A long weekend here as it is Labor Day this coming Monday. I will have a post still and I am really hoping to have Cloudberry news this upcoming week! Keep in touch!

Sister Ectoplasma: just found out about this fine Mexican band the other day through this video for their song “With Every Bullet, So Far”. It seems this  video was just released but the song has been around for a bit. It was included in a 2018 EP called “Hopefully, Wiser”, that is available on the band’s Bandcamp. Very nice.

The Memory Fades: there’s a new EP by Stephen Maughan’s band! It is called “Space Pilot” and it sounds great! It is available on CD so there is no reason to miss it. There are four songs in total, and there’s even one sort of a tribute to the JAMC, “Listening to the Marychain” which has vocals by Estella from Nah… And that’s not all, our friend Pete-B from Horowitz plays bass on the 3rd track, “Run Away”. Cool!

Foliage: this great band from San Bernardino, California, has been a blog-favourite for some time now. It is great news that the band is releasing an album called “Take” on September 20th. It will include 12 tracks and will be available on tape. At the moment we can preview 5 tracks and I am hoping it gets a CD release, or vinyl could work ok too! You know me and tapes, not the best of friends. I just want to listen to the rest of tracks, I really like everything they’ve recorded so far.

For Tracy Hyde: I still haven’t got the new album by this amazing Japanese band. I think it will be out on September 4th. I should order it. It is called “New Young City” and is being released by P-Vine Records and they’ve been promoting it with a few promo vids that I have been sharing on the blog. Now there’s a new one, for the song “Can Little Birds Remember?”, and I might say this may be my favourite song so far that I have heard from the album. Really loving the boy/girl parts!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: how prolific is Glenn Donaldson! He just released an album on Pretty Olivia, but he has also released two new songs on Bandcamp! They are “A Kick in the Face (That’s Life)” and “They Only Wanted Your Soul”, and strangely enough he hasn’t added the word demo in parenthesis as usual!

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The Headmen is a group of fictional supervillains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are a group who believe that they should rule the world by virtue of the intellect. Dr. Arthur Nagan wanted society to operate like a precision instrument, Dr. Jerry Morgan wanted a society where his genius was recognized, Chondu the Mystic wanted personal wealth and Ruby Thursday wanted to replace the head of every human with a plastic head of her own design. They fought the Defenders, She-Hulk, and Spider-Man on different occasions. 

The Headmen. 2 releases and goodbye. That’s what looks like. Where were they from? Who were they? Did they start as a band in the 80s? Or in the 90? What are they up to these days? Many questions, let’s see how many answers I can find.

Both records the band released, a 7″ and a 12″, came out on Positive Records. I must say that I am very unfamiliar with this label who mostly put out records by H.D.Q. and Instigators which I think are not indiepop bands. There is a compilation though called “Step Up” with lots of bands I have never heard before which I am hoping are indiepop? Who would know?

The first release by The Headmen came out in 1990, and it was a 7″ (POS 016) that included two songs. The A side had “Kissed to Pieces” while the B side had “Roundabout”. The songs were produced by the band and Bliss and the engineer for the recordings was Steve Whitfield. They were recorded and mixed on September 1990 at Beaumont Street Studios in Huddersfield. Did the band hail from there too?

The sleeve also gives us some details about the band. We know they were formed by Simon Eskriett on vocals and guitar, Nick Keene on guitar, Matthew Slater on drums and vocals and David Pattern on bass. Eskriett was the main songwriter, both songs are credited to him, though “Roundabout” also credits Keene.

The next year they would put out a 12″ (POS 017) with 4 songs, a proper EP. The A side had the lovely “Reach the Sky” and “You Make Me Smile” while the B side featured “Yesterday, Today and Everyday” and “Shortsong”. Again the songs were recorded in January 1991 at Beaumont Street Studios. It is interesting that this studio opened in 1985 and closed in December 2009. Steve Whitfield was now the producer with the band. Some other credits on the record include Matthew Riley who did the artwork and Porl Medlock who took the photos for the sleeve.

There are two tapes called “Hong Kong Hi-Fi” and “A Tender Tension”, one from 1985 and the other undated. They seem like tapes that showcased electronic, ambient music. I really doubt it is the same band as the one that released on Positive. So I will skip for now. If someone confirms me is the same band then I’ll add the information about these releases.

The only compilation appearance I am sure about is on the 6-CD boxset “Bradford’s Noise of the Valleys” where on the 2nd CD the band appears with “Reach the Sky”.

A post on Youtube gives me many more details about the band. It confirms that the band hailed from Huddersfield. It also tells me that they formed in October 1989 and split in the summer of 1994. This might prove my theory that the band is not the same as the one in the compilation tapes. Then something more interesting, the band had recorded before the 7″ a 4-tack demo tape called “The Magic Shoebox” which included the songs “I Can Do Everything”, “You Make Me Smile”, “Fallen Angel” and “Waiting for the Sun”. I learned that the demo should have been named “The Happy Shoebox” rather than “Magic”, as the tape was named after the Happy Shoebox shoe shop in Huddersfield. They also recorded an EP after the 12″ which had the songs “Bridge to the Stars”, “Weird”, “Song 52” and “Wish Time” that still remains unreleased! It seems what happened was that everything was ready, mixed and all, but the master tapes of the recordings were destroyed in a fire that swept through the building the tapes were housed in. Oh! I would have love to hear these songs!

I find then a photo album on Flickr by one of the band members, David Pattern! How cool! There are tons of photos of the band in it. Thanks tot his I know the band played at different venues like the Halifax Return, at the Hipperholme (their first gig ever, in 1990), Queens Hall in Bradford, The Top Spot, Hebden Bridge Trades Club, The Mean Fiddler,

I also learn that the band was to tour the Netherlands following up the release of “Reach the Sky” 12″. It never happened. Also the band recorded a session for Jeremy “Jez” Hibbard for his evening show on BBC Radio Leeds.

Then I stumble upon David Pattern’s blog and wow! Here I find a post about the story of “Bridge to the Stars” and also links to the 4 songs that were to be released on vinyl and never did!

Thanks to his page I know too that the band has a Facebook page with lots of photos and memorabilia. Make yourself a fan of course.

And that’s about it. That’s all I could find online, it is quite a lot I think. I thought I was going to find myself empty-handed. So good that the 4 songs for the unreleased 12″ weren’t lost…. now I just need to listen to the “Magic Shoebox” demo! Who remembers them?! And what did they do musically afterwards?

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The Headmen – Roundabout

Not much to share today for news, but hey, there’s always new music to share!

Charles y los Amapola: some time ago in Chile there was a band called Los Polares. One of their members has started his own project and called it Charles y los Amapola. He has just released two songs in digital format on the label Preservación Discogs. These jangly tracks are “Junto a Ti” and “Se Acabó el Verano”, both of them sweetly influenced by Donosti-sound bands like La Buena Vida or Le Mans.

Los Lagartos: the Peruvian band from Lima has released a new video for their song “Mosquitos”. I wonder if the song was released in any physical format, there is no info on the Youtube link! Maybe it is just a digital release. In any case I am really liking the video and the song! It is terribly catchy and fun. Hopefully next time I am around Lima, I can catch them live.

