A couple of days ago Yago, one of the nice guys that took care of my merch during Madrid Popfest, asked me about Velasco, an almost forgotten band from Spain. He had seen a blog post, dating July 2009, were Adrià, one of Papa Topo’s half, was raving about this obscure duo. On that same post Adrià mentions my name, alongside Felipe Fresón’s…

It might be one of the few times were my name is going to be written next to one of my indiepop heroes; it seems both me and him shared the second demo CD-R with Papa Topo’s black rimmed glasses frontman, and he was thanking both of us. Yago, smartly assumed that there is only one Roque involved in what we call indiepop, and got in touch with me. He did his detective job. Now it’s my time to try to solve this mystery.

Back in 2004 I was already dreaming of starting a label. Those were days of indiepop discovery for me but my ties were still closer to the Peruvian music scene than to the indiepop community. My connections to the worldwide indiepop community revolved to the few friends I knew on the Twee Folks and the Viajeros Polares channel on soulseek. Those were rather uneventful days too. I was living in San Antonio, Texas, a place not known for their great indie acts but for some iconic landmark called The Alamo, which is such a disappointment when you finally see it. It’s tiny. And looks like any other catholic church in the Peruvian highlands. I skipped classes often, I wasn’t motivated, and in the end, the exams were pretty easy for me to get straight As. If this was literature, then I didn’t need to go to classes, really, I thought. And I had a writer’s block. And of course, my grammar was never something to be proud of. But let’s say they were “literary licenses” I took. Anyhow, I was pretty involved in the Peruvian scene as I said, and I spent hours and hours chatting with bands and fans back in my home country.

There were a couple of indie magazines back in Lima. There was “Interzona”, “Freak Out” and “69”. The most popular was the latter, and not because of it’s terrible name. They had evolved from a prior magazine, one called “Caleta” that had reached cult status among the music fans in Lima. Music fans that spent their hours in the seedy stores of the Galerías Brasil mall in the Breña district. Small stores that specialized in different genres, stores that had the latest bootlegs, CD-Rs of Elefant Records releases, and overpriced vinyl records. In this same mall you could find fanzine stores, emo clothing stores, and even porn dvd stores. On the first floor there were stores where you could rent a Playstation and play some Pro Evolution Soccer against other people. I miss doing that, especially in those days when PES was such a great game and it didn’t try to resemble to the FIFA titles. Also you could find a small cafe with cheese and ham sandwiches and Inca Kola, print shops and also some electronic stores. I read this week that this mall was closed by the city not so long ago.

So the “69” magazine. People who wrote in that magazine were snobbish, and didn’t have the best taste I’d say. Third world country taste, you know. But the editor, Percy, had better taste than the rest of the writers. He was a big fan of La Buena Vida I remember. And also he loved All Girl Summer Fun Band. We chatted quite a bit on soulseek and exchanged emails during that 2004. By then I had already started my blog Mira El Péndulo that turned out to be quite successful among Spanish speakers. It astonishes me that people still remember it. Just a few weeks ago in Spain, during the Popfest, there were some guys that were really excited to meet me, not because of the labels, but because of that damned blog. How can you explain that? Many of them told me they had bought the C-06 tape. I’m so flattered.

The “69” had already released a CD compilation with Peruvian bands and it turn out to be the best selling issue in their short life. So I had no better idea than to pitch Percy an international indiepop compilation. I didn’t want anything in exchange, I would contact the bands and put together the compilation. Ok, I did ask for some complimentary copies, but that was it. I didn’t have money to start my own label then, but I thought that it would be a rewarding experience, to showcase some international bands in my home country. The “69” would have to fund the CD pressing, which back then was dirty cheap in Peru, and I would get all the songs for a very fine record. On top of that I was asked to write an article for the magazine. That was my first published piece, and it wasn’t very good. I had to explain what indiepop is and how much of a worldwide phenomenon it was.

I titled the CD “Es Pop Mamá”, nodding to the great Christina y los Neumáticos song that was later covered by the so amazing TCR (with Felipe Fresón on guitars).  Some “bigger” names included on the CD were those of Tullycraft or Pale Sunday to name a few. Most of the bands were from Latin America though, but there were a couple from Spain as well. And Velasco was one of those Spanish bands included.

I didn’t know much about them back then. I remember listening to their two demo CD-Rs and loving them. Actually, not listening them from the actual CD-Rs, but from MP3s. A shame that I never managed to get proper copies of their demos. I should have asked back then. But I wasn’t that indie savvy when 20 years old. The first demo included the songs: “Recuerdas” (You Remember), “Estar Contigo” (Be With You), and “Agosto” (August). It was recorded on the summer of 2002 and the artwork is really nice, with a floral design. The second demo, titled Bijou (French for jewel), included the songs “El Viento” (The Wind), “Tú” (You), “Velasco”, “En Mi Ciudad” (In My City) and “La Luna” (The Moon). The artwork for this second demo is a just married couple. The couple seems familiar but I can’t pinpoint who they are. Any clues? The song I finally included in “Es Pop Mamá” was “En Mi Ciudad”. A pretty and naive song.

Velasco (also Belasco or Belasko) is a Spanish family name and masculine first name derived from the Basque bel- meaning ‘raven’ or ‘crow’ and the diminutive suffix -sco.

The last name Velasco is associated with an evil dictator in Peru. The only left-wing dictator in South America during the 70s. He ruled from 1968 to 1975 and screwed the country, taking the country through dark times. Music-wise, Peru, famous for it’s 60’s garage legacy with Los Saicos, Los Yorks, Los Shains and more, went into a halt. Everything that was somehow “American”, which of course includes rock, pop or garage, was not supported or approved by the dictatorship. The exciting music scene from those years died silently. I guess the only good thing from that period was winning the Copa America with Cubillas and Sotil for the 2nd time, something our Chilean brothers who think so highly of themselves still haven’t been able to achieve.

My emails with Velasco are long lost to my hacked email account. I can’t recall them clearly, but a safe guess was that they were short and sweet. We must have agreed on a song and that was it. I remember that I emailed with Maite, who was the vocalist in Velasco. The only other member was Paco, who played guitars. Where they a couple? Could be. I believe this appearance on the compilation was their only proper “release” aside from their demos. I don’t think they appeared in any other record. A real shame if you happen to listen to their sweet songs. You wonder if they were too early or too late, 2004 wasn’t really a good year for indiepop. Not many things were happening there. No such thing as Popfests back then.

That is all that I remember about this cute and small band. I don’t remember where they were based in Spain? I want to say Valencia, but I would probably be wrong. And what happened to Paco and Maite? Did they stop playing music? It’s hard to believe. I wonder if they made more songs. Where are they now? If they ever played live?

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Listen
Velasco – En mi Ciudad

When Ignacio told me, during the Friday night shows, that Tiny Fireflies was his favorite band ever, I was a bit surprised. I asked him again if he meant ever. And he did. The main man of the new label Cerillas Garibaldi was totally charmed by them and for the first time he was going to see them live. I lost track of him as soon as the gig started. I wonder if he was one of the many that got the new split with Lily of the Valley and got it autographed by Kristine and Lisle. I know there were many humble fans in Spain who got the signatures of the pretty Tiny Fireflies.

I’m not sure exactly which songs they played that night. I can remember that they played all the songs they have released, but no Club 8 cover. I didn’t get their tracklist this time, not because I didn’t want to, but because Jorge was collecting them for the Madrid Popfest archive. So here’s a tip for bands, make at least 3 tracklists. Because  I need one for sure.

The gig was beautiful, as always. The fragility and tenderness that Tiny Fireflies evoke can’t be compared to any band these days. I don’t think anyone comes close either. Their sound is just way too dreamy, and deliciously sweet. Kristine’s angelic voice blends so perfect with the electronic beats and Lisle’s jangly guitar. One only wonders how this sound was achieved in Chicago, three blocks away from the Division subway station on the blue line. No, it doesn’t make sense.

All the copies the band brought to Madrid were sold. Success for a tour that started in their hometown a week before and later spanning some cities in Wisconsin. Their first Tiny Fireflies tour. Though last year they did play a couple of gigs in the UK, but the main tour then was the one by Very Truly Yours, their “other” band. I remember clearly the gigs at the ROTA, opening for the Sunny Street and Amor de Días, and the one at Indietracks. By this time they had their first release out, the magical 3″CD on Cris’ label Little Treasure. I got my copy that sunny Friday in Nottingham, when a big group of Indietracks’ goers met at the Ye Olde Jerusalem Inn for lunch. These memories make me want to go so much to Indietracks this year. Time to break the piggy bank?

I’ve seen Kristine and Lisle play so many times, even more than Allo Darlin’ or The Smittens, which is already something.  I am a declared fan of their musical talents, and their sensitivity to write songs. Moreover I consider them great friends. Can’t wait to see them next month here in New York to hang out and attend the Chickfactor 20 gigs. To which I ask, why were these gigs scheduled on weekdays? I’ll be dead tired, exhausted, trying to wake up the morning after to go to work. And I will have to control how many beers I can drink.

We met Tiny Fireflies on Wednesday, outside of Alonso Martínez station. Along with Zipper, we all headed to a very cool bar whose name I have forgotten. There we had wine and beer and tried the classic tortilla de patatas. Kristine was impressed by the fluffiness of it and asked for the recipe. Among laughs, and “getting to know each other”, as it seems Zipper and Tiny Fireflies each missed their gigs at last year’s Indietracks, we had a great time. That’s when we decided to hop to another bar, a more traditional Spanish one, you know, one that serves sausages and other treats along your drinks for free.

The next days I would become Tiny Fireflies official translator. Was it an upgrade from last year’s Very Truly Yours roadie? We would meet around 1pm, a bit ashamed of looking for lunch that early for Spanish standards. And so, we would go looking for restaurants that served a daily menu, something we really enjoyed. For around 10 or 11 euros we could eat well, a proper meal consisting of an appetizer, an entree, dessert, and a drink. Plus bread. A really good deal. And so Kristine and me tried many different things, mostly thinks done with pork. Alexandra stuck to having salmon, while Lisle enjoyed “bocaditos” made of ham or the brilliant “roman” style calamari. I would translate the menu and they would always laugh when we would find “gallo” which is rooster on the menu. It wasn’t an easy task to translate as I didn’t know the meaning of many things, the Spanish from Spain, when it comes to food, differs a lot from the one I know from Peru.

We traced every room of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum of Art. We got in for free, just by chance, as they were having a free entrance that day because of some sort of women related celebrations. Was it international women’s day? Could be. And then we also visited and took some Tiny Fireflies promo pictures at the Madrid Botanical Gardens, where I ended up being asked by many tourists to take pictures of them. There was this couple that asked me to take a picture of them with the “tree of love” as a backdrop. As it wasn’t spring yet, the tree was gloomy, very far to convey any sense of love. More of a Halloween picture if you ask me, not very romantic. And then we also enjoyed riding up and down, many times, the clear crystal elevators of the Reina Sofía museum, to get beautiful, panoramic views of Madrid. And there we also went for free, as there’s a nice deal on Saturdays after 3 pm. While at Reina Sofía we ended up speechless upon finding the impressive Guernica by Picasso. Stunning really.

