Katydids

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]

Brilliant Corners

Bit of catching up to do I'm afraid, other things have called, research has been feverish, records have been bought and left in a pile. So, to start let's begin with the backlog and the Brilliant Corners.

Straight out of Bristol, the Brilliant Corners were formed in the early 80s by Davey Woodward (vocals, guitar), Chris Galvin (bass), Winston (can't get more indie than a one-named tambourine man!), Bob Morris (drums) and Dan (occasional keyboards) with the later addition of Phil Elvins on guitar. The band were incredibly active, knocking out single after single, a good half-dozen albums, touring extensively and recording three, yes three!, Peel Sessions

I shan't go on too much, there's an excellent official site and a surprisingly (though with misguided use of a The) good wikipedia page for further reading.

Unfortunately this is yet another post with a sad ending, Chris Galvin died of cancer in 1998.

So, enjoy this rather scratch and distorted offering, promise I'll be more active soon, I've got a couple of belters lined up!

Brilliant Corners - The Pope, The Monkey and The Queen (right click, 'save as...' to download

Sp!n

Have I done Gene? I can't remember. This isn't about Gene though, this is about Sp!n the band that Martin Rossiter's band mates were in before they were in Gene. And yes, there really was an exlamation mark in the name. No matter what blogger wants me to do with the title, it's Sp!n, not Spin.

So, before Gene came along, Sp!n were doing their thing. Ok, this is where it gets confusing and I've been informed by a world-leading authority on the band that I got it arse-about-face. So:

Consisting of Lee Clark on singing/guitar and initially Daz Walton on bass, the band were formed in that London in 1988. Soon after, John Mason replaced Walton on bass and Matt Wingley (possibly aka Matt James) took over drumming. Subsequently Steve Mason (John's brother) joined to play geetar. Right, now, now that's in order... By 1991 the band had knocked out a few good EPs and an album when a serious motorway accident left John Mason in a coma and their tour manager and sound man seriously injured. Unable to carry on, the band split and the remaining members went off to form Gene with Mr Rossiter and the rest is history. I don't know what happened to Daz Walton mind you.

There's other speculation and rumour on wikipedia as you'd expect and amuch more in depth history here and here

This track is great, it's got that early 90s wicky-wicky-wicky guitar noise that appeared so often throughout 1989 and 1990, probably because the Stone Roses thought it was a good idea:

Sp!n - Scratches (in the Sand); right click, 'save as...' to download

And there you go, oddly placed punctuation marks, only one bloke away from becoming Gene, a lovely bit of indie guitar, what more can you ask for? Wasn't Martin Rossiter famous for something else? I'm sure he was, I just can't drag that bit of information out of the back of my memory at the moment, I'll come back to it.

Ps, there is a Gene 'Best of' that's worth getting as well.

See See Rider

Bit of an odd one this time; it's See See Rider, a band who really would have disappeared without a trace were it not for some of their members. The first thing that you notice when reading about the band is that they only released two singles and, despite having sort of Nico-(sort of)-out-of-the Velvet-Underground style vocals from singer May Rock Marshall and having early support slots for Lloyd Cole and the Jesus and Mary Chain, they never really broke through into the public or press consciousness, although they were championed early on by Steve Lamacq.

So that would ostensibly be that, the band released the two singles on the same Lazy label as Birdland, had a big falling out on stage and split up.

But. While signing for Lazy, Wayne Morris, manager of the aforementioned moptopknobheads recommended a drummer for them; he turned out to be Phil Tweedie from The Primitives and during the self-inflicted delay between the band's only two single releases (after Marshall - possibly Rock Marshall? - fell off the back of a motorbike), they managed to managed to be joined by Phil King from Felt

Oh, and just to complete the Pet Frame style Rock Family Trees feel of this, the final nail in the band's coffin was King leaving to join Lush. He's in JAMC now as well. He gets about a bit does that boy...

