Day 343. Verandan 7″s are at home and I am terribly happy! These are the moments that are totally worth having a label… it is like Christmas!

The Pleasures Pale: remember that we did a wonderful interview with the Dayton, Ohio, 80s band? Well there are good news! Their self-titled album has been remastered and is now available on a deluxe edition CD! So run and get it! You won’t regret it. 12 great jangle songs including classics like “No, Joy” or “My Town has no Cafés”. It also looks like they have 11 copies of the original vinyl pressing. Again, run!

Biarritz: we head to Murcia, Spain, to discover the 7-song mini-album by this project. Titled “De Paseo”, the mini-album is only available digitally. The sound reminds us of the first decade of this century, where Spanish pop, with bright jangly guitars and female vocals was a thing. It does have a nostalgic feel to hear these songs. It brings a big smile to me.

Sonia Gadhia: new song by this artist written and produced by the fine Castlebeat. The label is Spirit Goth. I have to admit I don’t know much about this scene. I do know though that “Be Mine” is a very nice slice of pop. Simple but well done. Dreamy.

Flu Flu: Shore Drive Records from Brighton has now released the mini-album “Mi Mundo Interior” by the Seville band Flu Flu! It is out now on CD and seems that very few copies are left. The band is formed by Fran Lora, Cristina Mohe, Javi Vass and Carlos Díaz, and here, they have 6 terrific songs, some in English and some in Spanish.

Fritz: and let’s end this roundup with the amazing album “Pastel” from the Newcastle, Australia, band. 9 songs which you can ore-order now. I don’t know much more other than the title song is available to stream. It is really really good song, lots of fun. I will definitely want this in my collection.

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Jonas Johnsson was Thehelpmeplease, a Swedish bedroom pop band from the 2000s.

I still recall those days with nostalgia. Even though I would visit Sweden in 2008, and already past the time when the scene was booming, I still have the best of memories of those days. So many creative people releasing records and playing in bands. Those years were amazing and every single day that passes I regret not being able to do a 2nd volume of the “Sound o Starke Adolf” compilations. Maybe one day I will be able to retake that project…

Anyways, Thehelpmeplease. I discovered them around 2004. It was the days of Soulseek and all indiepop kids from Sweden were there. They were sharing lots of great music. There was a cool CDR label called Bedroom Records then and they were the ones that released the first EP by Jonas, it was called “Buzzing like Bumblebees on Speed”. The catalog number was BED004, yeah, an early release in the label.

This EP had four songs, “Buzzing like Bumblebees on Speed”, “Rupert Murdoch”, “Son of a Gun” and “Someone Special”. “Sun of a Gun” was a cover of the classic song by The Vaselines. All songs had been recorded that same year, during autumn, at Jonas’ home. The photo on the front cover, who I assume is Jonas, was taken by Terése Wikström.

In 2005 he would release another CDR. This time it would be on the label Snowbeam Records (003), also from Sweden. Three songs recorded at home that year were part of this CDR, “A Little Love”, “She Said” and “Hesitate in Love”. One thing to note is that here the name of the band appears as The Help Me Please.

At that point in time the band had a website. I remember visiting it, but I can’t remember what sort of info was available. Anyone remembers?

In 2005 the band would contribute a few songs to compilations. The song “Bumblebee (Original Falu Version)” was included in the CDR compilation “Cosy Den Goes Lägenhet Ett År” on Cosy Recordings (COSY 001). Then the song “A Little Love” shows up on the great CDR comp “Popkonst, Love & Understanding” released by Popkonst Recordings (POPK12). And lastly, that year, they have “Buzzing Like Bumblebees on Speed” on the CDR comp “Club King Kong: Med Musiken i Mitten Vol. 2 Säsongen 06-07” released by Donkeyboys Records (DNKYBYS002).

In 2007 the band starts working with the label Series Two. They appear in the compilation CDR “Series Two Records Christmas Special” with the track “Hear the Bells Rings”.

The next year, 2008,  an album is finally released. It is called “You Still Have Summers” and has 9 songs, “A Little Love”, “Louise Dyer”, “Hesitate in Love”, “Someone Special”, “Buzzing Like Bumblebees on Speed”, “1992”, “She Said”, “Hear the Bells Ring” and “Bumblebee”.

Lastly, in 2009, they have the song “A Little Love” in the compilation “Series Two Compilation Vol. 23”.

A good find on the web is a blogspot page from the band dating from 2005. Here I find some setlists were there are some songs that weren’t included in the records. For example The Vaselines song “Lovecraft” and “No Other One” by Weezer used to be covered by Thehelpmeplease.

On the old Myspace I find a song “Lousy Weekend”. There I find a band, among the top friends, called The Johnsson Colors. I want to guess, because of the last name, that it was another band Jonas was in. Who would know?

I also wonder whereabouts in Sweden were Thehelpmeplease based. There is really no information on the web. A shame.

So yeah, who remembers this great bedroom pop band?

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Listen
Thehelpmeplease – A Little Love

Day 341. So yeah, don’t forget that this week I will start shipping Verandan orders!!! Very exciting! Pre-orders will be shipped first of course. The official release date is February 20.

Ski Saigon: “Sees the Albatross”, the debut album by the London based Ski Saigon will be out on the label Too Good to be True. This label, from Brest, France, is actually a new label by the people behind Beko Disques. The album is getting a CD release on March 4 and it will be very limited, just 150 copies. One of the songs is available to preview at the moment, “It’s Already Tomorrow”, and I highly recommend checking it out.

The Lodger: the great Leeds band will be back with a new album called “Cul-De-Sac”. 13 new songs. We can check one of those songs, “Dual Lives”, on Bandcamp. The album will be available through different labels around the world and it seems only in vinyl LP format.

Grids and Dots: the Sydney, Australia, band is back with a new song. It is called “What Happens to Friendships in Winter?”. That’s a good question indeed. Here in the north we are in winter and in a pandemic. So yeah, haven’t seen many friends. Speaking of pandemic, it seems the band actually have some gigs coming up in February and March. Lucky indeed.

CIEL: the Dutch combo also returns with a new song called “Pretty Face”. As with previous songs I’m enjoying this quite a lot. Very nice female vocals and melodies. I just think it’d be great to see a release by them, an album would be nice, right?

