I’ll go straight to the point with 5 new finds on the web. For the time being, while there are no news on the label side, I’ll just share with you some new finds straight away. I’m quite tired and busy to give much attention to the blog. Well, still it is not terrible, right? It’s much more than what you would find elsewhere on the web, right? Anyways…

Botschaft: oh wow wow wow! When Ronny from the Kleine Untergrund label told me a new 7″ was coming out by this brilliant band I couldn’t wait to see how it sounded like. I loved their previous effort so I knew I was going to like “Sozialisiert in der BRD”, the A side of of their new record. But more than liked it, I loved it. It is terrific! The record  was released last Friday, and it includes a B side of course and it is called “Daseinsweck”. But that is not all. No way. I’m even happier to share the promo video for “Sozialisiert in der BRD“, with footage of West Germany in the  90s. I need this record in my hand. It is only limited to 200 copies, so my sound advice is to get it fast.

Cosmo K: some lovely acoustic pop from this Madrid band. There are 7 very short songs to stream on Bandcamp and also available on 7″ vinyl which is co-released by Discos de Kirlian, Aplasta tus Gafas de Pasta and the band. I am really enjoying it, the smart lyrics and easy to sing along melodies. I hope I can get a copy of it. The band is formed by Ángela, Álvaro y Maria and it seems only 10 records are left. Damn. Everything feels so limited these days.

Señalada: still checking out the new releases by Discos de Kirlian, and I find a band I have never heard before, Señalada from Zaragoza, Spain. They have a 10″ out now called “Mejores Amigos” which sounds great. 8 songs, 200 copies of the record, and 4 people form the band: Alba González, Alberto Cano, Tito Andrés y Pedro Señalada. Looks like the Barcelona label is on a roll, finding superb up and coming Spanish pop bands. Definitely worth checking now and then what the label has to offer as they are very prolific!

Taneli Lucis: found this Peruvian duo through the Latin American Twee Facebook page. Luz and Daniel form the band and they seem to be influenced by Slowdive, The Radio Dept and Pia Fraus. Last year, in March 2017, they uploaded 6 songs to Youtube, and this might be their debut EP, I don’t really know. What I do know is that they sound pretty good. I hope to hear new songs by them in the near future.

Tropical Fuzz: Brazilian Guitars 1988-2018: lastly I want to recommend this comprehensive compilation done by the Brazilian label Midsummer Madness. I do believe the title is wrong, it should be 1998, but who knows. I don’t know which band is from 1988 in the tracklist. Maybe someone can tell me. Anyhow, it is true that some important bands from Brazil are missing, like Pale Sunday or Brincando de Deus, but it is definitely a good introduction to Brazilian guitar pop. Check it out.

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Personal Column were a Liverpool band, functioning from 1980-1986, based around the songwriting of Marc Vormawah and Colin Brown. Big favourites of John Peel, they did three sessions for his show, as well as sessions for Kid Jenson and Simon Bates.

That’s how Discogs introduces Personal Column. It is the first time I’m listening to their music. I was brought here thanks to the chiming guitars of “Same Old Situation”, a song I immediately dubbed as a long lost indiepop classic, even if it dates from 1983, years before C86 or similar terms were coined.

Listening now to some of their other songs I can tell they were more of a new wave band than a classic guitar pop band. Nonetheless there are terrific guitar pop moments in their songs, and their more new wavey tracks are still very enjoyable. So don’t doubt checking them out on Youtube where a trove of songs have been uploaded, including a video for their last single “Strictly Confidential” and a live performance at Exchange Flags in 1982 of their first single “Ignorance is Bliss?“.

I have a good feeling about them. I think I will find quite a lot of information and details about them, unlike many bands I feature here.

As I said earlier their first single was “Ignorance is Bliss?” with the B side “Dreamer in Babylon”. It was released in 1982 by Contrast Records (CON 001) which I’m assuming it was their own label as the only two records listed by it are theirs. The sleeve gives us our first clues about the band: their members. They were Mike Hayes on bass, Mike McCarrol on drums, Colin Brown on keyboards and Marc Vormawah on vocals and guitars. Thanks to these names we know that Mark Hayes had also been in a band called Salvation (which Cherry Red put out a retrospective collection in 2005)  and Mark Vormawah had played in John Jenkins and That Sure Thing and also released a solo album called “Too True” as Marc V. on Elektra.

The next year, 1983, their 2nd single would see the light. It is the superb “The Same Old Situation” that had “Terminal Suspicion” on the B side. It was released on Contrast Records (CON 002) and was recorded at The Pink studios in Liverpool in May of 83. It was engineered by Steve Power.  For this record the band lineup had changed too. We see now that Rob Boardman is also playing guitar and Terry Sterling has replaced Mike McCarrol on drums. Terry would later play with a band called Two’s A Crowd.

Lastly their last single “Strictly Confidential” was released in 1984 on the well known Stiff Records (BUY 202). It was released in both 7″ and 12″ formats and also there were international versions for this record in Spain, Netherlands and Germany. The 7″ single had the song “Here’s Looking at You” on the B side and we see that the A side, “Strictly Confidential” was mixed by Julian Mendelsohn and recorded by the band and Pete Coleman.

The 12″ version was available in Spain and included three different versions of “Strictly Confidential”. On the A side was the Radio Version and the Dub version, while on the B side there was the Long Mix. I wonder how this record do in the different countries it was licensed…

A good find with information about the band is an old website. It seems that all the data in it dates from 2006. The first thing that we see is a paragraph or two by Phil Hargreaves were he mentions that there was many tapes with recordings by the band. But was Phil in the band? It seems he joined at a later point as a saxophonist.

There is a biography by the band written by John Jenkins. He mentions that he was a keyboard player in a band called Come in Tokyo. This is the same John Jenkins Mark would play with later on in John Jenkins and That Sure Thing. It was at a venue called The Warehouse. He liked them, especially the songs “Friction”, “Here’s Looking at Your”, “Liverpool 8 999” and “Struck By Lightning”. Then he mentions a demo tape with 8 songs that included “A Women’s Place”, “His Master’s Voice”, “Jury Service”, “Personal Column” and “World in Action”. What other songs were in it?

Then he mentions that the first single was recorded at Alan Peters studio in Liverpool’s city centre and the band self-financed this record. Thanks to this the band got to appear on television playing both “Ignorance is Bliss?” and the song “Institutions” at Granada’s Exchange Flags programme. That’s where the Youtube video I linked earlier comes from.

Afterwards the band started performing new songs at gigs like “Same Old Situation”, “Astrology”, “The Nature of Things”, “Dangerous Places”, “Points of No Return”, “Cosmetic Surgery” and “Terminal Suspicion”. Were all of these recorded?

Then John says that he was asked to be the band’s manager, but because he was busy with Come in Tokyo he had to decline the offer. Even though he declined he went with the band to the recording of the 1st Peel Session of Personal Column. They recorded that day “Dangerous Places”, “Red”, “Same Old Situation” and “Friction”. This was recorded in 1982. Oh! I wish I could listen to it!

There was another Peel Session and also a Kid Jenssen Session. Then the band signed a publishing deal with ATV music. That would mean that Personal Column’s songs are (were?) owned by Michael Jackson?

Lastly he mentions a few other songs the band had like “Waiting for the Axe to Fall”, “Hook Line” or “Sink Without a Trace”. Then the band ended without getting a good offer to release an album.

Jenkins mentions he has a lot of Personal Column gigs on tape. Would be great if someday they see the light of day, maybe on Bandcamp or Youtube.

From pictures on the website we know the band played gigs at the Left Bank Bistro supporting Phil Battle & the Sensible Shoes, Magic in the Desert and Andy Pike, at the Masonic, the Everyman Bistro, The Venue, The Zigzag Club in London, and in Switzerland as part of a festival of Liverpool bands in that country. Something that is also interesting from these pictures is that Mark Moraghan, the television actor, ex Holby City, was at some point part of the band as a backing singer and percussionist.

On the BBC website, looking for Peel Sessions I find the tracklist for the other sessions the band did. The one from 1983, with Dale Griffin as producer, had the usual four songs, “Strictly Confidential”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Ignorance is Bliss” and “Crusade”. Lastly the 1984 session with Paul Smith as a producer had “World in Action”, “British Style”, “Cosmetic Surgery” and “The Price You Pay”. For this session the drummer was Tom Fenner.

