Thanks so much to Peter Green for the interview! Thanks too to my friend Jörg who after I wrote about about Hearts on Fire helped Peter and me connect! Hearts on Fire released an album and two EPs on the Midnight Music label back in the 80s and they are terrific jangly records. For some reason or another the band has became an obscure band, but that shouldn’t be the case! Let’s all rediscover their wonderful songs and learn a bit about the band with this great interview!

++ Hi Peter! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? I see you are still making music with Bluebird Blue and as Soulbird! Can you tell us a bit about this band? Any releases you have out? Where can one listen to the music?

SOULBIRD is pretty much a studio collaboration between my and terrific producer dan Cooper – I write the songs, he makes them sound good. We’ve had (and hope to have again) guest vocals from classically trained theatre singer David Watters and songwriter Georgie Cooper. The plan for the next record is to have guest musicians record contributions on guitar, sitar, flute, whatever I can ask a friend to do and more and make it more collaborative as a response to the pandemic.

SOULBIRD has a new album out right now -October 2020 – which you can get from Bandcamp; https://soulbirdpetergreen.bandcamp.com/releases

the album before that was ‘Flypast’ and it was a compilation of some songs from a few years ago remixed to sound like the 60s and given away to people who went to the Fruits de Mer records pop-psychedelic weekend festival in summer 2019.  https://music.apple.com/us/album/flypast/1465189154

There are 3 Soulbird Albums you can  hear on Apple Music, I Tunes, etc.

• https://music.apple.com/us/album/raven-kings/1407320937
• https://music.apple.com/us/album/soulbird-feat-david-watters/1119192294
• https://music.apple.com/us/album/soul-trader/1262530089

Bluebird Blue was a one -off – I have access to a big Gretsch guitar and wanted to try and make an English version of an Americana album.  I might do that again… https://music.apple.com/us/album/bulebird-blue/1321875703

I never throw anything away, so I could probably put together a CD for you of ‘Soulbird’ recordings of my songs I wanted on the second Hearts on Fire LP…

++ And if you were to compare Soulbird and Hearts on Fire, what would you say are similarities between both bands? What about differences?

Hearts on Fire was the first real band I’d ever been in and we all really believed in that Monkees thing that you should all live in the same house and dress like a gang. We also felt like no-one else in the world liked the music we liked, so we had that bond. Also, as a writer hearing someone who could really sing and really play bringing their own power to these songs was wonderful for me. We got together with the idea of being a live band because that’s what you did then… play gigs and hope to get discovered.

With Soulbird I know we have to use the studio to get the sounds together, so it’s always aimed at making a recording, so there isn’t the barrier of ‘could we do this live?’ (no) and we listen harder for textures. There’s also the way that you can now se;f-release records instead of needing a record company to like you, that you can reach people all over the world, you don’t feel who have to write songs that suit someone else. The similarities are that at the centre of both there’s my weird self-taught churning rhythm guitar style, and odd songs about good or bad love.

++ 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?

I grew up with two older sisters listening to Hollywood Musicals – West side story, Carmen Jones, the King and I, Oklahoma, THOSE songs. The Beatles came along when we got a TV and that was it for me. I know at first I thought Paul was the lead guitarist because he played it the other way round. I also thought that for the guitar to be in tune all; the tuning pegs had to tbe in the same position. I could probably have been quite avant garde if I hadn’t learned that was wrong.  There was no-one to tech me, we didn’t have music lessons at school, I think hearing Creedence and Dave Edmunds and T-Rex talking about 50s rock’n’roll made me realise that you could go back and hear older music and it could be just as great as the very newest thing to come out. I finally persuaded my Mum and Dad that I wouldn’t just put it to one side and never learn to play (obviously that was a lie, but I didn’t THINK it was) and they agreed to let me spend birthday money and pocket money I’d saved up on a Futurama II in a junk shop in our local town – 12 miles away. My memory is that it was £15 although seems like a lot of money for a junkshop guitar, but it was red and every schoolboy’s dream – looked like sstratocaster (not that I knew that) I tried to learn from a book. When I went to college I bought a 30-quidder (entry level)  telecaster thinline copy (not that I knew that’s what it was) and met Steve who wanted someone to play rhythm guitar while he improvised solos, so he taught me about chords and rhythm. In the pic attached he’s playing my guitar and I’m playing some kind of Woolworth’s Top Twenty or Zenta guitar that must have been borrowed from the bass player. From the way we look I’m guessing glam was over and punk hadn’t started so maybe 1976, as best as I can recall we would have done songs like the Byrds ‘so you wanna be a rock ‘n’ roll star’, the Monkees ‘I’m not Your Steppin’ Stone’ and the Yardbirds ‘For Your Love’ which Nils Lofgren had just revived. God I hope there’s no evidence of it. It was very much playing whatever we could, no guiding principle.

++ Had you been in other bands before Hearts on Fire? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings? 

I didn’t play again for 5 or more years after that because I was struggling to get a job for 2 years after getting my degree. Then I moved to London in 1981 or 2 and the music I heard was really exciting but I still didn’t know how to get a band together. And I thought no-one liked the same kind of music as me – We’d been through Punk and then synthpop and Two-Tone I hadn’t heard anything that made me go ‘Yes! That’s for me’ since discovering Big Star. I tried to get a duo together with a keyboard player through an advert he’s placed naming the Velvet Underground as an influence. Then I saw REM on TV playing a Rickenbacker ( I knew what different guitars looked like by then) and wanted to be in band playing jangly guitar again.

++ Where were you from originally?

I grew up in the South West, In the country, in Dorset but my parents were from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in the North so I didn’t really end up with either regional accent.

++ How was London at the time of Hearts on Fire? 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?

When I got to London I was living about 10 minutes walk from the Hope and Anchor which had got famous during ‘pub rock’ and still had up-and-coming bands on most nights – the kind who had maybe one song John Peel had played  and one review in the NME. I remember seeing the Barracudas there with Chris Wilson from the Flamin’ Groovies, and bands like the Associates before they got an album out. I also went there the night U2 played to about 5 people – I didn’t go down to the basement because it looked shut, so I missed them. There were gigs on Sundays at the Lyceum on Sunday nights with 3 or 4 bands on – I’m sure I saw Echo & the Bunnymen, the Teardop Explodes, The Thompson twins when there were still about 15 people in the band, the Only Ones. I was living in Islington so Camden Town was the next place over to see bigger bands at Dingwalls – like REM. IO can’t remember if the Rainbow in Finsury Park was still open by the 80s  but I saw Dexy’s at a theatre and Costello supported by the Stray Cats SOMEWHERE! And you’d also see Blues bands in pubs in Camden Town when you went to the market on the weekends, which was my introduction to hearing Stax songs for the first time . And there were some genius record shops there – one co-owned by one of the Undertones with a fantastic stock of 60s psych and Ali’s shop on the bridge where if he knew you were that way inclined he’d play you a killer track from new albums by the Church, the Rain Parade and other new guitar bands knowing you’d go home with a new album every week..

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

Adverts in Melody Maker, how else! I think Mike and I both went to an audition where the word ‘Byrds’ loomed large, and didn’t get a call. Then he placed an ad. Where the first influence was Groovies, so we reconnected. There was a singer but when we clocked that we were carrying guitar cases and he was carrying a make-up box it was not destined to last. Mike knew Simon (Mitch) from their home town of Romford. Simon had been successful as a member of the Purple Hearts on the 1980 post-Jam mod revival scene but the band had broken up before making a second album. Finding Syn was another advert – we said we liked West Coast music and she’s from LA, so it seemed right and her cowgirl boots went well with my interest in the Burritos … everyone in London wore bootlace ties and collar tips at the time anyway. Simon had agreed to play drums to help out, but Mike knew he could contribute more on guitar, so back to Melody Maker. I think ‘about to record an album’ was the selling point that got Andrew Tolson on board.

++ I also would like to know why did you go by Billy Finn instead of your name? Did other also use pseudonyms?

