First post I am writing since returning from my holidays. To get back into blogging I need to go back to my “origins”, to the time I remember with nostalgia, when I was discovering indiepop, those early 2000s.

A time where Swedish pop reigned supreme. Lots of great bands and labels. Mostly lo-fi bedroom pop which we found through the peer-to-peer program Soulseek. We made friends, we became fans. It was a good time.

There was a label called Bedroom Records then. I’ve written about some bands on it like Thehelpmeplease, Happy Go Lucky or Agent Simple. These were mainly guitar pop bands, today’s band Back in Judy’s Shack, it was more of an eletronic pop one.

On this label most, if not all, of its releases were CDRs. That was the format of the day. Very limited copies but we still would get physical releases with artwork.

Back in Judy’s Shack self-released mini-album came out in 2005 with the catalog number BED021. It had 7 songs, “Winter Days”, “Burning Cold”, “Breath”, “The Puff, The Drag, The Whiff”, “Silence”, “The Forest” and “What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life”.

The songs had been written, produced, mixed, arranged and played by Johan Cederberg and Josefine Jinder.

Johan would be in other projects like Montauk and HNNY, as well as playing solo, while Josefine is more known as Little Jinder. She was also part of the fantastic Your Place or Mine, a band I hope I can interview someday (it is one of my favourite bands of that period).

Sam Carlshamre from Corduroy Utd. and the fantastic Jämna Plågor, who also contributed trombone to a song of Your Place or Mine, played trombone in the song “Burning Cold”. Andreas Wallgren, also known as [brus], wrote and sang the song “Breath”.

The art of the CD is credited to Helga Bärnarp.

This CDR would be repressed 3 years later, in 2008, by the US label Series Two (ST015). Same tracklist. 300 copies. Just different artwork.

The band would also appear on two compilations. On “Series Two Compilation Vol. 23” (ST51) from 2009 the band had “The Puff, The Drag, The Whiff” and on “Series Two Records Christmas Special” (ST89) of the same year they had “Footsteps in the Snow”.

Then they split of course and released more music with different projects I already mentioned. I wonder though where are they now? I’d be curious to know what their thoughts are looking back to those days of Back in Judy’s Shack. And of course, who wouldn’t, I am curious about the band’s name. Was Judy a real person?

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Back in Judy’s Shack – The Puff, The Drag, The Whiff

Never heard of a guitar pop band from Kentucky.

I don’t know much about this U.S. state to be honest. Sure you can joke and say everyone knows KFC. But I am talking about music. Especially the type of music that interests me.

So I was surprised when I found that sometime in the 80s there was a four-piece called The Side that released a 7″ by themselves. An EP of four songs: “Jimmy” and “Burnt Pages” on the A side and “Watching the World” and “The Forgotten” on the B side.

Thanks to Youtube I have listened to just one of the tracks, “Watching the World”, which sounds great.

The uploader mentions that he thinks the band hailed from a town called Bowling Green. It looks like a very nice town. The biggest city, closer to it, is Nashville in Tennessee.

About the band we know a few details thanks to the back of the record sleeve.

It tells us that they were formed by Christian Breeding on bass and backing vocals, Scott Stewart on drums and backing vocals, Tommy Shriver on lead guitar and backing vocals and Robert Allen on guitar and lead vocals.

All of the songs were recorded and mixed at Midsouth Recording Studio in Woodburn, Kentucky. They were engineered by Stephen Webber and were mastered at Nashville Record Productions.

That’s all there is. Anyone can help me with more info about them? Anyone seen a copy of this record at all? Seems rare!

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The Side – Watching the World

December 1991. The Pop Club at the Bull & Gate.

It is Saturday the 14th and the bill has The Prime Movers with Disneyhood supporting. I have never heard any of these bands. 6 days later the club is hosting the Sarah Records Xmas Party and I would love to travel back in time to attend that.

But yes, I know Heavenly and all Sarah bands. I saw Heavenly last year. And it seems I will see them again this year now in New York City.

But what about these other bands playing the week before. Disneyhood? Strange name?

I do find on Soundcloud a bunch of recordings. They are of various quality. They had been uploaded 12 years ago by Steve Brooks who I assume was part of the band. There are no details about any of the songs or about the band. The sound of the band sounds like the early 90s though, so they must be the same band that played at The Pop Club.

Steve Brooks seems to be based in Seaford, UK. I’ve never heard of this place. Seems it is by the sea, in East Sussex. Close to Eastbourne and Newhaven. The Seven Sisters cliffs and Beachy Head are close by too.

