For a few years in the mid-90s Policecat were the Sound of Young Scotland.

Hailing from Edinburgh the band was formed by brothers Gordon and Jonathan Kilgour, both on vocals and guitar, and Katrina Dixon on drums. Soon after their first gig John Harrington joined on bass.

This lineup would release the “Drown” 7″ in 1994 on Domino (RUG19). This 7″ single had “Drown” on the A side and “Bolder” and “Voodoo Hoedown” on the B side. The songs were produced and engineered by Warren McKean at Mighty Reel in Edinburgh. It mentions that all songs were recorded over two days at the cost of 190 pounds sterling. The artwork is credited to John Harrington.

In 1995 they would release “Larry”, a 10″ EP on Domino Records (RUG34T). This one had “Larry” and “Music for Pleasure” on the A side and “Classy” and “Tram 22” on the B side. Again the songs were engineered by Warren McKean at Mighty Reel. Barnaby Dellar added keuyboards to “Tram 22″ and Martin Lyndon added strings to both tracks on the A side.

Then in 1997 the band released a split single on Creeping Bent (BENT 024). The 7” version had Policecat’s song “Automobile” on the B side while The Secret Goldfish had “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” on the A side. On the CD version each band contributed two songs. The Secret Goldfish added “Pink Drone” while Policecat had “Five Miles of Bad Road”.

After this release Katrina would leave the band and was replaced by Scott Hall. This new lineup would record a 1997 Peel Session and two more singles in 1998.

The Peel Session also had Yvonne Slaven on keyboards. The producer was Mike Robinson and the engineer was Kevin Rumble. 4 songs were recorded on October 31, 1997: “Blue Movie”, “Give Us this Day”, “Dark Holiday” and “Lone Rider”. Will this get a release on Precious Recordings of London one day?

“Give Us this Day”, a 7″ on the American label Fantastic Records (FAN010), came out in 1998. This single included the title song on the A side and “As We Approach Harthill” on the B side. The A side was recorded at Cava in Glasgow with Gregor Reid as the engineer while the B side was recorded on a 4-track.

Lastly that same year on Creeping Bent they released another split 7″ with the band Appendix Out. It was part of the Singles Club and it was the eight release in the series (BENT 034). The song the band contributed was “Dark Holiday” while Appendix Out had “Lassie, Lie Near Me” on the A side.

The band also contributed songs to compilations. “Drown” was on a cassette comp called “Humpy Bosque” that Bosque Records (BOSC 008) released in 1994. “Midnight Cowgate” was on the cassette comp “A Fistful of Horsepower” that Vesuvius Records (POMP 005) put out in 1996. That same year, “Lone Rider” was included in the LP compilation “Noises from the Sound Cupboard” that Red Carpet Ring (RCR06) released.

This same label, Red Carpet Ring, would have their song “Fish Soup” on a double compilation LP, “With Singing, Orchestra and Harp (an International Gathering)” (RCR06)  in 1999. Lastly, in 1999 too, “Automobile” and “Dark Holiday” were included in “Bentism (The Underground Sounds of Creeping Bent)”, a CD compilation on Creeping Bent (BENT040).

What else is worth mentioning: Well, that Gordon and Yvonne also released music as The Mongers while Policecat was active. Jonathan Kilgour performed and recorded with The Pastels around the time of their “Illumination” album. Katrina would later be on Sally Skull and Tender Trap (I remember seeing her live playing drums!). Also both Kilgour brothers played in The Zephyrs, Lunar Landing Module and Clipper. Gordon also released music as Gewgaws.

Lastly there’s a Soundcloud account that includes a demo version of “Drown” and a song I had never heard, “My Burd” that seems to be taken from a tape.

That’s what I could find, but I am sure many of you remember them. I’d love to learn more details about them and I’d love to listen to the Peel Session too! Please share your memories on the comments section!

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Policecat – Drown

Ages ago, I wrote about the London band The Scissor Fits. Do you remember them?

Two of the band members went to be in the fantastic band the Gol Gappas, Nick East and Colin Roxborough. I was even lucky to get in touch with Nick a few times and he was keen on doing an interview about the fantastic Gol Gappas. I send him questions but sadly never heard back.

But I still want people to discover this terrific band…

It is very true too that there’s little on the web about them…  but let’s start from the start. Where does their curious name come from?

