Thanks so much to Nick Smith for the interview! I wrote a bit about them some time ago and he was very kind to get in touch with me to fill in the gaps. Twelve Angry Men released just one 7″, but what a 7″ it is! Just have a listen to Maagdalene and you’ll understand me. They also have a Facebook page for you to become a fan and follow them. And if you want to learn more about this great 80s band, just continue reading!

+ Hi Nick! So I assume the name of the band comes from the 1957 movie?

Yes the band was named after the classic movie starring Henry Fonda.

++ There is barely any information about the band online. How come?! We need to fill in a lot of blanks! So let’s start from the beginning. Who were Twelve Angry Men? And how did you meet?

Paul Flinton-guitar/backing vocals
Paul Lillie-bass/keyboards/backing vocals
Steve Godfrey-drums/backing vocals
Nick Smith-vocals

The band met at secondary school. Flinton and keyboard player Julian Freeguard initially formed it as Trade Secret in 1984 with a different rhythm section and singer. They recorded an accomplished debut track ‘Only Tears’ and performed a number of local gigs, including a school battle of the bands.During this period Smith,Godfrey and Lillie were gradually recruited in readiness for the band’s rebranding as Cry in March 1986 for a school charity event based on Live Aid. It was obvious to all concerned that this line up had a unique chemistry. Freeguard left the band prior to the Twelve Angry Men name change and Lillie completed keyboard duties in the studio. Two temporary keyboardists,James Ruzicka and Julie Boultby performed with the band on occasions before the decision was made to not use keyboards at all.It was only towards the end of the band’s career that mandolin player Chris Zani was recruited as a 5th member.

++ And have you been involved with music before? Any bands?

The schools in Keyworth encouraged music of all types and band members had played in a variety of groups ranging from youth orchestras to heavy metal bands. Flinton had infact made a self assured recording debut on a vinyl 12″ LP fronting the Keyworth Guitar band whilst at junior school, Smith also appeared on the recording. Flinton appeared again with Lillie and Freeguard on a secondary school 12″ LP titled When the Bell Rings.

++ Who or what would you say inspired you all to make music?

The band were all immersed in music and this was a hugely exciting time to be embarking on a career in rock at school. The band’s members had witnessed the punk, New wave and New Romantic movements unfold at first hand and were particularly aware of how a close bond of school friendship had been central to the success of U2 and Spandau Ballet
As Trade Secret and Cry they began interpreting Flinton’s songs with an eclectic mixture of mainstream 1980s styles,fusing electro pop with international arena rock and funk. This invited comparisons with U2 ,INXS, Power Station and Cutting Crew. Over a period of time, however ,the band dispensed with keyboards and under the new name of Twelve Angry Men began cultivating a more alternative image and exploring a uniquely British, guitar based sound as exemplified by independent bands such as Aztec Camera,Prefab Sprout and The Smiths. Flinton continued to develop his songwriting skills in new and unexpected directions, culminating in the 7″ single which was musically and lyrically challenging whilst still remaining radio friendly in the style of New Zealand’s Crowded House.

++ Whereabouts in the UK were you based and in what year do you reckon started as a band?

The band started at school and were based in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire.

++ And what were you all doing at the time? Students perhaps?

All students when it began …… Flinton, Lillie,Godfrey went on to higher education … Smith went to college then took up full time employment.

++ You only released one record, and what a great record it was from what I’ve heard. But I have to ask, why didn’t you release any other records? It wasn’t due to a lack of songs, right?

Correct. The band was always introducing new material into the live set and Flinton was a particularly prolific songwriter.The main reason for the lack of vinyl product is that since the release of Cry Pretend they had been courting major label interest,in particular from an executive at CBS records which required a lot of time to be spent on writing, performing at showcases and creating demo tracks rather than creating a commercially finished product.

++ Speaking of that, are there any more Twelve Angry Men recordings other than the two songs on the 7″?

In spring 1986 Cry produced a 4 track cassette called Cry Pretend at Square Dance studio in Derby featuring; Chance , Pretend . Live on the front front page…Running away.In Spring 1987 the band returned to the studio to record Fall to me, Thoughts, The More You Give. These last three tracks were not available on cassette until Summer 1988 when they were put out with four new songs recorded at Trent Bridge studio in Nottingham; Too young, Can I handle You , Take Me With You , Under the bridge. This cassette was called Tupelo and featured the new name of Twelve Angry Men. Many of the band’s live shows were also recorded.

++ Tell me about the songs on the record, “Magdalene” and “Clyde”? What’s the story behind them and are they based on real people?

Both are about fictitious people. Magdalene features a character regretting his spiritual life of celibacy whilst Clyde tells a tale of abuse, drunkenness and ultimately murder.

++ The record was released by Everbimes Records. Who were they? And how did you end up releasing with them?

The label Everbimes was the label associated with the recording studio, Meadow Farm and the owner Stuart field. The single was recorded there and released on Stuart’s own label. Stuart played bass with The Nolan sisters and The Royal Philharmonic orchestra
++ What about gigs? Did you play live a lot? If so what were your favourite gigs? Any favourite venues and bands to play with?
The band started gigging during school holiday / university term times around Nottingham. Following CBS interest the band went professional and gigged all around UK, doing on average 1 gig every 3 days for the year. Godfrey, Flinton and Lillie took a gap year from higher education in order to do this. Best gigs .. Mean fiddler , The Hype at the Bull and Gate , Leadmill Sheffield , Rock garden – Covent Garden , Hogs Grunt. The band were featured on the same bill as Fire next time, The National People’s gang. The Fatima Mansions, Voice of the Beehive amongst others and gigged relentlessly around UK at universities and colleges

++ What do you remember from the recording session of the record? Any fun anecdotes?

Godfrey smashed a milk bottle at end of Clyde.It was a complete accident but perfectly in time and keeping with the atmosphere of the song. The engineer for a pre-production recording of The Heart of Magdalene in London was the fiddle player of the Wonder Stuff. Cry-Pretend was engineered by Andy Ryder, singer from a celebrated band called Medium,Medium and then The Scare Hunters.The second Square dance session was engineered by a guy called Fidge who later engineered for the band during their first London gigs.

++ Looking now, in retrospect, what would you say was the biggest highlight of Twelve Angry Men?

The band would cite a performance at the Mean fiddler in London as a career highlight. Their residencies at Yates and The Hippo Club in Nottingham are also particularly memorable for generating a huge local fan base.

++ And when and why did you split? What did you all do after?

The last gig was in Mansfield August 1989 after which the band split in order to pursue other projects which had been put on hold during the full time year. The philosophy in the group at the time was that it was “all or nothing”. The band had given itself a one year window in which to succeed and had not achieved the level of recognition which it believed to be necessary to justify continuing.

++ What about these days? What do you guys are up to? Any other hobbies aside from music that you enjoy?

PF ….Working in Canada
NS …. Operatic theatre
SG … Still drumming
PL…..Succesful career as musical tribute artist
CZ ….. Missing in action

++ And one last question, have you ever thought of perhaps reforming? Or releasing a retrospective album?

We are currently planning a band reunion and producing compilation album.

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Listen
Twelve Angry Men – Magdalene

Thanks so much to Ali Wilson for the interview! The Legendary Hearts released one 12″ that is quite a masterpiece! And if you haven’t heard about them, perhaps it’s time for you to discover them. As it seems, they are still going strong and you can keep track of them on their soundcloud. And also they have a Facebook page so you can become a fan!

++ I see you are still making music! How does it sound? How would you compare it to The Legendary Hearts?

It still IS, and always will be, “The Legendary Hearts”. TLH are MY band and are the only band I write for. I like to think it sounds like a natural progression of what we did before in the 80s and 90s.

++ Were The Legendary Hearts your first band? Which bands have you been involved with so far?

No I played drums in several bands before TLH. The main ones were “The Curious Reign” from Stirling in Scotland, from 1981-82 and “Watch With Mother” from Edinburgh in 1986-87. WWM released one single “Suzanne” in 1986 on my Surfin’ Pict label. It’s hard to find copies now.

++ Let’s talk about The Legendary Hearts. How did the band start? Who were the members and how did you know each other?

The idea for TLH started in Stirling in 1984 when I saw Lou Reed’s “Legendary Hearts” album in a record store and decided…”That’s what I’m gonna call my band!” I was writing songs back then but didn’t actually put the band together until early 1987, using ex-members of Watch With Mother.

++ What about the name of the band? Where does it come from?

The Lou Reed record!

++ When did you pick up for the first time an instrument? And which can you play?

I’ve been trying to play guitar since I was 10 and I’m still crap! I’ve been playing drums since I was 12 and that’s how I make my living today: Playing and teaching drums.

++ And what would you say was that moment that you said, “I want to have a band, I want to make music”? Who would you say were your influences for The Legendary Hearts sound?

In 1983 I was heavily into The Church, from Australia, and The Waterboys, and decided I wanted to change from playing drums and attempt to front a band, doing something similar to both these great bands.

++ You only released as far as I know the “In a World Like This” EP. It’s such a great record! Do you mind telling me the story behind each of the three songs?

That was our only release on Surfin’ Pict Records but we had two tracks, “Ferryman” and “Promised Land”  included on The CaVa Sessions compilation LP in 1990 on the TLV label.

From the EP, “What In The World” is partly about an ex-girlfriend, as I guess is “Love & Understanding”. “Everything I Have” is a love song but also touches on consumerism, the Middle East, the US military presence in Scotland and the impending Apocalypse!

++ What about compilations? Did you appear in any?

Only “The CaVa Sessions”. Again it’s hard to find but it was available on vinyl, CD and cassette. At least 5000 copies were pressed.

++ On Soundcloud there are many unreleased songs by the band. Why weren’t they released? And are there even more songs than this? If so, have you ever thought of doing some sort of retrospective album?

Most of the songs are “bedroom demos”. There are around 30 tracks in total. I always intended to re-record about 15 of them properly and put them out as the first TLH album…but money was short and the years flew by…I got married / divorced, had 3 kids and never got around to doing the LP.

++ In general, what would you say is your favourite Legendary Hearts songs? and why?

I like most of them. I have no real favourite. All the songs mean something to me and remind me of a certain time or event. “Queen Of Lorient” from 2001 is one I really like, but the subject matter is painful and I don’t know if I ever want to sing it live again .

