What a gig by Alvvays on Friday. I think I’m liking them much more now. Lots of energy, brilliant songs and they all seemed friendly and humble (no, I didn’t interact with them, but that was the impression I got anyways). Definitely would have been nice to talk about music and stuff, I’m quite curious about their Hummingbirds fandom for example. They played once again “Alimony” to end the concert and dedicated the song to Simon. Or about Dolly Mixture which I read they just got into (I think, if my memory is not playing me tricks). In any case I had such a good time watching them.

Sadly I was unhappy with the venue and the public. Some moron pushed me asking me to put my phone down when I was recording “Archie, Marry Me”. Sure it can be annoying sometimes, but just move. Or just have some manners and ask nicely. I don’t understand these people that think they own the world and things have to be done their way. I sure don’t see them in small indiepop gigs, where people are more intelligent. At bigger gigs you can encounter stupid people more easily. Just a matter of demographics.

At the end of the gig I approached the stage to get a setlist. There was a sort of barrier that separated the stage from the floor so you couldn’t reach the setlists. There were also bouncers there. This was at Warsaw Concerts, a really cool place that I haven’t been in the past. I liked the place, it was spacious, nice bar, even a place to sit down and enjoy kielbasa and pierogies, all in the heart of Greenpoint. Well, first the bouncers wouldnt just grab the setlist and give them to me (or any of the fans that wanted them). Then the bouncers, being brainless and all having no sense of anything, ask the people that were putting putting away the cables, instruments, on stage if they could get the setlists. These people were even meaner. There were like 6 or so setlists on stage but with such a bad attitude gave two to the bouncers which in turn were given to a few fans. But there were more and I asked nicely to one of these people to hand me one and he said he couldn’t touch them or give them away. Why? He wouldn’t say. Just mean. These papers are going to end up in a trash bin. What does it matter to them? That ruins the experience for the fan. These sort of people that don’t understand gigs or music shouldn’t be allowed.

Again, Alvvays were fantastic, and they don’t have any responsibility about the things I’m complaining. What a good band. Now I understand why they could be so popular, among people that wouldn’t care about indiepop. Then Hatchie was a nice surprise, it was short but sweet. Not strictly indiepop, but it was good pop music, with catchy melodies and all. The one band that I didn’t like was Snail Mail. They did seem to have a big following, people knowing the lyrics and buying their records afterwards. But I couldn’t stand how the vocals were delivered, with all that growling. That’s not for me.

It was a great night in the end. I think even though I didn’t like some stuff out of it, Alvvays being that good could make it all worth it.

Oh and here are some good finds I made this weekend:

The Catherines: Let’s start this week listening to the latest by the Hamburg bedroom pop band that seems to be featured all the time on the blog. Well, they are pretty prolific so doesn’t leave me much space to keep saying check them out every time there’s a new song. This time they have put on on Bandcamp yet another song with a good title, “She has a knack for seeing other people’s faults” and it does sound brilliant.

The Wedding Present/Cinerama: well the 7″ is sold out now, and I missed it. This is the last 7″ of the 7777777 series that the London based label WIAWYA has been putting out and that has included so many great names. For this latest one each of the David Gedge bands, Wedding Present and Cinerama have contributed a song. The Wedding Present has the song “White Riot” and Cinerama “The Name of the Game”. At this point only the latter one is available to stream on the label’s Bandcamp.

Saint Etienne: and the previous 7″ in this series was by the superb London trio that I just saw in New York a few weeks back. Sadly this one is also sold out. I wonder how they do it! So fast. I think I read about these releases like a week ago. And me being slow only during the weekend I can sit down and check the music out. Maybe I should start buying things blindly like I did 10, 12 years ago. Anyways, you can stream one of the songs included in the 7″ which is called “Little Chef” which is instrumental (so I’m not crazy about it) but the 7″ included another one called “Camel Coat (Browning version)” which I hope has Sarah’s vocals.

Yukla Down: upbeat and energetic noisy pop from this Tokyo band I just discovered. Their debut work is the 3 song EP “In Demonstration” that is available to listen on their Bandcamp, the songs being “Torture Me (With your Kiss)”, “If You Only Knew” and “Borealis”. Don’t know much about them, but I can tell you that they are formed by Bun (vocals/guitar/tambourine clown), Kenny (guitar/interstellar noise), Ouji (guitar/box-to-box midfielder), Victor (bass/Russian poetry) and Sam (drums/jingle bells).

Les Big Byrd: “Iran Iraq IKEA” is the new album by this cool sounding psychedelic guitar pop band from Stockholm, Sweden. It is coming out on October 12 on the PNKSLM label and will include 9 tracks, including their previous single “A Little More Numb”. The band is formed by Jocke Åhlund, Nino Keller, Frans Johansson and Martin “Konie” Ehrencrona, and previously have released a couple of 7″s and the 2014 album “The Worshipped Cats”.

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Carlow is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km from Dublin. At the 2016 census, it had a combined urban and rural population of 24,272. The county of Carlow has a population of 56,932. The River Barrow flows through the town, and forms the historic boundary between counties Laois and Carlow. The settlement of Carlow is thousands of years old and pre-dates written Irish history. The town has played a major role in Irish history, serving as the capital of the country in the 14th century. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish Ceatharlach. Historically, it was anglicised as Caherlagh, Caterlagh and Catherlagh, which are closer to the Irish spelling.

It is the first time I’m featuring a band from Carlow in Ireland. I needed some background information. Try to transport myself geographically. Hopefully one day I visit the town physically. I read a comment on Youtube saying that Carlow during the 80s was sort of an epicenter of all things rock. I wonder what other bands were part of that scene.

I know the one, Azure Days, which I first heard on Youtube, on the Stoneeyedkiller channel. But I have realized today that I don’t know much about them. It is hard to keep track. So many brilliant bands, right? I feel in the end this blog is kind of the way I’m tracking the bands I like and follow. So I’m adding Azure Blue to that collection.

The Irish band released two singles. One was a 7″ the other a CD single. The first one was a 7″ and included two songs, “Blew My Clouds Away” 0n the A side and “My Mexican” on the B side. It was released by Mystery Records (MRS 15) in 1987. This label is unknown to me but I do notice that most of their releases were of the artist Mary Caughlan.

The band was originally formed by Liam O’Brien on guitar, Gala Hutton on bass and a vocalist called Joe Downey. Then Hutton left the band to attend college and was replaced on bass by Ray Lowry. That must have been 1985 or so. I say that because it is in 1986, towards the end of that year, that Gala Hutton returns to the band as a vocalist replacing Joe. Gerry Farrell on drums completed the lineup.

The band got to be finalists of the Carling/Hot Press Band of the Year competition in 1986 and won this prize in June 1987. That same year the band relocated to Dublin and released their first single, the aforementioned “Blew My Clouds Away”.

That single was produced by Leo Kelly and David Donahue. It was engineered by Catherine Considine and recorded and mixed at Lansdowne Studios, between the 26 and the 30th of September of 1987. The photos of the back members on the back of the sleeve are credited to Michael J Quinn. I hope one day I can find a copy of this record for myself!

The band was to record four Fanning Sessions. I need to find the tracklist for these. On Irishrock.org they mention that one of the songs on these sessions was called “Pale Green Visions”. They also mention an unreleased demo called “Sweetest Chain”.

The band then moved to London, trying to make a career. But it didn’t work out. Liam O’Brien would leave the band now and the Azure Days became a trio. Without success the band decided to return to Ireland in 1991 and split up.

Before that happened the band had released their 1991 CD single in the UK. The four songs on it were “Anything For You”, “Azure Daze”, “White Horses” and “Black Down to Justice”. It was released by the label Grapes (GRAPESCD6).

But that wasn’t all. There are two compilation appearances at least for the band.

The first dates from 1987, the LP compilation “Comet LP Two” released by Comet Records (COME 2 TP). On it the band contributed the song “The Old Tradition”.

The second is from 1992, when the band was no more I think. It was a CD compilation released by A2Z Music Services called “Music From Ireland (Breaking Sound Barriers)” (BSBCD1). The band contributed the song “Anything For You” that had appeared on their CD single.