A golgappa, also called panipuri, fuchka, gupchup (and other names!) is a type of snack from India. It is a common street food. It consists of a round hollow puri (a deep-fried crisp flatbread), filled with a mixture of flavored water tamarind chutney, chili powder, chaat masala, potato mash, onion, or chickpeas. I have tried it here in New York and it is delicious. Maybe one day I’ll be lucky to try it in India.

The band’s first release was the “Dinner with Nougat” 12″ that was released by Él Records (GPO 8T). Remember from The Scissor Fits post that the band had a connection with Mike Alway, he was a part-time member of the band. So it is no surprise to me that he signed them to his label.

This 12″ had four songs, “Saint Lucy” and “Chicken Pox” on the A side and “Albert Parker” and “Ice Cream” on the B side. The EP was released in 1986 and re-released in 1989 as a mini CD in Japan (VAP 25615). The tracks were the same but the artwork of the record was different.

In `1986 the band also released a 7″ with “West 14” on the A side and “Roman” on the B side. This one was also released on ´Él Records (GPO 21).

“Roman” would be re-released in 1987 in France by the Vogue label (102201). It would come out as a 7″ where a remix version of “Roman” was on the A side and “Albert Parker” was on the B side and also as a 12″ where the two 7″ tracks were on the B side while we find the Polanski Dance Mix of “Roman” on the A side. Richard Preston is credited for production, Bruno Mylonas (who had previously remixed Vanessa Paradis) as the engineer and Aliss Terell on backing vocals. The remixes had been done at Studios Guillaume Tell. The artwork was also totally different.

A little googling shows that Aliss Terrell was American but was based in France. She was also the first ever person to star in a rap video shot on Moscow’s Red Square.

When it comes to compilation, as a Cherry Red related band, you can expect them to appear on many. In 1987 their song “Albert Parker” was on the “London Pavilion Volume One” released by Cherry Red (ACME 7) and also re-released in Grecce by Stiletto, Spain by Grabaciones Accidentales and Japan by vap that same year. All of these versions were released as LP vinyl but also Cherry Red made a CD version.

Richmond Records would have the songs “West” and “St Lucy” in the CD comp “Bellissimo! Él Singles Part One” that came out in 1993 (MONDE 11). This same label in 1995 would put out “Él Records – The Legendary B Sides” (MONDE 20) a compilation CD with the band’s songs”Roman” and “Albert Parker”.

“West 14” would appear then in the 2005 Cherry Red comp “Too Good to be True – The Very Best of Él Records 1985-1988” CD comp (CDMRED 287). After this Cherry Red would include them in three of their box sets. On 2013’a “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)” it was “Albert Parker” that was included. “St. Lucy” would appear on “CD87” (CRCDBOX26) a  triple CD compilation released in 2016. And lastly, “Albert Parker” was included in “Losing Touch with my Mind: Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” triple CD box set (CRCDBOX71).

What else do we know? We know who St. Lucy was of course, she is the patron saint of Syracuse in Italy. Her story says that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, in the year 304 during the Diocletianic Persecution.

What about Albert Parker? I am not sure. Could it be the American film director and actor? According to Wikipedia…
Albert Parker (May 11, 1885 – August 10, 1974) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He directed 36 films between 1917 and 1938. In the early 1930s Parker left Hollywood for England where he continued to direct films and also opened an actors’ agency office. One of his later clients in the 1960s was actress Helen Mirren. He was born in New York, USA, and died in London, England.

From the email exchange I haad with Nick East I know he was in two other projects, Baby Baby Baby Baby and Rumblestrip. There are recordings of these bands but I have never heard them.

Nick also mentioned to me that there are a few more Gol Gappas songs on demo tapes. He says that they are pretty rough.

Another detail he shared with me was that the band never played live.

That’s all I have about the Gol Gappas. I tried to re-release them too, asked Cherry Red but the price for the songs was prohibitive.

I love all of their songs. I think they are a terribly underrated band that deserve recognition. So yeah, if you have time listen to the song I share here. But if you can try to track down all of their songs. They are fantastic!

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The Gol Gappas – Albert Parker

Amri Shroff. That’s who was behind that wonderful single with “All Your Words” on the A side. The band, or maybe this solo project, went under the name Amri. That record has been a favourite of mine for a long time. But only a few weeks ago I found a video of Amri playing this song on a Dutch TV programme.

