I first heard the Gold Needles on a tribute comp to The Who, doing “So Sad About Us.” I liked the cover and sought out the band after that. I'm glad to hear Mood Elevator, since I did want more.

The band was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Andrea Weiss: For those who don’t know you, could you give a short history of the band?

Mark English: We formed in 2015 from the remnants of another project with a female singer. However, we have all known each other, and been in bands with each other, for a long time. Simon and Mark go back all the way to 1985!

AW: Who is in the band?

Simon Dowson - Lead and harmony vocals, rhythm guitar

Dave Burbage - Lead and rhythm guitars

Mark English - Keyboards, backing vocals

Carl Slaughter - Bass guitar, harmony vocals

Will Jones - Drums

AW: I like your melodies a lot. Is that what you strive for, melodies that 

are possible ear-worms?

ME: We’re all huge fans of The Beatles so finding melodies is second nature to us. If they develop into ear worms…even better! Earworms aren't necessarily things you 'strive for' but they seem to appear when the lyrics/chord changes fall in such a way that the earworm suggests itself...an act of synchronicity!

AW: I like your optimistic take on relationships too. Do you just want to 

write about that, and not how they can be bad?

ME: We do try to be positive but we’re not averse to writing about the negative as well. On previous albums “Realm Of The Black Dog” dealt with mental health and “Winning A Losing Game” concerned itself with a toxic relationship. Regarding the take on relationships I would say that the Gold Needles tend to take an objective and observational view on the game of love without being too judgmental. We aren't agony uncles and its both the rough and smooth that make the human condition. Our lyrics avoid being completely autobiographical but can border on semi-fact/fictional.

AW: What is the scene like in the UK these days?

ME: It’s hard for original bands to claim a foothold. Grassroots venues are closing at an alarming rate. Bands don’t get chance to develop over a period of time. Saying that, there are loads of great bands just waiting to be discovered.

AW: Are there any bands you recommend?

ME: Ming City Rockers, The Hellflowers, The Darts US, Low Coast, Sid Simons. All except the first, are US bands.

AW: Would you like to tour the US one day?

ME: Absolutely. We’d love to!!!

AW: I like that you can dance to the title song. Was that the idea going in?

ME: We wanted something up tempo and catchy. We had a lot of fun recording it and making the video. We didn’t set out to make it dancey but we’re pleased that you can.

 The Gold Needles

Mood Elevator

Big Stir Records

This really good album is chock full of ear worms, like “I Don’t Know About That,” “Turns To Gold,” and the instant classic “Pale Blue Silver Eyes.”

The title song is also one you can dance to, and I like the subtle use of synths. “Supernature” is about just that--how everyone’s nature is super--and is also metaphysical.

While the songs are about romantic ups and downs, it’s mostly ups. “Pale Blue Silver Eyes” is a happy love song, as is “I’ll Take My Chances,” with one cautionary tale, “Eleven, Eleven.”

So if you want direct, clear, unpretentious pop/rock, you’ll really go for this band. It will also make you think. It’s always good when an album can do double duty like that.

Andrea Weiss

 It was 1988 when I went to the Trade Winds to hang out with some friends. It was a nice club, very neat and clean. I never saw any bands there, but I can imagine how that must have been. But I was a WHTG fan, so I did hear the Bongos. I liked them a lot and still do.

Richard Barone was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Andrea Weiss: For those who don’t know you, can you give a short history of the band?

Richard Barone: The Bongos were formed by three guys who loved music at the cusp of the 1980s, as the new decade began, and as the alternative, college rock movement was just beginning. There was no network yet for indie rock, just a handful of new bands in a few pockets around the country. Athens, Georgia, was one of the first, and The Bongos, and the music scene we helped create around our home venue of Maxwell’s, was another. Through making music videos and being signed to British label Fetish Records, we were able to tour, soon joining the B-52s on the road for their first (and our first) major U.S. tour. Signing with RCA Records gave us wider recognition here in the States and bigger tours. By the time MTV put our videos and our peers’ videos in rotation, what had started as an underground movement became practically mainstream. But, from the beginning, our roots were in indie rock and the DIY ethos.

AW: Who’s in the band?

RB: The Bongos were founded by me [Richard Barone; guitar, vocals], drummer Frank Giannini, and bassist Rob Norris. After our first album, we added James Mastro on second guitar.

AW: Who were your influences?

RB: Our influences are many, and each of us in the band has his own. For instance, the music we grew up with, like the Beatles and the Velvet Underground, David Bowie, T. Rex, Buddy Holly, Donovan -- the music that came later like Brian Eno, Talking Heads, Ramones, Patti Smith, Television -- and whatever was happening at the moment with our friends like The Feelies, the Bush Tetras, many more. The Bongos are also music fans and record collectors, so we are influenced by a lot of different artists.

AW: Could you tell us more about the concert here -- what club, the date, and so on?

RB: The Shroud of Touring: Live in 1985 was recorded during a 300-show tour in 1985, following the release of our second RCA album, Beat Hotel. The shows were sounding good, and wild, and we thought it would be a good idea to record one. Steve Scales, percussionist with the Talking Heads, had joined us on the tour, making our sound even more percussive than it already was. We had a day off on May 24, 1985, which was Memorial Day weekend, and we decided to add a show at the Trade Winds in Seabright, New Jersey, on the Jersey Shore, for the express purpose of recording a live album. We knew the audience would be psyched for the concert as Memorial Day was the unofficial start of summer. At the time, the Shore was an area of great support for The Bongos and home of alternative radio station WHTG, which presented the show. Because we had just released the Beat Hotel album, and then went directly into the studio after the tour to make our "final" album Phantom Train, Shroud was not released and stayed in the RCA vaults for forty years. The songs here have a lot of wonderful energy.

