RELEASED? Out now.
SOUNDS LIKE? The Bristol Punk scene from 1976 to the early eighties and fuck what you hear about London with its fashion posers and Manchester with its art posers, Bristol was where the real shit was happening. Or so I believe. I wasn’t there, but these songs sound like they mean it, which is fine by me.
IS IT ANY GOOD? What do you think? This is when the only real punk was made, anything the wrong side of the eighties is nothing, a great big gape. So listen and learn, this is history, vital and important and a worthy addition to the earlobes of any connoisseur. I’m not a connoisseur, but I do like the badly recorded shouty punk jangling from this recording, so I’m sold. For a shortlist roll-call we have The Pigs, The Cortinas, Social Security, The Verdict and Chaotic Disorder, the latter of which kicking out a tune in just over a minute called ‘Who killed ET? (I Killed the Fucker!)” which is delivered with so much attitude you believe the young man, even though he may now be the director of a bank. Or an organic farmer.
WHERE IS IT? www.bristolarchiverecords.com

http://www.unpeeled.net/albums.html

Fishfood – weird/strange/fun post-punk from across the pond

19 November

Posted by Eric

I enjoy discovering good music that I’ve never heard before. Most modern music just bores me, so I usually dip into the late 70s/early 80s for this enjoyment.

A few months ago, I bought a compilation record/magazine called The Recorder. I found it for $2 at Jive Time in Fremont, noticed that there were three live Peter Gabriel songs on it (including a cover) and figured that those alone would be worth the two dollars.

I finally got around to listening to it an while the Peter Gabriel songs were quite fun, the real gem was the three opening songs by a band called Fish Food.

I’m not so good at reviewing music, so I’ll let the band introduce themselves to you…

Fish Food are a band are an aid, first to be the second coming round the mountain Diagram fingers spiced with many flavoured fingers from dressing gown chord sequences, aluminium crayfish savim, monkeys leap from limb to limb for five pence in the RSPCA jungle sale. Step lightly down the street, you don’t know who you’ll meet cleaving an enormous crevasse in a broken heart from which a flower grew, with metals soft as velvet and a colour so rich, deep and beautiful that the insects dared not land on it.

And honestly, that does sum them up rather well.

Fish Food (or Fishfood) was formed by four fellows from Bristol, England (about 100 miles west of London). It features Howard Purse on guitar, Doug White on Bass, Danny Duck on drums, and a local poet, here named only Andy (but it’s really Andy Fairley).

The three songs on this comp are all they ever wrote and recorded. They played a few times around Bristol, opening for the sort of legendary punk band The Slits.

“Dry Ice Hot” starts us off. It’s been described as “Talking Heads gone in a wonky post-punk direction” and I guess that’s sort of true. The thing that struck me with both are the vocals. Andy sounds nothing like David Byrne, of course, but he is … distinct. You can’t really hear all that’s going on vocally, I think my mind shut out a lot of it – only bits seeped in. “Kind of pinched or squeezed at the corners and edges” was repeated a lot at varying urgencies. I think somewhere in there I fell in love with it.

The second song “Seventeen Eels” is a short piece about seventeen eels in a red barrel. It describes the scene very accurately. There are seventeen eels in a red barrel. They squirm and bite, etc.

But the real genius hits during the sarcastic “Modern Dance Craze.” Where the music in the other two songs was chaotic and harsh, there’s a jangly guitar and soft drums over Andy’s urging for us to “do the modern dance craze.” His urging does grow more frequent and you really do get the feeling that he wants us to be “grooving and be-bopping, getting with it and staying sharp, being cool on the scene” while we do this modern dance craze. As we acquiesce and give into this modern dance craze, we are rewarded for our triumph: “Oh that’s lovely, you’re really grooving it and digging it and loving the music. And we’re really having a lot of fun here tonight because we’re doing the new modern dance craze.” Andy even gives suggestions, “Oh that’s lovely, the modern dance craze, shake your butts, yeah.”

I don’t really have much to compare this to. Maybe TV Personalities if they weren’t so influenced by early Pink Floyd would have done something like this. And what’s more is I’m not sure who would like this. I do, of course, but this is something you either think is total crap or you love it to death and wish there was more.

The band broke up shortly after this recording and Howard Purse (who seemed to be the driving musical force in the group) put together a band called Animal Magic. After their demise, Purse got back together with Andy the poet/vocalist, forming the band Birth of Sharon.

I’ve not been able to find anything on them, though a reviewer says they sound like “Gang Of 4 trying to have fun.”¹

ITunes seems to have both The Recorder and a split download compilation of Fishfood and Birth of Sharon. Being on Linux, I can’t really access the iTunes store and really wish people would either stop using it or provide an alternate, cross-platform and nonrestricted way to legally download songs.

