https://www.cherryred.co.uk/various-artists-cbgb-a-new-york-city-soundtrack-1975-1986-4cd?srsltid=AfmBOoohm1glA9ey7r6K1osC9drIJOO4YZT5Q0P6y6vXPapBUTVMN2ig

“CBGB was a place for the dirty people.” - Jimmy Destri of Blondie

“Afterwards, I took off and went crosstown to CBGB’s, the stronghold of the unknown, to be with my own people.” - Patti Smith

In December 1973 Hilly Kristal changed the name of his roots music bar from Hilly’s on the Bowery to CBGB and altered his musical policy to hire mostly rock bands. He was indifferent to many of them (“No one is going to like you guys, but I’ll have you back,” he told Joey Ramone), blissfully unaware of how important his scruffy little club would soon become.

In the span of only 15 months, the five groups that comprise the CBGB’s pantheon all debuted: Television in March 1974, followed by Ramones in August and Blondie in October, then Patti Smith in February 1975 and Talking Heads four months later.

Those five groups all quickly got record deals and became popular enough to outgrow CBGB’s. By the fall of 1977, Smith was the only one who was still playing there. What succeeded the Big Five was an array of new and retro styles, all of which feature here: No Wave (Sonic Youth, Mars, DNA, Bush Tetras), post-punk (Ritual Tension, Unknown Gender, Khmer Rouge), mutant funk and R&B (James Chance & The Contortions, Mink DeVille), art-rock bands (R.L. Crutchfield’s Dark Day, The Revelons, Erasers, Jeff and Jane Hudson) hardcore punk (Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Vatican Commandos, Beastie Boys), and lots of power pop (Sorrows, The dBs, The Rudies, The Miamis, The Paley Brothers) .

The club’s best-known bands are present on this compilation but we’ve also revived interest in dozens of unfairly forgotten acts that, for a moment in time, made an album, EP, 45, or even a demo that crackled with innovation, wit, and joy.

CBGB no longer exists, at least not in the physical plane, but what happened between those soot-filled, beer-stinking walls continues to reverberate around the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXMB0fZMhxw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef0Cw6j70H4

https://dominicblaazer.bandcamp.com/

https://www.roughtrade.com/product/adele-bertei/no-new-york-a-memoir-of-no-wave-and-the-women-who-shaped-the-scene

In 1975 a young queer singer from Cleveland meets photographer Nan Goldin - an encounter that will lead them to New York's bombed-out downtown, where something unprecedented is brewing. At Max's Kansas City and CBGBs, in derelict lofts and underground clubs, a generation of visionary women artists is rewriting the rules of creativity, sexuality, and power. Adele Bertei didn't just witness the No Wave explosion-she ignited it. As acetone organist for the Contortions and Brian Eno's assistant, she was at the epicenter when punk collided with post-punk, birthing a counterculture that fused music, art, cinema, fashion and outlaw literature into an uncompromising explosion of creativity. While mainstream culture wallowed in sexism and homophobia, these artists and more created something fluid, fierce, and transgressive. Raw, gripping, and illustrated with rare photographs from personal collections, No New York is the definitive insider's account of the women who obliterated every barrier in their path, taking you deep into the artistic and sexual experimentation of an era when true expression mattered more than money or fame.

https://benvaughn.org/

https://www.straightfromthehat.com/

https://lnkfi.re/SFTH

Ben Vaughn grew up in the Philadelphia area on the New Jersey side of the river.  At age 6, his uncle gave him a Duane Eddy record and forever changed his life.

In 1983, he formed the Ben Vaughn Combo.  The band was together five years, releasing two albums and touring the U.S. several times.  They received rave reviews in Rolling Stone and People magazine and video airplay on MTV.  The attention inspired Marshall Crenshaw to record Ben's "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)" for his "Downtown" album.

Ben embarked on a solo career in 1988, recording several critically acclaimed albums, touring extensively in Europe and the U.S. and receiving more MTV exposure.  During that period he produced three records for the Elektra Records American Explorer series (Memphis rockabilly legend Charlie Feathers, Muscle Shoals country soul singer Arthur Alexander) and recorded "Cubist Blues," a collaboration with Alan Vega and Alex Chilton.  He also scored two films ("Favorite Mopar" and "Wild Girl's Go-Go Rama"), as well as appearing as a frequent guest commentator on nationally syndicated radio shows “Fresh Air” and "World Cafe." 

https://crayolalectern.com/n-e-w-s

https://crayolalectern.bandcamp.com/

Departure Lounge was initially known as Tim Keegan & Departure Lounge, reflecting the fact that the band evolved from a solo project and Tim Keegan was the singer and main lyricist. They released an album under this name in 1999 (the US version with different tracklisting as Departure Lounge in 2000), Out of Here, which received warm reviews in both the general and music press (subsequent re-releases of the CD have changed the name to simply Departure Lounge). 

https://www.kevincann.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2011/mar/09/david-bowie-in-pictures

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Any-Day-Now-London-1947-1974/dp/0955201780

https://blackandbluerecords.com/hom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pik16Mpn6Lw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-izEjeVZCX4

https://michaelhampton.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-public-domain-2

https://www.youtube.com/@MaWaHa

Among Hampton’s Funkadelic writing credits are group staples like “Who Says a Funk Band Can’t Play Rock?!” and “Funk Gets Stronger”, both released during the group’s late-’70s/early-’80s hit run. 

Into the Public Domain, an EP produced by 9-time Grammy Award winner and Ruffhouse Records co-founder Joe “The Butcher” Nicolo. A founding father of power-funk electric guitar, Hampton edges into new territory on Into the Public Domain, a meld of rock and world music with jazz and western overtones, hallmarked by Michael’s trademark sizzling leads.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Space-Age-Batchelor-Pad-Music/dp/1916829325

http://jawbonepress.com/space-age-batchelor-pad-music/

Stereolab are one of the most fascinating guitar groups of the past fifty years, a source of constant reinvention and illuminating contrasts, where political ideology meets the sweetest pop melodies and driving guitars rub along with space-age jazz. They are perhaps the greatest Anglo-French collaboration since Concorde—a hugely respected, highly influential group whose fan base grows larger by the year, stretching from chart-topping hip hop artists to underground indie stars. And yet their appeal remains elusive. What kind of music do Stereolab make? What’s their best album? Their greatest song? There are no easy answers.

In writing this book, Ben Cardew spoke to more than fifty people from the Stereolab universe to trace the history of the band from the depths of 90s indie London to their all-conquering reunion tour of 2025. Using twenty of their songs as jumping-off points, he examines in loving detail what makes this most fascinating band work, unpicking the cultural references, stylistic contradictions, and brilliant ideas at the heart of the group.

https://martindupont.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5nAMbEQwu8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3i9pxew6-Xg

A French group from Marseille formed in 1980, consisting of Alain Séghir, Beverley Jane Crew, Brigitte Balian, and Catherine Loy. The music they made was colorful, enthusiastic and delicate, but also melancholy and mysterious. A mixture of hot and cold, light and dark. They made electronic music that incorporated guitars and clarinets, though described as New Wave they truly transcended genres.   less

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0JCoMYpiA0

Mo-dettes were a multinational all-female post-punk band, formed in 1979 by guitarist Kate Korris, an original member of the Slits and brief member of the Raincoats, and bassist Jane Crockford, a former member of Bank of Dresden. Ramona Carlier (vocals) and June Miles-Kingston (drums) completed the line-up.

https://www.jeffreyalanbright.com/

https://thepleasurespale.bandcamp.com/

https://jeffbrightthesunshineboys.bandcamp.com/

The Pleasures Pale was an influential indie quartet+ based in Dayton, Ohio, active from 1985 to 1987. Often compared to UK groups of the era, TPP's influences can now be read as more diverse — taking cues from post-punk, rockabilly, swing, Motown and Dayton funk. A band for misfits, their extensive, lyric-driven output sought to light a way through the rust belt's post-industrial bleakness.

https://internationalpopoverthrow.com/

The International Pop Overthrow Music Festival was created in December 1997. The name was chosen to pay tribute to Jim Ellison, singer songwriter of Material Issue, a power pop band from Chicago, whose 1991 debut album was entitled International Pop Overthrow. In August 1998, the first International Pop Overthrow festival was held in Los Angeles, featuring 120 pop and rock bands from Los Angeles, several other US cities, and 10 bands from five countries: Canada, Australia, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands. Over the next three years, its roster grew to include bands from countries such as Japan, Norway, Austria, Israel, and the United Kingdom. At the 2001 festival, during a panel discussion, it was suggested by several bands that Bash take International Pop Overthrow on the road

https://shaynepcarter.bandcamp.com/

https://www.lifeinonechordfilm.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/dec/03/shayne-carter-documentary-life-in-one-chord-film-review

New Zealand musician best known for leading Straitjacket Fits from 1986 to 1994, and as the only permanent member of Dimmer (1995–2012).

Carter is a member of the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame, and has been awarded the New Zealand Herald Legacy Award (with Straitjacket Fits at the 2008 New Zealand Music Awards), and the recipient of several Aotearoa Music Awards including best band, album and top male vocalist with Straitjacket Fits and Dimmer.

https://mogandavidandhiswinos.bandcamp.com/album/savage-young-winos

Out of circulation since 1976, the recordings of the Los Angeles rock band Mogan David and His Winos is finally be available again. The group's lineup featured a 'who's who' of heavyweights in the American music industry, including Harold Bronson and Richard Foos (co-founders of Rhino Records), Paul Rappaport (Columbia Records), and Mark Leviton (Rhino/Warner Music Group). Additionally, the band included Jonathan Kellerman, a New York Times bestselling author known for his series of novels starring the fictional child psychologist Alex Delaware.

Started in high school by Bronson, a music-obsessed Los Angeles native, the Winos' band name was derived from Westfield, New York's Mogen David Wine Company, inspired by those crazy band names from the psychedelic era, such as Jefferson Airplane and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

https://theblackwatch.bandcamp.com/

https://www.bluematterrecords.com/copy-of-debbie-the-millbanks

https://www.facebook.com/theblackwatchmusic/?locale=en_GB

The Black Watch was formed in 1987 by John Andrew Fredrick in Santa Barbara, California, and he has been (and still is) it’s guiding light. They have released 25 albums over the last 38 years and show no sign of ageing. With a fantastic band behind him, John has presented us with a wonderful batch of songs ranging from mesmeric psych to indie/punk. In late 2025 John paid a brief visit to the UK to see friends and also to do a couple of live acoustic performances. 

https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/books/Lazarus-The-Second-Coming-of-David-Bowie/Alexander-Larman/9781917923446

Lazarus: The Second Coming of David Bowie is the first biography of Bowie that tells the full and candid story of what happened in between those two apparently unbridgeable points. With new and exclusive interviews with the musicians, filmmakers and cultural figures who worked with and befriended Bowie throughout this period, Lazarus is the definitive account of the previously overlooked and fascinating latter half of a great and distinguished career. A career that climaxed with his final masterpiece, Blackstar, and the unprecedented theatrical flourish of his departure from the stage as he passed into legend.

https://www.rogerfisher.com/

The band Heart started out as Army in 1967 in Seattle, Washington, formed by bassist Steve Fossen and brothers Roger and Michael Fisher. The group went by the names Army, Hocus Pocus, and White Heart before settling on just Heart in the mid-1970s. Ann Wilson joined the band in 1970 and Nancy in 1974; romances sprang up between the Fisher brothers and Wilson sisters, with Mike dating Ann and Roger dating Nancy.

Heart rose to fame following the release of their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in 1976. Follow-up albums Little Queen, Magazine, and Dog and Butterfly also sold well. Following the release of the Dog and Butterfly album, the Roger Fisher / Nancy Wilson romance came to an end. In October 1979, Fisher quit the band.

https://www.senser.co.uk/

https://senser.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-dissidence-2

In 1993, Senser released two indie singles on Ultimate – "Eject" and "The Key". The latter would appear on NME Singles of the Week 1993 album.

In March 1994, Senser released their third single, "Switch", which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 39. Senser's first album, Stacked Up, was released in May 1994, and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 4.

http://tartaruspress.com/ray/fifty-forgotten-records.html

Ray Russell was not at the crossroads when Robert Johnson met the devil, and he didn’t see Elvis Presley perform live. He wasn’t at Woodstock, or Altamont, or on the roof of the Apple Building. To his enduring frustration, he didn’t get to see The Sex Pistols in Manchester at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in June 1976, because he was only ten years old.

There will be many others who are just as passionate about music as Russell, who also failed to be in the audience at seminal moments in music history. But, like him, they own records that mean the world to them, and have seen bands play who blew them away. The point is, we all treasure our own personal musical histories because they enrich our lives. This book is a celebration of being a committed music fan.

He formed a band at seventeen and discovered he couldn’t sing. Close friends released a record which used his lyrics, but John Peel played another of their songs. He ran a record label for a month, worked in a record shop and has released a few records of his own music.

In this wide-ranging biography, Peter Ormerod explores the quest for spirituality that powered David Bowie's creativity from his earliest recordings to his death-defying final album. Bowie's genre-expanding, era-crossing genius had an extraordinary impact on popular culture but his life-long search for spiritual truth and enlightenment has been overlooked.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/david-bowie-and-the-search-for-life-death-and-god-9781399422826/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/David-Bowie-Search-Life-Death

From Bowie's first musical encounters as a choirboy, this book traces his spiritual obsessions over the years. As a young musician at the start of his career, he was enraptured by Tibetan Buddhism. It was the first step in a spiritual journey that would generate his most profound lyrics and music. From the Kabbalah-influenced tracks of Station to Station to Ziggy Stardust's messiah complex and the profound affinity between Heroes and Christian thought, Ormerod sheds new light on the spiritual traditions behind Bowie's genius. 

https://oliverjackson1.bandcamp.com/album/south-foreland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdhv-rEDOEQ&t=4s

Biography

 by Alistair Fitchett, excerpt from "Young and Foolish" (Stride Books)

Take Emily. Purveyors of sometimes ethereal genius with moments that can grow wings and fly, or grow horns and charge, depending on their mood / mode. A percussive assault that often puts me in mind of Big Star's magisterial 'You Can't Have Me' with its runaway optimistic negativity, can switch abruptly into cathedral reverberation, as Emily become immersed in their effervescing style, an iridescent arc of sparkler fiery kisses on the heavens. T

he former mood / mode often makes me think of Ollie Jackson as some sort of Soul brother to Tony France, and I see / hear Emily metamorphose their brass backed masterworks into Stockholm Monstrous swirls of breathtaking intensity. The latter mode / mood puts me in mind of some Scott Walker figure, with Emily swelling with strings and orchestral woodwind into epic proportions, again snatching my breath away, just so.     

https://thewouldbes.bandcamp.com/album/hindzeitgeist

Indie pop band from Ireland formed in 1988 by the three Finnegan brothers, evolving from their earlier band The Nobody's. Another brother James Finnegan managed the band, and footed the bill for the recording and for the first pressing of 250 copies of their debut single, released by Danceline Records.

This single was famously championed by John Peel (it reached number 12 in that year's Festive 50). 17 year old singer Julie McDonnell left the band shortly afterwards, replaced by Eileen Gogan before breaking up in 1991. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1917504489/ref=ewc_pr_img_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1

https://www.facebook.com/OfficialFuzzbox

Signed on only their second gig much of the story of the all-girl band We’ve got a …FUZZBOX… and we're gonna use it!! is what dreams are made of… but was it all Pink Sunshine? With exclusive access to original band members this authorised biography by fellow-Brummie Martin Tracey not only covers the breadth of the band’s most successful and colourful years, it also reveals a powerful insight into the pressures of a very young girl band pluckily navigating their way through a male-dominated industry in a different time. And, of course, they did it the ‘FUZZBOX’ way – armed with wit, fun and a unique unity, these four girls with unstoppable energy smashed through any barrier that dared to stand in their way! This authentic and untold story candidly reveals the rollercoaster ride of three schoolgirls and a big sister who rocketed to worldwide success and the trailblazing aspects of their whole outlook which paved a way for others to follow.

https://balaamandtheangel.co.uk/

Balaam and the Angel are a rock band founded by Mark, James (Jim), and Desmond (Des) Morris  in 1984.

Initially the band self-released a series of EPs and an album entitled Sun Family via their own Chapter 22 and played some tour dates opening for The Cult. This caught the attention of Virgin Records, who signed them and released their debut album, The Greatest Story Ever Told. They toured in the USA with Kiss and label mate Iggy Pop.

https://www.facebook.com/kbsbookstore

https://theportlandarms.co.uk/wp/product/the-loft-the-kobayashi-bookstore-29th-may-26/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73usDk7AK1w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7rwGjK38Ro

Tribe was an American alternative rock band from Boston, which was active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They released three albums including two on Slash Records. 

However, their popularity in Boston did not translate their local appeal into national fame and they disbanded in 1994.

Greg LoPiccolo later stated that "When Warner Bros didn’t pick up our option for the third album; that was kind of a momentum-killer."

Terri Barous, now Brosius, and Eric Brosius and Greg LoPiccolo later joined video game developer Looking Glass Studios and did sound/voice/music work on various games. They would later become critical members of Guitar Hero developer Harmonix.

https://koshdesign.com/

Kosh is a Multi-Grammy award winning art director and former creative director for Apple Records. In the mid-sixties, he was designer for The Royal Ballet and The Royal Opera House, where he produced a gold foil covered program for the anniversary Royal Gala attended by her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

At the age of 22, Kosh was responsible for designing the innovative entry portal to the “Young & Fantastic” avant garde art and sculpture exhibition on The Mall in London’s West End. Following his work for The Opera House, he met John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968 as they had admired his work as art director of Art & Artists magazine. They invited him to meet them one evening at Hammersmith Hospital, where Yoko was recuperating. Shortly thereafter they offered him a desk at Apple Records at 3 Saville Row. His first project was the “War Is Over (if you want it)” Christmas card, which led to the worldwide WAR IS OVER billboard campaign that continues to this day.

He designed The Beatles’ Get Back picture book with the Let It Be album package, the Abbey Road album cover, John & Yoko’s elaborate Wedding Album box set, and Hey Jude. Kosh was one of the few attendees at the Beatles’ farewell rooftop concert. While working for Apple Records, he designed Mary Hopkin’s Postcard, Billy Preston’s That’s The Way God Planned It, George Harrison’s Radha Krisna Temple and The Plastic Ono Band’s, Life With The Lions, plus singles, “Give Peace a Chance”, “Instant Karma”, “Cold Turkey” and “Power To The People.”

https://www.mark-e-brydon.com/

Brydon established himself in the Sheffield music scene, most notably with the funk band Chakk whose advance from MCA Records financed the building of FON Studios.

His biggest contribution to British art pop to date would come as a result of meeting Róisín Murphy, with whom he formed Moloko, at a party.

https://www.intellectbooks.com/an-endless-discontent

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Throbbing-Gristle-Endless-Discontent-Global

In 1976 the British band Throbbing Gristle emerged from the radical arts collective COUM Transmissions through core members Genesis P-Orridge and Cosey Fanni Tutti, joined by Hipgnosis photographer Peter Christopherson and electronics specialist Chris Carter.

Though having performed previously in more low-key arts environments, their major launch coincided with the COUM retrospective exhibition Prostitution at London’s ICA gallery, showcasing and contextualising an array of challenging objects from COUM’s various actions in performance art and pornography. In a deliberately curated strategy inviting press, civic and arts dignitaries, extravagant followers of the nascent punk scene and music journalists, the band created an instant controversy and media panic that tapped into the restrictive climate and encroaching conservatism of late 1970s Britain.

Any opportunities that were being explored by a formative punk ethos and movement around sex, censorship and transgression were amplified and exposed by Throbbing Gristle and Prostitution. An outraged Member of Parliament Nicholas Fairbairn took the bait and called the ensemble the ‘wreckers of civilisation’, providing the suitable newspaper headline that would be followed a month later by ‘the filth and the fury’ as the Sex Pistols uttered strong profanities on live television.

