C86 Show - Indie Pop

Katell Keineg in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://katell.keineg.com/news

https://westhampsteadarts.com/nightery_event/katell-keineg/

Katell Keineg was born in Brittany and was brought up first there and then in Wales.  After graduating from the London School of Economics she moved to Ireland and started gigging, before re-locating to New York in 1992.  She was quickly embraced by the scene around St Mark’s Place’s now legendary Sin-é, building her reputation for ‘conveying a nearly beatific sense of joy in performance’ (Los Angeles Times).  In 1993 she released a seven-inch single, ‘Hestia’ – ‘arcane and beautiful, one of the most extraordinary songs’ (Mojo) – on Bob Mould’s SOL Records label.  That same year, Keineg sang on Iggy Pop’s American Caesar.  He passed a copy of ‘Hestia’ on to Elektra Records, which led to a deal with the label and the release of her acclaimed debut album Ô Seasons Ô Castles in 1994.  

Mike West in conversation with David Eastaugh

The band members had little in common with most Manchester bands. Goody was a graduate of Winchester School of Art. Vincent had been an art critic and painter. Seal, a Glaswegian, was a classically trained musician who had run an art gallery. And West, who wrote the songs, was the Australian-born son of the author Morris West.

The band played many gigs at the Boardwalk club, in Manchester, where they recorded their Big Noise live album in 1989.

West moved to New Orleans to pursue a solo career in the early 1990s.

Jakko Jakszyk in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://kingmakerpublishing.com/jakko-m-jakszyk/

Jakko M. Jaksyzk is an award-winning, world-renowned musician, best known for having been a member of Level 42, but most recently, for the past 13 years, lead singer and guitarist with progressive rock founding fathers King Crimson.

Who’s The Boy With The Lovely Hair? is, at first glance,  a traditional rock’n’roll memoir, charting Jakko’s long and varied musical career, packed with eyebrow-raising and hilarious anecdotes about his encounters with everyone from Michael Jackson to Kate Bush and Gene Simmons, Uri Geller, Cliff Richard and the Dali Lama.  Dig a little deeper, however, and it soon becomes clear that this autobiography is much more than that.

Who’s The Boy With The Lovely Hair? is an almanac of entertaining tales from the mid-20th century rock’n’roll, theatre and alternative comedy trenches, all told with great wit and charm.

This is a book about origins, identity and who we become.   It tells the story of an abandoned child who became lost in dreams of becoming a musician and who, with determination, talent and a slice of luck,  ended up working with their childhood heroes. 

Bill Leeb in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://www.mindphaser.com/

https://frontlineassembly.bandcamp.com/album/model-kollapse

Electronic musician and record producer. He is best known for being a founding member of the industrial music group Front Line Assembly and Delerium.

Leeb began his musical career with industrial band Skinny Puppy in 1985 under the pseudonym Wilhelm Schroeder, contributing bass synth and occasional backing vocals to a few of their recordings and concerts. He left in 1986 and formed his own industrial project Front Line Assembly with Michael Balch, and later Rhys Fulber and Chris Peterson.

Ian Christie  in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://khartomb.bandcamp.com/album/swahili-lullaby-teekon-warriors-daisy-high-before-i-die-edition

https://www.khartomb.com/

https://www.youtube.com/khartomb

Khartomb were an English reggae-influenced independent group inspired by The Slits, among other widely-varying sounds of the era, who started up in the 1981 timeframe and featured songwriters Ian Christie (guitar) and Caroline Clayton (bass, vocals, flute), as well as originally Simon (General Gordon) on drums (later on percussion), augmented by Ali Barnes, and Paula Crolla and Karen (surname undisclosed) on vocals. Their only release was a 7 inch on Whaaam! Records, a label run by Dan Treacy of Television Personalities (Swahili Lullaby b/w Teekon Warriors) with Caroline on vocals for Swahili Lullaby, and Paula singing Teekon Warriors. After having been dormant since the early 1980s, Ian and Caroline reformed in the mid-2010s, up through 2019.

Chris Sullivan in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.thesullivan.net/home

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/blue-rondo-bees-knees-and-chicken-elbows-expanded-2cd-edition?srsltid=AfmBOop68rFMyboq_cMuXbKfDxStVOacJIeB2YGuD-iZUNlgpTsdKf9E

Blue Rondo à la Turk was a floating collective of jazz and salsa oriented musicians, created by singer/lyricist Chris Sullivan who arrived in London from Merthyr Tydfil in the mid 1970s. His stated goal for the band was "to bring back show biz".