Deadbeat Beat: this band hails from Detroit, Michigan, and released an LP album some weeks ago and it seems it is already sould out. The album titled “How Far” includes some fine pop tunes like “You Lift Me Up” or “From What I Can Tell”. The band mentions The Clean as an influence, and that is a good thing in my book. I especially like too when they combine girl/boy vocals. That you know, I am a sucker for.

Jay Som: I think I saw Jay Som on the Wall Street Journal music reviews page not so long ago. So yeah, maybe it is too big for this small blog. She is on Polyvinyl and that is a biggish label. But well, I am listening to the one song “Superbike” which I quite like a lot. I am thinking The Sundays you know. I know the label says that influences are awful bands like Death Cab for Cutie, and that might be true, as the rest of the songs of the album “Anak Ko” are not my cup of tea, they are really blah, whatever, but here there is the one very good dreamy pop song.

Lunar Vacation: this is a band I recommended quite some time ago. The band released a collection of their EPs last June called “The Lunar Vacation EPs”. IT was released on tape by Human Sounds from Atlanta, Georgia. The tape comes with 9 tracks, not all of them being great, but there are some great moments as the opening track, “Blue Honey”, and “Sleepy Couch”, which are blissful, and fantastic.

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Jules is the French form of the Latin “Julius” (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar).

Time to get über obscure…. with Where’s Jules?

There have been quite a few famous Jules of course. I can think of Jules verne and Jules Rimet. I wonder if the band knew a Jules, or why did they call themselves like this?

What I do know is that the band only released one record, a 7″. I believe it was self-released in 1986, with no catalog number, no label name. The cover art and the design in general is really nice. There is a cool illustration of a guitar and the name on the front cover within a rectangular frame. On the back cover the rectangular frame appears empty. All printed in a nice tint of blue over cream white.

Two songs were included in this record, the wonderful “Nothing at All” (A side) and “Wasted” (B side). Both songs are credited to Isaac, Partridge and Isaac. Does this mean that there were two siblings with Isaac as their last name?

The back cover lists the first names of the band members in a particular way:
Andy: voice and feeling
Donna: contralto
Jules: stringed instruments
Paul: to play an instrument of the lower register

Which instruments did they play? It does look too that the band had their own Jules. I believe Jules played guitar? Andy sang? What about the rest? Also Stan is credited for ebony, ivory and larynx while William played drums.

I see a phone number that starts 0752. I wonder if it means that the band hailed from Plymouth? Could it be?

Aside from that there are no other clues or pieces information that I could use to track the band down. As I said, they are very obscure. I do hope I can find out more about them in the future. Finding a copy of their record would be great as well. Maybe some of you remember them and can help?

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Where’s Jules? – Nothing at All

Quickly approaching September! But still August has a bunch of surprises. Let’s discover some together.

Maria Surfinbird: who is Maria Surfinbird? She has recorded two songs so far, “He Likes to Drink Fanta” and “Get U in My Arms”. The first one I mentioned in her bedroom in a Chicago suburb 2019, the second one in her bedroom in Krasnodar, Russia, 2017. This is a true mystery of lo-fi indiepop!

Semihelix: now we head to Austin, Texas, for some fine guitar pop by this three piece formed by Geannie Friedman on guitar and vocals, Joe Pannebacker on bass and Valdemar Barrera on drums. Their latest track is called “Only to Go On” and it is an upbeat bouncy popsong!

What the Tusan: following the thread of a post my friend David from Barcelona posted on Facebook I ended up on this Malmö, Sweden, band. Actually a one man band formed by Sondre Mortensen. It looks like he has been recording for a while, there are more than a handful releases with lots of songs to check out. The latest dates from April, 2018, an 8-song album called “Nyckelpigan & Humlan” Pretty interesting! I will spend a few hours exploring this fine guitar-driven lo-fi songs!

Blue Tomorrows: Moon Glyph Records from Portland will be releasing on tape the debut album of Sarah Nienaber’s band “Blue Tomorow”. The album titled “Without Color” will be out on September 13th and will include 9 tracks. We can preview the opening track, “Sound of Moving”, a pretty, gorgeous and fragile track. Are the rest of the songs as nice? We’ll have to wait just a bit more to find out!

Astragal: the Texas band has been a favourite of the blog for a while. So I have to share a new video they have made for their song “Wilt” that was included in their “EP II” that was released on tape back in March. This is really good!

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Why not for a change check out a band whose record I do have. Though it is true that there is a 7″ and 12″ version of their “A Good Day” single. I only own the 7″ version as I like this smaller format better. But aside for how the songs on it sound like I know barely anything about The Blue Toys.

The record was released by the London based Sedition label. I have to say I am not familiar at all with any of the  bands this label put out. The year was 1986 and the record had the catalog number EDIT 3317. It is important to mention too that the song “A Good Day” was produced by Pat Collier. Pat who had been in The Vibrators and who produced The Motorcycle Boy, The Darling Buds or The Soup Dragons among others. The B side, “Survivalists” was produced by Dale Griffin. This song was actually taken from a Radio One Session from August 1986 for the Dixie Peach Show. The 12″ added one more song to the B side, “This is Not Heaven” appears as B2.

Discogs doesn’t list any compilation appearances. And then it starts to seem that only 3 songs were released by them. Now, who were behind the band? The back of the sleeve gives us more information.

The band was formed then by:
Baz Ketley  – vocals, bass
Anne Marie – keyboards, saxophone
Richard Wellings – guitar
Peter Barton – drums

Okay, Baz Ketley. That is a familiar name. He was in The Charlatans, right? I find a mention on the book “The Charlatans We Are Rock” where it says that The Blue Toys were formed in 1983. That Peter Barton had just left Makin’ Time and so they joined forces. Now I see the connection with Pat Collier too. He produced lots of Makin’ Time tracks. The book also mentions that the band toured, between 1983 and 1986, all over England, from Nottingham to London. Then in 1986 the band started to fall apart because their manager was pushing the band in a direction that wasn’t what the band was supposed to be. Then another blow, the label changed name to Activate and then went bust.

That sucks. But I do wonder about that Radio One session. They must have recorded more songs, right? It can’t just be one.

Of course, about The Charlatans, there’s lots on the web. And you would imagine that for a band that had connections with them you’d find information, details, anecdotes, something. But the reality is that for The Blue Toys there is very little on the web.

So maybe some of you remember them as they played all over England. Maybe you saw them live. Any information will be greatly appreciated!

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The Blue Toys – A Good Day

Another week goes by, isn’t that nice? I am preparing new interviews and I am quite excited about that, learning about bands, them telling their story in their own words, is pretty great. How I wish I could organize a bunch of it as a book or something some day. I am scared that one day I’ll lose the blog, that someone would hack it or the drive of the hosting company goes bust, who knows. Something physical for all these stories would be good. Hopefully one day.

Horsebeach: back in May I think I posted about the Manchester band working on a new album to be titled “The Unforgiving Current”. They had just released a video for the song “Dreaming”. Well, the new album should be out today, August 23rd! And on Bandcamp you can preview three songs, “Dreaming”, “Mourning Thoughts” and “Trust”. As always, they are excellent.

