Day 111. How is everyone? Not much news today, but as always I bring some great music!

Accent: remember I interviewed the band some time ago? It turns out the band has just released a CD album on the Portuguese label Different Class Records. This album is called “Live Kings Head Fulham 1984” and as you can guess it is a live album. It has 14 songs, 13 for the first time on CD.

Startropics: I really like the Chicago band a lot! They have a few new songs from their Stay Home Sessions which were filmed for DKFM’s DreamGaze Worldwide III this month. There is “Running Scared” and “The Test of Time“. It is hard to pick which one I like better. Maybe the latter? Maybe the first? Both are very good!

Parks, Squares and Alleys: this Russian band is totally unknown to me but has a terrific new song called “Друг (Friend) “. The song seems to feature another artist by the name САММЕР КОМА. I don’t even know if it is a proper band, it might also be a one-man project by Sergey Khavro. In any case this song is great!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: Glenn Donaldson’s band has a new song on Bandcamp and it is a cover of the Monkees 2016 tune “Me & Magdalena” It is really nice. On top of that he updates us that he has recorded a 12″ EP for Tough Love in the UK and an album for Slumberland. Can’t wait for both of them!

Sweet Season: lastly this amazing discovery coming from Phoenix, Arizona. This three-piece formed by Monte Ewert, Mella Barnes and Dan Radel have just released their first two songs on Bandcamp. They are “Blue Girl” and “Never Been Before” and I am sure everyone that reads this blog will enjoy them! Jangly, bright, lush songs. Thumbs up!

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Back in 1978 in the Isle of Wight a band called Flirt was formed. They played original sons but also covers of bands like Blondie, The Pretenders, The Ramones and other punk and new wave bands. The people behind this band were Nigel Hayles on guitar, Debbie Barker on lead vocals, Eric Biggs on bass and Chris Lines on drums.

Then in 1979 they were to change their name to Cassie. Under this name the band signed a deal with the Portsmouth based label Video Records and a publishing deal with Wessex Music. Also Chris Lines, the original drummer, was replaced by Hugh Lewis.

With the new lineup the band would go to Porstmouth and record two songs, “No More Rock N’ Roll” and “Keep in Touch” at Telecomms Studios. Sadly these two songs were never pressed on vinyl as the label had financial trouble and folded.

That must have been a terrible thing for the band but they continued. In 1980 they entered Tim Marshall’s studio in the Isle of Wight to record demos for Wilf Pine who used to be Black Sabbath’s manager (!). The songs they recorded then were “Change of Image”, “She’s a Flirt” and “Model in a Magazine”. But still even though these were great songs, Wilf was unable to get them a record deal.

In 1982 the band would release a 7″ on A.K.A. Records (AKS 101). It may have been a self-release, I can’t say, but I would guess so. It included two songs, “Change My Image” on the A side and “Will You?” on the B side. I don’t own this record, but would love to of course. It may also have been a 7″ the band would send to labels, to make them known, as it doesn’t look as they invested in a sleeve for it. What we do know from this record, is that “Change My Image” was written by Debbie Barker while “Will You?” was written by Chris Line. Both were produced by Wilf Pine.

The band would continue playing live and trying to get a deal. They would get a six month residency at the Royal Sandrock Inn in Nilton. Then the band would break up and then reform in 1984 to write new songs for the Feet on the Street Project. It is at this time then that at The Rod Gammons Sound Studio in Brightstone they would record the songs “Hold Me”, “Driven by the Tide” and “The Light Shines On”. This songs would catch the attention of Dakota Records but nothing ended up released. Then in 1985 the band split.

Then I found a great find, all their recorded output is available on the Isle of Wight Music website! Wow! They could put it together as an album. I don’t think they are in chronological order but 12 songs are available in MP3 format to download and listen: “No More Rock N Roll”, “Change of Image”, “Find a Way”, “Falling”, “Boys will be Boys”, “Dimensions”, “She’s a Flirt”, “Hold Me”, “Driven by the Tide”, “The Light Shines On”, “Keep in Touch” and “Model in a Magazine”.  Some of these are not mentioned in their bio on this website, so I wonder when where they recorded, if in different demo sessions, or what?

And even better, this last find on the web. The 7″ has been reissued by Reminder Records (REM-01) this year. It includes both songs from the original record. It is available on their website! So don’t miss it!

So yeah, I know very little, but I find their songs fun and catchy. I’d definitely like to know more about this female-fronted band from the early 80s!

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Listen
Cassie – Change of Image

Day 109! Not much news from the past weekend, but some good finds worth recommending. In the meantime I work in findnig the right art for the sleeve of our next 7″ and wait patiently for the Macguffins release to come out from the pressing plant.

The Bunbury: the Indonesian label Shiny Happy Records have more new releases. The latest is a digital single called “Evil Knievel” by this somewhat newish band from Yogyakarta. Jangle pop, shoegaze, post punk, all mixed here in a very good way. Can’t wait to hear more by them!

The Crystal Furs: Subjangle Records are releasing on CD the “Beautiful and True” album by the great Portland, Oregon, band The Crystal Furs. I have recommended this band quite a lot and it is no surprise that they found a fine home for the 12 songs that make up their third album! If you like great popsongs, with hooks and sweet melodies, you should get this album that will be out on July.

Various Artists – Moments: this is the name of the new compilation tape released by the very fine Osaka label Miles Aparts Records. This compilation has songs by great bands as Pale Beach, Pictured Resort, Superfriends and a favourite of mine for years, Mariana in Our Heads. Sadly the label is not shipping to US so… bad luck for me. Maybe you are lucky.

Morningwhim: wow! This Japanese band sounds amazing. I wouldn’t seeing them in a label that starts with a C and ends with a Y. Hidetoshi Murai, Hikaru Mori, Yui Nishio and Aya Katsumata have just released a tape single with two songs “Talking to Myself” and “Smoke from Cigarettes”. Both are bright, luminous, songs!

Cindy: what an amazing release is the album “Free Advice” on San Francisco’s Paisley Shirt Records. Sadly for me it is on tape which I will skip. But I strongly believe this is a very beautiful album and I hope if it is not the same label, someone else will re-release it in a better format (better for me that is, don’t take it personal!). 11 songs of smart arrangements, of great melodies, somehow reminding me of Aussie bands from the mid 90s.

