Thanks so much to Andrew Culf and Mark Fincher for the interview! I wrote about the London band Blanche Spooner a few weeks ago on the blog, happily it didn’t take long for both Andrew and Mark to get in touch and finally learn more about this obscure band that didn’t release any records but did record some very fine indiepop songs! Join me in discovering a bit more about them!

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

Andrew: Hi Roque, Its very nice to be asked.  I’m well thanks, I play a bit of guitar every day at home, but just for my ears only these days.

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

Andrew: My earliest memories of music are Tony Blackburn’s Radio 1 breakfast show and my dad’s record collection – classic 50s rock and roll, Cliff and the Shadows, Lonnie Donegan and the first Beatles LP.  My first instrument was the harmonica,  I’d discovered the blues after hearing the John Mayall and Eric Clapton Beano album and learnt by playing along to that and a Sonny Boy Williamson album.  I later bought a very cheap and nasty acoustic guitar from a school friend for £5 and taught myself the basics.  Growing up in the early 70s, it was Slade, the Sweet – the chart music of the day and a bit later on ELO. By the late 70s it was still mainly chart music but now it was The Jam, Buzzcocks, Squeeze, The Specials, Ian Dury.

Mark: My first musical memories are of singing songs with my sister in the back of the family car. A big favourite was “Build Me Up Buttercup” in a call and response stylee. Between mum and dad and three kids there was always a lot of music in our house. Everything from Billie Holiday and Sidney Bechet to The Partridge Family via The Jackson 5, Slade and (my fave) T.Rex.

++ Had you been in other bands before Blanche Spooner? If so, how did all of these bands sound? Are there any recordings?

Andrew: All of us except Simon, had been in the final line up of Reuben Kincaid who had been gigging around London from mid 1986.  I suppose you could say there was a little bit of a Postcard influence on their early sound and when I joined on banjo and harmonica later in 86 a bit of a country influence crept in.  We recorded two demos and a self financed single while I was in the band and one or two demos were recorded before I joined.

Mark: I have been in a few bands but mostly with the same people! My first was a fabulous one gig wonder called The TV Dinners.

++ Where were you from originally?

Andrew: I grew up in Leigh-on-sea, Mark and Richard both grew up nearby.

++ How was London at the time of Blanche Spooner? 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?

Andrew: I was living in Hammersmith during this period.  A lot of time was spent in smokey pubs, often planning our ascent to pop stardom, dingy rehearsal rooms and cinemas – I was probably very pale in the late 80s.  I was listening to a lot of classic singer songwriters at that time like James Taylor, Paul Simon, Carol King, a lot of sixties stuff and the Smiths were always a favourite.  Most of my record buying was done at the Record and Tape Exchange in Notting Hill and Shepherd’s Bush, for new stuff it was Reckless Records for variety and Our Price in Hammersmith for convenience.  Hours were spent trawling junk shops and charity shops for interesting vinyl.  I’d see plenty of new bands when we were gigging at places like The Bull and Gate, the Clarendon in Hammersmith, the Union Tavern, Dingwalls and the Canterbury Arms few of which I could name now.  I do remember being impressed with The Wood Children whose singer I would see busking in Tottenhan Court Road station late at night and we would go and see our mates The Black Cillas and Ben and Andy’s post Cillas band Big Love.

Mark: London in the 80s, for all it’s shiny, cocktail bars and “we’re all living in Paris in the 50s” attitude, still had a lot of grimy old pubs where any night of the week you could see 3 or 4 bands for a couple of pounds. I spent a lot of it at The Bell in Kings Cross ( a long gone but fondly remembered LGBT+ pub) where we danced to the Indie dance hits of the day with a bit of disco thrown into the mix. We spent many hours trawling through second-hand vinyl at The Record and Tape Exchange. We played most regularly at The Bull & Gate in Kentish Town and often went to watch our good friends The Black Cillas amongst others.

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

Andrew: Richard and I were getting more interested in the acoustic guitar, so when Reuben Kincaid ended we decided to play without a drummer and go for a more acoustic sound.  We’d been around for about a year when Simon joined after coming along as a session musician to play on the first demo we recorded at Advision.

Mark: We were formed from the remains of a band called Reuben Kincaid and added a couple of people along the way!

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

Andrew: Richard and I would come up with the tunes, individually or together and Mark would write the lyrics.  I was sharing a flat with Andy the bass player, so we would work on ideas too.  We mainly rehearsed at a couple places both under railway arches, one off the Walworth Road not far from the Elephant and Castle and the other a short walk from the Oval.

Mark: I only recall rehearsing in filthy old railway arch rehearsal rooms or smoking out each others flats and getting through any number of beers and cheap bottles of wine. I mostly wrote the words to tunes as they came along from Richard or Andrew.

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

Mark: Blanche Spooner was named after Sallys’ mum’s hairdresser (Blanche) and my Auntie Joan (Spooner).

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

Mark: Influences were many. I seem to recall we  had listened to a lot of the Country-ish stuff at the time particularly:Nanci Griffith, Lucinda Williams.

++ I think my favourite song of yours might as well be “Thoroughly Modern Willy”, wondering if you could tell me what inspired this song? What’s the story behind it?

Mark: I have just listened to Thoroughly Modern Willy for the first time in ages and it sounds pretty good! Like a lot of my words at the time it’s about self-protection and putting on your armour against  a world of bigots! This was deep into the AIDS crisis and I was the only Queer in the band. I should say, a nicer bunch of people you couldn’t hope for as friends and band mates but sometimes it was lonely.

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

Andrew: I think ‘Pond Life’ would be one of may favourites, sadly it only exists as a very lowfi live recording.

Mark: I couldn’t choose a favourite but TMW is sounding good today!

++ What about gigs? Did you play many?

Andrew: During the Blanche years we played regularly in London, most often at the Mean Fiddler Acoustic Room, the Powerhaus a couple of times and I remember one out of town gig in Salisbury.

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

Andrew: When we had no response to our last demo things just petered out, Richard and later Andy moved to France and that was it.  Mark, Sally and I continued to play together on and off.  Mark and Richard recorded some songs in Paris in the mid 90s as Eli Orr and I joined them to record some more material in London and played one gig at the Orange in Kensington.  Mark and I recorded an unreleased EP a few years later with Sally on backing vocals.

Mark: Andrew, Richard and I were together again a few years later as Eli Orr and recorded an album’s worth of songs in France in the mid ’90s.  A few years after that Andrew and I wrote and recorded a 4 track ep with Sally George singing background and harmony. We were taped performing them live on a new music TV show but the production company went broke and it never aired. I don’t know if it still exists somewhere out there..??

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

Andrew: Sally continues to perform with The Kitchen Drinkers and Simon plays bass professionally.

++ Was there any interest from radio?

Andrew: ‘Post’ was played on Gary Crowley’s Demo Clash on Radio London, but otherwise no.

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

Andrew: We used to get the occasional nice comment in various gig listings, but that was it really. (Here is one from Time Out, and another from Time Out as well!)

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

Andrew: We had some great nights at the Mean Fiddler and our last gig at the Powerhaus I remember as being fairly special, it was the only time we played live with a cello.  Recording at Advision was also a great experience – big thanks to the late Alan Sizer for allowing us to do that.

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

Andrew: Apart from reading and walking the dogs, music is definitely still my main obsession.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Andrew: Looking back to over thirty years ago my memory is a little hazy, but on the whole I remember that time with a great deal of fondness.  I had some great times making music and made some really good friends.

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Listen
The Blanche Spooner – Thoroughly Modern Willy