The Jack Rubies - Witty and slightly sinister guitar combo with furious bongos to the fore - the black cutting edge of 'Blue Velvet' and the tinsel town sex appeal of '61 Elvis. Ian Wright: lead vocals, guitar/ SD Ineson: guitar, vocals/ Steve Brockway: bass/ Lawrence Giltnane: percussion/ Max: drums.

https://www.facebook.com/claytowntroupe/?locale=en_GB

The Claytown Troupe were formed in 1984 in Bristol by lead singer Christian Riou, who claimed in an NME interview that a local clairvoyant advised him to form a band called "the Clayton Troop" who would have success internationally and spend time in America.

Between 1985 and 1987 the band were active on the Bristol live circuit supporting acts that included Fields of the Nephilim, Alien Sex Fiend and Chiefs of Relief. The line up changed in late 1987, and a new set of songs was written which became the album 'Through The Veil' After recruiting guitarist Adrian Bennett & bassist Paul Waterson they played as supporting act such as Salvation, Lightning Strikes.

https://unfinishedhistories.com/history/companies/incubus/john-abulafia-on-incubus/

https://unfinishedhistories.com/history/companies/incubus/

Incubus Theatre has its origins in a 1968 production of Kafka’s Metamorphosis that John Abulafia wrote and directed while he was at Sussex University. The part of Josef  K was created by Paddy Fletcher, then studying at Brighton Art College. John says of Paddy, ‘He was the most extraordinary, inventive performer, and a wonderful creative collaborator. I had a clear vision of the kind of theatre I wanted to create but everyone else told me that it was impossible to stage a play where a human turns into an insect. Paddy’s response was that if I didn’t give him the part he would never speak to me again. He tried any and every distortion of his body to create Josef K: he brought to life Kafka’s vision of a tormented creature paying the price for the sins of his family. This Metamorphosis was before Berkoff and before anyone used the term Physical Theatre.‘

Metamorphosis took the 1968 NUS/ Sunday Times drama festival by storm, was invited to the Oxford Playhouse, and then to a series of other London venues.

https://frootsmag.com/

https://www.ianaanderson.com/

https://ghostsfromthebasement.bandcamp.com/

Anderson first performed in his home town of Weston-super-Mare as a member of the Backwater Jook Band and came to prominence as a member of the Bristol based country blues scene of the mid to late 1960s, performing live and on record, both solo, with Al Jones and Elliott Jackson as the trio "Anderson Jones Jackson", and as a duo with Mike Cooper. 

After two EPs, he recorded his first album, Stereo Death Breakdown, as Ian Anderson’s Country Blues Band, which was released by Liberty/United Artists in 1969.

In December 1969, with John Turner, he conceived the record label The Village Thing, for which he was also a producer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vgcYBwyw28

English poet, artist and musician from Manchester, known for his eccentric stage performances and use of home-made instruments. He has had top 30 success as a songwriter with hits including "It's a Fine Day" (Opus III) - the tune of which was then used in Kylie Minogue's hit "Confide in Me" - "Halcyon" (Orbital) and "Happiness" (Pizzaman). He also wrote a trio of hits for Lost Witness - "Happiness Happening", "Red Sun Rising" and "7 Colours".

https://testdept.bandcamp.com/album/industrial-overture

Formed in London in the early 1980s, Test Dept are regarded as one of the pioneering forces of ‘industrial music’, recognised for their groundbreaking sound and powerful performances that pushed the boundaries of music, art and protest while exploring political and social issues.

Centred around the founding duo of Paul Jamrozy and Gray Cunnington since resurfacing in the mid-2010s, the group recently signed to the Artoffact label and have just issued the first in a series of carefully curated box sets that will chronicle their career. ‘Industrial Overture. Studio & Live Recordings 1982-1985’ consists of 42 tracks across 4 CDs and also available digitally. It includes a first ever reissue of the group’s 1983 cassette-only debut album ‘Strength Of Metal In Motion’, the classic ‘Ecstasy Under Duress’ and ‘Atonal & Hamburg’ albums (both unavailable for over three decades), plus a disc of hitherto unreleased studio recordings that incorporate two sessions recorded for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1.

https://www.headline.co.uk/titles/paul-morley/far-above-the-world/9781472289506/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Far-Above-World-Space-David/dp/1472289471

A landmark exploration of David Bowie as an everlasting cultural force and change maker, by acclaimed writer Paul Morley. In the ten years since the death of David Bowie in 2016 there has been no loss of interest in and fascination with his life, music and driven, complex personality. He is definitely one musician, one performer, destined not to be forgotten. The significant grief and sadness that greeted Bowie's death has evolved into a deeper, enduring love for his music, style, wit, artistic curiosity, sexual energy, flamboyant outsider spirit and insatiable, provocative appetite for life. Far Above the World documents one of the UK's greatest creative artists, through the spectacularly colourful and vibrant journey of a man who constantly reinvented himself and his music. Bowie lived in the future, using the pop song to chronicle overwhelming and dangerous times, searching for the light, and creating a communication channel between post-war 20th century times and where(ever) we are now. This anniversary book will place him in the now and next, as much as is past, and argue that his songs, and his messages, reflections and warnings become ever more relevant and compelling as time passes.

https://www.theguntonarms.co.uk/new-years-eve-2025/

Named after the sci-fi film Westworld, it was formed in 1986 by former Generation X guitarist Bob "Derwood" Andrews and American vocalist Elizabeth Westwood. The line up was completed by drummer Nick Burton. Before the recording and release of their third and final album, Burton left the band and was replaced by Gary "Gaz" Young and Tracey "T.J." O'Conner, making them a quartet.

Visually the band were styled in a way reminiscent of comic book art and musically they were a blend of classic 1950s rock and roll, glam and punk, updated with beatboxes and sequencer. They had an early success with their debut single "Sonic Boom Boy", which reached #11 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1987, and was used in Sony's advertisements. They had one more Top 40 hit, "Ba-Na-Na-Bam-Boo" which reached #37 in May the same year. They released three albums before moving to the Arizona desert in the US in 1992 to form the band Moondogg.

https://foragainst.bandcamp.com/

https://www.harrydingman.com/

https://themillionsne.bandcamp.com/

Something of an anomaly in Midwestern America, For Against—especially early in its career—has looked to a distinctly British aesthetic for inspiration, most obviously the post-punk scene exemplified by the early rosters of the Factory and 4AD record labels.

Featuring members of underground Lincoln bands Cartoon Pupils and Hymn to Joy, the band first called itself Glue, and then D.B.L., finally settling on Four Against One, a name that reflected its status as a quintet at the time. Bassist Liz Panarelli's early departure gave way to keyboardist Jeffrey Runnings' shift to bass, as well as the band's truncation of its name to For Against.

By 1985, singer Jon Fynbu had departed as well, leaving the core trio of guitarist Harry Dingman III, drummer Gregory Hill and bassist Jeffrey Runnings. The latter would become (with very few exceptions) the band's sole vocalist and lyricist.

https://www.facebook.com/UltrasoundTheBand

English indie rock band. With roots in the British underground psychedelic and experimental rock scenes of the 1980s and early 1990s, the band emerged in 1997 and soon gained attention for their "operatic prog-glam ambitions" and "violent reworking of the idiosyncratic compositions of Captain Beefheart and the staged ambisexual pop idioms of the likes of Marc Bolan and David Bowie".

Signing a high-profile deal with Nude Records at the tail-end of the Britpop era, the band released several well-received singles and were tagged as "another big, bright hope for British music" but split up acrimoniously in 1999 following the release of their debut album Everything Picture. Reuniting in early 2010, Ultrasound have gone on to tour and to release two further albums.

https://www.facebook.com/ThePolecats/?locale=en_GB

https://westhampsteadarts.com/nightery_event/the-polecats-2/

The band formed in 1977 in north London. The original line-up was Tim Worman (a.k.a. Tim Polecat, vocalist), Martin "Boz" Boorer (guitarist and vocalist), Phil Bloomberg (bassist), and Chris Hawkes (drummer) who originally played under the name "Cult Heroes". Finding difficulty persuading promoters to book them on the rockabilly circuit with a name sounding "too punk", they adopted Hawkes' suggested band name, the Polecats. Hawkes was later replaced by Neil Rooney, who was subsequently replaced by John Buck. The Polecats played rockabilly with a "punk sense of anarchy and helped revive the genre for a new generation in the early '80s."

The band were first signed by the fledgling British rockabilly record label Nervous Records, and recorded their first single "Rockabilly Guy" at guitarist Alan Warner's "Lane Studios" in 1979. Formerly with the "Foundations" band, Warner toured and recorded with the Polecats for about a year.

In 1980, the band signed to Mercury Records, and released their most successful LP, Polecats Are Go! They had UK chart success with the David Bowie cover "John, I'm Only Dancing", a reworking of "Rockabilly Guy", and another cover version of the T-Rex (Marc Bolan) song "Jeepster". In 1983, they hit the charts in the United States with their song "Make a Circuit with Me". John Buck replaced Neil Rooney in 1982 playing drums.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLE9mfb6eZU

https://dontsleepdream.bandcamp.com/album/life-is-just-a-ride

Although first formed in 1985, The Bollweevils did not come together properly as a live act until 1988. The first full line-up included Sarah Griffiths (vocals), Mark Johnson (lead guitar), Steve McKevitt (bass guitar), Dave Lloyd (rhythm guitar) and Chris Coyle (drums).

From their first gig The Bollweevils received favourable reviews. However, it was not until late in 1989 that the band signed a recording contract with the Vinyl Solution. In March 1990, their first single was released on the Decoy label, the self produced and critically well-received four track Talk To Me EP. ABC's Stephen Singleton agreed to help record the second single, but it was not finished until 1991 and neither the band nor the record company were happy with the results. The tracks were re-mixed in June with the punk/dance producer Alan Scott, but the Life's A Scream EP was never released in that form.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGqFli3c7wM

Floy Joy was an English group formed in Sheffield, England, who recorded two albums and had minor success with several singles.

Into the Hot was released by Virgin in September 1984. It was preceded in July 1984 by the single "Burn Down a Rhythm", which also failed to chart. The second single, "Until You Come Back to Me", was released in October 1984. The third and final single, "Operator", was released in January 1985 and reached No. 86.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izOdvBmTDh0

https://sonofpunk.co.uk/

https://nationrecords.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9bzv8-c_gs

British musician/rapper, grew up in Bradford. He co-wrote some songs and played drums with the rock band 'Southern Death Cult' as Haq Qureshi, but is best known as member of Islamic rap band Fun-Da-Mental. Aki also runs Nation Records.

https://thedavehowardsingers.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dave.howard.3133

The Dave Howard Singers is a cult Canadian alternative rock band/project originally formed in Toronto Canada. The project is based around the talents of singer-songwriter Dave Howard (the only consistent member) and the signature sound of his Ace Tone organ. During the second half of the 1980s, the band were resident in (and drew many members from) Britain, where they were a cult act making several appearances on nationwide television.

https://mngbookshop.co.uk/9780252088964/the-hours-are-long-but-the-pay-is-low/

https://www.robmillerwriting.com/

In this memoir/history/fever dream, Rob Miller, co-founder of Chicago’s venerable Bloodshot Records, chronicles the unlikely evolution of Bloodshot from a list scribbled on a cocktail napkin one cold winter night into an internationally renowned home for roots music, Americana, and “alt-country,” as well as his own evolution from self-described shy, dorky Detroit teenager to DIY label owner.

Working with celebrated artists such as the Old 97s, Neko Case, Robbie Fulks, Scott H. Biram, The Sadies, Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, and the late Justin Townes Earle at the beginning of their careers, established, critically-acclaimed artists like the Bottle Rockets, Detroit Cobras, Wayne “The Train” Hancock, William Elliott Whitmore, Bobby Bare Jr, and Murder By Death, as well as important musicians that had an early impact on him like Graham Parker, Alejandro Escovedo, Barrence Whitfield, Exene Cervenka, Dex Romweber, and R&B icon Andre Williams, Miller had an almost 30-year run in Chicago’s vibrant music scene, from the 1990s into the early 2020s. Through it all, the label remained fiercely independent, resisting efforts to pigeonhole their sound or succumb to the music industry’s hit machine mentality.

 Written with wry self-deprecation, the book is a unique look at the vibrant Chicago music scene and a little label that could.  It is a musical coming of age story that treads the line between memoir and history, and is full of anecdotes, cautionary tales, and a from-the-trenches perspective on the workings of underground music.  In great detail, the author hits the highs, the lows, the harsh realities, and the acts of creative enthusiasm that defied common business practices.  And, at its heart it is a celebration of indie communities, and an appeal to appreciate and strengthen them.

https://jenniferfinch.com/

https://jenniferfinch.bandcamp.com/album/diamonds-in-the-belly-of-the-dog

https://substack.com/@jenniferfinch

https://theshockerofficial.bandcamp.com/album/up-your-ass-tray-extended

American musician, designer, and photographer most notable for being the primary bass player of the punk rock band L7. Active in L7 from 1986 to 1996, Finch also wrote music and performed with her bands OtherStarPeople and The Shocker in the interim before joining the reunited L7 in 2014.

Leigh Goorney in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://gnuinc.bandcamp.com/album/moribundiing

https://www.facebook.com/leigh.goorney

The new album by The Long Decline finds Leigh Goorney (formerly Kenny Wisdom) and his ever-shifting collaborators pulling together strands of history, politics, and autobiography into a startlingly unified whole. Produced by Cos Chapman (Rude Mechanicals), the record is perhaps the band’s most accomplished to date. Includes unlimited streaming of Moribundiing via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

https://penwithbeyond.blog/about/

https://www.palden.co.uk/podcasts.html

I was born in Hartfield in the Ashdown Forest in Sussex in 1950, in a nursing home which not long before had been the American Generals’ HQ in Britain in WW2. A fine start. I grew up in 1950s Cardiff, Wales, and in 1960s Liverpool, and here my spiritual path began at age 16, tripping out on acid and beginning to see things in an entirely dfferent way. Went to university at the London School of Economics in 1969 during its time of revolution. I never looked back.

This was the big change-point in my life, which set the course for all the rest of it. In today’s terminology I was radicalised, thereafter dedicating my life to world change, and personal change with it, though very much tied up with it.

Later I lived in the mountains of Snowdonia, Wales, then I had to leave the country in 1974, regarded by the authorities and media as a traitor and even a murderer, to live in Sweden until 1980. I’m really grateful for the safety and healing Sweden gave me. I married a Swedish lady, Berit, and we had two kids and many adventures, partly in Stockholm and partly in the forest in northern Uppland.

There, as an English teacher of political refugees, inadvertently I started my later humanitarian work, in which I came to specialise in trauma recovery, social reconstruction and freelance intelligence work in conflict zones.

During that time, after seven years’ study, I became an astrologer. Since then I have counselled a few thousand people, writing three astrology books and founding the astrology camps in the 1980s.

But I didn’t easily fit into Sweden and, when I found out I was exonerated of my former alleged crimes, I returned to Britain. This involved a painful end to my marriage and the loss of two children. I landed in Glastonbury and I cried my eyes out with grief for two years in men’s groups and therapy groups. This was a big change too, opening me up for something.

Then came my instructions and I came alive again. In 1983-84 I started the UK camps movement – first with indoor gatherings in Glastonbury, then with summer camps, at first near Glastonbury, and later round the country.

The Glastonbury Camps, spontaneously started and lasting three years, were followed from 1987 by the OakDragon Camps, from both of which many other camps organisations sprouted, in several countries.  

By 1990 I was burned out, and there were quite a few people in the OakDragon who wanted to take things a different way. So, sad about that, I left and started again. I  went into book editing with an enlightened publisher called Gateway Books. In 1992 when I was asked to write The Only Planet of Choice – a book of communications from some cosmic beings called the Council of Nine. It was a privilege to write. I was also involved with editing a series of books by and about the Austrian genius Viktor Schauberger, and five books of alternative ideas about Jesus, and lots of other books too, through the 1990s.

https://brinsleyschwarz.bandcamp.com/album/shouting-at-the-moon

https://brinsleyschwarz.bandcamp.com/album/tangled

https://unexpectedcd.bandcamp.com/album/unexpected

Legendary British musician and songwriter Brinsley Schwarz returns with a new solo album this Autumn.Shouting At The Moon represents the third part of a trilogy begun with his debut solo release Unexpected in 2016 followed by Tangled, his first album for Fretsore Records in 2021.Founder of the 70spub-rock icons (if icons is not too strong a word!) of the same name, and subsequently Graham Parker and The Rumour, Brinsley’s passion for writing and recording reignited in recent years following two albums and tours with that band, as well as duo shows with Parker, resulting in Unexpected.

The gestation period for the songs on Shouting At The Moon goes back even further.“I wrote ‘The Chance’, ‘Nothing Is What It Seems’ and ‘What In The World’ sometime between the late 1990s and early 2005,”he explains. “‘Hard To Change’ and ‘It’s Been A Long Year’ were written during 2024 and 2025 and recorded during that time.

So you can see a big spread in time of writing and recording;some songs were recorded and were intended for my first solo album. But we had a surplus of recorded tracks and so we could pick tracks based on how the songs seemed to gel together as an entity, as an album.”As with Tangled, Brinsley pays tribute to his friend with a well-chosen cover: “Graham Parker wrote ‘Watch The Moon Come Down’ in the late1970s. One of my favourite GP songs.I loved rearranging and recording it.”

Key to this revived activity has been producer, engineer and keyboard-player James Hallawell another Parker collaborator, also noted for his work with the likes of The Waterboys and Jackie Leven. “He helped me record my first album Unexpected,”says Brinsley. “We just carried on recording.”

https://rousers.bandcamp.com/album/1979-sire-session

Inspired by the New York Dolls, Ramones and such immortal ‘50s rockers as twangy guitar hero Duane Eddy, the Rousers were woefully under-documented in their prime. A few major labels sniffed around, including RCA and Warner Bros. subdi­vision Sire. But no one committed them to vinyl until Reynolds issued their “Party Boy” b/w “Don’t Let The Band Stop Playing” 45 (produced by Wayne Kramer of the MC5) via Jimboco in 1981. 

Reynolds corrects this oversight today with the release of the demos that the original Rousers lineup—vocalist Jeff Buck­land, rhythm guitarist Bill Dickson, bassist John Hannah, lead guitarist Tom Milmore, and drummer Jerid O'Connell—cut for Sire in the label’s basement studio on New York’s Upper West Side in 1979. 

Tracked to tape under the sharp ear of Ed Stasium, hot off sessions with the Ramones and Talking Heads, the 1979 Sire demos are raw, radiant, and long overdue for release. They captured the Rousers in full dragstrip ignition mode: dueling Gibson guitars plugged into Fender amps for maximum punk twang, hiccupping Elvis/Buddy Holly vocal inflections, and a rhythm section built for backseat makeouts and beer-splashed dance floors. 

With nods to Duane Eddy (“Ram Rod,” “Movin’ N Groovin’”), the sweat-soaked charm of originals like “Be My Girl” and “Product of the USA,” and a rip-it-up cover of Wilson Pickett’s “If You Need Me,” Rousers 1979 Sire Session is the missing chapter of NYC punk’s golden age, finally pressed to wax. 

Never before released, the tapes sat shelved in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s Sire archives for decades, digitized and re­stored in 2024. Mixing duties were split between Bob Stander (Parchessi Studio) and Ed Stasium himself, ensuring pe­riod-authentic crunch meets modern punch.

The result is 13 tracks of grease-slicked melody and garage-pop swing, crowned by the kinetic rave-up “Bumblebee Rock” and the shoulda-been-hits “Lonely Summer” and “Be My Girl”—a song that splits the difference between Tommy James stomp and Marshall Crenshaw shimmer.

https://thelovelybasement.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/TheLovelyBasement/

The Lovely Basement are Katie Scaife, Kevin Bache, Steve Dew and Paul Waterworth. The band are based in Bristol, UK. The idea back in 2018 was to combine the feel of the Velvet Underground with a hint of the twang of early country music. In the words of the band “we failed, but liked the sound of the failure. Slow, driving and dreamy by turns, we anchor our songs in the tried-and-true combo of two guitars, bass, drums and fine harmonies to float our passing thoughts on class, death, the pull of ennui, the push of irritation, existential OCD and taking it easy.” First two albums (Just Because You Can and the eponymously-titled second album) were released on Breaking Down Recordings, a Bristol collective label. Albums that have received very good reviews in magazines and independent radio stations in Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand. Lazy Travellers is another wonderful album by The Lovely Basement. Ten new songs with echoes of The Velvet Underground, The Clientele, Luna or Cowboy Junkies.

