please rain fall

Bouquet are more punk rock than The Clash

2012-01-14T21:12:00.006Z

My last post and its polemic may have surprised some people who know me as, on the whole, I am a pretty easy going guy. My main point was that passion and belief is currently missing from things, replaced by a boring conservatism that is frighteningly pervasive across the whole scene. An interesting discussion took place following my post, on Facebook where else?, and I was surprised to find people had been thinking along the same lines. My favourite quote from the discussion (you know who you are) was "Conservatism is rewarded, dissent is shunned."

I stand by everything I said, although I was a bit hard on Shrag who are great, but possibly gave the impression that everything had to be noisy to be exciting. One of my favourite groups are Bouquet but they are quite a gentle, quiet band. But to me they are the ultimate punk rock band. They believed 100% in everything they did, and never compromised. They were for real, as The Manics would say. They might not have been great musicians, who cares?, but they did exactly what they wanted and produced some great pop moments. Being boring is the last thing you could accuse them of. Some may say that it is a little over the top to say they were more punk than The Clash, but I think it makes perfect sense. To me, The Clash were a boring pub rock band but Bouquet never compromised or sold out and stuck by their principles. A truly wonderful band. You can find more info and downloads at the Waaaaaah! site.

Bouquet - The Warmest Glow

I couldn't have done it without Gillespie....

2012-01-13T06:46:00.017Z

Around mid-December I decided to leave The Proctors. The decision was entirely my own and I am very proud of what we achieved as a group. I feel it is maybe time to get back to what got me excited about music in the first place. I enjoyed writing about music and feel maybe that is what I am best at. I am not a musician, I have no training at all in musical theory. However, I do feel that I have a natural ear for listening out for great songs, bands and melodies. I have got a gift for picking out wonderful tunes. This is not just in the indiepop scene, but on the wider musical spectrum as well. I absolutely love mainstream pop! I am going to try and encourage all of the great bands out there that deserve to be heard. Please put a distortion and reverb pedal on there though before submitting demos, thank you. We don't need anymore groups like 'Allo Darlin' thank you very much. One is more than enough. Standard Fare if you are listening - please do not make any more albums. I am begging you. These bands are a complete joke. I can't understand how anyone takes them seriously. SHRAG - I am still open to offers, I haven't made my mind up yet. Ukeleles are still banned. They should never have been allowed. I don't care. They are just awful, please put them away. I didn't do an end of year summary for 2011, but as long as a bit of energy and power is put back into the scene then FANTASTIC!!! On the whole things were BORING!!!!! and conservative. Please let's get a bit of passion, forget about the studio/midi sounds, ENERGY!!!!! is what is required along with great POP!! tunes!!

A song that has been a constant companion for the last year or so has been "And Just Like That" by The Hobbes Fanclub. A no greater compliment can be paid but that it reminds me of the very early Cudgels rehearsals and recordings. When we played together in the bedroom on bedsheets, satchels and plastic tubs AND TRYING TO KEEP THE NOISE DOWN! Those were the days!!It was exciting!! We had the future of pop! in our hands. We should have taken it more seriously, but then again, that is the downfall of all great pop! artists. We had the songs, though. I know Andy Cudgel would agree with me on this. We may be chalk and cheese in lots of ways but when it comes to exciting and energetic music, we are as one. The Jam on the Marc Bolan Show remains our number one musical moment. I love The Jam and the early Cudgels. Fantastic!!

The Hobbes Fanclub - And Just Like That

**** Credit to Roque for releasing The Hobbes Fanclub song on Cloudberry **

i was happy when i had nothing to believe

2011-10-24T20:26:00.009+01:00

Sea Urchins demos tend to be a little like buses. Nothing for ages then two come along together. I was excited to receive an email from Stuart to say that he was sending the remaining Sea Urchins songs he had in demo form. Stuart had previously kindly sent "Low Scene" which can be found here. There are three songs posted, the best of which is "Laughing Mostly". A real classic. I saw Delta playing this song but didn't realise it had been written towards the end of The Sea Urchins era. Such a shame it has never been properly recorded. I'm not sure there is any bass guitar on these demos, but if there is it is very low in the mix. The songs are much more fully formed than the demos I recently posted and probably represented the songs lined up for vinyl release if the band had not split up. Thanks again, Stuart, for sending the songs.

The Sea Urchins - I Don't Belong

The Sea Urchins - My Ship Is Going Down

The Sea Urchins - Laughing Mostly

***

In other news, The Proctors are releasing their comeback single on Shelflife Records on 6th December. The 7" single features "All The Books" b/w "Morning Light". It is available for pre-order now with an immediate mp3 download. All the details can be found here.

All The Books by shelflife

Morning Light by shelflife

waiting to get tired

2011-09-10T12:51:00.004+01:00

I have The Sea Urchins to thank for getting me into indiepop music. I use the term "indiepop" music as around 1985 / 86 there were The Smiths, Jesus and Mary Chain, even REM and a few others but there was a whole world of fantastic bands bubbling under the surface waiting for a chance to be heard. This strata of bands I would describe as indiepop, even though the sound varied massively between bands. There have since become even more layers of groups beneath these whose sole aim in some cases was just to make a demo tape and play at a local venue. This was how The Cudgels started.

The Sea Urchins were in the year above me at school, apart from Patrick who was in the year below, and Bridget who was at a different school in Birmingham. The classic Sea Urchins line up was always with Mark Bevan on bass guitar. I finished school and not knowing what to do decided to stay on to study "A" levels. I had always loved music and have been a lifelong Jam fan but for me the mid 80s were a barren time. I had loved The Jam and all of the associated mod musical references, and then got into the early hip hop / electro sounds but 1985 / 86 found me at a crossroads. I was around 17 years old and had never really been much of a Smiths fan. I liked Morrissey and his lyrical talent, but found the music just dull. To me it sounded just like pub rock. I was ready for a new adventure, new experience, new possibilities, a new journey, a new world I could lose myself in..... then I heard "Why Does The Rain" by The Loft.

During my first year of sixth form I walked into the common room one day and Jamie and Simon from The Sea Urchins were huddled around the record player we had in there. What was this fantastic song pouring from the speakers? It was jangly with a great rhythm, but didn't sound over produced and shiny like everything else around at the time. It was The Loft, and after that song they put on "I Wonder Why" by The Pastels followed by "All Day Long" by The Shop Assistants. This was amazing! Who were these bands? Where were they from? What labels were releasing this fantastic music? How could I get hold of these records? Where could I read about these bands? My journey had begun.

Over the years I have often thought how my life would have been different if I hadn't got so involved in music and the indiepop genre, in particular. I have discussed this with Mike from They Go Boom!! and he always says that he has a lot to thank Matt And Claire from Sarah Records for. For me, the main labels that inspired me were Subway and Creation Records. Without a doubt, unless I had heard those records played in the sixth form common room, things would have been different. It would have still been good, as I try always to be positive and am generally optimistic about things, but maybe a different journey....

A few days ago I was really pleased to receive an email from Richard who said he had some Sea Urchins demos I might like to hear. Wow! Great! Yes, I said, send them through. He sent them and said it is fine to share them on my blog. I hope the band doesn't mind, either. I am posting four songs, one of which is "Solace". I really like this demo version, as it has a great rhythm and nice mix of acoustic guitars but still remains powerful. I sometimes think the 7" version borders on being too "rocky" for me. The other songs, one of which is untitled, I would guess were recorded on a basic four track recorder, or maybe directly to cassette. If anybody knows the name of the untitled song, please get in touch. There were a couple more songs sent, but I felt that they were a bit too experimental to post. Being in a band myself, I know that demos are hit and miss affairs, and are sometimes very different to how a song eventually sounds. But I think true Sea Urchins fans will appreciate these songs in the spirit they were recorded. Thanks again, Richard, for sending the songs.

The Sea Urchins - Solace

The Sea Urchins - I See Some Things

The Sea Urchins - Untitled

The Sea Urchins - Waiting To Get Tired

where nothing seems to make sense, to run away is his only defence

2011-07-24T20:00:00.004+01:00

Little Treasure is a new 3" CDR label from Spain and the first release by the wonderful Tiny Fireflies is due out on the 1st August. Pre-orders can be made via the Little Treasure website. I've said many times in the past that I am hopeless at trying to review new releases so I will let the label do the talking:

Tiny Fireflies are Lisle and Kristine from Chicago indiepop band Very Truly Yours, or Lisle from Fireflies, and Kristine from Tiny Microphone. They began Tiny Fireflies as a side project to appear on Between Two Waves, a compilation series driven by the concept of two musicians joining forces to create a song together, for Norwegian label EardrumsPop, but their success prompted a single on the same label shortly afterwards. Showing their love for new wave and delicate pop songs, Change finds Tiny Fireflies at their dreamiest: Kristine’s perfect pop melodies immersed in dense synth strings, sparse guitar lines and lots of reverb, driven by an unflinching, pulsating beat. You will love them if you like New Order, The Radio Dept. or Club 8 circa Club 8.

Tiny Fireflies are on tour in the UK at the moment and are also playing Indietracks. Copies of the EP will be available at the gigs. Fantastic!

Tiny Fireflies - So Sad To Say Goodbye

these promises are made for us

2011-07-18T20:35:00.004+01:00

The wonderful Pocketbooks are releasing a free download single today, ahead of the album release in September. 'Promises, Promises', is a flurry of sweeping violins, girl group harmonies and bittersweet summertime lyrics about casual promises that never materialise. The album is titled 'Carousel' and is being released by Oddbox Records. Advance copies are available at present and there is much more information here. Make sure you catch Pocketbooks at Indietracks where they will be playing on the Friday evening.

Pocketbooks - Promises, Promises

i need to tell you

2011-07-05T21:10:00.004+01:00

The Indietracks 2011 compilation is now available. It is a download only format this year but that allows for all of the money raised to go to the Midland Railway charity. It is a fantastic 40 track compilation full of pop gems so download and make a donation. The album is available from Make Do And Mend Records.

The Proctors have contributed a song to the compilation. The song is called Perfect World.

Perfect World by The Proctors

We also have another new song on our Soundcloud page called "I Need To Tell You".

I Need To Tell You by The Proctors

just don't forget you ever knew me

2011-07-04T19:03:00.005+01:00

I have always considered myself a Wedding Present fan even though I only really like the early material. After George Best and Tommy, then forget it. I often find myself thinking that David Gedge would be better off writing for other artists. An example of this is the song "Brassneck". In the past, I have found this song virtually unlistenable. I found the unsubtle musical arrangement and vocal delivery so annoying I would have to stop the song after 30 seconds, sometimes I could push this to maybe a minute. But after being given a prompt by Mike from They Go Boom!! about a version of Brassneck by My Autumn Empire the song has taken on a whole new perspective. It is a truly wonderful song. Full of aching regret, what ifs and what could have beens. Maybe I have been too hard on David Gedge over the years. All I know is that Brassneck is a masterpiece.

My Autumn Empire - Brassneck

i've been saving for a rainy day, grab your umbrella because we're going away

2011-07-02T21:40:00.005+01:00

I have written before that one of the things I love most about indiepop is that if you love the music you can make things happen. You can create your own excitement! It could be putting on bands at gigs in your area, forming your own band, starting a blog, a fanzine or setting up your own label. Excitement and enthusiasm is infectious and it is surprising how quickly things can gain momentum.

At Indietracks 2010, after seeing The Sunny Street, I decided it was about time I picked up a bass guitar again and started making a racket with some friends. The Sunny Street made playing pop music look like so much fun. And so, The Proctors got back together again and have resumed our quest for the perfect pop song.

Also at Indietracks 2010, I met Gary from Cambridge who I had first got to know through Last FM. We were chatting about the indiepop scene in general, and I knew he had put on some gigs in Cambridge, but had he ever thought of starting a label? Yes, he replied, but it looked like quite a time consuming task and possibly too expensive.

Fast forward a few months and Dufflecoat Records is born. Gary had decided to take the plunge and start a label. The workload is also shared by Joz (Maritime Records) from Indonesia. The ethos of the label is to share all the fantastic sounds from around the world. A global indiepop label! There is much more information here.

Three new releases are due out on 11th July 2011 by Skittle Alley, Peru and The Kensingtons. All fantastic indiepop EPs. Gary has kindly allowed me to share a song from each EP. If you are attending the wonderful Limoges Popfest in France on 9th July copies will also be available there as well. There will be more releases in the coming months featuring some great bands. Make sure you check out Dufflecoat Records!

Skittle Alley - I Think About You Everyday

Peru - Drift On

The Kensingtons - Perfect Pop Song

disco taking over the world, one boy and girl at a time

2011-03-12T18:05:00.008Z

In case any of you have been wondering why there has been a lack of posts of late (no? oh, okay) it's because I have been putting most of my creative energies into The Proctors. Aside from attempting to play bass guitar, I help Gavin who is the musical genius of the band with ideas for arrangements, sounds, structures etc. Our new song is called "Space Station" and is a bit of a departure for us as it has quite a disco feel. We are all big pop fans and it was the style that suited the song, so we just went with it. We have our first gig on 2nd April in Cambridge with The Sunny Street, Peru, and The Lost Homeboys. We are on first so if you are thinking of going, get there early! Unfortunately, this will be the last pop gig Gary will be hosting as he is now concentrating his efforts on the new Dufflecoat Records label. The first EP has just been released! Well done Gary for keeping indiepop alive in Cambridge!

The new tunes that The Proctors have recorded can be heard on our Soundcloud page here.

Aside from my involvement with The Proctors, I have felt a bit uninspired by the indiepop scene recently which has also contributed to my lack of writing. I was quite optimistic around New Year that some new sounds were coming through from some interesting bands, but I haven't heard anything to excite me for a while. In some ways the scene is starting to resemble the early 90s where everything just got so conservative and in the end died. I hope that isn't going to happen as there are some great people involved worldwide in a pop movement that is genuinely radical in some ways, but ultra narrow minded in others. Questioning the validity of people's tastes and whether they are genuine or not, is surely a sign that some people are taking things too seriously, or that things are becoming more and more insular. This is a bad thing and not a good sign. I think it's time to take a few chances and shake things up a bit. A change is as good as a rest.

In other news, my latest crush is on Aubrey Plaza. OMG! She is so cute.

The Proctors - Space Station

each letter the postman brings might be from you

2010-12-22T19:41:00.007Z

Give yourself a Christmas treat and download the free 'Today' EP by White Wishes from the Shelflife site or the group's Bandcamp page. White Wishes is the solo-project of Nikita Pavlov conjuring imagery of daydreams, cold Berlin winters and the warmth of sincerity into simple pop songs. Having come from a small town near St. Petersburg in Russia, Nikita escaped to Berlin where he met Australian bass player Andrew Knox and the pair soon started working together. They quickly recorded a bunch of songs before Andrew had to move back to Sydney. These recordings ended up being the "Hold Your Hand" single that was released for free online.

In the same year, Nikita returned to Russia where he then completed his first EP titled "Today" and had the songs fine tuned with the help of a friend named Maxim Polivanov of the band Motorama. White Wishes will release their international debut as part of Shelflife Record's "1000 Series" in Spring 2011, which will feature some new and re-worked older recordings.

For me, the 'Today' EP conjures up memories of the Cherry Red Pillows and Prayers era. An intimate set of songs that you can enjoy alone or in the company of someone special. Perfect listening as an accompaniment for all this snowy weather we have been having here in the UK.

****

Indefinitelyblue has posted a grumpy 'worst of 2010' which is pretty spot on in my book, apart from the inclusion of Shrag. I would have included Standard Fare instead. Plus every group or song featuring a ukulele. On the whole, I think it has been a pretty good year for indiepop with some great new bands like The Hobbes Fanclub and The History Of Apple Pie appearing on the scene. My favourite performance of the year was definitely The Sunny Street at Indietracks. That was something special.

To my small band of readers, hope you all have a great Christmas and best wishes for 2011.

White Wishes - Drops

White Wishes - All I Would Do

let's go away

2010-12-12T14:32:00.005Z

Chalk And Numbers are Andrew Pierce & Sable Yong and they tell me that they are inspired by pop artists of the past, such as The Beach Boys and Dusty Springfield. They record straight to tape (no digital) but bring a modern approach to their singing and songwriting. The group is based in Brooklyn, New York and make such a sweet pop sound you will be swooning within seconds, and Wow! what a drum sound!! The sixties girl group comparisons are inevitable, but I am reminded more of The Shortwave Set or Vanessa Paradis singing "Sunday Mondays". I had forgotten what a great song that is. The 'He Knew EP' is available for free download from their Bandcamp page and is a real pop treat. I can feel yet another crush coming on!

Chalk And Numbers - Let's Go Away

Chalk And Numbers - Here With (Each Other)

i guess it's not important to you, well it's everything to me

2010-12-09T19:51:00.004Z

I've never done a comedy post before, but felt I had to thank Too Much Apple Pie blog for tipping me off about the hilarious Garfunkel & Oates. I'm not sure how well known they are in the US, but I had certainly never heard of them before, but then again I don't watch enough television. I'm going to address this in the New Year. Garfunkel & Oates are super cute and write really funny little songs on keyboards and acoustic guitars. Check out some of the videos on Youtube and have a listen to a couple of festive songs. Thank goodness year end letters aren't sent in the UK, or are they? I've got a comedy crush instead of an indiepop crush, for a change.

Garfunkel & Oates - Present Face

Garfunkel & Oates - Year End Letter

oh no i don't want to wait another day

2010-12-08T21:15:00.004Z

My favourite brother and sister combo, Murder Mystery, are back with a new free download single called "Problems". Laura, Jeremy and the guys have produced another jaunty little gem which they describe as The Aphex Twin meets Madonna. I'm not so sure about that one... maybe Ruth Po! meets They Go Boom!! Yes, that's more like it. See what you think.

Murder Mystery - Problems

Upcoming Show:

12/10 @ The Rock Shop - 249 4th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11215

w/ Bridges and Powerlines

i was the lucky one, reading letters not writing them

2010-12-06T14:58:00.004Z

Thomas has posted a great new compilation over at There and Back Again Lane blog. It features a new song by The Proctors called 'Fun Sunday'. Back in the Summer, while I was writing my Indietracks piece, I mentioned that after seeing The Sunny Street I felt so inspired that I wanted to start playing music again. As luck would have it, a few days later, I met Gavin from The Proctors and we both had the same thing in mind - why not get the band back together again? Our drummer Adrian was called up and asked if he was up for it and the answer was an overwhelming yes, so we convened the next week and have been recording and rehearsing since August. Margaret, Gavin's wife, is helping out with vocals as well. We did have a gig planned this past weekend in Cambridge supporting Phil Wilson, but due to the awful weather we have been having, had to be cancelled. We hope to get some more gigs organised in the New Year. A new 7" single is hopefully being released in Spring of next year on a US label beginning with an 'S'. Watch this space!

"It's Fun Sunday the world is closed..."

The Proctors - Fun Sunday

let's make some plans because they can go wrong

2010-12-04T15:47:00.004Z

I have always lived fairly near to Walsall, England which in indiepop terms has never really featured on the radar. Birmingham or Wolverhampton always had the best gigs and club nights, and Dudley had JB's but Walsall was a backwater. Occasionally an optimistic promoter may start a night with local bands, and hope to attract some bigger indie bands who were touring to headline, but these attempts usually petered out after a while. Walsall did, however, play host to one of the best gigs I have ever been to. Around early 1988 a Wolverhampton band called The Sandkings were starting to get a lot of attention, not only locally, but nationally as well. They had a very energetic manager who was keen for them to play as many shows as possible and he investigated all the local towns for possible venues for them to play. The choice in Walsall was very limited, but a gig was booked at a place called The Overstrand. The Overstrand was an upstairs restaurant during the day that sometimes put on events at night. The actual location of the venue was in the famous Walsall Market. I heard about the gig and asked my friend Darren if he fancied coming along. This being a gig in Walsall we weren't really expecting much.

The show was on a Friday night and when we got there were surprised to see a crowd of around 40 people, which for an indie gig in early 1988 was quite a turn out. We were also pleasantly surprised to find out that another local band called The Fanatics were on the bill. The Fanatics had also been attracting a lot of attention in the local music paper - Brum Beat. I was starting to think that this was going to be a great night. After a couple of drinks it was around 9pm and The Fanatics took to the stage. Immediately I was struck by the quality of the songs and also the charisma of the lead singer - Simon Fowler. Man, this boy could sing. He was very confident on stage, and although the sound was a standard guitar, bass and drums set up, your attention never wandered during the whole set. At the end they played a Sonics cover which merged into a Velvet Underground song. A great performance. The following year they released the 'Suburban Love Songs' EP on Chapter 22 Records but then disbanded at the end of 1989. They then went on to become Ocean Colour Scene and the rest is history, as they say.

The Fanatics were a hard act to follow but The Sandkings put on a great show. In the late 80s it was incredibly difficult for young bands to get heard and break out of the indie scene to reach a wider audience. If The Sandkings were around today they would be massive but it was a very different time then. It is a testament to their talent and dedication that they did gain national recognition, but this was after they replaced the original singer with more of a showman. The Overstrand was one of the last gigs they played I think with Andy the original singer. It was this line up that recorded the classic "Rain" - one of the best songs of this period. This single was released in 1988 and they then recruited Jas Mann on vocals, who also later found fame with Babylon Zoo. So, all in all, this gig proved to be a foundation on which some musical careers were built. I don't think Walsall will play host to such a show again as there are even fewer venues now, but who knows what the future has in store.

The Fanatics - My Brother Sarah

The Fanatics - Suburban Love Songs

The Sandkings - Rain

here i go again taking everything to heart

2010-11-27T16:29:00.003Z

Strong contender for pop song of the year has got to be 'Outside Myself' by The Hobbes Fanclub. This is one of the best tunes I have heard since I discovered the brilliance of 'You're So Cool' by The History Of Apple Pie. The Hobbes Fanclub is a long distance collaboration between Leon in Bradford, England and Fabiana in Sao Paulo, Brazil - the wonders of modern communication and technology. There is currently a split 3" CDR with Young Michelin out on Cloudberry Records. Smash up those ukuleles and let's see more great tunes, noise and fuzz pedals.

The Hobbes Fanclub - Outside Myself

say goodbye to precious times, nothing lasts i know that the end comes

2010-11-26T19:23:00.003Z

Winter is well and truly upon us, so if you are looking for warmth and comfort, who better to turn to than They Go Boom!! I love the upbeat pop songs TGB!! wrote, but it's the melancholy moments that really touch me the most. With beautiful keyboard lines and haunting vocals, cuddle up with Mike and Daryl and enjoy these two songs. Total perfection.

They Go Boom!! - Dark Draws In

They Go Boom!! - Goodbye

let's fall in love.. it's exciting

2010-07-29T22:46:00.006+01:00

I wrote here about how the group Oporto was formed following the end of the Cudgels era. Oporto released one classic 7" single on Sunday Records, were included on a couple of fanzine tape compilations (Red Roses For Me and possibly Bliss Aquamarine) then disappeared. There are rumours that a couple of songs lie hidden on a master tape somewhere (Spencer - any news?) but largely the band remain an enigma. Even the former members of the band seem reluctant to revisit those times, leaving a shroud of mystery surrounding such wonderful songs. There are no photographs of the band. I have previously posted the two songs that appeared on the "Beyond The Valley Of The Polar Bears" tape, but am now able to share the songs from the brilliant "French Blue EP" on Sunday Records. I am able to do this through the kindness of Stephen Maughan, who I met for the first time at this year's Indietracks. I have known of Stephen since the late 80s as he was one of the first people to pick up on the brilliance of They Go Boom!! and released a flexi by them on his Dolphin label. He is also the man behind This Almighty Pop!, Bulldozer Crash etc. One of my favourite things to do at Indietracks is spend my time pop star spotting, but I can't always summon up the courage to approach these indiepop legends. I had heard from many people what a nice guy Stephen was so I decided to say hello, and he turned out to be every bit as nice as people said. What a gentleman! I was able to spend quite a bit of time with Stephen at Indietracks, and we were able to swap lots of tales and stories from the past and present, but I did forget one thing!! What Steve Biscuit anecdotes have you got? I am compiling a book of them. (If anybody is wondering who Steve Biscuit is then please read back on my blog and all will be revealed). If you are reading this, Stephen, please email any memories of Mr Biscuit!

