Day 155.

English Summer: wow this does sound up my street. This project from Clare, Australia, does make some classic indiepop!! Jangly, very Bodines-like, just how I like it. Their latest song is called “A New Colour For You” but do check their previous releases! Good stuff.

Pet: this LA band formed by Honor Nezzo, Neeraj Kane and Todd Cooper make an edgier style of indiepop. Their latest track is called “Blood Orange” and sounds good. Like what? I am trying to think, maybe the Heart Throbs? Could that be a good comparison? In any case have a listen and let me know what you think!

Hazy Sour Cherry: the Japanese band that features members of many Tokyo indiepop scene bands is back with a new song called “Summer demo” and how nice it is! It makes you want to dance. It is simple and sweet. Perfect for the summer.

Sleepy: last time I wrote about this cool Sydney project was back in March. Well back in May they put out a song called “Flowers” that is great and somehow I missed it. It is time then to make amends. It is time to share this great song which was recorded in isolation.

Key Out: the latest on the Australian label Half A Cow is a digital single by the band Key Out. There are 2 songs on this single, “Buildings”, which is available to preview, and “Chorus (An Heirloom Austeremix)” which is not. So yeah, I enjoy the one I can listen.

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Anna Felix: Bathing beauty that disguises herself as a pirate captain to avoid marriage to the cruel Dey of Algiers. She suffers the insults of market-women.

That’s the sort of bio that appears on the “Don Quixote. A Quixotic Musical Fantasy with the Touch of Siesta” CD compilation that the Spanish label released in 2002 (SIESTA 150). This is a lovely compilation with amazing songs. I have already written about one of the projects in it, C de Constancia, in the past. I thought picking another one today, Anna Felix.

Anna Felix is actually a character in the most important novel in Spanish language. Her lover was Don Gaspar Gregorio and she is the daughter of Ricote the Moor. But I am curious about the Siesta bio, mentioning she is a bathing beauty. See, Siesta had in many compilations a band called Bathing Beauty that sounded amazing. Was it the same person behind both of these projects?

I feel with Siesta everything was very secretive, a world of smoke and mirrors. That doesn’t help a fan like me. But we do know a few facts of course. For example in the aforementioned compilation Anna Felix released the only two songs we know she recorded, “But For Love” and “I Will”.

These two songs would later reappear on a handful of international compilation showcasing Siesta Records’ music.

In 2005 the song “But For Love” would appear on “Sol y Sombra. La Primera Alta Comedia Musical de Siesta” released on CD by Avant Garden (AG 1005) from Taiwan. Avant Garden would also release “The Music from Beautiful Spain Spring-Simmer 2005” (AG 1004) that would have “But For Love” in it. That same year “I Will” would be released on “El Cielo Azul – Music for Siesta” released by Rambling Records (RBCS-2116) in Japan.

In 2007 “But for Love” was to be included in “La Vie Est Belle” a compilation released by Jointt Corporation (JT9001) in Thailand. This compilation included songs licensed from not only Siesta but also from Elefant Records and Jabalina Musica.

Lastly in 2008 Avant Garden Records would again have “But For Love” in the compilation “Voces del Verano – The Exquisite Voices to Love”, a promo CD.

It was indeed other times. I don’t see these sort of licensing anymore.

And that’s that really. Nothing else on the web. I feel with Siesta bands and projects it ends up being almost impossible to find out who were behind these bands. Even more weird is that a lot of the songs are covers of somewhat obscure music (at least to me). And on the CDs Siesta doesn’t even credit the original writer of the song. For example I found that “But For Love” is actually written by Gene Pistilli from the band Cashman Pistilli & West, appearing as a B side on a 7″ single and also in the “Bound to Happen” album from 1968. And what about “I Will”? Is that a cover as well? Anyone recognize it?

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Listen
Anna Felix – But For Love

Thanks so much to Greg Appel for the interview! The Lighthouse Keepers is of course a legendary band from Australia and probably you all know about them. But did you know Greg has just published a book about the band? It is available here. I ordered my copy, and I suggest you do. Because of that and because I like the band I also asked if he’d be up for an interview and he was! Exciting! So here it is… now if I can convince him to do a Widdershins interview next 😀
Oh! and they do have a Facebook page. Become a fan!

++ You have just released a book and a CD, I think many indiepop fans will be interested in it! Can you tell me a bit about them? Where can you buy them? What is included in the book and the CD? And there are different versions, right?

The book is basically a memoir with a focus of the band I wrote songs and played with ‘The Lighthouse Keepers’,  we played for a few years in the mid eighties in Australia.  Good fun, pretty different from what was around, and in the end I think we just got a bit lazy.  But that was the nature of the band.  It’s available (Australia and world) at https://www.spontaneousfilms.com.au/books.html

++ 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?

Much of this is in the book, and I will put in a few excerpts.  My first instrument was actually the Ukulele. Then….

my mother dates Christmas 1975 as the beginning of the end when my father re-gifted me his barely strummed acoustic guitar, although she played a part, organising guitar lessons at home every Wednesday afternoon with a vaguely sinister-looking man who got around in long socks and shorts. In our middle-class world, all good parents gave their children tennis and music lessons. And so teaching these things became a great job for anyone who was ‘interested’ in the young. My sister doesn’t agree with me about the scale of damage our music teacher, Mr Cranfield, did to our young psyches. He didn’t discriminate between the sexes either. I just knew when he sat next to me, and the creeping hand came out, I felt uncomfortable and moved a bit further down the couch. It was only years later when we talked about it that I realised what was going on.  And justice was eventually dealt out to Mr. Cranfield. He apparently ended up in prison, where he died. But that was the start of my relationship with the guitar

++ Had you been in other bands before The Lighthouse Keepers? I read about The Grant Brothers and the Guthugga Pipeline, are there others? How did they sound like? Are there any recordings?

Before Guthugga Pipeline (around 1979), which was a sort of punk band (Half covers/Half originals) and The Grant Brothers – a short lived Canberra band where I wrote most of the songs, I did whacky music tapes with Gavin Butler who was in Guthugga Pipeline with me.  They were ‘rock operas’ based on Monty Python type humour with many Australian marsupials and assorted characters.  I also made my brothers and sisters join me in a band if that counts.

++ What about the rest of the band members?

Hairy (S O’Neil) from LHK was in both the Grant Brothers and Guthugga Pipeline and continues to play to this day with the Cannanes and about 100 other bands.  Juliet was a closet singer guitarist, the eventual drummer played in a Sydney band called ‘the Particles’ which Hairy also played in

++ Where were you from originally? Canberra as Wikipedia has it?

Yes and no.  Three members myself, Juliet Ward and Hairy were from Canberra.  But we started the band in Sydney where we met ‘Blue’ Dalton and Steven Williams the drummer.  Both Sydney residents.

++ How was Sydney at the time of The Lighthouse Keepers? 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?

I think this is covered in the book again.  But Here

Our inner-city (Sydney) scene was a scene within a scene. It was a small world but bigger than punk in Canberra. It was also quite diverse and punks were a minor part of a kaleidoscope of creatures. Some in paisley shirts, some in cheesecloth, some in leather. Traditional garb like flannelette was popular too. Sydney smelt different. Leaded petrol fumes, wisteria, cigarettes, beer. There seemed to be other young people everywhere and not a lot of effort was required to engage with them. Everyone was your friend. Everyone also seemed to be in a band. You didn’t have to like their band—you probably didn’t—but you’d go and see them anyway. We were also united by an antipathy to whatever what was perceived as mainstream.

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

Believe it or not we got together for a talent quest at a tertiary institution I was ‘studying’ at. We won with a barking dog!  Blue joined Me, Juliet and Hairy and a guy called Tim Palmer, who became a well known ABC journalist.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

The dog and Tim Palmer left fairly peaceably we recruited Steven Williams on drums after our first recording.  The single ‘Gargoyle’.

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

Excerpt

Did the Lighthouse Keepers want to be mainstream? I don’t think any of us thought about it that much. But we must have had some aspirations: they grew as our audience grew. I enjoyed writing songs, getting them played and seeing what would happen. In those days, I might write a song before breakfast and then another after it. The morning was always a good time. The late morning—to be exact. You might still have a bit of a hangover, which would loosen up the cogs of creativity. From early on, I made sure they never did become Top 40 songs. I did this by giving each song a title that was totally unrelated to any of the lyrics. This was certain to confuse any potential customers. For example, ‘Ocean Liner’, ‘Love Beacon’, ‘Wilderbeast’ and on and on through my back catalogue. I named the songs like objects or animals.

++ What’s the story behind the band’s name? Is it true you originally were called the Light-Housekeepers?

No, it was done by committee and endless votes (see book).  But I did come up with the name.

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

Quite eclectic everything from the Smiths, to Motown, to 40s American pop, and good Country and Western.  Between us the band had all sorts of records.  Hairy was a punk/Detroit fan (as well as a lot of UK stuff).  I also quite like some of the mainstream acts of the time.

++ Originally, I read, you put some tapes together before the release of “Gargoyle”. How many tapes were they? Were these demo tapes? Or where these sold at gigs? Have the songs included in these tapes been released eventually?

I’m not sure what these were.  The Gargoyle recording was a tape, and we did actually record Patsy Clines “I fall to Pieces’ at the same session.  Just never put it out.

++ Your first 7″, “Gargoyle”, came out on your own Guthugga Pipeline Records. I can tell where you took the name! But why did you decide to self-release? Was there no interest from labels? And how did you like doing the label stuff, dealing with pressing plants, distributing, etc?

From memory, we didn’t even approach a record company.  We just did it.  It was cheaper to make our own labels and do hand drawn covers.   There were hassles with pressing it, but it sold well for what we had planned.  The book has a hand drawn covered edition, to kind of recall the process.  It’s been good fun.

++ This 7″ was recorded at Dream Studios for $50! Was this your first experience at a proper recording studios? Or you all had experience? How long did it take to record the 3 songs?

Again in the book, but it was done over a few nights.  And we also did the 4th Patsy Cline song

++ “Gargoyle” actually had a promo video. Where was it recorded? And who made it? Yourselves?

his was from my Media course.  I could use the equipment and also pass units.

++ Then came “The Exploding Lighthouse Keepers” where you added Steven Williams as a drummer as well as a manager. One thing I have to ask is about the artwork, as the previous release and this one have a very particular look and feel. Who came out with the drawings?

It was inspired by the hand drawn Gargoyle covers, but this time we thought we’d just colour in one drawn version that I did actually.  I draw like a 10 year old. Stick figures etc.

++ After these two first releases the album finally came. “Tales of the Unexpected” was released in 1984 on Hot Records. I have to ask then, how did you end up on this label? And how was your relationship with them?

Some people fell out with Hot Records and particularly Martin Jennings.  But we just kind of moved on, and started a new band in the end.  They were good for us at the time and helped us get to the UK and Europe, which we would never have done without them.

++ You were now labelmates with The Triffids and The Laughing Clowns. Did that help get more attention to the band?

The Triffids were pretty good friends at that time,  The Laughing Clowns were idols of some in the band.  I think we would have felt good to be on that label. It actually had some great stuff on it in retrospect.

++ How different was recording the album compared to the previous releases? Any anecdotes you remember?

From book

we ended up doing about a week of late-night recording sessions at Paradise Studios, in Kings Cross. This was a big studio for us, but by doing it after hours we could save a lot of money. We were young enough then to do without sleep for a while. It felt like things were starting to happen. Paradise Studios was owned by Billy Field, who had a retro-sounding hit with ‘Bad Habits’. I think he put the money from that into this fairlymodern 24-track studio. He never appeared at the sessions, but the studio always had a faint smell of eighties fairy dust.

