Josef K – The Farewell Single 7″.  Les Disques Du Crepuscule (TWI 053).  1982.

1. The Missionary
2. One Angle
3. Second Angle

Josef K – Chance Meeting 7″.  Postcard Records (81-5).  1981.

1. Chance Meeting
2. Pictures Of Cindy

Josef K – Sorry For Laughing 7″.  Les Disques Du Crepuscule (TWI 023).  Also assigned Postcard Records # 81-4.  1981.

1. Sorry For Laughing
2. Revelation

Josef K – It’s Kinda Funny 7″.  Postcard Records (80-5).  1980.

1. It’s Kinda Funny
2. Final Request

Josef K – Radio Drill Time 7″.  Postcard Records (80-3).  1980.

1. Radio Drill Time
2. Crazy To Exist (live)

Josef K – Chance Meeting 7″.  Absolute Records (ABS 1).  1979.

1. Chance Meeting
2. Romance

I know, I know. 2009 is still kicking and screaming and I’m already laying it to rest. Well there is method in my madness. Firstly, I’ve been neglecting this blogging-lark way too much so I need to get going again with something. (I was going to post a treatise on the last two Durutti Column box-sets but just couldn’t quite get motivated to do so). Secondly, I don’t think I have purchases that will arrive before we slam headlong into Christmas so it’s as good a time as any to do this.

I’ve just done a Select-All on my “Last 12 Months Additions” playlist in iTunes and popped the results into Excel. There’s 3845 songs. Don’t know how many albums, but if we take an average of 10 songs per album we’re looking at an album a day in 2009! I won’t be reviewing all of these, but I may post the full listing once I’ve finished the reviews so you get to see my more embarrassing moments too.

So let’s get started.

Christmas 2008 ushered in a new turn-table in the Walsh household. I spent most of the Christmas holidays assembling my new Linn Sondek LP12. I was determined to re-emphasise my commitment to vinyl in 2009 and I needed the correct platform upon which to express myself. I was determined that where possible I would look to vinyl as my primary audio source in 2009. Well, I’d say I’ve been about 20% successful. That’s to say, around 20% of my purchases in 2009 have been vinyl. Luckily, with most of the independent labels they’ve understood the necessity to provide free MP3 downloads which have given me the added benefit of vinyl on my iPod (??). I do think that once you’ve bought either the CD or vinyl version of an artists hard work you should be allowed access to a digital version by default.

Looking at the list I have just created, there are several vinyl gems missing that I have to cover (like the Thom Yorke/Jonny Geenwood 12″), so I’ll probably wrap-up this review with a vinyl dedicated section.

Let’s get moving…..

CSS “Donkey” and No Age “Nouns” were my first two vinyl purchases of 2009. Two hot tips from the Sub Pop stable. No Age play sub-2-minute punk-pop-thrashes, Sonic Youth meets “Land Speed Record” Husker Du with a fun-pop twist. So good I’d buy their follow-up later in the year. CSS were a bit too retro-pop-elctronica for this old git, but enjoyable none-the-less.

Bricolage “Bricolage” a Postcard Records reminiscent release and surprise, surprise the band was from Glasgow. The album was released on Creeping Bent. There were a couple of Postcard-esque releases in 2009, but this one stood out. Certainly worth a look. (Funny, 2009 was a bit of a Postcard year. This album. The Postcard Records documentaries that I watched from the BBC, downloaded of course. Edwyn Collins book. Malcolm Ross and the Low Miffs. A serious Josef K overload in June/July. And Pastels and Tenniscoats – I know, not strictly Postcard, but have definitely carried the torch for quality, independent, Scottish music).

The Factory Records CD Box-Set arrived just after Christmas. It was basically the repackaging of the old “Palatine” box-set. But as slice of musical history it’s a must have. Few record labels have shaped music and youth culture in the way that Factory did. If you’re a Factory completist (like myself) this is a must, and if you’re looking for a place to start your exploration this is a great reference. There’s nothing rare and unusual on this compilation – if you want those elusive b-sides or live tracks take a look at LTM.

From one re-release to another; “Urban Gamelan” by 23 Skidoo. Skidoo are one of the most sampled bands in history (“Coup” specifically). I’d waited for their back catalogue to become available on CD for years and been rewarded when most of it was released on Ronin Records around 2001/2002. These first re-releases certainly eased the wear-and-tear on the original vinyl versions, but it was the re-releases on LTM that I managed to get my hands on some of the rarities. If you want to understand how original Industrial morphed into funk, dance or ambient then add this to your collection. One question though….when will someone reissue all the Fetish back-catalogue, starting with “The Last Testament”? Skidoo does Hawaii 5-0, classic!

Oh, by the way, we’re in February at the moment and my 41st birthday is looming. I updated iTunes with Light Syndicate’s “Last In Line” on Feb 6th, 2009. I’m trying to remember why I bought this, I can’t remember. The Piccadilly Records website (where I bought it from) says “Following in the footsteps of fellow Mancunian melodic prog-metallers Oceansize, Light Syndicate create a sound so layered and dense, you’d need a crowbar to prise it open. The band’s super-tight sound is no more evident than on the album’s instrumental opener “10 Seconds To Live”, it’s tense, protracted build setting up for a ride that’s going to be equal parts thrilling and ass-kicking. Following on from this taut, display of power “Highrise Buildings”, sees a sudden shift of dynamic, with a solo violin line giving way to a song crammed with structural complexities and slow builds, brimming with guitar riffs and vocal hooks. Chris Briden’s soaring, melancholic vocals seem to have graduated from the ’school of post-Jeff Buckley’, at times brushing up against Chris Martin’s most memorable melodies”. Well, I remember thinking that they sounded a lot like Radiohead in places and very prog-rockish in others. Worth a spin, or wait for their second album I’m sure it’ll be where this was supposed to be!

KTL. “IV”. Doom. Gloom. Drone metal and dark ambient. I think you get the picture. It’s great. Turn the lights down low. Close your eyes. Dream of destruction and demonic possession. Classic stuff.

“Merriweather Post Pavillion” Animal Collective. A high point of 2009 and destined for my Top Ten. (Yes I will try to do one). There’s been plenty written about this album this year, so you either already own it or don’t get it. (Digressing partially, check out their performance on the ATP Film – mind blowing). Just buy this. If you hate it – tough luck – if you don’t, congratulations you’ve just entered another phase in musical appreciation.

Mrs. P brought me a gatefold, vinyl version of the Fleet Foxes album from Sydney around this time. Included a download key for the “Sun Giant” EP, so this is where we end Part 1. Feb 7, 2009. Fleet Foxes. Need I say more?

Here’s the latest batch of Music Musings and Miscellany’s unapologetically subjective selection of the twentieth century’s best 1000 singles.

THE BYRDS – So You Want to Be a Rock ‘n’ Roll Star / Everybody’s Been Burned (Columbia 43987 1967)
They had a bit of a nerve poking fun at the Monkees when just a couple of years earlier only McGuinn played on their own debut single. Still it’s a fun piece of satire. The flip is one of the best things the Byrds ever did, a dark but hopeful Crosby ballad.

BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE – Soldier Blue / Moratorium (RCA 2081 1971)
Ralph Nelson’s 1970 western Soldier Blue was unlike any other before it. Shockingly violent and, for once, the good guys were definitely not the US Cavalry. Based on a true massacre that happened in 1864, it was also as much about Mai Lai and the Vietnam War. Buffy Sainte-Marie, a Cree herself, invested the song with both anger and bitter sorrow and yet it is just as much a celebration of the natural wonders of a country and her own ancestry.

DUKE ELLINGTON & HIS ORCHESTRA – Solitude / Mood Indigo (Columbia 35427 1940)
Ivie Anderson is one of the most underrated jazz vocalists, and she shines on these two Ellington ballads, both of which have become standards crooned by virtually every nightclub and torch singer since.

PETER GABRIEL – Solsbury Hill / Moribund the Burgemeister (Charisma 301 1977)
Fresh out of Genesis, Peter Gabriel launched his solo career with this, still one of his most poignant songs. Solsbury Hill itself overlooks Bath in Somerset, and the song captures that very special pleasure of sitting somewhere still and peaceful and watching the lights and bustle of the city night below.

JESUS & MARY CHAIN – Some Candy Talking / Psychocandy / Hit (Blanco Y Negro 19 1986)
By 1986 the screech of feedback had largely been excised from the Mary Chain’s records, replaced by cavernous echo. With it went a lot of the vigour and excitement, but that didn’t matter so much on songs as good as this, with its booming Spectorish sound.

LEE HAZLEWOOD & NANCY SINATRA – Some Velvet Morning / Oh Lonesome Me (Reprise 651 1968)
How trippy is this? Essentially it sounds like a verse taken from two completely different songs intercut. Hazlewood’s bit is dark and rumbling like Johnny Cash meets Link Wray while Sinatra’s is hippy-dippy flower child stuff, well away with the faeries. It’s like a cocktail of quaaludes and acid.

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE – Somebody to Love / She Has Funny Cars (RCA 9140 1967)
When Grace Slick joined the Jefferson Airplane she brought this song along from her previous band the Great Society, written by her brother-in-law Darby Slick. The Airplane version is tighter and punchier with a chorus so strident it’s almost accusatory.

EDDIE COCHRAN – Somethin’ Else / Boll Weevil Song (Liberty 55203 1959)
STANDELLS – Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White / Why Don’t You Hurt Me? (Tower 257 1966)
By 1959, most of the first generation rock and rollers seemed to be mired in gloopy ballads and sounding little different to the pre-rock generation of singers like Johhny Ray and Frankie Vaughan. Eddie Cochran, on the other hand, still had a raw spirit about him: still sounded like someone a teenaged girl would think twice about introducing to her mother. That’s why he was so popular with the punks nearly two decades later, along with his friend Gene Vincent. The Standells, too, had that snotty fuck you attitude. But as they say in the song “You think those guys in the white collars are better than I am baby? / Then flake off!” True blue-collar working class pride…from a bunch of LA rich kids. Oh, well.

BLUR – Song 2 / Get out of the Cities (Food 93 1997)
The indignation this caused from my Pavement loving underground rock friends always made me laugh. It’s noisy and fun. What’s not to like?

LEFTFIELD – Song of Life / mixes (Hard Hands 002 1992)
A nine minute progressive house monster that pretty much defined the genre and still stands as one of the best tracks of its kind.

THIS MORTAL COIL – Song to the Siren / 16 Days (4AD 310 1983)
Originally This Mortal Coil were convened as a one-off project for this single, but its success was such that they ran to three albums, each with a constantly changing cast of performers. Liz Fraser hadn’t really tackled a proper lyrical song before, her voice more used as another instrument in the Cocteau Twins. But she gives Tim Buckley’s classic song a ghostly innocence that is absolutely captivating. The backing is so subtle that she’s almost on her own, but there’s no sign of nerves – she’s absolutely lost in the song. An amazing performance.

JOSEF K – Sorry For Laughing / Revelation (Postcard 814 1981)
Famously a band who seemed happier the flatter their records sounded; a band who scrapped their first album because it sounded too warm and produced and instead put out something tinny and stark. Paul Haig’s bored drone of a voice isn’t the most appealing instrument, but it gives this song a dry sarcasm. And it’s pretty much the touchstone record for the C86 generation.

LAVERN BAKER – Soul on Fire / How Can You Leave (Atlantic 1004 1953)
She’s better known for appealing, but ultimately disposable pop ditties like “Tweedle Dee” and “Jim Dandy”, but Lavern Baker was happiest singing the blues. If anything, though, “Soul on Fire” is deep southern soul a decade too early.

DAVID BOWIE – Sound and Vision / A New Career in a New Town (RCA 905 1977)
A long long way from Ziggy in just four years. “Sound and Vision” was the introduction to Bowie’s leftfield masterpiece Low and about as traditionally pop as the album got. Which isn’t very.

SIMON & GARFUNKEL – The Sound of Silence / We’ve Got a Groovy Thing Goin’ On (Columbia 43396 1965)
Dylan had gone electric, the Byrds were having big hits doing jangly folk-rock. It made sense for Simon & Garfunkel to add drums and rock arrangements. Unfortunately they weren’t working together at the time, and Paul Simon was touring folk clubs in Europe armed only with his trusty acoustic. Producer Tom Wilson stepped in anyway, gave the track a new “with it” backing and Columbia watched another of their folk acts have a huge hit. Simon might not have liked it, but he could hardly complain at the new levels of exposure, and the duo quickly reconvened.

MEMBERS – Sound of the Suburbs / Handling the Big Jets (Virgin 242 1979)
They came from around ten miles away from me, and lyrically this song captured perfectly the tedium of North Surrey / East Berkshire Sundays. Nothing else to do but kick a football around with your mates. Nothing on telly, nothing on the radio (except David Rodigan’s Sunday show on Radio London) and school next day.

More soon

Yo la Tengo has a new album out called Popular Songs. I featured a track on last weeks show. I sat down this last week and listened to the album and there are some truly beautiful unique tracks on it. I’m going to feature a couple of the tracks tonight from the album on Radioloveless. I love their sweet lyrics along with their complex juxtaposition of sound in a handful of the tracks.

Here’s the set for tonight, listen in from 8 to 10 pm on KRUI 89.7 fm or online here.

