This whole weekend I’ve been working on the fanzine! Today I will continue doing so. It is really shaping up nicely and I am hoping it will be ready by the end of next month as the latest!

And here is some great music from over the weekend!

SeafoodCake: the very good Guangzhou based label Qiii Snacks Records has just uploaded a new song called “Telephone Honey” by this new band from China. They are formed by Bee on vocals, Yongchao on guitar, Jiayu on guitar, Phil on drums and ACong on bass. The song sounds terrific, a sweet indiepop slice that leaves me looking for more music by them!

Un.Real: not a great name for a band but still this Puerto Rican band make some terrific shoegaze. Their latest offering is the track “Lovely One / Islands” and we know the band is formed by Bernice Cruz, Gardy Perez-Ruiz, Hector Caolo and Eden Cruz. Is there a cool up and coming scene in San Juan?

“Somewhere in England”: Sunday Records has just released on CD a tribute to the wonderful band They Go Boom!! It features 12 bands including Cloudberry favourites like the Royal Landscaping Society, Shoestrings, The Sunbathers, The Pristines and more. Definitely it is not a release one can miss. Essential.

Store Front: maybe my favourite new New York band formed by Amy Rose Spiegel, Brandon Louro, Bob Marshall, Peggy Wang and Chalky have just released their “Task EP”. It has 5 songs of superb indiepop. I still haven’t seen them play live. I see their next gig is next week but SO FAR away from me, at Elsewhere… I really hope I can catch up with them soon, and also hoping they put a proper record on vinyl or CD. These songs deserve that!

Massage: and if I was mentioning Peggy from the Pains of Being Pure at Heart in the previous band, now it is time to see what Alex is doing. He and his band Massage have just released a superb slice of jangle called “Michael is My Girlfriend”. Yes this also deserves to be released as a single though it seems this track will be part of their second LP later this year. Not to be missed clearly!

—————————————————————–

Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early twentieth century.[1]Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly original, poetic, rhapsodic, and impressionistic prose with autobiographical writing. His books, written and published from the 1920s to the 1940s, vividly reflect on American culture and the mores of that period, filtered through Wolfe’s sensitive, sophisticated, and hyper-analytical perspective.

I was introduced to The DaVincis through their song “Thomas Wolfe”. I wonder of course if the name of the song was after the American writer? Maybe? Perhaps? Who could confirm me that?

Before The DaVincis, there was The Dream Play. That was 1984 and they were formed by Paul McCormick (vocals, guitars), Martin Smith (guitars), Chris Stevens (bass) and Faith Moore (drums). I wonder if there are recordings for this band somewhere? Then in 1985 Smith would be replaced by Martin Ward and Moore by Iain Bickle and thus The DaVincis were born. They were part of the scene that worked at the Vulcan Studios. That included great bands like The Jactars or The Decemberists. It is worth mentioning that in 1987, Vulcan Studios put together a compilation LP called “Ways to Wear Coats – A Compilation From Vulcan Studios” (VULC 001) that included The DaVincis’ track “The Book”. This track was engineered by Noddy Knowler. On this compilation the band appears under the name Da Vincis. Yeah, I’ve seen their name written in different ways.

That same year, 1987, they contributed the song “Ava Gardner” to the  “Merseyside Musicians Bureau” demo compilation tape.  Another compilation appearance of theirs is on the tape “D.O.A. – Brochure Two”. They had two songs on this one, “Pull” and “on And On”. There were many fine bands on this one like Fallover 24 and The Dubious Brothers among others. The date for this release must have been sometime between 1987 and 1989. D.O.A. stood for Definite Option Agency, a music press based in Liverpool.

Much later on, in 2018, the band would contribute tracks to two Cherry Red boxsets. Their track “Thomas Wolfe” was included in “C89” (CRCDBOX59) and “When You’re In” on “Revolutionary Spirit: The Sound of Liverpool 1976-1988″ (CRCDBOX39).

But most importantly the band left us two releases. A 12” maxi single and a mini-LP, both released in 1988 on Pink Moon Records.

I know this label because they released the wonderful Jactars and Barbel. But I also notice that in 1989 they released a record for Paul McCormick, the DaVincis’ vocalist, called “Another Day at Home”.

I guess that the 12″ single (PMT 12) came second and the mini-albm (PMM 1) came first. So let’s start with the mini-album.

It had six songs, three on each side. The A side had “When You’re In”, “Thoughtless” and “Charlotte” while the B side had “Thomas Wolfe”, “Safe Locked Alone” and “Chris Said”. The engineer was Keith Hartley and the art is credited to Malcolm’s House with Martin Smith’s photography. The songs were recorded in February 1988 at Amazon Studios. Something interesting too is that there were runout etchings on the record. The A side said “1234 Sun Ray Lamp!!” whilst the B side had “Strings for Breakfast”.

Now the 12″ single. The A side had “Pull” while the B side included “Something Missing” and “On and On”. The band is credited for producing the record while Keith Hartley was the engineer. The tracks were recorded on the 15 and 16 of October of 1988 at Amazon Studios. The photography on the sleeve was from Colin Heaney while the artwork is credited to Malcolm’s House. The executive producer was Andy Jones. Here we find etchings as well. The A side said “Townhouse Bye Bye” while the B side said “A Byrd song of the Mersey”. I believe that on this 12″ the band had replaced drummers, having Steve Ashton on drums.

It seems that in 1989 the band replaced Martin Ward with Mike James according to the blog “Music-isms“. With this new lineup the band toured Germany during November and December that year. Then they toured France and many lineup changes happened, even working as a three-piece for some time. Then in 1990 the band split. Their last gig was in March 1990.

But there is more about them. The band actually recorded two Peel Sessions! The first one was recorded January 18th 1987 and broadcast on February 2nd that year. The songs recorded for this session were “Something Missing”, “Ava Gardner”, “When You’re In” and “New Ways to Wear Coats”. This last song title parodying the compilation they had been in.

The second Peel Session was recorded in Septrember 27 of 1988 and broadcast on October 10 that same year. The songs for this second session were “This is What We Look Like”, “Eating Gifted Children”, “On and On” and “Second Home”.

