C86 Show - Indie Pop

Linda Smith

Linda Smith in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://lindasmith2.bandcamp.com/

https://capturedtracks.com/artist/linda-smith/

A pioneer of the home recording movement, Linda Smith released several collections of delicate, bewitching solo music on cassette in the 1980s and 90s. The 2021 release of Till Another Time: 1988-1996, Captured Tracks’ compilation of Smith’s work, has helped bestow rightful critical acclaim to the ahead-of-her-time artist. Now, Captured Tracks dives deeper into Smith’s catalog with the release of two full-length companion albums, Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring, available for the first time on vinyl & streaming formats.

Recorded at Smith’s home in Baltimore in 1995, Nothing Else Matters chronicles the tension between the mundanity of daily life and the creative impulse: ”I was working for Ringling Bros at their corporate headquarters in Northern VA and driving there and back to Baltimore on the DC beltway,” Smith remembers. “I aimed for detachment and some degree of humor in order to see things more clearly.” Traffic noises on the charmingly boisterous “Little To Be Won” showcase this levity, as does the addition of playful hand claps and a laugh track to her striking cover of Young Marble Giants’ “Salad Days.” Despite its homespun inception, the arrangements are sophisticated, as in the bright, percussive opener “The Answer To Your Question.” This complexity is also reflective of Smith’s evolving recording techniques – having outgrown her 4-track tape machine, she’d purchased a Fostex 8-track, on which she recorded both Nothing Else Matters and I So Liked Spring.

The Housemartins - Stan Cullimore

Stan Cullimore  in conversation with David Eastaugh

Ausgang - Max

Max in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://ausgang-kabuki.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/ausgangkabuki/

Ausgang was formed by members of the band Kabuki. Some members had also been members of another band, the Solicitors. Max (vocals), Cub (bass guitar) and Matthew (guitar) were all previously in Kabuki, who released one 1982 single ("I Am a Horse") before splitting up. With drummer Ibo, they formed Ausgang and played their first gig in September 1983 at the Powerhouse in Birmingham. They toured with The Cult before signing to Criminal Damage Records, who released their debut EP, The Teachings of Web, in 1984. Their next release, the "Solid Glass Spine" 7" single, reached No. 28 on the UK Indie Chart. Their final release that year, the Head On ! EP, was produced by Andi Sex Gang.

Alan Lee Shaw - The Damned, The Rings, Maniacs & Physicals

Alan Lee Shaw in conversation with David Eastaugh

English guitarist whose career began after leaving art school, in music projects with Twink. He later formed short-lived The Rings with 'Twink' Alder & drummer Rod Latter, before he and Latter created punk band Maniacs with bassist Robert Crash.

In 1977 Shaw created glam-punksters Physicals, who released a single, with Paul Cook on drums. This was followed by stints in Brian James' "Brains" and "The Hellions" (managed by Miles Copeland) from 1980. During 1981, Shaw teamed up in a writing partnership with Kirsty MacColl.

During 1983 there was another brief band, "Hush Hush" with Chris Sol. Then, with Sol, the eponymous band album "Heaven And The Angels" in 1986 and a later shelved UK project with Dee Dee Ramone. Another brief spell with a Brian James band was followed by Shaw joining The Damned in 1993.

Chris Cuffaro - Photographer

Chris Cuffaro in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://cuffarophoto.com/

https://cuffarohits.com/

https://cuffaroplus.com/

Over the past 50 years, Chris’ signature work with a galaxy of A-List actors, models, athletes and musicians has helped them define their public image while establishing his reputation as one of the most respected photographers in the entertainment industry.  Drawn to the excitement of music as a teenager growing up in Northern California, Chris began his career by shooting local rock shows for fun. He quickly graduated to headlining acts and, since moving to Los Angeles in the early 1980’s, has worked with a massive catalog of performers in the music and entertainment industry. 

