In the past I’ve written about quite a few bands that have appeared in the classic German compilation tape “Frischer Morgentau” that was released by Steinpilz Tonträger (Stein 1) in 1993. I’ve written about Die Wurzelsepps, Les Chaplinn’s, Friends Ahoi, Die Busfahrer, Moosblüten, Die Kupferschmiede, Fluffy Pillows and more. But there are still quite a few bands on that tape that up to this day remain a mystery to me. One of them is Black Cream who appear last on the tape with the twelfth song on the B side.

That song is called “Now, That I’m Gone” and it is really great. You wonder immediately where they were from. If German or maybe British. I can’t tell. I don’t have any other info about them. I know the cassette sleeve had some info about each band. And yes, up to this day I regret not getting a copy from Peter Hahndorf when I visited him in Breman ages ago. I didn’t like tapes then. Go figure. Peter, who is behind Twee.net, is the brother of Ulli Hahndorf who was behind the label Steinpilz Tonträger as well as compiling this tape.

Luckily Discogs has scans of all the tape booklet. There i find that the address for Black Cream is the same as for the label. Does it mean that this band was German? That it was Ulli behind this band? Ulli was also part of Moosblüten. It may as well be.

The little info that comes for Black Cream doesn’t reveals some interesting bits: “The song tells the story of someone leaving his lover from the point of view of the one walking away, instead of the typical perspective of the person who is left. The song was written 14 months ago after a concert of noise-pop band Resurface. Black Cream actually is no real band, it exists for this song only.”

So a one-off.

That’s sad. The song is great. At least I would love to find out if it was Ulli, or if it was someone else, behind this band.

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Listen
Black Cream – Now, That I’m Gone

I wrote time ago about Stephen’s Library and The Non Stop Kazoo Organization, the fine French bands, who featured Jacques Speyser. I eventually got in touch with Jacques but sadly never heard back about an interview we planned to do. So didn’t get up learning the details that perhaps would be good for this post.

Why? Because Les Molies was another of his projects. In this project he collaborated with Renaud Sachet who produced the first Stephen’s Library record. Renaud was also part of the band Buggy and Herzfeld Orchestra (where Jacques was also part of).

But that was not all. There were more people involved including Franck Marxer who was part of The Non Stop Kazoo Organization, Original Folks and Herzfeld Orchestra.

And there was also Jaqueline Yoesslé and Régine Yoesslé too in the band. Were they sisters?

One thing to mention though, their name appears as Les Mollies but also as Les Molies. What was the right way to write it?

Les Molies translates in English as The Mollies. What are mollies? They seem to be fish?

Poecilia sphenops, called the short-finned molly or common molly, is a poeciliid fish inhabiting freshwater streams, coastal brackish, and marine waters from Mexico to Colombia. The wild-type fishes are dull, silvery in color. The molly can produce fertile hybrids with many Poecilia species, most importantly the sailfin molly. The male mollies generally tend to be mildly aggressive.

In any case, the band released an album in their day. In 1994 the band released “Kumcat” as a CD on Cornflakes Zoo (Zoo 12). The album included twelve songs “Lucky Star”, “Speed Queen” (Etienne Greib from Temple Temple and Superdrug plays guitar in this track), “Beat of Your Heart”, “La Nuit Des Etoiles Filantes”, “Escalator”, “Stars Above”, “Summerside”, “Belong to You”, “Away”, “Yoyo Sista”, “Tell Me” and “Lucky Stars”.

The songs were recorded between August of 1993 and February of 1994 at Downtown Studio in Strasbourg by Didier Houbre (he also plays guitar on “Escalator” and Jew’s harp on “Summerside”). The art for the album was put together by Philippe Roure, the well known French designer.

The first appearance of the band happened in 1990 though. It was on “Heol Daou”, the legendary compilation tape released by Katiho (02). On this record comp the band contributed “It’s Playtime”.

Two years later, 1992, the band contributes the track “Smile” to “Whoops!” a compilation tape, released in France by Houpla (HOUPLA1). This compilation tape came with a booklet, I’ve never seen it, but maybe there are good details?

