Day 595.

Nobody’s Flowers: from Portland, Oregon and they clearly like The Smiths. Their self-titled album will be out on November 19! It will be released on double 12″ vinyl and will include 9 songs. The one song we can preview is ace, with terrific jangly guitars. Check it out, it is called “Mountains out of Broken Men” and it chimes and chimes!

Seventeen Years: now we check a digital single by this Toronto project. The song is called “Long Story” and from the text on Bandcamp it doesn’t seem clear what the intention is with this song, if to include it in a singles compilation or be part of a new album. Well, I guess we’ll have to wait. Nice, mellow indiepop.

Radium Jaw: I watched a few months ago a movie where thanks to radium girls in a clock factory started to lose their jaws or parts of it. Real story. Maybe they took the name after this? “Faded Out” is the name of the Atlanta five-piece new album. It has 6 songs of female-fronted dreampop and it is only available digitally.

Parasouls: I recommended their song “Sunny Beach” in the past. Good news! Here are two more, “Let’s Pretend” and “Can We, Can We”! They will be part of a 6 song EP titled “Drifters, Dream Makers” that Lilystars Records is releasing. The Manila band sounds ace. I really hope there’s a physical version for this release!

Castlebeat: the California band has been recommended time and time again on the blog. The solo project of a guy named Josh knows how to make some great guitar pop. His latest single “We Can Make This Right” is no exception!

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Here is another band I tried to interview with no luck even though I did interview one of their members at some point about the band that he was in afterwards, Rebecca Fishpond.

The members that I interviewed and were in The Kildares were Zack Yusof and Dan Rowlands. When I asked them about The Kildares they told me:

Before the Fishponds, I formed The Kildares with a few pals whilst studying in the UK – in Oswestry, Shropshire, out in the sticks. We were a school band that played all originals, mainly written by me with my repertoire of bad poetry and five or six open guitar chords, really basic stuff. I was inspired to form a band by The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Psychocandy and the C-86 scene that was happening at the time. I was also heavily into David Bowie, The Smiths and Postcard bands like Aztec Camera and Orange Juice but they seemed like musical gods to me, virtuosos that were way out of reach for mere mortals like myself. I had missed out on punk and was slightly too young to get into the post-punk scene so when the C-86 thing came along, it was as if a light turned on in my head. I felt that it was something that I could get myself involved in and I wanted a piece of the action so bad. To travel around making cheap records, playing gigs, drinking beer and meeting girls, that seemed infinitely more preferable than going to college, university or worst, full-time employment. None of us could play our instruments worth a damn but technical expertise didn’t seem to matter that much with bands like The Pastels and The Shop Assistants, or so we thought back then. They sounded as raw and untutored as we did which gave us a real boost, like, if they can make records with stand-up drums and gnarly, out of tune sounding guitars and get on John Peel, so can we. The folly of youth eh?

The Kildares broke up when I left school up in Oswestry and headed down to London to embark on a new musical adventure. My plan was to get a serious band together and really go for it or end up in rehab trying. To that end, I began studying the musician wanted ads in the Melody Maker every week until I eventually met John Sheehy, who looked drop dead cool in a sixties, Velvet Underground kind of way and who had a really nice, gentle way about him. The fact that he could sing, write great lyrics and was thoroughly committed to the cause was a bonus. To make up the rest of the band, I drafted in my old Kildares brothers Dan Rowlands and Andrew Richardson who, to my utter amazement and delight, were just as keen to put higher education on hold indefinitely in order to chase that rock dream of ours. Every band needs a drummer, especially one with a big red van, and when John brought his pal Lar to beat the skins aggressively and drive us around, the Fishponds line up was complete.

The other member, the third member in The Kildares was Andrew Richardson.

Another thing they mentioned to me was that The Kildares tried their luck with Sarah Records, but a rejection letter was all they got.

One thing that caught my attention is that they were from Oswestry. I have never heard of this place so I looked:

Oswestry (Welsh: Croesoswallt) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads.

The town was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Oswestry until that was abolished under local government reorganisation with effect from 1 April 2009. Oswestry is the third-largest town in Shropshire, following Telford and Shrewsbury. The 2011 Census recorded the population of the civil parish as 17,105 (up almost 10% from 15,613 in 2001) and the urban area as 16,660. The town is five miles (8 km) from the Welsh border and has a mixed English and Welsh heritage.

Oswestry is the largest settlement within the Oswestry Uplands, a designated natural area and national character area.

The way I discovered the band was thanks to a Soundcloud account by Dan Rowlands. He had uploaded two recordings by the band. One is the song “In All Honesty” and the other is a whole gig at The Timebox on December 17, 1987. This last recording was actually from the band’s second appearance at the Timebox which for you that remember was held at the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, London. The songs on this set are “We Haven’t Got Forever (Take 2)”, “Happy with her Handbag”, “Not Even for You”, “Why Are You So Different?”, “The Feeling’s Gone”, “Never Understand”, “Shimmer”, “Everything’s Different Now”, “A Million Miles”, “Walking in the Sun” and “We Haven’t Got Forever (Take 1)”. I wonder which other bands were on the bill each time they played this classic venue…

Thanks to this account I found another account but someone nicknamed “beautness”. In this account I find many more recordings by the band. I suppose they came from demo tapes the band recorded during their time (what was their time? 80 something to 80 something?).

Among these songs we find: “In All Honesty (normal Speed)“.  Some others are tagged as been recorded on a 4-track cassette between 1986 and 1988 like “We Haven’t Got Forever“, “Happy with Her Handbag“, “Happy with Her Handbag (no overdubs) 2“, ‘The Feeling’s Gone“, “The Feeling’s Gone (instrumental)“,”Why Are You So Different?“, “Why Are You So Different? (instrumental) take 1“, “Why Are You So Different? (instrumental) take 2“, “Walking in the Sun“, “Walking in the Sun (pan right)“, “A Million Miles (original)“, “A Million Miles (instrumental)“, “In all Honesty (helium version)“, “I Held the Summer“, “Not Happy Alone (no overdubs) take 2“, “Look Like It’s Going to Rain Forever“, “Not Even For You“, “Never Understand“, “Everything’s Different Now“, “Hypercritical“, “Joyce“, “Stone Cold Stella” and “Shimmer“.

Wow! Quite a trove of recordings indeed.

There’s nothing else about them on the web, hence why I wanted to interview them. But at least this way I can share with you all these recordings and maybe you can find a new favourite song! Anyone remember them?

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Listen
The Kildares – Happy With Her Handbag

Day 593. Just wanted to give a heads up that Cloudberry will be going on vacation for about two months and a half. Starting November 13 to February 4th. Any orders placed during this time will be shipped on February 5th 2022. So yeah, if you plan to buy any records please do it soon!! Thanks in advance!!

Coming Up Roses: the Singapore dreampop trio is back with a fine new digital single titled “All Our Time”. This song is the first track they release after the departure of the band’s drummer Bruce tan. The band says this song is a new beginning for them. It might as well be, since 2019 “Waters”, we haven’t heard from them. And it is good to see them back in good form!

