Day 274.

Sodastream: have always been a fan of the Melbourne duo formed by Karl Smith and Pete Cohen. They have been terribly quiet as of late, but suddenly there’s a new song by them called “Letter from Melbourne”. It is classic Sodastream if you know what I mean. It is a song the band have recorded during the lockdown. I hope this means they are working on a new album too!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs by the San Francisco band. I’ve written so much about them that don’t think they need an introduction. The two new songs are “Dahlias and Rain” and “Bed of Roses”, this second one a cover of Screaming Trees.

Kissamatic Lovebubbles: the Greek label Old Bad Habits has put together a digital compilation of all the songs by the classic Athens band. Included are the songs from their 7″ on This Happy Feeling as well as many live recordings. This is really good and essential!

Sissy Space Echo & the Invisible Collaborators: another new release coming out on the Greek label Old Bad Habits is a 7″ by this superb English band whose previous release was a favourite of mine. This new 7″ will include two songs, “The Day the Earth Caught Fire” and “They’ll Fix You (They Fix Everything)”.

The Bachelor Pad: a 10″ vinyl with the songs “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown”, “Eeek!”, “Albert Hoffman”, “Do It for Fun (12inch version)” and “Meet the Lovely Jenny Brown (vocal mix)” is going to be released by Emotional Response Records! How cool! It is the perfect accompaniment to the recent Best Of compilation the band and label put out. Great news!

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Let me start a new challenge. This one will be much shorter, but may help anyone doing their mix tapes or CDs. What about a challenge of the four seasons? Let me write a post about bands who wrote songs about summer, fall, winter and spring. Sounds good? I’ll start with summer today!

I believe I only have two records by the French project River, two albums one from 2002 and 2003. These seem to be their last releases. Dear dear. I need go go back and check all the previous releases. And they are quite a few!

But first why did I pick this band? Well, they wrote a lovely song “Happy Summer Nights”. So that gives summer a check mark in my challenge.

According to a bio on AllMusic the band was actually the solo project of Fabrice Hervé from Nantes, France. The project started in 1997 and that year it says the band released a CD called “Happiness & Smiles”. I haven’t been able to find any info about this CD sadly. Was it an album? A single?

The year after, 1998, the band would release “The Hairdresser” (Plastic Pancake 004) 7″ single on the fine French label Plastic Pancake. This 7″ included three songs, “The Hairdresser” and “Happy Summer Nights” on the A side and “Parisian Girl” on the B side. The female vocals on “Happy Summer Nights” are by Sophie.

That same year a single sided tape called “Venus” was released by the US based label In a Lighthouse Cassettes. This tape included 8 songs, “Imaginary Friend”, “Country Man”, “Bright Nights”, “Fishes in a Berlin Garden”, “A Night with Tres Hansen”, “Madoka”, “The Forbidden Wall” and “Juliette”.

In 1999 the band would release another tape, this time on the Italian label Best Kept Secret. The tape was titled “Once Upon a Time” (LIE 027) and included 22 songs! Quite a lot! The A side had “Stories of Love”, “Beach Song”, “Family (Techno Mix)”, “Suicide”, “Inside Your Arms”, “Bye Bye 2”, “From You to Me”, “Mary’s Street”, “Tu As Beau”, “Sometimes” and “Rainbow”. The B side had “Family (Noisy Mix)”, “Suddenly”, “Down”, “Love”, “Waiting”, “25-10-95”, “Little Girl”, “Eric’s Trip”, “Ici Ce Soir”, “A Night with Naomi” and “A Night with Inès”.

That same year, 1999, the band would release a second 7″ on Plastic Pancake (009). Three songs again, “Spiderman” on the A side and “It’s Me!” and “Kitty Cat” on the B side. But that wouldn’t be all. The band would start a relationship with the US based Shelflife Records, releasing first a 7″ EP called “Poseidon’s Girlfriend” (LIFE 022). This 7″ had “Queen” on the A side and “Gentle Land” and “Mister Jocker” on the B side.

The year 2000 would continue being prolific for the band. 2 songs were to be released as a 7″ on the French label Safari (Safari 0002), “Strawberry Lipstick” on the A side and “Madoka” on the B side. And then came another album, “…Is the Postman” released on the US label Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club (BBPTC 194). And yes it was released on CD not on tape. This album had 11 songs, “Boys and Girls”, “Let me Stay”, “The Four Princesses”, “Juliette”, “River’s Song”, “A Night With You”, “Am I So Silly to Believe?”, “Art Students”, “Brasilia”, “Tea for Cats” and “Go in a Tree”.

In 2002 we’d see a the “Street of Desire” 7″ on Plastic Pancake (015) with the title song on the A side and “Strange Friends” on the B side and the self-titled album on Shelflife Records (LIFE 023) with another whopping 20 songs: “Better than You”, “At Home”, “Happy Summer Nights”, “Harold the Wonder Boy”, “Writing”, “Le Top Model”, Les Volets Verts”, “Street of Desire”, “Will You Marry Me?”, “The Recital of My Life”, “The Hairdresser”, “Let’s Climb to the Moon”, “Switch On”, “Miss Dolly”, “The Bridge”, “Pet’s Field”, “Un Diner Sur l’Herbe”, “Me and Naomi”, “Dream On” and “Thank You’.

Aside from this, even though Discogs doesn’t list it, I know, because I also have it, a CD album called “Music for Top Models” released by the German label Meller Welle Produkte (MEL 33) in 2003. This album had 14 songs, “Heavenly Voices (intro)”, “She Lives Under a Rainbow”, “Living in a City”, “American’s Bedroom”, “English Party”, “The Green Hoan”, “The Little Pink Town”, “Like a Dream”, “German Girl”, “Emma’s Song”, “Merry Go Round”, “Mum Had a Lover”, “Diamond Girl” and “I See Nothing in Your Eyes”. One thing I have to say about this record is that the design is not very pretty, not sure why. The other releases have very sober and interesting art, this one not really. It is a fine album though.

Aside from the releases the band did appear on many compilations. The first one actually dates from 1995, so ok, the band was around much earlier than the bio we found. In 1995 the band contributed the song “Bye Bye” to “Palazzo” a compilation tape released in France by Pâte a Modeler (PAM 005). The year after, on the same label they had three songs on the compilation “Imbroglio” (PAM 008), “The Hairdresser”, “Will You Marry Me?” and “Notre Rencontre”.

Then there’s a gap of 4 years. In the year 2000 they have the song “End of a Story” on the Japanese comp “Voyage Romanesque” on Bambini Records (BAM 5). That same year we find “Queen” on “You Make me Smile” a CD comp on Shelflife (LIFE 10) and “Art Students” on the “Blackbean and Placenta CD Compilation #4, Autumn 2000” released by Blackbean and Placenta (BBPTC 144).

In 2002 the song “German Girl” is on “We Are Not Alone (Songs for the Lo-fi Generation) Volume 6” tape comp released by Best Kept Secret (LIE 043). Then in 2003, they cover The Arrogants’ song “Lovesick” on the “You’re Still Young at Heart” CD compilation on Shelflife (LIFE 050) and the song “Two for a Night” appears on the compilation CDR “Dashboard Teddy Version 1.0” on Dorothy Records from the Philippines.

And that seems to be it when it comes to releases.

But I can google right? And I find he was doing a project called Moon & River about 4 years ago. 11 songs are on Bandcamp. This is a collaboration between Fabrice and Jean-Charles Queffélect from the band To the Moon and Back.

One thing that I do find on the web is that River played San Francisco on July 25 of 2002 with support of Laura Watling! Wow! That must have been a cool gig, and all just for $5!

I don’t seem to find much more information on River, especially curious to know if Fabrice was involved with any other bands. But hey, we’ve shared a lot of info here, some that is not on Discogs even. I have many questions still but hopefully they’ll get answered in the near future!

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Listen
River – Happy Summer Nights

Day 272.

