Thanks so much to Dave Webb for the interview! I wrote about the fantastic Wolverhampton band The Weeping Messerchmitts on the blog some time ago. Just after the label Optic Nerve was announcing that they were re-releasing the “Nothing Yet” 12″ as a 7″, Dave Webb get on touch and luckily he was up to tell the story of the band!

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

Yes I am very well with good health, keeping fit at the gym, although its more my social club, working mainly weekends as a full time musician. Now singing and playing guitar in clubs in and around the Midlands as “Dave Jonson”, accommodating each clubs specific style and needs, but preferring the 2 x one hour Indie sets, covering the Cure, Mighty Lemon Drops, Inspiral Carpets, Morrissey and the likes.

 ++ Just a few days ago the label Optic Nerve was announcing that they were going to reissue your one 12″ single as a 7″. How did this happen? How did they track you down? Was it a surprise to you?

A complete unknown to all of us, they had been tracking us previously but couldn’t find any of us, but they finally got through to Mark Jeavons, and it snowballed from there. It was a surprise but not shockingly, as we have been approached previously by companies mainly in America.

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

My first musical memory was being taken as an 11yr old to see Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Bham, to listen to Tchaikovsky’s 1812 overture, which left an imprint on me to this day. Then through the 70s ,especially the Punk stage and the 80s synth and then indie scene.

My first instrument was Guitar, my elder brother Steve played bass in a band and forced me to learn A and D chords so he could practice the bass line to All right now by Free..Which held me in good stead, cus I saw the clash on TV and saw Mick Jones playing the two chords I knew, and that was it ,I was off on a journey.

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

We had all been in bands before but only performed local to our surroundings. We have recordings but only on old cassettes made by our mates .hahaha, great times.

++ Where were you from originally?

Mark Alexander the bass player and Garry Oliver the Guitarist came from Sedgley, Mark Jeavons the Guitarist escaped from Bilston, I still live in Tipton and Simon Atkins the drummer came from Hammerwich.

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

Wolverhampton had thriving musical venues, with many bands, but fortunately the two Marks and Garry had school friends in The Mighty Lemon Drops and we kinda hung out together but with musical differences, they had a few years on us but gave us opportunities to support, and our first gig was to a packed Wolverhampton Polytechnic, further gigs were added and we flew with them till gigs started coming our way to headline. We owe them a lot.

Other bands were the Wild flowers and Pop will eat itself, that we performed alongside, The Sand Kings and the Honey Turtles I remember were 2 particularly good bands, they supported us at JBs in Dudley, which was our home, (the press gave us the Wolverhampton badge). As for venues JBs in Dudley was THE place to be seen and heard, our first night there was rammed.

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

The band started in a pub in Sedgley where M, M and G put together a few ideas over a pint, a few weeks later a cassette with song ideas was made in Mark j’s bedroom and then the best knock on my door ever arrived. I had been in a band with Garry a few years earlier (Quirks) learning the ropes , we all split amicably and as I say a few yrs later the knock on the door. Mark (bass) and Garry played the tape and said would I write melodies, words, sing, and do I know a drummer.   At the time I was in the company of Gary ODea a drummer of another band The Prototypes, a Ska band of local lads. I approached gaz and we formed what was then, “The Railway Children”.

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

We practiced at Sam Sharp Project in Wolverhampton centre right opposite the train station, Run by a Jamaican guy named Granville, We practiced and mixed with a fantastic bunch of people, what fantastic times we had there ,practicing was a joy, which I feel reflected our tone. During the first main year of gigs we had an offer from Jerry Cott , Guitarist with the Boomtown rats to manage us, which went well for a few months, then offering to change the look and output of the band, we disagreed  and he stepped out the soon after , on which Gary O Dea, drums, left. Simon Atkins was nothing at all to do with our look and music, a long haired rocker in spandex he turned up after advertising in the melody maker. He was and still is awesome, a word I never use. Within a month the jean jacket and jeans with an indie haircut used to turn up to practice.  What a talented man.

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

During all this time we were the Railway Children performing , Timebox , Cricketers, weekly indie venues in London, On the tails of the Lemon Drops at the Leadmill in Sheffield, then our 3rd or 4th JBs Gig we had a call in the dressing room, “This is Virgin Records, You have to change your name ,our lawyers need to issue paperwork to you ,can you give me an address?, “fuck off ya prick “,was my response.

But as we found out they had signed a Manchester band who had pinched our name…we used the press (NME ,Sounds, and especially Record Mirror) over the next few months to our advantage as they would pick up on all our hard work and fan base. But with the Mighty Virgin lawyers on our backs, we struggled to get to a name as The Railway Children was imprinted in our mindset.. Practicing one night Mark J came to practice and opened a ww2 book, the heading of the chapter was “Weeping Messerschmitts”. Immediately I said that’s it, it just fit with all of us. Then began the hard work of starting again.

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

Influences were many but we were gladly mentioned in the Music press as a “younger Smiths” kind of feel, we all had Punk in our veins, who hadn’t at that time???? but with many many others types of sounds, my major influence was Bill Nelson, although never used him purposely as an influence ,I’m sure the melodies must have been guided by him.

++ As we were saying earlier, you only released one 12″ single on Uptight Records in 1986. How did you end up working with this label? Was there any interest from other labels?

We were approached by 3 major labels, Polygram, Island and Stiff records,  but the best deal was when Upright approached us. We had been in a few studios recording so we could sell tapes on the black market, But Upright paid for us to go into Rich Bitch Studios in Bham to do the three tracks on the 12 inch.

++ The Uptight label had some fine bands in their catalogue like The Doctor’s Children or Yeah Jazz. Were you familiar or friends with any of the bands on the label?

Yes we did many London gigs with Yeah jazz , a fine bunch of lads, although no one understood our Black country accents so we kinda never got too friendly..Plus we were needing to drive back to the midlands to get to work next day.. Never worked with Doctors Children although I remember they had some decent write ups.

++ One thing that surprised me was that 8 years after the record was reissued in Spain. Were you aware of that at the time? Do you have a copy of the Spanish single? And there was also a compilation appearance in a Spanish comp called “Lo Mejor de los Ochenta”, the best from the 80s. I suppose you have many fans in Spain? Is that so?

We had no knowledge of the Spanish connection, although I had mail from a Spanish Music reporter during the time we were gigging, but as for the Old Gold issue, nothing. The compellation album I have only recently heard of in the last 3months. Again, a complete surprise. As for fans in Spain, I hope we have, and long may they be there.

++ Tell me about the art for the 12″, where does the front cover comes from? And where was the back photo taken?