The Fabulous Poodles started out just as The Poodles. The original Fabulous Poodles consisted of Tony de Meur on lead vocals and guitar, Richie Robertson on bass and vocals, Bobby Valentino on violin, mandolin and vocals, Bryn Burrows on drums and Bob Suffolk on piano.

http://counterculture.net/thefish/

Co-founder and original lead guitarist of Country Joe and the Fish and Dinosaurs. He appears on all the Country Joe and the Fish recordings and he also wrote some of the songs that the band recorded. He appeared in the films made at Monterey Pop and Woodstock, and also appeared as an outlaw in the neo-Western film Zachariah and other films in which Country Joe and the Fish appear. An attorney and member of the State Bar of California, Melton has maintained a criminal defense practice since 1982.

https://www.anneclarkofficial.com/

https://anneclarkofficial.bandcamp.com/

English poet, singer and songwriter. Her first album, The Sitting Room, was released in 1982, and she has released over a dozen albums since then.

Her poetry work with experimental musicians occupies a region bounded roughly by electronic, dance (techno applies on occasion) and possibly avant-garde genres, with varying hard as well as romantic and orchestral styles.

Clark is mainly a spoken word artist. Many of her lyrics deal critically with the imperfections of humanity, everyday life, and politics. Especially in her early works she created a gloomy, melancholy atmosphere bordering on weltschmerz. She has been considered one of the pioneers in the spoken-word music genre, as well as being acclaimed for her synth-pop and new wave music, especially across Europe.

https://www.ghost-dance.com/

https://ghost-dance.bandcamp.com/music

Ghost Dance is a British gothic rock band formed in 1985 by Gary Marx (ex-Sisters of Mercy guitarist) and Anne-Marie Hurst (ex-Skeletal Family vocalist) as both were leaving their respective bands. The band were originally signed to Nick Jones' record label, Karbon Records, then were later signed to the major label Chrysalis Records, before splitting up in 1989.

In 2019 the band reformed, with Hurst being joined by new members Tim Walker (guitar), Stephen Derrig (guitar), Phil Noble (bass), and Dave Wood (drums). They began work on new material. Reunion shows followed in the UK and the band signed to Voltage Records for a new album release in 2023

http://thomasleer.co.uk/

Leer played in several local experimental pop groups in the early to mid-1970s, moving to London when the punk rock scene was at its height. He formed the punk band Pressure, but by 1978 had moved on to music influenced by synthpop and Krautrock bands such as Can. That year, he self-financed his debut single, "Private Plane". Although it was recorded in his own flat and was only issued in 650 copies on his own label, it gained significant attention, with NME naming it "Single of the Week". In 1979, he released the album The Bridge in collaboration with Robert Rental. In 1981, he signed to Cherry Red, his first release for the label being the 4 Movements EP. After two further releases on the label, he was signed by Arista Records, releasing three further singles and his debut full-length solo album, The Scale of Ten in late 1985.

https://rustyeganpresents1.bandcamp.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rusty-Egan-Autobiography/dp/0857162934

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZAM6TFMvAc

https://www.mixcloud.com/rustyegan/

Egan was the drummer of British new wave band Rich Kids, from its inception in March 1977, until its disbandment in December 1978, along with former Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock (bass and vocals), Steve New (guitar and vocals), and Midge Ure (guitar, vocals, and keyboards).

Egan continued working with Ure, and later collaborated with The Misfits, Skids and Shock, and well as being a founding member of Visage. He played drums on a remixed version of Phil Lynott's song "Yellow Pearl", which the BBC used as the Top of the Pops theme tune from 1981 to 1986.

https://www.youtube.com/c/berniarmstrong

https://thesaturdaybluesproject.bandcamp.com/

In 1977, White enrolled at Boston University to study journalism. While in school, he worked in a record shop in Brookline, Massachusetts, named Good Vibrations, where his singing was heard by musician Peter Greenberg of the Lyres. White adopted the stage name Barrence Whitfield to avoid being mistaken for superstar Barry White and began performing with Greenberg and former members of the Lyres as Barrence Whitfield & the Savages

STARR AND THE CZARS, hailing from Washington, DC, bring together an all-star line-up of garage-rock veterans into one explosive new band. Fronted by JAKE STARR (Adam West, Jake Starr & The Delicious Fullness, Go Mod Go!, Goy Division…), the group also features PETER GREENBERG and MICHAEL LEWIS, two legends from Boston’s trailblazing DMZ. After their time in DMZ, Greenberg and Lewis both carried the torch in Lyres, cementing their reputation as key figures of the late ’70s and early ’80s garage revival. Greenberg later went on to co-found The Customs and Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, while Lewis added his bass guitar work to bands such as The A-Bones, Yo La Tengo and The Schramms. Starr, meanwhile, became a fixture of Washington D.C.’s garage scene.

http://chrispaynemusic.com/

Known as a member of Gary Numan's backing band, Tubeway Army and for being the co-writer of Visage's 1981 synthpop hit single "Fade to Grey". Payne plays keyboards and viola and also a number of medieval instruments. He formed the band Dramatis with other members of Numan's backing-band in the early 1980s. Payne has composed music for television and films and formed the band Celtic Legend. He has composed, scored, recorded and conducted his orchestral and choral works in London and Prague.

As a keyboard player and vocalist, Marina was the co-founder of Vivabeat, a Los Angeles-based techno-pop band started in 1978 and active into the mid-1980s. It is best known for being discovered by and signed to its first record deal at the request of Peter Gabriel. It became the first American band on Tony Stratton Smith's British label, Charisma Records.

The band released one album for Charisma Records, Party in the War Zone, which included one of the band's most successful songs, "Man from China." The song became a Top 20 charted dance club hit in the United States, Europe, and Asia. "Man from China" also appears on the Charisma Label/Various Masterpieces album – The Sounds Album Volume 6, released in 1980. 

The video of their follow-up dance club hit, "The House is Burning (but there's no one home)," was featured in the Brian De Palma movie Body Double and won an MTV award.

Since then, Vivabeat has had five albums of remastered, recently discovered, and reissued music come to light. Their most recent releases are on Liberation Hall music, after previous volumes with Rubellan Remasters and Permanent Press Records.

Before Vivabeat, Marina was a founding member and keyboard player in Backstage Pass, one of the earliest Los Angeles punk bands, which played a pivotal role in establishing the Masque, the city's most legendary punk club.

After a decade of playing in bands, Marina transitioned into the film industry, where she served as a producer on films such as "The War of the Roses" and "Throw Momma From the Train," as well as several Showtime features.

Currently, she is a writer living in Los Angeles and hosts a rock and roll storytelling show called "Our Lips Unsealed."

https://www.larrystabbins.com/

Played in the cult pop group Weekend and started writing with its guitarist Simon Booth. This later evolved into Working Week, a band that took a mix of Latin, soul, jazz and funk into the pop charts. From the Latin Jazz Dance scene in London clubs, the band mixed jazz with Latin dance rhythms and vocals by singers such as Juliet Roberts, Julie Tippetts, Robert Wyatt and Tracy Thorn.

The band toured extensively in Europe and Japan, performing at most of Europe's major Jazz Festivals and recording five albums for Virgin Records. Following the breakup of Working Week he formed 'QRZ?' a fusion of jazz and rap which also recorded for Virgin Records and for the German label Loud Minority.

https://www.zainegriff.com/#home

In 1979 Griff started his solo career. He released two albums, Ashes and Diamonds (recorded in 1979, released in 1980), produced by Tony Visconti, and Figvres (1982), on which he collaborated with future successful film composer Hans Zimmer, and many colleagues from the new wave and new romantic era including Kate Bush, Warren Cann of Ultravox and Yukihiro Takahashi, of Japanese electronic band YMO.

The single "Tonight" peaked at No. 54 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1980, whilst "Ashes and Diamonds" reached No. 68 in the same listing in June that year.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teenage-Daydream-Girls-Play-Band/dp/1917923090

Debsey Wykes was the bass playing singer in the first all girl punk group Dolly Mixture. Thrown into the musky, misogynistic, male dominated world of the UK music industry in the late 1970s, they enjoyed unlikely #1 success alongside Captain Sensible of The Damned on1982’s even unlikelier cover version of ‘Happy Talk’, whilst fame and success on their own individual terms alluded them.

Debsey went onto greater prominence with Saint Etienne with who she has performed since 1992, whilst in 2025, desirable Dolly Mixture reissues sell out around the world as quickly as they are printed.

Featuring a cast of contemporary post-punk heroes – rom Paul Weller and the Jam (their first record label boss) to Madness and the Pogues – Teenage Daydream is a unique coming of age story of youthful ambition, enterprising DIY musical ethics and how an unlikely bunch of school-girl friends ended up on Top of the Pops in home made hula skirts.

https://landlinerecords.com

https://www.facebook.com/MickoMellotronic/

The Mellotronics formed in 2017 with the intention of turning Micko Westmoreland’s songwriting skills into a dynamic live prospect. Expanding from their initial three piece to the current four strong line up, the band sees Micko’s rabble rousing vocals and spiky, agitational guitar work augmented perfectly by the crack squad of drummer Nick Mackay of hotly tipped rock duo Barricades, Owls of Now’s Vicky Carroll providing immovable bassline solidity and the intricate, effects-soaked fretwork of Jon Klein (Siouxsie & The Banshees, Specimen). Since then they’ve been busy cutting their teeth with a series of shows around the capital and beyond, making return visits to the 100 Club in Oxford Street and earning multiple requests for support slots from acts as established as Evan Dando (Lemonheads), David Devant & His Spirit Wife, Blue Orchids, Sheep on Drugs, The Television Personalities and The Monochrome Set.

Bringing a new dimension of sharp and economic post-punk/new wave attitude to the diverse Westmoreland songbook, they’ve been already been favourably compared to The Jam, Pil and Wire as well as the mean, lean but undeniably powerful sound of young bucks like Idles or Shame.

https://ddski.com/

Double Dee and Steinski is a duo of hip hop producers, composed of Doug "Double Dee" DiFranco and Steven "Steinski" Stein. They achieved notoriety in the early 1980s for a series of underground hip-hop sample-based collages known as the "Lessons".

Their contest entry, "Lesson 1 – The Payoff Mix", was packed with sampled appropriations from other records—not only from early hip-hop records and from Funk and Disco records that were popular with hip-hop DJs, but with short snippets of older songs by Little Richard and The Supremes, along with vocal samples from sources as diverse as instructional tap-dancing records and Humphrey Bogart films.

The record was pieced together in DiFranco's studio in 12–14 hours over two days and was critically praised

https://westhampsteadarts.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ThePolecats/?locale=en_GB

English guitarist and producer. He founded the new wave rockabilly group the Polecats, and starting in 1991 had a 30-year collaboration with singer Morrissey as co-writer, guitarist and musical director.

https://hatedept.bandcamp.com/

Seibold is a multi-instrumentalist who writes, records and releases Hate Dept. albums with minimal outside help. He formed Hate Dept. in 1991 in reaction to fickle 'electro' audiences and antipathy towards live electronic bands, taking his sound in a more punk direction.

https://derplan.bandcamp.com/album/save-your-software

https://chakchak.de/

https://gerireig.blogspot.com/

Der Plan was founded in 1979 by Frank Fenstermacher, Moritz R, Robert Görl & Chrislo Haas. Görl and Haas left after the first release, and were replaced by Kurt Dahlke. This trio remained constant until the group disbanded in 1993. In 2004, Moritz R reformed the band with new members Achim Treu & J.J. Jones, but due to disagreements with old band members with the slightly changed bandname: Der Plan V. 4.0 For the 50th birthday parties of Andreas Dorau in Hamburg and Berlin in January 2014 Der Plan was reformed again for two short sets by Frank Fenstermacher, Moritz R and Kurt Dahlke. In May 2017 a new single "Lass die Katze stehn" had been released and in June the album "Unkapitulierbar" came to light.

https://hozacrecords.com/product/pre-order-all-roads-lead-to-punk-book-7-record-set-by-genny-schorr/

https://gennyschorr.com/

As a founding member of one of Los Angeles’ earliest female-led bands, BACKSTAGE PASS, Genevieve Schorr lived and breathed rock’n roll growing up like a lot of teenagers at the time. What set her apart was forging her unique band so early in the punk timeline (a direct shot from her glam & pub rock influences) and eventually evolving her life into becoming a professional rock’n roll stylist to the stars.

Genny’s book reads like a lost diary trapped in a punk house time capsule from the era, complete with tales of dereliction and unsuspecting victories along the way. Crossing paths with such wildly diverse characters such as The Screamers, The Mumps, Dr. Feelgood, The Damned, The Quick, Jon Stewart, Jim Carrey, The Bangles, and Linda Ronstadt, All Roads Lead To Punk is an invigorating flash through a wild life not to be forgotten. This book comes also with a limited edition BACKSTAGE PASS 7″ single

https://emmapollock.com/

https://emmapollock.bandcamp.com/

A founding member of Glasgow band The Delgados, Emma Pollock has been a solo artist since 2006, releasing 4 solo albums on 4AD and Chemikal Underground. Her new album Begging The Night To Take Hold is out now.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Turn-Head-Into-Sound-Valentine/dp/1916829147

Turn My Head Into Sound: A history of Kevin Shields and My Bloody Valentine tells the story of one of the great sonic innovators of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. My Bloody Valentine have released only three albums in their forty-year career, but each of them has made a seismic impact. Isn’t Anything (1988) is often cited as one of the Ur-texts of shoegaze and dream rock; Loveless (1991) is an undisputed masterpiece heralded by many as the best album of the 1990s; m b v (2013) is one of the best-loved comeback albums in recent memory.

For those who know Kevin Shields and his work already, he is an indie-rock icon, but by other measures he’s still a relatively obscure figure in the musical mainstream, and to date there has been no full-length appraisal of his work or his band’s career. Until now. Shields is truly a one-of-a-kind musician, and this book—which fills in the gaps, corrects errors, and takes an objective look at the band’s entire career, warts and all—paints the full picture of one of the most revolutionary sonic artists of our time.

Turn My Head Into Sound is based on numerous interviews with people who were there (some of them speaking on the record for the first time) as well as an exhaustive archive of band-related material that the author has been assembling since 1990. Longtime fans of the band will find plenty of new information here, including the full story of the tumultuous period at Island Records following the release of Loveless. The lost years that followed would see Shields employed as engineer, producer, and remixer while also becoming an auxiliary member of Primal Scream. This book’s analysis of this diverse but lesser-known work offers reader a much fuller picture of the relentless creativity and perfectionism at the center of his process.

https://www.steveboltz.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/920848814634353/

In 1971 he was recruited into the band Atomic Rooster, part of a new line-up for a tour supporting the band's third album In Hearing of Atomic Rooster and their No. 4 charting single "The Devil's Answer". The band was also recording their fourth LP Made in England which was released in 1972 with a more funky sound replacing their original progressive rock leanings. Bolton also appeared on Devil's Answer: Live on the BBC released in 1998, and on the release of In Satan's Name: The Definitive Collection.

https://www.facebook.com/BarrenceWhitfieldSavages

White adopted the stage name Barrence Whitfield to avoid being mistaken for superstar Barry White and began performing as Barrence Whitfield & the Savages.

The band garnered a strong reputation for explosive stage performances, described as "raucous and rough, in high gear from the moment they hit the stage." Whitfield himself was described as "a soul screamer in the spirit of Little Richard, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, and early Don Covay." In 1984, the band released their self-titled debut album, mostly comprising cover versions of obscure soul and R&B songs. It received good critical reviews. The following year, they released a second album, Dig Yourself, on Rounder Records. Their music was heard by English radio DJ Andy Kershaw, who taped a Boston performance for airplay in Britain, and brought them to the UK for a tour.

THE SHEER ACTION OF FINI TRIBE is the first retrospective of the band, curated and designed by the band. It includes a wealth of archival photographs, an essay by original member ANDY MCGREGOR, who also designed the sleeve, and essays by longtime friend SHIRLEY MANSON and author ALASTAIR MCKAY, an early champion of the band.

The release features the first legendary JOHN PEEL SESSION produced by DALE GRIFFIN and originally broadcast in May 1985.

FINI TRIBE was born into the cash-poor but culturally-wealthy environs of post-punk Edinburgh in the very early 80s – 1980 to be almost precise. A tiny three piece with no drummer would soon swell into a muscular six piece with inherited or cheaply-purchased instruments. Band members CHRIS CONNELLY, SIMON MCGLYNN, ANDY MCGREGOR, DAVIE MILLER, PHILIP PINSKY, and JOHN VICK haunted the cold, damp warrens of the Niddry Street and Blair Street rehearsal rooms, just off the high street in Old Town Edinburgh.

https://store.whiterabbitbooks.co.uk/products/shouting-out-loud

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shouting-Out-Loud-Lives-Raincoats/dp/1399624865

Art students Gina Birch and Ana da Silva formed The Raincoats in 1977. Since the release of their seminal early records, the 'godmothers of grunge' have been revered by punk, queer, feminist and indie pop artists alike. The Raincoats reimagined the nature of experimental music and DIY design and went on to inspire Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and an entire generation of Riot Grrrl and queercore musicians. Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats tells their astonishing story in three extraordinary lives. In The Raincoats' first life, they recorded three full-length albums now regarded as classics and were the first punk band to play behind the Iron Curtain in Warsaw. Nearly a decade later in 1992, the band's second life took off when Kurt Cobain's love of the band catalysed their renaissance.

https://linktr.ee/steveavolindsey

A nervous suitor, a guitarist at the end of his Strat and his tether, wistful ex-partners on a work trip to Wales. Art school Futurists and singalongs in Cooper’s Bar, Denmark Street and suburbia’s (two) ups and downs – and earbudded Londoners on the Tube, sailing away on their own private playlists. “In my head,” confides STEVE ‘AVO’ LINDSEY, making his solo long-playing debut just five decades into his music career, “this sounds like a Nick Lowe album.”

But given that PING is the work of the Wirral-born bassist of DEAF SCHOOL and frontman of new wave chart act THE PLANETS who would later become a music exec known for his ears and acumen, it’s hardly surprising that these twelve tracks offer more than just fond footnotes to Lowe.

Factor in Lindsey’s love of Donald Fagen and Jimmy Webb, Arctic Monkeys and Tom Waits, Todd Rundgren and Nashville-style storytelling, and his lo-fi, groove-driven takes on Motown, and you’ll have an idea of what to expect from this joyful, playful, gorgeously varied sheaf of love letters to music and Merseyside, sweaters and Swordfishtrombones.

Listen to tracks like the finger-clicking soul of ‘Beautiful 45’ and the bottoms-up vaudeville of ‘Cheers My Dears’, the rockaway baroque pop of ‘Royal Iris’ and the sultry Latinisms of ‘To Know You Better’, and you’ll also hear warm and winning musical contributions from family and friends: Lindsey’s daughter Uainín Lindsey on backing vocals; the late Tony ‘Wims’ Wimshurst, ex-Planets and Nasty Pop, on lead guitar; and drummer Josh McCartney, the nephew of a local lad named Paul.

But first, some back story. When Deaf School invented itself in 1974 at Liverpool College of Art, Lindsey, one of two Steves in the band, modestly opted for the moniker Mr Average. Deaf School would become (nearly) famous for its extravagant Sparks-via-Kurt Weill pop and its distinctly un-average cast of sirens, showmen, keyboard philosophers and future superstar producers.

A multi-instrumentalist, he is best known for his work as guitarist for Cardiacs and as bass player for the Wildhearts and Lifesigns.

