31
Dec

Thanks so much to Ada Wilson for the interview! I wrote about The Magnificent Everything some weeks ago on the blog and Ada got in touch! That was lucky! And even better he was up to tell me the story of the band! I knew very little about them so this was great. If you have never heard them, it is a good time to discover this early 80s Wakefield band!!

++ Hi Ada! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque, I stopped making music 30 years ago, but I’ve finally put a little band together to mark my 60th birthday in 2020. It’s sounding good so far.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

I was born in 1960 and music seemed to be a lot more important in the 60s and 70s. I can’t remember not being aware of songs – from the Beatles on. When my brother fell out of a tree and had to go to hospital, I was allowed to go to the Beatles Club, which the girls on our street had. I’d be about four I guess. So it was always there. I had a guitar from the age of around eight, a Framus, fumbled about with it and started playing in Working Men’s Clubs when I was 12 – old rock’n’roll standards etc.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Magnificent Everything? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Bob, Bas, myself and drummer Ringo Higginbottom had been in a band called Strangeways from 1977-79. We got a little success too young really, signing to Real Records, a subsidiary of Warner Brothers, which also signed the Pretenders and Johnny Thunders. The Pretenders supported us for their first low-key gig in Wakefield, then became a hot thing and we had to support them. I’m sending you an unreleased track of Chrissie Hynde singing ‘Wild Thing’ with us at an early recording session. It was pretty obvious she had something special, wasn’t it? We also supported The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Graham Parker & the Rumour and various others and released two singles, Wasting Time and Show Her You Care on Real Records. A compilation of our songs called Powerpop! came out about ten years ago on Detour Records. We also appeared on the TV programme ‘Get it Together’ with Roy North at this time – it’s on YouTube somewhere – and I just found this bio from somewhere else here.

++ Where were you from originally?

Wakefield.

++ How was Wakefield at the time of The Magnificent Everything? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

This was the early 80s, so the venues were The Hellfire Club at Heppy’s, Unity Hall, The Red Shed, Henry Boon’s, The Grove and a few other pubs. The record shop was JAT records and a second I can’t remember now. There were some great local bands like Fiat Lux, Citron Girls, The Fourth Estate, The Juvies, The Rainy Days – many more. Wakefield had Bretton Art College at that time, so there were lots of young people moving in and out and forming bands for five minutes.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

After Strangeways split up, I did some solo gigs and released a single called ‘In the Quiet of my Room’, which did quite well and was Single of the Week in Sounds, the weekly music paper. I sold the rights to Chas Chandler – former Animal and manager of Jimi Hendrix and Slade etc., so it seemed to make sense. It promptly sank without trace. I then formed another band called Ada Wilson and Keeping Dark, who were on the Hicks from the Sticks compilation and released a (pretty lame) single called Head in the Clouds. Inevitably, I started playing with Bob and Bas again, because I missed the harmonies we had between us.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Bas or I would have a chord sequence or melody and go from there. We rehearsed under a pub called The Hammer in a little pit village called Ryhill. The pub disappeared years ago.

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

It was the New Romantic period and there was a definite move towards swing and jazz in pop. Dexy’s were the big influence for me at this time.

++ I know you released only one record, back in 1982 on the label Handful of Snake Enterprises. I was wondering about this label, was it a self-release? Or who was behind it? Care telling me a bit more about it!

Yes, it was a self release.

++ This 7″ had a very cool art made by Lee Walsh. How did he come to work with the band? Who came up with the idea behind the art?

Lee’s an old friend and I’m pretty sure it was just his idea.

++ The 7″ included two songs, “Tuxedo Lights” and “Jackpot”, and I was curious where were they recorded? Who produced the record?

There were a few local studios we used but mainly Woodlands in Normanton run by Neil Ferguson, which was perversely the home of both Chumbawamba and Black Lace! ‘Jackpot’ was recorded in a home studio in Ryhill.

++ And was that your first time in a studio recording or you had already previous experience?

We were spoilt during our Strangeways period – ‘Wasting Time’ our second single was recorded at Abbey Road, produced by Tommy Ramone.

++ You also appeared on the compilation “On the Rocks” that was released by TPL Records. You contributed two songs, “Blue Sky, North Street:” and “Uptown Electric”. Were these songs recorded at the same time as the single? Or are they from a different session? And how did you end up on this comp?

I think the band had split up by the time that compilation finally came out. It was a labour of love from the chap who put it together and didn’t really hang together.

++ You were also on another compilation, “Real Time 7”, on Unlikely Records. Who were Unlikely Records? Did it come with a magazine or fanzine?

Unlikely Records was an endeavour of a chap called Robert Cox, who put out wonderful cassette compilations of a lot of obscure music. I wonder what he’s doing now?

++ I was wondering too if you were friends or part of a scene with the bands that appear on these two compilations? Or perhaps not?

No, not really – we used to communicate by old-fashioned mail – that’s how long ago this is, so didn’t know any of the other bands.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased tracks? Demo tapes?

Yes there are. I’m sending you a track which I think is great, called ‘Suddenly It’s Not Funny’, written by Bas., please feel free to use it as you like.

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

I had a band called That Uncertain Feeling before deciding I was sick of having no money and it was time to do something else. That Uncertain Feeling released one album called What the World Wants. It wasn’t really.

++ Never been to Wakefield so I would love to ask a local for some recommendations. If  I was to to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

To behold our wonderful city in its splendour you probably need to be in The Pie Shop overlooking Westgate at 11.30 on a Saturday night. It will tell you all you need to know.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

It’s amazing what you can find out about your past on the internet.

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

Listen
The Magnificent Everything – Tuxedo Lights

30
Dec

Happy New Year! This is the last post for 2019 and of course I’ll continue posting and updating the blog. It will be the 12th year of updating it! Time does fly! The format has changed through the years but still the curiosity, the hopes of finding new great popsongs and popbands. Meeting bands, making new friends, and releasing records as part of the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen.

We have two releases for the series lined up for the new year. I am working on a new fanzine as we speak and also discussing possible new releases on Cloudberry as part of the 7″ series. It is exciting times!

Here are my last finds for 2019!

Loca Polka: another great Indonesian band? Yes! It is no surprise anymore to surprise more great Indo Pop! This band formed by Nuri Hapsari, Mikael Yudi Priamuda, Ginanjar Wahyu Aji and Christian Agung formed back in 20017 in Magelang. But only this year they released their super first single “Surrender”!

Tusindfald: this Danish band has made a very good 80s new wave influenced dreampop mini-album called “Blik”. The record is quite short, 7 songs, and seems to be only available now in digital format. It does sound great and I hope it gets released properly, meaning, physically.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: three more songs by the San Francisco band, “The Record Player & the Damage Done”, “Life with the Damned (has gone Sour)” and “The Walking-Away World” are now on their Bandcamp. I don’t know how they are this prolific. Really impressive!

Blondehouse: more from Indonesia! The label Don’t Fade Away Records has just released a tape by the band Blondehouse titled “Melt”. It is a 5 song EP of shoegazy sounds and dreamy melodies. The EP is out now in cassette format.

The Orange Peels: the classic California band has put together a new version of their debut album “Square”! it is released on vinyl LP and it comes accompanied by a double CD that includes a bunch of demos and bonus tracks. This is a terrific release that no none should miss!

—————————————————————–

The label Cornflakes Zoo was created in the early 90s by Stéphane Teynié who at the time was the writer of the Anorak fanzine and also was in charge of the Anorak mail order. This label released many classic French bands like Les Autres and Non Stop Kazoo Organization, both featured already on the blog. Among these French bands there was one that excelled when it came to jangly guitars, that was Des Garçons Ordinaires!

But the band’s first release wasn’t on Cornflakes Zoo. it was actually on Glam Records. It was a single sided flexi (GLAM 003) and it is not surprise as this label had previously released flexis by Solace and Smily Post (both also featured on the blog in the past!). I believe Des Garçons Ordinaires’ flexi was the last one this label released. They managed to include three songs on the flexi, “Sister Love and Mr Moon”, “Caroline” and “My Favorite Garden”. These songs were recorded on a 4track in November 1991. The artwork for the sleeve is very indiepop I’d say, with a drawing of four girls.

Des Garçons Ordinaires released their debut album in 1993. This one came out on Cornflakes Zoo (ZOO6). The album was self-titled and included 12 songs of superb jangly pop. The songs were: “Flower Power”, “Bung a Loo Goo”, “Nice Price”, “Funk Them All”, “Galaxy”, “Clouds”, “Freud’s Hairstyle Technique”, “La La La”, “Bass Drum”, “Sometimes We Smile”, “Sixteen Cannons” and “Lost in Space #3”. All songs were recorded and mixed by Damien Bertrand on most of the songs and Vincent Lecouplier (also known as Vincent Balloon, owner of Studio balloon Farm in Rennes, France) on “Nice Price”, “La La La” and “Bass Drum”.

The credits give us the names of the band members:
Alban Rautenstrauch – bass
Emmanuel Lamour – drums, guitar, keyboards, vocals
Bors – guitar
Stéphane – vocals, guitar, harmonica.

The band appeared on many compilations during the 90s. First was the song “Into Space” that was included in the “Heol Daou” tape compilation that Katiho (Katiho 002) released in 1990. Then in 1991 they included two songs on the compilation tape “In the Limelight” which was a French ompilation as well. This tape came with a fanzine-type booklet that I would guess had information about the bands on it. Des Garçons Ordinaires appears on this one with the tracks “Circle Corners” and “Into Space”.

Elefant Records from Spain would include them in “Around the World Again’ (ER-020) in 1992. The band had the song “Summer Songs” on this one. That same year the band had their song “Little World” on the French compilation “Whoops!” that the label Houpla (HOUPLA01) put out. The song “Summer Games” would also be included in “Garden Party” another tape compilation from 1992. It was on another famous French label, Aliénor Records (ALIEN α).

Then in 1993 the band would have their song “Sometimes We Smile” on the tape “Ces Chères Têtes Blondes” (CIN 01) on Cindie. And then in the classic German CD compilation “The Noise and The Melodies – The Pearl Compilation” (PERLE 1).

Lastly in 1994 the band had their song “Laughing Box” in the Alienor Records’ box set of 7″s called “The Onion Most Dangerous Game” (ALIEN λ). I believe this compilation was sort of a tribute to the fanzine Onion’s Soup.

It is also worth mentioning that in 1994 the band had the video for their song “Flower Power” on the VHS compilation of indiepop videos “Munch Part I (An International Independant Music Video Compilation )” that Season Records (Season Two) put out. Oddly enough I can’t find a copy of the video on Youtube. I feel it was on Youtube some years ago? Maybe?