Among the songs uploaded, there are five that are numbered, they may have come from the same demo tape? These are “Slight Return”, “Hitch Hiker”, “Amazing”, “Do it Again” and “Bonedive”.

Aside from those tracks, there are two more: “Turnaround” and “Unreal.”

The only other thing I find about them is that the band played at the North Wembley East Lane Flag in London on Friday February 8th of 1991 alongside The Lampards. This according to Sounds.

Who remembers this band? Did any well-known indiepop bands share gigs with them? Did they put out any records? Let me know on the comment box.

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Disneyhood – Turnaround

Happy New Year!

Hope this year is a good one for everyone. With lots of great music to discover!

When I saw a flyer of The Cube Club at the Bull & Gate club showing the gigs for the month of November in 1990 I started looking for some of the bands that I had never heard before.

Dan Dares Dog was the first band I was able to find some music of theirs. But they were too punkish for my taste. The next band I found music was The Waiting Sound, and it was a very good shoegaze track!

On this flyer it shows The Waiting Sound supported Life With Patrick and The Cherry Blades on November 13 of 1990. But did you know they actually released a record?

I didn’t!

It came out in 1990 on a label called Energy-Vent (EV001). Was this their own label? It probably was. It is the only release listed for this label on Discogs.

The record included just two songs, “Give Her Tomorrow” on the A side and “Astounding” on the B side.

We know that the band was formed by Wayne Kennedy on vocals, Chris Conklin on guitar and backing vocals, Dean Lewis on guitar, Karl Mault on bass and Pete Martin on drums, backing vocals and sitar.

The engineer for the record was Gavin Bearsby-Lewis while the songs were produced by the band and Adrian Borland of The Sound. Wow, really cool!

Looking at what the band members had done after or before I find out that Chris Conklin was on 8 Storey Window, Axiom and Radiation. There is a Pete Martin that is a well known house/trance music producer, but I am not sure if it is the same Pete Martin.

Other than that release I know there was a demo which I believe was called “Where’s Sharon Tate”.

On Youtube I find that Wayne Kennedy had uploaded some songs, a year ago. He is going solo these days and has recorded 5 songs.

The last thing I find is an issue of January 26, 1991 of Music Week. On it there is a mention of the band where it confirms that the label was their own. They compare Wayne’s vocals to Julian Cope and the sound of the band to Ride and My Bloody Valentine.

And that’s all my friends. Now, who can let me listen to their demo tape? Very curious!

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The Waiting Sound – Give Her Tomorrow

In 2021 there was a retrospective album by The Telephone Boxes on Detour Records (DRLP088) that I missed. I feel bad about it. My record buying habits have decreased considerably since becoming a dad.

It is hard to keep up. But I think this record is one I would definitely want to have. I should keep my eyes peeled. Maybe I’ll be lucky sometimes.

The first time I heard about this band was thanks to an interview I did with Pete Brickley of the wonderful band The Wallflowers. Before being in The Wallflowers he had been in The Telephone Boxes. This is what he told me:

I left The Telephone Boxes, shortly after our support slot on the first Smiths tour to start a solo career but was persuaded by Warner Chapell to take a band name (from page 1 issue 1 of Spiderman).

Telephone Boxes were utterly amazing (the Smiths invited us on their first tour and paid our expenses and a modest wage)we sounded like a cross between The Fall & an ice cream van. We recorded four demos for various record companies,every Smiths gig, and lots of home tapes. Maybe we can release some of it one day.

The Telephone Boxes was formed in 1982 by Pete Brickley (vocals, guitar), Charlie Allen (bass, backing vocals), Adam Wood (guitar, backing vocals) and Patrick Hunt (drums, and he would continue working with Pete on The Wallflowers). The band would be active until 1985. Also worth noting that on the song “Theme from Interpol” the drummer was Mark “Sparky” Davies.

Previously Patrick had been in Aztec Camera. Pete Brickley was on The Mystery Girls and The Xtensions. Adam Wood had also been in The Mystery Girls as well as in Frankenstein’s Baby, The Company and The Famous Men.

