Day 355. Well tomorrow it will be a year since I started this lockdown. I thought it was in mid-March that I started this. Maybe I miscounted the days, though I think I was thorough. Perhaps I didn’t start counting when I first started to stay at home. I can’t remember anymore. It’s been a long time in any case.
Nuevos Hobbies: Discos de Kirlian have a few new releases worth checking out. Let’s start by the 12″ “Monstruoso” by the Spanish band Nuevos Hobbies. The 10 songs in this record are beautiful and jangly, no surprise here, it feels every indiepop band from Pamplona knows how to make good records. This one is very good, and I hope to get a copy soon.
The Death of Pop: another new song on the label’s Bandcamp is “Go Back”. This song is going to be part of the forthcoming album “Seconds” that the label will co-release with the fine French label Hidden Bay. There seems to be no release date yet, but we are looking forward to it.
Always You: and lastly from Discos de Kirlian is the song “Rio de Janeiro” by Always You. This one sounds really good. The band features the twin brothers Christoph and Anton who were in a lineup of the Pains of Being Pure at Heart as well as in the own band Ablebody. The song sounds great and it is announced that Shelflife Records will be involved in a release as well. Again no data for that yet, but we can enjoy this track of course!
The Umbrella Puzzles: well, this is already sold out. So fast. This is making me think that I should change the Cloudberry releases to a limited run of 100 copies. What do you all think? I would have to sell each 7″ for $12 plus shipping though. But the good thing will be that the records will all find a home and not stay in boxes at my place for a long time. I think I should start considering this. Anyways, I missed the CD release of “A Slowly Dawning Realization”. It seems the 100 copies were sold out in a day. Wow. Really wow. But it is not surprise as the music of Ryan Marquez has always been pure quality. In this new album he includes 10 jangly songs, filled with perfect melodies. The CD was released by Subjangle Records but you can stream the songs on Bandcamp.
The Blue Herons: who isn’t a fan of the music of Gretchen deVault and Andy Jossi by now? The Swiss-American project keeps crafting bright, luminous, indiepop slices of perfection. Their latest track is titled “Endless Rain” and it sounds classic at first listen. Everything is in the right places. Every arrangement, the lyrics, the vocals, it just sounds good to me. As my friend Jessel asked somewhere, when are they releasing something?
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Did this late 80s, early 90s band got their name after a Bee Gees song called “Red Chair, Fade Away”? Would that be the first and only indiepop band to be called after a Bee Gees song? that’s an interesting thread to investigate.
But I think in general I want to know more about the band. I own a few records by them, probably half or so of their releases. So I am missing many parts in the puzzle.
Many know the band because Tim Vass was part of it. Tim Vass had been in the legendary Razorcuts (he was also part of Dandelion Wine, The Forever People and The Cinematics). But he was accompanied by two more musicians, Shirley Souter and Richard Mason. Richard had played in the Razorcuts albums and had been in the band called Shake Appeal. Shirley actually did backing vocals on The Carousel records and was part of Dandelion Wine. She also took photos for the Razorcuts’ “The World Keeps Turning” album. So yeah, all very well-known people within the Oxford scene.
In 1989 the band would release their first record, a 12″ EP titled “Let It Happen” on the Cosmic English Music label (CTA 103). The A side had “Let it Happen” and “Myra”, while the B side had “Dragonfly” and “Grasshopper”. On this record we see that another important name in Oxford scene, Peter Momtchiloff (Heavenly) played bass. Also Struan Robertson (from Saturn V and The Would-Be-Goods) played drums and percussion.
Richard Mason played the acoustic guitar and bells in the record, Tim Vass played guitar, acoustic guitar, tambourine, finger cymbals, flute and organ while Shirley Souter played rhythm guitar. The producers were Tim Vass and Martin Pavey. The record was produced at Silent Studio in London.
There are also etchings on the vinyl, the A side says “No Clothes Don’t Buy My Soul”.
That same year the band released a second 12″. Titled “Mr. Jones”, it was another 4 song EP with “Mr. Jones” and “Chimney Pots” on the A side and “Faraway Lights” and “Out of the Grey” on the B side. Here I start to change the idea of the lineup of the band I had. So on the front cover there is an illustration of 5 members. These are the original three I thought of plus Struan Robertson and Peter Momtchiloff. The back of the sleeve lists them as three band members.