Thanks to this website I find out that Mike Hayes and Robbie Boardman once did a European tour with Afraid of Mice. That Marc, Tony and Phil were once part of 16 Tambourines. That Mike Hayes was running Boho Records in the South Coast. And Phil Hargreaves was running his own label Whi Music.

Lastly the Music tab offers 17 songs to listen and download! Fantastic! There is even a cover art to download and print if you’d like to make your own CD.  Then a sort of discography that I think I will just copy and paste here:
1981: Recording at Open Eye studio, Liverpool (British Style, His Master’s Voice)
1982: ‘Ignorance is Bliss/Dreamer in Babylon’, single on Contrast records, recorded SOS studios, Liverpool. Marc Vormawah: voice, guitar; Mike Hayes: bass, backing vocal; Colin Brown: keyboards; Robbie Boardman: guitar; Terry Sterling: drums; phil hargreaves: sax on Point of No Return
1982: Peel Session one (Red)
1983: ‘The Same Old Situation/ Terminal Suspicion’, single on Contrast records, recorded at Pink studios, Liverpool.
1983: Session for Simon Bates (Dangerous Places)
1983: Session for Kid Jensen (Point of No Return)
1983: Peel Session two (Sleight of Hand, Crusade)
1984: Album recorded for Stiff, ultimately unreleased (Institutions) 1984: Gig at ICA, recorded for Radio Kent (A Woman’s Place)
1984: ‘Strictly Confidential/Here’s Looking at You’, single on Stiff
1984: Peel Session Three Marc Vormawah: vocal, guitar; Shaun McLoughlin: bass; Tony McGuigan: drums; Colin Brown: keyboards
1984: demo in Amazon Studios, Kirkby (New Victorian Age)

I keep looking for more information and see that Mark Vormawah had been playing gigs as late as last year. I noticed for example he played at the Folk on the Dock on August 26 2017. And has even released an album this year called “Goodbye to Yesterday” which is available to stream on his Soundcloud.

I also find out that Ed Shelflife had written about them many years ago. Maybe that’s why I had this sort of memory of having heard them in the past? My memory is not how it used to be.

Lastly I found out that Mark Vormawah had been in Upsets, Rob Boardman in Jass Babies, Visual Aids and Clique, Mike Carroll in Sebastian’s Men, Shaun McLaughlin (bassist in 1985) in Acheans and Afraid of Mic and Toni Guigan (drums in 1985) in Indangerous Rhythm. There seems to have been a session for Simon Bates and that the original lineup had recorded a session with John Hall in 1982 under another name, Inside Information.

According to a WIKI, the Kid Jensen included three songs, “Strictly Confidential”, “Influence is Bliss” and “Slight of Hand”. Is that right?

About Inside Information or John Hall I couldn’t find anything nor about the Simon Bates session. But I think in the end I did find a trove of information, even 17 songs to listen. Nothing to complain. Now, I need to get copies of the records!

Does anyone remember them?

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Listen
Personal Column – Same Old Situation

Thanks a lot to Kieran Eaton for doing this interview! I wrote about the Dublin band Premonition a long time ago hoping to learn more about them. Luckily a month or so ago Kieran got in touch and was keen to answer all my questions about the band. If you have never heard them before, now it is a good chance to discover them, especially with Kieran’s thoughtful and detailed answers! It makes the interview very special!

++ Hi Kieran! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still based in Dublin?

You’re welcome!! How are you? I’m as fine as can be at my age, thanks. No, I’m now based in the picturesque seaside town of Dungarvan, County Waterford in the South East of Ireland.

++ Still making music?

I am. I was the bass player in Premonition. I also played flute in the middle of one song which involved some very deft manoeuvres from me and our roadie! I still play both regularly and also a lot of saxophone; mainly tenor with a little soprano and alto when the mood takes me!

++ I know so little about Premonition, there’s very little on the web as well. So let’s start from the beginning. What were your first musical memories, what sort of music was played at home while growing up?

That’s a funny one. A very eclectic mixture. My earliest memories are of my mother playing me records on an old mono record player, the ones that had an arm that held the record above the deck and somehow dropped it just in time for the stylus to land. She played me records by The Dubliners, Percy French and Bing Crosby. My Godfather lived next door and he was in his early 20’s at the time. I used to visit him regularly and he played me records which I now know to have mainly been The Beatles. My father didn’t play any instruments but was a huge opera fan and would often play us light opera records. In later years he traveled all over the world to attend operas. My mother played some violin and piano in her school years, but not much really. They both however loved to support the arts and so as children we were regularly brought to theatre performances so I guess it was an easy transition for us to become performers. And they were very supportive of us all learning music too so we really were very lucky. I have three brothers and a sister. My sister and eldest brother sing in our national philharmonic choir. The middle brother is a lighting technician for our national tv station and also works in stage production outside of his full time job. And Gerard who drummed with Premonition still plays but I’ll expand on that in the later question.

++ What was your first instrument?

Piano. Then tin whistle. Then recorders, flute, bass guitar and saxophone in that order.

++ Then were you involved with any bands before being in Premonition? Who were Loudness of Whispers?

++ How did Premonition start as a band? How did you all know each other?

++ Who came up with the name? What’s the story behind it?

++ How was Dublin back then? What were the places were you hang out? Where were the venues to catch the bands you liked?

++ On the website Irish Rocks it mentions that you were influenced by The Blades. What other bands would you say were influences in the band?

++ You won the Dublin Millenium Battle of the Bands in 1988. How was that experience? 

++ Thanks to winning this contest you got to record a single for EMI at Sun Studios. How did that go? Was it a straightforward recording? How was working with EMI?

++ The songs recorded for this single were “The Streets are Paved With Lead” and “Eye Like Sin”. If you don’t mind, would you care telling me the story behind both of these songs?

++ The record was produced by the band and Pat Dunne. How was the relationship with him and what did he add to the sound of the band?

++ And how did the creative process work for the band?

++ Was there interest by any other labels after the release of the single?

++ I was just listening again to the A side, “The Streets are Paved with Lead”, what a fantastic song! It makes me wonder how come you didn’t release any more records?

++ But did you record more songs? Perhaps there were demo tapes that you used to sell at gigs?

++ Speaking of gigs, did you play many? What were the best ones you remember? And where was the farthest you played from home?

++ Were there any bad gigs that you wish not to remember?

++ And what about the press? Did you get much attention from them?

++ You did record a Fanning Session, and the blog Fanning Sessions Archive has two songs from that session. Were there more songs recorded at this session?

++ And how was that, recording a session for Dave Fanning? That must have been important, a true highlight for the band?

++ Then when and why did the band split? What did you all do afterwards? Music?

++ And these days, are you all still in touch? Will there be ever be a chance for a reunion?

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you enjoy having?

++ Never been to Dublin, or to Ireland, so was wondering what would you recommend doing and checking out, what are the sights one shouldn’t miss, or the food one has to try?

++ One last question, looking back to those years, what would you say was the biggest highlight for Premonition?

++ Let’s wrap it here,  thanks again for the interview, is there anything else you’d like to add?

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Listen
Premonition – All the Streets are Paved with Lead

As I promised last week, I was going to recommend some new bands, mostly from the download compilation the Facebook page Latin American Twee put together like a couple of weeks ago. You can check out the tracklist by clicking here. There’s also a download link there if you want to get the whole thing. As I’ve mentioned before, Latin American Twee, is a cool Facebook page run by Impermeable Records’ (the ones who released CD16 late last year) Joel. He hails from Peru and seems to be on a crusade with the serious intention of documenting, revitalizing and promoting indiepop made south of Rio Grande.

Some of the bands on the compilation have already been mentioned on the blog, so let’s find out ones that I’ve never heard before.