The artwork was chosen by us from my various pieces proffered by Upright, it just fitted the mood of the track. The back photo was, and still is, my worst nightmare, we had been recording in Rich Bitch and came out at 3am in the morning, knackered, Jerry Cott had put me through my paces after everyone had done there piece while they were fresh and awake, I was knackered when I recorded the vocals, we left and before we drove back he took some photos one which was used for the back cover, the band thought I had a moody look so I agreed, but as soon as it was released, it was the only fault, the new 7inch will be different.. at long last……hahahaha

++ There was a promo video for the song “Panthera Parvos” that was recorded at the British Federal Tipton and JBs in Dudley. How was the experience making the video?

My younger brother martin was doing a Degree in Media and had as part of his work ,to create a working video, he approached us with his team and took the set up to JBs Dudley and over the fields by the Black Country Museum and shot it, It was a weird experience but pleasantly rewarding.

++ Have you heard the cover version of “Nothing Yet” by Terry Malts? What do you think of it? Are you aware of any other covers of your songs?

I think that’s just an error, that’s me singing. I know an American band Pale Spectre got in touch and ask me if I would allow them to perform Nothing Yet on a tour they were doing, which I gladly agreed.

++ Are there still unreleased songs by the band? Or everything was released?

We have loads of unreleased songs, we kept them away from Upright even though they were great to work with we understood the industry.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Nothing Yet”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

“Nothing Yet” was a token of our attitude to Margaret Thatchers Britain at that time, along with my failing marriage the two seemed to blend into purposeful and meaningful, (to us), words. The Guitar riff was created by Mark J, I just hummed over it and wrote a few words, not wanting it to be heavily burdened with political and personal connotations I repeated the verse to be memorable, the “na na na na” section was memorable in itself with the crowd always singing it on the way out the venues. One of the reasons maybe to release it as the single.

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

Truly and honestly, we had no favorites we enjoyed performing all of the tracks…any that never made it to the stage we shelved and reworked or dropped.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? 

I played about 50 gigs , when I left the band they did a further gigs .

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

Best gigs?? For crowd participation would be Wolvo Poly, The Leadmill with the Lemon Drops and every JBs gig.

++ And were there any bad ones?

Never Had a bad gig, although we played the Coach and Horses in West Bromwich, which was  a Heavy rock venue and 3 people turned up , one with his dog, he just sat and had a pint at the back. Also had a gig in Hereford where Heavy Rockers tried to stop the gig by throwing chairs about the place. But in both we played well, just the wrong venue.

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

I stopped singing to try to save my marriage, what a twat.. we split 2 yrs after I left the band.

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

Mark Alexander left the band in 87/88 and joined The Wild Flowers, Then returned to full time employment but continued to play the pub and club scene with a covers band, funnily enough with Messerschmitts Garry Oliver. He continues playing at home as he is now a professional driver with royal mail.

Mark Jeavons carried on writing and played briefly with The wild Flowers front man Neil Foley. He is currently not performing but still does home recording ideas for future times.

Garry Oliver has never stopped performing, still to this day his covers band, having a relaxed approach to the music industry and performing as and when the need arises.

Simon Atkins  left and started a record shop alongside playing with Roxy Magic, The UKs finest Roxy Music tribute band, which he still does to this day.

Dave Webb had a barren period from 88 to 93 musically, but was approached to front Midland show band Baktrak, winning multiple awards from the Industry, when the band split Dave formed two duos, one of which he played alongside Ray James of “Cum to Bedlam” fame, after that Dave went solo working the greater Midland clubs as guitar vocalist “Dave Jonson”, and still performs as a full time artiste.

++ Has there been any Weeping Messerchmitts reunion?

We were going to reform a few yrs ago when the JBs Book was released but though twice about it. But maybe now the single is re released its more tempting, we all still play in one form or another.

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

We had major national music press coverage for gigs, write ups and the release of the single of course.

++ What about radio or TV?

We were discussed on Radio 1 show Janet Long due to our unusual name, but not as far as I know never played on daytime national radio. We had local success with BRMB, Beacon Radio, Radio WM, Shropshire Radio and some local community radio stations. As for TV, I wish !!!!

++ What about from fanzines?

We had many fanzine interviews but looking back we didn’t take them too seriously, answering questions with alcohol and pornographic innuendoes….but yes fanzine were rife in the eighties.

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

The biggest highlight for us as a band was the feel on stage, we knew the songs were good, we knew we looked good, and we knew we sounded good, But we wasn’t big headed or cocky, we just did our job and let others climb on board if they felt the need.

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

For me Hobbies are out the window, im a full time musician who makes 90% of my tracks so I concentrate on making my backing tracks sound good, the best compliment I have, is that I sound like a band on stage, that to me, is priceless.

++ Never been to Wolverhampton, so would like to hear from some locals for some recommendations by a local, like sights one shouldn’t miss? Food and drinks one should try?

Being a Black Country lad, I would recommend the Black Country Museum and the Canal Experience next door, a fantastic day out . The Fountain Inn in Owen Street Tipton offers a great range of traditional ales and excellent pub food, also the Jubilee pub in Powis Avenue Tipton offers the best curry in the area.

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Weeping Messerschmitts – Nothing Yet

Day 186. Not much news today, but I have been quite productive on the blog site writing many interviews and asking more bands to participate. This week for sure we have posts Monday through Friday.

Nos Etés Trop Courts: some time ago I shared the “Sunshine Demo EP” by this early 90s shoegaze band from Nantes. Today I want to tell you that the first demo, “Sunset Demo”, is up on Bandcamp. 3 great songs recorded by Gérôme Guibert and Jimmy Arfosea in 1991. On top if it all I promise an interview with the band members later this week!

Foliage: a new album by the San Bernardino project is coming out on October 2nd digitally and November 11 on tape. This self-titled album will be released by  Z Tapes and at the moment we can preview one of the tracks, “Better Man”. The album will have 12 songs.

The Luxembourg Signal: the Californian band is going to be back with a new album on Shelflife Records on October 23rd and that’s great news! The Long Now” will be released on vinyl and CD  and will have 10 songs! Again we can only preview one song, “2.22”, which is terrific! Can’t wait for it.

The Hepburns: and finally we can listen to the new album “Electric Lliedi Land” on Bandcamp! 18 songs that are truly wonderful. One that no one could miss this year. The album is being released on CD and comes with a 16 page booklet (I always like big booklets with info and lyrics) and is out already!

Airiel: lastly in this Monday review, we find a new track from the classic Chicago shoegaze band. It is called “Bloom” and it sounds beautiful, gorgeous. Does this new track mean that the band will be releasing a new record soon? It seems so. The band says they are working on an EP top be released later this year!