++ Then two more 7″s. “Ocean Liner” also got a promo video and you wrote on Youtube that it was a big budget clip. Is that so? How much did it cost to make?

I was joking in that Australian way of saying the opposite to what I meant (which isn’t always that funny).  It cost nothing – I did for my Media course.  I love those clips.  I think they capture the mood.

++ Lastly there was the “Ode to Nothing” 7″, and that was the last ever release, right? You also used the name of this song for a compilation released in 2011, would you say this was one of the most emblematic songs of the band? And how come this was your last release? Was there plans for more?

We didn’t plan it as the last release, but in retrospect it was a good one.  It actually sounds well recorded and warm.  Not too much Eighties effects that wrecked a lot of records in Australia at the time.  (our next band’s album a good example)

++ In 1986 Waterfront Records would release a compilation, then in 1992 Phantom Records would release a much more complete compilation. How did this compilations came together, and I wonder if the Phantom Records one is the most complete one? Is it missing anything?

It was pretty comprehensive.  I don’t think ‘I fall to Pieces’ has ever been out. It’s probably lost.  Patsy’s version is quite a lot better in memory, but still it wasn’t too bad.  Great song.

++ The Phantom compilation has this comic strip on the back cover, who made that? What’s the story of you playing at Central Park for free?

That’s me again with the ten year old styled art.  Another joke. I think I’m a frustrated comic on some level.  Sorry.

++ Oh! And who is on the front cover photo of the “Imploding” compilation on Waterfront?

Again me.  I can’t remember why we decided on that.  Juliet was the obvious choice, so we made that one.  It was the wrong one.  I didn’t really enjoy having huge posters of my head around.  But I looked a lot better in those days.

++ Are there any unreleased tracks by the band or has everything being released?

We did record only recently 2 new songs.  One ‘Hoogle Waltz’ from the old Lighthouse Keepers set, the other ‘Shadowlands’ from a musical comedy I wrote many years after the band. They’ll be available any day.

++ Oh! And how come Egg Records didn’t release your music when they come back? I mean they did release The Widdershins and included “Springtime” on the “Souvenirs from Egg Record” comp… it would have been very cool!

I not sure why not.  Nice they put anything out.

++ I think my favourite song  is “Ocean Liner”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Check the book on that. But it’s definitely one of my favourites too.   It’s really a love song, with a slightly dark overtone.  Juliet sings it beautifully.

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

I’m going for Ocean Liner.  It just works well with bands limited skills and creates a mood.  I have about 5 I really like.  These include Gargoyle, Ode to Nothing, Time of Evil and something else.  Some of the material doesn’t do a lot for me now days.  But I’m old eh.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

I’m running out of answering energy.  But check book, it’s amazing how many. It was a couple of years of 3 or 4 a week?  Maybe not always.

++ You even toured the UK, right? Which cities did you play? Did you get a chance to do any touristy stuff on the side or it was all gig after gig after gig?

We played in London, and Leeds Uni.  It was a bit of a slog by then.   But not that many gigs, more a slog to hang around without much money in a large unfriendly city.

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

Europe had the best and worst shows we experienced eg Rotterdam 1985…..

I do remember this Rotterdam show clearly. It was definitely the biggest audience we played to in Europe and was a great success. We’d got lucky in getting Jesus and Mary Chain’s prime slot at the festival. Not a totally compatible band perhaps. So at the start of the show, there was a bit on an exodus of crowd, but also an influx. We went down a treat and everyone was happy. We got to taste a bit of the rock star lifestyle too, backstage. The Triffids were playing this same festival and were already hardened partakers

++ And were there any bad ones?

That would be London on our first show.  From book…

20 SEPT 1985 HAMMERSMITH CLARENDON

Nick Mainsbridge, Audio guru, 2017

I hated live mixing and this was a good example of why. It was a Hot Records night in a sort of a cave. There were posters with three bands and twelve bands turned up and then they only played for twenty minutes. They’d spray-painted concrete all along the back of the stage in a curve at the back, which looks okay but if you’re a sound mixer, it’s your worst nightmare, because the sound from the foldback bounces directly off the back wall into the microphone and you have uncontrollable feedback. It was a disaster—I ended up pointing the foldback wedges at the audience and the band couldn’t hear themselves. There were twelve people there or something. It was the worst gig in the world—I felt sorry for the Lighthouse Keepers.

++ When and why did The Lighthouse Keepers stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards? I know of the fantastic The Widdershins…

After the European tour it all seemed a bit much. The usual sort of inter band friction.  Myself and Juliet broke up as a couple, which was difficult.  But we still kept going musically in the Widdershins.

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

Hairy has been the musical of us.  Check the ‘family tree’ at the end of book.  He’s been in millions of bands. But the Cannanes is his staple.  Blue has played on with all sort of bands including the Honeys.  Juliet has been a solo artist.  I’ve played with my brother in OneHeadJet and also made the musical comedy ‘Van Park’.

++ Has there been any reunion gigs? I believe more than a few, right?

Yes not too many. Just the right amount.  May not happen again, Who knows?

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Only 2 JJ (ABC as in Austraian Broadcasting Commission the public station) and the alternative stations of each city.   Definitely not commercial radio.

++ What about TV?

Again on the ABC a bit.

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

Yes some.  Check the book for some press.  It definitely helped.  Even a little review in NME.

++ What about from fanzines?

David Nichols did a few articles for Distant Violins, and there’s been a few that I can’t recall.  There’s one in the appendix of the book.

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

I think it would have to be the last show.  It was packed.  We thought we were stars.  Sydney at it’s best.

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

I love putting on shows and they often involve music.  I have a lot of camera gear and sound equipment.  Some of this is for pleasure – some for work.   I guess I surf.  Especially since you can’t do much else at the moment

++ Never been to the Sydney or Australia in general! 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?

Ha – Ok.  Not many can stand the long flight to Australia.  And at the moment it’s not even allowed.   I live near Sydney but out of the city.  Australia has great coast.  It’s a pretty good place.  Is it boring?  Only if you can’t make your own fun. Which is what that band was about.   What would I recommend.  I just got back from Broken Hill.  That’s pretty amazing.  Weird, Outback, where strange characters meet.  I think they are searching for the real Australia.  But something went askew.  Lots of movies made out there.  Not all of them good.  But it’s interesting.  Sydney’s beautiful but expensive and different now.  Still US dollars go a long way here.   I think the wild side of Australia is great, yet we all cling to Cities and the coast.  Visitors seem to like the people here.   We are very civilised.  It’s much more diverse than it used to be.  For the better.   Food and drink.  It’s actually very good.   Try a coffee if you’re from the US.  Flat Whites – I think they may come from here.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

If you’re still reading this and interested.  Buy the book.  It’s graphically amazing for the price.  Writing isn’t too bad either.   It was fun to put together.

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Listen
The Lighthouse Keepers – Ocean Liner

Day 153

Tampopo: 4 cool songs from this Copenhagen based band are now available on their Bandcamp on the “Poppy Felties for Everyone” EP. These songs are really cool as they are tributes to people we all know, our friend Heinz from Hamburg gets a song called “Heinz, Hamburg’s Not so Far Away”, then David from Madrid gets “Casio”, “La Merienda” is a song about the Spanish radio show and “Lynn Chan” is of course about Lynn who makes the lovely felties!

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two more by the prolific Glenn Donaldson from San Francisco. The new jangly songs are called “New Light” and “Poems & Pictures”. They are great as usual.

Arrest! Charlie Tipper: the album “Red” should be out on September 21st on the Greek label Old Bad Habits! AT this moment we can preview two songs from the ex-Groove Farm, Beatnik Filmstars, Rorschach, Rosehips, and more legendary bands members. Yeah legendary in Bristol and everywhere else we love indiepop. The two songs for preview out of the 11 songs on the album are “Shelf” and “Don’t Leave Me Alone”.

Cor Blanc: another great release out now on Galaxy Train Records from Japan is a 7 song mini-album by a duo formed by Mireia and Sergi from Barcelona! It sounds really lovely, naive and dreamy pop. I wonder why I had never heard them before! They even have toured across Italy and Japan!

The Sastro: who are The Sastro? it seems that the 8 songs that are available on Anoa  Records from Jakarta were recorded back in 2005. It must be a band from that great first wave of Indonesian indiepop. But I don’t remember them! But hey that’s not a bad thing, it is great that I am rediscovering them!

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“Fläskfarmen” (The Pork Farm) is a 1986 Swedish comedy film directed by Lars Molin . The roles include Ingvar Hirdwall , Bo Brundin and Knut Pettersen . The doctor at an asylum decides that it would be good for the patients if they could take care of a few pigs. This turns out so well that they start selling pigs to make money. The patients gets saner for every day that goes by and the staff start to behave rather strangely.

That’s a little synopsis I found on IMDB of the 1986 Swedish film that I am quite sure inspired the name of the Swedish band Fläskfarmen. Now the two songs the band released are pretty great. They are as far as I know the only proper release they put out. So let’s find out more about them!

The band was formed by:
Georga (Peter Öfverberg) on guitar and vocals
Saba (Lars Ekstrand( on guitar, vocals and harmonica
Soda (P-O Nilsson) on bass
Ricke (Rickard Jonsson) on drums
Lotta Björn and Ove on backing vocals

The band would release a 7″ in 1988 on the label PLC Records (PLC 806-01). Their release is the only one listed on this label so it might be a good guess to say that it was a self-release. We know too that the band produced the record with Peter Jingsätter who had been in bands like Blue Heaven, Face It and Modest Attraction.

The songs on the record were “Blundar & Ser” on the A side, written by Georga, and “Min Sång” on the B side written by Saba.

Something quite interesting is that the front cover has a photo of the famous Swedish football coach Sven-Göran Eriksson.

Georga and Lotta would later be in 2271, Seventh Wave and Tambumajoren. Soda would sing in one of the Danish popstar Mirah’s albums.

And that’s all I could find. Happily I just found a copy of the record for a decent price. But I definitely want to know more about them. The songs sound pretty good with boy/girl vocals and catchy melodies! Where in Sweden were they based? What are they up to these days? Did they record more songs? Any help would be great!

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Listen
Fläskfarmen – Blundar & Ser

Thanks again so much to Ian Finney for the interview! I interviewed Ian about his band Christopher as I had written about them on the blog as one of those obscure band’s I wanted to know more. I couldn’t let pass the opportunity to ask him about The Tempest, the much more known band he was in, and whose singles I really enjoy! The band released 4 singles and their album still remains unreleased to this day. A classic band of the 80s for me and very happy to learn more about them!

++ Hi again Ian! Thanks so much for being up for another interview! Are you still in touch with the rest of The Tempest members?

Hiya Roque. I’m in touch with most of the band. I lost contact with Mike but I’m on social media with Steve, Stuart and Lyn. I’ve worked with Steve since the band split and we’re in regular contact.

++ Last time we talked about Christopher so what would you say were similarities and differences between Christopher and The Tempest, if any?

The Tempest was a completely different setup to Christopher. The band was Mike’s show entirely. We all had a lot of space to add our own original parts and arrangements but the songs were Mike’s and it was mainly his gig.

Christopher and The Tempest were both guitar-based bands with similar influences. My guitar playing had evolved a lot since The Tempest and I was trying new things. I was a side man in The Tempest, a lead guitarist. I did have some creative control over what I did and there was some input from me on other things while the album was being recorded, but not as a songwriter. Christopher was my band and I was basically in Mike’s position. It was a mirror image of The Tempest.

++ How did The Tempest start as a band? How was the recruiting process?