• Armisticio: armistice is a strange name for an indiepop band, right? Anyhow this is the product of just one man, Matías Soto, from Santiago, Chile. The song on the compilation is “Mantener” and it’s a dream pop number. I check out their Bandcamp and notice they have three releases, the first one dating from June 2015. “Mantener” is taken from his latest, “Espiral”, released in 2016. It is a 10 track album and is a mix of classic indiepop and electronic beats. It reminds me quite a bit to Spanish classic band Dar Ful Ful. This is quite nice indeed. Wonder if it was released physically? Seems to be available only digitally.
• Ignacio del Pórtico: not a recent release this one. The song Joel has picked is “Cataratas del Paraíso” and it comes from a July, 2015 released titled “Regalos del Sosiego”. Not sure again if there’s a physical version for this 10 track album. It also seems to be a one man project. Ignacio seems to come not from Buenos Aires, but from Posadas, in Misiones province, in Argentina. That’s not common. At least I don’t think it is. The guitar work on the songs are my favourite thing about it, they jangle and chime, especially on the upbeat songs, which are definitely his best.
• Clan de Venus: this quartet hails from León in Mexico. They are formed by Norman Orozco on guitars and vocals, Diego Chávez on guitars, Óscar Villegas on bass and Hugo Hernández on drums. They have a four song EP available on their Bandcamp, and it is from there that Joel has picked the song “Isla Nube”. So far, on this compilation, this might be my favourite song. All songs included in the EP, which is available on the super Emma’s House Records on CD, are upbeat and jangly, reminding me a lot to what Los Waldners from Costa Rica are doing these days.
• Fish Magic: another one-man project, this time from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The man behind Fish Magic is Mário Quinderé and he has many more releases on his Bandcamp. The song on the comp is “Blue Light” and that is also the oppening track in his latest album, “Sky High”, that was released in December 2016. The album seems to have been released by the label Midsummer Madness though it seems only digitally. The album has some rockier moments, which are my least favourite, but when Fish Magic goes poppy, it is pretty good, like for example on “Into the Ocean” that sounds a bit like Lovejoy!
• Useless Youth: finally a band that has released their record physically! Their debut 10 track album titled “The Coldest Ocean” is available to buy on their Bandcamp as well as a t-shirts. The band is formed by Pepe on guitars and vocals, Ian on guitars, Yak on bass and Emiliano on drums. They hail from Mexico City and from the tags they’ve chosen on their Bandcamp I see they must like c86, twee and shoegaze. They must know a thing, or two! I feel there’s potential on the songs, though they sound very thin a lot of the times. The guitars are nice, but I feel the bass and drums could be more present? Maybe I’m just being too demanding! The thing is, the song that gives the album its title, “The Coldest Ocean”, is definitely my favourite. There are very nice guitars throughout and that’s what I’m going to remember Useless Youth for.
• Gativideo: there’s a 4 song EP on their Bandcamp, their only release it seems. This Buenos Aires band is formed by Renzo Montalbano (great last name! I’m a big fan of Inspector Montalbano), Ignacio Fischman, Juan Pablo Fenu and Ignacio Morelli. Sadly I only like the same song Joel liked, “Flash”, the opening track. The other 3 songs on the EP are not poppy at all. But “Flash” is dreamy and even has the class to mention Luis Miguel on its lyrics. That is quite risky if you want to be taken seriously, though maybe times have changed and now hipsters embrace “The Sun of America” as the Mexican crooner was once christened.

I think that’s the best I could pick from the compilation. There were other bands on it like Winter Waves, Jóvenes Adultos, Gaax or The Friendship that really didn’t do much for me. But maybe they are up your alley. You should check the comp out, there are great tracks from other bands I’ve raved here like Dan Dan Dero, Patio Solar or Medio Hermano.

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I’m a happy person, thanks to Carrick, last Saturday I got some amazing indiepop records at the WFMU record fair in Brooklyn. But of course the quest for all the holy grails of indiepop (in my book that is), continues. Can’t stop looking for bands and records that I’m still missing. Today I hope some of you could find me with 2 records, by the same band, A Better Mousetrap.

A mousetrap is a type of animal trap designed primarily to catch mice; however, it may also, accidentally or not, trap other small animals. Mousetraps are usually set somewhere indoors where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. The trap that is credited as the first patented lethal mousetrap was a set of spring-loaded, cast-iron jaws dubbed “Royal No. 1”. It was patented on November 4, 1879, by James M. A historical reference is found in the Alciati, Emblemata from 1534. Other mouse traps in art from: Gerrit Dou The mouse trap 1650, Nicolas de Larmessin, Rowlandson 1799, Francis Wheatley 1790s, Edmund Bristow 1787-1876 and more can be seen in a blog post by Patricia Bixler Reber. The conventional mousetrap with a spring-loaded snap mechanism resting on a block of wood first appeared in 1884, and to this day is still considered to be one of the most inexpensive and effective mousetraps.

There is very little on the web about A Better Mousetrap. We know they released one 7″ and one 12″, both in 1987, and that was it. So we’ll go investigate these releases first. See what sort of hints they can give us.

The 7″ had 2 songs, “The Road to Kingdom Come” on the A side and “We Are All Going To Die” on the B side, and was released by Cuddly Records (catalog CUD 001). Of course, this was the only release on this label. Is it safe to assume it was a self-release? The artwork is a black and white cartoon, you can tell there was sense of humour in this band.  I haven’t heard both songs, I’ve only had the chance to listen to the B side “We Are All Going To Die”,  but could it be “The Road to Kingdom Come” lyrics printed on the back sleeve? It looks that way. On the back sleeve we get to know the band lineup:
– Silas Sibbring on vocals
– Les Watkins on guitars, harmonica and vocals
– Gerry McGowan on bass and vocals
– Carl D’Inal on drums

This 7″ was recorded at Neosound Studios in Tottenham. It was produced and engineered by Mike Neophytou and the band. The art was by Mike Mitchell.

So Tottenham. Where they Londoners then?

The “A Nice Cup of Tea” EP was the 12″. This was their second release. This one was released by Tuff! Enuff (TUFFER 001). There is another release on the label by a band called Jeremy Gluck & Friends according to Discogs but I feel this is a mistake, an error. Both have catalog 001, so it must just be that there was another label with the same name. Meaning this was also a self-release?

On the EP there are 5 songs. On the A side we find “Goodbye Cruel World” and “Beautiful Place”. On the B side there are “Pigs Will Fly”, “The World is Mad” and “A Nice Cup of Tea”. The song I have heard from this EP is the opening one, “Goodbye Cruel World”. The songs, this time, were recorded at Airwave Studios on Kilburn High Road, London, “at the bottom of a narrowish staircase” on August 1987. They must have been Londoners!

The record was produced and engineered by Barry Lane and A Better Mousetrap with “much hilarity and little fuss” according to the back sleeve. Again we see the sense of humour all over the back sleeve, especially where the band members are listed! Like it says that Gerry McGowan makes spaghetti or Carl makes a teacup.

There was one other appearance by the band. With the song “A Road to Kingdom Come”, they would participate in a compilation in 1988. The compilation was titled “Vinyl Virgins” and was released by Mighty Sheffield Records (catalog CM 001). You would guess that by the name these were bands that haven’t been on vinyl before, but clearly A Better Mousetrap had been already.

A Better Mousetrap opens the compilation, they have the first song. Other bands on it are The Warhols, The Things, The Australians, The Gallery and more. It seems it was a mix of genres on it. Seems there was some punk and hard rock on it.

Then how to find more information? I wonder if those were their real names. Carl D’inal, sounds like cardinal, might have been a joke? What about the rest? I couldn’t find anything online about them.

I have no clue. Couldn’t find any information about gigs, or anything at all. Maybe some of you remember them? Maybe someone has some spare copies to trade with me? What about other recordings? Where there more? I’d love to hear both releases in their entirety as well. Anyhow, whatever help in this indiepop archaeology project is much appreciated!

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Listen
A Better Mousetrap – Goodbye Cruel World

Popfest Friday started with me meeting the Wallflower gang and Victoria in Williamsburg. We were supposed to have Peruvian food at Chimu but it was closed. Odd, seems the restaurant now closes Fridays and Saturdays. Strange days to close really. So change of plans, we went to Caracas for some arepas. We were happy to enjoy some Peruvian beer there plus a great lunch special for $9. An arepa of your choice and a salad. This was the moment when I learned the Japanese word “saiko”, which means awesome. During the whole meal, the band was saying “saiko” non-stop.

Afterwards we went on a record store adventure. We started at Rough Trade, then we headed to Academy Records and lastly to that store of the hipster label that doesn’t need any promo here. All in all I didn’t find any good records. Everything was crap or overpriced. The rest of our gang didn’t find much either. The best moment of all this walking from Williamsburg all the way to Greenpoint, was the postcard photo the Wallflowers took with Manhattan on the back at the Bushwick Inlet Park.

