A couple of days ago I bought for a mere $1.50 on Amazon a compilation called “Pure Spun Sugar” released in 1998 by two labels together: American Pop Project and Candy Floss. It feels like a compendium of many small bands from those days, including some known names like Dressy Bessy, Cuckooland, Aquadays or Poastal, to name a few. It flows nicely, and surprises at many points. My first surprise is that Dizzy Joghurt, the great twee-ish band from Japan, was already in the radar of some labels in the USA, I have never understood why they aren’t more known. Second surprise was that The Brian Jonestown Massacre song included is quite good. I admit never listening to them because I think they have a terrible name. Maybe they have some stuff that’s worth? And the last surprise I get from it, is a track called “Phil Spector’s Birthday Song”.

The compilation includes many California bands, I wonder why. From the 14 songs on it, 6 are from the Golden State. That’s 43%! Two of these bands, from the 43% clutch, are from San Diego, the great Red Dye No.5 and the unknown to me, The Sleazy Beats. They are the ones who have penned that tribute song to Phil Spector, that whose wall of sound is over exaggerated nowadays with the reverb tuned up to the max. And no, today it’s not his birthday, I’m not doing any sort of tribute myself. We are a month away actually, Mr. Spector was born the same day as baby Jesus, December 25th. And anyways, he will spend his birthday in the state prison of Corcoran. Don’t think he’ll have a big celebration.

‘Kind of like the Wall of Sound/You stand tall forever…’ –  The Sleazy Beats sing.  Also as the song starts to fade, a guitar countermelody first features the line associated with the words ‘be my, be my baby,’ and then the one for ‘to know, know, know him…’ The song is full of nods to Phil Spector. But are there any nods or hints to who The Sleazy Beats were? The answer is no. I looked online for more information about them just to come empty handed.

The only other clue is an address written on the compilation. 6633 Solita Avenue, San Diego. Plotted the address on Google Maps, and went ahead to some modern stalking skills. Street View! A one floor white house comes up. A small US flag hanging outside, the front porch surrounded with a white picket fence. A lovely house, a big garage, and I assume at least 2 bedrooms. There are only four houses on this block, two in this side of the street, big enough to house a band. Also it seems to have a big garden in the back and a bungalow! Perfect place to store the drums! But then, 10 years have passed and most probably they have moved away and some retired couple is now living and gardening this house.

This case seems to have too many lose-ends and not many clues for the indiepop detective. Whatever happened to The Sleazy Beats? Did they release any other songs? Did anyone remembers them playing live? Judging from the poptastic “Phil Spector’s Birthday Song”, they were up for something special.

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Listen
The Sleazy Beats – Phil Spector’s Birthday Song

Just arrived to work from a busy morning working on some label stuff. Got my hair all messy after carrying 500 records from the first floor to the third floor of my building, which is the part I dislike the most when there’s a new release coming. 500 records are really heavy to carry at once, you can get sweaty! Then back again to the first floor and pick up a box with 500 sleeves and another with the 500 inserts. Then go back upstairs. I wonder how come I don’t look like Charles Atlas.

So yes, the new Oh! Custer 7″ is ready to ship even though the release date is on Monday the 15th. For that I set up a newsletter to be sent at 6:00 am eastern time, as it is also noon in Europe. Around lunch time, when people check their emails. Then, the emailing continued. Got some good orders from different international shops and hopefully I will be able to afford paying the sleeves’ invoice that will be coming up soon. Press sheet is done, courtesy of the great writing of my friend Emelie, and I just ordered 100 more pins to be given away for free. My pulse beats fast, I hope I’m not forgetting anything. Then comes the part I like the most: opening the boxes. I’m considering on purchasing a box-cutter for Christmas.

Some nice records also arrived today for my collection, new 7″s, and new CDs. Happy times. But also I get an email from fellow obscure-indiepop enthusiast Matt Mastin asking me if I checked a band called “On the Pulsebeat” on the Harlow Bands jukebox. Yes, the same page were we discovered more songs from the great Some Other Day. My answer is no. I’ve never heard about this band, ever. He tells me: “that track “Living at the same address” is truly a long lost indie classic if I’ve ever heard one !!” So I run and check. And he is right. This is great stuff! Who are they?! And again, my pulse beat accelerates. I need to know. I need to find out who this band is. And I have to go to work, and there’s not much time in between, but I know I won’t be happy with myself until I exhaust every effort in trying to figure out who this fantastic Harlow band was.

Clearly, On The Pulsebeat’s pulse beat stopped beating a long time ago, during the mid-80s. The small bio on the Harlow page says:

On The Pulsebeat were Kevin Wells on bass, Ewart Richardson on guitar, Jane Hawkins on synth, Barry Rice on guitar and Ray Davies on drums. In 1985 after recording “Castles In The Air” Jane left and Jo Maskell joined. They recorded “FIVE” together. They entered the Rock Competition in 1984 and 1985 but failed to reach finals on both occasions.

