18
May

Last post for this week. A very busy week indeed, that actually had posts every single day, from Monday to Friday. And if you go back, even all the way to last Friday, every day I added a new post. It is a time where bands are actually answering my interviews which is amazing. Back in the day I was writing so many interviews and half of them were actually answered. Now the few last weeks, all interviews I’ve done have got answers, and I’m happy about it. Maybe the bands have more time in their hands? Or they trust the blog a little bit more? Or what could it be?

My finds for this week!

The Goon Sax: the marvelous Brisbane band whose first album was heavily played at home are releasing a new album on September 14 on Whichita Recordgins and Chapter Music. It will be called “We’re Not Talking” and one of the songs is available to listen now and it is brilliant. Check out “She Knows”! And that is actually not all the news I want to share. If you are in Chicago, New York or LA you will be able to see them for the first time this June. I have bought tickets for their Knitting Factory gig, but they will also be playing at Union Pool. In any case, I really look forward to seeing them for the first time and listening to their new album!

Those Unfortunates: I’ve recommended this London band time and time again and still they don’t get to play Indietracks. Tough luck. Well, what can you do? They do have a limited edition tape with booklet plus a free Hornsey Automatic badge for their two newest songs: “Hornsey Automatic FC” and “King of the Lane”. Both songs being about the best sport ever, football. You can’t listen to them on Bandcamp but there’s a video for “Hornsey Automatic FC” on Youtube!

Dream Rimmy: a shoegaze band from Perth, Australia. It seems there is a good crop of shoegaze bands now in that country, right? This one have just released a 5 song EP on 12″ vinyl called “Heavy”. I know little by this band but they seem kind of big, they have lots of fans on Facebook and have booking agents. They must be dealing with bigger leagues than most of the bands on this blog! They are formed by Ali Flintoff, Jack Gaby, George Foster, Vin Buchanan, Ben McDonald and Jennifer Aslett. The songs are driven by female vocals and lots of guitar effects. I think my favourite song out of the 5 is “I Know What’s Wrong With You” which is the poppiest of them all!

Cosmic Child: more shoegaze, now from Singapore. This band formed by Bo, Daniel, Joanne, Zhe Ren and Genevieve, have just released their new album on CD and on tape. It is called “Blue” and it includes 10 songs. This is actually their second album after the first, “untitled” one. It is out now on Middle Class Cigars Records. The CD version seems like a special one, it comes wrapped in cloth each one meticulously hand-sewn with a unique design.

The Regrets: an old find, dating from March 2016. “The Regrets EP” with 5 songs by this Seattle band. They are “Lie to Me”, “On the Stage”, “Make it Right”, “What Can I Say?” and “Always, Never Again”. Before that they had covered The Smiths’ “These Things Take Time”.  It looks as this was their last release but the band keeps going, I see some gigs listed for the next month. They are a quartet, formed by Joel, Todd, Jake and Brockton.

——————————————————————–

A few weeks ago I heard from my good friend Nikola from Belgrade. He had some ideas of bands that would be interesting to find out more, do some archaeology on them, find what they left behind, if any. One of them were The Marigolds. At first I thought he was talking to me of the Australian bands with the same name who would also make a great post on the blog, but no, he was talking to me of the UK band.

I must say that up until that moment I knew very little about them. I had the split flexi they put out alongside Weasel on my wishlist but I haven’t ever heard one of their songs. Well, until Nikola pointed me out to “Sherbet Girl” which turns out was uploaded to Youtube by another friend, Heinz. And then a second song, “If Ever There Was Paradise” and later a third song “For All Time”, I was going to find on Heinz’s channel.

On Discogs it shows that the band didn’t release any proper records. The closest to it is the flexi I was mentioning. Then there are many compilation appearances. But on the strength of “Sherbet Girl”, and the other two songs, I know the rest must be great, I would love to listen to them!

The split flexi with Weasel was released by the label Mindgasm Records (9110007882) in 1992. It is the only release by this label, so must be just a one-off? Or maybe a self-release by both bands? The Marigolds appear second. First there’s Weasel with their song “Look Into Tomorrow” and then The Marigolds appear doing a cover of Syd Barrett’s “Two of a Kind”. This cover was produced by someone called Neil. There is more information on the sleeve. It says that the record features Skyflower on vocals and Stewart Marigold on guitars plus additional vocals by Rachel. Their song is dedicated to Syd Barrett and Weasel. And then I notice and address in Norfolk, in the town of Watton. Did they come from that market town?

Watton is a market town in the district of Breckland within the English county of Norfolk. The A1075 Dereham-Thetford road and the B1108 Brandon-Norwich Road meet at a crossroads here, where the town developed, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Norwich. The civil parish covers an area of 7.2 km2 (2.8 sq mi) with about 6,800 inhabitants in 3,000 households, increasing to a population of 7,202 in 3,226 at the 2011 Census. The Domesday Book recorded that Watton (or Wadetuna) featured a church, manor house and Anglo-Saxon settlement.

So “Sherbet Girl” doesn’t appear on the flexi, but it does appear on compilations. The first one I check out is the tape comp “The Secret of Confident Dressing” (KAW 2) that was released by Kaw Tapes in 1991. Mark Ritchie from The Librarians used to run this label. This tape came with a booklet. It would be interesting to find out if there’s any information about the band on that booklet. On this tape the band appears with two songs, “Forever Sad” and “Sherbet Girl”. Other great bands on this tape are The Siddeleys, The Cudgels and BMX Bandits. And some bands I’ve never heard before like Grrr!, The Bass Turds or Rentboy?

On the 1992 tape “C92”, a classic comp released by Rainbow, the band contributes the song “For All Time“. On this tape we see them in great company, bands I’ve interviewed in the blog like The Marmite Sisters, Peru, Bulldozer Crash and more.

This same song was to appear that same year on the 7” compilation “Searching for the Blake Hall” (POST 4) released by the very fine Pillarbox Red label. Now, I’m thinking, wouldn’t it be great to interview Andrew Austin who ran this label? If anyone has contact information please let me know!

As I said the band did appear on many compilations. That same year, 1992, their first international one. On the tape “Around The World” (ER-016) that Elefant Records from Spain put out they contribute once again “For All Time”. But that wasn’t the only song they contributed to Elefant, on the “Around the World Again” (ER-020) they appear with the song “Sherbet Girl”.

Now a tape I’ve mentioned before, “Polythene Star”, released by Flaming Katy (FK001). Here a different song at last, “The Daisy Song”.

We skip 1994, and get to 1995. That year a tape compilation called “Death of an Anorak” (DTW 02) is released by Does This Work?. Don’t know much about this label but looking at their releases they all look great! Lots of indiepop in there! Anyhow, The Marigolds contribute the song “Someone”. There are many bands I’ve never heard on this tape too, like the Village Idiots or The Bright Young Things. Would be nice to hear this label’s comps sometime. If anyone have Mp3s of them please think of me?

Lastly there is a tape compilation that has no release date. One called “Deep in Space” where they appear alongside many of the bands they’ve shared compilations already like The Almanacs, The Kensingtons or The Millers. On this tape the band contributes the song “If Ever There Was Paradise“. The tape was released by Meg Records (MEG 002). And that’s all.

It is funny, I was to stumble upon a Norfolk band called Marigolds. But they are contemporary to our days. I keep looking for any other information but there is nothing really. Without the band members names it is hard to find anything. Would love to hear the rest of their songs, find a flexi, and maybe, hopefully, interview the band in the future!

Edit May 18th: Stewart from The Kensingtons has shared some information about The Marigolds! He tells me he used to be in touch with Stewart from the band. He tells me Stewart used to do a fanzine called Cherry Fizz Pop. He has scanned me some fanzines were there are is more information about The Marigolds!
– They were formed in the summer of 1991 when two local bands, The Rosemarys and The Chocolate Mopeds, decided to join forces in order to record the “Yeah” EP cassette.
– A drummer, Carl, and a bass player, Phil,  were eventually found to help out for the debut live performance at John’s Birthday Party
– Carl and Phil didn’t last long in the band, Carl was to join the Spinning Jennys
– Later Liam joined on stand up drums and Paul on bass, plus Stewart on guitars and Mark on vocals. They were hoping to record their first album at that time.
– There’s a cool fanzine spread with lyrics for “Sherbet Girl” too!
– There is a tape called “Doing the Washing Up with The Marigolds” with this tracklist: “Forever Sad”, “For All Time”, “Sherbet Girl”, “How Could You?”, “Under Sunbeams”, “Monsterpussy”, “Someone”, “Sherbet Girl (live)” and “How Could You? (live)”.

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

Listen
The Marigolds – Sherbet Girl

17
May

Thanks so much to Lucía, Eva and Roberto for the interview! I wrote about Galáctica on the blog and the same day the band members got in touch with me! I was very lucky! I had loved their band back in the early 2000s and after so many years I got the chance to interview them. I must say that the interview was conducted in Spanish and you can find the original here. I have translated to English all the questions and answers, so forgive me if there are any mistakes! In any case, it is a good time for all of you to discover this superb band from León, Spain!

++ Hola Lucía! Thanks a lot for the interview? How are you? Are you still in León?

Lucía: Hi! Thanks for the interest to interview us, it has really surprised us. I live in Madrid, where I was born; unlike my bandmates, I’m the only one that is not originally from León. I went back to Madrid in 2002 for university studies and I stayed.

++ Are you all in touch? When was the last time you picked up your instruments? Are you still involved with music?

Lucía: We are mainly in touch Roberto, Evan and me. It has been easy as we have continued seeing each other in Madrid and that has given us the chance to continue making different music projects now and then. Galáctica had two comebacks, one in 2005 when both of them were still in León and in 2008 when the three of us were already working in Madrid. Later, in 2014, Roberto and me, alongside two friends, formed a group. Eva joined us later. This project now is on a break until we all have the time to get together again.

++ 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?

Lucía: In my case I come from a very musical family. My father studied in the conservatory, my brother is a professional musician and at home classical music was always played. I think my first musical memories are of  J.S. Bach and The Beatles, who are what really introduced me to popular music. My dad had a band at the end of the 60s where he played covers of The Beatles and other bands, so the music influences for me were big in me. I signed for music school when I was very young and learned to play guitar, following my family steps, but I left it when I was about 16 as I got bored with the academic system. At that time I already knew that what I wanted was to sing (I had studied a bit of singing, but too little) and it was in 1999 when I joined Galáctica with that purpose.

Roberto: I grew up during a time of great Spanish bands like Radio Futura, the golden age of the songs of Berlanga, Décima Víctima and Golpes Bajos. Actually “Colecciono moscas” is one of the first songs I remember, thus my surrealist/dadaist influences. Hahaha.

Eva: I studied in the Conservatory of León and played viola, but I stopped playing it when I was 19 years old, already playing it well but annoyed with the system and seeing very little options to have a professional music career in Spain unless I dedicated myself to teaching in a system that, in my opinion, is old-fashioned and outdated. The other instrument I learned to play, aside from the recorder for music classes in school and the typical Casio organ, was a Spanish guitar that I inherited from my mother when she was young; she used to go to guitar lessons as an after-school activity. I barely learned any chords but I loved it. At home my dad used to play a lot of Jeanette.

++ Were any of you in other bands before being in Galáctica?

Roberto: I had been in random pop and rock bands in León since I was 16 years old. But before being in Galáctica I had a band called Bételges that made some pretty decent indiepop.

Eva: My first band didn’t even had a name nor we played live. I must have been 17 years old at that time and had done everything to buy a Hammong organ with a Leslie amp. When I met Roberto I joined Bételges, and it was then when I got on stage for the first time.

Lucía: I was never in any other bands because when I joined Galáctica I was 15 years old, and at the most I had sang in some school plays. ]

++ How was León back then, at the start of the 2000s? Were there any other bands in town that you liked? What were the good record stores or venues where you usually hang out? Was there a scene?

Lucía: I was born in Madrid, and went to live in León in 1992 and always saw that city with foreign eyes, it was hard for me to adapt to it. But halfway around the 90s, and even though I was still a kid, I remember that there was a scene that was interesting in a national level, with many new bands having fun and doing things in a different way. What was the norm was that bands sang in English but things started to change towards bands redeeming Spanish language pop. I always thought that León was in a privileged spot regardless being a small city. It may be because of the existence of the Purple Weekend festival and bands like Los Flechazos or it being close to cities like Gijón that also had a great musical scene and with it had a lot of creative exchange. The truth is there was a music scene in León that a lot of people remember to this day. I got into it being very young and my bandmates in Galáctica showed me almost everything. Up to that moment I haven’t been out much, to concerts or clubs. It was a sudden, intense and incredible experience.

++ How does Galáctica start? How did you all meet? Was there a recruiting process?

Lucía: All of them knew each other from bands they had played in together. I was the only stranger, I met Eva because I used to go to classes with her little sister. I had 15 years and dreamed of singing in my own band. At the time I considered it more of a fantasy than a real possibility, but the opportunity arrived when Eva’s sister told me they were looking for a female vocalist for a new project. I remember I got very excited. She gave me the contact details, I went to sing with them to their practice room and they told me I had the job. It was all very easy. And even better we became friends and everything started rolling. I always thought that Galáctica was something magical, there were no up and downs, we were always very active and very excited.

++ Why the name Galáctica?

Roberto: Because of our obsession with the space and glitter. We’ve always preferred what’s “robot”.

Eva: We wanted an straight-up name, one word and possibly feminine.

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

Lucía: At the start of the 2000s everything was more rudimentary and analog, we didn’t have access to home-recording systems nor we could send each other song ideas by email or whatsapp, so when we needed to share something there was no other option that meet face to face and play our instruments. The contact between each others was necessary and that I remember with nostalgia. Roberto would bring melodies and later I started contributing lyrics, Eva contributed with keyboard arrangements…. I can say that we were very meticulous and hard-working, we practice a lot and we took it seriously. During the year 2000 we practiced at an old practice room that our drummer, Amado, had in a town called Cembranos, near León. Afterwards we moved to other shared practice rooms, that I remember had the dirtiest bathrooms in the whole León province.

Eva: Even though León is a city with a big interest for every music style, for decades there hasn’t been any institutional help of any kind to provide bands decent practice rooms, clean and with minimal security measures. This problem is still going today, sadly.

++ And what were your musical influences?

Lucía: Each of us brought their own. I was a fan of British music, I had grown up with The Beatles, David Bowie and The Smiths, and was in love with britpop bands like Blur, Suede, Elastica, Pulp or Echobelly. I didn’t know many Spanish bands at the time, that is something I thank my bandmates for introducing them to me.

Eva: British pop from the 90s made a mark on me, and because of that and the influence of mod and sixties influenced bands like Los Flechazos I started to get very much into 60s musics in all of their styles (soul, beat, garage…). To that I’ve been adding more and more influences, for example melodic electropop, mod revival, punk 77 and today the new psychedelia…

++ Were you always fans of science-fiction? The future? Perhaps there are writers, movies or series that influenced you?

Lucía: We all are from the Star Wars religion. Particularly, about science-fiction, I’m in love with the books by Ray Bradbury, though I can’t really say if they had any influence in Galáctica.

Roberto: Science-fiction has always been there, it is an escape for our imagination to “impossible” worlds that take you away from this gray reality that is our real world.

Eva: I love movies like “Logan’s Run” or “2001: A Space Odyssey”… and all of them where there are bad guys that are very band with enormous desks and swivel chairs with many henchmen all dressed the same at to his service, but I do need to say that today’s science fiction is not for me, I don’t like it at all, and even less all the exaggerated digital special effects though there can always be an exception.

++ How did you end up signing to Mushroom Pillow and how was your relationship with them?

Lucía: I believe it is time now to tell our biggest anecdote: the day Mushroom Pillow decided to come and check us out playing live, we did our worst gig in Galáctica’s lifetime. It is true that there were many catastrophic circumstances that were out of our control, but it was a disaster and we were very sure that they weren’t going to sign us ever. But luck was on our side, some days later we played for the first time in Madrid at the Siroco venue on 18 November 2000 and we were really magnificent. Then they signed us. Justice was made.

