At last, the week is over! Here are a few recommendations for you to enjoy this Friday!

Alpaca Sports: “I’ll Do Anything You Want” is the chosen song to be released as a digital single from their brilliant “From Paris With Love”. Because of that we have a lovely video for the song that no one should miss! Filmed in Halmstad, Sweden , on the beach where our two heroes seem to have gotten a nice suntan! The digital single has a B side called “In the Sand” which is worth checking it out!

Chorusgirl: another favourite band of mine has a new video. “In Dreams” is taken from their new album “Shimmer and Spin” which will be out on November 16th on Reckless Yes Records. It is one of the albums I’m looking forward the most right now as I loved their previous effort!

The Color Waves: our friends have a new song up on their Soundcloud called “People End Up Everywhere” and what can I say other than it is a beauty? I believe the band is now working on their debut album which if we take the cue from the 7″ they put out with Cloudberry some time ago and the songs that now and then appear on Soundcloud, we know it will be precious!

Wave and So: a new song appeared on Youtube a couple of days ago by the Thai band that we’ve featured more than a couple of times in the blog. The song is called “Davy Jones” and is going to be included in the band’s new album to be released in 2019.

Tennis Club: first time I hear this Joplin, Missouri, band and I’m enjoying quite a bit this lo-fi twee-ish track called “Vodkas”. It seems the band is formed by the duo of Wilson Hernandez and Sean O’Dell. This is their first song since 2017

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As I continue checking out what I call proto-indiepop, meaning guitarpop/indiepop from the early 80s, I decide to check out another single that is missing on my collection, Mad About Sunday’s “The Drunk”.

As it is usual on the blog, I feature bands that I know very little about. About Mad About Sunday, I confess, I hadn’t even heard their single before writing this post. Just now I have heard “The Drunk” for the first time and really enjoyed. Sadly I couldn’t find where to listen to the B side, “Intermission”. Maybe someone can help me with that?

Those two songs were part of the only proper release the band put out. It happened in 1983 on the Backs Recording Company (NCH 006). This label, which was also a record shop and distributor, used to be based in Swan Lane in Norwich. The shop closed in 1990. The label’s last release was in 2003. Many of you may be familiar with the Farmer’s Boys who released many records on this label.

As mentioned, there were two songs on the record, “The Drunk” and “Intermission”. Both were recorded at Vicarage Studio in Chiswick on April 9th 1983 by Tony Cook. It is quite interesting to mention that Cook worked with Björk in the 90s. The art is credited to “accident”.

We also get to learn the band members names on the back sleeve, Hannah Solloway, Katy Solloway, Nick Eldridge and David Cuff.

Discogs also lists a compilation appearance. It was also on Backs Records, on a tape compilation called “Reel Number 3”. There, on the B side, the band appears with “The Drunk (Edit)”. It looks like a very cool compilation including the Vital Disorders, Kamikaze Sex Pilots, The Farmer’s Boys and the Fire Hydrant Men among others.

The only other important information I could find online was about David Cuff, one of the members. He had been a bassist and vocalist. He had played in another Norwich band, The Crabs, who did a Peel Session in 1982 and also played with The Higsons and The Farmer’s Boys at the John Peel evening gala at the Ballroom in the summer of 1982. That was before Mad About Sunday. And before being in The Crabs he had been in The Happy Few who also released records on Backs. It seems then that Backs supported Cuff’s different projects. That is a good thing of course.

Then I lose track of David. What happened to him? And what about the rest of the band members? It is hard to believe they just stopped making music just like that. Does anyone remember them? ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Mad About Sunday – The Drunk

While I wait for the inserts for the BV’s to arrive, and not many other news on my side lets’ get straight to the point, to what you were looking for. Some new music recommendations!

The Catherines: if we liked the previous offering by The Catherines, I think I’m ready to like the newest song by the Hambug-based bedroom indiepop band. Their latest song is available now on their Bandcamp and it has a quirky name as always, “If you don’t have a clue please get out of the line “. The lyrics are available for singing along too if you’d like to start a karaoke party at home!

Girl in Red: 19 years old from Norway. I haven’t listened to the rest of her songs but her latest one, “Forget Her”, that dates from last August, is a lovely slice of dreamy, sweet and melancholic popmusic.

Go Get Mum: just discovered this Melbourne, Australia, band that has a 6 song mini-album called “Cripers” that sounds great! It is now available on CD and includes the songs “Big Mind”, “Little Heart”, “Caroline” (my favourite), “Phone, Keys, Wallet”, “Don’t Start a Riot” and “No Control”. The band is formed by Garry, Izzy, Woody and Sam and I definitely would recommend getting a copy (I should do the same), and keep an eye on them!

Subsonic Eye: the second album by this Singapore band is out and already sold out. Well, the cassette release. Though it does look as if it was the only format the band released it sadly. It is available to stream though, and that is ok I suppose. I would love to have a CD at least. In any case there are 9 songs of hazy and brilliant dream-pop with female vocals.

The Beths: I have recommended the Auckland, New Zealand, band in the past. But I think I forgot to mention that they released their album “Future Me Hates Me” on LP and CD a couple of months ago. It came out on Carpark Records and at the moment they are re-pressing the vinyl for the third time! 10 top indiepop songs that one can’t miss!

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I can’t recall much of the time when I was in touch with Abeja back in 2004. I was compiling a CD for a Peruvian magazine called Revista 69 with indiepop bands from all around the world. That compilation was going to be released the year after in 2005 and was titled “¡Es Pop, Mamá!”. It was the 3rd promo CD that the magazine put out. I can’t recall which number of the magazine it came with. I also wrote an introductory article of what was indiepop on it. On this CD I ended up including a few bands from Mexico. Not too long ago I featured one of them on the blog, Robotril. Today is the turn of Abeja as I go down memory lane.

I’m honest when I say I can’t remember how I got in touch. Maybe it was through friends. Maybe it was through Soulseek. These were the ways I used to contact people involved in music. I don’t remember if Myspace was big then. I think Myspace was going to get huge the year after, 2005. The truth is I asked Abeja to contribute a song and they gave me “La Bufanda”. And I really thought it was great.

These days when talking to Mexican friends I know that Abeja became well known in the indie scene of that country. It seems they got played a lot on the radio. Everyone seems to remember them. It is quite surprising, these things don’t normally happen in other countries. I do notice on Discogs that the only record the band managed to put out came out on a big label, on EMI. That is also very odd to me. A band with this sort of sound releasing on a big label. Unusual to say the least. Their self-titled “Abeja” EP came out in 2006. After I had asked them for a song. So for sure the band had recordings before this release.

The EP they released included the song they gave me. And 5 more songs, 6 in total. They included “La Bufanda”, “Si te Vas”, “El Desayuno”, “De Mañanitas”, “Dios” and “Música en el Bar”. It is important to mention that the band put together a promo video for the song “El Desayuno“, which I believe is their most popular song. I read some comments saying that every morning they used to play it on radio Reactor as a “breakfast” kind of song.

The band hailed from the city of Monterrey in the Nuevo León state. The north of Mexico. Many bands come from that city. And I think during those mid 2000s there was a healthy pop scene there. They were formed by Leila Ibarra on vocals and bass, Beto Ibarra on guitars and vocals, Ricardo Ramírez on guitars, Juan Serna on violin and Beto Rodríguez on bass. I read that Ricardo was Leila’s boyfriend. And also that Beto Ibarra was Leila’s dad. That is quite unique. You don’t see that often.

Then I find out that the band had put together two demos before the release of the EP. That’s where the recording of “La Bufanda” that they gave me must have come from. These releases were called “Hendersonville Vol. 1” and “Hendersonville Vol. II”. Why Hendersonville? I read that they used to go on vacations to Hendersonville in Nashville, Tennessee. Interesting. But what songs were included in these demos? I do find the tracklists after a bit of searching.

“Hendersonville Vol. I” included the songs “El Bufanda”, “El Desayuno”, “El Cobrador”, “Quizás”, “Sabías” and “Música en el Bar”.

“Hendersonville Vol. II” had “Algunas Veces”, “De Mañanitas”, “Si Te Vas”, “Caí”, “Talismán” and”Dios”.

It is also said that the band was recording a second EP when they split. Two songs of that EP were available on the web somewhere. Maybe Myspace, maybe the long lost website that the band used to have. The songs were called “Caí” and “Si Te Vas”.

The same year they released their EMI EP the band appeared on a promo compilation CD released by this same label with the song “Si Te Vas”. The compilation was called “¿Cuál Es Tu Rock?” and included some up and coming indie bands from Mexico.

I continue their trail. I find that Leila moved to Mexico City around 2011. Then she formed a band called Nada. There are a few releases on their Bandcamp. Their sound has changed. A bit harder, and bassier. It also looks as she is involved in many other creative projects like Nona Limon (where she creates hand-knitted accessories), Transnacional (an online radio) and Comuniday (a sort of blog where she and three other friends share stuff they like).

But no more mentions about the band. I find it odd. Their video has so manny comments. But there are no online interviews with them. Only a few blog entries. Nothing in-depth.

I would like to find myself a copy of their EP. I have loose MP3s of some of their songs. Only a few. I don’t know much more about them. And as I said I forgot about the one time I was in touch. If I was. Maybe a friend was in touch for me and asked them to contribute the song. I wasn’t as good as networking back then. I hadn’t released any records yet. I was only learning how it was the process to put together a record. And Abeja was part of that first project. My Mexican friends, I’m sure you remember them. Do you know where are they now? If they had been involved in any other bands? Are there more recordings by them?

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Listen
Abeja – La Bufanda

The BV’s 7″s arrived this weekend! Just waiting for the inserts to arrive and will start shipping them! The original release date was November 10th. But we’ll probably be moving it to November 1st as things have moved so fast!

Un.Real: never heard this band before but according tot heir Bandcamp this band’s formation in Isabela, Puerto Rico, dates of 1995. Their latest effort though was released a few days ago as a 7″ and includes two songs, “Blue Garden” and “Kids are Astronauts / Drones edit”. What to expect? some very pretty shoegaze, as they also self-define themselves as the first ever shoegaze band in Puerto Rico.

The Hannah Barberas: a new batch of songs from this fantastic UK band. So, “No Mystery”, “Spellbound” and “Time Will Show the Wiser” are now available on the band’s Bandcamp and from what I read the first 50 downloads are free, so why not hurry up and check them out?

