I wrote already about The Doris Days a couple of months ago. Since then I’ve been looking and searching everywhere for more information about them as well as trying to find at least mp3s from their demos. Just recently, thanks to Phil Suggars from The Candie Maids, I got the chance to get in touch with Hayley Morton from The Doris Days! She has been super kind and nice to share some interesting facts about one of the best bands you have never heard about. I thought sharing with the couple of readers of the blog.

Hayley:
I met Vanessa Norwood (lead singer) 25 years ago when we were 17, she was doing an art foundation course at Lewes College and I under duress was doing a secretarial course. I play classical piano and wrote songs which Vanessa would write words to. We both met Dennis when we were about 19 – I think he was a DJ and helped put on Magical Mystery Tours where you could go off to see bands in London mostly – we saw a lot of the June Bride gigs and the Shop Assistants who Dennis had links with.

Dennis was at Brighton Art college doing an expressive arts course with Nick the trumpet player and Simon, who played cello with us for a while. He was also friends with Ed the bass player who I think was an engineer with the army if my memory serves me right. Rachel the other guitarist was Vanessa’s younger sister.

Dennis started going out with Vanessa – he was always writing music and asked me to write some piano bits for him. We then formed the band with his other friends. Dennis wrote the songs and we contributed with our instrumental parts. We would go into the art college and record the tracks – unfortunately I only have old tapes of this music and I’m not even sure I got copies of any of the good stuff. (I hope these get digitised one day!! – CCP)

The basement gig was our last one – I won’t go into details but we argued after the gig and that was that – I think Dennis carried on for a bit under the same name. I met up with them both a few years later and he was doing other stuff by then.

I went on to play in a band with Phil Suggars called CC Baxter (well worth a listen). Unfortunately I’m not doing anything now apart from finally trying to do my Piano Diploma – still writing songs though.

Thanks so much Hayley!

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Listen
The Doris Days – Another Day

Thanks a thousand to Ian Thomson for the interview. Check the band myspace here.

++ When did the band start? How did you all come together?

The band were very short lived. 1987/88. Less than a year. Didn’t do a great deal. Rarely performed live. But good fun while it lasted.

The history of the band could be used as a definition in the Oxford English Dictionary:

Nepotism nep’ o-tizm, n. See the Gold Blades

The first band I was in was called Henry and Mary. We were a three piece band initially with myself on guitar, Peter Moug on bass and John Weir on drums. We all shared singing until Susan Henderson answered an advert in the Arbroath Herald. After that, Peter and I were left to carry the equipment while John and Susan shared saliva! After taking four hours to record one lousy demo track, I left the music business for the first time, leaving John and Peter to join Dundee’s Wildhouse. After a short period, I got the bug again and started a duo with a friend of mine called Billy Stewart. He came up with the brilliant name The Wilderness Children. John put us in contact with Fraser Reid after Fraser had asked to join the Wildhouse. The Wilderness Children became myself on guitar, Billy on vocals and tambourine, Fraser on guitar, Andrea (Fraser’s wife) on vocals and Phil (sorry mate, but I can’t remember your last name) on drums. Peter Moug used to help us out on bass. This started off great, but Fraser and Andrea wanted to take the band down a more rocky 70’s punk sound and became really negative towards what the band started out as. Cue my second retirement. This time it was much shorter as I got talking to Gordon Will while he was going out with my fiancée’s sister, Lynn Nicoll. We decided to start a new band. I played guitar. Lynn sang. Gordon had a bass guitar. Lynn’s cousin Wendy Henderson (Susan Henderson’s sister) played guitar and sang backing vocals and John Weir (at the time he was living with Susan in Dundee) played drums. We practised in Gordon’s house on Sunday afternoons, mostly without John, who found it hard to get from Dundee on a Sunday. We recorded our demo on St Valentine’s Day 1988 and played as support to The Motorcycle Boy in Edinburgh shortly after. Our demo was played on Radio Scotland a few times and Gordon pocketed the royalties if we got any. This was only fair because he financed the studio time and sent off the demos to the radio station. A rift between Wendy and Allison (my fiancée and Lynn’s sister and Wendy’s cousin) ended my time in the band on a sour note, but people make their own choices in life and I honestly bear no grudges now.

++ Where does the name The Gold Blades come from?

“I Stuck a six inch gold blade into the head of a girl! No Laughter, No laughter.”
It is taken from the Birthday Party’s song 6” Gold Blade which appears on the Junkyard album. I was really into the pounding rhythms that were on that album. I had this big vision of trying to do something similar with this band. It never really happened. We weren’t tight enough musicians. Our rhythm section struggled to stay in time with each other and the rest of us just weren’t technically skilled enough to add the decorative flourishes that would make the intended songs interesting. I did try to write some BP style songs – ‘Texas’ is an attempt to write our own Murder Ballad! – but I just couldn’t pull it off.

++ I only know the three songs on your myspace which I suppose are part of your first demo. Are there any other recordings from the band? Did you have any releases at all? Maybe in some compilation?

Until recently, I had forgotten all of our songs apart from the three we recorded as a demo. We never recorded anything else. I can’t even remember putting anything onto cassette during rehearsals. We really weren’t very serious about achieving anything. We were just in it for the fun. In a strange coincidence, I recently came across my old notebook where I used to write down the lyrics and the chords to our songs. They had titles such as Longing for Yesterday (Wendy), Road to Somewhere (Wendy – I think), Lost in Love (Me – I think), Jealous of Jasmin (Wendy – she might have had a bit of help from her sister Susan with this one), My Favourite Girl (Me) and Smile (Me). If anyone can unearth recordings of any of these songs, I’d love to hear them. Initially most of the songs in the band were mine, which perhaps explains why we chose three of my songs for the demo, but as things progressed, Wendy began to bring some of her songs to rehearsals and this gave us a more varied sound to our set.

++ One of the songs is called “The Day I went down to Texas Part 3″, have you ever been there?

I had been to Texas many times to purchase DIY products until the chain was shut down in the late 1990s. The song itself isn’t really about Texas. Apart from in the title, Texas isn’t mentioned. The song was initially known as the ‘Cowboy Thing’ because it felt as if it was set in those times. This was unintentional. It just felt as if it was. The title grew out of the Orange Juice songs of a similar name. They originally released the song The Day I went down to Texas as a 7” flexi in1983. It then appeared on the Texas Fever Album as The Day I Went down to Texas Part 2. Our song is called part 3 as a tribute.

++ You supported The Motorcycle Boy at Edinburgh University! How did that go? Any cool anecdotes from that day? Any clue where’s Alex Taylor now?

This remains the musical highlight of my career. When I get a bit drunk, you can almost guarantee that I will manage to bring it up in conversation. I thought that we played as well as we were capable of and it was just a shame that so few people bothered to watch us. Most of the crowd clapped with Arbroath accents!

I remember hiring the van to take us to Edinburgh caused us a few problems. We didn’t realise that we would not be insured to carry people in the back because it had no seats. The old lady who hired it to us made me promise that we would only put our equipment in the back and that the rest of the band would travel by some other means. I really did worry that she would find out that I had lied to her.

As for the venue itself, when we arrived, we were allowed a very quick sound check before we went on. I seem to remember that we did not have long to wait. We hung around the room where the stage was without realising there was a dressing room we could use. A dressing room with free beer for all of the bands who played that night! We did not get any of the beer and we never met Alex Taylor.

++ Did you get to gig a lot? What were the best places to play in Arbroath?

We hardly ever gigged. I can’t really remember any other gigs apart from at The Colliston Inn. Colliston is a small village about 3 miles outside Arbroath. Places to play in Arbroath were few and far between. Nowhere else in Arbroath was putting on bands at the time so we used to put on concerts at the Manhattan Lounge opposite the bus station. Turn out was always poor and we never made any money out of it, but we did have some great nights. The best of these was when This Poison! from Perth filled in at the last moment when Primal Scream pulled out because they were going into the studio to record their first album. There were about 20 people there and it was a great night.

The only other place that I have heard of that put on bands is The Viewfield. Band nights were run by an old friend of mine called Crookie, but he is so tight that I had to pay at the door the last time I went!

++ Do you still live in Arbroath? What is that that you miss the most from those days?

I left Arbroath in 1992. I now live in a small town called Darwen. It is just outside Blackburn and suffers from the same small town mentality that blighted Arbroath.

I have to admit that I still miss Arbroath at times. I travel back there regularly to visit friends and family.

What do I miss about the place and the times? That was my youth. Everything was an adventure, even the boring parts of living in a coastal town they forgot to close down. What I really miss was the excitement of hunting out new music to listen to. It was a lot harder to find out about music in those days. You had to work at it. Read the music papers. Listen to Peel. Write off to fanzines. I used to love it when I was able to share a hard won piece of vinyl with my mates. We would go to a place called Elena Maes and try to order all sorts of obscure music. To really have a chance of finding good music, though, we would have to head into Dundee and visit the record shops there. Today all I have to do is spend half an hour on the internet and then wait a few days for a CD to arrive. Musical gems were more precious then.

