Some time ago I interviewed Mark Turrell from the band Evergreen Dazed. This was a duo formed by Mark and Elizabeth that was active in the early 90s in London. They released a few records during their time.

I had asked Mark about previous bands he had been in. He mentioned that he had been in many since 1984 but he didn’t share any names. This is what he told me:

I’ve been in bands since I started at university in 1984. The first one was with my housemates. None of us could play very well so we used to improvise in the basement and record it on a boom box. It’s terrible, but I still have the tapes. There was student band night in May 1986, so we learned 6 obscure indie covers and played them in front of 800 students. We weren’t very good, but that was my first gig! After university I was in a slew of bands with my friends back where I grew up in Leicester UK. I had an electric guitar and a Boss drum machine, another friend had drums, another had a bass and bought a 4 track  recorder, and  that’s where I  learned my songwriting and recording chops. That would be 1987-91. I played gigs and there are loads of 4 track recordings, one or two are on youtube/soundcloud but none of them will ever be officially released. One of my oldest friends from this time is Neil Carlill who went on to be in Delicatessen and have brief UK chart success in indie supergroup Lodger. We grew up in the same village and I was in the same school year as his brother for a while until  their parents sent them off to Catholic school. We were in bands together on and off for 5 years until we went our respective ways.

Well that is true, some of these recordings are in Soundcloud/Youtube. And as I am quite slow at going through these, it was only today that I heard of his project The Burton Diaries.

In this band he was with Neil Carlill who he mentions. Also on the band was Kevin Carlill. Were they brothers? In any case I’ve found one song they recorded, “Crying Eyes“, which is ace. On this song, recorded in 1989/1990 as an 8 track demo, we find Kevin doing vocals, Neil guitar and Mark bass.

From what I understand, in this period Mark lived in East Goscote in Leicestershire. Leicester is the closest city. Maybe that’s where this band was based?

I don’t have much more info on this project. Did they play live? Are there any other recordings? Maybe I should ask Mark…

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The Burton Diaries – Crying Eyes

The Foots! Time to head to Melbourne, Australia, to the late 90s, early 2000s.

The band started after the short-lived band Jake was no more. This band featured Jane McCraken and Eva Sommerfeld, as well as Andrea Vendy and Kirsty Stegwazi, hence the name Jake, an acronym from the band member’s first names.

The Foots would have Jane and Eva in their ranks, and a third member, Stanley Paulzen (ex-Tlot Tlot) on drums. Eva was on bass and vocals while Jane on guitar and vocals. Both of the girls would be the songwriters.

In 1998 they released their first album on tape titled “Pegs”. It was self-released and included 8 songs, “Dancing”, “Pardon Me”, “Andrew” and “Geraniums” on the A side and “Both the Same”, “Snowdropper”, “Sixty-Seven” and “Popular” on the B side. The songs were recorded on January of 98 by Dave Nelson at Nelsonics studios in Melbourne.

There is a second tape album called “Ponchos”. I haven’t found any information about it yet.

In 1998 the band contributes the song “Geraniums” and “Andrew” to “Clippings – A Candle Record Collection” (CAN2501), a CD compilation put out by Candle Records

The band would sign to the Lost & Lonesome label and release two albums afterwards. You can find both of the albums on the label’s Bandcamp.

The third album was self-titled. It came out in the year 1999 with catalog number L&L 001. It was the first release on the label.

It was recorded in October 1999 at Nelsonics in Melbourne. Dave Nelson was the engineer and he mixed the tracks. This time the drummer was changed, now we find Colleen Keeffe. Also their former band mate Kirtsy Stegwazi plays cello on the song “Another World”.

The songs on this record were “It’s About Time”, “Fickle”, “Saturday”, “December”, “Another World”, “Happened Again”, “All Smiles”, “The New You”, “Only Just”, “Liar”, “Angelo” and “Darling”.

The next year, 2000, the band would appear on a rare 7″. “New Years Eve @ The Punters” was released to celebrate the New Years Eve gig in Melbourne at this venue, The Punters. Three bands appear on it, Sleepy Township on the A side and The Foots and The Lucksmiths on the B side.

