There were some awful news a few days ago. On October 16 we learned that Ruth Miller, Ruth from the most wonderful Leicester band Po!, passed away. I couldn’t believe it.

It is true that a few weeks, on Sept. 30th, and before this event, she had posted on her Facebook (which is public) that she had been living with metastatic breast cancer for the past few months.

But to go this fast? Hard to believe.

For me Po! is one of the best bands ever. I love them. The records Po! left are true masterpieces. And as it usually is for me I get very shy with bands that I have on a pedestal. I don’t contact them… unless of course it all is in a natural way and I meet the band member, have a beer and chat… but to contact a hero of mine myself through email and ask for an interview, I don’t normally do it. So I never ever got in touch with Ruth even though she seemed accessible on social media.

I would have definitely wanted to learn more details about Po! and other projects Ruth had been involved with. Would have been amazing. Maybe I was hoping for her to contact me when I wrote about new songs or new stuff she posted on Bandcamp. But that didn’t happen either.

Now I just feel heart-broken. I know her records will last forever, her songs will continue making her fans happy, but she will be missed for sure. By her family first of all, but also by us, the fans.

I had dreamed of seeing her play live sometime. I know she played some gigs in the last few years, but never got to chance to be in the UK during those special moments. I have never visited Leicester yet.

Ruth is definitely more known by her work in Po!, her band, which of course is her most known project. But she was also on Ruth’s Refrigerator, which are amazing, and the not so known Jody and The Creams.

These three projects overlap in the late 80s, early 90s. Some songs are also recorded by the same bands. Like Jody and The Creams recorded a superb version of “Appleseed Alley”, a song very much associated to Po! But which one came first?

Jody and The Creams was formed by Alan Jenkins (from The Chrysanthemums, The Creams, The Deep Freeze Mice, Yeah Yeah Noh, The Melamine Division Plates, The Thurston Lava Tube, Ruth’s Refrigerator, Aaaaaaaaxb), Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie, Blodwyn P. Teabag (also from Ruth’s Refrigerator), Jonathan Staines (from Jesus Couldn’t Drum, Space Cake and The Chrysanthemums) and Ruth. They released their records on Cordelia Records, the great label run by Alan Jenkins.

Also worth noting Jody and The Creams was an early incarnation of The Creams. In The Creams we won’t find Ruth anymore. The Creams would be active in the mid 90s. Jody and The Creams was around the late 80s, early 90s, though released a 2nd album in 1998.

The first time we hear about them is through a 1988 demo tape with two untitled songs, one on each side. This self-titled tape  was released by Cordelia (Ericat 026) and both songs were penned by Alan.

The second release is perhaps the one you might have heard about. It is the album “A Big Dog.n” that came out in 1990. There is a vinyl version and a CD version of it. The A side had “The Queen #1”, “Margery is Dead”, “Moulted from a Labrador”, “Tree Rings”, “Appleseed Alley”, “Hi Felicity”, “Shropshire” and “N.”. The B side had “N. (Continued)”, “The Queen #2”, “Blue Moon” and then 2 “Untitled” songs, “A World Without Love” and then 7 more “Untitled” songs.

Their music could be pop. Could be punk. Could be experimental. Hard to classify. On this record Geraldine Minou-Sullivan (from The Chrysanthemums) played drums, Alan Jenkins played guitar. Ariadne Metal-Cream Pie played guitar and viola. Blodwyn P. Teabag played oboe, piano and synths, Jonathan Staines played the sampler and Ruth sang.  Alan was the producer. The sleeve designed is credited to Regale who had made a few records for Cordelia related bands.

This album is available to listen on Bandcamp.

In 1992 the album “Lords of the Gromet Canning Factory” was released. On CD by the German label Pink Lemon (PINK 005) and on tape by Cordelia Records. I must say I have never heard this album. The album has the songs “Lord of the Gromet Canning Factory Part One” and “Lord of the Gromet Canning Factory Part Two” and then 18 “Untitled” songs!