Shiny Times: and lastly on today’s quick reviews of indiepop discoveries on the web we find that Kim Weldin has continued making new music! It’s been a while since I last hear from her, probably 7, 8 months? so it is cool to see two new songs on her Bandcamp, “Dark Day” and “Everything is Gray”. Lovely bedroom pop.

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I keep discovering new Australian bands from the 80s and early 90s thanks to that great Youtube channel stoneeyedkiller. It is true he sometimes recommends some bands I’ve posted here but as of late I think I am being inspired more by his posts than him from mine!

The latest discovery is this Sydney post punk/pop band from the 80s called The Call. I already know, by their name, that it will prove difficult to find much information about them. Their name is not a good one for Google.

But there are some good news. There’s a Bandcamp and a Facebook page. So we’ll be able to find songs and some information!

Firstly, on the Bandcamp we find six song: “Winterland”, “Model”, “Andy’s Day”, “Memories” and “Road to Freedom”. We don’t know if these were properly released or not. We do know that they were recorded between 1981 and 1993. That seems a bit odd, six songs recorded in 12 years? There must be more! Anyone would know?

We also know the band members: David Thompson, Michael Pickells, Peter Ciobo and Steve Starr (Thompson). On the Bandcamp photo there are only 3 members though.

It also tells us that the band played in Sydney, Canberra and Newcastle. It also tells us that the band reformed in the year 2020 to play live shows as well as live streams and they plan to record. That’s interesting!

Their Facebook has less information. There are just a few photos of their 2020 rehearsals.

Looking for more information about the band members I find that Michael Pickells played in a band called The Lounge Lizards. And I am pretty sure that Peter Ciobo was in the band Deckchairs Overboard. I had a hard time finding any projects by the other band members.

But yeah, not that much info, but we get to listen to them and hopefully we’ll learn more about The Call in the near future!

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Listen
The Call – Road to Freedom

Day 338

Klaus & Kinski: just a few days ago I was recommending Alexanderplatz, the solo project of one of the Klaus & Kinski members. Well, there’s some news about this band! There is a vinyl reissue of their album “Tierra, Trágalos” for its 10th anniversary coming up on Jabalina! It is coming out on March 1st on vinyl! It includes all songs from the original release plus a cover of “Lalala” by Ataque de Caspa.

The Leontini Vernacular: the latest on Shore Dive Records from Brighton is an EP titled “Anthropause” by The Leontini Vernacular. Here are 6 songs, three labeled as demos and one remix, of psychedelic guitars and shoegazey feel. Out now on CD though it seems it will be sold out soon!

Arrest! Charlie Tipper: the Bristol band will be back with a limited edition 7″! Limited to 120 copies, this new record on the Local Underground label, will have two songs, “Five Aces” and “(I’ve Never Been to) Alaska”, and we can preview the opening track as we speak. The opening track will also be part of the double album “Adventures in Wonderland” that will be released this summer.

А в голове море: I don’t understand nor can read Russian. But I can see “Москва” and now it is Moscow. That’s the name of the latest song by this band. It is a fine slice of new wavy indiepop with female vocals. I don’t know much about the band, but I enjoy this song!

Bad Visuals: and to end this week on a high note let’s check out “So Broken” by the Oakland, California, band Bad Visuals. This four piece formed by John, Geoff, Chris and Josh are new to me. So it was a nice surprise to listen this fuzzy and bright track. The melodies and vocals kind of reminded me a bit of The Ocean Blue, though yeah, the guitars being a bit different. It’s cool!

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Who were The Marnies?

The information seems scarce. Discogs does list the one and only record they put out, a self-released 7″ from 1989 that was titled “Watch the Clock”.

This record had two songs, “Electric Wires” on the A side and “Watch the Clock” on the B side. The information that we gather from the record sleeve and labels is that the band was formed by:
Damian Tesoriero on drums
Patrick McArdle on guitar and vocals
Anthony Camm on bass and vocals
Terrance Vella on guitar

We also know that the two songs were recorded at Apollo Sound Studios in Coburg, on December 12, 1988, and that they were engineered by Maurice Coppola. The photo of the band that appears on the label was taken by Maria Sokratis. We also find an address of the band, North Fitzroy, that’s Melbourne, right?

The sleeve of the record that I’ve seen online looks hand-printed, on purple ink. Discogs lists two compilation appearances, but of much more recent days, so I really doubt it is the same band.

It seems the first blog to write about them was the fine Wilfully Obscure blog. The post actually dates from 2011! 9 years ago. That’s what it took me to discover them. Sadly the details shared are the same as I just mentioned in my post. BUT….

There is a comment by someone called Dr. Keats. He mentions many interesting tidbits about the band.

The band formed in 1987 and their name was taken from the 1964 Hitchcock film “Marnie”.  He mentions too that Patrick McArdle had been in a band called Vacuum Safari Suits, and he, Camm and Vella met at LaTrobe University.

The band played many of the classic venues of Melbourne including Punters Club, Evelyn Hotel, Empress of India, Royal Artillery, Limbo Club and more, playing alongside the Rhythm Pigs, Tyrnaround and a favourite of mine, The Falling Joys at The Tote.

Here we learn too that McArdle was the one who sang “Watch the Clock” while Camm sang “Electric Wires”. That at their gigs teh band used to finish their show with a cover of “Yesterday’s Hero” by John Paul Young. In 1989 Tesoreiro left the band andw as replaced by Maurice Toneatto. Later Tesoreiro would rejoin. In late 1990 or early 1991 the band called it quits.

And then some good information, McArdle and Tesoreiro were later in a band called Power Chime.

Lastly I find a Soundcloud by Patrick McArdle! There are a trove of songs here! I wonder if any of them are by The Marnies!

That was quite some good information. I honestly thought I’d find less info about them. Again, how come I couldn’t put together a compilation of Australian bands, I don’t know. They seemed all so little interested. It would have been so cool.