We arrived a bit late for the showing of the Sarah documentary at Knitting Factory. But there seemed to be a problem. The blu-ray disc wasn’t playing. The room was almost full, no spaces for sitting down, and everyone was waiting for a solution. A lot of people were trying to help, which shows how supportive is the indiepop crowd. I thought of a friend that lives around the corner, but he doesn’t even own a TV. Happily Videology, a bar that was a 10 minute walk, offered to show the movie for Popfest.

I guess the movie deserves a proper review so I’ll leave that for another occasion. I think that’s pretty fair.

After the show, it was time to go to Cameo for the Popfest gigs. There I had a sandwich, ate it fast, and got ready to catch the second band of the night, Jessica and the Fletchers.

You can think I’m biased as they are my friends, but their show was a fresh breeze of indiepop. Fast, upbeat, catchy, and with a lot of attitude. Kudos to Toni, the keyboardist, for his “Toni Poni” DIY t-shirt. Some of their songs, when released properly, like “Amelia (Te Queremos Igual)” or the sublime “Air Balloon Road” could be classics of this indiepop period. Still a very young band with lots of room to grow, they got indiepop flowing in their veins. They feel it, and they have fun playing it. I think everyone had a very good time with band.

I know, Pale Lights played first, and I did my best to catch them. I did catch their two last songs. The thing was that this sandwich I ordered at Cameo took forever to come! At some point I thought I was going to make it as they brought me a sandwich almost 5 minutes after ordering. As I was eating some of the fries the waiter told me he made a mistake and took the sandwich away from me to another table! Oh well… But you know, I’ve raved about Pale Lights so many times in the blog, definitely one of the best bands in NYC, and the little I could catch was as good as always with the inclusion of Kyle this time around instead of Andy.

Third band was The Catenary Wires. Obviously seeing Amelia is always a treat. Some people think this new project is boring. I heard that a bit. I’ve been listening to the album, and I can’t agree with anyone saying that. The thing is, it is different to what we are used to. We are used to the upbeatness of Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Tender Trap, Marine Research, etc. I know, it may be hard for some to adjust. I won’t say they are my favourite band of the ones she has been involved but I still find it very enjoyable, with good lyrics and well crafted pop songs.

Fourth time I see Papa Topo, and the second time I was seeing them in a week. Of course the surprise factor wasn’t there at Popfest, especially when they played the cover of the Spice Girls. A band that plays a lot of influences, but of course, I always look forward to their biggest hits, “La Chica Vampira” and “Oso Panda”. It was so much fun, I could see people jumping around, and they even brought some Spanish speaking music fans that weren’t part of the indiepop scene. This I thought was cool. Though one of them was telling me to start “rock en español” club night and play some Argentinean hard rock at it. I don’t understand how some people could put in the same bag Papa Topo with say Sumo or something like that.

The two last bands are legendary bands. #Poundsign# and The Loft. In due honesty I’m more of a fan of #Poundsign# than The Loft. From The Loft I love two or three songs. The rest are fine, but don’t think they are as brilliant as “Up the Hill and Down the Slope“. But, that didn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy the whole show. It was really good, powerful even! I bought a t-shirt. A very nice t-shirt actually! Now, next year please bring The Caretaker Race, from the bands that sprung off The Loft, that is my favourite. I would LOVE that.

Brooklyn Vegan posted a photo of me with a drumstick while #Poundsign# was playing. That was a gift from Papa Topo’s drummer, the Jankely. Bit embarrassed of that photo. In any case, I was just so happy listening to so many tunes that I’ve always loved. It was a treat to see a reunited #Poundsign#. I had already the Wavelength record on vinyl, but as they were selling it on CD, I also bought it.

After all the bands there was some good dancing at Mondo. Maz played a bunch of classic tunes and I danced until very late, it was almost 4am when we left the venue. It was a goodbye though. All Jessica and The Fletchers and Papa Topos were leaving on Saturday. It was a sad goodbye, I had enjoyed a whole week in their good company.

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A sleeve that looks like The Pale Fountains. It was 1982 when Pulsebeat Records released the “Farewell to the Playground EP” (cine 001) by The Cinematics.

A four song 7″ with two songs on each side. “Puffa Train” and “Don’t Mention Love” on the A side, while “All it Means” and “Learning to Say Goodbye” on the B side.

This is pre-indiepop indiepop and for those who are not very aware of who The Cinematics were, well, it has two illustrious members of the indiepop hall of fame: Gregory Webster and Tim Vass. You know, those two from the Razorcuts, or the Forever People, or bands like Red Chair Fadeaway or Sportique.

This is a very rare record. I don’t own it sadly, and the median price on Discogs is a bit too high I think. On the credits of this record we find that Colin Rodgers played drums, lyrics and music on the B side by Tim Vass, music on the A side by Gregory Webster and trumpet by John Goodwin.

This song also would appear later in the Messthetics compilations, perhaps making the record much more sought after than before. On the Messthetics liner notes we get to know that the band was based in Luton.
Luton  is a large town in Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles (50 km) north of London. Luton Town F.C. have had several spells in the top flight of the English league and won the Football League Cup in 1988. They have played at Kenilworth Road since 1905.London Luton Airport opened in 1938; in the Second World War, it was a Royal Air Force base.The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town. The town was for many years famous for hat-making, and was also home to a large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town. Car production at the plant began in 1905 and continued until 2002; commercial vehicle production remains.

Also I like this line that sums up more or less the sound of the band:
“Puffa Train” from their 1982 single shows Gregory Webster and Tim Vass’ evolution from TV Personalities DIY to breathy twee-pop well underway”

I would guess 500 copies of this record were made. I don’t know sadly much more of the Cinematics. Would be great to learn if they recorded any other songs, or if they participated in compilations. Also we know what happened to two of their members, but was Colin Rodgers involved in any other indiepop bands? Was Pulsebeat Records a name for self-releasing? Anyone know anything else about them? Maybe you were at one of their gigs?

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Listen
The Cinematics – Puffa Train

So when next Sunday comes around I won’t be waking up in Astoria, NYC, but in Mansfield, in the English midlands. Hopefully the weather is beautiful, something around 18 degrees, unlike here where I’ve been toasting myself feeling as if I was in Miami all over again. I’ll be thinking of the previous day, and I’ll be sad that this will be my last day at Indietracks. I’ll make up my mind and convince myself that I have to get the best out of this day, even if the warm beer and the greasy hamburgers try to prove me wrong. I’ll have a good shave, have a nice breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant and wait for people to gather at the front door in hopes of sharing a cab. The ride to Indietracks will be slow, discussing again which bands were our favourites the previous day and which we are looking forward the most for today. Sunday. Po! got it wrong. Sunday always comes around. And too soon.

My early Sunday was perfect until the other day. The good news was The Spook School were added to the lineup. Echo Lake wasn’t going to participate of the festival anymore due to the loss of one of it’s member. It’s sad news, but was happy to get to see The Spook School who will be part of the Cloudberry family very soon with a wonderful 7″. The terrible part was they were scheduled at a very delicate time when my beloved Electrophonvintage are playing. How to split myself in two? Electrophonvintage starts a bit earlier, at 13:20, at the church. That’s 20 minutes earlier than The Spook School. To start, I’ll be there. Sadly won’t be able to sit at the front row as I may need to leave before they are done with their set. And that annoys me for two reasons, one is that I want to see they play their whole set and second I would love to grab their setlist. If anyone can grab it for me? I will probablyy have to stay until 13:45, 13:50 if I can stress the time. And then leave the church stage and hastily head to the outdoor stage. Hopefully The Spook School has been slow at setting their stuff up, taking forever  to start, and I won’t have missed much. Their gig starts at 13:40. Hopefully I won’t have missed the tracks that will appear on the 7″, I would love to record them on video.

With The Spook School finishing by 14:20 it already clashes with another band I wanted to see, The Sunbathers on the train. And as you know, the train leaves and you can’t catch up with the gig if you didn’t board the train at the scheduled time. So no more Sunbathers for me. And I feel really disappointed. Stupid clashes. I do hope that The Sunbathers, as many of the train bands, play an impromptu  gig at the merch tent. That’s what’s been happening the previous years, and I would be very happy if they did. I don’t want to miss them. At least I want to hear a couple of their beautiful songs.

