Trollhättan is the 23rd-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Trollhättan Municipality, Västra Götaland County. It is situated by Göta älv, near the lake Vänern, and has a population of approximately 50,000 in the city proper. It is located 75 km (46 mi) north of Sweden’s second-largest city, Gothenburg.

Spring Johnny! which means Run Johnny! in Swedish, hailed from that town, Trollhättan, the 23rd largest of the country. What does Trollhättan means? Yes, it means troll’s hat. Great name for a city.

Something really surprising is that their website, which I believe was last updated in 2010 and was probably created around 2006, still works.

Here there is the band’s discography.

The first release was an EP called “…och Johnny Sprang”. On this 2006 release the band included five songs, “Maria, Du Måste Höra“, “Riksväg 45 Blues“, “Du & Jag En Gång Till“, “Släpp Mig Fri Nr.2” and “35th & Nine”. The EP received nice reviews from TV4 in Göteborg and from Annika from Hello Saferide.

The band released “Den Stora Uppgörelsen” the following year. It was released as a CD digipak and was recorded at DP Studios. Mixed and mastered by Mikael Mellberg. This EP was a bit shorter, four songs, “Några Ord På Ett Papper”, “Trollhättan City Nights”, ” Den Stora Uppgörelsen” and “Ikväll, Imorgon & Allt Efter Det”. The photos on the album are credited to Jonis Bader while the design to Martin Gustafsson.

Lastly the band released a single, on Myspace as a digital one, including two songs, “Största Skvallret i Stan” and “Väntar”. These songs were recorded in M15 Sonics between he 14 and the 16 of September 2007.

The band was formed by Olle Aronsson on guitar, vocals and harmonica, Eric Karlsson on bass, Oscar Persson on drums, Johan Rosén on keyboards and Kalle Widén on guitar and backing vocals. When the band played live sometimes they were joined by Niklas Bryngelsson on percussion, Elin Bogren on violin and Stina Widén on saxophone.

The band played live too. We know they played at the Club Ramaskri at Kontiki, London Gossip at Henriksberg and also at the Prison in Gothenburg. They also played at the Fairfest in Vänersborg and the Turbin festival in their own Trollhättan.

We learn that at some point Kalle and Oscar left the band to study. I believe Joel Edin played guitar and Fredrik Forsberg replaced them at gigs.

Also mentioned is a recording session where they were working on three songs which I believe remain unreleased, “Kungarna av Bitterljuvt Slut”, “Blåögd Orkan”, “Tolv Dagar (Inte Mer)”.

“Blåögd Orkan” would appear on a compilation CD released by the Groove Magazine in 2008 called just “CD 4 2008”. The song “Merkuri” would appear on “Marckänning – Tribute Till Peter LeMarc” on a CD released by SI Studio the same year with covers of this singer songwriter who was also from Trollhättan.

Johan Rosén seems to be still involved with music. He has collaborated with artists like Olivia Lundberg and David Nilsson as well as releasing 3 solo albums. He has also played in the band Dandelion Tree Band.

In 2018 the Västerås Tidning wrote an article showcasing Kalle Widén as a guitar educator. It mentions a solo album to be released by Kalle that year. That he was also in the bands Snook and Sugarplum Fairy and in total he has appeared in over 15 records, as a band member or as a producer.

Lastly a good find, a video of the band playing live at Sticky Fingers in Göteborg.

Do you remember Spring Johnny!? Anything else we should know about them?

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Spring Johnny! – Ikväll, Imorgon & Allt Efter Det

Thanks so much to Matthew Mastin! I wrote about the band Spalding’s Grey not too long ago after discovering their music on Youtube. It was a total mystery to me. It sounded like it was from the 80s. It sounded British. To my very big surprise the band was contemporary, current. And it was based in the U.S. and to top it all, it was just one person behind it. But that was not all. I knew Matthew. We had emailed many times thanks to Cloudberry Records and our love for indiepop music. We had shared songs and ideas. So it was a true pleasure to interview Matthew and discover his music!

++ Hi Matthew! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Quite the surprise that you were behind this project. How long have you been making music under this name?

Thanks so much Roque, yes sure thing wow so happy you found the track on Youtube channel. I am well and just can’t believe Spalding’s Grey has been mentioned on your blog and had a link on Twee.net. It looks like I first used this band name on an email in 2021.

