Thanks so much to Oskar for the interview! A couple of weeks ago I wrote about this great Valladolid, Spain, band and Oskar was kind enough to get in touch with me. El Viaje de las Flores only released a split flexi back in the early nineties (shared with St. Christopher) on the Stamp label. On it, they included one of the best Spanish indiepop songs of all time, “No Te Estoy Mintiendo”. After many years in silence, the band became a mystery. Now it’s time to learn a bit more about their history! Sit down, read, listen, enjoy!

++ Hi Oskar! Thanks so much for being up for the interview. I hear you are in London and not in Spain anymore? How come? What do you do there?

Hi Roque thank you very much for the opportunity, it is amazing that you guys still remember the band.

Espe and I decided to move in 1993 after the end of El Viaje de las Flores. I was playing at the time with Rosas en Blanco y Negro. We formed a band called “Whore” in London and played the Marquee, Garage etc.. But then we got back to Spain for a year an a half before making a permanent move in 95′.

After a few years I ended up working with Talvin Singh, who has worked with Bjork, Madonna, Massive Attack, Siouxsie etc.. We worked together for 6 years on soundtracks for feature films, commissions such as Voxygen for the English National Opera, an album “Songs for the Inner World” as well as putting an audiovisual project together called Tabtek with whom we toured all over the world, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Turkey, France, Switzerland etc..

Now I’m involved in a few projects, Plateaux (plateaux.fotone.co.uk – vimeo.com/plateaux), Spectre Spector (spectrespector.fotone.co.uk) and I had just released a new album with the French saxophonist and composer Etmo, called Silver Liquid – Etmo meets Osk (shop.fotone.co.uk/album/silverliquid) with our independent label, fotone.(fotone.co.uk)

++ So let’s go back in time, to El Viaje de las Flores, this wasn’t your first band, correct? You were in a band called La Red. Care to tell me about them?

El Viaje was actually my 4th band. My first band was called ‘El punk nuestro de cada dia’ . Then I formed 39 escalones and then it was La Red. We were influenced by what it used to be called the new british psychedelia, the term shoegaze didn’t exist back then, or maybe we didn’t know it.. We used to hear bands such as the Chameleons, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, El pecho de Andy [one of my favourites Spanish bands of all time] and stuff like that. It was a natural progression from 39 escalones who was on the same kind of vibe.

++ How did the band start? How did you knew each other? Was it hard to get the right people involved?

Back in the days it was quite hard to find musicians in our hometown. I remember having to teach a couple of friends how to play bass. La Red was the same line up as El Viaje minus the drummer. I decided to stop singing and convinced Espe to drop the keyboards and pick the mic.

++ Where does the name “El Viaje de las Flores” comes from?

We used to run a bar, and on the first opening party night we gather some of the coolest musicians of Valladolid to join us in a jam session. It was Juan and JuanRa from Exit, Anselmo from Cronica Negra, me and Espe. I still remember sitting down with Anselmo trying to figuring out a name for the impromptu band to make the flyers.. We ended up calling it “the Flowers Trip”.. We liked it so much we thought we should use it for the new project Espe and I were starting, but translating it to Spanish.

++ And back then did you have any sort of expectations with the band?

Oh yes! we wanted to release our music, to record albums, that was the main goal.

++ And what would you say sparked the musician in you? Did you have any music heroes? What would you say were the influences of the band?

I think I was about 7 or 8, it was Christmas time the tv was on and then the Beatles started playing Hey Jude live and they had all those people singing with them enjoining it so much.. and the ending the Na na na nananana.. it still gives me goosebumps.. I said to myself when I grow up I wanna do that . Then it was when I was 13 and discovered the Sex Pistols and realised that you didn’t need to be a great musician to be in a band what really push me to start playing. Bowie and Brian Eno are the musicians I respect the most and off course The Beatles. When we were with El Viaje the bands we used to adore were Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Smiths, Pixies, Spacemen 3, Cocteau Twins etc.

++ Tell me a bit about Valladolid. Where there any other like-minded bands? Which were the places were you usually hang out?

Back in days we were just a few bands. “Exit” was the band I liked it the most. They were a pretty elegant dark leftfield british sounding band, I’ve got a lot of influences from them. Luis de Castro, their guitar player ended up being our photographer, he is one of my best friends, he is like my guru. Other great bands were UA, Replicantes, Cronica Negra, El Final, The Bumpers and Rosas en Blanco y Negro.

When I was 15 and playing with “El punk nuestro de cada dia”, a collective of bands was created by the most senior members of other bands, it was called Estandard Oil. The concept was quite unique. There were meetings, teachings, concerts, recordings etc it help us to develop our music and skills. It eventually died out but I remember it fondly.

Lando club was the place where everybody used to end up, it was a club that opened from 2am to 8am.. Legendary place. Nowadays the only place that have survived the pass of time is ‘El Largo Adios’ commonly known as ‘El Cafetin’, it is the best place to go and find old friends and musicians.

++ And what about the city itself for a tourist like me,  what are the sights to see in town? and what about the food? any favourite specialties?

My favourite place is called Pasaje Guitierrez, it is a beautiful passage right in the middle of town where discos Foxy used to be, it was the only record shop where you could find imported stuff. I listened to so much music there thanks to Gelo, they even let us use the shop for rehearsals with La Red.

La Catedral, la Iglesia de la Antigua, El museo de arte policromado, San Pablo.. There are some really awesome places down there.. Food-wise tapas are great all over town, and Lechazo al horno [lamb] it’s probably the best known delicacy. And let’s not forget the wine, Ribera de Duero.

++ You only released that one track on the Stamp flexi. Do you remember how did that happen? How important was this flexi for the band?

I can’t really remember how it happened, I think we recorded a demo and sent it to different places in Madrid, and then out of the blue Miguel Seridan called to offer us the chance of releasing No te estoy mintiendo as a flexi. It was HUGE for us. We immediately hired the best studio in town to record the track.

++ And then it’s really surprising you didn’t get to release anything else, your songs are fantastic! It doesn’t make sense. Why do you think it happened this way?

Thank you very much!.. Shortly after releasing the flexi we were approached by a management company based in Madrid that had all the right connections to make the band big. They promised us everything.. and us being very young and not having a mentor to guide us, believed everything. When we were in negotiations with them we got an offer from Rosa records, a contract for 5 albums.. But the manager forced us to discard it because he was going to sign us to Polydor.. The rest is history.

++ How many demo tapes did you make? Care to list me all the songs you’ve recorded?

We had a 4 track recorder so we did record many demos . We had so many songs its impossible to remember all of the titles, the band had different formations with different sets and different sounds.

++ Surprisingly, you did tour a lot all over Spain, right? You signed with Los 40 Principales, the main musical radio in Spain, to play all over the country. How was that?

All came about thanks to Nacho Reglero who was the head of Los 40 principales in Valladolid. He loved the band so much he went to the central office in Madrid to make it happen.

++ Among all the gigs you played, which would you say were your favourite gigs and why? Any anecdotes you could share?

My personal favourite one was in Barcelona, it was the best, perfect playing great chemistry with the audience, a great buzz.. One funny situation came about on a gig we were playing where the floor was quite slippery and Luis (bass) fell down so hard that I thought he had broken his arm, but he did stand up and carried on playing as it nothing had happened, I though wow what a pro, but a few minutes later I had to eat my words cause he went and left the stage in the middle of the set, not cause of the pain but cause he needed to go to the toilet..!

++ During the latter days of the band, there’s a bit of a change on the sound. You weren’t that poppy anymore, but a bit rockier. Was that a natural change or what was going on at that moment?

Yes, I started listening to rock more and more and got completely blown away by The Cult’s album ‘Electric’.. It was a natural progression.

++ With those songs you came 3rd place on a 40 Principales contest. Did you win anything? Do you remember who came in first place?

Yes we won 250,000 pesetas, second place was a recording of a single and the first prize was an album, so again no release. It was really frustrating knowing that the band who won had a previous band who were signed to the label that some of the judges of the competition were running. We were the best band with a difference, the reaction of the public when they announce the winner was incredible, people couldn’t believe it. We truly thought we were going to win it. But hey that was another good life lesson. It was the last time I ever put myself in that kind of situation.

++ The pop music scene in Spain during the 80s was huge, the sheer amount of bands that came out from there is amazing. Did you feel part of a bigger scene? Did you think it was healthy? I do find very odd that there weren’t many small indie labels though, that it was mainly big labels supporting small bands unlike the UK…

I know, they were so many really great bands, we humbly considered ourselves a small part of that “movement”. But as you said it was very very hard getting a record deal, it was mainly all majors.

++ Then what happened? When and why did you split? What did you do right after?

The beginning of the end came about when our drummer Diego (Celtas Cortos) left the band. We didn’t have the energy to continue and at that time I was playing, and about to release the second album with Rosas en Blanco y Negro so we decided to called it a day. I carried on playing with Rosas until we moved to London.

++ Are you all still in touch? If so, what are you all up to these days?

With Espe, who is now a Chinese doctor and acupuncturist, every day. We’ve got a son together, Leon, although we are not a couple anymore. A few years back Miguel the first drummer, who is now a pharmacologist, got in touch and every time I go back for a visit we hook up. Luis lives in Madrid he owns two bars/restaurants. A couple of years ago we managed to meet for a few beers and plenty of laughter remembering the good old days. And me.. well as I said earlier still pretty much full on with the music.

++ Looking back, reminiscing of those days, what would you say were the best moments in El Viaje?

The flexi, being number 1 in a radio program in Madrid for the whole summer (can’t remember the name.. they interviewed us). The gig we did in Toledo when we met Miguel Angel Garcia Ayuso from El pecho de Andy, what a great guy he is. Having “Devuelme tu amor” on rotation at Los 40 principales plus the touring.. Thinking we were going to make it big was quite naive but at the same time a nice feeling..

++ Have you ever thought of putting together some sort of retrospective album of all your songs?

Now that you are saying it maybe we should. It was such struggle and frustration having it so close and never actually achieving it, that I think we owe it to ourselves. Would you be interested in releasing it in your label?

++ By the way Oskar, do you have any favourite flower?

I love Lotus flowers, found them fascinating, and also because of the Indian and Buddhist symbolism.

++ Let’s wrap it here, thanks a lot! Anything else you’d like to add?

I still can’t believe we are talking about El Viaje, I would never ever imagined that after nearly 20 years people will be talking about us.

Also to whoever it reads this, check my present stuff, it doesn’t sound like El Viaje but you my like it! fotone.co.uk

Thank you very very much!

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Listen
El Viaje de las Flores – No Te Estoy Mintiendo

Essen, Germany. That was the first city I visited in Europe. Not Paris, no Rome, no Athens. Essen. I flew on a direct flight from Miami to Dusseldorf on Air Berlin. They treated me like a terrorist. Probably because I wasn’t the palest in the plane. Perhaps because I didn’t hold a European Union passport. Who knows. But it was the worst experience I’ve ever had with an airline. Never again I fly with them. They made me wait and wait because they had to “clear” my name with the FBI. According to the airline counter woman there was a terrorist with my name. Bollocks. I fly often and I know that’s not the case. She could have been smarter and said I shared my name with a drug trafficker, that’s much closer to the Peruvian stereotype and our beloved coca leaf; but no, I was a terrorist. And I was a terrorist at the counter of Miami airport, and then when leaving Germany, at the Dusseldorf airport counter too. Air Berlin sucks.

That was April 2007. Late April, almost May. It was still cold in Germany but a sweater was more than enough. My mom has been living in Essen for approximately 10 years and it was the first time I was visiting her there. I remember clearly the train platform in Dusseldorf. We bought our tickets and headed to Essen. The train passed by Dortmund and thought of Stephane Chapuisat and Borussia Dortmund. Glory days when I was a kid and watched European football on cable TV. Then we arrived in Essen. Grim town. Not much going on here, I thought.