++ Your first record was a mini-album, “Lujo Estelar”, in 2001. Had you recorded anything before this album? Perhaps some demos? Or were these your first ever songs?

Lucía: We have to remark that for Galáctica everything happened very fast: we were recording our first demo after six months of practicing and signing to Mushroom Pillow after just a year. The first demo was recorded during the summer of 2000 at the home of Mario Cooper in León. It had five songs, two of them (“Chica invisible”, “Ya sales en RockdeLux”) were included in “Lujo Estelar”. The other ones were recorded later.

Eva: I remember fondly when our demo was played in the legendary “Viaje a los sueños polares”, at that time in a hyper commercial radio (when they still let some indie music to be played).

++ A song that is catches one’s attention is “Ya Sales en Rockdelux”. Did you ever appear on the music magazine Rockdelux?

Lucía: We did, of course we did! I don’t have a copy, but I believe they took the song well, with good humor. I still can’t believe it.

++ Afterwards you release a CD single for “Electrónica” for which you made a video. How was that experience? Where was it recorded? And why did you choose “Electrónica” as the promo single for the album?

Lucía: The single was recorded at Feedback studios in León during the spring of 2002, but the promo video wasn’t filmed until September of that year. It was our first video, we filmed it in two different scenarios (indoors and outdoors) with two different set of outfits and I remember it as being lots of fun. I think they chose that song because our bosses thought it had the chance to be a hit.

++ In this CD single you included a cover version of “Mi Verdad” by Luna. What made you choose this song? I also read you made covers when playing live of the likes of Los Flechazos, Le Mans, even The Ramones. What other covers would you have liked to do?

Lucía: This was a song by a band from Ponferrada that had some success in the 80s. We thought it was fun and exciting, very much in the style to what we doing with Galáctica.
On another hand, our covers history is kind of crazy. I remember doing covers of bands so different among themselves like Magnapop, Easybits, The Charlatans, Ramones (an Spanish version of “I wanna be sedated”), Los Flechazos (“Quiero regresar”), Le Mans (“Un rayo de sol”) and Dinarama (we did “Rey del Glam” for a Carlos Berlanga tribute for the Contempopranea festival in 2003).

++ The album “El Fotógrafo del Más Allá” was published in 2002 and had 12 songs. There are many favourite songs but my favourite might be “Mejor Berlín”. In a couple of sentences, what’s the story behind this song?

Roberto: When you live in a city like León where everything is small and everyone knows each other your only obsession is to escape and traveling is a good medicine for that illness.

++ For the album you also made a video, for the song “Superdisco”. Two questions, what inspired this song? And two, tell me a bit about the video, any anecdotes or how did you end up working with Juan Marigorta who actually directed both of your videos?

Lucía: If I remember it correctly, it was a song that we made with lots of snippets from other songs that we never ended up using. The lyrics are inspired by one of the contemporary issues that worries young people: becoming an adult.
About the recording for the video, I only remember the part that we were playing altogether and the embarrassment I had when walking around the León streets while Juan Marigorta was filming.

++ There is a later record called “RMX” which I’ve never seen, nor it appears on Discogs, that was released by Miss Lucifer Records. Which songs were included in it? And who made the remixes?

Roberto: A friend and me started a label for when we had these crazy ideas. I have always been interested in working with people who make other people dance and understand the instincts that are awaken by the most simple electronic rhythms. And Diego Cadierno was always someone I admired because of that. I like the vision he had with our music and where he takes it.

++ Something that caught my eye was the band’s artwork. Who took care of them?

Eva: The art for “Lujo Estelar” and “El fotógrafo del más allá” were done by Marc Argenter, a Catalan artist that was influenced by pop art and the iconography of the 60s and 70s. We were very happy with his work and even today I think it is wonderful. I drew the logo of the girl and also the design for “RMX”, which was more minimalist as it was a record of electronic remixes that inspired me that style but with retro influences.

++ I read that in 2010 and 2014 you got together to record new songs. What happened to these songs? Where they released? I think there was the will to release them on vinyl, right?

Lucía: In 2010 we recorded a demo in a simple manner with three songs that we hoped to release. Because of those modern things (work, paying invoices, moving) we left them in the fridge. About 2014, we got together again in a side-project called Strauss Kahn with our friends Roberto Paramio and César Sánchez. Me, a very attentive girl, have uploaded them to Bandcamp https://strausskahn.bandcamp.com/

++ Are there more unreleased recordings by Galáctica?

Lucía: There are. We are saving them for the time when we become a cult band.

++  If you had to choose your favourite Galáctica song, which would it be?

Lucía: I have a soft spot for “Anticanción de verano” because aside from loving it since the first day that Roberto played the chords in our practice room, it was my first time contributing lyrics (the second verse). I was 16 years old and it may not be brilliant, but I was very proud. I like it because it is a very simple song and talks about a difficult relationship, close to the wrong idea of what romantic love is, but far away from innocence and naiveté. Other songs that I really like are “Electrónica”, “Dinastía”, “Sin estrellas” and “Pasados encuentros”. Also “Picnic 2003”, which is a song we recorded for our first demo with some very cool Farfisa arrangements that we never played again and today I feel that was a shame.

Eva: I really like “Electrónica” as I identify myself with the lyrics, I’ve never felt totally from this world nor that I fit within the majority of human beings.

++ Tell me about gigs. Did you play many? Are there any in particular that you remember? Did you play all over Spain?

Lucía: A little while ago, talking to Roberto, I noticed that I don’t remember not even half of the gigs we played, it is as if they were deleted from my mind. I know I’ve been to many places because I’ve seen photos or I’ve been told, but about the gigs I only remember a few. I can say that the Contempopránea 2003 was very special. It was around the end of the night, it was packed, and it went phenomenal. Even though it sounds a bit sad, I already suspected that it was going to be my last gig, so I wanted to leave a good memory.

++ And how was the Radio 3 concerts? How was that experience?

Lucía: That’s another thing I can’t remember. I remember being very sleepy and had bags under my eyes because we were playing just immediately after playing in Valencia. I watched it when they aired it but I haven’t watched it again. I don’t like seeing myself on viceo.

++ Were there any bad gigs? Any anecdotes you can share?

Lucía: Curiously, after all this time the worst experiences are the ones you remember the most and you keep telling to your friends. We have a ranking of worst-gigs that changes with time. The band that says that they don’t have disaster-gigs lies shamelessly. I have memories of uncomfortable venues, extravagant sound engineers, scant crowds… as a particular anecdote I remember that at the Easy Pop Weekend of 2002 I sprained my ankle 15 minutes before getting on stage. I swear I was sober. I cried of pain but I played the gig, I danced as if nothing had happened and returned to Madrid as a cripple. The concert though went well.

++ Did you split or not? And did you continue making music on your own after Galáctica?

Lucía: I left Galáctica in the summer of 2003, after being mentally tired. I had started studying fine arts at the university of Madrid and I was overwhelmed. But we’ve always been in touch, making songs sporadically. I have been away from music, but that hasn’t stopped me from collaborating live with bands like Ellos, Mostaza Gálvez y Perapertú (for who I did backing vocals for their record “Miramar”, released this year, 2018). I also recorded two songs with some friends on a short-lived electroclash band called Margaret Astro, in 2003.

Eva: Approximately from 2011 to 2014/2015 I played keyboards in a garage-rock band called Idealipsticks, from Guadalajara. With them I recorded an LP (“Humanimal”, 2013) and played many venues and festivals like Sonorama, FIV… You can see me with them on the video for the song “Very very” if you are curious! In 2015 I went back to León and joined the band Silver Club Bikini with some old friends who I had already worked with when they had a band during the time of Galáctica, with whom we also played Germany even. The band was at the end of a period and we decided to put it to rest and start a new one called Shining Lights with whom we’ve recorded a vinyl EP released by Clifford Records. As a curiosity I want to tell you that it was recorded at the same studio as “El fotógrafo del más allá”, this time around with Juan Marigorta producing, the same person who made the videos for Galáctica: at that time he was just starting and today he is a superb professional. With Shining Lights I have encouraged to sing; I had already done backing vocals with Idealipsticks and thanks to that I’ve started to feel more comfortable and sure of myself. I also contribute with the 60s freakbeat band from Bilbao The Extended Plays.

++ Ustedes, por lo que veo, se han reunido varias veces después de haber estado en silencio. Cabe la posibilidad de que haya más Galáctica en el futuro?

Lucía: With Galáctica you never know. Maybe the least expected day we give you a surprise and we burn MTV down.

++ During these years, the end of the 90s and early 2000s, many of the bands were labeled as tontipop. I can imagine that you weren’t the exception. What do you think about that? Did it help or not? Did you like it?

Lucía:  This is something that is interesting and about which I’ve reflected on for the last few years. That trend, “tontipop”, had a big impact but it was a label that sincerely I didn’t like. On one hand it did redeem a vision of a happy and frivolous life, that didn’t take it seriously. After many years now I see it almost as a political position, against a dominant discourse. But the music press has always been macho, patriarchal, and I always received that criticism with disgust. I think it had to do with the band having two girls and that the vocals were female. The critics that used that label used it with a sarcastic tone, treating us as dummies, not doing any effort to listen to us paying proper attention. That would have made them notice that with Galáctica we didn’t really talk about childish topics. That is a thought that is always on my mind, but when you are only 18 years old, you don’t know or can’t express these thoughts with the same clarity as I can do it now.

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

Lucía: I think that Galáctica’s journey would have been impossible without radio programs like  “Viaje a los Sueños Polares”, which was run by Luis Calvo and Joako Ezpeleta. They were the first to play our demo in the year 2000 and who put us on the map. Eternally grateful to them.

++ What about fanzines?

Eva: Roberto and me made many volumes of a fanzine called Galaxine where we reviewed demos we liked or not, records and films, we also wrote reports about festivals or concerts… we had contributions too, for example someone talking about some specific synthetizer or a film movement… We used to do it on a computer and later we printed them on black and white photocopies with a color cardstock cover (each number of a different color). The fanzine world was very interesting and it let one to meet other people that self-released and were nonprofit too, as you know no one made themselves rich by making fanzines nor intended to. The mailbox always had a surprise when you got home, we used to receive lots of demos, other fanzines that we traded for ours… I remember all that with lots of love. We did some badges too designed by ourselves. Something particular about Galaxine was that we were very acid and sarcastic when it came to some traditions of the most ignorant and uncultured Spain; it was around the time when all the reality shows and singing contests appeared on TV; television was changing, from “nutritive” as Aviador Dro used to sing to a trash vomiting  device aiming directly to millions of brains. We would forecast among jokes and humor a big cultural downfall at a big scale which never really happened and not even in our worst nightmares we could imagine.

++ Today, aside from music, what other hobbies or activities do you enjoy having?

Lucía: I dedicate my time to painting and illustration. We can say that it is my hobby and also my job. As important pieces go, I have done the art for the record “Vida y milagros” by Mostaza Gálvez, I’ve worked on the illustrated songbook “Armas para volar” by Dorian and actually I’m working on another illustrated songbook by Anni B Sweet.

Eva: As an Art Historian it is no surprise that I love visiting monuments, museums, exhibitions… These days I work as an assistant in a Contemporary Art museum with activities of independent culture management (commission of exhibitions, event organizing, activities production as the Purple Weekend since 2005). When it comes to music, aside from playing and going to gigs or small festivals, I collect records especially from the 60s and I DJ whenever there’s a chance. Actually I DJ much more than what I play live. Also I love fairs and vintage flea markets and I collect lots of things like fashion magazines. Clothes and accessories from the 60s and 70s are my ruin. For many years of my life graphic design was very important but now I kind of have it forgotten on a side.

++  Looking back in time, what would be the biggest highlight for Galáctica?

Lucía: For me I suppose it was playing in big places like Madrid or Barcelona, in festivals like Contempopránea and support Ladytron in 2003. But what I remember the most was being with the band for four years, making songs and having a good time.

++ How is León today? Has it changed much? If one was to visit, as a tourist, what would you recommend checking out? Or what are the traditional foods or drinks one shouldn’t miss?

Lucía: It is better that my bandmates give the recommendations, as it is their hometown and will know much better what to say. I don’t go much to León though my father is still living there. I suppose I’m a bad daughter.

Eva: León has changed like all of the medium and small sized cities in Spain after the big crisis we had and we still have; the population is getting older and those younger than 45 years old have moved to bigger cities or other more prosperous countries. Still, the cultural movement that still exists is impressive, literature, visual arts and music wise… there is no week when there aren’t gigs, there are many venues that book them regularly. About important events, the Purple Weekend festival is going to be 30 years old this 2018, there are electronic and experimental music events like TESLA, or during the city’s festivals, for some years now, there is “Come y Calle”… bands like Cooper are still on first division, anyways, even though the situation and the population decline, there is much life here.
Tourism is an important vehicle for the city and the province because the historic and artistic patrimony of León is huge; here I could talk and talk and I would never finish. We invite you to come to see the most beautiful gothic cathedral of Spain with one of the best collections of stained glass in the world, the San Isidoro basilica with their paintings of the royal pantheon, who some say is the “Romanesque Sixtine Chapel”, visit the León Museum so you can get an idea of the importance and richness of the historical Kingdom of León, do the Roman route, stroll along the walls… and to counter all the old and medieval art, visit the MUSAC, the Contemporary Art Museum of Castilla and León: just its prize-winning architecture is impressive thanks to its vivid colors inspired by the stained glass of the cathedral.
Another aspect that is worth mentioning of the province of León is its varied gastronomy – actually this 2017 we are Gastronomic Capital – and here our wine selection stands out, for every taste and of great quality. It is very typical to go for tapas (or go for wines), especially around the area called Barrio Húmedo, but also around the Barrio Romántico, the Burgo (everything is close by). Tapas here consist of an appetizer that comes freely with any drinks you order. The most common ones are the potatoes, mushrooms, croquettes, cold cuts, black pudding…
My favorite bar is without doubt Planet Móngogo since many years ago, if you want to know why, come and you’ll know why!

++ Thanks Lucía! Anything else you’d like to add?

Lucía: That we are very handsome these days. Greetings and thanks!!

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

Listen
Galáctica – Mejor Berlín

16
May

It is a busy week on the blog. I don’t know how will it be later on as there are some changes at work, and in the transition I might be quite busier, with less time in my hands to discover new music. But let’s see how it pans out. In the mean time, while there’s still chance, why not keep doing what we love most, discovering and listening to new sounds!

Vacations: this Newcastle, Australia, band has a new album called “Changes” that is available on their Bandcamp. It looks like it is only available digitally which is a shame. I don’t know much about them, but I’m enjoying their songs, which are 10 in total in the album. My favourite my be so far “Steady”, which is a cool jangly upbeat track. The band is formed by Campbell Burns, Jake Johnson, Nate Delizzotti and Joseph Van Lier. Hope the record gets released properly, meaning, physically.

Pastel Ruins: last post I discovered the Belgian band Poppel and so I have been looking at other releases by their label Gazer Tapes from Turnhout in Belgium. So I found this 4 song EP titled “Static Dreams” by Pastel Ruins. The songs on it are “Oceans of Time”, “Unseen”, “Ambergris” and “Candy Bullet”. There’s not much info on the band or the release on the Bandcamp but you can buy a limited edition tape of the EP if that’s your thing. Nice  introspective bedroom guitar pop. The best track for me is “Oceans of Time”.

Varsity: I discovered this Chicago band through their song “Smash” which is superb but it is now sold out in its cassingle version. That one was released long time ago, in June 2016. Their latest is quite recent though, April this year. It is an album titled “Parallel Person” and it is available on vinyl now and they have a bunch of merch too to promote it. The album has ten songs and I’m only having my first listen now. The band formed by Stef, Dylan, Pat, Paul and Jacob, is an interesting mix of classic indiepop with an added quirkiness, you’ll understand what I’m saying when you listen to them. And even though I wasn’t convinced by the opening track, the second one, “Settle Down”, is a delicious slice of poptasticness, with boy/girl vocals and hook after hook.