The Foots contribute the song “Totally” that was mixed by Andrew Withycombe from The Ampersands, Hydroplane, The Cat’s Miaow, The Hanshalf Trio, and more and recorded by Mark Monnone from The Lucksmiths in Colleen’s kitchen.

The fourth album, also released on CD as the previous one, was called “Again…“. This had the catalog number L&L004 and came out on April 2001. On this record we find 11 tracks, “Totally”, “Fairy Story”, “Genius”, “Unshakable”, “Hardly Breathing”, “Return the Favour”, “Where We Met”, “Good Thought”, “Geraniums”, “Seventeen” and “Murky Water”. Again it was recorded at Nelsonics with David Nelson.

This record features Janelle Johnston on guitar on “Unshakable” and “Return the Favour”, Kirsty Stegwazi on cello on “Unshakable” and “Geraniums” and Barb Waters on banjo on “Good Thought”.

This same year, 2001, we see the song “Pardon Me” on “Will There Be Time for Tea?” a CD compilation on the US label Morgan Leah Records (Morgan 348). Also, they are on “A Very Steady Christmas!”, a 7″ comp by Steady Cam Records (SCAM 9812) from Australia. They appear on the B side with the song “December” which was recorded by Graeme Cameron and mixed by Anthony Paine. The other bands on this 7″, limited to 300-copies, were Bidston Moss, Soap Star Joe and Twelve42.

We know the band toured south-east Australia as well as New Zealand.

The three members would later collaborate in the band Fibrotown. Eva would also appear in other bands like Slurper, Hurdy Gurdy and Fricken. Jane would be on The Kicksilvers.

What else do people remember from The Foots. I am curious about gigs. Which towns did they play? How did their particular sound work live?

Any details will be appreciated!

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The Foots – Fickle

There are a bunch of groups on Facebook I follow. One of my favourites is the Bull & Gate Memories. Why? Well, there’s always posts about bands I’ve never heard about or flyers from halcyon days. Memorabilia from a bygone era. Yes, it is not exclusively indiepop. In general it is not indiepop, there’s tons of pop-punk or goth for example. But that’s ok.

The Bull & Gate pub has changed a lot since the 80s. Nowadays it looks like a total different thing. Hard to imagine what it was. You can book a table and watch the Premier League. It looks pretty and photogenic. Back int he 80s it was one of the most important London venues for up and coming indie bands.

The Timebox was a club night that run throughout 1986 and 1987 in this pub. The Timebox was captained by Joe Beast and I would recommend checking out the photography book “Bull & Gate – The Timebox 1986/1987” published back in 2010 by Mick Mercer. On it you’ll find photos by bands like The Black Cillas, Jim Jiminee, The Primitives and more.

It is actually thanks to Mick Mercer, said to be the longest running Goth and Post-Punk writer in the world, that I find out about Call Dr Bunny.

He shared a flyer from November 1986 for The Timebox. There I noticed the name Call Dr Bunny among the bands playing Timebox Two. What was Timebox Two? All right, it was one of the two Timebox clubs. The Timebox was the main one at the Bull and Gate and then there was Timebox Two which happened at The Union Tavern on Camberwell New Road. Closest station was Oval. Nowadays there is a The Union Tavern but located somewhere else, all the way in Clerkenwell.

I think I’ve written a bit about the scene, but barely anything about the band. Well, let’s see what I can say.

The band supported The Birdhouse on November 19th at Timebox Two. The other bands on the lineup are The Mock Turtles and Clay People.

Other than that flyer I find a video on Youtube! Them playing live at the Timebox Two! Must be the same gig?!

There is just one piece of info on the description, Mike Ellard on drums and Tim Cherrett on bass. On the video though I see there are two guitar players and a female vocalist. So we are missing three names.

The band does announce the name of some songs. I hope I get them right. I believe they were called “This Last Night”, “Notting Hill Mind”, “I Should Care” and “Ordinary People”.

In keep digging, searching for the two names i have. I find out, on the same Youtube channel, that Mike continued making music as a drummer. He was in a band called Tiger Lilly and Jitterbug Bites.

