This is the thread where we reminisce over not particularly good Evening Session bands from the late 90s

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Cay! Llama Farmers! Frigid Vinegar! Astrid! Darkstar! Bellatrix! Kent! Monk and Canatella! Hedrock Valley Beats!

And so on and so forth.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

Are you making these up, or has my memory just gone. 'Molly Halfhead'. 'BMX Bandits'. 'Ed Ball'. 'Oasis'.

― NERQ (Enrique), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:11 (9 years ago) Permalink

We didn't have any of this fancy-dan "Zane Lowe" in our days.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

ed ball

you CANNOT diss the TIMES. they were fab. and because of that you can't diss ed ball (plus he is nicest grooviest person i've met so far).

― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 13:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

Scary parallel universe alert!

― Jeff W (zebedee), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

Dark Star were fucking great!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:13 (9 years ago) Permalink

i love how ILM is so anxious to get to the late '90s revival already! (i do love it!)

― jody (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:13 (9 years ago) Permalink

Can we diss records that happen to have the name 'Ed Ball' on the sleeve though?

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:14 (9 years ago) Permalink

the times are fab.

― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 13:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

Tico, pourquoi?

― NERQ (Enrique), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:15 (9 years ago) Permalink

i bought an 18 wheeler record on import once.

faux pas.

BUT PERFECT FOR CALUM'S FESTIVAL!!! second stage maybe???

― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 13:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oslo!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

i own records by most of these bands. at least they weren't britpop

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Ooooh, loved Cay. 'better than myself'. and Uresei Yatsura - LOVED 'Slain By Elf'... and Astrid had some great songs, aye.

― stevie (stevie), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

bellatrix were great and their blonde guitarist was prittypritty

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Serum!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

(wasn't one of Serum a member of the Portugese royal family, or am I forgetting stuff badly?)

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:25 (9 years ago) Permalink

Tiger!

― Robert Moore (treble), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:26 (9 years ago) Permalink

a lot of these bands had one killer song - tiger's "race" is still a stunner after all this time.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:27 (9 years ago) Permalink

The Merchant of Menace!

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:27 (9 years ago) Permalink

Yeah, what ESOJ said. And Cay were great - whatever happened to etc etc

Sgt. Rock
Mo-ho-bish-o-pi
Woodbine
Experimental Pop Band

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:39 (9 years ago) Permalink

Wales was quite big for a while there..

― the surface noise (electricsound), Friday, 20 February 2004 13:41 (9 years ago) Permalink

Sorry, but 18 Wheeler were great. OK, so everyone only remembers them for two reasons:

1) The band Alan McGee was going to see when he saw Oasis at King Tuts changing history forever, boo hiss.
2) The band introduced by Tony Blair as "Wheeler 18" at some Labour sponsored shindig.

Yes they were in awe of Teenage Fanclub, so what? Yes, they went 'baggy' about seven years late. Big deal. I loved 'em.

― Rob M (Rob M), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:09 (9 years ago) Permalink

the Llama Farmers!
that's made my day that has.
who'd have thought i'd ever hear that name again.

18 Wheeler's Formanka album is wonderful.
their first one is rubbish, their last one is rubbish, but Formanka hit the nail on the head as far as Beach Boys-aping, grunge-lite, Evan Dando worshipping indie rock went.
and it's nice and short too.

― kelly r, Friday, 20 February 2004 14:16 (9 years ago) Permalink

Why limit it to the late 90s? The Mark Goodier years of the Evening Session weren't exactly wanting for not particularly good bands either!
I give you:
- Sensitize
- The Machine Gun Feedback
- The Sand Kings (a band so dire they sired bloody Babylon Zoo)

― M Carty (mj_c), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

Actually I'm quite fond of the first one. 'Suncrish' with Andy Bel's wife Idha is a classic. Some of the Wiliam Orbit remies of their dance opus (personally A&R-ed by hitmaker Alan McGee himself) weren't too bad reither. But when I think Evening Session, I think Thousand Yard Stare, The Cherrys, Scorpio Rising, Top, Midway Still, Tribute To Nothing... And Mark Goodier's jingle - "he's the man who's got the best music" - which he still plays (and still follows with 'Wake Up Boo') with "on Radio 1" replaced by "on Radio Twoooo".

― laticsmon (laticsmon), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:22 (9 years ago) Permalink

can someone nuclear bomb this thread?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:24 (9 years ago) Permalink

Wasn't David Keenan in 18 Wheeler at one point?

