Many years ago I picked up a 7″ by a band called Flower Gang. I had no idea what I was buying but it wasn’t expensive and looked indie enough to me. Turned out to be a fine record.

This was the “Guys with Glasses” 7″ that was released by Boy Crazee Records (BC 001) in 1990. This was a US band and probably this was a self-release. On the back of the sleeve we see a P.O. Box address for the label, one located in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

The band was a trio formed by Dan (real name Donald Brendan Larson) on guitar and vocals, Jack (real name John Patrick Hanlon) on bass and vocals and Matthew Edward McLaren on drums. The songs on the record were “Matt’s Dilema”, “Metzger’s Farm” and “Army Man” on the A side and “Guys with Glasses”, “Lightning Detector and Rog.” and “Shit Fish” on the B side. The songs were produced by Bob North and the band.

It is also worth mentioning that there are many different colors for the sleeve. At least there was an orange, red, blue, green and yellow sleeve.

2 years later the band signed to spinART Records from New York. They would release with them a double 7″ titled “Junkdrawer”. This one is also easy to track down.

The songs were “Apples” and “Mt. Zion Song” on the A side, “P-Whole” and “Mcnutt” on the B side, “Shiny Grease” and “Crocodile Attack/Chips” on the C side and “50’s Rocks” on the D side. This time around the songs were engineered by Joe Moody. Also the band had added the vocals of Erin Elizabeth Sharicz.

The band doesn’t have any compilation appearances listed on Discogs. Strange. Those early 90s would see bands on compilations all the time.

What else I could find? I believe Matthew McLaren was in a band called The Barnacled. At this point maybe he had relocated to Providence, Rhode Island. Also Jack Hanlon would pay in the bands Royal Crowns and Mole People.

Then I stumble upon quite a find. the user Changebear has uploaded 11 tracks by the band to Soundcloud! These include the songs from the “Junkdrawer” double 7″ but also four live recordings on WFMU radio: “Splinter”, “Blacktop Dad”, “Fuchinlee Fuchela/Shit Fish” and “26 Hours/Gilligan Jesus”.

I also notice someone mentioning that he saw the Flower Gang supporting The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Boss Fuel. Doesn’t say the date or venue though.

Also according to this article Flower Gang reunited to play a gig at Met Cafe in Pawtucket on April 14th 2012 with Small Factory and Honeybunch. What a gig that must have been!

Cool!

Anyways, that’s what I could find about them, so of course, please share any other details on them!

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Listen
Flower Gang – Metzger’s Farm

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Thanks so much to Fabrice for the interview! I wrote about River, a superb indiepop project from Nantes, France, time ago on the blog. A few months ago he got in touch and shared with me some new music. It was nice to hear from Fabrice and listen to a bunch of new recordings he had made, especially some very nice covers of Sarah Records classic songs. It was a great opportunity of course for me to find out more and pointed him that I had written about River and I was very interested in doing an interview. Happily Fabrice said yes and here it is the complete interview. Great answers, with lots of details, I have enjoyed this one very much! Hope you do too!

++ Hi Fabrice! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Are you still involved with music?

Hi Roque ! I’m fine, happy with my family, my children are growing, my work as history and geography teacher make me busy but I’m ok and music is always for me my only method to fight against the deep pessimism which is always  inside me. So I continue to write songs to believe and live happily until death.

++ You just recorded a bunch of Sarah covers. I was wondering how important was this legendary label for you?

I will always have a deep, fundamental, and very personal relationship with Sarah records. It’s linked with a very particular and intimate moment of my life.I was getting divorced, my soul was on fire and I was flooding the ground of my solitary walks with my salty tears and, at the same time, I discovered this new universe. I remember very well, I was in a Nantes record store called Tacoma and I was listening to stuff like Depeche Mode, Dead can dance or Front 242, I heard “when morning comes to town” field mice… I suddenly stopped in the middle of the store,went to see a friend who worked there and asked him “but what’s that sound???” . It was a revelation. I bought the field mice album, then everything that came out of the label…. 🙂

It was at this precise moment that I met Pierre Antoine Delpino, the boss of the Plastic pancake label and that alone, or with him and other friends, I sailed between France and England, discovering the performances of Heavenly and Field Mice. I subscribed to Sarah’s newsletters and met Keith. Blueboy’s Keith Girdler. He became a friend and was the first to listen to River’s early trials. It was him who encouraged me to make my music. I owe him everything.

I saw Brighter, Heavenly, Blueboy (obviously). Keith sent me photos of their concerts, I have concerts of them on old cassettes that he sent me… It was in this difficult period a ray of sunshine. Somehow the music of Sarah Records saved me from depression.

I attended the last concert of the label after the Sarah 100 in Bristol with Pierre Antoine, his boyfriend and a great girl called Anne Claire and with whom we did a few songs and a little way together 🙂

It seemed useful to me today to pay tribute to these people whom I met and who saved me. So with my friend Jocelyn who helps me in the production of these songs, I tried to put my heart…

++ So I take River is still very active! What can people expect in the near future from you?

I would love to see these songs considered good enough by a label to release them. It would be a dream to see my tribute materialize in this way. Unfortunately, today I don’t really have any real networks to help people discover these songs. So, I took advantage of our exchange to make a call 🙂

Otherwise, I will continue River indeed. FOREVER !!! I have a lot of new songs to play but, again, I don’t know who to send them to. It’s very frustrating and sad for me. I don’t know anymore, at 53 y.o, if there are still pop labels that would listen to what I do… 🙂

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

I think my earliest musical memory dates back to the late 70s.It’s the discovery of Leonard Cohen with my father. I was 11 or 12 years old and the magnetic beauty of the melodies, the (apparent) simplicity of the arrangements marked me a lot. Then it’s 1984 and the purchase of my first 7″ inch…

I was very excited to hold in my hands the sound of these four guys from Basildon that I had discovered through a clip on TV. Depeche Mode came into my life never to leave again. At home, we listened to a lot of “weird” bands which became references for me and which I still listen to. Dead can dance, Clan of Xymox, Laibach, Kraftwerk but also EBM (Electronic body Music) bands like Front 242 or Skinny puppy…And then there was the parents’ music, The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, the doors , the Velvet…classical music within particular the baroque music of Purcell or Handel…I really grew up in a very… heterogeneous and baroque musical universe… 🙂

My first “instrument” was the discovery of my voice. It was a bit magical. My brother taught me some guitar chords, I bought myself a keyboard in 1992. River was born 🙂

++ Had you been in other bands before River?

