Here is a superb find, a Bandcamp full of songs by this Chichester, UK, band that was active between 1990 and 1993.

There’s tons of great tracks here, inspired by the sound of The La’s or The Stone Roses. Let’s start in chronological order.

“…Give me the Happy +” is the title for a collection of 18 songs that were recorded between 1990 and 1991. These include “New Direction”, “Nightmare Ride”, “Bucket Bong Ant”, “Ribbons”, “Headstrong”, “Salvation (Version 1)”, “King Come Down”, “Light and Shade”, “Peggy Bottles”, “Blackberries”, “Banana”, “Breakdown”, “Fall”, “Drop of the Hat”, “Lately”, “The Rain (acoustic)”, “Parp Parp!” and “Salvation (Version 2)”. The release date says May 26, 1991.

From the photos available of the band it seems they were a five-piece. There are some names on Bandcamp, Si, Si, Greg & Gaz. They also mention Ted Tedman who passed away. Would these five be the ones behind The Violet Trade? We don’t get last names though. I do find a Twitter account by Peter Wood. That’s a different name. But he says that he was in The Violet Trade after being inspired by Andy Weatherall and Primal Scream.

The other name I find is that of Simon Parker. He must be one of the Si listed in Bandcamp. These days he lives in France and runs Vinyl Revolution, an online store and NAKED record club, the first eco-friendly vinyl record label. We also find that not only he was in The Violet Trade, he was also in the bands Fruit Machine, Colourburst, Lumina, Villareal and Lightning Dept. Even more interesting he released an autobiography in 2014 titled “Road to NowhereL Mishaps of an Indie Musician“. I can’t find a copy of it though, but would be nice to read it! The art for the book is really cool with lots of classic indiepop sleeves!

The 2nd collection encompasses the years 1992 to 1995. It is titled “Sold to the Man with no Ears +” and has 19 tracks: “Twelfth of Never”, “Heavenly Side”, “Shellcatcher”, “Velocity Street”, “Aqua Blur”, “String”, “Salvation (Flat Records Version)”, “Bad Day”, “Going Down the Shops”, “Velvet”, “All I Hear is Music”, “Girl Frenzy”, “Try to See Things My Way”, “Burning the Fields”, “Big Plum Tree”, “Things Will be Better in Summer”, “Undecided”, “Amoureuse (1995)” and “Bad Day (revisited 1995)”. This one has a release date, June 19, 1996. Was a version of this album released then?

Lastly there’s a live recordings album that has tracks from 1990 to 1993. It is titled “Doing the Upside Down” and has the following tracks: “Inspire (1990)”, “King Come Down (1990)”, “New Direction (1990)”, “Take the Skinheads Bowling (1990)”, “Cloud Sandwich (1990)”, “My Single Sock Collection (1992)”, “Meringue (1991)”, “String (1992)”, “Twelfth of Never (1992)”, “Fall (1990)”, “Another Love Song (1990)”, “Rabbit Stew (1990)”, “Ribbons (1990)”, “Breakdown (1990)”, “Bucket Bong Ant (1991)”, “Noah’s Ark (1990)”, “Banana (1992)”, “Something Put Somebody in My Drink (1990)”, “Limbo (1992)”, “…From Liverpool (1992)” and “The 1 I Love (1990)”. Tons of these songs seem to be only available live. Also I wonder why they say this collection is from 1990 to 1993 when none of the songs seems to have been recorded in 1993.

The only release the band has listed on Discogs is an appearance on a cassette compilation called “All Fun and Games” that was released by Asylum (CASS 001) in 1991. The songs the band contributed were “Pseudo” and “Elegy”. I notice I have investigated previously this tape as I’ve meant to write a post about The Losers who also appear on this tape. I wonder why I still haven’t written about them yet.

Would be good to find out if their songs were released in any form. Maybe as tape albums? Who would know?

What about playing live? Did they play many gigs?

I feel this band could have been signed to an indie label, or being a bit more known. Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
The Violet Trade – Nightmare Ride