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Listen
The Marnies – Electric Wires

Day 336

Ruth Po!: on Po!’s Bandcamp there are two new tapes from back in the day that have been digitized. That’s fantastic news! These tapes are “Bedroom Tapes 1” from 1989 and “Bedroom Tapes 2” from 1990. They are wonderful, as everything Ruth has been involved with. Yeah, I am still wondering why we haven’t done an interview for the blog yet…

Mister Baby: I discover this band and release a bit late. The cassette mini-album “Sidewalk Pop” is already sold out at the band’s label Paisley Shirt Records from San Francisco. The mini-album is a nice lo-fi pop effort by Katiana Mashikian. Very enjoyable. 8 songs including a cover of “Dr. Jones” by Aqua!

Pleasure Pill: not much info about this project from San Diego, California. They have a few songs on their Soundcloud, the latest called “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory (But Baby I’ve Tried)” which is great. Lo-fi crashpop like no many do these days. Also surprised to see a cover of “La Tentación” by legendary Spanish band Kaka de Luxe.

Racketgirl!: another band from California that doesn’t tell us anything about them! So little info! This one hails from Chula Vista and in the last few weeks have put out a few demos on Bandcamp, “Flowers for Eyes”, “Broken Glass” and “On the Floor”. They are great popsongs influenced by Tiger Trap, Talulah Gosh, Shop Assistants and on and on!

Alexanderplatz: last January the Spanish label Jabalina Música released a new album by Alexanderplatz. Available in vinyl, the 11 song album is called “Parques Nacionales Españoles”. The band as you know is the project of Alejandro Martínez who once was part of the great combo Klaus & Kinski. Recommended.

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Another discovery on the blog Calgary Cassette Preservation Society is the Edmonton, Canada, band Foes of Respiration. Seems I should dig here more often. But in due honesty the Youtube channel stoneeyedkiller is the one on top of this blog helping me find these bands. So thanks to both!

Anyways, the tape that is shared from this band is called “Avoid Inhaling”. This tape looks like an album, a demo of an album? or maybe a proper release that was sold at gigs. It doesn’t specify. What we know is that the tape had 12 songs, which were “In Place”, “Not the Same”, “I Don’t Understand”, “Extra Body”, “It’s Always Winter” and “Hot Babe” on the A side and “And You Don’t Care”, “The Gift”, “No Longer Young”, “Someplace”, “Promised Land” and “832 Juxtaposition Rifles” on the B side.

One thing that mentions the blog is that this band was the precursor to the Minstrels on Speed. I don’t actually know the Minstrels on Speed, but did find that two of the members were there, Bob Kross and Kelly Service. So that doesn’t help. In any case, right now I am focusing on the Foes of Respiration.

Luckily there are scans of the sleeve of the tape and that way we find the band member’s names:
Ken Hartig – bass, vocals
Bob Kross – guitar, vocals
Scott Lingley – drums
Kelly Service – guitar, vocals, harmonica

Other people that participated in the record were Johwanna Alleyne and Kelly McPhillamey doing vocals on a song.

All the songs were recorded in Bob’s and Kelly’s basements on December of 1988 and were produced by the band. The songs were engineered by Bob and Kelly too. They were mixed by Ian Armostrong and the band on January of 1989. The artwork was made by The Tim Okamura Experience.

Then there’s an address, so the band hailed from Sherwood Park in Alberta, if we want to be more exact.

Sherwood Park was founded as Campbelltown by John Hook Campbell and John Mitchell in 1953 when the Municipal District of Strathcona No. 83 approved their proposed development of a bedroom community east of Edmonton. The first homes within the community were marketed to the public in 1955. Canada Post intervened on the name of Campbelltown due to the existence of several other communities in Canada with the same name, so the community’s name was changed to Sherwood Park in 1956.

On Discogs I found that the band actually had one song properly released. The song was “Take Another Dream” and came out on a compilation LP called “Don’t Let the Fruit Rot on the Tree” that was released by Nine-B South in 1988. This compilation came with a booklet with information about each band on it. Would be great if anyone has it and can share any information. I am not familiar with any of the bands on this record either.

Right, Canadian bands, I don’t know that much. There are great ones, and have covered only a few on the blog. The last ones might have been The Grain and Cannon Heath Down.

I stumble upon an article from January 26, 1990, on the Calgary Herald. Sadly I can’t access it as you need an account. I wonder what it says about the band.

Then I find a cool poster of a gig of the band from October 27, 1989, at The Sunset Club. The band is playing alongside Hambone Headcheese. Then anothe rposter, this time of a gig at The Ambassador on November 11, 1989, with Pop Crisis, Rex Morgan B.C., A-Okay and Things That Wouldn’t Leave.

And that’s it. I did find that Bob Kross had been in another band, The Loved One, releasing a cassette and CD album in the early 90s. I couldn’t find information about the other band members. I think Scott Lingley may be working at the University of Alberta, that backing vocalist Kelly McPhillamey has a hair studio, and the other backing vocalist Johwanna Alleyne has an online store of pickles and preserves. Cool!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Foes of Respiration – It’s Always Winter

Day 334

The Catherines: the Hamburg duo is releasing their new album! It is called “Drenched”. It is a short one, maybe we could call it a mini-album. It has 7 songs with great catchy melodies. It is out now on CD and cassette. I’ve featured the band many times, so you know I like them and you know what to expect. It is always a pleasure to read their song titles, always quirky and smart.

The Apartments: a new release by the classic Australian band! “A Life of Farewells” is coming out on April 2nd and will be available on vinyl and CD. The album will include 9 songs and we can preview one now, “The Failure of Love is a Brick Wall (You Prayed for me to Hit it)” and I can say I think it is wonderful. Can’t wait to hear the rest! Pre-orders are available now.

Hadda Be: “Another Life” is the latest single by this Brighton/London combo. This track will be included in their forthcoming album to be released in April of this year. There is no more info other than that. But the song (and the artwork that goes with it) is good, so should definitely look forward to it.

Mocca: the Indonesian band has continued releasing great records since their debut on Fruit Records, more than a decade ago. Their latest release is the album “Day by Day” and I just discovered it through the fine Blue-Very label. They are putting out the Japanese version of the CD that will even include liner notes by our friend Toshiko Matsumoto who ran the fine Apple Crumble Record! The album has 8 songs and right now we can listen to 4 of them on Bandcamp. The album will be released on CD.

