We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It

[Leo]

I've still got their first single, on pink vinyl!

 

[martin]

no music business nonsense here. i might be wrong but i would expect that all these people, like the rest of us who dabbled in this sphere, have other jobs - so much the better.

Spend three hours doing your hair; half-hour set in the back of a pub; drunk zine writer carried out by St John's Ambulance after tripping and glassing himself; promoter disappears back to Bedsitland with the loot; late night band meeting in Wimpy, except for the bass player who had to get up early for Geography GCSE exam. That kinda vibe, I guess.

 

[Leo]

Spend three hours doing your hair; half-hour set in the back of a pub; drunk zine writer carried out by St John's Ambulance after tripping and glassing himself; promoter disappears back to Bedsitland with the loot; late night band meeting in Wimpy, except for the bass player who had to get up early for Geography GCSE exam. That kinda vibe, I guess.

their second album was on Geffen, and I remember them touring the US at least once, so they were considerably bigger than that for at least a while.

 

[bun-u]

They popped up in that recent Stewart Lee doc about Robert Lloyd/Nightingales - as they started out on his label. It wasn’t a bad doc as it goes and I’m not a big Nightingales fan

 

[blissblogger]

They were a bright fun presence on the '80s scene. Love the videos and TOTPs.

 

[blissblogger]

 

[blissblogger]

Fay Fife is kind of their auntie

 

[blissblogger]

And Ms Chainsaw is kind of their bratty niece

 

[martin]

their second album was on Geffen, and I remember them touring the US at least once, so they were considerably bigger than that for at least a while.

Dunno, just got one 12" with Rules & Regulations on it...didn't even know they recorded anything else.

Rubella Ballet was an obvious influence. Think The Gymslips had that vibe too when they were singing 2-minutes songs about pie and mash, before an ill-advised attempt to go 'serious goth'.

 

[boxedjoy]

And Ms Chainsaw is kind of their bratty niece

I have somehow ended up on a mailing list for frontwoman Katie-Jane Garsides's sporadic poetry. Every other week an update about a few lines she has written.

 

[john eden]

Dunno, just got one 12" with Rules & Regulations on it...didn't even know they recorded anything else.

Rubella Ballet was an obvious influence. Think The Gymslips had that vibe too when they were singing 2-minutes songs about pie and mash, before an ill-advised attempt to go 'serious goth'.

Also Hagar The Womb?

You'd have groups of women like this is most British towns in the mid 80s with different tinges of goth or punk or Crass-ness. They didn't always form bands, but it was a thing. Obviously I was entranced by and terrified of them in equal measure as a young teenager.

 

[Leo]

was bananrama the glossy commercial version of the genre?

 

[john eden]

was bananrama the glossy commercial version of the genre?

Maybe so - they were scruffier in the early days? Not sure how much of the writing they did and they didn't play the instruments but in terms of general vibe you may be onto something...

 

[blissblogger]

a sort of Stock Aitken Waterman version, kinda, sorta - not making the music themselves (well, I assume) but the same girl-gang vibe

 

[blissblogger]

image-wise not so much, but sonically actually surprisingly close to Fuzzbox - thin vocals, massed effectively - droning punkpop bludgeoning the ear