Jemblog

sunshine playroom - 1985-1990

Some things i remember about the sunshine playroom

- Bobby Gillespie dancing to Thinking of You by Sister Sledge virtually every week in 1989.

- Going every single wednesday night (even once when I had flu) for nearly 2 years betwen 1988-1990.

- Sam, Louise, Julia, Dave (went back to Birmingham), Simon with the beard, Sean and Gordon, (the DJs)

- When it all started to go wrong when they did the club up in 1990 and they ripped out the carpet.

- Rob Iced Bear.

- Hearing Loaded for the first time.

- Hearing Sweetie by The Chefs for the first time

- My hair cuts.

- Dancing a lot.

- And then i started going to the Bubblegum Factory instead.
 

Kaleidoscope Pop

This is a flyer from March 1987 from a club night held in Rickys in Leeds.  Rickys had a lot of chrome and presumably didn't play the Pastels on anything other than Tuesday (or was it thursdays) nights. I saw My Bloody Valentine play there in early 88 by which time they had started to become v.noisy indeed. I remember once asking the DJ once to play more new stuff by which i probably meant The Primitives or Biff Bang Pow! or something. I kissed my future wife in that club anyhow, the drinks promotions were 70p! and Bobby Gillespie (as the flyer promises) didn't turn up on March 22nd. He had to sign on that day instead. Well it was the eighties. He did show up at some point apparently but i missed it.  God I loved that club.

ICA C86 Nights in 2006

It was rumoured as long ago as February when Bob Stanley gave an interview to Uncut but the C86 week at the ICA is now confirmed except its now a couple of nights at the end of the month.
I just got this mail from the Wolfhounds mail list. Tickets go on sale on Monday. The ICA site also confirms the existence of Hungry Beat; Bob Stanley and Paul Kelly's  "a fascinating look at the British independent music scene of the 1980's" and I think they mean a lot more Steven Pastel and Lawrence than Ian Astbury or Wayne Hussey here. Some footage will be shown over the weekend. Duffle coats at the ready!

“The ICA celebrates the rise of British independent music, with two nights of live music, DJs, documentary footage and more, co-curated by the ICA, members of St Etienne, Heavenly Recordings, and Rough Trade Shops. Up from the underground, this is the story of British independent music in the 1980's: what we now call 'indie' music.”
http://www.ica.org.uk/?lid=12257

Friday 27th October: The Magic Numbers, Gokart Mozart, Vic Godard & the Subway Sect + DJs St Etienne and Jeff Barrett

Saturday 28th October: Roddy Frame (Aztec Camera), Phil Wilson (Junebrides), The Wolfhounds + DJs The Pastels

Tickets £22:50 – Get them from Monday at the ICA. These will go quick. Wolfhounds will be on at 8pm so no hanging around in the bar trying to look cool. You’re as old as us so grow up.

CD86

So via Tom on Indie MP3 - Keep C86 Alive (no less) comes the news of CD86. (geddit ?) Apparently 48 tracks all the way from "the birth of Indie Pop" (although the CD has tracks between 1984-1989). The cover looks like a spoof (spotted dresses, WHAAAM, Centre Point ?, "right here" on the guitar) and it all feels a bit crap compared to the very similar and impressive Rough Trade Indiepop Vol 1.
But then its all down to licencing. And if you go through the tracklisting then there's Sun, A Small Star from the Servants, On Tape, Anorak City, Jasmine Minks, If I Said by the Darling Buds. There's even some 14 Iced Bears (not Inside though) and Jack and Julian by the magnificent Bachelor Pad. My one small contribution to art was "promoting" one of their gigs once supporting the equally astonishing Jesse Garon and the Desperadoes. I was DJing and got off with my (long in the future) wife.  What a night indeed. So i'll stop carping as I will inevitably buy it. I enjoy buying duplicate copies of stuff I already own.   All together now.."I've got Falling and Laughing...the original Postcard version."

 

C86, Folksonomies and Information Architecture

C86. I can't stop myself. The wonderful Tangents website is run by the very fine Alistair Fitchett who on his blog the other day, published some honest answers to a questionnaire about the C86 "movement" for a Swedish guy who is doing a thesis on Bogshed or something. Sensibly enough both Alistair and Everett True (who also filled it in) were circumspect about categorising music from this period in this way, arguing that the labelling was inaccurrate in most cases and that, in the end it was just a marketing exercise by NME. I then posted a rather pompous comment to the post arguing that C86 (like "queer" presumably) had been reclaimed by the kids as a bottom up term and was now being used to help people sell stuff on eBay. I'm not certain what C86 has to do with folksonomies as it turns out (as George was quick to remind me). Too much time on Flickr has frazzled my brain. However, it is true that for some reason C86 is the term of choice to shift any of this old nonsense on eBay at the moment being attached to currently 128 items by not just the Shop Assistants, Mighty Lemon Drops and the like but (ropey) old singles by Revolving Paint Dream, Ride, Slowdive and even SWPopsters; The Redskins.
It could be worse. My mate's band the other day were dubbed, of all things; mumblecore, by the bloomin NME. Can't see theses on that in Swedish Universities in 2016.