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“Paris Rain in July”. That is the song that made me think that I thought would give me a check mark for July, in this silly challenge I am taking on my own. Writing about bands that had written about the months, now I am in July, and of course the next would be August.

So yeah, Chasing Dorotea. From Sweden. They released just one record, an album, back in 2002. It came out on the pre-Labrador Records label Summersound Recordings (SUMMER 007). It was a co-release with Stereo Test Kit Records (STK CD002).

11 songs came on this CD digipak, “The Anchor Song”, “Crackin Up”, “Dreamer”, “Tuva Song”, “In April”, “All I Want”, “A Long Time Ago”, “Paris Rain in July”, “Early Morning Mist”, “Memory” and “Dark Angel”. The producers for the album were Christopher Sander and Mattias Berqvist. Both of them were part of the band of course, Berqvist was the drummer as well as playing tambourine, vocals and handclaps. Sander on the other hand wrote most of the band’s songs and sand as well as played melodica. The other band members was Hugo Waara on bass.

Other people that participated on the record were Tobias Einestad, Sariana Cortes, Andreas Jeppson, Erik Westerberg, Paulo Vidal and César Vidal who wrote the song “Crackin Up”.

The Labrador website has a small little writeup from Christopher Sander. He says: “Me, Hugo and Mattias have been playing music together since we were 11 years old. I have been writing songs for as long. We grew up in a suburb of Stockholm. Have had our share of parties and travels. I write lyrics about girls I like a lot, dreams, childhood and other things I think are important.

Decided in 1998 to make music that sounded like red house painters. Before that I was mostly in to hard rock. All the musicians are from the same music school. I met my sister Tuva on a parkbench in Prague. Recorded a demo in 1999 and nothing happened.

In the beginning of 2001 I wrote twelve songs in a week, recorded them the following week and signed a contract with Summersound the third week. 25 new songs in my pocket, much better, I think, a couple of duets with a girl called Maria.

We rehearse in a suburb called the mid-summer garland together with three of the greatest bands in the world; Caesar’s Palace, The Dandelions and Mano and the Tears.”

I feel this has been translated from Swedish or something. Badly translated. The suburb they mention might be Midsommarkransen in Stockholm.  I don’t understand either when he says he met his sister Tuva in a Prague.

I do know that the Caesar’s Palace band he mentions is the band were César Vidal who wrote the song “Crackin Up”. Was this song from one of his previous bands? He had been in Ceasars and Safari on Pluto as well.

Speaking of people who appeared on the record we know that Andreas Jeppson was in [ingenting]. Tobias Einestad had played trumpet in many recordings for the likes of Acid House Kings, Airliner, or Club 8, so he was well connected with the Labrador people. Don’t know if he had been in any bands.

And of course the [ingenting] connection goes further. Mattias Bergqvist and Christopher Sander would be part of this band after the demise of Chasing Dorotea. They would continue releasing with Labrador too. After that we know that Berqvist would be part of First Aid Kit and Little Children. Sander on the other hand would release a few solo records. Hugo Waara would play in records by Belle.

Then on Last.fm there is another small bio where it says that the label people found about Chasing Dorotea in a visit to a mall: “While buying magazines in a mall we noticed some truly wonderful music coming from the speakers. Gentle little songs with sensitive whispery vocals. We asked the boy behind the counter what it was. That boy was songwriter Christopher Sander and the wonderful music was by his very own; Chasing Dorotea.” Interesting!

Okay, so one album. But also two appearances on compilations. The first was on “The Sound of Young Sweden – Volume 3” released by Labrador (LAB034) in 2002. The band would contribute two songs to it, “Dreamer” and “Compassion”. Then in 2005 they would have “The Anchor Song” on the compilation “Records Make Great Pets Vo. 1/Sweden” released by Stereo Test Kit Records in the UK.

I continue looking for any information about the band. I find that the band played a mini-festival for Labrador on May 9, 2003 at Bommens Salonger. Then I think I find who is the Tuva mentioned in the Labrador bio. So the song “The Anchor Song” which is sung by Sander and a girl, well that girl was Tuva Novotny. Novotny a well known actress who has appeared on Hollywood movies like “Eat, Pray, Love”, “Annhilation” or Blind Spot”, among others.

Not much more about them on the web, but quite some interesting stories we’ve found, right? I am sure the band must have lots of anecdotes. And I am also wondering, when did they stop the band and become [ingenting]? Were they tired of singing in English, perhaps? And the classic one, are there more songs recorded by the band?

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Chasing Dorotea – All I Want

Day 183.

The Apartments: new video by Peter Walsh’s band! It is for the song “What’s Beauty to Do?” that will be included in the album “In and Out of the Light” that is coming out on September 18th on Riley Records! Such a good song!

Fred Fredburger: the Spanish band is back with three new songs, “15 Minutos”, “La Merienda” and “Acústica”. They are only available in digital form which is a bit of a shame.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: another band that is back (actually never stops releasing music) is this California project by Glenn Donaldson. The latest are two songs, “Upside Down in an Empty Room” and “Mountain Lake Park”.

Jetstream Pony: A new 7″ coming out by one of our favourite bands. Two new songs, “If Not Now, When?” and “Yellow Pills” are to be released by Spinout Productions on September 25th! Sadly it seems it is already sold out. No copy for me.

The Age of Colored Lizards: the Oslo shoegaze band is of course back too! Everyone is back in this review. No new bands! Anyways, the Norwegians come back with a CD release of their 8 song album “Messed Up”! Check it out!

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A song called “June” in their only proper release, the album “Electric Songs” from 1999. Okay, I can cross out this month in this silly challenge of mine.

Aquadays, the superb Gothenburg, Sweden, band. The band that formed in 1993. A band whose members who at the beginning had been living in Alingsås and were in Somersault. And then in the 2000s some of these same members were going to be in The Electric Pop Group.

And yes, I did catch The Electric Pop Group play live. Here in NYC of all places. I met with Martin Aamot then. Shortly. But it was great. We had been in touch since they released their first self-titled album. At that time, maybe around 2006 I didn’t know of the Aquadays connection. I would find out about it some years after. And today I found that he was in a band called Rain who released a 7″ that I had no clue! I really want to listen to it! And have this record!

So, yes, Aquadays was Lisa Sandström on farfisa organ, Martin Aamot on the Fender guitar, Roland synthesizer, rhythm machines and vocals and Klara Albinsson on vocals. I don’t know when they changed their name from Somersault to Aquadays. Maybe it was in 1996. That was the year when Klara left the band. That was also the year the rest of the band members moved to Gothenburg. And it was in Gothenburg that Sarah Assbring would join as vocalist.