I mentioned to Stephen that I was having trouble finding mp3s of the Oporto single as I wanted to share the songs on my blog. I have got the 7" but no digital conversion equipment. He said that he had the record and would convert to mp3 and send me the songs. This he duly did and the songs are below. Thank you again, Stephen, and hope to see you at next year's Indietracks.

Oporto - Actors Studio

Oporto - Liverpool

Oporto - Desert Boots

but the hours become days, and the weeks carry us away, and summer becomes winter again

2010-07-27T19:43:00.004+01:00

I never really like to write too much about Indietracks as so much is written elsewhere, and I only ever go up for one of the days each year (I choose the day with the best line-up), so maybe I view things with a different perspective to the hardcore three day attendees. I went up on the Sunday this year, and I have to say that it was the most enjoyable Indietracks I have attended so far. The band I most wanted to see were The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart and they were indeed fantastic. But with Indietracks you always get a few surprises and stumble across a band that you previously didn't know much about, then fall in love with them. It is usually a band I see on the Church stage that gives me that wonderful warm feeling (last year it was The Lovely Eggs) and this year was no exception. There is now a restriction on the numbers allowed into the Church to see the groups, so you have to be patient. I decided to check out The Sunny Street on the Church stage as I could hear a warm pop sound and beautiful female (French) vocals. Once inside, I was swooning to the perfect pure pop sound. This group is amazing. If you think of a fragile New Order mixed with the Pet Shop Boys and St Etienne and throw in some shoegazing, then you are only getting some way to describing the music. I am terrible at trying to review bands and describe the sound as it is extremely hard to think of anything original to write. But let me just say that The Sunny Street have been a massive inspiration to me. What greater praise is that? After seeing them I immediately felt like calling a couple of friends and forming a group again. I still think I am going to do this. It is way too long since I have picked up a bass guitar. Watch this space! It is really rare these days that I see a band that I get genuinely excited about, but The Sunny Street are a very special group.

I filmed The Sunny Street's last song "What Is Love?". A pure pop moment.

Other highlights were The Blanche Hudson Weekend and The Cannanes who were both great. I still fail to see what all the fuss is about with Standard Fare. To me they are just dull and ordinary. The Pooh Sticks were good, but as I usually complain, didn't play enough of the early songs for my liking.

The Sunny Street - Blackberries

The Sunny Street - Greasy Crisps

The Sunny Street - Cyclists

One group I would love to see play at next year's Indietracks is The History Of Apple Pie. At the moment they are just a two-piece (Stephanie and Jerome), and if delicate female vocals and fuzzy/reverb guitars are your thing, then look no further. The band is still in it's very early stages but already sound wonderful. This group is definitely one to look out for. Brilliant!

The History Of Apple Pie - You're So Cool

perhaps we could get drunk and talk about it..

2010-07-21T21:34:00.010+01:00

As the years roll by, I find myself loving Mighty Mighty more and more. I have always been a big fan of the band, but I think age has made me appreciate just how great the songs are. They have always written a good tune, but the lyrics also display a sharp wit and intelligence. I still love a lot of bands from that era, but find myself not really getting much out of the records now. I almost know the songs too well. An example of this would be "Laurel" by Brighter. Although they came along later I absolutely adored that album and played it constantly. I still love the record, but when I listen to the songs now, they seem quite one dimensional. I know what's going to happen next and it takes away the magic. I suppose I need to put "Laurel" away for a few years and fall in love all over again. With Mighty Mighty I am still able to discover something new each time I listen to a bunch of songs. It could be a line that hadn't meant much to me as an 18 year old, but really resonates now. Or maybe an organ/guitar part I hadn't noticed before, I can always find something new.

I got a message from a friend last Friday evening telling me Mighty Mighty were playing the next day in a park in Birmingham - did I want to go? Yes, of course, but I had promised my Mom that I would give her a few rudimentary computer lessons (she has a new netbook!) for the next few Saturday afternoons so I wouldn't be able to make it. Then, Saturday morning I received a text from another friend, asking if I was going to see Mighty Mighty on Sunday afternoon at Warley Woods in Birmingham. I texted back - isn't it this afternoon they are playing? No, it was the next day. Great, I wasn't going to miss the show after all.

Picnic In The Park is an annual event held at Warley Woods near Bearwood in Birmingham. In preparation for a gig in Berlin in a couple of weeks, Mighty Mighty blagged their way onto the bill. I have written before about how, as a general rule, I am not in favour of bands reforming. I think it ruins the memories of the past. I don't want to see a group that was once cool and well dressed arriving onstage with beer bellies and bald patches. I don't think this rule applies to Mighty Mighty though. Firstly, they have always remained friends and it is the original line-up. Secondly, over the years they have got back together occasionally to play the odd gig. Thirdly, when they play now they create a real party atmosphere and want people to have a good time. There is no talk of including new songs in the set and all of that nonsense. It is just hits all the way and get your dancing shoes on. Fantastic.

The afternoon of the show was fairly warm but a little breezy. When I arrived there was quite a good crowd attending the "Picnic In The Park" event so I knew it was going to be a great atmosphere. From the first bars of "Throwaway" Mighty Mighty had the crowd dancing and it was great to see people of all ages enjoying the tunes. I took the opportunity to film some of the songs using a new camera my brother and his girlfriend had bought some months earlier for my birthday. It was also nice to see Bridget Sea Urchin in the audience, as she was the cover star on the "Everybody Knows The Monkey" single. Another local legend, Simon Vincent, was also in attendance. If you have never checked out his band Dogfood then you are really missing out. They are brilliant.

I hope the photos and video I have posted to accompany this piece sum up the atmosphere of the day. It was really special. Thank you boys and would have loved to be able to make it to the Berlin gig.

** The old Mighty Mighty photo was taken by Toni Hickman at JB's, Dudley 1988.

Mighty Mighty - Gemini Smiles

Mighty Mighty - Everybody Knows The Monkey

Mighty Mighty - Yours Truly

In other news, Thomas from There And Back Again Lane blog is taking a break for a while. I would just like to say a thank you to Thomas for digging up some lost gems and sharing some great music. Hope to see you back at some point in the future. I will always be grateful to Thomas for posting the mp3 of the "If Not True" single by Velvet Crush. I have got the 7" but could never find an mp3, and I haven't got any conversion equipment. I think "If Not True" is quite possibly one of the greatest songs ever written. It holds so many bittersweet memories for me. Wonderful.

Velvet Crush - If Not True

i'm willing to try if you are

2010-07-06T21:43:00.004+01:00

If you are missing those bouncy synth sounds of the 80s such as early Depeche Mode, Bronski Beat, Soft Cell and even Madonna, then look no further. Murder Mystery are here. The band hail from New York and feature brother and sister, Jeremy and Laura Coleman. The group have recorded two new songs, "I Am (If You Are)" and "Change My Mind", that for me bring back long lost memories of school discos, long evenings in the park, lager and lime and stolen kisses. The band describe the songs as "Summer Jams". I couldn't think of a more perfect description. Murder Mystery are playing at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn, New York on 18 July. Never has a trip to New York seemed so appealing. Throw away any World Cup disappointments and kick off your Summer with these two pop gems. Fantastic.

Murder Mystery - I Am (If You Are)

Murder Mystery - Change My Mind

i guess i'll never know

2010-06-09T00:42:00.005+01:00

After reading about my indiepop crush on Laura Shop Assistant here, Dave from the wonderful Fruitier Than Thou blog, pointed me in the direction of some fantastic pictures of the band he had taken. The photos are here, and there are many more items of interest in the photo streams. Be sure to check them out. I hope you don't mind, Dave (and I hope Laura doesn't either) but I thought I would post a picture of Laura playing her drums. What a great night, and what a fantastic club Burberries in Birmingham was.

The Shop Assistants - Safety Net (John Peel session 1985)

no one else seems frightened.. only me

2010-06-07T19:33:00.008+01:00

Strawberry Switchblade - Trees And Flowers

Bryson / McDowall

Dawn cracks the dark

And it breaks the silence

Of my waking hours

And my heartbeat's licence

For I hate the trees

And I hate the flowers

And I hate the buildings

And the way they tower over me

Can't you see

I get so frightened

No one else seems frightened

Only me

Only me

I can't but see

That the sun has risen

To my window, my world

Of my home sweet prison

For I hate the trees

And I hate the flowers

And I hate the buildings

And the way they tower over me

Can't you see

I get so frightened

No one else seems frightened

Only me

Only me

Strawberry Switchblade - Trees And Flowers (original 7" version)

Thanks to Songs From Under The Floorboards for reminding me of this song.

All of the Strawberry Switchblade information you could ever wish for is here.

yeah when i'm with you i have fun

2010-03-17T20:32:00.008Z

I didn't realise it was as long ago as last November that Kris wrote about Best Coast. I was hoping to impress by actually writing something about a song I like that had been released in 2010. I have been playing 'When I'm With You' non-stop lately and never seem to tire of it. It is similar in sound I suppose to Hole and other bands of that genre, but has a great garage surf feel to it as well. I love it. Bethany is my new pop star crush.

Best Coast - When I'm With You

I realise that I am probably well behind everyone else on this, but I have recently discovered the wonderful Nixon. It's a pity we can't vote for Roger Gunnarsson as the next Prime Minister in the forthcoming General Election. I am posting my two current favourite songs but it changes on a daily basis.

Nixon - Teardrop Collector

Nixon - She Keeps Me Alive (2004 remix by Magnus Larsson)

Fantastic Nixon interview with Words And Smiles blog here.

i think i'm falling in love again, i think i'm falling apart again

2010-03-08T21:57:00.002Z

Thank you to There And Back Again Lane and Jangle Pop Boutique blogs for introducing me to the wonderful Pontoons. There is very little information on the web about them. All I know is that the band consisted of Christian Harper, Tom Hunt and Tony Skutnik and hailed from New York. I think they released two 7" singles in the mid 90s then disappeared. The band remind me a little of the early Sandkings sound - soaring harmonies and great melodies. These guys really knew how to write a tune. Amazing!

The Pontoons - Dandelion

The Pontoons - Back Again

The Pontoons - Landslide

the ocean between us can't take away the past

2010-03-01T18:41:00.008Z

Please Rain Fall by The Sea Urchins is a wonderful song. A good indicator of the quality of a song is if other bands or artists attempt cover versions. I never used to be a big fan of cover versions, I couldn't see the point of a group spending time covering someone else's song, when they could be writing their own. I still sort of feel that way, but have maybe mellowed a little as there have been some great cover versions recorded over the years. I know of two 'Please Rain Fall' covers by Birdie and The Sugargliders. If anyone knows of anymore, please get in touch.

Birdie - Please Rain Fall

The Sugargliders - Please Rain Fall

In October 1988, The Sea Urchins recorded a one-sided single for Fierce Records. The song was untitled and is a beautiful, delicate ballad. I'm not sure how widely available the song is around the web, so I thought it might be of interest to anyone who has yet to hear it. Over the years it seems that the song has picked up a title - 'Brittle & Meant'. I'm not sure if this is the correct title or not. Years ago, I was talking to a friend of the group who said that Hue Pooh Stick was at the studio with the band while they were recording the song. He said that it was Hue who suggested the 'oohh la la la' at the end. He never said what the song was called though. I still prefer to think of it as untitled. UPDATE: As per the comments section, my friend Olaf alerted me to an interview he read with Hue Pooh Stick, where he states that the untitled song is called Gemini Fights. This title definitely rings a bell, and I am inclined to go along with Gemini Fights as the title. Again, if anyone has any other suggestions, please get in touch.

The Sea Urchins - Untitled (Brittle & Meant or Gemini Fights)

everyone's looking for something that matters

2010-02-19T19:36:00.007Z

"Tell me again of the jukebox girl, and her dollar and her ten plays, waiting to hear her songs come on, I love her.."

The one drawback of having so much easy access to great music these days is that a gorgeous song can be lying in your collection undiscovered for days, weeks, maybe even years. I had never really listened properly to The Seven Autumn Flowers album by Trembling Blue Stars. Perhaps mainly because I just wanted to enjoy the familiar songs of theirs and wallow in the beauty of 'Farewell To Forever' and 'To Keep Your Heart Whole'. So when I recently stumbled upon 'Kensington Gardens' from 'The Seven Autumn Flowers' I wondered how long this gem had been hiding for. I suppose it is a signpost to say not to stick with the familiar so much. Well, that is always a difficult subject for me as I like familiar things but I will try. I wonder how many other songs there are in my collection capable of bringing a tear to my eye on a crowded bus?

"Kensington Gardens fixes everything, fall asleep with me with the sun on your face.."

Trembling Blue Stars - Kensington Gardens

In the coming months I'm going to attempt to write a few more pieces on some of the gigs I attended in the mid to late 80s. In the meantime, there are a couple of great Kitten Painting posts here and here that cover similar territory. After reading these I realised that I'm going to have to up my game a bit. I really enjoyed the two articles as both stories were very similar but also quite different. I remember sending off for the 'So Naive' fanzine and when it arrived accompanied by a letter from Mike Naive I was really excited. In fact I'm not sure I've been as excited since. 'So Naive' was a great fanzine that didn't take itself too seriously but was still a good read. I played The Darling Buds flexi a few times but was never really that keen on them. I absolutely loved The Primitives and they were always seen as the much cooler band. The Darling Buds were pretty uncool in my book. Both bands started with indie credibility and a hardcore following, only for it all to go wrong at the hands of the monster corporate machine. Then, finally on to the perhaps the worst scenario of all - disinterest and apathy from both the fans and the music press alike. In fact, both stories are the same (and brilliantly written) so I am wondering why I thought they were different as well. Probably because The Primitives will always be cool but The Darling Buds hmmm.. I'm afraid not.

making contact gets harder as the silence grows longer

2010-01-27T21:48:00.002Z

Just a quick note to let you know that the Sea Urchins gig at Aberystwyth University in 1989 that I had posted here, is now available to download as individual mp3s. Apologies to anyone that had been trying to download from the original Sendspace link that had expired long ago. I should have updated the post ages ago as the live recording is of a very high quality. The cover versions performed by the band are of particular interest, and highlight the heavy mid to late 60s influence on their sound.

touch my heart and feel winter, hold my hand and be doomed forever

2010-01-27T00:56:00.003Z

The Jam were the first band I saw live. I was all of 11 years old and if it wasn't for a gang of friendly skinheads holding me above their heads for two songs, I wouldn't have seen a thing. That first concert, at Stafford Bingley Hall in 1981, still remains one of my favourites. Unfortunately, Youtube footage of the gig is no longer available so I have posted my favourite song that was played on that special evening.

The Jam - Carnation

today we kissed goodbye in central london

2010-01-03T21:32:00.004Z

This is a beautiful acoustic version of The Field Mice's Missing The Moon sung by Bobby and Beth now of Trembling Blue Stars. I think it was recorded during a TBS radio interview for a Los Angeles station. 'Time goes slow when we're apart.. races by when we're with one another.'

Trembling Blue Stars - Missing The Moon

don't drop me off just yet, let's spend some time because we've only just met

2009-12-30T21:06:00.009Z

Due to the fact that I hardly ever listen to any new groups it would be silly to think about doing an end of year 'best of' list. But I did think it would be worth drawing attention to some of my favourite songs of the year - even though they may not have been released this year. Without a doubt the best mp3 find of the year was made by Ed of Shelflife Records who posted 'Rotten To The Core' by Friends Of The Family. To say that this song brought back memories is an understatement. 'Although you've got the sweetest face, you're rotten to the core..' It is a truly wonderful pop song. Thanks Ed.

One of my other most played songs of the year was 'Bad Town Blues' by The Gladeyes that was tracked down for me quite a while ago by Colin. I first discovered The Gladeyes through myspace. Colin saw the video to the song that I had posted on my myspace page and fell in love with it. He later kindly sent me an mp3 that he had managed to find (courtesy of mp3 hugger I think). Between us we must have listened to 'Bad Town Blues' hundreds of times. Colin used to write a couple of great blogs with Field Mice related titles. Is the New Year going to see you start blogging again? This is a fantastic song.

My sad song of the year was definitely 'Live Alone Forever' by Lovejoy. This song is so beautiful it almost hurts. 'A heavy heart is cumbersome..' Utter perfection.

The song I played most often on my ipod on my journey to work each morning was 'The City Limit' by The Radio Dept. I started the year not knowing much about them and ended the year obsessed.

And to round things off I think I ought to share my favourite song of the year that was actually released in 2009 (at least I think it was) - 'In Praise Of Ski Jumpers' by Metric Mile. This is a great song. 'I've fixed my gaze on you..' It is a pure pop delight. For a long time I thought it was actually written about those hideous jumpers with skiers on (ask your Dad) worn by school mates who thought they were trendy in the early 80s. In case you are wondering - no I didn't wear one!

Thank you to everyone that contacted me throughout the year with songs, useful info and encouragement. Thanks also to all of the other indiepop bloggers.

Hope everyone has a great 2010!

i've said goodbye a thousand times and every time you changed my mind

2009-12-23T19:27:00.003Z

One of my favourite Sea Urchins stories is the one relating to the legendary 'lost' Sarah Records single. The recordings were deemed to be 'too heavy rock..' for the label and were rejected. Have you ever wondered what the songs sounded like? Well, you need wait no longer. I was kindly sent a demo of one of the songs (low scene) by Stuart and love it. A live version of 'low scene' can be heard on the Fierce album but I think the recorded version is much better. Thank you Stuart and please send more songs if you can find them.

The Sea Urchins - Low Scene

rain falls like elvis tears

2009-11-30T20:40:00.002Z

Morrissey was a guest on Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 yesterday morning. I really enjoyed the show and he chose some excellent songs to be stranded with. Grab the podcast or use the 'listen again' option while it is still available if you missed the programme. I think my favourite pick was I'm Not Sayin' by Nico. The song was originally written by Gordon Lightfoot. An amazing song - I love it.

Nico - I'm Not Sayin'

this is the last time that i'll ever sing this song, don't smile because you know i could be wrong

2009-11-08T21:53:00.027Z

It's been almost a year since I started Please Rain Fall, so to celebrate the occasion I thought it would be fitting to interview the person that made a lot of the experiences I have written about here possible - Mr Andy P. Davies, my brother and leader of cult indie band The Cudgels. Andy doesn't really keep up with the current indiepop scene, preferring to plough his own furrow as he has done since he was a toddler and picked up his first banjo. I thought it would be interesting to hear his thoughts.

Stephen: At what age did you become interested in music and start playing instruments? Were any particular bands / artists influential in shaping your early thoughts and ideas?

Andy: First of all may I say many thanks for asking for my thoughts as a participant in one of your legendary five question interviews. To answer this first question head on it seems I had music in my pores from the day I was born. Our parents Mary and Phil were young when we were born, and as a pre-schooler I just remember a hip Irish house in Birmingham full of playfulness, with beloved siblings, radios blaring not just with music but equally with ‘current affairs’ and I just wanted a part of this whole world of experiment that was up for grabs.

Things seemed to be a lot different back then. Kids had a lot more freedom. I was allowed to get into many scrapes and misadventures. I remember one late afternoon a bunch of lank haired oiks from the Beeches Estate near where we lived, nicked sticks of liquorice off my person, whilst threatening me with a pea shooter as I took a short cut over the dump. This sort of thing happened regularly. You can’t win them all but it added resilience into my already quite stoic soul.

In lots of ways my parents and family were my first artistic influence. I remember being able to ask them literally anything about music, books, current affairs or the usual growing up stuff. My Dad always said from the start I was his best mate. We had a series of old cars driven by my Dad. These were the days before ‘In-Car' entertainment, and Dad used to hit his ring finger against the steering wheel tapping and singing Irish things like ‘I’m a Little Beggar Man’ and the ‘Jug of Punch’. And because I loved to sing and show off, Mum and Dad found enough resources out of their meagre funds to send me to piano lessons with a series of quite scary old women!

I suppose my awakening to hipness was seeing The Jam on The Marc TV show hosted by the late Marc Bolan in 1977. I was probably 11 at the time and The Jam just blew me away. After that it was The Who, The Small Faces, The Kinks and all those great British bands of the 1960’s. I still contend that you can listen to ten British records released between 1965 and 1968 and I promise at least nine of them will be BRILLIANT!

Stephen: You have been involved in many groups and projects over the years with the likes of The Cudgels, Oporto, The Winnebago Orchestra and now Andus. What period has been the most satisfying musically and artistically? And also what period was the most difficult? Were there times when you struggled to write and be creative?

Andy: I’ve always struggled to write and be creative! Picasso said … “All children are artists…” and I would agree with him that it gets harder to retain that creative sense of wonder as one gets older. There are different dimensions to human existence, and being creative in one sphere is not always relevant to different situations. The Cudgels was an accident as it happens. A group of young people got together under my wing and realised a vision. We were a tight knit bunch. Oporto came together to write and release a classic E.P. The Winnebago Orchestra also did the same. We achieved almost everything we set out to do and lots more, and we never let each other or our audiences down. That’s why I am still very good friends with everyone involved in all those projects. Andus is interesting because it is still developing as a creative project so let’s wait and see what happens with that one. It has always been difficult!

Stephen: You are famously very anti the music industry and the whole circus that surrounds it. Has this always been the case? Have there been any specific incidents that have led to your mistrust? Along what lines do you think artists should promote themselves in order to gain a wider audience?

Andy: I would rather not say what specific incidents brought me to this view of the music industry. But what I will say is that from an early age I had some sort of abject fear of the leeches that were around in my young day. I am the type of person that needs a drink to cool my nerves sometimes and I was just scared that I would get sucked into things I couldn’t cope with. Also, in all my artistic endeavours I have worked with people who I have genuinely loved, or at least cared deeply about. This isn't always possible when the industry gets involved. Ideas become diluted and compromises are required. I made the right decision. When the business side of things is involved it isn't enjoyable and certainly isn't fun. It becomes hard work which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place. There are people I know, household names, whose lives have been wrecked by the music industry, though they continue to have to keep their sunny side up and come out swinging. That was never for me and it wouldn't have worked. That is why I love the alternative, fanzine and web based voluntary networks that still exist to this day and that is the scene and the ethos I love.

How should artists promote themselves?? Crikey, I haven’t got a clue, honestly. Perhaps they should start by putting a demo tape through letterboxes! That’s how I started and depending on whatever level of 'success' you are trying to achieve generally works. A good band or artist will always stand out. I remember putting a demo tape through the letterbox of Gerry, from Terry and Gerry, and as a result we got a gig with them at Burberries in Birmingham. It was their farewell show in the summer of 1987 and the place was packed. The Cudgels did a great gig that night and went down really well. I was always quite good at blagging.

Stephen: You started out with The Cudgels in the heady days of 1986. What did you think of the C86 scene? What bands did you like and enjoy live? Did The Cudgels fit in with that scene? What are your thoughts on the state of the current indiepop scene and the wider musical landscape generally?

Andy: That’s a big question. C86? Well I thought it was all a bit weird and disjointed. McCarthy were good. Although it was supposed to be a scene there was no common thread between the bands. There was among the audience. You would see the same faces at gigs and many of them became friends. I thought some of the groups had some sort of Protestant Work Ethic which made me laugh. A lot of them took themselves quite seriously. Some of the bands were great and others not so good. It was a very diverse bunch of people herded together by The New Musical Express for a compilation tape. It didn't feel important at the time but was good fun. I’d been a regular both at the front of stage and backstage at gigs by The Pogues and The Men They Couldn’t Hang - who were part of another Music Press invented scene the year before, so mostly I was quite cynical about it all. If needs must I can say I really liked Mighty Mighty at the time. I love They Go Boom!! and Po! but they are not C86. I think it was the spirit of the time that was more of an influence on me. There was a sort of punk ethos amongst some of the groups. Even the much maligned Soup Dragons were influential in making you think - hey let's get some mates together and make a racket! So that's what we did. Also seeing a local band like Leopold Bloom or the kids who put on gigs at Enots in Lichfield doing things were inspirational. It proved that with determination and enthusiasm you can make things happen. I have no interest whatsoever in the current Indie scene or the wider musical landscape. I just do my own thing as I have always done. I'm 43 now! I only listen to classical music.

Stephen: Finally, what do you like to do away from the world of pop music? Who are your favourite authors / actors / artists? What is your occupation and is it linked in any way to music?

