The past days I’ve been laying out around 250 pages worth of indiepop news and interviews, compiled mainly from this blog. The idea is a book of course. It feels some of my posts or interviews are really long and a screen is not the best medium for them to be read. The idea started during a conversation with Olaf from Firestation during a very cold afternoon in London a couple of weeks ago. We’ve been record hunting earlier, finding some great stuff actually (like the Hope flexi!), and it was already time for lunch. The warmth of a kebab shop and shwarma and falafel sandwiches, perhaps triggered the idea of looking for on-demand printing and compiling all these interviews that one day will probably get deleted by a hacker or some sort of wordpress bug. Who knows, but digital can’t be trusted.

Olaf tells me that in Germany it’s very common to use this kind of service, no wonder why they are the number one country in printing books. So as soon as I came back to the US I started doing some research, and it’s not that bad. A 300 page paperback with color covers can be priced around 20 dollars.  It’s not that cheap, but it’s fine I believe for something that maybe not more than 50 people will be interested. We’ll see. But it’s clear to me that I have material for a second and third volume already.

While bringing over the texts to inDesign for the book, I noticed that some blog entries didn’t get transferred from the previous version of the blog to this second version. I’ll try to fix that in the next couple of days.

Also since today the fifth Cloudberry fanzine is sold out, which reminds me it’s already time for a sixth one. I’ve been thinking of doing it an orange fanzine, would you like that color? There’s been blue, red, green, purple and black so far. Will start planning this in the next couple of weeks. On behalf of the fanzine price, which I read somewhere that it was overpriced, I want to say that it includes a CD and postage, bear that in mind. And it’s not a photocopied fanzine, it’s professionally printed, cut and stapled. There are no white margins around the pages, there’s bleeds. And it’s printed on heavy paper, not your usual white A4 printer paper. If that’s not enough, the zine comes on a protective polybag. Bear that in mind, especially if you’ve never seen one and just love to complain.

And I know many are waiting for me to give some sort of feedback about the last post, but I won’t feed this nonsensical circus. People seem to have a lack of reading skills and don’t see the points I raised. In any case, it showed how loving and accepting this community is. Let’s leave it like that, and let’s pretend everything is fine. It seems that’s what these British kids are obsessed with, pretending we all love each other. That’s what makes us indiepop fans, right?

But enough of news, now is time to one of my favourite things on this blog, discovering and sharing long lost bands!  So, have you ever heard about The Bicycle Thieves?

It’s an easy guess that their name comes from the famous movie The Bicycle Thieves, an 1948 Italian neorealist film directed by Vittorio De Sica. But what else do we know about this band that seem to have disappeared in oblivion even though there’s a myspace page that has not been updated in a long time?

I had totally forgotten about them, but while in Glasgow, at Love Music, next to the train station, I found a 12″ copy of “Waterfront” for a pound. This is their second single, released in 1989,  and the easiest to find, there’s even a 7″ version of it. Both, the 7″ and 12″ includes as a B-side the song “Tearing At Each Other’s Hearts”. It was released on the Sun Zoom Spark label being this their first release on their catalog. Label name taken from a Captain Beefheart song. Both songs were written and produced by C. Lewington and The Bicycle Thieves and the records were distributed by Pinnacle Records. That’s all there is to gather from the sleeve.

But why not let’s go back to their first single, which is very hard to find and includes my favourite song of theirs: “Ghostdance”. I still haven’t had the chance to find this fine slice of C86 guitar-styled pop. A true gem! This first single was released Clear Spot Records, which I’m guessing was their own label. Catalog number again is number 1. And of course, the great sound doesn’t surprise as this was recorded in the heyday of guitar pop, 1986! The B-side is “Louise” which is a very good song too and I’ve noticed someone has already blogged about this B side. But I have to disagree! The A side is the winner here! But he is very right when he says: “and just the right amount of chiming Rickenbacker verve and swagger”.

Though this name Ghostdance makes me utterly curious, what does it mean? A quick look on wikipedia tells me:

The Ghost Dance (also called the Ghost Dance of 1890) was a religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times. In accordance with the prophet Jack Wilson (Wovoka)’s teachings, it was first practiced for the Ghost Dance among the Nevada Paiute in 1889. The practice swept throughout much of the American West, quickly reaching areas of California and Oklahoma. As the Ghost Dance spread from its original source, Native American tribes synthesized selective aspects of the ritual with their own beliefs. This process often created change in both the society that integrated it and the ritual.

The chief figure in the movement was the prophet of peace, Jack Wilson, known as Wovoka among the Paiute. He prophesied a peaceful end to white American expansion while preaching goals of clean living, an honest life, and cross-cultural cooperation by Native Americans. Practice of the Ghost Dance movement was believed to have contributed to Lakota resistance. In the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, US Army forces killed at least 153 Lakota Sioux. The Sioux variation on the Ghost Dance tended towards millenarianism, an innovation that distinguished the Sioux interpretation from Jack Wilson’s original teachings. The Caddo Nation still practices the Ghost Dance today.

Interesting, huh?

It seems these two were their only two releases before disappearing. But it makes you wonder as there was such a long time in between releases, 3 years. There must have been many more songs recorded. And there was as you I found out on last.fm of all places! Here you’ll find free downloads to “Waterfront” and “Louise” and lots of songs more to stream. How I wish these were compiled on a proper CD! Also a nice find on last.fm is a small biography of the band written by a user “clewingt”, could this be C. Lewington? Must be. Sadly he hasn’t logged in to last.fm in years, so no chance of contacting him for an interview to learn more about his previous band. Anyhow, the bio reads:

The Bicycle Thieves hailed from South East London, forming in the mid 1980’s and finally dispanding in the early 90’s. A guitar rock band with a sound reminisant of REM or Lloyd Cole as well as reaching further back to the sounds of the Byrds, Love and Bob Dylan. Singles “Ghostdance”/”Louise” and especially “Waterfront” received good airplay on national radio one, London and local stations. The band played London venues such as the Marquee and Brixton Academy as well as up and down the country and France.

And that’s all there is online. So here’s hoping our friend C. Lewington gets in touch, or maybe anyone else can share any more info about this band! It would be appreciated! For now enjoy the fantastic “Ghostdance”!

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Listen
The Bicycle Thieves – Ghostdance