at that time, although the song, Sometimes, was recorded with a band which included the former guitarist and bass player of the then-recently defunct indie band, Microdisney. It was Polygram Records who put us together.

++ And how did the creative process work for you? What inspired you? What came first lyrics or music?

Writing songs is/always was a very simple recipe for me; I would generally write songs when I was feeling miserable, although this didn’t necessarily mean the songs sounded miserable. As I was pretty poor/unskilled on the guitar, I used to retune different strings to totally random tunings which would often make it easier to come up with different chords, which I’d then put together, and a tune would magically follow. With only one or two exceptions, the music would come first and then the lyrics. Once I had the tune nailed, I could relax and enjoy writing the lyrics!

++ How did you end up in the compilation”Manchester North of England”?

I had John Slater to thank for that. He worked hard and got me a lot of good gigs. He knew lots of people and had a good idea of what would go down well, and where. He also was very encouraging of me and I think genuinely liked my songs. It was the journalist, Sarah Champion, who put ‘Manchester North of England’ together. I’m not sure if she approached John about me, or vice versa. She did do a few positive reviews of some of my gigs.

++ And if you don’t mind, what is the song that you contributed “Sometimes” about? What’s the story behind it?

Haha! That song was about my boyfriend at the time. I fell totally in love with him when I met him at the age of about 14. Basically, he didn’t love me like I loved him and the song was about how I would do anything for him but that wasn’t appreciated…I’ve grown up since then! Fortunately not all my songs are similar subject matter, but they are mostly about people I encounter in my life.

++ I don’t know of any other release of yours. Did you participate in any other compilations? Or perhaps you put any records out?

Well, once I left Manchester and moved down to London, I started teaching and got pregnant in a very short space of time, so life kind of intervened and I didn’t do much in the way of music apart from with the children I was teaching. I’d write a song every so often but didn’t pursue it any more actively than that. But slowly, once I’d left teaching, moved up to Shropshire and my two boys had grown a bit, I started to find more time for music again. I also met a wonderful musician here in Ludlow, where I live now, who was interested in meeting up and playing together. He nurtured my growing appreciation of folk music and it was wonderful to be making music again together with someone so talented and knowledgeable. We drank a lot of wine and smoked a lot of cigarettes and had a great laugh together too. We started recording stuff at a local studio and eventually found a fantastic bass player and drummer and produced a CD, Far Water. This coincided with my 40th birthday party where the band played, along with my then 18 year old son on backing guitar. We played at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival that same year, 2010, and sold a few CDs there. Life has moved on again though and I’m back in a bit of a musical slump now!

++ I know at least, because of a clipping I found online, that you used to sell your demos. So I wonder, how many demo tapes did you make and sell? And what were the tracks on them if you remember?

I didn’t sell any demos, but think perhaps John Slater sold them. I think it was probably the 3 tracks that we recorded at Out of the Blue studios in Manchester, which included Sometimes, and two other songs, Ordinary Girl, and Better. This demo and studio time was paid for by Polygram records, who had showed some interest in signing me, but following the demo, they decided they didn’t like my voice! I think maybe they didn’t like the way I looked either…I was never the coolest of people!

++ Then I found another clipping when it says you played some women-only gigs at The Gallery. Do you remember about that? How important was at that time to be involved in all-women activities?

I did play at least one women-only gig, somewhere like Oldham, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I remember there was a woman there who did a short show about witches, and how women used to get treated for stepping out of line, or not behaving as they were expected to. Apart from that, it’s a bit hazy. I think during that time of doing music in Manchester, it felt like I was in a bit of an unreal world and that I just went along with doing what people told me to.

++ Was it very hard for women to find gigs, or get the same treatment then? Do you think it has changed much compared to today?

Well, as I said before, I didn’t really ever pay much attention to that side of things, as John Slater would get the gigs and just tell me where and when I was playing and how much they were paying me. I really don’t know what it’s like these days, as I rarely do any gigs, and also I suspect it’s quite different out here in the sticks to out there in the big city.

++ And what about other gigs? Did you play many? Perhaps outside of Manchester? What was the best or the worst gig you remember? Anecdotes you could share?

I guess the most amazing one has to be, without any shadow of a doubt, the time I supported Nina Simone at the Manchester Apollo! This was very much a last minute thing. I was working in a die-cast metal parts factory at the time (a summer job in university holidays). I got back from work one evening to take a phone call from John, who asked me what I was doing that evening. He promptly told me to cancel my plans as I was supporting Nina Simone at the Manchester Apollo! God knows how I survived that! I remember I wore a long white dress and drank a fair bit of white wine before I went on. I got to meet Nina Simone afterwards. It’s a shame but maybe actually a good thing that back then I was so ignorant about so much music that I really didn’t appreciate how truly great she was. I think I would have refused to do the gig if I had realised! Second only to that experience, was one of the ‘Five Go To Play Guitar’ gigs. You mentioned these on your blog; five separate guitar acts, with myself, Johnny Dangerously (John Bramwell from I Am Kloot), George Borowski, Bob Dillinger and Kevin Seisay. I never really thought the idea worked that well as I didn’t really think people going to see comedy (Kevin and Bob), would be the sort of people who wanted to hear my stuff. At any rate, one of those gigs in the Green Room was compered by Steve Coogan, before he became a world famour comedian and actor. He bought me a drink in the bar at the break and if I’d been more savvy, maybe I would have taken that as some sort of invitation. I was only just 18 and way too innocent to realise what was going on!

++ You seem to have played with a bunch of cool bands, so I wonder what was your favourite band you played with?

Haha! I’m not sure which bands you’re referring to here, as I really haven’t. But I have to say my favourite collaboration has been with my friends here in Shropshire who produced the Far Water CD with me. Not only are they all great musicians, but they’re probably the most hilarious bunch of guys I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with. Really, it was always a laugh a minute and a miss those times! Happy memories though!

