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Back To The Bedroom
2 Playsin 20 hours
You might be mistaken in thinking that this podcast could be none more geeky. Well, get ready to be fully nerded out as we embark on what can only be described as a Four Track Cassette special, featuring an actual guest on the podcast!
Including music from Esteban Obando, Dusty 4 Track, The Almanacs, and ourselves.
Interesting links from the episode have been deposited blithely on the blog here!
Visit the Johnny Domino website
Connect with Johnny Domino on Facebook and Instagram
Podcast artwork by Giles Woodward
Edited by Steve Woodward at PodcastingEditor.com
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Transcript
Introduction & Theme: Musical Experiences
00:00:00
Speaker
Broken glass everywhere, people pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care. I can't take the smell, can't take the noise, got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice. Rats in the front room, roaches in the back, junkies in the alley, with a baseball bat.
00:00:17
Speaker
I tried to get away but I couldn't get far because a man with a tow truck repossessed my car. Music
Impact of 'The Message'
00:00:46
Speaker
Hello. Welcome to the This Our Johnny Domino podcast, where I, Steve, and my brother Giles, explore our musical past, present, and ruminate on our potential musical futures, and listen to a few tunes, and i have a bit of a chat just for the lols.
00:01:02
Speaker
Hello, this is the voice of Giles. Don't push me, because I'm close to the edge. And so is always, and so it was. Yeah. The lyrics still ring true.
00:01:15
Speaker
i remember when that came out. Yeah, we used to listen to the charts on like a Sunday night, when especially when you know it was on stereo. and but kind of They shared the frequency with Radio 2, so you had the stereo. And I remember really, really liking that song at the time.
00:01:32
Speaker
And I'm sure I've tried to remember the words. And I didn't know what pissing meant. I think I was yeah quite young at the time. Yeah. I don't think so. But anyway, it's a great song.
00:01:43
Speaker
It's a great, it remains a great song. Classic. As does White Lines as well. Yeah. Two songs appropriate for any party, really. yeah well Definitely going to play them at wedding. You're going to play The Message?
00:01:57
Speaker
Definitely, 100%. Are you going to have karaoke at your wedding? Possibly. You should do. We'll see. Anyway, do you know what year that came out? Right, I'm thinking 81. 82. Oh, 82.
00:02:10
Speaker
eighty two wo eighty two Yeah. Wow. ah so I was nine when that, well, i was nine that year. 1982, man. Same year as Thriller.
00:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, never mind. And Nebraska by Bruce Springsteen. Yes.
Springsteen's 'Nebraska' Film Review
00:02:27
Speaker
And what have we both done in the last week or so? We have both finally watched Springsteen, colon, Deliver Me From Nowhere, to give it its full cinematic title.
00:02:39
Speaker
which we've been talking about for ages. I know. watch it We watched it separately, which was I was a little bit upset about, but it did give me lot of time to make notes.
00:02:49
Speaker
Did it? Yes. You made copious notes. though I made some notes. Yeah. Hey, welcome to the ah this, our Johnny Domino podcast, where we're going to once again review something that you've probably already seen yeah or have no interest in seeing because it's been out for ages now.
00:03:05
Speaker
Coming next week, we're going to talk about Citizen Kane. yeah But yes, we finally got round to watching this Bruce Springsteen film about the making of Nebraska because, you know, it's effectively about four-track recording.
00:03:19
Speaker
And it ties in with the theme, overriding theme of this podcast, which is about using creativity and creating music in your own home and studios, basically just being creative. Yeah, yeah.
00:03:33
Speaker
And this ah this episode is a bit of a four-track spatial, isn't it? Four-track spatial, yes. Anyway, tell me what you thought about the film. I thought it was shit. The crest. All right, should move on then? I thought it was... That's your review, is it? you No, no, no. I mean, I said this to you before, my problem was there wasn't enough 4-tracking it.
00:03:51
Speaker
I wanted to know what sort of tape he was he was using. yeah i wanted to know, did he clean the tape heads? you know Did he degouse the tape heads? I wanted to know all about that shit. It didn't feature enough.
00:04:03
Speaker
It was heroically bad in so many ways. i think you If that's your main criticism, I think that means that your review's a bit niche, really. I don't think there's going to be that many people are that are bothered about that aspect of the yeah film. I did make notes whilst I was watching it.
Giles' Poem on Springsteen Film Clichés
00:04:23
Speaker
and I did turn these notes... They're originally bullet points, but I've ordered them into a kind of poem. yo I'm a bit worried about this. This is you stepping in my territory here, dude, but go on.
00:04:36
Speaker
It's quite abstract. Okay. And there are bits where... Okay, I'm just going to do it. going to say, make sure you've got your poetry voice sorted, because you need to leave a pause and then do a poetry voice, right? So get ready.
Portrayal of Bruce Springsteen's Character
00:04:50
Speaker
It's clearing my throat.
00:04:51
Speaker
maybe Me, me, me, me. Okay. It's untitled.
00:04:57
Speaker
This Bruce talks like a character in a musical biopic. Does the real Bruce? His manager laughs. Releases outtakes, that'll be the day.
00:05:10
Speaker
Faye has a boring date, but Bruce is great in bed, of course. Chess is cool as hell. These flashbacks are too literal. Now he's writing a song.
00:05:22
Speaker
All the clichés are present and correct and I'm on fire. When Bruce says, whatever's off sounds just right to me, his manager understands, but looks like he wants to kill him.
00:05:37
Speaker
Perhaps he's bored too. It's like Bruce is reverse ghostwriting Graham Marcus's mystery train. Quote, trying to break new ground. I dug deep, says the monosyllabic poet boy.
Jeremy Allen White's Performance as Bruce
00:05:52
Speaker
That is Brian Chase from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Is that Mark Maron? Is he going to say anything? Are any of the female characters going to say anything?