Frisbee Club: there is 1 cassette remaining of their limited edition tape for “Ride Forever / Delphic”. The two song cassingle by this Nijmegen, Netherlands, band released by Coaster Records from Rotterdam. It is the first time I listen to a band from that city, or hear of a label from that other city. So this is interesting. The band is formed by Dennis Denissen, Yoni Vereijken and Jeroen Popelier. Two sunny songs and I look forward to what they do next (even though this is not too new, it is from 2016!)

Echo Ladies: it seems once again I arrived late to the party. The vinyl LP “Pink Noise” by this Malmö, Sweden, band is now sold out. I will have to wait for June 8th for the CD version to be released. I’m not that excited about it as it feels a bit of an afterthought (for me any CD release that comes in a cardboard sleeve is an afterthought). But it is better than nothing, right? There is only one song available to stream on the band’s Bandcamp: “Bedroom”. It is a superb shoegaze/dreampop track! The album will be released on the classic label Hybris. The band is formed by Matilda Bogren, Joar Andersen and Mattis Andersson.

—————————————————————–

Burnham-on-Sea is a large seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century, when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. It forms part of the parish of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge and shares a town council with its neighbouring market town of Highbridge.

This will be the first time I am writing about a band from Burnham-on-Sea. It may also be the only band I know that hail from this town. According to Discogs not much remains to document the existence of this enigmatic early ’90s U.K. indiepop group, except for a small collection of truly great tunes. Their sunny uptempo tunes delight with full, energetic rhythms, wistfully jangling guitars occasionally made just a bit dreamier with a hint of reverb, and high, just-a-bit-angsty male vocals. Disbanded in 1993 and some of their members reassembled as Luminous. 

But why not find out more ourselves?

My first encounter with them was through a bunch of songs Jigsaw Records put on their Bandcamp some time ago. Yes, Jigsaw Records, the one from Chris McFarlane, in Seattle. He had uploaded the “Happen to Lull”  (PZL002) tape in its entirety when he reissued it for Cassette Day 2015 in a limited quantity of 12. It seems 5 are remaining at the time of me writing the article. If only Chris would release it on CD, then I would buy it. The songs are ace. Anyhow, Chris tells us that this tape was originally released on February 1st, 1996 and that he obtained the rights to this cassette after the label that originally released it ceased to exist, and kept it in print for another year or so, until the master tape started to wear out. Under better circumstances, this band (with a sound that mixed the jangle of mid-’80s UK pop and the power of late-’80s UK shoegaze) could’ve been much, much bigger, but for now they remain woefully obscure…

The songs on this tape were on the A side, “Happen”, “Different”, “Between Two Fires”, “Horizontal”, “Landmark”, “Only Reason I Pray” and “Fiona”. The B side had “Turning”, “Avalanches”, “Tidal”, “Book I Borrowed” and “Way She Died”. 75 copies were pressed originally and it seems it actually was a reissue of another tape called “Eternity Beckons” that was released by the Traumatone label, which is also some sort of a reissue of two tapes the band had put out: “Happen” in 1990 and “Lull” from 1991. Interesting.  There are some credits on the tape too, Paul Stradling played bass, Kevin ‘Gonzo’ Webber and Richard Luck played drums , Phil Cornell played guitar and Jefferson Bird sang and played guitar.

“Eternity Beckons” is actually listed on Discogs. It was released in 1992 by Traumatone (TT10) as mentioned before. The A side is the same as the Jigsaw release but with the addition of “Turning”. That A side is the “Happen” tape from 1990. The B side, of only four songs, is the same as the B side of the Jigsaw release but without “Turning”. That was the “Lull” tape too then.

The “Happen” tape is not listed, but the “Lull” is. It was self-released and as mentioned included just the four songs, “Avalanches”, “Tidal”, “A Book I Borrowed” and “The Way She Died”. It was engineered and recorded by Trevor Curwen, who had worked with  Portishead and also son the fine Somewhere Over England.

But that is not all. It seems another tape album was made by the band and was released by Traumatone in 1993. “Highbridge Dreams” (TT12) is a big mystery to me. One of the big mysteries in indiepop. I’ve never heard any of the songs and I am very curious about them. This tape came packed in a fold around postcard from Burnham-on-Sea and now only credits Paul, Kevin and Jefferson. No drummer. Odd. And there are 13 songs in total. The A side had “Titania”, “Wish It Was Pretend”, “Shaded”, “Nocturnal”, “Sea Air” and “See Through”. The B side had “Through The Stills”, “Safely to the Ground”, “The Seventh is There”, “Hideaway”, “Georgina III”, “Glide” and “Statue (1 Track)”.

Only one compilation appearance is listed and it is a recent one. On the compilation album “Puzzle Pieces” released by Jigsaw (PZL05), where the label was celebrating their 50 releases, having bands from all of their previous releases, they included “Different” by Charms.

So I look for the band members, see what else they had been involved with. I see Jefferson Bird had been in a band called Bluejean Morrocan Hipsters and Luminous. Both released on the Traumatone label. I start to suspect this label was their own label. Could that be the case?

Paul Stradling had been involved with other bands on Traumatone like Poo & Wee, Brown Tower, Wizard Ho Ho, Bluejean Morrocan Hipsters, Luminous and Fulcrum. There’s also another band that he seems had been involved with, Gravity. That would be the only band that wasn’t released by Traumatone, but by MTM Music.

Kevin ‘Gonzo’ Webber also was involved with Luminous.

Interesting enough Traumatone has its own Bandcamp page with many uploads, but not one with the Charms.

Another interesting find is that the Traumatone released a tape called “Am I So Different? – A Tribute to the Charms” (TT14) in 1994. Many bands related to the label made covers of Charms songs. The bands that appear on said tape are Bucknalls with “Avalanches”, Wizard Ho Ho with “Different”, Brown Tower with “Georgina”, “Wckr Spgt with “Tidal”, Rescue Puppy Team with “See Through”, Naxxar with “Tribute”, Obscene Men with “Only Reason I Pray”, Paste with “Book I Borrowed”, Spacehopper with “Horizontal”, Will Simmons-Joe Sowers with “Fiona”, Fulcrum with “Tidal” and Brendan Shite with “Book I Borrowed”.

I keep digging, until I find a Bandcamp for the label Box Perfect Records. Interesting. Here are both tapes by the Charms, “Happen” and “Lull“. There are some details about each of the tapes. For example “Happen” was recorded on March 14th and May 30th of 1990 at The White House Studio in Weston-Super-Mare. Then “Lull” was recorded at the House on the Hill Studio in Bath on February 13th and 14th of 1991.

There’s not much on the web as you can imagine. One of course wonders why they didn’t release any of their records on vinyl or CD. Or whatever happened to the band members after being in the numerous projects on Traumatone Records. Especially as their other projects are not proper indiepop as the Charms. The Charms are indeed unique, they sound GREAT, like many of the obscure bands that appear on classic compilation tapes from the 80s and 90s with the difference that they did records many, many, songs!

Does anyone remember them? And does anyone can hook me up and let me listen their second tape album “Highbridge Dreams”?

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

Listen
Charms – Different

15
May

Thanks so much to Johan Gille for the interview! Got in touch with Johan thanks to the Watermelon interview. Thanks to that, he noticed I had written about his old band Théhuset on the blog. I was very happy to be able to ask all of these questions as that one release they put out was quite a mystery to me. Even better, to discover there are more songs by the band, and finally seeing photos of the band, has been quite a treat! Also so you know Johan has been in another classic band, Able, who are still going and who we’ll be doing an interview very soon too! Check them out! Hope you all enjoy reading the story of this obscure but fantastic Uppsala, Sweden, band!

++ Hi Johan! Thanks so much for getting in touch! How are you? Where are you at now? Still in Uppsala?

Hi Roque, and thanks to you! I’m in Uppsala, doing my duties at the university, bringing up kids, playing music, generally living.

++ You got in touch thanks to the connection with Erik from Watermelon Men, how lucky for me. But how did you two know each other? Did you ever make music together?

I moved to Uppsala to study, and I started studying Spanish. Erik was in the same course, and we became friends. He was a bit older and had been playing quite a while with Watermelon Men by then. He opened my eyes to a lot of things, and I’m very grateful for it. We played a few gigs as an acoustic duo, mostly covers as I remember it (singer/songwriter stuff, The Church, sixties pop…). I bumped into Erik the other day, it’s great that he’s making music again (with Distant Days).

++ Are you all from Théhuset still in touch to this day? What are you all up to?

Not that much, to be honest. It’s been a long time, and we all live in different parts of the country by now, but we get in touch every now and then.

++ You are still making music with Able right now right? Would be great to do an interview later about Able, but at this moment, what is coming up for the band?

Yeah, we are actually, and it feels great. Over the winter we’ve been recording songs for a new album, and we’ll continue with that until we’re satisfied with it. After that, we’ll see what happens. We played a show just the other week, and it felt fantastic. We’d love to play in New York. 🙂

++ Let’s start from the beginning. Like what are your first musical memories? What was the first instrument did you get and how? 

Oh, wow. I remember having a plastic toy guitar by the age of three. My parents played a lot, especially my father, who had been in bands since the 60’s, and was out playing every other weekend. So music was a natural part of life growing up. His father (my grandfather) had played in bands since the 30’s, and his parents in turn met when playing in some religious context back in the late 19th century. I started taking guitar lessons by the age of 8, and kept playing though I gradually moved away from playing music on sheets. I wanted to get closer to the magic of songs. I was intrigued by that. How do you write a song? A bit later, when I was 13 or so, I started studying Paul Simon’s songs, and then I wrote my first songs. Which were pretty horrible.

++ Had any of you been involved with other bands prior to Théhuset?

Some of us did actually play in a band in Borlänge (where I grew up, two hours north of Uppsala) before Théhuset. It was called Projekt Byrån, but we didn’t have a clear sense of direction, to put it diplomatically. When some of us started to figure out what kind of music we wanted to make, there was a flurry of activity for a while. There was one band called Barking Up The Wrong Pyramid, which eventually led to Théhuset being formed.

++ How was Uppsala back then? 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?

Théhuset was actually formed in Borlänge, we relocated a bit later. Borlänge was a pretty good place to be in a band back then. Not that there were many (or any!) bands around that we felt similar to, but there were a few places to play, and a good crowd at most of them. The music scene there was generally more oriented towards heavier stuff. A lot of heavy metal. At the time, Sator (Codex) were making their first records, Blue For Two were also getting a lot of attention. We played softer pop songs, and in Swedish, with a flute. It’s no overstatement to say that we didn’t quite fit in. In that sense, it felt like a relief when we moved the band to Uppsala, which was far more open-minded musically. Being able to play at the student clubs (“nations”) was also a great way to get practice. That said, Borlänge had (and has) one of the best record shops in the country: Folk å rock, run by the great Ingemar Magnusson. I only realized after I left how special that was.

++ When and how did the band start? What was the recruiting process like?

The band formed around 1987-1988 in Borlänge, when Jonas Leksell, Gunnar Alm and I started having an idea on what we were supposed to be doing musically. I’m not entirely sure who joined when, but you could say that there were two versions of the band. The first line-up was Jonas on drums, Gunnar on bass and me on guitar and vocals. Soon after that, Anna Blomqvist joined on flute (which was a pretty radical instrument to have in a band in Borlänge at the time) and tambourine. In this first version, we were all close friends before forming the band. Jonas and I had been to school together, Gunnar was living with my sister, and I was going out with Anna. The second version of the band was when we were in Uppsala. Lotta Nyblad joined on guitar and vocals, Patric Thuresson on violin and guitar, and then Tomas Bergman replaced Gunnar on bass. After a while, Anna had to leave, and Anna Carlsson came onboard.

++ Why the name Théhuset?

I think we wanted a name that went along with the soft and slightly intellectual character of the music (as compared to the other bands around in Borlänge). We were also heavy tea drinkers, and some of us had been reading “The Teahouse of the August Moon”.

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

I would write the songs, or sketches of songs, and have pretty specific ideas about the arrangements, which would be adapted by the band as they saw fit. At first we practiced in Jonas’ basement in Borlänge, but in Uppsala we eventually had a place around the corner from my flat where we rehearsed when we were the six of us. Lotta and I would play a lot at home too. Towards the end, it got more difficult. Tomas lived two hours away, Jonas in Stockholm. So we didn’t exactly rehearse twice a week by then.

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

Many! The Go-Betweens, the Church, Big Star, the Byrds, Prefab Sprout, the Sugarcubes, Elvis Costello, Suzanne Vega, the Triffids, Sarah Records in general, the Cure… The list could go on and on. Any music with a heart and brains.

++ What would you say are your all-time favourite Swedish guitar pop bands? And why do you think there’s been always quality Swedish pop bands up to this day?

At the time we started Théhuset, there really wasn’t a whole lot. We’d listened to some Swedish new wave bands, like Reeperbahn, Camouflage and Tant Strul, but as far as we were concerned, the 80’s wasn’t a great period for Swedish guitar pop. But that might have been us living in our bubble. We hadn’t even heard Watermelon Men, for instance. Anyway, things changed in the 90’s, a lot! The first sign of things changing was, for me and I remember discussing this with Erik Illes at the time, “My Hometown” by the Wannadies in 1990. It’s hard to pick one band among so many great ones. You’d have to mention Eggstone, obviously, they were brilliant, but there were so many, from Bear Quartet to Stevepops to Cloudberry Jam by way of countless great people and bands. I honestly have no idea why there has been so many good Swedish pop bands. One reason people usually mention is the general music training that we’d get back then, which meant that when you formed a band, the people would have a basic schooling and generally know how to play. That helps, obviously, but I’m not sure if it explains it, really.

++ Your one record was released by Ambush Records. Who were they? And how did you end up in the label?

It was through Mattias Bolkeus Blom, a friend of mine who knew the people running the label. It was all pretty simple with them, hardly any discussions at all. But I don’t know much about that label.

++ There are three songs on the record, “Egen Värld”, “Världens Bästa Dag” and “Tänk På Något Annat”. If you don’t mind, in a sentence or two, tell me the story behind these songs?

“Egen värld” was to our own ears perhaps one of the few proper pop songs we had then. Many of the other ones were all a bit… quirky. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ask Paddy McAloon. The lyrics are about a loved one you can’t communicate with anymore due to illness. And the flute solo was inspired by Bach! For some reason, this was the only song that for a long time had English lyrics, I had to write new ones for the recording. “Världens bästa dag” used to go over quite well when we played it at gigs. Might have been one of the few songs where we had a harmonica. The lyrics tell a rather twisted tale of a couple cheating on each other. Don’t know where I got the inspiration for that! “Tänk på något annat”: I distinctly remember sitting on the floor in the rehearsal room writing the lyrics to this one after reading far too many Borges and Cortázar novels for anyone’s mental health. The narrator is in anguish about not actually being him, but rather a dream made up by someone else, while the girls try to calm him down, telling him to think of something else (which quite easily could be taken as evidence that he was actually right all along). I can see now that we didn’t really write songs about the normal stuff…

++ How was the experience recording them at MBS Studios? 

It was our first time in a proper recording studio, and the engineer had some strange ideas. He didn’t want to use compressors, for instance, which everyone uses, and for obvious reasons. We had a really hard time getting radio to play the single. They liked it, but the volume on the record was a whole lot lower than on other recordings, so it was hard for them to fit it into the playlists. I don’t think the engineer was very used to recording pop music, to be honest. It wasn’t the best experience, but we learned a lot. And I like the fact that we played the backing tracks live, all of us at once.

++ Tell me about the art of the record, who is the girl from the photo?