The record that Detour released in 2021 included a plethora of songs. It was an LP and CD combo. The songs on the LP are repeated on the CD, but the compact disc includes 12 more songs. These are: “Lazy Time”, “Language of the Land”, “Little White Lies”, “You’re the One”, “I Don’t Like to Repeat Myself (Live)”, “Thank You”, “Theme from Interpol”, “Please Yourself”, “Hallelujah I Was Born”, “One Day”, “Now That We’re Friends”, “A Twist of Fate”, “Love Was Here (Live)”, “STYLE”, “Affection”, “I Read a Book”, “Good Fortune”, “Boomerang Jack”, “Camouflage”, “A Great Big River”, “Down and Out”, “Everybody’s Fool”, “Broken Up”, “Living in Trees”, “Deadbeat (Live)” and “Relatively Speaking”. The songs were written sometimes by Pete and others by Adam.

This record was very limited sadly. 150 copies in black vinyl and 100 on red. The album includes their demos as well as live tracks from their Smiths tour.

On my blog I find another mention about the Telephone Boxes. It is on the post about the band Ala Pana Fuzo. There I wrote: “There’s an interesting bio on last.fm written by Ian Miller himself. Among the many interesting facts written, he mentions that they often played on the same bill with Peter Brickley, from the Telephone Boxes and the more known Wallflowers as he was also from Slough. They were also very close to signing to a major label but it didn’t happen.”

A post on The Guardian tells us a little bit more about Peter and The Telephone Boxes: “The Wallflowers were the creation of Peter Brickley (who always styled himself Peter d Brickley). He’d come to the attention of Marr via his previous band, the Telephone Boxes, who had supported the Smiths. It’s possible he didn’t have the Stakhanovite work ethic required to make a success of a music career: his RIckenbacker guitar was backed with a large sticker with the word “acid” written in block capitals; he played more often with Slough’s jokey country band the Company than he did with his own group.”

I start to wonder why did I miss this. I haven’t heard all the songs on the record. Just a few and they are fantastic. I’m pissed. Only now, 2 years after the fact I am seeing my mistake. And happily all the songs are on Soundcloud. Sure, not the same as playing the real thing, but this is nice too!

What else is there to say about them? Well yes, they played at many places including, at the Nelson Mandela Hall  and London King’s College (both with Hurrah! and Felt), at the Leicester De Montfort Hall, the Warwick University Arts Centre and Reading University (with The Smiths), at Dingwalls (with The Smiths and The Daintees), at the Lyceum in the Strand (with The Smiths, Billy Bragg and The Redskins), at Libertys (with Death Pop), at the ICA (with The Room and The Red Guitars), at the Windsor Arts Centre (with The Smashing and Death Pop), Mothers Wardrobe in Slough, Studio One and at The Rock Garden among others.

Lastly on Youtube there are two videos, titled “The Last Twist Part #1” and “The Last Twist Part #2“. Check them out!

I lost touch with Pete Brickley since I interviewed him ages ago. So yeah, would love to reconnect, maybe find out more about this wonderful band. Also hoping for a reissue someday! Anyone remember them?

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The Telephone Boxes – Language of the Land

Just a heads up that the last day to order records from Cloudberry will be on Sunday. After that I won’t be able to mail any orders until mid January.

I’ll continue blogging during this time though, I will have the computer with me.

Also keep an eye for an early release early next year by the label, our first 10″! By a beloved Swedish band! Very exciting!

I’m going back in time. Down memory lane as they say. Remember NYC Popfest 2007. That was my first Popfest. Seems like a long time. But I have vivid memories. I can still recall the Bunnygrunt gig in Coney Island. Or chatting with Duglas before the BMX Bandits played. Good times.

There are gigs I dont remember. I am sure I saw Affair D’Coeur but I can’t recall the gig. I remember their name very well though, and now and then it crosses my mind. I should have written about them before. I know I want to remember. Was it a full-fledged band? For some reason I think it was a duo. It is hazy.

They were from NYC. I think that’s right. And I remember they played at The Delancey. That night when I first saw The Baskervilles who at the time were among my favourite bands. I was impressed. The Secret History played that night too. I didn’t know Mike Grace yet. I was impressed by his band and giddy to see ex-My Favourite people on stage.

One detail I remember clearly about Affair D’Coeur was the photo/avatar they had on Myspace. A cartoon pigeon. That doesn’t show up anymore. There is still a Myspace but of course that doesn’t work.

There should be some songs in there. At least their names. “Don’t Tell Me”, “Heart on Demand” and “Oh No December” appear to me. Can you find anymore? They don’t play for sure. Click on music and you get a broken page.

A brief bio I find says they were from Brooklyn. That they recorded their tracks either on or using a Tascam 414 MK II. That they were a bedroom pop band. A lo-fi indiepop band.