I believe the TV show was called Formel Eins and the date it was aired was on September 6 of 1987. You can watch it here.

This single was actually his second release. It came out in 1987 on a big label, Epic (EPC 650358). It was released as a 7″ and 12″. The 7″ had “All Your Words” on the A side and “Invisible Dance” on the B side while the 12″ included a long version of “All Your Words’ on the A side and the single version as the 2nd track on the B side.

The producers of the record were the Germans Peter Ries and Reinhard Besser. Ries has quite the resume, working with big names like Kool and the Gang or even Nsync. The photography is credited to Jochen Thieme.

Amri’s first release was also a single, on both 7″ and 12” formats, that came out in 1985 on Epic (EPCA 6999). The sound of these songs are less indiepop, more new wave, more 80s classic sounding. The A side was “Return to Gold” and the B side is “Look at Me Now”.

Interestingly we see that on this record we see Reinhard Besser credited for the songs as well as Amri and two other names, Marc Cassandra and Ralph Bachmann. Turns out Marc Cassandra is Peter Ries, the producer. And yes, both Reinhard and Peter produced this record.

“Return to the Gold” had a video made.

There are no compilation appearances by Amri. But it does look like Amri played on a German maxi-single by Mayte. He sang and did backing vocals on the “Too Dramatic” 12″ released by Control in 1993. He’d also play different instruments (as well as doing the cover artwork) for the German electronic rock band Whispering Colours in their 1995 album “The Mystery of Pain”.

Seems he was more connected to the German scene than the Dutch one, right?

It also seems I lose track of him in the early 90s. I wonder what happened to Amri. Did he just stop making music? How come he got signed to a big label and got to release two records? Was he in other bands? For me it is a big mystery. Also why the change of the sound between his two records? I like “Return to the Gold”, but “All Your Words” is just pure pop bliss. I wonder many things, and I also wonder if we’ll ever find out more details about this Dutch project!

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Amri – All Your Words

I thought it was good time to revisit the great Bi-Joopiter label founded by Paul Rixon from Gilroy, The McTells and more, and Gilliam Elam also from The McTells in 1983 in Hertford, UK.

Among their many releases in different formats I thought looking into one that I know nothing about, The Big Paintings 7″. I have this record but have no clue who are behind it. Anyone knows?

What I do know is that it was released in 1994 with catalog number BIJOOP 027 and included three songs, “The Strangest Secret of a Daisy Head” and “This Does Not Mean a Thing” on the A side and “Long Over Drawn” on the B side.

Okay, it is true that the sides on the record are not marked as A or B. But this is how Discogs lists it.

There’s some runout etchings on this record, again on what we say is the A side it says “Thee Alvins Children Mike’s – The Exchange”, and on the B it says “The Big Painting Number One”.

This wasn’t the band’s first release. There was another one many years before, in 1987. I don’t own this one sadly. It was a tape titled “Weats the Most Important Thing in Your Life? Money” (BIJOOP 016). This cassette mini-album had six songs, “All the Times”, “I Like it Here” and “Instrumental One” on the A side, and “Penny Picture Poseman”, “The Girl with Green Eyes” and “My Minitrend Friend” on the B side. We know that Kenneth Williams (who had released a song called “Kenneth Williams” on the 1988 tape compilation “Best Before Oct 88 (A Shropshire Compilation) was the producer.

Mark Flunder was the drummer on this record. Mark has been in many top bands including The McTells, Sportique, Television Personalities, Emil, Sindy Arthur, Moscovite Five, Elusive Diplomats and Cee Bee Beaumont.

The other band members of Big Paintings were Owen on bass and vocals, William on vocals and guitar (I believe he is Bill from The McTells), and Paul who is credited for Woodblocks. The Timothy Stevens orchestra is also credited.

The Brighton band also released some songs on compilations. In 1989 they had “I Like It Here” on “What Feet” tape comp released by Bi-Joopiter (BIJOOP 020) and the song “Charity” was on another tape comp called “Purveyors of Domestic Genius – Volume One” released by Swell Cassette Recording (SWELL TEN).

