Back in 2007 the French label Anorak Records released a wonderful EP by a band called En Français. It was self-titled and had the catalog number ANORAKCD4.

This CDR had 6 lovely indiepop songs, “Every Last Chance”, “Limits”, “Seasonal”, “Eat Great, Even Late”, “The City of Life” and “Hold on Tight”.

Searching about the band is almost impossible. Their name usually gives you results of translations from English to French. Right…

Discogs only has this release and no compilation appearances.

Back in the day when I interviewed Fabien Garcia, head honcho of Anorak Records, he mentioned that the band hailed from the U.S.

On the 3rd Anorak fanzine there’s an interview with the band and this is actually the best resource for info about the band. We know thanks to it that it was a duo formed by Scott and Dean. Sadly we don’t get last names or whereabouts in the U.S. they were based. They do mention that they had played in Washington D.C. so I think that they must be from the East Coast at least. (They are from Virginia – Thanks Evan for the tip!)

I wonder of course what happened to them. Where are they now? If they continued to make music? Did they release anything else?

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En Français – Every Last Chance

Back in August 2021 there was a superb release by a label called Smiling C from Santa Cruz, California. It was a 12″ by the obscure Manchester band The Bernhardts. These days these record, titled “Moonglow” is long sold out but I was lucky to find a copy myself. Did you got yours?

The Bernhardts was formed by Simon Milner on vocals and trumpet, Steve Hopkins on keyboards and Neil Fitzpatrick on percussion and guitar. Simon and Neil had been friends since grade school and they had been together previously on a band called The Smirks. Steve on the other hand had produced music for Dislocation Dance, Jilted John and Happy Mondays. He also worked with Morrissey. At some point in the early 80s they all decided to collaborate.

They used aliases when they played. Steve was called Rio Fortune, Neil was Claude Walloon and Simon was Oscar Bernhardt. They played as The Oscar Bernhardt Ensemble. They were more jazzy in this early incarnation but eventually their sound evolved and decided to go by the name The Bernhardts.

They recorded some songs for Parlophone with producer Mike Howlett. The “Moonglow” 12″ includes songs from that session. Some released, some unreleased. The four songs on the record were “Send Your Heart to Me” and “I Hear Your Calling” on the A side and “Crescent Moon (Instrumental)” and “Love Breaks In” on the B side.

The band managed to play a few gigs, got radio play and had the backing of a major. But they never got the chance to become bigger even though they did put out the single “I Hear You Calling”. This fine record came out in 1984 on both 7″ and 12″. The 7″ had “Send Your Heart to Me” on the B side while the 12″ had “I Hear You Calling (Extended Mix)” on the A side, and the 7″ of this song plus and extended mix of “Send Your Heart to Me” on the B side. The design and photography for the record was credited to Iain McKell.

One thing that caught my attention was that there were some acetate 7″s that the band put out in 1983. I don’t know much about these releases but I assume they are very limited and hard to come by. There’s one that had “Send Your Heart to Me” and “Now or Never (LA Test Master)”  and another with “Crescent Moon” and “Love Breaks In (Version 3 Strawberry)”.

Eventually they would become Distant Cousins when Simon’s wife Doreen joined the band. That’s a band I also have planned to write about. Maybe I should do that soon.

These days Simon busks in Manchester with The Charleston Charlies, Neil plays indiepop with his daughter Hann and Steve plays in a Latin-soul-jazz quintet called Urban Rooftops after finishing a PHD in laser physics (WOW).

I couldn’t find much more info about the band. I am curious about their gigs. Did they play many? Did anyone caught them live? Are there more recordings by them? How come they reappeared in 2021 with “Moonglow”?

I’d love to know more about The Bernhardts!

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Listen
The Bernhardts – Send Your Heart to Me

Who knew about this German band? I just found about them thanks to stoneeyedkiller’s Youtube channel and they have a very distinct and interesting sound.

7 years ago they uploaded a ton of songs to Soundcloud and that’s what I am listening today.

The band was active between 1985 and 1993. During that time they made a lot of recordings. There is a collection of their demos, which include 17 tracks: “40 Years”, “All My Love is in My Veins”, “Blue Planet I”, “Blue Planet II”, “Born to Love”, “Carol of the Night II”, “City of the Outcast I”, “City of the Outcast II”, “Don’t Trust the Luck” and “Games they Play Tomorrow”.