Stephen’s Shore: a few days ago we were very excited to listen to “Brisbane Radio” by our Stockholm friends! Now the band has finally unveiled a second song from their upcoming 7″. It is called “Skogen” and again it is really good. Jangly, elegant, just what I needed to listen today. This 7″ will be out on January 22nd and they are already taking pre-orders.

The Hannah Barberas: wow! A new EP by the Hannah Barberas! And it is one that is perfect for this season. The “Winter EP” is out now digitally with three perfect Christmas songs, “Happy Winter”, “Can You Hear the Snowfall?” and “Holiday Hymn”. Add them to your Christmas mixtape!

The Catherines: another band that has a Christmas song is the Hamburg duo The Catherines. The song is called “I’ve Heard They Called Off Christmas” and is being released as a digital single with “I Doubt He’s in a Good Mood” as a sort of B side. Both tracks are nice, as one person commented in their Bandcamp, perfect indiepop tunes!

The Fisherman and his Soul: “The Last Wasp of the Year” is another X-mas single, this time from Münster, Germany! It is a great video as we see a lot of familiar faces in it! The song is fun too, and it is also available on Bandcamp here. Don’t miss it! It is being released as a CD single and it is verly limited. Only 9 copies are available at the time of writing this!

The Lousy Pop Group: the latest release on the Thessaloniki, Greece, label Melotron Recordings is a CD by this great Indonesian band, a Cloudberry favourite for a long time. The CD seems to be sold out already, and it will include 4 songs. We can preview one of them, “Days”. On top of it, the record has art by our friend Casio van Doesburg. Top release.

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So a Swedish band that took their name from the song “Punky’s Dilemma” by the American duo Simon & Garfunkel (from their 4th studio album, “Bookends” from 1968). A Swedish band that was around in the 2000s and, released a few CDs and then went silent until 2013 when Jigsaw Records put out a posthumous album. So join me and see what we can find out about them!

For many the introduction to Punky’s Dilemma was through Shelflife Records and their CDR series. The 11th CDR on the series was the “‘neath The Staring Skies” by Punky’s Dilemma and a lot of us fell in love with the swedes. This EP had 6 songs, “Airliner”, “Not if I Lose”, “Dream MTV”, “For Sale”, “Century of Time” and “Grace”. There were only 100 copies of this CD made, and I still don’t have a copy myself! But thanks to Discogs we know some of the credits.

So the main songwriter was Mikael Calner. Then listed as choir are Björn Stegmann, Hanna Calner, Camilla Sjeren, Carl-Otto, Lena, Lisa, Markus and Martin. It also says that the CD featured The Beautiful Aircraft Choir.

This CD was released in 2003 and you wonder how did Shelflife find out about them. Perhaps there was a demo CD before it? It would be good to find out. In any case there next release was a self-released album called “Scandinavia” in 2005.

This seems even rarer. The cover art shows a building and its windows. Maybe somewhere in Sweden? We know the CDR album had 10 songs, “Radiosonic”, “Century of Time”, “A Side Effect of Violence”, “City People”, “Airliner”, “Dream MTV”, “For Sale”, “Scandinavia”, “Not if I Lose” and “Grace”.

Then in 2006 the band would sign to Junk Musik, a label that had released the terrific Brainpool, and put out the “Echelon EP” (JNKS 0518). This one had 5 songs, “Shooting Stars”, “A Side Effect of Violence”, “Echelon”, “Century of Time” and “Scandinavia”. The photos for this EP are credited to both Mikael and Hanna, and the design to Markus Slivka. Christoffer Lundquist mastered, mixed and produced.

Something that may answer how Shelflife heard about the band is that the band appeared on the compilation “The Sound of Young Sweden – Volume 3”  from 2002. This compilation was put out by Labrador Records (LAB034) and they had two songs on it, “Century of Time” and “Dream MTV”

Another compilation appearance would be on the “Puzzle Pieces” double CD comp released by Jigsaw (PZL05). There the band would contribute “City People”.

So now let’s get back to the 2013 album that Jigsaw released. It is called “Remote Sensing” (PZL029) and that one is still available. I recommend everyone to get a copy. It has 11 songs, “Shooting Stars”, “Dream MTV”, “Echelon”, “Radiosonic”, “A Side Effect of Violence”, “Scandinavia”, “For Sale”, “Century of Time”, “Grace”, “Halfway” and “Airliner”. According to Jigsaw this release revisits older songs, older songs that were re-recorded the way it it should have been. So what does this mean? That they recorded them again when? 2013? Would be a good thing to find out.

The CD gives a little bit more information. It says all music and lyrics are credited to Mikael Calner but “Shooting Stars” and “Grace” which were written by Mikael and Hanna Calner. Were they husband and wife? Maybe brother and sister? In any case most of the songs were recorded, mixed, and mastered by Christoffer Lundquist in the Aerosol Grey Machine Studio in Vallarum. Vallarum seems a very small town sort of in the middle of nowhere in Skåne. The songs “Radiosonic”, “Grace” and “Halfway” were produced, recorded and mixed by Björn Stegmann in a few places, the same studio as before, in an apartment on Sturegatan street in Malmö and at Tongeneration Studio also in Malmö. I wonder then if the band hailed from Malmö? It could be.

Other info worth mentioning is that the photography on this CD is credited to Michael Martin from Germany, the sleeve design to the band and the strings on tracks “Shooting Stars” and “Scandinavia” were played by Christoffer Lundquist. You can listen to the album here too.

I find then that Björn Stegmann who produced the band was in the band Thirdimension who had a few records on Telegram Records.

Then a blog called Le Journal des Mouches has a 2006 post about the band. Here they mention the band started in 2001 a s a trio with Mikael Calner on vocals and guitar, Hanna Calner on backing vocals and percussion and Camilla Sjeren on keyboards and piano. They also mentuin the band has played around in Malmö in venues like Inkonst, KB and Glassfabriken. Dear… I feel old reading these names that at one point I dreamed of visiting and attending. It’s been a while since I visited Malmö. When will I go again?!

And then one amazing thing I didn’t remember. Punky’s Dilemma played in Malmö alongside my friends of The Sunny Street on November 30, 2007, at Blekingska, in Lund. Really wow. That must have been a beautiful gig.

I keep digging and finally find what I was looking for. The early demo! So, in 2002 the band released a demo CD produced by Björn Stegmann. This CD had 6 songs, “Airliner”, “Not if I Lose”, “Dream MTV”, “For Sale”, “Century of Time and Grace”. I knew there was a release I was missing!

Okay, so that was good detective work. Still it’d be great to know more about the band. What happened to the band members? Are they still making musi

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Listen
Punky’s Dilemma – Shooting Stars

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Day 269.

Subsonic Eye: the Singapore label Middle Class Cigars is releasing a wonderful album called  “Nature of Things” by the also Singaporean combo Subsonic Eye. So far we can preview one of the songs, “Unearth”, which sounds amazing. It even has a video if you are not convinced. You’ll see this is great. Totally recommended. Now I hope I get to listen to the rest of the songs, if they are as good as “Unearth” we are in for a treat!

The Fisherman and his Soul: well this is already sold out. That is a shame. Sebastian Voss’ solo project have just released a 7″ with two songs, “Reckenfeld (Feat. Tenant from Zero & Estella Rosa) and “Harenberg (feat. Kev Robertson)”. I don’t know how many copies were made, I just know I arrived late. But at least we can stream both songs on Bandcamp.

Iris Bevy: remember the band Ping Pong Club from Indonesia? They were great, weren’t they? Well it seems they have changed a bit their style, more into electropop, and also their name, to Iris Bevy. Their latest song is called “Endeavor (feat. Emiri Kanou)”, and it is quite lovely. A bit different yeah, but very enjoyable.

Tres Oui: now a four-piece from Austin, Texas, that have just released a 2 song digital single on their Bandcamp. The songs are called “Sad Boys” and “Oh Guitar”. They are jangly and bright. They have a few other releases, they’ve been going since at least 2017, so I’ll have to check those out!