In 1993 the band has the track “Cha Cha Charlie” on “Ces Chères Têtes Blondes” which was a tape released by Cindie (CIN 01). The track the band recorded was an original by Pat Laureate from Melody Dog.

Les Molies would then appear on a triple 7″ compilation titled “The Onion Most Dangerous Game” in 1994. On this cool compilation released by Aliénor Records (Alien λ), the band had the last song and it was called “Bye Bye”. That same year the band contributed a track to “A Tribute to The Jesus and Mary Chain”. Their choice was “Jesus Sucks”. The compilation tape was released by Candy Chérie (001).

1995 sees the band appear on “Cosmic Shop”. This time as Les Molies, just one L. On this tape released in France by Paperplane (SC-02) the band has the song “Car Boot Sales”. Then that same year on the compilation “Bedroom Palace” on Lo-Fi Recordings (High2), another French label, the band has the track “J’en Ferais Bien Mon Quatre Heures”.

Then in 1997 the band has a track on a Spanish label. The compilation CD is called “U.F.O.logy.” and was released by Green UFOs (OVNI 003). Here the band had the track “Speed Queen”.

Lastly there is a compilation called “L’Éventail” that we don’t know when it was released. It came probably with a fanzine. The label listed for this tape is called Le Fanzine (060672FS) and hailed from France. The song Les Molies are credited for is called “Stars Above”.

And that’s really all we could find about this band. Wonder if we’ll find out more details later on.

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Listen
Les Mollies – It’s Playtime

Following the trail of stoneeyedkiller, I discover the Salford/Manchester band The Latest. He had shared the track “I Close My Eyes” on his Youtube channel and I was blown away!

I easily find the Soundcloud of Brian Larkin who now lives in Fahan, County Donegal, in Ireland. There I learn that he was behind this project. He was the bassist. That he was born in Salford in 1965 but grew up in Manchester. In the early 80s he had a band with his friends John McCann (vocals), Wayne Price (drums) and Chris Britton (guitar). That was The Latest. Then in 1989 he would leave England for Ireland.

On his Soundloud you will notice that he has done new recordings of the tracks of The Latest. The latest (pardon the pun) is actually a 2024 version of “I Close My Eyes“. It is nice, but I have to say that the version from Pluto Studios from 1986 is my favourite! From that same session there is another track called “Burned Out” which is as excellent.

I also read that “I Close My Eyes” was written by Brian and John McCann on lead vocals. This track helped the band win the battle of the band hosted by Piccadilly Radio. Winning that prize gave the band the opportunity to record the song in a 24 track studio with a guy that had worked on The Smiths first album.

There are a few other demos from the band. There is “The Sound of Corporation” and “Sale” dating from 1986. Songs are not separate, they are part of the same audio file, so just sharing one link. There is also another track called “I Confess” and maybe one track called “Damaged” (?) but it may just be that the file is damaged. I don’t have it clear. The sounds for these group of tracks is a bit different to the one of the first two songs.

Then there is a full gig of the band playing at Cloud 9 in Manchester on November 7th 1985. Sadly there is no tracklist to know the names of the songs being played but it is definitely worth the listen. Would have loved to be at that gig!

But that’s not the only gig shared, there is also one from June 22 of 1986 at the legendary Manchester venue The Boardwalk. Again no tracklist, but this is top music! So have a listen. At this gig the band was on the same bill as All Fall Down and The Danny Boys.

One thing I learn too is that Chris and Brian were Manchester United fans while John and Wayne were City fans. You can read a little bit more about how important was football for the band on Brian’s substack,

And that’s it. That’s what I could find about the band. Seems that Brian has updated his Soundcloud not too long ago, so hopefully we’ll learn more about the band soon. I read that the band had been reviewed by the NME, I wonder if it was a demo or a gig… I wonder too why they didn’t get to release any records… I wonder if we’ll find out!

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Listen
The Latest – I Close My Eyes

1987. An obscure demo tape is released in Leeds.

The band who puts it out are called the Midnight Children. They are a four-piece. They are formed by Jarnail Mudhar on guitars, vocals and keyboards, Neil Chadwick on guitar and backing vocals, Andrew Walsh on bass and John Hannan on drums.

One of the tracks from the demo appears on Soundcloud. On the account of a band called Hombre. There’s a photo of the band but there are only three of the band members there. Where’s the fourth?