++ How was the press and the fanzine people with Penny Priest? How was your relationship with them?

Again, John Slater handled all that, so I wasn’t really aware of most of it. That was probably a good thing! One welcome bit of attention was from a fan, who bought me a drink at the bar about an hour after Steve Coogan had. I had just split up with the guy from the Sometimes song, so it was nice to have the attention. I ended up going out with this guy for the next couple of years!

++ During those late 80s there was an explosion of guitar pop bands in the UK. Did you feel part of a scene? And why do you think that during that particular time there were so many like minded bands like, perhaps, never before?

I didn’t really feel part of that. I was more influenced by women like Suzanne Vega, Tracy Thorn (from Everything But The Girl), Michelle Shocked, Natalie Merchant (10,000 Maniacs), Irish music and other stuff. Looking back, to me it seems the whole musical backdrop was very diverse and the Manchester scene was just one important part of that.

++ Did you continue making music during the 90s? Or did you stop?

Well as I said before, it’s been feast and famine with me over the years. Although I’m in a slump now, there will probably be another great creative period just around the corner. That seems to be the way it usually works. With my boys grown and no longer at home, I imagine there will time again for more music.

++ Are there any up and coming news, maybe gigs, for Penny Priest?

Watch this space, I guess!

++ These days, do you still pick up your guitar? What other hobbies aside from music do you have?

Ah well, this is part of the problem. When we moved to Shropshire I got into fell running. When arthritis in my knees put a stop to that, I got into cycling and cycling is a very time-intensive sport! I did an Ironman in Nice (France) in 2013, despite the arthritis and the fact that I can’t swim freestyle. I’ve recently done the Haute Route seven day cycling stage race in the Swiss Alps and Dolomites, so you can perhaps begin to understand how the music has taken a back seat!

++ What would you say has been your biggest highlight as a musician?

In some respects it would be easy to say the Nina Simone experience, but actually, and I’m not sure this is a highlight, but for me the most amazing thing is playing with a few other musicians and having unrehearsed moments where everything comes together and the music is so sublime it gives shivers down the spine…just that experience of making music is always a wonderful and priceless thing!

++ Last time I was in Manchester it was for such short time, but I really liked the city. You as a local, what are your favourite sights or places that no one should miss?

Well, I’m no longer there and I’m sure so much has changed. I’d like to go back to Chorlton Green for a pint outside the Beech on a sunny afternoon, though…

++ I’m just a bit curious, are you a Man United or City fan?

Liverpool. It’s a family thing.

++ Let’s wrap it here, thanks a lot for everything. Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for showing an interest. I hope you like the Far Water CD!

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Listen
Penny Priest – Sometimes

Today I have finished mailing all pre-orders of The Color Waves 7″s. Hopefully your copy will arrive shortly. I want to thank everyone that has placed an order in the past months. By the end of the week I’ll be adding a pre-order button for Don’t Cry Shopgirl’s 7″, hope you can keep supporting the label as we want to continue putting out quality indiepop from bands that deserve it!

I’ve been busy at work with a big project that finally was published today. Now things may get a bit better and I should have some spare time to answer emails and fix my house for example! It’s been so hectic! Some days I would even go sleep very early. That’s not me. It was a big project about disappeared people in Mexico. A big interactive that already has started receiving some praise. Feels good.  But damn, it was so much work!

My friend Daniel in Peru asks me to make a flyer for him for Lima Popfest. They are celebrating a Spring edition on the 26th of this month. This year he decided to make two editions, it seems it works better this way in Lima. To be honest the only bands I was familiar with were Moon Over Soho and Dan Dan Dero. Moon Over Soho was a band from the early, mid 2000s. Now it seems they are back. They had a bunch of good songs and most importantly, I remember talking to them, they had good music taste. It’s been a while though. I read they are preparing a new EP to be released soon. Dan Dan Dero on the other hand, I discovered not so long ago. I mentioned them when I did a recap of Peruvian bands here on the blog. I think they might be my favourite band from the whole lineup this year.

The international bands come from Chile and Argentina this time. From Chile there’s Cristóbal Briceño, the leader of the band Ases Falsos, and from Argentina there’s Facu Tobogán, who plays solo but also is leader of the band Tobogán Andaluz. Seems Tobogán Andaluz is a very popular band in Peru as I’ve seen lots of people asking to book them on Facebook.

The other two bands on the bill are Invernal and Led Feder. Invernal is a band I discovered some time ago, but kind of forgot about them on my recap! I remember telling Daniel to book them for the first Lima Popfest. They are really good and I definitely recommend them. Proper indiepop with bright electric guitars and female vocals. Strange to say for me, but I actually like the Peruvian bands, the local bands, better this time around! This says a lot I think, it seems it’s a good time for guitar pop in Peru, and I look forward to any up and coming bands from there. Still a bit far from what I saw in Indonesia, especially in Bandung, where there was such an explosion of bands some years ago, but I feel that is what Lima is shaping up to be. I cross my fingers this exciting trend continues!

The event will happen again at the Discoteca Embassy in downtown Lima and the tickets cost 45  soles, something like 14 dollars. Cheap for a good night of music.

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Le Beau Serge is a French film directed by Claude Chabrol, released in 1958. It has been cited as the first product of the Nouvelle Vague, or “French New Wave,” film movement. The film is often compared with Chabrol’s subsequent film Les Cousins, which also features Jean-Claude Brialy and Gérard Blain.

Translate it to Spanish and we have El Bello Sergio. But I’m not going to talk about the film today, but about a band from Málaga, Spain, who released 5 songs as a demo back in 1999. And since then they’ve been forgotten.

