24
Sep

A week that things have had a normal flow. Any worries or doubts concerning the past weeks are left behind. I feel that what’s coming up is really exciting. Can’t believe than in a mere 5 months Cloudberry will be 5 years old, and that next month this blog will be 4 years old. That’s more or less what my old blog lasted before it was hacked. Hopefully this one doesn’t get hacked. I save a copy of every post these days, and it also gets copied to the Cloudberry facebook page. So I think it’s safe.

I had plans for traveling next month to Europe, but for one reason or another I couldn’t make it. So next stop for me will be Toronto in November. Hopefully it won’t be too cold and I can make it all the way to Niagara Falls. I’d love that. As for Europe goes, I’ll make sure to go to Madrid Popfest and travel around Spain. For sure I’d love to go to Toledo and Segovia. I might be there for a week there and another in Sweden, hopefully this time going to Goteborg at last. That’s what I’m planning.

As for Cloudberry news, the Youngfuck 7″ has a release date now: October 10th. So pre-order now! Sadly the pressing plant has raised the price of making vinyl and I believe this Youngfuck 7″ will be the last that will be 4 dollars plus postage (domestic =$7, international =$10). The next 7″s will be a bit more expensive, probably around 50 cents more. I wish I didn’t have to raise the prices but at least I have to break even. But for now, let’s not worry about it. Just giving the heads up.

Now we have Japanese illustrator Reiko Kimura working on the Cassolette artwork and it’s looking great. Hopefully this one will be out by the end of the year. Also keep your eyes peeled for the Nixon 7″ which now counts with the fantastic vocals of Christin from The Garlands on one of the tracks.

On the new Cloudberry Cake series of retrospective releases, we have some fantastic news concerning some great bands from the 80s. But for now let’s keep all our attention on the Feverfew release. We are looking into a November release. Masters are ready. Now it’s just a matter to get everything else sorted out. I think during this week there will be a pre-order button for the album!

Among non Cloudberry news, for me the best thing was that at last the Pushy Parents single was unveiled. I’ve been loving and listening this song for many months now but I had promised to keep it as a secret, it was hard as it was so good! Anyhow, happy to let you know that it is released on Elefant Records and it’s the new project by dear Amanda and Roger. Please check it out here on this video (note: these people on the video are NOT them, just actors!). The release date for the single is October 3rd.

And before moving on to our obscure band, here’s what I’ve been listening on the CD player this week:
1. The Relict – Tomorrow is Again (Vegas Morn)
2. The Vaselines – Sex with an X (Sub Pop)
3. Various Artists – Abracadabra (Richmond)
4. The Incredible Blondes – Where do I Stand? (No Strings)
5. Playing For Time – The Unreleased Sessions 1984-1989 (Firestation)

Wise: having or showing the ability to make good judgments, based on a deep understanding and experience of life

Acre: One acre comprises 4,840 square yards, 43,560 square feet or about 4,050 square metres (0.405 hectares). The acre is often used to express areas of land in the U.S and in countries where the Imperial System is still in use. As of 2010, the acre is not used officially in the United Kingdom. In the metric system, the hectare is commonly used for the same purpose. An acre is approximately 40% of a hectare.

Put that together and that’s The Wise Acres? Not so sure. The name doesn’t make much sense but I feel it’s a good band name. Maybe it means something totally different, maybe they were quoting something. No clue. The information about them is absolutely none on the internet. We only know there was one 7″ released by Cherry Red on 1986 and that’s about it. So let’s grab that record and see what else we can find.

First mystery for me. There’s a big butterfly as the cover artwork. Or is it a moth? I don’t know. If it’s one or another, what species is it?

The catalog number is Cherry 095 and as far as I can tell there was no 12″ version for this EP that included 4 fantastic songs. On the A side we find “So Finally Sweet” and “One Day” and on the B Side “Stay” and “Glow”. Simple names for the songs, they don’t tell us much. The record was released on the heyday of indiepop, 1986. The four members of the band are listed but doesn’t say what they play on the band. The names are John White, Sharon Bain, Robert Mitchell and Margo Strachan. We know that John White wrote the songs, so most probably he was the guitar player.