Echo Ladies: the Malmö band will be releasing a two song 7″ on November 16. Sadly it seems as if it is already sold out. But at least we can stream the A side, “Overrated (Robin Guthrie version)” which, as the name suggests, was reworked by the Cocteau Twins member. It is a superb song of course. On the B side we find the song “Rebel Rebel”.

Adults: tweepop as I haven’t listened in a while. Adults hail from London and their brand of lo-fi tweepop is available now in their latest cassette album “The Weekend Was Almost Over”. It was supposed to be released in August, but still looks as if it is only available to pre-order. So who knows. You can stream the 9 songs though.

Sueisnine: 5 demo songs by this Japanese band from the Chiba prefecture. Formed by Kana, Hayashi and Kajiya the band released last year the “Lilac EP”, and these 5 demo songs of soft guitar pop are definitely a nice listen. I wonder what will happen to these songs, will they be properly recorded for a new release?

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I was looking at my wishlist. There are some records that I assume I will never find a copy for myself like the one and only 7″ Rapid Dance released back in 1982. That’s life you know. But perhaps, I would be able to get in touch with the band and interview them through this post. That would make my day.

I was aware of the band thanks to the interview I did with Martin Cotter of the Wee Cherubs many many years ago. He mentioned that one of the members of the Wee Cherubs, Christine Gibson, had been in Rapid Dance before joining him. It was at that moment that I googled for the band’s music and found the A side for their 7″, “Fragments of Youth”. It would take some years until I was going to listen the B side, “Hidden So Well”, through the Messthetics compilations.

The 7″, released in 1982 on Resolute Records (RO 1) is a gem. It is this sort of proto indiepop, influenced by Postcard Records, by Orange Juice and Josef K. It is a terrific record. You’ll agree with me.

It seems to me that Resolute Records was perhaps their own record label as there are no other releases listed for this label. The sleeve doesn’t have much information, doesn’t say where the band was based in Glasgow. The labels though have some information. Both songs are credited to Love & RD. It also says that the A side, “Fragments of Youth”, was recorded at Pork Lane during the autumn of 1981. “Hidden So Well” on the other hand was produced by Kenny and Rapid Dance. On this side of the label they thank Ally and Hector.

A person on Discogs has uploaded some photos of extra promo stuff that came with the record he has. Like a letter asking a radio to play their music written by Iain Jenkins. Was he the manager? I can add another band member name though, Willy Bain who was also later in The Bachelor Pad.

That is the only Rapid Dance record listed on Discogs though of course there is the appearance on the “Messthetics #105” CD compilation that was released by  Hyped to Death in 2007 featuring a bunch of Scottish DIY and Indie band from the late 70s and early 80s. But there is some extra information on the booklet worth checking out:

“Alan Love met Willy Bain through a girlfriend who lived next door -and promptly found himself in the Bain’s living room on Vennard Gardens getting an earful of Taking Tiger Mountain, Sam the Sham and other aural hallucinogens. And as soon as Alan had warbled the Buzzcocks “Breakdown” and a couple others with a late version of the International Spys (with both Brian McNair and Iain Bain), it was time for a group of his own. Mate Colin Watson lived down the road from the Bains and invaluable worked weekends at the Record Exchange; he wanted to be the Drummer (no argument from the others!), and Chrsitine Gibson (who lived at the end of the road) had been learning classical guitar. Colin found the phrase “rapid pips” in the instructions of a Glasgow phone box, but Alan fretted over Gladys Knight associations so they became Rapid Dance instead.
They were committed fans of The Alleged (with Hector Bain) who’d become local stars playing punk hits (their originals on Second City Statik are garagey pop-punk classics) and a Doune Castle support gig duly came their way. Ere long the’d played a spate of shows in Glasgow bars (Christine was underage and was asked to stand out of sight in a couple of occasions -never did) and on the (much louder) Paisley scene, opening for the Fall, the Scars and the Revillos.
Colin’s standout drumming propelled both sides of their 45, recorded at Park Lane Studios in Glasgow. Christine had finally turned 16, but she was still in school when the 45 came out (and broke, to boot), so she left, as did Willy a short while later. Alan and Colin added Hector on guitar and Robbie Stewart on bass and re-christened themselves The Great Divide, who recorded (an as-yet unheard) 1982 demo before drifting away from the scene.
Willy Bain went on to the Oysters, Bachelor Pad, Bain Brothers and Sawney Bean –he now operates www.bicyclerepair.co.uk
Christine switched to bass and joined Martin Cotter’s Wee Cherubs, who became Bachelor Pad. More recently she has toured with Jad Fair and played with Five Piece Horse Theatre with Gordon Goudie (Simple Minds, Primevals, Echo & the Bunnymen) and Leigh Ferguson. She (and Leigh) are now with the Parsonage: www.myspace.comn/parsonagechoir”

That’s quite some information! So the band members were Christine Gibson, Willy Bain, Alan Love and Colin Watson. The myspace for Parsonage doesn’t work. But the Bicycle Repair shop belonging to Willy Bain in Glasgow does. He has been a cycle mechanic for the last 26 years. So cool.

Christine’s latest musical involvement, The Parsonage, actually has a Wikipedia page, where it mentions it is a group of around 40 Glasgow based singers. Their name is in honour of Gram Parsons.

What about Alan Love and Colin Watson? What are they doing?

Do any of you Scottish friends remember the great Rapid Dance?

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Listen
Rapid Dance – Fragments of Youth

So it seems the release for The BV’s will be in around a month. I’m hoping to confirm this in the coming weeks. Aside from that one of our upcoming retrospectives is almost done, it is by a Glasgow band if you are curious. Just waiting for it to be mastered.

Now, what’s new in indiepop world?

Pia Fraus: “Brutal Truth of the World” is the new video the Tallinn based band has put together to promote their latest album “Field Ceremony” that came out last year on their own Seksound label. As it is normal with them, it is brilliant.

Grrrl Gang: a new release from the amazing Yogyakarta indiepop band is out now. “Not Sad, Not Fulfilled” bring us 5 pop songs to sing along. It is out now on Kolibri Records I believe digitally only for the time being. You can download them for free if you like or support them with any amount you’d like. Great band and happy to hear new songs!

The Leave Me Alones: 3 demos by this Oakland band are what await for us on their Bandcamp. These are the first three songs I hear by them. They are called “Nothing Packs a Punch”, “You’re So Much better than me” and “Race to the Bottom”. They sound a bit rough, but they are punchy pop songs indeed.

Alexanderplatz: after the demise of the brilliant Klaus & Kinski, Alejandro Martínez started Alexanderplatz. He just released his first album “Muera Usted Mañana” with the Jabalina label. it is now available on CD and double-LP. There are 18 songs in total, which may sound like a lot, but they are pretty good!

The Tropicanas: I don’t think I’ve heard this Livingston, UK, band before. But it does sound good, even if we can only preview one song from their “A Lovely Coincidence” EP. The song we can listen is the one that gives the EP its name and sounds great. The band is formed by Joe White, Andrew Burns, Ruaridh Macpherson and Joe Murphy.

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Peppelkade is a road in Houten, Netherlands. Was Peppelkade 14 an important address? I have been curious about this band name since I first heard about their existence. No, I don’t own the record sadly. I saw once their name on those lists some collectors put together. And since then I’ve tried to track their songs. So far my luck has only gave me two songs, “Time Flies” and “Uptown”. But I’m hoping that with this post someone can help me listen to the rest of recordings and why not a spare copy? That’d be sweet.

Peppelkade 14 is a band that is truly a mystery. The jacket of their record, with the illustration of what looks like an old soap opera or something, is pretty different to what you see in records from those late 80s. Maybe these illustrations are of the band members? Also the song names appear on the front jacket with a different design for each of them. It is really unique.

There was indeed only one record by Peppelkade 14. A 12″ released in 1988 by the label Top Shelf Records (CAV 031). On Discogs there are no other records listed on this label. That is pretty strange if the catalog is 31, right? Maybe they were playing with the numbers, like in their name? The EP was titled “Time Flies EP”.

It is one of those records and bands I should have covered earlier on the blog. One that many people would love to know more about. I don’t know why it took me long to try to find out about them. It is true I don’t follow any order, but, I should have priorities. And Peppelkade 14 should have been one.

The A side has “Time Flies” and “Springtime”. The B side has “Deep Feeling” and “Hour After Hour”. The four songs were recorded at Cavalier Studio in Stockport, Manchester, in autumn 1988. It was produced and engineered by Lol Cooper. The cool art of the jacket is credited to Albert Pemberton while the photography to Scott MacIntyre.

The band at least appeared on one compilation, on the legendary “Manchester North of England” LP and tape released by Bop Cassettes (BC 001) in 1988. On this record the band appears with the song “Uptown”. This means that at least there were 5 proper recordings by the band. As many of you know, this legendary compilation includes the like of The Man From Delmonte, The Railway Children, Bradford, The Waltones, and more. Very good company. One detail though, the band’s name appears as Pepplekade 14.

All this information confirms that the band  hailed from the Manchester area. As I keep digging I find out the names of the band members, Mick Carroll, John Whittaker, Darren Pemberton, Nicholas Redshaw and Sarah Marion. From a forum I found that one of them is a Manchester City fan and goes by the nickname of Bombo. Who is it?

I thought that with those names I was going to be able to follow a thread. But that is not the case. I can’t seem to find any other music associated to them. There are a few people in Manchester with their names. It is not easy to pinpoint who could have been in the band in the late 80s. I don’t have much more to go with. The mystery will continue it seems.

There is just one more thing, with their name spelled wrongly as Pepplekade 14 there is a flyer on the Manchester Digital Music Archive where it shows that the band was to play on April 19th 1989 at The Venue with support of the Lonestars.

But here is where I ask your help. I’m hoping you can help me. I want to listen to the rest of their songs. I want to know their story. Anyone remembers them?

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Listen
Peppelkade 14 – Time Flies

Thanks so much to Nicolas Glorion for the interview! Les Enfants Terribles, from Tours, France, released a single and an album on Midnight Music just about when the 80s were ending and the 90s starting. Interestingly enough their music wasn’t released on French labels but on Midnight Music from the UK. They wrote superb guitar pop tunes, catchy and exciting, and deserved to be much bigger. If you haven’t heard them before, now it is a good time to fix that! Hope you enjoy the interview!

++ Hi Nicolas! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! How are you? Still based in Tours? Still making music?

