Day 541
Today is a great day! But yesterday was better! If you missed it, yesterday I announced the newest release on Cloudberry Records, a 7″ by the Seoul by way of California based band Stars on Fire! Cristoph Mark’s project have been recommended a few times on the blog, he is a great craftsman when it comes to indiepop. When he presented me early this year a bunch of songs that were just a perfect fit for Cloudberry, things started moving fast. In the end I had to pick two songs, “Ready, Steady, Go!” that would end up as the A side and “Angel in White”, the B side. After many delays on thee pressing plant side, the record will be out on September 24. It also features lovely original art for the record sleeve art by Polish illustrator Jola Bankowska. So yeah, don’t miss it! We are taking pre-orders on our website as well as on Bandcamp!
Falconet: what a superb discovery! Sally Jati from the wonderful Starry Eyed Cadet sings and plays guitar and Ken Aki also sings, plays guitar, bass, keyboards and drums, in this wonderful project. “Magic Potion” is their debut album that has 8 songs that are all so good! September starts with this treasure. Now I hope it gets released properly. This deserves to be a CD, a vinyl, and even a tape (even if I don’t like tapes much!)
The Skating Party: Melotron Recordings from Thessaloniki, Greece, is a label that always delivers the good stuff. The Skating Party’s “Night Ruins” EP is the latest release. This 4 song CD that is limited to 30 copies will be out on September 10. Right now we can preview the opening track, “Seventeen Cages”, and yes it is good!
April Blue: a new song by this Tokyo five-piece is out now on Bandcamp! The song is titled “Pink Paper Planes” and it is a fine slice of jangly pop with female vocals. There’s not much info about this release but we can enjoy it. Lots of great Japanese bands these days making a similar sound. I still wonder why there was never a Tokyo Popfest or similar!
Kammahav: Cloudberry blog favourites Kammahav are back with “Fly the Flag”. The project formed by Christian Gustafsson and Tony Jenkins have penned another fine pop song with their traditional style. It’s always good to know that this long-distance project keeps going on.
Poster Paints: I recommended Poster Paints back in May as they were a lovely surprise. Their music was precious and well-crafted, and today I have to do it again. I have to tell you to go listen “Never Saw it Coming”, their latest song. Simon Liddell and Carla J Easton from Glasgow know what they are doing. Really good.
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As you know the great blog Fanning Sessions is probably the best resource for Irish bands. But this time around I discovered first the band on Soundcloud and then I ended up on the blog. Usually it is the other way. But this is cool nonetheless!
Wheels on Fire hailed from Lahinch, County Clare, Ireland. They were around the late 80s and early 90s. Though I’ve seen some recordings from 2018 on Soundcloud!
The band was formed by Jennie McGrath (vocals), Anne Parker (vocals), Paul O’Brien (guitar), Anthony Edwards (guitar), Maureen Comber (bass) and Teresa O’Brien (drums).
On Soundcloud we mostly find live recordings and recordings from their practice studio. But there are two demo songs that sound ace, “Beach Walking” and “Growing in the Dark”. These two songs come from a 1987 demo tape that had a green sleeve and printed in black ink, a photo of the band. The song “Beach Walking” was played in 1990 by Dave Fanning on his influential radio show.
We know that at least a year ago Paul and Anthony were playing in a band called Kohima.
What else do we know? The band participated at the Hot Press Band of 1988 competition that happened in Sir Henrys in Cork.
Now what songs do we find in their repertoire?
“Empty Bottle of Beer” is from a 1987 practice session. “Can You Hear Me”, “Waiting for a Sign”, “The Bank”, “Broken Hearted” and “Last Night as I Lay Dreaming” from a 1988 practice session. “Had a Dream”, “Black” and “Who’s Hungry” is from a 1989 session.
“Oochie Coochie” and “Honey & Locusts” is from a gig at Nagles Ennistymon on June 23rd, 1988. “Heaven Was Looking”, “Broken Down”, “Happy Ever After” and “You Should Know” comes from a gig at Lifford Arms in Ennis on December 4th 1988. “Groovy Party”, “Middle of Night”, “She’s Crazy”, “Strangers”, “The Highwayman”, “Into the Street”, “The Last War”, “Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, “Acting & I’m Evil”, “Gold” and “Ennistymon Rock On” from a gig at Spellmans in Gort in March 11, 1989.
Some of these songs were played by other bands. I am guessing by bands that featured some of the band members. Like “Helpless” and “Honey and Locusts” were played in 1990 by Rowagaga & the Wellers. And “Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll” was played in 1992 by The Foonspeeders”.
And then there are unplugged, two acoustic guitars, versions of “Broken Down” and “Birth of Rock ‘n’ Roll” from 2018!
Lots of songs, a trove. But no information about the band. No releases I believe. Would be good to find more details about them. Anyone remember Wheels on Fire? Their two demo songs are really good!
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