Andy: I’ve never really been in the world of Pop Music. Music just seems to have been a part of me from as far back as I can remember, and will remain so into the future. My favourite author is Ron Cook who wrote a book called ‘Yes-Utopia!’. I met Ron Cook on several occasions and we became good friends before his death in 2008. I don’t really have a favourite actor. Most I have met have been idiots. Now I think about it, I realise we are all actors so what is the point in being paid to do what we all do all the time!

In terms of my occupation I work in the arts, and have over the years tried to develop the creative potential and prospects of young people and it is a cause I am devoted to. This is not easy under the exploitative profit system of World Capitalism, but we will, sooner rather than later, win our World in Common! That’s the Future!

Thank you Andy, it is always interesting to hear your view on things. I'm also lookng forward to hearing the new Andus material you are working on.

You can download the Coitus With The Cudgels tape at the excellent There And Back Again Lane.

Free of charge you can also download The Cudgels' album God's Children released by Waaaah!.

you were born to love yourself not cry and cry and cry..

2009-10-21T21:16:00.008+01:00

A beautiful song to tug at your heartstrings.

Lovejoy - Live Alone Forever

carry on until the day you wanted comes to you

2009-10-06T23:17:00.008+01:00

I was lucky enough to see Pete Green perform recently at The Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham. I was disappointed to have missed his show at Indietracks because due to the size of the crowd, it was impossible to get inside the little Church where some of the acts play. There were no such problems on the Bohemian Jukebox stage in Moseley, as Pete pointed out during his performance, much to the amusement of some of the Bearos contingent in the audience. I really enjoyed Pete's gig and had a quick chat with him afterwards to quiz him about his time in Birmingham, Indietracks, the indiepop scene etc. I decided that to satisfy my curiosity fully, a five question interview would be required and Pete kindly agreed.

Stephen: Pete, I really enjoyed your set at the Moseley Folk Festival and you appeared without the Corporate Juggernaut. Do you prefer playing with a band? Is it difficult alternating between playing with a band and solo? Do you get nervous before gigs?

Pete: Aw, thanks Stephen! I'm dead pleased you liked it. I do prefer playing with the band though, yeah. Playing solo has its own rewards – there's a sort of greater intimacy with the audience sometimes, and it shows off your voice better if it's sounding good – but I've always been more of a pop kid than a folkie and you can't beat the visceral kick of thrashing a guitar with bass and drums behind you. Especially if you can actually do it in time now and again. But at the moment there's no choice – the erstwhile Juggernaut drummer Rob Dean has been forced to leave because his job has taken him away from Sheffield (proving once again that the Man hates pop and all that is sparkly), so I'm back to the solo thing for a month or two while we practise with the new one.

Alternating between the two – that's a very good question. It's much harder than I expected. The tempo and the dynamics have to vary much more when you're solo. If you're on your own, and you play like you're with the band, you'll sound totally dispassionate and robotic. If you're with the band and you play it like a solo gig, you'll slip massively off the beat and probably get a smack on the arse with a drumstick.

The nerves are mostly not a problem these days, although I do get a bit wobbly once or twice a year when my mum comes to a gig!

Stephen: I was out of touch with the Birmingham indie scene in the mid to late 90s. I never saw The Regulars and was not really aware of the Bearos Records scene. Can you fill me in with all the details? How did The Regulars get together? Who was behind Bearos Records? Where did you all hang out?

Pete: OK, well, there was no indiepop scene at all. You know the old guard of experimental electronica sorts like Pram and Plone and whatnot? That was what Birmingham sounded like to me for years. It was interesting but it all seemed a bit sedate and scientific. Then suddenly all these kids like The Starries and Baxxter and Thee Reverends appeared and drove a fucking great truck through it. They played grungey indie rock and noisy lo-fi pop and used pineapples as plectrums and got stark bollock naked on stage at Christmas. Then there were post-rock bands like Grover, and poppier stuff like The Regulars and Jameson, and then Panda Love Unit, Distophia... And weirdly, all these bands , including the older electronica people, ended up becoming kind of a new scene, because although they were sonically very disparate, everyone maybe shared a certain independent spirit.

So a very nice man from Kings Heath called Alan Farmer started taking pictures of these bands, then he produced a book called We Brought Our Friends, and then he started Bearos to release records by some of them. So it wasn't an indiepop label, of course: it was a focal point for an interesting and very eclectic scene.

Nobody really put on DIY gigs back then so we mainly played at the Flapper & Firkin and the Jug of Ale, cos the promoters there were into all of these bands, and we mainly hung out at those places too. When the pubs chucked out everyone would go to Snobs, and then say it was shit, and then go again the next week. Twice. There was hardly ever any real choice. 'Indie anthems' in the big room, 'sixties' in the small room, same in every club. Maybe we didn't need to do DIY gigs because the existing promoters were OK, but we needed more DIY club nights for sure.

The Regulars, I think, were the only Bearos band never to have been played on Radio 1 by John Peel. Go us! We got together in '97, '98 sort of time. I formed the band with the original bassist Stu Fletcher, who I met through a housemate, and my brother Chris who plays drums. Later on Stu recruited Rob Harris and Paul Roach to play guitar, which meant I could concentrate on singing. They were all part of a close set of friends around Warley and Oldbury, as was Rich Banner, who ended up replacing Stu in 2001. There was a big range of influences really, cos Chris listens to some dancey stuff, Paul liked rock and metal, and Rob was into Radiohead and Jeff Buckley and stuff. But we bonded a lot over a long multi-player game of Championship Manager, and I managed to get everyone in to The Orchids and East River Pipe! And we wrote some great popsongs, but never made enough effort to go and play them outside Birmingham. In mitigation, it was absolutely the wrong time as well as the wrong place. Dunc from The Autumn Store says The Regulars are the only band ever to have formed seven years too late and split up seven years too early. So it was bad luck and not just laziness!

Stephen: What brought you to Birmingham? Did you enjoy living in the city? What are your impressions of Birmingham people? Were you glad to leave?

Pete: By the end I couldn't wait to get away. There were a couple of years between The Regulars splitting up and me leaving in 2004, which were just dead time, a waste of my life. By the end I was fed up of New Street station, fed up of street hassle from the townies, fed up of no indiepop, fed up of my favourite pubs shutting down, fed up of the bus home getting stuck for 45 minutes in the gridlock down Broad Street. At midnight.

This was a shame because I did enjoy living in Birmingham in the 90s. I came to study at UCE and ended up staying in the midlands as a geographical compromise with my southern girlfriend. It was kind of grimy and not too pretty, but it had soul. The redevelopment of the city since 2000 is babies and bathwater. You've got rid of some grotty bits, fair enough, but you've chucked away a lot of character with it. If there's anywhere in the city centre that took on the responsibility selling chip baguettes after that brilliant old café down Needless Alley closed down, I need to know about it NOW.

Since I left, the music scene seems a bit more diverse. There are people doing some great things in Birmingham now – Dunc and Debbie at The Autumn Store, and a bunch of other stuff like Sugarfoot Stomp and ATTA Girl which look great and I'd love to check out if I ever get chance to.

Brummies can be miserable buggers, but at the same time there's very little room for bullshit in Birmingham. I mean London is full of brilliant things but it also becomes a hub for jumped-up, self-important fools from all over the place. And the north has that horrible laconic Gallagher persona which the men all copy, and people like what's his name, laughing boy out of The Cribs, can get big sycophantic applause by going on the telly and just looking gormless on purpose and grunting "dunno". There's none of that in Brum. I guess with that accent it's impossible to take yourself too seriously, right? Birmingham is the least pretentious city in England and I like it for that. I've recently discovered the Wellington as well. A real ale pub in the city centre! About chuffing time. Well done!

Stephen: What are your thoughts on the current indiepop scene? Is it frustrating that nobody seems to buy records anymore? What are your plans for future shows and recordings?

Pete: I'm halfway through making a debut album with The Pete Green Corporate Juggernaut, which feels like a big moment. We released one track from it in July – our train song 'Hey Dr Beeching' – as a free download to go with our appearance at the Indietracks festival, but I'm gonna be so excited when the album finally comes out! We're recording with Pete Bowers out of the mighty and very wonderful Horowitz, at his home studio, where we made my last solo record (the Platform Zero ep). It's great working with Pete – he knows exactly what I'm about musically, and we can go out to the pub for a break and grab a curry and then get another vocal down at 3am if we feel like it, or just sit around listening to Moofish Catfish instead. I'm hoping we can start playing popshows again in maybe November, December, when the new drummer's ready (it's Fairy who used to be in The Deirdres – yay!) and then get our tour on in the spring when the album comes out. Eeeeee! Did I mention I was excited about that?

It can feel a bit discouraging when I play a popshow and there's a big audience and they really like my set and then they all go home without buying a record. But my two solo EPs have sold a few hundred between them so it's not all bad. Atomic Beat Records has actually broken even on the first one, apparently, which is frankly quite incredible. And really, making records feels very secondary to the buzz of being on stage. The popshow is why I do what I do. I mean it's fantastic that some people believe in my stuff enough to want to release it on record. But if I couldn't put records out, I'd still play live, and it doesn't work the other way round: if I couldn't play live, I'm not sure I'd bother making music at all.

And the indiepop scene in 2009 is amazing! It's what I've been waiting for since I first started listening to and making pop music. I was too young for C86 and too remote and skint to be near the Sarah scene. So the new indiepop underground feels like the payback for every night I was sitting at home in Grimsby as a kid, poring over the Sarah newsletter for the 83rd time because there was nothing else to do. It's like my time has come at last! I love seeing the new indiepop bands and I love playing to the new indiepop audience. And the 20 years of waiting have determined me to squeeze every last bit of fun and thrills and kicks out of it all.

Stephen: Finally, what do you like to do outside of the world of indiepop? Have you got any unusual hobbies? What books and films do you like?

Pete: I have a season ticket at Grimsby Town Football Club, which is very unusual indeed, even in Grimsby. Although we'd be stretching definitions to breaking point to say I actually like using it very much at the moment. Other than that it's quite straightforward. I'm not much of a film person really (except at Christmas when I'm trying to avoid talking to my in-laws) but I like pubs and walking and books and trains. And books about trains. And walking. I love Rebecca Solnit's writing about politics and walking and places. Jon McGregor's two novels are astonishing – little miracles and dramas abounding in every single life. And poetry – Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Hardy and Louis MacNeice all make dazzling music out of words.

And the thing is, I don't really see a divide between the music and all this other stuff. Indiepop is poetry and we can have songs about snow, and trains, and the football, and work being rubbish, and music isn't a 'hobby' or anything remotely as diminishing or marginal as that – because the humility and self-sufficiency and accessibility of indiepop are a continuation of where I am on culture and politics and gender and everything. So indiepop isn't just what I listen to: it's who I am – and nothing ever is outside the world of indiepop!

Thank you Pete! I really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on the various points raised and hope to see you again soon. Maybe you can tell me about your and Marianthi's encounter with the person with Tipton tattoed on their forehead.

Pete has written a great blog about his time with The Regulars here.

As I said in the interview, I was out of touch with the Birmingham indie scene in the mid to late 90s except for the odd Delta gig. It's a pity as The Regulars sound great. I think this is my favourite song (Pete is on guitar and backing vocals):

The Regulars - Saturday Song

and disappointment becomes a way of life

2009-09-23T22:13:00.007+01:00

Roque's blog posts and growing excitement about his forthcoming trip to Germany reminds me of the visit Bernd from Blam-A-Bit Records made to England. I think it was summer 1991 (wasn't it Bernd?). The Cudgels and Bernd had been in touch for some time as Blam-A-Bit had put out a split flexi - The Jingle Jangle Pop EP - with The Cudgels and They Go Boom!! and when he said he was coming over to England Andy Cudgel kindly invited him to stay for a few days at his flat in Tudor Court, Dudley Port, Tipton - the legendary Cudgels HQ.

Bernd came over to England with his friend (can't remember his name but he played in a German band at the time called Ska Trek - Bernd if you are reading please correct me on any errors) and planned to do a bit of a tour and stay with a few friends from the indiepop scene. They arrived at Andrew's flat on a Friday in their white people carrier type car, and when Andrew opened the door was greeted with hugs and bottles of beer. Then more bottles of beer. We knew we were going to get on with these German guys. Around this time The Cudgels had only pockets of interest and fans around England - Rutland Records / Po! in Leicester, Richard Waaaah! in London, They Go Boom!! in Margate, some fans in the Midlands and also the notorious Steve Biscuit - but on the whole most of the interest in the band came from Europe and the United States. I will write about Albert from Sunday Records visit to Cudgels HQ at a later date. It is interesting to read and hear that Germany is once again becoming a hot bed of indiepop activity. It felt like this back in 1991. When Bernd and his friend had settled in we talked non stop about music and football and girls and all sorts. We had a great time. He was even in the process of setting up a German tour for The Cudgels for later in the year, and although we really wanted to do the tour, we had to decline his kind offer in the end. Around this time all of the band were still quite young, and we had no money and flights etc. were a lot more expensive in those days. We would have had to travel in a van and catch the ferry. We couldn't afford to hire a van, and the only one we had access to was Tracey's dad's van which was unreliable to say the least. We would have broken down way before we reached Dover.

Bernd and his friend were staying for a long weekend which took in a few visits to the local Tipton pubs, a Cudgels rehearsal at the studio we used in Birmingham, an attempt at a game of football, more beer and playing records and we even took them over to visit our parents, and our Mum made them both a nice Sunday tea. On the Monday, Heavenly and Brighter were playing a gig up in Derby at a club called The Dial. I will write more about The Dial in future posts. There are not that many gigs I have missed that I am still kicking myself for not going to years later, but this is one of them. I can't remember why I wasn't able to go now but this gig was amazing according to the reports from Bernd and Andy. I have never seen Brighter live and they are one of my favourite bands. They only played live on rare occasions and this sounded like it was a special night. It was well worth travelling all the way from Germany to witness two amazing groups and I know Bernd and his friend really enjoyed the evening.

The next day (Tuesday) they headed off to continue their indiepop tour (destination Margate?) and Andy and the rest of The Cudgels really enjoyed their company. What great guys!

Big Pink by The Cudgels is posted here.

They Go Boom!! - I Think I'm Falling

N.B. I have only just found out that Aberdeen recorded a wonderful version of I Think I'm Falling. Mike and Darryl - what an honour to have the lovely Beth sing one of your songs!

Aberdeen - I Think I'm Falling

Thank you to Thomas from There And Back Again Lane for posting the Aberdeen single.

the city is a work of art

2009-09-07T20:19:00.015+01:00

I attended the Moseley Folk Festival last Friday and had a fantastic time. It was great to meet up with old friends and make a few new ones as well. The festival was curated by Bob Stanley on the Friday and featured a wonderful mixture of bands, artists and singer / songwriters. You can get to Moseley on the famous no. 50 bus from Birmingham city centre. This route goes through a lot of the city that has yet to be redeveloped, but as Moseley is on a hill, it is still quite a beautiful sight to see the city skyline. Moseley is famous as the 'arty' area of Birmingham and has had quite a few well known residents over the years. I'll run through my highlights of the day.

The first band I saw at the festival were called Circulus. They were amazing. Two of the band members were stuck in traffic and didn't make it, so they played as a four piece. They were so much fun. They sang songs about UFOs and space travel and wore pointy hats. The lead singer gave a five minute speech asking everybody to throw away their mobile phones. He said emails were alright though. I'd love to see them again.

I then went across to the Bohemian Jukebox stage to see Pete Green. I had missed Pete's show at Indietracks as the Church stage was too full, so was looking forward to seeing him live for the first time. Pete didn't disappoint and played a tremendous set, and even though the crowd was a lot smaller than at Indietracks, there was still a great atmosphere. Pete even wrote a new song called 'Subterranean Moseley Blues' especially for the festival. Pete has been kind enough to agree to an interview for Please Rain Fall so look out for that soon.

It started raining just as Rose Elinor Dougal arrived on stage. Again, I had missed her at Indietracks as she played on the Friday night. I have never been a fan of The Pipettes and can understand why she would want to leave and broaden her musical horizons. I enjoyed her set and some of the songs sounded quite familiar, so they were either very catchy, or they have maybe been on the radio without me realising. Without starting on my indiepop crushes again she is very attractive, but maybe a bit too posh for me. I don't think she would like my Birmingham accent. I would say that she might be a little bit bossy as well. Although that is good sometimes, it's just when it borders on nagging that it becomes annoying. I don't think she would nag anyone though, she would probably dump them before it got to that stage. As you can tell I have thought about our relationship and decided it probably wouldn't work out. I will just stick with listening to the music.

I saw the Swedish singer / songwriter Frida Hyvonen next. I thought she was great and has a real way with words. I was not really familiar with any of her songs but that didn't stop me from enjoying her performance. She went down really well with the crowd as well which by now was really starting to grow in numbers.

Seeland were formed by ex-members of Broadcast and Plone, and again I am not familiar with any of their songs. They were good though and would like to hear more by them. I am also having difficulty remembering much more about the performance as the beer was starting to take effect by this stage.

The highlight of the day for me was seeing The Pastels. I had never seen them live before and was really looking forward to it. They were absolutely wonderful. They were performing with the Tenniscoats and played some songs from the forthcoming album. It was really exciting just seeing Stephen Pastel. He could have just stood on stage and strummed his guitar and it would have been amazing. They finished the set with 'Baby Honey' which sounded fantastic and the crowd loved them.

Closing the show were St Etienne who I had never seen live before and were brilliant. I couldn't get near the front when they came on stage as the crowd had grown so large. They played a mixture of songs from their albums and provided a fitting finale to what was a fantastic day. I will definitely be there again next year!

there doesn't have to be a reason does there, that's just what he hates, hates to explain

2009-09-03T19:06:00.006+01:00

Indiepop fans that are familiar with the Sound Of Leamington Spa complilations will know the group Where Gardens Fall. There is very little information available about them on the internet. They released an EP on Freak Out Records and featured on the first Leamington Spa compilation and that's about it. The band hail from Birmingham in the Midlands and I knew them better in their former incarnation, when they were known as Leopold Bloom.

Leopold Bloom consisted of Karl Moseley on vocals, Carl Bedward on guitar, and Ian Hough on bass guitar. I can't remember who the drummer was. From what I can remember they formed in around 1985 and started gigging regularly from early 1986 onwards to probably late 1986 / early 1987. Ian Hough is still making music today and is known as Huffy. I have seen him play live and is great. A really nice guy as well. Leopold Bloom were a guitar pop band and sounded similar to many of the bands of that era such as The Smiths and Echo and The Bunnymen. But I always really liked the fact that they also had a personality of their own. Karl was a very good writer and his words gave them an original feel. They were also quite influenced by Joy Division / New Order and this gave them a good rhythmic foundation to work from. I know that they definitely released a song on a compilation album but can't remember the name of the song. I can remember how it goes though. One of the lines in the refrain in the song went 'I hate this town and the people too, it's so uninspiring , what has it got for me?' Maybe the guys at Firestation Records know about this song? Uwe? Olaf?? I would really love to hear it again. I used to play it constantly when I first got hold of the record. I think it was Carl from the band that gave me a copy. It is such a great song.

I first got to know Leopold Bloom through my brother Andrew's friend called Michael. His sister was going out with the singer, Karl, and they went on to marry. Early spring 1986, Michael asked myself and Andrew if we would like to go along and watch the band his sister's boyfriend was in. They were playing in West Bromwich that Saturday evening. We said yes, great and did not really expect too much. They were playing at the Coach and Horses in West Bromwich which was about three miles away from Great Barr in Birmingham where we lived. The Coach and Horses was a great venue. It was situated on a housing estate and from the outside looked quite rough. On the inside it was quite rough as well, but they had a fantastic back room that used to put on local bands with a small stage and PA system. We got there in good time, and as I was still only 17 at this time was quite excited to be drinking in a pub and also excited about the show. Even local bands seemed very glamourous to me at this time. Two bands were playing and Leopold Bloom were the headline act. I think the support band may have been called Fun Arcade who later did become quite well known on the local scene but I wasn't particularly impressed with their performance on this occasion. They had a sort of tuneless post-punk sound that was not very appealing. Once Fun Arcade finished Leopold Bloom came on and were amazing! Karl was quite a showman and did a few sort of Morrissey moves crossed with a bit of Michael Stipe. Ian was a great bass player and Carl an innovative guitarist. They did a fantastic set and it was so inspiring myself, Andrew and his friend Michael decided to form a band that night. We would call ourselves The Cudgels and our ambition was to get good enough to be able to play a gig at the Coach and Horses in West Bromwich. We went on to achieve a lot more than this but our initial aim was a simple one. We wanted to emulate our heroes Leopold Bloom. Thank you guys. You have no idea how much that gig means to me. Unfortunately, we never did get to play at the Coach and Horses but we will always have the memories of a fantastic evening and a wonderful band.

Where Gardens Fall feature on the first Leamington Spa compilation and it is still available to buy from the guys at Firestation Records. Olaf / Uwe - if you are reading this please get in touch to let me know if you are aware of the Leopold Bloom song. I have a feeling Bernd might remember it as well.

Where Gardens Fall - Search

An interesting footnote is that the keyboard player in Where Gardens Fall is Andrew Capella who I went to primary school with. Such a small world.

but the hours become days, and the weeks carry us away, and summer becomes winter again

2009-09-01T19:05:00.004+01:00

I don't normally post too many videos but I have been really impressed with this new Apple Orchard song, A Month Of Spring. Matt over at Skatterbrain blog first posted it and it's one of the best new songs I have heard in a long time. I have been a big fan of the band for a while and they just keep getting better and better. The group consists of two brothers, Ryan and Dale, and are two very talented guys. The guitar riff in the song is fantastic and I love the video. See how many indiepop references you can spot!

i won't stay

2009-08-31T14:06:00.003+01:00

All the things you said to me
You told me lies
I won't stay
I won't stay

Places that you said you were
They don't exist
I won't stay
I won't stay

You don't get a second chance
I'm worth much more than that
You don't get a second look
You're just a number in my book

Little things you bought for me
Just out of guilt
I won't stay
I won't stay

Love means fun and games to you
This time you lose
I won't play
I won't play

You don't get a second chance
I'm worth much more than that
You don't get a second look
You're just a number in my book

(words and music by Ruth Miller)

Po! - I Won't Stay

i like to gather up all the wrong things

2009-08-24T13:33:00.003+01:00

I had mentioned recently that 'It Happens' by Primal Scream was far superior to their second single 'Velocity Girl'. It is a little strange that these two singles are most well known for their 'b' sides. What is also strange is that 'All Fall Down / It Happens' was not actually meant to be the first single. The first release was meant to be a song called 'The Orchard'. This features Judith Boyle on vocals, as apparently Bobby Gillespie had a cold on the day of the recording. Judith Boyle went on to become a member of Spirea X with Jim Beattie, Primal Scream guitarist. The band were unhappy with the recording of 'The Orchard' and scrapped the master tapes, but not before a few bootleg copies were made. I like 'The Orchard'. It reminds me of an early Primal Scream song called 'Bewitched and Bewildered' mixed with 'A Million Tears' by The Pastels. 'The Orchard' can also be heard in a later Primal Scream song called 'Black Star Carnival.'

Primal Scream - The Orchard

Primal Scream - Black Star Carnival

if we kill our friends then what will the public think

2009-08-15T23:22:00.004+01:00

Seeing Gavin Cudgel in the week brought lots of memories flooding back. It was just like the old times. When we later met up with Andy Cudgel, it wasn't long before we started hatching new plans, schemes and manifestos. Some things never change. Although I was a member of The Cudgels, I didn't actually play on this song. That is probably why it is my favourite. A great tune coupled with a fine set of lyrics by Andy. Fantastic.

The Cudgels - Big Pink

all i've got is all the time in the world

2009-08-11T23:28:00.006+01:00

Regular readers will know that I have an occasional series whereby I discuss unexpected pop gems that appear when my ipod is on shuffle. Usually this happens on early morning bus journeys. Well, my bus journey into work this morning was another of those moments. Why is it always early morning or late at night when music affects you the most? Is it because your senses are more or less acute? Maybe it's because the barriers and defences we construct to 'protect' ourselves in this most modern of worlds are less strong? Either way, I always seem to feel more emotions at these times than when listening to music in the middle of the day. So when They Go Boom!! popped up on shuffle this morning, the two songs that played fitted my mood perfectly. I have been wanting to write about They Go Boom!! for a long time but they are such a special group, I really wouldn't know where to start. I will keep working on it though, and post my thoughts once I have produced something worthy of doing justice to the beautiful music. While the modern office environment is hardly the 'coalface', it can sometimes feel like it. Thank you Mike and Daryl for making me smile this morning.