Happily in Essen I had a friend, a dear friend: Nana. I remember our first emails about St. Christopher, and later chats about her punk rock apartment walls. Her love for The Tender Whiskers and The Flowerpornoes. We hanged out quite a lot during my time there. Even going to Hamburg and Berlin. Chorizo and orange juice for breakfast, chorizo, salad and beer for dinner. Chorizo cut in heart-shapes. I guess that’s a girlie thing. Going through her record collection, and me telling her for how much she could sell particular CDs on eBay. Not that I recommend doing, but I don’t know, must be an instinct thing. Her huge keyboard she had just bought, but I’m not sure she could play. The courtyard from her window.

The day in Hattingen raining cats and dogs. Umbrella heaven. Her little car. Rolling tobacco for her, but doing it wrong. Astra beer. She changed it for Jever years later. Giving me stylish haircut. Her wooden table and the sharp stainless steel knives. The posters next to the shower. The shoes at the entrance of the apartment, something that I would used to see in Europe later, but so new to me. The coats. The computer connected to her audio system. The hip café with the cute waitress and the vintage furniture. And the great music, just fabulous music played all the time. That was Essen for me.

Food-wise I don’t think I ate any specialty from Essen. I remember having Turkish food, Greek food, and a couple of times traditional German, you know, schnitzel, sausages, a good chunk of lamb. Good stuff. Beer was always good. I still prefer white bread over brown bread though. But I guess one can get used to it. It was also the first time when I noticed the lack of plastic bags at stores. Also my first time at a Lidl. My first time at a castle, Broich castle in nearby Mulheim, though it wasn’t really a proper castle. The day trip to Cologne. That was fab. And the tram in Essen, that was my means of transport. Going up the hill, watching the whole town from up top. The wonders of geography after living so long in Miami, such a flat place.

But culturally it seemed to me like a hellhole. Nothing good could have ever came out of here I thought. Well, after 4 years of having that thought, I can say I was wrong. There is one good band from Essen and they were called The Mirror Images. Sadly, I came into their music too late.

They were exactly from Essen-Borbeck-Mitte is the central borough of Borbeck, the fourth suburban district of Essen, Germany. Together with the other boroughs of the district, it was incorporated on April 1, 1915. Borbeck-Mitte has a population of roughly 13,500 people and a total area of 3.19 km2/1.23 sq mi. The name Borbeck derives from Bor(a)thbeki, which means either river in a fertile lowland or river of the Bructeri. Wikipedia says that “Borbeck-Mitte has a distinctive cultural life, mainly on personal initiative. Several church choirs exist, as well as six carnival and six sport-shooting associations and three amateur theater groups. The cultural historical society maintains a small museum and meeting place in the Alte Cuesterey near the central market place.” I would agree with this, it must have been a personal initiative to have a band, to be The Mirror Images.

It is surprising though, that the sounds of C86, of jangle pop, arrived to Essen. How? There was no internet back then. Perhaps it was the John Peel shows that were transmitted by German Radio, as Peter Hahndorf told me once. That could be the clue and the key factor to explain why so many great bands appeared in Germany during the late 80s. Because, back then, it wasn’s Sweden the one doing great indiepop in the continent, it was Germany let me tell you. Germany had a fabulous and healthy scene, with plenty of bands and plenty of small labels.

It was Uwe Firestation who, on one of the many emails we have exchanged, recommended me The Mirror Images. I still haven’t had any luck finding their records. But luckily I found one song, just one song, on Youtube. It’s called “Eight Arms to Hold You”. And it’s just GREAT! Catchy, powerful, with lots of nerve. Just how I like my pop. This song was released in 1991 on their album aptly titled “Welcome to the Borbeck Fashion Gallery”. On this record they included 19 songs, where many of them are less than 3 minutes long. From what I gather, it was released on CD. Perhaps there was an LP version? Maybe, not sure.

But from what I’ve found online, which is not much, their previous release would have dated from 1989 and it’s an LP called “The Early Days”. Not sure what’s included in this record. From the name it sounds more like a compilation, but most probably not. On the artwork there’s a funny teddy bear inside a shape that looks like a country’s border. It’s not Germany, could it be something else? Perhaps a city?

On the next release, “Welcome to the Borbeck Fashion Gallery” we see three kids, all of them with jackets. The cold German weather, right. The three kids are blonde, not terrorists. Two of them wear red socks almost up to their knees. Must have been the fashion of those days. A bit of Google shows me there was no Borbeck Fashion Gallery. But perhaps back in 91 there was. Perhaps these three kids represented the members of the band? There were three guys in The Mirror Images, Bernd Donner (bass, vocals), Marque Beutel (guitar, vocals) and Jan Stachel (drums).

But let’s keep going back in time, now 1988. This year they released “Carl EP” which I assume was their first ever release. Who was Carl? And again, a lot of kids in the cover artwork. Perhaps the kids represent the joyful and fun ridden guitar chops of the band? Then later in 1990, a single release of the track “This Year, It’s Christmas!” A kid painting, people flying and a teddy bear, on the artwork. Last but not least, in 1992 another single “Herzlichen Glückwunsch Herr Rühmann!”. A tribute song to Heinz Rühmann who of course was born in Essen. His role in the 1930 movie Die Drei von der Tankstelle (Those Three from the Gas Station) led him to film stardom. He remained highly popular as a comedic actor (and sometime singer) throughout the 1930s and early 1940s.

No tracklist for any of these records I’ve found. No more songs I’ve been able to track down. I wonder if anyone can help. Do you know anymore about this great band? Their whereabouts? If they are still making music? If they had more releases? If you have any spare copies to share with me? Did you attend to their gigs? Anything really, please leave a comment!

PS. I’m leaving to Toronto next weekend, and then to NYC the one after. So probably won’t be having an obscure band during the next weeks. I have some interviews lined up, so hopefully the blog keeps running! Thanks again for reading. It’s nice.

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Listen
The Mirror Images – Eight Hands to Hold You

Thanks again to Terry Banks for the interview. Just a week or so ago we were talking about his first well known band, Tree Fort Angst, and today we talk about his latest, Dot Dash. This year Dot Dash released a fantastic album on the Canadian label The Beautiful Music, which the lovely Wally runs, called Spark>Flame>Ember>Ashes.  If you can, do get your hands on it. It has 14 songs of great power pop! I have listened to it many many times during the past month and Im happy to recommend it to you all. But now let’s hear from the band itself. Oh! You can also become fans of them on facebook.

++ Hello again Terry! I’ve been playing more and more the Dot Dash album during the last couple of weeks. It grows more and more on me. For some reason I started thinking that the sound is not that far away from early Creation bands, like The Jasmine Minks for example. Do you think I’m totally missing the mark?

Ha… you’re not missing the mark at all.  I consider a comparison to The Jasmine Minks to be a real compliment and, yes, I loved a lot of the early Creation stuff, especially them (i.e., the Minks) and Biff Bang Pow! and The Loft — great bands.

++ It’s a really great record, and I’ve already asked you on the Tree Fort Angst interview a couple of questions about it, but do tell me which of the songs on the album would be your favourite? And why?

I think the ones I like best are those that have a slightly different, slightly darker feel to some of the other bands/music I’ve been involved with before … Songs like “Dissolve,” and “That Was Now, This Is Then,” and “There and Back Again Lane,” and a couple others.

++ And even if it’s a 14 song album, it doesn’t feel long, which I think is an achievement for two reasons. These days bands release very short albums, and usually they include lots of filler tracks. This is not your case. The tracks all sound fresh time after time I listen to them. So, were there more songs recorded that weren’t included in the album? And why did you stick to 14 songs?

Thanks – I end up discarding a fair number of songs unilaterally (i.e., never even taking them in to the band), so the ones we end up doing are ones we feel really good about.  Because of that, we never really feel like we’ve got any ‘so-so’ songs (according to us, anyway.)  So, we recorded everything — the 14 songs on the album were the 14 songs we had at the time.

++ Tell me how and when did the band start? How did you all know each other?

We got together at the beginning of 2010.  Hunter and I were in Julie Ocean.  We knew Danny from around town and we had talked about trying to do some music sometime…  In late ’09, he was playing with Bill for a one-off, one-show reunion of his (Bill’s) old band Modest Proposal – they were a mid-80’s-era D.C. mod band.  (They had lost touch with their original drummer, so Danny filled in.)  That led to the four of us giving a new a band a whirl… It came together pretty easily.

++ And what about the name? Was that easy to decide?

Admittedly, the name comes from the song by Wire, but it’s not saying “please compare us to Wire” or whatever… It’s just a good, succinct name that we all liked.

++ What about gigs? How are you doing in that subject? Any favourites so far?

So far, we’ve played about 12 shows.  Our ‘debut’ was opening for The Trash Can Sinatras, who kindly gave us our first show, in summer 2010.  I think our favorite show as a band happened a few weeks ago in October, opening for Hugh Cornwell, who was sort of the ‘main guy’ in The Stranglers.  The show was at a college, on a big stage, with a really ‘pro’ set up, which was kind of fun.  The drummer in the band was Clem Burke, from Blondie.  They were all really nice guys and it was a very fun evening.  We’ve also played enjoyable shows with Urge Overkill and The Godfathers, among others…  At the end of this month, we’re opening for the 80s U.K. band The Chameleons and are looking forward to it.

++ My favorite could be the opening track, “The Color and the Sound”, that for some reason the title makes me think of a poppier “The Sound and the Fury” by Faulkner. I know, it’s silly, but the idea is stuck in my head. Anyhow, what’s the story behind the song?

Thanks – we all really like that song, too, and felt it was sort of the obvious choice for the lead-off track for the album.  As far as any story behind the song… hmmm…. Honestly, it was pretty ‘stream of consciousness’ and took about as long to write as it does to play (i.e., two minutes flat), which is often a good sign…

++ Your first release was a little single on the German label Edition 59. Just 59 copies and I’m a proud owner of one of them! How did this release came about? Ever met Werner?

Werner got in touch by email and offered to put something out, and that’s really the only contact we had.  I think his label is a very cool ‘art statement,’ and kind of a very arch comment on the nature and realities of doing obscure music or, more accurately, music that exists on an obscure level…  It’s a groovy little thing he’s doing with Edition 59 – and I must admit I am quite impressed that, with Alan McGee’s blessing, he has reissued miniature versions of Creation singles by Biff Bang Pow!, The Jasmine Minks, Revolving Paint Dream, Slaughter Joe, Meat Whiplash, and (pre-Creation) The Laughing Apple, among others.

++ What about meeting Wally of The Beautiful Music? They should book gigs for you in Germany and Canada!

Have never met Wally in person, but if I ever find myself in Ottawa, he will absolutely be getting a shout!  And, yes, some gigs abroad would be great.

++ Let’s go back to the album. The title, “Spark>Flame>Ember>Ash”, it makes it feel this album is the beginning and the end with that title! Was that the intention?

It’s just a phrase I came up with last winter when building a fire in the fireplace… I was just thinking about the constituent parts of a fire, I guess…  The little ‘carrot’ mark —  >  — between each word just looked good graphically, in kind of an early 80s post-punk sort of way… and I also liked the ‘greater than’ connotation — i.e., a spark being greater than a flame, being greater than an ember and so on…

++ And how different would you say was the creative process and the recording process compared to the other bands you’ve been involved with?

I guess one difference  is that since Dot Dash started, and just before then, I kind of reconnected with Joy Division, over maybe the last two years or so…  Not sure why, but it just kind of hit the spot…  Maybe that had an effect… The Dot Dash stuff is still “poppy” and melodic, hopefully very melodic, but it’s sort of darker, too, at least as I hear it.

