Day 15.

Nothing new since Wednesday. Waiting for the fanzines to arrive and start burning CDRs so I can have them ready for everyone. DIY spirit again. It’s been a while since I do a DIY release on the label. Full DIY. So this is exciting, kind of going back to the roots.

I have uploaded one of the songs to be on the compilation, “Mould” by The BV’s to Soundcloud. So be sure to check it out. Pre-order button coming soon. So when that’s up, I hope you can support the fanzine, and the label. Especially now, it is difficult times, but I think the zine might be fun to read.

New music. Of course.

The Francine Odysseys: this band sounds really amazing! They are based in Los Angeles and even though the profile photo shows two people, in their latest EP “What If We Were Wrong”, the credits go to four people, Gretchen DeVault, Ian Patrick, John Miller and Michael Butkovic. This EP has four songs and they are packed with jangly guitars and bright melodies. It is good stuff!

Peach Gardens: now some fine shoegaze from Moscow. This seems to be the first release by this four-piece and it seems that soon it will be available in cassette as well. There are three songs on their “Peach Gardens EP”. They are called “Through the Rain”, “Wintry” and “June in Reverse”. They are fuzzy, warm, and mysterious. Interesting debut by Peach Gardens!

Pretty Olivia Records: the Spanish label has shared four songs and I am especially happy to hear once again the two by Violet Hours. Violet Hours shared band members with Desperate Journalist but they were poppier and janglier. They were supposed to release a single with Javi’s label. For some reason or another it didn’t. I don’t know why, and don’t understand why they are published online and not on vinyl. Even this late they could deserve a vinyl release I think. But who knows. Go there and play them repeat! They are called “Alone with Everyone” (the A side) and “Petrol Station Flowers” (B side). Also included in this Bandcamp ‘release’ are songs by Star Trip and collaboration by Star Trip and Hunky Dory.

Whimsical: there’s a brand new song by the Griffith, Indiana, band on their Bandcamp. It is a digital single called “Sleep with a Smile” and it is great. It swirls and has a great vibe. Very early UK 1990 or something. It has that dancey feeling! Like later period Darling Buds. Thumbs up!

The Drain on the Balcony: I believe I shared a video of this release some time ago. Well now there’s a Bandcamp page on the Old Habits Label camp. Now you can pre-order the 7″ that will come with the songs “Truly Deeply Madly” and “The Woman Who Walks Through Walls”. This band was formed in 1977 and reformed in 2009. In total the band has recorded three albums and are working on a fourth one!

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Some nice soul added the whole compilation “Whats the I*d*e*a” to Youtube. All songs on it. And so I went and listen. Discover some new music. The song I liked the best was the one by More Perfect Watchers. So let me see if I can find any info about them. Join me.

Do not confuse this label, Idea Records, with the one that released the Moss Poles, The Wallflowers, The Wolfhounds and more. This Idea Records hailed from the Widnes, and was funded by Merseyside Arts, Northwest Arts, Lancaster City Council and St. Helen’s Council. A lot of institutions inndeed! And so it supported bands from St Helen’s, Wigan, Bolton, Halton and Lancaster.

According to Discogs this compilation was the only release by them. It has the catalog Idea 001 and came out in 1990. More Perfect Watchers contribute the song “The Clever Ones”, a nice jangly track. But who were they?

I don’t own this record so I need to try to read the blurry scans that are available on Discogs. So I may make mistakes here. The record came with info about each of the bands on the record. But I think for More Perfect Watchers there is really not much info, it just says that they have pop sensibilities and are the equivalent to Dr. Doolittle’s “Push me – pull you”. Hmmm. At least there’s a photo of them.

On Last.fm I see a bio for a band called Heifervescent. Here it mentions that the person behind it, Andy Doran, was once in the Wigan band Monkeyland. He says that this band used to play gigs alongside More Perfect Watchers. Interestingly enough it also says that More Perfect Watchers would later become the band Witness. Was More Perfect Watchers from Wigan too? I believe so. I found a mention that they hailed from Wigan and Bolton.

Well, Witness has a Wikipedia entry and it says that the band formed in Wigan. So it may be the case. Witness was formed by Gerard Starkie, Ray Chan, Dylan Keeton and John Langley. The question is if all of them were in More Perfect Watchers? Some of them? One of them?  Truth is the band released two albums on Island Records and had success. I can’t seem to find any article or piece of news that mentions that Witness was born from the ashes of More Perfect Watchers. But it seems true. The timeline, Witness being formed in 1997, many years after More Perfect Watchers make some sense.

Now, there’s no more information about the band. So this is the moment where I ask for your help. Any info will be welcome!

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Listen
More Perfect Watchers – The Clever Ones