It may have been the best 2 song show ever in this city but it never happened. The people who run the Vagabond club turned down Ciera and Josh when they were preparing themselves to play. They took away the console, the instruments, and told them: “No, you can’t play tonight”. They had offered them a little spot, 10 minutes to play. It was all lies. They were confused. Welcome to Miami.

I had met Ciera as my interest on her previous band Que Possum was raising and raising as beer foam. We had agreed to make a Que Possum single. We even had sorted the artwork but the band broke up just before releasing it, just before playing at Pop Mayhem! festival. Happily for us lovers of good pop songs, two of their songs appeared on a split single with Boyracer on the 555 Recordings label. Weeks after she told me she was making music again under the name Sugarbears.

Brogues totally nails it when on his blog he compares his bass playing to Peter Hook: they have come all the way from Gainesville because Josh was going to play bass in a Joy Division cover band. And for some reason there were a lot of people looking forward to this gig. The Sugarbears weren’t on the bill, so all this huge crowd was only for the cover band. Startling. I honestly don’t remember the name of the band. Maybe I wouldn’t have gone to the show if Ciera hadn’t tell me they were going to do a Sugarbears special 2 song set after they finished. Two heavy metal looking blokes, Josh and a guy that resembled to Ian Curtis were the band. It just felt unnatural to see a band playing not even one original song. Not used to it. The Vagabond kids, the hipster kids of this city, were in ecstasy. Chanting every song, believing this guy was the reincarnation of Curtis. There was even some crowdsurfing and zippo flames lightning the dark room. If you ask me about taste, this city doesn’t have it. And this effervescence was plain ridiculous. I was out of place.

I found Ciera outside the venue. She was sad, totally overwhelmed by the attitude of the club organizers. I know they were practicing their set till 5am in the morning, just before taking the highway to down south. They were going to play their hit song “Nothing But Love” and a New Order cover, which was going to be a surprise. I can imagine how she felt. What a disappointment this city can be.

The band is over now. They didn’t record any more songs. Their only recording was “Nothing But Love” which I had the chance to release on the “Where Are the Supremes Tonight? EP”. There are still a couple copies left and it’s one of the best tunes this year. It should have been a single.

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Listen
Sugarbears – Nothing But Love