Thanks so so much to Matt and Mike for the interview! The Chalk Giants never split, they’ve continued making music since they started back in the 80s when they released their classic EP “Throw it Away”! They have a new album coming up called “Restart” that I can’t wait to hear! To keep up to date with them check for news on their website! And if you want to know more about them, learn the story behind this superb indiepop band, well, look nowhere else, read this interview!

++ Hi Matt and Mike! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? You have a new record coming soon called “Restart”, right? Tell me a bit about this release!

Matt: Hi Roque, we’re really happy you’ve asked us to talk about The Chalk Giants, it’s really appreciated, thank you. We’re excited about Restart, that’s the working title of our next album – all written but only half recorded. The original idea was to write about friendship in all its many forms – though we’ve also ended up with songs about politics, Trump and whiskey. 

Mike: That sums it up perfectly. Its half-recorded, and we’re impatient to get it in the can and share it. And open the whiskey, obviously.

++ 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?

Mike: I guess a Recorder in infant school doesn’t count?  My first and only love is the guitar really. I picked one up when I was ten years old, and really started to take it seriously from fourteen.

Matt: For me, I wanted to be like my older brother who played a mean bass. I started by working out the notes to The Jam’s ‘In The City’.  Funnily enough, I’m digitising my old cassettes right now and have realised I was actually a pretty good bassist for a fourteen year old! 

++ What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Matt: I shared a bedroom with my brother who was an original punk. While I was playing Lego, I had a backdrop of Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash. At the end of my teenage years it was all about The La’s, The Woodentops, The Housemartins and local bands like The Jeremiahs. 

Mike: Well my earliest musical memory would be my parent’s Beatles compilation tape they’d play in the car. That taught me to love harmonies and cracking tune. I had no problem with belting these out on the back seat. Like Matt, a shared love of The La’s, Woodentops, Housemartins – with an extra sprinkling of the Smiths, Everything but the girl and the Cocteau Twins.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Chalk Giants? What about the rest of the members? I know you were in Enamel Animals and The Hammering, how did they sound like? What similarities were there with The Chalk Giants?

Matt: The band names tend to change more often than the members! Every real band I’ve been in has been with Chris (our bassist), right back to The Diplomats, who became Enamel Animals.

Mike: I joined Matt and Chris from “House, Mouse”, and together we formed The Hammering. 

Matt: We were then lucky to get Pete, the drummer from the Mudcats, and had a short stint as a The Enamel Animals again before finally settling on The Chalk Giants. 

Mike: And as you can probably imagine, the sounds matured with our musical and song-writing ability!

++ Where were you from originally?

Matt: all the Chalk Giants went to the same school in Reading. We started hanging out from around seventeen. We are a little spread nowadays, but it’s probably fair to say the seaside town of Weston Super Mare is now where the Chalk Giants come together most often, where the White House Studios are located. 

++ How was your town at the time of The Chalk Giants? 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?

Matt:  looking back now I can see Reading was a hotbed of creativity: there were places to play, record and rehearse, a very supportive local Radio Station program hosted by Johnathan Richards and Barry The Fence, who instigated the “Beyond The Fence Begins the Sky” compilation album, plus of course these great bands like The Jeremiahs, The Complaints, Beyond The Blue, Home And Abroad and The Mudcats. There was a lot going on.

Mike:  yeah, surprising how much opportunity there was to play as a band back then. Think it’s pretty difficult for young bands these days to get a gig.

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

Mike: Sixth form threw Matt, Chris and me together, and the music followed soon after. Pete was actually a neighbour of mine when I was growing up. He was super cool – could play drums, bit of guitar, piano, and harmonica, and was already gigging with school and college bands. When we needed a drummer, he fitted into the group perfectly.

Matt: We’ve frequently called on Pete’s piano and harmonica skills, and he has also learned the accordion. It’s just a matter of time…

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

Matt: Mike and I have perfected our song writing:  I have intense bursts of writing lyrics while Mike generates this incredible music and sees the arrangement. We discuss and refine a little, but really it’s straight from my pen to Mike’s guitar. 

Mike: Certainly a Chalk Giants song is never really complete until we’ve all whacked our own stamp on it. It’s one of the joys of creating for me. You never know what the other guys are going to bring to it.

Matt:  We started by practicing at our parent’s homes. Chris’ house came with wonderfully eccentric parents and beer. 

Mike: ahhh the beers..!

Matt: Hearing the same song practiced over and over can be quite torturous though, so to save our loved ones pain we switched to a rehearsal room in Reading. 

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

Matt: It really was the famous Cern Abbas hillside figure. If you don’t know it, Google it – that’s all I’m saying. 

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

Matt: I guess we were four guys with four different tastes, but there were some cross-overs like The Woodentops and The Housemartins (which you can occasionally decipher in some of the early recordings). But I see some of our earliest material as being pretty original in a quirky way – I’m a great believer that creativity can spring from a lack of technical expertise. 

Mike: I think latterly James has also become an influence in the way we write songs, but as Matt says, it’s the four of us that make the sound we make, and it’s always had that Chalk Giants core running through.

++ “Throw it Away” was released by yourselves in 1991, on Mousse Records. How was doing the music part and the label part at the same time? Did you enjoy it?

Matt: We thought of it as a demo, a way to get record company and press interest.

Mike: Was it really 1991??

Matt: Ha ha, yeah! No doubt, we were lucky as the band concentrated on the music while our manager and friend, David Shaw, organised the manufacturing. 

Mike: We’ve always been blessed with great friends: all our artwork was created by Mike Cook and we even used an original print from our artist friend Ian Phillips as the cover. 

Matt: I loved doing the record, it was so exciting and the final sound still gives me goosebumps.

++ This record was produced by yourselves and Martin Nichols, how was that experience? And where was it recorded?

Mike: The recording studio is pretty much our band home now, we know what goes where and why. Back in those early days recording was new and exciting. Knowing you are recording your first record is thrilling. We were all together and having a ball – we even used to sleep on the studio floor. 

Matt: Dave (Shaw) did a great job organising that 12” vinyl. We cut it at Abbey Road and the quality of the manufacture matches the recording. When you put that record on the turntable and hear Chris’ bass lead in, it just blows you away. The recording has stood the test of time – it still packs a punch.

++ Since then you have always worked with Martin, what does he bring to the table? Why is he important to you?

Mike: We like to think of Martin as our own George Martin. He understands us well, and gets the best out of us. He’s got a good ear and makes sure we don’t take any wrong turnings!

Matt: He is certainly patient, and honest with his feedback, and cares about the quality leaving the door. His experience and knowledge is mind-boggling. I can’t recommend Martin and White House Studios enough. Did you read about the Bob Marley tapes discovered in a basement a year or so back? That was Martin you took the old reels, cleaned them up and squeezed out the songs. Awesome.

++ The record includes four songs, and of course I love them all, but I have a soft spot for “Throw it Away”. Was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this track?

Matt: Being in love is a wonderful thing, but love can be a destructive force too, like when it’s obsessive. Throw It Away is about ending an obsession, letting go and moving on to better times. When you throw away the baggage you are free to find the positive.

++ Later on, in 2004, you re-released this EP on CDR. Was it to coincide with the new interest in the band thanks to the Leamington Spa series where you were featured? Or what was the idea behind it?

Matt: that’s exactly it, the excellent Leamington Spa compilation stimulated interest – ours and others, and we responded. 

Mike: we discovered there are parts of the world where we are getting radio play. In reality though, the biggest change was in ourselves. We started doing some seriously good work together again. 

++ In 2004 you put out a compilation of all your songs called “These Things I’ve Done. A Compilation of The First Ten Years”. These include recordings from many sessions like the “Clean Up Yourself” and “Giantkiller” sessions. Then there was an album called “Mammals All” that included songs from other three recording sessions. I was wondering two things. One if there had been lineup changes during these recordings and second, where does the name of these recording sessions come from?

Matt: These Things I’ve Done helped us draw a line under our first years and set us up for newer things. Mammals All was recorded without Pete the drummer and, although the songs are strong, the vibe is missing. That’s why we’ve not restocked Mammals All on CD. As for session names-

Mike: I didn’t know we had session names!

Matt: Sorry Mike, that’s the archivist in me! The session names are simply taken from one of the songs we are recording. The exception is “Back Together” because that’s when Pete started to drum for us again. That session was great – the vibe came right back, tenfold. 