English Summer: I’ve championed this jingle jangly band from Melbourne in the past. Their songs are very Sarah-esque at times, other times it feels very Bodines. So yes, it is great. We know the band is working on an album called “The Wedding”. I can’t wait for it. This is very very promising. I am sharing now with you their latest song, “Flowers For You”.

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“Impractical Guide to the Opposite Sex”, a 10″ and CD released in 2001 by Radio Khartoum (Mhz201/Khz201). That’s the only proper release of the Norwegian project.

You can also count a compilation appearance from 2000. Their song “Dream 2001” appeared on “We Love You… So Love Us” a CD/LP compilation release by We Love You (AMOUR 1) that got released in the UK, France, Australia, and more. There is just one little thing about this release, Nice System actually appears as Nice System 2001. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Back to the 12 song album “Impractical Guide to the Opposite Sex”, a perfect soundtrack for a rainy or lazy Sunday. One thing we need to say from the get go is that Nice System was the side-project of the superb Norwegian band Remington Super 60. It is no surprise then that you can listen to the record now on Remington Super 60’s Bandcamp. Also do check that on the front cover of the sleeve it says “Remington Super 60 presents”.

The 10 songs on this album were “System Instrumental 02”, “We Sing Ba Ba Ba”, “Sara 0157”, “In Bed All Day”, “Sleeping By a Building Site”, “Song for Me”, “Did I Do Wrong”, “My Name is Juolio”, “A Day in Christoffer’s Bedroom”, “DO You Know the Way to Fredrikstad”, “System Instrumental 01” and “Elevator Disco Express”. They were written by Christoffer Schou and recorded at Henning Fjeld’s studio (FRXTA). The songs ended up being mastered by Jiri Novak from the fantastic band Cinnamon.

For instruments in the album we know that Christoffer Schou played guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and effects. Magnus Abelsen did vocals, played drums and percussion while Benedicte Sveinsson Computorgirl also sang and played cello.

The band was based in Frederisktad.

The city of Fredrikstad was founded in 1567 by King Frederick II, and established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The rural municipality of Glemmen was merged with Fredrikstad on 1 January 1964.  The city straddles the river Glomma where it meets the Skagerrak, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the Sweden border. Along with neighboring Sarpsborg, Fredrikstad forms the fifth largest city in Norway:

The city was named after the Danish king Frederick II in 1569.

We also know other bands they’ve been involved with. For example Schou was in Doopy, Benedicte was on Remington Super 60 and Magenta and Magnus played in Remington Super 60, Julenavigatorene and Safariari.

There doesn’t seem to be much more info on the web of this project. One does wonder why they used a different name to Remington Super 60. Why they stopped used it and didn’t release any other records. Are there more compilation appearances? Any other songs by this project? Did they ever play live with this name?

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Listen
Nice System – In Bed All Day

Thanks so much to Cristoph and Chantelle for the interview! Ampersand were a San Francisco band that in the 90s released an amazing mini-album on Fantastic Records. This mini-album is actually available to listen on Bandcamp, on the Stars on Fire, Bandcamp! That’s because Christoph, now in South Korea, has been recording music under this name and making top songs. So if you want to go down memory lane, remember those days of the San Francisco scene, The Aislers Set, The Fairways and more, you are going to enjoy this!

++ I only know one release of yours, the self-titled CD on Fantastic Records. But before that, had there been any previous recordings by the band?

Nope.

++ How did you end up working with Fantastic Records? How was your relationship with them?

I sent out a bunch of demos. They liked what they heard. They had released some awesome stuff, so I was thrilled to get that email from them. I printed it out and stuck it to my wall.

++ I feel this label had a great catalogue, lots of great bands of the period, were you friends with them? Perhaps played gigs together?

We played with #Poundsign# and Aislers Set. I loooved Juniper and of course Black Tambourine.

++ I also couldn’t find any compilation appearances by the band other than “Tokyo Girl’ appearing on a Beikoku Ongaku compilation, is that right?

That’s it.

++ And how come there weren’t more releases by the band?

We split up in 2000. There was always tension about continuing, and so I ended up in Japan….

Chantelle: We wanted to do some festivals but not all of us could or wanted to.

++ Are there any unreleased songs by the band?

Two, I think. One dubbed “New Zealand,” and I can’t remember the name of the other, though I had liked it.

Day 267.

What the Fuck is Twee?: this is the name of the new compilation put together by the Florida label Ramonescore Radio Records. It is now available digitally but soon should be released on CD. It includes many great bands including friends like My Light Shines For You, Las Margaritas and The Umbrella Puzzles. 11 tracks in total!

Model Village: now we head to Cambridge, UK, to discover the band Model Village and their album “World of Carp”. The album is to be released on March 5, so there’s quite a wait, but that’s ok. It will be coming out on CD and vinyl and right now we can preview the opening track, “Insufferable” which sounds ace.

Johnny Nocash: now we head to Bolton, UK, to hear the new music by the ex-Broken Down Lorry and The Irony Board. IT is an EP called “Roasting on the Cobwebs” and it comes with 5 songs of lovely lo-fi pop. The EP is available digitally now on Broken Down Records.

Death to Slow Music: another Cambridge band! Wow. This is a digital single called “Pressure” and was released on Nov. 27 digitally. The band describe themselves as four anoraks. That sounds good no? This is a fun song too. I should check out the rest of their songs.

Duschpalatset: a four piece from Umeå. That already sounds good. So many great indiepop bands from that northern city of Sweden.  “Konstigt” is their latest track and it is superb. It is proper indiepop and I am hooked on this band. We need a proper release soon!

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It’s been a while since I featured a Norwegian band. So let’s do that today. As it is sort of expected I look into the Perfect Pop Records catalog. There are many great bands there and I really haven’t looked at all of them in detail. Maybe that’s something to do the coming year? That’d be great. The Blind Bats or The Ethnobabes are two big favourite of mine. And do not forget The Tables!

The Superman Can Flys don’t have much of a big story on the label, just a 7″ released in the year 2000 and a few compilations.

The “Tar Tar-Pop EP” 7″ is probably their most known work. It had the catalog number POP37 and included 5 songs. The A side had three, “Tar-Tar-Pop”, “Superman Can Fly!” and “Cloudbert” while the B side had “Passionate Hermit” and “Normalize and Stabilize”.

The 7″ comes with some cool art on the sleeve as well as an insert with the songs lyrics and more illustrations. But as we were saying the band also contributed some songs to compilations. In 2001 they would contribute “Nude-A” to the 7″ comp “Perfect Pop 10 Years” (POP39), a rare, not for sale record, that the label put together for the anniversary concert at Mono in Oslo. I wonder how I could get a copy?

The other compilation was “Bestrummed! Perfect Pop 1995-2001” (POP40) also released in 2001. This one is easier to find. The band contributed two songs to this record, “Passionate Hermit” and “To Anyone”.

Aside from these two, the band contributed “Heart of Stone Man” to a 2008 compilation called “Series Two Compilation Vol. 13”. And that’s it when it comes to physical releases. But wait. There’s more.

The band actually still has a website that works. That’s rare, I know. But here we can find good information about them.

First of all there’s quite a biography. Important things we learn from it is that the band hailed from the city of Drammen, west of Oslo. The band starts in 1997 with two brothers, Frode and Vegard who recorded then two songs, “Nude A” and “Superman Can Fly”. Soon after Thomas Innstø would join the band. Thomas being a member of the band The Jessica Fletchers who were also on Perfect Pop.

This trio recorded an album called “Hunk Nguru” which wasn’t properly released, just on CDR. This album included 13 songs, “Nude A”, “Peter Parker’s 1st Bossanova Pt. 2”, “No. 12 Waiting for the Triangle”, “Come On”, “Razorblade Parade”, “Lee Roy & The Disco Stab”, “Superman Can Fly”, “Radiocars”, “Now the Story’s Told”, “Just Another Perfect Song”, “Blueboy Cowboy”, “Stay on Your Horse” and “Drawing of a Fish (live at Cactus)”.