++ So we’ve been in touch for many years, and I had no clue you made music. We traded songs and info on bands and so on. Do tell me how did you get into indiepop?

Yes I have been a long time fan of Cloudberry from very beginning and remember trying to get the 3″ cdrs before they sold out – which was fast- there are still a few I missed out on… so much good stuff!! It has been really cool speaking with you through the years and trading files and cdrs. I still have 3 cdrs you made me with 1 being unreleased Cloudberry demos, which to this day have not shared with anyone, honest lol…. I would say the first true indiepop experience I had was in ’92. Before then, I had records on Creation and the Stone Roses album, but was not as enamored as I would be once I heard Sarah records and The Field Mice… that was life changing. I had a tape that I had recorded songs on from the college radio station, and I was going to tape over it. Before I was going to tape over it, I gave it one last listen and heard something that was one of those times when your like oh man what is this … Five Moments.

++ Let’s go further back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what your first instrument was? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen to at home while growing up?

My Dad was in the navy and bought me a mini Casio keyboard in Japan when I was five. I learned how to play the entertainer, when someone showed me how at one of those old piano stores in the mall. Later I learned trumpet in middle school band and wish more than anything I kept playing it, but quit band to spend more time breakdancing with friends.. For my 16 birthday , my dad bought me an acoustic guitar and later gave me his banjo. When I was young I could hear the mystery in Fleetwood Mac and then the Pretenders were the first group I really heard with jangly guitars , still one of all time favorites.

++ Had you been in other bands before Spalding’s Grey?

Yes, my friend Ben and I had a group call Harbour Landing in early 2000s , recorded on Tascam 4 track. Ben then moved to west coast and kept trying to play my own music under the name Despressing Diary and then changed name again to Eckardt.

++ And what made you play solo, have you considered having a full band?

My buddy Ben has always been part of the group through his feedback. My wife Lisa will occasionally sing on some the tracks also. It would be awesome make proper band and change name to the Hopsacks one day !

++ Where are you from originally? I remember you were in Georgia, but now you are in North Carolina?

I am originally from Riverside, CA, grew up in Northern Virginia , and moved to GA in 91. After living in Atlanta area , we moved to Greenville SC and then finally to Wake Forest , NC. Greenville is an awesome place, but just didn’t belong there.

++ How is your town indiepop-wise? Are there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores?

The Connells are based around the Wake Forest area – Boylan heights is a road close to here – they are classic indiepop in my opinion ! It is also close to Merge records who I don’t know but saw Superchunk at 9:30 club in ‘92. I have been to a few good record stores in NC, but not as awesome as Atlanta and Athens GA shops. Wax n facts and Criminal records in Atlanta are where I found my first Sarah records.

++ What instruments do you play in the band?

I have a Fender strat , Akai mini midi, Zoom R-24 interface, and Logic Pro.

++ How is the creative process for you? Where do you usually practice?

I tend to go with New Orders process – jam a bit with some improvisation and then pick out best parts to format a song with… also just try to place same chords as Brighter , Field mice, and Another sunny day as often as possible! It is really the best to just let whatever flow and not try at all. I also like Jen Lekman’s concept of recording 100 songs, and if one is good, it is all worth it… must trust the process. All recordings are bedroom , either onto Zoom R24 or Mac Logic Pro.

++ What about influences?

Sarah Records and Television Personalities

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

I always like band name that implied feeling blue … like Ocean blue , Blueboy , Sunny gets Blue , and thought hey what about feeling Grey. I also really love the band Veronica Lake and seemed like a good way to use a person’s name for a band.

++ Are you a fan of the actor Spalding Rockwell Gray? Do you have a favourite movie perhaps?

Yes ! A long time ago a roommate and I rented a Spalding Gray movie and just loved it , and thought it was hilarious. I can’t find the name of it now , but he was moving to a new house and was dealing with all this funny contractor stuff

++From what I understand you have made quite a few songs, bu you upload them to Youtube, and then some time later you delete them. Why is that? Why not keep them online?!

I have a YouTube channel under an old employee ID 1832498 and have posted rare c86 indiepop stuff there from obscure bands like June Evenings , Lollypops, August Spies , etc. but would only keep tracks online for short time. I guess one of my favorite things about music is how fleeting the whole thing can be. Like those sold out Cloudberry releases .. so amazing and now unavailable! Such a beautiful song , but not easy to ever hear it … that longing for sold out releases and how awesome it is to eventually hear it one day. I got into that habit of deleted most of the songs I would post, to not have everything in the world online. I also like checking out bands that don’t already have 10 albums worth of songs … I like to have just a few good songs here and there for that reason.