We also know that after the band split Ray Lowry and Gerry Farrell went to play in the band The Floors while Gala Hutton was part of 79Cortinaz, The Trains and Sugar Factory.

The great Fanning Sessions blog has a post about them as well where you can stream the songs “The Old Tradition” and “Blew My Clouds Away”. Then another, a second post, with the song “She Won’t Come Again“. There are a few more interesting details here too. For example we know that Gerry Farrell was to be in the band Skindive.

Other interesting details are that Leo O’Kelley who produced the first single and was part of the band Tír na NÓg, recorded a cover of “Blew My Clouds Away” in 2002, and that according to Wikipedia the drummer Robbie Robinson was part of the recordings of the first 7″ and was in the band The Practical Householders.

But that’s not all. I was to find a super live performance of the band playing “Back Down to Justice” at the RTE TV programme “Visual Eyes” in 1986. Someone there commented that this is the “original” lineup of the band with Joe Downey on vocals, Ger Downey on 2nd guitar, Liam “Tweedy” O’Brien, Gerry Farrell and Ray Lowry.

That is not all the live footage on the web. There’s another track, “Written in the Sky“, being played at the RTE TV show “Live on the Waterfront” in 1992.

I keep looking. Then I find about a gig at the Sir Henry’s Grand Parade in Cork where Azure Days played alongside Therapy, Lir, The Sultans of Ping and Toasted Heritic on Sunday June 2nd 1991. The previous day, as part of the festival, The Cranberries had played. Indeed, these were different times.

That’s what there is written about them. I hope to interview them and find out more about the Azure Days. About the Fanning Sessions, what songs were included in each session. If they had more unreleased tracks. Why so many lineup changes? How was their move to Dublin first, and to London second. How were those experiences? There are many questions I’d love to ask. Who remembers them?

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Listen
Azure Days – Blew My Clouds Away

Looking forward to a nice weekend. A weekend to rest. Today I will be attending the Hatchie & Alvvays gig and that should be good. Quite excited as I haven’t seen any of them in the past. I think it is Hatchie’s first time in the US and Alvvays for some reason or another I never saw in New York. I believe I had worked once with Hatchie, when she was part of Go Violets and included a song on a CD that came alongside a fanzine. Would have loved to put out more Go Violets stuff but that didn’t happen. Anyways… here are some good finds for you to enjoy this weekend!

DEAF: Luke Kavanagh on guitar and vocals, Hayden Ellis on bass, Craig Rattray on drums, Ma Machray on synth and Jarrod Crossland also on synths make up this Wellington band that have two terrific songs on Bandcamp. I’m checking their latest one called “Shards” and it is truly a surprise. I don’t think there are any phyiscal releases yet, but we should keep an eye on them.

Lo! Peninsula: this is a first for the blog, the first band from India being featured here! This band formed by Nitin, Jyotin and Avinash from the city of Imphal have a new EP called “Aka Lo Peninsula” that was just put up on Bandcamp last August. There are 6 songs total of classy shoegaze! Pretty interesting, I wonder if there is a guitar pop scene in India? Anyone knows?

Juárez: I should have been following in a better way the label Caballito Records from Spain. For example I would have known that I needed the 8-song 12″ record by Juárez called “Boreal”. A collection of songs packed with brilliant jangle pop that I need in my collection. Now, what’s the best way to get this Spanish label’s releases?

Papa Top & Yurena: today I saw that Papa Topo are going to be playing some gigs in Argentina and Chile, how cool! But the latest recording-wise by the band is a digital single called “Ese Hombre” played in duo with Yurena. This song, originally written by Manuel Alejandro and Ana Magdalena and made famous by Rocío Jurado, is included in the new movie by Marc Ferrer “Puta y Amada”.

Pete Astor: as part of the WIAIWYA 7″ singles collection that have featured so far top bands like The Orchids or Spearmint, Pete Astor from The Weather Prophets and The Loft is releasing two songs in this format. They are “Peter Cook” and “Petrol and Ash”. Right now only the second one is available to stream but it is a nice low-key song.

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Now a 7″ that any of you might be aware of because of its connection with the band Flying Saucer Attack. I must say that I have arrived late to the party and it is now the first time I’m listening some of the songs on it. I should also try to track a copy, right? My economy needs to get better to buy all the records I want!

Released by Hobby Horse Records (SRT5KS387) in 1985 the “Up and Down” EP is a mystery to me. The sleeve is mysterious, with what looks like a cave opening on the front, and the band outside a small tunnel on the back, all printed in black and white. The song titles are also enigmatic, don’t you think? The A side having “Up and Down” and “Visiting a House” while the B side has “Waiting” and “Arabelle”.

Of course this label only released this record. It is safe to assume it is a self-release. The sleeve doesn’t have any information about the band. One of the labels has a knight armor while the other one, the name of the songs on handwriting. But we do know, through many comments about this record that David Pearce played guitar on it before forming Flying Saucer Attack.

There used to be a Flying Saucer Attack early year essay on the website Caught by The River. Haven’t been able to find it. But on it, according to Factmag, Pearce mentions a meeting with John Peel, who politely explained to Pearce that their Ha Ha Ha EP was “just too shambolic for the radio”. Years later, Flying Saucer Attack eventually won him over and received radio play.

There is another mention by Pearce about Ha Ha Ha. It is on an article on the Quietus. Here he says that he remembers being in Ha Ha Ha [who became Rosemary’s Children] and we borrowed this reel-to-reel four-track because gear was so expensive back then, and it had that awful boxy, clunky sound.

So, some of Rosemary’s Children were on Ha Ha Ha? Who exactly? I suppose Robert Dimery, why? Because it is worth noting too that the Rosemary’s Children recorded a cover of Ha Ha Ha. The song “Visiting A House” was covered on the album “Kings and Princes” that was released in 1987. This song appears on the album credited to Robert. Meaning most probably then that Robert wrote it while in Ha Ha Ha.

What about Toby Chislett? I know Dave Pearce wrote at least one song for them “W.W.1” alongside Robert. Maybe I should do a post about the fantastic Rosemary’s Children sometime. Maybe by figuring out some details about them I could put together a better picture of Ha Ha Ha?

It does seem like Ha Ha Ha is just a footnote on David’s career. That is strange. I find this record quite good myself. Well, the two songs which I’ve been lucky to listen on the web, which are the two that are on the A side.

There’s not much more written about them as I expected. It is kind of forgotten. Definitely would like to know who were the band members. If they recorded more songs. Where were they based. All of the basic details. Even from what year to what year were they active. If they were gigging continuously. It’d be fantastic to find out. In the meantime perhaps I should prepare a post about the Rosemary’s Children? What do you say? Anyone remember Ha Ha Ha?

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Listen
Ha Ha Ha – Up and Down

Good morning. Or good afternoon? Or good night? I hope readers all over the world are still checking the blog now and then. There is not much news on the Cloudberry side, just working on a couple of future releases, finalizing the tracklists and artwork, so I hope soon Ill be announcing something. In the meantime, I keep finding good music to share. Hope you enjoy it.

Airport: what a lovely discovery. Airport are a Portland, Oregon, band and they have a bunch of songs on their Bandcamp but I’m checking their latest album “Canary Island Breakfast” which was released this past September 15th on tape. There are 10 songs of jangle pop with the great vocals by Rachel Zakrasek. Joining here are Vincent Ballowe, Jake Pettit and Mike Artinian. Pretty pretty good.

Fritz: “Summer Holiday” is the latest track by this Newcastle, Australia, band and it sounds brilliant! You know I am sucker for jangly pop and female vocals, upbeat melodies and catchy and smart lyrics. Everything is in here. It is really cool that behind this song there is just one person, a girl, called Tilly Murphy. So talented! I will keep an eye on her future releases!

The Mayfields: I just found out that the classic English band will be releasing a compilation on Firestation Records in the near future and that’s great news. I had been hoping such. a compilation for a long time, even having offered some of the members to do one, but I suppose releasing on vinyl is a better opportunity for bands. And that’s totally fine. The CD and vinyl compilation is titled “Compact & Bijou” and pre-orders start on October 5th. It includes 16 tracks.