Meeting on Saturday at Puerta del Sol, taking pictures under the “bear and the tree” statue, symbol of Madrid, and walking around and bumping with Miguel Navarro, guitar extraordinaire of The Felt Tips, we waited for Cris and Madidi to arrive, for one last lunch in Spain (at least for us). When we were altogether we headed into one of these menu restaurants I’ve been raving. We loved the name of it, “La Soberbia” (The Arrogance), and we enjoyed some beers to start. I remember trying that day Salmorejo, a delicious cold soup made out of tomatoes, and the delicious Solomillo made out of pork. Cris had the same as me, Kristine got the Solomillo and a salad, Madidi got the paella, Alexandra went for some peppers filled with fish that she didn’t like much, and Lisle a ham bocadito. Then Cris had to run for sound check, as he was in charge of making The Close Lobsters sound good for their historic show later that night. And then, when we asked for the check (or the bill as you say in the UK), Kristine had the best idea of getting rid of all her Euro change. And so we paid the check mostly on coins, and coins, and coins. Brilliant.

It was just a couple of weeks back since we released the Tiny Fireflies split CD. And now I hope that in the not so distant future we’ll get their songs on vinyl. At least that’s what I would love to do.

And now onto some obscure band, and to make it a bit more relevant, a US band that doesn’t sound American at all: Mouse Boy, Mouse Girl. Well, I’m not very sure if they were a band or not, but I do know this one song that I’ve really been enjoying for the past week since Alexandra e-mailed to me. I wonder how such a pretty song have been unattended, unexplored, unheard, by me. I will blame it to my anglophile-ness when it comes to indiepop. The song is called “Make Like We’re Not Sad” and it’s such a delicious slice of fragile indiepop.

The song was part of a compilation put together back in 1998 by the now sleepy indiepop-list. The compilation was called “The Family Twee”. The idea behind the compilation was to have songs by the members of the list. Not surprised to see Mario’s Zapato, Chris’ Suretoss, in their for example. But I wasn’t around in the list back in 1998, so I’m unfamiliar with many of the bands, and the people behind them. A little research and I found out how this was organized by “Skippy”:

September 1997 – An invitation is made to members of the list to submit a song/whatever, that is under 2 minutes long. We will create 2 cd’s filled with their tracks upon getting enough people to do it (60!) and it will become a ‘snapshot’ of the current state of the list. A postcard if you will.November 1997 – By this time, we’ve had 85 people say they definitely want to do it. We await the first 60’s tracks and then open it up to the remainder.

December 1997 – We’ve received only 46 of the promised tracks. People flake, that’s life. I have list members Jim Curran and Anne Zender over for a holiday cocktail and to ‘sequence’ and ‘rate’ what we have. January 1998 – I moved everything I own from Chicago to NYC. I get the track total up to 60, pulling teeth, but this also means that some people haven’t ‘contributed’ if you know what I mean.

March 1998 – I give the 60 songs to pal and Kindercore cat, Ryan, who will inexpensively master the thing.

April 1998 – Apparently there are some problems with a track or two and we need to get the original from the person.

June 1998 – CD is mastered and prepared for pressing. Skippy loses artwork that Andy Blanchard so generous drew because he didn’t have a ‘song’ contribution. We await Andy’s duplicates.

August 1998 – The two CD set arrives here in spindles (the state of CD manufacturing took 7 weeks!). As soon as we whip up some art, we can package these babies up and get them out. Of course, I seem to have underestimated the costs of the project and am now in the hole for about $600.September 1998 – I receive the plastic booklets we will use. Artwork is shipped to a friend who can do it ‘cheap’. I haven’t heard from him since. November 1998 – I decide enough is enough, make some ‘bootleg’ style artwork and begin the arduous task of packaging 1,000 double CD’s with inserts in my spare time (with my girlfriend’s help)

December 2, 1998 – All systems go! The CD’s are ready to ship. Problem is, some of you have changed your home address and your e-mail addresses. I have saved enough money to ship these (there’s quite a few international ones, y’all), but I don’t want to start sending to addresses that you gave me back in November last year because I don’t want to get it returned.

After a bit of investigation to find out at least one name behind Mouse Boy, Mouse Girl. It seems it was Tony Gauslin who was behind this precious song. This was prior the days of him making songs with Laura Watling under the name of “Color and Shapes”. And that’s really all I know. Did they make any more songs? Did he ever receive a copy of the Family Twee CD (he complains in 1999, a year after, of not having received a copy!)? and did they release any songs? maybe on other compilations? And what is he up to? I’m sure the talent is not gone!

Any clues, hints, or anecdotes you want to share, you know what to do in the comments section!

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Listen
Boy Mouse, Girl Mouse – Make Like We’re Not Sad

Back from Madrid Popfest. Back from Spain and the many cities I visited. Back to New York. Back to work, to the label, to the routines. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to put in words what happened in Madrid. It is one of the best times ever. Indiepop-wise and not. In the next couple of weeks I will review it, hopefully convince you to go next year. It’s worth it. And having attended many Popfests I can truly say that when it comes to fun, when it comes to camaraderie, to admiration to the bands, to fans that give their heart out every night, Madrid is the best. And they get some damn fine bands too.

I got the best company during the trip. And she knows. To Toledo, Avila, Segovia, and more, we traveled. We visited a handful of cathedrals, castles and ruins. We walked on top of medieval walls, ate the town’s specialties, and took hundreds of pictures. The “Cercanías” trains were great and cheap. And at night we had beer, and danced, and met with friends. A haze, a blur, it all so seems so far away but so close too. I need another festival soon to put Madrid in perspective. Around the corner is the Chickfactor one. Will that make me sane again? I don’t want this happiness to go away though. But there’s plenty of news for Cloudberry. I really want to go through them, let’s talk about Madrid next week. Promise.

First of all, there’s a couple of new releases out:

– The Time Capsules : this is part of the Cloudberry Classics releases. It includes 6 wonderful songs in the vein of The Jazz Butcher, Lotus Eaters and Jim Jiminee. The Time Capsules were a Japanese band active during the late 90s. They only released a tape back then. This release includes all their songs (but their demos, though you can download one of them from the Cloudberry page). These days Kouishi Ono, the lead guy behind The Time Capsules goes under the name Alvysinger and he still has it. Great stuff!

– Tiny Fireflies / Lily of the Valley : please don’t mistake them with “My” Lily of the Valley who were Swedish and appeared on Cloudberry’s 100th release. This Lily of the Valley hails from Japan and they make great shoegazy tunes. And what to say about Tiny Fireflies who are making a splash everywhere. From New York to London and then to Indietracks and now Madrid. Seen them four times and everytime they get closer to pop perfection. Delicious vocals by Kristine, two perfectly penned songs, with hooks, dreams and reveries. This is a split 3″CD!

Also you might have noticed that most prices on the store have been raised by a dollar. Even though I didn’t want to do it, I had no better option. The postal service has raised their prices. Nothing we can do about it. It’s been 5 years keeping the same prices on Cloudberry, but now there’s no way for me to cut expenses on other things and keep the prices the same. Hope you understand.

On the 7″ front the Cassolette 7″ is almost ready. This week I should be announcing the release date. It should be in the early days of April. It’s been a long wait, but it will definitely be worth it.

And then the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen is also ready with a new baked goodie: The Deddingtons album. All the artwork is ready and will try to send it to press very soon. There will be more info about this release later on the Cloudberry site.

Also I feel it’s time to start working on a new fanzine. Any ideas on who to feature? What color ink to use?

But now it’s time for our obscure band of the week: Ostrich Cult.

Ostrich:  is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member(s) of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a subspecies. Ostriches share the order Struthioniformes with the kiwis, emus, and other ratites. It is distinctive in its appearance, with a long neck and legs and the ability to run at maximum speeds of about 70 kilometres per hour (43 mph), the top land speed of any bird The Ostrich is the largest living species of bird and lays the largest egg of any living bird (extinct elephant birds of Madagascar and the giant moa of New Zealand did lay larger eggs). The diet of Ostriches mainly consists of plant matter, though it also eats invertebrates. It lives in nomadic groups which contain between five and fifty birds. When threatened, the Ostrich will either hide itself by lying flat against the ground, or will run away. If cornered, it can attack with a kick from its powerful legs. Mating patterns differ by geographical region, but territorial males fight for a harem of two to seven females. These fights usually last just minutes, but they can easily cause death through slamming their heads into opponents. The Ostrich is farmed around the world, particularly for its feathers, which are decorative and are also used as feather dusters. Its skin is used for leather products[6] and its meat is marketed commercially.

Cult: The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a new religious movement or other group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre.  The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices. The word was first used in the early 17th century denoting homage paid to a divinity and derived from the French culte or Latin cultus, ‘worship’, from cult-, ‘inhabited, cultivated, worshipped,’ from the verb colere, ‘care, cultivation’. In the 1930s cults became the object of sociological study in the context of the study of religious behavior. They have been criticized by mainstream Christians for their unorthodox beliefs. In the 1970s the anticult movement arose, partly motivated by acts of violence and other crimes committed by members of some cults (notably the Manson Family and People’s Temple). Some of the claims of the anticult movement have been disputed by other scholars, leading to further controversies.

With my head daydreaming of Sweden, I have no better idea to write about this band, an obsession of mine. An obsession for two reasons. First because I don’t have their 7″ and have never heard the songs on it. And second, they were the predecessors of one of my favourite bands, Happydeadmen.

The only song I’ve ever heard from them is the one posted here on the blog. I heard it for first time on Youtube, and it seems it’s from 1986. I think someone translated it to English for me once. I can’t remember.  I will go through my emails and see if I can find that. I know the song name means “A Dying Man”. Magnus Karlsson is on vocals.

The sound is different to Happydeadmen, though you can already hear some great guitar riffs. The jangle was about to come. Still I enjoy this song a lot. But this song is just a demo, this song wasn’t properly released, which probably means that the two songs that were released on the 7″ might be superior. I don’t know, just an educated guess here.

The 7″ was a private press, 500 copies as usual. The catalogue is MOK-S-01. The song on the A side is “Skymningsland” which means ‘Land of Dusk’ and on the flip side we find “Resa Utan Mal”, ‘Journey Without End”. The sleeve artwork reminds me a bit of those by Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, offset print in blue.

I don’t have a clue where to find a copy, and I’ve been trying for some years now. If anyone cares to help, please let me know. Or at least MP3s of these two songs, I would love to listen. Worst case scenario, if you happen to have more songs from the demo, please share. This band is a true mystery to me and would love to know more. I love Happydeadmen, knowing more about Ostrich Cult is imperative!

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Listen
Ostrich Cult – En Döende Man

Thanks so much to Warren Chan for the interview! Ferns, the great Malaysian band, have just put out their second album, “Fairweather Friends”, and it’s just GREAT. I suggest everyone to check it out. On this interview we cover their beginnings, their new album, Malaysia, and the future. Also there are still some copies of the split 3″ on Cloudberry, don’t miss that one too!

++ Great to see you back! This second album is really beautiful, I’m enjoying it lots. It’s been some years since the first album and I’m wondering how do you think the band has evolved? What is different in Ferns these days?