They Go Boom!! - Woody Allen

They Go Boom!! - Cold Harbour Nights

someone to care and share in my world, someone to drag me around chelsea girl

2009-08-01T20:59:00.007+01:00

Having never seen Talulah Gosh play live, it was nice to catch up with Tender Trap at Indietracks. I am not familiar with any Tender Trap songs, but this didn't matter as they played a great set full of pop gems. From what I can gather Tender Trap are similar to Amelia's other bands (Marine Research etc.) so I pretty much knew what to expect but was still surprised by how much I enjoyed them. Maybe it was just seeing Amelia I don't know. I also liked their drummer. She played stand-up drums whilst drinking a can of lager and singing as well. She even had a Scottish accent! She is my kind of woman. I wonder if she's married? Actually, while I was watching Tender Trap (and the drummer) I was reminded of my first 'indiepop' crush which was on Laura Shop Assistant - who also played stand-up drums. Funny how my taste in women and music hasn't changed for over twenty years. Intriguingly though, I have never had a crush on Amelia Fletcher. I know she is held up as an indiepop pin-up but I have never really been that smitten. A lot of my music crushes tend to be on more mainstream artists for some reason. I can vividly remember my first pop crush which was on Agnetha from Abba. I have had a thing about blonde Swedish girls ever since. After a few years I got over Agnetha, and after a brief flirtation with 'Tracie' who sang with The Style Council, I fell for Tracey Thorn. I suppose she fits in better with the indiepop ethic so I was back on track and then moved onto Laura Shop Assistant. I spent a whole evening trying to pluck up the courage to speak to Laura at a Shop Assistants gig at Burberries in Birmingham in 1986 but never managed it. Oh well maybe it was for the best. Things settled down again for a few years until Betty Boo exploded onto the scene. Now this wasn't just me but nearly all my friends were crazy about Betty Boo. Around this time my friend Bish used to make compilation videos of indie band footage from things like The Chart Show and Top Of The Pops and he also used to throw in the odd mainstream pop act. Well, he included the Betty Boo videos in one of his compilations and everyone ignored all the indie bands and just used to watch the Betty Boo videos and then rewind and watch them again. Wow she was great!

Betty Boo mania died down when she was discovered miming during a live show in Australia I think (she had dropped her microphone but the singing carried on as if nothing had happened) so her career imploded overnight. I'm not really sure why people got upset over this. I thought it was a great pop moment. Again life went on before I then fell head over heels for Emma Bunton from The Spice Girls. I make no apologies for this. Emma is amazing! In fact I think The Spice Girls are one of the best pop groups Britain has ever produced. Any indiepop fan who slags off mainstream pop music like Girls Aloud and The Spice Girls doesn't understand what pop is all about. At one time I even had a Spice Girls lunchbox! This was mainly because it had a nice picture of Emma Bunton on it, but it wasn't an ironic statement or some sort of post-modernist joke. I genuinely think they are a perfect pop group. Emma Bunton made such an impact I haven't really developed any more pop crushes since. It would almost feel like being unfaithful. Then again if I bumped into the drummer from Tender Trap again who knows....

Talulah Gosh - Beatnik Boy

The Shop Assistants - Before I Wake

these are a few of my favourite things

2009-07-31T22:09:00.006+01:00

It was so great to see Mighty Mighty at Indietracks. If you closed your eyes it was like being transported back 20 years, except I had forgotten how danceable the songs are. I often think of music as a form of time travel. From the opening 'Throwaway', Hugh and the boys treated the crowd to a greatest hits package that for pop perfection and sheer enjoyment was one of the best shows I have seen in I don't know how long. I was a bit apprehensive when I first heard they were due to play as I am not a big fan of reunions, although they have played the odd show over the years, but I needn't have feared. If anything they are probably better now than they were 20 odd years ago. Hugh's voice is amazing and the sound has filled out and is much more powerful. They created a real party atmosphere and it was impossible not to dance with a huge grin on your face. Absolutely wonderful.

Another Indietracks surprise were The Lovely Eggs who were hmm.. lovely.

Mighty Mighty - Gemini Smiles

Mighty Mighty - Yours Truly

is this what life is all about ba ba ba ba ba ba ba baah

2009-07-23T23:55:00.005+01:00

The much maligned Facebook is, if used properly, a great way of getting in touch with old friends and sharing stories and memories from 'the old days'. I mean how else would you stumble across a picture of yourself stood at the front of a Wild Flowers gig from 1987 at JB's in Dudley? Your 18 year old Please Rain Fall writer's head is on the left and his friend Bish's head is on the right. This gig was memorable because Neil Wild Flower looked very fetching in a suede jacket and leather trousers! The music was great as well. I also remember drinking about 8 cans of Stones bitter (Red Stripe and Newcastle Brown Ale were also popular at JB's) and not getting home until about two in the morning. Unfortunately, I then had to be up at seven a.m. to get to my Saturday job at the local DIY store. My ears were still ringing at lunchtime. I'm amazed I was able to hold down that Saturday job. Oh Friday nights at JB's were fantastic. Thanks to Toni Hickman for digging out the pictures. Toni also said that she may have a few photos of the Sherbert Fountains! I hope so as this will provide proof that they were not a figment of my over active imagination.

The Wild Flowers - A Kind Of Kingdom

tomorrow i'll buy myself a dress

2009-07-19T19:51:00.004+01:00

A thousand violins will play for you
While you sit and roll your deep blue eyes
A thousand to win, a thousand you lose
But I'll be your consolation prize
All you do is sigh

I wore my fringe like Roger McGuinn's
I was hoping to impress
So frightfully camp, it made you laugh
Tomorrow I'll buy myself a dress
How ludicrous

I don't mean to pry but didn't that guy
Crumple up your face a thousand times?
He made you cry
I'll be your consolation prize
Although I know
I'll never be man enough for you

Orange Juice - Consolation Prize

and now you're standing at the end of the hall, do you ever think of me at all

2009-07-16T21:53:00.006+01:00

Continuing with the Red Roses For Me theme, another seminal tape that was released was the Honey At The Core compilation that came with Red Roses For Me 4 in 1991. This is another wonderful mixture of pop gems and 500 copies of the tape and fanzine were produced. This shows that even though the scene was small, it was definitely thriving. As with all things the good times can never last forever, and in a couple of years the indiepop scene began to peter out as people moved on, but the 1989 - 1992 period remains a golden age.

Honey At The Core

The Lovelies - Trippy Hippy

The Hardy Boys - 15

Dreamtree - Evergreen (I love this song!)

The Cudgels - 5th Columnist

The Gravy Train - Watch The Rain

This Perfect Day - Pants Worn Through

The Hoverchairs - Shake

Home And Abroad - Wipe Those Tears Away

They Go Boom!! - Lands End

White Town - Baby Blue

had a bad night, i got lost, i'm going home

2009-07-14T17:15:00.007+01:00

Thanks to Noisebox I have at last managed to track down 'Nothing Yet' by The Weeping Messerschmitts. I mentioned the band in one of my earlier posts here and it has been years since I have heard the song. They were originally called The Railway Children but had to change the name for obvious reasons. As I said in the piece, I'm not actually sure whether I like the song - it is a bit too derivative of the likes of The Bunnymen and The Smiths - but it sure does bring back some memories. The refrain in the song 'no one listens to me..' now seems very 80s and dated. But then again me and my friends all used to wear long trench coats and dabble in serious literature so the song sums up the times well. It seems the former members of The Weeping Messerschmitts are working together again as reported here. One of my main memories of the band was seeing their last gig at JB's in Dudley in 1986 while Aero was still their bass player. He was leaving the band to join The Wild Flowers. If I remember correctly supporting the band that night were Dudley's answer to Birmingham's We've Got A Fuzzbox. They were called The Sherbert Dips or Fountains I think, and were amazing! They were three or four punky girls with dyed spiky blond hair and stripy / polka dot outfits. They looked great. The fact they could hardly play made them even more special. I don't think they had a bass player and the guitarist didn't know which way up the instrument should be held, but it still remains as one of the best shows I have seen. I think the drummer seemed to be the only member of the band who seemed to know what they were doing. Fantastic. They got up onstage with The Weeping Messerschmitts at the end of their set and danced along to the encore of 'Nothing Yet'. If I hadn't been so shy I would have loved to talk to one of them. I think they split up soon after this gig. I checked with my brother Andrew to make sure that I hadn't dreamt up the band as one of my teenage fantasies and they did indeed exist. Apparently a couple of them were girlfriends of members of The Mighty Lemon Drops.
* Photo taken at JB's, Dudley by Toni Hickman.

The Weeping Messerschmitts - Nothing Yet

no long last kiss, only this, someone coming to their senses

2009-07-08T21:40:00.005+01:00

Inspired by the nice comment left by redrosesforme regarding the Beyond The Valley Of The Polar Bears post here, I thought it would be good to share the rest of the songs on the tape. As I said in my piece regarding the tape, this really is a fantastic compilation. It has to be remembered that in the days when the tape was released, it took a lot of time and effort to contact all of the bands involved, get all of the master tapes together, create the artwork, print covers, advertise the release, post out the tapes etc. It is a world away from putting together a compilation of songs, wrapping them in a zip file, uploading them to wherever and congratulating yourself on your exquisite taste. Kids don't know they're born these days. Thank you to Red Roses For Me for the wonderful tapes and fanzines. Also massive respect is due for including the amazing Cat's Miaow on the compilation. Again this was long before they became the cool band to name-drop into any indiepop conversation. A pre-Top Of The Pops White Town are also featured.

The Goldenrods - Told You So / Prince Of Edinburgh / Hey Jay

The Proctors - Only Stupid / Moon Song

The Cat's Miaow - You Left A Note On The Table / It Might Never Happen

Half Time Oranges - Give It To Shilton / We Only Sing When We're Winning

Oporto - Seize Today / Midnight Blue

White Town - Give Me Some Pain / Undressed

like a sailing ship that's lost upon the sea, in the kingdom of confusion you'll find me

2009-06-21T19:24:00.008+01:00

Primal Scream recorded their first BBC John Peel session on 11 December 1985. I didn't hear the session when it was first broadcast, but I think John Peel may have repeated the session because I do recall listening to it sometime in 1986. I saw Primal Scream live twice in 1986. I have written here about the first show I saw them play at Burberries in Birmingham. Not long after in October they played support to Julian Cope, who they were touring with, at the Irish Centre in Digbeth, Birmingham. I went along to this gig with my brother Andrew and his pals Mike and Paul. I have never really been a big Teardrop Explodes / Julian Cope fan so was only going to see Primal Scream. We arrived at the Irish Centre around 8.30, I think Mike was driving, and as was usual in those days there were plenty of local indie popstars to stalk in the crowd. Neil from the Wild Flowers was standing by the bar talking to a couple of The Mighty Lemon Drops as we went to get the drinks in. Pop Will Eat Itself! were there along with some of Mighty Mighty. Oh those were the days.

Primal Scream came on around nine and played a fairly short set. Bobby Gillespie was wearing his red turtleneck sweater. I remember being quite disappointed by the performance. The Irish Centre is a lot bigger than Burberries and the band sounded very thin and slightly out of tune. I think their sound was lost in the bigger hall and from what Andrew and the others said afterwards, you could hardly hear them towards the back. This failure to convert their delicate sound and songs to bigger venues may have prompted Primal Scream to beef up their sound and 'rock out'. As I have said before, I love the early Primal Scream songs but from a live perspective, the songs didn't translate that well. It is such a pity they never properly recorded the early material. There are some real gems in there.

Julian Cope then arrived on stage around ten and the contrast couldn't have been more different. He was amazing! The sound was really powerful and his performance was incredible. He had the crowd whipped up into a frenzy. As I said earlier, I have never really been a big fan of his, but as a live performer he is unbeatable. An absolutely wonderful show.

So it was a strange evening as I had gone along eagerly anticipating Primal Scream's performance, and came away raving about how amazing Julian Cope was!

Here are the four songs Primal Scream recorded for the John Peel show on 11 December 1985:

Primal Scream - Aftermath

Primal Scream - Love You

Primal Scream - Crystal Crescent

Primal Scream - Subterranean

help me please, give me a sign or two, it's so easy but i don't have a clue

2009-06-17T22:54:00.003+01:00

One of the good things about having your ipod on shuffle is when the occasional unexpected gem pops up. This happened on my bus journey into work this morning. 'Do Me' by Loveninjas is such a wonderful song. It is poignant and mournful but also has an underlying optimism and humour. It is beautiful. If, like me, you are resigned to the single life yet remain a hopeless romantic then sit back and wallow in this delicious treat.

Loveninjas - Do Me

i kissed your hand and you talked of the heart, then we tore each other apart

2009-06-12T16:39:00.005+01:00

I was thinking I may have been a little grumpy the other day when I said that 'It Happens' by Primal Scream is far superior to 'Velocity Girl'. Oh well, it's fun to be grumpy sometimes - as Alistair demonstrates here. I still prefer 'It Happens' but not withstanding that, 'Velocity Girl' is still a truly fantastic song. Primal Scream did a BBC Janice Long session in July 1986 and recorded a longer version of 'Velocity Girl' which I am posting. I personally think the longer version loses the impact of the 7" version, but there again I always think a three minute pop song is a minute too long.

I remember hearing the Primal Scream session at the time on the Janice Long show. I was at my friend Bish's house and we set up an old tape recorder with a microphone to place against the radio speaker. I don't think he had a radio cassette player. When I have mentioned the longer version to people since, not many had heard it, and I began to doubt whether it did indeed exist. We had consumed quite a few cans of cheap lager in Bish's garden and the recording didn't come out that well. In fact I think the tape stopped at some point and we had forgotten to replace it. Luckily, through the wonder of soulseek, I was able to find the session and I was vindicated. A longer version did exist after all. Have a listen and see which version you prefer.

Primal Scream - Velocity Girl (BBC Janice Long session July 1986)

Primal Scream - Fever Claw (BBC Janice Long session July 1986)

Primal Scream - Silent Spring (BBC Janice Long session July 1986)

Primal Scream - Imperial (BBC Janice Long session July 1986)

Primal Scream - Velocity Girl (7" version)

i know we said that these feelings wouldn't last

2009-06-10T19:30:00.005+01:00

I mentioned a while ago that I would post some unreleased Proctors songs and a few people have since asked me about them. Therefore, I think it is about time I posted some of the songs. Most of the songs were recorded by Gavin in his home studio and are mainly acoustic. 'Can't Love You' is a full band recording and has now enjoyed a release on Roque's Cloudberry Records as part of the Cloudberry Classics series. Roque also conducted an in-depth Proctors interview (with Emma's help) which can be found on the Cloudberry blog here.

The Proctors - Perfect World

The Proctors - Can't Love You

The Proctors - Farewell Farewell* (Gavin Vocals)
(*song by Richard Thompson)

you're everything i dreamed you'd be, and so much more

2009-05-27T22:08:00.005+01:00

For any aspiring indiepop kid in the mid 80s the most essential albums to own were the early Creation Records compilations. The 'Wow Wild Summer' and 'Different For Domeheads' in particular were extremely important releases. These two records opened up a whole new world to me and it was so exciting setting about trying to find out more about the bands. Due to Alan McGhee's contacts in the music press there was nearly always a feature on one of the Creation bands in either the NME, Melody Maker or Sounds. This was the 'golden age' of the music press. There were three weekly papers as well as things like 'Record Mirror' which I think might have been fortnightly. I used to devour them all.

My favourite ever song released by Creation was 'It Happens' by Primal Scream. This song is far superior in my opinion to 'Velocity Girl'. I can't understand why 'Velocity Girl' is held up as such an iconic 'indiepop' anthem. My own theory is that a lot of the people who rave about how great a song 'Velocity Girl' is haven't actually heard 'It Happens'. The other masterpiece released by Creation but falls just short of 'It Happens' is 'Why Does The Rain' by The Loft. I used to listen to this song continuously for weeks on end. It is close to perfection. The Loft are sometimes overlooked in indiepop history, maybe because they split up just before the 'C86 Explosion', but they were an important band. Sadly I never got to see them live.

'It Happens' and 'Why Does The Rain' conjure up so many memories. I love the ringing guitars, the subtle production. When I managed to find pictures of the bands the image fitted the music perfectly - the fringes, leather trousers, chelsea boots and polo necks. These guys were untouchable.

I am posting a few songs from that era that sum up the period for me. As ever, Dave from Fruitier Than Thou blog has been kind enough to provide the live material from The Loft and The Bodines.

Primal Scream - It Happens

The Loft - Why Does The Rain

The Loft - Why Does The Rain (live at The Spitz, London May 2006)

The Bodines - Therese (live in Brighton May 1985)

The Bodines - Heard It All (live in Brighton May 1985)

The Pastels - Tea Time Song

The Legend! - Melt The Guns

we could call it love

2009-05-20T21:34:00.006+01:00

I am looking forward to seeing Mighty Mighty at Indietracks this summer. It will be similar to seeing The Wedding Present at last year's Indietracks - a twenty odd year gap between shows I have seen them play! Dale from the Sounds Like A Clanger crew put on a Mighty Mighty show at Enots Social Club in Lichfield in the summer of 1986. Dale has kindly agreed to share his memories of the evening.

Mighty Mighty

Enots, Lichfield – Summer 1986

Mighty Mighty arrived at Enots courtesy of a couple of mutual friends. We had met Hugh (the singer) a few times – once on the train from B’ham to Lichfield. He got off at Shenstone, but I can’t say that we really knew him.

I think that this gig must have been around the time of their “Is There Anyone Out There?” 12” ep. The title track is still a song that I enjoy listening to, not least because it brings back a lot of happy memories.

Following on from the success of the Wedding Present gig there were a few more people at this show. It helped that Mighty Mighty were a localish band and they managed to bring a few friends the short distance down the A38.

As I mentioned in my first post about the Razorcuts, one of the original intentions of promoting these gigs was to give our own band, Pop Kit, an opportunity to play. However, by this stage we had largely given up on that idea as SLAC took over most of our lives.

But, on this balmy night in August, we got the chance to perform for the first time in front of an adoring public. Not as Pop Kit but as The Shambling B*st*rds – Hugh christened us that for reasons which will become apparent later.

The support band had pulled out at the last minute and left us with a dilemma. As much as people enjoyed the records we played they were predominantly there to listen to live music and we didn’t want to let them down. A few of us, including at least one future member of The Telescopes, knew how to play the same punk/indie standards so we took to the stage to stumble through a set of unrehearsed songs using the headliners equipment. It was typical of the Enots crowd that, instead of bottling us off, the punters entered into the spirit of things and enjoyed every minute of our shambolic performance.

We were a hard act to follow but somehow Mighty Mighty managed it! They played a rip roaring set that even had the bar staff dancing – they’d always seemed rather indifferent at the previous gigs.

There is a very good quality bootleg of this in a loft somewhere in South East Staffordshire. Not only do you get a value for money, 20 plus songs, but during the course of the tape you get the band’s manager speaking directly into the microphone at 10 minute intervals advertising Mighty Mighty records and details of upcoming performances.

When the gig was reviewed in the Lichfield Mercury, by Alistair Grey, he used one of Hugh’s little phrases, “Another One Hits the Back of the Net”, as his headline. I felt that this was rather appropriate as we had scored a huge success with the three gigs we had put on so far.

Not wishing to rest on our laurels we set about organizing the next one.

Thank you Dale. My friend from Germany, Olaf, sent me a mix CD which included some live Mighty Mighty songs. I think these songs are taken from a gig in Birmingham from around 1985 / 1986 I would guess.

Mighty Mighty - Let's Call It Love (live)

Mighty Mighty - Throwaway (live)

Mighty Mighty - I Never Imagined (live)

Mighty Mighty - Lionhearts (live)

* * * * *

I mentioned a while ago that Dave from Fruitier Than Thou blog had sent me a recording of a Sea Urchins show at Synatras in Birmingham from June 1988. The gig was pretty shambolic but is interesting in that, captured on the recording, is part of a song I have never heard before. I have titled the mp3 as 'Unknown Song'. If you listen to the track, about halfway through as the promoter is trying to get them off the stage, they start playing a great song. Dave has unknowingly captured a piece of history! Anyone who knows the title of the song please get in touch. It isn't a cover as it has all The Sea Urchins trademarks. What a discovery. I am also posting a live version of 'Please Rain Fall' from the same gig.

The Sea Urchins - Unknown Song (live at Synatras, Birmingham June 1988)

The Sea Urchins - Please Rain Fall (live at Synatras, Birmingham June 1988)

i called you lover, you called me stephen, there was confusion right from the start

2009-04-22T23:04:00.003+01:00

I think it's about time I posted the remaining Endless Bob Brown songs. Here are the last three in all their glory. So what's next? A compilation CD of EBB songs? A classic 7" single maybe?

Endless Bob Brown - Be Good To Your Blood

Endless Bob Brown - Tonight You Belong To Me

Endless Bob Brown - Paradise

i don't depend on memories, they're the things i want to deny

2009-04-17T21:57:00.011+01:00

Feeling tired? Stressed out? Looking for some soothing sounds to ease your troubled soul? Then you need look no further than Two If By Sea. The main members of the group are Teresa and Lisle with additional help from friends, and the songs are timeless and beautiful. The soft, hushed vocals are very intimate, the instrumentation is delicate and warm. I am reminded of Nick Drake when I listen to the intensity and honesty of the songs. I was curious to find out more about the group and asked Teresa Daniele if she would agree to one of my five question interviews. Teresa graciously granted my request and the results are interesting and thought-provoking.

Stephen: How old were you when you first became interested in music? What was the first instrument you learnt to play? Are you from a musical family?

Teresa: my kindergarten teacher reported that i was a very musical child with a natural love for dance, painting, and music in particular. this observation seems consistent with my memory of being a young child, still wide-eyed and full of wonder, with an innate appreciation for art, beauty and nature. i did not embark upon a formal music "education" until i was 9 or 10 when i took up the violin (which regrettably i did not continue past the age of 14). though i did not come from a musical background, i have a pretty far-reaching recollection of a childhood that included listening to songs endlessly on my tape machine, and using the same equipment to record music from the tv or the clatter and banging i produced on my own or with friends. my dad seemed to encourage these tendencies with the purchase of various toy instruments as i was growing up, all of which helped foster my endless love affair with songs...

Stephen: Being a big Sea Urchins fan I love band names with the word 'sea' in them. I love the name 'Two If By Sea'. It conjures up such vivid imagery. Where did the name come from? Were there other names that you had considered using?

Teresa: i agree, there is something about the sea that conjures up a certain kind of romantic imagery. i think i must have absorbed the phrase thru osmosis because when i was one day searching for an irrelevant but lyrical subject line to accompany an email to a friend, the words "two if by sea" surfaced in my mind. from then on i was essentially waiting for the right opportunity to christen what would be my new musical project with this very lovely name... (for those who don't know, as i was unaware until lisle brought it to my attention, the name originally comes from a poem referencing the presence of either one or two lanterns to indicate the methods by which the british army would be travelling, hence: "one if by land, and two if by sea"... or something to that effect...)

Stephen: You write such warm, intimate songs. Do you find songwriting comes naturally or is it a difficult process? What inspires you to write a song? Who are your favourite songwriters / artists?