AW: Were you known for upbeat shows?

RB: The Bongos were always a highly energetic live band, and the studio albums could never replicate what we did in front of an audience. So, this album has always been the missing link in our catalog. It completes the story and shows a little more of who we are.

AW: Do you hope this album stirs up interest in the band?

RB: We're always happy when people discover The Bongos and find something they like in our music. With The Shroud of Touring, people are given the opportunity to step into a snapshot -- a moment in time -- and experience a live Bongos performance in the middle of a decade that spawned a new kind of pop culture. The Bongos were always a unique band, walking our own path -- a fine line between almost Beatlesque pop song structures and tight harmonies and the total, wild abandon of Iggy Pop and the Stooges, and this album captures us walking that tightrope, without a net, in front of an audience that was more than ready to catch us if we fell.

 The Bongos

The Shroud of Touring: Live in 1985

Jem Records

Recorded on May 24, 1985, this show sat in the vaults until now. (More of the story in my companion interview with Richard Barone).

They were great live – fun, high energy, letting it all hang out some very quirky pop that sounds like no one else, then or now. While I don’t want to go on about the good old days, I don’t hear many bands today that sound this original, even among the many, many great ones.

There’s also an innocence to this music, a coming of age type, that I also don’t hear much of now. Anyone can come of age at any age, and that’s a big reason why this band is so relevant today.

But don’t take my word for it. Get this album, put it on your media player of choice, and see what you think. You’ll have bought, at the very least, a great album, and if you do agree with me, seek them out and other bands from that scene. You’ll have blast doing so, and hear a lot of good music.

Andrea Weiss

 I’ve been listening to the Flashcubes long enough now to be considered a long-time fan, and this tribute, Make Something Happen, is testament to how much love there is for this great band. If this is your first time hearing them, dive in, and be richly rewarded.

Gary Frenay of the band was kind enough to answer a few questions for me.

Andrea Weiss: How did the project come together?

Gary Frenay: The album is really the brainchild of our friend and de facto biographer Carl Cafarelli. He’s the one responsible for getting us on Big Stir Records in the first place, and he pitched the idea to us, and to Rex and Christina at Big Stir. I really love nearly every track. But the real surprises are bands who did their own thing with one of our songs like sparkle*jets u.k. on the title track, The Verbs on “I Need Glue,” and The Sorrows on “Radio.” I honestly think many of these versions are better than our own. As a songwriter, it’s the ultimate compliment to have someone do your song.

AW: Were songs assigned to people, or could they choose their own songs?

GF: A combination, really. The project started slowly with just a few takers. We loved the results but were doubtful we could get enough people to participate. It’s one thing for other musicians to pay lip service to your band, and quite another to take the time and expense to actually record (at home or in studio) our songs. We took a three-pronged approach, with Carl, Rex and Christina, and us (the four band members) all compiling wishlists of artists to approach. Via his longtime radio show with Dana Bonn (This Is Rock & Roll Radio), Carl had many direct contacts with bands at and above our level. Rex and Christina had a roster of Big Stir artists to ask, while we reached out to many of our longtime friends and CNY stalwarts; Ed Hamill (Hamell On Trial), Tom Kenny (former Tearjerker and longtime cartoon voice of SpongeBob Squarepants), Chris Von Sneidern (legendary indie pop artist and veteran of the Flamin’ Groovies), Pete and Maura Kennedy (internationally known folk duo), and Meegan Voss (former PopTart and current leader of The Verbs with her husband drummer/producer Steve Jordan who is – oh, by the way – also the drummer now for Rolling Stones)!

AW: The Flashcubes cover themselves on it. That must have been fun for you?

GF: That was a real treat! As tracks were being assembled, Carl approached the band about doing a few new Flashcubes recordings to include in the package. While it is unconventional for the artist(s) being honored, to participate in their own tribute album, we are nothing, if not unconventional. We wrote and recorded three new songs (Paul’s “Reminisce,” my “The Sweet Spot,” and Arty’s “If These Hands”) in time to include them in the package. And Big Stir – bless them – were so psyched about our new recordings that they released each as a single, one a month throughout the summer, to promote the release of the album

AW: Would you say the band is universally loved?

GF: I don’t know about “universally loved,” but we’ve really undergone a renaissance in the 21st Century. Although we were a part of the original New Wave and Power Pop scene in the 70s when we started, we weren’t able to ever score a major label deal like so many of our contemporaries. But over the past few decades, we seem to have become bigger than we ever were in our original incarnation. With the tours of Japan (’02 and ’12), our numerous appearances at IPO (International Pop Overthrow) festivals throughout the US and, of course, and our new recordings -studio and live - it feels like we’ve found a new audience, which is amazing for a band that formed in the summer of 1977.

AW: Some of these songs take on new meanings when someone of the opposite gender sings them, which is great. Was anyone shy about doing that?

GF: No one made an issue of it, that I know of. The Kennedys changed the gender on Arty’s song, “Walking Through The Park,” but I think the other four just went with it, which is very cool!

AW: There are a couple of bands, Hamell On Trial and the Kennedy’s, that are more associated with folk. I think it’s great they're on the album.

GF: I agree. I love their tracks. And it’s inspiring to hear the different approaches some of the bands took.

AW: Other types of pop are represented here too, like garage rock. Were you surprised by its appeal?

GF: Not really. There seems to always be an undercurrent of appeal to basic rock & roll.

AW: Do you hope the band picks up new fans with this comp?

GF: Absolutely! We just keep doing what we do, and hope to find new fans along the way. Every new record is a door into potential new fans.