I played in two groups before embarking on the River project. My very first group was called “Alan’s book”. It was a rock/cold combo that allowed me to do my first concerts but above all to meet great people who are still friends today when I got kicked out of the band :)) I was too ” bourgeois”, I didn’t drink alcohol and I refused to consume illegal stuff…:)) And then I joined a noisy pop/Shoegaze/dream pop group called “Nos étés Trop Courts” (“Our Too Short Summers”). I discovered My bloody Valentine, Ride, Pale saints, Swervedriver and even if the experience was short, we did some nice concerts…very…noisy :))

If in the first group I tried to sing like Dave Gahan, the singer of Depeche Mode, the second showed me that I could go higher in harmonies. It prepared River in a way.

Like I said before, I got kicked out of the first band and they continued without me…but never released anything after that…just like the second band…We were just kids playing in the back of a garage and who thought they could reach heights… It was fun.

++ Where were you from originally?

I am from Nantes on the Atlantic coast of France. It is a city that I love deeply. She is undoubtedly a source of inspiration for me. I’m very close to the sea (about 45 minutes), my parents also live on the coast and every time I finish songs, I like to walk on the beach, headphones screwed on my ears. It is a city with an industrial past which has a strong cultural activity. Come when you want, I will welcome you with pleasure!

++ How was Nantes during the heyday of River? 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’ve never really followed bands from Nantes, even though the musical activity there is quite intense.

There are artists however that I like like the little rabbits, Dominique A or Philippe Katerine. When I was young, there were great music stores (Tacoma, Fuzz…). It’s like concert halls… there were, until the turn of the 2000s, mythical places. There was “l’Olympic” which was THE Nantes concert hall where I was able to see Pulp, Blur, Suede, The divine comedy, Radiohead, Lush…And then there was a nightclub called “Le Floride” and which had the particularity of playing only “alternative” music, from cold to metal, from indie to twee. This is where I first met Keith from Blueboy. He was playing with Harvey Williams and the orchids in this tiny space…I sang “Self portrait” with them on stage there…it was amazing!

Today everything is standardized, soulless. There’s a great concert hall called the “Stereolux”, Le Floride still exists but only goes gothic or metal. I don’t go there anymore…and besides, I’m too old… :))

++ Was it always a solo project? Did you ever had other people being part of the band?

It’s very complicated. River is a “one man band” who dreams of working with others 🙂

I wish someone would write to me one day and say: “I would like to be part of River!!!!” your universe inspires me!!! I’m a singer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, cellist and I want to create with you!!!” but I’ve never had this type of meeting :))

Even with the distance I could share River… But hey, that never happened. For some tracks on the Shelflife album, musicians intervened but that’s it. It wasn’t until Moon & River that I composed with someone…and it was great…I loved it…at the same time, being alone gives me the freedom to do what I want, when I want and I confess that the egos of band musicians annoy me a lot so, with River, I am both the megalomaniac singer, the tortured guitarist, the funny keyboardist… that’s fine with me… :)) or not..

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

When you are alone in a musical project, you need a space that looks like you and that inspires your musical project. So I set up a room at home which is my lair, my cave…

Apart from the instruments I own, I installed “my universe” there. My children’s toys, my collection of lamps from the 70s, my records, my CDs, my collection of old Apple computers :)). It’s a very “private” place, always super tidy (I’m a bit of a cleanliness and tidying fanatic), very often plunged into darkness…with indirect lights… I compose like a vampire. ..Actually River is a bit gothic :))

Since the beginning of River, the creative process has always been the same. It’s even scary 🙂 But I think there are a lot of myths and mythomania about the “creation process”…we all do the same, but sometimes you have to invent a mythology of creation…which I will say is not particularly innovative 🙂

Throughout the year, and as inspiration and life events arise, I write texts that I put away in a black pocket. Then when I decide to create something, I always start with a guitar/voice or piano/voice version. Then the contours of the atmosphere take shape and I start recording…I spend an infinite amount of time on sound today, something I didn’t do when the adventure started (you could hear it:) ). It must be said that the technical means are no longer the same. I often look at the 4 tracks on which I recorded the first songs. But at the time, there was a DIY cult, so we did what we could, with what we had. Today, I work on Imac and the sound coming out of my monitoring speakers is just sublime..

The last step is the voice. I have to be alone at home, which is rare. Especially since I can only sing with one (or two, or three…) glasses of a heavily peated whiskey 🙂 and I only sing at night…As you can imagine, the situation of “voice recording” is quite rare when you work and you have a family. This is the reason why I always leave for 10 days in July with friends who go on vacation at that time and for whom I “watch” the house 🙂 So there, I relocate my studio and I record all my voices, redo the arrangements…I’m in the middle of the countryside, in the middle of nowhere, and I go to bed…very late…

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

This is again a tribute to my friend Keith and his Blueboy band. They had just released this title that I love on Sarah records and I liked the idea of this river which can at the same time be a charming place where you have a good time with your friends, it can be very romantic but it t is also the place of torment, of overflowing, of a form of violence that engulfs everything.  River’s music is often interpreted as nice pop songs but if you pay attention to the composition or the strongly erotic content of the lyrics you can be surprised. There is always sex and a form of violence in the lyrics or in the musical creation. At least the tension.

++ You have quite an important discography, releasing many records. But I have never heard or seen the “Happiness & Smiles” CD. Can you tell me more about this release? Was it an album? A single? Who put it out? What year was it released?

Yes…too many titles and too many releases…right and left…I often regret it. Many titles are not very good and especially poorly produced. I just wanted to release my first self-produced songs…:) So I contacted a friend who had a recording studio at his house to make me a CD. Stéphane and I spent three months recording “Happiness & Smiles” and I think there are only two in the world… :))) I own one and Keith Girdler had one. We finished it in the summer of 96 I believe.Anyway, I was very proud. And the songs are good. Well I think 🙂

++ In 1998 you release “The Hairdresser” 7″ on the French label Plastic Pancake. How did you end up working with this label? How was your relationship with them?