I had a job, but no-one else was comfortable using their real names in case they got checked by the department for Employment. It just seemed more fun for me to have a ‘stage name’ as well. It was originally Billy Dolphin because I’d suggested there should be a style of (happy, slippery) music called ‘Dolphinabilly’. It’s also in the words of ‘Love on Trial’ – ‘my faith in things I don’t Billy Finn’.  Syn changed her name 3 or 4 times before settling on Cody. It was the 80s, reinvention was the zeitgeist. Also, as I’ve discovered more recently when putting out music under my own name, being called ‘Peter Green’ is a bit of an (ahem) Albatross – there’s at least 25 of us on facebook alone, but everyone thinks I’m him.

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

Mike was living in a rented house in Brixton with a band called the Aardvaarks (which I think was the band we’d met at the audition for) so we wrote songs and strummed up at the kitchen table. I don’t remember full band rehearsals, but there must have been some. Again, at the time there were damp unhygienic railway arches all over London, many of which had broken drum kits and unsafely wired amplifiers in them for bands to flirt with death in… These really were the first songs I’d written, and mainly because I found everyone else’s so hard to play.

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

First of all, it has nothing to do with the Dylan Film (that was years later) or the Gram Parsons song (it existed but I hadn’t heard it yet) . The band also didn’t have that name until the album was getting made. I can’t remember all the names we went through in those months – usually me wanting to be ‘The…’ something because in my mind that’s what Bands DID and other people wanting something that sounded more like ‘The Big Music’ – it was the era of Simple Minds, the Waterboys, huge, grand soundscapes and abstract ideas.. I think we signed a deal with Midnight as Action Painting (Yes, yes, referencing the Creation) and ditched it because we thought it was asking for someone to call us a ‘Load of Pollocks’.

My recollection of the final choice was it was Nick Ralphs  came up with it but later admitted he’d meant to say ‘Hearts in Exile’ – the title of a 1950s detective novel that I think was the first book in England to openly include gay characters – which is indeed a great band name, but ‘Hearts on fire’ chimed with our belief in being passionate and with the words of the songs ‘hidden heart’, ‘fire one’ ‘this sultry day’, ‘love on trial’ – hunks-a hunks-a burnin’ love there…

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

Too many to mention! Mine were things I’d been introduced to at college – Dylan Stones, The Who, ‘Nuggets’, Fairport Convention,; Mike had been in bands playing 60s pop psych covers – Love, ‘Little Girl’, Jefferson Airplane; Simon was discovering everything with the freedom of not having to play Purple Hearts songs – but then when we got together there were these new cool bands appearing every week – the Icicle Works, The Pretenders, The Dream Syndicate, Green on Red – that made us think jangly guitars were still gorgeous…

++ All your releases came out on Midnight Music. Was wondering how did this relationship start? How did you meet? Did you send a demo? Was a there a contract to be signed?

This was Mike again – bass player as hustler! He’d moved to a room in a flat with the owner of a record shop called English Weather. This was Steve Burgess, who was co-owner of Midnight with Nick Raplhs as well as co-writers and owners of Dark Star magazine. Mike hustled the band to Steve who liked the idea of Midnight having a house band and was originally interested in producing us.  We made an 8-track demo which definitely had Camera and Seasons, the first time I’d ever heard either with proper lead guitar on!  Wish I had it now, I think both versions were more exciting than the Alaska ones – maybe because 8 tracks meant Simon could play drums and dubbed on lead guitar. Nick thought we made music that would record well and sell, as well as liking us. The contract meant they paid for all studio time with a professional recording engineer and to put the records out. I think they own the publishing and I know we agreed there’d be an even 5-way split on any songwriting royalties anyway – as I said, if it wasn’t for the ideas and contributions the 4 of them made, there wouldn’t BE any radio play or record sales.

++ And how was your relationship with the label? Was it all that you expected? Were there other labels that were interested in releasing your music?

I thought they did fine by us – they worked out a way to pay Syn for designing the album cover, they shifted their release dates around so we could have the catalogue number Midnight Chime 12, they got us on the support slot to Robyn Hitchcock, who was by far the biggest star the label had, touring colleges up and down the UK. The problem was they didn’t have any promotion budget so no-one ever got to hear the record. We definitely didn’t have any interest from major labels. I think at some point we had a meeting with the manager of one of those bands who were about to be the ’next big thing’ on London’s psychedelic scene, the Playn Jayn or the Mood Six, who actually said “I don’t hear a single”

++ Your first release came out in 1985, an EP called “You May Now Know” that was produced by David Ros. How was working with him? In which studio was this recorded? Was it your first experience at a professional recording studio?

This was in Alaska studios at Waterloo, owned by one of the Vibrators and a place where lots of great punk and post-punk music was made. The first thing he did was to get rid of the studio engineer who we were pretty uncomfortable with after some kind of sexist suggestions when we arrived and say he was going to engineer it himself. I don’t really remember how David was connected with Midnight, he was a member of loads of Camden bands. I really liked working with him – I think I was the only member of the band to be at every session. I’d never been in a studio before – I suppose Simon must have been in a few studios, having made records with the Purple Hearts – and I was interested in the process. I ended up playing David’s Les Paul signature on pretty much every song because he knew how to record it to get a good sound. But yeah, his approach was always ‘how do you want it’? not ‘On this one we want to make you sound like…’ and on the night where I just couldn’t stand to hear anything I was involved in any more and wanted to go for a walk in the night air for half an hour, that was OK.  He’s a musician, he knew what to do.

++ That same year your first and only album “Dreams of Leaving” was released. I really like this album and have enjoyed it quite a lot. I have heard also a lot about Alaska studios where it was recorded. But something that caught my attention is that for the record you got some guest musicians like The Midnight Rambler, Jeremy Hirsch or Louis Vause. Were you friends with them? Or was it the label that recruited them?

The Midnight Rambler is Nick Ralphs exercising his privilege as label boss to play on his artist’s record! The others were bandmates David Ros from his band the Trojans, I think. There WAS going to be a special guest star on the album but it didn’t happen:  some of the band got talking to Peter Buck from REM at a gig and he said yes to an invitation to come to the studio. We faded out the guitars at the end of ‘Sultry day’ to give him a space to [lay, but he didn’t show. Later I found out he’d played on the Dream Academy’s album that day.

++ Speaking of musician friends, were you tight with any other bands? Did you enjoy sharing bills with any bands in particular? I guess what I am asking is if you felt part of a scene at all?

I definitely didn’t, but I never have. I think we met a few people we liked and went to see them, but I don’t remember ever gigging with them.

++ Your last release was the EP “You Promised Me a Camera” that is great. I am curious though, why just three releases? Why weren’t there more?

By the time ‘camera’ came out on a single I wasn’t in the band any more (which is why I don’t own that record) and I think that meant a 4-piece band with no new songs to play and a songwriter with no band to perform or record with.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Perhaps early demo tapes? Or any other songs that were recorded at the different recording sessions?

There’s the demo of ‘Camera and Seasons’ but I don’t have it. There’s definitely no outtakes either – 16 songs, that’s your lot.

++ One thing that was quite particular about you is the art for your records, they are pretty interesting and different. Who was in charge of that? And something I was curious about the sleeve of the album, is that a caravel or a different kind of vessel?

Syn designed the 3 sleeves, with a fairly democratic ‘that one!’ voice from the rest of us. She is a graphic designer by profession anyway, so it was good to have that talent available. I think all three of those covers have a kind of ‘time travel;’ vibe though, it felt consistent, Victoriana/psychedelic/found imagery. Sorry, can’t help you on what kind of craft it is –despite my interest in pirate ships (you’ll hear the a few times if you listen to Soulbird). It’s not my ship, it’s an engraving Syn saw and we liked. The background was a pretty elaborate process of cutting out different areas and printing that colour one at a time. I’m sure as soon as I saw I said ‘Oh we should call the album Dreams of leaving’…

++ One thing that I hope happens someday is that the songs get reissued, I find it it will be hard with Cherry Red owning Midnight Music catalogue these days. But I wonder if that’s has ever been in the band’s plans? 

Really can’t say – I’ve never had any contact from Cherry Red. I can’t imagine there’s any plan to reissue it – it didn’t sell, it wasn’t on radio (no-one to plug it I suppose) and it’s not like any of us went on to be famous and have roots to monetise. I’m sure if someone approached Cherry Red about it they may not even know it exists. I can’t really speak for the others in the band either. We live in different countries, we don’t very often communicate, I don’t think anyone would come to a 35th anniversary tour!

