Back to blogging in 2019, back to finding new sounds, new music on the web. Not much news yet on the Cloudberry side though in a week I’ll be flying to Lima, Peru, for a week. That means that if you are in Lima and you’d like to order some records and save in shipping send me a message and we can figure it out.

Now, what is new in the world of indiepop?

Milkmustache: well, this is a Christmas song, so maybe it is not what you wanted, but you could save the song for next Christmas? I mean, it is really pretty, the season shouldn’t matter. The new song by the Chinese band is called “Christmas Song for Christmas Night” and it is available on the Boring Productions Bandcamp.

Furry Loser: Rolf is from Costa Rica. He likes recording pop songs in his bedroom. He has put together an EP called “Loser Dance Party”. Only one of his songs is available to stream. It is called “Marco & Marty”. It is based on a web coming of the same name. It is bouncy, poppy and fun. Will the other three songs, “Don’t Like You Anymore”, “Tom (working title)”, “Loser Dance Party”, on the EP available to listen someday?

Golden Teardrops: our friends Ryan and Lei have re-released (and re-mastered) their song “A Summer Escape” and a demo version of “Pieces of Our Love”. As expected they are top songs. So give yourself 5 minutes and check them out!

In Space: this Singapore project by Juan Sawitt, a 19-year old “with a computer”, sounds really nice. Their latest is the song “Heartache” which he uploaded just before Christmas on his Bandcamp. Lyrics are available to sing along and there is also another song worth listening called “January” that dates from last March.

Pleasures Pale: the Dayton, OH, band that I interviewed just a bit ago have uploaded on Soundcloud a compilation of various live performance recordings from 1986. Two tracks come from a gig at the Canal Street Tavern and the two others are live rehearsals. The jangly guitars on the first track, “Muscleman”, are superb! And then you get “An Awkward Kind Thinks Twice”, “Life is But a Dream” and “Uneasy’s Disease”. All being great of course!

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So far, after searching and searching I could only find one interesting tidbit about the band Big House. They played a gig at the legendary Rock Garden on November 10th, 1985. As many of you know this was a venue in London, in the Covent Garden area, that among other feats The Smiths played their first London gig there. These days sadly it is an Apple store. The worst thing ever of course.

The problem is of course the band’s name. It is not original enough to search for them. I can get all sorts of results on Google and even worst the 7″ I know they released doesn’t even get listed on Discogs, 45cat or Rateyourmusic. It seems as it doesn’t exist.

I don’t even know what was on the B side. I only know, thanks to Youtube, that the A side was called “Real Eyes”. I know it is a superb song, with female vocals, catchy, fun, upbeat, all sorts of things I like. The guitar is bouncy, the drums rolls at the start of the song are ace. What more can I say? It is the sort of song that should be included in an obscure female fronted UK indie compilation. But how can one do that if you don’t even know who the members where?

On a Japanese blog I read that the label that put the record out was based in Cambridge. Sadly it doesn’t tell what was the name of the label. It also looks as if the record didn’t have a picture sleeve. The information is really scarce.

This band and single are a true indiepop mystery. We have two cities, London and Cambridge, as possible places where the band was from. Or maybe not even. We only know one date, 1985. And one song, “Real Eyes”. This time I will need any help I can get. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Big House – Real Eyes

Thanks so much to Tim for the interview! A few weeks ago I wrote about Splendour in the Grass on the blog and happily Tim got in touch! So I didn’t miss out the chance to ask him a bunch of questions and learn more about his band who only got to release a shared flexi with the 14 Iced Bears back in the day!

++ Hi Tim! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you all still in touch? Still making music?

Hi there. It’s my pleasure! I’m all good thanks. I’m afraid that I’m not really in touch with any of the original band members. One of those things – we all sort of went our separate ways and kept in touch for a few years but then drifted. I do still pick up a guitar every now again, but I’m not writing music any more.

++ 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?

My first musical memories…. ooooh, erm…. Probably my parents listening to jazz records and my older brother with his dub reggae record collection (not quite sure how this led me to indie music at the time, but it did!) My first instrument was actually the guitar. I taught myself back then, usually learning the chords of my favourite records in my bedroom. We were all heavily into the indie scene, apart from Christopher, who was more into heavy metal for some strange reason.

++ Was Splendour in the Grass your first band or had you been in other bands before that? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Splendour In The Grass was my first band, and also for the other guys in the band too.

++ Where were you from originally, Croydon?

We were all from Croydon, yep.

++ How was your city at the time? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Croydon was a strange place at the time. There were lots of small minority music scenes going on at the same time – indie, goth, rockabilly, and metal. Weirdly enough there were a few local venues around Central and West Croydon that used to put on bands, but to be honest we were more interested in seeing bands at the time in places like the Croydon Underground than putting on a gig ourselves back then. One thing that probably fuelled the vibrant music scene back then were that we had three really great record shops – H&R Cloakes and 101 Records – which catered for all of the indie record buying people back then, and also Beanos – which was the largest second hand record shop in England I think at the time. So were were kind of spoiled as to where to listen to and buy new music. I’m afraid that these have all closed now.

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

The band started in 1987 when we were 15 years old. Me and James went to one school in Croydon, and Nic and Christopher went to another school, but we used to see each other when we’d get the bus and the train to London when we used to go to the same gigs most weeks up in London or Brighton. So we knew we liked the same sort of music, and then we started hanging out and from there it was natural for us to start our own band. Once we’d agreed to start the band, it was pretty easy to work out who was doing what – Christopher had a bass, James had a guitar, and I had drums and a guitar – so that we me and Nic sorted!

++ Were there any lineup changes at all?

This version of Splendour In The Grass kind of split up in 1988, but I did carry on the band with Nic and some new members – Dan, Chris, and sometimes Jonny – who strangely enough, we also used to see on the bus and train going from Croydon up to London to go to gigs. We didn’t release anything else, but we did a few gigs around Croydon and did record a rather good DAT in a studio around 1990, but as I say, we never released it.

++ What’s the story behind the name Splendour in the Grass?

The name came from the classic black and white film with Natalie Wood. It seemed to fit at the time, and the other guys in the band were happy to go along with it.

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

In the beginning, we used to practice in Christopher’s parents garage at his house. I remember our first practice session and I was actually singing and playing the guitar – and I’m afraid to say that my singing wasn’t quite up to much, so we decided to let Nic have a go, so I took his place at the drums, and Nic started singing. Which kind of worked out for the best at the time really – Nic was a much better singer than me…! Up to that point, I was writing the songs (including Twist Me), but when I moved on to drums, Nic took over with the lyrics and the rest of us wrote the music.

++ You were around in the late 80s and in the UK there was a great explosion of guitar pop bands, why do you think that was? Did you feel part of a scene?

There really was – and that was the reason we wanted to be in a band! We all used to go to gigs up in London and Brighton when we were 15, and because the scene was so small and accessible, it was easy to get to know the bands that you loved! We never really gigged a great deal, so we were never really part of a scene in that sense.

