Thanks so much to Stephen and Marc for the interview!

++ Bulldozer Crash had a drummer on the first single, right? How did the band start and how did it end up being a duo?

Stephen: The drummer was Lee (Patrick) Skelly from the Prescriptions and who is now in the Peas. Patrick also designed the Sarah Said sleeve. The band was originally called Bulldozer Clarts and that was me and Geoff Suggett, but he left and found fame with the Lavender Faction. We would later record together again as Kosmonaut, Geoff also took the photos of the fish on the cover of Imperfection. I carried on by myself and asked Patrick if he would help me record some of my songs, he said yes. We went into the studio and recorded three songs but my voice was rubbish, so I left the studio gutted. Graeme Elston who at the time was in in the Love Parade (and it was he who suggested Crash instead of Clarts) put his brother Marc’s name forward for vocal duties, we returned to the studio and Marc added his vocals to those first three songs. I smiled for a week after I left the studio that day.

Marc: I was at a loose end after university and missed making music, the student bands I was in  had done a bit of recording but I was always a sideman, Bulldozer Crash gave me the opportunity to boost my ego as a singer plus I was able to work with Stephen whose enthusiasm always impressed me.

++ Your first release came out on Sunday Records, the best American indiepop label (I think that’s a fact). Also two later singles came out in the Rolling Meadows label. How did you end up releasing there? Usually British band at the time would release in British labels, you know.

Stephen: Albert who ran the label had heard the Bulldozer Clarts song “Walks Away” on my Positively Teenage compilation tape and wrote and asked us if we would be interested in releasing a single with his soon to be started label. I have a feeling he believed the little fib I told on the back of the PT fanzine that we had just toured the UK with the Pale Saints. We did send the first demo tape “Meek” which had the two songs from the first Sunday 7″ and “Recollections” to lots of UK labels but none of them were interested, I still have all the reject letters.

++ That first single was Sarah Said. It included “Changing”, one of your most upbeat tracks, as the B side. Was “Sarah” a nod to Sarah Records? Which bands were you listening at the time? I can see that you were very influenced by the jangly guitars, but also with some noisier bands as you did a “Changing” version with lots of feedback!

Stephen: Most of the original lyrics to Sarah Said were quotes from Matt’s AYSTGH fanzine, but I had to change  them, maybe a few did get left in though. I was listening to all sorts of bands at the time, The Byrds, The Beatles, The Jam, Stone Roses, East Village, Razorcuts, Choo Choo Train, Springfields, I still listen to them now. Changing was my Dinosaur Jr. song, well I thought it was.

Marc: I always loved jangly guitars from The Byrds to the first Primal Scream album, I think it’s a Celtic folk thing. I felt more comfortable with our jangly side, I could never rock as hard as Stephen.

++ Automatic Smile was your second single and on this one you worked with Jyoti Mishra from White Town. He added keyboards and also produced the single. How did that happen and go? Where you a fan of White Town at the moment?

Stephen: Jyoti recorded and produced everything else we did after the first single. I was already a White Town fan, having wrote about them/him in my Fresh Air fanzine and we used to write letters to each other. We ended up working with him after a chance meeting in the Derby branch of Vision Express. Marc was working in there during his summer holidays and Jyoti came in to get his glasses fixed, they got talking and our first recording session at Satya Studios was booked.

Marc: The recording sessions with Jyoti were a breeze and he ironed out our musical creases an absolute treat. Weekends of creativity and talking nonsense about music…pure joy!

Stephen: I loved everything about my visits to Derby , I remember catching the train down before I learnt to drive and then shitting myself the first time I drove down. I thought I was the bees knees, carrying a guitar on the train, it was what I always wanted to be, in a band, recording songs and there was even someone daft enough to release them! I couldn’t have been happier at the time. I loved it in Jyoti’s bedroom studio , we would say “can you make the guitar sound like the one on the new Dinosaur Jr. record” and he would. The time he started muting the guitars at the start of Only Baby Heads Smiling, I can still remember thinking at the time this sounds fucking amazing, to my ears we had turned into Kraftwerk. Or when Jyoti added the strings and horns to Marc’s song Upwardly Mobile Friend it suddenly it was a soul song. The moment was later spoilt by Marc by mentioning Swing Out Sister!

++ Third single is in a label I really love: Heaven Records. You can’t have enough of those little Heaven zines! But something that does surprise me is that there is barely nothing written about Bulldozer Crash in these zines. Do you have any idea why was that? Why did your only British release was on this label?

Stephen: It was actually our second single, those were the first songs we recorded with Jyoti. It just became our third because Albert worked faster than Heaven. I’m not sure why we never featured in any of the Heaven fanzines, maybe they didn’t like us? They wanted us to sign a publishing deal with them, we didn’t want to and we didn’t hear much from them again. They only ever sent us one copy of the single each and that was it, at the time I thought it was a mite stingy of them. I’m sure they must have boxes of unsold copies tucked under their beds. Years later I read an interview with a Fat Tulip and they said they  released our single because Albert Sunday had asked them to.

Marc: My best Bulldozer song was on this release, I must find the demo, it was one of those Eureka moments.

++ To close your discography you released a fourth single, Headfirst and then a mini-album, Imperfection, on Sunday Records. Was it any different to record for this format than doing it for the singles?

Stephen: It didn’t feel any different because I’m sure we were supposed to be recording a 6 track 12″ and  a couple of songs for a compilation LP Ulrich from A Turntable Friend was putting out called “Calling At Duke Street”. When Ulrich told us he didn’t want to use them, Albert suggested putting all eight onto a mini album.

++ Which release of yours is the one you came up happier with the end result and why?

Stephen: I like them all for different reasons, I wouldn’t be able to pick just one, sorry.

Marc: I love Mrs Robinson’s Daughter, it has funkiness, brevity and a story…a proper pop song.

++ There was also a couple of songs on different compilations, do you remember where did they appear? There’s two on a Japanese one called “Behave Yourself”, there was the cover of Po’s Fay on the Sunday flexi…

Stephen: We had quite a few songs songs released on a few of the Sunday compilations CD’s (Sunny Sunday Smile,(I took the photo on the cover of that one) A Different Side of Sunday, Rollling Meadows – Songs about Our Past) and two songs on Behave Yourself which was on a label called Behaviour Saviour . The original version of Changing with a ton of feedback was included on numerous compilation tapes at the time, I’m afraid I don’t remember the names of them all.

Marc: The version of Fay was recorded before I  was aware of the wonderful device called a Capo…very difficult for me to listen to now!

++ I guess it’s a silly question, but why Bulldozer Clarts on the Positively Teenage tape?

Stephen: See the answer to question 1, it was just the original name. Clarts is a northern term for mud!

++ Why did you name the band Bulldozer Crash?

Stephen: We thought it sounded good.

++ What about gigs, did you play often? What were your favourite bands in Durham?

Stephen: We only played two gigs, one in Derby at the Victoria Inn  supporting Pure or Eva Luna, not sure which and the Heaven/Sunday gig in Nottingham both in 1991. The Love Parade will always be my favourite band from Durham.

Marc: I thought The Crimson Mints were like Pretenders and Graeme reckoned Final Kick from The Liberty Ship album was pure Crimson Mints… I was going for a Pretenders guitar style so it makes sense. I wish we’d played live more often, in some ways The Liberty Ship were a full band version of the ideas I had in Bulldozer Crash.

++ How big and exciting was having the Woosh club so near? What did it bring to people like you?

Stephen: The Woosh club was excellent, it used to be on nearly every friday night upstairs in a a pub called The Broken Doll in Newcastle, it was run by Stephen Joyce and he put on all the great indie bands of the time, I saw so many of my favourites, seeing them inspired me to write about them in my fanzine. Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes , 14 Iced Bears, The Siddleys, The Driscolls, The Pastels, Vaselines, (although those last two weren’t at the Broken Doll), I also discovered lots of great local bands like The Gravy Train, The Sunflowers,The Nivens, The Crimson Mints and the Love Parade. They knocked the pub down years later. I used to record most of the gigs on a really crappy tape recorder stuffed in my pocket, I recently listened to a Jesse Garon gig and the sound quality is atrocious, much worse than I remember. Looking back we were quite lucky to have such a club.