Well, not 100% forgotten. Some people still remember. I was talking to Cristóbal from The Royal Landscaping Society the other day, that I was hoping to dig some information about some of the bands that just left a demo or two back in the early 2000s, or even in the late 90s. That was a very prolific time when it came to indiepop in Spain. Throwing names, he mentioned El Bello Sergio. And I thought, that would be interesting, what happened to them?

I remember downloading their demo on Soulseek, more than a decade ago. I actually had a good collection of demos from Spanish bands. They mostly released them on CDR so it was easy to rip them to MP3 and be shared around. I lost that nice collection of MP3s, and that’s perhaps the day I learned that MP3s are worth nothing really, when my hard drive got fried. Since then I kind of forgot the names of the bands, and their songs.

But there was someone else who still remembered them, and in 2010 blogged about them. That was Rubén from Área 51 del Corazón blog (and also label). He actually posted about them and gave us a couple of interesting facts. We learn that the driving force for this project was Manolo Castro and that this demo included 5 songs: “Seguro que Vendrán”, “Mi Pequeño Hogar”, “Todos Duermen”, “La Noche de San Juan” and “Volverás”. The second song, “Mi Pequeño Hogar”, also gives name to the EP. My favourite, and it seems everyone’s too, was the last one, “Volverás”.

Rubén on his blog describes them as a band that has a sound close to La Buena Vida or Family and with vocals that reminds one of Fernando Alfaro from Surfin’ Bichos. On the comment section of the blog we find out that Manolo, after his stint with the band, worked as a producer (working with Lemon Fly) and also as a record label (called Sunday Morning Records and releasing the band Dos Mil Locos). He has also been involved with other bands like Model Monroe and Robby Robot.

So I check out these projects. To my surprise I find that Robby Robot has actually covered “Volverás”  as a techno pop song. It’s quite interesting to see it reworked like this. Seems he is still based in Malaga, in the South of Spain, and now keeps playing with this band along Daphne. It’s just a duo. They have put out a bunch of songs on their bandcamp and they are quite fun.

Aside from that, I barely know anything about El Bello Sergio. I can’t find information online really. Did they participate in those demo contests that were so popular in Spain back then? Did they play live a lot? Was it a full band or just Manolo recording at home? So many questions, that would be nice to see answered some time. In the meantime, enjoy this beauty called “Volverás”!

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Listen
El Bello Sergio – Volverás

I receive news that the new Alpaca Store is about to come out. On October the 2nd to be more precise. A beauty of a record released on 10″ on Elefant and on CD on Luxury Records. Seems the labels are taking pre-orders now too. I would buy it blindly, without listening to it, but I get a cool chance to hear the songs in their full glory (and not demo or unfinished versions) for the first time today too.

How beautiful all these songs are. 6 songs for quality pop. I will be fair and not review them right away, at first listen. I’ll have maybe 10, 20, more listens and next week let you know what I think. But my first impression is that it’s so good. So few records this year has brought me such a big smile on my face.

Speaking of that, there’s been another record that has been released in the past few days. And that’s the Brideshead new album on Shelflife. The Wiesbaden band that played a delightful set at the NYC Popfest, returns with their third album aptly titled “Never Grow Up”. Luckily for us the title is dead on, the band hasn’t “matured” and gotten a “mature sound”. They sound so fresh and fun as they always did. They’re promoting the album with the song “At 45rpm” for which they’ve recorded a promo video. I’ll look into doing an interview with them soon, the German indiepop heroes.

Another important news coming from Shelflife is the 7″ that marks the return of the classic and beloved Swedish band Red Sleeping Beauty. Two songs, “Always” and “Breaking Up is Easy” that are just pure pop candy. Reviewing these few new up and coming releases make me thing that indiepop could have a vibrant scene once again!

And I say that because these three releases have brilliant guitars, jangly ones. And that’s what many of us have been missing throughout this year. There’s been too much distortion lately on indiepop. Too much shouty stuff too. I like some of that, but there’s nothing wrong with the classic sound. I actually like it better.

And the last recommendation I have for you has some classy and elegant new wave influences thrown into it. Hails from Japan and it’s on Fastcut Records. They are called Moscow Club and their new 7″ has a beauty on the A side called “Celine” (with guest vocals by Amanda from Alpaca Sports) that you can’t miss. It seems their debut album will be released shortly too, on September 30!

A few goodies coming out. Not forgetting we have a beauty here too in Cloudberry with the release of The Color Waves this week. Happy times then!

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Okay, time to head back to the 80s then, try to dig some info about yet another obscure guitar pop band from that prolific decade. This time around let’s get our detective gear and try to find out about a band that has one of the most curious and mysterious names in my record collection: Chinese Gangster Element.

I have no clue what they meant with that name. Sure there are Chinese gangsters. But it’s a bit odd. Also I think that in the UK the Chinese community is small. Or perhaps not? In any case it’s not comparable to the community here in the US, right? Speaking of which this week I was surprised to hear some indiepop from China, even covering Sarah Records, but that’s a story for another day.

I can’t really remember why I bought their one and only 7″. Perhaps I saw it on a list on Twee.net. Or somewhere online. To be honest it wasn’t hard to find. On Discogs it seems it sells for cheap. Which is good for us record collectors. The thing is, after you listen to “Jivin'”, the opening track, you’ll probably would want to hunt for it.

There are four tracks on the record. On the A side there’s “Jivin'” and “Chloe”. On the B side there’s “Muscle” and “In My Body”. The record was released on Ted Records (CGE 100) in the year of 1986. Say indiepop year 0. The artwork for the cover is also very mysterious, with a bunch of profile faces, five facing right, 2 upside down facing left. Strange illustration.