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “(You Promised me A) Camera” wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Can I first of all say it is not in any way connected with REM’s song ‘camera’ which I hadn’t heard when I wrote it. It’s ‘about’ someone I was in a relationship with who was a great promiser that things would be better and they wouldn’t do it again – but those happy smiling faces photographic days and red letter days on the calendar never came. Sad, but pretty. Absolutely transformed by Simon’s guitar intro and solo by the way.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Hearts on Fire song, which one would that be and why?

Can I choose two? I’ve played ‘love on trial’ since then at open mike nights and with other bands and it always gets a good reaction – my favourite being on a phone video hearing someone say ‘Ow, that’s a catchy tune!’ as we end it. I think my favourite thing on the record is ‘Shall we be dancing’? because everyone said ‘you always play really pretty guitar, do something different’ and that backwards guitar is the result.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Not by the standards of other working bands – we did a few in the famous rock’n’toll toilets (that’s a Robin Hitchcock song) of old London Town, then we were making the record, then we were playing the same songs on a tour of universities, then Tolson got an offer to join someone more successful.

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

There were a few good gigs on the Hitchcock Tour – one was when Simon’s brother came along and returned the 12 string guitar so we got to use it on more than one song each for the first time ever! The Marquee was bizarre – we met ‘jesus’ who was always in the audience there playing tambourine, and felt like a proper part of the London live music history We came on stage to ‘my friend jack’ by the Smoke. It was pretty much a home crowd for Robyn Hitchcock so he had a lot of friends in the audience and someone was throwing frozen prawns on stage during every chorus of ‘where are the prawns?’, making the stage dangerous at the end when we went on to get our amps…

++ And were there any bad ones?

There was one in Bournemouth – near enough my home town where we didn’t have a drummer. We had someone from the audience come up and try (uninvited) on a couple of songs, then did about 4 songs with tambourine as the rhythm section. It did include quite a nice cover of ‘Femme fatale’ though.

++ When and why did Hearts on Fire stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

This isn’t that happy a memory for me, and you probably ought to ask one or more of the others how they remember it. We only had those 16 songs. We’d played them before getting signed, we’d played them to make the record, we’d played them on tour. We knew we wanted more songs for a second album and the band fell apart disagreeing ‘how’ to get there. I had at least half an album’s worth of songs, there was a fantastic one 90% written by Syn ‘Nightwatchman’ that I’d still like to do – maybe next year, but some of the band wanted to ‘jam’ some numbers into being, which I felt that I wouldn’t be any good at and couldn’t think of any examples of music I liked that came out of ‘jamming’. I felt very hurt by that – like they didn’t want my songs, but expected me to help with theirs. So I quit. It also felt like Miidnight chose the band over me. For a bit I auditioned for C-86 and Creation type bands who’d all emerged with that same sound, but it didn’t happen. I think it was a good 10 years before I picked up a guitar again to play in a covers band at work. 10 years ago I discovered Dan and the studio

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Simon left when there was an offer for The Purple Hearts to record and promote, and 2000-whatever’s mod revival revival meant reforming the Purple Hearts for live work. Simon also has his own band and plays in a Mod -supergroup with a Chord and a Long Tall Shorty, I think. Syn went to France and became a mother. I don’t know how long the March Violets lasted after being on the soundtrack of a John Hughes movie, but I know Andrew ended up back home in Canada where he now creates with a camera not a drum kit.  Mike has certainly given up music now, but I don’t know how long he went on with it after the Hearts folded.

++ Has there been any Hearts on Fire reunion?

It was a pretty bitter ending.

++ Was there any interest from radio? TV?

No. it seems odd in retrospect – we were an i mix of British/US, male/female, gay/straight, we could have been interesting.

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

There was in interview in Melody Maker that made us sound like a copy band – we mentioned people we thought of as inspirers and it sounded like we were comparing ourselves with them.

++ What about from fanzines?

Not as I recall. I think one or two of the student newspapers talked to us.

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

I can’t really speak for the Band, but I know actually getting a vinyl copy of the LP in its cover was – and still is- one of my favourite things to have happened: ‘We made this because we love music – and our music is loveable too!’

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

I still like shopping for clothes, I like Art galleries, I take the dog for walks in the woods and by the river and still notice the birds and butterflies as they go past – even more this year when that daily walk has been the only time out of the house we were allowed. I like movies and theatre.

++ Been to London many times, but would love to hear from a local for some recommendations by a local, like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

I moved out of London about 10 years ago to the countryside – I think anything I told you would be horribly out of date!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just top repeat my thanks for liking and writing up[ the LP, and I hope you find something in my solo stuff to like as much.

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Listen
Hearts on Fire – (You Promised Me A) Camera

Day 214.

Cindy: here is a great album that will be released on November 20th. Limited to 250 copies, the “Free Advice” album is coming out on 12″ vinyl. It will have 11 songs of superb guitar pop. Right now all the songs area available to preview and the record is also available to pre-order from Tough Love Records in London.

Three Berry Icecream: Blue-Very label from Japan has been putting out some amazing records as of late. I’d love to get them but I find the Japanese prices a bit too much for my budget. But for all of those that can afford them, get them. The latest is an LP by the classic band Three Berry Icecream. I believe this is a selection of 15 songs from previous releases. I’d love to interview them, maybe this is a good time. The LP also come with a CDR with unreleased track as well as a mini-zine!

Gladie: the latest from this Philadelphia pop band are three slices of upbeat guitar pop! My favourite out of the three songs that comprise the “Thank You Card.” EP is the 2nd track, “Sorry When I’m Not”.

Humsikk: the solo project of Rifityza Gestandi from Indonesia has an album out now called “Teenage Sound” on Tarsius Records from Jakarta. The album has 9 songs, all available to check out on Bandcamp, and has lots of great jangly moments. Good stuff.

Juliet et Joe: I am not a fan of much of the work Joe Moore does for Elefant, but this francophile project does sound good! Much much better than anything that he touches and sounds 60s. I think he has found his place here! The album “Marelle” is already out on Elefant Records on 10″ vinyl. This sounds quite good. I am a fan of this!

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The last band I’ll feature from the “Blabbermouth Volume One” compilation tape that the Medway Bands Co-op put together to promote themselves in 1986 will be The Strookas. Other bands that I know appeared on it are The Herbs (who I have featured in the past) and The Hyacinth Girls (who I do owe a post, but I do have much more info about them, so won’t be part of these series of posts).

The two previous bands have proven to be terribly obscure. No information whatsoever on the web. Will it be the same for The Strookas? Let’s see.

The song they contributed to the cassette only compilation was called “What Am I Doing Here on My Own?” and it is catchy, a bit powerpoppy, naive,  and lo-fi. Shambolic too. I like it!

Well it turns out The Strookas are quite well known! So there is plenty of information on the web. That’s good isn’t it?

They seem to have moved more in the punkpop scene than in indiepop from what I gather in the web, even supporting Green Day. The band was formed in 1986 and seems to keep going to this day. They hail from Maidstone in Kent and are formed by David Bloomfield (guitar, backing vocals), Tony O’Rourke (bass guitar) and John Edwards (drums). Before Tony, between 1986 and 1990 Cliff Bailey was the bassist.

The band these days have a Facebook page as well as Bandcamp page with all of their songs!

So yeah, the discography. There is a 1986 4-track demo and a demo in 1987 called “Bathe in Plankton”. What songs were on these? I don’t know yet. Maybe we’ll find out. I do know though that their first proper release was “The Strookas EP” in 1987 on Halibut Records. This probably was the band’s own label. This 7″ EP had four songs. The A side had “Put It On the Shelf” and “What AM I Doing Here on My Own?” while the B side had “Is there Any Reason?” and “Something from a Different Angle”. All songs were produced and engineered by Graham Semark at Red Studios.

In 1990 the band would release the “Summer to Fall” 7″ on Moving Change Records (MCR-001). This also looks like it was their own label as all releases listed are theirs. Who could confirm? Anyhow, three songs on this record. “Summer to Fall” on the A side and “Out of Your Head” and “Cut Me Down” on the B side.

In 1991 the band would go to record their first album “Deaf By Dawn!” at Red Studios between the 14th and the 15th of September. Graham Samark would again be their producer and engineer. 10 songs would be included in the album that would later be released with the same tracklist in Japan by Fixing a Hole Records (fix-24) on CD. Originally it was released by Moving Change Records (MCR002) on vinyl. The songs were “Between the Eyes”, “Up Ahead”, “Living in the Past”, “Wish You Were Here” and “Shake” on the A side, “Dead Pan”, “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Bambi”, “Head in the Sand” and “My Sister Dolly” on the B side.

