C86 Show - Indie Pop

Martin Atkins special talking about Pigface, PIL, Killing Joke & much more with David Eastaugh

Best known for his work in post-punk and industrial groups including Public Image Ltd, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Pigface, and Killing Joke.

He also works as a consultant, has written books, and is the music business program coordinator at Millikin University in Decatur, IL. Atkins is an honorary board member of the Chicago-based nonprofit organisation Rock For Kids.

The Farm with Peter Hooton in conversation with David Eastaugh 

The band evolved from an earlier group called The Excitements, in 1984, they released the single, "Hearts and Minds", produced by Suggs. In 1986, after McVann's death, Melvin left the band to pursue a varied career as the director of his own construction firm, but he eventually returned to music in 1990 under the guise of Mr. Smith, a two-piece band that toured frequently, but did not release anything of note. 

After the departure of Melvin and the death of McVann, Hooton brought in a new line-up. They released four independent singles, but did not have a big break until 1990. In 1989, the band had been given a cameo role in the movie The Final Frame starring Suggs. They were signed after this and hired Suggs as their producer. Their first single under new management was "Stepping Stone", a dance remake of Paul Revere & the Raiders and The Monkees' single "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", a 1966 single that in its day reached No. 20 in the U.S. Billboard charts for The Monkees. They appeared in The Face, an influential popular culture magazine in the UK, and their promotion of "No alla violenza" anti-hooligan T-shirts during Italia 90 helped to raise their profile further.

The Farm's first song to reach the top part of the UK Singles Chart was "Groovy Train", which reached the Top 10 in September 1990. During the summer that year they played in Ibiza and were a key feature in the film A Short Film About Chilling. In late November that year, they released their most memorable song, "All Together Now", which instantly became a hit and peaked at number three in the charts in December 1990. It was on the crest of this wave that their album Spartacus reached No. 1 in the UK the following year. 

The Photos with Steve Eagles in conversation with David Eastaugh

The Photos were originally a punk band named Satan's Rats that formed in Evesham, Worcestershire in 1977, with the first stable line-up of Paul Rencher (vocals), Steve Eagles (guitar/vocals), Roy Wilkes (bass guitar), and Olly Harrison (drums). They released three singles as Satans Rats before Wilkes left, to be replaced by Dave Sparrow; and then Rencher left, after which the others deciding to expand the group with the addition of a female singer; They unsuccessfully tried to get Big in Japan's Jayne Casey to join, but convinced Wendy Wu (born Wendy Cruise, 29 November 1959), the former manager of pub rock band City Youth to join in 1979. The Photos signed to CBS Records but moved on to Epic Records after one single. They released a self-titled album (Epic, 1980) and number of singles. These included "I'm So Attractive" and "Barbarellas" (concerning the closure of a Birmingham nightclub).

The album was successful, reaching number 4 in the UK Albums Chart, and Wu's picture was briefly a regular item in the music press. Initial copies of the vinyl release of the album came with a bonus album, The Blackmail Tapes, the additional tracks also included on the cassette release, and the album was supported by the group performing numerous concerts around the UK.

The album was later re-released in CD format, although only a limited number of copies were pressed. The CD was re-released in October 2007 by Cherry Red Records, the label originally due to have signed the band before they were contracted to CBS. The re-release includes some additional tracks including "I'm So Attractive".

They released several singles in the UK including "I'm So Attractive". which was added to the US album release. "I'm So Attractive" was not included on the CD that was released in 1999, along with eight additional tracks from The Blackmail Tapes.

Their scheduled appearance on BBC Television's Top of the Pops was cancelled due to industrial action. A second album, Crystal Tips and Mighty Mice, was released in promotional form in 1981, but withdrawn before it reached the shops, and reissued by Cherry Red Records in 2008. Wu left the band in 1981, to be replaced by Che, and The Photos split up later that year.

