White Feather - Summer Days / Golden Haze (1983)

 b/w Feathered Girl

A Fine DIY / Psyche-Lite 45 from these Nottingham area boys (19 at the time of recording)

The 45 is from two different Recording Sessions. Although the Studio remains the same the players differ very slightly.

The Studio was Stu Stevens' (Engineer of the 45) Eagle (Ash) Studios, Annesley Woodhouse.

Summer Days / Golden Haze [14-07-83]   

Cookie AKA Graham Cooke (Voc Bass Tambourine)*

Alan & Cookie

Alan S Robinson (Guitar / Egg Cups)
Darren Warner (Drums)
John Harrison (Egg Cups)

Feathered Girl [12-08-83]
Cookie AKA Graham Cooke (Voc Bass)*
Alan S Robinson (Guitar)

* At this time on hiatus from Solvent Abuse  

The Record (513 copies) was released in December 1983 

Useless info - For the 1st recording session Darren didn't own drums himself so some were hired the day before going into the studio. Giving him just the 1 night to rehearse the tunes.

For Memories/Bios of the band from the 2 main members follow the links below 
Cookie 
Alan S Robinson 

Sounds & Scans

Frank Soda - Oversexed And Underfed (1980)

b/w Crazy Girls

Great Pop-Rock/Powerpop on Canadian Frank Soda's sole UK release.

The 45 was also released in Canada but with the sides flipped making Crazy Girls the lead track.

Frank Soda (Voc Guitar) 
Charles Towers (Bass Voc)
John Lechasseur (Drums)

Here's a bit about Frank - You can read his Full Bio here 
Originally from Italy & christened Francesco Soda He grew up in Kitimat, B.C. Canada.
In the mid 1960s he started playing guitar, inspired by British Invasion groups before falling in love with the raw energy of the blues & being influenced by Clapton, Beck, Page, Hendrix, etc.
In 1973, Frank met up with Thor, who needed a band to tour and record. Frank, John and Charles became that band. Thor eventually dubbing them The Imps due to their diminutive size, 

L-R Frank, John, Charles

In late 1975 The Imps parted company with Thor & began to gather a cult following as a band in their own right. Frank began writing songs and one of those, 'TV People' soon became an anthem in the local Toronto clubs. The song was about getting "screwed up" by watching too much television so Frank decided to illustrate this by exploding a TV on his head. He soon added other strange headwear such as the The Smoking Pig on 'High Times' & taking audience photographs with a Gigantic Camera on 'Take My Picture Please'.

In 1979, the Imps were voted the 'Best Canadian Bar Band' and caught the attention of 104.5 CHUM-FM radio. They recorded their first album 'In The Tube' live. After touring throughout Canada, the group came back to Toronto and signed a record deal with Quality Records. Frank Soda And The Imps AKA Soda Pop (Which this 45 is lifted from) was released in 1980, although recorded on a shoestring budget, it enabled the band to play to larger audiences whilst sharing the stage with such bands as Triumph, Deep Purple, Savoy Brown, Ian Hunter and Goddo.

In 1981 the original Imps disbanded.

Sounds & Scans

Ishmael United - Song Of The Last Generation (1979)

 b/w Crowd Trouble

Bristol Born Rev. Ian Smale better known by his stage name Ishmael is a Christian Punk / Children's Music Musician.

He started performing in his teens along with lifelong friend Andy Piercy, forming the acoustic duo Ishmael and Andy (his stage name coming from the similarity of his birth name to the Old Testament Biblical Character). 

They parted ways in the mid 70's with Piercy later joining After The Fire & Ishmael flying Solo until 1978 when he formed Ishmael United. 