About other music involvements I know that later on Chris Stevens would be involved in bands like Mugstar, Cicada Falls and Rattlebus. Martin Ward had been in Redo Zebri, Mugstar and Rattlebus as well. Iain Bickle had been in Fire.

Lastly I found a promo video the band did for the song “Pull“! Great find!

What else? Were there more songs by the band? Where are they now? Who remembers the Liverpool band The DaVincis?!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The DaVincis – Thomas Wolfe

Let’s go! Here’s some new music for this week!

Ivory Past / Shino Kobayashi: Ivory Past is one of my favourite bands from the past few years. It features Hitoshi from the fantastic Sloppy Joe and it is no surprise that the 3 songs he is contributing to a split tape shared with Shino Kobayashi are wonderful. This tape is now available to preorder on the Blue-Very Label Bandcamp. It is not available to preview but I am very curious of his cover of The Hepburns’ “The World Is” and do check Shino Kobayashi who was unknown to me but sounds amazing!

Cigarettes for Breakfast: this Philadelphia band is releasing a self-titled EP on February 20th. It will have 5 songs and at this point we can only check out the fuzzy shoegazy track “Daylight”.

The Oilies: this California band formed by Carly Putnam has a new track out on Bandcamp called “Dead Tires demo”, and it is really good! It is a fine slice of bedroom pop. It is lo-fi and in a way mysterious. Sounds like it was taken from an indiepop cassette compilation from the 90s!

La Vida Padre: when I saw the name of the band I thought they would be Mexican. You see in Mexico you say “padre” for “cool”. So it may sense to me, for their name to be ‘the cool life’. But no, the band hails from Barcelona and last November they released a joyful jangly mini-album of 7 songs! The band is actually a one-man project by Xavi Escriche. And again, it sounds great!

Lawnchair: and the last new recommendation is the twee-east of all. This crash-pop band, all ramshackle beauty has a lo-fi EP called “Go-Karting” consisting of 4 tracks packed with boy/girl vocals and evoking the great 2000s Soulseek and CDR bands! .

—————————————————————–

One more from the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud and Facebook group. And this one sounds pretty good!

So I just discovered the band Pretty Green thanks to the song “Call” that WokingSoundscene has shared in their Soundcloud. By this point I don’t think I need to tell you about it, I’ve written a few posts about this fine resource of bands from the 80s and 90s.

There is also another song they have uploaded, “Deception”. And I wonder are these the only two songs they recorded? Let’s find out.

It turns out that “Call” was included, as well as their song “Small Town Scene”, on the “Snakebite City” (BLU03) compilation that Bluefire Records released in 1992. Whereas “Deception” appeared on the second of the Farnborough Groove series comp, “Son of Farnborough Groove”, also in 1992. Interesting. Now we have 3 songs we know of.

I just found that there was a fourth. It was called “The Wrong Conclusion” and it appeared on the 1994 compilation “Snakebite City Two” (BLU05) also released by Bluefire Records. Something that I am curious about is that these compilations used to come with an insert with information about the bands on the record. Maybe there were interesting details there about them?

We also know the last names of the band members, Abnett, Beagley, Fowler, Gambrill and Pritchard. They were around from 1991 to 94. But that is not all, in 2016 Record Collector  included them on the vinyl compilation “Small Town Scenery” with their song “Small Town Scene” (RCLP018). This is interesting. I wrote about one of the bands that appear on it, Triple Blind, not so long ago. Small world. This compilation, which I don’t have sadly, also includes an insert with info about the bands on it. Again, is there anything worthy in it? On Discogs there is a scan, and I can read that the band was formed in Fleet and the guitar player was called Matthew Pritchard. He mentions that they played quite a lot at the back room of The Fox and Hounds pub. Then, at some point, the band split into two bands, The Hairy Things and Skipper.

We know too of some gigs they played. It is said that the band opened for Mega City Four on many gigs but we also know they played the wonderful Buzz Club in Aldershot on Saturday January 16th 1993 alongside Peach Razor, Pomery, Backlash, Phobia and Big Boy Tomato. It was the “Snakebite City” launch party. Another gig was at the same club, on February 1st of 1993 along Ha Ha Men, The Riverthieves and Peach Razor. Two months later, on April 3rd, again at Jo’s club, playing with The Flowers of Sacrifice, Backlash and Peach Razor. How did these bands sound like? I am curious.

I wonder if there were demo tapes. There must have been. There must have been more songs too. I’d love to find out.

Not much info on the web, but at least we know a bit more now. I wonder who remembers them? Who can fill in the blanks?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Pretty Green – Call

So as I said there are new stickers we’ll have next month. I am looking into making a new batch of badges too. It’s been a while since we had some.

On my latest order from Slumberland, the East Village 12″, I got some trading cards for Slumberland. I thought that was a cool idea. I wonder what other sort of memorabilie we could do. I don’t want to copy of course. But if you have some cool ideas let me know.

The fanzine is shaping up nicely. I will be having more news next weekend I hope! And then I really want to have news of releases soon. It is taking a bit, but let’s keep hope that it will be soon!

West Coast Music Club: originally this West Kirby band was a collective of musicians recording songs by Martin Adams. Then the band expanded and other song-writers emerged. Their latest release is a CD with three songs, an EP called “All that I Wanted”. The songs on it are “All that I Wanted”, “If I had a Dream” and “Love Affar”, being the middle one my favourite!

Topographies: it is kind of weird that a label doesn’t give any information about their release. The label seems to be called Dream Recordings and it looks likt the track “In Crept Doubt” that appears on Soundcloud was included in a cassette EP by Topographies called “Difference & Repetition”. There seem to be also three other songs.

Deer Grove: this Odense, Denmark, band has released a new song called “The Men on the Moon”, a fine slice of dreampop. But just a few days ago they also released an EP called “A Dream of Magic” that included three fine songs, “Shut Up About Flying Saucers”, “Cloudgazer” and “Did You Make it?”. Very good!

Bllume: the solo project of Arthur Bennell from Edmonton, Canada. The latest release by this sweet DIY lo-fi shoegazey band is called “Still Believe”. It is a four-song EP that has the songs “Still Believe”, “Didn’t Care”, “When You Took My Hand” and “I Miss You”. The EP is mysterious, dreamy, and cool sounding.