Aside from all this info I know that Emmanuel Lamour has made music under the names Emmanuel, Manu, Manu Love, Mr De Cuny, Polar Bear, Mark 2, Love and Dave Quartet and Shop. Stéphane on the other hand had been in the band Mum’s The Word.

The blog of the Shoegaze Movement has a post about them and there the author talks mostly about the quality of the tracks. There is also a post about the flexi the band released by my good friend Alex at his blog 7iete Pulgadas.

Then on Les Autres’ Bandcamp I find them covering Des Garçons Ordinaires’ “Sister Love and Mr Moon”.

What else? Well, the band hailed from Rennes. I know that thanks to the archive page of the venue Krakatoa in Mérignac, close to Bordeaux. I know they played there on January 23rd 1993.

And that’s it really! I thought the band was much more known, at least to have more written about them on the web. I still have many questions about them. And I really hope I could find out why they split? What other bands had the band members being involved with? What are they doing now? Are there more songs recorded by the band? I hope to find out soon!

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

Listen
Des Garçons Ordinaires – Clouds

27
Dec

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Here are some cool finds, see you again Monday!

Night Flowers: the London band has a song called “Snowfall” which they’ve recorded just for this holiday season with a good cause behind it. All proceeds will be donated to the Epilepsy Action charity. I really like this band a lot. And I think everyone should too. This reminds me I still haven’t got myself a copy of their album. I should change that in 2020.

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir: Damnably Records, home of the excellent Say Sue Me, seem to have found another great Korean band! It may sound more punky than pop, not your usual recommendation on the blog. But it is poppy enough, fun enough, I think. The vocals are sweet. And I said why not. The band has just released a self-titled album packed with 18 tracks! It is available on CD and vinyl of course.

Les Bicyclettes de Belsize: a very fine Christmas song called “Another Christmas Song” is what the London band presents us this year. Lyrics are posted too for singing along. The last few days I was making a playlist of cool indiepop Christmas songs, and I missed this one. But for sure it is going on my next year playlist. You do the same.

Close Lobsters: the Scottish band is back with a new album on February 28th. We are able now to preview one of the tracks, “All Compasses Go Wild”, and it sounds faaaaaantastic! I can’t wait to get a copy of this record which will be available on orange and grey vinyl. And CD too. The album which is called “Post Neo Anti: Arte Povera in the Forest of Symbols” comes with 10 tracks and a very cool artwork on its sleeve!

The Fisherman and his Soul: and lastly another Christmas song, ” A Christmas Tree Bright as a Lighthouse”! This one comes all the way from Münster in Germany, thanks to Sebastian Voss, who you might know from the lovely Nah… and his older band The Grindcore Poppies which made me a fan of his music. This track is another one I need to add to my Christmas playlist next year!

—————————————————————–

Wow, really wow! What a discovery for me. This Falkirk band, who once supported The Bluebells at the Queens Hall in Edinburgh, has a brilliant sound. At least on this superb song I’ve found on Youtube called “I Believe its Love”. I really want to hear more! If there’s more, and they sound like this, I wouldn’t mind releasing a retrospective compilation too!

I know only a few little facts about the band. “I Believe its Love” was a single. I think it was taken from a cassette single released in 1983 by A&M Records called “Long Summers”. It got some radio play on Radio One by Peter Powell.  Was there a B side for the cassingle? I would love to know.

The band was around from 1981 to 1985. It was formed by:
Gordon Davidson on guitar
Chas Fotheringham on bass and vocals
Ally Gibb on guitar, saxophone and keyboards
George Smith on drums
Barbara on vocals

The band recorded a Radio Royal session in 1982. Where is that? I’d love to hear it. What songs were recorded?

After this session Barbara was replaced by Diane Smith. I am confused if on the song “I Believe its Love” is Barbara or Diane singing? Who could confirm me that?

Then in 1983 the band recorded a Radio Forth session. Again, what songs were recorded? Is there any way to listen to it? After this session more lineup changes, Davidson was replaced by Alex Irvine (ex Shout) and with this new lineup the band would win the Levi’s Battle of the Bands in Edinburgh which was judged by Radio One DJ Peter Powell. Thanks to this success the band ended up supporting The Bluebells.

Another interesting fact is that Ally Gibb guested in the Cocteau Twins album “Head Over Heels” playing sax on the track “Five Ten Fiftyfold”. It also seems that David Hair, who would later be in the Smokehouse Blues Band, played a few dates with the band.

In 1985 Diane Smith left the band as she wanted to become a dancer and even appearing on the Cadbury’s Twirl advert and in the video for “Radio Ga Ga” by Queen! It was this year too when the band split. Ally Gibb would join The Breakfast Boyz and later The Bottleneck Blues Band and Alex Irvine would join Frank’s Wild Years.

I find also some info about gigs they played. For example headlining at The Burns with support of Complex. It seems they played this venue many times.

Then an old Myspace. Here I see two more songs by the band, they are called “What Does it Take” (which looks as it was the last song the band recorded), “Make My Day” (recorded at Cava Studio for A&M Records) and “Fred Astaire” (recorded live).

Then I find out that Ally Gibb played last November a solo gig at The Graeme Hotel in Falkirk. I believe he played many of the songs of Pastis 51 in this occasion. Must have been a nice evening!

I am craving so much to listen to more of their tracks. The one I’ve heard is great. Hopefully I’ll be able in the near future! Maybe someone will help me with this wish!

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

Listen
Pastis 51 – I Believe It’s Love

24
Dec

Thanks so much to Zack, Dan and John for the interview! I wrote about Rebecca Fishpond in early November and immediately got in touch with the band. That was super cool! This very obscure but wonderful SE London band was around the late 80s and even though didn’t release any records left a bunch of great songs! If you’ve never heard them before, you must do so before the year ends! Sit back and enjoy!

++ Hi Zack, Dan and John! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Zack: Hi Roque, all is grand! Yes, I’m still busy making music with my band Mystery Tapes and also as a solo performer. I’m also planning to write some new stuff with my long-time pals from my old bands The Kildares and Rebecca Fishpond again which is something I’m very excited about. Music is in my blood and I try to make a point of doing something musical every day in my home studio. Some folks play music for a period and then quit to do something else but that’s not me. I have no inclination to stop anytime soon as I feel that I’m still improving. Plus I still get a real buzz from recording and performing.

Dan: I still doodle about with music. Acoustic guitar mainly, but haven’t performed live since 2010.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

Zack: My first music memory is sitting on the stairs at my Uncle Hendrick’s house in Singapore watching him jam out some cheesy, seventies easy-listening hits with his covers band – Freddie Fender’s Before The Next Teardrop Falls, some Jose Feliciano stuff, that sort of thing. My first instrument was a flute. I had a few lessons at school but the flute got the better of me. I was hopeless at it and ended up losing the damn thing at school, much to my parent’s annoyance. At home growing up in the seventies, it was mainly the hits of the day that was being played – Leo Sayer, Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Bad Company and a fair bit of disco.

Dan: I was brought up around Welsh choir music but was also in love with pop music from an early age. Probably started off listening to Buddy Holly’s Greatest Hits and Johnny Cash’s Greatest Hits courtesy of my parents. Then top 40 pop music.Went through a stage of listening to heavy rock from about aged 10 to early teens, then rock music, chart music, and ‘indie chart’ music by my late teens. Learned piano for a couple of years around the age of 9. Also learned cornet for a bit at primary school. Started learning guitar aged 17.

John: I remember my parents having Irish records, the Dubliners, Val Doonican- compilations of 60’s hits with Lilly the Pink on.  My mum would sing hits from when she was younger and my dad would whistle a lot but not tunes I recognised.  The first record I bought was the first Fun Boy 3 album.  I didn’t get pocket money so wasn’t an early consumer.  I remember stuff like Yazoo, Bronski Beat, Culture Club- gender ambivalence- making an impression on me on Top of the Pops.  I remember Ghost Town and Cure songs but also Angel in the Centrefold and Kim Wilde singing Kids in America.  In the Scouts, my leaders were big Queen fans and I remember doing a review where I was in platforms as the bass player miming to some song.  For me though they weren’t earthy, Queen weren’t and I remember being influenced by criticism of them for playing Sun City under apartheid..  I remember being impressed when what looked like super cool kids in the local park, wearing bondage trousers, asked me the time and I remember kids coming to school dressed as rude boys. I had piano lessons with Mr Ham, maybe while I was still in primary school, but I lacked inspiration, which Mr Ham didn’t provide, and I just pretended to practise until he told my mum I wasn’t learning anything.  Once I sent a ‘jingle’ into a Saturday Superstore competition- just me singing onto a cassette- ‘Saturday morning and I’m feeling bored, I turn on Saturday Superstore, maybe if I’m lucky one day I’ll see, a message in the tellygrams just for me’; nothing came of it.

++ Had you been in other bands before Rebecca Fishpond? What about the rest of the members? I read that some of you were in The Kildares, right?

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

Dan: Yeah I was in the Kildares from aged 17. Zack Yusof and Andrew Richardson were also in the Kildares.

John: I wasn’t in any bands before or after.  Always had a frustrated itch to write songs and then maybe have them heard.  Had a guitar for decades but never left the launch pad but have written a couple of dozen blinders that languish in my head.

++ Where were you from originally?

Zack: I was born in Singapore. My family relocated to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia when I was five or six and then when I was 11, we packed up and moved over to the UK, settling in Orpington, Kent. Currently, I live in Perth, Western Australia with my wife, son, cat and dog.

Dan: I was born in Walsall, West Midlands, then brought up in North Wales, near Oswestry, where the Kildares formed.

John: I grew up in Bristol.

++ Whereabouts in SE London was Rebecca Fishpond based? Were there any bands in the area that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Zack: The Fishponds were based in South East London; Lewisham first, which wasn’t nearly as gentrified back then as it is now, and then Blackheath which was much posher and prettier. There was nothing really appealing about Lewisham back then, apart from the cheap rent and quaint, quiet pubs, which attracted some interesting arty types, our type of people. I can’t remember any decent local record stores though. Buying cool records back then meant having to go into the city to the Rough Trade shop or Sister Ray in Soho. But even though Lewisham was a bit of a dump, we were only a short bus ride away from Goldsmiths College in New Cross – that wonderful English art institution where the likes of Blur and Damien Hirst attended and first cut their teeth as artists – which was very handy when it came to meeting pretty female students and buying cheap drinks at student prices during uni disco nights. In New Cross, there were places like The Goldsmiths Tavern, The Dewdrop pub and The Venue, cool, slightly ramshackle hangouts where we could get glammed up in our indie finery, drink cheap booze and meet like-minded souls. Through hanging out at those places, we became tight with some of the best local bands in the area like Laverne and Shirley (who are still going strong now as Spearmint), The Desirables and A Colourful Mess. With those bands, it felt like we had our own little cool South East London scene happening. Our friend Mike Meniro and his pal Alison ran a great regular indie night at Goldsmiths Tavern and they gave us some of our first gigs there. That place was like our CBGB’s. Mike was our first supporter with any sort of clout (he ran his own club night and booked some of our favourite bands to play there) and he used to blast our demo through the club’s PA after gigs which was a fabulous ego boost. I have a hazy memory of us supporting The James Dean Driving Experience there at one of our earliest shows. Great times.