The band would grow bigger. Rune Someday, Bjorn Clumsy, Andreas Munster and Eerie Strøm would join. This new lineup would record a 2nd album called “Tar-Tar-Pop. – So Unfinished, Yet so Complete”. I believe this was also available on CDR. This album had 19 songs! They were “Tar-Tar-Pop”, “Nude A”, “Too Intelligent to Be Happy”, “Are You Funny”, “I Don’t Know Where London Is”, “Superman Can Fly!”, “Major Bill”, “Passionate Hermit”, “Hobgoblin”, “Normalize and Stabilize”, “Bajo Nouevo”, “I Saw You on T.V.”, “Beautifully Wrapped Crap”, “Cloudbert”, “Hermee Life”, “Ba-Boo”, “Blueboy”, “To Anyone” and “Smile”.

Then came the 7″ on Perfect Pop of course. But that wasn’t all. In 2003 the band would release another CDR called “The Superman Can Flys Vs. The E Street Band”, an 11 song album including “Intro by Bruce”, “Big Surprise!”, “One Night to Rock”, “Punk Tambourine”, “Norwegian Ass”, “A Superman Can Fly”, “Bobby Okarina”, “My Love is Just Like Me”, “Sherry’s Place”, “The Toad” and “Aerobic”.

Lastly in 2004 the band would release their last album, “The Whistling One-Chord Band”. Again available on CDR, this one had lots of songs as well, 18! They were “Whistling One Chord Man”, “Heroine of my Dreams”, “Vespa 125”, “Coffee”, “Maggie Waterloo”, “Paulus Pl 4”, “Instant Coffee Break”, “Shoot Me, I’m a Pin Ball”, “If You Know Me”, “CarJack”, “Lee Roy and the Disco Stab”, “Bernie the Barber”, “All You Can Expect From Me”, “Real Springar”, “Spring Comes Anyway”, “Just Like Mom Said” and “Overslept Santa”. It is worth mentioning that all songs are available to download from the website as well as the artwork to put together the CD.

What else? Well on the Perfect Pop website there is a nice review of the 7
by Marianne Jemtegård. It is very nice though it doesn’t tell us any interesting details about the band.

In the Drammen newspaper Drammens Tidende there is an article dating from August 2008 about the indie collective Truls and the Tree. What’s interesting is that Vegard Syrstad was part of this project. It is also mentioned that he played in The Jessica Fletchers.

Lastly, I find three live songs on Bandcamp. They are on the Bandcamp of an Oslo label called Fog Records. It says the three songs are live from Korpsveien, which I believe is a big street in Drammen. The songs are “Tar-Tar-Pop”, “Beautifully Wrapped Crap” and “Superman Can Fly”. These were recorded in the year 2000.

And that’s it. Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Superman Can Flys – Shoot Me, I’m a Pin Ball

Day 265.

Die Zärtlichkeit: this Cologne band has become quickly  a favourite of mine. They make wonderful jangly pop in German and now they are releasing a very limited tape titled “Die Zärtlichkeit II”. It will include 4 songs that were recorded this summer during the pandemic. Andreas and Tobias are becoming two great pop craftstmen!

The Shop Window: this Maidstone, UK, band is back with a digital single titled “Sad Eyes”. At this moment the band has no releases but soon their first 7″ should be out soon on Spinout Nuggets. In any case this song won’t be included!

Misty Coast: now a psychadelic guitar pop band from Bergen, Norway, with their latest track, “Do You Still Remember Me?”. The cool vibe, dreamy vocals, make this a very lovely single for the winter that’s coming up!

Hollow Graves: next up another digital single, now coming from a band in Toronto, Canada. The single is called “Far Out Summer” and it sounds ace. The 4-piece have been going since at least 2018 and this is their latest effort!

Ciel: it seems it has been a weekend of singles. Here is one coming from the Netherlands called “All My Life”. This one is packed with great vocals and melodies. Very catchy and dreamy. Good stuff!

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Earlier this year, in March, I discovered the band Henry Does a Runner. Here is how.

So I had written about The Jeremiahs, even interviewed them. I love so much The Jeremiahs and still my dream is to release a retrospective by them. I won’t lie. That would be a true highlight for Cloudberry Records. Well, so back in March Jim Holmes commented on the interview, saying he used to be in a band that played quite a few gigs with The Jeremiahs in and around Reading and London. That caught my attention immediately!

I emailed him right away and asked him to tell me more about his band Henry Does a Runner. He told me I could hear one of their songs, “Before Your Eyes” on Youtube. It would be a surprise that what was on Youtube was not just the song but a promo video!

This video was made back in 1988 and in it we see all four members of the band, Martin on vocals, Brian Glister on drums, Jim Holmes on guitar and John W. Wright on bass. Yes, I am missing Martin’s last name. What was it?

After he shared this link I asked him if he was up to do an interview for the blog. I really wanted to learn more about the band. But I never got a reply. Just radio silence since them.

Maybe one of the other band members will see this post and be keen in answering my questions. Or maybe a fan or a friend remembers them and can throw in some details about the band in the comments section. That’d be cool.

On the internet the only other mentions is that the band played at the Rock Garden on July 24 1988 and were paid 52.26 pounds! They would play again this classic London venue on September 18 the same year and get paid 34.44 pounds!

Then we know that in Reading on May 29th of 1987 they played at Paradise alongside The Jeremiah and The Flowerpot Men.

And yeah, that’s all I could find. Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Henry Does a Runner – Before Your Eyes

Day 262.

Aiko el Grupo: “Va Totalmente en Serio…” is the name of the mini-LP 10″ that the band will be releasing on Elefant Records on December 11! Right now we can preview 4 of their super fun songs on Bandcamp. I am hooked!

Adele & the Chandeliers: “First Date” is the name of this wonderful album on Pretty Olivia Records. I am out of town so I don’t know if it is a good idea to order. I hope Javi can save me a copy. The 12″ vinyl is limited to 200 copies and is being released on December 11th. And you can tell how delightful is this record that showcases the amazing Adele Pickvance (who has worked with the Go-Betweens and Robert Forster!) on the 10 songs on Bandcamp which we can preview all of them!

The Snogs: a new tape by this California band is a good thing! “Boyfriend’s Dead” has 8 songs of fun crash pop songs. Formed in Santa Cruz in 2016, the band sounds really good. Boy/girl vocals, a bit Heavenly, a bit TVPs, and lovingly lo-fi, this record is a winner. I just wish it wasn’t a tape!!

The Churchhill Garden: “Reality” is the latest song by Andy Jossi’s, from Lucerne, Switzerland, project. Here he counts with Krissy Vanderwoude from the US on vocals, while Andi plays all instruments. It is a swirling song, with great guitars and a captivating vibe. Really good. Looking forward to hearing more by them!

Helen Love: and to end this week’s blog reviews here is some fantastic news, the Welsh legendary band Helen Love are back!!! Oh yeah! With an album titled “Power On” on Jigsaw Records they are planning to take the world by storm once again. Oh wow. What great news. One of my favourite bands with their fun poppy catchy songs, I can only be so happy. Everyone needs it. The album is already out on CD!

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A few weeks ago someone shared on Facebook the song “Themes for Dreams” by a band called Soundhouse. I can’t remember who shared it, if it was a friend on their wall or someone in the multiple music groups I follow there. The thing is the song sounded really great, with terrific female vocals. Who were Soundhouse? I don’t know. But I have to thank whoever shared it. Thanks!

This song, “Themes for Dreams”, was released in 1984 on a tape called “Here’s the Shit!”. This was released by the Greenwich Performance Collective. So I assume it is a safe bet to say the band hailed from Greenwich, England, or somewhere close-by.

