I continue going through the “Teeny Poppers” compilation tape. As I had discovered The Through Corners, there are a few other bands that I don’t know and I want to find details. One of them is the French band Meek, who I have heard by name but I had never paid attention. Today’s the day.
Unlike The Through Corners who I couldn’t find any information whatsoever online, and who didn’t release any records, Meek had a release and I am hoping that will mean I can find more details.
On the “Teeny Poppers” (SHOUBIDOUWA 01) comp that Anorak Records released in 1992, the band appeared with the third song on the A side, the sweet lo-fi track “Give Me More”. This appearance would mark the start of the relationship between Fabien Garcia’s Limoges-based label, and the band. How come? The third release on the label, a 7″ titled “Meek”, would be released by Anorak (Anorak 003) in 1995.
The record came with a hand-made photocopied cover according to Discogs. I see a color sleeve with photos of people from different backgrounds. I doubt these are the band themselves. No clue where they got the photos. It is the same case with the labels. These are printed in black and white and we see the same guy with two different women on each side. All of the characters in the photos seem happy.
The record had four songs, “Limonade” and “Fortunately Gone” on the A side and “Arradon” and “As You Told Me Too”. Worth mentioning then that limonade is not lemon juice, but a lemon flavoured soda in France. Also Arradon, the name of the first song on the B side, is a seaside commune in Brittany. Seems like a nice place for a quiet vacation time.
But this is not all. Previously, in 1993, around the same time as the “Teeny Poppers” tape the band had put together a demo tape called “Single of the Meek EP”. This cassette had five tracks which I have never heard and would love to listen one day. These were “Necklace”, “Aradon”, “As You Told Me”, “Meekadance” and “Meekada”.
It does seem that Aradon was misspelled, right? Another good detail from this tape is that it was recorded by Damien Bertrand at Lutecia Garden Studios. Where was this located? It was in Clamart, in Paris, and it was run by Jean-François Marvaud. Another record that was recorded at this place was my all-time favourite “Longer Lasting Beauty” by Evergreen.
Now, that name, Jean-François Marvaud, well, he was not only running the studio, he was also part of Meek. The other two members we know were in the band were Jean-Noël Dastugue and Lionnel Vernois.
The main bulk of recordings by Meek are actually on compilation. Can count 16 different appearances in the 90s.
As early as 1991 we see the band contributing tracks. The songs “Beautiful Evening Sun” and “Beautiful Day” appear on “In the Limelight” a tape compilation from France where bands like Les Chaplinn’s or Des Garçons Ordinaires appear as well. The next year, 1992, the band contributes “Beautiful Day” to Aliénor Records’ tape “Garden Party” (Alien Alpha).
1993 sees them on the aforementioned “Teeny Poppers” but also on “Simple as Them” (OPN 9303) released by Ora Pro Nobis with the song “Behind the Window”. This cassette came out on another French tape with lots of unknown bands for me. Need to check it out in more details.
“Meekadance” then appears in 1994’s tape “Gloomy Biscuit II” released by Gloomy Biscuit. Continuing in this year we see “Necklace” on Germany’s Alphyen Viwit double-tape compilation “Breeze 4” (004) and “Arradon” on the CD comp “Zoumpli” (ZP01) released by Adiam 92, Direction Départementale de La Jeunesse et des Sports (clearly a government effort, right?).
In 1995 they have the song “Damoclès (Mon Chien)” on the double 7″ compilation “Les Lutines” released by Ad Libitum Pop !? (ad lib 6) from France. Did they have a dog called Damoclès? This same year the song “Necklace” appears on the US compilation “Winter’s Mist 2″ that was released on 7” vinyl by the well-known label Silver Girl Records (SG018) and then the track “I Watch Them” finds its way on “Bedroom Palace” a tape compilation released by the French label Lo-Fi Recordings (High2) which I don’t know anything about! (though it has some known bands like Boyracer, Lorelei or Hood).
There are a few more compilations worth mentioning. “Arradon” appears on a 2019 tape called “Côte Ouest”. It is quite interesting as it has 8 bands including ones I’ve written about like Caramel, Les Autres, Daisy Age or Les Poissons Solubles. This cool tape came with the sixth issue of the fanzine called Langue Pendue. Would love to get a copy to be honest! Seems like an important pop artifact to me!
Then there are undated compilations. We have the “Superqualifragilistic” tape (NESS587) that Nessie put out in France where the band appears with the track “Aradon”, “Extract of Breeze A” CDR and tape released by Alphyen Viwit where we see the band appear with “Necklace” and lastly “Anorak Demos” that Anorak released where there is a song called “Lutetia Gardens”.
And that’s not all. The band recorded a promo video for the track “Necklace”. This one appeared on on the classic VHS “Munch Part I (An International Independent Music Video Compilation)” that Season Records (Season Two) put out in 1994 in Australia. I think I remember seeing this video on Youtube ages ago. But I can’t seem to find it these days.
I do find then a blog post about Meek. Maybe the only one online? It is by a French blog called “Haar Brut” and the post is quite recent, February 2022 (I’m always impressed to see people still writing blogs, it is a lost art in my opinion).
Here I found interesting details. For example about the photos on the 7″ it says that they come from a roll of film found by Christophe, the band’s bassist. And this is also new. We had three names before, but not Christophe. Christophe Degoutin was the band’s bassist. The other three names we had previously, Jean-François, Jean-Noël and Lionnel were guitarists. Who were the drummers? We see two names, Nicolas Gandin and Ludovic Pierre. I suppose they were the drummers at different points of time.
Also worth mentioning is that Christophe and Lionnel would later be in a band called Mr. Quark.
Where are they now then? Did they record more demo tapes other than the 1993 one we found? Did they play live much? Who remembers them?
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Listen
Meek – Give Me More
