C86 Show - Indie Pop

Andy Ellison - John's Children, Jet and Radio Stars

Andy Ellison in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://easyaction.co.uk/product/andy-ellison-stunt-rocker-book/

Autobiography of one of rock music’s ‘Enfant Terrible’...from the mod beat of the mid 60s, Psychedelic Pop of the late 60s glam rock of the mid seventies punk rock of the late seventies. Andy Ellison fronted many cult bands like John’s Children (with Marc Bolan) Jet with members of Sparks and Roxy Music, The Radio Stars, all of which would see Andy performing hanging from Lighting rigs atop of speaker stacks, starting a riot on The Who’s tour of Germany and getting thrown off said tour, leaping into audiences from the stageand subsequently damaging himself in most performances...but aside from all that the real stories start to come through...of which they appear to be relentless like a machine gun each one more incredulous than the other. The book is liberally sprinkled with many photographs all the way through not clumped into two or three batches like most books and boasts a foreword by the one and only Simon Napier-Bell. Andy has some of THE Best stories of anyone from the music industry...and they’re in this book!

David Owen - The Hollow Men, The FLK and Storm Chorus

David Owen in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.theinkcorporation.co.uk/

From Leeds, England. The group named itself after the poem by T. S. Eliot. The members were David Ashmoore on vocals, Choque on guitar, Howard Taylor on bass, Brian E Roberts on guitar and Jonny Cragg on drums. Between 1985 and 1994 The Hollow Men released four albums .

Starting out as a two piece for the first single "Late Flowering Lust" (featuring session bassist John Dean) David Ashmoore (David Owen) and Choque (who was previously in Leeds band Salvation) were joined by permanent bassist Howard Taylor for debut album Tales Of The Riverbank released on their own Evensong record label.

The trio recorded another album The Man Who Would Be King again on Evensong before drummer Jonny Cragg, who had guested on the album and guitarist Brian E. Roberts, a former bandmate of Taylor's when they were in The Passmore Sisters together, joined.

Medicine Head with John Fiddler

John Fiddler in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://medicinehead.rocks/

Fiddler and Hope-Evans met while attending Wednesfield Grammar School, and later Stafford Art School and began performing together on an informal basis. In or around 1968, they began performing the blues and rock and roll songs in pubs and clubs in and around Birmingham. Radio DJ John Peel saw Fiddler and Hope-Evans perform at the Lafayette Club and later shared their music with John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend. At Lennon's insistence, the duo was signed by Dandelion Records.

The demo recording of "His Guiding Hand" was released as a single, Peel describing it as "the cheapest single ever made and one of the classic records of all time" and keeping the single in his box of most treasured records. The duo's first album, New Bottles Old Medicine, was recorded in a single two-hour session, and they toured with Peel at many of his gigs, Peel paying them out of his own fee. Their second album, Heavy on the Drum, was recorded with Keith Relf, formerly of The Yardbirds, as producer. The single "(And The) Pictures in the Sky" rose to number 22 on the UK Singles Chart in 1971. This was not included on Heavy on the Drum, but was added to CD reissues of their debut, New Bottles Old Medicine. "(And The) Pictures in the Sky" was the first hit on the Dandelion label.

Peter Case - The Nerves & The Plimsouls

Peter Case in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://petercase.com/

Case was born in Buffalo, New York. He wrote his first song "Stay Away," in 1965, at the age of eleven. A veteran of several rock bands and the local bar scene as a teenager, Case dropped out of high school when he was fifteen (he would later earn a GED), and after several years of traveling arrived in 1973 in San Francisco, where he performed as a street musician. During this period a documentary about the local music scene, Nightshift, directed by Bert Deivert, captured the young Case on film. In 1976, he teamed up with Jack Lee and Paul Collins to form the early punk-era band The Nerves in San Francisco. The group's 1976 EP track, "Hanging on the Telephone", was later recorded by Blondie.

Nick Laird-Clowes - The Dream Academy & Trashmonk

Nick Laird-Clowes in conversation with David Eastaugh

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

 

 Seven CD box set of the complete recordings of The Dream Academy.