This is the track one from the first EP - "See See Rider - She Sings Alone":

Right click, "save as..." to download
So there you go, read the excellent official site for lots more information. There's also a brief wikipedia page

The Nivens

Wouldn't you know it, I just get sorted with putting The Nivens on here and it turns out that there's two bands called the same thing. Even worse, they could both fit in here quite happily.

What to do? Nuts to it, I'm going with my original Nivens; the lot from Ashington, Northumberland. Mostly because they're the ones I meant to put up, but partially because the next band I get on here will probably be the band that released a split flexi (yay!) with them in 1988. More of that later though.

So, The Nivens, formed in 1987, released the aforementioned flexi and two other proper singles; put out a compilation CD, played loads of gigs and supported indie luminaries like

"The Las, My Bloody Valentine, Cud, Primal Scream, Brilliant Corners, Family Cat, and any indie band who bothered to visit the north"

and then folded.

Their official site is here and has what you need to know.

I also particularly like them because their music is intelligent and catchy and the second track on the double-A sided (I miss double A sides, you wouldn't get Billy Bragg having a secret number one these days) final EP The Dialect Drug is called, rather fantastically I thought, "The Necessity for Spastics in the 20th Century".

And this is it, The Nivens - The Necessity for Spastics in the 20th Century; great isn't it. I'd heartily recommend getting hold of the EP as it's genuinely really good.

For the other Nivens, go look at their Myspace page

The Trashcan Sinatras

I'm breaking one of my own unwritten rules again today with The Trashcan Sinatras, because they're still going; and indeed have fairly recently released new material and will be putting out a new single in October 2008. All the guff you really need about the band is on the official site.

Still, it's good to put them up as they're another of the bands that dropped their "The" to sound more rock and roll and they're another band from Scotland; though not Glasgow for a change. For a change, the wikipedia page really does tell you most of the stuff you'll need to know about the band.

I really liked the band when they were in their 90s heyday, and this is one of the few records I've actually had for a while in the cupboard that a) isn't off ebay or from the lovely chaps at Vinyl Tap and b) isn't the only record I own by the band (because of reason a).

Mind you, this particular recording is from a DJ only promo as you can see in the picture. All I can say is: God knows what DJs do to their records. This one is scratched to fuck and took me four attempts, metaphorically balancing 2p coins on the arm of the record player, to get the sodding thing to play and record.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of my needle-knackering exploits: The Trashcan Sinatras - Circling the Circumference; go download the new single from the official site and remember just how good The Trashcan Sinatras were.

Or you can of course buy the band's classic 1990 album Cake here.

The Prudes

For the second offering of double-request-post Wednesday, we're going to go with a band that again I'm a bit short of information about: The Prudes.

From Last.fm we know they were formed by Bradleigh Smith and Pete Ellis in 1987. They recorded 5 singles and an album (Designer Karma) on Imaginary Records and from the bit my chum Gareth remembers, Bradleigh and Terry Bickers from the House of Love covered the Velvet Underground's "I'm set free" on the early 90s compilation album "Heaven & Hell". They also may have recorded a Peel Session.

So, once more it's a call for information, know anything about The Prudes?

While you rummage through the loft of memory, have a listen to The Prudes - Glad, it's really rather good.

The Hollow Men

The Hollow Men were first brought to my attention by a nice lady called Mandy, who emailed me way back in March. She'd been after a copy of an EP called The Drowning Man. Sadly I can't help with that particular request, but I can help with a lovely 12" called "What To Look For In Summer".

So, The Hollow Men. Coming out of Leeds in the mid-1980s, the band were at least a six-piece and released numerous albums and singles (according to their myspace page anyway). The band were lumped in with the Madchester groups of the time, unfairly really as they do sound a bit like the Stone Roses et al, but once more there's far more depth to the music that you'd expect; compare them with Northside and you'll see how much better they were.

The Last FM page has a pretty good discography and background (and, for Mandy has The Drowning Man for you listening pleasure).