Poole is the frontman and main performer of God Damn Whores, co-fronts the Dowling Poole with Willie Dowling, and has released two solo albums. He has also been a member of Ad Nauseam and Dr Brighton, and worked with the bands Ablemesh, La Momo, Crayola Lectern, Two Worlds Collide and Celebricide (as well as various projects founded by Ginger Wildheart),

https://peterbruntnell.co.uk/

In the early 1990s, Bruntnell returned to the UK and formed the band Milkwood, although he soon reverted to solo work and recordings with Matt Backer and Felix Harper as the Peter Bruntnell Combination. He was signed by Almo Sounds, who issued his debut album, Cannibal, in 1995. He recorded a second album for Almo, Camelot in Smithereens (1997), before moving to the Slow River label for his 1999 album Normal for Bridgwater.

www.facebook.com/laptoptheband

http://laptoptheband.bandcamp.com

www.laptoptheband.com

Laptop is the pioneering electro-pop project from Jesse Hartman — the sharp-witted New York songwriter who first made waves as a teenage guitarist/keyboardist on Richard Hell’s 1990 legendary tour of Japan, then again in the ’90s as the front man of indie rock duo Sammy (with guitarist Luke Wood, Geffen/Fire Records).

After Sammy’s brief but buzzy run (two albums: Debut Album on Sonic Youth’s Smells Like Records/Fire Records in the UK and Tales of Great Neck Glory on Geffen/Fire), Hartman shifted gears, re-emerging in 1997 under the name Laptop with a sound that was years ahead of its time: sarcastic synth-funk, deadpan vocals, and emotionally raw themes filtered through cold drum machines and warm analog nostalgia.

https://www.facebook.com/needlemythology

Brian formed in 1989 comprising Ken Sweeney (ex Instant Party) and Niall Austin. Often said to be named in honour of suave Blades' bassist Brian Foley.

They released a single on their own label and then relocated to London where a second single was recorded. Response to both singles was good and the band was signed to London Irish label Setanta Records. Niall Austin decided to leave around this time and Brian became essentially a solo vehicle for Ken Sweeney.

Keith Cullen liked the demos for the debut LP so much Setanta released them unadorned as "Understand" in 1992. A follow up EP "Planes" came out the same year but there was then a lengthy silence, during which Ken Sweeney returned to Ireland, in 1995. The second album "Bring Trouble" finally emerged in 1999, recorded by a four man lineup of Ken Sweeney (guitars), Marcus Holdaway (keyboards), Mitsuo Tate (bass) and Vinnie Lammi (drums). Response to this more upbeat version of Brian was less immediate and Brian haven't recorded since. 

https://www.annabellalwin.com/

Bow Wow Wow signed a recording contract with EMI Records in July 1980, and released their first single, "C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!", shortly afterwards. Originally only released on cassette, it was the world's first-ever cassette single. EMI did not promote the cassingle due to lyrics ("Off the radio I get constant flow/Hit it, pause it, record and play/Turn it, rewind and rub it away") that promoted home taping during an era when music piracy was a hot button issue and the use of cassette recorders to record music from the radio was still a controversial practice.

https://www.richiestotts.com/

New York City born musician who began writing and performing in a fledgling 1970s NYC band named “The Numbers”. Richie’s songwriting skills and lead guitar playing experience ultimately lead to him becoming one of the founding members of the groundbreaking and inimitable punk/metal group, Plasmatics.

In 1978, Richie was among the earliest musicians to sport a Mohawk, taking inspiration from the Travis Bickle character in the movie Taxi Driver. 

https://sanandamaitreya.com/

https://www.youtube.com/SanandaMaitreya

Artist, composer, arranger, producer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur and Post Millennium Rocker, SANANDA MAITREYA was born in New York U.S.A. on March 15th 1962.

n 1987 his debut album “Introducing the Hardline”, gives him International success. Sananda wins a Grammy Award in 1988 as Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male.In June 1988 he is on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine and he is nominated “Top International Newcomer” at the British Awards. In the following years 3 studio albums are published: “Neither Fish Nor Flesh” in 1989, “Symphony or Damn” in 1993 and “Vibrator” in 1995.The albums have many famous songs including the soundtracks of various legendary Hollywood movies such as: ‘Beverly Hills Cop III’, ‘Prêt-à-Porter’, ‘The Promised Land’, ‘The Fan’, ‘Shake Rattle & Roll’, ‘Frankie & Johnny’. 

https://iknowhowtolive.substack.com/p/welcome-to-i-know-how-to-live-the

https://www.roughtrade.com/product/dorothy-max-prior/sex-is-no-emergency-adventures-in-a-post-punk-wonderland

Further adventures in psychedelic rock, ballroom dancing, performance art, and parenting in 1980s Britain. Further adventures in a post-punk wonderland from the author of the acclaimed 69 Exhibition Road.

In this new volume, focusing on the 1980s, Dorothy Max Prior recalls her days as a ballroom dancing tutor in South Kensington, drumming and touring with infamous experimental pan-sexual psychedelic rock group Psychic TV, exploring London and New York City's queer clubbing undergrounds, the tangled worlds of the UK’s indie music scene at the height of its influence, performance art, and parenting.

https://www.tedzurkowski.com/

https://www.honeywestmusic.com/ted-zurkowski.php

An acclaimed member of New York's acting community, Ted Zurkowski is a Lifetime Member of the Actors Studio. He's also been playing in bands and composing songs since his tender, pre-shaving years.

In 1994, he and fellow Studio member Lynnea Benson founded the venerable Frog & Peach Theatre Company, one of New York's most popular Shakespeare ensembles. A man of many talents, Ted sometimes found himself serving as Frog & Peach's Lead Actor; sometimes as Director, often as a Producer, and frequently, as a Composer.

With a burgeoning musical career, and a great many fish to fry, Ted bid farewell to theatre to return to his first love: playing music and writing songs full time. In 2017, he joined with British rock and roll legend Ian McDonald (King Crimson, Foreigner) to form the band Honey West, releasing their debut album, "Bad Old World".

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1001217991862133/user/61555741167271/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1001217991862133

Irish singer, who is best known for replacing Ian McCulloch as the lead singer with Echo & the Bunnymen from 1989 to 1993.

Burke's first band was St. Vitus Dance, who released the album Love Me, Love My Dogma in 1987. The band split and Burke was contacted by Will Sergeant, who invited him to join Echo & the Bunnymen as lead vocalist. The band released Reverberation (1990) 

In 2005, Burke reformed St. Vitus Dance for some live shows. An album of new material, Glyphotheque, was released in 2008.

https://landscape.band/

https://landscapeband.bandcamp.com/

English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, composer, author, manager, marketer and inventor.

Burgess's music career spans more than 50 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and co-lead singer of the synthpop band Landscape, which released a top-5 hit in 1981 with the single "Einstein a Go-Go". Burgess is one of the main composers of Landscape's music, and made major musical and lyrical contributions to the band's songs. After the band's break-up he pursued a brief solo career releasing one mini-album, Richard James Burgess in 1984.

He launched his career as a producer with Spandau Ballet's debut UK hit "To Cut a Long Story Short", the first commercial success for the hitherto underground New Romantic movement.

Burgess currently serves as the President and CEO of A2IM: American Association of Independent Music.

Chris D. (born Chris Desjardins) is an American punk poet, singer, writer, rock critic, producer, and filmmaker. He is best known as the lead singer and founder of the early and long-running Los Angeles punk/death rock band the Flesh Eaters.

The Flesh Eaters were a staple of the L.A. punk scene in the 1980s.[7] The band played alongside seminal bands like The Misfits and The Meat Puppets.[3] A number of original Flesh Eaters releases, like River of Fever, were recorded through Shakeytown Music/BMI.[4] Others were produced by Upsetter, Invasion/Bomp, Zippo/Demon or SST.

From 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2000, Desjardins performed live with varying line-ups of The Flesh Eaters. During the first of these periods, three more albums came out on SST Records: Dragstrip Riot (1991), Sex Diary of Mr. Vampire (1992), and Crucified Lovers in Woman Hell (EP - 1993).Two additional albums, Ashes of Time (1999) and Miss Muerte (2004), were released.

https://reinholdheil.com/

German musician, producer, and film and television composer. He initially achieved success in Germany as a member of the post-punk and Neue Deutsche Welle groups Nina Hagen Band, Spliff and Nena, and later as a music producer.

As a film composer, he is known for his collaborations with director Tom Tykwer, on films such as Run Lola Run (1998), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), The International (2009), and Cloud Atlas (2012). 

https://punk77.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/punk77UK/?locale=en_GB

A history of UK Punk Rock from 1976-79: Featuring bands, fashion, Club & Pubs, history, fanzines & features 

https://www.robjanicke.com/

HAVE I GOT A LITTLE STORY FOR YOU...

The year was 1984. I was eleven years old and popular music was in a state of confusion. Along with songs by artists I liked such as Van Halen, Prince, Quiet Riot, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, and The Police, Top 40 radio constantly played songs from bands or artists that didn't quite do it for me. Apologies to Kenny Loggins, Phil Collins, Bananarama, Wang Chung, and Ray Parker Jr.

Due to the divorce of my parents and telling my mom that I was so unhappy that I no longer wanted to live, I was now a couple of years into therapy. It was around this time that I really began to find solace in music. The mid to late '80s gave me hope. Rap, punk rock, and alternative music befriended me at a time when I needed them the most.

A mixtape from 1989, courtesy of a high school friend, opened my soul to the music that would change my life forever- the gritty sound of grunge.

I know that this experience is not unique to me or my life. History has shown that millions of Gen X kids who were going through some heavy times in the late '80s and early '90s, found comfort in the grunge and alternative music and culture that came first from Seattle, then the world.

Music can save lives; we are proof of that. This book and that sentiment is for the SLACKER in all of us.

- Rob Janicke, author of Slacker

In 1980, he formed Bristol band Specimen with Ollie Wisdom and Kev Mills. In 1982, after moving in London and renting a place in Soho, Klein co-founded with Wisdom the club the Batcave, which was a party on Wednesday nights at The Gargoyle. Klein and Wisdom then opened a Batcave club night in New-York.

In 1987, he became a full-time member of Siouxsie and the Banshees. He recorded three albums with the band, Peepshow in 1988, Superstition in 1991 and the Rapture in 1995.

https://www.diwulf.com/products/available-for-presale-descenes-and-discords-an-anthology

On August 19, 2025, Descenes and Discords: An Anthology will be released, offering a powerful time capsule of the birth and early evolution of punk music through the pages of two influential fanzines: Descenesand Discords. These publications, originally printed and distributed in Washington, D.C. during the late 1970s and early 1980s, captured the raw energy, irreverent spirit, and revolutionary ethos of the underground music scene — the first locally, the second nationally.

Published by writer and musician Howard Wuelfing, Descenes was a hyperlocal chronicle of D.C.'s burgeoning punk, hardcore and new wave communities. It featured scene reports, interviews, and passionate live and record reviews of now-legendary acts like Bad Brains, Slickee Boys, and Half Japanese and dozens of others that never gained national recognition. As vital local music scenes sprung up around the country, Discords picked up the baton with a wider lens — covering bands like Black Flag, Pylon, Circle Jerks, Mission of Burma and many more, all with the same DIY authenticity and zero-corporate gloss.

Descenes and Discords: An Anthology presents full facsimiles of every issue of both zines, preserving the original cut-and-paste layouts, typewritten rants, and Xeroxed charm that defined a generation of independent media. The anthology is enriched with new commentary by Howard Wuelfing, reflecting on the zines’ creation and impact. It also includes a transcribed conversation between Wuelfing and Ian MacKaye — the iconic frontman of Minor Threat and Fugazi — where they discuss the fanzine era’s role in shaping punk’s identity and legacy. A Foreword by esteemed D.C. cultural critic, and contributor to both ‘zines, Mark Jenkins sets the historical stage for readers.

http://www.waveneyclarion.co.uk/

The Waveney Clarion was a unique publication, born of the Barsham Fairs. A monthly magazine, it hammered away for eleven years at social injustice, music, ecology, beer, art and the best type of potato to grow on your allotment.

“The beginning of the Waveney Clarion resulted from the kind of unexpected, fortuitous coincidences that don't come knocking every day, making a venture feel like it is meant to happen and cultivating a sense of inevitability.” Sandra Bell, first editor and founder of the Clarion.

Published over a tumultuous decade, the Clarion chronicled an extraordinary period from a perfectly particularperspective – the outlands of rural East Anglia, where coypu were hunted and music, fairs and the fate of our earth seemed to be the only concerns.

http://jawbonepress.com/down-river/

Down River: In Search Of David Ackles is an illuminating study of mythmaking, the popular music industry, and a forgotten enigma of the 1970s.

In 1972, David Ackles’s third album, American Gothic, was released to a flurry of press plaudits declaring it to be ‘the Sgt Pepper of folk’ and one of the greatest records ever made. Yet the album, like its two predecessors, failed to sell, and after one more record, its creator simply vanished. He found work, raised a family, and died a couple of decades later, having never made another record.

Today, Ackles’s music is largely consigned to the streaming netherworld. It is yet to be properly repackaged and reappraised, and he remains largely unknown. But there is no middle ground. You either love him or you’ve never heard of him. His admirers range from Black Flag’s Greg Ginn to indie polymath Jim O’Rourke to Genesis drummer turned platinum-selling solo artist Phil Collins.

In 2003, when Elvis Costello interviewed Elton John for the first episode of his television show Spectacle, the two spoke at some length, and with palpable respect, about Ackles’s great talent, before performing a duet of his ‘Down River’—the same song Collins had selected for Desert Island Discs a decade earlier.

https://pauldavinci.com/home

https://www.pauldavinci.net/

Paul Da Vinci is best known as the "incredible" voice on the Rubettes' number one selling single "Sugar Baby Love", which sold over 8 million copies world-wide featuring his three and a half octave voice.  Paul sang all the lead vocals on the record, including the high falsetto, and was also lead vocalist on  the B side of the record "You could have told me".  Recorded at 1.30am Lansdowne Studios, Holland Park, London in 1973.

He had several other chart successes over the 70's and 80's as a solo artist with his own compositions "Your Baby Ain't Your Baby Anymore" and "If You Get Hurt" which he also produced, and as featured lead vocalist on the  Tight Fit single "Back to the Sixties part II" . 

https://shop.bandwear.com/collections/oglio-records-shop/products/ogl048

James was initially known as the leader and founder of the rockabilly trio The Kingbees, active between 1978 and 1982. The group included drummer Rex Roberts and bassist Michael Rummans. The Kingbees recorded two albums with David J. Holman, producing on RSO. The first, titled The Kingbees, (released March 1980) featured the James-penned hit "My Mistake".

The second album, titled The Big Rock, was released in March 1981 and also spawned national touring, a performance on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and a cameo role in the movie The Idolmaker. Shortly thereafter the band split up.

In 1983 James released a solo EP with Vanity Records titled The Big One. In the late 1980s, James hooked up with noted actor Harry Dean Stanton to form a unique musical ensemble which performed until the year 2000.

In 2000 James went on to form the rock and roll band "DQ and The Sharks" featuring actor/musician Dennis Quaid.

In 1993 James had also released a solo LP on Schoolkids Records titled Cruel World. In 2000 he released his latest solo LP on Oglio Records, titled Crossroads. Oglio also released a two-album CD issue of the Kingbees first and second LPs.

https://www.terryreid.com/

https://www.joeboyd.co.uk/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roots-Rhythm-Remain-Journey-Through

https://www.chrisstamey.com/

https://chrisstamey.bandcamp.com/

Anything Is Possible, the latest collection of original material (and one affectionate cover) from North Carolina songwriter / vocalist / guitarist / producer Chris Stamey, an indie rock icon with a long and illustrious history that’s encompassed co-founding seminal avant-pop band the dBs, playing with Alex Chilton in the 70s and more recently with Jody Stephens's Big Star Quintet, and recording with the all-star smart-pop outfit the Salt Collective. The new album features special guests such as the Lemon Twigs, Pat Sansone (Wilco), Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson band), and Marshall Crenshaw among others. The album was produced by Stamey at Modern Recording in Chapel Hill, NC. Anything Is Possible is being released by Label 51 Recordings on 1digital download and streaming platforms today and 12” LP vinyl, CD, August 8.

https://www.theblueaeroplanes.com/

The Blue Aeroplanes first performed under that name at the King Street Art Gallery in Bristol in 1981. They consisted mainly of former members of Art Objects, with the addition of Nick Jacobs, former guitarist and vocalist of Southampton band the Exploding Seagulls.

The Blue Aeroplanes' first album, Bop Art was released on their own Party Records in 1984, and was rapidly picked up by the Abstract (US) and Fire (UK) labels. It contained material that had been considered as a follow-up to Art Objects' only album, Bagpipe Music. Gerard Langley's largely spoken poetic lyrics were combined with a heavily guitar-centric band that went on to release Tolerance (1985) and Spitting Out Miracles (1987) and several singles and EPs whose B-sides were brought together in the compilation FriendLoverPlane (1988), all on the Fire label.

https://dagoogie.bandcamp.com/album/the-golden-thread

https://www.carativey.com/

https://carativey.bandcamp.com

Cara Tivey joined Birmingham band Au Pairs as keyboard player in 1983. In 1985, Tivey got her first recording break with Everything But the Girl on Baby the Stars Shine Bright.

In 1988, she started working with Billy Bragg on the Workers Playtime album, singing vocals on "Must I Paint You a Picture". She shared the bill with Bragg on the song "She's Leaving Home", which they recorded for the Beatles tribute Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father compilation. 

Tivey performed on Bragg's 1990 album The Internationale and on 1991's Don't Try This at Home, before he took a five-year break in recording. Also in 1990 and 1991, Tivey contributed to the Lilac Time's & Love for All and Astronauts albums.

During Bragg's hiatus, Tivey contributed to the Music in Colors album by Stephen Duffy in 1993. She also became Blur's live keyboardist during their Modern Life Is Rubbish and Parklife era.

The Rubettes' first and biggest hit was "Sugar Baby Love" (1974) which was a number one in the United Kingdom, going on to sell around 500,000 copies in the UK and three million copies globally. With three more songs, "Sugar Baby Love" was recorded  in October 1973 at Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park, London. "Sugar Baby Love" was their only UK No. 1 and sole US Top 40 entry.

https://brixtonkey.com/

Brixton Key was born in 1950’s London to a party-loving mum and an errant scallywag dad.  As a small boy, he fell in love with the sound of his elder brother’s Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf’s Chess records, Charles Dickens novels, Edith Sitwell poems. causing continual mischief and on the bombsites surrounding his parents central London pub.  

Now longhaired and Kings Road dressed, Brixton copped a gig at the British music weekly Melody Maker.  Writing under the name of Mark Plummer, Brixton wrote features about the likes of Rod Stewart, Paul McCartney, Hawkwind, Rory Gallagher and The Who.  Tossing away his raincoat and California dreaming, he jetted to San Francisco where he discovered Chris Isaak, managing the pop idol to his hit record, Wicked Game.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Buzz-Me-Inside-Record-studios/dp/0500028699

Strap yourself in and take a helter-skelter ride through more than a decade’s worth of high drama, hedonism, high tech and musical genius as told by the insiders at the heart of Record Plant studios, one of the most prolific recording factories of all time, founded in 1968 by charismatic audio engineer Gary Kellgren and ace businessman Chris Stone. In the 1970s, Record Plant was everywhere there was music. In 1976 alone, the studios produced three No. 1 albums: Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key Of Life, The Eagles’ Hotel California and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Based on the memoirs and archives of Chris Stone, as well as interviews with over 100 studio employees, music producers and recording artists, Buzz Me In tells the incredible story of Record Plant’s evolution and the making of more than a decade’s worth of Gold and Platinum albums, tape by tape. Illustrated throughout with behind-the-scenes images, archive photos of artists recording and performing live and album cover art, this revelatory and extensively researched book explores and celebrates the way the studios were designed to cater to every rock’n’roller’s fancy. From the living-room-style studio in New York, where Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland was recorded and where John Lennon later encamped, to the VIP clubhouse studio in Los Angeles where Stevie Wonder produced his classic hits, and the destination recording venue in Sausalito where Sly Stone, Bob Marley and Fleetwood Mac holed up, each studio location had its own inherent character – but all showcased the founders’ proven formula of combining state-of-the-art audio, fantasy bedrooms and group Jacuzzis with sex, drugs and celebrity jams. Was Record Plant ‘the real Hotel California’?

https://rolfbrendel.de/

The band was formed in 1981 when vocalist Gabriele Kerner (Nena) came to West Berlin with drummer Rolf Brendel, her boyfriend at the time. 