Dan: We were based in Lewisham, S.E. London.

John: Az was living in Blackheath with his brother when I met him, before Dan and Richie moved to London- I was living on the Old Kent Road.  Mostly our stomping ground was New Cross where there was Goldmsiths University and the Goldsmiths Tavern where the promoter took a liking to use and put us on supporting the Inspiral Carpets amongst others.  He also started running gigs at the Venue in New Cross, a bigger venue, and put us on there and he put a word in with the guys at the Falcon in Camden so we got gigs there.  I remember mates’ bands, Laverne and Shirley- we were signed by guys who managed the Beloved who were relatively big news but we never met them.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

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

Dan: As mentioned three members of Rebecca Fishpond had been in the Kildares. Zack had hooked up with vocalist John in London, and drummer Lar was a friend of John’s

John: I met Az through an ad in Melody Maker or one of the music papers.  We made a demo.  Dan and Rich, who’d done stuff with Az/ Zack at school in Oswestry, came to London to be in the band.  I knew Lar, he was a neighbour, he played drums.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Zack: After about a year, maybe more, Richy left the band for reasons I can’t quite remember now and was replaced by our good pal Mr Toby Carter on bass, a naturally gifted musician, witty raconteur and sporter of the finest mane of hair this side of Lee Green. Tobe was so talented and so funny, it made us all collectively up our game.

Dan: Yeah Toby Carter became the bass player when Andrew left.

John: My memory is Rich left and Toby Carter took over on bass.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Zack: One of the things I loved about us was the way everyone would chip in with ideas for songs. People in the band either wrote songs on their own or with others. Personally, I loved writing with John as much as I did writing on my own and I really loved the songs Richy wrote with John too. John was really great in the way that he wouldn’t never object to singing our lyrics even though he was hands down the best lyricist in the band. Dan contributed some great finished songs too, as did Richy. We were a real band in the sense that everyone had a go at writing and weighed in with ideas, either musically or lyrically. There were no egos in the way of getting the songs done. After months of schlepping around dodgy rented practice rooms in Deptford or New Cross, our managers Angie and Robert eventually sorted us out a practice room in Camberwell which we shared with a band called Spin who went on to become Gene. Remember them?

Dan: Mainly jamming I would say. My recollection is that lyrically and musically it was pretty collaborative. I guess I’m talking about once the group was up and running on the live circuit. We used to rehearse in rented rehearsal rooms in various S.E. London locations.

John: Initially, Az had a bunch of songs ready and I had a few lyrics and melodies that he and I bashed into the songs on the first demo.  I couldn’t play anything- just had lyrics and melodies.  When the others got involved, the vibe changed a bit.  Dan wrote stuff and worked on it with Az I think.  Maybe it started to pull in different directions from early on.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Dan: I think John and Zack came up with the name or maybe just John. Fishponds is an area of Bristol where John had previously lived as I recall.

John: My memory is it was my idea- Fishponds is an area of Bristol where I grew up as a child.  Rebecca was just a girl’s name- at the time, to me, it sounded like a posh name.

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

Zack: Our influences were quite diverse. I was heavily into early Primal Scream and that My Bloody Valentine record Isn’t Anything and was trying to push the band into that direction with the material i was bringing into the band, a heavier, more shoegazey type of sound. I still really love that record. John was into sixties stuff like Love and The Velvet Underground as I recall and Dan was very partial to the rockier side of indie, things like House of Love’s Destroy The Heart. We loved the sound of guitars in the Fishponds and most things with a good melody. We weren’t too snobby about our tastes. We started out jangly and then got heavier as time progressed.

Dan: Influences wise I guess there were loads…Anything from the Marine Girls to Dinosaur Jr I guess would be one way of putting it. I guess we loved guitars. Acoustic guitars, electric guitars, amplified guitars. Distorted amplified guitars. Me, Zack and Andrew used to mess around covering U2 tracks and stuff sometimes, but live performance-wise it was original material only.

John: I guess we started sounding jangly then, influenced by stuff around, moved to sound a bit heavier.

++ I know you recorded a 5-track demo tape. Where was it recorded? How many days were you in the recording studio? Was it your first time in one? Any anecdotes that you can share?

Zack: That first five track demo, the one that really kicked everything off for us, was recorded over the course of a single day in Enfield, Middlesex at a studio called In The Pink Recordings. Five songs in a single day seems incredible now but that’s how we did it back in those days. It wasn’t my first time in a professional studio as a couple weeks previously, I had booked a half day in another studio somewhere to lay down some songs that John, whom I’d just met a couple of weeks previously, supplied lyrics to, just to show John that I wasn’t bullshitting when I said that I could make songs out of his poems. So Enfield was actually my second time in a professional studio and John’s first. I can’t recall why we chose that studio in Enfield as we had never been to that part of the world prior to the session or anytime since. That session, I remember being quite nervous and tense to begin with but also very prepared. I knew what I wanted to do in the studio and worked hard to prepare accordingly. I played all the instruments, John sang and I worked out the drum machine programming with the engineer. The engineer was cold and unfriendly to begin with as he had us pegged as a couple of clueless kids. As the session progressed, he warmed up to John and I and ended up laying down an amazing Roddy Frame-esque acoustic guitar solo in one take on the last song of the session, a tune called All I Ever Wanted. That demo has stood the test of time to my ears which is quite incredible considering how little time we spent making it.

Dan: Zack and John got together the initial 5 track demo but it had a track on it that I had written called “Tell me when it’s twelve”.

John: Az and I recorded it in a day in a small studio in someone’s house in Enfield- a place we’d found in the music press small ads.  I think Az and the Oswestry boys might’ve been in the studio before- they had some recordings from before London & Rebecca Fishpond.  For me it was the first time in a studio but it was relaxed, just three people in someone’s spare room.  I remember being on a train platform with AZ on a cold, bright day.  Felt quite different from the Elephant and Castle and Old Kent Road, areas of London I knew that were more inner city- Enfield was more open and green- I think we could see either the Alexandra Palace or Crystal Palace transmitter aerial from the station.  Az seemed to have in his head what he wanted.  He played guitar and bass and guided the engineer guy how to set the drum machine.  The engineer I think put on some guitar and keyboards.  I sang two or three songs and backing vocals.  Did I contribute some tambourine too?

++ Aside from these 5 songs I know there are two more songs, “Revolved” and “Bought and Sold” that were properly recorded. Was there a second demo tape? Or what’s the story behind these songs?

Zack: Revolved and Bought and Sold, we recorded at Meantime Studios in Deptford. Those two songs were the sound of the band moving away from our old jangly thing into harder territory. Bought and Sold was Dan’s tune. Revolved, I wrote with John. I can’t remember much about how that song came about but I do remember buying a cheap, secondhand fuzzbox to use on the track. That pedal was so noisy, it practically played itself. The session was paid for by our managers Angie and Robert who ran a company called Orange. Orange also paid for another session in a posh 24 track studio where we re-recorded two tracks – Laugh and Always In A Dream – for a possible seven inch single release. We also did another studio session where we recorded another two tracks – Dream On and Two Ways To Die – but those tapes seem to have vanished.

Dan: Yeah that was the second demo tape I think. John’s lyric to “Revolved” still sounds a winner…”Bought and Sold” was my lyric. The music was probably a collaboration. I’m on vocals in “Bought and Sold” too – Smiths / Morrissey falsetto influence at the end and all…

Vocal craft is tricky. I guess you gotta tell the story your own way, not Morrissey (or Sinatra’s) way. Ha ha. I guess lyrically Bought and Sold is not a bad music industry analogy.

John: The former was a song I wrote with Az, the latter was Dan’s song.  I think we did a couple of versions before the managers spent for a proper studio.  The sound was getting rockier.  The former is about being unsure in the world and aged about 20 years old, about it being like that everyday, about a feeling of life?  Dan’s song, I remember was more about heartbreak.

++ And then I found yet another song but played live, “Two Ways to Die”.  Was this track recorded in a studio too?

Dan: Yeah it was. Not sure whether any one’s got a copy of that demo though.

John: My memory is that this was written and sung by Dan.  I don’t remember if we recorded it.

++ In total, how many songs did you have in your repertoire? Did you play any covers?

Zack: We had about 20, 25 songs in total and several others which never made it beyond the demo stage. We played all originals.

Dan: Hard to put a figure on the number of songs. I guess between 10 and 20. Original material only.

John: We didn’t do any covers.  Did we maybe have 15 or 20 songs?

++ Is it true that there was a chance to end up releasing in Sarah Records?

Zack: Not too sure about that but I wholly support the rumour being perpetuated decades down the line! I did get a lovely rejection letter from Matt from Sarah one time though, when the Kildares were still going. How I wish I still had that letter!

Dan: Not that I know of personally but I think the Kildares sent a demo tape to Sarah Records.

John: Not that I’m aware of.  My sense is we were on the tail end of that but Az was big into that stuff at the beginning?

++ Was there any interest from other labels?

Zack: There was talk of a seven inch single being put out through a new label that our friend Mike was going to set up but i have no idea if that came to fruition or not. Martin from The Flatmates who ran The Subway Organisation label really liked Always In A Dream from our Enfield demo but not the other tracks on the tape. He wrote to me and said that if we had three of four other songs just like Always In A Dream, then we had a deal. We didn’t so nothing happened.

Dan: We had professional management and at one point there was talk of a single deal with Creation Records.

John: The people who took us on to manage, they would’ve been aiming for that.  I don’t think there was anything concrete before the fabric started to come asunder.

++ Why do you think your songs never ended up on a record? Not even on a compilation, right?

Zack: I really have no idea why we didn’t end up on a record or a compilation. The songs were certainly good enough to be put out for mass consumption I felt.

Dan: The group did do a 24 track studio demo, which hopefully one day might surface, but no record deals were sealed back in the day.

John: I don’t think we achieved that level of profile or traction before we went our separate ways.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “All I Ever Wanted”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Zack: All I Ever Wanted, if I recall correctly, was a bit of a throwaway tune that John and I bashed out just before heading into the studio in Enfield. We never played it live to my knowledge. Musically, I was going for a summery, Orange Juice kind of thing and wrote the bulk of it on the bass. I thought John mentioning Cocteau and Rousseau on the track was a nice touch.