Much obliged. Well, myself and keyboardist Abby are the only original members left from the 1st album, so the band dynamic changed quite a bit. While I am the primary songwriter, I usually just bring in a sketch of the song into the studio for the rest of the band to apply their own special touches. I’ve never been in favour of stamping a ‘one true vision’ on the band because that’s just limiting and plain un-fun. This is why I really value all the different musicians that have collaborated under Ferns all this while. Because for me, it’s kinda like having the chance to sample of all the best dishes at your favourite restaurant – for almost a decade now! These days, I’m working with a group of different, but no less exciting musicians to play with. We’re a lot more loose and carefree than previous incarnations, and I think that kind of reflects in our new album.

++ The second album is titled “Fairweather Friends”. What’s the story behind this name?

There wasn’t any real plan for thematic cohesion. After recording the album, we took a listen, and a number of the songs happened to reflect the same lyrical motif – weather. I guess I find it rather ironic that even while living in a tropical country such as Malaysia, people still have this romantic obsession with the four seasons – which we don’t ever get to experience. It’s just hot or wet here. That’s actually what the song “I Should Be Having More Fun” is about. Making the best of our meteorological destiny.

++ Which is your favourite song on the album and why?

Personally for me, I’d have to say “Miss Stormcloud.” It was actually the first song I wrote for the new album, and stylistically it sort of charted the direction for the rest to follow, at least in spirit. The music was recorded live with minimal overdubs, so there’s this unreproducible relaxed vibe. The stars aligned somehow, allowing that performance to sound really special to me. It was a point of time when I said, “forget it!” – “I’m going to stop being obsessed with chasing perfection, put away my reverb and delay pedals for abit and start writing back-to-basics pop songs”. If we didn’t get “Miss Stormcloud” right, I think the album would have sounded much different. Less fun, for sure.

++ Are you avid indiepop fans? Who would you list as Ferns influences?

I wouldn’t say avid per se. We’re definitely familiar now with the indiepop legacy (e.g. Sarah Records, C86), but this wasn’t always the case. I’d say that our sound is actually a happy accident derived from not actually having any indiepop influences originally. This is because all that great music was really difficult to get access to while we were growing up. And by the time we got to it, the “hey-days” were already over. Our 1st album (“On Botany”) was actually an interpretation of what we thought a mashup between psych-folk pop (Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev) and shoegaze (Ride) might sound like. For some reason, fans around the world started identifying us as twee/indiepop.

Our new album “Fairweather Friends” actually benefited from greater familiarity with classic / newer indiepop stuff. Its hard not be influenced by all the newer generation of pop musicians such as The Lucksmiths, Pelle Carlberg, Camera Obscura, Jens Lekman and of course the mighty Belle & Sebastian – all of whom we have the pleasure of watching live in SouthEast Asia these past few years (Ferns opened for Pelle Carlberg and Club 8 for their Malaysia show back in 2008). But in the spirit of diversity, I still hold a special place in my heart for psych-folk and country rock tinged acts such as Wilco and Grandaddy as well.

++ Tell me about the recording of the album? How long did it take? Any funny anecdotes? What beer did you all have while at the studio?

All in all the album took about 3 years+ to record. It was actually meant to be a quick-n-dirty EP after the rather laborious process of “perfecting” the 1st album. But life got in the way and from an EP, an album was born song-by-song. We just couldn’t stop ourselves! After that initial batch of 4 songs, we kept writing and adding on “just one more killer song” that had to be an the album. We ended producing the album ourselves, recording at two different professional studios and bits of home studio additions.

We all don’t really drink, but food is a particular obsession for all Malaysians. Might do a culinary-themed one in the future!

++ And who is releasing the album? Is it self-released? Why did you decide to go that way?

The album is completely self-released with some distribution help within Malaysia from Soundscape Records. It’s a particular quirk of the local industry where independent bands in the middle don’t really benefit from being under a record company. Better to be in charge of your own destiny, as all the tools are readily available for you to promote your music. Although we’d to say, it really is like having a second job, at times! But it really is a satisfying experience at the end of the day. It’s like the production process – I think every band should at least attempt producing an album before rushing to throw money at big-name producers.

++ The artwork for the CD is amazing. Im a sucker for illustration. Care to tell me a bit more about the artist behind it?

The artwork was created by an amazing and talented artist called Shieko (http://shiekoreto1.blogspot.com/) She’s pretty well known in the local pop art scene, and her style skews towards the irreverent and quirky – which was a perfect fit for us. We were basically looking for an artist with a flair for storytelling and fuzzy-edged social commentary, so we’re really happy she agreed to work with us. We basically just told her to do whatever she wanted. With a few basic concepts from her, we mixed and matched elements of what became the final product.

++ Let’s go back in time. When did you start as Ferns? How did you all knew each other?

Ferns is an offshoot of an earlier band called This Body Broken in the early 2000s, which played melodic indie rock at the time. I was originally roped in as just the guitarist. After some time, members kept dropping out until I ended up (somewhat reluctantly) in the frontman / vocalist role. This was actually my first experience writing and singing songs in a proper band. It really was a learning experience, which I somehow muddled through and got better at it, thankfully 🙂

After a few years, we decided to drop the This Body Broken moniker, because well, we were just sick of playing heavy rock music – and low-key has always been closer to my temperament. Our only criteria for the new stuff was that it was to be poppy, catchy, played without distortion and swathed in reverb! You’d be surprised, but at the time we started, there were practically no other bands within the indie scene with that kind of sound. Everything had to be loud, for some reason.

With the stylistic shift, it also made sense for us to go with the “Ferns” moniker. All members of the band have been friends for some time now, and we met through various means. Though, our guitarist Johan was actually found through an online classifieds ad. He was still in Uni when we auditioned him, and we were just blown away at his versatility and sensitive approach to working melody into songs. So he was definitely a rare find, because a lot of guitarists tend to overplay. He’s definitely a big part of the melodic backbone of the new album.

++ Care to list me the members of Ferns and what do they play?

Ferns are Warren Chan (vocals/guitar), Abigail De Vries (keyboard/vocals), Johan Fariz Tan (guitar), Adrian Yap (bass) and Rudy Frank (drums).

++ And if these Ferns members are not making music, what other hobbies do they have?

3/5ths of Ferns are huge football fanatics (Johan, Adrian & Rudy), so conversations on footie tend to dominate among them. I’m into technology and videogame culture in general. Abby into cooking, feminism and radical politics.

++ And how did you all agree in calling yourself Ferns? Where did the name come from?

Our basic criteria for a band name was only that it needed to be short and nondescript, and “Ferns” certainly qualified.

++ How is the indiepop scene in Malaysia? Are there any other bands worth our attention?

There is no indiepop scene in Malaysia. At least not in the traditional sense of bands directly tracing influences from 80s UK indie, right down to the Swedes and whatnot. As mentioned, that kind of music wasn’t accessible back then and even now with the emergence of new wave indiepop, it hasn’t quite caught on, unlike say, with our neighbours Indonesia. So being the only indiepop band in Malaysia has been a rather lonely journey, but does help us stand out a little, I guess. And the response from fans from around the world has been quite phenomenal, encouraging and touching. We never expected that what we were doing really had an audience. So, not to overstate things, we do feel that we have a responsibility to keep doing this for as long as we can.

We’re still a big fan of pop music in any form however, so within that milieu we really like Liyana Fizi (a bossa nova-pop-tinged singer songwriter), OJ Law (one-man production and songwriting genius who goes from Beach Boys to Curtis Mayfield at the drop of a hat) and Couple (the only purveyors of authentic power pop (think Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, The Posies etc) in Malaysia).

++ And where are the places were you usually hang out? Are there any cool record shops or bars that have good music on the background?

Record shops and social hangouts conducive to creativity are a little lacking here. We do have a vibrant arts scene, but we’re not really part of that. So we’d like to say that our primary hang outs are a) the practice studio and b) eateries. 🙂

++ Do you play live often? Which have been your favourite gigs so far and why?

We play quite regularly these days, especially in support of the new album. We’ve played extensively in Malaysia and Singapore at various festival and smaller events, but would definitely like to go explore the region in places such as Indonesia and Thailand.

One of our favourite gigs was actually during in 2008 for the Labrador Records showcase in Malaysia where Ferns actually supported Pelle Carlberg and Club 8 in concert. It wasn’t just that they were amazing performers, but also that we learned a lot from their stagecraft and were honoured by their sheer humility. We also recently played a couple of small scale gigs in Singapore at an arts cafe and pub respectively – and what struck us was the support of long-time fans who knew our songs and were generous with encouraging words. Not quite sure if its a “grass is greener” situation, but we seldom get that kind of response back home in Malaysia.

++ For many years I’ve been wondering, and I guess now it’s time to ask, about your first album package design. Who came up with that crazy idea of having turf on the CD cover?!

I credit the idea to both our keyboardist Abby de Vries and drummer at the time Dave Wong – who is also a very talented designer / artist. Dave basically turned the idea into reality – he just went to the hardware section of the local shopping centre and bought huge rolls of astroturf. The CD printers took care of the rest (though they sure were surprised at the time!) Not sure if it’d be done before or since, but it’s always been a cool talking point for people. It has been some cause for concern when bringing it cross-border through immigration though because the “grass” resembles a certain illicit substance 🙂

++ On that first CD you worked with the great Isman from Fruit Records. How important was him for Ferns in the early days? And how close do you feel to the Singapore scene? It seems they have something small but nice going on there.

Isman and Fruit were hugely important. Because without his efforts in reaching out the global indiepop community – we might not even be doing this interview with you now! So in spite of limited resources, I really do give him credit for helping to expose us to a larger audience than we ever thought possible.

We have some really great friends in Singapore, though unfortunately as with Malaysia, there seems to be no active indiepop band scene. There are however, unlike Malaysia, a small number of dedicated fans there who grew up with the classic stuff – some whom probably even managed to see the legends in action during their heyday. So we do get lots of encouragement from them, as well as younger fans who’ve discovered the music. It’s a real treat for us and them whenever we get to come down to play.

++ And after that first CD we worked together on a split CD some years back. We included two songs that are included in the new album as well, “Miss Stormcloud” and “Antisocial Scene”. What’s the story behind these two songs?

Well, Miss Stormcloud and Anti Social Scene were two of the earliest songs recorded for the new album. They were part of the “quick-n-dirty” raw live sessions, which we kind of ended up sitting on for a long time and didn’t know what to do with until you came along kindly to ask to work on the split CD together with Shandy Express. That’s why we’re still fondest of those tunes, even though we didn’t have as much time to polish them up as we might have. But I think the tunes really benefited from the self-enforced limitations.

If you notice, both of the songs are departures from the style of the of the first album. We wanted big, upbeat rhythms and wide-open melodies, kind of like our version of arena rock anthems. Except, we can’t really rock, so that’s basically what you get.

++ A couple of weeks back I tried Malaysian food for the first time here in NYC. So good! I was wondering if you’d recommend me your favourite dish, perhaps they have it and I can try it next time!

Malaysian food is rather unique because of our country’s multiracial make-up (Malay, Chinese, Indian, Native, Eurasian). Though it appears the ones that most commonly get exported are either Malay or Chinese cuisine. You probably paid a premium for what we might consider to be street hawker food over here 🙂

My favorite dish is something called “char koay teow” – which is basically stir fried rice-cake strips garnished with prawns, egg, cockles and bean sprouts. Think “pad thai” but a more intense and primal flavour. It’s difficult to get right because a large part of the flavour is derived from something called “wok hei” which is a slightly charred taste you get from intense heat. That kind of blazing fire cannot be replicated with gas stoves, which is why the really good cooks use charcoal to heat up their woks with.

