June updates
May 29th, 2009
Loads of new releases and new features coming very soon…
http://www.youtube.com/bristolarchiverecord
May 14th, 2009
Please check out our new youtube account where you can catch videos from
http://www.youtube.com/bristolarchiverecord
APACHE DROPOUT
DRY
THE ESCAPE
FEAR OF DARKNESS
LOVE JUNGLE
More videos to appear in the coming months…..
BRISTOL ARCHIVE RECORDS – MAY UPDATES
May 6th, 2009
Another busy month for the label with the following releases and additions to the site.
NEW RELEASES:
THE PIGS ALBUM
Originally released in 1977 via New Bristol Records, the very rare ‘Youthanasia’ep.
Plus ‘1977’ the album of the complete demos from the session at Sound Conception which produced the above mentioned release. These recordings have previously been unavailable….
We were the Pigs, a garage band that got lucky – but not that lucky. We formed in March 1977 and we disbanded in March 1978. In those twelve months we hit a few high notes and we hit a few bum notes.
High note: first rehearsal, first garage, Henbury.
Ricky was a guitar player, so he plays drums. Kit was a bass player, so he plays guitar. Nigel has never touched an instrument before, so he plays bass. Eamonn is the front man. He has the best shades.
High note: second gig, 23rd June at the Progress.
From now on, we have Vernon and John on board as management. We’re seventeen/eighteen and we’ve played two gigs – we definitely need management. We’ve moved on to our second garage, at Rick’s.
High note: third gig, Exhibition Centre, the very next night.
The previous day, the Stranglers were involved in a punk wars incident in Cleethorpes. Now they have to cancel tonight’s gig, probably the biggest punk gig Bristol has seen so far. Support act the Cortinas will have to fill the Stranglers’ shoes……….. ( The full story can be found at www.bristolarchiverecords.com)
ESSENTIAL BOP
The ‘Eloquent Sounds ep – remastered by Steve Street.
THE ROYAL ASSASSINS ALBUM
Previously unavailable recordings from Chris Scott. An amazing piece of work…..
‘Recorded in ’82/’83, and never before released, ‘Flux’ is not, strictly speaking, a Royal Assassins recording. It is, in fact the blueprint from which the Royal Assassins was fashioned. Recorded and produced mainly by Chris Scott in his home 4 track studio, with the collaboration of Dave Hares and Sean Henneberry and featuring guests such as the late lamented Sax maestro Jerry Underwood, this collection sets out to establish the sound and feel of Scott’s particular vision of rock music at the time…………..
THE EUROPEANS
Live at Bower Ashton College 1978, mastered by Steve Street
DECAY SISTERS
Recorded live at Trinity Hall in 1983, mastered by Steve Street
RECORDED DELIVERY
The only single released by the band in 1981 and featuring Charlie Jones who later went on to form Violent Blue with Neil Taylor.
Remastered by Steve Street
ADDITIONS TO THE PEOPLE SECTION:
Stories and memories from Tim Williams (Funk to Punk – an amazing tale), Chris Scott and Ken Lintern ( mainstay behind Rainbow Entertainments)
VIDEOS:
We’ve added videos from the following bands:
CRAZY TRAINS
TALISMAN
THE CORTINAS
HEAD
THE REVIEW
THE DRISCOLLS
CLAYTOWN TROUPE
RIP RIG AND PANIC
STRANGELOVE
MARK STEWART AND THE MAFIA
MAXIMUM JOY
THE BRILLIANT CORNERS
THE POP GROUP
More next month with new releases from:
GARDEZ DARKX ALBUM
BLUE MOVIES SINGLE
TESCO CHAINSAW MASSACRE LIVE ALBUM
COLORTAPES ‘GBH’ STUDIOS DEMOS
EUROPEANS ‘GBH’ STUDIOS DEMOS
MOSKOW ‘CRESCENT STUDIOS’ DEMOS
THE LONG MARCH ALBUM
Plus more videos and more T SHIRT designs, keep checking back for more info
Essential Bop – Album Review
May 4th, 2009
ESSENTIAL BOP – CHRONICLES
Bristol Archives
There’s a great press release that came with, available at the url below, which speaks of a terrible disappointment for this band. Envisaging their music bringing devoted women to see their performances the reality of massed throngs of men in thick glasses anxious to discuss neuroses must have been a trial. That said, being in the band clearly wasn’t the dominant factor of their lives as what they went on to do is far more interesting, and we learn that Nick Tufnell became a country squire, Mike Fewings is a rally driver, Dave Robinson is a ‘coastal guru’, Martin Kieman is ‘an intellectual Scouse Git’ and on the less dramatic front Steve Bush is still active musically, while Simon Tyler is ‘writing the definitive history of the Fosseway.’ Rock and Roll, ladies and gentlemen. A 21 track salute for the alternately peevish and demanding Bristol band with recordings between 1979-1981, this is another enthralling Bristol Archives release.