The bands on the tape are unknown to me. I am not familiar with any of them. I do see that the band appears on the B side, second song. This compilation tape is not listed on Discogs but could find a blog called Die or D.I.Y.? that has written about the tape. Sadly there’s no information about the bands.

Discogs does list another tape by the same label. But Soundhouse is not on it. I am very disappointed that I can’t find anything by the band on the web. Were there more songs? Any releases? Probably not. But would be great to find out.

This time I’ll need help. It’s been a while since I find so little on the web. This is as obscure as it gets.

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Listen
Soundhouse – Themes for Dreams

Thanks so much to Paul Den Heyer for a new interview! Many years ago I interviewed Paul about his terrific band Politburo and that was really exciting. Today we talk about the band that came after, Fishmonkeyman, that got more success, especially with their single “If I’ve Told You Once”. But that’s not all, if you can check out Paul’s new music, as he released a new album on the great A Turntable Friend Records! Now sit back and enjoy the interview!

++ Hi Paul! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? 

No worries, I’m well thanks! Trying to keep busy and stay sane in lockdown. These are strange times. Hope all is good with you!

++ Last time we chatted it was about your previous band, Politburo. Was Fishmonkeyman formed immediately after Politburo? Or perhaps there were some music projects in between?

Well, Politburo were actually making a great noise before we called it a day and so it was a no brainer for drummer Carl Henry and myself to keep playing together and find the right people to move forward with. I remember we had a lot of different friends over to our practice room before we settled with Allan Sadler on guitar and Jason Orr on bass. It felt a very natural chemistry and new songs came very quickly.

++ And how would you compare both bands? Were there any similarities?

From 1982 onwards, Politburo had been a 3 piece, like The Jam, and an extra guitarist certainly changed the dynamic. Jason also had a unique style and with his bass – really filled out the sound sonically – so this allowed me to switch to acoustic guitar. I was playing my acoustic a lot at that time anyway, particularly for coming up with song ideas.
We actually did our first gigs as Politburo and one or two as Pindrop before settling on Fishmonkeyman as a name. One of my favourite early gigs was supporting McCarthy (who I still think of as the best indie band of all time). We were big fans and that was so nice to do.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?

I remember the Beatles being on the family black and white TV and, apparently, I was fascinated by them even as a toddler. Even before I could talk or walk I would sing along.
My first instrument was a cornet which I learned in school at about 8 years old. Played that badly in the school orchestra and later in a brass band but by senior school, I’d given that up.
My first guitar was a horrendous Spanish thing that was really hard to play but I persevered with it and eventually, when my fingers toughened up and my parents realised I was serious, a cheap, used Zenta electric guitar was found for me. This, along with an old reel to reel tape machine my uncle gave me, opened up a whole new world. I remember filling many tapes with endless distortion and noises, playing the sounds backwards and forwards for hours on end in my room.
Downstairs the radiogram was full of my older brother and sisters 7″ singles. The Beatles, The Stones, The Searchers, Tamla Motown. The only albums of interest to me were Abbey Road and copy of Peter & The Wolf. These I wore out as a child.

++ You mentioned me that you had been in a band called Dead On Arrival before Politburo. What other bands had you been in? Were there all of them pop bands?

Aside from playing with friends for fun, my first proper gig was at Eric’s nightclub in Liverpool with a band called TV12 (they’d go on to become This Final Frame). It was a pretty eclectic affair. Paul Skillen, the main songwriter, was into all sorts – reggae, funk, pop – but we went on to do lots of local gigs together and I even wrote a song with the band. ‘I am just a piece of your food’ – a trashy 3 chord punk vibe. The gigs were fun and I learned a lot but, after discovering punk and listening to Joy Division and Magazine, I felt I wanted to do something different. Dead On Arrival was that something different. Basically, it was just young friends making music together and enjoying playing live. I’m gutted we never made any records but we did record a John Peel session in 1981 which I’m proud of and we got to play a load of gigs and support Killing Joke 🙂

++ Where were you from originally?

I’m from Moreton on the Wirral, across the Mersey from Liverpool but I am half dutch. And with all this Brexit bollocks going on here, I’m feeling more and more dutch by the day 🙂

++ Were you still based in Wirral at the time of Fishmonkeyman? so how was your town at the time? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Yes, and I’m still in Moreton now. It’s a small town and Liverpool is the nearest place with record stores, live music etc.. I loved the Bunnymen and Teardrop Explodes and, in the 90s, Shack were amazing. It’s certainly a musical city!

++ And what other bands had the Fishmonkeyman band members been in? I noticed a few were in 35 Summers, right?

1988-91
Carl Henry – Drums (ex- This final Frame)
Jason Orr – Bass and Vocals
Allan Sadler – Guitar
with myself on Vocals, Guitar

Allan left after our Radio One session in 1989 and was replaced on guitar by
Ken Hancock (ex- Jegsy Dodd & The Sons Of Harry Cross)

1993-97
Terry Lloyd – Bass (ex- Joanna)
Alan Currie – Drums (ex- Candy Opera & 35 Summers)
Ian Greenwood – Guitar (ex- 35 Summers)
with myself on Voice, Guitar

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Both line-ups practised a lot at Crash Studios, Liverpool. John & Mark who ran the place were really supportive.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

I wrote a song called Fishmonkeyman in 1985 while still in Politburo although we never played it. I always liked the title and thought it was unusual. I liked the evolution concept and when we needed a name, I suggested it and we all liked it.

++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

Difficult to answer as we all loved different things. I guess The Chameleons, McCarthy, Pink Floyd, House Of Love were common ground for us all and are things I hear now listening back. Probably a little Stone Roses too as I was hammering that first album when it came out and as the band came together.

++ One thing that definitely must be different for you and your previous bands is that you signed to Warner Music with Fishmonkeyman. How did that happen? Did you provide them demos? Did they scout you at gigs?

We were showcasing for lots of record labels in 89/90 here in Liverpool. All the major labels were looking for the ‘next big thing’ and their attention shifted from Manchester to Liverpool. A BBC session for Radio One’s Richard Skinner helped a lot and we were playing live constantly – there was quite a buzz.

++ And how was your relationship with the big label? Did you like it?

In all honesty, it was difficult. I certainly didn’t like it. Yes, it’s nice to know your music is being distributed, promoted properly etc. but it comes at a cost. All good when things are going well, a different story when they aren’t.

++ Your first release though, the “If I’ve told You Once” EP, has two labels releasing it, Furious Fish Records and Warner Music. Can you explain this to me? Who were Furious Fish?

Back then, major labels had demo budgets so they could help develop bands they liked. A great guy called Cally worked A & R at East West. He came up to Liverpool a few times to watch us play (he was keen on us and a great new band from Oxford called Ride) and he gave us sound advice and £1000 to go in the studio with as he wasn’t in a position to sign us himself.
Martin Poole (who’d later become our manager) heard the recordings and wanted to release them as an EP. Martin released it through SRD independently on his Furious Fish label and after a stroke of luck, meeting up with a record plugger, we went from getting no press or radio play one week to being media darlings the next. Radio One were playing If I’ve Told You Once a dozen times a day and we were Single Of The week in Melody Maker with a feature in NME and Sounds. It really all happened very quickly. The offers came flooding in and we decided to go with Warners who allowed us to keep our label name. They basically just repressed our original EP and made 7″ and CD versions of it.

++ The title song even got a promo video made. Was wondering if you could tell me where was it filmed? How long did it take to put together? And was it the first time making a promo video? Were there any other promo videos by any chance?

The video was filmed at The Cosmos Club in Liverpool in an afternoon. Was the band’s first proper video shoot. The director PK McGuigan totally got what we were about and I think the video works well. He also made a promo for ‘Breathing’, the follow up single a few months later. Sadly, I lost my VHS copy of that so can’t see it again. That was filmed on Southport beach, the Peak District and a disused warehouse in town over 2 days.