Searching Tim Cherrett I find a retired office worker that is proud of his passion for running. Could it be the same Tim?

I can’t find any other music connections for these names. And nothing about Call Dr Bunny. Did they record any music? Any demos?

Would be fantastic to learn more. Who remembers them?

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Call Dr Bunny – Notting Hill Mind (live at Timebox Two)

Roland Last on guitar and vocals, Paul Wilson on keyboards and backing vocals, John Hutchinson on bass and Kris Helstom on drums. That was the lineup of the mid/late eighties Canadian band Red Sweater.

The band was active between the fall of 1987 and during 1988.

Paul Wilson, the keyboardist, uploaded 8 years ago 9 recordings by Red Sweater, that’s how I discovered them. You can find them on Soundcloud.

These songs are “Somehow”, “Sophistication”, “Into You”, “Something About You”, “Dreamline”, “I Wanted You”, “New Direction”, “First Impression” and “Panic War”.

What we know about them is that Paul and Roland met in high school and started a band. Eventually that band broke but several years later, Kris, another high school friend, got in touch and suggested forming a new band for a single performance.  This first performance saw Roland on vocals and guitar, Paul on keyboards, Kris on drums and another friend, Scott Campbell on keyboards.

Scott would leave the band to join Common Language and it was decided that another high school friend, John Hutchinson who was returning after being out of town for several years, was the bassist they needed.

Sadly I can’t seem to find where in Canada they were based. I believe Roland is now in Paris, Ontario. The closest biggest city is Hamilton. Toronto is also sort of close, but not too close. Maybe they were from Toronto?

There’s not much more info on the web about them. Would be great to find more info if anyone has any!

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Red Sweater – Into You

Here’s a bunch of recordings by an early 90s band that I had never heard before, Leaf!

The Soundcloud account has a ton of goodies from demos and rehearsal tapes. These were all uploaded 11 years ago.

The account owner doesn’t give away his name. He calls himself the Leafy Leafster. But he does share a biography for the band. A short one:

Leaf was a band I was in from about 1990 to 1995. There were two different incarnations and the only consistent members were me and John Orion (Jorion) Shaw, who passed away in 2007. The first incarnation was actually a reforming of a band called The Natural Order of Things, which was formed by Derek Vanderhorst (who went on to be a sound designer and has worked on literally dozens of major films) and managed by Les Garland (the founder of MTV). Les’ girlfriend Paris was our lead singer and we went through a number of different bass players and drummers. Paris was commuting back and forth between Los Angeles (where the band was) and Miami (where she lived with Les). Eventually that became as ridiculous as it sounds and we replaced Paris with John Shaw and renamed the band Leaf.

That is quite interesting. We have a name, John Orion Shaw. Sadly, as mentioned, he passed away. But I’ll have a look.

It is interesting though the connection with MTV. Right?

Anyhow, we do know a little bit more. We know what recordings each incarnation of Leaf left us.

The first one did demo recordings at Gasoline Alley Records (MCA) in 1992. These include: “Pail and Rag”, “Fragile Nothing”, “Window Scarlet Grey”, “The Beautiful”, “Making of it All”, “Single White Reptile”, “Undefined Belief”, “Death of the Everyman”, “Butterfly”, “Injesting Self”, “Idolize”, “The Warmth of Melancholy”, “Rejoice to be Believed” and “Fear and Trembling”.

For the second incarnation we get a little bit more info:

After we were dropped from Gasoline Alley Records (or, more accurately, they stopped returning our calls) our drummer and bass player left and we started looking for new members. John and I knew Rani and Gil Sharone from a summer camp we were working at. They were both about 17 at the time, but obviously very talented (they have since gone on to form Stolen Babies and work on a number of composing and studio projects). Derek decided to move on to other things, but John and I wanted to keep the band together, so we started playing with Rani and Gil and then recruited John Sherwood (who I played with in an earlier band) to play guitar.

The first four songs in this set were recorded with film composer Michel Colombier in his studio – he was working on an instructional DVD series about how to form a band and used us as the sample band (not sure if he ever finished it). The last three are fairly low quality rehersal tapes – I believe recorded on a boom box stuck in a corner of the rehearsal studio.