Mike had a band called Going Gah Gah with Lyn, another guy on guitar (Pete, I think), Stuart on bass, Lyn on backing vocals and Mark Olly on drums. Mike and Lyn were from Liverpool and Mark and Stuart were Warrington-based. The band had a residency in Warrington at Abbey Green studios and demoed the songs there. Pete left the band and they were looking for another guitarist. I’d heard about the audition from the manager at Dawson’s Music in Widnes and phoned the studio and then successfully auditioned for the band.

++ You were telling me you were underage when you were in it, what about the other band members? Were you all so young?

Yes. I was seventeen, Stuart eighteen, Mike was twenty-one and Lyn was ‘ancient’ at twenty four.

++ Had the other band members been in other bands before The Tempest?

I’m not entirely sure. Stuart was a studio player and Mark Olly had been in other bands, but I’m not clear on the details with the other guys.

++ Was The Tempest also based in Halton? Or where did you usually get together? Where were the other band members from?

The band was based in Warrington but were a Liverpool band. We used to meet at Abbey Green studios or directly at rehearsals in Liverpool or London. When we were recording we were all based in hotels or guest houses in Stockport and London.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

It was like Spinal Tap. We were always changing drummers. Mark, Mick, Jon, Steve.

Mark Olly left the band just before we signed. Mick Burland was auditioned and he played on three studio tracks then Jon Sumpton was with us for a while and finally Steve Dolder (ex-Prefab Sprout) joined. It’s worth mentioning since we are from the same home town, that Damian ‘Diz’ McMullen nearly auditioned for the band but Jon came into the audition and blew Mike away with a ten-minute Jazz solo, who hired him on the spot.

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

Mike was the songwriter and we either learned his songs from the demos or during rehearsals. To my knowledge nothing new was written during the time the band was signed. We practised in Warrington at first and after signing we rehearsed in Liverpool then later in London at The Clink, Nomis studios and also Lipstick Studios.

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

We changed the name from Going Gah Gah to The Tempest after signing and I think the record company asked us to do that. Mike thought of the name.

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

Mike was certainly influenced by The Beatles and his passion for the band got me into them too. I was a jangle-pop guitarist back then and I was into The Byrds.

++ How did you get the attention of Magnet Records? Did their people come to gigs? Did you send demo tapes?

The groundwork for all this was done before I joined so I can’t tell you any more but demos were sent out and there was a wooing period with EMI, Stiff Records and Magnet. I was very fortunate to be in a position where I joined a band just as they were about to sign a recording contract. It wasn’t an easy ride and I certainly earned my place there.

++ And were there other labels interested in releasing your music?

Stiff Records, EMI and Magnet were interested. Magnet promised Mike more creative control so he chose them, but later we found this wasn’t true. I think if we’d signed with Stiff or EMI the outcome of everything would have been very different.

++ Your first release was the “Always the Same” 7″, right? Was wondering if this was the first time, because of your age, going to a proper recording studio? And if so, how was that experience working with Glenn Tilbrook?

We spent time with Gus Dudgeon in CBS Studios recording a version of Bluebelle before we met Glenn, so that was my first time in a recording studio and I loved it. There was a feeling of deja vu and I was completely at ease with recording.

When I was sixteen I saw a poster of Duran Duran standing in a recording studio with a stand full of guitars behind them. Something struck me about it. “This is what I want to do” I thought, and I was absolutely certain I wanted to be a recording artist. Not to be famous, but to be a professional recording guitarist. I practised so hard. This is what got me expelled from college – I was playing music all the time. I would pretend to be recording live takes in front of a tape machine. When I actually got into a studio and started recording, the engineer Pete Hammond said he couldn’t believe I’d not done it before because I was very precise with playing my riffs and licks and deadened the strings in all the right places during parts of the songs.

Glenn asked me to come up with a solo for ‘Always The Same’ on the spot and I mentioned that I’d been jamming a new phrase at home but it was partly chords. They asked me to play it and I recorded two takes then Glenn asked me to add a few bits on and it was done.

We met Glenn on October 31^st 1984 at a rehearsal room near the river. We ran through ‘Always The Same’, ‘Bluebelle’, ‘Tonight’ and ‘The Tempest’. It was a bit surreal to meet him because I’d bought every single Squeeze had released up to that point while I was at school just two or three years earlier. I loved collecting those and they were nearly all released on coloured vinyl.

Working in the studio with Glenn was disciplined and methodical but laid-back. I really enjoyed it. We socialised as well and spent time in the pub and at his place. He remains a friend and we meet occasionally when he’s in the area. He’s always been very complimentary about my playing and my work. I think he is one of the most original British songwriters ever. Squeeze are utterly unique. Pete Hammond and Femi Jiya engineered on the album. Pete is a mixing legend. He engineered nearly everything you heard on UK radio in the 80’s and he’s behind nearly all of PWL’s output. If you’ve been Rick-Rolled, Pete is the guy responsible for that. Femi went on to work with Prince at Paisley Park.

++ Many of your releases were to appear in different formats. Not just 7″s but also 10″s and 12″s for them. What was your favourite format for your music and why?

10”s were interesting because we could get three or four songs on them.

++ Who usually take care of the art for your records? And who appears on the cover of the “Bluebelle” single? And was this the photoshoot that Jill Bryson from Strawberry Switchblade helped with?

Mike thought of the concepts and professional artists developed them. I still have Mike’s original concept sketch for our first single’s cover (Always The Same).

That’s Mike on the cover of Bluebelle. That photoshoot was with Peter Arthur who was the partner of Jill Bryson from Strawberry Switchblade at the time and Jill was at the session. I loved Strawberry Switchblade. I chatted with Jill throughout the day and she learned that I was single and hinted that Rose from the band was looking for a boyfriend. I never chased it up. I can’t remember why. It’s one of those inexplicable mysteries. I think Strawberry Switchblade are remarkable for the cultural influence that they had on Japan that exists to this day. If you look at what they wore back then, you’ll see it. They aren’t copying a certain Japanese Manga style, they invented that look. The band were huge in Japan and that image obviously had a huge influence. I mentioned this to Jill fairly recently and she was very modest about it.

++ But I think I read that there actually “Bluebelle” was to be the first single that it was recorded in 1984 with Gus Dudgeon. What had happened?

The official line at the time was that Magnet Records thought Gus “wasn’t the right guy for our sound”. The truth is much different. One of the other band members had been talking about John Lennon and Gus had been a friend of John. Some things were said and I saw that Gus wasn’t impressed. Then towards the end of the week someone played a joke on Gus in the studio that he didn’t find amusing. I heard him as he turned to his engineer and said “I can’t work with this”. I’m taking a reasonable guess that he quit after that. It’s a very great shame he did because I really liked Gus and admired him for what he’d done for music. He produced Space Oddity by David Bowie, The Zombies ‘She’s Not There’, Elton John’s entire classic 70’s catalogue of songs and John Lennon, who he told me he was ‘”in awe” of. ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’ was one of Gus’ songs and it’s a lifelong favourite of mine. He was a legend. I got him to autograph a copy of Elkie Brooks ‘Pearls’ that he’d produced. He was genuinely touched and flattered that I’d asked him to sign it. It was the only autograph I asked for during that time. He passed away with his wife in 2002 after a motorway accident. I still feel terrible when I think of it.

A month after the session with Gus ended we got a message that we were rehearsing in London near the river for pre-production sessions with Glenn Tilbrook. It was around the time he was going through his split period with Chris Difford and was interested in producing us. We spent a few days jamming the songs and were rehearsing next to The Cure, who we heard through the wall in the next room. We started rehearsing Bluebelle and they stopped their song and suddenly began playing ‘Boy’s Don’t Cry’ maybe because they were the same chords and they thought we were ripping them off.

++ These first two singles were released in 1985, and the next two would appear in 1986. You know there was the “C86” tape that year, and I wonder if you felt akin to what would later be the C86 scene? I can see your sound and style part of it myself, but what do you think?!

Interesting observation. We might have been part of that scene. Magnet and other things messed up a lot of things. Records were not in stores. Singles were getting saturated airplay on major national radio and people were walking into shops to buy our records and they weren’t on sale. Who knows what would have happened if people had done their jobs.

++ Then came the “Didn’t We Have a Nice Time?” single. I have to ask, where was that photo from the front cover taken?

That’s West Wycombe Forest.

++ On this single we see that Bobby Valentino played violin! How was working with him?

I think I briefly saw him. I didn’t really talk that much to anyone back then. I still don’t (laughs). He also played violin on The Bluebell’s Young At Heart. Did you know he’s the brother of Anne Dudley (Art of Noise)?

++ You made a promo video for “Didn’t We Have a Nice Time?” which is really fun! It was filmed at Wimbledon Chase Middle School! I wonder how easy it was to work with children, and was the teacher actually the class teacher? I am sure many of the kids must remember that day!

That school was also featured in the film P’tang, Yang, Kipperbang (classic British movie). It was a two-day shoot with interiors in the school on day one and exteriors on day two in a muddy field. I got food poisoning overnight and they had to hire a portable loo for me for the outdoor filming. Thankfully I didn’t need to use it but it was a tough day. One of the film crew was a bit older than me and she was giving me flirty looks but I felt like death. The kids were all surprisingly well-behaved. Thirty years later one of them got in touch with me through my blog. He was the kid scratching his head in the video. The kids loved it and lined up for autographs after the filming. A kid asked me to sign his plectrum. I was only five years older than them and had left school less than two years earlier. It felt very, very surreal. The Teacher was an actress. I think one of the band had a crush on her.

++ Then you released a cover of the Small Faces’ “Lazy Sunday” on 7″ and 12″. There is even a “Crazy Version” of this song on the 12″. Was this song part of your live repertoire? Or how come you choose to release this cover version? Were there other covers that you usually use to play?

We never played it live when I was in the band and I don’t think they did after I left either. We’d released three original songs and it was entirely our A&R man’s plan (James Todd) to release a cover version. I hated the idea. Absolutely hated it. For me it was the last straw in a long line of disagreements over artistic differences and my role within the band. I told Mike I was leaving after our studio session with Steve Levine. He tried to persuade me to stay but was quite understanding about my decision.

++ And lastly the album. What happened? Why was it never released?

The band were dropped a few months after I left and Magnet Records shelved it.

++ But as you say there are copies out. How many copies do you estimate are or were in circulation?

Who knows. A couple. A few. Maybe more. They obviously manufactured some and I’ve seen at least two copies out there for sale, both at ridiculous prices. The last one I saw online was on sale for over a thousand euros. Maybe these were test pressings – or maybe not – maybe Magnet pressed a run and have them in storage and some got nicked (stolen) or leaked. Either way, a few got out there.

++ Do you think there will ever be a chance for it to be properly released someday? Have there been any attempts to do so?

Not that I know of. Maybe some fans could contact Warners Music and get them to release it digitally. It would be nice.

++ The photography in the album looks like from the same photo session as “Didn’t We Have a Nice Time?”. Am I right? Or not?

Yes. Same photo session and sadly I’m responsible for that look. There was a meeting about what image we should have next and I said it might be interesting to try something a bit Victorian, like ‘Doctor Who’. So that’s my fault entirely. It could have been something very 80’s instead but I persuaded Mike to go with the historical look. In hindsight maybe it wasn’t so bad after all. You’ve seen what some bands look like in the 80’s. I think I was the only artist at showbiz parties with a Beatles haircut and sideburns.

++ And how different was to record an album compared to the singles?

It was the same, it just takes longer. There’s a lot of discipline involved in professional recording sessions. You need to be focused and ready to give your best performance. No messing about. You can also get asked to come up with new ideas on the spot. I love that environment. When I’m required to be musically creative I feel alive.

