Sending letters from East Kilbride

Aztec Camera, from East Kilbride, it seems yesterday that they were the next Postcard stars ready to shine, but it was more or less 35 years ago.... Main man, Roddy Frame at the time was still a very young whippersnapper with an enourmous talent for writing songs, even more than his friend Edwyn, He was quite a flashy guitarist also, not in a Jimi Hendrix way, but it showed through in his choice of chords and his solo runs and he was a great player anyway. Quite sophisticated for bright & breezy pop songs. I mean, goodness knows how many chord changes there are in their songs if you ever tried to play them in years. Anyway, it was the sound of Young Scotland (?!) or was it only bunch of upbeat sparkly tunes for people tired of post punk gothic anthems... I don't know. No need to say how important the've been in "our" music and in my life... I  bought anything of theirs I could find including live tapes and badges for years... High Land Hard Rain definitely ranks among the very greatest debut albums of all times. Years after came the C86 bands, the new folk heroes etc... What I know for sure is that these early songs (recorded live in 1982 at the Astor Univ.) certainly show an incredible emotional depth and tug at the heart strings here and there... Sadly, this was the 80's,and progress, unfortunately,meant getting in big name producers and spending weeks/months achieving big drum sounds! Quality and the special touches get blown away by the sheer gloss and polish of the production...A crying shame,but it has its moments...

Flewing jets again (for the US airforce)

Having recently seen them pithily reviewed online somewhere as "Joy Division without the joy", someone forgets (or maybe he never knew) that Artery was one of the bands that sprung up in 1978 and they developed a large following also here in Italy where they incredibily had a minor hit with their single "Into the garden"! "People wanted to express themselves and that opened doorways" said Mark while reforming his band in 2007... It's a real pleasure to hear them again with a lot of new powerful songs to perform... welcome back Mark it's really a a huge pleasure to hear your great band again after 25 years with your magic intact, "never to late to spread the word"...

The "sweetest" girls

Possibly the finest early eighties band never to have a chart single and they split up before having any real success. According to wonderous singer Judy : "...When the first single ”Getting Nowhere Fast° became NME single of the week, the group ‘Girls At Our Best!” didn’t exist as such. Jez (James Allen) & I were determined to get our 2 songs on vinyl with a view to seeing what if anything happened next. Well something did happen & another record was clamoured for which meant we had to write 2 more songs & find someone to help us record them. This was the time when Gerard Swift & Carl Harper joined us; but there was no serious intention of playing live until much later. The music & the lyrics we wrote, the strategy we used, the image we tried to create was definitely intended to be a serious force in popular music, but we disguised it so as not to appear pretentious, intellectual or musically serious. I suppose that with most bands that break up, the reasons are both incredibly simple & boringly complicated. There was a series of events which I think inevitably led to the band splitting up. We went to America, as just mentioned, which screwed everybody up a little bit. Our record contract came to an end just after our return & we were all getting on each other’s nerves. Just at this vital point in the career of GAOB, when there should have been consolidation, vision & energy, there was a big void & we all just drifted apart. The record contract was left to rot & GAOB didn’t exist anymore...." Girls At Our Best were one of the finest, most life-affirming of a new breed of independent bands who cropped up at the turn of the 80s – long-standing fan John Peel once referred to them as one of the few groups that made the period bearable. All four of their singles for their own Record Records, Rough Trade and Happy Birthday Records are pure gems. The album "Pleasure" a little bit less but still memorable. Hear them playing live with their unique pre C-86 style and enjoy once again Judy's distinctive unique voice.

the season of steel

The idea of an Italian Wave as a genre remains a difficult beast to try and capture, file or contain. The music often collected under that banner is strongly associated with a sort of "total derivative" sound that looked at uk post punk bands, but it also grew by itself becoming something more interesting and complex. Nowadays, from our lofty 21st Century perspective, Italian Wave appears to mount repeated incursions into an almost unknowable number of previously well guarded genres: Synthpop, Techno, Dark, Punk, Garage etc.. United mainly by barely commodified electronics and tiny print runs of 7“s and later cassettes (although somewhat morbidly respectable by today’s sales standards). All of this decentralised music making makes an easily digestible guide all but impossible. And exactly like many of the Uk post punk bands that inspired our italian wave movement, our bands faded into domesticity and obscurity soon after their ninyl debuts. No Depeche Mode and no Cure here in Italy, just a pair of bands like litfiba & Diaframma that were arguably the most successful, carving out a career that’s now spanned (amazingly) four decades. but we're more interested in the ones that couldn't survived the passing of time. This is a simple "homage" to them through a compilation of  updated sounds from  those "now reformed" heroes of italian wave... a little adventure in the music from a far decade which we don't want to become another forgotten story.

