Day 125. Not much news still, waiting for our next release to come home from the pressing plant in this weird year. In the meantime here’s new music!

Blue Heron: a new album bu the Boston band. That is good news indeed. Titled “Forever Ending”, the 11-track album was recorded this year between February and July. It is indeed a beautiful pop album, totally worth your time.

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: Three new songs by the prolific San Francisco band. “All Night We Move”, “My Soul Unburdened” and “Brave and Cruel” come just in time for the summer. Something interesting, the first two songs contain lines from the poems of Rumi.

Star-Crossed Lovers: we stay in California and we find this band who released last month a digital single called “In the Shadows” with an accompanying track called “Not Everyone Has Friends”. Both are well crafted shoegaze/dreampop songs. Nice to meet you Star-Crossed Lovers.

Hiki: it is no surprise to find amazing music from Russia. This latest discovery is no exception. The album “A Trip to the Sea” is a swirling dreamy pop journey. There are 7 songs and it seems this is their 7th album! So yeah, I guess I will need to check previous releases!

For Not: the latest on Meritorio Records is the album “The Close is Open” by the Kungälv, Sweden, band Fort Not! The band consists of two friends Fredrik and Robert and they do make catchy pop songs. So this is very very good. I hope I get a copy when it comes out on September 18! Great find!

—————————————————————–

Simon Coffey used to run an indie label in Aotearoa, New Zealand, called Onslaught Records in the 1980s. I checked a few of the bands on the label and they sound quite different to Guava Groove. How come?

It is a good question I think. But at the same time I don’t know much about the 80s in New Zealand, aside from what we know most, which is the Flying Nun releases. If we check other stuff it is always a surprise. Guava Groove then is quite a surprise.

The band only released one 7″ back in 1987 on Onslaught Records (CNT 002). This 7″ was more of an EP as it included four songs, two on each side. The A side had “Who’s that Girl?” and “Liquor Lover” while the B side had “Fight! (We Got to Use What We Got to Get What We Want)” and “Boot Girl”.

All four songs were recorded at Montage Studios on May 29 and 30 as well as June 20 and 21 of 1987. The band produced the tracks while Richard Hansen mixed them. The sleeve is quite interesting too because it tells us that the band WAS. Meaning that the record was released posthumously? Could be the case?

We know that the band was formed by:
Craig Bracken on vocals and harmonica
Darrin Kennedy on drums
Daniel Salmon on bass
Troy Shanks on guitar and vocals

The 7″ also includes some “Special Guavas”. I am guessing people that helped in the songs: Clare Bennet on vocals (she had been in the band Soul on Ice) and Nicky Bracken on vocals and sound.

But that is not all, there is Nathan Haines (he had been in bands like Freebass, Phoojun and Sci-Cione but whose solo album “Shift Left” was the biggest selling NZ recorded jazz album of all time) who played sax on tracks 1 and 3 and David Walker who also played sax on track 4. Peter Reid played trumpet on tracks 1 and 3. Then there are credits for Nicky Bracken for the photography on the sleeve, Tony Shanks & Thermostat for the sleeve and Paul Ullrich for the label design.

Other interesting credits come from the labels, “Who’s that Girl?” and “Fight!” were written by Troy Shanks while” Boot Girl” “Liquor Lover” and by Greaves and Turner meaning that the original was actually by 9 Below Zero, an English blues band,

Aside from Guava Groove we only know that Craig Bracken was later on in the band The Flaming Mudcats. And I couldn’t find any compilation appearances by the band!

After a bit of searching around the web for more info I find a website called There is No Cat. There is a comment on a blog post by Troy Shanks that tells a bit of the story of the band! This is just what I was looking for!

Here he mentions that the band formed in 1985 when he was 17 years old. They were based in the north shore of Auckland. In 1987 the band split as he moved to London. So yeah, the band only lasted 2 years and that would explain if the release came out after the band had already split.

The other band member found someone to replace him but I am not sure if they kept the name, though it seems they continued making music. He mentions that they didnt have enough money to press it as a 12″ 45rpm. That is why the four songs were in a 7″ at 33rpm. Other detail he mention is that his brother Kurt plays in a band called Stellar.

So the band was formed by Troy and Craig just a few months before leaving high school. They had a different drummer for their first gig (it was a talent competition at a bar). They came on third place it seems. Then their drummer was replaced as this original drummer was committed to an asylum. Then they got another drummer, Darrin. He also had been a classmate of his in school. Then they found their bass player, Dan, who was younger than the rest. With this lineup they played lots of gigs.

Something interesting that he mentions is that Flying Nun wouldn’t have been interested in their music as they were more like mods.

When I search Craig Bracken I find that he was also in a band called Los Diablos and run a label called Roots Music Aotearoa alongside Darcy Perry and Paul Merriott.

And that’s it! Whatever happened to them? Many questions, and not much information about this obscure New Zealand band!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Guava Groove – Fight! (We Got to Use What We Got to Get What We Want)