So yeah, Mexico City. I was there for just 4 days and it was great. The food was delicious (as always). Went to a couple of archaeological sites (Tlatelolco and Malinalco) and visited the Secretariat of Education (which was amazing, lots and lots of Diego Rivera’s murals). When it comes to indiepop I was lucky to see Okama Flannel Boy last Saturday playing a gig at a venue called Terminal Juárez which was great as it had food available as well as drinks, and not just one option but many different cuisines. The gig was lovely as well. It is the 2nd time I see the chilango band and their set is even longer than last year. They have some new songs that are among their best and which I hope end up on a record sometime. Then I met some indiepop friends after the gig and talked about music quite a bit! That was fun! This doesn’t happen much at NYC events, every gig has a very different crowd here and I don’t see any friends here anymore at gigs! This made me think we really need NYC Popfest back!  Anyways, a great weekend and I hope to go back to that great city soon. Next year probably!

Some finds for the coming weekend? Of course!

White Spaces: from Toronto, Canada, comes this four piece formed by Colleen, Jackson, Jon and Jeff. They have a six song EP called “Vacation Days” now available on their Bandcamp. I got hooked after my friend David shared the song “Island” which is pretty great!

Moon Racer: my friend Autumn has a lovely new song of lo-fi bedroom pop called “You Can Feel Bad”. If you are not familiar with the Durham, North Carolina, solo project there are a couple of other releases and even better Moon Racer is touring the East Coast in June!

Top Sound: “YSL” is the newest track of the Stockholm based band formed by Katarina, Johan, Tobias and Einar and what a beauty it is! I need this on vinyl! I hope there are plans for that, if not get in touch with this humble servant. It has been quite some time since I listen a song that sounds like this.

Dream, Ivory: the Lake Elsinore, California, band is back with the 2nd single from their upcoming album “Lost Dog”. The new single is called “Wedding Crasher”, but it does make me wonder when will the album be released? No information for that. Maybe later this year? We should keep an eye on them then!

Hatchie: the ex-Go Violets is releasing “Keepsake” the debut album by Hatchie on June 21st on Double Double Whammy, Heavenly Recordings and Ivy League. Yup! Three labels to put it out. To promote the album there is a new video for the song “Obsessed” which is a terrific song and including tons of footage of Hatchie’s US tour from last year I believe. Can’t wait for the album!

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I must say it has become the hardest to find an indiepop band with a name that starts with an X to complete this challenge. It has definitely been the most challenging. Though in due honesty I was very well aware of X-ing School as I have two friends that were part of the band. And also they are not that old you know. Short-lived yes, but not too old that it would be lost to obscurity. They even have a Bandcamp and Facebook. I could probably ask them to do an interview too.

But I’ll write this post as I want to complete this challenge of featuring 26 bands, each starting with a different letter of the alphabet. So as a completist, here is the wonderful X-ing School from Malmö.

Of course we know that their name come from the ubiquitous signs that we see in the roads here in the US. Sure, the way to read them would be School X-ing (crossing), but if you are literal about them, you see X-ing on top and school below.  So a smart way to name their band, don’t you think?

The band was formed by three girls and a boy. Anna Harysson was on bass and vocals, Antonia Pehrson on guitar and vocals, Kajsa Tretow on guitar and vocals and Henrik on drums. I know Antonia and Kajsa. Antonia as she was part of Komon, Anthronica, Taggarna Ut and also A Smile and a Ribbon.  Kajsa was also in Smile and a Ribbon but has also been in the wonderful band The Budgies, Cosines and had her solo project The Plutification Table that deserved a proper release.

The band as I said was short-lived and I was lucky to see them live at the Windmill in Brixton as part of the 2011 London Popfest. What days were those! Such nostalgia. I remember the huge dog that was on the roof of the venue and the creepy lady that was in charge of the venue. Good times!

They only self-released a CD EP that was titled “89 Attending” that was released in 2011. I believe it was mostly a digital release but copies were made to be sold at Popfest and at their gigs. I always hoped to see a proper release you know. I think they were looking for a label at some point. I remember asking what was their intention with the very fine four songs they had in their EP, “Deep Ortography”, “89 Attending”, “Modern Lovers” and “Lazy Babies”. I am pretty sure I was interested in working together. Oh well, it’s been a long time now!

That was all they put out. Not sure if they recorded any other songs (I think they had a song called “Devil’s Mountain” but not sure if it was recorded?) but I do know they didn’t even appear on any compilations. We do know that the band played quite a few gigs. From what I understand their first gig was on August 23rd, 2010 at the Don’t Die on My Doorstep club that Krister used to run in På Besök in Malmö. The band supported the NYC band The Depreciation Guild.

Another gig was at Debaser Malmö on the 10th of September of the same year. Then on September 17th they played at Smålands Nation in Lund. And I believe that was their last ever gig?

Not much more info about the band online. But I suppose we’ll find soon about any interesting facts about them. I hope so. I remember with nostalgia that night at London Popfest when I saw them as they were great, a bit shambolic and all, just how I like my indiepop bands. I wonder these days that I have lost touch if they are still making music…

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Listen
X-ing School – Lazy Babies

I am exhausted! I just got back from Mexico City and I am looking for 5 new finds right away so I can prepare today, Tuesday, this post for tomorrow Wednesday, to get back on schedule! I promise to tell you more about my trip on Friday’s post.

Hurry: this three-piece from Philadelphia have released a digital single with two tracks last April: “Frustrate You” and “An Element of Surprise”. They sound pretty good to me, jangly and dreamy. The band seems to have been around since at least 2012… shame I am only discovering them now.

Noah: Haruki Sato, Ryota Tsuji, Yota Takatsu, Naoya Kamojima and Sachi Nagame are Noah, from Japan. Their latest release is an 8 song album called “Fluctuate”. You can listen to all the tracks on their Bandcamp and enjoy their shoegaze sounds!

Soft Blue Shimmer: the Boston based label Disposable America is releasing a limited run of 50 cassettes of “Nothing Happens Here”, the 5 track EP by this Boston band! “Fruitcake” and “Chamoy” are the two tracks available to preview and I’m really liking them!

Elna Rae: now let’s head to San Francisco, that’s where the label Blind Love Tapes is based. They have a new release on 12″ lathe cut by Elna Rae, the “Dexter” EP! 4 songs of lo-fi guitar both catchy and fun!

Wake in June: is Enrico Pastore, from Padua, Italy. He has just released on the Slovakian label Z Tapes a 10 song album called “Lavender Pink” which will be available digitally and on tape. For me to find jangly Italian pop is always a surprise, it is not a common thing. A little treasure awaits everyone here.