++ Aside from the releases you appeared on a few compilations. One that surprised me is on a Spanish LP compilation called “Ráyate”. This one has “Didn’t We Have. Nice Time”, twice, on the A and B sides. It looks like they had been DJ mixed, but I can’t say as I haven’t heard them, but have you? Do you know how did you ended up in this 1987 comp?

I’ve heard that Spanish fans love the band but this is new to me. I’ll have to check it out.

++ There are two other Spanish compilation featuring this same song. Do you know if this song was a big hit all over Spain? Or perhaps in some select cities like Valencia, where I happen to hear some UK jangle pop songs became DJ mixed and became big dancefloor hits at the discos?

I know we are popular in Spain, but not details. Again, I’ll have to check this out.

++ Then you are in a South African compilation called “Now That’s What I Call Summer” with “Lazy Sunday”. That’s quite cool. I guess that’s as international you can get and appearing next to ABBA, The Beach Boys, that must have been quite something?

It is and I’ve only just discovered this. It’s an odd release because that was from 1986 when the band was still signed and no one knew about this. It doesn’t surprise me though, that’s what record companies are like.

++ And are there more unreleased songs by the band? Aside from the album of course?

There are lots of demos that were made at Abbey Green and I also made a few demos with Mike after I left, as a favour for him. There is the unfinished Gus Dudgeon version of Bluebelle, which I own the only copy of and several other tracks which didn’t make the album. I think they are ‘The Tempest’, ‘I Cannot Be Sure’ and a few others. I have copies of all of these.

++ I think my favourite song, the only one I’ve heard so far!, is “Bluebelle”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

To be honest with you, I have no idea – it’s Mike’s song.

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

Always The Same, the first single. It was my first solo on vinyl and I think it is the best song The Tempest made. My mum would turn the radio up full when it came on and run to the bottom of the stairs and shout “Ian, your song’s on the radio!”. My parents were so proud of me. My dad couldn’t believe I’d got signed. He made me a wood pedal board for my guitar effects pedals and I still have it. I’ve used it for over 30 years. My parents are no longer here with us and every time I hear the song I think of their excitement and how fresh and exciting it all was for everyone in my life and in the band.

I remember coming back from London after weeks of recording. I was exhausted and homesick. It was 3am and my parents were asleep in bed. My mum knew I was returning home that night and had left a covered plate of sandwiches on the kitchen table for me with a note on it which said “eat if hungry”. I made a cup of cocoa and sat drinking it in the semi-darkness and had a startling moment of clarity. I know it sounds soft but I remember feeling profound love for my parents and gratefulness for everything they had done for me. I thought that I’d remember that moment all my life and I did. Every time I hear the song it reminds me of that moment.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

We played dozens of gigs as support: The Bluebells, 10,000 Maniacs, The Cardiacs, The Climax Blues band and The Higsons are a few that come to mind. The Higsons (Charlie Higson’s band from The Fast Show) had such a huge rider (free food, drinks etc. that a band asks for at the venue) that I thought we’d walked into an off-licence (liquor store). We played at all the major venues in the UK. The gigs at the original Marquee are ones that come to mind. We did two full British tours. The first supporting The Untouchables, a U.S. Band that had a chart hit at the time. I think that was three weeks of touring and we supported Squeeze on their Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti En Routti tour which was the 6^th to the 15^th of October 1985. We finished the tour with two sold-out nights at Hammersmith Odeon and then had a great end-of-tour party with Squeeze at some swanky private club in London. It was filled with artists, actors and BBC Radio 1 DJs. The ‘Comic Strip Presents’ actors were there. I got snapped by Paparazzi in a shot with Glenn and Rik Mayall while I was stood at the bar with Robbie Coltrane. Sarah Greene and Mike Smith were grinning at me – I was dressed like I’d stepped through a 1960’s time warp.

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

So many great gigs. I’m proud of playing at the long-gone Marquee Club on Wardour Street. Who played there is a list of rock history: The Rolling Stones, Bowie, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Jimi Hendrix…the list goes on and on. Standing on the same stage, using the same dressing room. You could feel the vibe.

At King Tuts in Glasgow I walked into a room and there was a Roman Soldier in full authentic armour with two female Roman ‘Nymphs’ dressed in togas. I apologised and left the room. I have no idea what was going on.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Everyone’s strings went out of tune at one gig and it was hideous. It was insisted that we change strings each day on tour – even bass strings. There had to be one venue where the humidity and temperature caused absolute mayhem with the metal strings. We got in tune again but it caused frayed tempers onstage.

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

The Steve Levine session was the last one we all did together. I sneezed all the way through as I had terrible hay-fever.

I left the band at the end of summer 1986 and they carried on for a few months but got dropped. There were plans to record with William Orbit but it never happened. I’d had offers to remain in London and Indians in Moscow’s manager made me an offer to manage me but I turned them all down. I was secretly suffering from undiagnosed agoraphobia and I just wanted to get back home.

As you know from my previous interview with you, I formed The Snakeskins. It was a break from the discipline and stress of being in a professional band. I felt like I’d missed the middle of the 1980’s, even though I was right at the heart of everything that was happening at the time. As soon as I left I started regaining my lost teen years. I’d been in the band from when I was 17 to 19. I’d been single for three years and on a professional leash. I got a girlfriend, started writing songs and began to enjoy life. It was great. The pressure I had been under in The Tempest was huge.

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

I don’t think Mike did anything and he put music behind him, as far as I know. Stuart formed his own music company and wrote music for TV. Lyn formed her own band, Carbon 13, and is now solo, Steve joined The Coal Porters and is now one of the highest-paid live drummers in the UK. He also formed a music company with Martin McAloon, Prefab Sprout’s bassist (Steve is a former member of Prefab Sprout).

++ Has there been any reunion gigs?

Noooo.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Tons. We had saturated airplay on BBC Radio One and played Radio One sessions for Andy Peebles, Richard Skinner (I think) and a few other BBC DJ’s who I can’t remember – I was very nonchalant about what we were doing and didn’t take much notice. We certainly weren’t strangers to BBC Maida Vale Studios.

++ What about TV? Made any promo videos?

There was a video for ‘Didn’t We Have A Nice Time and we got airplay on BBC TV on kid’s TV, The Money Programme and Wogan. Possibly others, I didn’t really pay attention to what was going on at the time.

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

Every major music publication got us on board. The NME, Melody Maker, Smash Hits, No 1 Magazine, even the girl’s mag Jackie did a feature on us as well as a bunch of other UK magazines. There were so many.

++ What about from fanzines?

Not that I know of.

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

That’s a tough question. There are so many high points that it’s hard to pick just one. For me, personally, the best thing was getting to work with so many great people.

++ Thanks again Ian! This made my day! Anything else you’d like to add?

Thank you Roque, it’s been a pleasure.

I’m looking forward to releasing my first solo music, so please keep an eye out for that on social media.

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Listen
The Tempest – Bluebelle

Day 151.

Lunchbox: the Oakland based duo of Tim and Donna have a new song called “Every Time I Go Away”. It is a nice digital single with boy/girl vocals. it was posted on Friday when all proceeds of this single were to be donated to the People’s Breakfast Oakland, a grassroots socialist organization.

NewCastle: the fine Uruguayan band has just posted 6 new songs which are labeled as B sides that haven’t been released. Released where? I don’t know of any releases by the band! In any case, here are 6 lovely poppy songs by our new favourite band from the Oriental Republic of Uruguay.

Phantom Handshakes: this duo from New York is totally new to me. How cool. Federica and Matt are Phantom Handshakes and it seems they’ve been around since 2014. Interesting. Why didn’t they play NYC Popfest when it was going on? I had no clue they existed. Maybe the organizers didn’t then. Their latest is a 7 song mini-album called “Be Estranged” that is a superb collection of dreamy and jangly songs. Very nice.

Fowl Science: now this project from Toronto that makes some psychedelic dreampop that sounds really good. Their latest track is called “Samsara”  and from what I understand it is just one person behind this project, Stephen Kerr, who records at home. Looking forward to more songs by him!

Falling Sugar: lastly from Tokyo this new band that just formed! They are Mikko, Pako, Brono and Toyozo and they published their first ever song, “Thank You Boys”, last April! And it is really good. They have to record more!

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Another top band that I discovered when “The Sound of Leamington Spa Volume 5” was released back in 2005 was The Honeymooners. They had contributed the song “Untitled” which many will agree is not a great song title. But it is a very good song. So that’s what matters.

So on this compilation CD co-released by Firestation Records (FST065), Bilberry Records (BILB 09) and Clarendon Records (W6 7CD), there was a booklet that has some small bios for each band. That is one thing one has to be very grateful as online it proves hard to find any information on these bands. For The Honeymooners we find the following info:

The Honeymooners – formed in spring 1984 from the nucleus of Yeah Yeah – were Jean McClure (voice), Stewart Reid (drums), David Russell (bass) with Keith Dunn and Martin Connelly on guitars. Part of the (at the time) flourishing Glasgow indie scene, they released only one 7″ single: “Another Fit of Laughter/There They Were” on their own Mr Ridiculous label before disintegrating amicably in 1988. Their music was described at the time by some like a “cross between Burt Bacharach and The Buzzcocks”. Stewart, David and Keith went on to form Jailhouse with former Yeah Yeah collaborator Joe White until David’s tragic death from cancer in 1990. Meanwhile, Martin had moved to London and joined The Ginger Bottles, teaming up with two ex-Glasgow-scene stalwarts Martin Muir (The Original Mixed Up Kid) and Steve (Sam) Davis (Playing Soldiers). Jean had reinvented herself as DJ Jean Honeymoon and to the day runs her own funky house club night in Glasgow – The Honeytrap. Finally, Jean and MArtin have recently hooked-up again and are working on some new material with Steve Boyle under the name Honey (are you noticing a certain connection here?). Their first 12″ single release on Water Glass records is scheduled for July 2004.

it is not surprise that I got their one and only 7″ when I visited the Firestation headquarters years later of the release of the compilation. The 7″ with its black and white sleeve has a photo of a woman in the front cover. Who is she? Is it Jean? The record that had “Another Fit of Laughter” on the A side and “…And there They Were” on the B side, had the catalog number Mr. Ridiculous 1001. Some interesting details is that the A had a matrix runout that said “A Taste of Good Things”  while the B side said “Again……”.

On the 7″ there was some help from Seamus Corr who played the sax. He had also been part of a band called Basss Bassa.

Aside from the bands listed on the Firestation booklet, we know that David Russell and Stewart Reid had been in the band End Result who contributed a song to the 7″ compilation “Backlash!” in 1981.

On the blog The New Vinyl Villain we learn that the band hailed from Airdrie, a small town to the east of Glasgow.

Then there s a post by Alistair Fitchett about them on the Backed With blog. Here it mentions that there were three demo tapes. At least. It mentions a few songs from these tapes,  “Apple of My Eye” (which he shared a box link!), “Pulsebeat” and “What Pleasure”. Also it mentions the song “Untitled” that was on the Leamington Spa CD. He says that this was the best song the band recorded. He also mentions that Jean had a Myspace at some point were she had some songs were she provided vocals. These are long lost though. The Myspace is no more. But she does have a website these days. And a Soundcloud.

I keep digging and on Discogs commented that there was an August 1984 demo tape that included three tracks, “Fate”, “Wild Woman” and “Fun Machine”. Would be great to find these songs, how they sounded like. And definitely if there are more songs and demo tapes it’d be great to find out!

I’d definitely would love to hear to all their songs. If there are good enough songs as “Untitled” or “Another Fit of Laughter”, that would be thrilling. Any other information will be appreciated!

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Listen
The Honeymooners – Untitled

Day 148.