Patty Schemel special talking about her life in music with David Eastaugh

Patricia Schemel is an American drummer and musician who rose to prominence as the drummer of alternative rock band Hole from 1992 until 1998. Born in Los Angeles, Schemel was raised in rural Marysville, Washington, where she developed an interest in punk rock music as a teenager. She began drumming at age eleven, and while in high school, formed several bands with her brother, Larry.

Schemel was recommended as a drummer to Hole frontwoman Courtney Love by her husband, Kurt Cobain, a friend of Schemel's. She formally joined the band in 1992, and performed on their critically acclaimed second album, Live Through This (1994). On the band's third release, Celebrity Skin (1998), Schemel was replaced by a session drummer after its producer, Michael Beinhorn, convinced Love that Schemel was unable to adequately perform during their recording sessions. Though she receives credit on the album, her drumming does not appear on the final tracks, and the event marked her departure from the band. For the band's subsequent tour, Schemel was replaced by Samantha Maloney.

After leaving Hole, Schemel developed a significant crack cocaine addiction, and was homeless for a time. In the early 2000s, she became sober and reunited with Love, joining the short-lived group Bastard before drumming on Love's debut solo album, America's Sweetheart (2004). Schemel subsequently drummed for Juliette and the Licks, appearing on their EP ...Like a Bolt of Lightning (2004).

In 2010, using concert and video diary footage from Hole's 1994–1995 Live Through This world tour, Schemel co-created Hit So Hard, a documentary chronicling her time in Hole, her overcoming substance abuse, as well her subsequent business operating a dog boarding business. In 2013, she joined the indie rock group Upset, formed by Ali Koehler, previously of Vivian Girls and Best Coast, and formed the band Death Valley Girls with her brother, Larry, the same year.

Razorcuts with Tim Vass in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Razorcuts were an indie pop band formed in 1984 in London. The group centred on Gregory Webster and Tim Vass (who were previously in The Cinematics), with various musicians including Peter Momtchiloff of Heavenly, Angus Stevenson (later of the Relationships), and New Zealand drummer David Swift.

Early releases on the Subway Organisation label, including the debut Big Pink Cake led to a deal with Creation Records for whom they released two albums. Razorcuts split up on 21 April 1990, with Vass going on to form Red Chair Fadeaway, and Webster to The Carousel, Saturn V and then in the late 1990s Sportique.The duo were reunited under the name 'Forever People' in 1992 for a one-off single on Sarah Records.

Crass special with Steve Ignorant in conversant with David Eastaugh

Robin Millar in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Robin Millar record producer, musician and businessman, known variously as 'The Original Smooth Operator', 'The man behind Sade', and 'Golden Ears' Boy George - one of the world's most successful ever record producers with over 150 gold, silver and platinum discs and 55 million record sales to his credit. His 1984 production of Diamond Life, the debut album by Sade, was named one of the best ten albums of the last 30 years at the 2011 Brit Awards.

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Bleach special with Salli Carson & Steve Scott talking to David Eastaugh 

Bleach were an indie rock band from Ipswich, England, usually considered part of the shoegazing genre. The band was formed in 1989 by brothers Neil and Nick Singleton (guitar and bass, respectively) together with drummer Steve Scott and vocalist Salli Carson. Their first release was the Eclipse EP in 1990, followed in 1991 by the Snag EP. The tracks from these two EPs were collected on an album in 1991. 1992 saw the release of the full-length album Killing Time, and the single "Shotgun", a surprising mixture of shoegazing and rap. In 1993 the band released two separate mini-albums, Hard and Fast. The group disbanded shortly thereafter.

Chumbawamba special with Dunstan Bruce talking about life in the band and much much more with David Eastaugh 

Soup Dragon & Snowgoose special with Jim Mcculloch - talking about life in music, indie pop, Soup Dragons and the new album from the Snowgoose - "The Making of You" - with David Eastaugh 

Dolly Mixture special with Debsey Wykes talking about life in music with David Eastaugh 

The group was formed in Cambridge, England, by Bor, Smith, and Wykes, three school friends who shared a fondness for The Shangri-Las and The Undertones. Dolly Mixture supported The Undertones on one of their first UK tours. The band also played venues with The Fall and The Transmitters in 1979. They were once supported by U2. In Autumn 1981, they toured as the featured support band for Bad Manners on their Gosh It's tour and were well received by the second wave mod/ska audience that filled various theatres and venues up and down the land.