Goosebumps – 25 Years of Marina: the classic German label Marina who I don’t think is as active as it used to be is putting together a special release to celebrate their 25 anniversary. 2 CDs or 3 LPS, whatever format you choose, will include 40 tracks – including many unreleased and rare, plus more than 100 photographs from their archive. Check the teaser on the link.

Mitimitis: I have recommended this Chilean band before, and I’m so happy to see that they have 3 new songs! Again, lo-fi and amateur, twee as it can be, sounding like an 80s tape, like a Corrupt Postman or Positively Teenage band, in Spanish though. Their latest EP is called “Campos de Amberries por Siempre” and it is made available by Gemelo Parásito on the web. I hope some physical format happens for these guys. Good stuff!

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Was looking for the meaning of pinhole burns. According to someone on the internet they are holes caused by bits of smouldering tobacco or dope falling from a joint and burning holes in a shirt. That kind of makes sense. But why a German band would name themselves Rosecoloured Pinholeburns?

I discovered this very obscure band through one of the persons who knows the most about indiepop, Heinz from Hamburg. He uploads all the time true gems to his Youtube channel and travels to every good pop festival there is. Thanks to his archivist work I’ve discovered a trove of great indiepop, much of it coming from obscure tapes from the past decades. It is in one of these tapes, “Wegweiser Durch’s Eiswürfelland”, which  has been featured a bit on the blog, that the band released their only two songs as far as I know. Then they were lost to obscurity.

It doesn’t have to be that way of course. Maybe they get in touch with me on the blog and we can do an interview and find out more. That’d be fantastic. Or even better they get to be part of the new obscure German indiepop compilation I heard the Firestation Records guys are working on. That’d be ace too. Don’t you think?

The compilation name translates roughly as “By the Ice Country’s signpost” or something like that. It is not totally a strange name if you consider the label that put it out was Eiswürfel Tonträger (EIS-2). That is the ice cube label kind of. This label was put together by the people behind the band Die Busfahrer who have also been interviewed on the blog. So there are connections all over the place.

The tape was released in 1992 and included 20 songs. 11 on the A side and 9 on the B side. The Rosecoloured Pinholeburns included two songs on the A side. The first appears as the A4 and was “Kick into his Face”, while the second was the A10, “Act of Revenge”. On this compilation they appear alongside superb bands like Friends Ahoi, Die Blinzelbeeren, Schade Schokolade and more, all of them featured on the blog too. Hey, maybe we are running out of bands? Everyone seems to be on the blog!

There is not much more information about them. The only detail that might prove handy is that both songs are credited to Schlüchtern. Who is he? Or she? And what is the first name?

I’m not sure. What does exist is a place called Schlüchtern in Hesse, Germany. It is a town of about 16,000 people. Just in the middle of Germany. It would be odd that the songs are credited to a town, no? I’m quite sure though that the band hailed from that area though. This is quite the mystery.

Of course, there is nothing at all written about the band nor any mentions. Nothing. At all. So now is the moment for my German friends to help me. Who were these punky pop people behind the Rosecoloured Pinholeburns?

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Listen
Rosecoloured Pinholeburns – Kick Into His Face

Thanks so much to Koichi for the interview! Not too long ago I had interviewed Koichi (and Miki) about the great Japanese band Bitter Cherry Jam and today I thought it would be nice to present you the first band that Koichi was in, Chain Letter. It was a great band, with lovely releases in different labels and compilation appearances. These days Koichi and Miki are busy with yet another pop band, The Vegetablets, which I urge you to discover!

++ Hi Koichi! Thanks so much for being up for this interview after doing the Bitter Cherry Jam not so long ago. How are you doing? Are there any news with your current band The Vegetablets?

We did a gig in July with The Caraway, Three Berry Icecream and Red Go-Cart in Nagoya. We really enjoyed playing songs and the performance of other bands were also wonderful. Osamu of The Caraway is my old friend, and we played my old songs together.

++ I want to get things in order, was Chain Letter your very first band or had you been in other bands before it?

Chain Letter was my solo unit. And yes it was my first music unit.

++ When did Chain Letter start as a band? It wasn’t really a full band but more of a one-man band? It was just you, right? Why did you prefer it that way?

In 1993 I started to make songs for Chain Letter. Yes, Chain Letter was  a one-man band because I preferred making songs and recording them by  myself. I got a Fostex R-8 multitrack recorder, so it became possible.

++ Why the name Chain Letter? 

I took the name from a song by Todd Rundgren. And I preferred weird name.

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

In my room. I listened to my favorite records, and figured out how they were playing. I became to be able to understand how music were made, and  began to play music with my own style. Sometimes Osamu Shimada and Nobuaki Fuaktsu, the original member of the Caraway, were there. We were rock geeks.

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

Todd Rundgren, the Ramones, the Velvet Crush, Teenage Fanclub, BMX Bandits, The Pooh Sticks and many more. I was listening to so many songs then.

++ With the band you released a few 7″s and an album, the first one being the “Oldfashioned Song EP” 7″ released in 1996 on your own Tulip House Records.Was this record the main reason to put together the label?

Yes.

++ Had been there any other releases, perhaps demo tapes, before this record?

No, but a cassette tape Tulip 000 came with the early copies of the 7″. That included 6 songs.

++  Then in 1998 a label called Left Bank released your next 7″, “How Long Can I Be With You EP”. Who were Left Bank Records and how did you know them? 

Msaki Yamaguchi was the owner of Left Bank label. I think he discovered my first 7″ and contacted me. Left Bank also released the records of some other bands like Bobbie’s Rockin’ Chair and 101 Dalmatians, a unit by a member of Johnny Dee.

++ In this record, I noticed in the credits, that Misaki Yamaguchi is credited as director of the record. What did he do for you? 

The songs were recorded myself, but he invested for the record, collected able people and I think he contacted record shops to sell it. I think he did what I couldn’t do.

++ Then your mini-album came out this same year, the “Théâtral Musical”. It was your only CD release. So two questions. First, what do you prefer, CD or vinyl? And second, why only a 6 song mini-album? Why was there never a proper Chain Letter album?

In fact I regret that I released CD then. At that time making CD was not so cheap, and vinyls were becoming popular. I didn’t have enough time and energy to make a full album. And still I think it is not important that records include many songs. Records should have good songs.

++ R0ver Records released in 1999 a two song 7″ called “Prelude to Cherry Letter EP”. I suppose by this time you were already in Cherry Letter and this was a posthumous release? If that is so, why did you all decide to release these songs if Chain Letter was no more?

I married Miki and started Cherry Letter. But before then I already finished the song and alreadly sent it to Kenji Sekioka, the owner of Rover label. And of course Chain Letter was more popular then and people wanted to release Chain Letter’s records. But for artists, current bands are always more important.

++ And who were Rover Records? How did you end up working with them?

Kenji Sekioka was the owner. He also contacted me because he liked my first 7″ I think.

++ The last release by Chain Letter was a split with Jenny on the Planet that was released on your own label. Who were Jenny on the Planet? Were they good friends of yours? Did you play often gigs with them?

Jenny on the Planet was a good band in Osaka. And Masafumi Hiramatsu, he was a bass player for my live performance, planned to release the split 7″. Yes, especially Masafumi knew them better. We played with them in Nara.

++ There are a few compilation appearances by the band, for example you appear on “Picnic Basket”, the classic compilation on Shelflife. All your other songs were released in Japan, so I wonder how did you end up in a US CD?

I don’t know well, but maybe the owner of Shelflife wanted to make a compilation of bands all over the world.

++ Then you appeared on the “9 Pieces of Brownie”, “Fallen Leaves” and “Trolley Bus Music Tour” compilations. Am I missing any other ones? 

“Fallen Leaves”… It’s so long ago, so I don’t remember well. Yes I appeared on “9 pieces of Brownie” and “Trolley Bus Music Tour”. It’s so long ago, so I don’t remember well…

++ Going through your records, I noticed you liked having different people to take care of the artwork. All of them having it’s very own special style, something I kind of do at Cloudberry. How important were the looks, the aesthetics of your records? Did you art direct them or did you let the designer have full control?

