Another trove of jangle! Another treasure found.

9 years ago the obscure English indiepop band Lobster Squad added a bunch of their recordings to Soundcloud. Included are studio recordings, rehearsals and live sounds.

The first song I found is called “Drowning in the Milk of Human Kindness”. The second is called “Couldn’t You Hear Me Falling”. And then there’s more. “Pimlico” and “Summer Will Soon Be Fading”. These tracks are actually rehearsals in Westbourne and date from 1994.

In 1993 the band recorded more songs. This time in a Croydon studio. The songs for this demo tape were “Drowning in the Milk of Human Kindness”, “Out of Your Life”, “Seaside Girl” and “Tinderbox”.

Then there are more songs. I see two names tagged for them, Nigel Packer and Neil Packer. Were they band members? “Out of Your Life”, “One Day I Will”, “Drowning in the Milk of Human Kindness” and “Seaside Girl”.  These date from 1992 and they were probably recorded in Camden.

In 1991 the band went to Wesbtourne Rehearsal Studios to record another demo. 4 songs were recorded. “Summer Will Soon Be Fading”, “Seaside Girl”, “Pimlico” and “The Jazz Song”.

1989. The 1989 demo recorded at Kilburn Airwave. 5 songs this time, “Lobster Theme”, “Up to You”, “One Day I Will”, “Simple” and “What’s Your Name?”.

We keep going backwards. Now 1988. Canvey Island. Probably that’s where the recording studio was. The songs from this time period are “Out of My Life” and “Pimlico”.

On the photos usually appear two guys. Probably Neil and Nigel. But there’s also another photo of the band playing at the Powerhaus. There we see a girl vocalist. So definitely there were some changes in the band. Would be good to find out. Some songs are sung by a female vocalist, others by a male vocalist.

Based in London. I am sure of that now.

I find a bio for Nigel Packer. He is actually an author! He is a writer and journalist and has worked for BBC News Online. He loves archaeology and has been in digs in Syria and Britain. Wow. He published a book titled ‘The Restoration of Otto Laird’ in 2014.

And that’s that. Got to find some interesting bits about them. Why didn’t they release any records? Did they play many gigs? Maybe had supported some cool bands? Would be nice to know the story behind the Lobster Squad!

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Listen
Lobster Squad – Up to You

This post is a bit of an archaeological dig.

There used to be a Soundcloud account for the band Blue Eyed English. That account doesn’t exist anymore.

Other than that Soundcloud account there is not a thing on the web. Blue Eyed English doesn’t exist.

So how can I find any info about them? The first thing to know is that one of their songs, “The Riddling Knight”, is on Youtube. Our friend stoneeyedkiller had shared it in his channel about a year ago. He adds one little detail about this track, it dates from 1989.

Someone comments this video and he is dead on. He/she describes the song as The Darling Buds meets Voice of the Beehive with the Heart Throbs paying a quick visit. I think that explains the band’s sound perfectly.

So what can one find about this band online? There are some little bits and pieces that one can gather…

The band recorded many songs in the studio. At least we know a few of them like “The Gardiner” from 1986, “Locks’n’Bolts” also from 1986, “Glen Logie” and “Blue-Eyed Lullabye” from 1987 and the previously mentioned “The Riddling Knight”. From what I understand the band’s recordings in studio dated from 1986 to 1991.

Then I find a name and a place connected to Blue Eyed English. The name is Shelley Patt. The place is Enfield, England. Shelley Patt was also the singer that was in a rock band called Solstice.

I found a small Shelley bio on a Czech language site. It mentions that she left Solstice in 1989 and only then she joined the band. But it tells us something more. It tells us that Shelley replaced Vikki Clayton (who has a Facebook page). It mentions too that Blue Eyed English released an album! I didn’t know this. And that the band was recording a second album even. Who knows about this? Also that the band called it a day in 1993.

So now we know a little bit more. Still don’t know the name of the rest of the members of the band. I think there was a member called Maria. And I may be wrong about Enfield. Now I start to think the band actually hailed from somewhere in Lincolnshire.

Anyone remembers them? are there more recordings? does an album really exist?

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Listen
Blue Eyed English – The Riddling Knight

I’ve started 2023 with less time. I have to say for the time being I am not going to be looking for new music.

It became a bit challenging for me at the end of last year. It was very time-consuming to find quality music every week. As you know it was at least 10 recommendations weekly. it was a bit much maybe. I don’t know if any other blogs are able to do this. I hope they can. I don’t even have time to read other blogs (are there any worth checking?).

Music-wise I also have stopped buying tons of records. If I buy a few a months I’d be surprised. So looking for new bands for my own consumption doesn’t make any sense. I’d love to hear from parents who love music, how did they do during the first few years. I am now listening mostly children music!!

But I still want and have the urge to discover obscure bands. At least I have that and I hope that drive never wanes. It is a struggle, but a good struggle. Time and energy to continue digging for lost treasures.

Not much info about this Brighton band called Girls Behind Bars. There’s just one song by them called “Better Fools” on Soundcloud and it sounds great.

