I was hoping this week would only bring good news. Last week Winston from The Brilliant Corners passed away. And this past weekend I learned that Inés Bayo, vocalist of the legendary Barcelona band Los Fresones Rebeldes during their early years and also in their reunion tour in 2014 and 2015 passed away too. This is terrible. I never saw them live, it was/is a dream of mine as Los Fresones Rebeldes has been a favourite of mine since forever I think. I feel very sad of this, even though I never met her, but her vocals, all over the band’s first LP, were as important as the music I thought. They were punky and sweet, you know. I have been planning to do a Los Popov post, another band she was in, for some months now, but never got round to do it. I hope I can put that together soon, as a way of tribute and of course to know more details about the band. RIP Inés.

More music that has been found around the internet.

Ruby Haunt: this Los Angeles band is a very nice discovery methinks. Their latest song, “Jeune”, is the second single off their upcoming album “The Middle of Nowhere” which will be released on August 30th and I must say it sounds great. It is dreamy and hypnotic in it’s own way.  Hopefully this album will be released in physical format!

Laughed the Boy: here is a fine album by this Whitby, Onteario, three piece formed by brothers Chris and Sean Panacci and Brennan Hrehoruk. The album is titled “Change of Scenery” and has 9 tracks of guitar pop! My favourite track? Maybe it is “Post Card”.

TARA: now a Brooklyn band. This shoegaze band formed by Saagar Kurani and Wesley Diemling has just two songs available to preview. Their latest is called “Wander” while the previous one was “Second Guess”. Let’s continue checking them out, see if they play live perhaps or maybe they have a release in the horizon.

Local Visions: from Izumo, Japan! This Japanese band that reminds me a lot of 90s Japanese bands, with their elegant and catchy Shibuya-kei sounds, has just put out a 3 song EP titled “主観 “. Don’t ask me to translate, as I don’t know Japanese, but I can say it sounds great.

Long Beard: seems this New Brunswick, New Jersey, band is popular. It has many supporters on Bandcamp. And they are releasing an album called “Means to Me” on vinyl this September 13th. A 10 song album which has two songs to preview, “Sweetheart” and “Means to Me” which sounds ace, with lovely girl vocals and chiming guitars. Maybe I should check them out on September 26th at Baby’s All Right?

—————————————————————–

I was reading a bio I found on the web about the Derby indiepop band The Moving Jelly Brothers that formed in 1987 and split in 1991 and thought that they deserved a post even though this bio has already a lot of interesting background info about the band and it is perhaps enough for the regular indiepop fan. Well, I’m no regular indiepop fan and I thought I’d try to find as many details as possible.

From what I gather from the bio the band was formed by Matt Holmes (vocals), Mike Cousin (drums, backing vocals),  Chris Dorricott (lead guitar), James Upton (rhythm guitar) and Gary Roberts (bass, backing vocals). I believe after the band split Holmes started to run his own recording studio and became a producer. He was also involved in the band The Stance. At some point Holmes and Roberts joined another Derby band for a brief time, White Town. And something curious is that Matt Holmes was elected in May 2008 as a Conservative councillor for the Chellaston ward in the city of Derby. Mike Cousins died that same month that same year.

The band received a lot of help from their photographer and roadie Mark ‘Gordon’ Bennett. If the roadie was their photographer, then there must be lots of photos of the band. Where are they? Would love to see them.

It seems the band started playing and practicing at the Mickleover Youth Center in Derby. Their first gig was at a house party. Afterwards they played all over the place including Leeds, Hull and Northampton. They opened for bands like Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine, The Levellers, Senseless Things and Snuff. At home, in Derby, they were headlining gigs all the time.

Carter U.S.M. and Mega City Four wore their promo t-shirts and this helped to get some attention by record companies. Sadly it never happened. Just some mention in the The Derby Evening Telegraph but not the NME or the music press.

The band released one 7″, which was their only proper release in 1990. It seems this record didn’t do well at all. After this release the band did some recording sessions but nothing came out of it. The band was to fizzle out and split. That’s a shame. I for sure would love to listen to these recordings!

Many copies of the 7″ were destroyed by the band after poor sales. They were disappointed and angry I suppose. Funny enough many years after the song “Oddball” was included in a popular skateboarding video compilation and that gained them many new fans, especially in the US.

That 7″ came out on a label called Terminal Spoon Records (Spoo 001). It seems as it was a self-release, there are no other releases listed for this label. The record had 3 songs: “Oddball” on the A side and “Blotch” and “Twang” on the B side. These were recorded at The Spacedome Studios..