++ There are a few songs I notice that remain unreleased like “Eh Jump E?”, “The Last Table in the Sun” or “Beautiful Hell”. Why is that?

Matt: Eh Jump Eh was always intended to be a single, but that never happened, and Last Table in the Sun just never worked – and we’ve only ever released songs that are the best we can do. Beautiful Hell wasn’t quite there for me either, but I think you liked it Mike?

Mike: I did – yeah – we shouldn’t really go back, but if we did, I reckon we could give it another crack.

++ Then came two more releases in this decade, “Animal Carnival” and “How Stars Fall”. You have never stopped making music, right? Or has there been any pause in the band?

Matt: We’ve never completely stopped since we were at school, though we’ve had bouts of suspended animation. Mike, Chris and Pete are family. In fact, better than family – we have never argued about anything between us, ever. 

Mike: Something sort of clicked after Mammals. It was a bit of a transition point, and drove us to writing all of Animal Carnival before we hit the studio to record it. During the recording of Animal, we’d even written half of How Stars Fall, so we were on a new wave of creativity. Restart takes it on again, and I’m really pleased with how it’s shaping up.

++ These two albums are available for free to download from your website. What do you think of this change, from the days you started in the 80s, where records were the norm, to today when digital music is every day much more preferred?

Matt: I have mixed views. The music is accessible now, but it also means we don’t make any money. In some ways I guess it’s going back to the start. We used to duplicate cassette tapes, make our own covers and sell them at gigs. More often or not we’d give them away. I suppose there’s no real difference when you look at it like that. 

Mike: the music scene has changed so much in such a short space of time. Whilst the web has turned the industry on its head, I do think there is a lot of innovation still to come and, the creativity is still happening out there, so I’m optimistic. If nothing else, the ability to make and publish music has never been easier. 

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

Matt: ‘Cut The Green Grass Short’ from Animal Carnival. It’s my best lyrics, and Mike brought it to life hauntingly. The song has everything I want to say about the impact of violence and conflict on ordinary people and, if I’ve had a few drinks, it can make me cry.

Mike: That’s a hard one…  From the early days, I’d have to pick Stay in England. The joy of singing that live has never left me. The energy on stage, with your friends…heaven! More recently I’d have to pick ‘Collapse Collide’ from How Stars Fall. I had a very hazy idea for the song which Matt took away and then created the brilliant lyrics and story. Musically it’s as close as you get to the Chalk Giants DNA.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Matt: Thinking back, in those early days, a fair few – but extremely rarely these days. We seemed to play a bar called Cartoons in Reading frequently. 

Mike:  …come off it, Matt! Cartoons was a second home for a while!

Matt: Ha! Yes I guess so! And actually, Mike and I last played together in a bar in Scotland a few months back: it was the first performance of a new song called “I will be here still” which is ironically all about friendship. Get us in a bar with a guitar and a bottle of whiskey and we will probably be the last to leave. 

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

Matt: a certain student union in London where I slept with the Entertainments Officer to get the gig and, despite Chris being pegged to his bass amp by a 3 foot guitar lead – it was the longest lead he could find – a storming performance on stage (if not perhaps in the bedroom). 

Mike: I recall we had a big crowd and a rider – I think we thought we had hit the big time!

Matt: also, what was that bar in Reading where we played a cover version of One More Time by The Clash? ‘Purple Turtle’ maybe? We rocked that night. Or indie’d rather.

Mike: And don’t forget the After Dark Club where the vocal mics were seemingly hooked up to the mains electricity and gave the singers a belt in the chops!

++ And were there any bad ones?

Matt: the worst was probably playing in a rough biker pub in Reading, where none of our usual support turned up except for a handful of good friends, one of whom was wearing a tweed jacket and a cravat. It was a tense night. 

Mike: Of course, we should have rehearsed up a The Ace of Spades, then we would have raised the rafters.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

Matt: Well we are still together as a band, and rehearse for the studio, but those performances are safely behind closed doors. I’m thinking it’s about time we did play a gig though – I want to demonstrate I can actually play guitar now without breaking a string on the opening number.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Mike: Our friend Mike Cook was into Radio big time, he even had his own pirate station for a while. He helped us make friends with Johnathan Richards and Barry The Fence who hosted “Off The Wall”, a program dedicated to local bands and indie music. We made frequent appearances, and appreciated going through the free bins of promo records and being able to take what we liked.

Matt: Plus, for reasons we don’t understand, we get radio play in The Philippines today – I have no idea why we have so many fans there, but we’re grateful and very appreciative.

Mike: Maybe a first gig in Manila then?

Matt: Good idea!

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

Matt: Without getting overly sentimental, the pleasure of four friends who went to the same school, have played in the same band for years and continue to have a laugh together making serious music. That’s worth more than a hit record.

Mike: Totally agree. Also, I think we’re pretty proud of what we’ve done and what we continue to do. If we didn’t love it, or the magic faded, we’d stop – but I still get that buzz as new tracks come together and we all get into the recording booths to make something happen.

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

Matt: You’ve made me realise all my hobbies revolve around music, in one form or another!  I do some occasional writing, but even my short stories get strip-mined for lyrics.  

Mike: Does consuming single malt whiskey count as a hobby?

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Matt: Thanks Roque for the interview. We always love the chance to chat about the band and music.

Mike: We feel honoured to appear on your Cloudberry blog among so many of those other great bands! Thank you!

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The Chalk Giants – Stay in England

Not much news today, it is great though that I keep finding bands and time to write about them!

The Umbrella Puzzles: all over the weekend I saw many friends sharing the wonderful EP by this new band from California. It is a new band but behind it there’s a friend that has always made amazing pop tunes. That is Ryan Marquez who we know from Apple Orchard, The Haircuts, Sodajerk (who were interviewed in the blog) and more. This EP has 6 songs of lo-fi indiepop that are catchy, dreamy, sweet. The art was also done by a good friend, David, the same David that introduces me to so many bands all the time. What a combo! Really lovely debut. Happy to see Ryan back and in great shape!

This Certain Kind: a new janglepop band from the 80s are getting love by Firestation Records next September. On the 6th this band that I know very little about will be releasing an LP called “Inspire”. Firestation Records has shared one of the songs that will be in the album, “Make Your Heart Bleed” which sounds ace! Definitely one not to miss!

Spreadeagle: and here is one band that I have discovered through David. They come from Glasgow and have just released a new song called “11.59” on their Bandcamp. But that’s not all. There are other three songs that have also been released this past August, “Close the Door”, “The Night Sky” and “Palatine Hill”, this last one maybe my favourite!

The Slowest Clock: remember I interviewed not so long ago this fantastic Irish band? Well I just learned that the superb Fanning Sessions blog has posted the band’s 1988 BBC1 session for Liz Kershaw in its entirety! So great! You can check then 4 songs: “Where’s Andi”, “Desert Mouth”, “Rejoice the Burning” and “Turning Green”!

Tvärtom: some superb tracks in this Finnish band’s Soundcloud! It seems these songs are not that new, from what I am reading on the bio the band formed in 2010. It was actually Joel who started the band and later Eni joined to play bass and. Kristina drums. Joe picked up the guitar.With this lineup the band recorded the two songs here. Are there more? Who’d know. But these are really good and that’s what matters!

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After featuring White Come Come I thought it would be cool to explore another Japanese band from the same period. Less than a week apart. So I went to check out a band that is quite unknown to me but whose name I saw for the first time thanks to the White Come Come post. How’s that?

Remember I said I was going to explore the bands on the compilation “Brand Skip New Decoration” (QTCA-1003) that Quattro had released on CD (and Parco Sectary had put together a promo 12″ for it). Yes, on this 1992 comp Loco-Holidays appears with two songs, “Place in the Sun” and “Close to Me”. So I went looking for them and I liked what I heard!

It seems that was the only compilation they were in. But it is not something to be sad about. The band released one mini-album and two CD singles on the Confusion label which is also  a new label to me. Lots of good stuff to discover! I’m very excited! I love how from one band I jump to the next and so on. Discovering this way lots of great new music.