As this is the case, at 14:20 I’ll go to see some French flair, some gorgeous indiepop courtesy of Doggy. A couple of weeks ago I was listening non-stop a burned CD Fabien from Anorak Records handed me in Madrid. It was a demo by Doggy, with songs from his last album. It was a total surprise. The songs are fresh, catchy, and exude indiepoptasticness. If I had the song names, I’d write them here, and I would try to peek on the band’s setlist while they are playing to check if they will perform these songs. I’m curious to see how many English people would come and see something that they don’t understand, how open minded they are, and how much of a good taste they have. Because, if you didn’t hop on the train for The Sunbathers, you MUST be at Doggy at the church stage.

At 15:00 I head for a warm beer, to the indoor stage. From the bar I’ll see Toniee’s long hair on stage. It’s not The Parallelograms, but one of my most beloved bands. One of those little bands I liked so much back in the early 2000s when I had just discovered indiepop, Velodrome 2000. To be honest, I don’t know how popular they are, but I do hope I’m not the only one singing along to “Bobby Gillespie is a Virgin”, “Charity Shopping” or “Sindy Sex Aid”. They must be somewhat known, they, afterall, recorded a Peel Session. But you never know, this is an unfair world. I never thought I was going to see them live. I feel lucky enough to be here, and I feel grateful to whoever asked them to play.

Now there’s a little break. And I notice I haven’t had any lunch. It’s a bit late for lunch. But perhaps this is the best time to grab a bite. Or maybe not. I know there is going to be a huge line to get in to the church. The Hobbes Fanclub are playing and since releasing the split 3″ on Cloudberry, they’ve become way more popular. So probably the church will be packed. So I better be early, on time, and get a good sit. In my book, I still can’t picture The Hobbes Fanclub as a live band, you have to understand that when I worked with them, it was Leon and Fabi, both of them living thousand of miles away and working their songs through the internet. Now Fabi is not part of the band anymore and the band is a three-piece based in Bradford. In any case, in my book they are also one of the bands that I think will be one of the festival surprises.

Big break now. Big, in Indietracks terms, means something around an hour. 18:20 everyone heads to the church, or at least everyone that knows what GREAT indiepop is, and get to see the lush Love Dance. How many years since they released their album? Or how many years since they put out that 7″ that bowled us all over. So many, more than five definitely. And even though we thought they were no more, that they had split, they are playing at Indietracks. And who knows how, why, or any other question you want to ask, but I don’t care. This might be one of the most special gigs at the festival. It does feel by this time that I have spent an awful lot of time at the church. Perhaps it’s my subconscious too, that wants me to sit and not get tired, at least not yet.

When Love Dance are almost done, hastily I have to go see Language of Flowers. I was saying in my previous post that there were two bands that convinced me that I had to go to Indietracks this year. One was Liechtenstein. The second was Language of Flowers. The previous years I’ve seen a couple of times Help Stamp Out Loneliness and been systematically asking Colm about the unreleased Language of Flowers songs (there are 3 as far as I know, and they are GREAT), and when they were reforming. Half-jokingly I would instigate. But never thought this was actually going to happen. Why would it? They released just one album, a perfect album, a cult album if you ask me. It was the best indiepop record in a long time and everyone loved it. I think it’s just the cherry on the top of the cake this gig at Indietracks. They are closing the circle, and this might as well be the best gig at the whole Indietracks, even though Colm probably say they were shit. “Songs About You” or “Botanic Gardens”, I do hope they are allowed to play an encore. And I want that setlist.

Sadly, if you notice I have missed The June Brides. And this hurts a lot. They are a favourite band of mine, a big favourite. But they clash, and they clash with other favourites. And I’m only skipping them because I’ve saw them before. True, sans the trumpets, as Phil pointed me out. But I can’t do much. The trumpets are what make The Junies one of the most amazing bands of indiepop history. They are glorious, they can make Jericho fall. But with regret, I have to skip. I hope Phil forgives me.

After Language of Flowers things should run smoothly for all of us festival goers. You get Monochrome Set and then The Vaselines. Seems very straight-forward from now on. Who would choose any other band playing at that same time?

Then at the marquee, getting our shoes dusty and trying not to trip with the big boulders that pop up from the ground, we will dance to our Spanish friends Jorge and Miguelink. Just one request, not too much 60s Jorge!!

Some guy will shout “last train”. We will be heart-broken. Drunk too. We’ll give hugs to the right, to the left, everywhere. We say goodbye. Until next time, whenever that is. Good friends this is farewell. Maybe some of you I will see next week in London. Most probably I won’t see the rest for a long time. But it was great to see you. It was a fabulous weekend. And with that memory we head back to Mansfield. For the last night in the Midlands. Next day we have to leave early to Cardiff. For our vacations of castles, sheep, and botanic gardens.

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The Golden String is a sequence of 0’s and 1’s that is very closely related to the Fibonacci Numbers. Other names for it are The Fibonacci Rabbit sequence or The infinite Fibonacci word. I’m not sure what the point of it is, but math scholars salivate when seeing it. But this time I’m heading all the way to the Netherlands for our obscure band of the week. To Maastricht to be precise.

Maastrich is located in the southern part of the Dutch province of Limburg, of which it is the capital. It is widely known as a city of history, culture, local folklore, education. Furthermore, it has become known, by way of the Maastricht Treaty, as the birthplace of the European Union, European citizenship, and the single European currency, the euro. The name Maastricht is derived from Latin Trajectum ad Mosam (or Mosae Trajectum), meaning ‘crossing at the Meuse’, and referring to the bridge built by the Romans. The Latin name first appears in medieval documents and it is not known whether this was Maastricht’s official name during Roman times.

As far as I know the Golden Strings were active since 1981. Releasing their first record in 1983, a 12″ called “Budweiser Shuffle” on the Deng Deng Deng record label (catalog ES 46.782 M). The songs included were “Make Me Believe”, “Some Kind of Woman”, “Forward”, “She”, “Everybody Else” and “Budweiser Shuffle”. Their sound at this point wasn’t as poppy and fantastic as their later release. But still worth a listen. I think it’s easier to find this record than the other ones and it’s the only one I own. So keep an eye. This 12″ was recorded at Eurosound Studio’s Harveld. On Youtube the drummer Serge Van Dalsen’s sister has uploaded a couple of these if you want to have a listen.

The next release is a fantastic split 7″, shared with Buy Off the Bar (who were dutch as well), that includes two songs by the Golden Strings. The first one is a cracker and i’s called “My Life Is Like A Stanley Knife (Cut, Cut, Cut)”. It’s SO catchy, and it has this fabulous trumpets. I’m thinking of bands like Big Gun or How Many Beans Make Five while listening to them. The other song they contribute to this record is “Walked Out of That Door”. On the other hand, Buy Off the Bar participates with “February 6th” and “Silence”. This record was released on our favourite year, 1986, as a joint release by Deng Deng Deng records (catalog DENG 002) and Bang Bang Bang records (catalog BILLY 1). I’m guessing here that the first label belonged to The Golden Strings whilst the latter to Buy Off the Bar. The songs by The Golden Strings were recorded in Amsterdam at Oktopus Studio and again there are no band credits, so we don’t get to know the band members names.

The only other interesting fact on this record, that included a black and white 35×25 cm poster full of photos, are the running grooves etchings: on the Buy Off the Bar side it says “Bring Back The Buzzcocks” and on The Golden Strings side:  “We’re All Jump Boys”. Clearly big fans of the Undertones too. I’m looking for a copy of this one!

And last, but not least, my favourite song of theirs: “Tongue’s Too Big”. This track is a favourite of mine on Youtube, as I haven’t had the chance to find a copy of this record!, especially because of their trumpets, their glorious trumpets. Trumpets that do remind me of The Junies. Ah! Now I feel more terrible to miss them at Indietracks!! But yes, when you listen to this song you’ll understand. It sounds like a lost gem from C86 days in London, a song that should have been a single, a cult classic, but no, it ended up buried in a compilation record. Can you believe it? A song this good not having it’s own proper release? Life is never fair indeed.