Discogs has 4 compilation appearances listed. The first dates from 1989 and it was on my friend Phil Ball’s compilation “You Can’t Be Loved Forever No.2” that is indeed a classic indiepop compilation with lots of top bands. On this compilation the band contributes the song “Michael, Michael, Michael”.

Then in 1990 the band contributes the song “Girl, Money, Pleasure Rides Again” to the compilation tape “Life After Chairman Mao” that was released by J.A.F.P.S.A.D. It is actually the first time I’m checking out this compilation and I see some fine bands like Giraffes, Cudgels or Barbel.

That same year, on the classic indiepop tape comp “Audacious” they contribute the same song, “Girl, Money, Pleasure Rides Again” and then on the tape “How to Be a Popstar” they have the song “Gapping Tunnel”. This last tape was a tape sampler of bands from Derby and the surrounding area that was compiled by Matthew Stack of Chaddesden.

Then a great find on the blog An Alternate Derby. It is from a post dating from 2011 where there is scan of the sleeve of a demo tape released by the band in 1989. This demo tape is called “The Last of the Turbonic Pineapples” and had four songs. “God is Dog” and “You Can Call Me Trevor” on the A side and “Elvis Presley Drunk My Beer” and “What’s it Like to be a Boulderhead” on the B side. Again all songs were recorded at SpaceDome.

Not much more on the web about them sadly. I would definitely love to hear the songs that didn’t appear on the 7″. I also wonder if the members continued making music afterwards. We know Matt Holmes did, but what about the rest? And what about before the Moving Jelly Brothers? Or was it their first band? I am sure a lot of you remember them, it seems the early 90s was a very exciting time to be in Derby

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Moving Jelly Brothers – Blotch

And here we are, yet another new week. Hopefully this week will just bring good news.

I did some music listening this past weekend. And here’s what I liked the most.

Pony in the Pancake: who are behind this band?! First time I’m listening this sweet guitar pop band from Albany, New York, the state capital. The band will be releasing an album on September 20th and it doesn’t say in which format it will be available, we only have the one song, “Summer Has a Way”, to preview, and it is very nice… summery indeed!

The Surrounded: now is the turn to go all the way to the West, to Sacramento, California. Here the band formed by John Grow, Jason Grow and Kyle Fowler have put together a dreamy self-titled EP that consists of 5 songs. Sounds great, and for those that are into important details, it has been mastered by Kramer!

Soft Blue Shimmer: also from California, but not from the capital but from Los Angeles, we discover the badn formed by Charlie, Kenzo, Martin and Meredith, who have just released a superb EP called “Nothing Happens Here”. It is available on tape, which is a shame for me, but not for all of you tape lovers. And again just in case you didn’t get it, let me say it, this is a superb debut.

The Understudies: our friends from London are back with their sophomore effort, “If Destroyed True”. This record, which is already available for pre-order is being released by Carbide & Carbon Records and will include 11 songs. It will only be available on vinyl. And if you want to get a taster, you can preview a magnificent track called “Grousebeat”. That’s it. You can’t miss this one.

Topographies: and yet another California band! At least not from the cities that I mentioned earlier, but this time this three-piece hail from San Francisco. This is the first time I am listening to them, through their two songs “Cherry Blossom” and “Half Asleep”. It seems they are signed to the fine Sonic Cathedral label, though not sure if these two songs are only available digitally or there will be a vinyl release. The band is also heading to London playing there early September.

—————————————————————–

A long time ago I discovered the Japanese shoegaze band White Come Come.

It was thanks to the classic compilation “Birth of the True” which is one of the most important indiepop compilations ever. If you are not aware of it, you should check it out. It was released in 1992 by the super Sugarfrost Records (FROSTY 2) whose Akiko Yamauchi I have interviewed on the blog in the past too. This compilation included amazing bands like Nelories, Secret Shine, B-Flower and more. Interestingly enough the band appears on this compilation with the name White Kam Kam. The song they contributed was “Rise”. On the CD version of this compilation the band’s name appear as White Come Come. It is to be noted that the CD compilation was released not by Sugarfrost but by ¡Por Supuesto! Records ‎(STAP-0203) also from Japan.

This is not the only compilation appearance by the band. That same year, Quattro (QTCA-1003) released a compilation CD called “Brand New Skip Decoration” where White Come Come opens the comp with the song “How I Feel” and also closes it with he track “Broken Bird”. This compilation includes too many unknown bands for me, the only ones I know are Secret Goldfish and Venus Peter. I should investigate! Also there was a 12″ version of this compilation with the same two tracks by White Come Come. It looks like it was a promo release put together by Parco Sectary for Quattro.

Then the band would contribute, in 1993, one track for “The Birth of the True II”. This time around it was only released on CD by ¡Por Supuesto! Records (STAP 0314) and like the first volume, the cover art had a photo of our friend Akiko. White Come Come contributed the song “Like A Tea”.