In 1991 on the classic “A Prospect of the Sea” compilation tape released by Cloud Production (Smile 003) they had the song “Penny Picture Postman”. Lastly in 1992 “This Does Not Mean a Thing”, a video of theirs, was on “Dead Eye One” VHS tape. Sadly this video is not on Youtube.

That’s all there is about them online, but I am sure some of you may know more details about them. Were there more recordings by The Big Paintings? Why no more releases? Who saw them live?

Use the comment box below to share any info on them!

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The Big Paintings – The Long Overdraw

I found 5 demos by In the Bus, a 1990s French band, on Bandcamp.

The information about them is little. Ovvk Archives, which is run by Jimmy Arfosea from Les Autres, has rescued these 5 songs and we should be thankful for that.

There’s a little bio that is terribly helpful:

Between the winter of 1992-1993 and the fall of 1993, Olivier, singer of the french Noise Pop band Les Autres and Yann, designer of the fanzine Tea Time (well known for having released a split flexi featuring rare demos of Stereolab) teamed up and recorded a series of superb pieces of naïve and playful Twee Pop giving pride of place to jangly guitars, a Casio toy organ and that would not have gone wrong on Sarah Records.

We know too that the songs were recorded between the winter of 1992 and the spring of 1993. They were recorded in Rennes, France.

As mentioned there are five demos, “Ugly Little World”, “Sunday Song”, “Virginie”, “Orange Flower” and “In a Different World”. Some of them got released in the 90s.

The song “Ugly Little Girl”  appeared on the compilation tape “Summer Hits 93” released by Lo Label from France. This tape came with a 32 page mini booklet. How I wish I would see a copy of this.

“Sunday Song” and “Orange Flower” were included on “Breeze 4” compilation tape released by Alphyen Viwit (004) from Germany in 1994. This tape also came with a large zine.

Also there was another song by In the Bus, “Radio-Active-Coffee”. This song is not among the demos on Bandcamp. But we know this track was released on the compilation 7″ Box set released by Aliénor Records in 1994 titled “The Onion Most Dangerous Game”. This boxset came alongside the French fanzine “Onion’s Soup” and was limited to 500 copies.

All of the songs recorded by this band were written and recorded by Olivier Doreille and Yann Brien, with the exception of “Virginie” which Olivier wrote on his own.

The last detail we know about the band is what instruments each of them played. Olivier Doreille played electric guitar, bass, vocals, casio keyboards, drums programming, flute and noises. Yann Brien, on the other hand, was on electric guitar, casio keyboards, vocals, drums programming and noises.

Now the question is, are there more recordings? Did they play live? Would love to know!

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In the Bus – Ugly Little Girl

Tara Mackay on vocals and bass, Christian Elton on guitars, vocals and keyboards and AJ Naito on drums was the original lineup of the New Jersey band The Parcels.

This lineup would release a self-titled 7″ in 1998 on the label Brentwood Estates (BES-005). The songs on this record were “Oh, What a Busy Day” and “Green Means Go” on the A side and “I Dream of Jean Genet” on the B side. The three songs had been recorded in mid September of that year at Pain and Pleasure Studios, Small Factory’s Dave Auenbach’s studios in Providence, Rhode Island, and were mastered at Greg Lee Processing.

Melissa Wysocki would take over bass and vocals replacing Tara in 1999. This new lineup would record the wonderful album “Have a Go with The Parcels” which was also released by Brentwood Estates (BES-013) in 2000.

The songs for the album were recorded with Bill Wells and Gary Olson at Marlborough Farms Studio in Brooklyn, NY.

This album had 12 songs, “Snappy New Haircut”, “Jessica Pancakes”, “I Could Be a Dinosaur”, “Horton Hears The Who”, “Patchoulie Julie”, “She’s a Good Witch”, “Minor Disturbance Grrrl”, “Green Means Go”, “I Stole a Star’, “Measure Me Sky”, “Lobster Kids” and “Monkey Bars”.

The songs were mastered at Nonstop Studio and the design and layout is credited to Ryan Lewis from Kincaid, Grape Soda and The Weight.

The band would appear on a few compilations too. The song “Snappy New Haircut” would find its way on “New Atmosphere for the Future: U.S. Pop Life Vol.3-International” CD released by the Japanese label Contact Records (CR-10) in 2000. Then “She’s a Good Witch” was on “Will there be Time for Tea?” released by Morgan Leah Records (MORGAN 348) in 2001. That same year the band would have “If I Ever Get the Chance Again” on Shelflife Records’ “One” CD (LIFE 040).