They’re almost like an early Inspiral Carpets as they spookily gambol through ‘Chronicle’, ‘Raider’s Blues’ with wiggly guitar and squealing keyboards, then some espionage bass and artily splayed vocals across the roving ‘Eloquent Sounds’ with hushed keys and oblique rhythmical nonchalance, peculiar wobbly vocals and spooky sixties throwbacks. ‘Croaked’ is thrashed by some willing drums and could be great if it weren’t for so many overlapping elements converging and confusing behind the mock crooning and if ‘Butler In Running Shorts’ seems to justify inclusion just because of the title and does sound like a better version of The Fall, it is eventually bollocks because they have no sense of its poise so it rises and slumps unnecessarily, like a posh Pop Group.‘Tin And Plastic’, ‘Love Is A Loud Noise’, ‘Monkey Glands’ and ‘Mandarin Whores’ all have some charming touches and bags of energy which keeps it listenable even though this type of Indie never really grabbed me back then. I never got anything from either the Scritti camp through to the more orderly Blow Monkeys. I never even liked arty 90’s indie and now don’t listen to any of it, so I am frequently left feeling detached by this music, as it seems detached itself where Post-Punk invited mental collisions. And yet…they continued to hold my interest.
‘Quotation’, ‘Death Wears Yellow Garters’ and ‘Pleasure Dome’ are all live and, interestingly, the latter is great when it’s comparatively empty, but as everything crushes in things stop working so well. ‘The Western Blues’ is lyrically pretty disturbing, which I think is the intention, ‘Mau Mau’ gets by one some bulbous bass and punchy vocals, ‘ABZ Of Love’ annoyed me deeply but a jazzier ‘The Death Of The Cool’ is delightful, archly dramatic and sleekly stylish with a cute guitar outbreak.
‘Espionage’ does that James Bond guitar thing but the keys are practically curdled, ‘Why Did You Call My Name?’ is kooky but fun, ‘Kicking The Sun Around’ grows increasingly cool as the keyboard pushes behind the sensibly controlled vocals and the lyrics have a greater discipline, making for a coherently strange pop song. ‘Cenotaph’ continues the harshly weird lyrics but with a divinely mellow melody, showing how they have the power to attract in a weird way, then we get bustled out by the live version of ‘Chronicle.’
An interesting bunch of nutters, basically.
Review from www.mickmercer.com May 2009
Europeans – Album Review
May 4th, 2009
EUROPEANS
TAKE ME TO THE CONTINENT
Bristol Archive Records
A boring cover, yes, but a band formed in 1977 who recorded this through 1978 and 1979. Vocalist Jonathan Cole also handled some guitar and synth, Steve Street played bass, James Cole was on drums and wait a minute, who’s that on main guitar? Why none other than Jon Klein who went on to Specimen, The Banshees et al. A real archive find, is what, and proof positive that labels like this who try to chronicle their own area and its history do a remarkably fine job. Please note this is not The Europeans who appeared on A&M and dressed like gymnasts because they thought that looked cool. They were total wank. This Europeans are only partly wank.‘Time’ finds vocals stretched out over leisurely bass and buzzy synth, which flutters throughout as the guitar lays low, neatly razored, all of it an interesting post-punk hotch-potch. ‘Europeans’ flickers brightly over some polite Pistolian guitar and flops happily about as a catchy New Wave item, and it was their best known moment as a single and they remind of The Original Mirrors – remember the classic ‘Dancing With The Rebels’? After this things tend to go wrong.