Addy: from Richmond, Virginia, comes a new album called “Eclipse”. I have previewed the two tracks available on Bandcamp, “Planted” and “Easier”, and they are these light soft popsongs whose melodies creep into you. It is a quite interesting sound. The album which will have 9 songs will be released on vinyl, cassette and CD on March 6th.

—————————————————————–

Euonymus europaeus, the spindle, European spindle, or common spindle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Celastraceae, native to much of Europe, where it inhabits the edges of forest, hedges and gentle slopes, tending to thrive on nutrient-rich, chalky and salt-poor soils. It is a deciduous shrub or small tree. Other names include fusoria, fusanum, ananbeam, shemshad rasmi (Iran), while it may have given its name to the ancient Greek settlement of Euonymeia.

This will probably be a short post. To be honest I think the Spindle Berries are as obscure as it gets. I only know one song by them but that is enough for me to try to track them down. The song is pretty, girl vocals and slow jangly guitars. How could I not like it?

This song is called “I’m So Clumsy”. It appeared on a compilation tape from 1990 called “Heol”. This tape, which I believe I’ve mentioned in the blog in the past, was released in France by the Karen label (KAREN 02). This label had released previously a tape by the amazing Les Freluquets who I interviewed many many years ago. Then there was a second “Heol” compilation, “Heol 2” which is not on Discogs.

The vocals sound as if the band hailed from the UK. I may be wrong as this tape features lots of French bands as well. But I am going to bet they were British. Aside from it, there is absolutely no information about the Spindle Berries on the web. Just this contribution to a tape. No other songs. No band members. I can’t find anything at all. I really like this track, so I am hoping someone remembers them or someone knew them. Would really love to find out more about them!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Spindle Berries – I’m So Clumsy

Not much news this week. I had an uncle visiting over so was out and about int the city but I’ll try to get you some interesting Cloudberry news this week. A good thing though is that for the first time there will be Cloudberry stickers. So starting next month all orders will be getting them!! Exciting right?

Here are a few new finds tho!

Palm Ghosts: the very fine Nashville band is releasing a new record called “Wide Awake and Waiting” on February 7th! It sounds really really good!  The question then is will this be released physically? I hope so. The 6 songs shine. They are terrific. There is even a video made for the opening track “Wide Awake and Waiting”!

The Tubs: the band that has two ex-Joanna Gruesome in their ranks has released a great 7″ on Prefect Records. To promote it they have also made a promo video for the track “I Don’t Know How it Works” which you shouldn’t miss!

акульи слёз: this Ufa, Russia, band has been featured in the blog in the past, and there is a good reason to have them again. Their newest song “малость” is very very good! Female vocals, a melancholic vibe and the mystery, at least for me, of what they are saying! It all works perfectly together.

Flyying Colours: “Big Mess” is a beautiful mess of guitars and melodies that swirl. This song is now available digitally through the labels Poison City and Club AC30.

The Spires: the Ventura, California, three-piece have released a new digital album called “LOOK”. It has 9 songs but it is not really a new-thing per se. This is a collection of lost songs, alternate versions and covers (there’s a Magnetic Fields one) through the years. Worth checking this out.

—————————————————————–

Another fine sounding band I found through the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud is Blue Velvet. And actually for Blue Velvet they had many songs uploaded.

We find “Guiding Light“, “Salvation“, “Shot Yourself Down“, “Note Turned Blue” and “Gold That Shines“, this last one perhaps my favourite of them all. Were they all from the same tape? From compilations? Let’s find out then!

The band was around 1989 to 1991 and was formed by Patrick James Sullivan on lead vocals, guitar, harmonica and e-bow, Graham Judd on guitar, Sid Stovold on guitar and backing vocals, Ady Evans on bass and John Metcalfe on drums. They were based in Aldershot.

In 1989 they released their first demo tape, “Believe”, which included three songs, “Salvation”, “Gold That Shines” and “Don’t Dare the Devil”. One of these songs, “Gold That Shines”, ended up in the compilation tape “Farnborough Groove Vol. 1”, the first compilation of the Farnborough Groove series, in 1991.

That same year we’d see Graham Judd leaving the band and Jim O’Neil joining to play keyboards. With the new lineup the band recorded a second demo tape, “On the Eve of Tomorrow” that included 8 tracks. Which were they? I believe they were “Sudden Change in Faith”, “Shot Yourself Down”, “Guiding Light”, “Falling Star”, “These are the Towers”, “It Only Takes a Lifetime”, “Raining” and “Rollercoaster”. All of these songs were recorded at Ghost Studios between November and December of 91. The Farnborough Groove series would again pick one of the songs, “Shot Yourself Down”, and include it on the 3rd of their compilation series that featured up and coming unsigned bands from the area, “Farnborough Groove Vol. 3”.

At some point they also combined their two demos on a single tape, picking songs from both releases. In this tape they had four songs from 1991 on the A side: “Sudden Change in Faith”, “Shot Yourself Down”, “Guiding Light” and “Falling Star”, and four from 1989 on the B side: “Salvation”, “Gold that Shines”, “Note Turned Blue” and “Don’t Dare the Devil”.

On the Facebook page of WokingSoundscene I find too that the band used to cover The Wonderstuff’s “Wish You Were Here” as well as some gigs they played: at the Aldershot West End Centre supporting Mega City Four and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin on March 2nd 1990, the Georgein Ash Vale on February 20 1990, Cricketers in Westfield on February 22 1990, at the British Legion on August 30 1991, at the Four Horseshoes in Camberley in 1991, at the classic venue the Bull & Gate in 1989 and supporting Bradford and Frantic at the Buzz Club, the club the our friend Jo from Bluetrain used to run!

According to Soundcloud it seems that their song “Note Turned Blue” appeared on a 1991 compilation called “Parafornia” but I haven’t been able to find any information about this comp.

I find out that in 2009, Blue Velvet’ Graham Judd and Patrick Sullivan and some members from another Aldershot band called West One, combined their efforts and performed as Velvet West on August 29th of that year. They played many of their classic songs like “Note Turned Blue”.

I wonder too if they had been involved with any other bands. It seems that gig was a one-off. And what about the other two members of the band? What happened to them?