The recordings from this time include “Twice the Length of My Will”, “Butterfly”, “Flame”, “Seeding the Clouds” and the four songs from rehearsal tapes “I Dig the Light”, “Sideways Glance” and “Injesting Self”.

I google for Gil Sharone. And says he was the drummer of Marilyn Manson. I am not sure what to say about that. I don’t rate highly that music. But I suppose for a drummer that would be a good opportunity? I don’t know. In any case it seems he left his post as his drummer in 2019.

Rani Sharone, as mentioned was on Stolen Babies. I wasn’t aware of this band. It seems it is a heavy metal band from what I’m reading.

This happens a lot in the U.S., where musicians can switch easily between genres, right? It is interesting.

I couldn’t find much more about the band. I think it would be fantastic if anyone knows who the lead person in Leaf was. They had some very good tunes, Smiths-influenced, that would be great to know more details about them.

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Leaf – Window Scarlet Grey

There were some awful news a few days ago. On October 16 we learned that Ruth Miller, Ruth from the most wonderful Leicester band Po!, passed away. I couldn’t believe it.

It is true that a few weeks, on Sept. 30th, and before this event, she had posted on her Facebook (which is public) that she had been living with metastatic breast cancer for the past few months.

But to go this fast? Hard to believe.

For me Po! is one of the best bands ever. I love them. The records Po! left are true masterpieces. And as it usually is for me I get very shy with bands that I have on a pedestal. I don’t contact them… unless of course it all is in a natural way and I meet the band member, have a beer and chat… but to contact a hero of mine myself through email and ask for an interview, I don’t normally do it. So I never ever got in touch with Ruth even though she seemed accessible on social media.

I would have definitely wanted to learn more details about Po! and other projects Ruth had been involved with. Would have been amazing. Maybe I was hoping for her to contact me when I wrote about new songs or new stuff she posted on Bandcamp. But that didn’t happen either.

Now I just feel heart-broken. I know her records will last forever, her songs will continue making her fans happy, but she will be missed for sure. By her family first of all, but also by us, the fans.

I had dreamed of seeing her play live sometime. I know she played some gigs in the last few years, but never got to chance to be in the UK during those special moments. I have never visited Leicester yet.

Ruth is definitely more known by her work in Po!, her band, which of course is her most known project. But she was also on Ruth’s Refrigerator, which are amazing, and the not so known Jody and The Creams.

These three projects overlap in the late 80s, early 90s. Some songs are also recorded by the same bands. Like Jody and The Creams recorded a superb version of “Appleseed Alley”, a song very much associated to Po! But which one came first?

Jody and The Creams was formed by Alan Jenkins (from The Chrysanthemums, The Creams, The Deep Freeze Mice, Yeah Yeah Noh, The Melamine Division Plates, The Thurston Lava Tube, Ruth’s Refrigerator, Aaaaaaaaxb), Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie, Blodwyn P. Teabag (also from Ruth’s Refrigerator), Jonathan Staines (from Jesus Couldn’t Drum, Space Cake and The Chrysanthemums) and Ruth. They released their records on Cordelia Records, the great label run by Alan Jenkins.

Also worth noting Jody and The Creams was an early incarnation of The Creams. In The Creams we won’t find Ruth anymore. The Creams would be active in the mid 90s. Jody and The Creams was around the late 80s, early 90s, though released a 2nd album in 1998.

The first time we hear about them is through a 1988 demo tape with two untitled songs, one on each side. This self-titled tape  was released by Cordelia (Ericat 026) and both songs were penned by Alan.

The second release is perhaps the one you might have heard about. It is the album “A Big Dog.n” that came out in 1990. There is a vinyl version and a CD version of it. The A side had “The Queen #1”, “Margery is Dead”, “Moulted from a Labrador”, “Tree Rings”, “Appleseed Alley”, “Hi Felicity”, “Shropshire” and “N.”. The B side had “N. (Continued)”, “The Queen #2”, “Blue Moon” and then 2 “Untitled” songs, “A World Without Love” and then 7 more “Untitled” songs.