Do I sound like an old git?

++ What did The Gold Blades do in their spare time? What other hobbies, or jobs, or sports did you do?

I was on the dole and preparing to go to teacher training college when the Gold Blades were on the go. I remember being really skint. Gordon worked for Dundee Council. John worked as a mechanic for a firm that made industrial sacking. I think Wendy and Lynn were on the dole.

Most of the time we spent together was to do with listening to music or talking about it. If it wasn’t music, we were often talking about politics. John and I were both driven into socialist politics by that evil witch, Margaret Thatcher. We were both Labour Party members. We were involved with CND and the Militant Tendency. Before the Gold Blades we used to put on Rock Against Thatcher events in the town.

As for hobbies, we used to read comics and drink alcohol. I used to play football for The Ram’s Heid (Arbroath pub) and I have always supported Dundee United. I used to go to Tannadice a lot. John and Gordon weren’t really very sporty and didn’t really do anything like that.

++ Is it really true that you call it a day because John Robb called his new band Gold Blade? What did you do after?

I have to admit to being a bit pissed off at the time because I felt it was a great name for a band, but it was definitely not the reason for me calling it a day. I left the band because of friction between Wendy and my then fiancée. Something happened and I had to make a choice. Unfortunately, John, who was a long time friend and Gordon chose to side with Wendy. I have just read that again and it sounds really bitter. It isn’t anymore. I have since spoken to John and Gordon and bear no grudges, but at the time I did feel let down. As for my fiancée, I made the right choice. I married that girl and we are still madly in love.

The Gold Blades were the last band I was in. There were times I thought about doing something else, but I have to admit that my ability with the guitar was always a frustration with me. I always wanted to be able to do something more challenging, but at the same time lacked the will to learn how to do it. This always led to me becoming disillusioned with what I was doing after the initial honeymoon period was over. To avoid future heartache, I have definitely called it a day. I keep my musical performances to supporting my class during school performances. My most recent highlight was a superb version of A Wooden Tree by Ivor Cutler.

++ What are The Gold Blades doing these days?

I can only speak for myself and Lynn as I don’t see the other band members anymore. Lynn is a mum. She has a 10 year old son and still lives in Arbroath. She has recently talked about singing with a band again and I think something may happen soon, but I think it is a covers band.

I am a primary teacher in Darwen. The town is close enough to Manchester to let me see plenty of concerts. Recently I have been lucky enough to see the likes of Nick Cave, Magazine, Calvin Party, Damo Suzuki, The Nightingales and Calvin Party. At the moment I have tickets for Malcolm Middleton pinned to my notice board. I have a 16 year old son who is doing his GCSEs at the moment. I have passed the music bug onto him. He now owns both my old guitars as well two he has bought himself. He also plays keyboards. He has his own Myspace site and I promised to mention it for him.

www.myspace.com/ththomson

++ I asked this same question to Gordon Will, can you make an Arbroath smokie or not?

As I said before, I regularly visit Arbroath and one of the things I do is buy smokies to take back south with me. I have even brought some back for some of my English friends. It is surprising how many people are aware of them. My wife just sticks them under the grill. Delicious.

Can I just plug the good work Marks & Spencers are doing at the moment in promoting Arbroath smoked fish? I have recently been pleased to notice that they now stock a range of fish that claims to be Arbroath smoked. No smokies though.

++ Anything you’d like to tell the popkids out there?

In the words of Les McQueen – “It’s a shit business!”

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Listen
The Gold Blades – The Sun Seems to Shine

Thanks a lot to Scott Degraw for the interview! Read the interview to bandmate Douglas Armour here!

++ How did Juniper start? Who were the members and where did you all meet each other? And what was the main reason to start the band?

If I recall Doug and Jenny met and they decided to start playing.

I knew Doug through my brother Brian (of Crainium and Gang Gang Dance). We had all played music in he and Tim Dewitt’s (also of Crainium and Gang Gang Dance) practice space starting in late ‘94, which was a 10X10 U-Haul rental space in Arlington. Very punk rock that. We recorded a few improv sessions and dubbed it “Actress”. We also had a co-op music and art space in DC called ArtsLab for about four months until the floor started to cave in. As soon as the hair dresser below us started complaining about plaster falling into client’s hair it was all over.

So we were all just making a go at it, seeing what stuck basically.

But I digress…Doug and Jenny had posted an ad on the tree in front of my house looking for a bassist. Coincidentally, the same day I saw it, Doug thought about asking me if I wanted to switch from guitar to bass and join. And I did.

++ How was the scene of DC during those years? Was the halo of Pam Berry’s music still present? Where you influenced by any of it? Why did you decide to leave the city and relocate to San Francisco?

This was in Mt. Pleasant in the heady mid-90’s. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting someone in a white belt. Hipsters abound. We were sort of outsiders it seemed. Just doing our thing.

I lived across the street from Tuscadero. My roommates and I used to throw water balloons at them when they hung out on the front porch.

Looking back though (and I will admit up front that this sounds like something an old crotchety bastard would say) it seems like it was the beginning of the end for the DC scene as it was known. All the emo stuff was in full swing and about to implode on itself. The pop scene seemed to be small and strong, but a little overshadowed by the “DC scene”.

I think Jenny was way more into the pop scene and all the bands that came with it than Doug and I. She and Mike from the Ropers actually introduced me to a lot of that stuff, but I think we did play a few coffee shop shows with Black Tambourine. Personally, I would say Pam Berry was not necessarily a huge influence on me. I came at the whole thing from more of a Smiths/David Bowie/Eno/Pixies place.

I’d say Boyracer was more of an influence on me than anyone at the time. Just because they were nice folks and didn’t shy away from making some fucking noise.

You can hear it on our records to a certain extent, but we didn’t really fit the mold of “twee”. We played really fucking loud and fast most of the time. So much so that at one show in Adams Morgan we actually rattled the entire top shelf of liquor off the bar breaking all the bottles.

The move to SF – from my perspective at the time – was spurred on by just a desire for change and NOT being in DC. I thought we were just getting things going in DC, but everyone else had wanderlust. Not a bad thing to have. The rest of the band moved to SF via our U.S. tour. We started in DC and ended in SF and they stayed there. I came back to DC for a few months and finished up some work then moved out there. I think that was sort of the beginning of the end for me. Jenny was already talking about moving to LA when I got out to SF. I lasted about six more months then jumped ship. But I’m still glad I went out.

++ That year, 1996, you released two 7″s right. The debut one was “You Don’t Hide so Well” on A Turntable Friend in Germany. How did you end up releasing so far away? Care to tell us a bit about more of the single?

Hmmm…I think we ended up hooking up with ATF through Mike from the Ropers. Ulrich really wanted to put out the record and we just decided to go for it. I remember coordinating with him in Germany and coincidentally using AIM for the first time to communicate. It seemed pretty high tech. Holy Shit! I’m writing back and forth to a dude in Germany!

Don’t remember much about recording or the genesis of that song. But I remember learning that we needed to mix the vocals MUCH higher after listening to the test pressing.

++ The second came out on The Orange Peel label, who I honestly don’t know any other releases from, and it was called “Making Gerard Smile”. Who run this label and how did you release with them? And… who was Gerard? Is this a real story?

OK…sadly I just remember it was guy named Ari who was a University of Maryland student who ran Orange Peel. I think he did a lot of stuff at the radio station. I think he just heard us at a show and asked if we wanted to put out a record.

Gerard I think came from some joke between Doug and Tim Dewitt. I think it refers to Gerard Depardieu. Ask Doug on that one.

Don’t remember much about recording or the genesis of that song. But I remember learning that we needed to mix the vocals MUCH higher after listening to the test pressing.

++ Also there was a video for the A side of this single, what was the idea behind it and what do you remember from recording it?

I was just starting to get into video production at the same time Juniper started and was working at my first production gig when we shot that. I had access to an AVID system and a Hi-8 camera so we just made it. It’s funny to watch it now. It was mostly shot in our cramped little practice space which was a room we built in Jenny and Mike’s basement apartment and lined with urine stained mattresses found around Mt. Pleasant. It was a sweaty, shit hole and pretty awesome. I still have bad hearing in my left ear from playing with Jenny’s amp next to my head.

On a sad note, the guy who releases the balloon at the beginning is Nathan Livingston Maddox who was one of the original members of Gang Gang Dance. He was hit by lightning in NYC and killed about six years ago. That shot was typical Nate.

On another note I have hours of footage from our U.S tour – Nate came along on that too. And our ill-fated recording session in Philadelphia from Winter 96 or 97 where we got snowed into a studio for four days and lived off gas station burritos and Dr. Pepper.

++ Third and last came the Fantastic Records single, the wonderful “Think and Die Thinking” with “Summer on My Mind” as a B side. Aside from the fantastic song the sleeve is really pretty. Whose idea was it to have a real flower pasted on the back cover and a little kind of portrait on the front cover?