I read that Loco-Holidays were one of the first shoegaze bands from Japan. The band was formed by Hideka Matsuno, Kinya Kamijyo and Moriya Kamijyo. Were Kinya and Moriya siblings? Also we know that Hideka Matsuno would become much more known later on on Ruby Ruby Star and as Hideka. Kinya and Moriya, on the other hand, were involved with Penpals and Starwagon.

It is surprising that the mini-album was released before the CD singles. “Engine Flower” (PCCC-00007) was released in 1991 as I said on Confusion Records. It was released on CD and had six songs, “Bloody Minded Hill”, “Femme Fatale” (a cover of the Velvet Underground’s original), “Silly Smile”, “Strawberry”, “Desert Me” and “Two Gloomy Suns”. The record was produced by Kazuhiko Hirata.

Next came the “Screw” (PCCC-00009) CD single. It had 3 songs, “Screw”, “Blackberry Way” and a remixed version of their cover, “Femme Fatale (Flowerfall Mix)”. It was released early in 1992.

Lastly the “Drive” (PCCCC-00010) CD single came out also in 1992. Three new songs came on it, “Drive”, “The Fountain” and “Once”.

Then quite a surprise. Some live footage on Youtube. There is a video of the band playing “Strawberry” live on TV even though the hosts of the show are talking over the song! What show was this? Then another live footage video of them playing “Place in the Sun” at a wedding party of a friend of the band. Even more surprising, perhaps a reunion of sorts, there is the band playing “Close to Me” on October 26 2013. I would find on Hideka’s site that the band was reuniting to play after 20 years at Shibuya Club Asia at the DJ Bar EdgeEnd 18th Anniversary Party. They payed that day alongside Venus Peter. What a gig!

Searching for Loco-Holidays I get lots of hits, but for hotels and vacation sites. Nothing much about the band.

But I’m hooked now with the band. I want to find copies of their records. I want to listen to them at home, play their CD and relax. I hope I will get to find more about them. Did they hail from Tokyo? I suppose so. But I definitely would love to learn more. Like if this was the first band they were involved with? Are there more recordings? I’m sure my Japanese pop friends must remember them!

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Listen
Loco-Holidays – Drive

Thanks so much to Mats for the interview! I wrote about Close to Carmel a few posts back and was lucky to get in touch with him and to ask him many questions about this little known Swedish indiepop band! Discover them here on the interview but also on the new Bandcamp they have set up with  all of their songs!

++ Hi Mats! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Fine. Still recording and making sounds

++ 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 at home while growing up?

I remember my older sister making tapes of her favorite songs. Taping them off the radio and making little collages on the cassette cover. 80’s type of music, ballads and Stock Aitken and Waterman type dance numbers. Always sounding over saturated with the bass booming and the synths soaring. I still got some of the tapes, the are magical.

++ Had you been in other bands before Close to Carmel? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Later around when I was 12-13 I got into the punk scene. It was interesting. All this loud and anti authoritarian music was quite different for a timid kid coming from a quiet home in the suburbs. It was liberating. I took the train to the nearest town (Lund) and started buying records. It also made me want to pick up a guitar and make noise and so i did. I probably started with the bass first, playing with friends at the youth recreation center. It sounded horrible. A year later we had a band called ”the Benson Band”. We played live quite a bit. The music was a strange blend of punk and funk and surf with a horn-section. Basically we were a partyband. No recordings were made but we went into a studio once. We were so young and it wasn’t important to have a demo back then. We probably broke up around 1996. By then I had moved to Malmö and started recording my own music at home. First on two tape recorders and then I got a Fostex 4 track porta for my 17th birthday. Inspired by the lo-fi scene and especially the solo stuff Lou Barlow made, I started spewing out hundreds of noisy pop nuggets, learning my craft. At that time I became very isolated and depressed and eventually dropped of school.

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

A Few years later I meet Jens, the drummer for Close to Carmel, online. It was in a forum dedicated to ”Soft Rock”. I had switched my music interest a bit, from moody lo-fi to sunny 60’s music and was collecting vinyl from this era. He, and some others, was starting up a club i Malmö with that kind of music (the first of its kind in Sweden) called ”incense and peppermint” and asked me if i wanted to come. I later discovered that he also made music and we exchanged cd’s. I thought hes songs were great and so we decided to start a band! This must have been around 2003. We hooked up with another guy, Anders, on bass, that Jens had played with before (I think they played some kind of symphonic rock) and got a little rehearsal space at the docks and soon we had a couple of songs. Mostly we brought complete songs to rehearsal and then arranged them for the band. I sang on mine and Jens on his. We tried to use vocal harmonies as much as possible, as we all three sang, and it sure sounded good at the moment with all these reverb drenched overtones bouncing around the room but sadly we never did capture that sound on record. I guess our influences were from the 60’s. Someone compared us to that ”Notorious Byrd Brothers” record and I guess it has some similarities. I was really in love with singers that had a high pitched angelic voice like Curt Boettcher and he was a big influence on me.

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

The band name came from a song I liked with the band Fun & Games. It was a very spontaneous choice, I was looking thru the albums tracks on the cover and picked one that sounded good. Carmel seemed like a nice place. I’m a movie buff and liked the old Roger Corman and AIP films from the 50’s and 60’s. They shot many scenes at Carmel. Ragged rocks and endless deserted beaches by a stormy sea (I’m sure it looks quite different toady) so I knew about the place.

++ There is very little information on the web about the band. Is the “It’s Close to Carmel” the only release you put together? Where did you record the songs on this CD?

We recorded the tracks on a digital porta-studio and put them together at my place. It was all very low budget with crappy equipment and a very basic recording program. The process was pretty rushed and the music came out a bit sloppy. I surely wanted it to sound more sophisticated but we decided to keep the songs and that became our demo. Today I think they sound ok. I probably like Silhouettes the most because I recorded it myself and took some time on it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Some other people heard the demo like Henrik from Caroline Soul. He liked it and we arranged a show together. It went alright i guess. Playing live was always a double edged sword for me, it was quite a pleasurable pain. There wasn’t many shows after that one. I remember one we played an acoustic set on a outdoors festival with cows mooing in the background and I got stung by a bee. And one we played in Lund at a student-club where we won some best demo band price and was put on a compilation (the song ”Sandy”). There wasn’t many places for small bands to play and there really wasn’t any local scene. Malmö was much smaller town back then. And we were a lazy band. No one knew or cared about us because we never tried to promote ourselves or sell our record and we weren’t smart or trendy.

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

There were some problems in the group, lack of ambition and too many compromises. Jens and I didn’t work together very well. It was frustrating I quit many times and finally we decided to sink the ship. That must been around 2004. I made a promise to never play in a band again and the next thing I did was to join another band ha! That was Pet Squad. Jens started playing with Caroline Soul and Anders got married. I continued with my solo lo-fi project Mind Control Hands and had some success but that is another story. Today I play noisy and nostalgic music with a friend. The Band is called Tiny Bats and we are working on releasing a cassette in a couple of months.

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Listen
Close to Carmel – Let the Light In

Last Friday I went to check an indiepop gig in NYC. That is quite some news for me, It is not very often I get to attend one of these. Not many indiepop bands play here, or if they do they play in venues deep inside Brooklyn. Not convenient for me.

This time around the gig was in Berlin, a venue in Manhattan. I had been in the past to this small place to dance and I was surprised on Friday that they use it also for gigs. It is tiny! And you don’t get much of a view of the band playing if you don’t have a good spot. That’s the bad part.

I missed the first band, I didn’t expect them to be on time, 8pm is too early. So I arrived 8:30 and Jeanines were next. After them was Pale Lights and lastly was The Catenary Wires.

The Catenary Wires as you know is Rob Pursey and Amelia Fletcher, both from Heavenly, Tender Trap and many more bands. I had seen them before that is true. But seeing them again and listening to Amelia’s trademark vocals is something I always enjoy. It was a sweet evening, with their intimate set. They played many of their best known songs but also some that are in their new album that Tapete Records released. They would even do an encore of one of their catchiest tracks, “Intravenous”. But for me the best moment was when they went back in time and did a lovely rendition, of their old band Heavenly, classic track “Shallow”. I was surprised and impressed and excited and all. I caught it all in video and was giddy. Three or so minutes of perfection!