At first listen, especially on their upbeat tracks, they remind me to the obscure band Hearts on Fire, that released an album on Midnight Music and I believe should deserve a post here on the Lost Bands section! It seems they only recorded two tapes, the aforementioned  “Castles in the Air” and “Five”. On “Castle in the Air” the tracks included were “The Price You Pay”, “False Situation” and “Discovery”. It was recorded in Stable Studio and it was produced by Gary Westcott. On their second demo tape, “Five”, we find the tracks “Now”, “Loneliness”, “Inside Story”, “Living at the Same Address” and “The Touch”. This time the songs were produced and recorded by John Brown. But it seems there were more recordings, perhaps another tape, as we find on the Harlow page jukebox some more songs like “Lost and Found”, “Running”, “The Events” and “The Price You Pay”.

A google search gives me no results. I check their previous bands listed in this page, “Blue Heaven” and “Foundation”, and there’s no information. This is it. There’s no more. Time is running and I have to run to work. Seems there’s nowhere else to look for more info about them. Thus, to keep my mind sane, I decided that my last resort is to write this blog post, calling out, asking if anyone can fill in the blanks. Whatever happened to On the Pulsebeat? When did it stop beating?

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Listen
On the Pulsebeat – Living at the Same Address

It’s just some other day, some other Sunday here. It’s a quiet one. For once the temperature has dropped under 15 degrees and, without the hellish warmth of this town, the days seem longer. My worries revolve around having printing sleeves for a new release and noticing there is a mistake on the track list, thus they have to be trashed. Very annoying, will have to print a new set. Also cut them and glue them together. Lost of hours lost. It’s really just some other day.

Among the exciting things, this upcoming week will be like Christmas on my snail mail. First I’m receiving the inserts for the Oh! Custer 7″, then the 7″s themselves and later the sleeves. Ready to ship to the  ones who have pre-ordered it. Think I’ll need to change the blade on my cutter too, lots of inserts to cut! The other news is that I already received a proof of the new album I’m releasing on the new label I’m putting together with my friend Victor Raul, it looks good, but we need to make a few changes as it didn’t print as we wanted. So now we are looking forward to a new proof copy. We are hoping for a December 1st release, and we should unveil the website any day now. It’s looking very nice. But then, most weeks are like Christmas on my mailbox, so just some other week.

Anyhow, that album we are releasing has been on heavy rotation on my CD player. It’s called “Australia” and it’s by Gothenburg band “Tellus about the Moon“. It’s really nice, it’s haunting! There’s some bright guitars, a lot of elegance, and trumpets! The boy/girl vocals are delicious on it. It has taken us ages to be able to put it together and at last it seems we have it, the ball is rolling on this new project. And yes, I said haunting before, and you know what haunts me when I listen to this album? I hear the ghosts of a long lost 80s band: Some Other Day. Their spirit is very much alive on this record. I feel and sense so many similarities, that gives me the chills. And not like it is a copycat or anything, but it feels both bands were in the same brainwave 20 years apart!

Some Other Day had those bright guitars, that elegance, that melancholy in the vocals, and these dreamy boy/girl vocals that are my weakness. They didn’t get to release an album sadly. They didn’t get to release anything proper. Just two songs on compilations. The first one was “Sad But True” on the “Uncle Arthur’s Pop Parlour” tape that our friend David Driscoll released. The other was “Bury Your Sins” on the “Not Just Mandela” LP, a tribute album for South Africa’s then president that included bands like The Housemartins, The Sullivans or even Billy Bragg.  This one I haven’t had yet the chance to listen sadly. They did release at least one demo tape that included 4 fab songs: “Head Still Full of You”, “All Water Under the Bridge”, “It Stays With Me Always” and “Midnight”. This little collection of songs are wonderful! You can stream them from here, the Harlow Bands Jukebox.

After listening to these songs I immediately went to google and tried to find any information about them, hopefully a contact, as I would love to interview them. I did find Mark Walshe, the vocalist and leader of the band, on myspace, but still he hasn’t signed on it. Seems he is living in San Francisco. There is a very interesting blurb there:

Mark is from England. He has been living in San Francisco for the last 14 years but only came for a two month visit. His big brother once took him up to Twin Peaks at the very top of the city and said “all this could be yours”. It wasn’t his to give, but the point was well made. Through his teens and into his twenties Mark played in bands back in England. Lots of good rock and roll groups. He’s from Harlow Town which is just a hop and a skip from North London. Back in the 70’s and 80’s, at first glance, Harlow appeared to be nothing more than a large training camp for Tottenham and West Ham football holligans. Thanks to the one and only decent local venue called ‘The Square’ Mark met many fine musicians and got involved in some good old rock and roll. He played in Dark Horse, The Clinic, Some Other Day and The Tender Trap. Harlow, as it turned out was also a breeding ground for some damn good art. Moving to London in the late ’80s The Tender Trap became his main concern and he spent much of his time in a transit van traveling all over Britain. A favourite memory was a tour with ex-‘Men They Couldn’t Hang’ lads ‘The Liberty Cage’. They meandered all the way up to Edinburgh and lived there for a week whilst performing shows at the festival. One day he hopes to write a book about those times but fears that only his mother and the other people in those bands would read it. Perhaps the driver too.

