A quiet weekend, but this week I should be seeing the Swedish band Hater here in NYC, so that’s pretty cool. Are there any shows you are excited about? I don’t get to go to many indiepop shows here, so you are welcome to make me jealous!
New indiepop finds this weekend? Sure thing.
Lost Ships: the amazing band from Portsmouth, who once was known as The Kites, returns with a 4 track digipak CDR on the fine Subjangle Records. This new EP is titled “All of the Pieces” and is a true gem of superb jangle pop! Pop brilliance indeed through the title song “All of the Pieces” as well as in the rest of songs “Drug Store”, “How Can I Face the World” and “Sheila Believe Me”.
Die Katapult: Ian Catt has produced this fine digital single by the Spanish-Swedish duo who are signed to Elefant Records. Elena Comas and Anna Fredriksson has released “Bäckerei Digital” and they have made Japanese and Italian versions of this catchy synth pop song. Nice!
Liam the Younger: I am not familiar with Liam Betson’s music. I just stumbled upon a video for his track Charcoal Gray and thought it was a good and very catchy pop song. This track will be also part of a cassette album called “Up to Something” which should be released on October 18th.
Sugar World: from San Diego, California. They have just one song, “Sad in Heaven”, which sounds gorgeous! Proper indiepop in my book. There is no information about them. So I can’t tell you much about them aside from do listen to this song!
Slowcoaching: this one comes from Melbourne, Australia. It is the solo project of Dean Valentino and he has already a few releases, the first one from 2015. The latest one though is a very fine song called “Between the Walls” that was released back in July. It seems that it is just a digital single, but hopefully it will be released later on in an EP or an album!
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“Stopping to Speak” on the A side and “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” on the B side, was a 7″ release by Kick Reaction in 1986. This 7″ wasn’t properly released. There were promo copies and also DJ copies. I wonder why. It had no sleeve. Maybe they were just trying to make themselves a name at that point?
The Precious Organisation released this 7″ (Jewel 1). But this 7″ did have a proper release in the way of a 12″ EP with a different running order. The B side was now the A side and vice versa. Meaning, the A side had “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” and “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Dance Stance)” and the B side had “Stopping to Speak” and “Friday Away from High Street”. Something curious too is that both sides are actually labeled as A sides. The first side being the “Club Side” while the ‘second A side’ being “Radio Side”.
All songs are credited to P. Lyon. That is Peter Lyon, guitarist and vocalist of the band. The other members were Stuart Thorn on bass and Steven Barker on drums. All songs were produced by the band and were engineered by Wilf Smarties.
Other interesting detail from the back of the sleeve is that the songs were recorded in Scotland on November 1985.
The only other song the band released was called “Your Favourite Song” which was penned by Peter and Stuart. This song appeared on a cassette compilation called “Honey at the Core” (Honey 1). There are a few interesting bands in there like The Bluebells, The Big Dish or The Painted Word. This tape came out in 1985. It is said that came with a 32 page booklet, I wonder if in there there was a bio of the band. That could be helpful. Funny thing, this compilation has a Wikipedia page. On it I learn that all bands featured were Scottish, so this confirms my suspicion about the origin of Kick Reaction. The person who compiled the tape was John Williamson who would later be well known as a Glasgow Herald journalist.
I do find something cool on Youtube. I find live footage of the band playing “Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow“. The sound is quite terrible. It is a shame. But it is something even though it is very short. A comment there makes it even more interesting this investigation. It says that before this band was called Kick Reaction they were called Moroccan Coco. Wow. I’ve actually been trying to find more information about Moroccan Coco but always ending up with nothing. Someone says that Peter Lyon became a postman afterwards in the city of Hamilton.
Then I go deep into the forum Hidden Glasgow. There I find that the band played on November 30th of 1985 alongside The Robert Cray Band. Then something curious, that many bands used to record demos in the front room of the flat The Precious Organisation label had. Among them Kick Reaction of course but also Primal Scream!
