C86 Show - Indie Pop

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

Vernon & Irene Castle special with Eve Golden talking about the legendary couple with David Eastaugh

Sarah Records special with Lucy Dawkins talking about the film My Secret World, with David Eastaugh 

Penny Arcade in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Lucy Porter in conversation with David Eastaugh

Judy Tzuke in conversation with David Eastaugh

Captain Beefheart special with John Drumbo French in conversation with David Eastaugh

Sananda Maitreya in conversation with David Eastaugh

ABC special with Martin Fry with David Eastaugh