Featuring their three official albums and including all official B-sides and remixes and unreleased tracks.

The band’s Nick Laird-Clowes has searched the Warner Bros archives to find rarities and unreleased tracks and has been closely involved with remastering, creating all new artwork, and choosing photographic material as well as writing comprehensive liner notes for the set.

The Dream Academy were a British band featuring singer/guitarist and songwriter Nick Laird- Clowes, multi-instrumentalist Kate St. John, and keyboardist/songwriter Gilbert Gabriel.

In I985 the group achieved worldwide success following the release of their first single ‘Life In A Northern Town’ which saw their subsequent debut album going into the American Top 20.

Their atmospheric music was the result of an unusual musical line-up of oboe and cor anglais, string synthesiser and acoustic guitar, while their three albums for Warner/Reprise brought them a large and devoted following.

Their close musical association with David Gilmour saw him co-producing two of their three albums. Other co-productions included both Lyndsey Buckingham and Hugh Padgham.

The cinematic nature of their recordings saw the band being asked to contribute music to films by both John Hughes (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Trains, Planes and Automobiles) and Diane Keaton (Heaven).
The group disbanded in 1990 and the intervening years have seen extensive sampling and cover versions of their debut single, (most notably by Dario G’s ‘Sunchyme’ and Sugarland And Little Big Town’s reworking of ‘Life In A Northern Town’) resulting in further international chart success and a Grammy nomination.

Sid Griffin - Coal Porters, The Long Ryders & The Unclaimed

Sid Griffin in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.sidgriffin.com/

https://www.thelongryders.com/

American singer, songwriter, guitarist-mandolinist, bandleader, and author. He led the Long Ryders band in the 1980s, founded the Coal Porters group in the 1990s, has recorded several solo albums and is the author of volumes on Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons and bluegrass music.

In 2022, Sid Griffin was on hand to accept the International Trailblazers Award on behalf of the Long Ryders from the Americana Music Association UK. Griffin and his band are also part of an exhibition at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville entitled “Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock.” His lyric sheets for the songs “Looking for Lewis and Clark” and “Gunslinger Man” are on display, as well as band photos, posters, album covers and an interactive listening station where visitors can hear Long Ryders recordings. The exhibition is scheduled to continue to May 2025.

Men Without Hats - Ivan Doroschuk

Ivan Doroschuk in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.safetydance.com/

Men Without Hats are a Canadian new wave and synth-pop band, originally from Montreal, Quebec. Their music is characterized by the voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk, as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. They achieved their greatest popularity in the 1980s with "The Safety Dance", a worldwide top ten hit (No. 3 in the United States), and "Pop Goes the World". After a hiatus for most of the 1990s and 2000s, Doroschuk reformed the band in 2010, and released Love in the Age of War (2012). The group, based in Vancouver, has continued to perform, including tour dates announced in support of the release of two studio albums, Men Without Hats Again (Parts 1 & 2), in 2021 and 2022 respectively.

Rob Harvilla - 60 Songs That Explain the '90s

Rob Harvilla in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://robharvilla.com/

The 1990s were a chaotic and gritty and utterly magical time for music, a confounding barrage of genres and lifestyles and superstars, from grunge to hip-hop, from sumptuous R&B to rambunctious ska-punk, from Axl to Kurt to Missy to Santana to Tupac to Britney. In 60 SONGS THAT EXPLAIN THE '90s, Ringer music critic Rob Harvilla reimagines all the earwormy, iconic hits Gen Xers pine for with vivid historical storytelling, sharp critical analysis, rampant loopiness, and wryly personal ruminations on the most bizarre, joyous, and inescapable songs from a decade we both regret entirely and miss desperately.

Bob Andrews - Brinsley Schwarz & Graham Parker and the Rumour

Bob  Andrews in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://neworleanspiano.com/

http://neworleanspiano.com/minaandbob.html

Bob Andrews - I grew up in the thick of the 60's British music scene, beginning my musical career in 1966, and spent thirteen years on the road honing my Hammond organ and piano skills with cult bands BRINSLEY SCHWARZ and GRAHAM PARKER and THE RUMOUR. In the 80’s as a producer my credits included “THERE SHE GOES” by The La’s and UK top ten hits for THE BLUEBELLS and several STIFF RECORDS artists. At the turn of the 90's I moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, becoming in demand as a live performer. I currently live and work in Taos, New Mexico.