“Tongue’s Too Big” appeared on the “13 Great Bands From The Low Lands “,  the second Noet Lachten records compilation.The album was financed by all the bands together; It included music from all over Holland except The Voners, who are Belgian guests. The catalog was NOET 4. The 12″ artwork is very strange, very artsy collage with two mouths half open, with the teeth showing. It looks a bit like a monster. Among the bands included in the compilation the only ones I’m familiar with are Buy Off the Bar and The Melting Eskimos who had a 7” on Meller Welle Produkte from Germany. This compilation was released in 1987.

And that’s about all I’ve been able to gather about this fantastic band. I believe they started as a new wave / punk pop band and as years went by their sound got more C86-ish. Their songs are fun and catchy, and also have that ramshackle element that I love. If you have any other information about Maastricht’s best, or if you happen to have extra copies of their records. Please get in touch! If you were in the band, please do too, it’d be fun to do an interview and learn more about you. I wonder if they had more songs. I’m sure they did.

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Listen
The Golden Strings – Tongue’s Too Big

To my new job I walk around 8 blocks everyday. It’s quite close. Long gone are the days of taking the bus. Still, I still dream of taking the subway to work. There’s something about taking trains that I love. I don’t know if it’s the galloping sound, the shaky wagons, watching people coming in and out, looking around if there’s a cute girl to make eye contact, observing people, their clothes, their newspapers, their books. I’m always curious at what people are reading. Watching their hands, their shoes. I always watch also if people are balding, I will one day I’m sure, I am a bit obsessed with that. Anyhow, I don’t get to be in a subway that often. Maybe once or twice a year when I’m in New York, and then I usually take it lots of time very late at night, after a gig or going out, when it goes almost empty or with people so drunk that they fall asleep and miss their stop. And the other times I’m lucky enough to take my favourite mean of transport is when I’m in London. I must say that I’ve taken the subway also in Glasgow (which is a joke), in Berlin, Hamburg, Chicago and Stockholm. But none can compare to the network of rails under the ground of Londinium.

These days I’m very familiar with the London Underground even though I’ve never lived there. I don’t get lost, I don’t miss my stops, and I’ve even given directions to people. There have been times I’ve had to take the Overground, from Walthamstow or Brockley, but most of the time I’ve been taking the Jubilee Line, the Northern Line, the Central Line, the Victoria Line, and more. My memory is still fresh, it was just 11 days since I took the underground for the last time, taking the Piccadilly Line all the way to Heathrow terminal 4. It was the last day of a great trip around the UK, though I left very early that day from my friend’s Jennifer house, deep south in Lewisham, so I won’t count this day as a full day. But the rest of days, my memories of going up and down the escalators, with friends, by myself, listening to the handful of songs I’ve managed to put on the iPhone years ago, and saying goodbye to friends just as the paths fork towards different line platforms, are still very fresh in me.

Before continuing, let me have a little break here to see what I’ve been listening on CD this week:
1. Mo-Dettes – The Story So Far (Cherry Red)
2. Seapony – Go With Me (Hardly Art)
3. Brian – Bring Trouble (Setanta)

Just 3 CDs! I know, been quite slow, but I’ll start catching up soon!

“You are shaking my world, my subway girl”

The needle dances over this fantastic slab of black vinyl. I get a bit sentimental with the great lyrics of this song. I wonder if I have ever had any subway girl, or any girl that I could associate to my underground travels. I remember the one who I bought my first ‘remsa’ in Stockholm and rode with me the tunnelbana from Gullmarsplan to Hammarby, the same girl who later  would take me around in my first visit to London and not letting me get lost in that tangled network of little dots and lines of different colours that is the underground system. I remember clearly her red coat and silly hat, and her white tennis. The funny day when her and another friend invited the “air band” to the train’s crowd surprise, when they played the air guitar and the air bass. And then the trumpets come in, and the needle is reaching the end of the record. I play it again, it’s such a wonderful song. It’s Hellvyvelln’s “Subway”. And I know absolutely nothing about them.

As I recall my trips on different subway systems, with different friends, I remember the first time I took it. In New York City, in 2007, with my friend José. We took it from Penn Station to somewhere in Harlem that I can’t remember. We had met some friends and we needed to burn some time while we waited for the guy that was going to give us the key to the apartment we were staying in Brooklyn during the weekend. We were going to NYC Popfest that weekend. I remember we went to the apartment of Caitlin’s friend. If I remember correctly he played in the Alsace Lorraine band and was good friend’s with Isol, that Argentine muse that sang in Entre Ríos. He was an undertaker. At the time it resulted me shocking that an undertaker may like indiepop. Anyhow, my friend José, as a true Peruvian, asked if he could shower at his place. Nice.

Later that day we picked up some 75 cents carnitas from a Mexican place just next to the station, and rode the train, dripping salsa all over the train floor. Good times. I could go and on with stories about the subway that make my heart jump, but let’s go to the weekly obscure band.

I was introduced to Hellvyvelln by the great Peter Hahndorf when I was in Bremen with Nana, I remember he handed us a CD-R copy of a project he was working at the time called The Sound of Glen Waverly, a two CD compilation of Australian bands from the late 80s, early 90s. Included on the first CD was this fantastic track, Subway, by Hellvyveln. Some months after, I was able to track down this single on eBay. I think I paid very cheap for it, I think it was too obscure for even the indiepop collectors. It might be the case, if you google about this band, there is absolutely nothing aside from the obvious Twee.net entry (Peter’s page!).

The B side is “Elvis”, which is also a very nice track. But I’m obsessed with the A side, with “Subway”. It reminds me to many great bands and songs from the C86 era, from The Hepburns to The Chalk Giants or A Riot or Colour and more.  The record was released on Polyester Records, that was based in Fitzroy, Victoria, in Australia, and the catalog was LUV 13. This same label also released some stuff by Ripe and the great Little Murders. The record was recorded in August 1989 in Silkwood Studios, in Melbourne and released later that same year. It was produced by the band and Dane Simpson. Simpson also engineered it.

Hellvyveln were Jeremy, Nick and Andrew. No last names provided. The arrangements on “Elvis” were courtesy of Ben Grant whereas the trumpets on “Subway” were thanks to Stephen Grant. Where they brothers? Also Michael Kennedy helped on trumpets on this track. The horn arrangements on it came by the way of Dave Hannon.

Then the only other piece of info on the 7″ back cover are the thank you notes, but I can’t really recognize any of the people here. The band’s address shows that they lived in Brighton, Australia. There’s a Brighton every where, isn’t it? I was at the UK one, which I assume is the original, not so long ago either. Looked a bit like Miami, but with brown sand, and hills.

And that’s all there is about this fantastic, and elusive band. If you know anything else about them, what does the name Hellvyvelln means, who is the girl they sing about on “Subway”, if they had more releases, or even more songs, please get in touch! It would shake my world to know a bit more about these guys that penned such a beautiful song.

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Listen
Hellvyvelln – Subway

Thanks so much for Phil Paterson for the interview! A month ago I wrote about the great Scottish band Future World Moves. Happily Phil got in touch with me and was up for answering some questions! It’s a great read, and yes, if you are in Scotland, you have to try haggis, neeps and tatties, I look forward to some of that next Monday in Glasgow! Enjoy!

++ Hi Phil! How are you? Any exciting plans for this summer?

I am planning a trip with my wife to the north of Scotland this august to Applecross for two weeks. Ahh peace and quiet!

++ So you’ve always been based in Livingston, right? Was there any music scene there at all? Any bands that you’d recommend from when you were around?

In the early 80’s and 90’s we were based in Livi. There was a music scene then but it was predominantly punk or heavy metal, of which we were neither. This was never a problem for us as we all drew our influences from both sources and drew an audience from both genres.

The bands that I could recommend would be punk bands like, the Skrotees, Bayoneting Babies or Goodbye Mr Mackenzie who were from just outside Livingston in a place called Bathgate. The later of which the backing singer/keyboard player went on to front Garbage.

++ I saw that Livingston is kind of in the middle of Glasgow and Edinburgh. What are the advantages of that? Music-wise and living there?

Being stuck in the middle between the two cities meant we did not really suffer from the long standing rivalry between the two. We could easily go to either city and be warmly welcomed. Livingston after all was a major overspill from Glasgow in the late 60’s to mid 70’s.

++ Let’s talk about the band. First and foremost, what came first the song Future World Moves or the name of the band? Where did you get that phrase from?