Ian Smale (Voc) 
Dave "Luigi" Evans (Guitar/Keys)
Laurie "Piggy Malone" Mellor (Bass)
Pete "Pedro" Wills (Drums) 

They recorded 2 Excellent LP's 'If You Can't Shout Saved You'll Have To Face The Penalty' which this 45 is lifted from & after a name change to Rev Counta And The Speedoze, 'Life Begins At Thirty' (Also there's a possible Drummer change although Dave "Jimmy" Bickley could be the same guy) 

From Cross Rhythms Mag 78 (23-12-2003)

Laurie Mellor; hated me calling him Larry but enjoyed being called 'Piggy'! Definitely the thinker of the band...but could lose himself in a one bedroomed apartment! 
Dave Evans, was the serious musician in the band so he and I spent a lot of time arguing...yes, and even physically fighting each other but that's what good buddy's do under pressure...don't they? 
Pete Wills; was the quiet one but he often acted out what we were thinking. There was the odd occasion when he was slightly aggressive and in true punk fashion kicked his drum cases around the stage mumbling 'what are we doing here Lord?' on arrival at a gig where little preparation had been done.
"It was fun, it was exciting and it really was only Bill Mason and ourselves that were playing the music of the day...new wave and manic punk!" - Ishmael

Discography of interest to The New Wave Fan  
Cassette 1978 It’s Amazin’ What Praisin’ Can Do - 

                                Kingsway Music Genesis [Ishmael With After The fire]

LP         1979 If You Can’t Shout Saved - 

                                Kingsway Music DOVE60 [Ishmael United]

7''         1979. Song Of The Last Generation/Crowd Trouble - 

                                Kingsway Music 5NIL [Ishmael United] 

LP         1980 Life Begins At 30 - Duff Records DUFF001 

                                         [Rev Counta And The Speedoze]
7''         1980 The Glories/The Return Of The Magnificent Glories - 

                                Kingsway Music KMS908 [Ishmael] 

Scans & Sounds & Way More info 

Glass Ties - Tight (1982)

b/w Saturday Girls

Another of those 45's were the B-side is way better than the "Expected Hit"

London Based 3 piece Glass Ties were one of EMI's great white hopes for 1982/83

Michael Christer (Voc Guitar) 
Russell Emanuel (Bass Voc) 
Warren Bennett (Keys, Drums) 

Mike  Russell & Warren
With Terry Slater (EMI A&R)

Discography
7" Tight / Saturday Girls - EMI 5281 [Mar 1982]
7" You You You / Views (From Other Bridges) - EMI 5368 [Feb 1983]
12" You You You (Dancable Mixture) / You You You (Radio Mixture) / Views (From Other Bridges) 12 EMI 5368

Useless Info   Warren Bennett is the son of The Shadows drummer Brian (who was also the drummer on this classic).

Sounds and Scans

Transporter - Kids On The Run (1982)

 

Time for some Female Voc New Wave / Pop/Rock from this London Based band

Claire Hamill (Voc) 
Barry Francis (Guitar)
Bernie Brummel (Bass)
Mark Birmingham (Drums) Played on the Saints LP The Monkey Puzzle (1981)

The Song had 2 Outings

7'' Flexi Kids On The Run / Intoxicating - Mother Trucker MT1 [Dead Wax SFI 673]

7''         Kids On The Run / Halfway House -  High Force [HIGH 1] (Released 26 Nov 1982)

Useless Info  Claire Hamill was married to Beggars Banquet co-founder Nick Austin 

Sounds & Scans

Access - Audacity EP (1981)

A1 - I To I 
A2 - A Case Of Parricide 
B1 - White Dwarf  
B2 - Miss Constructed

Andrew Tull - Guitar, Voc

Anthony Welton - Bass

Nickolas Clark - Drums, Voc

Adrian Clark - Clarinet, Keys, Voc
Tracey Allwood - Keys, Percussion, Voc

Great D.I.Y. New Wave EP by this Reading Five Piece [1980 -1983]  [Recorded March 29-30 1981]

Discography
7'' EP ~ Audacity - Suffer For Their Art Records [STA 001-7] 1981
I To I / A Case Of Parricide // White Dwarf / Miss Constructed

VA ~ Beyond The River - Open Door Records [OD 001] 1982
Short 

LP ~ Beef - Suffer For Their Art Records [STA 002-12] 1982
Sweeney Erect / No New Men / Sign Of The Times / Short / Life Could Be A Dream / More - Of The Same / Pyramid / Flight After Freddie Laker // Post Mortem / Dance Of The Carbonaria / The Cruiser / Decisions Decisions / Tear It Down / Shukorra / Terms Of The Contract / Chlorophyll