Papa Topo: the Spanish band is back and this is very exciting! They have just released a new song/video called “Sirenear” which kind of translates as “To Mermaid”. As far as I know this is a digital single and doesn’t seem to be plans to be part of an album, at least not yet. Well, we will have to enjoy this very 80s summer hit on Youtube.

Cozy Slippers: the latest release from the very fine Augsburg label Kleine Untergrund Schallplaten is a 7″ by the Seattle jangle pop band that I’ve featured many times in the past! This, new 7″ comes with two songs, “A Million Pieces” and “Will You Disappear?” and is limited to 210 copies. So hurry up and don’t miss it! You can preview the A side on the label’s Soundcloud!

Las Perdón: now a new Spanish band from Madrid. There is just one song on Bandcamp called “Asco Total” which sounds like lots of fun and it looks like that it will be part of an EP. That EP is said to be released this October and will be called “Melón y Sandía”. How many more songs will it have? I hope it gets released on physical format too!

EggS: this French band who have also been featured in the blog have a new release, a 7″ out on Hellzapoppin Records. The 7″ comes with two songs of fine guitar pop, “A Certain Smile” on the A side and “Picture Book” on the B side. And at a fair price, 5 euros. Really nice I’d say.

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A classic tape compilation from the good old days was the “Something’s Burning in Paradise” cassette that was released in 1988 by Subtle. I guess this tape was a success then because the label would release a second part called “Something’s Burning in Paradise Again…” the year after. I was listening to the songs that appeared on the tape (on Mp3, I don’t own the tape) and was struck by a song called “Not Fair” by the band The Purple Tulips. It appears on the A side, it is the tenth and last song on that side.

I must say I didn’t know much about them. And after researching for this post I was quite surprised of the connections the band had with two big names, The Field Mice and Sarah Records.

How you mean? Well, Anne Mari Davis, vocalist of The Field Mice, was in The Purple Tulips before.

There is a good interview with Anne Mari on the website Everything Indie Over 40. Here Anne Mari talks about the band and gives some details about the time she was in The Purple Tulips.

• The band was formed by Anne Mari, Chris Cox, Andrew and Sarah. Anne Mari and Sarah played guitar and keyboards while Chris wrote the songs.
• They were sixth former at the time when they started the band.
• They were into the c86 bands and The Purple Tulips lasted for a couple of years.
• The band made at least one demo tape that included the songs “Children in Ancials” (maybe I have a typo here, can’t understand the writing!), “Changes from Today”, “Not Fair”, “With You” and “Take Me Far Away”. There may be more recordings.
• They were based in Poynton. Poynton is a town in Cheshire, England, on the easternmost fringe of the Cheshire Plain 18 km southeast of Manchester, 11 km north of Macclesfield, and 8 km south of Stockport. In 2011, it had a population of 14,260.

Then on the Sarah Records page, when they talk about the “Shadow Factory” compilation, it mentions that the sleeve of the record was dedicated to Chris from The Purple Tulips because he had said he would stop buying Sarah’s releases if they ever had barcodes on them. This comp had a barcode, though if you remember it is pink and so it doesn’t work. He also mailed the label a demo tape of his band.

The story that followed, according to the Popkiss book, says that Chris Cox went to see The Field Mice play at Sheffield University. Chris gave Bobby Wratten from The Field Mice a demo tape accompanied by a letter of Anne Mari where she mentioned that she was aware of The Field Mice looking for a vocalist because someone called Violet or M once passed through the Sarah headquarters and heard about it. So Anne Mari joined The Field Mice. And I suppose The Purple Tulips were no more? Or what happened to them? Did the other band members continue to make music?

There is not much information about the band on the web, that is nothing strange as it was pre-internet days. I would love to listen to the rest of the songs. I really like “Not Fair”. I also wonder how come no one has released these tracks to this day. Did they ever play live?  Or what were the last names of the other band member? Maybe I could find some info that way. There are so many questions I have. Hopefully someone remembers them and can fill in the blanks?!

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The Purple Tulips – Not Fair

Not much news today, it is great though that I keep finding bands and time to write about them!

The Umbrella Puzzles: all over the weekend I saw many friends sharing the wonderful EP by this new band from California. It is a new band but behind it there’s a friend that has always made amazing pop tunes. That is Ryan Marquez who we know from Apple Orchard, The Haircuts, Sodajerk (who were interviewed in the blog) and more. This EP has 6 songs of lo-fi indiepop that are catchy, dreamy, sweet. The art was also done by a good friend, David, the same David that introduces me to so many bands all the time. What a combo! Really lovely debut. Happy to see Ryan back and in great shape!

This Certain Kind: a new janglepop band from the 80s are getting love by Firestation Records next September. On the 6th this band that I know very little about will be releasing an LP called “Inspire”. Firestation Records has shared one of the songs that will be in the album, “Make Your Heart Bleed” which sounds ace! Definitely one not to miss!

Spreadeagle: and here is one band that I have discovered through David. They come from Glasgow and have just released a new song called “11.59” on their Bandcamp. But that’s not all. There are other three songs that have also been released this past August, “Close the Door”, “The Night Sky” and “Palatine Hill”, this last one maybe my favourite!

The Slowest Clock: remember I interviewed not so long ago this fantastic Irish band? Well I just learned that the superb Fanning Sessions blog has posted the band’s 1988 BBC1 session for Liz Kershaw in its entirety! So great! You can check then 4 songs: “Where’s Andi”, “Desert Mouth”, “Rejoice the Burning” and “Turning Green”!

Tvärtom: some superb tracks in this Finnish band’s Soundcloud! It seems these songs are not that new, from what I am reading on the bio the band formed in 2010. It was actually Joel who started the band and later Eni joined to play bass and. Kristina drums. Joe picked up the guitar.With this lineup the band recorded the two songs here. Are there more? Who’d know. But these are really good and that’s what matters!

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After featuring White Come Come I thought it would be cool to explore another Japanese band from the same period. Less than a week apart. So I went to check out a band that is quite unknown to me but whose name I saw for the first time thanks to the White Come Come post. How’s that?

Remember I said I was going to explore the bands on the compilation “Brand Skip New Decoration” (QTCA-1003) that Quattro had released on CD (and Parco Sectary had put together a promo 12″ for it). Yes, on this 1992 comp Loco-Holidays appears with two songs, “Place in the Sun” and “Close to Me”. So I went looking for them and I liked what I heard!

It seems that was the only compilation they were in. But it is not something to be sad about. The band released one mini-album and two CD singles on the Confusion label which is also  a new label to me. Lots of good stuff to discover! I’m very excited! I love how from one band I jump to the next and so on. Discovering this way lots of great new music.

I read that Loco-Holidays were one of the first shoegaze bands from Japan. The band was formed by Hideka Matsuno, Kinya Kamijyo and Moriya Kamijyo. Were Kinya and Moriya siblings? Also we know that Hideka Matsuno would become much more known later on on Ruby Ruby Star and as Hideka. Kinya and Moriya, on the other hand, were involved with Penpals and Starwagon.

It is surprising that the mini-album was released before the CD singles. “Engine Flower” (PCCC-00007) was released in 1991 as I said on Confusion Records. It was released on CD and had six songs, “Bloody Minded Hill”, “Femme Fatale” (a cover of the Velvet Underground’s original), “Silly Smile”, “Strawberry”, “Desert Me” and “Two Gloomy Suns”. The record was produced by Kazuhiko Hirata.