Torres Satélite: this duo formed by María de la Vega and Santiago Pérez has just released a digital single with the superb Discos de Kirlian label from Barcelona. The song is titled “La Noche Americana” which translates as The American Night. Now, this is very nice, so yeah, we want more!

Marinita Precaria: I really like this new project from Spain. The songs are sweet, naive, and poppy. They remind me of Niza. The lyrics are whimsical and cute. It is great. They have just released a new single, a new video, for their song “Celosa”. Worth checking it out!

Bridge Dog: now to Sydney. Another digital single. Where are the EPs and albums you wonder? Well maybe they are there! But these are the finds I stumble upon that I think are worth sharing. “Former Life” is the title of the song of this two-piece. And it sounds great to me!

Violentene: ok, you see, now we find an EP! “Otherworld” by Ottawa’s duo formed by Mvrijo and Roland! 5 songs of wavey indiepop that is even released on physical! CDs are available and will start shipping on October 25. Great upbeat pop, and $10 is cheap for such a good record!

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Here’s a record that’s been on my wantlist for a while, The Border Boys’ “Tribute” 12″. As far as I know the band didn’t release any other records and perhaps of one of their members being the mighty Louis Philippe, this record can be a bit hard to come by.

For many of us Louis Philippe is a legend when it comes to indiepop. Having recorded for Él Records, Siesta, Cherry Red, Tapete, Tricatel, and more. So many records. So many classic songs. Philippe Auclair, his real name and the one he uses in The Border Boys, first band was actually The Border Boys as far as I know. At least it is the first band that he released records with. Then came The Arcadians which would make a nice post too I think!

The Border Boys’ record came out on another legendary label, Les Disques Du Crépuscule. “Tribute” (TWI 174) was released by this Belgian label in October of 1983, with that cover art that I find iconic, with what looks like Mickey Mouse surprised listening to an old radio. The illustration was made by A. Pepermans.

Four songs appear on this record, “This Picture is Nailed on My Heart” and “When Will You Be Back?” on the A side and “When the Party is Over” and “Sorry” on the B Side. The songs were produced by Andy Paley who had produced The Ramones and The Modern Lovers.

I know all songs were written by Philippe but not sure if there were other band members. Immediately I find an answer. I find the website of Jean-Francois Champollion. Here it mentions that this French artist from Paris was part of the band. On his bio it says that he meets Louis Philippe in 1983 and then he engineers and plays on The Border Boys first demos. They would be a duo and they would split in 1986. On his bio it mentions that The Border Boys released one posthumous album in 1995 with songs engineered by Champollion, others recorded with a full Border Boys band including Jacques Delorenzi on bass and some others just by Louis Philippe on his own. I don’t know anything about this album!

The band appeared on many compilations through the years.

“Sorry”, that was on the record, appears on the compilation “Coincidence V. Fate” released in 1984 as a double LP by Crépuscule au Japon (SCL-1004-5L) and later as a double CD on Omagatoki (OMCX-1260/1261) in 2014. Both versions of this compilation were released in Japan. “Sorry” would also appear on another Japanese comp, the 3CD and LP “Trattoria Menu 100 – A Musical Souvenir of Trattoria Menu. 100’s Magic Kingdom” released by Trattoria (Menu.100) and Polystar (PSCR-9103/9105) in 1996.

“When Will You Be Back?” appeared on a few comps as well. First on “From Brussels With Love (1983 Edition)” a double LP compilation released by Les Disques du Crépuscule (TWI 008) from 1984. In 1987 the song appears on “Crépuscule Collection 4 – Death Leaves an Echo” (TWI 653) released by the same label on vinyl. Lastly this song appears on the CD compilation “Crépuscule for Café Après-Midi 2” (VICP-61723) released by again the same label in 2002.

The other song that appears on compilations is “When the Party’s Over”. This song is on “Crépuscule for Café Après-Midi” released on CD by Les Disques du Crépuscule (VICP-61558) on 2001. And also on “Anchor (Trattoria Made in Japan)” 3CD comp released by Trattoria (Menu.250) and Polystar (PSCR-6055) in 2002.

It is worth mentioning too the Trattoria (Menu.89) and Polystar (PSCR5465) CD comp “I Still Believe in You” that included all of the songs from the “Tribute” 12″ in 1996.

There’s not much more info about this project on the web. At least this is what I’ve been able to find. One thing that I would love to know is who were in the full band of the Border Boys and most importantly about this 1995 album! I want to know and listen to more songs by them. Please anyone that can share any details let me know!

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Listen
The Border Boys – This Picture is Nailed on My Heart

Day 586

Roller Derby: a few months ago we discovered this pop trio from Hamburg and of course I kept an eye on them. The band has just released a new digital single titled “Something True” that is really nice, with a cool mix of English and French lyrics.

The Royal Landscaping Society: our friends Cris and David from Sevilla have just released a wonderful new song called “Profit and Loss” that will also be in a split 7″ with another friendly band, Fantasy Postards. The song is really good, as it is the norm with them. We need more of their shimmery pop. More often. More and more. This just feels too little!

EEP: now time to head to El Paso, Texas. Why? There’s a cool shoegaze band there called EEP.  Their latest song is titled “Here We Are” and it is a catchy pop tune. The band is formed by Ross Ingram, Rosie Varela, Sebastian Estrada, Serge Carrasco and Lawrence Brown III. Let’s keep an eye on them!

Slack Times: just listened to the song “Can’t Count on Anyone” that is the opening track of the “At the Blue Melon Rendezvous” and thought, this is great. But what about the other 3 songs? Well, can’t listen to them. The band’s EP was released on October 15 and is available in physical format, on CD!

Colatura: and we end this review with a NYC band! Cool. I still wonder when I’ll go to a gig in this city! The latest release by this trio is a song titled “The Met”! Yes, just like the museum! I miss going there too! The song is really really good. You wonder why it is not on a vinyl record, a cd, or even a cassette?

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Time to travel to Ghent, Belgium. That’s where the early 90s quartet The Pink Flowers were based.

It’s been a while since I wrote about a Belgian band. There are many good ones and it is always a good time to discover them.

The Pink Flowers must have started late in the 80s. The first time we hear about them is in 1988 on a compilation LP titled “JP Van Presents The Belgian Garagemania Vol. 4” that was released by Boom! Records (BOOM! 4). ON this compilation the band appears with the song “Long Black Hair”.  The following year their song “Fire to Burn” is included in the next volume of this series, “The Belgian Garagemania 5” (BOOM! 5).

Boom Records would be the band’s place. Their home. In 1990 the label founded in 1987 by Jean-Pol Van Haesendonk (known as JP Van), releases the band’s first album “April Showers” (BOOM! 11). It came out on vinyl and included 12 songs. These were “Big Stone”, “Long Ago”, “As the Night Fades Away”, “Inner Shadow”, “Troubles in Your Hand” and “Death of Greedy Liver” on the A side and “Waiting for a Better Time’, “I Should Have Known”, “I’m a Woman”, “One Thing Missing”, “Your Door” and “Break Away”. These were recorded at TOP Studio in Ghent. The producer was JP Van while the engineer was Fernand Buyls. The songs were recorded during the winter of 1989 and 1990. The art of the record was created by Margot Trofs (logo), Carlo “Rif Raf” Wauters (layout) and Bernaded Dexters (photos).

