Described as the most hated guy in Göteborg, Alexander Gustafsson used to lead the band Portrait Painters about 15 years ago. In 2009, when he was 22, we saw the band release two digital singles on Bonjour Recordings and after that they just fizzled out.

“Forgive/Forget” (BJR004) was the first song they put out and then came “A Future Crime” (BJR007). As mentioned both came on Bonjour who was the home of two bands familiar to Cloudberry, Bye Bye Bicycle and Bonnie and Clyde.

On Discogs there are some details about the songs worth checking out. “Forgive/Forget” had Adam Bolméus (from Bad Cash Quartet and Hästpojken) on electric and acoustic guitar, as well as in arrangements and co-producing. Kalle Von Hall (from Bad Cash Quartet) played synths and co-produced while Alexander Sand sang and made the music. I supposed Alexander Sand is Alexander Gustafsson.

On “A Future Crime”, the people on the song changed quite a bit. Now we see Jakob Schroeder (from Bye Bye Bicycle) on acoustic guitar, Nils Bengtsson Blomstrand on bass, Viktor Englund on drums, Samuel Petersson  (from Bye Bye Bicycle) on electric guitar and arrangements, Mattias Glavå as the executive producer and André Vikingsson (from Bye Bye Bicycle) who made the music together with Alexander Sand who also wrote the lyrics.

Also make sure you check out the video that was made for “A Future Crime” which is quite fun. The video was shot in Göteborg and Stockholm during June of 2009.

A good find is this 2008 interview with Alexander on the newspaper Borås Tidning. There it mentions that he used to live in the town of Sätila. Also another interesting bit is that “Forgive/Forget” was a song he had written when he was 16 years old. Another good bit of info is that the band’s name came from a song by The Bear Quartet.

We also learn a little bit more about Alexander. He was self-employed at the time as a graphic designer. He was studying art science.

I notice that the band played a few important places like Pustervik in Göteborg, Musikens Hus, or Underjorden where there is some live footage on the web.

Lastly I believe the band had more songs. I have found on the web two more, one called “Yellow Car (Demo)” and another called “The Game“. Not sure how these got their way on the web, maybe they were on the band’s Myspace at one point?

And then, what happened to Alexander? He seemed quite talented. Hope he continued making songs? Anyone knows?

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Portrait Painters – A Future Crime

I am not sure how to classify the Mousetrap Conspiracy. I have only heard one song, “The Skies” from 1987. It had appeared on the LP compilation “Underground Resistance Volume 2″ released by Reaction Records (UNREST 2) along a bunch of bands I have never heard before.

The record is categorized on Discogs in the Rock genre and the styles are goth rock and gothic metal. Maybe this is goth? I feel it is more post-punk sounding, as I can see some great pop hooks in the chorus. It is a catchy song though somewhat dark-ish. I found it good and interesting, and thought sharing it.

I have no clue where the band was from. Well, from the UK for sure. The aforementioned compilation is British. But that’s not all. The band released another song in those late 80s. It was on a compilation 7” that was released by Fantastic Records (FAN002) called “Welcome to the West”.

This label hailed from Exeter, Devon. So I wonder if there’s a chance the band also hailed from this area. On this record the band contributed the song “Girls Stroll at 8”. The other bands in the record were Colonial Club, Fairly Perfect People and Jive Turkey.

Then my suppositions prove to be right. There is an address on the back of the sleeve. It says the band hailed from Plymouth in Devon. We also finda. name, that of Dave Martin. Probably a member of the band.

I may be wrong, the name is not uncommon you know, but there is a Dave Martin in the Plymouth area that is in a jazz band these days called Jabbo Five. Could it be the same Dave?

The only other interesting bit is that the band supported Pulp on July 4th of 1986 at the legendary Tropic Club in Bristol.

And that’s it. Would be interesting to find out what happened with them and listen to more songs, wonder how they sounded like!

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Mousetrap Conspiracy – The Skies

I wrote years ago about the Swedish band Little Big Adventure on the blog. That was Magnus Lindroos moniker and the one he used to release his very fine “Saltsjö-Duvnäs” CDR EP.

Magnus had been in other bands too of course. He was in Penny Century and one called The Paper Merchants which I know nothing at all to be honest.

So here I am looking on the web if I can find any information about it.

The one thing that I find is a song called “The Lovers (In the Face Of)” which is very nice.

From what I understand it was released in 2012 by the blog Eardrums. Can I find this release?

So far no luck. I do see that there was another song released called “I Don’t Care”. Was it part of the same release? I see it in Rateyourmusic as a 2009 release. I also notice that it is a Swedish band but probably another with the same name? I see the band members listed but I don’t see Magnus Lindroos. It is quite a coincidence of two bands in Sweden, in around the same period, with the same name.

I keep searching. I see that Magnus DJed at Club King Kong on 2012. That’s a long time ago.