When we turn around the sleeve we get the band members:
Andy Greaves – guitar
Mick Haymer – bass
Fiona McBean – vocals
Kev Greaves – drums

So fair to assume that the guitar and drums were brothers? Or at least related? The record was engineered by Tony Bonner at Off Beat Studio in Leeds. And we get told to play the record loud. And the only other important hint left is that the band were based in Halifax.

Halifax is a minster town, in the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England The town has been a centre of woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Piece Hall. Halifax is known for Mackintosh’s chocolate and toffee products including Rolo, Quality Street and Rowntrees. Shibden Hall is also in Halifax. The Halifax Bank and Yorkshire Bank were also founded in Halifax. Dean Clough, one of the largest textile factories in the world at more than 1⁄2 mile (800 m) long, was in the north of the town. The premises have since been converted for office and retail use including a gym, theatre, Travelodge and radio station. The town’s name was recorded in about 1091 as Halyfax, from the Old English halh-gefeaxe, meaning “area of coarse grass in the nook of land”.

I find then a Facebook page called the Halifax Music Heritage Trail where Andy Greaves is mentioned. Perhaps I’m on the right trail. Then I find a club page where all the gigs played there are listed. It’s called the 1 in 12 Club. And we find out that the Chinese Gangster Element played there many times:
December 7 1983 – w/ Photomontage
April 4 1984 – w/ Gross National Product
January 1 1985
January 22 1986 – w/ Party Day
July 1 1988 – w/ The Adams Family

Almost every year they played at the club with the exception of 1987. Were they formed in 1983? Or before? And why did it take them 3 years to release their first record? Though to be fair on September 1st 1984 they recorded a Peel Session.

This session you can actually find it on Youtube thanks to the one and only Dave Driscoll. On this Session they recorded 4 songs: “Red”, “In My Body”, “Red Light” and “This is Hell”.

There’s also a compilation flexi that I still don’t own which has a song by Chinese Gangster Element. I haven’t heard this one. The song was called “Joey” I believe it’s a double-sided flexi as Discogs lists that on the A side there’s Fez with the song “Strange” and the Chinese Gangster Element song. While on the B side we have Roberta Junk with “How Many Friends?” and Langfiled Crane’s “Kiss Me Stephenson”. I haven’t heard any of the other bands before! This flexi was released by Spike’s Label (LYN 19817/18). The label was also based in Halifax.

Then Discogs lists 3 compilation appearances. Where there any more? We know they appeared on a record called Enemies of the State. This was put out by the same club  I mentioned ealier, 1 in 12, on it’s own imprint 1 in 12 Records (1 in 12 003). This record was part of a series of records titled Worst of the 1 in 12 Club. This was the 3rd volume and was released in 1984. The song Chinese Gangster Element contributed was “World’s On Fire”. This song too you can listen online on Youtube. The only other band that I know in this compilation is The Word whose “Schoolboy Saint” 7″ is a favorite of mine. The record was a Porky Prime Cut and you can read on the matrix “Say No To Masons And Part Time Politico´s — To Melanie + Keith From The Class War Boys” and “A Porky Prime Cut Are You An Enemy Of The State?”. Classic.

Next, in 1985, they contribute the song “Fast Town” to the compilation Folio Hearts on Confidential Records (file 005). This time I have no clue about any of the bands on the compilation. All songs seem to have been recorded at OHM Studio in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

The last compilation listed is “New Songs for Mutants”. There’s no date for this record. The song that the band contributed was “Wet Dreams”. On this compilation the other known face is The Deep Freeze Mice. This tape was put out by Lakeland Records (LKND001).

Now I’ll search for the band members. Andy Greaves is easy to find. He seems to be playing up to this day on an ensemble called Greaves Taylor Gillon. There’s a small bio for Andy on their website:
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, mandolinist, poet and noted eccentric, Andy Greaves,, has been at the centre of the Calder Delta music scene since his debut in the 1980s with John Peel favourites The Chinese Gangster Element. Over the last 30 years he has created original music in genres as diverse as punk and country music. Andy currently fronts British Bluegrass rebels, The Tragics, as well as performing widely as a solo artist and poet

And that’s where the trail for the Chinese Gangster Element stops. I can’t find anything else about them. I wonder then, if anyone out there that remembers them can help me. Did they record any more songs? What happened to the other members? Were they involved with other bands? Would be nice to know!

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Listen
Chinese Gangster Element – Jivin’

Hello everyone! I’m very happy this week as The Color Waves 7″s arrived home! Just waiting for the inserts to arrive home and as soon as I do will start posting all the pre-orders! The sleeves look beautiful and they have received a lot of praise for the beautiful design. Can you guess what sort of bird is in the cover?

But it’s not only the beautiful design on this record, it’s also the beautiful music. One that I loved since the first time I heard these two songs many months ago. For those who don’t know the Color Waves, it’s a transatlantic collaboration between Alison and Garry. She is based in the UK while Garry is in the US. Both were once part of the great band All My Friends from Scotland.

Anyhow, this time around we’ve pressed 300 copies. We hope to sell them fast enough to keep releasing more records! The music as I said is just so beautiful, please have a listen at their Bandcamp.

Also I’ve just updated the website with some more info about Don’t Cry Shopgirl and their 7″ coming out soon. You can now listen to one of the tracks, and as well see a small thumbnail of the beautiful artwork that Amanda Åkerman has done for us. I should be sending the record to press in a week or two. And adding at that time the pre-order button. You can’t miss this one either, you’ll get 4 songs of pure bliss!

What else? Well, we run out of the pink vinyl copies for the My Favorite LP, only blue vinyl now. Then we do have in project the Suncharms release on Cloudberry Cake Kitchen. So it’s not like I’m lazy here! Also I’ve been doing a bunch of interviews for the blog during this last week, so hopefully we’ll learn soon more about many of these fantastic obscure bands I’ve been featuring!