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Turn for the letter W. And here I am with another band that I discovered through the wonderful The Sound of Leamington Spa compilation series, Wake Up Afrika.

Wake Up Afrika came together beneath the toxic clouds of the industrial north west town of Widnes in the early 80s. Despite their grim surroundings, they soon built up a reputation for serving up bouncy, melodic and memorable pop. Always at their best playing live, their infectious tunes, filled with three-part harmonies, and swirling flute and sax went against the trend of the current music scene, and Wake Up Afrika became known as the band that got people up dancing wherever they went. Support slots to bands like The Farm and Hothouse Flowers, together with a commitment to a punishing schedule of gigs exposed them to an enthusiastic and ever-growing following and several major labels took an interest but it was eventually local indie label, Red River Records, who released the band’s one and only single “Simple Words”. “Walking Blind” was a live favourite and came from the pens of the band’s principal songwriters. Duncan Lomax and David Pichilingi. In the face of growing apathy from the major labels, the pair eventually disbanded Wake Up Afrika to form 35 Summers where they eventually found the major record deal that had eluded them with Wake Up Afrika.

That’s how the booklet of the 4th volume of The Leamington Spa introduces us to the band. This compilation of course was released in 2003 by the German label Firestation Records (FST060). This was how I discovered the band and perhaps how many other people did too. The year after, 2004, the band also contributed a song called “The Breadvan” to the Japanese label Excellent. Records compilation “Pop Renaissance” (excd014), a 3 CD comp that showcased superb tracks that were contemporary then but also classic sounds from the 80s. I’d love to have a copy of this record.

But let’s go back in time, when the band was active, the mid 80s. The first time we hear from them is on a compilation called “Elegance, Charm and Deadly Danger” that was released by Push Records (PUSH001) in 1985. On this compilation that included The La’s, the band appears with the song “Love Died in the Road”. From what I gather this compilation featured bands hailed from in and around St. Helens, Merseyside, UK. Also it is worth noting that Push was actually an acronym for Promotional Umbrella for St Helens.

In 1989 the band released their one and only record, “Simple Words”. It was released by Red River Records (MRC96) on 12″ vinyl. Three songs were included, the title song on the A side and “God Only Knows” and “Animal” on the B side. The engineer for the track was Adrian Sleigh for “Simple Words” and “Animal” while Phil Ault engineered the remaining one. The band produced the songs but one, D. Lewis produced “God Only Knows”.

Discogs lists a reissue of this 12″ with a different artwork. The tracklist is the same. From what I understand this re-release was put out in Japan in 1996.

But even more interesting is that the band also put together a CDR with the art of the reissue at some point. This CDR included 5 tracks! “Walking Blind” which is the song that appears on the Leamington Spa comp, “Animal”, “She Said”, “Shine” and “Sunday Afternoon”. Was this sold somewhere?

Of course that’s not all, there was a video for “Simple Words” that was filmed in Players night club and amongst the big bridges and smelly factories of downtown Widnes.

Widnes is an industrial town in Halton, Cheshire, Northwest England. In 2011, it had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. Directly to the south across the Mersey is the town of Runcorn. Upstream and 13 km to the east is the town of Warrington, and downstream to the west is Speke, part of the city of Liverpool.

Of course we know Duncan Lomax was also in 35 Summers who were on RCA as well as David Fenlon (later Pichilingi). But was it just them two in Wake up Afrika? Were there any other members? The photo on the booklet of the Leamington Spa comp shows more band members!

Well I start digging following these clues. I stumble upon a band called Perfect, an early 80s band where Duncan Lomax was involved playing guitar and vocals. On this band we also find Andy Frizell who would later be in Wake Up Afrika, Vernons, Absent Black Cat, Royal Family and Wizards of Twiddly. But that’s not all. I find that Dave Pichilingi was also on a band called Utopia Dream. And that Lomax had been in Hal.

Then I find the other members. Ian Donohue played guitar, Ste Holian bass and Andy Hignett drums. At some point Andy was replaced on sax by John Lyons.

The band mostly played around Liverpool, for example at the Uni and Poly, Mardi Gras, supporting China Crisis and The Farm. At some point in  November 1987 the band changed their name to Giant Smiles. Then they went back to Wake Up Afrika.

That’s really all I could find about them. Of course there is much more written and more information about their later incarnation, 35 Summers. I like them too of course. But right now I’m curious about Wake up Afrika. Why the name? What about that CDR? Are there more recordings by them? Any information will be appreciated!

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Listen
Wake Up Afrika – Simple Words

Okay! Tomorrow I head to Mexico City and won’t be back to blogging until Wednesday. It is a short trip. I’ll be attending an Okama Flannel Boy gig tomorrow as I mentioned on my previous post, so hopefully see you there! Until we see each other again here are 5 new pop finds from around the web!

Slow Pulp: I feel I’ve been finding more and more Wisconsin bands in the last few months. Maybe there is an exciting scene there now? Slow Pulp hails from Wisconsin and their latest work is a 4 song EP titled “Big Day” which sounds great! The band is also touring soon and will even cross the border to Canada. And I hope to catch them at the Bowery Ballroom in June though I must say I don’t like much the other bands playing that gig…. argh! Oh well, check them out!

Pin Ups: “Spinning” is the latest track by the Brazilian band formed by Ale Briganti, Ze Antonio Algodoal, Adriano Cintra and Flavio Cavicholi. It is out now as a digital single on the one and only Midsummer Madness label. I hear a lot of Velocity Girl on this track and of course that is a good, very good thing!

Torrey: now we head to San Francisco where Ryann, Kelly, Eric and Chase have jut put up on Bandcamp their first 6 songs. “Sister” is the name of this sweet jangly EP. I see them tagging themselves as Swedish Pop, not sure if anyone of them is a swede, but the music itself could pass by a late 90s girl fronted Swedish indiepop band, easy!

Manic Sheep: all the way from Taiwan, this cool sounding shoegaze band! Their latest work are two songs, “Deep Dusk” and “Sedona” which sound terrific! The band has been going on for a while, but this is the first time I stumble upon their music. They do seem to have quite a following in China as I notice they are touring it extensively!

Ogikubo Station: who are these people? Who is behind this band? The one track I can listen on the Asian Man Records Bandcamp sounds amazing! It is called “Would I Break My Heart Enough For You” and I don’t know what sort of release this will be. It is slated for June 14th but doesn’t say if it will be in physical or just digital formats. It does sound very promising!

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Almost at the end of this challenge. Today is the turn for the letter V. It is the turn of Viola Crayfish!

