Day 151.

Lunchbox: the Oakland based duo of Tim and Donna have a new song called “Every Time I Go Away”. It is a nice digital single with boy/girl vocals. it was posted on Friday when all proceeds of this single were to be donated to the People’s Breakfast Oakland, a grassroots socialist organization.

NewCastle: the fine Uruguayan band has just posted 6 new songs which are labeled as B sides that haven’t been released. Released where? I don’t know of any releases by the band! In any case, here are 6 lovely poppy songs by our new favourite band from the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

Phantom Handshakes: this duo from New York is totally new to me. How cool. Federica and Matt are Phantom Handshakes and it seems they’ve been around since 2014. Interesting. Why didn’t they play NYC Popfest when it was going on? I had no clue they existed. Maybe the organizers didn’t then. Their latest is a 7 song mini-album called “Be Estranged” that is a superb collection of dreamy and jangly songs. Very nice.

Fowl Science: now this project from Toronto that makes some psychedelic dreampop that sounds really good. Their latest track is called “Samsara”  and from what I understand it is just one person behind this project, Stephen Kerr, who records at home. Looking forward to more songs by him!

Falling Sugar: lastly from Tokyo this new band that just formed! They are Mikko, Pako, Brono and Toyozo and they published their first ever song, “Thank You Boys”, last April! And it is really good. They have to record more!

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Another top band that I discovered when “The Sound of Leamington Spa Volume 5” was released back in 2005 was The Honeymooners. They had contributed the song “Untitled” which many will agree is not a great song title. But it is a very good song. So that’s what matters.

So on this compilation CD co-released by Firestation Records (FST065), Bilberry Records (BILB 09) and Clarendon Records (W6 7CD), there was a booklet that has some small bios for each band. That is one thing one has to be very grateful as online it proves hard to find any information on these bands. For The Honeymooners we find the following info:

The Honeymooners – formed in spring 1984 from the nucleus of Yeah Yeah – were Jean McClure (voice), Stewart Reid (drums), David Russell (bass) with Keith Dunn and Martin Connelly on guitars. Part of the (at the time) flourishing Glasgow indie scene, they released only one 7″ single: “Another Fit of Laughter/There They Were” on their own Mr Ridiculous label before disintegrating amicably in 1988. Their music was described at the time by some like a “cross between Burt Bacharach and The Buzzcocks”. Stewart, David and Keith went on to form Jailhouse with former Yeah Yeah collaborator Joe White until David’s tragic death from cancer in 1990. Meanwhile, Martin had moved to London and joined The Ginger Bottles, teaming up with two ex-Glasgow-scene stalwarts Martin Muir (The Original Mixed Up Kid) and Steve (Sam) Davis (Playing Soldiers). Jean had reinvented herself as DJ Jean Honeymoon and to the day runs her own funky house club night in Glasgow – The Honeytrap. Finally, Jean and MArtin have recently hooked-up again and are working on some new material with Steve Boyle under the name Honey (are you noticing a certain connection here?). Their first 12″ single release on Water Glass records is scheduled for July 2004.

it is not surprise that I got their one and only 7″ when I visited the Firestation headquarters years later of the release of the compilation. The 7″ with its black and white sleeve has a photo of a woman in the front cover. Who is she? Is it Jean? The record that had “Another Fit of Laughter” on the A side and “…And there They Were” on the B side, had the catalog number Mr. Ridiculous 1001. Some interesting details is that the A had a matrix runout that said “A Taste of Good Things”  while the B side said “Again……”.

On the 7″ there was some help from Seamus Corr who played the sax. He had also been part of a band called Basss Bassa.

Aside from the bands listed on the Firestation booklet, we know that David Russell and Stewart Reid had been in the band End Result who contributed a song to the 7″ compilation “Backlash!” in 1981.

On the blog The New Vinyl Villain we learn that the band hailed from Airdrie, a small town to the east of Glasgow.

Then there s a post by Alistair Fitchett about them on the Backed With blog. Here it mentions that there were three demo tapes. At least. It mentions a few songs from these tapes,  “Apple of My Eye” (which he shared a box link!), “Pulsebeat” and “What Pleasure”. Also it mentions the song “Untitled” that was on the Leamington Spa CD. He says that this was the best song the band recorded. He also mentions that Jean had a Myspace at some point were she had some songs were she provided vocals. These are long lost though. The Myspace is no more. But she does have a website these days. And a Soundcloud.

I keep digging and on Discogs commented that there was an August 1984 demo tape that included three tracks, “Fate”, “Wild Woman” and “Fun Machine”. Would be great to find these songs, how they sounded like. And definitely if there are more songs and demo tapes it’d be great to find out!

I’d definitely would love to hear to all their songs. If there are good enough songs as “Untitled” or “Another Fit of Laughter”, that would be thrilling. Any other information will be appreciated!

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Listen
The Honeymooners – Untitled

Day 148.

Charlie Darling: “A Radio Romance” is a 16 song album by Charlie that is up now on the Bandcamp of his other project Les Bicyclettes de Belsize. There is not much info about this album, not sure if these are recordings from before he started calling himself Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, but it doesn’t matter really, the thing is that these are very lovely songs! Makes you happy and tap your feet!

The Violent Hearts: from Birmingham two songs recorded during the great lockdown of 2020. The names of these songs are “Porcelain World (Acoustic)” and “Strange Powers” and they are great indiepop songs, classic sounding!

The Leave Me Alones: now to Oakland, California, to check out the “Be Alone EP” by this four-piece formed by Marc, Damian, Dasha and Hayley. So far we can only preview one of the songs, “Choices”, and it sounds terrific. It does remind me of the Canadian band Sleuth. Cool!

Mañana el Espacio: the Caracas, Venezuela, band is back with a new single called “Estrellas Fugaces”. It is a charming lo-fi bedroom pop song with a happy-go-lucky feel. Check it out.

Midpoint Union: not very common to feature a Portuguese band but happy to do it today. This solo project by Pedro R from somewhere in Portugal sounds interesting. He released last January a dreamy album called “New Turn” which is worth giving a listen. I wonder if there are more indiepop influenced bands there these days…

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Wow! What a discovery! Just stumbled upon a whole rip of a tape called “Mop Up Before You Leave” on Youtube. And guess what, there are tons of great bands and music here that are totally new to me. I will share my favourites with you in this and in following posts. So let’s start with the first band on the tape, Little Engine.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that this tape was released in 1989 and from what I understand it was put together by Matt Allison. The songs were recorded at his place at 4th and White in Champaign, Illinois. I know there is a 7″ by Matt Allison on the Bus Stop Label and I always assumed he was more of a musician, but it seems he is best known as an audio engineer who has mostly worked at Atlas Studios in Chicago.