Aside from these compilations the band did release one proper release, an EP which not surprisingly was released on vinyl by Sugarfrost (Frosty 3) and on CD by ¡Por Supuesto! (STAP 0206).

“Skin EP” came out in 1992 and had four songs. The A side had “Broken Bird” and “Rise” while the B side had “Sink” and “Luv Lemon Lies”. Again the photography for the art is credited to Akiko on the 12″ while for the CD Jun Itoh is credited for art and photos.

The band was formed by Hiromi Homura on bass and vocals, Yoshihisa Nanbu on drums and percussion, Hirokazu Kasayuki on guitar and Riyou Kinugasa on vocals and guitar. Riyou was the main lyricist and also wrote the music for “Sink”. Hiromi wrote the music for “Rise” and “Broken Bird” while Hirokazu and Yoshihisa wrote the music for “Luv Lemon Lies”. The engineer for these recordings was Yoshiaki Kondo while the record was produced by Masa Tsuruta.

I look for any other involvements music-wise by the band members. I find that Riyou Kinugasa has actually written soundtracks for the videogame Resident Evil. The other band members don’t appear listed for other music projects on Discogs. What happened to them?

When I asked Akiko about them she told me: As for the spelling of WCC, for the LP we insisted WCC to use Ks instead of Cs for obvious reason. However they then insisted to spell it with Cs for the 12″. I think if they had a better name, would have sold more – we had to throw boxes of them away when we moved, which was painful – but who knows?

So lots of copies were lost. I still don’t have one.

Sugarfrost has a little information about them on their website. They mention that the band hailed from Osaka and that they were smashing when playing live. That when Akiko approached them and asked them for their influences they just said that they didn’t really have favourite bands… strange, no? It seems the band didn’t last long, that the label, Sugarfrost, stopped hearing from them after a few years. The band formed at an art college, maybe after graduation the band was over? That’s one theory. Last thing the label heard from them is that one of them got a job in Osaka and was colleagues at this job with Ian Masters of Pale Saints. Small world?

I keep looking but I can’t find any other interesting details about them. I wonder what happened to them? Did they play in other bands? What did they study at art school? Where are they now? Why no more releases? Did they have more songs? Do my friends from Osaka remember them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
White Come Come – Broken Bird

There was news yesterday that made us all sad. RIP Winston Forbes, extraordinaire guitarist from The Brilliant Corners. The band posted on Facebook a heartfelt message which I like to share with you all.

It’s with a heavy heart and immense sadness that I have to tell you that our friend Winston passed away this morning after losing his fight against cancer.

Winston played guitar like no one else. He perfected a clean melodic lead style that influenced many indie bands of the 80s. At the time Winston did not get the credit he deserved for his innovative style of playing.

Auto-Vélo: this is really amazing, beautiful, classy, superb, whatever positive adjectives you can think of, then Graeme Elston’s new project is exactly that. The ex-Love Parade frontman is back with 4 songs that constitute his “Copernica EP”, a bliss of synth driven indiepop! Listen especially the opening track “Copernica” and the closing one, “Boy: Freeze Frame”, which are my favourites.

In Space: the Singapore one-man band has a new self-titled EP that sounds ace. Packed with jangly guitars and great melodies, this is definitely a great surprise. It looks like a small burgeoning good pop scene is happening in the city-state! This is a long EP by the way, more like a mini-album, it packs 7 songs total!

Lisa Prank: a 13-track album called “Perfect Love Song” and produced by Rose Melberg is the perfect introduction for this band! Formed by Robin Edwards on guitar and vocals, Bree McKenna on bass, Tom Fitzgibbon on drums and Rose Melberg doing backing vocals, the band’s album will be released on CD and vinyl!

Spring Winds: from Saint Petersburg, Russia, comes this shoegazey band with a new EP titled “Sway”. 6 tracks of superb songs. I don’t know much about the band I must say, they had a single back in April and that’s it. I definitely want to listen to more by them!

The Hannah Barberas: and lastly, some favourites! We are big fans of the UK band formed by Damien, Lucy, Doug and Matthew, and we are very happy to know they have just released on CD their mini-album “Dial H for Hannah Barberas”! The Catford band is releasing these six songs on the fine Subjangle label, and I suggest everyone to get a copy, or at least discover their wonderful music!

—————————————————————–

This might prove difficult, finding more information about a band called The Family. That is not an easy name to google. But I’ll try.

I am guessing the band had some connection with The Groove Farm. Not sure in what way. I think this was the case as they released a flexi on The Groove Farm’s label Raving Pop Blast! Records (RAVE 11FX) in 1990. Maybe they also hailed from Bristol. This said flexi included just one song, “What Frank Said”.