The consecration for me. I cried so much when I received the disc. Someone trusted me. Pierre Antoine Delpino, the label boss contacted me and we became real friends. He was someone of exceptional sensitivity. He lived in Montauban in the South of France and for the first time I met people who listened to the music I discovered. He created a label which, for me, is a reference of the time. He had a real taste for beautiful things and his pop aesthetic corresponded completely to my universe. We spent many evenings together, we went to England together, we did a road trip to attend the SARAH 100 concert in Bristol and we met the whole twee pop community there. I owe a lot to “Pitou” (Pierre Antoine). I lost sight of him today and would love to find him again.

++ On the song “Happy Summer Nights” there are female vocals by someone called Sophie. Who is she? Was she in another band?

When I separated from my ex-wife, I went through a troubled period where I had a lot of experiences of different kinds. I walked the streets for a long time at night. I think I’ve become a little schizophrenic. I met many people, and one evening, I stopped in a bar to listen to a duo of musicians. Jean Charles (who would become my partner in “Moon & River” :)) and Sophie, his wife, sang pretty folk songs with two voices. We had drinks and I proposed to Sophie to do the 2nd voice on HSN…Alcohol helping, her husband agreeing…we recorded the next day…even though we weren’t did not know the day before :)). They continued to play together. They started a rock band that had some success called “Candle”…then they broke up, both in town and on stage. I never saw Sophie again.

++ Lighthouse Cassettes, a US label, released a tape called “Venus”with 8 songs in 1998 too. I have never heard of this label before if I’m honest. Who were behind it? Where were they located? How did they find about you, being so far in France?

That was what was amazing with the period of the late 90s. Overnight I received letters from different parts of the world, from people I didn’t know at all. :)) It seemed magic. People were writing to me. People were talking to me about “Plastic pancake”, people were telling me that people had heard songs from River….I’ve never met 99% of the people who have released songs from River :)) ).

There was at that time a form of effervescence in the creation “twee / Indie” which was incredible. We said we were in agreement and a few weeks we received about twenty hand-made audio cassettes…and that was it :)))

++ Another US label would also start collaborating soon enough, in 1999 Shelflife Records releases “Poseidon’s Girlfriend” 7″. I am again curious how did you end up working with Ed? And also did you ever get to travel to the US and meet?

I was talking earlier about “Plastic Pancake” but meeting Ed Mazzuco from Shelflife is probably the most surprising and incredible. When I had about thirty songs available, I “flooded” the Indie pop market :))

I had discovered the label with bands like “The Arrogants” and I was crazy about this label, its aesthetic… And one day I received this incredible mark of confidence. I knew that this label was very “elitist” and devoid of any real openness to styles other than Indie pop. However, it did not seem to me that my music could correspond to their expectations but it was like a dream. “What if one day I released an album on Shelflife???” The 7″ inch that I released on Shelflife was important because first it was on Shelflife and then because it was the moment when I wrote the first song on the one who still shares my life today and who is the mother of my two boys. Why “Poseidon’s Girlfriend”? …simply because I have a wife who swims five times a week and who is a mermaid who has to deal with water and ocean which is extraordinary. She was and is Poseidon’s girlfriend. Just after that, Ed sent me a list of 20 songs he wanted to release!!! shock ! It took me two weeks to recover…and the story doesn’t end there…He offered me to come and promote in the United States! So I went to the west coast, I played in Sacramento with the Arrogants…I sang one of their songs, they covered HSN with me… I played in a house facing the pacific and people were singing my songs !!! 🙂 me a little French! I landed in Los Angeles where customs held all my instruments, my suitcase…I had to buy new clothes, and I found my instrument two days before the first concert :)) ) It was an incredible experience for me! Unfortunately the story did not end very well. At the release of the album, all the titles of the album were upside down! none of the titles correspond to the original order…. I was furious! but that’s the story! Do not refer to the titles indicated on the cover. Disappointing for such a label! Nothing has been done to rectify this mistake! I’ve sent many songs to Ed since then but I believe this album will only be a “one-shot” and I regret it. It’s a pity that some labels haven’t evolved for thirty years. The music and the composition evolves. Indie pop remains in a form of sectarianism that I deplore, but I owe him a lot and would always be grateful to him. The cover is very nice too. No additional comments….

++ Plastic Pancake also released a 7″ of yours in 1999 that had a song called “Spiderman” on it. I guess you are a big fan of comic books? Is Spiderman your fave or is it another one?

That’s a fun question! I love Spiderman for his naivety, his stupidity and his “kitsch” side. It was really my state of mind at the time. I found myself a bit ridiculous sometimes with my “high-pitched” voice and my keyboard programming… Now that I’m getting older and I’m still interested in Marvel heroes, I admit that the darker side of Batman interests me much more. When is a Batman song? :)))

++ You also worked with the Italian label Best Kept Secret on a cassette album called “Once Upon a Time”. One thing I start to notice is that some of your albums include a lot of songs normally. Most bands like to keep it to 10, 12 songs max, but you had no problem to have 20+ songs. What was the thinking behind that?

This is an essential question. As I told you before, it’s very complicated. There was a time when a lot of people were interested in what I was doing and seemed very interested in what I was doing. And in fact, I don’t want to hide it, I was very proud of it.

It was very egocentric, almost egotistical. People asked me what I was doing if I had unreleased songs, if I agreed to release them… and it’s true that I was composing a lot at the time. So I was so complexed by my lack of talent (objectively) that knowing that my songs could be released somewhere touched me very sincerely. Was I aware that not all the tracks were very good, not very well produced? I just knew that I wanted to write songs, that I liked their style and that they all meant something strong to me…So I accepted…probably too much…One last thing…I’m so afraid of death and what I’ll leave after all this that I tell myself that my children will have a “consequent” trace of what their father may have done during his life. Sorry for this somewhat “psychological” outpouring. Maybe one day people I don’t know yet and who will be my descendants will listen to the tapes of Best Kept Secret or Blackbean & Placenta :))) It’s a very small trace that I want to leave for them.