++ You put your EP out under your own record label Surfin’ Pict. Why did you decide to go this way instead of looking for a label? How did you enjoy doing the business part of the music?

I decided to put out the EP first and try to get a deal off the back of it. We got a couple of decent reviews but the major UK music press ignored us. We had some major label interest but no deal was ever forthcoming.

++ Were there any other releases in the label?

Yes. Watch With Mother “Suzanne” was the first, SP01. Then a band called The Crepe used the label for their release. SP02, but I wasn’t involved with that. TLH EP was SP03-12. I also released one CD album by a band I drummed with called “The Rainkings” in 1996. Copies are still available I think.

++ Tell me about gigs. Did you play many? What were your favourite gigs? Any fun anecdotes you could share?

We played less than 10 gigs in total, as it was hard to get a full time band together, as all our members were involved with other bands. This is often the way when you are trying to make a living from music. I was drumming with bands in pubs, clubs and hotels at the time trying to earn a living and writing for TLH when time allowed. I enjoyed all the gigs apart from the last one in December 2001 when I used a band who were woefully under-rehearsed. Actually, some band members had never met until we stepped on stage. It was pretty awful. The pressure of fronting a band made it hard for me to have much fun because I was so busy concentrating on my job and keeping the other guys right too.

++ How was Edinburgh back then by the way? What were the best venues? The places were people into guitar pop would hang out? Were there any good bands in town?

Edinburgh was, and still is, a great city, with some great venues and bands. The indie and pop-art crowd would go to the City Cafe, The Doric, The Wee Red Bar (at the Art College) and The Hoochie Coochie Club among many others. The best gigs were mainly at The Venue, The Music Box and La Sorbonne.

++ I’ve been to Edinburgh a couple of times myself and really enjoyed it. I wonder though were would you recommend the best haggis in town? and what about the best cullen skink?

I’m a big haggis fan! You can eat in a Michelin Star restaurant or a simple fish and chip shop and the haggis is usually very good. I like it with a whisky & pepper sauce best. Cullen Skink? Also widely available and usually good at most places in the city centre and beyond.

++ So then what happened? When and why did the band split?

The band is, and always will be, just me myself. I work with a keyboard player who I’ve played with since WWM  in ’86 and then we add members as we need them. I have a pool of guitar players, drummers and bass players who I can approach when required.

++ And are you still in touch with the rest of the band? if so, what are they up to?

Yes, I’m in touch with all of them from the early days. I still play with Lawrie Ball the keyboard player and Glyn Harris the guitarist regularly in cover bands playing around Scotland. Neil Baldwin, the bass player, was not an actual member but played on the EP and at the first gig. He was also in The Bluebells, Goodbye Mr MacKenzie (with Shirley Manson of Garbage), TV21 and is currently with a great band called The Cathode Ray.

++ What about you? Aside from music, do you have any other hobbies?

To be honest, outside of music, I don’t do much. Some mountain biking and hillwalking.

++ One last question, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Being selected in 1989 as one of the top 6 new bands in Scotland for “The CaVa Sessions” album out of 300 bands who entered.

++ Thanks again Ali! Anything else you’d like to add?

I’ll be playing music until the day I die…simple as that!

Thanks for your interest in The Legendary Hearts.

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Listen The Legendary Hearts – Everything I Have

Thanks so much to Simon, Mark and Jan for this great interview! Beware the Dog were an English band from Slough and released one great 7″ back in 1987! You can listen the songs from the 7″ on Youtube, “Madam” & “Nasty Things“! Aren’t they really fantastic? So I thought it would be a great idea to talk with them and hear their story!

++ Hi Simon, Mark and Jan! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! So whereabouts in the world are you? And are you still making music?

Simon: Very happy to oblige, Roque – it is good to know that people are still interested in the 1980s.

Mark (Leechie): I’m still making music. I now live in Wokingham, Berkshire where I’m currently in a couple of active bands and I still do a bit once a year with The Morbific Seeds [https://soundcloud.com/the-morbific-seeds]. I live with my partner Suzanne and have a 17-year-old son Jack.

Jan: Back home now after 15 years living in Ireland as a photographer. Have picked up drumming again after all this time, am involved in a few projects and loving every minute of it albeit a bit rusty. My home is now in Burnham Bucks which I share with my wife and two young kids aged six and two.

Simon: My lovely wife and I live in West Sussex in the UK, not far from Brighton; our three daughters are grown up and live all over the place. I have a small studio which I don’t get enough time to use, shamefully. I am still writing music but, since converting from analogue to digital, I am hampered by my lack of ability to relate to the software.

++ So let’s take a trip back, when did Beware the Dog start as a band? Where were you based? And have you been in other previous bands?

Simon: We all lived in Slough back then – quite close to each other, in fact. The three of us came together in early 1986, having known each other for several years. We had all been in various separate line-ups. I had been in lots of local pub/club bands, playing mainly cover versions and some original material. I joined Simon Townshend, Mark Brzezicki and Tony Butler in about 1980; various line ups with ST followed over about two years until he took a solo tack with his brother, Pete. After that, I tried a string of ventures whilst renovating a house.

Leechie: I was booted out of the matrimonial home and ended up around Simon’s with a crate of beer! That was the start of a mad summer! Previous bands include The Onlookers [http://www.detour-records.co.uk/ONLOOKERS_INFO_PAGE.htm], The Morbific Seeds, The Mighty Marvels (a soul band with a chap named Eddie Pillar, founder of the acid jazz label) and various other musical projects that didn’t get off the ground. I had also done some recording for Simon in one of his previous bands.

Jan: As Simon said we all lived locally and had a social scene going, being young and single with lots of free time to spend on music. The 3 of us had day jobs so we crammed in our music all involved in our own projects. I was involved with a few local bands, Arrogant, I Can Crawl, Johnny Panic and a cover band or two. This was the time we fine-tuned our art, all being involved with recording and gigging the London circuit. Simon was always writing material and when he teamed up with Mark there was a natural spark and some good stuff was being made. I got interested and gave the project a bit of my time to see how things would pan out.

++ And who were Beware the Dog? What did each of you play? and how did you all meet?

Simon: It started when I teamed up with Leechie and we very quickly forged a solid musical – and social [Leechie laughs] – partnership. I was on Lead Vocals and Guitar. I had generally played keyboards and percussion up until then but I played guitar while we looked for a real guitarist. Hah. We spent a while looking whilst penning our first songs, and then we somehow just got used to the idea of just me playing guitar and, because we’d come to like the simple, energetic sound of ourselves as a three-piece, we just went with it. We persuaded Jan to share his time with us, although he was heavily involved with another project at the time.

Leechie: I was The Bass – and backing vocals.

Jan: I played Drums.

++ Where does the name Beware the Dog came from?

Simon: Mark and I wrote Madam (our very first creation) and the idea of the dog reference was amusing. We eventually twisted it into a catchy name which also closely resembled a commonly used sign so maybe people would easily remember the name. After a while, we were actually known as ‘The Dog’.

++ When you were around, which other bands did you guys liked? Who would you list as influences?

Leechie: I was young enough to have witnessed the Punk movement first-hand. I guess The Buzzcocks, Magazine, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Clash got me into playing music first and then got into all the 60s beat music: The Kinks, The Who, The Beatles and even rarer ones too numerous to mention here. I also love soul and Reggae.

Jan: Although my drumming was rock/pop based I was listening to Sly and Robbie, Grace Jones, Simply Red, Prefab Sprout and disco stuff like Chic, Sister Sledge and WHITNEY HOUSTON!

++ You only released the “Madam” 7″ single. And how great are the two songs on it. Care to tell me a bit about each of the songs? What’s the story behind them?

Simon: Thanks!

Simon: The story behind Madam was about young love, general misunderstandings and incompatibility within relationships.

Leechie: That’s a polite way of putting it!

Simon: Nasty Things was a nod to the horrors which sadly appear in the papers every so often. The playful music is an ironic reference to the way that, after the event, the perpetrators seem to give casual, bizarre or banal account of their heinous crimes.

++ How do you remember the recording sessions for the single? And why did you choose these two songs?

Simon: We recorded a few tracks at a small studio: ‘The Padded Cell’ in Colnbrook, near Heathrow Airport. Madam and Nasty Things were both short, sharp tracks with very different themes and we felt comfortable with how they sat. It was a great time and as I remember; the whole process was just straightforward.

Leechie: It was a lot of fun, I remember that. What I also remember is that there was this humming noise that kept appearing on the backing tracks and we couldn’t figure out where the hell it was coming from until…

Simon: … we realised that Jan was humming during the takes.

Jan: Unfortunately I still do that… bummer! It was a habit I picked up from years learning to play whilst humming the bass line to myself. I have a daft concentration face as well, it’s a good job I’m sat at the back!!!!!! Yep, I remember the session and it was a blast, happy days indeed.

++ I also happen to like very much the artwork for the single. What’s the story behind that?

Simon: Jan (Spidey, the photographer) took a great picture of my 1963 Humber Super Snipe on a cold winter morning. We thought it somehow captured the spirit of the theme of lost love that is at the heart of Madam. The picture on the sleeve for Nasty Things was found in an auction lot and, having now searched the internet, I believe it was from a set of sketches by Polish artist and Dachau concentration camp survivor Jerzy Zielezinski. I had a load of art studio stuff set up at the time and I designed and created the artwork for the sleeve.

++ And how come you didn’t get to release more records? I ask because, clearly you had many more songs!

Simon: We released the single as a sort of banner and I guess we could have got some more songs out there but we were concentrating on trying to land a major sponsor, so it was somehow low on the agenda.

++ Do tell about these other songs. How many songs did you actually record? And in general, which would you say is your favourite Beware the Dog song and why?

Simon: We recorded (live) a bunch of songs at rehearsals and did indeed record a few more tracks at The Padded Cell, which included Heartbreak and Waste of Space [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2Y-CVnxxiw]. Waste of Space is my personal favourite because I got to say what lots of people had in their minds and I like to think I gave it a catchy, simple and light-hearted tune.

++ Let’s talk about gigs, did you play live often? Which was the farthest you ever went to play a gig?