(PS which restaurant did you eat at? Was it called Penang by any chance?? Cos Abby is from Penang)

++ And if I was to visit Kuala Lumpur, which are the sights or places I shouldn’t miss?

Brickfields, it’s a “Little India” of Kuala Lumpur. Alor Street, lots of good hawker-style eating along the street. Petaling Street, street shopping at its finest – though vendors do tend to try to rip-off foreigners so do be careful.

++ And now what’s next for Ferns? Already working on the third album?

Not yet actually – we’ll definitely be pushing Fairweather Friends for as far as we can. Definitely looking forward to opportunities to play outside of Malaysia, around the region – especially Indonesia which has a huge indiepop scene and the Philippines, which has a lot of great like-minded acts. We actually do already have new songs in the pipeline and performed live, so those might come out as singles or EPs soon. Check out a new song live here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnfraIzoh6k

We’re REALLY excited though, about the music video for our new single “Hey OK.” It’s our first proper music video, done by the talented trio of Fairuz Sulaiman, Sarah Ameera and Shieko (who also designed the album inlay). It’s a fully hand-animated affair, no stop-motion or any form of computer-aided animation. Check it out here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuUqLNZ_O-I

++ Thanks a lot again. You can promote now the new album. Where to buy it? 🙂

Fairweather Friends can be obtained via Bandcamp (ferns.bandcamp.com), iTunes, direct mailorder from us, selected webstores in UK (Pebble Records), Japan (Apple Crumble Records), selected record stores in Malaysia and Singapore. The full list of channels is here http://on.fb.me/u9yAGf

++ Anything else you’d like to add

“Keep on poppin’ in the free world?” Probably been used before, but seems appropriate 🙂

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Listen
Ferns – Miss Stormcloud

Thanks so much to Bernd Donner for the interview! I wrote about The Mirror Images some months ago and Bernd was kind enough to get in touch and clear my curiosity about his band. Enjoy!

++How are you doing? Still living in Essen?

Bernd is doing fine, but living in Recklinghausen, Jan lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and Marque is still living in Essen, but sadly not in Borbeck.

++ I’ve been to Essen a couple of times, so I’m wondering which are your favourite spots in town? What to visit? And if there’s a special dish in the region that I somehow forgot to try?

Madame Chocolat and Panic Room are good places for listening to live-music. The Rot-Weiss-Essen-Soccer-Stadium is the Sports-Olymp of Essen-Borbeck. If you tried Pommes-Currywurst, you tried everything.

++ What about Essen bands? I feel you are the only one I know, in the style I like. Would you recommend any other?

No.

++ So tell me about The Mirror Images! How did you know each other and what sparked you all to start a band?

We met back in 1983 in a youth club and started a band because there wasn´t another band in Essen to recommend.

++ Was The Mirror Images your first band ever? In what year did you form?

The Mirror Images were our first band. They were formed in 1983.

++ And where did the name The Mirror Images came from?

The Mirror Images were named after the song “Private Hell” by The Jam.

++ You already answered many of my questions and doubts on the comments section of my post about you. But I still wonder about some things, for example, what about your label? Who released your records?

The records were produced and released by ourselves in cooperation with Rough Trade.

++ And what about gigs? Did you play often? Which were your favourite gigs?

We played about 200 Gigs in front of 5 to 8000 People. Our favourite gig was in the “International Student Club” in Bern (Switzerland). The people went from traditional extreme phlegmatic to astonishing ecstatic in 45 minutes. So we got the double money and lots of beer, whiskey and chocolate-bars by the Organizer.

++ During those late 80s and early 90s there were many great jangly German guitar pop bands. Did you feel somehow part of a scene? Were there any bands of that period that you like?

We liked Marilyn’s Army, Stunde X and Family 5, just to name but a few.

++ And which bands would you say influenced your sound?

The Jam, The Who, Beatles, Beach Boys and Small Faces.

++ After splitting in 1993 you said you were together again in 97 and 2001. How come?

In 1997 we played our “Farewell-Gig” and in 2001 our “Revival Gig”. After that we didn’t have the time yet to play together.

++ I still have to listen to most of your songs, but it strikes me how good the song titles are. Seems you were very careful about it. Same as with the album titles and the meaning of some of the artwork. I feel there was a concept behind the band. Am I wrong? What was the intention?

You’re right we had an intention. We wanted to be more fresh, interesting, entertaining and inventive than the precocious and dusty rockists around us.

++ And so, which would you say are your favourite Mirror Images songs?

Like Nick Hornby taught us, we name here just a list of 5 titles:

1. Borbeck Riots
2. Once Again
3. Anyhow, It´s Now
4. The Distance
5. Why Do Only Kind People Die

++ What about unreleased songs? Are there any?

Yes, many. We made about 200 Songs in those years.

++ Also, I’m kind of curious, why write songs in English and not German? Any particular reason?

English is our musical native language.

++What would you say was the biggest highlight for The Mirror Images?

Touring through Germany in the late eighties and early nineties.

++ When and why did you decide to stop the band?

We didn’t really stop the band. We just didn’t have the time yet to play together any longer.

++ And what did you do after The Mirror Images called it a day? What other hobbies do you have?

We are doing our jobs and in our free time we are ambitious being idle.

++ One last question, would you do The Mirror Images all over again?

Never say never.

++ Thanks again a lot, anything else you’d like to add?

Not now.

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Listen
The Mirror Images – Eight Hands to Hold You

There was a time, back in 2002, when my world revolved around Spanish pop. We were young and foolish in a town that was neither Spanish or American. Half the day we spoke Spanish, the other English. We always tuned in the Spanish Pop  show on Sundays at 7pm at a Salsa radio station. We didn’t really care what the dj Kike Posada would play. He was awful. We just tuned in and called the station to request songs. Our little convenience store, a block away from the beach and Ocean Drive and the tourist flock, was almost empty by 7pm. Most people would leave the beach on Sundays around 6pm, thus from 6:30 to midnight (when our shift ended), we just restocked the refrigerators and the shelves. We had five hours to do that. It didn’t take us that much so we had time to be on hold on the phone trying to request some of our favourite Spanish Pop tunes. The show lasted a couple of hours. It was called Boom. And again, it was awful.

Jose, Chozzy for friends, and me, had been working at this convenience store for some time now. We were very young, like 17 or 18 when we started. We had hacked the audio system of the store and we had managed to connect a portable CD player to it. By far this store had the best music in Miami. Those days we played lots of Spanish Pop and more often than you could imagine people would recognize the songs and tell us stories about the days when they danced to them. Or when they went to see them back in their home countries. We shared the same memories. It was the music we listened on the radio back home when we were growing up. The 80s and the early 90s wasn’t c86 for us. It was the so called “Rock en español” were both rock and pop were bagged in the same tag.

We requested Los Nikis many times. The dj didn’t have a clue who they were. For me that was blasphemy. It was always like this: we requested a first song, he didn’t have it. We requested a second, he didn’t have it. We always felt bad with her secretary or the radio station operator, a girl with a Venezuelan accent, that by the third song request we would just stick to a song that had Alaska on it, most usually a Dinarama song. And then we would call again. And we’d request songs the stupid dj didn’t know. One could only wonder how he had any following in the city. It was always a mystery for us. He sucked and we deserved to have our own radio show. But we weren’t friends with Emilio or Gloria Estefan I suppose.

Our apartment was 10 blocks away from the convenience store and we were piling CD-Rs with bootlegs by Aviador Dro and rare tracks by Los Vegetales. We shared a big studio and payed 250 dollars each. We had for the first time in our life fast DSL internet and spent hours, days, researching and downloading Spanish Pop. And then we started buying what we could. It was hard and damn expensive. Since then I experienced the abominable postage prices the Spanish postal service charges. At some point I must have paid 100 dollars worth of postage on a single order. It was outrageous. Suddenly my drawers starting piling with t-shirts by Cola Jet Set, La Casa Azul, Fangoria and more. I was really into it.

I always thought it was going to be Spain the country I was to visit first in Europe. It didn’t turn out that way. For me it was obvious, I spoke the language, in high school I had read Cervantes, Quevedo and even Cela. I had watched every single movie by Alex de la Iglesia and watched la Liga religiously every weekend. I was a big fan of Raul, and Mendieta. And of course, the music I loved, and my favourite band, my beloved TCR, came from Spain. However I went first to Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland and England.

Next weekend I head to Madrid. It will be my first time in Spain and I’m thrilled. The first thing that comes to mind is that song by Flash Strato “Madrid in Tecnicolor” that was kind of a hit back in Lima in the 80s. It seems in Spain it wasn’t that popular, just a handful knows about it. But that’s how things work, as my grandma would often say, “Nadie es profeta en su tierra.” Translated to English it is “No one is a prophet in their own land.” The quotation is from Christ himself in Luke 4, 21-30. Perhaps there’s a similar saying in English, but you see my point. That happened a lot with Spanish bands, many of them made a splash in Mexico or Peru, but not in their home country.

It was one of those dead afternoons at the convenience store that I would rediscover this gem. Carlos who worked at a garage a block away came with a couple of CDs for me to play at the store. They were Spanish pop, songs he would play back in Peru. He had been djing in Lima for a couple of years before leaving to the US. He was a bit older than me and remembered much better the 80s and the songs that were played during that time. He lend me his CDs, just for that afternoon. One of the songs was “Madrid in Tecnicolor”. Suddenly I had flashes, the song was very familiar and I even recalled the lyrics. It took me back to evenings stuck in the lazy traffic of Lima’s tight side streets. The cab driver reading his football daily paper with a half-naked woman on the cover waiting for the light to turn green. And the cassette radio, brand-less and black, playing some of these Spanish gems on the background.

I still don’t know where the name Flash Strato came from. Perhaps it has no meaning. The band was formed in 1980s by four chaps, Emilio Huertas (guitars), Enrique Bastante (vocals and guitars), Victor Martín (bass) and Toti Árboles (drums). They lasted only 3 years, saying farewell in 1983 with just two releases on their hands.

The first release was the “Cristales Molidos” single on Carnaby Records. This record also included “Fue tu Culpa” and “Búscame”. It was released in 1982 and it seems no one picked it up. It’s a shame, I love “Cristales Molidos”. It has some great jangly and upbeat guitars. But who knows, perhaps these days their records are sought after and pretty expensive. I don’t know. Would love to have a copy, but as said before, I already decided not to buy online from Spanish record stores. The postage prices are not right. But I will surely keep an eye for their records now that I visit Madrid.

The second release was “Madrid in Tecnicolor” (1983), a maxi-single, on Columbia. This is their ‘song’ and could have been an anthem of that era. Great melodies, power-pop melodies, jangly guitars and a fun and bouncy keyboard at the chorus. A very catchy song that for some reason not many cared for it in Spain when it was released. That’s why it is amazing to see the amount of Peruvians commenting on Youtube about this song. It’s hard to believe.

The band split just after releasing this record. Toti would join Alaska y los Pegamoides and Enrique, Seres Vacíos. It didn’t matter if they had good songs and two very strong releases. It didn’t matter if they had played gigs along Alaska y Dinarama, Paralisis Permanent or Gabinete Caligari, three big names of the Spanish Pop Golden Era. They were destined to be forgotten. But far away from the Iberian peninsula, in foggy and grey Lima, we pictured Madrid as a fun place, a place painted in technicolor, were no one could stop partying.