We recorded the 14 songs on spark>flame>ember>ash over the course of two Saturday afternoons and a Sunday afternoon.  We did most of the stuff in one or, occasionally, two takes… Eric, who recorded us, is a nice guy who was good to work with and got us kind of a good ‘live in the studio’ sound.  It’s got a fairly scrappy feel, but that’s a reflection of how it came together as, again, we wanted to get all the stuff down…  In any case, it was fun.

++ And what would you say are your expectations with this album? Will there be a second one?

As far as expectations, it’s just been great working with The Beautiful Music guys — so it’s already ‘successful’ on that front.  If the record gets some good reviews and manages to intersect with people who like it, or are interested in it, all the better.

Yeah, doing a second album is something we absolutely plan to do.  We have eight new songs that we like a lot and are already doing them live…  When we get to ten or so that we feel strongly about, we’d love to make a second album.

++ On “There and Back Again Lane” you sing about Superman and Lois Lane. Are you a big comics fan? Or?

Um, no, not really…  It’s just a rhyme that popped into my head when writing that song and I liked its universal feel…

++ You’ve written so many great songs over the years, so perhaps you have the answer, what makes a song a good pop song?

Thanks a lot.  Hmmm… For me, a least in terms of raw measures, the essence of a good pop song is brevity.  Being short doesn’t make a song good — but, to me, one of the things a good song will always be is brief… Beyond that, you need an appealing melody that sort of ‘declares’ itself from the outset, and lyrics that mix urgency with poeticism, using kind of plainspoken, ‘everyday’ language… Or something like that… Who knows?  Certainly not me…  I don’t exactly have a “string of hits” to my name!

++ Let’s talk guitars now. How many guitars do you own? And which do you play on this album?

I pride myself on not being a “gearhead.” You can only play one guitar at a time, so why have more than one?  But I can’t really say that, as I do have more than one guitar – I have two… I usually play a red Gibson ES-335 (think Johnny Marr, or whomever.)   I also have a black-and-white (or ‘Jetglo,’ as they call it) Rickenbacker-330.  I bought it in 1987 — drove from Richmond to Charlottesville and bought it from an R.E.M. kid at UVA.  In the South in those days, R.E.M. were like The Beatles…

On the Dot Dash record, I used the Rickenbacker for the first seven songs, but later thought it sounded a little muddy and wooly, so, for the other two sessions, I switched to the Gibson and also used a Telecaster lent to me by Eric.  I actually think Telecasters sound best for the kind of stuff I play, but I’ve always gravitated to guitars based not on how they sound, but how they look and what kind of music they make you ‘think’ of… Back then, I liked, among other things, The Jam and Beatles/Byrds/early R.E.M., thus the Rickenbacker…  The 335 (a wedding present from my better half) brings The Smiths/Postcard/Velvets vibes…

++ So what’s coming up next with Dot Dash? What’s in store for the near future?

Ha, who knows… Primarily, we hope to get a second album out in the coming year and, of course, to continue playing shows and, overall, just have fun doing it.

++ You were telling me on the previous interview that you like to read. What are you reading these days? Any books you’d like to recommend?

If I rattled off all the music-related books I read you’d run out of space very quickly… The one I‘m currently reading is ‘Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records’ by James Nice, which is truly excellent.    On the non-music side of things, I am four-fifths of the way through a five-novel ‘box set’ of Patricia Highsmith, who wrote all the ‘Ripley’ novels.  I’m heading into the last one, ‘Ripley Under Water.’  You pretty much start rooting for Ripley after the first novel, which is weird…  I also recently finished ‘The Cold Six Thousand’ by James Ellroy.  It’s been out for quite a while, but I missed it among his other stuff.  His novels rock, but I think my favorite by him is actually his autobiography, ‘My Dark Places.’

++ “Alright, Alright”, it’s time to “Dissolve”. Isn’t that very inspired of me? Anyhow, there’s another song in the album called “Seconds in a Day”. If you have just seconds to save some records of your collection from, I don’t know, a massive fire, which records would they be?

Ha, yes, very inspired… Hmmmm… I think I’d just grab whomever was there an leg it out the door, but let me think… Well, I have a quite rare Modern Lovers bootleg… Really obscure 1970-71-72 stuff recorded in Boston – not the ‘Precise Modern Lovers’ stuff that came out of Rounder and the French label (can’t think of its name), but from that same era…  It has them playing a New Years Eve show at the Mercer Arts Center (the NY Dolls were also on the bill.)  I think it’s called ‘Songs of Rememberance.’  I also have a bootleg of Aztec Camera playing to about 10 people in Manchester in 1981 that’s pretty great – it’s from the ‘Just Like Gold’/Postcard time… Can’t think of any others at the moment – maybe I’d grab them and cut my losses…

++ Thanks again Terry, I look forward to talking later about The Saturday People or Glo-Worm, will you be up for it? Anything else you’d like to add?

Who am I say to say no… Nothing to add, other than thanks for the interview – and thanks for writing about Dot Dash!

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Listen
Dot Dash – The Color and The Sound

I was gladly surprised and satisfied when I found that at the Alfreton Tesco they sold 2 liter Diet Irn Bru. I haven’t seen this fizzy drink since I fell in love with it in Glasgow three days earlier. Since then I’ve been in Manchester, London and Nottingham acting more or less like a roadie for Very Truly Yours. I believe it all started in New York Popfest, I’d say I’ve been carrying Kristine’s keyboard for an accumulated time of 24 hours. Not exaggerating. It’s damn heavy by the way. Right, the Diet Irn Bru, with it’s platinum colored label, and that great taste that reminded me to Colombiana Postobon or the Jamaican Kola Champagne, was sitting pretty on my shopping cart along some croissants, a two litter bottle of cloudy lemonade and a Kopparberg 6-pack. Everything was gone by the end of Indietracks but the Diet Irn Bru. I saved it as a precious treasure. Sadly I couldn’t fly back to the US with it. So I had to drink it.

I can’t believe I didn’t have this soda back in February when I first visited Glasgow. Now that I remember, I don’t think I had anything but beer to drink while I was there. It’s funny as I haven’t had a sip of beer since August now. The second time around, while walking around and looking for a hotel were Very Truly Yours could stay, somewhere central, I went into one of the little convenience stores to buy a postcard for my future wife. I couldn’t resist trying the Irn Bru this time around as The Orchids mention them in “I’ve Got a Habit”: “So I’m drinking Irn-Bru / And I’m thinking of you / You’ve got the sunshine in your eyes.” I took the Diet version as I really dislike sweets. I know, that’s not very indiepop of me. I run away when they start cutting and serving the cake at parties. It’s always hard to explain to people that I don’t like cake, no one understands.

The Travelodge at Alfreton only provides you with very basic stuff like towels and some Liliput size plastic cups. Plastic cups made of the cheapest plastic around as they don’t weight nothing at all. Very risky to take them outside to the sole picnic table to have a drink. The wind would just carry them away. But it was just like that how the race to finish the 2 little bottle started. After breakfast, sausage roll and orange juice, and then having a painful time buying a vegetarian sandwich for Jennifer (because the Little Chef had ran out of tomatoes and cheese, and everything!!), I finally opened the 2 liter bottle. Tim didn’t want any. No one wanted to have a cup of Diet Irn Bru. It was just myself and Irn Bru. And I was thinking of you.

I finally had an Irn Bru drinking partner on the train back to London. The always so well-dressed Krister Bladh and I shared stories, gossip and complains, about the whole weekend over plastic cups filled with the orange fizzy drink. The melancholy of leaving the best place on Earth for indiepop pictured next to us where Leo and Vanessa were silent, cuddling and eating crisps. A bit further away Emelie and Gustav sleeping on the not so comfortable train seats. Exhausted. It was over. And soon, more or less when the train was passing by Leicester, we had finished the Irn Bru. Jennifer, sitting next to us, didn’t try a sip. It was the end. Next day I was leaving the UK. On the way back to Brockley I stopped once again at a convenience store. There was no Diet Irn Bru. Time to try Ribena I thought, but they didn’t have a diet version. I really dislike sweets.

I do miss one sweet though, Marabou milk chocolate.

—

After a couple of very busy weeks, I’m having much more time in my hands. I’m taking some time to relax now as the next month will be very tiring with the move and all. As far as Cloudberry goes, as you know, all orders will continue shipping normally as far as I know. I do hope to find a place in NYC close to a post office. Right now, here in Miami Beach, I have a post office just 4 blocks away. It’s really helpful. The only record in production right now is Feverfew but as soon as I’m settled in I will resume the production of the 7″s with Cassolette and Nixon. Also it seems that at last The Deddingtons remastered songs will be sent to me! That means that hopefully early next year we may have a Deddingtons release at last. I’ll keep you updated.

The CDs on rotation at home this week were:
1. John Wood – Quite Storm (Excellent)
2. Veronica Falls – S/T (Slumberland)
3. The Wedding Present – John Peel Sessions 1992-1995 (Cooking Vinyl)
4. Beaumont – This Is… (Siesta)
5. Brideshead – Some People Have all the Fun (Marsh-Marigold)

—

Another band I discovered through Heinz’s Youtube uploads was Purdey. Sadly there is absolutely no information about them whatsoever in the internet. But let’s try to put some pieces together, alright?

Purdey is just a family name as far as I’m concerned. There’s fabulous song by Spanish punkies Siniestro Total called “Purdey”, there are some shotguns manufactured by some Purdey company and there’s also a drink called Purdey’s that is sold in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, Holland and Belgium. It is sold in 330ml brown glass bottles with a silver or gold plastic label that covers the whole bottle. There are two variants: Purdey’s Activation (formerly known as Active Body) – This is marketed as a healthy energy drink and contains a combination of sugars and also tastes very sweet. And Purdey’s Rejuvenation (formerly known as Active Life) – This has no added sugar (but is sweet nonetheless) and is sold in a silver bottle. Both variants are made of fruit juices and carbonated water and are fortified with vitamins. They also contain Damiana and Ginseng. None of them are as good as Irn Bru.

But the name of the band most probably comes from the character named Purdey in the British TV series The New Avengers played by Joanna Lumley from 1976-77. She was a spy working for British intelligence in that show.

There’s only one release we know exists. It was a 7″ released on Acetone Records from France in 1996. It includes two songs: “Mirrors” and “My Name is Henry”. Catalog Number SOLVE 005. So far I’ve only had the chance to listen to the first track. Some months ago I found out a website for Acetone Records and wrote them, but they never answered. The site looked very much outdated, with a very 90s “geocities” style design, if you know what I mean. I’m not sure where Purdey were from, but a safe guess is that they were from France too. We know that the lyrics were written by an Eric, which is not very uncommon for French to have that name. Eric Cantona for example 🙂

The other, and most important clue, that makes me think they were French is that the record was recorded at Pôle Nord Studio by Mini & Fabius. Not sure if this recording studio exists anymore, but clearly the name is French. Translated: North Pole Studio.

Only 500 copies made and the artwork done by someone called Gijom who also contributed his artistic skills on another Acetone release, on a Sportsguitar 7″. That’s about it.

So if anyone knows anything else, has a spare copy, or wants to share any memories, please do! Now do enjoy this fabulous Pooh Sticks influenced track that is “Mirrors”. It’s GREAT!

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Listen
Mirrors – Purdey

Thanks so much to Terry Banks for the interview. Tree Fort Angst was a Washington DC band in the early nineties that released records on lassic indiepop labels like Bus Stop or A Turntable Friend. They were great, and I think, underrated. Later Terry was part of Glo-Worm, St. Christopher, The Saturday People and Julie Ocean. These days he plays in a band called Dot Dash that I recommend all you to listen, so there will be a Dot Dash interview here pretty soon. But now enjoy the first band he was in, Tree Fort Angst!