Then there’s another collection of songs, these from a 1987 gig at Fabrik COE. Not sure where this venue is/was though. The songs that night were: “Art of Hell”, “Blue Planet”, “City of the Outcast”, “Don’t Trust the Luck”, “Eamination”, “Endless Capture”, “In the Night”, “It’s Gonna Get Better”, “O My Girl”, “Scotland”, “Seconds of Love”, “Sheela”, “The Hound of Baskerville” and “Thinking in the Car”.

And there are even more songs though I don’t know the date or any other details. These are “U2-Song”, “Thinking in the Car”, “Sheela”, “Seconds of Love”, “No Name”, “In the Night”, “In the Night (added)”, “Don’t Trust the Luck”, “Born to Love”, “Blue Planet” and “Art of Hell”.

The person who uploaded the tracks is called Ludger Holdschlag. I want to think he was part of the band. There is also a re-recording of the song “Games They Play Tomorrow” that was written in 1990. The new version is from 2019.

Then I find a website by Ludger! Here there’s more info about the band!

So we learn the names of the band members, Thomas Welzel on guitar, Rene Staron on drums, Olaf Staron on keyboards, Oliver Kopplin on vocals and Ludger Holdschlag on bass. Originally the band was formed by Olaf, Thomas and Ludger when they were 17. 8 months later after starting the band Rene and Oliver joined them.

The band hailed from the small town of Dorf Hochmoor. This place is in thee municipality of Gesher, in the border with the Netherlands.

Then there’s a timeline. There we learn that the band played a music festival at the fire station in Hochmoor in August 3, 1985. At the end of September of that year the band played at the Hochmoor Youth Center.

Thomas leaves the band in 1986 but he was to return later in 1989.

In 1987 the bands make their first studio recordings at the Peter Waigel Rocck-Pop-Tonstudios Bocholt. They play many gigs including a gig supporting The Jazz Butcher in the Fabrik in Coesfeld. Later that year the band records the band’s second demo at Oliver’s house.

They play more towns in 1988 including Borken, Weseke and Olpe.

In 1991 the band records their first CD at Principal Studios Ottmarsbocholt. What CD is this? would love to find info about it. Was it an album?!

In 1992 the band appears on TV! It was a programme called Vox and it was based in Berlin. That same year the band plays in Nordhorn, Cuxhaven and Stadtlohn.

We also know that Ludger was involved in other bands like Who is Anna, TV 2016 and lately DNAlien. We also learn he is actually from Mellrichstadt in Bavaria where he was born in 1968.

Also important to mention that the Tableaux Vivants reunited in 2016 and lasted until 2018. Two of the original members were in this reunion, Oliver and Ludger. Sebastian Winkel played drums and Christian Wilkes played keyboards. For this reunion they even created a Facebook page. On that page I see some song titles that I wasn’t aware of like “Caren Lives in Amerika”, “Holes”, “Rock this Wasted Town”, “Living on the Edge of Life”, “There’s Something Like”, “A View Through Your Eyes”, “In the Night”, “Monochrome”, “Daydream”, “Only Give”, “World’s Apart” , “Loser” and more.

Then there are some videos on Youtube! Here is them playing “Sometime in Autumn” at the TV show on ELF99. Then a live gig on June 6, 1992, in Vreden. And another one of them playing at Fabrik in Coesfeld in 1989.

Lots of great info no? But couldn’t find anything about their CD release. Or about their demos. What songs were on them?!

So yeah, any information about them would be fantastic!

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Tableaux Vivants – Don’t Trust the Luck

In 2021 I recommended everyone to get a 12″ vinyl record titled “May Never Happen” by the Kent, Ohio, band Moonlove. I hope you listened to me as that compilation is sold out.

This band is really good. And was obscure for many decades (and probably still is). The label Concentric Circles was smart to see the quality of the songs and released it as the fifth release on their catalogue (CC005).

The 10 songs on the album were recorded at Sprucewood Studios in Sandusky, Ohio, on a cassette deck and a Betamax videocassette recorder. The songs were “Level Ground”, “All Your Mysteries”, “Cast Your Troubles and Dreams Away”, “Triangle” and “Goodbye” on the A side and “Venus”, “Blue Skies”, “Trying to Find”, “Moroccan Moon” and “Hearse on the Highway” on the B side.