Actually, I am living most of the time near Orleans, important city in the center of France, and still playing music with Xavier, this is « Les Enfants Terribles » 2018 style…we’ll probably talk about it more, later…

++ Are you still aware of the guitar pop scene in France these days? Is there anything lately that have caught your ear? What would you say are the top 5 French guitar pop bands ever for you? And where in a ranking would you put Les Enfants Terribles?

Over all the bands definitely ! (hahaha)…well, actually in France, the bands which interest our ears are not numerous….but the most important ones are influenced by American and English music ;
Rodolphe Burger, The Liminanas, Feu Chatterton, Narrow Terrence, Bertrand Cantat (with DETROIT), Cats on Trees, The Inspector Cluzo….
that’s the bands of the moment…..about the 5 ever ones….brrr….difficult, well, personally, I must confess that I have been very touched and amazed by NOIR DESIR, OBERKAMPF, ORCHESTRE ROUGE & TAXI GIRL…..I have other ones, of course, but those ones, I still listened to them…..

++ Let’s start from the beginning. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

In the beginning of the seventies, we had TV program almost the same as Top of the pops in England, but that was not the same bands than in UK..(laughing….)
I remember precisely french bands as MARTIN CIRCUS & ANARCHIC SYSTEM…….and on the radio stations, there were « hit parades »…I don’t know why, but I remember precisely having heard PINK FLOYD’s « have a cigar »….I have a deep focus on this song….and also, variety music as ADRIANO CELENTANO, ADAMO, THE RUBETTES….ouaouh , with their hats and incredible look….many bands at this time were dressed the same way, as with a Uniform, I remember this very well….KRAFTWERK & DEVO did the same later….it was like gangs, see ? In the Walter Hill Movie « warriors »…everybody had the same uniform….I was wonderin’ why…..
about instrument ? My mum made the same « program » for us all (we were 6 brothers and sisters, I was the youngest) : Piano ! …the lessons were too « mechanical»….I have souvenir about it, piano has more leaded me to appreciate the « sound »…more than the practice of it…

++ I read some of you were before in Acid Brains? Care telling me a bit about this band?

Acid Brains is our birth……Another Country our adolescence, Les Enfants Terribles our adulthood…………….things can be evoked as simply as this !….at each step, something happened…..Xavier came in Another Country, and Les Enfants Terribles can be described as the transition from Larva to Chrysalis.

++ And what about the band Another Country? Is that why you named the Les Enfants Terribles album with that name?

Our engagement for albums contracts was linked with the « almost » obligation to have a « french named band »….we decided to choose « Les Enfants » as a wink to the English people knowing their consideration for Jean Cocteau….and we decided to name the album « Another Country » as our French public can understand this transition…..My opinion is that it was really not necessary….but that was almost the « sine qua non condition » for our engagement with Midnight Music Records…

++ Were any of you involved in any other bands?

No, not at all….Xavier & me just participated to a « one shot gig » in March 1986. It was « Avant Première » of Julian Temple’s movie « Absolute Beginners » with David Bowie, Patsy Kensit, Sade, Ray Davies, Robbie Coltrane…..the radio station who was organizing the evening asked Didier, our first manager with Jean Daniel, to add a surprise….a mixed band, interpreting 5/6 songs from the sixties, etc…we did it, with other guys from 2 other bands…played « Ziggy Stardust », « you really got me », « honky tonk women », etc….really good fun…that was kinda first experience singing for me…..

++ Were you all originally from Tours?

Yes, Tours and its suburbs

++ How was your city at the time? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Tours was an asleep, sanitized and almost « under control » city….because of the Mayor, a very conservative man..(watch on Wiki, his name was Jean Royer, stark and dour man, very famous about his law about Censorship in France 1975…..). There were some bars, and concert places, but during the eighties, some of them were closing, it was not so easy to play gigs….and also, it became as a prejudice for the bands to play several times in the same perimeter too often…..
People from Tours were not in the state of mind to see the same band 4 times in 2 months…..question of mentality, education…..Tours is not, very simply a « rock’n’roll city »…see what I mean ? Not as RENNES or LILLE…..Paris is another story….

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Olivier & Antoine (Drummer and guitarist) were in same lyceum…they started to play for fun in September 1984….I was working on a radio station with Jean Daniel who was studying at the University with Sophie, Olivier’s sister ; Jean Daniel told me one day that, Olivier has told her sister to ask Jean Daniel if he knew a bass player….I was at that time, playing the Bass at home, I just was loving it, but not playing in a band….Jean Daniel gave me the info, and one Wednesday afternoon, I came to Olivier’s house, and met him and Antoine, and we started playin’..Mid April 1985, Acid Brains was born…..we played our first gig on « Music’s day » 21th June 1985, Us 3 and Jean Daniel on Keyboards, who starting then , managing us , but no more playing, he was very busy with University…..what a gig…..it was the improbable meeting of Jesus & Mary Chain with Pink Floyd….so much noise…..it was fun, and we were totally free in what we’ve been doin’…crisis of laugh all night long…..

++ Were there any lineup changes?

Xavier joined the band in January 1986, then, we became gradually better in our way to write songs, that was very sensible in our evolution, Xavier brought its fineness and delicacy……Emmanuel was the singer until early 1987….and we decided to fire him….more because he was mostly « strangling the cat » than singing, than for his attitude, and his treason….we also were very attentive to the comments of our friends, and fans too….. : they told us after gigs : music is good, but « there is a problem with the singer »….we also couldn’t stay deaf to those critics longer….and so, it happened ….

++ What’s the story behind the name Les Enfants Terribles?

As I mentioned it before : just a change to be in the views and perspectives of Nick Ralph, Midnight’s music boss, he wanted us to be « French » in our name, to signify that we were a French band with French identity, etc…..He asked us during the recording of the album to « start thinking about writing songs in French »…………we did before our split, one song ! Called « En Couleurs »……an unreleased one…..I don’t ever saw the point with this desire to hear us singing in French…..we have french authors, singers…..ok, but the history of pop/rock music is universal….I have heard recently a Turkish band playing rock and singing in their language, with the add of traditional instruments, their culture…it was perfect ! Because they have assimilated the story of rock music, coming from United States and England….this is it, as Baseball is born in America, and Rugby in England….

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

The Ideas were coming from all of us, periodically, with main influences from Guitarists, which were working very much together…it was so important this work of cohesion between Xavier & Antoine….almost as a second type of work in the process of writing songs : them 2, Us 4….

++ You were around in the late 80s, but whoever listens to your music might categorize you as a C86 band even though you were from France. What do you think of that term? Do you like it? Were you fan of the bands from this period?

Every time you write a note of music, you can be criticised….history as taught us that we were all coming from somewhere …..necessarily, you have influences…. in music as in literature or science, etc….The « C86 » format is another « crea-invention » of people who absolutely need to put you in a case..because if they don’t, they will feel lost, without repairs…….and that’s it…..some bands classified as it ? Well, I used to like The Bodines and The Mighty Lemon Drops….but there’s a problem : Mighty lemon drops were sounding so much like Echo & The Bunnymen that it becomes difficult to put them on a case !!!!!!!
I used to like them, and I still do…that’s music…..

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

You mean sound of bands influencing us ? The Chameleons, The Bunnymen, definitely, we reclaim it, and we will always….The Chameleons could have been bigger than U2 and Simple Minds at this period….I will always wonder why The Chameleons haven’t had access to a great great public….it’s almost a mystery not to understand the beauty, the cleverness of their music…..a complete mystery….Easterhouse also….could have been bigger than all bands in UK at this time….. »Contenders » their first album is as the Bible for me, same as The Clash albums….everything is inside it….everything…..

++ Something that is definitely uncommon and cool about you is that your music was released by an English label, Midnight Music. It wasn’t normal for that to happen at the time. How did you end up working with Midnight Music?

I don’t know everything about this story…..We signed a contract meaning 5 albums during 5 years…it never happened….We have been told that, Nick Ralph, the English boss of Midnight Music records wanted to have as an originality, a french band on his label…….also, the french label manager Fred Delahaye was very much insisting, as I have been told too, as we were signed on the french part of the label (Midnight Music France)…..at the end, the promotion, marketing of the album has been a total disaster, because it has been released in french shops almost at the same time as the band was splitting… !!! I finally , and personally don’t know what happened really…also, our manager (Philipp), after having been working on the band in the first years, was strangely working very much, since the recording of the album, to have a definite job inside Midnight Music Structure… ! And he had it , then 2 years later moved to Geffen Records…..it seems, logically, that, managing the band had been a perfect launching pad for his professional career…….

++ And how was your relationship with them? Did you ever meet them? Travel to the UK? or them to France?

Fred and Yohel , the french managers from Midnight France were kind guys…..but what we know about their relations with Nick Ralph about us, was reported by Philippe…..so, it was troubled, strange….some news were hunting the previous ones….it was difficult to know what was happening….

++ Were there any prior recordings, perhaps demo tapes, to the “Paths of Glory” single? Or were these your first recordings?

In March 1986, we did a 7 tracks live session filmed in Rehearsal by Jean Daniel ; later ,
I converted it in MP3 format….all songs are from Another Country period, wit Emmanuel on vocals…..never released on other format….
In April 1986, we released a 100 copies tape with 3 track studio on A” side (mistakes-killing time-bobby’s gone), and 4 tracks live on B side, limited edition…all copies have been sold….I don’t have it anymore….
In August 1987, we went to London, and recorded a 4 track e.p that was supposed to be financed and sold in auto-production way, but we printed only 50 copies in Vinyl format, the first contacts with Midnight music were beginning, and so, we didn’t go forward. The project was to print 1000 copies, and to sale it by our own way….

++ This record came in both 7″ and 12″ formats. That means the label was really trusting in you. How did that work out? And what format do you prefer personally, 7″ or 12″?

the label did the same work for all the bands, the 7”inch only A side format was an interesting idea, with unique European price : 10 Francs, 1 Sterling pound & 3 Deutsche Marks….this is obsolete now with Euro money…hahaha….so , it was not a good marketing idea……
I have so many 7 inches….I like this format, as a little pearl….12” format is cool too…it’s the main place to listen to the unreleased tracks, live versions and covers….that was the good times rolling…..

++ I’ve always been curious about the photo on the cover, where was it taken from?