Another person in the forum mentions another song by the band called “Spraypainters in Australia”. He says he sang as a backing singer on it. I dont think this song was released, was it? It seems it was recorded in a studio in Motherwell that was also used as rehearsal space by the likes of BMX Bandits or Teenage Fanclub.
Lastly another user says that he played with Stuart Macarthur before Peter Lyon joined. I am guessing he means Stuart Thorn? Them two tried to get Peter Lyons to sing in their band but it seems he refused as he was trying to get his band called The Usherettes off the ground. Then nothing happened for a while until this guy left to study in Motherwell and Peter and Stuart joined forces forming Moroccan Coco with Jim Mitchell as their manager. Moroccan Coco would only release the one single, “One Day/Steam Radio”. Then they changed names to Kick Reaction.
Aside from a mention on a 1986 SPIN magazine issue about up and coming Scottish bands, and a quote of Stuart Thorn celebrating Postcard Records, not much more I can find online about Kick Reaction. I suppose it hasnt been that bad. Ive found quite a lot of interesting facts. Now, I would love to hear all the demos they are said to have recorded. Maybe someone can help me with that?
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4 Responses to “:: Kick Reaction”
I’m an old friend of Peter and have more kick reaction demos and info on him.
Message me if you want to chat.
Dog.
Kick Reaction article from the booklet that came with the Honey At The Core tape.
‘Stopping To Speak/Yesterday,Today,Tomorrow’ was one of the best debut singles by a Scottish band in recent years. Heavy radio airplay, a good response to their live shows, and TV appearances on Reporting Scotland and F.S.D. marked the arrival of KICK REACTION. Their music is a hybrid of sixties influenced soul and the more interesting aspects of the punk explosion, giving them a unique sound with several sides to it : the more obvious commercial side as shown on the single and on ‘Everyone Wants To Be A Millionaire’, and the more diverse sound of songs like ‘Autocharm’, less immediate but no less appealing.
KICK REACTION were born on the demise of Moroccan CoCo with Peter Lyon, guitarista and lead vocalist, and Stuart Thorn (bass) being the surviving members. David Mulholland left to work on his Singing Ringing Tree project and current drummer Steven Barker, joined after being in a garage band. The single was released on the Precious Organisation, and although the band are no longer with them, they have no regrets about releasing the single. “it was a means of securing public exposure, and although we had doubts as to whether it would work, I think it was a worthwhile exercise” Peter told me. “It was not an opportunist exercise though, we wanted to do it and we felt that the time was right. It also taught us several lessons about how to distribute an independent single”.
The band believe in the commerciality and dancefloor appeal of their songs, although for me the lyrics are the most interesting aspects of their work. These are mainly written by Peter Lyon, although Stuart Thorn co-wrote ‘Your Favourite Song’ and has recently been working on his own songs. Peter explains “I think most of the songs are influenced by every day events, although we usr a big library of words, which means that often the words come out on top of the situation. It would be fair to say that a lot of the songs are indirect, and the new songs show the variety contained within them. ‘Autocharm’ is a very sinister song, ‘X-Ray Personality’ is not sci-fi, but has a basis in reality, and ‘Your Favourite Song’ is simply about how a piece of music can change the way you feel”.
Lyrically and musically the band draw on a wide range of influences, too many to mention here, but in broad terms, from Magazine to Motown via Costello, Bowie, Kate Bush and The Pointer Sisters. They admit their live shows have been less than perfect, but they feel that they are improving, with Ken McCluskey of The Bluebells and a brass section supplementing them on stage.
They feel that being based outwith Glasgow gives them an advantage, being able to keep up with what other bands are doing, while being slightly removed from the scene. They are currently demo-ing more tracks for record/publishing companies, and their vehement self-belief should see them forward to further success. Kick Reaction like to be called enigmatic, and after finishing this interview in a graveyard, I would have to agree.
Excellent work Doug & Bill
Fine tonsils Peter
I’ve never forgotten a friend telling me in 1986 or 1987 that he’d seen two excellent bands at one gig, Hue & Crystal and Kick Reaction. Now it’s 2024….