00:06:05
Speaker
Hey little girl, is your daddy home? Poor little artist Bruce. Oh he's a bastard. Quote, you know what Flannery O'Connor says?
00:06:18
Speaker
Stephen Graham in a fat suit.
00:06:26
Speaker
they They were my thoughts. Okay, well, good. I mean, I'm liking it. It's kind of quite an abstract review. i think people who have seen the film will appreciate that. yeah But even if you haven't, it kind of paints a picture.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah. and My abiding impression of the film was Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen doing extreme leaning things. Whenever he's sat down and talking, he's at a kind of 45 degree angle. Yeah. And I wonder if that's something that the actual Bruce did and it's what the actor has noticed in his craft, you know, his acting craft. he' But he's like, he's always at an angle.
00:07:04
Speaker
Is it like an old 1960s episode of Batman? where everything's on a canted angle. No, no, no, no. I like the image, but it's not. so He's just literally just sat in a diner, but he's sat at a very extreme, leany angle, just to make the point that he is like, you know, a very kind of laid-back non-conventional rock star kind of guy.
00:07:26
Speaker
Because he's unconventional. he's he's he's He's trying to break new ground. I mean, I recorded some pretty shocking bits of dialogue um as well, which are are related to the four-track
Four-Track Recording Dialogues
00:07:37
Speaker
recording. Can I play some?
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah, go for it. No, I've been on...
00:07:45
Speaker
I'm thinking about what you said next time we go in the studio. Don't waste all the time and money writing in there. we want to come ready with the material. Smart. You finished the river with only 20k in the bank. Right.
00:07:57
Speaker
You spent all your money in the studio finishing the record. You don't need to do that again. I read about these machines. no They're new. You can multitrack at home know for cheap. They record on quarter-inch? No, cassettes.
00:08:11
Speaker
Cassettes. How many tracks? Four. You can get basic arrangement down. A little bit more than guitar. Vocal demo. They sound great, but it's not about capturing sound so much as ideas.
00:08:27
Speaker
Look into it. Yeah. I think we need to get one of them. ah I mean, it's a great idea. And then later on, i mean, ah I've basically, I've saved all the bits of dialogue which are effectively about 4-track recording.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah. when But maybe we don't want to listen to all of them. ah But this is a good one as well. This a good one. There's a callback. Yeah, go on
00:08:51
Speaker
then. can't see that I'm sorry
00:09:00
Speaker
No, it's not the same.
00:09:03
Speaker
It's not the same. We're in one of the best recording studios in the world trying to make it better. We're just making worse.
00:09:12
Speaker
I don't want to make it better, John. I just want to get back to what happened in the bedroom. That's it.
Critique of Film's Relationship Portrayals
00:09:23
Speaker
Don't we all, though, Bruce? Don't we all? We just want to get back to what happened in the bedroom.
00:09:27
Speaker
You know, i think you were right, though. It's got, like, is Bruce as a kind of a tortured artist. And it's not a pretty picture. No, no.
00:09:40
Speaker
And i don't know, I just found the film a little bit boring, actually. And I was kind of looking forward to it, but I knew I was going to be disappointed. Yeah. And I just think it wasn't, like, geeky enough. I think you're right. It wasn't geeky enough. It could have had more stuff about the actual recording, though there was some stuff about, like, the press implant and things like that.
00:10:01
Speaker
But then it was also, wasn't, like... like kind of interested in not enough happened do you know what I mean he's just a bloke got a bit depressed and wrote some songs in his bedroom and then struggled to get it out onto a record and that was basically it in the meantime he kind of like had a bit of a failed relationship had a failed relationship yeah he picked it up and discarded it and he's like his manager life it like basically is in love with him His manager loved him. That was the nicest bit, really. that His relationship with his manager was nice. But he's just following Bruce around like with his wet eyes and he's just thinking... Well, he sees that Bruce is a genius, you see. He's talking to... like John Landau was his manager and he's talking to his wife and she says nothing.
00:10:47
Speaker
Her role is basically just to, as are all the female roles in the film, it's just to reflect genius back to genius men. It's just poor.
00:10:57
Speaker
yeah and i said And I found it boring as well. yeah the My wife came in and she said, this looks terrible. And she went, I think she had a look at some some online reviews and they said, oh, this is something really good happens at the end.
00:11:12
Speaker
I must have missed it because nothing good happened at the end. It just got a bit sad, walked about a bit, looked a bit moody. There you go.
Cultural Shift: From Tortured Artist to Taylor Swift
00:11:21
Speaker
But we're moving away from the tortured male artist thing, aren't we now? I think culturally, you know, Taylor Swift yet made an album in 2024 called Tortured Poets Department.
00:11:33
Speaker
And there was a ah song on it and the lyrics were, you're not Dylan Thomas. I'm not Patti Smith. This ain't the Chelsea Hotel. We're modern idiots. Good lyrics, I thought.
00:11:44
Speaker
And in the news recently, Louis Theroux, inside the manosphere, I think tortured artists is like the least of our worries actually at the moment. I think so. In terms of toxic masculinity. Yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
Yeah. It's like the good old days when I can get angry about, you know, the Doors film or something like that. Yeah. Well, I thought that was a great film. so with this is Maybe that's time for another chat, but ah yeah, I enjoyed the Doors film. I knew did. Maybe we can have an episode where we talk about music films.
00:12:18
Speaker
Oh, I'd love that. This is a long chat to start the episode.
Johnny Domino's Four-Track Beginnings
00:12:23
Speaker
Shall we have a long song? Let's have a long song. Head it up for us, Steve. Okay, well...
00:12:30
Speaker
For new listeners, let's just say, Johnny Domino started because I was recording a single for a friend of ours. What year was this? This is 1993. Summer of 1993.