The songs are a bit like the Shop Assistants or The Vultures, maybe a bit rockier than them on “Stay” though, but great still. Catchy. The guitars usually have some exciting distortion that would make the hipsters today love them. On the other hand “Glow” is the melancholic piece, and it’s just precious.

A friend told me about two other songs “David” and “Cuts Me Deep”, but I’m not sure where he has listened to them. Were they on another release? Or maybe on a compilation? Don’t know. It is fair to think there were more songs than those 4 on the 7″, at least on demo form I’m sure. I wonder where they were based, if they played live often, and why did they break up. Also I come to think, how come there is nothing on the web about them,  aside from Bruce including them on his podcasts back in 2008!

So if you know anything else about them, please give me a shout! I’d love to learn more about them!

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Listen
The Wise Acres – One Day

8 Responses to “:: The Wise Acres”

Hi Roque,

I think the only other THE WISEACRES release was the David ep (12 Cherry 96) also on Cherry Red Records. It was released in 1987 and got quite a few plays on the Janice Long evening sessions (which was the program in the eighties which preceded the John Peel show every evening … such great times, two great radio shows one after another … used to listen to them in bed and in MONO). There was also an interview with them in the Melody Maker at the time (I’m sure I have the cutting still somewhere, must search for it). I’d never gotten hold of “so finally sweet”(and still don’t own it), but I was lucky enough to find the “David” ep in my local record shop at the time. There’s again four tracks : “David” which is quite hypnotic, very “new wavey”, if you know what I mean, “cuts deep” which is a gorgeous gorgeous ballad (and the singer Sharon Bain sounds like a dead ringer for Debbie Harry at her most alluring) while the two songs on the b-side (“it’s alright” and “affectionate friend”) are again like a more rocky Shop Assistants, especially the last song. I remember not getting enough of playing this record at the time, especially the two songs on the A-side (“cuts deep” still gives me goosebumps after all those years) and looking forward to hearing more of them and then … nothing. Never found out if they split up after this record, but I suppose they must have cause they were never mentioned on the radio or in the music press again. But 2 brilliant ep’s is more than most bands manage …

Bart Van Laecke
September 24th, 2011

Just found another song on youtube called “drip drip drip”, so there was more …

Bart Van Laecke
September 24th, 2011

This is the song Bart is talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_20G0WWy4o&feature=player_embedded#!

Thx Bart! 🙂

Roque
September 24th, 2011

wise·a·cre/ˈwīzˌākər/
Noun: A person with an affectation of wisdom or knowledge, regarded with scorn or irritation by others; a know-it-all.
It’s more commonly used without a gap between the two words (which is how it appeared on the “David” EP).
🙂

rarrrr
September 29th, 2011

I used to love this band! I noticed that the youtube user “norashnaib” (from the clip posted above) is an anagram of Sharon Bain so maybe you could get in touch and find out more!

October 28th, 2011

Yeah, you are right. I did get in touch with Sharon Bain. Hopefully she’ll reply my interview questions soon. 🙂

Roque
October 28th, 2011

Many thanks for all the comments above, it seems that we did have a few fans out there after all! Just to update you, The Wiseacres were inexplicably dropped by Cherry Red in 1987 after they didn’t like our album demos. We kept going for a while playing local gigs, but split in June 1988. The band, minus Sharon, got back together in 1989 as ‘Instant Fish’ but split again in 1990, recording only a few demos.
However, there is better news for all our fans as we are back together rehearsing after 24 long years, and plan to finally record and release the long-awaited album during this summer, with hopefully some gigs to follow later this year. We will keep you updated on any more news. There is also a ‘wiseacres’ page on facebook, and we should have a website up and running soon. Thanks for your support, glad you liked the songs.
Robert Mitchell

Robert Mitchell
April 5th, 2012

Hi Roque

I have the other Wise Acres 12 ( 4 tracks ) if you never found all the songs I can send you some mp3’s if you like – email me and let me know, cheers Bruce

Bruce Dale
May 19th, 2012