Ok, so he put this tape together in 1989 with bands from that period. AMong the names that are more familiar I can think of Paul Chastain and Uncle Tupelo. The rest are all new to me. Little Engine is definitely new and sounds great. The song that was included in this tape was called “Good Day, Sad Girl” and was recorded in August 1989.

I continue googling and I find that the band hailed from the city of Urbana, which is just next door to Champaign.

Then I find a name that was involved in the band, Rob McColley. Then I put two and two together and it is Rob McColley who had uploaded the Matt Allison tape! Everything starts making sense. Then I find in his account another tape by Little Engine one called “Here’s a Cookie from Other Side of Reality” which dates form 1988. This was was also recorded by Matt Allison and the songs included in this EP were “Watch Me”, “I Think I Can Manage”, “Colors of the Broom”, “(Gorilla Shit)”, “Empty Room”, “Through the Wall” and “Two Times”. The first three were on the A side called (Side Burns) while the last three on the B side (Side Winders).

We also find the band members names:
Matt Pearson – drums, tambourine
Ed Schaller – bass, tambourine
Rob McColley – vocals
Jon Beck – guitar

The video includes some tidbits about the songs which is really cool. For example each tape used to cost 2 dollars and they were usually sold at the Urbana High School cafeteria!

The second song on this tape, “I Think I Can Manage” was included in Trashcan Records compilation tape “Lubricant” that was released in 1988. Another interesting thing mentioned here is that they named their “publishing company” Strawberry in the Prairie. Why? They have no clue. They weren’t affiliated to any organization. They didn’t get any money for their songs.

Lastly there is another video uploaded. This one is their unreleased and never finished album from 1990. It was also recorded by Matt Allison but this time it was at Windy City Recorders  in Chicago during the winter and spring of 1990. It seems at this point the band members had changed. Matt Pearson had left and was replaced by Pat Hawley. Sadly this time around there are no song titles for these songs.

And this seems to be the end of this great sounding band that reminds us of the great Rick Menck and Paul Chastain bands. They should have released at least a 7″! They had good songs as you will see!

Whatever happened to Little Engine? Where are they now? Were they involved with any other bands?!

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Listen
Little Engine – Good Day, Sad Girl

Thanks so much to Alan Harpley for the interview! Merry Go Rhythms was an 80s Sydney band who only released one 7″ back in the day. But they did record many more songs and I wanted to know more about them. So I wrote about them on the blog some time ago and last week Alan got in touch with me and was kind enough to answer all my questions!

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

I’m well, and yes still making music 😊

++ 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?

Mmmm? Music was always in our house when I was growing up. My mother used to sing and act in local stage shows productions and there was always a piano in the house. I have a photo from 1969 with a 2 year old me sitting at the piano trying to play it. My first instrument was the piano but I never had the patience to practice (which I’ve regretted now for years). Guitar became my weapon of choice. I wanted to be on a stage like all the bands we were watching on TV music shows back in the day. So a 14 year old me started to learn guitar at school and played my first gig in 1981.

Growing up I listened to a lot of Beatles and Australian Rock at the time. We had a thriving pub rock scene here in Australia back in the 70’s & 80’s.

++ Had you been in other bands before Merry Go Rhythms? If so, how did they sound like? Are there any recordings?

Yeah, my first band was called THE START in 1981. Then there was a band called CON-FUSION in 1982. Then there was THE ACCOOSTIX from 1983 to 1985. Each of these bands sounded like raw pop rock I guess??? I have a recording (2 songs) of the ACCOOSTIX. All I wanna do & In The City Tonight. All I wanna do was the first of my originals to get played on the radio. I was 17 at the time. 😊 I can send you an audio file if you would like it.

++ What about the rest of the band members?

Paul was in the final ACCOOSTIX line up in 1985. I met Gary in 1984 while doing lights & lugging gear for his band The SILENT TYPES. And good old Andy was playing in the band SOUTH BOUND TRAIN. I was just about to do a project with Paul when Covid-19 stuffed it all up for us. Andy is a radio DJ in Tuncurry Australia. Unfortunately, I lost contact with Gary a few years ago. But he never played after we broke up.

++ Where were you from originally?

We were all from Sydney, mainly the south of Sydney. Well, except for Andy. He’s an Englishman but live in Australia most of his life.

++ How was Sydney at the time of Merry Go Rhythms? 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?

At the time Merry Go Rhythms were playing, almost every pub had a band on. Every night of the week! It was a great time to be in bands. There were lot’s of great music happening back then. A lot of bands made the big time, a lot didn’t, but still made a good impact on the suburbs. One of my favourite bands at the time were The FINGER GUNS. Great band. Their bass player was Murray Cook who became a worldwide star being the Red Wiggle. Our bands worked together quite often. Most venues had up and coming bands so there was variety plus back then.

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

OK, Gary approached me when The Silent Types broke up. I had just finished up with The Accoostix at the time. This was early 1986. Paul was rehearsing with some guys which included drummer David Frazer. I told Gary that we should check them out, which we did and the next thing you know Paul and David joined up with us. Pretty simple really, we all just jelled. We did our first gig on the 17th May 1986 at the Oatley Hotel. Good fun pub. Still is.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Yeah mate, we had a few changes over the years. A few name changes too.

David left to play cover songs and make some money. (we always put our share of the money back into the band for recordings and merch) That’s when Andy came along. We had a name change in 1988. Our sound was getting a little rockier and we thought the name wasn’t strong enough. So, we went with PUBLIC ENEMY. Bad move, right? As we discovered there was already a Public Enemy overseas. Long story short, arguments started happening about money and royalties, so I was the one to quit. Not too long after Gary convinced me to come back and we were then joined by Norm Debonis on guitar and Jason Boylan on drums. This line up didn’t last very long. Too many ego’s I guess. In 89 we change the name again to D-LUXE AND THE RHYTHM. Paul was back in the fold, Gary’s brother in law came on board as an extra guitarist and a drummer named George Muscat,(later to be in the band Black Label) then a drummer named Mark Sullivan. That was the last line up which finished up in 1992.

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

Creative wise, Gary and I wrote most of the songs. Paul wrote a couple. But we would just be in the studio and one of us would say “I’ve got this song I’ve been working on” and we would all just start to make it happen. It was really easy like that, magic just happened 😊 There were two main rehearsal studios we used to use. A place called Take 5 studios and Downunder Studios. Both great rooms to rehearse.

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

Yes, the name. I personally never really liked it. lol (Hence the MGR reference).

We were going to be called Merry Go Round after a rocking song by the band Cold Chisel. But as per our luck someone beat us to it. I remember we were sitting in Accent recording studios doing some mix downs of our first recordings, (we recorded before we had even played a gig together) and names were being thrown back and forwards and one was Merry something??? And the other was rhythmic something??? And somehow it ended up as Merry go rhythms. By then I was over it and just went with the flow.