There was this postcard that we had, I don’t know where it came from, but we used to have it on our posters. She became the Théhuset girl. So it made perfect sense to put her on the cover.

++ Are there any other releases by the band? What about compilation appearances?

There were no other official releases, but we recorded a couple of demos, and there’s a live recording as well. One of the demos was named “Demo of the month”, or something like that, in a Swedish music magazine.

++ What about unreleased songs? Are there any still? 

Well, there are those demos, about 11 songs altogether, and the live recording, but we didn’t record any other songs in a studio.

++ Was there any interest from other labels perhaps?

I don’t know how hard we tried to promote ourselves, but knowing ourselves I’d say probably not very much. There was some interest from labels, but I don’t know how serious it was. And not long after the single, the band was dissolved, leading eventually to Able forming in -93.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? Any in particular that you remember?

We played quite a lot, around Uppsala mostly, at student clubs primarily, but also quite a lot in our native town of Borlänge. The most memorable gig was probably playing to a big crowd at Dalarna University in Borlänge. That was a great gig. At one point, my father joined us on stage to play the accordion. And my mother was furious with me afterwards because we had played too loud. I tried telling her that we weren’t the ones to blame, but she’d have none of it.

++ And were there any bad gigs at all? Any anecdotes you could share?

I’m sure quite a few of them were sub-standard, especially in the beginning, when we were all pretty new to having gigs and dealing with everything around it. At our very first show in Uppsala, the engineer got the idea that the flute and my guitar competed in the same frequency range, whereby he promptly brought my guitar way down in the mix, leaving the band basically sounding like drums, bass and flute. I tried to compensate for that by playing harder on my guitar, which inevitably lead to me breaking a string on the first song… So that show was a bit of a disaster, especially since there were some record company people there checking us out. But apart from that we had a great time together, and in time we grew to be a pretty efficient live machine. As far as anecdotes go, every time we played in Borlänge it would take about one song or two before people started shouting on us to do songs by Creedence Clearwater Revival. We never did.

++ When and why did you split? Did you all continue making music afterwards?

It was towards the end of ’92 and mostly due to practical reasons. People living in different parts of the country. All of us kept playing afterwards. Jonas played with the Standards (they were pretty successful), Patric formed a ska band (Rude boys). Lotta and me started Able.

++ Was there ever a reunion gig or talks of a reunion gig?

Not that I remember. We’ve been living in different parts of the country, playing in new bands, eventually raising kids and having less and less time for it. But who knows what happens?

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

We were an underground band all along, but we received some attention. We did some interviews for radio and newspapers, the demo was picked and featured in a magazine. The 7″ didn’t sound like it should have to be played in the radio at the time, though.

++ What about from fanzines?

I don’t know if there were many Swedish fanzines around at the time that wrote about that kind of music. If there were, they didn’t find us. Ha ha.

++ And today, aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

Well, there isn’t a lot of time for hobbies when you have children and a full-time job, so we’re happy to find time for the music. Other than that, I am a linguist by profession and that’s kind of a hobby as well. And I’m a pretty good golfer.

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

It’s hard to pick one single thing. What I keep and value most from that time is how good friends we were, and all the good times we had together. I also remember recording one of the demos, with a hi-fi wiz in a concert hall in Uppsala. We recorded the whole thing live, no overdubs. The memories from that session are all envolved in pink fluffy clouds.

++ How is Uppsala today? I visited once and really liked it. But compared to the Théhuset days, has it changed much? If a reader of this interview was to visit one day, what would you say are the sights I shouldn’t miss? Or the traditional food or drinks I should try?

I love Uppsala, I have since the day I came here. It has a bit of everything without being a big city, and the university has its stamp on much of it (which is a good thing and a bad thing, but coming from Borlänge it has mostly been a good thing for me). The city’s grown since then, and now has a football team in the top division (IK Sirius, which we support wholeheartedly). The music scene is quite different, though. There aren’t many venues that offer live music, which is a real shame. Considering the size of Uppsala, and the music being made here, there should be a lot more. A tourist to the town should probably spend some time just walking around, stopping by the normal sights (the cathedral, the castle, the university, Gustavianum, the botanical gardens…), all of which are within easy walking distance. I think many would want to make the trip out to Gamla (‘Old’) Uppsala, to get a feel of the Viking age.

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

Thanks to you, Roque! I’m quite impressed that you found Théhuset. Keep up the good work!

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

Listen
Théhuset – Vid Din Fot (demo)

14
May

Let’s start the week straight to the point, let’s discover some new music and then of course let’s try to find out whatever happened to one of the great bands from the indiepop halcyon days.

Physical Media: a band from Queens, New York. You know I love that. Where in Queens I wonder? Do they play in Queens at all? Or maybe they are in Ridgewood. I have started to think that doesn’t count like Queens anymore. That’s more like the appendix of Brooklyn, of Williamsburg and Bushwick. I don’t really know much, but I’m listening to a superb tune now called “The Ethicist”. Who are they? Where did they come from? Well, it doesn’t look too new. March 2016 is their latest release.  It is a digital album called “Towers in the Park”. Would be interesting to know more about this band formed by Mike, Ed, Rob and Brian.

Harry Teardrop: another New York band. Well actually it seems just one guy, Harrison Li, who is 18 and attends NYU. There is this one song that sounds lovely called “Sleeping Cutie”. It is not THAT new, he had uploaded it back in December, on Christmas day. His latest song on the other hand is “Chinatown” that he published last February. But it is not as good as “Sleeping Cutie”. Though if you go further back you’ll find a 7 song mini-album called “June gloOm” that has some very nice jangly and quirky guitars!

Poppel: a jangly Belgian band? From a place called Turnhout? Thanks to the label Gazer Tapes I have found out about this album called “Hit It” that was released last December. For the time being it looks like it is only available digitally which is quite a shame. But well, it is better than nothing of course. There are 10 fine guitar pop songs in total by the quartet formed by Fik, Driesos, Bram and Lars. According to Facebook they are influenced by some not very good bands but well, hasn’t that happened many times before? Let’s just try to ignore that.

Roadie: a guitar pop band from San Miguel de Tucuman in Argentina. Might be a first? I’m looking at the 7 songs from their mini-album “El Arte de las Decisiones” and notice the last song is called “Smiths”. I wonder why? The band formed by Franco Días González, Fausto Masucci, Facundo David Roig and Julio Goitia, have several releases on their Bandcamp that I will duly check out but right now I’m starting with their latest which they published on January 8th.

Herbario: the latest from this Santiago, Chile, band is a song called “Resonancias” and it sounds really really good. It was published on Bandcamp as a digital single on February 2nd and it is quite a surprise. It seems it actually is a one-man band, one by Ricardo Valdés. He says that these songs are a sort of a diary of his free time. Aside from this song he also has a 4 song demo available to stream.

—————————————————————

Time again to go back to the ol’ UK for some good ol’ indiepop. And even though I don’t own all their discography yet, I must say that I’m on the mission to complete it. I do love the two singles I own. So that must account for something.

When you search for Vicarage Garden the first result is that of the East Ruston Old Vicarage Gardens, in Norfolk. These gardens were established in 1973 and are privately owned. Did the band take their name from this special place? Did the band hail from Norfolk? These are my first questions.

It was 1991 when they released their first record and it happened to be on one of my favourite labels, Heaven Records. The Nottingham based Heaven Records of course was run by Mark Randall and Matt Johnson from The Fat Tulips and this label released not only The Fat Tulips but other amazing bands like Confetti, The Rosehips or The Melons. Well, The Vicarage Garden was going to be part of this brilliant roster with their “Oh! Dawn” (HV03) 7″. The record only had two songs, “Oh! Dawn” on the A side and “You That Is” on the B side. And what’s interesting about this 7″ is that there are two versions. One with a printed sleeve and another one that was limited to 500 copies that is sort of an “action painting” hand-painted sleeve. I have this last version.

Discogs lists 3 7″s, but according to 45cat there was another 7″. One that was released in 1995 by Heaven Records. This one had catalog number HV14 and included two songs, “Victoria Euphoria” and “Good Heaven”. To be honest, I haven’t sen a copy of this record ever. Wasn’t aware it existed. If anyone has any more information about it, that’d be great!

Their next 7″ came out in 1997 on the French label Cavalcade. This label released also the wonderful album “The Start of Our Affair” by The Cherry Orchard. I actually sent interview questions to The Cherry Orchard many years ago, when they put out a compilation on Firestation. Never heard from them. A shame really. Maybe they would have told me more about this label. In any case, let’s get back to The Vicarage Garden.

The “Please Do It Again EP” (GALLY 1) had three songs. On the A side we find the superb “Linda Lovejuice”, which I’ve seen has been a favourite of several Japanese indiepop discos, and on the B side the songs “Please Do It Again” and “More or Less”. This record actually includes some credits, and we can know determine the band members. Jason Kester played guitars and sang, Andy Leek did backing vocals and keyboards, Jerome Bannigan played drums and Steve Hibbert the bass. All songs are credited to Matthew Leake and Jason with Andy produced them. They were engineered at The Haze Studios in Wolverhampton.

Okay, Wolverhampton is not close to Norfolk. Not close to Nottingham. So were they from this town then? And who is Matthew Leake? Did he only write the lyrics for the band?

Two years later, in 1999, the band was to release their last 7″ on the Japanese label Harmony Label (H004). It was a four song EP titled “I Feel Alright Today EP” and the songs on it were: “I Feel Alright Today” and “Will You Always” on the A side and “Down Goes The Sun” and “What You Do” on the B side. Something that caught my attention is that the first song on each side was written by Griffis, Hough and Kester. While the two other songs by Kester and Leake. I don’t understand. Who are Griffis and Hough? Were they part of the band or were they like Leake, writing lyrics for the band?

The four songs were mastered at Greg Lee Processing. The art was created by Daisy and we see that there are liner notes written, I suppose in Japanese, by Hiromi Aki who had written many liner notes, especially for Quince Records releases. This 7″ is the one I’m missing in my collection.

Now here is something that confuses me. Discogs lists Andy Leek as one that had been part of the Dexy’s Midnight Runners and The Blue Ox Babes. Is it the same Andy Leek?

There are 4 compilation appearances listed on Discogs. Let’s check them out.

On the CD compilation “A Tribute to Felt” that was released by Elefant Records (ER-101) in 1995, The Vicarage Garden appears covering Felt’s “Sandman’s On the Rise Again”. This was the first CD release by Elefant and it includes so many classic bands, from Los Planetas to Acid House Kings.

It also seems lately I’ve mentioned many times the compilation “Pop Machine” that was released by Cowly Owl (Calf 7997). I mentioned on The Imaginary Friend last. On this 1998 compilation The Vicarage Garden appears with the song “Now You’re Gone”.

A French tape compilation with no release date called “Sassy” sees the band contribute the song “Zoe Knows”. First time I’m aware of this compilation. A few bands I’ve never heard appear here like Quatre, Calamine, Autumn Sky or Polar Bear. Would be interesting to explore and find out more about them.

Lastly their song “Zoe Knows” appears on yet another French compilation tape. It came along the fanzine Plouf! that was put together by the label Les Tartines. The curious thing here is that the song by Vicarage Garden credits Jason Bronfeld as a performer. I’m more than confused! Now who is he?

My friend Alex wrote about them on his blog 7iete Pulgadas back in 2010. He doesn’t give any more information though he does make the distinction that the B side of the “Oh! Dawn” single is much better than the A side. For me it is hard to decide which one I like best!

I look for the band members. I believe I found that Jerome Bannigan plays drums for the David K band and has contributed drums to the musician Paul Bond. Then I think I’ve stumbled upon Jason Kester. I find a website for a band called Jason Kester & The Believers. Is it the same Jason Kester? It might be. You see many years ago I got a comment on the blog by someone called Dom Vicarage Garden. Sure, there is no Dom as far as I know in the band but he mentioned he was tracking down all Stoke On Trent bands. Now I find that Jason Kester had played in a band called Goya that was based in Stoke. So this would mean that it wasn’t Wolverhampton, nor Norfolk, nor Nottingham, but Stoke-On-Trent the place where The Vicarage Garden came from.

I think that might be a certainty, but we don’t know much more about the band. Like how come they didn’t release an album? What about that 2nd Heaven 7″ that doesn’t show up anywhere. Were they involved with any other bands? Was Andy Leek the same Andy Leek from the Dexy’s? What happened after they split? How come they release records in France and Japan? Did they ever go there? Are there more unreleased songs? Do you remember them?

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

Listen
The Vicarage Garden – Oh! Dawn

13
May

Thanks so much to Frank Werner for the interview! I wrote about one of the Fast Weltweit bands, Die Bienenjäger, on the blog and Frank was kind enough to get in touch and give me more details about the band. So, I took the opportunity and asked if he’d be up to tell the story of the superb later he ran with his friends back in the 80s, and he was! There is quite some information about it in German on the web but very little in English, so this might be a great way to introduce the label to many! For those that German is their first language the interview is now also available on the Fast Weitwelt website. Also to get a good idea of which bands and how they were connected Frank has shared a Fast Weltweit family tree that might prove useful to read the interview (and to collect the records too of course!). So sit back, and enjoy a trip to memory lane with the one and only Fast Weltweit from Bad Salzuflen.

++ Hi Frank! Thanks so much for being up for this interview! We got in touch thanks to my post about Die Bienenjäger here on the blog. You shared with me an interview with Jochen and could learn a bit more about the band. I’m curious of course if there are any more unreleased songs and perhaps any plans to re-release their songs?

Hi Roque, thank you! That’s a difficult question. Jochen does not want recordings from that time to be published. In the interview you translated, he talks about himself as a Girke-Begemann imitator on his way to himself. There were several demo recordings with Die Bienenjäger and Jochen considers them as a development phase in themselves. He also asked me several times “not to give anything to anyone”. I think we will have to wait a very long time for Die Bienenjäger publications…

++ I asked that as I’m aware some of your label’s bands have had some retrospective releases on Tapete Records lately. How did their interest come about and how is your relationship with them?

We owe this in any case to the interest and the untiring work of Carsten Friedrichs of the Tapete label. The first collaboration came about with the Tapete sampler “Falscher Ort, falsche Zeit” in 2015. Carsten was looking for pieces and bands that fit the theme with their history and effect. The two samplers featured Die Antwort, Jetzt! and the Time Twisters. The collaboration with the label is going very well; we, the musicians involved, are involved and informed in everything.

++ Speaking of Tapete, they do seem like a much bigger label compared to Fast Weltweit. But there must be some things in common, right? What do you think that is? And what other German labels do you have a soft spot for?

Tapete Records has just celebrated its 15th anniversary and has put out over 300 releases to date, including those of Robert Forster, The Monochrome Set, Fehlfarben and many more.
Gunther Buskies and Carsten Friedrichs from the label play in the band Die Liga der gewöhnlichen Gentlemen, which has a lot in common with the Time Twisters, e.g. humour, carefree attitudes and a very own joy about the lightness of being. In any case, what they have in common is the will to give the respective bands the artistic independence and to provide support in the right places.
Other important labels are fore example Staatsakt in Berlin, Trikont in Munich, but also small labels like Kleine Untergrund Schallplatten in Augsburg. 😉

++ You shared with me a couple of German-language interviews and they were great for me to get some background of the label. I still think that most English speakers need some of the basics of the label even if it is a bit repetitive. To start Fast Weltweit was formed by many people. That is kind of uncommon. Who were the people behind the label and how easy or complicated was to work altogether?

The label was founded in 1985 by Michael Girke, Achim Knorr, Andreas Henning, Frank Spilker and myself in the back room of a small Greek pub in Herford. It was a long night and there was a lot of discussion and table football in between.