Then I should start planning the next fanzine. I will go back to the blue color and as I said it will be the last fanzine in the 400 series. Any suggestions on which Cloudberry bands you’d like to see on it, please send my way.

And that’s for the moment on the news side. But I do have a request today, if you have discovered lately a band that you think would fit nicely in the label? I’d love to hear it.

PS. I was once again called the indiepop police. I was insulted too. And they tag me. They really want my attention. Must hurt not to like their band?

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Abercorn is a village and parish in West Lothian, Scotland. Close to the south coast of the Firth of Forth, the village is around 5 km (3.1 mi) west of South Queensferry.

I believe The Dancing Bears hailed from Abercorn. So you see, it says on the back sleeve of their one sole single: “Thanks to The Mussy Boys, The Abercorn Crowd and Steve for breaking the ice on so many occasions and also to JAM PA for the sound”.

No clue who The Mussy Boys were, but Abercorn is a town and it might have had a good crowd though on Wikipedia says the population continues to decline.

The Dancing Bears released one single in 1987, on the Big Noise label (BGN 1). It had two songs, one on each side. They were “Got To Get Out of Here” and “She’s My Girl”. I have only listened the A side, sadly I don’t own a copy of the record! In any case, I could find online, thanks to the great From A Northern Place blog the sleeve were I learn that the band was formed by Ritchie on guitar and vocals, Shaver on drums and Dave on bass. The record was produced by POC and The Dancing Bears. Not sure who or what is POC. The photography of the naked person on the cover was taken by Louise Mackay.

I looked a bit on Discogs. There’s not much of course. But I find that the label Big Noise was based in East Calder in Scotland.
East Calder is a small town located in West Lothian, Scotland. It is located about a mile east of Mid Calder and about a mile west of Wilkieston.

The remains of St Cuthbert’s Kirk look amazing there.

It seems they also released a band called Political Asylum, but they seem more punk than the Dancing Bears. Well, way more punk.

On the labels, there’s a credit for a last name, for the lyrics. That’s of Lambert. Which of the band members had that last name?

That’s all I could find about them. Pretty obscure sadly. But a good song. Maybe someone out there knows more about them?

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Listen
Dancing Bears – Got To Get Out of Here”

Didn’t get a chance to blog during the week (I did post an interview though!). It’s already Sunday and to be honest I’m forcing myself to leave a weekly post here before this week is over. Thing is that it’s been very busy at work this week and I expect to continue to be like this during the next weeks. September will be a bit tough to do full fledged posts I’m afraid. Also I think as indiepop it’s been so quiet as of late it’s kind of hard to find topics that matter at the moment.

Of course I could do some sort of summary of new releases, new bands, or news that are worthy to mention. But I’m not that terribly excited about any new releases. Most of my last purchases have been of old records. The last records I got excited about to buy their whole discography were of Star Horse from Sweden. Then I think this week I liked a Facebook page after some time too, it was a band called Boys also from Sweden. It’s not the same Boys from the early, mid noughties, those that sung the amazing song “New Girl Born”, but a female led band. Sounds good though.

Another idea is also try to pick a scene and check what bands are interesting there, like what I did about Peru not so long ago, and what I did last week with the Spanish scene of the early 90s. Don’t know if these posts tend to be interesting to you, in the end they are a list of links and I wonder if anyone has the time to go through all of them. I’ll continue doing these, though every time I end up doing a post like this, I feel kind of empty hearted, I start thinking, damn, this fine collection of songs, why isn’t it released on a physical format?

And that same question is the one that like a ghost inhabits my head. Why are so many good collections of songs are not released anymore. There’s a big void since Firestation decided not to release the Leamington Spa series. Those were the best compilations ever. In the beginning they were all so popular, even released in both vinyl and CD format. Then as time went by, as volumes were released, it seems only the hardcore fans were into them. Without them I would have never discovered so many amazing bands like The Deddingtons or the Thin Gypsy Thieves, and wouldn’t have been able to interview so many bands that have been featured on the blog.

In general I’ve found compilations are much harder to sell than regular albums. Could be because many times the quality varies between bands and songs on them. But in cases like the Leamington Spa series this shouldn’t have mattered. It was more of a document of a time and period, and it included a booklet that illustrated and gave perspective with the bands bio and discography. Not so long ago Cherry Red did something similar with the box set of Scared to Get Happy. Problem with it, is that it was just a one-off and that it included mostly well known bands. Even though it was curated nicely, the rewards weren’t that many. It was a great introduction to indiepop perhaps, but it didn’t dig enough for those who are thirsty for the next perfect pop song.

At the same time the ideas of doing similar sort of compilations with German, Australian and Greek bands started to vanish. First of all because they are difficult to make. If it’s already super difficult to deal with one band, dealing with 20 and at the same time ends up being a headache. Some bands are easy and helpful, others are complicated and forgetful. It requires patience, and it requires for one not to lose hope. With all those difficulties, and having Cherry Red kind of taking your ideas, sales not helping, and of course, the internet, well, these compilations even though they are missed, become a very difficult enterprise to undertake.

I still dream of making one, perhaps the day the blog ends up in book format it could include a first volume compilation or something like that. Who knows. I just miss discovering new bands though compilations. I’m not going to lie, it’s easier that way, than me digging and digging online to find something. Whoever compiled the songs already did the job for me. And that’s awesome, you can only be grateful for that. People like Uwe, who knows so many fantastic bands, that releases the one single, or not even, just a demo tape, are the perfect people to do these compilations. Who knows, perhaps one day music will matter again and it just won’t be bandcamps and soundclouds, and we’ll get to spend a night listening attentively the songs and while doing that, reading about them on the booklet. But that is just wishful thinking.