The band was formed by Jeff Curtis on guitar, bass and vocals, Randy Russell on electric guitar, bass, drums and vocals and Edda Blaine on acoustic guitar, violin and voice.

A name I notice in the credits is that of Beth Erickson who co-wrote “Venus” with Randy and “Trying to Find” with Jeff. It seems Beth Erickson was an alias of Edda actually!

Other credits include Jim Clinefelter who took the photography on the record.

I look for other music they may have made. I noticed Edda had contributed violin to a song by the band Gibson Bros on their album “Dedicated Fool” in 1989. Randy Russell and Jeff Curtis had been in a band called The Channel Masters. Jeff was even in more bands including Gem, Iron Oxide, Mohammed Cartoon, My Dad is Dead, Satan’s Satellites, The Bad Crabs and Vengeance Space Quartet.

The only other song the band released was “Call it Love” that appeared on “Azimith Tape Adjustment: Best of Own the Whole World Cassette Compilation ’84-’85” in 2019.

You can listen to all the songs on Bandcamp. There you’ll also find some description fo what to expect from the album. The sound is likened to the Velvet Underground, the Paisley underground and also to the Dunedin Sound. A band they compare Moonlove to is the great Look Blue Go Purple.

I keep looking for more info. One important detail is that the album was actually released in 1985, in an edition of probably fewer than 25 copies. That limited edition was a cassette on the classic Kent, Ohio, label Discographies for the Deaf (DFTD 4).

I can’t find any other bits of info about the band. It is great though to see that the label has managed to get the record be sold by many mailorders abroad and even on Walmart domestically. Don’t know how they do it with an unknown band. But good for them of course.

Would love to hear from the band members directly about the band. Did they play many gigs? Why they didnt release more records? Are these all the recordings they made? Hope we find out!

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Moonlove – Level Ground

Par avion: by airmail (written on a letter or parcel to indicate how it is to reach its destination).

I have been rediscovering the Shelflife CD-R series. Not too long ago I wrote about Citra Super. In the past I had written about Bunny Nightlight and Punky’s Dilemma.

There were 12 releases total. So I have covered less than half of the bands that were part of this cool series.

Par Avion was the 10th release, coming out in 2003. The EP was titled “The Various Laneways of Colonel Light Gardens” and included 5 tracks: “Modern Love”, “Clarity”, “Ruth Chew”, “I Don’t Care About Your Tuesday” and “Time Piece (12″ Megamix)”.

The sound of this release is not classic indiepop but more of lo-fi electronic pop. As previous releases in the series there were only 100 numbered copies.

Par Avion was a duo. It was formed by Janiece Pope and Jason Sweeney. Jason was well known from bands like Sweet William, Other People’s Children, Simpático, Panoptique Electrical, Mist & Sea, Luxury Gap, Pretty Boy Crossover, School of Two, The Millards and Sweeney. He hailed from Adelaide in Australia. Did Janiece too?

It is also worth mentioning that Par Avion had previously released another record. In 2001 the band put out “A Song a Day” a cassette on the Italian label Best Kept Secret (LIE 038). This tape had seven songs, “Ackland Crescent”, “Child Star”, “Horrid Burger” and “By Air” on the A side and “I Don’t Want to be Interesting”, “Dip the Paddle” and “Dragon’s Blood” on the B side.

The songs were recorded at Panoptiqué Electrical between 1996 and 1999 and were mastered in January 2001 by Dubhustler.

That info is quite interesting, right? The band had started in the mid-90s!

On Discogs there are two songs listed for compilation appearances dating from 2018. I believe this must be a different Par Avion. But correct me if I’m wrong.

I couldn’t find any other details about this project. For other Jason Sweeney’s bands there’s much more info. But not for this one. So yeah, any other details will be appreciated.

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Par Avion – I Don’t Care About Your Tuesday

Wrote some time ago about the Non Stop Kazoo Organization. Do you remember? That is one of the many bands Jacques Speyser was involved with. Today I wanted to feature another one, Stephen’s Library!

He was also in The Molies, Original Folks, Grand Hotel and Herzfeld Orchestra. And in this project he had joined forces with Franck Marxer who would also accompany him in making music with Herzfeld Orchestra, Grand Hotel, Les Molies and Original Folks. A lot of overlapping as you see.