This song is credited on the flexi itself to a last name, Howard. Or is it a first name? Also it is worth mentioning that the song is dedicated to Denis Hopper. I wonder too if the song’s title, “What Frank Said” has anything to do with the photo on the sleeve. I don’t know exactly who is pictured in it. Maybe it is someone called Frank? Maybe someone would know. It looks like a well known person, maybe an actor?

Aside from this flexi the band appeared on a split flexi that same year. It was on a flexi that I have already talked about in the past (that’s why I decided to write about The Family in the first place, to close the circle). This was a flexi released by Fabulous Records (FAB002) and had two songs, the first was “Irresistable” by The Felicitys (a band I wrote about in the past)  and the second was The Family’s “Polanskis Dream”. Clearly a song dedicated to Roman Polanski?

I look on the web for more information. I notice my friend Alex wrote about this flexi on his 7iete Pulgadas blog but sadly he has no more information other than what I’ve already found.

Aside from this post I can’t seem to find anything else about them. A very obscure band indeed. But as I have many friends from Bristol I think someone may help!

Edit August 10, 2019: Andrew Jarrett from the Groove Farm has given some more insight about the band. It turns out the band appeared on the classic compilation “Airspace II” on Breaking Down Records (BREAK LP3). The band contributed the song “Shine a Light”. And there was actually a release by the band in 1990. It was a mini-LP titled “Wildebeest” and was released on Pop God Records (PGLP002). This is the same label that released the album “Propeller” by Quinton, which I have been wanting to listen for a long while. This mini-LP had six songs, “Shine a Light”, “Slow Road” “Overboard”, “Bad Man”, “Polanski’s Dream” and “Love it to Death”. The songs were recorded at PIJ Studios and were engineered by Fat Paul.

Having the name The Family hasn’t helped them as everyone has tagged them differently on Discogs, every release belongs to a different The Family band!

After Andrew’s information I heard from Rocker, from The Rosehips. He said: I played keyboards for The Family for a while in 1988-9 while I was also a member of The Rosehips. They were indeed a Bristol band, featuring Howard Purse and Mark McDowell, both of whom had been in Animal Magic, who had recorded a Peel session earlier. Mark went on to form Spectrasonic, and then later the band McDowell, who have recorded three sessions for my Dandelion Radio show. Howard went out with Debbie Haynes, and after The Flatmates broke up they formed Cake – another band hard to google – but their album which came out years later is one of the best albums to come out of Bristol.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
The Family – What Frank Said

Continuing with the usual…

Stray Fossa: just found out about this Charlottesville, Virginia, band thanks to their song “These Days” which is their latest. And I am glad to have discovered them as this four-piece sound is superb! The band is formed by Nick Evans, Zach Blount, Will Evans and Arielle Korma. Looking forward to more songs by them!

Newmoon: more jangly and reverb music. This time from Antwerp in Belgium. Again this is a totally new band for me, so don’t know their back catalogue. I am just checking their latest track, “Collide Into Me”, which is pretty good. Seems it is the week for brand new bands for me?

Moving Panoramas: this sounds great! And it is also a new band for me. It is not new but my friend David from Madrid shared it on his Facebook and I really enjoyed it! The song is called “Baby Blues” and this is the video for it. I need to find out more about them! Are they still going? I know they hail from Austin and have two albums. This video dates from last November! Their latest work, “In Two” is available on Bandcamp.

The Artisans: wow! another new song by this most wonderful band! A Distant Call” is the song the band is releasing on Monday 12th! And it seems all the proceedings from this song will be donated to Chris Packham, Mark Avery and Ruth Tingay, three environmentalists to fight for wildlife!

Parsnip: ok! not a new band for me now. The last find this week is the new album the amazing Melbourne, Australia, trio is releasing at the end of the month! “When the Tree Bears Fruit” should be a top album, one not to be missed, if I judge it by the two songs we are available to stream on Bandcamp, “Lift Off!” and “Rip it Off”. The album is available on vinyl and CD!

—————————————————————–

So cool to have stumbled with another superb Czech band! They are rare, aren’t they? I believe this is the third Czech band I’m featuring on the blog, the shoegazers Moving Holiday!

The band was founded in 1992 by Tomáš Svašek on guitar and vocals, Ondřej Faber on drum and Honza Dědek on bass. They would be joined later on by Vojtěch Probošt on bass and guitar, making Honza turn to second guitar for a brief time and then leaving the band.

