Thanks so much to Paul Sullivan and Kevin Lagan for the interview. I wrote about The Chairs not so long ago on the blog and Paul and Kevin were kind enough to get in touch and answer all my questions! I discovered The Chairs with the Leamington Spa series and after I’ve been collecting their 4 records on their own Pink Halo Records, which I recommend them all. If you are not familiar with them, or if you are a fan, I’m sure you will enjoy this great interview! (Edit: This interview was published first on Sept. 15, 2017 with Kevin answers. Today, November 2nd it is re-published with Paul’s answers).

++ Thanks for being up for this interview! How are you? Whereabouts in the UK are you? Essex?

Kevin: Yep, I live in a small town near a river. Its called Maldon and its very old and a very nice place to live.

Paul: I have been living in Worthing on the South Coast since 1998, after having lived in London
for 18 years.

++ And do you continue making music to this day? Are you all still in touch?

Paul: We have been back in touch fairly recently. It’s unusual to find all of us on the same
continent these days, so when we met a couple of years ago it was a rare thing, but a lovely
day.

Kevin: Only make music now for my own pleasure. My son Tom completed a degree in Music and is a Bach of Jazz and can play so wonderfully – I get more enjoyment from seeing home and other amazingly talented young people play. I still listen to a whole lot of music and it’s an important part of my life.

++ Let’s go back in time then, but even way before The Chairs. Like, what are your first music memories? When did you know you wanted to play in bands? Were your parents supportive perhaps?

Kevin: My late mum and my dad (who is still here ) were fantastically supportive of me playing music. So much so, I had a toy drum set at about 5 and then around 13, I purchased a small Pearls 4 piece and played that to death! It fitted in my room at home and mum and dad still live in the same house. You can see the cracks in the ceiling still I caused form all the vibrations! They were / are great parents.

I didn’t know I wanted to be in a band until I started following the Accidents (which I later played in). I really wanted to be in this band, and one day that actually happened!

Paul: My Dad couldn’t have been more horrified. My Mum was quietly supportive as she’d always fancied being on the stage. She was always singing round the house, and I’m sure she was behind us getting a record player. We had something called a Radiogram, which was a combination radio and gramophone, and it fascinated me from the moment it arrived. It came with a small collection of records which, when I consider them now, were fundamental in forming my taste in music. If my memory serves me well they were:
A Hard Day’s Night EP the first one with I Should Have Known Better, If I Fell, Tell Me Why, and And I Love Her.
Kinksize Session EP featuring I Gotta Go Now and Louie Louie. For some reason I didn’t like either of the tracks on the other side and never played them.
Barbra Streisand Second Hand Rose / People. I liked this I thought the words were clever and it was a funny tune altogether. I can’t describe how much I disliked the b side, because I heard it once and avoided it thereafter.
Remember (Walkin in the Sand) / Leader of the Pack by the immortal Shangri La’s. Sound effects, drama and damsels in distress. A potent combination for a seven year old.
Lastly, No Particular Place to Go / Memphis, Tennessee by, of course, Chuck Berry.
There may have been others, but these are the ones I agreed to like.
I suppose that it would have to be The Beatles that made me think of being in a band. They were unbelievably cool, irreverent and hilariously funny and badly behaved in a way that no one my age could resist. My mum took me and my brother to see the film (HDN) and it completely turned my head. We used to mime along to the record with the obligatory tennis rackets and a banjo that unaccountably appeared in our house around this time.

++ What was your first instrument? how did you get it?

Kevin: Drum kit forma small shop in Colchester called ‘Keddies’. It was a kids set but at 5, didn’t need more! I also play the guitar and have had these since around 13.

Paul: My first instrument was a reed organ from Woolworth’s. I really wanted a guitar, and that appeared later on that year for my birthday. It had nylon strings which I swiftly exchanged for steel ones, without altering the action. I had bleeding fingers for a few months until I discovered I could tune it down a half step and use a capo. It was still hard to play but sounded great with a microphone taped inside it and a cassette recorder used as an amplifier / fuzz box.
The keyboard taught me, or helped me to learn, about chords, harmony and music theory. I never took lessons, and I don’t regret it at all.

++ Was your first band The Accidents? Or had you been involved in any other bands previously?

Kevin: No, the Accidents was the first band and I loved the music. When they split and Paul went off to join the Americans, Terry and Mark recruited 2 new members – Max on drums and Simon on Bass. They were ok , but never had the feel that the original line p had. When Paul and Terry came together and formed the Accidents again, I sat in and as I learned all the songs years back, it was easy. I was never the best drummer but we sounded like the accidents. Paul was back playing guitar not drums, and Mark Robins (one of the planets best guitarists) and Terry, well , it had to happen. Trevor Richardson came in after Nick Fisher and we had that sound back. It was great to be involved.

Paul: The Accidents was the first band I joined. I’d played with friends at college, had gigged and done some amateur recording, but when the Sex Pistols thing happened I was desperate to get into a band. I was encouraged to audition for The Accidents as a drummer by a mutual friend, Veronica Peyton, and broke two sticks in the first two songs. I wasn’t a drummer – I just sort of knew how to play. It didn’t take long before I started coming up with ideas for songs, and chipping in with backing vocals.

++ After The Accidents you were in The Gene Tryp and only after in The Chairs. Had you been involved in any other bands?

Kevin: I did record an album I Austal with a 17 year old singer called ‘Charlotte Emily’ and did some gigs which was great. I was able to play in a band with my son Tom who played bass and then drums ion the songs that needed refinement rather than me banging out a rhythm! I enjoyed it, but it was not a long term thing.

Paul: I left The Accidents in 1980 after I moved to London. The whole band was meant to move, but only myself and Nick Smith (bass) actually did.
After a few months of struggling along, Nick and I met Mick Frangou, a drummer, and we decided to form a new band, with me singing and playing guitar. Nick and I began to write songs, sometimes together but mostly separately. That band was The Americans, and we re;eased a single in 1981 called Disney World.

++ What about the sound of each band? How different were they? And how did you end up evolving into The Chairs?

Kevin: Now there’s a great question. The Accidents were very melodic and I felt told naive songs about love and disappointment. Very well crafted songs, wonderful sound and harmonies. ‘Trigger happy’ has one of the best guitar solos in my option! The Tryp was more a wall of sound – cleaver songs, great guitar solos, but feedback and speed and power. Lots of leather and image was important. The chairs were , well, the Chairs”! Early on, lots of jangly 12 string but we got rockier as we evolved. Paul really came into his element with his song writing and penned great songs ofr us. Each band was unique I feel. Love them all.

After the Accidents morphed in to the Tryp, Paul wanted to do more on his own as the front man, and I went along with him as did Trevor. It didn’t mean we didn’t want Mark or Terry but that sound had been and gone. It was time for something fresh.

Paul: The Accidents had started as a kind of cartoon punk band – very much in the mould of The Ramones or even Blondie. We didn’t really do the whole Clash / Pistols/ Jam social comment thing. When I joined we had a few peculiar songs like I’ve Finished With Finland, Life Oh Yeah, and In The Shower which was basically a song about Terry having a shower. It was enormous fun and a bit of a send up. I loved the whole sixties vibe and when I began writing songs for the band with Terry it became much more like beat or pop music. As we evolved as musicians so did the band’s music, becoming eventually much more of a rock band. In 1979 we were wearing sixties gear, sta prest, shirts and ties and we had started recording in earnest. We scraped together some money, from Terry’s dad and from a local guy who owned a farm (Simon MacCready?) and went to Cambridge to record our first single at Spaceward, which was the studio used by The Soft Boys at that time. By this stage we had added a second guitarist, Mark Robins, who forced us all to up our game a little, and Nick Smith had joined as bass player / vocalist.
The Americans continued in the same vein as The Accidents, although, without a guitarist of the caliber of Mark, there were fewer guitar solos and snappier songs. Our listening encompassed Elvis Costello, Squeeze, and newer bands like The Police, as well as the independent guitar pop that was coming out of America at that time: The dB’s, GameTheory and, to a certain extent, Cheap Trick. We also loved Louis Jordan and The Tympani Five.
It was power pop, harmonious, energetic and inventive.
The Gene Tryp was without question a Rock and Roll band. Loud, drenched in feedback and referencing everything from Psychedelia to The Jesus and Mary Chain, stopping off at The Stooges and The Flamin’ Groovies. We also loved Big Star, who I have up til now failed to mention, and who are hands down my favourite band ever. Apart from The Beatles, who are more than a band anyway.

++ I believe throughout these bands you shared the same members mostly. How did you all know each other? How did you meet?

Paul: In order of appearance, Nick Smith I met at school in 1965, Will Kemp, Terry and shortly after Mark, I met when I moved to Colchester in Essex to study Art.
Kevin and Trevor I met in Maldon, and after that I was introduced to Dave Read.

Kevin: Terry, Mark and Paul had been in bands together for years. I lived on the same road as Mark and very closer to Terry. I went drinking in the same pubs (The Queens Head and The Carpenters Arms) and we became friends. Im 5 years younger so a bit of underage consumption was undertaken!

++ What sort of music were you listening at the time you started The Chairs? Who would you say were your influences?

Kevin: Elvis Costello, XTC, Elvis Presley, Blondie , Pistols, Madness, the Jam and the Accidents! All played a big part in my musical evolution. I listen still to all these guys and more!

Paul: I would agree with Kevin – I was very keen on Elvis Costello, but also loved The Prisoners, The dB’s, anything that sounded remotely like The Beatles, anything from the sixties, specifically beat / psych groups from the UK like The Yardbirds, Tomorrow, The Who, Syd era Pink Floyd, The Records, but still also hanging onto my teenage fondness for Roxy Music, Jethro Tull and Yes, little of which was reflected in the music we were making.
I had a fling with Husker Du and The Smiths, loved The Pretty Things, The Small Faces and The Kinks.

++ And who came up with the name of the band? Firstly you were called The Domesday Chairs, right? What’s the story behind it?

Kevin: No idea! That’s a Paul thing. I can only remember us being the Chairs. Its the quote from Lennon, and Paul is the Beatles fan and we liked it!

Paul: Saw a picture in a Sunday magazine and it got me thinking about chairs. I knew it had to be a name that would have traction – that people would find themselves saying three of four times a day. Lennon once said of The Beatles “We could have been called The Shoes” which was the exact mentality I was after, but of course someone had already snapped up that name.
It would have been 1986 which was exactly 900 years after The Domesday Book, so I was tickled by the idea that you could buy this chair to commemorate it.

++ How was Essex then? Or where you in London by then? Where did you usually hang out? Were there any good venues to catch bands you liked? And were there any like-minded bands around?

Kevin: I lived in Essex in the early 80’s and spend time at the students union at Essex Uni SU. Saw heaps of bands, REM, The Icicle Works, Cherry Bois, Aztec Camera, XTC, U2 (at the Lyceum in 1982/3) and on and on – heaps of great bands. In those days , pubs had bands playing and all my mates were in bands. It was a great time to play toilet venues!

Paul: I was firmly entrenched in London, married and working but still devoting all my spare time to music. We would go to see bands at The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, played there frequently, bigger bands would play at The Town and Country Club, there was The Borderline, Mean Fiddler and The Garage at Highbury.
We weren’t great ones for making friends with other bands, but we did hit it off with a band called The Dilemmas, and I frequently went to see The Prisoners (although they were none too friendly either ha ha), and later The Prime Movers. Last year I got to play with Fay Hallam from The PM’s which was a thrill.
There were a lot of bands playing similar music to ours, and more as it became a bit of a fad. I suppose I would say The Mighty Lemon Drops, Cud, Wonder Stuff and maybe The Screaming Blue Messiahs. We would run into these guys on the circuit until one by one they were snapped up by the major labels. I think we felt slightly aggrieved since our record label was genuinely independent, and what we could see was major labels adopting the trappings of a band like ours but essentially producing a boutique record label for their new signings.
It was an accepted marketing ploy, and a clever one, too.

++ Your first record was “The Likes of You” who you recorded with G. Chambers. I was wondering how was that experience? I noticed he has worked with mainstream names like Robbie Williams. What did he add to your music?

Kevin: George was friend of Paul’s and he was just a pleasure to be around. He smoked a lot too so the sessions were sometimes ‘relaxed’! I was young then and just happy to be in the band and in the studio. He made sure that the recordings captured the essence of the band and he did a great job with what technology we had back then. He added his experience but without stifling how we really sounded. Good bloke.

Paul: George I had met through a mutual friend, and we were drug buddies. We would get together and smoke tons of grass. He worked at the time for Paul Weller and was an experienced sound engineer and all round good egg. We had recorded some demos with George quite early on, so it was an obvious move to use him for our first release.
There is a story about the recording session. We went to a cheap studio in Brixton which turned out to be run by a local gangster. He kept a baseball bat and a saw (!) for protection, as he was of the opinion that the West Indian community were intent on robbing him. I won’t repeat what he called them.
We were booked in for two days. The first morning was wasted as the mixing desk wasn’t working. The reason the desk wasn’t working was because there was a dead rat inside it.
After completing the first day, the proprietor demanded payment, which we didn’t have. We said
“we’ll pay you tomorrow”
He said “No you fucking won’t”
and impounded all our gear. He eventually agreed to take payment on completion of the session, but we had to leave the studio with all our gear in his possession.
George had also arranged for us to do some recording at a studio owned and run by Rick Buckler, formerly of The Jam, which predated this. We recorded a bunch of staff that never made it onto record, like It’s the Only Way to Fly, one of the first songs written for the band, and an early version of Pink Halo, again never recorded properly or released.

++ By the way, how did the creative process work for The Chairs? Where did you usually practice?

Kevin: Paul would write and demo his songs on a 4 track. In the early days we rehearsed in Holloway Road London, and then as we needed more professional sets up, we went to Hackney Road. We always rehearsed all together for 4 hours on a Saturday and then when n we had big gigs, we would often do a Wednesday evening too. We would go to each other’s house and work stuff. We all had an input, but it was really Paul’s band so he led us – and led us well.

Paul: Kevin was pretty succinct in his answer. We used a studio call 313 run by Peter Sellers’ son, and would rehearse a new song every week. Some of them were garbage and didn’t make the cut, but I felt like I had to come up with new stuff so we wouldn’t get bored. Occasionally Dave would present something for our perusal, which was usually shot down by Kevin. He was terrible for that. Dave once presented a song which Kevin immediately described as sounding like the current McDonald’s jingle.
One of our early songs 1862, was outed by Kevin as a rewrite of “There’s a hole in my bucket”. I soldiered on with it regardless and it stayed in the set for years.
I would use a 4 track to record and develop ideas, and many Chairs songs began in this way. The fun part was hearing what the band would do with my scratchy ideas, and I hope I was encouraging. I know I could be extremely precious about my writing.
I still have hundreds of demos of songs I wrote for the Chairs. One of my favourites was a song called The Golden Mile which I later rewrote and used for The Liberty Takers.
Beware, though, a lot of it is crap.