I believe the band name came first but don’t quote me on that after all it has been a few years down the line and my memory may not be quite as sharp as it once was, ok, so its isn’t as sharp as it once was. The first name I can remember us having for the band was Suspended Moves. But this may have came from the merger of FWM (Bren and Gerry) with (Bob and myself). In the very early stages of the band one of our first songs was named Future Moves, I can only take it that it came from the creative mind of Gerry or Bren.

++ So was this your first band? Who were the members and how did you knew each other?

This was our first attempt at a real band, previous to that Bob and I were learning how to play, whereas Gerry and Bren previously had a school band together. We were very fortunate that we all grew up together so we were friends long before we were band members. This stood us in good stead. It meant we had by passed the teething problems that most young bands go through after being together for a few years. I have known Bob since I was 7years old, Gerry since he was 3years old Bren since I was 19years old and Alex was a later addition for me but knew the rest of the guys from school.

++ Did you really were around 1981 to 1991?

Yeah i guess we were around for that length of time although it never felt long to us. I can only attribute that to us being friends first.

++ You were telling me you were more of a live band than a studio band. So what would you say were your three best gigs, and why?

We loved playing live. We had a powerful sound live of which we never really managed to capture in the studio environment. The studio did help to fine tune our playing and writing skills but you could not beat that live raw emotive sound that we produced.

++ I hear some Chameleons in your tracks, could it be? Who would you say influenced your sound?

Funnily enough I don’t believe any of us had ever listened to the Chameleons. It was one I had to check out when you made the comment. I could see where you were coming from. Our influences have been so varied. Reggie, Punk, Classical, Heavy Metal, you name it we would listen to it. I must admit though I was huge Clash fan and still am. Great music never really fades away.

++ So only one release, the 12″, right? There seems to be a bunch of unreleased tracks though. What happened? Why didn’t you get to release more records?

We were in the studio a few times before we decided to release the mini album in 1988. Anytime we could all club together to make a recording then we would do. But to create the album was another story. Firstly the cost was beyond us and secondly we had no management or record company that showed any interest at the time. So it was an exercise in business for us to release the album under our own label and do all the foot work ourselves. With the help of a local financial backer and distribution company we managed to record, print and distribute 1000 albums only as a limited edition. So trying to get one now is almost impossible. Saying that I found a record shop in Tokyo, Japan selling obscure vinyl records. Low and behold they had our album for sale. None of us have any idea how it managed to make its was to Tokyo 23 years later. Well, I guessed I could have walked quicker.

++ Let’s talk about the release. It is wonderful! I think my favourite song is “This Particular Day”. Would you care telling me the story behind this song?

This Particular Day is a song about waking up in the Scottish highlands listening to the crashing waves of the sea on the shore and being completely overawed by the splendour of the Scottish landscape. Leaving you with a feeling that anything in life is possible.

++ And what about your favourite song on it?

My personal favourite is ‘Its Time’. We were always very political in our content and this song just said it all for me. It was also the most unusual chord sequence that I had ever played thanks to Gerry (chord master) McCart. But my favourite songs never made it to the album, but that’s a story for another time.

++ And what about that photo on the cover? Where was it taken?

The photograph was take by myself, hence the reason for my absence. But I manage to get my face on the back cover. It was taken in the doorway of an old street in Edinburgh called Niddry Street just of the Royal Mile. These were underground living quarters over a hundred years ago possibly two, where people would literally live under the streets in the pitch blackness and dampness. It was used at the time of the photograph as practice rooms. It was so dangerous to practice there because of the dampness. For example, I can remember us all being in there in the dark and damp standing on wooden crates so as not to be electrocuted with the 6inches of water on the floor. Crazy times.

++ Looking back, how do you remember those late 80s? It feels it was the heyday of guitar pop, you agree? What were your highlights being on Future World Moves?

I loved the 80’s. The music was just on the turn again with the new wave and new romantics, none of which really moved us. Punk gave us the inspiration to play anything we wanted. We felt that we didn’t need to fit into a certain genre or pigeon hole. I would say there are to many highlights to name them all but first and foremost having the opportunity to grow with your mates and have a great time creating music did it for me.

++ Why did you split? Are you all still in touch? What do you do these days?

Its difficult to say exactly why we split. I’m sure there were many reasons. Personally, I had a young family to take care of and had to concentrate my efforts to make some cash. We have never stopped being in touch even though Bob(the bass) now lives in the land of Oz. The rest of us still play together in some form or other.

++ You are now in a cover band called “We’re Not Iguanas”, care to tell me a bit about that?

WNI was formed to have a bit of fun as a collective between quite a few musicians. We wanted to just gig but do it locally and consistently playing songs we loved from our past. So Were Not Iguanas was born.

++  And what about original music? Are you still making any? I’d love to hear!

We are still creating original music albeit a little slower than in the past. As you said in a comment on your blog, Life does get in the way.

Its not something I thing we could easily give up. Its in our blood.

++ As you are Scottish, I must ask, do you know how to make a good haggis, neeps and tatties? What would be your favourite Scottish food?

With due care and attention, and definitely not in the nude! My favourite Scottish food is Haggis Neeps and Tatties funny enough.

++ One last question, why does Scotland always produce great music?

What can I say? We are just very talented creative people. I guess if you suppress something (people) long enough eventually something has to pop. And so I guess we are lucky it comes out in a creative manner and not any other way.

++ Thanks again so much, anything else you’d like to add?

I would just like to say many thanks to yourself for this opportunity to chat about the album and band Future World Moves. Its been a while. Rock on Roque, keep up the great work.

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Listen
Future World Moves – This Particular Day

Thanks so much to Sandy Fyfe for the interview and support!

++ Greenheart formed after two early incarnations, the first one being The Electric Sugar Children. Tell me a bit about this band, when was it formed, who were the members and if you had any releases? maybe demo tapes that one day will pop up on ebay?

I had been in a band called The Firemouths which had played a few gigs, and little brother Edd started writing some tunes. The Firemouths came to an end as people moved away and so Edd and I formed The Electric Sugar Children (named after a Biff Bang Pow! Song).

We borrowed drummer Kenny McEwan from another brotherly Perth band, The Seaniks, and encouraged Gogs to buy a bass guitar, and hey, we had a new band. We then added Paul Sutherland to sit cross-legged at front of stage and peel off mis-spelt cards of each and every lyric, a la Subterranean Homesick Blues. Our first gig was in Biancos in Perth.

We never recorded under this name. At this stage, we were very much a Jesus & Mary Chain influenced band (we covered You Trip Me Up), and it was not long before we wanted to develop the sound………

++ The second incarnation was called Pure. Why did you started a new band? What were the main differences between The Electric Sugar Children? Tell me about those “purezines” you released!

….which led to the recruitment of David Barnett as a second guitarist, and Paul Sutherland disappearing from card-peeling duties, and a name change. We had a song called Impure and I liked the idea of the band name Pure….we were trying to become less gimmicky and concentrate on the music a bit more. David added backing vocals and the addition of the second guitar added much to the sound.

This was a real busy period for us gigging much more, recording a couple of demos, publishing Purezines, being interviewed on radio, and printing badges. The demos were recorded in Seagate Studios in Dundee, and were as follows :

Demo 1, summer 1990 –
1. Panama City – an upbeat wah-wahed guitar tune about sunshine and Demerara sugar (don’t ask!)
2. Stephanie – a twee little pop song
3. Velvet – a slow moody burner about rock n roll, and fame

Demo 2, March 1991 –
1. Underfoot – a jangly pop song about prejudices over the Irish struggle in Scottish society
2. Summer Heat-Wave Heat – you can hear this on our myspage page so I won’t attempt to describe it!
3. Velvet – we re-recorded velvet, with the guitars more distorted and dreamy

There was a huge development between our first and second visits to the studio.

Things were going well, playing regularly (at the time I was also running The Oblivion Club in Perth which brought many indiepop bands to town including Jesse Garon & the Desperadoes, The Driscolls, Mousefolk, Remember Fun, The Wildhouse and many more) so we were well connected to get gigs.

We were then asked to contribute to a compilation LP on Ambition Records, Bobby Stokes Salutes the Fall of Manchester, indie bands covering Manchester bands songs, and we recorded Joy Divisions/New Orders’ Ceremony, using a different studio and we were not too happy with the result, though it did have its moments!!

