I saw the Swansea Sound on Saturday. At some point during the gig Hue Williams, the frontman, ex-Pooh Sticks, introduced the rest of the band. First he started with the drummer, Ian Button from Death in Vegas and Thrashing Doves. Then he mentions Rob Pursey from Heavenly, Tender Trap, Marine Research and The Five Year Plan. Then Amelia Fletcher from Talulah Gosh, all the bands Rob has been (sans The Five Year Plan) and all the indie bands everyone knows. Then Bob Collins from The Dentists. But he didn’t introduce himself! What other bands was Hue on?

Aside from the amazing Pooh Sticks, I know he was in Huegenius who released a 7″ on Damaged Goods (probably needs a post on the blog!) and the Dumb Angels. But am I missing any other bands? I don’t know. These are the ones I have records from. And the Dumb Angels was the last one I got, many years back, so I thought, why not revisit on the blog?

There is the one song on the 7″, that appears on both sides. It is a cover of Brian Wilson’s “Love and Mercy”. The 7″ was released in 1988 by Fierce Recordings (Fright033), was limited to 500 copies and came in a red sleeve printed with black ink with photos of Brian, including the one on the cover with the firefighter helmet. The sleeve is credited to Potential Graphics who did a few Pooh Sticks releases.

On the back we see the people involved in the Dumb Angels. As mention Hue from the Pooh Sticks on vocals, Saucerman – Heavy Dude on vocals, Nuggles Burrito from Ten Foot Boneless on bass, Trudi from the Pooh Sticks on vocals, Johny Scuzznuts from Saucerband on guitar, Voice of God on pretentious verse and Che Duvalier on drums.

Right, many strange names there. Che Duvalier wasn’t that complicated to track down, it is Andrew Griffiths from the band Shame that hailed from Swansea and released the magnificent 7″ “Real Tears” on Fierce Recordings. I’ve written about his band and I would love to interview him and find more about them.

Saucerman was in the bands Longjaw and Knucklehead and also released some solo stuff on Fierce Recordings.

Discogs lists two compilation appearances for the Dumb Angels. One is unofficial of course, it is a CDR released in 2009 by the radio station WFMU from New Jersey. The “Cherries Jubileeee” was put together by DJ Terre T for the Marathon Premium of 2009. I am not familiar with most of the bands on the compilation, the Dumb Angels appear with “Love and Mercy” as the 5th song.

The other compilation hails from Germany and I am not 100% sure if it is the same Dumb Angels as the one I am writing about. It may be a different one. The compilation is called “The Kittenblood Compilation Vol. 2” and dates from 1999. It was released by Thunderwoman (THW 024). The song included is called “Crazy Baby”. But again take it with a pinch of salt. I can’t confirm this is the Hue-fronted Dumb Angels.

There is absolutely no other details about the band online. It seems it may have been just formed for the recording of this 7″. Even for just the one song (that would explain why both sides have the same track). A Swansea supergroup. Did they collaborate in any other forms through the years? Did they ever play live? Why did they decide to record this cover? Why not an original track?

Many questions could be asked about this band. Maybe we’ll get to know more details in the future!

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Dumb Angels  – Love and Mercy

I am curious about this mid-90s band. I discovered quite a few songs on Youtube, on an account by someone called John Fields, and they’ve left me quite excited.

It seems that there was an EP released called “Opposite Fates” in 1993. But I can’t find any information about it. Three songs seem to come from this record, “Opposite Fates“, “Unexpected Encounters” and “Disenchanted“.

Then we get the detail that the band was active between 1993 and 1996. Did they hail from the UK? Who were the other members?

Those questions will have to wait. There are two other recordings uploaded. A demo of “Clifton Avenue” (with lyrics by Bill Pritchard) and “Cold Stars“. The first one dating from 1995 and the second from 1996.

And that seems to be it.  I look for more info on Google, search for The Waning Poets, but find nothing.

I see that he has uploaded songs by a band called Davis. The timeline shows this band came next. I start to see many names in French, pictures and some comments. May The Waning Poets be French perhaps? Again this band seems to have released an EP and album but can’t find on Discogs. I am hitting a wall.