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I guess then if there was going to ever be a sort of German compilation of guitar pop bands from the late 80s, early 90s, 7 Roberts would be in there for sure.

Even though I know so little about them, and only have heard one of their songs, I know they were quality. You can tell by the sound of a guitar. That song I know is “When You Smile”. How do I know it? Well, it appeared on the tape compilation “Heaven Sent” (catalog HS002) that was released by the Heaven Sent fanzine in Germany. In this compilation we find bands we’ve featured in the blog like The Wilde Plains and The Sohfas and also many other well known bands like The Haywains, The Jesterbells, Remember Fun, The Penny Candles and so on. A true pop compilation, compiled with great taste.

Robert: from the Germanic name Hrodebert meaning “bright fame”, derived from the Germanic elements hrod “fame” and beraht “bright”. The Normans introduced this name to Britain, where it replaced the Old English cognate Hreodbeorht. It has been a very common English name since that time.

But 7 of them Roberts. Doubt there were 7 band members called Roberts. Wonder where the name comes from. The only thing I know, as I said, was that they released on 7″ that included two songs: “Heaven’s Spell” and “September”. It’s interesting all this “Heaven” associated to them.

Sadly I haven’t heard these songs. Are they as good as the one that appears on the compilation?

They were released by a German label called Sworm Records. There is no catalog number and it seems this was the only release on this label. It was released in 1987.

The cover artwork is very new wave. I wonder then if they consider themselves more of a new wave act than an indie guitar pop band. Also I would like to guess the name of the label is a play on words, as they came from Worms. How did I know that? Well, there was a connection with The Wilde Plains.

Years ago I interviewed Bernd from this great German bands and when I asked them about fellow bands in their hometown they told me:
In the late eighties Worms was crowded with guitar-pop-bands. It all began with “Autumn’s Chant” in 1984 (with later Wide Plains members Bernd and Robert amongst others). When “Autumn`s chant” split up in 1986 “The Blue Eyed Bandits” (Bernd),”The Blue and White collar workers” (Robert) and a little bit later “The 7 Roberts” (Robert) were founded. Around that time Jürgen played in “The Rayn”, Christian formed “Drab Hotchpotch” while Andi joined “The Wallflowers” and later “Sonic Flower Groove”. After all the “Wide Plains” started in 1989.

And that’s all I know about 7 Roberts. Did they have more songs? Did they appear on other compilations? Would love to know a bit more about them!

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Listen
7 Roberts – When You Smile

It’s a bit of a slow week.

At nights before falling asleep I read slowly and with pleasure the book “Pequeño Circo – Historia oral del indie en España” by Nando Cruz. I was lucky that Toni could bring me this book when he visited NYC for NYC Popfest. The book, for those of you who don’t understand Spanish is a compendium of interviews to people that were involved in the Spanish indie scene since the beginning of it in the mid, late 80s.

I’m almost halfway through, I think I’ve on page 350 or so. I thought then, that as I know many people are not aware of this scene, I could introduce you to some of the good bands that appeared on that period, or at least some of my favourite songs. By the page I am now, Elefant, Siesta and Jabalina are just starting. It’s a chronological book, though it is also geographical as the chapters seem to be divided by cities where different indie pockets were appearing. So I won’t be getting into the obvious bands like La Buena Vida or Le Mans that many of the English speaking people know, but into some that may have been under your radar.

Aventuras de Kirlián is a beauty of a band. They went to become Le Mans. They were supposed to release a split record with El Joven Lagarto on the Stamp label. I hope Miguel one day puts it out even if it was supposed to be released ages ago. They released one album and was very hard to find. Their record was reissued this year as part of the Record Store Day. Of course, as like everything that is released that day, I missed it. My favourite song is not “Un Día Gris” (their most famous song) but “Entre Días Largos“.

So I was talking about El Joven Lagarto. Well they were to become another classic and legendary Spanish indiepop band, Family. The sound was already very similar, perhaps a bit more lofi, but that probably has to do with the recording studio. I love their song “Soy un Sentimental“. Shame none of their stuff has been released.

La Insidia is another pre-Family band. Less poppier than El Joven Lagarto, much more post punk. Their songs seem like lost gems from the Cherry Red catalog. Great lyrics. This is “Todavía“.

El Niño Gusano from Zaragoza are a cult band, with 3 albums and a bunch of singles. I would guess everyone in Spain that has a clue about indie knows about them. Though not thoroughly indiepop, there are some great p!o!p! slices in their repertoire. Perhaps you’d like this song called “Pon Tu Mente al Sol“.

Another band that is mentioned is El Viaje de las Flores. I’ve been lucky to interview them in the blog!

Then we have Los Vegetales who appeared on a split flexi that came along the Stamp fanzine. They shared the flexi with none other than Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes! The song they contributed was “Gallinas Gigantes Con Metralletas” which is a good song but not my favourite by them. I think my favourite is their ode to the Silver Surfer, “Estela Plateada“.

Then of course we have Meteoro, a superb and fantastic band that only left us a perfect album, “Chitty Chitty Big Bang”, as legacy. It was released in 1994 and still sounds so fresh! Last year there was a pretty nice tribute album to them too thanks to Rubén Blanco. A super fun sounding band with very ingenious lyrics, this was the sort of music that for me describes perfectly the Spicnic sound. Hard to pick a favourite song, but I’ll go for “El Increíble Mundo Menguante“.