++ This first record had a cool drawing as the artwork and it is credited to the band. I wonder who was the illustrator, the designer, within the band?

Kevin: Paul and Dave for sure. I can’t draw a pair of curtains! Trevor was creative too and his then girlfriend (Claire) was arty.

Paul: We used a lot of comic art, pulp comics mostly, both for artwork and posters etc. The original singles never had picture sleeves. We spent all the budget on the label! The picture sleeves were concocted much later, in the 90’s when we were trying to raise the profile of the band. That’s also when the idea was mooted that we should compile an album (Al Green Was My Valet), which collected all our singles and b sides and some later demo’s. I have I believe the only actual copy. I put together picture sleeves for all four singles but I haven’t seen them for years.

++ You ran your own label, Pink Halo, to release your records. How was that? Was it easy to get distribution? Dealing with the pressing plants? Did you like that part of it?

Kevin: Not really. I enjoyed the live work but didn’t enjoy recording and all the stuff that goes with it” Jim Wallace did most of the other stuff. I just t wasn’t really interested. Jim is owed a lot of credit.

Paul: There was no easy way to get things done in those days – there was a lot of phone calls and leg work. No email, no internet, and The Cartel only came in later. Jim Wallace would shop around for the best deal. We had the first single pressed by Chip Hawkes formerly of The Tremeloes. That was quite a moment for me.

++ And why did you name your label Pink Halo? And what about that design that became your trademark for the labels?

Kevin: Pink Halo was names after a certain part of a woman’s anatomy” nuff said. We wanted a simple but stand out label – always a different colour for each record. We knocked around the art work and all liked the one we used. We all played a part.

Paul: Pink labels meant Island in the sixties, Immediate and Pye records. My original idea was they would all be pink. I’m not sure where Kevin got the idea about the meaning of the name. We had a song called Pink Halo which we were all very enthused about, and it may have been a contender for a single. I know we recorded it a couple of times, once for certain at the Fulham Greyhound, and I’m thinking at the BBC session also. Then we came up with Size 10 Girlfriend and it got forgotten. The first pressing was a cock up. They ran the machinery too hot and the labels got burned. They came out a sort of salmon pink and cream instead of hot pink and white. Many people, Jim included, tried to convince me there was nothing wrong, but at the time I was very disappointed. Anyway, after that we started using different colours to make them sort of collectable.

++ “Size 10 Girlfriend” was your second release and I love this song! Was wondering if in a few lines you could tell me the story behind it?

Kevin: Its about a train journey from Liverpool street to Southend where Paul saw a really hot girl and tells a story of that and many journeys. I liked playing that but it was always one that knackered me as I hit my drums very, very hard!

Paul: It’s social comment. It wasn’t about a girl, so much as the idea that there is a male ideal that dictates what sort of girl is attractive. The idea that you might choose somebody based on their physical characteristics, rather than their, you know, personality. The narrator is an idiot who has misread what sort of girl he is dealing with. We had one or two complaints from people who misunderstood it, so maybe I should have been clearer. Obviously the band didn’t understand it!

++ This time you worked with Howard Turner, who worked with more indie bands at the time. Was it much different than the first time around at the recording studio?

Paul: Howard was a lovely guy, and the experience of recording at a residential place was great for us as a band. There were no dead rats, and fewer blunt instruments. I recall recording a vocal outside in the field. The band was really playing well at this point and we nailed both songs pretty quickly. Cut and Dried remains a favourite song of mine.

Kevin: Yep, he has a very nice place and it was very civilised. It was in Norfolk were we recorded Honey, and we stayed in the cottage surrounded by fields. He had very good facilities only I wasn’t allowed to play my Gretch Kit as it was too lively. I played a silver sparkly thing from memory! Every engineer we worked with were great – all different but great.

++ Your third release, “Honey I Need a Girl of a Different Stripe”, was perhaps the one you had higher hopes with? I ask this because I notice you released it in both 7″ and 12″ formats.

Kevin: Hell yes. We had started to get attention after the likes of you, and then Size Ten. Honey was a bigger sound and people were interested. We decided to fund the12’ and 7’ with picture sleeve. The shirt was one Paul wore a lot and sort of became our image focus. When we were on Radio 1 and Elvis loved it – we thought – we have done it.

Paul: We had received some attention by this point, Steve Lamacq being a staunch supporter, and we had had a number of good reviews, and some airplay here and there. We definitely hoped that this single would make a difference – the difference being we would get some financial support, either through a record deal or a publishing deal. It wasn’t to be, however, and we saw the boat sailing off without us. Elvis was very kind to us and his patronage opened a few doors, but as I say, things were about to change.

++ Your last release, “Crestfallen”, didn’t get proper art, how come?

Kevin: No money unfortunately. I think interest had gone at that point.

Paul: It was orange. What more do you want? We recorded that one with Lance Phillips, who at that time was a sound engineer at AIR studios, then based in Oxford Circus. It was the beginning of a fruitful relationship that continued after The Chairs had thrown in the towel.

++ On the web I could find a couple of mentions saying you were really looking to sign with a bigger label. Was that true? Did you get close to it?

Paul: We talked to EMI, Chrysalis, Arista, Virgin and BMG. They came to see us, we had meetings, Chrysalis gave us some studio time, the A&R people were all keen, but just couldn’t force the issue. I remember The Wonder Stuff being signed at the same time we were in talks with their label. They had a brash image and we were sort of polite and serious. You can see why decisions were made in hindsight. Chrysalis told Jim I was not attractive enough. Makes me laugh now, but at the time it was the death knell for the band.

Kevin: It was our dream to be signed to a major. Paul may say different but that’s the truth of it. We wanted to bring what we had to the millions. I still do – I think the later stuff is greater than the earlier and stands up today. Pink Halo was ours but it was only supposed to be a stepping stone.

++ Why do you think you didn’t get the chance to release an album? Uwe from Firestation Records told me that you had an unreleased one titled “Al Green is My Valet”, what’s that about?

Paul: Being truly independent in those days meant forking out for everything from our own pockets. Petrol money, posters, record production, hiring press agents, stamps and phone bills. We would gig and make no money, so we were all working jobs as well. Getting back from Leeds at three in the morning and then having to drag yourself into work at 8.30 was no joke. I mean, we did joke about it, but it could only go on for so long.

Kevin: We just never had the money to be honest. We paid for the singles ourselves and funded from within. Jim was great and did get some outside cash for demos etc., but we never had enough. I really wish we did have as we would have made one hell of a record.

++ And are there any other unreleased songs by The Chairs?

Kevin: Shit yes! One on the best is Half way up a hill – absolutely Top song. Sycamore ridge was another. I have recording of rehearsals and gigs and a couple of live sets are great. Paul’s song writing pedigree is still top notch. There are loads.

Paul: There are many demos. Don’t Throw it in my Face, Halfway Up a Hill, 1862, Up on Psycamore Ridge, Neck of the Woods, Shakespeare’s Motorbike. There are more I’m sure, but those are ones we played live.

++ From all that repertoire of songs, which would be your favourite and why?

Paul: Either Cut and Dried or Sometimes it Takes a Hammer. Cut and Dried was for me the ultimate conflation of all the things we liked, The Smiths, Costello, Squeeze – it’s a near perfect pop song, clever and a but heartbreaking. Hammer is a song that I literally wrote and completed in a day, and I have no idea where it came from. It’s a political song but it’s not polemical – it’s how I felt about everything at that time in a nutshell.

Kevin: Halfway Up Hill; – because its rocky, powerful, has great licks and interesting drumming. Size Ten, Honey and Daze are close to it though, as is the likes of you.

++ I read that there’s a tape of your first ever gig at the Blue Boar in Southend. Who recorded it? Were copies sold? And what songs did you play? Did you have a big repertoire then or you played songs from your previous bands too?

Kevin: Paul didn’t like playing back catalogue stuff but we dd a few. He was writing for the Chairs so we did new stuff and old. I have a recording of that gig somewhere – its pretty awful I remember!

Paul: We were a three piece to start with – Dave didn’t join straight away, so it would have been pretty raw. I remember we did Neck of the Woods, Only Way to Fly and probably 1862. The rest I can’t recall.

++ What about other gigs? Are there any that you remember in particular? Any fun anecdotes to share?

Paul: I remember playing in Gloucester. That was a good one. It’s funny, I don’t remember the good gigs, only the terrible ones and the associated hardships. We once drove to Leeds for a mid week gig at some pub or other and the publican didn’t know we were coming. He said we could play if we liked. So we had a pint of Guinness and went back to London. We played at The University of West Sussex, and the headline band didn’t show up, so we had their dry ice machine. It was hilarious. We played at The Princess Charlotte in Leicester, and some rough boys in the crowd didn’t like Dave. Dave told them what he thought of them, and they were waiting for us outside afterwards. That led to us carrying a cricket bat to every gig after that. I still have it. Kevin decorated it with pictures of the band.
Kevin was very much the joker. We stopped at one of a string of awful overpriced motorway service stations, and no one had any money. So we all bought tea and toast and sat down to enjoy our food. Kevin came to the table and asked if anyone fancied a sausage, opening his jacket to reveal his inside pocket was full of them.

Kevin: What goes on tour , stays on tour. We did get beaten up in Leicester which was horrible but also quite funny looking back!

++ And what bands did you like that you played with?

Paul: I didn’t like most of them. I did like The Icicle Works, but Ian McNabb was a miserable bastard. The other guys were much nicer. Shirley Manson was in a band we supported called Goodbye Mr McKenzie. I liked their record, and Shirley was lovely, so was Big John from The Exploited.
We liked The Dilemmas, and, as Gene Tryp we had the pleasure of playing with husker Du. They were great to us.
I once met Slade on a staircase, and urinated next to Elvis Costello at the Marquee.

Kevin: The Icicle Works were really great. I liked all the bands really but I preferred the small unsigned ones. Neil Robert Herd was also a great guy.

++ On Facebook, a The Chairs page was created, it seems, mostly to promote a reunion gig, but it never happened. How come? Has there been any other reunion gigs by the band?

Kevin: We realised that we would all be in the UK in August 2015. Paul put up the page but hadn’t asked us if we wanted to play together again. Part of me wanted to , but I and Trev decided that its not going to happen. For me, the memories of the Chairs are precious and were a moment in time. Im never going to play with the guys again – not because I don’t love them, but because time moves on and we are not those people now. Paul lives in Worthing, Tex in NZ, Dave in the Stares, and I lives in Australia until a few years ago.

Paul: That was a bit of mischief. I had enjoyed a reunion with The Liberty Takers the year before, and it tickled me to consider playing with The Chairs. The truth is, Trevor and Dave have virtually given up playing, and certainly didn’t feel confident enough to get up in public. I haven’t stopped so I suppose it was a little selfish to expect it. Nonetheless, we had a great afternoon together and I also met up with Trevor before he returned to New Zealand.

++ You did a radio session for Simon Mayo. How did that invitation happen? How was that experience? Which songs did you play?

Kevin: There is a tape of it – ill find it and send it to you. We recorded in the Holy Grail at Maida Vale studios west London. We stood where the Beatles, Stones and all the greats have been – it was awesome. The engineer completely flattened our sound and I’ve never been keen on the end result. We were so close to breaking onto the mainstream and Radio was interested. I loved being there , but as I said never really enjoyed recording. I think we played, Boys form Slumberland, Shakespeare’s Motorbike, Neck of The Woods – I can’t remember the other (I’m getting old!)

Paul: It was meant to be Janice Long, but I think she left to have a baby. By the time the session was aired, Simon Mayo was doing her slot. Kevin has all the songs right – we also played an early version of Honey INAGOADS. The BBC was a most peculiar place – riddled with nepotism and the old boy network. Kevin and I pinched a teapot from the canteen, and I still have a BBC paper cup. Our producer was supposed to be Dale Griffin, formerly of Mott the Hoople, but I swear we never saw him. There were men in brown coats, and a distinct air of ineptitude. Still, a great experience. The session came about I think through a guy who was doing our press – a scouser whose name escapes me for a moment, who obviously knew Janice and pulled a few strings. That’s how we got single of the week in the NME. Just string pulling. And that’s how we got on Radio One.

++ Did you get much attention from the music press? What about radio?

Paul: “We were bloody awesome when we were on fire” and when we didn’t get signed we were rather put out.
We did interviews on local radio, we got a write up from Steve Lamacq in NME, most of our London gigs were reviewed favourably, we knew who was doing the review and never got slagged. It was a hard slog, and the competition was fierce.
What some people don’t realize is that the old adage is true – it’s not what you know, but who you know. more specifically, it’s not who you know, but how well you know them.
We were fortunate in that we had some good connections through our manager – he had spent time in Liverpool, and through him we got to play with The Icicle Works, and that put us in touch with a number of other people. We were very close to a number of people in the business, but none were able to hook us up with a deal.

Kevin: We had a plugger and also were featured in loads of music process and radio plays. To this day, ill never understand why we were not signed. We were bloody awesome when we were on fire.

++ You did get some good promotion by Elvis Costello, he praised your music. Do you know how did he end up hearing your tunes? Did you ever meet him?

Kevin: Honey was on a Radio Show playlist called ‘Round Table’ where new releases were provide and talked about . We were played on it and he loved it. We thought that was it – here we come, but…………………………………….

Never met him but still love what he does.

Paul: I never met him properly, just to say Hi to. His seal of approval meant the world to me, as I revered him as a writer and a performer, and his words of praise proved to me that I’d got it right.

++ What’s the story about Tim Burgess from The Charlatans stealing Dave Reade’s suede jacket? When and how did that happen?!

Kevin: I think he just picked it up and walked off with it when we were on stage in Islington,. They were not the most welcoming of bands at the time.

Paul: The Charlatans were definitely on different drugs. Their guitar player was nice, and the organist, Rob took the time to talk to us. I thought their show was amazing, and although Dave lost his jacket, it was a lesson to us how far behind we were, in terms of image and fanbase. They left us standing.

++ In the end what happened? When and why did you call it a day?

Kevin: Dave Hubbard our friend ad roadie, stepped away, and I didn’t want to be in the band anymore. I needed to move on. The others did play a bit together after with the great Mick Frangu on drums. Just sort of had enough of it an knew we had missed the boat.