On the credits we see that Michel Vanneste and Piet de Ceuleneere played guest guitar, Nils de Caster on guest violin, JP Van on guest voacls and bluesharp. Christophe Ysabie played bass and vocals, Piet Vermeulen the drums, Bruno Deneckere on voacls and guitar and Peter Ysabie on guitar.

In 1991 the band contributes the song “South Park Musing” to a CD compilation called “Girls and Guitars Vol. 1” released by Boom! Records (BOOM! 18). That same year the band releases a second album called “Tune In!”. This one came out on CD on Boom! Records (BOOM! 20) and on LP on the German label Smarten-Up! (Big Start 18-1). The CD version had 18 songs while the LP 14. The songs on the CD were “Whales’ Talking Blues”, “Nefertari”, “Falling Angel”, “Lilly”, “Paralysed”, “Don’t Let Me Beg for Another Day”, “So Long (I Knew You Well)”, “11 NY Dancing”, “Here He Comes”, “Wide and Lonely”, “Sing for Me Sandy”, “You Got me Under”, “Swan Song”, “All I Want is You”, “Loose, Losing”, “Tune In” and “Tomorrow”. The LP, with a band photo on the cover, had a totally different tracklist. This time we find “One Thing Missing”, “Paralized”, “Fallen Angel”, “Lilly”, “You’ve Got Me Under”, “Here He Comes” and “Just a Covern” on the A side and “Wide and Lonely”, “Sing for me Sandy”, “11 NY Dancing”, “Cannot Spend my Time”, “Swan Song”, “So Long” and “Nefertari”.

1992 sees the band release two 7″ singles, I suppose to promote the album. The one thing that is interesting is that these come out in a Greek label called Who Stole the Summer? Records. This label was originally from Kavala and later moved to Thessaloniki. The first single was “So Long” (WSTS 7001) with two B sides, “Tomorrow” and “The One I Need”. The second single was “Nefertari” (WSTS 7005) with “All I Want is You” and “Where You Are” on the B side. The illustration of this last single’s artwork is credited to Marx while the layout to Herman & Isabelle.

1993 is another good year for the band. They include their song “Blind Man’s Son” to “Rifraf Volume Two”, a CD comp released by Liquid (2100486). This was a Belgian label of course.  Their last album, “Blind Man’s Son” comes out this year on CD (BOOM! 5). 11 songs are in this album, “Long-Haired Friend of Mine”, “Killing a Crook”, “Three Reasons for Loving”, “Mary Magdalene”, “Blind Man’s Son”, “Shouldn’t She Get a Lotta Love”, “Bad Years Gone”, “Annie”, “Weather”, “Beautiful Morning” and “Another Song”. On the credits we only see one familiar name, Bruno Daneckere on vocals, guitar and harmonica. The other band members had already changed. Jo Liégois on bass and backing vocals, Ivo Tops was on drums, Marc Vranken on guitar, Patrick Riguelle on lapsteel guitar, mandolin and backing vocals, Guy Van Nueten on piano and Nils de Caster on violin and backing vocals. Patrick Riguelle was also the producer. The artwork layout is credited to Herman Verbelen.

1994 is a year where the band appears on three CD compilations and it is always the same song, “Weather”. It appears on “Basta” released by Humo, “Faces Vol. 3” releasd by Face Records (FACE 007) and Elephant Candy? (CANDY? 038) and on “Die Nieuwstraat Van Studio Brussel – Vol. 3” released on Play That Beat! (AMC 54 006). All of these were Belgian compilations but the Face Records one that was from Italy.

In 1996 the band’s song “I Confess” appears on the CD compilation “Kort Gerockt” released by Backline and De Gentenaar. This was a Belgian release of course. Then in 2006 the song “Blind Man’s Son” appears on “Bel 90 – Het Beste Uit de Belpop Van 1993” released by EMI and also on another EMI release, the 10CD boxset “Bel 90 – Het Beste Uit De Belpop Van 1990-1999”. I suppose the first CD was part of the boxset.

The last time we hear from them is in 2013 when their song “You Got Me Under” is included in “Best of Belgian Garage Mania! Volume One” released by Starman Records (SMR006).

There is on Discogs another compilation called “Wild Folk for Hobo Sailors and Pink Ladies” that Boom Records released (Mood 125). There is no date for this release but we see some Pink Flowers songs on it, “Loose, Losing”, “Yune in”, “Hard to Tell”, “Three Reasons for Loving”, “Weather”, “Blind Man’s Song”, “So Long”, “Tomorrow”, “I Confess” and “The Facts”. This compilation is on Bandcamp actually.

On this same Bandcamp by Boom! Records you can find “Tune In” and “Blind Man’s Son” as well. Just missing the first album.

Then my next step is to look at what other bands the members may have been involved with. Ivo Tops had been in a band called Hombres Amplificados. Patrick Riguelle on K 13, Riguelle & Hautekiet, The Groove Quartet, Well Well and Zakformaat XL. Guy Van Nueten was on Chitlin’ Fooks, Mitsoobishy Jacson, Sukilove, The Sands and Zon & Xero. Nils de Caster on Guy Verlinde Trio, Het Gespuis, The Broken Circle Breakdown Bluegrass Band.

Then Christophe Ysabie was in Radio Bangkok who I wrote about, and this was the way I discovered The Pink Flowers. Bruno Deneckere was on Het Gespuis and has had a good solo career as well as releasing an album alongside Nils De Caster.

There is too a website for Bruno Deneckere but there’s not much info about The Pink Flowers.

Not much more info about The Pink Flowers. At least I can’t find more details. There is a bit more about Bruno as a solo artist but not much more. I did find that The Pink Flowers started in 1986 and one wonders of the band did recordings during those early years.

Anyhow, that was cool, getting to know a Belgian band, right? Are there any other Belgian guitar pop bands you like? I admit I don’t know that many. Any recommendations or any information about The Pink Flowers will be appreciated!

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Listen
The Pink Flowers – Big Stone

Day 583

Miseryslims: from Manitoba, Canada, this trio is making a comeback since their releases in 2017. 4 years later they release the digital EP “HELLO”. Four songs of upbeat noisy guitar pop. The band is formed by Brady, Randy and Simon, and we hope to hear more from them and more often!

Power Blush: now to discover this four-piece from Chemnitz, Germany. Is it the first time I recommend a band from that city? It must be! The band has released the EP “Vomiting Emotions” digitally last month. It has 6 songs of sweet pop, with girl vocals and shiny melodies. And they have many gigs coming up. If you are in Germany, maybe try checking them out?

Luster Dust: here is another digital EP, and this one comes again from Canada. From Toronto, to be exact. 5 songs of lo-fi shoegaze are what we find in the band’s latest release “Sunflower”. These songs were recorded back in January but for some reason, Daniel Wilson, the man behind these tracks, has decided to put them out now. It’s nice!