This is a great band that I discovered through the 1989 compilation “Diamonds and Porcupines” that was released by the superb German label Beat All the Tambourines (TAMBEAT 3) who had released Most Wanted Men and The Bachelor Pad 7″s as well as the great “Beat All the Tambourines” comp that I have mentioned on the blog in the past as it included the amazing band Love Set. On that comp the band had contributed the song “Love is More than Weather”.

This compilation featured lots of top bands from the time like The Wedding Present, The McTells, Pale Saints, St. Christopher among others. This 12″ comp was originally compiled by two German fanzines, “Run! Mr. Diamond” from the city of Lüdenscheid and “Hedgehogs & Porcupines” from Emden.

It would take many years for me to listen another song of theirs. It was thanks to the best German label of our time, Firestation Records. This year they released the compilation “The Sound of Leamington Spa – German Edition” (FST 165) and in there they included the track “Besser Scheitern”. And that’s not all, the booklet included some important information about the band.

For starters we know the band had two lineups. The 1988 one featured Stefan Klauner, Folker Eckebrecht, Bernd Vogel and Lars Vogel. The 1992 one had Frank Klimek instead of Stefan Klauner who sadly passed away that same year.

The small bio tells us a few interesting bits too:
“The band was formed in 1987 by Stefan Klauner, Folker Eckebrectht, Bernd Vogel and Lars Vogel in the hinterland south of Bremen in the north-west of Germany. The main influence might have been The Velvet Underground, the Postcard “Sound of Young Scotland” – and of course all kinds of other music. But always in order to write another – and hopefully better – popsong as the one before. Which sometimes went quite well and other times not as good. All was done under the DIY concept with great amounts of not knowing too much but getting better all the time. There were local performances, some home-recorded tapes, some releases on samplers, a studio recording which we never considered to release, a play by John Peel  on Bremen 4, the idea of singing German, some new band members and all finally stopped in 1993, but not really.”

The band appeared not only on those two compilations. They first appeared on the 1988 tape compilation “Bremen-Tape ’88” released by Strange Ways Records (Tape Nr. 2) with the track “June Field”. I must say I don’t know any of the other bands on this tape, so if there are any other indiepop tracks on it, please let me know so I can investigate!

Then in 1990 they appeared on 3 compilations. The first was “Let’s Have a Picnic and Barbecue Some Corrupt Not Self-Programming Dee-Jays” double LP comp released by Noet Lachten Records (NOET 10). The band would contribute the song “Sweet Soul Decay” and appear alongside bands from Holland, Belgium, Germany and England. The second was the first ever release by Blam-A-Bit Records, the cassette compilation “Instants of Pleasure” (BLAM 001). The band would contribute the track “June Field”. The third was on the “Hat Das Schaf Die Blume Gefressen Oder Nicht?” a tape comp released by Blam-A-Bit (BLAM 003) too. On this one the band contributed the song “Sweet Soul Decay”. This is a superb tape by the way, would love to listen to it completely someday.

But there is something that is nagging me. There is listed on Discogs a 2011 CD called “Far Out”. This 8-track CD included the songs “Reset/Recicyle2”, “Far Out Café”, “Life Hack”, “Love is More than Weather”, “June Field”, “Best Before”, “Schaum (L’Ècume de Jours)” and “Sommer Endlos”. I am guessing this was a posthumous release of old songs, but can’t say. Maybe they were re-recordings?  It is not a retrospective either as many of their songs are not included. Well the fact is you can stream the whole thing on Bandcamp.

Then I find a website for the band. Here I see that the band has been playing on and off. After the 1992 lineup I see that between 1993 and 2000 the band was just Folker Eckebrecht and Lars Vogel. In 2013 they added Marco Ahrens on drums.

Then I stumble upon a Soundcloud for Lars Vogel. Here there are some more Viola Crayfish songs like “Meteor”, “Magic Roundabout”, “Ein Tag Für 10 EURO” which I believe remain unreleased.

I also look on Youtube. I see a song called “Revelation” from 1988 and it looks that it was part of a demo tape called “Viola Crayfish”. What other songs were on it?

Then two videos of live footage! Here we see the band playing at the Polyester in Oldenburg on April 12 of 2008. There are videos for the songs “June Field / Love is More than Weather” and “Schaum (L’Ecume de Jours)“.

And finally I found more about that 1988 tape on a blog called Tape Attack. Here I see that the tape was called “Nordsee” and included “June Field”, “The Outside-Inn” and “Wear that Tupper” on the A side and “Postcard”, “Revelation” and “Velocity Days” on the B side.

Fantastic finds! Now, was that the only demo tape the band put together or were there more? Will Firestation release a retrospective compilation? Were the band members involved in any other bands? Would be great to know more about this Oldenburg band. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Viola Crayfish – Love is More than Weather

Thanks again to Zisimos for the interview!! Just a few weeks ago we were talking about his band One Night Suzan that just got a retrospective compilation on Make Me Happy. As he has been in many great indiepop bands I asked if he’d be up to do another interview, this time about The Crooner. And he was up for it! Very very happy about this. Now I am hoping for the next one, Impossible Tymes? the Make Me Happy label? We’ll see! Now it is time to learn more about the superb The Crooner!

++ Hi again Zisimos! Thanks again for doing a second interview! How are you doing? When was the last time you picked up your guitar?

Hello Roque! Just returned home after a great trip to South Korea and Japan…plus the One Night Suzan retrospective compilation LP has just been released by Make Me Happy, so I’m really happy about it…And as a matter of fact I’ve been playing some guitar now and then, but mostly improvising on chords that I love…

++ Last time we were talking about One Night Suzan and today I want to talk about another project you were involved with, The Crooner. You were telling me that the main difference between them was that The Crooner is was mostly you coming up with the ideas and then sharing them with Makis P. How did that relationship work? And how did you two meet in the first place?

Actually, Makis and I met back in the early ‘90s, when he and some other friends formed Next Time Passions, one of the best Greek indie bands! We played in some gigs together, and discovered many common musical ideas and influences. So we formed Impossible Tymes, a psych-pop trio, together with Elias, another good friend and member of Next Time Passions…Very soon the need to release our bands’ music led Makis and me , together with graphic designer Christos L., to the creation of This Happy Feeling records. Makis also helped with the recording and production of the Crooner 7’’ EP “Sounds from the Valley of Love”…It was at this point that we realized we make a great team, so we started working on the Crooner project as a duo, Makis being the keyboard & programming whiz, bass player, sound engineer, co-writer and co-producer… the rest is history, as they say… 

++ Then The Crooner was also a more “open-minded” electronic version of pop as you said. I was wondering what different influences were part of the band, what made you go in that direction? 