Discogs only lists a compilation appearance. It is on CDR I have never heard about, “Loose Sips Sink Ships” released by Indieskys Records (ISY 001). Not sure what year it was. Four songs were included: “Long Drive AKA To My Friends”, “Do You Wanna Go With Me?”, “Heart on Demand” and “Port of Call”. I’m not familiar with the other bands on it.

Other than this I know the band played a gig on March 24 of 2007, before the Popfest. It was at 29 Wythe St. in Williamsburg along The Manhattan Love Suicides, Titus Andronicus, Fellows and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Just two months before the Popfest.

Perhaps the best find is that there was a video made for the song “What I Need“. Other videos on this account has songs by a band called MiamiBeachNY… maybe one of the members was involved in this band.

I can’t find names. I can’t find other songs. But clearly they made an impression on me. I remember them and have been wondering what happened to this band. It’s been about 15 years since I heard them. It’s been fun to at least listen to one of their tracks again.

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Affair D’Coeur – What I Need

Today we travel to Brisbane, Australia. Home of The Go-Betweens. But also many other good bands. Here is one I didn’t know about, that I just discovered, Modern Poets.

In 1989 they were making their debut with the release of a 7″ on Big Noise Records (M.P-1230NIT) which probably was their own label. This record had two songs, “Understanding Mary” on the A side and “Redsun” on the B side. It was recorded at Vibrafeel Studios in their hometown and was co-produced by the band and Michael Borkowski.

In 1991 the band would release a cassette album titled “Politics, Poetry and…”. It was put out by Big Noise Records (MP 223740) and was again recorded at Vibrafeel Studios and mastered by Jim Baker at Willowtree Studios.

The album had the following songs, “She Says”, “Ethic of Love”, “Rock Strength”, “Crushed”, “Understanding Mary” and “Driving” on the A side and “Big Slide”, “Planet Go to Rest”, “Fall from Grace”, “Forest Fire”, “Everything is Fine”, “Epiphany” and “This Burning Town” on the flipside.

We learn too that the band was formed by Jonathon Sargeant on vocals, Ben Thomson on bass, Timothy Hills on strings and Philip Neil on drums. Timothy was the one who wrote the music.

Other than these two releases we know that their song “Red Sun” appeared on “Triple M FM 104 Homegrown” LP compilation released by Wheatley Records (TWOHG 004) in 1990.

Then I find a Facebook page for the band. Here I learn that the band started in 1983.

I find there a video of the band playing the song “Feel the Light“. On that same account by Timothy Hills, there are more videos of them, for example the band practicing at Oxley Hall in the Gap in 1985. Recording at Star Sound after Winning the Triple MM Homegrown in 1988. Or live on Channel Seven on a Saturday morning. And what about a fun short video after an interview?

There’s a video for “Everything is Fine” too.

Then I find that the band reunited for a gig on October 4th, 2014.

And lastly on Yotube I find the band’s song “Fear of the Fall” being played live at the Festival Hall in Brisbane in 1985. There is no live footage though. But can check the song.

Another little detail I find is that these days Tim, Jonathon and Phil  make music with a project called Dolby System.

Good stuff, right?

What do you all remember about the Modern Poets? Did they play live much? Did they release any other records?

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Modern Poets – Understanding Mary

Have you heard of a Bristol 80s band called Hope Springs?

I didn’t know about them. Quite surprised. They had a good sound, and quality songs.

9 of their songs were published as a digital album by Bristol Archive Records in 2020. These are available on different streaming platforms. I found Youtube the best to listen to them.

The songs are “Nat Kat”, “Perfect Day”, “Take”, “Higher than Love”, “Song & Dance”, “The Love Mine”, “Tears Disappear”, “Wild Weird Climes” and “Confetti”.

The songs seem to date from 1989 and we know that the band was formed by Andrew Garrett on vocals, Pat Lewington on guitar and backing vocals, David Crossland on bass, Cindy Baldwin on keyboards and backing vocals and Dave Jones on drums.

I search a little bit and find a Facebook page for them that was set up in 2017.

There I find that the band came from the ashes of another band called Under the Orange. How did that band sound like? Which members were on that band? It seems it was the same band with the aaddition of Pat Lewington.

There are two scans of reviews they got. Both are from a magazine called Rhythm, on the April 1989 edition they praise the band a lot and then on March 1990 edition there is a mention that Hope Springs was selected as the best demo band for that month.

We also know that the band played the usual venues in Bristol including The Fleece, The Bridge and The Tropic. In London they played at the Rock Garden and the Mean Fiddler.

