Wolfhounds – THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN

June Brides, One Thousand Violins, Wolfhounds

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Postscript 1)

There’s a cracking 10-track compilation LP sitting in the cupboard; actually there’s a few but for today there’s just the one under the microscope.

It’s called A Different Kind of Tension – and it’s not to be confused with the LP of the same name by Buzzcocks – that was released in 1986 on the Pressure Of The Real World label. It has the prefix PRLP1. I have no idea at all whether there was ever a PRLP2 or any other release at all on the label. Google search came up with nowt.

It was an album I picked up back in 2008 while temporarily living in Toronto and it cost me the equivalent of £3. As it turns out, two of the tracks on the album were also included on the CD86 compilation and were part of that recent 48-part series. The idea of today and next Sunday is to offer up the other eight songs as a postscript or perhaps more appropriately, an encore to the series.

Here’s side A of the album:-

1. The Mighty Lemon Drops – Like An Angel
2. Soup Dragons – Whole Wide World
3. One Thousand Violins – Like One Thousand Violins
4. The Wolfhounds – Cut The Cake
5. The June Brides – Every Conversation

Songs 1 and 2 were on CD 86 as too were different songs by the bands performing songs 4 and 5.

Here’s some relevant info on the three ‘new’ songs:-

One Thousand Violins formed in Sheffield, and the featured track is a b-side from their debut single Halcyon Days on Dreamworld Records which was released in 1985. However, it proved more popular and so enduring that it ended up gathering enough votes to make John Peel’s Festive 50 the same year. Further singles and an album soon followed, but before long musical and artistic differences led to them breaking up.

mp3 : One Thousand Violins – Like One Thousand Violins

The Wolfhounds rather splendid ditty Anti-Midas Touch was on CD86. This however, is their 1986 debut single on Pink Records.

mp3 : The Wolfhounds – Cut The Cake

I’ve already said everything before about The June Brides and have recommended that you pick up this compilation album. Their debut single was on CD 86. This was the wonderful follow-up:-

mp3 : The June Brides – Every Conversation

Enjoy

Quick reminder that I’m looking for readers to e-mail me lists of their Top 10 LPs for 2015 so that I can submit a collective entry for the BAMS 2015. Click on this post for more background.

Wolfhounds

NEXT YEAR’S NOSTALGIA FEST (Part 32 of 48)

I’m being lazy this week and doing a cut’n’ paste from wiki that was last updated in 2014:-

The Wolfhounds are an indie rock band formed in Romford in England in 1985 by Dave Callahan, Paul Clark, Andy Golding, Andy Bolton and Frank Stebbing. They reformed in 2005 and continue to write, record and play live to this day, releasing a new EP in April 2012, their first new recordings since 1990.

The Wolfhounds began as a slightly askew pop/rock band, and signed to the Pink label in 1986. First EP Cut The Cake was well enough received for the NME to include them on their C86 compilation album. After three singles and debut album Unseen Ripples From A Pebble on Pink, they briefly moved to Idea Records for the Me single, then rejoined Pink’s boss at his new label September Records. September soon evolved into Midnight Music which was the Wolfhounds’ home for all subsequent releases.

With original members Bolton and Clark replaced by David Oliver and Matt Deighton, the Wolfhounds’ sound developed into a denser, less poppy sound. After a compilation of earlier material, second album proper Bright and Guilty was released in 1989, featuring the singles Son of Nothing, Rent Act and Happy Shopper. The sound progressed further with the albums Blown Away (also 1989) and Attitude (1990), which found them in Sonic Youth territory, interspersing raging guitars with elegant compositional exercises. This proved to be the final Wolfhounds release – the band splitting in early 1990.

Golding and Stebbing formed Crawl, while Callahan hooked up with former Ultra Vivid Scene member Margaret Fiedler in Moonshake. Matt Deighton formed Mother Earth.

The Wolfhounds got back together in 2005 for a gig to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of their first single. The current line-up is Dave Callahan (guitar/vocals), Andy Golding (guitar/vocals), Peter Wilkins (Drums) and Richard Golding (bass).

In 2006, they were asked by Bob Stanley of St Etienne to play at the ICA in London, alongside Roddy Frame and Phil Wilson, to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the seminal NME cassette C86. They have continued to play live since, re-energised when The Membranes asked them to be special guests at The Lexington in London, and in March 2012 played with Laetitia Sadier from Stereolab in support at a benefit to raise funds for proposed Frank Sidebottom memorial statue.

An EP called EP001 was released on Vollwert-Records Berlin in April 2012 containing three songs that pre-date the band’s first single but that were never recorded satisfactorily at the time. Of these songs, Skullface picked up a lot of radio play.

The band is currently writing and recording a number of entirely new songs for release, and have released three 7″ singles and a new album since January 2013. Also in 2014 an anniversary limited edition issue of Unseen Ripples from a Pebble (plus bonus tracks) is released by Optic Nerve Recordings

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The track on CD86 (which was of course compiled by the afore-mentioned Bob Stanley) is a cracking number that was their second 45 for the Pink Label. Released in September 1986 it got to #6 in the Indie Chart.

mp3 : The Wolfhounds – The Anti-Midas Touch

There’s also a very good though downbeat b-side on offer:-

mp3 : The Wolfhounds – Restless Spell

Enjoy.