I think the flower was Jenny’s idea. The picture on the front is a still from the movie “Delicatessen”. We all loved sleeves with attention to detail and that was our best effort. I remember wanting it to look like a Durutti Column LP.

But they were a pain in the ass to make. We had to glue each photo to the sleeve, then put on the little corners, then flowers. We all picked flowers out of the front yards of Mt. Pleasant every day until we had about five hundred then dried them out.

++ Also on this single it says that “Think and Die Thinking” was titled by Tatty Bellrope, what’s the story behind this?

Tatty Bellrope was a pseudonym for one Daniel Gallagher who came up with the title. I believe he is mowing lawns in New Hampshire now.

++ What was the highlight of Juniper’s life? What were the best moments of being with the band?

Hmm…I think the one and only U.S. tour for me was a highlight. I had never driven across the country before so it was pretty memorable. I’ve done it since, but it pales in comparison to that trip. And always will.

I think we opened for a very young Spoon on our date in Denton, TX. That was right before Doug tried to light the front awning on fire and we got kicked out. Good times.

++ Where the band members involved with any other bands before or after Juniper?

Doug and Jenny can speak to that. I have played around DC, but pretty much have focused on TV/video production since then. My music involvement is one of the weekend warrior variety. That being said, I still have a full drum set, guitar and bass set up in my basement and fuck around constantly with recording bits of music that no one will ever hear.

++ Why did the band call it a day? What are you all doing nowadays?

I quit the band in late ’97 I think. We had moved to SF and I was just realizing that film production was something I was just as interested in AND I could make a paycheck from it. I realized that my favorite thing about playing music was playing music and I didn’t really care if anyone ever heard it. The rest of the band wanted to make a go at it – there was talk of moving to LA – and my heart wasn’t in it fully. Looking back I think I was a bit of a self-righteous dick about it but at the time it seemed like a huge deal to pull up roots and move to SF, only to move again to LA. Mike Roper took over for me and Juniper became Mondo Crescendo. Some of the songs on the first EP still have my bass lines in them but I didn’t want credit on the record for some reason. I always thought it was cool that Mike kept them.

I moved back to DC from SF and jumped into production work. I work at National Geographic in DC now making television.

++ Anything else you’d like to add or say to the popkids out there?

Don’t take any wooden nickels. Keep your feet clean and dry. Don’t be afraid to light things on fire.

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Listen
Juniper – Think and Die Thinking

Thanks so much to Mike Barry for the interview.

Get their last record here. And also look for them on The Sound of Leamington Spa vol. 6. If you want to read more about the band, here is a great PDF with the history/discography of the band!

++ You have celebrated your 25th Anniversary not so long ago? How do you feel about it? What did you do for this special occasion? What can we expect in the future of Easter and the Totem?

Ok So the 25th Anniversary was held in a pub in Penge South London.Somewhere theres a dvd and some interviews I must dig it out.The future for the band is a brand new 4 track ep recorded in Deptford South London.judging by the sound of the unmastered tracks it rocks like a beast.

++ Looking in retrospective, how did the band came together? What year was it? who were the members and what was the main reason to start a band?

Questions about our history can be found on the Totes History which is on a blog on the website www.myspace.com/easterandthetotem25 and www.westnilerecords.com

++ Why did you choose the name? Anything to do with Easter island?

The name comes from a painting by Jackson Pollock..On the second album cover “The sum is greater than its parts” there is a drawing of the Easter Island Statues.

++ You are a self proclaimed agit-pop band, how politically involved were you back in the days and today? Do you feel there’s a big difference from the 80s and this decade? Has UK advanced in a good direction you think?

The difference between now and the 80s is that Governments have sold off most of the silverware and the people are now paying the price.I dont think anyone believes that privatisation ws a good idea now.I think the way the UK has moved on is full of wasted opportunities and a disastrous war with Iraq.

++ If you had the chance to have a chat with Margaret Thatcher back in the day, what would you have asked, or demanded, her?

I wouldnt have anything to say to Thatcher she is personally responsible for the ruin of many lives and communities.A lot of people will have a party when she finally drops dead.Me included!

++ Many of your records go for big bucks on eBay. How do you feel about this? Did you expect being a collector’s band? Will there be a reissue of the old stuff? Where can people get the recent stuff?

The value of records will always be in the music.We have had a good laugh when weve seen some of the prices. We have tried to put out most of the stuff from that era on Cd and Itunes Cd Baby.Some of the quality of the pressings wasnt great so we tried to use the masters wherever possible.

++ What was the full discography of the band?

Full discography is on the history of the band.

++ What are your favourite songs of your repertoire and why?

Personally I have always liked Co-conspirator and Days after. Modern Romantic always seemed to be a crowd favourite. Other band members have different favourites like Acid Reign Distant generations

++ You played lots of gigs, many of them being benefit gigs. Which were the gigs you remember the most and why?

We played a great gig at the Amersham Arms supporting Squeeze.Truly the place was rocking.
Gigs in Brighton were always good fun too.Benefit gigs for the the Gulford 4 Campiagn will always remain special to me personally Especially when Paul Hills Auntie Teressa spoke to the crowd about the savage injustice of the case.

++ Speaking of benefit gigs, you were never for the money when making music, so what were you doing as a job back then?

My job at the time was working for the Railway Trade Union the National Union of Railwaymen.Nowadays I work for the same organisation in Glasgow Scotland.

++ You also started a label. Care to tell me a bit more about it? Why did you started? Which bands did you released? What is more fun, having a band or a label?

Starting a label is great fun Running the label is a pain in the arse paperwork wise etc but a great joy to see a song written recorded and pressed up without anyone interfearing.

Jumping around onstage in a band will always be better than running a label.

++ What was the biggest highlight of the band, maybe being single of the week on NME?

There have been many great moments both funny and from a musical achievement point of view.Biggest highlight was probably recording the last EP I really think all the years of playing with the same musicians creates a wonderful atmosphere. Some of the people who have played in the band are the finest human beings that I have ever had the pleasure to know.

++ Anything else you’d like to add or tell all of us who believe in international socialism?

I remain a dedicated Democratic socialist and Trade Unionist and the recent recession/depression is conclusive proof to me that capitalism is no way to run the world. As long as children are living on rubbish dumps while the uber rich lock themselves away on their yachts everyone should strive for a better way and the governments have a duty to the people they serve to bring about a fundemental and irreversable switch from rich to poor.

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Listen
Easter and the Totem – Acid Rain

News. Bits and bobs. Releases. Songs. Stuff. May offerings.

• Out now is the Signed Papercuts single! I’m very happy and proud about it. It includes 2 songs, one on each side of the vinyl record. On A side you can find “Of My Heart” and on the B side the great “Sound of Silence Pt. 2″, which I believe, at least in spirit, is the continuation of “Sound of Silence” which was included in the 3″CD that was released in 2007. And speaking of that release, the comic book look is finds continuation in the 7″ thanks to the great illustration of Danny Zabbal. If you like dreamy, lush and swirly indiepop-shoegaze, this will totally be up your alley. You can order it on the Cloudberry website. Thanks again for your support

• Firestation Records is having a huge record blowout! Lots of their back catalogue for just 1 euro! And some other stuff for 3 and 6 euro. Lots of discounts! Now is the time to get those releases you are missing from the great Berlin label. Visit them here. Among some great stuff I would totally suggest getting The Vermont Sugar House’s “Braveheart” 7″ for 1 euro, and what about The Nivens or the Bloody Marys for 6 euros. A good good deal!

• There’s a nice bundle by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart which includes their latest 7″ (”Young Adult Friction” which is a great song!), a tote bag, a poster and 3 badges. You can get all of this for $17 dollars here. I bet these will get sold out pretty soon!

• Also a new 7″ is out by Boy Genius. I had the opportunity to put out a small 3″ (which is still available!) that was a taster for their fantastic debut “Anchorage”. The new 7″ is out on their own Greenpop label and includes the tracks “Blame Love” and “Backyard”. I’ve only listened so far the A Side, which is streaming on their Myspace, and it’s a really nice track. Upbeat, boy/girl vocals, and jangly guitars. You can order it in their myspace

• Also Papillons Noir label has some new stuff out that is totally worth checking out. First is the Komon 7″ that includes her smash hit, “Ebay Watchlist”. Ehem, this title sounds really familiar!! At the moment I have 125 items being watched… oh dear. And second 7″ they have out is by Help Stamp Out Loneliness! This is maybe one of my favourite indiepop bands around. This is a single you can’t miss, “Torvill and Dean” is one of my favourite songs this 2009! Get them here!

• Stars in Coma has just put out an album on the always lovely and interesting Music is My Girlfriend. The album is called “Sisters” and I still need to order it! But it looks promising. Maybe you can be faster than me and order it here? André is very talented, I bet the album is a cracker!

• Another album that I need to order is “Bite My Tongue” by Friday Bridge. Would probably do it next week! Need to save those 15 euros! The songs on the myspace sound fantastic, go ahead and order it here.