It is a studio demo track. And from the little details I want to think it dates from the 80s. The song has some lovely jingle jangly guitars and female vocals, and sometimes some male backing vocals. It is great.

The same Soundcloud account has two more songs. One of them has a date, of 1990, the other from 2000. But other than that there’s not much more info. Songs had been uploaded 7 to 8 years ago to Soundcloud.

Most probably they took their name after the 1949 German movie “Mädchen hinter Gittern” whose English title was “Girls Behind Bars”. This movie was directed by Alfred Braun and starred Petra Peters.

Anyhow, I hope someone remembers and know who the members where. If there are more recordings. I really enjoy the Girls Behind Bars song!

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Listen
Girls Behind Bars – Better Fools

Another sad news from 2022 was that Christine Wanless, vocalist in The Revolving Paint Dream (and also on many Biff Bang Pow! songs) passed away.

I also wanted to write about it when I learned the news last September. But again, I wasn’t in the right mindset, the right mood, to write about it. Especially as I didn’t know Christine. Not in person, not online. I hadn’t written before about her bands, I had not interviewed her bandmates either.

She was an important part of early Creation Records from what I’ve read. She was the label’s first female artist. She would also become press and then label manager.

Christine was also part of a mythical band, the Formica Tops. I have only known this band by name. I would love to know more about it. Were there any songs recorded? released? Who were the other members? I know Andrew Innes from The Revolving Paint Dream (and Primal Scream too) was one. I believe they were girlfriend and boyfriend at the time.

Were the Formica Tops predecessors of The Revolving Paint Dream? I have found just one mention on JC Brouchard’s website, where there’s a recording of “La Bulle Jaune” from 1987. This is a version of the song “Yellow Ball” by The Revolving Paint Dream”. Strangely on the band members for thisi recording Christine Wanless is not listed.

The band members listed on Discogs include Alan McGee, Andrew Innes, Frank Sweeney, Ken Popple and Luke Hayes. The only one I had been in touch with is Frank, who I interviewed many years ago about his superb band The Ringing.

The band’s legendary single “Flowers in the Sky” came out in 1984. It was the second release on Creation Records (CRE 002). The two songs on this record are indiepop classics, the title song on the A side and “In the Afternoon” on the B side. Well, not the B side. It was a double A single.

It featured top people on it like Ken Popple on drums, David Musker on keyboards and Joe Foster producing. This record is indeed a classic, so no surprise the German label Edition 59 reissued it as a 3″CDR in 2009 and Optic Nerve Recordings did the same as a 7″ in 2020. Worth mentioning too that on the 3″ version a longer version of “Flowers in the Sky” was included as a 3rd song.

In 1987 the band would release “Off to Heaven” (CRELP 018), their debut album. It is a short one of 8 songs, “Sun, Sea, Sand”, “Flowers in the Sky”, “Stop the World”, “My My, Hey Hey” on the A side and “7 Seconds”, “The Judges”, “Walter Valentine’s Dead” and “Yellow Ball (Take Me Away)” on the B side. The songs were recorded at The Acid Factory in London.

Yeah, the band was based in London. I forgot to mention.

In 1988 “Green Blue Sea” is released as a single. On the B side we find the album track “Sun, Sea, Sand”. On “Green Blue Sea” we see Robert Young of Primal Scream playing bass, Dave Morgan from Alternative TV, The Weather Prophets, and more, playing drums, K. Clinton and S. Pollock on saxophone and M. Wall on trumpet. On “Sun, Sea, Sand” J. Morris is credited for bass. The songs were produced by George & Phil (who are they?) at the Acid Factory and the Greenhouse studios. In 2011 this single was re-released by Edition 59, again limited to 59 copies as a 3″CDR.

In 1990 the band releases their second album, “Mother Watch Me Burn” (CRELP 039). 11 songs this time. “The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion”, “Green Blue Sea”, “Fever Mountain”, “(Burn this House) Down to the Ground” and “Mother Wash My Tears Away” on the A side while we find “Garbagebrain”, “Electra’s Crying Loaded in the Basement”, “Mandra Mandra”, “300 (Coda)” and “Reprise: Mandro Mandro” on the B side. The album also gets released in Japan by Victor Musical Industries (VDP-28069).

In 2006 there’s a Rev-Ola retrospective CD compilation titled “Flowers in the Sky: The Enigma of The Revolving Paint Dream”. Indeed, the band was always promoted and described as an enigma. There’s very few photos of the band. Also very little information.