In 1992 the band would release a tape album called “Sharron”. The 10 songs in this album were recorded between February 29 and March 1st of that year. Again at Red Studios. The tracks were “Pick the Bones”, “Blue to Green”, “Watch You Down”, “Still Comes Back to You” and “Across My Floor” on the A side and “Recover”, “Freight Train Sleep”, “Syrup” and “Remember This” on the B side.

The band’s second album on CD was “Cumagutza” that was released in Japan by Fixing a Hole Records (Fix-23). The songs on this album were recorded in two weekend sessions in September 1995 and October 1997 at Crimson Music in Kent. Graham Semark is again credited as their producer. This album has more songs than their predecessors, 15 tracks! They were “Just Like Home”, “Canvas”, “Haven”, “All Around You”, “Kill Straker”, “Sourbelly”, “Rake”, “Gatecrashed and Lonely”, “Punished”, “Throw You to the Ground”, “Crumbling”, “King of the Limbo”, “Dumb Electric”, “Beck and Call” and “Live and Breathe”.

In 2006 the band released a compilation called “What You Want to Hear” on Engineer Records (IGN098). This compilation was a collection of unreleased and album tracks from 1991 to 2000. There were 20 songs in total on this CD, “Hey You”, “Too Slow”, “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Tomorrow World”, “Nothing Happens Here”, “Goatboy”, “Bambi”, “What You Down”, “Best Laid Plans”, “It Makes Me”, “Emmerich”, “My Sister Dolly”, “Different Sound”, “Shake”, “Structure”, “Pointless”, “This Easy Life”, “Syrup”, “Let Me Drive” and “Freight Train Sheep”.

Lastly in 2008 the band released another 20 track compilation, this time on Japan’s Fixing a Hole Records (FIX-25). This compilation was called “Summer to Fall” and had the following tracklist: “Summer to Fall”, “Out of Your Head”, “Cut Me Down” (these first tracks from the 1990 “Summer to Fall EP”), “Put it on the Shelf”, “What Am I Doing Here on my Own?”, “Is There any Reason?” (these 3 tracks recorded in 1987 from “The Strookas EP”), “Something from a Different Angle”, “Chatham Pout”, “Bobby Crush is Innocent”, “What Am I Doing Here on my Own? (demo)”, “Bright Pink Gloss”, “35 Please!”, “16 Hands”, “Indigestion (But it might be Heartburn)”, “Divorce My Car”, “Fuzzbox”, “Washing Up” (all these songs recorded in 1987 for the “Bathe in Plankton” demo), “Put it on the Shelf (demo)”, “Just as I Thought” and “Why Am I a Tsetse Fly?” (from 1986’s first 4-track demo). All songs produced by Graham Semark and The Strookas, and recorded at Red Studios in Kent.

When it comes to compilations we see that the band appeared on a few. On “The Unknown 10” cassette comp from 1990 and released by Rain Tapes (R15) they had two songs, “Nothing Happen” and “Find Your Own Way Home”. That same year and also on Rain Tapes’ “The Unknown Eleven” (R17) they appear with two songs, “Out of Your Head” and “Cut Me Down”.

The comp tape “The Unknown Twelve” from 1991 released by Rain Tapes also included two songs, “Too Slow” and “Summer to Fall” .

In 1992 the band contributed three songs, “Up Ahead”, “Living in the Past” and “Wish You See Here” on a French tape compilation called “Are You Still Ready to Follow Your Leader? Vol. 2” by the label Acts of Defiance. Rain Tapes would also put them in “The Unknown 14” compilation with two songs, “Between the Eyes” and “Living in the Past”.

In 1993 they would appear on two compilations as well, both on cassette. “International Compilation – Volume 3” on Rain Tapes included the songs “Pick the Bones” and “Blue to Green”. Again that year they would have a song, “Pick the Bones”, on a French compilation, this one was called “Revanche Tome 3” out on Violence Productions (VIOL004). This one came alongside the Violence fanzine issue #9. If you know French or still want to have a look/listen. You can find more info at Violence Fanzine blog.

And in 1994, the band would appear on a CD compilation called “The Best Punk Rock in England, Son” released by Snuffy Smile (SMILE 002) in Japan. They would have the track “It Makes Me”.

After a little more digging I return back to the Facebook page I mentioned earlier. The last post dates from March 15 this year. From it I get that band members David Bloomfield and John Edwards went to be in a band called Tonota 80.

Another place we can find the band is on Soundcloud. Here there is a cool interview with Mike Brill on Radio Kent from 1987! There are also rare and related songs like The Andy Pandys’ mid 80s song (but recorded in 1999) “Barbara Dickson”. The Andy Pandy’s featured two of The Strookas and a member of The Claim.

The Kent Band Archive page has some gigs listed like one on July 9th 1988 at The Railway in Sheerness supporting Planet Mushroom. Then we know that they toured France for two weeks in 1993. There is even a video of them playing the songs “Bambi” and “Syrup” in February 1993 in Annecy, Frnace.

Let’s keep looking. The Dentists’ gigography page has two gigs listed alongside The Strookas. The first dates from September 16, 1988, when The Dentists, Cud and The Raw Herbs played at the Medway Arts Centre in Chatham. The second one is also in Chatham but at a different venue, Victoria’s. It dates from December 21 of 1988.

And that’s it. Some good info here, right? What else can you share with us? Did they play alongside other well known indiepop bands like The Dentists or The Raw Herbs? Who remember them?

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Listen
The Strookas – What Am I Doing Here on My Own?

Day 211. Can I tell you that the Verandan 7″ is now at the pressing plant? 🙂 More info coming soon!

Flowerbed: there’s, on Bandcamp, a new song by this Denton dreampop project and sounds gorgeous. The song is called “Everything” and we can only hope that it gets released sometime! Good work by these Texans!

Firestations: “Automatic Tendencies” will be the band’s comeback since the 2018 album “The Year Dot”. This time around the band is going to be releasing a CDR for this 6 song EP on Lost Map Records on November 6th. Right now we can preview the 2nd track of the EP, “Small Island”, which is very nice!

The Telephone Numbers: some classic sounding indiepop here! Jangly and bathed in sunlight, that’s how we can describe “Leviathan” a superb track by the band led by Thomas Rubenstein from San Frnacisco! Looking forward to hearing more by this project!

Agent Blå: “Lay in My Arms” is the newest song by the Gothenburg combo and again it is great. I like this band a lot. I am waiting for a new record. When? Let me know when!

Neutrals: the new 7″ by the San Francisco Bay area band is going to be part of the Slumberland Singles Series and will contain two songs, “Personal Computing” and “In the Future”. As a designer I have trouble with the hierarchy of the sleeve, where it looks like the band is actually called “Personal Computing” but I will let that slip, the song sounds really really good, the melody and lyrics are really catchy! I have to get this one!

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I have to return to the “Blabbermouth Volume One” compilation tape that the Medway Bands Co-op put together to promote themselves in 1986. Songs from these tape appeared on Youtube in 2016 but only now I am discovering them. This is the second I am posting after the great On Margate Sands’ “Charlie”. So yeah, quite exciting!

This band has even a more enigmatic name, Crystal Tips & Alistair. Wow. Really. Who were behind this Medway band? The song that is uploaded in Youtube is called “Lesley Cocaina” and it is a very fine slice of indiepop. You wonder how this song was not properly released. It is so so good!! Great guitars, great melodies. You start to wonder if the band recorded more tracks because I want to hear them!

What I did figure out was that the band named themselves after a British cartoon that the BBC produced in the 70s. Crystal Tipps and Alistair is a British cartoon produced for the BBC.The title characters are a girl and her dog who are joined by their friends Birdie and Butterfly. There are 50 five-minute episodes and a 20-minute Christmas special, all first shown between 1971 and 1974.[3] It was created by Hilary Hayton and Graham McCallum. Michael Grafton-Robinson, a BBC producer went independent setting up Q3 of London to produce the series.The animation was done by Richard Taylor Cartoons, who were also contracted to make the Charley Says and the Protect and Survive public information films for the Central Office of Information.