Dan: That track is a Zack and John collaboration as far as I am aware.

John: This was a song I did with Az in his bedroom early on and it’s on that 5 track initial demo.  I remember the line, maybe, ‘all I ever wanted was someone to hold’.  I think in my mind it was like one of those Velvet Underground songs sung by Moe Tucker, like ‘I’m sticking with you’- just a simple song with simple lyrics, almost like a list song.  My memory was that it was pretty vapid but funny now listening to it after literally decades, the thing about wishing I had something profound to say is still here so maybe it was true.  This is the song that the engineer put guitar on top of I think, what Az called Echo and the Bunnymen guitar.  Did it feel like a filler?  I don’t think we played it live.

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

Zack: I still have a soft spot for Laugh. I like the way the song has no chorus, just a bunch of verses, and I really love John’s vocals on the track. It was the first song I wrote that made me think that maybe I could make a go of being a proper full-time musician.

Dan: I would probably say “Always in a Dream”. It kind of feels like a signature tune of sorts, to the group as a whole.

John: It’s difficult for me to stand back from but the favourite for me is ‘beauty’.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Zack: We played a fair few shows, mainly around London and a couple out of town. I remember moaning to the guys a lot at the time about how we should gig more. I always wanted to play.

Dan: Can’t recall exactly how many gigs but a fair few round the S.E.London gig circuit.

John: Did we gig for about 2 years?  Did we play 20 gigs?  I don’t know.  I know we played our first gig in Oswestry or Shewsbury, because the Oswestry lads knew people there.  We played once in a university to the north of London- then we played in London, New Cross, the Elephant, Camden.  I remember we played in a pub around Old Street once.  I guess we were building a circuit of London venues that would put us on, trying to up our profile.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

Zack: Apparently we supported Jesse Garon and The Desperados at The Camden Falcon but I can’t remember anything about that at all, which is a shame because I was a huge fan of that band. The gig did happen though because I saw the flyer for it! I once stupidly left my bag of guitar pedals at a show in Stoke Newington which almost ruined the band for me. My guitar sound completely changed after that show to a more stripped down thing. Not by design I have to add although that was the vibe that I told people I was going for!

Dan: There was a pub in New Cross called the Amersham Arms where we played more than one show which went down well with the punters. I saw an old flyer recently for a gig we did with Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes at the Falcon pub in Camden but I can’t remember it! Zack said he couldn’t either… Ha Ha.  Some of the gigs were at venues I can’t recall the names of. I remember some good nights playing at Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross, and also the Union Tavern in Camberwell.

John: I remember playing the Venue in New Cross- that was the biggest place we played and we used to go out there regularly as punters, so it was super cool to play there and I remember seeing Radiohead there about the same time (although they already had ‘creep’ on the radio).  One thing that sticks in my memory is we got a rider for the 1st time and I got very drunk. The Falcon in Camden was always a cool place to play and the Goldsmiths Tavern felt a bit like our home ground.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Dan: I don’t recall any that were too bad. Occasional sound issues I guess which could be frustrating.

John: I don’t recall any bad ones.  I remember being freaked out before the first gig in Shropshire and probably having my back to the audience the whole gig.

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

Zack: The band just naturally ran its course in 1990 or 1991. We were very young and everyone ended up wanting to do different things. When a band loses sight of its common goal, that’s when the fun stops. After The Fishponds, I set up a band called Release. I also played in a band called Fast Boyfriends who are still going strong now. I moved back to Asia at the tail end of the nineties and formed a band called Free Deserters which lasted for a decade. We put out several records and did a fair bit of touring around the region. After Deserters, I started Mystery Tapes which is still my main gig today. I also perform solo and deejay a bit.

Dan: I don’t really recall specifically why the band split. We were all pretty young. I was the singer in a band called Open Up with Toby Carter after Rebecca Fishpond, then between ‘97 and ‘03 I was in a band called Emergency Exit in Manchester.

John: I went to Norwich to do an English degree in 1993 and did a year access course before that so we must have stopped by 1992.  I think we weren’t that tightknit and there were pulls in different directions.  I did a few songs with Richie, in the kitchen, with Az putting some guitar on.  I wrote things over the years and always had an unscratched itch but not enough momentum to go beyond that.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Dan: Zack has been in a few bands that I know of. The Fast Boyfriends, Free Deserters, and Mystery Tapes. Mystery Tapes is his current band as far as I know. Toby Carter went on to be in the London band UK States, and is still involved with music.

John: Sounds like Az always has and I hear Dan has been doing stuff.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Zack: No radio play that I know of. John Peel, he really missed a trick there.

John: I don’t’ think we had anything the radio could play really- no single.

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

Zack: We got a lovely review from the now defunct Sounds music paper once which was very exciting as we all devoured the music press back then. This was during the heyday of the British music press, when the UK had three music papers coming out weekly. Incredible stuff.

Dan: At one of the gigs at the Union Tavern in Camberwell which I mentioned, we got reviewed by Sounds. The review said we had “blistering potential”.

John: We got a live review in the Melody Maker, in a pub between Camberwell and the Oval.  I think Angie, one of our managers, pulled a string with some press buddies.  That was exciting though.  Still got the cutting bookmarking somewhere.

++ What about from fanzines?

John: Don’t’ think so.

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

Zack: For me, the best part of being in the Fishponds was making music and living the band life with my musical brothers. We were a tight-knit band and the fact that we are all still friends today proves that. There were many things that, in retrospect, we should have done differently for the sake of our career but life is too short to have regrets.

Dan: I’d say one highlight would be some of the quality tracks in the catalogue. That, and the great friendship and camaraderie in and around the group.

John: I remember weird ego rub of having our photos taken around Camberwell one time.  The MM review was a buzz.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Zack: Music is a full-time hobby for me. I barely have time for anything else. Apart from playing music, I also host a radio show called 33rpm which broadcasts out of Kuala Lumpur on the station BFM 89.9. The show is in its tenth year now which is amazing. I’m also starting up a new blog called Analog Vs Digital which will be focussing on guitar pedals, music gear, that kind of geeky stuff.

Dan: I like movies a lot, and am trying to increase the amount I read and write. Writing wise I’m currently just journaling / diary keeping for my own amusement. I still dabble with lyrics / poetry sometimes.

John: I’m 52 years old now, I think.  I have recently started piano classes which is a delight so far.  I have two school aged kids (who I’m getting to listen to the Everly Brothers), a wife and a full-time social worker job.  I try to swim once a week and I commute on my bike.  I like telly, an occasional beer in the pub and if I get to see a thoughtful grown-up film (I don’t mean XXX) that’s good.  I have learnt to make a reasonable pizza this last year

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Zack: I think it’s fantastic that our music has managed to endure after all these years. The fact that people are still aware of our little band in places like Asia, the US, Japan and continental Europe is a source of great pleasure and pride to me. Not bad for a bunch of lads from Lewisham! Thanks for keeping the flame alive. Salut!

Dan: Just thanks for the interview. It’s been a pleasure.

John: Gosh.  It was all a long time ago and only a brief thing, and I’ve done lots of other things which were also influential but Rebecca Fishpond was a fun, memorable time.  Who knows, with some different breaks, who knows how it might’ve gone.

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

Listen
Rebecca Fishpond – All I Ever Wanted

23
Dec

Started working on the fanzine this weekend. At least planning it. I will email today the bands I hope to interview and hopefully there will be news soon about that early in the next year. Then of course there are many projects for releases in the coming year, so yeah, should be a good one. This is the last post before Christmas too, so I do hope you all have a merry merry Christmas, and I’ll see you on Wednesday, right? Lots of indiepop presents I hope everyone gets!

No Middle Name: the Saint Leonards, UK, band is back with a two part single called “Meet the Folks”. Yeah, a single that is broken apart as “Meet the Folks Part 1” and “Meet the Folks Part 2”. Interesting idea! The two songs are really lovely as usual. No Middle Name never disappoints.

Grids and Dots: always looking and checking what’s happening in Australia. That country, alongside Japan and Indonesia, are the places where more indiepop I see been made in the last few years. And quality indiepop that is. The latest is this Sydney band that only has one song on Bandcamp, “Never Change”. But it is great. It seems there will be more songs recorded in the near future, so we should bookmark their site!

The Groove Farm: the Bristol classic band is also back with a new album called “Groovy Pharmacy”. It is now available to pre-order on their Bandcamp on vinyl. It does look like there are only a few copies left though. So be quick! The record is being put out by their own Raving Pop Blast! Recordings and it sounds like everyone expects, catchy garagey noisy pop! Cool!

The Perfect English Weather: the ex-Popguns have recorded four acoustic tracks live at Sunny Studios in Hove. These are part of a new live EP they have available on Bandcamp that includes acoustic versions of “English Weather”, “Rockin’ to the Beat”, “Under My Feet” and “Christmas Single”.

Lia Pamina e Os Peregrinos: “It’s Gonna Be a Cold Christmas (Unas Navidades tan Frías)” is only available digitally on Bandcamp and I suppose other digital platforms. Lia who recorded one of my favourite 7″s some years ago has teamed up with Os Peregrinos, the band of Charlie Mysterio and Roger de Flor, and with them they have covered the original 1975 song by Dana and adapted it to Spanish. It is a good one to add it to your Christmas playlist.

—————————————————————–

Time to fly to Japan! To the early 90s and to one of my favourite bands from the period, the Tip Top Planets. What a name! I love it. So poppy, so colorful and sounds like fun. And indeed this band made among the best anorak-pop to ever come from the land of the rising sun!

The band’s first release dates from 1992, a 7-song mini-album called “We Can Stay in Paradise For Ever”. It was released by the label Chocolat Art Records (CA002) and had the following songs “We Can Stay in Paradise for Ever”, “I Don’t Care”, “Wake”, “Every Time”, “Paranoia”, “Tell Me Why” and “Thunderstom”. On this record we see that Naomi Funakoshi sang and played tambourine and maracas, Koji Isaka played guitar and sang, Kazutoshi Ohno played bass and Kaname Banba played drums on the first and last song while Takehide Fukasawa played drums on the rest of tracks.

The names are not too familiar to me. Maybe Kaname Banba is a bit more known as he had also played in bands like Luminous Orange, Lucy Van Pelt, Littlestone and Advantage Lucy. And Kazutoshi played in the very fine Jenka. The rest seem to have only been part of Tip Top Planets.