Relocating to London to gig extensively, national BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel gave them exposure on his radio show and in his weekly column in the UK pop paper, Sounds. Signed to Chrysalis Records, the group released a cover of the Shirelles hit, "Baby It's You" (1980), produced by Eric Faulkner of the Bay City Rollers. However, the cover version was disowned by the group, which protested the label's attempt to sell them as a teen girl group. Their next single, "Been Teen" (1981), was the first single released on Paul Weller's Respond label. It was followed by "Everything And More" (1982), also released on Respond. Both singles were produced by Captain Sensible and Paul Gray of The Damned. They became friends with Sensible and recorded backing vocals on his singles and albums. After Sensible had a hit with "Happy Talk" in 1982 (featuring Dolly Mixture, credited as "Dolly Mixtures" on the single, and also in the song's video) and following various appearances on the television show Top of the Pops, Dolly Mixture – as a separate entity from Captain Sensible – performed extensively.

The Psylons with John Haskett talking about life in music, the band and the Portsmouth music scene - with David Eastaugh 

The Psylons were a UK post-punk band formed in Portsmouth 1984 by Keith Wyatt, Carl Edwards, Jack Packer and Warren Grech. The band produced four singles, an EP and two albums, the second of which, “Gimp” was produced by Jim Shaw of Cranes. The debut single “Run To The Stranger” was a New Musical Express Single of the Week and reached number 13 in the Alternative/Indie chart. Two sessions were recorded for BBC Radio One and broadcast on the John Peel and Andy Kershaw shows.

Over the next few years the band gigged extensively and supported many acts including The Fall, My Bloody Valentine, Cranes, Spiritualized and Moonshake.

After a number of personnel changes the band finally split in 1995.

John Haskett is currently a front of house sound engineer and tour manager and has worked with Killing Joke, Splashh, We Are Scientists & Wolf Alice.

Goober Patrol with Tom Blyth talking about life in music with David Eastaugh

Like their contemporaries Snuff and Leatherface, Goober Patrol formed in the late 1980s, bringing together influences from the British pop punk and American hardcore scenes; reviewers have highlighted the Goobers sound as equal parts Stiff Little Fingers, Circle Jerks and Snuff. In the early 1990s the Goobers received lots of praise from fanzines and mainstream music presses for their live shows plus their two albums and two singles co-released on Boss Tuneage and Lost and Found records.

Whilst drinking lots of booze on tour in the UK and Europe with Green Day, Samiam, R.K.L. and The Mr. T Experience; they released a joint EP with the latter on Punk As Duck Records. After receiving this split EP, much missed renowned BBC1 DJ John Peel got them into the Maida Vale BBC studios to record a session for his radio show which gained the Goobers a more widespread U.K audience.

The Goober’s music and – perhaps more importantly – drinking then brought them to the attention of NOFX’s Fat Mike who signed them to his legendary Fat Wreck Chords label. Their first FAT release Vacation (1996) displayed their mastery at concocting contagious, hook-laden punk tunes, whilst the follow-up The Unbearable Lightness of Being Drunk (1999) mixed offbeat Brit humor and serious personal overtones with raw, hardcore, punk ‘n’ roll. In the late 90s and early 2000s the Goobers toured non-stop around America, Canada and Europe with Tilt, Down By Law, Bouncing Souls, Strung Out and Diesel Boy, and made a couple of really stupid videos for FAT’s Peepshow compilations.

Now, following a break to go back to university, work in the Christmas cracker factory and for bass player Tommy Goober to tour the world in the Toy Dolls, the Goobers are back with a new album, new members and a desire to get drunk in the greatest cities in Europe whilst playing their favorite tunes, from ‘Easy Life’ and ‘The Biggest Joke’ to ‘B.E.E.R’ and ‘Last Train to Shezza’. They hope to see you there and maybe you could buy them a pint or two! Cheers!

