Time to head to the US today. The Goldenrods. A trio that seems to be forgotten now formed by Barry Hall and Jenny Gunston in the early 90s.
The band’s first release was in 1992. HARP Records from San Francisco would put their music out. It was a two song single, with “Barbwire Chair” on the A side and “Cagiva Elephant” on the B side. Catalog was HARP 004. 300 copies on black vinyl and 100 on yellow. I read the edition was of 500 copies, so there are other 100. There is a version of this same single with a different sleeve, maybe that’s where the other 100 copies are. In any case, look for yourself, one sleeve has two people, a girl and a guy, walking and the band’s name in green ink, while the other shows two different people posing by the stairs. I don’t think the photos are of the band.
The record was recorded and mixed at Lowdown Studios in San Francisco by Greg Freeman. On this record Jenny sung, Barry played guitar and keyboards while Kevin played guitar, keyboards and programmed the drums. Barry is credited for writing the songs.
I check a little bit about the band members. I see that Barry hailed from Braintree in Massachusetts. He relocated to San Francisco. He was also in a band called The Cat Heads.
The band’s second single was the “Lesbian Nation & I Can’t Reach You” 7″ (HARP 011) in 1993. As it is obvious the songs on the record were “Lesbian Nation” on the A side and “I Can’t Reach You” on the B side.
Again the songs were recorded at Lowdown Studios by Greg Freeman. Greg also played tambourine in the B, “I Can’t Reach You”, side by the way. This song was a cover of The Who.
The A side was written by Barry and also featured bass by Sam Babbitt from The Cat Heads and The Ophelias. This record also features John Stuart from Flying Color and Map of Wyoming on drums, Oz on guitars and Roger Hand on piano.
The design is credited to Bhdg Sf, Ca., the cover photo to Dave Mamelka, and the model was Johanne.
In 1994 the band would appear on a Motorway Records (MOTOR 002) split 7″. On this Japanese release the band would share the single with Bubble Bus. The band would contribute the song “Prince of Edinburgh” that featured some changes in the band. We see Alan Korn from Schematix, The Cat Heads, X-tal and She Mob on bass, John Farinacci on drums, Brian Good on guitar and Cindy Wiggington from Bedlam Rovers on violin. Again the songs were recorded by Greg Freeman at Lowdown Studios.
The band appeared on a few compilations. On the CD and LP compilation “It’s All True Harp Records… San Francisco… 1992-94” released by Big Cat (ABB 59) the band had two songs “Barbwire Chair” and “I Can’t Reach You”.
On a compilation CD called “The Moderna Wunda-Major All-Automatic Convenience Centerette” that came with the fanzine Burning the Midnight Firefly #2 that Keith D’Arcy made, the band contributed with the song “Cirque D’Amour”. On this compilation they appear with great bands including Bomb Pops, Tree Fort Angst or even The Cat’s Miaow among others!
On another fanzine from 1994, Red Roses for Me, there was a tape called “Beyond the Valley of the Polar Bears”. On this tape the band had three songs, “Told You So”, “Prince of Edinburgh” and “Hey Jay (Live)”.
I keep looking for more info. I find a scan of the Gavin magazine from March 26, 1994. Here it mentions that the second 7″, “Lesbian Nation”, was released after the band had split already.
And lastly a very cool find! A live video! The band playing live in the early nineties a venue called Hotel Utah in San Francisco. In this live gig the band was formed by Jen Gunston, Barry Hall, Alan Korn and John Stuart. The songs they played were “Told You So”, “Barbed Wire Chair”, “Cirque D’Amour”, “Lesbian Nation”, “Gone, Gone, Gone”, “Cagiva Elephant”, “I Can’t Reach You”, “Nothing I Do”, “Pale Blue Eyes”, “Discipline”, “Lazy Ways”, “Lullaby”, “I Wrote a Letter” and “See You”.
And this is what I could find! Anyone remembers them?
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