++ I know you kept doing music after (should be another interview!) but why and when did you call it a day as Bulldozer Crash?

Stephen: I don’t think we ever did call it a day. Although it’s now ten years since we did any recording together. We are always threatening to do something again but we never do. Maybe one day.

Marc: Distance and real life ended B Crash, I wanted to play in a full time rehearsing band. I never consider us split up…where’s that Rickenbacker?

++ I know you Stephen did one of the BEST fanzines ever “This Almighty Pop!” (should be another interview as well!), but did Marc was involved at all with the fanzine culture?

Marc: I dabbled but never for fanzines, I did a bit of blogging on music more recently. I found the indie-purism hard to understand as I have broad musical tastes.

++ You are still involved in indiepop till this day. What differences and similarities do you see between those days and the scene today? Do you have any particular stance on MP3 releases?

Stephen: I don’t ever remember the music I wrote about in my fanzine being called indiepop back then, not sure when that started? It was just indie music to me and that’s what Bulldozer Crash music was, I think? Today everything seems to get done a lot faster. The internet is great for that, the instant communication is certainly something I like, even though I do miss real letters. Blogs are great too for finding out about new bands, I just wish there was more paper fanzines. I don’t like MP3 only releases, I much prefer something to hold, vinyl or CD. I do still rip my cd’s to my computer and I like the fact that I can take lots of my favourite songs with me wherever I go on my ipod.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Stephen: Thanks for asking the questions, it’s nice someone remembered us. If any one wants to have a listen  I’ve put all the songs we had released and a few unreleased ones too up here maybe someone will enjoy them. http://www.box.net/shared/tar4nsm3n0

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Listen
Bulldozer Crash – Automatic Smile

Thanks so much to Pete, Rocker, Yoland and Glenn for the interview! Big hugs!

++ You have quite an up to date page, and a great interview by Kieron were almost everything is covered! So this is quite a tough job for me. So I’m going to go for some obscure facts if that’s okay? First thing I wonder is if you were involved in any pop bands after or before The Rosehips? I only know Rocker was on Flatmates and Ant and Mark 2 had the Venus Beads.

Glenn: Keyboards in Trouserdog – a Fall tribute band who don’t play Fall songs.

Yoland: In 26 years, when I’ve retired and if I live that long, I will be forming the perfect prog-folk-surf-punk band in tribute to my favourite purveyors of those genres. Any takers?

Rocker: I was a part-time member of Bristol-based band Flying Saucer Attack (sequencing drums, playing keyboards, production & co-wrote a couple of songs). I also played keyboards for a few other Bristol bands e.g. McDowell, The Family, Spectrasonic.

Pete: Around the same time as the Rosehips, I was in the Speedpuppies. Mark 1 played drums with us after we’d done a couple of gigs with a drum machine. We tried to sound like the Shop Assistants – surprise, surprise! Liz, our original singer, wore shades and stripey tops during our rehearsals but left when we got a gig because the thought of playing in public terrified her. The Speedpuppies recorded one demo (we sent a copy to Sarah Records) and did about six gigs before things fizzled out. After the Rosehips had split up, I was in Jack in the Green with Corinne and Caroline, with Mark 1 again playing drums. We played around ten gigs and recorded two demos. After that, I was in Trilemma – a two piece recording band, who didn’t play live. Trilemma ran the Blue Minnow cdr label, recorded the Crowded Wilderness 7” ep for Kitchen Records, gave away our lp, “Push What Is Collapsing” with Robots And Electronic Brains fanzine as a subscribers freebee, recorded a mini album called Caveat Emptor, released by Fence Records as part of their Picket Fence series and recorded various songs which were issued with paper fanzines. And now I’m in Horowitz.

++ You recorded a cover version of The Chesterfields’ “Ask Johnny Dee” for the Sweet William flexi. Why did you choose this particular song? And how did you end up on this rare flexi that came with the Two Pint Take Home fanzine?

Glenn: We liked the original and were friendly with the Chesterfields even though we thought their music was a bit drippy! So we thought it would be funny to ‘punk it up’ a bit. I doubt they were very impressed.

Yoland: As a general rule, everything should go faster, but once speeded-up this transmogrified into Echo Beach (Martha & the Muffins 1970-something), which amused us greatly, because it was a mild irritant to the beautiful Chesterfields, or so I recall.

Rocker: Before my time!

Pete: Mine too, though I think I popped down to the studio during the recording.

++ You shared that flexi with The Fat Tulips. Years later, when the band had already split up, the Bloodstained Fur 7″ appears on the Tulip’s label, Heaven Records. I guess you had a close relationship with them?

Yoland: So close I remember nothing, they must have used Rohypnol.

Glenn: I’m not sure I even met the Fat Tulips except for Mark of course.

Pete: I’ve got to know Mark more since the Rosehips split up. I used to be over in Nottingham watching gigs in the early 90s, bumped into him a few times and went to his wedding. It’s only since meeting the Cut Outs that I’ve spoken with Paul, who was one of the Fat Tulips Nottingham contingent, who used to arrive at our gigs armed with cut up newspaper confetti!

++ But why did it take that long for these tracks to be released? How did Heaven decide to release it?

Glenn: I have no idea about how it came about I’m afraid. As usual I wasn’t paying attention.

Rocker: I was going to release it on my own (planned) record label, Bhaji Records (It’s catalogue number was Onion1) – but when the band split up shortly after the recording sessions, I decided not to proceed with it, as we used to sell most of our records at our gigs (before t’internet) so it would probably have never broken even. When Heaven Records heard about the tracks we’d recorded they offered to release it – it was one of our finest moments, in my opinion! And I still have a box of them in my spare bedroom.

++ How involved were The Rosehips with fanzines?

Yoland: Other than answering questions and fooling about, we weren’t, were we?

Glenn: We got sent loads of interview questions and always tried to reply but they were all very samey.

++ Did any of you ever make one?

Rocker: I never did – but I’m sure Pete and Glenn each did.

Pete: I didn’t make one at the time, no. Glenn wrote one though – Vandalized Idol.

Glenn: Yes, Vandalized Idol which was shit.

Pete: It’s a great little zine – it’s about time you did a second issue!

Yoland: Iconoclastic Cardies?

Pete: Oh yes, Iconoclastic Cardies – I was a bit slow off the mark! Twenty years too slow! I put the first issue together to mark the 20 year anniversary. Lots of people contributed to it. The colour version was referred to as “like a holiday brochure” – thanks Jamie!

++ Chaotic Brilliance was your own label, right? Your only release was The Sympathy for the Rosehips? Or was there something else? In any case, did you ever think releasing some other bands when you set it up? If so, which bands would you have dreamed to release?

Rocker: Chaotic Brilliance was Ant’s label – in those days the right-wing Tory UK government ran a scheme called the Enterprise Allowance Scheme – basically it was a way of fixing the unemployment figures. If you were on the dole you could set up your own business, and still get an allowance from the state, instead of the dole. So your name was removed from the unemployment figures – making the government look better. The advantage for the individual was that you no longer had to pretend to be “looking for work” ie go to job interviews and on courses, in order to receive your dole. I expect a similar scheme to be announced any day now. So Ant was able to devote his time and effort to setting up the record label. As far as I know, no other releases were planned – unless Ant can tell you different!

Glenn: Our favourite group was The Membranes, and the label name was taken from one of their record sleeves, so I guess they would have been the ‘dream band.’

Yoland: Ant should’ve got in there before the big Tom Jones revival, put out the back catalogue and retired.

++ Why on the Secret compilation you didn’t include all of your recorded output? Maybe it was too much? After all it included 22 songs already. Will we ever see those tracks that missed the cut on CD someday?

Glenn: I thought it was everything but as I say I don’t often pay enough attention. Rocker dealt with all that really.

Yoland: Output as in “put out” yes, output as in every learning curve and exercise along the way, no and neither should it.  If J K Rowling released the napkin version of Harry Potter, it would have failed to fulfil its potential (which we did anyway) and never made it to book two, for example.