I believe the compilation doesn’t include any unreleased tracks. Maybe “Untitled (Love Song)” is the only one? The 22 songs are in this order, “Flowers in the Sky (45 version)”, “In the Afternoon”, “Sun, Sea, Sand”, “Stop the World”, “My My, Hey Hey”, “7 Seconds”, “The Judges”, “Walter Valentine’s Dead”, “Yellow Ball (Take Me Away)”, “Green Blue Sea”, “Sun, Sea, Sand”, “Flowers in the Sky (Long Version)”, “The Dune Buggy Attack Battalion”, “Fever Mountain”, “(Burn this House) Down to the Ground”, “Mother Wash My Tears Away”, Garbagebrain”, “Electra’s Crying Loaded in the Basement”, “Mandra Mandra”, “Untitled (Love Song)”, “300 (Coda)” and “Reprise: Mandro Mandro”

The band appeared on many compilations. Discogs lists 25 of them. I don’t know if it is worth going one by one. But maybe better to pay attention on some. The one that I think is the one that picks my curiosity the most is the compilation “A Tribute to Tricky Ricky”. This cassette was released in 1985 by Rouska (RUSK 003) and included bands like The June Brides, The Shop Assistants or The Mixers. On this compilation THe Revolvint Paint Dream contributed two songs, “Sunny Days” and “Wheels on My Scooter”. You wonder why weren’t these included in the retrospective?

The other interesting compilation is Biff Bang Pow!’s “A Better Life – A Complete Creations 1984-1991” that came out last year as a 6CD box set from Cherry Red. On it there’s an early version of “In the Afternoon” with Alan McGee’s vocals.

“In the Afternoon” is indeed the song that appears in most compilations. Perhaps it is the most well known, the beloved, song by fans.

It appears on “Wild Summer, Wow!” released by Creation (CRELP002) in 1984 on LP (later reissued on CD in 1990), “All for Art… and Art for All!” an LP comp released by Dan Treacy’s Whaam Records (BIG 8) in 1984 (also reissued on CD in 2008 by Vinyl Japan), on “Valium Orgasms – A Creation Compilation” a joint LP compilation put together by Rough Trade and Creation in 1986, on “I Love the Smell of Napalm – A Creation Compilation” another 1986 joint release by Rough Trade and Creation, on “Creation: Flowers in the Sky 1984-1987” a CD comp put out by Creation (CRELP 028) in 1988 (reissued that same year in Japan by Victor), on Vinyl Japan’s “Whaam! Bam! Thank You Dan – A Whaam! Records Compilation 1981-1984” (ASKCD43) CD comp from 1994, on the boxset “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989” put out by Cherry Red in 2013 and on one more Cherry Red boxset, on 2021’s “The Sun Shines Here (The Roots of Indie-Pop 1980-1994”.

“In the Afternoon” appears too alongside “Flowers in the Sky” on the boxset “Creation Artifact 45 – The First Ten Singles (1983-1984)” that Cherry Red put out in 1985. It also appears, on “Creation Soup Volume One” (CRELP101) from 1991 with the same accompanying song and on “Creation Soup: Volumes One to Five”, a box set release that was Creation 100 on their catalog that same year. In 2011 the same two songs appear on the double CD compilation “Upside Down: The Creation Records Story”.

“Flowers in the Sky”  appears on “The Patron Saints of Teenage” a Japanese compilation CD from 1994r released by TriStar. That same song also gets featured on “Children of Nuggets – Original Artyfacts from the Second Psychedelic Era 1976-1996) released by Rhino in 2005. Then also in “CD86 – 48 Tracks fromt he Birth of Indie Pop” released by Castle and Sanctuary. And lastly on 2019’s “Big Gold Dreams – A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977-1989”. Curious why it was on the Scottish music compilation… sure some members were Scottish, but it was a London band no?

Lastly “Sun, Sea, Sand” is on “C88” CD from 2017, “Green Sea Blue” on “C89” from 2018, “Garbagebrain” on “Just a Bad Dream: Sixty British Garage and Trash Nuggets 1981-89” from 2018, “The Dune Buggy Attack Bttalion” on “Various – Losing Touch with My Mind – Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” from 2019. All Cherry Red boxsets. They fit Revolving Paint Dream in different music genres for their boxsets.

Another interesting bit of information is that at some point there was a live band called The Revolving Brides which was a mix of Revolving Paint Dream members and June Brides members. How cool! I read that on February 21, 1988, this super group was supported by The Sea Urchins. Are there any recordings by this group? Live recordings at least? Did they play original songs?

I find then a post by JC Brouchard on his blog Vivonzeureux! JC was involved in Biff Bang Pow! and he remembers recording with her the song “If I Die”. He also remembers her from recording “Bébé Tchernobyl”. I didn’t know of this version! The original, as far as I know, was “Chernobyl Baby” the song that the mystery band Baby Amphetamine released on Creation in 1987. Another cool bit of info he mentions is that Christine played a gig with Biff Bang Pow! in Reims, France, on October 25, 1986! That must have been a special gig indeed!

It doesn’t seem Christine continued making music. These were the projects she was involved with.

As I said I don’t have any connection other than loving her songs, her music. Some of her songs will be forever indiepop hits, legendary songs that will be included on compilations of the genre. They are genre-defining indeed.

It is a shame that legends like this have left us. I just hope 2023 is a bit nicer to all of us. Better, nicer news is what I want to hear.

Because I didn’t have the opportunity before, and because this is my only column to the outside world, I just want to thank Christine. For the good times listening to her songs. I would have loved to be born 15 years earlier or so, and in London, so I could have attended one of their gigs. Would have been incredible. I would have been thrilled.

