Songs that saved your life, part 7

We all do daft things when we're young, don't we? Y'know, we paint our room black, we backcomb our hair, we smoke and swallow things that aren't particularly good for us, and we think that Ned's Atomic Dustbin will save the world.

Well, I carried on doing some stupid things well into my late 20s, and especially around the early part of this decade, when I decided that I'd mess quite a few people's lives about by being a selfish bastard, and, really, having some kind of early mid-life crisis.

My soundtrack to this tomfuckery was, amongst other things, 'Summer Snow' by The Windmills. The Windmills were from Essex and were headed up by professional miserabalist, Roy Thirwell. The band were one of the stars of the years of Matinee Records, and by the time of their second album, 'Now is Then' they were all but finished.

Now is then was recorded over seven years, apparently. And it showed. Some of the tracks were slushy and sentimental; the others were hard-nosed and bitter, especially 'Summer Snow', which sort of perfectly summed up my state of mind at the time.

For reasons I would rather not go into
I don't want to see you
Don't ask why

Half of what I feel is filled with hatred
The rest is too complicated
Don't ask why

Oh, it all got a bit nasty all right. And in the background was a driving, Echo and the Bunnymen-style piece of music that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. And they don't just stand up for any old thing, I'll have you know. 'Summer Snow' is what I used to play over and over again as I travelled on buses all over the place, pretending the whole world had taken against me. What a pillock.

Eventually, I got over the fact that I was approaching 30, and settled into life. I think (hope) everyone else did, too. The Windmills went missing not long after and have never resurfaced. Thirlwell released an album as Melodie Group, which was cute enough, but for pure bile and that feeling that you can connect with a perfect song at a not so perfect time, then it was hard to beat The Windmills' finest three and half minutes.

You can download Summer Snow at their Matinee page.

Jurassic Mark

I've been unlucky enough to be visiting Edinburgh when the Fringe is on. It's like walking through an endless hell of crazy jobbing actors and mime artists and self-appointed stand-up comedians walking alongside you, trying to be funny, and shoving a flyer in your hand which says it basically promises the BEST NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE. Which is clearly false.

However, last year and this, Mark Hibbett has devised a show to present to the Fringe, and this year we're lucky enough to get a preview in Nottingham. A Fog of Ideas is putting Mark's Dinosaur Planet show on at Lee Rosy's on 16th July. That's next Thursday. And it's only £2, so you best not miss out.

"I like indiepop. I don't care what you call it."

I thought today was going to be absolutely rubbish, what with having to get a train to Manchester at 6.40am that just got busier and busier and more stressful as it went on, but then I read this on anorak, and some of it didn't half make me chuckle (if you start about half way, you get the general picture).

Some of it was very eloquent of course, and amongst the male-dominated tug fest came a ray of light from Colin Clary who said something like: "I like indiepop. I don't care what you call it." Which sums it up nicely for me. If only I could get into The Smittens though...

Anyway, there's plenty of Sensitive Indie news around.

First up is that Art Brut have been named as the remaining headliner for Indietracks. The schedule is now up on their website now, so you can have a really good moan about which bands are clashing, and why the festival wasn't designed with your specific needs in mind.

Secondly, my friend - and probably yours - Pete Green has made his and his Juggernaut's excellent new version of 'Hey, Dr Beeching' available for download. All proceeds go to some train hospital in Lincolnshire, or something. It says on there, anyway.

Lastly, and never leastly, the mighty Standard Fare are set to release their debut album on Thee SPC this autumn, and I've had the honour of hearing both the Lucksmiths-y 'Be Into Us' and 'Married', which is a proper old weepy. You're all in for a treat when the record comes out, believe me.

More Bedsit Pop news on the hour, every hour. Cuddle me to the core.

Interview with Stephen Maughan (This Almighty Pop!/Bulldozer Crash/Kosmonaut)

Many moons ago, in the early 2000s, there was a great band called Kosmonaut who put out a single on Matinee Records. Amongst their number was Stephen Maughan. Even more moons ago, Stephen was in a band called Bulldozer Crash with Marc Elston, who, as part of The Liberty Ship, put out a couple of singles and a quite beautiful album - also on Matinee. And even further back in the mists of time, Stephen wrote the best fanzine the world has ever seen. It was called This Almighty Pop!

This time last year Stephen decided to return from hibernation to do a new issue of TAP, and now he's got Kosmonaut back together for a gig with the legendary White Town, which is this Sunday in Newscastle. I suggest you go along if you're in the area.

In the meantime, Stephen's been good enough to answer a few questions from a trembling ex-fanzine writer who took more than a little inspiration from TAP. Here's his answers.

How long has it been since Kosmonaut played?

It's been 7 years, but we only ever played live twice back then, one was the gig that you promoted in Nottingham when we supported The Liberty Ship.

Why did the band stop playing?

I became a dad and the spare bedroom in my house which was our little home studio became my daughters' bedroom, so we decided to have a break for a little while, but we never got back together, until now.

What made you start up This Almighty Pop! again?

I just started going to more gigs and discovering lots of great new bands and it reminded me of the days when I first started my fanzine. I just fancied doing something again and the fanzine and label are it.

Were you surprised with the reception it got when it re-emerged?

I was because everyone has been really nice. It's like I've never been away, I've reconnected with lots of people who I was in touch with when I originally did the fanzine and lots of people who were too young back then to remember it have been very supportive.

What do you make of the current indiepop scene?