In 1993 the band released their debut album called “Bomb” on the superb label Pushbike Records (UFPB-003). As you know I love this label, so I must get this record in my collection! The 12 songs on it are superb, “Speak Your Mind”, “To the Shining Sea”, “Cosmic Panic”, “Silent”, “Pearl”, “Scarlet”, “Blue Boat”, “Until You Come”, “Sun Dress”, “Bomb Bomb Planet’s Hour”, “Sunday Everyday” and “In the Time Casket”. Here the drummer changed, we know see Shigeto Morohara. Also it is worth mentioning that Seiko Ishiguro (from Sunshower and Jenka) played accordion in “In the Time Casket”.

Lastly in 1995, on Vinyl Japan, the band would release the “Go Go Pepper EP” (TASKCD32). This is the one release I have of theirs. And I love it of course. It only has four songs, but what songs! “Go Go Pepper”, “Sunshine Babies”, “Rain” and “Rady Made Boy – Dear Violet”.

Aside from these three releases the band appeared on many compilations.

There was a 7″  that was given for free at the Japanese tour of the Television Personalities and The Chesterfields. Not sure what year it was. But it was released by the Pop Anarchy Label. On it we find three bands, Sunnychar, Tip Top Planets and Melcles. Tip Top Planets appear with the songs “My Day Star” as the A2 and “Give Me L” on B1.

In 1992 the band appeared on the first ever release of Chocolat Art Records, a comp tape called “Story Under Fun” (CA001). On it they appear first and last with the songs “My Day Star” and “Brand New Morning” . That same year they appeared on another comp, “The Reality of Flowers” (FLOWER-002), that was released by Under Flower Records. Here the band contributed the song “Holiday”.

Pushbike Records would include them on the CD comps “See-See-You, Tomorrow!” (UFPB-001) with the songs “Rosy Moon Knows” and “Big Boy And Little Girl” and “Happy Day, Happy Time! Pushbike Compilation Vol. 2” (UFPB-004) with the song “He has the White Dream”. Both came out in 1993.

That same year they contribute the song “Give Me L” on the tape “We Don’t Need Another Hero” (HAAR002) on the Japanese label Haarnadel.

Then Vinyl Japan included their song “Wake” on the compilation “What Do You Want a Japanese To Do Again?” (ASKCD 36) in 1994. Then they had the song “Brand New Morning (Dry Breeze Version)” on the Giant-Robot Records comp “Here We Go ‘Round Giant-Robot Compilation Vol. 1” (ROBOT-002). And afterwards, to close 1994, they appeared on yet another Pusbike comp, “Into Somethin’ Pushbike Compilation Vol. 3” (UFPB 006) with the song “in the Time Casket” and on the comp “The Cacaous Go Like Hotcakes” released by Chocolat Art (CA-010) and Pushbike (UFPB 005) with the songs “Let Me Fly to the Brightest Star” and “Cherry Red Guitar Girl”.

Lastly, in 1995, the band appeared on the CD compilation “Cloudy Records Compilation Vol.1 / Cloud6” released by Cloudy Records (CRCD001) with the song “Rainbow Way”.

Lots of songs in compilations, they may have been able to put out another CD I think!

Something curious I stumbled upon was that the UK band The Hannah Barberas covered the song “Go Go Pepper” in September 2018.

Sadly as it is the case with many Japanese bands the information is scarce. I wonder what happened to the band members afterwards. What did they do? Were they in other bands? Where are they now? Who remembers them? Such a fun band, I hope I can find more information about them!

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

Listen
Tip Top Planets – Speak Your Mind

20
Dec

Alright! weekend is here! And here are 5 good finds for you to listen this weekend. I hope too that I will have time to start planning the new fanzine I want to put out next year. At least get an outline done and then contact the bands I want to interview.

Salt Lake Alley: our friends from Stockholm are back after releasing a 7″ on Cloudberry! And that is good news! I know they have recorded enough songs for an album, and only now I am trying to catch up after being out for holidays. But they have put out one of these songs, “Chop Away!” as a digital single and what a track this is! It is definitely one of the best they have recorded. It starts with an 80s sort of vibe and then carries on with some great melody, a bit JAMC, a bit The Prayers, a bit great Scottish pop then. This definitely tells everyone they are up to great things. Can only wait for more. If you haven’t heard them yet, this is a good place to discover the wonderful music Gustav and Mikael are making!

Las Perdón: I featured this duo from Madrid some time ago. Back then they didn’t have the EP “Melón y Sandía” out yet, but two songs were on their Bandcamp. Well, since last week there are 4 songs, 2 more. So we find “Asco Total”, “El Chico Más Tonto de Madrid”, “Toc, Toc” and “El Secuestro” now, four songs of  catchy indiepop with fun singalong lyrics, boy/girl vocals, and infectious choruses. I can’t wait for a Spanish label to pick them up. A 7″ would be nice!

Brunch Club: the Edmonton, Canada, band became quickly a favourite of mine. Definitely one of the most exciting bands in the last few years. Terrific indiepop with classic influences. Surprising though their latest album is only available digitally. The 8 song album “Another Wasted Summer” is jangly and wonderful. I really hope I can play it at home on a CD player, or on the turntable someday. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this on many year-end lists.

Sugar World: the San Diego band has also been featured in the past. But hey, they do have a brand new song “We Fell in Love” that I have been playing on repeat. It has that feeling of the late 90s indiepop, early 2000s. Kind of a sweeter Marine Time Keepers, sort of? It is dreamy, evocative of good past places and times. This is another band that needs to put out some records!

Goodbye Idiots III: this is the name of the new compilation put together by the Mexico netlabel Stupid Decisions. There are a bunch of great tracks by mostly unknown bands (at least they are not known to me) on it waiting to be discovered.

—————————————————————–

I was reading a post on Blaskoteket, a post that is actually grabbed from a Sound Affects article I believe. It was about the Kristiansand, Sweden, band Leslies. A superb pop combo that released a bunch of records in the 90s in many labels like H. Lime, Labrador, La Belle Pop and more. The part that caught my attention about the article was that it said that the band was born from the ashes of two pop bands, Shelleys and Shoplifters.

So what did I do? I went to look for music and information about these two bands. So far I haven’t been able to find anything about Shelleys but I did find a post on a Japanese blog about Shoplifters. There I could even listen to two tracks, “I Don’t Like to Think” and “Kneedancing”, and I thought they were really great.

Sadly the songs are not complete, they are kind of cut at the end. Shame, I would love to listen to the whole thing. In any case it seems these two songs come from a demo tape called “Shoplifting the Moon”. Happily the blog mentions some details about this tape. It was released in 1993 and included six songs in total, “I Don’t Like to Think”, “Getting High in a Paperbag”, “Kneedance”, “Dizzy Reflections”, “Miss Place” and “Ode to Friends”. It mentions too that the vocalist and guitarist from the Leslies were in Shoplifters. Does this mean that Tony Ivarsson and Martin Berndtsson (or Martin Engvall) were in Shoplifters? I would love to confirm this!

I keep searching for any other details about them but I can’t find really anything. Were these the only songs they ever recorded? The two I’ve heard, even incomplete, sound fabulous, that’s why I am sharing them like that. I would really love to listen to the rest. And of course find out any details and sounds by Shelleys! Any help will be appreciated!

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

Listen
Shoplifters – I Don’t Like to Think

19
Dec

Thanks so so much to Rowan Smith for this interview! The MacGuffins were an amazing Melbourne band from the late 80s, and I’ve been a fan since the first time I heard two songs of them almost a decade ago. I wrote a post about them of course, and about the songs “Rich Together” and “Dirty Ol Life”. These two songs were released as a 7″ and I thought for a long time these were the only recordings they did. But no, that’s not the case. There’s more! So here comes some very good news, we are working now on a Cloudberry Cake Kitchen compilation to be released next year! Very exciting. And of course, you want to know more about the MacGuffins, sit back and enjoy this interview. Let Rowan tell you the story here!

++ Hi Rowan! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

Hi Roque, thank you for this opportunity. I’m doing well and yes, still making music. Working away on what will be my seventh album.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My father was a gifted pianist who played ‘by ear’, meaning he could hear a tune and play it without any written music. When I was an infant, he’d sit me on his knee at the piano, with my small hands on top of his. I learned music this way. It was a gift he passed on to me that I cherish, also as he died all too soon when I was seven years old. But from that beginning, I could play music ‘by ear’. I still own and play my father’s piano.

My family were church-going folk and hymns and gospel music was what I was exposed to early on. Also where I first saw a drum kit, which was ‘instant love’. Turned out my father’s brother was a drummer and together they’d been quite the band in their time. He taught me his chops. Picking up my sister’s acoustic guitar came quite naturally. We were a very musical family in all, with a devoted mother, who after my father died became even more involved with running the church youth group my parents had nurtured together. At one point Mum even hired an Air Force concert band member to write charts and be our conductor. Hugh led our little youth band once a week, with rehearsals in our lounge room. My sisters Glenda on trumpet, Lynette on clarinet and other members on trumpet and clarinet trombone, flute, and me up the back (the younger brother) on a little red drum kit which was my first treasured instrument. It was quite old and my eldest sister Roselyn’s boyfriend (husband now) had helped paint this kit secretly in the shed, ahead of my ninth birthday.

The first ‘secular music’ I really remember hearing was when a Grade Four teacher invited us to, “Rest your head on your desk, class. I’m going to play you a record called ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’, by Rick Wakeman.” Hearing this just blew my mind!

++ Had you been in other bands before the MacGuffins? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

Underground Lovers’ Glenn Bennie and Vince Giarusso attended the same high school as I did. Glenn and I became good friends following high school and during our first years of university; Glenn at Melbourne Uni studying Drama and myself at Swinburne studying Graphic Design. We started jamming together on weekends, Glenn playing guitar and me on drums. Then Glenn put together our first band with Vince, singing. We were called Wildworld. Cesare Bertuzzi was on drums and I was playing keyboard. Our first gigs were at house parties which went well and soon we were playing some of the music pubs on Brunswick Street, Melbourne.

At some point I wanted to express more than this role, and started to explore writing my own songs.

Michael Wilkins and Michael Paxton were in a band together before MacGuffins; I can’t remember the name – and more on that later.

++ Where were you from originally?

We were all from Melbourne, Australia.

++ How was Melbourne at the time of MacGuffins? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

The Melbourne music scene in the late eighties and early nineties was absolutely vibrant, especially for independent music, earning the ‘music city’ reputation that lives on today. Pubs and clubs with bands playing every night of the week stretched from Brunswick and Collingwood to Richmond and St Kilda. There were many great Melbourne bands and artists, some already quite famous such as Hunters and Collectors, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Paul Kelly, Joe Camilleri and the Black Sorrows, Stephen Cummings… Glenn Bennie introduced me to Essendon Airport, members of which went on to form, I’m Talking.