1. Sunny Day Real Estate, Rising Tide (2000), Faces in Disguise

2. Yo La Tengo, Popular Songs (2009), Here to Fall
3. Animal Collective, Strawberry Jam (2007), For Reverend Green
4. Joy Division, Unknown Pleasures (1979), I Remember Nothing

5. Colin Newman (of the band Wire), A-Z (1980), Around You
6. The Names, Swimming + Singles (1982), Discovery
7. The Wake, Here Comes Everybody (1985), O Pamela
8. R.E.M., Dead Letter Office (1987), Wolves Lower
This album contains rarities and B-sides including 3 velvet underground covers. (This was also a great request by this Hottie.)
9. Catherine Wheel, Ferment (1992), Texture
10. Department S, Sub-Stance (2003), Is Vic There? (The track was originally released in 1981)
11. Josef K, Entomology (1981), It’s Kinda Funny

12. Blonde Redhead, Misery Is A Butterfly (2004), Misery Is A Butterfly
13. Pinback, Some Voices (2000), Some Voices
14. Kinski, Alpine Static (2005 off of Sub Pop), Hot Stenographer

15. The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Strung Out in Heaven (There seventh full length album released in 1998), Let’s Pretend its Summer

16. Built To Spill, There’s Nothing Wrong With Love (1994), Distopian Dream Girl
17. The Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (2000), Cool Scene
18. Frank Black Francis, Frank Black Francis (2004), Velouria
19. Guided by Voices, Bee Thousand (1994), The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory
20. The Dream Syndicate, Out of the Grey (1986), Cinnamon Girl

21. The Velvet Underground, VU (recorded 1969 released 1985), Foggy Notion
22. Talking Heads, Talking Heads: 77 (1977), Happy Day
23. Slowdive, Morningrise-EP (Morningrise is the third single released by Slowdive in 1991), She Calls
24. My Bloody Valentine, Isn’t Anything (1988), No More Sorry

History of Humanity takes place by cycles. Each cycle is characterised by a social and economical model. And after a long time, and generally when new social aspects that make society evolve come up, the system, which was not ready for them, gets outdated, gets old, gets deteriorated and dies.

This process can last a hundred years, sometimes even more, but it’s unavoidable. It is as unstoppable as the passing time. And that’s what is happening to capitalist system. It has deteriorated and is getting old faster and faster. It is unsustainable and it has become outdated with regard to technological revolution. And also, it is a system that makes bigger the inequalities and injustices. It was designed to make richer some people at the expense of making poorer others. Capitalism is reaching its inevitable ending within a process that none of us might ever see finished, but that will complete with the achievement of a new social and economical model. How this new model will be is up to us.

London, the jailed city

London, one of the most important financial cities, has been the stage for several debates and meetings about the problems and issues that affect the system.
With the financial crisis as the starting point, the short documentary The sunset of Capitalism offers an analysis over the tools that make the system work and over the problems that it causes to society.

The CCTV, police brutality and the Orwellian society where individuals found themselves involved in, are some aspects that are deteriorating capitalism. It’s the story of a society collapsing, and as it falls, it repeats to itself: ’so far, so good.’ It is a society that feels like Josef K, the Kafka’s novel character that is arrested one morning without knowing why, and at the end of the novel still doesn’t know the reason. Anguish is absolute.

Smash the system

The music is the conducting element of the documentary, the city of London is where it takes place, the jailed city shelters some hope and dissident thought. Economical and political analysts set alternatives out and unmask the real face of a cheating system. Although we’re aware of the cheating, it drives us to demand more and more cheating.

Gareth Pierce, a Human Rights lawyer, unveils which are the intentions of the state: to control and to make us think this control is necessary for our safety. Some of you might know Gareth for being the solicitor for some ex Guantanamo prisoners, or for being the solicitor of the Jean Charles De Menezes family, or maybe because Emma Thompson did of her on In the name of the father film.

Never lose hope

The idea of the documentary is positive, there’s loads of hope. We are in a turning point of history and therefore this is a very suitable time for change.
After watching the documentary, somebody said she was about to drop a tear but the rage that she felt was bigger than the sadness. How do we channel this rage and sadness is fundamental for what is to come. But never forget that best is to come. It always is.

Peace & respect,
Javier Duque

Click here to watch the documentary.

Honey At The Core (neo-acoustic and guitar pop 1978-84).  Home made compilation CD.

1. Aztec Camera – Just Like Gold
2. Prefab Sprout – Lions In My Own Garden: Exit Someone
3. Hurrah! – The Sun Shines Here
4. The Daintees – Involved With Love
5. Friends Again – Honey At The Core
6. The Bluebells – Forever More
7. The Pale Fountains – Just A Girl
8. The French Impressionists – Rainbows Never End
9. The Gift – Crashing Down
10. Josef K – It’s Kinda Funny
11. Tiny Town – Drop By Drop
12. The Farmer’s Boys – I Think I Need Help
13. The Go-Betweens – Lee Remick
14. Orange Juice – You Old Eccentric
15. The Jazzateers – Show Me The Door
16. Fantastic Something – If She Doesn’t Smile (It’ll Rain)
17. Strawberry Switchblade – Trees And Flowers
18. Haircut 100 – Fantastic Day
19. The Shakin’ Pyramids – Plain Sailin’

A Different Story (25 pop songs 1977-84).  Home made compilation CD.

1. The Jam – When You’re Young
2. Girls At Our Best! – Getting Nowhere Fast
3. Vic Godard & Subway Sect – Split Up The Money
4. Jed Dmochowski – Sha La La
5. The Times – Red With Purple Flashes
6. The Direct Hits – Modesty Blaise
7. The Jasmine Minks – Work For Nothing
8. The Hawks – Words Of Hope
9. Television Personalities – A Sense Of Belonging
10. The Laughing Apple – Participate
11. The Jasmine Minks – Think!
12. The Undertones – Teenage Kicks
13. Subway Sect – Different Story
14. Dexys Midnight Runners – Dance Stance
15. Buzzcocks – Promises
16. Swell Maps – Read About Seymour
17. Steve Treatment – Change Of Plans
18. The Tronics – Alive And Loving
19. The June Brides – Every Conversation
20. Josef K – Sorry For Laughing
21. Fire Engines – Candyskin
22. The Go-Betweens – People Say
23. Young Marble Giants – Final Day
24. Microdisney – Helicopter Of The Holy Ghost
25. Wire – Outdoor Miner

Remember Postcard Records? How about Kitchenware? If not, ask your older and much cooler brother. Postcard and Kitchenware were two of the finest indie labels going in the late seventies and early eighties. Neither label gained much traction in terms of notoriety as compared to labels like Rough Trade, Mute, or Factory but if you were looking for top notch post-punk of the mellow variety aka “twee”, these two labels could not be beat. From bands like Prefab Sprout to Orance Juice to Josef K, it’s sae to say you would have to look pretty hard to find a subpar band on either label.  Sadly, many of these bands didn’t reach the great heights of chart stardom and mainstream fame. It’s a shame, really. It’s the same old refrain where the greater public just wants something to ignore and put on the backburner while they meander through their daily lives instead of allowing the likes of Paddy McAloon to serenade through another wistful day.