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

At the time, we all loved listening to The Velvet Underground, The Byrds and the Rolling Stones, but I would say that we more influenced by what was going on at Creation records, Subway records and early Sarah records releases.

++ As far as I know your only release was a flexi that was shared with the 14 Iced Bears. This was released by Penetration Records. Who were Penetration Records and how did you end up working on this flexi?

We actually set up the label Penetration Records ourselves! And the release with The Bears was actually the only release that Penetration put out. The idea behind the flexi came around through my friendship with Rob from 14 Iced Bears. I mentioned to him that we were looking to do a flexi and asked if he had a track he could let us have – and he gave me the tape for the different edit of Lie To Choose. Funnily enough, I seem to recall that when Christopher went up to the flexi plant to get the flexi pressed, he was asked what the label was called – which we hadn’t given any thought to – so he just made up the label name as Penetration Records on the spot.

++ And you were friends with the 14 Iced Bears, right? How did that relationship happen? Did you play many gigs together? With which other bands in town you had also a good relationship?

I was friends with Rob from 14 Iced Bears, yes. So firstly, I was a massive fan of their first two releases they’d had at the time and went to their gigs as much as a 15 year old could. Then one day I saw an ad for a drummer in the back of the NME (which back then was how bands recruited new members). Anyway, I called Rob and went down to Brighton to meet up. It didn’t work out with me joining the Bears, as I was still at school, and they had been used to better drummers than me in any case – my drum set up was just two drums (like Mo Tucker from the Velvets and Bobby Gillespie from the Mary Chain). Anyway, we stayed in touch and when we were thinking of putting out the flexi, I asked Rob if he had a song that we could use, and he gave us the version of Lie To Choose that you hear on the flexi. We were from Croydon, and so were Loop, so we got to know them a little bit – Robert Loop formed Main with our friend Scott. The indie scene was so small and welcoming, that you’d always end up chatting to bands at their gigs, and I also got to know The Field Mice as they were from Croydon too.

++ The song “Twist Me” was included in it, I was wondering if in a few sentences you could tell me the story behind that tune?

I think I wrote it about a girl who had just split up with me, but then kind of messed with my emotions afterwards – pretty much standard reference for songs back then!

++ Where was the song recorded?

The track was recorded at James’ bedroom – his dad was a vicar and he lived in a vicarage in Croydon. James basically had the biggest bedroom out of all of us.

++ I looked at the credits on the sleeve and I see that you thank a Laurence for the gear and Robert Black for living. I thought these were odd, or enigmatic thank you notes. I don’t know if you could tell me a bit about it?

Haha. Lawrence lent us some equipment, and perhaps something else that we used when we rehearsed…, and Robert L Black was just a friend that used to hang around with us.

++ Why didn’t you get to release any proper records?

I’m not sure really. We didn’t really gig enough or generally try very hard if I’m honest. It’s a shame looking back, as we certainly had the creativity. Later on, when it was me, Nic, Dan and Chris, I do believe that our music could have got released, but Chris went off University and we just carried on rehearsing with no real aims for a gig – we’d go to a rehearsal room and have a bit of a party instead of going to the pub.

++ Was there any interest by labels to put out your records?

Not for us, no. Like I say, unfortunately we were too lazy and didn’t do enough to push ourselves.

++ And did you appear on any compilations?

Again, I’m afraid not.

++ I suppose you must have many unreleased songs, is that so? Maybe in demo form or perhaps studio recordings?

We do have quite a few tracks – certainly a few as demos which are probably in a box in someones house somewhere. The DAT tape did contain the other studio recordings that we did – 4 songs from memory.

++ If you were to choose your favourite Splendour in the Grass song, which one would that be and why?

Apart from Twist Me, as it was the only release we ever made, I’ve always had a soft spot for the track we did called Razors Hutch – which was written about a friend we had back then.

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

We did play a few gigs, but these were only ever in the Croydon area.

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

I do remember that at most of our gigs we liked to turn up the volume – so there was always this competition between band members about who could get the amp volume the highest – not the most professional I’m afraid, and usually with the venue threatening to pull the plug on us unless we turned the volume down…

++ And were there any bad ones?

At a very early school gig that me Dan and Jonny did, (when I was singing) I remember having to encourage Dan to come out from behind the curtain where he was playing – Dan was a bit shy back then!

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

As I said earlier, when Chris left for University, we carried on with the rehearsing, but it was generally just a bit of a party in the rehearsal room with our friends – with no real agenda to record anything else or play out live again. I did audition to be the Field Mice drummer a few years later, but the chose to stick with their drum machine…

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

Im afraid not – we all kind wasted our opportunity and as far as I know, none of the others have been in any bands since.

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

I am still friends with Dan, Chris and Jonny, and we did do an acoustic set to some friends a few years back. It was totally unplanned, and it was surprising how much we could remember of the old material.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Afraid not. Again, we didn’t really push ourselves enough so the radio probably never even got to hear about us.

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

Only really by the association with 14 Iced Bears. The Bears really should have got better recognition for their records – even though they had records out and did gig a lot, they were massively under appreciated for what they did.

++ What about from fanzines?

I don’t remember any fanzines showing an interest – but if they did, I’d imagine it was because we had the Bears on the flexi with us!

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

Releasing the flexi – quite an achievement for a 15 year old to get a flexi out with their band on their own label, and also with an unreleased song by one of their favourite bands.

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

I’ve always loved old campervans – and have just set up a business to rent out vintage VW campervans.

++ I’ve never been to Croydon, close though, to Brighton once, but it is always good to hear from a local for some recommendations! What are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

Croydon is a bit of an odd place really. It’s all a bit non descript. Probably the same as a lot of other town centres I’d imagine. I know that there’s been a pretty decent underground dance scene going on there for a few years.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

No, just that it has been nice to answer your questions!

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Listen
Splendour in the Grass – Twist Me

Happy New Year! Happy 2019! I’m hoping this will be a better year for everyone and for indiepop too of course! Shipping prices are what hurts us the most these days. I dream of them being lowered in the future but I feel that might be just wishful thinking. They may just go up again and again. But that’s what I hope for. I think that would all of us involved in releasing, listening and collecting beautiful records.

As I mentioned in my previous post I was away on holidays. It was nice to disconnect for a while of course. There was no indiepop involved at all in this trip, it was just mostly relaxing in the Mexican Caribbean and visiting a couple of Mayan ruins.

Now I’m back since very early today and I haven’t had time to investigate and find new music on Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Youtube, etc. But for Friday I promise you that. For tomorrow I have an interview to post too, so it will be a 3-post week, not bad to start this year.

Also keep an eye on the blog and the label Facebook because we have a few releases in the pipeline set to be released in 2019! It is going to be great!

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Nick Garrard, an English writer, designer, band manager, etc, started Upright Records in the mid-80s. Among the bands he released there are a few that interest me: The Doctor’s Children, Yeah Jazz and the Weeping Messerchmitts among others. I surely should feature them three at some point on the blog. But I’ll start with the Weeping Messerchmitts today!