Like in the first record, all songs are credited to Shirley Souter.
In 1991 the band releases a split flexi with the American band Fudge. It was released by Waterbomb! Records (Splat 002). This flexi came alongside the sixth issue of the Waterbomb! fanzine and Red Chair Fadeaway contributed the song “Never Remember”. The red sleeve, on the Red Chair Fadeaway has a photo of a girl. I’ve tried many times to figure out who is she, if someone famous, but not sure. Anyone knows?
In 1991 the band would release their first album on both CD and vinyl. It was titled “Curiouser and Curiouser”. Originally it got released on vinyl by Tangerine Records (MM10). This version had 12 songs, “My Brother’s Room”, “Sleeping in Your Garden”, “Circus i n the Sky”, “Willo”, “All Your Old Tricks” and “Saffron’s Dream” on the A side, and “The Watermill of No Place”, “No Time”, “Rocking Boat”, “Epitaph for a Hare”, “Conjuror Trendle” and “Doasyouwouldbedoneby” on the flipside. The artwork was created by Paulo Baigent and came in a very nice sleeve from what I understand, with extra flap and even included a 10 page lyric booklet. I don’t have this records sadly. It looks really pretty from the photos.
The CD version came out on the English Garden label (ENG1013CD). This CD version included the album plus the two previous 12″s plus the song from the flexi disc, in that order. So in the end it has 21 songs! I think I’d like this version of the album, more songs! even though it probably not as pretty as the vinyl…
In 1993 the band would put out their second album “Mesmerised” released by Aural Records (AUR 102) on vinyl and on English Garden (ENG1012CD) on CD. This time around the tracklist looks the same for both versions. There were twelve songs, “I’m Not Trying”, “Homestead Moat”, “The Plaitman of Bedfordshire”, “Cristatus”, “Hot Rain” and “Happy With Your Lot” on the A side and “Clear, Clear to Me”, “Sweet Way”, “Don’t Close the Door”, “Under Clouds”, “Dream River” and “On Telegraph Hill” on the B side. Here I see there’s a mix when it comes to who wrote the songs. Shirley is still the main songwriter but Mason and Vass contribute more this time.
The artwork is credited to Shirley and we see another guest musician other than Struan Robertson, Raymond Dunthorne. Also on the credits we see that the engineer was Fred Baggs. The album was recorded at Redchurch Studio in London between the summer of 1992 and spring of 1993. Two songs, “Sweet Way” and “Dream River” were recorded at Joe’s Garage in London in autumn 1991.
The band’s last release was a 1995 7″ on the Candy Floss label (CF006) from the US. The 7″ had three songs. On the A side we find “Kingcup” while on the B side there’s “Kevin Said” and “July (Is a Long Time Coming)”. The song on the A side was recorded and mixed at Redchurch Studio on April 1995, “Kevin Said” was recorded at Joe’s Garage on August 1991 and mixed at Redchurch on April 1995 and the closing track was recorded at La Rocka Studio in London in April 1991 and mixed at Dungeon Studio in Oxfordshire in August 1991. On “Kingcup”, David Goldthorpe played rhythm guitar as backing vocals. He would later contribute in Dandelion Wine.
When it comes tom compilations the band appeared on a few. Interestingly not in their early days, but most of the compilations they’ve been on had been in this century.
The first one dates from 1995 and was called “(Garden of Delights Presents…) Seek Refuge… (From your Intolerable Situation)”. This compilation LP was released by Garden of Delights (Garden 3) and included the song “Limetree Helicopters”. Other known bands in this record include The Blind Bats, Louis Phillipe, Next Time Passions, The Television Personalities or The Pastels among others. The proceeds from this release were donated to the charity Womens Aid who provided refuges for battered women and their children.
