C86 Show - Indie Pop

The Loft & The Weather Prophets special with Pete Astor in conversation with David Eastaugh

Pete Astor was born in England, in 1960.The Loft formed in 1983, the band signing to Creation Records and releasing two singles, "Why Does the Rain" and "Up the Hill and Down the Slope". The band split at the Hammersmith Palais in 1985. Astor then formed The Weather Prophets, continuing to be managed by Creation founder, Alan McGee, and signing to his short-lived Elevation label under the auspice of WEA4 releasing the album Mayflower in 1987. Returning to Creation for Judges, Juries and Horsemen, the band split in 1989.

Astor then embarked on a solo career with the albums Submarine (1990) and Zoo (1991) on Creation. Finding success in France, Astor moved to the Danceteria label to release Paradise (1992, as Peter Astor and the Holy Road), and God and Other Stories in 1992.

After becoming disillusioned with the music business, he disappeared from view for a number of years, returning in the late 1990s with his Ellis Island Sound and The Wisdom of Harry projects, both releasing music on 7", 12" and 10"^[5][6] for a variety of emerging independent labels such as Static Caravan Recordings,Wurlitzer Jukebox and Astor's own label, Faux Lux. The Wisdom of Harry eventually signed to Matador Records, while Ellis Island Sound, Astor's collaboration with David Sheppard, signed with Heavenly Recordings.

In 2005, Astor released Hal's Eggs, a solo album including radical reworkings of folk standards on Static Caravan Recordings. At around the same time, Cherry Red released compilation albums featuring his work: The Weather Prophets' Blues Skies and Freerides (The Best Of, 1986–1989),Injury Time (Solo 89–93), a selection of solo work from his two Creation and Danceteria albums.

The label also re-issued The Loft's Once More Round the Fair, a collection of their Creation recordings and session tracks. As well as reforming The Loft at this time for a limited number of shows, Astor continued to write, perform and release records with Ellis Island Sound on the Peace Frog label. The solo album, Songbox was released on the Second Language label in 2011, featuring an extra disc of cover versions of the albums' songs by Let's Wrestle, The Raincoats, Darren Hayman, Comet Gain, The Proper Ornaments, Mathew Sawyer, Dollboy and Piano Magic.

He works as senior lecturer at the University of Westminster, where he teaches, researches and writes about music; in 2014, he published his study of Richard Hell and the Voidoids' Blank Generation, as part of Bloomsbury's 33⅓ series.

At the beginning of 2015, Astor signed to Fortuna Pop, releasing the single "Mr Music", followed by an album, Spilt Milk, recorded with James Hoare of Ultimate Painting, Proper Ornaments, and Veronica Falls.

Died Pretty special with Brett Myers with David Eastaugh

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

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

Mansun special with Paul Draper in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Paul Draper returned home to study at Wrexham Art College before forming Mansun with bassist Stove King, and guitarist Dominic Chad. The band signed to Parlophone and released three studio albums before splitting in 2003 whilst recording their fourth. In 2004, Draper compiled Mansun's aborted fourth album recordings for release in the Kleptomania box set.

On 16 May 2006, Draper announced that he had been diagnosed with cancer during fourth album sessions at Rockfield Studios. After a blister appeared on his left hand middle finger that kept bleeding, Draper visited a local doctor who took a sample of tissue from the finger. He was informed that it was a malignant tumour known as a "Bowenoid Malignancy", and responded positively to five cycles of chemotherapy. However, he was unable to play for several months after the tumour was cut out and his finger swelled up following treatment.

Rory McLeod in conversation with David Eastaugh

Rory McLeod (born 1957) is a British folk singer-songwriter from London. He grew up in Camberwell before moving to Northolt and later West Kilburn. His career has included being a fire eater and circus clown^[3] and his performances include storytelling in the tradition of the traveling minstrel or troubadour, and playing a wide range of instrumentsincluding guitar, harmonica, trombone and his personally-made stomp box. WoMAD have said: "With Rory McLeod, you get the music of the world in one suitcase.[...] You can hear flamenco, calypso, blues and Celtic influences in his music, all wrapped together in an inimitable style". He has recorded and toured with (then) fellow Cooking Vinyl artist Michelle Shocked.

