This weekend I’ll be adding ordering info on the website for Baby Lemonade’s upcoming retrospective. I’m very excited about this release and can’t wait to announce more new releases in the coming days! I believe next week I’ll be able to announce the next 7″!! These are exciting times for Cloudberry indeed! So please read the blog, check our Facebook page or follow me on Twitter!
I do know you came for some indiepop treats from the web. So here you are:
The Reds, Pinks & Purples: when will Glenn Donaldson release an album?! He has many many songs by now, all of them in demo format. And he just unveiled 5 new songs that form a nice digital EP on Bandcamp. The songs are “Citybuses (demo)”, “Bike Race (demo)”, “Ahead of their Time (demo)”, “New Car” and “Uncommon Weather (mix2)”. Superb stuff.
The Sweetest Touch/The Wellington: two of my favourite indiepop bands from Indonesia have joined forces and have released a digital split EP with Guerrilla Records from Jakarta. Each band contributes 2 songs, The Sweetest Touch has “Answer” and “Bitter” while my friends of The Wellington, who once graced a track of theirs on a Cloudberry compilation, includes that one classic track “Lost in Cairo” and “Floating Flowers”.
Joy Cleaner: this 90s sounding band’s three song record “Easter Tuesday” came out last October but you can still find some copies of this record on their Bandcamp in both 7″ lathe cut and tape formats. It is available through Dromedary Records from New Jersey.
Peter Hall: our friend who used to be in the wonderful Play People has a new album out on his Bandcamp called “The Match Factory”. The 10 songs included are a nice mix of indie folk and indiepop which are thoroughly enjoyable. Happy to hear back from Peter!
The Room in the Wood: this is the latest project by Paul Cavanagh and Dave Jackson who used to be in the classic Liverpool band The Room. The band released a self-titled album that is now available on vinyl and CD through A Turntable Friend Records. All 12 songs are available to preview on Bandcamp!
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Now it is the turn for the letter D and the wonderful Manchester band The Danny Boys.
I know little by them I must say. I have been looking for their record but still haven’t had the luck. I know one day it will be in my collection. What I do know is that there was a connection with the Raintree County a band who I have tried to interview twice now, in 2013 and 2016, sending questions and all but never getting a reply sadly. I guess I would have known more details about The Danny Boys if these had happened.
What I do know is what Twee.net have as a bio:
The Danny Boys were Karen Hall, Craig Ferguson, Mick Burton, John Ray and Vinny Carroll . Formed in the mid 80’s they played a distinct melodic pop reminiscent of the sounds of The Byrds and Postcard acts like Orange Juice and Aztec Camera. Based in Manchester they were a staple part of the pre baggy Manchester guitar scene. Toured with The Railway Children and released a single on Ugly Man Records – Days of the Week.
In 1988 they disbanded with Mick Burton becoming a restaurateur of Greens in Didsbury, Karen Hall becoming a big shot in Manchester advertising, Craig and Vinny went on to form Raintree County a similarly melodic and charming group. John Ray went into broadcast journalism where he currently works as the ITV News at Ten’s man in Beijing
Their record. Yes, that’s what’s important here. It was a 12″ released on the wonderful Ugly Man Records (UGLY 2T) in 1987. Three songs appear on this fine indiepop slice of vinyl: “Days of the Week” on the A side and “Roger Whittaker” and “Typical!” on the B side. Craig Ferguson wrote the first and last track while the middle one was penned by Michael Burton.
Right. More details. What did each of them play? We know John Ray was the bassist, Vincent Carroll the drummer, Michael Burton the lead guitarist, Craig Ferguson sang and played guitar and Karen Hall also sang.
The songs were produced by Ged Yeates who also worked with a few other good bands from the time like The Waltones or The Railway Children.
Only one compilation is listed and that one is a recent one, dating from 2017. The song “Days of the Week” appears on the Cherry Red box set “Manchester North of England”.
I keep looking for information. I find that in the book “The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop” they are mentioned as they supported the Stone Roses at the Mardi Gras in Liverpool at the tail end of August 1989.
I believe too that the first ever gig of The Danny Boys was at the Cyprus Tavern in Manchester as I find a mention to it on Twitter.
Another gig was the one at The Boardwalk on August 3rd 1986 supporting the band Brigade. Or the one they supported The Three Johns at the same venue also in 1986.
Can’t find out much more about them. I am mostly curious if there were more songs other than the three on the record. I really liked what I hear and I want more! From comments on the Manchester Digital Music Archive it looks as if people barely remember them, even being doubtful if they were locals. I do hope though to find out more information about them, more details.
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