‘Take Me To The Continent’ is a scrawny, soppy pop song, with some pretty horrible guitar! ‘Shadows’ is too damn coy for its own good but it’s a smart bit of melodic trivia.
‘Technology’ struggles hard to pretend it’s not replicating The Who than staggers about weirdly, nicely sloppy guitar trailing behind rubbish lyrics (‘you can build a house, you can build a tree, that’s the wonder of technology’!) which is truly irritating. ‘Voices’ stomps and chomps, although they do it in a lightweight fashion, and the vocals are simply trying too hard. Weirder keyboards sounds percolate through the soft, bouncy ‘Operator’ which stops it being an ultra-suburban Cockney Rebel. ‘Russian Roulette’ is a daft but snappy item, which seemed to exist mainly because he’d come up with a clever lyrical joke, with ‘Victims’ a pale and dopey version of Foxx-era Ultravox.‘Two Lovers’ is quite odd, airy in a lush Bowie way, but snipped off short, ‘The Only One’ is a bit like The Only Ones covering ‘Rebel Rebel’, then ‘Buildings’ trumps all the other terrible lyrics, revealing ‘we live in buildings, because buildings surround us’! A lyrical visionary, clearly, and how band never died of shame onstage when doing that one we will never know.
‘Technology’ struggles hard to pretend it’s not replicating The Who than staggers about weirdly, nicely sloppy guitar trailing behind rubbish lyrics (‘you can build a house, you can build a tree, that’s the wonder of technology’!) which is truly irritating. ‘Voices’ stomps and chomps, although they do it in a lightweight fashion, and the vocals are simply trying too hard. Weirder keyboards sounds percolate through the soft, bouncy ‘Operator’ which stops it being an ultra-suburban Cockney Rebel. ‘Russian Roulette’ is a daft but snappy item, which seemed to exist mainly because he’d come up with a clever lyrical joke, with ‘Victims’ a pale and dopey version of Foxx-era Ultravox.‘Two Lovers’ is quite odd, airy in a lush Bowie way, but snipped off short, ‘The Only One’ is a bit like The Only Ones covering ‘Rebel Rebel’, then ‘Buildings’ trumps all the other terrible lyrics, revealing ‘we live in buildings, because buildings surround us’! A lyrical visionary, clearly, and how band never died of shame onstage when doing that one we will never know.
It’s rubbish, obviously, but it’s engaging rubbish, a weird timeshift back to a time where bands were discarding the energy of Punk and honing their melodic skills, wherein all manner of influences collide, some going the winsome route as in this case, other going for the jagged post-punk rollercoaster. I know which I prefer, and it isn’t this one, but it still makes for an interesting experience. For anyone who saw them when they were stalwarts of the local scene I’m sure it’s a treasure trove of memories, and thanks to Mike Darby I have other albums on this label by Essential Bop, Electric Guitars, Andy Fairley and Head coming up.
Review from www.mickmercer.com May 2009
Andy Fairley – Album Review
May 4th, 2009
ANDY FAIRLEY
FISHFOOD vs BIRTH OF SHARON
Bristol Archive Records
This is a weird one. The first three tracks come from the Fishfood entity, formed by Howard Purse and Doug White, with former Cortinas drummer Dan Swan, and a local poet, master Fairley, and these songs came out through the local magazine The Bristol Recorder, which I’d forgotten all about! That had quite a reputation. The final songs come from a secondary line-up of locals, and it’s from these, according to the press release/info sheet, which I have every reason to believe, that have achieved something approaching legendary proportions, having coalesced over time, although you need to wait right to the end to see why.