Leechie: We didn’t play much beyond London. We spent a lot of energy doing as much ground work as possible to promote the gigs – we even recorded an ad for our first gig that we put out on Capital Radio, which was a hoot! In those days you had to go around the local area at night with a bucket of paste and an arm full of posters sticking them up everywhere local to the gig. No Facebook in those days.

++ And which would you say were your favourite gigs? Any anecdotes you could share?

Simon: It was brilliant playing live because, as a three-piece, we could basically do whatever we felt like. We jammed through extended versions of the songs a lot of the time and improvisation was easy because it was just up to me and Leechie staying in the same key and Jan nailing it all down. I think, for me, our run of slots at the Rock Garden in Covent Garden was the best.

One time, I broke a string early on in the set. I finished the verse, scurried off to the side and, within a few moments, I had the new string in place – albeit a few tones low. I sang another verse with the volume down, at the same time tensioning the new string. As we approached the chorus, I added an impromptu few bars and hit the volume in order to get the string in tune. Just on cue, we made the chorus as the string climbed up the scale and (although I say so myself) it sounded awesome! Things like that really hit home with an audience and the write-up in the paper was all about ‘the string change mid-song’. Professionalism is indeed key!

++ The single was released in 1987. One year after the influential C86 tape. I was wondering, did you ever feel part of a scene at that time?

Leechie: Not really. I liked a lot of the bands: MCARTHY, Bodines, Wolfhounds, but sadly we just missed the crest of that particular wave and really we were a little different from the scene.

++ And so then what happened? When and why did you split? What did you guys do after?

Simon: We were gigging a lot around the time when the ‘Acid’ scene was just about to kick-off. I managed to land us a gem of a slot at a nightclub called La Val Bonne to coincide with one of the very first events given over to the new craze. It took a lot of effort to convince the Night Club Manager that this was going to be a big movement and he eventually agreed for us to headline on the second night. This was a really flash club at the time and for the first time in its history they were going to allow people in wearing ‘T’ shirts! It sounds daft now but back then this was a massive shift.

The plan was to play a totally dynamic set with no songs as such – but snippets of lyrics, monster grooves and blazing chords (the place had a fabulous sound system). However, as it turned out, Jan had booked a holiday; I asked him to cancel it because this was such an important opportunity but he said no. Leechie refused to do the gig with a session drummer, I got upset… end of story.

Jan: What we were about to do was a massive deal, there weren’t bands doing the whole mash up acid/club thing, it was being done live by DJs but not by live bands! It was a serious undertaking to do it properly in a named high profile club (no pressure) and there was not the time scale to prepare for it. My mantra, if it’s worth doing… Sadly, that was the beginning of the end.

Leechie: I liked the Acid scene, but sadly doing a gig without Jan at the time was unthinkable as we were all good mates in it together. My loyalty upset some people. It’s a shame that we don’t have recordings of some of the more Acid BTD ‘cos that was an interesting progression.

++ And what about today? What do you do? Any other hobbies aside of music?

Simon: I am an engineer and spend far too much time behind a desk. I am in the early stages of writing a musical. I love snow-skiing and hitting tennis balls.

Leechie: I’m still making music – currently as a member of both The Transients and The Leopolds and I have a few other projects on the go. Last year I had an old demo released as an album by the Onlookers ‘Blue and green and tangerine’ [http://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/ONLOOKERS.htm]. Day job as a sparky. Not much work about at the moment though.

Jan: By day I’m a househusband. By night I’m playing drums with Hubba Bubba a disco\pop covers band and have recently completed an album with my old buddies from I Can Crawl which is proving to be awesome! I still do photography, albeit part time [http://janwilgaphotos.com/].

++ Let’s wrap it here. If you look back in time, what would you say was the biggest highlight of Beware the Dog?

Jan: Playing exciting, fresh music with a great bunch of guys. A great ride. Happy days.

Leechie: I agree with you there, Jan. It was a fast ride and great fun! Cheers guys!

Simon: For me, breaking a string at The Rock Garden!

++ Thanks so much again, anything else you’d like to add?

Simon: You too, Roque; good times!

Leechie: Yes, cheers Roque for showing an interest and looking back. It was fun.

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Listen
Beware the Dog – Waste of Space

Thanks so much to Dave Jones and Matt Bolter for this fantastic interview! I wrote about Turn to Flowers a long time ago and they were kind to get in touch and tell me the story of the band! Now sit back and enjoy, it’s never to late to discover a great band!

++ Hi Dave and Matt! Thanks so much for getting in touch and being up for an interview! You were telling me that you all are still around in different guises, so yeah, what are these guises? In which bands or projects are you involved these days?

Well, Matt is now a father and still very active in music – performing with his original songs band called Statedancer and a covers band called the Robbers. He writes and records regularly in his home studio. (music available on itunes – search for statedancer)

Dave is a now a doctor but is also still involved in music and theatre. He writes his own songs in his home studio and tends to get onstage acting, singing etc at any available opportunity!

Steve – sadly we’ve lost touch in all but Facebook – don’t know what he’s up to currently.

Paul – lives locally and works in multimedia. He did a couple of stand in stints drumming for us.

++ Let’s go back in time. When did Turn To Flowers start as a band? And had you been in bands previously? Or was this your first incursion into music?

When did Turn To Flowers start as a band? Formed about 1983. We’d all been in a couple of School bands and there was one early incarnation with Matt, Steve and Paul called the Misistry. We were all self taught except Dave who had learned the piano from an earlier age.

++ What inspired you all to have bands, play music? What are the first “music” memories you have?

Matt: I always wanted to get up there and “do that” – especially if I heard something that was crap and I thought “we could do that better”.

Dave: The desire to get up and perform really. Loved the vibe of playing live.

Matt: Let it Be (Beatles), Trex, Slade, the Sweet.

Dave: My brother (completely a-musical) taught me a healthy love for heavy rock – ACDC, Rush, Deep Purple, however being  younger was a child of the 80’s – so was brought up on a healthy dose of 80’s cheese – new romantics and indie etc.

Although these were earliest memories our influences were taken from Beatles, 60’s psychedelic, funk, Jazz, Punk, Blues, some classical.

++ So how did the band come together, how did you all know each other?

Matt met Steve and Paul at college and they were looking for a keyboard player. Matts girlfriend at the time (Sue Lees – the sort of “Janine” in the relationship) knew Dave and introduced them. The band started rehearsing in a old (derelict) village hall in Partington, Cheshire – it barely had floorboards. We started doing small gigs around Manchester (The Boardwalk, Jilly’s, Middleton Civic (often playing with the Mock Turtles), the Green Room, Band on the Wall, PJ Bells, The Roadhouse and other smaller venues).

++ What about the name of the band? Where does Turn to Flowers comes from?

Turn to Flowers comes from the fact that we were about to give a tape to someone, and we didn’t have a name. The song “she turns to flowers” by The Salvation army who later became the Three O’clock was playing – so it was just plucked from that. Crazy.

++ Tell me about Manchester. It must have been fantastic living there in the 80s with the amazing amount of great bands in town. Plus you had the Hacienda of course. How did you like it there? What were your favourite local bands? and where did you usually hang out?

Yes it was fun time and there was so much music going on – it’s a bit weird that when you’re there, you don’t quite realise the significance of the emerging bands and the emerging Manchester scene. Later on, the Stone Roses emerged and we were big fans of them. Ian Browns brother used to play tambourine in TTF for a while – he was like our “Bez” character. Apparently Ian used to think that we’d get signed before the Stone Roses – but we now know they were signed and became massive.

++ And compared to these days, would you say that Manchester has changed for better or for worst?

Definitely the worse. The music scene is nowhere near as vibrant as it once was – there are precious few live music venues these days. There are lots of big club nights but many of the band venues have ceased to be.

++ You only released the one EP on Imaginary Records. How did you end up signing with them? Were there other labels interested?

We basically did the old thing of sending tapes to record companies and got picked up by Imaginary. They had a few bands on the books including the Mock Turtles who also released EP’s at the same time. We also recorded a version of the Kinks “Village Green Preservation Society” which was released as a Tribute to the Kinks (Shangri La) on Imaginary. We felt proud of our version! Sadly we don’t have a copy of this anymore. If you get one – let us have a listen!!

++ Tell me about this EP. Care telling me a little about each of the songs on the record? And which one is your favourite?

People Change like the weather: Probably our most popular song. It’s about a relationship breakup – like many songs.

On Her Own: This is a song about the same person but was originally written for a college play. There was a theme about dolls marching – therefore the marked riff. We would have loved to do this with a real cello/orchestration.

Listen to the deadman: “Pure gobbledygook” (Matt’s words). Written like they’re meant to mean something – but they don’t!

++ And you were also telling me that there are many more Turn to Flowers songs. Will they ever be released? And why weren’t these songs released back in the day?

Well we were due to release another EP – but for one reason or another with the record company (mainly money), we never got the chance. Maybe we should think about putting the others on itunes – better that than letting the tapes just degrade.

++ What do you remember from the recording sessions of the EP at Suite 16 in Rochdale? How was that experience?

That was a great and fun time. We had an engineer called CJ who was great fun. I (Dave) personally remember laughing a lot, but also caught up in the excitement of our first proper recording sessions – we wanted to make a really good record – but we have a damn good laugh along the way. Suite 16 had been used by lots of major bands (New Order, Joy Division, A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays, Railway Children) so it felt pretty exciting to be in such esteemed company. We had access to New Orders “Emulator” (a true vintage keyboard) – which they had used to record “Blue Monday” on there. We used their cello samples for On Her Own and also used some guitars from the Chameleons – particularly their 12-string.

++ Maybe there were no more Turn to Flowers releases, but perhaps you appeared in compilations? Do you remember if you ever participated in any? Maybe in those 80s tapes that were given away with fanzines?

See above about “Shangri La” – tribute to the Kinks. We’d love to get hold of a cop of that! Our first CD.

++ And talking about fanzines, how did you like that culture in the late 80s?

We really didn’t go into the fanzines. It wasn’t a big thing for us at the time. We paid some lip service to the NME and Melody maker – but their reviews just tended to annoy (often being overtly negative – and reports written by non-musicians).  At least the fanzines would tend to have an enthusiastic and positive viewpoint in stark contrast to the music press.