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Listen
The Revolving Paint Dream – In the Afternoon

Happy holidays!

As mentioned I’ll be back next year. On the 2nd week of January. Hopefully we continue discovering obscure bands in 2023. I thanks everyone who commented on the blog this year, who emailed me, and those who keep supporting the label. See you soon!

The Catherines: “I’m Here to Keep You Warm” is the latest single by the Hamburg based duo formed by Heiko and Sandra. From what the band tells us, the song came up with the idea to write a song about Sandra’s hot water bottle. Yeah, so this song is a song from the perspective of said bottle!

Малыш Камю: the Russian band has just released an EP titled “Дом на краю света” and it sounds ace. The duo formed by Ekaterina and Evgeniy Nedliko have four new songs and it is also interesting that they ask that as support for this release for anyone to make a donation to a charitable organization in Ukraine.

Wasting: a nice discovery! Wasting hail from Seattle and are formed by Cole Paramore and Lance Fohrenkam. Their latest release was a digital single called “Tulips” that came out on July 3. Yeah, I am a bit late to the party. But do check it out and also their previous songs, they have a terrific sound.

Have Yourself a Merry Indie Christmas: There’s two volumes for these compilations, Vol 1 is here and Vol 2 here. Included are tons of songs, all Christmas, all festive. And it includes superb bands like Swansea Sound, The Popguns, Sally Shapiro, The Pearlfishers and more. This mega release’s proceeds will go to the UK charity Crisis.

Melted Ice Cream: never heard a band from Chetumal, Mexico. I’ve wanted to visit their city for many years, and now hearing a band that actually makes some nice music makes me more curious. Their latest release is a digital single called “Volar”, but I think I enjoyed a bit more their previous effort “Dime que Me Extrañas”.

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When I interviewed the Douglas, Isle of Man, band Angels Arc they recommended me some bands from their island. Among them was the Klevershirts.

They shared with all of us some news. That the Klevershirts had reformed in 2019 after 35 years! They had a new single out titled “Boulder” and there was even a video made for this track.

The one thing that confuses me is that I have seen their name as Klevershirts but also as Klever Shirts. I believe the band prefers the first way of writing their name, but even them, in their 1987 demo wrote it as Klever Shirts.

That 1987 demo is on the band’s Soundcloud. The demo was recorded in Linden Studio which was located in Cumbria, in Penrith to be exact. It is operated by Guy Forrester and Máire Morgan. They even had a label called Linden House, but not sure why they didn’t release Klevershirts music. Would have been cool.

The songs on these demo were four, “Bright White Light”, “Sucker for a Pretty Face”, “Laughing in my Face” and “Now that I Have”. From what I understand this is the band’s second demo. Where is the first?

I haven’t found audio for it, just for one of the songs. But we know it was recorded in 1986, in November of that year, at Linden Sounds too. Three songs were recorded, “Fingers to the Bone”, “Julie Horse” and “Thousand Tears”.

The band has a website too.

In April 1987 the band wins the Battle of the Bands at the Palace Lido.

The band’s rehearsal space was at the Douglas Head Hotel concert room.  Later on the band rehearsed at the MGM nightclub in Douglas.

Their name comes from a magazine article that had written an article about a scooter mob called The Shirts. The headline was “Clever Shirts Outwit the Police”. The band would change the C for K and they found their name.

The band was originally formed by Robbie Sampson on bass, Lee Harrison on guitar, Mark Green on drums, Paul Sellors on vocals and Selwyn Collister on guitar. Previously Robbie, Mark and Le had been in a band called The Klick.

In 1987 Nigel Quail joining as drummer.

Today the band is formed by Alex Harris on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Jonny Peacock on drums, Lee Harrison on guitar and vocals and Robbie Sampson on bass.

The new lineup has a lot of concerts lined up for this year and also for 2023.  All of them are in the Isle of Man.

And that’s what I found out about them. Very cool that they are back making music. Would be nice to see them live once.

Who remembers them? Anyone has more recordings by the Klevershirts?

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Listen
Klevershirts – Now That I Have

Penultimate post before…. the World Cup final? Yes. But also before I head on holidays. I won’t be posting until the second week of January.

This also means I won’t be able to fulfill orders placed on Cloudberry Records website until then. Though of course you can find copies of the records on Jigsaw Records.

That’s all the announcements so far. Hope to have fantastic news as soon as the new year starts.

Nadie Canta: the latest release by Discos de Kirlian, the fine Barcelona label, is the single “Intención Comercial” by Nadia Canta. Behind this project we find Carlos Alcántara who was in the band Holögrama. Nadie Canta is his solo project. Will there be a proper release coming up soon on the label?

Castlebeat: Josh Hwang from Castlebeat has been making superb pop tunes for some time now. His latest is a digital single titled “Wish”. It doesn’t mention if it will be released in any other format later on, but this is really nice.

David Christian: now and then we get the treat of new songs from Comet Gain’s leader. The latest is a 5 song EP for Christmas! It is titled “A Christmas Gift for Grumps, Drunks and Other Chumps”. All of them are original songs by “Kitten Christmas”. Lovely. I feel this is the year where I have found more new Christmas indiepop songs.