Paul: The legend is that Dave Hubbard decided he’d had enough. We had been round all the record labels and publishers twice and we just had to realize that we were no longer the new kids in town. The Stone Roses had heralded a sea change in how people consumed and reacted to music, and we simply got lost in the shuffle. Literally. We considered for about two seconds that we should wear flares and buy some maracas, but that would have been somehow wronger than giving up.
Personally it was a tough period for me. I had placed so much faith in us succeeding as a band, I had actually neglected most other things in my life. My first marriage came to an end around this time, and for a long time I couldn’t even look at the music press.
I have a memory of going for a kind of farewell drink with Dave and Neil Herd who had both road managed the band, and we watched a Queen tribute band called It’s a Kinda Magic playing in a pub in Stoke Newington, while an elderly lady with learning difficulties danced alone on the floor in front of them.

++ What did you do after? You were involved in The Liberty Takers I think?

Kevin: No, I stopped playing for a short while and then joined a local band called ‘The Falling’. We played one gig in a pub, and I thought, nope, don’t want this anymore. I sold my drums, brought a pram for my new borne and started life a s a dad – it’s a fantastic life. My wife , son and Daughter are my life.

Paul: I never stopped. I felt compelled to carry on, and I began recording with Lance who had engineered the last sessions with the band. I did a few solo shows, but the best part of it was getting to record at AIR studios. Lance would call me up and together we started what was to become The Liberty Takers.
Because he worked at AIR, he was allowed to use the studio when it was “dark” so to speak. At this time, AIR was the studio of choice for people like Elton John, Costello, McCartney, Dire Straits and other jetset pop luminaries. Dire Straits had block booked Studio Two, but hated each other so much they all went home at 5 o’clock every night. Lance would call me, and I would jump on the bus and off we would go. We worked on a series of recordings, elaborate and intricate, that later formed the bulk of the first Liberty Takers album. The main thing was the clock was not running, so we were literally just goofing off and doing whatever we felt like. There was no thought of these things being released at that time, mainly because we shouldn’t have really been there.
Lance once, jokingly, prepared an invoice on AIR stationery, charging me for all the studio time we had used. I think it came to £50,000.
Trevor and Dave were both involved in these recordings, and later I joined forces with a band called The Crowd Scene, and performed initially as The Laugh In, and later as The Liberty Takers. In 1991 I went to Boston USA, and made a lot of friends, including Big Dipper The Gigolo Aunts and The Jigsaws. It was a rejuvenating experience, and I came back ready to take on the world. I released an album “Barbershop Raga” and did a number of shows with an expanded line up. Eventually The Liberty Takers regrouped and we produced what I consider to be the best thing we ever did, “The Heyday of Tony Stone”.

++ And what about today? What are you up to? Any other hobbies aside of music that you have?

Paul: I had always dabbled in writing, short stories, poetry and so on. I have now written two books of verse, and have performed some of these. I have continued to play live, in duos, trios and covers bands, most successfully as The Daytrippers, paying tribute to the greatest thing that ever happened The Beatles. We don’t wear wigs.
I love to read, I love painting, mostly other people’s, and I can now enjoy watching bands as I’m no longer fighting to get to the front.

Kevin: I like listening to music and walking, cycling and jogging. I’m a big lad but enjoy a peaceful life. I love the sky and the country side. I went back to uni in Australia at the age of 44 and obtained a Post Grad Dip in OHS , which was the area of specialism that I moved into years ago. Being in the Chairs and reflecting on how we could have been better managed (from a business perspective) actually helped m, as I studied Business and Commercial management and qualified in that field and then OHS. I travel all over the work and have been to so many countries, its opened my eyes up to how some people are forced to live. We have it good over here.

++ Looking back in time, what would say was the biggest highlight of being in The Chairs?

Kevin: Just being one of 4 who made a difference in the world of music. I know what we were and how good it could be. Playing at the Old and New Marquee Club and the Town and Country Club stand out, but in closing, I’m so grateful and proud to have been the Drummer in the Chairs., so many great memories that will also be with me.

Paul: The highlight was being part of a close unit, that no matter what happened we would share the highs and the lows. It’s like belonging to a gang. No other band has felt quite like that since, and I am so glad I got to have those experiences.
As a band I would probably say our finest moment was one of our last – We played support to The Smithereens, who we all liked, and who were all nice to us. We played a belting gig to a sold out house and we kicked ass. I can promise you, it wasn’t always like that.
There is a theory about greyhounds. They stop chasing the electric hare when they get fast enough to get close, and realize it’s not real. I’ll just leave you with that philosophical metaphor.

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Listen
The Chairs – Size 10 Girlfriend

Here again on a Wednesday. Seems this will be a three obscure band posts type of week. I also have an interview to post tomorrow. Things are very productive here at Cloudberry HQ. Hope you are enjoying all the new music!

FogPark: Continuing with Japanese shoegaze bands I found this band that released a CDR single earlier this year with two songs, “Cigarette Punch” and “Free Size”. It seems the Japanese know better, why release an annoying cassette when you can put out a CDR? A question I ask to all the bands this side of the world with no clear answer. The two songs are available to stream on SoundCloud as well as a month-old song titled “Sleeping Cat”. There are also three songs by a band called HotCake Mansion which I assume was the band the members of FogPark used to be in? You can also watch a video of “Free Size” on Youtube.

The Beths: First time I hear this Auckland, New Zealand, band. Their song “Great No One” is terrific! This is their latest on their Bandcamp, and I hope it gets released as a single, in an EP or in an album. Somewhere. The band is not new though. In 2006 they released a CD EP with 5 songs titled “Warm Blood” which sounds very good too! How come I never heard about them before? I should make up for it and order this CD. I’m going to go poor because I keep finding and finding great music that deserves to be bought! The Beths are Elizabeth Stokes on vocals and guitar, Jonathan Pearce on guitar and vocals, Benjamin Sinclair on bass and vocals and Ivan Luketina-Johnston on drums on vocals. Yup, everyone seems to be on vocals according to the credits. Bad thing though is that they will be playing on November 10th! That same day New Zealand and Peru will be playing a match to see who qualifies to World Cup!! Though I do think the game is at 3pm New Zealand time I think? Or is it already on the 11th? Oh dear it is hard to calculate with the time difference!!

Dan Dan Dero: the Lima, Peru, band has been recommended many times on the blog. The occasion for their mention today is that they have just released a new video for the song “Tangerine” which will be included in their forthcoming album. The video is a collage of clips that tell their adventure while they toured in Bogotá, Colombia, a few months ago.

Jarub: a fantastic song I hear all of a sudden, “Boing de Guayaba”. Who is this mysterious Jarub? Definitely he is from Mexico. It says on his bandcamp, Mor., Mexico. Where is Mor? May it be Morelia? I see that there are many, many, songs on his Bandcamp. But “Boing de Guayaba” is the standout. What is Boing de Guayaba? For those who don’t know, Boing are sort of these boxed juices that you can find in any supermarket in Mexico. Here in the US you can find them sometimes. I do in the supermarket close to mine. Guayaba is guava. So it is a song about a guava juice? This song is part of a digital album titled “Versiones Diminuidas” which is kind of strange. Song titles are in Spanish but he sings in English.

Soda Fountain Rag: our Cloudberry friend Ragnhild will be releasing a new 7″ in the near future with the Spanish label Kocliko. Because of that one of the songs to be included, “Keep My Headphones On: has been uploaded to the label’s Bandcamp! It will be released on December 23rd and I’m very much looking forward to it! How many more songs will it have? I’m guessing three more!

Half Forward Line: Jigsaw Records will be releasing the album “The Black of Mass” by the Half Forward Line, the new band from Brian Kelly of So Cow. The band is formed by Brian, Niall Murphy (Oh Boland) and drummer Ciaran o Maoláin. The CD album includes 12 indiepop songs, some fuzzier than others, with some power pop doses thrown into it. It is a very fine album which I should order soon. It is said that the album was recorded just over two days in the lounge of a derelict rural Irish pub.

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Back to Asia in our world tour! This is our 33rd different country and different band! It seems in the end I’ll be able to reach number 4o. I am pretty surprised by that, I thought, even with wishful thinking I was going to find at the most 30 countries that have had interest in producing indiepop, but I’m definitely very very happy to see there are more, that our scene is very international, and this is being proven here little by little! Time then for South Korean and the band Pirigwa or 피리과 in the local alphabet. A band that didn’t seem to have made a splash but left more than a handful of lovely sweet songs that are worth rediscovering today!

The band released only one EP which sadly is not listed on Discogs. The label is listed though, which is Beatball Records. The same label that released probably the most known Korean indiepop band, Linus’ Blanket. The Seoul label also did releases by BMX Bandits, Mocca or Advantage Lucy. So definitely this wasn’t a random thing. They did like their guitar pop! But why no one has taken the time to add Pirigwa’s release to Discogs? It would help me track their record and buy it!

Yes, I don’t own a copy of it. Which is a shame. The six song EP titled “Butane Gas Mon Cher” was released in 2007 as a CD digipak and it had the catalog number BEAT 36. The songs on the EP were: “Pajama Party“, “Superstar“, “외투도 입지 않은 채 Without Wearing Coat“, “이름모를 귀염둥이 미용실언니 Unknown Hair Shop Girl“, “Snowbound” and “감기도 널 죽이진 못해 Even Flu Can’t Kill You“. As you’ll notice I’ve been kind enough to link to all songs on Youtube for your listening pleasure.

I know that at least the band appeared on two compilations. On the Beatball compilation “Summer Has Gone By…” they had the song “Superstar” and on another Beatball, release, “The Christmas Express”, they contributed the song “Snowbound”.

I keep looking for more information about them. I finally hit some meaty information. It is not easy as I’m searching for the band in both different ways, as Pirigwa and as 피리과. I find an interview with the band Pigbit5 on a blog which I am not sure what is its name. Here I see that Pigbit5 formed from the ashes of Pirigwa. This is what it says: Pigbit5 was formed by Park Yeol, Koung Heo and Taeok Kim who were the members of Pirigwa in 2008 summer after Pirigwa was disbanded.

Okay now we have some band members names. But that’s only three names. I see on the photos of Pirigwa that they were 5 members. We are missing two?

I can’t seem to find any more information about the band. There are some Korean online shops that do sell the CD but for me, as I understand nothing of Korean, it seems like a big risk to try to buy the EP from them. Aside from that I can’t seem to find any blogs or websites, in Korean or English. Was the band based in Seoul? Pigbit5 are based there, in the neighborhood of Sangam-dong. So I feel like they did. But I can’t tell much more, the information is very hard to come by.

Definitely in this world tour this is the band I found the least information. It is a shame as the 6 songs the band put out are lovely. It probably has to do that it seems Beatball Records releases were only aimed to the Korean audience. Which is is surprising having Japan so close. Yeah, I couldn’t even find results in Google for Japanese pages. And hey, Japanese indiepop fans love this sort of sound! What happened to Pirigwa? Did they have any more songs?

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Listen
Pirigwa – 기도 널 죽이진 못해 Even Flu Can’t Kill You

Let’s start a new week with what we like. indiepop music! I’ll go back to the old format, I’ll write down the new music discoveries as a list.

New Tigers: the band finally has released, through their label Soliti’s Soundcloud, their new single that will be part of their forthcoming third album. And it is a goodie!!

Big Red Bus: this is very cool news, the classic band that released some fantastic records in the 80s will get a retrospective on Firestation Records. The CD titled “Youth and Other Hiccups: 1989 – 1992” is one not to be missed. You can preview a couple of tracks on the label’s Soundclod. Do check “Valleys & Peaks” and “All I Need” and you’ll understand why I’m looking forward to this album. The album was released just a few days ago, on the 27th!

Rosedal: I only could find one song by this Argentinean band that hails from the city of Rosario. The song is titled “Cuatro Letras” (Four Letters) and it seems it is just a preview of what it is coming up next. Yes, from what I read this song will be part of an album the band is working on. There is not much more information on their Bandcamp or their Facebook.

Softsurf: the Japanese dreampop band will release their first EP, “Into the Dream”, on November 8th on all digital outlets. Will there be a physical release? I don’t know. It doesn’t look like it. Their website has no information. I have to rely on their Facebook and will keep looking if there’s anything announced. For the time being we can listen to one of the songs on their SoundCloud and it is a very fine slice of shoegaze titled “Blue Swirl”. There is also some sort of sampler for the EP there where you can listen small clips for all the songs on it. The band is formed by Nobuaki Kitamura on guitar and vocals, Yuki Udono on vocals and tambourine, Yohei Maruyama on guitar, Yutaka Mukoda on bass and Mitsuko Ito on drums.

Cookie Romance Nonsugar: another very fine Japanese band I discover. As I said on one of my last posts, there are so many great bands appearing in Japan these days, like a sort of golden age for guitar pop, especially when it comes to shoegazey bands, dreampop bands. The band has just released their second EP, “Shell EP”, which is a self-released CD and it includes four songs all written and sung in Japanese. This is their second effort after the “Dawn EP” CDR that was released early this year. The band is formed by Kawai on vocals and guitar, Atsuko on backing vocals and guitar and Takeshi on bass. You can listen to three of their songs on the linked SoundCloud.

Twelve Fluffy Chair: even more Japanese pop for all of you. Hailing from Kyoto and with a very twee name, this quartet formed by Saki Muranobu on vocals, guitar and keys, Ryo Katayama on guitar and backing vocals, Nozomi Kamihama on bass and Manato Yasui on drums, have released so far two EPs on the label Rhinestone Records. The first in 2012 and the second in 2016. Both of the EPs had 3 songs. The first one, “Airless”, had the songs “Vega”, “Plain” and “Torso”. The second, “B A R”, had “Wednesday”, “A/Part” and “Estoppel”. Sadly the SoundCloud has mostly clips for the songs, no complete ones. It is a shame, I don’t understand why they don’t have instead of 5 or so clips, one or two complete songs. But well, it is the band’s decision. In any case they are very promising songs and would love to track down their records!

The Waterafalls: And lastly, another Japanese band. This Tokyo band didn’t release anything this year but I only got to hear them for the first time now. They did release their debut EP last year. It was self-titled and self-released on a CDR and it had 4 songs, “Ride”, “Somewhere”, “Fall” and “Open”. I especially like the second one, with some blissful and whimsical girl vocals. You can listen to the four songs and two demos on their SoundCloud. I wish I knew more about them and also wish I could find a copy of their sold out EP. Another very nice Japanese band. Definitely there’s something great going on in the land of the rising sun. I must visit soon!

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An obscure band and country when it comes to guitar pop. Right, that’s what I’ll do for the 32nd featured band in the “indiepop world tour”.