++ In 2000 you release yet another album and yet another label, Blackbean and Placenta Tape Club. “…Is the Postman” includes some interesting song titles like “Brasilia”, “Juliette” or “River’s Song”. Curious what’s the story behind them?

You are asking me a question that I will only answer very partially. These three songs are arguably the most personal songs I’ve ever written “back then”. I wanted to write about three women who had marked my existence and I wrote lyrics that mean nothing, except for me..:)) The background is serious but I wanted to have the “kitsch” side offered by my short stories musical experimentations…I like this album with its badly produced side but it was the first time that for a majority of songs I tried the more “electropop” side of River”…and listening to it again always makes me to dance… :))

++ That same year your work with yet another label, Safari, on the “Strawberry Lipstick” 7″. This time it is a French label, closer to home. I have one record by this label, but I have no idea about who was behind or anything at all about them. Care telling me a little bit about them?

Matt & Noémie Hansen are great friends. Even though we don’t see each other anymore (they live in California), we keep an affectionate and essential contact for me. I think they released two references on “Safari”. Like “Plastic Pancake”, aesthetics are essential for them and I am aware of the gift they gave me by offering me to release this piece of electropop, which I still play today in concert :)).

They were both at the beginning of the 2000s the “encyclopedias” of Indie pop ” in Paris… They were people who knew all the groups, who welcomed them into their homes, who presented them to us… I met ‘They Go Boom‘, La Buena Vida’, ‘Le Mans’, ‘Watoo Watoo‘, ‘Caramel’, ‘Gypsophile’ thanks to them…

They are great people!

++ 2002 sees two more releases, the “Street of Desire” 7″ on Plastic Pancake and the self-titled album on Shelflife. One thing I start to wonder is how did the recording process work for you? Did you record everything by yourself? Did you work with a producer?

A very short answer: I always produced everything by myself on my 4 tracks 🙂 you can hear it sometimes… For the Shelflife album, the tracks were sent to the “head” producer of the label who cleaned everything up and offered some arrangements… I didn’t have much money at the time, hence my sincere surprise at such a “success”:))) (Irony)

++ Also wondering about the language of your songs. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most of your songs are in English though there are some that are in French. How did that work for you? When was a song written in English and when in French? Was it a conscious decision?

English imposes itself on me immediately. The fluidity of your language, the beauty of certain words and certain pronunciations and the “hype” side of the Frenchy who sings in English… everything is there! :))) More seriously my shyness and the fact that I can hide from my French listeners the brutality or the perversion of certain lyrics did me a good service…:)) now I don’t forbid myself to write in my language native…I do it today more and more but, at the time it was too difficult for me…Don’t forget that at the time RIVER wanted to conquer the world :)))

++ “Music for Top Models” was your last release as far as I know. This was a 2003 album on the German label Meller Welle Produkte. At this point you had worked with French, American, Italian, and Japanese labels. Was there any other contribution to another label from another country that I’m missing? Why do you think your music got to be so international? You put out so many songs, many records, that I wonder what do you think is missing for the band? And did you get any interest from other labels that for a reason or another didn’t happen?

I think at the time there was a real Indie pop community. It doesn’t really exist today. It must be so difficult to find the time to contact bands, to find out and, as I said before, a lot of labels don’t take a lot of “risks” anymore. We’ve all aged :)) and I think that people who take care of a label also have their family and professional life to manage…and it’s not an easy task.I would have loved to work with the Spanish labels that were so active (Siesta is probably my favorite label with Sarah). It didn’t happen but I think my music was too “DIY” and not produced enough, “clean”. It was popular in the first sense of the word but not “professional” enough. And the fact of being only a little guy all alone in his corner, without a group and without big means of production, it was not easy.

++ I think I can guess what the answer might be, but are there more unreleased songs by River?

Last summer, I put away my hard drive and I did the count: I wrote 559 songs from 1994 to today :)). I still have a lot of songs that will probably never be released. It’s a shame because if some are not really good, others really upset me and above all are much better produced. I gradually invested in professional equipment, I practiced English professionally and artistically, I worked a lot on my voice and composition. Now, I am open to all proposals and I would have to find people interested in listening to the selections that I could send. This is the big problem! :)) Help!

++ My favourite song of yours is “Happy Summer Nights”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

It’s also one of my favorites. It’s probably the first song I wrote for River. I was alone in a café in Nantes. My life was taking a boost. After a long dark period, I had just met my new partner and I tried to bring together both what I observed in this bar and the first love emotions I experienced with Anika, my Berliner who was to become the wife of my life. She was a German assistant in my high school and she had gone back to Germany…I was very sad…and then she came back and we’ve been together for 27 years…:))

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

This is a really, really difficult question. Compared to the time you are talking about in this interview, I would say “the hairdresser” because it was the one who made people dance during concerts… “the top model” because it’s really a hit that my French audience was singing at the top of their lungs or “Happy summer nights” because I consider it my twee song “par excellence” and it’s the first song I sang to Keith “Blueboy”… These three songs represent well my pop universes of the time… at the same time when I think of the song “Writing” and its funny clip… I tell myself that I sometimes have strokes of genius :))) in fact, you see I can’t answer you 🙂

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? And what were the best gigs in general that you remember? Any anecdotes you can share? And were there any bad ones?

Again, I have to distinguish the River period circa 1990/2000 and the current period. At the time, there were really incredible concerts, in Paris, Bordeaux, Rennes with my friends from Watoo Watoo, Gypsophile, Superflu. ..It was very pop, very “flower dresses”, striped t-shirts and bowl cuts :))) it was such a great universe…There was something very fresh, very naive…we were not afraid to dance, to laugh… Good for me it was still difficult to play in concert because all alone, I had to “juggle” so much between my keyboard, my drum machine, my guitars… It was quite stressful… My best memory of that time was a concert which was organized by my students in a huge room… and I found myself in front of the 1200 students of my high school… They were singing, dancing….it was incredible…And then there was Madoka, the president of the Japanese fan club of River who was there, Paul and Keith from Blueboy…….