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The Rainpals. I have actually meant to write about them many years ago. And then for some reason or another I never did. I don’t know why. Maybe because there were so many songs by them on Youtube? Perhaps because I thought I was going to be able to get a hold of their self-released retrospective CD and then, after knowing more details about them, write a post? I don’t know honestly. But as they say is better late than never.

The Rainpals. They released one 7″ as far as I know. It didn’t have a picture sleeeve which of course is a shame. It was self-released on their own Rainpal Records (JPL 1001). This is the only record listed for this label. The date was September 10, 1987, and it included two songs. The A side was “A New Day” while the B side was “Cool Forever”.  Both songs were produced at Cava Studios in Glasgow.

Does this mean the band hailed from somewhere in Scotland? Let’s find out. We do have a name, Kev Kirkham, who produced and wrote the songs.  He was in another band too called Kev & the Raindrops. But The Rainpals was a proper band, a three-piece. There was Kev Kirkham, Bilbo Fraser and Paul O’Donnell. Not sure what each of them played.

The interesting part of the story, I think, is that around the mid and late 00s, Kev put together some CDs under the name Kev & The Rainpals on his own RPR Records. I am not 100% sure if these are retrospective CDs or re-recordings of songs from the 80s. Or maybe it is a mix of new and old songs. Who’d know. The fact is that at least 2 CDs with a bunch of songs exist.

One is “Far Distant Silver Clouds” released in 2008 (RPR 5545). This one had a whopping 20 songs: “Castles in the Air”, “Romantic Story”, “Dream You Away”, “Far Distant Silver Clouds”, “Faces at the Windows”, “The Incline”, “Flying Phoenix”, “Why?”, “Shiny & Black”, “Forever”, “You’ve Flown”, “Fall into My Mind”, “Girl in the Sky”, “Feel the Wind”, “Circle Dream”, “Fog”, “Midnight March”, “Who are You?”, “Rainy Day” and “Reflexions”.

The second CD doesn’t have a release date but I believe it came out later because of the catalog number (RPR 7747). This one is called “A Superstorm at High Velocity” and also included 20 songs, some of them that were included in the previous CD: “High Vel’ocity”, “Superstorm”, “The Incline”, “Far Distant Silver Clouds”, “A New Day”, “Welcome”, “Heat of the Day’, “You’ve Flown”, “Forever”, “Don’t Let it Get to You”, “Climb the Wall”, “Fall in to my Mind”, “Girl in the Sky”, “Space Travellers”, “Outerspace”, “Astro Galactica’, “Universal Rhythm & Rhyme”, “Dream You Away”, “Christmas Day” and “Dream You Away”. Yeah, odd, two times we see “Dream You Away”. Why?

I mentioned I found lots of these songs on Youtube. Of course. The channel is called The Rainpals RPRRecords. We find here the following songs: “Rainy Day“, “The Incline“, “Castles in the Air“, “Climb. the Wall“, “The Wind“, “Welcome“, “Gold Circle of Dreams Medley“, “Reflexions Medley“, “Fall into my Mind“, “Why War of the Worlds“, “Astro Galactica“, “Rhythm & Rhyme“, “Flying“, “Shiny & Black“, “Feel the Wind“, “Far Distant Silver Clouds“, “Circle Dream“, “You’ve Flown Today“, “Outerspace“, “The Day“, “Heat of the Day“, “You’ve Flown“, “Faces at the Window“, “Rainwalk“, “A New Day“, “Cool Forever“, “A New Day“, “New Day“, “At the Window“, “Superstorm Inst“, “Christmas Day‘, “A New Day ext“, “High Velocity“, “Why War of the Worlds“, “Tide of Dimensions“, “Fog“, “Velocity“, “Universal Rhythm & Rhyme“, “Those Days“, “Romantic Story“, “Dream You Away voc“, “Space Travellers“, “Midnight March“, “Castles“, “Astro“, “Bell City Lights“, “Who Are You“, “Fall into my Mind“, “Circle Dream“, “Astro Galactica“, “Rhythm & Rhyme“, “Outerspace“, “Don’t Let it Get to You“, “Romantic Story inst“, “Dream You Away inst.“, “Travellers“, “Superstorm voc.”, “Superstorm video voc“, “A New Day ext“, “Travellers“, “Welcome“, “Gold Circle of Dreams“, “The Wind“, “Astro Galactica“, “Outerspace“, “Far Distant Silver Clouds“, “Forever“, “Time“, “Astro Tide Dream medley“, “Superstorm video voc“, “Reflexions medley“, “Superstorm voc“, “Girl in the Sky“, “Forever & Forever“, “Forever & Forever CD version“. Yes I know a lot of them repeat. I am not sure why this is. I haven’t included others that were also repeated. I wonder what was the idea behind these uploads. In any case there’s lots of great music to listen.

Then another finding, according to Allmusic there was two more CDs. “The Rainpals” was just a 4 song EP with “Rainy Day”, “The Day”, “Rainwalk” and “Bell City Lights” while “Gold Circle of Dreams” had also 20 songs! “Travellers”, “Forever & Forever”, “At the Window”, “Castles”, “Climb the Wall”, “Romantic Story”, “Rhythm & Rhyme”, “Superstorm Voc”, “Those Days’, “Astro Galactica”, “Rhythm & Rhyme, “Astro”, “Fell into my Mind”, “A New Day”, “Welcome”, “Gold Circle of Dreams”, “The Wind”, “Tide of Dimensions”, “Superstorm” and “Tide of Dimensions”.

All of these songs seem to be in most of the digital platforms. The curious thing is that I kind find any biography for the band. No details. I only found a small blurb in CD Universe where it says that the band have toured Britain consistently around 2004-2008. That they recorded and gigged in London (had they relocated from Scotland then?) and that they have been featured on TC and radio all over the world. It also looks like that on the CDs it was just Kevin Kirkham playing nearly all instruments. So I would guess then that the songs on Youtube are new recordings? Not  from the 80s?

So yeah. This time around it seems it will be lots of music but very little details. Hope some of you can help!