Yes, I think the looks of records are important. But once I trust designers, I don’t want to control them. Because as an artist, being controlled is sometimes frustrating.

++ “How Long Can I Be With You” might be my fave Chain Letter song. Any chance you could tell me the story behind this great song?

We were living in the plastic age. Many things were made of plastic. Even our toys were made of plastic. The song are about a dream, but even in my dream I see plastic.

++ If you were to choose your favourite Chain Letter song, which one would that be and why?

Maybe “How Long Can I Be With You”. It is catchy and powerful.

++ And where did you usually record your music? 

In my room.

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

Not at all. I was living in Nara, and we only did a few gigs in Nagoya,
Nara and Osaka.

++ I saw a video of the band playing a gig in Nagoya’s “Club Rock N Roll” in 1998 on Youtube. Looks so cool! Was this an important club for you? What other venues did you usually play at?

It was a normal live music club.

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

I think it was the gig you saw on Youtube.

++ And were there any bad gigs at all? 

Most gigs were not satisfying…

++ When and why did the band stop? When did you start Cherry Letter?

In 1999, I married Miki and started Cherry Letter with a bass player Masafumi Hiramatsu.

++ Did Chain Letter get much attention from the radio or press?

I don’t think so. But some records shops really liked my songs, and helped me a lot.

++ You told me in the previous interview you make video games for old consoles? Are these available somewhere? I’d be curious to see some! 

I made two Famicom/NES games so far, ILEVAN and VEGETABLETS GO. You can just google them.

++ Did you follow the Japanese football team in World Cup? Did you like the participation of the team? Who would be your favourite Japanese football player?

No, I’m not interested in football.

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

Releasing Theatral Musical CD was the biggest highlight.

++ Thanks again Koichi! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

No. Thank you very much for being interested in my music!

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Listen
Chain Letter – How Long Can I Be With You

Start this Monday with the news of the new Sound of Leamington Spa volume. This is the info that is on the Firestation Records website as of now:

The Sound Of Leamington Spa volume 9 – out on 20th of october on cd and limited gatefold-sleeve double vinyl! The vinyl version will contain a secret bonus track! pre-orders starts on 5th of october.

tracklist:
The Flex – You Lose
The Persuaders – You Turn Me On (1986)
Chinese Gangster Element – Joey
Fragile – Time To Be Together
Moloko+ – Never Know What You’ve Got
Spish – Honesty
The Fontaines – I Want Everything
Public Address – James Dean
Queue Dance – Crumbling Town
Circus X3 – Man Like You
This Certain Kind – Unfortunate
Daniel Takes A Train – Wonderland (Original)
Cajun Moon – In The Waves
A Game Of Soldiers – Big Bad Money World
3 Boys & A Girl – I’ll Be Standing There
Ice Factory – Jerusalem
The Dancing Bears – The Lonliest Sound
Future World Moves – Wednesday
Work – That Certain Feeling
Ten Million Quentins – He’s Not Smiling

Quite a few bands that have been featured on the blog, some that have been interviewed too. Wonder if the blog, in any way, helped the Firestation people track down these bands. It does look great, the compilation.

The Catherines: it does look like every time the Hamburg bedroom indiepop band has a new song I recommend it in the blog. Of course I do. The songs are always fresh and great, perfect for any mixtape you might be doing, for any season, for any reason. On top of that their song titles are usually quite smart and whimsical, this time around their new song is called “Why are you always so sarcastic​.​.​. you prick?”, and it is a terrific upbeat pop song. Check it out!

Candy Opera: another piece of news from Firestation Records, is that the label is putting together another release by the superb 80s Liverpool band. The “Rarities LP/CD” is an album full of rare recordings and will be out by the end of October. This very limited release is especially made for their forthcoming gig at the Firestation Records Birthday Allnighter at the Privat Club on 20th of October. Join the gig and buy your copy a week before official release date! “Rarities” will contain 11 tracks including demos and unreleased recordings! No pre-order available for this special release, but remain copies will be available from us from the 26th of October on. Sadly there are no songs to preview this record. Yet.

Astragal: it has been a while since we heard of the Houston band. I really liked their previous recordings and now they have just unveiled a new track on their Bandcamp. It is called “Bloomer” and I’m expecting it to be sort of a teaser for an EP, an album, or even a single. But something! There is not much information about the song, just the lyrics, but it is pretty good. So keep it in repeat?

The Age of Coloured Lizards: once again we get to feature the Oslo noisy band. Their shoegazey sounds are back with 8 new songs that make up their album “Daydreamer”. It looks like it is available right now only digitally, but here I’m hoping they can put it out in some physical format. My favourite songs at first listen? “What’s Wrong” and “Still Around” perhaps? What are yours?

Bad Sav: lastly this wonderful self-titled record by the Dunedin, New Zealand band. It is now available on CD and vinyl LP on Fishrider Records and it is indeed a discovery. I had never heard of this band in the past so facing the band formed by Hope Robertson (guitars, vocals), Lucinda King (bass, vocals) and Mike McLeod (drums) has been definitely a surprise. Here we get treated to 10 songs of guitar driven pop that are enigmatic, difficult sometimes, but rewarding at the same time. Reminding me sometimes of the The album is also available in the UK through Occultation Records.

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Today I have very little to write about as I’m going to tackle a very obscure record. The one and only 7″ released by The Stacks in 1984 on Brand New Records (BN 452). I don’t own it. And I’ve only heard the A side thanks to Youtube. I think it is brilliant, and I’m hoping to get in touch with the band one day to interview them, find out about more. Hence this post.

A 7″ with two songs. That’s all they left us. The songs being “You’re On My Mind” on the A side and “Maybe Monday” on the B side. The front cover of the record shows as a cool photo of the band and the band’s logo. Then the labels of the record tell us two interesting details. Paul Carr wrote “You’re On My Mind” and it was produced by Mike Vernon for Handle Music. The second song, “Maybe Monday” is credited to Trevor Jones and was also produced by Vernon.

So we got two names. Most probably band members. Sadly the back sleeve doesn’t give any other details just that the record was distributed by Pinnacle. That doesn’t help at all. The only other record I know that was released by this label is one by a Chris Farlowe, a 7″ in 1983. So nothing much either.

I look for both names together, and I could find something that might be a clue perhaps. Both names are credited in music/sound duties in a 2006 movie called Stormbreaker. Could these be the same Trevor and Paul? I start to suspect it might be true. I see both names again, working together on the 1998 TV series Merlin featuring Sam Neill and Helena Bonham Carter. Could they really be the same two guys that once were in The Stacks?

I don’t know much more about them. There is a musician Trevor Jones from Cambridge but he doesn’t mention The Stacks in his bio. Probably it is not him. Then there is a Paul Carr, a musician too that seems to have been involved mostly in jazz music in London, playing in the mid 80s in the James Taylor Quartet. Can it be the same Paul? This same Paul is now a professor in Popular Music Analysis in the University of South Wales. Maybe?

Anyone remember them? Where were they from? Did they record any other songs? Any other releases? Other bands they might have been involved? Would love to hear from you!

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Listen
The Stacks – You’re On My Mind

Another week goes by. Not many news on my front but I hope this weekend I can work on the two Cloudberry Cake Kitchen retrospective projects I’m working on. At the moment I have a couple of 7″s in the pipeline but they are just projects. I hope they start happening soon, receiving the songs and start planning some artwork. As soon as any of these become more tangible, I’ll be announcing them on the blog. In any case please remember that we have released this year The County Fathers CD  and the Salt Lake Alley and Okama Flannel Boy 7″s. And you can pre-order the BV’s 7″ as well! So quite a good year I’d say!

So what’s new in indiepop land?

The Natvral: I’m sure if I say Kip Berman you would know who I am talking about. Kip was the vocalist, songwriter, for The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. A band that is dear to Cloudberry as we had the chance to release the first three songs by the band back in 2007. So, with that pedigree, you’d be interested in what Kip is up to these days. He has a new solo project called The Natvral and he is playing a few gigs around the area. And even better he will be releasing a 4 song 7″ on October 5th. One of these songs, “Know Me More”, is available to stream.

