North Marine Drivers

October 1982, from the Mark Sinclair archive, Tracy speaking about the "Distant Shore" mood:

"A Distant Shore' wasn't intended as an LP at all, I sent some songs down from Hull to Cherry red and they decided to put them out. It felt right at that length because all the songs were written in a compact space of time just after I'd gone up to Hull. "I felt it ended there. It sounds corny, but I'd said all I had to say I couldn't have written more songs just to pad it out. I left the songs in chronological order as well so to me it flows really well because I know exactly what each song was about and what was happening. Part of a continuing experience. And then it just ends. It seems really right." "I'm riding on the crest of a wave from the things I've done before. So I suppose the good publicity and chart ratings it has got is due to people thinking 'let's see what Tracey's solo album is like'. "All sorts of strange people like the Marine Girls. We get lots of peculiar letters, We started all those 'sea' connotations and there was nothing meant by it but people asked if we're obsessed by the sea and do we eat fish for breakfast? It's quite annoying actually. We get sent shells. Little kids send up letters about their trips to the seaside." "A distant shore is quite thoughtful I suppose. People say they relax to it but I can't relax to it at all. I play it and it puts me all on edge! The music is relaxing but the lyrics certainly aren't. I'd hate it to be thought of as background music.""Actually my granddad's got this new cassette recorder, he doesn't know how to work it but I send tapes of everything that I do and he jigs about. They're very proud. To them someone they know making a record, let alone someone they're related to, is incredible. They can't believe it. To them, only famous people make records." Those were the days!!!

nervous breakdown - italian wave 81-85

"...At the beginning of the 80s, the “Italian model” boomed as it had never done before: this was true for art and culture, but also for people’s customs and everyday life. After leaving behind the bitterest and most nihilist phase of Punk, at that time and at that moment, a number of musical bands looked for new forms of expression and made their activities known everywhere in Italy: Gaz Nevada, Litfiba, CCCP, Denovo, Diaframma, Neon, Underground Life, Bisca, Pankow, Gang, Violet Eves, Rinf, Moda, Monuments, Art Fleury, Kirlian Camera, Detonazione, Timoria, Frigidaire, Tango, Afterhours and many more. Many of these bands do keep their art alive and kicking, and are still the best representatives of the Italian independent music production (Giovanni Lindo Ferretti, Piero Pelù/Litfiba, Afterhours, Gang, Ustmamò, Bisca, Marlene Kuntz), in the same way as many young people of that generation do play an important role in the artistic launching of new musical bands and the organisation of musical events (Alberto Pirelli, Indipendente Produzioni, Alex Fabbro, etc.). Crollo Nervoso is a compilation cd and a journey based on fragments, thoughts, considerations and stories on the most creative and non-conformist years of the 80s. Federico Guglielmi, the modfather of italian post punk lead you thru this journey that is mainly focused on completely unknown musical bands, but. A kaleidoscopic “trendy” fauna who was able to fill up those years – which seemed to be empty and superficial – with innovative and exciting experiences and contents..." You can find the original cd/dvd edition of Crollo Nervoso on Spittle Records at their site at www.spittlerecords.it or simply listen to my "hypotethical volume 2" made just for yor pleasure!!!