They only released one record mind you. A 12″ maxi single with three songs, “Nothing Yet” on the A side” and “Say Goodbye” and “Panthera Parvos” on the B side. It was on Uptight Records of course (UPT 17) and came out in the year we all like, 1986.

All songs are credited to Alexander, Jeavons, Oliver and Webb on the labels. Aside from that there is really not any other worthy piece of information on the record. True, I don’t own it yet, I should try to track a nice copy for myself in the next couple of weeks. But little by little my friends, step by step.

There is something strange about this release. You know, in 1994 it was reissued. But not in the UK but in Spain by the label Old Gold (OLD GOLD-015-MX). I wonder how much interest there was on this band in Spain at the time. What I do know is that this label used to reissue cool records by bands like The Mighty Lemon Drops or The Raw Herbs.

Now, this Spanish label was a sublabel of a bigger one called Contraseña Records. This bigger label had, in 1997, included “Nothing Yet” by the Weeping Messerchmitts in a CD compilation called “Lo Mejor de los Ochenta” (CON 101 CD). The best of the 80s. Not sure if it was really the best of the 80s what was included in here, but I definitely like this song.

So, what was a Messerchmitt? It looks like it was a German aircraft manufacturing company, thus a messerchmitt was an airplane and they did come in various modles, BF 109, KR200, Me 262. etc.

Through Discogs I end up on Youtube. There is a promo video for “Panthera Parvos“. It was filmed by Martin Webb on location at the British Federal Tipton and JBs in Dudley. The song was written about Donald Neilson the notorious Black Panther who prowled the streets of Tipton and the Black Country during his infamous period striking fear into and terror into that community. Something odd though. The first screen of the video says The Railway Children “Panthera Parvos”. What?!

On Youtube I find another song, one not on the 12″. It is called “Will They Ever Believe Me“. Then another called “Just To Hold You“. And lastly one called “Fashionable Smile” that it is said to be the last written by the Alexander Jeavons and Oliver Webb partnership. I believe these songs were uploaded by David Webb, the vocalist of the band. Where does these songs come from? A demo? A live recording? There are few other live videos on this Youtube account. There’s one for “Your Heart” from their last gig at JB’s in Dudley in 1987. And then there’s “Say Goodbye” also live at JB’s, and probably from that same gig.

So yes, the band members full names. So we’ve mentioned that Dave Webb was the vocalist and guitarist. Then we know that Gary Oliver played guitar, Mark Alexander bass, Mark Jeavons guitar and Gary Odea played drums. Oh! And the band hailed from Wolverhampton!

A cool find, even though I’ve never been a fan of Terry Malts, is that they covered “Nothing Yet“. You can check their version on Soundcloud.

I try to look for the band members, what they are up to these days. There is a Mark Jeavons in the Midlands that works as a script writer. Could that be the same one? Then I find a Mark Alexander that is a writer and has a poet friend called Gary Oliver. It sounds like they might be the ones from the band, right? If that was the case, our Mark Alexander wrote a book called “Meandering & Muses” that was published last year, 2017.

Sadly there is not much more information about them, nor the band. No gigs listed. No other bands they might have been involved with. Why? Their 12″ sounds great, influenced by The Smiths and The Wild Swans. Why not more love to them? Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Weeping Messerschmitts – Nothing Yet

Last post of the year!! I’m going on holidays to Cozumel, Mexico. To the beach!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I hope you all had a good 2018 and I’m hoping we all have an even better 2019! This year was good for Cloudberry! We released a few 7″ (Salt Lake Alley, Okama Flannel Boy and The BV’s) and one retrospective CD (The County Fathers). Not bad I think!

Next year there will be new 7″s and new retrospectives! I think by February we should be releasing a retrospective by a classic Scottish pop band from the 80s. After that we have another retrospective planned by a Portsmouth band. For 7″s I’m hoping to have a Spanish and French bands joining our series. And that won’t be all. There are more plans! Our Australian indiepop nuggets compilation is starting to take form and I should be announcing something early next year! I’m very excited!

With all of that news, do you really need me to go find music? I’ll skip this time. I want instead that you recommend me some, that you tell me what were your favourite releases this year? your favourite gigs? Please send recommendations my way!

A new blog post will be available on January 2nd! Until then my friends! Have a good one!

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A few weeks ago I got a very nice package from Jesper in Sweden, with recordings of his band My Favourite Martians and also a CDR of recordings by a band called Sallystream. He was telling me that he lost touch with them many years ago, in the 90s, but he loved the music and would love to know what happened to them. So I listened the 8 songs he had burned for me… and I loved them. So here I am writing about them on the blog with the hope of finding out what happened to them!

The band seems to have been based in Norrköping as they practiced at the same studio as My Favourite Martians. They didn’t get to release any records. They did though contribute 4 songs to 2 compilations. I think that could be a good start in solving this mystery.

There was a fine compilation released by Blind Dog (BDCD001) in Sweden called “Dogstew”. It came out in 1993 and included the likes of Cod Lovers or The Persuaders. Sallystream appears here with two songs, “Changing” and “Laura Knows”. These two songs were recorded at KM Studio in Norrköping. On the inner sleeve there are some credits for the songs. So “Changing” is credited to C. Sandell and H. Johansson while “Laura Knows” to H. Johanson and Sallystream. Hopefully these two last names prove to be handy…

Two years later, in 1995, they contributed the songs “The Sun” and “Perfect Match” to the H. Lime Records compilation “In the Limelight” (HLR 951-2). This is another fine comp with bands like aBle, Pineforest Crunch or The Leslies.

Those were the 4 songs that were released. Jesper shared 4 more with me. Sadly two of them, from their 1992 demo don’t seem to have a name. One does but I can’t figure out what’s the name, “Tickled Jon” perhaps? Then there was “Beautiful” from a 1993 demo. I feel there must have been more songs. These can’t just be it.

On the Blaskoteket website there is an article that appeared on Sound Affects #23 in 1994 about Sallystream. This might be helpful! First thing I find is the name of Anna Jonsson, I think she did backing vocals. Then the next name to pop up is Håkan Johanson, vocalist and guitarist (now I have the first name). He is a big fan of The Housemartins. Then the Sound Affects reporter is surprised by the drummer, Jesper Nyström, taste. His favourite bands are Red Hot Chili Peppers and Primus. Then the guitar player name is Christian Sandell. I learn too that Jesper wasn’t the original drummer. The original drummer left to China. And then I complete the quintet, the bassist name is Magnus Eriksson. I have the complete band. All their names.

But then I find out that in the Harry Lime compilation the drummer was someone called Joakim Svensson. So there was another drummer change?

I look into what other bands have the members been involved. It seems Christian Sandell had been in Stan, InterRail, Burek V, Eve and the Last Waltz and Oh Lucky Star.