According to a small bio I found on the web the band was influenced by early 90s shoegaze bands like Revolver, Ride or Moose. In February 1993 the band played their first gig supporting Tom is my Sugar and after their 2nd live presentation they went to record a cassette single with two tracks on it, “Lilian” and “Feel and Fine”. It was self-released and doesnt’ even have a catalog number.

They played alongside some of the best Czech bands from the period like Ecstasy of Saint Theresa and Sebastians. They even appeared on TV. Is there footage of this appearance? Then Cyril Tůma joined the band to play bass and Vojtěch turned to 2nd guitar on live gigs. Then in September of 1993 they recorded their second tape. It was a demo tape with two songs, “Foam” and “Tears of Your Hate”. With this tape they tried to reach MTV and bigger labels. It seems there was some interest by BMG, but I don’t think nothing ever happened from it. Then in October they supported Slowdive (it was the Moving Holiday’s 7th gig). They were also voted by the Czech music press as the 3rd best band of the year. Then the band split. It says they did just before releasing their first album. So, the question arises, was this album recorded? I would love to hear it!

Today Honza is a famous music journalist who is well remembered in the Czech scene for his work in Rock&Pop magazine. Vojtěch plays these days in the band Sweeper.

Oh! it is worth mentioning too that the band hailed from the capital, from Prague. What other information can we find?

I found on Facebook a 2012 concert listing of a band called Soundust which seems featured at least one member of Moving Holiday. Who might that be?

And that’s really it. Would be great to interview them and find out more. Who remembers them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Moving Holiday – Foam

Monday again. Time goes fast indeed. Not much news this weekend, just waiting and waiting, maybe two more months of waiting, for the Dayflower 7″s to arrive. But we do have our latest, Den Baron’s 7″s, that if you haven’t checked it out you should as it is a timeless record I think!

Kammahav: the latest from Kammahav, the project of Sweden’s Christian Gustafsson and England’s Tony Jenkins is back with a wonderful EP called “Scrapbook” that has 4 songs in total! It not only available on digital formats but also on CD which is great news. If you like classic indiepop, with jangly guitars and elegant melodies, as well as classy vocals, this is definitely a must have!

“Lo-fi es Mentira vol.4: ¿Y dónde están las cucarachas?”: that is indeed a long name for a compilation album. This one comes all the way from Chile, from the Gemelo Parásito Records, and I am recommending this comp on the strength of the two tracks the band Mitimitis have contributed, “Caracoquesos” and “Yorokobi Hachi Gatsu Wa Owatta”, which are great and are the best on it!

Surf Friends: now a band all the way south from Auckland, New Zealand. I know little about them but this album they just released called “Doing Your Thing” sounds great! Catchy, fun, and guitar-driven, as record should be. It looks though that is only available in digital format which is a shame. But at least we can stream it over and over.

Low Key Crush: and then to the neighboring country, Australia. Low Key Crush are “pop monsters” from Melbourne according to their Bandcamp. Well, their latest song is terrific. It is called “Shelter” and is a fine slice of indiepop. The band is formed by Taycian Lord on drums, Ella Irene on bass and vocals and Tim Haines on guitar, synth and vocals. Good stuff.

Dreams of Empire: I have featured them in the past and as I like them, I’ll do it one more time. Their latest is finally their debut album called “Nothing’s ever Finished”. The duo will include ten songs on it and two are available to stream now, “Swarm” and “Skinny Dipping”. Top stuff from the Brighton couple!

—————————————————————–

I only discovered Headtime a few days ago. They must have made some noise in the early 90s as they signed to Cherry Red but at the same time it seems they didn’t get too much recognition and are kind of a lost band these days. Cherry Red doesn’t even add them to the many compilations they have released the past few years showcasing indiepop and shoegaze. Who knows why?

The band released two EPs, both of them in 12″ and CD formats. The first one, from 1990, was titled “Have You Heard EP” and had the catalog number CHERRY 118. It included 4 songs, “I Visualise” and “Need to Be” on the A side while “Have You Heard” and “Float” appear on the B side. The songs were recorded at Woodhouse Studios in Leeds and were produced by Mike Stout and Richard Formby. It is important to mention of course that Mike Stout had been in the superb The Bachelor Pad as well as an stint in The Wedding Present. Formby on the other hand had been in In Embrace and The Jazz Butcher among others. So pretty cool people to produce you. The photography on the sleeve is credited to Anthony Thompson.

It is also interesting to mention that this was a Porky cut. As usual with his cuts there are matrix/runouts on each side. The A side says “I SENSE A CERTAIN DANGER” while the B side has etched “SURF’S UP(OUTRAGEOUS)”. Both CD and vinyl have the same running order for the songs.