Maxillary: Dea, Paw, Ical and Belle form this brilliant sounding band from Jakarta, Indonesia. As soon as you get to their Bandcamp they greet you with their latest song “Inside and Out”, but ther are two more from around the same period, August 2018, called “Poster Boy” and “Beauty’s in the Rage” which are great too. Ther is not much information about them though they do have the lyrics for the songs and they list Heavenpunks as their label. Will be see their songs on a release soon? I hope so!

Pablo Prisma y Las Pirámides: I must say I have mixed feelings with this Madrid band. In their new album “Grandes Felinos Fantasmas”, which is released by the top Discos Walden, I found superb songs and others that are not so much. I guess I like the pop songs the best, the ones that are a bit experimental, playful, they are not really for me. But in any case, the songs that I like, for example “Gato Fantasma” or “Criptozoología” are really good.

Lavender Blush: “My Pal K” is the only song you can stream from their four track EP that will be released on November 14th. These four songs were recorded as a session on Part Time Punks and I’m really surprised by how great this song sounds. I am sure the rest are as good! The San Francisco band have actually more songs on Bandcamp and it is worth exploring. They are formed by Ana Ramundo on synths, Chris Howard on drums, Jérémie Rüest on guitar, Ryan Lescure on vocals, guitar and Sam Hewatt on bass. The EP is coming out as a 10″ vinyl.

Bleak: a two song tape by this Belgian band came out last March on the Gazer Tapes label from Turnhout, in Belgium too. The songs on it are “Left” and “Twenty One”. On Bandcamp you can only stream the first. And from what I gather, there are only 4 tapes left right now. Check them out.

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’ve been checking bands in the UK from the period that comes before c86. What I like to call proto-indiepop. Bands whose stories are not written on the web, whose records are not very well known, whose music is not easily available digitally. Today I’m curious about the Scottish band Secondary Modern.

There is just one release by them. One dating from 1983 in the form of a 7″ with two songs. It was probably self-released by the label Northern Sounds (DJG 1) that year and they included two songs, “Lucinda Dream” on the A side and “Boys Cry Too” on the B side. I’ve only been able to listen to the A side, with it’s wistful folky indiepop.

The record sleeve shows us three people on the cover. They are David Cormack (vocals), Jackie McMaster (guitar & vocals) and Gillian McLean (vocals). If you pay attention you’ll notice that is an odd lineup, no bassist, no drummer? Well, the band got the help from some friends. Ruby Bain played lead guitar, Johnnie Gunn played bass, Alan Hendry acoustic guitars, Andrew Webster drums and percussion and Douglas T. Miller percussion.

The two songs were recorded between April and May in 1983 at the Sailing Shoes studios and were engineered by Tommy Robertson. They were mastered at Abbey Road studios. And then we see an address. Thanks to that we know the band hailed from Wick, in the north of Scotland.

Wick is a town and royal burgh in Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. The town straddles the River Wick and extends along both sides of Wick Bay. Wick Locality had a population of 6,954 at the time of the 2011 census, a decrease of 3.8% from 2001. The Far North railway line links Wick railway station with southern Scotland and with Thurso, the other burgh of Caithness. Wick Airport is on Wick’s northern outskirts. The airport has two usable runways.

Would love to go there someday.

On 45cat I find some other details. So, “Lucinda Dream” was written by David Cormack and someone called A. Aitken. Who could that be? The B side, “Boys Cry Too”, is credited to Jackie McMaster.

I can’t find much about them, but I do find an interesting connection with the band members names and the people that helped on the record. David Cormack and Alan Hendry had been in a band before. One called The Naturals, who released also just one 7″ in 1980 with the songs “Strange Days”, “My Only Friend” and “Maybe Someday”.

There is not much more about the band on the web. It is for sure the very first band I feature to hail from that far north in Scotland. I would love to hear the B side which I saw it being described as a classic indiepop song with female vocals. Sounds like the kind of song I love. Would also love to find out if they recorded any other songs. And definitely curious about The Naturals too. Did they sound similar to Secondary Modern? I wonder if anyone knows any more details about them? What happened to the band members?

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Listen
Secondary Modern – Lucinda Dream

How I wish to write and write, make long posts. But I’m busy. So busy. Today I’m waking up much earlier than usual for a whole day of orientation at work. Tomorrow the same. Every day I end up leaving a bit later than the day before. I know it is because I’m only learning the ropes, getting to know all the processes and dynamics of the workplace, but I haven’t been this busy in a long time! I am barely listening to new music! I’m glad I had a bunch of posts prepared in advance, as if I could predict the future.

So what’s new?

Avind: I think back in February I recommended one song by this Norwegian songstress whose real name is Tonje Tafjord. A song called “Dumrian”. I think at that time she was just telling everyone that her album was going to be released in May and was sharing some songs that were to be included in it. Today I find myself listening to the full album, that was indeed released in May. It is titled “Evig Blenda” and it has 8 songs all sung in Norwegian. It is pretty nice I have to say. The sort of pop music that is great for rainy afternoons. You know what I mean.

Dronjo Kept By 4: a new tape by this fan-favourite Japanese band is now available on Galaxy Train Records. That’s good news of course! The “Exhibition EP” is limited to 100 copies and brings to us 4 brand new songs: “Parasol”, “Flowers”, “Lemonn” and “Never Let You Down”. If you like your indiepop to sound canonical, to have boy/girl vocals, and be catchy, why not give these Japanese popsters a chance?

Useless Youth: this Mexico city quartet have just released their new digital single, “En Este Lugar”. I don’t know much about it, if it will be part of an album, an EP, or even something bigger. But I do know the guitars are jangly, the song sounds fun, and the art for the digital single is quite lovely. The band is formed by Yak, Ian, Pepe and Emi.

Pelopincho: I found this Argentinean band from Valentin Alsina (in the province of Buenos Aires) by following my friend’s David Bandcamp activity. He is such a tastemaker I must say! Anyways I found this song called “Guía básica para zafar del bajón un ratito <3 ” which kind of translates as basic guide to escape from being down just for a moment, and thought it was pretty good! There is not much more on their Bandcamp only another song called “Oscuridarks” which is also terrific. I really should keep an eye on this band. Sounds very promising!

It Looks Sad: and the last band for this post hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, and it is the dreamiest of the bunch. If you are into dreampop/shoegaze this might catch your ears. There are right now two songs streaming from their forthcoming album “Sky Lake” which is set to be released on November 2nd. Right now you can actually pre-order it by the way. The two songs you can check out are titled “Light” and “Drool”, and if I had to choose my favourite, it might be the latter!

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As I continue traveling the world remembering bands that made an impression on me I think of Sybil Vane from Spain, a superb girl group that was around the 2000s and that I loved dearly their first album. I must admit that I didn’t follow them afterwards, and I have no clue what are they doing now. I just remember loving that first record, playing a burned copy quite a lot on my CD player. Today I just managed to order a copy of that first album, “Mermelada de Tomate”, from Discogs, and I can’t wait to have it at home. Why did I wait so many years to get a copy?!

The ban formed by a trio of girls, Luciana della Villa, Padi Fuster and Rocío Campaña, released as far as I know two albums, a single and a split 10″ while they were around. I hope to complete my collection in the next few months if there’s luck.

