This is the thread where we reminisce over not particularly good Evening Session bands from the late 90s

this is why americans hate britain

they have a point

There are a few equivalent late 90s 'college rock' threads kicking around here. I'm not convinced that was any better, to be honest

"Minty were great as well!! "My mind is like a plastic bag"!!!"
"Phoenix 96. The singer was completely naked and in a kind of cage of bendy tubes. I thought they were good, they probably weren't."

That's where I saw them. In fact I went to a lot of festivals throughout the '90s and most of the bands on this thread filled the afternoon-to-early evening slot before the properly popular bands came on, so I saw most of them, it seems. So, yeah, Subcircus! Scarfo! Molly Half-Head! I remember the names, not so much the music, just a vague tinnitus of grim, pig-iron guitar drone.

Kenickie, My Life Story, Minty, Geneva, Strangelove (1st album only) and Telstar Ponies I'd save, destroy the rest. My god, the '90s were filled with crap indie.

This thread is great. Greater than many of the bands!! I found a Bis CD album in a bargain bin a while ago, and I bought it. It wasn't too bad, I think I listened to it twice, I might listen to it again tonight.

I saw a fellow who lookd very like tiny wood walking through newcastle central station last week. This reminds me that I am one of the "lucky" few who saw Ultrasound mk2s single concert at newcastle arts centre a few years ago now. it was really, really bad - it was tiny and the drummer from ultrasound mk 1, a female keyboard player, a barechested guitar shredder and a bass player who iirc they pinched of a local band. I really wanted them to be good, but it was terrible.

Gareth and dj mencap are both otm.

I think the profusion of meant & 2 veg guitar musick in the '90's is part of why I have a real hard time getting excited about anything these days. I've been burned too often! Music I wind up liking,
I get into after everyone else, but I suppose it works out better-ish.

"a vague tinnitus of grim, pig-iron guitar drone."

!!!

Yes!! You are my hero for today, david m.

I bought Subcircus's 86'd EP, and it's good! Pretty much unlike anything else from that period. I've not heard much else by them, but I seem to remember that by the time their second album came out they'd blandified to the point of being unrecognisable.

Marion, almost the same story. Decent first LP followed by ultra-dull U2ish follow-up(with one really good single). Working with Johnny Marr didn't exactly turn out to be their ticket to fame and glory, sadly, although the singer's heroin addiction and constant petty crime may've scuppered their chances a bit.

Anyone remember Spacehog? Anyone care?

I actually saw spacehog, iirc supporting kula shaker. And I don't care, no! Didn't one of them go out w/someone famous? An actress?

Was it Zoe Ball? It must've been Zoe Ball.

i have to admit here that i used to love Spacehog, actually still have all THREE albums they released in my possession. the lead singer is now married to Liv Tyler and fronting a new band called The Quick.

seriously, you all need to check out "Almond Kisses" by Spacehog f. Michael Stipe. great tune that seemed to have been unjustly passed over.

One of Spacehog went out with an American actress... it wasn't Winona though. I forget who.

LOS ANGELES - Liv Tyler (news) has added another rock musician to her life.

The daughter of Aerosmith (news - web sites) front man Steven Tyler married
Royston Langdon, lead singer of the band Spacehog, in a private ceremony at a
villa in the Caribbean on March 25, her publicist said Wednesday.

It's the first marriage for both the 25-year-old actress and 30-year-old
musician. They plan a small reception for family and friends next month in New
York, where the couple live, publicist Stephen Huvane said.

Tyler, who plays the elf Arwen in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, has also
appeared in such films as "Armageddon," "Inventing the Abbotts" and "That Thing
You Do!"

British-born Langdon also plays the bass for Spacehog, which formed in the
mid-1990s.

Err...

i have to admit here that i used to love Spacehog, actually still have all THREE albums they released in my possession. the lead singer is now married to Liv Tyler and fronting a new band called The Quick.

are the quick glam? I bet they're glam.

Also: Murray the Hump

Kinky Machine!