Path of Glory cover ? It’s Burt Lancaster in Robert Siodmak’s movie « the Killers »…photo has been taken at the moment of the impact of the chair in the window…..that’s the story of the cliché as I have read it…I just liked it so much……we chose with great enthusiasm…
++ How different was recording the album compared to the single? What do you remember from the recording sessions in London? Where did you stay? Were they short and easy or the opposite? What sort of drinks and food was consumed during those days?
We were at the Hotel, near Euston station, the English food was absolutely disgusting, we deciding to be on a fish ans ships mode, with some beers, sugar drinks….it’s interesting question, we normally should have a lot of souvenirs about the recording, but finally not ; what I remember most, is that we were feeling the time passing very slowly….a very big wait…..I was waiting Olivier to finish his « take »…..had to wait because he had to do it again, etc…..it’s same as it seems for the actors making a movie : they are on the location 10 hours every day, but they play their role only 20 minutes…………a huge Wait this recording……………..

++ The selection of photography for your work is really cool. I’m also curious about the photograph on the album cover, where did you got that from?

Philippe selected it from Life Magazine in the 50’s…I think it’s Arizona desert with young Mexican kids playing with guns.

++ Some songs from the single are included in the album, were these rerecorded?

No, it’s the same recording….one format we didn’t had is CD single….too costly….pity, because on Vinyl version, there is one track which will not be released on CD, « My reddened face »….I like this track very much..

++ As far as I know you only appeared on a compilation called “Contresens” that was put together by FNAC. It is a superb one, with the best bands of the period. How did that compilation happen, do you remember? Was there a presentation gig perhaps too?

Les Inrockuptibles were the new magazine in Mid 80’s, and they decided to do something for Rock scene in France, on the same model as NME , melody Maker and Sounds who have provided so many free singles, e.p, etc…..So, they wanted to do one of the first compilation about the french alternative Pop-Rock scene and they did it successfully I think….Principle is cool and simple as ever, 2/3 great names, and a dozen of new bands, starting to be reknown not only in their cities, but in all the country….Headliners were GAMINE & ETIENNA DAHO, very famous french singer who worked with American band THE COMATEENS….alos there was a band named SHREDDED HERMINES, believe it or not…they were about to be very great, sounding as R.E.M….really great band …I don’t know about them since a long time…pity…
No gigs presentation, but good promo in the musical press….it participated to give credibility french music abroad….particularly in England, but also in Belgium, Germany, Holland, etc……

++ Did you appear on any other compilations?

Yes , one about the city of Tours, with only bands from the city…it’s called « 25 years of rock in Tours »

++ And are there any remaining unreleased songs by the band?

Of course ! From Another Country’s period, at least 10 songs, and from Les Enfants Terribles’s period, we have 12 songs and the 2 covers we used to play (The Who & Jesus and Mary Chain)….

++ I have many favourite songs, but I will pick one in the hope you can tell me the story behind, what inspired it. Care telling me in a few sentences what’s the story behind “In a Room like Yours”?

I cannot , sorry ! Because the lyrics have been written by Emmanuel, and it’s very personal as it seems…we’ve talked about it one time, it was I think, about a place which changes the way you see, live life….I liked the rhymes, the way it was written….i decided to change nothing singing it after Emmanuel did it so many times…..the faces , the bodies, the moon……those words means many for me…Emmanuel and I are very different….I have the weakness to think that, he would have never behave the way he did if he hadn’t be 20 years old….. we all change with time…..I think he did…..but in 1987…..

++ If you were to choose your favourite Les Enfants Terribles’ song, which one would that be and why?

Ex Aequo , Bobby’s Gone & Koubla Khan….the first one has many qualities I think, and also, it’s our part of engagement in this horrible conflict in Northern Ireland which have lasted more than 80 years…the abomination of what « men » can do to other « men »…this is one of the darkest sides of UK, and there is so many……Koubla Khan had all the potential to be a very strong song if we could have been lucky to play it more often….heavy, loud and melodic….I have been very concerned and amazed about Orson Welles’s « citizen Kane », and the story of William Randolph Hearst…..

++ I mentioned the album and the single, am I missing any other release by the band? Any demo tapes?

The first one, from March 1986 only.

++ And why do you think you didn’t get to release more records? And how come there were no French releases by the band? That’s quite strange, isn’t it?

The band just split in 1990 after a terrible gig….the releases no more preoccupied any of us..

++ Was there ever interest by other music labels? Perhaps big ones?

What is funny, rather than strange is that, most of the french labels didn’t wanted to sign us because we were singing in English, and our style of music was too much English too…so when Midnight Music’s opportunity came on, we did it, and by the way, it was a kind of pride, because with our style of music, we were feeling good in this situation…..we had also the opportunity to have edition contract with Island Records, but it didn’t happened.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? What was the farthest you played from your town?

We didn’t play thousands gigs….. but the choice we did was both simple and ambitious ;
being guests for the English/American bands on tour in France, and so it deserved to the french public to discover us, when they came to see and hear this kind of music….

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

With all bands we have played with, contact has been wonderful…some talkings, drinks, etc….it’s a great luck for us, we have learned so much, and be so lucky to play with The Woodentops, TV Personalities, The Wild Swans, 10 000 Maniacs, And Also The Trees, The Beloved, Miss Be Heaven, …anecdotes ? ….hmmm….I would say that I have felt sympathy and respect from English and American musicians….considering us as a kind tiny french band….

++ When and why did the Les Enfants Terribles split? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

March 1990, the last gig was in Beaune….the concert has been awful….we had a session drummer this time, he has « scuttled » the gig….we don’t know why….anyway, this became the end of 5 years that I will never forget, but something ended….

++ What about the rest of the band, had they been in other bands?

Yes, Antoine wanted since a long time to play heavier kind of music…he entered a band named DISTANT WINTER, playing 5 strings bass, even harder than Lemmy from Motorhead…..hahaha…..it was a mix of Pearl Jam, White Zombie & Guns ‘n’ Roses….they released an album in 1996 if I remember well….Olivier has played with Emmanuel, the « Iscariot singer » we had until 1987….music was a copy/stick of The Apartments, The Smiths or even James….with Emmanuel as the « strangling cat leader »….hahaha…I prefer to laugh about this….

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

Since 2011, Xavier & I have been working together in a very irregular mode…until 2015, where we decided to take a drummer, and working tracks with a unique target : play a gig on 21st June 2016….just for pleasure, and then…we will see….
so, between January 2016 and June 2016, we had at least 20 rehearsals … and…..small « miracle » occurred, in April 2016………. Antoine called Xavier as he was coming from Paris to Tours, Xavier told him we were playing with Eric (the drummer)….Antoine came to our place, I said him ; « take the guitar, we’re going to play Bobby’s gone »…..he took one of the Guitar there, in the studio…..and we played it in one f*****ing and amazing shot…….
there is a recording of it…..26 years after our last gig, we were 3 of the original band, with Eric on drums….it’s a true story….and it happened only one time….Xavier and me have …..diplomatically approached Antoine to play again….but he does not want to play music anymore…that’s it…..

++ Did you get much attention from the radio?

In Tours, yes, In Paris too when « path of glory » was released….we had a « rotation » on some indie Radio-stations….but the influence and power of the radios is totally insignificant in France, compared to the American system….in Your country, Radio are like kings and Queens…(that’s my opinion particularly when I look and listen for example, the work done by a radio like KEXP in Seattle)………………..and it’s wonderful, really…..pity that our country doesn’t work as yours…..

++ What about the press? Did they give you any attention?

you must know that , Until 1985, in French press, there was not any weekly Musical Magazine…..later, « LES INROCKUPTIBLES » came….By the way, We had some articles….but not a lot…..globally, there were announcements for the gigs, but the articles were for the « big bands »……

++ What about from fanzines?

…..and logically, what was possible to read about local bands was essentially in Fanzines…there has been, and that was good, a real « fanzine explosion » around 1983, most about the alternative movements, punk Rock, Cold Wave, etc….we had some articles in some local fanzines where we had our gigs….but most of them were « dying » after some years of existence…..even sometimes after some months….it’s typically from France….

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

Everyone in the band had its own sensibility, so, better it will be to ask individually about our feelings….
well, personally, I can say some things I have in my soul….Jean Daniel has been the connecting key with Oliver and Antoine, so it’s essential, and also he has worked to obtain us those precious guests appearances with bands, and to my opinion, the most « memorable one » is the gig we had with The Wild Swans in Tours….it was in our city, with our first fans, and with this band which is a huge part of Pop Music story in England….So, maybe this moment is a prodigious highlight in my soul….the biggest ? If I say « the biggest », I rank other ones down, and I don’t want it….we had many biggests highlights in our souls I think…..

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Listen
Les Enfants Terribles – In a Room like Yours

I had some spare time the other day and I think I’m back on track with the blog. There’s still lots of music to cover, to discover, as well as releases on the label that are coming up. I don’t have many updates today music wise though I’ve been having great conversations about music lately with visitors like German from Univers and Jon from the Mai 68s who have been in town. Hopefully more friends visit in the future and are up for a beer too.

There’s some good music to share today.

Blades of Joy: last September this San Francisco band released their self-titled debut album that includes 7 songs. I started listening the record through the song “Let the People Ride” which does sound brilliant, upbeat and catchy with female vocals, just the way I like it. Don’t know much about the band itself other than the members seem to be in bands like Swanox or Dissolve but I urge you to get the record which is out now on vinyl.

Lunar Vacation: here is the video for the song “The Basement” that is included in the second EP called “Artificial Flavors”. It sounds great, reminding me a bit of Alvvays (?). There is not much information about them, not even on their Facebook, but they do hail from Atlanta, Georgia, and are signed to House Cat Records.

The Pirouettes: some catchy and cool sounding electronic pop by this Parisian band formed by Vickie Chérie and Leo Bear Creek is what I found on their Bandcamp. Their latest work is the 11-track “Monopolis” album which was released last month. I’m not sure if it is available in any physical format but you can stream it in its entirety. And for those in France they are touring many cities in their home country.

Crush: the album by this Austrian band starts so good with the song “Giving Up”. I could play this song on repeat. This is the first out of 10 songs on the “Sugarcoat” album that was released last April on CD and vinyl by Numavi Records. The band, based in Graz, is formed by Christina Lessiak, Katrin Borecky, Christian Lach, Varena Borecky and Florian Kolar.

Kill the Moose: another French band today, but this time hailing from Nice. Also sounding different, now there are guitars, wall of sound, shoegaze melodies. Their latest work, “To the Moon and Back”, is a 5 song EP that starts with the song that gives the EP its name, where Elisabeth Massena’s vocals shine bright. The band also has in its ranks Alex Ornonon guitar, bass and synth, Pierre Pizana on drums and Sebastien Gros on tambourine and modular synth.

