C86 Show - Indie Pop

Joel Selvin in conversation with David Eastaugh

From the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean to the Byrds and the Mamas & the Papas, acclaimed music journalist Joel Selvin tells the story of a group of young artists and musicians who came together at the dawn of the 1960s to create the lasting myth of the California dream.

Compelling, evocative, and ultimately tragic, Hollywood Eden travels far beyond the music into the desires of the human heart and the price of living out a dream. A rock 'n' roll opera loaded with violence, deceit, intrigue, low comedy, and high drama, it tells the story of a group of young artists and musicians who bumped heads, crashed cars, and ultimately flew too close to the sun.

Thatcher on Acid with Andy Tuck in conversation with David Eastaugh

Thatcher on Acid were an English anarcho-punk band. They formed in Somersetduring 1983. Their name is a satirical reference to former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher.^[3] Ben Corrigan, Bob Butler and Andy Tuck also played in Schwartzeneggar with ex-Crass member, Steve Ignorant. The band opened the anarcho-punk band Conflict's "Gathering of the 5000" show at Brixton Academy,^[2] an event which resulted in many arrests and achieved a degree of infamy.

Kristin Hersh in conversation with David Eastaugh - discussing her new book 'Seeing Sideways'

American singer-songwriter, musician and author, known for her solo work and with her rock bands Throwing Muses and 50FootWave.^[1]She has released eleven solo albums. Her guitar work and composition style ranges from jaggedly dissonant to traditional folk. Hersh's lyrics have a stream-of-consciousness style, reflecting her personal experiences.^[2]

Clare Hirst in conversation with David Eastaugh

UK saxophonist with a distinguished career in pop and jazz music.  Clare has performed with iconic British groups including Bronski Beat, Communards and David Bowie among others. However, Clare made her name with all female band the Belle Stars in the early 1980s; playing saxophone and keyboards on hits like “The Clapping Song”, “Sign of The Times” (not the Prince tune) and “Iko Iko”

Medium Medium with Andy Ryder in conversation with David Eastaugh

Emerging in 1978 out of the Nottingham punk/rhythm & blues band The Press, Medium Medium's first single was "Them or Me", which was released in late 1978 and was still selling well enough in 1980 to appear in the UK Independent Chart.^[2][3] The second single, "Hungry, So Angry", was released in February 1981 on Cherry Red Records. One of the first records to introduce slap bass - a technique borrowed from black funk music - to a generally white audience, "Hungry, So Angry" reached #48 in the Billboard Disco chart - the single and the album were released in 1981 on the New York-based indie label Cachalot Records - and has appeared on over a dozen compilations over the years.

The band released one studio album, The Glitterhouse, in late 1981. Its stark, stripped-down dub and dance rhythms and chiming, funk guitar with occasional saxophone and other sounds, failed to attract a large following.

Ava Cherry in conversation with David Eastaugh

Ava Cherry is an American singer and model. She collaborated with David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Afterwards, they began a period of personal and artistic collaboration that heavily influenced the Young Americans "blue-eyed soul" era. Following this, she struck out as a solo singer and backing artist for musicians such as Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan.

Suicide with Martin Rev in conversation with David Eastaugh

Suicide was an American musical duo composed of vocalist Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev, intermittently active between 1970 and 2016. The group's pioneering music utilized minimalist electronic instrumentation, including synthesizersand primitive drum machines, and their early performances were confrontational and often ended in violence. They were among the first acts to use the phrase "punk music" in an advertisement for a concert in 1970.

Friends Again with Chris Thomson & Paul McGeechan in conversation with David Eastaugh -  Part 2

They were formed by members Chris Thomson and Paul McGeechan, together with Neil Cunningham, James Grant and Stuart Kerr. The group was famous for their singles "State of Art", "Sunkissed" and "Honey at the Core". They released a self-titled EP in 1984, which peaked at No. 59 on the UK Singles Chart. They then recorded their debut album, Trapped & Unwrapped (1984).

Wall of Voodoo with Bruce "Ravens" Moreland in conversation with David Eastaugh

Wall of Voodoo had its roots in Acme Soundtracks, a film score business started by Stan Ridgway, later the vocalist and harmonica player for Wall of Voodoo. Acme Soundtracks' office was across the street from the Hollywood punk club The Masqueand Ridgway was soon drawn into the emerging punk/new wave scene. Marc Moreland, guitarist for the Skulls, began jamming with Ridgway at the Acme Soundtracks office and the soundtrack company morphed into a new wave band. In 1977, with the addition of Skulls members Bruce Moreland (Marc Moreland's brother) as bassist and Chas T. Gray as keyboardist, along with Joe Nanini, who had been the drummer for the Bags, the Eyes, and Black Randy and the Metrosquad, the first lineup of Wall of Voodoo was born.