Rocker: I think we included almost everything! Omissions I can think of:
“Ask Johnny Dee” – the master tape was never returned after the original flexi was cut – we could have taken it from the flexi – but the quality was considered too poor;
“A Slow Painful Death To Vivisectionists Everywhere” – there are two versions – one with Yoland’s spoken vocal, one without – can’t remember which was on the compilation but it was such a long track that we wouldn’t have put both on the same CD
“Bloodstained Fur” there was a short version on the 7″, and I think we put the longer version on the CD.
Oh, and there are a few dodgy cover versions we played live, such as “Too Much Too Young” by The Specials, which I could never play drums fast enough for.

Pete: The cover version of the Stones’ The Last Time just about makes it to the first line at the end of the compilation – there’s a full version of that somewhere. It was only recorded live though. We had a bash at Sonic Youth’s Star Power in rehearsals but never recorded it. There’s a live tape from the Punk Rock EEC Mountain from 1986 and a live tape from Stoke in 87 or 88.

Rocker: No plans to release anything else but that live version of “The Last Time” is on the “1989Live” CD which I put out on my own LocalUnderground label at the time of “The Fucking Rosehips” (aka The Parallelograms) gigs in late 2007. It was recorded at our penultimate gig – supporting The Wedding Present at a Greenpeace benefit in Plymouth – there’s also a fantastic sleeve pic of us all looking very young, stood in front of a sign saying “Bristol Centre For The Deaf”, which happened to be just opposite our Bristol rehearsal room. I still have a few copies if anyone wants one!

Rocker: On the subject of the compilation – we have no copies left. The last thing I heard from Leonard Roberge of Secret Records was that he had some copies left under his bed, which we would like to buy! However we have lost contact so if anyone knows how to contact Leonard, please pass on my email: rockerq@aol.com

++ Did you ever think about releasing an album?

Glenn: Nobody ever asked us. I can’t imagine it would have been any good.

Yoland: I think we were developing and changing too much to have had an album’s worth of comparable tracks at the time.  There was one in us, about 12 months after we ended!  It’s a bit like the output issue: some stuff is what you do when you’re learning and most bands learn before they release.  And don’t get all Sex Pistols about it – gigs are different, but committing to vinyl is another thing.  The Pistols didn’t make a record as shambolic as their first gigs. We on the other hand, never did a gig as shambolic as our first recordings….

Rocker: Neither line-up of the band ever had enough material to fill an LP – pretty much our entire recorded works fitted onto one CD!

Pete: Making a whole album never crossed my mind. I always thought we were more suited to 7” singles or 12”s eps.

++ How many demo tapes did The Rosehips record? Are there any songs on those that never made it to proper releases?

Glenn: No idea, sorry.

Yoland: Our very first “lets see what we sound like on tape” experience took place in a studio, which would have been just fine, if (a) the studio had no bloody cat and an owner who had heard of housework or (b) I was not horribly, anaphylactic-ly allergic to cats. You can play a guitar with a cat allergy, briefly, but singing requires the ability to breathe!  Dave was very accommodating about the toilet facilities and the phobia though, so it could have been worse.

Pete: There are a couple of demos from 1986. Of the nine songs “Cracked It”, “Trucker’s” and “A Much Bigger World” were never released in any form. The other tracks were all re-recorded and ended up on the Subway releases. On the two Bristol 1988 demos, Caffeine Fuel Injection” was never released, neither was the vocal version of A Slow Painful Death. When I Want Your Opinion was remixed by Rocker for the b side of the Heaven Records 7”, but the unreleased demo version has an audible vocal! The other tracks on the Bristol demos were re-recorded and ended up on the Sympathy 12” and/or the Secret compilation.

++ What about the Airspace! compilation where you contributed “Crazy Kind of Normal”? How did you end up here?

Glenn: I think it was a charity in Bristol, therefore a Rocker connection.

Yoland: Is the answer: Rocker had a hot air balloon?

Rocker: I think they approached us, so we gave them a track from one of our Bristol demos – I think Rupert from the Groove Farm, and Sara Tacchi their driver, had something to do with the charity – there’s quite a hotch-potch of bands on there! (We used to play a lot of gigs with the Groove Farm)

++ Tell me… what’s the deal with Judy’s Boyfriend? Is it a real story?

Yoland: Somebody Glenn knew? Was Glenn the boyfriend in the tale?  I wasn’t Judy.

Glenn: No it’s just a combination of Judy is a Punk and I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend by the Ramones.

Rocker: It was the fastest song we ever played!

++ What happened at the Manchester Boardwalk gig that you got banned!?

Yoland: Our lovely friends got slightly carried away with the shredded paper (before shredding machines, so that was dedication!) The paper covered the venue, probably gave the cleaners a fit and it soaked all the brandy out of my glass.  In addition, the new manager was a twat and tried to give us a drugs lecture, which I didn’t take kindly too, being a loyal and regular paying-customer of said venue, not to mention a stroppy young thing from a village where drugs were just the reminiscences of hippy parents.  Years later I did find myself in Moss Side with a mate needing gear, it was easier and quicker than buying bread, but hey – the man was still wrong about us. We were from Barlaston – still a drug free-zone and best kept village – ish.

Glenn: Nothing happened really except the janitor had to spend an extra 5 minutes sweeping up confetti.

Rocker: I really don’t remember being banned – although we did have a bunch of people who travelled to our gigs in a van, spent the journeys tearing up old telephone directories, and threw it as confetti when we played – that would probably have been enough to do it (although I went to see Grace Jones last week, and would you believe it, she’s copped our idea!)

++ What other gigs spring up to mind?

Yoland: Other gigs, TJ’s, Plymouth, Norwich Arts Centre, Glastonbury, any gig in Bristol…

Pete: TJ’s Newport with Darling Buds – the wooden stage, a distortion pedal with a dodgy connection and using Harley’s great Fender amp; Ashton Court festival – second amp channel set way too loud and waking a few sleeping hippies when I stepped on the pedal – lovely! Travelling alone midweek after work (possibly to Salisbury?) and arriving with a minute or two to spare before we were due on stage – the soundcheck had been done earlier. I walked straight into the venue, met up with the others, went straight to the stage, plugged in and we played our set. How professional! Playing with the Valentines in Bristol and hardly being able to hear the kids speak to me at work the next day is another memory.

++ Glenn says that you were essentially a Shop Assistants tribute band. Would you agree with that?

Rocker: I think that’s Glenn being self-deprecating! When I first saw The Rosehips you could certainly see similarities, but the Rosehips sound was already distinctive.

++ How many times did you see the Shoppies live?

Glenn: I only saw the Shop Assistants once as I recall – in Stoke. Could be wrong.

Yoland: Once, but they were great!

Rocker: I saw the Shoppies around 20 times – their early gigs as a five piece were just sublime – perfect mix of noise and melody.

Pete: 7 or 8 times. Wherever I could get to, really – Manchester International, Birmingham Burberries (some photos on the inner sleeve of the Shoppies album are from that gig), Wolverhampton with The Legend, Stoke Shelleys….I sent them a small gift at one time, chatted with them backstage  and exchanged a couple of letters with Alex. Oh – the fan-worship!;)

++ Funny enough years later there was a Rosehips tribute band! Now they are the great Parallelograms! How did you feel about having a band playing your tunes?

Glenn: The Fucking Rosehips struck me as a very funny joke, especially the name. It was good to see them when they played in Stoke and I was quite proud. They were a fucking sight better than the Rosehips.

Yoland: Thought it was a wind-up, then humbled, embarrassed, shocked and to be entirely honest, I never understood why they didn’t do any of the best (i.e. later) stuff. Lovely bunch of folk.

Rocker: I love The Parallelograms – shame Markie has run away to the other side of the world – Pete and I actually guested live a couple of times with “The Fucking Rosehips” as their tribute band was known – and Yo joined us once for a couple of verses of “Designer Greed” – and I do think that’s the closest thing to a reunion you’ll ever see!

Pete: The Parallelograms are great! As the covers band, they played our songs with a similar spirit to us and many bands of that era, that’s what struck me. Markie told me the story of their how they named themselves: Chris Mabbs and Markie were talking about lost indie bands from the late 80s and apparently Chris said something along the lines of “the fucking Rosehips were amazing”, so that was the name they adopted for the covers band. Like Yo, I feel humble, proud and a little embarrassed.