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Now is the turn for Australia. I love Australian guitar pop, and I’m quite surprise I’ve waited quite a bit to write about an Australian band, right?

A Month of Sundays from Perth, a city that has given us so many fantastic bands. So many that is hard to count. This town during the late 80s and early 90s had a great scene. Many of the bands from there, like The Palisades, Mars Bastards, The Beekepers, Rainyard, etc., have been interviewed on the blog or have been featured or mentioned. I’m a fan, what can I say. And only as of late I’ve added a new band to my long list of Perth bands I need to complete their discography, and that is A Month of Sundays.

It may be that the band took their name from the John Updike novel by the same name. Or perhaps because of the song with that name by the Scottish pop band The Questions? Sounds more like the first option.

One of the band members, Neil Preston, continues making music and has a website where he talks a bit about his band. Here I learn that the band was formed by twin brothers Neil (vocals/guitar) and Terry Preston (drums) with school mates John Dutton (guitar) and Mark Scarparolo (bass) They were originally influenced by The Smiths and the Replacements and have released more records than the ones that appear on Discogs.

Yup, Discogs only lists two. For a long time I thought these were the only two releases. So I ordered one of them some time ago, the “Idiot Star” CD that was released in 1994. I couldn’t find many recordings of it, so I was kind of blindly buying it. Now of course all of their songs are on Spotify. Things change. The world moves. But I must say at this point that their earlier janglier stuff is what I’m most into! Like the other record that it is listed on Discogs, the 7″ single “Faithfully Patient”.

But let’s go in order, should we?

The first release was a tape called “Bell, Book and Candle” that on Spotify has 6 songs. The tape appears with a different art to the one that I could find on Rateyourmusic. It is similar though. The 1989 tape would have included the songs “St. Agnes Eve”, “More Than You Deserve” and “All in Vain” on the A side and “Feel So Old”, “Alone Again” and “Month of Sundays” on the flipside. It sound brilliant and classic.

The “Biggest Fan” tape was released according to Neil’s website in 1990. Rateyourmusic has it as a 1992 release. I’ll go with Neil’s date. This tape was recorded in one 8 hour session with James Hewgill. Five songs were included in this tape, “Breath”, “I Do”, “I’m Your Maybe”, “Insanity Clause” and “Love Deeds”. The song “Breathe” would be later re-recorded in Neil Preston’s solo album “Building Backyard” in an acoustic version.

In 1990 the band also released their superb 7″ that included the songs “Faithfully Patient” and “Times Weren’t Mine”. This record came out on the Amos label (AJS 068). The two songs were produced by Greg Dear with the help of Errol Tout and they were recorded at Planet Studios. It was engineered by John Villani. Both songs on it are terrific and would love to find myself a copy! The cover design is credited to Mark, Bettina Grey and Rob Johnson. For some reason this record is not mentioned on the Neil Preston website. Also something interesting is that on the Spotify version of the record there are three more songs, perhaps recorded in the same session, “More Than You Deserve”, “Coronary” and “Confused”. It had it’s release party at The Ozone.

“Seesaw Child” dates from 1991 and this one was released on CD. It was produced by Greg Dear and John Villani with guest appearances by Errol Tout and the great Dom Mariani. 5 songs were recorded for it, “Seesaw Child”, “Definite Shade of Blue”, “Sort it Out”, “Liberty Bell” and “Thumberlina”.

Next up is the CD I own, “Idiot Star”. This mini-album was released in 1994 on the Idaho Music label (IDAHO 009). It included 7 songs, “Act Up Alone”, “Thump”, “15 Minutes Too Late”, “Upward Glide”, “Idiot Star”, “Moon & Stars” and “From Me to Her”. I notice that for this record the band had replaced John Dutton with Grant Ferstat (who would later be in the band Rollercoaster). It was recorded and mixed at Revolver Studio in Perth by Ben Glatzer with the help of Andy McClelland and Vick Manfrin. It was mastered by Dan Bartlay at 301 Studios in Sydney. We know too that Matt Corcoran played keyboards on two tracks and Lucky Oceans played the pedal steel on one of them too.

Lastly there is the 2008 record “Vital Signs”. Yes, 2008. A comeback I’m sure. What triggered Neil to revive his band? Would be interesting to find out. This album was recorded mainly at his home studio. The songs on their latest record were “Grace”, “Final Act”, “Flesh of You”, “First Fret”, “Buckley’s Friend”, “A Coward’s Wit”, “Sleep Tight”, “Head Down”, “Brother”, “Skiffle Song” and “Easy Free”.

There are a handful of compilation appearances listed. The first one is the legendary tape “Out of the Woodwork”, which was the way I discovered the band. On this tape made by Gangster Promotions that included other classics like The Palisades, Charlotte’s Web or The Stolen Picassos, the band contributes “More Than You Deserve” and “Alone Again”.

The year after their song “More Than You Deserve” appears on a compilation called “The 96FM Homegrown Tapes” that was put out by The Wheatley Organisation (TWOHG 002). This compilation was released as a tape and also on vinyl LP. I must say I don’t know any of the other bands on this record!

That same year, they had their song “Coronary” on the vinyl LP compilation “Across the Nullarbor: Triple J Presents 16 Hot Bands from Perth” released by ABC Records. This one does have some well known names like Great Dear, the Summer Suns or The Neptunes. Then two years later in 1993 the band contributed “Seesaw Child” to the CD comp “Bedtime Beats You Brainless” released by Idaho Music (IDAHO 005).

Lastly there is a compilation CD/DVD called “What if We Talked About Music the Same Way We Talk About Mental Illness?” where the band had the song “Sleep Tight”. I believe the West Australian Music Industry Association with the Department of Health of Western Australia put out this record.

I found a Radio programme on RTR FM 92.1 where Caitlin Nienaber and Ross Chisholm feature A Month of Sundays! Pretty interesting to listen the whole 27.20 minutes! It feels like they wrote the blog but in sound form. I love shows like this, telling the whole story of the band. Why aren’t there more like that?

From there I know that the band formed while in high school and played many classic venues as the The Fitzgerald, The Seaview, The Newport, The Coronado, The Old Mill. Other interesting details: At some point the brothers decided to play live as a duo as the The Fabulous Faux Choir (did I get it right?). They toured with Greg Dear Sydney and Melbourne. During this tour is where Dutton leaves and Caleb Merry (from King Pig) joined the band briefly! This is the point where the band changed their sound to a bit heavier sound.

Then in 1996, after Grant leaving in 1995, they reemerged as a trio called Skinny and they were around until 2003. They only played two dozen gigs.

As mentioned earlier Neil had recorded two solo albums, 2005’s “Daphne and Apollo” and 2010’s “Building Backyard Boats”. We do know that Mark had been in the Mars Bastards who I interviewed not long ago. Terry is now playing in Oats Supply. Grant is playing in the Jayco Brothers. Caleb Merry is playing in Nerve Quakes.

And don’t miss on the radio show when they play a rare live track out from a DAT tape, where A Month of Sundays play live at the Breakfast RTR show semi-acoustically the song “Idiot Star”.

That’s quite a lot of info! I though I would find less to be honest due to Discogs only listing two releases. I’m sure my Perth friends remember them as the many people that called the RTR show that featured them. What do you remember about them?

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Listen
A Month of Sundays – Faithfully Patient

Thanks so much to Bernie Smith and all Rik Rak for the interview! I discovered not too long ago their wonderful music, after Firestation Records from Germany announced they were putting together a compilation album. That album is out now and it is called “Illuminated” and it is a must-have for any indiepop lover. If you are like me, and don’t know much about the Blackpool band join me in this interview to find out the story behind Rik Rak!

++ Hi Bernie! Thanks so much for being up for this interview and getting in touch! How are you? Still making music?

Yes, I am good thanks and very pleased to have this chat on behalf of all the other band members, Pete, Linda, Karl and Bryan. Yes, I am still writing and playing, and love playing live more than ever.

++ You just released a superb compilation on Firestation Records called “Illuminated”. Why the name “Illuminated”? And what can people expect from it? Especially people who haven’t heard your songs before?

I am glad you like the album. The name ‘Illuminated’ came together pretty quickly. As a band we are proud of our northern UK roots and that we come from the famous seaside resort of Blackpool. It seemed appropriate to try and find a title that would somehow capture this heritage. Linda suggested ‘Illuminated’ and we all immediately liked it. The title is a nod to the famous ‘Blackpool Illuminations’ an annual lights festival founded in 1879. The ‘Lights’ run for a six mile stretch along the Promenade, August to November each year. Britney Spears switched them on this year though, I hasten to add, I wasn’t present. As this is a retrospective album, we amicably split in 1990, the term illuminated also fits quite well with what the album is all about. Rough Trade our UK distributor describes us as ‘jangly neo acoustic indie pop’ I guess that is a fairly accurate description. A distinguishing feature is that Pete and Linda shared a dual singing role so vocally we didn’t really sound like most of our contemporaries.

++ How did Firestation Records find you? And so far what has been the feedback of this great record?

A couple of years ago I placed two music videos we had produced and some live footage on a YouTube channel – Rik Rak Blackpool Band – and Uwe the driving force behind Firestation Records (a German label) found the channel and got in contact. The pre-sales of the album were very high and over half of the initial run of CDs and Vinyl were sold in the first couple of weeks. We also know the album has been purchased by a good number of local people who used to come and watch us back in the day, which when you consider we haven’t played together for nearly 30 years is quite exciting. The YouTube channel is now receiving hits from all over the World, and record stores outside of Europe including USA, Brazil and Japan are retailing the album. I guess it demonstrates the potential power of Social Media. I certainly never expected this sort of development when I created the YouTube channel.

++ Let’s start from the beginning. What are your first music memories? Do you remember what was your first instrument? How did you learn to play it? What sort of music did you listen at home while growing up?

My parents loved classical music. My first musical fixation was the Tan Tantara Tzing Boom riff from Iolanthe when I was about two years old!!!!! I remember asking to hear it over and over again. Maybe not the most common initial musical influence. My parents didn’t listen to pop or jazz, but I loved the radio. I was fortunate to have access to a reel to reel recorder when I was about eight and started taping the radio. John Peel’s shows and Alan Freeman’s Saturday afternoon show were very influential. I also used to go to sleep at night listening to Radio Luxembourg, despite the AM reception being terrible, and wake up in the morning to static from my radio as they didn’t broadcast during the day. My mum tried to get me to play the violin, which I hated, and the piano but after the piano teacher’s dog urinated on my leg on two consecutive weeks, that thankfully was the end of that!! My first single I bought was Voodoo Chile when I was about 8 years old and my sister and I used to buy Marc Bolan singles in particular. At eleven I joined my school’s music club and started to spend nearly all my spare cash on going to see bands. First gig was Hawkwind. I was blown away, pardon the pun, and after that experience I knew live music was for me. I didn’t start playing guitar until I was 16 and I am self taught. Three months after getting the guitar, a cheap Strat copy, I played my first gig at a local tennis club with a couple of friends. We played mainly original instrumentals. It was awful but we had fun, as did our friends who came to listen.