++ Hi Terry, thanks for being up for this interview. There’s lots to cover I believe, but I would love to start with the present. These days you are in Dot Dash and you have just released an album with The Beautiful Music. It’s a great power pop album, I would love to recommend it more and more. So first question, how did you end up working together with Wally at The Beautiful Music? And to those who are familiar with Tree Fort Angst, what would you say they can expect in this album?

Wally had got in touch with The Saturday People a number of years ago (must’ve been almost 10 years ago) about contributing a song to a Television Personalities tribute comp he was putting together. It wasn’t something we ended up pursuing (as all our recording time pretty much went to originals) but he and I kept in touch, as he’s a great guy and we have strikingly similar musical tastes. When he expressed an interest this past summer in putting out something by Dot Dash it felt like a great fit.

As far as people who know Tree Fort Angst stuff and what they should expect from Dot Dash, I’d say it’s kind of a continuation from The Saturday People and Julie Ocean — i.e., the two bands that existed “between” TFA and Dot Dash — but I suppose some of the 60s influences have kind of been replaced by a slightly early 80s-ish, post-punk thing… It’s equally melodic and poppy, but slightly darker in places; still energetic but a bit more streamlined, at least that’s how it sounds to me.

++ On the album there’s a song called “There and Back Again Lane”. We all know what that means. But I’m wondering why did you decide to write a song dedicated to that tiny tiny street? I would assume your St. Christopher connection kicked in?

Yeah, I did get the lyrical idea from the name of the Sarah comp, but it’s just a good rhyme; a cool evocative phrase that popped

++ And talking about St. Christopher, I always wondered that you live in DC but you were in the original lineup of St. Christopher? Is that right? Or am I missing something?

Ha, well I suppose this is an example of how just because something’s on the ‘Net doesn’t mean it’s true I’m not sure how this misnomer came to exist, but I am most certainly not an original member of St. Christopher. They actually started in 1980 — they were called Vena Cava for the first year or two, during which time they issued two singles, both of which sounded like an effects-y Buzzcocks or maybe a punky, early U2. They became St. Christopher round about ’82. I didn’t show up until the 1990-91 timeframe and was in the band for about a year. It was a blast, though. We played lots of shows around the U.K., plus a number of gigs in Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, etc. Really good fun.

++ You were involved with many great indiepop bands, bands that will be remembered in indiepop history like Glo-Worm and The Saturday People. I would love at some point to do some interviews about both of them, and Dot Dash of course. But let’s start with Tree Fort Angst. I have to say that I have all your releases sans the flexi. So let me begin with that elusive flexi! Is it easy to find? How many copies were pressed do you remember? And what about the artwork? Are you a big pop art fan?

I do remember that flexi and I’m not sure how it came about. The guy must’ve written to me. I know he was from France. This was all pre email, so you’d get letters (remember them?) He asked for a song to put out on a flexi and our policy was, if you want to put something out, we’re down with it. I have no idea how many he pressed, but I remember that he sent a few copies of the release when it came out and they all had a little dried leaf inside the sleeve. I thought “Wow, this guy is really going for the twee thing. He’s putting leaves inside the records…” We never considered ourselves twee, but we were kind of associated with that scene and sometimes you just have to roll with it… As far as the artwork, yes, my then-girlfriend (now wife) was very into 60s pop art – Liechtenstein, Warhol, Hockney, etc. — and I sort of picked up on it from that. I stuck with that (the pop-art thing) for record sleeves, etc. for quite a while.

++ Tree Fort Angst started as a solo project, right? So what happened? How did you end up being a three-piece?

It was a little convoluted. I lived in Richmond, Virginia. I went to college there. I played in two bands there, one was called Roy G. Biv (after the colors of the rainbow.) We were trying to be ‘pop,’ but actually sounded more like a punky, thrashy, unpracticed Housemartins. The other band that followed was called The Knievels and was more coherent and accomplished — kind of a power pop thing. Anyway, both those bands contained my good friend John Gotschalk, who was, and is, a very talented guy. The Knievels was kind of his band and his stuff had sort of a Teenage Falclub-meets-Cheap Trick feel — really great, exciting songs, but a little heavier than where I was at the time — I was really, really, really
into Postcard and The Go-Betweens and all this light jangly stuff, even verging on acoustic Jonathan Richman-type stuff… So, on friendly terms, I dropped out of The Knievels and they kept on as a trio. I then set about doing my own ‘solo singer/songwriter’ thing — totally under the spell of Edwyn Collins and Roddy Frame and Tracey Thorn and Grant McLennan. I liked the songs I was coming up with, but the ‘solo guy with an acoustic guitar’ thing felt lame and boring… I wanted to be in a band so… um… I… roped my pal John back in (to join me in TFA, on bass), which he kindly agreed to. Hunter Duke was a guy we knew in our Richmond social circle. He was a great drummer and was up for it, so we went with it.

++ What did John and Hunter bring to the creative process?

A lot. They were funny, easy-going guys, and great players (way better than me) and were up for doing my songs.

++ And where does the name Tree Fort Angst comes from?

The best way, just made it up. The last couple of bands I’ve been in (Dot Dash and Julie Ocean) take their names, obviously, from song titles of other bands. I think they’re really good band names, but I prefer the ones that are purely made up. In terms of where the name comes from, I knew I wanted something with “Tree Fort” and it needed a third word, hopefully, something kind of pretentious… I was thinking Tree Fort Society, but that didn’t quite have it. My girlfriend came up with “Angst,” sort of joking, but it was good, so that was it.

++ The first recordings were put out on a tape called “Fifteen Songs of Vim and Vigor”. This seems and sounds very obscure. What tracks were on it? And do the songs sound like the later releases of Tree Fort Angst? And why did you self-release it?

It was a cassette with a pretty elaborate fold-out sleeve with all the lyrics and these weird little illustrations from a dictionary scattered around the layout. Six of the songs from the tape were later culled by A Turntable Friend for the Six Songs EP. The other nine songs kind of languished (i.e., never went anywhere but the tape), but they were pretty good (I thought) and similar to the stuff that made it to vinyl, sort of Go-Betweens-y, Aztec-Camera-y stuff, at least in theory… I self-released it because, well, I didn’t know what else to do with it…it was sort of a “long-form demo,” I guess… One funny wrinkle is that it was recorded by a guy named Barrett Jones, who had a little studio in his basement in Arlington, and soon
thereafter moved to Seattle to become a drum tech for the then-rising Nirvana and later produced the first Foo Fighters record (sort of a weird association for an obscure jangle-pop tape.)

++ Your first proper release was on the classic German label A Turntable Friend, a label that had exquisite releases. How did you end up releasing your record so far away? Did you try other labels for your first release?

I was in England then, in St. Christopher, and kind of sending the TFA tape around to various labels, here and there…. Again this was all pre-Internet, so you really just got addresses off the back of record sleeves or out of fanzines. I sent a tape to A Turntable Friend in Germany and Ulrich, who ran the label, wrote back to me in England, saying he wanted to do a 7” EP and suggesting which songs. I was all for it. I did send tapes to other people (am sure of it), but Ulrich was up for it, so I thought why keep looking?

++ On this first single there’s a song called “Four Years, Six Months, Two Days”. Does that period of time really mean something to you?

It sort of does and it sort of doesn’t… I often take something that actually does mean something to me, or is “about” someone or something, and I weave it around other things, just phrases or ideas I like, and that’s the song… The funny thing about that song is that a TV series called One Tree Hill which titles all of its episodes after song titles, named the lead-off episode of their fifth season after that song. It’s pretty weird, as most of the other song titles they’ve used are from people like U2, Bob Dylan, R.E.M., etc. (info at: http://www.oth-music.com/titles.html) I can’t figure out how or why they would even know about a minuscule, penny-ante band like Tree Fort Angst, but it seems that the guy who is the series creator
graduated from the University of Maryland (which is near D.C.) in the early 90s, so maybe he was into the D.C .indie pop scene back then and knows the band/song that way… Who knows…

++ Throughout your releases the aesthetics are very similar. Who designed the cover art? And where did these photos came from? Im pretty sure I’ve seen the photo of Tilting at Windmills in another band’s cover art, though I can’t remember right now which band!

I guess I designed all of them, if you take “designed” to mean to I cut a picture out of an old book or dog-eared magazine and said “This is the cover.” I think I did get a little predictable with the 60s pop iconography, but I liked that look and tended to gravitate towards it… The Dot Dash album sleeve looks quite different. It’s a photo – sort of an abstract nighttime image – taken by Bill Crandall, who is the other guitarist in Dot Dash. You’re right about the Tilting At Windmills sleeve for the EP that was put out by Bus Stop. I later found out, after the fact, that Prefab Sprout used the same photo (of Edie Sedgwick) for their first single, “Lions In My Own Garden,” but that’s a great song, so I was kind of pleased by the unexpected synchronicity.

++ So yeah, “Tilting at Windmills”, perhaps my favorite of your songs. Care telling me what’s the story behind this fab song?

I suppose that one is kind of looking back at one’s then-recent past, just how time had already moved on from old relationships… I guess you’d call it ‘twenty-something melancholia’ or whatever.

++ That was your last single and it was released by The Bus Stop label, which many call the Sarah of the US. On this label your friends of St. Christopher had already released some records. How was your relationship with the label? And how important was for you to release on a such high profile label (at least among indiepoppers!)? Did it feel like an achievement perhaps?

Yeah, I was kind of thrilled for us to be on the Bus Stop label because, as you say, it was a really “legit” label, at least in indiepop terms. After that EP came out, Brian, who ran the label, had got a pressing and distribution deal for Bus Stop with Dutch East India and, in the wake of that, offered to put out an album, which became the Knee-Deep record, and that (i.e., getting out a long-player) was really the coup de grace, even if we were broken up (and I was then living in Australia for a couple of years) by the time it came out… Either way, I was very glad to have records on Bus Stop – it was a nice little validation.

++ Ok, let me backtrack to the “Buzzing with Beauty & Wonder” 7″. That was released on Velodrome Records. I don’t have a clue who were they. Care filling in the blanks? Where were they based, who ran the label, any funny anecdotes? 🙂

Velodrome was us, Tree Fort Angst. After the Six Songs EP came out, Ulrich, from A Turntable Friend, offered to put out another 7” EP, which was great, but he was saying it would be six months to a year before it came out, which in indie-label speak, could be double that. We didn’t want to wait that long. We wanted to strike while the iron was luke warm… so we put it out ourselves. It was a good little record, got some good reviews, and kind of got our name around… The affiliation with Bus Stop came out of that, and the Stickboy record, and appearances on several compilations, so it was worth doing.

++ And then the only other single we are missing is the “Hope” 7″ on Stickboy Records. Again no clue about them, though I like the label name. Who were they? And what was the deal between you and them? A hand shake?

He was a guy from Brooklyn who was starting up a label. The other band on the label was Nada Surf. The guy who ran the label sent a letter to the address on the Velodrome sleeve offering to do something. We later talked on the phone. He was a funny, witty guy who wanted to put something out so, as with other offers, we said ‘…Um… yeah… sure!’

++ Later Bus Stop compiled the singles on the great “Knee-Deep In The Rococo Excess Of Tree Fort Angst” album. So really? You thought you were excessively rococo? What’s the story behind the title?

I just made up the phrase. I thought it sounded like something The Fall would use for an album title and I dug that, so, voila… There you have it.

++ Then 6 years later Foxyboy in the UK, re-releases this compilation under the name “Last Page in the Book of Love” -ok, Im missing this one too!- with 10 extra tracks. Where did this 10 extra tracks come from? And how come, a re-release of a retrospective album? It’s not that common!