With Stephens’ Library they released one 7″ and then appeared on a handful of compilations.

The “La Rumba des Hommmes” 7″ was released in 1993 by Cornflakes Zoo (ZOO7).  This was Stéphane Teynié’s label. He was also a writer for the Anorak fanzine.

On that 7″, Stephen’s Library, they had the following songs: “Little Love Song for a Big Child” and “A Place of Blue Sky” on the A side and “Northshore Memory” on the B side. The design is credited to Rémy while the photography to Stéphanie Galliard.

There’s an insert in this 7″ that mentions that the band hailed from Strasbourg and was formed in 1989.

When it comes to compilation they had contributed “Floating Off the Ground” and “La Rumba des Hommes” on “Heol Daou”, the cassette compilation released by Katiho (Katiho 002) in 1990. A legendary compilation.

In 1992 their song “The Phone Rings” appears on “Whoops!” a tape compilation put together by Houpla (HOUPLA1).

Then there’s a tape called “L’Éventail” which I don’t know when it was released. Obviously it was in the early 90s and featured the band’s song “Jonathan”. I believe it came alongside a fanzine.

Then in 1993 they have the song “The Man on the Moon” on “Summer 93 Hits” a compilation cassette that I know nothing about.

Lastly “Brand New Love” appeared in “Sassy”, a 1995 tape compilation that came with a fanzine. All of these compilations were French by the way.

I honestly don’t know why they were called Stephen’s Library. I also don’t know when they split up. Did they play live much? What about more recordings? I have no clue. I don’t know if I am missing any French websites where is easier to find information about the superb early 90s bands that appeared there. I’d love to know more for sure.

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Stephen’s Library – Floating Off the Ground

A few months ago my friend Colm shared with me a band I wasn’t aware of, Eden. Not the Eden I had written about on the blog, these Eden hailed from Belfast.

I know very little about them. But what’s interesting is that they have an active Facebook page and lately they did a reunion gig. Yeah, they played at the Holywood Yacht Club on January 28, 2023. This gig was in aid of the Macmillan Cancer and in celebration of Tim Harvey.

I had reached out on Facebook to the band to see if they’d be keen to do an interview but didn’t hear back from them sadly. I wonder how their gig went. Must have been cool to play their tunes after many years. Cool thing too is that they had support that night by E.B. Scott and a band I know, The Holsteins (check out an interview I did with them ages ago).

So I am scrolling through their Facebook and I see the five-piece playing at a venue called The Errigle Inn in 1987.

Then I find a small bio which I share:
Formed in 1987 and based in Belfast, Eden’s present lineup retains three of the founder members with Paul Drum replacing the original drummer in 1988. If asked to categorise, the band may be viewed as ‘alternative’, although the majority of their songs should appeal to a wider audience than the ‘indie’ clique.
Songs are on the whole written by Jake McCullough and Mervyn Patterson, but ultimately the compositions will be a group effort.
This, their forth demo, illustrates the diversity of their repertoire – from ballad to dancetrack. Previous recordings include a video of a live performance at the Limelight Club in Belfast are available on request.

This press sheet put together by Colm and Marie McCrory, their management, also gives us info about the band members. Jake McCullough on vocals and guitar, Mervy Patterson on lead guitar, Tim Harvey on bass and Paul Drum on drums.

Also venues they have played, Limelight Club, Guinness Spot and the Speakeasy in Queens University, Errigle, Dunbar Link, Duke of York, Pennyfarthing and Conor Hall in Belfast. University of Ulster in Jordanstown. Strand Hotel in Porstewart and Union Hall in Derry.

This fourth demo had four songs which we know their names, “Always Ours”, “Suzanne”, “Paint Your Pictures Blue” and “North”. Their songs had been featured on radio programmes like The Davy Simms Show on DTR FM and on The Bottom Line on BBC Radio Ulster.

The band would split up in 1990. There are some cool photos of the band taken by Peter Major from The Holsteins at the Music/Arts Collective in Lower Donegal Street taken before they went their separate ways.

Then we see that the band had a gig at The Errigle Inn where they supported The Lewies. Other bands that day were Marble Cedar and The Brilliant Trees. When they played at The Guinness Spot they shared stage with Silent Running and a band I’ve featured in the blog, The Carralines.