In the band’s first interview, Sullivan said of their sound: “Call it Latin American jazz with funk and African leanings – plus a few others because all of us have adventurous musical tastes.” Sullivan co-wrote most of the band's original material; he also painted the distinctive cubist art that adorned most of the band's releases.

Mike Batt in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.mikebatt.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Closest-Thing-Crazy-Musical-Adventures/dp/1785120840

Described variously as a 'polymath', a 'renaissance man' and 'one of the most colourful characters in the music business', Mike Batt has led an extraordinarily vibrant and challenging life that has been full of both glorious victories and bitter failures.

For better or for worse, he is a man who has always lived life on his own terms. Idiosyncratic but mainstream, complicated but compassionate, steadfastly maverick in spirit but avowedly commercial in outlook. He is a man of great contradictions, but even greater talent.

After starting out in the music business as a teenager, Batt shot to fame in the early 1970s for his part in the creation of the Wombles pop group. But this success proved to be just the beginning as he then went on to work with various artists as a songwriter, composer and producer, including Art Garfunkel, George Harrison, Cliff Richard, Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Katie Melua.

Featuring cameos from some of the biggest stars in the business from Paul McCartney to Prince, The Closest Thing to Crazy takes us not only on the rocky (and classical) journey of Mike Batt's life but also on a tour around the inside of his mind.

Paul Rutner in conversation with David Eastaugh

Mumps were a popular band at clubs such as Max's Kansas City and CBGB. They also performed at Irving Plaza and Maxwell's (Hoboken, New Jersey), and opened for the Ramones at Hurrah in August 1978. Their concerts were lively and featured energetic, expressive performances from Lance Loud and other band members on songs like "We're Americans", "I Believe In Anyone But You", "Strange Seed", "Brain Massage", "Scream and Scream Again".

Their first 45 record single was "I Like To Be Clean", backed by "Crocodile Tears" on Bomp Records. Their second was "Rock & Roll This & That" with two B-sides: "Muscleboys" and "That Fatal Charm". The recorded version of "Rock & Roll This & That" interpolated a short guitar riff from the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", but in live performances, they would interpolate other riffs such as David Bowie's "Rebel Rebel". In spite of these two independently produced singles, they failed to secure a contract with a major record label, notably being told "'We don’t want ‘the gay band'" by A&M

David Bash in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://internationalpopoverthrow.com/

The festival is dedicated to bring classic pop music to the public, and is run by CEO and founder David Bash and Rina Bardfield. Although the festival has over the years featured several major label acts, such as Phantom Planet, Maroon 5 (under their previous incarnation, Kara's Flowers), and The Click Five, Bash tries to maintain the grassroots feel of the festival by featuring primarily unsigned bands, and presenting them in a festival platform with similar minded artists.

Jez Willis in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://utahsaints.com/

Utah Saints were described as "the first true stadium house band" by the KLF's Bill Drummond, though their music is difficult to place into one genre. The dance group originally met as music promoters and DJs for the Mix Nightclub in Harrogate in the early 1990s. They began as MDMA, featuring two former The Cassandra Complex members Jez Willis and Keith Langley, along with Bobby Rae and guitarist Martin Scott. Willis started The Utah Saints with the addition of Tim Garbutt

Raymond Watts in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.pigindustries.com/

Following hot on the heels of his new album ‘Red Room’ (released in May 2024), industrial rock mainstay Raymond Watts aka PIG has today reissued a fully remastered version of his seminal mid-‘90s album ‘Sinsation’ via Metropolis Records (CD, digital) and Armalyte Industries (deluxe 2xLP vinyl). Out of print for almost three decades, it makes a timely reappearance just ahead of a North American tour.

'Sinsation' was originally released in 1995 on Nothing Records, the label established by Nine Inch Nails kingpin Trent Reznor, and not long after PIG had opened for NIN at a number of shows. Nothing was an influential and commercially successful label with a cult underground following that also issued records by Marilyn Manson, Squarepusher, Autechre, Meat Beat Manifesto, Pop Will Eat Itself, Einstürzende Neubauten and Plaid, as well as NIN themselves.

Steve Kilbey in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.thechurchband.com/

https://kilbeykennedy.bandcamp.com/

https://stevekilbey.bandcamp.com/

https://easyaction.co.uk/product/the-church-eros-zeta-the-perfumed-guitars-cd/

Richard King in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571379668-travels-over-feeling/

An icon of New York’s downtown music scene is brought vividly to life in this tapestry of archive and oral history’ Guardian

The music of Arthur Russell defies classification. Across a twenty-year career he created a body of work which ranged from his pioneering compositions as part of the New York avant-garde alongside artists including Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg, to his genre-expanding disco and art pop productions, to his posthumously released folk songs.