The year after, 1991, the band released their second EP, “Graham”. This time the songs were recorded by Brian O’Shaughnessy at Bark Studio. Again there were four songs, “Born in a Day” and “Being There” on the A side while  “Graham” and “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” on the B side. This last track being a cover of the John Barry original written for the James Bond movie of the same name. Here again there are etchings on the vinyl, the A side says “THERE’S LIFE BRIAN, BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT” while the B side says “HELLO PAUL AND DAVE”. Who are Paul and Dave? Maybe the band members?

I said that because Paul Lewis played bass and vocals and David Kennedy drums. Also on the band was Edward Mason on guitar and Matthew Dring on guitar and vocals. Something interesting too about the band members is that Discogs doesn’t list any other involvement with other bands.

There are some compilation appearances though. In 1990 they had their song “Contagious” on a 7″ compilation called “You’re Going Home” released by Hometown Atrocities (STORM 2). This 7″ was largely given away for free in the Exeter area. I suppose then the band hailed from this area. The 7″ came with free inserts with information about the bands. What did it say about Headtime?

Then in 1992 Cherry Red released a CD compilation called “My Favourite Flavour” that featured Headtime and also bands like Mexico 70, The Charlottes, Blind Mr Jones and Stan. On this CD compilation the band contributed the songs “I Visualise” and “Being There”. The booklet says about Headtime that the band was signed to Cherry Red because of a very promising demo, that the label hadn’t even seen them live before signing them.

This same compilation was re-released in Japan by Toy’s Factory but adding a 2nd CD, the “Amen” compilation from Cherry Red. It includes then the same two songs by Headtime.

Sadly that’s all I could find on the web. The great blog The Finest Kiss also has a mention of the band but doesn’t have any interesting details about them. I wonder then who would know what happened to the band? Why did they didn’t release an album? If they were from Exeter? What about their demo that got them signed? What songs were on it? Did they play all over the UK? Many questions… hardly any answer!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Headtime – I Visualise

Time flies! It is again another weekend, time to relax! Not much news in indiepopworld at the moment, but as always there are good finds to share!

Still Dreams: wow! the song “Satellite of You” sounds amazing! This track is part of the 2nd album by this Osaka, Japan, band that is titled “Lesson Learned”. The cassette album will be released by the very fine Miles Apart Records on August 31st! Great stuff!

For Tracy Hyde: a few posts ago I shared a “trailer” of the Japanese new album “New Young City”. Now it is time to share a promo video for their track “櫻の園”! It is dreamy, sweet, and classy. I definitely need to get a copy of their 3rd album. I actually think everyone should get a copy, do not miss it!

Destello Floral: the Mexican band is back with an 8-song mini-album called “El Tiempo lo Destruye Todo”. The album keeps the band’s trademark lo-fi dreampop and to see that you can stream the three songs that are available to check out at their Bandcamp!

122 North: there’s only one song by this project from Québec. Behind it is Danny Provencher, the genius behind Under Electric Light, so it is no surprise this is pure beauty. The song is called “Drive” and it would be a perfect soundtrack for any driving of course. But it would be even better if we get to listen more of his songs!

Pastel Coast: lastly this brilliant French band has released a single with the tracks “Vacation” and “Home”. It is actually available in physical format, on CD! This is good to me. Tired of digital-only releases, you see. Here we have two great catchy and elegant tracks. Paris Popfest, take note, maybe you can book them next year?

—————————————————————–

I wasn’t aware of the pre-Mighty Lemon Drops band Active Restraint until now. I was exploring some lists of records I want (crossing fingers). I write their names down or add to my wantlist on Discogs all the time. But then most of these times I don’t know much about the bands. Then when I get back to these lists, to these bands, especially when I want to feature them on the blog, I end up finding out so many new things about them. Well, today I found out, and probably many of you already knew this, that Paul Marsh (vocals), David Newton (guitar) and Tony Linehan (bass) all later in the Mighty Lemon Drops were in Active Restraint. I guess Andy Barker, the drummer, was the only one who didn’t end up on the Mighty Lemon Drops.

The band was around in the early 1980s and they weren’t as poppy as The Mighty Lemon Drops. They were more of a post-punk outfit. They would only release two songs during their time as far as I know. These two songs were to be included in a 7″ and also on a compilation 12″.

The songs were “Terror in My Home” and “Turns Out Roses”. The 7″ that had them was released in 1982 by The Sticky Label (PEEL-OFF 3). This label released some bands I’m not aware at all like Data Control, Another Dream, Underground World and Stench, all of these releases in 1982. Both songs were recorded and produced at FSR Studios in Birmingham. The producer and engineer was Frank Skarth. The back of the sleeve confirms that the band hailed from the same city as The Mighty Lemon Drops, Wolverhampton.