Cathedral Bells: a new single by the Florida band that is quite nice. It is called “I Don’t Care Anymore” and it has some very nice guitars, jingle jangling. Also the band seems to be going on a big US tour this November. Feels good to see that things are coming back to normal, though I still feel not ready for this!

Grazer: and one more time I have to recommend Melbourne’s duo Grazer. This is just a new song, a new single, called “Reunion”, but it is a lovely piece of pop music that Matt and Mollie have put together again. So yeah, have a listen, and enjoy the weekend!

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Back in 2011 I tried to interview The Visitors. I was in touch with Tim Hopkins then and sent him a bunch of questions. Sadly never heard back.

A lot of indiepop fans know The Visitors. They know the split flexi that Sha La La released in 1987 and also the great retrospective compilation Matinée Recordings put out in the year 2000. Aside from that, there is not much info about them, I think?

The band was active in the late 80s, in Somerset. As mentioned the first time we hear from them is in 1987, thanks to the Sha La La flexi. On this flexi, which they shared with The Magic Shop, the band appeared second and contributed the song “Goldmining”. The catalog number for this record was Ba Ba Ba-Ba Ba 008 and as you know the flexi came alongside a variety of fanzines including “Make it Ongar”, “Simply Thrilled” (issue 4), “Hedgehogs & Porcupines” (issue 8) and “5,000 Miles from George Square” (issue 2, copies that were distributed just in Japan).

Many years after, in 2000, Matinée Recordings would surprise us all with an 11 song compilation titled “Miss” (MATCD003). “Goldmining” was the opening track, and we also find “Bliss”, “Flat on My Back”, “Never Has, Never Will”, “Alice Aisgill”, “Waking Up to Nothing”, “Seeing Stars”, “Fridays and Saturdays”, “Housewife’s Choice”, “Age Old” and “I Remember”. On the credits there’s not much. It says that the songs were written and recorded by Stuart Troop, Paul Hooper, Christian Jones, Jon Cleary, Tim Hopkins and David Griffiths at various times between 1986 and 1988.

Of course we know that Stuart Troop would later be in Hope and Telstarr. As you see I’ve written about Hope. David Griffiths was in the wonderful Endless Bob Brown (I need to write about them), Lightspeed, Lightspeed Future Lullaby and Piano Magic.

And we know Tim Hopkins who alongside Joe Brooker were The First Division who released a 3″ CD with Cloudberry.

When it comes to compilations the band appeared on “C188 Papercuts” a CD compilation released by Sheepish Records in the year 2000. the band contributed the song “Waking Up to Nothing”. Many good bands on this record like Jinx, The Foxgloves, The Clientele, Spearmint and The Pines. Later, in 2003, Matinée included their song “Sad Kaleidoscope” on the “Matinée 50!” CD compilation. One thing I notice then is that these songs weren’t in the retrospective and I wonder why? It may be the case that there are even more songs by The Visitors? Who would know?

There’s not much more online written about them. I would love to know more about this project… maybe some of you have more details!?

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Listen
The Visitors – Fridays and Saturdays

Day 581

Reverbage: Shore Dive Records from Brighton usually delivers great dreampop bands and songs. Reverbage is no exception. Their album “Tre” sounds great! This band is actually the project of Niklas Krigdal from Hemlig in Sweden. Here are 10 songs of nicely crafted low-key pop songs. You can get this release too, as there is a CD version but only limited to 15 copies (!).

Infinite Siennas: “Shiny Shiny” is the digital single that is my introduction to this Yogyakarta band! The Indonesian trio puts together an interesting mix in this song. It is catchy but angular at times. This is just their second song after February’s “Chocolate Bar”.

Japanese Heart Software: another digital single! This one is called “Soft” and it comes all the way from Melbourne. This is much mellower, sweet  and dreamy. It would be nice for this band to become bigger, maybe release an album? I’d like that!

Lunar Isles: one more digital single. Titled “Anchorage”, this is the latest song by tthe Cheongju Si, South Korea, project. There is not much information about this band but they’ve been releasing songs quite often this year. And only now I am discovering them. Better late than never, right?

Sally Shapiro: and of course, I love Sally Shapiro. And the news that there is a new album coming out early next year, in February, was superb news to me. The album is going to be called “Sad Cities” and it is going to be released by Italians Do it Better. The band is giving us a sneak peak with the song “Forget About You” which is  now on their Bandcamp. They have added 3 more remixes of the song too. And yes, let me give some kudos to the great Roger Gunnarsson for co-writing this song.

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I can’t recall how I was going to do an interview with Big Pop Trotsky!

I look at my email and it seems I was in touch with someone called John. He was to forward my questions to Jason and Matt. I of course wrote questions and send his way. I never heard back.

Jason must be Jason Dormon, the bassist. Matt? I am not sure. According to Discogs the band was formed by Mark Davyd, Stephen Cookson, Jason Dormon and M. Edward Cole. Could M. Edward Cole be Matt? I wonder…

We know the band released just one record, the “Wry Smile? EP” in 1988. On this record Stephen Cookson played drums, Mark Davyd guitar and M/ Edward Cole, vocals and guitar. The songs are credited to all four.

Four songs were included, “Cheap & Nasty’ and “Toby, It’s a Girl” on the A side and “Boredom” and “Sorry Could You Say That More Slowly Please” on the B side. They were recorded at Posthouse Studios in East Peckham, Kent. The producer was Kevin Amos and the band.

The black and white sleeve has a cool old school illustration, probably taken from a comic book. On the back of the sleeve there’s a photo of the band.

The record was released by Sonic Monster Groove Recordings (SMG 001). I would have assumed it was a self-release, but then there’s another record listed for this label: a 1995 compilation called “Disgusted! The Compilation”.  Mark Davyd from Big Pop Trotsky! was one of the people involved in compiling the songs for this CD.

According to Discogs we know that the band members were involved in other projects. Jason Dormon was on Joeyfat, Joeythin and Unhome. M. Edward Cole was also on Joeyfat and Joeythin.

Checking my interview questions it is clear I didn’t know many details about them. It seems I figured out they hailed from Tonbridge.

I look for more info on the web. I read that the band used the Fonthill building in Tunbridge Wells as a practice place. In this place there was also a legendary venue called The Forum which was founded by Jason Dormon and Mark Davyd. There is some live footage of The Forum in this video including an appearance of Big Pop Trotsky!

Sadly I don’t have any more information about the band. It was a long time since I tried to interview them. I wonder what are they up now and how come they only released just one record. Did they have any more recordings other than the 4 they released?

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Listen
Big Pop Trotsky! – Boredom

Day 579

The Fisherman and his Soul: our friend Sebastian Voss who once was in the wonderful Grindcore Poppies and now is one half of another amazing band, Nah…, has released a new CD under his solo project. The Münster based popkid has just put out “Nothing (Never) Ever Stays the Same”. This album is a follow up to the band’s previous release on Subjangle and Shiny Happy Records. This album is mostly a collection of remixes of the songs that appeared on said album.

Carolina Zac: the new release and new signing on Spain’s Kocliko Records is Argentina’s Carolina Zac. The album “Posible” will be released on October 22 on black vinyl. It is a 9 song album of carefully and beautifully crafted pop songs. I had never heard about her before and I am happily surprised. Limited to 100 copies.