Ruth participated in this album just as a co-writer of the first song. Doesn’t look like she played in the album? I believe she was replaced by Sherree Lawrence.

Worth nothing though that the tape is the one that came out in 1992 in a very limited run of 25 copies. The German release would only come out much later, in 1998.

The band also appeared on a bunch of compilations.

“Nutrinos Arrive on Earth” was a song they contributed to “The Rachel Welsh Guide to Lateral Thinking”, a tape released by Snowdonia, an Italian fanzine, in 1987. This same year the song “(Untitled)” is included in “Cordelia Records Sampler, 8th Edition” tape.

In 1988 the band appears on “Obscure Independent Classics: Volume 5 (Special Hamster Edition)” released in the UK by Hamster Records and Tapes (HAM 22). On this com they have the song “Look Out!!! Here Come the Radio-Active Zombies”. The song “The Revolving Countess” also shows up in 1988. It is on the tape “Annual Jissom – 1988 Flavour” released by the magazine All Media.

On 1990’s “Home-Made Music for Home-Made People Vol. 7: “Sexy but Chic” / Ode to Samantha Fox (Soft Blend)” tape the band has two songs, “Moulted Fur From a Labrador Part 2” and “Moulted Fur From a Labrador Part 24”. Worth mentioning that this tape came with a fold-out lyric sheet and a naughty Samantha Fox postcard.

In 1991 the band contributed the songs “Torrid Zone” to “New Hippies Vol.5” tape released by Red Neon Tapes (RN12), the song “Riding Around on a Pink Cloud With You and Coffee Cup” to “Total Recess Grade – 6 Compilation” a tape by the US label Mystery Hearsay (MH012) and “Hi Felicity” to the classic compilation “Shiver Me Timbers” that Ruth released on her own Rutland Records.

In 1992 on the German compilation “He Didn’t Even Draw a Fish on My Shower Curtain” released by Mermaid Records (MIRABELL 001) the band had the song “Be My Baby”. That same year the same label would release “Mermaid Employee of the Month: Gustav Sackmüller”, a CD, LP and cassette comp where the same song, “Be My Baby” would be included.

Pico Records, also from Germany, released in 1992 the vinyl compilation “Eating a Fish-Shaped Particle”. On it Jody and the Creams appears with “Spotted Linsang Day”.

This same song appears on the compilation tape “The Cordelia Records Presents” that was released in Greece by Project Press & Tapes (PRT 14).

Also an “Untitled” song appears on “Cordelia Records Sampler” cassette with what looks like a huge bat hanging on a tree on the main art. There is no date for this release.

Later on, in 2004, the CD “The Miraculous Healing of the Daughter of Henry the Glass Cat”, would have the band’s song “Margery is Dead”.

That’s what I can share about this short-lived band that would later continue being more successful under the name The Creams.

I am now going back to my Po! records. To Ruth’s Refrigerator. I wish I would get to know a little more about these bands too. Even if it is not from a first-hand account. Would love to hear what their band mates remember. I don’t know… I just feel that something is missing now.

I just can say again that Ruth’s music will live on, her legacy will live on, and I very much love all her songs. What a classy song-writer she was.

Edit: I want to add something about Ruth’s latest project, Unglamorous Music. There’s a Facebook page and stuff on Twitter/X. As Angela Collins, a member of Glitch Magnet, that is part of this project, told me, “she decided to launch a music project to get women to learn how to play and encourage them to form bands. On 1st January 2022 she launched ’66 days to your debut’ which I joined. It was a simple plan, form bands with the other women who joined the project and learn how to play an instrument well enough to perform an original song for the first time 66 days later which was International Women’s Day. We did! 6 bands launched as a result of Ruth’s insane plan. We’re now on the 3rd intake and Leicester has 16 all women bands.”

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Listen
Jody and the Creams – Appleseed Alley