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

I would say we were very influenced by the Australian music styles at the time, maybe even a little Beatles thrown in. Paul was more of a sort of Jazz player so our sound I think was our own. It was a good mix.

++ As far as I know you only released one 7″ back in 1987 on your own label MGR Records. Why did you go the self-release route? Was there no labels interesting in putting your music out? Or you preferred doing it your own way?

That’s correct. We only ever released the one record. It was our idea to go it independently and hopefully get the attention of the larger labels. We ended up doing two pressings of the record. We recorded the next single RAIN but it was never released on vinyl.

++ And how did you like the experience of doing label stuff? Was it easy to get your record distributed?

I would have to give all the credit to Gary for all that sort of stuff. He was the business man, I was more the writing, playing and partying guy. 😊 Paul and Andy just wanted to play.

++ Both songs on the 7″ were recorded at Reel-Time-Studios in Sydney. Was it your first experience at a proper recording studios? How did you like this recording studios?

Reel time was a great studio. Not our first studio but the most professional studio we had been in. It was a good place to record. I loved every second of it.

++ And how was working with Mark Tinson, who produced the record?

Mark was great, he helped guide us through the sessions with ease. Mark was a top bloke. I was thrilled to be working with him. He was a guitarist for the Ted Mulry Gang who were one time pretty big in Australia. So yeah, I looked up to him.

++ On your website you have releases like the “Famous Lies” EP or the “Living on the Edge” EP. Were these two EPs properly released? They were recorded at Accent Studios, right? I couldn’t find any other information on the web!

No, none of these songs were ever released. Famous Lies was recorded at Accent recording studios in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah. Living on the edge was recorded at Riversond Recordings in the Sydney suburb of Riverwood. Something missing and Rain were also recorded there.

++ Care telling me a bit about these two EPs? When and where were they recorded?

Opps, Think I jumped ahead and answered that one. My bad 😊

++ And what about the “Somethings Missing” EP? That was recorded in 1989. Was it released? There is a different version of “Perpetual Motion” on this one, right?

Perpetual motion was always a crowd favourite, but as the band progressed we thought, let’s kick this up a notch. I do like this version much better than the original. It was more us. Perpetual motion had been in the Silent Types live set before we recorded it. So by the time the latest version was recorded, it sounded more like where the band was at the time.

++ I see you have many songs, so I wonder was there plans to release an album at some point? What about these days, a retrospective compilation perhaps?

Not really. I have them all on file. It could be possible to put them all together and throw them on iTunes and Spotify. But there weren’t any plans to do it.

++ Were there any other demo tapes by Merry Go Rhythms?

I think Paul still has some rehearsal tapes somewhere. I’ve got some live ones and I know Andy still has some live ones as well.

++ What about compilation albums, did you contribute songs to any?

No. Not that I’m aware of???? But hey? I didn’t know about your blog and you found us! How did you come across us by the way? Now I’m asking you questions. Sorry.

++ And are there more unreleased songs by the band?

No. We only recorded the 11 songs during our time.

++ I think my favourite song of your is “Face the War”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Once again, I would have to give Gary the credit for that song. He came into the studio with it already written. We just created it. It turned into a monster. 7 something minuets!! Sorry, I don’t know what inspired Gary to write it.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Merry Go Rhythms song, which one would that be and why?

Wow, Hard question. I like them all. If I had to choose? I would say the re-recorded Perpetual Motion because it just sounds fresher and up compared to the original recording. And Rain. I like Rain. The song had a more commercial / international style to it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? I read about 200? Is that so?!

Yeah about that. Between 1986 and 1992. There were a few gaps in there. I have a list of most of them from old diaries but I’m sure there are some I have forgotten in there.

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

They were all fun for me. But the record release run of shows were the best I think. We did some good support shows and some great headlining shows. A funny story comes from a weekend tour back in 1987. We left Sydney in our trusty hire van and drove 107kms to a venue called the Illawarra leagues Club. Played a cool gig then packed up the hire van and drove 532Kms through the night with Andy at the wheel (and lots of laughs along the way with our road crew Leo) to a country town called Griffith. Not so unusual for a band on the road. We arrived at the hotel sometime during the day and go in for sound check. Great big PA System. We play one of our rockier songs (Living on the edge) and the sound guy loves us! Then he says, “You guys should play that sort of stuff all the time. It rocks”. We all look at each other and just shrug shoulders. We go rest up in the motel for a few hours then back to the venue for show time. That’s when we discovered what the sound guy was talking about. The place was full with old rock n roll 1950’s dancers!!!!! Being a country town, people came from miles around to see (what we were billed as) Merry-Go-Rhythms the 50’s, 60’s rock and roll review! I know it sounds like something out of The Blues Brothers movie but it’s all true. We stumble through the first set, making it up as we went along. Unlike the Blues Brothers, it was horrible. The manager comes up to us when we have a break, pays us, gives us a case of beer and said “Not your fault the promoter is about to get a phone call”. “Go back to the motel and enjoy, the DJ will finish the night”. So forever more, that weekend was known as the Pull the plug tour.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Oh yeah. As above. There was only one other I remember being a bit of a shocker. A show at the Kings Head Tavern. What I remember of the gig was that we were on fire! Sounding great. But before the last set, someone had offered me some 420 in the carpark. On top of the amount of beer already consumed by me things could of gone much worse. I do recall all the guys looking at me during one song (could not tell which one) But apparently, I have started playing a different song mid solo. I thought it was sounding great. I had no idea. That only ever happened once. But the worst one was at some venue in a beach side suburb called Coogee. Poor Andy was outside having a smoke in our break and some Asshole decided to beat the crap out of him. Poor Andy lost a couple of teeth and was laid out for a few weeks. That cut the gig short real quick.

++ When and why did Merry Go Rhythms stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We just fell apart, I guess. We had run our course. Line-up changes, different opinions, growing different musically. All that stuff. Our last gig was at the Villawood Hotel in Sydney on the 15th May 1992. That was the end. Since 1994 I have been playing consistently in cover bands and trios and duos. My longest stint has been playing in the GTS DUO. I did 15 years and 601 shows with GTS. We only stopped because the world did.

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

Andy went back and played with South Bound Train again for a while from memory. Paul has been playing in a band called Skylark for like 20 something years now. (I was just about to join them on bass guitar when Covid hit). Gary never played after the Villawood gig.

++ Has there been any reunion gigs?