Teresa: thanks stephen; i appreciate the kind words. to answer the first part of your question, i'd say of late that the songwriting process has happily developed into something more routine for me now, in that i can set aside a certain block of time for the purpose of writing a new song, and then finish up the night by making a demo recording that i immediately take to my co-collaborators. sometimes i have an idea for a song already in mind, other times the idea comes as i actually sit down to write the song. but overall, i'd say it's a fairly natural process that also happens to accommodate my schedule, which is certainly a bonus.

my inspiration for writing individual songs usually comes from personal experience; other times i may not have anything particular in mind so i rely more on imagery to tell the "story". (such was the case with my first two songs, 'apron of flowers' and 'pale as white'.) my inspiration for making music in general is more rooted in my twin desires for artistic expression and external validation. as much as i write songs for myself, having a receptive audience (however modest) is every bit as important to me as the songs themselves. a chance to share something of yourself with others, and the related opportunity to establish a dialogue with those around you who appreciate what you do (and who often start out as strangers), that's where the real rewards are found...

i like different music for different reasons. there are some singers i admire because they are such amazingly gifted writers: phil elverum, neil young, tracey thorn, etc. other bands will draw you in on strength of the songs themselves and their corresponding ability to stir emotion: kings of convenience, the cat's miaow and the airfields could all fit inside this category. then every once in a while you run across a special band with a facility for capturing it all in one neat little package. bands like blueboy, the field mice, the softies, old belle & sebastian and the smiths all come to mind here.

Stephen: You strike me as a very thoughtful and caring person and maybe a little shy. Do you find songwriting and playing music is a release from the pressures of everyday life? Is it your favourite form of artistic expression? Do you enjoy writing or painting?

Teresa: thank you for sharing those observations with me; i do hope you're right--that others would describe me in a similar manner. definitely i consider myself to be a very shy person in certain situations, and as such, i've found that songwriting can often become a vehicle for me to express myself in a way that is different from all the other times in life that i'm asked to 'put on a mask'. when i'm writing a song, i'm free to be who i am and say what i want without having to self-sensor or hold back for fear of being judged or persecuted by others who don't understand. for me, the creative process offers a rare opportunity to feel comfortable in my own skin and in tune with myself. and certainly making music is a wonderful way of achieving this, but i also very much enjoy writing and drawing as well. i dabbled a bit with painting last year, but unfortunately never stuck with it for as much as i enjoyed that too.

Stephen: Lisle lives in Chicago, USA and you live in Ontario, Canada. Is recording difficult? How do you go about getting the songs together? Are there any plans to release some records in the near future?

Teresa: most definitely the distance presents an added challenge to what is already a difficult task. and getting two or more people's schedules to coincide can lead to just as many challenges along the way. but as eager as i am to see these songs thru to the end and off my plate, i know that if i'm to continue working with other people on this project, patience along with a few necessary concessions are the name of the game. but it's a reasonable trade off in the end because i can recongnize that my songs are much better off for incorporating the talent and expertise of my friends. it usually takes quite a few trials before we can narrow it all down to a particular sound i have in mind. and often this involves simply recognizing when something is "good enough as is". but for the most part i've been happy with what lisle and my other friends have come up with. in the future i'm hoping to expand my circle of collaborators to at once relieve a bit of the burden from lisle and to have the opportunity to work with some of my other very talented friends. as for recording itself, it always begins with a rough sketch of the song that i show to whoever is going to be helping me on the recording. that person will then produce a recording the music, and send it back over for me to add my vocals. a fairly simple process more or less, most of the time. as for plans to release something in the future, of course that is the goal, but what will come of these songs in the end is anyone's guess. for the time being i'm just going to concentrate on finishing those songs that have already been written, while hopefully adding a few more to the list that still exist in the form of an unfinished idea. i guess i'll know it's the end when i get there...

Thank you Teresa for taking the time to give such full and honest answers. To give you an idea of the beautiful sound of Two If By Sea Teresa kindly sent me some songs to post.

Two If By Sea - Apron Of Flowers

Two If By Sea - Friendship Is Best

Two If By Sea - Pale As White

Two If By Sea - Tomorrow

dancing as the boat goes down

2009-04-15T22:44:00.007+01:00

As I mentioned in my interview with Mike Innes here, I was a big fan of Phew! Wow! fanzine and loved Mike's style of writing. I really enjoyed the articles he used to do in Phew! Wow! so asked him if he would put his fanzine hat on once again and produce a piece for Please Rain Fall. Mike kindly agreed and chose to write about one of his favourite bands The Bats.

The Bats are one of those bands that fly under the radar.

They've been making records for 25 years, releasing a bunch of EPs before the debut album Daddy's Highway followed in 1987 and since then putting out sixth further full-length albums, with a couple of compilations into the bargain. They're not showy, they don't make a fuss, they've never really succeeded in being either hip or unhip. They've had the same four-piece line-up ever since they started, putting out records and playing gigs, putting out more records and, well, playing more gigs. Compared with some of the other bands who came out of the same scene - based around New Zealand's legendary Flying Nun label - they're arguably less well-known than the likes of The Verlaines or Straitjacket Fits and certainly a whole lot less credible than The Clean.

What The Bats do have, however, and what they've had in bucketloads right from the start of what we'll with at least one eyebrow raised call their career, is absolutely brilliant songs. You can follow a line from early gems such as Claudine and Block Of Wood, Boogey Man and The Black And The Blue from the must-have Fear Of God album, right through to Crimson Enemy and the deliriously catchy Satellites on current release The Guilty Office and throughout them all there's an unhurried determination that indicates that The Bats know that they don't need any silly gimmicks or distractions. Because they've got the songs.

I mean, sure, on the face of it it might sound more than a tad on the dull side. Guitarist and singer Robert Scott comes up with the ideas, his band-mates Kaye Woodward (guitar), Paul Kean (bass) and Malcolm Grant (drums) choose their favourites and together they knock them into shape for another album. Just like a million bands. But The Bats possess a startling ability to make the most familiar ingredients seem fresh and new, via a sound that somehow manages to be languid, driving and restless all at the same time. "It’s just the way we play, I guess," says Scott, "One doesn’t want the song to fall over. It maybe comes from writing the song on guitar first, without drums". Whatever the secret is, it works.

Released at the end of 2008 on Arch Hill in New Zealand, the new Guilty Office album kicks off with the magnificent Countersign, a track stuffed full of Bats trademarks. There's vocal interplay between Scott and Woodward, some comfortably warm chords with just a touch of angularity and a simple melody that weaves its way into your subconscious, all of which is then undercut by a characteristically disconcerting lyric ("I see the clouds are gathering / We are locked inside..."). And The Bats have always been like this, quietly delivering captivating tales that unpick some of the curious unpredictability of smalltown life and of plans going awry.

The Bats are playing in Europe to promote The Guilty Office in May and June. Details of dates are on the band's homepage here and their myspace page is here. The main London date is at the Windmill Brixton on 21 May; they're also supporting Crystal Stilts at the ICA and playing a Twee As F**k gig at The Victoria on Grove Rd, nr Mile End station, BOTH on 22 May.

Thank you Mike - what a great read! Hope you will be able to write a few more pieces for Please Rain Fall in the future.

a smile in these ungrateful times

2009-03-29T20:07:00.005+01:00

I have only seen The Wedding Present twice and the two gigs were over twenty years apart. I wrote here about a wonderful gig I saw them play at Enots Social Club in Lichfield in the summer of 1986. I would not see them again until they played the Indietracks festival in the summer of 2008. I must say that David Gedge hasn't really changed that much in the intervening years. I enjoyed the Indietracks show but, being an old codger, would have loved to have heard more of the early material. Dale, who was part of the 'Sounds Like A Clanger' crew that put on the show in Lichfield in 1986, has kindly agreed to write about his memories of the evening and the organisation that went into it.

The Wedding Present – Enots, July 1986

I fell in love with the Wedding Present the first time I heard “Go Out and Get ‘em Boy” on Peel. It wasn’t just the guitars but there was a certain quality to David’s voice that appealed to me.

I can’t remember the first time we saw them live but we went to a lot of their gigs in late ’85 early ’86. It was at The Leadmill in Sheffield (on a triple bill with Pigbros & Age Of Chance) that we first approached them with a view to appearing at Enots.

The guitarist, Pete, was watching a World Cup match on a tiny television behind the bar so I sidled up to him and struck up a conversation about football. I finally got around to asking him if they’d fancy coming to Lichfield. He was more than keen so we swapped phone numbers and shook hands.

I think that it only took one call to sort everything out. We had a date in mind and they were free. It was that simple. I posted them a map and we set about promoting the gig.

The posters we made were simple black and white affairs with the cover from “Once More” being prominent. All the details had been carefully added with Letraset – nobody owned a computer in those days. I don’t even think that any of us had access to a typewriter! – and they looked great.

On the day of the gig we all arrived early at the venue because we were so excited. There was no-one around and everything was locked up but we weren’t worried as there were still another 5 hours or so before the doors were due to open.

The band arrived about an hour later to find a still locked venue and the promoters munching Milky Bars and sunbathing on the car park. One of the Wedding Present’s entourage produced a football from somewhere and a match to rival any in that summer’s World Cup ensued. SLAC v The Wedding Present. I can’t remember the score but it was an enjoyable way to pass the time until the caretaker eventually showed up.

Once inside we set up all the gear and the band sound-checked. Happy with what they heard they retired to a local chippy for some tea and we started readying ourselves for the influx of punters.

One of the great things about those gigs was how friendly everyone was. It was more like a party than a public event and there was always a fantastic atmosphere. The usual pre performance stuff went on. I played some records, people danced and the old blokes who were playing dominoes in the next room wandered in to see what all the fuss was about.

The Wedding Present were brilliant that night, Gedge was on fine form trading banter with the crowd and the sound was magnificent. The whole crowd was up dancing at the front. We were also privileged to get a Wedding Present encore – possibly the only one ever!

However, there was a problem brewing. It was becoming pretty apparent that we wouldn’t have enough money to pay the band. We’d paid for the room and the P.A. but we were still a fair way short of the 250 Pounds we needed to give the Weddoes.

One of our friends, Claire, stepped up to the plate and went around to everyone in the venue, plus the domino players, explained the situation and asked for a donation.

The response was terrific. Everyone started throwing bits of loose change into her bag and there wasn’t a single complaint or refusal.

When we counted the collection we were still about 30 quid shy of our total but we couldn’t put the moment off any longer. Rather sheepishly we approached the band. Our opening line was, “Well, have you enjoyed yourselves?”

“Fantastic!” “Brilliant!” “We’ve loved it!”

“That’s good because we can’t afford to pay you all the money.”

The lads were really good about it. The offered to take 200 instead of the agreed figure and told us to spend the other 20 quid we had left over on drinks for everyone. A wonderful gesture and the perfect way to end a perfect night.

For years afterwards whenever I went to see the Wedding Present I’d make a point of asking David Gedge if he remembered Enots. He must have been pretty bored of me doing so but he always replied cheerily, “That is one of my favourite ever gigs.”

To be continued………………………..

Thank you Dale. Looking forward to reading the next instalment on the Mighty Mighty gig at Enots. Although The Wedding Present didn't play many of the old songs at Indietracks, I was lucky enough to see them perform my favourite Wedding Present song. It was a strange feeling watching them play with so many years inbetween. It was quite emotional.

The Wedding Present - You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends (Version from Ideal Guest House Compilation)

some say that you get quiet as you get older

2009-03-18T21:49:00.005Z

My recent Endless Bob Brown posts have stirred up quite a lot of interest in the band, therefore I thought it would be a good opportunity to practice my interviewing skills and hear what the boys have got to say for themselves. David and Bryn kindly agreed to an interview and it is fascinating to hear their thoughts on all things Endless Bob Brown.

Stephen: I can't believe that nothing was ever released by the band. Did you send out demo tapes? Were any labels interested in releasing anything?

Bryn: Neither can I in retrospect but at the time we were just one of many in a massive gene-pool of indie music. When we started as Childhood’s End we sounded very different to the demos you have been uploading and sharing. Our first rehearsals took place in late 1979 and we went through multiple line up changes – different singers, drummers, guitar players (including people like Andy Lloyd who was later in the Nightingales, Paul Sharpe who played drums with the Last Gang and Neon Hearts, Mick Homer who was our bass player for the longest time and Des Morris on drums who was in a fairly famous indie-goth band who’s name escapes me at the moment – maybe Dave can fill in the gap here). Endless Bob Brown first appeared maybe in 1981/82 but at that time it was being run as a side-line band – our main efforts were focused on Childhood’s End at that time.

We sent out many, many demo tapes – created biographies to go with them (I would love to see a couple of them now). Our first demo was recorded on a 2 track tape recorder by Dread Lester. We then recorded a couple of demos in a studio in Walsall but again I don’t remember the name of the studio now – I just know it was an 8 track studio and a couple of the songs we recorded had names like ‘Tide Water’ and ‘The Sun Also Rises’. I am sure I have copies of them somewhere but it would be a devil for me to track them down. In the early 80s we met a guy called John Coombes who was the manager of a band called The Last Gang. He had heard some of our stuff and he offered to fund the recording and release a single for us. He sent us down to Spaceward Studios in Cambridge to record ‘Spin Round With The World’ and ‘Hi Its Me, You’re Cool’. He even introduced us to Bob Lamb – who had just had a great success with UB40’s first album and got him to produce the single for us – unfortunately that is as far as we got with that – the single was never released. Bob Lamb seemed to gel with us and we ended up recording quite a few demos with him at his studio in Erdington (is that right Dave or was it Edgbaston). The result of the activity with Bob was again an ‘almost’ single release. We even signed a contract with a European label called Vogue and had a photoshoot for the single cover art.

This took us up to approx 1983. In 1984, the line and sound of Endless Bob was in place. We recorded a few demos at a studio called Lane’s End with a guy called Jim (Murphy?). It was at this time we recorded stuff like Blueboy and Paradise and Wonderful. We recorded a few more demos with Jim between 1984 and 1986 and also some with Dread Lester in his 17th floor studio in Blakenhall, Wolverhampton. 'It’s Harder' was one of the last things we recorded as EBB in 1986. By that time, Dave was living in Exeter, Guy and Tim had moved to Reading and Leeds? We got together infrequently but we still managed to write and record that great tune at that time.

David: It's a bit of a shame in retrospect that we didn't actually release anything - especially when I re-listen to the demos you've been posting on your blog. I think there's a pretty good album in there maybe but more likely that some of the songs could have been cool singles. We recorded just under 20 tracks as demos for EBB which came after Childhood's End, our previous incarnation. We had our moments of near break-throughs with both bands. The Bob Lamb connection (mentioned by Bryn) nearly got us some records out on Vogue records as Childhood's End, but for some reason it just didn't happen. Although we recorded a lot of demos I think we were a bit half-soaked about doing the donkey work of sending them out and following up. We were not natural music-biz animals and unfortunately no-one in the band was really a natural grafter or self-promoter. Despite this, somewhere along the line we managed to get Blancmange and The Chills as fans and we did a support gig with Blancmange and got invited by the Chills' singer to tour with them but typically split up just before this was going to take place.

Stephen: You started playing well before the C86 scene happened. Did the C86 thing impact on the band. Did you like / see any of the C86 groups?

Bryn: Yes we did start playing way before the C86 scene. I guess it did have an impact on us as a band but from my perspective not a major impact. I always felt our strength was down to the fact that we were willing to take on almost anything as an influence (as diverse as Roberta Flack to Tuxedo Moon to the Beach Boys to Kraftwerk). By the time we had developed the EBB sound that you are familiar with, we used to get compared to bands like The Smiths and Orange Juice but I believe we were always much deeper than that – in both the way we sounded and the way we created our sound. I can’t recall seeing any of the C86 bands per se myself, but I am sure that Dave saw a few?

David: Yeah, we began in about 1979 as Childhood's End and I'd say our influences and all subsequent developments (including EBB) were rooted in what is now called "post-punk", an era where there seemed to be an anything-goes attitude towards music. Basically we were like musical blotting paper - fans trying to copy the things we loved (which included LOADS of stuff). In fact, EBB started in about 1982/83 as a spin-off from Childhood's End because me and Bryn wanted to play a version of the Supremes "Baby Love", but our bass player didn't want to play that song. So we formed EBB to play it and supported ourselves at the next CE gig (such a vanity project eh!!). We also did a version of a Roberta Flack song and a couple of other covers. They were the roots of EBB - the Supremes and Roberta Flack :-). I still love Roberta Flack to this day - very underrated. Somewhere along the line EBB took over and I guess this happened around the time of the Smiths, who became a big influence. I never really saw an affinity between EBB and C86 though because EBB had gone into semi-hibernation from 1986, as all the members went off to different parts of the country. I went to Exeter Uni in 86 and I played bass in a band called The Visitors there. They were definitely more in that era and with them I played gigs with a lot of the "great and the good" of the C86 scene (My Bloody Valentine, Wedding Present, etc) and maybe this fed into EBB a bit as we kept that going during this period too. If there was one band from C86 who influenced me I'd say it was McCarthy, who were brilliant. These days I LOVE Camera Obscura who seem to be seen as a bit post-C86.

Stephen: What would you consider to be the main musical / lyrical inspirations behind the songs?

Bryn: Wow! This is a difficult one to answer because it was so multifaceted. I would include stuff as diverse as Brian Eno, Paul Simon, The Associates, Talking Heads, Wire, The Smiths, Bowie, The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, surf rock from the 60s to other popular culture media TV/film/books. Maybe Dave can answer this one more thoroughly as he wrote all of the lyrics and quite a few of the songs - however many songs emerged and evolved from a band playing process, though Dave was the one who shaped a lot of it from our embryonic ideas.

David: It changed as we went along really. I consider all music I've ever done to be inherently unoriginal and completely rooted in a love of other artists. So I admit there is an element of imitation (the sincerest flattery after all) in many of our songs. For example "I like so many things" is directly inspired by Paul Simon's "St Judy's Comet" (in fact I even quoted a line from it). Something like "Fruit Salad" reflects our love of surf music with the twangy guitar and Jan and Dean slang but also the abstract wordplay of Wire and the Associates. And "Wonderful" was just a hymn to Brian Wilson. The Smiths were big contemporary influences too and I think that comes across in some songs such as "It's Harder", but the "whoop!" in that song is because I was listening to Michael Jackson's "Off The Wall" at the time! But if I had to single out one main influence it would be the Beach Boys because if you listen to them there is really only one constant and that's the harmonies - they were one of the most wildly experimental groups, evolving with each album - that's really what I aspired to in music - no limits. I think you could say that lyrically I either went for simple pure optimism ("See The World", "Wonderful"), allusion through absurdism (Fruit Salad, Boy with badly dug back yard) or rather doom-laden romanticism (It's harder) a la Morrisey.

Stephen: You gigged extensively around the Midlands area. Which one was your favourite show? What were the biggest gigs you played?

Bryn: Yes. We played many gigs as Childhood’s End and Endless Bob Brown in long gone venues like The Golden Eagle and The Fighting Cocks. We also played quite a few gigs in the Dudley, Stoubridge and Kidderminster areas. I think the furthest out we played was in Leicester where we were supported by the then unknown Blancmange (maybe they are less known now!!!! HA). We did some great gigs as Endless Bob Brown but my favourite shows were in a band/line-up called ‘Super 8’ that came much later (early 90s).

David: Well being on stage with a band that's so much an extension of yourself is an interesting challenge - at least at that age. You don't feel neutral about it in any way so there can be tendency to adopt a bit of a confrontational attitude when faced with anything other than a rapturous response. Of course we rarely received such adulation - I mean who does at that stage (well a few do I suppose), though we usually went down pretty well. But I think because of this we came across as intense, insular and a tad cocky on stage whereas secretly I would have much preferred to have been chatty, amusing and inclusive (which I think we did actually become when we were older and mellower in Super 8 in the 1990s). All that said, I did really enjoy most gigs because fundamentally it was our platform to be heard. I loved playing in Birmingham at the Golden Eagle - back then - as a young lad from Kidderminster, playing in Brum at a venue like that (where I saw lots of other great bands) felt to me like playing at CBGBs in New York!! I only wish we'd been able to play at Barbarella's - which was Birmingham's answer to the Roxy in London during punk. Funny looking back now how exotic Birmingham seemed!

Stephen: How do you look back on your time with Endless Bob Brown. Do you feel you could have achieved more success?

Bryn: I look back on it with great fondness and a great sense of pride in our achievement. We had a great line up – Guy Martin on guitar/casio keyboards, Tim on Drums, Dave on Vocals, bass and/or guitar and me on guitar and/or bass. We rehearsed very regularly (twice a week) and consequently we were a very tight unit. When we recorded, we often played live and added simple overdubs so what you hear on the demos is a pretty accurate reflection of how we played the songs live. I kind of miss those ‘good old days’ but also recognize that they were part of my/our musical development. I wouldn’t be able to make the music I do today as particledots without having those experiences with EBB.

Could we have achieved more success? I think yes if the cards had landed right for us. I certainly think we were no worse and a lot better of many bands who achieved success as our peers. However, I think our success (as EBB) would have been limited to the level of lets say Josef K or The Fire Engines or The Au pairs or The Nightingales. I doubt we would ever have had success on the level of bands like U2 or UB40 from that period – (and I am glad we didn’t). However it would have been nice to be considered as another Tuxedo Moon or Associates or, or….

David: I loved it and still feel really proud of the songs. We were perennial under-achievers in terms of commercial success, but I think that was our personalities and if we weren't like that maybe the music would have been different. We were also purists (about the music that is) and rightly or wrongly perceived the idea of selling ourselves as a slightly mucky business which went against the grain of creating the songs. So I'd agree with Bryn that I'd only have wanted to have gotten so far anyway but if we could have had a year where we got to release a string of brilliantly experimental pop singles like the Associates did I'd be a totally contented bunny.

Thank you David and Bryn. It was great to read more about the history of Endless Bob Brown. I am posting two more songs. This will leave just three more songs that remain unposted. I will probably put those up soon as David and Bryn have kindly said they will dig out some more old photos of the band.

Endless Bob Brown - Come To Me

Endless Bob Brown - Look At Me Now

i mean it would you live a life with me

2009-03-16T22:00:00.007Z

Following my post here about the two wonderful gigs I attended at Enots Social Club in Lichfield, I was really pleased to receive emails from a couple of the organisers of the gigs. Dale and Tim were part of the 'Sounds Like A Clanger' crew that put on the shows at Enots. They were both surprised to read about somebody recalling with such fondness those heady Enots days. As I said in my piece, the 'Sounds Like A Clanger' gang were very inspirational to my brother Andrew and I and the gigs are something we still talk about to this day. I asked Dale if he would put together some of his recollections of the Enots gigs and he kindly agreed to do so. This is the first part of the story.

Sounds Like A Clanger

Enots Social Club Gigs in 1986 (Lichfield, Midlands)

I’d been going to gigs since I was thirteen so the idea of putting on bands seemed like a natural one. I’d also played in a lot of bands and it was with a view to promoting one of these groups that we decided to stage our own gigs. Just like Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley had done with the Sex Pistols in Manchester 10 years earlier.

I can’t remember why we chose Enots. I think we’d probably seen the name in the Lichfield Mercury but I don’t think that any of us had ever been there. We used to go to the Arts Centre or The Civic Hall for live music.

The first band we tried to get was Primal Scream. We’d followed them around for a while and had become quite friendly with a couple of them. On this particular occasion we’d gone to see them at Subterranea/Bay 63 in Ladbroke Grove. During the soundcheck we got chatting to Gregory from the support band, Razorcuts. He was very keen on the idea of playing a gig in Lichfield, as they had just released their debut single, “Big Pink Cake”, so we sealed the deal on the spot.

A few weeks later after numerous phone calls and an extensive advertising campaign, which involved interviews in the Lichfield Mercury and The Burton Trader, illegal fly posting and inserting flyers into all the music papers on the shelves in WH Smiths and John Menzies, the day of the gig arrived and “Sounds Like A Clanger” was born.

It had become pretty obvious that our own band, Pop Kit, wouldn’t be ready in time to play (just like Buzzcocks!!) so we contacted the Sea Urchins through a mutual friend, Dave, who worked at a small record shop in Brum.

The night was a great success. A lot of our mates came and even some people we didn’t know turned up! I was the DJ and kept the punters entertained with a selection of records that were current at the time. The last song I played before the headliners came on was “Love You More”. And, as it’s last line, “Until the razor cuts” brought the song to an abrupt halt Gregory and the boys walked on stage. Perfect!

In the excitement none of us remembered to turn on the tape recorder to bootleg the gig (we’ve got all the others) but it didn’t really matter as we spent the night dancing recklessly at the front of the stage.

Razorcuts were great. Both performance wise and attitude wise. We paid them their fee – somewhere in the region of one hundred pounds, I think – and promised that we’d have them back someday.

There was no stopping us now and we already had a long list of bands we wanted to bring to Enots. Starting with The Wedding Present.

To be continued…….