“It was me who at some point had the idea of getting together with these people in a pub to discover what they have in common, perhaps to support each other and not to stand alone (with a raised and disguised voice) against a ‘big, bad world’. That certain shortcomings that everyone has, can be absorbed, compensated for and perhaps even converted into strength in a network. So first of all, to have an interest group.” (quote Michael Girke)

Beyond the discussion, we planned to organize a tour through northern Germany. The organisational logic of this project followed a simple idea: Since the individual bands already had their “bases” in different cities in northern Germany (Berlin, Hanover, Cologne, Bielefeld, Hamburg), it would not mean a considerable additional effort to find a suitable venue for the other groups instead of just for their own band.

A few days later, the idea of a starting point for the media world was born: a sampler, a record on which all groups are represented, would be a suitable advertising to radio stations, record companies, concert agencies, etc.; the media association of records, performances, advertising material could achieve at least a respectable success vis-à-vis these bodies with appropriate personal commitment.

The realization of the project took a corresponding amount of time. The performances had to be organised, the record pressing was commissioned, a record cover had to be designed in consultation with a designer and then printed – that is, a large number of activities had to be coordinated and realised that we were not yet familiar with before. The design of the cover alone led to countless discussions until a common consensus was finally reached.
It was a world without the Internet. Experts had to be contacted, a lot of telephone work had to be done, demos had to be sent out and conversations had to be held.

In spring 1986 the record was released and the first “Fast-Weltweit-BRD-Package-Tour” took place. The response of the press to this tour was surprisingly good. Fast Weltweit was mentioned in the most important city newspapers, the “scene pages” of the tour sites. Even the insider magazine “SPEX” dealt with the phenomenon in the category “Fast & transient” (Schnell & Vergänglich) and had room for quite positive record criticism. In the Berlin “taz”, a record review even spoke of the “almost worldwide movement”. The record and the tour were performed by the regional radio stations. Thanks to Michael Girke’s organisational talent, various radio interviews took place. The euphoria of the hour was great. The “home game” in Enger and the performance in Cologne were audience successes. The concert in Cologne’s “Salznuß” was sold out. The “Fast-Weltweits” attributed this interest above all to a mention in the WDR scene programme “Graffiti”. The DJ played two tracks from the LP in the afternoon before the concert and repeatedly expressed his astonishment at how such a thing would be possible: on the one hand the self-produced record, on the other hand a concert with five different bands in one evening.

Jochen Distelmeyer and Bernadette Hengst joined the label in 1987.
Jochen had read from us in “SPEX” and contacted Andreas Henning of the Time Twisters in Bielefeld. This was followed by a joint performance of the Time Twisters with Jochen’s first band, the White Palms, at the Bielefeld Youth Centre in Jöllenbeck. Bernadette had supported Michael Girke as a singer at the Jetzt! and Achim Knorr at the Der Fremde recordings and got to know the other musicians.

Several releases followed, e.g. Die Sterne singles, the Time Twisters single, the single of Der Fremde, two joint cassette samplers and many demo recordings.
We helped each other with recordings and performances, talked about our songs, played them and stormed the parties and discotheques in the area. Through the contact with our creatively work, so many friendships have been established that have lasted to this day, despite different places of residence, biographies and living conditions.

In October 1988, at the Berlin Independence Days (BID), an indie fair financed by Senate funds, we had a three-day “showcase” at Café Swing. The main acts of BID were to be seen in the “Metropol”, only a hundred meters away, e.g. Mudhoney. So the “Swing” was a strategically excellent place to be noticed by the professional audience. The response to the performances was good and a few promising dates with media representatives followed. Our main goal was to find sponsors for the label and a better distribution opportunity.

The Germany Way Of Making Pop Exciting

In the early 90s the relationships between the musicians diverged. Some of the bands had signed contracts with other labels with newly formed formations and something that was not granted us in the Fast Weltweit time, namely success (e.g. Die Sterne at L’Age D’Or and Sony Music, Blumfeld at ZickZack and Die Braut haut haut at the BMG). I mean with success not wealth, but artistically self-determined work, continuity and simply the possibility of being able to live from this activity.

Today’s interest in Fast Weltweit is certainly also due to the popularity of these bands.

(The original Textversion of the early history of Fast Weltweit is found here::
Frank Werner: Zur regionalen Szene der Alternativ-Labels. In: Dieter Baacke (Hrsg.): Handbuch Jugend und Musik. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 1997)

++ How did you all know each other? And how did you decided to start this label? Most of you were in bands too, so I wonder, where did you all find the time to make all these things happen?

In 1982 I started recording demos with a Teac 4-track tape recorder in the practice rooms of bands. Through this work I got to know most of the musicians. Bernd Begemann should be mentioned here above all as a former influence. He had the first punk band in town (called Vatikan with Bernd Begemann, Frank Jacobs and Martin Stammeier) in 1979 and we met in the smoking area of our school centre. I recorded his band at the Christian youth centre with a tape recorder and borrowed equipment*. The priests thought it was a religious band because of its name, and so they were allowed to rehearse there. Bernd went to Hamburg very early in 1984, had contact to bigger labels with his band Die Antwort since 1985 and already signed a contract with RCA and accordingly airplay in 1986. Bernd helped us a lot with some productions and we could learn from his experiences with the “industry”.

https://soundcloud.com/fastweltweit/vatikan-was-geschieht-aus-den-leuten
*Bernd gets upset at the beginning of the recording about the “disturbing” church bells. The building was only 50 meters away..

++ But you weren’t part of any of the bands on the label, is that right? I only see that you were part of a band called Maramu, but that in the 90s? How come?

After Fast Weltweit I had the recording studio until 1998 and from 1990 I had a permanent job in a local computer company as a supporter. This work proved to be more and more time consuming.
I definitely wanted to continue with music and founded a new company with the musician Thomas Welzel* in 1992. Maramu was our joint project for the world music band Dissidenten. In 1996 we created a very teutonic techno mix from samples of the dissidents for an album (“Mixed Up Jungle”). They called the track the „Evolution Mix“. The contact to Marlon Klein from the group has been maintained and we are still good friends today.
Marlon comes from Herford and was the drum teacher of Volker Seewald, the first drummer of the Time Twisters, and his brother Pitty Klein was the guitar teachers of Jürgen Jahn and Andreas Henning.

*(not to be mistaken for Thomas Wenzel von den Bienenjägern and Die Sterne)

++ Would you say there were any other labels influence in Fast Weltweit?

Musically the influence is surely Creation, Postcard or Stiff Records – still Independent Labels. With reference to the release of singles and sound also Motown. With regard to radical independence, Schneeball. It was a definitely small German Krautrock label that sought its own economic way of production and distribution for the first time in Germany in the 1970s. This also closes the circle to the Dissidenten who used to be members of Embryo, Missus Beastly and the Real Ax Band; they were all snowball bands.
Schneeball later became Efa and Indigo. Indigo is today one of the most important independent German music distributors for independent labels. The headquarters are in Hamburg.
Today, indigo distribution is also used by Tapete Records and many others.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo_(Vertrieb)

++ Discogs lists a sister label, Werner Klangforschung that released some cassette albums in the first half of the 80s. I suppose, because of your last name, that you ran it? What did you learn from this experience that helped establish Fast Weltweit? And care telling me a bit about the bands that were on this label?

After the split of Vatikan, The Toll was the first band in the early Fast Weltweit history. The group had energy and charm and a changing line-up (with Michael Girke, Jürgen Jahn and Rolf Birkfeld, later with Heike Hickmann on saxophone and Christian Methe on drums). They had keyboards and horns, used Super 8 movies on stage. That was very pleasing. Michael Girke left the band in 1982/83 and continued working with Bernd Begemann. There were ambitions for a common band and there were recordings. 1983 The Toll split up. Andreas Henning and Heike Hickmann formed the Milk-pops – pop folk with much Jonathan-Richman and Cherry-Red influence. Later followed the formation of the Time Twisters with Andreas Henning, Ralf Wendler, Volker Seewald and Jürgen Jahn.

Frank Spilker and Mirko Breder I met in 1983 through Veto recordings. In 1984 we recorded with the new band “the discount” (Frank Spilker, Mirko Breder, Christian Böhm) an audio cassette with the significant title “Linoleum im Hirn” (Linoleum in the Brain).

++ And what sort of infrastructure did the label had? Did you run it from your bedrooms perhaps?

It was more of a garage studio at the nearby forest with 43 square meters and a telephone. The equipment got better and better over time: 16-track Fostex, Seck mixer, Eqs, Reverbs etc. and a digital Sony PCM 601 for mastering. For the masters, analog 2-track copies were pulled on a Tascam 22-2.

The main advantage was our network and the “branches” in the northern German cities mentioned; communication took place via telephone, letter and mutual visits. We also had an internal newsletter, produced with Atari and dot-matrix printer. It was the time before the internet.

++ The label was based in the town of Bad Salzuflen. To be honest I’ve only heard the name of the town when the label is mentioned. Don’t know much about it. How was it back in the day? Did you get many concerts? Were there any good venues to check out bands? Were there any like-minded people aside the Fast Weitwelt gang? Were there any good record stores?

Oh, Bad Salzuflen is a spa town with a very old population and thermal baths. In some parts of the city one cannot get rid of the feeling of being an integral part of a perpetual therapy session (physical education). There is a large spa park, a lot of forest and good possibilities to go for a walk.
The first natural reflex as a young person is to quickly leave the city and its sometimes strange inhabitants behind. I am a little hospitalized with Stockholm Syndrome, live in a suburb and like to visit the nearby bigger city Bielefeld. Many friends of mine have left the city over the years.
Bielefeld is a university town with over 330,000 inhabitants and a few good clubs. That’s an alternative.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Salzuflen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Radio was very important for us, especially BFBS as an local English-language station of the British Army of the Rhine, with a much more relaxed program compared to the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, with its cruel hit & german „Schlager“ program.
Our region was occupied by the British Army. English soldiers, army cars and the white english school buses were part of the street scene in Bad Salzuflen and Herford. In Salzuflen there was even a small district where the British officers and their families lived.
I started listening to Nightflight by Alan Bangs and John Peel’s Music early. A large English garrison was stationed in Herford and concerts in the old „Scala“ in Herford were almost like a home play for many English bands.
And there were good clubs, e.g. the Forum in Enger, a privately organised music club with an excellent concert programme. This was a regular meeting place and extended living room for many.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar-Club

There was a good local record store in the 80s; unfortunately it had to close later.
The small “Rock Shop” in Schießhofstraße was a meeting place in the early 80s. When we finished the first The Toll cassette, the owner, Frank Lenschen decorated the whole shop window with it and we were really proud.
The record store owner was local hero and sometimes a little dictator.
They’ve heard increasingly gloomy industrial stuff from Manchester & London, Throbbing Gristle…
And if you had bought a nice pop record, there was a saying, “What do you want with that shit?”
Support your local record shop!

++ What’s the story behind the name of the label?

The name was invented by Michael Girke. Big-mouthed, but with a wink.
“Fast” means almost, not fast in the sense of speed.

++ What about the artwork for the label? Was the aesthetics of the label important for you all? Who came up with the label’s logo?

Again Michael, he insisted from the beginning that we needed a proper logo and organized the contact to young graphic artists in Bielefeld. Rena Tangens and padeluun designed it, as they did the cover of his first single.
My girlfriend Susanne Beimfohr designed the cover of the first Fast Weltweit LP. She studied graphics and design in Bielefeld. Through my work with her I learned a lot about typography and design. She also designed the cover of the first Die Sterne single. In return, Frank Spilker and Mirko Breder created a soundtrack for a slide animation about El Lissitzky, a Russian artist – “Von zwei Quadraten”. That was part of her thesis.

++ You also produced most of the records if not all. How did that work for you? Which studio did you use? and what would you say were the easiest and most complicated records to produce?

I was lucky enough to have been able to renovate and use an old garage near my house since 1984. I recorded the Milk-pops in my little apartment.
The easiest and most difficult recording at the same time was the first Time Twisters single at the beginning of 1989. We had to postpone the recording. It took several weeks until a spare part was available because the sales department of Fostex in Germany went bankrupt. I was able to purchase a spare part in Frankfurt from a former employee and have it installed there. We recorded the single in three days – soundcheck, recording and mix. The Twisters were very straightforward and had a new drummer, Matthias Reth, with beat and very good timing.

++ And was it easy to distribute your records? Did you manage to create interest abroad?

It was very difficult. We didn’t have any real distribution. Achim Knorr did mailorder from Cologne. We also sold at concerts. Record shops were often only willing to record the records under commission.

++ Also do tell me about the catalog numbers of the label, they seem quite odd to me, like they don’t follow a logic! But I’m sure there is one!

No, no logic. The names were more important, like Ikea. The red sampler, the blue sampler etc. These were the toner colors in Mirko Breder’s parents’ Xerox.

++ Another thing that surprises me, is that there is a website for the label. That is not common for a small 80s label, to have an online presence these days with so much memorabilia and more. Who runs it? Is it updated often? And who kept safe all of these photos and articles?

In 2008 there was a major exhibition in the Museum of Literature in Oelde about Die Sterne, Blumfeld, Bernd Begemann, Bernadette La Hengst, Erdmöbel and Fast Weltweit – “Stadt.Land.Pop. The Literature Commission for Westphalia was responsible for the event, in particular Moritz Baßler, Walter Gödden, Jochen Grywatsch and Christina Riesenweber.
We were all quite surprised at the interest in the topic – a lot of press and over 6,000 visitors. There was a very extensive volume accompanying the exhibition with a lot of journalistic and scientific research. “Stadt.Land.Pop.” was an interdisciplinary project and had support in teaching at the universities of Paderborn and Münster. There were also some concerts during the six months of the exhibition.

I had conversations and compiled a lot of material, digitized interviews, scanned covers, texts etc. for the book, restored the sound for the almost-worldwide promo video shown at the exhibition, etc. Michael Girke and I gave a video interview, which can be found on the DVD supplement to the exhibition catalogue. The others have written wonderful contributions to the book, given concerts and interviews. However, the main work was done by the staff of the Literature Commission and the participants of the „Museum für Westfälische Literatur“ in Oelde-Stromberg. We have deliberately not interfered in their work.
The wealth of material that came to light during my research prompted me personally to revamp the Fast Weltweit website. Dirk Bogdanski of the Nottbeck House of Culture has made many photos available and thus an impression of this exhibition is virtually preserved. The work on the blog developed a momentum of its own, also because I mix old references and new ones. The preparatory work for the four Tapete records also caused many pictures to reappear.

https://www.kulturgut-nottbeck.de/ausstellungen/ausstellungsarchiv/stadtlandpop-popmusik-zwischen-westfaelischer-provinz-und-hamburger-schule/

++ Well, let’s talk about the label’s releases! I believe the first release was Jetzt’s „Acht Stunden Sind Kein Tag“ 7“, right? I notice that this was a co-release with Hit-And-Run Records. Who were they?

Oh, that was Michael Girke. Pastell, a label from Dortmund, had promised him financing and distribution. We have included the single in our program. It was mixed and produced by Thomas Schwebel von Fehlfarben.

++ There are two „Fast Weltweit präsentiert“ compilations. The first on vinyl, and the second on tape. Of course, I have to ask, why the second on tape?

Cassettes were very popular, easier and cheaper to create and send. We used the tapes as a demo for concerts at the same time. Cassettes were also a statement for the still new DIY and independent culture.

++ Not all of the artists that are related to the label, got a proper release. Only a few did like Jetzt!, Die Sterne, Die Time Twisters or Der Fremde. Why was that?

For the first single of Bernadette La Hengst we had already finished the recordings and photos. Horst Luedtke, producer of “Monarchie und Alltag” of Fehlfarben, produced Bernadette in the Klangforschung for a week in 1989. He came in a Mercedes, wore cowboy boots and lived in the Maritim hotel. The recordings were very exciting and had a positive influence on me. A little later Bernadette met her comrades-in-arms at Die Braut… and the story took a different turn.

++ Speaking of bands released by the label, just as an introduction to the English-speaking fans, maybe in a line or two could you explain or tell who formed these bands, or which song would be a great entry point each of them?

