Just five days away from NYC Popfest and here I am trying to catch up before I’m swept by four nights of indiepop. Four days of indiepop that will paralyze the city. My city. A fabulous showcase of classic and up and coming bands. I have to say I’m mostly excited for the new-ish bands, as I have already seen the “established” ones! I will always prefer to see something new than seeing something for a second time. Been there, seen that, give me a surprise. My favourite Cindi Lauper is playing again, but then, that’s the norm, she plays every indiepop festival in the world. I must be a masochist, but I’ve seen the ukulele ensemble more times than any other band in my life. How did that happen? I don’t know. I must have a serious talk with all promoters in the world. But it will be hard, now she has street cred. Oakland label you know.

But there are some really exciting bands in my to-see list. Years of friendship and admiration, and good times, and beers, and I get to see Amanda play for the third time. First time as Pushy Parents. I heard their smash-song “Secret, Secret” so many months before it came out. And I was hooked. It made me unhappy not being able to share it. It was too good. And the release date seemed so far away. And then the 7″ was released. And they swore never to play live. I must congratulate Maz from Popfest to convincing Amanda to come and play these songs. I can’t really wait.

What about Cola Jet Set? I’m just thrilled. Sure, they don’t have Anita Dinamita fronting the band anymore, but I’m sure I will adore them. How couldn’t I? It’s Felipe’s band. Felipe from Los Fresones Rebeldes. One of the best bands that Spain has given the world. And Cola Jet Set is not far behind. I wonder if they will treat us all with a cover of “Al Amanecer”. All of my Spanish friends tell me they always play it. But then, here in the US, maybe not many know this classic song! They are also playing this Tuesday for free at The Cake Shop. Seriously, I must go. Songs like “Suena el Teléfono” or “Quiéreme” are indiepop hits in my book.

At last I’ll get to see The Electric Pop Group. A Swedish band I’ve followed since their early days, when they self-released their first and brilliant self-titled album. I was running the Mira el Péndulo blog back then and Martin was kind enough to send me a copy. “Popgirly” was played so many times at home. From that day on, the band started to gather a loyal following, signing to Matinée, and release a couple of EPs and another album. They played many festivals, but none of those I attended for a reason or another. At last, I will be at the front row.

Burning Hearts? Check. When they announced that they had to cancel their Indietracks gig I was bummed. I was looking forward to it. Jennifer was even sadder. I don’t know if the rest was too. Sure, they were replaced by The Parallelograms who were, GLORIOUS, but I wondered and wondered how this Finnish duo would sound live. How would that masterpiece called “I Lost My Colour Vision” sound at the church stage at Indietracks. How. It doesn’t matter now. They will perform here, in my city. I met them back in 2008, Henry and Jessica, when they came with Cats on Fire. Remember chatting a bit back in Union Pool. Jessica and her perfect Spanish. I was impressed. Wonder how will their masterpiece “Into the Wilderness” sound here.

Speedmarket Avenue. I remember back in the day, they had this perfect 7″, way before signing to Elefant, “He’s a Rebel”. What a song that was. And then they were quiet. Very quiet. Suddenly they signed to Elefand and released “Way Better Now”, another smasher. And then an album, and more 7″s. Still, the song for me, is that one, “He’s a Rebel”. Will they play it? I know Amanda is doing backing vocals for them. A nice plus. I’m very curious about how Isak and his gang can pull this one off. It should be great. I’m counting on them.

Dot Dash. I interviewed them not long ago. Perhaps they have the darkest sound among the bands I want tp see next weekend. A bit more angular, a bit more post-punk, but you know, done with a lot of taste. It promises a lot.

Back in late 2010 I released a compilation called “Do You Think It Will Snow Tonight?”. In that little 5-song EP, a brand new band was captivating everyone with their sweet sound: Seapony. At that point their 4 track demo was a common sight in every website and on all my friends’ facebook pages. Soon they released a 7″ and then an album. This Seattle band is one of the best new indiepop bands around, by far. They deserve to get bigger.

Then Pale Lights should be good. Mr Phil Sutton’s new band is jangly jangly, and he sings! If you remember The Soft City EP, he was singing on that, and it was quite fantastic. Then on the album he left singing duties to Dora Lubin, and whereas it was great, truly great, I always wondered why did Phil stop singing, he should do it again. And now he is doing it again, and he does it pretty well! I saw them a couple of months back in Brooklyn, at an art gallery. They were just formed and you could see something good shaping up. I believe they have or will have a 7″ out pretty soon, on their own label Calico Cat. I hope it’s ready for next weekend.

And last but not least, my favourite Canadian band: Sleuth. I’m very thrilled that one of the most talented bands around is playing New York. It’s true, not many know about them. Let’s say they are Vancouver’s best kept secret. And hopefully in the near future Cloudberry will be putting out their first 7″. That’s the plan at least. Very happy to see them after going for beers last September when I visited their city. Now it’s time for them to be in my city. NYC. I’m very excited to hear their new songs. So far, only a tape released, and one song on the compilation that came bundled with my last fanzine, Cloudberry 406. They are wonderful. And I hope they dazzle the crowd.

I feel that’s half of the bands playing Popfest? So, quite positive. Then of course there’s Comet Gain and Pooh Sticks which I’ve seen before and I love. So should be one of the best weekends of this year. For sure.

And I don’t feel the same way with Indietracks sadly. A friend said that it’s perhaps I’m getting old. But I don’t think that’s it. I feel promoters are getting old. Maybe that’s wrong to say. But I don’t feel old. I still crave for new music and new bands. But some still stick to the same old. But more on that on my next post. This is pretty long already.

But before we move to the obscure band of the week, let me tell you that I have brand new, and very limited, Cloudberry Records tote bags! Postage is included in the price, just heads up. And The Deddingtons release date is June 1st. Also you can now pre-order Earth First’s debut 7″. Many more news will be announced soon. A new fanzine for example. Yes! And a Strange Idols retrospective on Cloudberry Kitchen! And more. More. Much More. Just keep in touch, and I will keep you in the loop.

A flashback in time. I remember NYC Popfest 2007. Up the stairs to the second floor of Europa, in Brooklyn. Pants Yell! are playing. I don’t care much about them. “Heartless”,  I thought. I walk towards the merch table. And there are these tapes inside a briefcase. I know the band name. I’ve heard some of their songs. My friend Johanna shared with me some MP3s years before. Those were the times when we were on Soulseek and she was the mysterious ‘rascalette’, way before she wrote songs with Mr. Dan Treacy. I recognized most of the tape’s songs. But I never imagined they had a US release. The band name was Crime Time. They were Swedish. And they have been forgotten.

OK, not completely forgotten; I’ve actually tried in vain getting in touch with them a couple of times. I want to include them on The Sound of Starke Adolf compilations. No reply though.

The songs on the self-titled tape, released by Rub-A-Dub Tape Club,  include:
A1. 18 & Waiting
A2. A Dizzy Day in May
A3. I’m Just Waiting to Hear You Say You Made a Mistake
B1. We Need to Talk
B2. No Time
B3. What Would It Be?

Songs A1, A3, B1 and B2 were originally released on a CD-R titled “Serenghetto” back in 2004 I believe. In this CD-R their “hit” song was included: “Stop Playing Football”. I assume this CD-R was self-released. A1, A2, A3 and B3 were recorded in Lenken’s basement in February 2004 and also in Apelangen’s kitchen and garage in June 2004. They were mixed by the great Mattias Malm (Everyday Mistakes, Horsechimes). I wonder if this Lenken is the same as Victor Lenken, my good friend from Second-Hand Furniture. I wouldn’t be surprised. He has good taste.

B1 and B2 in the other hand were recorded in July 2003. So all in all,  that’s 7 songs total. I do know there is another song recorded, a superb cover of the Television Personalities’ “Smashing Time”. So that makes it to 8. Were there any more? Any clues?

The band was formed by Peter Moller on vocals and guitar, Molly Streijffert on vocals and guitar, Terese Nordstrom on bass and trumpet and Mikael Ellingsen on drums. When did they split, I don’t know. What are they up to, who knows. All I know is that they made fantastic crash pop songs, ramshackle greatness, something the Swedes were doing perfectly back in those early days of the past decade. Pure fun, youthful tunes, and guitars that crackle. Those were the days when I fell in love with indiepop. And later, that was the time when I fell in love with NYC Popfest. Always a bag full of surprises.

Oh! And one last thing, I’m DJing on the Saturday show of NYC Popfest. Say hello!

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Listen
Crime Time – Stop Playing Football

Thanks so much to my favourite club promoter around, Matthew Rimell for this interview. Right now, TODAY, I don’t think there’s any better indiepop club around than Big Pink Cake. Matthew and Heather (Big Pink Cake) have been going for some time now, seen many other clubs pop up and then disappear, but they keep going strong. I still remember the first time I met Matthew, a long time ago, in Hamburg for a our friend Nana’s birthday party. We both played tunes, spinned the classics and the should-be-classics, and danced until the next day. Fantastic times. An exquisite taste, and true to his politics, Matthew, and his Big Pink Cake, deserve the recognition of the whole indiepop community.

++ First questions first, how did you two meet?

We met at school during music lessons and it evolved into a friendship with a shared feeling of stuff that was going on at the time

++ And how did you get into indiepop?

Well I was really influenced by my older brothers record collection, stuff like early Felt, Postcard Records, stuff on 4AD and Factory stuff jumped out at me. But then somewhere during early 1985 a band called The Jesus and Marychain grapped my attention which led to me wanting to know more about Creation records.

++ So Big Pink Cake. What made you start the club night? What is the manifesto?

Partly because no one at that time seemed to be talking or doing anything to celebrate the importance of C86. The music around that time led to so many special memories and I thought it was a shame that it wasn’t being seen as something very significant..as I think it really really was. We had a chat as friends do in a pub, on the bus home came up with a few names that seemed right, but Big Pink Cake seemed perfect in many ways..it still does. The manifesto is simple, its about celebrating indie pop and its relations with the kind of passion that we think it deserves. Big Pink Cake is inclusive and will always be so. Its about having a positive and friendly attitude…we definitely don’t do egos.

++ When naming your club night what other songs were options for the name? Or was it a straightforward decision?

Well looking at the original notebook the other choices were Completely and Utterly or the Only Fun in Town, Big Pink Cake seemed to say more about us really and we totally identified with it massively, aesthetically and I guess politically too.

++ Back in the 80s I’d assume you were going to lots of clubs. Which were your favourites? And how much influence of those nights is there on Big Pink Cake?

