Thanks so much to Mike O’Sullivan for the interview and also to Paul Davies, also part of  the mighty City Giants! If you’ve never heard about this band well, prepare yourself as they were great! They only recorded one 7″ back in the late 80s but it’s such a good single that well, it’s timeless. Good thing is that they recorded much more stuff and will be available sometime soon it seems! Keep your eyes peeled!

++ Hi there! Thanks so much for being up for the interview. Are you still in Tooting these days? Or where in the world are you? What about the rest of the band members?

Hi Roque, Andy, Paul and myself still live in London- we all used to live and rehearse in Tooting. Tooting was best known for a very funny sit-com called ‘Citizen Smith’, he was a lazy, disorganized revolutionary Marxist called Wolfie, who led a rebellious group of half-hearted friends…very funny!

++ So just out of curiosity, what does Tooting has to offer? Never been there! And was it true that you were massive there?

Tooting is a town in South London, a brilliant place for Indian food! Our band posters used to claim that we were massive in Tooting, of course we were the only band in Tooting and even though our record sold more than Madonna’s in the local record store- there was a touch of irony involved in the statement…

++ Let’s go back in time. When and where did the City Giants start as a band? How was the recruiting process? Where did you knew each other from?

Andy and Mike the drummer were friends and posted an advert in the New Musical Express, looking for a bass player. I’d just moved to London from Cardiff to start Art School, answered the ad and joined the band. Paul used to come to our gigs and loved the band and joined later.

++ And why the name City Giants?

The band were originally called the ‘Southern Movers’ and one day with no real discussion we changed it. Andy came up with the name and it stuck.

++ Were the City Giants your first band?

I guess we all tried to form bands before we met, we were all pretty young at the time, so this was our first proper band!

++ How do you remember those early days of the band? Lots of practicing? What did you do when you weren’t making music? Where did you all hang out?

Practicing was great fun, we used to rehearse above a Fish and Chip shop in Tooting which was probably detrimental to sales for the owner. We always had lots of friends hanging out, doing comedy dancing and sing alongs etc.. We were all students at the time and when we weren’t practicing we were gigging, we played about 50 gigs in an 18 month period. Most of the gigs were in London and Cardiff/South Wales.

++ So let’s talk music. Was there a certain reason for you all to be in a band? Any sort of inspiration?

We were all massively into music and still are, how can that ever change? We were only just discussing coming across people who claim not to be into music, what does that mean?

++ You only released one 7″ single. Care to tell me a bit about each of the songs that appeared on the record?

We released only one single, the three songs were the three newest songs we had at that moment in time. I guess they sum up much of what we were about. All three songs were one take recordings played live in the studio. The first and third songs are typically frenetic and up tempo, the second more melodic. Our gigs were always very boppy/dance orientated affairs. Lyrically, many of the songs were tongue in cheek, boy meets girl disaster/comedy tales, sometimes melancholy, sometimes ridiculous.

++ It’s such a fantastic record I have to say. You released it under your own “Give it a Blast Records”. Good name for a label! How did you like that part of the music “business”, you know, selling, promoting, distributing?

I guess like many bands, we were so busy playing, practicing and doing our day stuff that eventually we ran out of steam on the business side of things. One of the highlights was meeting John Peel at Radio 1, who was kind enough to chat and play our record. We had a number of big/small record companies and management interested but weren’t really prepared to compromise in terms of leaning into the pigeon hole that might have made us more attractive commercially. Ultimately, we loved playing live and were prolific song writers, but eventually you come to a crossroads and we had to stop. It’s very exciting to start again with a bit more wisdom and experience. The same passion is still there!

++ Why didn’t you get to release more stuff? A little bird told me there are plenty of unreleased tracks!

We’ve got a dozen or so tracks from that time which are being re-mastered now and we are just considering who and how that album will be released. We’ve been amazed at the interest from all over, especially from Japan!

++ Perhaps there were demo tapes that you sold at gigs? Do you remember that?

We’ve got loads of live gigs recorded and even an early DVD of a gig in London, with some unfortunate nakedness and some very comical audience dancing.

++ So yeah, what about gigging? Did you gig lots? What was the furthest you played a gig? Any favorites?

We played a lot in Cardiff and remember breaking down on the way to a gig once which wasn’t good, not exactly rock and roll getting to the gig being towed by the AA truck. We played lots of small/medium sized venues in London, they were all good fun.

++ I heard you are going to have a track featured on the Leamington Spa Vol. 8! Care to tell me about this song?

150 seconds of genius!

++ That compilation series covers lots of great bands from the late 80s in UK that shared that great guitar pop sound. Did you have any favorite bands then?

Lots of different influences from different eras. Everything from rockabilly, punk, soul to rare groove,

++ Also during that time there was a big explosion of fanzines covering these kind of bands. How involved were the City Giants with them?

Not at all, always good to get nice reviews though..

++ Alright, so the sad part, when and why did you call it a day?

At the time I think we fulfilled various musical ambitions even though not commercially successful at that time, ultimately life goes on and timing is everything!

++ After that, were you involved with music?

Very much so, but I think we all wished we had stuck at it with the City Giants. It’s bizarre to bump into people on the street after all these years who still quote your lyrics to you with a little smile.

++ And what are you all doing these days?

Hopefully going to record a few new songs very soon and maybe even some gigs in the not too distant future.

++ I hear there might be a retrospective album including lots of unreleased stuff, is this true? What are the plans for the future?

The retrospective album will be ready in a few weeks, I’ll send you a copy asap!

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Listen
City Giants – Little Next to Nothing

At least it didn’t take two weeks this time to update the blog, just one. Not that bad. Maybe four posts a month is not an awful rate, though I wish I had more time to write more often. I think it’s just a matter of adjusting my time and my sleeping patterns. I haven’t told many but I started a new job a couple of weeks ago. My work hours are different now and I’m still getting used to it. It’s quite hard. I wonder how come it’s so easy when I travel to Europe and I feel no sort of jet-lag. But now that I have two wake up three hours before than normal I’m really having a rough time. Everyday it feels as if a truck has ran me over when I wake up. Anyhow, as I said, it will be a matter of adjusting and eventually after work I’ll have the energy to write on the blog as I used to and not having to wait until every Saturday afternoon. It’s just a new, small beginning.

News this week? Not many. There’s a new Nixon compilation CD out on Anorak Records titled “Anorak Christmas” and it includes many of his most known songs. It’s a great thing as many fans have been longing to finally have in their hands his songs on a physical record as his previous records have been sold out for such a long time. I was happy to participate in this CD writing the liner notes.

On Cloudberry news, I’ve just answered an  interview about the label for a Japanese fanzine called Weekend Never Dies that runs the lovely Sayuri Arai, who I met in New York City. She was accompanying Caucus and Smilove. It’s a very nice interview as she asks me very interesting questions, not just the same old “why did you start a label” or “what is in store for the future”. I look forward to see the printed zine. Also by now all the regular mailorders should have the latest releases (Caucus & Persian Rugs) in stock. I just posted the last batch to the great Pebble Records in UK.

Let’s go to our weekly featured obscure band then. On my last blog post I wrote:

I do know that Daniel Bates and Graham Jordan before being in June Recruits were part of a band called Natural Instinct, who I will be covering on the next blog post. Promise. They had some great tunes!