One reason was that we started expanding our musical horizons, listening to stuff like jazz, bossa, lounge, ambient, drum’n’bass, house, and more…Also, we needed a rhythm section, so we started relying on programming and computers…and finally, we were excited by the “new” technology of sampling, which allowed us to incorporate some samples  from obscure but favourite tracks into our own songs, either as our basic beat, or  in order to create a warmer and more exciting sound…

++ There were also female vocals on the songs, by Eirini and Natasha. How did they end up being an important part of The Crooner? Had they been in other bands? 

Some of the main influences on our sound were 60s/70s lounge music, Italian soundtracks and bossanova…In all these kinds of music, we can hear amazing  female backing vocals and “pa pa pa” melodies…So, naturally, we wanted to achieve a similar effect in our own songs…The girls were very good friends with beautiful voices! Eirini was my girlfriend then, and we’ve been together ever since ! Natasha actually formed Berlin Brides some years later, a really good and popular electro band!

++ Oh, and I was wondering about the name Eirini used to use Miss Honeybeetle, do you know the story behind that?

Well, she was, and still is, a very sweet girl (honey) and  a fan of psychedelic pop (beatles) , so she came up with this clever pseudonym…

++ So what sparked The Crooner to start? When was it? Was it originally some sort of bedroom project, or was it always going to be a collaboration with Makis P.? 

Originally it was a bedroom project, just me -and my guitar- playing more acoustic and jazzy stuff (in the tradition of Everything but the Girl, or Felt) that I couldn’t play with One Night Suzan. This was in 1992, I think…

 ++ What’s the story behind the name The Crooner?

‘’Crooner” is a term used for some 50s-60s singers (like Frank Sinatra, for example) who would sing ballads and love songs. I used it as a form of tribute, as a way to explain that my music was NOT rock music, but also as a form of irony…plus I liked the sound of it!

++ For The Crooner, where did you usually practice? 

Makis had created a home studio in the basement of his home. It was the legendary Sunnyside Studio, where all the Next Time Passions and Impossible Tymes songs had been recorded! This also became the Crooner rehearsal and recording studio!

++ Your first release was a 7″ on This Happy Feeling titled “Sounds From the Valley of Love”. It came out in 1994 and included 4 songs. I was wondering if these were the first ever recorded songs by the band and where were they recorded? Was it much different to record them compared to One Night Suzan?

Apart  from some solo acoustic stuff I’d recorded on cassettes, yes, these were our first “official” recordings. They were recorded in another studio where Makis used to work as a sound engineer, and not Sunnyside. The difference was that we recorded every instrument separately, while in most of the Suzan recordings the whole band played together, and then added some extra elements.

++ And is that you on the sleeve photo?

Yes.

++ It would take 4 years for your next release, the “Heaven Airlines” album. Why did it take so long? And do you think there was an evolution of the band’s sound between the 7″ and the album?

As you know, during this period Makis and I were also rehearsing, performing and recording with One Night Suzan, Next Time Passions and Impossible Tymes. We were also running our record label, plus we were both working in other jobs, to make a living. So, the Heaven Airlines project took off in 1995, when our other bands had started to become inactive. Of course there was an evolution : the sound became much more electronic, as everything was now recorded on Cubase and Logic. !!  

++ This album was released by Shelflife Records in the US. How did this happen? How was your relationship with the label?

This Happy Feeling and Shelflife had been in contact, because Shelflife were preparing their first release ( the ‘WHIRL-WHEELS” international pop compilation) and they were interested in our bands. So we sent Ed two songs by ONS and NTP, and we decided to record a new one for the Crooner, ‘Alberto Caeiro’. So we sent it to Shelflife, they loved it, and we started recording more songs for them…We were originally planning a single, but we ended up with 7 songs, so…we decided to release all of them as a mini-album.

++ Something interesting about the album was that it was licensed in Japan and the Philippines. Were you aware at the time of the interest of pop fans from there in your music? Or was this a surprise? Did you ever go to these countries?

We knew that we had  fans in those countries, because we used to receive some fan letters from Japan and the Philippines, but we didn’t know they were so many that there could be an official release in those countries ! it’s also interesting that they wanted their releases to be unique, so each of these releases features some extra songs, which weren’t  featured in the Shelflife mini album!! I was lucky enough to visit Japan a few weeks ago, and I was amazed !!

++ Afterwards you would release a second album, this time around on the Greek label “Pop Art Records”. Was there any reason to go local for this release? And how did you know Pop Art?

Pop Art Records belonged to a really good friend, Nektarios Pappas. We had helped him with his label’s debut compilation cd “Try a little sunshine” by giving tracks, bringing him into contact with some bands, and so on…When we had enough material for a second album, we were interested in becoming more popular in Greece, and Pop Art was in the same wavelength as we were…so it seemed like the natural thing to do.

++ You released two albums and just one single, I was wondering if you think the music of The Crooner was better suited for albums or it was just how things happened?

No, it just happened like that. I guess it was a period when everyone was into cds, but we also liked the idea of creating a musical environment for the listeners…Still, I think that many of our album songs, and also a lot of songs which were released on cd compilations, could have been singles…

++ You also appeared on so many compilations in the 90s and all the way to 2005 or so. I will ask you out of curiosity if there is one of these compilations that you really love, that you like all the bands and songs that appeared alongside your music?

Obviously, it’s difficult to choose…But surely we were very pleased when Bungalow Records chose one of our favourite songs, “Over the Rainbow”, for their Atomium 3003 compilation…

++ I have many favourite songs by The Crooner but I’ll pick one, “Alberto Caeiro”, I was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this song? Is it about Fernando Pessoa?

You are right, it’s a song about the alter-ego of my favourite poet, Fernando Pessoa. It’s a celebration of life, seen from Alberto Caeiro’s point of view…BTW, this was the first song The Crooner  recorded on computer software, and there’s a different female singer -Paulina- who used to sing for another greek electro pop band, our good friends Sound Devise.

 ++ Speaking of Pessoa, what are some of your favourite writers? Have they inspired your lyrics in any way?

Some of my lyrics, especially during the One Night Suzan period, were influenced by British romantic poets we used to study at university, like William Wordsworth, for example. But in general I prefer novelists, like Thomas Pynchon, David Wallace Foster, Philip Roth, J.G. Ballard, Martin Amis and many more..

++ If you were to choose your favourite The Crooner song, which one would that be and why?

Sorry, I can’t choose only one…maybe a top-10 would be easier…

 ++ What about gigs? Did you play many as The Crooner?