++ And what about a scene. Did you ever feel part of one?

Not especially – although we did feel an allegiance with the other Imaginary records signings. Especially the Mock Turtles – as we did so many gigs with them.

 ++ Let’s talk about gigs. Which were your favourite and why? Any anecdotes you could share?

Dave: one of the best ones was when we were in the ascendancy and we were asked to headline a gig (at the Green Room) and the Mock Turtles supported us! Martin Coogan wasn’t happy about that – he always felt they were the better band. Other great gigs were at Manchester Uni (when we were supported by the comedian Steve Coogan (now a film and TV star) – who is Martin Coogans (Mock Turtles) brother. It was brilliant to think weve been on the same bill as Steve Coogan!!

Probably the highlight was supporting the Stone Roses at the Powerhaus in London (Islington). This was just as the Stone Roses were breaking through and a time when we were really starting to motor ourselves. It was an exciting time.

++ And then what happened to you guys? When and why did you split?

Gets a bit complicated. We had another guitarist involved (Mike Anderton) who took lead and we continued for approx 1-2 years without any further signings or record deals. There were a few “musical differences” emerging but the band had probably just run its course. Rather than splitting, we sort of ground to a halt!

++ After Turn to Flowers you were involved in Black Fat Cat and The New Originals. Care telling me a bit about these bands?

Yes – Dave had gone off and formed a band called The Elysian Fields. The line up was Sean (vox), Paul Lockett (guitar), Andy Treacy (Drums – he now plays with Faithless) and Colin Robb (bass). After this, Dave and Colin teamed back up with Matt to form Fat Black Cat. We auditioned for a drummer and a female singer and soon enough we were joined by Helen Garner (drums) and Alison Donohue (vox). We probably had a lot more success in terms of big gigs with FBC. We had two UK tours with the Australian Doors Show which took us to all the major venues around the UK from Aberdeen to the London Shepherds Bush Empire. Although we released our own EP with FBC, we were never formally signed. The New Originals was a band we formed as a covers outfit to fund our touring costs. It worked really well and actually outlived FBC by many years. We only really stopped playing with the New Originals in 2011 – when our dear friend and band member Colin died at the age of 47 from Oesophageal cancer. We have done one or two “special” gigs since then but it was very difficult to carry on after losing Colin. Matt has since formed a new covers band called The Robbers (in memory of Colin) and as mentioned above is still actively writing and playing with Statedancer.

++ These days, aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Dave is doing more and more with the theatre and loving it. Matt has a new love for eating salad and exercising – something very alien to him when we were playing in Turn To Flowers!

++ So, are you a United or a City fan? Who were your favourite players ever in your team?

Dave: United. All the way. About to win our 20^th league title. I’m a season ticket holder. We have had SO many brilliant players – my personal favourites are Cantona, Roy Keane and Andre Kanchelskis. We have a very rosy future – but our inspiration manager Sir Alex Ferguson can’t go on forever. It’s going to be a terrifying time when Fergie finally goes. Matt hates “dull ball”!

++ One last question, what would you say was the biggest highlight for Turn to Flowers?

Well it has to be the first time we saw our record in print and supporting the Stone Roses In London. Definitely!

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Listen
Turn to Flowers – People Change Like the Weather

Plastilina Records, the label based in Lima, Peru, has many new releases this year. I thought it was a good time to interview the person behind it these days: Jalito.

++ Hi Jal. You’ve got some new releases coming up after being quiet most of the year. Can you tell me about these 3 new releases coming up? Pinkie, Nubes en mi Casa and Diosque?

Hi! Yes! I’ve been quiet most of the last year because I focused more on discovering Latin-american indiepop bands and promoting my record label in Brazil, where i lived for nearly a year. Now I am back with fantastic new music as Pinkie from UK… This is Alex Sharke’s proyect ( Member of the legendary Brighter. Fosca, Hal, etc…) Plastilina is releasing his second album called “ Somehow It Feel Like Rain” after being almost 8 years hidden. An album full of lyricism, nostalgia, beauty and superlative elegance.

Nubes en mi Casa and Diosque are my newest gems that I found in the South American region. Both are from Buenos Aires – Argentina and bring us perfect oneiric atmopheres that’ll wrap you easily. Highly Recommended!

Also I just released what may be one of the best albums of 2013! “ When you and I were Really Young” from Silver Screen! An álbum with a fluid guitar sound reminiscent of COCTEAU TWINS, married to a gentle pop sensibility very near to the sounds of bands like THE SMITHS or IAN BROUDIE of THE LIGHTNING SEEDS, and, indeed: artists of past decades on the adored Sarah Records label. You really must give a check!

++ I see you are releasing for the first time some South American bands. What does that mean to Plastilina, being a South American label?

Since we started this label around 2006 Plastilina was always looking for Peruvian and South American artists but the lack of bands at that time (in indiepop terms) forced us to look for foreign sounds. Years after we witnessed how this regional scene grew with amazing bands such as Nubes en mi casa which actually was on the last line-up of the SXSW Festival in Austin-Texas. Diosque which has one of the best regard albums in our continent, Eva & John which is our new Peruvian discovery! And many many more talents are appearing!

++ And what about Pinkie? Working with someone who has been involved with cult bands like Brighter and Fosca! How has your relationship being with him?

Alex Sharkey is one of the most talented persons that we have in our home. We have following his work for years and once we figured out that he was in the process of recording his second álbum, we were in touch for at least one year and finally got to release his amazing second album. I’m personally quite surprised how this guy can keep his roots in every different proyect that he has…. “ Somehow It Feels Like Rain” is an album of 11 perfect dreamy songs that reminds me to Pale Saints’s voices, Cocteau Twins’s guitars and Beach Boys’s chorus! Highly recommended!

++ I’ve heard that there are many other releases coming up, seems you’ve gotten busy as of late. What else is coming up on Plastilina for the near future?

Yes… we have a tight schedule this year… We recently released the newest Silver Screen album “When You and I Were Really Young” which goes over very very well in Japan and some other countries in Asia. Also, Eva&John, which is our first Peruvian band on the label! And at the same time we are gonna start a new series of releases on flexi discs. We finally got them! Also Coconut Groove’s second álbum, “How To Build a Maze” will be our next one… and then The Tartans and their full discography, plus unreleased bonus tracks is our new challenge.

++ Let’s go to the early days. When and how did Plastilina started as a label, and did you imagine being around this long? what expectations did you have then?

Plastilina was born in late 2005 when Roque and I, along with two other enthusiastic friends of mine decided to be part of the new change. Unfortunatelly, at that times, Lima (our city) had a monotonous independent pop scene. So our idea was to create a new plattaform to encourage people to make pop music. Since we didn’t have a proper local band to start this project with, we replace that idea with hosting our own events like gigs, festivals, a record label’s fair and themed parties with the few bands and attendants we had at that time. Years after years this has been growing and now we are in the process of making our independent scene even stronger.

++ As years passed you’ve released more than 25 CDs in a country were piracy is number one, where copied CDs are what people prefer. How have you managed to tackle this problem?

CD piracy was never a trouble for us since our prices in the local market are pretty accessible. I personally believe in spreading music through streaming and blogs that share and allow music to be downloaded. I do support piracy in small scales… As long as any third person who is not involved in this can make any kind of profit. I don’t think that that can be trouble for independent record labels since nowadays our objective public is entirely made up of music collectors and true music lovers that truly believe the only way to keep this alive and releasing great stuff is by supporting and buying originals, thus rewarding bands. Just true lovers of music.

++ Running a label is never an easy task, there’s problems, but there are times that are very rewarding as well. Which releases are you the proudest of? And if you were to choose one release that sums up the spirit of Plastilina, which will it be?

Absolutely, during all these years I have experienced lots of anecdotes and have worked with many different people from various countries and cultures. Choosing my most rewarding moment is a very difficult question but I may mention that it was very very cool working with such amazing bands like Twig, St Christopher, Alex Sharkey( Member of Brighter, Fosca, Hal), Diosque and being able to arrange Plastilina shows abroad in places like Brazil, Argentina or Djing in Sweden, Germany and other countries. Definitely, the releases what I feel proudest of are “Life After Ridge” by Twig, “ Bote+Brote” by Diosque and “Lost at Sea” by the emblematic St Christopher! Uff!

++ Are there any labels that you would consider as influential to Plastilina?

Totally. I am very much a fan of the work of Hardly Art, Beko, Matinee, Fuego Amigos, Sincerely Yours, Labrador, Siesta ,Cloudberry, Shelflife and many, many more. I love how these labels have kept their musical aesthetic despite
those rough times when the music industry tries to kill you.

++ Tell me about Plastilina’s setup, your office and stuff? How far do you have to go to the post office? What’s like a day in Plastilina?

Nowdays Plastilina’s office is ran from my home in Chorrillos… a really nice neighborhood next to the beach and 15 kilometres from downtown Lima… A day in Plasilina is pretty mellow… checking emails, creating, designing and discovering artists for the label, emailing distros and customers, listening to demos and new music while I make something yummy for lunch, then again… coordinating the next gigs and festivals , biking to the postal service in the afternoon, which is only 5 minutes from my place, watching movies, planning to trips to new places at night and having some beers with friends on the weekend That’s pretty much my life.

++ And by the way, why do they call you Jalito? Isn’t your name Jose?

It’s kind of a secret….. but I can give you a clue… It’s about the Halley comet! 😉

++ So Jal, how did you get into indiepop? How did you discover it?

I was always so passionate about music and I think this is one of the very few ways to discharge all the tension that everyone gets from living in big cities. I began listening independent music when I was around 13 years old… I was
pretty interested to hear new sounds and I discovered New Order and Cocteau Twins which changed my perspective in life at the time. Then after listening lots of 80’s pop music I got into guitar bands such as Yo la Tengo, Pavement, Built
to Spill, The Pastels, etc… Then Spanish pop caught my attention and led me to discover an unreleased tribute to The Field Mice which was the beginning of all of this.

++ Which would you say are your favourite bands? And if you could, can you give me a top 5 songs of yours?

I really like when interviewers comes to this same question all the time. I’ll take a look into my collection and mention 5 acts that were significantly important in my life.