There's a short early Band Bio in the Download

Sounds & Scans

Funeral Service - Pills (1986)

 b/w - Teenage kicks 

60's Garage / Mod band from Reims, France [1984-88]

Thierry Wippler (Voc)* [84-88]
Antoine Proust (Guitar, Voc)* [84-88]
Didier Doche (Guitar, Voc) [84-87] Dominique Chathuant [87-88]
Matthieu Kaltenbach (Bass)* [84-87] Jean-Marc Wadel [87-88]
Ludovic Hesnault (Drums) [84-87] Hervé [87-88]

*Later in Les Volfonis   

Thierry, Didier, Antoine, Matthieu, Ludovic

 

Discography
1986 7'' - Pills / Teenage Kicks [Black Cat Records - FUN45001]
1988 Demo Cassette  - What Do You Want / She Didn't Forget /A Date With Your Sister / Little Jim [Self Produced]

Sounds & Scans 

Fanny 'n' Danny - Second Hand Rag (1981)

 

b'w - 'Til You Been There

Second Hand Rag is from the 1981 Play "Wild Wild Women" written for the Orange Tree Theatre Richmond, Surrey's 10th Anniversary & is a bit too Chas n Dave for me but the flip is Good Pub Rock/New Wave 

Fanny 'n' Danny =
Nola York [Singer, Songwriter]
Michael Richmond RIP [Musician, Songwriter]

Michael & Nola 

Released on Aggro Records [AG2]

Produced by Riss Chantelle RIP [After the demise of The Chantelles, Riss Chantelle formed Chantelle Music, and managed Nola York]

Engineer Graham Bryant

Useless Info - The setting of the play "Wild Wild Women" is the mining town of Aggroville [Notice a theme anyone?]

Sounds & Scans

The Defenders - Happy Surfin Santa (1979)

 

b/w Christmas Up On Venus

As a post-script to the earlier Zen Alligators post here is the Dublin all-star Benefit band's only 45 

The short-lived group The Defenders [Active July '79 - Oct '79] were formed to help Dublin-based Heat Fanzine* pay legal costs to U2’s manager Paul McGuinness.

McGuiness had objected to an article in Vol. 2, No. 2 of the fanzine entitled “McGuinness (Isn’t) Good For U2′”. 

 

The article accused him of using back-handed tactics to bump a rival local band [Rocky De Valera & the Gravediggers] from the bill & get U2 the prestigious support slot to Joe Jackson at his Trinity College gig.   --The story was later proved to be wrong. -- 

*Heat was one of the most well-respected and well-designed punk fanzines in the 1977-79 period. Co-owned by Ray Gunne [AKA Jude Carr, Eamon’s brother] and Pete Nasty [Pete Price] 

A benefit gig at the National Ballroom, Parnell Square was staged on the 25th July '79 and followed in October by the recording of this single at Keystone Studios, released a month later on Guided Missile Records. The label being owned by Jude Carr and Karl Tsigdinos [DJ and graphic designer with Hot Press]. 

Unfortunately, the magazine had to fold despite their efforts.

The Defenders were: 
Donal Broughan (Lead Voc), Charles O'Connor (Guitar Voc), John Fean (Guitar), Billy Morley (Guitar,) Gary Eglington (Bass), Eamon Carr (Drums), Al Cohol (Maracas), Frankie Morgan (Keys), Mark Megaray (Voc), Paul Verner (Voc), Steve Rapid (Voc), Peter Hunter (Voc)
 
Read more here 

Useless info - The Guided Missiles label logo was designed by "Uncle Karl" who also designed "The Blades" band logo used on their Energy Records releases

Sounds & Scans

The Dead Zones - Life In The Movies (1981)

 b/w Little Criminals

Cool New Wave double sider from this Richmond Based Combo.

Unfortunately, all I can tell you is that 2 of the members were Alan Charlton & Colin Stewart.

& it was Released Early '82 on the collectable Ellie Jay Records label.

As always if you can add any info please leave a comment.

Sounds & Scans