 BMX Bandits News
American Tour Due / Francis in Cheeky MonkeyThe BMX Bandits will be starting a US tour next month. They should be playing shows in LA, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia and Cambridge, MA. If we're lucky the next album will be released by Big Deal the Company who released Theme Park in America. Don't hold your breaths' though. Those of you who have followed Francis' record label Shoeshine will know that, all the releases so far have featured Francis. So it's to no surprise that he has joined forces with Michael Shelley to create Cheeky Monkey. The new single 'That Kind Of Girl' (SHOE010) is out now. There is an Alex Chilton cover version on the B-side. The debut album 'Four Arms To Hold You' (SHOECD00002) is released soon also on the Shoeshine label. If you've heard Micheal Shelley on his previous Shoeshine release then you'll be happy to know it's more of the same brilliance.
The Bandits in America and a new startThe Bandits have started the American tour on the 10th February playing the Mercury Lounge in New York, support is by the wonderful Michael Shelley. Francis goes to play with Alex Chilton. The line up for the gigs also includes Stevie Jackson who plays with Belle and Sebastian. The Glaswegian music community do sure get together. Also Lawerence has left the group, meaning the Bandits are now a four piece.A new record deal has been struck with Big Deal which should be good. They did a Internet Relay Chat thing with Sonicnet on the 10th which I sadly missed, that's where I got this new info from. You can read the chat in it's entirity here. I've recieved some news about former Bandit John Hogarty. He now fronts the band National Park. They're seem to be Yo La Tengo influenced and have played a few times. I've not heard anything by them but they sound good. You can visit their site at http://lctech-01.arts.gla.ac.uk/nark/gtwest.html which is slightly out of date. They think Future Pilot are brilliant, me too. Also my Japanese friends say that there is new record release called 'Duglasettes'. I remember there was a song by the Duglasettes with the 'Islands In The Stream' song. They tell me this info might not be true. Francis and Michael Shelley have released the Cheeky Monkey album on Shoeshine, priced 12 pounds. It's full of really nice poptastic tunes that fill you with joy. I'll stick some pages up when I get the time. It has recieved some favourable reviews and has been played on John Peel's show as well as Steve Lurpack's.
New life for C86I've recently got hold of a copy of the re-released C86 album on Elefant Records of Spain (same people who released 'Help Me Somebody' over there). It was released in 1997 and has the same track listing as C86 Plus on Vinyl Japan, but with three extra bonus tracks. 1. Girl At The Bus Stop (Accoustic Version) 2. Hot Bandito No.1 3. King Of The Fools. These tracks have appeared on their earlier albums but it was good to listen to them again. There are some new sleeve notes that Duglas has written for it too. I'll put up the extra details to get hold of a copy when I can. The CD is nicely designed too.Apart from that the friends at Pop Culture Detox e-zine have interviewed the Bandits and Francis has given advice on how to start your own record label. Pop Culture Detox e-zine is at http://www.bluetonic.org/detox/. That's all for now. Read the inlay notes for C86 and More here
Francis in another collabrationFrancis has been drumming in another band (this must be a record for the most collaborations ever) called Speeder which features Scott McKlusky, Jamie Cameron and Colin Cameron. They've released a 7" called 'Everything I Do Is Wrong' on Discordant Records. I'm currently getting hold of a copy so should let you know what it sounds like. Teenage Fanclub and Ash undertones a review says. You can read an interview with Speeder here. Francis being a father figure to these guys.
Also to let you know that John Hogarty's band National Park are due to release
a single on Earworm records. I don't know what they sound like but my sources say they
are good. More details nearer the time. Burt Bacharach Tribute AlbumThe Burt Bacharach tribute album has finally surfaced on Big Deal Records(the new home of the Bandits), it features 14 brilliant covers. The full title of the album is What The World Needs Now... Big Deal Recording Artists Perform The Songs Of Burt Bacharach, code BIG DEAL 9050-2. As far as I know it's only on import from America at the moment, well that's where I got my copy from. The Bandito track is 'It Doesn't Matter Anymore' which along with tracks 3,5,11,13,14 are my favourites. There's too much info to put here so I'll put up a separate page later on. It's got a nice cartoon of the contributors too.Future Pilot AKA have a new single out on Domino Records which features collaborations with The Pastels and Andy Wetherall, real excellent stuff. The V's Two Lone Swordsman (The Gates To Film City) track is especially brilliant. It's limited edition so try and get your copy now. Some day everybody from the Bandits will finally be famous. As promised you can view the track listing and pictures from the album here The Japanese version of the Shoeshine Chartbusters CD has some extra bonus tunes, including "Daytona USA" by BMX Bandits. The tune is a cover of the original song by Jad Fair of Half Japanese. Also they've recorded "Tug Boat" for a Galaxie 500 tribute album on Elefant Records (Spain). If you've not visited the Shoeshine Records site recently then do so now, as it's been all done up and looks really nice. I've also heard that the Bandits are playing some gigs in the summer too. I've finally got a copy of the first single by the Bandits, it comes with a nifty comic in it too. Take a look for yourself.
Something for the summerRead another Bandits interview at myLaunch music e-zine. Good to see that at least there is interest. Also Francis is making a showing on the The Secret Goldfish's new album along with Stevie from Belle and Sebastian. Album out on Creeping Bent Records at the end of the year.Haven't had any news for a while, Michael Shelley's new album 'Too Many Movies' also features Francis, the album is full of nice surprises that deserves to be listened to. I scanned in the wrong picture of the track listing so you can see the doughnut menu instead. My favourites are 'Baby's In a Bad Mood Tonight', 'Lisa Marie' and numbers 6,7,9,11,13, have to get the proper picture of the tracklisting.
News from DuglasOkay here's some new information for you all courtesy of Duglas Stewart himself. Duglas has been co-producing an album of Brian, Denis and Carl Wilson songs with David Scott of the Pearl Fishers which should be out in early 1999. Guest vocalists include Alex Chilton, Norman Blake, Duglas himself and lots of others.Duglas has also been working for the BBC Digital service developing a chat/music show which is supposedly to last 80 episodes. Duglas presents as well as being the music consultant. This should be something to watch out for, the bands booked to appear such as the Delgados , Future Pilot AKA, TFC will make it it a must see. Finally Gabriel Telerman is playing guitar on the forthcoming Pearl Fishers album and their live appearances.
Any comments, reviews, gig dates can be sent to bmxbandits[at]onoffonoff[dot]org
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