Letting Up Despite Great Faults: oh! I always liked this dreamy band. Now the band is releasing “Movement EP 15 Anniversary Edition (Remastered w/B-sides)” on cassette. The record will include the original songs from the original release plus 3 more songs, “Bloom”, “Lux” and “Shine”. And there’s also the song “Halos” which is exclusive for those that order on Bandcamp!

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When you stumble upon a trove of songs, 21 songs to be precise, of an obscure Sheffield band called Mr. Morality, you have to post about it immediately!!

So here I am, trying to learn a little bit more about them. They never released a record, but got a little bit of attention last year, 2019, when their song “Treehouse” appeared on the “Dreams to Fill the Vacuum – The Sound of Sheffield 1977-1988” boxset released by Cherry Red. I didn’t get this compilation, but I hope to get a copy when I return to NYC in January. Maybe there are some other great bands I might have missed.

Aside from this boxset the band did appear on another compilation, but 34 years earlier, in 1985. A tape called “Outrage Entertainment” had two of their songs, “Terry and Jane” and “Valium Days”. This tape is probably very rare as it includes two Pulp songs. This tape, which was homemade, was sold at Pulp’s “Outrage” concerts in late 1985 and early 1986. Mr. Morality (and Dig Vis Drill) supported Pulp during this tour.

The songs on Soundcloud are many. It seems they are all their recorded output and probably would make a great compilation. These songs are from 6 demo tapes that were recorded between 1985 and 1988. The intention of these tapes was of course to get radio play, attract A&R and press and get gigs. They use to sell these tapes at gigs. But most importantly, we don’t know what songs were in which tape. That is something we’ll need to find out.

The songs are as follow, they may be in chronological order, but can’t say 100% sure: “Terry and Jane”, “Sometimes I Wonder”, “Valium Daze”, “A Less than a Perfect Thing”, “Secret Ships”, “Men and their Gods”, “A Day by the Sea”, “Our Little World”, “Blue”, “Strawberry Mountain”, “Boy Down our Street”, “Autumn Winds”, “The Inevitable End”, “The Invisible Man”, “The King of Nowhere”, “Treehouse”, “This Higher Passion”, “Sand”, “You’ll Never Be”, “Scream For Me” and “Intro Track”.

It is my luck that I find a Facebook page for the band which seems to still be active. Should contact them. Here we learn that the band was formed by Steve Genn (vocals, guitar), Dave Oldale (guitar), John Furniss (bass) and Martin Spivey (drums). Though on Facebook we see other photos with more members like Dean Methley, Steve Naylor or Dave Hinckler.

There are many different mentions of gigs. We know that:
– March 16, 1985 they band played at Rockwells
– March 26, 1985 they played at the Hallamshire Hotel
– May 18, 1985, they play for the 2nd time at The Hallamshire Hotel (this was their 5th ever gig)
– May 31, 1985, we see the band playing at The Library Theatre supporting the band 777
– June 25, 1985 the band plays at Rockwells
– July 16, 1985 they play at The Limit in a battle of the bands competition
– Aug. 1, 1985, at the Sheffield Uni alongside Pulp, Treebound Story, Revelation, Half Past Midnight, Spring Street Band, Massai Warrior, The Cast, Hole in the Wall, Mr President
– Aug. 5, 1985, the band plays at The Underground
– Aug 29, 1985, they play again at The Hallamshire Hotel
– Sept. 1, 1985, the band plays at the Dolebusters Festival
– Sept. 22, 1985, with Pulp and Dig Vs Drill at The Leadmill
– Sept. 24, 1985, the band plays at the Thekla Old Profanity showboat in Bristol.
– Oct. 4, 1985, the band plays the first of the “Outrage” gigs at the Darlington Arts Center
– Oct. 7, 1985, the band plays again with Pulp and Henry Normal at the Adam and Eves in Chesterfield.
– Oct. 17, 1885, alongside Pulp and Dig Vis Drill the band plays Bradford University
– Oct. 25, 1985, the same lineup plus Popular Front play at the Maze Bar at Sheffield Uni
– Nov. 6, 1985, the band plays at The Wellington Club in Hull with Pulp, Dig Vis Drill and Bible Brothers
– Dec. 14, 1985 they played at The Leadmill supporting Microdisney
– July 11, 1987 they played at The Leadmill with support of The Jack Rubies
– Nov. 5, 1987 they played at The Depot Club in the Sheffield University Lower Refectory

Wow! the band really must have kept a diary or something! They even have setlists for many of these gigs in their Facebook page.

Another interesting fact that I find in the Pulp wiki is that there was a Pulp song called “Mr Morality” that remains unreleased. According to the wiki it was first played live at the Possibly Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in Oct. 1982. Did the band name themselves after this song?

The big question is still why they didnt release any records? Was there no interest? There are some great songs here, at least two could have been put on a wonderful 7″. Why didn’t any label see it? It is something I wonder.

I hope to learn more about the band soon. In the meantime, let’s listen to all of these songs!

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Listen
Mr. Morality – A Less than Perfect Thing

Day 331

Lande Hekt: from Bristol comes this solo project who have just released an album called “Going to Hell”. The album is available on vinyl and CD and includes 11 tracks. The one thing that I don’t know is that it says that the record was recorded in Australia in 2020, but then the band is from Bristol? How did they do to travel like that during the pandemic! In any case that’s just something curious, the songs are strong, upbeat and catchy. That’s what matters.

The Yellow Melodies: a USB digipak with 36 songs, all of the songs that had appeared by the Murcia band in different compilations between 1997 and 2016 is now available directly from the band. There are only 100 copies made, and at the time I am writing this there were just 19 copies left!

Honey Pine Dresser: when Marie Pascale Hardy from Quebec moved to London she met Robert Cann, Becky Dixon, Sally Frampton and Dimitri Sudell. They started this band and have just released an EP titled “Not Pandora”. It is not all indiepop, there are some folky influences here. But there are some very is a good indiepop songs called “English Game”.

Sullen Eyes: my favourite discovery this week is this fun band from Bangor, Maine. Their 5 song self-titled EP is so much fun! Who are behind this band? There is really not much information other than that the songs were recorded a year ago. A year after they upload these songs to Bandcamp to make me very curious! Really good!