The band wrote all of their songs themselves, typically working in pairs. They became overnight sensations in Germany when they performed their debut single "Nur geträumt" on German TV in August 1982

The single reached number 2 in the German charts, a position it occupied for 6 weeks, and also climbed high in the Austrian, Belgian, Dutch and Swiss charts.[ In early 1983 the follow-up single "99 Luftballons" spent a further 7 weeks at number 2 before finally reaching the top slot, a position the debut album matched.

https://snatchtapes.bandcamp.com/

Storm Bugs are a post-punk band formed in 1978 in Deptford, London, by Philip Sanderson and Steven Ball who had met in the Medway Towns, England. The band have been linked to a number of genres including: cassette culture, industrial music and DIY. Storm Bugs were initially active between 1978–82 and defying gravity reformed in 2001.

After moving to London in late 1978 Sanderson wangled out of hours access to the electronic music studio at Goldsmiths College and also purchased a valve Revox reel to reel tape recorder setting up a DIY home studio to annoy the neighbours. Using both these faculties Sanderson recorded much of the Storm Bugs output from 1878 to 1980 with Ball designing the artwork for the releases.

The first Storm Bugs release was as part of Snatch 1 - on the Snatch Tapes cassette label. Snatch Tapes was part of the cassette culture scene and also released tapes by David Jackman (later of Organum), and Claire Thomas & Susan Vezey as well as tracks by the Lemon Kittens, Alien Brains, Cultural Amnesia and the Beach Surgeons (led by a young Graham Massey, later of 808 State).

Storm Bugs went on to release three cassettes albums on Snatch Tapes: A Safe Substitute (1980), Storm Bugs (1980) and Gift (1981). In 1980 the band released their first vinyl record the Table Matters EP on Loop Records (UK) featuring Cash Wash and Eat Good Beans. In 1981 Storm Bugs released their second single an industrial rockabilly 7-inch called "Metamorphose", on the French L'invitation au Suicide label with this time Ball providing lead vocals. Further recordings were made in 1981/1982 but not released with the band effectively going into hibernation for 20 years. Sanderson and Ball however continued to collaborate on other projects including a short-lived pop experimental band called Swoon Baboon and in 1988 the film Green on the Horizon.

Storm Bugs were rediscovered in 2000 when they were included on the bootleg LP I Hate the Pop Group, on Vertical Slum Records. In an attempt to cash in a year later Snatch Tapes reactivated and released a compilation of some of the bands finer moments from the past, entitled Let's Go Outside And Get It Over, this was the start of a re-issue programme that saw much of Storm Bugs original material being rereleased on vinyl.

The following year, 2002 rare and previously unreleased recordings were collected by the Fusetron label, and released on an LP called Up The Middle Down The Sides. In the same year the band also released a 4-track EP of new material called The Bugs Are Back on the Austrian label Klanggalerie. In 2006 the German label Vinyl On Demand issued a Snatch Tapes compilation called Snatch Paste and this was followed in 2007 by a Storm Bugs LP entitled Supplementary benefit featuring the two 7 inch singles as well as tracks from the early cassette releases. 2008 saw Car Situations (Nasal Passage) included on the Messthetics Greatest Hiss compilation whilst in 2011 the A Safe Substitute cassette on Snatch Tapes was reissued on red vinyl by Harbinger records. In 2013 the track Cash Wash/Eat Good Beans was included on the 7th and final Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music compilation on Sub Rosa.

In 2013 Storm Bugs made their back catalogue available digitally on Bandcamp and released their first new material in ten years the digital single No Nothingness/Triangulation with an accompanying video.

Storm Bugs live appearances have been rare. An unadvertised performance was given at Maidstone Art college in 1979 and a further performance in the summer of 1980 in Brenchley Gardens Maidstone, Kent. On that occasion the band included David Jackman on esraj. In 2012 Storm Bugs performed live for the first time in 30 years at the Rammel Weekender in Nottingham alongside other acts such as the New Blockaders and Cheapmachines. Reviewing the Weekender in the Wire Magazine, Storm Bugs's contribution was judged by Derek Walmsley to be "everything that's right about the weekend"

The McTells - Formed in 1985 in Hertford, UK. Initially a 4 piece comprising Paul Rixon on guitar and vocal, Bill on guitar, Stuart on bass, Mark Flunder from the Television Personalities on stand up drums. Bill later left to form The Big Paintings but the rest of the band continued as a three piece releasing records on Pauls own Bi-Joopiter label and on Frank, K, Little Teddy Recordings and Vinyl Japan.

https://kavustorabi.bandcamp.com/album/the-banishing

https://www.planetgong.co.uk/

https://theutopiastrong.bandcamp.com/album/the-utopia-strong

Musician, composer, record label owner and radio broadcaster. A multi-instrumentalist, he is known for his work in the psychedelic, avant-garde rock field (primarily as a guitarist). Torabi was one of the founding members of the Monsoon Bassoon (as singer, guitarist and one of the two primary composers), was a member of the cult rock band Cardiacs, and fronts and plays guitar for the current lineup of legendary psychedelic band Gong.

Torabi also leads his own group Knifeworld and is a member of Guapo and the Utopia Strong.

https://dagoogie.bandcamp.com/album/the-golden-thread

https://www.dagoogie.com/

English musician, who achieved international fame as the bassist for the band My Bloody Valentine. Their studio albums Isn't Anything (1988) and Loveless (1991) established Googe as a pioneering figure in the shoegaze genre. She has also worked with Snowpony, Primal Scream and Thurston Moore.

https://soundcloud.com/nikolaigalen

https://www.youtube.com/user/nikolaigalen/featured

The Shrubs were an English rock music group, formed in 1985, releasing three albums before splitting up in 1989.

Shrubs contributed Bullfighters Bones to the NME's famous C86 album.

A further 12", Blackmailer followed towards the end of the year, with debut album Take Me Aside for a Midnight Harangue hitting the shops in July 1987. With the collapse of the Ron Johnson label and the indie distribution network The Cartel, several hundred copies of "Harangue" were incinerated, much to Hobbs' annoyance. Shrubs signed with the Hertfordshire-based Public Domain label for a studio/live 12", Another Age, and second and final album Vessels of the Heart, both in 1988, after which the band split.

Hobbs went on to form Mecca, who toured the former Soviet Union with Nitzer Ebb and others, and subsequently Infidel, along with current Pere Ubu guitarist Keith Moliné and Nico's former drummer Graham Dowdall (a.k.a. Dids), at the same time carrying on in artist management. He carries on making music solo and with different groups under the name of Nikolai Galen.

Howlett was the bassist in Sydney pop band the Affair, which included vocalist Kerrie Biddell. The group travelled to England after winning a prize in the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds band competition. Howlett settled in London and in 1973 joined renowned British progressive rock group Gong, which had been founded by an Australian Daevid Allen. He remained with Gong until 1977, recording several albums with them and co-writing much of their material later in this period with drummer Pierre Moerlen.

After leaving Gong, Howlett formed the short-lived band Strontium 90, which consisted of himself, Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers.

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/pre-052-the-motorcycle-boy-john-peel-session-140987

The band consisted of Alex Taylor (vocals, formerly of Shop Assistants), Paul McDermott (drums), Michael Kerr (guitar), and Eddy Connelly (bass) (all formerly of Meat Whiplash), and David "Scottie" Scott (guitar). They were signed by Rough Trade Records, who issued their debut single, "Big Rock Candy Mountain", which reached number 2 in the UK Independent Chart. The band were then signed by Chrysalis Records, with two singles, but failed to achieve great success despite considerable press attention. Their debut album Scarlet (which had additional drumming by Anthony Cooper and keyboards from former Jesse Garon and The Desperadoes guitarist Stuart Clarke) was never released. The band then split with Chrysalis, with two further singles released on the Nymphaea Pink Sensation label in 1990, before the band themselves split up

https://www.facebook.com/zander.schloss

http://www.circlejerks.net/Home/

https://www.blindowlsd.com/zander-schloss

American musician, actor and composer. He is known as bass player for the Circle Jerks, the Weirdos, his many collaborations with Joe Strummer musically and in film and for his contributions to independent feature films.

His first screen appearance was as "Kevin the Nerd" in Repo Man. He went on to appear in a number of Alex Cox films as well as to make significant musical contributions in other Cox features such as Sid and Nancy (1986), Straight to Hell (1987)

https://www.thecatholicgirls.net/

The Catholic Girls are a hard rocking all female band from New Jersey. The Catholic Girls are: Gail Petersen (lead vocals/rhythm guitar) Roxy Andersen (lead guitar/backing vocals) Doreen Holmes (drums and percussion)

Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, Bert initially came to prominence as drummer for the experimental rock band Sonic Youth during the early to mid-1980s. Bert played on the Sonic Youth releases Confusion Is Sex, Sonic Death, and Bad Moon Rising. After Bad Moon Rising, Bert quit the group.

Bert contributed during the last half of the 1980s as percussionist for noise band Pussy Galore. 

In the early 1990s, Bert drummed for the Chrome Cranks (which also included Peter Aaron on vocals; Jerry Teel on bass; and William Weber on stun guitar).

After the dissolution of the Cranks, Bert joined forces with guitarist Kid Congo, guitarist Jack Martin, bassist/vocalist Jerry Teel and organist Barry London in the rootsy New York City band Knoxville Girls.

https://www.facebook.com/casinosteel

https://www.theboys.co.uk

The Hollywood Brats were a British glam rock and protopunk band in the early 1970s. They found little commercial success at the time, and split up in 1974, but are regarded as influential on the later punk rock scene.

https://peter-holsapple.bandcamp.com/album/the-face-of-68

https://label51recordings.com/peter-holsapple/

American musician who, along with Chris Stamey, formed the dB's. He became the band's principal songwriter and singer after Stamey's departure. The band, with Stamey back in the fold, reformed with new material in 2005–2006.

After the dB's disbanded in 1988, Holsapple played as an auxiliary musician with R.E.M. and Hootie & the Blowfish, before joining the Continental Drifters, a rock band originating from Los Angeles.

In 1997, he released his first solo album, Out of the Way. He followed it up twenty-one years later with 2018's Game Day and will follow it in 2025 with Face of 68.

https://www.sixpackfilm.com/en/catalogue/2916/

A blazingly colourful and exuberantly transgressive personality who dazzled Los Angeles' underground musical and artistic scenes in the late-1990s and 2000s, Sean DeLear (1964-2017) suddenly emerged as a genuinely seminal cultural figure via the posthumous 2022 publication of their intimate and explicit teenage diaries from 1979. I Could Not Believe It joyously chronicles the experiences of a young Black, queer creative finding their identity, voice and style decades before Barry Jenkins' (rather more downbeat) Moonlight. The Life of Sean DeLear is a vibrantly multi-faceted, buoyantly propulsive documentary portrait of this irresistibly charismatic one-off — sketched in celebratory but commendably clear-eyed style by writer-director Markus Zizenbacher. There can be very few people better qualified to do justice to this particular tale. Zizenbacher befriended DeLear — born Anthony Robertson in Simi Valley, an obscure California backwater — after the latter relocated to Vienna in the early 2010s. There the former frontperson of Silver Lake postpunk-combo Glue reinvented themselves as a cabaret performer and collaborated with famed art-collective Gelitin before passing away aged just 52. "SeanDe" entrusted their treasure-trove audiovisual archive to Zizenbacher, who with co-editor Sebastian Schreiner has crafted an eclectic collage generously spiced with effervescent extracts from DeLear's own extensive video-diaries. These jagged hand-held snapshots bring back to often-hilarious life the electric days (and especially nights) from a quarter of a century ago, placed in retrospective context by present-day testimony from the survivors who knew SeanDe best and loved them the most. Sean DeLear — as in "chandelier" — lit up their world; Markus Zizenbacher now illuminates Sean DeLear for ours. (Neil Young)

https://www.jonathansegel.com/

https://campervanbeethoven.com/home

Segel joined the indie rock group Camper Van Beethoven in 1984, while in college at Santa Cruz. His contributions as violinist became the band's hallmark, creating a distinctive identity and sound

n addition to the revived Camper Van Beethoven, Segel records solo projects and leads the Jonathan Segel band, performs improvisational electronic or avant-garde music (either solo or, since 2004, with Chaos Butterfly), and he is an occasional contributor to music from the Big City Orchestra. His compositions have also included six chamber music scores written between 1989 and 2011.

https://www.godbodyart.com/new-page-3

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/patrick-dougher/concrete-dreamland/9780316571043/

https://lionsgatesound88.bandcamp.com/album/algorhythm

Born in Brooklyn in 1963, Patrick Dougher grew up in some of the most turbulent and culturally impactful periods of NYC's history. Often neglected as a child by his parents-a father who struggled with alcohol addiction and an overworked mother who struggled to make ends meet-he learned to fend for himself. Now a renowned visual artist, musician, actor and writer, Dougher brings to the page his memories, struggles, personal revelations, and a life intimately tied to the realities of growing up Black and disenfranchised on the streets of one of the most remarkable cities in the world. Concrete Dreamland is tragic and triumphant, gritty and hard, poetic and outrageously funny. Told in Dougher's brutally raw and courageously honest voice, these stories act as snapshots of a life lived in extremes: from gangsters to God, street style to sexuality, to recovery from drug addiction and alcoholism. He tells of his adventures as a pre-hip hop "hard rock' and an original Black punk rocker surviving during the dangerous days of the crack and AIDS epidemic in NYC, while also sharing tales of racism, homelessness, and his many brushes with fame and death.

https://www.thegodfathersofficial.com/

2025 sees The Godfathers celebrate the historic milestone of the 40th anniversary since their formation with multiple record releases as well as tours & festivals across the UK, Europe and around the world.An 18-track compilation entitled Electric Déjà Vu featuring numbers personally selected by The Godfathers’ founder and frontman Peter Coyne from the band’s three most recent critically acclaimed studio albums - 2013’s Jukebox Fury, 2017’s A Big Bad Beautiful Noise and 2022’s Alpha Beta Gamma Delta - is set for release in early April.A brand new studio single will follow in the Summer with an archive double-live album promised for later in the year. These releases pave the way for a much anticipated album of new material in 2026.The Godfathers were formed in 1985 by brothers Peter Coyne (vocals) and Chris Coyne (bass/vocals) from the ashes of their previous band The Sid Presley Experience. They toured extensively and quickly earned a serious reputation for their electrifying brand of primal rock & roll & their incendiary live shows around the world. Forming a recording partnership with famed producer Vic Maile, they released four critically acclaimed, smash hit independent singles on their own Corporate Image label (‘Lonely Man’, ‘This Damn Nation’, ‘I Want Everything’ and ‘Love Is Dead') which alongside a brutal cover of Lennon’s ‘Cold Turkey’ were compiled into their seminal debut album release Hit By Hit in ’86 and signed a worldwide deal with Sony/Epic records in ‘87. The Godfathers unleashed the storming rocker ‘Birth School Work Death’ as a single in '87 and scored a US Billboard top 40 hit after massive college radio airplay and heavy MTV rotation. Then the classic Birth School Work Death album was released in ’88 (includes the hit anthem title track and singles ‘Cause I Said So’ and a re-recorded ‘Love Is Dead’) and was promoted with extensive tours of the UK, Europe and America as they cemented their reputation as one of the best live acts of the period. Celebrity fans included among others David Bowie and Johnny Depp.

https://brianbilston.com/

https://catenarywires.bandcamp.com/album/sounds-made-by-humans-by-brian-bilston-and-the-catenary-wires

Bilston has published three collections of verse, You Took the Last Bus Home (2016); Alexa, What Is There to Know About Love? (2021); and Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022). He has also written a book of football poems, 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021). His first novel, Diary of a Somebody (2019), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for First Novel, and his poem "Refugees" has been published as an illustrated book for children. In 2023, he published a book of "seasonally adjusted poems", And So This Is Christmas.

He also recorded and released an album, Sounds Made By Humans, with indiepop band the Catenary Wires.

https://www.jefftrott.com/

Perhaps most well-known for his collaborations with American singer Sheryl Crow, having co-written some of her biggest hits, including "If It Makes You Happy", "Everyday Is a Winding Road", and "Soak Up the Sun"; he also produced tracks on her albums C'mon, C'mon, Wildflower, Be Myself, and Threads. Trott won the BMI Songwriter of the Year award in 1998.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/952963613406389

https://www.cloudberryrecords.com/blog/?p=2806

Manchester-based indie four-piece, active in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Three members went on to form Brassy.

https://lightofdaycr.bandcamp.com/album/dimensions

https://vivabeat.bandcamp.com/album/the-house-is-burning-the-best-of-vivabeat

https://vivabeat.bandcamp.com/album/party-in-the-war-zone-expanded

https://robertdeanmartinbirke.bandcamp.com/album/triptych

Perhaps best known as the original guitarist in the British band Japan.

Upon leaving the group after the "Gentlemen Take Polaroids" album, Robert provided guitar backing to a number of artists including ABC with his good friend Martin Fry as well as Gary Numan & Sinéad O'Connor. Robert also was a member of several subsequent bands including Illustrated Man and the Australian-based The Slow Club who released a number of singles & an album "World Of Wonders"

Now lives and enjoys a lifestyle as an ornithologist & published artist (usually the Costa Rican bird population).

https://www.facebook.com/people/Dominic-Silvani-Music/100037388325690/

Formed by Dominic Silvani, Penelope's Web were around for some years between the mid 80's - early 90's. During that time the band released two 12" singles. 'The Gap' EP was put out on their own label in 1987. At the end of the 80's the band signed to Cherry Red for their second EP which was released eventually in 1990. A compilation album, "Retrospective 86-89", was released in 2014 on Firestation Records.

Penelope's Web were: Dominic Silvani: vocals Gavin Abbs: guitar John Thompson: bass Steve Oldham: drums

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bright-Young-Things-philosophy-records/dp/3955752372

https://rudolfrocker.bandcamp.com/

el records was created in 1984 by Mike Alway. Alway was A&R man for Cherry Red signing artists such as Everything But the Girl, The Monochrome Set and Felt. Alway left Cherry Red to help run Blanco Y Negro (an offshoot of WEA) but soon felt constrained but the conservativism of the commercial music sector and left to set up his own label.

el was once described as 'the most innately English record label there has ever been' and yet had a global appeal. Alway must be the only record label boss to have had four songs written about him... Alway's mercurial approach was to take complete control of the repertoire, the philosophy of the label's releases and even the titles of songs in the manner of pop impresarios of the past. Alway became a curator, selecting, shaping and overseeing the records issued on el.e

https://gentlegiantband.com/

https://pumajaw1.bandcamp.com/

Multi-instrumentalist John Wills has been a member of two British bands, 'Loop' and 'Hair & Skin Trading Company'. He is a long time collaborator of Pinkie Maclure. Together, they are working under several aliases including 'Hello', 'Fingerfood', 'Lumen' and 'Pumajaw'.

https://www.sarahjanemorris.co.uk/home

The Sisterhood is ten songs I have written with my right hand man Tony Remy about the lives of ten female singers and singer-songwriters who have inspired me over the years and who have made their marks on musical history.

Bessie, Billie, Miriam, Nina, Aretha, Janis, Joni, Ricky-Lee, Annie, Kate – who needs a second name in company like this?

Pioneers of Music, we have respectfully researched the lives of these women who were/are all great artists and great cultural transformers. My lyrics tell their stories, as does the music we have created for each song, using the characteristic genre and stylistic markers appropriate to each artist. We fell in love with each one of these extraordinary women as we gained insights into their lives, their minds and the challenges they faced … and I am sure that you will too. We are excited to finally see the project come to life. Now is you chance to experience the same joy and excitement listening to it as we had making it.

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/peel-sessions-84-86

Big Flame (often rendered bIG*fLAME) were a post-punk/indie rock three piece band, based in Manchester, England, and active from 1983 to 1986. The members were Alan Brown (bass, vocals), Greg Keeffe (guitar) and Dil Green (drums). After a debut EP ("Sink") on their own Laughing Gun label, they joined the Ron Johnson roster for a series of mid-1980s singles as well as an appearance on the NME's C86 compilation.

https://knoxchandlermusic.com/

https://www.facebook.com/knox.chandler.3/

Knox Chandler’s career has spanned for over four decades including long stints as a member of The Psychedelic Furs, Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cyndi Lauper band, extraordinary experiences in recording and performing live around the world.