Many years later I will experience Madrid in Technicolor, were the parties go on past midnight until the next morning. I can’t wait. I’ll see you there next week.

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Listen
Flash Strato – Madrid en Tecnicolor

Now I can say that I’m up to date with Cloudberry after several trips to the post office this week. Cassolette 7″ is being pressed and the artwork for The Time Capsules CD is ready. This  long weekend (Monday is a holiday, President’s Day) The Deddingtons and the Tiny Fireflies/Lily of the Valley CDs artwork should be ready. I can leave to Spain without worries.

I do feel I haven’t taken care of the blog as much as I would have like to. There are plenty of comments I haven’t answered. Some bands have gotten in touch and I haven’t replied back. Shame on me. I haven’t conducted any interviews in the past two months. And that’s something that is unacceptable I think. But I’ll make up for it. I also would love to retake the indiepop book project, compiling this blog on in and paper. That’d be something. It wasn’t long ago that I met with my archaelogist (and Brighter fan) friend Brian in a bar in the Lower East side and he was quite inquisitive about this project. I do believe there will be some interest in it. I can see the point that my blog, as it’s articles are quite long, is more suitable to a print format than digital format I already use.

There is a very nice news coming from Japan. It seems there will be a Japanese edition for the Feverfew release, limited to just 125 copies. It will have an OBI strip and also the liner notes in Japanese. I seems it will also include the interview to Paul and Phil that appeared in the blog translated to Japanese and hopefully the lyrics to all the songs. I will try to get some copies of them, but can’t really promise much. I’ll keep you all updated.

For the past three months in NYC I’ve been attending to Mondo, the indie dance party that Maz from NY Popfest organizes. I’ve been very impressed on how packed his nights are. Yesterday was no exception even though the night moved to Manhattan for a one-off at Le Poisson Rouge. It usually happens in hipster-infested Williamsburg, at Cameo, a venue I really like. It was an odd night yesterday as there was some sort of hip-hop event at the top floor of the Poisson Rouge. It was said that Spike Lee and Vin Diesel were around. There was some character too called Grandmaster Flash that Maz was very excited about. He told me he was the grandfather of hip hop. Mind you, I don’t know nothing about hip hop. I really dislike that music. But anyhow, this Grandmaster guy told Maz that Mondo was a great party. And I can only agree with him. It is a great party. And I hope it keeps happening for years to come.

There are three DJs at the club and without hurting any susceptibilities, I hope, my favourite is Maz. He plays lots of indiepop staples and yesterday was no exception. We all danced to  Another Sunny Day “You Should All Be Murdered”, The Clean’s “Tally Ho” and The Pastels’ “Truck Train Tractor” among other tunes by Josef K, Summer Cats, Help Stamp Out Loneliness, Acid House Kings and Orange Juice. He has great taste. I know that for a fact, I mean, he has been booking fantastic bands to NYC Popfest the past 4 years! If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have been able to see Go Sailor, Days, Caucus, Gold-Bears and many others. I’m very grateful for that. And I’m sure this 2012 edition won’t be an exception, it will be thrilling again. I have already heard some “rumours” of bands playing this year and I can only tell it’s very promising.

Then there’s Miss Modular who, I learned yesterday, is originally from Miami. Just like Cloudberry Records. She mostly plays girl bands from 50s, 60s. I’m not much into that stuff, but now and then I can enjoy some Shangri-Las. It depends on my mood. This is the time when I like buying a new lager and talking with friends that are around. Yesterday it was catching up with Mark Olivan, who I met last year at NYC Popfest. He was the one who recorded on video most of the band’s performances during the festival, if not all! Great guy, and always very well dressed. At some point we were interrupted by some girls that were looking for boys clearly. One of them asked me about my Madrid Popfest t-shirt. Then she asked where was my accent from and what I was doing there. Then she was just “American” and said she couldn’t understand my accent. Funny. I guess I missed out her loving skills. It’s ok, I wasn’t interested!

And the third DJ is Kevington who I believe caters to the bigger crowd. This is the time where “This Charming Man”, “Boys Don’t Cry” and *that* song by Le Tigre get played. Usually this is also the time when most people get excited and dance. Not me. But that’s ok. I understand how a club runs and you need the mainstream songs. You need people to keep coming, and they do keep coming. It’s a compromise. So that works out perfectly. It’s fine with me. I do need to rest, I’m not that 18 year old anymore and can’t be bouncing to Altered Images all night long! No complains here, Mondo sells itself as an indie-dance party, not an indiepop party. So fine by me. I know what to expect and I don’t feel tricked when The Go Team is resonating through the speakers.

I haven’t timed the DJs but I think they change every hour and the party starts quite late, around 10 or 11. Im usually exhausted by 2am mind you, but I think it goes on until 3 or 4? Not sure. Anyhow, they make me happy. Listening once a month “C is the Heavenly Option” that loud is good enough for me. And if not, I can count them to play “Crush the Flowers”. They do play it every month. I think it’s Mondo’s anthem somehow.

Today, after 6 hour sleep and four pints of Hoegaarden, I woke up fine. Went to the post office and dispatched the last batch of orders. Went to the Manhattan and tried Burmese food for the first time. I tried Mohinga, which is rice noodles in fish soup. It was heavenly. Got me warm immediately even though it was not that cold today, just 6 degrees Celsius. It was spicy and very flavourful. Upon coming home the first record I picked for today was Truck Train Tractor’s “Starforce (USA)” 7″. I guess I was inspired by yesterday’s, or should I say today in the early hours, dancing to the Pastels song. But sure, this is not The Pastels track. I don’t have on vinyl the Pastels track. This is a totally different band, completely different, from far away. From Adelaide, Australia. Not from Glasgow. But for some reason back in the early nineties they decided to name their band after The Pastels. And suddenly I became very curious and asked myself: why?

The gold and yellow 7″ could well be an Ikea or a Best Buy ad. But it’s a Summershine release. Catalog number 032. Summershine, the Australian Sarah. A label that released fabulous bands like Tender Engines or The Rainyard. And they released Truck Train Tractor in 1993. The A side includes just one track, “Starforce (USA)” and it spins at 45rpm. The B side spins at 33rpm and has two songs “Away” and “Starting at the End Again”. From the three, the last one is the one I like the most. It’s fast, it’s punchy and the guitars sound like The Pastels!

The band was formed by Brett on guitar, Karl on vocals and guitars, Marty on vocals and drums, and Tim on bass and vocals. The cover art of the record was done by Gerry Wedd, who I believe is a surfer and also a ceramist and a potter. Looking around online it seems some of the band members went into bands like Terrance Dicks and Hermetic Music. But there’s not much information on them or what are they up to these days. The songs were recorded at ABC studio 521 (the couch potato set) in Adelaide, on the spring of 92. It was recorded without the use of any digital technology whatsoever.

And then there is. The biggest mystery. They thank Stephen Pastel on the record. So yes, this confirms that they took the name from The Pastels (I know i was obvious, but as a journalist you have to be 100% sure!). But how were they in touch? Old school letters? Or maybe Stephen had been in Adelaide? Or perhaps the TTT guys had been on vacations in Glasgow pre-Monorail times. Who knows. They were big fans. And that’s what matters. And I like Truck Train Tractor as a band name. What other Pastels song could be a good band name? Holy Moly?

And that’s all there is about this elusive band. I wonder if there’s any more songs by them. It seems this was their only release. Im sure they recorded more songs. I have a hunch that they did. What are they doing these days? Still making music? Would love to know more about Truck Train Tractor. If you know anything else, please share!

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Listen
Truck Train Tractor – Stating at the End Again

It’s being quite a long time. Two months? Something like that. Hope I was missed. I did post some interviews during the past weeks. Happily some bands remembered to send me their answers. Still there are plenty that haven’t. But that’s ok. Now I’m finally settled in New York. All my stuff is here. Last Monday the moving truck finally arrived and none of my records seem broken. That’s an achievement, isn’t it? I did pack them well mind you, I feel five years sending records overseas have taught me a thing or two. I’m the master of bubble wrap.

My computers are back too. And all the Cloudberry stock. There were plenty of orders that were delayed for this reason. All of them have been shipped or will be shipped this Monday. I appreciate the patience of everyone. From now on things will run smoothly as they used to be. I’ve finished unpacking everything. I do need new shelves, new racks, new furniture. But the “factory” is up and running again. I’ve supplied it with different size mailers, padding cartons, custom forms, etc. Blank CDs, paper, ink, you name it.

Cloudberry is excited as ever! There are many releases coming up. You sure know about the Cassolette and Nixon 7″s. Sure they were delayed due to me moving. It sucks a bit, I wished they were ready by now. That was the plan though, to have Cassolette ready by February. But logistics impeded me so. For once, I didn’t have an address until early January. So where would the pressing plant send the records?! Anyhow, bands have been understanding, I hope you two. So what’s going to happen is this: Cassolette 7″ is going to the pressing plant this Monday. Hopefully by late March it will be ready. Sounds good?

The Nixon 7″: It’s been mixed at the moment by Patrik Lindgren, and soon we’ll have some news. But it’s happening. And after that release there are a couple 7″s lined up. Can’t spill the beans yet! But do keep an eye on the Cloudberry page. Or the Facebook page? Both if you want to play it safe.

This weekend I’ve set myself to finish the first draft of the second Cloudberry Cake release, The Deddingtons. It already sounds great. Now it’s just a matter to make it look great. And it will be. Hopefully this fabulous album can go to the pressing plant by the end of February. I’ll keep you updated. And what about the Feverfew release?! There are just some pins lefts and the record is selling away FAST. So get your copy as soon as possible. I hate answering emails saying a record is “sold out”. Wish I could press infinite copies sometimes. But sometimes, you end up with a whole lot of stock sitting there too. And to move that from city to city, or wait, state to state, believe me, records are damn heavy. It is expensive to move a record collection.

But the weekend doesn’t end up there. There’s more to do. Much more. The past weekends I had been very busy, had my mum in town and it meant hopscotching all the way to the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the Met and other landmarks in the Big Apple. One by one, from dawn to dusk. Actually, much later than dusk. This weekend I’m working in the new Cloudberry Classic. It’s a Japanese band for a change. It’s the fabulous Time Capsules! I interviewed them not so long ago, and you can check there my favorite song of theirs, a beautiful mix of Jim Jiminee, Pale Fountains and Jazz Butcher.

And then I’m bringing back to live the split 3″CD series with Tiny Fireflies and My Lily of the Valley from Japan!

Around the corner we have Madrid Popfest too. We are heading there. Very excited! And I’ll get to DJ one of the nights. It’s very exciting. I should start preparing the arsenal of indiepop hits!

Probably I’m forgetting more Cloudberry news and treats, but I’ll come back next week as I used to and keep you updating. Perhaps I can tell you about some of the gigs I’ve attended here so far? or the record store findings? or go back to memory lane? feels good to be back to this quaint blog!