++ How many songs would you say you have recorded?

Around 1,000

++ Is there a list of songs you have recorded that you could share? And which is the oldest one, when did you start making these songs?

These 1000 songs started around 2021. There was a first digital EP called “Demos that suck and no one will listen to in a million years “ . This EP has a song called Pine Circle , which is still one of my all time favorites. I don’t have a list , but a lot of the deleted videos are still on my phone . I will put some back on YouTube if you can be so kind to please check them out … I will leave them online and not remove them this time lol

++ Have you thought releasing them in any format? If you could choose a format, what would it be?

It would be awesome to do a cdr like those 2000s Swedish cdrs that would only play a few times and then not be readable by cd player a month later.

++ Has there been any interest from labels at any point?

Not really , but that is fine

++ You know I was very confused by the sound of the band, to me it sounded 80s, early 90s. Quite surprised that it is current. Why did you choose to make music with this sound? Was it challenging? Or it came naturally?

I mostly listen to old stuff and use vintage drum machine sounds … the most challenging is EQ and mixing usually sounds terrible. I keep trying to improve that , thus all the songs that get deleted because the sound is very amateurish. The songs I try to play are just a rip off of Brighter… I love their songs so much and just want to hear more. I hope to one day do a song that is close to that. Like Frank Zappa , just have to pick up the guitar and do it myself.

++ My favourite song of yours is “100 Years No One Noticed”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Thanks so much for liking this song !!!! You have the best taste in jangly stuff , so I could not be more happy that it is your favorite. I just happened across that song title when looking at Hit Parade In Gunnersberry Park on google. I am always trying to find a song title besides “baby come back” type of things. I recorded that song this past Memorial weekend before going out of town. I read a lot of guitar theory books, and was practicing the tone targeting solo technique. It is not always easy to tell if a song is good when you first record it , most the time not so good when I listen to a track a week later … but could tell I liked that one and so glad you like it too , thanks again seriously could not be more grateful.

++ If you were to choose your favorite Spalding’s Grey song, which one would that be and why?

There is another really old song called Everythings that I put on YouTube and some guy said it was hilariously aweful and to never play it for record executives. I just love the song and will probably always be my favorite for how sincere it is despite actually being aweful.

++ What about gigs? Have you played live at all?

Not yet , would be really cool one day hopefully… would be great to be opening act and play for just a few people that showed up early.

++ And has there been any attention from the press online? Or was my blog post the first one?

You are the very first !!

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

Cats , cooking , reading, and am a tv junkie big time … and sleeping!

++ Was once in North Carolina, in Charlotte, but I want to ask someone that lives there. What do you suggest checking out in your town, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

It is funny but do know know the area I live very well. We lived in Greenville SC for a few years and figured out everything there, it is a really beautiful place. But when we moved to NC was just kind happy to stay home and walk around the lake across the street. Also after working in downtown Atlanta for 20 years, I am content to stay home. If you are ever in Atlanta, Alibaba’s is best falafel ever !!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Just a huge thanks to you and Clouldberry records, so much good stuff and don’t even get me started on the Cake Kitchen releases. Thanks so much for all the great releases and files we have shared!!

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Spalding’s Grey – 100 Years Not One Noticed

Weymouth, Massachusetts, that’s where I’m heading today. Back in time. To the early 2000s.

“”This is Sour” – Lemon Peel” (RORA-14) is the name of the only album Awesome Animal Ambulance released. It came out on CD in 2003 on a label called Aurora Seven Records that was based too in the same city. I was familiar with this label thanks to The Snow Fairies, but didn’t know many of the other bands. So discovering some of it now. Very cool.

Awesome Animal Ambulance was formed by David Conway on guitar and bass, Josh Smith on guitar, synth and vocals, Robert Roman on synth, vocals and drum machine and Tina Randall on vocals.

The 9 songs on the album were recorded at the Shop in Weymouth and were engineered by Jerry MacDonald and Alison Gordon. Mixed by Jerry too and mastered by Brian Doser.