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:28 (9 years ago) Permalink

!!!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:29 (9 years ago) Permalink

Oh, and I just wanted to say: TAMPASM

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

I still was bemused at picking up the first Telstar Ponies single and thinking, "Polite alt. country?"

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:30 (9 years ago) Permalink

I found the whole 'Evening Session' thing v.annoying and confusing, because 'session' on night time R1 had always meant something specific before that.

I love that Mark Goodier jingle.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:31 (9 years ago) Permalink

Nice to see some love for Uresei Yatsura...their first album is fantastic - "form your own lo-fi gang!

Skyscraper, Mint 400, Back To The Planet, Frank and Walters, Sultans Of Ping, Kerosene, Fretblanet...all these spell early 90's Evening Session to me!

― billislord, Friday, 20 February 2004 14:32 (9 years ago) Permalink

1/ "scorpio rising" aaargh

2/ julio "can someone nuclear bomb this thread?" OTFM haha

3/ "tampasm" what band could ever live up to a name like that?

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:33 (9 years ago) Permalink

Cay unfortunately split after being dropped by the big scary evil men and women at East/West records. Usual story, the people who signed them/nurtured them at EW move on, leaving lots of people saying what is this horrible rock stuff, we want one off UK Garage single deals, not this hairy nonsense.
If they had come around about a year ago Cay would have cleared up by now, pity.
I have fond memories of joining them on stage (with the band I was in a the time) at the Garage and doing an incredibly noisy version of one of their songs and scaring lots of kids with brown hair and wallet chains.

― mzui, Friday, 20 February 2004 14:38 (9 years ago) Permalink

David Keenan was indeed n the first line-up of 18 Wheeler. Left before the first album, I think, to form the allegedly Kiss-influenced Telstar Ponies.

now that he's back up in Glasgow, Keenan's got the Telstar Ponies going again. The one-off single he did on Geographic was absolutely wonderful and their gigs around the time were simply magical - Pentangle meets Mercury Rev.

― laticsmon (laticsmon), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:43 (9 years ago) Permalink

Well he made a very good shop assistant when he worked at John Smith's - no, actually Stephen Pastel was much better. Any road up, best thing either of them have ever done.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:44 (9 years ago) Permalink

I still keep meaning to pick up 'Farewell, Farewell', thanks for the reminder!

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:45 (9 years ago) Permalink

Okay, bands I think I actually liked hearing on that radio show:

Scarfo
AC Acoustics
Warm Jets
Errr, that's it...

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:46 (9 years ago) Permalink

I know one of the guys out of Oslo. His previous band, Still Lives Talking, had a member who left to live in Oslo. However, Oslo were originally called Pedestrian, which is about as bad as a band name can get.

I liked Tiger. Molly Half Head were great, especially their song Barney.

What about Bennet - MY MUM HAS GONE TO ICELAND!

― MarkH (MarkH), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:47 (9 years ago) Permalink

FRETBLANKET!!

i so own.

clive, the singer, guitarist, he works at border books now.

― jimmy the doom saint, Friday, 20 February 2004 14:48 (9 years ago) Permalink

The Senseless Things - "Andii in a Karmann" e.p.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 20 February 2004 14:56 (9 years ago) Permalink

Fluffy. Minty.

(I was a 15-year-old boy in 1995)

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:00 (9 years ago) Permalink

So, DJM, did you see Minty support Pulp at Cardiff Uni in '95? I've never seen an audience so bemused before or since.

Warm Jets had one good song, which I just ripped for an MP3 compilation the other day, the rest of the album was pants.

― Rob M (Rob M), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:03 (9 years ago) Permalink

Are you people making these bandnames up?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:08 (9 years ago) Permalink

Rob - no, at Phoenix 96 - I was living in Cornwall at the time. The singer was completely naked and in a kind of cage of bendy tubes. I thought they were good, they probably weren't.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:10 (9 years ago) Permalink

Minty were great as well!! "My mind is like a plastic bag"!!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:12 (9 years ago) Permalink

The amount of these people I not only liked but own records by... crumbs. Astrid, Bennet, Mo-Ho-Bish-O-Pi, Murry The Hump (Songs Of Ignorance is super-classic), Tiger, Woodbine (favourite album ever at one point), Derrero, AN-GEL-IC-A...

I wonder if I'm the only person who owns Ooberman's second album but not their first. I'll have to go a-hunting for it next time I forget I have no money.