Lastly in 2002 the band had the wonderful “Jessica Pancakes” on my friend Tommy’s compilation “Hit Music Only” released by thee Swedish label Heavenly Pop Hits (POPH01).

The band played only a few gigs from what I’ve read. But gigs included ones with Wolfie, Barcelona, Masters of the Hemisphere and Calvin Johnson. Also they toured the East Coast during the summer of 2000 and played the Kindercore Records’ Expo 2000 FFesrtival. The band would call it a day in 2002.

About being in other bands I didn’t find much information. I saw that Christian Elton played bass on a Panda Riot song called “Marker” in the 2007 album “She Dares all Things. AJ Naito was in the band Pecan Sandies. I also read about a band called Home Economics, Scary Monster and another called The Dares were members could have been involved with.

What is good to know too is that the band’s website still exists. The first thing you’ll see is the band’s appearance on the I-Pop segment of the Japanese TV show Hakai that aired in February 1999.

Then there’s a few little pieces of info I picked here and there… for example the band playing at Yat’s in 2000, or on April of 2001 they played with The Ladybug Transistor at Smith College, or that the band was based in Sewell, New Jersey.

Anyone remembers them? I loved this band back in the day and I just remembered them today, and thought… how come I’ve never written about them or even recommended them on my blog!

EDIT: some interesting bit that have been shared on Facebook: It seems that the band was supposed to contribute a brand new song for the “Hit Music Only” CD comp. What happened was that the producer had disappeared with all the master recordings to in the end the band contributed a song off the album.

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The Parcels – Jessica Pancakes

I think it has been about 10 years since we heard from Torquay band Big Wave. Anyone remembers them? They played Indietracks in 2013, and London Popfest that same year.

The band was formed by flatmates: Ella on vocals and guitar, Rik on guitar, Matt on drums, Pete on bass and Mel on keyboards.

They took their name from a song called “Big Wave” by Jenny and Johnny.

The band released just a few records and appeared on some compilations. So maybe you don’t remember them. But the good thing is that their Bandcamp has all their releases. There’s a Soundcloud too but that has way many less songs.

I think the first time we heard about them was in 2011 when their song “Wild Strawberries” was on the CD compilation “Dry Route to Devon” released by Art is Hard Records (AIH005).

That same year the band released the EP “Another Year or Two” that included the songs “Another Year or Two”, “The Rosenbergs” and “Wild Strawberries”. There was a video made for “Another Year or Two” worth checking out!

In 2012 the band would release a tape album on Soft Power Records from Scotland. “The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down)” (SOFT007) had 5 songs: “Circumstance”, “Blissed Out”, “The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down)”, “Another Year or Two” and “Leavers Party”. You would find the same songs on the A side and also on the B side. The edition was limited tom 100 tapes, 50 white cassettes and 50 pink cassettes. Out of these songs the band decided to make a video for the song “Circumstance“.

“Only You” was the first and only vinyl release by the band, also in 2012. Released by Beautiful Strange (BS005) on November of that year. It included the title song on the A side and “Living Room” on the B side. Both songs were recorded at Middle Farm Studios in South Devon and were produced, mixed and mastered by James Bragg. This superb track on the A side also has a video.

There was a very interesting release that year too, “Dying on the Vine”. This song was part of the Pizza box collection of Art is Hard Records. Recorded by James Bragg at Middle Farm Studios, I believe the release came out in a pizza box actually and had catalog number PIZZAIH17. The band continued making videos, so of course there is one for “Dying on the Vine“.

The band made a video with London on the Inside, an interview. There they share some interesting details about them.

Lastly in 2013 the band released a cassingle with “Goldmine” on the A side and “GW Bridge” on the flipside. It came out in Art is Hard Records (AIH019) and was recorded at Middle Farm Studios, again with James Bragg producing, mixing and mastering. Video this time for “Goldmine“.

“GW Bridge” would also appear on a double cassette compilation called “Bleed in Gold” released by Art is Hard (AIH023) in 2013. This tape was a celebration of the label’s 3rd anniversary and had some great bands like Joanna Gruesome or The Black Tambourines.

