I had some spare time the other day and I think I’m back on track with the blog. There’s still lots of music to cover, to discover, as well as releases on the label that are coming up. I don’t have many updates today music wise though I’ve been having great conversations about music lately with visitors like German from Univers and Jon from the Mai 68s who have been in town. Hopefully more friends visit in the future and are up for a beer too.
There’s some good music to share today.
Blades of Joy: last September this San Francisco band released their self-titled debut album that includes 7 songs. I started listening the record through the song “Let the People Ride” which does sound brilliant, upbeat and catchy with female vocals, just the way I like it. Don’t know much about the band itself other than the members seem to be in bands like Swanox or Dissolve but I urge you to get the record which is out now on vinyl.
Lunar Vacation: here is the video for the song “The Basement” that is included in the second EP called “Artificial Flavors”. It sounds great, reminding me a bit of Alvvays (?). There is not much information about them, not even on their Facebook, but they do hail from Atlanta, Georgia, and are signed to House Cat Records.
The Pirouettes: some catchy and cool sounding electronic pop by this Parisian band formed by Vickie Chérie and Leo Bear Creek is what I found on their Bandcamp. Their latest work is the 11-track “Monopolis” album which was released last month. I’m not sure if it is available in any physical format but you can stream it in its entirety. And for those in France they are touring many cities in their home country.
Crush: the album by this Austrian band starts so good with the song “Giving Up”. I could play this song on repeat. This is the first out of 10 songs on the “Sugarcoat” album that was released last April on CD and vinyl by Numavi Records. The band, based in Graz, is formed by Christina Lessiak, Katrin Borecky, Christian Lach, Varena Borecky and Florian Kolar.
Kill the Moose: another French band today, but this time hailing from Nice. Also sounding different, now there are guitars, wall of sound, shoegaze melodies. Their latest work, “To the Moon and Back”, is a 5 song EP that starts with the song that gives the EP its name, where Elisabeth Massena’s vocals shine bright. The band also has in its ranks Alex Ornonon guitar, bass and synth, Pierre Pizana on drums and Sebastien Gros on tambourine and modular synth.
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Now is the turn for Australia. I love Australian guitar pop, and I’m quite surprise I’ve waited quite a bit to write about an Australian band, right?
A Month of Sundays from Perth, a city that has given us so many fantastic bands. So many that is hard to count. This town during the late 80s and early 90s had a great scene. Many of the bands from there, like The Palisades, Mars Bastards, The Beekepers, Rainyard, etc., have been interviewed on the blog or have been featured or mentioned. I’m a fan, what can I say. And only as of late I’ve added a new band to my long list of Perth bands I need to complete their discography, and that is A Month of Sundays.
It may be that the band took their name from the John Updike novel by the same name. Or perhaps because of the song with that name by the Scottish pop band The Questions? Sounds more like the first option.
One of the band members, Neil Preston, continues making music and has a website where he talks a bit about his band. Here I learn that the band was formed by twin brothers Neil (vocals/guitar) and Terry Preston (drums) with school mates John Dutton (guitar) and Mark Scarparolo (bass) They were originally influenced by The Smiths and the Replacements and have released more records than the ones that appear on Discogs.
Yup, Discogs only lists two. For a long time I thought these were the only two releases. So I ordered one of them some time ago, the “Idiot Star” CD that was released in 1994. I couldn’t find many recordings of it, so I was kind of blindly buying it. Now of course all of their songs are on Spotify. Things change. The world moves. But I must say at this point that their earlier janglier stuff is what I’m most into! Like the other record that it is listed on Discogs, the 7″ single “Faithfully Patient”.
But let’s go in order, should we?
The first release was a tape called “Bell, Book and Candle” that on Spotify has 6 songs. The tape appears with a different art to the one that I could find on Rateyourmusic. It is similar though. The 1989 tape would have included the songs “St. Agnes Eve”, “More Than You Deserve” and “All in Vain” on the A side and “Feel So Old”, “Alone Again” and “Month of Sundays” on the flipside. It sound brilliant and classic.
The “Biggest Fan” tape was released according to Neil’s website in 1990. Rateyourmusic has it as a 1992 release. I’ll go with Neil’s date. This tape was recorded in one 8 hour session with James Hewgill. Five songs were included in this tape, “Breath”, “I Do”, “I’m Your Maybe”, “Insanity Clause” and “Love Deeds”. The song “Breathe” would be later re-recorded in Neil Preston’s solo album “Building Backyard” in an acoustic version.