After the gig I want to thank Amelia, I love The Catenary Wires tracks, as you have probably noticed as I feature them on the blog everytime there is news, but listening to a song with the orginal vocalist that I never thought I would, was quite thrilling. I believe I haven’t seen Amelia Fletcher in about 4 or so years. So at first she didn’t recognize me. But then she did, and that was cool too. We talked a bit and that was it. I really hope I get to see them again, maybe next year at Indietracks? I should try to go!

Anyways, here are my newest finds!

Andrew Deevey: the ex-member of the Decemberists of Liverpool, the Hellfire Sermons, The Caretaker Race and more released not too long ago an album called “Northern Soul” that will be a delight to all indiepop lovers. The album is actually available on CD and Andrew was very kind to send me a copy for me to play and play all the time. There are 12 songs that are truly terrific. They are catchy and elegant, and it is hard to pick a favourite. The guitar jangles, the vocals takes us back to the time we fell in love with indiepop, isn’t this great? I don’t know how many copies Andrew has pressed, but as it is very good I would suggest ordering a copy before it is too late. And yes, you can preview all 12 tracks on Bandcamp!

The Wellington: the amazing Jakarta band is back with a track called “It’s So Fine” on Guerrilla Records. This single will be part of the band’s upcoming album which should be released pretty soon. I can’t wait for it. With The Wellington we get stuff little by little, so an album should be great! Hopefully it will be released in physical format and we can get copies this side of the world!

Become the Sky: “Violent Skies” is a lovely track by this Liverpool band formed by Anne Marie Howard, Mark Simms, Marcus Mayes and Joel Sawyer. It is dreamy and sweet. I am looking forward to new songs in the near future!

Seazoo: this very fine band, a favourite in the blog for some time, is back with a new track called “Throw it Up” which sounds great! The Welsh ensemble has put this single out as a little preview of what’s coming up, which will be a sophomore album due to be released early next year.

The Fisherman and his Soul: our friend Sebastian Voss is back with his excellent project, this time releasing with the Mexican label Emma’s House Records. The EP is titled “Disco///Voss” and will have five tracks. It will be available on CD and in digital format. For the time being we can preview two songs, the first one of the EP “Let Everything You Do Be Done in Love” and the last one “Your Lie (is Not Acceptable)”. Very very nice.

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I’m always curious about all the bands that have some connection with the amazing Wilde Club Records from Norwich. It is no surprise that I was able to release retrospectives of bands like Shine! and The Suncharms, both that graced releases on this label. Today I wanted to check out Cherry Forever a band I’m not familiar with, only hear it on the compilation CD “I Might Walk Home Alone” (Wilde 10) that was released by Wilde Club in 1992. On that compilation the band contributed the song “Spook”.

As far as I know that was the only compilation appearance by the band. They did release one record though, a 12″ EP in 1992. Wilde Club Records put it out. It was titled “Headstrong EP” (Wilde 9) and had 4 songs, 2 on each side. The A side had “Cherry Forever” (which I assume gave the band its name) and “Spook”. The B side had “Higher than Heaven” and “Down and Around”. All songs were recorded at Purple Rain Studios in Yarmouth, Norfolk. They were produced by the band and Richard Hammerton.

The sleeve doesn’t give us much more info aside that the artwork is credited to Pete Siree and Big Al.

I do find out that the band didn’t hail from Norwich. Music from the East Zone, the superb website that tracks all bands from Norwich mentions that the band was actually based in Nottingham. This might be a good piece of information to find out more about them.

And that may prove true. I stumble upon a Bandcamp for the band Blindmouse which may still be active. It mentions that the band is formed by two thirds of John Peel favourites Cherry Forever. And they are based in Nottingham. It must be them. Indeed, Gaz Parker (drums) and David Parker (guitar and vocals) were in Cherry Forever. The other members were Peter Vaughan (bass) and Mark Revell (guitar).

John Peel favourites? Yes, indeed. They recorded a Peel Session on June 30th 1991 at Maida Vale with Dale Griffin. The songs recorded for the session were “Spook”, “Down and Around”, “Back to Back” and “Higher than Heaven”. I would love to listen to this session!

And that’s all the web has for them. Well, not really. On Archive.org I find 9 songs by the band. These were uploaded somewhere back in 2006 and I am guessing this website got deleted or wasn’t renewed or something. Somehow the MP3s for these songs are still available here. So you can check  “Over Excited”, “Plastic Toy version 1”, “Spank” and “Forever Wonderful”, “All the Things”, “Flamingo”, “Spook”, “Wallpaper Ceiling version 1”, “Lowest Stated Ambition”, “Makes No Difference”, “Rolling Stone”, “Task”, “Ever Ready Never Ready”, “Communication”, “Fifteen Bottles”, “The Day That I Did Go”, “Bubble”, “Owe Me More”, “Plain White version 1”, “Plain White version 2”, “O’Briens Curse”, “Redman”, “The Summer”, “Cakes”, “Hostility Vine”, “No Tyrell”, “Forever Gods”, “Plastic Toy version 2”, “Sea Urchin”, “Untitled Instrumental”, “Wallpaper Ceiling version 2”, “Lipstick Point”, “The Unfortunate Boy” and “Forever Wires”. Quite a trove!

And that’s really it. Why weren’t these songs properly released? What happened to the band? Why just the one release? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Cherry Forever – Spook

Another week goes by. A few days ago I met Roy from the superb Portsmouth 80s band Three Little Piggies. Went for a couple of beers and that was great. Love talking about music and bands from that period. I just wish I had been around that time in the UK!

Today I will be going to a gig after a month or so? Last time was in Madrid. Quite crazy I think. Not many indiepop gigs here in NYC sadly. Today I’ll be heading to see Amelia Fletcher’s The Catenary Wires. I’ve seen them before, but I don’t mind. I like them. I am also curious about the Jeanines. I don’t have their album yet, maybe they have copies at their gig. I should see if I can buy a CD (or is it only available on LP?). Pale Lights are also playing this gig and even though I’ve seen them many times it is always a treat. So should be a good evening out!

Some finds of course, you came for that, not for my stories!

Queue Dance: I did write about Queue Dance some time ago. Would have been great to get in touch and interview them. Would have been fantastic really. I still would love to do that. Now they are going to get a bit more attention as there are good news, Firestaiton Records will be releasing a retrospective compilation called “Full Stop” next month. You can preview the song “Fringe of the Affair” which is AMAZING. Really looking forward to this.

Aster More: from Philadelphia comes 5-piece formed by Devin, Kristine, Carolym, Ariel and Rachel. They have just released a 9-track album that is a bit shoegaze and a bit indiepop. The album is called “Dog-Eared” and seems to be available digitally for now. The best song for me is “Bought It”. Check them out.

Gaarden: Library Group Records from Sydney are releasing an album called “The Fall” by the band Gaarden. First time I am listening to this band from Russia and Estonia that was founded last year by Ian Sakharov, Dima Kozyritsky, Vlad Semenov and Yareek. Sadly it seems Yareek passed away and the band members have continued with the project and have created this pretty song we can preview called “Shiny Day”, and hopefully an album as pretty!

Well Whale: “She’s a Punk” is the debut song by this indiepop band from Jatinangor in Indonesia. It is great! I am so happy to see that indiepop of this quality is still produced there! Can’t wait to hear more by them.

Cool Sounds: Lastly a Melbourne band that will be playing in two days in Berlin! Wow. The band will be releasing on September 20th their album “More to Enjoy” on vinyl and we can preview two tracks from it, “More to Enjoy” and “Around and Down”. Some nice jangly guitars here!

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I just noticed I had Fragile Friends waiting to be featured on the blog since 2014. I had a bunch of links with information about them saved. I wonder why I didn’t end up finishing the post. Well, it is better late than never, right?

“For-Play” was according to Discogs their first release. It was actually a tape album. I wonder how many copies of these were pressed and how was it distributed. It was released in 1983 and the label was Traditional Music Productions but has no catalog number. There were 5 songs on each side, on the A side we find “Emotional Tennis”, “Moments”, “Creatures of Habit”, “April Fool” and “Smack!”. The B side had “Happy Together”, “Gift Horse”, “November in the Rain”, “I’ll Say It For You” and “Creatures of Habit (inst.)”. “Happy Together” being a cover of The Turtles’ famous song. All songs on the tape were composed by Mike King and Chas Cole.