So, here we are, trying to uncover a bit the mysterious halo of Natural Instinct.  Of course the information is very scarce. There is a small text written by someone called Steve Fox on the page I’ve been dissecting lately: Wymondham College Remembered. It says:

“Natural Instinct was the original line-up of the June Recruits before things went a bit pear shaped – I’m not sure how one band led to the other but the tape was entitled ‘Small Beginnings’ and the insert was interestingly made from black and white photographic paper. All these guys were in my year – 1981 to 1986 and – although my memories are a bit sketchy – were Robert Wylie (New Hall) and ‘Gaz’ (New; can’t remember his surname) on vocals, Dan “DOB” Bates (Kett) on lead, Graham Jordan (New) on Bass, Marvin George (Kett) on keyboard and Jim Cook (Kett) on drums. The photowork was done by Andrew Carey (New).”

“Dan Bates was called DOB because they were his initials, which was small comfort for the five years of sniggering he had to endure every time a letter arrived addressed to ‘Master Bates’ – a nice bloke though and I don’t recall a time I ever saw him without a smile. As for Marv George, he was an extremely talented guy who could play a keyboard with incredible skill; I remember being extremely envious listening to him on his synth and he once lent me a keyboard which had a ‘teach yourself’ function where the keys would light up when you were supposed to press them as it played a cheesy backing version of ‘Morningtown Ride.’ I was RUBBISH!”

First thing that attracts my attention is those words in paragraph, Kett & New Hall. I wonder if this is important at all, but perhaps for fellow students of the college it was. These are the names of the Houses were these guys were into. I’m familiar with the house system as I studied in a British school when I was a kid, but for you who don’t know, the house system is a traditional feature of British schools, and schools in ex-British colonies. Historically it was associated with established public schools, where a ‘house’ refers to a boarding house or dormitory of a boarding school. In the case of a day school, however, the word ‘house’ refers only to a grouping of pupils, rather than to a particular building.  Pupils are likely to be divided into a number of houses, which are often named after saints, famous historical alumni or notable regional landmarks (at international schools, for example, houses may be named after famous local people). Other more arbitrary names – animal names or colours, for example – may be used where the house system is adopted by a primary school.

In the case of Wymondham College, a house system was first established in 1953, with house names North, South, East and West. As the College expanded and brick-built accommodation came into use in the early 1960s, the system was revised and the Houses were given names of Cathedral towns and cities:

• Boys: York, Gloucester, Canterbury, Norwich, Durham, Salisbury
• Girls: Wells, Westminster, Worcester, Winchester (with Wakefield and Washington added later)

Later in the early 1970s mixed Houses were introduced and the cathedral House names were scrapped and the Houses adopted the names of the Halls themselves. Lincoln and Peel Halls were converted to Sixth Form boarding houses in 1978, Peel Hall being further converted into a boarding house for Year Sevens in 1995.

The house system is now as follows:

• Year Seven: Peel
• Years Eight to Eleven: Fry, Cavell, Kett, Or New
• Years Twelve to Thirteen: Lincoln

So first mystery of Natural Instinct is solved, they were in between the Years Eight and Eleven. But wouldn’t it have been more “musically cool” if they were in Year Seven and being in “John” Peel House? 😉

Then there was one tape released at least as attested by Steve Fox. This one tape had the songs “Small Beginnings” and “That’s All” but may have had as well more songs. I can’t confirm this. I can’t either say if this was their only demo tape released or not. I wish it wasn’t. It’d like to listen more by them. About the year when these tracks were recorded I would have a wild guess of 1987 a year prior the June Recruits formation.

“Small Beginnings” is the best of the two tracks. It is a really catchy tune that reminds me of the Spinning Wheels or Windy Miller, with an upbeat drum machine that feels everything is falling apart. Really cool! It’s like ramshackle pop without the crashing guitars. There is also a cool keyboard on both songs that feels a bit like The Apple Moths. Very nice poppy atmospheres. It makes me long for more songs by this band. Whatever happened to them?

And this is were we stop. There’s absolutely no more information about the band or the members. For some reason while looking if any of the band members was in the famous ex-pupils I learned that the actor Mark Strong, the bad guy from Kick-Ass, studied here and his real name is actually Marco Giuseppe Salussolia. Not that it is important, but I found it interesting. Anyways, if you have any more information about Natural Instinct please get in touch! I’d love to listen more stuff from them!

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Listen
Natural Instinct – Small Beginnings

It’s been 2 weeks since the last update. A lot have happened in between. Last weekend I was in New York City for the Popfest that once again was a success thanks to Maz organizational skills and the great lineup he managed for this year. Highlights include Days, Go Sailor, The Motifs, Caucus and Persian Rugs, among the bands I haven’t seen before.  It was such a treat to have my two new 7″ releases being played lived. I was so thrilled. On top of that, the Caucus and Persian Rugs folks were as nice as I imagined them. Also it was great to see some familiar faces from Europe that came all the way to play at Popfest like The Felt Tips or The Sunny Street. They were charming.

On the American side of things, Tiny Fireflies were deliciously good. They should have played later I think, but I can understand that as it was their first gig ever they got the afternoon slot. But they were indeed a highlight. Kristine and Lisle are way too talented. Gold-Bears brought the nice and the photo booth to Popfest. They were just blazing through their set. Lots of energy, and attitude, something I haven’t seen since that one time I saw The Faintest Ideas live. Meeting friends was good too, seeing Jennifer again after just a couple of months, meeting Vernon who came all the way from Singapore, Ed from Shelflife, Scott from Summer Cats, Alex who never stopped dancing, Stephen who told me Cloudberry was the ‘music of the people’, and more that I’m probably forgetting. I hope at some point I can do a full review of the Popfest, but as I have promised reviewing each festival I attend, and seeing I have still lots to document from past events, I don’t see it happening soon. But bear with me.

Now on to Cloudberry updates. By now you should know that Persian Rugs and Caucus 7″s are out. And yesterday I sent to the pressing plant the masters for the Very Truly Yours single. Hopefully it will be ready for their UK tour in July. I plan joining them on their tour, probably to do their merch table or just carry instruments. Should be fun. I believe we are doing Manchester, Glasgow, and somewhere else. The single A side is called “Girls Tell You Secrets” and you can download it from the Cloudberry site. The B side is “Sleep with the Clouds” and is a precious slice of heartfelt pop!

The fanzine number 6 is almost ready. Finishing some articles for it this weekend and then proof reading. And also coming up is the Cloudberry Classics CD by The Deddingtons. It’s going to be fantastic! Oh! And there’s also another Cloudberry Classic release lined up, but I can’t tell you all yet! But trust me, it’s going to be really good. Quite obscure! And if we keep moving on, maybe around September/October, we’ll be looking into 7″s by Youngfuck and Nixon. Exciting times ahead!

This week’s recommended obscure band also comes from the same place as the last one: Wymondham College, in Norwich. They were called “June Recruits” and only released one 7″ on their own Mania Records (REC 1). The single included two tracks “Rape” and “And She Sells”, being the A side the true winner despite the “Rape” name. “And She Sells” is a rock song, so probably you won’t like it much, I don’t if I’m honest. But “Rape” is such a poptastic song that the single is worth just for that one song. But believe me, I’ve tried finding this record for a couple of years now, and only saw it once on Ebay. I lost the bid on the last second. I still have nightmares about that.

The band formed in the Spring Term of 1987 and was featured in the 1988 College Magazine.  Members were Antony Jones (vocals/rhythm guitar), Daniel Bates (lead guitar), Graham Jordan (bass guitar) and Jeremy Trett (drums).  They came second in the area finals of TSB Rock School and recorded several tracks that were sold on cassette and disc. Wonder what happened to these songs. Maybe there were more great pop gems like “Rape” among them?

As it is always the case, the information is scarce about the band. I do know that Daniel Bates and Graham Jordan before being in June Recruits were part of a band called Natural Instinct, who I will be covering on the next blog post. Promise. They had some great tunes!