Well The Tropic was a massive influence on us I guess as we used to go together, the sticky floor was a bit gross but it really was spectacular. The Western Star Domino Club was special and quite a unique little place. I think the biggest influence on me was the attitude, it was refreshingly optimistic…which you certainly did not get with other very prominent sub cultures at the time. It was definately inspiring to be around something that felt fresh and different and weirdly comforting that some people were really really not getting it at all! that kind of made it all the more special.

++ Are many of your friends from back then not into indiepop any more? Why do you think this has happened?

I don’t have many friends that are still into indie pop that are were into it then. Around 1985-87 Heather and I would go to The Tropic and we were the youngest ones there! Most of the people there were university students or older, we hadn’t even taken our O levels yet. But the people I did meet a little bit later on got a bit fed up with indie pop and became mods or more influenced by the 60s thing, or started to listen to entirely different music altogether.

++ And so, what have kept you into indiepop and doing it for the kids?

I don’t know. Its what a person references I suppose a feeling of what has really shaped you and what you identify with. For me the indie pop stuff that I bought back then is as fresh and inspiring as it was when I was 15 or 16. The idea of independent pop being presented as something so special and with the love, care and attention to the whole package is just beyond words really, its an example of how things could and should be.

++ Matthew, you’ve DJed in many countries and in many cities. Do you have a favourite one so far? What crowd has surprised you the most and why?

I have DJed in lots places and all of them have been a complete joy and honour to play in. I loved the Hamburg P!O!P! fest in 2009 that was so special…I couldn’t help myself and tried to play indie pop with punk and people seemed to like it (sorry Pete from Horowitz, if I sort of took over.) Sometimes I can get a bit possessed by the proceedings…but Daniel from So Tough So Cute was a massive inspiration in just going for it and throwing yourself completely and utterly into the music. Crowds that surprise me is a difficult one, one thing you learn I think whilst DJing is never assume anything, this will work or this won’t work etc, it really is about creating an atmosphere and going with it and never take people for granted.

++ What about the Big Pink Cake Weekenders. You just did one in July, right? How different are they from a regular Big Pink Cake night? Are they easy to organize having so many bands?

The weekenders are hard work and Heather and I are nail biting the whole time especially with the lead up, with things happening here and things not going quite to plan there. We do love it though, the bands that play are always great, the people, the links other people make, its totally worth it. We have learned lots and lots from it, basically to relax a bit more as opposed to having a bit of a nervous breakdown, it gets easier with each one simply because you’ve done it before and you relax into it better.

++ From club night, to a label. How has your experience running a label been so far?

Well we’re starting off quite small and that’s what we want to do. We want to put on bands that we’re passionate about and do them the justice that they deserve. We see it as a bit of a natural progression really,it certainly wasn’t our intention but we love the bands that we put on and to do something extra for them is all the more worthwhile.

++ First release was the “Piece of Cake” compilation that included bands that had played in your club. By now many more bands have played in Big Pink Cake. Is there any plan to do a second volume?

Yep, one is in the pipeline, but its hard organising a compilation, people think they have to record something new, or we haven’t done anything for a while and so you have to reexplain it and it can take forever…but we’re on the case.

++ And speaking of which, what have been the best gigs you’ve experienced at Big Pink Cake?

Too many to mention really, I think one that sticks out for me was seeing Francois And the Atlas Mountains perform at The Avon Combined Services club that was just so magnificent, organic and completely spellbinding, seeing Gregory Webster do an acoustic set was pretty amazing, Pocketbooks at The Cube, The Wendy Darlings at The Cube cinema with films as a backdrop was pretty special. Too many really I could go on and on.

++ Second release is the “Best Of” The Groove Farm. They are from Bristol, just like you. So I want to ask how important is this band is for you as well as for your town? And which are your favourite songs by them?

Actually I might be wrong but I think The Groove Farm are from Plymouth, they moved up to Bristol during 1985, I might be wrong though. The Groove Farm is a massively important band for Heather and I. It was the first band that Heather and I were really really passionate about together and totally loved! So for us to put out the cd was like a dream come true, I couldn’t believe it when it was happening, it was a sort of I’d better pinch myself moment. My favourite songs by the Groove Farm are ‘Couldn’t Get to Sleep, ‘Corrupt,’ and ‘It Always Rains On Sundays.’ Bristol well mixed feelings really, its nice to go home, but as you well know I don’t live there! Most people are surprised to see me at gigs in London and think that I’ve come up especially. Bristol is where I grew up and my family are all still there…but really its a bit too small for me, I like living in the busyness of London.

++ Is there more plans to release more old gems from Bristol?

Yep, The Kick Inside have got a release coming out as does Jonny Collins of Modesty Blaise, but we don’t want to keep it Bristolcentric as that would be a bit daft in our eyes

++ And the last release so far, the brand new Garlands 7″. One of the best singles this year for sure. I can go on and on why I love this band, but I want you to tell me why do YOU love it? And what can people expect from this single?

The Garlands are one of the most important bands right now. Perfect perfect POP, a total rush of sheer joyous energy, Christin’s voice is just so wonderful and angelic. They remind me of all the reason’s why I love indie pop, the songs are up there with the best of them. From the single you can expect two songs that will capture, stir and melt your heart and leave you wanting more and more, all dazzled by the sheer beauty of it all.

++ So on the label side, what are you bringing to all of us in the near future?

We have some surprises in store, any more would be spilling the beans…and we can’t and we won’t, but yes we’re really excited…we can only hope you will too.

++ Let’s talk a bit about yourselves. When you are not doing Big Pink Cake related stuff, what other hobbies or interests do you do?

Well I’m in a band called The Fireworks, that’s quite new at the moment and we’re only into our 4th gig, I love to read when I can, mainly philosophy or stuff with a philosophical perspective that might be a bit challenging or make me think about why stuff works or why people think in specific ways. I really love 60s glass and have a few prized possessions, I also love doing nothing, my busy day job sees to that pursuit very well.

++ And what about the obvious question, can you bake a cake?

I used to make cakes every Saturday when I was about 14…but I’m probably no good at it now…I love cooking though…cakes as ace…I can bake a pretty good flapjack, thats because they’re easy.

++ Last question, so, club, label, when are you writing the Big Pink Cake fanzine?

I’d love to but I know I’d sound like Matt Haynes almost immediately, the ‘Are You Scared To Get Happy?’ fanzines were so amazing and so passionate that…well I think I would just come across as too passionate and worry if I’d embarrass myself, but then I think just get on with IT!!! Looking at fanzines though, they do seriuosly take a long time to do, especially if you want to do it well, art work that says it right, colour of words that expresses it in the right way…I’d love to you’ve planted a seed maybe…who knows maybe one day.

++ Thanks again Matthew, anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say a big massive thank you to all the amazing and fantastic people that we’ve met so far along the journey so far, it really has been brilliant and one thing that Heather and I say constantly is how wonderful it is to meet so many great people within the world of indie pop that make your heart go ‘awww’ and give you a special feeling of being humbled by peoples loveliness.

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Listen
Razorcuts – Big Pink Cake

It’s “Heaven When You Smile”. It is. And I’m waiting for it. ‘Waiting for the sun to shine, waiting for you. Waiting for a rainbow, waiting for the rain, waiting for you’. I’m in heaven when you are by my side. ‘Waiting for my moon to rise’. ‘Waiting for the stars to sing’. The song plays and paralyzes me for a moment. ‘Waiting for the clouds to dance’. The lyrics, simple but evocative, set a mood immediately in my room. A sunny Sunday outside my bedroom, but inside, the rain seems to be pouring and the grey clouds start pushing the ceiling onto the ground.

Melancholy and nostalgia vs. happy-go-lucky. A discussion that springs up often when talking about indiepop. There seems to be two different schools, one that celebrates the first, and one that does the same for the second. The first one seems to be rooted in the days of C86 Britain, whereas the second, in the twee 90s of American indiepop. Which one I prefer? The first clearly, but I do enjoy the second when done correctly. But then, I know many people that can only do one or the other. And that’s when the discussion starts.

I’m transported back to those days in Spain, where I was in heaven. The train rides crossing uncivilized lands of emptiness. And empty trains as well. Tourist on Monday. Tourist on Tuesday. Weekdays. And then under the shadow of Segovia’s aqueduct, feeling the weight of past history over my shoulders, things started to make sense. The candy stores, which I avoid religiously, made her smile and giggle. For me, it was walking through medieval streets in Toledo, where every store display had swords for sale. And before everything, I waited. I waited hours, at Barajas airport until I got a tap on my shoulder. Everything was going to be good from then on.

I saw the record sitting on Uwe’s shelf. Grace Kelly’s photo printed in color on the sleeve. Grace Kelly over a black background. Angry Flowers on the top left corner and an evocative name for a song “Heaven When You Smile”. Uwe asked me if I know about this single. He says it’s rare now, but five years ago it wasn’t hard to find in record shops in Berlin. I have never seen this record ever. But I recognize the label, Exile Records. I have a Tumbling Hearts 7″ on this same record label. And it’s great. “There’s a TVPs cover on this 7-inch” – Uwe tells me. Sadly it’s the only copy he has left and he has already sold it on eBay, to a rich Japanese customer probably.

My Grace Kelly walking through fountains in Parque del Retiro, taking photographs in the royal gardens at La Granja de San Ildefonso. Circumnavigating Avila on top of their medieval walls, tracing the whole old town while we stopped to gaze the horizon from each tower that raised towards the sun. And climbing even higher on the tower at El Alcazar de Segovia, among photo-frenzy Japanese tourists. We kept getting closer to heaven.

Museums, cathedrals, churches, we went to them all. We went to Cervantes’ house and took pictures with two of my childhood heroes, Don Quijote and Sancho Panza. We were in awe at El Escorial. And later in Madrid we ended a week of smiles at the Popfest, ending brilliantly with The Close Lobsters, on a comeback that was nothing but glorious. And then I DJed. And we danced. I played Hormones in Abundance and Patrik danced to it. And TCR. God, if I will ever get the chance to play their songs for people to dance again. My favourite band for years.

And then it was tears in Barajas after a sleepless night. And now we end up again in the “waiting” situation. 2 months and counting for Wales. For a tap in my shoulder at Stansted airport. And then a train ride, one that I know well by now, to Nottingham. Then to Mansfield. Never been there, but my beloved Travelodge, with it’s picturesque Little Chef, is already fully booked. Every year it’s harder to go to Indietracks. It may as well be my last. I want to visit new countries, new places.

