Day 309.

Magic Bullets: the classic San Francisco band has finally showed up on Bandcamp. Among the releases they have added is their classic “A Child But in Life Yet a Doctor in Love”. But that’s not all, you can find more songs and records here. Hopefully we’ll be in touch for an interview. It’d be good to know more about them.

The Lucy Show: another band that suddenly appeared on Bandcamp is this classic London band that released 2 albums, 7 singles and 1 EP! Here I am linking to their classic album “Mania” that was reissued by the label Words on Music back in 2005.

The Shop Window: readers of the blog might be familiar with the Maidstone, UK, band as I’ve previously recommended them. Now it is good to know that the band is releasing a 7″ double A side single on January 29. It will have the song “Out of Reach”, which you can check on Bandcamp now, as well as the song “Evacuate”.

Corvair: the latest signing on the veritable WIAIWYA Records from London is a Portland, US, combo. They are releasing an album on February 19 that will have 10 songs. Right now we can preview two of the tracks, “Sailor Down” and “Sunday Runner”. Something interesting is that the album was largely created during the COVID pandemic. I guess we will start seeing more of this in the coming months!

Lunarette: we haven’t heard much about the Gingerlys members in a while. But that just changed. They’ve been working on a new project called Lunarette and what’s even nicer is that they have one song we can preview called “Austin St.”. It is is pretty pretty. It will be part of a cassette called “Clair de Lunarette” to be released on March 19. Check it out! I can’t wait to hear the rest of the EP!

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Another band, another “The Sound of Leamington Spa” compilation. This time it is volume 5 (FST 065, BILB 09, W6 7CD). That means released by Firestation Records, Bilberry Records and Clarendon Records. In 2005. Which band am I talking about? I am talking about The Shrew Kings from London who contributed the song “Losing My Cool” to this compilation.

That was not the only time they contributed a song though. Back in 1987, during their heyday, they had the song “Why Do We Sit Here” on a flexi that came along The Catalogue on October of that year. It was a square shaped flexi where two other bands appeared as well, Billy Jenkins and Rain Gods. The second track was The Shrew Kings’. This flexi was titled “Thin Sliced Records Flexi sampler”.

But they were already around in 1985, releasing then their first 7″ on the label Thin Sliced Records (TSR 6). This first 7″ was titled “Play Brecht” and the two songs on it were “Alabama Song” on the A side and “Mac the Knife” on the B side. The two songs were produced by Clive Jackson, Geoff Beaumont and the band. I don’t have this record, but on Discogs it tells that the sleeve has a snakeskin texture! Interesting! And that the two songs were written by Bertolt Brecht!

In 1986 the band released a 12″ mini-album called “Sad But True” on Thin Sliced Records (SLICE 10). This one had 7 songs, “Loosing My Cool”, “Funeral Tango” and “All Dressed Up” on the A side and “The Bird Has Flown”, “Paradise”, “Ship of Fools” and “Dr. Love” on the B side. The A side had an etching saying “Tamed at Last?” while the B etching said “A Complete Distortion of Truth”.

On this album we find some credits, so then we know that Ian Nixon was on bass, Eoin Shannon on drums, Noel Byde and Michael Hughes on guitar and Bill Tidnam and Jef Harvey on vocals. The producer was Nick Page.

Afterwards came the “Dr. Love” 7″ also on Thin Sliced Records (TSR 11). This single had “Dr. Love” on the A side and “This is the Land” and “Train on Time” on the B side. That same year, 1986, a 12″ EP called “Green Eyed Kid” was also released again on Thin Sliced Records (TSR 12 t). This record that has a cat on the sleeve had 5 songs, “Green Eyed Kid” and “One Day in Hell” on the A side while we find “This is the Land”, “Mac the Knife (Radio Version)” and “Alabama Song” on the flipside.

Sometime earlier, the date is unknown, the band released a tape called “Ten Times Over” on Thin Sliced Records (CRUST 15). This tape included 9 songs: “Ten Times Over”, “She’s the Good Part”, “Lightning Strikes”, “My Mind Just Walked Away”, “Clacking Teeth”, “One Day in Hell”, “Doctor Love”, “All Dressed Up” and “Why Do We Sit Here and Wait”.

Looking at the band members I notice that Jef Harvey had been in the bands King Kurt and V.D.U.’s. and Ian Nixon had played in The Clamheads.

Now back to “The Sound of Leamington Spa” compilation booklet. What does it say there?

One rainy winter’s night after pub closing time and kebabs, the Shrew Kings stormed to their south London squat and picked up guitars, percussion and microphones and drunkenly fumbled for inspiration… then it happened! Clive on guitar came up with a melody out of nowhere, Noel and Mike backed him up on yet more guitars, Ian on slapbass (replacing Mark & Jason) and Eion on drums laid down the lacking rhythm and, in the corner, the two voices, Jef and Bill, scribbled words that became Loosing My Cool – the first of many ironic testimonies to unrequited love. The band included ex-founding member of fellow rocking songsters form London layabouts King Kurt, whom Shrews often supported. Once described as Ian Getz meet Stan Ogden, the band were a musical melange of styles, ranging from the Velvets, through Gene Vincent to Jacques Brel, Virtuosos they may not have been, sexy they certainly were – well kind of… Their first single in 1984, Plays Brecht, received national radio airplay and the Shrews took their show on the road, busking by day and cramming onto small stages by night, building up a following that enabled them to produce an album Sad But True (Thin Sliced Records) two years later. Being obstinate and impossible to categorise the Shrews went very much their own way until deciding to call it a day in 1987. Loosing My Cool, their first and finest song, seemed like a good idea at the time… and it was! Play it loud after several pints and a kebab!

Here we also see that the band did a session for Radio One and “Play Brecht” was record of the week on the Janice Long Show.

Online I find an interview with the band on the website No Class. It seems this is an old interview, just before a gig at the Bull and Gate.

Not much more info on the web, but that’s good, right? Maybe we’ll find out more soon!

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Listen
The Shrew Kings – Losing My Cool