00:12:42
Speaker
Our friend Jock and his band Peru were recording a single and they needed somebody who could operate the four track. I said... I'll do it for you. Let me look after it. And we had it for a month. We wrote loads of songs on the four track and we did loads of recording, various lineups.
00:12:58
Speaker
And this is one that we recorded and it's called The New Thing. It's quite long. It's quite depressing. Our faces are set to poe, but...
00:13:10
Speaker
I still think it's quite good. Yeah. But if you get bored of it, you can fast forward and move about three minutes. ah Probably about, well, that would get you halfway through the song. Okay, there you go.
00:13:23
Speaker
woke up with a new pair of wigs today His head is clear as thumping The
00:13:36
Speaker
morning airtime
00:13:56
Speaker
Cause he likes to
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah, I'm a happy camper.
Chris Holmes' Pool Scene Discussion
00:14:47
Speaker
I'm George. I just enjoy life.
00:14:56
Speaker
I'm the happiest son of a bitch and motherfucker there ever was. She's got a free hand and she's going to
00:15:24
Speaker
it. And that means that she can make it. Because they can't see past her chest.
00:18:11
Speaker
I'm what they call an old fuck. Damn, a whole blown up the world.
00:18:56
Speaker
Epic Fury. Who was that man who was talking? That man was Chris Holmes yeah from Wasp ah in his infamous pool scene from 1988's The Decline of Western Civilization Part 2, colon, The Metal Years, directed by Penelope Spheris. It's a scene where he is in a swimming pool at his house,
00:19:23
Speaker
completely loaded, apparently, and pouring vodka all over himself and talking about what an alcoholic he is whilst his mum sits at the side of the pool looking, understandably, a little bit sad.
00:19:38
Speaker
Yeah, it wass kind of tragic. Yeah. That was one of those films that we got into, didn't we Big time. We watched it all the time. Yeah, it was good. It was all about the glam metal scene, wasn't it, in LA? Some really interesting people. London, the band London.
00:19:52
Speaker
Can I just say one word to you? Odin. Odin. Odin. Yeah, Odin were a good band as well. Yeah, get the but crowd out shouting, Odin. But the new thing by this old Johnny Domino was not very
Nostalgia for Tape Hiss Sound
00:20:07
Speaker
glam metal, was it? No, no. But it was a thing.
00:20:10
Speaker
Some of the lyrics just made made me think of catchphrase. Okay. Well, if you see it, you can solve it. But it just made me think of, say what you see, like Roy Walker. Say what see.
00:20:25
Speaker
I was a bit distracted thinking about catchphrase while I was listening to it. there was There were many cultural... things going on there. Yeah. um Yeah. I like the fact there's so much tape hiss on that recording.
00:20:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I like it. I enjoy it. It goes back to the Bruce Springsteen shot. It's, you know, it's it's it's very full track. Yeah. And it's a little bit kind of like tortured artist-y sounding as well, isn't it, in way? suppose it is. and but But as Bruce says...
00:20:54
Speaker
I just want to get back to what happened in the bedroom. Yeah. We re-recorded it. And for some reason, we didn't include half of the the taped dialogue from the film.
00:21:05
Speaker
And that's that's my favorite bit in the whole thing. Yeah. take dialogue we should so we did do it We did do a second version of it, but we're not going to listen to that here. well you now Maybe it maybe on fs episode 200 or something. when we yeah When we're really scraping the barrel.
00:21:19
Speaker
But bit of an American twang to my vocals, as as often there is in the earlier recordings. Yeah. It doesn't doesn't really bother me anymore. There's a bit of bitch magnet in my bass playing.
00:21:32
Speaker
There is a bit of slint in the guitar playing. So there was, what you going to do about it? What you going to do? What you going to do? So yeah, that was all right. Yeah. That was all right. like it. I mean, you know, it's it's serious and we don't often take ourselves and completely seriously.
00:21:49
Speaker
I think we used to, though, a bit more. I think that's the thing. I think that's the seriousness of youth. Yes. You do take yourself more seriously when you're that age, don't you? Yeah, yeah. yeah you know what I mean? Whereas like, I think now we're a bit more ironic about stuff and so perhaps a bit more distanced.
00:22:05
Speaker
But I think we we had that kind of seriousness. And we like quite a lot serious music as well. I mean, do you remember Codeine? Jesus. I love Codeine. I know, but can you listen to them now? Nope.
00:22:17
Speaker
No, exactly. No, no, no, no, no. Exactly. No. Shall we move on? Yeah. Shall we have a commercial break? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
00:22:28
Speaker
Amstrad Studio, 100 is new. It's a hi-fi with twin tape decks, too. Two speakers and a radio. And a four-track recording studio. A four-track recording studio.
00:22:39
Speaker
You can mix reverb, reverb and play. You can be a DJ or get demos, man. You got inputs, outputs on every hand. Four mics, four stands, and a pair of cams. Four twos, 199 pounds.
00:22:51
Speaker
You can have a hi-fi. Or make your own sound. It's a hi-fi. It's a studio.
00:23:06
Speaker
I did tell you I had an advert for a four-track recording studio, didn't I? You did, yeah. yeah Where is that from? It's for Amstrad Studio 100, which, according to an article I found from Micromusic, August-September 1989, was a brave attempt to combine quantity with value for money.
Amstrad Studio 100 Experience
00:23:26
Speaker
The package is based around a four-track cassette deck for mixdowns or standard cassette operation, a bog-standard turntable, three-wave band radio, reverb, DJ facility, 10-watt per channel amplifier, two speakers, four mics with tabletop stands, and a pre-recorded cassette tape of drum rhythms and backing tracks.
00:23:44
Speaker
Amazing. And I've used one of them. Yeah. Because Johnny P. Cooling of the Peru band, e he had one. wow And there was a period when we didn't have access to a four-track recorder and I borrowed it off him.