The first album as I was saying earlier was that pop masterpiece that is “Mermelada de Tomate” that was originally released by Cydonia Records (CY29) in 2004. That album included 10 songs, “Iba a Decirte”, “Arde Puente”, “Invisible sin Desaparecer del Todo”, “Agua en los Bolsillos”, “Pomme de Terre”, “Heynananá”, “You Disparo Tú”, “Pachorra”, “Hongos” and a hidden track. Two years later, a bigger label called B-Core Discs would sign them and was to re-release this same album, changing the artwork reds for greens and adding three more songs: “Funhouse”, “El Sabe Que Le Estamos Mirando” and “Bananas”. This CD also included the promo video for the song “Invisible Sin Desaparecer del Todo“. The album was produced by Lluís Cots at the Cydonia studios at Vilassar de Dalt. It was mixed and mastered by Santi Garcia at Ultramarinos Costa Brava in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

That same year, 2005, the band released a 7” with Piedra Papel Tijera Discos. This label doesn’t have a catalog, might it be a self-release? Also something that caught my attention is that three of the songs that were added to the reissue of “Mermelada de Tomate” are included here. This record had on the A side “Fecha de Caducidad” and “Bananas” while the B side had “Funhouse” and “Él Sabe que le estamos Mirando”.  Maybe this record was released before the reissue? Would be good to get the timeline right.

Moving on to 2006 to see the light of their sophomore album, “Turismo de Interior”. This one was released by B-Core Disc (BC.142) in both CD and LP versions. It is clear the label had a lot of hope in them. The record art was designed by Alicia Roselló and was again mastered and mixed by Santi García at Ultramarinos Costa Brava. The record included 11 songs: “Mientras Dura”, “Turismo de Interior”, “La Primera Piedra”, “Enésima Oportunidad”, “Fracciones y Fricciones”, “Madre Soltera”, “Perdiendo el Tiempo”, “Bahamas”, “Te Voy a Matar”, “Fecha de Caducidad” and “El Fusell Que Va Coquerir L’oest”. There was a video made for the song “Turismo de Interior“.

Lastly, in 2007, the band put out a split 10” with the band Mondo Ray on B-Core Disc. Interestingly the record doesn’t have a catalog number. On this record each band contributed 4 songs, and the A side was for Sibyl Vane. They had the songs “Me Quiero”, “He Estado de Ánimo”, “Te He Dicho Que No” and “Marinera”.

There are also a bunch of compilation appearances. The first is on the 3CD set “Indie Radio 2” released by El Diablo! (EDD163) were the band appears with their name spelled wrongly as Sybil Vane and contributing the song “Invisible sin Desaparecer del Todo”. That was released in 2005 just as the compilation “BCore 1990-2005” that included “Pomme de Terre” and “Made in Barcelona” double CD that included “Pomme de Terre” and “Invisible sin Desaparecer del Todo” that was released by Satélite K (SAT K-CD-043).

The band also appears on two 2006 compilations. On the “Rock One Vol.21” that was released by Rock One (RONECD021) they had “Invisible sin Desaparecer del Todo” and on the “Bendito Pop” released by Junk Records (JKR 30) the song “Turismo de Interior”.

For 2007 they had “Madre Soltera” on the “Sidecar: Tinc 25 Anys!” released by Sinedín Music (SM-108) and “Invisible sin Desaparecer del Todo” on the DVD compilation “Fruits of the Season” released by B-Core Disc (BC.132). Lastly in 2008 they had “Mientras Dura” on the “Bcore Disc Sampler 2008”.

I check out also what other bands were the three girls involved with. Padi had been in a band called Centella who released an album in 2008 on Producciones Doradas. The one that continues making music to this day is Luciana della Villa with the band Svper who were previously known as Pegasvs who released a super self-titled album in 2012 on Canada. I missed this record. And I didn’t know at the time the connection with Sibyl Vane. It is a small world. But that is not all, Luciana had also been involved in Anticonceptivas, Amore and Thelemáticos. She also contributed vocals to the band La Otra Gloria. Rocío had been in Thelemáticos and La Otra Gloria as well.

Time to dig deeper. And guess what, I immediately find an interview the girls did with Rafa Skam from the Yellow Melodies fanzine. Here they say a bunch of interesting things about the band:
– They hail from Barcelona, specifically from the Vallès Occidental
– Their name is indeed taken from the character with the same name from the “Portrait of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde.
– The title of their first album, “Mermelada de Tomate”, is due to the tomato mermalade Rocío’s grandma does.
– At the time Padi was studying maths and used to work at a pool. Luciana studied art history and had studied fashion. Rocío was studying fine arts and photography and some days used to work at the Heliogábal bar in Barcelona.
– They had played Primavera Sound and Easy Pop Weekend.

Then another interview on the fine Popchild website. Here we learn:
– The band formed during the summer of 2003.
– There was a time when Padi was living in Madrid. It was due to her studies.

On the University of Alicante website I notice the band played a gig there at the International Women’s Day and the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Student Council. Then on indierock.es there are mentions of the band playing at La Telonera in Granada (22/10/2005).

There is yet another interview I find on La Factoría del Ritmo though it doesn’t give us many details about the band but it does tell us what were the favourite songs about the band, how they like to tour, etc. It is in Spanish though.

I keep looking for more information. I only see biographies and biographies of the band with the basic information I’ve shared already. It is clear that the label managed to promote them in many different blogs and zines back in the day. I do see a few websites for their newer projects where their old band is mentioned. But can’t find the reason why they split. If they had been in any bands before being in Sibyl Vane. If there are any other recordings by the band. Perhaps some demos? If they prefer singing in Spanish over Catalan? And why? What about that 7″ they released? Why that one is barely mentioned? What other cities in Spain did they play? Did they ever play abroad? Many questions I would love to ask them.

Does anyone remember them?

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Listen
Sibyl Vane – Pachorra

I’ll go straight to the point with 5 new finds on the web. For the time being, while there are no news on the label side, I’ll just share with you some new finds straight away. I’m quite tired and busy to give much attention to the blog. Well, still it is not terrible, right? It’s much more than what you would find elsewhere on the web, right? Anyways…

Botschaft: oh wow wow wow! When Ronny from the Kleine Untergrund label told me a new 7″ was coming out by this brilliant band I couldn’t wait to see how it sounded like. I loved their previous effort so I knew I was going to like “Sozialisiert in der BRD”, the A side of of their new record. But more than liked it, I loved it. It is terrific! The record  was released last Friday, and it includes a B side of course and it is called “Daseinsweck”. But that is not all. No way. I’m even happier to share the promo video for “Sozialisiert in der BRD“, with footage of West Germany in the  90s. I need this record in my hand. It is only limited to 200 copies, so my sound advice is to get it fast.

Cosmo K: some lovely acoustic pop from this Madrid band. There are 7 very short songs to stream on Bandcamp and also available on 7″ vinyl which is co-released by Discos de Kirlian, Aplasta tus Gafas de Pasta and the band. I am really enjoying it, the smart lyrics and easy to sing along melodies. I hope I can get a copy of it. The band is formed by Ángela, Álvaro y Maria and it seems only 10 records are left. Damn. Everything feels so limited these days.

Señalada: still checking out the new releases by Discos de Kirlian, and I find a band I have never heard before, Señalada from Zaragoza, Spain. They have a 10″ out now called “Mejores Amigos” which sounds great. 8 songs, 200 copies of the record, and 4 people form the band: Alba González, Alberto Cano, Tito Andrés y Pedro Señalada. Looks like the Barcelona label is on a roll, finding superb up and coming Spanish pop bands. Definitely worth checking now and then what the label has to offer as they are very prolific!

Taneli Lucis: found this Peruvian duo through the Latin American Twee Facebook page. Luz and Daniel form the band and they seem to be influenced by Slowdive, The Radio Dept and Pia Fraus. Last year, in March 2017, they uploaded 6 songs to Youtube, and this might be their debut EP, I don’t really know. What I do know is that they sound pretty good. I hope to hear new songs by them in the near future.

Tropical Fuzz: Brazilian Guitars 1988-2018: lastly I want to recommend this comprehensive compilation done by the Brazilian label Midsummer Madness. I do believe the title is wrong, it should be 1998, but who knows. I don’t know which band is from 1988 in the tracklist. Maybe someone can tell me. Anyhow, it is true that some important bands from Brazil are missing, like Pale Sunday or Brincando de Deus, but it is definitely a good introduction to Brazilian guitar pop. Check it out.

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Personal Column were a Liverpool band, functioning from 1980-1986, based around the songwriting of Marc Vormawah and Colin Brown. Big favourites of John Peel, they did three sessions for his show, as well as sessions for Kid Jenson and Simon Bates.