Then in 1998, Sarah would leave the band. That was in March. Two months after, in May, Klara, the original vocalist, decided to get back in the band and release an album. By that point the band had already recorded twelve songs. In 1997 they had put together a demo tape called “Spring” with eight of them. These songs had previously appeared on other demo tapes like “Ultramarine” and “Spacious”, but there were some new ones like “Casablanca”, Senseless” and “Daydreamer”.

Finally in 1998 the band would record the album in their own home studio. It seemed at that point that Roger Gunnarsson’s label Dorian Records was to put out the album but in the end was the German label Apricot Records (APRICD 006) that would put them out in 1999.

This album was released on CD and had 10 songs: “Senseless”, “Daydreamer”, “Casablanca”, “June”, “Spacious”, “Sunshine Girl”, “Mother of Pearl”, “Gem”, “Lustre” and “Autumn Swirl”.

What happened to Sarah? She went to sing in the band Sadovaja and of course afterwards would be way more known as El Perro del Mar.

There is actually an old website for the band that you can still access which is great. Here there is a “demography”. The first two tapes are for Somersault, so maybe they would be for a different post. But there are 2 tapes for Aquadays. There is the self-titled 1996 tape that had 7 songs, “June”, “Spacious”, “Lachrymose”, “Mother-of-Pearl”, “Gem”, “Lustre” and “Autumn Swirl”, and the 1997 tape called “Spring” that had 8 songs, “Senseless”, “Daydreamer”, “Casablanca”, “June”, “Spacious”, “Mother of Pearl”, “Lustre” and “Autumn Swirl”. Were the songs that appear twice re-recordings? And what about the ones that didn’t appear on the album? Would be nice to hear them of course. Also it is worth noting that many of these songs were already recorded by Somersault. So the question that is obvious is if the songs sounded much different?

About gigs, I found out on the website that the band played with The Wellmeant at Tre Backar in Stockholm on May 23rd 1997. What about gigs in Gothenburg?

But this was not all of course, the band did appear on a bunch of compilations in the late 90s and in the 2000s.

The earliest one is with the song “June” in 1996. This one came on “A Chance to Shine. A Dorian Records Compilation” (DORIAN 002). I guess this is where the friendship between Aquadays and Dorian started. So why was the album not released by them? Would be good to find out!

Then in 1998 they contributed the song “Casablanca” to “Yearbook 98″, a 12” compilation on Clair de Leon! (CDL! 001), a label that would later become the more known Clairerecords. That same year they would appear on Earwax Records’ “Wax001 – An International Indie Compilation” (WAX001) with the track “Daydreamer” and also on the US compilation “Pure Spun Sugar” (CF-017, AmPop 201), a co-release between Candy Floss and the American Pop Project, with the track “Gem”.

In 2000 the band contributed “Sunshine Girl” to the Japanese label Trolley Bus Music Tour’s compilation CD “Trolley Bus Music Tour” (TB-001). Then Apricot Records, who had released their album, would include their song “Sunshine Girl” to “Small But Sweet” (APRICD010) compilation. This compilation would be re-released in Japan by Quattro Disc that same year.

The US compilation “Just for a Day” (DAY01) released by the label of the same name would have them with their song “Senseless” also in the year 2000.

In 2002 the band had their song “Casablanca” on “Working Titles” a compilation CD by Factory Girl Records (QTY:008) and then on the classic Serbian compilation CD “A View of Our Dreams” (OaBCD001) released by Nikola’s On a Balcony label they would appear with the track “Sunshine Girl”.

The only other appearance that I know is on the “Airpop” CD and LP compilation released by Apricot (APRICD002). There they would contribute the songs “Senseless” and “June”.

Digging the website I find reviews of their album. One that mentions them being a mix of Savage Garden (?) and Orange Cake Mix. Then an interview with Pennyblackmusic. This one is good. Here Martin mentions he discovered indiepop in 1992. Before that he had been in a band called Divine that were more inspired by Depeche Mode or Ultravox. After discovering indiepop he would form Rain. Now I want to listen to this band more!

So that’s where I lose the trail. There is not much written about them. Other than the few reviews and their own website. I have many questions as you might have notice. Maybe it is good time to reconnect with Martin. Find out whatever happened to Aquadays. I’d be very interested. What about you?

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Aquadays – Sunshine Girl

Day 181.

Optic Sevens 3.0: now you can pre-order the new series of 7″ reissues by Optic Nerve. The new series include 7″s by Chin Chin, Girls at Our Best, The Servants, East Village, The Nivens, The Siddeleys, Beat Happening, Camper Van Beethoven, The Desert Wolves, Weeping Messerchmitts, The Clouds and The House of Love. This is not to be missed!

The Catherines: our Hamburg friends have a new CD out! It is a 4 song EP titled “Okay Then…” that jangles a lot! I would love to get a copy of course, especially as the CD version comes with an extra track, so 5 for CD, 4 for the digital EP. And who’s on the front cover photo? Is that Heiko?

Weedipus: Lets head to Barnsley in the UK to check out the “Demo Tape EP” which is actually out on CD! The four songs included, “Honest”, “Broken Boy”, “Places to Go” and “We Both Know”, are amazing! Fuzzy, poppy, dreamy and with great vocals. Definitely a band to keep an eye!

Todavía: I have recommended this Los Angeles band in the past and so it is no surprise I will do it again now that they are releasing a cassette album titled “Orange Faint of Sky” on October 2nd! The album will include 11 tracks and you can preview 4 of them now on Bandcamp!

Pastel Coast: I think it is a great idea to finish this quick review of new indiepop in the world with the video for “Rendezvous”! The song is included in the second album by the French band Pastel Coast. It is summery and feel good, and I believe that’s what we all need now!

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For May I thought of the band Fantastic June from Indonesia who recorded a song called “May”. Of course!

After making this decision I noticed I had written a short piece about them some time ago, recommending their latest release “Dancing With Flowers” which is available on Bandcamp. This one dates from 2020 and includes 10 songs, “High”, “Maybe”, “Smile”, “Blue”, “Rain”, “The Winner”, “What Do You Want”, “Nothing in this World”, “Merindu Waktu” and “Bad”. As always all these songs were written and performed by Ridwan Yuniardhika, the force behind this project.

He got help from some friends of course like Ganesha Mahendra (electric guitar on “Maybe”), Anzarra Djahran (keyboards on “Maybe”) and Carryna Pratiwi (backing vocals on “The Winner” and “Bad”). Carryna also did the beautiful art that we see on the cover. But what about the song “May” you say?