What about at The Limelight? There they supported The Carolines once, another time with Shimera and also, for a Christmas time gig, they played with O.E.M.

Then we learn the band started in the summer of 1987. That they were all schoolfriends. Actually Mervyn and Jake had already been playing together since 1985 live. Not sure what was their band called at that point though.

A setlist from their first gig is the next find. The songs they played were “Shallow”, “Let Her Go”, “That’s What”, “Midnight Game”, “Loudest (?) Beach”, “Chasing Shadows”, “Judas Iscariot”, “Friends”, “When the Cats’ Away” and “Too Close to Dance (?)”. Some word are hard for me to understand. I don’t want to blame the handwriting but…

There 2nd ever gig was an acoustic one at at the Dunbar Link.

Another song name i find is “Small Time Mind”. But that’s not all. Colm had actually shared songs with me. There’s “Always Ours”, “Friends”,  “Let Her Go”, “North (Live on Belfast Community Radio 1990)”, “North (Pete’s Dad Study)”,”Paint Your Picture Blue (Pete’s Dad Study)”,”Small Town Mind (Splash Studios)”, “Suzanne (Eamon’s Bedroom)” and “When the Cats Away”.

And that’s all I could find about them really. Quite a bit, but of course, I’d like to find a discography of their demos. And what about they didn’t get to release any proper records? It seems they had a good following in Belfast, so we should know more about them! Please share with me any other details!

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Eden – Small Time Mind

The early 90s in Charleston, South Carolina. How were they? Would be nice to know.

I just found an archival Soundcloud account by a band called Glass Candle Grenade that was active between 1989 and 1991. That’s an original name I thought but it seems there was an Atlanta band of the same name.

The songs we find are “Christopher by the Sea”, “Hush”, “Me Descending”, “His Addiction”, “He Comes Around”, “Yesterday’s Prophet”, “City of Lindas”, “A Promise” and “The Ends & The Means:”. We also find “She’ll Never Tell (demo)” and “Christopher by the Sea (Acoustic demo mix)”.

And also live recordings from the Club Dog Alley. These date from the fall of 1990. These live songs are “What Would I Give”, “Bittersweet”, “Oceanfall”, “Yesterday’s Prophet”, “Spellbound”, “Anything & Everything”, “Destiny” and “The Ends & The Means”.

Sadly they don’t share who the members were or any other details about the band. They just want the music speak for itself.

I would love to know more. I think for example the song “Hush” sounds like an indiepop hit. Why am I only listening to it now? Songs like this should be well known!

Anyways… yes please, any help in shedding some light on the band would be ace.

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Glass Candle Grenade – Hush

On the beloved CDR series that Shelflife Records released in the early 2000s we find many gems. One of them is Citra Super for sure.

This Gainesville band is quite a mystery to me. We know that it was formed by Jeff and Shena. I don’t know Jeff’s last name. But Shena’s last name is Baruch, I know that she is the sister of Estelle Baruch from Brittle Stars (this is mentioned in an interview I did with Crush 22 ages ago!). They released the second CDR on the Shelflife CDR series in 2002 and it was a 6 song CD titled “Spring EP”.

The songs on this very limited release (100 hand numbered copies) were “Spring”, “Glowing Town”, “No Point”, “Honeymoonin’ Under the Sea”, “A Remainder” and “The Stars”.

Two of these songs would later find a new life on a couple of compilations.

“Spring” appeared on “Pop the Question” a CD comp released in 2006 by the Australian label Book Club Records (BCR 006). A very fine compilation that featured bands including Lovejoy, The Shermans and The Charaade among others.

Then in 2008 they played the Gainesville Pop Mayhem festival in May. Due to this superb event the organizers put out a 7″ out with four bands that played, Que Possum, The French Horns, Citra Super and Nervous Systems. The song Citra Super contributed was “Glowing Town”.

Then I read a blog that the band was a side project of the band Holopaw. So if that’s the case, then our Jeff must be Jeff Hays? or Jeff McMullen? one of them has to be!

Lastly I see a gig they played with Fruit Machine and Erin Tobey at The Kickstand in Gainesville on May 10, 2008.

That’s all I could find.

As you see many blanks that I’d like to fill. Maybe someone from Gainesville (?) can help me learn a little bit more about Citra Super and what happened to them.

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Listen
Citra Super – Spring