Blue Canopy: this very nice band from Portland, Oregon, just released a new digital single titled “Bright Spot”. There’s not much info about the band, but we know it is formed by Alex Schiff on keyboards, uke, lead vocals and drums, Patrick Smith on guitar, David Baldwin on bass and Erick Lee on backing vocals.

Merry Xmas Darling: a holiday compilation by Emotional Response Records! The label run by Stew from Boyracer released this compilation back in 2017 and is still available on CD. I missed it first time around! It includes bands like Possum Moods, Seafang, Crayola Summer and more. There are a few more Christmas compilations released by Emotional Response in the past like “Hey! It’s Christmas” or “Chrimbo with You”

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We head to Dundee today. It is 1989 and there’s a cool Scottish band called Baby Hurricane. Many of their tunes are up on Soundcloud since 2018.

The band was formed by Paul Smernicki on vocals and guitar, Ricky Goold on guitars, Kenny Penman on bass, Ally Fox on drums and Chris van der Kuyl on keyboards.

The earliest songs we find on Soundcloud date from 1989. They sound rough. Maybe it had to do where they were recording them, their rehearsal room in the basement of the Grey Lodge community centre in S. George St. Recorded there was the song “Take a Fall“.

The year after, 1990, they recorded more songs. For example “Something Special“, “Wishing Cup“, “You’re too Slow“, “Joe’s Garage“, “Lies“, “Take a Fall” and “Standing on My Own Two Feet” that were recorded in March of that year at the Fat Sam’s dancefloor with Nazz of Sons of the Shaking Earth at the controls.

In August of 1990 the band also went to Garage Studios on N. Isla St., Dundee. With Graeme Watt engineering the band recorded more songs including “Bridgebuilding” (where the voice at the start of the song is that of the band’s roadie/van driver Scott Brown reading an article about Sean Connery from The Scotsman), “Excellent Adventure“, “Full On“, “King of Candy“, “I Shall Be Spun” (name after a poem about St. Andrews University), “Spice” and “Sit Down & Listen“.

From the same session there is an alternative mix of “I Shall Be Spun“.

Then there are live tracks, recorded live at Fat Sam’s in Dundee, on July 1990. There are recordings of “Blaze” (the only time this song was played live), “One World” and “You“. Also from the same venue, but recorded live in December, we find “Bridgebuilding“, “King of Candy“, “Hello, I Love You“, “Tallness (Jack Ruby)” and “Wishing Cup“.

A few more live tracks are from a gig on April 18, 1990, at the Bar Chevrolet in Dundee. We find the songs “This is the Way it Was“, “Show You” and “You“.

The band also recorded at a mythical place, CaVa Studios in Glasgow in the spring of 1991. At that time the band recorded three songs, “Nova“, “Greenhouse” and “Lying Hands“.

Then it seems the band got together after 24 years in 2015. A reunion. At this point the band was to feature a new drummer, Rick Smernicki. Maybe Paul’s brother? The band rehearsed together and recorded a version of “King of Candy” and “Bridgebuilding“.

Two other songs were recorded in this period. In 2016 the band recorded “Modern Girls” and “Religion of Peace“.

Among the photos I see one where the drummer, Ally Fox, is wearing a Ride shirt. They were fans of the Oxford band? It wouldn’t surprise me of course. And also a shirt of The Happy Mondays.

Another detail I find is that they played at the legendary King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut on November 17, 1990.

The band also set up a Facebook page around the time of their reunion. There’s tons of details we can get from here.

We learn that the band’s first gig was at the Dundee Technical College (Bell Street Tech) Marketgait Students Union. On the same bill was a band called The Sandflowers (were they any good?). There’s a flyer for this gig. It appears as Baby Hurricanes. With an S. Also in parenthesis (The Daisies). Was that their previous band name? The other bands on the bill were Andi and Vari, Trouble in Doggie Land and Rock Against Loans.

Gigs that I find that the band played include, April 17, 1990 at West Port Bar and on April 4 and 18 and June 7, 1990, at Bar Chevrolet. Both venues were in Dundee. On April 14 of that same year the band played at The University of St. Andrews with The Deputies, Fat Freddy’s Cat, Last of England and The Twist. On December 12, 1990, Baby Hurricane played Cafe Drummond in Aberdeen. On that same month, on the 23 and with The Sandflowers, the band played at Fat Sams in Dundee. The band also played at the Aberdeen University Union in January of 1991.

There is a video too of the band playing live I think. There’s a video cover shared, I guess a VHS, dating from 1990. It was recorded at the Marketgait Union.

A cool thing is that on the movie Ferries Bueller’s Day Off, on a scene, there’s a poster of the band Flesh with support by Baby Hurricane. Didn’t notice that when Ii saw the movie!

Then there’s some videos on Youtube from the time of their reunion, 6 years ago, of the band rehearsing. And a Twitter account too.