But that’s it. Maybe it would be good to get in touch with Magnus someday if possible and learn more about his projects. That’d be cool!

EDIT:
Our friend Jonathan Rieger has just told me that he saw the band play at Cosy Den festival in Stockholm in 2009. He bought a CD album then by the band called “A Friend of Mine”. Didn’t know that existed! The tracklist for the album is as follows: “Better”, “I Can’t Walk With You into Doom”, “I Don’t Care”, “Wedding Picture”, “East Coast”, “The Lovers”, “Death will Come”, “The Kids at  the Club” and “Bourgeoisie Beheaders”. It has a label too, one called Den Manskliga Motsvarigheten, and the catalog was MOTCD01. Probably the band’s own label.

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The Paper Merchants – The Lovers (In The Face Of)

First things first. We have a new release! It is coming out on February 15 and it is a 10″! It is by the superb band Blind Terry from Sweden. It includes 6 songs that have never been released and finally see the light now! It is limited to 250 copies and it is a beauty if I may say so. You can preorder now on our website, www.cloudberryrecords.com and also on our Bandcamp! Enjoy!

So I return to the Blue House Records Bandcamp. After discovering the Tender Lugers, I know there are more goodies in there.

The goodies have names. And the first one I really like is called As Is. They have a collection of songs called “Heavy Big Pop” which sounds really interesting to me. 17 tracks in total, recorded in the 80s.

I learn that the band was formed by James Partridge on guitar and vocals, Paul Read on drums and vocals, Steve Mears on bass and vocals and Paul Taylor on guitar.

The band had stopped playing in 1989, on Thursday 16th of March of that year in Felixstowe. Where is that?

Felixstowe is a port town in Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest container port in the United Kingdom. Felixstowe is approximately 116 km northeast of London.

The songs on this collection are: “Take it From Me”, “Wherever You Go”, “Badlands”, “Hey! Judas!”, “World Full of Eyes”, “I Don’t Want To See You Again”, “Too Tough to Die”, “Say it Again”, “Faith”, “Storm Warning”, “Church of Comedies”, “Under Two Flags”, “Big Love”, “The Big Adventure”, “Black Sun”, “Wade into the Water” and “(If You’ve Seen the Light) Tell Me”.

One nice thing is that there are copies of this release on CD still available.

And then there’s more. There is a collection of demos called “Where Four Seas Meet” that has 21 songs. These are “Love is Here”, “I Feel For You”, “Be My Evangeline”, “(I Want To) Move (In With You)”, “Away From You”, “Time to Cry”, “Love Me”, “Forbidden”, “We Could Be Happy”, “I Can’t Trust Myself”, “Almost Summer”, “Drop It”, “Incredible”, “Boomerang”, “Round & Around”, “Take a Little While”, “If You Gotta Go, Go Tomorrow”, “Better than the Rest”, “Heart is Blue”, “Why Can’t I Touch It?” and “The Prettiest Girl in the World”.

Then something that confuses me. I read the band had their last hurray in 1989. But I see that the first seven songs were recorded in February of 1990. At Hammer Hi Tech Studios and produced by Martin Hawkes and James Harding. So that doesn’t make sense chronologically, right?

The songs “Forbidden” and ” We Could Be Happy” were recorded in 1989 in Westerfield. While the rest of tracks up to “Heart is Blue” were recorded on April 1990 also on Westerfield. “Why Can’t I Touch it?” was recorded in May 1990, live, in Christchurch Park in Ipswich. It is a cover of The Buzzcocks. The last track was never finished but it was rescued and mixed in 2001.

On this recordings the band had changed a bit, James Partridge was still on the band, but the rest had changed, we see Malcolm Hawkes on drums and vocals, Ross Geraghty on bass and vocals and Shane Kirk on guitar and vocals.

Then I find something great, live footage. As Is playing live at the Colchester Arts Centre in May 22nd 1990. The song available is “Away From You“. Then another video, 20+ minutes worth, of them playing at the Ipswich Corn Exchange on May 21, 1988. The songs played in this video are “Cry (Most of)”, “Faith”, “Under Two Flags”, “Wherever You Go”, “I Don’t Want to See You Again” and “Badlands (most of)”. And lastly another full gig, almost an hour worth, of the band playing in Grimsby on September 13, 1988. That time they played “Take it From Me”, “Wherever You Go”, “Your Way”, “Shadows”, “Fire Away”, “Faith”, “Badlands”, “Church of Comedies”, “I Don’t Want to See You Again”, “Real Life”, “I Don’t Mind” and “Wade into the Water”.

Another find is this Soundcloud by James Partridge where he shares more tracks of him. Just not sure to which bands they belong to. I know he also recorded as Partridge-Read with Paul Read.

Steve Mears and Shane Kirk had been in Gods Kitchen

And that’s all there is about them. But hopefully we’ll find more information soon. Songs sound great!

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Listen
As Is – Big Love