I received the songs for Cloudberry’s next release and they are fantastic! This will be a very special release as it is sort of a comeback. More news soon, but I think everyone will be thrilled with this one. I can hint you the band hailed from Sweden. Is that enough to guess? Maybe I will give you more hints in the following posts…
The Chesterf!elds: Spinout Nuggets is going to be releasing a new 7″ by the legendary Yeovil band on August 26. The 7″ is almost sold out at the label’s page. So act quick. The record will include two songs, “Mr Wilson Goes to Norway” and “Year on the Turn”. Great stuff!
The Reds, Pinks & Purples: a mini-LP just for Bandcamp, just digital. “Still Clouds at Noon” has 8 songs and is coming out this Friday. Right now we can only preview three tracks, “All Night”, “Violent Pictures” and “Everything You Ever Loved (ver. 2)” and as usual with the San Fran band, it is really good!
Aggi: “Aggi Hates You (Completely)” is a collection of songs, 10 to be precise, by this wonderful Indonesian band. This is the whole output of the band and Jigsaw Records has put it together on a CD which is available now. I would say this is essential for any indiepop lover as the songs are thrilling, fun, and catchy!
Mañana el Espacio: and continuing with Jigsaw Records they also have put out a CD for this Venezuelan band that we love here in this blog. “Casi Nada es Para Siempre” is a new album by this Caracas projects that wear their influences on their sleeve. It is a superb album and quite a surprise of course as it comes from a country that doesn’t normally produce indiepop bands!
Devoted Fans: and finally another San Francisco band. This one is the solo project of Ryan Lescure and is quite new I believe. It is a bedroom project and he has put out an EP a few days ago titled “July”. The EP has 4 songs and he says he will continue releasing EPs in the next months to eventually put them together on a tape.
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Let’s not confuse them with the more well known band The Gargoyles from Hull that were also active in the 80s. These Gargoyles hailed from Sydney, Australia.
It may be cool to write about the Hull band one day. Probably can find lots of good info. But what about this Sydney band that I have just discovered thanks to the unending work of stoneeyedkiller.
The band was a four-piece formed by Jeremy Scott on guitar and vocals, James Cruickshank on guitar, Michael Armiger on bass and Craig Speers on drums.
They have a Soundcloud account where 8 years ago they uploaded 6 songs, “Police Car”, “Railway”, “Sink or Swim”, “Shirley MacLaine”, “The Other Side of Love” and “Cosetta”.
There are some more details about some of the songs.
For example “The Other Side of Love” was recorded at Oxford St. Studios in 1986 and featured Juliet Ward (from the Widdershins) on backing vocals. James plays keyboard in this track too and he wrote the song.
“Shirley MacLaine” and “Railway” were recorded at the same time and same studio but was written by Jeremy. Whereas same info for “Sink of Swim” but this one is a James Cruickshank song.
“Cosetta” was also recorded in 1986 and was written by Jeremy and James.
Lastly “Police Car” is a live recording at Kings Head Tavern in Sydney, 1985. This song was written is a cover of Larry Wallis’ original. On this track bass is credited to Greggie on bass and Zoltan, Lord of Snare on drums.
Now what surprises me is that “Railway” is the same song I knew by the Widdershins. What was the connection here? I thought it was an original by the Widdershins but not? In the “Bottle Man’s Wife” record by the Widdershins Cruickshank and Scott are credited for the song. Wow. It does make sense that James revisited this song. He was part of this fantastic band, the Widdershins, but never knew this song was older than the band. I did try to interview Greg Appel about the Widdershins after the Lighthouse Keepers interview we did but sadly didn’t hear back from him.
Then some sad news. I see that James Cruickshank passed away in 2015. He has a Wikipedia entry with lots of info. His original name was James George Watson but he used his mum’s last name, Cruickshank. It seems James was well known in Australia thanks to being the guitarist and keyboardist of the band The Cruel Sea. He was also in the band Ladyboyz.
Then Michael Armiger. Well he was for a bit in the Go-Betweens when hee replaced John Willsteed. He was in many other bands including the Paul Kelly Band, Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, John Kennedy’s Love Gone Wrong, The Johnnys and Sean Kelly and the Iron Dukes. Also hee was in Roadhead and Atlas Strings as well as collaborating inn Cleopatra Wong. Sadly he also passed away in 2012.
I couldn’t find info about Jeremy Scott or Craig Speers. If they continued making music. But this was indeed a great find, and great songs. I wonder if they had more songs, and how come they are not more known as some of their members had been in important and relevant groups.
Will love to learn any more details anyone can share!
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Listen
Gargoyles – Sink or Swim