The Bus Stop CD had pretty much sold out, or gone out of print, which isn’t all that impressive as I think only about 750 copies were pressed. Maybe it was a thousand, but certainly no more than that. Anyway, Ara, who ran the label, was a friend and was up for putting it out — he was releasing quite a few things. I know what you mean about re-releases for indiepop, it’s sort of nutty, but, why say no… The 10 extra tracks are outtakes, a couple of live tracks, and various other oddities, including the title track.

++ You contributed to a couple of fanzine tapes back in the day. I was wondering how did you like fanzines and tapes, and can they be compared to blogs and downloadable mixes? I do feel fanzine writers were more enthusiastic and hands-on than bloggers, but well, I didn’t experience the golden age of indiepop, so you tell me 🙂

I liked all that stuff. I thought it was great. Yes, I suspect blogs are the new fanzines, and they’re great, too, but I suppose fanzines had a certain magic to them that’s now largely gone… But life changes, things move on, eh?

++ What about gigs? Any favorites? Any anecdotes you could share?

Unlike subsequent bands — like The Saturday People and Julie Ocean and Dot Dash, where we play(ed) live as frequently as possible — Tree Fort Angst had a very ambivalent attitude toward playing live; we were the same way in Glo-Worm – it was sort of a “why bother?” thing. That said, Tree Fort Angst did manage to do some good shows. Velocity Girl gave us our first gig, opening a sold-out show for them at the 9:30 Club. It was big fun. About two months later, we opened for Liz Phair, also sold-out, also at the 9:30. She was on the cover of Rolling Stone at the time, so it was one of those ‘industry buzz’ kind of shows. We played with Heavenly and Honeybunch in New York, and with Small Factory in Richmond. We played with the English band Tindersticks at the 9:30 right before we split up. So, not many shows, but the ones we did were fun.

++ So you list as influences Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, The Smiths, The Chills, etc. But I’m wondering about the smaller bands, which ones did you like? And yeah, what about that early 90s scene of DC. Plenty of good bands, right?

Hmmm… smaller bands… Of the Sarah bands, the ones I liked best were St. Christopher (who I saw before I was in the band) and The Orchids, who were excellent. A band that wasn’t part of that scene, but from the same era was The Dentists. They were great and I saw them many times. In America, my favorite band from that time/scene was Small Factory. They were great (and rocked the house at our wedding reception in D.C.) I kind of see them in an ‘American triptych’ of The Velvet Underground — The Modern Lovers — and Small  Factory… I know that’s kind of a stretch, but, for me, it’s true… And, yes, the D.C. scene was great, too. I knew and liked the people in Velocity Girl and The Ropers, and later went on to form bands with people from both of those bands… Glo-Worm played with Tsunami and Air Miami, among other shows. A little earlier than that, there was a fun, Revillos-esque band in town called The Flying Shards, I don’t think they ever made a record, but they were great live. I can’t remember who else was around… It was a while ago!

++During those days you must have hanged out quite a bit with Mike Schulman from Slumberland Records, Pam Berry, Archie Moore, etc. I’m quie curious how did you all meet and where were the places you used to hang out? And how good were the parties?

Yes, I knew/know all those people. I suppose I met them all through Mike Schulman, whom I met in the record store he worked in called Vinyl Ink, right after I first moved to D.C. Somehow, through that, I met all those other people. Pam Berry and Dan Searing (who was in Glo-Worm and The Saturday People with me) and his sister Meghan lived in two adjoining houses on Monroe Street in Columbia Heights and, yes, they had many, many parties. They were/are really generous people, the type who don’t bat an eye at having their house filled with 200 or so people, about 50 of whom no one is really sure who they are… It was cool. Small Factory played in the basement once and Glo-Worm “opened,” I remember that. Pam moved to London in ’98-ish and that was a little bit of a turning point as far as the big parties, but Dan and Meghan kept it rolling for a while.

++ So then what happened? When and why did you decide to stop Tree Fort Angst?

My wife and I relocated to Australia (Sydney) in late ‘95 until the front part of ‘97, so the ‘Angst called it a day, a while before we left. It had kind of run its course by then anyway.

++ And then of course you started The Saturday People, but that’s a story for another time. But what happened to Hunter and John? What did they do after?

They both still live in Richmond and both still play music. Hunter is in a band called Hotel X, I think. John does a few different musical things but mostly plays in a 70’s soul band called NRG KRYSYS. He can basically play anything.

++ Today, looking back in time, what would you say was the biggest highlight of Tree Fort Angst?

I was just glad to get to do it – i.e., make some records and kind of explore the creative process… Getting the CD out on Bus Stop was a nice watershed, so I guess that was the highlight.

++ And what about you Terry, when you are not making music, what other interests or hobbies do you have?

My wife and I have a couple of kids, so we’re busy with that. I like to run. I try to do four miles a day outside, and sometimes I even stick to it. I like to read. And I’m still doing the band thing, in Dot Dash.

++ Alright, let’s wrap it here, but first answer me one last question, when are you playing a Popfest? It’s time!

Hey man, tell them to drop us a line, we’ll say yes.

++ Thanks a lot, anything else you’d like to add?

Nothing other than thanks for the interview!

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Listen
Tree Fort Angst – Tilting at Windmills

Ah! It’s been two weeks since the last obscure band, isn’t it? Hope you forgive me being sloppy. My grandma was in town and I was pretty busy pushing her wheelchair all over Marshalls, Ross, and the like, for 4 days. I hate going out for shopping. Though, having a wheelchair saved us from waiting in those long, damn long, lines that form at these stores’ checkout counters. We breezed by all the people thanks to some very bright store managers. Can’t thank them enough.

My energy, which was sucked up by the bright lights of cosmetic stores, is slowly regenerating and this week already conducted a couple of interviews for the blog. And I have a couple more that I have to write this weekend. Still very much excited to research and document indiepop. Which brings up to my mind what Yuiko was asking me the other day, that a Western version of the great Japanese Neo-Acoustic Guide should be done. I think it is a great idea, I’d love to organize it, but I wonder if there will be enough people willing to buy a copy. What do you say? If you are not familiar with this  guide, it compiles/recommends hundreds of records that are indiepop with a little photo and a blurb. It even has a checkbox with each entry to mark which records you already own. Records are broken up in records from the 80s and then from the 90s-00s. On each of these categories they are broken up again in singles and albums.  Many great people helped with recommendations in the book like Hitoshi Oka from Sloppy Joe or Toshiko Matsumoto from Apple Crumble Record. So I would think we could do something similar with help from Mike Slumberland, Ed Shelflife, Jörgen Fraction Discs, Uwe Firestation, etc, right? Could be very interesting. Worst case scenario it could be an e-book? Not so sure about that. I haven’t read an e-book ever and don’t own a kindle or whatever is used these days to read those.

So this week I posted the Feverfew master to the pressing plant. Hopefully it gets pressed soon. Our target release date will be December 15th, but I’m waiting a confirmation from the pressing plant just to know that’s a safe date. Pre-orders are already been taken. Remember, the first 100 orders (the ones straight from our Cloudberry page not international mailorders), will receive three pins (or badges as they call them here in the US) that are an exact copy of the pins Feverfew used to have back in the 80s.

After this release you’ll probably hear little from me as I will be in the middle of moving to NYC. Sadly this means that the release of Cassolette and Nixon 7″s will be pushed down a bit to early 2012, as I need to settle and have an address to be able to press these records. Bear with me. In the next couple of weeks we should have an MP3 teaser for the Nixon 7″. Songs are already recorded and they sound great. Just waiting for the final mixes.

And that’s about it about Cloudberry. If I remember of some other news, will post them next week.

These are the lot of CDs that have been played at home these past two weeks:
1. Harper Lee – Everything’s Going to be OK (Matinée)
2. Harper Lee – All Things Can Be Mended (Matinée)
3. Slipslide – The World Can Wait (Matinée)
4. Boat Club – Caught the Breeze (Luxury)
5. The Wedding Present – Evening Sessions 1986-1994 (Strange Fruit)
6. Various Artists – As Rare as a Kiss (Greek compilation CD-R)
7. The Sunny Street – Hidden for Decades (Plastilina)
8. My Darling YOU! – Saying Things You Don’t Want to Hear (Luxury)

And today I noticed that even though I utterly adore Spanish indiepop I haven’t presented you all any obscure Spanish band. So weird. So I want to introduce you the lush and beautiful El Viaje de las Flores (The Flower’s Trip).

Earlier today I was checking cities close to Madrid that I want to visit while I’m in Spain for Madrid Popfest. I already knew that I wanted to go to Segovia, Toledo and Avila. Those are classic tourist destinations. That’s 3 days. . I hope to arrive on the previous Saturday, and that day visit El Prado. So Sunday thru Tuesday are already booked. I was looking into another place to visit on Wednesday. I thought El Escorial, but I think I can do El Escorial on Thursday before the Popfest starts, return kind of early. So I believe in the end I’ll end up going to Cuenca on Wednesday, though one of the options was Valladolid. And it was when I was doing a wee research about Valladolid that I remembered this fabulous band.

As many boys, the first time I heard about Valladolid was through football. I remember Real Valladolid in La Liga. I always found kind of exciting that they had two Bolivian players in their team: Juan Manuel Peña (who lasted many seasons) and Marco Sandy (for one season). I’m no Bolivian, but I have a very strong bond with them, they are like Peru’s little brother, if it wasn’t for Bolivar’s stupidity we’d still be one single country. We  are the same people, though ok, Bolivians are a bit slower and nicer.

About Valladolid, well, it is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, situated at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and located within three wine-making regions: Ribera del Duero, Rueda and Cigales. It is the capital of the province of Valladolid. And it’s name origin seems to come from a derivation from the demonym Vallisoletano, which was, in fact, the Spanish demonym of the city, and means “from sunny valley”. Supporting this are texts from the Middle Ages, which use Vallisoletum, a word which continued to be used as late as the 16th century.

So let’s go there back in time. To December 1989 to be exact.That’s when Oskar Vizán (guitars, vocals), Espe Laburu (vocals), Luis Gil (bass) left the band La Red and together with Miguel Alonso, who had just left Los Invasores, formed this great band. The story says that they practiced and practiced around 20 brand new songs until they got them right. That’s when they play their first show in May 1990. It was at a venue called Pigalle. This venue in the past seems to have been a whorehouse and these days I believe it’s called Tío Molonio. After a couple of gigs, the band sign a contract with Los 40 Principales to go on tour and play all over Spain. Mind you,  Los 40 Principales is the main musical radio station in Spain with more than 4,000,000 listeners.

What happens next is their only and sole release. It was a split flexi with St.Christopher on the Stamp label. St. Christopher, who I assume everyone reading this post knows, contributed the song  “If I Could Capture” and El Viaje de las Flores, “No Te Estoy Mintiendo” (I’m not lying to you). I’m not sure if Miguel Stamp who ran the small label along his fanzine was still living in the UK when this release happened or he was already back in Madrid. He is such a mysterious man, but a very nice one indeed. Very knowledgeable of indiepop. Had many interesting email exchanges during the years, and I used to be an avid reader of his blog Federica Pulla Dixit which closed in December 2010. Anyhow, hope to meet you in Madrid Miguel!

