The Photocopies: I think every week there’s some news by The Photocopies. Sean Turner’s solo project is the most prolific indiepop band this year and he has a new digital EP titled “Make Up Your Mind”. This EP consists of 4 jangly tracks that are very enjoyable.

The Spanish Amanda: finally! After a little wait since the English band announced their “Le Petit Magritte” EP, and then saying that an album titled “Magritte” was on the way, we finally get to listen to this very good album! It is released digitally and includes 10 songs that I think are very good. You know I am a big fan of Huw’s humor and his lyrics, so pay attention on them, and of course, if you need an introduction to the world of The Spanish Amanda, check out an interview on the blog from ages ago!

Scott Robertson: didn’t know that Kevin Robertson’s (The Vapour Trails) son made music. It is quite a surprise. Subjangle must have been happily surprised too and decided to release an album titled “Footprints in the Butter”. The album is out now on CD and few copies remain. The album features 11 songs of jingle jangly loveliness.

Silver Biplanes: “Silver Bells” is a wonderful version of the Christmas classic! I think that this song should be in everyone’s playlist this holiday season. This has been released as a digital single by the fine London label WIAIWYA.

The Happy Somethings: and lastly we should check out another English band, The Happy Somethings. They also have a Christmas song titled “Kind of True”. This one is an original and they share the lyrics. The song is not as upbeat, more of a mellow song. I think this one should be added to that holidays playlist. Do you have any other Christmas indiepop songs recommendations?

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Johnny Moran on guitar and vocals, Paul Gaffney on vocals and guitar, Paul Harper on bass and Anton Moran on drums formed the mid-eighties Irish band The Cracker Factory.

The band was active between 1985 and 1987.  They formed in Dublin and they came from the East Wall area except Paul who was from Finglas.

According to Irishrock.org Johnny and Anton were brothers. It also mentions that the band’s name came from a line in the song “Two Steps Back” from The Fall.

It says that Paul Gaffney left the band before the band recorded their first 2-song demo. This tape from 1985 included the songs “Dead Man’s Shoes” and “Plastic Life”. The bio also mentions that the band added Dave O’Reilly to play trumpet. Eventually they had a trombone player and a female backing vocalist that might have been named Kate for a few shows. O’Reilly wouldn’t last long in the band, he would leave and join bands like Crime of Passion and Icon Trial.

In 1986 the band found a new frontman, Martin Lynch. Paul Harper would also be replaced. Declan Mulligan would be now on bass. This lineup recorded a 1986 demo tape at Sun Studios in Dublin. This cassette had the song “This is Where the Fire Starts”.

What is clear is that in 1987 Lynch left the band and was replaced by Dave Radford. Rasford had previously been in Cotton Mill Boys and Roly Daniels. It says that at this point the band’s sound had changed a lot. It wasn’t the jangly pop band from the early days but now a country-sounding band.

So it made sense to change names. They were now called Keeper of the Fire. There was a 1987 demo tape with three songs but not sure which songs were on it. Was it released under their new name? Or before they changed their name?

Other interesting bits I found is that Paul Gaffney was in Tony St. James and Dry Season. Declan Mulligan would later play in Inside Cairo, The Lesser Gods, The Candyshop and Dry Season. Anto Moran would be in The Promise. I think it is quite important to mention that I have written about the Dry Season on the blog! There was very little information about this band…

Then a superb find. Declan Mulligan has a Soundcloud. Still based in Dublin (or actually in a small coastal area south of Dublin City), he has uploaded many songs over his 40 years of making music. Among these recordings we find the 1985 demo with “Dead Man’s Shoes” and “Plastic Life”. He shares a few more details, that the songs were recorded at Temple Lane Studios in Dublin and were produced and engineered by Ian Bryan who would go to work with The Golden Horde, The Hothouse Flowers and U2.

Another great find among his Soundcloud is the song “Thin Disguise“. This demo song was recorded at the same studios in 1986, also by Ian Bryan.

He has also shared the song “This is Where the Fire Starts” from the 1986 demo tape. And “Seán” is another song from that session.

And that’s what I could find about the band. Some good info and some great tunes. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
The Cracker Factory – Thin Disguise