• Cherry Red has some great treats for us indiepop lovers this month too! Can you believe, the lost Blue Ox Babes album is going to be released… and “Pleasure” by Girls at Our Best reissued! Can’t wait for them

• Liechtenstein’s album is just around the corner too! Here is what Fraction Discs say:
  “Survival Strategies In A Modern World”, the debut album by Liechtenstein, will be released on both CD and 10″ vinyl on May 26! The 10″ vinyl will be a co-release with Slumberland, who will also release the CD in North America. One of the tracks from this 9 track album is now available for free download on our label page. It’s a smash hit called “Roses In The Park”. You can also have a listen to another track called “All At Once”.

• And looking forward to May 19th for the great release by Socialist Leisure Party on Shelflife. But more on that later!

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Listen
Signed Papercuts – Of My Heart

Thanks so much to Tony Jenkins for the interview! Check their myspace here.

++ On the liner notes of The Leamington Spa Volume 6 it says that the band was formed in the end of the nineties. That I find a bit strange as usually on this series most of the bands were from late eighties or early nineties. Don’t get me wrong, I love the song on the compilation, and Im glad I was introduced to your band, but I do find it odd. How did this happen?

Tom, Mick and I all worked together and the band really started as a ‘theoretical’ thing to get us through the long, boring night shifts! Tom played keyboards and had an 8-track home studio and he would bring in instrumentals for us to hear. I sung and played a bit of guitar and eventually the band became a ‘reality’. It was at that time that Mick dropped out, he did one rehearsal but I don’t think he really had the time to commit so Tom and I continued meeting sporadically and trying to tie our two ‘talents’ together.

I had sung in the Aurbisons in the ’80’s (with Dave Driscoll) but unfortunately I wasn’t involved in their recordings. Myself and David put out some compilation tapes and I also set up Everlasting Records with Nick Clarke of Rhythm Mail Order. We put out a single by A Riot of Colour and an album by Emily and it was through this connection that I got involved with Uwe and the ‘Leamington Spa’ compilation.

++ Between you and Tom there was an interesting creative process, you being an indie kid, with all that it implies, and him more of a perfectionist of sound. How do you remember those days, arguments over some beers maybe? or laughs after figuring out some chords for a new song?

I have nothing but happy memories of recording with Tom, loads of laughs and we never argued. There was a crossover area, I liked the stuff he loved and he liked the stuff I loved. That picture on the MySpace page of us seated on the sofa laughing sums up those days, it was really spontaneous. The process was that we would record the songs within a couple of hours and then Tom would spend time programming the drums (which was boring, long and laborious for him) and then we would start again, building from the drums. We could never better the version of ‘All My Dreams’, that one on MySpace is the version we recorded two hours after I first played it to Tom! He could really play the keys but his main skill was picking sounds out, adding just the right amount of effect and getting the best sounds out of a fairly limited ‘bedroom’ set up.

++ Your only release was the song “Start Again” in a compilation organized by Junction and the local council. What was this compilation called? And who were Junction? and which local council is this?

The Junction is a venue in Cambridge, run by Cambridgeshire City Council and they funded a series of compilation CD’s, called ‘Wild Skies’. They paid for us to record a version of ‘Start Again’ at a local studio but the version was nowhere near as well produced as Tom’s effort and they didn’t mix out some horrendous backing vocals that the producer had promised we would have time to go back and sort out. It was the only time we recorded anywhere other than at Tom’s and it was a disaster!

++ You recorded many many songs, as it shows on Myspace! But why didn’t they get released? Maybe they were released as demo cassettes?

The seven songs on MySpace are our total output. We did put four together as ‘This Part of Town’ CD EP: Everything I Need/Don’t Stand So Close to Me/Without You/This Part of Town and this got us our only review. The guy said we sounded like The Men They Couldn’t Hang, so I guess he only played ‘Don’t Stand So Close to Me’. That track was just me with a fuzzy guitar and a very basic rhythm track, it was supposed to sound like ‘Only Losers Take the Bus’, by Fatima Mansions or ‘Well Well Well’ by the Woodentops! I also put Easy Way and Start Again together as a CD single, but that was only for my own benefit and I made a home made black and white sleeve, we didn’t sell them in any way comercially or send them to anyone with that intention

++ You were influenced by a quite large array of bands, from Felt to The Chills, from Cocteau Twins to Dead Can Dance, but how would you describe the sound of the music you were making as Plume?

We would consider anything and have a go. I had some great songs that we never actually got round to trying, which had a reggae influence and a couple of songs that would maybe have sounded like Tindersticks. The key was to try and push our modest talents (more modest in my case than Tom’s) and get more out. Tom would push me vocally to try and get the best sound and test my limited guitar skills to the limit! On most tracks there are five or more guitars, then Tom would mix them in a way to suit the track.

++ It seems it was quite difficult for you to record in the studio, problems with sound engineer, years to complete a song, etc. Why was that? Do you think if things would have gone smoother, Plume would be a better known name today

The studio problem was a one off, not the guy’s fault as he was up against a tight schedule recording about sixty bands for three or four CD’s. The biggest problem we faced was Tom’s health. Tom’s a depressive and faces a daily battle with his demons and when he was affected it was impossible to do anything, I just had to wait for him to get better and we would do a little bit more. We’re not talking about hours and days, sometimes I’d have no contact for nearly a year and then we’d have to pick up the pieces and start over. I would have loved things to have gone smoother, don’t think we’d be any better known but it would be great to have a choice of maybe 15-20 songs to post on MySpace! Very frustrating but, in all honesty, it’s more upsetting to know that Tom is struggling to get through day to day because he really is an incredibly good guy!

++ You only played one gig, the one for the release party for the Junction compilation, how did that go?

We really shouldn’t have done it but Martin (who provided the gorgeous sax on ‘Start Again’) said, “go for it”. In about two weeks we rehearsed with Martin and another friend called Simon on bass – it was great to play as a band and they were both great musicians! The gig went OK, decent crowd and a good reception. We were under-rehearsed and unprepared but we got away with it!

++ I do need to ask about the LUSH and FANTASTIC song that is “Everything I Need”. I really, really, like this song. Was the lyrics based in a real story? Who is this dedicated to and did the story get a happy ending?

It’s great that you’ve picked up on this song, I was really surprised that Uwe picked it for the compilation. This and ‘Without You’ were our first two efforts and recorded before I even had a decent guitar and the effects box that made a lot of difference later! Sorry, there’s no real story behind it I’m afraid, it was an old tune that Tom had and the words were ones I had written as part of a song many years before, around about the Aurbisons time actually. I guess there’s always something personal about the words, all my songs would be dedicated to my wife Ann-Marie, obviously we’ve had our disagreements and arguments, but we’ve been together for over twenty years now so I guess that’s your happy ending!

++ But perhaps that’s not your favourite song you wrote? What is it then and why?

I have four favourites. I think ‘All My Dreams’ is our best song…’Easy Way’ our best recording…’Start Again’ my best vocal…’This Part of Town’ my best guitar. ‘All My Dreams’ is about a guy drowning and, by the end, kind of accepting it and “drifting to sleep” and I think the words paint the picture. ‘Easy Way’ benefits from Simon’s ‘real’ bass sound, it gives the song a real drive and I would loved to have done some more recordings like this. I remember Tom putting the keyboard on the end of ‘This Part of Town’ and going “WOW!” It was the first time I realised we could make decent songs that I would buy if someone else made them! The “Hey” at the start was inspired by the yelp at the start of Primal Scream’s ‘Imperial’ and the guitar on the fade out was from ‘Pink Frost by the Chills!!!

++ Why did the band call it a day? What are you two doing nowadays? Are you still in touch with Mick?

We all left the job we were doing at virtually the same time and Mick is now a train driver! We are still in touch through Facebook. I hear from Tom occasionally, recently he bought a lot of new recording equipment and we arranged to meet, but then he got down again and I haven’t heard from him for a few months. I’m now singing with POP ART. Chris Free (ex Users, A Craze) writes the songs and I am just the singer. Chris has written some cracking tunes and we have played a few gigs as an acoustic duo. We have been in the studio recently, augumented by bass, drums and keyboards and are hoping to release a CD soon!

++ Anything you’d like to add?

Just that when you asked, ‘Why did the band call it a day?”, we haven’t really. Whenever I speak to Tom I make sure he knows that, regardless of whatever else I am doing, I will always have time to get together with him and bash out some tunes. We’re getting older now, so that’s getting less likely, but you never know…

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Listen
Plume – Everything I Need

Thanks a lot to Douglas Armour for the interview!

++ How did Juniper start? Who were the members and where did you all meet each other? And what was the main reason to start the band?

Juniper was Jenni Taylor (songwriter, vocals/guitar), Scott Degraw (bass/vocals) and Douglas Armour (drums/vocals). In the late 1995, I was quitting a job at a coffeeshop in Washington DC to go live in Bulgaria for a couple of months. Jenni, who had just moved to DC from Richmond, VA was my replacement. We talked and got along well and jammed a couple of times and made plans to jam more when I got back to DC. I think that we made a flyer saying we were looking for a bass player… not sure what the influences were listed as but probably something along the lines of the Smiths and Joy Division. Scott, who was a good friend of mine (I was roommates with his brother Brian, who is in the band Gang Gang Dance) and lived in the same neighborhood that I did (Mt. Pleasant) saw the flyer, but I don’t remember if he actually called Jenni or if I just asked him if he wanted to play bass with us. He was a guitar player at that point.