On another page I could find a little more info on the band:

Some Other Day were formed after Mark Walsh left The Clinic. Originally a two piece with Mark on guitar and Suzy Allen on vocals they soon expanded and added Billy Dawkins on drums. Soon after this they added Richard Martin on bass. Some Other Day entered the 1985 Rock Contest but failed to reach the finals.

Also I found a rambling by BBC Radio’s Steve Lamacq saying:

A couple of us also managed to stage an editorial coup, seizing control of the Gazette’s music page and writing endlessly about the Newtown Neurotics and various other lesser-known local hopefuls (one of which, a band called Some Other Day, I also ended up managing unsuccessfully for about two months).

Maybe he is the one to blame for the band not having a proper release? “Managing unsuccessfully”? The songs are so good that I don’t see why not even a self-released 7″, or even a flexi, couldn’t have happened. Their music was not just music for some other day. I wonder if there were more songs, why did they break up? if they play lots of gigs? Maybe those living in San Francisco can tell Mark to get in touch! Maybe this helps for you to track him down?

Rarely is there a night that Mark Walshe is not in a bar (pitching trivia questions). Originally from Harlow, Essex, Mark lived in North East London in his early twenties. His interest in broadcasting originated in his rock and roll bands ‘Some Other Day’ and ‘The Tender Trap.’ Mark has worked as a DJ and booker for Nickie’s nightclub in SF’s Lower Haight St. and as full time DJ/emcee at SF’s Virgin Megastore, where he turned the downtown shoppers onto music and interviewed Nelly Furtado, Blondie, De La Soul and David Byrne. He much prefers people mistaking him for Jimmy Page than Simon Cowell, which is the main reason that he hasn’t had a haircut in some time! Mark writes and performs his own songs, which he dearly hopes won’t remind you of Donovan! Stop by and play Wednesdays at O’Neill’s Irish Pub (San Mateo), and Thursdays at Elephant & Castle in San Francisco.

Ah! and now back to my some other Sunday.

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Listen
Some Other Day – Head Still Full of You

The indiepop detective seems to have been on a long vacation. Someone told me that he had been sunbathing on some idyllic Caribbean island. Another friend told me he was skiing in Norway. But I needed him to solve a case for me, the mystery of  The Hermit Crabs. So I sent him an email yesterday asking where he was, if he could help me with something. He answered:

“Hi Roque,

I could take the case, but I don’t have access to my indiepop archive, I can answer you from the top of my head. Tell me what it is about and I’ll get back to you.

Life is good now, I’m in Vietnam and I plan staying until December. I came to rest and to surf.  You should join! I know you have the beaches very close to you, but you can’t compare the exoticism of this place to South Beach. Look, I’ve traveled a lot, and I can say that the most beautiful and uncrowded beach in all of Southeast Asia stretches from Da Nang’s Son Tra Pennisula to the tourist town of Hoi An. This 30 kilometer long white sandy beach was the site of the famous China Beach R&R spot for GIs during the American War, as well as an international surfing competition in 1992. Despite the fact that Five Star resorts are popping up like mushrooms along the Da Nang/Hoi An corridor, surfers and other beach-lovers are few and far between.

This section of the coast is beach break. We have pretty consistently surfable waves beginning sometime in September and trailing off in May. During the summer months of June, July and August, the seas tend to be quite calm. Off-shore storms can be a source of wave action, stirring up the usually calm seas of August to yield a couple of days of good surfing or making the usually surfable November seas so rough that you might think twice about even walking on the beach!

looking forward to hear from you!”

What a coincidence I thought. These Hermit Crabs loved to surf, and actually they had a song “Surfin’ Vietnam”! Go figure! They also had a song called “Surfing Mice”.  So I wrote him again, and told him to tell me everything he knew about The Hermit Crabs, the 80s band, not the contemporary one from Glasgow that I had the chance to see in New York Popfest 2008.

“Roque, first thing you have to know is that the word hermit comes from the Greek ‘eremites’, “person of the desert”. Second, you have to learn about this little animal that many people like having as pets. In general, and despite their moniker, hermit crabs are social animals that do best in groups. They also require a temperature and humidity-controlled environment, and adequate substrate to allow them to bury themselves while moulting.

