With this post I’ll end my review of Madrid Popfest. Pending is the Indietracks lineup announcement review and also a tribute to a band I hold dear whose vocalist suddenly passed away a few weeks ago. It is busy times here and I’m trying to organize myself. On top of that our new release, The County Fathers, has now arrived at home, tomorrow is the release date, and all pre-orders have started shipping. Have you ordered your copy yet?

Madrid Popfest. What am I missing? Well, of course, the bands. But also the friends. I must say I met many, if not most, of my good Spanish pop friends. There was of course Carlos and Maria who hosted me for a few days. Alex who drove me and Carlos all the way to the castle of Manzanares el Real and also took us both to see a game at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium where we saw Antoine Griezmann score 4 goals against Leganés. Then at the festival of course I met with the legendary Miguel Stamp who kept offering Cloudberry releases to every single band at the festival. Miguel Stamp’s lovely wife, whose name I must say I have forgotten, she was really nice though! Manolo who was totally thrilled after the BMX Bandits gig. Maria del Mar and Oscar from Zipper who I was happy, very happy, to see after many years. Jorge, Javi and Rafa who were part of the organization. Sergio as always dancing and as always terribly happy. Ana, who last time I saw in New York, and who had the same tote bag as mine. I saw Toni and Chity. And of course the fantastic duo of the two Davids who have the best taste in music in my opinion. Irene all the way from Stockholm now and her husband Jonathan. Rafa Skam and his classic photographs with everyone. Also met Agustín from Contempopranea festival and that was cool. Miguel Pacific too of course! Marco and Dani from Aplasta tus Gafas de Pasta, whose band’s new albums I certainly bought. Then I met new friends too, like Gregorio from Annika who saved me a Semester 7″, Antonio from Kocliko who traded a bunch of records with me, same as Álvaro from Meritorio Records who is now releasing the Stephen’s Shore album. Andrés from Alicante and Santi from somewhere close to Gibraltar too. And there was the international gang, from dear Thomas and Amelie who were exploring gourmet restaurants in Madrid, to Joanny and his cat cafes visits. Stefano from Italy, Heinz from Hamburg. Fabio and Alessandro who came alongside Ragnhild to play with Soda Fountain Rag.  Josh and Fred from The Bv’s and of course Ronny all the way from Augsburg! And the Peruvian committee with Jose, Rafa and Jalito at the helm. I wonder who am I missing? I did meet three of the Melenas band who had saved a copy of their album for me, and kept calling me Rocker or Rocket, but don’t know their names. But they were very kind and was great to meet! Oh dear, it was a whirlwind, but I’m happy to have seen all of you and even if we didn’t chat for long, hope to see you again!

Okay now onto the bands, right? I’ll start in order.

Giorgio Basmatti & Aeromozas. Well, it wasn’t my thing. Didn’t pay much attention to the band I must admit. I arrived just in time when they were starting and my first mission was to get rid of all the records I brought that many Spanish friends have ordered to save shipping costs. So I did that, looking for every single person I owed records. Of course one of them was Miguel Stamp so just caught up talking and talking!

For the Bv’s I stopped talking to everyone and tried to get as much close to the stage as I could. But it was impossible. There were way too many people. So I stayed halfway through. Also I was carrying a backpack as I had been to Aranjuez that day, so it wasn’t comfy. I feel there were more people on Friday. Or am I crazy? Anyhow their gig was among the best, if not the best. Lovely jangle, chiming guitars, great melodies. Everything one looks for a Popfest band was happening on stage. It definitely was the highlight for the day.

Cosmen Adelaida I skipped. I went to have a sandwich around the corner. I met with many Popfest goers at the small restaurant. I think most people skipped this band for food. Then there was St. Christopher who put a good gig. It was a bit rough but at the same time exciting. Glenn’s voice is unique and their songs are classics. People did complain that the band didn’t play classic songs like “All of a Tremble”, and even though I would have loved them to play that song for example, was very happy to hear “Say Yes to Everything”, one of their hymns.

Lastly there was The Tuts who are a fun band but I’m not very familiar with. They put a fun show and ended their set with a cover of The Spice Girls’ “Wannabe”. Some people approved, others were not happy with that. Then the vocalist crowd surfed for a bit. It was fun, nothing more. But at this point something got me thinking, how come The Tuts or Melenas were headlining over classic bands like St Christopher or BMX Bandits? I thought it was odd, though in a way it was cool to see all-girl bands headlining the festival.