The Bandung based project started in 2004. It was in early 2005 that the band would release a free CD demo (which songs were on this one? we need to find out!) and those were his first recordings. Later, in 2007, the band would release an EP called “An”. It is on this one that the song “May” was included.

I am looking at the band’s website. Here you can purchase both album and EP. This is great news. Do they ship to the US? I need to find out. What about Europe? The websites that you are taken to to buy the CDs seem to be in Indonesian which is not helpful for me that I don’t know the language. Maybe some Indonesian friends will help.

The “An” EP was released according to the website not in 2005, as the bio says, but in 2007. Maybe there was a previous release in 2005? Maybe CDR? Can’t say. This EP had 6 songs, “May”, “Fool”, “I’ll be There, Alexia”, “Lost Without You”, “Love Ship” and a hidden track.

Looking in Youtube I found some live performances of the band. First one dates from December 31, 2010. Just in time for New Year’s. Here they play live at “New Year’s Honour”, in Yogyakarta, the song “May“. Then a video of Ridwan and friends playing the song “Bad” at a recording studio perhaps? And also “May” at a different studio or rehearsal space.

The band also has a Facebook page. In it I find out that they performed at a festival called Euphormatics in the city of Semarang. I also stumble upon a WordPress blog by Ridwan, in Indonesian though. I notice he is a fan of SS Lazio. Also a Soundcloud for other sort of music he makes under the name of Weggy Johnsy. Not really indiepop, but have a listen.

Lastly it is worth mentioning that the song “May” appeared on the compilation “Series Two Compilation Vol. 7” in 2008. You know I was never a fan of this label, but the band makes good music and I need to cover the whole discography.

I keep googling, trying to find anything else by the band. For example what happened to the project between the EP and the album. It was at least 13 years in between! I see an article on Vice Indonesia from April this year. Here they recommend his album. That must be an important showcase for Fantastic June I guess.

SEA INDIE which I mentioned too in my last post, included them in their first compilation, like 9 years ago. The band contributed a remixed version of “May”, “May (Lucky Misu Lo Fi Remix)”.

And that’s it really. Now the big question for me is, how do I get the records? Has Ridwan been in any indiepop bands? Other pop projects? What happened in that interval between EP and album? What is the future for Fantastic June? Answers are welcome.

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Listen
Fantastic June – May

Day 179.

I have to tell you a story that happened to me last week.

Years ago I became a fan of the great UK band This Final Frame. That was during Myspace days. Even the band was kind enough to send me a self-released CD with all their songs. It was a masterpiece. I always wondered when it would be released properly.

Back in July I started seeing in Facebook some friends sharing that there was going to be a reissue on an unknown label to me, JB Records from California. When I saw it, I was interested immediately, an LP of the band’s songs, that sounded like something I wanted.

I looked for their website or Bandcamp but that didn’t exist. Only a Facebook page. There it said that the album was already sold out. I took my chances and wrote them a message asking that I wanted to get a copy. The person who runs the label told me there were 4 copies left (so how come was it sold out, I don’t know?). She asked me how many copies of these I wanted. I thought that was a strange question, why would I need more than one? Maybe I am innocent I thought, maybe people are buying to later sell these copies. I wanted to think people that like this kind of music care about these things, so yeah, I said the 1 copy. I asked if she needed my paypal information so I could preorder. She said no. That for now just wait until she receives the copies. Ok then. Strange but I was as usual trusting.

Last week I see photos of the records in fans houses or turntables. So I write the label, perhaps they forgot about me. She tells me that the people that have the record are people that live in the area. Again sort of odd, but hey, in times of the pandemic maybe that makes sense. I ask again about paying and paypal, or if they need my address. She says no, but ok, sure give me the address and I’ll let you know about paypal when the record is boxed and ready to ship. Ok.

Suddenly last Thursday I receive a message with a photo of my package, the LP in a regular cardboard mailer. It has my address on it. And I’m told it is $50. And I’m like? WHAT? How come one LP costs $50? A regular LP. That is unheard. I was expecting to pay maximum $30. And that’s quite a lot. See, within the US you can mail records as media mail and that is less than $5 for an LP for postage. So I tell her that, how come is this price, if postage can’t be more than $5, thinking that perhaps it was a mixup with international orders. But no, even more surprising she says that the LP is $50 and the shipping is free.

That sounded to me like a scam and I got very frustrated and sad. I asked friends on Facebook if they knew about what was going on. People were surprised of course but they weren’t aware of the label. Only one friend told me that a 12″ single with two songs that he was interested in was being sold by the same label also for $50. This got me thinking.

In the meantime the label person writes me saying she can sell the record to me for $40. That seemed very dodgy. All of a sudden I get a $10 discount. Still I feel that is not the right price. I feel I am being tricked.

So yeah, sadly I will have to let pass this release. I was excited, but I can’t support a label that is doing things wrong. That’s not the indie way. I have many ideas of what may be going on, but as I am not sure I can’t say. But in any case charging that price for a record is not right.

It is fishy. I was wondering if people that press CDs would do the same. I don’t think it would work. Somehow there is a vinyl hungry people that would be ok with these prices. Well, I am not, and I think it is wrong. And absurd. So yeah, beware.

We labels need to be fair.

And yes, here’s new music from the web!

The Hepburns: great finds over the weekend and I start with a favourite band of mine, one that I was lucky to interview year ago. The Welsh band from Llanelli have recorded a new song called “Hey, Mrs O’Shea” which will be included in the upcoming album “Electric Lliedi Land” that I hope gets released this year! This is wonderful, classic pop, that deserves all the recognition and listens one can have. Truly wonderful!

Stuck on the 90s: Sound As Ever Compilation #2: I just discovered this release which is the second part of a series of compilations released by Popboomerang Records. The first one came out in July and the 2nd volume is to be released on October. They are being really fast! These releases cover the period of 1990 to 1999 in Australia. I wish there was some 80s thrown in there, and I hope at some point that happens, I tried to do that sort of compilations, but with no real help from most of the bands (though I must say some were very helpful and from this effort the Macguffins compilations came through), so maybe a label based in Australia is our best bet! Great stuff!

Fever Hut: a remastered EP from the Leeds band with four songs, “Frida and Diego”, “Beckett Country”, “The Dying of Howard Hughes” and “The End of the Golden Mile”. Wow! Brings back memories, when I put out a Fever Hut 3″ CD with “Frida and Diego” and two more songs. Actually there are a few copies left of that 3″ if anyone is interested. In any case, this EP on Bandcamp is amazing. Classic.