Today I continue the concerts but i’m not alone. With Moon & River, we did wonderful concerts. In art museums, in private lofts, and many also in private homes who opened their gardens to us…It was very “flower power”…I regret that since we stopped with Moon. .. Horrible concerts? yes only one with Moon & River where we played at a market between a fishmonger and a butcher (the smell was terrible) and where we were scheduled from 1pm to 2pm….It was quite far from home and we didn’t have a single spectator :))) At the time I’m talking to you, I’m more on the composition of new songs and we have the project with Jocelyn to try to set up a real group…and come on! I’ll give you a scoop: it could be called “The Melancholic Men”…

++ There’s a moment when we don’t hear more from River. Probably around the early 2000s. What happened during that time until now?

I never stopped playing music but my two boys were born, my daughter was growing up and I wanted to spend time with my family.I got very involved in my job as a teacher…Life :)) And then there was “Moon & River” and these two albums that I find really magnificent. And that can be found on music platforms :))

Was there any interest from the radio? TV? What about the press? Did they give you any attention? What about fanzines?

Yes, I was lucky again! Through Madoka Fukushima in Japan and her fanzine “Quien” I was able to get a little visibility…And when the Moon & River albums came out, we were able to take part in many local radio shows which helped us always be well received… We did little acoustic sets… I really like the stress of the radio…

Aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I’m 53 you know now so the family takes a lot of time…I’m a dad stressed by his children’s studies, like many :)) and we love going to the restaurant with my wife 🙂

Otherwise, I admit spending a lot of time on my job which is a vocation, an absolute passion. Music of course, at least one full day a week, I play tennis regularly and above all I have a blast playing badminton. I’m starting to have an interesting level. Otherwise, I’m part of a whiskey tasting club, my favorite drink :))

++ Had never been in Nantes soI’d love to ask a local. What do you suggest checking out in your town, like what are the sights one shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

Nantes is a magnificent city, rich in history and which has managed, a bit like Liverpool or Manchester, to keep its industrial heritage but by rehabilitating it. The fact that we are close to the sea means that we are turned towards the ocean and therefore we eat a lot of fish :)) which we accompany with fine quality white wines. We are also a region of vineyards, in particular with a wine called “Muscadet”. I launch here a very serious invitation: anyone who would come to France in my region would always be welcome at my place…

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

As I said, I am open to all proposals to discover my compositions. I dream of continuing the River adventure…I don’t know if there is a list of indie labels somewhere or if this interview will arouse some curiosity…in any case thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the opportunity to look back on this adventure…

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River – Happy Summer Nights

For a few years in the mid-90s Policecat were the Sound of Young Scotland.

Hailing from Edinburgh the band was formed by brothers Gordon and Jonathan Kilgour, both on vocals and guitar, and Katrina Dixon on drums. Soon after their first gig John Harrington joined on bass.

This lineup would release the “Drown” 7″ in 1994 on Domino (RUG19). This 7″ single had “Drown” on the A side and “Bolder” and “Voodoo Hoedown” on the B side. The songs were produced and engineered by Warren McKean at Mighty Reel in Edinburgh. It mentions that all songs were recorded over two days at the cost of 190 pounds sterling. The artwork is credited to John Harrington.

In 1995 they would release “Larry”, a 10″ EP on Domino Records (RUG34T). This one had “Larry” and “Music for Pleasure” on the A side and “Classy” and “Tram 22” on the B side. Again the songs were engineered by Warren McKean at Mighty Reel. Barnaby Dellar added keuyboards to “Tram 22″ and Martin Lyndon added strings to both tracks on the A side.

Then in 1997 the band released a split single on Creeping Bent (BENT 024). The 7” version had Policecat’s song “Automobile” on the B side while The Secret Goldfish had “Give Him a Great Big Kiss” on the A side. On the CD version each band contributed two songs. The Secret Goldfish added “Pink Drone” while Policecat had “Five Miles of Bad Road”.

After this release Katrina would leave the band and was replaced by Scott Hall. This new lineup would record a 1997 Peel Session and two more singles in 1998.

The Peel Session also had Yvonne Slaven on keyboards. The producer was Mike Robinson and the engineer was Kevin Rumble. 4 songs were recorded on October 31, 1997: “Blue Movie”, “Give Us this Day”, “Dark Holiday” and “Lone Rider”. Will this get a release on Precious Recordings of London one day?

“Give Us this Day”, a 7″ on the American label Fantastic Records (FAN010), came out in 1998. This single included the title song on the A side and “As We Approach Harthill” on the B side. The A side was recorded at Cava in Glasgow with Gregor Reid as the engineer while the B side was recorded on a 4-track.

Lastly that same year on Creeping Bent they released another split 7″ with the band Appendix Out. It was part of the Singles Club and it was the eight release in the series (BENT 034). The song the band contributed was “Dark Holiday” while Appendix Out had “Lassie, Lie Near Me” on the A side.

The band also contributed songs to compilations. “Drown” was on a cassette comp called “Humpy Bosque” that Bosque Records (BOSC 008) released in 1994. “Midnight Cowgate” was on the cassette comp “A Fistful of Horsepower” that Vesuvius Records (POMP 005) put out in 1996. That same year, “Lone Rider” was included in the LP compilation “Noises from the Sound Cupboard” that Red Carpet Ring (RCR06) released.

This same label, Red Carpet Ring, would have their song “Fish Soup” on a double compilation LP, “With Singing, Orchestra and Harp (an International Gathering)” (RCR06)  in 1999. Lastly, in 1999 too, “Automobile” and “Dark Holiday” were included in “Bentism (The Underground Sounds of Creeping Bent)”, a CD compilation on Creeping Bent (BENT040).

What else is worth mentioning: Well, that Gordon and Yvonne also released music as The Mongers while Policecat was active. Jonathan Kilgour performed and recorded with The Pastels around the time of their “Illumination” album. Katrina would later be on Sally Skull and Tender Trap (I remember seeing her live playing drums!). Also both Kilgour brothers played in The Zephyrs, Lunar Landing Module and Clipper. Gordon also released music as Gewgaws.