When it comes to gig we know the band played the End of the Road festival, the Lemonfest, Knee Deep Festival 2012 in Cornwall, Dance of Days Fes in Falmouth in 2012, Start the Bus, One World Cafe, the 27 Club with Fire Island Pines, The Buffalo Bar, the Brixton Windmill, The Cavern in Exeter, The George Tavern with Evans the Death, Model Village and Violet Woods, toured with the Magnetic Fields, supported Metronomy and Tender Trap

The band made merch including tote bags and t-shirts.

And then they sort of disappeared?

Where are they now? Still playing in bands?

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Big Wave – Only You

Back in 2007 the French label Anorak Records released a wonderful EP by a band called En Français. It was self-titled and had the catalog number ANORAKCD4.

This CDR had 6 lovely indiepop songs, “Every Last Chance”, “Limits”, “Seasonal”, “Eat Great, Even Late”, “The City of Life” and “Hold on Tight”.

Searching about the band is almost impossible. Their name usually gives you results of translations from English to French. Right…

Discogs only has this release and no compilation appearances.

Back in the day when I interviewed Fabien Garcia, head honcho of Anorak Records, he mentioned that the band hailed from the U.S.

On the 3rd Anorak fanzine there’s an interview with the band and this is actually the best resource for info about the band. We know thanks to it that it was a duo formed by Scott and Dean. Sadly we don’t get last names or whereabouts in the U.S. they were based. They do mention that they had played in Washington D.C. so I think that they must be from the East Coast at least. (They are from Virginia – Thanks Evan for the tip!)

I wonder of course what happened to them. Where are they now? If they continued to make music? Did they release anything else?

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En Français – Every Last Chance

Back in August 2021 there was a superb release by a label called Smiling C from Santa Cruz, California. It was a 12″ by the obscure Manchester band The Bernhardts. These days these record, titled “Moonglow” is long sold out but I was lucky to find a copy myself. Did you got yours?

The Bernhardts was formed by Simon Milner on vocals and trumpet, Steve Hopkins on keyboards and Neil Fitzpatrick on percussion and guitar. Simon and Neil had been friends since grade school and they had been together previously on a band called The Smirks. Steve on the other hand had produced music for Dislocation Dance, Jilted John and Happy Mondays. He also worked with Morrissey. At some point in the early 80s they all decided to collaborate.

They used aliases when they played. Steve was called Rio Fortune, Neil was Claude Walloon and Simon was Oscar Bernhardt. They played as The Oscar Bernhardt Ensemble. They were more jazzy in this early incarnation but eventually their sound evolved and decided to go by the name The Bernhardts.

They recorded some songs for Parlophone with producer Mike Howlett. The “Moonglow” 12″ includes songs from that session. Some released, some unreleased. The four songs on the record were “Send Your Heart to Me” and “I Hear Your Calling” on the A side and “Crescent Moon (Instrumental)” and “Love Breaks In” on the B side.

The band managed to play a few gigs, got radio play and had the backing of a major. But they never got the chance to become bigger even though they did put out the single “I Hear You Calling”. This fine record came out in 1984 on both 7″ and 12″. The 7″ had “Send Your Heart to Me” on the B side while the 12″ had “I Hear You Calling (Extended Mix)” on the A side, and the 7″ of this song plus and extended mix of “Send Your Heart to Me” on the B side. The design and photography for the record was credited to Iain McKell.

One thing that caught my attention was that there were some acetate 7″s that the band put out in 1983. I don’t know much about these releases but I assume they are very limited and hard to come by. There’s one that had “Send Your Heart to Me” and “Now or Never (LA Test Master)”  and another with “Crescent Moon” and “Love Breaks In (Version 3 Strawberry)”.

Eventually they would become Distant Cousins when Simon’s wife Doreen joined the band. That’s a band I also have planned to write about. Maybe I should do that soon.

These days Simon busks in Manchester with The Charleston Charlies, Neil plays indiepop with his daughter Hann and Steve plays in a Latin-soul-jazz quintet called Urban Rooftops after finishing a PHD in laser physics (WOW).

I couldn’t find much more info about the band. I am curious about their gigs. Did they play many? Did anyone caught them live? Are there more recordings by them? How come they reappeared in 2021 with “Moonglow”?