All Ashore: this is terrific news as I love Velodrome 2000, Plouf! and the Parallelograms. This band features band members of those bands. And you can tell when you listen the two songs (“Radio Sunshine” and “17 Again”) to preview on Daytrip Records’ Bandcamp. What are we previewing? The debut album “Stayin’ Afloat”!! 9 songs on a 10″ (it will be available on CD thru Jigsaw Records in the US too). The album is said to come out on November 20, 2020. It sounds like the soundtrack for the summer, but it can be for winter too!

Star Tropics: a few months (or was it weeks? Ive lost the idea of time) I shared some Youtube videos from this terrific Chicago band. These videos were from a home session the band had put for DKFM radio. Two songs were recorded, “The Test of Time” and “Running Scared”, and now the songs are on Bandcamp. I thought why not listen to them again.

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I used to be in touch many years ago with the Singapore’s Bobsy. I remember chatting in gchat quite a few times. I wonder where is he now.

As I am doing this new challenge, writing about bands that titled one of their songs after a month, I couldn’t think of a better one for April than Bobsy. He released just one 7″, back in 1999, that had a song called “The End of April” as the A side.

The B side for this 7″ was “Letting Go”. The 7″ main piece of art was a green crochet texture. This, and the drawings on the labels are credited to Bobsy himself.

This 7″ was co-released by Drive-In Records (DRIVE 31) and Moonscreen Records (SCR 006) and these two songs weren’t the only ones they recorded. I know at least 2 more.

The first was “Find the Lost Years” that was featured on a compilation called “Falling and Laughing” released by Sofa Records (SOFA 1) in 2001. This compilation came along a 40 page fanzine, perhaps with info for each bands. It would be good to find out. This release came out of Hong Kong and included top bands like Gentle Tuesday, The Pristines, Johnny Dee and more.

Then in 2002, on the Italian tape label Best Kept Secret’s compilation “We Are Not Alone (Songs for the Lo-Fi Generation) Volume 6”, the band appeared covering Blueboy’s classic “Chelsea Guitar”.

Lastly in 2003 the band appeared on the CD compilation “Dashboard Teddy Version 1.0”, a compilation released in the Philippines by the label Dorothy Records. On this one the band appeared with “End of April (edit)”.

This same song was featured once again on a digital compilation called “Brilliant Sights of Sounds” by the blog SEA Indie giving Bobsy some new attention on a few blogs around.

I keep looking and found a Myspace. Here there is a small bio that says that Bobsy was a two-piece based in Australia. How come? Wasn’t Bobsy just Bob from Singapore? Maybe when the band started in 1998 he was based in Australia and it was a two-piece? This is quite confusing.

This Myspace also has two songs on the playlist that I’ve never heard of, “Strawberry Window” and “Smoky Town”. These don’t play of course. I wonder anyone has them? How did they sound?

Sadly that’s it really. I can’t seem to find any other info. No posts with details of any other releases or projects. No interviews. No videos on Youtube. There is quite nothing. At least there was that one 7″ that he recorded. But of course, I would love to find more. Was there really a connection with Australia? Anyone remembers Bobsy?

EDIT: My friend Vernon just pointed me to a Soundcloud with lots of songs: “Smoky Town”, “Chelsea Guitar”, “What We Had Hoped”, “Marine Parade”, “Find the Lost Years”, “The End of April”, “Letting Go” and “Strawberry Window”. Perhaps all the recorded output?

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Listen
Bobsy – The End of April

Day 176. Happy Friday! And also a nice break for us in the US, a 3 day weekend!

Oldfield Youth Club: this Hampton, UK, band features members of the great 80s pop band Last Party (I should feature them of course sometime soon!). They have released last month an EP called “The Glue/Splinters/Kids at the Summer Festivals” which actually has those three songs!

Chavales: this fun sounding electronic pop band from Spain is going to release their album “Tu Foto en el Techo” on September 18th on Elefant Records. It is coming out on a 10″ and at the moment we can preview 5 songs (out of 9) on Bandcamp.

Kindsight: now a band from Copenhagen formed by Nina, Søren, Anders and Johannes. They have just the one song on Bandcamp and it is called “Who Are You” and I have to say it is very nice. The band has already signed to Rama Lama Records and so I hope they put out some records out! Or at least more songs!

Scot Sprite: this solo project of Elise Cook from Exeter in the UK sounds great. Her latest song is called “It’s Summer and I Don’t Feel Like Smiling” and it is great. Catchy, with some cool guitar hooks!

The Slow Painters: some old-school jangle pop from the Oslo band, that after 16 years of forming is releasing their first album. The self-titled album is available now on LP format from Keepsecretrecords. 10 songs!

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Starlet, another great Swedish band from the late 90s and early 2000s. They wrote a song for March and it was called “Late March”. So yes this will cover my challenge. This song would not appear in their albums but on two compilations. The first one was on “The Sound of Young Sweden – Volume 3” released in 2002 by Labrador (LAB034) where they also contributed the song “I Want a Girl for My Birthday”. And the second one was on the US based label Secret Crush Records compilation CD “Stamp Collecting (For Beginners)” (SCRT01) in 2003.

I believe their first ever release was on a 1995 tape compilation called “Vermilion” that was released by Bliss Aquamarine (BLISS 011) with the song “Boom! Boom! Love”.

This first album came out in 1997 and it was called “From the One You Left Behind”. It was released by the US based label Parasol Records (PAR 027). It was released on both LP and CD with the same tracklisting. The A side had “Pin-Up”, “Love-Story of the Year”, “Wendy”, “Au-Pair” and “Afraid” while the B side had “Girlfriend”, “It Could Happen”, “As You Leave”, “Boom! Boom! Love!” and “Astrid”. 3 of these songs were recorded in 1995 at Beagle Studio and produced Martin Sventorp and the band, the rest were recorded at Studion in 1996 and were prorduced by Jörgen Stridh and the band. The art is credited to Lukas Möllersten, and among the credits we find that Anna Lundbom played flute on “Pin-up” and “Love-Story of the Year” and Per Ingvarsson played cello on “Wendy”.

In 1999 the band would release a 7″ on Parasol with two tracks, “Diary & Herself” on the A side and “Long Lost Love” on the B side. The art is again credited to Lukas Möllersten and the photography to H Mårtensson. The engineer for these two songs recorded in the summer of 1999 was Jörgen Andersson.