00:23:57
Speaker
It was not very easy to use and the results were not very satisfying. Trying to do too many things, man. Too much going on. You couldn't change the tape speed but you you know to get decent quality. Yeah. And yeah, absolutely. The thing is though, Steve, these days you can do all of those things on your watch, can't you?
00:24:16
Speaker
I know, but... Do you know what mean, right? But why? but Yeah. But like, who in their right mind... would use a tape for track these days, you'd have to be mad, wouldn't you? You'd have to be mad.
00:24:31
Speaker
Or our guest. We've got a guest. That was seamless, wasn't it? we We've got a guest. Well, sort of. He's not here, is he? No, of course he's not. I'm bit disappointed there. I know. It'd be nice if he was here.
00:24:45
Speaker
Yes. Well, look, I've i recorded a conversation with this person, so let me just play it. and you what Can you introduce him? Because it's a bit weird, because we're talking about somebody who is the person. Well, the thing is, Giles, I introduce him on the recording.
00:25:03
Speaker
Something I've mentioned on the podcast before is that occasionally the algorithm works. One day recently I was just bimbling around on Instagram and all of a sudden a post appeared advertising a recording being made on a Tascam 424 Porter studio.
Esteban Obando's Monthly Song Project
00:25:20
Speaker
Regular listeners will know that the early days of Johnny Domino and 100 songs in what we used to call the Shithouse Masters and our first album at least were recorded on a Tascam 424 port studio. So I thought that's quite interesting.
00:25:36
Speaker
I thought it was even more interesting that the person I'm speaking to, Esteban Obando, is recording a song a month throughout this year and releasing it, but he's only using a Tascam 424 port studio.
00:25:51
Speaker
Esteban, why are you doing this? um I just wanted something simple because I've been using you know digital audio workstations for my my regular muggle job.
00:26:06
Speaker
So I just got a little bit fed up of ah just looking at screens all day and kind of twiddling around with EQs and effects. And I just wanted to like finish a song, record it, not be able to like fix it and just release it.
00:26:20
Speaker
Have you done this before or is it basically you thought I'm going to pick up a cool bit of kit and see how it works? No. I mean, I've always wanted to get into like tape recording and this is the most accessible, ah you know, least expensive yeah option. So it was, you know it was this for like a...
00:26:41
Speaker
like reel to reel, which is like crazy expensive. So I figured I would try to get something a little bit more affordable and kind of get my feet wet and then maybe down the line get something a little bit more.
00:26:52
Speaker
That being said, my my dad um was an audio engineer back in the day, and he knows all about recording analog and When I told him, I, yeah I didn't talk about it, but he just saw like on Instagram that I was doing like little stuff with the four track and he like, oh my gosh, I had one of those. i loved it. And I never got it to sound really good, but it was really fun to record.
00:27:16
Speaker
From my point of view, one of the reasons why Johnny Domino started recording on the 4-track is because one of our old bands, we got involved with a small indie label and they paid for us to record an album.
Imperfections in Recording
00:27:27
Speaker
And we had like a couple of days in a very nice recording studio.
00:27:30
Speaker
And we came out with something which did not sound anything like us. And at this sort of time, we were getting into like early Beck and the first Palace Brothers album and Pavement.
00:27:41
Speaker
And they all sounded they were having a lot of fun. Yeah, I think a lot of the records that I listen to over and over again, they have imperfections.
00:27:51
Speaker
And I guess I always just took them for granted. But when I started recording more of my own music, I started like noticing like, oh, they, you know, like Pavement, for example. I mean, um like, oh, they totally messed that part up, but I love it. And they just kept it in, you know, but I think it was more a limitation. Like they have to just keep it, you know, it's if it's good enough, you you have to keep it because it's not worth it to like record 90% of the song that was fine, ah you know just to save that 10% that's maybe like a little bit weird and out of time. and
00:28:24
Speaker
But I mean, I love the just like tactile aspect of it, just being able to hear the you know the tape spinning and the click, not the metronome, but the actual clunky clicking sound.
Physical Aspects of Tape Recording
00:28:38
Speaker
Yeah, that's really satisfying. Kind of what I'm realizing like with ah with recordings of this, it's like I think when I have all the options in front of me in digital, like it's It's overwhelming. Like, I'm just yeah like, oh, I need to put 14 mics on a drum kit and i need to, like, you know, go to, like, a professional studio and get it to sound great. And then, like, I've tried that before. Like, when I was younger, I had, like, more of a band project. And it was, ah you know, I was trying to make it, like, perfect and...
00:29:09
Speaker
Yeah, it kind of just wasn't as fun as like, walk around and find out. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah. I think it's the limitations and the little quirky bits that, like you were saying on the records that you love, where you go, oh, that's something that they got wrong.
00:29:23
Speaker
That's your favorite bit, isn't it? You know what I mean? They're the bits where you think, oh, they are human. I mean, we rented out studios to get like a really nice drum sound, but I never really loved it. Apart from like, it was cool to to take pictures and pretend to be like...
00:29:40
Speaker
more pro than we actually were, you know? Did you take photos of yourself messing with the desk? Oh yeah, of course. You have to. It's mandatory. I mean, we had some good experiences, but I think most of the time it was more trouble than it was worth. Like it was a little bit of a pressure because like, you know, we were paying for it out of pocket and it's like, okay, we have to get this right.
Esteban's Creative Approach & Social Media Discovery
00:30:03
Speaker
So you're going to keep this up for a whole year and you've got two songs so far. How's it going? Are you still on target? Kind of. I got nine songs ah written total.