In 1990 the band also released their superb 7″ that included the songs “Faithfully Patient” and “Times Weren’t Mine”. This record came out on the Amos label (AJS 068). The two songs were produced by Greg Dear with the help of Errol Tout and they were recorded at Planet Studios. It was engineered by John Villani. Both songs on it are terrific and would love to find myself a copy! The cover design is credited to Mark, Bettina Grey and Rob Johnson. For some reason this record is not mentioned on the Neil Preston website. Also something interesting is that on the Spotify version of the record there are three more songs, perhaps recorded in the same session, “More Than You Deserve”, “Coronary” and “Confused”. It had it’s release party at The Ozone.
“Seesaw Child” dates from 1991 and this one was released on CD. It was produced by Greg Dear and John Villani with guest appearances by Errol Tout and the great Dom Mariani. 5 songs were recorded for it, “Seesaw Child”, “Definite Shade of Blue”, “Sort it Out”, “Liberty Bell” and “Thumberlina”.
Next up is the CD I own, “Idiot Star”. This mini-album was released in 1994 on the Idaho Music label (IDAHO 009). It included 7 songs, “Act Up Alone”, “Thump”, “15 Minutes Too Late”, “Upward Glide”, “Idiot Star”, “Moon & Stars” and “From Me to Her”. I notice that for this record the band had replaced John Dutton with Grant Ferstat (who would later be in the band Rollercoaster). It was recorded and mixed at Revolver Studio in Perth by Ben Glatzer with the help of Andy McClelland and Vick Manfrin. It was mastered by Dan Bartlay at 301 Studios in Sydney. We know too that Matt Corcoran played keyboards on two tracks and Lucky Oceans played the pedal steel on one of them too.
Lastly there is the 2008 record “Vital Signs”. Yes, 2008. A comeback I’m sure. What triggered Neil to revive his band? Would be interesting to find out. This album was recorded mainly at his home studio. The songs on their latest record were “Grace”, “Final Act”, “Flesh of You”, “First Fret”, “Buckley’s Friend”, “A Coward’s Wit”, “Sleep Tight”, “Head Down”, “Brother”, “Skiffle Song” and “Easy Free”.
There are a handful of compilation appearances listed. The first one is the legendary tape “Out of the Woodwork”, which was the way I discovered the band. On this tape made by Gangster Promotions that included other classics like The Palisades, Charlotte’s Web or The Stolen Picassos, the band contributes “More Than You Deserve” and “Alone Again”.
The year after their song “More Than You Deserve” appears on a compilation called “The 96FM Homegrown Tapes” that was put out by The Wheatley Organisation (TWOHG 002). This compilation was released as a tape and also on vinyl LP. I must say I don’t know any of the other bands on this record!
That same year, they had their song “Coronary” on the vinyl LP compilation “Across the Nullarbor: Triple J Presents 16 Hot Bands from Perth” released by ABC Records. This one does have some well known names like Great Dear, the Summer Suns or The Neptunes. Then two years later in 1993 the band contributed “Seesaw Child” to the CD comp “Bedtime Beats You Brainless” released by Idaho Music (IDAHO 005).
Lastly there is a compilation CD/DVD called “What if We Talked About Music the Same Way We Talk About Mental Illness?” where the band had the song “Sleep Tight”. I believe the West Australian Music Industry Association with the Department of Health of Western Australia put out this record.
I found a Radio programme on RTR FM 92.1 where Caitlin Nienaber and Ross Chisholm feature A Month of Sundays! Pretty interesting to listen the whole 27.20 minutes! It feels like they wrote the blog but in sound form. I love shows like this, telling the whole story of the band. Why aren’t there more like that?
From there I know that the band formed while in high school and played many classic venues as the The Fitzgerald, The Seaview, The Newport, The Coronado, The Old Mill. Other interesting details: At some point the brothers decided to play live as a duo as the The Fabulous Faux Choir (did I get it right?). They toured with Greg Dear Sydney and Melbourne. During this tour is where Dutton leaves and Caleb Merry (from King Pig) joined the band briefly! This is the point where the band changed their sound to a bit heavier sound.
Then in 1996, after Grant leaving in 1995, they reemerged as a trio called Skinny and they were around until 2003. They only played two dozen gigs.
As mentioned earlier Neil had recorded two solo albums, 2005’s “Daphne and Apollo” and 2010’s “Building Backyard Boats”. We do know that Mark had been in the Mars Bastards who I interviewed not long ago. Terry is now playing in Oats Supply. Grant is playing in the Jayco Brothers. Caleb Merry is playing in Nerve Quakes.
And don’t miss on the radio show when they play a rare live track out from a DAT tape, where A Month of Sundays play live at the Breakfast RTR show semi-acoustically the song “Idiot Star”.
That’s quite a lot of info! I though I would find less to be honest due to Discogs only listing two releases. I’m sure my Perth friends remember them as the many people that called the RTR show that featured them. What do you remember about them?
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Listen
A Month of Sundays – Faithfully Patient