It is for sure that only lately we’ve heard of Russian bands. I feel like Motorama was the band that spearheaded the new Russian indie music. Then we’ve heard many more bands like Verbludes or Малыш Камю who are truly terrific. But what happened before all of that? Was there any interesting music being done in Russia? I had to do some research, out of curiosity, and just for these special features I’m doing for the blog, trying to find bands from all around the world, showing what different countries produced in the field of guitar pop. In the end I was lucky and I found the shoegaze/dreampop band Futbol!

These days it feels pretty damn right the name Futbol for a Russian band. Next year there will be the football World Cup in that country. Even better, the city were Futbol were from, Rostov-on-Don, will be a host city in the world cup. The Rostov Arena will host many of the group stage matches.

Rostov-on-Don: known from the time of Herodotus as a land of warlike Scythians, the endless steppes of the Don river basin eventually became home to the freedom-loving Cossacks.
Founded in: 1749
Population: 1.1 million
Distance to Moscow: 1109 km
The flamboyant Cossack culture is still prevalent in Rostov-on-Don, a modern city of one million inhabitants overlooking the beautiful Don river. The village of “Starocherkasskaya”, located 27 kilometres from Rostov-on-Don, is the former capital of the Don Cossacks. Today it is a museum city and one of the area’s main tourist attractions. Despite its profound history, Rostov-on-Don resembles a young and fresh city. The streets are romantically named Harmonious, Creative and Lucky streets. Here one can find the most unusual monuments: to a water pipe or to a newspaper reader. River Don provides the city with the serene and picturesque sand beaches and unique cuisine, featuring fish and crayfish dishes. Rostov-on-Don is situated about 1,000 kilometres southeast of Moscow and is a key transport and cultural hub of southern Russia.

I first stumbled with the band on Youtube when I heard the song “Звезда”. This translates to star. I thought that it was a pretty good song and wondered why no one has ever recommended me their music or why no one talks about them? Maybe they are really that obscure? I admit not knowing a thing about them so to be fair to them and you I will start doing some indiepop archaeology, see what I can find on the web!

It is not going to be an easy task, Russian is a language I don’t understand at all. Even worse, the Cyrillic alphabet is also something I don’t understand. But with patience and some luck I’m sure I’ll find the details I need. And I’m not mistaken, I found the website Lo-Fi Life which covers Rostov’s indie music. There I find a pretty good biography of the band which I try to read with Google Translate.

First things first, the band members:
Sergei Hevelev on vocals and guitar
Sergey Cherevkov on drums
Valery Kalkutin on bass
Alexey Hevelev on keyboards
Vladimir Karpov on guitar
Alexander Levchenko on guitar

On the biography it says the band was heavily influenced by the 80s sound of Manchester. It mentions other bands that were around the time too which now I’m curious to listen like Helen (Элен), Sputnik East (Спутник Восток), Matrosskaya Tishina (Матросская Тишина) or Infantil e Cans. Actually it is from the ashes of the latter that Futbol was to be born. Valery, Sergei and Alexei were in Infantil e Cans. Is there any music available by Infantil e Cans?

The band was formed in 2001 in Bataysk and they rehearsed in the premises of a local cafe that was owned by Vadim Dmitrienko who used to be the bass player on Sputnik East. This town lies 15 kilometers southwest of Rostov. For some reason the band decided to move, and established finally in Rostov. It is when they were in this city that Alexander and Vladimir joined the band. Alexander had been in bands like Man Cho, Nyk Antares and Urblud Dramader. Also we get to know that Sergey Cherevkov had been involved with Helen and Sputnik East. Seems it was a very incestuous scene, everyone having been part of many of the Rostov bands.

It is said that they chose the name Futbol because they loved going to see matches at the stadium. Were they followers of Rostov FC? Will they attend the world cup matches? I would. Maybe if my country qualifies next month I will see them there.

During their lifetime the band played only a few concerts, either four or five, and seems their sound differed to that in studio. In studio the band got the help of Sasha Cho who helped created a wall of guitar noise and keyboards whereas when they played live that wall of sound wasn’t present.

Their discography only has one record, the compilation “2003-2005”. All of their recordings were included in this record I think. I am guessing here a bit as the band doesn’t appear on Discogs. I don’t even know in what sort of format was released. I will guess on a CD. There were 10 songs on it: “Звезда”, “Мне пора”, “Война”, “Время”, “Закрой глаза”, “Самолет”, “Сумасшедший”, “Северный ангел”, “Жигули (alt. mix)” and “Закрой глаза (alt. mix)”. It also mentions a compilation “Jeronimo!” but there is no tracklist for it.

Then I find the website VK which looks kind of like Facebook. Not sure what it is to be honest. But here I find that you can stream 8 songs by the band. That’s really good news. There is even a video Alexander Levchenko posted for The X-Brothers. I am assuming this is the band members of Futbol are involved in now. And yes, that is the case. I was to find a Bandcamp for XBrothers where a 4 song EP titled “XBRobots” is available to stream. I notice Sergei Hevelev and Sergey Cherevkov are involved. They mention The Wedding Present and My Bloody Valentine as influences in their new band.

Time to look for stuff by Futbol on Youtube. I am lucky. I find a live gig clip of them playing “Звезда” and also “Мне пора“. There’s another clip for “Звезда“. For both cases I don’t know where were these gigs played.

There is also some information about Alexey Hevelev on the Russian Wikipedia. There it mentions that aside of being in the band he is also a pianist and a pedagogue. He has won the Governor’s Prize for his contribution to the development of culture in the Rostov Region in 2013. He also has a long career as a composer writing numerous piano cycles, string quartets, quintets and more. He even had a composition published in 1989 when he was only 10 years old. And that’s not all, at 15 he joined the Rostov State Conservatory becoming the youngest student in the history of this conservatory.

What about the other band members? And how come someone trained in classical music ends up playing the sort of music Futbol played? It is not that common.

I don’t know much more about them. It is not very easy to find information with their very simple name. Even harder when it comes that I need to search in Russian. But would be interesting to know what was on “Jeronimo!”. Or if their releases were a CD or something else. If they had unreleased songs. Where did they play those four or five songs? How did their previous band Infantil e Cans sounded like? What are they doing now? If they got much attention from abroad? How was that scene in Rostov in the early 2000s?

It seems the band was around up until 2010, and it seems they split quietly. Were their influence important to the new wave of bands that were to appear in Rostov-on-Don afterwards? Maybe our Russian readers could help shed some light!

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Listen
Futbol – Звезда

Let’s end the week with a 3rd post and on a high-mark!

Probably the biggest news this week after the C86 book was that of the “Revolutionary Spirit” boxset. Yes Cherry Red knows how to milk the cow, and will release another boxset this time featuring bands from the Liverpool scene from 1976 to 1988. Just like the Manchester box set that was released not too long ago (which I still haven’t ordered yet). I’m no fan of Cherry Red as you all know, but it is always hard to resist to these sort of releases. I wonder though if there will be any rare tracks on it. So far only the artists have been announced on their Facebook page:

DISC ONE – 1976-1980:
Deaf School
Big In Japan
Yachts
Echo And The Bunnymen
Ded Byrds
0-51
The Dance Party
The Teardrop Explodes
Faction
Lori And The Chameleons
Nightmares In Wax
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
Jaqui & Jeanette
Clive Langer And The Boxes
Glass Torpedoes
The Original Mirrors
The Moondogs
The Planets
The Chuddy Nuddies
Spitfire Boys
Geisha Girls

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Finally I figured out which band I should showcase when it comes to Hong Kong (and the 31st in this recap), JoyTrendySound! It was not an easy choice, especially because I’m not that familiar with their music. I knew the one song, “Vegetables”, but didn’t know the rest of their output. So I decided it was time to explore. At the same time other options weren’t easy to find. I couldn’t find any songs by the previous bands Dejay from The Pancakes was involved like Tricycle Riders, The Postcard or Ginger Biscuits. I also read about Kitmatic on old emails by the indiepop-list but aside from one song I had on a Japanese compilation I couldn’t find much more. Happily there were a few more songs by JoyTrendySound on Youtube and that made me curious about them.

The first thing I notice is that the band were a duo formed by Mable and Ming. I also notice that on Discogs there is barely any information about them. There is barely anything about them on Discogs. The only things I could find there were a compilation contribution of Mabel, the song “Disco Disco” to the “The Buzz Chart #5” CD comp released in the UK in 2005 and an appearance on the song “Shade Shades” by the band Alok that was included in the album “29 Minutes from the End”. But no releases listed for JoyTrendySound at all.

I do find a Facebook page for the band. And from now on I notice that it is going to be extremely hard to get any information about them. I know nada in Mandarin. I will have to trust Google Translate. So first things first, let’s see what says in their bio. It says they released an EP in 2002 that was titled “微笑”.  Then in 2010 they released their second album, “未命名”. It also mentions a collaboration with a Taiwanese label as well as working with different musicians like My Little Airport, Fruitpunch, Stealstealground, Porpor Channel, The Evening Primrose, Audrey Lily, The Pancakes and more.

On the website Douban I could find the tracklist for the first EP that was released by POCH Records: “微笑“, “初夏之味“, “光阴的奥妙”, “告别黄昏“, and “夏蚀“. As there is not much information in general about the band I am linking to whatever Youtube songs I could find. I do notice that on these songs the sound of the band is much more influenced by bossa compared to the distorted guitars of the song “Vegetables” that was my introduction to them.

I then find an article on Douban about the band which I translate. I notice that their Chinese name 在草地上 doesn’t really translate to JoyTrendySound but to “In the Grass”. On this article the band is compared to Everything but the Girl and it says that the real names behind the band are Li Shumin and Chen Mingze. It also mentions that both of them were previously on another band called Laughitoff which recorded five songs between 1999 and 2000 and were released as the “Off” EP.

I look for the tracklist for their second album. I finally do find it on the Zoo Records website. Sadly here the album is already sold out. It was released by POCH Records (POCH04) in April 2010. The tracklist for this record was: “未 / M1“, “目的地 / No End”, “別站著 / Don’t Keep Standing“, “回 . 來 / Come Back”, “命 /M2“, “加加減減 / + + – –“, “樂音艷霞 / Music Continuous Breeding”,  “多吃蔬果 / Vegetables“, “名 / M3“, “小心輕放 / Fragile“, “We Are Reality / We Are Reality” and “保重（後會有期版）/ Take Care (See You Version)”. Do check “Fragile” and “Vegetables” as they are really cool videos!

I then find a small article on TimeOut Hong Kong where they are disappointed the band is not Rage Against the Machine (wtf?). There I find out the christian names for their releases. The EP would be titled “Mazzy” and the album would be “MMM” or “Untitled”.

I found a couple more songs on Youtube on the POCH Records account. There is one dating from 2014 called “分鐘像永沒完” which is quite nice and a 2012 one named “驟雨一場” . Lastly there is a 2011 called “When I Was…“. Not sure if these songs were released at all. Maybe some Hong Kong friend could help us!

Randomly, on the Japanese-German band Miniskirt website I find the tracklist for a Taiwanese compilation called “Lobo One” that was released in 2003 by White Wabbit Records. On it obviously Miniskirt appears but also JoyTrendySound with the song “Dang Wo Chong Cou Le”.

I’m not sure where to find the records. I don’t have neither one. Would love the 2nd, as “Vegetables” is such a good song. Maybe someone of my Hong Kong friends or readers could help. Would also love to know what happened to the band members? What are they doing now? If there are any unreleased songs? Where did the play? I couldn’t find any information about gigs at all! There’s so little I could find, especially there is very very little in English, but maybe there is more in Mandarin. I hope I get your help and we can find more about them!

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Listen
JoyTrendySound – Vegetables

It is a Wednesday and I had enough time to continue checking out what is new in indiepopworld! Maybe, just maybe, there could be time for another post this week.

I’ll start with Indonesia and the new release of the very fine Dismantled Records from Jakarta: Cleve. At the moment it seems the two songs of the single are available digitally but from what I read on the Bandcamp there will be a CDR sometime soon. The two jangly pop songs, influenced by the sound of the first batch of Indonesian indiepop, say Annemarie, Blossom Diary or Clover, are “Jeda” and “Lagu Pagi”. Both are really nice songs! The band is formed by Omning Puri, Andi Hans Sabarudin, Peter Andrian Walandouw, Amy Amanda and Ade Kris.

Melbourne band The Newsletters, who were recommended on the blog at the time of their appearance on the CD16 compilation, have just released their new album on Buttercup Records! I’m only listening now as I write these lines and I’m hooked. There are 10 fine pop songs in total on this self-titled release. The band is formed by Conor Hutchison on guitar and vocals, Pam Hutchison on bass and Tam Matlakowski on drums. The record is only limited to 150 copies!

Probably the best find this week comes thanks to Melotron Recordings from Greece. They shared on their Facebook page three tracks by the little known UK band Pop City Arizona. The songs they shared were “Bluebell“, “Seaside” and “Girl with Mousy Hair“. They are all fantastic really, and it is no surprise. Why? Because before there was the band Mary Queen of Scots they were called Pop City Arizona. Does that make sense? If you are not familiar with Mary Queen of Scots, well you better check out their split 7” with Peru. I should get in touch and interview them, right? Anyhow, Pop City Arizona hailed from Birmingham and these three beauties date from 1990-1991. Shame they were never released properly!

Another late discovery is the band Parliamo from Perth in Scotland. From the video of their second single “Lucy” we see this band is formed by a bunch of young teenagers! That is very very cool in my book, youngsters loving jingle jangling guitars! There is not much information either on the video or on their Facebook page which is a shame. Also it seems that their songs are also only available online, no physical records as of yet. Their first single doesn’t have a video but it is streamable from Youtube and it is called “Weekend“. This first one was a bit rockier, so yeah, not as good as “Lucy”!

Jigsaw Records latest release was the Irish band Shrug Life‘s self-titled album. The 11 song CD album came out late September and was actually a co-release with the Irish label Little L. The label compares them to So Cow and The Lodger. I can see a bit of both. But what do we know about this band? Well, they are from Dublin and they are a trio formed by Danny Carroll, Josh Donnelly and Keith Broni. We also know that before releasing this album they put out a tape EP in 2015 on the label Popical Island. And that’s about it. Not much more!

Just mentioned The Lodger so I wondered what is Ben Siddall doing these days. I found out that he has set up a Bandcamp under the name Your Favourite Colour where he has been uploading songs supposedly every week. The last one was uploaded on September 8th and is called “A Quick Goodbye (demo)”. Yes, all of the uploaded songs are demos and there are six in total right now, “Former Life (demo)”, “Telephone Song (guitar demo)”, “This is Real (demo)”, “We Will Never Be Alone (demo)” and “My Only Superstar (demo)”. To make it even nicer to the fans he added lyrics to the songs. Very cool. Looking forward to a finished album hopefully!