The other piece of information I found comes from the Norwich Bands Wiki, it says:

Wymondham College band circa 1987 formed from the ashes of a sixth form band, Headed up by the larger than life character of Antony Jones, who could seriously belt out a song. They came second in the area finals of TSB Rockschool and produced one single on there own label, Mania Records on the prize money. They split around 1989, and formed The J.R. Hartleys

The J.R. Hartleys? Who is J.R. Hartley? Wikipedia to the rescue:

The fictional character appeared in television advertisements for British commercial telephone directory company Yellow Pages, first shown in 1983. The character was played by the actor Norman Lumsden.The advertisement shows an elderly man asking in several second-hand bookshops (which are recognisably real shops in London’s Cecil Court) for “Fly Fishing by J. R. Hartley”. Every attempt fails, and the next scene shows him at home looking dejected. His daughter, sympathising, hands him the Yellow Pages; in the next scene he looks delighted as his end of a telephone conversation reveals that a shop has a copy of the book. He asks them to keep it for him. He responds at dictation speed to a question: ‘My name? Oh, yes, it’s J. R. Hartley.’ The advertisement ends by promoting the Yellow Pages.

According to the Norwich Bands Wiki, The J.R. Hartleys released 2 demo tapes, both recorded at Purple Studios, and knocked out some fairly respectable Jangly Pop circa 1990, They split when Tony went to University to study something that involved going to Mongolia. Wow! Jangly Pop! I’d love to listen to these demo tapes if possible!

There is also a post by Jeremy Trett on the Wymondham College bands page where he expresses his wish to get back in touch with his former band-mates. It reads: “We were at College from 1986 to 1988. The other members were: Tony Jones, Dan Bates and Graham Jordan. I lost contact some 19 years ago!”. He left an email there as well. I wrote him maybe around a year ago but no response sadly.

And that’s all I’ve been able to gather. Again if anyone knows the whereabouts of the band members, or has access to their several recordings, or even stuff from the J.R. Hartleys, please share! Let’s solve the mystery behind the June Recruits!

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June Recruits – Rape

Can’t believe it’s been 10 days since I last updated the blog. These have been very busy days and it doesn’t look as it’s getting less busy at all. Last weekend I was out of town in San Antonio, Texas, and the next week I’m off to NYC for the Popfest, for some days of indiepop fun with friends and to clear up my mind which I really need badly.

On the Cloudberry news side, this upcoming week, May 17th to be exact, I’ll have two new records out. One by Japan’s Caucus and the other by Canada’s Persian Rugs. Both are truly fantastic! I’m very proud to release them. Both bands will be playing at the NYC Popfest, so if you are around don’t miss them. We should have the singles for sale there too if you want to save postage.

And for the near future, I have some great things in store, today I got the masters for the Very Truly Yours 7″ (“Girls Tell You Secrets” and “Sleep in the Clouds”) and they sounding great! It should go to press next month so stay tuned to that! And if you were wondering when the next fanzine is out, it should be out in less than a month hopefully. I am just missing some interview answers and it should go to print in beautiful pink ink!

But, my few loyal readers, I know you come for some music recommendations as well, and after 10 days you may be feeling some heartache for having nothing to read. Just kidding. But seriously let’s try to rediscover a long lost, obscure band, that only recorded one fantastic 7″: Lawrence and the Comfortable Society.

The band was formed by Leigh Gracie on vocals and guitars, Nick Hardy on guitar, Jeff Powell on bass, Sara Dimmer on keyboards and Chris Wyatt on drums. All songs written by Gracie. I’m not sure from where exactly in the UK the band members were from but they definitely have ties with Norfolk as they attended Wymondham College, a state boarding school, that is a specialist Technology College (Mathematics, Science, ICT & DT) and also a Modern Foreign Languages college.

They only released that one 7″, with “Sleeper” on the A side and “Heartache” on the B side. My favourite is “Heartache”, which is such a great soulful indiepop tune! It has heartfelt lyrics, a great chiming guitar and a beautiful keyboard atmosphere. Such a song! Should be in the next Leamington Spa CD I say! The A side, “Sleeper”, is really nice as well, with it’s jazzy edge. Both songs were Overall a great single that is so rare to come by! And any information about them is also very hard to come by!

The only other information online that I could find comes from the “Remember Wymondham College” website and I’d like to copy here. Definitely check out their site as there are scans and MP3s for both songs on the 7″.

“Interesting that you should have a focus on Lawrence and the Comfortable Society this time around. I remember sitting in the audience of the Mair Cup watching them perform. They were electric and put on an event that showed that they had real magic about them. Lawrence was dynamic and a real entertainer that night. He certainly knew how to woo a crowd and demonstrated that he had the knack to go very far in the entertainment world…. well, I thought so at the time. The students enjoyed the event and I recall that I, as a member of staff, had to contain my enthusiasm for his performance so as to retain a dignified perspective…. but I wanted to rock with band.

It may be of interest to you that I still have the single that the group produced and I wondered if you would like borrow it so as it could be downloaded from the site. It that possible? It’s in vinyl form and I do not have the technology to convert it into a MP3 format. The A side is called ‘Sleeper’ and the B side is called ‘Heartache’. On the back cover it has the following credits:

On the label it says (c) Liegh Gracie (not my typo; that’s what it says) Producer: Howard T.”
Cliff Martin

Leigh Gracie is at present with Speedometer (http://www.speedometer-funk.co.uk/). We received this from an old friend of his:

“Leigh Gracie and myself renewed contact a couple of years ago, and on the back of this I came along to see his funk band Speedometer in London last autumn. A great band, but what transpired after they had played 3 or 4 tracks bears testament to the popularity of his earlier outfit – Lawrence & The Comfortable Society. Slowly – and initially almost inaudibly – you could hear people beginning to chant: “Lawrence, Lawrence, Lawrence”. Speedometer played on for a couple more songs, but in the end the chanting for Lawrence grew impossible to ignore. Leigh laughed and said “OK guys, let’s give them what they want!”, and the band proceeded to knock out a 50-minute set of old Lawrence & The Comfortable Society numbers! The place went crazy; I’ve never seen so many people dancing. Leigh admitted afterwards that he was surprised at the popularity of his old songs, but it had been exhilarating to play them again. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a full-blown reunion!” Mark Fox

So will that full-blown reunion happen some day? Were there any more recordings than just this two songs? Why didn’t they get to release more songs? Maybe they put something on compilations? Who was Lawrence? Who were the Comfortable Society? Did they gig a lot? So many questions and no one to answer. I wonder if anyone has more information! Would be great to get in touch with the members for an interview as well! Hope you enjoy!

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Lawrence and the Comfortable Society – Heartache

Ready for some basic grammar?

A definite article indicates that its noun is a particular one (or ones) identifiable to the listener. It may be the same thing that the speaker has already mentioned, or it may be something uniquely specified. The definite article in English is the.

Alright, that wasn’t that interesting. Hope I didn’t lose you there. This is a very short post as there is absolutely nothing at all about a band called The Definite Article. I only know this one song called “Six Foot Two and Real” that was also on this compilation Satomi from the Twee Grrrls club sent me. A compilation that has proven to be a box full of fantastic indiepop gems. Anyhow this song is great! A bit like Nine Steps to Ugly, or The Penny Candles, or The Snowbirds, you know the drill. So most probably, I’d guess, they were English. Worst case scenario they were British. This doesn’t sound American at all.

The sound of the mp3 is not the best but I think I can recognize the needle over vinyl. So perhaps this appeared on some sort of compilation LP? Or they had their own release? It’s quite a mystery to me!