Charlie Darling: “A Radio Romance” is a 16 song album by Charlie that is up now on the Bandcamp of his other project Les Bicyclettes de Belsize. There is not much info about this album, not sure if these are recordings from before he started calling himself Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, but it doesn’t matter really, the thing is that these are very lovely songs! Makes you happy and tap your feet!

The Violent Hearts: from Birmingham two songs recorded during the great lockdown of 2020. The names of these songs are “Porcelain World (Acoustic)” and “Strange Powers” and they are great indiepop songs, classic sounding!

The Leave Me Alones: now to Oakland, California, to check out the “Be Alone EP” by this four-piece formed by Marc, Damian, Dasha and Hayley. So far we can only preview one of the songs, “Choices”, and it sounds terrific. It does remind me of the Canadian band Sleuth. Cool!

Mañana el Espacio: the Caracas, Venezuela, band is back with a new single called “Estrellas Fugaces”. It is a charming lo-fi bedroom pop song with a happy-go-lucky feel. Check it out.

Midpoint Union: not very common to feature a Portuguese band but happy to do it today. This solo project by Pedro R from somewhere in Portugal sounds interesting. He released last January a dreamy album called “New Turn” which is worth giving a listen. I wonder if there are more indiepop influenced bands there these days…

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Wow! What a discovery! Just stumbled upon a whole rip of a tape called “Mop Up Before You Leave” on Youtube. And guess what, there are tons of great bands and music here that are totally new to me. I will share my favourites with you in this and in following posts. So let’s start with the first band on the tape, Little Engine.

One thing that is worth mentioning is that this tape was released in 1989 and from what I understand it was put together by Matt Allison. The songs were recorded at his place at 4th and White in Champaign, Illinois. I know there is a 7″ by Matt Allison on the Bus Stop Label and I always assumed he was more of a musician, but it seems he is best known as an audio engineer who has mostly worked at Atlas Studios in Chicago.

Ok, so he put this tape together in 1989 with bands from that period. AMong the names that are more familiar I can think of Paul Chastain and Uncle Tupelo. The rest are all new to me. Little Engine is definitely new and sounds great. The song that was included in this tape was called “Good Day, Sad Girl” and was recorded in August 1989.

I continue googling and I find that the band hailed from the city of Urbana, which is just next door to Champaign.

Then I find a name that was involved in the band, Rob McColley. Then I put two and two together and it is Rob McColley who had uploaded the Matt Allison tape! Everything starts making sense. Then I find in his account another tape by Little Engine one called “Here’s a Cookie from Other Side of Reality” which dates form 1988. This was was also recorded by Matt Allison and the songs included in this EP were “Watch Me”, “I Think I Can Manage”, “Colors of the Broom”, “(Gorilla Shit)”, “Empty Room”, “Through the Wall” and “Two Times”. The first three were on the A side called (Side Burns) while the last three on the B side (Side Winders).

We also find the band members names:
Matt Pearson – drums, tambourine
Ed Schaller – bass, tambourine
Rob McColley – vocals
Jon Beck – guitar

The video includes some tidbits about the songs which is really cool. For example each tape used to cost 2 dollars and they were usually sold at the Urbana High School cafeteria!

The second song on this tape, “I Think I Can Manage” was included in Trashcan Records compilation tape “Lubricant” that was released in 1988. Another interesting thing mentioned here is that they named their “publishing company” Strawberry in the Prairie. Why? They have no clue. They weren’t affiliated to any organization. They didn’t get any money for their songs.

Lastly there is another video uploaded. This one is their unreleased and never finished album from 1990. It was also recorded by Matt Allison but this time it was at Windy City Recorders  in Chicago during the winter and spring of 1990. It seems at this point the band members had changed. Matt Pearson had left and was replaced by Pat Hawley. Sadly this time around there are no song titles for these songs.

And this seems to be the end of this great sounding band that reminds us of the great Rick Menck and Paul Chastain bands. They should have released at least a 7″! They had good songs as you will see!

Whatever happened to Little Engine? Where are they now? Were they involved with any other bands?!

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Listen
Little Engine – Good Day, Sad Girl

Thanks so much to Alan Harpley for the interview! Merry Go Rhythms was an 80s Sydney band who only released one 7″ back in the day. But they did record many more songs and I wanted to know more about them. So I wrote about them on the blog some time ago and last week Alan got in touch with me and was kind enough to answer all my questions!

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

I’m well, 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?

Mmmm? Music was always in our house when I was growing up. My mother used to sing and act in local stage shows productions and there was always a piano in the house. I have a photo from 1969 with a 2 year old me sitting at the piano trying to play it. My first instrument was the piano but I never had the patience to practice (which I’ve regretted now for years). Guitar became my weapon of choice. I wanted to be on a stage like all the bands we were watching on TV music shows back in the day. So a 14 year old me started to learn guitar at school and played my first gig in 1981.

Growing up I listened to a lot of Beatles and Australian Rock at the time. We had a thriving pub rock scene here in Australia back in the 70’s & 80’s.

++ Had you been in other bands before Merry Go Rhythms? If so, how did they sound like? Are there any recordings?

Yeah, my first band was called THE START in 1981. Then there was a band called CON-FUSION in 1982. Then there was THE ACCOOSTIX from 1983 to 1985. Each of these bands sounded like raw pop rock I guess??? I have a recording (2 songs) of the ACCOOSTIX. All I wanna do & In The City Tonight. All I wanna do was the first of my originals to get played on the radio. I was 17 at the time. 😊 I can send you an audio file if you would like it.

++ What about the rest of the band members?

Paul was in the final ACCOOSTIX line up in 1985. I met Gary in 1984 while doing lights & lugging gear for his band The SILENT TYPES. And good old Andy was playing in the band SOUTH BOUND TRAIN. I was just about to do a project with Paul when Covid-19 stuffed it all up for us. Andy is a radio DJ in Tuncurry Australia. Unfortunately, I lost contact with Gary a few years ago. But he never played after we broke up.

++ Where were you from originally?

We were all from Sydney, mainly the south of Sydney. Well, except for Andy. He’s an Englishman but live in Australia most of his life.

++ How was Sydney at the time of Merry Go Rhythms? 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?

At the time Merry Go Rhythms were playing, almost every pub had a band on. Every night of the week! It was a great time to be in bands. There were lot’s of great music happening back then. A lot of bands made the big time, a lot didn’t, but still made a good impact on the suburbs. One of my favourite bands at the time were The FINGER GUNS. Great band. Their bass player was Murray Cook who became a worldwide star being the Red Wiggle. Our bands worked together quite often. Most venues had up and coming bands so there was variety plus back then.

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

OK, Gary approached me when The Silent Types broke up. I had just finished up with The Accoostix at the time. This was early 1986. Paul was rehearsing with some guys which included drummer David Frazer. I told Gary that we should check them out, which we did and the next thing you know Paul and David joined up with us. Pretty simple really, we all just jelled. We did our first gig on the 17th May 1986 at the Oatley Hotel. Good fun pub. Still is.

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Yeah mate, we had a few changes over the years. A few name changes too.

David left to play cover songs and make some money. (we always put our share of the money back into the band for recordings and merch) That’s when Andy came along. We had a name change in 1988. Our sound was getting a little rockier and we thought the name wasn’t strong enough. So, we went with PUBLIC ENEMY. Bad move, right? As we discovered there was already a Public Enemy overseas. Long story short, arguments started happening about money and royalties, so I was the one to quit. Not too long after Gary convinced me to come back and we were then joined by Norm Debonis on guitar and Jason Boylan on drums. This line up didn’t last very long. Too many ego’s I guess. In 89 we change the name again to D-LUXE AND THE RHYTHM. Paul was back in the fold, Gary’s brother in law came on board as an extra guitarist and a drummer named George Muscat,(later to be in the band Black Label) then a drummer named Mark Sullivan. That was the last line up which finished up in 1992.

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

Creative wise, Gary and I wrote most of the songs. Paul wrote a couple. But we would just be in the studio and one of us would say “I’ve got this song I’ve been working on” and we would all just start to make it happen. It was really easy like that, magic just happened 😊 There were two main rehearsal studios we used to use. A place called Take 5 studios and Downunder Studios. Both great rooms to rehearse.

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

Yes, the name. I personally never really liked it. lol (Hence the MGR reference).

We were going to be called Merry Go Round after a rocking song by the band Cold Chisel. But as per our luck someone beat us to it. I remember we were sitting in Accent recording studios doing some mix downs of our first recordings, (we recorded before we had even played a gig together) and names were being thrown back and forwards and one was Merry something??? And the other was rhythmic something??? And somehow it ended up as Merry go rhythms. By then I was over it and just went with the flow.

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

I would say we were very influenced by the Australian music styles at the time, maybe even a little Beatles thrown in. Paul was more of a sort of Jazz player so our sound I think was our own. It was a good mix.

++ As far as I know you only released one 7″ back in 1987 on your own label MGR Records. Why did you go the self-release route? Was there no labels interesting in putting your music out? Or you preferred doing it your own way?

That’s correct. We only ever released the one record. It was our idea to go it independently and hopefully get the attention of the larger labels. We ended up doing two pressings of the record. We recorded the next single RAIN but it was never released on vinyl.

++ And how did you like the experience of doing label stuff? Was it easy to get your record distributed?

I would have to give all the credit to Gary for all that sort of stuff. He was the business man, I was more the writing, playing and partying guy. 😊 Paul and Andy just wanted to play.

++ Both songs on the 7″ were recorded at Reel-Time-Studios in Sydney. Was it your first experience at a proper recording studios? How did you like this recording studios?

Reel time was a great studio. Not our first studio but the most professional studio we had been in. It was a good place to record. I loved every second of it.

++ And how was working with Mark Tinson, who produced the record?

Mark was great, he helped guide us through the sessions with ease. Mark was a top bloke. I was thrilled to be working with him. He was a guitarist for the Ted Mulry Gang who were one time pretty big in Australia. So yeah, I looked up to him.

++ On your website you have releases like the “Famous Lies” EP or the “Living on the Edge” EP. Were these two EPs properly released? They were recorded at Accent Studios, right? I couldn’t find any other information on the web!

No, none of these songs were ever released. Famous Lies was recorded at Accent recording studios in the Sydney suburb of Kogarah. Living on the edge was recorded at Riversond Recordings in the Sydney suburb of Riverwood. Something missing and Rain were also recorded there.

++ Care telling me a bit about these two EPs? When and where were they recorded?

Opps, Think I jumped ahead and answered that one. My bad 😊

++ And what about the “Somethings Missing” EP? That was recorded in 1989. Was it released? There is a different version of “Perpetual Motion” on this one, right?

Perpetual motion was always a crowd favourite, but as the band progressed we thought, let’s kick this up a notch. I do like this version much better than the original. It was more us. Perpetual motion had been in the Silent Types live set before we recorded it. So by the time the latest version was recorded, it sounded more like where the band was at the time.

++ I see you have many songs, so I wonder was there plans to release an album at some point? What about these days, a retrospective compilation perhaps?

Not really. I have them all on file. It could be possible to put them all together and throw them on iTunes and Spotify. But there weren’t any plans to do it.

++ Were there any other demo tapes by Merry Go Rhythms?

I think Paul still has some rehearsal tapes somewhere. I’ve got some live ones and I know Andy still has some live ones as well.

++ What about compilation albums, did you contribute songs to any?

No. Not that I’m aware of???? But hey? I didn’t know about your blog and you found us! How did you come across us by the way? Now I’m asking you questions. Sorry.

++ And are there more unreleased songs by the band?

No. We only recorded the 11 songs during our time.