That’s how Discogs introduces Personal Column. It is the first time I’m listening to their music. I was brought here thanks to the chiming guitars of “Same Old Situation”, a song I immediately dubbed as a long lost indiepop classic, even if it dates from 1983, years before C86 or similar terms were coined.

Listening now to some of their other songs I can tell they were more of a new wave band than a classic guitar pop band. Nonetheless there are terrific guitar pop moments in their songs, and their more new wavey tracks are still very enjoyable. So don’t doubt checking them out on Youtube where a trove of songs have been uploaded, including a video for their last single “Strictly Confidential” and a live performance at Exchange Flags in 1982 of their first single “Ignorance is Bliss?“.

I have a good feeling about them. I think I will find quite a lot of information and details about them, unlike many bands I feature here.

As I said earlier their first single was “Ignorance is Bliss?” with the B side “Dreamer in Babylon”. It was released in 1982 by Contrast Records (CON 001) which I’m assuming it was their own label as the only two records listed by it are theirs. The sleeve gives us our first clues about the band: their members. They were Mike Hayes on bass, Mike McCarrol on drums, Colin Brown on keyboards and Marc Vormawah on vocals and guitars. Thanks to these names we know that Mark Hayes had also been in a band called Salvation (which Cherry Red put out a retrospective collection in 2005)  and Mark Vormawah had played in John Jenkins and That Sure Thing and also released a solo album called “Too True” as Marc V. on Elektra.

The next year, 1983, their 2nd single would see the light. It is the superb “The Same Old Situation” that had “Terminal Suspicion” on the B side. It was released on Contrast Records (CON 002) and was recorded at The Pink studios in Liverpool in May of 83. It was engineered by Steve Power.  For this record the band lineup had changed too. We see now that Rob Boardman is also playing guitar and Terry Sterling has replaced Mike McCarrol on drums. Terry would later play with a band called Two’s A Crowd.

Lastly their last single “Strictly Confidential” was released in 1984 on the well known Stiff Records (BUY 202). It was released in both 7″ and 12″ formats and also there were international versions for this record in Spain, Netherlands and Germany. The 7″ single had the song “Here’s Looking at You” on the B side and we see that the A side, “Strictly Confidential” was mixed by Julian Mendelsohn and recorded by the band and Pete Coleman.

The 12″ version was available in Spain and included three different versions of “Strictly Confidential”. On the A side was the Radio Version and the Dub version, while on the B side there was the Long Mix. I wonder how this record do in the different countries it was licensed…

A good find with information about the band is an old website. It seems that all the data in it dates from 2006. The first thing that we see is a paragraph or two by Phil Hargreaves were he mentions that there was many tapes with recordings by the band. But was Phil in the band? It seems he joined at a later point as a saxophonist.

There is a biography by the band written by John Jenkins. He mentions that he was a keyboard player in a band called Come in Tokyo. This is the same John Jenkins Mark would play with later on in John Jenkins and That Sure Thing. It was at a venue called The Warehouse. He liked them, especially the songs “Friction”, “Here’s Looking at Your”, “Liverpool 8 999” and “Struck By Lightning”. Then he mentions a demo tape with 8 songs that included “A Women’s Place”, “His Master’s Voice”, “Jury Service”, “Personal Column” and “World in Action”. What other songs were in it?

Then he mentions that the first single was recorded at Alan Peters studio in Liverpool’s city centre and the band self-financed this record. Thanks to this the band got to appear on television playing both “Ignorance is Bliss?” and the song “Institutions” at Granada’s Exchange Flags programme. That’s where the Youtube video I linked earlier comes from.

Afterwards the band started performing new songs at gigs like “Same Old Situation”, “Astrology”, “The Nature of Things”, “Dangerous Places”, “Points of No Return”, “Cosmetic Surgery” and “Terminal Suspicion”. Were all of these recorded?

Then John says that he was asked to be the band’s manager, but because he was busy with Come in Tokyo he had to decline the offer. Even though he declined he went with the band to the recording of the 1st Peel Session of Personal Column. They recorded that day “Dangerous Places”, “Red”, “Same Old Situation” and “Friction”. This was recorded in 1982. Oh! I wish I could listen to it!

There was another Peel Session and also a Kid Jenssen Session. Then the band signed a publishing deal with ATV music. That would mean that Personal Column’s songs are (were?) owned by Michael Jackson?

Lastly he mentions a few other songs the band had like “Waiting for the Axe to Fall”, “Hook Line” or “Sink Without a Trace”. Then the band ended without getting a good offer to release an album.

Jenkins mentions he has a lot of Personal Column gigs on tape. Would be great if someday they see the light of day, maybe on Bandcamp or Youtube.

From pictures on the website we know the band played gigs at the Left Bank Bistro supporting Phil Battle & the Sensible Shoes, Magic in the Desert and Andy Pike, at the Masonic, the Everyman Bistro, The Venue, The Zigzag Club in London, and in Switzerland as part of a festival of Liverpool bands in that country. Something that is also interesting from these pictures is that Mark Moraghan, the television actor, ex Holby City, was at some point part of the band as a backing singer and percussionist.

On the BBC website, looking for Peel Sessions I find the tracklist for the other sessions the band did. The one from 1983, with Dale Griffin as producer, had the usual four songs, “Strictly Confidential”, “Sleight of Hand”, “Ignorance is Bliss” and “Crusade”. Lastly the 1984 session with Paul Smith as a producer had “World in Action”, “British Style”, “Cosmetic Surgery” and “The Price You Pay”. For this session the drummer was Tom Fenner.

Thanks to this website I find out that Mike Hayes and Robbie Boardman once did a European tour with Afraid of Mice. That Marc, Tony and Phil were once part of 16 Tambourines. That Mike Hayes was running Boho Records in the South Coast. And Phil Hargreaves was running his own label Whi Music.

Lastly the Music tab offers 17 songs to listen and download! Fantastic! There is even a cover art to download and print if you’d like to make your own CD.  Then a sort of discography that I think I will just copy and paste here:
1981: Recording at Open Eye studio, Liverpool (British Style, His Master’s Voice)
1982: ‘Ignorance is Bliss/Dreamer in Babylon’, single on Contrast records, recorded SOS studios, Liverpool. Marc Vormawah: voice, guitar; Mike Hayes: bass, backing vocal; Colin Brown: keyboards; Robbie Boardman: guitar; Terry Sterling: drums; phil hargreaves: sax on Point of No Return
1982: Peel Session one (Red)
1983: ‘The Same Old Situation/ Terminal Suspicion’, single on Contrast records, recorded at Pink studios, Liverpool.
1983: Session for Simon Bates (Dangerous Places)
1983: Session for Kid Jensen (Point of No Return)
1983: Peel Session two (Sleight of Hand, Crusade)
1984: Album recorded for Stiff, ultimately unreleased (Institutions) 1984: Gig at ICA, recorded for Radio Kent (A Woman’s Place)
1984: ‘Strictly Confidential/Here’s Looking at You’, single on Stiff
1984: Peel Session Three Marc Vormawah: vocal, guitar; Shaun McLoughlin: bass; Tony McGuigan: drums; Colin Brown: keyboards
1984: demo in Amazon Studios, Kirkby (New Victorian Age)

I keep looking for more information and see that Mark Vormawah had been playing gigs as late as last year. I noticed for example he played at the Folk on the Dock on August 26 2017. And has even released an album this year called “Goodbye to Yesterday” which is available to stream on his Soundcloud.

I also find out that Ed Shelflife had written about them many years ago. Maybe that’s why I had this sort of memory of having heard them in the past? My memory is not how it used to be.

Lastly I found out that Mark Vormawah had been in Upsets, Rob Boardman in Jass Babies, Visual Aids and Clique, Mike Carroll in Sebastian’s Men, Shaun McLaughlin (bassist in 1985) in Acheans and Afraid of Mic and Toni Guigan (drums in 1985) in Indangerous Rhythm. There seems to have been a session for Simon Bates and that the original lineup had recorded a session with John Hall in 1982 under another name, Inside Information.