The Malmö band would return with a new album in 2000. It was called “Stay On My Side” and would be released on LP and CD by Parasol (PAR 054) in the US and on CD by Labrador (LAB013) in Sweden, Inane (INANE03) in Spain and Philter Records (PRPH-2020) in Japan. The 10 songs were recorded and mixed at Emmy Studio in Kristianstad in July and August of 1999 with Jörgen Andersson as the engineer. The songs were “I’m Home”, “Homewater”, “At Least in my Heart”, “In the Disco” and “Internal Affairs” on the A side and “Scent of You”, “Diary and Herself”, “Silver Sportscar”, “Moving On” and “Friends” on the flipside. Art again by Lukas Möllersten and the photography throughout the booklet is credited to first names, many of them. Here I believe is the first release where the band members’ names appear, Anders Baeck on drums, guitar and percussion, Henrik Mårtensson on guitar, bass and vocals, Joakim Ödlund on guitar and Jonas Färm on vocals, guitar, bass and vocals. It is also worth mentioning that the Japanese CD had a bonus track, “Long Lost Love”.

That same year, 2000, the band would contribute “Diary & Herself” to the compilation “Parasol’s Sweet Sixteen Volume 1” (PAR-PROMO 001). They would also give away another song to Parasol the next year, 2001, on their compilation “Parasol’s Sweet Sixteen Volume 4” (PAR-PROMO 004). This song was called “When Sun Falls On My Feet”.

In 2002 Labrador would promote the band with a CDR that had two songs, “When Sun Falls On My Feet” and “Stop and Let it Go”. Not sure how many copies of these were made or who the label sent to them. Seems rare. But it makes sense, the band would release their third and last album that year, “When Sun Falls On My Feet”. This release would be out on Parasol Records (PAR 073) in the US, Philter Records (PRPH-2046) in Japan, Labrador (LAB021) in Sweden and interestingly enough on Rostok Records (RRCD-307) in Ukraine. All were CD releases.

The album would include 10 songs, “Malmö”, “With Sand in My Eyes”, “When the Sun Falls on My Feet”, “Make that Stone Beat Like a Heart Again”, “Not Alone”, “Sunshine”, “To Sleep This Evil Day Away”, “And How it Breaks”, “Christine” and “Stop and Let it Go”. Obviously the Japanese version had an extra song, “Orbit”. The album was mixed and recorded at Emmy Studio and mastered by Thomas Eberger at Cutting Room. The engineer was Jörgen Andersson who contributed on some keyboards as well. Other guest musician was Linda Bykvist (from The Bustups) who played trumpet.

That same year their song “Stop and Let It Go (demo)” would appear on the CD compilation “Try a Little Happiness” that came alongside that legendary fanzine by my friend Jörgen Svensson. But that wasn’t all, their tracks “When Sun Falls On My Feet” and “I’m Home” would be featured in the Labrador compilation “Labrador Kingsize Vol# 1” (LAB020.

In 2003 they would appear on “Today’s Best Music” a CD compilation released in Greece by Ποπ + Ροκ, a monthly music magazine. They would contribute the song “Christine”. They would also get some love in France, on the compilation “I am A Victim of this Song” released by Baka-Poi another fanzine. The song they would give away would be “When the Sun Fall on my Feet”.

In 2007 Labrador would release their CD boxset “A Complete History of Popular Music” (LAB100). The songs that the band would contribute would be the same as the last Labrador compilation, “I’m Home” and “When Sun Falls on My Feet”.

Then a compilation I had no clue about but looks amazing! “Olle Eksell Meets Labrador” was a CD comp released in 2007 by Rambling Records in Japan (RBCS-2241). The band appears here with the track “The Sun and the Rainfall”. I love Olle Eksell I must say so I am very curious about this one.

Then that same year in Taiwan’s Magnum Music’s “A Place in My Heart” (MAGCD35) the band would contribute the song “And How it Breaks”.

Ok now we know quite a bit about their releases. Where are they know you may ask. Well, to be fair they all have been in many bands. Important bands. For example Henrik had been in Pallers, Poprace and The Legends. Joakim had been in Acid House Kings, Poprace, Double Dan, Ambassadeurs and in Poppyfields (I really want to hear their tape!). Jonas was in the first album by The Legends. Anders had been in The Bustups.

But yeah, that sounds like bands from the past. What about today? What are they doing now. That is a fair question. Also I haven’t been able to find any info about gigs. Did they play many? Outside of Sweden? What about unreleased tracks?

Labdrador though has some fun and interesting details on their website. Their is a bio that says: Recognized as part of the »Åhus Scene« that was designated by the Swedish pop press as “the Mecca of Swedish wimp pop”, Starlet comes from the same region as Club 8, Acid House Kings, Pop Race, and the Leslies. And, lead vocalist Jonas Farm’s hometown, Malmö, has been chosen as »the pop-town of year 2000« by the nation’s Swedish Radio. Jonas Farm describes his contribution to the album’s songwriting this way: “When I learned to play the guitar, about 1992, I tried really hard to make songs that sounded like Popsicles’ »Laquer«, but it didn’t work at all, and I found out that it was a stupid idea trying to sound like another band. Then I got every Beatles-album and made the same mistake. Now I just follow a feeling when I write a song, and subconsciously fragments of my influences of the time trickles through, mixing with me and the sound of me.

The Åhus scene. How was that? Would love to hear more about it. Anecdotes and such…

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Listen
Starlet – I’m Home

Day 174. I continue going to the post office to mail Macguffins CDs. Thanks again to everyone! I hope this trend continues! You know, if I get to sell records it means I can put out more records!!

Grids & Dots: this Sydney pop band sounds great! Their latest song is called “The Great Divide” and I am already a fan. I hope it gets released properly. The band is formed by Carmen Minikus, Daniel Handaru and Pat Hisshion.

Agent Blå: the great Gothenburg band is back with just one song, “Frustrated”. It is great, as usual. I don’t have much more to say, this band continues to release great tunes.

Kodiak Galaxy: another Australian band, this time from Melbourne. This shoegazy dreampop band has just released digitally an album called “A Bad Time for Dreamers”. It has 10 songs and I do think it’d be great if there’s a physical version eventually!

The Infinite Daisy Chains: now to the US, to Washington DC. Ian Dandrige and his wife Kristina Westernik-Dandrige are the people behind the music, and they have just released a new song called “Memory Lane”, a superb dreamy song.

Heavy Sigh: and now to New Jersey. Here we discover this five-piece that is releasing their album “Hard to Care” on October 20th. It seems the album will be released digitally. No physical release. In any case we can preview 1 out of the 10 songs. So yeah, go check out “Downtime, All the Time”!

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I discovered The Beatifics through their 2002 album “The Way We Never Were” on Bus Stop Label (BUS1020). It was actually their third and last album. And it is in this album that they wrote the song “February” thus fulfilling my challenge for the month of February. But let’s see what we can find about this classic Minneapolis band!

This last album included 10 songs, “Sorry Yesterdays”, “After All”, “February”, “The Only One”, “When It’s Whenever”, “Different Stars”, “In the Meantime”, “Between the Lines”, “Pt. 2” and “Outro”.