We didn’s play many gigs, as we were mostly a “studio” group, but we played some great gigs in Athens, Madrid and Mallorca, where we took part in an amazing music festival!

++ When and why did The Crooner stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

After and during the Crooner period Makis and I recorded some stuff for Siesta records under another name, and also recorded more electronic stuff as Hyplar (we released an album, a 12’’ single for the French label Aquatic, and appeared in many electronic & lounge compilations…). I guess at some point we were beginning to get tired with the pop sound and wanted to explore other music directions…And as I told you, Natasha formed Berlin Brides… 

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or maybe plans to reissue all or some of The Crooner songs?

You’ll have to wait and see !!

 ++ Did you get much attention from the radio? What about TV?

Some radio airplay from specific radio stations, in Greece and Spain, and a couple of  TV channels played our video clip for “Concorde baby”, but that’s all…

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

There was no free press in Greece at the time, so there were few articles or reviews about us on ‘mainstream” music press. But there were pop fanzines that liked and supported us. 

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Pop is a way of life!

Thank you !

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Listen
The Crooner – Alberto Caeiro

Tomorrow is The Undertones gig here in New York! Pretty excited about that. And then on Saturday I get to see Okama Flannel Boy in Mexico City. It does sound like a good week, right?

Now here are some finds of course!

Kung-Fu Girl:I can’t wait to get a copy of the Japanese band’s brand new album. My excitement grows and grows. Especially now that the band have released a video for their song “Anorak” which is lots of fun! The album is out now on Testcard Records. Don’t miss it!

Hideki Kaji: the Japanese master is back with a new album called “Goth Romance” which will be released by Space Shower Music on CD and digital formats. There is also a version that includes a fanzine. So that’s the way to go. To hear a preview do check the superb song “Spray and Fanfare” which even has its own video!

The Trees: I look at more releases by the Space Shower Music and I stumble upon The Trees. They have a superb song and video for their track “Breakfast Club”. Don’t know much about them, but it does sound great!

Trillion: we leave Japan and head to Sydney, Australia, because that’s where these shoegazers are from. The band has just released a 6-track EP called “When I Wake” which is available on CD. First time listening to them and first impression is that I really enjoy the vocals, especially on the title track! Good stuff!

акульи слёзы: from the city of Uta, Russia, comes this dreamy pop band. Yes, I’ve featured Shark’s Tears before on the blog (I think their name translates to that? At least that’s what shows in the url!) and I’m happy to do so again as they have released their 7 song mini-album “Experience of the Charm” a week ago. I hope access to the Russian pop bands becomes easier to everyone, especially if there are physical records as lots of great stuff is coming from there!

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Time for the letter U. This was definitely one of the hardest. There aren’t that many bands that start with the letter U. But I thought of this Japanese band that sadly didn’t release any records but did appear on a few compilations. I know very little about Unknown Readymade but this will be a good time to find any interesting details about them.

It seems that under the name Unknown Readymade was a guy called Kumiko Ishikawa. And as far as I know, thanks to Discogs, there were two times when the band appeared on compilations. All of them in Japan.

The first compilation I was aware of the band was the 2002 “Pop Comes Up! Bluebadge Compilation Vol. 2” which has been mentioned before on the blog. On this CD released by the Bluebadge Label (BBCD-002) the band contributes the song “With My Favorite Camera”.

That same year, 2002, the band appears with the song “By Cycle” on the compilation “Good Compi (abcdefg*record)” that was released by abcdefg*record (a-g010). This compilation has also been mentioned on the blog when I wrote about the super Pitcher56 many months ago.

There is also a record where Kumiko is involved with. He sings on the third track, “粉雪”, on the album “崩壊アンプリファー” by the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation that was originally released by the great Under Flower Records (Flower-047) in 2002. There are actually three reissues of it too, a 2003 CD EP, just like the original, on Ki/oon, and later in 2017 another CD EP by the same label. The third reissue is a 12″vinyl released by Spectrum Management Co. Ltd. Seems this Asian Kung-Fu Generation was a much more famous band than Unknown Readymade.

I found too that Kumiko sang on Panic Pop’s “Baby P” song which seems to be an original by the great Japanese band Plus-Tech Squeeze Box.

And that seems to be it for Unknown Readymade. There is barely any information about the band on the web. It seems Kumiko was always up for working with other people from the Japanese pop scene. It also looks like Unknown Readymade was his band, his own band. Sadly we don’t know if he recorded more songs or why he never put anything out, just the two compilation appearances. I hope to find out more about him. Would be great!

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Listen
Unknown Readymade – With My Favorite Camera

Remember Mexican friends, next Saturday I’ll be in Mexico City and I can bring some records. I’ll be attending an event where our friends of Okama Flannel Boy will be playing. It is at Terminal Juárez and it is supposed to start 8pm. If you want to bring any records let me know and I’ll happily do so for you to save on postage.

The Royal Landscaping Society: Matinée Recordings has a lot of news in their Soundcloud and I will start with the band I am most excited about, The RLS from Seville, Spain! They have a song available to stream called “Goodbye” which is a gem. A piece of perfection. This song is taken from a 2-track single where “A To Fade In” would be its B side.

Azure Blue: then the Santa Barbara label is releasing an 11-track album by the Swedish band led by Tobias Isaksson called “Images of You”. We can preview two tracks from the album, “Millions of Stars” and “Shine On” and both are gorgeous dreamy pop. Definitely one not to miss!

The Perfect English Weather: Then there is a new 4 song EP by the band that sprung out of C86 legends The Popguns. I believe it is only available digitally, so you know I don’t buy these sort of releases, but I can enjoy the free two tracks that are available to stream on Soundcloud, “Call Me When the Rain Comes” and “She Isn’t Counting on a Miracle”. The other two songs included in this digital EP are “How Could I Ever?” and “Carry Me”. Come on, release it as a CDEP!

Bubblegum Lemonade: a few months ago I was talking about a digital EP by the Glasgow band called “Our Mother’s House”. Now the band has announced an album called “Desperately Seeking Sunshine” (is it a nod to The Haywains’ “Desperately Seeking Something”?) that will include 11 tracks! The album is out now on CD and as you know, when it comes to songs made by the master Laz McCluskey, we have lots of hooks and top melodies!

Coming Up Roses: this Singapore shoegaze band has become a favourite of the blog so even if it is just the one new song they have, I have the need to recommend it! This time though there are 5 tracks! Yes, there is a new EP called “Waters” which sounds terrific. The only bummer is that it is only available digitally… hoping someone puts it out on vinyl or CD!

