A MANIFESTO FOR THE AGES…

It really doesn’t seem right that The Indelicates have only ever appeared once on TVV prior to today, and it was courtesy of a wonderfully compiled ICA, courtesy of Rol back in November 2017.

As Rol said in his intro, they are a duo whose records are rarely played on the radio, nor are they given much space in the mainstream or specialist music media.  They emerged at a time (2005) when many folk were beginning to acknowledge that the way music was going to be discovered, listened to and ‘consumed’ was totally different to what had gone before. It maybe didn’t quite turn out quite as envisaged at the time in that streaming was a concept/idea rather than a reality (and the re-birth of vinyl was just a glint in a few eyes), but the bio from the official website offers a biting summary:-

“The Indelicates consumer lifestyle brand is the family business of Simon and Julia Indelicate, a Mom and Pop enterprise based in Lewes, a small town in Western Europe.

“The band first performed at the peak of the landfill indie craze that nobody remembers fondly in 2005 and released their debut album, American Demo, on some record label or other in 2008.

“Luckily, the music industry promptly collapsed completely and they managed to rescue their minor back catalogue from the wreckage. Unwilling to be deterred by mere financial calamity they immediately started work on Songs For Swinging Lovers, their easy second album.

“Since then, the list of things they have invented includes: Crowdfunding, Virtual Reality Music Videos, Living Room concerts, Gamergate, Being against Romantic Nationalism, Bandcamp, Super Special Editions, Footnoted lyric books, The New DIY and a range of puppets. Having done all of these things first, it has fallen to other people to be successful with them. And that’s absolutely fine.”

All of which should indicate that The Indelicates are far from your average run-of-the-mill musical combo.  I’ll hand back to Rol, who is such an exceptionally talented writer, to offer his take on why they never became better known.

Of course, I realise The Indelicates won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. They’re a difficult band to pin down. One minute they’re indie pop, the next they’re cabaret. One minute Jacques Brel, the next Carter USM. At times Kate Bush, occasionally Victoria Wood. They also have a very distinct lyrical voice, and they’re uncompromising in that voice. Just like Jim Bob, Morrissey, or Joe Strummer: they say what they have to say and don’t care one hoot if you don’t like it… they’re certainly not bothered about upsetting the BBC with their lyrics and not getting airplay… but then again, why should they be? Not even 6Music will touch them with a bargepole. (I never understood why Lammo wasn’t all over them. Maybe Peel would have loved them. Whether they’d have loved him back is another question entirely…)

Villain Towers is home to six artefacts courtesy of The Indelicates; the first two albums on CD, three 7″ singles (all from the debut album) and one EP, again on CD. It’s the EP that I’d like to draw to your attention today.

Having initially issued all their music in digital form as free downloads from a website, the duo released a 7″ single, We Hate The Kids, in April 2006 (while also making it, along with the b-side and some remixes, available via the website).

It took until February 2007 before the next physical release, in the shape of The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock & Roll EP, a CD release to tie-in with a tour of Germany.

mp3: The Indelicates – The Last Significant Statement To Be Made In Rock & Roll
mp3: The Indelicates – Sixteen
mp3: The Indelicates – Heroin
mp3: The Indelicates – Unity Mitford (acoustic)
mp3: The Indelicates – Stars (live)
mp3: The Indelicates – The Last Significant Remix

All five of the songs on the EP would later be re-recorded and included on the debut album, American Demo, which was released in April 2009. I recently gave the album a listen again in its entirety…..and it’s an absolute belter, well worth tracking down if you don’t have a copy.

JC