On a post on the Retro Dundee blog about the flexi The Sandflowres released, I see that Paul Smernicki commented. He mentions that he used to work at the Bar Chevrolet.

And then some Youtube videos of the band playing live. Here’s “Bridgebuilding“, “King of Candy” and “Wishing Cup” at Fat Sam’s on December 23, 1990. Also from their first ever gig at the Marketgait Student Union there’s “Born to be Wild“.

And that’s it. That’s what I could collect about them. Anyone has any other interesting bits about them? Would love to know for example how many demo tapes they put out, or why they never released anything.

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Listen
Baby Hurricane – Something Special

The Orchids: superb news! Precious Recordings is releasing The Orchids’ Peel Sessions from May 8, 1990, and April 9, 1994 as a 10″ vinyl! Each of them come in a beautiful sleeve and has 4 songs. You can preview a track for each of the Peel Sessions. This is a MUST HAVE. Legendary.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: “Mountain Lake Park” was originally a bonus vinyl-only album that came with the band’s 2022 album “Summer At Land’s End”. Now it us up as a digital release on the band’s Bandcamp. 11 songs.

Neil Brogan: another festive release! “Christmas EP” is a collection of Neil’s past songs plus a brand new track. This is very enjoyable.  Really liking them. I think I have four new songs to add to my Christmas mix CD. I think I will have to make a few volumes for this year. Check it out, really good.

Grazer: back to Melbourne, to a band I always enjoy. Matt and Mollie know how to write good indiepop songs. Their latest, “One Another”, is not an exception. It is dreamy, catchy, mellow… and a nice melody to boot.

Fine.: and finally a new album from Alice Kat and Liam James Marsh band Fine. This is pure quality. Pure class. The 19 songs  of “Love, Death, Dreams, and the Sleep Between” are to be released on January 1st by the Subjangle label. This is the perfect way to start 2023. A winning album.

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A year ago, in August 2021, the English label Spinout Nuggets released a 7″ by a Medway band called The Men from Memphis.

I only found out about this release a few weeks ago.

The interesting bit of it, is that a few copies are still available, and I really recommend getting your hands on them. Why? Well, their sound is ace, you get three songs from this long lost band from the 80s.

The band used to support big names in indiepop like The Dentists or The Claim. For some reason they had remained obscure for so long. Maybe I can help letting people know a little bit more about them.

The 7″ that was released by Spinout Nuggets is titled “Hacksawing the Head Off The Legend EP”. It was originally a four song EP. More on that later. This EP was recorded in March of 1989 at Red Studios in Kent by Graham Semark (who had worked with The Dentists, The Claim, The Sedgwicks). Spinout Nuggets said that the fourth track will be released somewhere else in the future.

This was the only recording session by the band formed by Simon Bunyan on vocals, Martin Brown on rhythm guitar (previously from The Hyacinth Girls), Andy Burton on lead guitar, Mark Aitken (previously from Let’s Go Naked) and Chris Hearsey on drums.

The band started when Simon met Chris at Joanna’s Nightclub in Gillingham. Chris was at college with two other members (it doesn’t say who!).

We know too that the b and played around twenty-odd gigs mostly around Medway but also in London.

After the band split the Men from Memphis dispersed. Simon and Mark continue making music under These Guilty Men. Mark is also in The High Span and Ye Ascoyne d’Ascoynes. And Chris plays in the Sergeants Mess.

The songs for the 7″ release were remastered by Alex Brown on February 2021. 300 copies of the record were made with artwork by Lee Grimshaw and photography by Martin Brown.

Oh right! The songs! Yes, the A side has “Sigh” which also has a video. The B side has “Move Me & Shake” and “Somewhere”.

Then I find the blog Medway Music Museum. There is an interview with Simon! It dates from 2009 and mentions another band Simon was in, Robert Underwater.

Lastly I want to share the Soundcloud of Simon Bunyan. Here you will find recordings of many of his other projects as well as the fourth song from the session of the 7″, “Sunny Day Ray“, which is truly fantastic and you wonder how it wasn’t included in the 7”!!I hope we find out more about this band, and again shame I only heard about them more than a year after they been released (after such a long time!). It is hard to keep up these days.

Who remembers them? Who saw them live? Why didn’t the get to release a record back in the day?

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Listen
The Men from Memphis – Sunny Day Ray

The Photocopies: and one more by the Michigan band! You wonder where Sean Turner finds time to write and record songs. I am quite jealous as I have very very little time these days. Well, The Photocopies has written three Christmas songs for an EP titled “Cheer Up, It’s Christmas”. Also included is a version of the traditional song “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”.

The Hannah Barberas: more Christmas songs! It is the season for sure. Now a limited 7″ by the British band The Hannah Barberas. This new 7″, limited to 50 copies, will include just 2 songs. A third song is available as a bonus download. The record is coming out on December 16, and I think this is a must for all of us that love some Christmas-tinged indiepop songs!

Boyracer: the legendary band is also back with Christmas songs! Two songs, “Magic to me” and “What Kind of Christmas Do You Want?” are available as a digital single, A side and B side. I think we have enough for a good festive playlist, right?