The Sound is the new debut album from Chandler -  at the core is Chandler’s “Soundribbon” style of meditative, powerfully cinematic instrumental performance on guitar, accompanied by upright bass and percussion which comprises the audio component of the release. The visual portion is a book of paintings, photographs, sketches and written meditations, interpreting nature through technology. The blending of these mediums is Knox’s attempt to make the diaristic intent of his music explicit. The Sound is being released on Knox’s new label Blue Elastic on May 30. The album is available on digital download and on streaming platforms on its own, or the book comes with a download code. I hope you'll consider covering Knox with an interview, feature, news story or album review.

https://www.vickipetersonandjohncowsill.com/

‘Long After The Fire’ sees Vicki Peterson of The Bangles (whose work includes worldwide smash hits such as ‘Eternal Flame’ and ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’) team up with John Cowsill, drummer/vocalist for The Beach Boys for over 23 years and an original member of the platinum-selling family band The Cowsills, Their debut album as a duo, ‘Long After The Fire' is a set of Americana songs written by John’s late brothers, Barry and Bill Cowsill.A new single from the album entitled ‘Is Anybody Here’ is out today (21st March), with Peterson revealing that “it is the song that kicked off the entire ‘Long After The Fire’ record. John and Paul Allen recorded this track at Sun Studios in Memphis, without me, in the spur of the moment and absolutely set the template for the album. At this stage, John and I were considering calling the project Dead Brothers!”

https://davidjhaskins.com/music

Both album & book are being released 6th June 2025

The Mother Tree is a poignant five-track album featuring David reciting his poetry to the accompaniment of lush, dramatic, atmospheric music, showcasing his multidimensional musical artistry. The bulk of the title piece was composed over the course of 3 days, in a remote part of Massachusetts where he was living in 1997, this following the passing of his mother, Joan Nancy.

Rhapsody, Threnody & Prayer is a book of his poetry collected over the course of many years. The poems encompass a large array of experiences, places, relationships, infatuations and obsessions. Love found and love lost. They include tributes to departed cultural icons like Ian Curtis, Kurt Cobain, Mark Linkous, Jeff Buckley, and Jack Kerouac.

David J Haskins Live Dates:

June 10 - HQ (Record release event), Denver CO

June 12 - Electron Gardens, Atlanta, GA

June 14 - Fleetwoods, Asheville, NC

June 18 - The Slipper Room, NYC, NY

June 24 - Zebulon, Los Angeles, CA

https://www.facebook.com/groups/44800212324

Band members included Mike West (vocals and guitar) Sheila Seal (bass), Martin Vincent (guitar and harmonica), and Howard Goody (drums).

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. West, who wrote the songs, was the Australian-born son of the author Morris West.

"Where the Kids Still Scream" explores the evolving spirit of New York City's punk scene and asks:

Does punk still hold true to its roots?

Has the ethos of the '70s–'90s been diluted or reshaped in the internet age? Is it still possible to live a punk lifestyle in 2025?

Through interviews with legendary voices from the past and present, this documentary dives deep into what punk meant, what it still means, and where it might go next.

Kickstarter: 

https://middleoftheroad-popgroup.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QllFI1jwd8

https://translatorlive.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-today-live-at-the-farm-san-francisco-july-12-1986

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NhHVZ-320c

A celebrated group of the new wave era, Translator has announced details of their first live concert release. Beyond Today: Live at the Farm – San Francisco 1986 arrives May 9 on LP, CD, and download from Liberation Hall. The vinyl LP will feature eight tracks from the final show of the group’s period at Columbia Records (1982-1986). The CD and download will include an additional four live tracks, including the previously unreleased “Puzzles,” as well as two brand-new songs mixed last year by renowned producer Ed Stasium. All formats are distributed by MVD Entertainment Group (USA) and Wienerworld (UK).

https://pinkturnsblue.com/

https://pinkturnsblue.bandcamp.com/album/black-swan

Formed in 1985, they were part of the first generation of gothic rock in Germany and released their first LP, If Two Worlds Kiss with a sound reminiscent of new wave with very dark undertones and use of synthesizers, and went to become part of the developing sub-genre of dark wave.

http://www.paulroland.info/

https://paulroland.net/

English singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. Roland typically writes his songs in the form of stories, often addressing historical figures, characters from literature and film, or his own creations. He has explored genres including gothic rock, psychedelic pop, folk and baroque.

Described by Music Week as a "psychedelic cult celebrity", Roland has enjoyed an underground career as opposed to mainstream success, gathering a stronger fanbase in mainland Europe than in his native UK. He has been credited with spearheading steampunk music.

Aside from his recording career, Roland has written for various music magazines, and has authored numerous books on subjects including popular music, crime, World War II, and the supernatural.

https://thebolshoibrothers.com/

https://thebolshoibrothers.bandcamp.com/

Trevor Tanner and Paul Clark started working on their debut album during the Covid lockdown. They recorded the album together remotely, Trevor from Florida and Paul from Seattle. The album release will be followed by live shows featuring songs from new album as well as a selection of songs originally recorded by The Bolshoi.

From Catholic school girl to glam maniac to organiser of classic early 1980s East Coast hardcore shows, Nancy Barile made her place behind the boards and right in the front row as SSD, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, and Black Flag wrote new rules. In the dangerous early years of punk, she rebelled, fighting for fair space as she found her purpose.

https://nicknicely1.bandcamp.com/track/or-a-brockley-afternoon

English singer-songwriter who records psychedelic and electronic music. He is best known for his 1982 single "Hilly Fields (1892)". Nicely released only one other record in the early 1980s, the single "D.C.T. Dreams", before retreating from the music industry. The influence of "Hilly Fields" has been noted on Bevis Frond, Robyn Hitchcock, Robert Wyatt, and XTC's psychedelic alter egos the Dukes of Stratosphear, as well as the hypnagogic pop movement of the 2000s.

In September 2014, Lo Records released Nicely's second full-length album, Space of a Second. A third Nick Nicely album, Sleep Safari, was released on 26 September 2017 through Tapete Records. In 2018, "Hilly Fields" appeared in the Timothee Chalamont film Hot Summer Nights.

From the start of 2018 Nicely has been working on live performances accompanied by the musician Bug Lover and generating new versions of old tracks and adding visuals. First came secret gigs in Frappant (February and April) in Hamburg, then on 14 June 2018 at the Electric Ballroom in London supporting John Maus, followed by a December show in Moscow and then a US East coast tour again with Maus in 2019.

https://www.thecalmzone.net/

The band was formed by Wendy Robinson (vocals) and Polly Hancock (vocals, guitar), initially with a drum machine. This line-up recorded the debut "Don't Go Back" EPon Big Cat UK (catalogue number BBA02) in August 1988) achieving "Single of the Week" in Melody Maker. A John Peel session, produced by Dale Griffin and recorded at the BBC studios in Golders Green, London, was first broadcast on 21 September 1988 and repeated on 11 October 1988. It featured four original songs; "Perfect Dream Home", "Fine Lines", "Dr Fell" and "Backward" Daydream. They then recruited Dana Baldinger (born Seattle,), and signed to One Little Indian Records, releasing "Please Let Me Go" as a single in April 1990; this too attained Single of The Week in Melody Maker. Baldinger was eventually replaced by Anne Rogers of The Crowd Scene.

American professor, sound engineer, and record producer best known for being Prince's staff engineer during his commercial peak (1983-1987), including on albums like Purple Rain, Around the World in a Day, Parade, Sign o' the Times, and The Black Album. During this time, Rogers laid the foundations for Prince's now-famous vault by beginning the process of collecting and cataloguing all his studio and live recordings.

https://hozacrecords.com/bands/brats/

Before there was KISS, before there were The Ramones and Blondie, there was The Brats. The Brats and The New York Dolls were at the forefront of the NYC music scene of the Seventies.

Brat, Rick Rivets, actually quit The Dolls to form The Brats. The Brats would become the biggest draw in NYC from 1972 to 1981 and every band hoped to open for them for the exposure. Just ask any one of the members of KISS or The Ramones (“Beat on The Brat!”) or any other NYC band for that matter, The Brats were a big influence on them and the whole NYC music scene of the Seventies. Their story begins one night while hanging out with Alice Cooper downstairs at Max’s, Keith West and the boys were giving the waitress a hard time. Alice leaned over and said “You guys are a bunch of Brats” and they took him literally. Early on, The Brats rehearsed in a loft on Bleecker Street, where they would stage their infamous loft parties, often with an then unsigned band, KISS, as their opening act. They headlined all over the New York City area with other up and coming bands like Blondie, The Ramones, Television, Talking Heads and The Heartbreakers

https://www.facebook.com/colognepopfest

mail@colognepopfest.com

https://colognepopfest.blogspot.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJWi5VleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHd3R4gg0iuW4A2ZBvJDJ0oqzCvYA2JNTMgfyN0fdEsEPSiJtzKFbd9WuRg_aem_a6rMBrOhdGnpc8KLlBf45A

https://musicmattjames.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/geneofficialband

Matt is a musician, singer, songwriter & former drummer & co-songwriter in the UK guitar band Gene. Gene had success around the world including many UK top 40 hits & top 10 LP's. They also toured the world extensively in their active years. Matt left the music industry in 2008 but returned in 2021 as a solo artist & has recently finished recording his debut solo LP with producer Stephen Street.

https://www.accartbooks.com/uk/book/marilyn-monroe-style/

Marilyn Monroe Style celebrates Marilyn’s impact on fashion by revealing the influence of her many iconic looks. Her wardrobe encompassed sensual femininity as well as low-key minimalism. Outfits span from shimmering showpieces such as the Jean Louis gown worn to serenade JFK on his birthday, to Pucci slacks and cats-eye spectacles. Born Norma Jeane Mortensen, whenever she ‘became’ Marilyn, she mesmerised onlookers with showstopping outfits that helped make her a legend, yet throughout her life the clothes she wore represented many ways of being a woman. Written by Terry Newman – the bestselling author of Taylor Swift and the Clothes She Wears – this book tells the story of Marilyn’s life through clothes and is essential reading for Marilyn Monroe fans everywhere.

https://www.facebook.com/DasDamenOfficial

The band was formed in 1984 by Jim Walters (vocals, guitar), Alex Totino (guitar, vocals), Phil Leopold von Trapp (bass, vocals), and Lyle Hysen (drums). Totino and Hysen were previously in the New York hardcore band The Misguided. Das Damen released their self-titled debut album on Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! in 1986. They subsequently signed to SST Records and released Jupiter Eye in 1987, which has been described as "quasi-hardcore that touched on MC5-like garage psychedelia". A third album, Triskaidekaphobe, followed. It featured a guest appearance by ex-MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer.

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/pre-028-one-thousand-violins-john-peel-session-021286

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/pre-027-one-thousand-violins-john-peel-session-250985

Andreone's first album, Veiled, produced by Rick Neigher, was released by RCA in 1996. It included the hit single "It's Alright, It's OK", which charted in the U.S., Europe, and Australia. It was introspective whereas her next album, Alchemy, was more sexual and intimate. Andreone's lyrics are often treatises on psychology, reflecting her interest in the subject.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gliders-Over-Hollywood-Airships-Promotion/dp/191682918X

Gliders Over Hollywood tells the exhilarating true story of a blue-collar kid nicknamed ‘Rap’ who grew up in thrall to rock’n’roll, then found himself right in the middle of many of his heroes’ lives as he became the most renowned rock promotion man in the USA.

Paul Rappaport enjoyed a storied thirty-three-year career at Columbia Records, where he was instrumental in the careers of everyone from Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd to The Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello to Billy Joel, Judas Priest to Alice In Chains, and many, many more.

The music business from the late 60s through the 90s was an exciting time that mirrored the music and the musicians making it. It was also a time of new and creative ideas on how to market this groundbreaking cultural phenomenon. Eccentric characters were everywhere, and often the managers, promoters, disc jockeys, and record company staff were just as big a show as the performers themselves.

This dynamic, entertaining memoir captures the magic of these times and the people who made it happen, revealing the never-before-heard secrets of the promotion and marketing that turned the music industry on its head. From creating the Pink Floyd airship to sword-fighting with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden and receiving a guitar lesson from Keith Richards, it’s a book packed full of extraordinary adventures with some of the biggest names in rock.

https://www.craigwedren.com/

American singer-songwriter, musician and composer, who began his career fronting post-hardcore band Shudder to Think. Following the disbandment of Shudder to Think, Wedren pursued a career as a television and film music composer, as well as releasing solo material.

https://www.ideanow.online/cameragirl

https://store.magalleria.co.uk/products/camera-girl-sharon-smith

In New York in 1979, Sharon was a 28- year-old photographer who walked into the Ritz, an East Village club that was the center of the New Wave music scene. She went on to work at the Savoy, the Red Parrot, Studio 54, Roseland Ballroom, Merlyn’s, 4D, Area, Palladium, Mars and the club called New York, New York.

The book is of course full of unseen Polaroid pictures of Madonna, Andy Warhol, Sylvester, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry and many, many club kids and disco dancers. The main text features Sharon Smith with the book's editor Bill Shapiro. The introduction is by 2024 legend Honey Dijon. It is the perfect package.

http://jonronson.com/

In the late 1980s, Ronson replaced Mark Radcliffe as the keyboard player for the Frank Sidebottom band for a number of performances.

Ronson was the manager of the Manchester indie band The Man from Delmonte

https://jesu.bandcamp.com/

https://avalancherecordings.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/officialgodflesh

Best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, followed by Jesu.

He was briefly in the English grindcore band Napalm Death when he was a teenager in the mid-1980s, writing and recording guitar for their debut album, Scum. Broadrick has also maintained a parallel career as a producer, producing records and remixes. Since the 1990s he has worked with Kevin Martin as Techno Animal an electronic music project based in a fusion of industrial, dub, ambient and hip hop, which disbanded in 2001 and was reactivated in 2017 under the new name Zonal. Since 2012, he has been releasing hard techno music under the solo moniker JK Flesh. Broadrick has set up record labels such as HeadDirt, Avalanche Recordings, Post Mortem Productions (briefly renamed Uprising Productions), Lo Fibre and Heartache.

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/pre-049-the-chesterfields-janice-long-session-060187

https://simonchesterfield.bandcamp.com/album/simon-chesterfield

PRE 049: THE CHESTERFIELDS – Janice Long session 06.01.87

Leading lights among the generation of indie pop outfits that thrived in the post-C86 environment, The Chesterfields released three singles on the Subway Organization label before reaching the dizzy heights of No.2 on the independent charts with their debut album ‘Kettle’. Various line-ups reappeared over the years – as, indeed, did another three LPs – but this is the classic early line-up, captured in a four-song blast session for the BBC in early 1987. As well as featuring a handful of the Somerset-based group’s best-loved songs, the session features a guest appearance from soon-to-be-legendary West Country-based PJ Harvey producer John Parish – masquerading as ‘Scott Tracey’ for a spot of percussion and backing vocals! Songsheet: Two Girls And A Treehouse, What's Your Perversion?, Oh Mr Wilson!, Love Mountain

https://www.amyrigby.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-City-Memoir-Amy-Rigby

After playing with several New York bands she began a solo career, recording several albums which had only modest sales despite enthusiastic reviews. She settled into a career of touring while raising a daughter, then formed a duo with Wreckless Eric, whom she also married. As of November 2011 they continue to tour from a base in upstate New York. She is the author of a memoir, Girl to City.

https://thejohnmckay.bandcamp.com/album/sixes-and-sevens

McKay's influence lives on; many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credit him as a major influence - Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2's The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr and even the two guitarists - The Cure's Robert Smith and Magazine's John McGeoch - who followed him in The Banshees. 

 McKay's burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero was halted when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris - at odds with Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin - fled the band just after the start of a tour supporting the group's second album, Join Hands. It was a weekly music paper scandal, later the subject of a BBC documentary, and Siouxsie's vitriol working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees b-side, "Drop Dead / Celebration". Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley's In Tape label nearly a decade later, no music was heard from McKay again. So it comes as a major surprise to learn of a pile of excellent recordings made in the years just after he left The Banshees, unheard by all but a very few, some of which feature drummer Kenny Morris, plus Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys and longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall and John's wife Linda . . . the latter three of whom are now sadly deceased.

 Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album. Brazenly genius and bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven studio tracks, carefully mastered from original tapes. It's a masterpiece which best speaks for itself. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Feel-Famous-Punk-Diaries-1977-1981/dp/1955125570

I Feel Famous: Punk Diaries 1977-1981 is a girl’s coming of age story set to the pulse of punk rock. The book tracks 17-year-old Angela Jaeger’s exciting discovery of punk music and its accompanying lifestyle in 1977. A music enthusiast living in New York’s East Village, Angela’s story unfolds chronologically, charting her late adolescence in tandem with her transition from observer of the nascent punk scene to eager participant. Gradually becoming a nightly fixture of her neighborhood’s vibrant underground rock milieu at CBGB and Max’s Kansas City, by 1978 she had continued to fulfill her punk fantasy abroad. She followed the Clash on a tour across England, finally returning home in 1979 to start her own band. Angela encountered an impressive cast of characters on her adventures, including Lydia Lunch, Joe Strummer, Billy Idol, Klaus Nomi, and Sid Vicious. Laced with humor and wide-eyed curiosity, Angela’s daily first-hand accounts take the reader on a personal journey not found in other punk histories. Additional commentary by the author provides context and further anecdotal material. The text is illustrated with the visual expressions of Angela’s enthusiasm—her drawings of punk personalities and fans, previously unseen photos and ephemera culled from her personal archive—affording a unique insight into the relationship between the music, the media, and the audience. The diaries touch on a variety of themes including identity politics, downtown NY, anglophilia, fandom, fame, and fashion. Contrasting the stark black and white of 1970s New York with the exuberant beat-up color of a decaying London and its disenchanted youth, a lost era is brought back to life through a dedicated fan’s own reportage. Creative, funny and endlessly cool, the result is an unprecedented perspective into an ever-popular moment in contemporary cultural history.

Since the 80's he has worked with many artists including Shriekback, Pigbag, Kirsty MacColl, Pete Molinari, Luc Van Acker, Virginia Astley, Big Joe Louis & His Blues Kings, Ronnie Dawson, Planet Rockers, Ray Sharpe, Eddie Angel, Neanderthals, Sonny George, Holly Golightly, Carl Sonny Leyland, Teddy Paige, Carlos & The Bandidos, Duffy Power, Jerimiah Marques. Sister Suzie. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Leigh-Bowery-Life-Times-Icon/dp/034069310X

Bowery's closest friend, Sue Tilley recounts the life of Leigh Bowery, the costume designer and performer who posed for the painter Lucien Freud. The biography follows Bowery's life from his arrival in London in 1981 to his death from AIDS in 1994 and was written with the co-operation of his friends and family.

https://pugwashtheband.bandcamp.com/

https://westhampsteadarts.com/events/

Pugwash are an Irish pop band fronted by Drimnagh-born musician Thomas Walsh. Pugwash has released six albums since its debut LP Almond Tea in 1999. Influences on the band's sound are regularly cited as including XTC, Electric Light Orchestra and Jeff Lynne, the Beach Boys, the Kinks, Honeybus and the Beatles, though Walsh dismisses the Beatles comparisons as "lazy"

http://www.johnaizlewood.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joy-Division-New-Order-Decades

The definitive illustrated story of Joy Division + New Order.

There’s no template for making it as a globally successful pop group. Some of the ingredients remain constant and beyond the music, there’s a mix’n’match selection of premature death, drugs, drink, destroyed friendships, lukewarm solo projects and bungled finances. The saga of Joy Division and New Order has all those clichés, yet both groups defined their times and overturned their musical landscape.

First, there was Joy Division. Their music reflected both the barren urban landscape of their native Manchester in the late 1970s and singer Ian Curtis’s heart of darkness. They remain forever set in aspic, not merely – if “merely” is the right word – by the suicide of their extraordinary and extraordinarily volatile singer, but by two albums as close to perfection as music can come.