Thank you Dale. I really enjoyed reading about how the 'Sounds Like A Clanger' crew got together. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

Razorcuts - I Heard You The First Time

i've got no calling still i get up every morning

2009-03-09T23:12:00.007Z

I mentioned a while ago that I would post The Sea Urchins gig recorded at Aberystwyth University, Wales in 1989. There is a good sound quality on this recording. I don't know where the bootleg originated from, but it could have been taped by one of The Pooh Sticks. This gig is mentioned in the sleeve notes on The Sea Urchins Live album released by Fierce Records. The gig is notable for a few interesting cover versions, and the second part of the show is sung mainly by bass player Darren Martin.

Thank you to Dave from Fruitier Than Thou blog for sending me the recording of The Sea Urchins gig at Synatra's in Birmingham in June 1988. I may post a few songs from the show but a lot of it isn't suitable - they take their reputation for shambolic live performances to new levels at Synatra's.

The Sea Urchins Live at Aberystwyth University 1989

(Set list: You're Too Much, Pristine Christine, Show Your Colours/Morning Odyssey, Open Out, Solace, Please Rain Fall, Everglades, I'm Rowed Out, You Just May Be The One, Heartful Of Soul, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, I Know My Rider).

how can the wrong seem right, how can the bad seem nice

2009-03-01T18:02:00.011Z

Due to the very positive correspondence I have received regarding the Endless Bob Brown songs I have posted, I thought it would be a good idea to post a few more wonderful songs. Listening to the songs it is just unbelievable that the band didn't get the recognition they deserved at the time. 'It's Harder' is probably my favourite, but there are so many more incredible songs. Check out 'Never Again' and 'Nothing's Missing' - fantastic pop songs with great harmonies and a merseybeat feel, and 'Play On My Own' and 'I Understand' which remind me of McCarthy at their melancholy best.

Endless Bob Brown - It's Harder

Endless Bob Brown - Never Again

Endless Bob Brown - Play On My Own

Endless Bob Brown - Nothing's Missing

Endless Bob Brown - There's So Much To Look Forward To

Endless Bob Brown - I Understand

don't want this world to change me

2009-02-19T22:48:00.005Z

I first heard Po! on a flexi I got with a fanzine back in 1988. The guy that wrote the fanzine was a massive Go-Betweens fan and he named his label 'Rare Breed' as a tribute. I remember not being overly impressed with the fanzine but was absolutely knocked out by the flexi. Po! have been one of my favourite bands ever since. I used to listen to the song 'Confidence' on the flexi over and over. It really struck a chord with me. This was mainly to do with the fact that I was severely lacking in confidence at the time. Ruth's words were soothing and comforting but defiant as well. The music may have sounded light and poppy, but scratch the surface and there was a lot of anger, frustration, loneliness and despair. Ruth has a great way with words and I have always enjoyed the themes she writes about. A lot of people don't really like to talk about the feelings evoked by songs but I always do... especially at parties.

I first met Ruth in 1990. Ruth and Rags Po! invited The Cudgels to stay with them for the weekend in Leicester at their flat. Andy Cudgel had already met them both and was quite at ease in their company. I was totally in awe. On Andy's last visit he had given Rags a jumper which Rags was wearing when I first met him. Rags wore the jumper for the whole weekend, and on every subsequent visit we made to Leicester. He even used to tell strangers in pubs that Andy Cudgel had given him the jumper he was wearing. Rags is a really great guy and a real character. Po! were slightly older than The Cudgels and were always quite protective of us. I think they used to worry about us. I loved staying at their flat in Leicester. It was above a row of shops in the city centre and usually had a collection of winos hanging around outside. These guys were okay as long as you gave them 50 pence on your way up to the flat. Once inside it was indiepop heaven. This was the home of Rutland Records! The layout was quite rambling and you could discover rooms on one visit that you hadn't realised were there on a previous stay. Rags had a room set aside just for his vinyl record collection. He must have had thousands of records. The Cudgels used to play a few gigs with Po! and they were a great live band. One particular gig we played with them was on a Friday night in about February / March 1991 at The Magazine pub. This show was filmed. I think this venue has now closed down but it used to put on some really good shows. I saw The Sweetest Ache play a fantastic gig there the same year. I am hoping to get hold of the footage of the Po! / Cudgels gig at some stage to reminisce. There are copies floating around.

The Cudgels lost touch with Po! in around 1993 when we disbanded. Po! carried on to make some great records and play more fantastic shows. Just seeing the name Po! evokes happy memories of lovely weekends and the odd party. They hosted a great Rutland Records party at around Easter time 1991. The Ammonites were there and The Waiting List and all of the Leicester indiepop crowd. There was lots of food and drink and a few tunes were played as well. The evening was rounded off by a trip to the pub opposite Ruth and Rags's flat. Things were a bit hazy by this stage as the party had started around midday. I do remember walking past Rags though on my way to the gents, and he was telling the person he was talking to that Andy Cudgel had given him the jumper he was wearing. Thank you Ruth and Rags for some great memories.

Po! - Confidence

Po! - Appleseed Alley

i think about seeing the world one day

2009-02-10T13:42:00.007Z

As I mentioned in my previous Endless Bob Brown post, my friend Spencer Roberts is a huge fan of the band. I asked Spencer if he would put together a few words to give an insight into their history and introduce us to some of the characters in the Endless Bob Brown story. The following piece is Spencer's recollection of a time of musical discovery and wishes to apologise in advance for any factual inaccuracies. It was a long time ago.

Endless Bob Brown - I was a fan!

As an 11 year old in 1980, I saw something that would influence me - put me on the right track!

Childhood's End were a band that featured my best friend Cab’s brother, Bryn. I first saw them rehearsing in their Dad’s garage. I was viewing them from the bit of land at the back of their garden, where as a child, I played soldiers and mucked around during the glorious heat of the 70’s. I had never seen a group playing instruments before (well you could hardly call The Boys Brigade a group!). It was a real sight to behold, 3 or 4 guys playing instruments, some instruments I recognised, like guitars, then there was this UFO on a stick, I later found out it was a Sinn drum! I think it was Stuart who was singing, he looked a bit like Paul Quinn from Bourgie Bourgie, he looked amazing. He had a white 50's American looking sports car, his voice and Childhoods End's sound was amazing too. The sounds coming from the garage were totally surreal to me, because I hadn’t heard anything like Joy Division (that's the kind of sound I remember them having, that and a mix of A Certain Ratio, or post punk bands of that era circa '80). I didn’t understand it, I loved it, I was under the influence, I felt funny - I had to lie down!

This audio / visual experience left an impression on me. It made me realise something I kind of knew all along; the drum kit my Dad bought me when I broke my arm as a 6 year old, (I was forever drumming along to Sparks, and Cozy Powell, on the arm of the settee with Mum's knitting needles) was not purchased in vain . I love music and I want to play in a band.

From here on, every week, I would get excited just watching the boys rehearse in their garage. This went on for a few years. During this time, Bryn was opening my eyes and ears to new music by giving me tapes. I remember some of the tapes, I probably still have them stored somewhere in the attic. Such music as The Associates, Brian Eno, Scott Walker, Grace Jones, A Certain Ratio, Tuxedo Moon, Josef K, Basement 5, I could go on. So, I was under the influence, Childhoods End influenced me enough to want to learn the guitar, mess around with drum kits and Bryn was exposing me to music that would help shape my early teens, putting me on the right track, no way was I going for this commercial rubbish that adorned the charts at the time.

Fast forward to 1982 / 83 / 84. From the members of Childhood's End, came Endless Bob Brown. Bryn and Dave along with some drum machines, synths etc. started making perfect lush sounding pop songs. I am not 100% sure if they were called EBB during this time, I remember hearing fantastic demos produced by the great Bob Lamb. Beautifully European, kind of Associates Fourth Drawer Down period mixed with Kraftwerk and The Human League. Unfortunately, the demos never found commercial release. A little while later, they became a 4 piece, and along with Guy and Tim on drums, EBB developed their sound. Again, I used to watch them rehearse, less often than Childhood's End though, as they rehearsed mostly at Dave’s house in Kidderminster. We were in Coseley - 30 miles away!

Bryn used to do me tapes of their stuff at that time, jams from rehearsals etc. - I used to play them endlessly. I loved them. During this time, ‘83 / ’84, I was heavily into all things guitar such as Orange juice, The Farmers Boys, The Smiths, Josef K, Friends Again et al. Endless Bob Brown were not that dissimilar in their sound to these bands. EBB’s sound in the early days was very reminiscent of groups like The Monochrome Set, especially in the likes of songs like 'Fruit Salad', I loved The Monochrome Set’s first album, Strange Boutique. However, the real reference point for me as a fan was The Smiths. The wonderful light sound of Dave G's vocals and intelligent lyrics, as well as his inventive bass playing, mixed with the guitars of Bryn and Guy, backed by the solid drums sound of Tim, were very Smiths. They were pure sweet pop.

I saw them play live quite a lot around this time, up to 1987 / '88. Again, EBB never found commercial success - criminally ignored by labels at that time, they sort of fizzled out. It was a real shame, however, at least we had the demos, the gigs and the memories. They really were a wonderful band.

Thank you Spencer. Bryn still makes music now and goes by the name Particledots, Dave records under the name Lightspeed Future Lullaby and Guy has a band called Eastern Seaboard.

Here are 4 more Endless Bob Brown songs Spencer kindly sent me:

Endless Bob Brown - Don't Call Me Blueboy

Endless Bob Brown - Boy With The Badly Dug Backyard

Endless Bob Brown - Fruit Salad

Endless Bob Brown - Take Your Time (I absolutely love this song!)

a heart is no use unless it's been broken

2009-02-08T22:20:00.012Z

In an earlier post here, I wrote that the demise of The Cudgels spawned two bands - The Proctors and Oporto. I featured the embryonic beginnings of The Proctors in that post. I am now going to set out the history of Oporto.

Oporto were formed in 1993 by Andrew P. Davies after his previous band, The Cudgels, folded. Andrew was looking for a new direction and the result was a classic 7" single still spoken of in hushed tones to this day. He was joined on this project by his friend, Spencer Roberts, and ex-Cudgels member Tracey Eastwood.

The 'French Blue EP' was released by Sunday Records (United States) in 1994. The EP featured three songs - 'Actors Studio', 'Liverpool' and 'Desert Boots'. The EP was recorded in Lichfield, West Midlands and also featured studio engineer Brian on drums. The three songs on the single are all quite different. 'Actors Studio' is a beat pop classic in the Blondie / La's mould, 'Liverpool' was a slower, more reflective paean to lost loves and 'Desert Boots' an instrumental flirting with Eastern magic.

On completing the French Blue sessions, Andrew and Spencer re-entered the studio to record two new songs. These songs have remained hidden gems ever since. 'Seize Today' and 'Midnight Blue' were included on the seminal 'Beyond The Valley Of The Polar Bears' compilation tape that came with 'Red Roses For Me' fanzine, but little more is known about the origin of the songs. They were recorded over one weekend in Lichfield, and the boys only left the studio once on the Saturday evening to enjoy a well earned curry. I remember this session well, as I received a phone call from Andrew on the Saturday evening inviting me to join himself, Brian (engineer) and Spencer for said curry and to add tambourine to one of the songs. I had just settled down with some hot buttered toast and a cup of tea, so the prospect of a 15 mile drive to Lichfield wasn't particularly appealing. I politely declined his offer, and asked where he was planning on staying that evening. He replied that himself and Spencer were going to sleep in the studio and carry on with the recording on Sunday. I asked about sleeping bags etc. - no problem he replied, he was going to sleep in a guitar case under the mixing desk and Spencer had bagged the couch. Hmmm.. Andrew is fairly small, but the image of him climbing inside a guitar case and settling down for a kip under the mixing desk is one that still haunts me to this day!

This unusual approach paid dividends though. Two classic songs were recorded that have sadly remained lost, but for a few die hard fans of the band keeping the flame alive. I am now going to rectify that situation by posting 'Seize Today' and 'Midnight Blue'. Unfortunately, these were the last songs ever recorded by the group and they disbanded shortly afterwards. The songs have a sound all of their own. Enjoy this buried treasure.

Oporto - Seize Today

Oporto - Midnight Blue

all i want to do is rest my head on your shoulder

2009-02-06T22:07:00.003Z

At the risk of sounding like Walsall's answer to Alan Bennett, I quite often like to go for a cup of tea and a toasted teacake at lunchtimes. Occasionally, I am joined by my friend and work colleague Martin. The conversation nearly always revolves around music. I tend to kick things off usually by mentioning the latest obscure indiepop band I am listening to and we go from there. Martin is a very good artist and brilliant at drawing cartoons. He has picked up on a worrying trend within our office - guys in their forties have started trying to learn how to play the guitar. He thinks this may be the result of an impending mid-life crisis situation but I'm not so sure. We are monitoring developments closely. Martin has drawn a cartoon to illustrate his point.

look in my pocket, you can have it if i've got it

2009-02-01T17:28:00.009Z

Endless Bob Brown originated from the Midlands area of England. The four main members of the band were Guy, Bryn, Tim and David. They started playing together in the early 80s and gigged extensively around the West Midlands area. In 1989, the different members of the band started moving in various musical directions and the group folded. Sadly nothing was ever released by Endless Bob Brown. My friend, Spencer Roberts, is a huge fan of the band and he kindly sent me some songs. You can also hear more on their myspace page. I particularly like the song 'It's Harder' - there are so many great lines in it. Listening to the songs now, it is hard to understand how they were so criminally overlooked - while lesser bands were praised. The obvious musical and lyrical influences are in there (Orange Juice, Smiths) but I still think they have a charm all of their own. Have a listen and see what you think.

Endless Bob Brown - I Like So Many Things

Endless Bob Brown - See The World

Endless Bob Brown - Wonderful

pretending resentment could end itself

2009-01-31T15:32:00.015Z

This post consists of a mixed bag of goodies so as Chuck D would say - once again, this is it, turn it up, here we go...

Olaf, my friend from Germany, has kindly sent through two more Steve Biscuit flyers. One is for the 'Just Another... Compilation' tape that was released by the Flippin' Ace Recording Co. Steve Biscuit was not involved in compiling this tape, but it was on his distribution list. I do not have much more information about the tape. The Cudgels song that is included is called Motorbike. Here is the mp3: The Cudgels - Motorbike. This song featured on the Coitus With The Cudgels compilation tape released by Rutland Records.

The Other flyer is for a compilation tape called 'Audacious'. This tape was put together by Steve Biscuit. Apologies to anyone who finds the flyer offensive. I don't think Political Correctness was ever on Steve Biscuit's agenda!

Olaf also kindly dug out a 20 year old tape that featured a song by The Weeping Messerschmitts. It is called 'Say Goodbye'. The song was included on the 12" single the band released on Upright Records. The file is in wma format:
The Weeping Messerschmitts - Say Goodbye. There is very little information available about the band. I am seeing Tracey Cudgel soon and she lives in the same area as the former members of the group - I will ask if she knows anything of their current activities etc. My post that mentioned The Weeping Messerschmitts also gave an account of the one and only Bodines gig I attended. Olaf managed to find a live recording of Shrinkwrap that was a single released by Firestation Records: The Bodines - Shrinkwrap (live). Thank you Olaf - you really know your indiepop!

Miguel asked recently about the Birmingham band Onionhead. I had written one of my first posts about Onionhead here. I really like Onionhead and they were a great live band, but I never thought of them as an indiepop band. They were more of a rock / country rock band. They used to sometimes do a cover version of 'Gentle On My Mind' - the song made famous by Glen Campbell - at live shows. I was very surprised when I saw them included on the Leamington Spa Volume 3 compilation. Their heroes were Neil Young and R.E.M. not The Pastels and The Television Personalities. I am posting a great song of theirs called Level X-ing that featured on the Ming 12" single. It is wonderful - even if it is a little too close to R.E.M. for comfort. I am also posting 'It Comes Around' from the Leamington Spa compilation as the mp3 download link has expired from the original post. Jules Gray, Onionhead singer, is now a solo artist and his myspace page is here.

Onionhead - Level X-ing

Onionhead - It Comes Around

All I need to do now is find a recording of 'Smokin' Joe'. This was my favourite Onionhead song and I don't think it was ever released. It is an absolute classic!

To finish off with here is a poster advertising a gig The Wolfhounds played at The Cod Club in Birmingham. They were supported by the Birmingham band Elizabeth Jane. I think this would have been in about 1988 / 89. My friend Spencer Roberts was a member of Elizabeth Jane and I will be writing more about them in a future post.

all you do is treat me bad, break my heart and leave me sad

2009-01-28T23:15:00.006Z

If you like a bit of soul music mixed in with your indiepop, then you need look no further than Strawberry Fair. Jenny Franzen from Sweden is the very talented singer / songwriter behind the group. With a single due to be released on Cloudberry Records in 2009 I thought I would catch up with Jenny to quiz her about the origins of Strawberry Fair, and her musical inspirations and influences.

Stephen: At what age did you become interested in music and start playing instruments?

Jenny: As long as I can remember I have been interested in music. Music was such a big part of my life when I was a kid and I thought that it was like that for everyone, so I was always shocked when my friends said that they didn't have any favourite artists and weren't very much into music. That was more information than I could handle.

I didn't start to play instruments myself until my eighteenth birthday when I got an acoustic guitar, though. After writing and recording songs as Strawberry Fair for a couple of years, I decided I needed to update the sound with a bass guitar, so I went out and bought a cheap one and taught myself to play it, just as I did with my first guitar.

Stephen: What are your musical influences / inspirations?

Jenny: When I first started to write songs, I adored The Aislers Set, but it was probably bands such as TV Personalities and Beat Happening that made me realize that I could create music, too.

As I wrote songs and recorded the "I Can't Do Anything" EP, The Shangri-Las, Phil Spector and Lesley Gore were my main influences. Right now, I rarely listen to anything that's not related to Motown, and of course the music that I do myself is affected by that. I think that Motown at its best is beautiful, powerful, danceable, melodic and emotional at the same time, and it's a perfect blend of treble, middle and bass, so I don't feel the need of listening to anything else.

Stephen: What do you like to do outside of the world of pop music?

Jenny: I see my boyfriend who is a music journalist, so there's a lot of listening and talking about music when we see each other. I don't watch TV that much, but I love TV series as Ugly Betty, Gossip Girl and most of all, Gilmore Girls. I love meeting friends and new people, but since I live on an island a bit outside of Stockholm where public transport isn't available all the time, it doesn't happen as often as I'd like to, though.

Stephen: Do you consider your sound as indiepop music? Would you prefer it to be known as just pop music?

Jenny: When I started creating music it was very indie pop. Now I consider the sound of Strawberry Fair as soul pop, like Diana Ross & the Supremes or The Flirtations, but then, I'm white, which isn't very soul. Also, the way I record and release my music has much more to do with indie pop, so I have to admit that it is indie pop. Most of Strawberry Fair's listeners are fans of indie pop, so I guess that defines the genre as indie pop, but no, I don't consider the sound to be it.

Stephen: What have you got planned for 2009? Are you coming over to the U.K. for some shows?

Jenny: Strawberry Fair will release a 7" single at Cloudberry and hopefully something more at other record companies. Me and the band will be playing in Finland and then I'll see what will happen. There were plans on doing a small tour in the U.K. this coming spring, but right now, our wallets don't allow us to do that. We will come to the U.K. to play some time, though, so please cross your fingers that it will happen soon!

Thank you Jenny. It was very interesting to hear what influenced you to create such wonderful music. You can hear more Strawberry Fair at last.fm. With a view to the strong connection between Strawberry Fair and soul music I am posting two songs. Football Star is one of my favourite Strawberry Fair songs, and Baby Love by Diana Ross and The Supremes is my all time favourite Motown song.

Strawberry Fair - Football Star

Diana Ross and The Supremes - Baby Love

stumble backwards into yesterday

2009-01-25T17:37:00.014Z

The recent Steve Biscuit debate has certainly jogged a few memories (see comments here). I think from now on I will have to refer to this topic as 'Biscuitgate'. I was really pleased to receive a nice e-mail from Olaf in Germany who remembers Steve Biscuit well. Olaf kindly sent me some Biscuit Distribution flyers he had hiding in his wardrobe. Olaf confirmed suspicions regarding orders from Biscuit Distribution not being delivered. Apparently, there are still quite a few German indiepop kids from the late 80s / early 90s still waiting for their deliveries from Steve Biscuit. If anyone else has any further news or information, please get in touch. This is starting to sound like an episode of Watchdog (UK consumer affairs tv programme)! For the record, I always received any goodies that I had ordered. Perhaps I was just lucky? It is a pity because the distribution service was a good idea, and it saved having to send off for fanzines / flexis to lots of different places. As I have written previously, the only way to get hold of compilation tapes and fanzines etc. was through the post. A lot of indiepop kids lived their lives through the Royal Mail in the late 80s / early 90s. I am not exaggerating. Occasionally some would be sold at gigs, but anybody who lived outside of the main cities would have had difficulty getting to many. Hopefully these flyers will illustrate the point I made about this scene being below the level of Sarah Records. They had nationwide distribution through record shops. The items advertised on the flyers were only available by mail. It was a real DIY scene with some great people involved. No doubt this story will run and run. Thank you for sending the flyers Olaf, I really appreciate it.

and when you think she's lonely, you phone just to make sure

2009-01-24T22:13:00.009Z

The Bodines were a band that divided opinion. I'm not even sure Alan McGhee (head of Creation Records) liked them that much. They may have been one of the first bands he signed knowing that they would sell records, rather than because he loved them. He signed The House Of Love and is on record as admitting that he thought they were dodgy. I am just guessing here, but I've never read any interviews with him where he enthuses about The Bodines. Maybe I'm wrong? Some people really loved them, others thought that their music was uninteresting and boring. I was definitely on the lovers not haters side, so was really looking forward to seeing them live when it was confirmed that they were playing at Burberries in Birmingham in May 1987. My friend Carlos (original Cudgels stand up drummer) had been cultivating a Bodines haircut for some months, so the timing of this gig was spot on. We were also going to be on the guest list, so this was going to be an extra special evening.

So, you may ask, why were we on the guest list? Well, the support band for the night was a group called The Jack Rubies. They were a band from the Stoke Newington area of London. They weren't an indiepop group. They could all play their instruments and wanted to be really successful. They were in their mid twenties I would guess. They all seemed quite old to us. They were managed by a young Irish guy, who also worked at a small record company called Upright Records. The Cudgels had sent a demo tape to Upright Records. We became aware of the label because a local Black Country band called The Weeping Messerschmitts had released a 12" single on the label called 'Nothing Yet'. I would love to hear this record again. It is not that it is particularly great, it just evokes so many memories. Does anybody else remember them? The Weeping Messerschmitts sounded quite similar to The Mighty Lemon Drops, but with maybe more of a Smiths influence rather than Echo and the Bunnymen. The Weeping Messerschmitts had quite a big following around the Dudley area, and their bass player, Aero, went on to join The Wild Flowers. They regularly played at JB's club in Dudley. I attended the last gig Aero played with The Messerschmitts and the club was packed. The Jack Rubies' manager liked our tape and wanted to meet us. The label were looking at releasing a compilation album and he wanted to include one of our songs. Other bands on the label included The Higsons and Yeah Jazz. So, as he was going to be in Birmingham with The Jack Rubies, we were put on the guest list for the gig. The album was never released as Upright Records went bust a few months later, but it was exciting at the time. None of The Cudgels could really play properly (I only ever played two strings on my bass guitar) and with just our first demo tape, we were beginning to get interest. This is the stuff dreams are made of when you are 18.