Next came the “Screw” (PCCC-00009) CD single. It had 3 songs, “Screw”, “Blackberry Way” and a remixed version of their cover, “Femme Fatale (Flowerfall Mix)”. It was released early in 1992.

Lastly the “Drive” (PCCCC-00010) CD single came out also in 1992. Three new songs came on it, “Drive”, “The Fountain” and “Once”.

Then quite a surprise. Some live footage on Youtube. There is a video of the band playing “Strawberry” live on TV even though the hosts of the show are talking over the song! What show was this? Then another live footage video of them playing “Place in the Sun” at a wedding party of a friend of the band. Even more surprising, perhaps a reunion of sorts, there is the band playing “Close to Me” on October 26 2013. I would find on Hideka’s site that the band was reuniting to play after 20 years at Shibuya Club Asia at the DJ Bar EdgeEnd 18th Anniversary Party. They payed that day alongside Venus Peter. What a gig!

Searching for Loco-Holidays I get lots of hits, but for hotels and vacation sites. Nothing much about the band.

But I’m hooked now with the band. I want to find copies of their records. I want to listen to them at home, play their CD and relax. I hope I will get to find more about them. Did they hail from Tokyo? I suppose so. But I definitely would love to learn more. Like if this was the first band they were involved with? Are there more recordings? I’m sure my Japanese pop friends must remember them!

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Loco-Holidays – Drive

Last Friday I went to check an indiepop gig in NYC. That is quite some news for me, It is not very often I get to attend one of these. Not many indiepop bands play here, or if they do they play in venues deep inside Brooklyn. Not convenient for me.

This time around the gig was in Berlin, a venue in Manhattan. I had been in the past to this small place to dance and I was surprised on Friday that they use it also for gigs. It is tiny! And you don’t get much of a view of the band playing if you don’t have a good spot. That’s the bad part.

I missed the first band, I didn’t expect them to be on time, 8pm is too early. So I arrived 8:30 and Jeanines were next. After them was Pale Lights and lastly was The Catenary Wires.

The Catenary Wires as you know is Rob Pursey and Amelia Fletcher, both from Heavenly, Tender Trap and many more bands. I had seen them before that is true. But seeing them again and listening to Amelia’s trademark vocals is something I always enjoy. It was a sweet evening, with their intimate set. They played many of their best known songs but also some that are in their new album that Tapete Records released. They would even do an encore of one of their catchiest tracks, “Intravenous”. But for me the best moment was when they went back in time and did a lovely rendition, of their old band Heavenly, classic track “Shallow”. I was surprised and impressed and excited and all. I caught it all in video and was giddy. Three or so minutes of perfection!

After the gig I want to thank Amelia, I love The Catenary Wires tracks, as you have probably noticed as I feature them on the blog everytime there is news, but listening to a song with the orginal vocalist that I never thought I would, was quite thrilling. I believe I haven’t seen Amelia Fletcher in about 4 or so years. So at first she didn’t recognize me. But then she did, and that was cool too. We talked a bit and that was it. I really hope I get to see them again, maybe next year at Indietracks? I should try to go!

Anyways, here are my newest finds!

Andrew Deevey: the ex-member of the Decemberists of Liverpool, the Hellfire Sermons, The Caretaker Race and more released not too long ago an album called “Northern Soul” that will be a delight to all indiepop lovers. The album is actually available on CD and Andrew was very kind to send me a copy for me to play and play all the time. There are 12 songs that are truly terrific. They are catchy and elegant, and it is hard to pick a favourite. The guitar jangles, the vocals takes us back to the time we fell in love with indiepop, isn’t this great? I don’t know how many copies Andrew has pressed, but as it is very good I would suggest ordering a copy before it is too late. And yes, you can preview all 12 tracks on Bandcamp!

The Wellington: the amazing Jakarta band is back with a track called “It’s So Fine” on Guerrilla Records. This single will be part of the band’s upcoming album which should be released pretty soon. I can’t wait for it. With The Wellington we get stuff little by little, so an album should be great! Hopefully it will be released in physical format and we can get copies this side of the world!

Become the Sky: “Violent Skies” is a lovely track by this Liverpool band formed by Anne Marie Howard, Mark Simms, Marcus Mayes and Joel Sawyer. It is dreamy and sweet. I am looking forward to new songs in the near future!

Seazoo: this very fine band, a favourite in the blog for some time, is back with a new track called “Throw it Up” which sounds great! The Welsh ensemble has put this single out as a little preview of what’s coming up, which will be a sophomore album due to be released early next year.

The Fisherman and his Soul: our friend Sebastian Voss is back with his excellent project, this time releasing with the Mexican label Emma’s House Records. The EP is titled “Disco///Voss” and will have five tracks. It will be available on CD and in digital format. For the time being we can preview two songs, the first one of the EP “Let Everything You Do Be Done in Love” and the last one “Your Lie (is Not Acceptable)”. Very very nice.

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I’m always curious about all the bands that have some connection with the amazing Wilde Club Records from Norwich. It is no surprise that I was able to release retrospectives of bands like Shine! and The Suncharms, both that graced releases on this label. Today I wanted to check out Cherry Forever a band I’m not familiar with, only hear it on the compilation CD “I Might Walk Home Alone” (Wilde 10) that was released by Wilde Club in 1992. On that compilation the band contributed the song “Spook”.

As far as I know that was the only compilation appearance by the band. They did release one record though, a 12″ EP in 1992. Wilde Club Records put it out. It was titled “Headstrong EP” (Wilde 9) and had 4 songs, 2 on each side. The A side had “Cherry Forever” (which I assume gave the band its name) and “Spook”. The B side had “Higher than Heaven” and “Down and Around”. All songs were recorded at Purple Rain Studios in Yarmouth, Norfolk. They were produced by the band and Richard Hammerton.

The sleeve doesn’t give us much more info aside that the artwork is credited to Pete Siree and Big Al.

I do find out that the band didn’t hail from Norwich. Music from the East Zone, the superb website that tracks all bands from Norwich mentions that the band was actually based in Nottingham. This might be a good piece of information to find out more about them.

And that may prove true. I stumble upon a Bandcamp for the band Blindmouse which may still be active. It mentions that the band is formed by two thirds of John Peel favourites Cherry Forever. And they are based in Nottingham. It must be them. Indeed, Gaz Parker (drums) and David Parker (guitar and vocals) were in Cherry Forever. The other members were Peter Vaughan (bass) and Mark Revell (guitar).

John Peel favourites? Yes, indeed. They recorded a Peel Session on June 30th 1991 at Maida Vale with Dale Griffin. The songs recorded for the session were “Spook”, “Down and Around”, “Back to Back” and “Higher than Heaven”. I would love to listen to this session!