Most frequently hermit crabs use the shells of sea snails; the tip of the hermit crab’s abdomen is adapted to clasp strongly onto the columella of the snail shell. As the hermit crab grows in size, it has to find a larger shell and abandon the previous one. This habit of living in a second hand shell gives rise to the popular name “hermit crab”, by analogy to a hermit who lives alone. Several hermit crab species, both terrestrial and marine, use “vacancy chains” to find new shells: when a new, bigger shell becomes available, hermit crabs gather around it and form a kind of queue from largest to smallest. When the largest crab moves into the new shell, the second biggest crab moves into the newly vacated shell, thereby making its previous shell available to the third crab, and so on.”

This was clearly not much help, but quite interesting. Especially the Greek part.

“About the band I don’t know much to be honest, they seem to like to surf like me. And probably they came to surf to Vietnam, you know they have that song and I see a lot of British tourists around here. There was that 12” EP on Thunderball that I have never got the chance to get it. I don’t even know the tracklist. Last time I saw it on eBay was like two years ago. Then of course, the iconic song, “Surfin’ Vietnam” that appeared on the “Lets Try Another Ideal Guest House” the compilation that was released by Backs Records where all profits were donated to Shelter on a National Campaign for The Homeless. Right? Some ace bands on that compilation, Talulah Gosh, TVPs, Close Lobsters. Their other known song, “Surfing Mice”, appeared on a split flexi shared with 14 Iced Bears on Frank Records. This one is a live version. A shame, because the song is GREAT! and I’m sure that properly recorded it could have been a smash hit. On the sleeve it says:

THE HERMITCRABS
greg waverly – vocals, malibumo – bass, tam tam tareago – drums, marky – guitars & vocals, recorded dec’86 by Juliet.

But checking on the flexi itself, the song “Surfing Mice” is credited to J. Martin and M. Hellings. I assume it is Marky Hellings. But what about J. Martin?

That’s all i have, hope it helps! I’m off to put on my wetsuit, the waves are calling me!”

And so, that’s all? What a disappointment.

Clearly, the mystery is still not solved. So many loose ends, and not that many clues to figure out about these Hermit Crabs. Whatever happened to them? Anyone wants to give it a shot at being detective and telling me anything else about this lost band from the golden days of indiepop?

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Listen 
The Hermit Crabs – Surfin’ Vietnam

Snog six what? For the means of this article, let’s just say snog 6 girls. Three blondes and three brunettes. That would be good, right? Maybe at Indietracks. Maybe at the camping site. Makes sense, snog is a British word anyways… and a friend of mine already had a dream of a making out orgy at the Derbyshire grass field… some dreams do come true, you know? It’s time for the popkids to get a bit dirty, there’s too much holding hands already!

Snog 6 was a British band too. Don’t know if they snogged a lot, don’t know if they were six members, I don’t know anything at all about them. I only know one song which is called “Misery”. Perhaps the snogging between them was terrible and well, they felt miserable? But it did make them very good at making this one song. It’s just a fantastic slice of girly indiepop, in the vein of Cowboy and Spin Girl, The Bedflowers or a sweeter version of the Rosehips.

The song was released on a 7″ compilation called “Does Your Dog Moult? EP” on the Happy Dog Rekordz label in 1993. This is number 1 in their catalog and I assume it was the only release by this label. The record also includes old favourites as The Keatons and Kennedy. The other two songs on the record, the ones by Paste and Refrigerator, I recommend skipping.

But I’m not the first to pay attention to this tune. Who else could adore an obscure indiepop song? Of course, the Japanese! The band Citrus, the legendary band Citrus, who released records on Vinyl Japan and more, covered this song! Isn’t it great? I have yet to hear it though. There is this fantastic compilation were the cover is included. It’s called “Pits Are The Pits (25 GOLD=RARE=DEBRIS 1992-2000)” and was released last year on Felicity Records. I still have to get my hands on it. Still don’t know how and where to buy it. Felicity Records doesn’t answer my emails and feels criminal to pay 40 dollars for it on Discogs. I know Japanese CDs are expensive, but this is a bit too much. Maybe when I snog a Japanese girl she’ll buy it for me.

Like me, Citrus has had a hard time to find or figure out who Snog 6 were. The master Takeaki Emori has not been able to demonstrate any detective skills, and their label much less. On the booklet of this CD it reads:“The original record is used as a master without autholization on Track 11Snog 6 “Misery” because of the difficulty of contacting the band. Should the band member or any concerned parties find this release, please contact “www.1fct.net” We pay appropriate royalties to whom may it concern”.”

Hey you Snog 6, want to be rich? Why don’t you drop them a line? And while you do so, drop me a line too! I would like to snog with you.

Well, maybe. But for sure I would like to listen to any more other songs you had! I can’t believe you only recorded one song, there must have been some demo tapes or some bootleg from some gig, or something! “Misery” is already a great taster and I want more!

If anyone knows anything else about this band, who were they, where were they from, if they ever appeared on any fanzine, anything really, share. We are trying to re-write indiepop history!

For those who are interested, you can still pick up this record at Norman Records.