00:30:15
Speaker
um So I think I have a little bit of a buffer between now and when I have to write the other three. Oh, that's cool. they Because i was I was worried you were going like, right, okay, February, I need a song for this month. and No, no. Excellent. I mean, I've struggled a lot with being perfect about things. So I kind of just gave myself permission to be like, okay, I'm going to record something on this and I'm going to release it and like...
00:30:38
Speaker
That's the end of that. and I'm not going to mess around with it more. So
00:30:44
Speaker
that was my conversation with Esteban. He's putting all this stuff on his band camp and will include the link in the show notes. As I said it right at the start, he's doing a song a month, recording it purely on a Tascam 424, and he's doing it for the whole year.
00:31:02
Speaker
nice conversation there. Where is he based? He's, oh, Los Angeles. Oh, right, yeah, cool. The first two songs are great, so I've got high hopes for the rest of it i'm really i' really enjoying it so far. yeah So should we have a listen to one of them? Yeah, we're going straight into February, aren't we?
00:31:18
Speaker
We are, we're going straight into February. We might go back to January next month, but we're going to go straight to the song from February. ah He's all over Instagram if you want to find out more about him. MUSIC
00:31:38
Speaker
I'm gonna sing, gonna dance Through the darkened night And banish them away My melancholy days Cause when all is quiet All I think about is you There's nothing I can do There's nothing.
00:32:07
Speaker
You shone like the sun now that you're gone. Days are like whiskey stones in the bottom of a glass where I relive the past.
00:32:23
Speaker
Cause when all is quiet, all I think about is you.
00:33:32
Speaker
nothing
00:33:37
Speaker
Thank you to Esteban for talking to us and thank you to the algorithm for pointing me towards this stuff because it literally just popped up in my feed on Instagram and I thought that's really terrifying really but I'm really glad it did and thank you so much for talking to us.
00:33:53
Speaker
Very good. Do you know where we're going now? I don't know. We're going on the Derby scene, bitch. On the 90s Derby scene, I just want to be seen.
00:34:04
Speaker
On the 90s Derby scene, where have you been?
Darius' Music Preferences & Furniture Building
00:34:09
Speaker
On the 90s Derby scene, I just want to be seen. What musical cuisine, Stephen Jarvis, are you going to surf today?
00:34:21
Speaker
And before we get into this week's bit of ah cuisine from the Derby scene, and just a little bit of a repeat from a bit of a callback to last episode where we were talking about cable.
00:34:34
Speaker
yeah And I believe that Darius has been in touch because we were pondering, we were pontificating as to what kind of music does he listen to? When he's making flat pack furniture.
00:34:47
Speaker
Yeah. And we appear to have found out. I actually build a lot of furniture, despite the evil rumours spread by my wife. And and when I'm building furniture, most weekends, I always listen to a song called i Come From A Long Line Of Shipbuilders. Shitbuilders. Not shitbuilders. Shipbuilders.
00:35:12
Speaker
Which is by a band called Bastro, and it has the lyrics. A gung half a hoe slat of rude wine. A gung half a hoeslat. A hammer hurler.
00:35:24
Speaker
Hammer hurler. hamma huler Hammer Hammer hurler. Hammer hurler. slide Anyway, yeah, that's it. Thank you, bye. A gung half a hoeslat. A hammer hurler. Hammer hurler. Hammer hurler. Hammer hurler. Hammer hurler.
00:35:44
Speaker
Very nice. Thank you to Darius from the Cable Band. ah cable and And his wife, Catherine, who I'm in touch with. So thank you very much for getting that answer for us because the people need to know.
00:35:56
Speaker
Yeah. So and we're going to be talking ah this episode and the piece of cuisine we're going to be discussing. I think it's like a nice cheesecake, really.
00:36:09
Speaker
It's a cheesecake of music. And this piece of cheesecake is called The Almanacs. Friend of the podcast, Ian Turner of Motorcade One.
The Almanacs' Indie Scene Presence
00:36:21
Speaker
The Almanacs were around like back in the Stone Age. Yeah. Long time ago. Long time ago. Yeah. yeah I think there they were like early 90s and they were India's hell.
00:36:32
Speaker
I don't really know anything about them. I never went to see them. But we're going listen to one of their songs and then we'll have a little chat about them. This song is called to to do to do to do what it cold What's called? What's it called? La la la la You see, I have to do a lot of shit on this podcast La la la la What's it called?
00:36:51
Speaker
It's called Sunburnt Skin
00:36:59
Speaker
What song shall I dance to?
00:37:09
Speaker
Or shall I stay here and wait for you? This night I've soaked up and it smells.
00:37:19
Speaker
Sunshine smells and summertime love can only result in one thing. Sunshine smells and summertime love can only result in one thing.
00:37:41
Speaker
Often I think of you and then I swear Just your face can make me happy for a while But still I know that Sunshine smells and summertime love Can only result in nothing Sunshine smells and summertime love Can only result in nothing
00:38:08
Speaker
I will change you
00:38:16
Speaker
and you will run away And when we meet again there'll be nothing more to say
00:38:45
Speaker
I was listening to that and just thinking, the song's called Sunburnt Skin. That band sound like they could stroke it immediately if if the sun touched their their pale tail pale their pale... Pale, pale, pale indie boys, aren't they? um i was just I was just thinking about anoraks.
00:39:03
Speaker
and well oh yeah while I was listening to that and thinking about people wearing anoraks. There were lot of people wearing anoraks at that point and and dancing with their arms kind of like to their sides and holding their hands around their backs and kind of like yeah and that kind of thing and shaking their bobs around a bit, you know? Their bobs around, yeah yeah yeah. I actually did see the Almanacs at least once ah in the dial, Derby's legendary bar, the dial.
00:39:32
Speaker
And um at the time, probably didn't think a huge amount of them. But you know what? You know what? You still don't like them. No, I know that stood up i've really enjoyed that. I mean yeah i thought it was great. It took me back, definitely. yeah It made me think about those indie kids, though, man.