Un Día Soleado: another new song by Argentina’s wunderkid Enzo. His new jingle jangly popsong is called “Skate 3” and it is such a great track. Poppy, catchy, and with great melodies!

Pash: who are Pash?! the one song we can hear, “Raincoat”, out of the 4 from their EP “Somersault” is a nice surprise! Never heard this band! They have a very limited CD, 20 copies only! I just spent so much on the new Optic Nerve releases…. and I need to wait before spending more money, but if you can afford it. This one seems like a must have!

Optic Sevens 4.0: finally we can pre-order the next set of 7″s by Optic Nerve. I just spent as I was saying more than a hundred dollars for the 12 singles that will be in this new series. I think it is totally worth it, I am not complaining as these are deluxe releases with posters and postcards of rare records. The Wild Swans, Josef K, Dolly Mixture, The Wake, The Monochrome Set, The Chefs, Suede Crocodiles, The Times, Black, Article 58, The Avocados and The Bluebells, are part of this new series!

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I was wondering how come there hasn’t been a Corn Dollies compilation yet. Their songs are probably now in control of Cherry Red and it is surprising to me that they haven’t released a CD with all of their songs as they did with The Waltones in the past. True. They also have The Raw Herbs and they haven’t been released yet on a retrospective compilation, and probably never be. But yeah, instead of many compilations and box sets with the same songs time and time again, wouldn’t a retrospective compilation be cool? I think so!

The Corn Dollies hailed from London and were active between 1987 and 1991. They were formed by Steve Musham on vocals and guitar, Tim Sales on guitar, Steve Ridder on bass, Jack Hoser on drums and Jono Podmore on violin. From the Wikipedia page they have we know they hailed from Dalston but met in King’s Cross. We know too that Steve Ridder was actually from California.

The band’s name was inspired on corn dollies or corn mothers which are a form of straw work.

Before Christianisation, in traditional pagan European culture it was believed that the spirit of the corn (in American English, “corn” would be “grain”) lived amongst the crop, and that the harvest made it effectively homeless. James Frazer devotes chapters in The Golden Bough to “Corn-Mother and Corn-Maiden in Northern Europe” (chs. 45–48) and adduces European folkloric examples collected in great abundance by the folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt. Among the customs attached to the last sheaf of the harvest were hollow shapes fashioned from the last sheaf of wheat or other cereal crops. The corn spirit would then spend the winter in this home until the “corn dolly” was ploughed into the first furrow of the new season.

The band’s first record was “Forever Steven” on their own label called The Farm Label (FARM 001). This record had the songs “Forever Steven” and the B side had “About to Believe”. This is maybe their most known single also because Robert Forster from The Go-Betweens produced it. Steve Ridder is now the bassist replacing Knowler. The photography on this record is credited to Kate Stubbs. This record got single of the week on Sounds and Record Mirror.

Next came the “Be Small Again” single. It was released on 7″ and 12″ formats on Andy Wake’s label Medium Cool Records (MC008) in 1987. The single had “Be Small Again” on the A side and “In Bethpage” on the B side. On the 12″ the B side had two different songs on the B side, “Rubber Fish” and “The Big House”. The songs were recorded at Pyramid Arts Studio and mastered at The Exchange by Jonz (John Dent). The engineer was Andy Parker with David Emmanuel as his assistant. It is worth noting that on this record the bassist was Stuart Knowler. The cover is credited to Piers Wallace. This record was an indie hit reaching number 28 in the UK Independent Chart.

That same year the band re-released “Forever Steven”  Now it came out on Medium Cool on 12″ (MC009). The A side had  The 12″ adds two more songs to the B side. “Big Cane Call” and “Sweetheart Rose Special”. Now this re-release would reach number 16 of the Indie Chart.

The band also appears this year in the legendary compilation “Uncle Arthurs Pop Parlour”. On this cassette comp put together by the great Dave Driscoll the band contribued the song “Mary Hopkin Song”. I had to look online for who she was. Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti (from her marriage to Tony Visconti), is a Welsh singer songwriter best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single “Those Were the Days”. She was one of the first artists to be signed to the Beatles’ Apple label

1988. Time to release more singles. First is “Shake” on Medium Cool (MC015). Released again as a 7″ and a 12″. “Shake” is on the A side and “Climbing Stairs” on the B side. On the 12″ we add one song to the B side, “Gathered Up”. The songs were recorded at ICC Studios in Eastbourne. They were produced by Alun Lane with Jessica Corcoran and Mike Newbon as engineers. They were mixed at Greenhouse Studio in London.

Then comes “Map of the World”. This single was also on Medium Cool (MC017) and released on both formats. The A side has “Map of the World” and the B side has “People Gone”. On the 12″ the song “This is Mine” appears as the second song on the B side. The producer this time was Chris Allison.

In 1988 the band contributes the song “Mouthful of Brains” to a CD compilation called “The Fundamental Hymnal” that was released by Fundamental (GEEZ 1CD) in the US. The compilation “Edge of the Road” released by Medium Cool (MC010) in the UK and Fundamental (CAM001) in the US included the songs “Mouthful of Brains” and “What Do I Ever”.

Lastly in 1988 Midnight Music released a compilation titled “The Corn Dollies”. This one came out on CD and LP (CHIMEE 00.44).  This was a singles collection of sorts. It contained 14 songs and it is the closest we have to a full retrospective. The songs were “Map of the World”, “Moutful of Brains”, “Shake”, “Forever Steven”, “The Big House”, “What do I Ever”, “Gathered Up”, “Be Small Again”, “Big Cane Call”, “Sweetheart Rose Especial”, “About to Believe”, “Climbing Stairs”, “People Gone” and “This is Mine”. I am looking for a CD version of this release. Any help will be appreciated.

1989 continues to be an active year for the band. “Nothing of You” is the single they release this year. Again a 12″ on Medium Cool (MC020) and a 7″ and 12″ on Midnight Music (DING 52). The 12″ includes the songs “Nothing of You” on the A side and “Polly West”, “Wrecked” and “Be Small Again (Mix)” on the B side. The producer was Chris Allison for the A side and the band, Andy Parker and Alan Barclay for the B side. The design is credited to Peter Cooke.  I am not sure why the two different 12″ versions as they have the same songs and the art is the same. We know Medium Cool collapsed and they moved to Midnight Music… but why re-release the record?

A flexi disc that came with the Zine magazine that year included their song “Map of the World”. The other song in the flexi was “Down Here” by The Rain.

The song “Map of the World” and “This is Mine” got included in the Midnight Music LP compilation “Pop Up the Volume. This is a fine compilation with bands like McCarthy, Bradford, The Wedding Present and The Wolfhounds.

Another 1989 appearance for them was on the classic “Bananas!” compilation released by Rodney, Rodney! (RODNEY 1). This album that was put together against the planned introduction of identity cards for football supporters in the UK. The song the band contributed was “This is Mine”.