Last time I asked him about the band he replied to me:

“El Viaje de las Flores was a guitar group from Valladolid, with a girl vocalist, very much in the same style of the British bands from the 80s that we loved (Darling Buds, Primitives, Popguns, etc). They sent us their demos and we were amazed. We didn’t doubt to ask them straight away to be part of one of our flexis, which over time, became the only release they ever did. They also played at the STAMP party where they left all the crowd asking for more as their live sets were strong and powerful. It is very curious that they had never heard these British bands I mentioned earlier, they were more into the psychedelic stuff, which as you know it somehow connected all these bands. The thing is, that they had EVERYTHING to take over the scene, songs, a live set, and looks, but like it happens many times, they trusted those who offered them the moon and the stars, and them who could have been HUGE ended up in very little. I still have their demos and I still think they are EXPLOSIVE. Hopefully one day they are rescued and giving the value they deserve as it just happened with Ataque de Caspa”

This single, “No te Estoy Mintiendo”, gets a lot of airplay in Spanish radio during 1990. Sadly that same year, in October, Miguel, the drummer, leaves the band and starts his own project called “Los Substitutos”, a 60s inspired pop band. This is when Diego  Martinfrom Celtas Cortos joins as a drummer but the band’s run was about to end soon. In 1991 Oskar leaves the band to join “Rosas en Blanco y Negro” and this is when El Viaje de las Flores decide that it’s time to fold. A shame.

There are a couple more songs by the band to listen at their Myspace (or maybe it’s a fan made Myspace, not sure). Here you can listen the fabulous “Tinieblas y Rosas” and “Chica Mala” that are from the same time more or less as “No the Estoy Mintiendo”, a time which the band considers their first period where they were more into pop music. The two other songs on the player, “En el Infierno” and “Devuelveme tu Amor” are from the second period, when Diego Martin had already joined the band. With him the songs became more rockier as you can hear. With these two songs they came out 3rd on the Gordon’s y 40 Principales contest of 1991.

For those who know Spanish and have good vision, I suggest reading these clips from newspapers from those days: Article in El Espectador, Interview 16/09/1991, Article 20/07/1991, Article in El Norte de Castilla.

And that’s about it. If you know more, want to share any memories, or you have a spare copy of that flexi, please get in touch. Now enjoy this fabulous track, one of the best of Spanish indiepop history!

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Listen
El Viaje de las Flores – No Te Estoy Mintiendo

Thanks a lot to Sharon Bain for the interview. A bit more than a month ago I wrote a little piece about this great Scottish band on the blog and discovered that not only they had another record released, but that there were unreleased songs. I was lucky to stumble with Sharon on Youtube and now well, hope you all enjoy the interview. Great band! I really hope that retrospective CD project works out! I’d love to listen to it!

++ Thanks a lot for being up for the interview. So first question, whereabouts in the UK were The Wise Acres based? Are you still living there?

We were all brought up in a town just outside Glasgow…Renfrew. John, Sharon and Margo still live there…Rab stays on the other side of the River Clyde…Clydebank now. We all moved to different places when we were younger but have returned to our home town…to die.

++ So was The Wise Acres your first band? When did you form it?

Yes, it was our first band…we were originally called November but decided that was too boring a name so we all got drunk one night and read the bible for names…and came up with The Wiseacres…a name that seemed to sum us up well at the time…as people who thought they were wiser than they really were.
We started in 1985. We all used to go to a local night club that played indie tunes and had bands on. John and Rab were great friends as were Sharon and Margo so when we started talking about bands, we were all into the same music ( Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges, Bowie, Spirit, Faust, Magazine, Dead Kennedys, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc) so we thought ‘hey lets see if we can do this ourselves too’…

++ How did you all knew each other? How was the recruiting process? And which instrument did each of you play?

Sharon Vocals
John Guitar
Rab Bass
Margo Drums
No real recruiting process as none of us could really play (apart from Rab) but were so into music, we wanted to get up on stage and be a ‘band’…total show offs. We were all friends so it seemed to work well.

++ And what does the name of the band mean?

A person with an affectation of wisdom or knowledge, regarded with scorn or irritation by others; a know-it-all. Seemed to sum us up.

++ What about gigs? Did you gig a lot? Any particular shows that you remember?

We all remember different gigs. Sharon remembers lying in puddles of beer at one gig. Playing to a load of drunken bikers in Edinburgh where the manager told us the crowd had bottled off the last indie band, however they seemed to like us. We were the house band in a couple of pubs in Paisley where we played every week…in varying states of sobriety.

++ Your first single “So Finally Sweet” was released in 1986, the same year as the C86 tape. That year an explosion of indie guitar bands happened in the UK. Did you feel there was some sort of a scene? Were you fans of any other bands of that period?

I think so, there seemed to be a load of bands that were into the same sort of music i.e. The Velvets and we definitely felt a kinship with those other bands…we hated them all tho and thought we were better than them…and we were right (ha ha….)
JAMC, The Pastels, Wedding Present, The Close Lobsters (in the early days we played a few gigs with the Lobsters…before fame beckoned and would always have a fight over who got the rider…a crate of Newcastle Brown Ale), Shop Assistants (a load of comparisons were made between us and them), The Primevals, BMX Bandits, Soup Dragons, Felt.

++ I really love the “So Finally Sweet” 7″, I think it’s great! I love the guitars all over the record. How did the creative process work for you all?

John would write the song and would play it to Sharon who would come up with a vocal melody. Rab was/ is a grade 8 pianist so he would always polish up the rough edges.

++ And what about the artwork? Is that a butterfly?

The band asked a local artist to come up with a few ideas. We originally went with the idea of having a ‘Warhol’ type print of Maggie Thatcher, however the record label hated the idea so we went for something more ‘conservative’, pardon the pun…and yeah it’s a butterfly.

++ My favourite song on that record is “One Day”, so I was wondering if you can tell me what’s the story behind it?

One Day is basically about the old Scottish phrase about ‘never knowing the minute’ by that we mean, life can change drastically at any given moment…esp. when you’re young and having to deal with knife crime, gangs, drugs etc.

++ I never knew about the existence of the David 12″. Care to tell me a bit about this record? When and where was it recorded? Any anecdotes? The tracklist? Favourite song?

Recorded in London with Richard Preston producing/ engineering…a thoroughly decent bloke. We’d played a gig in Manchester and drove down to London afterwards. We recorded the whole thing in 2 days, while dossing in a squat in a derelict area of London with some people we knew. We then drove back to Renfrew through one of the worst snowstorms in UK history. John and Rab up front in the van and Sharon sleeping blissfully in the back. The van spun round after hitting black ice on the motorway, luckily no one else was stupid enough to be driving that night so we lived to tell the tale.
Sharon’s favourite is ‘Affectionate Friend’ and John’s favourite is ‘Cuts Deep’

++ And you released both records on quite a “big” label for indie standards, Cherry Red. How was your relationship and how did you end up signing with them?

A fairly good relationship with the label but looking back, I don’t think they promoted the band enough…We were just rolling along thinking the band would just continue to develop and grow. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that way. We had signed with them after sending a demo that they liked…some other labels were interested but we thought that CR was the biggest and would therefore, be best for the band.

++ On a comment on my blog post about you, Bart says there was an NME interview. Do you remember anything about it? Did you get a lot of support from the press?

The NME interview: Sharon and John caught the train from Glasgow to London esp. for the interview. However, they ate a bit of hash on the way and ended up tripping. So the interview was a bit of a blur and I think we came across as a bit aloof…not intentionally. Sharon said later on that she wanted to run away during the interview. She had previously told the journalists that she was hating every minute of the interview. We should have been slaughtered but they still seemed to like us and the published interview came across well. Generally, we got really good press and should have done more as a band given the support we had. C’est la vie!

++ What about radio? Tv? Did you ever thought about making a video for one of your songs?

We got some radio play from Radio one and Radio Scotland. Our type of music was seen as more underground than it is today and we had good feedback from some European indie radio stations also some US college stations.
We did make a video once but it was terrible so we didn’t let anyone see it…we still laugh to this day about it.

++ And what about putting together all your songs on a CD, do some sort of retrospective CD? Cherry Red has been doing a lot of those, maybe it’s your time?

Yeah, good idea…we may well do that. This interview has got us thinking about the band again. We might re-record some stuff and put it on youtube.

++ Tell me about the song that is on Youtube. What’s the name? It’s fantastic! Are there more unreleased tracks?

The song is called ‘Drip Drip Drip’. We wrote loads of songs that never saw the light of day. Some were recorded, so if we can find them we may well put them on the compilation.

++ When and why did you split? Were you involved with music after?

We split because we started to drift apart as people and have other things that interested us. John stayed involved with music after The Wiseacres…to varying degrees of failure.

++ And what are you up to these days? What do you like doing in your spare time? Any hobbies?

Sharon is a Lecturer in a local college and is still into her music. She has 2 kids, her youngest has great potential to follow her mother’s footsteps…. and more…
John works with drug addicts and still plays in a band (Mouse Eat Mouse). He has 2 kids, one of whom is shaping up to be a good wee drummer.
Rab works in a local casino. He also still likes his music and has 2 kids.
Margo is an accountant. Also has 2 kids. Sharon and Margo remain good friends to this day.

++ Looking back, what would you say were the highlights of The Wise Acres?

It was a lot of fun…loads of happy memories. We had our moment and it was good to be a part of something. We loved our music and enjoyed playing where ever we could.

++ As you are almost unknown in the internet, were it’s impossible to find any information about The Wise Acres, I was wondering if you could tell me if you have special skills? any guilty pleasures? 🙂

Eh…Sharon has many talents however, that’s for her and her husband only. Her guilty pleasure is a liking for the 80’s hit song by Flash& the Pan ‘waiting for a train’.
John has a penchant for flower arranging and takes a local zumba class.

++ Let’s wrap the interview here, anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for the interest and it’s been a lot of fun.

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Listen
The Wise Acres – One Day

Marble: is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. The word “marble” derives from the Greek “μάρμαρον” (mármaron),[2] from “μάρμαρος” (mármaros), “crystalline rock”, “shining stone”, perhaps from the verb “μαρμαίρω” (marmaírō), “to flash, sparkle, gleam”. This stem is also the basis for the English word marmoreal, meaning “marble-like.”Whilst the English term resembles the French marbre, most other European languages (e.g. Spanish mármol, Italian marmo, Portuguese mármore, German, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish marmor, Dutch marmer, Polish marmur, Turkish mermer, Czech mramor and Russian мрáмор ) follow the original Greek.

Orchard: An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production.

News abound at Cloudberry HQ. First of all beginning next year the label will be based in New York City. Not sure where exactly, but in the next couple of weeks I should be traveling there to find a place (any suggestions?) I’m really excited about it as I’m starting a better job there, with a view to the Hudson, and also because I think is a step forward for Cloudberry. There’s not only NYC Popfest in town, but also plenty of gigs unlike Miami. Hopefully I’ll be able to take part on this, I’d love to start booking some bands, you know? A mini-Cloudberry fest would be fantastic. More news on this soon. Just giving you the heads up as your orders won’t come from sunny Miami no more, but from massive New York instead.

By now most of your favourite mailorders should be carrying the Youngfuck 7″s. If not, their copies should be arriving this week as the latest. The record has been selling quite well, even though the band’s last gig was in February. That proves that when music is good, you don’t need a band gigging all the time to promote it. And talking about promoting, we are working on a video for “Black Tulips”. Keep your eyes peeled.

Those who have visited the Cloudberry Rcords site you must have noticed that the Feverfew CD is already listed, tracklist and all. You can even preview one of the tracks: “Crimson Gloom”. As stated there, the CD includes 17 remastered tracks (which comprises all their recorded output), a booklet with liner notes by Phil Ball (bassist of Feverfew), and for the first 100 orders, a pin that has the original design of the pins Feverfew used to have back in the 80s. The digipack is custom made for our new series, the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen, were I plan to bring the best albums, retrospective mostly but new too. No fillers. So start making space in your book shelves, you’ll like to line these up. Future releases include…

… I won’t say yet.