Oslo got on Later With Jools Holland once. I remember watching it and thinking they were abysmal.

― William Bloody Swygart (mrswygart), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:17 (9 years ago) Permalink

Well he made a very good shop assistant when he worked at John Smith's

My sister used to work part time there with the guy from 18 Wheeler and moody SP, I think, c.1993.

― N. (nickdastoor), Friday, 20 February 2004 15:18 (9 years ago) Permalink

Puressence, anybody remember them?

― mzui, Friday, 20 February 2004 15:20 (9 years ago) Permalink

Skipping 234 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Never heard of The Monsoon Basoon until this thread.

if there's one song i wish more people had heard, that song is "commando"

― Just got offed, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 11:06 (5 years ago) Permalink

One another
One another
One another
HELLO TIGER

-- Dom Passantino, Saturday, 3 November 2007 22:37 (1 month ago) Bookmark Link

^^^this

― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 11:10 (5 years ago) Permalink

Your director has a 70's eye
And he's sorry that you're superfly

― ledge, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 13:03 (5 years ago) Permalink

Would smash.

-- Dom Passantino, Saturday, 13 October 2007 18:41

you'd smash anything

― pc user, Tuesday, 18 December 2007 19:37 (5 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

Also, has anyone mentioned Mishka yet? Alan McGee went all the way to Jamaica in search of new talent and somehow managed to come back with a white, trad singer-songwriter with dreadlocks and an acoustic guitar who proceeded to go "Jah! Rastafari!" in front of a bemused crowd at the Other Stage at Glastonbury at about 11am.

un-fucking-believable

never thought i'd see him back.

― mark e, Friday, 18 July 2008 17:01 (4 years ago) Permalink

2 months pass...

Which bands are you most interested in at the moment, which do you think hold most promise for the next year or so?
Steve - Tiger. I just think Tiger are slightly different and there's this yearning for something that's a different take on what's going on at the moment. I think Tiger have got some tremendous ideas, very askew kind of British pop music which is really quite interesting. There's also this baby band that I'm trying to help out slightly who are called The Pin-ups, who come from Reading. They're like a 1977 punk band, but they're only 15 and 16, and they've just had to kick out their drummer because he couldn't play a gig because he was going canoeing with the Scouts. I quite like them.
Jo - I'd say Tiger as well. Martin from Gene did an interview this week which hit the headlines quite a lot with him saying how he hated Yob rock and was looking forward to new bands coming through, and I read the interview and thought "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean". I'm bored of all these guitar bands looking back to the past, retro stuff. It's just dull, really dull, and I look forward to some new bands coming through, like Tiger, Posh, Baby Bird, all those. They're just doing something new and exciting- I hate retro.

(Phoenix Festival interview 1996)

― Carrie Bradshaw Layfield (The stickman from the hilarious 'xkcd' comics), Monday, 6 October 2008 11:35 (4 years ago) Permalink

the time is ripe for a tiger revival

― jonty alouette (electricsound), Monday, 6 October 2008 11:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

Princes Risborough's gift to the world.

― NickB, Monday, 6 October 2008 11:38 (4 years ago) Permalink

Also, best mullets since Chris Waddle?

― NickB, Monday, 6 October 2008 11:39 (4 years ago) Permalink

I used to work with the brother of one of the Pin Ups when I lived in Reading. I think they had an EP called something like Made In Tilehurst.

I went to Phoenix 1996! I saw lots of not particularly good Evening Session bands there - Echobelly, Compulsion, Goya Dress, Catatonia (about 2 songs) etc. Compulsion were quite good.

― I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE UP TO (Colonel Poo), Monday, 6 October 2008 11:42 (4 years ago) Permalink

'We Are Puppets' has arguably the most off-puttingly rubbish artwork ever conceived. what were they thinking?

― MaresNest, Monday, 6 October 2008 11:44 (4 years ago) Permalink

I went to Phoenix 96 but didn't see any of those bands. I saw Minty headline the little tent, in fact I think I mention this fascinating fact upthread

― The Slash My Father Wrote (DJ Mencap), Monday, 6 October 2008 11:46 (4 years ago) Permalink

I have no memory whatsoever of what tiger sounded like. I'm sure I must have heard them a couple of times at least.