++ How was the scene of DC during those years? Was the halo of Pam Berry’s music still present? Where you influenced by any of it? Why did you decide to leave the city and relocate to San Francisco?

I definitely think that DC was a magical place, even at that time. Maybe, in a way, it was over by that point, but I think there was still an element of “us” vs. “them” around. “Us” being the punks or pop kids or music nerds or artists or whatever, and “them” being the normal folks or the yuppies or squares or whatever. Like, you didn’t buy clothes second-hand unless you were a hipster or poor. ☺

There were actually so many different scenes in DC. I was not really into the pop scene at all. Jenni and her boyfriend at the time, Mike Hammel (the Ropers, the Mondo Crescendo) were in that scene. I liked Unrest and used to work at Teenbeat every once in awhile when Mark Robinson was still in Arlington, VA packaging records for shipment. He used to pay me in records and I’d take the Teenbeat merch to record stores and sell them and buy the stuff I was into… I remember a lot of David Bowie, T-Rex, Lou Reed and free jazz being purchased (and in some cases, stolen). Of the DC area “factions” I was definitely more into the Dischord scene than the Teenbeat or Simple Machines stuff… bands like the Nation of Ulysses (later Cupid Car Club), Circus Lupus and Fugazi. But, it was a great place to be back then. Scott and his brother and a couple of friends and I ran a space for a while called Artslab that would put on shows and events and there was a punk space called the Beehive Collective that I spent many a night at. I saw Cap’n Jazz (from suburban Chicago) there. There’s definitely a heavy Cap’n Jazz vibe in the drumming on Juniper.

I always wanted to move to California and I think that Jenni and Mike were into it and Scott was willing to give it a shot. I wanted to move to Los Angeles but Scott definitely did not and Jenni and Mike felt a connection to the Bay Area (Mike’s old band the Ropers were on Slumberland which was based in the east bay). So, I was outvoted and we moved to SF.

++ That year, 1996, you released two 7″s right. The debut one was “You Don’t Hide so Well” on A Turntable Friend in Germany. How did you end up releasing so far away? Care to tell us a bit about more of the single?

I have no idea about that. That was definitely Jenni and Mike’s connections. If I remember correctly, A Turntable Friend was run by a guy named Olaf or Uli or something, and he was kind of in and out of mental institutions… or he had had like a major breakdown at some point.

++ The second came out on The Orange Peel label, who I honestly don’t know any other releases from, and it was called “Making Gerard Smile”. Who run this label and how did you release with them? And… who was Gerard? Is this a real story?

I don’t remember that either. I do remember that the two 7’s were designed by a friend of Mike’s (who I believe also designed one of the Ropers’ albums), and they were “matching”… the two 7’s were matching, not the 7’s and the Ropers’ album. I’m not exactly sure about Gerard, but it might be Gerard Cosloy, who was a college radio DJ, did a zine called Conflict, Homestead Records and Matador Records.

EDIT: Actually, Gerard refers to Gerard Depardieu in “Going Places”, a film from 1974. We actually had the words “Going Places – 1974″ on one of the run-off grooves on one of our 7″s.

++ Also there was a video for the A side of this single, what was the idea behind it and what do you remember from recording it?

Scott was working as an editor at a production company in DC and we shot it in our practice space and behind the house that Jenni and Mike lived at and edited it ourselves at Scott’s work on a big Avid editor. There’s no denying that this video was made in the mid 90’s. My friend Nathan Maddox (who was our unofficial roadie and traveling companion) is at the beginning of the video (releasing the balloon), and again at the end (filming). He died in 2002… he was struck by lightning in NYC. I miss him.

++ Third and last came the Fantastic Records single, the wonderful “Think and Die Thinking” with “Summer on My Mind” as a B side. Aside from the fantastic song the sleeve is really pretty. Whose idea was it to have a real flower pasted on the back cover and a little kind of portrait on the front cover?

I’m sure that the design for this was Jenni’s idea. (The Mondo Crescendo had an even more tedious 7” design for the “California Sun” single…) Yeah, gluing down all the picture-corner-holder thingys and taping down the wildflowers. Tedious.

++ Also on this single it says that “Think and Die Thinking” was titled by Tatty Bellrope, what’s the story behind this?

Tatty Bellrope is Dan Gallagher. He is an enigma.

++ What was the highlight of Juniper’s life? What were the best moments of being with the band?

We did a tour on our move from DC to SF that was pretty amazing. Nathan and I took LSD when we were in the French Quarter in New Orleans on Halloween and that was a very “Easy Rider” kind of night. Playing shows and getting to meet and hang with cool people in great bands like Boyracer and Henry’s Dress were highlights.

++ Why did the band call it a day? What are you all doing nowadays?

After we had moved to SF, Scott decided that it wasn’t working out for him and he moved back to DC. That’s when Jenni and I started the Mondo Crescendo.

I live in Los Angeles and still make music. I released an album last year on a label in Brooklyn called the Social Registry. Scott lives in DC and directs and produces television shows for channels like the Discovery Channel. I’m not exactly sure about Jenni but I think that she lives in Philadelphia.

++ Anything else you’d like to add or say to the popkids out there?

Keep calm and carry on.

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Listen
Juniper – Think and Die Thinking

Thanks so much to Sandy Fyfe for the interview and support!

++ Greenheart formed after two early incarnations, the first one being The Electric Sugar Children. Tell me a bit about this band, when was it formed, who were the members and if you had any releases? maybe demo tapes that one day will pop up on ebay?

I had been in a band called The Firemouths which had played a few gigs, and little brother Edd started writing some tunes. The Firemouths came to an end as people moved away and so Edd and I formed The Electric Sugar Children (named after a Biff Bang Pow! Song).

We borrowed drummer Kenny McEwan from another brotherly Perth band, The Seaniks, and encouraged Gogs to buy a bass guitar, and hey, we had a new band. We then added Paul Sutherland to sit cross-legged at front of stage and peel off mis-spelt cards of each and every lyric, a la Subterranean Homesick Blues. Our first gig was in Biancos in Perth.

We never recorded under this name. At this stage, we were very much a Jesus & Mary Chain influenced band (we covered You Trip Me Up), and it was not long before we wanted to develop the sound………

++ The second incarnation was called Pure. Why did you started a new band? What were the main differences between The Electric Sugar Children? Tell me about those “purezines” you released!

….which led to the recruitment of David Barnett as a second guitarist, and Paul Sutherland disappearing from card-peeling duties, and a name change. We had a song called Impure and I liked the idea of the band name Pure….we were trying to become less gimmicky and concentrate on the music a bit more. David added backing vocals and the addition of the second guitar added much to the sound.

This was a real busy period for us gigging much more, recording a couple of demos, publishing Purezines, being interviewed on radio, and printing badges. The demos were recorded in Seagate Studios in Dundee, and were as follows :

Demo 1, summer 1990 –
1. Panama City – an upbeat wah-wahed guitar tune about sunshine and Demerara sugar (don’t ask!)
2. Stephanie – a twee little pop song
3. Velvet – a slow moody burner about rock n roll, and fame

Demo 2, March 1991 –
1. Underfoot – a jangly pop song about prejudices over the Irish struggle in Scottish society
2. Summer Heat-Wave Heat – you can hear this on our myspage page so I won’t attempt to describe it!
3. Velvet – we re-recorded velvet, with the guitars more distorted and dreamy

There was a huge development between our first and second visits to the studio.

Things were going well, playing regularly (at the time I was also running The Oblivion Club in Perth which brought many indiepop bands to town including Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes, The Driscolls, Mousefolk, Remember Fun, The Wildhouse and many more) so we were well connected to get gigs.

We were then asked to contribute to a compilation LP on Ambition Records, Bobby Stokes Salutes the Fall of Manchester, indie bands covering Manchester bands songs, and we recorded Joy Divisions/New Orders’ Ceremony, using a different studio and we were not too happy with the result, though it did have its moments!!

The Purezines were A5 fanzines of what we had been up to, set lists, family tree, etc. We charged 20 pence for a purezine and a badge!

++ After these two bands you change your name to Greenheart. What year was it? Who were Greenheart and why the name? Also any releases to look for? Information is quite scarce on the web!

Pure were going along great but I made a huge error of judgement about this time. A few of the band members were wanting to do other things as well as Pure, and I said people had to be committed to it, and make a decision, and so everything fell apart.

However we had been offered a single release by German label, Bilberry, and to contribute tracks to a compilation being put together by Snowy Pete and so Edd and I, started again, adding Mal on bass and guitars, and my then girlfriend Lisa on piano/organ, retaining Kenny, myself and Edd.