‘Dry Ice Hot’ sounds like Talking Heads gone in a wonky post-punk direction, ‘Seventeen Eels’ could be a certified edition of Play School hosted by a cheap Captain Beefheart impersonator. With a soothing, swaying bass ‘Modern Dance Craze’ at least carries you along, with some cute guitar scratchiness, but the repetitive host annoys me intensely, but that’s poets for you.
So they split up, but this Purse character, who’d gone on to be in the posh indie crossover stink of Animal Magic found Fairley again, gathering up former Animal Magic drummer Rob Bozwell and an artist called Jim Galvin on guitar. They created the final six tracks which is where the claim for amazement lies, as it reckons they predated Portishead recent work by 25 years. I dispute this. Firstly Portishead’s latest work is crap compared to their first recordings, being a pale retread, which is why it took so long to come out, and so this would make Birth Of Sharon fifteen years ahead, at best.
In a local music scene already familiar with The Pop Group the blaring, linear angst of ‘Now’ wouldn’t have sounded unexpected, surely? I can accept that people using tape samples early on, and synth which wasn’t stodgy but incorporated naturally into a heady funked indie stew was unusual but that’s as far as it goes, because this is also like an artier form of Stump during ‘Film Titles’, with fabulous drumming.
‘The Art Of Wanking’ has a brooding bass pattern, jittery guitar splashes, and some more sheltered, ruminating vocals which suit him better than the outright mental delivery elsewhere, and there’s more stylish drumming along with a groaning base on which they tilt.
The one thing I always associate arty scenes with is bleating saxophone, and that makes an unwelcome appearance in ‘Sex Is A Language.’ This stumbles on its shuffling beat, and sounds pretty crappy, like Gang Of 4 trying to have fun. Dismal. ‘Man Made It So’ is swirlier art-jazz rumbling and mumbling with more of the same tightly corkscrewed funk guitar, lightly knitted across a scrolling bass motif and gargling, anguished vocals. On the grand slurry that is ‘Volition’ they do appear to be entering new territory, with a fierce ambient undertow and some fascinating rhythmical pulses that nobody else would have been doing back then. This one track highlights something very special. It’s just a shame the others don’t come even close. It’s also an instrumental, really, which implies Fairley wasn’t a particularly vital part?
Review at www.mickmercer.com May 2009
The Pigs Story
April 28th, 2009Album out in May !
PIGS STORY
We were the Pigs, a garage band that got lucky – but not that lucky. We formed in March 1977 and we disbanded in March 1978. In those twelve months we hit a few high notes and we hit a few bum notes.
High note: first rehearsal, first garage, Henbury.
Ricky was a guitar player, so he plays drums. Kit was a bass player, so he plays guitar. Nigel has never touched an instrument before, so he plays bass. Eamonn is the front man. He has the best shades.
High note: second gig, 23rd June at the Progress.
From now on, we have Vernon and John on board as management. We’re seventeen/eighteen and we’ve played two gigs – we definitely need management. We’ve moved on to our second garage, at Rick’s.
High note: third gig, Exhibition Centre, the very next night.
The previous day, the Stranglers were involved in a punk wars incident in Cleethorpes. Now they have to cancel tonight’s gig, probably the biggest punk gig Bristol has seen so far. Support act the Cortinas will have to fill the Stranglers’ shoes.
The Vernon connection pays off immediately and we get the call – from Sea Mills pub to second on the bill at the city’s top venue in just 24 hours. In Eamonn’s case the call reaches him at work; he assumes it’s just a helpful mate providing an excuse to bunk off early. It’s only when Rick pulls up outside his house, bits of borrowed drum kit hanging out the car window, that he twigs it’s for real.