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Listen
The Rainpals – A New Day

Day 106!

Okay! Macguffins proofs are approved so that is being pressed now officially. Pre-order button is up on the website and many people are pre-ordering. Remember that the CDRs with the first demo are limited to 100 copies.

Now now music so we can start this weekend in a happy way!

Sweam: this Oslo band sounds pretty neat. Fuzzy and dreamy. This 5-piece have just released an 11-song album called “Lounge Music for Cat People” and sadly it doesn’t look to be released in physical format, at least not yet. But good thing of course is that we can play over and over the songs on Bandcamp!

Sissy Space Echo & the Invisible Collaborators: I don’t know much about them, I just know they have a wonderful song called “At 7.44” on the compilation “Signals, Wires & Amplifiers”. The comp is sort of a mixed bag of good and not so good songs. But this one is VERY good. So check it out.

Fantasy Postcards: what do you get when an Able member and a Seashells member meet in Uppsala and make music?  They make a gem of a song. For now. Because I am hoping to hear more than the one song. Under the name Fantasy Postcards they’ve unveiled “Our Special Mission” a superb indiepop song!

Airhockey: a new track by the Miami based band that is pretty good. Every time I listen to them I feel some sort of nostalgia of the time I spent in Miami. Especially because there was no band sounding this way. Not that people can go to gigs now, but at least you can feel proud of the city you live in. “Not Enough” is the name of the song. Check it out.

Juliper Sky: another new digital single is “Afterglow” by this great Manchester band that is quite familiar to the Cloudberry blog. I have recommended their blend of jangly guitars and shoegaze guitar-walls many times. And here I am doing it one more time

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Another band that I discovered thanks to the compilation “Television Personalities From Japan, Too” was Sweet Petticoat. Of course I didn’t know anything about them, but I liked what I heard. So let’s see if we can find more info about this Japanese band!

The compilation was released by the very fine label A Trumpet Trumpet Records (TT006) in 1992. I’ve talked a few times about this label, and would be awesome if some day I’d get to interview the people behind it. I am sure they have lots of anecdotes about the fantastic Japanese scene from the early 90s.

On this compilation the band appeared last out of four bands with the track “How Does the Song Go?”.

We know that the band was formed by Shoga Matsuda on vocals and guitar, Toru Sasaki on keyboards, Kunihiro Isami on bass, and Yuki Fukazawa on backing vocals. Though on the booklet the photo of the band just shows two people. One must be Shogo Matsuda, who is the other one?

Shogo Matsuda and Kunihiro Isami are two well known names in Japanese indiepop as they had been involved in a legendary nineties band, Budgie Jacket. I wrote about Budgie Jacket some time ago on the blog too.

And of course, there’s little more info about Budgie Jacket. But nothing about Sweet Petticoat. Was it a one-off band? Just for this release? Or did they record more songs? Did they play live? I really hope find some details about them!

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Listen
Sweet Petticoat – How Does the Song Go?

Day 104.

Not much news today. But here’s some new music!

Remington Super 60: the great Norwegian band have a new song out called “Still Near” which is slated to be released on an upcoming EP this fall. The song is breezy and sweet, dreamy and bright. The synth melodies work like a charm on this one. Lovely really.

Lunchbox: another band that is back this year is the California duo formed by Tim and Donna. After the 2018 comeback they seem to have been quiet. Happily they have just released two new songs on their Bandcamp, “New Year” and “All Around the World”.

Lazy Eye: Indonesia keeps surprising me with the amount of quality indiepop. Lazy Eye doesn’t fall behind and they have released a terrific EP titled “Digital Primavera” consisting of 5 songs. The band is formed by Isabllea Maulidya, Cahyo Ahdiyatman, Bambang Bimo and Muhammad Darmawan.

English Summer: now three very jangly songs from Caleb Carr and his one-man project English Summer. Based in Clare, Australia, Caleb has only started putting songs up this month. In his latest effort he presents us with “Our Compromise”, “I’ll Help You” and “I Know You”

Freddie’s World: who is Freddie? It seems just a guy from Oakland who has recorded 4 songs, one of them a Dear Nora cover, in his bedroom. It sounds like 2003-2004 days. When the bedroom pop explosion happened and we were all sharing songs on Soulseek. Maybe Freddie has come a bit late to the party? Or maybe not. Maybe there is interest in lo-fi indiepop once again!

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Maybe you already know them, maybe this is the first time you hear about them. Me, I know very little about them. I managed to get a copy of The Pranksters’ sole 7″ recently and here I am digging for more information.

This 7″ was released by one of the most famous Australian labels, Waterfront Records in 1988. The catalog number was DAMP 70 and included two songs, “Living Edge” and “Traffic”. Worth noting too that it was released as a double A sided record, “Living Edge” being A and “Traffic “AA”.

I didn’t try to track down this band when I was planning my failed Australian retrospective compilation. Maybe I would have been able to find more information about them. Not sure. Now is my chance I suppose by writing this article. Discogs has some basic information about them.

The band was formed by Andrew Young on drums, Darion McCafferty on guitar and vocals, James Dixon on vocals and guitar and Darren Jones on bass and vocals. The songs on the 7″ were recorded at Paradise Studios and engineered by Tom Colley. They were mixed by Nick Mainsbridge and the band at Earth Media. Other people that helped in the record were Andrew McIntosh on guitar and keyboards and Philip Kerney on bass. The artwork is credited to Darren, the bassist. Both songs are credited to James Dixon.  And we also know the band was based in Sydney.

Aside from this 7″ the band appeared on two compilations. The first dates from 1986 and was called “On the Waterfront” (DAMP 31). On this record the band contributed the songs “City View” and “Untitled Day”. Eric Van Der Sande produced both tracks.  Then in 1989 on the cassette compilation “Lemon Cassette 3” released by Lemon Music the band contributed the song “Waiting for the Drought to Break”.

Checking if the band members had been in any other bands I notice that Darren Jones had been in Glovebox and Big Heavy Stuff, Andrew Young in Barb Waters and the Rough Diamonds, and James Dixon in Amplifier Machine, Drop City, Odette and Swordfish.