But the start couldn’t be more promising. Feverfew’s “Something of Nothing” must be by far the best retrospective album of this year. It is really that good. Keith Girdler’s genius is all over it. And this was pre-Blueboy. Great lyrics, great vocals, great musicianship, a youthful edge, catchy melodies, it just has it all. You don’t want to miss it.

Alright, let’s move onto something else. The CDs on rotation this week:
1. Dot Dash – Spark>Flame>Ember (The Beautiful Music)
2. Various Artists – Amen (Richmond)
3. My Darling YOU! – AK Art (Luxury)
4. Almedal – Till Kyrkogården (Luxury)
5. Makthaverskan – Makthaverskan (Luxury)

And our obscure band of the week: Marble Orchard.

Looking at their Discogs page, I would have never thought they were obscure as they have 7 releases. But googling about the band members you barely find any information. My knowledge about the band is zero if I’m honest. I came into one of their songs, “Our Love is Up To You”, on my friend Heinz’s Youtube account. I thought it was a very nice tune. I looked around. I found the 7″ on ebay, I bought it. All of this, just today in the morning while working on some PDFs for a Sexual Health campaign in London. The cover of the 7″ is quite peculiar. It has a woman, it has a lamb, and it has cacti. Seem as if it was painted with watercolours. The woman looks like a Greek amphora painting. On the cover of this 7″, the title track is written in red, “Paradise”. This record was released by the German label September Gurls in 1994 and is catalog number SGs12.

On the label site there’s a little review of the title track: “Once you have listened to “Paradise” you will be hooked by melody, harmony and memories. Flip is outtake from session for 1st CD. Great twelve string 60’s style.” It seems you can also order the record from there for around 4 euros plus postage. Not bad, though I found it for 4 dollars. And talking about September Gurls, I do have some records by them, now that I think about it. I believe some Throw That Beat in the Garbagecan. So yeah, seems like a fine label I should explore more.

Anyhow, it’s the flipside the one I know and been enjoying all morning long. To my surprise this song doesn’t belong to one of those hundreds of bands that during the 80s contributed songs on different tape compilations in the UK. This band, even though it sounds like those other bands from Britain, is from Portland, Oregon. Go figure! Well, if you do look at the picture on Discogs of the band, well, two of the guys have long hair, that’s very American, isn’t it? So, there you go.

The track is really inspired, they remind me a lot to the most recent band The Librarians who had a release here in Cloudberry. Also they sound a bit like The Dupont Circles from Washington DC. Lots of sixties influences, but with that 80s production, perhaps could be a good description? A lot like the Perfect Pop releases in the early nineties too! Scroll down and have a shot I say.

The Marble Orchard were Jayson Breeton, Ron Kleim and Steve Frothingham. Prior to this 7″ they had an album called “Savage Sleep” released in 1991, and two 7″ singles: “Something Happens” (1990) and “It’s my Time” (1992). All of these releases were put out by Estrus Records, off from Bellingham, Washington. And after the September Gurl 7″ it seems they continued with the German imprint and released the albums “Agent Invisible” and “Adventures in Mutation” as well as a split 7″ in 2003 shared with Surf Trio. Surf Trio being the latest band of Ron Kleim.

The description for these albums don’t really catch my attention to be honest: “”Adventures in Mutation” shows the band’s versatility: heavy melodic Wiper-esque rock thunder, surf metal…”  Not sure I want to listen to surf metal! But well, I wonder if anyone has listened to these records and can tell me I should give them a chance. For now I enjoy this one track, waiting for my 7″ to arrive from the ebay seller from Port Lucie, FL, and hoping Paradise is another great jangly track!

And as always, please do share if you have any more information about the Marble Orchard!

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Listen
Marble Orchard – Our Love is Up To You

Thanks a lot to Andy Gray for the interview! My first encounter with Newsflash was through the fantastic “An Englishman” on the Leamington Spa series, but never had the chance to know or listen anything else by them. After a bit of research, and through Mark Whitton, I got in touch with Andy and now Newsflash is no mystery no more! Sit back and enjoy.

++ Hi Andy, thanks so much for being up for the interview. The first thing that catches my imagination is that you were from the Isle of Sheppey. I don’t know much about it to be honest, but from the photos I’ve seen, there’s lots and lots of fields and sheep. How come Newsflash pop out from there? Where in the isle where you based? Was there any sort of scene?

There are lots of contented-looking sheep, tis true. Sheppey is an island off the north Kent coast, population 30,000 and rising. We’re only seven miles across the water from Southend, so we’re a hybrid of estruary culture. Few are islanders born and bred and lots originate from the mainland – mainly London – as in my parents case. There was a sort of scene when we started out in 1987. It was made up of ageing punk/thrash bands, which we had nowt to do with. There was no one our age doing anything, but others were inspired to have a go once we were underway.

++ I would assume that you took the train a lot to London to see bands and hang out? Am I right?

Not really. We were too busy ourselves to get to many gigs and we definitely weren’t interested in hanging out with other bands. It wasn’t out of snobbery or anything, we just didn’t have a lot in common with our peers – still don’t. We were pretty self-contained. When we were gigging in London, the island thing really kicked in. We had a bit of a yokel-sized chip on our shoulder. I think deep down we might have felt a little out of our depth. Stupid really. The few shows we paid to see at the time were bands like The Style Council, The Redskins, Billy Bragg, Everything But The Girl. Anything that was sort of soulful sort and left of centre.

++ So how did the band start? How did you all knew each other? I read the line-up changed quite a bit during the five years you were around… What instruments did you all play?

The last line-up was: Nev Broad (drums) Andy Moss (lead/rhythm guitar) Mark Whitton (bass) Andy Gray, little old me (vocals).

++ Was this your first band?

Yeah. I would’ve made music a lot earlier than I eventually did – I was 19 when Newsflash started – but I never thought I’d ever have the testes to get up and sing in front of an audience.

++ Why the name Newsflash?

Shit name, terrible name. God knows. I think it was our original guitarist’s idea and we never bothered to change it. I was so embarrassed by it and still am. How could we have expected people to take us seriously? I can only apologise.

++ Has there ever been a real newsflash that shocked you, impressed you or just made you laugh?

Only the poxy band name. Hearing John Lennon had been shot was a bit of a headfuck, even though I was too young to have any real comprehension of who he was. It kicked off my Beatles/Lennon obsession. .

++ What music were you listening at the time? Do you feel you were part of the so-called C86 scene, of that guitar explosion that happened in UK during the late 80s?

No. We were listening to stuff that had been around a decade or so earlier, but were too young to appreciate at the time. Things like The Clash were a big influence as was some of the late sixties soul stuff from singers like Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, etc. Later on, The Stone Roses were on our radar and that was pretty much it for the rest of the eighties.

++ So, I’ve only listened to that one song on the Leamington Spa compilation, “An Englishman”. The song is fantastic. I have a big request for you. Would you mind telling me the story behind it? How did you come up with those guitars? And the drums, they are fab! So if you wouldn’t mind, also, would you care sharing the lyrics for me?

As I remember, the song developed from the galloping-style guitar solo at the beginning. The lyrics were meant to be a wry dig at English totems. Hence lines like, “where the bulldog spirit barks all day about weather, sunshine, snow or rain and the only lion I know of, closes early Sunday lunch.” It was my way of saying, “we’re not as great as we think we are, but we’re okay.” This was about four years before England and Englishness became fashionable. Britpop I think they called it.

++ You were really good with arrangements I could tell from the guitar riffs. How was the creative process for you guys?

Andy would come up with a riff and if inspired, I’d find a melody, then words. It was pretty straightforward, we never rowed.

++ That makes me wonder, did you have any releases? Are there many songs recorded? Which were your favourite?

We did limited edition 7″ and 12″ singles. We also put out a promotional flexidisc -try explaining one of those to today’s kids. A favourite with fans was a song called Sam the Bland. It was groovy with a scattering of brass and written about the rise of the bureaucratic drones with the “VDUs strapped to their backs,” which shows you how old the song is. Does anyone still call it a VDU?

++ Were there any interest from labels?

There was plenty of interest from the majors and some big publishers, too. The now dearly departed Vaghan Tolouse, ex Department S and Style Council, wanted us to sign to his publishers, Gut Reaction, and Ben Wardle at RCA was a fan. But without a manager who knew the musical ropes we never got a proper handle on the contract side of things. We were offered a deal with UFO, an independent label with the Stones’ Charlie Watts as part of its rosta It would’ve been ideal, but they wanted worldwide rights to everything we ever released in our lifetime for about £5,000. We never put pen to paper, which worked out for the best eventually, as I would never have gone on to form Jel, my musical apogee.

++ What about gigs? Did you play a lot? Any anecdotes you could share? I’ve read your best were at the Powerhaus in London…

We started out and pubs and clubs on Sheppey before branching out across Kent and eventually moving on London. We’d take coachloads with us to Tuesday night gigs at places like the Powerhaus and George Robey. As I’ve said, we were the first Island band to take our stuff to the capital, so for everyone, fans included, those were pioneering days. Little memories crop up now and again, but nothing of any great consequence because it was all a bit of a whirlwind. I remember us waiting to soundcheck before a Covent Garden gig and the promoter popping his head round the door and asking: “Excuse me, are you Newsflash or Taken From Behind?” It was probably one of the only times I was happy to ‘fess up to being called Newsflash.

++ And radio play? Did fanzines pick you up? Or the music press? You seem so obscure, but it might as well be that searching for Newsflash on google is kind of impossible!

The local radio station BBC Kent had a Sunday night show which promoted local music. We got played a lot and I’ll never forget hearing our stuff broadcast for the first time – one of the most exciting things that can happen to any band. A national magazine for unsigned bands – I forget what it’s called – also picked up on us. They rated Nobodies Home, a latter-day Newsflash classic , as one of the magazine’s top ten songs of the year.

++ So when and why did you split? Were you involved with music after?

It would’ve been about 1992. I think the UFO contract business played a part. The offer momentarily opened up a world of possibilities, and although the decision not to sign in hindsight was the right one, it was nonetheless deflating. Very amicably, we went our separate ways. That was until Nev the drummer and myself formed Jel and the whole bandwagon rolled once more.

++ Are you all still in touch? If so, what are you up these days?

The island’s a very small place, we’re always bumping into each other. Although the last I heard, Andy, our old guitarist, was living in Berlin. I write for a newspaper, music, features and all sorts, during which time I’ve enjoyed an audience with many of my heroes, Paul Weller being one. And I’m still writing, recording – and just occasionally – playing with Jel. We toured Britain and Europe and made an album that will outlive us all – All the Blinding Menace. It picked up brilliant reviews in the national media and continues to sell well across the world via Amazon and iTunes, etc. I’m dead proud of what we’ve achieved and the story continues. On Saturday, December 17 this year we’re supporting an idol from our youth, Bruce Foxton, at Chelsea FC’s Under the Bridge. Bruce is performing as From The Jam and we’ve been asked to support. I can’t wait and it might turn out to be one of the most memorable gigs we’ve ever done – and there have been plenty.

++ Looking back to the past, what would you say were the best moments of being in Newsflash?

The gigs at the Powerhaus were special, even though I didn’t really appreciate it at the time. Everyone from Sheppey sort of bought into the dream and fans that followed us often remind me/us of their brilliant memories of that brief period during the early 90s when the island took London by storm.

++ And is there anything that you would do different if you had the chance?

I would’ve changed the name and got a decent manager. Other than that? Nothing.

++ Let’s wrap the interview here, but before let me go back to the Isle of Sheppey. If I was to go there as a tourist, what would you recommend me seeing and eating? And drinking?