From the ashes of Joy Division rose New Order, who recruited a keyboardist because of – rather than in spite of – the fact she couldn’t play. On the cusp of the British dance music boom, with what seemed like remarkable prescience, they invested in The Haçienda, a club in their native Manchester. In its pomp, the queues were around the block, but its debts would sink their heroically hopeless record label, Factory.

If Joy Division were sublime musical darkness, New Order were bathed in sunlight and their globally popular music bridged the chasm between indie and dance and inspired a generation. Having conquered the world while maintaining their credibility, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and imploded in a tsunami of recrimination, while still making fabulous music to this day. You couldn’t make it up: there’s no need to.

https://vamberator.bandcamp.com/

Boris Williams was present during the Cure's most successful period and is often cited by fans as the best drummer in the band's history.

Vamberator - From the dying embers of Shelleyan orphan (with the late Caroline Crawley), jem Tayle plucks out its heart, and along with Boris Williams of the Cure, they forge the beast that is Vamborator: a magical funky hybrid; a frisky colt on a journey to find a meaning in this age of loneliness. This is Vamberator growing in the shade where the most interesting plants grow: a rebellious beast!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Squat-City-Rocks-protopunk-beyond

This musical memoir traces the author’s life in the corrugated-iron clad ruins of West London’s Squat Land during the two years immediately prior to the Punk Explosion of ’76, playing with Strummer’s seminal garage band “The 101’ers” in the spit-and-sawdust music bars of the capital. The thrills and spills of a crazy, quirky, hand-to-mouth existence gives way to relative disenchantment with the oncoming of the Punk Uprising, which for the author represents, at least partly, a sell-out to the Machiavellian Managers, as much as the vaunted revolution in British popular culture. After an aborted venture with the iconoclastic “Tymon Dogg and the Fools”, a stint with Lydon’s metal box period “Public Image Limited”, a term with the Dantesque-dub of “Basement Five”, Dudanski’s tale relates the ups and downs of his involvement in a myriad of bands forming part of a fringe underground London scene through the late 70's and 80’s - “Bank of Dresden”, “The Raincoats”, “The Tesco Bombers”, "Vincent Units", “The Decomposers”, and his eventual move from London to Granada...Forming an integral part of the book are the illustrations by Esperanza Romero (Richard's partner) many of which were drawn "in situ" back in time...

https://www.velocitypr.co.uk/

Andy Saunders joined Creation in 1992 as a press officer and remained with the label until the end. He now runs a company called Velocity PR.

Velocity Communications has been the leading provider of corporate communications to the music industry for over 20 years. 

https://soundcloud.com/alan-childs-4

Originally from New York City, now lives in Las Vegas - worked with Julian Lennon, toured with David Bowie on the Glass Spider Tour and is currently on tour with John Waite 

https://www.john-etheridge.com/

https://softmachine.org/

John Etheridge is an English jazz fusion guitarist, composer, bandleader and educator known for his eclecticism and broad range of associations in jazz, classical, and contemporary music. He is best known for his work with Soft Machine from 1975 to 1978, 1984 and 2004 to present.

In late 1972, Etheridge joined Curved Air violinist Darryl Way's band Wolf, which went on to record three albums in the progressive rock canon for the Deram label: Canis Lupus (1973), Saturation Point (1973), and Night Music (1974). It also provided an outlet for his first compositions, at a rate of one or two tracks per album.

Following Wolf's break-up, Etheridge briefly played in the Global Village Trucking Company for a UK tour supporting Gong in early 1975, before a recommendation from fellow guitarist Allan Holdsworth led to him joining Soft Machine, now in full fusion mode having just released Bundles. Etheridge went on to record two albums with the band, Softs (1976) and Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (1978). He also played on the more recent release, British Tour '75 (2005).

With Soft Machine's activities slowing down in the late 1970s, Etheridge began to develop parallel ventures. It was at this time that he began what would become a long-term collaboration with French violinist Stéphane Grappelli, with whom he performed on numerous world tours between 1976 and 1981. The late 1970s also saw Etheridge form the band 2nd Vision,[1] with fellow Soft Machine member, violinist Ric Sanders. Though the band released an album in 1980, they struggled to achieve broader recognition in the hostile post-punk environment and broke up in 1981.

http://www.alantyler.com/

https://alantyler.bandcamp.com/merch/how-to-never-have-a-hit-the-confessions-of-an-unsuccessful-singer-songwriter

Alan Tyler is the singer of The Rockingbirds, the chaotic, swashbuckling country-rockers who galloped haphazardly into the 90s Camden indie scene, got signed, appeared on Top Of The Pops, went head to head with Nirvana at Reading ‘92, and produced, eventually, four albums of unsurpassed Americana. From DIY/punk beginnings, in 1980 Tyler arrived at the experimentalists’ haven of the London Musicians Collective and was soon playing swingy pop at Bernie Rhodes' Club Left, sharing the agitpop aspirations of Scritti Politti and other Rough Trade acts before being there at the dawn of Creation Records. At various times he’s been a choirboy, a fanzine writer, a Young Socialist, a tap dancer, a polytechnic philosopher, a cycle dispatch rider, a news-monitoring video pirate, an ill-suited civil servant, and a Deptford Creek dwelling river poet. Long after his Heavenly Recordings heyday, Tyler remains a stalwart of London’s roots music scene: a critically recognised singer-songwriter who has never had a single hit.

http://www.cloudberryrecords.com/blog/

http://www.cloudberryrecords.com/

"Indiepop label purveying the sound of jangly guitars based in Astoria, NY. Far away from the hipsters."

https://officialmerchandise.store/collections/melodic-virtue

https://www.melodicvirtue.com/collections/books/products/cardiacs

Compiled and designed by Aaron Tanner, Cardiacs: A Big Book and a Band and Whole World Window spans the group’s formative years as Cardiac Arrest to their last single, Ditzy Scene (2007). This new release features rare and unseen photos, artwork, and other ephemera that will captivate long-time fans and newcomers alike. With an introduction by Shane Embury of Napalm Death, this book is both a tribute and a comprehensive chronicle of the band’s artistry as a whole, providing a wealth of behind-the-scenes looks from the perspectives of band members past and present, alongside fans and contemporaries such as: Mike Patton (Mr. Bungle, Faith No More), Billy Gould (Faith No More), Todd Sucherman (Styx), Boff Whalley and Dunstan Bruce (Chumbawamba), Mike Keneally (The Zappa Band), Joanna Wang, Martin Atkins (Public Image Ltd), Rob Crow (Pinback), Amon Tobin, Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti), Charlie Harper (U.K. Subs), Ego Plum, Pitchshifter, Dan Mongrain (Voivod), Paul Masvidal (Cynic), J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus) and many more!

The book also contains a black vinyl 7" record of the previously unreleased track, "Aukamakic/Dead Mouse,” from the sessions of their 1979 debut, Cardiac Arrest E.P., as well as the track previously unreleased on vinyl, "Faster Than Snakes with a Ball and a Chain.” This song was originally intended for their 1999 full-length, Guns.

https://newclang.bandcamp.com/album/new-clang

Best known as one of the UK’s most successful record producers with a string of high-profile credits in his portfolio, CLIVE LANGER returns in the new year with a second album from his band project, THE CLANG GROUP.A belated follow-up to 2016’s Practice, the Group’s maiden outing for Domino Records, New Clang was recorded with Deaf School co-conspirators John Wood (aka Max Ripple) and Gregg Braden, along with former Klaxons bassist Jamie Reynolds. Written and recorded in the aftermath of Clive’s 70th birthday, New Clang is adeeply personal but incredibly vibrant album; catching Clive in reflective mode, the songs address the process of ageing and the state of the world,as well as confronting his own addiction to alcohol.“

After the pandemic, the dust settled, it felt like it was time, a new time, to play again,” he explains. “Not to revisit but to write and rehearse with my Clang Group mates. We were missing a bass player and fortuitously I met Jamie Reynolds and he filled the vacancy. The songs started to flow, we were back in the groove!”“The new album is the first sober songwriting I think I’ve done in almost 50 years,” he adds. “I’ve known and accepted that I was an addict for decades... I just didn’t do anything about it. I thought I could live with it, I still enjoyed it. Someone once asked me ‘What do you do?’ I replied ‘I drink’. Anyway, making an album sober was like making an album drunk except I wassober!!”

Packaged in spare black-on-white, suggesting a tabula rasaof sorts, New Clang’s distinctive sleeve artis the work of British artist Edwin Burdis, whom Clive met during his time with Domino Records. “Clive asked me to a studio in London to listen to his new album, still a work in progress,” recalls Edwin. “I was struck by the contrast between the upbeat music and its underlying melancholy, evoking clowns and cartoon characters and a nostalgia for London’s recent past. At the time, I had been drawing simple cartoon motifs that aligned perfectly with Clive's songs. I wanted the campaign to be cohesive—black-and-white graphics that blend humour with a sense of tragedy and sadness.”

A founder member of pioneering Liverpool art-rockers Deaf School, Langer is noted for a string of production credits (usually in collaboration with Alan Winstanley) on hits forthe likes of Dexys Midnight Runners (the no.1 single and album ‘Come On Eileen’ and Too-Rye-Ay)andDavid Bowie(‘Absolute Beginners’) plus numerous landmark releasesfor Elvis Costello, Madness, Morrissey, The Teardrop Explodes, China Crisis, Bush, They Might Be Giants, The Rockingbirds and, more recently, Fat White Family.

The band was formed in 1987 by Richie Dempsey, Phil Eaglesham, Mofungo Diggs, Steven MacDougall, and Andy MacDonald (aka "Dr. Technology".

The band wore asbestos firewear, gas masks, dubious ethnic shirts and balaclavas on stage, and blossomed despite depressing support slots with indie establishment acts such as Happy Mondays, The Wonderstuff and The Shamen. Their debut album, Five Fingers, Four Thingers, a Thumb, a Facelift and a New Identity followed in 1989.

https://vamberator.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-loneliness

https://www.facebook.com/Vamberator

From the dying embers of Shelleyan orphan (with the late Caroline Crawley), jem Tayle plucks out its heart, and along with Boris Williams of the Cure, they forge the beast that is Vamborator: a magical funky hybrid; a frisky colt on a journey to find a meaning in this age of loneliness. This is Vamberator growing in the shade where the most interesting plants grow: a rebellious beast!

https://www.nortonrecords.com/a4-peculiar-to-mr-bowie-by-john-mendelssohn/

https://johnmendelssohn.wixsite.com/jnm-creative

PECULIAR TO MR BOWIE : A Day With David Bowie. 1971 by John Mendelssohn  New photobook! Limited 48 page souvenir photobook by rock n' rollin' author/artist/photographer/journalist/bon vivant John Mendelssohn,  who  was tapped to meet up with an unknown longhair from London named David Bowie on his first trip to the US on a press junket for the  just-released Mercury album  The Man Who Sold The World.

John met up with DB in San Franscisco with his camera in tow, and started  snappin and yappin. This book includes John's original story from Rolling Stone,  his revelations and jubilations on (and of) the topic of DB, plus we have Paul Gorman writing brilliantly about the origin and influence of the man-dress, as created by bespoke tailor Mr. Fish of London... and we have the photos, one roll of film that captured  both Mr Fish man-dresses-- the luxe, flowing, floral that appeared on the UK cover of The Man Who Sold The World and the sublime blue-gray raw silk number that graced a special edition collection, presented in a newspaperly dot screen reminiscent of the Rolling Stone print methods of the day.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/44800212324

https://www.truckstophoneymoon.com/

Band members included Mike West, Sheila Seal (bass), Martin Vincent (guitar and harmonica), and Howard Goody (drums).

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

They took their name from a series of 1980s television advertisements for Del Monte fruit juices, featuring the "man from Del Monte". In these, the man would visit villages to sample their fruit juices, to see if they were good enough to be included in his company's drinks. The tagline, shouted jubilantly by a villager on approval was, "The man from Del Monte, he say 'Yes!'".

At one point they were managed by journalist Jon Ronson.

After they split up in 1990, some members continued as Surfurbia. West moved to New Orleans to pursue a solo career in the early 1990s.

The band are reforming to play gigs in the UK in February and April 2025.

https://anjahuwe.com/

Musician, artist and former television editor and producer born in Hamburg, Germany, She was the singer and only stable member in the various incarnations of German Post-Punk band X Mal Deutschland. After the band finally split up in 1990, she worked as producer and editor for German "VIVA TV". More recently she has taken up visual arts and exhibits in New York and London.

After Xmal Deutschland’s success with four albums on cult labels such as 4AD, Huwe abandoned music to pursue her visual art career. But leaving her legacy in the past was not so easy.

Invited by her long-time friend Mona Mur, Huwe reconsidered her decades-long hiatus from music and decided to join Mur in her studio in Berlin. Together, they worked for a year and a half, composing, performing and producing the tracks from scratch, which would eventually become the album ‘Codes’. Integral to the overall sound experience was the input of Manuela Rickers who added her famed signature guitar style.

https://williamddrake.wordpress.com/

https://williamddrake.bandcamp.com/

https://lakeofpuppies.bandcamp.com/album/lake-of-puppies

Musician, keyboardist, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter. He is best known as a former member of the cult English rock band Cardiacs, whom he played with for nine years between 1983 and 1992.

He has also been a member of the Sea Nymphs, North Sea Radio Orchestra, Nervous, Wood, Lake of Puppies and The Grown-Ups, as well as pursuing a career as a solo artist.

https://patrickfitzgerald.bandcamp.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Zr_w9cxtQ

Patrick Fitzgerald, singer and bass player in Kitchens of Distinction. After Kitchens he was: Fruit, one half of three fabulous duos - Lost Girls | The April Seven | Oskar's Drum - and solo he is Stephen Hero. He has been releasing records under all these guises and more since 1987.

Kitchens of Distinction (sometimes shortened colloquially to KoD) formed in Tooting, South London in 1986. The trio consist of lead singer and bassist Patrick Fitzgerald, guitarist Julian Swales and drummer Daniel Goodwin.

The band were considered part of the shoegaze subgenre and released four studio albums before disbanding in 1996. In September 2012, Patrick Fitzgerald announced Kitchens of Distinction's reunion, followed by the 2013 release of their fifth album, their first in 19 years.

https://www.nicktoczek.com/

British writer and performer working variously as poet, journalist, magician, vocalist, lyricist and radio broadcaster. He was raised in Bradford and then took a degree in Industrial Metallurgy at Birmingham University (1968–71) where he began reading and publishing his poetry. Staying on in Moseley, Birmingham, until 1977, he founded his poetry magazine The Little Word Machine, had several books and pamphlets published by small presses, co-founded Moseley Community Arts Festival, and toured with his music and poetry troupe, The Stereo Graffiti Show.

Moving back to Bradford in 1977, he co-founded the seminal music fanzine The Wool City Rocker and formed the band Ulterior Motives, in which he was lyricist and lead vocalist. Continuing to tour as a poet and to publish his writings, he also recorded songs with a variety of bands. During the early 1980s, he ran a series of weekly punk and indie gigs. Throughout the late '80s and early '90s, he ran weekly alternative cabaret clubs, usually co-organising these with fellow performer Wild Willi Beckett.

https://andyandtherattlesnakes.com/about

https://www.facebook.com/cosmo.topper

American keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter and composer, born 1959, in Los Angeles, California.

Originally Bartnof spelled with one "f" and later changed to Bartnoff. May appear on releases as Morley Bartof or CosMorley Be. Stepping Away from his previous project Cosmo Topper, Morley's new project is the aptly named "Randy Californians."

https://richardbellia.com/

Photographer Richard Bellia was there when it mattered carrying his trusted camera to capture moments in music’s vast cannon of historical importance, some which now forms his own tapestry of work in Un œil sur la musique 1980-2016 i.e. An eye on music 1980-2016.

The intro to the book says ‘’a thousand photos: breathe the same air as the musicians, feel the bass, the riffs and the silences, sixtieth of a second per sixtieth of a second.’’ With this in mind its hard not to get stuck straight in with the mammoth heavyweight volume of photos infront of you. The first striking images come from prime Punk era via Denmark Street, John Lydon looking grimacingly at the camera in the studio and on stage with PiL, Joe Strummer looking cool as holding his guitar towards the camera, Topper Headon, Mick Jones and leather clad Paul Simonon all looking equally stunning in separate shots.

English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several rocks bands including Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri. He is known for his powerful singing voice but is capable of also singing soft melodies.

In 1979, Bonnet was approached to join  Sweet to replace Brian Connolly. However, he was chosen by Ritchie Blackmore to replace Ronnie James Dio as the vocalist of hard rock band Rainbow. This was something of a musical departure for Bonnet, who had previously identified himself more as an R&B singer. Bonnet would later credit his time in Rainbow and his collaboration with Blackmore, in particular, as fundamentally changing his musical outlook to a more hard rock focus. He sang on the Down to Earth LP, which would become his most successful album. It spawned two hit singles in 1979 and 1980: "Since You Been Gone" and "All Night Long". During Bonnet's time in the band, Rainbow also headlined the inaugural Monsters of Rock festival at Donington Park, Castle Donington.

https://www.sunsofarqa.co.uk/

Suns of Arqa are a world music collective founded in 1979 by Michael Wadada. Since the group's formation, over 200 people from around the world have played and recorded with them, and in many cases these were like-minded musicians Wadada met as he travelled the world.

Pioneers of World Beat, Ambient, Downtempo and Electro-Dub, Suns of Arqa draw inspiration from around the world, interpreting indigenous, tribal and classical folk traditions. They have created an impressive legacy and earned worldwide recognition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyCcKAa35PE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayh-vWqDzBU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2ioIhmzGEI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVfK1tbeGwk&list=PLcDwkXhr5uEwekhN-p-OKHqcY_cLxvWjR

Mid 80s proto-janglers Here Comes Everybody inspired Andy Bell (Ride/Oasis) to buy his first guitar, then, mission accomplished, broke up in 1986. Singer/ guitarist Richard and drummer Pete were introduced to bassist Alan by some HCE fans at St Paul's Arts Centre later that year, and The Anyways' core trio was born. Their goal was to wear black and sound like The Velvet Underground, but luckily they got it slightly wrong and ended up sounding like themselves (while still wearing black). Jennie used to read the newspaper onstage and on one occasion shorted out the keyboard by pouring fizzy pop into it. Trudy, a volunteer mental health worker, brought a big following from the Mill Drop-In Centre, to liven up the usual anoraked indie audience. Sounds reviewed the band's second gig, The Television Personalities offered support slots at the 100 Club in Oxford St, and Notown Records put out the first single, Confession, in 1987. Overcome by the excitement of being played on John Peel (once), Jennie left, and Ali took her place. The Anyways became regular performers at the Camden Falcon, where Bobby Gillespie told them they needed more guitar solos. Two tracks (no solos) were featured on The Jericho Collection in 1988 alongside Notown label-mates Shake Appeal (lots of solos). A video of rousing revolutionary anthem Levitate the Pentagon was shown on satellite TV at 2.00am. The Anyways played in Oxford, London, and Bristol with Talulah Gosh, Razorcuts, The Mission and Ride... and on their own at a Hindu wedding in Hendon (kicking off the evening with that cheery toe-tapper, Love Gone Bad). Band mantra Welcome to Psychedelic Country became even more appropriate when Hamish and Karen joined in 1990. An album (Love Lies) was recorded by Rich Haines at Dungeon Studios, but sadly not released. A swirling cover of George Harrison's If I needed someone graced a charity album called Revolution No. 9. Despite their sterling work on the swirling, Hamish and Karen decided to go more Country than Psychedelic, and left to form Lucky and The Losers in 1991. The final incarnation of The Anyways was completed by guitar maestro Mark, who had previously acted as friend and multi-tasking facilitator to the band for some time - in celebration, chilled Frascati was served to the new line-up onstage at the Zodiac in front of hundreds of delighted Heavenly fans. The Sunshine Down EP came out on Marineville Records in 1993, by which time Richard had received stage-fright counselling from Jonathan Richman and the band had supported Bad Manners at a college ball. Wider (not inspired by Buster Bloodvessel) was featured on the Days Spent Dreaming compilation. By now people wanted to spread their musical wings, so The Anyways' Grand Finale gig was held in 1994 at the Jericho Tavern (the band's spiritual home for many years). 

https://www.tottaylor.com/

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

https://www.riflemaker.org/

London-based songwriter, composer, record producer, author and art curator. He was a songwriter, singer, performer and band member throughout the seventies, eighties and nineties as well as composer of film soundtracks and theatre scores including stage-productions for the UK's National Theatre. In 2003 he founded the Riflemaker Gallery in London with the curator Virginia Damtsa, which featured feminist, audio and performative art for galleries and museums.

guitarist and multi-instrumentalist, most known for his role as the lead singer of the San Francisco band the Flamin' Groovies, having replaced original singer Roy Loney in 1971. With Wilson on lead vocals, the band released their influential 1976 album Shake Some Action.