It is pretty interesting that they played alongside important bands in the late 80s and early 90s, but for some reason I don’t think their name is well known for indiepop fans. Would be great to find more details about them! Who remembers them?!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Blu Velvet – Gold that Shines

Friday! This weekend I should be able to start working on the fanzine inner pages, I mean the interviews! Last weekend I worked on the front cover and the CD sleeve. So yes, little by little this cool new zine is shaping up. I really really hope I can publish this by late March or mid April as the latest. I’ll keep you updated.

Also I want to say that I will be in Lima, Peru, from March 27 to April 4th. Just as we did in Mexico, please let me know if you want to save some postage. I can bring you any records that are available from the Cloudberry catalog to Lima. Just let me know in advance and this way you can just pay for the price of the record and save on postage. Just drop me an email with the records you’d like me to bring and we’ll figure out a way to meet.

Now, here are some new music worth checking out!

The Drain on the Balcony: on February 28th the Greek label Old Bad Habits is releasing a 7″ by this band. It also seems that this song  that we can listen, that is the A side, “Truly Deeply Madly” will be part of an album called “Greetings from Solihull” that will be coming out on the label Local Underground. Sounds great!

Flower Tattoo: this Seattle band released an album called “You Can Never Have a Long Enough Head Start” last month. It has 12 songs and it seems is only available digitally at the moment. The record has some great tracks and others not so good, a bit of a mixed bag, but when they are good, the tracks are pretty good, like the song “She”!

Huevos II:  Western Massachussetts band on a Louisville, Kentucky label called Sophomore Lounge. That is quite a discovery. They have released a 12″EP  called “Huevos II ‘III'” that has 5 jangly tracks influenced by New Zealand pop. It is quite a very nice surprise by this band formed by Ma Turner, John McGuigan and Patrick Borezo. Do they ever come down south to NYC? And what about their band name?

“Sampler Vol.1”: is the name of a new compilation put together by the Buenos Aires label Café y Ruido. There are 10 songs here, all by Argentinean bands and there is one song that is simply superb, Bruxismo’s “Tengo Ganas de Verte”. Just because of that song I am telling you to check this out.

The Claim: the classic Rochester band is releasing a split 7″ with the band Jim Riley’s Blues Foundation on March 3rd. It is being released by the Spinout Nuggets label and each band will be contributing a track. The Claim ‘s song is titled “Spring Turns to Winter” and it is a terrific slice of pop magic!

—————————————————————–

It is always a good idea to return to check the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud and explore the obscure bands they feature. Last time I discovered Summersalt, today my surprise came when I heard the band giant Arc and their song “Fire Up the Sun”, a fine guitar pop song.

According to this terrific group that celebrates the band from their area, from the 80s and 90s, the band was around between 1991 and 1993. It was formed by Dave on bass, Michael on guitar, Lee on drums, Geoff on vocals and guitar and Gary on vocals. No last names are available though. It is going to be hard to track them down.

The band released just a demo tape, that was all. It was released in late 1991 and the cassette tape was titled “Time Becomes a Monster” and it included 3 tracks: “Hunters”, “Burn” and “Care”. These were recorded at Von’s Studio in autumn of that same year with Ottie/Lee producing.

Before that, earlier in 1991 the band had appeared on the tape compilation “Farnborough Groove Vol. 1”. On my post about Summersalt I talked a bit about this series of compilations that showcased up and coming bands from the area. On this one, the first one of the series, the band contributed the song “Fire Up the Sun”. It was the very last track on the B side. Later on, one of the songs from the demo, “Hunters”, appeared on the 3rd tape of the series, “Return of Farnborough Groove Vol. 3”

It seems there was also a “Farnborough Groove Best” of all 10 volumes of the series that was released in 2015. On it the band appeared once more with “Fire Up the Sun”.

Something interesting on the tape is that all lyrics are credited to Hawkes. Could it be that it was Gary Hawkes? Or Geoff Hawkes? I am just guessing here.

Also the art is pretty curious, it is credited to HA! Design and Miclantecuhli and Mosaic Guitar. It looks like a pre-hispanic muummy on the cover. It looks familiar but I can’t remember where I’ve seen it before.

I can’t find any other information about the band. Hopefully someone remembers them and can share details about them! Or even let us listen the songs from their demo?!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Giant Arc – Fire Up the Sun

I had written, two years ago, about the Bradford 80s band The Word on the blog. I had discovered them through a fantastic single, “Schoolboy Saint”, and I had wondered who were behind it. In the end I was lucky that Jon Macdonald got in touch with me and finally could get many questions answered! Here’s the interview!

++ Hi Jon! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? I hear you are still making music under Icecream4freaks, right? Tell me a bit about this project?

First of all Roque, thanks for your comments and interest. Icecream4freaks started out as a idea to work with some old friends. I had walked away from music for a while, but as it seems to be in my blood, I built a digital recording studio in my home (Addingham, Yorkshire, England) and started nervously writing some songs. Nervously, because I have always collaborated and not done words and music by myself. I didn’t know if anyone would like it but pressed ahead anyway. We have no record deal or management, but have managed some limited airplay on BBC national and local radio…
The line up is
Julian Walker: voice, occasional keyboards
Jo Dixon: guitars, programming and production,
Myself: songwriting, synthesisers, keyboards, bass etc etc
There will be more to come…

++ How similar or different would you say it is compared to The Word?

Compared to The Word, pretty different I’d say, but melodic indie pop is still the goal. Jock wrote the lions share of the songs, but we all contributed ideas.

++ And what are the future plans for the band? Where are you based, not in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the Bandcamp says?

I am based in Yorkshire, Julian and Jo in Wiltshire so live is an issue.

We would gig if there was a demand, but I’m not sure there is ha ha.

++ Let’s go back in time then. 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?

Well, my first instrument (and still my favourite) is drums. I am self taught with the aid of many famous drummers I listened to as a lad, notably John Bonham, Keith Moon, Billy Cobham and especially Jaki Leibezeit from Can (my all time favourite band). All these players were a source of influence, along with bands like King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, The Who and Talking Heads plus of course Can.

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

Previous bands I played in, whilst at art college mostly, were garage bands in Bradford, Yorkshire. They included such luminaries as Japanese Soldiers (with Mark Manning who went on to become Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction… somewhat notorious, Vex and Radio 5, where I met Jock.