The songs were “This is Awesome Animal Ambulance”, “Grover Cleveland”, “Count on Us”, “Operation Kitty”, “Hunting Season Behind the Wheel”, “Thank You for Listening”, “Hurrah! Hurrah!”, “Count on Us (Demo version)”, “Mr. McBasil and the Lady of Duke; Francis”.

The album had lovely lovely artwork by Suzy Coady. You wonder how come the band didn’t release more records. I remember playing this quite a lot back in the day.

The band also contributed songs to two compilations, but they are album songs. So “You Can Count on Us” is on “Aurora Seven 7″ Sampler” (RORA-007) released by Aurora Seven in 2001. Then “Operation Kitty” was on “Clouds and Balloons, Vol. 1 – The Search for Skull Island” that Asaurus Records (ASA035) released in 2004.

Looking at the band members, I see that David and Tina were also on Panda Squad who also released records on Aurora Seven. Josh Smith had been in the punk group The Glow from Boston.

And what are they doing now? Did they continue making music? Would be great to find out.

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Awesome Animal Ambulance – Count On Us

Chris Gervais (drums and percussion), Kevin Colgan (guitar and backing vocals), Jesse Gordon (bass and backing vocals) and Edwin Paroissien (lead vocals, guitar) where The Reds. They were based in the Boston area in the U.S. They were pretty young at the time. They were between 16 and 17 years of age. It was the late 80s. And they were making some fine guitar pop!

Chris has a Soundcloud account where he has songs for two of his bands, The Reds (1987-1989) and The Nasties (1997-2000).

For The Reds, we find a bunch of recordings.

The band’s first music recordings come from November 13, 1987, at Downtown Studios in Northampton, Massachusetts. Songs from that time include “The Human Box”, “Death”, “Marina”, “Niki” and “Things You Cannot See”.

Also the band recorded some songs on February 16, 1988, at Loudville Studios in Westhampton, Massachusetts. These are “Boxes”, “I Used to Know the Way”, “Need You”, “The Boys” and “I Do”.

There also is a group of songs recorded on a four-track Tascam with a few microphones, one of them even taped to Chris’ chest. These songs were recorded on Jesse’s garage on July 22, 1988. The songs are “She Told Me”, “Marina” and “Martha’s Kitchen”.

There’s a bunch of songs that were recorded at Loudville Studios, on December 26, 1989. These songs are “The Human Box”, “Fantasyworld”, “Waiting”, “I Fall” and “Marina”.

I look for more info. I find an Edwin Paroissien now based in Portland, Oregon, being a mixing engineer. Could be him, right?

Kevin Colgan, seems to have passed away sadly. There is a Soundcloud account of the music he was involved with. Looks like he also moved to Portland at some point. But he was based in Northampton in the late 80s, finishing Northampton High School in 1990. After that he moved to Los Angeles. Quite interesting though that it confirms that The Reds was a high school band! They were so young!

About Jesse Gordon, I found out that he may have been involved with a band called Dealbreaker.

Other than that, not much info about the band online. Did they get to play live much being underage and all? Anyone remembers them?

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The Reds – I Used to Know the Way

Here is a band called Popfish. Not sure where they are from, but do know they were playing and recording around 1987 and 1988. There’s a Soundcloud by them.

The songs have no description either. But there are quite a few. Some are rockier, but then there are the indiepop ones that are really enjoyable. The songs here are: “Man on My Shoulder”, “Baby’s Lost Her Head”, “It’s Up To You”, “Up and Down”, “Black on Eyebrows”, “Two Heads (dub)”,”Drop Me in to Wood”, “Sometimes”, “Sugar Candy Kissing”, “New Song”, “I Don’t Love You”, “The Pixe Song”, “Two Heads (double dub)” and “Man in My Bed.”

There may be even more songs. As there is a request for sharing more songs by them.

Then there are reposts of songs by someone called Philby Dollystone. I doubt that’s really the name of someone. But there is a Soundcloud. Though no more information is available.

If I was to guess I’d say the band was British. But that’s all I can say about them. The information is nonexistent online. It is strange though, for a band that recorded many songs. At least, you’d imagine you’d find from which city/town they were from.

Hoping some readers do remember them, or even better, if the band gets in touch!