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Now it is the turn for the letter T. We are getting closer to complete this challenge. Today I wanted to bring back to a song and a band that I was thrilled to discover through the compilation The Sound of Leamington Spa vol. 3: Thin Gypsy Thieves’ “Perfection”.

That was indeed my introduction to the band. On a 2003 compilation released by Firestation Records (FST050),  eleven years after the band had released their one and only record, the “Perfection EP”.

On that Firestation compilation, as it is usual, a bio was included in the booklet. This is by far the most complete piece of information I’ve ever found about them:

Thin Gipsy Thieves have had 4 different incarnations, the only thing to remain was me Nick Hubbard and Leo Carlile. We were the song writing and creative engine in all 4 line-ups. The 1st incarnation was in the early 80s we were a 4 piece outfit, gigged, never recorded anything unfortunately. The 2nd line-up was down to a 3 piece combo we made a home demo tape gigged around again but not much else. The 3rd creation had us back up to a 4 member state and finally we got to make a half decent demo tape, in fact I think 2 of our best songs “Lost Souls” and “Satisfy My Energy” were featured on it.
The 4th and final was now 5 geezers trying to live the dream. This was arguably our most successful period thanks largely to Richard Murrill [god bless him] as he put up the money for the Perfection 12″. I suppose this record led to our biggest acclaim to fame in as much as it got played on prime time BBC Radio 1. “Steve Wright in the afternoon” had a slot on his show  when he would play unsigned bands and choose to play Perfection which was a bit of a buzz for us. Even better was the fact that they then talked about the song and seemed to like it [I wasn’t too happy to have my vocal compared to Billy Bragg though]. Anyway this piece of exposure still did not get the major record companies kicking our door down to sign us up [obviously didn’t know where we lived] and eventually Thin Gypsy Thieves came to a natural end.
But that might not be the end of the story as me and Leo are still creating musically, and who knows the phoenix might still have time to rise from the ashes of pop obscurity, to once more be launched into the musical stratosphere.

Interesting. What do we know then of their one and only release? It came out in 1992 on the Yellow Moon Records label (YME 3003). I guess this label was created by Richard Murrill just for releasing this one record.  That if I understood the bio correctly. Or maybe he just paid for the recordings?

The 12″ included 4 songs, 2 on each side. The A side had “Perfection” and “Maps” while the B side had “Every Movement” and “Garden of Eden”. I can’t say when were they recorded or where. Though I do know the band hailed from Folkestone in Kent.

Folkestone is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.

On these recordings we know that Nick Hubbard was on vocals and lead guitar, Leo Carlile on bass, Tim Denman on drums and vocals, Richard Calille on keyboards and vocals and Nicky Sievers on rhythm guitar.

The record doesn’t have much more information but it does come with a strange insert where they tell a very strange “story” of how the band started and became what it was then with some strange illustrations.

On Discogs the only band member to be listed on another record is Tim Denman who did backing vocals on the Jim Leverton & Geoffrey Richardson album “Poor Man’s Rich Man”.

Sadly I can’t seem to find any of the music Nick Hubbard and Leo Carlile were working on afterwards. Nor any mentions to the older incarnations of Thin Gypsy Thieves. I would love to hear those demos. There is nothing about the band on the web. But I really love the 12″, so I would really would like to find out any information in regards to them!

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Listen
Thin Gypsy Thieves – Perfection

A new weekend coming up! What are your plans? Any cool gigs?

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Oslo based band has been featured on the blog many times. And when they have a new song there is reason to feature them once again. They have just unveiled a new track called “Blurry Eyes” which is quite lovely. The question is, will it be released in physical or will stay digital?

Happypills: another band that I feature time and time again is Happypills from Fukuoka in Japan. And I have a big reason to showcase them once more, they have just released their first album “Milk Floe” which is available to stream on Bandcamp. This is bedroom pop at its finest!

Uchu Nekoko: a new Japanese band for me and sounds noisy, dreamy and poppy at the same time. They have 7 songs, a mini-album, titled “Kimi No Youni Ikiretara”, that is I am hooked with now. But can’t say much more about them. Don’t know how many people are behind the band, from where in Japan they are… little information but great music!

Tennis Club: another band that has graced the blog is going to be releasing a 9 song 10″ mini-LP on Elefant Records in a few weeks (out May 31st). We can only preview one of the songs at the moment on Bandcamp, the catchy “Pink Sweater! Pink Shoes!” which shows the great talents of Wilson Hernandez from Joplin, Missouri.

Winter: and lastly this LA band that released on their Bandcamp a 5-track EP called “Infinite Summer” last month. It sounds really pretty, all of the songs are fine examples of classy and sweet dreampop with female vocals. I’ll keep an eye on this band!

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Now it is the later S. And for the letter S I want to find out any information available about the American band The Streams.

I knew this band through a 7″ they released in 1992 on the legendary Bus Stop label. But now that I’m looking for details I notice this wasn’t their first. They actually released another 7″ the previous year on #1 Records (003).

The band formed by David Brooks (vocals and guitar), Jeff Wiederschall (drums) and Michael Priggen (bass and backing vocals) released their first 7″ in 1991 with the songs “The Drift” on the A side and “Failed Speech” on the B side. Both songs were recorded by Adam Lasus at Studio Red in Philadelphia. We know too that David Brooks wrote the songs and Tom Rutigliano did the layout for the cover art. I am guessing Tom ran the #1 label as he did all the art for their releases.

The 2nd 7″ was the one on Bus Stop (024). Again they had two songs on a record, the A side had “Virginia Hellhole” while the B side was “Rust Red Shore”. The songs were recorded in 1991, once again at Studio Red in Philadelphia by Adam Lasus. The art, again designed by Tom Rutigliano, for the record shows on the front cover the Gallego flour mills in Richmond, VA. It is a photo the band got from the Library of Congress in the US. The back cover has yet another historical photo, the sidewheel steamer Sutltana and her cargo of released Federal prisoners of war. Quite interesting.

Only one compilation appearance is listed on Discogs. The band appeared on a 1992 CD comp called “Blood from the Streets of New Haven” that was releasde by Caffeine Disk (CAF 203). The band contributed the song “Keeping From the Dead”.

Looking at the band members I notice that David Brooks had also been in The Lean-To’s who released a 7″ on the fine Watercolour Records from France, as well as recording solo. Michael Priggen was also in The Lean To’s as well as in The Hello Strangers, The Caroline Know and Big Louise. Jeff Wiederschall was in the Miracle Legion and The Peacock Flounders.