++ “A slow painful death to vivisectionists everywhere” was recorded for the Animal Liberation Front, as far as I know. But was this for a special release? Or just something you thought it was right to do?

Yoland: Yes, it was a benefit.  Or just something you thought it was right to do? –Yes it needed to happen & personally I find it abhorrent that the cause has fallen off the agenda, that the public have been tricked into believing its necessary to torture Beagles, monkeys and mice to advance medical science and that animals face more cruelty and less respect now than then, as the likes of Cook it, Kill it, Eat it & the bush tucker trials demonstrate.  Last week a dog was thrown from a car on the main one-way system in Stoke and don’t even get me started on the Kennel Club & breeding e.g. Rhodesian Ridgebacks born with spina-bifida (hence the ridge) and the healthy ones (no spina-bifida: no ridge) destroyed…

++ Did you ever hear from them?

Yoland: Hear from the ALF? No, they’re probably all in prison for suggesting A Slow Painful Death for Huntington Life Sciences (these views are my own & the ex-Rosehips cannot be held accountable etc etc.)

Rocker: We were asked to contribute a track to a compilation LP – but being the Rosehips it took us a year to record it – and by then either it had already come out, or had been abandoned, or we’d lost contact with whoever it was putting it out, so no, as far as I know we never heard any more from them.

Pete: The vocal version was the one earmarked for release.

Glenn: I never heard from them.

++ The most difficult question of it all, will Stoke City stay in the Premiership?

Glenn: We will know more at 5pm on Saturday. Personally I think they’ve made it too difficult for themselves by fucking up away from home.

Yoland: But potentially the easiest answer! Not looking good (sorry Glenn, any detectable smugness from Charlotte?)

Pete: Charlotte is Glenn’s girlfriend and she supports Port Vale, Stoke City’s local rivals!

Rocker: totally uninterested in sport – I occasionally partake of a little chairobics, though.

Pete: It’s not looking good!

++ Still no Rosehips babies?

Glenn: Both Marks have one or two I think

Rocker: Only The Parallelograms – we think of them as our babies

Yoland: – Some people have let the side down on that front… I have two babies, both with dubious parentage, absent fathers (but a devoted mummy), waggy tails and a total of seven paws between them (again, because some human bastard saw fit to keep 30+ dogs all inter-breeding and fighting and didn’t even get vetenary attention when my little one got her paw bitten off – he just dumped her, pregnant – nice) A theme seems to have emerged.  Doggies are asking for dinner, the fire needs more coal, but the snow has stopped.  Take care, Yo x

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Listen
The Rosehips – I Shouldn’t Have To Say

For a couple of years I always wondered who were The Doris Days. The last week I’ve got to know much more about them that I could imagine. I thought there was no chance to find anything about them aside from the fantastic “Another Day” that appeared on the ‘Uncle Arthur’s Pop Parlour’ compilation tape. First it was Uwe Firestation who told me that some members of the band formed Pacific, that great pop band that left a couple of records on Creation and a favourite song of mine, Barnoon Hill. Also he told me that there were plans for a Doris Days single on Grant Lyons’ ‘La Di Da’ label. It never happened and their only demo was elusive for him and me.

Since the first time I listened “Another Day” I was hooked. I knew this band had that something, that they must have got some great tunes hiding somewhere. It is surprising they didn’t release anything, the quality of this song ask for justice, for it to be a single of it’s own. Come on, at least a flexi!

Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff was the real name of Doris Day. She was born in 1924 and she is still alive. Did she knows there was a band in the 80s, on the other side of the Atlantic, that were named after her? She was quite popular indeed and our Doris Days weren’t that much. She was nominated to the Oscars back in the day for her song ‘Secret Love’ which appeared in a movie that she acted as well, “Calamity Jane” (1953). Talking of which… this weekend the Oscars are happening again and I’m not very excited by the movies that are nominated. I think, to start, it is disheartening that Benjamin Button is among the nominees. It’s not a bad movie, but it’s not great at all. In any case, there has been better motion pictures this past 2008. Oh well, the excuse is that America needs a new life-affirming movie, a new parable for these hard times. But giving it a nomination, I think, is too much. Aging backwards? Hmm. Let’s talk about this on Monday after we know who won. Now to “another day”, to our Doris Days.

This past week I got in touch with the great Dave Driscoll who put out the ‘Uncle Arthur’s Pop Parlour Tape’ and asked him many times about The Doris Days (sorry about that!). And what he did, is something to thank him forever! He has rescued a live gig of The Doris Days from one of his many tapes! A wonderful 8 song set at The Basement, a club in Brighton on October the 24th, 1987. That night they were supporting my favourite band ever, McCarthy! These recordings are something no one that loves pop should miss! Where to find it? Well, if you see the blogroll here there’s a blog called “Fruitier Than Thou” (any similarities to a Househunters song is pure coincidence). You just have to click there and you’ll end up at the fantastic blog that Dave runs. The Doris Days’ gig should be his last post. Listen carefully to great tracks as “No Time For Feeling Sad” (love the ‘I don’t believe it’ comment on the middle of the song!) or the trumpet driven “Feet Stuck Sound”. I wonder which of these were recorded in the demo!

On his blog, Dave gives us some details of the whereabouts of a member of the band, Dennis, who now is in a band called Shrift. I’ll try to get in touch with him! I’d die to ask him some questions about the band! And what about that the La Di Da single was going to actually be a split 7″ with all-time favourites The June Brides! I think it would have been a killer single, both bands, I believe, would have complemented perfectly. How wonderful would it be to rewind time and make Grant release this record. Both bands gorgeous trumpets on vinyl. Ebayers today would go ape for it!

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Listen
The Doris Days – Another Day

At last the new Hari and Aino single is out! It took quite a bit for it to happen, mostly because of the pressing plant being turtle-slow. I sent it to press in early December but I didn’t get the records till the first week of February. The release date was this past Sunday and by now all of you that pre-ordered should have gotten the record! Just in time to be a perfect gift for the past Valentine’s Day. Which brings to mind that fantastic Darling Buds’ tune that is Valentine. I think that is the catchiest and poppiest moment of the band fronted by Andrea Lewis. Twenty something years later, “A Considerate Kind of Home” may as well be one of the best moments of the Swedish five-piece that is fronted by our new favourite Andrea: Andrea Dahlkild.

The 2 song single has, as it’s B side, the song “Maple” which could easily be a terrific A side with it’s sugar sweet vocals and breezy guitars. Hari and Aino is the only Swedish band today that recalls the heyday of the first Swedish Invasion, that of early Acid House Kings, Cloudberry Jam, The Cardigans, Red Sleeping Beauty and my favourite, The Seashells. When I listen Andrea, the way she swoons, I’m reminded of the greatness of the 90s in Sweden. It also reminds me how forgotten are these sounds for us in the west but not in the east, as Cloudberry Jam is still HUGE in Japan. What’s with us? Happoly Hari and Aino are not forgotten at all and they are in great shape right now. Touring all over UK and playing even in Holland. In a couple of weeks they’ll visit Spain.

The band comprised by Andrea (vocals), Gunnar Jacobsson (drums, guitars, mandolin), Kristoffer Rengfors (bass, guitars), Robert Klaesson (guitars, bass, drums) and Pontus Leander (keyboards, glockenspiel and melodica) has been one of my favourite since 2007 when I heard for the first time their brilliant “Your Heartache and Mine”. We got to work on a 3″ CD single that year, and in March of 2008 we put out their debut album on Plastilina. It was a perfect album. No fillers. 10 great songs. It received many great reviews. Then we embarked on to work this new single, this time on 7″, Hari and Aino on glorious vinyl at last. We got the talent of Amy Ruppel, a great illustrator, to take care of the artwork. The result speaks for itself, it’s damn pretty!

Im praising and praising non-stop, and I think that’s the only thing I could do with Hari and Aino. This is one of my favourite indiepop bands in indiepop world right now. If you haven’t checked them yet, please do so. If you want to get the 7″ you can order directly from the Cloudberry site and many mailorders.