Let’s fast forward a couple of decades to the here and now where that spirit lives on in a fantastic band from London called Hatcham Social. Theirs is a sound that takes the wide-eyed enthusiasm and sharp wit of yore and updates it for the end of this decade. Signed to Fierce Panda in the UK, their debut record You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil was just released in July via TBD records (home of the almighty Radiohead) here in the States. I’ve presented two songs for your listening pleasure from the record as proof positive that it shant be long before their most accessible post-punk burrows a path into your heart. Edwyn Collins would be proud…

Like ‘em? Tell them on MySpace. Tell them Billy sent you, they’d like that!

“So So Happy Making”, taken from the Fierce Panda/TBD release, “You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil”

“I Cannot Hide My Pure Evil”, taken from the Fierce Panda/TBD release, “You Dig The Tunnel, I’ll Hide The Soil”

So I took lots of hand-held, no-tripod shots with a fixed 50mm. Here’s some of the less embarrassing.

Took a break after that little exercise. Like I said, this isn’t going to be quick.

So, some quick gems; possibly the greatest love-song ever written “Chance Meeting” by Josef K. I preferred Josef K to Orange Juice or Aztec Camera and I’m the proud owner of possibly every Josef K CD reissue there’s ever been! Here’s another school disco moment rushing up to embarrass me; Walk Out To Winter and Oblivious! Damn. I didn’t have a suede jacket, but I’m sure someone did. Great tunes and great talent.

Sad Lovers and Giants. Ding1. (Man Of Straw 12″ – but we’re not talking big stuff!).

I was most proud of my Fetish Records collection. Did I get them all? I think I almost did. I’ll have to go back and check. A label that not enough is written about. Fetish showcased many of the great “Industrial” or “Post-Industrial-Funk” bands; Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA, 23 Skidoo, The Bongos (how did they fit in – but great), Z’EV, Funhouse, Bush Tetras, WKGB…. I think I might do some research and devote a bit more time to Fetish in a later blog.

The oh-so-mighty “I’m So Hollow”. First heard on Hicks From The Sticks and hunted to distraction! Finally picked up their album for a ridiculous price in the mid-90s at a record fair. The “Made In Sheffield” movie has some great footage – ignore this at your cost.

Factory Records. While most of my friends focussed on Liverpool, I tended towards Manchester. There’s a lot been written about Factory. I’m not going to add to it. Of course with Peter Saville at the helm, these were some of the most beautiful covers in the history of recorded popular music. (Only Neville Brody at Fetish could beat it). Ceremony, Temptation, Procession. Shack Up – nights down the Hacienda.

Walking into Probe and asking for Jimone. Only to be told by the arrogant arsehole behind the counter that it was “Jim One”. Doh! First single by James and sleeve not done by PS. That was 1983. A couple of years later and we’d all be sitting in Platt Fields in Manchester watching Tim Booth cavorting around the stage, sitting bemused through Easterhouse and leaving pretty much as soon as Simply Red took the stage. Some journos and muosos cite that gig as the start of Madchester. Not sure I agree but just about four  years later I was listening to a 7″ with the title “Sally Cinammon” and I was hooked. Madchester had started for me.

Section 25, Charnel Ground. What a miserable bunch of gits. But still going strong and I’m still subscribing to the theory that one day they’ll rule the world.

The Smiths are in this pile. It’s a Manchester/Salford/Stockport/Macclesfield/Blackpool pile really. Yes they’re here. But to be honest I soon lost interest. After Meat Is Murder I think I drifted away and started exploring Sweatbox releases and dived headlong into 4AD records. I have all the albums, of course I do, I’m anal and completist! But they don’t really rock my boat.

So I only have one pile left. But I’m going to leave that for now. It’s pobably my biggest pile. The focus of my obsession for many years – 4AD.

“En psalm, ett skratt, en snyftning från myrarna och sjön”

01. The Pop Group – She is beyond good and evil
02. Renaissance – The winter tree
03. The Names – The fire
04. The Pebbles – Girlfriend (radio edit)
05. Shriekback – My spine is the bassline
06. Josef K – Sorry for laughing
07. Dr. Hook – When you’re in love with a beautiful woman
08. Peter Murphy – The light pours out of me
09. Manicured noise – Faith
10. Abba – The day before you came
11. Kurt Weill & Ira Gershwin – That’s him

OK. Thought I’d shove up some random archive stuff, especially as my hard drive backup seems to be eating my old files, never to return. First, an interview from 2005 conducted for… where? I have no recollection, but I feel that perhaps I used some of this later in a Plan B feature. There’s already plenty of stuff about some of these bands elsewhere on my blogs (particularly here) and there’s a great article from Alistair Fitchett about it here, but I really can’t be arsed to link to it all. Sorry.

Alright, first the basic questions that I ask everyone:
Which were the most important earlier bands leading up to the C-86 wave?
Orange Juice, Josef K, Aztec Camera (the sound of Young Scotland): the ideology behind Creation Records but not the bands themselves (with the exception of the Mary Chain and The Pastels): anything on Rough Trade records post-1978 (except The Smiths who always were corporate sell-outs): The Fall (because they influences EVERY independent band from the UK post-1977): Buzzcocks, Subway Sect, Captain Beefheart (half the bands on that NME tape ripped the good Captain off), The Velvet Underground (and the other half ripped the Velvets off): Trixie’s Big Red Motorbike, Sophisticated Boom Boom and any of the girl-led pop groups that Peel used to play in the early Eighties: Captain Beefheart again: The Byrds and The Creation and The Kinks and all that white boy jangling guitar Sixties stuff: Television Personalities: plenty more, but that’ll do for now.

If I were to pick 10 bands from the C-86 era to write more about – which should I choose?
The Pastels
Talulah Gosh
Shop Assistants
The Wolfhounds
Jasmine Minks
The Membranes
Big Flame
The Wedding Present
June Brides
The Legend!

(This is a random list, drawn from the top of my head – and I’d be amazed if I haven’t forgotten a load of great bands.)

Are there are any bands that surfaced after the tape but are still considered to be C-86?
Not for me to say – but some people may consider what Matt and Claire put out on Sarah Records to fall firmly within the “C86 category”. Talulah Cosh were actually post-C86 if my memory serves me correctly. Comet Gain are totally C86 – as were many of the Riot Grrrl bands (especially the later ones that lost the politics but retained the cutie edge). Oh, and I guess BMX Bandits would’ve loved to have been.

What other musical events (gigs, record releases etc) except for the tape made the year 1986 stand out?
I remember standing at a Soup Dragons Hammersmith Clarendon (upstairs) concert with a basket full of new Legend! fanzines (Wolfhounds/Razorcuts flexi) and not moving all evening – people coming up to me in a constant stream, as I sold about 130 copies. Also, I’d travel up to Bedford Esquires (and other venues) a great deal for their fine triple bills starring folk like Talulah Gosh and Big Flame and Membranes – shows put on by Nigel Turner, who now runs Pickled Egg Records. I can’t recall events – was ’86 Live Aid? USA Against Warmongering By Capitalist Countries? C86 was actually a massive disappointment to me: for a compilation that so clearly had its roots in all the bands I would write about for NME at the time, it was incredible I hated so much of it (it’s cos the compilers were too arrogant to consult a “kid” like me). I still don’t like much of the tape – it’s unrepresentative of its times certainly (as opposed to the brilliant C81 comp, five years earlier) and even unrepresentative of the small narrow strata of music it thought it was representing. I recall a Troublefunk show that I danced my ass off at.