I think that’s quite a good investigation. I see other bands on Popfakta that Magnus could have been involved but they go back to the early 80s. It may be him or not. I can’t be sure. Then about Christian I find many hits with him playing other instruments on the web, even drums. Is it the same Christian? Maybe. I can’t be sure unless I get to chat with him. That would be nice. Find out more about them. Find out why they didn’t get to release a record for example? I wonder if my Norrköping readers remember them?

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Listen
Sallystream – Laura Knows

Last weekend for our Cloudberry 3CDs for the price of 2. Monday will be the last day I’ll be able to go to the post office as I will be away for a week. Any other orders placed between Christmas and New Years will be posted on January 3rd.

Beauty Parlour: I’m really loving the dreamy sounds of their “Fall in Love” EP. This Forth Worth, Texas, band’s first release on Bandcamp is a true gem. There is very little information about them, just the four songs, “Fall in Love”, “Chance on You”, “Mistrals” and “Jamais Vu”, that are great with superb boy/girl vocals!

VA – We Love You, Jerry: The Rosebuds from Sacramento have added this EP to their page. The band contributes the first song, “We Love You, Jerry”, but it is not all. There is a song by Dusty Miller, Bunny Nightlight, Sad Numbers, Soul Brother and Rocketship. Yes, very important. There is a song by the most amazing BUNNY NIGHTLIGHT!! “Song 3” it is called and it is brilliant!

Posh Lost: another digital EP. This time from this band that hails from Minneapolis. The EP is titled “Fortune” and comes with four songs, songs that are an interesting mix of post punk, dreampop and shoegaze. Worth checking out.

Tullycraft: some days ago they unveiled the song and video for “Passing Observations”. Now they have put it up on Bandcamp with a “B side” called “Stop Press Girl”. The cool (or not cool?) thing is that this song won’t be part of the album “The Railway Prince Hotel” so I guess we can only listen to it on repeat here!

Star Horse: one of my favourite Swedish bands is back with an album! At the moment you can only stream one of the songs, “Albatross”, that will be included in the “You Said Forever” LP that will be out on Startracks in February. There will be 9 songs in it, and I can’t wait to listen to the whole thing!

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Frank Pryce on vocals, Gerry Fahy on guitar, Brian Neavyn on bass and Pete Kinsella on drums were The Slowest Clock, a Dublin based band. I know very little about them as it is the common thread among all the bands I feature on the blog. So why don’t you join me into discovering their music and their story.

They started late in the 80s, releasing a 7″ in 1987 on the Comet Records label (COMET 004) that included “Clarke & Jones” on the A side and “Secret Flowers” on the B side. This is of course an important label as it released the classic Irish compilation “Comet EP One” that included Cypress, Mine!

The songs on this 7″ were recorded at Temple Studios in June 1987 and were produced by the band. Declan Morrell and Mark Power were the engineers and the mastering was done at S.T.S. Studios by Liz O’Toole. The art is credited to Dave, and the photograph on the front cover is a still of Truffaut’s “The Bride Wore Black”. There are no band members listed on the sleeve (I’m looking at the scans, I don’t own a copy, I wish I did!), but there are many thank yous and among them we see lots of important names like Guernica, Microdisney and more.

Their second release came out on Bewildered Records (BED 6001). It feels like this might be the band’s own label as the three releases listed on this label are all by The Slowest Clock. The first one was the “2-Car Garage” 12″ that included four songs, two on each side. The A side had “Carnival” and “Fear in Me” while the B side had “That Girl” and “Mothers of America”. On this record we find out who formed the band:
Brian Neavyn on bass
Dave Burke on drums
Gerry Fahy on guitar
Frank Pryce on vocals

That same year the band would put out another 12″, the “No Hand Signals EP”. It also came out on Bewildered Records (BED 6002) and again 4 songs were recorded for it. The A side had “Millenium Train” and “Where’s Andi” while the flipside had “You’re Wrong” and “Raindrop Hill”.

It would take the band a little over 5 years for another release. Their album “Life Still” came out in 1995 on Bewildered (BED 6003) with 12 songs: “Little Fishy”, “Wasted”, “Warhol”, “Say It”, “Le Bordel”, “In the Cinema”, “Cherie”, “Desert Mouth”, “Acid Lake”, “Say What’s On Your Mind”, “You Never See Me” and “Memories”. The songs were engineered by Albert Cowan and Joe Wearan and I believe were produced at Sonic Studios by David Wallis.

There is another release that I’m curious about. In 2014 the CD compilation “Smile Futurismo! All I Heard Was Purple” was released on Eye Unseen Records (DACA 7051). it was a 15 song compilation that were original studio recordings made in 1989 and 1990 that were intended for their debut album. Odd. So “Life Still” would have been their 2nd then? It is strange as many of these songs were in “Life Still”. It says that these earlier recordings were lost and only found a decade later. That the ones on “Life Still” were a totally different recording session and that the band run out of funds and interest and split prior to “Life Still”. The songs on this compilation were “Going Home”, “Warhola”, “You’re So Strange”, “Le Bordel Philosophique”, “Little Fishy”, “Cherie”, “Eastern Flowers’, “Acid Lake”, “Turning Green”, “Say What’s On Your Mind”, “Wasted”, “You Never See Me”, “Desert Mouth”, “Rejoice” and “In the Cinema”.

As I mentioned earlier, the band appeared on the “Comet EP One” compilation on Comet Records (COME1T) that was released in 1986. The band contributed the song “Little Boy Lost”.

I look at Irishrock.org, which is always a great place to find out about Irish bands. Here it mentions that the band performed the song “Clarke & Jones” at a TV show called “Visual Eyes”. I found the video on Youtube. Another interesting detail is that the band recorded several demo tapes and one of them, the 1986 3-song one, was produced by Ritchie Taylor and engineered by Paul Thomas.

According to this website Dave Burke who I listed as a band member wasn’t an original member.In 1987, tThe ex Cliff Edge Panic (fantastic band who I featured on the blog before) actually replaced Pete Kinsella who was the original drummer. After The Slowest Clock split, Gerry Fahy went to join Candy Apple Red while Brian Neavyn and Dave Burke joined the Screech Owls.

It also seems that in October 1985 the band had recorded a RTE Radio 2 Session for Dave Fanning Show.  Three tracks were recorded then, “You’re So Strange”, “Looking Up” and “Birds of Prey”.

Irishrock seems to be more complete than Discogs and has more compilations listed. On the tape “Moonstruck Christmas Casette” released by Moonstruck (MS 005), the band contributed “Say What’s On Your Mind”. This was a live recording at the Comet Records Punk Festival at the CIE Marlboro Hall in August 1986, which happened to be the band’s 3rd gig. Then on the “National Wash Day Single” 7″ released in 1987 the band contributed the song “Looking Up (Fanning Session 1987)”. I see, so there was also a 1987 Session! I need to find more about that one.

The band contributed the song “Mothers of America (early version)” to a 1988 tape called “Where to? What for? Witchunt” that was released in 197 by FOAD Records (FOAD 2 SPUC 88).