The next day was the turn for Terry vs Tori. I admit I had some trouble with the way the vocalist dressed, like a Bushwick hipster. Oh no. I did buy both CDs that had available at  the merch stall as I really enjoyed what I heard on Bandcamp. Sadly live the sound wasn’t that exciting. A bit monotonous. Same was the case with the next band, Fever Dream, who I had seen at Indietracks couple of years ago and really liked them then. This time I wasn’t impressed. I do know they have great songs but somehow it didn’t translate well on stage for me.

Eggstone on the other hand, even though the vocalist seems to have been ill, played a very fine set. When you have timeless songs I guess you can pull it off even when you are sick. No one will complain if you just leave the stage for minutes and then come back and play as if nothing had happened. That means a lot to a band I’m sure. And for the fans, listening to many of their classic songs for the first time live, well, it was very important. I said that one of the main reasons for me to go to Madrid Popfest was Eggstone, that’s what sold me. And I’m very happy to have seen them. They were spot on.

BMX Bandits played next and for many this was the best gig of the festival. It may as well been. For me it is always hard to make up my mind and say who was best and who second best. Or third. But definitely after seeing the BMX Bandits again and again, this must have been one of the best performances I’ve seen of them. They played all the classics, or most of them. They put on a great show. Got the excitement of the crowd to a new high and well, it was what POP is about. Then the band tried to go dancing but before they got to the dancefloor everyone wanted a photo! So I don’t think they ended up dancing!! Oh, the Spanish fans!

Lastly the biggest surprise for many of the festival attendees: Melenas. For me it wasn’t. I was already loving their album on Bandcamp for months now. I thought it was amazing and couldn’t wait to see them live. And they didn’t disappoint. They put a fun show, and I can see them becoming bigger in the short term. I already noticed they are playing SXSW and later Indietracks. How cool! The four girls from Pamplona were fantastic and the crowd let them know by dancing and singing along their songs. At the end I managed to salvage the drummer’s setlist while the rest of the crowd looked me meanly! I think everyone wanted it. The few copies of their record that they brought sold out fast. I remember there were posters but I forgot about them after the gig, so I missed them. Bad luck. Anyhow, I got a setlist and a copy of their LP which I believe is going to be repressed. A brilliant gig and I want to know how come so many great bands hail from Pamplona? It is a mystery to me!

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Before going on vacations I was makings lists of Australian 80s guitar pop bands. I wanted to know how many CD compilations could one do if all of the bands would say YES to being part of them. Hypothetically of course. I don’t have any future plans to put together these compilations, though at some point it would be nice to do them. So I started to write down names of bands. Some I knew, some I had contact with before, and some unknown to me. Unknown in the way that I knew a song or two but never really looking into their story. One of them was the Vicious Kites.

Though strictly speaking the band may not be indiepop, more of a post-punk band, there are some fantastic guitar pop songs in their repertoire starting with the A side of their first single “Speaking Minds”.

I have to admit I don’t own their records yet. I will try in the next few months or years. As you know I’m a bit slow collecting records these days. I need a fair price. And that will be the case with their “Speaking Minds” 7″, I think I want to start my Vicious Kites collection with this record as I really enjoy both songs on it, “Speaking Minds” and “Here With You”.

The record’s sleeve is really cool looking. A brown and yellow jacket with black and white clip outs  of a kid and an angry face, all cut and paste, very DIY!, on the front. While on the back a band photo by Dean Ervik and some info. The design is also credited to him while the layout is credited to Matt Mawson. The labels where designed by Howard Stringer. It was released on Offbeat Records (OB-R001) in 1985. It seems it was a self-release as no other records are listed on this label. In any case, we do know a few details about this record, for example that it was recorded at Downunder Studios in Brisbane and had Anthony Lloyd as engineer and Graham Battis as producer. At this same studio, the Up and Downs recorded their classic “The Perfect Crime” 7″.