Lastly there’s a Soundcloud account that includes a demo version of “Drown” and a song I had never heard, “My Burd” that seems to be taken from a tape.

That’s what I could find, but I am sure many of you remember them. I’d love to learn more details about them and I’d love to listen to the Peel Session too! Please share your memories on the comments section!

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Policecat – Drown

Ages ago, I wrote about the London band The Scissor Fits. Do you remember them?

Two of the band members went to be in the fantastic band the Gol Gappas, Nick East and Colin Roxborough. I was even lucky to get in touch with Nick a few times and he was keen on doing an interview about the fantastic Gol Gappas. I send him questions but sadly never heard back.

But I still want people to discover this terrific band…

It is very true too that there’s little on the web about them…  but let’s start from the start. Where does their curious name come from?

A golgappa, also called panipuri, fuchka, gupchup (and other names!) is a type of snack from India. It is a common street food. It consists of a round hollow puri (a deep-fried crisp flatbread), filled with a mixture of flavored water tamarind chutney, chili powder, chaat masala, potato mash, onion, or chickpeas. I have tried it here in New York and it is delicious. Maybe one day I’ll be lucky to try it in India.

The band’s first release was the “Dinner with Nougat” 12″ that was released by Él Records (GPO 8T). Remember from The Scissor Fits post that the band had a connection with Mike Alway, he was a part-time member of the band. So it is no surprise to me that he signed them to his label.

This 12″ had four songs, “Saint Lucy” and “Chicken Pox” on the A side and “Albert Parker” and “Ice Cream” on the B side. The EP was released in 1986 and re-released in 1989 as a mini CD in Japan (VAP 25615). The tracks were the same but the artwork of the record was different.

In `1986 the band also released a 7″ with “West 14” on the A side and “Roman” on the B side. This one was also released on ´Él Records (GPO 21).

“Roman” would be re-released in 1987 in France by the Vogue label (102201). It would come out as a 7″ where a remix version of “Roman” was on the A side and “Albert Parker” was on the B side and also as a 12″ where the two 7″ tracks were on the B side while we find the Polanski Dance Mix of “Roman” on the A side. Richard Preston is credited for production, Bruno Mylonas (who had previously remixed Vanessa Paradis) as the engineer and Aliss Terell on backing vocals. The remixes had been done at Studios Guillaume Tell. The artwork was also totally different.

A little googling shows that Aliss Terrell was American but was based in France. She was also the first ever person to star in a rap video shot on Moscow’s Red Square.

When it comes to compilation, as a Cherry Red related band, you can expect them to appear on many. In 1987 their song “Albert Parker” was on the “London Pavilion Volume One” released by Cherry Red (ACME 7) and also re-released in Grecce by Stiletto, Spain by Grabaciones Accidentales and Japan by vap that same year. All of these versions were released as LP vinyl but also Cherry Red made a CD version.

Richmond Records would have the songs “West” and “St Lucy” in the CD comp “Bellissimo! Él Singles Part One” that came out in 1993 (MONDE 11). This same label in 1995 would put out “Él Records – The Legendary B Sides” (MONDE 20) a compilation CD with the band’s songs”Roman” and “Albert Parker”.

“West 14” would appear then in the 2005 Cherry Red comp “Too Good to be True – The Very Best of Él Records 1985-1988” CD comp (CDMRED 287). After this Cherry Red would include them in three of their box sets. On 2013’a “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)” it was “Albert Parker” that was included. “St. Lucy” would appear on “CD87” (CRCDBOX26) a  triple CD compilation released in 2016. And lastly, “Albert Parker” was included in “Losing Touch with my Mind: Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” triple CD box set (CRCDBOX71).

What else do we know? We know who St. Lucy was of course, she is the patron saint of Syracuse in Italy. Her story says that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, in the year 304 during the Diocletianic Persecution.

What about Albert Parker? I am not sure. Could it be the American film director and actor? According to Wikipedia…
Albert Parker (May 11, 1885 – August 10, 1974) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He directed 36 films between 1917 and 1938. In the early 1930s Parker left Hollywood for England where he continued to direct films and also opened an actors’ agency office. One of his later clients in the 1960s was actress Helen Mirren. He was born in New York, USA, and died in London, England.

From the email exchange I haad with Nick East I know he was in two other projects, Baby Baby Baby Baby and Rumblestrip. There are recordings of these bands but I have never heard them.

Nick also mentioned to me that there are a few more Gol Gappas songs on demo tapes. He says that they are pretty rough.

Another detail he shared with me was that the band never played live.

That’s all I have about the Gol Gappas. I tried to re-release them too, asked Cherry Red but the price for the songs was prohibitive.

I love all of their songs. I think they are a terribly underrated band that deserve recognition. So yeah, if you have time listen to the song I share here. But if you can try to track down all of their songs. They are fantastic!

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The Gol Gappas – Albert Parker

Amri Shroff. That’s who was behind that wonderful single with “All Your Words” on the A side. The band, or maybe this solo project, went under the name Amri. That record has been a favourite of mine for a long time. But only a few weeks ago I found a video of Amri playing this song on a Dutch TV programme.

I believe the TV show was called Formel Eins and the date it was aired was on September 6 of 1987. You can watch it here.

This single was actually his second release. It came out in 1987 on a big label, Epic (EPC 650358). It was released as a 7″ and 12″. The 7″ had “All Your Words” on the A side and “Invisible Dance” on the B side while the 12″ included a long version of “All Your Words’ on the A side and the single version as the 2nd track on the B side.

The producers of the record were the Germans Peter Ries and Reinhard Besser. Ries has quite the resume, working with big names like Kool and the Gang or even Nsync. The photography is credited to Jochen Thieme.

Amri’s first release was also a single, on both 7″ and 12” formats, that came out in 1985 on Epic (EPCA 6999). The sound of these songs are less indiepop, more new wave, more 80s classic sounding. The A side was “Return to Gold” and the B side is “Look at Me Now”.

Interestingly we see that on this record we see Reinhard Besser credited for the songs as well as Amri and two other names, Marc Cassandra and Ralph Bachmann. Turns out Marc Cassandra is Peter Ries, the producer. And yes, both Reinhard and Peter produced this record.