Sunset or sundown is the daily disappearance of the Sun below the horizon in the west as a result of Earth’s rotation. The time of sunset is defined in astronomy as the moment when the trailing edge of the Sun’s disk disappears below the horizon in the west. The ray path of light from the setting Sun is highly distorted near the horizon because of atmospheric refraction, making the sunset appear to occur when the Sun’s disk is already about one diameter below the horizon. Sunset is distinct from dusk, which is the moment at which darkness falls, which occurs when the Sun is approximately eighteen degrees below the horizon. The period between sunset and dusk is called twilight. Locations north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Antarctic Circle experience no sunset or sunrise at least one day of the year, when the polar day or the polar night persist continuously for 24 hours. Sunset creates unique atmospheric conditions such as the often intense orange and red colors of the Sun and the surrounding sky.

One of the things that one could say I will miss from Florida are sunsets. I don’t. I don’t miss the heat. And I don’t mind the cold weather. It hasn’t been that cold anyways. But sunsets, I don’t know, I was never impressed by them. I remember back in Lima, lovers at 6pm bathed on golden glow., holding hands at the seafront, on top of the cliffs that face the Pacific ocean. The ice cream bicycle carts doing their last rounds before everything went dark. Kisses and fondling at the seafront. Sunsets. The sun hiding slowly in the murky and fish-abundant waters of Lima. Orange, bright orange, as orange cake mix.

I picked up today from my record boxes this 7″ by Watercolor Sunset. It was the first time I paid attention to it. I only got it some days ago as it was one of the few I was missing from the Sunday Records catalog.

Watercolor, also aquarelle from French, is a painting method. A watercolor is the medium or the resulting artwork in which the paints are made of pigments suspended in a water-soluble vehicle. The traditional and most common support for watercolor paintings is paper; other supports include papyrus, bark papers, plastics, vellum or leather, fabric, wood, and canvas. Watercolors are usually transparent, and appear luminous because the pigments are laid down in a relatively pure form with few fillers obscuring the pigment colors. Watercolor can also be made opaque by adding Chinese white. In East Asia, watercolor painting with inks is referred to as brush painting or scroll painting. In Chinese, Korean, and Japanese painting it has been the dominant medium, often in monochrome black or browns. India, Ethiopia and other countries also have long traditions. Fingerpainting with watercolor paints originated in China.

I was terrible with watercolors. In high school and in college, I had such a hard time with them. I was never good with brushes and paint. I did enjoy the watercolor Caran D’ache pencils I had. That big tin box with hundreds of them. I didn’t mix them with water though. I would have made a mess, I know it. I stuck to painting as if they were pencils, I never took the advantage of their watercolor skills. It was dangerous, I could have stained my clothes, or someone else’s clothes. These days I stick to Photoshop. How convenient, how safe. Anyhow, I wouldn’t have been able to top Monet’s “Sunset at the Cliff in Etretat”.

So, did Jim Rao and Joe Maddalena had any painting skills? They did for music for sure. And perhaps they did long for sunsets in Connecticut. Days must be bleak there. It was 1994 when they joined forces to release their one and only 7″ under this name. It was on the fab Sunday Records, catalog number 033. Two songs, one on each side. Side A is “International Pop Star” and Side B is “The Mirror Tells a Joke”. Both pretty similar I’d say. Jangly and sad. Perfect for the winter, not for summer sunsets.

But Jim and Joe were pretty well known back in the mid-nineties and I’m sure many remember them fondly. Jim was of course Orange Cake Mix, a staple of American indiepop. Joe was in Monsterland and Names for Pebbles (their Motorway 7″ is a true favorite of mine!). I wonder how they met, how did they know each other. Whereas Monsterland would play many gigs, I doubt Orange Cake Mix played many. I wasn’t around at that time here in the North East, but something tells me it was like that. Or maybe Watercolor Sunset was before Orange Cake Mix and Monsterland? Where’s that indiepop indiepop family tree?

They had a third song, on the “The Amazing Phantom Third Channel” compilation 7″ released on Cher Doll (catalog 004), called “Hollywood Decay”. Never heard it. Would love to get my hands on that record. Doesn’t seem easy to track. Well, I haven’t tried yet. I will. But as Neutral Milk Hotel is in that record I feel it will be a wasted endeavor.  I need to clear my eBay saved searches to start. We’ll see.

In 2000 Sunday Records released a CD compilation called “Rolling Meadows Songs About Our Past Vol 2″ (which I don’t have; though I do happen to have two copies of Vol 1, go figure) and on that CD the A side of the 7”, “International Pop Star” was included. So enjoy this little and nice song, their B side, “The Mirror Tells a Joke”.

Where are Jim and Joe these days? Still making music? Did they record more songs under Watercolor Paintings? Did they play gigs? I feel akin to the Northeast area of the US since I moved. I’m very curious of what was happening around back in the day. For further reading I found this small piece on Connecticut’s bedroom pop scene.

Be back next week.

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Listen
Watercolor Sunset – The Mirror Tells a Joke

Thanks much to Andrew Withycombe for the interview! (and Bart Cummings for getting me in touch with Andrew!) Hydroplane was a fantastic band from the 90s. It consisted of the same members of The Cat’s Miaow and they were around the same time. They sounded different and did continue making music after The Cat’s Miaow’s demise. They had releases in great labels as Wurlitzer Jukebox and Elefant and well, it’s time to remember them. Enjoy!

++ Hi! How are things in Melbourne? Any exciting plans for summer?

Melbourne’s good. No big plans for the summer – mostly household chores, gardening and wrangling children.

++ It’s been 10 years since the last release of Hydroplane. What have you been up to since then? Will there be more Hydroplane songs some day?

I guess the rest of our lives got in the way – family, study, career, etc. I’ve played in other bands during that time. Huon and Driving Past, two other bands I’ve played with over the years, have released albums in the last couple of years. Hydroplane has a couple of unreleased songs coming out on a label called Fox Pop in the USA sometime soon. However, there are no plans to do any more recording with Hydroplane.

++ So the first question I ask myself is, why start a new band if you all were already in The Cat’s Miaow? What was the idea behind this band? Because there was an idea, right?

I’m not sure. I think psychologically it felt right at the time. It’s hard to explain really. Both bands were the same people. Musically either band could have played most of the songs. However, the writing and recording process for Hydroplane was a bit different.

Hydroplane was originally supposed to only release one record, which was a collage of song snippets and sound pieces. I think I felt there were enough ideas in that record to expand into an album. Drive-In Records, who put out the single, were into doing an album, so we did. I guess by doing that, I may have inadvertently broke-up the Cat’s Miaow. In hindsight, I think stopping then gave the Cat’s Miaow an evergreen quality, which I don’t think we would have maintained had we kept going. Also, it enabled us to neatly package nearly everything the Cat’s Miaow recorded on two CDs!

++ And why the name Hydroplane?

Hydroplane was one of the names Dean Wareham, from Galaxie 500, considered calling Luna before he settled on Luna. Seeing he wasn’t going to use it, we thought that we might as well.

++ Back then what’s your favourite place to hang out in Melbourne? And were there any other bands in town that you enjoyed?

I’ve seen so many bands over the years, and in so many venues, it’s hard to say. I think back then we were hanging out a lot at the Empress and the Rob Roy – two pubs in Fitzroy, and the Tote – in Collingwood, which are in inner city Melbourne. I can’t remember who was doing it for me. I know I used to see the Steinbecks, Sleepy Township and Long Weekend a lot. And I really liked Seaworthy, from Sydney.

++ How different was the recording process of Hydroplane compared to The Cat’s Miaow? And what about the creative process?

The Cat’s Miaow mostly followed the standard process of writing, learning and recording. Whereas, a lot of Hydroplane songs started as loops or drones, which were used to create a groove and inspire a melody and so on. I’d been doing stuff with tape loops and samplers since the late 1980s, when I got my first 4 track recorder. We did do a bit of looping with the Cat’s Miaow. However, I think hearing the first DJ Shadow album gave us the necessary inspiration to carry on.

++ And this is just my curiosity, how many instruments can you play? And how many do you own?

Not many and not very well. I have a couple of electric guitars, a synth, a couple of toy keyboards and numerous gadgets. I did have more but have either lost them, sold them or given them away.

++ During the time as Hydroplane, both Wurlitzer Jukebox and Drive-In, labels that helped and supported The Cat’s Miaow, were releasing your records. I’ve already asked Bart about the relationship with them and The Cat’s Miaow, but I’d love to hear your take on it Andrew. How important and how helpful was the relationship with these labels?

I can’t speak highly enough of those labels. Keith from Wurlitzer Jukebox and Mike and Jamie from Drive-In are the nicest people you could meet – great to hang out with, creative, supportive and a little crazy. Crazy I mean in a good way. For example, when Keith suggested doing a split flexi with Stereolab we thought he was crazy, but it showed how genuinely he felt about us and what we were doing. Mike was the same, always ready to try something new. Hydroplane would not have existed without Mike. The original idea for Hydroplane came out of a conversation I had with Mike late one night while we were watching a film about the Ventures, a surf instrumental band from the USA, from the 1960s, on tour in Japan. The photo on the first Hydroplane single is an image taken from that film – it’s supposed to be the mysterious “Hydroplane”. Ultimately, if the Cat’s Miaow, et al ever had a profile, it’s mostly because of those guys. However, I should also mention Clint Barnes from 4 Letter Words, and Tim Adams from Ajax Records – Tim used to sell our cassettes back before we started releasing records.

++ And another question where I’d love to know your opinion is, why the hell didn’t Australian labels pick you up?

We never really tried to do anything with an Australian label. Our business model wasn’t really suited to what was going on here at the time – we rarely played, we recorded at home, were ‘Lo-Fi’, etc. Anyway, we were internationalists. We were inspired by the K Records International Pop Underground.

++ And it’s not like you were very obscure or anything, you were once in the Festive 50 of John Peel no less! So I find it odd. But yeah, how was that? Being in the Festive 50? How did you find out you were featured? And what was your reaction?

I think it was either Keith from Wurlitzer Jukebox or Mike from Drive-In who told us that we were in the festive 50. At the time John Peel was featuring a lot of stuff that Wurlitzer Jukebox was releasing. However, I don’t think being in John Peel’s festive 50 made us any more popular or transformed into more sales. It was exciting and did seem prestigious, but I think it was only something that really mattered to a few die hard indie music followers. The festive 50 has probably taken on legend status, particularly since John Peel died. So it probably makes us seem bigger than we actually were. Nonetheless, it’s definitely a highlight probably only matched by the Cat’s Miaow’s first Drive-In single going top ten in Rolling Stone magazine’s alternate chart back in the early nineties.

++ Was that your biggest highlight? What other highlights would you say happened during the run with Hydroplane?

As far as media recognition, and getting a bit of air play on BBC Radio One, the festive 50 was a big highlight. But as much as it sounds a bit clichéd, I think just being able to keep putting out records for as long as we did was a highlight, as well as getting to know some really great people.

++ And did you play any gigs at all?

We played a few parties. Playing live was never a priority; but it was nice to occasionally play for friends. For example, when Keith Jenkins came to Australia, he requested we play. I hired a room at The Tote in Collingwood and organised a show. Hydroplane played, off course; Huon played its first show; and I think from memory Upstairs was the other band.

++ You released two 7″s on three labels I know nothing at all. So I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about them and how did you end up releasing with them, “Liquefaction Empire”, “Bad Jazz” and “Little Prints”?