The Time Twisters – Jürgen Jahn, Andreas Henning and Frank Jacobs. A good start would be the first single or – even better – the album “Guten Morgen Sommer” released by Tapete.
http://www.tapeterecords.de/artists/dietimetwisters/

Jetzt! – Michael Girke, solo and in different line-ups with band (Klaus Mertens, Mijk van Dijk, Oliver Mills etc.). Here, too, the publication of Tapete should be mentioned: JETZT! – Liebe in GROSSEN Städten (1984–1988)
http://www.tapeterecords.de/artists/jetzt/

Mijk van Dijk has published a wonderful report about his time at Jetzt! on his website. All in English language: http://microglobe.de/jetzt-liebe-in-grossen-stadten/

Die Sterne – Mirko Breder and Frank Spilker. (The other Die Sterne band was founded in Hamburg in the early 90s with a different line-up but with the same name.)
Especially the first single “Ein verregneter Sommer” is recommended.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGD7VVcFuWE

Der Fremde – Achim Knorr, Andreas Reth and Andrea Kilian; later with Frank Spilker on bass and Thomthom Geigenschrey on violin. German grunge with a lot of Dinosaur Jr. influence. The recommendation: “Stunden dazwischen” – live with the support of Frank Spilker and Mirko Breder. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8udCYt2bkbw

Bernadette La Hengst – here the cover version of Michael Girkes “Das Dorf am Ende der Welt”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kAk9c103t8 The woman is incredible, climate activist, musician, actor & theater.

Jochen Distelmeyer, Die Bienenjäger – “What will we find”.
At that time with Thomas Wenzel, Mikro Breder and Jochen Distelmeyer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4335RV7PgkM

++ And if you were to choose your top five releases on Fast Weltweit, which would they be and why?

I can’t decide. 😉

++ I must say that my favourite band on the label is Die Time Twisters, as they are perhaps the most jingle jangly band on it. I believe they could have been much bigger maybe if they sang in English. But at the same time I love that the bands in your label are true to themselves and were all singing in German. I do wonder what you think about that? Do you think this limited in any ways the bands and or the label?

We deliberately chose the German language. As a “native speaker” it is much easier to express yourself in it. A large part of the bands in Germany sang English at that time. People thought it was cooler, didn’t understand the strange lyrics and the funny accent of these bands. We also saw each other as a result of the early German punk and new wave bands, which were distinguished by the then new use of German lyrics. Even if music as a language is universal, the decision to use one language limits the target group. On the other hand, we wanted to be understood and it is more obvious to speak the same language.

++ Are there any other German bands from that period that you would have loved to release on the label?

There were contacts to other bands, but nothing came out of it.

++ And is there a complete discography of the label somewhere? Is the Discogs one complete?

Discogs is a good introduction and almost complete in relation to the official releases. Of course, the many demos are missing. The German Wikipedia entry also mentions some demo recordings.

++ When and why did you decide to stop the label? What did you do after? Did you continue being involved with music?

It was a creeping process. Due to my computer job I had less and less time at my disposal. At the same time there were changes in the bands. Michael Girke stopped making music and became a journalist for the “Bielefelder Stadtblatt”. Jochen also stopped making music for a year and later reinvented himself with Blumfeld. Bernadette founded her band Die Braut haut ins Auge. The drummer of Der Fremde, Andreas Reth, founded a new label for his band in 1990, Reth Tonträger, and we produced the album “Daneben” together with Achim Knorr.
Die Sterne were also newly founded in Hamburg.

https://www.discogs.com/de/Der-Fremde-Daneben/release/1988984

++ Probably the question most people are asking by now, do you still have any stock of the label’s records?

No, all out of stock.

++ Did the label get much support from the German press or radio?

The fanzine “Straight” of the Grether sisters supported us very much. There were some mentions (“Spex” and others) and articles in the local newspapers.
In the mid-90s the Münster fanzine “komm küssen” published a big article and a fat CD supplement to the magazine with Weltweit-Tracks with the help of the Hamburg label L’âge d’Or. This was a great honour for us, as the magazine about Christoph Koch, Linus Volkmann, Ivo Schweighart and Michael Brandes was one of the best German-language fanzines.

++ Looking back in time, what would you say was the biggest highlight of the label?

Live the performances at Café Swing in Berlin, musically the red and the blue cassette sampler.

++ I’m curious, as I also run a small label, did you lose much money with the label? Or maybe you were one of the lucky indiepop labels that could break even or make a little?

I wasn’t in debt 😉

++ Aside from music, what do you do these days? And what other hobbies do you have?

I live off my job as a computer supporter.
My hobbies: still listening to music and sometimes also producing. 😉

++ I think this has been a long interview Frank!! I could probably keep asking questions but let’s wrap it here. Just one more question, as I’ve never been to Bad Salzuflen, do you recommend visiting at all? Are there any sights or maybe traditional foods or drinks one should definitely try?

Maybe “Pickert” This is a pancake-like dish that used to be a “poor people meal”. It is a dough dish and is fried in a pan and served with butter, plum or plum jam, jam, compote, applesauce and others. It’s definitely very tasty. 😉

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickert

++ Anything else you’d like to add?

Michael and Bernd met through a tip from The Toll drummer “Balou”. He said to Michael: “I know someone who is just as crazy as you are”.

Some of the band names have their own meanings. „Toll“ means “great, awesome and fantastic” in German. “Die Braut haut ins Auge“ is a “bride that bangs the eye”. All the band members had just been through a divorce. “Die Bienenjäger” are “bee hunters” and “Die Sterne” are “stars”. “Der Fremde” is a “stranger” and “Arthur Dent”, an early band of Frank Spilker has a quote to the fictional character of the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

Many thanks for your interest!
Best, Frank

PS: Many thanks to Roque for the interview. Thanks to Andreas Henning, Bernadette La Hengst, Michael Girke, Marlon Klein, Carsten Friedrichs and Sarah Wassermair for the reading and the comments and Volker Koring for the correction.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Listen
Die Time Twisters – Sonst (Denn jetzt bist Du da)

12
May

Thanks so much to Micky for the interview and his wife Victoria for getting me in touch with him after I had written about them on the blog. The Beaujolais Brothers were Rodney and Micky, sadly Rodney passed away in October 2008, so Micky is now the only surviving “Brother”. The two of them were in many bands together and even though they didn’t release many records, The Beaujolais Brothers 7″ is a classic in my book. There was not much information about them on the web so I always wanted to learn more about them. I was lucky that Micky answered my questions with lots of details. Felt like I was transported to the Beaujolais Brothers time. Hope you enjoy this interview!

++ Let’s start from the beginning, from your first music memories. Like when growing up what sort of music did you listen to at home? Were your parents into music? What was your first instrument?

I shared a small flat with my mum, nan and uncles in South London.  My mum was a teddy-girl and my uncles were teddy-boys, we all listened to rock-n-roll, especially Little Richard, a lot of American black artists, but not so much to Elvis.  We used to listen to Forces Family Favourites, on the BBC which was for people based in Germany.  They played lots of different songs from different places.

I would listen to Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg underneath the bed-covers.  They were independent radio stations and the DJs on them went on to BBC Radio 1 in the 60’s.

My first instrument was at school – a bass drum in the junior orchestra and I still have the melody in my head.

I got into guitar later on, in my late-teens.  When I was 18 or 19, I learnt 3 chords and started playing gigs; I never learned the guitar properly until later on.

++ Were you involved in any other bands before The Beaujolais Brothers? If so, care telling me a bit about each of them?

In the late 70s I was playing with a band called ‘KP and the Peanuts’ and Rod had joined ‘the Heroes’, a local Croydon band (Dave Berk’s manor).  Rod and I were both born in South London; Rod was born above a radio repair shop and he was one of seven.  We lived round the corner from each other, but we didn’t play in a band until much later.  We didn’t go to the same school for example and he was a year younger than me.  We both played in different bands.  When we started playing together he was in a band called ‘Red Socks’.  Tony Bulldock was in that band and he later did the artwork for the Beaujolais Brother single – he created Cedric the Seagull.  Gerry Shephard (who was guitarist with Gary Glitter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glitter_Band) and Tony Day were also in that band.

There was a lot in between which I can’t now remember.  I was in a middle of the road rock band called ‘Shade To Far’ and we wrote our own songs.  That band was Ricky Hammond, Terry Kavanagh, Tony Bulldock and me.  Our bands used to rehearse in the same studio in Streatham called ‘the Pit’; and I was jealous of Rod’s band and he was jealous of mine.

Then Gerry left Red Socks to join the circus (he and Gary Glitter went off to join the circus and they thought they could put rock into the circus…https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xmT0CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT115&lpg=PT115&dq=gary+glitter+join+the+circus&source=bl&ots=ZaNtk_vbY4&sig=VLt8PVwlstGjPrkXKQHzte2iHGc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj26LW_lOTZAhUmD8AKHWULAMUQ6AEIRzAI#v=onepage&q=gary%20glitter%20join%20the%20circus&f=false) and I was asked to join the Red Socks.  The Red Socks went onto become ‘the Dolephins’, which was a mad covers band (e.g. from 1950s to 80s stuff but in our own whacky style).  We’d have certain themes for the gigs, ‘Dolephins of Sherwood Forest’ or ‘Dolephins go to Tahiti’ (there are some pictures on Rod’s Facebook page).

How it started I was in the ‘White Lion’ pub in Streatham, South London.  On a Sunday afternoon, they had a band, the governor of the pub asked me to do a couple of songs with the band.  I did ‘Johnny be Good’ and ‘Aint that a Shame’.  I got free beer and £20, the governor offered me a regular gig on a Friday night; so I had to form a band, a proper band.  So ‘The Dolephins’ was formed.  We had various singers one of whom later became a singer with the Sexed Up Lambeth Boys – Paddy.  I played lead guitar and Rod played rhythm.  ‘The Dolephins’ played various pubs in South London, including ‘The Crown and Spectre’ which was made famous by Mick Jones of ‘The Clash’.  We had a weekly spot, that was the beginning and we later became The Sexed Up Lambeth Boys.  We played things like ‘Sorrow’, ‘Stepping Stones’ and ‘Walking the Dog’.

++ How did you and Rodney meet? Did you start the band immediately?

My first gig was in the Corn Exchange in Ashford; supporting a band called ‘Dirt’.  We were called ‘Danny Diarrhoea and the Wet Farts’, circa 1977.  Rodney was guitar player in Dirt at that time.  We knew each other as we live close-by when we grew up, but we didn’t socialise together.

++ Why the name The Beaujolais Brothers? Would Beaujolais be your favourite wine?

You are correct about how we got the name the Beaujolais Brothers.  We had gone to France for the vendanges (grape picking) it was about wine, lots of wine, drinking it, and grape picking.

++ So you were a busking band. So wondering whereabouts did you busk, what were your favourite spots?

Rod and I played constantly – we busked every day.  We had a regular busking spot outside the toilets by a shopping centre in West Croydon.  We used to hear a harmonica player coming from the toilets; it was the toilet cleaner who wanted to be our manager.  He would make us cups of tea if we weren’t making any money.  If we made money, we would have a beer – usually Fullers ESB.  We would play anywhere, parties, gigs, we once supported ‘Postman Pat’ (a children’s TV character) in Preston Park in Brighton; walking behind him singing the theme tune to the TV show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postman_Pat.

++ What would you say were influences to The Beaujolais Brothers sound?

I was a huge fan of 60s bands like, the Kinks, Small Faces, The Who, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Staxs and Tamla Motown.  I was never a huge Beatles or Rolling Stones fan and I wasn’t really into mainstream.  Rod loved the Beatles though.

++ How was the creative process for The Beaujolais Brothers?

We thought about doing a Beaujolais Brother’s single.  I’d started writing the song ‘Here Comes Summer’ as I used to bunk off work in London and jump on a train to Brighton on the south coast.  I’d write down silly words and they became Here Comes Summer; written through numerous visits to Brighton.

Rod had a tape-recorder and we would write silly songs, like ‘Ping Pong’.  Which went – ‘love is like a game of ping pong…’ and the harmony went ‘ping pong, ping pong…’

++ You released just one single, “Here Comes the Summer” with “Day After Day”. Wondering if it is not much to ask, if you could tell me in a couple of sentences what is the story behind each song?

When we did ‘Day After Day’, Dave wanted to be Frank Sinatra.  Also, he didn’t get on particularly well with Andy Dalby the engineer and producer of the recording sessions.  Andy Dalby was quite adverse to people drinking in the studio, so we’d wind him up by coming in at 8am with a bottle of Jack Daniels.  By the time we’d recorded the drums, it was 11am and the pubs were open.  We recorded it on tape so if you made a mistake, you’d have to start again and go right back to the beginning and do it all again.  So for Andy it was not a pleasant experience, especially recording the vocals with Dave as it nearly ended in a big fight every time he got it wrong; which was most takes.

The sound effects (the fun-fair and seagulls) were taken from a BBC sound effects library record.  That cost us more money as we had to buy two different records – they are probably still available today.

To make it stereo, we had to record it twice to make it go out of each speaker, which was very boring.  So the pub round the corner from Cherry Studios got a lot of our money.  Both middle-eights and solos were made up in the studio.  We also used a little Casio keyboard in the studio.

‘Day After Day’ was our version of ‘The Girl From Ipanema’ (I wish it was) and yet again we made up the solo in the studio.  When we finished recording we had to wait for a date to put the single onto acetates.  We had to go to the Edgeware Road on a freezing cold day, to meet a man from ‘Triple A Records’, who were pressing the single.  We met a guy called George who was mixing the single and he was one of the greatest blokes ever.  While he pressed the single, his workshop was right next door to a pub and he had an archway between the workshop and the pub which he could use to go to the pub anytime he wanted while he was working.  He had mastered on ‘Let It Be’ for the Beatles which really impressed Rod.

++ This record was self-released on your own Seagull Records. How was the experience of selling the records, distributing them? And why is the catalog number CORK 001. Why Cork? Because the cork of the wine perhaps?

Everything to do with the single had to be based on drink, so when we went through George’s archway to the pub and chatted, he was the one who came up with the ‘cork 1’ on our single.  If you look at the single, you’ll see his own private message, which was very special to us.  It says ‘A PORKY PRIME HIC-CUT’.  ‘Porky’ was his pressing place and he said it was a ‘HIC-CUT’ from him.  Rod loved the Beatles and we both loved it that he came up with ‘cork 1’ and he was on the same wavelength as us.

++ And tell me a bit about the recording session for this record. Where was it recorded? Who produced it? How long did it take? How many copies were pressed?

One day in the pub we decided we’d record ‘Here Comes Summer’ and ‘Day After Day’; another song which I had written which was lying around in numerous different versions.  Neither of us was earning much money, so we thought we’d record the single, which we did in 1988.  At the time it cost us about £1,000 for the recording and pressing.  We recorded it at Cherry Studios, Cherry Road, Croydon.  We have an idea of how the songs should sound, but both songs were very rough – and still are.

We didn’t have a drummer, so we used a drum machine – a Roland 505, which was the hardest thing to program.  Dave Crawley was a computer programmer and a singer with ‘The Heroes’.  So we got Dave to program Roland with Rod and he then sang on ‘Day After Day’.  The drum machine was a nightmare as I never knew when to come in.

Around that time Michael Jackson had taken over all four of the pressing places in the UK with ‘Man in the Mirror’, so we had a delay in getting the single pressed.  Maybe if not we’d have been more famous than Michael Jackson?  We had a letter to say what day the singles would be delivered to Rod’s house in Croydon.  Rod was worried that the singles wouldn’t fit through the letter-box on his front door.  So he made the letter-box about four times bigger than it already was.  Of course the postman left the singles outside, by the front door; so Rod had a dirty great hole in his front-door for no reason at all.

++ What’s the story behind the artwork for the single, that seagull which I believe was called Cedric the Seagull?