Lastly this year they release their debut album, “Wrecked”. It was released on CD, LP and cassette by Midnight Music (CHIME 00.59). The songs included were “In Your Hands”, “Submarine”, “Map of the World”, “Seven”, “Wrecked”, “Nothing of You”, “Jingo”, “Everything Box”, “Mary Hopkin Song” and “This is Mine”. The producers were Alan Barclay, Chris Allison and the band. In support of the album the band went on a national tour supporting Ian McCulloch.

It is also wroth nothing that this year the band toured Europe. They built a good fanbase in Spain.

1990. A new single, “Joyrider!”. This one gets released by Midnight Music (DONG65). It comes as a 12″ vinyl and also as a CD single. Both come with four songs, “Joyrider!” and “Slow Death” are on the A side and “Happy” and “Kool-Aid Mix” on the B side. They were recorded and mixed at the Strongroom in London.

This year they appear on another legendary compilation, “Alvin Lives (in Leeds)” that came out on Midnight Music (CLANG 4). This comp came out in vinyl, CD and cassette. This release as many of you know was released in aid of the Anti-Poll Tax Campaign. The song the band covered was Chic’s “Le Freak”.

Then another cover, “I Don’t Live Today”, appears on “If 6 was 9 – A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix” released by Imaginary Records (ILLUSION 008) in the UK as an LP and CD, by Communion Label (COMM 18) in the US on LP, CD and cassette and on Paradoxx Music from Brazil (!) as a CD comp titled “Tributo a Hendrix” (OXX 1062-1). This same song would be included in a triple CD compilation called “The Many Faces of Jimi Hendrix (A Journey Through the Inner World of Jimmi Hendrix)” that Music Brokers released in 2017.

Midnight Music also released that year a cassette sampler titled “The Independent Clarion 1” where they included the songs “Seven” and “Nothing of You”.

There is a 1991 release too that was a promo white label. All songs are untitled. It had 8 songs and it seems like an album titled “Past Caring”. Midnight Music had even given it a catalog number, CHIME 01.19. What songs were these? Why wasn’t this ever released? Anyone has any info about this record?

Then we have to jump to 1997 for them to appear on Cherry Red compilation “Nocturnal – The Best of Midnight Music” (CDMRED 13). The song that they have on this one is “Nothing of You”. Then it would become repetitive, Cherry Red using the Corn Dollies catalog to include them on their many boxsets. In 2013 they include “Be Small Again” on “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)” (CRCDBOX10) boxset, then “Forever Steven” on “C87” boxset (CRCDBOX26) in 2016, and lastly on 2017’s “C88” (CRCDBOX36) they had “Shake”.

Then I have a look at other bands the members had been on. Stephen Colin Musham, who sometimes went by the name Steve Mushroom, was in Lockjaw, Repetition, Rhythm of Space and The Escalators. Tim Sales was also in The Escalators in the early 80s. Jonathan Scott Podmore was in many bands including Cyclopean, Gain Reduction, Leeloo Kobayashi, Metamono, Rhythm of Space and The Jonathan S. Podmore Method.

The band also did a promo video. There’s one for “Joy Rider“. Then there is a video for “Shake” and “Map of the World“. On this last video uploaded by a Spanish fan it says that the band played in Madrid and Valencia and their music was on heavy rotation on the radio programme “La Conjura de las Danzas”.

I look for more info online and I was not surprised to see Darrin had written about them in his excellent Jangle Pop Hub blog. Here I find that the band had played at Wolverhampton Poly in 1989 from the comments. But most importantly it is enjoying the memory of Darrin about this band!

I also find that Steve Ridder ended up returning to the US and this sort of made the band reach a natural conclusion and called it a day. Why did he have to return?! Why not continue? There is an interesting story about Steve Ridder who was involved in the sale of a Hindu goddess Lakshmi doll that was featured on the album cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club” of The Beatles. The seller was Bonhams. And this is the story:

In another entertainment collecting field, music, a key name to bring in the bidders is of course The Beatles. At Bonhams, the Hindu goddess doll from the album cover for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) was on offer estimated at £4000-6000.

The classic cover was designed by Jann Haworth and her then-husband, pop art great Peter Blake, and the doll is seen in position under the ‘T’ of Beatles. The catalogue states: “It’s possible it was a suggestion by George Harrison, although Peter Blake is quoted as saying that George only gave him a list of Indian gurus and four were indeed included in the cut-outs gathered behind The Beatles.”

Bonhams says the vendor’s best friend, Steve Ridder, a Californian bass guitarist, had moved to the UK and joined a band called The Corn Dollies in the late 1980s. Ridder later met Haworth’s daughter who gave him the doll. After returning to the US, Baker gave the doll to the vendor’s son as a wedding gift. Some years later, after noticing the condition of the doll had deteriorated somewhat, the vendor and his son agreed to part with it.

The doll sold for £24,000 (£30,000 including buyer’s premium) to an international private buyer bidding online.

And that’s all I was able to find. Quite a lot. But yeah, I wonder what happened to them? Did they do any reunions as many of their peers? Who else remembers them?

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Listen
The Corn Dollies – Forever Steven

Day 574

Scarlet Drops: Harriet Records, the legendary label is making a comeback. Their first release is a CD retrospective compilation of Ottawa’s Scarlet Drops! There are 24 songs in this record from singles, cassette releases and other unreleased tracks. Seems like a record no one should miss! Also I hope to get an interview with the band as I would like to know more about them!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs by Glenn Donaldson’s project. The San Francisco based project keeps recording and recording new tracks that are perfect janglepop! The two latest ones are “I Only Ever Wanted to see You Fall” and a cover of Mazzy Star’s “Common Burn”.

EggS: a new 7″ by EggS will be released on Octobe 29 by Prefect Records from London! The 7″ EP titled “Greatest Hits” will include 3 tracks and so far we can preview one of them, “I Fell in Love”, which is really good!! I feel like I should a copy myself. Are the other 2 songs as good?

Semihelix: just a few days ago I was recommending a digital single by this Austin band. Today I am recommending their brand new album “Recoil” that is out now thanks to Mariel Recording Company on CD and vinyl LP. The album has 10 songs of super psych jangle pop!

Makthaverskan: and we end this with the superb news that the Gothenburg band is releasing a new album! It is going to be called “För Allting” and it is coming out on CD and vinyl on November 12! Great! Right now we can only preview one of the songs, “This Time” out of 12 that will be included in the record. Looking forward to this one for sure!

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Another band I tried to interview back in 2011 was Bunny Nightlight.

I was in touch with Marie Kare, vocalist and organ player in the band. The other member was Ben Barkley who played everything else. As far as I know they weren’t in any other bands.

They only released one record. A CDR on Shelflife Records back in 2003. It was an EP titled “Hail”. This EP was actually part of a CD-R series on Shelflife Records and this was the eight release in this series, hencee the catalog number CD-R Series #008. Now I am thinking it may be a good idea to research now many of the bands in these series.

This release was very limited, just 100 hand-numbered copies. It included four songs, “Mmm Hmm”, “Boo Hoo”, “So Bored” and “Stalking Song”. Their music was wonderful sweet bedroom-pop. Hard to come by to such pop perfection these days!

