We are heading to Norwich today. To discover a little known shoegaze band called Spellbound.

The band was active in the early 90s where they supported Catherine Wheel and Stereolab among others. The band would put out records on their own and also an EP on Noisebox Records.

Spellbound was rejected by a few labels including 4AD, Decoy and Cherry Red. But they also were played and supported by John Peel, Mark Radcliffe and Janice Long.

They had good moments and not so good moments it seems.

I would assume that the release of “The Dark Days EP” (NBX005) in 94 must have been their highlight. The record came out on both CD and tape with an interesting sleeve design by Nick Stone (who had done tons of records by The Cranberries, Ivy and Magoo) with photographs by Darren Nicholas. It had four songs, “Shine”, “On High”, “Persuasion” and “Miss Holly Golightly”, the first three recorded by Phil Darke and the last one by Phil Watts. Darke recorded the tracks at Darkeside Studios in Royston, while Watts did at Fordham House Studios in Newmarket.

It is very important to highlight the support of Pete Morgan from Noisebox Records. He was the champion of the band and the band seems were very thankful for it. Noisebox Records was an early 90s label that was actually an offshoot of Noisebox Rehearsal and Recording Studios in Norwich.

On Discogs there is another release by the band, a 1994 tape titled “Live in the Studio”. The 6 songs on this cassette were recording at the Noisebox Rehearsal and Recording Studios on October of that year by Pete Morgan. These tracks were “Moonstone”, “Encore”, “My Sweet Rose”, “Persuasion”, “Gaslight” and “Persuasion (Reprise)”. First three on the A side, the rest on the B side.

This tape credits the band. Now we know that the band was formed by Lydia Woollard on vocals and guitar, Ian Gallacher on guitar (there is an Ian Gallacher credited for photos on the great Wolfhounds album “Unseen Ripples from a Pebble”, is it the same Ian?) and Clifford Woollard on bass.

The band would also appear on a few compilations. In 1993 the band contributed “Miss Holly Golightly” to “Backwater One” a 12″ compilation put out by Noisebox (NSB002) alongside Steerpike, Ivy and The Lemon Growers.

Then in 1994 the band had “Encore” on a cassette comp called “Under Wild East Anglian Skies 2” that came out on Vigilante Publications. This was put out by a local magazine of the same name.

Lastly in 1995, that same song, “Encore”, was on “Now That’s What I Call Noisebox” (NBX018) a CD comp that featured many bands that were on this label.

But that is not all. The band has a Bandcamp. And you should head there to listen to the band’s music!

You’ll find “The Dark Days EP” but also a tape release called “April Love / Downfall”. This was a self-published release by the band that included these two songs which were recorded in the spring of 1992 in East Anglia in Fordham House Studios. In this Bandcamp version, they have expanded this release including two more tracks, “Forever Dear” and “The Star Painter”. These two songs were part of the “Downstairs at Alans” demo that was recorded in a photo shop next to the Rezz Club in Romford.

But that is not all. There is a collection of demos called “The Noisebox Sessions”. Here you’ll find the songs “Moonstone”, “Encore”, “My Sweet Rose”, “Persuasion”, “Gaslight”, “England Made Me (live)” and “Opening the Oyster (live)”.

Other info I have found in the band is that the band took their name from the Alfred Hitchcock classic film, that they used a drum machine, that Lydia was actually Payton before being Woollard, that they played at the Camden Falcon and The Bull & Gate and that Ian moved to Northern France while Cliff is a member of the band Parramatta.

Good find I think! Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Spellbound – April Love

One more band discovered on Blue House Records. After discovering the bands As Is, World Service and Tender Lugers, this time around I started listening to a collection of recordings titled “South of Somewhere” by the band Gods Kitchen and I was happily impressed.

This is well done guitar pop, and through the 20 songs of the collection you start to discover many great tracks.

From what I understand this collection was put together to be released on CD back in 2012. I haven’t seen this CD ever but it is listed in Discogs.

From the small writeup on Bandcamp, written by James Partridge of Blue House Records, we learn that the band lasted for a long time. I see two dates, 1991 and 2001. I suppose the band was around 10 or more years then.

The band was formed by Shane Kirk, Stephen Dean and Gibbon. They were the mainstays. On some recordings I see the names of Steven Mears (tracks 1 thru 5), Stephen Constable and James Partridge on backing vocals (tracks 6 to 17) and Paul Read on backing vocals (track 17).

I should probably mention what tracks are these. The 20 tracks are in order “Still Sad About Us”, “Evangeline”, “Walk”, “Put Me Down”, “North of Nowhere”, “Stop that for a Start”, “Brilliant Blonde”, “The Boy Who Loved Aeroplanes”, “Black Rain”, “Muswell Hill”, “Here Come the Rain”, “Before You Go”, “Mine”, “A Long Weekend”, “The Right Party”, “Come Into My Room”, “Stretch Armstrong”, “Told Her at the Time”, “My Baby’s Street” and “Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man”.

The first 5 songs date from 2001, then the next five from 1991. Tracks 11 to 17 date from 1992. Track 18, “Told Her at the Time”, is a live rehearsal while track 19, “My Baby’s Sweet” is another live rehearsal recording, this one from 1992. The last track, “Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man”, is a cover of The Byrds.

From what I read all of these recordings come from tapes. I suppose these were live rehearsal tapes and also demo tapes. How many of the latter did they put together? I assume there are also more recordings that didn’t make this cut.

It is then worth noting that Shane Kirk was on two other bands who I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post, As Is and World Service. Th. I have written about them. The latest band he was in was called This Much Talent.

And this is quite a find, I didn’t find it previously when I wrote about Shane’s other bands. There is a Google Book called “Turn ’em all on, then turn ’em all down…“. I am not sure if Google shows the complete book, but it starts with writings from 2013. The book was published in 2020. So maybe it doesn’t cover the older bands? Would be good to know.

And that’s all I could find.

I’ve written 4 posts now about Blue House Records bands, I hope we get in touch with someone who knows them. Would be great to learn more.

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Listen
God’s Kitchen – Still Sad About Us