We wanted to denote the change in personnel and so altered the name. I was a huge fan of the poetry of Alan Jenkins, and my favourite individual poem was called Greenheart, and so that was agreed as a good name. Everyone should track that poem down and read it!

++ What is this Fuzzy Peach compilation about that you talk on your brief bio on myspace?

We returned to Seagate and recorded Transatlantic, Hey Sure Shakespeare and Lucky Always and sent them off to Pete to choose two tracks – and he chose Lucky Always to open side 1 of the comp and Hey Sure Shakespeare to open side 2 (it was a 10 track compilation).

According to Pete who I saw recently, people were actually dancing to Hey Sure Shakespeare when he played it at an indie club night!!!

++ How was the Perth scene those days? One of my favourite bands was from there: This Poison! Any other bands that you’d recommend?

The scene was great. All of the bands drunk in the same pubs. No two bands were filling a similar space in terms of style. This Poison! were the pick, but Aspidistra also did very well, I shared a flat with the singer in our big rivals, The Ralf, and it was right opposite the main gathering place for musicians at the time, The Grill pub. Every weekend the party was at ours, and all the bands at that time partied in our flat from time to time. The Relations had gone baggy and were in the lower reaches of the UK singles chart, and Greenland Haze gigged extensively with their REM style. The aforementioned Seaniks continued to gig, and there was an ambitious band Best Care Anywhere who we gigged with too. And of course Luke Sutherland’s Long Fin Killie. Happy days indeed.

++ Also you say that you were called the enfants terrible from the Perth scene! what did you do?

I am so embarrassed when I look back!

We had a great rivalry with the Ralf, and at one time started a chant ‘I’d rather be a Sugar Child than a Ralfette’ and that became a thing every indie kid in town was one or the other – a Sugar Child or a Ralfette. Despite Graeme and I being flatmates and friends our bands were arch rivals. Our bass player, Gogs, was quite infatuated with Graemes girlfriend at the time, and that did not exactly make things any easier!!

In addition, we showed no respect to the older guys still peddling their music, we strutted around in our leather trousers with attitude and swagger to match! I remember playing a gig supporting The Relations, who had been on television that week playing their baggy stuff. They were in the crowd as we played. I was introducing the fact that they would be playing after us, someone in the audience shouted something not too complimentary about them, and I retorted ‘clearly someone has seen them before’ and we launched into our next song. There was a wee bit of hassle after that between us, and recently I was discussing the Go-Betweens with Gerry, singer of The Relations, and he said to me, ‘it’s a shame we have spent 20 years disliking eachother as we actually love the same music’ We are now good buddies. That’s what is great about music – the friends you make.

We also sprayed homebrew beer all over Dek Moir of This Poison! on one occasion – it’s a long story!

So we were always up to some mischief or other and when we were the large figure of our bass player Gogs would never be far from the action!!

++ I read you gigged all around Scotland, did you ever went south to England maybe? Which particular gigs do you remember the most and why?

We never unfortunately ventured south as a band, although most members have subsequently played gigs in England.

The three most memorable gigs for me would be :

1. The Red House, Coupar Angus – we were supporting Best Care Anywhere in this rural village. There was a good crowd in to see the Tom Petty/REM-inspired Best Care Anywhere. They had not expected nor ever before encountered feedback drenched indie pop and sneering attitude. I think to say we left them speechless would be true. That was the most drunk we had ever been when playing, consuming more vodka jellies than I care to remember before the gig.

2. The Halt Bar, Glasgow – supporting The Driscolls. The excitement of playing in Glasgow for the first time was great, and it was fantastic to be playing to an audience who actually all were through and through indie pop kids.

3. The West Port Bar, Dundee – a day for unsigned acts put on by the local radio station. Perth and Dundee have a fierce rivalry as cities, being just 20 miles apart. All the bands were Dundee bands except us. We always closed with a track called What She Said in ’67, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, followed by several minutes of a wall of noise with vocalist writhing front of stage and yelping the odd spontaneous lyric into the mic. We played it at the end of the gig as usual, and it was just our greatest ever version of that song, and that song was I suppose our trademark at the time.

++ What was the biggest highlight of Greenheart? How easy or difficult was to have a band with your brother?

The best thing is undoubtedly that 20 years on we are all still friends, we all still have passion for music, and a mutual respect for one another.

I think our recording of Lucky Always was our finest moment (to date!); it was certainly at the time the best lyric I had written in my opinion. And the feedback from those that got Fuzzy Peach was excellent.

Also getting back in the studio last year to record She is Forever for the Doing it for the Kids 08 compilation was fantastic – it was a day full of emotion, and fun though a departure from our usual style.

Edd and I get on great, so being in a band together was not too tough – Gogs the bass player is my best friend in the world but he is much more difficult to handle than little brother!!!! Edd and I are two brothers who will always to some extent make music together I think.

++ Do you still follow indiepop? If so, what differences or similarities do you find between the early nineties and today?

Oh yes! Indiepop is forever in our hearts.

I am as likely to be listening to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Ballboy, as I am The Chesterfields or Mighty Mighty. All of us have broadened our tastes since then but still appreciate indiepop, and I like a lot of the new bands and thanks to labels like Cloudberry they get a medium to release some good stuff. When I put together charity CD Doing it for the Kids 08, after my daughter had been seriously ill in hospital, it was great to find so many good young indiepop bands willing to contribute to the project.

I think there are clear influences today – early Orange Juice and early Aztec Camera, Subway bands, Sarah Bands – are all influencing output. I think right now indiepop is probably stronger than it has been at any point since the late 80s and early 90s. Its great to see some of the old bands coming back and playing again. I think the key difference is that the current crop of indiepop bands have more diversity to their sound than the older generation.

Two of my 5 year old daughters favourite songs are Goodbye Goodbye by The Chesterfields and In the Rain by The June Brides – I am bringing her up well!!

++ Why did you call it a day? What are Greenheart members doing nowadays?

We stopped playing because life got in the way a bit. Edd went to university in Wales. I had the misfortune to be good at my job and so started building a career (its like that Razorcuts song, Mile High Towers!) And everyone drifted apart for a bit. We are all now back in touch though, and practising again, and recorded last year and Edd and I have written some new songs. [I have emailed a very rough demo of one of them called Counting (Up Not Down)]

Sandy (jaf) – still in Perth, huge music enthusiast, back writing songs with Edd

Edd – lives in London, back writing songs and practising and playing some small solo gigs

Kenny – also lives in London; toured the world with Long Fin Killie for a bit – back in touch with us all just very recently

Gogs – lives in London – joined Aspidistra who were NME ones to watch at one time, and who released a few singles – still very good friends with Edd and I, and we regularly go and see bands together

David – worked with the Suede fanclub and management, and wrote the authorised biography of Suede. Still playing music with a few bands including the New Royal Family, and also lives in London.

Mal – moved to Norway, played bass on a no 1 hit single, now back living in Perth.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

We want to record our legacy – a few days in the studio and one final blast of indiepop. We have learned much over the years and think we can still have the raw energy and sound, the meaningful lyrics, the passion, the DIY ethos, but with a bit of a broader sound. So if anyone reading this wants to put out a single or an EP, get in touch as we will be recording real soon!!

We adored playing live and want to try to do that again too.

Finally, thanks to you Roque, for asking us to participate and having an interest in what we do but most of all, for keeping the homefires of indiepop burning. Indiepop is an old friend, and some nights its great to come home to. Giving so many good bands some exposure, as you have done, has been fantastic and its good to see some of those bands beginning to gain wider exposure – I hope they all remember you!

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Listen
Greenheart – Transatlantic
Pure – Summer Heat-Wave Heat

Thanks so much to John Parkes for the great interview!

Note from John: I met up with Rob (the original Greenhouse bass player) to talk about some of these questions – so this is as accurate as we’re likely to get!

++ When and how did Greenhouse formed? Maybe all of you were studying at Leed University? Who were the original lineup?

Not as simple a question as you might think! I’d been in a band called the Sinister Cleaners who were around between about 1983 and 1987 who split up when Andrew the guitarist left. The Cleaners had been very democratic and all balanced each other personality-wise so the remaining members were very unsure about finding a replacement and kind of felt it was a logical point to end anyway. I decided to form a new band and asked Simon Smith the Sinister Cleaners drummer to join me. Adverts in shops (I think!) found us Chris Sheldon and I bumped into Rob England the bass player at a music shop when I was putting up an ad on a notice board – both were from Leeds and had never been students, though me and Simon had been (but were no longer). Simon played on the first recording session but at some point he was asked to join the Wedding Present. He may have been in the Greenhouse and then left to join the Weddoes or he may have been helping us out after he’d joined them. We can’t remember which! So, Simon played on the first recordings but soon had to leave and was replaced by Tom Kincaid on drums.

Original line-up – John Parkes, guitar and vocals, Rob England bass and backing vocals, Chris Sheldon, guitar and backing vocals and Simon Smith on drums (soon to be replaced by Tom Kincaid on drums).

++ How many lineup changes were in the band and why did you call the band Greenhouse?