We loved the Cortinas, we respected them. It was after we saw them at the Granary the previous winter that we knew we had to get a band together. They definitely had a massive influence on us. But tonight it feels like we blow them clear off the stage. Decades later we’d be looking back and saying this was one of the best nights of our lives. It couldn’t get any better. And it didn’t.
High note: supporting Generation X at Chutes.
Miles Copeland is in the audience. He wants to record us and release a record.
High note: August 12th at Sound Conception 4-track studio.
It’s been about 20 weeks since we formed, we’ve written maybe 12 songs and played 6 or so gigs. Now we’re recording our whole set. As it turns out, most of this stuff won’t see the light of day for 30 years. Copeland chooses the four tracks for the EP that’s going to launch a new Bristol record label. They call it New Bristol Records. Yeah.
Low note: while we’re playing at the Dugout, somebody gets stabbed upstairs in the corridor.
High note: our garage days are over, now we’ve discovered the Crystal Theatre. A great place to practice and if it ever starts to seem like work, there’s props to play about with and the dumbwaiter for death-defying rides.
High note: we play at the Bamboo and totally rock the place. A live recording is made. The poster reads: ‘Have yourself a flaming good Xmas’.
Low note: We should have been supporting the Sex Pistols back at the Bamboo the next day. The gig is sold out. But the club – owned by future yachtsman Tony Bullimore – burns down overnight.
High note: At last the record comes out (complete with wrong speed printed on the label) and John Peel plays it seven times. One time he says “This is the only track I’ve heard that sounds as good at 33 as it does at 45” and plays Psychopath very slowly. Another time he says “Punk bands get accused of political posturing” and plays National Front are Fascists.
High note: supporting the Cortinas at the Locarno, with Social Security also on the bill. We get to play London’s glamorous Marquee club with the Cortinas too – but forget the soundcheck, lads, Marianne Faithfull’s recording a TV interview. Speaking of glamorous, we plug the EP with a brief live performance at Siouxsie Sioux’s Barton Hill gig.
Low note: The Rainbow agency finds us some weird gigs.
This one sees us in Luton. “Why aren’t you dancing?” “Cos you’re crap”. But National Front gets the place leaping about, punching the air and yelling the title. Shame they’ve got the wrong end of the stick so far as the message is concerned. They want us to play the song again as an encore. Then we leave in a big hurry and a borrowed guitar gets left behind.
Another low note: topping the bill at the legendary Roxy club in Covent Garden, but the spark has definitely gone out so far as this place is concerned.
Lowest point of all: we don’t know it but we’re travelling to our last ever gig.
The venue is an agricultural college in deepest Essex. We drive past our number one fan on the M32. His thumb gets him to the gig despite this cock-up, but by now we’re all wondering if it’s worth it. The last few months have convinced us that the ride is finished. Somebody’s pulled the plug out and the buzz has drained away. That’s it, it’s over… for the next thirty years.
High note: It’s 2009 and Mike Darby wants to release everything we ever recorded on his Bristol Archive label. If only we could get our hands on that live tape from the Bamboo… But if we have to settle for putting the demo from August 1977 and the EP up there, that’s fine. Just one more low note: we can’t find Nigel. If you’re out there, Mr Winky, please get in touch; it’s time to turn round and face the audience.
Dedicated to Jonathan Clark and Vernon Jozefowicz, two lost friends of the band.
Credits:
Luca Piccione art design
Seng-gye Toombs Curtis for photos
HEAD – ‘Bottled Vintage xxx’
April 23rd, 2009This curio will probably pique tainsotterly interest as an early outing by The Pop Groups’s Gareth Sager,here disguised as Hank Sinclair alongside such luminaries as Clevedon Pier (better known as Rich Beale) and Candy Horsebreath.
A ragbag of unreleased demos of variable quality (Spank Spank wanders across the speakers with the authentic sound of tape being mangled),stylistically, it’s all over the shop,incorporating slap bass,perky synth choruses and self-sabotaging titles ‘P.L.H Euro Terra 11′ (endearingly, someone has deemed this the likeliest opening hit), and the Glitter beat of ‘Dig A Hole’.