Were there any venues or clubs that were central to C-86?
Was McGee still putting on shows then? If so, then whatever he was behind would have been central. If not, then certainly Dan Treacy’s Room At The Top, upstairs at the Enterprise Chalk Farm, next to the excellent Marine Ices shop where everyone would hang out before bands, was vital. As were Leigh’s shows at Woolwich Polytechnic and Nigel’s shows in Bedford. They were the main three I’d go to.

Was C-86 in general political – lyrically or musically? Or was it just shaped by the politics of the time? And was it working-class or middle-class?
Depends which strata of C86 you’re talking about: the crap pop bands like The Bodines and Mighty Mighty or god-awful Close Lobsters certainly weren’t political. The more obviously Beefheart-influenced bands like Stump and The Shrubs and Big Flame and The MacKenzies seemed to be on the surface – although it’s arguable that was only because of the style of music (angular, awkward, challenging) they were aping. The Age of Chance seemed revolutionary, the way they matched guitar pop to dance rhythms, and were unfortunately (for them) 10 year ahead of their time. Half-Man Half-Morons (who should NEVER have been near the compilation) were an out-and-out joke band.

The temptation nowadays when faced with a crop of ‘indie’ bands is to automatically think of them as middle-class but looking down the list on C86 I’d have to say most of them are working-class (probably in some last echo of punk’s diverse roots that spread out to the working-class communities from its middle-class origins with Strummer and McClaren and that whole London thing). Most of those C86 would’ve played benefits for the miner’s strike and the like… again, I think this was probably part genuine outrage at the Thatcher years, and probably part follow-on from punk and post-punk’s obvious political leanings. Yes, of course the bands were shaped by their times, and among that section of society in the mid-Eighties, dissent was very much to the front.

Interesting that, out of 22 bands on the compilation, only three of them are female.

I’ve heard that there wasn’t a homogenous indiepop sub-culture before C-86. Is that true? And what were the identifying markers of anoraks, both on the surface and ideologically?
No, there wasn’t – not readily identifiable, at least. The most it amounted to was boys like Bobby Gillespie and Edwyn Collins who wore their hair like members of The Byrds: there was definitely a Mod and Sixties crossover with some of the more jangling elements of the independent sector (thanks a lot to the Creation Records aesthetic) but no… To be honest, I don’t think C86 was the main factor behind ‘indiepop’… that was more down to the law of diminishing returns and Sarah Records’ (in particular) sometimes inspirational but more often damn right annoying tunnel vision and insistence on sticking with ONE PARTICULAR SOUND, no messing (and certainly with no room for females, barring the ever-present Amelia Fletcher). Anoraks were NOT the norm in ’86 (Stephen Pastel wore one, but with leather trousers) not at all… it was the younger brothers of the C86 generation who decided that they were cool, not the people of the time.

Where did C-86 go? Did it merge with other genres or did it all turn into twee?
Let’s get this straight. C86 didn’t actually exist as a sound, or style. It was supposed to be a “state of the independents” compilation, similar to C81. The reason it wasn’t was down to the myopic vision of its compilers. The reason it wasn’t stronger was because major contributor behind the scenes, Neil Taylor – who only ever chose to write about bands I’d reviewed two weeks before – had no actual idea about music beyond reading other journalists. I loved soul and dance music at the time of C86. But the compilation didn’t reflect any of that. One half of C86 obviously turned twee – was already on the verge even as the tape was being put together. The other half continued existing merrily on its own terms thanks very much.

What’s your definition of C-86 today?
I don’t have one. See above. And I find it weird bordering on surreal that people are starting to use it again, specifically to sell seven-inch singles on eBay. No one used the term back then. They really didn’t.

And now the more important questions, especially tailored for you:
I assume you wrote the fanzine The Legend! – how would you describe it?
Impassioned, arrogant, self-obsessed, determined to strike its own path separate to the great morass of fanzines who all just seemed to be content with being third-rate copies of NME (I always knew I couldn’t do interviews, so I never ran a single one in any of the five issues of The Legend!)…naïve, futile, excitable, plenty of exclamation marks, instant, brutally honest, refused to take any ads whatsoever (and yes, I was offered some), very proud of what it did… almost entirely written by me, designed and published by me…

What other fanzines do you remember liking and what distinguished them?
Idiot Strength, Are You Scared To Get Happy?, Juniper Beri-Beri, Attack On Bzag, The Rox, that damn magazine Miki and Emma did years before they formed Lush (Alphabet Soup), Incendiary, Hungry Beat… for pretty much the same reasons as I’ve detailed in the description of The Legend! (None were as passionate or extreme as mine, of course.)

You were writing both for your own fanzine as well as for the NME – was that uncommon? And what did you think about the NME ca 1986?
There were several of us who wrote for both our own magazines and the music press – me, John Robb, James Brown, probably several more. It wasn’t that uncommon, there was a great tradition of writers coming to the music press from fanzines that started during the early punk days – and to the best of my knowledge has continued through even till today. I hated NME but of course I secretly loved it too. I didn’t exactly socialise with any of the other journalists there… I was routinely ridiculed and looked down upon by my fellow writers, especially the more august ones (and with some reason: I still couldn’t string a sentence together at that point). Danny Kelly supported me, and Steven Wells and David Quantick. Cheers mates.

Were you involved with compiling the C-86 tape? Why was it put out and what determined which bands were on it? (If possible, compare with C-81.)
I think I’ve already answered this question above: it was basically intended as a “state of the independents” round up – NME had a tradition of putting out tape compilations, like C81, but covering all forms of music (Rebellious Jukebox was my all-time favourite, introducing me as it did to the wonders of Southern Soul Music: there were several others also, covering jazz and hip hop). This was at least a decade before the idea of giving music away with a music magazine had become so thoroughly devalued that nowadays you don’t even bother buying Mojo or Uncut unless they have a free CD attached, and even the broadsheets get in on the act…

I wasn’t involved. I should have been, but I was a jumped-up fanzine kid (who just happened to be introducing most of these previously ignored bands to the music press and their readers). The standing joke at the time was that the tape comprised all the bands who’d slept on my floor when they played London – Shop Assistants, Wedding Present, Pastels, Bogshed, A Witness, Age of Chance, Soup Dragons….If I’d been involved there’s no way bands like Mighty Mighty or Half-Man Half-Biscuit (neither of whom had ANYTHING to do with anything) would have been allowed near the tape.