Recordings were made by all these bands, but sadly I’m not much of an archivist…

++ Where were you from originally?

I am from a small town in Yorkshire called Skipton… I studied at Bradford Art School, so all my musical endeavors were based there.

++ How was Bradford at the time of The Word? 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 of The Word, Bradford was a fairly upbeat place with a thriving music scene, and a general drive for bands to make themselves heard. Venues like The 1 in 12 Club and Queens Hall were good to play and also a decent amount of pubs put bands on… I remember it as quite a creative time. We developed quite a decent following and played all over the country, including The Marquee and The Rock Garden in London.

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

Jock and I met in a pub called The Manville and hit it off… I joined his the band Radio 5. Some time later, we met Paul and decided to start The Word as both our outfits weren’t getting anywhere, although we had some interest from John Peel on Radio 1.

We just all got on, and got down to making ourselves the tightest unit we could be.

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

We practised in Jock’s girlfriends house in the basement. The neighbours were not impressed.

Creatively, we wanted power and melody above egotistical noodling!

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

We were into The Beatles Revolver and Rubber Soul era, The Word was a Lennon song.

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

Influences were definitely The Beatles, although we all liked a wide range of stuff, from Scott Walker to The Psychedelic Furs and The Cure.

++ Your first 7″ was the “Colour It!” 7″ released in 1983. It was released by Menace Music. It was your own label, right? How did that work for you, doing a self-release? How challenging was it? Did you enjoy doing the label part of music?

Yes… nobody was battering the door down to sign us so we did it ourselves… Paul was the main driver of that. I enjoyed designing the sleeve though…

++ Were these two songs your first recordings as The Word? And how was your experience at Box Studios and working with Nyk Goss who had worked with many high profile bands?

Nyk was always fun… we did those songs because they seemed to go down really well live.

++ Then came “The Next Big Thing” 12″. I believe you first release it under your own Menace Music and then Abstract Sounds signed you and re-release it. Is that how it happened? How did you end up releasing on this London label and how was your relationship with them? Did you had to go down to London?

Memories area bit hazy about Abstract… I know we signed something ha ha.

We mastered the ep in London and I had a cup of tea with Ozzy Osbourne who’s band were in the next studio.

++What about the photo on the sleeve? Who took it?

I think the sleeve pic was by Jean Reeman, Jock’s girlfriend who was into photography. Once again I did the design for it.

++ Then came “Schoolboy Saint” 7″. Something that caught my curiosity was that it came out on the sister label Abstract Dance. How come it came out there instead of in Abstract Sounds?

Sorry on this one Roque… I cannot for the life of me remember!

++ This time around you recorded in the well known Alaska Studios. How was that? Any different to recording in other studios?

Alaska was a better studio than we had been able to afford previously so the outboard was better… We used real violin, courtesy of Carolyn Harley which sounded great. Although the song was Jocks, I was pleased with my string arrangement on the track (derived from my backing vocals live)… a played the notes to Carolyn on a crappy kiddies keyboard and she did the rest.

++ Aside from the singles and EP you appeared on the compilation”Enemies of the State” that was put out by 1 in 12 Records. This label was actually put together by 1 in 12 Club in Bradford. I was wondering how important was that club for you and the city and if you were familiar or even friends with the bands there?

The 1 in 12 Club was quite a large part of our lives at that time, not only as a venue but as a social club. Paul was more involved than Jock and me, but we were friendly with a lot of other bands around at the time. Quite a few of them supported us on some gigs, like Wild Willy Becket, Boys from the East and various others. The 1 in 12 was so named because 1 in 12 people were un-employed in Bradford at that time.

++ Also quite curious that on the other three compilations you were in you always contributed always the same song, “Different”. Was that on purpose or just a coincidence?

Just a coincidence I think.

++ And are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased tracks?

There are quite a few tracks out there from The Word, I think… probably enough for a double LP… Paul might be the best person to ask,

He runs a record company in Bradford called Sound Shack Records… he goes by the moniker Nagbea these days… I haven’t seen him in a while, but you could try getting in touch…

++ Have you ever thought of putting all songs together in a retrospective release?

Again, Paul may have the old tapes… my copies are long gone.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Schoolboy Saint”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

“Schoolboy Saint” was written by Jock, one of his more accessible lyrics I think, about a kid at school everyone looked up to (I think).

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Word song, which one would that be and why?

My favourite Word song would have to be “Garden Street”.

Another great song from Jock, basically “Garden Street” was the name of the street Peter Sutcliffe (the Yorkshire ripper) lived Some one out there in Bradford should have copies of this stuff, but it was a long time ago 🙂

++ I read on the web that you won a Battle of the Bands hosted at the Halifax Town Hall. That must been exciting! What year was it, do you remember? How was that experience and what did you win?

I was never keen on Battle of the Bands type things… I never felt music should be a contest and I still don’t. Simon Cowell and his sort should be marooned on a desert island ha ha. I think we won some rather useless recording equipment.

++ What about other gigs? Did you play many?

We played loads of gigs all over the country… most of them were really well received.

We had a bit of a sense of humour… I remember one gig, no one was allowed in without a banana…also one where we organised a massive food fight… most gigs ended with stage invasions… usually triggered by our roadies… this could be quite dangerous, as the drummer I was a little safer.

The worst gigs in terms of audience were in London, as they were all to cool to dance!

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

One of the best gigs we did was supporting The Icicle Works at Queens Hall… we gave them a run for their money!

++ And were there any bad ones?

There are always bad gigs… I got very drunk at a gig in Sheffield and fucked all the songs up before falling of my stool… the rest of the band were pretty fed up! My excuse? Waiting too long to go on.

++ When and why did The Word stop making music? You were involved in Cotton and Poppy Factory, right? Can you tell me a bit about these bands? Were you involved in other bands?

I can’t remember exactly when we called it a day… I know we were frustrated not getting anywhere.Jock kind of gave up, and didn’t want to do much, but I kept at him suggesting a new band where I would switch to keyboards and we could write together.A friend of mine Mick Dale was invited to join when we felt we had some decent tunes.

The Poppy Factory was a book I read about World War 1, and it seemed a good name for what we were doing. No drug references should be inferred ha ha.