Traveling with Monika: the latest from the best indiepop band from Thailand is called “Break Down These Walls”. It is a dreamy, moody, track, sung in Thai. The lyrics translated to English are available on their Bandcamp. Definitely check it out.

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I think part of the premise of this blog is to remember. To remember bands that no one else seems to remember. Bring their songs back. And listen to them one more time. If possible find out what happened with them. Interview them. That’s what I try, to keep a record of all the great indiepop out there.

Today I remembered a band I used to be in touch with. A band from somewhere in Mexico. I can’t remember much more about them. I think it was a boy and a girl. I can’t remember the names. The year was 2004. The band was called Piscina, which translates to “swimming pool”. Now that is quite an interesting name for a Mexican band. Most Spanish countries use the word piscina for a swimming pool, but in Mexico the most common word for swimming pool is actually alberca.

Anyways. It was 2004 and I was compiling a compilation album called “¡Es Pop, Mamá! ” that was to accompany the Peruvian music magazine Revista 69. I have written about a few bands that appeared on this compilation like Hey, Miss! from Brazil and Abeja and Robotril from Mexico. The compilation ended up being a success and created a bit of a buzz about indiepop in Peru and since then there’s been indiepop bands, labels, gigs and festivals. I want to think I had a little part in it.

But back to Piscina. I can’t remember anything at all. I know the song that was included in the comp was called “Megapasión”, which you can guess what it means, it’s the same in English. It is a fun song as you’ll see.

The only other song I know they released was a cover of “Soy Una Intelectual” by the Galician band Aerolíneas Federales. This song was included in a tribute to said band called “Alegra La Cara – Tributo a Aerolíneas Federales” on the label Ya Estas Ya Producciones (YP-10), also from Peru.

So yeah, I want to remember them, hopefully get in touch with them again. Did they continue making music? Did they actually release anything? Where are they now?

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Listen
Piscina – Megapasión

Day 329.

Mandarinaduck: the latest release on Box Bedroom Records from Manchester is the “Super Long Life” EP 7″! It has 4 jangly and other times fuzzy songs. It is really nice. As usual with Box Bedroom Records the 7″ comes with lots of goodies, a very careful and aesthetically pleasant release!

The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness: “Songs from Another Life” is the new album that is going to be released by Bobo Integral from Spain. It is coming out on February 5th and sounds amazing. I also like the artwork a lot. The album is coming out on vinyl, and it is thee second album by the band. The band formed by Andrew in Edinburgh and Gonzalo in San Sebastian, have penned 10 superb songs.

Clubwater: 8 poppy songs coming from Bandung, Indonesia. Jangly, Smith-sy, I am enjoying their chiming guitars. The self-titled 8 song album will be out on February 14. It is coming out on tape on the veritable Shiny Happy Records! Three songs are available to preview, “Adult Angst”, “Secret Smile” and “Regret”. Enjoying all three! Looking forward to hearing the rest.

The Laughing Chimes: first time listening to this Ohio band. Their latest is an album called “In This Town” which was released on Jan. 31. Their debut album is jangly and lo-fi. The band is formed by Evan on guitar, vocals and bass and Quinn on drums and I can imagine their music in one of those great 90s compilations like “Pop American Style” if that makes sense!

Rose et les Maries: Rosie and Johan are behind this San Diego duo that just popped up on Bandcamp last December. And they appear to have just one song! It is called “Mon Chien Lucy” and it is really lovely! Where did it come from? We need more songs by them!

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I just had a blast from the past going through some CDRs I have. I wonder if anyone remembers the Japanese band Yupitalk? I am talking around the year 2008, Myspace times. Any?

I don’t think I was in touch with the band. If my memory serves right, I was in touch with Hiroho Komatsu who was either a fan of the band, a promoter of the band, or something like that. He was very keen in promoting Japanese bands then. I remember trading and getting cool Japanese CDRs from him. One of the bands he helped me discover was Yupitalk. As you can imagine I don’t know much about them even though I notice I have two copies of their “Teikuuhikousen” EP that was released in 2008 by Babyboom Records (DEMO EP 08).

This EP has a beautiful sleeve, with a lovely illustration done by Boojil. The EP came with four songs, “Airship Flight”, “In Love”, “Last Human” and “Home”. I know that the band was just Yurie Endo and got help from someone called Hideo to arrange the songs. Hideo also wrote “Airship Flight”.

According to the insert that came with the CDR it says that Yupitalk started in 2007 and was based in Tokyo.

The year after Yupitalk released a new CD called “The Pillows of Yupitalk”. I don’t think I have this one. This one is no longer a CDR but a CD. It was also released by Babyboom Records Japan (BBRJ 001) and included 7 songs! These were “Airship Flight”, “In Love”, “Last Human”, “Amorphophallus Gigas”, “Gift”, “Lizard Town” and “Shangria”. Something cool I found on Youtube is a video to promote this album.

She also appeared on the compilation “Series Two Compilation Vol. 20” with the song “Koi Wo Shiterutoiukoto” in 2009.

There is another release where Yupitalk was involved with. It dates from 2011 and is a collaboration between Ogasawara Hiroyuki and Yupitalk. Actually the release is called just like that, “Ogasawara Hiroyuki & Yupitalk”. This was released as a CD in 2011 by Babyboom Records (BBRJ-0012). This CD had four songs, “青[オガサワラヒロユキ×ユピトーク]”, “奇跡の亡骸[オガサワラヒロユキ]”, “神様がくれたもの[ユピトーク]”, “ギター[オガサワラヒロユキ]” and “ウォーリー[ユピトーク]”. The release included a music video DVDR.

If you want to listen to her songs there is a Soundcloud with all of them! That is really good news, right?

On Soundcloud there is also an EP titled “とかげの街” from 2007. I dont know if there was a CD release for this one. In any case here are the 5 songs for you to listen. These were “とかげの街“, “Home”, “アモルフォファルス・ギガス“, “ユピソング” and “雨の日も、晴れの日も(Piano Ver.)“. Also there’s another song called “1204 (demo)“.