On another note, I’ve read some complaining on some Spanish blogs about the cost of the 7″s. Well, let me do a breakdown, postage is 5.40. The envelope and paypal fee are, together, more than a dollar. So if you notice, the record actually costs around 3.50, that’s the cost price. That’s what it costs me to get it done. If you want, I can send the record in between two pieces of cardboard and tape it all around. I bet it would be cheaper, maybe around 1.50 less, or 2. If you’d like to do that, send me an email and I can make it happen for you. Not a problem. I won’t be held responsible though if the record doesn’t show in pristine condition.

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Listen
Hari and Aino – A Considerate Kind of Home

Thanks so much to Pete Geoghegan for the interview!

++ You’ve made it to Wikipedia, meaning you are an important band in popular music. See, smaller bands’ pages get deleted. Are you surprised by it? How do you feel about it? What is that that Mighty Mighty left to POP!?

Important is not a word any of us would use. The internet is still a bit of a mystery to us all. We’re 20th Century boys. What is great is that people have access to our music. As for our legacy? Mick is such a great songwriter. If it wasn’t for him, I’m not sure the rest of us would have attempted to write. So on a very personal level I’m glad of that.

++ You said you started the band over a shared love of soul music, Postcard Records, The Velvet Underground and Socialist Worker Party politic. What was your favourite Postcard release? What do you think was Postcard’s legacy?

Mick and Hugh were the postcard fans. My favourite is Blue Boy by Orange Juice – raw power and emotion. Again – legacy? A label responsible for Orange Juice, Joseph K, Aztec Camera, The Go-Betweens….it speaks for itself.

++ How involved were you all with the Socialist Worker Party? How important was for the British to be involved in these parties during the Thatcher years?

There were no jobs, the miners were on stike, Nelson Mandella was still in jail, nuclear attack still iminent…the divide between left and right, rich and poor was a lot clearer in those days I think. It was dificult not to be politically active. There was a benefit gig to play every week! People seem more apathetic these days but that’s a generalisation. I wasn’t old enough to vote when I joined the band! It was a long time ago.

++ Who were Mighty Mighty? When and where did you got together? Why the name?

Mick (my brother) and Hugh met in the early 80’s and palyed in a band called Domestos. They formed Mighty Mighty (Curtis Mayfield song), Russell joined on bass, H on drums and I was last to join. I said to Mick one day, “If I buy a keyboard, can I join the band?”. He said, “Yes”. Simple as that.

++ How much luck was there to appear on the NME C86 tape? How did you end up there and how did it help the band after? What is the song “Law” about?

Luck? Yeah. It’s all based on luck. Ask any band. There are plenty of talented acts out there who we’ll never get to hear. It helped tremendously. We got a lot of exposure for a band with no manager or agent even, at that time. Law? I think it’s about a dangerous girl. You’ll have to ask Mick but he’ll probably insist on having a lawyer present!

++ Your first release was “Everybody Loves the Monkey”… what do you mean by “the monkey”? I was wondering about the Girlie label, who ran it? and why the catalog was organized by the word GAY?

Again, you’d have to ask my brother. The only monkeys I’ve ever seen live in zoos. We ran the label ourselves. It was very primitive and great fun. Russell and I got through quite a few Pritsticks putting the artwork together. Gaye is H’s partner. We used their house as head office. It was just a little “thankyou” to her.

++ How involved were you in the Birmingham scene? I’ve noticed you were really close to The Sea Urchins, with members of them appearing in your record sleeves. Which other bands were good friends with you? Was it a friendly scene? Or did you have any problems with any bands?

Don’t think we were ever really aware of a scene. There were bands we shared the bill with who we admired. Pigbros were great. Bridget, Robert and James (Sea Urchins) were friends. I played with them very briefly in my mum’s front room. My sister has a family with James’s baby brother so there’s still a close connection. I’m off to London to see Bridget at the weekend.

++ You did gig a lot! What were your favourite gigs, those that you still remember vividly?

Aberdeen. Everybody’s fave. The power/lights failed but we played on. It was just great fun. Fantastic crowd.

++ You were also part of the first flexi released by the legendary Sha La La! How did Throwaway ended on Matt Haynes label? Were you followers of his labels? Would you have liked to be in Sarah?

Pete: I haven’t a clue how we got on the flexi. I guess he asked us. I think we may have been more at home on Sarah but then if Chapter 22 hadn’t come along, we probably wouldn’t be talking to each other today.

++ How did you end up on Peel’s show?! Was that the biggest highlight of Mighty Mighty?

He played Monkey. That was the highlight as far as I was concerned. I remember Russell and I jumping up and down. Recording the sessions was fantastic. He insisted on introducing us on stage once. We still miss him. He can’t be replaced.

++When and how did you signed to Chapter 22 Records? Who were they?

Erm…1986? Craig Jennings…don’t think I spoke a word to him. I was very young and shy. I use that as an excuse quite a bit.

++ Early this decade you end up releasing all your back catalog on Vinyl Japan. Was there always interest from Japan? How rare are these CDs now? I’m still looking for copies of the BBC CD and “A Band from Birmingham”! How did you end up releasing in Vinyl Japan, an historic indie pop label!?

We had no idea we’d been picked up by them but were thrilled to be available on CD now as well as vinyl. Craig was behind it. Think it helped to claw back some of the studio costs for him. I don’t think we had much of a fanbase in Japan in the 80’s. It really was great to find out that people were still interested and listening. We’re trying to track down any remaining stock. We’ll let you know if we find anything!

++ Were any of you in other bands before, during or after Mighty Mighty?

We had a few funny side projects – Russell Burton’s 15 Minutes, The Velvet Underwear (feat. Bridget Sea Urchin), The Kitchen Cinq (feat. Derek Hammond of Yeah Yeah Noh – our friends and fave band – how could I forget them!). Hugh left and formed The Belfast Cowboys, releasing a mini-album on Swordfish. The rest of us played as The Raree Show, quite a different sound, all guitar and three lead singers! Pre-MM? The usual garage and college band sort of outfits. Nothing of note although Domestos were really quite good.

++ How important was the fanzine culture of the eighties? How involved were you?

The fanzines were crucial. Before the major weeklies picked up on you it was the enthusiasm of the fanzine editors that started to spread the word. No internet remember. Again, it was all part of the homemade/handmade aspect of music. It goes on now but the tools available are so sophisticated these days, it’s barely comparable.

++ What is that that you miss from the pop scene back then? How different do you think it’s from today? Do you still listen to indiepop?

It was a much smaller world and by that I mean there were fewer of us. It seems saturated these days and there are good and bad points to that. People were not really interested in forming or listening to guitar bands so you really did feel outside of the mainstream. It wasn’t conscious, it was just what we loved. We were extremely naive, as were most of the bands back then. Kids are a lot more savy these days and perhaps they need to be. I still listen to music. I still make music. Indiepop? Sure. If I like it, I like it.

++ Why did the band decided to split up? Will there be a reunion gig?

Hugh wanted to leave. We let him go. With hindsight, I think it was a mistake. We should have soldiered on. We had no deal, but we started without a deal. It’s quite easy to loose sight of why you do what you do. Hindsight though. Easy for me to say it now but I was very young and shy at the time….A reunion? We hope to play Indietracks this Summer. We’re scattered here, there and everywhere so it will take some organising. We’ll see.

++ Thanks so much! Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for talking to us. Looking forward to getting The Leaking Machine out on Cloudberry. Maybe we can find some lost MM tracks for you!!

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Listen
Mighty Mighty – Gemini Smiles

A week and a half ago Jennifer wrote me about some bands and tracks from a mix CD she got years ago. It included bands like Small Factory, Gangway and Dislocation Dance. But there were three songs that I didn’t have much of a clue. One of them was Zeitgeist’s “Freight Train Rain”. Until… I got to listen the track.

“I have heard this one before!”. The question was, “where?”. After a bit of searching, I found this same song, the exact same song, but this time being credited to The Reivers. Yeah, the fantastic jangle pop band from Austin, Texas. So what had happened? Why did two bands released the same song? A quick search showed me that it was again fault of the nonsense of major labels and careerist bands, that want to brand a name…

“As Zeitgeist, the quartet had built up a good following through an indie album and touring, but on the eve of releasing their first major label album, Capitol Records did a name search and found that the German word had already been trademarked by a New Age ensemble. Front man John Croslin recalls that the crystal-wearers “weren’t flexible at all” and so the band ended up with the new name, leaving their fan base baffled. “We could’ve changed it to `Zeitghost’ or something, but we didn’t,” says Croslin.