I wonder then who were behind this band. The songs are amazing, and I wouldn’t mind seeing a reissue of these songs, I would buy them. They are really good!

Anyone knows more details about them?

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The Waning Poets – Clifton Avenue (demo version)

What about Liverpool in the early 90s? How was that scene?

I just discovered a band called Coma Ray thanks to Soundcloud. Almost a decade ago they uploaded a trove of recordings which I am slowly listening one by one.

The band, self-described as sonic noise terrorists channeling My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, Sonic Youth and Pixies, was formed by Paul Tudhope on vocals and guitar, Mark Docherty on guitar and backing vocals, Dan Booth on bass and Chris Ashcroft on drums. Chris would later be replaced by Damian Cruikshank on drums.

Here on Soundcloud there is a live gig, a rare gig, of them playing at the Wigan Undergraound. No date is given but we know it was 1992. The songs from these gig are: “Arial”, “White”, “Blue Blue”, “Asha”, “Sunsong”, “Spike” and “Fluffy”. The quality of this live recording is really good.

Then I find Dan Booth’s website. It mentions he was born in Bury and that he spend most of his younger years in Liverpool where he studied English Literature.

His first band was Coma Ray, then later he would be in Crush. This band sounds good I think. I should check it out afterward.

And that’s it. No releases. And perhaps no proper studio recordings. In any case, as mentioned, the live gig sounds good, and it is quite an enjoyable listen! Anyone saw them live? Who did they use to support? Would be good to find out more about Coma Ray!

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Coma Ray – Sunsong (live at Wigan Underground 1992)

Time for the early 90s.

I find a Souncloud account by a musician called Marc Sparrow. He is based in London. Last update, 4 years ago, he uploaded a song called “Coronavirus Shake”.

I am more interested in other tracks. Ones that were recorded more than 30 years ago by a band of his called Rapture. There are a few of them.

One thing I learn was that this band was formed by Carl Wells on vocals and bass, Marc Sparrow on guitar and backing vocals and Marcus Galley on drums.

The songs I find by Rapture were recorded at Coach House Studios in Lichfield. Was the band based in this town in Staffordshire? Would be good to find out.

Lichfield is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated 18 miles (29 km) south-east of Stafford, 9 miles (14 km) north-east of Walsall, 8 miles (13 km) north-west of Tamworth and 13 miles (21 km) south-west of Burton Upon Trent. At the time of the 2021 Census, the population was 34,738 and the population of the wider Lichfield District was 106,400.

Notable for its three-spired medieval cathedral, Lichfield was the birthplace of Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first authoritative Dictionary of the English Language. The city’s recorded history began when Chad of Mercia arrived to establish his Bishopric in 669 AD and the settlement grew as the ecclesiastical centre of Mercia. In 2009, the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork, was found 4 mi (6.4 km) south-west of Lichfield.

The first song I listen is called “Wish“. Then there’s “Vulnerable” and “Sensory“. These are the tree recordings attributed to Rapture and that were recorded at the Lichfield studio. Would it make sense to think these were part of a demo tape?

I look for more info. I see that a drummer called Marcus Galley was part of the band of Carina Round. Would it be the same Marcus?

Not much more on the web about them. Perhaps I need more details to find more information about the band. In any case, I hope this post helps us getting some information from fans, people that remember them, and why not, band members!

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Rapture – Vulnerable

We are heading to Norwich today. To discover a little known shoegaze band called Spellbound.

The band was active in the early 90s where they supported Catherine Wheel and Stereolab among others. The band would put out records on their own and also an EP on Noisebox Records.

Spellbound was rejected by a few labels including 4AD, Decoy and Cherry Red. But they also were played and supported by John Peel, Mark Radcliffe and Janice Long.

They had good moments and not so good moments it seems.

