Day 218
The Jack Rubies: wow! this is exciting! I should try to get in touch with the classic band now that they are on Bandcamp! Yeah, the London band (though now they have Brooklyn listed on Bandcamp) has appeared on Bandcamp with two remastered releases, the classic “Foolish Boy” 7″ with extra tracks and “Witch-Hunt in Lotusland”! It would be cool to interview them, right?
The Sound of Young Sumatera: a fantastic compilation featuring 12 bands from the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. It is being released and curated by the great Shiny Happy Records and it features bands like Lajur, Lazy Eye or Beetleflux.
The Reds, Pinks & Purples: two more from Glenn Donaldson, “Saw You at the Record Shop Today” and “Don’t Come Home Too Soon”. As usual they are really good.
Coloring Book: another wow! Another band I’d love to interview of course. The New York band that existed between 1992 and 1998 that featured Hamish Kilgour on drums, Jon Chaikin on vocals and guitar, Jen Matson on vocals and Tony O’Blaney on bass is now on Bandcamp. The debut single by the band that included amazing 4 songs is up now. Classic and timeless!
Fandor: the Bordeaux musician is back with a new jingle jangly song called “Plus Rien à Craindre”. This song will be included in the upcoming album “En Quatrième Vitesse” to be released by Nemo Records on CD!
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Big Love. From London. What do we know about them?
According to Discogs they were the brainchild of “Big” Russ Clayton who wrote all the songs and put the band together. It also mentions that the band was fronted by the extremely beautiful Julie Rogers. I am intrigued already!
So Russ Clayton played guitars, as well as writing the songs of course. Julie sang. Then Ben Bartlett played bass and Andrew Maltman the drums. This lineup released a 12″ in 1980 on their own Big Love Records (BL001) and I think we should start there!
The 12″ EP had three songs, “Excuse Me” on the A side and “Wonder’s Never Cease” and “Nothing’s Sacred” on the B side. The cover art doesn’t say much, though it does look like the record came with a band photo as well as an insert. The insert is pretty interesting as it sheds some light about the band.
Here they mention some gigs coming in up for the band in 1990. On Tuesday March 27 they were to play at the Opera on the Green in Shepherd’s Bush. Then on April 14 at the Pop Club at the legendary Bull and Gate in Kentish Town and lastly on Wednesday May 2nd at the Cricketeers in Kenington Oval.
We know too that after the demise of Big Love, Russ would be in a band called The Direction which would release a 7″ and 12″ in the early 90s.
And that’s it really. I immediately face a wall. Not much more info about them. A single that I don’t own, three songs, a few gigs, and not much more. What happened to Big Love? Did they record more songs? Where are their band members now? Still making music?
Edit: a demo tape has appeared on Youtube with two songs, “Career in the Cold” and “Crestfallen”!
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