When we got the singles we were really, really excited.  We designed the cover so that it was made in the cheapest way possible and we could easily photocopy it.  We used Tony Bulldock’s artwork as he had been the drummer in lots of bands we’d been in.  We asked him to do a quick drawing of what he thought the song would look like and he came up with Cedric the Seagull (I have no idea where the name came from).  We took some photos of Rod, Dave and me on Streatham Common (long before digital cameras), including one I took of Rod having a pee (urinating) behind a tree.  We have no money and we thought it was a clever way to do it.

++ Did you appear in any compilations?

The Beaujolais Brothers are not on a compilation album, but we were in a mod band called Eleanor Rigby http://themodgeneration.com/profiles/blog/eleanor-rigby-mod-icon-or-the-girl-you-love-to-hate (Rod, me, Tony Day and Nicky Simonon on drums (brother of Paul Simonon of the Clash), Nicky now teaches drums).  We did a Dr Martens CD https://www.discogs.com/Various-Generation-To-Generation/release/3871251.  We were on two of the singles and one nearly got into the English charts – ‘Over and Over’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZmK8Ojq–E and ‘1995’. We were said to be one of the worse bands by Sounds, which made me really happy.  On ‘Over and Over’ the drummer was Vince Price.

In traditional rock and roll style we are still waiting to be paid for the session.  When Live Aid was playing, we were playing some dodgy club in Manchester Bullring, we were there for nine hours and after a return trip from London to Manchester, we ended up to £10 each.

++ Are there more songs by The Beaujolais Brothers?

There is also a BBC tape of us singing the Postman Pat theme song as the Beaujolais Brothers.

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? What were the best ones that you remember?

Separately, as the Beaujolais Brothers we’d play weekly in Jonguleurs, Battersea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jongleurs and in the ‘Wine Cellar’ in Croydon.  We played a wine bar in Kingston called MadCats and it was just nuts.  We’d play for an hour and then have an hour off.  We had free beer and got paid at the end of the night.  The problem was we had a break and so we’d head off to the pub called the Druid’s Head.  By the end of the night it was messy, but we always got paid.  We’d play ‘Tequila’ and the whole bar would buy tequila.

The owners at MadCats wanted to do a Beaujolais day and open at 8am to get the first bottles of Beaujolais Nouveau wine over from France in the wine bar.  They said we could have as much wine as we liked, which wasn’t the wisest move they’ve ever made.  We played an hour on and an hour off, the same as we did in the evening, but this was 14-hours in the day, starting at 8am.  By about noon, the wine had kicked in so in a break, we went to have a quiet beer in another pub by the river Thames.  We were attacked by some dogs in the pub and then arrested by the police and taken back to MadCats to get our guitars.  The manager said we had another set to play and as he was paying us £100, he was a bit concerned where we were.  He said he could vouch for us until the end of the night.  So many people had turned up to see the Beaujolais Brothers play, so the police let us play.   We hadn’t done anything wrong, just drunk too much wine too early in the morning, that was all.  We carried on, mainly playing the ‘Time Warp’ and we did get paid.

We played there a few more times, but MadCats fizzled out and it closed down.

++ Any gig anecdotes you could share?

We did a gig in Croydon in September 2008, which although not known to us at the time, was out last gig as the Beaujolais Brothers.  We did our usual repertoire, such as ‘Dirty Ol’ Town’, ‘Pick a Bail of Cotton’, ‘The One After Nine O Nine’.  Then suddenly one night in October 2008 Rod passed away.  He was only 49.  I was absolutely devastated.  He was my brother and I did and do miss him so much.  Besides all of the music, we were best friends.  Rod would go along with more or less everything I ever suggested, and then just every now and then, he’d put his foot down and say ‘no’.  He was usually right.

Funnily enough he would have loved his wake, which was held in his local pub, as every muso in the world turned up.  The sign on the door said the pub was closed for a private funeral, but the jamming session was so good, people were hammering on the door trying to get in.  It was probably the best live music that has been played in that pub for a long time.

Prior to that, I had got married, did some traveling and I still write songs, poems and short stories.  I also have a young son, whom Rod would have adored.  I have a fishing boat (called Shameless, hence the song I wrote) in Brighton Marina.

++ So what happened then, when and why did The Beaujolais Brothers called it a day?

Tony followed a wilder path, sold his drums and sadly he’s no longer with us; be we had played in lots of different bands and had lots of fun together.

By this time, Rod and I had burnt each other out, living in each other’s pocket 24/7.  So we started doing different stuff with different bands.

++ What did you do afterwards? Did you continue making music?

We formed the ‘Sexed Up Lambeth Boys’ from playing in a pub in Streatham and we did loads of gigs.  Rod and I would play with a different band in the day and then play with the Lambeth Boys at night.

Then I moved to France and Rod started to play with Slimy Toad from Johnny Moped on the Croydon scene and moved into Toad Hall with Toad.  Rod joined ‘Ol’ Dirty Bar Stars’ with Martin, Robbo, and Jacko from ‘Johnny Moped’ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Moped.

When I came back from France I moved to Brighton.  Rod decided he wanted to move to live by the sea and he came and moved in with me.  We recorded the Beaujolais Brother’s Christmas tape.  I changed my garage into a gaff (apartment) for Rod and we started writing songs together again.  We did open mic nights in Brighton.  Then the Tour de France came to Brighton in 1994.  The BBC were featuring a busking festival and the Beaujolais Brothers were invited to be interviewed.  We said yes straight away and Rod was very, very funny on the recording (on the CD).

We had 15 minutes in the green room with the organizer of the busking festival – I can’t remember his name and he’s on the recording.  We said we’d go for a quick half [of a pint of beer] in the pub round the corner.  He panicked as we ran off to the King and Queen pub.  We got back two minutes before the recording started; perfect.

I can send you a copy of the recording, but it was a fun interview.  Our engineer said afterwards the interviewer thought we were funny.  We asked the promoter afterwards if he wanted to come and have a beer and he looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown.

Rod then became involved with his girlfriend Sue and we still did various gigs and open mic nights around Brighton.  We knew Dave Berk, but at that time weren’t in the same band as him https://www.repeatfanzine.co.uk/interviews/DAVE%20BERK%20of%20Johnny%20Moped.htm.

Sue knew Rod and Dave Berk from the Croydon scene and she had bought Dave’s old house in Brighton and Rod moved in with her.

++ Did you get much attention from the radio or press? Perhaps from fanzines t0o?

We took the single over to France and it was played on Radio Neuf in Bordeaux, it was a big surprise to us hearing ourselves on French radio.  If we had had another £300 the record promoters reckoned we could have had a hit in Europe; but we didn’t have £3, never mind £300.  We were also popular in Germany and since then, the Japanese quite like us.

The most money we got from the single was £16 from a pub in Streatham.  The single was on a juke box and we earned the same money from it as George Michael – it’s the only time I earned the same as George…

++ Today, what other hobbies do you have?

We formed a band to play at my wife’s 40th birthday party, which included Slimy Toad, Pete the Meat (from the Sexed Up Lambeth Boys – he was called Pete the Meat as he was a vegetarian butcher) on drums and Dave Berk was on bass.  We called ourselves the “Dave Berk Five’.  I did vocals, although I was always a reluctant vocalist and had always left that to Rod, but we had no one else who would do it.  We also did a couple of gigs as the ‘Crooning Punks’ with me, Dave Berk, Pete the Meat and Paddy (from the Sexed Up Lambeth Boys) on vocals.  Paddy is a far better singer than me and is a great front man. Pete the Meat lost interest and got married, Paddy went to rehab and fell out with Dave and we carried on as the Dave Berk Five, with just me and Dave.

Dave does bass and drums and I do everything else.  We write our own songs and we both do vocals.  We spend a lot of time in the studio and we have two albums’ worth of material.

++ Thanks again, anything else you’d like to add?

I hope you like what you hear, there are so many stories and so much that I can’t remember (Rod could always remember things, he used to keep records, so I left it to him and can’t remember a great deal).  I hope this shows you how much fun we had.  Thank you for your interest in the Beaujolais Brothers.  We had a million ideas and we just didn’t stop, we didn’t stop.  We are still recording as the Dave Berk Five and I’m just tidying up the cover to the Beaujolais Brothers single to send you a copy.  I’ll also send you the album when it’s finished, or in the meantime a rough copy.  I still have a few Beaujolais Brothers singles left if there’s any interest.

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

Listen
The Beaujolais Brothers – Here Comes Summer

11
May

Well, I heard from the pressing plant, Mobineko, where I press my 7″s. Now it seems the Salt Lake Alley 7″s won’t be arriving until late June. A 4 month turnaround. It has never taken this long. I’m very annoyed and disappointed. Normally it took 2 months and change, max 3 months. But 4 months is way too much. Vinyl production is indeed becoming more of a headache. To think that pressing a CD takes just weeks, I wonder if we are all on the right path?

So as soon as there are news on that, I’ll let you know. In the meantime a few new finds!

Dronjo Kept By 4: Jun from the Japanese band Dronjo Kept By 4 shared me a new song he has published on Soundcloud, one called “Lemonn” and it is a hit. I had reviewed their Galaxy Train EP some months ago after I stumbled upon it on Bandcamp and I do see a bit of a change in their style on this new song. This is much more guitar-driven and poppier! Reminds me a bit of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, right? A little shoegazey but keeping it’s lofi-ness at heart.

The Stroopies: this Melbourne, Australia, band was recommended on the blog time ago when they put out their self-titled album. Really liked that and wished it was available in any other format other than cassette. Well, now they are releasing a 7″ on an English label it seems as the prices are in pounds (?). There are two songs on the record, “Maddest Moments” and “Architectural Charades”. Only the first one is streamable at the moment and it is not as immediate or poppy as many of the songs on the album. Not sure if it was the best choice for a single myself. The guitars are nice and all, but for me it doesn’t have that excitement as previous tracks. Maybe the B side does? It is coming out on May 25, 2018.

The Blue Herons: Thierry from the fantastic My Raining Stars has shared this top song called “All I Keep Inside”. It is actually not his own song, he is singing on it. Well, and he wrote the lyrics. The band is actually one from Lucerne, Switzerland, and I must say I know next to nothing about them. First time I’m checking their songs. This one is already a great introduction. It is a jangle beauty. But there are other ones too worth checking out like “New Day” which has female vocals by Krissy Vanderwoude and sounds top. How come have these songs flown under the radar? At least my own radar? Very good stuff, and from a country I don’t usually get to hear these sort of sounds to boot!

Young Scum: a new album by the superb Richmond, Virginia, band? Yes please! I must say I have heard most of the songs already some time ago and though that it was really good, if only I would dare to do albums…. They found a good home in Citrus Records and Pretty Olivia Records who are releasing the record called “Young Scum”. So far there’s only a teaser, one song to stream, to understand what this will be about. Check it out, the song “Wasting Time” is truly good. And well, so you know, Pretty Olivia will be releasing the vinyl version and Citrus the tape. It is a short album, 8 songs, but it does sound great. Now, I wonder, if they are in Richmond, why don’t they ever come to NYC to play? It is not THAT far.

Useless Youth: “Goodbye” is the first single from their upcoming album “Cities” to be released on October 5th. And it is a very nice little song by this Mexico City band. The band formed by Yak, Ian, Pepe and Emi have had a few releases so far and this is a fine song. It made me a bit uncomfortable reading the artists they like on their Facebook, but I won’t let me bias, this is a good song and that should be it. For now.

———————————————————–

Dale Arden is a fictional character, the fellow adventurer and love interest of Flash Gordon and a prototypic heroine for later female characters, including Princess Leia and Padme Amidala in Star Wars. Flash, Dale and Dr. Hans Zarkov fight together against Ming the Merciless.

When I interviewed Seán McDermott of the fantastic label Mickey Rourke’s Fridge I was curious about one of the bands that appear on the highly sought after 7″ compilation “Mickey Rourke’s Fridge Presents…”. That band name was, obviously, Dale Arden & The Claymen. So I asked him on the interview about who were they, hoping to find some more details or anything at all. There was that one song on that 7″ comp called “Breakfast, Dinner & Tea” that I thought was brilliant. I wanted to know more.

I got an answer from Seán of course. He said:
The Claymen were Hey Paulette again, under assumed names, again. Dale is a mysterious shantooze who goes by the name of John Healy during the hours of daylight. John was also in High School with Éamonn + me, then later my right hand man in Mickey Rourke’s Fridge, from ‘Dostoevsky lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight? ’till the end of Phase II, mid-90’s.
Dale guested in concert with 16 again, an acoustical sideline of mine, + with Fréres Jackman, + emerges from time to time, when the occasion arises. No further recordings exist!

Okay then. Maybe I should interview Hey Paulette on the blog? Or maybe the members of Hey Paulette and ask them about Dale Arden & the Claymen? Or both! Two interviews would be great.

But there are still some details about the band that are interesting to go over, stuff I’m only learning about now. Well, the compilation 7″ as you might now was the second release on the label and had the catalog number MRF2. It was released in 1990 and the art was designed by Darragh McCann. On it there are four bands, two on each side. On the A side there’s Seán McDermott and Hey Paulette while on the B side there’s Dale Arden and the Claymen and The Twigs. The song The Claymen appear with is “Breakfast, Dinner & Tea”. All the songs seem to have been recorded at Sun Studios, in Dublin.

Okay, so one of the first things that I notice is that the song is actually credited to Rheinhardt and Golightly. But to me it looks more of an inner joke. See Django Reinhardt is spelled with one H less and this one was Jangly Rheinhardt. Then on the credits I notice that the producer is credited as Hollis Golightly. Definitely not Holly Golightly. So it must be an original by the band, but they are probably paying homage to their heroes.

The credits have Dale Arden as all vocals, Derrick Dalton on guitars and Joe Cairo on bass. Sadly, as you are aware, Derrick passed away some time ago. Then it mentions that the drum machine was programmed by Colm Fitzpatrick and John Lyons. While the song was recorded by Paul Lacey. I believe Colm Fitzpatrick did the artwork for the Hey Paulette 12″! It seems it was all a big family in the Dublin scene at that time.

There’s not much more on the web as you can expect from a band that didn’t really exist. But there is a good find on Youtube. There’s a different mix of the song, a “Mrs. Arden Edit” created by a J D Baptist in 2011.

So there are no more recordings by the band under this name. A shame, as it sounds glorious. Even if it was the same people as Hey Paulette! I make a distinction, the sound and style is different to me! What do you think?

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

Listen
Dale Arden & the Claymen – Breakfast, Dinner & Tea

10
May

Thanks so much to Maurice Kelly for the interview! Imelda’s Boyfriend was an 80s guitar pop band from Dublin, Ireland, who sadly didn’t get to release any records, but they did record a bunch of demos. Demos that sound great! I was lucky to be introduced to them by D from the Fanning Sessions blog, he had posted one of their songs and told me I was going to like it. He was not wrong! “Smile” was a top track! So I knew I wanted to find out more, and so I got in touch with Maurice so he could tell me the story of this obscure but brilliant band!

++ Hi Maurice! Thanks so much for getting in touch! How are you? Where are you based now? Still making music? 

I still live in Dublin as do all the original members of the band.   I’m still writing songs and really need to record them at some stage.  Myself and Terry still do some home recording together.  I saw Sean sold his kit on Adverts a few months ago so bang goes the reunion LOL.

++ Are you still in touch to this day with the rest of Imelda’s Boyfriend? What are you up to? Are you still involved with music?

Sean and Terry are two of my best mates and we see each other regularly.  I’m still friendly with John and was out with him a few years ago.  We all have day jobs of course now – but Terry is as bohemian as ever so does his own thing and always has. Sean and Terry would still be mad into the music.  After John left, I played guitar and sang and Paul Flanagan came in on bass.  He was only young at the time and was the little brother of a guy I knew.  He was an amazing player and I remember we did a demo out with John Scott in Maynooth and he was blown away with Paul’s playing.  Paul left after a bit and we ‘borrowed’ Morgan Hughes from the Drinkwaters.  He was another brilliant player and became a great mate.  Morgan was football mad so fitted in nicely with us at the time.  I still hear from him from time to time.  We had fantastic fun back then it was a great time to be playing music in Dublin.

