Friday and I’m getting a little anxious. I start a new job on Monday, so don’t want to think much. I need to keep myself relaxed. I did go to see St. Etienne on Wednesday at the Bowery Ballroom as part of their tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Good Humour”.  And that was nice.

I felt there was more people than the last time I saw them. Or perhaps the venue was smaller this time. Oddly enough next to me was the head of HR of my previous workplace. I thought that was odd. Seeing her dancing to the songs.

Bob Stanley wasn’t on stage. I wonder why. I missed him. It is not the same as when the three members are part of the show. But of course seeing Sarah and Debsey dancing makes me happy.

Another thing that didn’t work out for the band was that the exclusive CDs that were going to be available for the US tour weren’t available. Seems the pressing plant didn’t provide them in time. So the band was taking money from whoever wanted them and were taking the address so they could mail them in around 3 to 4 weeks from now. I guess that’s fine. But I’m sure the band would have loved it to be differently. Now we just wait.

Oh, one complain. A t-shirt for $30 is a bit too much. Realistically $20 is ok. I wanted one, and could have paid that price, but thought it was unfair. So I didn’t.

The gig was very nice, what can I say. Even if I was not up front I loved hearing many songs that don’t get to be played at a regular Saint Etienne gig!

Future World Moves: many years ago I interviewed this fab 80s Scottish band. Well, this November 23rd the band is reuniting for a one-off gig at the Dreadnaught Bathgate venue. This is a reunion after 27 years of silence. It will be a very special night and I wish I could attend. So I urge anyone that will be around to make it. Should be great!

Comet Gain: so the superb Comet Gain have signed with the German label Tapete. To start this relationship the band will be releasing a 2-song 7″ on October 5th. Both songs are available to stream as snippets, though you can probably find them in full in some lucky blogs that get the chance to promote this record! Anyhow, they sound fantastic as always!! I dream of seeing them again live. It’s been a while!

Carbon Poppies: the latest on the New Adventures in Pop series by Elefant Records is this 7″ EP by a Louisiana, USA, trio formed by Allison Bohl DeHart, Jonny Campos and Peter DeHart. This seems to be a side-project by them. The Lost Bayou Ramblers, Kind Cousin and Brass Red are other of their projects. This 7″ will be released as a 300 limited edition and will include the songs “Rain On My face” (a cover of the Shape & Sizes original from 1966), “You and I”, “How Long” and “I’ll Meet You There”.

動物園釘子户 Zoo Gazer: some Chinese pop from this band from Xuzhou. A 7-song mini-album released on cassette by the Qii Snacks label form Guagzhou while the CD version was released by Shengjian Records from Shanghai. I don’t understand much (as expected), but there are some very pretty songs here like “Lakeside” or “Cube”. There’s some good stuff happening in China the last few years!

The Autumn Stones:  lastly for this week I have a Toronto band that have released a digital single a week or so ago with “The Bigger They Fail” as the main song and an acoustic version of it to accompany it. The band is formed by Ciaran Megahey, Dan Dervaitis, Gary Butler, Marcus Tamm and Ray Cara have a bunch of releases on their Bandcamp and this is their latest. I will check out their back catalogue in the days to come. But this seems to be a good introduction.

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Ade Moose and Walker were formed in 1984 in Watford, North London. They released two singles on Lost Moment Records: – “Peppermint Park/Lounge Around” and “Dance” in 84/85. Soon after the band split. Dave Williamson went on to play drums on “Blue Eyed Slide” by Brian Knight (also on Lost Moment) which also feat. Charlie Watts, Peter Green and Micky Moody. Shane Lamont re-located to Seattle U.S.A. and played in various bands

That’s how the Sound of Leamington Spa Vol. 5 introduced to many of us the music and the band Ade Moose and Walker. They appeared on the classic compilation series released by Firestation Records with their song “Lounge Around”. I believe too that this is also the only compilation appearance by the band. But what about the singles?

I have to track them down. I haven’t yet. But on Discogs only one of them is listed. So that doesn’t help me at all. The “Lounge Around” 7″ was indeed released by Lost Moment Records in 1984 and had the catalog number LOM 008. I’ll be honest and say I’m not familiar with this label even though they had released another band I like, Jesus Couldn’t Drum. I don’t really know the rest of bands, maybe there are some poppy ones in there? Maybe some of you know? I do notice that a band called The Krewmen have most of the releases on this label. They were based in Hempstead, Hertsfordshire.

As said on the description, two songs appeared on the single, “Lounge Around” on the A side and “Peppermint Park” on the B side. So far “Lounge Around” is the only song I’ve listened. The green and pink sleeve of a mysterious man smoking against a lamp post has a few details on the back sleeve.

The band members were: Alan Culley on percussion, Dave Williamson on drums, Paul Burgess on bass, Shane Lamont on guitar, Tony Randall on vocals and Colin Smith on sax. Both songs on the 7″ are credited to Randall and Lamont.  They were recorded at the Pyramid studios in Luton during March and April 1984.  It was engineered by Ian Nichols and two producers are credited Steve Carter and Nick Miles. The art was created by Nick Peck.

So what about that second single? Are there any mentions on the web about it? I look and I find something that scares me, the “Lounge Around” 7″ is owned by Cherry Red these days. It is part of its licensing catalog. That doesn’t sound good to me. How much crazy money would they ask to re-release it? Or to include the songs on a compilation? I prefer not to think much about that. I hope the band gets something out of it if it ever happens.

Well, I looked and looked with no luck. The thing was that the bio wasn’t really explicit about what had really happened. They had changed names when they released “Dance”. Now they were called Ice Club! That’s why! This record was indeed released by Lost Moment Records. It included the song “Dance” and an instrumental of the song on the B side. I see that this record has been listed on eBay as Italo Disco. Is it safe then to assume they changed their sound and style? I couldn’t find audio for it anywhere on the web. I’m very curious!

It looks like all the band continued in this project but Allan Culley. Dave, Shane, Paul, Colin and Tony were in it. They added backing vocals from Lisa Sinclair and it says that they had Toyah as a special guest!

Thanks to this listing on Discogs I could find that a few of the members were involved in other bands. It seems Paul Burgess had been in a band called The Early Bathers. Dave Williamson in a band called Ugly as Sin. But who has been in more projects seems to be the saxophonist Colin Smith. He is listed as being part in Moses and Helicopter Girl and playing in many bands including favourites like Marden Hill. Now maybe not all of these are right, Colin Smith is not the rarest of names. But I want to think he has been involved in most of them.

I keep searching and find a Soundcloud for Tony Randall, the vocalist, now based in Dorchester. Here he mentions that he has been in many bands such as Intravenous, The Rubber Chex, The Reason Why, Some Say, Mr. Pitiful and Superfly. Also he has worked with many other musicians and is these days a novelist embarked in writing two novels. Having said all that, there are a bunch of songs, dating from 3 to 7 years ago to listen.

And that might be my best find of all about Ade Moose and Walker. I wonder of course about the band name. Who or what is Ade Moose? And Walker? Why the change of names? Did they record any more songs as a unit? Did they play all over the UK? Were they also based in Hampstead as their label? Why did Shane move to Seattle? And if anyone has a spare copy of the 7″? Many questions, little answers on the web. Anyone remember them?

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Listen
Ade Moose and Walker – Lounge Around