April June: a new song by this Spanish project that has captivated me since the first time I heard them. I believe there’s just one person behind this project. At least there’s just one photo of a girl on Bandcamp. But there’s no other information. What I do know is that April June makes wonderful top-notch indiepop. The latest digital single “Making Out at the Cemetery” is a clear example of it. I hope for an album, an EP, something… on vinyl? or CD?

The Vapour Veils: another band that caught my attention is The Vapour Veils from Stockholm. So I am very happy today as I found out that the band has just put out the 5th single from their debut album “The Last Hurrah” on Bandcamp. This single is titled “Modern Love” and is ace. On top of that they share a non-song album titled “Vapour Veils” that is also fantastic. I can’t wait for their album to come out even though now I am buying waaaaaaay less records than before.

The Age of Colored Lizards: a band that have been repeatedly featured in the blog. This Oslo combo knows how to craft good songs and well, they’ve done it again. Their latest release came earlier in November and was a digital single titled “Close My Eyes” which is a goodie.

Helen Love: I missed this on! So BBC Radio 6 Music wanted for people to wear their favourite band t-shirt for November 4th. So Helen Love decided they were going to wear a Sparks one. And on top of it, they made a short but punchy song titled “I’ll Wear the Sparks One”. Bless.

Strawberry Generation: the Providence duo also released a single about a month ago, just in time for Halloween, and guess what, they named the song “Halloween”. They describe the song as a dream pop song about dressing up nice but not being nice!

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Another band from Woking that caught my attention thanks to the WokingSoundscene Soundcloud is The Ha Ha Men.

They had shared one song by them titled “Big” that was released on a cassette titled “Uncle Saps” from 1991 or 1992 (not sure). It sounds cool, very early 90s sounding. From what I gather the band released several cassette EPs during their time (1989 to 1994).

There’s a link to a website called Our Soundscene. Seems the people behind the Soundcloud have a website now. Before they used to link to a Facebook group.

On this website there’s a of more of information.

The band was formed by Jason Applin on vocals, Adrian Barry on guitar, Paul Harle on bass and Ptrick Bingley on drums.

The band’s first London gig was at the Rock Garden and they were actually booked by the great Jo Bartlett of Bluetrain and the Buzz Club! That tnight they played with the Manic Street Preachers. The band would also play other venues like The Cricketers in Westfield and The West End Centre in Aldershot.

One of their cassette EPs was titled “Face”. This one had the following songs, “Like a Train“, “FishyHead”, “Falls Into My Lap” and “Cruisin’ in my Terranova“. Another EP they released was titled “Power Cords” which came on a corduroy wrap cover.

In October 1990 the band supported Blur at the Buzz Club in the West End Centre in Aldershot. They would support them again at the University of London in November of that year.

On Soundscene’s 1990 Top Ten Local Songs their song “I Love My Wife” was number 5 and “You Call Me the Daily Mirror” was number 2.

Eventually in 1991 the band signed a deal with Flat Records to being working on an album titled “Love Burger”. This album was never released. Wonder how far they got in their recordings.

In December 1991 the band released the tape “Jim Bowen is Dead”. This EP had the songs “1000 Tooled Up Children”, “I Want Your Baby”, “Minds that Expand” and “See Her Fly”. On this recordings they had the help of Patrick “Patch” Hannan from The Sundays.

On Soundcloud there is one more song from the “Uncle Saps” tape. You can find “Bagshot, Ho!“, which sounds great.The other songs in this tape were “Let’s Talk ABout Love”, “Big (rerecorded)” and “This is Not Music”.

Some more gig finds. The Ha Ha Men played on November 22, 1989 at the Aldershot West End Centre with the support of the band Frantic. Then at The Cricketers in Westfield on January 3, 1991. Another gig is the one on February 1, 1992, at the same venue with the bands The River Thieves, Pretty Green and Peachrazor. Then in June 8, 1991, at the Pop Club at the Bull & Gate in London with the bands Blag and The Auteurs.

On July 25, 1991, the band played at the Town Square of Woking at the News & Mail’s 1st Annual Busking Festival that featured many bands including Who Moved the Ground, The Big Wednesday, Penfolds, The Sea, Vox Pop, and more. September 25, 1991, at The Cricketers in Westfield. Lastly, again at The Cricketers on January 3, 1994.

Who remembers them? Did they get a big following? What happened with their album? I would love to hear more songs by them!

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Listen
The Ha Ha Men – Big