My last recommendation is the Tokyo dreampop band Blanco. They have just added to their Bandcamp their 2nd EP which follows April’s “Kinyoubi No Yoru” EP. Like their previous effort this digital EP has 3 songs, “Heart”, “Let Me” and “Kinyoubi No Yoru”, this last one included in their previous EP but has been remastered especially for this new EP. Probably this last one is the best track out of the three but “Let Me” is also pretty damn fine! There is no much information about the band but I could find a promo video for the song “Thought of the Day” that was included in the first EP. I definitely recommend Blanco and I’m quite impressed by the numerous amount of new Japanese indiepop bands! Would Japanese fans consider this moment as a golden age for Japanese independent pop?

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One country that perhaps you didn’t have in your radar, Latvia. And yes, this will be our 30th different “indiepop” country in this special feature I’ve christened the “indiepop world tour”. Time now for the band Tramplīni whose sweet sounds will definitely surprise you.

As far as I know Tramplīni is the only indiepop band to ever come from Latvia. I may be wrong, and I hope someone can prove me mistaken. I would love to hear more guitar pop from this Baltic country. So if you have any recommendations, please, you know what to do in the comments box at the bottom of this post. I discovered the band many years ago, maybe around 2007 or 2008, I can’t remember now. But what I do remember is that I found their music through Myspace. And actually, to my surprise, their Myspace still exists.

I quickly check on Google Translate what does Tramplīni mean in English. It means “springboards”! Just in case English is not your first language, why not look up what a springboard is: a strong, flexible board from which someone can jump in order to gain added impetus when performing a dive or a gymnastic movement. Afterwards I head to Discogs, my go-to website for information about bands these days. If only Discogs had the possibility to listen a song or two from the releases it would be the perfect website. I understand that couldn’t be done with big bands, bands on big labels, but indie bands? I think there could be an option for bands to be able to upload their own songs.

On Discogs there is a biography for the band: Latvian lo-fi/indie rock band Tramplīni feature Anete Kozlovska (farfisa organ, keyboards, vocals), Jānis Birznieks (guitar, vocals), Māris Peterlevics (drums, guitar), Gary Dickenson (bass) , Jānis Barlo (guitar) and Uldis Kozlovskis (bass, glockenspiel). Tramplīni originally have formed in Liepāja back in 1997, when old school mates Jānis Birznieks, Mārtiņš Rencis and two brothers Māris and Juris Peterlevics came together. In 1998 they self-released debut EP “Planētas”(Planets). After a short period of silence Tramplīni ganged up in Rīga again, when one of the most beautiful Latvian female vocalists Anete joined the band. In 2006 they self-released their 2nd five song EP “Hallo, mazie!”(Hello, Babies!), combining the best of indie, lo-fi, slow core and post rock traditions. After their 3rd EP “Ziepju trauks” (Soap Dish) in 2008 on Klausule Records, Tramplīni finally released their first full-length cd – “Švīkas” (Scratches) in 2011.

Sure, the band is a bit lo-fi. Indie-rock? Mmm could be. But I feel it is closer to indiepop. They are melodic and catchy and even if I don’t understand Latvian I want to sing along! So the band was originally formed in Liepāja and I have never heard about this town: it is a city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region and the third largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-free port. In 2017 population of Liepāja is 69,443 people. In the 19th and early 20th century it was a favourite place for sea-bathers with the town boasting a fine park and many pretty gardens, and a theatre. Liepāja is however known throughout Latvia as “City where the wind is born”, likely because of the constant sea breeze. A song of the same name (Latvian: “Pilsētā, kurā piedzimst vējš”) was composed by Imants Kalniņš and has become the anthem of the city. Its reputation as the windiest city in Latvia was strengthened with the construction of the largest wind farm in the nation (33 Enercon wind turbines) nearby.

Riga, I’ve heard of course, that’s the capital. I hope to visit one day. I really do. The old town looks beautiful, and I’ve actually read quite a bit about it as I have this Lonely Planet Baltic guide from the time I visited Estonia. I was curious and started reading. Now, I need to get myself there.

The other interesting detail I get from that bio is that of Gary Dickenson. Who is he? Definitely that name doesn’t sound Latvian. It is also worth mentioning that there is a website listed but it doesn’t exist anymore. What does exist is a Bandcamp for the band were all their releases but their first one, the “Planētas” EP, are available to stream. I would start with those releases but let’ do it in chronological order.

The “Planētas” EP came out in 1998 and it was self-released. I’m guessing it was released as a CD. It included seven songs: “Planētas”, “Tuvoties”, “Zaglis”, “Patvērums”, “Bērns”, “Vienpadsmit” and “Viens Vārds”. There is not much information about it on the web and it is definitely hard for me to dig in Google for any information in Latvian. But I will try!

8 years after that first release, when the band had already moved to Riga, a new EP was to be released, the 5 song “Hallo, Mazie!” EP. This CD was also self-released and had the tracks: “Pārgājiens”, “Tas Pats”, “Šovbizness”, “Rudenī” and “Millennia”. It also includes a video for the song “Tas Pats“, which was created by Toms Vilītis, which you can actually watch on Youtube. This record was mixed at Wolk Recording Studios by Sergej “Amsterdam” and mastered at West West Side Music by Alan Douches. The cool artwork was created by Pēteris Līdaka. The credits for the music go as follow: Uldis Kozlovskis on bass, Māris Peterlēvics on drums, xylophone, guitar and organ, Jānis Barlo on guitar, Jānis Birznieks on guitars and vocals, Kaspars Majors on trombone, Konstantīns Jemeļjānovs on trumpet and Anete Kozlovska on vocals, farfisa, piano, harmonica and synths.

Then we had to wait just two years, in 2008 the band released “Ziepju Trauks” with the label Klausule (KL002). At last, the band found a label (though it might be the band’s own label? anyone can confirm this?). This CD was also an EP and again they had 5 songs on it, “Zibspuldzes”, “Mazā Paciņa”, “Labi Draugi”, “Biezpienbumba” and “Par Lietu”. This record was mastered and mixed by Jason Martin in his studios of Riverside, California. Here I see some new names on the credits, Aigar Celms as a performer, Jānis Porietis on trumpet and Virdžīnija on vibraphone. A small little press release for this record says: The third EP from Tramplini. Released on December 2008. We recorded this album in places like hotels, offices, church, home, in the wild. We wanted to make it organic in every sense. The CD cover is from recycled paper and each copy marked with a unique number. It is important to mention that a promo video was made for the song “Mazā Paciņa“.

These two last EPs were then released as a compilation titled “Tumba Rumba” in 2009.

Finally in 2011 the band was to release their very fine debut album “Švīkas”. It was also released on Klausule (KL003) and it had 9 songs on it: “Zaķusala”, “Tīrās Mokas”, “Stēvija”, “Švīkas”, “Plāksteri”, “Komunikācija”, “Tas Nemaz Nav Smieklīgi”, “Cidoniju Lauks” and “Degpunktā”. This time around the album was recorded at WeLoveSound studio in Riga. It was mixed by Brandon Eggleston at Cloud City Sound in Portland and mastered by Nick Moon at Tone Proper Mastering in Portland. The artwork was created by Daiga Krüze. Luckily I found a copy on Discogs from a Latvian seller. Hopefully it arrives soon at home. What was cool though was the very low shipping prices! How I wish there were Latvian sellers selling more indiepop and less metal!

There are two compilation appearances. The song “Tas Pats” appeared on the “Series Two Compilation Vol.1” in 2008 and “Stēvija” on the CD comp “Odekolons #14” that was released in 2014 by HUBB (a Latvian indie label).

Next stop ends up being Youtube where I found some live videos. There is a clip of the band playing the song “Patvērums” live at Hamlets in Riga on January 2007. Even better I see a very excited crowd dancing and singing along the song “Stēvija” at the Positivus festival in 2012.

I decide then that it is time to check out what other music the band members had been involved with, so I click on their names on Discogs. Anete seems to have released a solo album titled “Tik Daudz” in 2012. On this album Uldis also contributed. They both also appear on the credits for the album “16 Stundas” by the band Kārlis Kazāks that was released in 2011.

I keep looking. I find a Facebook page that was updated earlier this year for the first time. The last post is actually a song by Peter Levics called “Prelude” taken from an album titled “Narcissism and Doubts”. I have a listen. It is not indiepop, but a different thing altogether. Instrumental. Is this what Maris Peterlevics is up to these days? Or is it Juris Peterlevics? On this page I also notice that the band aside from playing the Positivus festival in 2012 also played a show the 4th of August at the Laba Daba venue in Ratnieki.

Then I found an article on the website TVNet from Latvia where they feature the band. I hope Google Translate is accurate here, I don’t want to talk nonsense! So bear with me. It seems that before the band was called Tramplini they were called Palmolive and they were based in Grobinas.

My indiepop investigation reaches a halt here. I couldn’t find any more interesting details nor I couldn’t find a way to listen to their first EP. Bummer. There is no word if the band split or if they are still going. It seems 2012 was there last year active but I might be wrong. So I wonder what happened? What are the band members doing these days? Are there any Tramplīni unreleased songs? Why did they move to Riga? Was Klausule their own label?  Are there any other Latvian indiepop bands worth mentioning?

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Listen
Tramplīni – Zaķusala

Our anniversary month is almost over but we have to continue with this labour of love especially when there’s been many interesting news the past week.

Remember I recommended Lost Film a month or so ago? At that time only one of their songs was streamable. Now the Massachusetts band has many more. Why? Because the Spanish label Discos de Kirlian is releasing their Mini-LP on a beautiful 10″ vinyl. It is only limited to 100 copies and it is available to pre-order too. There are 10 songs on the record, eight of them you can listen now. Check it out, it’s really good.

Continuing with Spanish labels now we turn our head to Kocliko. The label that released not too long ago the Tomiji 7″ is back this time with two new CD albums. The first one is by the band Alligator and it is titled “Octets”. This is the first time I hear about the band so I had to find out who they were. Clearly they are French, where in France? Not sure. They are a duo formed by Alexis Da Costa and Camille Lucie. The album is limited to 123 copies and includes 8 blissful songs. The other CD is by The Very Most. “Syntherely Yours” was the album that  Jeremy released some time ago but it is finally coming out on a physical format. So that’s very good news. This record is quite cool because aside having a bunch of very fine tracks, it has collaborations with many indie household names like Adriano from Postal Blue or Lisle from Tiny Fireflies. The album has 11 tracks and you can stream them all  and order the CD right now from the label Bandcamp.

Another top news from a Spanish label is that from Pretty Olivia Records. The lovely label that is ran by Javi has reissued the album “Exit Trashtown” by the superb Cypress, Mine! Wow! I wrote an article about this band a long time ago hoping to interview them. Sadly that interview never happened, but at least I got news that Javi was working on a reissue. A lot of time has passed since, and finally this dream has come true! The record will be released in a deluxe edition, 2 vinyl records. One with the album and another one with all the singles and demos of the never released album. It will be available on October 25th, so very soon! This is terribly exciting!

Our friends from Starry Eyed Cadet have put together a limited edition EP to help the NorCal Wildfire Relief Fund. All sales are going directly to the relief and recovery efforts. As usual they are classy and lovely, and we get three new songs, “Kind”, “Reaction (Acoustic 2017)” and “Sugar (Acoustic 2017)”. Now, I hope the band releases a second album sometime soon!

Lastly the book “C86 & All That” written by Neil Taylor is going to be published on November 30th. I must say I have already preordered. For some reason the pre-order button doesn’t work anymore but you can check Ink Monkey Editions and get in touch with them and ask how to pay. I believe it was 25 pounds including shipping for anywhere in the world (of course cheaper if you are within the UK). This is a very long-awaited book which I can’t wait to read. I already like the artwork for the cover, it is very much “c86”, so now I want to read and love the stories written in it!

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After my last post I decided to count how many countries have been featured on this world tour. To my surprise there were already 28 posts about 28 different bands from 28 different countries. Today it is time for number 29, Peru.

As it is the case with Latin America proper indiepop wasn’t really a staple until the 2000s. But it is also true that there have been guitar pop bands since the 1980s. Bands that were influenced by different scenes, and in today’s case, clearly influenced by the Spanish pop movement known as La Movida.

Peru has a long story of underground music. Underground punk and also post punk were important scenes during the 80s and early 90s. If you remember well, here on the blog, I’ve featured El Sueño de Alí and Voz Propia some years ago. But underground pop wasn’t really strong at all. There were just a few bands around and they didn’t release any proper records. There was barely any support for them. What’s funny though that later, in the 90s, the people that were involved in these bands would actually enjoy success. That is the case for example of Los Vagabundos who would later become Cementerio Club and also today’s band, Los Inocentes, who would become in perhaps Peru’s most important alternative band, Mar de Copas.

During the last years I was still working with Jalito on the Peruvian indiepop label Plastilina Records we discussed about the release of two albums from the Peruvian vaults: El Sueño de Alí and Los Inocentes. I thought rediscovering these gems would be important.  I’m not sure anymore if these releases will see the light of day but I really hope they do. They would rewrite the story of independent pop in Peru, as most people forget or just don’t take in consideration these bands today. It is like if they never existed.

The band actually started as a five-piece with Manolo Barrios (guitars), Toto Leverone (drums), Gustavo Jímenez (bass), Arturo Rivas (keyboards) and Raúl Mondragón (vocals). At that time they were called E Inocentes.  Years later, in 1989, the band would become a three piece after Raúl and Arturo left the band. It is at this time that were to change their name just a little bit, to Los Inocentes (The Innocents). Around this same time, Toto also joins the band La Secta and records three songs before splitting.

The next year, 1990, would see Jorge ‘Pelo’ Madueño’ joining the band to play guitar. Yes, the same Jorge Madueño from the brilliant El Sueño de Alí. With this new lineup the band recorded 14 songs at the Miki González studios, “Calles Ruidosas”, “El Condor Pasta”, “Isabel”, “Entre las Nubes y el Mar”, “La Rumbambera”, “Popurrí Leonardo Favio”, “Flores Raras”, “Una Mujer de Verdad”, “Aun No Sé”, “Cuéntame”, “La Copa Rota”, “Ya No Puedo Verte Más”, “Lluvia de Color” and “Dime Cuándo Tú a Mi”. These songs, worth an album, remain unreleased to this day. A shame really.