I keep Googling about The Pranksters but I don’t seem to find any other details about them. Hopefully I will get some help from you all eventually. I am sure some of you remember them. So yeah, any info on them will be great!

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Listen
The Pranksters – Living Edge

Day 102. Over a hundred days now.

Most important news today, we have the preorder button up for the Macguffins retrospective album and also the combo pack with the 3″ with their first lost demo! Record went to the pressing plant on Friday, so hopefully in no more than 2 months from now it should be arriving home!

What new music we found this past weekend? Here you go:

Gutingukuku: “Leisure Time” is the newest single out on the very fine Shiny Happy Records from Indonesia. This song will be included in an upcoming EP by this band. I don’t know much more about this band, but I can see they make some very lovely indiepop ala early Poppyheads.

Paris Street: “Catchy shit”, that’s how the band describes themselves. “15th Street – Part One” is the first of seven albums to be released this year as part of the band’s 15th anniversary. I must admit I am not familiar with the band nor with their 15 year career. As far as I know though it is a one-man project by Carl Polgar, and here are 10 fun songs worth listening. Bedroom pop, synth pop, and good catchy hooks.

Nos Etes Trop Courts: the second demo by this band based in Nantes sounds ace. This is actually not new, but from 1991-1992. This band was from what I understand one of the first shoegazey bands in this city and they were around from 1990 to 1992. They were formed by Gerome, Pascal and Jimmy. The first two went to be in Crash while the latter went to be in Les Autres. It is very interesting! Would love to know more about this band, would love to interview them some time.

NewCastle: last week I was recommending this Uruguay band because their latest single “Skates” sounded ace. Now they’ve released the “b side” for “Skates” and is called “Sunrise”. It is good too! Maybe not as immediate as “Skates’ but it is very nice, and I suggest checking it out.

Todavia: the dreamy pop band from LA is back with a terrific track called “So Close”. This song is said to be the opening track for their upcoming LP “Orange Faint of Sky” to be released this year. It will also appear in a compilation with Nicer Living Presents. That’s what we know at the moment. We can wait then for the album patiently.

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Why not another Japanese band on the blog. As you might have noticed that’s my latest thing, discovering indiepop from the 80s and 90s from Japan. Mostly because I know much less about that scene than others. And it was quite big! So there’s lots to find out.

Bubble Bus is not that unknown to me. I do own two of their releases, the “My Funny Face” 7″ and their split 7″ with The Paisley Shirts. But there is more to them and I would love to find out!

The first release they were on was a compilation CD called “See-see-You, Tomorrow!!” that was released by the very fine Pushbike label (UFPB-001) in 1993. They contributed two songs to it, “I Wanna Be With You” and “Bubble Bus Theme #2”. We could already tell at this point that the band was into making very nice jangly songs!

In 1994 they would release a split 7″ with the band The Goldenrods from San Francisco. The release was called “Motorway Strip” and came on the Japanese label Motorway (MOTOR 002). This release I don’t have yet. I should try to get a copy myself. Bubble Bus had the A side for themselves with two songs, “Words of Love” and “You Wanna Be Free”. The Goldenrods would only contribute 1 song. Thanks to this 7″ we know a few things. Firstly that the band hailed from Tokyo. That the songs were recorded at the R.d.s. studios. And lastly we know the band members:

Takahide Horiuchi – vocals, guitar and handclaps
Fumie Tsuji – backing vocals tambourine
Atsuki Nara – 12 string guitar
Tohko Kageyama – double bass
Fumihiro Ejima – drums

In 1995 the band would release the “My Funny Face” 7″ on Motorway (MOTOR-005). This is the only release they are on their own. They would have “My Funny Face” on the A side and “The End of Dreams” and “Maybe” on the B side. The band members on this record are the same as in the previous but we do find another credit, that for Isao Orita who designed the sleeve.

Lastly in 1996 they had a split flexi with The Paisley Shirts on Rover Records (ROV000). Bubble Bus would contribute the song “It’s A Clear Day” while The Paisley Shirts had “Stack of Dreams”. This flexi came alongside the fanzine “La Grande Illusion: vol.1” and was limited to 500 copies. That same year the band would contribute a song, “Scrap”, to the K.O.G.A. Records compilation “Pop Goes the Weasel Vol. 2” (KOGA007). This one song was record at Studio JAM in June 1995.

Lastly, I suppose when the band was no more, their song “Words of Love” would appear on the 2006 compilation “Musique Dessinee 01 – Just a Groove!” released by Production Desinée (PDLP-004) from Japan. This compilation was released both on vinyl and CD and looks like a mix and match of different music styles.

Now I am looking at the band members, see if they had been involved in other bands. The only one that seems to have worked on other projects is Fumie Tsuji who was in the band Fleckfumie alongside Nick Glöckner and JOhann Von Schubert, releasing 3 albums in the early 2000s. She also seems to have contributed with the Estonian band Popidiot, in their album “1111”.

Then I stumble upon a Soundcloud by Takahide Horiuchi where he has uploaded a bunch of his own tracks.

And that’s it. But quite a bit isn’t it? I just wonder why the band didn’t get to release an album or more records. And also what happened to the other band members. It seems Fumie was quite productive but what about the rest? Would be great to know more about them!

EDIT June 24

So thanks to a reader we’ve learned there are at least 3 albums and 4 singles by Bubble Bus that I wasn’t aware of!

First there was a 1995 album co-released by Hawaii Records (HAWAII-2) and MIdi Creative (CXCA-1008) called “Assnallo”. It had 11 songs, “Adventure”, “It Won’t Be Easy”, “The End of Dreams”, “A Picture of Boyfriend”, “I’m in a Fog”, “Like a Fish in the Air”, “Happy Days”, “My Funny Face”, “Troublesome”, “Road Runner” and “Walkin’ on the Railroad”. This album came out on CD.

Then in 1996 the band goes all Japanese, no more songs in English and they even write their name as バブルバス. They release CD single with Midi Inc. (MDCS-1002) with three songs, “バイバイ”, “君がそこにいる” and “通り道”. That same year, they release another CD single with the same label (MDCS-1005) with three songs, “タイムマシーン “, ” 青い屋根” and “ボクラシマッタ”. I am very curious why the change of language all of a sudden.