These were put up by the (digital only?) label Bristol Archives Records, which plunders the vaults of the old Bristol scene, releasing the gems they find. It’s a great service, so thanks bunches, but what’s with the iTunes only thing?

Get Fishfood ripped by me right here.

Technical Information:
Media Used:
Vinyl LP from my personal collection.Hardware Used:
Turntable: Audio Technica PL-120A
Cartridge: ATP-2XN (Stock)
TCC TC-750LC Audiophile Phono Preamp
Soundcard: Roland Edirol UA-1EX USB external soundcard

Software Used:
Audacity 1.3.7 on Linux Mint 7
-Digital recording from soundcard
-Editing and splitting of tracks

Gnome Wave Cleaner 0.21-10
-Manual and automatic click/pop removal

SoundConverter 1.4.1
-Converted WAV to 320kbps MP3

Taken from : http://littleblackstar.com/vinyl/2009/11/19/fishfood-weirdstrangefun-post-punk-from-across-the-pond/

The Rimshots second single originally released in 1981 has just been rereleased via www.1977records.com in Japan.

If you wish two check it out and maybe buy a copy please use the link above

Rimshots Biography

Formed in 1979 in Bristol, England this Power Pop / Mod band started to appear on the British gig scene along side the likes of The Purple Hearts, The Chords, The Beat and Secret Affair. They unfortunately never achieved national recognition but did support The Beat, Hazel O’Connor, The Bellstars and The Bodysnatchers along with many others in their home city and the surrounding area.

This is their second single originally released on Spectro Records in 1981, their first a Ska offering ‘I Was Wrong’ was released on Shoc Wave Records in 1980.

The band were managed by Gene Walsh owner of Shoc Wave and were influenced in their early development by the thriving Reggae scene in Bristol and supported British heavyweight reggae kings Black Roots and Talisman who were leading the charge on the British public.

More information and a digital download Rimshots album can be found at www.bristolarchiverecords.com with a vinyl album release in the pipeline.

Artrockers…
I must admit to being a little over-excited by the prospect of a Pop Group reunification. Yes, it’s happening, and there will be gigs, a couple at The Garage in September just to kick things off. But where do The Pop Group sit in the pantheon of artrock? Well, pretty high I reckon. They were a funny bunch though weren’t they?
When I think back there were, it seemed to me, three main protagonists; Mark Stewart (vocals), Gareth Sager (guitar) and drummer Bruce Smith. Mark Stewart seemed to me to be the ‘political’ one, I remember stories of him bursting into tears whenever he thought of the woeful state of the world, carrying the cares of the globe on his back. He was never a singer of course, more of a ranter, and he was even more of a ranter than Mark E Smith. So Mark was the ‘serious’ one. Gareth was the performer. Seemingly oblivious to the ‘heavy’ subject matter, Gareth put on a show, fully realising his frontman potential when he swapped bass for sax with Rip Rig and Panic. And then there was drummer Bruce. What a drummer! Every so often a tub-thumper comes along and blows your mind. That’s exactly what Bruce did to me. One of my fondest memories is of Bruce playing stand-in drummer for The Slits at The Communist Party festie at the Ally Pally… 1980? He was incredible!
Do you have Pop Group memories? If so, please send them to me.
Having said all that I have to admit that The Pop Group only made an ‘honourable mention’ in our 100 Greatest Ever Artrock Tracks with ‘She’s Beyond Good and Evil’. I can only apologise, but at the same time, in our defence, at least we remembered them. Go look The Pop Group up on Google, there’s hardly anything there – even the Wiki entry is poor. However, The Pop Group do pop-up on our Spotify 100 playlist, it’s still one hell of a listen, blending the new with the classic – and it’s the number 1 playlist on ListenSpotify, which is nice. So have a listen, have a look at the list on Artrocker.tv and, at the very least, settle your mind as to what actually constitutes Artrock..

Tom Artrocker
[email protected]

Various Artists: Bristol – The Punk Explosion (Bristol Archives)

Bristol Archive Records is my new favourite record label. Their sole reason for existence is to preserve the punk/post-punk musical history of Bristol. This compilation is almost perfect. For a start, this was the first time I’d listened to a punk compilation where I didn’t already know every song.

I grew up listening to punk compilations and samplers and mix tapes, and this is the first one that I’ve heard where the actual sequencing of the tracks made any sense. On The Punk Explosion, the tracks are ordered chronologically, starting in 1977 (naturally) and ending in ’83, this makes sense because it shows the development of the punk sound. We start off with some Buzzcockian poppy love songs (“she’s my choc ice”?!) and finishes with the birth of hardcore and thrash (Chaos UK and Onslaught, respectively).