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Popfish – The Pixe Song

A bit bittersweet to mention again the superb compilation tape “Everlasting Happiness” that my friend Andreas Hering put together back in 1991 when he was in his hometown of Worms, Germany. That tape is indeed a favourite as it included bands like Nine Steps to Ugly, the Ammonites, Spinning Wheels, The Mayfields, even Shine! who I released a retrospective CD. All of the bands and songs are really good. Many of them I have showcased in the blog. Today I want to write about the very obscure Baldwin’s Casuals who appear last in the tape, the 26th song, the 12th song on the B side.

The song they contributed was “She’s Out of My Mind”. It is an interesting song, it is not upbeat, it is mysterious, it is haunting. Is it a band? Is it just one person? Who would know. Sadly Andreas is not around to ask him. I wonder why I never did. So many questions, so many emails and answers through the years. What knowledge.

The recording is lo-fi. Sounds like a bedroom band of the 80s. Recorded on a 4-track? Possibly. There’s vocals and a guitar. That’s all.

I look for more information. There seems to be a band called Nearly Dan that play Steely Dan covers. But it says they were around in 1995 and played many Steely Dan songs even then. First I can’t see whoever is playing “She’s Out of My Mind” doing Steely Dan covers. Second the timeframe doesn’t match. The compilation tape “Everlasting Happiness” is from 1991. Baldwin’s Casuals would be late 80s or early 90s.

What about the curious name? Yeah I thought about that. It is related to the British TV programme Coronation Street: “Baldwin’s Casuals was a factory on Coronation Street which was in production as a denim factory from 1976 to 1989, when it was demolished for redevelopment work of that side of the street. The property was originally built in 1971 and used as a warehouse, the Mark Brittain Warehouse, but after a fire in 1975, the premises was refurbished and turned into a denim factory once Mike Baldwin, a London businessman bought it. “

Interesting name. Interesting band. I wonder if the band was from Scotland. Andreas loved Scotland, and I wouldn’t be surprised that he found them somehow on a demo tape, or had some connections to them.

Anyone have a clue?

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Baldwin’s Casuals – She’s Out of My Mind

In 2018 the Japanese label Fastcut Records released a much deserved, a much awaited, retrospective of the 90s indiepop band Sunny Gets Blue. This Japanese band formed by  Ryotaro Abe on vocals, piano, guitar and harmonica, Toru Fukuda on guitar, Takashi Togawa on bass and Eiji Miyauchi on drums released just two records back in their day and appeared on many compilations.

The first release I am aware is a split CD with another legendary Japanese band, Sunnychar (who I should write about sometime soon). It was titled “Teenage Speedster on Sunny Monday Morning” and came on a mainly red sleeve with a red race car. On this 13-track CD, 8 of the songs were from Sunny Gets Blue. The first 5 were by Sunnychar.

The tracks by Sunny Gets Blue on this 1994 CD released by Pushbike Records (UFPB-008) were “Vespa 125et3”, “S.S.J.”, “Funny Weekends”, “Girlfriend”, “At the Brilliant Corners”, “Sometimes, I Remember”, “This Feeling (Demo)” and “Vespa 125et3”.

The band would release another record that year, a tape called “Ducks and Drakes”. It came out in the Japanese label Chocolat Art Records (CA-004) and included 6 tracks, 3 on each side. These were “Riding on the Motorcycle”, “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”, “Haven’t We Met”, “Bye Bye Mr. Raindrop”. “Convertible in Almond Blue” and “Hours and Times”.

As mentioned too, the band appeared on many compilations. So in 1993 they appear with “I Go Down to the Sea” on the CD comp “See-See-You, Tomorrow !!” released by Pushbike. That same year, and again on Pushbike, they have the song “In My Heaven – All These Friends and Lovers” on the CD “Happy Day, Happy Time!! Pushbike Compilation Vol. 2”. Lastly their song “Riding on the Motorcycle” appears on the cassette comp “We Don’t Need Another Hero” released by Haarnadel.

In 1994 they have the song “Boy Should Go!” in Pushbike and Chocolat Art co-released CD “The Cacaos Like Hotcakes”. In 1995 they have “Les Adventuriers” on “Fancy Fantasy! Gian-Robot Compilation Vol.2” released by Giant-Robot Records and also the track “At The Brilliant Corners” on the Pushbike comp “Good Thing Goin’ Pushbike Compilation Vol. 4”.

1996 has “Riding on the Motorcycle” on “Cherries and Sunny Days” an Italian compilation tape released by Shiny Sunset.