There’s a little hamlet called Harty, which resides in almost total wilderness. It’s only about three miles from where I live but civilisation feels a million miles away when you’re there. It’s got a little pub called the Ferry Inn, where legend has it smugglers happily plied their trade because of its remote location. It does superb booze and food. It’s a favourite with Michael Palin and (wait for it) Bill Oddie who have both wined and dined there. Oddie because of neighbouring Elmley Nature Reserve, one of the poisonous, bearded little tit’s bird-watching haunts.

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

Check out All the Blinding Menace, one of the greatest albums of the nineties, or any decade come to that.

I thank you.

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Listen
Newsflash – An Englishman

Thanks so much to Barry McLeod for the great interview! The Incredible Blondes released just one 7″ back in 1985, but it became such a classic that the band in 2005 and recorded some new tracks to put out a CD album. An album that I highly recommend. You can visit their site here. Please enjoy one of Glasgow’s finest bands!

++ Before The Incredible Blondes you were in two bands, The Lemons and Protection. Care to tell me a bit about each? And were there any recordings or releases?

What can I say about The Lemons. Basically we were a New Wave punk band that sounds much more impressive than the actual reality. In truth, we were a classic garage band made up of friends from school. The line-up was John Wilkie on rhythm guitar, myself on lead guitar (eventually replaced Andrew Little on vocals) and Robert Campbell (the Incredible Blondes drummer) on drums. The songs we played were largely covers of bands like The Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, The Vibrators, etc. It had to be simple due to our limited musical ability! We played 2 or 3 gigs locally and then morphed into Protection after listening (unwisely) to Genesis and YES albums.  Good God.

This, in retrospect, was a huge mistake for 2 reasons. Firstly, we couldn’t manage the complexity of the music and secondly, NO ONE was interested in hearing this type of music again! However, we did a couple of demos, that are only wheeled out when we get together for a laugh.

++ So when did The Incredible Blondes start as a band? How did the recruiting process work?

The band started (after Protection split) around 1984. The band was simply Robert Campbell and myself. We quickly did a couple of demos in Glasgow studios and after sending these to record companies etc, managed to get a session on the Janice Long Show on Radio One in 1985. This was pure luck really, and the producer told me he thought we sounded a bit like the Velvet Underground. We probably sounded more like Glasgow underground, but were ecstatic at this piece of luck. After the session we advertised for some more musicians, and ended up (after a few trials and errors) with Eddie Campbell on Keyboards ( who later joined Texas) and Stephen Boyle on bass.

++And where did the name of the band come from?

As far as I can remember I think it was something to do with the blonde stimulant (Rutger Hauer) in Bladerunner. God knows what the actual link was.

++ What were you listening at the time when you formed the band? And as you are from Glasgow I have to ask this, how influential was Postcard Records for you?

We were listening to a lot of stuff at the time, from King Crimson to Prefab Sprout and The Smiths. I was introduced by my girlfriend to Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and Joseph K (all in the Postcard stable). To be honest, it was more the album You Can’t Hide Your Love Forever that I really found brilliant more than the Postcard stuff. Also Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, Hipsway and The Smiths were also a big favourite (and still are). We were mightily pleased that our single released on NoStrings (who discovered Lloyd Cole), was distributed by Rough Trade record company for The Smiths.

++ Which were your favourite places in town to go see bands and hang out?

The trouble was we looked so young that it was (embarrassingly) quite difficult for us to get into pubs and clubs around town. But names that spring to mind were The Venue in Sauchiehall Street, the Pavillion and Glasgow University Student Union (the QM).

++ And were there any favourite bands in Glasgow that you would follow?

In those days we thought we were head and shoulders above most other local bands and usually adopted and aloof and scoffing nature to other bands. The more successful they were the louder our scoffing. I suspect this was simply mean-spirited pettiness. Secretly though, we did have our favourities, as listed above, who we would have killed to have been part of. The fact is we were too late for the Postcard stuff, but too soon for the newer ‘indie’ bands like The Pastels and Belle and Sebastian. I’m a big fan of Belle and Sebastian, but strangely have not come across any of them in Glasgow, as I said, from different times. Did meet the singer (Stuart Murdoch) at a local West End fete strangely enough, and he was kind enough to autograph a bit of paper for my 2 sons who are also big fans. Did not introduce myself as from The Incredible Blondes in case he looked blankly at me and hadn’t heard of us!

++ Your one and only 7″ came out on No Strings Records. How did you end up knowing them and signing for them? Were there any other labels interested in putting it out? I wouldn’t be surprised as it’s a corker!

We were rehearsing in Centre City studios at the time in 1986 and the guy who was in charge at the time (Nick Low) heard us on the radio as we were actually rehearsing at the time! The enterprising fellow decided to ask us, there and then, if we wanted to do a single with his label (NoStrings). Poor Nick’s been paying for it ever since, as we really did not make any money from the single and I’m sure Nick was out of pocket. We were very impressed with his encyclopaedic knowledge of indie bands (and any bands come to that) and am still friends with Nick.

++ And why weren’t there more releases?

As we didn’t make any money from the first single and got no interest from record companies, we came to the dismal conclusion that perhaps we weren’t the 1% who think they are brilliant and actually are, but were more likely to be the 99% who think they are brilliant but actually are not.

++ So tell me about “Where Do I Stand?”. What’s the story behind this classic tune?

Wrote this in a couple of hours and simply just made up the hypothetical situation of boy looking for clarity vis a vis their relationship. Thought it was quite funny and reflected the daft posturing things we do to get the attention of the opposite sex (and probably still would do if I was on the market tragically). Was about to say patronisingly that it is what  young people so, but, on reflection, I think such behaviour is not related to age. Also, liked the idea of the song just being about just a small moment of realism for someone, as I really hated pop lyrics that sing about love and really don’t seem to be about anything at all.

++ And how come you decided to re-record it in Japanese? And how did you meet the girl that sings on it?

Ah, that was Nick’s idea. We went our separate ways after the single in 1987 and met, by chance in a Blockbuster in the West End (the fates!) about 20 years later. Nick, who fortuitously had now had a music production company with a cool studio, suggested we record some new songs and release some old material. He felt that there was some interest (somewhat late in the day!) for the single from the indie community, particularly from Japan. This is still strange to us, as only a 1,000 single were ever pressed. We have the sneaking suspicion that the single was released in Japan without a penny of it reaching us.

Anyway, Nick suggested we record the single in Japanese for this potential audience. Given our Japanese is limited, Nick recruited Aya to be translater for the new track. In the studio we decided to ask Aya if she would like to sing along and she did so with great aplomb.

++ So yeah, that Japanese version appears on the 2005 album “Where Do I Stand?”. What made you resurrect The Incredible Blondes after all those years? And how different was recording new songs at that time compared to the your 80s tunes?

The resurrection was really just me, with musical help from Nick’s friends Aya and Jim McDermott on drums. Unfortunately, Bob is now living in Shetland, so he couldn’t practically be involved in the process. The process was completely different, as I had loads of time in the studio due to Nick’s patience compared to the cash limited time limit in the 1908s studio environment.

++ And what about that photo on the cover of the CD? Is there any story behind it?

The cover of the clown and the boy is a photo of myself when I was about 8 or 9. I thought it was funny as this was a party where kids were asked if they wanted to get up and sing for the prize of a selection box of sweets. I was up like a shot and as you can see from the photo the clown had to prise the mike out of my hands.

++ What did you do in between those yeas? Were you still involved in music?

If only. The band split soon after the single as I and Bob both went to University. Well, in fact I went to University at Strathclyde and Bob went to college (Caledonia College). I then graduated and went on to do a Phd (which I did not complete!) and then worked as a Research Fellow at the Uni until 2002, when I started a public sector consultancy company. Bob left college and became a driving instructer for a while, then left to go to Shetland and is now a lecturer in Shetland College.

++ Another song I enjoy a lot from the album is Unreal, with that Orange Juice-y start. You say there that you have never been to New York or Paris. Did you ever get to go? What would you say is your favourite city you’ve visited?

Oh, good Smash Hits question! Never got to New York, but did get to California in 2003 which was really cool. Have been to Paris a few times, but I think my favourite city is Rome. I’m really into Roman stuff and liked dragging my kids about the city and boring them senseless about old piles of stone.

++ And what about your favourite song? do you have one?

Probably, oh, tough one, a tie between When Love Breaks Down by Prefab Sprout, Thank You by the Pale Fountains, Atmosphere by Joy Division, The Boy With the Thorn in His Side by The Smiths, Sunkissed by Friends Again or Felicity by Orange Juice. Don’t tie me down to one song!

++ Did you gig a lot as The Incredible Blondes?  Any favourite gigs? Are there any anecdotes you could share?

We didn’t do many gigs to be honest. We did support Deacon Blue at the Glasgow Tech which stands out for me. Please refer to above about scoffing and aloofness. The chat from them inbetween songs made me cringe. Bob, however, sold out and bought their album and they went onto wild(ish) success.

++ What about the Janice Long session? How was that experience?

That was really cool. Came back from holiday to find a note from my Mum saying Radio One had called and wanted us to do a radio session. I’ve never loved my Mother more than at that perfect moment. Going down to London in a van driven by my Dad sticks in my mind, as does the cool massive studio where we recorded. Bob and I went down with my then girlfriend Sarah on keyboards, as an extra  band member meant an extra £70 from Radio One.

Was also funny when the producer introduced himself as the drummer from the old band Mott the Hoople, to which there was an embarrassing silence as we had no real idea who the hell they were. I can still see the disappointment in his eyes.

++ I read that the Incredible Blondes split because you had to go to university? Is that how it happened? What did you study?

Refer to above, University of Strathclyde and studied Business Administration and Industrial Relations. Really wanted to do History, but was convinced that this would give me a better chance of a job. If there is one lesson for any young ‘uns reading this, DON’T study Business Administration and Industrial Relations , DO study what you like the best (relatively speaking, given films, music and sport are not really on the curriculum).

++ Looking back in time what would you say were your highlights of being in the Incredible Blondes?

The Radio One session and seeing our single in the window of a record store on Byres Road in Glasgow. Heaven and the planets were in perfect alignment at this point.

++ How was the reunion gig of March 26 of 2005? Did it feel natural after all those years? And have your played live after or are there any plans to do so?

The gig was good fun, and it gave us the chance to play with co-opted bass player from our Lemons and Protection days, John Wilkie again. Did it feel natural? I don’t know if gigs ever felt natural to us, but good fun certainly.

++ I’ve been to Glasgow twice already. And I’m sure there will be a third time around. So would love to ask you for some tips on what to see and some restaurants to have some proper Scottish food.

First thing is Glasgow isn’t Rome, so don’t get your hopes up. But you know this as you’ve been already. Go to Byres Road and walk up to the Botanic Gardens. Lunch in Cafe Anduluz in Ashton Lane. Wander up to Glasgow Uni and if you feel nostalgic, go to West Princess Street to see where Postcard Records were. It’s a bit rough there so keep you hand on your wallet!

++ And yeah, why does Glasgow produce so much great music? Do you have any theory for that?

Good question. I honestly think it’s because the weather is so awful here that we have nothing better to do than make music. Have you ever heard a great indie band from Italy or Spain? Good weather and too much fun to be had outside. Also think that there is something about Glasgow people that makes them less keen on manufactured pop and mainstream music and more keen on more serious music. Also helps that there is a big student community, many of whom are banging away on guitars so to speak.

++ One last question, do you like Irn Bru? I’m in love with it.

Irn Bru? God, you have been to Scotland. I love the Diet Irn Bru, as the real stuff is just to sweet for me. This, is my experience of fizzies ( and this is a lot of experience) is the only diet form of a fizzy that actually tastes better than the non-diet version. Diet Coke, Urghhh.

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

Only thanks for the chance to reminisce and I’m so glad that you like some of the songs we did. What other bands are you into??

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Listen
The Incredible Blondes – Where Do I Stand?