Lastly two sessions are listed. First a Dave Fanning Session from April 2nd 1988 with the songs “Mothers of America”, “Turning Green”, “Going Home” and “Where’s Andi”. Second a BBC Radio 1 Session for Liz Kershaw  from September 1988 with the songs “Rejoice the Burning”, “Turning Green”, “Desert Mouth” and “Where’s Andi”.

According to the Fanning Sessions blog there were just the two sessions, the ones from 1986 and 1988. So that one listed as 1987 can’t be. Neither the one from 1985 that Irishrock has. I think Irishrock is off by a year on both. I trust Fanning Sessions blog for this case.

On the Fanning Sessions blog there is a press clipping from Hot Press dating 24th September 1987. This press clippings shed some more light about the band. For example we learn that the band came together through the Musicians Contact section of Hot Press. Brian Neavyn find about an add Gerry had put on the magazine.  The band supported A House, Guernica, The Stars of Heaven, Something Happens!, The Gorehounds, Microdisney and The Celibate Rifles.

On Youtube I found another TV appearance. The band is playing “Turning Green” but I’m not sure what show they were on. There is also a promo video for the song “Millenium Train” which is a very noisy track. It is true the band played different sorts of guitar pop, from the jangly, to the noisy to the rockier. Of course I love the jangly the most, like in their song “Going Home”.

Another promo video they made was the one for “Mothers of America” in 1989.

More videos on Youtube. There is a live gig at McGonagles from November 23rd 1989 opening for Fugazi. Also a video of the band playing “Little Boy Lost” in 1987 at the Underground Club, at the TV show “Action Station Saturday” playing “Where’s Andi?” in 1988. ”

What about “You’re Wrong” in a TV show in 1989. What show was this? They seem to have been quite popular during those late 80s. There’s also “Fear in Me” at the Baggot Inn from September 1989.

Sadly there is nothing else written about them on the web. I guess the information I found is quite good. But still would be interesting to know about the demo tapes Irishrock mentions, why they didn’t become bigger if they were on TV shows, at least, how come they didn’t sign to a big label? There are many questions. Why weren’t the band members more active musically after the demise of the band. I’m sure my Dublin friends remember them. I actually saw a girl from Lesotho mentioning the manager of the band on a Youtube comment. Who knows where any information, any details may come from!

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Listen
The Slowest Clock – Going Home

Thanks so much to John for the interview! A few weeks ago he got in touch through the blog and I didn’t doubt a minute to ask him if he’d be up for an interview about his old band Peppelkade 14 who released a wonderful 12″ EP back in the 80s. There is very little information about the band on the web so I’m very happy to have learn many more details about this obscure band who was also part of the legendary compilation “Manchester North of England”! Time for you to discover them!

++ Hi John! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you all still in touch? Still making music?

I’m good thanks, sadly I’m no longer in touch with any of Pepplekade 14. I’m still making music when I get the chance my last recordings were under the moniker of Giant Star. Our most recent track ‘Head‘ can be seen on youtube.

++ 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?

My first musical memories was the stuff my mum and dad played ranging from the Drifters, Abba, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. I got into the Beatles, the Specials and the Stray Cats when I was about thirteen which made me want to learn the guitar. I had a few lessons but also picked a lot of it up myself by hours of listening and experimenting.

++ Was Peppelkade 14 your first band or had you been in other bands before that? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

My first band really was a psychobilly band called the Toy Town Trio we released a couple of tracks on a Lost Moment Records compilation in about 1985 when I was about 17. Mick Carroll was the singer and Bass player in that band and we went on to form Pepplekade 14 in about 1986. We added Nick Redshaw and Darren Pemberton releasing a track called Uptown on the Manchester North of England compilation album that has become quite a landmark album in many ways.

++ Where were you from originally, Manchester?

All the members of Pepplekade 14 are from Manchester.

++ How was your city at the time? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

This was just before the Madchester scene so the place was grey and dreary but there were great clubs and venues. The Berlin club on King street West, Cloud 9 just off Cross street and venues like the Band on the Wall, The Gallery and the Boardwalk where you could play gigs. There was even gigs at small bars like Corbierre’s I remember we played there and also seeing the Waltones there a couple of times.

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

The band started around 1986. As I said me and Mick Carroll were in a Psychobilly band together and although lots of fun, musically the genre has limitations. We decided to start a new band and I met Nick ‘Reggie’ Redshaw in Corbierre’s bar and he happened to be a drummer and knew a bass player called Darren Pemberton so that really formed the band. Mick on vocals, myyself on guitar with Nick and Darren on drums and bass.

++ Were there any lineup changes at all?

No not really Sarah Marion joined briefly to play keyboards and do backing vocals but she left when she went off to university.

++ What’s the story behind the name Peppelkade 14? Does it have to do with a road in Houten, Netherlands?

Ha ha apparently it is the address of a brothel in the Netherlands where one of Reggie’s mates left his jacket on a particular night. We were struggling for a name and the story came up about the brothel I think he wrote to them to get his jacket back and someone suggested the address would be a good band name and nobody came up with anything else so it just sort of stuck.

++ Having a Dutch name, I would love to know if you played or visited that country? Or is it still in the bucket list?

No we didn’t your previous question is the only Dutch connection we had.

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

Myself or Mick would write the songs we would then rehearse in the cellar of a pub near the Cathedral in Manchester called the Pie & Ale House. The landlord didn’t charge us and we did the odd gig there as a thank you.

++ You were around in the late 80s and in the UK there was a great explosion of guitar pop bands, why do you think that was? Did you feel part of a scene?

I suppose there was a bit of a scene but nothing too definable compared to what followed in 1989 in Manchester. We were all influenced by very eclectic tastes. Personally I loved everything from Northern Soul, Reggae and Jazz to the Smiths, the Clash and Talking Heads. I was really influenced by the clubs we used to go to I would often here a song and go and ask the DJ what it was then make it my mission to get a copy of some description. Tunes like Keep on Keeping on by Nolan Porter and Here I come by Barrington Levy I discovered that way. I still play them all the time today.

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

The Smiths as we were always accused of trying to sound like them when really Mick just had a lot of the inflections and tone in his voice that Morrissey had. I think he got that sick of it he tried hard not to sing that way. But lots of stuff I liked the Ska and Mod things, I remember Reggie listening to Big Audio Dynamite a lot. Martin Stephensons’s album “Boat to Bolivia” was also very influential on us at the time.

++ As far as I know you only released one record, the “Time Flies” 12″ which is fantastic. I do have a bunch of questions about it. For example who where Top Shelf Records who put the record out? How did you know them? And how was your relationship with them?

We put it out ourselves Top Shelf Records was just a name we came up with based on drinking from the top shelf of a bar i.e. the optics.

++ I couldn’t find any other releases by them but then your catalog number was 031! You know why?

We recorded it at Cavalier studios and it was the 31st vinyl they had released from that studio that’s where the number came from.

++ Who made the illustration for the cover art? Do the drawings depict the band members?