Les Bicyclettes de Belsize: and here is an album worth of indiepop carols! Charlie Darling shares with us 16 songs, a collection of him revisiting Christmas songs from his back catalogue. All re-recorded, re-mixed, and some re-written. Really lovely effort!

Comet Gain: 4 new songs by Comet Gain plus versions of old songs by David Christian in this collection titled “Heavy Necklace”. This 13 song album is up now on Comet Gain’s Bandcamp and as usual it is a must listen.

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Another find thanks to stoneeyedkiller’s Youtube account. It is a great resource to find obscure bands, I highly recommend checking it out now and then as it is updated much more often than this blog!

I am here just trying to give more context to the bands and songs he posts. See if there are more details to share. I hope that’s the case with this 90s indiepop band from Worcestershire called SWISS.

There is a trove of their songs on Soundcloud. These were uploaded 7 years ago and there’s very little information about them. The songs uploaded are “Symphony”, “Freefall”, “Big Surprise”, “Deeper”, “Marigold Man”, “People and Places”, “Say it Like You Do”, “Freakshow”, “Crease” and “Coming Down”.

Were these demos? There’s enough for an album here…

The band’s name makes it difficult to google them. The one detail that I can add is that there’s a photo on Soundcloud that shows the band was formed by 3 guys. One of them was called Craig I believe, sadly it seems Craig passed away some time ago.

So yeah, I am hoping for some details, hoping for anyone that remembers them to share some more info and hopefully learn the story of the band.

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Listen
SWISS – Big Surprise

April June: a new song by this Spanish project that has captivated me since the first time I heard them. I believe there’s just one person behind this project. At least there’s just one photo of a girl on Bandcamp. But there’s no other information. What I do know is that April June makes wonderful top-notch indiepop. The latest digital single “Making Out at the Cemetery” is a clear example of it. I hope for an album, an EP, something… on vinyl? or CD?

The Vapour Veils: another band that caught my attention is The Vapour Veils from Stockholm. So I am very happy today as I found out that the band has just put out the 5th single from their debut album “The Last Hurrah” on Bandcamp. This single is titled “Modern Love” and is ace. On top of that they share a non-song album titled “Vapour Veils” that is also fantastic. I can’t wait for their album to come out even though now I am buying waaaaaaay less records than before.

The Age of Colored Lizards: a band that have been repeatedly featured in the blog. This Oslo combo knows how to craft good songs and well, they’ve done it again. Their latest release came earlier in November and was a digital single titled “Close My Eyes” which is a goodie.

Helen Love: I missed this on! So BBC Radio 6 Music wanted for people to wear their favourite band t-shirt for November 4th. So Helen Love decided they were going to wear a Sparks one. And on top of it, they made a short but punchy song titled “I’ll Wear the Sparks One”. Bless.

Strawberry Generation: the Providence duo also released a single about a month ago, just in time for Halloween, and guess what, they named the song “Halloween”. They describe the song as a dream pop song about dressing up nice but not being nice!

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Another band from Woking that caught my attention thanks to the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud is The Ha Ha Men.

They had shared one song by them titled “Big” that was released on a cassette titled “Uncle Saps” from 1991 or 1992 (not sure). It sounds cool, very early 90s sounding. From what I gather the band released several cassette EPs during their time (1989 to 1994).

There’s a link to a website called Our Soundscene. Seems the people behind the Soundcloud have a website now. Before they used to link to a Facebook group.

On this website there’s a of more of information.

The band was formed by Jason Applin on vocals, Adrian Barry on guitar, Paul Harle on bass and Ptrick Bingley on drums.

The band’s first London gig was at the Rock Garden and they were actually booked by the great Jo Bartlett of Bluetrain and the Buzz Club! That tnight they played with the Manic Street Preachers. The band would also play other venues like The Cricketers in Westfield and The West End Centre in Aldershot.

One of their cassette EPs was titled “Face”. This one had the following songs, “Like a Train“, “FishyHead”, “Falls Into My Lap” and “Cruisin’ in my Terranova“. Another EP they released was titled “Power Cords” which came on a corduroy wrap cover.

In October 1990 the band supported Blur at the Buzz Club in the West End Centre in Aldershot. They would support them again at the University of London in November of that year.

On Soundscene’s 1990 Top Ten Local Songs their song “I Love My Wife” was number 5 and “You Call Me the Daily Mirror” was number 2.

Eventually in 1991 the band signed a deal with Flat Records to being working on an album titled “Love Burger”. This album was never released. Wonder how far they got in their recordings.

In December 1991 the band released the tape “Jim Bowen is Dead”. This EP had the songs “1000 Tooled Up Children”, “I Want Your Baby”, “Minds that Expand” and “See Her Fly”. On this recordings they had the help of Patrick “Patch” Hannan from The Sundays.

On Soundcloud there is one more song from the “Uncle Saps” tape. You can find “Bagshot, Ho!“, which sounds great.The other songs in this tape were “Let’s Talk ABout Love”, “Big (rerecorded)” and “This is Not Music”.