On this record Cynthia Ford sang backing vocals.

A few things I learned while researching for the interview:
– Ben had recorded a cassette full of songs for Marie to sing. That’s how the band started
– Marie hails from Borger, Texas. Where is that? It looks like in the middle of nowhere!
– Bunny Nightlife was born and was based in San Francisco, California
– Marie runs a cool blog called Marie the Bee. A lot about video gaming here!
– Their computer died and all of their Bunny Nightlife recordings, even unreleased tracks were lost

On the web there are a few mentions to the band, all of them raving their music. Erasing Clouds, an influential blog in the 2000s, recommended their EP. Indiepop.it, another legendary site, reviewed all CDR series on Shelflife. Here it mentions that the band hailed from Sacramento. Now I am confused! Also it mentions that the name of the band is taken from a Looney Tunes product, a lamp!

And lastly I find a Soudncloud that Marie Kare setup 6 months ago. This is a good find I think. After losing touch with them it is lovely to see that they still remember their music! They have uploaded a song not included in their EP. It is a cover of Frank & Nancy Sinatra’s duet “Something Stupid“.

And lastly, there is a song called “Song 3” that is on an EP called “We Love You, Jerry” that was put together in 2018 on Bandcamp. On this compilation EP that included The Rosebuds, Dusty Miller, Sad Numbers, Soul Brothers, and Rocketship. Bunny Nightlight appears with the aforementioned song. It seems it was only a digital release.

And that’s it. I am going back to many bands I tried to interview and for a reason or another I didn’t get answers back. I am just trying to write about them as I really liked them in the first place and deserved attention. An interview would have been better, more details, but this is not bad, is it?

Who remembers Bunny Nightlight?

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Listen
Bunny Nightlight – Mmm Hmm

Day 572

Rachel Love: I just preordered the album “Picture in Mind” by the ex-Dolly Mixture! I am so looking forward to this CD! Right now you can preview two of the songs that will be included in it, “Primrose Hill” and “The Long Way Round”. Both are truly something. I can’t wait to listen to the remaining 8. Very excited. Don’t miss this one out I’d say!

David Christian: the Comet Gain leader is back with an album worth of songs titled “Lullabies for Lives You Never Had”. This release is only digital but it is really good. This is the third volume of recordings done at home and other rare sounds. Definitely worth a listen for the fans and not fans (can that be possible?) of Comet Gain.

Les Yeux Mi-Clos: I wonder where Melotron Recordings from Greece found about this band! I have never heard them and they do sound fantastic. Jangly, chiming guitars. From what I understand it is the project of Correntin Cornieres. And here there is a limited CD of 6 songs that is being released on October 1st.

Humdrum: “Wave Goodbye” is the first song from the latest project of Loren Vanderbilt who used to be in the fantastic Star Tropics. This song is perfect janglepop. The guitars jingle jangle and the melodies work in a dreamy way. It is classic indiepop, well-crafted, and I really hope more songs appear on his Bandcamp soon!

Stomp Talk Modstone: the Japanese shoegazers have a new release on Bandcamp, a four song EP titled “Melissa/Keep on Mind”. As you might guess there are those two songs that give title to the EP plus an instrumental and a version of their song “Only Illusion”. Fuzzy and warm. Good stuff.

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I was in touch with Noel Attride of the fantastic Beyond the Blue. It was a fantastic opportunity and I asked to do an interview. I sent questions, and as it happens more often than not, I never received answers. So I can’t really tell the whole story of the band as I would have wanted. But I feel not having a write-up about this obscure but amazing band goes against the blog ideals.

I may be doing this a bit more often. There are many bands I’ve tried to interview but never got their answers. As this blog is a good resource for the history of indiepop, I feel at least a write-up of what I know, could be helpful.

From what I understand the band recorded only 6 songs. Only one of these songs, “Return of the Prodigals”, ended up being released. This song would end up on the compilation “Beyond the Fence Begins the Sky”, a vinyl comp released in 1987 by the Plastic Head Records Limited (PLAS LP 008). This label based in Oxon is still going to the surprise of many as a proper record store. On the record thee band appears as the 3rd song on the A side.

I have talked about this compilation in the past. Bands like The Jeremiahs or Home and Abroad appear on it. Also the Enamel Animals who would later be The Chalk Giants.

Beyond the Blue was formed by Noel Attride on guitar, Brendan O’Sullivan on vocals and guitar, James Field on bass and Nick Warren on drums.

The 6 songs the band recorded are on Soundcloud. They are “Time to Smile”, “Acid Rain”, “Beyond the Blue”, “Never Never Girl”, “Return of the Prodigals” and “Time in my Heart”.

Some info appear on the songs. We learn that the band was formed from two disbanded groups (which groups? it doesn’t say).

As you’ll notice the songs are quite something. They are amazing. Proper jangle pop. How come they didn’t release a record is a mystery to me.

I keep looking for any other details. I see a comment on a Firestation Records blog post by Nick Warren. He mentions that he was in a band called Sideways Laughing in 1985. In this band a member of Beyond the Blue was involved, Brendan O’Sullivan. His brother Kieran was also on Sideways Laughing. Nick and Brendan would start Beyond the Blue. He mentions that Brendan was in a band called The Tenderhooks. Would love to listen both of these bands, Sideways Laughing and The Tenderhooks.

Noel also comments on the post. He adds some more info. He says that he was more involved in the later stages of the band. He says that Nick, James and himself, before being in Sideways Laughing had been in a band called Breaking the Ice. Oh! Another band that would be great to listen to. He also mentions that Beyond the Blue played a few gigs in Reading and one in London, at the Hippodrome.

And that’s all the info I could find on the web. Would be fantastic to find out more. Maybe I can get in touch with the other band members and get an interview done. Would be great! Who remembers them?

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Listen
Beyond the Blue – Time to Smile

Day 569. A week since the release of our latest 7″ by Stars on Fire. Today is Bandcamp Friday too, if you happen to be around that site, please check it out here!

The Photocopies: who knows anything about this Michigan project? From what I understand they used to be called Aniseed Twist, but I had never heard of them either. They have some cool songs on their Bandcamp, all digital singles, clearly influenced by classic 80s and early 90s indiepop. Fun.

Moonlove: a really nice discovery, this Kent, Ohio, band from the 80s. Their sound is really good and you wonder how has this been in obscurity, they should be more known. The label Concentric Cirlces is releasing their recorded output as a 12″ LP on November 15. Pre-orders are up now for this record that includes 10 songs and a 12 page booklet. Would be fantastic to interview them.

Crystal Meadows: two songs from Greenfield, Massachusetts. project Crystal Meadows. That’s all I have been able to find about them. It has the feeling to be a solo project, but I cant say. The two lovely jingle jangly songs are “We Can’t Get Away From Here” and “Sophia”. Check them out!

The Lil’ Hospital: I always loved Kevin Alvir’s The Lil’ Hospital. The band used to make this perfect mix of lo-finess, quirkiness and tweeness. This was pop made with punk attitude. So it is great to see “I Wanna Be Well” on Bandcamp. These 11 recordings date from 2003 and they are essential to understand those early 2000s, when CDRs, Soulseek, mailing lists, and more were part of our lives.