Another nice find is a song of Yupitalk playing the song “Gift” live in 2009 at Connection. I am guessing this was a venue in Tokyo? Then there’s another video of her playing at Mona Records on January 1, 2008, another  two at Lush (here’s the other, playing the song “Last Human“) from October 11, 2007,

And last find is that of a Twitter account. I don’t undertand Japanese so it is a bit complicated for me to know if there’s any music talk here! The good thing is that Yurie seems to be active on it!

Yeah, that’s all for now. So who remembers Yupitalk? Maybe some of my Japanese friends do? Tell me more about this project! Did she play live much? Was the 2007 EP released properly? Was she involved with other bands?

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Listen
Yupitalk – Last Human

Day 327.

3 a.m. Again: it seems Michael Telles project Night Heron had to change their name because of some copyright law. A real shame. I liked that name. Now under the name 3 a.m. Again he is releasing a 20 song CD album called “Come Back from the Sun” on the veritable label Subjangle Records. The album is out now and as I said includes lots of songs, all of them packed with lovely and sweet melodies, packed with sunshine. Good stuff.

Wave Goodbye: also from Boston, Massachusetts, comes this one man project by Jack Downey. He is releasing an EP on February 19th called “Summer”. Right now we can preview one out of seven songs, the one called “Summer of Love”. It is a good one I think. Very early 2000s, reminding me a bit to The Javelins! That’s a good thing in my book!

The Churchhill Garden: “Fade Away” is the latest song by this Lucerne, Switzerland, project, by Andi Jossi and Krissy Vanderwoude. As with their previous songs we get this dreamy and hopeful atmosphere, with smart and elegant arrangements, and catchy melodies. One wonder when will there be a proper release. They deserve it.

The Fragiles: this solo project by David Settle from Philadelphia is releasing a cassette album on February 12. The album is called “On and On” and will include 10 songs. As it is becoming usual in Bandcamp only one song, “Kaleidoscope”, is available to preview. The track is very nice, fuzzy but poppy at the same time. Looking forward to listening to the rest.

Happy Cat Meows: now we head to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to discover this fun band! “Para Siempre en Internet” is a short EP with three songs, “Sunset Riders”, “Dormir-Me” and “Flores”. These are three catchy and upbeat pop songs  which seem perfect as we know down in the southern hemisphere they are in summer. Joyful pop!

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Been meaning to write about the Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, band for a while now. Not sure why I hadn’t yet, sure there are many bands, but I do own many records by them. So even though I’ve never talked or anything with the band members, I am a bit familiar with their music. So I can surely recommend them, right?

We know the band originally was formed by John Bingham on guitars and vocals, Simon Burgon on vocals, Phil Shorthouse on bass, Steve Frisby on guitar and Anni the drum machine. This formation recorded the flexi from 1987 that had two songs, “Metroland” and “Dorian’s Face”. This flexi was released by J.B. Di Griz (GRIZ 001) and also credits two more people, Joe Shevelan on tambourine and Pam on backing vocals. Martin Howells engineered the record and played the organ.

The band would end up releasing more of their output on the fine Leicester label Rutland Records. “Three Ghosts” (RUT 2) would be their first release on the label, a great 7″ single that included three songs. These were “Less than 1,000,000” on the A side and “Sweet and Stupid” and “Snow” on the B side. The 7″ came with a lyrics insert. This one came out in 1989.

Afterwards, in the same year, the band released a tape on the same label. It was called “November in St. Ann’s” (RUTT3). St. Ann’s being a district withing the city of Nottingham. Paying homage to their hometown perhaps? In any case this tape had four songs, “The Ballad of Johnny the Fish”, “On Howard Beach”, “And it Shines” and “Where’s Mine?”.

Next came another 7″ on Rutland, it was the single with “True West” on the A side and “Hide” on the B side. Catalog number was RUTEP 4. Martin Howells produced the songs that were recorded at Rooftop Studio. There is credits to Carl (no last name) for drumming.

1990. Time for another flexi. But not any flexi, it was a hard-flexi. That means there was an A side and a B side. That it is a record not as thin as a flexi, but not thick as a common 7″. Confusing? Not really. The catalog number was RUTEP 5 and the songs were “Cross!” on the A side and “Hey Solitude” on the B side. It is said that this record was given away for free with the Cliftonville FC fanzine “The Wee Red” in early 1990.

Lastly in 1993 we see changes and a new release. Changes in the label that put the record out. Now it was the German label Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 7). And also on the lineup of the band. This new 7″ was the “Startrippers” EP. It had the title song on the A side and “Angel Nineteen” and “Happy War (Xmas is Over)” on the flipside. John Bingham was the only original member, on guitar and bass. The new members were Ian Williams on vocals and guitar, Helen Williams on vocals and Steve Lawrence on drums. The record was once again recorded at Rooftop Studio and produced by Martin Howells.

There seems to be even a new lineup for a band afterwards, with John Bingham, Ian Williams and Haddon on Smith on guitar. Not sure which recordings were made by them. Could be some of the many compilation appearances?

Indeed, there are many of them. Starting with the song “Sweet and Stupid” that was included in the Boshi Label’s compilation tape “My Favourite Sunday Vol. 1” (RODDY 004) in 1989. Then they would have “The Ballad of Johnny the Fish” on the Roman Cabbage Vinyl LP comp “El Dorado” (Grey  2) in 1990. So yeah, first a Japanese compilation, then a German on.

And why not a Dutch compilation? In 1990 they would include their song “Hide” in the double vinyl compilation “Let’s have a Picnic and Barbecue some Corrupt Not Self-Programming Dee-Jays” (NOET 10) on  Noet Lachten Records. That same year their song “Sweet & Stupid” would show up on “And they Call it Pop” a tape compilation released by Fragrant. “Hide” would appear on the classic “Audacious” tape from 1990 as well.

In 1991 their song “True West” was included in “Berlincassette 2-91” released by Jarmusic. In 1992 their relationship with Meller Welle Produkte starts with the band having the song “Radio Friendly” in the cassette compilation “Sandcastles in the Sun” (MEL10). Then Discogs lists them appearing on a Swedish comp called “Amber Dregs” with the songs “Marianne Dreams” and “Ford Madonna”.