Anyway, Madchester aside, you'll like this, it's The Hollow Men - November Comes; and it features some of that great wah-wah pedal-created wacka-wacka noise that was so popular in 1990.

Oh, and according to my chum Gareth, one of their first press photos had them all brushing their teeth. Crazy!

Amazingly, Cresta, their album is available for as little as 50p on Amazon!

Hang on! Youtube comes up trumps again...

Paris Angels

Paris Angels were part of the great Manchester indie/dance crossover explosion of 1990 and were well up there with the best of them. Although sadly nowhere near popular and remembered as some of their contemporaries, the Paris Angels were just as good, if not better.

The seven piece band featured, amongst others, Paul Wagstaff (latterly of The Mondays) on guitar and were regulars in the Hacienda scene that made "Madchester" the terrifying behemoth of dance and bad trousers that it became.

The Wikipedia amd 24 hour party people pages have what you need to know.

This is Paris Angels - Perfume, the band's first single from 1990, number 6 in the 1990 Festive Fifty, which beat such luminaries as The Happy Mondays, The Orb and the mighty New FADS. The 1990 Festive Fifty, as an aside, is a list of probably the 50 most indie songs ever put together; how many have you got in your collection?

And the video, thank you youtube.

Edsel Auctioneer

Edsel Auctioneer (or possibly The Edsel Auctioneer I can never remember) have been on my list of bands for here for a while now, but I'd been umming and ahhing around and not getting round to it for various reasons. Then this week I finally got round to copying the 12" I had to hand and, well I'll be honest here, I can't believe I'd forgotten how much I liked them.

There's a nice little history here and once again the wiki page is a great help so avail yourself there for now. But basically the band were from Leeds, formed in 1988, banged out half a dozen cracking EPs and a couple of albums, played some Peel Sessions and split.

But I guess the important thing for me is that at the height of the floppy-fringed twattery of "Madchester", bands from our side of the Pennines were producing really good "rock" music, for want of a better name. A lot of the reviews liken the band's music to Dinosaur Jr and you can see why, there's a lot of swooping, screaming guitar and good old-fashioned (well, old-fashioned now but not quite so popular in late 1989) wailing and gnashing vocals.

Oh, and from the first linked site here a lovely bit of indie/football cross over that I'm hoping to bring you an extra special post about in a week or so:

"the [band's] instrumental track [on their second LP The Good Time Music Of...] named "11th September 94" more than likely refers to Leeds beating Man Utd 2-1 on that day (a Sunday). The Leeds goals were apparently scored by Brian Deane and David Wetherall."

This here then is Edsel Auctioneer - Unbroken Line from 1990's Gutted EP; this post is brought to you by the need to record the fact that it's 29th February and if I'm still doing this in four years time, the wife will have divorced me!

Also, you might have noticed I've started including links to buy some of the music featured on here, I noticed that Amazon has a lot of this stuff and if, like me, you want to spend a few bob here and there I'm going to try and put them in to help (and, as it's affiliate linked, help me out as well). So here you can buy the aforementioned album on CDor on vinyl.

The Charlottes

Today we have some cracking early 90s East Anglian indie pop action (it's not often you'll hear that said!) from much missed band The Charlottes. Swooping in on the C86 bandwagon, The Charlottes showed the way for a lot of those who came after. There's more than a hint of Ride in there and when the drummer Simon Scott went off to form Slowdive there was a straight line drawn from one to the other.

As with many of the proper indie bands, The Charlottes were firm Peel favourites, recording two Peel Sessions, and they toured extensively; playing to the massed ranks of shoegazing fops at such places as the Duchess of York in Leeds and the Old Trout in Windsor. We knew what we wanted and we knew were to get it!

According to MusicOMH.com, a pretty bloody useful review, interview and features website I'd highly recommend:

"Lovehappy [the debut album] from The Charlottes, described by the NME's Steve Lamacq no less as "altogether more sexy than Kylie", when awarding it 9/10. Sadly for the band it sold rather fewer copies than the diminutive Antipodean."