He also performed on Puddle Dive, the 1993 album by fellow singer-songwriter, Ani DiFranco. In 1996, McLeod's song Invoking the Spirits, which was inspired by time he spent in Zimbabwe, was a BBC Radio 4 "pick of the week". McLeod played the theme tune for the TV animation series, Creature Comforts.Martin Newell has described McLeod as "a feral folk musician of enormous talent", and writing in The Guardian Robin Denselow called him a "rousing harmonica player and guitarist".

In 2002, McLeod was the winner of the Best Live Act title at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

McLeod played harmonica on Nizlopi's 2008 album, Make It Happen.

The Go-Betweens special Robert Vickers in conversation with David Eastaugh

The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout its existence. Drummer Lindy Morrison joined the band in 1980, and its lineup would later expand to include bass guitarist Robert Vickers and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Brown. Vickers was replaced by John Willsteed in 1987, and the quintet lineup remained in place until the band split two years later. Forster and McLennan reformed the band in 2000 with a new lineup that did not include any previous personnel aside from them. McLennan died on 6 May 2006 of a heart attack and The Go-Betweens disbanded again. In 2010, a toll bridge in their native Brisbane was renamed the Go Between Bridge after them.

In 1988, "Streets of Your Town", the first single from 16 Lovers Lane, entered the Top 100 on both the Kent Music Report chart in Australia and the UK Singles Chart in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single "Was There Anything I Could Do?" was a No. 16 hit on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States. In May 2001, "Cattle and Cane", from 1983's Before Hollywood, was selected by Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time. In 2008, 16 Lovers Lane was highlighted on Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) TV's The Great Australian Albums series.

My Life Story with Jake Shillingford in conversation with David Eastaugh

My Life Story are an English pop group formed in London in 1993. The group's success peaked in the mid to late 1990s as part of the Britpop era. Fronted by singer/songwriter Jake Shillingford, the group inherited their name from an earlier group in which Shillingford had appeared. A cross between a pop group and a chamber orchestra, the band's sound was heavily oriented toward orchestral instruments. My Life Story's fourth studio album World Citizen was released in September 2019.

Cud special with William Potter with David Eastaugh

Cud are a British indie rock band formed in Leeds, England in 1987. The original line up included vocalist Carl Puttnam, guitarist/keyboardist Mike Dunphy, bassist William Potter, and drummer Steve Goodwin.

In June 1987 they recorded a Peel Session and the band signed with Reception Records who released their first single "Mind the Gap". Two further 12" EPs followed in 1988 on Nightshift and Ediesta Records. Following extensive touring and positive press the band signed to Imaginary Records in 1989. Following three albums (one of which Elvis Belt was a compilation of previously released singles) on Imaginary the band signed with A&M Records in 1991. Although two singles broke into the UK Top 40 and they released two further LPs the band's fortunes declined and the band broke up in early 1995.

The band reformed in 2006 to support the release of a greatest hits album with Felix Frey replacing Dunphy on guitar. When guitarist Mike Dunphy later rejoined, drummer Steve Goodwin decided to stop touring and was replaced by Gogs Byrn. The band continue to tour and attend Indie rock festivals such as the Shiiine On weekender.

Bauhaus special with David J Haskins in conversation with David Eastaugh

The Bodines special with John Rowland

The Bodines, consisting of Mike Ryan, Paul Brotherton, Tim Burtonwood and Paul Lilley, emerged from Glossop, Derbyshire, England, in 1985. Fronted by the floppy-fringed Ryan, they became one of the better-known outfits from a crop of jangly indie bands that sprang up around that time. They made their debut with "God Bless", an early release by Creation Records. Shortly afterwards, Lilley was replaced on drums by John Rowland. Two further singles followed; their second, "Therese", was included on the C86 compilation album. Like their contemporaries Primal Scream, The Mighty Lemon Drops and The Weather Prophets, The Bodines went on to sign up with a major label with great hopes of transferring their success to the mainstream charts. The group joined Magnet Records, where a remix of "Therese" became their major label debut.