And again there is no more information anywhere. As much as I try different keywords in Google I can’t find anything about the band. So yeah, I need all the help I can get to try to track them and find out more about this band!

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Listen
Crystal Tips & Alistair – Lesley Cocaina

Day 209.

Salt Lake Alley: this is amazing news! I was sharing the other day the song “Going Down” by our Swedish friends. This song is actually the third single from their upcoming album “The Way it Feels”. The news today is that there’s a video where we join Gustav and Mikael (with a great Snoopy shirt) on some nice footage of them walking around town and playing live. Top stuff!

The Sensitive/To Die: each of these bands contribute a song to this split put together by Let’s Kiss a Secret Records from Jakarta. The Sensitive gives us “Do Everything Or Else Yourself” while To Die presents us with “No Reflection on Life”. Sadly I am only a fan of The Sensitive, or maybe that’s a good thing?

Attic Salt: some great punkpop/powerpop here on Jump Start Records from Philadelphia. The album “Get Wise” is already out on both vinyl and CD and it sounds really good! There are 10 songs of catchy bouncy effervescent pop!

Fixtures: this Brooklyn band is new to me. They are releasing an EP called “Weak Automatic” on December 4th on tape. The EP will have 6 songs and at this moment we can preview the opening track, “Five Ft One, Six Ft Ten” which sounds pretty good!

Nevver: here is a cool single by a Madrid trio called “Nada Me Importa”. It is a digital single on Elefant Records.  There’s also a video for the song.

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I have discovered a Youtube account called AGMP where there are a lot of indiepop treasures. I will try to make everyone’s easier and pick the good bands and songs among all the other stuff that is not indiepop in the channel.

It is really great as a lot of it is quite obscure as the Gleesome Threesome band. The band that I want tom show you today, On Margate Sands, is probably even much more obscure!

The song I’ve listened is called “Charlie” and it is terrific. It was released on a tape compilation called “Blabbermouth Volume One”. It seems this tape was put together by the Medway Bands Co-op to promote bands in the area. How cool is that!

So I start looking for the band. One thing I notice is that their name seems to come from a poem by T.S. Eliot called “The Waste Land”. The line in said poem says, “On Margate Sands/I Can connect/Nothing with nothing”.

Sadly I can’t seem to find any other information about them like the band members names, if they had been in other bands, if they actually had any releases or maybe more recordings. I really would like to know. This tape seems to have many more wonderful tracks, and I’ll share with you more in future posts. Terrific and exciting finds indeed!

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Listen
On Margate Sands – Charlie

Day 207.

Dayflower: our good friends from Leicester, the fantastic Dayflower, are back with a terrific new song called “Stuck To You”. It has quickly became a favourite of mine of their whole repertoire. I just wonder if I’ll ever get to catch them live, playing this song, playing the songs of the 7″ we released. Things are so unclear these days. But I do think this song can make you happy, give you a smile. at least during the 3:55 minutes it lasts. Really lovely.

The Haywains: more news from friends of us! Here is “The Haywains Have Left The Building!” a 30 song album that includes a full gig from 1993 in Nottingham plus a few more live versions from different gigs. I really hope this gets released in physical format. So so good!

The Chickpea Darlings: Huw from The Spanish Amanda and Jo Darling, with Ivan on the beats, have a new album called “Bitter Lemon”. Three or four years in the making, the album includes some great pop songs like “Ugly Pop Stars” or “1988”. Do give it a listen!

Vacance: now we head to Bordeaux to discover this new band that will be releasing an album on the very good Melotron Recordings from Thessaloniki in Greece. The album will be released on CD, 11 songs, out on October 23/ We can preview just one song at the moment, “Bord de Mer”, which is very nice!

Dreams of Empire: this great shoegaze duo have been on the blog many times, and I don’t mind recommending them again, their song “Space Invader” is ace. This song is the opening track of the upcoming “Encapsulation” album that will be released on CD on November 6!

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Now that the challenge is over I want to get some bands that for some reason or another haven’t been featured on the blog. Bands who have songs and records that are favourite of mine and that I actually know very little about them. That is the case of Hearts on Fire who released an album and two 12″ maxis on Midnight Music. And they left a song that is a true favourite of mine, “(You Promised Me a) Camera”.

When it comes to their discography they started releasing music in 1985. That year an EP and an album was released. I am guessing the EP came first, so I’ll start there. Before that I want to say that I only own the album, and maybe this is good time for me to get copies of their EPs.

Their first EP was titled “You May Now Know” (DONG 15). It was produced by David Ros and included four songs. On the A side we find “You May Not Know” and “Four Corners (Of My Soul)” while on the B side “Persuade You Again” and “Love on Trial (Acoustic Version)”.

The band’s album as released that same year and was called “Dreams of Leaving”. It has a very cool artwork, of a caravel (?) or a galleon (?) over colorful waves. Yeah, I don’t know much about ships. Maybe someone can help me and tell me what kind of vessel it is. In any case it was also released by Midnight Music (CHIME 00.12S), the label Nick Ralph used to run back in the 80s and early 90s. Now Cherry Red owns their catalogue of course.

The album had 11 songs. The A side had “(You Promised Me a) Camera”, “Flamingo Affair”, “Hidden Heart”, “Love on Trial” and “This Sultry Day”. The B side had “Zero Ours”, “You May Not Know”, “Fire One”, “Everything to Me”, “Shall We Be Dancing?” and “Seasons”. Again the album was produced and engineered by David Ros and was recorded at the well-known Alaska Studios in London.

On this record jacket we also find the band members:
Mitch Beam – guitars
Billy Finn – guitars
Mike Edmonds – bass
A. F. Tolson – percussion
Syn D’Cody – vocals

The Midnight Rambler (from The Essence) played organ, Jeremy Hirsch the trumpet and Louis Vause (Hackney Five-O) the piano. The photos for the sleeve were taken by Andrew Springham. The sleeve is credited to Johnny Jeane for Blue in the Afternoon.

Lastly in 1986 the band would release their EP “You Promised Me a Camera” (DONG 25). Four songs again, “(You Promised Me A) Camera” and “Starting Line” on the A side and “Heaven” and “Because You Care” on the flipside.  It was a 12″ on Midnight Music of course.

That same year their song “Everything to Me” would be included in the “Between Today and Tomorrow” (CHIME 00.17L) compilation released by Midnight Music.

What else we know about them? Mike Edmonds seems to have continued playing bass oon his own band, Mike Edmonds Bass-ic Requirement. And I know that Syn O’Cody did backing vocals on another Midnight Music release, on Sudden Afternoon’s “Acid Rain” EP from 1986.

Some copies of the album came with an insert. That insert reads: “Mitch and Mike were school chums…Mitch didn’t know whether to play with his dinky or his fire engine. Mike asked Billy if he played guitar — after all, it was the hope & anchor…and he wore Roger McGuinn sunglasses. They were introduced to Syn at a Brixton rodeo. Even cowgirls sing the blues…They wrote songs in a house full of aardvarks. Mitch didn’t know whether to play with the band. They twisted his arm, but he could still play guitar. They needed a drummer — luckily there was a fresh delivery from Canada — A. F. Tolson was on it. An aardvark introduced them to the midnight rumbler. They made a record in Alaska with Dave. Here it is…”

I google them a lot with no results. It feels like they just disappeared from the face of the Earth. I would think they would be involved in other bands. I do feel that the band was ahead of the curve. Their music if released a year or two after would have gotten more attention. C86 tape hadn’t been released when they put out their jangly album.

The last piece of news I found, thanks to a comment on Youtube is that Syn was living (at least 6 years ago) in France in a town called Nontron.

Who remembers this terrific band?! I would love to know more, and I think they duly deserve a reissue!

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Listen
Hearts on Fire – (You Promised Me A) Camera

Day 204.

Salt Lake Alley: really wow! What a beautiful song our friends Gustav and Mikael have made! It is called “Going Down” and it does indeed sound very Sarah-esque. This song will be part of their upcoming album “The Way it Feels” that will be released on October 30. This is already shaping up as one of my favourite albums this year. Can’t wait to hear it whole!

The Blanche Hudson Weekend: now available on CD is a retrospective album, a best of, by The Blanche Hudson Weekend! It has 25 songs!! And it comes in cool DVD packaging. It is called “Standing on the Lift to the Scaffold: 2009-2013”, and I think I really need this. Now.