No gigs, but we had a reunion rehearsal a few years back. It was like riding a bike. I had a photographer came and take some memories for us.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Not a lot. We did get spun a few times on commercial radio but in those days without label backing?? We did get a lot of plays on community radio. That was where we got played the most.

++ What about TV? Made any promo videos?

No TV or promo videos unfortunately.

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

Yeah, we got quite a lot in the local newspapers from the areas we were playing. All good reviews. Which was nice.

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

It would have to be releasing the Perpetual Motion / Face The War record. And finally, being able to play some great venues as headliners instead of support acts.

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

Mate, when I’m not playing music and have the time, I love to get out on the lake and go fishing. It doesn’t happen very often though.

++ Never been to the Sydney or Australia! 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?

I guess you would have to do the Harbour Bridge climb. Check out The Sydney Opera House and Darling Harbour. Doyals Seafood at Watsons Bay 😊

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah, I just want to say thanks for discovering us after so many years. Andy was the one who sent your blog to Paul and myself. He found it online somewhere 😊

Hope any of this info is good for you.

Just to add, these are my memories and answers of events and may not necessarily represent the opinions of all members.

Paul & Andy have read this and have no problem with me sending it to you.

Cheers

Alan.

www.alanharpley.net

https://alharpley.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/alan-harpley

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Listen
Merry Go Rhythms – Face the War

Day 146.

Smudge: the Australian label Half a Cow has made available the “Scary Cassettes” by the classic Smudge band on Bandcamp! 28 songs of terrific pop that are compiled here by Tom Morgan. These songs feature the second line-up of the band, Tom Morgan, Alison Galloway, Adam Yee and Pete Kelly. Great stuff!

Passmore Sisters: previously only heard as part of the bands BBC Radio 1 session for Janice Long in 1987, the song “These Things I Feel” has been re-recorded b y the band this year and is now available as a digital single on Bandcamp! How great to hear again from this amazing band!

Victorian Tin: a new song, well from 2000, that has been re-recorded, by the duo from Karlstad, Sweden. Erik and Christian seem to continue being active and that’s quite cool. Hopefully there will be a new release soon!

Agent Blå: the Gothenburg band is also back with a new song. It is called “Atopos” and it is superb. I feel it came just in time for the summer. Not much info about it, it just looks like a digital single.

Throw Like a Girl: Two girls from Leicester playing some cool upbeat punky pop! There are two songs up on Bandcamp and they actually date from January! So yeah, quite late to discover “Fight or Flight” and “Wednesday”.

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Who remembers Hospitalle?

David Hansson, Emanuel Hallongren, Maria von Hall, Patrick Jensen and Philip Gates are listed on Discogs as band members. I remember them because of the connection of Philip Gates as he had been in that wonderful, terrific, amazing, band Days. But only now I am discovering Hospitalle. See if I can track down all their records.

Actually there are two records they released properly. The other stuff is only available digitally.

The first release was actually a split 7″ on the classic label Dolores Recordings (DOL 164) back in 2005. There were 300 copies made of this record that was part of the Dolores singles club. The band would appear in the B side of the 7″ with the song “Let’s Not Tell Our Sad Stories”. The A side had the band Dreams End with the song “She Touched My Hand”. Now that I think of it I should try to write a post about Dreams End at some point.

The next year, 2006, the band released on the label Little Hill Recordings (LHR 001) the EP “Day Before May”. This EP had four songs, “Black Heart”, “I Envy You All”, “In a Bag” and “Heavenly Grey”. This release is the only one listed on this label, it makes me think it might have been a self-release.

We get some credits here too. Now we can point which instruments each band member played.
Maria Von Hall – vocals, xylophone, strings
Patrick Jensen – vocals, bass and he also wrote the songs
David Hansson – guitar, piano, vocals
Philip Gates – guitar
Emanuel Hallongren – drums

Other people that are credited on this record are Linn Lauterhorn, Maja Rasmusson and Stefan Strömberg (from the great band Vapnet) on vocals (I am guessing backing vocals), David Chocron (from the band Hemstad) on trumpet and Karl Ander (from Hemstad and Agent Simple) on guitar, piano, vocals, bass, organ, drums and accordion. The production and mixing (aside from also playing guitar, keys, percussion) was done by Kalle Von Hall who had been in the Bad Cash Quartet.

Going through all these people and bands made me curious and I checked in which other bands had the members of Hospitalle been. So I find out that:
-David Hansson had been in High Voltage, Los Ochos, Pats and Vapnet
-Emanuel Hallongren on Agent Simple and Hemstad
-Maria Von Hall on Pats
-Patrick Jensen on Pats
-Philip Gates on Los Ochos, Vapnet and Days

It is also worth mentioning that in 2010 these songs were re-released as 4 MP3s by the label Record Union. Not sure why 4 years later or why a new label. It is very curious.

But this date does match with three MP3 releases they did that year. Aside from this release they also put out 6 more songs on Record Union that year. This 6 songs were “Drinking the Memories Away”, “For Every Kind”, “These Screwed Up Times”, “You Fell Asleep”, “Violence, Ambulance!” and “The Clouds”. The EP was called “L’Antidote Dernière”.

Then they would put out stuff on a label called Knoppar. Two Mp3s would be released separately, “Forest Fire” and “Let’s Not Tell Our Sad Stories”. This last one was the same song that was included in the split 7″ back in 2005!

And that’s it. That’s all the info I could find for them. They disappeared at some point after releasing their EP, then they reappeared re-releasing MP3s.  But after that what happened? Who remembers them? Where are they now?

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Listen
Hospitalle – Violence, Ambulance!

Day 144.

Tigre Ulli: Kocliko Records is back in full force! There are two new releases worth talking about. The first is this one by María Zamtlejfer, one of the founding members of the great Argentinean band Las Ligas Menores! Tigre Ulli is her project and she has just released a 7-song EP and it sounds amazing. I will need a copy for sure!

The National Honor Society: remember I was complaining that there was no proper release by this amazing Seattle band? Well Kocliko was the smartest of all and picked the band up! They have just released “All the Glory We Never Had”, a wonderful jangly 10 song album that may be among the best this year. Not to be missed!

Majorelle Blue: the Malmö band have 4 new songs on their Soundcloud part of their “Nostalgia Porn” EP. I have recommended this band in the past and I have to do it again as these are great in-your-face pop songs. It doesn’t look as the release is available on physical formats, but at least we can play it time and time again online.

Lisa Bouvier: our friend Lisa will be releasing a 7″ this coming October. It will have two songs and one of them is available to preview, “Every Year Until We Die”. The songs were also recorded and produced by another Cloudberry friend, Adam John Miller from The Manhattan Love Suicides. So yeah, this is good. The 7″ will be limited to 120 copies and it is up for pre-order now.