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Snog 6 – Misery

People change. And they do it too often. People change like the weather. People change because of the weather. This is called Seasonal Affective Disorder. I’m assuming many people I know are swept by it every winter. When it’s bleak and dreary, when rain and gray skies wake you up with a gloomy face. But then, what do I know living in a sunny and bright, all year long, place.

Seasonal affective disorder, SAD first referenced in print back in 1985 just when indiepop was starting to brew, and is known to bring depressive symptoms as the days grow shorter in the fall and winter, with symptom improvement as spring returns. At higher latitudes more people are diagnosed with as they are exposed to less sunlight and colder and harsher winters. Women are more often diagnosed with this form of depression than men. Earlier research has shown a strong link between SAD and other lingering forms of depression.

Turn to Flowers penned this wonderful jangly song called “People Change Like the Weather” in 1987 and released it on Imaginary Records (home of The Mock Turtles and Cud). It was a 12″ that included on the B side the songs “Listen to the Dead Man” and “On Her Own”. I’ve never heard these other songs. I wonder if there is some cryptic message, saying the girl is on her own against SAD? I wouldn’t be surprised.

Another calm Sunday passes by and while remembering lost friends, friends that became silent out of the blue, that suddenly vanished from the face of Earth and the world wide web. Music reminds me of them. This song flashes back memories of laughs and conversations driven by complicity. Whatever happened to them who were looking for the perfect song, for finding the elusive record. Did the weather, did depression, devour them? Where are they now?

Perhaps, if they heard this song, if they turn to flowers, they’ll be alright? Have you ever heard of the Bach flower therapy? Bach flower remedies are dilutions of flower material developed by Edward Bach, an English physician and homeopath, in the 1930s.The remedies are intended primarily for emotional and spiritual conditions, including but not limited to depression, anxiety, insomnia and stress. Perhaps that’s what this is all about? Is this the solution? To put it bluntly, Edward Bach thought that dew collected from the flowers was more potent on those grown under the sun.

Coincidences or not, imaginary or not, people do change like the weather. If the horoscope tells us that people are affected by planets, why can’t they be affected by the sun or the light it emanates? Clearly sunlight help us to produce melatonin and vitamin D. Why can’t it affect the brain? Don’t know if Turn to Flowers, this great long lost guitar pop band had any chemists or researchers in their ranks to unlock the secrets of this mystery. All we know is the first names of them. Matt on vocals and guitar, Steve on bass and vocals, Dave on keyboard and vocals and Paul on drums.

But, if in any case, this can’t be ever be solved, and long lost friends from higher latitudes are to be forgotten, can the mystery behind Turn to Flowers be unleashed? Who were they? Did they record more songs? Whatever happened to them? And if anyone out there has a spare copy of this 12″ for me?

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Listen
Turn to Flowers – People Change Like the Weather

“I used to have some friends called Geoff and Dawn who were in a band in Leicester called The Moving Fingers (Geoff was also previously in the almost famous legendary Leicester prog metal band Black Widow) and relocated to Norwich and opened a recording studio in about 1983 – The Deep Freeze Mice recorded one of our albums there. The Kamikaze Sex Pilots also recorded there and I met the main guy, who’s name I’ve forgotten, when were up there once. If “Sharon’s Been Deflowered…” is the one I’m thinking of Geoff made a guest appearance on it as Sharon’s boyfriend in a Jilted John sort of way. I think they changed their name to The Kamikaze Pilots later” – Alan Jenkins (Deep Freeze Mice, Cordelia Records)

An indiepop mystery to solve? Let’s start from the beginning…

The Kamikaze were suicide attacks by military aviators from the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, designed to destroy as many warships as possible.

The Japanese word Kamikaze is usually translated as “divine wind” (kami is the word for “god”, “spirit”, or “divinity”, and kaze for “wind”). The word kamikaze originated as the name of major typhoons in 1274 and 1281, which dispersed Mongolian invasion fleets.

In Japanese, the formal term used for units carrying out suicide attacks during 1944-45 is tokubetsu kōgeki tai (特別攻撃隊), which literally means “special attack unit”. This is usually abbreviated to tokkōtai (特攻隊). More specifically, air suicide attack units from the Imperial Japanese Navy were officially called shinpū tokubetsu kōgeki tai (神風特別攻撃隊, “divine wind special attack units”). Shinpū is the on-reading (on’yomi or Chinese-derived pronunciation) of the same characters that form the word kamikaze in Japanese. During World War II, the pronunciation kamikaze was used in Japan only informally in relation to suicide attacks, but after the war this usage gained acceptance worldwide and was re-imported into Japan. As a result, the special attack units are sometimes known in Japan as kamikaze tokubetsu kōgeki tai.