My Suitor: Berntholer

Christmas 1983. At weekends I worked in a miserable newsagents next to the Tesco in Boundary Road, Hove on the “music” counter. (we only stocked cassettes). Cold, miserable Saturday afternoons listening to Thriller and Lionel Ritchie over and over. 3 memorable moments. Being sacked a few weeks later for having the wrong “attitude”. How thrilled I was for this to happen when you like the Smiths and you're 18. Spending weeks summoning up the courage to ask the blonde shopgirl out and then being crushed in 5 seconds. “er, we’ll see” and then she laughed. Nice. Maybe it was my Next jumper. And ridiculously most Sunday mornings playing (the "manager" was invariably asleep hungover on the floor of  his “office” overlooking the shop) entire John Peel shows (well what you could fit onto a C90) Yes that is Xmal Deutschland/Cocteau Twins/the Mighty Wah! sir. Is that a Twix you want with your Mayfair and the Sunday People. Fascist!

For months Peel was in love with this. I was in love with this. Even the shopgirl finally fell in love with this (but not with me).  My Suitor by Belgian group; Berntholer was a 1983 single full of cello, the spooky vocals of Albanian; Drita Kotaji, and 10 ounces of nico drenched balladery. It was eventually released by WEA (Blanco Y Negro) over here and sold 10,000 copies. As a result it limped into  the Festive Fifty for 1984 at No.34 betwen Robert Wyatt and This Mortal Coil and they've been virtually forgotten and misspelt ever since. For years its been unavailable but thankfully a lavish compilation ; "Merry Lines in the Sky" was put together by the LTM fellas late last year which includes this and many more miserable torch songs. Its a very beatiful record. Perfect for sunday mornings on the Boundary Road selling crisps.

Hit Parade: Back Back Back

Back in the day this lot suddenly appeared with their pianos, golden voice(s) and about 82 record sales (mostly in Japan). Unlike the other incompetents, the Hit Parade had both the genuine love of a nice tune but with a briefcase attached. A real record label !, being aloof from the grubby inky weeklies, irony (well it was very earnest in the 80s...Have you ever read "Are you scared to get Happy ?") and bloomin heck: staying power. Ok they flirted with the indiepoposphere by  signing to Sarah and releasing a christmas single with Amelia (from Tallulah Gosh) but I'm sure it was only because that chimed perfectly with the Parade's demographic. (Lovelorn anorak wearers, the youth of the far East, er me.). And didn't they know it. So  almost 20 years on and (presumably) financed by his evil career as a marketing executive  Julian Henry (for it is he) / The Hit Parade have returned to the fray. Starting with probably the last ever UK advertising campaign for a 7" single (quarter pagers in Mojo and Word and everything) their 3rd (4th..I'm not sure) album is upon us in a few months time. I've not heard it yet but of course it'll be annoyingly perfect and I'll be whistling it for weeks. The kids won't know where to turn. 3 Field Mice Reissues, A *new*  Go Betweens album, Simon Reynolds book, 4 more years of Tony Blair and this. Its all too much. Well better than those bloomin columns in the Guardian thats for sure. Henry's House. Ho Ho..

Sweetie: The Chefs

I first heard this long forgotten single at Sunshine Playroom in the summer of 1987. Naively at the time I wrongly assumed it was by Talulah Gosh or probably a new Sha-La-La flexi. Fruitless journeys around Brightons (many) 2nd hand shops ensued. I then caused no doubt endless mirth attempting to sing the bloody thing over several counters trying to track it down.
I paid three quid of my dole money for it 2 weeks later having found it in a shop in, of all places, Leeds. The most joyous, poppiest single I owned.

Sweetie by The Chefs was released in 1980 on Attrix Records, a small label in Brighton and also the name of a shop in Sydney Street that sold punk singles. The history of the label and bands from the time are recalled here on Stuart Wilson's astonishing biographical site; "The Punk History of Brighton". Apparently I wasn't the only one who liked The Chefs.

“Stuart! There’s someone on the phone for you!” This turned out to be none other than Pete Waterman himself, who then proceeded to froth at the mouth with adoration about the Chefs! He loved their image, their songs, and was going to make them stars, millionaires! He went on and on about their song Sweetie: “Its gonna be a number one all over the world! Im tellin’ ya!”

The site has dozens of old flyers, discographies, memoirs and news of the bands and this brief profile of the band taken from the Brighton compilation; Vaultage 79

The Chefs call their music pop as they really are too nice to cut it as punks. Catchy, distinctive and sparse, the Chefs sing about oral sex, VD, boredom and food. One song, Thrush, has a great punk lyric: 'I was just a bunk-up for you to get your spunk up'.

it turned out I'd already owned a single by Helen "McCookerybook" Reddington. (the band's singer/songwriter) Freight Train by her later band; Helen and the Horns. They didn't become stars either. But, 25 years on, Helen has bravely decided to have another go, The Chefs/Horns output is being reissued and Helen and the Horns have reformed and are playing at the Brighton Komedia on June 22nd. Ok its not exactly  Duran Duran or Gang of Four proportions but hey anyone who can write a single with the lyrics "Records and Tea are all life means to me" is worth celebrating second time around.

 

Get well soon Edwyn.

Edwyn - Hope you're ok soon.

UPDATE (Mar 30): He's starting to recover.

The Field Mice

Oh how I loved the Field Mice. In January 2005, their entire back catalogue (including flexis and assorted compiliation gubbins) is being reissued on 3 CDS (4 discs) on LTM records. Alastair Fitchett (Tangents, Unpopular) has done a lengthy biography.
Sensitive. That was the one.