Saturday Looks Good to Me: the great Michigan band have a few live recordings from different gigs on their Bandcamp. The latest they have shared is from October 14, 2007, at the legendary Schuba’s in Chicago. There are 15 songs here that sounds good to me.

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I discovered Roof through their song “Chick House” that was included in the classic, legendary, compilation “Grimsby Fishmarket 4 – Norrkoeping 0”. This tape compilation compiled by Marcus Törncrantz is one of the most important ones in my book, especially when it comes to the early 90s. Released in 1991 in Sweden on his own label Records from the Cookie Nose Tower (CNT001) it introduced so many great bands. I have talked about this compilation many times in the past, like when I wrote about Mary-Go-Round, Bummer Twins, The Apple Moths, My Finest Hours, and more!

Roof appears on the A side of this compilation, with the fifth track overall. Until now I didn’t know anything about them really. My surprise would come almost immediately after doing a quick search. One of Japan’s leading pop figures was involved in this band playing bass, Hideki Kaji!

This particular song “Chick House” is credited to Mitsunori Sasaki who had been in another band called The Bachelors. Now, The Bachelors just got reissued a cassette on the Blue-Very label last year. Wow! I should interview him one day I hope!

So we know two members. There were two more. There was Hirotaka Shimizu and Yasunobu Arakawa. Hirotaka had been in so many bands, Bridge, Brother’s Sister’s Daughter, If By Yes, Marble Hammock, Mi-Gu and Spielgusher. Yasunobu on the other hand was in Favourite Marine, Flipper’s Guitar, Lollipop Sonic, Marble Hammock, Museum of Plate and The Stars. Okay we are finding this band is formed just by Japanese indiepop royalty! How cool!

This means one thing, I should try to track down the two records they released in the early 90s. The first was a mini-album called “Two-Lane Blacktop” that was released by Confusion (PCCC-00015) in 1992. Confusion was a Japanese label run by Kazuhiko Hirata. He had released Loco-Holidays (remember them? I wrote about them last year!). This mini-album was released on CD and included these songs, “Point at Issue”, “Planes”, “Going Home”, “Story about Love” and “Cities”.

The band’s last release seems to date from 1997. It was a CD mini-album as well. It was also released by Confusion (PCCC-00020). Again 6 songs appear on it: “River and Road Part 2”, “Small Town (is a Strange Place)”, “Feel Sick on Sunday”, “Free Land”, “Standing in the Station When I Think of Him” and “Pink and Blue”. The art was created by Yutaka Kawase while the liner notes were written by Asako Koide. The record was recorded and mixed by Hidenori Ataka and Masaki Hayashi.

But that wasn’t all. The band appeared on compilations as well. Aside from the “Grimsby Fishmarket 4 – Norrkoeping” tape they would appear on the 1991 Crue-L Records (CRUELCD 001) CD compilation “Blow-Up 6 Singles and Jingles” with the songs “Tears of Crown” and “Green”. Then that same year they would contribute “(Waitin in the) Ferry Boat” and “Chick’s Room” to “Les Frederick Presents Innocence & Peppermints”. Worth mentioning that both songs were written by Mitsunori.

In 1991 they would also appear on the “Confusion Label 2nd Release” CD released by Confusion (DSP-138) with two tracks “Small Town (is a Strange Place)” and “Feel Sick on Sunday”. Lastly in 1993 they would have two songs, “Angels are Coming” and “Standing Still” on the very fine compilation “Ask the Sky” co-released by the great ¡Por Supuesto! Records and Rail Recordings (STAP 0313).

Interestingly enough, there is about no information about the band on the web. Sure they had all these well known members in it. But for some reason that I understand there are no reviews, no bios, no nothing. This is a true mystery to me! I should try to get the records. The compilations they were in also look great, so many good bands. I don’t know if it is good time to be spending lots of money, but these records look great. Promising. And the little I’ve heard by Roof (2 songs only!) are fantastic.

So yeah, I wanna know more about them. If they had more songs. Maybe more releases. Anything would be great. Help is appreciated!

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Listen
Roof – Small Town (Is a Strange Place)

Day 141. How many more days?

Phosphene: I had recommended the band earlier this year as they were releasing songs that were going to be included in their album “Lotus Eaters”. Well, the good news is that the album is out now! There are 10 fine songs of terrific melodies and guitars by this Portland, Oregon, band!

Neurotic Fiction: this post punk band from Bristol sounds really exciting. They have a 7″ EP called “Romance” that was just released and it is a corker. 4 songs with female vocals, catchy choruses and some great guitars! I need to order this!

The Shells: never heard of them before I must say, but here is a collection of 34 songs the band recorded between 1999 and 2005. The band actually released one 7″ on Little Mafia Records and it is quite cool to discover now this Austin band formed by Carlos Jackson, Laurelin Outman, Tommy Stockslager and Mike Nelson.

Ferns: this is fantastic news! the best band ever from Kuala Lumpur is going to be back with an EP later in August! It is called “Navalgazing” and will come with 4 songs! At this time we can preview the opening track “Auf Wiedersehen”, a beautiful indiepop song. The EP will be released on CD and I urge not to miss it. If you are a proper fan there will be t-shirts as well!

The Sylvia Platters: what a nice discovery! This Vancouver band has written a terrific jangly pop song called “Invisible Ink” and I am delightfully surprised. Alex Kerc-Murchison, Nick Ubels, Tim Ubels and Scott Wagner are the people behind this band, and I have to say I will start following them from now on! Looking forward to more songs by them.

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The short lived Gothenburg label Reazone to Release Records was founded by Joakim Johansson in the late 80s, releasing their first record in 1989. The next year, 1990, the label would release a 7″ by the band Drums in Minor. This is the one I am interested in today.

This band also hailed from Gothenburg and I don’t know much about them. Actually I know nothing. So I want to learn more.

This 7″ had just two songs. The A side had the terrific “You Would Be Sorry” while the B side had “Cold As My Hand”. We know that both songs were recorded at RRL Studios and were mixed at Studio Urania. It is not clear how many copies were pressed, but it is estimated to be less than 1000. Another interesting fact I learned from Musikon is that supposedly there was going to be an LP album to be released next but the record company folded. Was this album recorded? Would be great to find out!

We also know the band members:
Johan Forsman – guitar, vocals
Patrik Andersson – bass
Carl-Johan Rydén – guitar, vocals
Benno Damerau – drums, vocals

And we know too about other bands they have been involved with. For example Johan Forsman had been in Fidget and worked in production for Brandgul, Caesars Palace, Cry, Godnose, Gordon, Honey is Cool, Soundrack of Our Lives, Thåström. Patrik Andersson had been in Arrows, Extaz, Pöbel Möbel, Long John, Los Concombres, Railroad, Hydra, Pejnäs Ork, MAgnus Johansson and Suffer.