Then much closer to these days, in 2007 they have “At The Brilliant Corners” on the four-CD compilation “Love Flowers: Under Flower Nation 15th Anniversary Compilation” released by Under Flower Records (this was the parent label of Pushbike). And then in 2022 Testcard Records included their song “Haven’t We Met” on “Under Flower Fes Compilation”.

As mentioned Fastcut made a compilation of their songs. One that included a CD and a 7″. The good thing is that the songs on the 7″ are on the CD. I really dislike when that is not the case. The compilation was called “At the Brilliant Corners” and had the catalog number FCEP-026.

The tracks on the record were: “S.S.J.”, “Funny Weekends”, “Girlfriend”, “At the Brilliant Corners”, “Sometimes, I Remember”, “This Feeling (Demo)”, “Boy Should Go!”, “I Go Down to the Sea”, “Marinegirl”, “Riding on the Motorcycle”, “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush”, “Haven’t We Met”, “Bye Bye Mr. Raindrop”, “Convertible in Almond Blue” and “Hours and Times”.

Looking for more info, I figure out that their name probably comes from a famous pop and jazz standard called “When Sunny Gets Blue” that was first recorded by Johnny Mathis in 1956.

The one other cool thing that I fund was this video of Ryotaro at the Neo Acoustic Pavilion vol. 44 about a year ago, on August 3 of 2025. Here he DJed and also played a mini live setlist where he played two Sunny Gets Blue songs, “Back to You” and “This Feeling” as well as a cover of “Big Bad Bingo” by Flipper’s Guitar.

Very cool! Hope we get to learn more about this classic band!!

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Sunny Gets Blue – Riding on the Motorcycle

Probably named after Monsieur and Madame Verdurin, the prominent bourgeois couple and salon hosts, from Marcel Proust’s novel In Search of Lost Time, Verdurin only released one 7″ as a band. Which is a shame.

The band formed by Olivier Roussilhe on vocals, guitar, bass and keys, Emmanuel Fillon on drums and Sophie Mercier on flute, released “Sur La Moquette” 7″ in 1997 on the French label Plastic Pancake (Plastic Pancake 003). This record had just three songs, “Sur La Moquette” on the A side and “Mademoiselle De Ponsac” and “Dans un Pouf” on the B side. The songs were recorded by Benoit Cubaynes.

Plastic Pancake of course being the label of Pierre-Antoine Delpino, someone I used to see a lot at Indietracks, back in the day…

I have to look of course who is Mademoiselle de Ponsac. There doesn’t seem to be one. There’s one de Polignac. Is there a town Ponsac then? There isn’t. there exists an ancient medieval town and commune in the Haute-Vienne department called Châteauponsac which historically was called Ponsac-la-Montagne. Could that be?

We also know that Olivier was previously in a band called Lol that reeleased an EP in 1994 called “Gombrowicz EP”. Would love to hear this one. The other two members don’t seem to have any other bands listed on Discogs.

On the blog there is one mention of Olivier, on the interview I did with Fabien Garcia about his old band Caramel. He mentions Olivier recorded their first demo.

I find a blog post from 2024 on the blog Haar Brut. Here the cover art is discussed, if it is a screen capture of Olivier Assayas’ film Irma Vep. That Jean-Pierre Léaud and maybe Maggie Cheung are pictured.

We also learn that the band hailed from Toulouse. How cool. I really liked this city when I visited it last year.

And that’s really all I could find about them. Anyone remembers them? Are there more songs recorded? Did they play live much? Who’d know!

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Verdurin – Sur la Moquette

Spalding Rockwell Gray (June 5, 1941 – c. January 11, 2004) was an American actor and writer. He is best known for driving autobiographical monologues that he wrote and performed for theater in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as for his film adaptations of these works, beginning in 1987. He wrote and starred in several films, working with different directors.

Theater critics John Willis and Ben Hodges called Gray’s monologues “trenchant, personal narratives delivered on sparse, unadorned sets with a dry, WASP, quiet mania.” Gray achieved renown for his monologue Swimming to Cambodia, which he adapted as a 1987 film in which he starred; it was directed by Jonathan Demme. Other of his monologues that he adapted for film were Monster in a Box (1991), directed by Nick Broomfield, and Gray’s Anatomy (1996), directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Gray died by suicide at the age of 62 after jumping into New York Harbor on January 11, 2004. He had been struggling with depression and severe injuries following a car accident. Soderbergh made a documentary film about Gray’s life, And Everything Is Going Fine (2010). An unfinished monologue and a selection from his journals were published in 2005 and 2011, respectively.