MacGuffins’ peers were bands such as Sea Stories, The Killjoys, Ripe, Captain Cocoa; we played together often.

Naturally, there were many great record stores too, and still are. The ones I frequented most were Gaslight, Mighty Music Machine, Readings and Greville Records.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Through peripheral circles I’d learned about a fantastic rhythm section across town, Michael Wilkins and Michael Paxton (on drums and bass respectively) that as word had it, might have been interested in forming a new band. I met up with them semi-secretly after one of their band rehearsals. I remember arriving early at the rendezvous point and sitting outside the hall listening to the drums and bass coming through the solid brick walls and thinking, “These guys are really good!” I ultimately played them a couple of my rough demos recorded into a Fostex X-15 Multitracker I’d purchased; I had a little Korg Poly-800 keyboard, recorded my guitar in ‘DI’ and vocal ideas. To their credit and my surprise they agreed to start rehearsing as a new band.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Philippa Nihill was a friend of Michael Wilkins from university and joined the band as backing singer and keyboard. When Philippa left the group, Gina Hearnden (playing with Billy Baxter and the Hollowmen at the time) joined us for our tour of Sydney, along with Neil Brennan playing keys and extra vocals. Lastly, Kim Hellier joined for a while, again for backing vocals and keyboard. Philippa of course went on to join Underground Lovers.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Once MacGuffins got underway I was writing songs all the time. The feeling of firstly playing together as we rehearsed, then to an appreciative and growing audience was simply infectious; so I was writing prolifically and when something felt presentable-enough to me, I’d take this idea along and we would road test it together at rehearsals – once a week and twice or more towards a show. We were very hard working, rehearsing and working on the songs. It was a really tight bond.

There were some great rehearsal rooms across Melbourne. We were mainly between either the Jam Hut in Preston (we also did some recording in a studio there) and another great room called Troy’s in South Melbourne. Troy’s had three large rooms and often one of these would be locked out for a week or two with a big band preparing for a tour. I recall Crowded House was there and I think Midnight Oil another time. We were regulars at both these rehearsal studios and they were great times. We’d set up and run through the songs or go round on a new idea if it seemed to be working. We’d take a break midway through the session and go out for pizza and the odd video game, then return and nail what we’d been working on before. One crazy story, late one night in winter and we were leaning against Michael Paxton’s Holden Kingswood station-wagon having a final cigarette and chat. It was after midnight and frost has covered all of Michael’s windscreen and windows – so that we hadn’t seen the figure inside the car who suddenly tried to turn over the engine. The car lurched forward a little with the three of us leaning with our backs against it. This surprised us as much as we did the would-be thief, who, clearly stoned, must have dozed off at the wheel having broken into the car and now trying to somehow make off in it. The culprit then fell out of the driver’s door onto the cobblestone alleyway, lurched up and was gone into the night. Having momentarily stood back to assess the situation – expletives flying – we checked over Michael’s car which was otherwise ok.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? 

Film student Michael Wilkins gave us the fantastic name, MacGuffins. He knew it from Alfred Hitchcock’s description of a plot device that the filmmaker loved for building suspense in a movie; an adjunct thread to the main story. Hitchcock once said, “A MacGuffin is a trap for catching lions in Scotland.” Angus McPhail, the British screenwriter who worked with Hitchcock is credited with coining the word. Our only instrumental in the set, Angus, was named in his honour.

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

There were comparisons with the Go Betweens and The Smiths and both were big influences, definitely. Also that first Crowded House album was a favourite in the years before we formed. A Sydney review of the ‘Rich Together’ single mentioned Prefab Sprout, which I had to look up. I was also really into Orange Juice after Glenn Bennie had introduced me. Having found the love and platform for songwriting I was also listening a lot in those days to Bob Dylan, and I remember hearing Leonard Cohen’s, ‘Tower of Song’ late one night on radio and the next day purchasing the album, ‘I’m your Man’. Like many, LC has been a favourite of mine ever since. In those years, for me it was a crash course in these and songwriter artists like Lou Reed, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson’s ‘Love & Mercy’ album and (Beach Boys) ‘Pet Sounds’; Willie Nelson (‘Stardust’ remains my favourite all-time album); Johnny Cash; Peter Gabriel; Kirsty MacColl’s, ‘Kite’ was another that wore out the repeat button on my CD player, as did Suzanne Vega’s debut album. Michael Wilkins introduced us to XTC’s Oranges and Lemons (more oranges). And Glenn kept introducing me to other new music. Thomas Dolby, early Split Enz, OMD, The Reels, Los Lobos… he was always playing me new things.

++ Your first demo caught some attention like the one of Rondor Music (Universal) and manager Linda Gebar who helped you bill many good gigs in Melbourne. Was wondering about this demo tape. What songs were on it? When and where was it recorded?

We made three really good quality demo tapes, released at gigs on cassette.

The first, in 1987 and which I don’t have anymore (but hope there’s a copy out there somewhere) contained three tracks, ‘Down on the ground’, ‘A skip in your step’ and ‘Red Bouquet’.

The second cassette listing was, ‘A Simple Arrangement’, ‘Rhyme about Reason, ‘Men and Women’ and ‘Earnest’. This was the demo that Linda Gebar circulated, getting us on the bill around Melbourne. And that Michael Wilkins mailed to a few places and that Graham Thompson at Rondor heard, subsequently wanting to sign us.

The third cassette in 1989 contained, ‘Maybe not Tonight’, ‘Italian Wedding’, ‘Rich Together’, ‘Angry Words’, ‘I can’t stop my heart’ and ‘Relying on your love’. This tape was put together to shop around labels and ultimately signaled the ‘waiting’ period where we were listening to advice from Graham (at music publisher, Rondor) and also from a music lawyer, which I’ll explain later on.

Tapes One and Two were recorded at Michael Wilkins’ house in Collingwood, each time over a long weekend. Michael and Michael were great engineers and really knowledgeable about what gear to hire, which microphones to place where and so on, not to mention the recording and bouncing down process. We’d hire a Tascam or Fostex tape machine and set everything up at Michael’s house on Saturday, play everything through and record on the Sunday, and mix and bounce down on Monday. As was noted recently about the surprising quality of these cassette tapes, “Of course, it’s all been recorded on analogue tape!”

Linda Gebar, our first manager, saw us at an RMIT Battle of the Bands and approached us afterwards. It was our first gig.

++ You only released one 7″ in your time, the amazing “Rich Together” single. And of course I have a few questions about it! First, where was the photo from the front cover taken?

The photo was taken by a professional photographer friend of mine, Gary Moore who had the studio, the backdrop, the lighting. Thanks Gary!

++ This single came out on a label I’ve never heard before. Who were DEX? How was your relationship with them?

Dex were (and still are) a Melbourne-based production and distribution house, not a label and so a great option while we were waiting for something to happen between the conversations with Graham Thompson at Rondor Music Publishing in Sydney and Melbourne music lawyer, Phil Dwyer. Graham wanted to sign us, and Phil was advising to wait until he got us a record deal. In that space we self-financed the single and Dex were great with distributing it.

++ On it you got Glenn Bennie from the Underground Lovers to play guitar. What did he bring to the table and had you collaborated with him in other occasions?

Glenn brought along his signature guitar sound – and any song is better for that. We were and still are great friends. Also I can’t really play lead, or even rock really! My playing was described as jangly guitar, also ‘warm and fuzzy’. Glenn also guested with us on stage at the Melbourne Music Day at the showgrounds in 1988. This was the forerunner to the Big Day Out which came next.

++ Both songs on the 7″ were recorded at Sing Sing in 1988. How was that experience? How long did it take? Did it go smoothly? Any anecdotes you could share?

We’d probably booked it for as cheap we could. Two days, two songs. Some Hammond overdubs on the B-side, as Sing Sing had an awesome Hammond B3 organ and Leslie cabinet. It was a great experience together as a band and then fun having Glenn come in. Actually the other thing I remember, Michael’s Wilkins and Paxton both smoked rollies (rolled up cigarettes) every chance, whereas I’d never touched a cigarette in my life before hanging around rehearsal rooms and studios with these two smoking constantly. Now suddenly I’m on the Red pack Stuyvesant’s! (I was able to give them up a couple of years’ later.)

++ And how come there were no more releases? Why no album?

Michael Paxton quit the band. That was it. One day he announced he was sick of waiting. Never occurred to continue without him; in fact it would have just felt impossible at the time because he and Michael Wilkins were inseparable anyhow.

++ Though I saw now that there were many recordings that are now available on the web in two volumes of “lost tapes”. Were they really lost? And where do these songs come from? Different demo tapes?

They were lost to me. I’d thrown everything away. True Story.

I’d moved interstate to Hobart after the end of my second band, Barefoot and recording of my first solo album too. I was in need of a fresh start for many reasons. And with a new young family as well, I was headed in a new direction.

We’ve talked earlier about Glenn Bennie and I being great friends? Well, in his generous and always unassuming way, Glenn had posted me a copy of the Underground Lovers fourth and seminal album, Rushall Station. I can vividly remember hearing that record for the first time. I was in our living room in Hobart. In the corner of the room was a really nice Ludwig drum kit – that hadn’t been played in quite some time. (I’d been lucky to purchase this from I’m Talking’s drummer, Cameron Newman, before leaving Melbourne. Cameron initially loaned me the kit for making my solo album but when it came time to return it, he offered it for sale.)

This had been a dream kit for me, a Ludwig! But now it sat there, shipped interstate but not played for many months; symbolic to me of the music I wasn’t creating or playing.

And of course Rushall Station is such an incredible record. (Recently re-released and widely celebrated on vinyl.) So I was in the audio aura of that record. Perhaps understandably, or not, I felt like ‘Mozart’s Salieri’, comparing myself to my high school buddy. No, buddies.

Shortly afterwards I sold the drum kit, had a big cleanout and along with other remnants from the move, the MacGuffins tapes ended up on the South Hobart tip.

Fast forward through a lifetime now in Tasmania, wonderful adult children, a further three solo albums under my belt, and a conversation last May on my front porch. With Glenn Bennie.

“Can I ask your advice, Glenn? I mean, I’m tinkering away in the (home) studio, and it never leaves you does it… but I’m at the point where working away on the next Rowan Smith release just feels a bit, well, pointless. What would you do if you were me?”

Glenn said, “I think you should look back at MacGuffins. You guys were great and part of the scene and I think you might be surprised who’d be interested.”

So I did. And the second person to be interested, was me. It was so strange, hearing MacGuffins objectively after all this time. I thought, “We really had something!”