― The Plastic Fork (Pashmina), Monday, 6 October 2008 11:48 (4 years ago) Permalink

Habitually I'm compelled to mention Rub Ultra when this sort of thing comes up, they had two really quite good singles (well, they had more than that, but two were pretty good.)

And also The Sandkings, pre Babylon Zoo, Jas Mann shenanigans.

I swear 'All's Well With The World' really is the most perfect but forgotten early 90's indie ramalama tune.

― MaresNest, Monday, 6 October 2008 11:49 (4 years ago) Permalink

Some guy upthread said: jamie from scarfo is now called 'hotel' and is in 'the kills'

I had no idea about that. "Alkaline" was a good song I think. Never been much of a Kills fan though.

― NickB, Monday, 6 October 2008 11:56 (4 years ago) Permalink

tiger had one great song, if i remember rightly, and a lot of mediocre ones. was "shining in the wood" the good one or not? am i going to look through my CDs? er, no.

what a shit time to be trying to carve a niche as a music hack: 1996. no wonder i embraced subbing.

― right, we all start when the drum machine starts, lads (grimly fiendish), Monday, 6 October 2008 12:06 (4 years ago) Permalink

'race' was the good tiger song

― jonty alouette (electricsound), Monday, 6 October 2008 12:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

yes. it was. thank you!

― right, we all start when the drum machine starts, lads (grimly fiendish), Monday, 6 October 2008 12:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

the time is ripe for a tiger revival

― jonty alouette (electricsound), Monday, 6 October 2008 12:37

^^^this. I still love 'em, still play We Are Puppets and Rosaria frequently at home and out, and I'd love it if they showed up at the 100 Club or somewhere for a one-off. Maybe supported by The Warm Jets.

what a shit time to be trying to carve a niche as a music hack: 1996. no wonder i embraced subbing.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHA.

(ahem)

― CharlieNo4, Monday, 6 October 2008 12:11 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 month passes...

Oh god, Tiger.

― Pfunkboy Formerly Known As... (Herman G. Neuname), Thursday, 13 November 2008 16:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

All I remember really was the haircuts mind you

― Pfunkboy Formerly Known As... (Herman G. Neuname), Thursday, 13 November 2008 16:20 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

I just remembered about the band Ether, who were only vaguely talented but kind of catchy circa 1998. I wonder what eventually happens to these poor people?

― village idiot (dog latin), Monday, 28 June 2010 14:49 (2 years ago) Permalink

british people cared about Molly Halfhead?! even american dudes who taped "120 minutes" every night wouldn't know who the fuck she is. i honestly can't find the words to describe how small of a "splash" they made in america. like spin never even reviewed one of their records.

― how much can a koala ˁ˚ᴥ˚ˀ (sic), Monday, 28 June 2010 23:53 (2 years ago) Permalink

lol

― jo jo zeppelin (electricsound), Monday, 28 June 2010 23:59 (2 years ago) Permalink

Did Spin ever review Sp!n and were Sp!n ever on the Evening Session?

― everything, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 00:18 (2 years ago) Permalink

Here's a summer tune from the Evening Sesh days:

― everything, Tuesday, 29 June 2010 00:19 (2 years ago) Permalink

sp!n were pre-evening session iirc

― jo jo zeppelin (electricsound), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 00:30 (2 years ago) Permalink

Is that Mermaid horror by a proper real band who were trying to have a career?

― rhythm fixated member (chap), Tuesday, 29 June 2010 10:22 (2 years ago) Permalink

3 weeks pass...

http://ichlugebullets.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/top-50-songs-reminiscent-of-a-night-in-a-shitty-provincial-rock-club-between-1999-and-2003-part-1-girl-its-me-and-you-like-sid-and-nancy/

passantino killin it imo

― I’ll put you in a f *ckin Weingarten you c*nt! (history mayne), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 11:03 (2 years ago) Permalink

In a previous life, ILB commented on how the solitary saving grace of Kittie’s entire, pig-awful, career was the variety of gratuitous sexually violent fan fiction that’s out there on the internet about them. Have you ever wondered how Avril Lavigne would cope with a ruptured anus if she was kidnapped by Kittie, sleep-deprived, and then fed nothing but dog faeces for a week? Well, do yourself some googling and fap like crazy. Then shoot yourself.

never change, dude

― RIP la petite mort (acoleuthic), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 11:06 (2 years ago) Permalink

The Kustom Built! I thought they were the bees knees at the time.