And that’s all the web has for them. Well, not really. On Archive.org I find 9 songs by the band. These were uploaded somewhere back in 2006 and I am guessing this website got deleted or wasn’t renewed or something. Somehow the MP3s for these songs are still available here. So you can check  “Over Excited”, “Plastic Toy version 1”, “Spank” and “Forever Wonderful”, “All the Things”, “Flamingo”, “Spook”, “Wallpaper Ceiling version 1”, “Lowest Stated Ambition”, “Makes No Difference”, “Rolling Stone”, “Task”, “Ever Ready Never Ready”, “Communication”, “Fifteen Bottles”, “The Day That I Did Go”, “Bubble”, “Owe Me More”, “Plain White version 1”, “Plain White version 2”, “O’Briens Curse”, “Redman”, “The Summer”, “Cakes”, “Hostility Vine”, “No Tyrell”, “Forever Gods”, “Plastic Toy version 2”, “Sea Urchin”, “Untitled Instrumental”, “Wallpaper Ceiling version 2”, “Lipstick Point”, “The Unfortunate Boy” and “Forever Wires”. Quite a trove!

And that’s really it. Why weren’t these songs properly released? What happened to the band? Why just the one release? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Cherry Forever – Spook

Another week goes by. A few days ago I met Roy from the superb Portsmouth 80s band Three Little Piggies. Went for a couple of beers and that was great. Love talking about music and bands from that period. I just wish I had been around that time in the UK!

Today I will be going to a gig after a month or so? Last time was in Madrid. Quite crazy I think. Not many indiepop gigs here in NYC sadly. Today I’ll be heading to see Amelia Fletcher’s The Catenary Wires. I’ve seen them before, but I don’t mind. I like them. I am also curious about the Jeanines. I don’t have their album yet, maybe they have copies at their gig. I should see if I can buy a CD (or is it only available on LP?). Pale Lights are also playing this gig and even though I’ve seen them many times it is always a treat. So should be a good evening out!

Some finds of course, you came for that, not for my stories!

Queue Dance: I did write about Queue Dance some time ago. Would have been great to get in touch and interview them. Would have been fantastic really. I still would love to do that. Now they are going to get a bit more attention as there are good news, Firestaiton Records will be releasing a retrospective compilation called “Full Stop” next month. You can preview the song “Fringe of the Affair” which is AMAZING. Really looking forward to this.

Aster More: from Philadelphia comes 5-piece formed by Devin, Kristine, Carolym, Ariel and Rachel. They have just released a 9-track album that is a bit shoegaze and a bit indiepop. The album is called “Dog-Eared” and seems to be available digitally for now. The best song for me is “Bought It”. Check them out.

Gaarden: Library Group Records from Sydney are releasing an album called “The Fall” by the band Gaarden. First time I am listening to this band from Russia and Estonia that was founded last year by Ian Sakharov, Dima Kozyritsky, Vlad Semenov and Yareek. Sadly it seems Yareek passed away and the band members have continued with the project and have created this pretty song we can preview called “Shiny Day”, and hopefully an album as pretty!

Well Whale: “She’s a Punk” is the debut song by this indiepop band from Jatinangor in Indonesia. It is great! I am so happy to see that indiepop of this quality is still produced there! Can’t wait to hear more by them.

Cool Sounds: Lastly a Melbourne band that will be playing in two days in Berlin! Wow. The band will be releasing on September 20th their album “More to Enjoy” on vinyl and we can preview two tracks from it, “More to Enjoy” and “Around and Down”. Some nice jangly guitars here!

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I just noticed I had Fragile Friends waiting to be featured on the blog since 2014. I had a bunch of links with information about them saved. I wonder why I didn’t end up finishing the post. Well, it is better late than never, right?

“For-Play” was according to Discogs their first release. It was actually a tape album. I wonder how many copies of these were pressed and how was it distributed. It was released in 1983 and the label was Traditional Music Productions but has no catalog number. There were 5 songs on each side, on the A side we find “Emotional Tennis”, “Moments”, “Creatures of Habit”, “April Fool” and “Smack!”. The B side had “Happy Together”, “Gift Horse”, “November in the Rain”, “I’ll Say It For You” and “Creatures of Habit (inst.)”. “Happy Together” being a cover of The Turtles’ famous song. All songs on the tape were composed by Mike King and Chas Cole.

The band at this point was formed by them two, Mike King on vocals and accordion and Chas Cole on guitar, keyboards and trumpet. They had the help on this tape of three friends, David Bathe on drums, Steve Travis on bass and Steve Rimmer on keys. The songs were recorded at Shoestring Studios and were produced and engineered by Chas Cole. The address on the tape shows that the band was from the area of Southport in Merseyside.

Southport is a large seaside town in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish Sea coast and is fringed to the north by the Ribble estuary. The town is 26.9 km north of Liverpool and 23.8 km southwest of Preston.

The year after, 1984, would see the release of their first vinyl record. It was the “Paper Doll” 7″ (KC001) that was released by KC Records. This seems to have been the band’s own label. Maybe KC meant King and Cole? The A side had “Paper Doll” while the B side had “What I Call Beautiful”. This time around both of the band members produced the tracks and it is important to note that they got help on these two recordings by Cliff Ray on trumpet, Dave Bathe on drums and Paul Fisher on bass. The photo on the back cover is credited to Michael Daks while the cover design to John Evans.

Their last release is the classic 12″ EP “The Novelty Wears Off” (KCT1). There were four songs on it. The A side has just one of them, “The Novelty Wears Off”, while on the B side we find “Caught on the Hop”, “No Good in Our Goodbye” and “A Walk in the Sunshine”. Now the two friends got help from Maurice Cheetham on drums, Steve Greenmantle on bass, Phil Johnston on sax, Gary Joynson on trumpet. Pete Coleman was the engineer.

The band also appeared on one compilation, “Son of Jobs for the Boys”. This classic compilation featured bands like The Style Council, Stephen Duffy or The Persuaders among others. It was compiled by Roger Bannister and Ronnie Flood for Natalie Records (LIE 2). Fragile Friends contributed the song “Caught on the Hoop”.

The website Link2Wales has some more information about the band. Here it says that the band was formed in October 1981. Mike King and Chas Cole had been previously in a band called Tradition. Then it mentions that in 1983 the band became a five piece when they added Steve Travis (bass) (ex Debonaires, later Six), Steve Rimmer (keys), David Bathe (drums) (later Return of The Toreador) to the line-up. Paul Fisher (bass) joined briefly, until Mike and Chas changed the line-up in 1984 with Neil Brighouse (bass) (later Chance), Cliff Ray (trumpet), Denise D’Arcy (sax) (ex Walkie Talkies, Zale Out), Steve Eastwood (drums). Neil and Denise left in 1985 and Mike Keane (guitar) (ex Royal Family & The Poor) joined briefly. By mid 1985 Mike and Chas had again changed the line-up, Steve Greenmantle (bass), Gary Johnson (trumpet), Phil Johnston (sax), Maurice Cheetham (drums) joined them.

Then I stumble upon an interview with Michael Weston King by the website Triste. On it it talks about Fragile Friends a bit, talking about influences, about their gigs as a duo with backing tapes in places like Leyland, Preston and Chorley. It also mentions that he joined the band Stormkeepers and toured all Europe. And then how did Fragile Friends came to an end. He says: “I felt I’ve just had enough of this, this is just what you hear happens when you’re forced into something you don’t want to do.”

Michael King actually has a Wikipedia page where his career is documented. His latest work was a country soul album called “Still Testifiying” released by his band My Darling Clementine. He had also been in other bands like With the Good Sons as well as a prolific solo work.

What about Chas Cole though? What happened with him afterwards?