In 1995 the band appears on the Bliss Aquamarine tape “Sapphite” (BLISS020). Here they have two songs, “Mikoyan” and “Shipbuilding (in Reverse)”. Two years later, on another Bliss Aquamarine tape, this one called “Shimmering Opals” (BLISS 031) the band have the songs “Chelsea Winter” and “Old Angels”.

In 1999 the song “Startrippers” is included now on an Italian compilation, the tape “Broken Bits of You and Me” released by Best Kept Secret (LIE 004).

Discogs also lists the song “Ashley Watt” contributed to the tape “Indigo Violet” (BLISS 044) on Bliss Aquamarine, “Elsewhere Girl” on the Pearl fanzine compilation tape “The Noise and the Melodies” from Germany and “Marianne’s Dreams”, “Ford Madonna”, “Marianne Dreams Electric” and “Star Yer Headspace” on the tape “Ha Ha, Funny Feeling!” released by Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 15). Don’t know the release year for any of these three, but definitely they are later period of the band.

I don’t see any of the members being involved with other bands. It seems they were all about The Waiting List. What I do find on the web is sad news. John Bingham passed away in 2018. The newspaper Newark Advertiser has an article about it. Here we learn that John was involved in managing the Palace Theatre in his town. The article also seems to say that Simon Burgon is not with us anymore. Is that so?

Then there is a CD called “Television of Cruelty Season 2”. I don’t know which member of The Waiting List was in this band, but it does say that at least one song, “Teenage Wasteland” was co-written with John Bingham, who they were together in The Waiting List.

And that’s it. Sadly some sad news on this search for The Waiting List. But hopefully many of you remember them, saw them, and have great memories of them. Would be nice to find out more about the band of course. So any details let me know!

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Listen
The Waiting List – True West

Day 325.

I said I was going to share the Bandcamp for the new Verandan release, so here it is. Enjoy, and order the record of course!!

La Merienda: La Merienda is a great pop radio show from Extremadura, Spain. Agustín, who is behind the show, has put together a compilation of different intros for the show that many pop bands have recorded through the years including Cariño, Guatafan, Cristina Quesada and Marcos y Molduras among others.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: Slumberland announced the album “Uncommon Weather” by their neighbours (both label and band based in the Bay Area) and seems to be doing well! It will be released on April 9th, and the limited version of the release that includes a 7″ single and photo zine is already sold out. But don’t despair, the CD and regular vinyl versions are available. There are 13 songs in the album and the opening track, “Don’t Ever Pray in the Church of My Street” is available to preview.

Fine.: one of my favourite bands from the last months is this Boston, UK, combo formed by James Marsh and Alice Kat. It is jangly, upbeat, with great vocal melodies. I find it perfect. Great band and it seems they are working on an album. That’s very good news. I’d buy that album for sure. A 7″ would be nice wouldn’t it?

Telepathic Traffic: just discovered this Los Angeles dreampop band thanks to their cover of The Specials song “You’re Wondering Now”. It is an interesting twist. The band is formed by Harris Pittman, just him.

No Suits in Miami: before 2020 ended the great Lund, Sweden, band released “I’ll Never Lie Again (Just to Get a Synth from You)”. The band, who I have featured a few times, makes wonderful pop music, with classy arrangements and lovely melodies. Listening to this song of course I feel like I need a physical record of theirs… they don’t exist sadly, just a tape from back in 2018…

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So a few weeks ago I created an Instagram account to post photos of my records. Yeah, I know, not very original, but it is fun for me. There are so many good records I have that a little promotion doesn’t hurt anyone. And maybe I get to learn some stories people will share. Who knows.

Actually when I posted a photo of Oh Sweet Music!’s CDR (their one and only) that was released in 2004 by the great Smashing Time (SMT008), a few friends commented. One of them telling me he would pay good money for a copy of it! Another telling me he has been looking for it for ages with no luck. I wouldn’t have known!

You see, I was lucky. I got a copy of this CDR thanks to the great Martin Cannert from The Javelins/The Faintest Ideas, last time I met with him in Gothenburg. That was really great of course. Those days, traveling, having fun, new cities, seeing friends. He gave me a bunch of CDRs from the 2000s, a time where indiepop seemed to reign supreme in Sweden. A time that I tried to capture in a compilation called The Sound of Starke Adolf. I planned to do more volumes of these series of compilations, but it turned out a bit more difficult when trying to put together the 2nd volume, the bands seemed so uninterested that it was hard to get tracks and the CD booklet together. You know, you need photo and bio of a band for a proper release of this kind.

I don’t think I reached to Oh Sweet Music! then. I had this very long list of bands I had to contact, enough bands for 5 or 6 volumes. They were on that list of course.

So going back to this CD, we know that there were five songs on it, “Let’s Go to War”, “Reconsider Peace”, “Long Time Since Bedtime”, “The Astronaut” and “You Can’t Hug Your Children With Nuclear Arms Pt II”. The CDR came in a plastic sleeve. Taped to the sleeve was the tracklist and written down the URL to a website which doesn’t exist anymore.. And there was also a cloth sleeve, single sided, with the name of the band.

The band did appear on two compilations later on, so we know they had more songs. There are four songs by the band on the 2007 “Series Two Compilation Vol. 1” CDR that were “For Long Years”, “Song to Iraq”, “My Trip to Asia” and “Long Time Since Bedtime”. The year after on the “Series Two Compilation Vol. 12” they had just one song, “Oh, Daniel” which I believe was a Tafra cover.

On Last.fm it seems there were more songs by the band like “Oh Sweet Christmas!”, “I Can Win it Back”, “Poor Man’s Heaven”, “I’ve Lost Track of the World”, “(Fly Away For) Christmas”, “Berlin”, “Winter in Stockholm” and “Midsummer”

Sadly there’s not much more info on the web. I did find something interesting, I think Oh Sweet Music! performed in Buenos Aires in 2011. There’s a video of Oh Sweet Music! performing “Long Time Since Bedtime” at Zorzal-Mané in San Telmo, Buenos Aires. The light on the video is quite dark, so it is hard to see. But still, it is quite a treasure to find!