Then some very good finds on Youtube. Johan Forsman has a channel where he has uploaded a few tracks by Drums in Minor! We find the A side of the 7″, “You Would Be Sorry“. A 1990 song called “Drowning in the Pool of Life“. Then there is “Blast” which was recorded in 1991 but written in 1989. “Coming Down For Me” which was produced by J. Cremonese and recorded at Musicamatic, with Nille Perned as the engineer.

Then on Wikipedia I find an entry for a band called Simpkins. According to this they had the same band members and all. It may have been that Drums in Minor changed names at some point? Would be interesting to find out!

And that’s it really. It seems Simpkins first release was in 1993. It was an album. After that there would be another album and two EPs. But I am curious right now about their time as Drums in Minor, especially as it seems there are more songs, even an unreleased album! Who would know more about this cool sounding Göteborg band!

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Listen
Drums in Minor – You Would Be Sorry

Day 139.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs by the ultra-prolific project of Glenn Donaldson. If you like your indiepop jangly you are going to like these! “Pictures of the World” and “Tell Me What’s Real” are up now on Bandcamp.

Vic Godard: the legend is back with a new album called “1978 NOW” on GNU Records. It looks as it is only available digitally and you can’t listen to all 14 songs on Bandcamp, but three of them, which is fine as a preview. My favourite out of the three? “Why Did You Shoot Me?”.

Happypills: the Fukuoka based Yuki Kondo has finally released a record! How cool! It is out now on Citrus City Records from Richmond, Virginia. It is a 10 song cassette album called “Milk Floe”. And it is really good!

Exploding Flowers: now let’s head to Los Angeles. Exploding Flowers just released an album on vinyl and CD called “Stumbling Blocks” and it does sound really good. 12 songs of pure jangle and classic melodies. I am going to play this album all summer long.

Milky Wimpshake: another classic band that makes a return. The Stoke-On-Trent band will be releasing the album “Confessions of an65 English Marxist” on October 16. The vinyl album seems to be limited to 200 copies. So run before it sells out!

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Definitely one of the hardest finds to find information about is Perfect. With that name in the world wide web you are lost really. And on top of that the one song I know by them is called “Desire”. Quite impossible. But hey, there might be some luck as this one song was included in “The Sound of Leamington Spa Volume 5”!

Being included in these legendary series of compilations that Firestation Records puts out helps. Why? Because there is a booklet and there is always some info there. Maybe that would end up helping finding out any other details about them.

So yeah, they appeared on the 2005 “The Sound of Leamington Spa Volume 5” (FST065) which at that time it was still a co-release by several labels. It was a Firestation release but also Bilberry Records (BILB 09) and Clarendon Records (W6 7CD) are listed. The song the band contributed as I mentioned was “Desire”. And this is what says on the booklet.

There weren’t many constants in Perfect — lead singer and main songwriter John Smith fronted a band that evolved with every gig — original guitarist Carl Hodgson left, so Duncan Lomax moved from bass to guitar, Andy Frizell swapped his flute and sax for bass, trombone player Dave Jamieson added a unique sound, and sax and flute players Phil and Simon stepped in to complete the brass section that made Perfect a breath of fresh air in early 80’s Liverpool. Only drummer Dave Francis seemed to stay in the same seat as the band grew.
The band gigged relentlessly and supported Microdisney and The Men They Couldn’t Hang, but apart from demo tapes (their first produced by The Pale Fountains’ Mike Head), they never actually released anything. So now, more than twenty years later, we present Perfect — enjoy…

Okay that’s some interesting details. Now we know they hailed from Liverpool, the early 80s and I have some names. The question for me is mostly about these demo tapes. How many did they record? How many more songs are there waiting to be discovered? I’d love to listen to them.

The only other hit I get on the web is from the website Link2Wales. Here it tells a few little interesting things like Duncan Lomax was also on Wake Up Africa, 35 Summers and Hal. Andy Frizell was also on Wake Up Afrika and Vernons Wizards of Twiddly. I had written about Wake Up Afrika in the past but had no luck getting answers to my questions. Maybe I should write about 35 Summers soon as they were another terrific band. This small blurb also mentions that the band played lots of gigs around Liverpool and Chester at venues like The Venue, Mardi Gras and Bierkeller.

And that’s all really. Any help to shed some light on Perfect would be appreciated!

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Listen
Perfect – Desire

Day 137. In the end I will be around all August. It is quite impossible to have vacations this year if you live in the US.

Anuncio en Blanco: the latest on the Mexican netlabel is a new album called “Un Lugar” by Anuncio en Blanco. At the moment we can preview two out of the 9 tracks included, “Siento Que Estés Aquí” and “Juntos Otra Vez”. Both are nice dreamy tracks. The album is to be released on August 14th.

Boosegumps: some low key bedroom pop in the “5 demos” tape release on Lost Sound Tapes. This project by Heeyoon Won from Philadelphia does remind us of The Softies, right? Especially the track “Perfect Autumn Day”.

Ribbon Stage: this New York band is releasing a 7″ EP with 5 tracks on August 7th. Right now we can preview two of the songs, “Favorite Girl” and “Cry in the Driveway”, two noisy pop songs that were recorded in Brooklyn and mixed in Olympia. Makes sense!

Shiny Times: “So Alone” is the newest track from Kim Weldin, one half of Tape Waves, is really good! If you like sweet, smart, melodic bedroom pop, that doesn’t sound too lofi, then this is perfectr for you.

Fritz: and perhaps my favourite song in this little review is Fritz’s “Arrow”. This band hailes from Newcastle, Australia, and is formed by Tilly Murphy, Cody Brougham and Darren James. Check them out!

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Who were 99th Floor? This Swedish band is a mystery to me. I don’t own any of their records (yet). But I think I will be able to get some information on the web!

It looks like their first ever release was a self-released 7″ with two tracks, “Dreamland” on the A side and “The Blue Hour” on the B side. It also looks like this was a promo release. And only 171 copies were pressed! The release had a sleeve, a black and white photocopy looking logo of the band. Here we also see who were the band members:
Andreas Brodow: bass
Anders Lindgren: guitar, piano
Bengt Lindbäck: guitar
Gunnar Sätterkvist: musical box
Ylva Lindgren: vocals, glockenspiel

Of course the first questions is if Anders and Ylva are siblings or family?