++ I think my favourite song of your is “Face the War”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Once again, I would have to give Gary the credit for that song. He came into the studio with it already written. We just created it. It turned into a monster. 7 something minuets!! Sorry, I don’t know what inspired Gary to write it.

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

Wow, Hard question. I like them all. If I had to choose? I would say the re-recorded Perpetual Motion because it just sounds fresher and up compared to the original recording. And Rain. I like Rain. The song had a more commercial / international style to it.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? I read about 200? Is that so?!

Yeah about that. Between 1986 and 1992. There were a few gaps in there. I have a list of most of them from old diaries but I’m sure there are some I have forgotten in there.

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

They were all fun for me. But the record release run of shows were the best I think. We did some good support shows and some great headlining shows. A funny story comes from a weekend tour back in 1987. We left Sydney in our trusty hire van and drove 107kms to a venue called the Illawarra leagues Club. Played a cool gig then packed up the hire van and drove 532Kms through the night with Andy at the wheel (and lots of laughs along the way with our road crew Leo) to a country town called Griffith. Not so unusual for a band on the road. We arrived at the hotel sometime during the day and go in for sound check. Great big PA System. We play one of our rockier songs (Living on the edge) and the sound guy loves us! Then he says, “You guys should play that sort of stuff all the time. It rocks”. We all look at each other and just shrug shoulders. We go rest up in the motel for a few hours then back to the venue for show time. That’s when we discovered what the sound guy was talking about. The place was full with old rock n roll 1950’s dancers!!!!! Being a country town, people came from miles around to see (what we were billed as) Merry-Go-Rhythms the 50’s, 60’s rock and roll review! I know it sounds like something out of The Blues Brothers movie but it’s all true. We stumble through the first set, making it up as we went along. Unlike the Blues Brothers, it was horrible. The manager comes up to us when we have a break, pays us, gives us a case of beer and said “Not your fault the promoter is about to get a phone call”. “Go back to the motel and enjoy, the DJ will finish the night”. So forever more, that weekend was known as the Pull the plug tour.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Oh yeah. As above. There was only one other I remember being a bit of a shocker. A show at the Kings Head Tavern. What I remember of the gig was that we were on fire! Sounding great. But before the last set, someone had offered me some 420 in the carpark. On top of the amount of beer already consumed by me things could of gone much worse. I do recall all the guys looking at me during one song (could not tell which one) But apparently, I have started playing a different song mid solo. I thought it was sounding great. I had no idea. That only ever happened once. But the worst one was at some venue in a beach side suburb called Coogee. Poor Andy was outside having a smoke in our break and some Asshole decided to beat the crap out of him. Poor Andy lost a couple of teeth and was laid out for a few weeks. That cut the gig short real quick.

++ When and why did Merry Go Rhythms stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We just fell apart, I guess. We had run our course. Line-up changes, different opinions, growing different musically. All that stuff. Our last gig was at the Villawood Hotel in Sydney on the 15th May 1992. That was the end. Since 1994 I have been playing consistently in cover bands and trios and duos. My longest stint has been playing in the GTS DUO. I did 15 years and 601 shows with GTS. We only stopped because the world did.

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

Andy went back and played with South Bound Train again for a while from memory. Paul has been playing in a band called Skylark for like 20 something years now. (I was just about to join them on bass guitar when Covid hit). Gary never played after the Villawood gig.

++ Has there been any reunion gigs?

No gigs, but we had a reunion rehearsal a few years back. It was like riding a bike. I had a photographer came and take some memories for us.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

Not a lot. We did get spun a few times on commercial radio but in those days without label backing?? We did get a lot of plays on community radio. That was where we got played the most.

++ What about TV? Made any promo videos?

No TV or promo videos unfortunately.

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

Yeah, we got quite a lot in the local newspapers from the areas we were playing. All good reviews. Which was nice.

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

It would have to be releasing the Perpetual Motion / Face The War record. And finally, being able to play some great venues as headliners instead of support acts.

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

Mate, when I’m not playing music and have the time, I love to get out on the lake and go fishing. It doesn’t happen very often though.

++ Never been to the Sydney or 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 guess you would have to do the Harbour Bridge climb. Check out The Sydney Opera House and Darling Harbour. Doyals Seafood at Watsons Bay 😊

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah, I just want to say thanks for discovering us after so many years. Andy was the one who sent your blog to Paul and myself. He found it online somewhere 😊

Hope any of this info is good for you.

Just to add, these are my memories and answers of events and may not necessarily represent the opinions of all members.

Paul & Andy have read this and have no problem with me sending it to you.

Cheers

Alan.

www.alanharpley.net

https://alharpley.bandcamp.com/

https://soundcloud.com/alan-harpley

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Listen
Merry Go Rhythms – Face the War

Day 146.

Smudge: the Australian label Half a Cow has made available the “Scary Cassettes” by the classic Smudge band on Bandcamp! 28 songs of terrific pop that are compiled here by Tom Morgan. These songs feature the second line-up of the band, Tom Morgan, Alison Galloway, Adam Yee and Pete Kelly. Great stuff!

Passmore Sisters: previously only heard as part of the bands BBC Radio 1 session for Janice Long in 1987, the song “These Things I Feel” has been re-recorded b y the band this year and is now available as a digital single on Bandcamp! How great to hear again from this amazing band!

Victorian Tin: a new song, well from 2000, that has been re-recorded, by the duo from Karlstad, Sweden. Erik and Christian seem to continue being active and that’s quite cool. Hopefully there will be a new release soon!

Agent Blå: the Gothenburg band is also back with a new song. It is called “Atopos” and it is superb. I feel it came just in time for the summer. Not much info about it, it just looks like a digital single.

Throw Like a Girl: Two girls from Leicester playing some cool upbeat punky pop! There are two songs up on Bandcamp and they actually date from January! So yeah, quite late to discover “Fight or Flight” and “Wednesday”.

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Who remembers Hospitalle?

David Hansson, Emanuel Hallongren, Maria von Hall, Patrick Jensen and Philip Gates are listed on Discogs as band members. I remember them because of the connection of Philip Gates as he had been in that wonderful, terrific, amazing, band Days. But only now I am discovering Hospitalle. See if I can track down all their records.

Actually there are two records they released properly. The other stuff is only available digitally.

The first release was actually a split 7″ on the classic label Dolores Recordings (DOL 164) back in 2005. There were 300 copies made of this record that was part of the Dolores singles club. The band would appear in the B side of the 7″ with the song “Let’s Not Tell Our Sad Stories”. The A side had the band Dreams End with the song “She Touched My Hand”. Now that I think of it I should try to write a post about Dreams End at some point.

The next year, 2006, the band released on the label Little Hill Recordings (LHR 001) the EP “Day Before May”. This EP had four songs, “Black Heart”, “I Envy You All”, “In a Bag” and “Heavenly Grey”. This release is the only one listed on this label, it makes me think it might have been a self-release.

We get some credits here too. Now we can point which instruments each band member played.
Maria Von Hall – vocals, xylophone, strings
Patrick Jensen – vocals, bass and he also wrote the songs
David Hansson – guitar, piano, vocals
Philip Gates – guitar
Emanuel Hallongren – drums

Other people that are credited on this record are Linn Lauterhorn, Maja Rasmusson and Stefan Strömberg (from the great band Vapnet) on vocals (I am guessing backing vocals), David Chocron (from the band Hemstad) on trumpet and Karl Ander (from Hemstad and Agent Simple) on guitar, piano, vocals, bass, organ, drums and accordion. The production and mixing (aside from also playing guitar, keys, percussion) was done by Kalle Von Hall who had been in the Bad Cash Quartet.

Going through all these people and bands made me curious and I checked in which other bands had the members of Hospitalle been. So I find out that:
-David Hansson had been in High Voltage, Los Ochos, Pats and Vapnet
-Emanuel Hallongren on Agent Simple and Hemstad
-Maria Von Hall on Pats
-Patrick Jensen on Pats
-Philip Gates on Los Ochos, Vapnet and Days

It is also worth mentioning that in 2010 these songs were re-released as 4 MP3s by the label Record Union. Not sure why 4 years later or why a new label. It is very curious.

But this date does match with three MP3 releases they did that year. Aside from this release they also put out 6 more songs on Record Union that year. This 6 songs were “Drinking the Memories Away”, “For Every Kind”, “These Screwed Up Times”, “You Fell Asleep”, “Violence, Ambulance!” and “The Clouds”. The EP was called “L’Antidote Dernière”.

Then they would put out stuff on a label called Knoppar. Two Mp3s would be released separately, “Forest Fire” and “Let’s Not Tell Our Sad Stories”. This last one was the same song that was included in the split 7″ back in 2005!

And that’s it. That’s all the info I could find for them. They disappeared at some point after releasing their EP, then they reappeared re-releasing MP3s.  But after that what happened? Who remembers them? Where are they now?

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Listen
Hospitalle – Violence, Ambulance!

Thanks so much to Raoulie de la Cruz for the interview! The Casino Ashtrays was a great band he had with Laura Watling/Mazzucco (The Autocollants, Tears Run Rings, Laura Watling) back in the 90s. A proper DIY indiepop band who released a few tapes, one CD and appeared on some compilations back then. 9 years ago the great Jigsaw Records released a retrospective compilation that is a must-have for all indiepop lovers. You can still find copies here. I’ve always been a fan so I had to do this interview sooner or later… and yeah, it took a while but finally all my questions are answered!

++ Hi  Raoulie! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? I have been curious about this for years now, are you still making music? Or involved with music at all?

Hi Roque! I am doing fine…all things considered! Right before you sent in these interview questions I was actually recording some trumpet parts on my old 4-track for this band I was in called Folklore. Folklore is basically Jimmy Hughes who ran Bumblebear Records. He also played guitar in Elf Power for a few years when he still lived in Athens, Georgia. Anyways, Folklore was his band and I played trumpet in it. And then he moved to Philly, where he continued with new members. Here’s a funny story – and you can cut it out if it goes too long: When I first moved to Athens in 2005, I just kinda hung out for a couple of months before getting a job. One day, I went to go browse in the Star Wars aisle at the local Toys-R-Us (I used to avidly collect Star Wars action figures). When I got there, this dude was already going through all the action figures. I thought, “Dammit! This guy is gonna buy up all the good stuff!” He could sense that someone was behind him, waiting, so he turned around. When he saw me he said, “Raoul???? It’s me…Jimmy!” It took me a minute to register and then I was like, “Oh yeah! Hey, Jimmy!” Then he asked me, “Did you just move here???” “YES!” “You wanna be in my band?” “Sure! Yeah!” And just like that, I was in Folklore! And then while I was in Folklore, I started a super twee band called The French Toasts with my girlfriend, Missy Kulik. We mostly played covers on toy instruments. And then I started playing trumpet in another local Athens band called Werewolves. And in-between all that, I had another short-lived band called The Slow Rowboat. Up until just a couple days ago, I hadn’t worked on music since Missy and I moved to Atlanta a couple of years ago.

++ I reckon that it has been 9 years since Jigsaw Records compiled all Casino Ashtrays songs on the compilation “(Are Your Boring Ideas of Fun the Same as Mine?)”. I thought when that came out that I had to interview you. Not sure why I didn’t ask you then. But now, years after this compilation, how do you feel these songs, most recorded during the 90s have aged?

I still like most of the songs on there, so I guess they aged pretty good? That is to say, I’m still proud of the songs and recordings. Not sure how Laura (Watling/Mazzucco) feels, though! I still like the lo-fi quality of the recordings. To me, it’s indicative of a DIY “Just do it!” kinda approach to writing and recording. We didn’t let limitations in skill, equipment, etc. stop us from recording and sharing our music. It was like, let’s just get these ideas and sounds down on tape and have fun making something. PUNK ROCK, Y’ALL!