Mick was classically trained on piano and he and I divided up keyboards and bass between us… I was responsible for most of the melodies and Jock the vocals and guitar.Mick polished it all up. It worked for a time… we played a handful of gigs and got signed by Chrysalis Records in 1990.

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

Paul was with his own band Hyacinth House for a time, the last thing Jock and I did together was Poppy Factory.
I should say Poppy Factory ended rather badly… I think there was little regard for each other at the end… I have not seen Jock or Mick since 1991…I believe the two of them carried on for a while, but were dropped shortly after I left.

++ Has there been any The Word reunion?

There won’t be a Word reunion.

++ Did you get much attention from the press, radio? TV?

We had quite a bit of press from the local paper in Bradford, The Telegraph & Argus, and the odd bit of TV I think.

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

Can’t think of any one highlight, but I do remember enjoying nearly all of it. We had some laughs and a lot of respect from our peers.</p>

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

I really enjoy cooking and do a fair bit of walking… Yorkshire is good for that, oh and of course going to the pub with my friends and putting the world to rights ha ha

++ Never been in the Bradford area, but I’ll ask a local about some recommendations you’d have? Like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

If your ever in Bradford… two words… Curry and Beer… not necessarily in that order!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Hope this is ok Roque…
Some contacts you might find useful:
•Nagbea (Paul as was) Sound Shack Records, Bradford.
• Gary Cavanagh, 1 in 12 Club, Bradford, author of “Bradford Noise of the Valleys” books, a history of local Bradford bands.
Best wishes and anything I can help you with let me know.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Word – Schoolboy Saint

I continue working on the fanzine (this week I got another interview answered plus another song), I hope to have a better idea very soon for when I can publish it. Blog readers will be the first to know. I do think that the fanzine this time around will be dark blue/navy blue!

New music for this week? Here you go!

Remington Super 60: the Norwegian band is back with a new EP called just “New EP”! It will be released on tape by the Slovakian label Z Tapes in a limited run of 70 copies. The EP comes with 6 songs of terrific casiopop. It is amazing how this band gets better with the years!

Meltway: close to Norway, in Denmark, I discover this shoegaze band. They are releasing an EP titled “Everytime” on February 10th that will include 5 songs. So far we can preview just one of them, “From Blue”, which is a gorgeous lo-fi fuzzy track. The band is formed by Mathias Hammerstrøm, Mikkel Schmidt, Thomas Brunbjerg and Magnus Rullestad Bjørnsen.

The Radio Dept.: continuing with this Scandinavian journey we head to Malmö for the newest song by the legendary band The Radio Dept. It is called “The Absence of Birds” and there are two versions, the ‘normal’ one and also the one called “Untitled Version 2 by Civilistjävell”. I must say I prefer the original version, with lyrics, but have a listen yourselves. I really hope they come back soon to NYC!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: three more songs by the most prolific of all indiepop bands around. The San Francisco band now presents us with “I Hope I Never Fall in Love”, “Is Your Mind that Free? (ver2)” and “I Wouldn’t Die for Anyone”. Time to give them a listen!

Melenas: wow! wow! wow! the Pamplona band is back with an amazing new song called “3 segundos”. They have put together a video for it that is so much fun! It looks very 80s kitsch, a parody of American series of the time. They are definitely one of my favourite bands right now and you have to remember that last year they made the best single of 2019. What will bring this year? A new album? More concerts around the world? I hope to catch them live again. What a great band!

—————————————————————–

Sage: an aromatic plant with grayish-green leaves that are used as a culinary herb, native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Who were Sage? Who were behind this wonderful lofi pop band? I want to know!

The band was around in the nineties, that is what I know. Was it a French band? I think so, that would definitely be my guess. I say that because they appeared on two French compilations and that was it. Which compilations were they? Okay, just a minute. Let’s go in chronological order.

I was to discover the sweet female vocals of Sage on a song called “Silence is the Safest Thing” that appeared on a 1996 cassette compilation called “Imbroglio” (PAM 008) that the French label Pâte A Modeler released. This label put out very fine tape compilations in the nineties, I would love to listen to them all. Anyone has digitized them by any chance?

Imbroglio means an extremely confused, complicated or embarrassing situation. I didn’t know this word existed in English if I am honest. I thought it was an Italian word only. Anyhow, the band contributed not just one song on it, but three. The other two were “What it Means” and “Directions for Use”. I would love to listen to them of course. Other bands on the compilation that are familiar to me are Ego and River, but then I don’t know the other ones! Who were Gallous? or Monsieur Soprano?

Then a few years later, in 1999, the band would contribute two songs to a comp tape called “Love Song”. This tape was released by A Secret Song (019), another tape label that released some tapes in the late 90s. The songs they gave away were “Silence is the Safest Thing” and “What it Means”. Two songs taht had previously appeared on the other compilation. Did they only record these three? Didn’t they have more songs? I’d like to find out. This tape feels more familiar to an indiepop fan as you see names like Gypsophile, Watoo Watoo or Tahiti 80.

Sadly aside from this information, information about the compilations there were in, I can’t find anything else on the web. I will need my French friends to help me on this one. Because I do want to know more about them!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Sage – Silence is the Safest Thing

Well, well, I have started working on the fanzine now and it is looking great! I can give you heads up that the fanzine will feature The BV’s, Dayflower, Okama Flannel Boy, Salt Lake Alley, The Seashells, Stephen’s Shore and Den Baron. And maybe more! The CD that will accompany is slowly taking shape too and will let you know when I have more info on that too!

Now here are this weekend’s good finds!!

Náufragos Permanentes: my friend Cris, from Sevilla, shared this with me the other day and I was WOW! How haven’t I heard this band before. The band formed by José Luis Maestro on guitar, Pedro Ortega on bass Goyo Campos on drums and Emilio Carmona on guitar and vocals have recorded a classy EP called “Naranja Miel”. It has 5 songs and looks to be available only on digital format. I do hope a Spanish label picks them up as here’s lots of sweet jangle!

Violet Cheri: I got an email a few days ago about the newest single “I’m Fine” by this Stockholm based band. I am always skeptical about emails I get about bands, they are usually quite bad. But this one sounded pretty neat. Formed in 2015 the band is now working on their debut album which should be released this year.

