Last Friday I went to check an indiepop gig in NYC. That is quite some news for me, It is not very often I get to attend one of these. Not many indiepop bands play here, or if they do they play in venues deep inside Brooklyn. Not convenient for me.

This time around the gig was in Berlin, a venue in Manhattan. I had been in the past to this small place to dance and I was surprised on Friday that they use it also for gigs. It is tiny! And you don’t get much of a view of the band playing if you don’t have a good spot. That’s the bad part.

I missed the first band, I didn’t expect them to be on time, 8pm is too early. So I arrived 8:30 and Jeanines were next. After them was Pale Lights and lastly was The Catenary Wires.

The Catenary Wires as you know is Rob Pursey and Amelia Fletcher, both from Heavenly, Tender Trap and many more bands. I had seen them before that is true. But seeing them again and listening to Amelia’s trademark vocals is something I always enjoy. It was a sweet evening, with their intimate set. They played many of their best known songs but also some that are in their new album that Tapete Records released. They would even do an encore of one of their catchiest tracks, “Intravenous”. But for me the best moment was when they went back in time and did a lovely rendition, of their old band Heavenly, classic track “Shallow”. I was surprised and impressed and excited and all. I caught it all in video and was giddy. Three or so minutes of perfection!

After the gig I want to thank Amelia, I love The Catenary Wires tracks, as you have probably noticed as I feature them on the blog everytime there is news, but listening to a song with the orginal vocalist that I never thought I would, was quite thrilling. I believe I haven’t seen Amelia Fletcher in about 4 or so years. So at first she didn’t recognize me. But then she did, and that was cool too. We talked a bit and that was it. I really hope I get to see them again, maybe next year at Indietracks? I should try to go!

Anyways, here are my newest finds!

Andrew Deevey: the ex-member of the Decemberists of Liverpool, the Hellfire Sermons, The Caretaker Race and more released not too long ago an album called “Northern Soul” that will be a delight to all indiepop lovers. The album is actually available on CD and Andrew was very kind to send me a copy for me to play and play all the time. There are 12 songs that are truly terrific. They are catchy and elegant, and it is hard to pick a favourite. The guitar jangles, the vocals takes us back to the time we fell in love with indiepop, isn’t this great? I don’t know how many copies Andrew has pressed, but as it is very good I would suggest ordering a copy before it is too late. And yes, you can preview all 12 tracks on Bandcamp!

The Wellington: the amazing Jakarta band is back with a track called “It’s So Fine” on Guerrilla Records. This single will be part of the band’s upcoming album which should be released pretty soon. I can’t wait for it. With The Wellington we get stuff little by little, so an album should be great! Hopefully it will be released in physical format and we can get copies this side of the world!

Become the Sky: “Violent Skies” is a lovely track by this Liverpool band formed by Anne Marie Howard, Mark Simms, Marcus Mayes and Joel Sawyer. It is dreamy and sweet. I am looking forward to new songs in the near future!

Seazoo: this very fine band, a favourite in the blog for some time, is back with a new track called “Throw it Up” which sounds great! The Welsh ensemble has put this single out as a little preview of what’s coming up, which will be a sophomore album due to be released early next year.

The Fisherman and his Soul: our friend Sebastian Voss is back with his excellent project, this time releasing with the Mexican label Emma’s House Records. The EP is titled “Disco///Voss” and will have five tracks. It will be available on CD and in digital format. For the time being we can preview two songs, the first one of the EP “Let Everything You Do Be Done in Love” and the last one “Your Lie (is Not Acceptable)”. Very very nice.

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I’m always curious about all the bands that have some connection with the amazing Wilde Club Records from Norwich. It is no surprise that I was able to release retrospectives of bands like Shine! and The Suncharms, both that graced releases on this label. Today I wanted to check out Cherry Forever a band I’m not familiar with, only hear it on the compilation CD “I Might Walk Home Alone” (Wilde 10) that was released by Wilde Club in 1992. On that compilation the band contributed the song “Spook”.

As far as I know that was the only compilation appearance by the band. They did release one record though, a 12″ EP in 1992. Wilde Club Records put it out. It was titled “Headstrong EP” (Wilde 9) and had 4 songs, 2 on each side. The A side had “Cherry Forever” (which I assume gave the band its name) and “Spook”. The B side had “Higher than Heaven” and “Down and Around”. All songs were recorded at Purple Rain Studios in Yarmouth, Norfolk. They were produced by the band and Richard Hammerton.

The sleeve doesn’t give us much more info aside that the artwork is credited to Pete Siree and Big Al.

I do find out that the band didn’t hail from Norwich. Music from the East Zone, the superb website that tracks all bands from Norwich mentions that the band was actually based in Nottingham. This might be a good piece of information to find out more about them.

And that may prove true. I stumble upon a Bandcamp for the band Blindmouse which may still be active. It mentions that the band is formed by two thirds of John Peel favourites Cherry Forever. And they are based in Nottingham. It must be them. Indeed, Gaz Parker (drums) and David Parker (guitar and vocals) were in Cherry Forever. The other members were Peter Vaughan (bass) and Mark Revell (guitar).

John Peel favourites? Yes, indeed. They recorded a Peel Session on June 30th 1991 at Maida Vale with Dale Griffin. The songs recorded for the session were “Spook”, “Down and Around”, “Back to Back” and “Higher than Heaven”. I would love to listen to this session!

And that’s all the web has for them. Well, not really. On Archive.org I find 9 songs by the band. These were uploaded somewhere back in 2006 and I am guessing this website got deleted or wasn’t renewed or something. Somehow the MP3s for these songs are still available here. So you can check  “Over Excited”, “Plastic Toy version 1”, “Spank” and “Forever Wonderful”, “All the Things”, “Flamingo”, “Spook”, “Wallpaper Ceiling version 1”, “Lowest Stated Ambition”, “Makes No Difference”, “Rolling Stone”, “Task”, “Ever Ready Never Ready”, “Communication”, “Fifteen Bottles”, “The Day That I Did Go”, “Bubble”, “Owe Me More”, “Plain White version 1”, “Plain White version 2”, “O’Briens Curse”, “Redman”, “The Summer”, “Cakes”, “Hostility Vine”, “No Tyrell”, “Forever Gods”, “Plastic Toy version 2”, “Sea Urchin”, “Untitled Instrumental”, “Wallpaper Ceiling version 2”, “Lipstick Point”, “The Unfortunate Boy” and “Forever Wires”. Quite a trove!

And that’s really it. Why weren’t these songs properly released? What happened to the band? Why just the one release? Who remembers them?

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Listen
Cherry Forever – Spook