++ 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 remember that my parents had 8-track tapes that they would play in the van. I remember there was a best of Elvis tape that got played a lot. And I think a Sha Na Na tape. My mother had this 8-track of piano instrumentals that she liked to listen to. They were all old Latin-American standards like “Tico Tico”. And then when we weren’t listening to 8-track tapes, the radio would always be tuned into some sort of oldies station. Definitely listened to a lot of oldies from the 50’s and 60’s growing up.

My first instrument was probably a toy piano! I remember having one as a child. Funny, because when Missy and I started up French Toasts many years later, we decided to use this toy piano that she had rescued from a trash heap as our main instrument. It came around full circle! In elementary school, I had a chance to learn an instrument and I guess I sort of decided to play trumpet. So, from about 5th grade all the way up until the end of high school, I was involved in school bands, learning how to play trumpet and read music.

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

Long before the Casino Ashtrays was my first real band, Honeychurch – named after Helena Bonham Carter’s character, Lucy Honeychurch, from the movie “A Room With A View”. We were heavily influenced by the whole “MADCHESTER” scene that was al the rage at the time. Xavier, our keyboardist, was very good. Classically trained pianist. Because of him and the organ parts he would come up with, we were able to channel the spirit of The Charlatans. There are a couple of recordings of Honeychurch. The music sounds good, but the lyrics are crap, so they’ll probably never see the light of day. HA! I was still learning how to craft good lyrics with that first band.

After Honeychurch came Cha Cha Cha. That’s the band that I started with my friend Rachel Thorson, who was a later member of Honeychurch, and our friend, Mike Perez. Cha Cha Cha originally started out as a zine that came with a tape of music that Mike and I made, with different singers for each song. The tape was more popular than the actual zine, so the project morphed into a full-time band, with Rachel as the lead singer. We were often described as a “lo-fi version of Luscious Jackson”, which was a fair assessment. We released a bunch of tapes through my cassette label, Popgun Recordings, before being picked up by Japanese label, Motorway Records.

When Casino Ashtrays started up, Laura was already in Autocollants with Ed Mazzucco. They sounded like dreamy, shoe-gazey pop. Brian Medford joined the band towards the end, playing saxophone and drums. Brian and I were in high school marching band together, so that would be the only other band he was in before joining up with us.

++ Of course you were also involved with Popgun Recordings, and that’s something I hope we can talk about in another interview, as well as your other bands. But I wonder, what did you enjoy the most playing in a band or running a label?

Playing in bands was definitely more fun than running a label! I mean, I kinda got burned out on both eventually, but I got tired of running the label long before my interest in playing in bands had waned.

++ How was your town (was it Riverside, California?) at the time of Casino Ashtrays? 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?

Riverside was okay. It’s mostly a punk rock kinda town. Aside from the bands that me and my friends were in, there weren’t many local bands that we liked, HA! There were a few venues like Spanky’s and The Barn at UCR (University of California, Riverside), but again, it was mostly punk. To be honest, unless you went to one of the house shows that Laura or I put on, there probably wasn’t much chance of seeing indiepop bands at that time. This was all long before The Summer Twins became such a big indiepop hit in Riverside. As far as record stores went, there was none better than Mad Platter Records at that time – and everyone from the core group of Popgun bands all worked there at one time or another, including Laura!

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

Both Mike and Rachel of Cha Cha Cha had radio shows at the University of California Riverside (UCR), 88.3 FM KUCR. We all used to hang out at the radio station while they did their shows. Mike played a lot of funk, instrumental hip-hop, electronic music, etc. while Rachel played mostly shoegaze, indie rock, and indie pop. Laura used to listen to Rachel’s show and would sometimes call the station to put in a request. And then one time we invited Laura to come hang out at the radio station. It was around that time that I asked her if she sang and she said that she was actually the singer in band (The Autocollants). I asked her if she would be interested in singing on a couple of songs I wanted to record and, to my surprise, she was like, “Sure. OK!” I think that was sometime during 1996. Cha Cha Cha and Popgun Recordings started in 1995, so it would have been 1996 when we all first met Laura.

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

I think I wrote most of our original songs. I would write the songs and maybe record a rough demo for Laura to listen to. She’d learn the singing parts, and then we would quickly record them. And then she would come up with vocal harmonies or additional instrumental parts. And then we’d quickly record those, too. My little Porta 03 4-track was quite mobile and I could set up anywhere. We probably mostly practiced and recorded at my parents’ house, but I think we also recorded and practiced at Laura’s from time to time. I just remember the process being really organic and quick. Feels like most of the recordings came about very quickly. We weren’t super perfectionists about the recording process, and I liked the recordings to be more raw and lo-fi, so I think that helped in that regard.

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

The name “Casino Ashtrays” came from a lyric on “Bus to Vegas”. I had written the song long before the band existed: “The rain fell / from the sky today / and my heart felt like / a casino ashtray”

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

I know for a fact that I was listening to a lot of Lois, The Softies, Astrud Gilberto, The Beautiful South, and The Sundays at that time. They were all definite touchstones.

++ Most of your releases came out on your own label, Popgun. I was wondering if that was always the intention, or did you shop for labels at all? 

It was always the intention to put recordings out on Popgun first, just so we could get these songs out into the world as quickly as possible. Parasol Mail Order had started distributing Cha Cha Cha cassettes through their mailorder catalog already, along with a few other Popgun releases and compilations. So, it was natural to just release things through Popgun Recordings. The cassette releases acted kind of like demos, anyways, and they sometimes led to certain acts getting picked up and released on other labels.

++ The art of the releases of Casino Ashtrays is quite peculiar, at least there are two cat photos and one snowy ball sort of souvenir with a jackpot machine in it. Were these your own photos? Who designed them? 

I designed the covers on all the Popgun cassette releases. The first one, “Bus to Vegas”, features a photo I took of a snow globe I bought in Las Vegas. I used to collect snow globes from all the places I visited. The back cover is a photo of a slot machine that was in my friend Amber’s living room. On the “Just Like Me” e.p. I used an image of a Siamese cat I found in an old book. I would sometimes buy books from the thrift store that had interesting images, and I would sometimes use those to make the the sleeves for Popgun Recordings or show flyers. “Live from 88.7 FM KSPC” was mostly done with silly stickers and images cut out from an art history book. “Long After The Commercials Have Ended” uses commercial clip art from the 60s and 70s. Those also came from an old book. And lastly, our CD release of “Bus to Vegas” on Twee Kitten Records features a photo of my then-girlfriend’s cat with a roulette wheel that her family had. We just wanted to tie in the whole kitten thing with the casino thing.

++ Your first tape was “Bus to Vegas” from 1996. Were the two songs on it the first ever recordings by the band? Or had you had previous songs made? Also, did you two ever take a bus to Las Vegas?

Yes, those were the very first two Casino Ashtrays recordings. I had just finished recording all the instrumental parts when I met Laura. It was very good timing. I have been to Las Vegas many times. And I have travelled by Greyhound Bus many times. But I’ve never actually taken a bus to Vegas! I just kinda combined those two experiences in the song.

++ The second tape was “Just Like Me EP”. Now we find 7 songs! A proper mini-album. This is your longest release, but at the same time it makes me wonder, why didn’t you ever release an album? Were there plans to do one at any point? 

Well, in general, I just prefer singles and short releases over full albums. As far as Popgun was concerned, it was just a way to put out more releases in a short period of time. I always thought of Popgun as a sort of a “singles-only” type lable. Also, dubbing tapes was less of a chore with shorter releases!

++ “Bus to Vegas” was reissued in 1998 with an extra song by a different label, Twee Kitten Records. How did you end up working with them? And whose idea was to re-release this tape? Was this third song “Invincible” from the same period of the two other songs?

It was Scott Z from Twee Kitten who approached us, I believe. I don’t remember exactly how, since it was so long ago. I think he had gotten a copy of the “Bus to Vegas” tape through Parasol Mail Order and then wanted to re-release it as a cd on his label, but with an extra song to make it different than the original release. I had already been working on “Invincible” for a release on Popgun, but then ended up recording it for the Twee Kitten instead.

++ And that release was the only one on CD as well. Did you have a preference between cassette as most of your releases or CD? 

I think if someone had offered to put out an entire Casino Ashtrays album on CD or vinyl we certainly would have done it. Popgun Recordings was set up as a “cassette-only” label mostly as an issue of cost. It was simply cheaper and faster to release music on cassette. And so most of the Casino Ashtrays catalog was released on tape.

++ In 2000 you released “Soundwaves & Radiowaves” which were 6 songs recorded live at 88.7 FM KSPC. How was that experience? Was it your first time recording a live session in the radio? How did this opportunity come to be?

That was fun, if a little nerve-wracking! By that time, both Laura and I were seasoned performers, mostly with our other bands. It was certainly my first time performing live on radio, not sure about Laura. I don’t remember how the live session came about. I think that was something that was set up with Laura. Anyways, the show was nerve-wracking for me because the DJ who was on beforehand was Franklin Bruno!

++ Your last release came out in 2004, “Long After the Commercials Have Ended”, it was 4 years after your previous release. Why did it take so long?

“Long After the Commercials Have Ended” was basically a small collection of loose ends. The cover of “Sleepyhead” by The Cat’s Miaow was supposed to come out on a tribute compilation that some other label was putting together. We waited several years for this release to come out and, by that time, I think we had waited long enough and was convinced that the tribute CD would never see the light of day. So, I thought I should, at the very least, put it out on Popgun just so people could finally hear it. We were very proud of our version! “Must See T.V.” was from a CD compilation that Japanese music magazine Beikoku-Ongaku put out. I added it to the tape to help flesh it out. And then “Books on Tape and 45s” was basically a demo that we recorded before Laura moved up to Santa Rosa, California. A finished version would’ve had more instrumentation – like drums, keyboards, and sleigh bells. I didn’t want the song to languish without a release.

++ When it comes to compilations you did appear on a few and one was in a Beikoku-Ongaku compilation, with the song “Must See T.V.”. How did the Japanese find out about your music? Did you get to sell many tapes there? 

Initially, Japanese music fans found out about Popgun because of the releases we were selling through the Parasol Records mail order catalog. That’s how Cha Cha Cha ended up getting signed to Japanese label, Motorway Records, which ended up bringing more attention to Popgun Recordings. Eventually, a few indie record shops in Japan, such as Propeller in Nagano and King Kong in Osaka, started stocking select releases.

++ Then there was your first time on vinyl with the song “Gilded” on “The Crayola Catastrophy” compilation 7″ released by another California label, Kittridge Records. I wonder were you close to them? Was there a close-knit scene in California back then?

The indie pop scene in Southern California was a pretty close-knit, I would say. We came to know Doug Jones who ran Kittridge because he used to come to the Popluck house shows that either Laura or I would curate and host. A lot of folks from the local scene would come to those shows, definitely. Everyone was collaborating and vibing off each other. It was a great time!

++ And were there more songs recorded by the band that didn’t end up on the compilation? 

Aside from the “Live at KSPC” recordings, Not many. Maybe only one song, I think. One that was written by Laura that she chose to leave off the compilation.

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

Awww, thanks! The song is about that joyful feeling when you meet someone who’s into the same weird or obscure stuff as you are. All music tribes/scenes usually have an unspoken “dress code” or style that comes with fandom. That’s really fascinating to me.