++ Were you or any of the members involved in other bands before Rik Rak? I read some of you were in Hot Julys, Turnpike Cruisers, Deuces Wild and Way Out West. How did these bound sound like? Similar to Rik Rak? Are there any recordings?

Most of us played in bands before we got together. I was lucky to tour the length and breadth of the country when I was 19 and played on three studio recorded albums no longer available. Bryan our bass player was known locally as a rockabilly double bass player before he switched to electric bass with us. One of the tracks he played on, when he was with The Turnpike Cruisers, ‘Devil’s Car’, was used on an American TV advert not so long ago!! You should be able to find it on YouTube. Pete had a band before Rik Rak called Peter Rabbit and Karl our drummer’s band Hot July’s were influenced by Joy Division/New Order. They produced a tape called Making Sense of the Word, but Karl hasn’t seen/heard it for over 30 years!!! Rik Rak was a step in to a new style of original music for all of us.

++ Were you all originally from Blackpool?

Yes we all grew up around here.

++ How was around Blackpool at the time? Were there any bands that you liked? What were the good record stores? Or what about the pubs or venues to go check out up and coming bands?

Local bands that were well known and quite big at the time included Section 25 and the Membranes. I was at school with Chris Lowe, from the Pet Shop boys, but he was a couple of years older than me and I didn’t really know him. There were lots of record shops around Blackpool especially in the early 80s, Music Mania, Sinphonia, Cobweb, Graffiti. As Blackpool is a major tourist resort most of the venues catered for the more mainstream sounding covers bands but we managed to get gigs and always had a decent turn out. Some of these venues no longer exist, but we played in venues such as The Galleon, The Blue Room, Downstairs at The Station, Adam ’n Eve, The Showboat, Illusions, The Tache, Jaggy Thistle. Later we played in the big and iconic venues such as The Empress Ballroom, Tower Ballroom, The Arena, Spanish Hall.

++ When and how did the band start? How did you all meet? How was the recruiting process?

Pete and I had been hanging out for a while and he played me a song he had written. We then decided to have a go at writing some stuff together. Within a couple of months we had approached Bryan and Karl. Pete had been at junior school with them and having invited Linda, a close friend, who we knew had a great voice, we were complete.

++ Were there lineup changes?

No, we remained together until we went our separate ways. We have remained firm friends ever since and, apart from Linda, still live locally.

++ Why the name the Rik Rak? Was the band originally named Summerhouse?

Difficult to really remember. I think we wanted a name that didn’t really mean anything and Bryan came up with it. I think it was written on the back of a stuffed toy he had. Later we found out it was something to do with zig zag woven stuff. Bryan designed all our gig posters and tape covers so I think we all felt that if our visual creative guy thought it was OK, then it was OK for the rest of us. We had some major record company interest towards the end of our career and in retrospect rather foolishly changed our name to Summerhouse. CBS in particular didn’t like the name Rik Rak. Summerhouse didn’t stick and most people, including ourselves, preferred and remember Rik Rak.

++ How was the creative process for you? Where did you usually practice?

In general Pete and I would write together and then bring what we had to rehearsals. Sometimes Pete would have something completely formed already, sometimes I would, or perhaps I would develop a progression and a bit of a melody and Pete would polish it up and write the lyrics. Linda was great at developing her vocals that blended so well with Pete. Both Karl and Bryan of course would develop their parts as we started to jam the tracks out. We practised at rehearsal studios including Red Box and Berlin recording studio. We would also jam at rehearsals and things would just come out. I wrote the riff to ‘Hard Times’ at a rehearsal. It is unfortunate that this album really only covers the first year of our writing process. At the time of our split in 1990 only one song on this album remained in our live set. We regrettably didn’t record the later songs as we were more interested in playing live, hoping that a record/management deal would pay for the later recordings.

++ You were around in the late 80s, but whoever listens to your music might categorize you as a C86 band. What do you think of that term? Do you like it? Were you fan of the bands from this period?

Nobody really mentioned the C86 thing at the time but recently we’ve been associated with that movement. I’m not sure we actually fit in to that category. But yes I would say we liked some of the C86 bands. I know Karl liked the Wedding Present and Mighty Lemondrops, to name a couple that I guess fit that category.

++ And who would you say were influences in the sound of the band?

I guess we all brought our own tastes in to the mix. Probably the closest influence you may detect in our music is through Pete’s love for The Smiths, though Pete also is a massive Elvis fan!!!!

++ I’m only aware of you releasing a tape called “Sometime in the Sunshine” in 1988. Was this a demo tape?

All our recordings were effectively demos done on a shoestring!!! We produced three products. ‘Sometime in the Sunshine’ and ‘Crawfish’ were two cassette releases, each with four songs. We recorded on to a simple 4 track cassette recorder. ‘Way Back When’ was a two track cassette single we recorded on an eight track at a small studio close to where we live.

++ This tape was put out by Engale Marketing. Who were they?

I believe Engale was a totally made up name developed by Bryan for the cassette cover. That tape was developed by ourselves with no involvement from any other party.

++ You recorded the four songs at the Ansdell Baptist Church. That is a pretty unusual place to record, right? How did that happen? Did you usually record there? And how was that experience?

Yes it was good fun. We had no budget for recording, but we did have access to a Tascam Porta One via Bryan’s cousin Adrian. We wanted to release our music somehow as our fans kept asking. Ansdell Baptist was my home church and they had a 24 channel mixing desk. So one Saturday we went down and recorded four songs, using the Tascam. Adrian and I engineered and I produced it. It is not easy recording a whole band on to four tracks, with very little opportunity to bounce without losing fidelity, and when you are also playing the guitar at the same time, but we had a go and it didn’t turn out too bad, especially considering we had no compressors, gates, reverbs, delays etc. I had Karl and Bryan and myself in one corner and Pete and Linda in another and so what you hear is mostly live. We sold all our first lot of tapes so a few months later we did the same again with four more songs. It literally cost us nothing to record those tapes.

++ On this tape your most well known song was included, “It’s Not Easy”. What’s the story behind this song, what inspired it?

That was the song that really birthed Rik Rak. Pete wrote that song and although it has a great uplifting melody, it is autobiographical and deals with Pete’s difficult childhood experiences growing up following the early death of his father. Pete played that song to me. I had my guitar, I played along, wrote the guitar riff that accompanies it and rather emotionally realised we wanted to do more of the same. Hence Rik Rak was formed.

++ This song also got a promo video which is ace. Where did you film it? Who directed? And why did you decide to put a video together? How much fun did you have while making it?

I am glad you like the video. We actually produced two videos over the same weekend in 1989. The video for ‘Hard Times’, also on our YouTube channel, was shot at the same time. When we recorded the ‘Way Back When’ double A sided single cassette, we had in mind to send it to record companies. We also thought it might be beneficial to let them ‘see’ us via video. Our friend David Scott and his friend Simon had access to some decent video gear and a portable video editing suite. They came across from the other side of the country on a Friday night. We took some footage at our usual rehearsal studio on the Friday, then spent the Saturday shooting both videos around Blackpool. It was bitterly cold, but great fun. I remember running through a wave breaking on the promenade and getting totally drenched to get a shot!! On the Sunday David and Simon edited the video, without time coding, and by Sunday night we had the two videos!! Amazing. We went on to duplicate quite a lot of the videos and people bought them as a video single!!!!!

++ On the liner notes of the “Illuminated” CD I read that you had released a double A sided single with “It’s Not Easy” and “Hard Times”. I can’t seem to find any information about this single on the web. Who released it? How many copies were pressed?

So I think I have just about answered that one now. It was a cassette single totally produced by ourselves. Can’t remember numbers, probably about 200.

++ Were there any compilation appearances by the band?

No we were not on any other products.

++ Why weren’t there any other proper releases?

As mentioned above we were hoping to get a label to finance our next recordings professionally so we concentrated on playing live rather than recording. In retrospect this was probably a bad move as we may have received more label interest if we had put our efforts in to recording our newer material.

++ Was there any interest in your music by any labels?

I still have the letters we received from CBS, Virgin and Island, expressing interest. I hand delivered the Way Back When cassette to the record company offices in London. What amazed me was that the day after I got back from London the CBS A’nR guy rang me. I was totally amazed, but tried to sound not surprised. He really loved the songs and wanted to come and see us. We had a number of companies do the same but unfortunately nothing concrete transpired.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? What was the farthest you played from Blackpool?

We loved playing live and possibly had the biggest live fan base of any Blackpool band during this period. We often coupled our gigs with Indie dance nights at clubs. The fans knew they would get to dance at the events we put on. The crowd would dance to the likes of the Pixies, Smiths, James, Primus etc etc and we would then play and the crowd would keep on dancing, tremendous atmosphere. We also seemed to get the majority of the support slots when bigger bands came to town, which further increased our exposure and allowed us to play in bigger venues and with better PAs etc. Our second ever gig was out of town 30 miles up the motorway playing at Lancaster University after someone at our first gig at the Illusions night club was impressed and invited us to play. We played in Manchester a few times and hired a double decker bus on two occasions to take people from Blackpool to watch us. Our last ever gig was also out of town, in Preston.

++ And what were the best gigs you remember? Any anecdotes you can share?