no mortal coil

Whichever way you look at them, in the "decade that counts", Cocteau Twins has gradually acquired a mythical prestige that transcends both their original ambitions and the music’s own guileless outlook. One of the early practitioners in Shoegazing territories, the Twins came very much to be synonymous with the 80s and the Atmospheric turn the decade took in music. Not a common dreampop combo but a band that came from post punk and finally reached a mainstream enduring success with the music they played for years. And it wasn't just another r'n'roll swindle and I'm not talking about Enya or Enigma, although someone used to compare them to those kind of plastic popstars. I've alway preferred looking at their music as an evolution of the Banshees style mixed with a sort of Krautrock feeling.  Anyway, embracing a kind of selfmade minimalism in their music, Cocteau Twins and the ethereal vocals of Elizabeth Fraser soon ended to create a style. Their influence was felt in several other bands for years and the volume of the Twins' related traffic on the Internet alone is testament to how profoundly was (and is) their influence on contemporary music. History says that they also split with sorrow and tears and this is why within weeks of the announcement of a 2005 Coachella reunion, Lizzie sadly announced she wouldn't take part cause she still could no longer face working with Robin. This probably means no future for them but a magic past to rediscover once again...

The lost patrol

After being ejected from punk group The Wall in 1979, singer Ian Lowery and guitarist Nick Clift (ex-Debutants) formed Ski Patrol, along with Pete Balmer (ex-Stranded, later to record with Fad Gadget) on bass and Bruce Archibald on drums.  Inspired by the darkwave and punk-funk sounds and emotions of British post-punk bands Joy Division, Gang Of Four, the band set about writing angular, moody songs that fused Lowery's dark lyrical pre-occupations with Clift's ringing, textured guitar chord phrasing. They released their first 7” Everything is Temporary / Silent Scream on their own Clever Metal label. Archibald was subsequently replaced by Alan Cole for the line –up which recorded the first of two singles for the Malicious Damage label: Agent Orange / Driving and Cut / Faith In Transition. Rumour has it that the anonymous synth player on Agent Orange is none other than Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman. Anyway this last is without any doubt one of the best post punk tracks ever. Pete Balmer was then replaced by Francis Cook by the time of the 3rd single, Cut / Faith in Transition, and this was the line up that recorded a John Peel Session for Radio One and that was one of the real high points of the band. Just a week after they played their final gig at Charing Cross Hospital. The guitarist (Nick Clift) decided to leave and Francis (Cook), the bass player, and Ian lowery decided to change their name to Folk Devils and never came back on their split decision. Malicious Damage never remastered their recordings and no one seemed to care. Ian Lowery played for years with new projects but never had a minimum of success. Then he died too soon in 2001 but we'll never forget him for his music.

The liquid legends

March 1979

"Island had dropped us, and I was planning to leave because I thought synthesizers were going to change music in the same way that the electric guitar did. Then we were offered a tour of America by Miles Copeland and his brother [Ian] - there was a big audience for British new wave acts at that time. We flew over on the cheap with Laker Airlines and, as there were no luggage restrictions, took all of our instruments and our backline amps. When we got off the plane Miles's brother was waiting for us with a van and we did six weeks with one day off. People like the artist Jean Michel Basquiat and John Frusciante from the Chili Peppers came to see us. The tour ended in Hollywood at the Whisky A Go-Go. After the last show I just told them all that I had had enough and was leaving, that they could have the name and the band identity. Things were already tense - at the end of long tours everyone is full of adrenalin but very tired - and a minor argument broke out although I can't remember what it was about. Billy and Chris walked out of the dressing room and Warren stayed hut was really angry, although he didn't shout, as we weren't that sort of people. We left the venue in separate cars and I flew back to England on my own the next day. It was a great wrench to leave, but the grey suits were waiting. I wanted to work alone with a tape recorder, drum machine, a synthesizer and get rid of anything that was rock'n'roll. As for their later success with Midge Ure, I have nothing to say about them, as that band has nothing to do with me". (JF)

From 1976 to 1979 Ultravox were legends as Mr. Foxx was their singer and musical guide. Their immense influence in the rise of uk post punk sound is undeniable.  Then came Midge and the New Romantics Years but please remember them playing with Mr.Dennis their last mythical 1979 us tour...