Who has ever heard about this Zeigeist new age band? no one! Why were they such suckers with their names? Aren’t New Age people generous, sharing and peaceful? And they can’t share a name? Huh! New Age is pure stupidity. That’s what it is. The power of crystals and all that neo-pagan nonsense, the universal truth, their spiritual bonding and so on, does that help our society? No. It’s a non-challenging way of life, it’s not reactionary, it’s not rebellious. It severely damages your brain. It’s going back to medieval times, to the alchemy, to faeries and even extraterrestrials. But let’s get back to our Zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist, originated in Austin, TX with a lineup that included: John Croslin- main songwriter, vocalist, guitars; Kim Longacre- vocals, guitars; Kelly Bell- bass; and Joey Shuffield- drums. Shuffield left the band during rehearsals and was replaced by Garrett Williams. By the time their first self-titled E.P. was released on db Records in 1984, Cindy Toth had replaced Bell as bass player. This new lineup would remain consistent throughout the remainder of the Reivers’ existence. Releasing the full-length album “Translate Slowly” the next year, they began to build a sizeable audience.

That little bio appears on The Reivers website which I recommend checking out. That same “Translate Slowly” is the one album I’ve heard from them. What has happened was that the CD version came out in 1987 when the band had already changed the name. Right! So that’s what created all these misunderstandings.

About the “Freight Train Rain” song. It was released as a 7″ single, not only in the US, but also in UK! In the US it appeared on the DB label from Atlanta, the same one that released The B-52’s “Rock Lobster” (?!) and many Pylon records. On the UK it appeared on Stiff Records, Kirsty McColl fans know this one. The B Side was “Hill Country Theme” (which appears in the album too). This 7″ appeared in 1985. But, let’s rewind a year, and we find out that Zeitgeist released the Zeitgeist EP, a 12″ record that included “Freight Train Rain”, “Wherehaus Jam” and “Electra”.

During 1985 they put out a couple more records. A 12″ including “Araby”, “Freight Train Rain” and “Things Don’t Change” was released. All of the songs were alternate versions. Also they contributed to a couple of local Austin compilations. Their biggest surprise that year was the fabulous Translate Slowly album. A great jangly pop album that includes many standout tracks like my favourite “Blue Eyes” and old favourites “Araby” and “Freight Train Rain”! This song is everywhere you’d say! But it’s a brilliant one, so why not have it all over the place? How does it sound? Jennifer told me: “The song I have is called ‘Freight Train Rain’ and has a really cool combination of guy and girl vocals. The guy sounds a lot like him from Even As We Speak. Someone is really pounding on an acoustic guitar making it sound really percussive. A girl is wailing in the background while the guy sort of sing-speaks. It sounds odd written down but it’s a fab song!” Don’t think there’s a better description than that!

1986 would see their last release under the Zeitgeist name, the 12″ promo-only single “Atlantic City”, which was released by Rhino. A cover of a Bruce Springsteen song. And then the name change happened. The Reivers kept releasing records and even appeared on nationwide TV. But that’s another story.

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Listen
Zeitgeist – Freight Train Rain

Thanks a thousand to Tommy Cherry for the interview!

++ How did The Bachelor Pad start? What were the members doing at that time?

I was a huge fan of Martin Cotter’s guitar. He was in the Wee Cherubs at the time. Then about 1985 a lot of things happened at once. The Cherubs broke up, I first heard The Jesus & Mary Chain and I went to a new club in Glasgow run by Bobby G called Splash One Happening…I instantly left the band I was in (The Oysters) and recorded some demos with Martin and also Graham. The songs were Jack and Julian, Girl of Your Dreams and Norwegian Wood. Splash One was amazing…the first time I walked through their doors I heard Treason by The Teardrop Explodes. I felt I had come home at last…every record they played was fantastic. It was a scene. Within a year every major town in the UK had a copy of Splash. Then came the fanzines…it was like punk but with groovy Warhol kids instead of all those lumpy Clash fans and Sid idiots. I have a lot of fond memories of that period. We sent the demo to various fanzines and got a good response. Offers to play live meant we had to expand the line up. Fortunately, I was sharing a house with a keyboard wizard David Harris (who is a genius!) and Willie Bain from my old band The Oysters stepped in to play bass. Our first gig, thanks to Jim Honey of Simply Thrilled was with Baby Lemonade and Jessie Garon and The Desperadoes. It was a gas. We signed up for a record deal with Mike Stout the same day Andy Warhol died so he called the label WarholaSound.

++ Who or what were the band’s main influences? Was it a dream at all to have your own bachelor pad?

Oh gosh! I think David Harris got it right when he said it was a head-on collision between The Buzzcocks and Syd Barrett. But we used to just chuck everything in there. Martin and Graham were big Smiths fans, I worshiped at the alter of psychedelia and David was just plain encyclopedic! The house we shared in Queen Square, Strathbungo was the closest I’ve been to a pig in shit…happy, that is!

++ What was the songwriting process like? I ask as most songs were credited Cherry-Cotter. Was it an easy task?

We did co-write a couple of songs, but mostly that was a Beatlesque conceit. Competition was much more rewarding than co-operation…a lesson I was to learn at a cost in real life too.

++ Was the band too self indulgent or was that one of their strengths?

Everything we did was to please ourselves. The Self was all.

++ The production on “Tales of Hoffman” was pretty extreme on some songs, was that deliberate and would you do it the same way again?

Our second single Do It For Fun was the most fucked up production ever, so after that the album sounded as smooth as a baby’s bum to me. But then, I was incredibly stoned at the time. I wouldn’t do any of it the same way again…once was enough!

++ The Coroners Wife seems very different from the other songs, how did it come about? Any chance the video for this song will appear on Youtube?

As far as I can remember The Coroners Wife was the first track recorded for the album sessions and it was mostly just Martin and me. We used a drum machine and later David did some overdubs. It was also a brand new made-up-as-we-went-along-in the studio type song, whereas most of them had been played before by the band in a live situation. I loved The Coroner’s Wife and petitioned to have it released as a single. Don’t know what happened there. I had no idea that anyone was interested in this stuff anymore, I’d see if I can dig it out and will post it.

++ You also recorded another video, for Country Pancake! When and where was this recorded? What do you remember of the recording session for this one? Was it true that it was included in an NME tape?

Country Pancake was recorded in 1989 and was meant to be our third single for Mike Stout’s WarholaSound. This never happened due to the collapse of the independent Cartel distribution (Red Rhino etc). But that is why a video was shot and that’s why we gave it to the NME for inclusion in their CND benefit video which also included Sonic Youth and I think Primal Scream. It was the first proper promo film we had ever done and it was filmed at the same studio where we did all our recording, Toad Hall Studios in Glasgow by Ali and Beanie. Beanie (Ian Carmichael) went on to form the classy indie-dance unit One Dove and is one great engineer and producer. We shared a great love of Sparks, T-Rex and David Bowie with him and he was always great fun to work with. It was a snowy day in January and we pretty much just made it up as we went along. When we had finished we noticed a box of dressing up clothes in the corner and spontaneously tried everything on. Ali kept filming it and speeded it up in the edit and that’s how it ended with the notorious “frocking-up” sequence. The ”Zaba daba daba” chant at the end was a reference to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’s The Man In The Jar. S.A.H.B. were the first and greatest band I ever saw live…still!

++ Was it planned that the debut single had one song with a chorus going “Hey Hey Hey” (Jack & Julian) and another with a chorus going “Yeah Yeah Yeah” (Albums of Jack)?

Yeah. I think they are both powerful and holy rock and roll mantras. Yeah Yeah Yeah is also one of my favorite Alice Cooper songs from the mighty Killer album and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are also one of my favorite bands. Karen O is the female Ziggy.

++ How important was Jim Kavanagh for the band?