Their music could be pop. Could be punk. Could be experimental. Hard to classify. On this record Geraldine Minou-Sullivan (from The Chrysanthemums) played drums, Alan Jenkins played guitar. Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie played guitar and viola. Blodwyn P. Teabag played oboe, piano and synths, Jonathan Staines played the sampler and Ruth sang.  Alan was the producer. The sleeve designed is credited to Regale who had made a few records for Cordelia related bands.

This album is available to listen on Bandcamp.

In 1992 the album “Lords of the Gromet Canning Factory” was released. On CD by the German label Pink Lemon (PINK 005) and on tape by Cordelia Records. I must say I have never heard this album. The album has the songs “Lord of the Gromet Canning Factory Part One” and “Lord of the Gromet Canning Factory Part Two” and then 18 “Untitled” songs!

Ruth participated in this album just as a co-writer of the first song. Doesn’t look like she played in the album? I believe she was replaced by Sherree Lawrence.

Worth nothing though that the tape is the one that came out in 1992 in a very limited run of 25 copies. The German release would only come out much later, in 1998.

The band also appeared on a bunch of compilations.

“Nutrinos Arrive on Earth” was a song they contributed to “The Rachel Welsh Guide to Lateral Thinking”, a tape released by Snowdonia, an Italian fanzine, in 1987. This same year the song “(Untitled)” is included in “Cordelia Records Sampler, 8th Edition” tape.

In 1988 the band appears on “Obscure Independent Classics: Volume 5 (Special Hamster Edition)” released in the UK by Hamster Records and Tapes (HAM 22). On this com they have the song “Look Out!!! Here Come the Radio-Active Zombies”. The song “The Revolving Countess” also shows up in 1988. It is on the tape “Annual Jissom – 1988 Flavour” released by the magazine All Media.

On 1990’s “Home-Made Music for Home-Made People Vol. 7: “Sexy but Chic” / Ode to Samantha Fox (Soft Blend)” tape the band has two songs, “Moulted Fur From a Labrador Part 2” and “Moulted Fur From a Labrador Part 24”. Worth mentioning that this tape came with a fold-out lyric sheet and a naughty Samantha Fox postcard.

In 1991 the band contributed the songs “Torrid Zone” to “New Hippies Vol.5” tape released by Red Neon Tapes (RN12), the song “Riding Around on a Pink Cloud With You and Coffee Cup” to “Total Recess Grade – 6 Compilation” a tape by the US label Mystery Hearsay (MH012) and “Hi Felicity” to the classic compilation “Shiver Me Timbers” that Ruth released on her own Rutland Records.

In 1992 on the German compilation “He Didn’t Even Draw a Fish on My Shower Curtain” released by Mermaid Records (MIRABELL 001) the band had the song “Be My Baby”. That same year the same label would release “Mermaid Employee of the Month: Gustav Sackmüller”, a CD, LP and cassette comp where the same song, “Be My Baby” would be included.

Pico Records, also from Germany, released in 1992 the vinyl compilation “Eating a Fish-Shaped Particle”. On it Jody and the Creams appears with “Spotted Linsang Day”.

This same song appears on the compilation tape “The Cordelia Records Presents” that was released in Greece by Project Press & Tapes (PRT 14).

Also an “Untitled” song appears on “Cordelia Records Sampler” cassette with what looks like a huge bat hanging on a tree on the main art. There is no date for this release.

Later on, in 2004, the CD “The Miraculous Healing of the Daughter of Henry the Glass Cat”, would have the band’s song “Margery is Dead”.

That’s what I can share about this short-lived band that would later continue being more successful under the name The Creams.

I am now going back to my Po! records. To Ruth’s Refrigerator. I wish I would get to know a little more about these bands too. Even if it is not from a first-hand account. Would love to hear what their band mates remember. I don’t know… I just feel that something is missing now.

I just can say again that Ruth’s music will live on, her legacy will live on, and I very much love all her songs. What a classy song-writer she was.