It was Darren the bass players dad who drew the cover based on a photograph of the band. I think the drawing is great but was always felt it was a bit corny as a record cover.

++ Where were the songs recorded? What do you remember from the recording sessions? Any anecdotes that you could share?

Recorded at Cavalier studios in Stockport in all honesty I can’t remember too much about it I’ve been in too many studios for too many years I guess.

++ I definitely want to ask too what’s the story behind the title song, “Time Flies”? It is such a brilliant song!

Mick wrote that song I think he was a few tears older than us and I guess he was approaching 30 and felt like time was whizzing by and he needed to get to his destination in life as fast as possible. But that’s just me surmising.

++ You appeared on the great compilation “Manchester North of England” that came out on Bop Cassettes. This record included bands like The Railway Children, The Waltones, Bradford, etc. How did you end up on it and where you friendly with any of the bands on it?

Sarah Champion the M.E.N music journalist at that time heard our demo tapes and asked us if we would appear on the album. Of course we jumped at the chance. We met a few of the bands and generally got on well with everyone I think we had a few shared gigs with some of them.

++ And did you appear on any other compilations?

No that was it really.

++ I suppose you must have many unreleased songs, is that so? Maybe in demo form or perhaps studio recordings?

I have some tapes somewhere of a few songs we wrote a lot more then we recorded.

++ If you were to choose your favourite Peppelkade 14 song, which one would that be and why?

Probably a few songs. Uptown off the Manchester North of England compilation I always liked that track think it was quite unique. Plus two other songs called ‘The Boy’ and ‘Collete’ I have them on cassette somewhere great songs though.

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

Mainly in Manchester we did a few in London and a few record company auditions.

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

I remember supporting James at the green room in Manchester and supporting They Might be Giants at the Boardwalk where they were quite horrible towards us prior to the gig which our mates got to hear about. As it was a Manchester gig the crowd was full of people we knew I remember us getting a rousing reception anf They Might Be Giants were roundly jeered because of how they treated us.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Many bad ones the Sound Garden in Covent Garden London was terrible I seem to remember we were accused of stealing their drum kit and the police called over to check our equipment. I think they thought it was us because we were Northeners.

++ When and why did Peppelkade 14 stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

I genuinely can’t remember. Mick left the ban and I don’t know why. Me, Reggie and Darren started a short lived band called No Prisoners with a guy called Paul Maher. We had one release on a compilation album on Imaginary Records called through the looking glass with a cover version of Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones. I then went off and opened a recording studio myself and started making more soul influenced music with my friend Barrington Stewart.

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

I’m sure they have but I sort of lost touch with them all around about 1994 so I don’t know the details.

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

It would be fun to do but I’m not in touch with any of them If they read this then you never know.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio? what about TV?

John Peel played the Time Flies E.P. a lot which was great for us.

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

Local press yes I remember Mick Middles giving us a great review of a gig in the Manchester Evening news.

++ What about from fanzines?

Not that I’m aware of but I never used to read them.

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

I always love recording so much so I opened my own studio and still have one today in my house. So for me recording and the night we supported They might Be Giants when we blew them off the stage.

++ I read that one of you went by the name Bombo? Who is that? And that he was a big Manchester City fan. What about the rest? Which teams did you follow?

That would be me. The other three were United fans although I do remeber Reggie attending the Man City v Huddersfield game with me when City won 10-1 because he was at a lose end. He nearly turned that day!

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

Follow Man City and music that’s it really for me. Love to travel when I get the chance.

++ I’ve been to Manchester once, but it is always good to hear from a local for some recommendations! What are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

Band on the Wall or Matt & Phreds for live music always love it there. Corbierres bar I still love their jukebox introduced me to so much music in the 1980’s like Gil Scot Heron and Dave Brubeck that I still listen to today.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah, thanks for taking an interest in a long forgotten band. Also check out Giant Star on you tube we have a few songs on there such as “Head”, “Happy Pills”, “Year of the snake” and “England’s Burning”. The Giant Star album Year of the Snake is on iTunes and a new album fields will be released next year on vinyl as I’m starting a vinyl only record label.

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Listen
Peppelkade 14 – Time Flies

Don’t want to be repetitive but next week I’ll be away until January 2nd. So while I’m away there won’t be any new blog posts and also the Cloudberry Records offer of 3 CDs for the price of 2 will be over. So take advantage of it these last days of December.

It is proving a bit harder to find new music during the end of the year but I’m going all over the web trying to find some good tunes that haven’t been featured on the blog.

Ring Snuten: our friend Patrik is back with a Christmas song, and its instrumental version of the same song, on Bandcamp. “När det lider mot jul” sounds great, full of ramshackling guitar fun! I hope to hear more songs by him the coming year!

Gentle Ivanhoe Death Skulls: the great Toulouse based label Hidden Bay Records just put out a 10 song tape called “Beaches” by this Stockholm based band. There are only 70 copies of the tape so do hurry! Important to mention of course is that the band has in its rank a fellow Cloudberry friend, Rickard who used to be in Robert Church & the Holy Community who once upon a time put out a 3″ with us.

Adam John Miller: the ex-Manhattan Love Suicides has released a digital EP called  “¡Alas, Montañas!” with the label Cath’n’Dad Records from London. There are four upbeat and sunny songs, inspired by the time he spent on the coast of Spain.

Seeing Hands: as there aren’t many finds from this last month, I’m going back, back in time. I did feature Seeing Hands on the blog when they put out a 10″ on Discos de Kirlian. But before that it seems they put out a 7″ last March with the songs “I Knew You” and “It’s True”. Perhaps the Spanish label heard them thanks to this release. It does sound great. I wish I had known, now I need to make miracles to find a copy of the 7″ as it is already sold out.

Crabber: “Bluesbusters” is the fantastic debut album by this Hamburg  based bands that has members of top bands like Kristallin, The Legendary Bang and more. 13 songs of top noisy jangle pop, influenced by the poppier moments of The Wedding Present. It is now available on CD on Jigsaw Records!

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I found this band and song, Rain Sometimes’ “All My Time With You”, on my friends Youtube channel. There are plenty of goodies at David’s account. I’ve discovered lots of music thanks to him. And Rain Sometimes might be the latest one even though this track was uploaded much earlier, in May of 2018.

I wonder where he finds all these treasures. A lot I know of course. He likes the same Swedish pop from 2000s that I love too. So even though if I don’t know the rare track he has uploaded, I know the band, or some people that were involved in it. But with many of them, my knowledge is zero. That is the case with Rain Sometimes.

It looks as if David doesn’t know much about them. He hasn’t added much on the description aside that this song was part of a 4-track EP that was released in 1998. The image he uses has a title, “Not That Kind”. Was it the title of the EP? Or perhaps the name of the first song?

I google and google. And I can’t seem to find anything about the band. If it was a band, or perhaps a one-man project. I can’t figure out where in the world were they based either. If this 4-track was a CD or a vinyl record. It doesn’t seem to be listed on Discogs or Rateyourmusic or anywhere else. I must be missing something.