According to a WIKI, the Kid Jensen included three songs, “Strictly Confidential”, “Influence is Bliss” and “Slight of Hand”. Is that right?

About Inside Information or John Hall I couldn’t find anything nor about the Simon Bates session. But I think in the end I did find a trove of information, even 17 songs to listen. Nothing to complain. Now, I need to get copies of the records!

Does anyone remember them?

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Personal Column – Same Old Situation

Still with very little time in my hands to write full-fledged posts, but I’m sure at some point soon I’ll be able to do so. In the meantime have a good weekend listening to:

Chorusgirl: one of my favourite London bands is this one. I’ve seen them only once, at New York Popfest, and they were brilliant. I wish I had put something out by them. Maybe it is not too late? Definitely they are busy these days with their new album “Shimmer and Spin” that will be out on November 2018 on the Reckless Yes label. To give us a taster of what to expect on their second album they have shared on SoundCloud the song “No Goodbye”, which is not “No Moon”, but it is still pretty good!

Toy Tambourine: a new song alert by this great Bandung band that often surprises us with some superb tracks on their Bandcamp. This new song is called “Sparks” and it seems to be a demo. Will it be properly recorded in the near future? Maybe for an album? I guess we just need to keep an eye and see what happens!

The Sweetest Touch: another Indonesian band, but this time one that has got a release out. And actually in a different country than their own. Their 5 song EP “Crystal Shades” is out now on Mellotron Recordings from Greece. The limited edition CD is already sold out, but the regular version is available to pre-order. The release is slated for October 1st. If you like Sarah-influenced popsongs, if you are into Field Mice and Brighter, this might be something for you. Very nice indeed!

Vamping: earlier in March I was recommending this band on the blog. Now comes October and the band will be releasing also on October 1st and again on Mellotron Recordings from Greece a new CD EP. In the same fashion as Sweetest Touch, there’s a regular CD and a limited special version which has sold out to. The EP is titled “Caves and Voodoos” and the one song available to stream, “Divination”, sounds lovely.

Plant Cell: and to finish this roundup I found this shoegazy band from Japan that was formed in 2015 by Eriko, Masaki, Nao and Sino. They have uploaded a bunch of digital singles to their Bandcamp but I’m mostly listening to what looks like an album called “Flowergaze? (Rebuild)” which sounds excellent. It dates from 2017, but for me this is brand new, so it counts! Did you know them already?

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Solace: comfort or consolation in a time of distress or sadness.

Been a while since I had a French band on the blog. I do have mixed feelings with them. I have got in touch with many, sent them questions for an interview, and never heard back. It is not the best. I wish they told me they are not into it, or lazy, or something. Maybe that it is hard to answer in English. I can understand that. Of course, this happens too with UK bands, and bands from all over. I write questions, and then I never hear back. But with the French it happens more often. Why?!

I hope if I ever get in touch with Solace and they are keen to answer my questions, I hope to get them. I would really love to hear their story. And share it with everyone. That’s the whole point of the blog. Finding out about all of these bands whose story is not on the web. Whose story matters to the big story of indiepop. Now that some books are being written about indiepop, it matters, as most bands on these books are the bigger names. But indiepop was also about the small names. It is important to acknowledge that.

Solace was a small band. A small band that eventually their two members went to be in a bigger band. A more renown band. I believe the story goes like this: A brother/duo from Rennes wanted to write a perfect love song. One that was touching and funny. About a perfect boy. Who could be that perfect boy? No other than Bobby Gillespie. The brother and sister wrote “My Brightest Star”, they produced it too. And from what I’ve read on the web it was kind of a small underground hit in France. Is that true?

This song was to be published on a label called Glam Records in 1991. It had the catalog (GLAM 001). It was released on a flexidisc. No other song on it. Just this one. Glam Records was to release a few more flexis afterwards by Smiley Post or Des Garçons Ordinaires. But this was the first one by them. The label was also based in Rennes. Who run this label?

The simple artwork for the single, printed in blue, black and pink stars, doesn’t give us any other information about the band. We do know though that the brother and sister duo were Chafik and Yasmine Mohammedi that would later form the band Lighthouse who were to release albums in labels like Rosebud and Tricatel, as well as on Glam Records (I suspect the siblings might be involved in this label in some way?). Yasmine had also been part of the band Novela and had helped a band called Octet.

Of course there is nothing else about the band on the web. You can find quite a good amount of information about Lighthouse. But I’m more interested now in the humble beginning. In their indiepop influences. In them singing about Bobby Gillespie. That period. If they had more recordings then. Why they didn’t release any other records. When did they stopped Solace and started Lighthouse. How was that evolution. I want to know that part of the story. It does seem Rennes had a great pop scene in the early 90s from what I’ve been finding out through the blog. Were they part of that scene? Did they play many gigs or they were more of a bedroom project? So many questions, and only the one song.

Who remembers them?

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Solace – My Brightest Star

These first few days at my new job have been hectic. Haven’t had much time for music-related things. I’m writing this on an evening, but I have not much energy. Nonetheless here are a few cool finds for your listening pleasure:

Las Infrarrojas: listening to these two brand new songs by this Alicante, Spain, band that have just been released on vinyl as a 7″ by the Madrid based label Hurrah! Musica, and I think, no surprise, the Spanish language song, meaning the B side, is the better one. It is a really nice tune. That doesn’t mean the A side is bad, but I am picking the B side over it. The A side is sung in English and is called “Can’t Have it All”, while the B side is titled “Infrarrojas”.

Manon Meurt: if you want to be transported back to the mid and late 90s, this Czech band from Rakovnik has the music for that. Their self-titled six song mini-album on Bandcamp mixes dreampop, shoegaze and more spacey sounds in a good way. It is quite a surprise to listen a band from this small town that lies in between Prague and Plzen. For sure it is the first time I listen to a band from there. They are formed by Katerina, Vojtech, Dave and Jiri.

Sugar Pond: hailing not too far from where I am at. From upstate New York, from the town of Hastings of Houston, this band’s latest effort is a 3 song digital single called “Triple You” with the songs “What End?”, “Wings” and “Wit’s End”.

Owls of Now: time for a London band. I was missing bands from the UK, I feel I’m not finding that many these days. Anyhow, this band has just put out a 4 song tape with the label For the Sake of Tapes. The band is formed by Caz, J Bell, Kate and Becky and I think some of them are based in Glasgow? I don’t have that part very clear. The superb “Lead Singer” opens the tape and then we find “Powers”, “Creature” and “Peg (We Rise From the Lake)”. Some nice pop tunes here. Definitely worth checking them out!

Enids: three Fat Tulips influenced demos? That’s what I found on this Copenhagen based Bandcamp! That is a great find if you ask me. Check out “Forget You”, “Scenekid of Misery” and “Springtime” by the trio formed by Louise, Julia and Charlotte. Hopefully these songs get recorded properly and they find a physical release!

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Here is another very obscure band that I will need help with. I don’t really have many ideas where to look. I stumbled upon wall after wall. Every path has been taken on the web and no information was found. The only real information that exists is that Splendour in the Grass put out one song called “Twist Me” on a split flexi in 1988.

It was 1988 when Penetration Records put out a flexi shared by 14 Iced Bears and Splendour in the Grass with the catalog number 001. It seems this was the only release by this label. It is definitely not the first split record that I feature on the blog with 14 Iced Bears on it. Not too long ago I was writing about Crocodile Ride and before that The Hermit Crabs who shared a split with the Brighton band.

Does this mean, maybe, that Splendour in the Grass also hailed from Brighton? Probably not. You see, on the sleeve of the flexi there’s an address for the band. It has Croydon in it. A bit north of Brighton.

The sleeve also gives us some little details about the band members.
Nic – vocals
Christopher – bass
Tim – drums
James – guitars

But there are no last names. So it is pretty hard to track them down with just first names. We know also that the band thanks Laurence for the gear, Dave for engineering and Robert Black for living.

There is no more information on the web. I can’t seem to find anything else. Maybe some of you, south of London, remember them? Were they involved in any other bands perhaps? What can you tell me?

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Splendour in the Grass – Twist Me