Then I find some live footage. There’s a video on Youtube of the band playing “Virginia Hellhole” at the Boston’s Middle East Cafe in 1993. Then I check the channel which David Brooks owns and there are even more videos! From the same gig we find them playing “Marye’s Heights” and “Wilards“. Then there’s another gig on video, a gig at Rudy’s Bar in New Haven in 1993. There is footage for “Old Blue Light“, “One Last Move“, “Willards“, “Get Off the Pike“, “Life at Six” and “Empire State“.

Also there is an official video for “Willards” and “The Drift“. They have the lyrics on the video for singing along.

Then online, on several digital platforms, I noticed that the band had put together a 14 song compilation called “Today, I Died”. I’m guessing these are all recordings from back in the day, nicely packaged for today. So we find the tracks “The Drift”, “Keeping From the Dead”, “Failed Speech”, “Marye’s Heights”, “Sugar Shack”, “After the Standard”, “Powder Monkey”, “Tired Boy”, “Willards”, “Raintaps”, “Wilderness”, “Desperate Farm”, “Virginia Hellhole” and “Rust Red Shore”. I suppose these are all of their recordings? Or perhaps there were more?

It looks though there was a CD for this release. It is not on Discogs, so I’m not sure. I will have to look. But the New Haven Register has an article about the band and the release dating from December 15, 2011. Here it mentions that Dave Brooks hailed from Branford, and that for the last 14 or so years he had been a baker and owner of Judie’s European Baked Goods in New Haven. It also says that the band played at Toad’s Place and Bar, CBGB and more. For this special release of the “Today, I Die”, which was put out through CD Baby, the band reunited and played a gig at Cafe Nine in the Connecticut city of New Haven. It is a pretty interesting article, I recommend having a read.

I also notice that he has been playing solo. And he has a Facebook page. Then another article, one by the Daily Nutmeg, where they talk about his bake shop as well as his band. Through this article I learn that he studied at the Culinary Institute of America in New York.

Well, that’s quite some information methinks. I knew next to nothing about them but now I do have much more information about them!

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Listen
The Streams – Virginia Hellhole

By the way, I’m going to Mexico City for a few days, from May 25th to the 27, so do let me know if you are interested in any records so I can bring with me, so to save postage. I believe Okama Flannel Boy is playing on the 25th, that’d be a great place to meet. I don’t have the details yet but I’ll keep you updated in future posts.

The Muldoons: this superb Scottish band from Paisley, who I have featured in the past, is back with two brand new songs as a digital single. The songs names are “Don’t Be Like That, Girl” and “The Killing Moon” and if you like all things jangly, this is something for you.

Kalm Dog: from California this is a three-piece formed by Kris Nguyen, Daniel Yelsits and Getra Soos. It is the first time I’m checking out their music and I’m starting with their latest song, “Morning Cartoons”, that they added to their Bandcamp last March. It sounds good. Their previous effort, “You Inspire”, is as good by the way!

Ivica: a band from Belgrade, Serbia? I must thank my friend David for finding this band, I would probably never stumble upon it if it wasn’t for him. The band has a 7 song mini-album now called “Kakvi Ste to Ljudi” which is also available on CD. Their latest is a track called “Izvan Okeana” from last December. They are formed by Ivan Kačavenda and Aleksandra Andonovska. Jangly and exotic, especially the great track “Radim šta mi je volja”

According to What: another of David’s finds is this Madiscon, Wisconsin, band. Even though most of the tracks on their “Punk Songs to Hold Hands To” EP are punky and fast (and good too of course), the last track, “Backseat Dodge”, is a superb slice of indiepop! I have it on repeat!

Seablite: they are back with a new album on Emotional Response! 11 tracks of lovely 80s influenced indiepop that reminds me of Lush. The Bay Area band’s new record is called “Grass Stains and Novocaine” and we can preview on the label’s Bandcamp two of the songs to be included, “Heart Mountain” and “House of Papercuts”. Really good stuff!

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Turn for the letter R.

Remember a few months ago I wrote about the band Ha Ha Ha? On this post I mentioned that some of the Ha Ha Ha members went to form Rosemary’s Children. Also I mentioned that Rosemary’s Children recorded a cover of Ha Ha Ha, the song “Visiting a House”. Which members were in both bands? According to Discogs  Robert Dimery (vocals and 12 string guitar) was part of both bands as well as Toby Chislett (drums). The other members of Rosemary’s Children were Jake on bass and Karel on lead guitar.

The band released one 7″ and an album at the tail-end of the 80s. The first was a 7″ in 1986 with two songs, “Southern Fields” on the A side and “(Whatever Happened to) Alice” on the B side. The first written by Robert while the second by Robert and Toby. It was released by the legendary Él Records (GPO 12) and was produced by Richard Preston. I do own this 7″.

I do not own the album though. “Kings and Princes” was released in vinyl LP by Cherry Red (MRED77) in 1987. It hasn’t been reissued in CD or any other format. It had 4 songs on each side, so it was a short album. The A side had “At the Palace Gate”, “Kings and Princes”, “Visiting a House” and “W.W.1”. The B side had “Round and Around”, “Boat Trip”, “Lighthouse Song” and “Merrydown Skank”. Robert wrote most of the tracks, only “W.W.1” was written by David.

The band at least recorded one more song, “(At The) End of the Corridor” that was included in the superb compilation “London Pavilion Volume I” that Él and Cherry Red put out in 1987. There are many versions of this compilation and in different formats. Most of them were issued in 1987 and it is interesting to see that it was licensed to Spain, Japan and even to Brazil.

In 1993 the band contributed “Southern Fields” to the Richmond Records (MONDE 11) compilation “Bellisimo! Él Singles Part One”. This same song would be later included in the 2016 compilation “C87”, a 3CD boxset that Cherry Red put out and which I’ve talked in the past too.

Their song “(Whatever Happened to) Alice?” appeared in the 1995 Richmond Records comp “Él Records – The Legendary B Sides” (MONDE 20CD) and later on another Cherry Red box set, the 2013 “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)”.

Sadly I can’t find anything written about them on the web and the booklets that came with the Cherry Red boxsets don’t really have any interesting details that may add to their story. So I will ask you all for your help as I really like this band a lot if there’s any way you can fill in the blanks. What happened to them? What are they doing these days? Were they involved with other bands? Do they have any other recordings that remain unreleased? Did they play live much? Any information will be appreciated!

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Listen
Rosemary’s Children – Southern Fields

Okay, this past weekend I listened to some music of course. Like always…

Starry Eyed Cadet: I was very lucky to listen to the new Stary Eyed Cadet songs like a week before they were available on Bandcamp. I couldn’t wait to share them on the blog as they are wonderful. Now they are available to stream on Bandcamp and you’ll fall immediately with them, as it is always the case when there is new stuff by the San Francisco band. This time around they have a digital single with these lovely songs, “Slow” and “Stargazer”, which I hope get a physical release or maybe they’ll be part of something bigger, like an album? I don’t know! But one can hope, right?