Nuevos Dolores: “Octubre” is the latest song by this Madrid project. It is a feel-good jangly track. I don’t know much about this classic sounding band, but this is quite nice.

Grape: this is a great find! I like Grape, the band from Mark Barber, ex-Chesterfields, that released on Vinyl Japan. Just a few days ago the video for “Baby in a Plastic Bag” appeared on Youtube! How great! This song is also known because it featured PJ Harvey on vocals.

The Migraine Aura: just discovered this interesting project from Tacoma, Washington. They have 5 songs out now on their “Debut EP” cassette and they are fine jangly ones! The band is formed by AJ Dudick, Lucas Norton, James Knoeri and Cody Ouimet.

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This was quite a discovery. The other day I saw someone post the song “Was Never” by the Gleesome Threesome on the Twee Lovers Club Facebook page. And I was terribly curious!

Turns out this song was released in 1987 as the A side of a 7″ on Rodmersham Records. The B side was “Chantelle”. I had never heard of this band or this label.

Surely the label was their own, so a self-release, definitely. But the other details about this release on the Youtube description do shed some light on why this band is so rare. 300 copies were pressed and the band hand-made the sleeves. Now, most of the copies were lost on their way to the distributor. That is bad. Even worst, only 5 copies are known to exist. Out of tbose 5 copies, one is in Japan, in the hands of a collector, and the other 4 are with the band members.

On Discogs the hand-made sleeved do not appear.  We do know that the catalog number was RODMER 001. We also know that Record Mirror said about the single “Probably the finest song ever recorded”, while Melody Maker said “Imagine the Beach Boys Party Album meets Jonathan Richman and you’ll get the idea” . So the magazines must have gotten a copy of the 7″, right? So at least 2 more copies were in circulation at some point?

We also see three names, Lawrence, Anthony and Adrian. No last names though. The person who posted this track on Facebook is called Adrian Gibson. Okay, that may or may not be a coincidence.

And that’s it really. As obscure as it gets. Where in the UK where they from? Did they appear on compilations? Any other recordings? Would be great to find out!

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Listen
Gleesome Threesome – Was Never

Day 202.

Primal Scream: ok ok this is an oldie, but it has just appeared on Youtube!! My friend Richard from The Suncharms shared with me the first ever Primal Scream television appearance! It dates from January 1987 on the Channel 4 program “Down the Line”.

Family Mart: the Austin, Texas, combo has a new song up on Soundcloud and it is really good! It has a good title as well, “My Anarcha-Feminist Crush” and I must say it sounds great. I’m hooked. Somehow it reminds me to Aerospace, a favourite of mine.

Margarita Quebrada: now we go to Valencia to check out this post-punky band that reminds me of the great Barcelona band El Último Vecino. Margarita Quebrada sounds a bit more lofi though, more DIY if you want. Their latest release is “Luces” a 5 song EP that is available on Bandcamp.

Plush Palace: Cuties from California. That’s how Diz, Viggy and Eric describe themselves. They have recorded 4 twee crash pop songs and put them up on Bandcamp, perhaps these are their first ever songs? The self-titled EP has “First Date”, “Stairs”, “Fake Fucking Liar” and “Cluelessness” and I have to say they are good fun!

Lunatics on Pogosticks: new song by this Melbourne band that I know nothing about really! The song is called “Don’t Need Sunshine” and is the first one they publish since September 2017!

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Witch-hazels or witch hazels are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with four species in North America, and one each in Japan and China . The North American species are occasionally called winterbloom. The name witch in witch-hazel has its origins in Middle English wiche, from the Old English wice, meaning “pliant” or “bendable”, and is not related to the word witch meaning a practitioner of magic. Jacob George Strutt’s 1822 book, Sylva Britannica attests that “Wych Hazel” was used in England as a synonym for wych elm, Ulmus glabra; The use of the twigs as divining rods, just as hazel twigs were used in England, may also have, by folk etymology, influenced the “witch” part of the name.

Witch Hazel hailed from Kent, Ohio. At some point in the late 90s they would change their name to The Witch Hazel Sound though they also called themselves The Witch Hazel Sound with Strings. I prefer the shorter name myself. So I’ll use that while I investigate this great band whose song I like the most is actually the first one they released on vinyl, “Just Don’t Try”. And yes, this 7″ I do have it!

As I was saying the first release was a 7″ in 1993. Released on their own Bubblegum Smile Records (this label would later release in the year 2000 a compilation called Tape Op, more on that later), this record had just two songs, “Just Don’t Try” on the A side and “Plain” on the B side. Both songs were recorded at Uneven Tracks in Kent, Ohio, and mixed at Electro-Sound Recording Studios in the same city. The credits include Mike Crooker on bass, keyboards, guitar and string arrangements, Brian Barris on drums, Kevin Coral on guitar, percussion and keyboards, Ray Carmen on tambourine and Mark F. on vocals. We also know that Greg D. Feezel was the engineer, Gerard Dominick (from the bands In Fear of Roses and Indian Rope Burn) coordinated the sleeve which was designed by Kevin Coral and Mike Crooker, Feezel, Coral and Crooker mixed the songs and The Sampo Quartet helped with the strings. The producers were Mike and Kevin.

That same year the band would release another song, “Cough Syrup”, that would be included in a split 7″ with The Mommyheads. It was released by Sonic Swirl Records (SWIRL 002). This song was produced by Kevin and Mole and was mixed at Electro-Sound Studio as well.

Then we have to fast forward a bit. 1995. That year they release the “Beeswax EP” on Go Go Records (GGO 005). This 7″ would include three songs. The A side would have “There’s Always Vanilla (Requiem for Baby Blue)” and “Now (Fear Stalks the Cape)” while the AA side had “Secrets of the Spider World”.  The band at this point had Mike Zee (also called Mike Split) as the bassist. Interestingly enough Mike Crooker doesn’t seem part of the band anymore though he did produce “Now (Fear Stalks the Cape)”. Or maybe Mike Crooker started calling himself Mike Zee or Split?

That same year the band would release their first album, “Landlocked”, on Flydaddy Records (FLY014) on CD and vinyl. Both versions had twelve songs, “Gone Tomorrow”, “Chinese Apples”, “Secrets of the Spider World”, “Honey Stick”, “Blonde on Blonde”, “Lemon Grove Kids”, “Rosewater Crescent”, “Autumnal Void”, “Pink Grapefruit Cocktail”, “Peking Opera Blues”, “Hideous Sun Demo” and “Do You Dig Worms?”. For some reason I find these song titles very colorful. All songs were engineered and mixed by Scott Bennett who had been a keyboardist in Brian Wilson’s band.

In 1997 the band contributed the song “Farewell to Cheyenne”, an Ennio Morricone cover, to the compilation 7″ “The Toastier Leper Camp Co. EP” released by Ptolemaic Terrascope (POT 22). They shared the 7″ with Roy Montgomery, Tangle Edge and Silver Apples. I believe Ptolemaic Terrascope was a magazine and this was their 22nd issue from January 1997.

1998. The release of the mini-album “It’s All True”. At this point they change their name to The Witch Hazel Sound with Strings. Why? I suppose they added strings. But is that reason enough? In any case the mini-album had 6 songs, “The Libertine Revisited”, “Fontaine”, “Pacific/Atlantic”, “The Secret Grave Girl”, “Hawthorne” and “Frank’s Dream”. It was released by Camera Obscura (CAMO12CD) in Australia (?!). That same year SpinART records would include the song “Just Don’t Try” on the compilation “LemonLime Volume Two… A Pop Compilation” (Spart 40) under the name Witch Hazel.

The year 2000 would see them participating in three compilations. The first would be on “Popular World” released by Sky Blue Records (001) with the song “Fritz Lang in America”. Here they used the name The Witch Hazel Sound. Now they added the Sound again. And so they would add the Sound one more time for the song “Stephanie Said” included in their own Bubblegum Smile Records release “Tape Op”. Lastly on Camera Obscura’s double CD comp “The Serotonin Ronin II Compilation” they would have their songs “Hawthorne” and “Sketches of the Insane”.