Bands:
The Siddeleys ( UK)
The Embbasy ( Sweden)
Silvania (Peru)
Aztec Camera ( Scotland)
Air France (Sweden)

Top 5 songs:
Something Almost Brilliant Happened Last night – The Siddeleys
All the Dark Horses – The Trash Can Sinatras
This Chain Won’t Break – Wild Nothing
No excuses – Air France

++ Actually, have you ever been in a band?

My closest experience with a band was back in 2004 when I tried to be the drummer in a twee pop band. We all met via soulseek and arranged a rehearsal (that’s how we met for the first time!) and then we came up with a lightning bolt band called Los Rebeldes Walkies Talkies… This band recorded around 4 songs that were included in some local magazines… Now I am about to take some lessons to produce music on my computer. Hope to have this done soon!

++ You don’t only release records but also organize gigs and club nights in Lima. How do you enjoy doing these? And how successful do you think they are? How big is the indiepop scene in Lima?

To be honest Lima has a small independent scene despite that it has around 9 million inhabitants… Even though this city is pretty big and has about 49 districts everything is summed up in 4 of them. That’s why I am planning to expand my events/organizations to create more accessibility for everyone. Plastilina shows have gone very well in the last few years. I have around 150 enthusiastics followers that always come when I set up gigs, festivals, etc… I pretty much enjoy doing this and even moreso when I see those smiles of happines, or people singing the songs, or simply when people dance with their eyes closed. That’s pretty rewarding.

++ What would you say has been the highlight of Plastilina so far?

The highlight of Plastilina is to have been recognized by people from every country that we’ve traveled to and also to have our faithful followers in Japan! I think that’s pretty much exciting! One of my plans for the near future is
to actually travel over and make a Plastilina pop party in Japan! Can you imagine!?

++ And where do you see the label 5 years from now?

I see Plastilina with a subsidiary in the States or Europe that basically would be in charge of releasing our same albums on vinyls. Also working even harder to make our bands participate in festivals like Primavera Sound, SXSW, etc. Getting more synchronization licensing for our bands to be able to be on soundtracks in movies and more. That would be really cool, indeed!

++ Everytime someone involved visits Lima, you give them a tour. So, what places would you recommend visiting if someone was to go there?

Yes. I love to meet people involved from all over the world and exchange information about our work. That’s very productive! Lima is a such big city… I would recommend to get a bike and make a tour around Barranco which is one of the nicest areas in the capital.. very beautiful, cozy and charming. Also, go around Miraflores’ promenade around 5-6pm to see one of the nicest sunset in the Pacific. I’d also recommend to visit some art galleries like Revolver, Centro Colich, if you are around those mentioned areas … then downtown! And goes directly to Quilca’s galleries to DIVE and look for some Peruvian gems on vinyl from the 60s or 70s. So much amazing music throughout that period. Then keep walking til Queirolo ( one of the oldest bars in Lima) have some Pilsen Callao, relax and keep walking til Plaza de Armas which is the main square and just next to there is the “ Alameda Chabuca Granda” which is a boulevard where you’ll find lots of traditional food and deserts.. I recommend eating e v e r y t h i n g.

++ And what would you say is your favourite Peruvian dish and beer?!

Peruvian food is absolutely great. Actually, It’s one of the few things that I really miss of Peru when I am abroad. I may say that I am really into seafood as I live really close to the sea. Dishes like Rissoto con Mariscos, Ceviche, Leche de Tigre and the best invention of humans: Conchitas a la Parmesana along with some cold Pilsen Callao (beer) It’s just like heaven!

++ And when you are not listening to music, or releasing music, what other things do you like to do?

I like to spend time with my very good friends outdoors or at their places watching movies , cooking delicious food or deserts or simply playing table games with them. Also I really like to explore more about my city and taking pictures… Also relax and read on my bed… that’s how I enjoy life.

++ Thanks so much Jalito, anything else you’d like to add?

Remenber that we all like to dream, but also we must make things happen. .Thanks to you! I really enjoyed answering these unusual questions! See you soon!

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Listen
Silver Screen – Really No Wonder

A bit of a quiet week for Cloudberry now although the fanzines arrived home today and I should start shipping all pre-orders tomorrow. The official release date is for the 10th. I’ve talked already a bit too much about the zine so by know either you are fed up with reading about my excitement about this new issue, you have already ordered a copy or you don’t understand what the fuss is about. So let’s move on to other essential topic of the indiepop world: Indietracks.

It’s true that there is still some announcements to be made. And I don’t know when that is happening. Perhaps it says somewhere on the Anorak Forum, but if there’s a place one feels unwelcome, it is in that forum sadly. So I decided to stop visiting it for some time now. I feel that if you are not British, if you are probably not from Nottingham, you have not much to do there. So fair enough. In any case, and who cares really, I didn’t wait for that last announcement and I booked a very expensive flight to spend almost six days in my favourite country, England.

Four of those days are almost exclusively dedicated to Indietracks. Friday you travel to Alfreton/Mansfield/Swanwick or whatever the place you are staying at. Saturday and Sunday are exclusive to the festival. And Monday you leave knackered around noon back to London. Arriving at 4 or 5 and then having late lunch. So I count Monday as an Indietracks day. Especially as these lunches are with all the nice friends that are traveling with you on the train back to the city. This year I’m going to a pre-Indietracks show too on Thursday. So that’s another indiepop day. 5 of my days for the cause. For the good cause.

I did have a room reserved at the Mansfield Premier Inn since January. Or maybe it was since December. I still didn’t know if I was going to go. Not because of money but mostly about vacation days. Though I admit I never thought I was going to pay this much. This year it seems everyone wants to go to London for the summer! But as bands started being announced for Indietracks, and as things started to develop with Cloudberry in ways I didn’t expect, it started to make sense to go for my fourth Indietracks. Fourth in a row too.

I believe that knowing that The Secret History were going to play was a big bump for me to buy the ticket. The new release and getting to see them in such a great place, with the right crowd, cleared all my doubts if I should be there or not. Of course all my friends have been telling me to come over. Jennifer especially who convinced me by 100% as she asked me to DJ an event. Very important. Can’t let my dear friend down. And then of course getting to see my favourites Alpaca Sports and Flowers. One more time after the NYC Popfest. It all makes sense.

The latest Indietracks announcement was also very important to make up my mind. If minutes earlier before the announcements I was telling Emilie that I really hoped to see The Brilliant Corners this year, that it was unfair that they were playing Berlin and the Scared to Get Happy gig, someone was going to tell me they were getting booked for the Derbyshire festival I wouldn’t have believed it. But they did! Emilie funnily enough told me right away that I might have been crossing my fingers way too hard for this to come true. I might! Of course! I love The Brilliant Corners and I can’t wait to at least say hi! to Davey. If he can sign me a record, then that would make me the happiest. The question being should I bring my own records or would they sell some of their old stock there? This is important as I love to travel light!

Then the other two bands that melted my heart. Helen Love and McTells. Two of my favourite bands ever are also playing. And these two came very unexpected to me as they are not playing around or promoting anything new. So hats off to team Indietracks for booking these two. I’m sold. You make me happy. Now who else will you book? Can you do The Popguns as well? I’d be thrilled. Thrilled to bits!

Sure, some might say that older bands are not what the young crowd wants. And we need some of the young guns at the grounds. Aren’t they the ones that buy the most beers and the most records? Who knows. But they do know how to camp whereas I don’t. If the young crowd aren’t pleased by the classic sound of indiepop then maybe they shouldn’t come to an indiepop festival? I think in any case the team is catering to them with some bands like Fear of Men (who in my book have only one “indiepop-sounding” song and it’s really good), The Wave Pictures (zzz), and really a lot of bands that make me feel I live under a rock (though not trying to be a moron but usually if I haven’t heard the band it’s not real indiepop haha, but it’s true). So the young crowd should be pleased I think. There’s a bit for everyone and I have more than enough with this good lineup.

Add to all these the new-comers Pale Spectres who I hope don’t play at the church because I don’t want to miss them.  The Ballet are quite great too and I haven’t seen them since NYC Popfest 2007, though I might have seen Marina at NYC Popfest 2010? I don’t remember. I had a quaint conversation about La Pequeña Suiza, the beloved and cult indiepop band from Spain she used to play with many moons ago. Also looking forward to seeing the Fireworks, Matthew, Isabel and Emma’s new project! The 7″ single on Shelflife sounds fantastic! German’s The Soulboy Collective is also rather a surprise, it’s not the kind of sound I thought team Indietracks loved. But then, I really liked their album on Firestation Records, so this is one not to be missed. The Understudies are also on my “bands to watch” this year. Also I need to grab all of their releases. Seems I’m missing some. Shame on me.

Camera Obscura, The Pastels, Still Corners, all of them I will watch. I’ve seen them all before, and I’d say I liked Camera Obscure a lot in Berlin. That was quite a show and I’ve been meaning for a couple of weeks now to frame the huge poster that Andy ripped from the wall for me. Thing is, A1 posters are not standard size in this country. So I need to look into some custom framing here. Sucks. I’m thinking of bringing a frame from the UK though now. Wonder how easy will that be. Does it fit in a big bag? If it does that would be the best solution!

I’m very curious about Finnmark! More because their principles, their love for Sweden. Music-wise I hope to be surprised.  But they do represent everything that is great about indiepop I think. Big Wave. I ordered their 7″ some weeks ago. Still waiting! Then The French Defence, Lardpony and Nalda. Three bands that I originally scheduled for the 3″ singles series. Sadly it never happened. Glad that they are back though, I look forward to their sets.

So pretty busy already, huh? It should be a good one indeed. This year I’m probably going by myself. First time without the crazy Christin and Emelie’s, first time without the quiet As of my life. That might change my mood a bit perhaps when I’m there. But who knows. I don’t dislike traveling alone. And it’s been a while now since all of these things happened. I feel it will be more like 2011, where as Jennifer said to me, “I was all over the place”. Hoping then that I see many familiar faces, all the people that make this festival the best around.

Probably I’ll blog about the festival a week or two before with my planned schedule for the whole thing, the clashes, the decisions to be made. The DJs (once again I wish I played some records there! maybe the next one?), the food, and the latest announcements. I’m very happy to go there again!