It is worth mentioning that two of those songs were covers, of course the musical medley of Leonardo Favio’s songs on “Popurrí Leonardo Favio” and La Copa Rota, original of José Feliciano. The rest were all original songs.

I read on a small biography available on the Mar de Copas website that the band tried hard to have their songs played on Peruvian radio but they had no luck whatsoever. That they played sporadically at venues like Nirvana and No Helden in Lima. What they did manage was to play in some TV shows. One of those TV shows was the kid’s show “El Show de July”. I could find a Youtube clip from that appearance when they play the song “Isabel“. From what I gather this was the 2nd song they played that time. I can’t seem to find a clip for the first one sadly.

Their other TV appearances were in 1988 on the “La Ruleta Millonaria” programme and in 1990 on the “En América con Jaime Bayly”. Sadly I couldn’t find any video clips.

The next year, 1991, the band split after playing a gig at the Wifala venue in Miraflores, Lima. In 1992 Manolo and Toto were to start a new project called Mar de Copas and the rest is history.

Their only appearance in a physical record dates from many years after the band split, 1997. The band had two songs on a compilation CD titled “La Generación Perdida” released by APU Records (CD-00002). On this compilation the had “La Copa Rota” and “Lluvia de Color”.

Surely, there is a lot on the web about Mar de Copas. But I still decide to find out more about Los Inocentes. There might be something else. And definitely there was. I find out that in 2008 there was a reunion gig at La Noche venue in Barranco, Lima. 18 years after they had split. It was an important occasion. Mar de Copas was celebrating the 9th year anniversary of their mailing list. Sharing the bill were other Mar de Copas related bands like Los Trece Baladas and Hnos. Brothers. On this special gig the band played almost all of the 14 songs the band recorded but two, “La Rumbambera” and “Aún No Sé”. Here I found them playing their classic “Lluvia de Color“.  Another rare find is a medley of Los Inocentes‘ songs played by Mar de Copas while practicing before the aforementioned gig.

Not much more about the band on the web. Would be nice to know more details about them, like which songs they played at their TV show appearances? Where did they play gigs and who supported them? If they had any more recordings? And if there are still plans for those songs to be released in some way or another?!

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Listen
Los Inocentes – Flores Raras‎

Still enjoying the 9th anniversary of the blog and continuing with this ongoing blog feature or reviewing on each post different bands from different countries celebrating how international indiepop is and has been. But first it is time to check out some new discoveries, new indiepop sounds, from around the web!

A new song by Papa Topo has appeared on the Elefant Records’ Youtube: the short but sweet Debbie Harry cover, “Me Besaste”. This song is part of the soundtrack of the films “La Maldita Primavera” and “Nos Parecía Importante” which will be released by Elefant as a digital album. On it there are 7 Papa Topo songs, another 7 by Adrià Arbona, Papa Topo’s vocalist, and one by Masonieria, Sonia from Papa Topo. I’m not very keen on the artwork for the record, looks terribly cheesy, but as it will be MP3 it doesn’t matter. The song is great though and I look forward to hearing the rest (well, we have already heard and recommended on the blog the track “La Llamada” which is brilliant!).

Underground Lovers from Australia. Have you heard them? They sound pretty ace. I wasn’t aware of them, even though it seems they have been releasing records since 1990! I must do my homework and look into their past work. What I heard today was their latest effort, the “Staring at You Staring at Me” album that was released this year on Rubber Records. It is available on CD and vinyl LP, as well as in all digital platforms. I’m not sure where to link you, as there is no Bandcamp and their Soundcloud only allows you to preview the songs, play like 30 seconds. So when you click the band’s name you’ll go to Youtube to listen the blissful “You Let Sunshine Pass You By”.

Foliage is the solo project of Manuel Joseph Walker from San Bernardino, California. I’m listening now his latest songs, the ones that appear on the tape titled “Foliage”. There are 12 songs on this white cassette that seems to be about to sell out. They are really good. Actually you can also get a CD version of the album from the label Spirit Goth Records (scary name!). As usual this is a late discovery, on his BandCamp I can see he has been uploading songs since 2014. I guess it is better now than never. Check out songs like “Silence” or “Dare” and you’ll understand why I’m liking this!

Something quite rare I found on BandCamp, a new Paris Angels‘ tape? It seems that for Cassette Store Day 2017, which was October 14th (?), four Paris Angels songs were released as the “Stairs to the Sun” EP by the Swansea label Lavender Sweep. The songs being “Stairs to the Sun”, “Rise”, “Door to Summer” and “Shake”. These songs were recorded between 1988 and 1992. Of course, this is already sold out. Why not release it now as a CD EP or a 7″ vinyl?

Another strange sighting is that by St. John’s, Canada, band Lo Siento. Why is it strange? Because this is a Canadian band singing in Spanish. I check the band member names and I don’t see any indicative that they have Spanish names. Maybe the vocalist? Pepa Chan? Could be, but definitely not Andrea McGuire or Alligita Graves, though that is always relative. You could have any last name and be from anywhere in the world. I do notice an accent which of course I don’t mind, I celebrate. I actually like this a lot!! I wonder what are their influences? I wonder why did they decide to sing in Spanish instead of English? Infectious, catchy, fun, I don’t know how else to explain this? It is pretty awesome. 7 songs, and I would say that somehow there is an Argentinean connection. Why do I say that? Well there is a song called “Historia en el Placard”. I think the only country to call a closet a “placard” instead of “armario”. Maybe that’s where they learned Spanish? Or had an Argentinean teacher? I wonder. Anyways, lovely stuff!

Lastly, remember Battery Point? The band that released two wonderful EPs on their BandCamp that I duly championed? They were fantastic, right? Well, if you didn’t want any more tapes, here is a new one titled “Six Songs of Endearment for your Livelihood”. This tape released by the Toronto label Fallen Love Records includes both EPs for the first time in a physical format. I was hoping for a CD or vinyl, but well, it seems cassettes are winning the war and I’m losing it. I don’t even know where to put the few tapes I have in my new apartment, so can’t think of myself buying any. Shame. I’d love to play these songs home, read the liner notes, the credits. But that’s how it is. But for those who love tapes, here is a great opportunity to get 6 wonderful songs!

And if that wasn’t all bad news when it comes to tapes. Verandan confirmed that their EP will be released physically on tape. It must be a nightmare! Tapes, tapes, tapes. Give me a CDR any day over tapes. Hopefully next year this trend changes (?). I cross my fingers.

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It is time to fly to another country in our indiepop world tour. How many months have we been featuring bands from different prominent indiepop countries?! Must be two or three now. We’ve visited countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Today we visit another European country, Italy!

It is very well known that Italy is not famous for its indiepop. Here on the blog only once we featured an indiepop band, Blanco y Tango, and on that post we talked quite a bit about the Italian cassette label Shiny Sunset. I actually got in touch with whom used to run that label and asked to do an interview, sadly I never heard back. Would have been great as I would have heard a first-hand account of the Italian indiepop scene.

Today I want to go back many decades, to the late 80s, to check out a band I know very little, Views.

It is a very common name, Views. I wonder why they called themselves Views.  The band didn’t sing in Italian, their songs were in English. And released as far as Discogs confirms, 2 records.

Namby-pamby: is a term for affected, weak, and maudlin speech/verse. It originates from Namby Pamby (1725) by Henry Carey.

“Namby Pamby” came out in 1988 on the Tramite label (MLP 88003). This label was based in Brescia and released a few records, especially that year. This 12″ release was a miniLP and included 6 songs. 3 on each side. On the A side there was “Till the Money Gone”, “Please Linda Talk” and “Ocean”. The B side had “Flowers on the Desert Sand”, “Enough For You” and “Tell You Something”.  It was published by Ala Bianca and recorded at Magic Frog Studio in Brescia. Would this confirm that the band hailed from that city?

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometres from the lakes Garda and Iseo. With a population of 196,480, it is the second largest city in the region and the fourth of northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 672,822,[2] while over 1.5 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with over 1,200,000 inhabitants. Founded over 3,200 years ago, Brescia (in antiquity Brixia) has been an important regional centre since pre-Roman times. Its old town contains the best-preserved Roman public buildings in northern Italy and numerous monuments, among these the medieval castle, the Old and New cathedral, the Renaissance Piazza della Loggia and the rationalist Piazza della Vittoria.

There are some credits for the record. We know the bassist was Nico Meteo and the drummer was Dario Pironi. On electric and acoustic guitar was Livio Rug, on keyboards we had Luca Rug and on guitars and vocals there was Giovanni Iside. The record producer was G.B. Castews, the technician was Dario Caglioni and the photography on the cover art, the same that illustrates this post, was taken by Guido Biagi.

I click on those names, looking to find any connections. I notice that Dario Pironi had also been drummer on the band Vega Enduro in the mid 2000s. Livio and Luca Rug also played in Vega Enduro’s album “BigTime25:33p.m.”. No other credits for the rest of the band members.

I haven’t heard any of the 6 songs included in “Namby Pamby”, their first release. That is not the case with “Mummycat the World N° 2”. I have actually heard all 10 songs thanks to a user on Youtube that has uploaded all songs. The LP album, released in 1990 by Crazy Mannequin Records (CRAZY 00019), had 10 songs. On the A side we find, “Say It!“, “The Raining Men“, “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me and My Monkey“, “Red Flowers Moon Light” and “Patty Flan“. The B side had “Mummycat“, “Circle“, “She’s Going Out“, “Real Good Time Together” and “The Mirror“. It is worth mentioning that Crazy Mannequin Records was a new wave label based in Milano, in Italy.

For this record there are no credits on Discogs, just Stefano Castagna who is credited as engineer. The songs were recorded at the Ritmo & Blu studio.

At that same studio the band was going to record “Not for Sale” which was going to be included on the “Pegorock” compilation LP that was released in 1990. This record wasn’t released by a label, I assume it was a record released by the studio Ritmo & Blu and its owner, Stefano Castagna. Other bands on this compilation were Taken to the Bottle, Hang Ten, Dorian Gray or Bambini in Bikini.

I keep googling, trying to find any worthy information. I start to notice a name that shows up a few times, Giovanni Ferrario. From what I can see he was part of the Views. The only Giovanni I could see on the credits was Giovanni Iside. Must be the same Giovanni. It does seem that Giovanni continues making music. I found a biography where it mentions he was born in Monti-Chiari and that in 1984 he formed Views. It also mentions that the band was around for 10 years. After the band split he moved to Catania. Not much other information about the Views, but it does tell that the had been involved in a band called Micevice in the late 90s and that these days he records and releases music under his own name. He has collaborated with PJ Harvey, Morgan and Cristina Donà.

Then I found the blog Tutto Disco. On it I find some interesting facts about the band. Firstly that on the 2nd record, on the album, there was a female guitar player, Emanuela Esquilli, who also did backing vocals. But most importantly the band recorded in 1993 a demo tape titled “Warm”. This demo tape was never released. What happened with it?!

That’s all I could find. For me this was a cool discovery, it is not common to find fine guitar pop from Italy. There’s some but not many, it is like digging gold. I wonder what happened to the rest of the band members. Were they involved with any other guitar pop bands? What happened to that “Warm” demo tape? Are there any other unreleased songs? Or perhaps other compilation appearances? Where did they gig in those 10 years they were around? Did they get any attention from aborad? Were they from Brescia? Many questions, but I’m sure we’ll find the answers someday soon!

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Listen
Views – Say It!‎

I only noticed today that it is actually the 9th anniversary of the Cloudberry blog. 9 years of writing about indiepop. 9 years of interviewing indiepop bands. Definitely the blog is one of the few resources these days to cover exhaustively the music we all love. At the time I started the blog there were many others, sadly Cloudberry Cake has outlived them.

The way we get our news has changed, that is true. Indiepop groups on Facebook are quite successful. Not totally, but they are a good resource. The only problem is that there is no curation and sometimes it can end up being a free for all situation. Another dynamic that has become quite fashionable is that of having indiepop being reviewed or debut the digital release on random hipster blogs. It is a way to get the message through. Maybe it works, maybe it gets a new audience. When I did that, debuting some videos on some website it didn’t make any difference if I’m honest.

What will happen in the next year or two? Or the next five? How will we get to know what’s new in indiepop? What are the next cool bands? The indiepop-list is almost dead. I have to be checking day and day again on Bandcamp and other sites for any uploads. I trust my friends who post on their own personal Facebook links to bands they’ve discovered. But Facebook also hides stories. I can’t follow all the posts the bands I follow post as I don’t see them. It really is a hustle. Because of all these problems I feel a blog is still a good way to present information for our case. All news are centralized and a good search function helps tracking and finding what you came looking for in the first place.

I continue ask myself when will I stop? I don’t have a date. It is true I wish many of the articles, especially the interviews would be great on a book. I wish I could do that. If I had the time or money. Maybe there’s a publisher interested, who knows. In any case I feel one more year of blogging won’t be a problem. I have the energy for that. Not a problem.

Making it to 10 years would be a success. I still don’t check how many readers I have, but the last year I feel I’ve had more comments. And that makes me terribly happy. Getting in touch with bands or getting to know about bands from people that saw them, that experienced them live or were friends with. I want to continue writing down for posterity what indiepop meant and means. This is history, and shouldn’t just be forgotten.

After those words, just a couple of new discoveries for you to check, I didn’t want to leave you empty-handed!

You can now order the latest 3 Shelflife releases, that is Pia Fraus, Airiel and The Luxembourg Signal albums. In the past weeks we could stream many of these records on different websites but The Luxembourg Signal’s. Now it is available to stream on the Big Takeover website and you can listen to it if you want to check if this is up your street. The album is a co-release with Kleine Undergrund Schallplatten releasing the record for Europe. The band formed by Beth Arzy and Betsy Moyer on vocals, Johnny Joyner on guitars, Brian Espinosa on drums, Kelly Davis on guitars and Daniel Kumiega on bass and Ginny Pitchford on keyboards has just been touring Europe with people loving their shows. I still haven’t seen them. When they played Indietracks in 2015, I didn’t go. Tough luck. This record also comes with a surprise, it has guest vocals from Bobby Wratten on the song “Fall Feeling”. Sounds like a very fine record, now I need to get a copy.

A recent discovery for me is California’s The Molochs who have a few records. Their latest, “America’s Velvet Glory” , was released this January on vinyl, CD and tape. The record has 11 guitar pop songs influenced by The Go-Betweens, Flying Nun Records and perhaps The Smiths? I hear some country sometimes too.  There are a few promo videos for some of the songs of the record, you can check “You and Me” and also “No More Cryin‘”. The Los Angeles band seem to have toured Europe quite well, even playing Primavera. They are formed by Lucas Fitzsimons, Ryan Foster, Cameron Gartung, Derek Cowart and Mateo Leonardo. The band releases their records on the Innovative Leisure label.

