1987. An obscure demo tape is released in Leeds.

The band who puts it out are called the Midnight Children. They are a four-piece. They are formed by Jarnail Mudhar on guitars, vocals and keyboards, Neil Chadwick on guitar and backing vocals, Andrew Walsh on bass and John Hannan on drums.

One of the tracks from the demo appears on Soundcloud. On the account of a band called Hombre. There’s a photo of the band but there are only three of the band members there. Where’s the fourth?

There are no other tracks from this demo tape. Just the one. The one called “Night and Day”. It sounds really good. Does it remind me a bit to Brighter?

Behind the Soundcloud account is Jarnail. It seems he was in other bands too like HydraTroop and Fidei. The sounds of his other bands are nothing like the track by Midnight Children. They are rockier, darker, heavier. I wonder what happened?

Jarnail these days is the acting CEO at PATH Yorkshire. This is a charity that provides education, training and employment support to communities, rufugees and asylum seekers. Back in the day Jarnail had studied engineering at Leeds Poly. Maybe that’s where the band started? Or was it after his studies?

I want to think Neil Chadwick is the same Neil that plays in a covers band called Maloik these days. Could it be?

There’s an Andrew Walsh that was bassist for a Norfolk band called Cord. Could it be the same? Surely it is not Leeds, but it could still be the same Andrew, right?

About John Hannan I couldn’t find any details.

And that’s all there is. I am curious about other songs the band may have recorded. Would love to listen to them!

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Midnight Children – Night and Day

A Soundcloud account under the name of Urban Paranoia has two tracks of an 80s band called Split in Two. These tracks are “Chameleon Days” and “Falling Down”.

There is no information about the band. Who they were. Where were they from. When were they active. I say 80s, cause the sounds tells me they are from the 80s. But let’s see if I can find any information about them.

I believe the band hailed from the area around Walsall in the UK. And this blog post from Brown Hills Bob confirms the band being from that area and from that time period.

Here the author mentions that he had seen bands in the area including Split in Two.

He has shared a fanzine called “I Just Haven’t Named it Yet, Baby” where bands like The Mighty Lemon Drops or Julian Cope are featured. In this fanzine Split in Two are also featured.

This seems to have the best info I am going to get about the band. Here they mention some songs I didn’t know about called “Another Edge”, “Rosie” or “For a Day.” It is a small interview with the band members, there are no real names but their aliases I suppose. These are Kimbo, Way, Wut and Dez. So at least we know they were a four-piece.

An interesting little detail is that they say their songs had been played in Radio 5 in Durban and Radio Cape in Capetown and also some other radio stations in South Africa. How did their music get there? It seems they had written a song called “Each Day I Die” which is an anti-South Africa song?

Another song is mentioned, one called “Don’t Fall”. Their influences? They mention weird bands like Anthrax but also The Chameleons.

Lastly we get some names. It seems after the interview the band had some changes, guitarist Derek “Camouflage” Glynn left the band and Pelsoll Plucker replaced him.

Another mention here are some gigs the band played including at Knights in Lichfield, were the fanzine writer attended. A few more songs mentioned, “Monday Afternoon” and “Things that Happened Yesterday”. And that’s not all, some forthcoming gigs are posted, at Coach and Horses in West Bromwich,  J.B.’s in Dudley and Barrel Organ in Birmingham.

And that’s what I could find. A bit more than I expected! Anyone remembers them?

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Split in Two – Falling Down

Philippe Katerine, the well known French musician, and Federico Pellegrini, the lead vocalist of the Little Rabbits (as well as other bands like French Cowboy & The One, Moon Gogo, Western, Dillinger Girl and “Baby Face” Nelson, etc.) had once recorded together under the name Les Deux Nigauds.

Probably took their name after a novel of the same name that was written by La Comtesse de Ségur and first published in 1863. The translation of the name, les deux nigauds, would be the two simpletons in English.

The first time I heard of the band was on the “Heol Daou” compilation tape that Katiho (02) released in 1990. In this classic French compilation, one that I have been looking closely and featuring bands lately, the band contributed 2 songs: “Madame Rose, La Poupée” and “Des Gens Qui Se Couchent Tôt”. But there is also an interesting detail here, the opening track of the tape is by Katerine and Federico Pellegrini and it is called “Dollies’ Collection”. Why did they use their names on the first track and not in the other two tracks?