There has to be some information. Or someone must know something. The song is really nice and that’s why I am curious. I hope that someone can help!

Edit: Patrik, from Ring Snuten (what a coincidence!), just told me some great info about Rain Sometimes! “And yeah, got some inside info about Rain sometimes for you! It’s (of course..) one of Roger Gunnarssons many aliases. If I recall correctly it was a short lived proto-Nixon era project, might even be contemporary with the earliest Nixon stuff. Feel free to confirm this with Roger! And in fact, a re-recorded “All my time with you” was featured on the cd-r only Nixon release “Snow day” EP from 2003. On that version, Mathias Malm of Funday Mornings / Everyday Mistakes fame lays down an extremely characteristic guitar solo!”

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Listen
Rain Sometimes – All My Time With You

Remember that this will be the last week with our 3CDs for the price of two offer. After that I’m going to be out for the rest of the year. So take advantage of this opportunity if you want!

As expected, at the end of the year it is usually quiet, but I’ve done my best to look for new finds over the weekend.

Marthas & Arthurs: never heard this band but it does sound really lovely. The albums are not from today. They date from 2012 and 2016. Maybe it is time to catch up with them! The albums are available on CD. But that’s not all, there are singles, EPs, and more. I urge everyone to check them out and discover their discography as I am doing now.

Say Sue Me: our favourite South Korean band have released a Christmas EP on 12″ vinyl! There are four songs on it that deserve our attention, “Christmas, It’s Not a Biggie”, “Too Expensive Christmas Tree”, “Out of Bed” and “After this Winter”. As usual it is brilliant stuff!

Spesh: this Seattle band released their first album last September on Killroom Records. Titled “Famous World” the album comes with 10 fine slices of guitar pop. The album is available on CD and also on vinyl.

Swimming Tapes: this is kind of an oldie, dating from September. But I don’t think it has been mentioned on the blog. I am talking about the digital single “Easy Strand” which has some very pretty jangly moments.

Lia Pamina & Dario Persi: their 7″ came out back in June too. I know, I’m a bit behind with some recommendations. But I’m catching up now at the end of the year. There are four superb songs here, “So Far Tonight”, “Midnight Walk”, “Time’s Passing By” and “Il Mio Mondo”. I believe there are copies still available. I should try to get myself one.

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Checking out another band that was on Flying Nun Records that not many talk about these days. Of course, their discography is limited to a 12″ and a few compilation appearances, it is hard to compare to any of the “bigger” bands on the label. But I’m of course curious why they didn’t get to that spot, why they didn’t become a bigger band.

Andrew Brough on guitar and vocals, Jonathan Moore on bass and Peter Bragan on drums formed The Orange. As I mentioned before, their sole release was a 12″ EP titled “Fruit Salad Lives” that was released on Flying Nun Records (FN047) in 1986. It included 5 songs, three on the A side and 2 on the B side. So, “Fruit Salad Lives”, “Walk Out On Your Own” were on the A, and on its flipside we find “What’s in a Name” and “Fly”.

The photography on the record is credited to Jeremy Freeman. And the engineer was Mike Pearce. The songs were recorded at Strawberry Fields in Dunedin, in September 1985.

The same year they released their EP, 1986, they appeared on a compilation called “Whistle Up a Wind”. Released on tape by Every Secret Thing (EST 25) and Art Raith Productions (RAITH 117), the band contributes the song “Number One”. I see a few familiar names among the comp, but most of them are bands I’ve never heard before.

Later on, much later on, in 2006, on the “Flying Nun 25th Anniversary Box Set” (FNCD500), the band contributes the song “What’s in a Name”.

I check out if the members had been involved in any other bands. I see that Andrew Brough had been in Bike, Blue Meanies and the Straitjacket Fits too, and even released some songs solo. Jonathan Moore had been in Newbergs, Bored Games who released early on, in 1982, on Flying Nun, and has also contributed solo songs to compilations.

The AudioCulture website, which is always very helpful when it comes to New Zealand bands, tells us a bunch of interesting details. It tells us that the band formed in 1984 and debuted live at the Captain Cook’s Battle of the band in March of that year. In mid-October of 85 they were headlining the Oriental Tavern. It also talks a bit about the sound of the previous band Brough had been, The Blue Meanies. I should try to find some recordings, I’m curious about it.

Then we get to know that “Number One”, the song that had been on the compilation tape, was actually taped live at the Oriental Tavern on June 18, 1985. The title of the EP, “Fruit Salad Lives” seems to have no meaning. There was an unreleased single called “Bye Bye Mr. Flower” which actually even had a Flying Nun catalog number but it was never released. I wonder if it was recorded. I would love to hear it.

The band’s final gig was in early October 1986 at the Oriental Tavern.

I keep looking for more information. I find a tweet with some cool press clipping, but I mostly find stories and information about the Straitjacket Fits with a small mention of The Orange. It figures.

There is very little about the band online. But I’m hoping once again for my New Zealand friends to help me fill in the blanks, to get to know a bit better their story, perhaps get in touch and interview them. I would definitely love to hear that unreleased second single if it was ever released!

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Listen
The Orange – Fruit Salad Lives

Not much news today, but some great finds!

Pelopincho: this Argentinean band has already been part of our reviews with their exciting jangly pop songs. Now they are releasing their album “Zona Surf” that sounds AMAZING. I really hope it gets released physically. I would love to have this on CD and play it all the time. There are just 8 songs, all kind of short, but as I said before, they are all great! It leaves you wanting more!

Dim Vanilla: my friend Cris shared this track called “Shady Shady” with me the other day. I loved it instantly. I thought it has the Cloudberry sound and I don’t think of that too often. This song will be the first single of the band’s new EP that will be released on Breakfast Records from the UK. It will be reelased on cassette and it will include four songs, “Shady Shady”, “Fun Machine”, “Mayo” and “Unfold”. I hope to hear the rest of the songs soon!

Ease: the 2nd single by this Jakarta, Indonesia, dreampop band is called “MK7” and it is pretty pretty good. The vocals are dreamy. The guitars are dreamy. The melody and the atmosphere is dreamy. I don’t know much about them, but I do know that this is good!

La Otra Cara de la Nada: this band from Misiones, Argentina, released their latest song “Nada Que Ver” last August. Only now I’m finding about it. It does remind me a bit of El Último Vecino from Barcelona, and that is a good thing of course. The band is formed by Germán Vázquez, Ariel Duce, Bruno Gross and Nicolas Peña. I look forward to any release they might put out in the near future.

RAYS: lastly I must say I’m really enjoying this album by this Oakland, California, band. It is called “You Can Get There From Here” and it comes with 12 guitar driven pop songs! The record is available on 12″ vinyl through Trouble In My Mind records.