++ The artwork for your singles, especially your first couple of ones, is very unique. Who was in charge of the looks and the aesthetics of the band?

Our first manager, David Eversley, showed us a polaroid of the image and we loved it straight away. It was a painting by Mary Mathieson, so he contacted her and struck a deal. The Breathing cover was done by Louise Poole, our second manager’s wife, keeping a similar style. I love them both.

++ The releases came in so many different formats. But the one I am curious about is the single sided 10″ Breathing that came out on the Hit Factory label. It was even single-sided. What’s the story of this release?

Ah, that wasn’t a release, it was an acetate that somehow got out of the cutting room. It’s funny, I only heard about it recently when it came up for sale on Discogs. I bought it for posterity 🙂

++ You worked with some great producers like Pat Collier or Dave Dix. How was that experience? What did they add to the band’s sound?

We loved working with both of them. We 100% trusted them to get our sound. Was a total pleasure and great to learn from watching and listening to them work. I certainly wouldn’t have got into production without that experience.

++ Lastly that year, 1991, which looks as your most prolific you released another 7″, “Vote for Us”. Was this just a promo 7″? Or was it available to fans in any ways?

Sadly, it never got a full release by Warners, same with the ‘Gryst’ album. We were pretty devastated. It was limited to promo copies. It really felt like the end of our 15 minutes of fame. Particularly after selling a lot of copies of the first 2 singles. If we’d stayed independent, both would have been number one in the indie charts for weeks.

++ Your next release, the “Seven Monkeys in a Tree”, came out on the label Groovey Cardboard which I am assuming it was a self-release? How was the transition of being in a big label and then releasing a record on your own? Did you enjoy doing label work? promoting? distributing?

When Warners decided not to release the album, things fell apart. It had been an intense year of ups and downs. Everyday, we had spent together either recording, touring, going on radio or tv, none of us were happy in ourselves. Nerves were frayed to say the least and that was the end of chapter one really as we went our separate ways.
In 1992, I took a year out to write and demo new songs and, when it was time to play live and record, I looked around for new musicians to work with. There were enough funds left to make a 12″ EP and we self-released Seven Monkeys In A Tree in 1993. For me, it was all just about having fun again after the disappointments of the previous year. It really was like starting over.

++ And then you signed to Copasetic Records and with them you’d release two cd singles, “Sunshine Down” and “The World Revolves Around You”. Who were behind this label? And how did you end up working with them?

Copasetic was run by a nice chap called Mike Plumley who used to work for Radio Caroline. He was a friend of Martin Poole who continued to manage the new band. He was keen to work with us and we felt his knowledge of PR and radio would help, given his label was an indie. Both releases were well-received and we were happy to continue playing live across the UK to promote them.

++ And are there any unreleased tracks by the band? Are there more recordings, perhaps in demo form?

Lots of live and demo recordings and different mixes exist.

++ In 2009 a different version of the “Gryst” album was released digitally bu Unshelved Records. What is this release? Why the different tracklist?

Haha. This wasn’t really an official release, more a result of people asking me for copies of the album all the time. I put a simple cover together and burned a few CD-Rs just so folks could hear it. I shuffled the tracklist after so many moaned the original version of If I’ve Told you Once wasn’t on it.

++ Has there been any plans to re-release the band’s music?

Funnily enough, my current record label, A Turntable Friend Records, asked about doing a Fishmonkeyman release. I started going thru old DATs and digging out press clippings and photos but then Covid 19 hit. Hopefully, it’s something that could still happen once things return to normal 🙂

 ++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “If I’ve Told You Once”, which I believe you are the subject of the song! wondering if you could tell me what’s the story behind it?

The chords kind of plopped out one afternoon when i was playing my guitar at home. The words and melody came together just as quickly and it sounded great first time we played all it together. For me, it was just another song and it wasn’t until we were mixing it with Dave Dix at RAK studios in London that I realised it was a cracker. I’ve never really thought about the words but you could be right there. I try to be a private person but can’t help chattering away and opening up, thinking out loud a lot of the time, sometimes with the wrong person. It’s something I don’t like about myself and it continues to get me into trouble to this day.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Fishmonkeyman song, which one would that be and why?

I always had a soft spot for Crazies off that first EP. I remember grinning ear to ear listening back to Ted De Bono mixing it at Maida Vale Studios for the Richard Skinner session. It always felt a very natural song to perform and we’d mostly open our live shows with it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Many, many

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Playing at The Marquee in London was a special one. Played well that night. I remember the Buzzcocks being amused at us nearly getting barred from The Columbia Hotel for smoking a teapot in the lobby. Don’t ask!

++ And were there any bad ones?

Occasionally, but I’ve shut them out of my memory 😉

++ When and why did Fishmonkeyman stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

Well they say lightning doesn’t strike twice! We completed the ‘This Is Where You Are’ album in 1997 for Copasetic Records and they weren’t in a financial position to release it properly. Cue digging out the CD burner again so friends could at least hear it. Somewhat disheartened, I hung up my guitar, discovered underground house music and started DJing – but that’s another story.
It was only in 2012, when I started working with Sunstack Jones that I began enjoying indie music again. I’ve since produced 4 LPs and a dozen singles for them. I was also happy to contribute to (my old friend from The Chameleons) John Lever’s Red-sided Garter Snakes project along with members of Puressence, Inspiral Carpets and Bauer. I even started writing again after a 20 year break and produced my own album ‘Everything So Far’ for A Turntable Friend Records in Germany.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

From the first line-up, I know Carl and Ken went on to play in Half Man Half Biscuit and Carl is still doing that.
From the second line-up, Alan resumed playing with Candy Opera, Ian Greenwood is producing music still and Terry plays in a Widnes-based band The Chimps and also in Supergiant. He played bass for me on ‘Everything So Far’ and is also involved in my next release.

++ Has there been any Fishmonkeyman reunion?

Nah

++ Was there any interest from radio?

Yes, Radio One was playing ‘If I’ve Told you Once’ a dozen times a day for about a month.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

Yes, Single of the week in Melody Maker and great reviews in NME and Sounds.

++ What about from fanzines?

Lots in 1991, our 15 minutes of fame 🙂

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

No one thing for me. The other members might have a more interesting answer.
Maybe the day The Cure unexpectedly turned up at the studio and Jason and I were under the snooker table playing marbles with the balls like a pair of kids? Me happily snoozing on The Big Chair (the Tears For Fears one)?

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I follow Liverpool FC and Boston Red Sox, enjoy bingeing the odd nordic noir or sci-fi series and I like beer and good food 🙂

++ Never been to Wirral, so would love to hear from a local, was wondering if you could recommend any sights, record stores, traditional food or drinks that one shouldn’t miss?

It has the largest population of horses per person and also has both the most affluent and socially-deprived areas within it’s bounds. It’s an odd place but for a long time, and for the present, it’s home.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say thanks Roque for letting me yap on. Bless you x

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Listen
Fishmonkeyman – If I’ve Told You Once

Day 260.

Juárez: I’ve lost the many times I’ve tried to get Caballito Records releases. No luck. But at least we can listen to their very good releases online. The new album by Juárez, “Entre las Palmeras”, was released a few weeks ago and now the 200 limited vinyl LPs are long gone. It sounds really good though.

The Dupont Circles: I should try to interview this amazing Washington D.C. especially now that they have released “In Search of the Family Gredunza” on the great label The Beautiful Music. This compilation includes their classic songs from the 90s, like the top “Everywhere Girl”. It is a must have!

The Lousy Pop Group: Shiny Happy Records is releasing a self-titled EP cassette for this lovely jangly band from Indonesia. The EP has 4 songs and they sound very Sarah-esque. Could be a great Christmas present, right?

The Sweetest Touch: another Indonesian jangly band that has some news are The Sweetest Touch. Their latest song is called “Promise” and is a cracker. It is out now digitally on Don’t Fade Away Records.

