Happy news for everyone, today after writing this post I’m heading to the post office to mail the first batch of BV’s singles to everyone that pre-ordered this beautiful record! The official release date is November 10th but the 7″s are here and ready and they will start arriving at popkids homes pretty soon. I’m very happy with this release, the last 7″ for the year. There might be another release this year though, so keep an eye on the blog and the website (and the Facebook page too!).

Some cool finds from over the weekend? A weekend that I spent inserting inserts in the 7″ sleeves, and then the 7″s in plastic sleeves. 🙂

VA – You Can Never Replace Polaroid: on my last post I was celebrating the band The Sweetest Touch and today I stumbled upon a tape compilation they were on called “You Can Never Replace Polaroid!” that was released by Don’t Fade Away Records from Indonesia. It is a fine comp, which you can stream on Bandcamp and it includes other Indonesian bands like Elenin, Selat Malaka and Substars.

The Belafontes: first time I’m listening this Melbourne band and they already amde a great impression on me! Their third single is called “Gemini” and it such a fun song! The duo formed by Jess and Paul have a few other songs like “Where the City Meets the Sea” and “Cruel” which are as good!

Store Front: wasn’t aware that Peggy Wang was still making music! That’s cool. Haven’t seen her in a long time, but listening to the latest song, “Go For Broke”, from the band she is in now, Store Front, makes me terribly happy. The sound kind of reminds me of the great Help Stamp Out Loneliness. Or maybe is the vocals? The band is formed by Amy Rose Spiegel, Peggy Wang, Bradon Louro and Chalky Edwards. Would be great to catch them live!

Earache: another Australian band? Why not! Earache has released a tape with two songs on the Lacklustre label from Canberra. The songs are “Voices” and “Parasite” and they sound pretty good to me. The band is formed by Gemma Nourse and David Fenderson. Sadly the tape is sold out now even though they have October 2019(!) as their release date.

BMX Bandits: lastly a cool video of the legendary band played live at the Quay Sessions, BBC Scotland. How great they sound!!!

—————————————————————–

Was watching the promo video of “Your Place” by Fear of Falling on Youtube the other day. I immediately thought why not dedicate the Brisbane early 90s band a post on the blog. So here I am, knowing nothing about them really but hoping that by the end of the post I understand them a bit better.

I still want to do that Australian obscure pop gems compilation. Maybe when Cloudberry is no more? Then it would be a very nice project for me to work on I think. That if no one has done it before. We’ll see. In any case I would include this track because I think is great. I’m sure the band and their label, Phantom, knew that too. That’s why they made a video. On Super-8 film as it had to be done at the Brisbane Powerhouse before it became the arts center that it is today.

“Your Place” was their first single. It was on Phantom Records (PH-40) and came out in 1990. The 7″ single included two B sides, “Slave” and “Fear…”. Discogs doesn’t have much to go on. There are barely no details. We know it was recoded at Broken Toy Studios with Leroy bath as an engineer. The sleeve gives us a bit more information. Kerry Lee on vocals, Neil Coombe on guitar, Caroline Grubb on bass and Mark Elliot on drums. Some musicians helped on the song “Fear…” like Carol Rohde played tom tom velocities and synths, David Smith a sample boffin and backing vocals.

“Butler to your Masquerade” was their second single, also released in 1990 by Phantom Records (PH 43). The B side for this single was “Hand in Hand”. There was a promo video for the A side, “Butler to your Masquerade“.

That same year they also released “For the Tourist” (PH-44) with “South of Nowhere” on the B Side. It was released by Phantom Records, the only label they worked with. This Sydney label is probably one of the most important for indie music in that country. A label that put out Even As We Speak or The Hummingbirds for example.

These two songs of this single were also recorded at Broken Toys Studio in Brisbane with Leroy Bath as the engineer. The band at this point was formed by Cas Simpson on bass, Mark McElligott on drums, Neil Coombe on guitar and Kerry Lee on vocals. Two boys, two girls. Perfect combo. The art for the single is credited to Minna and Neil Coombe too. So comparing to the first single, did Caroline Grubb leave for Cas Simpson? And what about Mark Elliot and Mark McElligott, their names are similar, but probably not the same person?

