So it’s come to this, he says.

Guess so. My eyes dart away from his as if I can somehow escape the awkwardness.

I said I was sorry, he says. As if I am the one being difficult.

I look down. I hate confrontation. I think I might hedge. So I say nothing.

The silence spreads out like glue, forever pasting us to this uncomfortable moment and each other.

He continues to gaze at me.

I don’t know what you want me to say, I say. I can’t make you understand if you don’t or you won’t.

I wonder, how many times I have uttered these words in the real world and in my head.

If you want me to forgive you, don’t say you’re sorry.

He looks at me, puzzled, dumbfounded, which I could’ve predicted all along.

The signs were all there

It is great when the buzz builds around a local band and they come crashing into the top 20 with a brilliant breakthrough single. That was what happened with Blameless in 1996, but unfortunately the Sheffield band never managed to build on this initial success.

The breakthrough song in question was Breathe (a little deeper), an atmospheric-yet-melodic three-chord guitar anthem released in March 1996 and playlisted on Radio 1 at the time:

Debut album, The signs are all there, followed in September that year and if I recall correctly, Town clowns, Don’t say you’re sorry and Signs were all lifted from it as singles. But they would fail to trouble the top 75 again and the story of what happened to the band now seems to have been lost. I would be interested to hear when the band split and whether they continued to make music post-Blameless.

The video for the Signs single can be seen on this video from the Chart show in 1996. Signs starts from 0:48:

If you enjoyed that, the YouTube user that uploaded this indie chart has lots more Chart show top 10s online.