There are no other tracks from this demo tape. Just the one. The one called “Night and Day”. It sounds really good. Does it remind me a bit to Brighter?

Behind the Soundcloud account is Jarnail. It seems he was in other bands too like HydraTroop and Fidei. The sounds of his other bands are nothing like the track by Midnight Children. They are rockier, darker, heavier. I wonder what happened?

Jarnail these days is the acting CEO at PATH Yorkshire. This is a charity that provides education, training and employment support to communities, rufugees and asylum seekers. Back in the day Jarnail had studied engineering at Leeds Poly. Maybe that’s where the band started? Or was it after his studies?

I want to think Neil Chadwick is the same Neil that plays in a covers band called Maloik these days. Could it be?

There’s an Andrew Walsh that was bassist for a Norfolk band called Cord. Could it be the same? Surely it is not Leeds, but it could still be the same Andrew, right?

About John Hannan I couldn’t find any details.

And that’s all there is. I am curious about other songs the band may have recorded. Would love to listen to them!

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Listen
Midnight Children – Night and Day

A Soundcloud account under the name of Urban Paranoia has two tracks of an 80s band called Split in Two. These tracks are “Chameleon Days” and “Falling Down”.

There is no information about the band. Who they were. Where were they from. When were they active. I say 80s, cause the sounds tells me they are from the 80s. But let’s see if I can find any information about them.

I believe the band hailed from the area around Walsall in the UK. And this blog post from Brown Hills Bob confirms the band being from that area and from that time period.

Here the author mentions that he had seen bands in the area including Split in Two.

He has shared a fanzine called “I Just Haven’t Named it Yet, Baby” where bands like The Mighty Lemon Drops or Julian Cope are featured. In this fanzine Split in Two are also featured.

This seems to have the best info I am going to get about the band. Here they mention some songs I didn’t know about called “Another Edge”, “Rosie” or “For a Day.” It is a small interview with the band members, there are no real names but their aliases I suppose. These are Kimbo, Way, Wut and Dez. So at least we know they were a four-piece.

An interesting little detail is that they say their songs had been played in Radio 5 in Durban and Radio Cape in Capetown and also some other radio stations in South Africa. How did their music get there? It seems they had written a song called “Each Day I Die” which is an anti-South Africa song?

Another song is mentioned, one called “Don’t Fall”. Their influences? They mention weird bands like Anthrax but also The Chameleons.

Lastly we get some names. It seems after the interview the band had some changes, guitarist Derek “Camouflage” Glynn left the band and Pelsoll Plucker replaced him.

Another mention here are some gigs the band played including at Knights in Lichfield, were the fanzine writer attended. A few more songs mentioned, “Monday Afternoon” and “Things that Happened Yesterday”. And that’s not all, some forthcoming gigs are posted, at Coach and Horses in West Bromwich,  J.B.’s in Dudley and Barrel Organ in Birmingham.

And that’s what I could find. A bit more than I expected! Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Split in Two – Falling Down

Philippe Katerine, the well known French musician, and Federico Pellegrini, the lead vocalist of the Little Rabbits (as well as other bands like French Cowboy & The One, Moon Gogo, Western, Dillinger Girl and “Baby Face” Nelson, etc.) had once recorded together under the name Les Deux Nigauds.

Probably took their name after a novel of the same name that was written by La Comtesse de Ségur and first published in 1863. The translation of the name, les deux nigauds, would be the two simpletons in English.

The first time I heard of the band was on the “Heol Daou” compilation tape that Katiho (02) released in 1990. In this classic French compilation, one that I have been looking closely and featuring bands lately, the band contributed 2 songs: “Madame Rose, La Poupée” and “Des Gens Qui Se Couchent Tôt”. But there is also an interesting detail here, the opening track of the tape is by Katerine and Federico Pellegrini and it is called “Dollies’ Collection”. Why did they use their names on the first track and not in the other two tracks?

What other information we could find about this band? I understand the band released a tape in those early 90s according to JetFM 91.2. I haven’t found a tracklist for it though.

On Les Inrockuptibles, there is a small interview with Federico but he doesn’t mention Les Deux Nigauds, the article writer just mentions the band as one of his earliest projects.