In 1997 they release  “ヒトトキカイ” a 12 song album on Midi Inc (MDCL-1318). The songs on these album are “カフェ･オーレ”, “明日はバイク”, “風の便り”, “月のかけら”, “何度も言うように”, ” 祭りのあと7 バイバイ”, “4、5年前の恋の歌”, “タイムマシーン”, ” 夏がやってくる”, ” 望郷列車” and “ボクラシマツタ”.

A year later, again on Midi Inc. (MDCL-1337) they release “Bubrock”, and even though they had changed the album title to English they release 12 songs in Japanese, “夕暮れの三叉路”, “舟の家”, ” 春来”, “夕立が止まらない”, “月がいつも”, ” 19才7 エンディング”, ” 工事現場”, ” 春色(アルバム･ミックス･ヴァージョン)”, ” 遠吠え11 スクロール1″ and “カントリー道路”.

Their last release will be a CD single on another Japanese label, Rhyme (MDCS-1010) with three songs, “春色”, ” 期待しないで” and “描けない空”.

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Listen
Bubble Bus – I Wanna Be With You

Day 99. Wow. Almost a 100 days working from home! How is everyone doing? After posting this blog post I’ll be preparing files and sending to press the Macguffins album. At last! Very very excited!

Now, here are some finds to enjoy over the weekend.

Teen Idle: the Asbury Park, New Jersey, band has just released a new EP titled “Insomniac Dreams”.  I have recommended this band not too long ago if my memory serves me right. So it is good to hear from them again, with their dreamy pop music. It is also worth mentioning that all proceeds of this 6-song EP will be donated to the Movement for Black Lives.

Fine.: I remember the great band Fine from Spain. But not. This one have a period at the end of their name. They also have female vocals but they are from this side of the Atlantic. They hail from Boston and have just released three new songs under the name “Lying Alone”. Lovely EP!

The Slow Summits: wow! The Linköping band is back again with a wonderful song, jangly and classic sounding. Just how I like it! Their new song is called “Safe and Sorry” and it does sound a bit like Cats on Fire, right? Oh I love this sound. I really wanted their previous EP which I don’t even know if it ever came out in physical format. I just didn’t approach them because they had a label… maybe now is a good time? What do you suggest me?

The Clientele: I think everyone knows the London band. There is not much to say aside that they have a new song. It is called “Closer”. And it is pretty pretty. So that. Don’t miss it.

Teen Angst: Another band with Teen in their name you’ll say. But hey, this quartet comes from Perth, Australia, home of so many fantastic bands in the past. So have a listen. Enjoy their  latest two songs, “Let (Pull Through” and “Cheeseburger”, two terrific indiepop songs with Michelle on vocals, Connor on guitar and backing vocals, Emilie on bass and backing vocals and Fraser on drums. Good stuff!

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The indiepop world was shook a few days ago. The Facebook page C86 & All That: The Creation of Indie in Difficult Times would tell us that Alex Taylor, the vocalist of the legendary Scottish band The Shop Assistants had passed away. This was enough to make the indiepop community fall into a deep sadness. I don’t know any indiepop fan that doesn’t like the Shop Assistants. Everyone is a fan and Alex Taylor was a very important figure for all of us to like this band.

But the shock was even more surprising. Our hero had passed away in 2005.  Many years ago, but only it became public now. It is hard to grasp, understand, anything after that news. I was silent. I didn’t know how to take it. It reminded me the beautiful song Strawberry Fair from Sweden had written maybe around 2004 or so, “Where is Alex Taylor Now”. A classic in my book. Yes, Alex had nothing to do with the indie scene for years, decades. But we all assumed that she was doing non-music stuff and that was that. And that was cool of course.

Michael Kerr was putting together the Motorcycle Boy retrospective compilation last year. The Motorcycle Boy, another wonderful band were Alex was involved with her amazing vocals. At last and finally we were going to listen the “Scarlet” album that was intended to be released in 1989. He tried to get in touch with Alex but with no luck. He would find out the news. And perhaps share with Neil Taylor who runs this Facebook page and who wrote the book by the same name.

This is tough indeed. And I wasn’t sure how to react. I want to give a tribute to The Shop Assistants and to the Motorcycle Boy. Maybe I could interview the other band members, I will love to be able to do that. I think it would be great to share their stories. I will try.

But as I’ve seen a lot of Shop Assistants and Motorcycle Boy records posted on the web these past few days, on Facebook and Instagram, I thought people are forgetting about a wonderful 7″ Alex released with the Motorcycle Ride. And thought maybe a lot of people have missed this one. I do own a copy and took me a bit to do so, finally bidding and winning on eBay many years ago. And yeah, I think it would be a good idea to let everyone know that this wonderful records also exists.

Originally this release was a tape. A tape released by no label. Perhaps a 100 copies, give or take. There were two songs on the tape, both Blondie covers, “Union City Blue” and “Atomic”. Motorcycle Ride was actually the band Ride  (Andy Bell [guitar, vocals], Loz Colbert [drums], Mark Gardener [guitar, vocals] and Steve Queralt [bass]) with Alex Taylor on vocals. Yeah, now you can understand the name of the band, Motorcycle – Boy + Ride. That’s my calculation.

These tapes were given away at the Jericho Taver in Oxford when Ride performed a special set for a small number of friends and family members. The date December, 22nd, 1989. A Christmas party. The question is, did Alex went down to Oxford to perform the songs? According to Ride’s website she did. There is even a tracklist of the songs they performed that night: “Union City Blue”, “Picture This”, “In the Flesh”, “(I’m Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear”, “Atomic” and “Dreaming” by Blondie and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges. It is said that the venue was re-opened for their private party after the main show had ended.

And another question, maybe even more important is, when and where were these two covers recorded? The Ride website also answers this. So there was a recording session at EMI Publishing Studios in Charing Cross, London. It was also in December of that year, tho it doesn’t say what day. It also looks like these were the only two songs recorded. Or are there more?