So I have Glenn to thank for the MacGuffins catalogue now being online, and ultimately available for this amazing CD compilation, thank you, Roque.

And because these tapes – which have now been remastered and digitised – are courtesy of my mother and sisters having kept copies – thank you to my family.

Tape One is, for now, still lost. But I’ll take two out of three! These tapes, including many other tracks which ultimately didn’t make the cassette listings are the two volumes now available as ‘The Lost Tapes’ Volumes 1 and 2.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Just Tape One. If anyone out there has it, or knows someone who might do? Please let us know and I’d be very grateful.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Rich Together”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Phew! I’m glad that’s on vinyl, then 🙂 I love cafes. I love walking into a cafe, taking in the vibe and sitting back. I love the ambience. I’m addicted to coffee. I love the cacophony of sounds, music playing, the drone of multiple conversations. ‘People watching’ too, I guess. With regards to the song, things like the ‘magazine stand’, and ‘the ring where my coffee had been, it was fading into the laminex’ would have come through observations in real time. And then I’m an eternal romantic so there would have been a yearning or a question or a happiness with my lot in love at the time. And the preoccupation with having or not having any money – I’ve worked for myself now forever. At that time I loved reading about the post-impressionist painters. Their attitude, struggles and (when it came) celebrations, I found so visceral. So perhaps this sums up being ‘Rich Together’.

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

At the moment there are two. ‘Men and Women’ because it really captures the essence of what MacGuffins was about; Paxton’s growling bass, Wilkins’ big steady time and hits, Philippa’s drone note keyboard and my jangly guitar and warbling about over the top. This was one of those ‘Go Betweens’ comparisons but an esteemed compliment really and also conjures place and time, now.

The other is ‘Angry Words’ (aka ‘If I could only afford what you want’ – another money theme!). I think this one is the closest to rock, or is it blues, that we get – and gives a hint as to why we went over well, live.

++ Your first gig was at a “Battle of the Bands” competition. How did that work out? Is it more stressful to play a competition gig compared to a “regular” gig?

It was our first outing live. So yes, lots of nerves and I spent my lunch hour that day walking around a Melbourne park singing the songs out loud to myself, to get used to the idea and also being so worried I’d forget the words. Actually, because the night was so well run by RMIT (the university), with great production, P.A. and fold back wedges and so on – also the fact we were so tight from months of rehearsing – the playing was really great fun. We placed second, to Ripe. But we met the best manager in Linda Gebar.

++ What about other gigs that you remember? Did you play many? 

We ended up playing relatively a lot over our four years together. A standout was our residency at the Evelyn Hotel in Brunswick Street. It was one of the best gigs in town and we had Friday nights – for a month! The line to get in got longer down the street each week, and the room was packed. It was the best.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

There’s many great recollections. A New Year’s Eve at The Tote. We played this night with a band called Young Dub. They were amazing and I really thought they’d go places, but can’t find anything about them now. Underground Lovers played their first gig with us at the Corner Hotel. And Frente played a very early show with us at the Cricketers Arms. There’s a great review of a double bill we played with Sea Stories at the Queens Arms Hotel. They were a great band and the most lovely people. We played a few shows with them – I think that might have been Linda managing us both.

++ And were there any bad ones?

I did use alcohol a bit back then; Dutch courage. One night at the Evelyn I fell backwards into the drum kit.

++ When and why did MacGuffins stop making music? You were involved in Barefoot afterwards, right? How different would you say were these bands?

After Michael Paxton quit, ending the band, I had a long talk with Graham Thompson at Rondor. Graham had wanted to sign me for publishing all along; he remains one of my biggest fans and a friend today. Graham’s commitment was still there. I signed with Rondor and Graham produced some early demos in Sydney and our first EP in Melbourne featuring luminary musicians Peter Luscomb, Bruce Haymes, Michel Rose, Ben Butler and Mark Punch.

I also went about advertising for a new live band. Aside from Kim, who stayed on, first to join what became the band, Barefoot, was guitarist Tim Prince. Tim had answered my ad and attended the day of auditions I’d set up at Troy rehearsal studio. He’d previously been playing and touring with Archie Roach. Tim soon became my good friend and wingman in everything Barefoot, including managing the tours. Barefoot ended up a six piece and we had some great times, including an east coast tour of Australia as our single, ‘Baby you got in the way’ made the Triple j Hottest 100 in 1993, on high rotation that summer. Journalist Jeff Jenkins was travelling with us for part of that tour. One night as we left the Sydney hotel and piled into the minivan for the gig, Russell Jeffrey, our drummer was driving and as soon as he turned the ignition we heard the first bars of ‘Baby’ on the radio. Jeff commented, “It doesn’t get any better than this.”

Other Barefoot members were, Steve Lindsay (keyboards) and Mark Bernsons (bass). Towards this line up, Pete Poumbourios and Rosie Westbrook had also played bass and Sean Condon, drums.

++ And had you been in other bands too?

Just Wildworld, as mentioned earlier. (And earlier, that concert band!) In 2010 I was honoured to play a part in Glenn’s live band for the third GB3 album, Damaged/Controlled GBS/Steve Kilbey. This ‘supergroup’ was Glenn Bennie and Maurice Argiro (Underground Lovers) guitar and bass respectively, Steve Kilbey (The Church) vocals, Philippa Nihill (Underground Lovers) vocals, Ricky Maymi (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) guitar, Robert Tickner (Conway Savage) guitar and melodica, Andrew Nunns (The black Heart Death Cult/USER) drums, and myself on keyboards.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Michael Wilkins went on to some other bands. Michael Paxton didn’t play in any other bands. And of course Philippa is a star now, in the Underground Lovers.

++ Has there been any MacGuffins reunions?

There hasn’t been any conversation for that in the past. But I am open to it happening. I’m just glad firstly – and very recently – being back in touch with both Michael Wilkins and Michael Paxton. They’ve loved hearing the songs again and seeing the material online. Philippa and I have been friends since MacGuffins, and Pip was a very special guest on both my album project Sirens in 2009 and then its debut performance during the Tasmanian Festival of Voices, in 2013.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

The ‘Rich Together’ single was very well supported by independent radio in Melbourne (3RRR and 3PBS) and Sydney (Triple j). Also some of the songs off the cassette tapes were played during various interviews and so on. It’s been great to hear MacGuffins on air again recently as the tapes are being released digitally and there’s new interest for the band.

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

Yes, there were some very supportive reviews of our live shows and single reviews.

++ What about from fanzines?

I think these came later – and by then we were disbanded. I certainly moved on; firstly totally focused on Barefoot and the Rondor Publishing years, and later my solo projects which have generally taken several years each time.

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

It might just be mid 1989 when things were really taking off. We were incredibly tight together as a band, on-stage and off. The Evelyn Hotel in Brunswick Street, Melbourne, was one of the happening venues – and on Friday night the room was absolutely packed. And we were given a month’s residency; there was a line up the street to get in.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I have always juggled my passion for music and bands with a job in communication design. So it’s ‘bands and brands’ a lot of my time, as I’ve also worked for myself for many years. My other passions are St Kilda Football Club (Australian Rules) and swimming laps which keeps me physically and mentally grounded. I also love movies and any time spent with my partner Rachel, and my grown, son and daughter – they’re both so awesome.

++ Never been to Melbourne, nor to Australia. So I will ask for some recommendations. If  I was to visit your city what shouldn’t I miss? What are your favourite sights? And any particular food or drinks that you think one shouldn’t miss?

I’d say land in Melbourne then come visit me in Hobart, Tasmania; the little island underneath the mainland of Australia. Having been lucky-enough to come to New York in the past, I’ve since said my ideal would be time spent between the ‘Big Apple’ of New York and ‘little apple’ of Tasmania. Here we have a very livable capital city of only 350,000 people, set in the midst of wilderness and that has taken off culturally over the past decade to now being the envy of other mainland states. Or come in winter and we’ll meet in Melbourne and go to an Australian Rules football game. In Australia we’ll argue forever whether the cultural hub is Melbourne or Sydney (bit like an East Coast, West Coast rivalry?). Food-wise, other than Vegemite which I still think holds a fascination abroad, food has become food everywhere hasn’t it? But here (if you like seafood) we will serve you ‘prawns’ not ‘shrimp’, if we’re really lucky ‘crayfish’, not ‘lobster’ and certainly in Tasmania we do have some of the best fresh produce in the world. And if you’re game we’ll serve you kangaroo or wallaby; these are simply leaner red meats than beef or lamb; plenty of those on the menu too. And Australian beers and world-renowned wines are always worth your sampling.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you Roque, for these great questions allowing me to further reflect and share about the MacGuffins. And for producing this CD compilation! It’s been the best thing discovering new fans of the band all these years later. I’m very grateful.

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

Listen
Macguffins – Rich Together

18
Dec

I am still jetlagged and haven’t managed to organize myself. I want to write a new fanzine. I want to find the next 7″ release on the label. These should be my next projects. The next Cloudberry Cake Kitchen release is already set. So that front is in a good state now. Just needs the mastering done. But the other two are still things I need to put time and effort. Hopefully by the weekend I’ll have a better idea. In the meantime I continue discovering new music. And so, I will share it with you!

The Know: a husband and a wife, from Los Angeles, making music. That’s how the band describes themselves. I would add that they make pretty dreampop. At least that’s what I can tell from the only song they have up on their Bandcamp, “143”. Do they have more? That is the question as I am left wanting to hear more by them.

The Hannah Barberas: this favourite band is back with four new tracks which make up an EP called “Christmas Bandwagon Vol. 2”. Yes! It is the time of the year for Christmas songs, and these songs are perfect for the season. Jangly and ramshackley. And also they have a good purpose, the proceeds form the EP will be donated to Shelter.

The Reds, Pinks & Purple: the San Francisco band must be the band I have featured the most. They are so prolific! Two weeks ago they released two new songs, “I Should Have Helped You” and “Losing Something”. Maybe you’ve heard them already, but hey, if you didn’t this is a good reminder as they are great (as usual!).

Citrus Clouds:  the Phoenix band is another one that I have featured in the past. This time I write about them because they have a new track, “A Pastel Sky”. And as expected it is a terrific shoegaze song. Lyrics are shared if you want to sing along.

Fanclub: and the Austin band have also released a new song that is truly sweet and catchy. I really hope this one gets released physically. The vocals are great, it does feel like early 2000s indiepop, with the lo-fi cosy melodies and the sugarcoated female vocals. The song is called “Trespassing” and I highly recommend it.