And that’s all there is sadly. I wonder then, who has that tape. What songs were in it. Did the Nantes band play much live? Would be great to find out more details about this early project of two well-known French musicians!

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Listen
Les Deux Nigauds – Des Gens Qui Se Couchent Tôt

A few days ago a New Jersey indiepop fan shared with me his discovery of a little known band from the UK: The Bed Bugs. At first I thought they were The Bedbugs, who I wrote about time ago. But no, these were different. Not only their name was different, with a space between bed and bugs, but they hailed from somewhere else in the UK, York.

The Bed Bugs were active between 1990 and 1995. They were formed by Gordon Doherty on vocals and guitar, Paul Banks on guitar, Dan Broadbent on drums and Nick Cooper on bass. It is mentioned that some slight lineup changes happened over the years, but I don’t have that detail.

Paul would then go to be in Shed Seven.

There is a nice little video with a history of the band here.

There are tons of songs uploaded to Youtube:

“Heart Attack“, “Mourning Has Broken” and “Silent Night” were part of the first cassette the band released. This tape was called “Dandelion Daze” and was recorded at IC Studios in Tollerton, York on July 23, 1991.

“Break Me“, “Catherine Wheel“, “Fence” and “Bogey Man Parts 1 & 2” were part of the band’s second cassette “Daisy’s Chains” that was recorded at IC Studios on March 1991.

The band’s third cassette was “Why Can’t Monsters Be Pretty?”. That tape that was also recorded at IC Studios, on July 1991, included “Sugar Plum“, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs“, “Sophie“, “Exorcist“, “Catherine Wheel Spinning“, “Scary Notion” and “You Can’t Call a Monster Arnold“.

“Argy Bargy“, “As Large as Life“, “Well to Do“, “Twisting” and “Shooting Stars” were part of the band’s fourth tape called “Shudder” which was recorded also at IC Studios on February 3, 1992.

“Fused“, “Exorcist” and “Catherine Wheel” were part of the “Fused EP” that was released on November 2nd, 1992. This EP had the first two songs recorded at Fairview Studios in Hull on August 14th while the third track was recorded at IC Studios in Tollerton on March 21st of that year. This EP was the one and only that was released on vinyl. It came out on T.S.D Records (B.Bug 1) and I should look to track it down!

On top of that there are unreleased tracks that were recorded at IC Studios like “Tongue Tied” that was recorded on March 21, 1992, “Blow” and “Libertine” on February 1st 1993, “Joyriders Manifesto” and “As Large as Life” on March 29, 1993, “Lovebite” on June 18, 1993, a rerecorded version of “Honeymoon Couple” and “Beggars Blanket” from January 25, 1994 and “Bogey Man” re-recorded on May 1st, 1994.

And then there are unreleased 4-track recordings. Here we find “Marbles“, “Falling Star“, “Heart Attack” from April 1, 1990, “Leeches“, “There is No Cure“, “Stand By Your Man” and a cover of The Stone Roses’ “She Bangs the Drums” also from 1990,

There are live tracks too of “Heart Attack“, “Break Me“, “Bogey Man” and “Open Wide (And Let Me In)” at the York Arts Centre from November 30, 1991.

A live gig, at the Bonding Warehouse in York, dating from March 6, 1992, sees the band play “Argy Bargy”, “Well to Do”, “Twisted”, “Break Me”, “Exorcist”, “Sugar & Spice” (which later would be renamed to “Tongue Tied”), “Sugar Plum”, “Thick Skinned”, “Catherine Wheel”, “As Large as Life” and “Bogey Man”.

Then there’s a full gig of the band playing at the York Arts Centre on April 16, 1992. That night the band played the following songs: “As Large as Life”, “Argy Bargy”, “Sugar Plum”, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs”, “Tongue Tied”, “Thick Skinned”, “Sophie”, “Twisting”, “Exorcist”, “Well to Do”, “Break Me”, “Libertine”, “Vulnerable”, “Heart Attack”, “Shooting Stars”, “Catherine Wheel”, “I Should Be Lucky” and “Bogey Man”.

