C86 Show - Indie Pop

Geoff Taylor in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/prelp-8-age-of-chance-bbc-sessions-85-87

Age of Chance were a British alternative rock-dance crossover band from Leeds, England, active from 1983 to 1991. They were perhaps most known for their mutant metallic cover of Prince's "Kiss" which topped the UK Indie Chart in 1986, and peaked at No. 50 on the UK Singles Chart in January the following year. Despite signing for major label Virgin, and being favourites with the UK music press, they never enjoyed a major hit in the UK, although "Don't Get Mad… Get Even" reached No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play chart

Musically they were a mixture of punk, hip hop, industrial rock and Northern soul. Steven E provided a distinctive strident nasal vocal style, often employing a megaphone. Striking cover art visuals were a collaboration between the group and The Designers Republic, who would go on to graphic design fame. They were the first band to be remixed by Public Enemy - a.k.a. Hank Shocklee and Carl Ryder, who remixed "Take It" from 1000 Years of Trouble (1988).

Tim Blake in conversation with David Eastaugh 

http://moonweed.free.fr/

English keyboardist, vocalist, and composer, who is known for working with Gong, Hawkwind and his synthesizer and light performances as Crystal Machine, with the French Light artist Patrice Warrener.

Blake met Daevid Allen at Marquee Studios, where the latter was recording his first solo album Banana Moon in 1971. At the end of the sessions, Allen had invited Blake to be Gong's sound mixer, but Blake preferred to work on his own music. He eventually joined Gong full-time in September 1972 as the band's synthesizer player, being among the first to bring the synthesizer out of the studio and on to the stage.

He appears on all three albums of the Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy; Flying Teapot, Angel's Egg, and You, in fact Blake is the only composer, apart from the Allen/Smyth partnership, to have written for all three of the "Trilogy" Albums, making him one of Gong's most important composers. He left Gong in early 1975.

Jim Shepherd in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://preciousrecordingsoflondon.bandcamp.com/album/prelp-12-be-careful-what-you-wish-for

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

Alongside his pals, Jasmine Minks front man Jim Shepherd has produced his masterpiece.

Okay, I guess we might have to call them a 'Creation supergroup' because the Pillars of Creation features a band of mainly former label stalwarts who bring Shepherd’s epic to life.

Dave Morgan from the Loft (and many others!) is on drumming, mixing and production duties, for example, with Frank Sweeney and Arash Torabi from the June Brides also on the team. (OK, the June Brides never released a record on Creation but let’s not quibble here … and Frank is indeed on any number of records by the likes of Primal Scream and Felt etc). Ruth Tidmarsh and Innes Mackintosh complete the crew.

They’ve produced a brilliantly memorable album – not far off a concept album of sorts, albeit with the title track as the lead digital single (released on Friday). It’s distinctive and unique and you won’t want to miss it.

Includes unlimited streaming of PRELP 12: Be Careful What You Wish For via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Phillip Johnston in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://phillipjohnston.com/

American saxophonist, composer, and author. He came to prominence in the 1980s as co-founder of The Microscopic Septet and went on to write extensively for films, particularly new scores for classic silent films from the early 20th Century.

Tracey Belland in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://www.voiceofthebeehive.com/

The group featured Californian lead vocalist sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland (daughters of The Four Preps singer Bruce Belland). They teamed with British musicians Mike Jones, Martin Brett, and Daniel Woodgate – a former member of Madness. The band took their name from the Greek meaning of the name Melissa, meaning honey bee.