I would assume that the release of “The Dark Days EP” (NBX005) in 94 must have been their highlight. The record came out on both CD and tape with an interesting sleeve design by Nick Stone (who had done tons of records by The Cranberries, Ivy and Magoo) with photographs by Darren Nicholas. It had four songs, “Shine”, “On High”, “Persuasion” and “Miss Holly Golightly”, the first three recorded by Phil Darke and the last one by Phil Watts. Darke recorded the tracks at Darkeside Studios in Royston, while Watts did at Fordham House Studios in Newmarket.

It is very important to highlight the support of Pete Morgan from Noisebox Records. He was the champion of the band and the band seems were very thankful for it. Noisebox Records was an early 90s label that was actually an offshoot of Noisebox Rehearsal and Recording Studios in Norwich.

On Discogs there is another release by the band, a 1994 tape titled “Live in the Studio”. The 6 songs on this cassette were recording at the Noisebox Rehearsal and Recording Studios on October of that year by Pete Morgan. These tracks were “Moonstone”, “Encore”, “My Sweet Rose”, “Persuasion”, “Gaslight” and “Persuasion (Reprise)”. First three on the A side, the rest on the B side.

This tape credits the band. Now we know that the band was formed by Lydia Woollard on vocals and guitar, Ian Gallacher on guitar (there is an Ian Gallacher credited for photos on the great Wolfhounds album “Unseen Ripples from a Pebble”, is it the same Ian?) and Clifford Woollard on bass.

The band would also appear on a few compilations. In 1993 the band contributed “Miss Holly Golightly” to “Backwater One” a 12″ compilation put out by Noisebox (NSB002) alongside Steerpike, Ivy and The Lemon Growers.

Then in 1994 the band had “Encore” on a cassette comp called “Under Wild East Anglian Skies 2” that came out on Vigilante Publications. This was put out by a local magazine of the same name.

Lastly in 1995, that same song, “Encore”, was on “Now That’s What I Call Noisebox” (NBX018) a CD comp that featured many bands that were on this label.

But that is not all. The band has a Bandcamp. And you should head there to listen to the band’s music!

You’ll find “The Dark Days EP” but also a tape release called “April Love / Downfall”. This was a self-published release by the band that included these two songs which were recorded in the spring of 1992 in East Anglia in Fordham House Studios. In this Bandcamp version, they have expanded this release including two more tracks, “Forever Dear” and “The Star Painter”. These two songs were part of the “Downstairs at Alans” demo that was recorded in a photo shop next to the Rezz Club in Romford.

But that is not all. There is a collection of demos called “The Noisebox Sessions”. Here you’ll find the songs “Moonstone”, “Encore”, “My Sweet Rose”, “Persuasion”, “Gaslight”, “England Made Me (live)” and “Opening the Oyster (live)”.

Other info I have found in the band is that the band took their name from the Alfred Hitchcock classic film, that they used a drum machine, that Lydia was actually Payton before being Woollard, that they played at the Camden Falcon and The Bull & Gate and that Ian moved to Northern France while Cliff is a member of the band Parramatta.

Good find I think! Anyone remembers them?

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Spellbound – April Love

One more band discovered on Blue House Records. After discovering the bands As Is, World Service and Tender Lugers, this time around I started listening to a collection of recordings titled “South of Somewhere” by the band Gods Kitchen and I was happily impressed.

This is well done guitar pop, and through the 20 songs of the collection you start to discover many great tracks.

From what I understand this collection was put together to be released on CD back in 2012. I haven’t seen this CD ever but it is listed in Discogs.

From the small writeup on Bandcamp, written by James Partridge of Blue House Records, we learn that the band lasted for a long time. I see two dates, 1991 and 2001. I suppose the band was around 10 or more years then.

The band was formed by Shane Kirk, Stephen Dean and Gibbon. They were the mainstays. On some recordings I see the names of Steven Mears (tracks 1 thru 5), Stephen Constable and James Partridge on backing vocals (tracks 6 to 17) and Paul Read on backing vocals (track 17).