Liquefaction Empire and Bad Jazz were labels based in the UK. They were run by two brothers. They were big fans of Wurlitzer Jukebox. I think that’s how we came to work with them. Bad Jazz also did some co-releases with Drive-In. The second Hydroplane album came out on CD in the USA on Drive-In and LP on Bad Jazz in the UK. Little Prints was an off shoot of Drive-In. It might have been like a 7 inch singles club or something. I think it only released one or two singles.

++ And what about the release on Elefant? They are quite a big label these days and I believe in the late 90s they were already making themselves a name. How was that experience? Ever been to Spain by the way?

Elefant was great to work with – very professional. I think that release was part of a seven inch singles club as well. I don’t know how we came to do that single – possibly because of the “success” of the single with Wurlitzer Jukebox.

++ You wanted to release just one 7″ when you started. But then you released many records. How come did the band evolve to be so prolific?

At the time we lived and breathed music – apart from going to work, our lives seemed to basically revolve around just seeing bands, playing in bands and recording and releasing records. So if it wasn’t Hydroplane, it would’ve been another band.

++ Many singles, and three albums. Do you have a favourite song of yours?

Nothing in particular – maybe ‘Stars’ from the second album or ‘Song for the Meek’ from the first album.

++ You have songs called “International Exiles” and “We Crossed The Atlantic”. It seems there’s a longing to be abroad, am I wrong? What are the countries that you’ve liked the most? And have any of them inspired you for making songs?

No, no really longing to be abroad. To be honest, a lot of Hydroplane songs are about being in Australia. Nonetheless, some songs are about overseas. The songs that do mention overseas locations are usually about us being there. For example Bart wrote “Wurlitzer Jukebox” after we were in the UK. We were visiting Keith from Wurlitzer Jukebox during some un-seasonally cold weather. There was a lot of snow and we literally froze. “We crossed the Atlantic” is a cover. It was originally recorded in the 1960s by an Australian singer songwriter called Pip Proud. I liked the song, so we covered it. “International Exiles” is about the Cat’s Miaow. Basically, it’s a celebration of our international success!

++ And the title for that album of yours, “Hope Against Hope”, it always made me think what did you mean by it. Care to unveil that mystery for me? 🙂

Bart titled that album, you’ll have to ask him.

++ What about covers? You made a couple? Even one from The Cat’s Miaow! If I ask you today, what cover would you like to do that you never got around doing?

We did record a few covers. I don’t think there where any songs that we wanted to cover that we never got around to recording. We didn’t keep a list of songs we wanted to record – choosing them tended to be more organic.

++ And what about the artwork for your releases? Where do all those great photographs came from?

Some we borrowed. Steve Crushworthy, who did the design for the second album, as well as some of the Cat’s Miaow sleeves, took some. And the rest, we took ourselves.

++ On the Munch video compilation you contributed with a video for “Completed Extract From The Previous 7″”…

I’d forgotten about that video. I think it’s footage of us playing at a party in Dave Harris’s backyard. Dave was the guy behind the Munch video compilations.

++ So when and why did you decide to stop? What did you do after?

I don’t think there ever was a conscious decision to just stop. It was just a case of other interests and commitments taking a higher priority and making it harder to write and to get together. Moreover, geographically we started to spread out a bit. Although, I guess if we decided to get back together, we could do it via a wiki or email or something, on our tablet computers.

++ And aside music, what other hobbies or interests do you have?

I have two children who seem to take up a lot of my spare time. Other interests include gardening, tending poultry, home maintenance, and home brewing – mostly beer, occasionally ginger beer.

++ Thanks so much Andrew, I do have one last question. What about flying in a hydroplane? Ever been on one? 😉

Unfortunately, no.

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Listen
Hydroplane – New Monotonic FM

Thanks so much to Koushi Ono for the interview! The Time Capsules were active during the 90s and these dayes Koushi goes under the name Alvysinger. This is great pop in the vain of Pale Fountains, Jim Jiminee or The Jazz Butcher. Well worth the listen. Please enjoy!

++ Hi Ono-san! First of all thanks so much for being up for this interview. I know these days you are in Alvysinger but many years ago you had a wonderful band called The Time Capsules. What would you say are the main differences between them?

小野さん、こんにちは！まず今回のインタビューを引き受けてくださり本当にありがとう。最近あなたはAlvysingerとして活動していますが、数年前The Time Capsulesという素晴らしいバンドを組んでいましたよね？大きな違いは何か説明してくれますか？

First, I would like to express my thanks for your taking interest in a kind of obscure band The Time Capsules. I am now pursuing my music career as “Alvysinger.” Although the name is changed, the spirit is just the same as The Time Capsules. It is true that the taste may be more personal because “Alvysinger” is my own solo project.

まずは、誰にも知られていないタイムカプセルズに興味を持ってくれてありがとう。僕は今、アルヴィシンガーとして音楽活動をしている。アルヴィシンガーはタイムカプセルズから名前を変えただけでスピリットは変わっていない。ただ、今は僕一人のプロジェクトになってしまったので、以前よりも個人的な内容になっているかもしれないね。

++ So let’s go back in time, to the 90s, that’s when The Time Capsules start, right? How did the band start? Who were the members and how did you know each other?

では90年代を振り返りますが、The Time Capsulesが結成されたのはその頃ですよね？どのようにバンドの活動がスタートしたのでしょうか？メンバーにはどんな人がいたのですか？どのように知り合ったのでしょうか？

The founding members were Koushi Ono (guitar, vocal) and Takehiro Uemura (guitar, synthesizer). In the summer of 1996, the band started with those members, college students at that time. We had been classmates at high school. We had entered different universities, but we had great time talking about Johnny Dee when we met again during the summer vacation. We had found ourselves being good friends and respecting each other. Then, we realized our tastes for indie music totally fit together. So, don’t you think it is good time to start the band?

バンド創立メンバーは、小野剛志（ギター、ヴォーカル）と植村岳浩（ギター、シンセサイザー）。１９９６年の夏に、当時大学生だった小野と植村の二人で結成した。僕らは高校の同級生だった。別々の大学に進学したが、夏休みに再会した時に日本の偉大なネオアコバンド「ジョニーディ」の話で盛り上がったんだ。僕らはとても仲が良くて相手をとても買っていた。親友とマイナーな音楽の趣味までぴったりあったんだからこれはもうバンドやるしかないだろ？

++ And what about the name? Where does it comes from?

バンド名について聞きたいのですが、バンド名の由来は？

We didn’t care about the music scene. We just wanted to record good music. The band was named after our hope that somebody might dig it up and listen to it somewhere and someday. Let’s put this moment in the time capsule! That was how we were feeling when we named the band. When we grew up, however, it sounded a bit too young and green, so we didn’t like it any more. That’s why I changed the name to “Alvysinger.”

僕らは音楽シーンなんてどうでも良かった。ただ良い音楽を録音しておきたかったんだ。いつか、どこかで、誰かが掘り起こして聴けるように、今この瞬間をタイムカプセルに閉じ込めよう、そんな気持ちで名前を付けた。大人になったら、それが少々青臭すぎて、それで嫌になってアルヴィシンガーへと改名したんだけどね。

++ And by the way, if you were able to travel in time, in a time capsule, when and where in time would you go?

ところで、もしあなたがタイムカプセルで時間旅行をできるなら、いつどの時点に行きたいですか？

I would like to fly back to the time when we formed The Time Capsules. It was totally a fun. We learned how to create music together, dreaming of a bright future. That was how we were. If we had been more ambitious, we would be successful. If I could go back to those days, I would spank them and make them work harder. J

結成当時に飛んでいきたいね。それはもう楽しかったからね。作曲について二人で勉強して、輝かしい将来を夢みていた、そんな時代さ。僕らがもう少し上昇志向があったら成功したかもしれないね。もしもそのころに戻れたら二人のケツをひっぱたいてもう少し努力させるさ（笑）

++ On your Alvysinger myspace you wrote: “we were too young to overcome various temptation, video game, mystery, horse racing, and we had been crazy about idle talk in those days”. So which were those temptations? What video games did you love? Did you ever win at horse racing? And what’s idle talk?!

アルヴィシンガーのマイスペースではこう書いていますね。「僕らは若すぎて様々な誘惑に克てなかった。テレビゲームやミステリー小説、競馬…そして当時はくだらない話題でおしゃべりするのに夢中だった」と。このうちどの誘惑に負けたんですか？好きなテレビゲームは何でしたか？競馬で勝ったことはありますか？くだらない話題とはどんなことですか？

This is exactly the reason why we didn’t make it. We lived far away (about 800 miles) from each other, so we only worked together during long vacations. Of course, we worked separately sometimes, and sent demo tapes to each other, but basically we were lazy and crazy about pleasurable pastimes. My favorite video games? I was fond of playing anything: Nintendo, PlayStation… whatever. I would buy any newly released game. Especially, I was crazy about Biohazard (Resident Evil), Dragon Quest, and Derby Stallion, for example. I loved detective stories, read lots of manga, and watched many movies. Every weekend, I went to horse racing. I only picked a long shot, so I didn’t win every week, but when I won, it was a jackpot. Like this, I spent my undergraduate days just hanging around. I was a typical Japanese college student. And what’s idle talk? It was literally idle talk, which is empty and produces nothing.

まさにこれが成功しなかった理由さ。僕たちはとても離れた場所に住んでいて（およそ800キロ）長い休暇の時しか二人で活動できなかったんだ。もちろんそれぞれがデモを作って送りあったりもしたけど、二人とも基本的に怠け者でさ。楽しい遊びに夢中になっていたんだ。ビデオゲームなんて当時はなんでも好きだったね。任天堂もPSもなんでも。新しいソフトが出れば買っていたし、バイオハザードやドラゴンクエスト、ダービースタリオンなんかに夢中だったよ。ミステリー小説も大好きだったし、漫画も映画もたくさん見たね。週末は競馬三昧。僕は大穴しか買わないんだ。だから毎週当たるわけではないけど当たったらでかかったね。当時はこのようにほとんど時間を遊んですごしたんだ。健全な日本の大学生さ。アイドルトーク？そのとおり無駄話の事だよ。

++ On the Time Capsules’ recordings I can notice the influence of many great guitar pop bands like The Pale Fountains or The Jazz Butcher. What were your favourite bands? Any Japanese bands that you love and would like to recommend?

タイムカプセルズの音源では、ペイルファウンテインズやジャズブッチャーといった多くの素晴らしいギターポップバンドの影響を感じます。好きなグループは何ですか？日本のバンドでおすすめはありますか？

Yes! Let’s get down to business.J At the beginning of our project for The Time Capsules, I didn’t know The Pale Fountains or The Jazz Butcher. I wanted to produce “evergreen” songs like Burt Bacharach or the Beach Boys. I just created music as I wanted and sang as I liked. As I listen to it now, I agree that it surely sounds like The Pale Fountains or The Jazz Butcher. I love their music and I admit that I was influenced by them, but it is not that we tried to become like them. My favorite guitar bands are: The Pale Fountains, The Trash Can Sinatras, The Wind (Tan Sleeve), The Hang Ups, North of Cornwallis. My favorite Japanese bands are: Johnny Dee, SUGAR BABE, Fishmans, Uchoten, Original Love. Among the Japanese bands these days I like Petrolz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiNL-uzJbdk) and Kimyo Reitaro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO0-z36FrNI&feature=related ). I should mention my favorite musicians: Burt Bacharach, Alzo, Lane Stainburg, Tsuyoshi Shimoda, Kiyoshiro Imawano. I don’t listen to guitar bands very often. I like to listen to songs produced around the year of 1976 when I was born, for example, AOR, soul music and acoustic swing.