Thin White Rope with Roger Kunkel in conversation with David Eastaugh 

In 1984, a four-track recording with about 14 songs was sent to a number of labels, and an additional demo was recorded in December with Scott Miller producing. At this time, Jozef Becker rejoined the group, replacing French. Lisa Fancher of Frontier Records, who heard of Thin White Rope through a magazine review of the 14-song demo, signed the group to Frontier, and the band then recorded Exploring the Axis.

Over time, the band retained singer/songwriter/guitarist Guy Kyser and guitarist Roger Kunkel, with a changing line-up of drummers and bass guitarists. Like Television, it was noted for its twin guitar attack, innovative use of feedback structures and oblique lyrics. The Rough Guide to Rock called Thin White Rope "one of the few worthwhile traditional American guitar rock bands of their era. While most of the essential groups of the time were pushing back the limits of the form, Thin White Rope had the distinction of managing to breathe new life into the genre."

Adele Bertei -  Contortions,  Peter Laughner & Why Labelle Matters - in conversation with David Eastaugh

Bertei began her career playing guitar and singing in the Wolves, her first band with Laughner. She left Cleveland for New York City in 1977 shortly after Laughner died prematurely of complications due to alcoholism.

Bertei quickly became a prominent figure in the no wave art and music scene in NYC, playing Acetone organ and guitar in the original line up of the Contortions fronted by James Chance. While working as personal assistant to Brian Eno in 1978, Bertei took him to a series of concerts at Artists Space in New York, which resulted in Eno producing the iconoclastic LP No New York for the Virgin/Antilles label, featuring the Contortions and three other no wave bands.

Marco Pirroni in conversation with David Eastaugh

Pirroni was lead guitarist and co-songwriter in the second incarnation of Adam and the Ants, penning two UK number one singlesand a further four Top Ten hits, with Ant. The two albums he co-wrote for Adam and the Ants, Kings of the Wild Frontier and Prince Charming, both made the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart ("Kings" #1; "Prince Charming" #2).

When Adam and the Ants disbanded in 1982, Pirroni was retained as Adam Ant's co-writer and studio guitarist; they produced another number-one single ("Goody Two Shoes") and an album (Friend or Foe), followed by four more Top 20 hits. Ant and Pirroni won two shared Ivor Novello Awards for "Stand and Deliver"

Pirroni and Ant working together sold more than eighteen million records worldwide, scoring number ones in Australia, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Israel and Japan as well as in the UK.

Doctors of Madness with Richard Strange in conversation with David Eastaugh

In September 2019 he toured the UK with an all-star band in a show entitled "Richard Strange performs the songs of Lou Reed", featuring over 20 songs by the former Velvet Underground composer and front man.

Throughout the Covid- 19 "Lockdown" months of March-August 2020, Strange worked from his studio, creating an audio version of his memoir "Strange- Punks and Drunks and Flicks and Kicks", which he offered free in daily instalments from his website, and he commenced a weekly online radio show, "Dark Times Radio", featuring music he had written, performed, produced or been inspired by. The shows were uploaded to the Soundcloud platform.

Strange's first band was Doctors of Madness, formed in 1975, recording three influential but non-commercial albums. The band was supported by the Sex Pistols, the Jam and Joy Division. He disbanded the band in 1978, after Dave Vanian of the Damned briefly joined him on vocals. He subsequently recorded as a solo artist, releasing two albums The Live Rise of Richard Strange (Ze Records 1981) and The Phenomenal Rise of Richard Strange (Virgin Records 1981) before further releases with the Engine Room up to the early 1990s.

The Hard-Ons with Ray Ahn in conversation with David Eastaugh

The Hard-Ons are an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1981. Founding members included Keish de Silva on guitar, vocals and Peter "Blackie" Black on guitar, Ray Ahn soon joined on bass guitar with de Silva switching to drums. The group issued eight studio albums before disbanding in 1994. They reformed in 1997 to release further material. In 2002 de Silva was replaced on drums by Peter Kostic, who was replaced in turn by Murray Ruse in 2011. De Silva returned as a guest vocalist in 2014 and permanently rejoined the band in 2016. During their first 12 years, the group issued 17 consecutive number-one hits on the Australian alternativecharts. During that time they became Australia's most commercially successful independent band, with over 250,000 total record sales

Christian Paris - Alice in Wonderland night club - in conversation with David Eastaugh 

In 1983, 24-year old Christian Paris, bored and with nothing to do and nowhere to go, came up with the idea to start the Alice In Wonderland nightclub in London's Soho. Loosely based on 1960's psychedelia the club was a phenomenal success that lasted virtually a whole decade and led on to the legendary Magical Mystery Trips, records, a film, film festivals, the bizarre Planet Alice shops in London and Los Angeles, their very own Number One pop group and a disastrous partnership with a Beatles daughter