We also get to know the band members from the sleeve:
Luke Jacobs on bass and vocals
Nick Patterson on drums and percussion
Gerard Lacheca on vocals and guitar
Nick Volk on guitar

Their next release came out the year after, 1986, on Revolution Records (REV 001). It was another 7″ with two songs, “Taking Care of You” and “Another Man’s Poison”. These were recorded at Trafalgar Studios, in Sydney. At this studio so many classic bands recorded, from The Hoodoo Gurus to INXS. Imagine that. The sound for these songs changed a bit. A saxophone was added thanks to Brendan Smyly, and also backing vocals by John Mitting. The engineer for these recordings was Alan Thorne who also was the producer. The photography for the record was done by Ann Duffield, while the art is credited to Peter & Chris. I was to find a promo video for “Taking Care of You” on Youtube and from a comment there, I start to think the band may be from Sydney.  But that’s not all about this single. There is also a video for the B side, “Another Man’s Poison” available too!

Lastly in 1988 the band was to release “Sold”, a 12″ mini-album. It was released by Faith & Hope records (VK501) and it included 6 songs, 3 on each side. On the A side there was “Diamond”, “Kiss” and “Marcella”. The B side had “Channel Thoughts”, “Big World” and “Infection, Affection”. At this point it seems the drummer, Nick Patterson, left and was replaced by Darren Lallich. Also this time around there’s Ian Davies credited for guitar and backing vocals and Ian Hunt for saxophone on three of the tracks. It seems they always had friends helping them out on their songs.

Oddly enough there are no compilation appearances listed for the band, so I will have to continue my search somewhere else!

What about on Youtube? Aside from the two videos I found there is a lo-fi video of the Vicious Kites playing “Kiss” at the Hopetoun Hotel in 1989. But that’s not all, also from the Hopetoun in Sydney there’s a live performance of the song “Deadwood“. Lastly there’s a video dating from 1984 where the band is practicing “Infection/Affection” in a run down warehouse rehearsal studio in Vulture Street The Gabba.

I look on the web and I find that Gerry Lacheca, Nick Patterson and Luke Jacobs last band was called Ne’erdowells and that they were based in Brisbane. Before that Gerry had been in a band called Disaster Dora. Then I find a bio page for himself, where it tells that he was born in Brisbane and his first band was called La Mode which appeared on a CD compilation titled “FM 104” in 1982. Later, in 1984 he formed the band I’m talking about today, Vicious Kites. Here it says it started in Brisbane and in 1986 moved to Sydney. They were Triple J/Beatbox band of the week. After the release of their mini-album Gerry traveled around Europe busking and playing solo shows. When he returned in 1990 to Australia, he played in a joke band called Horrorfice. In 1993 Disaster Dora was formed. The last we know of him is the band I mentioned, Ne’erdowells and his solo music, for which he even set up a Myspace years ago.

I find another mention of the band on the blog That Striped Sunlight Sound, a blog that shares music from Australia. A post from February 2011 talks about the Vicious Kites first single, “Speaking Minds”. It says that thanks to this release the band got good airplay on 4ZzZ and support slots with the likes of The Hoodoo Gurus. Here I learn that Offbeat wasn’t actually their own label, but a mailorder business run by Lindsay who did the New Zealand show on ZzZ.

I found a clipping from The Sydney Morning Herald dating October 7, 1985 where the Vicious Kites first single is badly reviewed: Vicious Kites Speaking Minds (Offbeat Records OB-R001). WELL, three out of four ain’t bad. The Vicious Kites aren’t quite as contrived as their name, but they come close. Musically, the ringing guitars and jungle drums of Speaking Minds are fine, but the chorus is meaningless and ignorable and most of their rhyme is pretty strained. To be fair, the other bands have all had previous recording experience, whereas this is the Kites debut, so they may improve. The kindest thing would be for everyone to forget this effort. 

Also I must add that “Speaking Mind” is part of a digital compilation available on Bandcamp called “Brisbane Bands of the Early 80s” that was put together by Brisbane Music Graveyard. There is a lot of interesting tracks their to discover for those interested. The same Bandcamp has the “Sold” mini-album in its entirety for streaming too.

There’s not much more about them on the web to be honest. But it is quite a good deal of information what I found. I definitely would like to know how La Mode sounded like for example. Or check out the other bands like Disaster Dora. If they made more recordings, especially in the period of the first 7″ as that’s the sound I like the most from them even though it got bad reviews. And of course, finding a spare copy would be fantastic! Do you happen to remember them?

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Listen
Vicious Kites – Speaking Minds