I’d love to know more about The Bernhardts!

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The Bernhardts – Send Your Heart to Me

Who knew about this German band? I just found about them thanks to stoneeyedkiller’s Youtube channel and they have a very distinct and interesting sound.

7 years ago they uploaded a ton of songs to Soundcloud and that’s what I am listening today.

The band was active between 1985 and 1993. During that time they made a lot of recordings. There is a collection of their demos, which include 17 tracks: “40 Years”, “All My Love is in My Veins”, “Blue Planet I”, “Blue Planet II”, “Born to Love”, “Carol of the Night II”, “City of the Outcast I”, “City of the Outcast II”, “Don’t Trust the Luck” and “Games they Play Tomorrow”.

Then there’s another collection of songs, these from a 1987 gig at Fabrik COE. Not sure where this venue is/was though. The songs that night were: “Art of Hell”, “Blue Planet”, “City of the Outcast”, “Don’t Trust the Luck”, “Eamination”, “Endless Capture”, “In the Night”, “It’s Gonna Get Better”, “O My Girl”, “Scotland”, “Seconds of Love”, “Sheela”, “The Hound of Baskerville” and “Thinking in the Car”.

And there are even more songs though I don’t know the date or any other details. These are “U2-Song”, “Thinking in the Car”, “Sheela”, “Seconds of Love”, “No Name”, “In the Night”, “In the Night (added)”, “Don’t Trust the Luck”, “Born to Love”, “Blue Planet” and “Art of Hell”.

The person who uploaded the tracks is called Ludger Holdschlag. I want to think he was part of the band. There is also a re-recording of the song “Games They Play Tomorrow” that was written in 1990. The new version is from 2019.

Then I find a website by Ludger! Here there’s more info about the band!

So we learn the names of the band members, Thomas Welzel on guitar, Rene Staron on drums, Olaf Staron on keyboards, Oliver Kopplin on vocals and Ludger Holdschlag on bass. Originally the band was formed by Olaf, Thomas and Ludger when they were 17. 8 months later after starting the band Rene and Oliver joined them.

The band hailed from the small town of Dorf Hochmoor. This place is in thee municipality of Gesher, in the border with the Netherlands.

Then there’s a timeline. There we learn that the band played a music festival at the fire station in Hochmoor in August 3, 1985. At the end of September of that year the band played at the Hochmoor Youth Center.

Thomas leaves the band in 1986 but he was to return later in 1989.

In 1987 the bands make their first studio recordings at the Peter Waigel Rocck-Pop-Tonstudios Bocholt. They play many gigs including a gig supporting The Jazz Butcher in the Fabrik in Coesfeld. Later that year the band records the band’s second demo at Oliver’s house.

They play more towns in 1988 including Borken, Weseke and Olpe.

In 1991 the band records their first CD at Principal Studios Ottmarsbocholt. What CD is this? would love to find info about it. Was it an album?!

In 1992 the band appears on TV! It was a programme called Vox and it was based in Berlin. That same year the band plays in Nordhorn, Cuxhaven and Stadtlohn.

We also know that Ludger was involved in other bands like Who is Anna, TV 2016 and lately DNAlien. We also learn he is actually from Mellrichstadt in Bavaria where he was born in 1968.

Also important to mention that the Tableaux Vivants reunited in 2016 and lasted until 2018. Two of the original members were in this reunion, Oliver and Ludger. Sebastian Winkel played drums and Christian Wilkes played keyboards. For this reunion they even created a Facebook page. On that page I see some song titles that I wasn’t aware of like “Caren Lives in Amerika”, “Holes”, “Rock this Wasted Town”, “Living on the Edge of Life”, “There’s Something Like”, “A View Through Your Eyes”, “In the Night”, “Monochrome”, “Daydream”, “Only Give”, “World’s Apart” , “Loser” and more.

Then there are some videos on Youtube! Here is them playing “Sometime in Autumn” at the TV show on ELF99. Then a live gig on June 6, 1992, in Vreden. And another one of them playing at Fabrik in Coesfeld in 1989.

Lots of great info no? But couldn’t find anything about their CD release. Or about their demos. What songs were on them?!

So yeah, any information about them would be fantastic!

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Listen
Tableaux Vivants – Don’t Trust the Luck