The band’s next release was a 7″ on Joker Records (JOKE 920). This label was based in south Stockholm, in the Johanneshov area and interestingly enough it was the first indie Swedish label to release a CD in 1989. That same year, they released the “I Walk Alone” 7″ by 99th Floor, with that track on the A side and “Blue Hour” on the B side. We know too that Anders and Ylva wrote the A side while the B side is credited to both of them and Bengt too. The band lineup continued being the same as the previous 7″ and one detail one here is that Anders Hörling was the engineer for both tracks. It is also worth mention that Ylva by this time had changed her last name to Håkansson… and that in the label of the 7″ we see Lindgren spelled Lindhgren for Anders. What was the correct spelling then?

So far my favourite song by them is “(Take Me To) Wonderland”.  It may change after listening more and more their songs. I have just discovered them a few weeks ago. Well, this song was their third single, a 7″ with that song on the A side and “It’s Time to Leave” on the B side. This time around the band would change labels, now the label to release them was Exercises in Style (EIS 003). The year of this release was 1991 and the people behind this early 90s label were John Cloud, Joakim Jähnke and Peter Lindholm. The band members were still the same on this record. The two songs were recorded at Park Studio in Stockholm, with Anders Lindhgren from the band and Jan Olov Gullö (from the bands Sjöstrom&Gullö and Safari Season) as producers. Per Sommarström would design the art of the sleeve while Joakim Pirinen, a well known illustrator and comic book artist, provided the drawings. So now, can we agree that Lindhgren is with an H?  Or did Anders change the spelling of his last name?

Their next release would be a CDEP called “”Sad Songs on a Happy Day”. Four songs were included in this 1992 EP: “Happy Revolution”, “Annie C/o Loneliness”, “Say Hello to the Day” and “Inside of Me’. It was released by Gullö Gram (GG-5991) which was possibly Jan Olov Gullö’s label who once again co-produced the songs.

Two years later, in 1994, the band would release a CD single with two tracks on Hawk Records (HAWKCDS1173). The songs were “Happy Revolution” (is this a different version of the previous release?) and “Window with a View”. I notice too on the credits on Discogs a credit for Lars Sköld (who played on Tiamat, Avatarium, among others) on drums, Malin Bjurberg on backing vocals and Niklas Olsson on organ.

In 1995 two of their songs would appear on the Swedish movie “Vackert Väder”: “Happy Revolution” and “Window with a View”. The same songs as the CD single. Then a few years later, in 1999, the band would again contribute a song to a movie, “Mamy Blue”.

The band also appeared on 5 compilations during their time. First in 1989 on the compilation “Nordic Sounds Volume 2” released by Joker Records (JOKE 917) they had the song “I Walk Alone”. Then the next year, in 1990, their song “Sell My Soul” appeared on the compilation “Motion” on Exercises in Style (EIS CD001).  Munster Records from Spain would include them, in 1991, in the comp “Not the Singer but the Songs: An Alex Chilton Tribute”. On this one they would cover “Nightime”.

In 1991 the band would also contribute “Another World” to the LP compilation “The 4th Adventure” released by the Danish label Guiding Light Records (JEWEL 4). Lastly, “Happy Revolution”, would be incldued in “Pop & Rock! (Hit Acts Sweden 1995)’. This last one was a promotional CD released by ExMS (INFOGRAM 27) in 1995 in Sweden.

Then something quite surprising is that in 2016 the band released an album in MP3 format through Gullö Gram (SEVJR160001). I wonder if these were new recordings or sort of a retrospective. Who’d know? There were ten songs in this their one and only album that was called “Different Colours of a Stone”. The tracks were: “Dreamland”, “Ydoi”, “Happy Revolution”, “Having Fun”, “Carried by Imagination”, “Another World”, “Waterfall”, “Funny Tragic World”, “And Death”, “Outside my Window”.

Something that I noticed too is that Ylva, Anders and Lars had been in the band Safari Season that had releases even in the US on Zip Records. And this band actually has a website. Here it tells that he started his music career in the punk band Ebe Johnsson’s Swing Quintet, in his hometown of Karlstad. Then he would move to Stockholm and there with Ylva they started 99th Floor. With this band they would play in many festivals in Sweden and get airplay and TV appearances in Sweden and abroad.

And that’s what I could find. If they were popular at their time I am sure people remember them. Oddly enough there’s not much online about them, and I couldn’t find their TV appearances on Youtube. I’d definitely would love to learn more about them. Who remembers them?

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Listen
99th Floor – Take Me to Wonderland

Day 134. Friday!

Here is new music.

WYWY: I had to write about this dreampop duo. I am a sucker for “exotic” bands. And this one is at least for me. It is the first time I have heard a band that sounds like this hailing from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Their latest song, “Isolated”, is pretty good to boot.

Post West: now another band that I couldn’t let pass. The band hailing from Providence in Rhode Island has released a wonderful EP called “Bronco”. The curiosity here is that they have a song called “Astoria”, and that’s where I am based! In Astoria, New York. This is very very cool for me!

Grizzly Coast: now onto a more produced band, one that sounds a bit like Camera Obscura. And that’s a good thing of course. Five songs are out now on their EP “Party of One”. Digital only it seems. But hey, you can have on repeat their amazing opener “Catch & Release”. Really enjoying this project formed by Allanah Kavanagh, Pavel Soitys, Jacqueline Tucci and Taylor Lucas.

Floodlights: time to head to Melbourne, the land of amazing indiepop. The 12″ album “From A View” is already sold out. But good news is that the 2nd pressing on vinyl is available. On top of that, we can listen to this solid 11 song record on Bandcamp and preview it there.

The Apartments: “Initials PMW” is a 4 song EP out now on Microcultures label from France. The amazing project by Peter Milton Walsh recorded these 4 songs in Ashgrove, Australia. And they are really pretty.

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This is as obscure as it gets. I really hope my Japanese friends can solve the mystery of who were Camera Works.

I only know the one song they had on the “Pop Comes Up! Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 2” that was released by the Bluebadge Label (BBCD-002) back in 2002. That song was called “Is She a Happy Girl?”. It appears alongside many bands that I have featured in the past like Margarets Hope*, Clean Distortion or Cyclon86. But I could find more info for these bands.

When it comes to Camera Works there’s absolutely nothing on the web. I know there’s a girl singing. I know they are Japanese. But aside from that there’s nothing.

The band also appeared on the first Bluebadge compilation which was called “Send My Badge!: Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 1” (BCD-001). This one is not listed in Discogs so that makes it a bit harder to get info. I do know that the song they contributed was called “Crumble”. I believe it was released in 2002 as well.

I haven’t heard “Crumble”. Maybe that is something someone can help me too. At least. I love the Bluebadge label, but it is hard to get the records and info on their bands! Any help will be appreciated.

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Listen
Camera Works – Is She a Happy Girl?

Day 132.

In Space: this Singapore project has a new song called “Inside Out” which is quite nice! I don’t know much about them, it seems it is just one person behind it who describes himself as a bottom bunk boi. Any of my Singaporean friends know him?