The Bambi Slam - Roy

Roy in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7gDxQ0FudI

The Bambi Slam were a UK based Canadian-British quartet with an unusual instrumental lineup of guitar, cello, bass, drums, led by singer/guitarist Roy and featuring cellist Linda Miller and drummer Nick Maynard. By the time of the release of the first full-length album, The Bambi Slam, in 1988, the group had splintered, leaving the Bambi Slam as a Feldon solo project. (The album credit reads, "Written, produced, arranged and performed by Roy," though former group members also contributed.)

John Sparrow - Violent Femmes

John Sparrow in conversation with David Eastaugh

Long-time drummer and percussionist of iconic folk punk band Violent Femmes, John Sparrow has spent his life steeped in a wild mélange of music.

John joined Violent Femmes in 2005 as a member of the Horns of Dilemma, playing cajon. In 2016 he made his drumming debut with the band, playing a Weber Grill as part of his drum kit on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Several other notable performances with Violent Femmes include headlining Coachella, as well as orchestral engagements with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl, and Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.

From Innovative Percussion

Andy Shernoff - The Dictators

Andy Shernoff in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.andyshernoff.com/

Founding member of The Dictators, one of the original New York punk bands, in which he wrote nearly all of the songs, played bass guitar and keyboards, and sang backing vocals and occasional leads. He has been involved with a variety of other musical projects, most notably the heavily Dictators-populated Manitoba's Wild Kingdom and Joey Ramone's first studio album, Don't Worry About Me.

Gemma Townley - Blueboy

Gemma Townley in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://blueboy.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063570168121

https://www.janeduffus.com/sarah-records

Originally a duo of Keith Girdler (vocals) and Paul Stewart (guitars), Blueboy rose from the ashes of Reading band Feverfew. Mark Cousens (bass), Gemma Townley (cello, vocals), Lloyd Haggar (drums) and ex-Field Mouse Harvey Williams (guitar) joined the line-up, with Martin Rose later taking over on drums. They released six 7"s and two LPs on Sarah Records, and two 7"s and an album on Shinkansen

Ali Smith - Speedball Baby

Ali Smith in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.alismith.com/

https://www.blackstoneindie.com/the-ballad-of-speedball-baby-gkno.html#541=2790081

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/feb/05/ali-smiths-90s-new-york-punk-scene-in-pictures

The Ballad of Speedball Baby is the thrilling, extremely funny, and heart-wrenchingly vulnerable story of Ali Smith―coming of age in ’90s New York―who commits to the messy, exhilarating life of a musician and must survive the slings and arrows society reserves for women who refuse to comply.

As an only child reeling from the demolition of her parents’ toxic marriage, the New York City underground music scene offers a young Ali a different family of misfits and talented outsiders to belong to.

She becomes the bass player for edgy band Speedball Baby, a decision that will take her around the world―from onstage at the legendary CBGBs to the red-light district of Amsterdam. She’s often the only girl in a broken-down tour van, being strip-searched at the Croatian border, chased by lunatics, and navigating the seedy underbelly of a male-dominated music scene full of addiction, violence, and misogyny―all while keeping her sharp wit and dark humor intact.

Rimmed with heavy black eyeliner and smelling faintly of cheap booze, The Ballad of Speedball Baby is a pulse-quickening, unpredictable ride through the ’90s music scene―alternately terrifying, hilarious, and painfully evocative―as well as a love letter to the power of female solidarity.

 

Allan Crockford - The Prisoners, The James Taylor Quartet & The Galileo 7

Allan Crockford  in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.thegalileo7.co.uk/

The Prisoners - British 1960s garage/mod/R'n'B-inspired band formed in early 1980 in Chatham, Kent, England as a three-piece. James Taylor joined early 1982 after he saw The Prisoners for the first time around Christmas 1981. Signed to Countdown (an offshot / subsidiary of Stiff Records) in the second half of 1985, but later decided to disband in 1986 following the parent label's bankruptcy. Last gig before several re-unions in the 1990's was on 18th September 1986.