My favourite gig was when we supported The New Fast Automatic Daffodils in the Arena at the Winter Gardens. We were fans of the Fads, and that night we played particularly well and it was just a great atmosphere with such a large audience. Back stage we got on really well with the Fads. We played an impromptu game of Cricket with them using balls from a ball pool and Dolan offered to lend me his Tele if I broke a string as we both only had one guitar each at the time – incredible!! They were playing a few weeks later at the Sugarhouse in Lancaster and they put me on the guest list.
We also supported the Mock Turtles in the Tower Ballroom. The contrast between them and the Fads could not have been more marked. Whilst we were playing our set and still within the allotted time, with our fans enjoying themselves on the dance floor, a member of the Turtles came on stage and turned our backline off mid song!!!! Nuff said!!!! However our most memorable gig, perhaps for the wrong reasons, was probably on an occasion when we played at the famous Blackpool venue ‘The Tache’. A Manchester band was supporting us that night. They hadn’t gone down too well and as soon as we started playing we filled the dance floor. An angry fan of the other band came to the front of the stage and started to spit at Pete and basically act aggressively. I think he then went and got an ash tray and through that at Pete, and we could see Pete getting angrier and angrier. This guy moved away presumably to get more ammunition. This coincided with an instrumental break in the song. Pete who by now was furious jumped off the stage and hit the bloke to the ground. We all looked at each other in disbelief at which point our fans piled in as a mass scrap ensued on the dance floor. We carried on playing not really knowing what to do. Just as the next verse was due to start Pete managed to get up, from under the pile of bodies, jump back on stage and sing. It couldn’t have been better choreographed! After the gig this oldish drunken guy came up to me. He looked me in the eye, put his hand on my shoulder and said ‘hey lad, that was the best f*****g gig I’ve been to since I saw the Sex Pistols!!!!!!!!!!’

++ There are a bunch of videos of a gig of yours in 1990 at the Winter Gardens. It looks like a lot of fun! The crowd is really having a great time. Would this be a good example of a regular Rik Rak gig? And how was that gig in particular?

Absolutely, we were supporting Cud that night. Yes, that is an example of the normal reaction we received at our gigs and as you can see everyone was up and dancing. That was a good night, though as we were supporting, we only played for around 35 minutes or so.

++ When and why did Rik Rak stop making music? Were you involved in any other bands afterwards?

We had toyed with getting a manager, and got as far as having a contract assessed by the Musicians Union, and done all we could to promote ourselves. I guess it all started to get a little stale and we weren’t enjoying ourselves as much as we had. So we decided to call it a day. We all in various capacities carried on playing. Karl most notably went on to drum in the Nature Things for around 3 years. Bryan joined them briefly too. They had a 4 track EP on Action Records which had air time on Radio 1 including John Peel’s show, an article in Metal Hammer, which stated something along the lines of ‘at last an Indie Band with balls’ and they got to support a good number of bands including Blur, PJ Harvey, Senseless Things, Boo Radleys, Slowdive, Lush etc. I played in a band called ‘K’ that produced an album called ‘Sense’ to good reviews and played all over the country headlining gigs at such notable venues as the Borderline Club in London (twice), Duchess of York in Leeds, Hibernian in Birmingham, Queens University Belfast, Durham University, Edinburgh, headlined the Summer Madness festival in Northern Ireland and a trip to Germany too. We used Ocean Colour Scenes old touring van!! We also were due to support Chumbawamba, Saturday night mainstage at the Greenbelt Festival in 1995, but they had to pull out at the last minute and we supported the Acid Jazzers the ‘James Taylor Quartet’ instead, which was great as I was fan. That was to a capacity crowd of around 16K, who moshed away to our music. I have some great video footage to show the grand kids (if I ever have any)!!!!!! Pete has carried on writing, recording and playing in various bands and as a solo artist and Linda played in a number of combos around Blackpool during the 1990s.

++ Has there ever been a reunion? Or talks of playing again together?

We have laughed about it, but no more!! We lost a musician friend in a tragic accident a number of years ago and Pete and I did at least one Rik Rak number at a special event in his memory but that has been it.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio or press?

We were extremely well supported by local press but not so much by the local radio stations unfortunately

++ What about from fanzines?

Most of the local fanzines tended to cater for the ‘punk’ side of things which we clearly didn’t identify with.

++ Looking back in retrospective, what would you say was the biggest highlight for the band?

I guess knowing that people genuinely liked our music and it is certainly a great privilege to be remembered so proactively via the release of this new album. So big thanks to Uwe at Firestation Records for approaching us and making this all happen.

++ Been in the UK many times but never visited your area. So maybe I can ask for some suggestions? Like what are the sights I shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks that you love that I should try?

Blackpool is pretty unique. Google it and have a look!!! It is dominated by Blackpool Tower completed in 1894. The Winter Gardens is an amazing piece of architecture built even earlier in the 1870s. Seriously worth a visit. If you like Rollercoasters and other rides you need to check out the Pleasure Beach. Traditional food would be ‘Fish and Chips’. It does of course get a mention in our song ‘Sometime in the Sunshine’ – ‘whatever the weather, we’ll eat chips together’ they are nothing like French Fries!!!! I could take you to some real ale pubs which I think you would enjoy.

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Only to say thank you so much for your interest and if you do venture up to Blackpool, let us know and we will show you around. I am sure Bryan would love to drive you around in his 1960s Mustang!!!!!!!

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Listen
Rik Rak – It’s Not Easy

Spent more than a few hours working on Cloudberry stuff. Writing the insert for the BV’s upcoming 7″ and working on the art for two upcoming retrospectives on the Cloudberry Kitchen series. And also I will, after writing this post, get on writing an interview for a classic band from the mid/late 80s. But I’m having a bit of trouble coming up for questions, other than the obvious ones. I need some vacations soon. I’ve been very busy at work. And also have been seeing friends and family visiting New York, so I haven’t had much time in my hands for the past month. Things are moving a bit slower than I want.  But still, the good thing is that things go forward. That’s what’s important.

I have a few finds for this weekend of course.

La Internacional Pesmista / Las Cosas que Dejamos: Stupid Decisions is an online Mexican label and has put up a two song split by La Internacional Pesimista (Mexico) and Las Cosas que Dejamos (Argentina). The songs are “No Hay Pop” and “Playas”. Never heard any of these bands so will need to have a good look at their respective Bandcamps.

San Charbel: another song on this Mexican netlabel is the newest track by San Charbel from Mexico. I have recommended this band in the past so it is no surprise I’m enjoying this new song “Siempre Te Admiré”. The Bandcamp says this is the first single for the new record the band is working on.

Cacao Reading Club: “Sixteen” is the online single this Ukrainian band has put together for the label Dobryi Records from Kiev. Any money out of this song will be going to support social, cultural, ecological projects at Big Idea, Ukraine. That’s a nice thing. And also a good thing is listening this lovely bedroom pop track.

Spiera: some dreamy pop from Canton in Ohio. There are the first four songs that appear by this band on Bandcamp. Sadly there is absolutely no information about who are the people behind it. But there are four songs as I mentioned, “Vertigo”, “Reach”, “Float” and “Changes”. Worth checking them out.

Rémi Parson: the new album by our French friend is out now. It is called “Arrière-Pays” and it is out now on ISOLAA records. I’m sharing a video for the song “Le Petit Jour” as I couldn’t find a Bandcamp or something similar, but there is a link with all of the digital platforms if that’s your thing. In any case, the video is fantastic and I see familiar places in it, making me nostalgic of course of the days of The Sunny Street and concerts in London. Oh. It’s been such a long time since I’ve visited. I’m not sure if the record is available yet in physical format, but as soon as I know I’ll let you know. The good thing is that it is sounding great.

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Let’s take a time warp to 1984. To the United Kingdom. Somewhere in England? Perhaps. That is not clear as I write the first lines of this post. I don’t know anything about Accent. Nor I own the only 7″ they released that year. This will be a proper indiepop archaeology dig.

They put out their record on Motion Records with the catalog Motion 111. It looks, according to Discogs, that this is the only release on this label. It kind of sounds as it was a self-release. There are no other clues there.

We do know that two songs were included in the record, “We Are Lost” on the A side, and “(Intro) Blue & Royal Line” on the B side. I’ve never had the chance to listen to the B side. The A side is brilliant. And that’s what matters. Happily the sleeve offers some more information.

The sleeve has on the front a great purple tinted photo, with a bunch of kids, having fun. The back is blue with what looks like a story (or maybe the lyrics for the B side?) and a drawing of a turnip (or a raddish? I’m not very good with vegetables). But we do find out here that the two songs were recorded at Abbey Road and produced by Tony Clark. The band thanks a Robin Yates and we know the first song was published by Patch Music.

But best of all we find the band members names: Brian Rydell (vocals), Mick Robinson (guitar), Steve Flynn (bass) and Chris Munday (drums). We also know that “We Are Lost” was written by Robinson and Rydell.

A comment on Discogs mentions that the band had a very large following in London. Does this mean they hailed from the capital of England? Or close-by? Let’s keep investigating.

Discogs lists Brian Rydell as a solo artist too, releasing a 7″ single with the songs “The Passage” and “Orchestration” released in 1987 on Aria Records. On the credits for the songs we see again the names Rydell and Robinson. This is going to be a lot of help!

Indeed, my hunch is right. On this same label, Aria, there is a band called Turquoise Blue who released two records. Guess what. Turquoise Blue are Brian and Mick making synth pop! And they even cover “We Are Lost”. First they would release in 1986 the 7″ single “In the End/In the End (Instrumental)” and afterwards the “We Are Lost” 7″ and 12″! The 7″ including “We Are Lost” and “We Are Lost (Instrumental)” while the 12″ had the same tracklist but an extended version of the original on the A side. The song is a bit different to the Accent one, there are more arrangements, like there is a cello now, or female backing vocals! Still it is as enjoyable as the original! There would also be a re-release of the 12″ with two new remixes of the song, a “New Mix” and the “Original Orchestration” mixes.

I start to wonder what happened to Chris Munday and Steve Flynn? Did they also formed a band or went to join one? And how did Turquoise Blue do? It seems that they changed their style and their sound, maybe looking to get signed by a bigger label?

I find a Google profile for Chris Munday where there are a bunch of photos of Accent at Abbey Road studios. I’m using one of them for my post. I also see that Chris gives us some dates. He drummed for Accent between 1982 and 1985. Were these the years the band was active? He also played drums for the punk band Fear in 1981.

I find an odd Wiki where it mentions that the band was based in West London and that they played Chelsea F.C.’s Stamford Bridge ground. That must have been something!

I was going to stumble upon an even better find. An article written by Mick Habeshaw Robinson on the webzine 3am Magazine. He tells the story of the band here, how they convinced Gary Bushell of the Sounds magazine to like them through a fanzine called In The Crowd. Accent had the chance then to grace the cover of the Sounds magazine. Quite a feat! I found a picture of it for the interest. Then they managed to get a deal with Stuarts clothing shop on Uxbridge Rd to get some cool outfits.

They played Fulham Greyhound, Kings Head and they created the Casual Beat club. Pat Nevin also wrote about them. It seems there was a longer article somewhere in the Heavenly Records website. I have yet to find it.