One question though for all of you. Should I bring some Cloudberry records to sell? If so how many? Last year I didn’t bring any because I wanted to spend a lot of time with my then girl as I didn’t get to see her too often. But this year I’m all for spreading the word and the love for the label. Previous years I’ve brought around 50 7″s. And always they sold out. Especially the latest releases. Maybe something like that this year too? Maybe 60 or so? Let me know if anyone is interested in anything in particular too so I can bring that and everyone can save on the crazy US postage prices.

PS. Can I ask for the Felt Tips to play Indietracks? I want to listen to their new album live!

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After this ‘short’ Indietracks review of mine, let’s move into another obscure band I’ve been trying to track for years now after seeing their name listed on the Twee.net Future Leamington Spa bands page: A Tune A Day. What a good name I thought. Though perhaps these days with the internet a lot of people listen and discover more than a good tune every day. Though a tune a day, the idea of it, the principle of it, is just perfect. For example I have this thing myself of a 7″ a day. That way I force myself, at least when in town, to listen to one of the 7″s in my collection.

I would have thought that the band was from Clapham in London because their label name was The Clapham Omnibus, but the address listed on the back of the sleeve of their sole 7″ is closer to Tooting or Balham. But perhaps there was a bus that ran (or still runs?) from their place in Hillbury Road all the way to Clapham. Perhaps a bigger clue would be the catalog number of their 7″, ‘FARE 37’. Perhaps that was the bus number? Maybe someone familiar with the area could tell me. I’ve never been to Clapham myself in any of the visits I’ve done to London. Perhaps the Brockley is the place I’ve been the south-est in in London. From what I gather Clapham is mostly known for:
its extensive 220 acre green space Clapham Common, which features three ponds and is overlooked by large Georgian and Victorian mansions, and the village-like atmosphere of its historic Old Town. And also for being home of Holy Trinity Clapham the Georgian Church on Clapham Common, from where The Clapham Sect led by William Wilberforce and a group of upper class evangelical Christians campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade in the 19th century.

The name of Clapham is thought to derive from the Old English clopp(a) + hām or hamm, meaning Homestead/enclosure near a hill.

And Omnibus –  1829, “four-wheeled public vehicle with seats for passengers,” from French (voiture) omnibus “(carriage) for all, common (conveyance),” from Latin omnibus “for all,” dative plural of omnis “all” (see omni-). Introduced by Jacques Lafitte in Paris in 1819 or ’20, in London from 1829. In reference to legislation, the word is recorded from 1842. Meaning “man or boy who assists a waiter at a restaurant” is attested from 1888 (cf. busboy). As an adjective in English from 1842.

The one 7″ A Tune a Day released had two songs, one on each side. On the A side “I Am Going Home” which I remember listening long time ago on one of the compilations Jessel used to put online on Myspace. I can’t remember right now how the song goes, though I remember liking it. The B side is “I’m Not Going To Get Out Of Bed In The Morning” and I found it on the From a Norther Place blog. And of course, it is a nice guitar pop tune, classic indiepop sound from the late 80s.

And it did came out very late in the 80s. The 7″ was released in 1989. It was recorded and mixed by Lance Philips. Other credits include the cover photo by Jane Skinner and design by Sharon Sutcliffe. The front cover is indeed a photo of who I would guess is the vocalist of the band. Couldn’t say where was the photo taken. I could guess Brighton Pier, but most probably not. It looks less glamorous, though I don’t know how it looked in the late 80s. Also I assume there are more piers like this in the UK.

No band members listed. The only other credit appears on the labels of the 7″. Both songs are credited to I. Bain. A safe guess, as there are not many names starting with I is that he was an Ian or an Iain. And yes! Thanks to that I stumbled to a blog post by the essential Fire Escape Talking. How are thing all connected in this world, it seems Iain Bain before A Tune a Day had a band with Martin Cotter who I interviewed some years ago about the great Wee Cherubs!

So Bain was in a band called Radio Ghosts before A Tune A Day. With this band they released an EP called “Say Hello To The World of Love EP!!” which I just found on Discogs for a good price. There are more copies there if you are wondering. Hopefully when it arrives I can maybe do a blog post about it. On one of the listings it says they sound a bit like The Times! Curious to hear! Also the lead song of this EP, “My Room” was included on the Messthetics #105 release. I’ve been meaning to buy the Messthetics releases and I still haven’t. Shame on me. Hopefully I get around to it soon. It has to be done, especially as they include booklets with great information.

And this is where I hit a dead end. So Iain moved from Scotland to England. Then he put out this record. I wonder what he did after. Also what he did before it, in between Radio Ghosts and A Tune a Day. Maybe more great guitar pop? Anyone knows? And does anyone happen to have an mp3 to refresh my memory on how “I am going home” sounds like? Or maybe a spare copy of the single that I could buy or trade? I’d love to have it! Does anyone out there remember them? Did they play any gigs? Did they have more songs? I’m curious to know!

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Listen
A Tune A Day – Im Not Going To Get Out Of Bed In The Morning

At last I can announce the new release coming out on Cloudberry! The official date is June 12th but there will be copies at NYC Popfest. That’s because this “secret” band is playing there. There will also be copies at Indietracks because of the same reason. Perhaps you guessed already. The band is a NYC band, with very tight bonds to the city. Many of the members of the band used to be in a classic, wait, legendary, indiepop band from this same town. I found out that one of the vocalist actually lived three blocks away from where I live now in Astoria. Strangest things have happened. This band toured Sweden even. Hultsfred festival. I wish I had been there. Are you following my hints? They released 10 years ago an epic album, “The Happiest Days of My Life”. I still hear many songs from this record when fellow indiepopkids DJ. Then there was the hiatus. Then they came back under a new name and with new faces and released an EP and an album on Le Grand Magistery. Years passed. And now I can happily announce that Cloudberry is releasing The Secret History’s new album!

The album is aptly titled “Americans Singing in the Dark” and it’s a true ode to New York, this city I’ve started to make my own. This of course doesn’t mean that people that don’t live here won’t understand it. It’s a universal album. It’s indiepop, classic, elegant, and well written. The brainy kind. It has it’s gritty moments, it’s has it’s sugary moments, and at all times it’s a proud album with immense songs crafted with detail.

11 new songs and opening a new series of contemporary albums called the Cloudberry Dream Workshop. Because I believe that dreams are the future, and these albums are the future of our scene, of our music.

The album is packaged in true Cloudberry fashion, the vertical book style digipak, full colour booklet, lyrics included. Quality over anything, as you who follow us know well. The album tracklist and some more details have been announced on both the Cloudberry site and the Cloudberry Facebook page by now. We will be giving away an MP3 taster in the next couple of hours. I really hope you like it.

I’m very proud about this release as I’ve been a fan of The Secret History and My Favorite for years. The first time I saw them was at the 2007 NYC Popfest. I was blown away. I remember buying a t-shirt then which I still wear it. Many years after, at Littlefield I was going to see them again, at then another NYC Popfest, the 2010 edition. That year I bought from them another t-shirt. Very similar to the first one, though this one instead of having the name of the band all in white, they decided to have the “The” part of the band in yellow. I didn’t know them. I was just a fan. I had had a bit of contact with Michael at some point years before because he really liked the Blind Terry 3″ single, especially because of the nod to Prefab Sprout. Him being a big fan.

Years have passed since those days. I’m still a fan. But now I know them a bit more. Talking at some gigs. And then at Mondo too. Cheap beer and indie gossip. A one time meeting at The Sparrow for another pints and figuring out how we were going to make this release happen. The time frame. Happily as we talk all parts are in the pressing plant and things are full-steam ahead. You can’t imagine how happy I am. It’s a bit strange when you get to release a band and people you grew up listening to their music with. I always thought that they would have made a great single for Cloudberry when I was starting, but maybe felt shy to ask them. They were too “big” in my book. And now we have worked on this album, albeit secretly, for the last couple of months, but now it’s for everyone to know. And I’m honoured. I think it’s a great time for the label and a lot has to do with this release. It feels like the label has finally found a place in NYC, something it never did in Miami. And so I hope to see you all at the release party in June. And why not, at NYC Popfest and Indietracks! Can I count with you all?

PS. There’s another “secret” gig in July which I’m doing a flyer for as I write these lines and I will DJ between bands then too… and no, it’s not in the US!

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So as our weekly “tradition” (because it is one already, right?) I’ll introduce you to an obscure band. I don’t know yet what’s your favourite part of the blog, if any. If the Cloudberry news, if some of my pop diaries, or the obscure band. Or just the MP3 that is shared. You tell me. I enjoy writing anyways. 2004 was the first time I blogged. I’m getting old! Anyhow, let’s continue our march in converting all good souls of the world into indiepop and collecting records!

Henry & Me. Who was Henry? And who was this me? Who were Henry & Me? That’s an indiepop mystery that Google can’t solve. And I’m looking out for your help.

Henry :   masc. proper name, from French Henri, from Late Latin Henricus, from German Heinrich, from Old High German Heimerich, literally “the ruler of the house,” from heim “home” + rihhi “ruler.” One of the most popular Norman names after the Conquest.

Henry & Me released just one 7″ as far as I know. The A-side was “Sentimental” and the B-side was “Average Guy”. I’ve had this record for a long time on my saved searches but nothing pops up for me. Luckily I finally heard one of their songs, Average Guy, thanks to the great blog From a Northern Place (which I thank and also celebrate on my latest fanzine because they are one of the few that has been making me happy with MP3s from records I’ve been looking for and feeling curious about for long!).

I’m pretty sure the band is British, because of the accent. But on the back sleeve there’s a photo of NYC. With the Twin Towers. Odd. I never saw them in real live. Then the other hint that tells me they weren’t from around here is that there is a phone number on there too, belonging to a Ronan Whyte. That’s an Irish name though, isn’t it? But the number seems British.

The only other information on the back sleeve that seems relevant is that the two songs were original recordings by the band and they were made in 1991.

The front sleeve has a very fun artwork. It’s hand-drawn and it’s all black and white. For some reason this release seems more like promo material (especially because there’s a phone on the back), so I’m guessing they were trying to get label interest? Surprisingly it seems they didn’t. It’s strange because I really like “Average Guy”. It reminds me a bit of Nixon actually. That kind of indiepop. Sad, lovelorn, melancholic, in shambles, written in someone’s bedroom, recorded with a lot of hear and honest sentiments.

