Not much news today. Kind of quiet for me though I’ve started working on a new compilation for the Cloudberry Cake Kitchen series. I will have some news about that soon. I should also start working on the 10th Cloudberry fanzine. It’s really been a while since I did one. The 10th should be the last so I’ve been putting it off for some time. But I think early next year would be a good time to put it out. Well here are some new finds this week:

Balaclava: the song “Checoslovaquia” and its video is my introduction to this Spanish band formed by Marta Sancho and Servet Domínguez from Madrid. The song, a bit more darker than the video, is a terrific 80s postpunk/guitarpop/new wave track, influenced by legendary Spanish band Décima Víctima. I don’t know much more about this song, their only release on Bandcamp, a self-titled EP dates from 2016 and doesn’t include this song.

Ping Pong Club: the Bandung dreampop band is back with a new digital single called “Skylight”, and what beauty it is! Formed by Muhammad Rizky and Hariz Lasa, the duo have been released in the past another brilliant track called “Venetian Blinds”. It is definitely a band to keep an eye, especially after they have signed to a Japanese label called Aesthetic City Records. Hopefully a proper record is in the way?

Reverse Play: C86 Re(dis)covered: the news of the week was the release of this digital compilation by the Amsterdam based label Fadeawayradiate Records. 15 contemporary bands have covered classic songs from the c86 period and it is really really good. I think most if not all versions are winners. Among the bands included we see our friends of Okama Flannel Boy covering BMX Bandits’ “Groovy Good Luck Friend”. Then there are some brilliant bands like The Catherines, The Death of Pop, Pia Fraus, Dayflower, Softer Still (who I like a lot even though they have a manager), or Distant Creatures. Now, why not release this on CD?

Rainsticks: checking out this Nashville, Tennessee, band that has just released a digital album called “Elkmont” which is a collection of 11 sunny pop tunes. The band is formed by Asher Horton with Ben Parks, Alex Benick and Rodrigo Avendaño and this is their second release after 2015s “Mystery Bones”. A very nice and feel-good effort here!

The Catherines: lastly, as it is becoming usual, I recommend the latest by the Hamburg band. Their newest song is not the one on the C86 compilation but one called “How Come You Think Everybody Likes You?” and it is available to stream at their Bandcamp. Once again music and words by Heiko, while in the recording Sandra joins him for some great vocal harmonies!

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When I wrote years ago, in 2011 I think, about The Jerks on the blog I hoped to get in touch with them. Some people left some comments, maybe they were band members, but they never replied my messages.

One of those comments said that a rumoured Jerks full album was to be released last year. Well, they were included in the “Manchester North of England” compilation that Cherry Red released. It would have been a good time to release this album with a renewed interest in them. But there was an important detail on my blog post that deserved further investigation. That of Rubber Orange, the band that came after The Jerks.

So let’s pick it from where I left it last time:

The Jerks – Oldham band. Line-up: John Reed – Vocals, Guitar, Lee ‘Drany’ Dransfield – Guitar, Warren Wrigley – Bass, David ‘Dids’ Gill – Keyboards, Andy Price – Drums. Before Andy Price joined the ubiquitous Chris Goodwin played drums for them for some time. Several demo tapes recorded at The Mill by Clint Boon. ‘Waterskin’ released on the compilation tape ‘Kite’ and ‘Didn’t Quite Make It’ released on the Bop/Joe Bloggs compilation Hit The North. After John Reed left Lee Severin from Too Much Texas replaced him and they replaced their set, soon afterwards changing their name to Rubber Orange.

A quick search for Rubber Orange and I stumble upon their myspace. A nice discovery! I’m enjoying their songs. 

So the band was mostly the Jerks, meaning Lee ‘Drany’ Dransfield (guitars), Andy Price (drums), Warren Wrigley (bass), David ‘Dids’ Gill (keyboards) with the addition of Lee Severin (vocals) who came from Too Much Texas. That would be then the lineup of Rubber Orange. And speaking of Drany Dransfield, it is important to mention too that in my previous post I shared a myspace too.

Of course none of these Myspaces work. It is awful really what happened with that social network. To think at some point it was so popular and very convenient for all of us music lovers. But at least thanks to the Myspace we know the band recorded many songs: “Shining Path”, “Invisible Friend”, “Magnetized”, “Shut Down the World”, “Manmade” and “Alone Together”. And according to this Myspace the band was based in Rochdale.

Rochdale is a town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines on the River Roch, 8.5 km northwest of Oldham and 15.8 km northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale, which had a population of 211,699 in 2011. Historically part of Lancashire, Rochdale’s recorded history begins with an entry in the Domesday Book of 1086 under “Recedham Manor”. The ancient parish of Rochdale was a division of the hundred of Salford and one of the largest ecclesiastical parishes in England, comprising several townships. By 1251, Rochdale had become important enough to have been granted a Royal charter. Rochdale flourished into a centre of northern England’s woollen trade, and by the early 18th century was described as being “remarkable for many wealthy merchants”. Rochdale seems to be named from its position on the River Roch but is recorded as Recedham in the Domesday Book. The name is derived from Old English reced meaning “hall”, and ham, a “homestead”. Over time, the name changed to Rachedale and eventually Rochdale.

But unlike The Jerks, Rubber Orange did release a record, a 12″ EP. It was self-titled, “Rubber Orange EP”, and it came out in 1991 on the Zest Communications label (ZERO 2). Discogs doesn’t list any records under this label, might it be a self-release? What confuses me is that it seems to be the second release in the catalog, what was the first one?

There were four songs on the yellow and blue sleeve record. On the A side there was “Sun Shines Down On You” and “Shining Path” while the B side had “Shut Down the World” and “N.E. Groove”. The producer was Paul Sampson from The Primitives. It was recorded in September 91 at the Cabin studios in Coventry.

The Manchester Digital Music Archive has a bio and a couple of photos of the band. The photos show the band playing at the Hurricane Club. The bio mentions that the band toured extensively in the early 90s. That Lee Severin wasn’t from Manchester but a Londoner. That Zest Communications was their own label and that it didn’t get favorable reviews on the NME until it was reassessed when it was discovered that the critic, Barbara Ellen, had played the record at the wrong speed. It then says that the band split in the mid 90s with Severing going on to form Jubilee who signed to Silvertone Records. The remaining band members continued making music at least until he late 90s.

Until the late 90s? In which bands?

Another detail I could find on the web was that the band supported several big indie names like Inspiral Carpets, The La’s, The Soup Dragons, The Primitives, Northside, The Mock Turtles, Steve Diggle’s FOC and more.

Then I find perhaps more of a curiosity perhaps, I found a video of a band called The McRackins playing the song “This Jokes On You” live at Burnley Mechanics in 1991 with guest bass player Warren Wrigley of Rubber Orange. Check it out, it is rather good!

And that’s about all there is written about them on the web. Not much more. Would be great to get in touch with the band members, I have so many questions about Rubber Orange, and also about The Jerks!!

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Listen
Rubber Orange – Sun Shines Down on You