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If you see this video, which I’m sharing it with a time start of 1:39:15, you’ll listen a cool sounding song. What is it? Who are they? This video called The Height of Goth: 1984 – A Night at the Xclusiv Nightclub in Batley, West Yorkshire, was even covered in the Guardian by Alexis Petridis some time ago. This video was originally commissioned by the couple who ran the club, Annie and Pete Swallow, and was given away to friends and regulars for 2 pounds. I could find the tracklist for all the songs the people are singing along and dancing too, and you see The Smiths, New Order, The Monkees, Buzzcocks, The Undertones and more. And The Freedom Suite’s “Dry Spell”, which is the song that sounded so mysterious, that I have pinpointed you all.

The band only put out a single that year, 1984. A 7″ that included the song “Log Cabin” on the A side and “Dry Spell” on the B side. It was released by the Nain Recording Company with the catalog number NAIN 22. Discogs doesn’t list any other records for this label. I wonder if this was the sole release by the label. Maybe it was even a self-release?

The information about the band is scarce. We do know that the songs were produced by Neil Ferguson of The Donkeys and later of Chumbawamba. It is safe to assume that they were English. Someone on a forum seems to be convinced they hailed from Leeds. But I couldn’t confirm this.

But I continue looking for information of course. And I was to stumble upon a gold mine. A soundcloud with a bunch of songs by the band. Here I find “Melanie Day”, “Take Me To Glory”, “Playing the White Man”, “Log Cabin”, “Dry Spell” and “Back in the Fields”. Somethin interesting is that all of these songs share the same artwork, what looks like an album art. It even has a title, “Back in the Fields”. Was this released in any way as an album? I couldn’t confirm that either.

45cat gives me some interesting details. It lists three last names as composers. Forrest, Boyce and Howes. Someone has done some detective work and comments that it may be that they might be Andrew Howes and Mark Boyce who would later be in the band The Parachute Men. If that was the case, then the Leeds connection, as The Parachute Men hailed from there, would be confirmed. Could it be?!

There’s as you’d expect not more information about the band. I think we just need confirmations. Also would be great to get in touch with Andrew Howes and Mark Boyce, even if it not for The Freedom Suite but for The Parachute Men, an interview would be fantastic. I wonder who remembers them? They must have had some following if the people on the Height of Goth were singing along! And no, it is not Goth music! It is lovely jangly guitar pop!

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Listen
Freedom Suite – Dry Spell

Not much news on my side today, and it feels December might be a quiet month as our new compilations in all likelihood will be released early next year. Also remember that the offer for 3 CDs for the price of 2 is only going to be around for a little more of a week if you want to take advantage of it.

New finds though? I have some of those of course!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: one more brilliant track by the San Francisco band. Yet another demo but sounding great, “Bad Habits” is the latest from Glenn Donaldson. The question, after hearing so many lovely jangly songs is, when will there be a proper release?!

Lazy Eye: now a new track by the Pelambang, Indonesia, band! It is called “Sunlover” and it is a winner. Jangly, with sweet male/female vocals, and a bouncy melody, it is a song you don’t want to end. We need more songs by R. Cahyo and Isabella!

Stolen Badges: the latest songs by our friend Ryan Marquez from Apple Orchard, Sodajerk, Golden Teardrops, etc, are being released under this name. There are 3 superb songs, recorded at home during the last months that are part of the “Places I’ve Been EP”. These songs are “Places I’ve Been”, “James Bay” and “San Francisco”. They are a bit different compared to previous projects, these are more shoegazy, with more effects on the guitar, but Ryan’s pop sensibilities are there, making these songs as dreamy and evocative as they can be.

Ivory Past / Snowflakes feat. Miléna: one of the best Japanese bands these days is Ivory Days.  There is a split tape with the band Snowflakes where each band contributes one song. Ivory Past’s song is “December” while Snowflakes, featuring Miléna, has the song “Emballance Dans Tes Bras”. The tape is called “Illuminated Songs EP” and should be available now!

Les Autres: some months ago I interviewed the band as they were adding a lot of back catalogue and rare songs to their Bandcamp. This month they’ve added a new release from back in the day, “Hélène K – The Attic Recordings “, that dates from 1992, just before the band’s first single. There are 5 songs by the noisy pop Rennes, France, band.

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I was going through some of my 7″s the other day and picked this one up to play at home. The lovely artwork was one of the reasons but also remembering that I used to like a lot the opening track called “Sol” and the cover version they did of Le Mans’ “Perezosa y Tonta”. And I thought I haven’t written about them on the blog, maybe it is good time to do that!

I believe their “Sol” EP 7″ released by Elefant Records (ER 235) was their only proper release. Released on white vinyl, it included 5 songs. 2 on the A side, “Sol” and “Mil Cosas (demo)” and three on the B side, “El interruptor maldito”, “John Cale” and “Peresoza y Tonta”. First question arises, why did they include a demo on the A side?

Now if you are curious and want to listen to all 5 songs, the good news are that they are all available to stream on Bandcamp.So you can head there. But I want to find out more about this band? Who were they? Where were they from? Did they record more songs?

There was at least one more song recorded and it was called “Desde Ayer”. We know of this son because it was included in the CD comp “Momentos Perdidos [Lost Moments]” released by Elefant Records in 2004. This CD was a collection of rare, unreleased and B-sides of various Elefant bands.

There was a 2007 compilation where the band appears too called “Modular para el Corazón”. This was released by Molecula Records (Molecd 011) which as many of you might or might not know is based in Mexico. The song that the band contributed for this CD was “John Cale” that appeared on the 7″.

I find a biography on the Elefant page. It turns out the band hailed from Murcia, a city that has given us a lot of great indiepop bands. And they were a two piece, Germán and Marcial. What were their last names?

On the website Murcia Rock I find a 2001 article where it talks about the split of Guillermine. So now we know that by November 2001 there was no more Guillermine. It does give us a couple of details about the band though. For example that they won a prize called Mola Joven in 1999. That they were from the town of Molina in Murcia and the only gig they played outside Molina was at the I Fiesta Lo+Pop alongside La Monja Enana and L-Kan.

The next mention I stumble upon is on El Planeta Amarillo webzine which is run by Rafa Skam and is based in Murcia. In 2007 he was reviewing a bunch demos by a band called Stefunny 6. This was at the time the band both Germán and Marcial were involved with. But here it also tells us that they had been in another band called The Muppets.

But even better, on this webzine, I find a mention of a 2000 demo called “Wash”. It doesn’t tell us what the tracklist was, but it does give a name of one of the tracks, “Play-back”. It also confirms that the band took their name from a La Buena Vida song.

On an article on the website Tímpanos y Luciérnagas I find that Germáns last name is Beteta. Progressing in this investigation. And thanks to knowing this I could find that he has played solo gigs in the Murcia area. An interview, one of his songs (“Desde Ayer” which was his favourite), and one by Guillermine, can be listened in this same website.

And that’s about it. What about Marcial? Was he involved in any other projects? What happened to him? What songs were included in the “Wash” demo? Did they record any other songs? Why did they split? Why were there no more releases by the band, just one 7″? Would be great to find out more about Guillermine!

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Listen
Guillermine – Sol