I play the next song on the record. The B side of this record is indeed a fabulous rendition of the Television Personalities classic “Painting By Numbers”. And the A side is a wonderful slice of pop. “Waiting for Heaven” has the growling of the Wedding Present, the romanticism of The Wild Swans and the urgency of Yeah Jazz. It rapidly became a favourite of mine. Since that day. With the chiming guitar all over the song, and the beautiful and simple solo that jangles and jangles. It’s a love letter, it’s a hymn to any who has ever fallen in love.

The Angry Flowers hailed from Göttingen, Germany, a university town in Lower Saxony. Across town, the river Leine river runs through, and it still fondly remembers the days when it was part of the Hanseatic League. The population in 2006 was 129,686. This release is from 1986, wonder how many people lived there then. Less than 100,000 for sure. The band was formed by John Rose on vocals, Matthew (whose real name is Matthias Hanich) on bass, Harry on guitar and Ralph on drums. I suppose they had German names and just for the occasion they had their names in English, as it’s the case of Matthias. The release was recorded in autumn ’86 at Beton/Kassel and it is dedicated to Miss Grace. Of course. Some other credits on the sleeve include cover design by Ted Baxter and the back cover photo by Alaska. The engineer was Roland Platz and the record was produced by the vocalist of the band, John Rose.

And that is all I’ve could find about this GREAT 7″ record. Did they have more songs? Whatever happened to them? It seems Matthias ended up studying in London, maybe he stayed there? And did they make music after? If you know the wheareabouts of the Angry Flowers please let us know!

Today I finally managed to buy a copy of the 7″. From Uwe. Of course.

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Listen
Angry Flowers – Heaven When You Smile

I should be taking a nap but instead I decided to keep my promise of a blog post every weekend. Well, every weekend that I’m in town. I just came back from visiting the MOMA PS1 museum here in Queens, with Scott B from Summer Cats. I got in for free as I’m a Long Island City resident. To prove I’m a resident I showed an invoice on my iPhone to the clerk of my latest CD order on Amazon.com, a Rudolf Rocker album. My name was printed there along the shipping address, my address. Prior to that we went for brunch at a cozy place called LIC Market. Hash, red peppers, eggs and duck for me. And toast, always toast, and butter on it.

We talked about the usual, indiepop. Something I learned today, that I didn’t know at all, was that James Turrell, an artist I studied in university, and who has been converting Roden crater into an amazing work of art, is Jen Turrell’s (Rabbit in Red, Boyracer) dad. How cool is that. Now the Flagstaff, Arizona connection makes so much sense. We chatted about the Melbourne scene, Summer Cats, The Motifs, The Zebras, and he tipped me that Hugh from Summer Cats is starting a band with the guys from Audiobooks. Promising. Oh! and Scott is building a music social network, much better than last.fm. Just wait and see!

Waking up early has never been a skill of mine. But yesterday I did it. Even earlier than on weekdays. At 7am. I know, many of you think that’s normal, and I’m complaining for no reason. But for me, it is very hard. It takes a big effort to get out of bed. But I managed. The reason: Princeton Record Exchange. On Record Store day.

I went there with two friends from work, one that is very much into classical music, and the other who has a very eclectic taste but knows quite a bit about indiepop. On the way to Princeton he had Comet Gain playing on the car, and on the way back he had Gold-Bears. It feels strange when someone not connected to the scene is into this music. I don’t mean it in an elitist way, but it feels everyone that loves indiepop eventually gets sucked in and gets involved with the scene, releasing records, promoting, blogging, doing something.

Princeton is such a pretty town. It’s a shame we didn’t have much time to explore it. The university buildings had a varied architecture and there was a good vibe to the whole town, even though it’s in New Jersey. Upon arriving to the record store, greeting us with a shocking yellow sign, we noticed a long line of people waiting to get in. As long as two blocks. It was a terrible idea to come here on record store day, was my first thought. I wasn’t interested in any records from record store day, and making that line seemed unbearable. But if I was going to be there, I wouldn’t mind picking some stuff and then selling it on eBay. Why not. If I don’t do it, someone else will. Maybe pick up a Bruce Springsteen?

But luckily things turned out better than expected, people that didn’t want to purchase any record store day special release didn’t have to make the line. So we went in and got lost among thousands of records. Most of them were crap, as usual, but there were some good finds. Especially on the CD section, where for $2 I found many late 90s and early 00s indiepop albums. On the vinyl section there wasn’t much to be found. Not much second-hand, and very little 7″. But still, it’s fun to browse and dream that you’ll find a hidden gem, one that has been waiting patiently for you, one that other people doesn’t even know what it is.

It really gets me when people at the record store, other shoppers, try making conversation with you. There was this guy, long-haired, wearing jean shorts and Timberland shoes, who was browsing records next to me, being very loud on the phone. He seemed proud that he was spending hundreds of dollars. I felt bad for him. He clearly doesn’t know about eBay. Anyhow, at some point he grabs one of the box sets on the shelf above the 12″s. And he turns to me and asks: “Have you heard this box set by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? Any good?”. I was puzzled. I only answered, “No, sorry”. I mean, do I look as someone who would listen to that? But wait, there’s more. Ten minutes later another long-haired guy, with beard this time, asks me, “Have you seen any Ozzie?”. So now, people expect me to browse records for them? And also, browse bad music? I should stop wearing black t-shirts and black jeans. Clearly I should become some sort of traffic light, more colorful, more “poppier”.

And today, having internet back at home (it didn’t work for 2 whole days!! it was awful, a nightmare!), I started designing some ideas for a new Cloudberry website. It’s shaping up nicely, but will probably ask some friends to test the UI and give me some feedback about the design. Alexandra was telling me that there was no reason to change the old one, but I feel, after 5 years, the site has kind of grown old. It’s not really visually striking or anything like that. I feel it serves it’s purpose, but it’s funny, I dedicate my life to create websites and interactive packages, and I haven’t done some sort of ‘top’ design for Cloudberry. What do you think?

Also the totebags are being made as we speak. Hopefully I can pick them up this week. I’ll keep you updated about that. And when it comes to releases, well, The Deddingtons tracklist is up on the site (and now just waiting for the band to decide which song they’d like to give away as a freebie)/ The CD album, part of Cloudberry Cake,  should go to press shortly. And that’s not all, people who are fans of Cloudberry on facebook got the chance this week to listen one of the upcoming songs on the Nixon 7″. The response was fab, everyone is loving it. For this release we are just waiting for the final mixes and then we are set. Exciting times ahead for the label.

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On to our obscure band of the week, Scissor Fits, who were from a time where indiepop didn’t exist, 1978. But they were really indiepop. And they have a strong connection with the music we love, and with a label I love. So on to that.

As a curious cat that I am, I wondered about this:

It is most likely that scissors were invented around 1500 BC in ancient Egypt. The earliest known scissors appeared in Mesopotamia 3,000 to 4,000 years ago. These were of the ‘spring scissor’ type comprising two bronze blades connected at the handles by a thin, flexible strip of curved bronze which served to hold the blades in alignment, to allow them to be squeezed together, and to pull them apart when released. Spring scissors continued to be used in Europe until the sixteenth century. However, pivoted scissors of bronze or iron, in which the blades were pivoted at a point between the tips and the handles, the direct ancestor of modern scissors, were invented by the Romans around AD 100. They entered common use not only in ancient Rome, but also in China, Japan, and Korea, and the idea is still used in almost all modern scissors.

Anyhow, the Scissor Fits were a band that played often at Snoopy’s in Richmond, London, a venue that Mike Alway used to promote. And not only that, Mike Alway was a part-time member of this band. And occasionally their manager. Yes, the same Mike Alway that will later start a label that would redefine music, el Records.

Wikipedia has a few lines for the band:
The Scissor Fits were a post-punk English band founded in Hounslow in 1978. They are best known for their classic DIY punk single “I Don’t Wanna Work for British Airways”, which was recorded before they had appeared in public. A part-time member and occasional manager was Mike Alway, later famous for his A&R work with Cherry Red Records and el. They also released a live EP titled “Soon After Dark” which contained the pre X-Files classic “The Government Knows about UFOs”. The band comprised Nick East (vocals), Simon Ives (bass), Colin Roxborough (rhythm), Bud Drago (drums) and Vic Watson (lead) in the early days. When Drago returned to his native US he was replaced by drummer Pete Garrard.

And I’ll tell you a second connection with indiepop, the vocalist, Nick East, was going to be in an el Records band years later.  Can you guess? I could by the melody and the vocals. Give it a shot. Yup, you are right, The Gol Gappas.

Not so many years ago one of their tracks appeared on the Messthetics compilations, and there’s a little text about them there:
The Scissor Fits hailed from Hounslow, barely two miles off the main runways of Heathrow, so “I Don’t Wanna Work for British Airways” takes to heart the DIY maxim “write what you know.” Their debut EP was recorded before they’d ever played in public, and ‘dedicated to the Soft Boys.’ Mike Alway was a songwriter and part-time guitarist-and-general-inspiration who actually went on to manage the Soft Boys: he had the ‘Fits open for them several times during the Underwater Moonlight era. (Alway later managed the Monochrome Set and launched the Blanco y Negro, Reviere, …If, él and Sound of Chartreuse labels.) Yank drummer Bud Drago put out a (remarkably American-sounding) EP on the same Dubious label but soon headed back Stateside (he’s now in Character Z, and running www.listening-post.com), while the ‘Fits went on to record a live EP for Tortch that featured a couple of DIY’s finer, longer, more psychedelic numbers. The band-name? “a Don Martin cartoon in MAD magazine depicted a woman with a long cigarette holder accidentally stubbing her cigarette out in a man’s eye. The resulting sound effect was ‘SIZZZA – FITZZ’ or something like that…”

I was in touch with Nick East some years ago. I wanted to interview him about The Gol Gappas. I believe he was working in Leeds University then, he probably still does. He seemed very nice but sadly I never got back any answers to my questions. I’m a big fan of them. I did ask him if Cherry Red had any plans to make some sort of retrospective of all their songs, which are not too many, but it seems that Cherry Red won’t do it. Do you can never say never.

They released two 7″s as far as I know. The first was “Taut? Tense? Angular? And Other British Rail Sandwiches” and it included five songs:
A1         I Don’t Want To Work For British Airways
A2         A Small One
A3         I Wish I Hadn’t Shaved My Pubic Hair Off
B1         D.H. Lawrence Wasn’t A Mexican
B2         Waiting For Your Love In The Shower

Did they work for British Airways at all? I have never traveled in BA. It’s usually Continental or Virgin Atlantic when I go to London Heathrow. Is it that terrible BA? I wonder because that is probably their best song, a catchy popsong that pre-dates what the TVPs would so sometime after. It should have been a hit, it should have been bigger than the Beatles maybe. And if anyone has a spare copy, you know, I’m looking for it! This 7″ was released by Dubious Records and the catalog is SJP 793.