“Return to the Gold” had a video made.

There are no compilation appearances by Amri. But it does look like Amri played on a German maxi-single by Mayte. He sang and did backing vocals on the “Too Dramatic” 12″ released by Control in 1993. He’d also play different instruments (as well as doing the cover artwork) for the German electronic rock band Whispering Colours in their 1995 album “The Mystery of Pain”.

Seems he was more connected to the German scene than the Dutch one, right?

It also seems I lose track of him in the early 90s. I wonder what happened to Amri. Did he just stop making music? How come he got signed to a big label and got to release two records? Was he in other bands? For me it is a big mystery. Also why the change of the sound between his two records? I like “Return to the Gold”, but “All Your Words” is just pure pop bliss. I wonder many things, and I also wonder if we’ll ever find out more details about this Dutch project!

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Amri – All Your Words

I thought it was good time to revisit the great Bi-Joopiter label founded by Paul Rixon from Gilroy, The McTells and more, and Gilliam Elam also from The McTells in 1983 in Hertford, UK.

Among their many releases in different formats I thought looking into one that I know nothing about, The Big Paintings 7″. I have this record but have no clue who are behind it. Anyone knows?

What I do know is that it was released in 1994 with catalog number BIJOOP 027 and included three songs, “The Strangest Secret of a Daisy Head” and “This Does Not Mean a Thing” on the A side and “Long Over Drawn” on the B side.

Okay, it is true that the sides on the record are not marked as A or B. But this is how Discogs lists it.

There’s some runout etchings on this record, again on what we say is the A side it says “Thee Alvins Children Mike’s – The Exchange”, and on the B it says “The Big Painting Number One”.

This wasn’t the band’s first release. There was another one many years before, in 1987. I don’t own this one sadly. It was a tape titled “Weats the Most Important Thing in Your Life? Money” (BIJOOP 016). This cassette mini-album had six songs, “All the Times”, “I Like it Here” and “Instrumental One” on the A side, and “Penny Picture Poseman”, “The Girl with Green Eyes” and “My Minitrend Friend” on the B side. We know that Kenneth Williams (who had released a song called “Kenneth Williams” on the 1988 tape compilation “Best Before Oct 88 (A Shropshire Compilation) was the producer.

Mark Flunder was the drummer on this record. Mark has been in many top bands including The McTells, Sportique, Television Personalities, Emil, Sindy Arthur, Moscovite Five, Elusive Diplomats and Cee Bee Beaumont.

The other band members of Big Paintings were Owen on bass and vocals, William on vocals and guitar (I believe he is Bill from The McTells), and Paul who is credited for Woodblocks. The Timothy Stevens orchestra is also credited.

The Brighton band also released some songs on compilations. In 1989 they had “I Like It Here” on “What Feet” tape comp released by Bi-Joopiter (BIJOOP 020) and the song “Charity” was on another tape comp called “Purveyors of Domestic Genius – Volume One” released by Swell Cassette Recording (SWELL TEN).

In 1991 on the classic “A Prospect of the Sea” compilation tape released by Cloud Production (Smile 003) they had the song “Penny Picture Postman”. Lastly in 1992 “This Does Not Mean a Thing”, a video of theirs, was on “Dead Eye One” VHS tape. Sadly this video is not on Youtube.

That’s all there is about them online, but I am sure some of you may know more details about them. Were there more recordings by The Big Paintings? Why no more releases? Who saw them live?

Use the comment box below to share any info on them!

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The Big Paintings – The Long Overdraw

I found 5 demos by In the Bus, a 1990s French band, on Bandcamp.

The information about them is little. Ovvk Archives, which is run by Jimmy Arfosea from Les Autres, has rescued these 5 songs and we should be thankful for that.

There’s a little bio that is terribly helpful:

Between the winter of 1992-1993 and the fall of 1993, Olivier, singer of the french Noise Pop band Les Autres and Yann, designer of the fanzine Tea Time (well known for having released a split flexi featuring rare demos of Stereolab) teamed up and recorded a series of superb pieces of naïve and playful Twee Pop giving pride of place to jangly guitars, a Casio toy organ and that would not have gone wrong on Sarah Records.

We know too that the songs were recorded between the winter of 1992 and the spring of 1993. They were recorded in Rennes, France.

As mentioned there are five demos, “Ugly Little World”, “Sunday Song”, “Virginie”, “Orange Flower” and “In a Different World”. Some of them got released in the 90s.

The song “Ugly Little Girl”  appeared on the compilation tape “Summer Hits 93” released by Lo Label from France. This tape came with a 32 page mini booklet. How I wish I would see a copy of this.

“Sunday Song” and “Orange Flower” were included on “Breeze 4” compilation tape released by Alphyen Viwit (004) from Germany in 1994. This tape also came with a large zine.

Also there was another song by In the Bus, “Radio-Active-Coffee”. This song is not among the demos on Bandcamp. But we know this track was released on the compilation 7″ Box set released by Aliénor Records in 1994 titled “The Onion Most Dangerous Game”. This boxset came alongside the French fanzine “Onion’s Soup” and was limited to 500 copies.

All of the songs recorded by this band were written and recorded by Olivier Doreille and Yann Brien, with the exception of “Virginie” which Olivier wrote on his own.

The last detail we know about the band is what instruments each of them played. Olivier Doreille played electric guitar, bass, vocals, casio keyboards, drums programming, flute and noises. Yann Brien, on the other hand, was on electric guitar, casio keyboards, vocals, drums programming and noises.

Now the question is, are there more recordings? Did they play live? Would love to know!

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In the Bus – Ugly Little Girl

Tara Mackay on vocals and bass, Christian Elton on guitars, vocals and keyboards and AJ Naito on drums was the original lineup of the New Jersey band The Parcels.

This lineup would release a self-titled 7″ in 1998 on the label Brentwood Estates (BES-005). The songs on this record were “Oh, What a Busy Day” and “Green Means Go” on the A side and “I Dream of Jean Genet” on the B side. The three songs had been recorded in mid September of that year at Pain and Pleasure Studios, Small Factory’s Dave Auenbach’s studios in Providence, Rhode Island, and were mastered at Greg Lee Processing.