Let’s fast forward 38 years. 1983. This is when The Kamikaze Sex Pilots release their first 7″ on Lowther International (same label as Vital Disorders). A great two track round bit of plastic that included on the A-side the song “Dark Night of the Soul” and on the flipside we had “Red Indian Song”. Both of them really brilliant songs. Sadly I still haven’t found a copy of this record for myself. Shame! The catalog number of this record was HCN 002 and was released on an edition of 1000. Though, all the records seem to say on the matrix number on the vninyl: “This Is No. 666 In A Limited Edition of 1000″. And here comes the first hint: it was recorded at Spaceward Studios. Is this the studio Alan Jenkins was talking about?

But it wouldn’t be until 1985 that Cordelia Records would work with the band. On the compilation LP “Obscure Independent Classics: Volume 1 “Magnificent March Of The Dead Monkeys”” the fab song “Sharon’s Been Deflowered and Defoliated” was included. What a song! Should have been a one-hit wonder. Everytime I listen this track I feel like it was The Parallelograms grandparents who wrote it! Bouncy, funny, catchy, as poppy and punky as it can be! Should DJ it more often!

Surprisingly the internet throws in some answers. At a “Norwich bands” facebook group someone tells a bit about the main guy whose name Alan had forgotten:

“Kamikaze Sex Pilots”, Jon Ward was a very underrated guitarist if a little bonkers and sadly he was another one who didn’t go the distance (r.i.p) Remember when he stood for the local elections in the early 80s? He got me and Mick Smith parlimentary passes to oversee the counting of the votes in St Andrews Hall but he got so bladdered in the Festival House he never even showed up pmsl!!

So Jon Ward it was. We can track him back to a previous band called “Carl Gustav and the 84s”. The Messthetics site has a bit more about them as they put the song “Through Birds, Through Fire, But Not Through Glass” (name taken from an Yves Tanguy painting of course) on a compilation.

Carl Gustav and the 84’s certainly had fun with their lyrics. After quoting Cicero, Baudelaire and Clausewitz (long before the Reaganauts and Bushies revived his legend) on their hand-folded sleeve, you’d think they’d be trying to tell us something rather important in “Through Birds, Through Fire, But Not Through Glass,” but we’re not so sure. Still, the images are arresting: “I disemboweled myself to please her / She keeps the pieces in the freezer.”

And I can even track him even further back, to a band called The Painkillers.

And there and back again. 1983. The Peaceful Green Fair. The Kamikaze Sex Pilots played a show there. There is a live recording of it here. But it sounds very different to the songs on the 7″ or the one on the compilation. I wonder why. On this same festival Nick Nation played. What’s the connection? Well, at one pointit seems Sian from the Kamikaze Sex Pilots played with him according to Nick Nation’s myspace.

It also seems that there was a promo video for “Sharon’s Been Deflowered and Defoliated” made by Digby Rumsey. Sadly the streaming of it seems not to work. If only someone could upload it to Youtube. How I wish I could see this video!

Mystery solved?

Quite close I’d say. I have many more questions, starting with why they change the names from The Kamikaze Sex Pilots to just The Kamikaze Pilots, and more importantly, are there any more songs on tapes lying around somewhere. I really enjoy what I’ve heard so far and would love to hear more from them. If someone has a spare copy of the 7″, if anyone has more stories to tell, or more questions to ask, or just more mysteries to solve. The indiepop detective is ready for another job.

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Listen
The Kamikaze Sex Pilots – Sharon’s Been Deflowered and Defoliated

People say that the world is getting smaller and smaller everyday. That a virus like H1N1 can travel from Mexico to Australia in hours, traveling first class on a pressurized airplane cabin. That the internet connects us all in intertwining social networks. That we are closer than ever. And if that wasn’t enough for me to understand this phenomenon called globalization, I could find Kentucky Fried Chicken all over London.

But does that prove anything?

The world is still GIGANTIC. And I don’t mean it in any geographic, geological or geometric way. My friend Jennifer woke me up today with a Divine Comedy song: “Absent Friends”. While she was enjoying the music of Mr. Wright in London, I ended up at a second-floor hipster discotheque in Miami Beach. Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” welcomed me. What would I have given to be at the Buffalo Bar singing along to “Love and Death in Metroland”. So yes. Absent Friends. I’m the absent friend. Not her. Not Daniel who was throwing the party. Not Christos who, I bet, was dancing to Blueboy at the El Records special. No. They don’t belong to Miami. It seems it’s clear I don’t either. I’m the one that is absent there.

The distance to London, the price of a transatlantic flight, the wasted hours thousands of miles above sea level, are a fact. The immigration regulations to move and establish myself as a London star are heartless and also a fact. Being an absent friend just makes the world utterly GIGANTIC.

I guess our indiepop scene has made us all get closer, better, friends. But at the same time, we are spread all over the world that being together is such a rare commodity. Which could be something not too terrible as there is always something to look forward to. When we make the world collapse, when we make it the size of the palm of our hands, when we travel to a Popfest, or next stop Indietracks.

