Day 20. Are we all climbing walls?

Not much news. I am supposed to get the fanzines today. Added an entry on Cloudberry Bandcamp for the fanzine and CD. I am only letting people listen “Mould” by The BV’s. In the past I’ve shared all songs but I keep seeing more labels and artists just sharing one or two songs per release. Maybe it is a new norm. I don’t know. I will just try it. Needless to say, all songs on the CD are great!

New music. Sure.

City Rockdown EP: Week II: this new release by Kolibri Rekords from Indonesia is part of a series of weekly self/home recordings by different bands. On this 2nd week EP they include Grrrl Gang, Bedchamber, Tiny Studio, Joshua Damanik and Raoul Dikka.

City Rockdown EP: Week I: I first listened to the 2nd volume and then thought I had to be fair as these are two different ones. 5 different bands, 5 different songs. And there are some very nice ones on this one as well. On this volum Kolibri Rekords has picked Flowr Pit, ATSEA, Kiting, Peter Rumondor and Jangfut.

Mirrorlakes: and continuing in Indonesia the very fine Dismantled Records bring two new songs to us from Mirrorlakes. The band formed by Peter A. Walandouw and Novianto Ari Prabawo have written two nice songs worth checking out, “Faded Town” and “Cope”.

The Sensitive: the other new release by Dismantled is the album “World is Evil” by this jangly combo from Indonesia. There are 9 songs of superb indiepop, including a song called “Forever Twee” and covers of The Wake’s “On Our Honeymoon” and “We’re Selfish and Lazy and Greedy” from Go-Kart Mozard. My favourite release this week.

Mumrunner: out now on 12″ vinyl the album “Valeriana” by this terrific shoegaze/dreampop band. It is out through the German label Through Love Records and it has 8 tracks. There is also a CD version of the album but on Bandcamp I only see them selling the vinyl. So who knows. The songs are luminous and with some great chiming guitars. So yeah, worth the 30 or so minutes the album lasts!

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A duffel coat (also duffle coat, for example in Canada) is a coat made from duffel, a coarse, thick, woolen material. The name derives from Duffel, a town in the province of Antwerp in Belgium where the fabric originated. Duffel bags were originally made from the same material. The hood and toggle fastenings proved popular, and the coat spread across Europe by the 1850s. By 1890 it was being supplied to the British Royal Navy. After World War II, the coats became available as government surplus stock and became popular, especially with students.

Now is the turn for Tuesday! Which band that you love wrote a song about Tuesday? I immediately thought of the Dufflecoats who had a song called “Sunny Tuesday Afternoon”.

That song was included in the wonderful CD compilation “The Waaaaah! CD” that was released by Bring On Bull Records (BULL 3-0) in 1991. I believe some copies of this CD included a fanzine called “Meet My Kittens”. My copy, which I bought a few years ago didn’t include any fanzines though. This was not the only song the Dufflecoats contributed to Richard’s label, they also had the song “Uncertain” which is also ace.

Yeah, the music of the Dufflecoats was as indiepop as it gets. Some may call it twee. Others may associate them to the cutie scene that. As I wasn’t around at that time, I can’t say. And that wasn’t the only time they were part of a Bring On Bull release. The next year, 1992, they contributed the song “Motorbikesong” to a compilation 7″ (BULL 2710-32) that they shared with Kind and The Cudgels. Kind actually had two songs on it and some time ago I interviewed this great band. The Dufflecoats appear as B2 on the record, the last song. This 7″ came along the 3rd issue of the Waaaaah! fanzine.

Silver Girl, the San Diego indiepop label would become their home afterwards. Well, kind of. They would appear in two compilations released by them. The first was a compilation 7″ called “Winter’s Mist 2” (SG 018) and the Dufflecoats once again appear with the B2 track. It was called “Don’t See Me Soon”. This compilation also included the bands Love Bandits, Allen Clapp, Meek and the McTells.

That same year, on the date of my birthday, March 15th, Silver Girl released a tape called “Mon Ami, A Silver Girl Collection” (SG 022). This tape was divided in two sides, the Noise Side and the Pop Side. Guess on which side the Dufflecoats appear? Yup, the Pop Side. They contributed the song “Never Meant”.

Now the question is, they had 5 songs, but why no proper releases? And who were the Dufflecoats?! According to Waaaaah! the Dufflecoats were actually the band Applicants with some personnel changes. I wonder if that’s the case. Maybe the Applicants deserve a post and that way there will be a way to solve this mystery?

Silver Girl give a little more details. The band was formed early in the 90s in the town of Alsager. I’ve never heard of this town before I must say!

Alsager is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, to the north-west of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and east of the railway town of Crewe. The town has a population of 11,775. In the centre of Alsager is a lake, Alsager Mere. This isolated pool, once the focal point of the town, is only accessible by two fenced public viewing areas and by local residents who have gardens adjoining the waters.

The band was formed around the duo of Marion and George who shared vocal duties. According to Silver Girl the band appeared on a compilation released by Glut Records. What compilation is that? Then it also mentions that Marion was the vocalist and guitarist in The Applicants and the lineup of the Dufflecoats also included members and ex-members of the band Adorable. Really?! I look into my Applicants 7″ to see if there is a last name for Marion, but no luck there either.

All dead ends. I wonder though whatever happened to them. I really like their music. Were they involved with other bands? Why no releases? Are there any more recordings? Who remembers them?

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Listen
The Dufflecoats – Sunny Tuesday Afternoon