In the year 2001 the band would release their last album “This World, Then the Fireworks…”. This record was to be released by Hidden Agenda Records (AHA!028) and would include 12 songs: “Music Becomes Vibration”, “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her”, “Fireworks”, “Providence”, “Blue City”, “Sun Horse Moon Horse”, “The Guild of Splinters”, “Kiss Tomorrow”, “Halo of Brass”, “Kiss Me Monster”, “Ballad of Constance Money” and “The Boy With Green Hair”. It is worth noting that 3 years later, in 2004, this album was to be re-released in France by Euro Visions (EURO 006). This new version with new artwork would include three more songs, “For Isabelle Huppert”, “Black Friday” and “The Man Who Invented California”.

“Music Becomes Vibration” would be included in the 2001 compilation “Parasol’s Sweet Sixteen, Volume Four”.  That same year “The Man Who Invented California” was included on Dreamy Records’ “A Wish on a Star” (rem017CD).

In 2002 the band would contribute to “Dream Magazine 3” the song “To Isabelle Huppert” and also “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her” to the CD comp “Parasol’s Sweet Sixteen, Volume Five” by Parasol Records.

“Music Becomes Vibration” would appear on another compilation in 2003. This one was called “Carnivals, Cotton Candy, And You” and was released by Orange Sky Records and Dionysus Records (OS2208). “2 or 3 Things I Know About Her” would be on the 2005 comp “Monster CD No. 10” released by Rock & Folk (RF10) and “Just Don’t Try” would show up on 2010’s “Tiny Idols Volume III” released by Snowglobe Records (SG12).

So that is all for releases. What about other involvement with bands. We know Mike Crooker was on Elliptical and Indian Rope Burn, Ray Carmen was on Librarians with Hickeys as well as releasing under his own name, Kevin Coral has done a lot of production work as well as being in the band Future Children.

What more can we find? We know that the band started in 1992. Then I find this Bandcamp where it just lists a first ever compilation of the best songs of Witch Hazel covering the period from 1993 to 2001. There is no more information about it, and if it was ever released. It looks that this Bandcamp was put together as a cassette label by Kevin Coral and Jason Richardson, former band mates in the last edition of The Witch Hazel Sound.

So I look for Jason Richardson. He has a website. He seems to be a screenplay writer these days.

The book Alternative Rock by Dave Thompson mentions them too. Here he mentions that the band was formed from the ashes of Second Skin, a gothic synth-drum machine band that had Kevin Coral and Mike Split. It also mentions that Kevin Coral would put together his own recording studio, Waterloo Sound.

And that’s it! Not much more info, but that was quite interesting, wasn’t it? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Witch Hazel – Just Don’t Try

Day 200.

The Very Most: it has been a while since we heard from Jeremy Jensen’s band but the wait is over. The Very Most will be releasing “Needs Help” on October 9th. This album is quite interesting as it has many indiepop names, like Mel from Hermit Crabs, Cristina Quesada or Kristine from Tiny Fireflies, collaborate in different songs. Also it is worth noting that the CD release is on Kocliko Records, a label we are big fans of.

Topographies: now a shoegaze album that will be released on December 4th. The album is called “Ideal Form” and it is by the San Francisco band Topographies. At this moment we can only preview one of the tracks, “Rose of Sharon”, out of 8 songs that will be on the vinyl LP.

Tapeworms: on the French label Howlin Banana Records they have some news, they are releasing Tapeworms album “Funtastic”! Well, it is actually out since Sept. 25, and the 10 songs are out now on vinyl.

Grazer: “How Many Times” is the latest song by the Melbourne four-piece formed by Matt, Mollie, Nic and Adie and it is a great song. Don’t know much about this, but one important fact is that the song will be included in the upcoming album bu the band.

Pop at Summer: I had recommend not too long ago the song “Summer is Coming!” by the Indonesian combo! It is a great song, and well, now there is a video the band has made for it! And it is great as well! It feels very summery indeed! For us in the northern hemisphere, summer is over, but for those in the south it is indeed coming. So yeah, share this lovely video/song away!

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My friend Jessel asked me to try to find any information about the Leicester band Why Dad, Why? I guess he asked me because I had released a 3″CD back in 2007 by the band Scottish Polis Inspectors. It turns out both bands shared a member, Richard Shops.

In my defense I didn’t know this. Back in 2007 I wasn’t running the blog and I didn’t have this interest to tell the story of indiepop in a blog or anything. I mean, I was interested and was curious, but many times I forgot to ask the right questions. With Scottish Polis Inspectors something like that happened. They had previously released a wonderful EP titled “Gina McKee” in 2005 that was only available through them.

I had ordered that CD and was a true favourite. So when I started the label I asked to release them. I was so chuffed that they said yes that I didn’t ask much about their background. But I do know that the band was formed by Richard Collier as a vocalist and guitarist, Michael Cook on bass and guitar and Andrew Perks on drums. So ok, does this mean that Richard Shops was actually called Richard Collier?

Now let’s fast-track 13 years. A video of a gig of Why Dad, Why? appears on the Youtube channel of the Abbey Park Festival. It is a 1987 gig where the band plays a few songs. We don’t know the names of the songs, maybe one could be “Charity”? I know the last one they played was called “Money & Suit”.

I do know thanks to a flyer of a gig Why Dad, Why? played together with Po! that there were songs named “I Saw Dennis Norden in a Pub” and “Put the Yuppies on the Dole Popwit”, maybe these were played at the gig? I think so!

I keep looking for the other band members. On the Facebook page of the Abbey Park Festival Archive there are some photos. Someone says that the bassist of the band was called Guy Bates. Sadly it seems he passed away.

One thing that was shared on Youtube is a video of Richard Shops playing solo in Leicester as part of the Claws Out Rally Against Clause 28. There are other bands in the video of course, it lasts about an hour, but the opening act is Richard, so that’s super cool to see.

If you want to know a bit more, a little background about this gig, the person who uploaded the video, Nick Lansley, says:

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 caused the controversial addition of an amendment that stated that a local authority “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. Although I had graduated form Leicester Polytechnic the year before and started work in the south east of England, I often returned to the many friends I had made in Leicester. So I was happy to participate in and film Leicester’s response to the forthcoming Section 28 enactment. This movie documents that rally, which took place in March 1988 in the gardens outside Leicester City Hall.

The only other interesting thing is that between 1983 and 1985 Richard was in a band with indie legend Ruth Miller from Po! This band was called The Soviets. Ruth has actually written about this band on her blog, so read that!

We know from her post that Richard played bass and guitar in the band, and I wish I get a chance to listen to the songs. They are described as fast jangly guitar pop. That sounds like my kind of music! Are there any The Soviets recordings out there? I know there were tape recordings…

Another thing mentioned in the post is that Richard had been previously in bands in the North East. Which bands?

And so tracking and following my detective instincts on Google, I stumble upon 20 recordings by Richard on Bandcamp! These 20 songs make up the album “These Are Our Days”. They are all marked as demos, and they are really lovely. Wow, really.

I notice too that Richard is based in Newcastle, left Leicester long time ago.

This album makes me happy. Of course I’d love to hear songs by Why Dad, Why? on this post, but this is a great discovery. I will send a message now to Richard, maybe we can find out about his many bands starting with Why Dad, Why?!

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Listen
Why Dad, Why? – Money & Suit (live at Abbey Park Festival 1987)

Day 197.

No Wave Charles: From Boston comes this bedroom pop band will be releasing their debut album called “Bulk”. We can’t listen to all of the songs on Bandcamp and it is not available in physical formats, but there are at least two songs to get a taste of the sort of indiepop the band makes. So check out “Self-Obsessed” and “Enforced Suicide”. The album (and perhaps all songs available to preview) is out on October 2nd.

Staring Problem: Modern Tapes from Brooklyn, NY, are releasing the album “Eclipse” by this Chicago band. There are some great guitar pop songs here, some are a bit goth-y, that’s true, but for example “Cheshire Cat” is a very fine song. The record includes 7 songs and all are available to preview on Bandcamp.

Latitude: this San Francisco band makes some wonderful pop music. They are releasing their album “Mystic Hotline” on October 6 on vinyl and will include 10 effervescent songs. We can now preview two of them, “Thursday is the New Sunday” and “Tick Tock”! Good stuff!