—————————————————————–

I’ve been going through a few old compilation tapes. Seeing if there are bands I’ve missed, bands that deserve a second chance. Bands that need to be rediscovered. Bands that didn’t get the attention they probably deserved back in the day. Today I went through the track list of the classic “You Can’t Be Loved Forever No. 3” that our friend Phil Ball released in 1990. And I found that I didn’t know nothing about Big Decision.

I have featured a bunch of the bands on this tape like Nervous Curve, Blue Summer, The Hoverchairs, Home and Abroad, All Over the Place and more. I don’t have this tape, but I do have MP3s of the tracks. This tape came with a fanzine of the same name. That I don’t have either. Did it include any info on the bands?

Big Decision appeared on the B side with the track “Greg’s Theme”. It was the seventh song on this side of the tape, in between The Hoverchairs and Blue Summer. What inspired the song? Who is/was Greg? Perhaps someone in the band?

On Discogs there are no other songs or releases listed for this band.

Then I look and look and find a PDF of the magazine “Scene and Heard”. The issue is Oct./Nov./Dec. 1991. This magazine covered Mid-Anglia’s scene. Here I learn that after The Charlottes, some members formed Ether. Then in the review section I see a tape called “…Gorgeous…” being reviewed. It is by a band called Donald Elsey’s Big Decision. Is it the same band? I notice that the opening track is called “Greg’s Theme”. It sounds like it is the same band. Right? It mentions that this demo tape had been played by WFDH-FM in New Jersey. It traveled far!

Aside from “Greg’s Theme” the tape included the tracks “Mystery” and “Strange Fascination”. It also says that these are not the first recordings by the band, that there have been at least one previous demo tape. Then we know that for this demo there was a new line-up (what was the old line-up?) formed by Martin Holt (from The Denial, where he played guitar and vocals) and Gary Todd (the former bassist of Cactus Jack. Plus Donald Elsey of course.

Not much more to be found on the web. Now it is just a matter of finding the other tracks from that demo tape. How they sounded like. I definitely want to know more about them. And where from Mid-Anglia was the band from?!

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

Listen
Big Decision – Greg’s Theme

17
Dec

Thanks so much to Fred Twigg for the interview! I wrote about this obscure Midlands band like a month or so ago. Happily Fred wrote me to set the record straight of who were the original members of the band. That let me to ask hi if he’d be up for an interview, and his answer was just what I hoped for, “yes!”. So finally I know some more details about them! Discover them!

++ Hi Fred! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still making music?

I’m fine thank you and yes,still making music.

++ Let’s go back in time. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My first instrument was guitar. I bought a book by Burt Weedom called play in a day and had guitar lessons at the Bandbox based in Wolverhampton. I started listening to Lonny Donnigan, skiffle music and later Jimi Hendrix.

++ Had you been in other bands before The Blue Toys? What about the rest of the members? If so, how did all of these bands sound like? Are there any recordings?

I don’t know about the other members of the Blue Toys,but I had a successful band with my brother called the Suspects ,based in Norwich. We had a compilation album out in the alternative charts ( it was number one for six weeks) on the Crass label distributed by Rough Trade called the Bullshit Detector 11.The name of the track is Random Relations Part 2. We also played a lot of gigs in the Norwich and Yarmouth area and a tour of Holland. The music was protest ( punk -rock).

++ Where were you from originally?

Wolverhampton (West Midlands)

++ How was your town at the time of The Blue Toys? Were there any bands that you liked? Were there any good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Wolverhampton had a good music scene at the time. There was a venue called Croakers, J.B’s in Dudley,and the Blue Toys had a residency spot in the Bull’s Head in Bilston,Wolverhampton ,but we played all over the West Midlands and a festival in the West park. The bands around at the time were the Neon Hearts,Slade,killing Joke and the Jazz bass player Dave Holland. Record stores: Sundown records and HMV.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Myself and My twin brother who is a drummer were looking for a bass player so I put an advert in the Express & Star and Baz Ketley answered the add. We formed a 3 piece band called the Sudden Impact.We played a few times together ,but it didn’t work out,so Baz quit and the band fell apart. Later Baz informed me that he was setting a new band up and he needed a guitarist /singer,so I agreed to join. Then came Vernon Charles on bass ,because Baz decided to change instruments from bass to guitar. Vernon was working at the local music shop in Wolverhampton.Later Baz came down to my house and introduced me to saxophone player Anne Marie. We were short of a drummer so we held auditions in a local pub and Dennis Coke passed the audition. We were now complete and Vernon came up with the name the Blue Toys.

++ There were some lineup changes too right? You were telling me that the names that appear on the book “The Charlatans We Are Rock” are more of a second lineup of the band and that creates confusion. How did these changes come about?

After 2 successful years of gigging around the Midlands,Baz decided to call a band meeting.During that meeting in the Bull’s Head Baz told the band that there were 2 members of the band he didn’t want to continue with any longer.The 2 members were myself and drummer Dennis Coke.No explanation or anything,he just wanted me and Dennis out,so we had no choice but to leave.He had already lined up 2 new members.Later Vernon had enough and left the Blue toys,so Anne Marie was the only Original member left,apart from Baz himself.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

Baz wrote most of the songs. He would come to me with an idea and ask me my thoughts about the song. I would arrange the guitar parts and then work them out in the practicing room at the Bull’s Head pub,with the rest of the band.

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

We had our personal influences. Mine were from the Stranglers to Hendrix.

++ As far as I know you only put out one record though it did come out on 7″ and 12″. It was released by the London-based label Sedition. I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about them? How did you end up working with them?

I couldn’t tell you about that,because I was thrown out of the band before the record came out. Myself ,Vernon and Dennis were not involved with the record company at that time.

++ Then the B side was “Survivalists” and this one was actually from a Radio One Session for the Dixie Peach Show. I haven’t been able to find any info about this session. When was it recorded? How did it happen? Were more songs recorded other than “Survivalists”?

I never went on the Dixie Peach show,because that was after my time with the band.I don’t know anything about that session. The only thing that I have of my time with the Blue Toys is a video recording of “Survivalists”  and “This is Not Heaven”.

++ I read that one big reason for the band to split was that your manager wanted a new direction for your music. What direction was that?

I never met the manager. At the time Baz was acting very strange, because he had contact with a manager,I don’t know which one,but he got invited to a gig of ours in Snobs Birmingham and after that Baz called the band meeting and wanted us out.

++ Are there more recordings by the band? Unreleased songs?

Yes, there were a lot of unreleased songs

++ If you were to choose your favorite The Blue Toys song, which one would that be and why?

Survivalists. The music,the way we played and sang it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Yes, throughout the West Midlands. Favourite gigs are the West park (festival  2/9 1984 Wolverhampton) and Snobs’s in Birmingham.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

In Cannock

++ And were there any bad ones?

++ When and why did The Blue Toys stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? The Bells I believe?

That was after my time ,but apparently I heard after receiving a call from Baz, he had done all he could with the band. I moved to Holland and form the Clean Cut Guru’s, Criminal Noise gang, Alice D ,The Silent Srceam and band under my own name Twigg and I just released a single called “Borrowed Time”.

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands afterwards?

Only Vernon played in other bands and still is. Anne Marie went to work on cruise ships as a solo act.

++ Has there been any The Blue Toys reunions?

Yes in 2010 with the Original Blue Toys members in Stoke on Trent.

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

We had a write up in the Express and Star of the West Park gig.

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

Being together and playing with Wolverhampton Lads. Only Anne Marie came from Bloxwich.

++ Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Traveling, backpacking, international cuisine.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

I would like you to add the Original member of the Blue Toys :
Baz Ketley : guitar/lead vocals
Fred Twigg ; lead guitar/vocals
Vernon Charles: bass / vocals
Dennis Coke : drums
Anne Marie : saxophone

This was the Original line up from 1983 till 1985. Thank you for this questionaire .  I hope this will set record straight.

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

Listen
The Blue Toys – A Good Day

16
Dec

Just got back from the airport. I am quite tired but wanted to let you know that any orders placed during the last two weeks that I was away will be posted tomorrow. And also as promised here is a new post, hopefully you already caught up with any previous posts you might have missed!

An Earlier Autumn: very lovely sounding band from San Diego formed by Sergio Esparza and Cristofer Garcia. They have a self-titled 3 song EP up now on Bandcamp. The sound is poppy , jangly and lo-fi. Very enjoyable.

La Casa de Emma: this wonderful Chilean band is back with a 9 song album called “Desventura de Verano” on the label Junko Records. The record may or may not be available on cassette format, I am not sure. But what I am sure is that there are 9 tracks of superb fun and upbeat tweepop!

The Sensitive: Indonesian bands keep producing quality indiepop. The latest surprise for me is just one song called “World is Evil” by The Sensitive. This song is only available digitally through Bandcamp and their label Heaven Punks/Let’s Kiss a Secret from Jakarta.

Japanese Heart Software: the Melbourne solo project s back with a wonderful new song called “Holiday” that features backing vocals by Blush Response. The song is lovely, and the lyrics have been shared too if you want to sing along. If Indonesia is a hotspot nowadays for quality indiepop, Melbourne is definitely another one.

The Hazy Seas: and lastly let me introduce the Chicago shoegaze four-piece The Hazy Seas. The band seems to have been going for a while. They have another release on Bandcamp dating from May 2016, but only now, with their December 2019 song “Heavy Heads”, that I have discovered them. And it is great! This track is really really good. Let’s hope for more in the near future.

—————————————————————–

I feel this will be a very short post. I am writing about a very very obscure band called the Bummer Twins. And I know for a fact that stumbling upon any information about them will be almost impossible. I know because I’ve tried in the past.

The thing is that I am hoping you can help me, maybe some of you have information about them. The one thing that I know is that they recorded two songs, “Songs About Girls” and “Windmills and Milestones”. Maybe they recorded more songs. I couldn’t say. Perhaps there was a demo tape.

These two songs were included in a Swedish compilation tape that is now legendary, “Grimsby Fishmarket 4 – Norrkoeping 0”. This super tape that was released by Records from the Cookie Nose Tower (CNT001) came out in 1991. It should have come with the fanzine Grimsby Fishmarket, with its 4th issue. Did this fanzine had any info on the bands that were included?

Marcus Törncrantz used to run the fanzine. He also released a second indiepop compilation tape in 1994 called “Second Half”. I would like to think that the Bummer Twins were Swedish. Most of the bands on it were either Swedish or English, though there were a few Japanese ones. Afterwards Marcus became manager of the band Bob Hund.

Yes, there’s more info about the tape than about the Bummer Twins or their two songs. They are so lovely. And I really want to know who were behind them. And I definitely want to listen to more of their recordings if possible. It is even very probable that their members were involved in other bands before, at the same time, or afterwards. Who’d know?!

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

Listen
Bummer Twins – Song about Girls