What other information we could find about this band? I understand the band released a tape in those early 90s according to JetFM 91.2. I haven’t found a tracklist for it though.

On Les Inrockuptibles, there is a small interview with Federico but he doesn’t mention Les Deux Nigauds, the article writer just mentions the band as one of his earliest projects.

And that’s all there is sadly. I wonder then, who has that tape. What songs were in it. Did the Nantes band play much live? Would be great to find out more details about this early project of two well-known French musicians!

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Les Deux Nigauds – Des Gens Qui Se Couchent Tôt

A few days ago a New Jersey indiepop fan shared with me his discovery of a little known band from the UK: The Bed Bugs. At first I thought they were The Bedbugs, who I wrote about time ago. But no, these were different. Not only their name was different, with a space between bed and bugs, but they hailed from somewhere else in the UK, York.

The Bed Bugs were active between 1990 and 1995. They were formed by Gordon Doherty on vocals and guitar, Paul Banks on guitar, Dan Broadbent on drums and Nick Cooper on bass. It is mentioned that some slight lineup changes happened over the years, but I don’t have that detail.

Paul would then go to be in Shed Seven.

There is a nice little video with a history of the band here.

There are tons of songs uploaded to Youtube:

“Heart Attack“, “Mourning Has Broken” and “Silent Night” were part of the first cassette the band released. This tape was called “Dandelion Daze” and was recorded at IC Studios in Tollerton, York on July 23, 1991.

“Break Me“, “Catherine Wheel“, “Fence” and “Bogey Man Parts 1 & 2” were part of the band’s second cassette “Daisy’s Chains” that was recorded at IC Studios on March 1991.

The band’s third cassette was “Why Can’t Monsters Be Pretty?”. That tape that was also recorded at IC Studios, on July 1991, included “Sugar Plum“, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs“, “Sophie“, “Exorcist“, “Catherine Wheel Spinning“, “Scary Notion” and “You Can’t Call a Monster Arnold“.

“Argy Bargy“, “As Large as Life“, “Well to Do“, “Twisting” and “Shooting Stars” were part of the band’s fourth tape called “Shudder” which was recorded also at IC Studios on February 3, 1992.

“Fused“, “Exorcist” and “Catherine Wheel” were part of the “Fused EP” that was released on November 2nd, 1992. This EP had the first two songs recorded at Fairview Studios in Hull on August 14th while the third track was recorded at IC Studios in Tollerton on March 21st of that year. This EP was the one and only that was released on vinyl. It came out on T.S.D Records (B.Bug 1) and I should look to track it down!

On top of that there are unreleased tracks that were recorded at IC Studios like “Tongue Tied” that was recorded on March 21, 1992, “Blow” and “Libertine” on February 1st 1993, “Joyriders Manifesto” and “As Large as Life” on March 29, 1993, “Lovebite” on June 18, 1993, a rerecorded version of “Honeymoon Couple” and “Beggars Blanket” from January 25, 1994 and “Bogey Man” re-recorded on May 1st, 1994.

And then there are unreleased 4-track recordings. Here we find “Marbles“, “Falling Star“, “Heart Attack” from April 1, 1990, “Leeches“, “There is No Cure“, “Stand By Your Man” and a cover of The Stone Roses’ “She Bangs the Drums” also from 1990,

There are live tracks too of “Heart Attack“, “Break Me“, “Bogey Man” and “Open Wide (And Let Me In)” at the York Arts Centre from November 30, 1991.

A live gig, at the Bonding Warehouse in York, dating from March 6, 1992, sees the band play “Argy Bargy”, “Well to Do”, “Twisted”, “Break Me”, “Exorcist”, “Sugar & Spice” (which later would be renamed to “Tongue Tied”), “Sugar Plum”, “Thick Skinned”, “Catherine Wheel”, “As Large as Life” and “Bogey Man”.