Gaarden: the video for the Ruso-Estonian band’s “Shiny Day” was released 5 months ago! But I missed it and now I am re-discovering it. The band signed to the Australian label Library Records sounds ace. They are a very promising band and I hope I get to see them play live someday. The guitars are terrific and the melodies make are too.

Mint Julep: and finally the whole album by the Portland duo is up to listen! “Stray Fantasies” is so far the best album released this year. Now the question is where are the CDs, the vinyls? It only seems to be available online. There are 12 songs of perfectly crafted popsongs with electronic beats, dreamy pop melodies and smart lyrics. Don’t miss this one.

Mumrunner: Shelflife Records is back with a few superb releases. The latest is by this shoegaze band called Mumrunner, I believe from Portland, who had already made a splash touring Europe and Japan. They will be releasing an 8 song album called “Valeriana” on CD and vinyl. We can preview one of the tracks, “Foe”, which is truly fantastic. Is the rest of the album as good? I hope so!

—————————————————————–

What would be an average prophecy? I think it is an interesting question.

I wonder where this English 5-piece got their name from. I know very little about them (I still don’t own their records) so I am now digging the web, see what I can find.

The band was around the early nineties. Perhaps during the late 80s too. I know they put out two records in 1990. That’s why. Both of them were released by Dream Discs. It seems that this label was the band’s own. There are no other records listed for this label. Or maybe not? It is always hard to be sure 100%.

The first release was a 7″ (DREAM 0017) with two songs: “Was She the One?” on the A side and “Tie Me to the Railway Line”. The sleeve art shows a baby being carried, a black and white photo. The labels tell us that the songs were composed by Ben Gunstone and that they were produced and engineered by Pete Lamb.

The back of the sleeve tells us that the band was based in Melksham, Wiltshire. It is the first time I hear of this town to be honest.

Melksham is a town on the River Avon in Wiltshire, England, about 7 km northeast of Trowbridge and 10 km south of Chippenham. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 19,357, making it Wiltshire’s fifth-largest town after Swindon, Salisbury, Chippenham and Trowbridge. Melksham developed at a ford across the River Avon and the name is presumed to derive from “meolc”, the Old English for milk, and “ham”, a village. On John Speed’s map of Wiltshire (1611), the name is spelt both Melkesam (for the hundred) and Milsham (for the town itself). Melksham was a royal estate at the time of the Norman Conquest. Melksham is also the name of the Royal forest that occupied the surrounding of the area in the Middle Ages.

That same year, 1990, they put out a 3-song 12″ (DREAM 0212). The A side featured the fine “Goodnight England” while the B side had “This is My Land” and “Still Life”.  All three songs were produced and engineered by Steve Evans.

At this point we know the band was formed by:
Justin Daniell on bass
Daniel Tayler on drums
Andy Tilley on keys
Wendy Laws on vocals
Ben Gunstone on vocals, guitar and effects.

We know that “Goodnight England” was written by Ben Gunstone while the music is credited to himself and also Steve Evans. The two other songs are solely credited to Gunstone.

In 1991 the band would record a demo tape with three songs. The songs on it were “Bible Song”, “Over” and “V.H”. It was a white tape that was distributed by PowerPlay. It doesn’t seem as the tape had any paper inserts.

No compilation appearances are listed. So I look into what other bands were the band members involved with. It looks like 15 years after, in 2015, Andy Tilley was involved in a project called Real Deep. Ben Gunstone, in the other hand, released two solo records: “Merchant Venturer” (2000) and “Songs from the Corner of the Room” (2004). I believe too he was in a band called Johnny Panic during the Britpop era.

I dug and dug for more information about the band but I couldn’t really find much. I wonder what years were they active, if they had more demo tapes, and what happened them… many questions which I hope to get answers some time!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Some Average Prophecy – Goodnight England

Friday! I hope I have news next week! In the meantime I leave you with some great music!

Ultracrush: it is by no no mystery that Australia is one of the indiepop hotspots of the world. All the time I find new quality songs coming from there. The latest discovery is this Sydney five-piece and their track “Leave”, a lovely bouncy jangly track. But also don’t forget to check their other song on Bandcamp, “Swimming” as it is as good!

Peel Dream Magazine: “Agitprop Alterna” is the name of the new album Joe Stevens from NYC is releasing with Slumberland Records and Tough Love Records on April 3rd. To promote this terrific second album by his band (After 2018’s “Modern Meta Physic”) they just released a new video for the track “Pill”!

Figure Austère: this Paris band is releasing a tape on February 14th called “That’s Gone Now”. The tape will include 8 tracks but at this point we can only preview the first song, “Drippy Eyes”, which is a wonderful catchy bedroom pop song, like the ones from 15 or so years ago, a popsong like they don’t do anymore!

Tops: the Montreal, Canada, band is back with a new album called “I Feel Alive” which will be released on April 3rd. 11 tracks of superb pop I am guessing. Guessing because I have only heard the song that gives the name to the album, “I Feel Alive”. That’s the one song we can preview on Bandcamp but what a good song it is. The album will be available on vinyl, CD and even cassette!

Sunfruits: another Australian band, this time from Melbourne but on a French label! Wow. The label is called Six Tonnes de Chair Records and are releasing the band’s “Certified Organic EP” on February 11th and I think this is my favourite new release at the moment. I want a copy of it. The EP comes with 6 songs and you can preview two of them, “Above the Clouds” and “Sunfruits”. Catchy, good melodies, boy/girl vocals, just up my street.

—————————————————————–

I’m heading to Sweden and not to Mexico on this post. Some swedes had no better idea to call their band The Mexicos and I don’t blame it, it is a beautiful country. Did they ever visit it? I hope they did.

I remember listening to them back in the mid 2000s. It was the time of Soulseek and blogs. I used to love all things Sweden then and collected CDRs, demos and live gigs of small Swedish indiepop acts. Among the labels that were important at the time, one that championed bedroom lofi pop was Bedroom Records. And it was them indeed who would release the self-titled mini-album “The Mexicos” (BED018).

This CDR was released in 2005 and included six songs: “Lofi Referee”, “Grenoble”, “The Paralympics”, “Undone & Undo”, “The Mexican Fury” and “It Takes Two to Finish Disco”. The art for the record is credited to Lisa Hall and Tommy Svenningson and the only other credit on the sleeve is that of John Haglund who played drums on “Undone & Undo” and “It Takes Two to Finish Disco”.