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Ticking checkboxes, many countries have already been featured in this indiepop world tour. I hope you have discovered some new music from all around the world. Indiepop, guitar pop, are not exclusive to the British Isles. That’s a fact. Definitely there’s less quantity in other countries but by no means less quality. So far, when it comes to Latin America, I’ve featured Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. Too little. Maybe it is time to check out Chile, the country where the band who we are releasing next on our label, My Light Shines For You, hails from.

Of course, I’m not going to be talking about them now. We are here to rediscover lost, forgotten bands, not contemporary ones! I think my first sort of indiepop connection with Chile was through Soulseek too. It seems that story of Myspace and Soulseek seem to be a thread in my last posts. Well, that was my indiepop education in the early and mid 2000s. That’s the time I made so many good friends from all over the world and discovered music from every corner. That’s how I met Alejandra from Les Ondes Martenot. What a beautiful band. I thought at the time that they must be the only band making indiepop proper in South America. Probably they were. It was around 2003 or so. They sounded like a beautiful mix of La Buena Vida and Camera Obscura. But as I’m in touch with her still it doesn’t make sense to dedicate an article, I feel it will be much better to do a proper interview. I should do that. I wonder why it’s been almost 10 years on the blog and I haven’t interviewed so many friends I’ve made through the years.

Chilean music was never unknown to me. Mainstream bands like Los Prisioneros were very important while I was growing up. I still like their music, they are classic. I even saw them live when they reunited and played in Miami. Other bands from the 90s like Los Tres or Lucybell were well known and you could hear them on the radio. The Chilean scene output wasn’t as big as Argentina or Mexico but they managed to break through. I remember in the early 2000s underground fanzines in Lima were covering bands like Congelador or Panico. I wasn’t a fan of them, they weren’t pop, jangly, or neither of the things I like. But they were there. I always wondered if there had been any bands in the 90s that actually played pop. Only later, much later, maybe 10 years ago or so I discovered a band called Malcorazón which was heavily influenced by Lush and I became very curious about them. Why had I never heard them while I was living down in South America?

Malcorazón (sometimes spelled too as Mal Corazón) would roughly translate as “bad heart”. According to Discogs, which as you know is my first stop when digging for information, they were a Chilean indie, indie pop, indie rock, shoegazing & pop band, formed 1989 in San Bernardo, Santiago. There seems to have been a bunch of lineup changes, so I’ll just save myself sometime and copy/paste that information:
– Cathy Lean: lead vocals, guitar (1989 – •).
– Cristián López: guitar (1989 – 1994).
– Carlos González: bass (1989 – 1996).
– Rodrigo Norambuena: drums (1989 – 1997).
– Jorge Flores: guitar (1994 – 2004).
– Thomas Kalbhenn: bass (1996 – 1997).
– Sandra Neumann: keyboards (1996 – 1997).
– Cristián Córdova: drums (1997 – •)
– Giovanni Quezada: bass (2002 – 2004).
– Cristian Herrera: guitar (2011 – •).
– Maximiliano Parra: keyboards (2011 – •).
– Mauricio Horment: bass (2011 – •).

As you can see, lead vocalist Cathy Lean was the only one to be part of the band since day one. Listed on Discogs are two albums, “San Bernardo” from 1995 and “Abismo” from 2003. I definitely recommend the first one, which is really pretty, influenced by Lush or The Sundays.

San Bernardo is a city of Chile, part of the Greater Santiago conurbation. Administratively, it is a commune and the capital of the Maipo Province in the Santiago Metropolitan Region. It is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardo. The Chena hills, located in the basin of San Bernardo, are home to an Incan sacred site known as the Huaca of Chena or Chena’s Pucará. Initially thought to be a fortress, the structure in the southern tip of the Chena hills has been denominated as a huaca a sacred place, a space of ritual use. The Chena’s Pucará was observed to have a zoomorphic design, resembling a puma, which is a characteristic of Incan ceremonial and sacred structures. The word Chena means puma in oestrous cycle in the Quechuan language.

“San Bernardo” came out on the label Alerce (catalog ALCE 853) which is actually a folk label. So that was a strange choice. Perhaps there weren’t many options at the time. It came out only on cassette, which is a shame. The album had 10 songs, all written by Cathy and music by Carlos González. The songs being: “Eternos Días de Invierno”, “Promesas”, “Noche en Espiral”, “Maravilla de Piedra”, “Vendrás”, “Sin Fin”, “Aguas Azules”, “Tras la Faz”, “Sin Piedad” and “10 de Agosto”. The last song actually contains a fragment of Lush’s “Lit Up”. The artwork for this tape was done by Italo Miranda and the design by Carol Vieytes. The photos were taken by Pablo Borón. The band had help from Alejandro Gómez on guitars and Gabriel Vigliensoni on samplers. The songs were recorded, engineered and mixed by Iván Quiroz with the help of Luis Serrano, Claudio Hijerra and Roberto Espinoza. It was recorded in the Filmo Centro studio and mastered in the Ricardo García studio.

The second album, with a totally different lineup almost came out on La Oreja label. “Abismo” saw a departure of their sound, becoming a bit more electronic. It is also much more mainstream. I wonder if they had some success with it? There were ten songs on it, “Abismo”, “Esperaré Por Ti”, “Todo Peor”, “Alma en Pena”, “Es Sólo el Comienzo”, “Carne Cruda”, “Luz de Amanecer” and “Coma”. There was a promo video for “Todo Peor” and the record was recorded, produced and mixed by Cristián Heyne. The album came out on CD format and the art was created by Javier Pañella, Paula Asensio and Carolina Maury. It was recorded at the Luna studio between April 2001 and March 2003. It was mastered at the Clio studio.

There is just one compilation appearance listed, one that is prior to the release of their album. On the 1994 CD compilation “Con el Corazón Aquí 2” released by Fondart, ATR – Asociación de Trabajadores del Rock, they contributed the song “La Muerte Atada”.

I come back to the first album, which as I said before, is my favourite, I like the sound in it. I recommend checking out the promo video for the song “Eternos Días de Invierno” which is very The Sundays in a way, don’t you think? I then find out the website MusicaPopular.cl where there is a biography of the band. Here I will learn a bunch of interesting facts. According to the MusicaPopular page the band was heavily influenced by The Sundays and The Smiths. They praise the guitar player Cristián López. What happened to him after leaving the band in 1994? I read he collaborated later with a mainstream band called Javiera y los Imposibles. It also mentions that in 1993 Cathy Lean became an actress in some TV series. I could find that she appeared at least in one that was called “Rojo y Miel”. The story says that at that time, 1993, the band already had demos for an album but López left the band suddenly. What happened with these recordings? There’s no mention. It only says that because of this situation the band lost the chance to sign to EMI and had to write new songs so they could finally release their first album. It is at this time they release the aforementioned promo vide which didn’t get much press or support. The actress Malú Gatica, which is well-known in their country and who is, according to IMDB, the only Chilean actress to work in Hollywood, appears on the video.

After the album was released, a 2nd crisis, the bassist Carlos González, decided to leave the band. At this moment the new lineup decides to explore with electronic sounds. They changed their name to Rever and released a single and an album. After that period the band would change their name back to Malcorazón and released their second album. A curious fact is that their promo single, “Todo Peor”, was covered  by the band Kudai on their 2003 album “Nadha”.

It is also worth mentioning that Cathy released a solo single titled “Última Oportunidad” in 2006.

After that, there were more releases too. There is an EP that dates from 2011 that is called “Pásalo Bien” which I have just found on Bandcamp. 4 songs on it, well actually 3 and a remix: “Pásalo Bien”, “Última Oportunidad”, “Un Día Más” and “Pásalo Bien (Sokio remix)”. I couldn’t find if this was released in any format, though I did find the band playing it live on a TV show called “Sin Dios Ni Late“. There was also a soundtrack appearance, with the song “Luz de Amanecer”, from the “Los Debutantes” movie in 2003.

On Youtube I found another TV appearance by the band on the national television channel of Chile programme “Contigo en Verano” dating from 1997. On it the presenter even shows a clip from where Cathy and himself were part of the TV series “Rojo y Miel”. On this appearance the band plays their arguably best song, “Eternos Días de Verano” and Cathy looks quite a bit like Rachel Goswell!

There are more TV appearances. A cool one from 1995 on the La Red TV channel playing “Eternos Días de Verano” and “Vendrás“. Or a 1994 appearance on the show “Extra Jóvenes” playing the song “La Muerte Atada“. And also there is a badly sounding Youtube video of the band playing the song “Noche en Espiral” at some place called Dinamo.

There are some interviews on the web but mostly about their later period. As I said I’m curious about their early days, the “San Bernardo” album and the 6 years before that release. Like I want to hear those demos recorded with Cristián López. On an interview Cathy says that those songs were so beautiful. I would love to hear them. Some song titles from that period were “Al Camino”, “Azul” and two that actually got released, “La Muerte Atada” and “Maravilla de Piedra”. I want to know how come no one in Chile has reissued that beautiful first album, “San Bernardo”, in some other format other than tape. A CD would a booklet with nicely written liner notes would be great. Or a vinyl LP. I wonder about that period. I wonder why they didn’t become more of a household name. I wonder how popular they were at the time? They did play in TV, but did they play much live? Where? Did they tour their country? Many questions, and not many answers, but a very nice first record full of chiming guitars that is worth rediscovering.

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Listen
Malcorazón – Eternos Días de Invierno‎

Thanks so much to Bernd for the interview! I’m very happy to learn more about this seminal German indiepop label, that released many classic records in the early 90s when they were based in Seeheim. Among their releases they put out 7″s by The Haywains, They Go Boom! and Merricks and more! On this interview Bernd talks a bit about each of his releases, clears some doubts about the catalog and shares with us his memories of those fantastic years of German indiepop. I hope next time we get to hear from him on an interview about his band, the great Die Blinzelbeeren!

++ Hi Bernd! Whereabouts in Germany are you nowadays? Will you celebrate Oktoberfest? 🙂

Hi Roque, I’m living in Darmstadt, a city located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area, a centre of the Art Nouveau movement and also home to the football club SV Darmstadt 98. It’s a really good place to live!
Haha, Oktoberfest… oh no, not my cup of tea, I spend each October in Brittany, France.

++ How and when did Blam-A-Bit Records start? What was the main reason to start the label?

I think in 1988 I get the first time the idea to do something for myself, writing a fanzine, playing in a band or doing a record label. Releasing a compilation tape was the easiest part so I started with the label, had no idea what will happened later.

++ Would you say any other label influenced your label?

As a Wimp-POP-Kid in the late 80s I was really in love with Sarah Records, 53rd&3rd or Subway, many interesting labels like Creation, Woosh or Bi-Joopiter and of course Frischluft in Germany. I think all of them were important for my musical socialization and have some influences.
Ah, and of course some of the compilation tapes of that time like „Are you ready?” or “Something’s burning in Paradise“

++ And was it just yourself running it? Did you get any help from anyone else?

No I didn´t get any help, it was only me. The label was only a hobby and not my profession, I was still at school during that time.

++ What does the name Blam-A-Bit means? Why did you choose this name?

To be honest, there is no meaning of the name. I went to a wedding present gig and I got the “Invasion of The Wedding Present fanzine. I can’t remember exactly, but there was something written like „…a-bit“ and some beers later the label “Blam-a-bit” was born. I think the word „Blam“ was a bow to one of my favourite band „Biff Bang Pow“

++ And who took care of the art direction of the label? Did you print and fold your sleeves yourself like many labels back in the day?

Well, I did all the work for the label, artwork, distribution, but at some releases the bands did the artwork. Paul from the Haywains made the sleeve for the freshen up EP and this was the only cover with more than one printed color ,-) I had two co-releases with Frischluft where Krischan did the artwork.

But it was great to spend hours in printing shops, fold the sleeves or cutting some flyers. Later I decided to press only white-label records and colored them for myself with watercolors or potato-stamps. I really loved to „produce“ each release, sitting at my parents dining table coloring the labels or cutting-out the sheep for my second compilation tape.

++ How many releases were there? Twee.net lists from 001 to 014, but doesn’t show 012. Was there a 012 on the label? Or is this all that was released?

Twee.net is right, there were only 13 releases, blam 012 should be „Ein warmer Sommermorgen“ 7“, but it was never released.

++ Your first release was a tape called “Instant of Pleasures” which included all-time favourites like The Field Mice and St. Christopher and obscure gems like that Aurbisons track. What inspired you to make a tape? Did you know this was going to be the seed to starting a label? Was it easy getting so many bands from UK in a German label? Seems like a tough job with no internet!

As mentioned, after such great tapes like „Are you ready?“ or „Something’s burning in Paradise“ I think a compilation tape is a good way to start a label. I have no idea what will happen next. Some of the bands I asked at gigs if they like to be contributed on the tape, I remember a Field Mice gig and I just asked Robert and gave him my address. Some weeks later I found their song in my letter box. I was still at school during the time of the label, and it was always a pleasure to come home and finding some new tapes. I think it was not even more difficult than it is today getting in touch with bands, even the answer takes some more time ,-)

++ Any cool anecdotes about this tape? Like… why the name? or how many copies of it were made? which kind of tape was used? Who send songs too late that didn’t get in the tape?

I made about 200 copies at a pressing plant in Berlin.

I did not want to just make a tape, it should also be something special with the 7 “cover or with all the inserts. The best compliment about the tape came from Olaf Zocher (Firestation Rec), who described the tape as an important step in his Indie-Pop socialation. And I always had instants of pleasure listening to jingle jangle pop.

++ Then you release your first 7″, the “Freshen Up EP” by the Haywains! How was the move from tape to vinyl? What was the feeling of receiving a box full of records fresh out from the pressing plant for the first time?

It was so amazing!! 7“ singles are still the perfect medium for music! If I could had afford it I would have produced 7“singles much earlier. „the freshen up EP“ was a cooperation with the band, we pressed about 500 copies and both of us get 250 copies to sell. I was absolutely happy with the songs and I still like them!

++ Okay! now I’m very curious about this tape: “Hat das Schaf die Blume gefressen oder nicht?”. Why that title?

This is a phrase from The Little Prince („Did the sheep eat the flower or not?“) and I thought it’s a good name for my second compilation. This is probably the release with the most passion on it.
I made about 200 copies, copying tapes each night for a couple of weeks, cutting-out 200 paper-sheeps, making a small fanzine and put a lollipop in each tape set. The tapes were fixed at the cardboard sheeps and I colored each of them by hand. I remember I got an order from a mail-order in Germany of 50 copies and I had not produced enough. So I had to get up all 30min to turn over the tape to deliver the order.