As I am starting with their latest album, I’ll go backwards. Maybe that make sense, their first album is the one many people consider a true classic. Well then, the 2nd album was called “In the Meantime”. Well, it wasn’t really an album. More of a mini-album or EP. It came out 2001 on The Bus Stop Label (BUS1016). The songs on this record were “In the Meantime”, “Different Stars”, “This Year’s Jessica (Again)”, “Outro” and “Longest Day of Summer”. These songs were recorded at Seedy Underbelly, Third Ear, Wigged Out, Albatross, Salmagundi, City Cabin and at home. The songs were produced by Chris Dorn and Eric Kassel.

We also know that the band members were Paul Novak on bass, Chris Dorn on vocals and guitar, Andy Schultz on guitar and Randy Seals on drums. On this album though they had Jacques Wait (France Has the Bomb, Pink Mink, Rank Strangers, The Twilight Hours, Tina & the Total Babes, The Sycamores, Magnatone) playing bass on a few tracks and Keely Lane (Ol’ Yeller, Trailer Trash) playing drums in a couple.

As I mentioned their first album “How I Learned to Stop Worrying” is a true classic. It came out in 1996 on TRG Records (TRG 89338). It had 9 super songs, “Almost Something There”, “Something/Anything?”, “This Year’s Jessica”, “Without a Doubt”, “Last Thing on My Mind”, “Happy to Be Sad”, “Crazy Lovesick Heart”, “Those Kids” and “Read You Wrong”. On this record we see a lot of guest musicians including Ben Wilinski, Andy Sullivan, JimJim Vandalia, Todd Newman, Jay Bennett, Betsy Stodola, Devin Hill, Hans Buff, Tom Rosenthal and Dan Sarka. Were they part of the Minneapolis scene? And speaking of Minneapolis scene, were they close to Grimsey Records?

Anyways, again the band would record in many places including Salmagundi Studios, Synergy Studios, Harper Street, Third Ear Recording, The Ranch and City Cabin. The songs would be mixed at Synergy Studios. The producer was again Chris Dorn with Dave Kent as the engineer.

I’ll return to this album in a bit. Now I have to mention a few other releases by the band and compilation appearances. First there was a 2007 split 7″ with The Deaths on Miniature Record Club. The band would contribute the song “Yeah Yeah” and appear on the B side. Then there is a 7″ on Tallboy Records (TABOY002) sometime in the 2000s. This one included two songs, “Longest Day of Summer” on the A side and “Had to Run Around” on the B side. This last song was a cover of Emitt Rhodes. Another thing I notice is that Keely Lane is the drummer on both songs. Maybe in the end Randy Seals was replaced?

In the compilation department they appeared on at least 11 different records. In 1996 they had “Almost Something There” on the TRG Records compilation CD “Precious Moments: The Big Sound of Now: Volume 2 a TRG Sampler” (TRG 893462). That same year this same song would appear on “The B.L.A.S.T. Modern Rock Program #22” CD compilation on S.I.N. Both of these releases were for promo purposes.

In 1997 the band would have their song “Almost Something There” on 2 compilations, first on “Sam Goody Samples Minnesota” and then on Not Lame Recordings’ comp “The World’s Best Power Pop Compilation… Really!” (NL-0038). That same year, “Happy to be Sad” appeared on Yesterday Girl’s CD compilation “Pop Under the Surface” (YES 001).

1998 would have their track “This Year’s Jessica ’98” on Lazy Cat’s “Somewhere Down the Road” (SCOP-01) CD. In 1999 their song “Rock and Roll Part 3” would be included on the “Teenster” compilation put together by Back of a Car magazine.

In 2001 they would work again with Yesterday Girl. They would contribute their song “Meantime” to the compilation “Pop Greetings Volume Three – Minnesota” (YES 006). That same year their song “Longest Days of Summer” would be on “Hit the Hay Vol. 5” double CD compilation put together by Sound Asleep Records (ZZZ011) and the track “Sorry Yesterday” would show up on “What’s Up Buttercup” (MEOW 05) a compilation by Lazy Cat. Lastly in 2002 Not Lame Recordings’ would include them on a compilation called “Right to Chews” with their song “Superman”.

A new label called Grandma Camp Records would contact the band in 2015 and would eventually release the first album “How I Learned to Stop Worrying” as a 20th anniversary release on vinyl in 2016. There is a bit of a story of how this come together on the blog “Pop Music as Pornography“.  To make it special it would include a 10” vinyl record called “Live on Vin Scelsa’s Idiot’s Delight”. Indeed the 8 songs on this record were recorded at Vin Scelsa’s show on WNEW-FM in New York on April 20, 1997. Here we see the original lineup of the band and they recorded these songs, “Almost Something There”, “Something/Anything?”, “This Year’s Jessica” and “All Your Former Boyfriends” on the A side; “Happy to Be Sad”, “Last Thing On My Mind”, “Longest Days of Summer” and “Junior’s Farm” on the B side. The engineers were David Vanderheyden and Paul Altemus. This release, to my surprise, seems to be available still on the band’s Bandcamp!

From what I understand buying this release also gives you access to rare demos by the pre-Beatifics band The Rockerfellers! Oh! I’d love to hear these. I should order this soon. I just spent quite a bit of money, but I think I can make the effort.

Googling to find any other details I see a ton of reviews of their records. But I am looking for details really. Like where in the world did they play live. What are they up to these days. Are there unreleased tracks by The Beatifics. Where does their name comes from. That sort of details.

In Youtube I find the band playing the song “Those Kids” on February 13, 1998, in Mesa, Arizona! The only other good find on Youtube a video of the band playing 7 minutes at the Hex in Minneapolis. Can’t say when was this recorded though.

On Soundcloud there is a live concert (about 30 min.) of what was “Live in Minnesota“. This was a benefit gig for local musician Dan Boardman and The Beatifics were part of it alongside Stingray Green and Magnatone.

Then I find a book called “The Hopefuls: Chasing a Rock n’ Roll Dream in the Minnesota Music Scene”. This book mentions that a Heath Henjum was part of The Beatifics at some point. I believe he would replace Jacques Wait.

And that is it when it comes to The Beatifics. For sure I learned a lot about them. I must admit I didn’t know their first record touched so many people. I am really impressed by the amount of posts on the internet about this record and the praise it gets. I discovered it much later of course. I wonder if I had listened to it in 1996 I would have written posts about it on the previous blog I used to have.

Now I have to order the re-release of their classic album and of course hope that someone can tell where are The Beatifics now!

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Listen
The Beatifics – Almost Something There