Some more gig finds. The Ha Ha Men played on November 22, 1989 at the Aldershot West End Centre with the support of the band Frantic. Then at The Cricketers in Westfield on January 3, 1991. Another gig is the one on February 1, 1992, at the same venue with the bands The River Thieves, Pretty Green and Peachrazor. Then in June 8, 1991, at the Pop Club at the Bull & Gate in London with the bands Blag and The Auteurs.

On July 25, 1991, the band played at the Town Square of Woking at the News & Mail’s 1st Annual Busking Festival that featured many bands including Who Moved the Ground, The Big Wednesday, Penfolds, The Sea, Vox Pop, and more. September 25, 1991, at The Cricketers in Westfield. Lastly, again at The Cricketers on January 3, 1994.

Who remembers them? Did they get a big following? What happened with their album? I would love to hear more songs by them!

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Listen
The Ha Ha Men – Big

The Photocopies: I think every week there’s some news by The Photocopies. Sean Turner’s solo project is the most prolific indiepop band this year and he has a new digital EP titled “Make Up Your Mind”. This EP consists of 4 jangly tracks that are very enjoyable.

The Spanish Amanda: finally! After a little wait since the English band announced their “Le Petit Magritte” EP, and then saying that an album titled “Magritte” was on the way, we finally get to listen to this very good album! It is released digitally and includes 10 songs that I think are very good. You know I am a big fan of Huw’s humor and his lyrics, so pay attention on them, and of course, if you need an introduction to the world of The Spanish Amanda, check out an interview on the blog from ages ago!

Scott Robertson: didn’t know that Kevin Robertson’s (The Vapour Trails) son made music. It is quite a surprise. Subjangle must have been happily surprised too and decided to release an album titled “Footprints in the Butter”. The album is out now on CD and few copies remain. The album features 11 songs of jingle jangly loveliness.

Silver Biplanes: “Silver Bells” is a wonderful version of the Christmas classic! I think that this song should be in everyone’s playlist this holiday season. This has been released as a digital single by the fine London label WIAIWYA.

The Happy Somethings: and lastly we should check out another English band, The Happy Somethings. They also have a Christmas song titled “Kind of True”. This one is an original and they share the lyrics. The song is not as upbeat, more of a mellow song. I think this one should be added to that holidays playlist. Do you have any other Christmas indiepop songs recommendations?

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Johnny Moran on guitar and vocals, Paul Gaffney on vocals and guitar, Paul Harper on bass and Anton Moran on drums formed the mid-eighties Irish band The Cracker Factory.

The band was active between 1985 and 1987.  They formed in Dublin and they came from the East Wall area except Paul who was from Finglas.

According to Irishrock.org Johnny and Anton were brothers. It also mentions that the band’s name came from a line in the song “Two Steps Back” from The Fall.

It says that Paul Gaffney left the band before the band recorded their first 2-song demo. This tape from 1985 included the songs “Dead Man’s Shoes” and “Plastic Life”. The bio also mentions that the band added Dave O’Reilly to play trumpet. Eventually they had a trombone player and a female backing vocalist that might have been named Kate for a few shows. O’Reilly wouldn’t last long in the band, he would leave and join bands like Crime of Passion and Icon Trial.

In 1986 the band found a new frontman, Martin Lynch. Paul Harper would also be replaced. Declan Mulligan would be now on bass. This lineup recorded a 1986 demo tape at Sun Studios in Dublin. This cassette had the song “This is Where the Fire Starts”.

What is clear is that in 1987 Lynch left the band and was replaced by Dave Radford. Rasford had previously been in Cotton Mill Boys and Roly Daniels. It says that at this point the band’s sound had changed a lot. It wasn’t the jangly pop band from the early days but now a country-sounding band.

So it made sense to change names. They were now called Keeper of the Fire. There was a 1987 demo tape with three songs but not sure which songs were on it. Was it released under their new name? Or before they changed their name?

Other interesting bits I found is that Paul Gaffney was in Tony St. James and Dry Season. Declan Mulligan would later play in Inside Cairo, The Lesser Gods, The Candyshop and Dry Season. Anto Moran would be in The Promise. I think it is quite important to mention that I have written about the Dry Season on the blog! There was very little information about this band…

Then a superb find. Declan Mulligan has a Soundcloud. Still based in Dublin (or actually in a small coastal area south of Dublin City), he has uploaded many songs over his 40 years of making music. Among these recordings we find the 1985 demo with “Dead Man’s Shoes” and “Plastic Life”. He shares a few more details, that the songs were recorded at Temple Lane Studios in Dublin and were produced and engineered by Ian Bryan who would go to work with The Golden Horde, The Hothouse Flowers and U2.

Another great find among his Soundcloud is the song “Thin Disguise“. This demo song was recorded at the same studios in 1986, also by Ian Bryan.

He has also shared the song “This is Where the Fire Starts” from the 1986 demo tape. And “Seán” is another song from that session.

And that’s what I could find about the band. Some good info and some great tunes. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
The Cracker Factory – Thin Disguise