He has shot the best of the best in the music world including ground-breaking bands like Jane’s Addiction, Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana, George Michael, Iggy Pop, No Doubt, Henry Rollins, Elvis Costello, Fiona Apple, Scott Weiland and Soundgarden.  These images have regularly appeared in Rolling Stone, Spin, RayGun, Vibe, Musician as well as on the covers of more than 300 record albums and CDs.

Ron Ward - Speedball Baby, Blood Oranges & Five Dollar Priest

Ron Ward in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiuNY6w6BEk&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAvTdONLJ4Q&t=1s

 

 

Kim Richey

Kim Richey in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://kimrichey.com/news/

Over the past two decades Kim has released ten critically acclaimed albums, been listed in the ‘Top 10 Albums of 1999’ in Time Magazine for her album Glimmer, plus received 4-stars in Rolling Stone and named ‘Alt-Country Album of the Year’ in People Magazine for her album Rise. Her 2013 release Thorn In My Heart was named in year’s end best lists by No Depression, The Boston Globe and The Associated Press. She has written two #1 singles and had four others hit Top 10. Her songs have been recorded by Trisha Yearwood, Mary Chapin Capenter, James Morrison, Brooks and Dunn and many others. She has contributed backing vocals on albums by Trisha Yearwood, Ryan Adams, Shawn Colvin and Jason Isbell to name a few.

Ira A Robbins - Zip It Up!: The Best of Trouser Press Magazine 1974 - 1984

Ira A Robbins in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://trouserpress.com/

Trouser Press magazine began as a mimeographed fanzine in March 1974 and grew to a 60,000-circulation glossy rock music monthly. Started by two high school Who-freak friends and a Jeff Beck fanatic they’d recently met, Trouser Press published 96 issues over the following decade, covering everything from British Invasion bands, ’70s arena rock and prog to punk, new wave, synth-pop, post-punk and reggae.

Zip It Up! The Best of Trouser Press Magazine 1974-1984 is an annotated anthology of the music writing that appeared in the magazine.

Annotated with recollections and reflections on the changing times, the ridiculous business of independent magazine publishing and the colorful, complicated artists — illustrated with cartoons, covers, documents and ads from the Trouser Press archive — Zip It Up! is vintage rock journalism of a form that is no longer widely practiced: features heavy on historical detail and lengthy, probing interviews, all written with wit, intelligence and a willful expression of opinions and values. It is also an extensive document of rock’s evolution from the 1970s to the mid-’80s, often capturing now-iconic bands in the early stages of their existence. By turns reverent, snarky, adulatory and cynical, Zip It Up! is a rich grazing ground for fans and students of music and music journalism.

The book is divided into sections covering the Sixties, Classic Rock, Glam Rock, Art and Prog Rock, the Roots of Punk, US / UK Punk and New Wave, Reggae, Post-Punk and more.

Graeme Thomson - John Martyn

Graeme Thomson in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://omnibuspress.com/products/small-hours-the-long-night-of-john-martyn

Small Hours is an intimate, unflinching biography of one of the great maverick artists. Though Martyn never had a hit single, his extraordinary voice, innovative guitar playing and profoundly soulful songs secured his status as a much admired pioneer.

Covered by Eric Clapton, revered by Lee Scratch Perry, produced by Phil Collins, Martyn influenced several generations of musicians, but beneath the songs lay a complicated and volatile personality. He lived his life the same way he made music: improvising as he went; scattering brilliance, beauty, rage and destruction in his wake.

Drawing on almost 100 new interviews, Small Hours is a raw and utterly gripping account of sixty years of daredevil creativity, soaring highs and sometimes unconscionable lows.