Sadly I can’t seem to find more info about the Fragile Friends. Many questions remain unanswered.

It would be great to know more about the Fragile Friends period. I especially would love to hear that tape they released early. Why was it released on tape too. And it did look like they were going to have a break, but why didn’t it happen? Were they approached by big labels? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Fragile Friends – Caught on the Hop

Thanks so much to Satori and Ishida for the interview! I wrote about this superb Japanese band some time ago and I was lucky to get in touch with Satori and she was even nicer that she was up to answer all my questions and also get Ishida on board! Hopefully in the future I will bug them for interviews on the many other bands they’ve been too!

Oh! and for those that prefer reading the interview in Japanese, find it here!

++ Hi Satori! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque.
We are all well.  Daffodil-19 is inactive at the moment as a band, but we are making music individually.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Satori:  I sang with my mom’s “Sound of music” soundtrack, which she use to play in the house when I was in elementary school.  Played flute in the school marching band.  (I was never good at any instrument, so did not try much.)

Ishida: My family was not much interested in music. When I was in elementary school, I’d listen to robot-anime and super-hero theme songs.
My first encounter with rock music was Kraftwerk etc., under influence of my elder brother, who liked German progressive music.  I joined my first band with my high school classmates (it was a band for the “bunkasai” – an annual school festival), a bass player taught me how to play guitar. The first song we covered was Siouxsie And The Banshees’s “The Staircase”. Since I was a total beginner, I could not hold all 6 strings, so learned the basic major and minor chords using the 1-3 string only. I called these chords “cranes” and “tortoise” for my convenience (Note: “cranes and tortoise” – good luck symbols in Japan), and played like “3 fret tortoise” then “5 fret crane”. I still don’t know much about chords.

++ Had you been in other bands before Daffodil-19? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Satori:  Ishida-kun and I were in Penny Arcade.  After Penny, I joined Marble Hammock (with Hirotaka Shimizu and Mayumi Ikemizu of Bridge.)
Marble Hammock left some tracks for compilation albums “Blow up” and “Innocence and Peppermints”.

Ishida-kun and Don-chan (Donaka) were in Venus Peter.  Yoko-san (Yoko Ito) was in Soul Mission, Sugar plant, Three Berry Icecream (band) etc.

Ishida: Before joining Penny Arcade, the first band I ever played in the live-house was MDC (monkey dance club), which we started with my high school classmates. We played ska, new wave, covered Melon. We even had a horn section. 12 band members, although we rarely had all of them together.

Just before starting Penny, I was in a band called “clap trap” with rhythm box + female vocal + bassist. The bassist was Saito-kun, who was the first bassist for Penny. He also played with the Bachelors for sometime.

After Penny split up, I started Venus Peter, and after Venus Peter split, we became Daffodil-19, but along with Daffodils, I was also in the band called Jupiter Smile. (Jupiter Smile was Ishida, Donaka, KOGA, Sotomura & Daizo, and had one album out from KOGA records.)

++ Where were you from originally?

Satori: I was born in Tokyo. (spent some years in the US)

Ishida: I am from downtown Tokyo.

++ How was your town at the time of Daffodil-19 Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Bridge and Philips were still playing when we started. Advantage Lucy, Sugar Plant, Swarm’s arm, Moools played great shows.
Used to hang around Maximum Joy (Ikuhiro Susukita’s record shop) on weekends. As for the venue, Que and Shelter at Shimokitazawa were very good. (Both venues are still very good.)

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

After the Venus Peter ended (in 1994), Ishida-kun came to me that there are several unfinished songs he wanted to release. So we finished them up, and wrote some new ones as well. The first line-up of Daffodils is Ishida, Donaka, KOGA from Venus Peter, Ofuruton (a friend drummer) and me. We got together to release one mini album.  But gradually shifted to continue as a hobby.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Music is a hobby to us.  So we write and create when we have spare time.  (which we don’t at the moment, personal lives are too busy). When we practice we play at the rental studios.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name?

We got it from Kurt Vonnegut’s “slapstick”.  We also liked the band names with numbers (like Galaxie 500) so it goes.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Galaxie 500, Velvet Underground, Wedding Present, XTC, Magazine, Buzzcocks

++ Your first release came in 1994 and was an EP titled “Audrey Carson”. I was very curious about the name of the EP, but I can’t seem to find any answers. Who is/was Audrey Carson?

Sorry, it was Audrey Carsons first.  But dropped the last “s”, as it didn’t sound well in the song. I got it from “Wild Boys” by William S. Burroughs.  Not recommend for everyone (but great!)

++ Before this EP had you released demos? Or made recordings? Or was this time around the first time you went into a recording studio?

Daffodil-19 initially started as a band to record this EP.  So had few rehearsals as practice and went into recording right away.
We were in recording studios with our previous bands, but as Daffodils this was the first.

++ Wonder Release Records released this EP. I don’t know anything about them. Care telling me a bit about them? Who where they? How did you know them?

Wonder Release is an indie label, founded by Taro Yoda (Yoda is his real name, BTW) in 1991.  Released Venus Peter, Debonaire, Sugar plant, etc.
Yoda-san is such a passionate music lover, he is now running Kilikilivilla (Should check out Not Wonk). Yoda-san told me that Venus Peter’s first gig (in 1990) changed his life, he was a just college student then, but couldn’t stand still after the show, and asked them to sign his label (as the first band!).

++ After a 4 year hiatus you reappear with the album “Daffodilic” on Cardinal Records. Why did it take that long? Again, this label is unknown to me. Who were behind Cardinal? How was your relationship with the label?

As music is a hobby, we had no urge to release anything.  But after 4 years, we had enough new songs, and had saved up enough money to do recording on our own.

We chose Cardinal Records which was Beikoku Ongaku’s music label to release it.  Because we had total freedom on music direction this time.

++ This album is beautiful and I notice there have been some lineup changes. What happened? And what did the new members add to the sound of the band?

As we shifted to a hobby band, those who could enjoy this remained.  New members joined were old friends, they added new dynamics to the band, which you can hear clearly.

++ You covered New Order’s “Leave Me Alone” for a New Order tribute. Why did you pick that song in particular? And have you recorded any other covers?

This was the first time we tried semi digital (still mostly analog) recording.  We wanted to restructure a song, rather than just covering.  “Leave me alone” was an ideal one for us.  I also liked this song for a long time.
As for the other cover, we did “Presence Dear” on the first EP.  (not a very good cover though.)

++ For your second album you changed labels, you went with Clover Records to release “Circuit”. Why the change? And how did you end up working with them?

Again, Circuit was recorded by ourselves.  When we completed the recording,  we chose Clover Records, because I loved their beautiful package works.

++ On this album you worked with Noboyuki Ohashi from Bridge as your producer and Masako Kato from Pervenche did the art. How was that experience working with them?

Ohashi-kun is an old friend (we know each other before he joined Bridge),  I liked his solo works which he recorded mainly at home.  Back then, home-recording had just started and he was one of the few, who knew how.  We recorded materials on his 8 tracks, and mixed at this home.  He understood our intension, and was able to realize them into sound.

As for Masako-san, she was my favorite designer (that’s why we chose Clover).  I cannot thank her enough for the beautiful package.  She even  drew daffodils on the cover!