Penny Rimbaud in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Penny "Lapsang" Rimbaud, is a writer, poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist. He was a member of the performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and in 1972 was co-founder of the Stonehenge Free Festival, together with Phil Russell aka Wally Hope. In 1977, alongside Steve Ignorant, he co-founded and played drums in the seminal anarchist punk band Crass, who disbanded in 1984. Up until 2000 he devoted himself almost entirely to writing, returning to the public platform in 2001 as a performance poet working alongside Australian saxophonist Louise Elliott and a wide variety of jazz musicians under the umbrella of Penny Rimbaud's Last Amendment.

The Lime Spiders with Mick Blood with David Eastaugh 

Lime Spiders were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with Mick Blood on lead vocals. He was later joined by Tony Bambach on bass guitar, Gerard Corben on guitar, Richard Lawson on drums, and David Sparks on guitar. Their debut studio album, The Cave Comes Alive! was released in June 1987 and reached the top 60 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart. Their most successful single, "Weirdo Libido", was released in January that year and reached the top 50 on the related Kent Music Report Singles Chart. In April its music video was the first ever shown on Australian Broadcasting Corporation TV music series rage. The track was used on the 1988 feature film Young Einstein's soundtrack. The group disbanded in 1990 and in 1999 Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, noted they had provided "raucous sound mixed screaming vocals and wild, fuzz-tone guitar riffs to arrive at a mutant strain of acid punk that bordered on heavy metal". Lead singer Mick Blood still performs Lime Spiders songs with session musicians, these are essentially Mick Blood solo performances.

Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction special with Cobalt Stargazer in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Died Pretty special with Ron Peno in conversation with David Eastaugh 

The Died Pretty, founded by mainstays Ron Peno (lead singer) and Brett Myers (lead guitarist and backing vocalist) in Sydney in 1983. The band was briefly called Final Solution. Their music started from a base of early electric Bob Dylan with psychedelic influences, including The Velvet Underground and Television. They were managed by John Needham, who is the owner of Citadel Records, their main label.

Died Pretty's 1990s albums, Doughboy Hollow, Trace and Sold, appeared on the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums Charts but they had more success on the alternate scene. According to rock music historian Ian McFarlane they "unashamedly plundered rock's past to arrive at an original sound that was always passionate, atmospheric and uplifting ... produced some of the most inspirational rock music heard in Australia". The group formally disbanded in 2002 but the members have reunited on a number of occasions for short tours in Australia. Most recently they undertook a joint national tour with Radio Birdman in June and July 2017.

The Parachute Men with Fiona Gregg in conversation with David Eastaugh

The Parachute Men formed in 1985, with a line-up of Fiona Gregg (vocals), Stephen H. Gregg (guitar), Andrew Howes (bass and keyboards), and Mark Boyce (drums and keyboards). After two years of gigging, the band were signed by large London indie label Fire Records in 1987. Their first release was a four-track EP with "Sometimes In Vain" as the lead track, in May 1988. This was followed in August of the same year by debut album The Innocents, which made the NME top 50 albums of that year. Two further singles were taken from the album, "If I Could Wear Your Jacket" (which author Mike Gayle has stated is one of his all-time favourite records) and "Bed and Breakfast". A further single, "Leeds Station" was released and also featured on the NME's Carry On Disarming video.

Howes and Boyce departed soon after, with Fiona and Stephen continuing as an acoustic duo until they recruited Matthew Parkin (bass) and Paul Walker (drums). 1990 saw the release of the second album, Earth, Dogs, and Eggshells, preceded by the single "Every Other Thursday" (a reference to signing on to the dole). The album was released over a year after it was recorded, losing much of the momentum the band had built up.^[2] The band line-up changed again, with Canadian Colleen Browne replacing Matthew Parkin. They eventually recruited a further bass player, Tony Hodges, but after playing just one gig, at Liverpool University, split in the early 1990s with no further releases.