Edit: I want to add something about Ruth’s latest project, Unglamorous Music. There’s a Facebook page and stuff on Twitter/X. As Angela Collins, a member of Glitch Magnet, that is part of this project, told me, “she decided to launch a music project to get women to learn how to play and encourage them to form bands. On 1st January 2022 she launched ’66 days to your debut’ which I joined. It was a simple plan, form bands with the other women who joined the project and learn how to play an instrument well enough to perform an original song for the first time 66 days later which was International Women’s Day. We did! 6 bands launched as a result of Ruth’s insane plan. We’re now on the 3rd intake and Leicester has 16 all women bands.”

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Jody and the Creams – Appleseed Alley

Orlando, Florida. The mid 80s. Not the place or time where I would expect to hear some fine guitar pop music. One that reminds me a lot of the Canadian band The Pleasures Pale.

There’s a Soundcloud page by The Field Trips. one of its members, Jack Beals. Has uploaded a trove of demos dating from that decade.

We can see them grouped. The first group of songs I find is called “Now It’s 1985!”. These are demos recorded in that year. They include “Afraid of Lightning”, “Back to the Pleasures”, “Jimmy”, “Kaleidoscope”, “Love Cliche” and “Place Without a Puzzle”.

The second group is a bit older, 1984. This group of songs were part of a tape called “Gem of the Hills”. I wonder if the 1985 were also released as a demo tape…

On “Gem of the Hills” we find “Communication”, “Love Cliche”, “Back in Town”, “New Face”, “Beware”, “Father’s Footsteps”, “Gem of the Hills”, “Found a Love”, “Safari Fun” and “Things Will Change”.

The good thing is that I find a scan of this tape. Thanks to that I learn the band members names. So Jack Beals was on guitar and bass, Tommie Minor was the vocalist, Gerry Wilson was on drums and Shannon Zimmerman on bass and guitar. These 10 songs were recorded at Storm Studios in March of 1984 in Orlando. They were produced and engineered by Scott Roberts.

There is an address too, in Clermont, Florida. That’s a suburb on the west side of Orlando, next to Lake Minneola and Lake Minnehaha.

I can’t find any other info about the band or the members, only that Jack continues to live in the Orlando area and was in other bands in the Orlando area like DayGlo Zombie, Thud, The Subterraneans and Transistor.

Anyone remembers them?

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The Field Trips – Piece Without a Puzzle

A few years ago I wrote about The Pastry Heros, a side-project of Catherine Cooper and Adam Cooper who were in the superb early 90s band Alison’s Halo. But there are other projects they were on, after relocating to Chicago from Tempe, AZ, in the late 90s. One of them is Kitten Factor for sure.

As I mentioned int The Pastry Heros post, Catherine and Adam were on Insta as well, and maybe that’s the project that is more known after Alison’s; Halo.

Kitten Factor added a third member other than the Coopers, it was David Rogers who had been also in Alison’s Halo and Insta, as well as in Half String.

The first thing wee know about them is that there is a 7-song demo. This demo CDR had the following songs: “Brittle (Pop Mix)”, “Brittle (Rock Mix)”, “Dissolve”, “The Pastry Hero”, “Far”, “Mexico Sometimes” and “Jetpacks for Julian”. My curiosity is picked up by the song “The Pastry Hero”. Maybe it was this song that inspired the future project of the same name? Also worth mentioning that “Far” is a live recording done in Tucson, Arizona.

The band’s first release was a 7″ on the Rainbow Quartz International label (RQTZ015) in 1998. This record that had a simple white sleeve and was pressed in pink vinyl had two songs, “Sparkle” on the A side and “Nite Lite” on the B side.

It seems this record was cancelled because of a mistake on the printing of the labels, so the “Sparkle” was labeled as “Nite Lite” and vice versa. So it is a bit harder to come by. What happened after was that the remaining copies were sold through the band’s website and also some came as a bonus disc with the band’s following release, the “Surround EP”.

The “Surround EP” came out in 1999. It was released by the always reliable Sunday Records (SUNDAY 045). This time around we got three songs, “Surround” on the A side and “Dim” and “Leave Me Be!” on the B side. The last song was a cover of The Zombies.