I should probably mention what tracks are these. The 20 tracks are in order “Still Sad About Us”, “Evangeline”, “Walk”, “Put Me Down”, “North of Nowhere”, “Stop that for a Start”, “Brilliant Blonde”, “The Boy Who Loved Aeroplanes”, “Black Rain”, “Muswell Hill”, “Here Come the Rain”, “Before You Go”, “Mine”, “A Long Weekend”, “The Right Party”, “Come Into My Room”, “Stretch Armstrong”, “Told Her at the Time”, “My Baby’s Street” and “Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man”.

The first 5 songs date from 2001, then the next five from 1991. Tracks 11 to 17 date from 1992. Track 18, “Told Her at the Time”, is a live rehearsal while track 19, “My Baby’s Sweet” is another live rehearsal recording, this one from 1992. The last track, “Drugstore Truck Drivin’ Man”, is a cover of The Byrds.

From what I read all of these recordings come from tapes. I suppose these were live rehearsal tapes and also demo tapes. How many of the latter did they put together? I assume there are also more recordings that didn’t make this cut.

It is then worth noting that Shane Kirk was on two other bands who I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post, As Is and World Service. Th. I have written about them. The latest band he was in was called This Much Talent.

And this is quite a find, I didn’t find it previously when I wrote about Shane’s other bands. There is a Google Book called “Turn ’em all on, then turn ’em all down…“. I am not sure if Google shows the complete book, but it starts with writings from 2013. The book was published in 2020. So maybe it doesn’t cover the older bands? Would be good to know.

And that’s all I could find.

I’ve written 4 posts now about Blue House Records bands, I hope we get in touch with someone who knows them. Would be great to learn more.

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God’s Kitchen – Still Sad About Us

Here are 6 tracks from a little known band from Southampton called Big Bear Little Bear.

Yeah, just like the well known children book by David Bedford. The curious thing is that the book was published in 2001. The band recorded in the 80s. But maybe it has to do with Big Bear, Little Bear, a spy thriller published in 1981 by David Brierley? I guess that is a question that won’t be easy to answer today/

These 6 tracks are on Soundcloud, Rick Aplin, the vocalist and keyboardist, uploaded them 2 years ago.

The songs are an interesting mix of new wave with the indie pop sounds of the time. You’ll find the tracks “Where is the Dance”, “Mayday”, “Television”, “You Had Me”, “Moonwalking” and “Where is the Dance”. Fun to listen to them.

We also get the names of the other band members. So we know Rick Aplin was the vocalist and keyboardist, then there is Andy Keen on guitar and vocals, John Russell-Sanders on bass and vocals and Paul Bringloe on drums.

On Rick’s Soundcloud you will find more songs, by other projects of his.

But then there is another great find. I find video footage of the band playing “Where is the Dance?” at The Crystal Rooms in Portsmouth in 1984. The quality is not great, but check it out.

So the questions arise. The band didn’t release any records. So the songs must have come from a demo tape. One? Two? And then what happened to them? Did the members continue making music? Who would know?

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Big Bear Little Bear – You Had Me

Remember I wrote about some bands that were on the Bandcamp of Blue House Records? I wrote about As Is and the Tender Lugers some weeks or a month or two ago. My memory is a bit frail. But it wasn’t that long ago.

Now I go back to this Bandcamp account to check some other bands they have uploaded. Some have artwork that don’t look very poppy, so I skip those for now. But I do check a band that has a name that sounds like it could be indiepop… and it is… they are called World Service and there are some terrific songs there.

There are 10 songs uploaded, “I’m Sorry”, “Far Away (Dance Mix)”, “End of the Rainbow”, “Empire Song”, “Danny Whitten’s Legacy”, “Far Away (Constable Mix)”, “Teardrop Frown”, “Don’t Send Me Sympathy”, “Danny Whitten’s Legacy (2)” and “Archive & Rhyme”. But sadly that is all there is. There is no information whatsoever about the band.

The sound of the songs tells me these date from the 80s. But that is just an educated guess.

I do a little Googling. I start by Danny Whitten. There’s a song written about him. Danny was an American guitarist who played on Neil Young’s backing band Crazy Horse. He also wrote “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” which was a hit for Rod Stewart and Everything But the Girl.

