I had not the best of weekends. Saturday turned up exactly how I didn’t want it with Peru losing the game against Denmark. We were the better team, we create enough chances not even to tie, but to win, but none of the players were precise and effective. We couldn’t score. We even missed a penalty at the end of the first half. It was very lucky for Denmark to get the result, but that’s footie. We made a mistake and we paid it. One counterattack, our defense not being positioned rightly and they scored. Then we created chances, one after the other and it was their keeper and our anxious players who didn’t let us celebrate. Now, need to wait for Thursday, so we can beat France. I won’t be calm until that day arrives.
But there is good news. According to DHL the Salt Lake Alley 7″s arrive today home after taking the longest at the pressing plant of any of my previous releases. I’ll take some pics and announce it rightly when I have the records in my hands. Can’t really wait to go home today after work!!
And that’s it for now, hope you are happy with your teams in the World Cup. I know my Mexican friends are really thrilled and hopeful now!!
Dumb Things: the Brisbane band has a new video/song out now and I will tell you that it is worth checking it out. “Crash Barrier” is a pretty pretty song, with light and luminous guitars and female vocals. I had in the past recommended this band and I’m very happy to see they continue putting out top music. Now, I do need them to release some CD or vinyl so I can have their music at home!
The King in Mirrors: another band I follow is the Swindon based King of Mirrors. I know little about them but I do know they make some great jangle pop and their latest release, a digital EP titled “So Long Serenade” is no exception. The solo project by Rich May has now 5 more songs in their repertoire, “Fall into Place”, “Big Tomorrow”, “When Love Takes Hold of You”, “The Wrong Turn” and “Sleep in the Day”, and they are thoroughly enjoyable.
The Salient Braves: “Delusions of Grandeur”, the debut album by this Barnsley band is now available on vinyl. From what I gather there are only 10 songs on the record, but you get three extra ones with the digital download code. The 13 songs are also available to stream on Bandcamp at the moment. It was released last September but I’ve only stumbled upon it. Worth checking out!
L-Kan: I’ve been a fan of the Madrid, Spain, band for years now, maybe around 15 or so years. Maybe more. I met Belén from L-Kan briefly at Madrid Popfest this year and was kind of bummed that she didn’t have a clue what Cloudberry Records was. Not that I mentioned it to her, but my crazy friend Miguel Stamp did. But doesn’t matter, I didn’t expect her to. But what is something cool is that the band have just published a new video for the song “Animal en Extinción”. And I’m really digging it. And of course the came of Putochinomaricón was quite a surprise.
En Attendant Ana: Margaux, Romain, Camille, Antoine and Adrien form this French band who were unknown to me until now. I discovered thanks to who else, the great David Cano. The band has released an album on the Parisian label Buddy Records and it is titled “Lost and Found’ and as soon as I start playing the song “(Not) So Hard” I know I’m going to enjoy it. The female vocals and the guitars are exactly what I like. The album is available now on vinyl and it has 10 songs. Definitely would be good for next year’s Paris Popfest? I would try to go to that.
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Who were The Steelchain?
I can’t say for sure. I remember discovering them through a blog many years ago. One of those blogs that don’t exist anymore. They had shared one of their songs, and I believe it was the same one I’ll share with you, “The Restless”. Until now I haven’t got around in acquiring a copy of their one and only record, a 1988 12″ EP. But today, when I started writing the post I saw a fair priced copy on eBay which I’m duly bidding. Will I win? Hope so!
“The Restless EP” came out on Nigthshift Records (NISHI 207T) in 1988 and it included 4 songs. The A side had “Life in a Zoo (Wonder Why)” and “The Children” while the B side had “The Restless” and “Where the Heart Is”. This label has been mentioned before on the blog as they had released the superb This Scarlet Train 12″. It was a label based in Grangemouth, Scotland. It was created by the original Cocteau Twins bassist Will Heggie and the ex-Dead Neighbours vocalist Craig Lorentson. They mostly released records by Lowlife. But according to This Scarlet Train’s Robert Polson, when I interviewed him, Nightshift were a local label, run by Brain Guthrie who managed Lowlife.
On Discogs there are no other releases by the band nor compilation appearances. That’s really not good for me when I’m looking for information about the band.
The Steelchain record has some credits on the back cover. We see that all songs were composed by the band and that they were recorded at Palladium Studios. This Edinburgh studio was used quite a lot by many important Scottish bands like Cocteau Twins or Friends Again among others. Kieth Mitchell produced and engineered the record. The sleeve design is credited to S. An S within a circle. Maybe it was the designer’s logo? The illustration on the back cover was done by Michelle Butler. But no, no band member names. That is not good for this investigation for sure.
I did find something interesting on a page I found from The List. The List is a paper that has many listings of what’s going on in town and is still going in the UK as far as I know. The page I found actually dates from September 13th 1991 (issue 158). Here I find that there was going to be a gig on Saturday September 21st, in Glasgow, a gig by Better Ways at Traders. The thing is, Better Ways is described as a slinky danceable pop band from ex members of Savana Lamar and The Steelchain. There is also another gig listed for Better Ways the day before, Friday 20th, in the city of Penicuik at the Complex. This time it mentions that the sound of the band was a composite of the two groups, The Steelchain and Savana Lamar, upfront acoustic guitar and some hummable melodies, with perhaps a dose of slinky Botany-5 style dance grooves into the bargain. I couldn’t find much more about these bands, not about The Steelchain nor Savana Lamar. Well, one thing, there was another offshoot band from the latter, Buy Me an Umbrella. If I could find some music by them, I’d be very interested in listening.
Though I could find out that Better Ways continued the relationship The Steelchain had started with Nightshift Records. Better Ways was to release the “Standing in the Middle” 12″ with them in 1992. Happily here I could find some band members names: Steve Vantsis on bass, Daniel Dodds on vocals, Ross Cockburn on guitars, Brian Gibb on keys, Larry Magrina on guitar and Stuart McLean on drums and percussion. It also confirms that they hailed from Edinburgh. Now we know the city they were from. But we don’t know which of these members were in The Steelchain and which in Savana Lamar.
That is the last question, my last doubt. If I could only connect the dots. Which band members were in The Steelchain, maybe I could find out more about this obscure Scottish band! Anyone remember them?
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