++ Are there more songs by the band? Perhaps some that remain unreleased?

Yes, there are some new ones after Circuit.  (But don’t know when we will have time to record them.)

++ I really like the song “Cicada Daze”, it might be my favourite of yours! I was wondering what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

We wrote it on the extremely hot summer, with cicadas bursting like endless feedback of MBV.  (really)
I stuck the microphone out of the window, and took that intro sound.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Daffodil-19 song, which one would that be and why?

Satori:  Sleepyhead (sounds simple, but very complicated rhythm, fun to play)

Ishida: Inbetweens (because it’s dramatic), Tangerine (cuteness), Memory circuit (played rare good solo)

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? All over Japan?

When we did play (back then), once or twice a year.  Only in Tokyo.
(I guess we played in Nagoya/Kyoto/Osaka…but can’t remember when.)

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

I can’t remember my own gig…  But we played with Softies (when they toured Japan), and Mayumi (Ikemizu) and I went shopping with them on the next day. That was really fun.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Too many, but again can’t remember details.

++ I believe the band is still going, right? Are there any plans for the near future?

We are still connected (which we only do at the moment). We may play together when we all have spare time.

++ You all have been involved with other bands, right? Which are they?

Too many to list, so just recent / current ones: Ishida-kun and Don-chan are in Venus Peter (restarted this year).
Nomoto-kun is in SevenZ
Yoko-san is running her own label “333 discs”. (with artists Goro Ito, Naomi & Goro, Tico Moon etc.)
Ishida-kun & I were involved in the recent reunion of Penny Arcade (2017).
My latest project is Smokebirds (collaboration with Smokebees,)

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

No.

++ You appeared on the legendary magazine Beikoku Ongaku. How important was this magazine for the Japanese scene? Were you big fans? How many times did they feature you?

We were old friends of Beikoku Ongaku. That’s why we were featured. (twice ? 3 times?) Back then, there were no spotify nor youtube, so Beikoku and the CD that came with it, was about the only way for amateur bands to attain wider audience.

++ What about the rest of the press? Did they give you any attention?

Cookie Scene also liked us.

++ What about from fanzines?

I don’t know.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

I don’t keep track of anything.  So I can’t remember much. (sorry)

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Satori: I enjoy running. (marathon)

Ishida: Watching StarTrek on Netflix.

++ Never been to Japan. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

Satori:  Never visit Japan in summer (dreadful).
Recommendation: “Tofukuji” temple is Kyoto, with beautiful Japanese garden.
Food: “Matsuya” soba in Kanda, Tokyo.

Ishida: Shin-Okubo. (Not only Korean, but international cuisine and culture. This area symbolizes today’s Japan)
And of course, Akihabara.
As for food, there are very good eating places around Nihmbashi-Ningyocho, my home town.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you so much for discovering us. We are in a stage of life, when family/day job are top of everything. However, our love for good music is always with us. So when the time comes, will hope to restart.

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Listen
Daffodil-19 – Cicada Daze

I was hoping this week would only bring good news. Last week Winston from The Brilliant Corners passed away. And this past weekend I learned that Inés Bayo, vocalist of the legendary Barcelona band Los Fresones Rebeldes during their early years and also in their reunion tour in 2014 and 2015 passed away too. This is terrible. I never saw them live, it was/is a dream of mine as Los Fresones Rebeldes has been a favourite of mine since forever I think. I feel very sad of this, even though I never met her, but her vocals, all over the band’s first LP, were as important as the music I thought. They were punky and sweet, you know. I have been planning to do a Los Popov post, another band she was in, for some months now, but never got round to do it. I hope I can put that together soon, as a way of tribute and of course to know more details about the band. RIP Inés.

More music that has been found around the internet.

Ruby Haunt: this Los Angeles band is a very nice discovery methinks. Their latest song, “Jeune”, is the second single off their upcoming album “The Middle of Nowhere” which will be released on August 30th and I must say it sounds great. It is dreamy and hypnotic in it’s own way.  Hopefully this album will be released in physical format!

Laughed the Boy: here is a fine album by this Whitby, Onteario, three piece formed by brothers Chris and Sean Panacci and Brennan Hrehoruk. The album is titled “Change of Scenery” and has 9 tracks of guitar pop! My favourite track? Maybe it is “Post Card”.

TARA: now a Brooklyn band. This shoegaze band formed by Saagar Kurani and Wesley Diemling has just two songs available to preview. Their latest is called “Wander” while the previous one was “Second Guess”. Let’s continue checking them out, see if they play live perhaps or maybe they have a release in the horizon.

Local Visions: from Izumo, Japan! This Japanese band that reminds me a lot of 90s Japanese bands, with their elegant and catchy Shibuya-kei sounds, has just put out a 3 song EP titled “主観 “. Don’t ask me to translate, as I don’t know Japanese, but I can say it sounds great.

Long Beard: seems this New Brunswick, New Jersey, band is popular. It has many supporters on Bandcamp. And they are releasing an album called “Means to Me” on vinyl this September 13th. A 10 song album which has two songs to preview, “Sweetheart” and “Means to Me” which sounds ace, with lovely girl vocals and chiming guitars. Maybe I should check them out on September 26th at Baby’s All Right?

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I was reading a bio I found on the web about the Derby indiepop band The Moving Jelly Brothers that formed in 1987 and split in 1991 and thought that they deserved a post even though this bio has already a lot of interesting background info about the band and it is perhaps enough for the regular indiepop fan. Well, I’m no regular indiepop fan and I thought I’d try to find as many details as possible.

From what I gather from the bio the band was formed by Matt Holmes (vocals), Mike Cousin (drums, backing vocals),  Chris Dorricott (lead guitar), James Upton (rhythm guitar) and Gary Roberts (bass, backing vocals). I believe after the band split Holmes started to run his own recording studio and became a producer. He was also involved in the band The Stance. At some point Holmes and Roberts joined another Derby band for a brief time, White Town. And something curious is that Matt Holmes was elected in May 2008 as a Conservative councillor for the Chellaston ward in the city of Derby. Mike Cousins died that same month that same year.

The band received a lot of help from their photographer and roadie Mark ‘Gordon’ Bennett. If the roadie was their photographer, then there must be lots of photos of the band. Where are they? Would love to see them.

It seems the band started playing and practicing at the Mickleover Youth Center in Derby. Their first gig was at a house party. Afterwards they played all over the place including Leeds, Hull and Northampton. They opened for bands like Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, The Levellers, Senseless Things and Snuff. At home, in Derby, they were headlining gigs all the time.

Carter U.S.M. and Mega City Four wore their promo t-shirts and this helped to get some attention by record companies. Sadly it never happened. Just some mention in the The Derby Evening Telegraph but not the NME or the music press.

The band released one 7″, which was their only proper release in 1990. It seems this record didn’t do well at all. After this release the band did some recording sessions but nothing came out of it. The band was to fizzle out and split. That’s a shame. I for sure would love to listen to these recordings!

Many copies of the 7″ were destroyed by the band after poor sales. They were disappointed and angry I suppose. Funny enough many years after the song “Oddball” was included in a popular skateboarding video compilation and that gained them many new fans, especially in the US.