But who knows what happened to them. And who were the people behind it. It’s a big mystery to me. And maybe someone out there can help me understand it better. Who were they? How many copies of this record are out there? Any spares for me maybe? Did they play many gigs? Where did they hail from? Were they involved with other bands? So many questions and don’t even know where to start looking.

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Listen
Henry & Me – Average Man

And I thought we were enjoying some days of spring here in New York. Today the temperature dropped to 6 degrees Celsius. Go figure. In any case it was a fresh morning to pass by the print shop and pick up the sleeves for the compilation “Envoys from Alexandria” that’s coming out in a week or two. This compilation of course is bundled with a ink and paper fanzine, like the good old days. The new Cloudberry fanzine, printed in orange, containing 28 pages of pure indiepop, is the eighth issue and I’m very happy and proud of it.

The new fanzine includes interviews to many of my new favourite bands, bands that have been part or will be part of the Cloudberry family. Included in our catalog number 408 are interviews to Flowers, Tiny Fireflies, Pale Spectres, Je Suis Animal and Tripping the Light Fantastic.

And this is the 3″ CD tracklist:
a1. Hiro – Crystal Days
a2. Homecomings – You Never Kiss
a3. Je Suis Animal – Tale From the Sea
b1. Tiny Fireflies – If It’s True
b2. Souvenir Stand – Wherever You Go
b3. Flowers – Hide and Seek

Pretty international compilation. France, Norway, Japan, the UK and the US are all well represented. As always, like previous fanzine releases, included are Cloudberry favourites and up and coming bands. I’m all for introducing you all the new bands I’m enjoying at the moment! I hope you like them too 🙂

If you are familiar with previous Cloudberry releases you’ll find the usual sections, my editorial, the recommended listening column, the recommended fanzines and websites and the Cloudberry catalog. Not trying to re-invent the wheel here. Just a humble fanzine with the important things in indiepop! The things that matter!

Something that I feel important to mention is that the fanzine is not an extension of this blog. Some people might think that because it includes interviews. But the interviews in the fanzine are very different to the ones here. Whereas here, in the blog, I try to reconstruct the band’s story, on the fanzine I try to find out the soul of the band, their ideas, their future plans, the small details that make them different to other bands out there. Does that make sense? Also of course you can’t compare the format. Flipping pages is something else. And I don’t print it in copy paper, just saying. But on a pretty fine quality paper.

I remember when I started drafting my first zine. It was around the last months of 2007. It was a time when there were a couple of people writing some. Mostly black and white photocopy zines. I thought I should do one, mostly as a vehicle to promote the Cloudberry bands in a format that is tightly associated to indiepop. As a record collector I have of course ended up collecting fanzines too. Especially those of the late 80s. And I said to myself, if I was going to make a zine, it should try to recapture that feel, the aesthetic, of the Woosh, the Turn!, This Almighty Pop!, or The Fine Art of Shoplifting, among others.

Did I happen to be successful at this? I want to think that I have. Up to a point at least. Of course the printing industry has changed. Doing offset printing these days is really not an option. So you have to go on and print color. Even if it’s just one color as my fanzine is. That means it’s going to be a bit pricey. Unless I print it in black ink (which I did once, on 405). The idea is to have a rainbow of fanzines, each to have it’s different feel. So a blue fanzine came first, a red one second, a light green third, a purple fourth, a black fifth, a pink sixth, a dark green seventh and now an orange eighth.

The important thing in the end was to make something with quality, a design and aesthetic quality, which is something I really am very picky with. There’s nothing more important for me than the packaging of all our releases. Because I can’t understand those that having beautiful music decide to dress it in the most cheap-looking, and eye-appalling, packages. How could anyone for example put a gorgeous indiepop jingle jangle pop band in a slim jewel case? Is it laziness? Indolence? A lack of taste? I don’t know. The scary part is of course that many times bands put it with it.

In any case it doesn’t matter. The Cloudberry fanzine happily has been a success, all copies selling out pretty fast. It makes me terribly happy that people have been very supportive. Especially when fanzines feel like a dead medium sometimes. When blogs and websites are supposed to take over their print counterpart. But it’s clear there are romantics out there that appreciate the feel of paper in their hands. To those people I promise to keep up doing fanzines and I hope, and I’m very positive, that there will be a new fanzine, the 9th, later this year.

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It’s been a while since I visited and covered an obscure band from Sweden. So let’s do that now. It’s one of my favourite places after all. I would move there in a blink if I could. Be with all the good friends I happen to have there.

Let’s go back then to 1986. That’s the year The Merry Dance released their one and only release. A private release with catalog AIM-001 that seems very obscure these days. As far as I know there were only 500 copies pressed.

The sound is very Felt-esque. It’s quite brilliant. It’s jangly, it has an organ, and the Japanese fans would definitely file this record under that broad term they have that is neo-aco.

The A side of this single is “It’s Passed, it is Gone” and the B side is “You will See the Light”. The artwork of the record is pretty minimalistic and a bit mysterious. Two pair of eyes, two noses. Two mouthless faces. Wonder if these drawings have any meaning.

Both songs were penned by Peter Rosén who also played the 12 and 6 string guitars, bass and vocals. Nicko Rölke played the Spanish solo guitar and did backing vocals. Henrik Af Ugglas played drums, hammond organ and backing vocals. And last but not least James Flach did backing vocals too. Because of this setup I tend to guess that they were more of a studio band and not much a live band.

This fine slab of 7″ vinyl was produced by both Rosén and Ugglas (who also engineered the record).

I have a wild guess that this might be the same Henrik Af Ugglas of The Merry Dance on Discogs. Clicking on the myspace link it confirms that he lives in Stockholm as well, and also on Discogs he has a release with the band Baby Snakes from 1987, meaning he was making music since the late 80s. So, are my suspicions in the right track?

The last bit of information to be found is that both songs were recorded in Stockholm in Spring of 1986.

Everything else about them seems a mystery. There’s absolutely no other information about them online. so, if anyone out there has any other information about The Merry Dance, their whereabouts, what did they do after, if they had more songs, if anyone have any spare copies of this 7″, and so on, I’d love to know. Even if anyone has the B-side and would be kind to share it with me. I would love to hear it. I really enjoy this “It’s Passed, it is Gone song”.

See you next week!

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Listen
Sleepwalkers – Honey Hunter

The latest Cloudberry release came out yesterday, April 15th, the Tripping the Light Fantastic 7″. Today I feel very happy. I went earlier to the post office and posted a bunch of records. Tomorrow will be the same story. And Thursday too. Also I just got an email saying that the new stock of Cloudberry t-shirts is on it’s way to me. So everything’s dandy around here. Next week  I should finally send the fanzine to print. And then I think I’m going to be up to date. I wasn’t wrong when I said this was going the be the most productive year for the label.

Speaking of merch. A couple of weekends ago I had some friends visiting and were asking me if I would do mugs with the label logo or turntable slipmats. Anyone interested in that?
I’ve been having a bit of a flashback day today. Jalito found this scan of a Cookie Scene magazine (a music magazine from Japan) that Toshiko, from Apple Crumble, used to write. She had a column/page in the magazine called “Indiepop Around the World”. I actually have one number where she talks about Cloudberry. And of course, that is really no surprise, as she was kind enough t send me a copy. This article in the other hand talks a bit about South American indiepop, mostly about Plastilina and it’s run as the one and only true indiepop label in the continent. The surprise for me was to see my first band being named in this page, Demolición.

I’ve never been keen to talk about those days. It was great fun and we were so very young. We tried to make proper indiepop, like the Funday Mornings or the Tidy Ups, but we always sound punkier, less poppier, than our intentions. We weren’t successful. So why talk about that? I’ve always avoided talking much about it on interviews when asked how come I don’t make music. The truth is, I’m not very talented at that. Though if I could, I would try it again today. Anyways, what surprised me is how come Toshiko knew about Demolición. It’s not like people knew us.

We did release a tape. And had a song on a compilation. I feel the compilation appearance was a bit of cheating as I curated it. It was for a magazine in Lima called Revista 69. I wasn’t planning to include my song “Artes Marciales” but the editor of the magazine said I should, that it was great, and represented the new indiepop in Peru. That might have been true. We were the only ones at that time at least trying to make indiepop. The compilation name was “Es Pop, Mamá”, taken from a song by Ella y los Neumáticos, a band that included Christina Rosenvinge who would become quite famous, even in the mainstream, Christina y los Subterráneos. This song was later covered by the super fantastic, my favourite band to sing in Spanish (and who you could say was my biggest influence in my short band experience), TCR.

This magazine had a lot of readers. And I’ve met many people back in Peru that do know this song. And I’ve seen it uploaded in Youtube even. Which is really scary. I sing awful. Even more bizarre some bands have covered it. Still, it was only inside the bubble of Peru, no one outside of it knew about it.

Perhaps that’s not a 100% true. I guess through Soulseek people might have found it. There’s the one and only case that I know of, Adriá from Papa Topo, found it. That was totally strange. Unexpected. We somehow had made it all the way to Mallorca. I felt very honoured and pleased with this odd change of events that I sent Adriá the last copy I had of our one and only proper release, “Laurita lee el Bushido” (Laurita reads the Bushido), a tape with our home recordings that was released by a small Peruvian label called Internerds Records back in 2005 or so (?), many years after we had split as a band.

That still doesn’t explain how we ended up in an article of a Japanese magazine. I’m stoked. We were terrible. We barely knew how to play an instrument. We did have that amateur freshness, that drive and nerve that eighteen year old have when making music, but that was that. That was probably our only asset. I do think we wrote fun lyrics and that our melodies were fine. If we only had been a bit better, more proficient, we could have lasted longer. But perhaps not. Daniel left to Denver. José wasn’t please with Guille’s guitars. And so, things started to crumble. We tried later doing it again. I remember trying to record a song called “Tragaplanetas” at Arturo’s place. I don’t know what happened to those tracks, if there are any.