Four years later the Welsh label Fierce Recordings would pick this up. In 1993 they would release these two songs on a 7″. The catalog number was FRIGHT 060. On the back of the sleeve there is a small text explaining the release: “Ride with Alex out of the Motorcycle Boy, doing Blondie’s “Union City Blue” & “Atomic”. This was originally made for a christmas 1989 free cassette in some ridiculously small numbered edition and now it’s rescued from the void by Fierce Recordings of Swansea. We look on it as a public service. This is a release in our glorious ‘Trade Mark Of Quality’ series.”

The sleeve was a black and white fold-over sleeve. Blondie is on the cover, and on the back with a Doctor X shirt.

Not much more information about it. It is clear it was just a one-off thing. But would be amazing to find out when and how did the friendship between Ride and Alex started. If Alex had contributed with other bands in similar ways or was Ride the only lucky ones. Are there more recordings? Probably not, but would love to find out. Maybe there is a recording of that gig at the Jericho Tavern? I’d be thrilled to find out more.

And once again, I’ll play my Shop Assistants records. My Motorcycle Boy records. And my Motorcycle Ride record.

Thanks for the music Alex Taylor.

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Listen
Motorcycle Ride – Union City Blue

Day 97.

So as I told everyone in a previous post the first demo tape of the Macguffins was found. We wanted to include these songs on the CD but they wouldn’t fit. So we decided to make some 3″CDs (as the ones we do at Cloudberry since the start of the label) with the songs from that first demo. These 3″CDs will be limited though, so when the pre-order button is up I’ll remind everyone so you don’t miss these 3 great songs!

Now the music.

Thibault: I don’t know if I like or not this track called “Centrelink” by Thibault. I think I do, but it is a bit different. It is pop. It is indiepop. It has very particular vocals. High-pitched. The instrumentation is great. I think I just need to listen to it over and over to get used to it. This song will be released on a 7″ on Australia’s Chapter Music on September 4th.

Valentina Way: this 60s sounding London band does sound great. They have three songs up on their Souncloud: “Julia Misbehaves (Nancy lead vocal – extended)”, “Julia Misbehaves” and “Sebastian” and they are a treat to my ears. I hope this gets released soon, this is the kind of 60s influenced music that I like, much better than the many 60s influenced pop Elefant has been releasing the past decade (with the exception of the superb The School). Please Elefant, look here.

NewCastle: a band from Piriápolis, Uruguay. That is a first for sure! Their latest song is called “Skates” and it is quite a fun track. There is not much info about them, but the band members go under the enigmatic names Marseille, Newcastle, Zaragoza and Berlin, sort of like the Money Heist series!

Je Suis Animal: my Norwegian friends are not back. No, the news are not that great. BUT they have uploaded to Bandcamp 3 songs. One of them being the one that came out in the 7″ we released, “Painted in My Face”, and also a demo version of their classic “Sparkle Spit” and an unreleased track called “Forglemmegel”.

Secret Shine: and this one is a good one by the legendary Bristol band. It is a new song called “Ember” and it is terrific. When was the last time I saw them live? Was it at Indietracks? Then it has been many years now. Or was it in NYC? I think it must have been NYC. In any case I miss the idea of being able to travel or see them at home. And I hope they release a record soon too!

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I remember playing Hanky and Panky’s “He’s the Queen” quite a lot back in the mid 2000s. I never got round to get a copy of the CD though, it was the days of Soulseek and I played just the MP3s. Today on a nostalgia trip I went to look for a copy on Discogs and noticed it has never been sold there. Ever. Surprising!

According to Discogs the band only put out one release, the “He’s the Queen” album. I kind of remember seeing demos and more tracks online. But my memory is fuzzy. Maybe I’ll find something online. Maybe someone remembers. The one thing I remember about them were the vocals. They were quite something. Female but kid-like, very particular. Kind of the UK band Screeming Custard!

The album I mentioned was released in 2005 by the label Mechanismo Records (MEC001). It looks as it was the only release the label put out, so it might be the band’s own label, a self-release. The front sleeve has a little girl photo playing drums. It had 9 songs total, “Kindergarten”, “Hurray!”, “Traffic”, “Love You”, “Superhero Jake”, “Ha Ha Ha Ha!”, “Slowmotion Dance”, “Simulator” and “Dance and Sing”.

They did appear on a few compilations. Most notably on two Labrador Records ones. The first was in 2004, in “The Sound of Young Sweden Volume 4” (LAB065). On these series of compilations that discovered new bands from Sweden the band appeared with two songs, “Hurray!” and “Ha Ha Ha Ha!” alongside other very fine bands like Caroline Soul, The Sorayas or South Ambulance. Then in 2007 when Labrador released its 100th release, the “A Complete History of Popular Music” boxset (LAB100) they would include the song “Hurray!” in the 3rd CD.

“Hurray!” would also be included in a 2005 compilation called “Pophopp 2005” that was released by the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter alongside their Friday supplement På Stan. Here I find a little clue, the song is credited to a F. Ewaldsson.

Thanks to that I find the band on Popfakta. Here the album is listed as a demo CD and we get the names of the band members:
Fredrik Ewaldsson on guitar
Carolina Ewaldsson on vocals
Erik Aspegren on drums

Then Fredrik is credited for engineering and producing. Mastering is credited to Philip Granquist while the photograph was taken by Morten Monnike-Hald.

They don’t seem to have been in other bands. The only other thing I found on the web was a very positive review on a blog called Livet ät Hårt.

Then it seems the band disappeared into thin air. Did they play live at all? Where they in any other bands? I do find a Fredrik Ewaldsson that makes music though it seems to be playing piano. Is it the same Fredrik? Who’d know?

Whatever happened to Hanky and Panky?!

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Listen
Hanky and Panky – Simulator

Day 95. The big news today is that the Macguffins CD is going to press this week! That is super exciting. On Wednesday I’ll tell you some more details as there will be a surprise with this release!

And here’s the new music from over the weekend!

Suburban Living: this fine dreampop project from Philadelphia has a new track out on Bandcamp. It is called “Indigo Kids” and it sounds great. This is the 3rd single out from the “How to Be Human” album that will be out on August 28 on Egghunt Records.

The Orange Peels: the classic California band fronted by Allen Clapp will be back very soon with an album. In the meantime the band has posted three new versions of the song “Everybody’s Gone”. They are a 4-track demo, a previously unreleased California version and the 2020 remastered version.

