Hello again, want to hear some Katydids? Good, because they're another of those bands that the internet doesn't know much about and nor do I.
We know, probably, that they were about from 1989 to 1991 and released four or five singles and an album or two; we know that they were Susie Hug (vocals) Adam Seymour (guitars), Dan James (guitar), David Hunter (bass) and Shane Young on drums - excellent, another lady singer, doesn't get much better than that! - but to be honest, that's more than even their myspace page knows so we're stabbing in the dark a bit and even the normally infallible discogs has nothing to report.
So, as we're a bit stuck for information, have a listen to this and please let me know if you know anytyhing, they were obviously a cracking indie band who could knock out a catchy tune, but seem to have been dropped from their label for commercial reasons; I guess being 1990/1991 nobody wanted punchy less-than-3-minute jangle and were only interested in grunge. More fool them.
Katydids - Lights Out (Read my Lips) [usual ways to download]
I have one album - 1991's Shangri-La on Reprise (so hardly indie in the strictest sense). The track above isn't on it, so presumably there's another album
ReplyDeleteI remember the lead track (The Boy Who's Never Found) and two other tracks are produced by Ian Broudie
http://www.last.fm/music/Katydids/+wiki
ReplyDeleteNot much more info, but a bit...
Adam Seymour went on to be the guitarist in The Pretenders for a good long while.
ReplyDeleteIndeed there is another album, their self titled debut released in 1990 and also on Reprise.
ReplyDeleteI've got a vague recollection that in addition to this track 'Girl in a Jigsaw Puzzle' was also released as a single from this album but the only other single I have is 'Seesaw' a track from Shangri-la.
Incidentially the acoustic version of Lights Out (Read My Lips) from the cd single is well worth a listen.
I love this blog as it has stuff like this that I thought only I knew about ;-)
ReplyDeleteI've got this 7 inch somewhere, but I've probably not heard it for at least 15 years! Like yourself, I know nothing about them, I'm afraid.
Susie Hug went on to play with The Blue Aeroplanes in the mid '90s.
ReplyDeleteThe conections for all this stuff is Sermon Mgmt who looked after The Mighty Lemon Drops..Susie Hug I think worked in the office & went out with Adam who did go on to play with The Pretenders for a long time. Sermon then took on The Blue Aeroplanes & Strangelove hence the links.
ReplyDeleteCern Canning of Sermon now manages Franz Feridnand
The connection here is Sermon Mgmt who at the time managed The Mighty Lemon Drops...Susie Hug (who is american) I think worked in the office & went out with Addam who did go onto to play for The Pretenders.
ReplyDeleteSermon then took on The Blue Aeroplanes & Strangelove hence all the band members overlapping.
Cerne Canning of Sermon now manages Franz Ferdinand
Just found this post, but remember hearing that Susie Hug was working on some kind of solo album with Fran Healy of Travis...he's apparently a big fan. Not sure if it ever came out.
ReplyDeleteThat first self-titled Katydids album was produced by Nick Lowe and was a nice little record.
I saw them when they played the Reverberation tour with the Mac-less Bunnymen. Solid live band
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