 

Justine Armatage - Gretschen Hofner, The Cesarians & Miranda Sex Garden

Justine Armatage in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.facebook.com/mirandasexgarden/?locale=en_GB

https://soundcloud.com/justinearmatage

Herman De Tollenaere

Herman De Tollenaere in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.punkstudies.nl

https://www.punktuationmag.com/author/herman-tollenaere

https://cheapnnastyband410118468.wordpress.com

Co-founded Vipers band, Pin fanzine, Rock Against Racism Netherlands 1978, Cheap 'n' Nasty band 1979

Grey Factor - Jeff Jacquin & Joey Cevetello

Jeff Jacquin & Joey Cevetello in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://greyfactor.bandcamp.com/album/grey-factor-1979-1980-a-d-complete-studio-recordings

Pioneers of the Los Angeles underground art damage electronic music scene, Grey Factor have been more myth than legend for over 40 years. The band recorded two experimental synth/post-punk EPs and gigged sparingly before disbanding. None of their recordings have been officially released in physical format until now.

1979-1980 A.D. - Complete Studio Recordings includes Grey Factor’s two studio EPs remastered from the original analogue tapes and pressed on limited edition vinyl with a 16-page color booklet including archival photos, documents and flyers chronicling the band’s brief existence. It marks the launch of Damaged Disco, the new label founded by producer and musician Dave Trumfio (Pulsars, The Mekons).

In 1978 Jeff Jacquin, Joey Cevetello, Jon Pospisil, and Paul Fontana formulated the blueprint for their minimalist synth-based sound. Using what would today be considered a goldmine of vintage electronic equipment, they recorded The Perils of Popularity EP at Eldorado Recording Studios with a young engineer named Dave Jerden (prior to his work with The Talking Heads and Byrne/Eno). The EP was dubbed onto cassettes and distributed at one of the 20-odd gigs Grey Factor played at legendary L.A. punk venues like Madame Wong’s, The Hong Kong Café, and The Masque. Word spread quickly, and the “too cool to care” underground crowd were soon cramming their way in to view this new phenomenon.

In 1980, Paul Fontana left the band and was replaced by Anne Burns and Joey’s brother, John Cevetello, to create The Feel of Passion EP. The synthesizer and drum machine setup of the first EP was expanded to include guitar and bass, female vocals and saxophone. After a confrontational performance on the groundbreaking, influential and first-of-its-kind cable TV show New Wave Theater, Grey Factor called it quits, the members deciding that there was just nothing else left to do. 

Ted Milton - Blurt

Ted Milton in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.tedmilton.net/news/index.html

Poet and musician, best known for leading Blurt, an experimental art rock group.

He published some early poems in magazines like Paris Review and Brian Patten's Underdog. In 1969 his poetry was published in the anthology Children of Albion: Poetry of the Underground in Britain. In the mid-sixties he began performing as a puppeteer, participating in numerous international festivals and appearing on So It Goes, the TV show hosted by Tony Wilson. He contributed a short scene for Terry Gilliam's film Jabberwocky.

In Eric Clapton's autobiography he describes hanging out with Ted at Milton's girlfriend Clarissa's apartment often in the summer of 1965. "Ted was the most extraordinary man. A poet and a visionary ... he was the first person I ever saw physically interpreting music ... to enact it with his entire being, dancing and employing facial expressions to interpret what he was hearing. Watching him, I understood for the first time how you could really live music, how you could listen to it and completely make it come alive, so that it was part of your life. It was a real awakening."

 

Simon Finn

Simon Finn in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://simonfinn.bandcamp.com/

First performance was opening for Al Stewart at the Marquee Club. He released his Pass the Distance LP in 1970, which in later years attained legendary status. "Pass the Distance" was remastered and re-released on Durtro/Jnana records in 2004 and again in 2008 on vinyl by Mayfair Music. In the same year, after a thirty-five-year absence from the music scene, he began touring again. His first performance was in support of the band Current 93 at St George the Martyr Church in Toronto in June 2004. His second album, Magic Moments, was his first new recording in 35 years and was released by Durtro/Jnana.