00:39:51
Speaker
those Those darned indie kids that are now middle-aged people. Yeah. You know, what they were the most seedy people, right? They were like they were like oh they were all shagging each other, weren't they? There was the whole kind of like childlike in its approach.
00:40:06
Speaker
But they were like the LA scene.
00:40:09
Speaker
You know, the glam rock LA scene. But like, it was more kind of English and hidden underneath the surface. And apparently a little bit fae and not very threatening.
00:40:22
Speaker
and I mean, there is a song that you sent me that they recorded as a demo called Pig Sex. Pig Sex, yeah. Which I think the they didn't release that one. I know, but so I think I found an article on a website called CloudberryCake.com.
00:40:40
Speaker
And it's got a word that I can't say. Proselytism. P-R-O-S-E-L-Y-T-I-S-M. Educational. or Educational. Yeah. C86 Indie Pop Neo Akko with love and no full album download.
00:40:56
Speaker
And there's couple of articles about the Almanacs on there, including it an interview with ah the three members. yeah That's Paul, Ian, And Rob. And it's it's just very good. Yeah, it was. It was 1992, probably when they started. They recorded loads of stuff.
00:41:14
Speaker
They didn't read release an album. They just appeared on, as far as I can work out, on loads and loads and loads of compilation tapes, which were you know all around the world.
Rarity of The Almanacs' Compilations
00:41:25
Speaker
They are now on Discogs, some of them fetching some quite tidy sums. Very collectible. Very collectible. Yeah. They held from Derby and they appeared on something called The Derby Tape, a 1992 split cassette with the band Iris that we featured on the podcast a few short weeks ago. Yeah, they're ones that I liked and you didn't like.
00:41:48
Speaker
I didn't enjoy it, no. So did they say anything interesting in the interviews? I mean, it's just about you know what they did. I mean, I think a lot of the stuff they recorded on 4Track, they recorded some stuff with Jyoti of Whitetown.
00:42:00
Speaker
In the Almanacs, there were two songwriters. There was Paul and Ian. There's a lot of stuff on Spotify, Shittify, and they seem to kind of take it
Ian Turner's PRF Monthly Contributions
00:42:12
Speaker
in turn. So like, Paul or write song.
00:42:14
Speaker
Ian will write song maybe that's just on the compilations I've been listening to like Beatles like the Beatles like the Beatles innit so like what's he up to now Ian has he been recording anything else recently ah Well, he has. as you Wow, this is like, have you scripted or something? It's amazing.
00:42:34
Speaker
Yeah, well, because I want to play this this thing next. um and And this is up from the PRF Monthly Tribute Series. Because Ian's been contributed to that, as we know. And ah this month, it's Blondie.
00:42:49
Speaker
And he's done he's he's done ah he's done a song which I like very much. Anyway, let's play it. It's incredibly short.
00:43:55
Speaker
Concise. There's no wrong with that at all. I thought that was great. So there you go. That's the end of the Derby scene section for this episode.
00:44:07
Speaker
Scoop-oop-a-doop-a-dee-dee-dee-da Cause I like you Yes, I like you
00:44:22
Speaker
Quite often in the podcast, we talk about stuff that we've been doing and listening to
Zebra Music Shop Memories
00:44:32
Speaker
recently. But this episode, I've really not really done very much, to be honest.
00:44:37
Speaker
Have you been up to much now? Yes? No? Well, if there's only one thing I want to mention is that at the weekend, I went to legendary Ilkiston-based music shop, Zebra Music, yeah for the first time in about several decades. Yeah.
00:44:55
Speaker
And just wanted to mention it because it's still going. It's being run by the son of Rob, who used to manage it when we used to go in there. But I know loads of people who got their first guitar from that very same shop. And it's still going.
Humor in Music Listening
00:45:11
Speaker
It's still going and it's still doing all right. And when I went in, who was there playing the guitar? But Rob of Zebra Music. Oh, wow. Memories.
00:45:22
Speaker
Bought first guitar there. Yes, you did. i think I got my Casio CZ 3000 synth from there. We've bought loads of things from there. Right. Anyway, yeah. So anyway, I've not been doing very much.
00:45:34
Speaker
Saturday night, I was cleaning the toilet while listening to Terrence Trent Derby. So that's what that's what stage I'm at. But I've been getting into watching old episodes at Top of the Pops.
Memorable 'Top of the Pops' Performances
00:45:46
Speaker
Great. um Some highlights, recent highlights. David Essex, doing Imperial Wizard, which was like a bad trip. Anything with Legs & Co.
00:45:58
Speaker
Amazing. Edie Brickhill and the New Bohemians, the What I Am song, which is a song about rejecting the idea of thinking about anything much.
00:46:09
Speaker
Philosophy is a talk on cereal box. Religion is a smile on a dog. Nice song. And then also, do do you remember this one? Not the Greatest Rapper by 1000 Clowns from 1997. I think I must have missed that one. You never
Critique of 'Not the Greatest Rapper'
00:46:26
Speaker
miss that. Well, it's like it's it's a song that came out, I think, after the often-mentioned Beck released Loser.
00:46:33
Speaker
And then someone decided, oh, let's get back on, let's go on that bandwagon and have a nice blonde white guy with you know floppy hair doing some ramping. And his name was Kevvy.
00:46:47
Speaker
Oh, God almighty. I know I'm not the greatest rapper in the world, but would you, would you, would you please be my girl? I'm not the greatest rapper in the land, but please, baby, please, baby, hold my hand.
00:46:59
Speaker
Kevi has got the most smackable face in the world. i think So please watch the clip. I'm going to include it on the show notes. And see if you agree with me. Has he got the most smackable face in the world You mentioned Legs and Cone.