The Honeythieves!
Revolver!
The Milltown Brothers!
Snug!

I didn't know Swygart loved Angelica! I love Angelica.

My Vitriol! (guess they never made a second album then?)
Lo-Fidelity Allstars! (loved "Vision Incision" - underwhelmed by first LP)
The Secret Goldfish!
JJ72!
Fundamental! (although i think Peel may have championed them more than the Evening Session)

some Britpop bands:
Echobelly!
Menswear!
Sleeper! (remember the term "Sleeperblokes" to define anonymous bloke playing drums/guitar/bass?)

I'm glad someone said Salad - truly terrible

'Audioweb went top twenty once. Crumbs.'
- there wasa time when i thought this band was following me. they were everyone's support band in the britpop era. i'm not sure thet athey ever topped a bill in their life...

Audioweb have the distinction of being the most instantly forgettable support band I've ever seen. The entire set was just a blur. I think the singer may've used a megaphone at one point. They didn't even do their one hit, a cover of "Daddy Was A Bankrobber".

I'd completely forgotten My Vitriol - now there was a terminal support band if ever there was.

Asian Dub Foundation (although they are actually still around and about to make a comeback with the hilariously titled TANKS!)

Angelica were awesome. My Vitriol never made a second album because they apparently forgot how to write tunes, if the sole recorded follow-up to their album ("Vapour Trails") was any indication

my favourite britpop also-rans are Mover, whose album is really, really good.

Rialto? Did they exist?

I'm afraid they did. I saw them on telly. They were kind of like Pulp-lite IIRC.

With two drummers!

Didn't Ian Brown take out a full-page ad in a music paper after the Stone Roses finally carked it, saying he was now going to devote his life to the worthy and wholesome pursuit of listening to Audioweb?

this thread is fun. it makes me happy.

i was working in a studio next door to my vitriol for about 6 months. very nice peeps. i think they've got a new album out sometime soonish, which i heard throughout the recording and it's pretty out there! seriously huge sound! pretty cool. amazing drummer/guitarist. imagine perfect cirle crossed with nirvana in utero crossed with mierd hardcore metal crossed with mad dreamscapes...and songs...

blah.

i loved campag velocet first time round (!!!)...pete voss took my mate back to his hotel room and made her wear a plastic bag on her head...turns out, years later, i meet and become friends with lascelles from campag velocet! he's the drummer guy and he's great. he does awesome electro stuff under the name 7hurtz and has a studio round the corner.

i still love bis and i think they were way ahead of their time.
i think they'll be listened to by technocolourgeekoids from osaka to nyc to gay paree to ole' hacknee!

I loved Angelica.

Re Geneva. The leadsinger is now is a band called Amityville.
Murry the Hump split up, and formed The Keys, with 2 members of the original band. They lost all their songs in the change over though.

Geneva and Bis were both ahead of their time. The Geneva sound is now being recreated badly by Keane, and Bis had the whole disco-ish indie thing going by Social Dancing

Jocasta guy reemerged last year as the guy who was sent by his aunt (Dot Cotton) to that tibetan retreat to get out of his drug habit.

Rialto are ne of my favourite bands ever.

I have bought their albums twice and both times lost them on the way home, without ever having listened to them. Perhaps this is a sign.

I need to get that Rialto album. A friend of mine keeps on going on about Kinky Machine, the band that the lead singer bloke was in beforehand, as well.

ian brown vs audioweb. the bass player and drummer from audioweb are now in ians backing band.
well they were when i met them acting as the live band for King of Woolworths a couple of yers ago .. and everytime i see ian on tv they are there doing their thing ..

great thread.

others : engine alley, something happens, sack (who were awesome live when they supported Compulsion), milltown brothers, the wendys, dog,

just remembered : dust junkys .. !!

this album has been the subject of 2 people asking me about it .. one in a shop when they were trying to order it 3 months ago, and then last week my boss asked if i had ever heard of them and knew where he could get a copy of said album ..
the fact that he has now listened to the album a lot more than i ever managed (dont think i ever got all way throught the album in one sitting ..) makes me quite scared about my career prospects ..