The second 7″ was released by Tortch Records in 1979. Catalog number was 005. This one seems easier to find, I’ve seen a couple on Discogs, but at the moment I’m a bit broke! But I do plan making up to it soon. All the songs were recorded live at Covent Garden, Rock Garden on September the 7th of 1979. The songs included were:
A         The Government Knows About UFO’s
B1         Who Wants To Live Forever?
B2         Aniseed Trail

The also appeared on some compilations. They included “I Don’t Want to Work for British Airways” on the Cherry Red comp “Labels Unlimited – The Second Record Collection ” and “Radio Teeth” on the 1,000 Only Records release “The Snoopies Album: The Last Remains Of A Richmond Venue “. The latter one seems very rare, there’s one listing going for almost $100!

Here are two scans from their first 7″ that tell the story behind the members of the bands. Really interesting stuff! Scan 1 | Scan 2

And that’s about all I could find from them. They were clearly ahead from their time, and I feel it’s not crazy to say that the Gol Gappas picked it up from where the Scissors Fits left it. I do wonder if they had any more songs recorded. I wonder what happened to Nick East in between these two bands. I wonder what are they doing now. If you know anything else, please share. You know what the comments section is for

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Listen
Scissor Fits – I Don’t Want to Work for British Airways

What a busy week this was! I guess I will have to get used to going out many days in a row, during workdays, if I’m going to live in New York.

As many of you know this past week was the Chickfactor 20th anniversary, with shows in DC, New Jersey and New York. 3 nights of 90s nostalgia, bringing back to stage the likes of Black Tambourine, Small Factory, Honeybunch, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, The Aislers Set, Pipas, and more. Two of these NY nights were sold out, packed, with not many hipsters to my surprise. It was mostly these nostalgic people, a half generation older than me, with their own indiepop stories. Stories I was a stranger to. I wasn’t around the heyday of the Chickfactor ‘scene’, so at first I did feel a bit displaced. But eventually, things kicked in again. It’s only indiepop you know.

So on Sunday, our first international friend arrived: Vernon from Singapore. A little group of us joined him and Alex who was just passing by that day in New York from Melbourne, via DC and Chickfactor, on her way to Malta. We had some thai food, which I found a bit bland, but nonetheless it was a great evening, talking and catching up. It was almost a year since the last time I saw them. I stayed up late that night. On Monday I would stay up late again after a long day of work. Kristine and Lisle were arriving to New York and I was hosting them at my place. Their plane from Chicago was delayed, which is no surprise. And of course, we stayed up late chatting and chatting. I don’t really know where Kristine got their energy from, she had attended the DC shows already and she was craving for more in NYC. I must becoming an old man, because I can’t figure this out.

And then of course it all started. Taking the R train all the way to the Bellhouse in Brooklyn. On that dirty and old train with it’s yellow and orange seats. Never a good ride on the R. And finding a place to eat around the Bellhouse, that’s another problem to solve. Not my favourite venue at all, the Bellhouse seems to host many indiepop gigs for some reason. The lightning of the stage is terrible, so hard to get good pictures, or even shoot video. So against all odds, as I use my camera as a bona fide machine gun, I took around 10 pictures total in 3 nights. Not very me.

Hoegaarden pint in hand, I didn’t raze the merch table either. Prices were not from the 90s but from the 00s. I guess that makes sense, but I was expecting $2 7″s instead of $5. That’s what they cost back in the day, right? Maybe I’m naive, but why raise the price 15 years after? Anyhow, I already had most of these records, but the ones I didn’t have, I bought, which were a few. I did get a Softies t-shirt. Though I’m not a big fan. But I like Tiger Trap and Go Sailor a lot. So, why not support Rose Melberg?

I didn’t get to meet the 90s luminaries of American indiepop. No one new in my book. I did get to finally meet Brian and Yvonne from the Tartans and they were great. But from the older generation, no. I find that those jangly heroes of mine from UK  or Europe are way more friendly, more reachable, than the American ones. I can’t grasp why yet. But one day I’ll write a whole discernation about it. This is something that puzzles me.

The festival was well organized, you could tell they took care of every detail, and having someone to ‘host’ each night, to present every band with some little background story was a great idea. My only complains of course, and I assume many would agree, was that it was hosted during weekdays, from Tuesday to Thursday. Not very inviting for people that live and work in New York. And the other complain I have is the overpriced tickets. 80-90 dollars for 3 nights is a bit too much in the indiepop world. NYC Popfest, a true New York analogy, charges 50 dollars for 4 days and more bands. And during a weekend. And bands that are as good. Can we agree on that? I think so. And my last complain the special guests. They weren’t really special. I mean, it’s great to see Franklin Bruno or the guy from Love True Always, but come on, let them play with the whole band. Just a guy and a guitar doesn’t feel like a special guest to me. That was a bit boring to be honest.

But after that first hour of special guests everything turned upside down, so many great bands that made every night worth it! I can’t thank enough having the opportunity to see The Aislers Set live. I thought it was never going to happen. Or another favourite of mine, The Legendary Jim Ruiz Group, who share my last name and wrote two of my favourite albums ever. Or seeing Pipas again after 6 years! True, as you can see, it was the Wednesday lineup the one that I enjoyed the most. That was the big night for me, for my taste. I know everyone was head over heels for Tuesday, with the mighty Black Tambourine headlining. I may say something here that won’t please many, but Black Tambourine is my least favourite Pam Berry band. I think “Throw Aggi from the Bridge” is a monumental song, but the rest of their songs are just alright. For me Pam Berry’s best are either Glo-Worm or The Pines. And hey, The Pines did play Chickfactor, on Thursday, and that was pure bliss. They even covered Aurora by The Cat’s Miaow as I requested Joe when I saw him the prior Thursday while we walked over the High Line Park.

And as soon as it all ended, I slept eleven hours straight. And I booked a plane ticket to London, to attend Indietracks. There was an empty hole to fill and I didn’t found a better way to do it. So, even though I’m not invited to DJ anywhere in the UK this time, I’m heading to Indietracks! And after Indietracks I’ll spend a week in Wales visiting castles with my favourite girl. Can’t ask for more at this point. It’s all perfect.

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Let’s save the Cloudberry news and label stuff for next week. Let’s move to our obscure band of the week: The deBuchias.

I actually was in touch with Justin Salmon, one of the members of the band, not so long ago. Asked him to do an interview and he was up for it. But still haven’t heard from him. Probably life got in the way. It happens. Thing is that last week I finally managed to get a copy of the one and only 12″ The deBuchias released and that song on the A side is so so good, that I need you all to know it. It’s called “Introducing Jane” and it’s beautiful.

The band was formed by John Bramwell on vocals and guitars, Tig on bass, Steve Perry on drums and Justin Salmon on harmonizing electric guitar. You might have heard the name John Bramwell. He would later from the well known band I Am Kloot. On this 12″ the band is introduced to us as “The deBuchias featuring Johnny Dangerously”. This Johnny Dangerously is John Bramwell of course, and he had already released a 12″ on his own, the “You, Me and Alarm Clock”. I still have to manage to track a copy of that one, but having head the songs I say, if you see it, snatch it.

But the deBuchias single, on Village Records, catalog number 111, with it’s yellow jacket and mysterious black and white photographs of women putting on make up, is something else. And you can still find it for reasonable prices on Discogs especially. This record included two more songs on the B side, “Tearing it Down” and “Subway Life”. The first one was already released on the previous 12″ Johnny had released, and “Subway Life” was a track that had already appeared on the “Manchester North of England” compilation. The record was engineered by Graham Massey and Jez at Real to Rell in Macclesfield. And the photographs of the sleeve were courtesy of Michele Jones.

The only other bit of information I could find was the the band played a couple of important gigs like the Glasgow Mayfest, the Green Room and the Manchester International. They supported Tom Robinson and Billy Bragg at Nottingham Festival as well. And that was 1990. The nostalgic era I didn’t get to see.

And that’s all there is about this band. Who was this mysterious Jane they sing about? Did they ever record more songs? Why did they split? And what happened to them? If you know anything else, please share! Would love to know!

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Listen
The deBuchias – Introducing Jane

Thanks so much to Todd Shuster for the interview! The Impossible Years were a great band from Philadelphia who released only two singles. First a self-released 7″ and later the first ever release by Dan Treacy’s Dreamworld label. And that was a 12″. Great pop songs that if you don’t know them yet, it’s time for you to discover!

++ Hi Todd! Thanks a lot for being up for the interview. You know, for some reason I thought you were British, because you know, you released on Dreamworld Records. Does that happen often?

No, you were the first.

++ So yeah, let’s go back in time. You started as The Jags, right? What made you change your name? And why The Impossible Years?

The Jags were born during the excitement surrounding the CBGB’s scene and the English punk bands, both of which inspired  the name and sound.  When our original bass player, Charles Bright, left and Tony Marsico joined us, the sound changed and the name The Jags didn’t seem to fit anymore.  Our manager suggested The Impossible Years and it seemed right.

++ Talking about movies (The Impossible Years), care making a top 5 movies by Todd Shuster?

I’d really love to, but it’s hard choosing five.  Certainly, A Hard Day’s Night and West Side Story would be the two movies that provided a soundtrack to my childhood.  I guess most of the later choices would be predictable:  The Godfather, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver…hmmmm, maybe someone should make a movie about a lovable pop group who commit extreme acts of violence.

++ And what sparked you all to start a band? What bands were you listening and loving at the time?

The Jags started because we were all huge Ramones fans.  We were also listening to a lot of English bands at the time who were also rewriting the rules of pop:  Buzzcocks, Gen X, Jam, etc.   We were also looking back to the early Who;  A Legal Matter was one of our first covers.

++ What about Philadelphia bands? Was there a nice scene in town? Which were the places and venues were you would usually hang out and see other bands? Do they still exist?

When we first played (July 4, 1978), we weren’t aware of anyone else playing this music.  At the time, you were really an outcast among musicians/bands who didn’t take punk/new wave bands seriously.  After we became involved in the local scene, which at the time was mostly a club called Artemis on Sansom St. in Philadelphia, we still only met a few other bands and each band sounded totally different.  The only thing linking the bands together was the fact that there were only 2 or 3 places to play, so we were all contained.

++ So who were The Impossible Years and how did you all get to know each other?