Andy Spinoza - Manchester unspun How a city got high on music

Andy Spinoza in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526174062/

At the end of the 1970s, Manchester seemed to be sliding into the dustbin of history. Today the city is an international destination for culture and sport, and one of the fastest-growing urban regions in Europe. This book offers a first-hand account of what happened in between.

Arriving in Manchester as a wide-eyed student in 1979, Andy Spinoza went on to establish the arts magazine City Life before working for the Manchester Evening News and creating his own PR firm. In a forty-year career he has encountered a who's who of Manchester personalities, from cultural icons such as Tony Wilson to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and influential council leaders Sir Richard Leese and Sir Howard Bernstein.

His remarkable account traces Manchester's gradual emergence from its post-industrial malaise, centring on the legendary nightclub the Haçienda and the cultural renaissance it inspired.

Larry Schemel - Death Valley Girls, Kill Sybil, Midnight Movies, The Flesh Eaters

Larry Schemel  in conversation with David Eastaugh

One time member of the Death Valley Girls - American rock band formed in 2013 in Los Angeles, California. The band consists of vocalist and keyboardist Bonnie Bloomgarden, guitarist Larry Schemel, bassist Sammy Westervelt, and drummer Rikki Styxx. Now entering a new musical phase. 

Kill Sybil were a five piece from Seattle; three chicks and two dicks, as they liked to say. Girl-pop reverb hell on shitty equipment, powered by Schmidt beer. They started out as "Sybil", but had to change their name after their first single to avoid legal trouble from some soul singer with the same name

Iain Matthews - Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort & Plainsong

Iain Matthews in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://iainmatthews.nl/

Iain Matthews first gained attention as a founding member and vocalist for the innovative Fairport Convention’s first three albums, changing the voice of folk music in his country. He moved on to create Matthews’ Southern Comfort, exploring his interest in American music. They had a No 1 hit in the UK with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’. Never one to stand still for very long Iain moved on during the 1970’s with another group, Plainsong. 

Frank Secich - Blue Ash, Dead Boys, Stiv Bators & Club Wow

Frank Secich in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.highvoltagepublishing.com/product/frank-secich-not-that-way-anymore

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-That-Anymore-Frank-Secich/dp/0994629060

Blue Ash is an American band, formed in Ohio in the summer of 1969 by bassist Frank Secich & vocalist Jim Kendzor. Guitarist Bill Yendrek and drummer David Evans were recruited later that summer.

The band debuted at "The Freak Out", a club in Youngstown, Ohio, on October 3, 1969. They gained a loyal following playing an endless stream of one-nighters over that year. In October 1970, Bill Yendrek, was replaced by guitarist/songwriter Bill "Cupid" Bartolin.

Blue Ash continued playing 250–300 dates a year throughout Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, while the songwriting team Frank Secich and Bill Bartolin accumulated an enormous amount of original material. In June 1972, Blue Ash signed a production contract with Peppermint Productions of Youngstown and started recording and sending out demos. In late 1972, they were signed to Mercury Records by A&R man Paul Nelson. Their first album No More, No Less was released in May 1973 and received rave reviews in the rock press. It is considered a power pop classic, and is regarded as highly collectible among fans of that genre

Greg Roberts - Big Audio Dynamite, Screaming Target & Dreadzone

Greg Roberts in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.dreadzone.com/

He was a member of Big Audio Dynamite from 1984 to 1990, a band led by , former lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the Clash. He went on to form Screaming Target in 1991 with ex-Big Audio Dynamite members Don Letts and Leo "E-Zee Kill" Williams, then started Dreadzone with Tim Bran, Williams and Dan Donovan, another former Big Audio Dynamite member. Dreadzone had a No. 20 hit in the with "Little Britain" in 1996.

Dreadzone are an unstoppable force who have long been, and still are, one of the best live bands around with a loyal and ever growing fanbase due in part to their storming and energetic live shows. They have been releasing albums and progressively bettering, refining and perfecting their own unique and inimitable take on dub since their inception in 1993.