So myself and Carlos were really looking forward to The Bodines gig. We went to the show together in our usual jeans / cord jacket / desert boot ensemble. The Bodines wore very similar clothes to these and we did discuss on the way to the venue that, had we not been on the guest list, it may have been worth pretending to be a member of The Bodines. Carlos could possibly have got away with it. His hair looked great. A real Michael Ryan (Bodines singer) floppy fringe. We got to Burberries in good time and had a drink in The Granville beforehand, which was right next to Burberries. Pop Will Eat Itself! were in there again. There was no problem getting in to Burberries, we just said we were on the guest list and we were waved through. Nobody checked names or anything. It has struck me since that periodically at Burberries, I should have said I was on the guest list. If they vaguely knew you were in a band, then they just assumed you knew the band that were playing. Then again, I never been very good at that sort of thing - If I had done it, I would probably be still feeling guilty about it now! There was a medium sized crowd in for this show. As I said earlier, The Bodines weren't a really popular band. They were not like The Shop Assistants or Primal Scream. Burberries was packed for these gigs. The Jack Rubies came on around 9.15 and played their set. It was okay but not that great. It was just sort of mid tempo indie rock. We chatted to them afterwards, and said of course that we had loved it. Well we had to keep in with their manager! The Cudgels actually played at JB's a few months later as support to The Jack Rubies and it was a great night. We knew by then that the compilation album had been shelved, but we were not that bothered. The Jack Rubies were nice guys, it was just a pity about the music. The Bodines then came on at around 10.20. Myself and Carlos made our way to the front of the stage. It was a very low stage, so we had a good view. The next 40 minutes passed by in a sort of one paced, uninspired limp. The Bodines were dreadful. They looked totally bored and uninterested. This wasn't a Jesus and Mary Chain style sullen arrogance. The Jesus and Mary Chain had star quality. These boys had as much stage presence as a wet lettuce. They were terrible! I can't really remember much more about it as it was so uneventful. Every song sounded the same. It was very dull. Ever since this gig, I have really struggled with The Bodines. The only song I really still like is 'Heard It All'. I love that song. There was a good indie disco to round off the evening - it gave Carlos a chance to swing his fringe! So that was my one and only Bodines gig. I would never say now that I dislike the band. Deep down, I probably still love them. 'Therese' is etched into my being. I think it was probably just an overwhelming feeling of disappointment. Maybe we shouldn't invest so much in bands we love. They will always let you down. But still we go on loving in spite of everything. Just like love itself.

The Jack Rubies - Lobster

The Bodines - Heard It All

we drew our names upon your window

2009-01-21T20:35:00.010Z

Following on from my earlier piece about The Proctors, I thought it would be nice to post the songs from the Baby Blue EP. This record is a real treat. A lost indiepop classic! It has something for everyone. There is the urgent fuzzpop rush of 'Not So Far Away', the mid tempo catchiness of 'Baby Blue' and the epic, haunting 'Live Forever.' Great melodies, shared boy / girl vocals, fuzzy guitars.. hmmm.. what more could you ask for! This 7" single was released by Sunday Records in the US in 1993. I have recently spoken to Gavin from The Proctors and hope to post either an interview, or a more comprehensive history of the band soon. I may also be posting some exclusive unreleased material from the band. Watch this space!

The Proctors - Live Forever

The Proctors - Baby Blue

The Proctors - Not So Far Away (original version)

Note: The Baby Blue EP was produced and engineered by Pete Williams. Pete was the bass guitarist in the original Dexys Midnight Runners line-up. Searching for the young soul rebels...

why wasn't being together enough?

2009-01-17T17:21:00.005Z

I was asked a few days ago whether I had heard anything by the group Madison Electric. Well, I had seen the name around but hadn't heard anything by them. I decided to check them out. Wow.. I'm so glad I did! This group are incredible. Matt from Skatterbrain has written about them here. I am probably way behind everyone else on this, but they are a classic 'lost' indiepop band. They recorded just six songs and were only together for a matter of months. There is some information on the band and mp3s here. I have now got five songs but where is the sixth? 'V-Neck' is beautiful. I love the words; there are some great lines in there. It is reminiscent of Rocketship and Brown Recluse Sings. A lovely mellow organ sound. A song to fall in love with and in love to. It is only January and I may have found the song of 2009 already.

Madison Electric - V-Neck

and summer brings out the best in girls and the worst in me

2009-01-16T15:17:00.007Z

What with all of the talk of C86, twee etc. ( Kitten Painting has written a good piece - her paw print is here) I thought it would be interesting to hear the thoughts of somebody who was actually in a band on the C86 tape. Russell Burton played bass guitar and added additional vocals for the Birmingham band Mighty Mighty. I got Russell into please rain fall hq for a five question interview to hear his views on C86 and indiepop. Hugh, the singer, also answered the last question.

Stephen: Mighty Mighty were on the C86 tape. Did you feel any affinity with the other bands? Were you part of that scene?

Russell: I think C86 created the 'scene' (still tagged to the world via Last FM, etc), but I think we did have an affinity with independent bands trying to do Pop. In relation to 'twee' see/hear 'Positively Sesame Street' the B-side of our last single (another brilliant Mick Geoghegan song/lyric).

Stephen: What are your memories of that time?

Russell: Personally, to be travelling the country doing gigs was nirvana (not Nirvana, because they didn't exist yet), because the alternative was sitting in an office doing some dull job (just like Morrissey's experience); essentially I thought it was fantastic. We will be populating our MySpace site with the relevant anecdotes.

Stephen: Why did the band split up?

Russell: Essentially, Hugh the singer, had had enough and wanted to do something else, but it would be fair to say that the record contract had run its course and our time was finished so we ended it.

Stephen: Are the members of the band still involved in music now?

Russell: Yes, the most obvious is The Leaking Machine which is mainly Pete's band with me doing bass and Spencer Roberts (from Elizabeth Jane, Steamtown, The Winnebago Orchestra and others) doing drums. But Mick and Hugh are doing stuff too.

Stephen: Mighty Mighty played a few shows with The Sea Urchins. Have you got any Sea Urchins anecdotes you are able to share?

Russell: Well, Bridget was on the cover of our first single, Robert was on the cover of our second single, and Bridget's sister was on the cover of our third single so we are clearly linked; plus Bridget was in The Velvet Underwear with Hugh, Mick and Pete - performing at the MM Christmas Gig, 1984. We played four gigs with them including our last show on 30/6/88.

Hugh: My involvement with the Sea Urchins is a) I promoted them as The Quimbys (their name before they became The Sea Urchins) with Primal Scream b) I managed them for a while before they signed to Sarah Records. I'd organised a 7 single boutique label deal with Rod of The Cartel ( The Sea Urchins, me, Supergroup, Boats Not Ships) then Robert rang me and told me they were signing to Sarah Records and all my work ( well, a meeting's worth...) went down / up the swanee. So I told him where to go! James SU gave me a demo tape of some songs that included "Pristine Christine" and I said "that's the single" - whether or not that influenced them I dunno...At the tail end of their career, I negotiated The Sea Urchins' "Stardust" compilation advance with Claire of Sarah Records and asked Dan Treacy of The Television Personalities to write the sleeve notes. Then there was the time I was rehearsing to play rhythm guitar with The Sea Urchins for a London gig but they saw sense!!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Russell and Hugh. So was C86 just a loose collection of bands that felt a vague affinity with each other? Was it an NME created scene that quickly dissipated? The debate will rumble on no doubt.

Mighty Mighty - Law This song was included on the C86 tape.

Mighty Mighty - Positively Sesame Street B side of Maisonette.

running fast all the way back home

2009-01-14T16:19:00.004Z

Following on from my shout into the wilderness requesting any information on Sea Urchins demos / live recordings, I am pleased to announce a result. I was contacted by Phil who sent me a nice message to say that he had live recordings of three songs. He didn't think they were from the Aberystwyth show, but as there was no information tagged with the songs he wasn't sure. Phil kindly sent me the three songs - You're So Much, Everglades and Pristine Christine. Indeed they are not from the Aberystwyth gig. I will post some of those tracks at a later date. I'm not sure where the recordings were made, but they sound as if they were taken from an early show possibly late 1986 / early 1987. I am guessing that they are early recordings as I can't remember You're So Much being played very often. Apologies for the poor sound quality.

The Sea Urchins live recordings:

You're So Much (live)
Everglades (live)
Pristine Christine (live)

love is only stupid

2009-01-12T17:08:00.008Z

In 1993, The Cudgels began to fall apart. There were no rows or bust ups. Things just fizzled out. I think we all realised that we had achieved far more than we had ever set out to do. It felt right to call it a day. The demise of The Cudgels spawned two bands. The Proctors and Oporto.

Oporto was the project my brother Andrew Davies embarked on. I will be writing more on Oporto in a future post. The Proctors were formed by Gavin Priest who was the lead guitarist in The Cudgels. The group also included ex Cudgels, Adrian 'Josef' Jones as drummer and bass guitarist Stephen 'Stevie' Davies. Gavin's sister Christine also provided vocals. After the first single was released on Sunday Records, the Baby Blue EP, Stevie left and the group became a three piece.

JB's in Dudley was always packed and very boisterous on a Friday night. I always preferred going there midweek. It was much more relaxed. They nearly always had bands on as well, and occasionally a really good group would be playing that had not even been advertised. Spiritualized played on a Wednesday night very early in their career and the JB's regulars couldn't believe it. There had been no publicity at all beforehand. They just showed up and played. In Spring 1993, even though The Cudgels had split up, the former members all used to meet regularly at JB's. It was a Wednesday night, Andrew and myself were there and we met Gavin and Adrian. Andrew had been working on a few new songs and Gavin said he had also been writing new material. I loved the melodies Gavin used to play in The Cudgels, so I was really keen to hear his new songs. Once JB'S had closed for the evening, we decided to head back to Andrew's flat to play a few records and strum some of the new songs. Andrew played a couple of his songs, which would later appear on the French Blue EP on Sunday Records, and they sounded good. We then asked Gavin to play his new songs. The first one was called Only Stupid. He started strumming and immediately I could tell it was a fantastic song. We were all entranced by it. It sounded brilliant. We asked him to play it again. About half way through, we could hear a good beat that seemed to fit in really well with the song. I looked at Adrian and expected to see him tapping along, which he always did if someone was strumming a guitar, but no it wasn't him. The beat got louder and it was then that we realised it was the neighbours from upstairs, banging on the ceiling and asking us to be quiet. We had forgotten about it being 2 am in the morning! We sheepishly put the guitars away. Whenever I listen to Only Stupid it reminds me of that evening.

Only Stupid is a wonderful song that I think has only appeared on the Beyond The Valley Of The Polar Bears compilation tape that came with Red Roses For Me fanzine. It really deserves a proper release. The tape also includes the original version of Moon Song. It is a new version that appears on the Pinstripes and Englishmen album. The tape also features two great songs by Oporto. The incredible Cat's Miaow also appear on the tape. This has got to be one of the best compilation tapes ever put together.

Have a listen to Only Stupid and Moon Song by The Proctors. They are beautiful songs.

a school of thought he can't attend

2009-01-10T19:23:00.010Z

I have always loved The Monkees. I only have to think of them and I can't help smiling. From 1989 - 1992 England had it's own version of The Monkees. They were called Birdland. For a brief time they took the UK, and New York, by storm. They also hailed from the Midlands, so they were local boys. My friends and I sometimes used to disagree about bands. We would argue the merits or otherwise of different songs. One thing we all agreed on - we loved Birdland.

In 1989 there was only one explosive live band around. It was Birdland. In England the Manchester / Baggy scene was starting to take hold. People were starting to wear flares and brightly coloured, loose fitting clothes. They smoked weed. Birdland were the antithesis to this. They hated what they saw happening around them. They dressed in black with tight fitting jeans and chelsea boots. With their blonde hair it was a great look. Their style and sound was heavily influenced by Blondie, Television, Andy Warhol, Pattie Smith and late 70s New York. Their image was a violent reaction to the complacent hippies on the scene. Violent reactions would follow them around for much of 1989.

My favourite Birdland song is called Hollow Heart. This was their first single. I believe it is impossible to listen to this song without wanting to start jumping around the room. Or form your own band. It is that good. It was early in 1989 when the press starting writing about Birdland. The NME put them on the front cover. They were signed to Lazy Records, the home of The Primitives. Usually hype puts me off a group, with Birdland the opposite was true. I couldn't get enough of it. Every week there were stories of scrapes the band had got into. There were reports of smashed hotel rooms, broken equipment, gig cancellations, trouble at shows etc. It was fantastic. They were living out their fantasies. I don't buy into the rock and roll myth. It's boring. With Birdland, you could tell their tongues were firmly in their cheeks. They may have been a cartoon band, but they were not a joke band. Even though some shows only lasted 15 minutes, it was an amazing 15 minutes. Like The Monkees, they should have had their own TV show. But they probably would have smashed up the studio.

My friend Daz was a big fan. He saw them one Saturday afternoon in Birmingham city centre in March 1989. He decided to spend the rest of the afternoon following them around. A discreet ten paces behind. They liked to visit a lot second hand book shops apparently. I was a little disappointed when Daz recounted the tale to me later. I expected mayhem and a police escort out of town.

I planned to see them at a gig they were playing in April 1989 at JB's in Dudley. Sadly this show was cancelled due to illness. The gig was rearranged for June. Now JB's is a tough place. It was friendly, but not the sort of place your average indie kid would feel comfortable. Needless to say, I never felt comfortable there. One minute everything would be fine, bottles flying the next. I had a feeling this was going to be one of those nights. It is still situated in Dudley but has relocated from the original premises. JB's was synonymous with what is called the toilet circuit in the UK. Lots of up and coming groups toured the toilet circuit to build up a live following. I went to the gig with my friends Bish, Carlos and Johnny. My brother Andrew, Tracey and others I knew from JB's were also there. Because of the cancelled April gig expectations were high for this show. As a tribute to Birdland, I wore black jeans and chelsea boots to this gig along with a three button leather jacket. It was a sort of Jesus and Mary Chain look I was into at the time. When we got to the venue a rumour was going round that the band had again cancelled. There was a problem with the drums apparently. I could tell something was up as the atmosphere was tense. After an hour or so Dermot, the resident Friday night JB's DJ, announced that indeed the band would be playing but it was to be a shorter set. There was a problem with Kyle's bass drum pedal. The crowd cheered but I felt they were not going to stand for a short set. Especially after the cancellation of the April gig. Violence had marred a lot of Birdland shows on this tour. When they took the stage, Lee announced that they were doing four songs and if anyone didn't like it then tough. They then launched into Hollow Heart. The crowd went crazy. It was absolute mayhem. JB'S was packed for this gig. People were trying to get on the stage and Robert was throwing them off. There was a small section of the crowd that started hurling abuse at the band after the first song. This was usual for a Birdland show. Robert chose to ignore them and they carried on with the next two songs. The heckling continued and Lee became involved. He said he would sort them out later. The whole of Birdland could only have weighed about 35 stones. Were they about to take on a section of the notoriously tough JB'S crowd? I was standing well back. Andrew was in the thick of it. They got half way through the fourth song before Robert threw down his microphone, and dived into the crowd and started exchanging punches with the hecklers. Closely followed by Lee. Sid and Kyle now found themselves alone on the stage while a massive ruck was taking place at the front of the stage. They decided to jump in as well. The JB's bouncers intervened and led the band away and the lights were turned up. Dermot appealed for calm from his DJ booth. The atmosphere was tense, but after a few minutes once Dermot started playing a few tunes things calmed down. I think the band made a quick exit from the venue to avoid any further trouble. I later found out that Birdland loved these sort of gigs and enjoyed every minute of it. And there was I fearing for their lives.

Musically, Birdland never really moved on from the first single. They were at their best in a live setting. Andrew went to see them in the October at The Irish Centre in Birmingham. It was on this tour that they gave away the rare one sided album at each show. I think he still has his copy. I had lost interest by this stage. The excitement dies after a while. I think the band knew this, although they would carry on for a couple more years. For some reason, I have been thinking about Birdland a lot lately. It wasn't the music that I loved. I only really liked the first single. Maybe it was the attitude? Passion? Can you love a band and not really like their music? I believe you can. I loved Birdland. I only have to think of them and I can't help smiling.

i've been out walking, i don't do too much talking these days

2009-01-10T00:19:00.005Z

Richard Coulthard used to run the Waaaah! label. He is also one of the nicest guys you could ever wish to meet. A real gentleman. I have always thought that Waaaah! has never received the recognition it deserves in the indiepop story. In the late 80s / early 90s they were publishing high quality fanzines, releasing great records and putting on pop shows. A real cottage industry. They did things properly. All of this was happening under the radar of the national music press. At best the odd review was printed. It was a community of people brought together through the love of indiepop. Richard was living in London while he was running the Waaaah! label. He is now living happily in Wigan in the North of England. I thought I would catch up with Richard and get him in for one of my five question interviews. I was interested to hear his thoughts on all things indiepop past and present.

Stephen: What inspired you to start Waaaah! and how long did the label exist for?

Richard: My mate Colin wanted to do a fanzine and I was keen on releasing some records of bands I liked, so it just came from that. A fanzine is quite a good way of getting the records out to people as they are more willing to take a chance on bands they may not have heard if there's some reading material as well. I'm not sure how long it lasted- probably only 3 or 4 years if that.

Stephen: Do you keep up with the current indiepop scene? Do you go to gigs? What bands do you like?

Richard: I always remember being annoyed with old punks or old hippies who used to say 'music isn't like it used to be' so I'm a bit hesitant to start saying the same thing, but I haven't really seen much of an indiepop scene the last few years. I still love music and listen to it all the time and hope I wouldn't miss a decent band if they came along but I don't see much going on these days- I think with internet, video games etc there's less interest in music or forming a band. The only gigs I go to or current band I listen to is Camera Obscura, they're possibly my favourite ever band (at the moment anyway) so at least that's something new, even if they probably fit better into the 80s or 90s.

Stephen: How do you think the current indiepop scene differs from the Waaaah! days?

Richard: What I said above. I get the feeling the people still doing it are probably older - I may be being ignorant but I don't see that many young people getting into music that much any more, or if they do it tends to be background stuff. There was a lot more opportunity for bands to get stuff released, get gigs and sell records in the 90s. Maybe there's opportunity now via the internet but it doesn't seem that way just because people have different interests. I think also everything was a lot more independent back then and enjoyed the music for the sake of the music. The big record labels seem very much in control now, and most music that sells seems to be connected with TV shows, adverts etc or old stadium rock bands.

Stephen: What are your favourite anecdotes / memories of the time running the label?

Richard: I enjoyed all of it really. It was always nice getting letters and making lots of friends. The coaches we ran from London to the Sarah Records gigs in Bristol were memorable, just for getting a group of likeminded people together for a fun day out. I think I just enjoyed the friendliness of the scene and nearly everyone was genuine about what they were doing. Highlight of the records was obviously the compilation CD we did (the now legendary Waaaah! cd - ed). It was great to sell over 5,000 copies and feel like maybe it wasn't just selling to the same small circle of people and reaching a slightly bigger audience.

Stephen: You used to write a great, high quality fanzine. Do you think the internet destroyed the fanzine culture? Was it fading out anyway?

Richard: Probably fading out anyway. I guess it's quite nice to have a magazine in your hands but I do think the internet is probably a better media for getting yourself read. I think if it had been around when we were doing the label and when the indie pop scene was at it's peak, it would probably have been good for the music. The website still averages 15 gigabytes of downloads and 5,000 visits a month - no idea who is looking or what they are doing and probably most go away very quickly, but it shows how much easier it is to reach people these days. I think the problem in promoting good music these days is less to do with the internet and more to do with cultural changes.

Thank you for your thoughts Richard. It is always interesting to hear your views on things. Waaaah! played an important part in the indiepop story. Let's hope that their achievements are more fully recognised in the years to come.

i can't stand another summer of if only

2009-01-03T16:01:00.011Z

Fuzzy Pop have opened up an interesting debate regarding the use/misuse of the word twee. I think it is fair to say that the word is currently being used incorrectly in certain areas. I thought I would attempt to present my understanding of the term. Everybody has their own take on things. I never believe anybody is ever right or wrong about these matters. Especially something that started over twenty years ago. You assess things from your memories and conversations with friends. Everybody sees things differently. I spoke to my brother Andrew regarding this whole area and his thoughts differed to mine. And we were both there at the same time, going to the same gigs and with roughly the same circle of friends. These are my memories, I'm not expecting them to be the same as yours.

I believe the word twee came about because of one band - Tallulah Gosh. They did not appear on the C86 tape. Tallulah Gosh had a very refreshing anti corporate, anti macho, anti rock stance. Certain (always male) journalists felt threatened by this attitude. I think they thought Amelia would flirt with them. She wanted to talk about music and politics not lollipops. They therefore set about trying to discredit the band. Hence the twee accusation. Tallulah Gosh never said - we are twee. It was the music press. With regard to reclaiming the word. Why? There is nothing to reclaim.

Another part of the Fuzzy Pop debate are the terms used in the mid to late 80's to describe what we will call for now 'indie music'. Amongst my circle of friends, we always referred to anything related to C86, shambling (yet another term), Creation, Subway etc. as 'indie music'. The Cartel was important in distributing all the releases around the country. The records were fairly easy to get hold of if you knew where to look. We never used the word twee to describe the music, although others may have. I still believe it was mainly a term used by the music press. Then from about 1987/1988 onwards, the scene started to fragment. Sarah Records started releasing 7" singles and, you guessed it, the manhood of the music press felt threatened. They went on the attack again. Describing classic pop singles as insipid drivel seemed to make them feel more masculine. I think it was at this time that the word 'indiepop' came in. The groups on Sarah Records were different to the bands on the C86 tape. By this time some of these groups (Shop Assistants, Mighty Lemon Drops, Primal Scream) had signed to major labels. Could you no longer call The Shoppies an indie band now that they were on a major label? The music was still the same. Therefore indiepop was used to describe bands who were still truly independent. I have never thought of indiepop as a style of music- a lot of the bands were musically poles apart. It was more of an attitude. A lot of people forget that the 80's was a time for taking sides. There was such a lot to debate/argue/discuss I could go on all day - there was the politics, the indie vs major debate, the vinyl vs cd argument. A lot of people refused to buy the Sarah compilation cd's when they came out due to accusations of selling out their principles. I know - I was one of them. It may sound silly now, but that is how it was.

From about 1989, because of the relative success of Sarah Records, a lower tier of the indiepop scene began to emerge. Subgenres of indiepop now appeared. There was the shortlived cutie scene with bands like Bouquet. Pockets of this scene were mainly based around the Birmingham, Derby, Leicester and Nottingham areas. Groups started to release their own records. A refusal letter from Sarah Records was usually all the impetus most bands needed to start their own labels. Rutland Records in Leicester released some great records. Richard from the Waaaah! label was important in writing fanzines, releasing records, putting on shows and giving encouragement. Sunday Records in the United States were influential. Red Roses For Me compilation tapes were great, Phew Wow! and Waterbomb! fanzines, Mind The Gap, This Almighty Pop! Blam a Bit in Germany. Lovely Records released flexi discs. Who remembers Steve Biscuit and his indiepop distribution service? What a character! Some self appointed spokespersons for indiepop have never even heard of Steve Biscuit! Yet they see fit to lecture us all on what is right and wrong and how it all happened. They haven't got a clue. All of this was happening under the radar of the music press. It was a community. It was even below the Sarah level. Sarah Records seemed like a major label at the time. Again it sounds silly, but that is how things felt.

From about the end of 1992, things started to fade out. The indiepop scene seemed to have pretty much died. Gigs were poorly attended, if they were put on at all. Records did not sell, fanzines weren't being written, bands split up - disillusion set in. People lost touch with each other. They moved on. New lives. Different lives. It probably wasn't until Belle and Sebastian came along, and the internet, that things started to pick up. I have never been a fan of B&S, and was relatively late in embracing the internet, so I will bow out gracefully at this stage. Others are more knowledgeable regarding the post B&S scene. As I said earlier, these are my thoughts. I would be disappointed if you agreed with me.

we speak for hours and talk about nothing

2009-01-01T16:20:00.009Z

The Cod Club ran every Sunday night from about early 1987 to around 1990. It was held in a bar called Piranhas, which was situated at the bottom of Broad Street in Birmingham city centre. It is no longer there now. The whole of Broad Street has been redeveloped since. This was a great club that I believe was sadly overlooked, even while it was in existence. The promoters, Lloyd and Paul Flower, deserve a lot of credit for putting on some truly classic shows.

