Penultimate post before going on holidays and happy 4th of July to US readers!
The Photocopies: a new EP from Sean Turner’s project The Photocopies! The Londoner who know lives in Michigan, has been making some superb indiepop in the last few years. Subjangle had released a CD for him. And now a new 4 song EP where he sings about problematic relationships.
Neil Brogan: I wasn’t that crazy about the Belfast band Sea Pinks but I really enjoy Neil’s solo work. His latest release is “Things Keep Getting in the Way”, a delicious slice of pop music. This will be released as a very limited CD, just 50 copies, and will include not just this song but 11 more!! The rest of tracks are not on Bandcamp, but listening to this first single out of this album you know it is going to be quality.
The Chesterf!elds: 38 years since the Yeovil classic band formed, and 28 after their last release, they are putting out “Our Songbird Has Gone”! This 7″ seems to be sold out now. It was announced a few days ago and it seems there is no chance to get a copy! The A side is “Our Songbird Has Gone” and the B side is “Girl on a Boat (NYC Popfest 2016 Souvenir)”. The title song is a tribute to band member Dave Goldsworthy who was killed in a hit and run accident in 2003.
Helen Love: a summer single from Wales top band! “Come Out Sunshine” is out now as a digital single from Alcopop! Records. Not much more info about this release, other than it is great!
Slo Moon: and the last recommendation today is another digital single. This one comes from Savannah, Georgia, and it is a dreampop track. Titled “Please Don’t Wake Me, I’m Dreaming”, the song has a cinematic vibe. It swoons and has a really nice melody.
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Back in 2018 Nick Degg shared three songs by the band Hey Red Bus on his Youtube channel. These were : “Rings and Things“, “I’ve Seen the Rain” and “Street Angels“.
The songs are accompanied by photographs of the band.
And other than that he doesn’t give us many details. Just that the songs come from tapes dating from 1985 and that the band hailed from Stoke.
We know from the photos that Hey Red Bus was a four-piece. Four lads. Nick Degg was one of the band members. But who were the other ones? I think that maybe one of them was called Phil? Anyone could confirm?
Nick is now a poet of course. He has a Facebook page of course. He published the book “I Come from a Town” in 2021.
Then I find an entry on Stokebeat about a band called The Ya-Yas. It seems that Hey Red Bus evolved into Captain Cat and later into The Ya-Yas. Would be fantastic to find recordings by these bands. Here Nick finally gives us details about Hey Red Bus! He says:
“The first incarnation was HEY RED BUS formed in Hanley in 1985, we used to see each other at gigs, record fairs, and early Hacienda nights. PHIL HEATH (Gtr & Vocal) and PAUL HORVATH (Bass) were the nucleus, and NICK DEGG (Gtr) and MARK BOSSONS (Drums) joined soon after. The first gig was at The Antelope on 1st Aug 85 followed by a clutch of other local gigs, before support slots with James, and Green on Red at The Gatehouse/Stafford.
The sound was pretty different for the time, being more atuned to a Manchester/Liverpool audience. Only five years later on hearing The La’s ‘There She Goes’ I realised how far ahead we were, as thats the closest I have heard anyone sound since.
In late ’86 PHIL wanted to concentrate on his guitar playing, which was already superb, so JON HILL came in on vocals, and MARK left to be replaced by PAUL BURGESS on drums. Also we swapped from Rickenbacker and acoustics to a Telecaster and Gibson semi accoustic so the sound became fuller and more “Stonsey”. It was around this time we became CAPTAIN CAT.”
That’s all I could find but it wasn’t little. More than I expected. Hopefully we’ll learn more about this great sounding band soon!
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