Then there’s a full gig of the band playing at the York Arts Centre on April 16, 1992. That night the band played the following songs: “As Large as Life”, “Argy Bargy”, “Sugar Plum”, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs”, “Tongue Tied”, “Thick Skinned”, “Sophie”, “Twisting”, “Exorcist”, “Well to Do”, “Break Me”, “Libertine”, “Vulnerable”, “Heart Attack”, “Shooting Stars”, “Catherine Wheel”, “I Should Be Lucky” and “Bogey Man”.

Then there is an undated live gig again at the Arts Centre in York playing the Indie Rave. That night the band played “Libertine”, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs”, “Argy Bargy”, “Sugar Plum”, “Sophie”, “Thick Skinned”, “Exorcist”, “Well to Do”, “Vulnerable”, “Catherine Wheel”, “Freedom” (Wham cover), “Fused” and “As Large as Life”.

Then we can head to Facebook where the band has a profile page with lots of goodies.

We can see that the band played in The Duchess in Leeds, the York Barbican Theatre (twice), the Spotted Cow, The Winning Post, The Garage in London and at the HMV in Coney St in York.

We also learn that the band used a number of rehearsal rooms including the changing rooms at Knavesmire Racecourse.

It also looks like there was some sort of reunion of the band members not too long ago. Would that mean that they are planning a comeback? Would be great to find out!

It looks like the band had a following in York in the early 90s. I am not too familiar with York bands to be honest. I can think of St. Christopher, and not many more! Would be great to hear more about this band, learn their story!

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The Bed Bugs – Argy Bargy

One more Japanese band to discover: Dida Dida Doo.

I had forgotten about that very good compilation “Wheels Go Round” that had White Town’s track “Anal Sex”. Yeah. Do you know this compilation? It has this lovely, cute, artwork by Megumi Yoshimura and then you read the tracklist and the first track is that one. It is odd to say the least.

A Trumpet Trumpet Records put out this 10 song compilation CD in 1993 (TT501). This Japanese label is a good one if you are not familiar with it. They released the wonderful The Love Mushrooms and also Budgie Jacket. On “”Wheels Go Round” the band Dida Dida Doo appears with the last track, “Love Makes Sweet Music”. And no, don’t think it is a cover of Soft Machine.

This was how I discovered this band. It was a very nice track and always thought it was a good closer to a good compilation that had the likes of The Pearly Gatecrashers, The Rileys, The Acid House Kings and more.

Dida Dida Doo had already worked with this label previously in 1992. On a mini 3″CD compilation called “Television Personalities from Japan” (TT001), that it is not a tribute to the TVPs, the band also had the last song on the comp. It was the fourth track and was called “L’Arrace Coeur”. I have never heard this song, but I would assume the title comes from the Boris Vian novel.

In 1992 the band would also contribute a song to another A Trumpet Trumpet Records compilation. This time around a tape called “The Birth of the Untruth” (TT003). I would think this is a play on the well known compilation “The Birth of the True” from another Japanese label, Sugarfrost Records. On this cassette the band has the opening track on the A side and is titled “Here’s Where You Belong”. This one I’m pretty sure is a cover of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

I cant seem to track down who were behind this band. But then I found a paper, one called “Dynamics of New Market Category Emergence: The case of Shibuya-Kei Music“. It is in Japanese and it is a PDF, so it is a bit hard to navigate. But I find a mention of Dida Dida Doo. There it mentions that behind the band was Kenji Takeda.

And yes, that’s where I hit a wall.

It is interesting to see that the band is mentioned on some online record stores saying that they covered the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. But if they are so little known! How could that comparison help? I wonder.

But perhaps during their time they were well known? Even though they didnt release any records?

Would be good to find out!

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Dida Dida Doo – Love Makes Sweet Music

I continue the investigation on obscure French demo-tape bands. Today is the turn of Les Mistons, the mischief makers.

Named after the great François Truffaut movie of 1957, this band is known for their appearance on both Heol tapes. That means on the “Heol” comp cassette released by Karen in 1990 (KAREN02) and on the “Heol Daou” released by Katiho that same year (KATIHO 02).

The sound of this band is lo-fi. Probably there is just one person behind the band. Strumming the guitar in a lovely way. But is there any details we know about them?

