16 February 2014. This came from Andrea Peviani, who, along with his amazing wife Ilaria from Lodi, Italy, I had the enormous pleasure of meeting a few years back when they came to Glasgow during a short holiday in Scotland, and then again a few months ago when myself and Rachel spent time in Italy and were given a great tour of Milan.
Andrea once had a blog called Conventional Records, but his last offering was January 2018.
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In 1986, the Italian national radio aired a new show called Stereodrome, hosted by music critics keen on alternative rock. Out of the blue we had 3 hours of the best indie music from UK and USA (and Italy as well), every night Monday to Saturday, nine to midnight.
I was almost 19, the year of my Graduation Exam, and I will always associate that time of my life with this explosion of fantastic music from obscure bands that were impossible to discover before.
Easterhouse’s Whistling In The Dark was maybe my favorite song of this season, at least until The Queen Is Dead came out. A powerful intro, rough guitars and a relentless rhythmic drive, halfway between London Calling and Motown; a soulful voice, that mixed some black intensity with the deepness of the New Wave style; a perfect balance between indie orthodoxy and anthemic Big Music on the trails of early U2.
I thought they would be the next band to face the transition from the happy few to huge audiences. Then the Contenders LP came out, and nothing happened. In the bunch of bands openly engaged in the political struggle against the Thatcher government, The Housemartins were the ones who went from indie charts to Top of the Pops: their smiling attitude towards communism was more connected to the 80’s evolution of music trends. Easterhouse only showed their seriously committed side, utter blackness inside and outside words, tunes, clothes and record covers.
I will never be tired of going back to this splendid, isolated album, feeling the urge and the rightfulness of “getting to the point, to the heart of it”. Bringing a little bit of that way we were in our disillusioned adult life.
mp3 : Easterhouse – Whistling In The Dark
…and I will always associate Easterhouse’s Whistling in the Dark with the FUCKING ANNIHILATION OF THE REPUBLICAN GOVERNMENT. 25TH AMENDMENT, BABY! BLUE WAVE ALL DAY!
Sorry – got a little exuberant there. But honestly, fuck Trump, and Hegseth, and Patel, and Rubio, and Miller, and all those pricks.
Well said JTVFL.