….but it’s not showing up in the index, nor is it among the files I’ve fired over to box.com to enable mp3s to be accessed. It’s certainly been part of at least one of the mix tapes in by gone days, and I can’t understand why it’s not showing up.
Never mind…..gives me the perfect excuse to post it today.
mp3: The Popguns – Waiting For The Winter
Five musicians were involved in the making of the perfect piece of indie-pop back in 1989. Wendy Morgan (vocals), Simon Pickles (guitar), Greg Dixon (guitar), Pat Walkington (bass) and Shaun Charman (drums) – the last named having previously the original drummer with The Wedding Present prior to him leaving in 1988.
The Popguns had actually formed in 1986 in Brighton, but didn’t get round to releasing a 45 of their own until Landslide, a track voted in at #46 in Peel’s Festive Fifty of 1989. Waiting For The Winter was the follow-up, their first release on 12″ vinyl, on Midnight Music. It was later followed up with four further 45s and two albums – Eugenie (1990) and Snog (1991) – neither of which brought any commercial success.
The demise of their label saw The Popguns shift to 3rd Stone Records for the release of Love Junky in 1995, but again to almost complete indifference from the record-buying public.
Here’s the two b-sides to the single:-
mp3: The Popguns – Because He Wanted To
mp3: The Popguns – Every Dream
The four original members of the band reformed to play live shows in 2012 – by now the singer was known as Wendy Pickles; they soon returned to the studio where they were augmented by Tony Bryant on drums and Kate Mander on vocals, to record and release, on Matinee Recordings, the album Pop Fiction in 2014, which included another excellent single:-
mp3: The Popguns – Lovejunky
As with a quite a number of the indie bands from the 80s/90s who came round to reforming 20+ years later, there was a great deal of love and affection for what was happening, and while the sales figures were never high, the critical acclaim was always there (and rightly so!!!!!).
Before too long, there was more new material, including what could be described as a postscript to the 1989 single:-
mp3: The Popguns – Still Waiting For The Winter
The band then took another short break, during which time Wendy and Simon Pickles formed a new side project called The Perfect English Weather, who were the subject of this TVV post back in March 2019.
The Popguns are still very much on the go, and just last month gave a digital release to a new and rather excellent song, Caesar, as a taster for a new EP.
More info and product can be found at this bandcamp page.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
The Popguns were a pop band. The Popguns are a pop band.
Clearly an indie band but what polish and shine they brought to the scene. I first heard this track, having been previously unaware of the band, from a good friend who had his finger on the pulse. I was blown away. They reminded me of the much missed Fruits of Passions – another band that, astonishingly, never troubled the record buying public – no matter how many singles they released from that one and only LP.
Waiting For The Winter – more than any other Popguns song – immediately transforms me to times that just bristled with the energetic hum of the next indie pop hit, that in most cases never was. A time that I was re-emerging from another self-imposed shell. A time when buying records was my day to day focus. Happy days.
I thought I owned Eugenie. It turns out I don’t. Perhaps I never did… * teeny tiny walk to cd collection*
Hurrah! “Hello, Eugenie and Snog (and also vinyl)” Phew! Having a crap memory means life can be full of wonderful surprises.
I’m delighted that the song has graced/re-graced the blog. It’s a cracker!
“Waiting for the Winter” is the opener of my winter mix at Spotify. I couldn’t find a better one.
*Fruits of Passion. Tsk! said Flimflamfan to himself