A quick search on google to see who is or was six foot two tells me that that dear Holden Caulfield was that size. Well, six foot two and a half and not real. I wonder who they wrote this song for…

Enjoy the song, it’s GREAT! And if you have any information about The Definite Article please share.

EDIT: Uwe from Firestation Records has just told me: “They released a two track flexi-disc and appeared on the “Rund um die Welt” compilation tape. I believe that they put out some demotapes as well, although I only have one of them. The flexi disc contains “Bad as I am I’m better than you” and “Six foot two and real”, while the compilation tape has “Halfway Home”.

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The Definite Article – Six Foot Two and Real

ulterior motive (plural ulterior motives): An alternative or extrinsic reason for doing something, especially when concealed or when differing from the stated or apparent reason.

Still quite busy working on freelance which means I haven’t had any time to write more interviews. I’m kind of missing doing that. I hope in a couple of weeks my schedule returns to normal. The good news is that I have purchased a plane ticket to attend Indietracks this year. I am all set. And excited! I feel a bit sad that I had to turn down an offer to DJ there this year as when I was asked I wasn’t sure that I was attending. I would have loved to do so. Now it is too late and even today the DJs for this year were announced. I do know Big Pink Cake, and I know Matthew and Heater play great stuff, so that’s the one I will definitely assist to.  Shame it’s in the marquee though, because there it’s more like evading all the stones on the ground than dancing. It makes me grin to see who gets a spot on the shed, the London politics. Anyhow, I’m still waiting for the band announcements that are coming up next week. I feel they have something great in store. May it be the Acid House Kings?

I’ve kept listening to the mix CDs my friend Satomi sent me from Japan. As I said before there are many great songs that I have never heard before. One of them is by a band called Ulterior Motives. The song is called “Heart Won’t Let You Go”. The sound of it tells me it’s definitely pre-indiepop times. It’s much more power pop and mod than jangle pop. My first research stop happens to be at Discogs. There I find that this song was released on a compilation LP called “Spit ‘N Finish”. This slab of red 12″ vinyl was released by Toucan Records in 1983. It’s catalog number 002. All of the bands on the record are unknown to me, names like Red Flag, The Dodgers, Dark Harvest or Perfect People don’t ring a bell at all. Wonder if they are as good as this tune by Ulterior Motives. But was this all they ever released?

I keep digging and I go back in time, to 1979. This year the band released their one and only proper record, a 7″ with two tracks: “Another Lover” and “Y’ Gotta Shout”. It was released on the Motive Music Records label, being the first release on their catalog. It’s not a wild guess to say this must have been the band’s own record label, meaning it was self-released. I see that in March the record sold for a pound on eBay. I feel kind of defeated. Why didn’t I knew about it then? Some stores do have it on “Buy it Now” for 12 dollars. I’m never too keen to spend that much on a 7″, even more if I haven’t ever listened to the songs in it, like in this case. They might be as good as the ones on the “Spit ‘N Finish” compilation, but they might not. Does anyone know?

Now I find a name on google: Nick Toczek. I found some sort of resume of him, it seems he is a poet/writer. Among books written there are poetry tapes he has released. One of them is called “Nick Toczek Ulterior Motives”(1985). I keep on searching and I find this piece of info that reveals a second member:

Susan Fassbender (1959 – 1991) was an English singer, songwriter and musician, best remembered for the single “Twilight Café” which reached #21 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1981.

Born Susan Whincup in Wibsey, Bradford, West Yorkshire in 1959, Fassbender began studying classical piano, clarinet and timpani (later also playing synthesizer) at age 13. Eventually, she met up with guitarist Kay Russell who would become her songwriting partner throughout her career. Both girls wrote lyrics and melodies together. Prior to their collaboration, Russell was with poet Nick Toczek in a Bradford based New Wave outfit called Ulterior Motives.

Soon signed to independent record label Criminal Records after impressing their future manager Alan Brown at a musical instrument shop, Fassbender and Russell wrote “Twilight Café” which was released in early 1981. Two appearances on BBC Television’s Top of the Pops followed in January 1981, with a band also consisting of drummer Gary Walsh and bassist Mike Close. By this point ownership of the single had passed from Criminal to CBS Records owing to popular demand. In March 1981 Fassbender appeared on German television programme, Disco.

Two other singles followed soon after; “Stay” and “Merry-Go-Round”. “Stay”, the second single, was promoted by an appearance on Cheggers Plays Pop, a children’s programme. Both tracks were collaborations between Fassbender and Russell. In January 1982, Fassbender and Russell appeared on another British TV show, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, to promote “Merry-Go-Round”.

After the release of the latter singles, Susan Fassbender and Kay Russell both retired temporarily from the music industry, to marry and have children. Further songs were written, separately and together, by both women, but unfortunately no further interest was shown by the music industry in releasing the new material.

So we’ve got Nick Toczek and Kay Russell so far. And we know what happened with both after, one went to continue his writing career and the other to be on Top of the Pops! I keep digging around. I find some biography of a band called The Negatives written by Toczek. It says:

The Negatives, Bradford’s first punk band, was formed in the summer of 1978, practising at Coda Music on Church Bank.  Pete Stobbs played guitar, Tino Palmer drummed, Bob Robinson played bass and Dave sang.  After two try-out gigs, one at The Royal Standard, the other in a marquee on Horsforth Playing Fields as part of Metro ’78, they did their first proper publicised gig at Chicago Express. Singer-guitarist Kay Russell played support, with me on congas and doing some poems/vocals during her set. Soon after this, Kay and I formed our own band, Ulterior Motives, and did our first gig, again supporting The Negatives, at a Rock Against Racism gig at Queens Hall on 25th May 1979.

So 1979 the band formed, same year as their first and only releases. My search continues. I suddenly find a blog post about a fanzine called “Wool City Rocker” made in Bradford by both Nick and Kay. It’s a super interesting text that I recommend having a read. There are lot of great scans of this zine and many MP3s from unknown bands waiting to be discovered. It even links to a an MP3 to “Another Lover”. First impression? It’s a fun tune, but I still think “Heart Won’t Let You Go” it’s their best so far. “Another Lover” actually kind of sounds like a different band. Maybe it is? But also keep in mind “Heart Won’t Let You Go” was released 4 years after, which could mean in a more tight band which seems to be the case. But still the doubts are there, the mystery is there. Maybe there were two Ulterior Motives incarnations?

Luckily in this fantastic blog post there is a link to download the first Wool City Rocker fanzine where there is a band profile of Ulterior Motives. And this mainly solves the whole “who are the Ulterior Motives?” question. I’ll transcribe:

Ulterior Motives
Voc + Gtr = Kay Russell
Voc+ Perc = Nick Toczek
Bass + Voc = Rick Green
Dms = a Roland 77 Rhythm Unit
—————————————–
A case of self-writeousness (!) with both Kay and myself in this group. The two of us have been in various mixed-media groups (notably ‘Stereo Graffiti Show’ with which we did about 250 performances between ’75 & ’77). We moved to Birmingham (Kay’s hometown) to Bradford (my hometown) in summer ’78. Kay did solo gigs around the area for about 8 months & we then ask Rick (a friend of my brother) to join us in a new band. We wanted to try using the drum machine from the start.
The Motives’ first set was 5th on the bill to The Negatives at the Queen’s Hall on 25th May ’79 – a Rock Against Racism benefit.
In August we set up Motive Music as a recording co. jointly owned by the 3 of us and went into The Communication Centre on Chapel Street, using their 4-track studio to record 11 titles – from which we selected 2 numbers to go on our first single. “Another Lover” c/w “Y’ Gotta Shout” was released in mid-November on Motive Music Records. As we had set up a distribution deal with Red Rhino of York (& through them, other small label distributors) we were able to increase the number of copies pressed from 1,000 to 2,500. We’re now lining up gigs round Yorkshire to promote the record. We’re also auditioning drummers – though not to completely replace the drum machine which we’ll still use on some numbers. If this single goes well, we’ve already got a follow-up in mind.