There's a pretty comprehesive biography here and on the Cherry Red site here and here is The Charlottes - Liar, in all its characteristic ding-dinga-dinga-ding indie-tweeness-glory.

The Headmen

How did we manage before the internet was invented? Before everyday people recorded everything they ever knew on web pages, I'd have been left with a vague recollection of a Huddersfield-based band called The Headmen who I saw play a few gigs at places like the Top Spot Snooker Club when I was a lad - presumably where I picked up the 7" plastic here - but really nothing more.

Now of course I know that they did indeed play at Top Spot - with other local band of legend Fluffpulp - thanks to a collection of photos here and that courtesy of bass player Dave Pattern's blog they

"were signed to a local label (Positive Records) and released a demo tape ("The Happy Shoebox"), a single ("Kissed to Pieces") which got quite a bit of Radio 1 airplay, and a 12" EP ("Reach the Sky") — the demo tape was supposed to named "The Magic Shoebox", which was the name of a shoe shop opposite the "4th Wave Records" shop in Huddersfield."

There is also a flickr group of photos from their gigs here. I've been looking through the photos for the past half hour and mercifully they're all from Halifax and Hipperholme gigs so I'm not in any of them.

So actually I feel a bit dirty posting an mp3 of the music; so dirty I'm going to email Dave and ask him if it's ok. But because you've probably not heard of them and they are as deserving of going on here as any one else, catch while you can, The Headmen - Kissed to Pieces.

World of Twist

I'll admit that I had to have a good rummage around on the internet to refresh my memories of World of Twist. 1990 was a bit early for me to be getting into the Madchester "baggy" scene that gave us the Happy Mondays. Fortunately, later experimentation with living in Manchester brought it to my full attention - need less to say two years too late. Then of course, further experimentation with snakebite and recreational drugs rather dulled my memories for these later years.

Anyway. Originally formed in the mid-80s and re-invented in 1989/1990, World of Twist were yet another highly-regarded band that never quite made it as big as they should have. Although feted by Alan McGee of Creation Records as better then Pulp, creative differences (that old chestnut) and generally poor critical and pubic reception of their debut album saw them split after only a couple of years.

Sadly the best bit of guff I could find about the band comes from the Guardian's obituary of the band's frontman Tony Ogden:

World of Twist's style fused glam-rock sensibilities with pulsating psychedelic pop, dazzling sell-out crowds at the Manchester Ritz, London Astoria and Sheffield Leadmill. An eccentric fusion of high- and low-tech visuals featuring spinning cut-out heads of the band's members, pyrotechnics and fake fur was the backdrop to Tony's magnetic presence, darkly handsome in sleek-fitting clothes.

However, their singles, including Sons of the Stage (1990), adopted by Oasis as their opening live number, and described by BBC radio's Mark Riley as "one of the greatest songs of all time", failed to break into the top 40. Their only album, Quality Street (1991), featuring Ogden on the cover in a soldier's uniform looking like Terence Stamp in Far From the Madding Crowd, disappointed critics, fans and the band alike.

Radio 1 sessions for John Peel and Mark Goodyear came closer to capturing the sound and energy of their live presence.

So, enjoy this offering: World of Twist - The Storm.

It's not the famous naked cover of "Sons of the Stage", but it is a cracker nonetheless.

Also on YouTube!

Teenage Fanclub

At last! A bit of plastic that's worth more now than when I bought it. Teenage Fanclub's cover version of The Ballad of John and Yoko, released for one day only in 1990 on one-sided 7 inch single; by crikey if it's not worth about 20 of your British Pounds Sterling today.

Of course records are deleted all the time and it was always a good way of picking up a few extra sales back in the good old days, but there's only 5000 copies of this particular single in existence. See, 5000 copies.

Teenage Fanclub are still going of course, but in the early 90s the "fannies" were the epitome of indie-pop. I've seen them live a couple of times back in the dark ages and Bandwagonesque is still one of my favourite albums from those halcyon days. It's dated now of course, but it only takes the first couple of seconds of Star Sign to get me up and dancing around my living room.