The Purezines were A5 fanzines of what we had been up to, set lists, family tree, etc. We charged 20 pence for a purezine and a badge!

++ After these two bands you change your name to Greenheart. What year was it? Who were Greenheart and why the name? Also any releases to look for? Information is quite scarce on the web!

Pure were going along great but I made a huge error of judgement about this time. A few of the band members were wanting to do other things as well as Pure, and I said people had to be committed to it, and make a decision, and so everything fell apart.

However we had been offered a single release by German label, Bilberry, and to contribute tracks to a compilation being put together by Snowy Pete and so Edd and I, started again, adding Mal on bass and guitars, and my then girlfriend Lisa on piano/organ, retaining Kenny, myself and Edd.

We wanted to denote the change in personnel and so altered the name. I was a huge fan of the poetry of Alan Jenkins, and my favourite individual poem was called Greenheart, and so that was agreed as a good name. Everyone should track that poem down and read it!

++ What is this Fuzzy Peach compilation about that you talk on your brief bio on myspace?

We returned to Seagate and recorded Transatlantic, Hey Sure Shakespeare and Lucky Always and sent them off to Pete to choose two tracks – and he chose Lucky Always to open side 1 of the comp and Hey Sure Shakespeare to open side 2 (it was a 10 track compilation).

According to Pete who I saw recently, people were actually dancing to Hey Sure Shakespeare when he played it at an indie club night!!!

++ How was the Perth scene those days? One of my favourite bands was from there: This Poison! Any other bands that you’d recommend?

The scene was great. All of the bands drunk in the same pubs. No two bands were filling a similar space in terms of style. This Poison! were the pick, but Aspidistra also did very well, I shared a flat with the singer in our big rivals, The Ralf, and it was right opposite the main gathering place for musicians at the time, The Grill pub. Every weekend the party was at ours, and all the bands at that time partied in our flat from time to time. The Relations had gone baggy and were in the lower reaches of the UK singles chart, and Greenland Haze gigged extensively with their REM style. The aforementioned Seaniks continued to gig, and there was an ambitious band Best Care Anywhere who we gigged with too. And of course Luke Sutherland’s Long Fin Killie. Happy days indeed.

++ Also you say that you were called the enfants terrible from the Perth scene! what did you do?

I am so embarrassed when I look back!

We had a great rivalry with the Ralf, and at one time started a chant ‘I’d rather be a Sugar Child than a Ralfette’ and that became a thing every indie kid in town was one or the other – a Sugar Child or a Ralfette. Despite Graeme and I being flatmates and friends our bands were arch rivals. Our bass player, Gogs, was quite infatuated with Graemes girlfriend at the time, and that did not exactly make things any easier!!

In addition, we showed no respect to the older guys still peddling their music, we strutted around in our leather trousers with attitude and swagger to match! I remember playing a gig supporting The Relations, who had been on television that week playing their baggy stuff. They were in the crowd as we played. I was introducing the fact that they would be playing after us, someone in the audience shouted something not too complimentary about them, and I retorted ‘clearly someone has seen them before’ and we launched into our next song. There was a wee bit of hassle after that between us, and recently I was discussing the Go-Betweens with Gerry, singer of The Relations, and he said to me, ‘it’s a shame we have spent 20 years disliking eachother as we actually love the same music’ We are now good buddies. That’s what is great about music – the friends you make.

We also sprayed homebrew beer all over Dek Moir of This Poison! on one occasion – it’s a long story!

So we were always up to some mischief or other and when we were the large figure of our bass player Gogs would never be far from the action!!

++ I read you gigged all around Scotland, did you ever went south to England maybe? Which particular gigs do you remember the most and why?

We never unfortunately ventured south as a band, although most members have subsequently played gigs in England.

The three most memorable gigs for me would be :

1. The Red House, Coupar Angus – we were supporting Best Care Anywhere in this rural village. There was a good crowd in to see the Tom Petty/REM-inspired Best Care Anywhere. They had not expected nor ever before encountered feedback drenched indie pop and sneering attitude. I think to say we left them speechless would be true. That was the most drunk we had ever been when playing, consuming more vodka jellies than I care to remember before the gig.

2. The Halt Bar, Glasgow – supporting The Driscolls. The excitement of playing in Glasgow for the first time was great, and it was fantastic to be playing to an audience who actually all were through and through indie pop kids.

3. The West Port Bar, Dundee – a day for unsigned acts put on by the local radio station. Perth and Dundee have a fierce rivalry as cities, being just 20 miles apart. All the bands were Dundee bands except us. We always closed with a track called What She Said in ’67, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, followed by several minutes of a wall of noise with vocalist writhing front of stage and yelping the odd spontaneous lyric into the mic. We played it at the end of the gig as usual, and it was just our greatest ever version of that song, and that song was I suppose our trademark at the time.

++ What was the biggest highlight of Greenheart? How easy or difficult was to have a band with your brother?

The best thing is undoubtedly that 20 years on we are all still friends, we all still have passion for music, and a mutual respect for one another.

I think our recording of Lucky Always was our finest moment (to date!); it was certainly at the time the best lyric I had written in my opinion. And the feedback from those that got Fuzzy Peach was excellent.

Also getting back in the studio last year to record She is Forever for the Doing it for the Kids 08 compilation was fantastic – it was a day full of emotion, and fun though a departure from our usual style.

Edd and I get on great, so being in a band together was not too tough – Gogs the bass player is my best friend in the world but he is much more difficult to handle than little brother!!!! Edd and I are two brothers who will always to some extent make music together I think.

++ Do you still follow indiepop? If so, what differences or similarities do you find between the early nineties and today?

Oh yes! Indiepop is forever in our hearts.

I am as likely to be listening to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart or Ballboy, as I am The Chesterfields or Mighty Mighty. All of us have broadened our tastes since then but still appreciate indiepop, and I like a lot of the new bands and thanks to labels like Cloudberry they get a medium to release some good stuff. When I put together charity CD Doing it for the Kids 08, after my daughter had been seriously ill in hospital, it was great to find so many good young indiepop bands willing to contribute to the project.

I think there are clear influences today – early Orange Juice and early Aztec Camera, Subway bands, Sarah Bands – are all influencing output. I think right now indiepop is probably stronger than it has been at any point since the late 80s and early 90s. Its great to see some of the old bands coming back and playing again. I think the key difference is that the current crop of indiepop bands have more diversity to their sound than the older generation.

Two of my 5 year old daughters favourite songs are Goodbye Goodbye by The Chesterfields and In the Rain by The June Brides – I am bringing her up well!!

++ Why did you call it a day? What are Greenheart members doing nowadays?

We stopped playing because life got in the way a bit. Edd went to university in Wales. I had the misfortune to be good at my job and so started building a career (its like that Razorcuts song, Mile High Towers!) And everyone drifted apart for a bit. We are all now back in touch though, and practising again, and recorded last year and Edd and I have written some new songs. [I have emailed a very rough demo of one of them called Counting (Up Not Down)]

Sandy (jaf) – still in Perth, huge music enthusiast, back writing songs with Edd

Edd – lives in London, back writing songs and practising and playing some small solo gigs

Kenny – also lives in London; toured the world with Long Fin Killie for a bit – back in touch with us all just very recently

Gogs – lives in London – joined Aspidistra who were NME ones to watch at one time, and who released a few singles – still very good friends with Edd and I, and we regularly go and see bands together

David – worked with the Suede fanclub and management, and wrote the authorised biography of Suede. Still playing music with a few bands including the New Royal Family, and also lives in London.

Mal – moved to Norway, played bass on a no 1 hit single, now back living in Perth.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

We want to record our legacy – a few days in the studio and one final blast of indiepop. We have learned much over the years and think we can still have the raw energy and sound, the meaningful lyrics, the passion, the DIY ethos, but with a bit of a broader sound. So if anyone reading this wants to put out a single or an EP, get in touch as we will be recording real soon!!

We adored playing live and want to try to do that again too.

Finally, thanks to you Roque, for asking us to participate and having an interest in what we do but most of all, for keeping the homefires of indiepop burning. Indiepop is an old friend, and some nights its great to come home to. Giving so many good bands some exposure, as you have done, has been fantastic and its good to see some of those bands beginning to gain wider exposure – I hope they all remember you!

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Listen
Greenheart – Transatlantic
Pure – Summer Heat-Wave Heat