Lots of info there, right? But as always, this indiepop detective needs some help clarifying and confirming all the facts. Any sort of help, facts, information, recordings, will be greatly appreciated. Oh! and if possible a copy of the 7″! For a pound!

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Listen
Ulterior Motives – Heart Won’t Let You Go

Thanks so much to Tom Hilverkus for the great interview! The Happy Couple is still a band I listen often, very very often, and I really like every single song they recorded, and I have very good memories hanging out with Tom and Jane. So this is a very special interview for me. Hope you enjoy!

++ Hi Tom! How are things? I know you travel lots because of work, so where’s the next stop?

I am very well, thank you. I am just about to set off to Rome. Earlier this month I went to New York for a couple of days, and in between I went on holiday to Bath!

++ And you were here not so long ago, we even had some Peruvian food! What did you like the most of South Florida, or what surprised you the most?

The Peruvian food was fab, but I also liked what we had in the Cuban restaurant! That’s what I loved about this place. I’ve never been to the Caribbean or South America but in Miami you get a very good taste of what it is like. The best thing I brought home was this Cuban coffee you recommended. To be honest, I found the City of Miami itself a bit depressing, all those white skyscrapers reminded me of being in a holiday resort. Downtown Miami isn’t very attractive. It’s rather small actually. I liked the fact you have a mono rail which gave it a bit more charm. But then you showed me round Miami Beach, a City in its own right, I really liked it, especially the art deco architecture.

++ So, of course The Happy Couple was a German band, based in Hamburg, but these days you live in Brighton. Why did you move?

Because my then girlfriend and future wife is from England. We first lived in Edinburgh but after getting married in New York we decided to go to the South of England, which was mainly because of the job I accepted, but since we first met we always had the dream of moving to Brighton anyway.

++ Would you be up for a possible reunion of The Happy Couple? What would that require? A record deal? 😀

Jane and I live in two different countries and we completely lead separate lives. Besides, I think Jane still doesn’t have a computer, so I’d say the chances are close to zero!

++ So ok, I know the answer to this question, but surely it’s the question most people would ask. Unless you want to keep it a mystery forever, were you ever a couple?

No, we weren’t and that was clear from the start. She’s always been like a sister to me so that was out of the question. We were simply “music mates” as someone in the US once put it in review of one of our records. We hung out quite a lot so we must have looked like a couple, so Jane once made a list of all the married couples who make music together, you know, like Stereolab, Sonic Youth, Damon and Naomi, Broadcast… It’s more related to this than anything else. We thought it sounded cool but I wouldn’t choose hat name again, just google ‘the happy couple’ and you know why.

++ Let’s go back in time, where and how did Jane and you met? Did you have the same taste in music?

It must have been 1998, a mutual friend introduced us at University as she knew both me and Jane were into the same stuff. We met up for a formal “Musikabend”, a “music evening” as we called it. I remember the first one, she played a lot of Slumberland stuff which I didn’t know back then. Then we started to go to gigs and clubs on a regular basis.

++ You started as a DJ duo, not as a band. How did it all developed from DJ to band?

I think it was 1999 when I was asked to dj for a party at Brunswick School of Art. I panicked a bit and asked her to help and to bring a few records. That worked out well and we decided we should do this on a regular basis as we disliked the music scene in our town, so we made a mix tape and sent it to the local club we used to hang out. It was called Brain Klub and they actually said yes straight away. We did the same in the next biggest city, Hanover. There was a club called Glocksee. So we said, ok, we are DJs now, what’s the next step? We should make music together. At the beginning, we just joked about it but one day Jane came round my place and said she had written a song which was “Boyfriend of the Week”.

++ And why didn’t you ever get more people in the band? You know, drummer and keyboardist, that’s stuff?

Well, it was really just a personal thing and we knew that we could do almost anything with a guitar and a MIDI keyboard. We never thought of playing a live gig, it was more a sort
of project. We loved records and we wanted to release one. But along with that we also founded our own label, Félicité.

++ And then you start a label too. Which I think we should do another interview to cover all the great releases you put out. But in a nutshell, what was the main reason to start it?

Initially, we wanted to do our own club. We even found a location in downtown Brunswick but it failed because of planning permissions so we had a bit of money to spend and we thought the next project should be a 7″ record, but really, there are so many anecdotes and you’re right, we should do a separate interview for this.

++ What indiepop thing did you miss to do then? Maybe book gigs or make a fanzine? Or perhaps you did that too?!

Well, most of our nighters always involved gigs. We organised one for our local band and first band on Félicité, Les Aspiratuers, and then there was the Félicité label launch nicht in Glasgow where Roy Moller and The Catalysts performed live. I think the best DJ night we had was with Stereo Total. We also djed after a Fuzztones gig and they all came to see us and check out our records.

++ The Happy Couple released 3 singles and some compilation tracks. Was there ever plans for an album?

Actually, there was a plan for a proper career in music, and of course a proper album. The one thing I regret is that there is no 12″ vinyl – we only released 7” vinyl and CDs. Jane actually has a drawer full of songs she’s written but we never got round to record them.

++ There is of course the Quince compilation with all the tracks you recorded. But are there any unreleased tracks? I heard this rumour of a cover version of Heavenly’s “Shallow”…

That’s right, before we played our first gig in Athens we did a sort of warm up gig for a selected group of people in Jane’s flat the week before. We did “Shallow” as encore and one of the guys in the audience filmed it. It pretty much sounds more like a studio than a live recording because there were only ten well behaved people in the audience. We also did a cover version of a song by a 60s band called Twinn Connexion. I won’t tell you the name of the song which, mastered from the video tape, as it is due for release on a Félicité label compilation on Edition 59 this summer. Speaking of cover versions, the only other one we ever did live was “Nothing Can Compare To You”, a Northern Soul song by The Velvet Satins. Unfortunately, we didn’t record it.

++ What about the “Northern Altona Demos”?

That was simply the name of the demos for our 2nd EP which ended up on Matinée Records in the US. It includes demo versions of all the songs on the “Fools In Love EP. “Another Sunny Day” made it has hidden track on the Japanese compilation you mentioned. I don’t even have mp3s of the songs and must have lost the tape. Anyway, those songs are actually not good enough for a release but I always thought the demo of “Another Sunny Day” sounded alright because of all the reverb, that’s why we put it on the compilation.

++ On the first release you are Tom Sparkletone, what was that all about? And why was Jane, Janehoney?

As I said, at the beginning we didn’t take the whole thing serious. I can’t even remember why I choose that name, I guess because I was into the Sparkletones at that time, a band on an 80s indie glamour label called Compact Organisation. I dropped that name very quickly and actually hate it coming up, I saw it is even listed on Discogs. Jane also changed her names a couple of times, from Jane Zapp to Janehoney and then Jeanneaulait at one point.

++ How did the creative process worked for you two?

For most of the songs, Jane would come up with the lyrics and a basic melody, I would then record her without anything and work out a chord structure on my own. She would then come back for me to record a demo. The best composition was the final one, “Song for the Troubadour”. She had written the lyrics, I played a chord progression I liked and she just sang to it. It was composed in just 5 minutes, just a day before we had the “Fools in Love” recording session in Glasgow. So, there was no demo for this song.

++ Let’s talk about the releases? First one, was the Four Seasons EP. What was the idea behind the title of the EP? Each song represents a season maybe?