Seth Schweitzer (drums) and I met in fifth grade when we discovered that we were both hooked on Dark Shadows (the gothic soap opera).  A few years later, we were reintroduced by a mutual friend and in eighth grade we found ourselves in a band together.  We played together again in high school and, this time, the group included a very talented piano player by the name of Charles Bright.  A year or so after we left high school, I heard the Sex Pistols,  took a trip to NY, checked out CBGB’s and Max’s and was ready to start playing again.  Seth and Charley were listening to the same bands and hot to play again, so in March of 1978, The Jags were formed in Charley’s parent’s rec. room.

++ You self-released a single, “She’s No Fun / Baby Baby”, first. I haven’t seen this record. Is it hard to find? How many copies were made? And what made you decide to go through the self-release way instead of looking for a label?

The record is pretty hard to find at this point.  We put it out ourselves at a strange time in our history.  We were between bass players again and Charley joined us for a second, short period. Charley recorded the single with us, but by the time the record came out, Howard Luberski replaced Charley and that became our final line up.  We released the single because there weren’t really any local labels around and we had almost never traveled outside Philadelphia.  We wanted something out there that could represent us. Looking back, it probably wasn’t the best choice for a single or the best decision, but…

++ And then you contributed to two compilations: “I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia” and “Battle Of The Garages V II.”. What’s the story behind these two records? Do you remember who put this compilations together? And how did you get in touch with them?

We had recorded a three-song cassette at a local 8-track studio.  When we were approached by the people who wanted to release I’d Rather Be In Philadelphia, we gave them Flower Girl from the cassette.  The Battle of the Garages V. II is a longer story.  We were fooling around one night and made an effect-laden over-the-top version of Attraction Gear on our TEAC 3340 reel to reel four-track.  Our manager sent it to Greg Shaw, who we didn’t know, but knew of.  He liked it, asked that we rerecord it for the next Battle of the Garages comp.  We did and he included it on V. !!.

++ So how did Dan Treacy got in touch with you? Did you know who he was then?

There was a review in Sounds about the Garages LP and the writer focused mainly on Attraction Gear.  Dan saw the review, contacted us and asked us to be his first release on his upcoming label Dreamworld.  We knew of the TVP’s, but we didn’t know him.

++ Did you ever meet him? On pre-internet times, how did you work with him? The phone bills must have been very expensive!

True.  Dan paid for all the phone calls, but our manager always had funny stories about calling with special rings, etc.  I guess there were calls Dan DIDN’T want to pay for.

++ What’s the meaning behind the EP’s title “Scenes We’d Like To See”? Is there any scene you’d still like to see?

We got the title from a regular column featured in Mad Magazine.  We liked the double meaning.

++ “Attraction Gear” is such a beautiful song. What inspired you?

Seth wrote that one;  it fits his abstract style.  It’s certainly one of my favorite Seth songs.  He didn’t write a lot, but when he brought a song to us, it was usually great.

++ Which would you say is your favourite The Impossible Years song?

Hard to say.  We wrote a lot of songs and, since we didn’t record much, we sort of dropped songs every so often for new ones.  I think my best early ones are I Agree and Denise, that date back to the beginnings of the Jags.  I like a lot of the songs on My Report Card.  I still have a special place for our earliest Jags songs.  It’s one of my biggest regrets that we never made the Great Lost Jags Album.  That’s why I rerecorded a group of them and posted them on YouTube.

++ And what happened after? Why didn’t you release more records?

There wasn’t any interest from the indie labels.  We decided to buy a four-track cassette machine and I had this idea that we would just record good demos, release our favorites ourselves and not care about the fidelity.  This was before we had heard of GBV and the lo-fi movement.  It was a good idea, but by then we were sort of spent and it didn’t happen.  I inherited the four-track, spent a few years making a lot of demos and then released them as a solo CD, My Report Card.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? Any anecdotes you could share?

We played a lot, mostly around the Philadelphia area.  We played up and down the east coast on the Battles tour after that was released.  It was fun getting to play with a lot of the bands we liked.  Standouts include X, The Cramps, The Mumps, 999, Violent Femmes, The Three O’Clock.

++ When and why did you split?

By 1987, we were sort of finished.  Howie got married, Seth went back to school and I got married and went back to school to become a teacher.

++ Are you all still in touch? What do you all do these days? Still involved with music?

Seth and I have known each other forever and we’ve always stayed close.  I’ve run into Howie a few times since, but we’re not really in touch. I’m still teaching, Seth got married and became a teacher, Howie works for the IRS and still plays in bar bands. I play for school events with a band I put together there.  We play for fun, mostly cool covers.

++ In 1997 you  put together a CD called “My Report Card”. What was included in it? And more importantly, are there copies available?

My Report Card is a home-recorded 20 song CD of songs that would’ve been the next Impossible Years set.  In fact, two of the songs are from our last live demo and we were already playing a few others live when we quit.  I don’t think any of the distributors have any left, but anyone who is interested can contact me at shusters@comcast.net.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies does Todd Shuster has? Do you collect anything for example?

Aside from music and guitars, I sketch, create videos and I do many things as an extension of my teaching.  I run a guitar club at school and mentor children.  I also do extra technology services for my school district and we run a daily TV news show from a makeshift studio that goes out to all the classrooms.  Teaching is a wonderful career that fosters creativity.  It’s the best place I could possibly be post-Impossible Years.

++ I do plan to visit Philadelphia soon as I’m close now! So maybe I can ask you some tips on what to see? Are there any sights or places that you would recommend visiting?

If you’re a history buff, we have a lot of things to see and do within walking distance in Olde City.  From Betsy Ross’ House to Ben Franklin’s Post Office to the Constitution Center, Liberty Bell, etc.  We also have great restaurants and the Rittenhouse Square area.  It’s a great city to visit.

++ And what about a Philly Cheese-steak? Where can you find the best?

Ah, I’m a vegetarian, but anyone will tell you that Pat’s Steaks in South Philly is the best.  It’s easy to find, just ask anyone.

++ So, what are the plans for the future? I heard a rumour that you might be covering a Television Personalities song soon?

I recorded a version of Someone To Share My Life With and it will be included in V. 4 of the TVP tributes released by The Beautiful Music label. I still play and record and my options are always open.

++ One last question, what would you say was The Impossible Years biggest highlight and why?

Just having the opportunity to play our music was a privilege.  Releasing the E.P. with Dan and being included on Bomp’s Garages comp were certainly exciting.  Ours was only one of 16 songs, but we heard from a lot of people all over the world.  The late 70′s, especially, were an incredible time to be involved in the new music scene.  We saw amazing bands and had incredible fun.  It was like being invited to a private party.  Luckily, we still have the music and it’s still great.

++ Thanks again Todd, anything else you’d like to add?

Just thanks to you for keeping the buzz alive.  I really appreciate that there are people who still care and are devoted to the scene.  Be well.

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Listen
The Impossible Years – Attraction Gear

A couple of days ago Yago, one of the nice guys that took care of my merch during Madrid Popfest, asked me about Velasco, an almost forgotten band from Spain. He had seen a blog post, dating July 2009, were Adrià, one of Papa Topo’s half, was raving about this obscure duo. On that same post Adrià mentions my name, alongside Felipe Fresón’s…

It might be one of the few times were my name is going to be written next to one of my indiepop heroes; it seems both me and him shared the second demo CD-R with Papa Topo’s black rimmed glasses frontman, and he was thanking both of us. Yago, smartly assumed that there is only one Roque involved in what we call indiepop, and got in touch with me. He did his detective job. Now it’s my time to try to solve this mystery.

Back in 2004 I was already dreaming of starting a label. Those were days of indiepop discovery for me but my ties were still closer to the Peruvian music scene than to the indiepop community. My connections to the worldwide indiepop community revolved to the few friends I knew on the Twee Folks and the Viajeros Polares channel on soulseek. Those were rather uneventful days too. I was living in San Antonio, Texas, a place not known for their great indie acts but for some iconic landmark called The Alamo, which is such a disappointment when you finally see it. It’s tiny. And looks like any other catholic church in the Peruvian highlands. I skipped classes often, I wasn’t motivated, and in the end, the exams were pretty easy for me to get straight As. If this was literature, then I didn’t need to go to classes, really, I thought. And I had a writer’s block. And of course, my grammar was never something to be proud of. But let’s say they were “literary licenses” I took. Anyhow, I was pretty involved in the Peruvian scene as I said, and I spent hours and hours chatting with bands and fans back in my home country.

There were a couple of indie magazines back in Lima. There was “Interzona”, “Freak Out” and “69″. The most popular was the latter, and not because of it’s terrible name. They had evolved from a prior magazine, one called “Caleta” that had reached cult status among the music fans in Lima. Music fans that spent their hours in the seedy stores of the Galerías Brasil mall in the Breña district. Small stores that specialized in different genres, stores that had the latest bootlegs, CD-Rs of Elefant Records releases, and overpriced vinyl records. In this same mall you could find fanzine stores, emo clothing stores, and even porn dvd stores. On the first floor there were stores where you could rent a Playstation and play some Pro Evolution Soccer against other people. I miss doing that, especially in those days when PES was such a great game and it didn’t try to resemble to the FIFA titles. Also you could find a small cafe with cheese and ham sandwiches and Inca Kola, print shops and also some electronic stores. I read this week that this mall was closed by the city not so long ago.

So the “69″ magazine. People who wrote in that magazine were snobbish, and didn’t have the best taste I’d say. Third world country taste, you know. But the editor, Percy, had better taste than the rest of the writers. He was a big fan of La Buena Vida I remember. And also he loved All Girl Summer Fun Band. We chatted quite a bit on soulseek and exchanged emails during that 2004. By then I had already started my blog Mira El Péndulo that turned out to be quite successful among Spanish speakers. It astonishes me that people still remember it. Just a few weeks ago in Spain, during the Popfest, there were some guys that were really excited to meet me, not because of the labels, but because of that damned blog. How can you explain that? Many of them told me they had bought the C-06 tape. I’m so flattered.

The “69″ had already released a CD compilation with Peruvian bands and it turn out to be the best selling issue in their short life. So I had no better idea than to pitch Percy an international indiepop compilation. I didn’t want anything in exchange, I would contact the bands and put together the compilation. Ok, I did ask for some complimentary copies, but that was it. I didn’t have money to start my own label then, but I thought that it would be a rewarding experience, to showcase some international bands in my home country. The “69″ would have to fund the CD pressing, which back then was dirty cheap in Peru, and I would get all the songs for a very fine record. On top of that I was asked to write an article for the magazine. That was my first published piece, and it wasn’t very good. I had to explain what indiepop is and how much of a worldwide phenomenon it was.