Pale Blue Eyes: wow! what a great surprise to hear this 7″ by this Totnes, UK, band. The 7″ includes two songs, “Motionless” and “Chelsea”. The record will be out on January 25th and it sounds promising, very promising. I hope we all can get a copy!

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Another from the Woking Soundscene Soundcloud, one that sounds AMAZING if I may say so.

Who were Thieves of Dreams? Their song “Shelter” is a belter, with fast guitars, and a great melody. A very good C86 song. Classic sounding. Canonical if you want.

So yeah, who were they?

We know a few things thanks to the great job the people behind this Soundcloud and Facebook page do. We know the band hailed from Aldershot and was around from 1990 to 1997. It was formed by:
Rodney Shack – vocals/guitar
Ian Bridgeman – guitar
Nigel Morley – vocals/bass
Mark Ellis – drums

At some point Mark Ellis, the drummer, was replaced by Simon Moore.

According to this source, the band was also known as T.O.D. and TOD. Their first “release” came out in November 1991, it was a 4-track demo tape  called “Florence Ain’t No Nightingale!” which was recorded at Ghost Studios in Woking.The songs included in it were “Children of the Night”, “Smiling Game”, “Am I Happy Now?” and “Shelter”. Half of the songs were written by Rodney Shack, the other half by Ian Bridgeman. We also know that Rodney Shack is credited for the production was well as Simon Moore. The tape release is credited to the label Mourn My Health, most probably their own “label”.

That same month they released the tape they supported Who Moved The Ground at Farnham Art College.

In 1992 the band contributed the song “Give The Game Away” to the compilation tape “Son of Farnborough Groove Vol. 2” and in 1993 the song “Shelter” ended up in the “Return of the Farnborough Groove Vol. 3”.

I was able to find “Give the Game Away” and although different it is a terrific indiepop song! Wow! This is like a long lost classic band. I wonder how I have never heard anyone mention them. It is a great discovery.

Sadly there’s really nothing else on the web about them. Who remembers them? Any details anyone can share?

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Listen
Thieves of Dreams – Shelter

Thanks so much to Tom Heaney for the interview! I wrote about the Edinburgh based band Elephant Noise some time ago and was lucky that Tom Heaney, one of the band’s drummer and who the song “New Town Tom” is about, got in touch with me. He was very kind to answer all my questions and tell me more details about his time in the band!

++ Hi Tom! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? 

Hi Roque, I’m good thanks. I haven’t spoken with the band members of Elephant Noise for some 28 years so hopefully my memory serves me well.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?

I was lucky enough to have 3 older siblings growing up with very eclectic tastes all-round. All of my siblings and my parents loved listening to music, although I was the only one to pick up some instruments and play. My oldest sister was into disco, my second oldest sister was into Motown mainly. My older brother was only a year older so we shared our musical tastes as well as a room. I came of age in the post punk era around 1979, 1980 and beyond. There was so much variety at that time. We liked Krafwerk, Talking Heads, OMD, Depeche Mode, Aztec Camera, Orange Juice to name but a few. My first interest was playing drums, I used to play with tupperware boxes and wooden spoons – drowning out my sisters and brother’s favourite records. My uncle played guitar and sang Bob Dylan tunes and old Irish folk songs at family gatherings, I would sit hypnotised by the sounds. I eventually got a drum kit and an acoustic guitar. Drum lessons would follow with gigs very closely behind that. It didn’t take me long to get on the road. I’ve done gigs on bass, drums, guitar and a bit of keyboards, a jack of all trades but a master of none.

++ Had you been in other bands before Elephant Noise? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?

I was around 22 years old when I joined EN and had been gigging regularly for around 6 years already. Punk rock was still a big deal when I attended secondary school and not surprisingly my first band at school was a punk outfit. Another band at school I played with was a MOD band playing The Who, The Jam etc. By the time I had left school I was doing 3 to 4 gigs a week in covers bands. I think it is a good thing there are no recordings that I know about.

++ Where were you from originally?

Edinburgh is my place of birth although my family moved 15 miles outside Edinburgh when I was 6 months old. We moved to Livingston New Town which was built as an over-spill town for mainly Glasgow but also Edinburgh families. It all means that I don’t know Edinburgh that well even though it’s on my birth certificate.

++ How was Edinburgh at the time of Elephant Noise? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

In 1991 Scotland was still riding on the crest of the musical wave that started around 1988 with bands like Deacon Blue, Hue and Cry, Love and Money, Wet Wet Wet etc. That was a very polished, blue eyed soul sound. But scratch the surface and there was hundreds of less well known bands doing great things or instance Teenage Fan Club, Goodbye Mr McKenzie, The Silencers, Future World Moves, The Pearlfishers, Cocteau Twins.  At the time Edinburgh was full of live music venues. Most pubs would have some live music at weekends, and certain city center places would have live music every night. With the University community filling up the bars and clubs audiences were a bit more open minded about what to listen to. There were some good independent record stores at the time although with my gigging schedule at the time I didn’t have much time to browse through them.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

I was the second drummer meaning I missed the start of the band but I’d imagine the guys all got together at University as they were all attending or had attended Edinburgh University. My involvement with the band started when I received a phone call from a drumming friend of mine in Livingston who had just been for an audition with Elephant Noise. He didn’t feel the gig was right for him but thought it might be more my style. I called the singer Neil Barber for a chat and headed into Edinburgh for an Audition. My friend dropped in a three track demo cassette for me to listen to before I went to get a feel for the style and songs. To be honest I was a fan from the first listen. They were rehearsing in what can only be described as a broom cupboard on the ground floor of a local council run community center in Edinburgh. Once I had set up my drum kit I quickly realised I was taking up most of the room so put some of my gear back in the car. It was the first time meeting the guys in person, and if my memory serves me correctly their old drummer was there to wish me luck which was a nice touch. It was obvious from the very start that I was of a very different background to the guys. They were all University educated and came across as very middle class, and here I was as a joiners son without a qualification to my name trying to keep up with the conversation. Don’t get me wrong they were extremely polite, friendly and welcoming. Neil the singer was very talkative and opinionated, definitely the band leader I thought. Neil the bass player came across as very quiet, thoughtful, a bit serious at first. Stuart the guitarist was a gentleman and very friendly. At the time I was very shy, still am, and nervous socially. It was a relief to finally get playing some music after the introductions. My experience of playing lots of different styles with different musicians stood me in good stead and I fitted in to there sound reasonably easily.  I believe I was offered the job on the spot or the next day, I really can’t remember sorry.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

As mentioned above we rehearsed in a very small room in a community center just outside Edinburgh city center. Normally it was three times a week, sometimes more or less if we had a gig at the weekend maybe. The creative process from my memory usually started with a very basic idea, riff, chord sequence. We’d jam round it and find some variations on it, getting a verse, chorus, bridge structure maybe. Neil Barber would sing ideas over the top, finding melodies and harmonies and some words. We’d record what we came up with on a 4 track tape machine and the guys would take it away. At the next rehearsal Neil would have some lyrics written and the song would start to take shape. We’d jam the track, discuss the pros and cons, then jam some more, then discuss what we liked what we didn’t like until finally it was a finished song. It was always exciting bring a new song out to gig.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Good question. I think it originated from Stuart’s guitar gymnastics. He used to mimic sounds with his guitar, like a car revving away through the gears on the track Motorway. He used to do an elephant impression on the guitar and so it probably came from that.

++ Who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

That’s a really tough one. I think the band sounds very unique, my opinion is that the influences aren’t very up front and obvious. The band all had different tastes in music and brought it all to the writing process. It’s hard to say what comes through. I’d heard the band’s sound during my tenure as something between The Smiths and REM.

++ And I want to ask too about Scottish pop, being quite a fan myself. If you were to do a top 5, from the top of your head, which bands would you pick? 