Spot on, a love song for each season. “Boyfriend of the Week” was spring, then we had “French Cinema Summer Love”, “Treason”, a song for autumn and finally “All the Time”, a song set in the bleak midwinter.

++ What’s your favourite season then? And why the orchids on the cover? Not a nod to The Orchids I assume 😉

I prefer spring as everything is fresh and in. As regards the sleeve design, Jane found that picture in a book and just thought it looked beautiful. It’s a sort of homage to other records with flowers on, “The Girl Who Runs The Beat Hotel” or The Wake’s “Crush The Flowers” single. Of course we also thought of The Orchids but I personally see it as homage to my late father who used to be a breeder of rare orchids.

++ And actually, Treason, is the only song were you sing, right? Why didn’t you do this more often?!

Back then I didn’t have the confidence to sing. I had never sung before and it was a big deal singing in front of Jane and Göran, our producer. And then I had to sing this bloody song at every single gig… Jane wrote it as duet, kind of Nancy and Lee style, so I had to go along with it.

++ What about the artwork for the Matinée EP, who made that drawing ? How did you end up releasing with the Santa Barbara label?

The artwork was based on a still of a 1950s German movie which name I forgot. Of course Jane came up with the idea and she made the drawing. She used to be the Creative Director of Félicité. I was just in charge of operations and kind of a graphic designer who puts everything together with Photoshop, the internet, contacts etc. But art direction, that was clearly Jane, the Peter Saville of Félicité, as it were. After the success of the “Four Seasons EP” it was clear that we wanted to record another EP professionally. I think there were only Matinée and Shelflife on our short list. Slumberland must have been still in hiatus so we sent Northern Altona Demos to Jimmy Tassos and he simply brought it out. We insisted on the spine. Did you ever notice the older Matinée cardboard sleeves don’t have a spine? A shame though that it never came out as 7”. Many people have asked me for that.

++ The songs on this EP were recorded by Ulric Kennedy (ex-Golden Dawn) & Dannie Vallely (ex-The Fauves). How was that experience?

They were great to start with: brilliant musicians, kind Glaswegians and they contributed a lot to the recordings but in the end we ended up arguing about the final mixes and even potential royalties. I mean, it was clear that we weren’t the next Beatles but they thought they were George Martin. Quite frankly, we fell out over this which was another reasons we called it a day with the band.

++ Then there is the “Song for a Troubadour” 7″ that had Stevie Jackson playing harmonica. How did he guest appeared on this release?

We knew him through Roy Moller who is one of his best mates. We released his debut single, Stevie produced it so we got to know him. On one occasion, I think when Belle and Sebastian played Hamburg, we just asked him.

++ And is this really a song for Jens Lekman?

Who told you that? Yes, that’s right. The whole song is based on real events, even the flower and stuff. We played a gig with him in Sweden, I think it was Rundgång Festival and after that we spent some time together with him and the band, that was in Karlskrona in May 2004.

++ The last release was actually a song on a split 7″ on Slumberland. I hear that’s your favourite version of “Song for the Troubador”. Why is that? And how did this release happen?

Mike Schulman wanted to do this “Searching for the Now” 7” single club and asked a couple of people via MySpace I think. It’s as simple as that. Roy Moller also replied, so there you have two Félicité artists on the first two releases of that series. Actually, it was the only release where we hadn’t been consulted on the artwork, but then it was a Slumberland split single. What more do you want to finish off your band when it started with a Slumberland Musikabend? Yes, as just mentioned, I didn’t like the final mix of “Song For the Troubdadour”. Jane’s voice sounds flat, it lacks volume and reverb, the intro is a bit too cheesy. I prefer the raw version.

++ Hey, there’s a very close relationship with Glasgow here. Why is that?

In 2002 I befriended Andreas Hering which I think you know as well, he used to live in Glasgow in the 90s and introduced us to Roy and Ulric. Besides, I spent quite a long time in Scotland because of my wife who I also know through Herr Hering.

++ Who were Cookie Bay publishing by the way?

We thought we needed a publishing company. In the end, that’s how you can make a bit of money, just look at Cherry Red and their company Complete Publishing on Incomplete in the US. But anyway, it was impossible to administer it and the rights should really be with the artists, so we switched to standard Copyright Control even for our own releases. As regards the name, Cookie Bay was the name of the club that never was. It’s a song by The High Llamas.

++ What about gigs, you didn’t play many did you? Any anecdotes you could share?

As mentioned, the first one was in Athens which was quite a big deal. Just think of these small bands coming out of the German hinterland, having to play a hundred gigs in their youth club before they play the next biggest city. I think we played more gigs outside Germany than actually within! In Germany, we only played Bremen supporting The Ladybug Transistor and the Marsh Marigold festival in Hamburg at Echochamber on Reeperbahn. The gig in Sweden was a bit of a nightmare as we had to play along a CD with pre-recorded drums and keyboard and Jane forgot the lyrics halfway through the songs. The best gig ever was the final one at Pop Revo 2004 in Ǻrhus, Denmark, with Pipas, The Clientele and Gary Olsen on the same night. In terms of performance it was the best gig and the other bands were great of course.

++ How was the Hamburg scene then? I really love it there, Altona and Sankt Pauli. Where there any other cool bands? What about your favourite places to hang out?

We always used to go the Revolver Club which back then was at Schlachthof and Echochamber I think. They played sort of Britpop and indierock which was of course very dance orientated but once or twice a night one or two good indiepop singles we were waiting for. An alright club if you are drunk, there were 200-300 people a night, I’d say. The people in Hamburg are very stiff and almost hostile so you would just stand there, smoke 20 cigarettes and talk to the same people whereas in other German cities you won’t come across this snobbism. Then there was the Molotov for Northern Soul nighters called Spellbound. One of the DJs was Lars Buhlnheim who was going out with my flat mate. He is in a band called Superpunk which was one of the best on the Hamburg scene. They play a kind of Mod and Northern Soul inspired pop. Their singer is Carsten of Die Fünf Freunde which I bet you know and which nicely leads on to Marsh Marigold, another indiepop label coming out of Hamburg. I went round to Oliver’s house a couple of times, that was always fascinating. And then there was Marina Records which was a different league. Like Félicité they were very internationally orientated and even Glasgow focused. You wouldn’t think they are a German label. They released albums by Paul Quinn, James Kirk, Teenage Fanclub, Josef K. We sent them “Song For The Troubadour” and asked if they would release it as a single. They rejected it because they only release albums.

I think the most interesting German band for you to discover is Blumfeld who also hailed from Hamburg. Me and Jane liked them a lot and regularly saw them live or bumped into them. They started off very Sonic Youth like in the early 90s then turned cheesy and even mainstream but in a very cool way. Have you heard of the Hamburger Schule? In the late 80s Blumfeld was one of the band that basically started a movement in of alternative German indie pop and rock. Most of it is pretty dull. I think my favourite band from that era is Kollosale Jugend which means Colossal Youth. The second or third generation, depending on how you look at it, that was around at the time Jane and I were making music is around labels called Tapete and Grand Hotel van Cleef who we loathed. There was this band called Kettcar, we really hated this sort of music. I think they are rubbish and they can tour Germany and Austria until they are in their 50s. Really, if you compare it to the stuff coming out of the US and UK most of the German stuff is pretty crap. German is simply not a good language for pop music.