I titled the CD “Es Pop Mamá”, nodding to the great Christina y los Neumáticos song that was later covered by the so amazing TCR (with Felipe Fresón on guitars).  Some “bigger” names included on the CD were those of Tullycraft or Pale Sunday to name a few. Most of the bands were from Latin America though, but there were a couple from Spain as well. And Velasco was one of those Spanish bands included.

I didn’t know much about them back then. I remember listening to their two demo CD-Rs and loving them. Actually, not listening them from the actual CD-Rs, but from MP3s. A shame that I never managed to get proper copies of their demos. I should have asked back then. But I wasn’t that indie savvy when 20 years old. The first demo included the songs: “Recuerdas” (You Remember), “Estar Contigo” (Be With You), and “Agosto” (August). It was recorded on the summer of 2002 and the artwork is really nice, with a floral design. The second demo, titled Bijou (French for jewel), included the songs “El Viento” (The Wind), “Tú” (You), “Velasco”, “En Mi Ciudad” (In My City) and “La Luna” (The Moon). The artwork for this second demo is a just married couple. The couple seems familiar but I can’t pinpoint who they are. Any clues? The song I finally included in “Es Pop Mamá” was “En Mi Ciudad”. A pretty and naive song.

Velasco (also Belasco or Belasko) is a Spanish family name and masculine first name derived from the Basque bel- meaning ‘raven’ or ‘crow’ and the diminutive suffix -sco.

The last name Velasco is associated with an evil dictator in Peru. The only left-wing dictator in South America during the 70s. He ruled from 1968 to 1975 and screwed the country, taking the country through dark times. Music-wise, Peru, famous for it’s 60′s garage legacy with Los Saicos, Los Yorks, Los Shains and more, went into a halt. Everything that was somehow “American”, which of course includes rock, pop or garage, was not supported or approved by the dictatorship. The exciting music scene from those years died silently. I guess the only good thing from that period was winning the Copa America with Cubillas and Sotil for the 2nd time, something our Chilean brothers who think so highly of themselves still haven’t been able to achieve.

My emails with Velasco are long lost to my hacked email account. I can’t recall them clearly, but a safe guess was that they were short and sweet. We must have agreed on a song and that was it. I remember that I emailed with Maite, who was the vocalist in Velasco. The only other member was Paco, who played guitars. Where they a couple? Could be. I believe this appearance on the compilation was their only proper “release” aside from their demos. I don’t think they appeared in any other record. A real shame if you happen to listen to their sweet songs. You wonder if they were too early or too late, 2004 wasn’t really a good year for indiepop. Not many things were happening there. No such thing as Popfests back then.

That is all that I remember about this cute and small band. I don’t remember where they were based in Spain? I want to say Valencia, but I would probably be wrong. And what happened to Paco and Maite? Did they stop playing music? It’s hard to believe. I wonder if they made more songs. Where are they now? If they ever played live?

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Listen
Velasco – En mi Ciudad

When Ignacio told me, during the Friday night shows, that Tiny Fireflies was his favorite band ever, I was a bit surprised. I asked him again if he meant ever. And he did. The main man of the new label Cerillas Garibaldi was totally charmed by them and for the first time he was going to see them live. I lost track of him as soon as the gig started. I wonder if he was one of the many that got the new split with Lily of the Valley and got it autographed by Kristine and Lisle. I know there were many humble fans in Spain who got the signatures of the pretty Tiny Fireflies.

I’m not sure exactly which songs they played that night. I can remember that they played all the songs they have released, but no Club 8 cover. I didn’t get their tracklist this time, not because I didn’t want to, but because Jorge was collecting them for the Madrid Popfest archive. So here’s a tip for bands, make at least 3 tracklists. Because  I need one for sure.

The gig was beautiful, as always. The fragility and tenderness that Tiny Fireflies evoke can’t be compared to any band these days. I don’t think anyone comes close either. Their sound is just way too dreamy, and deliciously sweet. Kristine’s angelic voice blends so perfect with the electronic beats and Lisle’s jangly guitar. One only wonders how this sound was achieved in Chicago, three blocks away from the Division subway station on the blue line. No, it doesn’t make sense.

All the copies the band brought to Madrid were sold. Success for a tour that started in their hometown a week before and later spanning some cities in Wisconsin. Their first Tiny Fireflies tour. Though last year they did play a couple of gigs in the UK, but the main tour then was the one by Very Truly Yours, their “other” band. I remember clearly the gigs at the ROTA, opening for the Sunny Street and Amor de Días, and the one at Indietracks. By this time they had their first release out, the magical 3″CD on Cris’ label Little Treasure. I got my copy that sunny Friday in Nottingham, when a big group of Indietracks’ goers met at the Ye Olde Jerusalem Inn for lunch. These memories make me want to go so much to Indietracks this year. Time to break the piggy bank?

I’ve seen Kristine and Lisle play so many times, even more than Allo Darlin’ or The Smittens, which is already something.  I am a declared fan of their musical talents, and their sensitivity to write songs. Moreover I consider them great friends. Can’t wait to see them next month here in New York to hang out and attend the Chickfactor 20 gigs. To which I ask, why were these gigs scheduled on weekdays? I’ll be dead tired, exhausted, trying to wake up the morning after to go to work. And I will have to control how many beers I can drink.

We met Tiny Fireflies on Wednesday, outside of Alonso Martínez station. Along with Zipper, we all headed to a very cool bar whose name I have forgotten. There we had wine and beer and tried the classic tortilla de patatas. Kristine was impressed by the fluffiness of it and asked for the recipe. Among laughs, and “getting to know each other”, as it seems Zipper and Tiny Fireflies each missed their gigs at last year’s Indietracks, we had a great time. That’s when we decided to hop to another bar, a more traditional Spanish one, you know, one that serves sausages and other treats along your drinks for free.

The next days I would become Tiny Fireflies official translator. Was it an upgrade from last year’s Very Truly Yours roadie? We would meet around 1pm, a bit ashamed of looking for lunch that early for Spanish standards. And so, we would go looking for restaurants that served a daily menu, something we really enjoyed. For around 10 or 11 euros we could eat well, a proper meal consisting of an appetizer, an entree, dessert, and a drink. Plus bread. A really good deal. And so Kristine and me tried many different things, mostly thinks done with pork. Alexandra stuck to having salmon, while Lisle enjoyed “bocaditos” made of ham or the brilliant “roman” style calamari. I would translate the menu and they would always laugh when we would find “gallo” which is rooster on the menu. It wasn’t an easy task to translate as I didn’t know the meaning of many things, the Spanish from Spain, when it comes to food, differs a lot from the one I know from Peru.

We traced every room of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art. We got in for free, just by chance, as they were having a free entrance that day because of some sort of women related celebrations. Was it international women’s day? Could be. And then we also visited and took some Tiny Fireflies promo pictures at the Madrid Botanical Gardens, where I ended up being asked by many tourists to take pictures of them. There was this couple that asked me to take a picture of them with the “tree of love” as a backdrop. As it wasn’t spring yet, the tree was gloomy, very far to convey any sense of love. More of a Halloween picture if you ask me, not very romantic. And then we also enjoyed riding up and down, many times, the clear crystal elevators of the Reina Sofía museum, to get beautiful, panoramic views of Madrid. And there we also went for free, as there’s a nice deal on Saturdays after 3 pm. While at Reina Sofía we ended up speechless upon finding the impressive Guernica by Picasso. Stunning really.

Meeting on Saturday at Puerta del Sol, taking pictures under the “bear and the tree” statue, symbol of Madrid, and walking around and bumping with Miguel Navarro, guitar extraordinaire of The Felt Tips, we waited for Cris and Madidi to arrive, for one last lunch in Spain (at least for us). When we were altogether we headed into one of these menu restaurants I’ve been raving. We loved the name of it, “La Soberbia” (The Arrogance), and we enjoyed some beers to start. I remember trying that day Salmorejo, a delicious cold soup made out of tomatoes, and the delicious Solomillo made out of pork. Cris had the same as me, Kristine got the Solomillo and a salad, Madidi got the paella, Alexandra went for some peppers filled with fish that she didn’t like much, and Lisle a ham bocadito. Then Cris had to run for sound check, as he was in charge of making The Close Lobsters sound good for their historic show later that night. And then, when we asked for the check (or the bill as you say in the UK), Kristine had the best idea of getting rid of all her Euro change. And so we paid the check mostly on coins, and coins, and coins. Brilliant.

It was just a couple of weeks back since we released the Tiny Fireflies split CD. And now I hope that in the not so distant future we’ll get their songs on vinyl. At least that’s what I would love to do.

And now onto some obscure band, and to make it a bit more relevant, a US band that doesn’t sound American at all: Mouse Boy, Mouse Girl. Well, I’m not very sure if they were a band or not, but I do know this one song that I’ve really been enjoying for the past week since Alexandra e-mailed to me. I wonder how such a pretty song have been unattended, unexplored, unheard, by me. I will blame it to my anglophile-ness when it comes to indiepop. The song is called “Make Like We’re Not Sad” and it’s such a delicious slice of fragile indiepop.

The song was part of a compilation put together back in 1998 by the now sleepy indiepop-list. The compilation was called “The Family Twee”. The idea behind the compilation was to have songs by the members of the list. Not surprised to see Mario’s Zapato, Chris’ Suretoss, in their for example. But I wasn’t around in the list back in 1998, so I’m unfamiliar with many of the bands, and the people behind them. A little research and I found out how this was organized by “Skippy”:

September 1997 – An invitation is made to members of the list to submit a song/whatever, that is under 2 minutes long. We will create 2 cd’s filled with their tracks upon getting enough people to do it (60!) and it will become a ‘snapshot’ of the current state of the list. A postcard if you will.November 1997 – By this time, we’ve had 85 people say they definitely want to do it. We await the first 60′s tracks and then open it up to the remainder.

December 1997 – We’ve received only 46 of the promised tracks. People flake, that’s life. I have list members Jim Curran and Anne Zender over for a holiday cocktail and to ‘sequence’ and ‘rate’ what we have. January 1998 – I moved everything I own from Chicago to NYC. I get the track total up to 60, pulling teeth, but this also means that some people haven’t ‘contributed’ if you know what I mean.

March 1998 – I give the 60 songs to pal and Kindercore cat, Ryan, who will inexpensively master the thing.

April 1998 – Apparently there are some problems with a track or two and we need to get the original from the person.

June 1998 – CD is mastered and prepared for pressing. Skippy loses artwork that Andy Blanchard so generous drew because he didn’t have a ‘song’ contribution. We await Andy’s duplicates.