I'm really enjoying it, there seems to be a great new record released every week. I like the blogs that keep me up to date. I wish there were more real paper fanzines though, how come nearly all the new ones are written by girls?

You have quite strong views on certain aspects of the scene; where does your attitude towards Sarah Records come from?

I guess you're referring to what I wrote about them in number four of my fanzine? I still get hate mail about it now, well not quite, but people still tell me I was wrong to write it. In hindsight it was really nothing because they were such an important label and I do like a lot of the records and what they stood for. At the time though Matt's fanzine was my bible and I just couldn't believe he was doing stuff with Sarah that he had had a go at labels like Creation for doing, but really it was a storm in a teacup, still is, it was just how I felt at the time, twenty years ago when I was young and foolish.

Who are your favourite new bands?

Loads, but here are a few . . . Frankie and the Heartstrings, Les Cox (sportif), Blackflower, Lets Whisper, Horowitz, Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, A Classic Education, Play People,Withered Hand, Summercats... I better stop because the list in endless.

Are you still in contact with Marc Elston? He wrote to me the other day and said he's twiddling his thumbs - Bulldozer Crash revival?

Yes, we are still in touch, we are meeting up at Indietracks in a few weeks. We always talk about doing something together again which I would love to do, Jyoti even said he'd play bass for us again, but we never seem to get it sorted. We can't even blame the distance between us because we lived almost as far away from each other back when we were a band. Who knows, one day we might get our act together.

When Kosmonaut were around in the early part of the decade there was nowhere near the indiepop scene there is nowadays. Matinee and a few others, to my mind, were keeping the flame alive. Do you sort of cherish those more "underground" days, rather than everyone jumping on a tiny bandwagon?

Not really, I was just happy that somebody wanted to release records by us. So who are these bandwagon jumpers?

Oh, no comment... Will there be a new Kosmonaut record?

Well there is going to be an e.p. of 4 songs we recorded when we still had a studio. Cloudberry are releasing that. I don't think there will be any new recordings, nothing planned anyway, this gig is just a one off, although I really have enjoyed being in a band again.

LHIIFU artwork

Just when I thought Andy couldn't outdo himself, he has.

This is available from tomorrow.

I went for a run this morning and took my mp3 player with me, which I normally don't do because I'll only go and get run over by kamikaze mountain bikers because I can;t hear them coming behind me. I came to the conclusion that This Nation's Saving Grace by The Fall isn't the best music to run to. I started doing stacatto steps and gurning, and everything. It must've looked most odd.

Dub Sex and Dumb

I went down to London last week for work, but mainly to see Marianthi and Sandy, as well as Give it Ups and Mascot Fight at Brixton Jamm (warning: £3.90 for a pint of lager).

Both bands were ace, of course, and it was about time that Mascot Fight had a sympathetic soundman. Well done to all concerned.

Anyway, Sandy had said she'd got a present for me, and so I thought that I'd return the favour by giving her an old Cribs promo that I'd had kicking around for ages. They're her favourite new band. She gave the 12 inch version of The Underneath by Dub Sex, which completed by collection. So that was nice.

Dub Sex were around in Manchester at the end of 1980s, and their sound could easily be described as Eighties Awkward. They were centred around the voice of Mark Hoyle and the bass playing of Cathy Brooks. Hoyle's voice sounded like someone had just chucked a load of bricks in a cement mixer, whilst Brooks' bass drove the whole thing forward in an almost industrial way.

Dub Sex released five singles and two albums in just over two years - mostly on the Cut Deep label, and appeared on a few compilations here and there. They were largely ignored, apart from the sublime 'Swerve' appearing in the lower reaches of the Festive 50 in 1989. They split in 1990, and Brooks and Hoyle worked on putting together Dumb, there next band.

Dumb weren't a million miles away from Dub Sex. Hoyle's voice still rasped against the world, and Brooks' bass still bounced around in places you wouldn't think possible, but Dumb's music was less dense than Dub Sex's.

I plucked up the courage to befriend Dumb when they sent me their 'Always Liverpool' single for review in 1994. There then followed countless trips to Manchester to see them play and fall in love a little bit with their percussionist.

Dumb released two albums of tight, wired pop and then split, with guitarist Jay going off to play with John Robb's Gold Blade. Hoyle and Brooks reformed Dub Sex a couple of years ago for some gigs in Manchester, which I only found out about after they'd happened. Shame. Brooks went o to play in the equally excellent Calvin Party, who mix politics and pop in the most visceral, exciting way. Hunt down their track 'Lies, Lies and Government' at once.

Anyway - thanks, Sandy. Here's 'Swerve', and here's a few more Dub Sex tracks. Time of Life is particularly thrilling.

Allo, Darlin' - Henry Rollins Don't Dance (WeePop!)

Hot, isn't it?

By rights, everyone should think that Elizabeth Darling is too clever for her own good. Her songs are full of references to (hey!) Popular Icons of our Time, and could be thrown away as some kind of sub-Hibbett fancy.

The fact they're life affirming nuggets of pop, therefore, should be cherished. 'Henry Rollins Don't Dance' is the perfect accompaniment to Pocketbooks' 'Footsteps' - a couple of songs that rely on nothing more than pure innocence to make them modern treasures.

Whereas the title track and 'Dear Stephen Hawkins' are full of life and zest, it's the mournful, Lucksmiths-y 'Heartbeat Chilli' which makes me happy. Full of couplets most bands would die for, the fact that it's a b-side shows that Darling has brilliant songs coming out of every orifice.

I've cooled down a bit now.