In July 1986, The Bodines participated in the Festival of the Tenth Summer. The Bodines's debut album, Played (produced by Ian Broudie, later to enjoy success as a recording artist as the Lightning Seeds) scraped into No. 94 in the UK Albums Chart, in the summer of 1987. None of the Bodines' singles got into the UK Singles Chart. Under pressure for failing to deliver the hit record that their major label backers required, the Bodines split up, albeit temporarily. Rowland went on to play with The Rainkings.

In 1989, a reformed line-up of Ryan, Brotherton, new bassist Ian Watson, and new drummer Spencer Birtwistle released the single "Decide" on Manchester's Play Hard label and contributed a further new track to the same label's Hand to Mouth compilation. A couple of years later, Ryan reappeared with a new band called Medalark Eleven (misnamed after Harlem Globetrotters' Meadowlark Lemon), assisted by Gareth Thomas on bass and Adrian Donohue on drums. Reunited with Creation Records, they released a couple of singles ahead of the album Shaped Up, Shipped Out.

On 23 August 2010, The Bodines debut album Played was reissued with seven bonus tracks on the Cherry Red label.

Sarah Records special with Michael White with David Eastaugh

From 1987 to 1995, Bristol, England s Sarah Records was a modest underground success and, for the most part, a critical laughingstock in its native country sneeringly dismissed as the sad, final repository for a fringe style of music (variously referred to as indie-pop, C86, cutie and twee ) whose moment had passed. Yet now, more than 20 years after its founders symbolically destroyed it, Sarah is among the most passionately fetishized record labels of all time. Its rare releases command hundreds of dollars, devotees around the world hungrily seek out any information they can find about its poorly documented history, and young musicians some of them not yet born when Sarah shut down claim its bands (such as Blueboy, the Field Mice, Heavenly, and the Wake) as major influences.

Featuring dozens of exclusive interviews with the music-makers, producers, writers and assorted eyewitnesses who played a part in Sarah s eight-year odyssey, Popkiss: The Life and Afterlife of Sarah Records is the first authorised biography of an unlikely cult legend.

The Railway Children with Gary Newby in conversation with David Eastaugh

Factory Records recorded their debut single "A Gentle Sound" in 1986, followed by their first album, Reunion Wilderness in 1987, which topped the UK Indie Chart. They left Factory shortly afterwards and were signed to Virgin Records.

1988 saw the release of their second album, Recurrence, on Virgin Records, and support tours with R.E.M. in Europe (Work Tour) and The Sugarcubes in the US. A national chart hit eluded them with singles "In the Meantime", "Somewhere South" and "Over and Over". In 1990, they released Native Place, an album that saw the band take a more pop oriented direction, with keyboard textures coming more to the fore than previously. "Every Beat of the Heart" became a Top 40 hit in the UK with a peak at No. 24, and the song became a No. 1 hit on the newly founded Modern Rock Tracks chart in the U.S.

The band parted with Virgin Records in 1992, and broke up soon after. Keegan later had a spell in the Wigan-based folk rock band The Tansads, The Crash Band, and The Ultras, while Hull and Bateman left music for good.

Newby continued solo, and has since released several albums as The Railway Children: Dream Arcade (1997, Ether Records), Gentle Sound (2002, Ether Records) and two collections of rare recordings: Rarities #1 in 2007 and Rarities #2 in 2010; the latter available only by download from his official site (listed below). Newby spent several years in Japan from 2002 onwards, writing/arranging music and lyrics for several major Japanese artists, including Anna Tsuchiya, Every Little Thing, V6, Detroit Metal City, Sailor Moon and Yoshikuni Douchin.

In 2016, the original line up of Newby, Keegan, Hull and Bateman began rehearsing together and went on to play several times, including the NYC Popfest, the Shiiine On Weekender and concerts in Manchester, Berlin and London.

L7 special with Donita Sparks in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Shoen Knife special with Naoko Yamano in conversation with David Eastaugh

Shonen Knife is an alternative rock band formed in Osaka, in 1981. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, popbands, The Beach Boys, and early punk rock bands, such as the Ramones, the trio crafts stripped-down songs with simple, yet uncoventional lyrics sung both in Japanese and English.