Another complicated question! After the initial (and early) drummer change we stayed the same until Chris Sheldon left to join a short lived outfit called ‘Ringo’s High’ We got Simon King in on guitar – though at some point (after a year or so?) Simon left and Chris re-joined! There are actually 3 guitarists on some of the Greenhouse recordings (most of the second album features Simon King with Chris Sheldon’s additions often using a guitar synth). I think the last line-up change was when Tom Kincaid left (or was asked to leave) and replaced with Paul Hegarty who appeared on the final recording session. The band split when original bass player Rob left and a suitable replacement was never found. Chris and me auditioned a couple of bass players while Paul the drummer waited and got bored I think. We never found anyone to replace Rob and at some point we obviously got bored looking. Chris and I did some recordings with computer drums but never found a full band until we’d gone our separate ways,

++ Where the band members involved with bands before or after forming Greenhouse?

Yes! I was in the Chorus (including 2 people who later joined the Wedding Present) who released one 7 inch single in 1985 and the Sinister Cleaners before Greenhouse. I was in Fuzzbird and Whole Sky Monitor www.wholeskymonitor.co.uk afterwards, as well as doing solo acoustic stuff www.johnparkes.com

Chris Sheldon was in Dorian Grey (or is that Gray?) before, Ringo’s High in the middle and later Glo-Star – and more recently the Dental Experience. Rob was in the Jazz Hipsters before and Pop Threat afterwards. I’m not sure about Simon King and Tom Kincaid to be honest.

None of these bands were really successful though there was the odd recording, tape and 7inch. The Sinister Cleaners recently (and briefly) reformed to finish off and record 4 songs written in 1987 which were put together with the 3 12 inch EPs from 1986 / 1987 to complete the Shine CD last year. Fuzzbird did 2 albums and Whole Sky Monitor have done 2 so far with a third partly recorded.

++ Your first two singles were on your own Firebomb Radio One label, right? Why did you decide to self-release and how was the experience of running a label?

By the time of Greenhouse I’d been involved in a number of self-released projects. Originally it came out of the post punk ethic about doing it for yourself; but really it was the only way we knew to get records out having never done that whole chasing big record companies in London thing which didn’t seem to work anyway. Some things about it were great like going to get records cut at posh cutting rooms where you could chat (briefly!) about classic records that they’d mastered but mostly it was about using a glue-stick and going to the post office to spend money we hadn’t really got. There was never any money in it so it was just what you did, really.

++ After releasing these two singles you sign for Native Records. I haven’t seen much written about this label even though they even had some big names as The Darling Buds. How did you end up in that label? Maybe you send a demo tape? or maybe they came to one of your gigs?

I thought that Native approached us having been impressed by what we’d achieved with the 7 inches (a few reviews and the odd play by legendary DJ John Peel) though Rob tells me their secretary saw us supporting the Wedding Present in Sheffield (a Northern ex-industrial city quite similar and quite near to Leeds) where Native were based and we were picked up from there. Native grew quickly as a label I think but shrank quickly too!

++ What did you release on Native? I know there was the Normless album and the Mad Love 12″ single. What happened after? Did you release anything else?

Yes, there was the Normless album and the Mad as Love EP but there was also the ‘Denser’ album which had 2 drummers (though not at the same time) and 3 guitarists. This was also released on CD (a big new thing back then!) but I think we only got one copy each. Either the label or the distributor went bust and remaining copies were destroyed or re-cycled or sold off (though I haven’t seen copies come up second hand – not that I’ve been looking really) The sound was fuller and, well, ‘Denser’, hence the name.

++ I’ve been always curious about the song “Refugees from England”, what is it about?

It was all about the politics of the time – grey, grinding, right wing, boring…a friend was pregnant and she was wondering seriously about finding a better place to bring up a child. It was just a feeling that there had to be something better (probably a place with better weather for a start!) Incidentally Simon Smith played on this one without using the bass drum at all. I find this interesting though I guess not everyone would…

++ Was Greenhouse a band that gig a lot? I know you opened for The Wedding Present, any anecdotes of that gig? Any other particular gig you remember?

I seem to remember that we did a few gigs here and there and some short series of dates in parts of England and Scotland. We did open for the Wedding Present for one week of a three week tour. I asked Rob about this and we agreed that there should be stories but there weren’t any! It was great to play in front of big audiences but nothing at all rock and roll happened. I was also working as a roadie / ‘guitar and backline technician’ for the Wedding Present by this time too so I probably spent most of the time tuning other people’s guitars. I think there was too much just getting things done to enjoy it really. At one gig in Scotland we arrived to find ourselves billed as ‘the Wedding Present’s roadie’s band’ which was all a bit Spinal Tap but gigs to us were all about getting home at 5 in the morning and getting back up at 8 to take van’s back to hire companies.

++ What other Leeds band from that time would you recommend?

None! We really didn’t like any bands from Leeds at the time and still can’t think of any that we may have misjudged. We were aware of the Age of Chance and the Wedding Present (though they were going before Greenhouse) and we thought Tse Tse Fly had a great name at least but no-one who we thought were great or went to see play.

++ When and why did you call it a day? What did you do all after? Are you still in touch?

It all fell apart when Rob left and it never got put back together. No-one can really remember why Rob left but we think he just got bored and thought it wasn’t going anywhere. I think we were never really quite on the same wavelength and liked a lot of different kinds of music too.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

We should also mention ’57 Headmen’. This was mainly Chris, Rob and a portastudio doing short experimental pasted together sound sketches. These short tracks were put between the ‘proper’ songs on both albums. We had a CD of the ‘Denser’ album somewhere and when we turned it onto MP3s found that these tracks were ‘stuck’ to the longer songs so we need to sort that out. We also need to find a CD copy of the first album (we did have one from a French release!) When we do we’ll make them free for download via myspace. Not all the recordings are as great sonically as we’d have liked but they still sound pretty good.

There was a Radio One session for John Peel too which I think we were pretty pleased with.

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Listen
Greenhouse – On The Ocassion

Big thanks to Andy Harding, Simon Burchill and Tom LeBas for the great great interview!

++ What happened to Charlie Don’t Surf? Why did you decide to start The Vernons instead? Did you release anything, maybe a demo tape or something, with Charlie Don’t Surf?

Simon B: The lead singer Jim left and the band were looking for a new singer. I auditioned and got the part. Then as a fresh start we decided to change the name to The Vernons.

Andy H: We had all started at college in autumn 1984, and I had been determined to be in a band! I’d met up with Jez and Jim (who along with Mandy had been Charlie Don’t Surf’s singer) and we had persuaded Tom to join on drums after an audition that involved him banging on cardboard boxes. CDS had done a few gigs when I was involved in putting on a ‘band’s night’ – Simon B’s band were one of the bands, he had dragged them up from Stratford. It’s probably fair to say that Jim and Mandy weren’t natural front-people and I seem to remember the transition from them to Simon being quite smooth. A new name seemed in order, as this was going to be a fresh start.

Tom: Charlie Don’t Surf weren’t very good at all. And we had to change the name as we discovered there was another CDS – in Ohio I think.

++ What were the main differences between both bands?

Simon: I think thats best for Andy or Tom to answer.

Andy: I had written some of the songs for CDS in one of my earlier bands (in Stoke) where I had sung (badly!), but I felt that while we had the basis of a decent band we did need a good singer who could write too. I felt that getting Simon to join was a real coup – I’d rated his performance with his old band – and I guess the main difference was that I felt that we could be something now.

++ Which Vernon does The Vernons pay tribute with the name? Perhaps The Vernons Girls?

Simon: We decided on the name while sitting in The Mount Vernon in Liverpool. It fitted in quite well at the time with other band names like The Pastels, The Smiths, The Housemartins, etc
Andy: It’s always good to pay tribute to a pub. At least we didn’t name the band while sitting in Ye Cracke – that would have been hard to live with.

++ Was it in Liverpool Polytechnic’s C.F. Mott campus were you all met? What were you studying? Did you get a lot of student following?

Simon: Yes I think we were all at CF Mott- now a business park! I was studying English and History and yes, most the people who saw us were students.

Andy: It really was predominantly a student audience. One of the things that finally killed off the band was the loss of our core audience who’d grown up with us, when they left college. Interestingly, one of things that had drawn me to Liverpool had been my love of The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes – if you read Julian Cope’s brilliant book ‘Head On’ it turns out that he also went to C F Mott and was in the halls of residence only a few years before us! The bit where he smacks his head in the stairwell – we ALL used to do that jumping down…

++ The NME-biography of the band mentions that “almost every young man on campus capable of wielding an instrument” was a part of the band! How much truth is in that statement? How was it to have all band members basically living in the same house / on the same street? Did you ever have auditions when people wanted to join and what was the main requirement to be in the band? Did you ever think “He’s a great chef! We may need him”?