Here you go, a nice scratchy (and one of only 5000 copies in existence) vinyl mp3 of Teenage Fanclub - Ballad of John and Yoko.

Bridewell Taxis

Ah Manchester, you gave us baggy trousers, ecstacy and the Hacienda. Manchester, home of grown men with pudding bowl haircuts and 35 inch flares. Manchester: Moss Side murders, Hulme squatter and Tony Wilson.

They might have had all that, but we were from Yorkshire and any sane person knew in their heart of hearts that we were better. Let's be really honest here The Wedding Present were (and indeed still are) far better than The Smiths. Noone does angst-ridden misery quite like a man from Leeds. Morrissey? trying too hard, a bit wet. No one can strangle his vocals quite like David Gedge.

And as for the Happy Mondays? Where did they play their mega-gig to end all mega-gigs? Elland Road. Leeds. Home of the Bridewell Taxis.

In the first coming of the city on the right side of the Pennines, the Bridewell Taxis were the cool band, the local lads made good, the scruffy oiks who took music by the scruff of the neck and showed those blood Lancastrians how to do it.

Ready Steady Go says it far more eloquently than I can right here:

"Local legends the Bridewell Taxis were carrying the torch for the city at the time of the Madchester scene. Their impact and success was more remarkable than that of our current crop of leading lights because back then, in 1989, the media was no way near as powerful as it is today.

Lesser bands today are rewarded with far more media exposure than most successful bands did back in the early 90s.

Even in retrospect their legacy should be applauded. Even if they didn't conquer the world they did become the most successful band Leeds has ever produced prior to recent success of the Kaiser Chiefs. Back in the day, this band was the cool band to name drop."

A lovely bit of nostalgia here, the band's second EP and a bit of vinyl that could set you back all of £2 on eBay now, a bit of vinyl that probably cost me £3 from Big Tree Records in Huddersfield - money I should have been spending on cheap bitter. That's 3 quid I'll never see again. Unless they come again and make me a millionaire...

The Bridewell Taxis - Give in

I don't know why I'm flying the flag for Leeds, I'm from Huddersfield. We had some of the best new-wave of new-wave punk in the country; our 'Madchester' bands - and if I can find my white label HX2 12 inch then you'll hear what we had to offer (here it is!), and the Popcorn Groove, they were a band that should have made it - were just swamped.

Leeds? So much to answer for...

Power of Dreams

Once upon a time there was an Irish band called Power of Dreams; in 1989 they released a debut EP that had all the majors fighting for their signatures. Caught up in the early 90s indie tidal wave they were feted as the next big things.

They signed a megabucks deal and toured worldwide to rave reviews. Their classic indie-stylings earning rave reviews. They were, along with many other indie bands, "big in Japan".

Alas their fame would not last and in 1994 the band split. Members went their separate ways - some to release solo material, one to play with the Sultans of Ping - of whom more later.

They're making a comeback now. I'mnot sure I hold with all these old bands coming back for one last money-making scam, but there we go. The power of the 35-year-old man's disposable income is what it is.

So here we are; Power of Dreams - 100 Ways to Kill a Love.

Not much of an entry, but it'll do for now.

Ride

Ahhh, Ride. The very peak of early 90s shoegazing. Discovered by Creation Records svengali Alan McGee supporting the Soup Dragons (I'll have to do them as well, I think I've still got a rare early tape somewhere) and famed for their soaring feedback and rhythm guitar.

Despite never really gaining the fame and fortune that they deserved, Ride put out three EPs: "Ride", "Play" and "Fall" in 1990 that set the marker for the swooping indie pop guitar that bands would follow - with varying successes - for the next few years. While Madchester was all electric dance and ecstacy; shoegazing kept the indie kids dancing aimlessy in circles while wearing hoopy jumpers and felling slightly more happy with life than the poor saps who were still in love with Morrissey.