These questions get harder and harder Roque. I’m delighted you have an interest in Scottish music. My top 5 would change depending on my mood but if I were to put it to ink I’d say No.1 The Blue Nile, No.2 Deacon Blue, No.3 Aztec Camera, No.4 Simple Minds No.5 Am I allowed to included David Byrne since he was born in Dumbarton?

++ As a band you only released one record, the “Elephant Noise” EP on RUB Records. One thing I was wondering was that it came on this label where it is its sole release in the catalog. Was RUB Records your own label? Was it a self-release? What does RUB stand for?

The EP was financed by money that Neil Barber had secured as a gift if I remember, and it is the only release that I’m aware of. I have absolutely no idea what RUB stands for sorry. There was a run of 1000 vinyl records pressed and a quantity of cassettes perhaps 500. There can’t be many cassettes still around.

++ Was there any interest by labels to put out your music? Perhaps big labels?

Yes, there was interest, and I remember playing a gig in Dundee which was attended by at least one record company rep. Neil Barber was a great communicator and promoter who would have definitely phoned every single record company in the UK at the time, and beyond probably. There was no record deal came from it unfortunately.

++ Tell me about the art of the jacket. It looks like a painting of perhaps a Spanish street? Is it a real location or what inspired it?

The front sleeve is a sketch by a local artist by the name of Carolyn Burchell. I met her at the time. She travelled quite a bit sketching as she went I understand. There is a finished painting of the sketch which she calls Caceres. Caceres is a town in Spain she must have visited. You can google her collection to view it. I believe she was a friend of Neil Barber’s and submitted the sketch at Neil’s request. I think it looks great.

++ What about the photos on the back? Where were they taken?

I think those photos were taken in Raymond Albeson’s tenement flat in Edinburgh. He was yet another friend of Neil’s who had been persuaded to help out. We all look very serious don’t we?.

++ The songs on the record were recorded at Pier House Studios. How was that experience? Was this your first experience at a proper studio?

Pier House was near the harbour at Granton in North Edinburgh. It was basically built in an old town house. Looking back it was my first experience of a professional recording studio and a good one. It was fully analogue, safe from the new digital technology emerging at the time. We recorded the 4 tracks in a day or two, with the drums, bass and rhythm guitars going down together. Then the overdubs, lead guitars, vocals and harmonies were done later. I remember sitting in the control room being blown away by the sound. It was amazing. My only gripe is that the opening fill for This Song is Our Friend was negatively impacted by the compression and sounds a bit odd to my ears now, though I’ve no hard feelings.

++ Aside from the songs on the record you did record a few demo tapes. These would later appear on the compilation “Remember the Big Time” that had 13 songs. Are these all the songs the band recorded? 13? Or are there more that you know?

There are far more songs than the 13 that are on the compilation but I’m not sure how many were done before my short tenure and after. I have some old demos that I had transfered to digital years ago but most of those have been released on the compilation. The demos I remember had three songs each and released on cassette around 1989, 1990 before I joined. Demo 1 was Hearsay, Wallpaper Tour, In My Room I think. Demo 2 was In Secret Dreaming, Lost to The World, Cactus Talk. There was a third with a song called Almost Home but I can’t recall the other tracks. There was a song called Black and White which may have been on the third one. Another unreleased track was a song Eleven O’Clock Alarm. I have the demo of it, I’m not certain it was ever included on a release.

++ You didn’t appear on any compilations either, right? I couldn’t find any information.

I played on all 4 songs on the EP plus Motorway. That’s 5 songs from the compilation.

++ From what I read in the liner notes of the compilation the band had a following, so it is kind of surprising that you didn’t get to release more records, why do you think that was?

We’ll that might be partly due to the drummers. When a band member leaves it puts the band on the back foot and kills the momentum. I have to take some responsibility for that. But they were a fantastically talented band with a following and should have done more.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “New Town Tom”, which I believe you are the subject of the song! wondering if you could tell me what’s the story behind it?

Neil Barber had coined the phrase Newtown Tom to describe me before the song came about. When I decided to leave the band Neil wrote the song about me/to me. Not long after I’d left Neil invited me to a gig they were doing supporting the Pearlfishers at The Music Box venue in Edinburgh which I attended with a good friend of mine. Neil told me in advance he had written a song about me which they were about to debut at the gig. The gig itself was broadcast on a local radio station which was a big deal at the time. So there I am in the packed out venue with Elephant Noise playing a song about me and it’s being broadcast everywhere. Very surreal. I didn’t get the chance at the time to assess the lyrics but I’ve had every opinion on it since. I’ve thought of it as a bit bitter and insulting. I’ve also thought it affectionate and positive. To be honest I think its heartfelt and honest just like everything else he wrote so I’m good with it. I have part of Newtown Tom from the live broadcast on tape. For years I didn’t have the first verse.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Elephant Noise song, which one would that be and why?

I think I’d choose Halloween Day. Its an epic. It has a real momuntum about it and great chorus.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We were desperate to get out and promote the record and played everywhere and anywhere in Scotland. Glasows famous King Tuts Wah Wah hut wasn’t long open then and we played there. Dundee, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Livingston, even Carlisle in North England.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

The Carlisle gig was memorable as we got onto the local radio station in the afternoon for an interview and to promote the record. Lets just say I hope that no one has a recording of that interview, it must have been truly awful. We got shown the door earlier than expected after Neil questioned Jason Donovan’s sexuality live on air.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Not really, we only suffered sometimes from being the wrong band at the wrong gig. I remember we played a local park festival in Edinburgh. You had kids running around playing football in front of the band and families who were expecting a cover band playing the up to date top 40 tunes. And there we were playing our serious Indie pop numbers. I like to think we won them over but then again I might have miss judged the mood at the time.

++ When and why did Elephant Noise stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

I left the band during the recording the song Motorway at a studio in Penicuik south of Edinburgh. To be really honest, I don’t know. I heard the supported Jools Holland on Tour for a bit and released Newtown Tom and seemed to be doing ok, but I haven’t had contact with the band since just after the gig I attended.

++ Has there been any Elephant Noise reunion?

Not that I’m aware of. I believe all four original members are still friendly so I wouldn’t rule it out. I’d still say it’s unlikely.

++ Was there any interest from radio?

Local radio was very supportive and played the EP regularly. They done a feature on the EP as part of an emerging talent spot which I have recorded somewhere. As mentioned before we got some local radio support around Scotland and Carlisle although that latter door is firmly shut.

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

We got some nice write ups in local and national papers. The good thing about having the vinyl EP was that it opened doors that demo tapes couldn’t. The photo on the right at the top of your blog about the band is a cutting from a local newspaper who sent a photographer out to get our picture. We are sitting in a tree which was in the grounds of the community center where we rehearsed.

++ What about from fanzines?

I’m not sure about the details but there was a local Edinburgh fanzine that had an Elephant Noise feature. I think it was called Meadowbank Thistle fanzine. I’m guessing now sorry.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

I can only comment for my time in the band and would say that recording the EP was the best experience and legacy. The re-emergence of interest in rare vinyl has made it a bit of a collectors item now. I think the tunes are great and the recording is unique and timeless.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I tend not to have any time other than for work and family now. I’m no longer playing music and rarely get a chance to properly listen to good music. Hopefully that will change in the future.

++ Have been in Edinburgh twice and really enjoyed it, but would love to hear from a local, was wondering if you could recommend any sights, record stores, traditional food or drinks that one shouldn’t miss?

Good to hear that you have ventured over. It really is a great city. I live in the North of Ireland now and haven’t been in Edinburgh for a while so I’m maybe not the best tour guide. I’d recommend the Innis & Gunn Tap Room on Lothian Road. Excellent craft beer brewed locally and amazing food. I would definitely recommend anybody to visit Edinburgh and Scotland. It will blow your mind.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just to say thanks for the interest in the band and reaching out. Let me know if you or your readers have any further questions, I’d be happy to answer.

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Listen
Elephant Noise – New Town Tom