Jim was the first person to ever show us any interest. Although he only really dug one aspect of the band…the pop. He didn’t really get our rock side. But that was ok. I don’t think we should have signed up for his Egg Records though, and it did all end in tears. I was at my wits end by then and was a bit heavy on him at the time which I truly regret, so if you’re out there reading this Jim I’d like to offer my sincere appy-polly-logies. I should have broke up the band when Martin left and we limped on past our sell-by date for a while. It all made me…um, less than happy, shall we say? But I am glad his thing has had a new life on-line. He deserves it for all his sheer enthusiasm.

++ “Tales of Hoffman” was released on a pretty well known label, Imaginary Records, home of bigger bands such as The Chameleons or Cud. How did you end up in this label and how different was the relationship between you and them compared to the one with Egg Records?

Imaginary Records was a weird thing. We’d had a really close relationship with Mike Stout for a couple of years. Then he arranged for Imaginary to put out the album and we duly toured with Cud (who were awful! Nice guys but music-wise, just awful!) and we never saw or heard from Mike again! He just vanished off the face of the earth. I heard a rumour that he was seen working as a croupier in a Singapore casino! I don’t think there was any truth in it but that’s how odd it was. Wherever you are Mike, all the best. You were a diamond geezer. Imaginary were just that…imaginary! They didn’t seem to exist. They never made any contact with us at all. We used to joke about using a ouija board to get in touch. The lack of support caused us to drift which led to Martin leaving and the whole endgame of The Pad. It was all very odd but somehow all very typical too.

++ You had “Girl of Your Dreams” on a Sha La La flexi which are quite legendary especially as this label will later become Sarah Records. Were you a follower of these labels? What do you think of these C86 sounds being mythified?

That flexi made it as Single Of The Week in Sounds (a popular UK music weekly) so that was really funny. It also got us a lot of gigs up and down the country. I loved Matt Haynes fanzine Are You Scared To Get Happy. He was a real passionate ranter and not at all twee. He was also really funny. My one big regret is not getting to know him better. I think The Bachelor Pad should really have been on Sarah. It was our natural and spiritual home. I also loved Bob Stanley’s Caff fanzine. It was filthy and hilarious. Real punk rock Joe Orton sort of vibe. These were my sort of people. Good home folks.

++ Maybe you can help me on this one, do you remember anything from the Milky Way flexi? I can’t find any information about it aside that you had Sunshower Sun included on this one!

I have no memory of that whole episode at all…I have a feeling that Jim and Martin might be the ones to ask.

++ I always wondered about many of your songs as they include people’s names like “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown”, “The Albums of Jack”, “Jack and Julian”, “Jack McLean in disguise” and “Abu Nidal’s Bus”. Are these songs based in real people too? Are these true stories? Is it always about the same Jack?

There was a bit of a trend for name-songs then. I think it probably came from the whole Lou Reed/Velvet Underground thing, y’know…Sweet Jane, Caroline Says and all that. We all wanted to be in the Velvets in those days. All the clubs aspired to be like the pary scene from Midnight Cowboy too! Lemme see, Jenny Brown, she was real. She had a show on Scottish Television at the time called Scottish Books which I used
to watch after rehearsals. I think I developed a crush on her. Jack McLean was a drink sodden, misogynist journalist with The Glasgow Herald that Martin had a strange love/hate relationship with. Jack and Julian was more archetypal. I had been reading about the origins of old English nursery rhymes like Jack and Jill and Jack just keeps cropping up all over the place. Jack is everyman…Jack o’ Lantern, Spring-heel Jack, Jack in The Box. Remember that bit in Performance when Harry Flowers says “I know you. You’re Jack The Lad”! The Albums of Jack was a Martin title and the line doesn’t actually appear in the song. It actually went by the working title “My Love of Giraffe”! which was the name of a cheap toy rip-off of My Little Pony! The night before we recorded it Martin and I were watching the worst movie ever made, You Can’t Stop The Music starring The Village People and one of the characters said “wait till you hear the albums of Jack” and Martin said that we should call the song that. That is actually my favorit Pad song. It still makes all the hairs on my plotty stand endwise.

++ What do you consider was the highlight of The Bachelor Pad?

For me, it has to be the gig we did in Lincon with The Telescopes. That and Grant Morrison writing us into the plot of a John Constantine Hellblazer comic book. A tape of our second single Do It For Fun is so noisy that we jam the nuclear bomb and save the world. What a gas to be in a DC comic. Thanks Grant. We used to do some gigs with Grant’s band in the early days and on Grant’s first television interview I dressed up as a nurse and administered him pills throughout…it was duly banned!

++ Will we ever see all the Bachelor Pad’s tracks on a retrospective CD?

I dunno…do you want to put it out?

++ Why did the band call it a day? Did any of you get involved with any other bands after?

We should have called it a day the day Martin left as the whole thing was based on our dualist energy…we were Jack and Julian I suppose. Be careful what songs you write, they may come true! In 2000 I recorded an albums worth of songs with Stewart Christmas under the name The Whores (of Perception) and we played a couple of gigs at the 13th Note in Glasgow. But that is a whole other story, in fact I could write a book about it! Julian Cope was heavily involved. We imploded as fast as we created, yet despite this it was probably the best band I was ever in and the music was superior to anything else I ever did. If you are interested I will send you some MP3s. I think we may have been truly before our time!

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Listen
The Bachelor Pad – Jack and Julian

Thanks so much Roger Källs for the interview!

++ Hi Roger! Tell me how did some Norrköping kids got together and made amazing guitar pop? What was that reason that made you make such music?

In that time most kids either played heavy metal or progressive rock(post punk with swedish lyrics)but I was really into the 60’s stuff and powerpop such as the Jam, Blondie and Paul Collins Beat. It was quite a hard time to convince my friends to go that way.

++ How did you know all the band members? Were you high school friends or maybe neighbors? Why, during the whole Saturday Kids lifespan, was there so many lineup changes?

The first setup were the only ones that really dared to play good f*****ng popsongs with a simplicity and stand for it.Those were the people that also a few years later started indiepop fanzines and brought us live acts from England such as the Wedding Present. The music scene in Norrköping turned in to be a kind of a collective (music and arts) and we all knew each other well. Some people played in one band 1 or 2 years and then they’d went on to another band. It wasn’t such a big deal. I wanted to go on with my ideas and some wanted to go Madchester And probably I was a real angry and stubborn young man as well.

++ Where does the name Saturday Kids come from?

The Jam. Saturday’s kids. The song was about working class kids who only lived for the weekends. It was about us.

++ It was 1987, were the sounds from England’s C86/indiepop popular in Sweden? What was the way for Swedish kids to know new music? Did you have some kind of John Peel there? Maybe you had great record stores?

We had a fanzine called Sound Affects, a local radio channel with the same name, a record store, Pet Sounds, a record label, Ceilidh and lots of kids that arranged concerts. Our John Peels were Terry Ericsson and John L Byström from Sound Affects (RIP) and OIa Hermansson (the founder of Ceilidh who discovered Cardigans)

++ What other bands from the late eigthies in Sweden would you recommend?

Wannadies, Popsicle, This Perfect Day

++ Your first release was “Four Beautiful Songs in D’d”(1990) on the SND label. Which songs were included in this 7″? Who were the SND label? I haven’t found much info from them!

Our first release was actually on a Ceilidh compilation but after that it was “Four beautiful ..” Happiness, Me and my brother, Affected Faces and Down. The SND label was the other record label in Norrköping by the time. A bit more into the progressive rock scene. Less indiepop. SND stands for “skit ner dig”…..shit in your pants…..as I said..more rock

++ After that you end up releasing the 5″ “Things Do Happen” on Ceilidh. How did you end up signing to local label Ceilidh? Were they friends?

Yes and fans. Ola Hermansson always preferred us as the best live act at that time.

++ What about the Pet Sounds tapes? These are quite rare items, sought after by collectors. Do you remember how did you have some songs on those compilations? What other Swedish fanzines were there at the time? Was there a big fanzine culture in Sweden?

The Pet sounds tapes are so rare that I’ve almost never heard of them. True! There were fanzines but I seldom read them. Just Sound Affects really. Can’t remember the names.

++ How difficult was to gig or release records for a pop band back then? I have this idea, which could be wrong, that those days Sweden was infested by metal bands and it was hard to get your stuff out to wider audiences.