Melissa Wysocki would take over bass and vocals replacing Tara in 1999. This new lineup would record the wonderful album “Have a Go with The Parcels” which was also released by Brentwood Estates (BES-013) in 2000.

The songs for the album were recorded with Bill Wells and Gary Olson at Marlborough Farms Studio in Brooklyn, NY.

This album had 12 songs, “Snappy New Haircut”, “Jessica Pancakes”, “I Could Be a Dinosaur”, “Horton Hears The Who”, “Patchoulie Julie”, “She’s a Good Witch”, “Minor Disturbance Grrrl”, “Green Means Go”, “I Stole a Star’, “Measure Me Sky”, “Lobster Kids” and “Monkey Bars”.

The songs were mastered at Nonstop Studio and the design and layout is credited to Ryan Lewis from Kincaid, Grape Soda and The Weight.

The band would appear on a few compilations too. The song “Snappy New Haircut” would find its way on “New Atmosphere for the Future: U.S. Pop Life Vol.3-International” CD released by the Japanese label Contact Records (CR-10) in 2000. Then “She’s a Good Witch” was on “Will there be Time for Tea?” released by Morgan Leah Records (MORGAN 348) in 2001. That same year the band would have “If I Ever Get the Chance Again” on Shelflife Records’ “One” CD (LIFE 040).

Lastly in 2002 the band had the wonderful “Jessica Pancakes” on my friend Tommy’s compilation “Hit Music Only” released by thee Swedish label Heavenly Pop Hits (POPH01).

The band played only a few gigs from what I’ve read. But gigs included ones with Wolfie, Barcelona, Masters of the Hemisphere and Calvin Johnson. Also they toured the East Coast during the summer of 2000 and played the Kindercore Records’ Expo 2000 FFesrtival. The band would call it a day in 2002.

About being in other bands I didn’t find much information. I saw that Christian Elton played bass on a Panda Riot song called “Marker” in the 2007 album “She Dares all Things. AJ Naito was in the band Pecan Sandies. I also read about a band called Home Economics, Scary Monster and another called The Dares were members could have been involved with.

What is good to know too is that the band’s website still exists. The first thing you’ll see is the band’s appearance on the I-Pop segment of the Japanese TV show Hakai that aired in February 1999.

Then there’s a few little pieces of info I picked here and there… for example the band playing at Yat’s in 2000, or on April of 2001 they played with The Ladybug Transistor at Smith College, or that the band was based in Sewell, New Jersey.

Anyone remembers them? I loved this band back in the day and I just remembered them today, and thought… how come I’ve never written about them or even recommended them on my blog!

EDIT: some interesting bit that have been shared on Facebook: It seems that the band was supposed to contribute a brand new song for the “Hit Music Only” CD comp. What happened was that the producer had disappeared with all the master recordings to in the end the band contributed a song off the album.

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The Parcels – Jessica Pancakes

I think it has been about 10 years since we heard from Torquay band Big Wave. Anyone remembers them? They played Indietracks in 2013, and London Popfest that same year.

The band was formed by flatmates: Ella on vocals and guitar, Rik on guitar, Matt on drums, Pete on bass and Mel on keyboards.

They took their name from a song called “Big Wave” by Jenny and Johnny.

The band released just a few records and appeared on some compilations. So maybe you don’t remember them. But the good thing is that their Bandcamp has all their releases. There’s a Soundcloud too but that has way many less songs.

I think the first time we heard about them was in 2011 when their song “Wild Strawberries” was on the CD compilation “Dry Route to Devon” released by Art is Hard Records (AIH005).

That same year the band released the EP “Another Year or Two” that included the songs “Another Year or Two”, “The Rosenbergs” and “Wild Strawberries”. There was a video made for “Another Year or Two” worth checking out!

In 2012 the band would release a tape album on Soft Power Records from Scotland. “The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down)” (SOFT007) had 5 songs: “Circumstance”, “Blissed Out”, “The Roots of Love (Come Tumbling Down)”, “Another Year or Two” and “Leavers Party”. You would find the same songs on the A side and also on the B side. The edition was limited tom 100 tapes, 50 white cassettes and 50 pink cassettes. Out of these songs the band decided to make a video for the song “Circumstance“.

“Only You” was the first and only vinyl release by the band, also in 2012. Released by Beautiful Strange (BS005) on November of that year. It included the title song on the A side and “Living Room” on the B side. Both songs were recorded at Middle Farm Studios in South Devon and were produced, mixed and mastered by James Bragg. This superb track on the A side also has a video.

There was a very interesting release that year too, “Dying on the Vine”. This song was part of the Pizza box collection of Art is Hard Records. Recorded by James Bragg at Middle Farm Studios, I believe the release came out in a pizza box actually and had catalog number PIZZAIH17. The band continued making videos, so of course there is one for “Dying on the Vine“.

The band made a video with London on the Inside, an interview. There they share some interesting details about them.

Lastly in 2013 the band released a cassingle with “Goldmine” on the A side and “GW Bridge” on the flipside. It came out in Art is Hard Records (AIH019) and was recorded at Middle Farm Studios, again with James Bragg producing, mixing and mastering. Video this time for “Goldmine“.

“GW Bridge” would also appear on a double cassette compilation called “Bleed in Gold” released by Art is Hard (AIH023) in 2013. This tape was a celebration of the label’s 3rd anniversary and had some great bands like Joanna Gruesome or The Black Tambourines.

When it comes to gig we know the band played the End of the Road festival, the Lemonfest, Knee Deep Festival 2012 in Cornwall, Dance of Days Fes in Falmouth in 2012, Start the Bus, One World Cafe, the 27 Club with Fire Island Pines, The Buffalo Bar, the Brixton Windmill, The Cavern in Exeter, The George Tavern with Evans the Death, Model Village and Violet Woods, toured with the Magnetic Fields, supported Metronomy and Tender Trap

The band made merch including tote bags and t-shirts.

And then they sort of disappeared?

Where are they now? Still playing in bands?

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Listen
Big Wave – Only You