Despite their pop-oriented nature, the trio maintains a distinctly underground garage rock sound rooted in edgy instrumentation and D.I.Y. aesthetics, which over the course of their long career has earned them a solid, worldwide cult following and made avid fans out of seminal 1990s alternative rock bands such as Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Redd Kross.

The band has been credited with making "the international pop underground more international" by "opening it up to bands from Japan". They have also performed as a Ramones tribute band under the name The Osaka Ramones.

is an alternative rock band formed in Osaka, in 1981. Heavily influenced by 1960s girl groups, popbands, The Beach Boys, and early punk rock bands, such as the Ramones, the trio crafts stripped-down songs with simple, yet uncoventional lyrics sung both in Japanese and English.

Despite their pop-oriented nature, the trio maintains a distinctly underground garage rock sound rooted in edgy instrumentation and D.I.Y. aesthetics, which over the course of their long career has earned them a solid, worldwide cult following and made avid fans out of seminal 1990s alternative rock bands such as Sonic Youth, Nirvana, and Redd Kross. The band has been credited with making "the international pop underground more international" by "opening it up to bands from Japan". They have also performed as a Ramones tribute band under the name The Osaka Ramones.

David Bowie special with Woody Woodmansey in conversation with David Eastaugh

Wire special with Colin Newman in conversation with David Eastaugh

Stump special with Kev Hopper in conversation with David Eastaugh

Stump were an Anglo-Irish indie/experimental/rock group featuring former Microdisney membersMick Lynch (vocals) and Rob McKahey (drums), along with Kev Hopper (bass) and Chris Salmon (guitar). They formed in London in 1983. The original vocalist was Nick Hobbs, who left early on to form The Shrubs.

Their first release was a four track EP Mud on a Colon issued in 1986 through the Ron Johnson record label. This was followed by a self released mini album Quirk Out produced by Hugh Jones which included their cult hit "Buffalo". "Buffalo" appeared on NME's influential C86 compilation and a video was made by Channel 4which was shown on The Tube. Continuous UK touring, regular coverage in the UK music press - including cover features in both the NME and Melody Maker, and a return to The Tube for a live performance of "Tupperware Stripper", ensured that Quirk Out stayed in the UK Indie Charts for 26 weeks, peaking at number 2. A session for the John Peel radio show recorded in February 1986 was released as a Peel Session EP on Strange Fruit Records in 1987. Following these successes the band were signed to Ensign Records.

Their only full-length release, A Fierce Pancake (named after a term meaning 'deep conundrum' in The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien) released in 1988 was recorded in Berlin and London produced by Holger Hiller with assistance from Stephen Street and was mixed by Hugh Jones after an unsuccessful session with US producer John Robie. The recording process was, however, often fraught with arguments amongst the band as to the sound and direction of the album.^[4] However, the group were pleased with the finished results and three singles were released from the album: "Chaos", "Charlton Heston" (which reached number 72 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1988 and therefore became their only national chart success) and a re-released "Buffalo" (the latter only featuring on the US edition of the album). The album did not bring the crossover success the label had hoped for and, after recording a few b-sides and some demos, they split up at the end of the year.

Stump's persistent and growing cult following prompted the release of A Fierce Pancake on iTunes; Hopper had previously reported on his website that their entire catalogue had been out of print since 1990. The "Pancake" download prompted the release of a 3-CD set containing Mud on a Colon, Quirk Out and A Fierce Pancake as well as the group's post-"Pancake" b-sides and demos and their compilation appearance, "Big End". This was released by Sanctuary Records in 2008 under the title The Complete Anthology.

Mick Lynch died in December 2015.

Barclay James Harvest special with John Lees talking to David Eastaugh 

You Say You Want a Revolution? - exhibition special - with Joe Boyd talking to David Eastaugh

You Say You Want a Revolution? - exhibition special - with Geoffrey Marsh talking to David Eastaugh

You Say You Want a Revolution? - the exhibition at the V&A -  with Barry Miles talking the 60s/counterculture with David Eastaugh