And thinking of more locations of course there is Mutter bar where we would go for a warm up. All the local musicians would hang out there, even the ones touring. And hey, the first time I spoke to my future wife Jennifer it was there. Then there’s Saal Two in Sternschanze a place where you can meet up for a coffee. I used to live in NorthernAltona and later Ottensen, which simply is beautiful and a world of its own, sort of Bohemia. Well, Jane still lives in Hamburg so you gotta ask Jane what the scene is like nowadays. There is a sort of bar called Kleinraumdisko, with a tiny, tiny dancefloor and she has a regular night there called the Shoop Shoop Club. Then there was a bar between Reeperbahn and Elbe river, not sure if it still exists, I used to dj there a couple of times, once with Erlend Øye. And lastly, there is Meanie Bar. Me and Herr Hering once djed there!

++ The Happy Couple never split, but it’s been a long standby. In this time, have you made any music?

I occasionally record music with my wife; we are just doing a cover version of Calvin Johnson’s “That Was Me” and I am currently working on a track with Christian Flamm, you may know him, he is an artist and also is also a German who lives in UK. He published this book on Felt last year, it’s called “Foxtrot Echo Lima Tango”. Whenever I meet Göran, who recorded the “Four Seasons EP” we also make some music together.

++ Your favourite Happy Couple song? Best thing about being in the band?

“Song for the Troubadour”, then “Don’t call it”. That was the direction we were going, the early stuff is almost a bit too twee for me. The songwriting got better as I just said, the lyrics were more grown up. Last year Jane sent me a couple of lyrics and they were way better than the usual “I fancy that boy but I stay in bed all day, la di da”… I personally think we could have been bigger than… emm, let me think… definitely bigger than this Danish duo that sounded like The Jesus and Mary Chain, a couple of years ago, what were they called again? The Raveonettes?

Best thing about being in a band? You get to see places, make music and of course make friends. I am still in touch with many of the people from back then.

++ One last question, I’ve asked you so many already! English food or German food? Astra or Jever?

Jever! I wish they would sell it here in the UK. It’s a shame you can’t get Jever all over the world – unlike Beck’s. There is something very special about Jever the Germans call it “herb”, the best beer in the world. Astra is good for gigs, its cheap, tastes cheap but then you get used to everything. As regards food, I have no preferences. Like with everything else, there are advantages and disadvantages when moving to another country.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Well, thanks for asking me to do this interview, Roque, its been a few years now since the days of Happy Couple so it’s always nice to see that many people still remember the band. And many thanks for showing me around Miami and the Keys. I admire you are doing your label in these times after even CDs seem to be dead, Congratulations on 20 vinyl releases. We only did eight with Félicité!

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Listen
The Happy Couple – Song for the Troubadour

Here’s another band I’ve discovered thanks to Satomi’s mix CDs and it’s one that seems to be impossible to google thanks to, of course, Belle & Sebastian. But I’ve managed to collect some information, sadly it seems that it is quite impossible to find a physical copy of the album “Blue” which seems to have been there only release! What is most exciting about this discovery is that the band was from the Czech Republic of all places!

Sebastians were formed according to the CD inserts by Ian Von Czechticky on bass, Stephen Young on guitar, DL Beauty on guitar, Paul Penal on drums and David Wrdisty on vocals. According to last.fm Sebastians were formed by Dusan Lipert (today Colorfactory, Ohm Square), David Volenc (vocals, Colorfactory) Jan Čechtický (bass, Ohm Square), John Lukes (guitar) and Dan Mrlík (drums). Lukes was later replaced Stephen Tuma (Liquid Harmony), and Pelan Mrlík Paul. Wonder which is the right lineup!

Their first release was a demo tape called Romanian Songs and their first proper release was the “Blue” album that was released in 1993 by the Bonton Music label out of their home country and it was produced by Colin Stuart  who had produced some singles for Kirsty MacColl. In this album there’s also a collaboration by some of the members of the Ecstasy of St Theresa, arguably the Czech Republic’s most well-known indie band, like Jan Gregar doing some “bass space” & “feedback vibrations” or Jan Muchow doing some “ambient vibrations”. Overall the album is a beautiful sun-bleached shoegazy 10-tracker, with the high point, for me, their indiepoppy “Am I the One” that reminds me to the more recent Long Beach band Silver Screen. Another fantastic track you don’t want to miss is “Our New Kind of Love” that may as well be a lost Venus Peter song!

“Silversurfer” the first song on the album, which is perhaps the most experimental of the bunch, appeared on two compilations in the past decade. In 2000 it appeared on the “Czech that Sound!” and in 2003 on “Hurá, Kytary!”. Both of these compilations were samplers of Czech indie music. Wonder if any of the other bands in it were as good as Sebastians!

So as I love going through tangents, I looked up where the name Sebastian comes from to learn:

Sebastian is a masculine given name. It comes from the Latin name Sebastianus meaning ‘from Sebaste’. Sebaste is the name of a town in Asia Minor (present-day Sivas), derived from the Greek word σεβαστός (sebastos), “venerable”, which comes from σέβας (sebas), “awe, reverence, dread”,[ in turn from the verb σέβομαι (sebomai), “feel awe, scruple, be ashamed”. Sebastos was the Greek translation of the title Augustus, which was used for Roman emperors. Sebastian became a widely used name because it was the name of Saint Sebastian, a third century Christian martyr.Saint Sebastian in Ilpendam North-Holland.

Interesting, right? Anyways, aside from what I’ve written above, there seems to be no other information about the band. The CD seems very had to find but who knows, maybe it’s easy to grab one at a record store in Prague still? I haven’t had any lucky finding any of the band members. And even less luck finding any sort of other releases by the band. Listening to this soothing record I start questioning again how the music crowd works, what if Sebastians had been British? I’m sure I’d find their album on ebay or amazon, Im sure they’d be remembered and would have played a reunion gig already. That’s how it is. The way of the world.

If anyone has any more information about the band, or how I can get a copy of their Blue album, please let me know!

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Listen
Sebastians – Am I The One

Some days ago I got a couple of mix CDs from Satomi, one of the members of the Twee Grrrls gang from Japan, and before part of the Remember This club (whose setlists should make them the best indiepop club in the world ever). Actually these two CDs were given away at the Remember This club. One on the 9th edition of the club and the other on the 10th anniversary of it. I believe both nights happened in 2008. Anyhow, I’m thrilled and very thankful to receive new music, especially obscure tracks from the 80s that I have never before heard of!

I’m quite busy these days to write new interviews but will try to keep updating the blog with short posts – short for my standards – about “lost bands” ready to be (re)discovered. So, as I will do some research on the bands on these mix CDs, I thought sharing whatever I find here on the blog. Sounds good?

First track on the #9 CD is a track called “Wishing” by the band New English. It’s a lovely upbeat track, full of trumpets and pa-pa-pas, not much in the style of classic C86 but more in the vein of bands like A Craze, Friday Bridge or Big Outdoor Type. How do you call that style? I like to call that kind of music neo-aco, though I know for the Japanese that is a much broader term!! So what could New English mean? Let’s check on our dear Wikipedia:

The Old English (Irish: Seanghaill, meaning “old foreigners”) were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries. Some were dispossessed in the political and religious conflicts during and after the Tudor conquest of Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries, largely due to their continued adherence to the Roman Catholic religion. The so-called New English otherwise known as the settlers of the Protestant Ascendancy had largely replaced them by 1700. (…) the New English, that wave of settlers who came to Ireland from England during the Elizabethan era onwards as a result of the Tudor conquest of Ireland, kept their English identity, as well as their English religious, social, and cultural traditions, and, unlike the Normans and the Old English, remained distinct from the native Irish and Old English, at least for the first few generations. The new settlers were more self-consciously English, and were largely (though not entirely) Protestant, and most looked on Ireland as a conquered country that needed to be “civilised” and converted to Anglicanism.

I wonder if they had any Irish connection?

