I continue mailing BV’s records. And in the meantime I must say that among these orders I found out that the Je Suis Animal 7″ is sold out. I can’t seem to find any more copies of the vinyl among all the boxes. So, lucky those that got a copy as it is a fantastic record.
The BV’s 7″s have traveled to a few stores these past days for the people that have been asking for this. Jigsaw Records and Rough Trade should have their copies soon. Rough Trade will also be getting a batch of Okama Flannel Boy 7″s.
Again, because of shipping costs get in touch with your mailorder or favourite shops and ask to carry the record. I try to reach out many but I suppose if fans show their interest, the shops will also show theirs. This is the situation with records these days with crazy shipping prices.
Anyways, weekend finds, right?
Various Artists – Stars: this is a new Christmas compilation that will be released as a vinyl LP by WIAIWYA on November 30th and it includes a bunch of great bands. At this point we can only listen to one of the songs though, “Christmas Tree (Burn Burn Burn)” by The Catenary Wires which sounds pretty good to me. Looking forward to the rest!
Various Artists – This Concerns Everyone: another compilation by WIAWYA (and Gare du Nord). This one is released on CD and includes 14 tracks. On Bandcamp you can stream half of them by the likes of Famous Problems, Red Red Eyes or The Leaf Library. This one is out now!
The Sappers: this just showed up on Bandcamp even though it dates from 2016. Never heard this guitar pop band, armed with Rickenbackers, from Sheffield. This short album consisting of 8 songs chimes and chimes, with heartfelt vocals. Are they still going? Playing gigs? Who were behind this band?
Neurotic Fiction: so many records to buy, so little money. Here is a new pre-order, for a vinyl LP that is coming out on November 16. “Pulp! Music” is the debut album by this Bristol band formed by Jess, Livi, Rory and Sean. 10 indiepop with post-punk vibes. Two songs are available to stream right now, “Collateral” and “Loose End”. Check them out!
Rose Ette: one of my favourite bands from the US at the moment is Rose Ette from Houston. They just released their album “Ignore the Feeling” as a limited vinyl LP. 9 tracks of pure indiepop with female vocals and lovely melodies. You can check it out on Bandcamp, stream it and enjoy it. I guess I need to place an order soon.
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Always been a fan of whatever Graham Fellows has put out. Of course his album Love at The Hacienda is a true favourite for me. But there are many other records he had been involved with which are not as well known. One of them is a 1983 7″ by a band called The Pop Guns, that I must say, I have only discovered a few months ago. And of course it has proven impossible to find a copy of it!
Of course we all know of The Popguns who had amazing songs like “Waiting for the Winter” or “Landslide” who are back now releasing records on Matinée. But this is a different sort of Pop Guns. One that sounds closer to The Chefs or Sarah Goes Shopping. A lovely female fronted early 80s indiepop band. One that deserves to be rediscovered!
Graham Fellows, best known for creating the characters of John Shuttleworth and Jilted John made a splash when he was a drama student at Manchester Polytechnic. There with the “Jilted John” record, with it’s classic “Gordon is a moron” line he made himself a well known name. Since that moment in 1978 on he has released many records and even this year he released a new album which is available at his Bandcamp. I wonder what spot does The Pop Guns have in his heart. How important were they.
The Pop Guns only released one 7″. It came out on Toadstool Records (Toadstool 2) which had previously released the “Through the Line” 7″ by Graham Fellows. The Pop Guns record included just two songs, all written and produced by Graham Fellows, “My Mother’s Been Reading My Diary Again” on the A side and “Don’t Finish With Me” on the B side.
The band was a duo of course. It was Graham Fellows playing the instruments and Gemma Wilson the vocals. The viola on the record was played by Beverly aintree and the sleeve, that illustration of the cover, was created by Carol Pendlebury.
There are no compilation appearances listed for the band.
What else there is about them on the web. Nothing really. I know it is very little information but that’s all there is. Perhaps one day I could interview Graham and ask him about this band. That’d be fantastic. I would love to have a copy of this record, these are the sort of songs I love. But I know that is going to be complicated too.
In any case I wanted to share this wonderful song. Let you know that this record exists. And maybe, just maybe, you can share any details about The Pop Guns that you might remember. For example, did they ever play live?
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2 Responses to “:: The Pop Guns”
Rumour has it there were more Pop Guns songs. A track called Ha-Ha Deborah became song of the week for Janice Long when it was recorded for the BBC and EMI did some test recordings, but nothing came of it. There’s only one man who still has copies – Mr F himself..
Wow, would love to hear that. How many more songs were recorded for EMI? And of course get a copy!! If you know how I can do that please drop me a line contact@cloudberryrecords.com !!