How come the two in retrospect perhaps most classic C-86 bands, Razorcuts and Talulah Gosh, were not on the tape?
I’m fairly sure Talulah Gosh were only just emerging right about the time the tape came out, so you can hardly blame the NME for not including them. (Why no June Brides, though? That was a bigger scandal.) And same held true of Razorcuts (although I absolutely LOVED that band by the time C86 appeared)… as I say, I had nothing to do with that tape despite being part of the inspiration for it. If I had then of course the ‘cuts would’ve been on it.

What were the connections between C-86 and other related terms such as anorak, shambling, jangle or twee? What did they mean and in what order did they emerge?
Anorak was something Simon Reynolds invented a couple of years later, in Melody Maker (he wrote a big article in ’88 on the whole fanzine ‘scene’, which by that time had moved along to the Canterbury Arms in Brixton, I think, that included massive pictures of John Robb and me – much to NME’s disgust). I think he may have invented ‘twee’ at the same time. Both are horrible condescending words. Ugh! Jangle was probably around since ’81 or so, with Orange Juice and the bands that loved Sixties groups like The Byrds. Shambling (and the thankfully underused grebo) has been credited to John Peel circa ’85 – but I never listened to him so I wouldn’t know. I think it was taken to mean bands like The Fall, and the Beefheart-influenced lot, who didn’t care so much whether everything was perfectly produced or polished, but had a more ‘shambolic’ approach to recording and playing live. I used to think it meant any band that took more than three attempts to start a song… in which case Teenage Fanclub early on were the ultimate shambling band. But to me, Bogshed always were.

Why did the NME turn on a scene of their own creation and start using the term ‘C-86’ in a scornful manner?
That was because most of the writers never liked it in the first place – and also cos the description quickly codified into a certain sound. And that always sucks when that happens.

Some people seem to think the invention of ‘C-86’ killed off indiepop. What were the negative as well as the positive effects?
I can’t comment here; neither term actually means much to me as descriptions of a genre of music (the two are synonymous as far as I’m concerned) so the question is meaningless. Cheers, Everett

Thought I’d shove this up, to celebrate Marine Girls’ addition to this blog. This is reprinted from the second issue of Plan B (#0.5), which came out – when? – around the end of 2003.

“20,000 leagues under the sea/That’s where my baby said he’d meet me” – ‘20,000 Leagues’

Remember when you used to write your name over everything, in case your friends or relations half-inched it? I still have my copy of Beach Party; with ‘Property of Alan McGee’ scrawled across the label. Alan had just gotten a copy from Cherry Red or somewhere that day and I refused to let him stop playing it, so in desperation – and in kindness – he gave it to me. I still think it’s about the most heart-warming minimal pop I’ve heard. It was the sparse, beautiful melodies that got me, the deceptively shy female voices – the seaside imagery and innate Englishness of Tracey and Jane and Alice and Gina’s early Eighties school-time project. I loved what Sportique’s Mark Flunder calls their ‘un-rock’n’roll’, appreciating Marine Girls are as spontaneous and warm and life affirming as rock gets.

In 1983, I played a show as Everything But The Penguin – two large inflatable penguins looking benignly on as Paul Platypus and I ad-libbed our way through a cappella versions of ‘On My Mind’ (Marine Girls) and ‘Night And Day’ (Everything But The Girl’s first, torched single). I corresponded with bassist Jane Fox via postcard during the Eighties, and played a show in a village town hall with Beat Happening and The McTells, co-promoted by original singer Gina. I have no idea where to start my appreciation of Marine Girls – the stung melodies, the bittersweet lyrics of boy betrayal and stolen travelogues, the beach party sandcastles… Beat Happening, for God’s sake.

I finally met Jane last Christmas in Brighton, and was lost for words.

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Young Marble Giants; The Slits; Beat Happening; Shop Assistants; Half-Japanese; Huggy Bear; The Pastels; Quasi; Some Velvet Sidewalk; Josef K; Orange Juice; Marine Girls; The Raincoats; Talulah Gosh; June Brides; The Go-Betweens…
(Partial list for a proposed book on the International Pop Underground, 2000)

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I recently exchanged emails with singer Alice Fox (sister of Jane, the main co-songwriter, who joined Marine Girls after Gina and Tracey Thorn formed the band one school lunchtime). She’s prickly. Nicely so. Wanted to know why I wanted to interview her. (“Had to make sure you weren’t a blood-sucking journalist,” she explained after.) Asked me three questions:

1) What is it you find interesting about the Marine Girls?
“DUDE! Only one of the single most important bands in my own personal history, for the tunes, the silences, the TUNES, the warm special feeling, the TUNES, the fragile yet strong vocals, the imagery, the humanity, the harmonies and knowledge that less is more, that it’s what you leave out that counts… I did a search on the Internet and discovered that although I’ve never written a proper appreciation of the Marine Girls, I’ve made 27 comparisons to them for other groups I love, trying to explain precisely why I love those groups.”

2) Did you ever come to any Marine Girls gigs?
“A couple of times, but I’m wondering where. ULU, almost certainly… you didn’t play out that much, from what I recall, and I was shy of seeing a band I loved so much.”

3) Do you think there are many people who still listen to the music or are we now a part of pop history?
“This is so easy to answer. I have many students come round to my house, wanting to discover how to be a music critic or something (I tell them they’re idiots if that’s all they want) and – well, maybe I move in rarefied circles because of who I choose to be and hang around with – but I’m still amazed by how many know who the Marine Girls are, and actively listen to them. Even my wife… who, independently of me, has been playing her Marine Girls tape in the car non-stop. Going further back, some of my former famous friends in Seattle and Olympia LOVED Marine Girls… and me! Jesus. Me. A single year doesn’t goes by without me playing my vinyl version of Beach Party to death – and I do love your second  album Lazy Ways, too, just not quite as much.

“Why do I love Marine Girls? For the same reason I love early Ramones, Beat Happening, Misty’s Big Adventure, early Blondie, growing coriander plants from seed, making blackberry crumble, cycling down to Hove Town Library (downhill all the way!)… Marine Girls make me HAPPY, help fill the roaring silence in my head for a second, make me appreciate the very act of being alive.”

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Jane: When I was a kid, I was introduced to music through the school system and having to have cello lessons, both of which I loathed. It was a classic hideous experience. I decided I didn’t want any truck with music.

Gina: I’ve always loved music, and remember even when I was tiny how it could effect your emotions. I especially loved ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’ and ‘Grocer Jack’, and jumped up and down on the sofa to them. Later on, I picked up on chart stuff, then Siouxsie And The Banshees, Buzzcocks, X-Ray Spex, The Clash… finding John Peel led me onto early Rough Trade records. There were a lot of local bands, too. But I didn’t do anything musical myself until I met Jane and Tracey in the sixth form.

Alice: Music was everything, politics, friendships, love, hate, clothes and hairdos when I was a teenager. I was 14 when I did my first gig and I enjoyed the buzz and attention. I’ve always liked showing off, so singer was good for me. I loved The Clash, Young Marble Giants, Au Pairs and The Slits. My big sis Jane took me to my first gig at the Electric Ballroom and I loved it.