++ Let’s start from the beginning. Where are you from in Ireland? Like what are your first musical memories? What was the first instrument did you get and how? 

We were all from Dublin.  Nice and symmetrical two from the northside and two from the southside.  Even when John left we replaced him with another northsider –Paul Flanagan – to maintain the balance.  LOL.    Myself and Terry were the southsiders.  I was always mad into music and always wanted to be in a band.  My first bass was a Squier Precision which I bought in a local guitar shop in Dublin.  About a year after I got it I began to fancy myself a bit as a bass player and went to Belfast to buy a Fender Jazz because they were cheaper in Northern Ireland.  I sold the Precision to a guy called Peter from a band called The Skips.

++ Had any of you been involved with other bands prior to Imelda’s Boyfriend?

John was in a band I can’t remember the name it.  Terry was is a band called the ‘White Spirits’. Imelda’s was my first band and I think Sean’s first proper band too.

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

I used to work with John in the old Irish Press and we were mates.  He was in a band and I was playing a bit of guitar badly at the time.  John had a friend called Dave Gunning who played drums and so I ended up on bass to form a new band.  Dave left after only a few weeks and we never gigged with him.  We stuck an ad in the Hot Press (Irish music magazine) looking for a drummer and Sean replied.  We met him for a pint in the old Foggy Dew before he even auditioned to see how we would get on.  We all hit it off and that was it really.  Thankfully he was a good drummer as well LOL.

We gigged a bit as a three piece and figured we could expand our sound a bit with another guitar player.  Again, we stuck an ad in Hot Press and that’s where Terry came in.  We did hold auditions this time.  I always remember I wanted to go with a different guitar player at the time but John was keen on Terry.  John followed Terry out of our audition room and more or less offered him the job on the spot.  I wasn’t impressed LOL.  Of course John was right and Terry is a brilliant guitarist as well as an amazing bloke.  I remember Dave Kennedy who went on to play with Crossbreed and Holemasters  and who set up Road Records here in Dublin auditioned.  Dave was a great player but we were totally unsuitable for him and him for us.  Another lovely fella who we used to drink with in town for years afterwards before we all grew old and settled and moved to the suburbs.

++ How was around your town back then? 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?

Dublin was brilliant back then and still is.  We played in any venue that would have us, though mostly in the Underground.  Jeff Brennan who ran the place was a phenomenal. It was an amazing tight little venue where nearly every band in Dublin at the time cut their teeth.  Jeff did more for music in Dublin at that time than nearly anyone else.  I still see him from time to time as we are both big fans of St Patrick’s Athletic so we do bump into each other.

We also played in the Baggot, Whelans, the New Inn, the Attic and the International, but the Underground was the best.   I was music mad back then.  We all were.  I spent my Saturdays buying records in Base X on Batchelor’s Walk, Freebird Records on Grafton Street and Macs Records in the George’s Street Arcade.  There was also a little shop in a mall on Grafton Street up near where Champions Sports is now.  I think the guy who ran it was called George Murray.  He used to have some cool stuff.

++ What’s the story behind the name of the band, Imelda’s Boyfriend?

Ha ha ha, I couldn’t possibly tell you that.  All bands need a little mystery LOL

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

My self and John wrote the songs – separately not together.  We would just bring them in to the rehearsal room and see what happened.    I don’t think we ever wrote a song together.  When John left I wrote pretty much all the songs but I do remember we had a song called ‘Running out of time’ which Sean wrote.   We practiced in Temple Lane Studios.  Temple Bar was very different back then and we used to have a few pints after rehearsal in the local pubs, mostly the old Foggy Dew and the old Norseman.

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

We all had different influences.  John was in to melodic stuff like the Beatles, Terry was and still is a great blues guitarist, Sean was mad into Aztec Camera and I was always into guitar based stuff  and liked a bit of country as well.   Very little of this actually came out in the music.  Later on myself and Terry did some heavier, nosier stuff but not as Imelda’s Boyfriend.  I think Morgan would have played on some of this as well.  We never really did anything with it.

++ And in general, what would you say are your all-time favourite Irish bands?

I can’t answer for the other lads but for me ‘Stars of Heaven’ were the best from our time.  Their Sacred Heart Hotel album is amazing and still sounds great today.  I got to know them later on and me and Terry played with the stars drummer Bernard Walsh in $1000 Wedding.  Bernard is another lovely fella.

++ And what would you say was your favourite song and why?

My favourite song was always the Velvet Underground’s ‘Sweet Jane’.  It’s just the perfect song.  No ifs or buts.  Musically and lyrically clever and just so cool.  Neil Young’s ‘Powder Finger’ runs it close and almost anything off of ‘Marquee Moon.’

++ The only recording I know is the “Smile” song that was uploaded to the Fanning Sessions blog. It is mentioned that Dave Fanning played the song in 1990 from a demo he was sent. Where there more recordings in this demo tape? 

There were three songs on that tape.  Smile, The Misogynist and It Could Be Better.

++ Where was this demo recorded? Was there anyone producing it perhaps?

I don’t remember for certain where we recorded it.  It was either Sun Studios in Temple Bar or Ashtown Gate Studios out on the Navan Road.  We produced it ourselves.  As mentioned earlier we recorded another demo out with John Scott in Maynooth after John left.  There was a song on it called ‘Down the Stairs (and around the corner)’ which was played a few times by Dave Fanning.  I have it on cassette and have just gotten around to digitising it.

++ If it is not much to ask, would you tell me the story behind this great song, Smile?

I can’t help you with that one because John wrote it.

++ Was there any interest from labels at all?

Like everyone else at the time we bombarded record companies with our tapes but never really go any interested.  I have an attic full of tapes addressed to myself in sealed envelopes because someone told us that was the best way to copyright your music back then.  LOL.  All you had to do was produce the unopened envelope in court when you had taken a case against U2 for ripping off your song.  Everyone thought U2 were ripping off their songs back then LOL LOL

+++ Are there more recorded songs by the band other than the demo tape? 

Yeah, as I say we did a tape with John Scott later and there was an earlier demo too.  Our first proper recording.  I have tapes of live gigs in the Rock Garden, Underground, the Attic, the Baggot etc but they are of dubious quality.  Whether that was down to the sound in the venue or the quality of the playing is anyone’s guess LOL

++ What about gigs? Did you play many? Any in particular that you remember?

We played loads of gigs back then in any venue that would have us.  I had forgotten some of the places until I had a look back when trying to remember things before talking to you.  We played Whelan’s with the Revenants, which was a real treat at the time because I was such a fan of Stephen Ryan’s from when he was in the Stars of Heaven.    We also played the same venue with The Harvest Ministers, they were another great band.  When we were starting out bands like Rex and Dino and Hey Paulette were really supportive by letting us play with them.

The maddest night was probably the night we went on last in the Underground as part of a ‘festival’ – a bit like ‘Woodstock on Dame Street’ LOL.  The event went on for three days and we got to play as the last act on the Saturday night after numerous bands had been playing since 12 noon.  The place was packed and everyone was in wild form given they had been drinking all day.  Thankfully the audience were drunk enough to enjoy our performance even if we had to keep throwing them off stage.   We also had some amazing nights in the Attic as well. 

++ And were there any bad gigs at all? Any anecdotes you could share?

I’m sure there were lots of bad nights but thankfully the passing of time has managed to blot them all out.  I do remember being devastated about losing out in various ‘battle of the bands’ competitions LOL.  A bit like X Factor in 1990s Dublin…

++ When and why did Imelda’s Boyfriend split?

I’m not sure we are split at all.  I’d say if we had the time we could get the original band back together again and certainly myself Terry and Sean could rehearse tomorrow if the mood took us.   John left around 1992 over what with hindsight was a ridiculous argument started by me I’m sad to say.  Seems crazy now.    The band didn’t really split as such but stopped using the name and then fizzled out.  Myself and Terry did some stuff with another drummer, Paul Vickers and that was very different from Imelda’s so it would not have made sense to keep the name.  That band never really had a name and I can’t remember ever gigging in it.

++ Did you continue being involved with music? I read you were in Northlight Razor Blade and $1000 Wedding. How did these bands sound like? Any similarities to Imelda’s Boyfriend?

Northlight Razorblade were a million miles from Imelda’s Boyfriend.  It was really Dermot McNevin and his then girlfriend Yvonne Cullen’s band.  They were brilliant, really gifted the two of them.  Dermot wrote wonderful intelligent songs and Yvonne was a multi instrumentalist playing cello, piano and saxophone.  Dermot was an old friend of mine and he asked me to play a bit of bass with him.  Yvonne’s brother, john Cullen, was playing drums at the time. I roped Terry in to play guitar.  John left and I remember we recorded a wonderful demo with Shane Rafferty from Revelino.  He was a seriously good drummer.  I knew him and asked him as a favour.  Yvonne returned the favour and played cello on some of the Revelino stuff. Sean from Imelda’s Boyfriend then joined on drums and left amicably after a while.  I can’t remember why.  I suggested Paul Vickers who was playing with me and Terry at the time and he became the drummer.  We did a Fanning Session, produced by Pete Holidai.  They were great times in a great band.  Like all bands issues crop up and I was given my marching orders from Northlight Razorblade.  Terry and Paul then left as well.  Dermot and Yvonne kept it all going and got some other guys in and made some wonderful music.

$1000 wedding was Sean A McDermott’s band.  As everyone in Dublin knows Sean is a genius, a one off.   The band has had a cast of thousands over the years and knowing Sean is probably still going under some guise or other. It was a country band, pure and simple. The songs were absolutely wonderful.  I was lucky enough to be in the band when the ‘Exile on Dame Street’ album was recorded.  It is a wonderfully off centre lo fi country romp.    Sean shared vocals with Mary Whelan, I played bass, Bernard Walsh from the Stars of Heaven was on drums, my mate Terry Rainey played lead guitar and the late Derrick Dalton played guitar and produced the album.  Eveyone in Dublin knew Derrick.  He probably played in more bands simultaneously than anyone else and probably produced and gave guidance to half the bands in Dublin.    When I first met him he was in Hey Paulette who became good friends of ours.  He also played bass in the Mexican Pets and the Skips, who would have been well known in Dublin at the time.

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

We didn’t get much attention at all.  Dave Fanning kindly played our demos a few times and we got some gig reviews and promos but not a huge amount.  We did get asked to headline a Hot Press (Irish music magazine) gig at one stage and got a full page promo out of it but that was about as good as it got.

++ What about from fanzines?

We were lucky to get people to go to our gigs, never mind write about us!.

++ And today, aside from music, what other hobbies do you have?

I was always big into football so that’s still part of what I do.  I’m a fan of St Patrick’s Athletic in the League of Ireland and I mange my son’s team, Terenure Rangers in the Dublin and District Schoolboys League.  I’ve looked after them for years and they are currently Under 14.    I also have a much better guitar collection now than I had back then.  I’m a sucker of old Fenders and Martins.

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

Best highlight had nothing to do with music.  It’s about the lasting friendships that I have with the lads from my own band and with guys from other bands that I know back then.  The memories are also great.  They really were wonderful times.

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

Listen
Imelda’s Boyfriend – Smile

09
May

Feeling terrible with spring allergies but had prepared this post some days ago. Don’t have many updates sadly but there are more indiepop findings of course all around the web.

Some Gorgeous Accident: Dale Marquez (from Cloudberry friends Apple Orchard) has a new EP coming out soon on the fine Greek label Melotron Recordings. One of the songs that is to appear on the “Heaven Days” EP will be called “Evergreen Days” and it is available now to stream on Youtube. It sounds, needless to say, gorgeous.

Les Autres: the classic French band has a Bandcamp. On it they have been uploading songs from back in the 90s, songs I suppose weren’t properly released. There’s a new EP of 6 songs available that was recorded in Rennes, in 1991. It is called “I’ve Lost Everything I Held” and it is the fifth of these Ovvk Recordings archive, I suppose the band’s own digital label. Would be interesting to do an interview with them later on, right?

Mortalcombat: lovely sounding electro-pop by this duo formed by Sarah Riguelle and César Laloux. The 6 songs of their EP “Vacances en France” are now available digitally and on CD thanks to the Brussels based label Dear Deer Records. The band too is from the capital city of Belgium and if you want to see how they look, well there is a video too for the song “Beau et décadent“.

The Death of Pop: the London band is not unknown to the blog, I’ve recommended their music many times before. So I’ll do it again now because they have a new cassette EP titled “Heads West” with 5 brand new songs: “Marbles”, “700 Spas”, “Ready for Us”, “Cash for Gold” and “8:10”. This tape is being released by Leisure Records and you can expect their trademark jangly popsongs one more time!

Skytone: the Ottawa, Ontario, band that releases stuff on my friend Wally’s label The Beautiful Music have a  new live EP “This is Gonna Get Real!”. It is up on Bandcamp and it is jangly and catchy. Recorded at a basement gig in Ottawa, on November 2017, the band formed by Darius, Rodney, Tristan and Logan, shows us that live they must sound great!

———————————————————————-

As you might have noticed I’m trying to vary the country of origin of the bands I feature on the blog. Indiepop is a global thing. So today I’m heading to Australia, check out a superb band, one that I’m still looking for a good copy of their 12″ record: The -Ists.

I have to start the post saying that I know absolutely nothing about them. Actually I’ve only heard one of their songs, “There Is A Light That Shines”, and nothing else. It is a superb song, brilliant. But there are 5 more songs on the record that I haven’t heard. I hope I do so in the near future.

The -Ists, that’s quite a name. They are not the vanguardists, nor the cubists, or the leftists nor the modernists. They probably were mocking all these terms or maybe they didn’t fit in one. I wonder.

They released their “Rose” (GPR 136) mini-album in 1987, on the Australian label Greasy Pop Records. This label was based in Adelaide, and was established by Doug Thomas, who had been involved with bands like The Dagoes, The Assassins or The Spikes. I’m looking at the discography of the label and I see some bands I’m familiar with, The Mad Turks, Dust Collection or The Garden Path.

The record songs were on the A side: “There Is A Light That Shines”, “Rose” and “The Train”. The B side had “Reason or Rhyme”, “Bliss” and “Nobody Likes My Kind”.

There are etchings on the runout grooves. On the A side: “The Ists Light Shines”; and on the B side: “Inwards Every Time”.

The back cover has some more information. We know that the songs were written by Allan Robbins who also sang and played guitar. Rees Hughes Jnr. played bass and Craig Rodda the drums.

That’s all. There aren’t even compilation appearances.

I do know though that Rees and Craig were part of the band The Screaming Believers who also released on Greasy Pop Records. This confirms that the band hailed from Adelaide, same as their label.

I find a hit on Google at last after lots of searching. The State Library of South Australia has some information about them. More like a small bio. It says: “Short lived trio around from 1986-1987. The Ists released one album Rose in 1987. The trio consisted of Allan Robins from The Units, and Rees Hughes and Craig Rodda from The Screaming Believers. The Ists were described in The Advertiser June 1987 as having ‘won a great deal of critical acclaim for its driving original rock from discerning city audiences’.” For the curious, there are also 30 second snippets of all songs of the record.

Lastly, there seems to be a documentary called “Rock in a Hard Place” were many bands from Adelaide seem to have been featured, among them The -Ists. I haven’t seen it, but noticed in its Facebook page that the DVD of the documentary is available for $25 Australia. Is it worth it? Do they talk about guitar pop bands or mostly rock bands? How many minutes do we get of The -Ists. I’m curious. Anyone seen it?

I hope my Australian friends can help shed some light about this obscure band. One record and then later they disappeared. Would love to listen to the rest of their songs. Find out if they have unreleased tracks. And in which other bands they were involved with!

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

Listen
The -Ists – There is a Light That Shines