++ I notice you released a bunch of tapes and also 7″s. I wonder what would your favorite format would be and why?

7“s are still my favorite format and I still collecting them. I think it’s an inexpensive, personal format, I like the idea of hand-assembled packages.

++ Also, what is BLAM 006, Das Kuchenrezept?

It is an ordinary recipe of a marble cake and was only a joke. Unfortunately I get some orders from UK and they send me 3 or 4 GBP for a cooking recipe written in german and I felt uncomfortable with it to keep the money. But marble cake is so delicious!

++ You released Die Blinzelbeeren which was your own band. I just wrote a piece about the band and I hope to interview you about the band. But I want to ask, how come there is no music like this coming out from Germany anymore?

Because the current bands know playing their instruments,-) the sound wasn’t nearly so important as the spirit of it; we didn’t know how to play our instruments well, nor having a great singing voice. But I think there are still some bands keeping the D.I.Y. idea alive, like Woog Riots or Zimt from Augsburg. And I’m not sure if there ever was a big Indiepop scene in Germany. I think it was a small but well-connected scene, without internet.

++ Also you released a Merricks 7″! That was the sound of young Munich, right? How do you remember those early nineties with that explosion of German pop bands? Was there any other German band that you wish you could have released?

The Merricks are still one of my favorite Bands from Germany and it was a honor releasing a record with them (together with Frischluft and Roman Cabbage). At that time I haven’t got any ideas about the Sound of Munich, and still have none about their significance. I phoned quit often with Bernd from Merricks, but we basiclly talked about football.

Hmm, I think it would have been brilliant to release a propper 7“ with The Fluffy Pillows (now known as Space Kelly) .

++ And of course there’s the 7″s by the FANTASTIC They Go Boom! that you put out. How did these releases happened? They didn’t have to send you a demo, did they?

I first heard the song „I Think I’m Falling“ and immediately I felt in love with it! So I wrote a letter to Mike and so it takes it course and we released a 7“ and the Split-flexi with the Cudgels. Mike is really friendly person and once I visited him at his flat in Margate spent some days there. I think he introduced „The Cudgels“ to me

++ That Brighter flexi you put out… it was distributed on fanzines as well right? Tell me a bit about it. I still have to find it. I have the other ‘German’ flexi by them, the Sturm und Drang one, but yet to find yours! Was it cool and easy to work with a Sarah band back then?

I think it was distributed with the Smuf fanzine (Olaf from Firestation rec) and he got about 200 copies. And a fanzine in UK, which I can’t remember anymore. I have no idea how, but I got 1100 copies and I nearly sold them all. It was brilliant to release a flexi with a Sarah Band and much easier than expected. Both, Alison and Keris were so lovely people, and it was cool to meet them once in Brighton. I still remember our first meeting at their flat, a crate of german beer as souvenir, met “The spinning wheels” later and listen to a lot of great music.

++ There’s two other bands still to talk about, The Cudgels and Besotted. Why did The Cudgels joyful pop is so underrated? Do you understand this? I think they wrote some wonderful tunes that could have been pop hymns! And the Besotted? They are quite mysterious, who were they? It’s one of The Golden Dawn guys right and his girlfriend, right?

Good question, i can’t understand it too. In my opinion The Cudgels are one of the underrated bands that area and in a perfect world, this would be on the radio I saw them once playing live in their practice room and it was a blast! Unfortunately their wasn’t a proper 7“ of them on Blam-a-bit, I think Sunday Records could pay them more 😉

It’s a bit similar with The Besottted. It was absolute stunning to release a 7“ with them, as I’ve been a big fan of The golden Dawn. But for whatever reason it was the worst selling release on the label.

++ Did you get to see any of your Blam-A-Bit bands live?

Regarding of band releasing a song/record on Blam-a-Bit I saw a couple of times The Merricks, Die Fünf Freunde or Painting by Numbers. Die Blinzelbeeren played their first song live as a support for St. Christopher.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen The Haywains playing live, but this could still happened.

++ And did the label get much attention from the music press or radio? What about fanzines?

Their first attention from the press I got for the „Hat das Schaf die Blume Gefressen, oder Nicht? Tape at the german Musicmagasine Spex. That was amazing for me. There were some attentions in fanzines too, I remember a label story in a French fanzine from Rennes. There was a really good Indiepop Radioshow in Belgium where some of the releases has been played.

++ When did you call it a day? Why did you stop releasing records with Blam-A-Bit?

In 1992 I get more and more interested in 60s music and for a short spell I was bored in the current Indiepop Music that time. So I decide to call it a day.

++ Where you involved with music after? What do you do nowadays?

Well, music is still a big part of my life. I used to play in several Bands releasing records on different labels.
I’m still a record collector, and used to DJ a lot.
Nowadays I live with my wife and daughter in Darmstadt and I work as a pharmacist. But I still have a regular Single-Day in a Winebar in Darmstadt once a month, were I only spinning soul 7“s on one record player. And that’s a lot of fun.
I started a new label, calling „Laughing Seven records“ some years ago with 2 7“s so far. and I hope to to revitalize it soon.

++ What would you say was the biggest highlight of the label? And what was the biggest challenge?

I think the biggest highlight was the chance to meet so many great people in the vein of Indie Pop and with some of them I’m still keeping contact.
The biggest challenge was to satisfy the unexpected request of the second tape, it was the fasten selling out release.

++ One last question, what would you say indiepop means to you?

I get my musical age in the mid-80s, growing up for example with The Smiths, so Indiepop was my very own punk! It was exciting, vibrant, welcoming, and it was me. I loved my anorak with a strawberry at the hood and it was more than just music for me. We were exchanging letters, fanzines, tapes or records and meeting each other at gigs.
Nowadays i have an open-minded taste of music, but indiepop is still a big part of life and there are still exciting new bands to discover.

++ Thanks so much for the interview. Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks a lot for the interest in Blam-a-Bit and many apologies for the delay in answering.

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Listen
Merricks – Der Schönste Tag Im Jahr ‎

Well, I was expecting to be the happiest today, but well, I’m only moderately happy. On Tuesday my home country, Peru, played Colombia in what is the South American qualifiers to the Russia 2018 World Cup. A win was to qualify us directly but that didn’t happen. What happened was that we tied and so we are not eliminated but neither qualified. We have to play two more games, an international play off against New Zealand next month. In theory Peru is a better team. But this is football, and you have to play the games first. Anything can happen. So yes, happy to the extent that we are still alive after 18 games in the most difficult qualifiers in the world and that we are two games away of me seeing Peru for the first time in a World Cup (last time was 1982). I have to wait another month to know if I will buy plane tickets to Russia, I’m very positive that that will be the case (sorry my kiwi friends!).

As it is becoming usual on the blog, Thursdays are also new post days. Not much to tell about Cloudberry right now, but let’s see what new sounds or interesting news we can find in the indiepopworld.

Ultra happy that finally we can hear the 6 songs from the Verandan EP. Weeks and weeks of anticipation since the first time we heard the first song of Ville Hopponen’s new project. We recommended this band time and time again. We wondered where those songs that were popping up on SoundCloud were going to end up. Finally it seems it is a digital EP that is right now available on all digital platforms. Me, I’m streaming it from Bandcamp. And what can I tell you, it is everything that I expected. It is beautiful. My only concern, request, complain, is that I want this in some physical format. Will it be released on vinyl? on CD? I need this on my collection. It can’t just be a digital release!!

All these exclusive premieres on blogs or magazines I have no clue they exist is becoming a new norm for some indiepop releases. This time I had to head to a webzine called God is in the TV to be able to stream the new Pia Fraus‘ album “Field Ceremony”. You can do that now too if you like. Or you can wait a couple more days, until October 16, for the release date. Maybe the second option is better, we support the band, the label, and we don’t give clicks to random pages?? Or am I wrong?

Another Chinese band I discovered lately was Self Party. But I wasn’t sure if I should or not recommend them. You see less than half of their songs are good, the others are not my style. But when they are good, like on “Jaguar-Jaguar” or “Regina Sue” it is quite refreshing, especially the first one which is my favourite. The band hails from Hangzhou and have a digital album titled “Pop Songs” on Bandcamp.

Then thanks to the Latin American Twee page I end up on the Bandcamp of a new Peruvian band named Los Niños Vudú. The band has made available their first release, a digital EP titled “Pueblo Libre”. It has 5 songs, “Multicolor”, “Para Siempre”, “Girasoles”, “Por las Azoteas” and “Niños de Pueblo Libre”, and they are quite good! I’m guessing this is a very young band and that maybe they hail from the Lima district Pueblo Libre that gives the EP its name. I haven’t seen them playing events with any of the Peruvian bands I follow on Facebook, but hopefully they start making a fuss, this is a very promising debut and I hope it gets released in some way. The band is formed by Inti Arteaga on vocals and guitars, Andoni Granda on guitars, César Horruitiner on drums, Adrián Muñoz on bass and Rodrigo Urbiola on keyboards.

Lastly some fantastic news from The Honeydrips! The Stockholm band is back with a new album titled “Give Each Other Some Solace” and it will be available in 12″ vinyl LP and cassette. The album is expected to come out on October 27 and right now the band is previewing two of the songs (out of 8) on their Bandcamp: “Through the Darkness” and “DCI Gates”. I am very happy to see Mikael returning in top form with The Honeydrips! Both songs are brilliant! The copies for this record will be very limited it seems so don’t miss it! Also keep an eye on this page, as very soon, I hope, there will be news about a new project Mikael is involved with!!!

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I wanted to visit Asia again in this indiepop world tour but not sure what is missing? Hong Kong perhaps? I can’t think of any older obscure bands. I know before The Pancakes there were some bands that had Dejay in them like Tricycle Riders, The Postcard or Ginger Biscuits, but never heard any of their songs so I can’t tell if they were good or not. So Asia seems to be covered now with features on bands from Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan. Maybe there’s something to dig in Malaysia or Thailand? Maybe someone could recommend something.

Our story today is about the little known Serbian indiepop fans and the band Mizu.

My first contact with them was going through be during the golden years of indiepop in the early and mid 2000s. That is when I was always discovering music through Soulseek and being part of the Twee Folks room in that P2P music sharing program. There I was to meet Nikola who would introduce me to another Nikola, one that had released an indiepop compilation in Serbia called “A View of Our Dreams”. His label was called On a Balcony, a play on words on the Balkans, and it came out in 2002. It included many superb bands, La Casa Azul, One Night Suzan, Aquadays, The Crooner and more. But to my surprise there were no Serbian bands. Why?

I guess with that question I got introduced to Serbian guitar pop. The first band I was to be aware was Eva Braun which actually had one record where they sing in English under the name Viva Braun, “The Nowhere Land”, that was released in the US by Zip Records. I own this one. But the Serbian band I played the most during those years was Mizu.

Nikola introduced them to me. He sent me one song, “Dobar Dan”, which I thought was brilliant. Almost immediately he sent me their one and only album. And I really enjoyed. There was not much more to know about them then, nor did I went into indiepop archaeology at that time. Now many years later I decide to rediscover this song, this band, learn their story.

First thing, “Dobar Dan”, means “good day”. Mizu seems to mean table? What is good is that the band actually has a small bio on Discogs, there it says that the band hailed from Bečej and were formed by the end of 1997. The name was the idea of the band’s first bass player Saša Ajdanov.

Bečej is a town and municipality located in the South Bačka District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. The town has a population of 23,895, while the municipality has 37,351 inhabitants. It is a multiethnic town, predominantly inhabited by Serbs and Hungarians.

It also says that some of their more memorable concerts were the ones they played as warm up band for Veliki Prezir at Rex and then in Barutana with Eva Braun. They also appeared on a “Live Session” on NS Plus. Their album on CD was supposed to be released in 2000 by Automatik records but that never happened, only some promo copies were available. That would explain why on Discogs their album is listed as an MP3 album that dates from 2008 on Label Star.

I was listening to this album quite a lot back in 2003, 2004. Maybe later too. At some point my MP3 hard drive died and lost it. Now that I think of it, this might have been the pivotal point for me to dislike MP3 releases. They are ephemeral. Physical records are always the way to go.

The album had 13 songs: “Dvadeset I Dva”, “U Velikom Stilu”, “Sve”, “Pogledaj”, “Konan”, “Kompromis”, “Dobar Dan”, “Vožnja, “Ispod Noći”, “Kraj”, “Jedna Reč”, “En” and “Korpa Korpa Cveća”. The credits for the record are as follows, Boris Smoje on vocals and guitar, Marko Vujkov on bass, Igor Batinić on guitar, piano and backing vocals and Dragan Bašić on drums and percussion. They got help by Vanjus (Ivan Milinkov) on synthetizer, Seva (Dušan Ševarlić from Eva Braun)  and Kole (Vladimir Kolarić, leader of Veliki Prezir) on backing vocals. The record was mixed by Jan Šaš and it was recorded by Dušan Ševarlić as well. So there was some sort of scene between these guitar pop bands in Serbia? Mizu, and the legendary Eva Braun?

I then check the band members, what other projects are listed under their names on Discogs? Boris seems to have been involved in the band Superstudio and also on Rebel Star. On the other hand Marko was involved in the pop punk band Super S Karamelom.

That Live Session on NS Plus that I mentioned earlier is actually available on Youtube! It dates from April 1998 and on it there is an interview to the band (wish I understood a word) and 4 songs, “En”, “Sve”, “Kraj” and “Dvadeset i Dva”.

Happily this is not the only thing I was to find on Youtube. There is the promo video for the song “Dvadeset i Dva” and watching it for the first time now make me terribly giddy. The 90s so well reflected here.

Then I find the setlists for Indie-Go!, the Belgrade Indie Night, that my friend Nikola used to host. Such good setlists, they must have been long nights, everyone dancing. I see that he even played some Cloudberries, like Horowitz’ “Tracyanne”, but also I see that Mizu’s “Dobar Dan” was a staple in the club.

On Discogs the band is listed to have a compilation appearance, but definitely that is not them. I wonder though if they actually appeared on any compilation?

I couldn’t find much more information. What other gigs did they play? Did they record any more songs? Are there any unreleased tracks? What happened with that label Automatik? Why wasn’t their album released during their time and only many years after and only on MP3?Any other Serbian bands you’d recommend? Maybe some other bands from the Balkans? Many questions that hopefully get answered! Now discover this upbeat and jangly pop song called “Dobar Dan”, a classic to my ears!

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Listen
Mizu – Dobar Dan