Hey mccarty we weren't that bad!

I was in the band for the six years that we were around. We did have our dodgy moments but there was plenty of worse stuff about....

uh-oh! ;-)

I'm confused. I've just done a find on mccarty and found nothing on this thread. Was there really a late 90s band called mccarty as opposed to the excellent 80s/early 90s band McCarthy (who I can't see mentioned above either)?

Alba: search for M Carty. Results: Audioweb, Sensitize, Sand Kings and errr... Machine Gun Feedback.

Ah, I see.

I'm not really taking offence, it was just nice to do a google search after so many years and find a mention :)

am i the only person here who loves 'el toppo' by the llama farmers?

i've been playing this one again recently, and i think it's a shame it didn't find the accolades it deserves to have.

also, i don't really understand this thread, probably since i'm from america. would catatonia get grouped in with these bands? or do they have fans on ILM? damn, i really liked them, haven't listened in a while..

Catatonia did have a few actual proper UK hit singles, so I doubt they'd get grouped in w/the shower above.

i feel like i pushed past the fur coats out through the back of the wardrobe

not only did i miss this thread (through not readin ilm for a year) i missed out on this entire GALAXY (by bein old and workin at S&S in recovery from muisic journalism)

(ok except bis but that is powerpuff girl-related)

tampasm is indeed a creativity-realisin move

"WHERE IS THE LOVE" b4 it wz popular or profitable??!

Catatonia were the aural equivalent of a dog turd lying on a rain sodden pavement with a pram wheel track through the middle. They belong here nicely.

I was just browsing on ebay, and came across cds by Simian. That was a good band. I don't think they even had that much radio play.

in my opinion, 'snow white' and 'note on the door' by the llama farmers are two of the great lost (indie) treasures (to add to the pile). the second one has a melody of such striking simplicity and gorgeousness that i whistle it over almost every song i hear every day! even now! ha!

oh the shame...

i just need to list, so as not to make it worse by actually writing anything.

midget, the delgados (and everything ever on chemikal underground, bless em), northern uproar, period pains, shed seven, brassy, symposium, sultans of ping, helen love, pin ups, backwater, pink kross, inter, dweeb, ash, cast, dubstar, radish, mcalmont and butler, nut, dweeb, me me me, octopus(?), gene, mansun, ultrasound, suede, tampasm, oasisradioheadpulp&blur, kenickie, the prodigy, snakebite city complilations and that one period where they kept playing tupac OVER AND OVER AND OVER.

Change the underscore to a dash to e-mail me:

I really like most of these bands still - there should be a "90s bubblegum indie night" somewhere!

INDIEPOP: Astrid, Midget, Snug, Symposium, Magicdrive, Kingmaker, Urusei Yatsura, Llama Farmers (esp. the 'Style' cover), Aerial, Carrie, The Ultra Montanes, Mover

GRRL-POP/ROCK: Girlfrendo, Chicks, Helen Love, Period Pains, Cuckooland, Disco Pistol, Cay, Bellatrix, The Donnas, Kenickie & Rosita

ELECTRO: Bis, Mo-ho-bish-o-pi, Clinic

PUNK: (Early) Idlewild, China Drum, J Church, Travis Cut

One-off choons:
'Know How' - Serum
'Living For The Weekend' - Farrah
'Celestial Q&A' - No Fun At All
'I've Had Enough' - Hillman Minx
'Small World' - Pink Assassin
'Letter From An Occupant' - New Pornographers

This was MY GENERATION indie-wise. Bellatrix were GRATE and Lara from Dweeb was in my class at school.

Also No One Speaks by Geneva >>>>>>> any Coldplay or Keane song.

And, yes, I would totally go to any club that played a even a tenth of the bands in this thred.

Good god, I have NEVER heard of ANY bands on this thread.

(except New Pornographers)