The band did appear on three compilations. The first one was from 2005 and was the very fine “Popkonst, Love & Understanding” which was released by Popkonst Recordings (POPK12). The band contributed the song “Undone & Done”.

A cover of Haddaway’s euro-pop hit “What is Love”, was included in the “This is Love” CD compilation released by Dig Your Own Grave (DIG003) in 2006. Actually every band on this compilation covered this same song. 12 bands! Among them we find Komon, My Enemy, Bare Knees and All of My Brother’s Girlfriends.

Lastly the band had the song “Förmögenhet” on a compilation called “Har Du Hört Den Förut? – 29 Svenska Artister Tolkak Förmögenhet” that was released by Diskret Förlag. Some very fine bands appear here like Action Biker, Ring Snuten, Gentle Touch among others.

I kow the band used to have a website and also a Myspace. Sadly these don’t exist anymore. So there’s barely any information about them. I will rely on you, my Swedish friends, to fill in the blanks! Who were The Mexicos? From where in Sweden did they come from? Did they have more songs? What happened to them? Were they in other bands? Many questions that I hope get answered some day!

EDIT February 22nd 2020.

My friend David has pointed me to some interesting new info about The Mexicos!

First of all there was a blog for The Mexicos. Here there were shared a bunch of songs which are not available to download anymore. Among these covers we find: “Sweet Chili of Mind”, “What is Love”, “Strange Things”, a cover of Aaliyah’s “Try Again (Remexified)”, three covers of Håkan Hellström “Klubbland – betaversion”, “Nu kan du få mig så lätt (who can hell stream)” and “En midvinternatts dröm”. According to David the band’s leader was called Mikael and he also found out that he used to collaborate with a Douglas Holmquist. Together they were called the Mex-Icons and they would do more songs like “Shooting Star” a cover of the Amy Diamond’s original.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Mexicos – Undone & Undo

So in the end I didn’t find time to post while I was away in Mexico. I’m now organizing myself starting with the many emails that are not answered. I did mail yesterday every order from last week and that is quite some progress I think. But, I have already got a lot of assets for the fanzine so that’s what I plan to do on the weekend. I also need to see the status of the new releases. Many things then.

There’s always time for new music though, right?

Deserta: the LA dreampop band has just released their album “Black Aura My Sun” on Felte Records just a few weeks ago. The record is available on vinyl LP (in black only now, the mint green/sea foam colored vinyl is now sold out) and CD. We can preview three out of seven tracks on Bandcamp at the moment and that is enough to know this is a very promising record.

Seablite: Meritorio Records from Spain and Emotional Response from the US are releasing a 10″ vinyl EP by the terrific California based band on February 21st. The EP will come with 4 songs and is going to be titled “High-Rise Mannequins”. At the moment we can preview the third track. It is called “Skeleton Crunch” and what a song it is! This release is one not to miss!

Flowerbed: the Denton, Texas, shoegaze/dreampop combo has released a new song a few days ago. It is titled “Blame” and it is a terrific track. It seems it is only available as a digital single but as it is very good I hope it makes it to a record sometime!

Elsa Lester: “Back from Vacation” is the name of the new EP by Lisa Van Kampen. It has 5 poppy tracks of fine bedroom pop all made by herself. It looks like the release is only available digitally at the moment, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t enjoy tracks like “Sweet Ghost Inc.” or “Cactus”. Good stuff.

My Violainé Morning: I remember them from many years ago, but I haven’t been following the Bandung, Indonesia, band for the last few years I must admit. Their latest track is called “Memories” and it is a digital single that sounds ace! Let’s keep an eye on them, see what’s coming up in the future!

—————————————————————–

Wilde Clube Records have released many of my favourite records of the early 90s. At the same time many of the bands they released are still unknown to me. Especially the ones among the last releases of their catalogue. One of them were The Badgers, who I know very little about.

They released a 12″, 4-track EP, in 1992. It had the catalogue number Wilde 12. The EP was titled “Picnic” and included two songs on each side. The A side had the title song “Picnic” and “Cycleface” whereas the B side had “Ragged Jack” and “Rejuve”.

I should order a copy of the record for myself. In the meantime I am using Discogs to get some information. It seems that the four songs were recorded at Purple Rain Studios in Yarmouth and were produced by Richard Hammerton and the band.

The band was formed by Emma Hewitt on vocals, Robin Jeynes on guitar, Mike Jeynes on drums and Darren Long. An obvious question, were Robin and Mike related?

Interestingly enough the blog Wilfully Obscure dedicated a post to the band back in April 2013. Why did I miss this post? The author complains about the band’s name, that it is quite hard to search for them in Google. I agree about this. But then, in the early 90s, who would have thought that! Something interesting I learn from the comments from a reader called David Dent is that the band recorded an album but split before it could be released. Another reader says that the album was supposed to be called “Giants at Sea”.

Then there is a comment from someone that was in the band but sadly doesn’t has the real name, instead it appears as “White Boots”. Thanks to that we know that the band started as a two piece that were going under the name of The Railway Badgers. This two piece was formed by Rob Jeynes on four string guitar and Luke Barrett on bass. Then people joined the band and the 12″ was recorded. Also at some point a Scot called Tony Aldridge joined the band. He mentions too a band called The Volunteers who were also from the local North Norfolk area (as many of the Wilde Club bands) who they played many gigs together.

Indeed the band hailed from the village of Guist, in Norfolk. Guist is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of 6.80 km2 and had a population of 242 in 102 households at the 2001 census, including Twyford and increasing slightly to a population of 250 in 110 households at the 2011 Census. Twyford House is a Grade II listed manor house on the edge of the village. The local pub is called The Ordnance Arms, where they have an adjacent Thai restaurant. As well as this business, the village also has a number of prospering farms in and around the local area.

And that’s all I could find on the web really. I would have loved to attend any of these Wilde Club gigs, with the bands that were in the label. The Badger sounds great. At the same time they sound quite different to other bands in the label, with the female vocals. I would love to listen to their long lost album. If it sounds as good as the songs on the 12″, then it is a true treasure waiting to be rediscovered.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Badgers – Cycleface