After dreaming that it would be so great if that compilation of obscure 80s/early 90s Australian guitar pop bands materialized, I was wondering from which other country you could you do such compilations. I can only think Germany and Sweden. Maybe those are the two only other countries were little bands, that lived in the depths of obscurity and housed by small label releases, have that quality that is required for such a project. I think we could do large lists and figure out which bands and which songs could go in. If we had the money we would press the CDs and make lovely inserts with the story and photo of each band. Dreaming and dreaming.
Now I’d like to start recommending one with for the Sweden compilation: Saturday Kids. I’ve only stumbled with this band lately, thanks to my friend Takashi (arigato!) and his myspace about Obscure Indie Pop! And immediately, when this song, “West Against the Rest”, played for the first time on his player, I was hooked. Totally hooked! The jangly guitars and the youthful vocals, especially that continuous “ooooooh”, made me play this song fervently time and time again. Now it’s time for me to see if there’s any way to track their releases. Will be a difficult adventure!
The Saturday Kids were from Norrköping, the so called Sweden’s Manchester, and formed in 1987. The band lasted till around 1993 and revolved around the talent of Roger Källs, the only member that was in the band for the whole time. With the first lineup, Björn Brunnberg (bass), Jan Malmberg (drums), Johan Skaneby (guitar, vocals) and Roger Källs (vocals, guitar, harmonica, tambourine) they recorded the song “Your Dream” that appeared on the 1987 LP compilation ‘Ceilidh 005′ on the Ceilidh label. By 1990, the lineup had changed drastically: Jonas Karlsson (bass), Andreas Möller (guitar, vocals – same name as German football star!), Robert Svensson (drums) and Roger Källs. This could be considered the classic lineup as they released the “Four Beautiful Songs in D’d” on the SND label (1990). This label, based in the same city as the band, also put out a LP compilation called “SND Records Vol. 1″ where “West Against the Rest” and “Go?” were included.
Also it’s good to mention that Saturday Kids contributed “Your Dreams” to the Pet Sounds Vol.1 (1988) and “West Against the Rest” on Pet Sounds Vol.3 (1990). These were cassette compilations that came along the Pet Sounds fanzine. These tapes contain so many pop gems, most of them totally forgotten now!
By 1993 more changes in the band, Andreas leaves and Magdalena Johansson joins the band to take care of the vocal duties. They release what would be their last proper release: “Things Do Happen”. This was released as as CD-single on the Ceilidh label, and included three songs: “Don’t Know Why”, “Cotton Fields” and “In Bet With…” And then the band silently disappeared, leaving no traces behind.
In 1997, Ceilidh would re-release “Don’t Know Why” as a compilation track on the “Singles & Vinyls” retrospective CD. And that must have been the last news of the band.
If you have more info on them please share!
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