The band at this point was formed by them two, Mike King on vocals and accordion and Chas Cole on guitar, keyboards and trumpet. They had the help on this tape of three friends, David Bathe on drums, Steve Travis on bass and Steve Rimmer on keys. The songs were recorded at Shoestring Studios and were produced and engineered by Chas Cole. The address on the tape shows that the band was from the area of Southport in Merseyside.

Southport is a large seaside town in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish Sea coast and is fringed to the north by the Ribble estuary. The town is 26.9 km north of Liverpool and 23.8 km southwest of Preston.

The year after, 1984, would see the release of their first vinyl record. It was the “Paper Doll” 7″ (KC001) that was released by KC Records. This seems to have been the band’s own label. Maybe KC meant King and Cole? The A side had “Paper Doll” while the B side had “What I Call Beautiful”. This time around both of the band members produced the tracks and it is important to note that they got help on these two recordings by Cliff Ray on trumpet, Dave Bathe on drums and Paul Fisher on bass. The photo on the back cover is credited to Michael Daks while the cover design to John Evans.

Their last release is the classic 12″ EP “The Novelty Wears Off” (KCT1). There were four songs on it. The A side has just one of them, “The Novelty Wears Off”, while on the B side we find “Caught on the Hop”, “No Good in Our Goodbye” and “A Walk in the Sunshine”. Now the two friends got help from Maurice Cheetham on drums, Steve Greenmantle on bass, Phil Johnston on sax, Gary Joynson on trumpet. Pete Coleman was the engineer.

The band also appeared on one compilation, “Son of Jobs for the Boys”. This classic compilation featured bands like The Style Council, Stephen Duffy or The Persuaders among others. It was compiled by Roger Bannister and Ronnie Flood for Natalie Records (LIE 2). Fragile Friends contributed the song “Caught on the Hoop”.

The website Link2Wales has some more information about the band. Here it says that the band was formed in October 1981. Mike King and Chas Cole had been previously in a band called Tradition. Then it mentions that in 1983 the band became a five piece when they added Steve Travis (bass) (ex Debonaires, later Six), Steve Rimmer (keys), David Bathe (drums) (later Return of The Toreador) to the line-up. Paul Fisher (bass) joined briefly, until Mike and Chas changed the line-up in 1984 with Neil Brighouse (bass) (later Chance), Cliff Ray (trumpet), Denise D’Arcy (sax) (ex Walkie Talkies, Zale Out), Steve Eastwood (drums). Neil and Denise left in 1985 and Mike Keane (guitar) (ex Royal Family & The Poor) joined briefly. By mid 1985 Mike and Chas had again changed the line-up, Steve Greenmantle (bass), Gary Johnson (trumpet), Phil Johnston (sax), Maurice Cheetham (drums) joined them.

Then I stumble upon an interview with Michael Weston King by the website Triste. On it it talks about Fragile Friends a bit, talking about influences, about their gigs as a duo with backing tapes in places like Leyland, Preston and Chorley. It also mentions that he joined the band Stormkeepers and toured all Europe. And then how did Fragile Friends came to an end. He says: “I felt I’ve just had enough of this, this is just what you hear happens when you’re forced into something you don’t want to do.”

Michael King actually has a Wikipedia page where his career is documented. His latest work was a country soul album called “Still Testifiying” released by his band My Darling Clementine. He had also been in other bands like With the Good Sons as well as a prolific solo work.

What about Chas Cole though? What happened with him afterwards?

Sadly I can’t seem to find more info about the Fragile Friends. Many questions remain unanswered.

It would be great to know more about the Fragile Friends period. I especially would love to hear that tape they released early. Why was it released on tape too. And it did look like they were going to have a break, but why didn’t it happen? Were they approached by big labels? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Fragile Friends – Caught on the Hop

Thanks so much to Satori and Ishida for the interview! I wrote about this superb Japanese band some time ago and I was lucky to get in touch with Satori and she was even nicer that she was up to answer all my questions and also get Ishida on board! Hopefully in the future I will bug them for interviews on the many other bands they’ve been too!

Oh! and for those that prefer reading the interview in Japanese, find it here!

++ Hi Satori! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque.
We are all well.  Daffodil-19 is inactive at the moment as a band, but we are making music individually.

++ 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 at home while growing up?

Satori:  I sang with my mom’s “Sound of music” soundtrack, which she use to play in the house when I was in elementary school.  Played flute in the school marching band.  (I was never good at any instrument, so did not try much.)

Ishida: My family was not much interested in music. When I was in elementary school, I’d listen to robot-anime and super-hero theme songs.
My first encounter with rock music was Kraftwerk etc., under influence of my elder brother, who liked German progressive music.  I joined my first band with my high school classmates (it was a band for the “bunkasai” – an annual school festival), a bass player taught me how to play guitar. The first song we covered was Siouxsie And The Banshees’s “The Staircase”. Since I was a total beginner, I could not hold all 6 strings, so learned the basic major and minor chords using the 1-3 string only. I called these chords “cranes” and “tortoise” for my convenience (Note: “cranes and tortoise” – good luck symbols in Japan), and played like “3 fret tortoise” then “5 fret crane”. I still don’t know much about chords.

++ Had you been in other bands before Daffodil-19? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Satori:  Ishida-kun and I were in Penny Arcade.  After Penny, I joined Marble Hammock (with Hirotaka Shimizu and Mayumi Ikemizu of Bridge.)
Marble Hammock left some tracks for compilation albums “Blow up” and “Innocence and Peppermints”.

Ishida-kun and Don-chan (Donaka) were in Venus Peter.  Yoko-san (Yoko Ito) was in Soul Mission, Sugar plant, Three Berry Icecream (band) etc.

Ishida: Before joining Penny Arcade, the first band I ever played in the live-house was MDC (monkey dance club), which we started with my high school classmates. We played ska, new wave, covered Melon. We even had a horn section. 12 band members, although we rarely had all of them together.

Just before starting Penny, I was in a band called “clap trap” with rhythm box + female vocal + bassist. The bassist was Saito-kun, who was the first bassist for Penny. He also played with the Bachelors for sometime.

After Penny split up, I started Venus Peter, and after Venus Peter split, we became Daffodil-19, but along with Daffodils, I was also in the band called Jupiter Smile. (Jupiter Smile was Ishida, Donaka, KOGA, Sotomura & Daizo, and had one album out from KOGA records.)

++ Where were you from originally?

Satori: I was born in Tokyo. (spent some years in the US)

Ishida: I am from downtown Tokyo.

++ How was your town at the time of Daffodil-19 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?

Bridge and Philips were still playing when we started. Advantage Lucy, Sugar Plant, Swarm’s arm, Moools played great shows.
Used to hang around Maximum Joy (Ikuhiro Susukita’s record shop) on weekends. As for the venue, Que and Shelter at Shimokitazawa were very good. (Both venues are still very good.)

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

After the Venus Peter ended (in 1994), Ishida-kun came to me that there are several unfinished songs he wanted to release. So we finished them up, and wrote some new ones as well. The first line-up of Daffodils is Ishida, Donaka, KOGA from Venus Peter, Ofuruton (a friend drummer) and me. We got together to release one mini album.  But gradually shifted to continue as a hobby.

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

Music is a hobby to us.  So we write and create when we have spare time.  (which we don’t at the moment, personal lives are too busy). When we practice we play at the rental studios.

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

We got it from Kurt Vonnegut’s “slapstick”.  We also liked the band names with numbers (like Galaxie 500) so it goes.

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

Galaxie 500, Velvet Underground, Wedding Present, XTC, Magazine, Buzzcocks

++ Your first release came in 1994 and was an EP titled “Audrey Carson”. I was very curious about the name of the EP, but I can’t seem to find any answers. Who is/was Audrey Carson?

Sorry, it was Audrey Carsons first.  But dropped the last “s”, as it didn’t sound well in the song. I got it from “Wild Boys” by William S. Burroughs.  Not recommend for everyone (but great!)

++ Before this EP had you released demos? Or made recordings? Or was this time around the first time you went into a recording studio?

Daffodil-19 initially started as a band to record this EP.  So had few rehearsals as practice and went into recording right away.
We were in recording studios with our previous bands, but as Daffodils this was the first.

++ Wonder Release Records released this EP. I don’t know anything about them. Care telling me a bit about them? Who where they? How did you know them?