This song, “Wishing”, was actually released in a compilation LP called “Expose It!” which is terribly hard to find! The last time it was up for bids on Ebay in 2008(!) it went for 120 dollars. That because this compilation included also a song by a band called “No Man is an Island” (they later changed the band name to No-Man) which is a pre-Porcupine Tree band that featured Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness. That song was called “Screaming Head Eternal” and was recorded on the first day of these two guys working together. Ok. This doesn’t sound important to me, as far as I know Porcupine Tree is not something I enjoy listening, but I guess there are many crazy fans willing to pay this price for their first ever recording! I guess it makes sense, I know some people paying crazy money for Sea Urchins and the like.

Well, back to the compilation. It was released by a label called GI Records (catalog number GILP002) and it states that it features material from bands that were local to the Oxford area. So yeah, probably no Irish connection. The other bands in this compilation were: Passion of Ice, Bordello, Gadgets, Pows, Revolution, Kick Ass, Cybernauts, Tall Americans, Sinister Family and The Keatons. The only one I know is of course the last one, The Keatons. Wonder if any of the rest of  the bands played guitar pop! The LP was released in 1988 and was priced 4.99 pounds!

So here comes the surprise, on the black and white sleeve it does say that the band was from a place called Oxshott, in Surrey. South from Oxford, even further south than London! An interesting fact of this place is that it is situated in London’s stockbroker belt and the area consequently has some of the highest property prices in the UK – it was voted as the most expensive suburb to live in, by the Daily Telegraph on 26 December 2007 and, in 2010, they called it “the village with most footballers” in England. A very strange place for underground music to flourish!!

As always, if anyone know anything else about New English please share, I’d love to hear any other facts or even more songs if possible!

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Listen
New English – Wishing

It’s been the busiest week so far this year. I’m kind of glad it’s over, though I still have a couple of projects to work on. Freelance work. The bright side is that things are shaping up and I may be able to go to Indietracks after all. The lineup is 30% or so up to my taste but I’m sure the next announcements will win me over. Anyways, Indietracks is more than just bands, it’s the community, it’s the atmosphere and of course the warm beer. It’s what indiepop is all about. So who cares what bands play. It’s going to be phenomenal either way.

The good news this week is the release of The Sunny Street’s sophomore effort “Hidden by Decades”. We’ve released it under the Plastilina imprint. We are very proud of this album and hopefully you’ll get a copy in your hands soon. You know how much I love them, they are among my best friends, so it’s just very heartwarming to be able to finally put this out. On top of that, Americans will get the rare treat to see them play live at the NYC Popfest next month. Oh! And I think Rémi is playing some acoustic songs at the train at Indietracks. Not to be missed!

Staying with Plastilina Records, I can confirm too that The Sound of Starke Adolf Vol. 1 compilation will be out May 1st. This is probably my most ambitious project up to date on the label. I try to document the great Swedish underground scene of the early 2000s. I plan 2 more volumes, which I can’t wait to start working on them. This first volume includes Action Biker, Dorotea, Strawberry Fair, Nixon, and more. Pre-order now as I think this one will go fast!

On the Cloudberry side, I’ve been working a bit on the fanzine and on the CD that will come with it. The “pink” fanzine will include interviews to The Garlands (who grace the cover), Very Truly Yours, Gold-Bears, Persian Rugs, Strega and My Laundry Life. The CD is titled “There is Peace in the Surging Prow” and the cover star is Rita Tushingham. One of the songs included will be “Fishing for Moonlight” from a new band from Canada called Sleuth. I recommend heading to their bandcamp and listen to some more songs by them. They are really ace. You can order their songs on tape too. Other confirmed bands on the CD are Very Truly Yours and Persian Rugs. Also, if you haven’t noticed yet, you can check the tracklist and the artwork  for the upcoming 7″ by Very Truly Yours. I’m hoping it will be out in July or August as the latest. And coming after is the long awaited debut and goodbye 7″ by Alingsås’ Youngfuck with the tracks “Black Tulips” and “204,7”. On the merch side, I have plans to print new t-shirts and finally some tote bags this summer. So keep your eyes peeled.

But now let’s get into indiepop mystery solving mode. Anyone know anything about The Jerks? I got in touch once with them through their myspace and asked them to do an interview with me. I sent them questions but never heard from them again. A shame really. Would have loved to learn more from them.

I have been a fan, for some years now, of a song of theirs called “Waterskin”. This track appeared on the Kite tape that was released in 1989. Jangly perfection! I hear this track appeared on their 3rd demo tape. It’s just a great track: chiming guitars, heartfelt vocals, and great lyrics! That was the first clue for the indiepop detective in me. Next stop was their Myspace page. First things I notice is that they sometimes dropped the “The” from their name, they took lots of photos of themselves, and they made some Jerks t-shirts. I’d love to own one!

There are some great tracks on their player, all I assume unreleased: “Beyond the Pale”, “Across the Sun”, “Clean”, “Happy Comedown”, “King of the Wild Banjos (Live)”, Life Slips By (live)”, “Manmade” and “The Lens (live)”. I listen to them time after time today and I get that dream (that comes back to me all the time) of releasing compilations of long lost bands on beautiful digipacks with lots of photos and memorabilia. Though of course, reality comes back immediately, and I wonder if there are more than 100 people interested in such a thing.

So they were from Oldham, north of Manchester. It seems Oldham rose to prominence during the 19th century as an international centre of textile manufacture. It was a boomtown of the Industrial Revolution, and among the first ever industrialised towns, rapidly becoming “one of the most important centres of cotton and textile industries in England”. At its zenith, it was the most productive cotton spinning mill town in the world, spinning more cotton than France and Germany combined. Oldham’s textile industry began to fall into decline during the mid-20th century, and its last mill closed in 1998.The demise of textile processing in Oldham depressed the local economy. Today Oldham is a predominantly residential town, and a centre for further education and the performing arts. It is, however, still distinguished architecturally by the surviving cotton mills and other buildings associated with that industry. The town’s population is of 103,544. Do you think they still live there?

I just saw a flyer online where it says they played along Spacemen 3 and Inspiral Carpets on the 4th of September 1987 at The Hurricane Club in Oldham. Does this place ring a bell to anyone?  Or what about Butterflies? It seems they played there as well.

Next clue. On Last.fm there’s a small bio saying: Oldham-based indie band active in the late 80s and early 90s, no releases of their own except self-released cassettes, tracks included on compilations include “Didn’t Quite Make It” and “Waterskin.” Changed singer and became Rubber Orange. Then I find the Manchester District Archives website were there’s another bio: Oldham band. Line-up: John Reed – Vocals, Guitar, Lee ‘Drany’ Dransfield – Guitar, Warren Wrigley – Bass, David ‘Dids’ Gill – Keyboards, Andy Price – Drums. Before Andy Price joined the ubiquitous Chris Goodwin played drums for them for some time. Several demo tapes recorded at The Mill by Clint Boon. ‘Waterskin’ released on the compilation tape ‘Kite’ and ‘Didn’t Quite Make It’ released on the Bop/Joe Bloggs compilation Hit The North. After John Reed left Lee Severin from Too Much Texas replaced him and they replaced their set, soon afterwards changing their name to Rubber Orange.

A quick search for Rubber Orange and I stumble upon their myspace. A nice discovery! I’m enjoying their songs. But  then again it’s been a while since anyone logged in. But wait, there’s a myspace for “Dranny” who was part of The Jerks.And he seems to have logged in not so long ago. Wonder if he’ll solve this indiepop mystery! Would be so great to learn more about the band and finally interview them. And why not, listen to more songs by The Jerks! The ones available to stream are fantastic!

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Listen
The Jerks – Waterskin