That 7″ came out on a label called Terminal Spoon Records (Spoo 001). It seems as it was a self-release, there are no other releases listed for this label. The record had 3 songs: “Oddball” on the A side and “Blotch” and “Twang” on the B side. These were recorded at The Spacedome Studios..

Discogs has 4 compilation appearances listed. The first dates from 1989 and it was on my friend Phil Ball’s compilation “You Can’t Be Loved Forever No.2” that is indeed a classic indiepop compilation with lots of top bands. On this compilation the band contributes the song “Michael, Michael, Michael”.

Then in 1990 the band contributes the song “Girl, Money, Pleasure Rides Again” to the compilation tape “Life After Chairman Mao” that was released by J.A.F.P.S.A.D. It is actually the first time I’m checking out this compilation and I see some fine bands like Giraffes, Cudgels or Barbel.

That same year, on the classic indiepop tape comp “Audacious” they contribute the same song, “Girl, Money, Pleasure Rides Again” and then on the tape “How to Be a Popstar” they have the song “Gapping Tunnel”. This last tape was a tape sampler of bands from Derby and the surrounding area that was compiled by Matthew Stack of Chaddesden.

Then a great find on the blog An Alternate Derby. It is from a post dating from 2011 where there is scan of the sleeve of a demo tape released by the band in 1989. This demo tape is called “The Last of the Turbonic Pineapples” and had four songs. “God is Dog” and “You Can Call Me Trevor” on the A side and “Elvis Presley Drunk My Beer” and “What’s it Like to be a Boulderhead” on the B side. Again all songs were recorded at SpaceDome.

Not much more on the web about them sadly. I would definitely love to hear the songs that didn’t appear on the 7″. I also wonder if the members continued making music afterwards. We know Matt Holmes did, but what about the rest? And what about before the Moving Jelly Brothers? Or was it their first band? I am sure a lot of you remember them, it seems the early 90s was a very exciting time to be in Derby

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Listen
The Moving Jelly Brothers – Blotch

And here we are, yet another new week. Hopefully this week will just bring good news.

I did some music listening this past weekend. And here’s what I liked the most.

Pony in the Pancake: who are behind this band?! First time I’m listening this sweet guitar pop band from Albany, New York, the state capital. The band will be releasing an album on September 20th and it doesn’t say in which format it will be available, we only have the one song, “Summer Has a Way”, to preview, and it is very nice… summery indeed!

The Surrounded: now is the turn to go all the way to the West, to Sacramento, California. Here the band formed by John Grow, Jason Grow and Kyle Fowler have put together a dreamy self-titled EP that consists of 5 songs. Sounds great, and for those that are into important details, it has been mastered by Kramer!

Soft Blue Shimmer: also from California, but not from the capital but from Los Angeles, we discover the badn formed by Charlie, Kenzo, Martin and Meredith, who have just released a superb EP called “Nothing Happens Here”. It is available on tape, which is a shame for me, but not for all of you tape lovers. And again just in case you didn’t get it, let me say it, this is a superb debut.

The Understudies: our friends from London are back with their sophomore effort, “If Destroyed True”. This record, which is already available for pre-order is being released by Carbide & Carbon Records and will include 11 songs. It will only be available on vinyl. And if you want to get a taster, you can preview a magnificent track called “Grousebeat”. That’s it. You can’t miss this one.

Topographies: and yet another California band! At least not from the cities that I mentioned earlier, but this time this three-piece hail from San Francisco. This is the first time I am listening to them, through their two songs “Cherry Blossom” and “Half Asleep”. It seems they are signed to the fine Sonic Cathedral label, though not sure if these two songs are only available digitally or there will be a vinyl release. The band is also heading to London playing there early September.

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A long time ago I discovered the Japanese shoegaze band White Come Come.

It was thanks to the classic compilation “Birth of the True” which is one of the most important indiepop compilations ever. If you are not aware of it, you should check it out. It was released in 1992 by the super Sugarfrost Records (FROSTY 2) whose Akiko Yamauchi I have interviewed on the blog in the past too. This compilation included amazing bands like Nelories, Secret Shine, B-Flower and more. Interestingly enough the band appears on this compilation with the name White Kam Kam. The song they contributed was “Rise”. On the CD version of this compilation the band’s name appear as White Come Come. It is to be noted that the CD compilation was released not by Sugarfrost but by ¡Por Supuesto! Records ‎(STAP-0203) also from Japan.

This is not the only compilation appearance by the band. That same year, Quattro (QTCA-1003) released a compilation CD called “Brand New Skip Decoration” where White Come Come opens the comp with the song “How I Feel” and also closes it with he track “Broken Bird”. This compilation includes too many unknown bands for me, the only ones I know are Secret Goldfish and Venus Peter. I should investigate! Also there was a 12″ version of this compilation with the same two tracks by White Come Come. It looks like it was a promo release put together by Parco Sectary for Quattro.

Then the band would contribute, in 1993, one track for “The Birth of the True II”. This time around it was only released on CD by ¡Por Supuesto! Records (STAP 0314) and like the first volume, the cover art had a photo of our friend Akiko. White Come Come contributed the song “Like A Tea”.

Aside from these compilations the band did release one proper release, an EP which not surprisingly was released on vinyl by Sugarfrost (Frosty 3) and on CD by ¡Por Supuesto! (STAP 0206).

“Skin EP” came out in 1992 and had four songs. The A side had “Broken Bird” and “Rise” while the B side had “Sink” and “Luv Lemon Lies”. Again the photography for the art is credited to Akiko on the 12″ while for the CD Jun Itoh is credited for art and photos.

The band was formed by Hiromi Homura on bass and vocals, Yoshihisa Nanbu on drums and percussion, Hirokazu Kasayuki on guitar and Riyou Kinugasa on vocals and guitar. Riyou was the main lyricist and also wrote the music for “Sink”. Hiromi wrote the music for “Rise” and “Broken Bird” while Hirokazu and Yoshihisa wrote the music for “Luv Lemon Lies”. The engineer for these recordings was Yoshiaki Kondo while the record was produced by Masa Tsuruta.

I look for any other involvements music-wise by the band members. I find that Riyou Kinugasa has actually written soundtracks for the videogame Resident Evil. The other band members don’t appear listed for other music projects on Discogs. What happened to them?

When I asked Akiko about them she told me: As for the spelling of WCC, for the LP we insisted WCC to use Ks instead of Cs for obvious reason. However they then insisted to spell it with Cs for the 12″. I think if they had a better name, would have sold more – we had to throw boxes of them away when we moved, which was painful – but who knows?

So lots of copies were lost. I still don’t have one.

Sugarfrost has a little information about them on their website. They mention that the band hailed from Osaka and that they were smashing when playing live. That when Akiko approached them and asked them for their influences they just said that they didn’t really have favourite bands… strange, no? It seems the band didn’t last long, that the label, Sugarfrost, stopped hearing from them after a few years. The band formed at an art college, maybe after graduation the band was over? That’s one theory. Last thing the label heard from them is that one of them got a job in Osaka and was colleagues at this job with Ian Masters of Pale Saints. Small world?

I keep looking but I can’t find any other interesting details about them. I wonder what happened to them? Did they play in other bands? What did they study at art school? Where are they now? Why no more releases? Did they have more songs? Do my friends from Osaka remember them?

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Listen
White Come Come – Broken Bird