In total the band recorded 3 demo sessions. Cindy left after the second one and the band split after the third.

Anyone know anything else about them?

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Hope Springs – Wild Weird Climes

Here is a great Bandcamp find. The self-released tape album by French band Tous Les Cactus!

This self-titled album came out 30 years ago, in 1994. And from what I understand the band may be preparing a vinyl version of it. For that I guess we’ll need to be checking now and then their Bandcamp.

The album, made of 8 studio songs and 4 live tracks at Le Plan, is an interesting record for sure. It was recorded in the UK actually, at Swamp Studio in July of 1993. At this studio in Great Ellingham, Norfolk, the band worked with Howard Turner s sound engineer and Michel Belan as producer.

The songs on the record are “HP”, “Sur ta Bouche”, “Allons Voir”, “Happy Hour”, “Jardin Fantastique”, “Flic Flac”, “La Lune”, “A La Dérive”, “Dans l’Air (Live, Le Plan, Ris Orangis, 1994):”, “Sur les Quais (Live le Plan 1994)”, “Démons et Merveilles (Live le Plan 1994) and “Derrière la porte (Live Le Plan 1994)”.

The band was formed by  Jean Daniel Domenech on vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica and accordion, Yann Bailay on electric guitar and keyboards, Jean-Philippe Bailay on bass and André ‘Dedé’ Domenech on drums. Was it then, two set of brothers? Would be good to know.

Also on this record Dominic Hopkins and Jack Matthew played strings.

Other than this tape album the band appeared on a couple of compilation tapes. In 1993 they had the song “Dans l’Air” on “Simple as Them”, a tape released by Ora Pro Nobis (OPN 9303) in France.

The next year, 1994, their song “Au Hasard” was on “Quality Sweet” released by Pâte A Modeler (001) in France and the song “Sur Ta Bouche” on “Des Gens Simples” tape released by Ora Pro Nobis (OPN 9402).

Back to the album. On their Bandcamp there are a few reviews including two at Les Inrockuptibles, one at Charivari! and another at Les Jolies Mélodies.

Very cool sounding band for sure. A very good discovery. I knew them by name as I had looked into the “Quality Sweet” compilation as I have featured a few bands that have appeared on it, but never heard Tous les Cactus until today.

I definitely want to hear more. And learn more about them! French friends, please share any details you might have! Where in France were they from? Did they play much live? Why no more records?!

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Tous les Cactus – La Lune

Some time ago I interviewed Mark Turrell from the band Evergreen Dazed. This was a duo formed by Mark and Elizabeth that was active in the early 90s in London. They released a few records during their time.

I had asked Mark about previous bands he had been in. He mentioned that he had been in many since 1984 but he didn’t share any names. This is what he told me:

I’ve been in bands since I started at university in 1984. The first one was with my housemates. None of us could play very well so we used to improvise in the basement and record it on a boom box. It’s terrible, but I still have the tapes. There was student band night in May 1986, so we learned 6 obscure indie covers and played them in front of 800 students. We weren’t very good, but that was my first gig! After university I was in a slew of bands with my friends back where I grew up in Leicester UK. I had an electric guitar and a Boss drum machine, another friend had drums, another had a bass and bought a 4 track  recorder, and  that’s where I  learned my songwriting and recording chops. That would be 1987-91. I played gigs and there are loads of 4 track recordings, one or two are on youtube/soundcloud but none of them will ever be officially released. One of my oldest friends from this time is Neil Carlill who went on to be in Delicatessen and have brief UK chart success in indie supergroup Lodger. We grew up in the same village and I was in the same school year as his brother for a while until  their parents sent them off to Catholic school. We were in bands together on and off for 5 years until we went our respective ways.

Well that is true, some of these recordings are in Soundcloud/Youtube. And as I am quite slow at going through these, it was only today that I heard of his project The Burton Diaries.

In this band he was with Neil Carlill who he mentions. Also on the band was Kevin Carlill. Were they brothers? In any case I’ve found one song they recorded, “Crying Eyes“, which is ace. On this song, recorded in 1989/1990 as an 8 track demo, we find Kevin doing vocals, Neil guitar and Mark bass.

From what I understand, in this period Mark lived in East Goscote in Leicestershire. Leicester is the closest city. Maybe that’s where this band was based?

I don’t have much more info on this project. Did they play live? Are there any other recordings? Maybe I should ask Mark…

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The Burton Diaries – Crying Eyes