Nah…: one of the albums I am looking the most this year is Nah…’s debut on Shelflife Records. The self-titled album will include 12 songs and will be released on vinyl (no CD?). At this moment we can preview three of the tracks, “Perfect Game”, “Apple Blossoms” and “Under the Radar”. Classic indiepop just how we like it!

Saturnshine: back to California, this time to sunny San Diego. This cool duo formed by Christian Mesiano and Melodie Mesiano have put together a wonderful EP called “All the Time in the World”. It has 5 songs of boy/girl vocals, sweet melodies and dreamy vibes. Very cool find!

Angvstia Pop: “Amor y Ansiedad” is the album by this Argentinean duo formed by Row Vinoyporkerias and Fran Fracaso. This is bedroom pop. The recordings are lo-fi, very lo-fi. But they are fun. And that’s what matters!

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Sumpfloch Records from Germany. What did they release? Just stuff that Ken Steen was involved with. Does that mean it was his own label? I want to think that is the case. But I can’t confirm that. Either him or my German friends will do. Sumpfloch released just two bands, both of them with Ken as I said, Fluffy Pillows and Space Kelly. I want to research the first one today.

The first ever release was a 7″ with three songs. This EP was called “Say Hi!” (SUMPF 01) and was released in 1993. I am happy to say I have not just one copy, but two I believe. It is sort of limited as only 500 copies were pressed. And it is a very fine record, so if you can get a hold of it, do it. The A side had two songs, “Say Hi to You” and “An Der Waterkant”. The B side had “Untitled”.

On this 7″ the band was formed by Ken Steen on guitar and vocals, Barbara Schulz on drums, percussion and backing vocals, Lutz on guitar and Tim on bass and doublebass. All tracks were written by Ken and were arranged by the band. It was recorded and mixed by Meike R. at Steilshoop Tonstudios in Hamburg in October of 1993. Then on the sleeve there are a bunch of thank yous and I recognize many names like Mind the Gap, Ulli, Jörg and Steinpilz Tonträger as well as Ken’s other band Space Kelly.

After this 7″, the year after, 1994, the band released an 8 song mini-album “No Pop No Stars”. This came out too on Sumpfloch (SUMPF C01). The songs on this CD were “Bleeding (Instr.)”, “Summer”, “Alone”, “I Could Never Ever Imagine”, “This Means War”, “A Role in Your Life”, “Nehmen & Geven” and “Quiet & Peaceful (Karstadt Reisebüro-version)”. The songs were recorded and mixed at Musikaufnahme Beethoven except the last track which was recorded at Sumpfloch Records Office on August/September 1994. The producer was Gerrit Herlyn who had been part in so many terrific bands like Jesterbells, Knabenkraut or Red Letter Day. The songs were mastered by Recording Service Halvé in Hamburg. Fair to say then that the band hailed from Hamburg? I think so.

The art for the record is credited to Ute Herrndorff, Call Me Cat and Hello Gestaltungsservice.

Aside from these two releases the band would appear on two tape compilations. The first was on the Blam-a-Bit compilation “Hat Das Schaf Die Blume Gefressen Oder Nicht?” (BLAM 003) from 1990 with the song “Mein Mädchen”. This might be the earliest recording I am aware by them. The second comp appearance was on the classic “Frischer Morgentau” tape released by Steinpilz Tonträger (STEIN 1) in 1993. There they contributed perhaps there most known song “Say Hi to You”.

And then the trail stops. No more info about the band. I read on a Japanese site that Ken decided to go solo in the mid-90s and concentrate on Space Kelly. It seems Fluffy Pillows didn’t sell well according to that interview. But that’s it. I do have more than a few questions. For example are there more recordings? When did the band start? Whatever happened to the other members?

German friends, let us know!

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Listen
Fluffy Pillows – Say Hi to You

Day 92.

Okay! Got the Macguffins photos and should be updating the art and liner notes this weekend and then we should be set. Also starting working on a new 7″! News on that very soon! 2020 has to see some Cloudberry releases!

Now, here are some good finds to check over the weekend.

BMX Bandits: the banditos are re-releasing their “My Chain” album that was originally released many years ago on Rev-Ola on CD. This time around the album will be released on vinyl by Interval from Glasgow, UK. It is coming out on June 5th and it is limited to 400 copies. It comes with an inner sleeve with extensive notes and behind the scene photographs.

No Invierno: Francisco Undurraga from Santiago, Chile, is behind this cool sounding jangly bedroom pop band. Their first release is the “Momentos” EP which is now on Bandcamp comprising of 5 heartfelt songs.

Dead Famous People: this one is a must have for me. It is the return of the classic Auckland band, who released music too while living in the UK back in the late 80s. Dons Savage who fronts this band, was also in the early Saint Etienne. So there’s everything going on here to make this a spacial album. Indeed, “Harry” as the album is titled, will be released on August 9 on vinyl and CD. There are 10 songs and you can preview two of them, “Looking at Girls” and “Dead Bird’s Eye”!

Solina: Lunar Discos from Seville, Spain, has brought back the band Solina to the digital era. The band who released their first EP in 2004 is now on Bandcamp with all four songs that were on that fine release as well as a cover of “Lips Like Sugar” by Echo & the Bunnymen that they had contributed to a 2014 compilation. Oh the memories…