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

That’s a tough one. I really like “Gilded” because of the beat that Laura plays on it. To me, it kinda has a “funky drummer” groove to it. And I really like our vocals – I like how we trade on and off, I like the counter melodies, Laura’s harmonies…there’s just a lot of nice layering in the song. The lyrics aren’t too shabby, either. HA! There’s a lyric that Laura sings on it that goes “Are your boring ideas of fun the same as mine?”…we ended up using that as the title of the anthology that Jigsaw Records put out. I also use that lyric as the tagline on my personal Instagram account.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

Not too many, I don’t think. We probably played almost all the house shows we put on, though.

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

Playing at the inaugural San Francisco Popfest in 1999 was, hands down, the best gig we played. No doubt. We were the first band to go on, on a Friday night, opening for an amazing roster of bands which included The Fairways, Monterey, The Crabs, and Marine Research. I remember that the Bottom Of The Hill club was sold out and packed from the front of the stage all the way back. And you could just feel and see the excitement and anticipation in the crowd. It was probably the most nerve-wracking show ever, but also one of the most fun times performing.

I have a couple of great anecdotes about this particular show, but this is the best one. Okay, so, the previous year, back in 1998, I was living and studying abroad in Oxford, England. Literally, one of the first things I did when I arrived in Oxford was to get my hands on a local weekly that listed all the gigs and concerts in town. I was ready to see some live music and have some fun! To my surprise, I saw that fellow Twee Kitten labelmates, The Relationships, were playing a show in Oxford at this club called >>The Point<< at the end of the week – my very first week in town! What were the odds? So, I ended up going to the show, of course.

After The Relationships played, I introduced myself to the lead singer, Richard Ramage. I complimented their show and said, “By the way, we’re labelmates on Twee Kitten. I’m in this band called Casino Ashtrays!” and Richard, with a surprised look on his face exclaimed, “What the bloody hell are you doing HERE???” We all had a good laugh and many pints were shared that night. Well, I soon learned that Richard used to be roommates with Amelia and Pete from Heavenly…and he suggested that we all get pints one day! And of course, I didn’t turn down that opportunity! I barely remember that day with them at the pub because I think I was so star struck. But I do remember vividly Amelia saying, “Well, maybe someday we’ll get to play with your band!” I thought to myself how great that would be…and that it would probably never happen. But then the next year at SF Popfest it DID happen!

++ And were there any bad ones?

There was this one show that we did with The Boyish Charms, Poundsign, and the Aislers Set. The line-up itself was awesome. And the music and performances were awesome. But the venue was at this all-ages punk club somewhere in Long Beach, California. I think it was called the PCH Club. Anyways, it was basically a rundown warehouse space by the train tracks that was literally crawling with rats. Hardly anyone showed up, so it was basically bands playing to the bands. That was probably the worst show we ever played.

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

Casino Ashtrays ended pretty much after Laura moved upstate to Santa Rosa, CA. It was just too hard to do the long-distance thing at that time. The internet wasn’t a thing like it is now. Plus, Laura was busy with The Autocollants, Monterey, her own solo stuff and other musical projects. And I was busy being in a bunch of other bands, too. Besides doing Test Pilot, I was in Winnebago, Red Pony Clock, The Easy Outs, a band called The Summer Flings…and I did a bunch of one-off things with different bands. And then when I moved to Athens, Georgia, I started a band with my girlfriend, Missy Kulik, called The French Toasts. And soon afterwards I joined the aforementioned Folklore. Then, both Missy and I were briefly in a band called Gemini Cricket. Somewhere in there, I started a band called The Slow Rowboat that lasted a hot minute…long enough for the band to play one show! And then the last band I was active in was this local Athens band called Werewolves.

++ Has there been any The Casino Ashtrays reunion?

No, there hasn’t been a reunion. It would be fun, though, if we could pull one off!

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

Well, we did play that one live show at KSPC!

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

No. None from any traditional newspapers or magazines.

++ What about from fanzines?

From fanzines, definitely. Mostly in Japan and Sweden, I think!

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

The biggest highlight would definitely be Casino Ashtrays performing at the 1999 San Francisco Popfest. Such a fun and crazy time! We were so grateful for that opportunity.

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

IS there anything else besides music? I like to travel, go to museums, work on craft projects, root around in antique shops, garden, hang out with Missy and our pets. Mild-mannered stuff.

++ I know you are based now in Atlanta, and I have never visited so would love to hear your recommendations as a local, what sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try? 

Well, it’s not Atlanta, but if you’re a hardcore music fan, you should definitely spend a day wandering around Athens, GA. Do that, first. If possible, sign up to take one of the music history tours of the town, if available from the Welcome Center. Maybe catch a show at the world famous 40 Watt Club or at the Flicker Theater & Bar a couple of doors down from there. And of course, spend some time and money at Wuxtry Records and at Bizarro Wuxtry, the comic book shop above the record store. Hiking around the State Botanical Gardens in Athens is a lovely way to spend the day, too. Vintage and antique finds can be had at Starlite Showroom.

We’re still fairly new to Atlanta, so our recommendations are going to be pretty basic and touristy! You should visit the King Center, for sure. It is the final resting place of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and there are exhibits honoring his life and work, along with exhibits for Coretta Scott King and Gandhi. We really like The High Museum of Art. Highly, recommended! The Georgia Aquarium is cool too – it’s crowded, but totally worth it if you’ve never been. I know you’re a soccer fan, so maybe try to catch an Atlanta United game while in town! Or catch a show at The Earl or Terminal West. Record shopping at Criminal Records is a must.

Food-wise, we’re vegetarian. So, in Athens, we highly recommend eating at The Grit. It is a vegetarian Mecca of sorts, especially for road-weary bands. Even if you’re not vegetarian, you have to eat there if you are in town. We also like Heirloom Café and Condor Chocolates. Drinking-wise, we like Rook & Pawn because it’s where all the nerds hang out. But also check out Flicker, Little Kings, and World Famous if you like your drinks with a side of live music.

In Atlanta you should basically just go up on Buford Hwy to eat. It is a long stretch of road bursting with Asian and Latin American restaurants serving up authentic cuisine. There’s also Krog Street Market and Ponce City Market – both are basically fancy food courts, but in the best possible way. Our favorite place to eat is just up the street from us – Arepa Mia. Yummy arepas served up Venuzuelan-style. Drinking-wise close to us in downtown Decatur we have the Brickstore Pub with a wide selection of craft beers and S.O.S., which is this really great tiki bar. And we have My Parent’s Basement which is a bar-arcade-comic book shop combo. It’s where the freaks and geeks hang out. Our kind of people!

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Thanks for the interview, Roque! Apologies for taking so long to get back to you!

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Listen
Casino Ashtrays – Dress Code

Day 144.

Tigre Ulli: Kocliko Records is back in full force! There are two new releases worth talking about. The first is this one by María Zamtlejfer, one of the founding members of the great Argentinean band Las Ligas Menores! Tigre Ulli is her project and she has just released a 7-song EP and it sounds amazing. I will need a copy for sure!

The National Honor Society: remember I was complaining that there was no proper release by this amazing Seattle band? Well Kocliko was the smartest of all and picked the band up! They have just released “All the Glory We Never Had”, a wonderful jangly 10 song album that may be among the best this year. Not to be missed!

Majorelle Blue: the Malmö band have 4 new songs on their Soundcloud part of their “Nostalgia Porn” EP. I have recommended this band in the past and I have to do it again as these are great in-your-face pop songs. It doesn’t look as the release is available on physical formats, but at least we can play it time and time again online.

Lisa Bouvier: our friend Lisa will be releasing a 7″ this coming October. It will have two songs and one of them is available to preview, “Every Year Until We Die”. The songs were also recorded and produced by another Cloudberry friend, Adam John Miller from The Manhattan Love Suicides. So yeah, this is good. The 7″ will be limited to 120 copies and it is up for pre-order now.

Saturday Looks Good to Me: the great Michigan band have a few live recordings from different gigs on their Bandcamp. The latest they have shared is from October 14, 2007, at the legendary Schuba’s in Chicago. There are 15 songs here that sounds good to me.

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I discovered Roof through their song “Chick House” that was included in the classic, legendary, compilation “Grimsby Fishmarket 4 – Norrkoeping 0”. This tape compilation compiled by Marcus Törncrantz is one of the most important ones in my book, especially when it comes to the early 90s. Released in 1991 in Sweden on his own label Records from the Cookie Nose Tower (CNT001) it introduced so many great bands. I have talked about this compilation many times in the past, like when I wrote about Mary-Go-Round, Bummer Twins, The Apple Moths, My Finest Hours, and more!

Roof appears on the A side of this compilation, with the fifth track overall. Until now I didn’t know anything about them really. My surprise would come almost immediately after doing a quick search. One of Japan’s leading pop figures was involved in this band playing bass, Hideki Kaji!

This particular song “Chick House” is credited to Mitsunori Sasaki who had been in another band called The Bachelors. Now, The Bachelors just got reissued a cassette on the Blue-Very label last year. Wow! I should interview him one day I hope!

So we know two members. There were two more. There was Hirotaka Shimizu and Yasunobu Arakawa. Hirotaka had been in so many bands, Bridge, Brother’s Sister’s Daughter, If By Yes, Marble Hammock, Mi-Gu and Spielgusher. Yasunobu on the other hand was in Favourite Marine, Flipper’s Guitar, Lollipop Sonic, Marble Hammock, Museum of Plate and The Stars. Okay we are finding this band is formed just by Japanese indiepop royalty! How cool!

This means one thing, I should try to track down the two records they released in the early 90s. The first was a mini-album called “Two-Lane Blacktop” that was released by Confusion (PCCC-00015) in 1992. Confusion was a Japanese label run by Kazuhiko Hirata. He had released Loco-Holidays (remember them? I wrote about them last year!). This mini-album was released on CD and included these songs, “Point at Issue”, “Planes”, “Going Home”, “Story about Love” and “Cities”.

The band’s last release seems to date from 1997. It was a CD mini-album as well. It was also released by Confusion (PCCC-00020). Again 6 songs appear on it: “River and Road Part 2”, “Small Town (is a Strange Place)”, “Feel Sick on Sunday”, “Free Land”, “Standing in the Station When I Think of Him” and “Pink and Blue”. The art was created by Yutaka Kawase while the liner notes were written by Asako Koide. The record was recorded and mixed by Hidenori Ataka and Masaki Hayashi.

But that wasn’t all. The band appeared on compilations as well. Aside from the “Grimsby Fishmarket 4 – Norrkoeping” tape they would appear on the 1991 Crue-L Records (CRUELCD 001) CD compilation “Blow-Up 6 Singles and Jingles” with the songs “Tears of Crown” and “Green”. Then that same year they would contribute “(Waitin in the) Ferry Boat” and “Chick’s Room” to “Les Frederick Presents Innocence & Peppermints”. Worth mentioning that both songs were written by Mitsunori.

In 1991 they would also appear on the “Confusion Label 2nd Release” CD released by Confusion (DSP-138) with two tracks “Small Town (is a Strange Place)” and “Feel Sick on Sunday”. Lastly in 1993 they would have two songs, “Angels are Coming” and “Standing Still” on the very fine compilation “Ask the Sky” co-released by the great ¡Por Supuesto! Records and Rail Recordings (STAP 0313).

Interestingly enough, there is about no information about the band on the web. Sure they had all these well known members in it. But for some reason that I understand there are no reviews, no bios, no nothing. This is a true mystery to me! I should try to get the records. The compilations they were in also look great, so many good bands. I don’t know if it is good time to be spending lots of money, but these records look great. Promising. And the little I’ve heard by Roof (2 songs only!) are fantastic.

So yeah, I wanna know more about them. If they had more songs. Maybe more releases. Anything would be great. Help is appreciated!

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Listen
Roof – Small Town (Is a Strange Place)