August 1998 – The two CD set arrives here in spindles (the state of CD manufacturing took 7 weeks!). As soon as we whip up some art, we can package these babies up and get them out. Of course, I seem to have underestimated the costs of the project and am now in the hole for about $600.September 1998 – I receive the plastic booklets we will use. Artwork is shipped to a friend who can do it ‘cheap’. I haven’t heard from him since. November 1998 – I decide enough is enough, make some ‘bootleg’ style artwork and begin the arduous task of packaging 1,000 double CD’s with inserts in my spare time (with my girlfriend’s help)

December 2, 1998 – All systems go! The CD’s are ready to ship. Problem is, some of you have changed your home address and your e-mail addresses. I have saved enough money to ship these (there’s quite a few international ones, y’all), but I don’t want to start sending to addresses that you gave me back in November last year because I don’t want to get it returned.

After a bit of investigation to find out at least one name behind Mouse Boy, Mouse Girl. It seems it was Tony Gauslin who was behind this precious song. This was prior the days of him making songs with Laura Watling under the name of “Color and Shapes”. And that’s really all I know. Did they make any more songs? Did he ever receive a copy of the Family Twee CD (he complains in 1999, a year after, of not having received a copy!)? and did they release any songs? maybe on other compilations? And what is he up to? I’m sure the talent is not gone!

Any clues, hints, or anecdotes you want to share, you know what to do in the comments section!

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Listen
Boy Mouse, Girl Mouse – Make Like We’re Not Sad

Back from Madrid Popfest. Back from Spain and the many cities I visited. Back to New York. Back to work, to the label, to the routines. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to put in words what happened in Madrid. It is one of the best times ever. Indiepop-wise and not. In the next couple of weeks I will review it, hopefully convince you to go next year. It’s worth it. And having attended many Popfests I can truly say that when it comes to fun, when it comes to camaraderie, to admiration to the bands, to fans that give their heart out every night, Madrid is the best. And they get some damn fine bands too.

I got the best company during the trip. And she knows. To Toledo, Avila, Segovia, and more, we traveled. We visited a handful of cathedrals, castles and ruins. We walked on top of medieval walls, ate the town’s specialties, and took hundreds of pictures. The “Cercanías” trains were great and cheap. And at night we had beer, and danced, and met with friends. A haze, a blur, it all so seems so far away but so close too. I need another festival soon to put Madrid in perspective. Around the corner is the Chickfactor one. Will that make me sane again? I don’t want this happiness to go away though. But there’s plenty of news for Cloudberry. I really want to go through them, let’s talk about Madrid next week. Promise.

First of all, there’s a couple of new releases out:

- The Time Capsules : this is part of the Cloudberry Classics releases. It includes 6 wonderful songs in the vein of The Jazz Butcher, Lotus Eaters and Jim Jiminee. The Time Capsules were a Japanese band active during the late 90s. They only released a tape back then. This release includes all their songs (but their demos, though you can download one of them from the Cloudberry page). These days Kouishi Ono, the lead guy behind The Time Capsules goes under the name Alvysinger and he still has it. Great stuff!

- Tiny Fireflies / Lily of the Valley : please don’t mistake them with “My” Lily of the Valley who were Swedish and appeared on Cloudberry’s 100th release. This Lily of the Valley hails from Japan and they make great shoegazy tunes. And what to say about Tiny Fireflies who are making a splash everywhere. From New York to London and then to Indietracks and now Madrid. Seen them four times and everytime they get closer to pop perfection. Delicious vocals by Kristine, two perfectly penned songs, with hooks, dreams and reveries. This is a split 3″CD!

Also you might have noticed that most prices on the store have been raised by a dollar. Even though I didn’t want to do it, I had no better option. The postal service has raised their prices. Nothing we can do about it. It’s been 5 years keeping the same prices on Cloudberry, but now there’s no way for me to cut expenses on other things and keep the prices the same. Hope you understand.

On the 7″ front the Cassolette 7″ is almost ready. This week I should be announcing the release date. It should be in the early days of April. It’s been a long wait, but it will definitely be worth it.

And then the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen is also ready with a new baked goodie: The Deddingtons album. All the artwork is ready and will try to send it to press very soon. There will be more info about this release later on the Cloudberry site.

Also I feel it’s time to start working on a new fanzine. Any ideas on who to feature? What color ink to use?

But now it’s time for our obscure band of the week: Ostrich Cult.

Ostrich:  is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a subspecies. Ostriches share the order Struthioniformes with the kiwis, emus, and other ratites. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at maximum speeds of about 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph), the top land speed of any bird The Ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest egg of any living bird (extinct elephant birds of Madagascar and the giant moa of New Zealand did lay larger eggs). The diet of Ostriches mainly consists of plant matter, though it also eats invertebrates. It lives in nomadic groups which contain between five and fifty birds. When threatened, the Ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or will run away. If cornered, it can attack with a kick from its powerful legs. Mating patterns differ by geographical region, but territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females. These fights usually last just minutes, but they can easily cause death through slamming their heads into opponents. The Ostrich is farmed around the world, particularly for its feathers, which are decorative and are also used as feather dusters. Its skin is used for leather products[6] and its meat is marketed commercially.

Cult: The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a new religious movement or other group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre.  The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices. The word was first used in the early 17th century denoting homage paid to a divinity and derived from the French culte or Latin cultus, ‘worship’, from cult-, ‘inhabited, cultivated, worshipped,’ from the verb colere, ‘care, cultivation’. In the 1930s cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior. They have been criticized by mainstream Christians for their unorthodox beliefs. In the 1970s the anticult movement arose, partly motivated by acts of violence and other crimes committed by members of some cults (notably the Manson Family and People’s Temple). Some of the claims of the anticult movement have been disputed by other scholars, leading to further controversies.

With my head daydreaming of Sweden, I have no better idea to write about this band, an obsession of mine. An obsession for two reasons. First because I don’t have their 7″ and have never heard the songs on it. And second, they were the predecessors of one of my favourite bands, Happydeadmen.

The only song I’ve ever heard from them is the one posted here on the blog. I heard it for first time on Youtube, and it seems it’s from 1986. I think someone translated it to English for me once. I can’t remember.  I will go through my emails and see if I can find that. I know the song name means “A Dying Man”. Magnus Karlsson is on vocals.

The sound is different to Happydeadmen, though you can already hear some great guitar riffs. The jangle was about to come. Still I enjoy this song a lot. But this song is just a demo, this song wasn’t properly released, which probably means that the two songs that were released on the 7″ might be superior. I don’t know, just an educated guess here.

The 7″ was a private press, 500 copies as usual. The catalogue is MOK-S-01. The song on the A side is “Skymningsland” which means ‘Land of Dusk’ and on the flip side we find “Resa Utan Mal”, ‘Journey Without End”. The sleeve artwork reminds me a bit of those by Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, offset print in blue.

I don’t have a clue where to find a copy, and I’ve been trying for some years now. If anyone cares to help, please let me know. Or at least MP3s of these two songs, I would love to listen. Worst case scenario, if you happen to have more songs from the demo, please share. This band is a true mystery to me and would love to know more. I love Happydeadmen, knowing more about Ostrich Cult is imperative!

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Listen
Ostrich Cult – En Döende Man

Thanks so much to Warren Chan for the interview! Ferns, the great Malaysian band, have just put out their second album, “Fairweather Friends”, and it’s just GREAT. I suggest everyone to check it out. On this interview we cover their beginnings, their new album, Malaysia, and the future. Also there are still some copies of the split 3″ on Cloudberry, don’t miss that one too!

++ Great to see you back! This second album is really beautiful, I’m enjoying it lots. It’s been some years since the first album and I’m wondering how do you think the band has evolved? What is different in Ferns these days?

Much obliged. Well, myself and keyboardist Abby are the only original members left from the 1st album, so the band dynamic changed quite a bit. While I am the primary songwriter, I usually just bring in a sketch of the song into the studio for the rest of the band to apply their own special touches. I’ve never been in favour of stamping a ‘one true vision’ on the band because that’s just limiting and plain un-fun. This is why I really value all the different musicians that have collaborated under Ferns all this while. Because for me, it’s kinda like having the chance to sample of all the best dishes at your favourite restaurant – for almost a decade now! These days, I’m working with a group of different, but no less exciting musicians to play with. We’re a lot more loose and carefree than previous incarnations, and I think that kind of reflects in our new album.

++ The second album is titled “Fairweather Friends”. What’s the story behind this name?

There wasn’t any real plan for thematic cohesion. After recording the album, we took a listen, and a number of the songs happened to reflect the same lyrical motif – weather. I guess I find it rather ironic that even while living in a tropical country such as Malaysia, people still have this romantic obsession with the four seasons – which we don’t ever get to experience. It’s just hot or wet here. That’s actually what the song “I Should Be Having More Fun” is about. Making the best of our meteorological destiny.

++ Which is your favourite song on the album and why?

Personally for me, I’d have to say “Miss Stormcloud.” It was actually the first song I wrote for the new album, and stylistically it sort of charted the direction for the rest to follow, at least in spirit. The music was recorded live with minimal overdubs, so there’s this unreproducible relaxed vibe. The stars aligned somehow, allowing that performance to sound really special to me. It was a point of time when I said, “forget it!” – “I’m going to stop being obsessed with chasing perfection, put away my reverb and delay pedals for abit and start writing back-to-basics pop songs”. If we didn’t get “Miss Stormcloud” right, I think the album would have sounded much different. Less fun, for sure.

++ Are you avid indiepop fans? Who would you list as Ferns influences?

I wouldn’t say avid per se. We’re definitely familiar now with the indiepop legacy (e.g. Sarah Records, C86), but this wasn’t always the case. I’d say that our sound is actually a happy accident derived from not actually having any indiepop influences originally. This is because all that great music was really difficult to get access to while we were growing up. And by the time we got to it, the “hey-days” were already over. Our 1st album (“On Botany”) was actually an interpretation of what we thought a mashup between psych-folk pop (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev) and shoegaze (Ride) might sound like. For some reason, fans around the world started identifying us as twee/indiepop.

Our new album “Fairweather Friends” actually benefited from greater familiarity with classic / newer indiepop stuff. Its hard not be influenced by all the newer generation of pop musicians such as The Lucksmiths, Pelle Carlberg, Camera Obscura, Jens Lekman and of course the mighty Belle & Sebastian – all of whom we have the pleasure of watching live in SouthEast Asia these past few years (Ferns opened for Pelle Carlberg and Club 8 for their Malaysia show back in 2008). But in the spirit of diversity, I still hold a special place in my heart for psych-folk and country rock tinged acts such as Wilco and Grandaddy as well.