On this record we get details on what each member played. David Rogers played bass on the first two tracks. Nick Pasco played drums on “Leave Me Be!”. Ben Currier on drums on “Surround” and “Dim”.  All other instruments,  were played between Catherine and Adam. The songs were recorded and mixed at Jetpack Studios.

The only appearance on compilations by Kitten Factor was on the superb compilation “Popular World” that was released on CD by Sky Blue Records (001). On this record the band contributed the song “Brittle”.

And just to give a little service to the public, you can find a few copies still of the “Surround EP” on Bandcamp. There we also find a small review by The Big Takeover that confirms that the band hailed from Chicago.

Any other details we should know about Kitten Factor? Did they play live at all?

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Kitten Factor – Dim

There’s a Bandcamp with three tapes by The Intrynsics, a late 80s Boston, U.S., indiepop band.

That’s quite a trove. I wonder though if all of these tapes were all the recorded output of this four piece. Let’s see what info we can find.

The first tape dates from 1987 and was titled “Pizza and Faerie Tales”. It was recorded at Acme Studios in Mamaroneck, NY, in May of 1986 and August of 1987 with producer Peter Denenberg. The songs on it were “As If I Were You”, “Mistake”, “From You”, “Means of the Cure” and “In Sue’s Room”.

The second tape was self-titled. Recorded and released in the summer of 1989, it was produced by Sean Slade at Fort Apache South in Boston. This tape includes an address, Allston, Massachusetts. That is a neighborhood in Boston, south of the Charles River. In this neighborhood is the Harvard Business School.

Five songs appear on this tape, “Crusade”, “Yellow Submarine”, “Too Much for Words”, “Repetition” and “Distortion”.

The third tape dates from August 31, 1990. This tape was again produced by Sean Slade at Fort Apache South. Five songs again, “Foregone Conclusion”, “Cover”, “What Does it Take (Michael’s Song)”, “Inside Out” and “Nineteen”, were included in it. This tape was titled “The Story of Hair”.

I keep looking. I see that The Intrynsics played on September 5, 1989, the venue The Channel. That evening they played in the same bill as T.V. Dream, What We Like, Work Force and The Balls.

Then according to Discogs the band contributed two songs to “SAWPIT – A Compilation”. This compilation was released by Bolt Records (BOLT007) in 1993. The songs by The Intrynsics are “Behind You” and “In the Basement”.

Then I finally find a name. George Faulkner. He was a member of The Intrynsics and was also behind Bolt Records, the one that released the compilation. George was also in NYC band The Rabies as well as The Mod Squad, The Juicemen and Junkstar.

Cool!

Now, who were the other members? Where are they now? Why didn’t they release any proper records? I’d love to find more. The sound of this band is really good!

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The Intrynsics – Means of the Cure

Formed by Damien “Smeg” Channing on vocals, Jason Channing on guitar, Richard Lewis on drums and… the owner of the Soundcloud account that has The Adored songs… he left no name.

That’s great. I wonder why would anyone do that? I find the pretty song “Atom Bomb Subculture” and I think this is superb, I need to find more. But yeah, the details are incomplete.

We know though that the song was recorded in 1988.

There is another track by this band. One called “Heading for a Wall“. This one also dating from 1988. An interesting thing here is that I do find that the person behind this Soundcloud had the last name Allcock.

And two more, “Gone to Seed” and “Maybe the World Will Change Tonight” also both from 1988.

In this account there are songs since as early as 1984 and as late as 1997. Sadly there are not many mentions of the bands that made these songs.

We know this mystery Allcock was in other bands like Sulphate. The Great Family of Man, The Funk Furious Five and Delphi.

We also know that this bands hailed from the UK.

I look for the band members and I think I may be in the right path. Perhaps. I find that there were a Jason Channing and a Damion Channing in a band. Not Damien, but Damion. But MAYBE? This band was called The Blocked and were around in the mid 90s. They hailed from Newport, Wales.

I wonder if my detective instinct is right here. The dates make sense. The instruments they play also seem to be correct.

What is true though is that I can’t find anything about The Adored, nor about the mysterious Allcock who I saw went under the name Delphi on a few Youtube videos.

Anyone remember them?

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The Adored – Atom Bomb Subculture