Another great band that gets a mention in the book is Terry IV. I came to know about them thanks to a cover of their song “De Dónde Viene la Nieve” by Los Fresones Rebeldes. One album, “Nuestro Arsenal”, which I believe is more of a compilation, released in 1996, and a bunch of singles, including a split flexi with the Fat Tulips on the Stamp label, is their whole discography. Great lyrics, and always fun to listen to. Hard to pick one song again, but I’ll go by the same pick Los Fresones did: “De Dónde Viene la Nieve“.

Patrullero Mancuso at the end of their career were picked up by Elefant, but before that they had a bunch of releases on Munster Records. 5 albums during the 90s and a handful of singles, and you can see them becoming poppier and poppier since a rockier and more lo-fi start. There are many favourite songs of mine, I remember listening them a lot (even though I actually don’t own their albums, shame on me! I have to admit many of these 90s Spanish releases are hard to come by this side of the Atlantic) back when I was in Miami. I always loved “La Matanza de Lugo” (there’s a promo video for this song, but the audio is not very good).

There are many more bands mentioned in the book so far, some that deserve being skipped to be honest, but I think next week I’ll make a second part. I leave you one last song though, from a not very indiepop band, but that I actually enjoy quite a bit. It’s by Surfin’ Bichos and it’s called “Comida China y Subfusiles“. Another cult band that also after disbanding formed other classic Spanish bands like Mercromina and Chucho.

Second part next week if it’s still slow in indiepop world. In the meantime I’ll keep reading.

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I google for “Penny Priest” And well, it seems there are a few Penny with the last name Priest. There’s one that on Twitter calls herself a mum, clinical psychologist, singer, songwriter, cyclist, that was a runner once and hopes to be a swimmer. For some reason I think this is the Penny Priest I’m looking for, she wears an I Am Kloot shirt on her profile photo. Would this be the Penelope Priest that appeared with the song “Sometimes” on the amazing compilation”Manchester North of England”?

It could be. Think about it. On this compilation Johnny Dangerously from I Am Kloot (and The deBuchias) appears too. There’s a connection here. Other bands that appear in this classic compilation were the super favourite band of mine The Man From Delmonte, The Raintree County, The Waltones, Pepplekade 14, and more.

I sadly don’t  have a copy. The shipping prices for sending one record to the US from the UK at this time are just outrageous. Will have to wait for me to travel to the UK and get it there. Hopefully next year! It feels so strange that I didn’t fly there this year. I’ve been going for so many years straight! Anyhow, it’s not that rare this record, the LP version (originally it was a tape!), that you should get it!

It was released in 1988 by Bop Cassettes (BC 001). This label I knew because of their various Man From Delmonte releases, but also remember they released The Bedflowers demo tape!

The tape came in an over-sized black moulded plastic cassette case (a bit like a miniature VHS box) with with 16-page fold out insert. Black cassette shell with black paper labels. Whereas the LP version was distributed through Revolver and The Cartel and was available by mail order from BOP Cassettes in Manchester. It was presented by BOP Cassettes and City Life Magazine. Contains 14 tracks all of which were unreleased at this time. Limited to 1000 copies. Including an A4 insert with tracklist.

We also know that the title for this compilation comes from the t-shirt designed by Identity Clothing. The 14 tracks were compiled by NME journalist Jane Champion.

I find a clipping online where it says that you could get both Mirrors Over Kiev and Penny Priest’s demos from a John Slater who wrote for City Life Magazine back in 1988.

Another clipping I find on the Manchester District Music Archive is from what I presume is a photo of Penny Priest and an article talking about how Paula Greenwood from Playtime Records was organizing a series of women-only gigs at The Gallery. Everyone was going to be women, the bar staff and the door staff. Wonder if Penny Priest did play there as there’s no mention of her on the article but of two women, Faye Wray and Claire Mooney.

Another mention of the obscure Penny Priest comes from a flyer for a concert were she opens to The Rhythm Sisters at the Green Room (sponsored by Becks Bier). Then again another flyer at the same venue where the bill is: George Borowski, Johnny Dangerously, Bob Dillinger, Penny Priest, and Kevin Seisay. The gig is aptly titled “5 Go to Play Guitar”.

And that my friends is all I can find about her. The thing is, this one song, “Sometimes”, is a true jangly beauty. So I wonder, if anyone out there has her demo or any other songs by her. Would love to know more about Penny Priest, her gigs, her band, her songs and her Manchester. And why she didn’t get to release anything!

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Listen
Penny Priest – Sometimes

A few days ago I got the 3rd edition of Rich Levene’s “Last Train To Eastleigh!” zine. A simple zine, a folded page, printed on both sides and folded 3 ways. But reading it it’s always great. Something so simple, and so cool, that anyone, and everyone, should do. A perfect way to share the music you love and introduce some bands to whoever ends up reading you! On this last issue there are also two articles, ‘Pop Anarchy!’ and ‘Southampton Indiepop City’. Again, a great read!

My friend Vernon got me thinking the other day after a wee chat online. We were both kind of moaning that we weren’t aware about the newer indiepop releases. That we just keep checking and buying old stuff. Stuff we missed from the 90s, stuff we want from the 80s, stuff that were under our radars in the noughties. But from today? We have no clue! I thought that was scary, how can we be good fans or supporters if we don’t get to know what’s going on.

Okay, I do know more or less about new releases. Especially those on labels I follow, like Shelflife, Matinée, and so on. Also the releases that friends of mine are putting out. Facebook seems to be a great tool for that. But for example, those bands that have nothing to do with these labels, or have nothing to do with my friends, well, if I’m lucky I discover them months after, or even years after. And that’s not good. If I could discover them when they are putting out their stuff, perhaps I could spread the word you know? Not that many people trust my taste. But some do!