Discogs lists a compilation called “Electric Psychedelic Sitar Headswirlers Volume 1-5”. It is a 5 CD boxset but it is listed as unofficial. Here they show Red Chair Fadeaway appearing on the fifth CD with the song “All Your Tricks”. The label was Past & Present Records (PAPRBOX 011) and it dates from 2011. Then in 2015 there is another unofficial CD boxset, a whopping 11 CDs. This one is called “Electric Psychedelic Headswirlers Volumes 1-11”. So yes, it includes CD 5 with Red Chair Fadeaway and the song “All Your Tricks”. The label name has changed though, now it is called Rubble and the catalog number is RUBCDBOX6. This 5th CD of the series was also released unofficially on its own by yet another label, Purple Lantern Records.
In 2018 Cherry Red would include thee song “Let it Happen” on the CD boxset “C89”. Then in 2019 Cherry Red would again include them on another box set called “Losing Touch With My Mind: Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” with the song “Myra”.
I google them. I only find blogs that let people download their records. That’s disappointing. I am looking for any other information that I haven’t found yet, perhaps I could find what are they doing these days? Are they still involved with music? That would be a cool thing to find out.
So yes, any information, any details would be appreciated. Anyone saw them playing live? Did the band make t-shirts? I reckon the design for their last 7″, “Kingcup” would have been great on t-shirts….
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2 Responses to “:: Red Chair Fadeaway”
I am the Richard Mason in The Red Chair Fadeaway outfit. A few points concerning the thing up there what you wrote:
1. Tim and Shirley were known in Oxford but hailed from Luton. I was never well-known on the Oxford music scene, partly by design.
2. The etching on the vinyl of “Let it happen”, “No clothes don’t buy my soul”, is a quotation from the lyrics to “Vacuum cleaner” by Tintern Abbey, a major influence on our music. There is also etching on “Mr Jones”, which reads “OH dear, look what they’ve done to the blues”, a quotation from “Tumbling down” off “The psychomodo”, the 2nd Cockney Rebel LP. Also, on the back sleeve of “Mr Jones” there is a quote in tribute to Monty Python’s Graham Chapman, but I don’t own the record + I can’t remember the quote verbatim.
3. “Never remember” off the ‘Waterbomb’ flexi was a song I wrote.
4. All songs on “Curiouser + curiouser” were written by Shirley except “Saffron’s dream”, “No time” + “Doasyouwouldbedoneby”: I wrote those 3.
5. All songs on “Mesmerized” were written by Shirley except “Cristatus”, “Happy with your lot” + “Sweet way”: I wrote those 3.
6. Of the 3 songs on “Kingcup”, I wrote “Kevin said” and Shirley wrote the other 2.
7. I wrote “Lime tree helicopters” which was on the “(Garden of Delights Presents…) Seek Refuge… (From your Intolerable Situation)” compilation LP.
8. Although the songwriting was divided up as detailed above, arrangements were shared between Tim, Shirley + myself. The drummers also contributed in this respect. Tim produced the records for the main part, though Shirley, Fred, Struan + I helped.
9. I left the group in either 1992 or 1993 owing to domestic commitments.
10. I’m not aware of either Shirley or Tim being currently involved in music. There was a Dandelion Wine single “Daytime”/”High + low” which preceded the “Model village” LP.
11. We played about 4 or 5 gigs. The last one was in Oxford in (I think) 1992. Of the gigs we did, 2 of them ended with my. er, ‘getting off’ with a girl. Which was nice.
12. There was one unreleased track called “2 sixpences to rub together” which we all wrote. It was an instrumental. Shirley also had a song called “The bad ice cream man” but we never even rehearsed it.
13. No group T shirts exist or ever existed apart from one I had printed myself which features the front cover of the “Curiouser + curiouser” LP. It got lost in a house move.
14. We hardly ever rehearsed, as we didn’t even live in the same town. We would send each other rough recordings of our songs on cassette. And I mean rough. Much of the credit for the group should go to Struan, who was able to learn songs so quickly + play them so brilliantly after 1 rehearsal it was amazing.
15. Really, Red Chair Fadeaway was Tim + Shirley’s thing. I just helped out here + there but was greatly flattered to be asked to do so. The records are great.
Thank you so much for sharing these notes, Roque and Richard Mason. I bought the Tangerine LP somewhere in Milan, Italy. Since then I have been totally in love with the spirit, vision and music of the album. The booklet is an absolute pleasure to read and look at. A fine work of art. This LP taught me that a masterpiece does not have to be complicated. This one goes straight to the heart.