― cajunsunday, Tuesday, 20 July 2010 12:10 (2 years ago) Permalink

i don't think canberra and wollongong have toilet circuits tbqh

― head gettin' bad boys (electricsound), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 12:57 (2 years ago) Permalink

if you're able to play multiple venues in Canberra OR Wollongong on a single tour, let alone regularly, you are winning at music

failed zing, stopped reading there

― oh sh!t a ¯\⎝⏠___⏠⎠/¯ (sic), Tuesday, 20 July 2010 23:26 (2 years ago) Permalink

2 years pass...

― ledge, Friday, 17 August 2012 10:20 (10 months ago) Permalink

i have that album :(

― like a sunrise (electricsound), Friday, 17 August 2012 10:36 (10 months ago) Permalink

Is it any good? The above tune is a CHOON imo but I never heard anything else - which makes me doubt that anything else was worth hearing.

― ledge, Friday, 17 August 2012 10:40 (10 months ago) Permalink

P sure every one of these bands has appeared on a mix tape made for me by my now-husband, including 86'd! Think I got the album after that, can't remember anything of the top of my head except Shelly's on the telephone

― kinder, Friday, 17 August 2012 12:29 (10 months ago) Permalink

I had the Tiger album too. This is kind of weird because in them days I had no money for albums so only actually bought a few a year when I had xmas and birthday money and my priorities were PULP and SUEDE. Probably it was in the bargain bucket :(

― kinder, Friday, 17 August 2012 12:33 (10 months ago) Permalink

subcircus album is substandard tbh but bits are alright

tiger debut is great imo. underrated.

― like a sunrise (electricsound), Friday, 17 August 2012 14:00 (10 months ago) Permalink

5 months pass...

You have to check out Bellatrix's first album, or even the earlier Icelandic releases. Beat "It's all true" by a thousand miles.

― opecimmac, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 20:06 (4 months ago) Permalink

Subcircus's first album was a classic example of how to ruin a bunch of decent songs through over-production. Listen to the demos/live tracks on the 86'd single, and you might think, "Wow, this band had something going for them." Then you compare them to the finished album versions and it's like "...Oh." Such a disappointment.

Just to prove a point, here's the studio version of "Gravity Girl & Analogue", followed by the live version. Compare and contrast.

― Pheeel, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 21:30 (4 months ago) Permalink

You have to check out Bellatrix's first album, or even the earlier Icelandic releases. Beat "It's all true" by a thousand miles.

i only know "g" and "stranger tales" of their earlier stuff. "g" is great, probably my favourite thing of theirs, but the previous album is shite imo

― electricsound, Tuesday, 12 February 2013 23:01 (4 months ago) Permalink

i only know "g" and "stranger tales" of their earlier stuff. "g" is great, probably my favourite thing of theirs, but the previous album is shite imo

Yes it's Stranger Tales. Haven't got a chance to hold "g" yet. It's not a surprise that people don't like that one. I mean, there were quite a few amateurish moments, and the album as a whole is pretty raw/unpolished in every aspect.

― opecimmac, Thursday, 14 February 2013 00:27 (4 months ago) Permalink

Btw I have heard it rumoured that Ultrasound are to return

― kinder, Thursday, 14 February 2013 08:27 (4 months ago) Permalink

quite the rumour

― flaccid archives (electricsound), Thursday, 14 February 2013 08:30 (4 months ago) Permalink

I was going to find this thread and bump it myself after I got an email this morning from Pledgemusic telling me about prospective releases by Senser and Spacehog.

― Troughton-masked Replicant (aldo), Thursday, 14 February 2013 12:35 (4 months ago) Permalink

David Keenan was a founding member of 18 Wheeler.

― OG requiem head (Call the Cops), Thursday, 14 February 2013 12:37 (4 months ago) Permalink

Which will teach me to read through entire threads before sharing nuggets like that.

― OG requiem head (Call the Cops), Thursday, 14 February 2013 12:37 (4 months ago) Permalink

Need to check one day to see if 'We Are Puppets' is still on the Nice 'n' Sleazy jukebox

― 'Separate Lives', by Phil Collins & Marilyn Manson (PaulTMA), Thursday, 14 February 2013 12:39 (4 months ago) Permalink

This must be the least worthwhile purchase ever: http://www.amazon.fr/18-Wheeler-Band-ensemble-Creation/dp/6131840806/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360845662&sr=8-1

― OG requiem head (Call the Cops), Thursday, 14 February 2013 12:41 (4 months ago) Permalink

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