Last October while I was in Berlin, at the Firestation headquarters, we discussed about the much needed The Jeremiahs’ retrospective CD. Aside from the great 7″ they released on the Abstract label, and a couple of compilation tracks, Uwe has some fabulous demo tapes by them. After having a listen to them, Uwe pulled out from his shelves a 12″. A white and light blue sleeve, with black typography all over it. The band’s name was “This Gigantic World” (I bet you didn’t see that coming?). It was a 12″ single, on the A side a track called “Raft”, on the B side “Hoover Bag”. Now you ask me what’s so special about it? Well, listen carefully. After The Jeremiah’s split, Simon Ashby, the singer, went to form This Gigantic World.

The band was conformed by Simon on vocals and guitars, Matt Vessey on bass, Jason Brown on guitars and Trevor Rising on drums. The record must have been released on 1991 as it was recorded on December 1990. It was produced by Ciaran McLaughlin from That Petrol Emotion. It is catalog number TAKE 6.

That’s all information available. The mighty Google suddenly becomes terribly small in results. I wonder what happened to them. I think “Raft” is such a great song, with fantastic basslines and breezy vocals, not that far away from c86-cult favourites The Jeremiahs. I wonder if they had more songs. If there are any demo tapes lying around some attic. If they are still based in UK, or if they set sail on a raft somewhere else in this gigantic world. If they become absent friends.

As always, any further information about them please share!

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Listen
This Gigantic World – Raft

I don’t know how common the expression”Great Scott” is. I just learned about it yesterday night while I was doing some research for this post. It does take time to pick up catch phrases in another language than yours. But this one? I’ve never heard!

So, Great Scott! is an exclamation of surprise or amazement. I could have said that the first time I heard a song by a UK band by the same name. I could have said it again when I googled them and I couldn’t find any information. And perhaps one more time after reading about the origin of this phrase according to Wikipedia?

The expression is of uncertain origin. It is believed to date back at least as far as the American Civil War, and may refer to the commander‑in‑chief of the U.S. Army, General Winfield Scott. The general, known to his troops as Old Fuss and Feathers, weighed 300 pounds (21 stone or 136 kg) in his later years and was too fat to ride a horse. A May 1861 edition of the New York Times carried the sentence:

These gathering hosts of loyal freemen, under the command of the great SCOTT.

In an 1871 issue of Galaxy magazine, there is:

“Great—Scott!” he gasped in his stupefaction, using the name of the then commander-in-chief for an oath, as officers sometimes did in those days.

The phrase also appears in the 3 May 1864 diary entry by Private Robert Knox Sneden (later published as Eye of the Storm: a Civil War Odyssey):

‘Great Scott,’ who would have thought that this would be the destiny of the Union Volunteer in 1861–2 while marching down Broadway to the tune of ‘John Brown’s Body’.

Another possible origin is people seeking to emulate the German Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha altered and anglicized “Grüß Gott!”, or “God bless!” into “Great Scott!”. The etymologist and author John Ciardi once believed this, but later recanted in a radio broadcast in 1985. Despite that recantation, the expression is likely to be a minced oath: a mild substitute for invoking the name of God; very possibly derived from the phrase “[by the] grace of God”.

Not very interesting right? Why would a fantastic guitar pop band choose this phrase as their name? Who knows. But then we’ve have heard and seen worst names in indiepop history. But what can be answered is that I know two songs by them, and they are among the most beautiful songs I know from that golden era of guitar pop. Both were released on tape compilations. One of these tapes was later re-released on vinyl, do you have a clue which tape is this? It was the brilliant Hoopla (which I also just learned that means: sensational publicity; ballyhoo; bustling excitement or activity; commotion; hullabaloo) compilation which was once released by La-Di-Da on tape and then later re-released by Accident Records (whatever happened to them?!). The song included here was “You’re Off Again”, a blissful and sweet song with perhaps the nicest trumpets in indiepop ever!

But the song that is on constant repeat today is “The Very Best Part”. You know when songs come to you when you need them? I randomly find songs, especially when moody, and they become like a best friend. They talk to me, they care for me, they even dare to advice me. That’s what has happened to me with this song. I better not talk to much about it, maybe the lyrics explain it better.

Anyways, as this is a serious blog, let’s continue dissecting Great Scott! This heartwarming song appeared on the Kite tape, released on 1989. If you are not familiar with it, I think you should definitely check it out, there are some other gems there, like The Jerks’ “Waterskin”, another favourite of mine. And that’s all I know about the jangle and trumpet masters that are Great Scott. I wonder if anyone out there can let me know anything else about Great Scott? Or get me in touch with them? I just want to thank them for writing these songs, for giving me such a cozy company.

Oh! It seems that Great Scott! was the name of a now-defunct supermarket chain in the Detroit, Michigan area, and is also the name of an indie club in Allston, Massachusetts.

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Listen
Great Scott – The Very Best Part

Whatever happened to the all-female indiepop combo The Maulies? Back in 2000 they released their one and only 7″ “On Holiday with The Maulies” on Maryland’s Hub City Records and it was such a promising record!!

