Day 455

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two new songs from Glenn Donaldson. That’s always good news, isn’t it? The most prolific indiepop songwriter out there I would say. The latest songs are now on Bandcamp and they are usual, full of jangly power. Check them out, “Dull Panic & Sunday Gloom” and “I Almost Changed”.

Mad Honey: this three-piece formed by Tiff Sutcliffe, Branden Palesano and Austin Valdez hails from Oklahoma City. They make some sweet dreampop as you’ll be aware from their latest digital single, “Good Grief”. The band seems to have been around since 2018, so I need to check out their back catalogue.

Airu: time ago I had recommended some songs from this Bilbao, Spain, band. Now I have to recommend a 7″ that will be out on June 14. The two songs on this fine slice of plastic are “Con las Ventanas tan Grandes me da Vergüenza Mirar” and “Voy tan Deprisa”.

The Umbrellas: Many say this is pop perfection, and it might as well be! Slumberland is releasing the band’s debut album on August 6th and we’ve already heard the song “She Buys Herself Flowers”. But we hadn’t seen the video. At least until now! So have a look!

HANN: and here is another two song, it seems this is the way to release digital singles too. It makes sense. Why just the one song. HANN hails from Manchester. HANN is a band but is also Hannah. The two songs in this latest single are pretty good, poppy, catchy, fun and with an edge. They are called “Daddy’s Drugs” and “Essential Travel Only”.

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Yet another band that released just one 7″ and disappeared. How many of them are there?!

Sons of Shane released the “Fly” 7″ in 1987. It came out on Whippet Records (WHIP 1), probably their own label. The A side was “Fly” and the B side was “All I Had”. I’ve only heard the A side which is a fine slice of indiepop.

The cover art shows a huge pigeon and some people walking in the background. On the back of the sleeve there is not much info. There is an address, 116 Galton Road, Bearwood, Birmingham. As I am curious I have Googled it. It is a two floor house with a light blue door. Looks nice. It is sort of close to Birmingham center, about 30 minutes on train.

On Discogs there are no other releases listed nor compilation appearances.

The name of the band may have been inspired by:

MacShane was also the name given to the group of sons of Shane “An Diomas O’Neill”, Prince of Ulster, Lord O’Neill, and Chief of all the O’Neill clans from 1558-1567. When he died, his ten or more sons were spread out among family within Ulster and Scotland. In the early 1580s they regrouped and for nearly a decade battled with their O’Neill cousins for dominance of Ulster and their father and grandfather’s estate, the Earldom of Tír Eoghain. The English officials used the term “the Mac Shanes” (the sons of Shane) as an all encompassing term to describe many sons that made up this army in Ireland.

Or maybe not.

The only other info we have is that both songs are credited to someone with last name Wilson.

I hit a wall quite fast. I can’t seem to find any more info. One thing though, this blog, your always reliable Cloudberry Cake Proselytism, has a mention of the band. When I interviewed the Subtonics many many years ago, I asked them for any bands that they liked. They mentioned Sons of Shane. They say they hailed from Stafford. That is not close to Bearwood. That is even much further north of Birmingham, actually in between Birmingham and Stoke.

The Subtonics also give us a name, Deryck. He was in Sons of Shane and also played keys on some Subtonics recordings. And that the Subtonics suggested to join forces with Sons of Shane to create a label but they declined.

Well, any other details would be appreciated! Oh! And I need a copy of this 7″, anyone able to help?

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Listen
Sons of Shane – Fly