++ Tell me about the recording of the album? How long did it take? Any funny anecdotes? What beer did you all have while at the studio?

All in all the album took about 3 years+ to record. It was actually meant to be a quick-n-dirty EP after the rather laborious process of “perfecting” the 1st album. But life got in the way and from an EP, an album was born song-by-song. We just couldn’t stop ourselves! After that initial batch of 4 songs, we kept writing and adding on “just one more killer song” that had to be an the album. We ended producing the album ourselves, recording at two different professional studios and bits of home studio additions.

We all don’t really drink, but food is a particular obsession for all Malaysians. Might do a culinary-themed one in the future!

++ And who is releasing the album? Is it self-released? Why did you decide to go that way?

The album is completely self-released with some distribution help within Malaysia from Soundscape Records. It’s a particular quirk of the local industry where independent bands in the middle don’t really benefit from being under a record company. Better to be in charge of your own destiny, as all the tools are readily available for you to promote your music. Although we’d to say, it really is like having a second job, at times! But it really is a satisfying experience at the end of the day. It’s like the production process – I think every band should at least attempt producing an album before rushing to throw money at big-name producers.

++ The artwork for the CD is amazing. Im a sucker for illustration. Care to tell me a bit more about the artist behind it?

The artwork was created by an amazing and talented artist called Shieko (http://shiekoreto1.blogspot.com/) She’s pretty well known in the local pop art scene, and her style skews towards the irreverent and quirky – which was a perfect fit for us. We were basically looking for an artist with a flair for storytelling and fuzzy-edged social commentary, so we’re really happy she agreed to work with us. We basically just told her to do whatever she wanted. With a few basic concepts from her, we mixed and matched elements of what became the final product.

++ Let’s go back in time. When did you start as Ferns? How did you all knew each other?

Ferns is an offshoot of an earlier band called This Body Broken in the early 2000s, which played melodic indie rock at the time. I was originally roped in as just the guitarist. After some time, members kept dropping out until I ended up (somewhat reluctantly) in the frontman / vocalist role. This was actually my first experience writing and singing songs in a proper band. It really was a learning experience, which I somehow muddled through and got better at it, thankfully

After a few years, we decided to drop the This Body Broken moniker, because well, we were just sick of playing heavy rock music – and low-key has always been closer to my temperament. Our only criteria for the new stuff was that it was to be poppy, catchy, played without distortion and swathed in reverb! You’d be surprised, but at the time we started, there were practically no other bands within the indie scene with that kind of sound. Everything had to be loud, for some reason.

With the stylistic shift, it also made sense for us to go with the “Ferns” moniker. All members of the band have been friends for some time now, and we met through various means. Though, our guitarist Johan was actually found through an online classifieds ad. He was still in Uni when we auditioned him, and we were just blown away at his versatility and sensitive approach to working melody into songs. So he was definitely a rare find, because a lot of guitarists tend to overplay. He’s definitely a big part of the melodic backbone of the new album.

++ Care to list me the members of Ferns and what do they play?

Ferns are Warren Chan (vocals/guitar), Abigail De Vries (keyboard/vocals), Johan Fariz Tan (guitar), Adrian Yap (bass) and Rudy Frank (drums).

++ And if these Ferns members are not making music, what other hobbies do they have?

3/5ths of Ferns are huge football fanatics (Johan, Adrian & Rudy), so conversations on footie tend to dominate among them. I’m into technology and videogame culture in general. Abby into cooking, feminism and radical politics.

++ And how did you all agree in calling yourself Ferns? Where did the name come from?

Our basic criteria for a band name was only that it needed to be short and nondescript, and “Ferns” certainly qualified.

++ How is the indiepop scene in Malaysia? Are there any other bands worth our attention?

There is no indiepop scene in Malaysia. At least not in the traditional sense of bands directly tracing influences from 80s UK indie, right down to the Swedes and whatnot. As mentioned, that kind of music wasn’t accessible back then and even now with the emergence of new wave indiepop, it hasn’t quite caught on, unlike say, with our neighbours Indonesia. So being the only indiepop band in Malaysia has been a rather lonely journey, but does help us stand out a little, I guess. And the response from fans from around the world has been quite phenomenal, encouraging and touching. We never expected that what we were doing really had an audience. So, not to overstate things, we do feel that we have a responsibility to keep doing this for as long as we can.

We’re still a big fan of pop music in any form however, so within that milieu we really like Liyana Fizi (a bossa nova-pop-tinged singer songwriter), OJ Law (one-man production and songwriting genius who goes from Beach Boys to Curtis Mayfield at the drop of a hat) and Couple (the only purveyors of authentic power pop (think Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, The Posies etc) in Malaysia).

++ And where are the places were you usually hang out? Are there any cool record shops or bars that have good music on the background?

Record shops and social hangouts conducive to creativity are a little lacking here. We do have a vibrant arts scene, but we’re not really part of that. So we’d like to say that our primary hang outs are a) the practice studio and b) eateries.

++ Do you play live often? Which have been your favourite gigs so far and why?

We play quite regularly these days, especially in support of the new album. We’ve played extensively in Malaysia and Singapore at various festival and smaller events, but would definitely like to go explore the region in places such as Indonesia and Thailand.

One of our favourite gigs was actually during in 2008 for the Labrador Records showcase in Malaysia where Ferns actually supported Pelle Carlberg and Club 8 in concert. It wasn’t just that they were amazing performers, but also that we learned a lot from their stagecraft and were honoured by their sheer humility. We also recently played a couple of small scale gigs in Singapore at an arts cafe and pub respectively – and what struck us was the support of long-time fans who knew our songs and were generous with encouraging words. Not quite sure if its a “grass is greener” situation, but we seldom get that kind of response back home in Malaysia.

++ For many years I’ve been wondering, and I guess now it’s time to ask, about your first album package design. Who came up with that crazy idea of having turf on the CD cover?!

I credit the idea to both our keyboardist Abby de Vries and drummer at the time Dave Wong – who is also a very talented designer / artist. Dave basically turned the idea into reality – he just went to the hardware section of the local shopping centre and bought huge rolls of astroturf. The CD printers took care of the rest (though they sure were surprised at the time!) Not sure if it’d be done before or since, but it’s always been a cool talking point for people. It has been some cause for concern when bringing it cross-border through immigration though because the “grass” resembles a certain illicit substance

++ On that first CD you worked with the great Isman from Fruit Records. How important was him for Ferns in the early days? And how close do you feel to the Singapore scene? It seems they have something small but nice going on there.

Isman and Fruit were hugely important. Because without his efforts in reaching out the global indiepop community – we might not even be doing this interview with you now! So in spite of limited resources, I really do give him credit for helping to expose us to a larger audience than we ever thought possible.

We have some really great friends in Singapore, though unfortunately as with Malaysia, there seems to be no active indiepop band scene. There are however, unlike Malaysia, a small number of dedicated fans there who grew up with the classic stuff – some whom probably even managed to see the legends in action during their heyday. So we do get lots of encouragement from them, as well as younger fans who’ve discovered the music. It’s a real treat for us and them whenever we get to come down to play.

++ And after that first CD we worked together on a split CD some years back. We included two songs that are included in the new album as well, “Miss Stormcloud” and “Antisocial Scene”. What’s the story behind these two songs?

Well, Miss Stormcloud and Anti Social Scene were two of the earliest songs recorded for the new album. They were part of the “quick-n-dirty” raw live sessions, which we kind of ended up sitting on for a long time and didn’t know what to do with until you came along kindly to ask to work on the split CD together with Shandy Express. That’s why we’re still fondest of those tunes, even though we didn’t have as much time to polish them up as we might have. But I think the tunes really benefited from the self-enforced limitations.

If you notice, both of the songs are departures from the style of the of the first album. We wanted big, upbeat rhythms and wide-open melodies, kind of like our version of arena rock anthems. Except, we can’t really rock, so that’s basically what you get.

++ A couple of weeks back I tried Malaysian food for the first time here in NYC. So good! I was wondering if you’d recommend me your favourite dish, perhaps they have it and I can try it next time!

Malaysian food is rather unique because of our country’s multiracial make-up (Malay, Chinese, Indian, Native, Eurasian). Though it appears the ones that most commonly get exported are either Malay or Chinese cuisine. You probably paid a premium for what we might consider to be street hawker food over here

My favorite dish is something called “char koay teow” – which is basically stir fried rice-cake strips garnished with prawns, egg, cockles and bean sprouts. Think “pad thai” but a more intense and primal flavour. It’s difficult to get right because a large part of the flavour is derived from something called “wok hei” which is a slightly charred taste you get from intense heat. That kind of blazing fire cannot be replicated with gas stoves, which is why the really good cooks use charcoal to heat up their woks with.

(PS which restaurant did you eat at? Was it called Penang by any chance?? Cos Abby is from Penang)

++ And if I was to visit Kuala Lumpur, which are the sights or places I shouldn’t miss?

Brickfields, it’s a “Little India” of Kuala Lumpur. Alor Street, lots of good hawker-style eating along the street. Petaling Street, street shopping at its finest – though vendors do tend to try to rip-off foreigners so do be careful.

++ And now what’s next for Ferns? Already working on the third album?

Not yet actually – we’ll definitely be pushing Fairweather Friends for as far as we can. Definitely looking forward to opportunities to play outside of Malaysia, around the region – especially Indonesia which has a huge indiepop scene and the Philippines, which has a lot of great like-minded acts. We actually do already have new songs in the pipeline and performed live, so those might come out as singles or EPs soon. Check out a new song live here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnfraIzoh6k

We’re REALLY excited though, about the music video for our new single “Hey OK.” It’s our first proper music video, done by the talented trio of Fairuz Sulaiman, Sarah Ameera and Shieko (who also designed the album inlay). It’s a fully hand-animated affair, no stop-motion or any form of computer-aided animation. Check it out here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuUqLNZ_O-I

++ Thanks a lot again. You can promote now the new album. Where to buy it?

Fairweather Friends can be obtained via Bandcamp (ferns.bandcamp.com), iTunes, direct mailorder from us, selected webstores in UK (Pebble Records), Japan (Apple Crumble Records), selected record stores in Malaysia and Singapore. The full list of channels is here http://on.fb.me/u9yAGf

++ Anything else you’d like to add

“Keep on poppin’ in the free world?” Probably been used before, but seems appropriate

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Listen
Ferns – Miss Stormcloud