Then there is an undated live gig again at the Arts Centre in York playing the Indie Rave. That night the band played “Libertine”, “Honeymoon Couple on Drugs”, “Argy Bargy”, “Sugar Plum”, “Sophie”, “Thick Skinned”, “Exorcist”, “Well to Do”, “Vulnerable”, “Catherine Wheel”, “Freedom” (Wham cover), “Fused” and “As Large as Life”.

Then we can head to Facebook where the band has a profile page with lots of goodies.

We can see that the band played in The Duchess in Leeds, the York Barbican Theatre (twice), the Spotted Cow, The Winning Post, The Garage in London and at the HMV in Coney St in York.

We also learn that the band used a number of rehearsal rooms including the changing rooms at Knavesmire Racecourse.

It also looks like there was some sort of reunion of the band members not too long ago. Would that mean that they are planning a comeback? Would be great to find out!

It looks like the band had a following in York in the early 90s. I am not too familiar with York bands to be honest. I can think of St. Christopher, and not many more! Would be great to hear more about this band, learn their story!

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Listen
The Bed Bugs – Argy Bargy

One more Japanese band to discover: Dida Dida Doo.

I had forgotten about that very good compilation “Wheels Go Round” that had White Town’s track “Anal Sex”. Yeah. Do you know this compilation? It has this lovely, cute, artwork by Megumi Yoshimura and then you read the tracklist and the first track is that one. It is odd to say the least.

A Trumpet Trumpet Records put out this 10 song compilation CD in 1993 (TT501). This Japanese label is a good one if you are not familiar with it. They released the wonderful The Love Mushrooms and also Budgie Jacket. On “”Wheels Go Round” the band Dida Dida Doo appears with the last track, “Love Makes Sweet Music”. And no, don’t think it is a cover of Soft Machine.

This was how I discovered this band. It was a very nice track and always thought it was a good closer to a good compilation that had the likes of The Pearly Gatecrashers, The Rileys, The Acid House Kings and more.

Dida Dida Doo had already worked with this label previously in 1992. On a mini 3″CD compilation called “Television Personalities from Japan” (TT001), that it is not a tribute to the TVPs, the band also had the last song on the comp. It was the fourth track and was called “L’Arrace Coeur”. I have never heard this song, but I would assume the title comes from the Boris Vian novel.

In 1992 the band would also contribute a song to another A Trumpet Trumpet Records compilation. This time around a tape called “The Birth of the Untruth” (TT003). I would think this is a play on the well known compilation “The Birth of the True” from another Japanese label, Sugarfrost Records. On this cassette the band has the opening track on the A side and is titled “Here’s Where You Belong”. This one I’m pretty sure is a cover of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band.

I cant seem to track down who were behind this band. But then I found a paper, one called “Dynamics of New Market Category Emergence: The case of Shibuya-Kei Music“. It is in Japanese and it is a PDF, so it is a bit hard to navigate. But I find a mention of Dida Dida Doo. There it mentions that behind the band was Kenji Takeda.

And yes, that’s where I hit a wall.

It is interesting to see that the band is mentioned on some online record stores saying that they covered the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. But if they are so little known! How could that comparison help? I wonder.

But perhaps during their time they were well known? Even though they didnt release any records?

Would be good to find out!

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Listen
Dida Dida Doo – Love Makes Sweet Music

I continue the investigation on obscure French demo-tape bands. Today is the turn of Les Mistons, the mischief makers.

Named after the great François Truffaut movie of 1957, this band is known for their appearance on both Heol tapes. That means on the “Heol” comp cassette released by Karen in 1990 (KAREN02) and on the “Heol Daou” released by Katiho that same year (KATIHO 02).

The sound of this band is lo-fi. Probably there is just one person behind the band. Strumming the guitar in a lovely way. But is there any details we know about them?

The song on the “Heol” tape is called “Scar”. The song on “Heol Daou” is called “She Was too Damn Stupid to see I Wasn’t With Her”. We also know the band hailed from France as Fabien from Anorak Records confirmed it when I interviewed him.

Other than what I’ve mentioned there is no more details about them on the web. I’ve found a few other bands names the same way but sounding terribly different and many times from other time periods.

I wonder if my French friends can help on this one?

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Listen
Les Mistons – Scar