The song on the “Heol” tape is called “Scar”. The song on “Heol Daou” is called “She Was too Damn Stupid to see I Wasn’t With Her”. We also know the band hailed from France as Fabien from Anorak Records confirmed it when I interviewed him.

Other than what I’ve mentioned there is no more details about them on the web. I’ve found a few other bands names the same way but sounding terribly different and many times from other time periods.

I wonder if my French friends can help on this one?

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Les Mistons – Scar

Anyone know about the Japanese band The Cartoon Characters? It seems they didn’t get to release any records but a bunch of their songs found their way on many compilations from the late 90s-early 2000s.

The first notice I have is from a fanzine called SPACE on its 8th issue dating from 1997. A cassette came with this zine that included two songs by the band on the A side: “She’s Good a New Spell” and “Transistor”. The other band on the B side was Momoiro Jenny who is actually an alter-ego of Jenny on the Planet who I’ve written about.

Then there is a gap of 3 years. We see the band back on another compilation tape in the year 2000. On the “Beady Compilation Vol. 2” released by Beady (BDCT-2) the band contributes 3 tracks, “The Marriage”, “The Warmest Room” and “Lovers Town Revisited”. There are some familiar bands on this tape like My Coffee Moment, Chain Letter, Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair or Trans Alphabet.

The following year, 2001, the band has two songs on “Chaan! Ban! Thank You Ben.” released by Monarch Records (MNRC-001) on a limited to 500 copies CD compilation. The band’s contributions were “They Don’t Know” and “Sound of the Sea”.

The superb Bluebadge label would have them on their compilation tape “Boy Should Go! Bluebadge Compilation Tape Vol. 003” (BBCT 003) in 2001. The band would contribute “Strange World” and “Dark Night”. On the insert there is a name for the band members, but sadly I don’t understand Japanese! At least I know the band was formed by just one musician. I do think the last name is Ohashi though.

Then comes the song “Winter Song” from the “Winter Picnic – My Charm Ornament #3” compilation CD released by My Charm Ornament (MRC 001) in 2002. That same year the band works again with the Bluebadge label. They appear on the label’s first compilation CD “Send My Badge! – Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 1” (BBCD 001). Here they appear with “And Your Smile”.

Lastly in 2003 the band has the track “Spaceman” on “My Charm Ornament #6 Voyage a la Mode” released my My Charm Ornament (MCO 002) as a compilation CD.

So yeah, all of their songs on Japanese compilations. Nothing abroad.

And then I hit the jackpot. I figure out who is behind this project. It is Hirokazu Ohashi, the drummer and percussionist of the great band Dizzy Joghurt.

Now, if only I’d be able to get in touch, could interview him about his band and also about his solo project!

Anyone remember The Cartoon Characters? Did they release any other songs? Ever played live?

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The Cartoon Characters – And Your Smile

Here’s another band I know barely a thing.

What I know is that they appeared on three compilations and for a long time I confused them with The Imaginary Friend.

I want to say they hailed from the UK. But I am not 100% sure. Their first compilation appearance was in the US compilation “Seahorses”. On this tape that came with the fifth issue of the Red Roses for Me fanzine (RRT03), the band contributed the track “Within You”. The year was 1992.

This compilation is well known, having featured half of the bands on the tape on the blog (and who knows, maybe in the next few years the other half?).

That same year, 1992, the band would contribute three songs to a German compilation tape “Sandcastles in the Sun” (MEL 10) was released by Meller Welle Produkte and included the songs “Funseekers Paradise”, “Some Things Aren’t Meant to Happen” and “Fall”. The first two were on the A side while the last one was on the flipside.

A few tears later, Meller Welle Produkte would include them on another cassette comp, “Ha Ha, Funny Feeling!” (MEL 15). This time two more songs, “Break” and “Untitled”, were the contributions by Imaginary.

So in total there were 6 tracks. Maybe all from the same demo tape? Who would know.

There are no names, no credits, as far as I know for these songs. So it is proven difficult to find more details. The name Imaginary is also not easy to Google. So I hope our readers have a detail or too. Maybe you saw them play live? Or have a tape by them? Anything would be great, please share what you know!

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Imaginary – Within You