Jane: The whole music thing exploded when I was a teenager and I was suddenly really into listening to music and going to gigs. At the same time, we went into the sixth form at school and there were all these new exciting people I hadn’t met and was making friends with – mostly Gina and Tracey, actually. Also, there was a great, kicking, local scene. There were local bands everywhere – all over Hatfield and St Albans – and the sort of people I was making friends with were all in bands.

Gina: I’d seen Tracey wandering past my classroom with a Virgin carrier bag and nice shoes, and thought she looked interesting. Somehow we all became friendly and, as I’d been corresponding with Nikki Sudden from Swell Maps, we thought we’d do a fanzine, The Wacky Hop. It was while we were doing this I said to Tracey that I’d like to form a band. We decided one lunchtime to start Marine Girls. We liked fishy-themed stuff and remembered the cartoon Marine Boy with his air bubblegum…

Tracey: Marine Girls first came into existence in 1980. I’d been playing electric guitar in a band called Stern Bops. Later, I started talking to my school friend Gina about us forming our own band. The first thing we recorded was for a friend’s compilation tape of local bands, a song called ‘Getting Away From It All’. It had a very basic drum machine part, Gina singing and me playing rhythm and lead guitar. Then I recruited Jane to play bass. Jane wrote songs too, so that doubled the amount of stuff we had to play. We didn’t know anyone who could play drums so we decided to take our cue from Young Marble Giants and play minimalist quiet music. Colossal Youth was our favourite record.

Jane: It was poetry that brought Tracey and me together; we got into this thing where we’d show each other what we’d written. I didn’t feel like a musician in any shape or form, but I was happy to make stuff up on a bass. It was taking completely the opposite approach to cello lessons, where my music teacher had gone, “I think it’s time you give up”.

Alice: It was at a time when everyone bought second-hand guitars and taught themselves to play. It was pointed out to us later that we were the only all-girl band. It wasn’t unusual to us, since we were at an all-girl school. We had to be a bit leery at gigs to combat sexism and the sweet image we disliked.

Jane: We were up to our necks in that DIY culture. People would do gigs in the local village hall after the jumble sale. I was obsessed with music: every bit of money that came my way was spent on it – including school dinner money.

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“Some girls are really obvious/And with a sidelong glance/You see them smile at every word you say” – ‘Tonight?’

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Jane: What would happen was that Tracey might have a guitar part, and I would hum along to it and translate it on to the bass. Then I’d put a sticker on my bass fret where that tune started, and learn where I had to put my fingers. Eventually, I got used to the sound that each note produced and was able to find my way around it quicker. Some people say it sounds dubby – and that’s interesting because the guy who picked up on us first of all, Patrick, was a serious reggae fan. At the time I didn’t get it – I was interested in tunes.

Gina: We did our first cassette tape A Day By The Sea, 50 copies, by ourselves on a ropey reel-to-reel tape recorder from my mum’s work (they repaired them). We had a track ‘Hate The Girl’ on a Hertford compilation record put together by Mark Flunder.

Mark Flunder: It was originally just Gina and Tracey. They put out a song about the Spanish Civil War on a tape of Hertford bands in 1980. They sounded pretty much like Marine Girls – Gina had very girly vocals, so un-rock’n’roll, and Tracey had that folky voice and lightly strummed an electric guitar. Then we did an compilation LP Rupert Preaching At A Picnic that we ran off ourselves, influenced by Peel and DIY. A friend had an eight-track tape recorder and we blagged a basement in an art centre, got 20 bands in a weekend to record. We weren’t so discerning, there weren’t enough of us so we included the old hippies – they were 19, we were 18.

Gina: Then we put out (I think) Beach Party on a cassette through In Phaze and spent some lovely days colouring in the front covers at Rough Trade, who’d agreed to sell it.

Tell us about the shed where Beach Party was recorded.

Alice: Small, smelly, hot, intense, wooden but there and great.

Gina: The shed was at the bottom of the garden of a Thirties semi-detached house in Ilford. It was the home of Pat Bermingham whose job was driving very high cranes, but he also owned the record label In Phaze. He recorded our album there. To get to the shed you had to go through the kitchen, past Pat’s mum who always tried to get us to have a cup of tea or something to eat.

Mark: I put them on locally, and got people very angry with me – saying don’t put them on again. It was a similar thing with Young Marble Giants in Cardiff until they got in the NME. Beach Party wasn’t actually recorded in Pat’s shed. They rang me up and said they didn’t want to do it there, so I found some mates whose parents were away, and they did it in their front room – most of it, and finished it off in the shed.

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It was Heather’s voice that drew me in to Beat Happening – that, and the simple graphics: the cat on the spaceship! I’ve always preferred female singers. I was a big fan of Tracey Thorn’s Marine Girls and their offshoot [Jane and Alice’s] Grab Grab The Haddock, too, bands ‘Foggy Eyes’ reminded me of. I responded to the minimal instrumentation. I’ve always hated extraneous noise, especially unnecessary drumming.
(Careless Talk Costs Lives, 2001)

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Gina: Somehow Mark had got TV Personalities to play at the local college. His band was the support and we were, too. Dan Treacy heard us, and Pat and Dan seemed to agree that he’d release Beach Party as a record. We had little or no say into any of it, just happy to be doing an LP with Dan.

Mark: They did some really good little gigs, Buntingford fire station, Lemsford village hall… Then I blagged the student union in Hertford to let me put on gigs – and I put on TVPs with Patrik Fitzgerald and Marine Girls for 50p, and introduced [TVPs singer] Dan Treacy to them.

Alice: Dan is a knock-kneed simpering hypocrite. Jane remembers more details than me.

Mark: Dan liked them, reissued Beach Party on his label Whaaam!, and ended up selling it to Cherry Red. It’s groovy those sounds have been out there for 25 years even if the people involved don’t get remunerated properly. Gina gets 1/2p every CD. They sell them for what… £13? It goes against the whole tape scene that started it off. But it’s nice this home-grown music can still inspire people and enrich their lives. Marine Girls’ music was so fresh and non-rock’n’roll. It wasn’t contrived in any way. It was honest. It had what was good about real rock’n’roll in there. You don’t have to have long hair and leather jackets. It was refreshing they were women doing it, as well. It didn’t matter.”

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This is a child’s cornucopia of found sound. Bedroom magic orchestrated silences: like the delicate fragile seven-inch singles Jane, Marine Girls and Sarah Goes Shopping released in the early Eighties; like waking up every morning and spotting wonderment in the way the grey clouds shudder.
(Review of Transistor Six’s Johnny, Where’s My Purse, CTCL, 2002)

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How did Beach Party develop?

Jane: Quite often words first, then a tune. Tracey and I would often write together, although we took separate authorship of the songs that we’d instigated. As I got a bit more confident then I would say, “This is what I’d like the guitar to do”.