It was hard but it created a “do it yourself” attitude. No band from Norrköping were big in a wider meaning.

++ How many bands have you been involved with? I know that now you dedicate your time to Northern UpBeat and Absolute Beginners. Any others?

The Way (my first), The Gwen Stacys (directly after the split from Saturday Kids).

++ How do you feel about the incredible explosion of Swedish pop bands during this decade? It’s impressive, really! How would you try to explain this phenomenon?

A mixture of municipalities that were willing to help us with cheap rehearsal rooms and studios (we could get some fundings through the studies circle organizations). A Swedish phenomenon and our interest in all Anglo-Saxon culture??? Cold weather??

++ Having recorded for different formats, what do you prefer, vinyl or CD? and why?

CD……. I’m lazy and it seems to have a longer life.

++ It was just the time of the first big Swedish indiepop wave with bands such as Cloudberry Jam, Club 8 or even The Cardigans when Saturday Kids split. Why was that?

I was a bit bored. We all had developed different taste in music. I wanted to create a more narrow concept. A pure mod band (the Gwen Stacys). So I did!

++ I want to visit Sweden badly, but never really thought about going to your town, if I was visiting Norrköping and I could only visit one place, where should I go?

My place!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Keep on keeping on

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Sunday is almost over for me. It’s been a long day, one where I woke up late, had fever all afternoon and now I’m just feeling a bit better after a Nyquil induced nap. It was still a productive day. I got to finish reading Ali Smith’s “Boy Meets Girl” that Emma recommended me. I’m still confused by it, is Imogen a girl or a boy or a girlboy? Also I finished sorting all Hari and Aino 7″ sleeves with inserts and polybags, 500 of those. If you want to order before the release date (February 15th) you can do it now. On top of that, after some pizza, got to watch Kiki’s Delivery Service. I’ve seen many Miyazaki movies and this one was no disappointment. And maybe the best news today was winning Honeytraps’ “The Boy Who Wouldn’t Be Beaten” flexi for 1.99 GBP.

The afternoon soundtrack, while I was in bed, was The Jasmine Minks, who’s “The Revenge of…” has been on the CD player for many days. And the night ‘track, while working on some freelance, has been the three songs I know from the Liverpudlian band I-Lands. Right now I’ve stopped working to watch the highlights of the Portsmouth – Liverpool game. Liverpool has won 3-2 thanks to a goal from “el niño” on the 91st minute. I wondered if the ex-members of I-Lands were footie followers.

The main person in the band was Andy Warren (who isn’t the Monochrome Set’s Andy Warren, 99% sure). He had been in some post punk bands in the early 80s like Systems (where Jem Kelly from Lotus Eaters played!) and Change of Image. In 1981 Change of Image decides it’s time for literally, changing the image, getting into a more pop sound and they decide to call themselves Islands of Dance. The band was formed by Stuart McBain on bass, Howard Lacey on drums, Mike Saunders on guitars, Ruth Evison on keyboards and the day’s hero Andy Warren. It seems no recordings were made. Fast forward two years to 1984. Now they do record some songs, a single, but it was under a new name: I-Lands. Why did they change names? Well, the band had lost many members in 1983 and some other came on board. Lacey, Saunders, Evison left and Joanne Griffith (vocals), Darren Bell (guitars), Bernie Mulcahey (keyboards), and Warrens old band-mate in the Systems Tony Elson (drums) joined. Tony Elson didn’t last long and, on springtime, Mark Coleridge joined to play drums. With him in the band, the name change was official, they were the I-Lands and in October, that same year, the first and only single “In the Rain” is released.  The A side, “In the Rain”, is fantastic!, and it makes me wish that one day I’ll find it for a reasonable price on eBay, never seen it listed though. The sound reminds me of The Wild Swans of course, it was that time of the eighties you know. Breezing keyboard and a bouncy bassline, some epic-ness thrown in there, and that elegant English-ness that indiepop bands would have later in C86 times. That was what I-Lands produced. The B side, “Velvet Glove” is even greater! It’s such a top tune, can listen to it all the time, and, it even has at the end, this beautiful flute solo. Brilliant boy/girl choruses and a bass to die for. The simple guitars, the dreamy keyboards… should I keep going? Maybe I’m having some feverish delusions? Impossible!

Last track they recorded was “Back before the Pain” (another amazing track!) which appeared on a compilation called “Jobs for the Boys”. This was released in January 1985 on Natalie Records. A legendary compilation LP that included names as This Final Frame and Politburo, the best of Merseysides’ underground. After this release I guess the band broke up but I haven’t been able to find information. What is known is that Coleridge, the drummer, left and joined Afraid of Mice. Maybe that last lineup change made Andy call it a day? Even if that was true, this doesn’t solve our mystery! Did he ever get into recording more pop songs after that? Were this 3 tracks the only recordings of I-Lands? Maybe there are demos or some sessions? Perhaps someone has some long lost improbable Islands of Dance recordings? Or maybe from his other bands? I would really like to know more from this band, three perfect songs just as the three goals Liverpool scored today.

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I-Lands – Back Before the Pain

Friday night, I’m working the late shift. The newspaper’s in-house activity is usually very quiet during weekends. All graphics have been done beforehand and unless there’s an emergency, a last minute catastrophe, some serious shooting or god descending among the mortals, on Saturday and Sunday you’ll get old news. When I was in school, I used to play soothsayer with some girls telling them what would show on the front cover on the weekend. That always impressed. The future was always built over the past and the past was the future. And the present? Well, 1, 2, 3, it’s already the past.

The past is always haunting me. I have a little obsession with it. When I was a kid I always thought I was going to be an archaeologist. My house was built over an ancient cemetery and a block away there was a huge mud city (Huaca Pucllana) many centuries old. My dad told me that when he was a teenager that place wasn’t closed for tourism. It was open, and he would go biking there and often find some ancient remains, vases, combs, textiles and even mummies! That was inspiring for me, that under my feet I could always find lost treasures. And that’s how I feel about The Holsteins today.

Right in front of my nose lies a treasure chest containing two songs of this Belfast band. That’s what the “25 Silver Jubilee” compilation on Germany’s Meller Welle Produkte is. “A Year and a Day” and “Count the Stars” are on repeat right now. I have my huge headphones on and, while they warm my ears a bit on this cold day, I’m enjoying these lovely tracks. Why have they been forgotten? I don’t get it. They had proper releases plus many compilation appearances. They were played by Peel but not even a mention on Twee.net. The past has had no mercy and buried them six feet under. Time for some digging. Prepare the shovels.

After some time researching, the only source of information I could find was this complete website with a large bio and a short interview, which I’ve read eagerly. Here are some important bits and pieces:

* The first album “Angel Train”, was released in 1994 by the German label Bullet! Records. It is a vinyl only 10 song album that seems got many favorable reviews. The track Drugstorm was played on Peel that same year. The record sold out.

* As the album was such a success, the label offered a second release, this time on CD. In 1995 the band releases “Pop-Gun Riot”, a 5 track EP. And again the reviews were positive.

*By 1997 The Holsteins were Niamh Rooney on vocals, Davy Burton on lead guitar, Pete Major on rhythm guitar, Brian McNamara on drums and Chris Birt on bass. Under this lineup they released their last record, the 8 track album “Sub Rosa”, on Shiny Records, which seems their most popular release as it’s the only one listed in RateYourMusic.

*Thanks to this album they caught the German popkids’ attention again and were asked to contribute, these two songs I keep listening, to the Meller Welle compilation. And on top of that, they did a split 7″ with die Blumen des Bosen on the Kactus label.

But what happened after that? Can it be that after many releases they fall into oblivion? And what about the questions I have? like, why did they name themselves after the black and white patterned cows, the world’s highest production dairy animal? Do they find it funny that there is a Holstein region in Germany, the country where they were most popular? Would I ever come around those two early demo cassettes they recorded? Would some crazy person take advantage and offer me their albums for 50 dollars each? All I really know is that I want to listen more from Niamh’s swooning voice. But if you know where the past has left our Northern Irish pop comrades please inform about it! Don’t be silent! You don’t want to be the undertaker’s accomplice, do you?

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Listen
Holsteins – A Year and A Day