Ages ago, I wrote about the London band The Scissor Fits. Do you remember them?

Two of the band members went to be in the fantastic band the Gol Gappas, Nick East and Colin Roxborough. I was even lucky to get in touch with Nick a few times and he was keen on doing an interview about the fantastic Gol Gappas. I send him questions but sadly never heard back.

But I still want people to discover this terrific band…

It is very true too that there’s little on the web about them…  but let’s start from the start. Where does their curious name come from?

A golgappa, also called panipuri, fuchka, gupchup (and other names!) is a type of snack from India. It is a common street food. It consists of a round hollow puri (a deep-fried crisp flatbread), filled with a mixture of flavored water tamarind chutney, chili powder, chaat masala, potato mash, onion, or chickpeas. I have tried it here in New York and it is delicious. Maybe one day I’ll be lucky to try it in India.

The band’s first release was the “Dinner with Nougat” 12″ that was released by Él Records (GPO 8T). Remember from The Scissor Fits post that the band had a connection with Mike Alway, he was a part-time member of the band. So it is no surprise to me that he signed them to his label.

This 12″ had four songs, “Saint Lucy” and “Chicken Pox” on the A side and “Albert Parker” and “Ice Cream” on the B side. The EP was released in 1986 and re-released in 1989 as a mini CD in Japan (VAP 25615). The tracks were the same but the artwork of the record was different.

In `1986 the band also released a 7″ with “West 14” on the A side and “Roman” on the B side. This one was also released on ´Él Records (GPO 21).

“Roman” would be re-released in 1987 in France by the Vogue label (102201). It would come out as a 7″ where a remix version of “Roman” was on the A side and “Albert Parker” was on the B side and also as a 12″ where the two 7″ tracks were on the B side while we find the Polanski Dance Mix of “Roman” on the A side. Richard Preston is credited for production, Bruno Mylonas (who had previously remixed Vanessa Paradis) as the engineer and Aliss Terell on backing vocals. The remixes had been done at Studios Guillaume Tell. The artwork was also totally different.

A little googling shows that Aliss Terrell was American but was based in France. She was also the first ever person to star in a rap video shot on Moscow’s Red Square.

When it comes to compilation, as a Cherry Red related band, you can expect them to appear on many. In 1987 their song “Albert Parker” was on the “London Pavilion Volume One” released by Cherry Red (ACME 7) and also re-released in Grecce by Stiletto, Spain by Grabaciones Accidentales and Japan by vap that same year. All of these versions were released as LP vinyl but also Cherry Red made a CD version.

Richmond Records would have the songs “West” and “St Lucy” in the CD comp “Bellissimo! Él Singles Part One” that came out in 1993 (MONDE 11). This same label in 1995 would put out “Él Records – The Legendary B Sides” (MONDE 20) a compilation CD with the band’s songs”Roman” and “Albert Parker”.

“West 14” would appear then in the 2005 Cherry Red comp “Too Good to be True – The Very Best of Él Records 1985-1988” CD comp (CDMRED 287). After this Cherry Red would include them in three of their box sets. On 2013’a “Scared to Get Happy (A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989)” it was “Albert Parker” that was included. “St. Lucy” would appear on “CD87” (CRCDBOX26) a  triple CD compilation released in 2016. And lastly, “Albert Parker” was included in “Losing Touch with my Mind: Psychedelia in Britain 1986-1990” triple CD box set (CRCDBOX71).

What else do we know? We know who St. Lucy was of course, she is the patron saint of Syracuse in Italy. Her story says that a disappointed suitor accused Lucy of being a Christian, and she was executed in Syracuse, in the year 304 during the Diocletianic Persecution.

What about Albert Parker? I am not sure. Could it be the American film director and actor? According to Wikipedia…
Albert Parker (May 11, 1885 – August 10, 1974) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He directed 36 films between 1917 and 1938. In the early 1930s Parker left Hollywood for England where he continued to direct films and also opened an actors’ agency office. One of his later clients in the 1960s was actress Helen Mirren. He was born in New York, USA, and died in London, England.

From the email exchange I haad with Nick East I know he was in two other projects, Baby Baby Baby Baby and Rumblestrip. There are recordings of these bands but I have never heard them.

Nick also mentioned to me that there are a few more Gol Gappas songs on demo tapes. He says that they are pretty rough.

Another detail he shared with me was that the band never played live.

That’s all I have about the Gol Gappas. I tried to re-release them too, asked Cherry Red but the price for the songs was prohibitive.

I love all of their songs. I think they are a terribly underrated band that deserve recognition. So yeah, if you have time listen to the song I share here. But if you can try to track down all of their songs. They are fantastic!

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Listen
The Gol Gappas – Albert Parker