The bands that played there were a mix of local groups (Onionhead, Elizabeth Jane, Steamtown, The Cudgels, The Sea Urchins, The Bounty Hunters) and any indie bands that were on tour. Not that many indiepop bands played there though. Although it was a fairly small venue, it was probably slightly too big for the smaller indiepop groups. A lot of groups just played one off shows there as well. Local indie pop stars like Paul Marsh and Dave Newton(The Droppies), David Keough(Surf Drums), Neil Wild Flower, Hugh Harkin(Mighty Mighty), I've Got A Fuzzbox!, The Nightingales, Terry and Gerry, Miles Hunt(Wonderstuff) and Pop Will Eat Itself! were regulars too. I was in a band called The Cudgels and we played there a few times. We did a gig with The Sea Urchins at The Cod Club in about October 1987. This show went quite well and a lot of people came along. The night was spoilt slightly by a disagreement we had with The Sea Urchins. They wanted to borrow one of our amplifiers - we wouldn't let them. We knew they had a bit of a reputation for being difficult, so we thought it would be funny to sort of try and 'out' difficult them. It worked. They were quite nice to us after that. The best gig we played there was in about May 1988 with Yeah Jazz. They were starting to get quite popular in indie circles. There was quite a large crowd for this show, probably 150/200 people. Go Discs! record label started to take an interest in us around this time. They said we sounded like Billy Bragg would if he had a full band. We went on first, and were quite surprised because people actually knew some of our songs. They were even dancing at one point. We never used to play many shows but looking back, this was definitely one of the best. Yeah Jazz then went on and played a storming set. A lot of energy. They were a great live group.

From about 1989 onwards, some of the bigger indie bands started playing there. The Inspiral Carpets played, and even The Stone Roses did a show at The Cod Club. So thank you Lloyd and Paul for promoting a great indie night and supporting local bands.

Probably one of the most well known Yeah Jazz songs is called Sharon.

you followed on with typical endings, i'll play along

2008-12-27T18:00:00.004Z

This is the final Sea Urchins demo tape instalment. The song is called Do You Know. This track was also never released. I have a live recording from a 1988 gig at Aberystwyth University in Wales. They did some interesting cover versions at this show, so I may put up a few of these songs in future posts.

i know the pillow isn't you, but who am i to pick and choose

2008-12-24T19:33:00.009Z

As a Christmas treat, here is the next song in The Sea Urchins demo tape trilogy. It is called If and I. At a guess, I would say the songs were probably recorded late 1987 / early 1988. It sounds like they were recorded straight to cassette tape or 4 track portastudio. This song was never released by the band and I have never heard them play it live.

The picture is Bridget Sea Urchin from the Mighty Mighty Everybody Knows The Monkey photo session (this is not the one used on the cover of the single).

oh pass my crown, i'm in a kind of kingdom

2008-12-22T22:23:00.008Z

The Powerhouse was situated just off the Queensway in Birmingham city centre. It was quite a large venue (I would say it held about 1500 people maybe more) so wasn't really a place where the smaller indiepop bands would play. But at Christmas time in 1986, Chapter 22 Records organised a Christmas show featuring their bands with The Mighty Lemon Drops as headliners. The Droppies, as they were known, were getting quite big by this stage, so the gig was very well attended. I went along with my brother Andrew. I wore a long overcoat to this gig as it was winter. I was also going through an Echo and The Bunnymen phase. We caught the bus into Birmingham and had a quick drink in the bar next to The Powerhouse. There was also a good pub across the road but I can't remember the name of it. A lot of bands used to go in there before they played The Powerhouse. I don't think the pub is there anymore as the whole area has now been redeveloped. It may have been called The Fox?

There were four bands appearing on the bill. The Wild Flowers, Pop Will Eat Itself, Mighty Mighty and The Mighty Lemon Drops. We got inside the venue and The Wild Flowers were already playing. The Wild Flowers were quite a strange band as they didn't really seem to fit into any one sort of category. They were a bit indiepop, a bit goth and a little bit sort of heavy rock.. hmmmm. I always had a bit of a soft spot for them as their singer, Neil Wild Flower, used to go to JB's in Dudley a lot and was always quite friendly to me when I spoke to him. He also had a beautiful girlfriend so I was a bit jealous as well. The best song they had was called A Kind Of Kingdom. I think they knew it was their only really good song as they used to play it twice in their set. They released an album on Chapter 22 records called Dust, I think, and then signed to an American label. I'm not sure if there was any other material released on Chapter 22. They released some records prior to signing to Chapter 22 and Dave Newton, from The Mighty Lemon Drops, used to be their guitarist. They went down quite well with the large crowd that was present, who were mainly there to see The Droppies. I think the crowd agreed with me that A Kind Of Kingdom was their best song, because they kept shouting for them to play it and they may have played it three times in the end!

Next up were Pop Will Eat Itself! Around this time The Poppies were going through a phase of playing gigs without their trousers on! Now you may think I have started on the mulled wine a little early, but it is true. They used to enjoy their beer before shows and I think they did it once as a joke and they went down quite well, so they decided to keep doing it for a while. As I have said previously, I only liked the first couple of singles but they put on a good show. The girls down at the front of the stage seemed to enjoy it anyway. Clint Poppie looked a little ridiculous because as well as having no trousers on, he was wearing cowboy boots!

Mighty Mighty then played and were quite good but the venue was too big for them really. They are better in small clubs. Their music and style doesn't transfer to bigger stages and they ended up sounding a bit flat. I enjoyed them but the crowd seemed to ignore them. They were essentially a small indiepop band but a drunken Powerhouse crowd at Christmas time is a bit unforgiving, even though it is supposed to be the season of goodwill!

The headliners were The Mighty Lemon Drops and they played a really good gig. I have never liked them on record but live they were brilliant. A really powerful sound. The mix of the bass and drums really sort of drive the songs along. They went down really well with the crowd and, all in all, it was a really great Christmas show. There was no disco afterwards, so we headed for the bus stop discussing the evening and hatching our own plans and manifestos.

Have a drop of mulled wine and sing along with A Kind Of Kingdom by The Wild Flowers.

i wore your clothes in bed last night, it nearly made the world alright

2008-12-21T18:18:00.005Z

There may be some Sea Urchins demos/bootlegs knocking around the internet that I might not be aware of. I have three demo songs - Do You Know, If and I and Please Rain Fall. I have got the recording of the gig at Aberystwyth University as well. Is there any other stuff out there?

Photo - Robert Sea Urchin.

I like this demo version of the song Please Rain Fall.

when i'm walking with you, it just doesn't matter

2008-12-19T18:44:00.004Z

I've spent the past week or so recovering from surgery on a delicate part of my body...hmmm don't ask!!

Sometimes I Still Feel The Bruise by Trembling Blue Stars seems quite apt at the moment. I love this John Peel BBC session version of the song. I think I prefer it to the version on Broken By Whispers.

maybe i was lying when i said, it was all for the best, maybe i don't think that at all

2008-12-09T22:43:00.005Z

During the late 80's/early 90's the Hummingbird (now Carling Academy) in Birmingham used to put on weekend indie discos. These were on the whole quite good and I used to attend the Saturday night events on a regular(ish) basis. In November 1988 I was at the Hummingbird, and talking to a guy called Mark who I knew as he was a big Sea Urchins fan and used to go to all of the gigs. At one time he shared a student house with Jamie from The Sea Urchins. He said that he was travelling down to London with two friends in the week to see Dinosaur Jr, and that there was a spare place in the car if I fancied coming along. Well, I wasn't a massive Dinosaur Jr fan but I had quite liked some songs off Bug, which had just been released, so I thought why not. A trip down to London with three virtual strangers? You are only young once.

I lived in Great Barr at the time and was picked up at The Scott Arms pub. Great Barr is by junction 7 of the M6 motorway so we were soon on our way down to London. Mark's friends were two girls whose names I can't remember. They sat in the front and we sat in the back. I seem to recall that we spent the entire journey down to London talking about The Sea Urchins. They had just recorded the one sided untitled single for Fierce records so I was anxious to hear all of the details. He said that Hue Pooh Stick had attended the recording session. If anybody knows the song then the 'oohh la la oohh la la' at the end was added after it had been suggested by Hue.

Dinosaur Jr were playing at the Mean Fiddler in London and we got to the venue in good time. The gig was fairly good but I couldn't really see what the press were raving about. Freakscene was obviously big everywhere, but to me this song sort of heralded the oncoming grunge invasion which didn't interest me. The absolute highlight of the evening though, was when I spotted Kevin and Belinda from My Bloody Valentine in the audience. Wow! I was lucky I spotted them early on as it meant I could watch them instead of Dinosaur Jr. Kevin and Belinda could just stand on a stage and do nothing and I'm sure people would pay to watch! I stood about ten feet behind them for quite a while near the bar area. Kevin had a black jumper on with a hole in it. They were drinking cider I think. Although Belinda is often held up as an indie goddess, she doesn't count amongst my indiepop crushes. I think I go for the less obvious pop princess.

The journey back was again spent discussing The Sea Urchins. I had booked the morning off work the next day and just as well, as it was about 3.30 am before I got home. All in all a very enjoyable evening.

I never listen to Bug by Dinosaur Jr now, but I do listen to Bug by Harper Lee more than is healthy.

My Bloody Valentine - Paint A Rainbow

got to devote some time

2008-12-06T20:40:00.017Z

One of my favourite venues of 1986 was also the least well known. It was in Lichfield. Lichfield is about 15 miles outside of Birmingham city centre and is considered a backwater. What a lot of people didn't realise was that in 1986 there were a crew of indiepop kids from Lichfield that started putting on shows at Enots Social Club. This was a nondescript sort of community/function hall situated on a housing estate. But over the summer of 1986 they put on some classic shows!!

The first gig I heard about was when The Sea Urchins were asked to play there supporting the Razorcuts. This was in about May 1986. There were about 8 indiepop kids from Lichfield who were the organisers (five boys and three girls I think). I later saw some of them at gigs in Birmingham but lost touch with them. I think they went on to universities in different parts of the country. I couldn't get to The Sea Urchins/Razorcuts gig as a car was needed and transport wasn't available. Tracey Cudgel was there and she said the show was awesome. I was determined not to miss the next one.

Sure enough, about six weeks later I heard The Wedding Present were booked to play. I checked in advance that my Dad's car would be available(I think it was a Wednesday night) and made sure my brother Andrew was available to drive us there. His friend Michael came with us as well. It was a nice summer evening and the drive to Lichfield was very pleasant. It didn't really feel as if we were going to a gig. After a few wrong turns and requests for directions, we found Enots Social Club. We thought we had gone to the wrong place at first. Could The Wedding Present be playing here? A scrawled notice on the door confirmed that indeed this was the place. We went into the main entrance, and saw to the left the door for the main function room. We opened the door and was met with a blast of noise that I immediately recognised as Whole Wide World by The Soup Dragons. This was indiepop heaven! There were about 80 people there and even though it was early some of the kids were up dancing to the tunes being spun. The dj had an anorak on and a Jesus and Mary Chain hairstyle. These Lichfield guys knew their indiepop.

Around 9.30 pm The Wedding Present came on and did a brilliant set. Once More had been released at this stage and I think maybe 'You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends' had just come out. They did a cover of 'Felicity' by Orange Juice. Even in these early days David Gedge was confident on stage. He talked to the audience in between songs and was fairly natural. It was quite rare for indiepop bands to say much between songs, other than announcing the name of the next song they were going to play. It was a wonderful gig. There was a good indie disco to round off the night Primal Scream, The Pastels, more Soup Dragons, The Loft etc. We got talking to a couple of the organisers and they said they had The Chesterfields coming up to play in a few weeks. We went to that show as well. Andrew and I still talk about Enots Social Club in Lichfield. It was a brilliant introduction to the sort of DIY indiepop spirit that is so important. It was exciting. We realised that you can make things happen! We started our band on the back of seeing these shows. So as the youngsters of today might say - To the Lichfield Indiepop Crew! Respect!!!

I know it is difficult to believe but The Soup Dragons were actually cool for a few months in 1986. Whole Wide World - The Soup Dragons.

**Photo reproduced from Kitten Painting blog.

i'll see you out later, i'll bring my calculator, we'll count our blessings

2008-12-04T23:05:00.003Z

About 18 months ago I started catching the bus to work. At first, I resisted the temptation to listen to my ipod on the journey. You often read interviews with writers/artists who say that they take inspiration from the people around them and overheard snippets of conversations etc. It gave them ideas for stories, plays and paintings. So I thought I would take this idea on board. Needless to say, after a week of overhearing the inane conversations and endless drivel spoken by my fellow passengers, it was time to reach for my ipod.

A band that I have been listening to pretty much constantly for the last few weeks are Laurel Music. I got to hear them through Last FM. They are perfect for a morning journey. A wonderful way to ease yourself into the day. The music is sometimes sad but always beautiful.

Disappear by Laurel Music.

i could be the one to make you smile

2008-12-02T22:10:00.007Z

People either love or hate The Housemartins. I first heard them on a tape my cousin Noel made for me. The song was Flag Day. This remains my favourite Housemartins song. In June 1986 The Housemartins were playing The Portland Club in Edgbaston, Birmingham. This venue was not really part of the indie circuit. It held about 400 people. I think the night The Housemartins played, there must have been over 600. The place went mad!

Happy Hour had not yet been released. It was due out in a few weeks. My friend Carlos and I loved Flag Day and Sheep so we were pretty excited about seeing them live. We wore our regulation gig going outfits (desert boots, jeans, cord jackets). My brother Andrew and his friend Michael came along too. Edgbaston was on the other side of Birmingham to where we lived, so we caught a couple of buses and found the venue fairly easily. We got there at about 8 o'clock. There were about 4 or 5 people kicking a football around outside the venue with hooded sweatshirts on. We ignored them and went inside. We later found out these ruffians had actually been the band enjoying a pre show kick about. We knew The Housemartins had started to gain a nationwide following, but we didn't realise how popular they had become in such a short space of time. The place was packed! Carlos and I had thought we were their only fans in Birmingham.

A band called 3 Action were the support. They were okay. I think they were friends of The Housemartins. They were not really a pop band though. I think they wished they were The Jam or something. Then it was time for the main event. The Housemartins had obviously been playing a lot of shows. These guys were awesome! As a live act they really stood out. Paul Heaton could sing. The others were good musicians. Ted Key had left by this time and had been replaced by Norman Cook. It began to dawn on Carlos and myself that The Housemartins were not going to our secret for much longer. From the first song the whole crowd was dancing. At the end, the band let about 30 fans onto the stage to sing along with Sheep. Carlos and I were straight up there! Jumping around on the stage with The Housemartins is one of my happiest memories of those times. It really was a great gig. I saw them again in the September. They played at the Powerhouse in the city centre. This was a much bigger venue and I could hardly get near the stage. The place was packed again but this time it wasn't as magical. The Housemartins were now a chart band. Normal people liked them. It was time to move on.

Think For A Minute by The Housemartins (Glastonbury Festival 1986)

you act like you've got something worth saying

2008-11-29T14:16:00.026Z

I was asked recently if I could provide any information regarding the group Steamtown. I had seen Steamtown play a few shows in Birmingham, most notably supporting the Razorcuts at Synatra's, but the finer details of their history have slipped from my memory over the years. Action had to be taken. I knew my friend Spencer Roberts had been a member of the band, so I asked him if he could fill me in on the story of Steamtown...

"It all started when Spencer Roberts formed Steamtown after a stint in Brum based The Anatomical Bootband in 1986/7. TAB members were local indie socialite, Baz Taylor on vocals and guitar, Mark on drums, Dave on bass and me on guitar. We were sort of shambolic in a Buzzcocksy type way. We recorded a demo, played one gig supporting local punk heroes The Sect and morphed into a band called Gerald. Gerald, named after my late Dad, were then Baz, myself, with the addition of Peter Paphides (successful journalist, broadcaster and writer of Perturbed fanzine) on drums and another indie socialite Andy Croom on bass. We carried on the ethos, but became slightly more proficient - Josef K, Postcard, Wedding Present would be good reference points. We never recorded a demo, and only played one gig, supporting The Rotten Swines (ex Nightingales) at the Cod club in Birmingham (more on this club at a later date). The night went down in local indie history as Baz got absolutely plastered prior to the gig, and during our final song, a cover of The June Brides’ In The Rain, the PA guy had to sit him down and take the mike from him. The gig signalled the end of the beginning.

I then started my own band, Steamtown in 1987. The C86 scene was still very much alive and expanding throughout the land and I wanted to be a part of it. I was really into Biff Bang Pow!, The Wolfhounds, McCarthy etc. I knew a couple of guys from school, whom I phoned up to see if they were interested in practising some of my tunes - Simon, on bass, and another lad called Pughy on drums. We got together at Coseley youth club for a rehearsal. It started to sound good. I pretty much wrote all the songs. The sound and lyrical nature were not that dissimilar to Josef K, The Velvets, but were also influenced by some of the artists on the soon to be seminal el records (division of Cherry red). After 3 or 4 months we were ready for gigging. Unfortunately Pughy could no longer commit his time, so Simon drafted in his mate Paul Longhi on drums. Over the previous 2 or 3 years, I had made a lot of contacts and friends on the local indie scene, in particular, people like Andy Davies of The Cudgels, local promoters Paul Flower and Dave Travis, and a guy who was also into promoting called Andy Thomas. I met Andy at Synatra's, he was keen on hearing Steamtown, only to join a couple of weeks later as an additional vocalist. An intense 6 months of playing with various bands like Razorcuts, The Cudgels, The Raw Herbs and The Siddeleys saw us honing our sound. By this time, we were wearing our influences on our sleeves. I think our combined favourite album at that time was The Girl Who Runs The Beat Hotel by Biff Bang Pow!. After successful gigs around England, and a decent though poorly played and recorded demo, I decided to quit. Main reason being was that I had been asked to play drums for Elizabeth Jane, another local Brum indie band, and that became the path I wanted to follow. Steamtown then regrouped, and became Steam, supporting the likes of Shack and Blur, then I think they meandered into Roseville (named after the village in Coseley). I think there were various demos. I don’t know if they are still going!?"

Spencer now has his own group The Winnebago Orchestra and plays drums with ex Mighty Mighty folks The Leaking Machine.

Living & Loving by Steamtown appeared on the legendary Corrupt Postman compilation tape.

the fear of rejection is far greater than my desire for your company

2008-11-27T20:31:00.008Z

An occasional feature I will be doing is a short question and answer session. The format will be five questions posed to people I know/have known over the years and who have been a big influence on me.

First up is Mike Innes. Now some of you may know Mike as one half of the awesome pop duo They Go Boom!!. Less well known is the fact that Mike also used to write the groovy fanzine Phew Wow!. I caught up with Mike to quiz him about his days as a fanzine writer.

Stephen: How long did Phew Wow! run for and how many issues were produced?

Mike: Can't recall how much of a gap there was between issues (perhaps a year?), but there were - count 'em - two.

Stephen: What inspired you to start the fanzine and which fanzines did you enjoy reading?

Mike: The ones that especially stick in my mind are very obvious things that will be familiar to anyone who has some knowledge of the late 80s indiepop scene, like AYSTGH and the Sarah zines, plus This Almighty Pop and This Rare Treat. I wasn't hip enough to be in on the pre-Sarah network and so had limited contact with the likes of Simply Thrilled, but basically I'd describe those mentioned as having been among the better written and better presented zines of the time.

What I think they did for me personally was effectively to give me permission to write; otherwise it probably wouldn't have occurred to me to get involved as anything more than a consumer of other people's work. However, because of those zines, it just felt like something that to my surprise I could in fact do. As I recall, it just began with writing a piece about The Siddeleys that just came out of an enjoyment of the band and the challenge of writing a coherent article - more for my own benefit than anything else - and then I thought I might as well continue and produce the first issue.

Stephen: What are your memories of that time?

Mike: Positive memories, mostly, of course. It was a friendly scene and at its best was really creative; I got a lot out of it and, as you've been writing on your blog, it was incredibly exciting to go and see bands that really meant a lot to me. In fact this was probably even more true for me because 99 times out a hundred I had to travel miles in order to attend any gigs at all.

But by the time the second issue of P!W! rolled around, it seemed as if the scene in this country was on its last legs and in cultural terms we were heading towards Britpop on the one hand or grunge on the other. I had no interest in either, so it was disheartening to see how within a fairly short period of time, things just dissipated. Plus, with the benefit of hindsight, I was just generally fed up.

Stephen: In what ways does the current indiepop scene differ from the C86/Sarah Records period?

Mike: The way that people produce and consume music and (the equivalent of) fanzines is obviously unrecognisable when compared with how it was twenty years ago. Technological changes mean that it's easy to record and distribute music pretty much for free, although it does become that bit harder when you're using guitars and vocals - and I think that the development of indiepop has been hampered as a consequence of that, via its comparative failure to embrace the internet.

But new technology is exciting in that it's very enabling and inclusive. The creative lines become more blurred and it's interesting to see the variety of bands now who indicate some sort of connection with indiepop, from your archetypal jangle-headed pop merchants right through to the likes of Sally Shapiro. I think that's great.

Less positively, it has to be acknowledged that the overall quality can take a dip, because easy access to decent-quality equipment does not always go hand-in-hand with the ability to use it well. Also, and I'm not sure whether this is just indiepop or is a characteristic of post-internet subcultures generally, but I'd have thought that you could easily argue that the current scene is very incestuous: if Sha-la-la flexis sold 2500 each and now labels sell a hundred, that's what's going to happen.

Stephen: Do you miss the old days?

Mike: Sure, it was very exciting. But then again, the DIY spirit of indiepop still exists, it just manifests itself in different ways.

Thank you Mike. It is always interesting to hear your views on things. I will also be getting Mike in for another grilling about his time with They Go Boom!! at a later date.

we sit reading under the tree party life is not for me

2008-11-26T21:18:00.003Z

This poster is a taster for a piece I will be doing on the band Steamtown. Steamtown were formed by my friend Spencer Roberts in Birmingham in 1987. I will also be doing some posts regarding the Synatra's club. Synatra's was a bar in Birmingham city centre that put on some fantastic shows and hasn't always been given the recognition it deserves. The club was very important in terms of the c86/indiepop scene in Birmingham.

i give you nothing to doubt and you doubt me

2008-11-24T22:17:00.004Z

Apart from The Sea Urchins, my other overriding musical obsession was/is with the early six piece Primal Scream line up. This was absolute POP! heaven. For me this line up was utter perfection. The clothes, haircuts, Scottish accents, tambourines, rickenbackers, attitude .. hmmm I could go on. These boys had the lot.

In September 1986 Primal Scream came to play at Burberries in Birmingham. To my delight I learnt that The Sea Urchins were to be supporting them. Unfortunately, Pop Will Eat Itself were sandwiched in between the two bands. They were now starting to head off in a very non pop! direction so I won't mention them again.

I mentioned earlier that The Sea Urchins could be quite shambolic live. Well, this gig took that description to new levels. Darren Martin had not yet joined the band so they did not have a bass player. Mark Bevin had left. There was a big crowd at Burberries. Primal Scream had arrived late so I don't think The Sea Urchins had a chance to soundcheck. The sound was very poor and even from my vantage point right by the stage, it was hard to make out the vocals amongst the guitars and drums. Patrick stood up to play the drums at this gig. Things got off to a bad start during the first song when Bridget's tambourine broke! She played the rest of the set just shaking half a wooden tambourine. If I remember correctly Jamie was playing guitar as well. I think to compensate for the lack of bass guitar. Anyway, they limped through the rest of the set to a sort of muted response from the audience. I think they were bemused by them. A week later D J Fontana of the NME did a review of the gig, and he described The Sea Urchins as similar to listening to The Velvet Underground on a walkman with flat batteries! He was pretty spot on.

Pop Will Eat Itself! then did their thing and next up were Primal Scream. I was very excited. In those days, I always tried to get a set list from an important gig. Luckily, the stage was low at Burberries and there were about three set lists at the front by the speakers, so at the end I managed to grab one. When Primal Scream had their six piece line up they did not rock out as in later years. It was quite subdued. They didn't play any of the two singles that had been released by this time. What I remember most about the gig was that I had gone along thinking I was a big fan, but didn't actually recognise many of the songs. I have later heard a lot of these songs on bootleg tapes. There are some amazing Primal Scream songs that have never been recorded. Bobby Gillespie was wearing leather trousers, chelsea boots and a black jumper. My other abiding memory of the gig was thinking how thin his legs looked in those leather trews!

So that was my first Primal Scream gig. As ever there was the disco afterwards. The Sea Urchins were still in their anorak phase at this time. I remember Robert from The Sea Urchins dancing to Truck Train Tractor by The Pastels. In his anorak. What a great indiepop sight!