Ruby Flipper's Dance Group Legacy
00:47:13
Speaker
There were a number of dance troupes on Top of the Pops. There was one i saw on an old Top of the Pops recently.
00:47:19
Speaker
They were called Ruby Flipper. yeah Ruby Flipper from 1976. They were very short-lived. They were a mixed gender group. And I saw them doing an absolutely appalling routine to an absolutely terrible song by The Stylistics. I do love The Stylistics. It's their version of I Can't Help Falling in Love With You, which is...
00:47:40
Speaker
abysmal. Oh dear. And their routine is not much better. It's funny though, right? Because like, back when I was a kid, I used to like, oh no, it's bloody legs and cow, or it's pans of people.
00:47:53
Speaker
Rubbish. This is like the bit that I don't want to watch of the show. But now I watch the old episodes and I quite like watching the ladies dancing. Isn't it strange? It was for the dads, wasn't it? It was for the dads. One for the dads.
Benny Goodman's Music for Social Events
00:48:05
Speaker
I've not really listened to much new music. No. I've discovered that Benny Goodman is a very companionable and friendly artist. Do you Benny Goodman? Brilliant. The Carnegie Hall concert. Amazing. It's the kind of music that you can put on as background music if you've got a few friends around for a few drinks. And it's but it makes very good very good music. Creates a good atmosphere, i think. Yeah.
00:48:29
Speaker
And the other thing I'd be listening to is the Rain Parade, Paisley Underground Band. have you ever heard much Rain Parade? I've only heard it when Mark the Elk Elkston has played us some stuff. And I think you've them on our MP3 blog as well that we used to do.
The Rain Parade's Influence
00:48:45
Speaker
Well, i I never really got into them. No.
00:48:49
Speaker
But I was introduced to them by a youngest son mentioned before, Freddie. He said, Dad, have you listened to these? And this album, Emergency Third Rail Power Trip. And briefly last week, it was the greatest record I've ever heard for a brief period of time.
00:49:05
Speaker
And I phoned Fred up and I said, hey man, this is this is the greatest record I've ever heard. Today? And he said, yeah. And it sounds like the past. It sounds like the future. And he introduced it to me. And that was cool. That's a cool thing that your son could introduce you to some like old music as well, right?
00:49:22
Speaker
I mean, I felt good about that. I mean, you know, I introduced him to music as a thing I guess when he was two we used to I got him listening to Queen you know what i mean yeah in the car none of that Barney shit yeah right and I don't know you've done the same thing yeah you and indoctrinated your daughter But you get paid back, you see. Absolutely, yeah. they Because they they kind of get you into stuff as well.
00:49:48
Speaker
And springtime is the time for psychedelia. Rain parade. Emergency third rail power trip. Give it a listen, people. It's good. My daughter introduced me to the song recently.
00:50:01
Speaker
was it is She's introduced me to a couple of crackers. Is it an old song that you missed the first time round? Well, we yeah, because one of them is like a late period fall song because she is all about the fall at the moment. It's a song called Mountain Energy, which is brilliant. It's from...
00:50:17
Speaker
Oh, it's ah a late period fall album. It's the one with Sparta FC on it. And then she also played me a song by Wolf Parade. yeah yeah and they passed me by it kind of turn of the century sort of blog band.
00:50:31
Speaker
And it's a song which has been in, oh gosh, there's a program on Netflix, which is about love amongst hockey players, ice hockey players. I can't remember what it's called.
00:50:45
Speaker
The Wolf Parade song, I'll Believe in Anything, is featured in Heated Rivalry, a Canadian sports romance television series created, written and directed by Jacob Tierney.
00:50:58
Speaker
And a song by Wolf Parade is featured in this programme. And she played it to me.
MasterChef Inspired Poem
00:51:02
Speaker
And it's bloody great. Oh, there go. It's nice to get paid back. It is. Anyway, I've been watching watching a lot of TV. i watched I've been watching a lot of cooking shows. I've been getting into cooking.
00:51:12
Speaker
Cool. I've been getting into food big time and watching a lot of MasterChef professionals. An episode made me want to write a poem, so I'm going to read you a poem.
00:51:24
Speaker
It's called MasterChef. It's got some swearing in it. So I think people will like It's got swearing in it. Hey, Polly smiles and cooks, but the renegade is sheffer.
00:51:37
Speaker
Today the pressure's on, Xanthi Clay's the judge-upsetter. They like it tender in the mouth, they are excited by the duck. Now Polly's down to minutes, and the foam machine is fucked.
00:51:50
Speaker
But it's working out for Polly, the renegade's frenetic, because this lamb is fucking raw, and Jay Rayner is splenetic. So the renegade is walking, Polly's through to the next round.
00:52:02
Speaker
Join us then when four more hopefuls have their dreams stomped on the ground. The presenters are resented and as thick as cold clenta. Talking shit about cooking is like dancing about the weather.
00:52:16
Speaker
I'm just watching for the swearing and the sweating and the tension as I pop another ready meal with care and true intention.
Safe Driving PSA
00:52:25
Speaker
Accidents like this happen too often, but many could be avoided if drivers would only keep a safe distance from the car in front.
00:52:32
Speaker
Most drivers know this, but judging the distance between moving vehicles is difficult, particularly if you're on a motorway travelling at higher speeds. So if you're not sure how close is too close, try the two-second rule.
00:52:46
Speaker
Select a marker on the road ahead, such as a bridge or sign, and then when the car in front passes it, count two seconds. If you reach the marker before two seconds are up, you're too close and should drop back.
00:53:01
Speaker
Next time you're travelling on an open road at a speed of 40 or more, try saying to yourself, only a fool breaks the two-second rule. It takes just two seconds to say. Only a fool breaks the two-second rule.