With the disappearance of indiepop blogs in the past few years, there is no space for indiepop news on the web. I try now and then to show my new discoveries, but I know it’s not even close to be enough. There is the Indiepop Shop Talk group on Facebook were people post about their new stuff, but I feel it’s not the right format for it. A blog, a sort of Tumblr perhaps, would be the best. Maybe a new band a day kind of thing. Or a new release a day even. But who could put something like this together? It’s been shown that a group of people, a team, doesn’t work. It has to be someone with discipline and most importantly good taste! You know, you are going to be receiving a lot of emails, and it’s not going to be only guitar pop, it’s going to be rock, reggae, electronic etc etc. People don’t respect! If it says we only receive indiepop submissions, they never care. They just love the spam. I never understood that.

Anyways, something like that would work so nicely. But to be honest, I see this not happening soon. I think most of us are getting older too and we have less and less time. We have so much on our plate. I will always cross fingers and hope someone in the new generation of indiepop fans would do something like this. But for that, we have to wait.

BUT, perhaps you have a better idea on how to keep all of us in the loop. My trick so far, which is not ideal, is to check the new stuff that Jigsaw Records is carrying in his store. I don’t know how Chris does it, but he always has the latest on his mailorder. That has worked well for me, but it’s not the perfect solution. You can’t really preview the songs there or learn much about the band. Something that has a bit more of curation would be better. What do you think? How feasible is something like this? What platform would work better? How could we have some sort of a small newspaper of what’s going on in the indiepop world. Forums, Facebook pages, and even blogs, all have failed. Is there a solution?

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I stumbled upon the fantastic Brick Supply thanks to another obscure compilation. “Twice Wi’ Scraps For Me Mam An’ Our Lass ….Please” co-released by Confidential Records and Launch Pad included two songs by the Brick Supply. The songs were “Mellow Rape”, this one even opening the compilation, and “Inside a Mattress Van”, closing the compilation. This LP released in 1991 (catalog FILE 015) included some other bands that I would love to check out like Fear of Jazz, Bagpuss, Want and Buzzing Chairs. Wonder if they are as good as Brick Supply!

This compilation, which sadly I don’t have (price seems to be a bit steep at the moment), incuded the Launch Pad Promotions Newsletter No.1 . This was a booklet that contained details on the bands that were included in this compilation. Would be great perhaps if someone helps me with a scan of the Brick Supply page, to learn more about this band.

Well, the thing was that “Mellow Rape” is such a beautiful song, I think it was Uwe from Firestation Records that said: “this very very obscure compilation LP feat. one of the most greatest indiepop-tunes ever: “Mellow Rape“ by BRICK SUPPLY. Think on Ala Pana Fuzo, early Trash Can Sinatras, Bob Hope or Hey Paulette. What an amazing song!!!”

Digging a bit more on Discogs I find that they contributed another song in 1992 to a compilation called “Weird and Wonderful” on Rough Trade (JAC 001CD). The song was called “Grid of Absence”. This compilation has some familiar bands on it, bit more indie rock to be honest, like Pavement, Carter USM or Nikki Sudden among others.

The only other listing on Discogs is the song “Not So Manic Now” that appears on the compilation “Music Couture” released in 1994 on the VMP label out of Singapore. Don’t know much about most of the bands in it, only The Pearly Gatecrashers, a favorite of mine, appear in it.

Anyhow, this song, “Not So Manic Now”, is perhaps their most famous song, but not because of them, but because Dubstar covered it in 1995 releasing it in so many different formats and even recording a promo video. It was even a top 20 UK hit in 1996. Maybe you’ve heard it.

Keep digging. Wikipedia doesn’t give me a hit, but it does show me the band that the members from Brick Supply went to form afterwards. They were called The Boy Tate. The first paragraph already clears many questions:
The Boy Tate, consisting of writer/guitarist David Harling and singer Andrew Tate aka Tat, originated in England in 1999. After the breakup of their previous band, Brick Supply, the duo worked hard to produce their first album If This Is An Answer. With help from a few friends, The Boy Tate continue to create beautifully arranged melodies compared to the likes of Simon & Garfunkel. In The Head Of The Ice Cream Girl followed in 2002. Pianist Tony Wade joined the band for the third album, Flagrante Delicto.

On this same Wikipedia entry there’s a Brick Supply release in their discography! I struck gold. It’s the 1994 EP “Somebody’s Intermezzo”. I look around where to get this record, where can I buy it. Happily I find a decent priced used copy on Amazon UK.

I guess when it arrives home I could check the credits and see if I’m missing anything about them. The only things I know about this release comes from Last.fm. There it says that the label that released it was Rough Cuts. And that it includes four songs: “Not So Manic Now“, “Grid of Absence“, “The Why That Makes Me Anxious” and “Semi Personal Asylum“.

I struck gold once again. There’s a user on Youtube that has uploaded songs from an early tape from the band, perhaps a demo. There’s a very early version of “Mellow Rape” that is glorious! I start reading the comments and people seem to have seen them back in the 90s in a venue called Cellar at Perry’s (that is now called Inside Out). Then another comment mentions that the band recorded the songs in Darlington. Another mentions that there was a sampler tape called “Circulation” that had 4 or 5 different bands included Brick Supply.

Another of the early songs is called “Instant Rebels“. This one sounds really lo-fi sadly. The third song has a cool title, “My Beautiful Kebab House“. Such a good song!! Then there’s even more songs on Youtube, there’s one called “Family Planning”, another called “Mr Cageworthy”, and there’s “Cellophane”. There’s an “Instrumental” too. Enough songs to put together a really good CD retrospective don’t you think? It would be fantastic! And who knows, there might even be more songs. And if they have the quality of all of these, damn!

So anyone remembers them? Did you see them play? Did they have more songs? Were they involved in any other bands? Maybe they contributed to more compilations? Would be great to know more about this fantastic obscure band!

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Listen
Brick Supply – Mellow Rape