The Spanish Amanda: “Let them Eat Art!” is the new EP by the wonderful English band. A true favourite of the blog, it is no surprise I interviewed them back in the day. This EP has 4 songs, “Cats in Uniform”, “The Boy Salome”, “(I’ve Given You Everything You Need) to Destroy Me” and “Watch the Man Burn”. The release is available digitally and it sounds really good. And from what I understand it is free!
Do You Think I’m Flexi: this flexi release on thee UK’s Repeat Records features a song by the Swansea Sound (a combo that has members from the Pooh Sticks and Heavenly) and a track by Simon Love. The flexi will be available on September 30 but pre-orders are up now. It is very limited, 100 copies, so make sure to get your copy soon.
David Christian: 15 more songs by the leader of Comet Gain on this collection titled “Summer’s Ashes, Winter Spines”. These songs are mostly acoustic, with a sound closer to folk than to indiiepop.
Rayventuras: the Berlin band is back with their second album “Blues and Greens”. It is now up on the band’s Bandcamp and includes 10 songs. This new effort after their debut “Sandpaper Honey” sounds superb, with a punchy sound.
Dentist: and now a fun, poppy, catchy band from Asbury Park, New Jersey. This trio has just released the album “Making a Scene” which is available on vinyl and CD. The record has 12 songs of terrific punky pop.
—————————————————————–
I can’t seem to find the releases of the Pennsylvania band Waiting for Rain on Discogs. Just one compilation appearance… that’s when their song “Shame” appeared on “In Your Ear: The MAPPS A & R Trip” released by MAPPS in 1994.
That CD compilation featured bands from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. That’s where the band was from. I also know that “Shame” was one of the tracks on a 1993 CD EP release called “Voodoo Pocket”. This CD had “Shame”, “Ugly Shoes”, “Candy Apple Red” and “The Way it Goes”. This was the band’s first release. In any case you can find all four songs on all digital platforms.
The surprise comes when I find a Soundcloud for what looks like another release but it has no name. The songs there are: “Firefly”, “Candy Apple Red”, “Special”, “The Way it Goes”, “Sidestep”, “Little Heart (Big Problem)” and “Sway (The Trumpet Song)”. It also tells us that the Leigh Valley band was around from 1988 to 1998.
I do find a name related to the band. Paul Kleinert. He was the composer, lyricist and guitarist for the band. There is an article on a newspaper called The Morning Call from Allentownn, Pennyslvania. It dates from October 18, 1996. There Paul describes the band’s sound as: “It’s a strong dose of ’80s pop sensibilities with a little bit of honesty and a reality check or two. It’s really nothing special, nothing unique.” He mentions the name other band members, bassist Jeff Larish and guitarist Don Andreas. At that time they were promoting a record and were to play The Funhouse in Bethlehem. This new record was called “If You Must…” and was the band’s fourth release on their own label New Ink Records that was based in Fogelsville. Also this new release would see for the first time drummer Steve Herring in the band. Another cool detail is that Ken Heitmueller from the great band Suddenly, Tammy! produced the songs that were recorded in a church in Columbia, Lancaster County.
It is also good to find that Paul Kleinert continues making music with a band called PK and the In-Betweens. He has a website that has some music by his new project.
Then I find an interview with him on a website called Skope Mag. It is mostly about his current band but he does mention some details about Waiting for the Rain. For example that Jeffrey and him co-founded Waiting for the Rain, they had actually played together in high school.
Then a Facebook page for the band! Cool! There are links to the Morning Call newspaper for articles about them, but you need to pay to access them. Then there’s a link to the Reading Eagle, a scan on Google News. On this article from February 7, 1997, they mention some of the songs that were on their last release, “If You Must…”, like “Half the Way”, “Maria”, “Special” and “Room 101”.
Then there’s a tape that had some more songs. Was this a demo tape? It had the songs “Uncle Wiggly”, “Court Jester”, “The Way it Goes”, “Have a Feeling” and “The Pleasure Song”.
The band reunited in 2013 when they played at The Funhouse in Bethlehem on July 5th. I wonder how did that go for them. The support band was Brother JT. The songs the band played that night were “Brave as Thunder”, “Sweet Maria”, “Sidestep”, “Half the Way”, “Candy Apple Red”, “Throw ’em All Away”, “Shame”, “Ugly Shoes”, “You’ll Be Mine”, “Dandelion”, “Sway”, “Beautiful Disguise”, “Fine By Me”, “Dancing’ Queen”, “The Way it Goes” and “Show me the Light”.
There is some live footage from that gig on Youtube of course. Here is the band playing “Beautiful Disguise”, “Fine By Me” and “Dancin’ Queen”.
Some more details I find is that Paul Kleinert is an Economics teacher. That the band played at the Talent Show in the Dorm Cafeteria in Spring 1991. They won that gig. The band also played on June 16, 1993, at the Zodiac Club opening for 4 Non-Blondes. Other gigs include November 7, 1992, at The Peppercorn Club in Center Valley, November 13, 1992 at The Funhouse, and November 21 at the Moravian College.
That there was a tape called “Stop and Wonder” that had the songs “Brave as Thunder”, “Gonna Bee Alright” and “Lord Help the Man”.
Then we know that the original lineup of the band was with Jeffrey Larish, Bill Howard, Paul Kleinert and Anthony Febbraro.
And that’s it! Quite a lot about this band! Who remembers them?
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