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Listen
Oh Sweet Music! – Let’s Go to War

Day 323. Today can finally share the Verandan new single, “Hideaway”, which will be the A side of the forthcoming 7″ by the great Finnish band. It will be released on Cloudberry of course, next month, on physical format. Wish it had been ready by now, but there are delays (no surprise there… grrr) with the pressing plant. Anyhow, pre-order button is up on the website and later today the Bandcamp page with this release will be up and running. Right now you can preview it on Soundcloud if you like! So yeah, very exc ited!! But can’t wait to receive the records, I’ll be more excited then ha ha!

Detective Larsson: Amanda Larsson has recorded a very nice EP called “21” which has 3 songs. The first one is the only original in the EP (the other two are covers of Dean Martin and Marianne Faithfull). This first track, called “21 (Dreamt of Freedom)” is really nice and haunting! One thing that takes it to another level are the superb and brilliant guitar arrangements by a friend of mine, Miguel Navarro, who used to be the jangle master in The Felt Tips.

Rachel Love: Rachel of Dolly Mixture, indeed! Here is a new song she has recorded called “Primrose Hill” which is utterly beautiful! Wow. Will this be released in some way soon? I would like that. There is the hint that she is signed to a record label called Cowchow Records, so might that mean we’ll see a proper physical release in the near future?

Lentillas de Colores: Cristina León and Dado (ex-Juniper Moon) from the city of León (I visited this city a year and a half ago and really liked it!), in Spain, are Lentillas de Colores. They have released not too long ago a 7″ vinyl with 4 songs called “Arrancacorazones”. They’ve recorded many demos before but this is their first proper EP release. It is really lovely, with fun melodies and lyrics.

Botanic Garden zine: this Shanghai fanzine is really good, even though I don’t understand Chinese. I have a few issues and you can tell it is done with love. In their latest number, #4, they interview the band All Romantic Days, which you can check their song “In Your Court”, if you follow the link. There’s also essays by BoringProductions’ Jovi and more.

Diaphane: I am not a big fan of instrumentals as you might know but this “Demo EP” from 1993 by ex-Les Autres’ Jimmy Arfosea is pretty good. You can listen luminous and chiming guitars on the 4 songs that make up this EP.

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Another band I’ve discovered recently through the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud is Eat the Sofa. What a curious name, right?

The song they shared is called “Love of My Life” and this song actually was included in a tape compilation from 1996 called “The Best of Farnborough Groove in the World – Ever! (Volume 6)”. Many of the bands that are featured on the Soundcloud have been part of these compilation series I’ve noticed.

The good thing with the people behind the Soundcloud and also the Facebook page is that they share a lot of interesting details which make my life easier when featuring the bands. For example we know that the band released two CD albums, “So Far So Good” and “Absolute Pondlife”. Neither of the two are on Discogs so I need to track them down in a different way.

One thing that is for sure is that the band played at the Guildford Folk & Blues Festival in Stoke Park, in Guidlford, in 1994. They also polayed alongside Vox Pop and Manfred Mann at the Guildford Civic Hall. I guess we can say that the band hailed from Guildford? Is that a good assumption?

The band was formed by Allen Broad, Jamie Legg, Dee Coley and another member whose name is still a mystery (!). May it be Duncan Siggers? The band was formed in 1994 and lasted until 1999. There were lineup changes of course. Allen Broad fronted the band until 1999 when he relocated to Amsterdam. We also know that Coley started as the drummer but moved to play bass when Legg joined.

In 2004 the band reunited and played a gig at the Holloway Hill Sports Club  in Godalming supported by Graham Firth. In 2006 they were still gigging, there was at least one gig in December of that year at The Sun, in Godalming, where they got support by The Two Deceivers and Sigg & Si.

Another gig we know of is the ones are from Friday January 14, 1994, at The Cricketers in Woking and from Saturday January 15, 1994, at The Parrot in Slyfield.

I’ve also seen at least a demo tape of the band called “So Far So Good”. Maybe that was the album? Maybe it wasn’t released as a tape?

Another thing I found is that Coley joined the band The Blazing Homesteads after Eat the Sofa split up.

And then I find a Facebook page for the band! Well actually, it is more of a Allan Broad page and his latest music. But there are some links to videos and songs by Eat the Sofa, so that’s good. I am just looking for information about the albums! And I finally do. I find the tracklist, but not yet how or who released them. So…

“So Far So Good” had ten songs, “Will You Ever Come Home”, “Now I Know Where I Am Going”, “It’s So Easy”, “You Can Come Along”, “Set Me Free”, “Searchin’ On a Monday”, “Aborigine Call / Getting Away from it All”, “Dry Your Eyes”, “Mailman” and “Here’s Looking at You”.

“Absolute Pondlife” on the other hand had 12 songs! They were “Behind the Bushes”, “To Keep You Here”, “Love’s Unkind”, “You Took it all Away”, “Midnight Train”, “Make it On Our Own”, “I Was for the Summertime”, “Hang Around a While”, “Out with the Girls”, “If it Takes Us All Night”, “Memory Coloured Gold” and “A.P.L.”.

There are more songs. There was a session called The Summer Sessions where the band recorded 9 songs. These were “I Love My Life”, “The Sunshine”, “Me Disease”, “Monsoon”, “If It Takes Us All Night”, “I Love My Life”, “Monsoon” and “I Was for the Summertime”. These seem to date from 1996.

Then I saw a tape from 1993 that seems to have more songs by the band. Not sure if these songs were released in any way, but they were called “It’s So Easy”, “Moon in Your Eyes”, “Will You Ever Come Home”, “Take a Little Look”, “Searchin’ on a Monday”, “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”, “Young to Run”, “Sally”, “Now I Know Where I’m Going”, “Run Together”, “Mailman”, “English Boy (Miles Away from Home)”, “Me + Julio Down by the School Yard”, “Set Me Free”, :”Here’s Looking at You”, “You Can Come Along”, “Dry Your Eyes” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday”.

Then on Youtube there’s a video of the band playing in April 1994 at the Guildford Lions! Cool!

More details. Before Eat the Sofa, Allan, Duncan and Dee were recording as The Hometown Boys. I should check them out.

And that’s it. I couldn’t find any info about the albums. They are on all digital platforms though. But you know, I like the physical format!

Who remembers this band?

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Listen
Eat the Sofa – Love My Life