Introduction to Dusty Fall Track
00:53:14
Speaker
Try the two-second rule. It'll help you keep your distance and it could save your life.
00:53:18
Speaker
Remember, only a fool breaks the two-second rule. That's really interesting because I've i've got more to say about driving later. that's oh We didn't even talk about that. Wow.
00:53:31
Speaker
It's like we've sort of like linked psychically through some kind of weird fraternal umbilical cord. Maybe. Maybe. Right. and The next thing I wanted to talk about was Dusty Fall Track.
00:53:44
Speaker
Ah, yes. Because they are a band and they're a Nottingham band and they're doing some good stuff at the moment. They have got an album launch on Friday the 10th of April. So if you're listening to this episode and you're Nottingham Head and you are in the Rough Trade area on Friday the 10th of April, ah they are doing their thing and you can pre-order their vinyl on their band camp.
00:54:12
Speaker
And it's sounding pretty good. It's kind of blues, folky, alternative. And this is a track called The Garden.
00:54:40
Speaker
I saw you in the garden I saw you in the road I see you when I close my eyes I carry a note Dead name on the waves That's a sight of dreams
00:55:06
Speaker
On my baby grave
00:55:28
Speaker
She's skin to the gold She calls my name and I'm cold to my bone
00:56:09
Speaker
Caught a saddle too soon. Hear name on the waves. Darks inside dream.
00:56:54
Speaker
I'm the boat
00:57:57
Speaker
chi chi chi Check them out. It's a Dusty Fall track. The vocals on that one really reminded me of m Ward. Yeah. I M Ward, man. Bit of M Ward, you know, a bit of like ah like a raspy sort of voice with a retro reverb effect.
00:58:15
Speaker
And also the guitar playing. Good guitar playing. Good guitar playing. Very nice. Loving that. Loving that. So yeah, get on down to see them if you can.
Johnny Domino's Upcoming Music Release
00:58:23
Speaker
The This Our Johnny Domino Podcast. It's got bongos.
00:58:27
Speaker
some questions for you oh good I've got a few okay when when is the next installment of the very best of this are Johnny Domino going to be released question one well I need you to send me the artwork yeah I've answered all of the music yeah I need to write some notes to go on band camp And then it can go on there. So give me a rough ETA for that, for the people. o a A week from today or something.
00:58:59
Speaker
So by the end of March, 2026. There you go. Very good. That's first answer. Okay, good. Next question. Who actually likes... Please don't ask me a sex question. All right. did you bar love bit by there there Right, okay.
00:59:14
Speaker
Next question. Who actually likes the music of Wolf Alice? I don't. They're not, but did you see the Brit Awards recently? yeah I thought all the performances were pretty good and they were not terrible.
00:59:29
Speaker
I don't really get it, but I didn't hate it. Okay, good answer. Next question. as Question three. Do you think you get free ice cream at Courtney Barnett gigs?
00:59:44
Speaker
I wouldn't have thought so. Okay. Right. Right. Why are you asking that question?
Freebies at Gigs Discussion
00:59:51
Speaker
Because one of her songs was on a Magnum advert. Oh.
00:59:55
Speaker
But he didn't get free Sprite at cable gigs. No. no He didn't get free iPhones at or iPods or whatever it was at Gritty Bear gigs back in the day. No, true.
01:00:09
Speaker
Can you tell me your favourite three driving songs that you like driving to? Okay.
01:00:20
Speaker
Well, ones that have rocked my world recently. These are ones that I've listened to recently whilst driving. Yakitori by Ottobocky Beaver. That's a great one. so That's insane. It's a great song to listen to while you're driving.
01:00:33
Speaker
um What else have listened to recently? I go driving with my daughter and listen to some music. And recently she put some meat puppets on and Dolphin Field was a particularly good one to listen to in the car. I'm going to have a few actually because... No, three. Okay. um You've had two.
01:00:54
Speaker
ah Mesopotamians by They Might Be Giants because again, when I'm driving with my daughter, we just sing it and we've we've got specific parts that we do.
Favorite Driving Songs
01:01:03
Speaker
And yeah the Mesopotamians is a great song.
01:01:06
Speaker
Excellent. My three favourite driving things historically are Chikateta by ABBA. Makes me cry every time. Why? and Graceland, Paul Simon.
01:01:19
Speaker
Yep. And the whole Neutral Milk Hotel album, the second album. Yeah. Not the first album. Because I like singing along to all of them, basically.
01:01:30
Speaker
You've got to have someone to sing along to when you're driving, haven't you? I've got a poem to end with. Good. It's about having an argument in a car. Okay.
Poem on Driving Arguments
01:01:42
Speaker
Car, van, car, car, lorry, lorry, car, van, car, bus, car, here we are. Keep your distance, but we could still talk.
01:01:56
Speaker
Watch your speed and take the left fork. Tiredness can kill. Words can leave marks. Love you still. But I'd rather walk.
01:02:08
Speaker
vanco Van car, van car. Van lorry car. Van car, bus car. Here we are. Are you okay, hon?
01:02:20
Speaker
Fucking hell.
Closing Thoughts: Enjoy Spring & Simnel Cake
01:02:22
Speaker
So I just wanted to say it's a beautiful time of year. It's springtime. Springtime secret psychedelia, yeah? the I think just to remind everybody, just go outside and enjoy it and eat some Simnel cake.
01:02:40
Speaker
Simnel cake is freaking great. Yeah? Enjoy the rebirth, man. Okay. We'll see you next episode. Yeah. Love you very much.
01:02:52
Speaker
Well, that's that's cool, but as Bruce Springsteen said, I just want to get back to what happened in the bedroom.
01:03:01
Speaker
Please do like and subscribe to our podcast and recommend it to someone who you think might like listening to all this kind of weird shit. Send us some of your old music and enter the eternal halls of the four-track gods.