It is a holiday today in the US, so this will be a very short post. Nonetheless come back tomorrow for an interview and on Wednesday for a proper longer post with Cloudberry news and all!

Alpaca Sports: probably everyone knows by now that Alpaca Sports have released a new video for their new song “Summer Days” that will be included in their new album “From Paris With Love” due to be released later this year. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t miss it! The song is classic Alpaca Sports and the video was shot by the great Calle “Miyagi” Jirestedt and on it we see Andreas and Amanda in Gothenburg and deep underwater!

Soft Regime: checking out the rest of the new releases coming out on Elefant I check out the video for the song “Lockdown” by Soft Regime which will be part of the mini-LP “Hard Feelings” and I thought, this is pretty good! I must say I wasn’t aware of this band previously so this is a good discovery. From what I’ve learned the mini album is set to be released on March 2nd and the band is actually led by Tim from Baxendale and has the vocals of Astrid who might or might not be German.

Nos Miran: another new release by Elefant is this Spanish techno pop band’s new mini-album that will be out on March 16th. It is the first time I’m hearing this band and it is through this video for their song “Humo” which is quite catchy! The band is formed by Sergio Rodríguez from Capitán Sunrise and Marta Quintana from Ventolín.

Karen Meat: the sound of girl groups is present on this band from Des Moines, Iowa. I’m checking out their latest effort, the album “You’re An Ugly Person”, on Bandcamp. I can only stream one of their songs, the opening track “Share a Dinner” of the 10 song record. This album has been released as an LP by the very fine label Emotional Records and is limited to 100 copies. I looked for some info about the band and I can see that this is mostly the project of Arin Eaton and a revolving door of musicians.

Holy Now: this is the best new find for me this week. This song “Feel it All” and its video have been on heavy rotation since last week. I’ve only just discovered them now and I’m really enjoying the female vocals and the jangling chiming guitars. The Gothenburg band is formed by Julia Olander, Ylva Holmdahl, Samuel von Bahr Jemth and Hampus Eiderström Swahn. I start looking for their records on their label, Lazy Octopus, but I only see links to Spotify. So, I wonder if there are actually no real records? This is a very fine song! Why is it not released? Previously they have released on record an EP, a tape and a 7″ single.  But for me, this last song, is their best so far!

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Today, after many posts about records I don’t have, it is time for a record that I do have in my collection. A record I know little of, aside that once I read there was a Thompson Twins connection and that I had seen it in many lists of indiepop collectors: Big View’s “August Grass” 7″.

I actually got this record last week from Discogs for a fair price. And now I’m trying to find out more about Big View. Who were they? If they released any other songs? When did they start as a band? When did they split? Where were they based? Do you think I’ll find these answers on the web? I’ll look, and I’ll try.

Big View’s “August Grass” 7″ was released by Point Records in 1982 (PT01). For me it is safe to assume this was a self-release, there are no other releases listed for Point Records. Perhaps it has something to do with The Point Studios? That’s where the two songs for the 7″ single were recorded. The Point Studios was a rehearsal and 8 track demo studio in Central London that was active in the 70s and the 80s. Maybe.

The songs on the 7″ were on the A side the poppy “August Grass” and on the B side we find “Confess”. The first song is credited to Dodd and Knight while the second to Dodd and Roog. On the back sleeve there are some credits:
T. on vocals
Peter Dodd and John Roog on instruments
Those three as the core of the band, but it continues:
Andrew Edge on drums
Alex Burak and Paul O’Duffy were the engineers for the record
The band produced the record for CDR Productions
The sleeve art and design was done by Jon Phipps

There are no other releases by the band nor compilation appearances. Two songs. That’s it. Really? It can’t be, there must have been more recordings by this proto-indiepop band. Maybe they made some demo tapes? Anyone knows?

So Dodd? Well, that is Peter James Dodd who was part of the early Thompson Twins. I don’t think I need to explain on the blog who the Thompson Twins are. Roog, was John Roog, also from early The Thompson Twins. What about Knight? It seems it was Richard Knight, an audio and sound engineer. But what I’m most curious about is the singer: T. Who was T? It is a female voice so Discogs can’t be right listing T as Tom Bailey. That’s impossible, right? So who was T?!

Andrew Edge who drummed for the single (and for the Thompson Twins) actually has presence on the web. There’s a Wikipedia page and an old blogspot site (last updated in 2011) where it mentions he now lives in Linz, Austria, where he has released many records. In the 80s he was also part of the band Savage Progress.

I find some mention on the web about Big View. I read that Point Records was owned by Merton, the Thompson Twins publisher. That information comes from a Google Book called City of Sheffield Volume 4 of 5 edited by The Wikipedians. That is quite a weird source I must say. But here there is some interesting information about Big View:
– Dodd and Roog formed a band called Big View (with Edge on drums) and recorded a single called, “August Grass”, which was released on Point Records (owned by Merton, The Thompson Twins publisher) in 1982. Dodd is now living back in Chesterfield working as a freelance journalist – and has released his own History of Rock album billed as Peter & The Wolves. Dodd still sees Podgorski on a regular basis.
– Roog lives in London and is in a senior position in Tower Hamlets Adults Services.

Okay, so we know John Roog and Peter Dodd were the original members of the Thompson Twins alongside Thomas Bailey  and Chris Bell, back in 1977 in Sheffield. So according to that can we say that Big View were based in Sheffield as well? Let’s keep in mind that Dodd and Roog left the band in 1982 after releasing the third Thompson Twins album.

I keep diving into the world wide web, trying to find anything that could tell me who was T, that mysterious female vocalist. But I don’t find any answers. No one seems to know, the few posts I find on the web are as hopeless as mine. No one has a clue. And I add another question to this mystery, what happened with Dodd and Roog, why no more Big View releases?! And what about gigs? I couldn’t find any mention of them playing anywhere. Of course being on the shadow of the Thompson Twins must have been hard, but at the same time I would expect that because of the connection there would be more information about Big View. But of course, that’s not the case.

So I ask my Sheffield readers, do you remember them?

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Listen
Big View – August Grass