This post is not about the actor, even though I’m using his photo. The post is about a band that took their name from the actor. It was called Spalding’s Grey. They modified the last name. Added an apostrophe. But who was behind this band? To me this is a big mystery.

I want to think the band dates from the mid late 80s. Or most possibly the early 90s. That’s where I place their sound. I’ve only heard the one song and is called “100 Years No One Noticed”. And it is premonitory. No one has noticed the band. It has flown under the radar and there’s nothing online about them.

Were they British? I want to think yes. It sounds to me British. But I can’t confirm. There are more questions than answers. So I hope someone remembers anything about then, any details, and I can start understanding a bit more this band.

EDIT: seems I got it all wrong, and they are not from the U.K. or the the 80-90s. But still, don’t know anything else by them. There is another very nice song online now called “Tell Time” for what is worth.

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Spalding’s Grey – 100 Years Not One Noticed

Tokidoki, the boy/girl duo formed by Nora O’Conner and Peter Schaefer, first release came in 1996. I didn’t know that. I was always only aware of their 2000 self-titled album on Sunday Records. I guess I should do my homework and do a little digging about them.

As mentioned, they released a 7″ EP in 1996 on the label Tiny Shoes Records. It was the first release on this label. The label was to release a 2nd record the year after by the English band The Pictures. I haven’t heard it. And I didn’t know about this label. The 90s are still a bit unknown to me.

The 7″ the band released was titled “Margie’s Candies” and included 5 songs, “Perfect New Love Song” and “Cookie Cutter” on the A side and “Girl Friend”, “Bored and Angry” and “Anymore” on the B side. Dave Knapik recorded the songs at WNUR-FM in December of 1995. I think he was behind the label too.

The band was to release a 2nd 7″. This time on the legendary Harriet Records. It was the “News Days” single (Harriet 041) that came out in 1997. The title song “News Days” was on the A side and “Sock Hop” and “The Goldfish Song” were on the flipside. This time the songs were recorded on a four-track in December of 1996 by Mike Kirts from the band Hooker OK.

In the year 2000 the band appears on the compilation “Sunny Sunday Smile Volume 2” (Sunday880) with the tracks “Pointless” and “Ira Robbins”.  I google Ira Robins, it seems this is a professor at Washington College of Law. Does that make sense? There is another Ira Robbins who is an artist and graphic designer. Maybe he’s the one the song is about? Or most probably Ira Robbins the editor and publisher of Trouser Press?

The album Tokidoki comes in the year 2000 with catalog number Sunday 895. It is a co-release, didn’t know that. Sky Blue Records is the other label involved (catalog Sky Blue 002). The songs are again recorded by Mike Kirts, and this time mixed by Jeff Boyd. The album has 12 songs, “Julie”, “Office Romance”, “New Quiet Song”, “Hairspray”, “Oranges in Paris”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Waiting for Ida”, “A Gentle Approach”, “Shirt Sleeves”, “You’re the One”, “50 Seconds” and “Dreamsongs”.

All of the album is available to listen on Sunday Records Bandcamp. This is great. What’s even better is that there is a bio for the band!

I believe this bio is written by Peter. He mentions being friends for years before forming the band. That they lived at the same dorm at college and worked at the college radio station. There they discovered indiepop. Previously Peter was in a punk-pop band called Remy while Nora played in Not Without My Daughter.

It mentions that the band first gig coincided with the release of their first 7″.  They played in a club in Chicago called Metro and opened for Sleater Kinney. Then they would open for the Apples in Stereo and Ida and play often in a club called the Lounge Ax everytime an indiepop band was visiting town.

Nora contributed vocals on the first Aden album. After starting their relationship with Harriet Records they were able to play in NYC, Boston, New Haven and more. There they shared gigs with The Receptionists, The Musical Chairs an Pest 5000.

Afterwards Nora moved to NYC, the band tried to keep playing, Peter flying to NYC and doing some gigs. But this didn’t continue for long and the band went to hiatus.

And what happened after? Not sure. I did find that the music from Remy, Peter’s old band, was reissued in 2018 by Carpark Records.

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Listen
Tokidoki – Office Romance