Rob Green - The Fallen Leaves

Rob Green in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.musicglue.com/the-fallen-leaves/

THE FALLEN LEAVES was formed in 2004 by Rob Green (Rob built himself a reputation singing at Bernie Rhodes’ “Club Left” and by performing with Vic Godard’s Subway Sect, notably supporting Siouxsie & The Banshees at the Music Machine in ’80), and by original ’76-’78 Subway Sect guitarist/founding member Rob Symmons whose distinctive discordant, stinging guitar sound was one of the defining features of the original Subway Sect which he formed with best friend Godard. Symmons & Green share a love of 60’s garage music, and ever-so stylish vintage suits. THE FALLEN LEAVES’ recordings are alive, heated and humming - preferring as they do to use vintage valve amps & mics, and recording live with no overdubs and minimal technology. They hark back to DIY punk days and concentrate on delivering impressive songs and performances. 

Jonny Polonsky

Jonny Polonsky in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.jonnypolonsky.com/

https://jonnypolonsky.bandcamp.com/music

Polonsky began writing, recording and self-releasing homemade cassettes as a teenager, under the name The Amazing Jonny Polonsky. Marc Ribot introduced New York composer John Zorn to these early tapes, and Zorn invited Polonsky to play his New Jewish Music festival in 1992 at CBGB's Gallery. Polonsky's band featured Marc Ribot on guitar, Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing) on bass, and Sim Cain (Rollins Band) on drums. Of that performance, singer Jeff Buckley (who was in attendance) was later quoted as saying, "He came to CBGB's Gallery and ripped it up...He killed 'em...The charm of it is that he's brought it into his own thing. It's a nice miniature. He does it with soul; you can tell the difference between someone who just slips into The Beatles or something and someone like him."

Luke Haines - The Servants, The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder

Luke Haines in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Freaks-Out-Weirdos-Deviants-Righteous/dp/1788709349

https://www.facebook.com/lukehainesuk/

Haines formed numerous bands when he was at school. At college he joined The Servants who recorded two commercially unsuccessful albums. It was only when Haines formed The Auteurs with Glenn Collins and girlfriend Alice Readman, who had also been drafted into The Servants on occasion, in 1991, that he began to achieve some success.

Kate St John - The Dream Academy

Kate St John in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.katestjohn.co.uk/

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/the-dream-academy-religion-revolution-railways-7cd-box-set

Classically trained on oboe, St. John's first band was The Ravishing Beauties.. The trio joined The Teardrop Explodes during the winter of 1981 for a series of dates at small clubs and a UK tour in early 1982.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was a member of The Dream Academy with Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel. In 1985 they had a worldwide hit with "Life In A Northern Town" and produced three albums: The Dream Academy (1985), Remembrance Days (1987) and A Different Kind Of Weather

Michael Kastelic - The Cynics

Michael Kastelic in conversation with David

https://www.facebook.com/thecynics/

American garage rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band, at the time consisting of guitarist Gregg Kostelich, drummer Bill Von Hagen, vocalist Michael Kastelic who joined in 1985, bass player Steve Magee, and keyboardist Becky Smith (later founder of New York City's Bellwether gallery), debuted with their first album, Blue Train Station in 1986. Many of their songs "carry the torch" for other favorite bands as cover songs or tributes. They underwent a number of lineup changes culminating in 1989's Rock and Roll album. They formed their own independent record label called Get Hip Records in 1986.

Billy Morrison - Billy Idol, Camp Freddy, Circus Diablo, Into A Circle & The Cult

Billy Morrison in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.billymorrison.net/

https://billymorrison.bigcartel.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ayUXrZaaHA

British guitarist and singer, who plays guitar with Billy Idol and performs with the Los Angeles–based cover band Royal Machines. Morrison previously played with Camp Freddy and fronted the hard rock act Circus Diablo. He has also toured with the Cult.

For THE MORRISON PROJECT—his third solo album and first since 2015—he has assembled an electrifying 12 songs including guest performances by Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Idol, DMC, Al Jourgensen, Steve Vai, Steve Stevens, Linda Perry, TommyClufetos, John5, and more. See the track listing below.

 

THE MORRISON PROJECT was produced by Billy Morrison, mixed by Barry Pointer, and mastered by Dave Donnelly. All the songs on the album—recorded in Los Angeles at various studios—were written by Billy Morrison in collaboration with his guests.