Wonder Release is an indie label, founded by Taro Yoda (Yoda is his real name, BTW) in 1991.  Released Venus Peter, Debonaire, Sugar plant, etc.
Yoda-san is such a passionate music lover, he is now running Kilikilivilla (Should check out Not Wonk). Yoda-san told me that Venus Peter’s first gig (in 1990) changed his life, he was a just college student then, but couldn’t stand still after the show, and asked them to sign his label (as the first band!).

++ After a 4 year hiatus you reappear with the album “Daffodilic” on Cardinal Records. Why did it take that long? Again, this label is unknown to me. Who were behind Cardinal? How was your relationship with the label?

As music is a hobby, we had no urge to release anything.  But after 4 years, we had enough new songs, and had saved up enough money to do recording on our own.

We chose Cardinal Records which was Beikoku Ongaku’s music label to release it.  Because we had total freedom on music direction this time.

++ This album is beautiful and I notice there have been some lineup changes. What happened? And what did the new members add to the sound of the band?

As we shifted to a hobby band, those who could enjoy this remained.  New members joined were old friends, they added new dynamics to the band, which you can hear clearly.

++ You covered New Order’s “Leave Me Alone” for a New Order tribute. Why did you pick that song in particular? And have you recorded any other covers?

This was the first time we tried semi digital (still mostly analog) recording.  We wanted to restructure a song, rather than just covering.  “Leave me alone” was an ideal one for us.  I also liked this song for a long time.
As for the other cover, we did “Presence Dear” on the first EP.  (not a very good cover though.)

++ For your second album you changed labels, you went with Clover Records to release “Circuit”. Why the change? And how did you end up working with them?

Again, Circuit was recorded by ourselves.  When we completed the recording,  we chose Clover Records, because I loved their beautiful package works.

++ On this album you worked with Noboyuki Ohashi from Bridge as your producer and Masako Kato from Pervenche did the art. How was that experience working with them?

Ohashi-kun is an old friend (we know each other before he joined Bridge),  I liked his solo works which he recorded mainly at home.  Back then, home-recording had just started and he was one of the few, who knew how.  We recorded materials on his 8 tracks, and mixed at this home.  He understood our intension, and was able to realize them into sound.

As for Masako-san, she was my favorite designer (that’s why we chose Clover).  I cannot thank her enough for the beautiful package.  She even  drew daffodils on the cover!

++ Are there more songs by the band? Perhaps some that remain unreleased?

Yes, there are some new ones after Circuit.  (But don’t know when we will have time to record them.)

++ I really like the song “Cicada Daze”, it might be my favourite of yours! I was wondering what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

We wrote it on the extremely hot summer, with cicadas bursting like endless feedback of MBV.  (really)
I stuck the microphone out of the window, and took that intro sound.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Daffodil-19 song, which one would that be and why?

Satori:  Sleepyhead (sounds simple, but very complicated rhythm, fun to play)

Ishida: Inbetweens (because it’s dramatic), Tangerine (cuteness), Memory circuit (played rare good solo)

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? All over Japan?

When we did play (back then), once or twice a year.  Only in Tokyo.
(I guess we played in Nagoya/Kyoto/Osaka…but can’t remember when.)

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

I can’t remember my own gig…  But we played with Softies (when they toured Japan), and Mayumi (Ikemizu) and I went shopping with them on the next day. That was really fun.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Too many, but again can’t remember details.

++ I believe the band is still going, right? Are there any plans for the near future?

We are still connected (which we only do at the moment). We may play together when we all have spare time.

++ You all have been involved with other bands, right? Which are they?

Too many to list, so just recent / current ones: Ishida-kun and Don-chan are in Venus Peter (restarted this year).
Nomoto-kun is in SevenZ
Yoko-san is running her own label “333 discs”. (with artists Goro Ito, Naomi & Goro, Tico Moon etc.)
Ishida-kun & I were involved in the recent reunion of Penny Arcade (2017).
My latest project is Smokebirds (collaboration with Smokebees,)

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

No.

++ You appeared on the legendary magazine Beikoku Ongaku. How important was this magazine for the Japanese scene? Were you big fans? How many times did they feature you?

We were old friends of Beikoku Ongaku. That’s why we were featured. (twice ? 3 times?) Back then, there were no spotify nor youtube, so Beikoku and the CD that came with it, was about the only way for amateur bands to attain wider audience.

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

Cookie Scene also liked us.

++ What about from fanzines?

I don’t know.

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

I don’t keep track of anything.  So I can’t remember much. (sorry)

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

Satori: I enjoy running. (marathon)

Ishida: Watching StarTrek on Netflix.

++ Never been to Japan. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

Satori:  Never visit Japan in summer (dreadful).
Recommendation: “Tofukuji” temple is Kyoto, with beautiful Japanese garden.
Food: “Matsuya” soba in Kanda, Tokyo.

Ishida: Shin-Okubo. (Not only Korean, but international cuisine and culture. This area symbolizes today’s Japan)
And of course, Akihabara.
As for food, there are very good eating places around Nihmbashi-Ningyocho, my home town.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you so much for discovering us. We are in a stage of life, when family/day job are top of everything. However, our love for good music is always with us. So when the time comes, will hope to restart.

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Listen
Daffodil-19 – Cicada Daze

I was hoping this week would only bring good news. Last week Winston from The Brilliant Corners passed away. And this past weekend I learned that Inés Bayo, vocalist of the legendary Barcelona band Los Fresones Rebeldes during their early years and also in their reunion tour in 2014 and 2015 passed away too. This is terrible. I never saw them live, it was/is a dream of mine as Los Fresones Rebeldes has been a favourite of mine since forever I think. I feel very sad of this, even though I never met her, but her vocals, all over the band’s first LP, were as important as the music I thought. They were punky and sweet, you know. I have been planning to do a Los Popov post, another band she was in, for some months now, but never got round to do it. I hope I can put that together soon, as a way of tribute and of course to know more details about the band. RIP Inés.

More music that has been found around the internet.

Ruby Haunt: this Los Angeles band is a very nice discovery methinks. Their latest song, “Jeune”, is the second single off their upcoming album “The Middle of Nowhere” which will be released on August 30th and I must say it sounds great. It is dreamy and hypnotic in it’s own way.  Hopefully this album will be released in physical format!

Laughed the Boy: here is a fine album by this Whitby, Onteario, three piece formed by brothers Chris and Sean Panacci and Brennan Hrehoruk. The album is titled “Change of Scenery” and has 9 tracks of guitar pop! My favourite track? Maybe it is “Post Card”.

TARA: now a Brooklyn band. This shoegaze band formed by Saagar Kurani and Wesley Diemling has just two songs available to preview. Their latest is called “Wander” while the previous one was “Second Guess”. Let’s continue checking them out, see if they play live perhaps or maybe they have a release in the horizon.

Local Visions: from Izumo, Japan! This Japanese band that reminds me a lot of 90s Japanese bands, with their elegant and catchy Shibuya-kei sounds, has just put out a 3 song EP titled “主観 “. Don’t ask me to translate, as I don’t know Japanese, but I can say it sounds great.

Long Beard: seems this New Brunswick, New Jersey, band is popular. It has many supporters on Bandcamp. And they are releasing an album called “Means to Me” on vinyl this September 13th. A 10 song album which has two songs to preview, “Sweetheart” and “Means to Me” which sounds ace, with lovely girl vocals and chiming guitars. Maybe I should check them out on September 26th at Baby’s All Right?

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I was reading a bio I found on the web about the Derby indiepop band The Moving Jelly Brothers that formed in 1987 and split in 1991 and thought that they deserved a post even though this bio has already a lot of interesting background info about the band and it is perhaps enough for the regular indiepop fan. Well, I’m no regular indiepop fan and I thought I’d try to find as many details as possible.

From what I gather from the bio the band was formed by Matt Holmes (vocals), Mike Cousin (drums, backing vocals),  Chris Dorricott (lead guitar), James Upton (rhythm guitar) and Gary Roberts (bass, backing vocals). I believe after the band split Holmes started to run his own recording studio and became a producer. He was also involved in the band The Stance. At some point Holmes and Roberts joined another Derby band for a brief time, White Town. And something curious is that Matt Holmes was elected in May 2008 as a Conservative councillor for the Chellaston ward in the city of Derby. Mike Cousins died that same month that same year.