Sad Lovers and Giants with Simon Allard in conversation with David Eastaugh 

The original lineup included vocalist Garçe (Simon) Allard, guitarist Tristan Garel-Funk, bassist Cliff Silver, drummer Nigel Pollard and keyboardist/saxophonist David Wood.

Following their debut EP Clé and the "Colourless Dream" single, both issued in 1981, they released their debut studio album, Epic Garden Music in 1982. It reached No. 21 in the UK Independent Albums Chart.

During this initial period they recorded a John Peel Session for the BBC, and a live concert for Radio Netherlands Worldwide in 1983 (later released as the album Total Sound in 1986).Live performances included headline dates at UK colleges and clubs with occasional trips to Europe, although they did support the Sound at a major London venue on the day Epic Garden Music entered the charts. The singles "Lost in a Moment" (1982) and "Man of Straw" (1983) both made the UK Independent Singles Chart, reaching No. 48 and No. 31, respectively.

European interest in the band grew, and with the 1983 release of second album Feeding the Flame , they toured Germany and the Netherlands, gaining a dedicated fanbase. Tensions within the band caused a split, with Garel-Funk and Pollard leaving to form the Snake Corps.

During a hiatus, their label Midnight Music released the In the Breeze collection in 1984, which included one of their previously unreleased signature tunes, "Three Lines".

SLAG returned in 1987 with an updated lineup including original members Allard and Pollard along with newcomers Tony McGuinness (guitar), Juliet Sainsbury (keyboards) and Ian Gibson (bass), releasing a new album that year, The Mirror Test.

As interest abroad grew, the band performed extensively in the Netherlands, Spain and France, and headlined at the Marquee Club in London. Original bassist Silver returned, replacing Gibson, and they released a fourth studio album, Headland, in 1990.

After the 1991 release of Treehouse Poetry, Midnight Music folded and the band split once again, coming together occasionally for gigs supporting And Also the Trees at London's Marquee Club and Electric Ballroom.

E-mail from Eternity, a best-of compilation, was released by the record label Cherry Red in 1996 after the company picked up the Midnight catalogue.

In 2000, McGuinness formed progressive trance trio Above & Beyond with Jono Grant and Paavo Siljamäki, also initiating his electronic dance music labels Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep.

In 2002, Sad Lovers & Giants released their sixth album, Melting in the Fullness of Time on Voight-Kampff Records, recorded predominantly by Allard and McGuinness with studio contributions from Sainsbury, Snake Corps bassist Liam McGuinness, drummer Kevin Mathews, and two members of Lovebabies, vocalist Jenny Clark and guitarist Bob Bradley. They played two dates in Italy a year later.

Another reformed lineup (Allard, McGuinness, Pollard, Gibson) played in Italy and Greece in April 2009, coinciding with Cherry Red's rereleases of Feeding the Flame and Epic Garden Music. Keyboardist Will Hicks joined later in 2009.

During 2010, the band played a handful of live dates in Athens and Barcelona (supported by the Snake Corps and the Essence, both previous Midnight bands), reissued The Mirror Test, and recorded a new 7" double A-side single, "Himalaya". They played at the Purple Turtle in Camden in December 2011, which was their first London gig since the early 1990s. In 2012, they played gigs in Berlin and Salerno and began writing and recording new material for a future album.

An extensive interview feature on SLAG appeared in the autumn 2013 and spring 2014 issues of music magazine The Big Takeover.

In 2014, frontman Allard published an autobiography of the band, Things We Never Did – The Story of Sad Lovers & Giants.

In March 2016, Sad Lovers & Giants embarked on a short tour of North America, performing mainly on the West Coast. They made their U.S. live debut at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas.

In 2017, Cherry Red issued a five-disc retrospective box set, Where the Light Shines Through 1981-2017.

On 31 October 2018, the band released their seventh studio album and first in 16 years, Mission Creep.

The Adverts with TV Smith in conversation with David Eastaugh