Last year when I was in Stockholm I had the chance to DJ at Debaser with Tommy Gunnarsson, who ran the Heavenly Pop Hits Records and was part of the brilliant The Gentle Smiles. I remember the first song he played was Dolly Mixture’s “Everything and More”. Then he played a song I had never heard before. It sounded a bit like Bunnygrunt. It sounded a bit like Cub. But it wasn’t them. “Who are they? They are really good!” – I asked. “The Maulies” -Tommy answered. “Who???”. “They only released one record, and this song is really good isn’t it?”. He was playing “Rude Limey”, the A-side.

I met Tommy two days after, on a cold Stockholm Monday, for a record shopping day. The first couple of stores we visited didn’t have anything that was worth our attention or our wallets. The famous Record Hunter was such a letdown. Tommy rang Nicke from Delicious Goldfish Records to see if he would open the store for us that Monday. No luck. He couldn’t: “come back Wednesday”. “Sadly I can’t, I leave tomorrow”. Where else to go? There’s one last stop: Nostalgia Palaset.

My expectations were quite low at that time. I got some money from the DJ gig and I wanted to burn it on records. What else would I do with krönor? I needed to get rid of them! We asked the clerk to show us the “indiepop” 7″ boxes they had behind the counter. We started browsing. First record that caught our attention was one marked “Norway C86″. It was by a band called Naive. Later I will learn that it was marked wrong, this band is Danish. Anyways. Let’s keep browsing.

Something really useful about this store is that you can listen to the records. There is a nice turntable with a pair of headphones. We started putting records on a side, and then listening to them, enjoying them, and then figuring out if they would still be on a side or back into the 7″ box. The Painted Word, The Pastels, Young Marble Giants, and more. The selection of Nostalgia Palaset is really good! Never seen so many nice indiepop records in a store! And if you are up for coincidences, you know what I found? Yeah, The Maulies 7″! I couldn’t believe it. Two days later I was talking about this band with Tommy. We were listening to it. Two days later we find it in a store in Stockholm. And this band is from Austin, Texas. What are the chances?

I paid 80 kr for it. I don’t know how much is that in dollars, and maybe it’s better not to know. I also got 7″s by My Favorite, Gits, Lucksmiths (not for me, it’s clear I always fall asleep to them, but a gift) a Benno Presents Various Artists (including Nixon and the underrated Cat Skills), and a Feverfew flexi. You can imagine the huge smile I had after leaving the store.

Fast forward many months. Today. I’m playing the record a couple of times. I wonder where are these girls? I always wonder where the girls are. Clearly not in Miami. But where did The Maulies go? I read the lovely insert written by Tina and Jeff from Hub City Records. They compare some turtle to Totoro, from the movie “My Neighbor Totoro”. Oh! I like that movie a lot! Also on the insert there’s a little press release about The Maulies:

There comes a time in every girl’s life when she has to decide: should I continue to allow the boys to get all the glory, or should I form my own all-female indiepop combo and kick ass? June 2000 sees the release of The Maulies debut single. Hailing from Austin, TX, the Maulies write punka pop tunes in the vein of such legendary all-girl bands as Thee Headcoatees and Tiger Trap with a touch of the British Invasion thrown in for good measure. The single’s A-side features “Rude Limey”, a savage rebuke of an arrogant Brit and his eveil ways, as well as “Gotta Take the First Plane Home”, a Kinks cover that’s been given the full Maulies treatment.

I think they are closer to Cub or Bunnygrunt, but sure, Tiger Trap is a good comparison! The first lines reminds me of a friend in Sweden that, tired of being the girl in the back in every band, decided to start her own all-female indiepop band just some months ago. Hopefully more news on that later this year, could fit nicely in the Cloudberry catalogue. But back to the Maulies.

It’s funny that on the press release they don’t mention the B-Side. They do mention both A-Sides, by no B-side. The B-Side is called “Tofu π” (smart? Tofu pie). This one is an instrumental track, and well honestly, I’m not a big fan of them. Nothing personal Maulies!

Among other interesting facts are that this record was produced and recorded at Sweatbox Studios, Austin. A place where tons of independent bands have recorded. And yes, the band lineup, that was Amy on bass, Carole on guitar and vocals, Jennifer K on the SK-1, tambourine and vocals, and last, but not least, Jennifer L on drums and vocals. No last names on the sleeve, so, impossible to google them.

Would you ever wish someone that their green card gets revoked? Tough! I think that’s the nastiest thing to wish! But that’s what Rude Limey is about. They sing to a Brit: “He’s always playing cruel jokes/I wish he’d get his green card revoked,” and “We use to call him our favorite British import/But now we call him Satan’s cohort.” Tough girls, right? Now have a listen yourself.

And of course, if anyone else knows or wants to share anything else about The Maulies, please do so! Would be great to know whatever happened to these girls!

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Listen
The Maulies – Rude Limey