As I said earlier, the same two songs appeared on “The Young and The Free” a 12″ compilation released by Luna Records (MOON LP1) that same year. “Turns Out Roses” appears as A4, the last track on the A side while “Terror in My Home” as B4, again the last one on that side. Three other bands appear on the compilation also contributing two songs, Vietnamese Rose, Experiments with Ice and Stranger Comforts.

Aside from Active Restraint and The Mighty Lemon Drops, I know that Dave Newton was in Fonda, Aberdeen, Starfish, The Blue Aeroplanes and The Wild Flowers. I don’t see the other band members of Active Restraint listed on other bands. Hmm…

Last.fm surprisingly has a biography for the band. I’ll end up learning a lot thanks to this! Who wrote this by the way?

• The band formed in 1980. David Newton was 16 years old at the time and he was joined by Andy Jones (aka Cookie) from the band Gang Warfare. Afterwards Nick Peter joined on drums and Vini/Ed Balbour joined to play melodica and vocals. This was the first lineup of the band.
• They made their debut at The Star Hotel in Shifnal supporting Future Toys.
• Peters would quit just before a recording session on August 10th 1981, so the remaining three asked John Taylor, owner of M.R.S. Studio to play drums on the recordings. I ask, where are these recordings? Which songs were recorded?
• Then Andy Jones quit. Martin Peake from Stourbridge replaced him on bass and also Paul Hollis joined to play drums. This new lineup made a recording at Rich Bitch Studio in October of 1981. Again, where are these recordings?!
• Vini/Ed Balbour and Martin would leave the band to form Giant Treads Clean.
• Then in early 1982 Dave Newton and Andy Barker would ran into each other and decide to join forces for Active Restraint Pt. 2. They would ask Paul “Titter” Marsh to join them as a vocalist and found Dave Ashe  to play bass through a local ad.
• This lineup played many gigs and recorded the 7″ whichi would receive many plays by John Peel, Kid Jensen, etc.
• Ashe would quit in the summer and Tony Linehan would replace him.
• This is the classic lineup of the band. With this lineup the band recorded a live 4 song session at Rich Bitch. Sticky Label after hearing these songs wanted to release a new single.
• They recorded new songs for the single at Cargo Studio in Rochdale. They got the artwork together and the single was ready. But it seems that Newton at this point decided to split the band and join a supergroup that was being formed at the time, what would become The Wild Flowers. What happened then with this single!? I want to hear these songs!

On Youtube there a few recordings by Active Restraint that not appear on the 7″, they must be from these other recordings. I found “Honesty“, “The Other Side“, and even an early version of the classic song “Out of Hand” that later the Mighty Lemon Drops would release as a single! This last recording, “Out of Hand”, was recorded on April 9th 1983 at Different Guises Studio.

Also someone in the comments mentions the songs “Head First” and “Whispering”.  I would like to hear those too!

So the big mystery here are about all of these recordings. All of these songs that exist but they are not available anywhere. Maybe someone should put them together and release them? Don’t know the quality but the ones that are on Youtube sound fine to me. I would love to hear the 2nd single., which songs were supposed to be on it?

Who can fill in the blanks here? Would be great to know more about them!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Active Restraint – Turn Out Roses

Thanks to The Crooner, Skychild and Mr. Undecided for the interview! Impossible Tymes was a band that was related to the great scene that revolved around the This Happy Feeling scene in Greece in the early and mid 90s. Funny enough there songs weren’t released on this label, but they were on a few demo tapes and on a split 7″ on Elefant Records that they shared with Next Time Passions, a band they shared members with. If you have never heard about them, this is a good time to do so, as many of these classic Greek bands are getting new attention thanks to the work of the Make Me Happy label!

++ Hi all! When and how did Impossible Tymes start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

We met through music. One Night Suzan and Next Time Passions were the first indie pop bands in Greece. We played gigs together. Suddenly we realised Crooner (from ONS), Skychild (from NTP) and Mr.Undecided (also NTP) love psychedelic pop. And BANG !!

++ And where does the name of the band comes from?

From our popadelic subconscious !

++ How was the creative process for this band? Was it different compared to One Night Suzan? It was at Sunnyside Studio right?

Yes it was at Sunnyside studio, an old, low-ceiling but very sunny basement, filled with colors and music. There was an idea or a guitar riff and then together with wine, beers, laughter (and sometimes pizzas with Pepsis ) we started adding elements to that idea. i think the difference compared to the other bands was that we let it go, we were open-minded to the music we made and used any super power we had in our hands.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of this band?

++ As far as I know the only release by Impossible Tymes was the split 7″ with Next Time Passions on Elefant in 1994. How come there was no release on a Greek label? Why there were no other releases by the band?