What this album does best is present the Bristol scene as a microcosm of the punk scene in general. On an ordinary compilation, The Clash or Stiff Little Fingers would represent political punk, Dead Kennedys would be your dose of hardcore and X-Ray Spex would be the only female-fronted band. On this record those bands are replaced with 48 Hours, The Undead and Vice Squad.

By limiting the record’s scope to a very specific geographic location, Bristol Archive Records have avoided rehashing the same old bands and I’ve had a chance to listen to music by bands I’d only heard of from staring at the patches on other people’s clothes at gigs. Before Bristol Archive Records, the punk compilation wasn’t dead, but it was stagnant. Check this out if you like your music short, fast and loud. 9/10

Daniel Shields

Taken from: http://www.tastyfanzine.org.uk/albums98may10.htm#VariousArtistsBristolThePunkExplosion

The link in question:

http://www.bristolarchiverecords.com/people/people_Tim_Williams.html

I recently came across your site while surfing the net for 70s nostalgia,in doing so i read the article by Tim Williams on punk/funk people clothes  and places in Newport (Gwent)and Bristol.
Tim really got it nailed on the head,i remember the Bristol boy and girls coming to both Rudi’s,and the monday night Stowaway (Alan jones run,dave bumford and Brian Lewis dj-ing)this was the Paradise soul night with a reverential amount of jazz funk disco & reggae,normally with a band to follow,most of the UKs top reggae and jazz funk/funk outfits cut their teeth there,from Steel Pulse to Hi Tension,and the Pretenders if my memory serves me correctly.
What i have been meaning to get around to is, we ventured over to the Princes court in Park St (i believe),as we had it on good authority from a group of Bristol girls we had got close to in Newport, that we could expect to hear the same tuneage there as we were used to in Newport,and like Rudi’s it was upstairs. One of the girls vivian……? from St Paul’s ,who wore that night  a Johnson male shiny grey peg retro 50s suit complete with shirt and tie, (a bead of sweat or liquid was enough to leave a mark, i know because i had one) had the most amazing long cleopatra ish cut with her fringe down to just over her eye lids,so when she spoke she would always have to raise her head to see or when talking.(dead cool or at lest what passed for cool  in 78).
Her friend who i believe was an on off friend to Alan Jones,and did some local modeling  adorned the wall in a life size  black and white photo at the Princes Court.
If this rings a bell with anyone an update as to how they are doing now would be appreciated or if they have gone on to better things.
in closing iand when i have more time i will respond to Tims excellent piece,and give an update on how and what some of those names he mentioned are up to now, and some others he didn’t but should still know,together with some Bristol night out stories.
regards
ian.

VARIOUS ARTISTS

‘AVON CALLING 2’

Released worldwide on 23rd August 2010

20 SUPERB TRACKS ALL PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

In 1979, Bristols’ music scene was riding the crest of the new wave, spawning numerous bands and performers whose influences and indeed physical beings have gone on to feature in some of todays’ big music makers.

During this period local musician Simon Edwards decided to form Bristols’ first independent label, Heartbeat Records, to capture all the excitement and get Bristols’ music out beyond the M32.

With so many bands to choose from the label set about releasing a series of 7” singles, and such was the demand realised by these that a compilation LP featuring fifteen of these bands was released. The album, topically titled AVON CALLING went on to achieve near legendary status – even hailed by John Peel as “truly superb, the compilation that all others should be judged by”.

Such was the interest in the album that the bands involved continued to supply the label with demo tapes, and the lucky ones went on to release more singles, even 12” EP’s and ultimately LP’s. The sheer volume of demos and the eventual logistical constraints of “just how many records can one man put out in a year” meant that only a few would actually see further releases – though the content was in most cases nothing short of superb.

Label boss Edwards openly admits to continually returning to many of the songs purely
just to listen and enjoy some “bloody good music”. Long has it been his ambition to put together an album of these songs – for no other reason but to get them out there where they belong, so they can at last be heard by others and the bands once more be applauded for making such exciting and essential sounds.

Well, the dream has finally been realised and Bristol Archive Records have given him the platform to finally release AVON CALLING 2, a collection of previously unreleased recordings from the vaults of Bristols’ Heartbeat Becords. Featured bands include EUROPEANS, APARTMENT, SNEAK PREVIEW, JOE PUBLIC, 48 HOURS, ESSENTIAL BOP, THE DIRECTORS, THE X-CERTS and SOCIAL SECURITY.

This new album full of forgotten treasures will sit perfectly along side the original AVON CALLING release and go some way to completing the story of just what was happening in Bristol back in 1979/1980 and how the music sounds as relevant today as it did back then.

TITLE: AVON CALLING 2
LABEL / DISTRIBUTION: Bristol Archive Records / Shellshock
CAT NO: ARC160 CD
FORMAT: CD plus digital download
WEBSITE: www.bristolarchiverecords.com