‘I Am The King’ whips up some splendid big beat funk,rather like Shriekback with a decent singer. Jammed up against MTV-friendly rock (‘Can’t Stop’) are sampling cut-ups from Sager that hint towards a future impatience with the conventions of pop.
(Kid Pensioner – Venue Magazine 24th April 2009)
KEN LINTERN – ‘Rainbow Ents’
April 23rd, 2009
It was 1979 and a chance meeting with Kevin Draper (KGD Concerts) saw me suddenly sitting in an office at No1 Queens Square behind a desk running a Rock Agency, Rainbow Entertainments. Kevin bought it from the previous partners because he fancied the office address, and finding he knew nothing about that side of the business asked me if I fancied running it with him, to be honest I didn’t have a clue either but 15 years as a working ‘pro’ had given me a pretty good start.
Taking over Rainbow meant we booked everything into The Granary, most of the bands into Crockers, handled some almost famous Folk Acts like Mechanical Horsetrough and were constantly being called by London Agents looking for places for their bands to perform, and Students Unions throughout the South West wanting the next big thing for as little as possible.
At that time things were pretty good, I was booking people like Robert Fripp into the Granary and although Les (Pearce) who was the manager at the time, gave me a hard time ‘Robert who, has he got a demo tape….’ it was great fun and I got to see whoever I wanted, wherever i wanted free.
Kevin decided to he needed a more ‘corporate Image’ (strange as he was in charge of flyposting in Bristol) and changed KGD Concerts to Rainbow and run the 2 side by side. At that time we were promoting many really big acts into Bristol, Cardiff, Bath etc, the likes of Squeeze, Flock of Seagulls, Saxon, Hawkwind, Paul Young, OMD, Gary Numan to name but a few. The problem seemed to be that there was no middle size venue for up and coming bands and local bands to really have a bit of decent exposure.
This lead to the regular Tuesday Nights at Carwardines which we promoted as The Rainbow Rock Club placing up and coming bands like U2 (we paid them £300 if I remember rightly would you believe), Stray Cats and Split Endz, they were topping the charts but already contracted so had to appear for a flat fee, we had many local bands playing support and often had 2 local bands to cover the night.
Around that time we also tied in loosely with Andy Leighton and Alison Clout to promote their Fried Egg Record Bands
Unfortunately for me, my share of the profits was minimal (Kevin was a very good business man) and I had been left with a massive VAT bill when my band split, again stupidly it was all in my name so I started hiring out my PA, about 2.5kw, foldback etc which I soon found was great for Crockers, The Green Rooms, I even did Carwardines with it and quite a few other local places, in fact soon I was working 3 or 4 nights a week.
I soon got into a lot of the local bands, although now I cant remember them all but have fond memories of Juan Foote in the Grave, the Untouchables, Joe Public, Various Artists and Art Objects who were all massive around Bristol at that time, there were loads of other bands, but what I remember most is there was masses of talent.
After a year of killing myself with all the gear a guy in Bath made me an offer for the PA and Truck that would clear my debt with said Vat Man and I retired from that side of the business.
Kevin relocated Rainbow to Henleaze as he had decided to get into Video shops and suddenly I was in a poky office above the video shop, I couldn’t stand it and after a few months I left to form my own management company Elephant Management.
I signed the Vice Squad who were in negotiations with EMI, a heavy rock band Shiva who I signed to HM Revolver and a Gloucester Dance act Ron E Was Another One that I signed to Black.
I had a great couple of years before wandering off to sell Fender Guitars for a living because I really liked the idea of a regular salary.
These days I am back to my routes, living happily in Weston, playing cover music for a living and writing and recording during the day………I often wonder what became of everyone, there was so much talent, so much promise, still Neal Taylor did well and found a good job.
Thanks for reminding me about those days.
(Ken Lintern April 2009)