Lastly in 1990 the band appeared on the very good compilation “Young Blood II” released by RooArt. This compilation which featured up and coming Australian bands had Fear of Falling appear with the song “Your Place”.

The band would be also very active in 1991. That year they would release another single and their one and only album. The 7″ was a single with the songs “Crossroads of Reality” on the A side and “Acid Rain” on the B side. It was released by Phantom Records (PH 48). There was also a promo video for the A side, “Crossroads of Reality“. I start to wonder how come the band is not that known if they got three videos! That is not that common.

Something worth mentioning about their singles is that the first or so 300 copies of them all came in coloured vinyl, the rest in black of course. It does look like the label trusted in them quite a lot and supported them in different ways, coloured vinyl, promo videos and more.

“Welcome to Wonderland” was to be released in 1991. This was the only album the band released. It came out on Phantom Records (PHLP-11) and included 12 songs, 6 on each side. All singles were included in it too. So we have on the A side: “Watching the World Go By”, “Crossroads of Reality”, “For the Tourist”, “Candy”, “Steamtrain of Youth” and “Your Place”. The B side had “Black and White”, “Butler to Your Masquerade”, “Manic”, “Answering” and “South of Nowhere”.

The song “Hand in Hand” had cello played by Rebecca Windsor and violin played by Andrew Cawse, Wendy Cawse and William Deer. Again the band recorded at Broken Toys Studio with Leroy Bath. Some curiosities about the album are the matrix/runout. Hand-etched on the A side it says “No Matter Where You Go, There You Are!” and on the B side “Just a Bit More to the Right…Ahh!”

Lastly that same year, 1991, the band appears covering The Plimsouls song “A Million Miles Away” on the compilation “This Ain’t The Plimsouls: It’s Just a Matter of Time!” that was released by Zero Hour Records (ZEROCD 1001).

I check out the band members on Discogs.

Neil Coombe runs The White Room, a recording studio in Mount Nebo, near Brisbane. He had been in other bands too like Bad Habit, Slant, The Stress of Leisure or Wishing Chair. And has worked in production of many bands like Flamingo Crush, St Andrews Fall and even he has worked with The Go-Betweens and Robert Forster! Cool!

Mark McElligott is a producer/recording engineer and mixed. He has been in the bands Drag and The Daisycutters too. As a producer he has worked with Battered Fish, Beanbag and Powderfinger among others.

I find a blog called Striped Sunlight where they share Australian obscure music. Here they have a scan of a May 1990 issue of the Brisbane Underground Music Scene magazine. There is an article about Fear of Falling and gives us many more details about them.

It says that the band is formed by an ex 42nd Street (the band that had the Atkinson brothers of the Ups and Downs) guitarist, a poet, a bass player from the Lemon Fabs and a drummer from The Louvers. Now, I’ve never heard of any of these bands before. The Ups and Downs yes of course, I have a couple of their singles. But not the other ones. Would love to find out how they sound!

It mentions that before them signing to Phantom or appearing on the RooArt comp the band recorded at single at Sun Studios in Sydney. That is how they got these labels interested in them. So, what single was that? Was it properly released?

They seem to have hoped to be international, get a deal abroad, tour Europe and the States, sell records there. I guess that didn’t happen?

Another blog, one by Greg Dodge, mentions the band too. He mentions a newsletter he wrote back in 1990, talking about new acts at the time. He mentions that Neil Coombe had also been in a band called Mr Meaner. That the band had won the 1990 Country Music Star maker award.

There is a Sydney Morning Herald article from February 1st 1991 where the band is featured. Sadly I need a paid account to be able to read it. I wonder what it says.

And that’s about all I could find on the web. I liked what I heard on the videos. I should track down the album and have it in my collection. Would love to know if the girls were involved in other bands? And how did they sound? When and why did they split? Did they tour all over Australia? Were they close to become “international” as they wanted? Do you remember them?

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Fear of Falling – Your Place