His song "Shake Some Action", co-written with Cyril Jordan, appeared in the 1995 movie Clueless.

He was also a long-term member of The Barracudas and in 1993 he released the mini-album Pop backed by The Sneetches and the debut solo album Random Centuries.

https://www.route-online.com/all-books/swerve

https://dubsex.net/about

Dub Sex are often cited as one of Manchester’s greatest ‘lost’ bands. Formed in the concrete landscape of 1980s Hulme, their music is appropriately raw and intense, bass-led with wiry guitar patterns swirling around the impassioned vocal style and presence of frontman Mark Hoyle. 

They came to prominence over the release of five critically acclaimed EPs and mini-albums in the late 80s. John Peel picked up on them from the outset playing a demo recording of ‘Tripwire!’ later describing the band on-air as “one of my very favourites”. Dub Sex went on to record 4 sessions for his BBC Radio show, the first of which incredibly aired 3 times in just 6 weeks during Feb/Mar 1987.  

‘Tripwire!’ saw a formal release later in 1987 on the band’s debut EP. The mini-album ‘Push’ and ‘The Underneath’ EP soon followed. Enthusiastic music press reviews helped the band’s profile rise amongst the post-punk fraternity and incendiary live shows led to several TV appearances including BBC’s influential ‘Snub TV’ and Tony Wilson’s Granada show ‘The Other Side of Midnight’.  

By early 1989 and the release of the ‘Swerve’ EP, Dub Sex had become Indie Chart regulars with ‘Swerve’ also making John Peel’s ‘Festive Fifty’ at the end of that year.  

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/pre-048-the-green-telescope-andy-kershaw-session-230186

Forerunners to The Thanes, The Green Telescope started out in 1981 as ardent ambassadors for 60s-style psychedelic sounds, soon becoming well known around Edinburgh for putting together exotic-sounding shows featuring freak-out style lights. A couple of line-up changes later, they took fresh inspiration from the British beat group era plus the US/European teen garage-punk explosion – think ‘Nuggets’ and ‘Pebbles’. There were only two singles – including the much-sought-after ‘Face In A Crowd’ seven-inch – so this, their only BBC session from 1986, is a proper one-off, capturing the spirit and sound of the times via a swirling organ, a psych heart and three totally unreleased tracks. Plus one that was recorded only 20 years later in a different version by the Thanes.

https://sweetpool.bandcamp.com/

Pigbros was an English indie band formed in Birmingham in 1984 by Nick Beales (guitar & vocals) fresh from a stint in The Nightingales and Jonathan Cooke (bass). Recruiting a teenage Fuzz Townshend - as well as projects under his own name) the band played a few gigs before augmenting the line up a few months later to include Svor Naan (saxophone & guitar) not long departed from The Cravats & DcL Locomotive.

The initial sound was a rumbling, bass-heavy groove, driven by Fuzz’s drumming and Jonathan’s unique echo bass with Nick's fierce choppy guitar playing. Added to this concoction was Svor’s mixture of sax riffing and swirling echo effects and a rather curious guitar style which could be mistaken for a balalaika. The band finally split in 1988 with members doing their own projects.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWEISh0MznA

Anarchic rockabilly beloved by the late John Peel. "If Elvis had been a Marx Brother, he would have invented Pink Peg Slax" (James Brown, NME) With a name derived from an obscure Eddie Cochran rocker, Pink Peg Slax promise rockabilly revivalism, but these veterans of the Leeds 80s music scene deliver musical subversion. Borne out of punk, the Slax line-up were original members of the Mekons, the Sisters of Mercy and The Gang of Four. Celebrated by John Peel and Andy Kershaw (4 Radio 1 sessions), the NME (3 singles and 2 albums gained 5-star reviews) and TV chef Keith Floyd (who wrote sleeve notes) Pink Peg Slax knocked out 100% original tunes with a deft rockabilly-cajun approach.

Pink Peg Slax provided the necessary knowing wink to counter the gothic scowl on the face of indie music in the mid-80s. The Smiths released Meat Is Murder; the Slax released Eat More Meat. The only band ever to offer James Cagney impressions as serious musical output on night-time Radio One, Pink Peg Slax busked their way onto C4's The Tube, annoyed legions of Goths by supporting The Mission on tour and wrote songs about drunken pigs, deaf railwaymen, murderous Frenchmen and Holsten Pils. Frontman Vince Berkeley, often at odds with the world and the time of day, once thanked an audience of fairground workers for not being "gippos", told an indifferent audience in Dusseldorf to "go away and make some chemicals" and regularly spat on, kicked or threatened audience members he felt were disrespecting the band. And yet the band's Roman Catholicism led to album reviews in The Universe, the premier UK religious weekly. After a break of 20 years to raise families and conquer the world of work, Pink Peg Slax return with their original line-up and most of their hair intact..

Stuart Robert Bruce is an English recording engineer. He was the engineer for the recording of the Band Aid's charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" on 25 November 1984.

Bruce started his career at Trevor Horn's Sarm West Studios. When Horn offered Bob Geldof and Midge Ure the studio free of charge for 24 hours to record the charity single, but was unavailable to produce it, Bruce was approached to engineer and mix what became one of the biggest selling singles ever. With many of the most famous artists of the time participating, and seven film crews in attendance, he worked straight through that day and night.

The reputation Bruce gained of being able to get a track down in difficult circumstances later led to him being chosen to engineer the Guitar Trio album by Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía and John McLaughlin.

The Passage were a post-punk band from Manchester, England, who appeared on several record labels including Object Music, Cherry Red Records, and their own label Night & Day, a subsidiary label to Virgin Records.

https://richardwitts.com/

https://bildbandberlin.com/products/joe-dilworth-everything-all-at-once-forever?srsltid=AfmBOop7qFncpNI6g3QxwWIi_P1wOGycmFmfMmgE2wP6t9pW7Egjs87v

http://joedilworth.com/

Th' Faith Healers were an English indie rock band who were originally active between 1990 and 1994. They recorded multiple EPs and singles along with two full LPs

https://www.facebook.com/flowersinthedustbinofficial/?locale=en_GB

http://anarchoscene.blogspot.com/2011/07/flowers-in-dustbin.html

https://www.reddkrossfilm.com/

https://reddkross.com/

From inventing Beach Punk to influencing the Grunge and Hair Metal movements, Redd Kross have maintained the highest level of musical integrity, originality and quality for over forty years.

https://alanclayson.com/

https://alanclayson.bandcamp.com/album/ancient-and-modern-highlights-of-half-a-century-2

Singer-songwriter, author and music journalist. He gained popularity in the late 1970s as leader of the band Clayson and the Argonauts. In addition to contributing to publications such as Record Collector, Mojo and Folk Roots, he subsequently established himself as a prolific writer of music biographies. Among his many books are Backbeat, which details the Beatles' early career in Germany, Ringo Starr: Straight Man or Joker?

https://bigstirrecords.com/the-armoires

https://thearmoires.bandcamp.com/

The new record from the Burbank, CA indie pop quintet represents both a fresh start and the distillation of the potential inherent in their unique sound – somewhere between the sunshine pop of the '60s, the college rock jangle of the '80s and the Sarah Records/C86 chamber pop aesthetic of the '90s – and a lyrical approach that's always felt untethered to any one era or place. They've even put a name to the soundscape they inhabit: Octoberland, both the title of their forthcoming album (appropriately due on October 11, 2024) and a destination frequently referenced in its songs.

https://www.leahkardos.com/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kate-Bushs-Hounds-Love-33/dp/B0CYP75PF3

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1068530812

https://beerjacket.bandcamp.com/

Beerjacket is Scottish singer/songwriter, Peter Kelly, who has opened for The National, St Vincent, Kristin Hersh & Frightened Rabbit. In 2018, Scottish Fiction released album/book of songs & short stories, Silver Cords, leading to an appearance at Edinburgh International Book Festival, a sold-out show with Cairn String Quartet at Celtic Connections, & radio play from BBC Radio 6 Music and KEXP.

https://www.kazukohohki.com/

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/frank-chickens?srsltid=AfmBOooDDNlbGuF-rplim_W0Q1z4FFliWJ_ehN3sGCtlLFB0W4kpAGNM

Frank Chickens are a Japanese musical group based in London, who have performed songs mainly in English since 1982.

They were nominated for the 1984 Edinburgh Comedy Award for their performance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In the same year, their single "Blue Canary" was number 42 in BBC DJ John Peel's Festive Fifty, a poll of his listeners' favourite tracks of the year. The band recorded 28 songs over five sessions for Peel between 1983 and 1989.

In 1989 they hosted a television chat show on Channel 4 entitled Kazuko's Karaoke Klub.

One of the founders of the group, Kazuko Hohki performs as a theatre artist and performance artist. She also sang with the group Kahondo Style who released 'My Heart’s In Motion' (1985) and 'Green Tea and Crocodiles' (1987). She is married to record producer Grant Showbiz.

http://jawbonepress.com/jazz-revolutionary/

Jazz Revolutionary is the first full biography of Eric Dolphy, passionately tracing his creative life from Los Angeles clubs of the late 1940s and 50s, to New York in the early 1960s, and on to Paris, where sixty years ago he died from the complications of undiagnosed diabetes. It presents an engaging examination of this innovative musician and composer, from his family background to posthumous memorials, and provides insight into his recordings both as sideman and leader.

The Passage were a post-punk band from Manchester, England, who appeared on several record labels including Object Music, Cherry Red Records, and their own label Night & Day, a subsidiary label to Virgin Records.

https://ra.co/dj/joemckechnie/biography

Vocalist and rhythm guitarist originally from Texas. Kristi Callan has performed with Wednesday Week, David Gray, Wondermints, Cruzados, Dave Davies, The Ventures, Big Soul, Lucky, The Roswell Sisters and others. 

Founders of the band were the sisters Kristi and Kelly Callan—daughters of actress K Callan. The sisters formed their first group, The Undeclared, in 1979. The duo evolved into a trio, Goat Deity, in 1980, when they were joined by Steve Wynn. Wynn left to concentrate on his other band, The Dream Syndicate, and Kjehl Johansen (of The Urinals) joined on bass guitar, with the band name changing again to Narrow Adventure. With David Provost replacing Johansen in 1983, the band became Wednesday Week (named after the Undertones song), and they released their debut EP, Betsy's House, later that year.[1][2] Further lineup changes followed, with Provost being replaced by Heidi Rodewald at the end of 1983, and Tom Alford joining on lead guitar in early 1984. In 1985, David Nolte (of The Last) replaced Alford, giving the band its most stable lineup.

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.  

https://pennyslinger.com/

British-born American artist and author based in California. As an artist, she has worked in different mediums, including photography, film and sculpture. Her work has been described as being in the genres of surrealism and feminist surrealism. Her work explores the nature of the self, the feminine and the erotic

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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/

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.

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. 

https://orkestargrupapecalbari.bandcamp.com/?fbclid=IwY2xjawE9yq5leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZDm_3cVz11MGq5Cl4V4A9WTzbFiU5-ifB_lYJCBT3RfOJPnN8wUwgt5tA_aem_avFXoze_4IGrhh50EjqT_Q

Blowzabella was formed in Whitechapel, London in 1978 by original members Bill O'Toole, Jon Swayne, Chris Gunstone,Dave Armitage and Juan Wijngaard. When the band first formed, Swayne, O'Toole, and Armitage were studying woodwind instrument making at the London College of Furniture, while Sam Palmer (joined Blowzabella in May 1979) had recently finished the course and had already began a career making hurdy-gurdies.

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".

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.

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)

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

Peter Crowley, the music curator of Max's Kansas City, tells it like it is in his first volume of stories. A teenage runaway from Vermont who has seen it all from the West Village in the 1960s to the color sound of California to managing and booking bands during the punk explosion of the 1970s. Like a beer for a breakfast, a reflection on what it was really like to be there (you know where). From someone who was.

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.

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. 

https://www.marchvioletsband.com/

https://marchvioletsband.bandcamp.com/album/crocodile-promises

Crocodile Promises, the all new album from legendary post-punk/goth rock act The March Violets builds upon the band's 40 year legacy. Founding members Rosie Garland and Tom Ashton are now joined by bassist Mat Thorpe. Crocodile Promises finds the March Violets in top form, creating a reinvigorated take on it's trademark boundary-shredding goth-tinged post punk.

http://backbeatbooks.com/books/9781617136870

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Infinite-Dreams-Life-Alan-Vega/dp/149307248X

Winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Award for Excellence in Writing and named in Billboard's top 10 Music books of 2018 for her book, "The Girl in the Back," Laura is pursuing her second love, writing. Her first love, her daughters, bring her eternal sunshine everyday. Her second book, "I am Michael Alago," about the unique and remarkable person who brought Metallica to the world as well as Nina Simone's last album, was released in 2020 on Backbeat Books.

Just completed a biography of Alan Vega, front man for the band, Suicide, entitled "Infinite Dreams: The Life of Alan Vega" - released August 2024, while she finishes her novel based on true events entitled "A Finished Noise".

http://backbeatbooks.com/books/9781493072484

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Infinite-Dreams-Life-Alan-Vega/dp/149307248X

https://lizlamere.bandcamp.com/album/one-never-knows

Liz Lamere was Alan Vega’s wife and long-term creative collaborator. They met in 1985 when she was a corporate lawyer at a major Wall Street firm and played drums in a punk band, SSNUB. She co-wrote, co-produced, and recorded numerous songs with Vega. Now, she spearheads the ongoing release of recordings from the “Vega Vault,” a vast library of unreleased albums, songs, and sound recordings. She oversees the Vega archives of works on paper, extensive writings of lyrics, poetry and fine art Vega created until his passing in 2016.Lamere has recorded two solo albums "Keep it Alive" and "One Never Knows" on In the Red Records. She has toured internationally with Alan Vega and as a solo artist.

https://simonfisherturner.bandcamp.com/album/instability-of-the-signal

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

English musician, songwriter, composer, producer and actor. After portraying Ned East in the 1971 BBC TV adaptation of Tom Brown's Schooldays and roles in films such as The Big Sleep (1978), Turner rose to fame as a teenage star in Britain when his mentor, Jonathan King, released Turner's eponymous first album on UK Records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXWqfxj-mlU

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

https://www.happilife.uk/about

We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It!!, often shortened to Fuzzbox, are a British alternative rock group. Formed in Birmingham in 1985, the all-female quartet originally consisted of Vix (Vickie Perks), Magz (Maggie Dunne), Jo Dunne and Tina O'Neill. The band's name was shortened to Fuzzbox for the US release of their debut studio album.

When Blab Happy split up, singer/guitarist Mick McCarthy and bassist Tony Owen recruited John Waddington to form Perfume, initially releasing records on their own "Aromasound" label. Beginning with scented limited edition vinyl, they enjoyed a string of Indie Top 10 hits. Their first release was "Yoga/Perfume” in December 1993, the white label was played repeatedly on Radio 1 by Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley. Second single "Young/Anointed” (which was also perfume-scented) appeared in April 1994. Third single "Lover" was picked up on by BBC Radio One DJ's Steve Lamacq and Jo Wiley (the latter getting the band in to record a session for her show).

https://www.stevewynn.net/

https://stevewynn1.bandcamp.com/merch

http://jawbonepress.com/i-wouldnt-say-it-if-it-wasnt-true/

Founding member of The Dream Syndicate, whose debut album, The Days Of Wine And Roses, is widely regarded as a cornerstone of the indie/alternative rock scene of the 1980s. He has also enjoyed a prolific solo career, touring the world on a regular basis and performing and recording in groups such as Danny & Dusty, Gutterball, and The Baseball Project (also featuring REM founders Mike Mills and Peter Buck). He scored two Norwegian hit TV shows, Dag and Exit, and his songs have been covered by Luna, Yo La Tengo, and Concrete Blonde, among others. I Wouldn’t Say It If It Wasn’t True is his first book.

https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/tiffany-murray/my-family-and-other-rock-stars/9780349727530/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Family-Other-Rock-Stars-groundbreaking/dp/0349727538

It’s the late 1970s and Tiff lives with her mum, Joan, at Rockfield, the iconic recording studios. This place of legend, where some of the most famous rock albums of all time were recorded, is the background to a freewheeling, ever-changing whirlwind of a childhood. Tiff’s days are spent running around the farm, making friends with local wildlife and helping out with the endless array of dishes her mum creates to keep the bands fed. She’s looking for a dog, she’s looking for a father; but the one constant throughout is her and Joan, building an unconventional family in the most unlikely of locations. My Family and Other Rock Stars is Tiff’s remarkable, truly unique story of growing up in a rural idyll, of Cordon Bleu cookery and of a childhood where the chances of bumping into Freddie Mercury playing piano, or a group of Hell’s Angels turning up to record for Lemmy, or even the hope of David Bowie appearing, were as normal as hopscotch and homework.

https://josepharthur.com/

https://westhampsteadarts.com/

Arthur was discovered by Peter Gabriel in the mid-1990s, and signed to Gabriel's Real World label as the first North American artist on the label's roster. Arthur released his debut album, Big City Secrets (1997), and follow-up, Come to Where I'm From (2000), on Real World before signing with various independent labels between 2002 and 2006. He established his own record label, Lonely Astronaut Records, in 2006, and released two studio albums, Let's Just Be (2007) and Temporary People (2008) with backing band The Lonely Astronauts.

https://michaelbeinhorn.com/

Michael Beinhorn started out as a musician in the early 1980's New York downtown scene where he played keyboards and handled electronics and tapes; he is probably best known for being a full member of Bill Laswell's collective Material (as musician, arranger and producer). In the mid 80's, he moved into engineering and producing and has since made himself a name as a big-time, Grammy-winning rock producer.

Worked with artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Hole etc. Began his career in the late 1970s, playing synth and guitar in the new wave band Material. His big mainstream break came in 1989 when he produced the Red Hot Chili Peppers' hit album Mother's Milk, which contained the smash single Higher Ground.

The Stars Of Heaven were formed in 1983 by Stephen Ryan (vocals, guitar), Stan Erraught (guitar, formerly of The Peridots), Peter O'Sullivan (bass guitar), and Bernard Walsh (drums).They were strongly influenced by The Byrds and Gram Parsons, even being labelled "Ireland's answer to The Byrds, Gram Parsons and the Velvet Underground all in one package". After a début single on the Hotwire label ("Clothes of Pride") which received airplay from John Peel, they were signed by Rough Trade, who issued the album Sacred Heart Hotel in 1986, which reached number 11 on the UK Independent Chart. Peel's patronage continued throughout their career, with the band recording four sessions for his BBC Radio 1 show, the first of which was included on Sacred Heart Hotel. They also appeared on RTÉ television. They released a further single and EP ("Never Saw You"/The Holyhead EP) which was a top five hit on the independent chart, and in 1988, Rough Trade released their second and final album, Speak Slowly, which peaked at number 6. Speak Slowly included the track Lights Of Tetouan, although this was not released as a single. The song is written by the band's singer, Stephen Ryan, about growing up on the south coast of Spain from where he could see the Moroccan town of Tetouan. Lights Of Tetouan was covered by Everything But the Girl on their 1994 EP Rollercoaster. Along with the original, as this version is a B-side, it is not widely known/available. However, it is available for listening/viewing online.

The band split up shortly after the release of Speak Slowly with Ryan going on to form a new band, The Revenants, along with former members of The Would-Be's and Something Happens, who released two albums (Horse of a Different Colour and Septober Nowonder) in 1993 and 1995, respectively.