Live at the Onion Cellar: what a superb find! This blog has a ton of treasures. Lots of great photos of bands like The Househunters, Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes, the TVPs and even the obscure The Fizzbombs. The Onion Cellar was a venue in Edinburgh that was around 1986 and 1987 and many top indiepop bands played there… And it is not just photos! There are live recordings from gigs too!!

The Pariahs: So Firestation Records from Berlin have three new releases. Let’s go one by one as they are really wonderful. The first one is a retrospective album called “Friendly & Corageous” by the Berlin band The Pariahs. If you remember well I interviewed them some years ago, and the album they released back in the 90s was great too. So this is one not to be missed. You can check the song “Faith Means Nothing” on the label’s Soundcloud. The album is available on CD.

The Groovy Cellar: the classic Berlin indiepop/mod band is back with a new album on Firestation. The album is called “Soulmates” and sounds fantastic. Of course I’ve invterviewed them in the past as well! I’ve been playing on repeat the song “This is Tomorrow” the song picked to promote the record. But that’s not all, because there are 12 songs in total adding another ace episode to their discography, being this their third album, first since 2013! Only available on vinyl.

Peppelkade 14: lastly the Manchester band that I interviewed some months ago will be releasing a retrospective called “North of England” on LP and CD. Not sure what is in it as from what the band told me last time the only recordings were the ones on the 12″ they released. Or maybe they found more songs? It’d be great to know! In any case play “Uptown” on repeat and order a copy of the record!

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A quantitative analyst (or, in financial jargon, a quant (pronounced) is a person who specializes in the application of mathematical and statistical methods – such as numerical or quantitative techniques – to financial and risk management problems. The occupation is similar to those in industrial mathematics in other industries.

Now is the turn for the letter Q. I must say this has been the most difficult one so far in this challenge. Especially as I had already covered the bands Quinn the Eskimo, Quentins and Queue Dance. There are not many that start with Q! I could only think of Quants who appeared on the classic tape “Everlasting Happiness” with the song “Suicide Blonde”.

As it turns out this is the only song I am aware they released. I’m sure there were other recordings, perhaps “Suicide Blonde” was included in a demo tape along other songs and this tape ended up in this tape that my good friend Andreas put out in 1992 where he included many fantastic bands, from Nine Steps to Ugly to Slowdive.

There is no other information I could find about them. Just this song. So can’t add much more other than that today. The only guess I dare to make is that they were British. But can’t say any more. Do anyone have any other details about them?

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Listen
Quants – Suicide Blonde

Now it is Friday, another week that went fast. What is new in the web when it comes to indiepop?

Cheesemind: the latest by the Chinese indiepop group is an EP called “Bay Park Serenade” which is out now in digital format by Sango Records from Kyoto, Japan. The Amoy based band has created a lovely and warm EP with 5 songs for all of us to enjoy. This is the first release by the band after a six year break!

Sunset Rollercoaster: a classy sounding Taiwanese band, that’s what “Vanilla Villa EP” has presented to me. The sort of sound you wouldn’t be surprised to find in a release by él Records or Siesta. The band is touring Europe next June taking them from Sweden to Portugal and many countries in between!

Permanencia: is the name of a compilation released by Stupid Decisions from Mexico and Discos de Kirlian in Spain. There are 12 songs in it and we can preview half of them! The opening track is wonderful, “Punkipop” by No Fucks. Then we get to listen “Suicidio” by Cosmo K, sort of an acoustic Los Bonsais, sounding ace! And then we find some superb bands like Puzzles y Dragones, Lost Film, or Skittle Alley among others.

Still Dreams: I got this on my email today including a private playlist of tracks… but decided to start checking out the video for their song “Addicted” which has footage of the band’s tour in China and Hong Kong! Still Dreams is Ryuta and Maaya and they really sound great! I think you’ll agree with me after listening this track! Can’t wait to hear more by them soon!

Sousade: checking what’s new on the Depok, Indonesia, based label Don’t Fade Away Records I found this band’s song “Song 1” which sounds quite nice. It is the first time I hear them, and I know very little. I know they are formed by Nabil Hatomi, Nanda Riesta Mandle, Tegar Agusta, Alfian Kusuma and Aldian Ramadhan, and that I am hoping to hear more by them soon.

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Now it is the turn for the letter P and I chose Picnic who had an EP that also started with the letter P, “Plug EP”.

Released by the legendary Bring on Bull Records (BULL 24-0) in 1994 as part of the Waaaaaaaah! Singles Club, this lovely 7″ with an orange jacket and a cartoon penguin on the front cover had four songs. They were “Don’t Turn Around” and “As Diamonds” on the A side and “Seventeen” and “Home” on the B side.

There are no band members listed nor compilation appearances. This might prove a difficult mystery to uncover.

Richard from Waaaaaah!, on his website, mentions that this 7″ was his favourite release on the label for two reasons, because he thought it was one of the best  and also because he didn’t steal the band from another label. He also mentions that the band features a Scottish girl singer. Aside from these four songs there were more demos, but I don’t know them. Would be interesting to find out their names and of course listen to them.

We also know that some of the members (but not the Scottish girl singer) formed a band called Bob Cuba afterwards. There used to be a website for this band but there’s none anymore. I did find a Facebook page though where I find three names, Colin ‘Cbob’ Stevenson (drums/backing vocals), Stuart ‘Sbob’ Stevenson (guitar/vocals) and John ‘Jbob’ Watt (bass/samples). Where the three of them in Picnic? From a deleted Wikipedia page for Bob Cuba I figure out that Sbob and Cbob were in Picnic. Both had also been in Canaveral and Frankograph. Cbob was also in The Trees.

Sbob actually even have his own website. Here you can find music from his newer projects and information about himself. Sadly there is barely any mentions to Picnic. I wonder. We do know though that Picnic was based in Ayr, in Scotland. I suppose he moved to Glasgow as that’s where Bob Cuba is based these days.

Cbob on the other hand runs the Bob Cuba Twitter account. Again very little mentions to Picnic, but I did find that they used to cover a song by Prince when they were in Picnic. Which one? I can’t tell. The link doesn’t take me anywhere.

I’m curious about the vocalist, the Scottish girl singer, name. Who was her? I can’t seem to find any information. I am hoping someone might now. Maybe she also went to play in another band. Also what about those demos? I would love to hear the rest of Picnic’s recordings!

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Listen
Picnic – Don’t Turn Around