But then I find something. At last. A promo video!! Wow, what a find!

There’s a video for the song “End of the Rainbow” on Youtube. Can you imagine? And we also learn that the band was a four-piece. And that’s not all. We learn that the song dates from around 1990 and that the band hailed from Ipswich.

And then finally a name, Shane Kirk, vocalist and guitarist. And I believe his latest project was a band called This Much Talent.

But then, who were the other three members of World Service? Did they release anything? Would be great to find out more about this great sounding band. Anyone remember them?

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World Service – Empire Song

Let’s go back 34 years. To 1990. That year Katiho releases the tape compilation “Heol Daou” (Katiho 02), one of the most important and influential French indiepop cassettes.

On this tape we find a little known band called Candle with the song “She Wants”. The band is in good company as great bands like White Town, Die Blinzelbeeren, Non-Stop Kazoo Organization and more are in the tape.

2 years later, in 1992, the band releases “Beginning Blue”, a CD EP. It comes out on Lithium Records (LICD 04). This Parisian label would become known for releasing Dominique A or Diablogum among others. The EP has four tracks, “No Eyes”, “Beginning Blue”, “Burning Blind” and “Harmony”. They are recorded at Studio de la Madeleine and then mixed at Studio Bastille, both in Paris.

The engineer on the record was Stéphane Calsson while the artwork is credited to Cambell Tollerton. We also get two names, Isabelle and Julien. They are credited for all the songs and instruments. It is Isabelle Andrès and Julien Retaillaud. Both would later be in the band Carmine.

18 years later, in 2020, the band release “Beginning Blue Uncut”. This CDR mini-album includes more songs than the EP. Here we find “No Eyes”, “Burning Blind”, “Tears of Blood”, “Never Thought”, “3 Weeks in a Day”, “See Me Smile”, “Then a Hole” and “She Wants”.

I suppose this release coincided with the band appearing on Bandcamp, in Julian’s Bandcamp.

Other than these releases I notice some more listed on Discogs on the compilation section. But I feel these are wrong. They have to be by another band called Candle.

There is one more thing. There is a live gig on Bandcamp. It dates from May 14, 1992 and was live at La Grande Bouveche in Orsay. This time the band played “Harmony”, “Empty Head”, “Mary, Mary So Contrary”, “No Name”, “Then a Hole”, “Burning Blind”, “Beginning Blue”, “Seaweed Alice” and “No Eyes”. Here we see a photo of a 4-piece band. On Discogs they appear as a duo. What was right?

It seems the project evolved into Carmine afterwards. But that’s another story. Would love to know more about Candle. How long did the band last? Why weren’t there more releases? Was it a duo or a band? Did they play outside of Paris? Who remembers them?

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Candle – Three Weeks in a Day

Here is another band I have no clue about, but the good thing about them is that there are many recordings I can share.

On a Soundcloud account called Alexander1967 there are many songs by this 90s Japanese band.

I want to think that 1967 was the year the person behind the account was born. Would make him 23 years in 1990. That would fit I think, for him to start this band.

It is clear the band had a female vocalist. So maybe it was a duo? In any case there were more members. The songs you will find are “So They all Went Home to Cry”, “The Sky is like Aneddy of Like Purple”, “Nobody Likes Me”, “So Happy in all My Life”, “Bathe in the Starlight on Monday Night”, “Black Cat on my Knee” and “Enchanted Evening” from 1993 and “Why”, “On Monday” and “There’s Still One Thing I’d Like to Know”.

It also seems this person was in other two band previously. He was in Alexander and in Mersey Beat, both in 1987. There are recordings by these two bands as well and they sound really good.

Now for Mersey Beat I could find band members as they released two 7″s (maybe I should dedicate a post to them?). There was Akiko Kanata, Hideo Ohnishi, Kenji Yamamoto and Yasuhito Nakato. I wonder who of these band members was on Taste Butter Cookies… or maybe the question is how many of them? Would be great to find out.

Any other info on Taste Butter Cookies would be great!

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Taste Butter Cookies – Nobody Likes Me