イエス、そろそろ音楽の話をしようか（笑）タイムカプセルズの初期にはペイルファウンテインズもジャズブッチャーも知らなかった。僕らはエヴァーグリーンな曲を作りたかった。バートバカラックやビーチボーイズのように。思うように曲を作り、好きなように歌って後で聞いてみたら、なるほどペイルファウンテインズやジャズブッチャーに似ているね。それらは大好きだけで影響も受けたけど、彼らになろうとしたわけではないよ。好きなギターバンドは、The Pale Fountains、The Trash Can Sinatras、The Wind (Tan Sleeve)、The Hang Ups、North of Cornwallisなど。最近気に入っている日本のバンドはPetrolzと奇妙礼太郎。最近あまりギターバンドは聴いてないな。生まれ年の１９７６付近に制作されたものを好んで聞いている。ＡＯＲとかソウル、アコースティックスィングなんかをね。

++ So did The Time Capsules get to release anything? I heard there was a cassette release?

タイムカプセルズで何かリリースした曲がありますか？カセットリリースがあると聞きましたが。

Only “All for Our Tears,” which we released as cassette tapes for ourselves in 2000. We had no choice because we didn’t get any offer.

2000年にセルフでカセットリリースした”all for our tears”だけだよ。どこからも声がかからなかったからね

++ How many songs did The Time Capsules record? Care to list them for me?

タイムカプセルズでは何曲ぐらい録音したのですか？リストにしていただいてもよろしいですか？

We didn’t record so many complete songs. We included all songs we want you to listen to in “Touch.” As for other songs, we should keep them between Uemura and me.

そんなにたくさんの完成曲は無いよ。みんなに聞かせたい曲は全て”タッチ”に収録した。残りの曲やスケッチは俺と植村の心の中にしまっておくよ。

++ I would say that my favorite song of yours is “Small Trick You Boy”, it’s fantastic! Care telling me the story behind the song?

私の好きな曲は「Small Trick You Boy」です。これは素晴らしい。この曲の裏話を聞かせていただけますか？

Thank you. We recorded this song as a B-side of “All for Our Tears.” We intended to make an up-tempo vigorous song. Those days I was fond of Jim Jiminee. A female voice you may hear singing in unison is my wife now. All of us sang together into one microphone… it was really a fun to record this song.

ありがとう。この曲はAll for Our TearsのB面として作ったんだ。早くてガッツのある曲を作ろうと思ったのさ。当時ジムジミニーが好きだったからね。ユニゾンで歌ってる女性は僕の奥さん。みんなで一本のマイクでコーラス録音したり、楽しかったな。

++ Also there was a CDR called “Touch” with 8 tracks. It seems sold out now. Who were the Blue Lambretta label that released it? And what can one expect from this CDR? Will there be more copies anytime soon?

８曲入りの“Touch”というCDRもありますが現在は売り切れ状態のようです。このCDRをリリースしたBlue Lambrettaというレーベルはどういった方々なのでしょうか？このCDRはどういうものですか？いつか再発される予定はありますか？

This Blue Lambretta is a private label owned by Thee Windless Gates. They kindly offered to release us on the label. In fact, I cut discs and ship them. Well, it’s a so-called self-release.

このthe Blue Lambretta labelは、Thee Windless Gatesの個人レーベル。今回焼印を押してもらったんだ。実際に盤を作ったり、発送したりは僕が行っている。ま、セルフリリースだね！

++ What about the compilation “Airport Terminal 01”? I know you contributed to it. When was it released? And who made this CD? Which other bands are on it?

“Airport Terminal 01”というコンピレーションについてはどうですか？あなたも曲を提供していますね。リリースされたのはいつですか？このCDを制作したのは誰でしょうか？他に収録されているバンドにはどういった方々がいますか？

“Airport Terminal 01” was released on Airsport label in September 2004. This label is a music division of the design company (http://www.on-airs.com) presided by Atsushi Ito in Nagoya. Uemura and I were introduced by Tsuyoshi Shimoda and had a chance to join the compilation project. Johnny Johnny’s “Still I Always…” is a great number. I am proud of our “Call me up” as a nice sprightly number.

２００４年９月名古屋のデザインラボＡＩＲＳの音楽レーベルＡＩＲＳＰＯＲＴからリリースされた。レーベルを主宰するのは伊藤敦志さん。僕らは下田剛さんの紹介で参加することができた。johnny johnny: Still I Always…はグレイトナンバーさ。僕らの”call me up”もナイスな疾走ナンバーだと自負している。

++ What about gigs? Did The Time Capsules play many? Any particular that you are fond of?

ギグはどうですか？タイムカプセルズで演奏を行う機会は多いのでしょうか？特にお気に入りのギグはありますか？

I don’t play gigs. It is a very rare case, but I performed together with TWG at the event called MTMR in Kyoto last September (in 2011). I’m trying to find an impressive way to express my works. My live performance (singing with playing the guitar) is not so enjoyable for the audience, I think.

gigはやっていない。いまでも。ごくまれにはあるけど。昨年（2011年）9月に京都のイベントＭＴＭＲでＴＷＧと共演してきたよ。何か意味のある表現の仕方を模索しているところなんだ。僕の弾き語りなんてそんなに面白いものじゃないからね。

++ And tell me about the Japanese scene during those days in the mid-late 90s? How was it? Were there many bands? festivals? Was there any support from the press to neo-aco bands or was it over already?

1990年代半ばの日本の音楽シーンについて話を聞かせてください。どのような状況でしたか？多くのバンドが活動していて、多くのイベントがありましたか？ネオアコバンドに対するメディアの支援はありましたか？それともすでにネオアコは終わっていたのでしょうか？

Those days the movement called Shibuya-kei (Shibuya style) was popular among young people in Japan. Many neo-aco bands and guitar-pop bands started their career. There were a lot of indie labels. That was the last period when we had a dream in music, I guess.

当時、渋谷系というムーヴメントが日本の若者の間で起こっていて、たくさんのネオアコ、ギターポップバンドがデビューしていたね。インディレーベルもたくさんあったしね。音楽に夢があった最後の時代じゃないかな。

++ You are from Kitami-Shi in Hokkaido. I don’t really know much from your city to be honest. Were there any other like-minded bands? Are there neo-aco fans there? And what about your favourite places to hang out and party there?

あなたは北海道北見市のご出身ですね？率直に言ってあなたの街のことをよく知りませんが、同じような志のバンドが他にも北見で活動しているのですか？ネオアコファンがいるのでしょうか？お気に入りの遊び場やイベントがあれば教えてください。

There is nothing you can be proud of in the music scene in Kitami. There are a few local bands. There may be some neo-aco fans, but I don’t see any indie-pop party here.

北見市に誇れるような音楽シーンは無いよ。いくつかのローカルバンドがいるだけさ。ネオアコファンは少しはいるかもしれないけど、インディポップ主体のパーティーはないね

++ And if I was a tourist in your town, what would you say are the must see sights? And food? Any specialties in Kitami-shi? 🙂

もし私が北見を訪れた観光客だとしたら、何か必須の観光スポットはありますか？食べ物はどうでしょうか？北見市の名産品はありますか？

Hokkaido is a treasure chest of Japanese food. Anything is delicious here, seafood, land products, sweets and so on. It is a very cold area with a lot of nature. If you visit me in winter, let’s go on horseback to see drifting blocks of ice on the sea. Then, we will warm ourselves eating hot pot dishes.

北海道は日本の食の宝箱さ。だから食べ物はなんでもおいしいよ。海の物も山の物もお菓子もなんでもさ。あとは、とても寒い場所でもあるし、自然がいっぱいだね。もし君が冬に遊びに来たとしたら、馬にまたがって流氷を眺めに行こう。その後は鍋を食べて温まろうぜ。

++ And what did you do in between The Time Capsules and Alvysinger?

タイムカプセルズ活動休止からアルヴィシンガー始動までの間は何をしていましたか？

As I said at the beginning, the only difference between The Time Capsules and Alvysinger is the name of the project. We just changed the name for refreshment. Then, Uemura got busy with his job and he is now taking a break from his music career. That was in 2005 and I switched to PC-based recording at that time, so I was studying how to use the mechanical equipment. In 2006, I started recording songs by myself and releasing them under the name of Alvysinger.

最初に言った通り、タイムカプセルズとアルヴィシンガーの違いは名前だけさ。気分転換に二人で名前を変えたのさ。そのあと植村の仕事が忙しくなって彼は今は音楽活動を休止している。それが２００５年くらいのことでＰＣベースの録音に切り替えた時期でもあったから最初は機材の使い方なんかを勉強していたよ。２００６年から一人でレコーディングを始めてアルヴィシンガーとしてのリリースを開始したんだ。

++ When you are not making music, what other hobbies or interests do you enjoy doing?

音楽制作以外に何か趣味や関心事がありますか？

I’m working full-time for a company, so I usually work at the desk in the office. After coming home, I play together with my little daughter. I spend two hours making music in my own room every night while she is sleeping. After all, I have no time to spare for other hobbies. I like riding on a horse, reading, watching movies, and betting on a horse, but I spend only a short time on any of them. I like cooking, too. Cooking is very similar to making music. Speaking of movies, “Låt den rätte komma in” was great! I was really taken with it. I haven’t seen the Hollywood remake version yet. “Millennium” was good, too. Swedish movies are very successful these days.

フルタイムのビジネスマンだから、普段は会社でデスクワーク。帰宅後は小さい娘と遊んで、彼女が眠ったら自室で音楽を作るのさ。毎日、２時間くらい。だからほとんど趣味に費やす時間はないね。少しの空き時間に乗馬をしたり、本を読んだり、映画を見たり、馬券を買ったりはするけど、どれも少しの量だね。料理を作るのも好きだね。料理と音楽を作ることはとても似ている。映画と言えば「僕のエリ」は傑作だったね！これは大当たり。ハリウッドリメイク版はまだ見ていないんだ。「ミレニアム」も良かったし、最近スェーデン映画の当たりが多いね。

++ So, let’s talk about Alvysinger sometime soon Ono-san? Let’s wrap here this Time Capsules interview, it was a pleasure. Anything else you’d like to add?

それでは小野さん、またいつか近いうちにアルヴィシンガーについて語り合いましょう。このへんで今回のタイムカプセルズのインタビューを終わりにしたいと思います。とても楽しかったです。何か付け加えたいことはありますか？

Thank you for your attention. The history of The Time Capsules ended up, but I will continue to release songs as Alvysinger. Uemura might be coming back. I’m really looking forward to the day when we work together again and release our new songs.

読んでくれたみんなどうもありがとう。タイムカプセルズの歴史は終わってしまったけど、アルヴィシンガーとして作品を発表し続けるよ。植村氏も復帰するかもしれないし、二人の新曲を届けられる日を僕はとても楽しみにしているんだ。

end

了

Translated by Masafumi Moriwaki

翻訳　森脇正史

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Listen
Time Capsules – Small Trick You Boy