Simon: Well we did end up with eight members, and for a time we had Jane Mitson playing flute with us as well. So I think that was most of the campus. The rest of CF Mott played in bands such as The Men Who Couldn’t play, Lars Me and Her, and the wonderful Luigi Klingon and His Magic of Italy Beat Group Sound Authority – their drummer Phil Selway ended up playing in Radiohead. I met him in Waitrose carpark in Abingdon a few years ago. He asked me how the music was going and I said fine, then I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t reply back to him with “And how is your band doing? Did you get anywhere after leaving CF Mott?”

Andy: Like I say, getting Simon as singer was great. Tom’s box/drums audition was surreal. The key thing I felt was that everyone’s voice in the band was listened to, and we tried to operate as a democracy – the downside was that decision-making could be torturous and arranging rehearsal time and so on could be a nightmare!

++ The Vernons had saxes, trumpets, keyboards, and maybe more! A bit more ambitious than the usual post C-86 band. What do you think did the band gained by having all these new sounds? How much more difficult is it to make songs with such an array of different people and instruments?

Simon: Basically if I or anyone else came with an idea for a song to a practice, it would usually sound much better once everyone had put their own instrument and idea into it. Of course you had to be careful it didn’t become too cluttered but usually we knew when to stop playing. I think if we hadn’t incorporated these other instruments we would have sounded like everyone else and would have remained an obscure indie band from Liverpool!

Andy: Building the songs from the initial idea always felt pretty easy I thought. I can clearly remember the brass guys getting their heads together and coming up with some amazing stuff just like that…

++ You played some shows with Frank Sidebottom, how did that work out? I bet they were not your usual kind of gig

Simon: It was like playing to a football crowd. However, we never got bottled off.

Tom: …and we never got him to take his large papier-mâche head off

Andy: The man is a genius. He keeps his head in a drum carrier. Enough said.

++ What other gigs do you remember in particular?

Simon: We nearly did get bottled off when we played to a room full of heavy duty punks at the Elephant and Castle in London. Other gigs I remember, were EarthBeat in Sefton Park playing alongside the mighty Onset, blowing The Brilliant Corners off stage, The Hillsborough support gig where we played last and had The Farm playing Pump it Up with us at the end, and my last gig when we launched the album at the Haigh building in the Polytechnic (This you can see on the Vernons Myspace site).

Andy: I particularly liked when we started playing with The Onset and St Vitus Dance, and my favourite places to play were The Everyman, The Philharmonic and The Flying Picket, all in the same area of central Liverpool. I do remember that gig in London at the punk club – we just said ‘let’s play everything twice as fast’ and it seemed to work, as we went down well enough! Actually, only this week I was thinking about the Hillsborough benefit gig we played, with it having been the 20 years anniversary recently – that tragedy really did bring the whole city together it seemed.

++ Why dedicate a song to Stockton-on-Tees? Is the song based on a real story? What about Hoe Town? Which city or town is the real hoe town?

Simon: I was born in Kent, my family was from Bristol, so you couldn’t get more southern than that. Stockton on Tees expressed my thoughts and feelings about living in the North and a particular train journey from Liverpool to Stockton. Hoe Town was based on an idea by my friend Angus Yarwood who had been in a previous band with me. At the time we were living in Stratford Upon Avon so I guess that is what the song is about.

++ What was the full discography of the band including demo tapes? I only know the “Smithdown Road” LP on Probe Plus. Why did you call it like that, was that big road important in The Vernon’s life?

Simon: Many friends lived on the road, in fact I think Tom did. The other names were Nil Draw Scored and A Slight run in with the Devil and my favourite – Twelve Variations on the Theme of Lurve – which I would like to use one day.

Tom: This is true, I lived there. Despite that, I never liked the name of the album much . . . I did like the cover, though, which came from a book of black and white 1950s Life/Magnum photographs I had bought in a jumble sale, even if someone rather overdid the “sepia” tint for us which in the end turned out kind of orange. It’s a brilliant picture of an audience laughing at god knows what in some Mid-Western community hall in 1953. Completely relevant to the Vernons sound. This is the LP cover I’m talking about – the limited edition cassette had a big blue bald head on it.

Andy: We did quite a few demos, and the final one before Smithdown Road was called ‘I Think My Hamster’s Yodelling’, paid for by Geoff at Probe…sold quite a few of those. As to the name Smithdown Road – I think that we pretty much all lived on or near it at some point…

++ How did you end up signing with Probe Plus? Was Geoff Davis a friend or maybe a big supporter of your shows?

Simon: Andy had a lot of contact with Geoff so he can answer this the best.

Andy: Probe Plus were THE indie label in Liverpool, and at the time were one of the highest profile in the UK due to Hal Man Half Biscuit’s success. We had had some majors sniff around a bit but to be honest I never thought that we’d get a major deal – we were an indie band through and through. Mick Bouvier was managing The Vernons at the time and he and I hassled Geoff by constantly going into his offices and trying to get him along to gigs. I guess in the end we wore him down! At any rate I’d like to think he became a friend and I have enormous admiration for what he has done with Probe and how he has kept his love of music fresh.

++ How influential was that amazing Liverpool scene from the early eighties, with The Wild Swans, The Lotus Eaters, The Pale Fountains and more?

Simon: I loved that liverpool scene. I still have Revolutionary Spirit by The Wild Swans – a great record. I was a massive Bunnymen fan and loved The Teardrop Explodes and at the time I was listening alot to Across the Kitchen Table by The Pale Fountains. But I was also well into The Loft, Primal Scream, early James, The Pastels and The Doors. I think you can hear a lot of their influence in the album.

Andy: Ditto – for me it was The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes who I looked up to in the Liverpool scene. I have to say though that The La’s were totally brilliant – there was a time when they first were emerging that you could watch them pretty much every night somewhere in town, and they had awesome songs. It was such a shame that the album took years to appear and when it did it was strangely neutered.

Tom: Liverpool was a great place to be at that time – and probably still is, although I have only been back twice in about 20 years.

++ Be honest, do you really wish you were an American as one of your song says? Have you ever come to America at all?

Simon: The song was supposed to be ironic – it is a very stereo typed view of Americans. I guess living in Stratford and seeing all the American tourists in their chequered shorts and baseball caps did colour my view of them. However, I have been to Seattle recently and I loved it and the people. I also listen to lots of American music – Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Emily Jane White, Camper Van Beethoven, and I think if I had to name my favourite writer it would be Kurt Vonnegut.

Andy: I went to San Diego a few years ago – yay! – and loved it…someone take me back. Now.

++ How do you see Liverpool’s chances to win over Chelsea in Champion’s League? Pretty tough! Or maybe you don’t follow Liverpool but Everton?

Simon: They just lost and anyrate West Ham are the team to follow. However I do have a soft spot for Liverpool FC. I used to live in earshot of Anfield and often went. Visiting the Stadium when all the flowers were laid there after the Hillsborough disaster was very poignant.

Andy: I’m not a native of Liverpool rather I was born and bred a Stokie…and this season has been a joyous one for me seeing Stoke City back in the top division. Stoke is only 45 miles or so from Liverpool, and I remember going to Eric’s to see The Dickies on a matinee show when I was about 15 – brilliant!

++ Why and when did you call it a day? What did you all do after splitting up?

Simon: Unfortunately I had a disagreement with the rest of the band shortly after the album was released and subsequently left. I worked in the railway industry and then moved into teaching. I now live and teach in Lyon, France. As far as music is concerned, I played with a few other people, the most serious being with a friend called Jim Noble in a group called Sunriser. But nothing has reached the dizzying heights of playing in The Vernons. I still love music and play the guitar every day.

Tom: The rest of us soldiered on for a bit but it wasn’t the same. It was very depressing, coming straight after the excitement of releasing the album. I think I was the next one to go about 3 months later. We had a new singer who was good, but it never really worked. Andy may disagree…

Andy: I DO disagree a little actually. Andy Holland was a good singer and front person, but we had lost all momentum (not to mention our audience!) after the time it took to find him and get him in – it was the timing that was all wrong really…shame as I thought we were sounding pretty good just before we packed in. After The Vernons I started playing some stuff with Jon and Haydn from St Vitus Dance (also on Probe, and reformed with a new album out), which was fun but didn’t last too long. I actually didn’t touch my guitar for years on end, but maybe 3 or 4 years ago I started playing and writing stuff again, and have something of a band going with Tom and another friend Amos. I would like to play gigs again – I really used to love playing gigs with The Vernons and that is what I look back on with most fondness. I still see some of the guys from the band – Tom, Jon and Mick – and the Myspace page I put together got me back in touch with Simon B, Andy Delamere and Geoff. I’ve stayed great friends with Haydn and it was his idea to do the Myspace page…

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Simon: Still working on that ‘difficult second album’!

Tom: Hey Simon! Considering your employment history and current location it is quite odd / ironic / coincidental / remarkable that you once wrote a song called Running Free on the TGV… Lyon, of course, being the terminus of the inaugural TGV line when it opened on September 27th 1981.

Andy: It’s good to be in touch again with various Vernons-types across the globe after all this time…and thanks for your interest, Roque!

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Listen
The Vernons – Stockton-On-Tees