We were never really a Greek band.. We were (and still are) some friends sharing a passion for Psych pop. This was obviously not enough for the greek mega labels (ha ha). The plan was to release a 7″ on This Happy Feeling, but This Happy Feeling already had contact with Elefant ( we used to exchange singles with Elefant, we liked their stuff, they liked ours etc). This led to the idea of the split  single (2 This Happy Feeling bands released by Elefant!).

++ I read on a Greek blog about the first demo, that you had some extra help from members from Kissamatic Lovebubbles and Next Time Passions. What songs were on that demo? And who helped in the recording of this first demo?

Yes it’s true. We had friends from Pillow and Kissamatic Lovebubles and others, anyone was welcome to join us. The demo was titled IMPOSSIBLE TIMES and songs are THE THINGS YOU LOVE, A BRISTOL SUN BEHIND ME, OBVIOUSLY IN LOVE and a cover of Biff Bang Pow! WOULDN’T YOU. We had extra help from George (lead singer of Pillow) and Alexandros (from Pillow too) . Konstantinos (the drummer of KLB) helped us later, for some live gigs).

++ There was another demo tape which was called “Popadelic”. Was wondering about this second tape, if you remember what songs were in it and if it was similar the recording as the first one?

In “Popadelic” we didn’t collaborate so much with friends from other bands. It was mostly the 3 of us, and I would say the sound was more psychedelic than pop, whereas the first tape was more pop than psychedelic…The opening track was called “Intro” (not a very original title…) in which we played different instruments than usual (e.g. Crooner played bass, which is what Skychild normally did…etc). This was a really weird and unique instrumental gem….Some other standout tracks were “Maybe Tomorrow” and “I can hear the stars”…

++ You did appear on many compilations during the 90s mostly. There aer a few that I’ve never heard about like the one called “Psychedelic Gew-Gaw Presents: Universal Mind”. This was part of a magazine in Greece, right? Care telling me a bit about it? Who were they? Did they normally support indiepop bands?

Sorry, we don’t remember anything …

++ I knew about the “Pop Secrets” compilation on Noise Records, but there was another compilation released by Noise called “See Dee”. I believe it is a mix of guitar pop and electronic music. I have a feeling that at this point the indiepop scene of Greece was moving on, moving towards electronic experimentation in a sense. Why do you think this happened? Why was indiepop kind of left behind? Was it because of lack of support perhaps? or just the normal course of things?

‘Don’t look back’ and ‘Shape of things to come’ are two of our favourite 60s songs…the titles and  lyrics are your answer !

++ Then there’s one tape called “A Love Like Lead!” that was released in Japan with had so many great bands in it. Again if you have any background info of it, that’d be great!

A Japanese compilation?? We had no idea about it. Tell us more…

++ You did a cover of The Field Mice’s “Coach Station Reunion” and Biff Bang Pow’s “Wouldn’t You”, were this easy choices? Are they perhaps some of your favourite songs? Did you use to play any other covers?

Yes, all three of us loved these songs and these bands…we also played “Stars Die” by Porcupine Tree at one gig…maybe we did some more covers, but memories are lost in the mist of time…

++ What about unreleased tracks?

There were “lost tapes” like every band has. But now we found the lost tapes and they’re not lost any more hahahaha…. so from those tapes we have a “NOS” in the Make Me Happy Records compilation ” A sparkle from the past”. Find it and enjoy it !

++ Maybe there are future plans to get all these songs reissued at some point?

Future is not here yet, so wait and see …

++ It is hard to pick one, but I think my favorite Impossible Tymes track is “Dreambrushpaint”, was wondering if you could tell me the story behind this song?

We chose  some great chords, then added a bunch of dreamy lyrics, re-worked a couple of  sections from favourite psychedelic songs, put all these in a pop blender and served  it with a twist of crazy innocence…

++ If you were to choose your favorite Impossible Tymes song, which one would that be and why?

All the songs we made are our favorites, so we can’t choose only one.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We did some special appearances with extra help of course. In one of them we performed wearing masks!

++ When and why did Impossible Tymes stop making music? 

I don’t think we stopped. We still make music but you just don’t know it. No one knows 🙂

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

We never split up, we are just in different coordinates (north, south, west…). We just need the planets to align !

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

We always have attention from the press, we just don’t know it.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Living the psychedelic pop dream

++ Thanks again! I am really enjoying these interviews and learning more about the fantastic Greek scene of the 90s. Anything else you’d like to add?

All answers were by Crooner and Skychild. Mr Undecided couldn’t decide if he wanted to answer.!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Impossible Tymes – Dreambrushpaint