The band received a lot of help from their photographer and roadie Mark ‘Gordon’ Bennett. If the roadie was their photographer, then there must be lots of photos of the band. Where are they? Would love to see them.

It seems the band started playing and practicing at the Mickleover Youth Center in Derby. Their first gig was at a house party. Afterwards they played all over the place including Leeds, Hull and Northampton. They opened for bands like Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, The Levellers, Senseless Things and Snuff. At home, in Derby, they were headlining gigs all the time.

Carter U.S.M. and Mega City Four wore their promo t-shirts and this helped to get some attention by record companies. Sadly it never happened. Just some mention in the The Derby Evening Telegraph but not the NME or the music press.

The band released one 7″, which was their only proper release in 1990. It seems this record didn’t do well at all. After this release the band did some recording sessions but nothing came out of it. The band was to fizzle out and split. That’s a shame. I for sure would love to listen to these recordings!

Many copies of the 7″ were destroyed by the band after poor sales. They were disappointed and angry I suppose. Funny enough many years after the song “Oddball” was included in a popular skateboarding video compilation and that gained them many new fans, especially in the US.

That 7″ came out on a label called Terminal Spoon Records (Spoo 001). It seems as it was a self-release, there are no other releases listed for this label. The record had 3 songs: “Oddball” on the A side and “Blotch” and “Twang” on the B side. These were recorded at The Spacedome Studios..

Discogs has 4 compilation appearances listed. The first dates from 1989 and it was on my friend Phil Ball’s compilation “You Can’t Be Loved Forever No.2” that is indeed a classic indiepop compilation with lots of top bands. On this compilation the band contributes the song “Michael, Michael, Michael”.

Then in 1990 the band contributes the song “Girl, Money, Pleasure Rides Again” to the compilation tape “Life After Chairman Mao” that was released by J.A.F.P.S.A.D. It is actually the first time I’m checking out this compilation and I see some fine bands like Giraffes, Cudgels or Barbel.

That same year, on the classic indiepop tape comp “Audacious” they contribute the same song, “Girl, Money, Pleasure Rides Again” and then on the tape “How to Be a Popstar” they have the song “Gapping Tunnel”. This last tape was a tape sampler of bands from Derby and the surrounding area that was compiled by Matthew Stack of Chaddesden.

Then a great find on the blog An Alternate Derby. It is from a post dating from 2011 where there is scan of the sleeve of a demo tape released by the band in 1989. This demo tape is called “The Last of the Turbonic Pineapples” and had four songs. “God is Dog” and “You Can Call Me Trevor” on the A side and “Elvis Presley Drunk My Beer” and “What’s it Like to be a Boulderhead” on the B side. Again all songs were recorded at SpaceDome.

Not much more on the web about them sadly. I would definitely love to hear the songs that didn’t appear on the 7″. I also wonder if the members continued making music afterwards. We know Matt Holmes did, but what about the rest? And what about before the Moving Jelly Brothers? Or was it their first band? I am sure a lot of you remember them, it seems the early 90s was a very exciting time to be in Derby

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Listen
The Moving Jelly Brothers – Blotch

And here we are, yet another new week. Hopefully this week will just bring good news.

I did some music listening this past weekend. And here’s what I liked the most.

Pony in the Pancake: who are behind this band?! First time I’m listening this sweet guitar pop band from Albany, New York, the state capital. The band will be releasing an album on September 20th and it doesn’t say in which format it will be available, we only have the one song, “Summer Has a Way”, to preview, and it is very nice… summery indeed!

The Surrounded: now is the turn to go all the way to the West, to Sacramento, California. Here the band formed by John Grow, Jason Grow and Kyle Fowler have put together a dreamy self-titled EP that consists of 5 songs. Sounds great, and for those that are into important details, it has been mastered by Kramer!

Soft Blue Shimmer: also from California, but not from the capital but from Los Angeles, we discover the badn formed by Charlie, Kenzo, Martin and Meredith, who have just released a superb EP called “Nothing Happens Here”. It is available on tape, which is a shame for me, but not for all of you tape lovers. And again just in case you didn’t get it, let me say it, this is a superb debut.

The Understudies: our friends from London are back with their sophomore effort, “If Destroyed True”. This record, which is already available for pre-order is being released by Carbide & Carbon Records and will include 11 songs. It will only be available on vinyl. And if you want to get a taster, you can preview a magnificent track called “Grousebeat”. That’s it. You can’t miss this one.

Topographies: and yet another California band! At least not from the cities that I mentioned earlier, but this time this three-piece hail from San Francisco. This is the first time I am listening to them, through their two songs “Cherry Blossom” and “Half Asleep”. It seems they are signed to the fine Sonic Cathedral label, though not sure if these two songs are only available digitally or there will be a vinyl release. The band is also heading to London playing there early September.

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A long time ago I discovered the Japanese shoegaze band White Come Come.

It was thanks to the classic compilation “Birth of the True” which is one of the most important indiepop compilations ever. If you are not aware of it, you should check it out. It was released in 1992 by the super Sugarfrost Records (FROSTY 2) whose Akiko Yamauchi I have interviewed on the blog in the past too. This compilation included amazing bands like Nelories, Secret Shine, B-Flower and more. Interestingly enough the band appears on this compilation with the name White Kam Kam. The song they contributed was “Rise”. On the CD version of this compilation the band’s name appear as White Come Come. It is to be noted that the CD compilation was released not by Sugarfrost but by ¡Por Supuesto! Records ‎(STAP-0203) also from Japan.

This is not the only compilation appearance by the band. That same year, Quattro (QTCA-1003) released a compilation CD called “Brand New Skip Decoration” where White Come Come opens the comp with the song “How I Feel” and also closes it with he track “Broken Bird”. This compilation includes too many unknown bands for me, the only ones I know are Secret Goldfish and Venus Peter. I should investigate! Also there was a 12″ version of this compilation with the same two tracks by White Come Come. It looks like it was a promo release put together by Parco Sectary for Quattro.

Then the band would contribute, in 1993, one track for “The Birth of the True II”. This time around it was only released on CD by ¡Por Supuesto! Records (STAP 0314) and like the first volume, the cover art had a photo of our friend Akiko. White Come Come contributed the song “Like A Tea”.

Aside from these compilations the band did release one proper release, an EP which not surprisingly was released on vinyl by Sugarfrost (Frosty 3) and on CD by ¡Por Supuesto! (STAP 0206).

“Skin EP” came out in 1992 and had four songs. The A side had “Broken Bird” and “Rise” while the B side had “Sink” and “Luv Lemon Lies”. Again the photography for the art is credited to Akiko on the 12″ while for the CD Jun Itoh is credited for art and photos.

The band was formed by Hiromi Homura on bass and vocals, Yoshihisa Nanbu on drums and percussion, Hirokazu Kasayuki on guitar and Riyou Kinugasa on vocals and guitar. Riyou was the main lyricist and also wrote the music for “Sink”. Hiromi wrote the music for “Rise” and “Broken Bird” while Hirokazu and Yoshihisa wrote the music for “Luv Lemon Lies”. The engineer for these recordings was Yoshiaki Kondo while the record was produced by Masa Tsuruta.

I look for any other involvements music-wise by the band members. I find that Riyou Kinugasa has actually written soundtracks for the videogame Resident Evil. The other band members don’t appear listed for other music projects on Discogs. What happened to them?

When I asked Akiko about them she told me: As for the spelling of WCC, for the LP we insisted WCC to use Ks instead of Cs for obvious reason. However they then insisted to spell it with Cs for the 12″. I think if they had a better name, would have sold more – we had to throw boxes of them away when we moved, which was painful – but who knows?

So lots of copies were lost. I still don’t have one.

Sugarfrost has a little information about them on their website. They mention that the band hailed from Osaka and that they were smashing when playing live. That when Akiko approached them and asked them for their influences they just said that they didn’t really have favourite bands… strange, no? It seems the band didn’t last long, that the label, Sugarfrost, stopped hearing from them after a few years. The band formed at an art college, maybe after graduation the band was over? That’s one theory. Last thing the label heard from them is that one of them got a job in Osaka and was colleagues at this job with Ian Masters of Pale Saints. Small world?

I keep looking but I can’t find any other interesting details about them. I wonder what happened to them? Did they play in other bands? What did they study at art school? Where are they now? Why no more releases? Did they have more songs? Do my friends from Osaka remember them?