Travels Over Feeling is the result of extensive research by author Richard King, curating the ephemera and documentation found in both Arthur’s and other private archives, and consists of hand-written scores, lyrics, photos, letters and drawings. Throughout, King has conducted wide-ranging original interviews with Arthur’s collaborators, contemporaries, family and friends. The resulting book reveals a true picture of one of the most distinctive artists of the last fifty years.

Micky Greaney in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://mickygreaney.bandcamp.com/album/and-now-its-all-this

'Lost' album from Birmingham singer-songwriter Micky Greaney, originally recorded 1995-6, and now finally getting a release with all the loving care that we have come to expect from midlands independent label Seventeen Records. Elegantly arranged folk-rock that reminds us of Jeff Buckley, Nick Drake and the Kinks. 

Marco Pirroni in conversation with David Eastaugh

Pirroni was lead guitarist and co-songwriter in the second incarnation of Adam and the Ants, co-penning two UK number ones and a further four 10 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 ("Kings" number 1; "Prince Charming" number 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".

Peter Prescott in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://minibeast.bandcamp.com/

American post-punk band from Boston, Massachusetts. The group formed in 1979 with Roger Miller on guitar, Clint Conley on bass, Peter Prescott on drums, and Martin Swope contributing audiotape manipulation and acting as the band’s sound engineer. In this initial lineup, Miller, Conley, and Prescott all shared singing and songwriting duties.

Magnus Karlsson in conversation with David Eastaugh

Happydeadmen were one of the first Swedish acts to have been given credit for inspiring the '90s explosion of pop acts. With the thank-you list that includes The Cardigans and Popsicle, Happydeadmen's melody of charming indie glee debuted in 1988. With their first full-length, "Eleven Pop Songs" (1990), and "Game, Set, Match" (1993) independently released, Happydeadmen would spend a part of 1995 touring Japan before their follow-up album, "Bullfights Every Sunday", came out two years later. After settling down the line-up in 1997 with Jan Hedin (vocals/guitar), Magnus Karlsson (guitar), Roger Kjellgren (bass), and Thomas Kristoffersson (drums), SummerSound Recordings eventually compiled a Happydeadmen best-of album to celebrate their ten-year existence. The fittingly titled "Happydeadmen Classics: A Decade in Pop" was released in January of 1999. ~ Mike DaRonco, Rovi

Line-up:
Jan Hedin - Vocals and acoustic guitar
Magnus Karlsson - Electric guitar
Roger Kjellgren - Bass
Thomas Kristoffersson - Drums
Patrik Jonsfjord - Electric guitar (1994-97)

Peter Crowley in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Down-at-Maxs-Peter-Crowley/dp/B0D7QR4F6Y

https://www.farwestpress.com/far-west-books/p/down-at-maxs-peter-crowley

Don Pyle in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://shadowymen.bandcamp.com/album/dim-the-lights-chill-the-ham

Pyle's first group was a punk band called Crash Kills Five, which was active from 1979 to 1981. Crash Kills Five released one EP in 1980, titled What Do You Do At Night?. It was in this four piece band that Pyle first played with two members, Reid Diamond and Brian Connelly, who would later become his bandmates in Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet were together for eleven years; during this time, they recorded three LPs and thirteen EPs and became widely known when the song "Having An Average Weekend" became the theme for the Canadian sketch comedy television series The Kids in the Hall.

Michael Alago in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.michaelalago.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Michael-Alago-Breathing-Metallica/dp/1617137251

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgTBj2Zbr0w

Musician, nightlife impresario, record label executive, photographer, and author, Michael Alago takes readers through this amazing journey that is his life. Alago grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a large, spirited, and devoted Puerto Rican family. Through his early passion for music, art, theater, and photography, he soon found himself rubbing elbows with many downtown NYC scene makers, from Stiv Bators to Jean Michel Basquiat, Cherry Vanilla and Wayne County to Deborah Harry and Robert Mapplethorpe. As an underage teenager going to Max's Kansas City, CBGB, and various art galleries, Alago also began running The Dead Boys fan club. A few years later, he became the assistant music director for legendary nightclubs the Ritz and the Red Parrot. At age twenty-four, he began a storied career as an A&R executive at Elektra Records that started with signing Metallica in the summer of 1984, changing the entire landscape of rock 'n' roll and heavy metal. Alago continued to work in A&R for both Palm Pictures and Geffen Records. He was thrilled to executive-produce albums by Cyndi Lauper, Public Image Ltd, White Zombie, and Nina Simone.