Gina: Jane and Tracey came up with the songs and then we’d all fiddle around with them and decide who would sing what. We had a lot of conversations at Jane’s house chatting about the songs and making flapjack mixture, then we’d practise them at the Water Board social clubrooms (Jane’s dad worked for the water board).

Tracey: We did our first ever London gig at the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, supporting Felt. The night before three other Cherry Red artists had played there, including [future EBTG member] Ben Watt. I missed his gig that night, but he came to the Marine Girls gig the next night. We released a single ‘On My Mind’, which made single of the week in the NME. At some point, Gina left the band and Alice became the main singer.

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“Another Friday evening/Staying in tonight/I say I don’t want to see you/You can’t believe you’ve heard me right/it’s not that I don’t love you/It’s not that I don’t care/It’s just that I’ve had enough of/The same old places, yeah” – ‘Fridays’

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What was your relationship with the musical climate Marine Girls existed in? Did you have peers?

Jane: We were just doing what we could… in an environment that was massively stimulating and empowering. It was kind of that combination of it being when, mid-to-late 18s, you’re suddenly going, ‘Oh my God’. We were in the position to go out into the world, and there was really exciting stuff happening. The whole idea of pop stars had been blown to pieces. It was amazing.

Gina: We were very insular, in a good way. We were us and that was all that counted. Also, most of the other bands were male, and most females were older than us. When you’re 17, someone who’s 20 is light years away from you. The only other female bands at the time were The Modettes (older than us), Dolly Mixture (older and too Sounds), The Raincoats (too old), The Slits (too old). It was a lot of fun. My A-levels suffered badly!

Alice: The musical climate was hilarious, both competitive and patronising. We did gigs with varied groups; The Damned, Roman Holiday, Orange Juice, Monochrome Set (very cool), Colour Field. Gary Glitter chatted me up in a recording studio lounge. Luckily, I used it as an opportunity to take the piss out of ‘The Leader’… looking back, what a letch! I was 15!

Tracey: In October 1981, I left home to go to Hull University, 300 miles away. Marine Girls kept going, but only in the holidays. We did more gigs, bigger ones. We recorded another album, Lazy Ways, produced by Stuart Moxham of Young Marble Giants. We did an interview with Melody Maker and they put us on the front cover. Meanwhile, I was so far away from the other Marine Girls that I started to record the songs I was writing on my own. The demos I did of these songs eventually became my solo album A Distant Shore. Marine Girls did their last gig in Glasgow. It was summer 1983. We were drifting apart. Alice’s boyfriend had somehow tagged onto the band playing percussion. We did an awful gig, no one listened to us and we had an argument backstage. It was the perfect excuse to split up, so we did.

Alice: Marine Girls split because Tracey was too square. Jane and I were at art school in Brighton. Tracey wanted to write ballads for estate agents. Jane wanted to throw ping-pong balls onto xylophones. I wanted to do big paintings and make films. The reason Tracey gives about the split, involving my then boyfriend, is total crap. It never happened.

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Forget Belle & Sebastian, already. This is so sweet, shy, and soulful. Dub, like dub has always been played by Marine Girls fans.
(Review of The Microphones’ Tests, The Stranger, March 1999)

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In retrospect, what is it about your music that keeps it going?

Jane: It’s a type of rawness, a type of energy, and a type of raw teenage emotion. I can’t even remember the last time I listened to it, but there’s something refreshing about it, and we weren’t conscious of it at the time.

Gina: It was heartfelt. The sound was clear and true. And it doesn’t date, because it’s about the things that affected us – things that don’t change.

Alice: You know the answer to that better than me. I am amazed at how it does.  Kirk Cobaine (sic) put us in his Top 25 Albums list in his diaries! I haven’t done a gig for 17 years, yet often people say to me, “Were you in the Marine Girls? I loved them”. It is very soulful and human. We deliberately kept in the sounds of fingers on frets, and breaths in singing, and the out-of-tune bits.

Tracey has said that your sea imagery is incidental, but there are direct references…

Jane: It isn’t coincidental at all. I was very taken up by this whole idea of being the Marine Girls. We used to play the Marine Boy theme tune. Marine Boy was a cartoon about a boy who could swim under water with Oxy-gum, which he chewed and allowed him to breath without apparatus. I used the idea of the sea to write some of the songs, like ‘20,000 Leagues [Under The Sea]’. We’d have plastic lobsters and blow-up dolphins on stage. Once, we were billed with this punk band called The Deranged at Welwyn Garden City, and we’d spent a day in Southend, me, Alice and Tracey, and brought back bucketfuls of seaweed. We threw it at The Deranged as they’d changed their lyrics to be extremely heinous about us. We had fun bags full of stickers. We had this thing called Colin the Cod. We made stickers with fish on them…

Gina: We all loved the seaside. I was born in Clacton. Mods kept me awake at night on the seafront on their scooters. Being a Marine Girl made us love it more. Jane and me always drew sea-related stuff. We liked the tackier side of things, rock breakfasts on plates, etc. Maybe Tracey couldn’t help herself. It had got into her…

Alice: It was good for jokes, and I like the mystery of the deep blue sea. We had a group of punks turn up to a gig in a cardboard boat once and dance in it all night.

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“Thinking of the jokes we used to have/Wondering if we’re laughing at them now/Somehow don’t see how we can be/So what’s a smile between us now” – ‘Times We Used To Spend’

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Your opinions on Tracey?

Jane: I wasn’t interested in taking the path she took. I was never resentful, either. I never wanted to be a pop star. I just wanted to be in a band and be adventurous.

Gina: I still love her voice, and I played A Distant Shore over and over again when it came out. Whatever she does, even if some things are a bit bland, she has a great voice.

Alice: Square, mainstream, should write a novel, and leave the Rod Stewart covers to Fame Academy contestants.

Anything else you want to add?

Alice: Being a Marine Girl was the best way to be a teenager. I loved it. My life was shit, but gigs were good. If you’re interested in what a Marine Girl does next, watch my short film Degrees Of Separation.

Gina: I’m an art technician at Broxbourne School, in Hertfordshire. I deal in second-hand, vintage clothes. I do my own art, but haven’t done much musically recently. I want to. Everything went on hold after having a daughter who’s now 12. It’s a long hold…

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It’s taken the entire two-year run of Careless Talk to find a contemporary band as wonderful as Marine Girls – minimal, not easily given over to embarrassment about their perceived lack of conventional training, gorgeous two- (and three-) part female harmonies, songs written in under two minutes, soaring violin, whistling, the barest of bare percussion (blocks, shakers, handclaps), infectious sense of humour, enough Pop knowledge to cover TV Personalities and Billy Childish, songs that double up as diaries and are all the more charming for it.
(ET on Lesbo Pig, Careless Talk Costs Lives, September 2003)

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Jane Fox interview conducted by Jon Falcone.

Tracey Thorn quotes taken from the Everything But The Girl website.