Then I find an interview with Ginger Mick as he was usually called on the Vera Shoes website. He now lives in Brighton and opened the rock n’roll Hotel Pelirocco.

There is an interview with him too at the Vivid Riot blog. Here he mentions that he lived in Fulham, was a follower of Chelsea and used to shop at Stuarts, Aquasctum, Scotch House, Gee2 for his clothes. He mentions that all four members of Accent were friends and had been in different bands. Brian and himself were the original members and wrote the songs. Steve was an old mate from school and Chris came to the band through an advert in a music paper. They played 50 odd gigs.

The Casuals scene seems to be more or less documented, and that helps me find out more about Accent. There is even a DVD Documentary called Casuals were Accent is featured. There is a promo video for Accent in the documentary which I found on Youtube and it is really great. I should try to find myself a DVD copy of it!

Quite a lot found about Accent. I thought they’d be more obscure to be honest. I do wonder though if they recorded more songs other than the two that appeared on the 7″. They must have! At least some demos. And why did they go as a duo afterwards and even re-released “We Are Lost”?  There are many questions still that I hope I get to know the answers soon!

Do you Londoners remember them?

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Listen
Accent – We Are Lost

Hope to be working on new releases this weekend, it’s been quite a busy week for me but I’m trying to get everything in a good spot. I do have a few interviews coming up, and need to write a few more which I hope I can these two days. I still have lots of posts kind of ready which helps, but I’m afraid at some point I may need to slow the pace. We’ll see. In the meantime I’m sharing a few new finds of course.

The Ocean Blue: there is a new song and video by the classic American jangle pop band and it is called “Therein Lies the Problem With My Life”. The song will be included in a compilation called “Korda 4 comp” that will be released by Korda Records on October 12th. More on that on the next item.

Korda 4 comp: so I wanted to share the video of the Ocean Blue but now I want to share the whole compilation which is available to stream on Bandcamp. It is brilliant and it includes so many classic bands like The Hang Ups, The Jim Ruiz Group and of course The Ocean Blue. It looks to be only available digitally at the moment, but hopefully it will get a physical release.

Tracyanne & Danny: saw them a few months back and loved the gig. Their album is superb and now they treat us with a new video for one of the best songs on the album, “Cellophane Girl”. Even better lots of footage of New York on the video, felt very much at home seeing Tracyanne and Danny getting food at the taco truck.

Dukla: some interesting pop from Prague, Czechia by the band Dukla here. The album “Život perfektní” that was released on September 14th is their latest work. I don’t know much about them but it seems that the record is out now on Theremin Records. The band is formed by Lukas Vydra and Josef Hradlek. 8 songs on the album and more releases are available on their Bandcamp.

Los Reyna: “Estaciones” is the name of the album this guitar pop band from Mexico City released last September. There are 9 songs of sweet pop tunes in the vein of late 90s and early 2000s Spanish indiepop. The band was formed in 2010 and have more than a handful of other releases under their belt.

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I think I have mixed feelings with this 90s Gothenburg band. I like a bunch of their songs but I never got used to their band name. Saliva? Sounds like a metal band to me! Doesn’t it? I mean, the band does list hard rock an influence, and many of their songs are not exactly poppy. But still, it is strange, isn’t it?

I know of this band because they were the first band on the catalog of Dorian Records. Dorian Records being the label of one of my heroes, Roger Gunnarsson from Nixon, The Garlands, Cloetta Paris, Dune, etc, etc, etc. So of course I was going to have a listen. And it was the song “Tender Castration” the first one I ever heard. That one appeared on the compilation “A Chance to Shine. A Dorian Records Compilation” (Dorian 002) that was released in 1996. But it is not my favourite song of theirs.

That “prize” goes to “Turn Off the Engine, Dear”, a sort of Orange Juice-y song that appears on their one and only proper record, an EP titled “Hooligan at Heart”. This song I heard for the first time on Youtube, I believe uploaded there by the great Jörg Winzer. The EP, as mentioned, was released on Dorian Records also in 1996 and had the catalog number Dorian 01. It  was released on CD and included 4 songs: “Turn Off the Engine, Dear”, “Whoever You Are, I’m Your Neighbour”, “Polyester Convention, (Des Moines)” and “To Erase You”. The sleeve, showing a guy in a bathing suit on the cover, does have some information on the back.

The band members were Fredrik Berggren on guitar, Henrik Edberg on guitar, Patrik Landgren on vocals, Tobias Mattson on drums and Erik Norinder on bass. For these recordings Jimmi Hardberg played piano and Annika Rolandsson backing vocals. The four songs were recorded at Studio Lare in Gothenburg and were mixed by Stefan Svensson. They were mastered at Digitalfabriken by Kenetth Svensson. And an address letting us know that the band hailed from Gothenburg.

Almost immediately I stumble upon a SoundCloud page for the band put up by Fredrik Berggren. Here there are in total 5 songs put together in a playlist called “the Complete Work 1992-1995”. That is odd because some of the songs from the EP are missing. In any case we can assume that the band only lasted those years. The songs available to stream are “Tender Castration”, “To Erase you”, “Twinsoul Lulu”, “Turn Off the Engine, Dear” and “Coming Home Being Good”.  It’s been 7 years since these were uploaded.

But the band didn’t stop their digital expansion there. They are also on Facebook. Here in the band members section they mention more people like Per Strömberg, Pekka Häkkinen, Erik Jacobsson and Henrik Edberg. At what point were they in the band? I could find a photo of Per Strömberg playing drums in the band in 1994.

There is a photo of a demo tape with “new” songs. On the A side there’s “Turn Off the Engine, Dear”, “In Between Smiles” and “Nothing, Really”. The B side has “Making Annie Glad”, “Twinsoul Lulu” and “Coming Home Being Good”. There are also photos of press clippings, for example one from Göteborgs Posten dating from sometime in 1996 and more.

There is a compilation CD where the band appeared with their two hardest songs, “Twinsoul Lulu” and “Coming Home Being Good”. It is no surprise then that this compilation is “Rockslaget 1994” and it has a bunch of hard rock bands in it. Not for me definitely.

I don’t know what happened to them afterwards. Or if they were involved in any other bands. What are they doing now? And I’m very curious still about the mixed bag of styles they played. They could play some songs very influenced by Morrissey, The Smiths or Orange Juice and then have some songs that sound like a heavy metal band. It is odd. I wonder what sort of crowd they used to have. And how come they didn’t get to do more releases? No other compilation appearances?

I’m sure some Göteborgare readers must remember them!

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Listen
Saliva – Turn Off the Engine, Dear

Not much going on today, no updates, kind of a quiet start of fall, but at least here are five good finds, right?

The Reds, Pinks & Purples: I recommended the DIY pop project of Glenn Donaldson from the Art Museums some weeks ago. He has just uploaded a new song to his Bandcamp and it may as well be my favourite song of his so far. It is called “Uncommon Weather (demo)” and it sounds like classic indiepop, jangly and chiming. Everything to like about this song.

Dylan Mondegreen: “A Place in the Sun” will be the new album that the Oslo popster will release on November 9th! There are two songs to stream and preview at the moment in his Bandcamp, the song that gives title to the album and “The Best Thing”. The album will be released by Fastcut Records and himself.  It will be available on both vinyl and CD. Pre-orders available now too.

The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness/The Tree House: months ago I discovered on Soundcloud The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness and thought it was brilliant. They mentioned they had a single in the works. Was this split the one? I don’t know The Tree House who contribute here the song “All I Understand” but I’m very happy to meet them for the first time. I wasn’t aware that Pretty Olivia was going to release this record. Now I really need it. Javi how do we do?!

Gascoigne: a new Indonesian band I discover. And has an English footballer name. Of course I like that. They have a song now called “Roadburner 3000” that is available on the Jakarta label Anoa Records. The band is formed by Alvi Ifthikhar, Dimaz Hafizhan and Zaka Sandra Novian.

James Katy / Cosmos, Astrid and Me: Just the one song to stream, “Vanilla”, out of an 8-song album, but it sounds pretty good so I thought it was worth recommending.  From what I read, this is a collaboration of Juan Ignacio Miranda from Cosmos, Astrid and Me and Liz Gavillet of James Katy. I don’t know any of their bands so I will have to check them out. The album “Teeth” will be released on October 16th.

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I read a comment on Discogs after following a trail about the band Unity & Fire. It says:
Looks like some lost 80’s indie band in front of Dudley castle, but sounds like a sub Duran Duran band.
Please dont let that put off you potential sellers putting “rare C86” on your listings though 😉

I don’t know if it is Dudley Castle where the band took the photo for their one and only 7″. I do see some stone bricks behind them but it is hard for me to know what structure is that one. But it is a probability. You see the band hailed from Birmingham. And Dudley is not that far away. Then, if they are a c86 band or not, I’ll let you decide. I’ve only heard the B side of their 7″, “Nothing Brings You Nothing”, and I could say it probably isn’t, but it doesn’t take away that it is a good guitar pop song.

The A side for the single was “I Know a Girl”. The record was put out by Delicious Records (WG0101) in 1988. It looks as a self-release. Maybe the band put together the money and sent their two songs to press. Then sell these 7″s at their gigs. Who knows.

From the black and white sleeve we know they were a five-piece formed by:
Stephen Burns on fretless bass
Ian Foster on drums
Tony Buckley on vocals
Bob Murray on lead guitar
Dave Lillis on keyboards

We know too that the band recorded and produced both songs at Kings Recording in Birmingham.

Yeah, I don’t own the record. I have found some scans of the record on the brilliant and now defunct From a Northern Place blog. I never knew who run the blog. Would have been nice to have chatted. Oh well. On the blog there are not only scans from the record sleeve, but also of what looks like a fanzine.

On this fanzine there is some information about them. Even though it is not dated we see that the band played a gig at The Railway pub in Birmingham and had played all over the Midlands. Other gigs mentioned are ones at the Curzon Street pub, The Kaleidoscope (where they met their manager), and the West End Bar. They had a manager called Kev Mitchell. Then there is a small bio where it says that the band formed in March 1987 by Tony, Steve, Dave and Ian.

Then, the question would be when did they split? What happened to them? There is nothing written about them on the web. We don’t know if the band members continued making music with other bands. Maybe some of my Birmingham readers remember them? Were they more of a guitar pop band? or as that Discogs comment say a sub Duran Duran?

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Listen
Unity & Fire – Nothing Brings You Nothing