Midsommar: and we end this week with a dreampop band and their latest digital single. Yup, hailing from Warsaw, Poland, Midsommar has just released the song “Summer’s Over” that will be part of their upcoming EP “The Dream We Had”. Nice.

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I went on to for a band called The Juniper Chute. I wanted to write some songs with a bit more balls to them so for the first time I wrote them all on an electric guitar. I then asked Hugh Whitaker, Eddie and a friend called Matty to form a band an we did a handful of gigs. The sad thing is that it was only intended as an experiment. I was sick of being in a band. I’d spent 2 years of my life trying to get the Penny Candles signed and got nowhere. Neil O’Brien offered us a gig at one of their venues. It was only our second show. In the next few months, after that show, I got rung up by every major record label in the country chasing me up. I was so disillusioned that I never returned the calls. The band members all had other commitments so it was never intended to be a permanent thing, so they drifted off and that was that.

Many years ago I interviewed Nick Langley about the fantastic band The Penny Candles. When I asked him what happened with him music-wise after the demise of The Penny Candles he told me that he was in the Juniper Chute.

A few weeks ago I reached Nick trying to see if he would be interested in doing an interview about The Juniper Chute. I emailed him but my email bounced. It seems the email I had for him doesn’t work anymore.

I don’t have any other contact information for him. I honestly thing The Penny Candles are one of my favourite bands that still doesn’t have a proper retrospective album. I wanted to do it, but I don’t think Nick was much interested. Maybe it can happen with another label. I don’t know. At that time I was in touch with him I hadn’t listened to The Juniper Chute. Now thanks to Chris Warkup’s Soundcloud page I discovered many songs by them. And I fell in love with yet another Hull band!

Thanks to this page, we know that the song “Me and Mrs Jones” appeared on a compilation tape called “Now That’s What We Call Hull” that came out in 1992. The band appears on the A side, it is the 4th song between two great tracks, one by Promise and another by Fog, both bands featured in the blog not too long ago.

I found another song by them on Youtube. It is called “God Knows” and from what the uploader says, it was a signature tune by the band. The sound sadly is not that great.

Looking for more info, as it is very rare to be honest, I find that the band played the Tower Ballroom, in Hull, on February 4, 1992. That day the bands on the lineup were Joyce Victoria, Fog, The Juniper Chute and Intricate White.

Sadly this is all I could find online for the band. Would be great to know more about them, how come they never released any records, and also, most importantly, find out how many more songs were recorded.

Anyone from Hull remembers them?

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Listen
The Juniper Chute – Mr & Mrs Jones

Day 567

Remi Parson: a new single has arrived! Our friend Rémi who used to be in the most amazing The Sunny Street has released “Les Sentiments”, a beautiful pop song that will be included in his forthcoming album “Pour un Empire”, his third album. This album is to be released by Isolaa Records on November 2021. And it feels, my sentiment is, that is a record any pop lover shouldn’t miss. This single works as a proof of that!

The Bernhardts: I wasn’t familiar with the label Smiling C from California. It seems they’ve been doing reissues in vinyl of classic bands. Not all indiepop of course. Maybe that’s why. But The Bernhards four song EP “Moonglow” is one I wasn’t going to miss. This is not out yet, it is coming out on November 20, and I have already pre-ordered. A few copies are remaining! The Manchester trio formed by Simon Milner, Steve Hopkins and Neil Fitzpatrick made some wonderful music in the early 80s and these four songs are a testament of it. Would be great to get in touch with them and interview them, right?

Everyday Sensations: My Secret Garden Recordings is doing a great job reissuing and doing retrospective releases of their artists from back in the mid 200s. The latest to get this treatment on CD is Everyday Sensations, the band of Markus Bergström Björn. On this new release titled “Forget Those Teardrops” we find 4 songs which are wonderful, and there’s even a video been made for “Call it What You Want“. The release is limited to 100 copies, so don’t miss it!

Flty Brger Grl: out now is the album “Love you Forever” by this Oslo band! It is out on vinyl and cassette and it is a nice surprise for me. They have been going for some years now, but it is the first time I’m listening to their sugary lo-fi pop! It is indeed very sweet, but most importantly, it is good!

Tiles: and today’s last recommendation comes from Adelaide, Australia. It is a new digital single by this dreamy duo and they have titled it “Sleep In”. This is a lovely slice of indiepop. Chiming guitars and a mellow melody that works perfectly. Australia never disappoints.

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Continuing with Soundcloud finds, I discovered The Carrellines and their wonderful song “Bridesmaids Never Brides”. This song was the A side of a 7″ that had “Credence” as its B-side.

The band formed by Aidan Breslin (guitar, keyboards), Billy Doherty (drums), Damien Duffy (bass, keyboards) and Paul McLoone (vocal, guitar), released this single in 1990. The band hailed from Derry, Northern Ireland and were able to put this single thanks to wining the Carling/Hotpress Band of 1990. I suppose they got money thanks to that and were able to self-release this record.

The sleeve, blue and yellow, and a black and white drawing of a man. Is it one of the band members? This illustration was made by Damien Duffy.

The back of the sleeve gives us a bit more details. The songs were recorded by David Slevin and Niall O’Sullivan at Landsdowne Studios in Dublin on July 21 and 22nd of 1990. Kendal Mooney is credited for additional vocals on “Credence”.

The band actually started in 1986 and their first live gig happened in June 1987. In November 1987 the band performed at the Irish Rock Week at London’s legendary venue The Mean Fiddler. I know the band caught the attention of Dave Fanning and they recorded a session for him! Oh! They must appeared on the Dave Fanning blog!

Checking the blog I find a post about them in that great blog. Dating from 2013, it mentions that the band recorded at 5 track session. But it doesn’t seem that the session is available. It says it is lost!

Then I notice something. I’ve seen Paul McLoone play! Yeah, he fronts The Undertones now. He has been filling Fergal Sharkey’s shoes for years, since 1999! Wow. And also Bill Doherty was part of The Undertones. Small world indeed.

I keep finding good info. The Carellines played Cork Rock weekend and appeared on TV, on RTE’s “Check It Out”. The band recorded a demo tape of 8 songs at Matrix Studios in Belfast which helped them get more radio airplay on RTE and BBC.

The band played at Belfast’s The Limelight and later at The Belfast Arts Festival in November 1988. This performance was actually broadcasted live on BBC radio.

On January 1989 the band played many showcase gigs. After returning to Derry the band recorded a three track demo at Beethoven St. Studios with Kevin Armstrong and Andrew Paresi. Another TV appearance would happen that year, at “Jo Maxi” on RTE TV. There they performed their superb “Bridesmaids Never Brides”.

The Irishrock.org website gives even more details. Here it says thee band recorded not one but two Dave Fanning Sessions. Again, we don’t know which tracks! That’s not great.

Sadly the Dave Fanning Sessions nor their TV appearances seem to be online. That’s a shame.

That’s all I’ve been able to find. I hope to get a record for myself, would be great to have their 7″ in my collection! Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Carrellines – Bridesmaids never Brides