Drawing Boards: just discovered this band from Queens, New York. They must be somewhere close to me! They have released a few albums, one in 2018 and another in 2019. They are still available (in vinyl their last one, and tape the first one) For their latest album, “The Message”, we can only preview one song, “UFOs”, which is very nice, whereas for their first self-titled record, you can preview all 12 songs!

The Minettas: Seamus has played all instruments on these two songs and covered two classic songs from Sarah Records, “I’ve Got a Habit” by The Orchids and “Anorak City” by Another Sunny Day. The first one has some vocals it seems but very difficult to listen, while the second one is just instrumental. It is an interesting effort, and the guitars sound cool, just wish the vocals were there or at least more clear.

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And last, to complete this challenge of bands that wrote a song about one of the months of the year I have here Happy Go Lucky from Sweden who in 2004 released the song “From December to Summer”! I did it! Now what could be my next challenge? I did bands that start with each letter of the alphabet, bands from different countries of the world, bands that wrote about a day of the week, now bands that wrote about a month of the year. If you have any ideas let me know!

So Happy Go Lucky. At least we need to go back to 2001. That’s the year when the band started. The the heyday of Swedish indiepop DIY times. Where bands, fanzines, club nights, festivals, everything was exciting! So many good music happened then. And Happy Go Lucky was part of it.

In 2003 the band self-released a CDR called “Friends from Way Back Then” that included 6 songs. I want to think this was their first ever release. The songs on it were “I Need Someone to Die For”, “Whatever Made U Think”, “Trip & Fall”, “I Hope I’ll Never See U Again”, “Out of Tune” and “How Far”. These songs were played, written and recorded by Happy Go Lucky. Yes, Happy Go Lucky was just the one guy. But here on track four, “I Hope I’ll Never See U Again” Carin Hubbe is credited for vocals.

So it was one guy. His name was Jan Lundgren and he was based in Malmö. He even had a website then. And a hotmail. Perhaps that’s how the Italian label Best Kept Secret contacted him that year to release “The Pet Rescue” (LIE 080) cassette. This tape had 3 songs on each side, the A side had “Going Out” and “Upstate”, “U Are a Star” while the B side had “Storee”, “Undone” and “How Far”.

In 2004 the band would release another EP, this time on the very fine Smashing Time label. “Trip & Fall” (SMT 003) had 5 songs, “Trip & Fall”, “Going Out”, “December to Summer”, “I Need Someone to Die For” and “We Stand”. Carin Hubbe would also sing in this release, on the song “We Stand”. The artwork is credited to Nina Canell (who was in bands like Champagne Diamond, Luftfluks, Luftkluster, Obscured by Light, The Brilliant Light, The New Heat).

That same year the band would contribute a few songs to compilations. “Going Out” appeared on the comp CD “Är Jag Förändrad Eller Är Jag Ny?”. This compilation featured 10 bands from the Malmö’s scene included The Radio Dept.!  The well known Hybris label would include the track “Pet Rescue” in a CDR compilation called “A Hybris Sampler – A Collection of Hybris Artists Summer 04”. It is interesting to me as far as I know Happy Go Lucky didn’t release anything with Hybris. Maybe at some point there was the intention to do so? Then on the Popknst CDR compilation “This is Popkonst and We Love You” the band appears with the song “Going Out”. This is a fantastic compilation by the way, I wish I had a copy, so many great bands. All of this happened in 2004.

2005 was another good year for the band. Now on Bedroom Records they would release the CDR mini-album “The Snowball Parade” (BED022). This EP had 6 songs, “Cuomo”, “The Snowball Parade”, “Going Home”, “Safe Haven #2”, “Homesick” and “Biguela”. The artwork for this cool looking CD is credited to Une Estétique Nouvelle.

That same year the band would appear with the song “Happy Go Lucky Personality” in the “Our Hearts Beat Out of Tune” compilation released by the magnificent Yellow Mica Recordings (YMR021).

The last time we hear from Jan is in 2008, his song “I Hope I’ll Never See U Again” appeared on the “Series Two Compilation Vol. 9” CDr compilation.

I found an article dating from July 17 2004 in the Sydsvenskan newspaper. Here Jan explains his creative process, which usually starts with an acoustic guitar. It also has some interesting info like that Jan had been once part of the band Ambulance from Jönköping. In Jönköping he had worked for a record store. Happy Go Lucky would start in 2001 when he moved to Malmö to study. And his first gig was in 2003 at the Blekingska nationen in Lund. Don’t know if he performed live again. It may have been his one and only gig.

Another good find is an article from Louder Than Bombs. This one must be from 2004 too. In this article Jan is not the only one interviewed but also Sarah from Action Biker. Here Jan mentions the it was a problem that there is a famous jazz pianist with his same name. That was one of the reasons to not use his name. Then he does mention that he has used more people in gigs, to be a full band. So yes, he did play more gigs. Now the question is where? People that helped him include friends that have been in bands like Piotor, Dialog Cet, Log Cabin and Ed Green.

And that’s it. That’s all I could find about him. Who remembers him? If you have any other info please share!

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Listen
Happy Go Lucky – December to Summer

Day 195.

The Crooner: perhaps the best news of the week is the release of “Heaven Airlines+”!! The album released by the enthusiastic Greek label Make Me Happy looks gorgeous. The A side of the 12″ contains the original “Heaven Airlines CD” whil;e the B side it includes songs that were included in the Japanese release of the album plus other songs that appeared on compilations during the time around the world, including favourite so many favourite songs of mine. This is an album NO ONE SHOULD MISS!! It is available now on Bandcamp.

Low Key Crush: Melbourne continues to be one of the centers of the international pop underground, it is really impressive how many bands and good songs come out from there. Now the duo Low Key Crush has a new song called “Been Waiting” that sounds ace. We are just wondering when is a release coming out?!

The Harriets: this fun Japanese girl group has made a lovely video for their song “Eeenie, Meenie, Miney, Moe”! The song is being released as a CD+fanzine and you can find it in their own website. Really nice!

Nos Miran: another cool video released lately was the one for “Quien Tú Quieres Que Sea” by this Spanish pop combo! This song is actually a digital single that confirms all the good things we heard on their “Todo se Repite” album.

The Silent Love: last August the Jakarta based label Tarsius Records released a 14 song album by this great Indonesian project. It is called “Decade” and it is a great jingle jangly pop record!

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Anyone remember the Swedish band Lothar? They put an album out on Quince Records from Japan called “Montgolfier” (QRCP-65) in 2008 and then they sort of went silent. I am trying to find out more information about them of course. Tag along?

The album had 11 songs in total, “Malone”, “Whizz”, “Nesebar”, “Montgolfier”, “Carol is Knitting”, “By November”, “Coq Au Vin”, “Cars and Cranes”, “Raincoat” and “Our Days Will Pass”. Okay, so you see they have a song about November. This counts towards this silly challenge I have about finding bands that wrote a song about a month. Only missing December now.

But I actually remembered this band because I used to have a poster in bright pink from a gig in Hamburg. I think the lineup was Sad Days for Puppets and Lothar. I think they were to play the Grüner Jäger. Maybe someone remembers this?

I do own the CD and I can look for some more information about the band and the release.

The band was formed by Erik Bromö on guitar, Mats Ingemansson on drums, Daniel Leopold on guitar, Olov Lindberg on bass, Mattias Person on guitar and tambourine, Nathaly Salas on vocals and Daniel Stridh on guitar. Nathaly also wrote all the lyrics.

We know that the album was recorded and mixed in Traxton Recording by Mats Ingemasson between 2007 and 2008. It was mastered at Cosmos Mastering by Christofer Stannow.

The art for the CD was created by Erik Bromö and the photos by Teo Leff.  They mention being fans of My Bloody Valentine, JAMC and Sarah Records.

A few blogs picked reviewed them like The Janglebox or The Blog That Celebrates Itself, but they don’t add any details. They just review the music. I am in search of info, details. The music I know that I like it.

I look in Musikon.se and Popfakta, websites that usually have info on Swedish bands. No luck.  I know that Traxton Recording, where they made the album is located in Stockholm, in lovely Söder. Did the band hail from Stockholm then?

What I do think I found is a website for Erik Bromö. He is a painter, an illustrator, and he does make beautiful pieces. I would love to have a 7″ with one of his pieces, right? And is Nathaly working in communications?

I would love to know more of course. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Lothar – Malone