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Listen
White Come Come – Broken Bird

There was news yesterday that made us all sad. RIP Winston Forbes, extraordinaire guitarist from The Brilliant Corners. The band posted on Facebook a heartfelt message which I like to share with you all.

It’s with a heavy heart and immense sadness that I have to tell you that our friend Winston passed away this morning after losing his fight against cancer.

Winston played guitar like no one else. He perfected a clean melodic lead style that influenced many indie bands of the 80s. At the time Winston did not get the credit he deserved for his innovative style of playing.

Auto-Vélo: this is really amazing, beautiful, classy, superb, whatever positive adjectives you can think of, then Graeme Elston’s new project is exactly that. The ex-Love Parade frontman is back with 4 songs that constitute his “Copernica EP”, a bliss of synth driven indiepop! Listen especially the opening track “Copernica” and the closing one, “Boy: Freeze Frame”, which are my favourites.

In Space: the Singapore one-man band has a new self-titled EP that sounds ace. Packed with jangly guitars and great melodies, this is definitely a great surprise. It looks like a small burgeoning good pop scene is happening in the city-state! This is a long EP by the way, more like a mini-album, it packs 7 songs total!

Lisa Prank: a 13-track album called “Perfect Love Song” and produced by Rose Melberg is the perfect introduction for this band! Formed by Robin Edwards on guitar and vocals, Bree McKenna on bass, Tom Fitzgibbon on drums and Rose Melberg doing backing vocals, the band’s album will be released on CD and vinyl!

Spring Winds: from Saint Petersburg, Russia, comes this shoegazey band with a new EP titled “Sway”. 6 tracks of superb songs. I don’t know much about the band I must say, they had a single back in April and that’s it. I definitely want to listen to more by them!

The Hannah Barberas: and lastly, some favourites! We are big fans of the UK band formed by Damien, Lucy, Doug and Matthew, and we are very happy to know they have just released on CD their mini-album “Dial H for Hannah Barberas”! The Catford band is releasing these six songs on the fine Subjangle label, and I suggest everyone to get a copy, or at least discover their wonderful music!

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This might prove difficult, finding more information about a band called The Family. That is not an easy name to google. But I’ll try.

I am guessing the band had some connection with The Groove Farm. Not sure in what way. I think this was the case as they released a flexi on The Groove Farm’s label Raving Pop Blast! Records (RAVE 11FX) in 1990. Maybe they also hailed from Bristol. This said flexi included just one song, “What Frank Said”.

This song is credited on the flexi itself to a last name, Howard. Or is it a first name? Also it is worth mentioning that the song is dedicated to Denis Hopper. I wonder too if the song’s title, “What Frank Said” has anything to do with the photo on the sleeve. I don’t know exactly who is pictured in it. Maybe it is someone called Frank? Maybe someone would know. It looks like a well known person, maybe an actor?

Aside from this flexi the band appeared on a split flexi that same year. It was on a flexi that I have already talked about in the past (that’s why I decided to write about The Family in the first place, to close the circle). This was a flexi released by Fabulous Records (FAB002) and had two songs, the first was “Irresistable” by The Felicitys (a band I wrote about in the past)  and the second was The Family’s “Polanskis Dream”. Clearly a song dedicated to Roman Polanski?

I look on the web for more information. I notice my friend Alex wrote about this flexi on his 7iete Pulgadas blog but sadly he has no more information other than what I’ve already found.

Aside from this post I can’t seem to find anything else about them. A very obscure band indeed. But as I have many friends from Bristol I think someone may help!

Edit August 10, 2019: Andrew Jarrett from the Groove Farm has given some more insight about the band. It turns out the band appeared on the classic compilation “Airspace II” on Breaking Down Records (BREAK LP3). The band contributed the song “Shine a Light”. And there was actually a release by the band in 1990. It was a mini-LP titled “Wildebeest” and was released on Pop God Records (PGLP002). This is the same label that released the album “Propeller” by Quinton, which I have been wanting to listen for a long while. This mini-LP had six songs, “Shine a Light”, “Slow Road” “Overboard”, “Bad Man”, “Polanski’s Dream” and “Love it to Death”. The songs were recorded at PIJ Studios and were engineered by Fat Paul.

Having the name The Family hasn’t helped them as everyone has tagged them differently on Discogs, every release belongs to a different The Family band!

After Andrew’s information I heard from Rocker, from The Rosehips. He said: I played keyboards for The Family for a while in 1988-9 while I was also a member of The Rosehips. They were indeed a Bristol band, featuring Howard Purse and Mark McDowell, both of whom had been in Animal Magic, who had recorded a Peel session earlier. Mark went on to form Spectrasonic, and then later the band McDowell, who have recorded three sessions for my Dandelion Radio show. Howard went out with Debbie Haynes, and after The Flatmates broke up they formed Cake – another band hard to google – but their album which came out years later is one of the best albums to come out of Bristol.

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Listen
The Family – What Frank Said

Continuing with the usual…

Stray Fossa: just found out about this Charlottesville, Virginia, band thanks to their song “These Days” which is their latest. And I am glad to have discovered them as this four-piece sound is superb! The band is formed by Nick Evans, Zach Blount, Will Evans and Arielle Korma. Looking forward to more songs by them!

Newmoon: more jangly and reverb music. This time from Antwerp in Belgium. Again this is a totally new band for me, so don’t know their back catalogue. I am just checking their latest track, “Collide Into Me”, which is pretty good. Seems it is the week for brand new bands for me?

Moving Panoramas: this sounds great! And it is also a new band for me. It is not new but my friend David from Madrid shared it on his Facebook and I really enjoyed it! The song is called “Baby Blues” and this is the video for it. I need to find out more about them! Are they still going? I know they hail from Austin and have two albums. This video dates from last November! Their latest work, “In Two” is available on Bandcamp.

The Artisans: wow! another new song by this most wonderful band! A Distant Call” is the song the band is releasing on Monday 12th! And it seems all the proceedings from this song will be donated to Chris Packham, Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay, three environmentalists to fight for wildlife!

Parsnip: ok! not a new band for me now. The last find this week is the new album the amazing Melbourne, Australia, trio is releasing at the end of the month! “When the Tree Bears Fruit” should be a top album, one not to be missed, if I judge it by the two songs we are available to stream on Bandcamp, “Lift Off!” and “Rip it Off”. The album is available on vinyl and CD!

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So cool to have stumbled with another superb Czech band! They are rare, aren’t they? I believe this is the third Czech band I’m featuring on the blog, the shoegazers Moving Holiday!

The band was founded in 1992 by Tomáš Svašek on guitar and vocals, Ondřej Faber on drum and Honza Dědek on bass. They would be joined later on by Vojtěch Probošt on bass and guitar, making Honza turn to second guitar for a brief time and then leaving the band.

According to a small bio I found on the web the band was influenced by early 90s shoegaze bands like Revolver, Ride or Moose. In February 1993 the band played their first gig supporting Tom is my Sugar and after their 2nd live presentation they went to record a cassette single with two tracks on it, “Lilian” and “Feel and Fine”. It was self-released and doesnt’ even have a catalog number.

They played alongside some of the best Czech bands from the period like Ecstasy of Saint Theresa and Sebastians. They even appeared on TV. Is there footage of this appearance? Then Cyril Tůma joined the band to play bass and Vojtěch turned to 2nd guitar on live gigs. Then in September of 1993 they recorded their second tape. It was a demo tape with two songs, “Foam” and “Tears of Your Hate”. With this tape they tried to reach MTV and bigger labels. It seems there was some interest by BMG, but I don’t think nothing ever happened from it. Then in October they supported Slowdive (it was the Moving Holiday’s 7th gig). They were also voted by the Czech music press as the 3rd best band of the year. Then the band split. It says they did just before releasing their first album. So, the question arises, was this album recorded? I would love to hear it!

Today Honza is a famous music journalist who is well remembered in the Czech scene for his work in Rock&Pop magazine. Vojtěch plays these days in the band Sweeper.

Oh! it is worth mentioning too that the band hailed from the capital, from Prague. What other information can we find?

I found on Facebook a 2012 concert listing of a band called Soundust which seems featured at least one member of Moving Holiday. Who might that be?

And that’s really it. Would be great to interview them and find out more. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Moving Holiday – Foam