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Feline Jive got together some time in 1985. Barb Wilson (vocals & keyboards), Phil Byford (guitars) and Dave Robson (bass & Guitar) all former members of the Brighton punk band The Lillettes and later April & the Fools, were joined by Karen Dash who supplied vocal harmonies.
After the demise of The Lillettes in 1980, Barb and Phil had continued to write and record together and Phil and Dave regularly got together to jam and trade musical ideas. They played together as April & the Fools with Ken Hogg on drums until morphing into Feline Jive when Ken left the band. Both of these bands featured tracks on the Brighton punk Vaultage albums “Vaultage 78” and “Vaultage 80” on Attrix Records.
Barb wrote most of the lyrics, while Phil and Dave wrote the bulk of the music with Karen helping out on arrangements. The band spent around eight months rehearsing and building a set before doing their first gig in Brighton at the Zap Club. Barb and Karen’s vocal harmonies gave the band a distinctive vocal sound. Barb had always been keen to put out a record independently and in 1986 she put up the money for the band to record an EP at Cherry Studios in Croydon. Geoff Ancell, formed drummer with Eye to Eye and The Piranhas (mk2), learned the drum parts to two songs, “Kiss ‘n Tell” and “Silent Times”, only a few days before the session was due to being. The third track on the EP, “Blue Dawn”, had previously been just a loose jam. But having recorded the first two tracks there was studio time to spare and engineer Andy Dalby liked the song and so it was recorded in more or less one take. In getting the EP out, the band followed the example of their former home-grown Brighton record label Attrix and had 1000 copies pressed at the same Orlake cutting plant. It was mastered at Abbey Road – the closest the band ever came to the big time.
Distribution proved difficult, with local record shops unwilling to take more than a handful of copies at a time but somehow at least 900 made their way into the public domain. In those days it was very hard to get an unsigned band any radio time. One well known BBC Radio 1 DJ, when asked by Barb how an ‘indie’ band could get their record played onhis show, was told “send me a line of coke”.
Desillusioned with this side of the mainstream music business and barely a year after their release of the record, with day jobs and other commutments to honour, Feline Jive called it a day.

This good biography of the Brighton band Feline Jive was writte by Phil Byford, their guitar played, back in 2008. It was included in the bookled that accompanied “The Sound of Leamingon Spa Vol. 7” that came along the Firestation Records’ boxset “Still Mad at Me? (15 years of Firestation Records 1988-2013)” (FST100) released in 2013. The band had contributed the song “Blue Dawn” to this compilation.

The EP they mention was released in 1986, on their own label, Massic Records (MR.1). “Kiss ‘n Tell” was on the A side while “Silent Times” and “Blue Dawn” were on the B side. The artwork is credited to Dave & Phil for the sleeve and to Madeleine for the labels.

Aside from this info other details I found on the web included that Phil Byford also goes by the name Punkdaddy and has appeared on some releases with that name. And lastly Geoff Ansell had also been involved in the alternative country band The Blue Hearts.

Not much more info on the web but I definitely would love to find out at least if they had more recordings. Though you know me, I probably will have many more questions!

Who remembers them?!

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Listen
Feline Jive – Kiss N’ Tell

Day 90. Okay. Three months now. How much longer?

New music for a Wednesday.

Mashmellow: so used to listening shoegaze from Russia that this band formed by Masha Shurygina and Egor Berdnikov is quite a fresh air. Much poppier and colorful than their peers, the Moscow duo have quite a nice arsenal of songs in their Bandcamp. Their latest is an EP titled “Someday Club” which we can preview two of their songs, “Share It” and “Heaven is You”

Stomp Talk Modstone: this terrific Japanese band has two new songs, “Timeline” and “Lucky” on Bandcamp. Sadly it is only a digital release but I hope a label will pick them up. They make some beautiful pop music with swirling guitars and dreamy and moody melodies. Check them out!

Superocean: now we cross the Pacific and head to Portland, Oregon. A dreampop band too, but a bit different. Much more luminous and bright in their intentions, but with great results as well. Their latest track is “Julia I’m Alive” which is really good.

Found Space: and we stay in Portland to check the song “Don’t Let it Go” by Mahera Smalley who goes under the moniker Found Space. This is the first song by the band on Bandcamp, and there is very little information about it. We know though that it sounds very good! And that’s good enough for me to recommend it!

The National Honor Society: “Be Gone (alternate version)” is an alternate take to the song that was recorded during the “Glory” sessions. The band has decided to release this track to raise funds for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

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Now I want to head to Australia because I want to know about the Sydney band The Rose Mary’s. Kind of late I must say, I bought the one and only 7″ they released many years ago. I believe in Sweden or Germany. I can’t remember now. I would think it was in Germany, in one of the many stores Uwe from Firestation Records took me in Berlin. That was my first trip to Germany and Sweden (and Europe too!) and I remember it with nostalgia. I got a bunch of very fine records then and 12 years after (!) I am re-listening and rediscovering. And of course I want to find out more about them.

As I said The Rose Mary’s released just one 7″. It happened in 1990 on the fine Australian label Half A Cow Records (MOO-02). This label, for those who are not aware was founded by Nic Dalton (from Love Positions, The Plunderers, Godstar, Sneeze and more) and Miles Ferguson. This label would release many classic Aussie indie records.

The 7″ had just two songs, “Freedom Riders” on the A side and “You Can Talk Now” on the B side. I also know that the band was formed by Gina Monaco on bass, Dale Thomas on drums, Patrick Hallam on guitar and Lisa Partington on vocals. We know too that the songs were produced by Nic Dalton and engineered by John Hesse. They were recorded at Powerhouse Studio on the 5 and 6 of July of 1990. The photos on the sleeve are credited to Emily Oquist. What else?

Well the band members had been in other bands of course. Gina Monaco had been also in Lawnsmell, Stitchface and lately in Chinese Burns Unit. And of course Lisa Partington was later in the fabulous Snow Leopards who I still think I should dedicate a post to them.

Something interesting that I read on Discogs is that the band started in 1989 and when they released their single, at their launch party at the Landsowne Hotel the band split up. Crazy! Why?! I would love to know the reason why. It also mentions that Dale Thomas went to become a model in New York and Patrick Hallam went to make furniture in the desert.

Many years later, 25, the band would appear with “Freedom Riders” on a compilation CD “Half a Cow 25 – Doing it for the Kinds since 1990!” (Promoo25th). This CD wasn’t for sale but was pressed just for promotion purposes.

But that’s not all. It seems the band has uploaded both songs of the 7″ to a Bandcamp. Which is great if you want to have a taste of their music. Sadly there is no other information here. Would be also great to know if they recorded more songs. Maybe they could upload that as well? I’d be thrilled to hear more songs by them!

Sadly that’s it about them on the web. I really hoped to find more information. Sometimes with Australian bands I am able to stumble upon PDFs of fanzines with some good information. Not this time. I hope then my Australian friends can help shed some light about this short-lived but terrific jangly band!

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Listen
The Rosemary’s – Freedom Riders