They were great. My mate Si espoused their wonders after a gig at the Duchess of York in Leeds; they made us all want to buy wah-wah pedals and learn to break amps; I went out with a girl who loved them; ahhh, the 90s.

In 1995 Ride departed; Mark Gardener went off to join Oasis and we all got our haircut, Radio 1 destroyed our ears with Celine Dion and Oasis and Blur fought out a number one with two frankly dull records.

So, Taste. Not the earliest of vinyl, probably not their best record either, but one I bought on one-sided 7 inch "radio play" vinyl at a record fair. Hell, I probably thought they'd go on forever and this bit of plastic would make me rich. Like so many others, it never did and never will; unless in the post-oil apocalyptic world people are fighting for old plastic.

Here it is Taste, by Ride, from the Fall EP

Ned's Atomic Dustbin

The first gig I ever went to, at least the first one I can remember, was Ned's Atomic Dustbin at the late and lamented Duchess of York in Leeds. It was the summer of 1990, I was in the middle of my GCSEs, christ alone knows how I managed to convince my parents to let me go.

I remember seeing the advert in the NME and being so excited I had to rush to school and tell my friends and convince them to go. I remember that it was Gareth (who was at the Bob gig with me below) and Si. In later years these two were to lead me astray more than any other people since, but they were up for it so off we went.

At the time the band only just released Kill Your Television, so they can only have had about 8 songs but it didn't matter, this was my introduction to proper rock and roll. And watered-down piss-awful beer and stage-diving. And the late train back to Huddersfield.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin were part of the same West Midlands indie scene that gave us The Wonderstuff and Mega City 4. They were so rock and roll they had two bassists and by God they were good live. More than anything though, they sold t-shirts like nobody else alive. Jon the singer couldn't so much as go to the shops without the band releasing a celebratory shirt.

As I typed that last line I remembered that I've still got a t-shirt from that very first gig, it's old and fucked and faded and I've been carting the sodding thing around ever since even though it doesn't fit me, but I've still got it and if I have any say in the matter it'll be buried with me.

I know that the band have cashed in over the past couple of years and you can get pretty much everything on CD now, but "Plug Me In" from the very first Ingredients EP is still one of my favourite 150 seconds of music so here it is in all it's scratchy vinyly goodness.

Bob

It's indie-gig-reminiscence time I'm afraid. Back in the mists of time me and my mate Gareth saw Bob supporting Carter USM at the "Black Hole" - the affectionate name for the Huddersfield Poly bar/small gig venue/disco - in what I presume was 1990 or 1991. Bob were supporting Carter just after the release of Anytime Anyplace Anwhere (I bought a T-shirt from each band which were favourites for many years).

As I recall we left our friends, who didn't want to come, in the Zetland and went across the road. We stayed almost to the end, then had to leave as we were only young and had to make the last bus home. I never said it was a good story.

According to the INTERNET they were "formed in North London in 1986 [and released] their debut EP What A Perfomance in 1989. The follow up Kirsty was released the following year. The band at this time were being play listed by John Peel which saw them record two Peel Sessions in 1989. With their profile growing the band released three singles in 1989 being the 7" flexi Prune Your Love as well as two singles Convenience and Esmeralda Brooklyn. 1990 saw the band release the Stride Up EP and this was followed by the bands proper first album Leave The Straight Life Behind. Sadly for the band the distribution arm of Rough Trade financially collapsed and the band dissolved at the back end of 1991."

What the records on the internet haven't heard of by the looks of things is the band's penultimate EP; so to celebrate me finding it in the cupboard, here is the vinyl-to-mp3 conversion of the title track from the Tired EP.

As an aside, Stride Up features a fantastic cover of the Beatles song "Rain", but for me it's Tired that brings back the memories.

Again, download is righty-clicky. And again, yes, I know it's copyrighted material but as none of this stuff is available on one of those new-fangled CDs, it's the only way to remember them.

Bob - Tired