07
May

Day 422.

Spraydog: remember the classic Newcastle band that was active in the late 90s and the early 2000s? They are on Facebook and they have added now a compilation of all of their 7″ records! So good. There are 16 songs and it is only available digitally. The title? “Blink Between Grey and Green – Singles 1999-2005”.

Solidarity not Silence: “This is Sisterhood” is the song by this supergroup featuring members of The Tuts, Petrol Girls, Colour Me Wednesday, Personal Best, Kathleen Hanna, and more. It is a terrific song and for a good cause. All proceeds of this digital single are going to Bindmans Solicitors.

Leopardo: this band from Fribourg and Tessin in Switzerland is releasing an album titled “Malcantone” on June 11 on the label Le Pop Club Records. The album will be released on vinyl and it will have 10 songs. We can preview one of the songs so far, it is called “Tell Me”. If the rest of the album sounds similar to it, should be a good one!

Sky is Alright: now a shoegaze band from London and LA! Many kilometers in between indeed. The band is releasing an 8 song album on June 25 and it will be available on different vinyl colors as well as on CD. Out of the 8 songs we can preview just the one song, “Mistress Pessimist”. It sounds great.

Tape Waves: how cool! a band we’ve recommended time and time again has signed to Emotional Response Records. Yup. That’s good news. So I hope there are singles and albums coming out soon. IN the meantime they’ve shared a song called “Tired” which is pure gold.

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Here is a very obscure Australian band. From the 80s. The Peppermint Drops!

As far as I know the band only released one song (!!!) which was called “The Morning After”. This song wasn’t on any release of theirs, but on a tape compilation called “The Perfect Travelling Companion” that came out in 1985. The label is 6UVS-FM (DT 1). That looks like a radio station to me, right? Well, it was. It was a radio station that was based in Perth, Australia. These days it is known with another name, RTR FM.

I don’t think all the bands on the tape hailed from Perth. Sure, I do think they are all Australians and there are some big names like The Triffids or the Stems on this comp. There are other names I am familiar with like Chad’s Tree or Rabbit’s Wedding. But there are many that are unknown to me like The Bamboos, The Angry Penguins or The Tarantulas. Were they indiepop bands?

We know too that the compilation was put together by Steve Phillips. The art for this tape compilation, with it’s rooster illustration on the sleeve is credited to Stuart.

The only other information about the band is that the song was recorded at S.A.E. by Vince Taylor.

But then, I start remembering, I did an interview with Perth band The Palisades many years ago and remembered talking about The Peppermint Drops. There was a connection with The Palisades. Right! Jeff Baker from The Palisades had been in The Peppermint Drops. Alright I have a connection now. Would be great then to hear from him sometime.

So yeah, that’s a nice intro to the band. Hopefully I’ll be able to do an interview soon! That’d be cool!

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Listen
The Peppermint Drops – The Morning After That

One Response to “:: The Peppermint Drops”

Hey Roque, how amazing that you found The Peppermint Drops. This was definitely the only track ever released – it was actually recorded through the desk at a live gig. We may have recorded a few songs at the SAE but, if we did, I’ve no idea what happened to them.

Ian Freeman from The Palisades also joined the band for their final gig supporting The Stems in a country town in Western Australia. The band split after that. We helped start The Palisades a few months later.

The cassette released by 6UVS was of all Perth (or former Perth) bands. Steve Phillips is now in Melbourne and occasionally presents shows on 3RRR.

Cheers and regards
Jeff

Jeff Baker
March 2nd, 2024