Airhockey: a few posts ago I was telling you to check out “Try” the one and only song you could preview from the EP “Walkthrough”. Now the cassette EP is sold out and luckily all 6 songs are available to play on Bandcamp. They are really good!

Eterna Joventut: a few months ago I recommended the debut song by this Barcelona duo, and I was raving it! Now their second song is actually a song the duo formed by Júlia and Asier wrote for Mujeres. This time around they play it themselves and is called “Tu Amor”. Fun guitars!

Asian Shoegaze Compilation Vol. 1: this 8 song comp came out last May. It features bands from Japan (Oell), Hong Kong (Sea of Tranquility) and China (The Pillow Man and Endless White). Each band contributes two songs and you get the feeling, even if these places are so far for many of us, that a cool scene is brewing there!

Pop at Summer: last April the Bandung band published a new wonderful song called “Kiss Berry”. Not sure how I missed it. This is one of my favourite Indonesian pop bands and I believe that it should be yours too. Really lovely.

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I must say I am not that familiar with Australian indierock from the 90s. Not at all. So forgive me if I don’t know things that might be obvious for many of you. I know indiepop and I think I know quite a bit. But indierock is not my forte.

It seems there was a band in Australia during the 90s called Custard. It seems it was quite popular releasing albums and singles. Lots of them. But before that Dave McCormack ad Paul Medew, two of their members, had a band called Who’s Gerald? who I thought contacting long time ago when I was planning to do Australian indiepop compilations. As you know these never happen. The lack of interest and lack of help from the bands sort of disappointed me. What can you do?

See, I had discovered Who’s Gerald? not too long ago. They had been part of a compilation called “Young Blood” that was released by rooArt  in 1988 in LP, CD and tape formats. It even got a US release. And so, I knew on these compilations (because there was even a “Young Blood II”), new up and coming Australian bands were featured. The Hummingbirds for example were there. And so I found Who’s Gerald? on it with a terrific song called Pins and Needles”. Thought I had to find out more info about them.

We know they released only one single, a 7″. And we know that the band was formed by:
Cathy Atthow: drums
Paul Medew: bass
Glen Donald: keyboards
David McCormack: vocals, guitar

They hailed from Brisbane.

The 7″ was released on their own Gerald Corp. label (GER 0002). Now the catalog number makes it look as if there had been a previous release. Was it perhaps a demo tape? Would be good to find it. It was released the same year as the rooArt compilation, 1988, and included two songs.

The A side had the song “Wrestle Wrestle” while the B side had “Gerald is Stumbling Away Along the Highway of Life”. After this song title you can’t stop wondering who is Gerald. Was it someone they knew perhaps?

The art for the jacket is quite cool. The front cover has a black and white illustration of some guy with a cool haircut over a red background. The band shows the bands legs/shoes on a photo as well as lyrics for their two tracks. We see too that the B side had some flute played by Peter Evans. The tracks were produced by the band and Jonnee Acid and they were engineered by Peter Wragg at Southwind Studios.

So I was saying, David McCormack had been in Custard. But that’s not all. He has been in C.O.W., The Millionaires, The Titanics and David McCormack and the Polaroids. Paul Medew was also on a band called Miami aside from Custard. I couldn’t find any other bands for the other members.

Interestingly, David McCormack even has his own Wikipedia entry. Here it mentions that in 1986 Who’s Gerald? was formed. And then that in 1988 the band released a cassette called “Who’s Gerald’s Greatest Hits”. This might have been the first release of Gerald Corp Records. It also tells something quite interesting, that in 1988 3 of their members, Atthow, McCormack and Medew briefly formed a band called Automatic Graphic with Scott Younger. Are there recordings for this band?

Something that I also found interesting, as I love the Go-Betweens, is that McCormack recorded with Robert Forster for his second solo album, “Calling from a Country Phone”.

A little more of digging and I find a proper treasure. A Bandcamp with 10 songs to listen by Who’s Gerald?! It is like an expanded version of the single, adding 8 songs to it. These are: “Pins and Needles”, “Hell on Wheels”, “Affrodeedies Principal”, “Burning Up”, “Banging in My Ear”, “Cowboy”, “Road Metal” and “You Really Got Me”.

Then on the credits the break it by different releases I think. For example some of these songs were recorded at Payne Street, Indooropilly on a Yamaha 4-track cassette machine. Then “Banging in My Ear” seems to be among their oldest songs and this one was recorded by Lee Lee Ingram at Creative Space Studios in Milton.

“Affrodeedies Principal”, “Burning Up” and “Road Metal’ recorded and produced by David Lennon at Creative Space Studios in Milton.

Then there’s a note by Dave about the last song, “You Really Got Me”: You Really Got Me’ was recorded circa 1986 in Dave’s bedroom at Tarbet St, Kenmore using Christian Dahl’s Yamaha 4track cassette recorder. “It must have been winter because I remember it being very chilly. The guitars and keyboards and bass were all run through my crappy Princeton amp (because it had 4 inputs so it acted as a pseudo mixer). I recall the bedroom was a new addition so we were all standing on a concrete slab, very chilly. Soon after my parents managed to purchase some sea-grass matting as flooring.

Then I stumble an article about the band on the blog That Striped Sunlight Sound.  Here it says that the band was named after a response of finding a wooden coat hanger with Gerald written on it. That was the legend. But there is another theory that says that they were named after Gerald V. Casale from Devo.  Here it also pinpoints Ipswich as the place where the band was formed. Then it tells us to which universities each of them went, Paul went to James Cook University and Glen and David went to Queensland Uni. There they would meet Cathy who had never drummed before.

The band used to practice at the Queensland Uni at their Activities office or at Christian Dahl’s house in Indooroopilly. Christian had answer and advert where the band was looking for a bassist. Their first gig was at The Outpost in the Valley. Their second gig was at The Love Inn. Their third was back at The Outpost. They also played 4ZZZ Market Day a few times. Their two biggest gigs according to David were supporting Sonic Youth at The Patch at Tweed Heads and INXS at Brisbane Entertainment Centre.

Someone commented too that the band played at the Chelmer Bowls Club in Toowong in 1988.

Another hit on the web takes me to the book”Pig City: From the Saints to Savage Garden”. Here it mentions that Cathy Atthow earned her place as the band’s drummer partly through David’s obsession with the Go-Betweens and Lindy Morrison!

I couldn’t find much more information about them. I do see many people saying that the songs were badly recorded, or they weren’t good. But I think in general most people agree that the track they contributed to “Young Blood”, the song “Pins and Needles”, was their best. And yeah, it is a pretty good song!

Who remembers them?

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Listen
Who’s Gerald? – Pins and Needles