The good thing of all of this is that Daniel and José are still making music under Eva & John along with Chete (who I played briefly with in Los Rebeldes Walkie-Talkie) and who I’m putting out their first release, a flexi single in the next couple of weeks. It’s smashing. It sounds 100 times better than what Demolición used to sound. Though I have to say, I have this little itch sometimes, after I see blog posts or little comments remembering us, that if this first flexi proves successful, I wouldn’t mind releasing a Demolición flexi, with two of our songs. Just for fun.

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Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism or noctambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness. These activities can be as benign as sitting up in bed, walking to the bathroom, and cleaning, or as hazardous as cooking, driving, violent gestures, grabbing at hallucinated objects, or even homicide.

The obscure band for this week is an Irish one. One from Galway. And they were called Sleepwalkers.

I’ve never been to Galway or know much about it, so I guess a little background information won’t hurt:

Galway, or the City of Galway (Irish: Cathair na Gaillimhe), is a city in Ireland. It is in the West Region and the province of Connacht. Galway City Council is the local authority for the city. Galway lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay and is surrounded by County Galway. It is the fourth most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous on the island of Ireland.
The city takes its name from the river Gaillimh (River Corrib) that formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement, which was called Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe (“Fort at the mouth of the Gaillimh”). The word Gaillimh means “stoney” as in “stoney river” (the mythical and alternative derivations are given in History of Galway). Historically, the name was Anglicised as Galliv, which is closer to the Irish pronunciation as is the city’s name in Latin, Galvia.

It seems they have some medieval structures in town, so definitely my kind of place. I would really like to go to Ireland at some point. If only I had more vacations!

The information I could find from the band mostly comes from the Irish Rock Discography site. As in the case of Cuba Dares, we can’t be 100% sure that the information on the site is accurate, but let’s hope it is for our own sake.

There is no dates for when the band was active but there’s; a lineup. That’s a start!
John Crumlish – vocals
Declan Gibbons – guitar
Fergal Gallagher – bassAllan Flynn – drums

The drummer, Allan, had been involved before with the band “Too Much for the Whiteman”. And it’s said that Walter Feichter replaced Fergal Gallagher on bass for the band’s second single.

There’s a little interesting article here about John Crumlish who was the vocalist of the band and is now the Chief Executive of Galway Arts Festival. There’s a little mention to Sleepwalkers here:

John had commitments to his job so he returned to teaching but lasted just another year before he packed it all in to move to Galway full-time. By this stage, himself and Declan had their own band, The Sleepwalkers, which he felt justified his move to the City of the Tribes – though others might have thought it was a foolish decision at the time, leaving a full-time teaching post to write songs and play in a band!

It seems that “Too Much for the Whiteman” was quite different to Sleepwalkers. It’s said to have been a rock/reggae band that was around from 85 to 89. These dates make me assume that Sleepwalkers started as a band in the early 90s. I found a little video of the band rehearsing. I think it’s from these days?

Don’t know how successful they were, but I would say they were at least a bit. Releasing two 7″s has never been an easy task. Their first 7″ was released in 1991, on the label Solid Records (catalog ROK 742). This record has the sublime “Rapid City” on the A side and “Extreme” on the B side. The A side might be my favourite Sleepwalkers song. I wonder if they’ve ever been to Rapid City, South Dakota! You can listen to it on Youtube as that cuckoo Japanese Takashi has uploaded it. Not complete of course because he is so careful for people (especially me) not to “steal” an MP3. Oh well, indie fans and their quirks.

The second single came out a year later. Again on Solid Records. This time the catalog was ROK 756. The song I’m sharing with you comes from this one. The A side was “Honey Hunter” and the B side was “Danny (Is it Now?)”.

On the back sleeve of the second single there’s a bit extra information. We learn that “Honey Hunter” was produced by John Dunford and recorded at Bow Lane Studios in Dublin. The B side on the other hand was produced by the band and recorded at West One in Galway by Pat Neary.

And that’s all I’ve been able to gather about this band. I wonder what happened to them. If any of them was an actual sleepwalker. If they had more songs. Who knows. Maybe someone out there knows and can fill in the blanks. If any one happens to have any spare copies of their record that’d be great too. Playing their songs on Youtube or on iTunes doesn’t compare as playing them on your turntable! Let’s see if we can solve the Sleepwalkers mystery.

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Listen
Sleepwalkers – Honey Hunter

Incredibly sunny today in New York City. It’s warm. So warm it feels like it is summer. Last week’s weather made you think that spring was never coming around, that winter was going to stay forever, and now this. It’s like we are just skipping a whole season. I may have to buy the a/c units before what I expected. Especially for my illustrious guests in May for NYC Popfest.

Speaking of NYC Popfest I’ve been invited to DJ between bands on the opening night at the Cake Shop. I’ve DJed twice between bands, at Littlefield here in NY and in Brixton at How Does it Feel. I will always prefer making people dance, playing the obvious hits and the not so obvious, but DJing between bands can be rewarding too. You ask how? Well, I tend to play obscure songs in these cases. I feel rewarded if someone ends up recognizing the song and comes up for a little chat. It’s like finding a soul-mate.  Well, not quite. But you get my point.

Also yesterday the Chickfactor shows were announced for June. I will attend this again even though I’ve seen most of the bands before. It surprises me though that most of the bands too did play Chickfactor festival last year. I guess I’m not so keen in seeing the same bands over and over. Though seeing the Jim Ruiz group ten thousand times is fine with me. My only big complain about it: it’s pricey. You see, NYC Popfest, with many more international bands, on a weekend, for four days, is cheaper than Chickfactor’s three nights during weekdays.

Also T-shirts for Cloudberry are being made at the moment. Most of them are in black and truffle colour. But there will be some in navy and lieutenant gray. The run is very limited. 30 t-shirts. And of course, those 30 will be divided in small, medium, large and x-large sizes. So if you want to secure one you can email me and we’ll figure something up. I still need to figure out the postage price with this year’s increase but as soon as I have, I’ll post a pre-order button on the label website.

Talking about repeating bands. I saw the Sea Lions and Golden Grrrls once more yesterday at the Cake Shop. It was quite fun, especially the Sea Lions who I really think have come to be one of the best American indie pop bands. So good. I believe they are playing again tonight in Bushwick, but even though I’d love to go I don’t think it’s such a great idea to go all the way there as I do have to work tomorrow. And tomorrow I actually do need to prepare a class I’m teaching at CUNY this Thursday evening, so the week is going to be over before I know it. Pretty busy. I look forward to a more relaxed next week though the Tripping the Light Fantastic is coming out next week too. So, yeah, I’m probably never resting again in my life.

Yesterday after a nice chit-chat at the Cake Shop I was reminded of MaxBurger. I had read about this company before and I didn’t remember seeing it in Stockholm the last time I was there. But this time around I saw a couple around and I was lucky that there was one around the place I was staying. I’m curious always about the local flavour and when Gustav, Emelie and me, were wondering what to have for dinner I quickly suggested the burgers.

Less than a week before this important event in my life I had tried Hesburger in Tallinn. Not an Estonian chain, but a Finnish one. As I was hanging out with my friend Riina who happened to be Finnish, we had to get take out. The hamburger was alright. Not bad for a chain store, but nothing special, it wouldn’t beat Wendy’s but McDonald’s for sure. The terrible thing about this place was that they charged you for sauces. Even for ketchup! How can that be legal?

MaxBurger was on a league of it’s own. It was quite tasty. Especially thanks to that orange-pink sauce they have. Looking at it’s ingredients I noticed that it contained some cauliflower. I totally dislike cauliflower. But that sauce was heavenly. Heavenly between the hamburger buns, heavenly with the fries. I believe they charge you other different dips, but they seemed fancier than ketchup. But no need, Gustav bought a whole pot of MaxBurger sauce. You don’t need anything else but that. If they only sell it here at the supermarket like the ever-present in my everyday life HP Brown sauce.

A funny anecdote while at the line ordering my burger was that there was a couple behind me with their kids. Older couple. And I could totally recognize the accent of the woman behind me. Totally. She was from Lima. And her phrases, the words she chose, it brought back a part of Peru all the way to Stockholm to me. I swear. I can never run away from it. I have a Peruvian magnet! It’s like that one time on a random train in Denmark, overhearing another Peruvian woman telling a guy her stories as a prostitute. Oh dear! When I was growing up I always heard on TV and places that there was a Peruvian even in the most remote places. I truly believe in this. It is just a big and precise fact.

Anyways, yes, MaxBurger, the one in Hammarby. Good times. Maybe next year I’ll have another bite.

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Today’s obscure band: Scarlet Downs.

The thing about this very obscure band is that it included Simon Barber from the ubiquitous The Chesterf¡elds. Sadly even though I tried contacting Simon through Facebook I never heard back from him. Bit of a shame as online there’s little to nothing about them.

There’s one mention on the Golden Pathway’s label page. Golden Pathway being the label that Andy from Number 4 Joystreet runs since the 80s. There’s a mention about Simon leaving the band called The Act in 1983 to start Scarlet Downs. The Act had been going since 1980.

As far as I know there was only one 7″ released. One that included the song “Windows” on the A-side and “Turning Around” on the B-side. The record was released by Rum Records as a 7″ and having catalog number RUM059.

Sadly even the back cover of the sleeve of this 7″ has no information about the band either. The only interesting fact I guess would be that Rum Records was based in Dorset. I have no clue what other releases were put out by this label.

The song I know, “Windows”, to Chesterf!elds fans, would sound unfamiliar. It clearly has a more early 80s feel. The electric guitars are not going in a frenzy here. The song is a different kind of fun. It would fit fine even in one of those Messthetics compilations if you know what I mean. It would go well along the likes of The Cinematics, The Avocados, even along some of Dolly Mixture or The Mo-Dettes. It has that kind of feeling I think. It’s what I would call proto-indiepop if we can call it something. It’s POP. But not indiepop, not yet at least. But still, very enjoyable, and perfect to understand the history of our beloved indiepop.

The artwork is great too. No surprise as Simon is one of the coolest designers in the UK.

If anyone has any more information about them, like who were the other members, or if they had more songs, if they played many gigs, or even if anyone has a spare copy that I could buy, that’d be great. Would love to know more about them!

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Listen
Scarlet Downs – Windows