Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
If you listened to our recent Retrosonic Podcast Power Pop Edition with Wayne Lundqvist-Ford from Ice Cream Man Blog, you will be aware of the blistering guitar pop attack of Budokan's contribution, the superb "The Queen's English". Budokan are a rock and roll band from Victoria B.C. in Canada and they play hook filled songs with loud guitars that they want people to love and remember. They draw inspiration from all the greats, but feel particularly indebted to the likes of Cheap Trick (yes, the band's name is a tribute to their classic "Live at Budokan" album), Ramones, Redd Kross, The Stones and Buzzcocks. Budokan comprise the singing, guitar playing and songwriting pair of Andrew Molloy and Craig Vishek, Kent Bendall on bass and Graham Watson on drums. "Spin a Little Gold" is their hotly anticipated debut full-length album and was initially only be available on beautiful 180 gram gold vinyl and digital download. However, the CD is version is now available on Japan's prestigious SP Records.
Wayne from Ice Cream Man Blog - Photo by Steve Worrall
During my recent trip to Sweden I caught up with my good friend and expert on Power Pop, Wayne Lundqvist-Ford, who runs the Ice Cream Man Blog. I chatted to Wayne about his Blog and went through some of the many CD's and albums he gets sent by bands from all over the word who hope to be featured. Wayne certainly knows his stuff about the huge International underground Power Pop scene, and he picks out some of the new bands that have caught his attention in the past year. Wayne has also been a big supporter of Retro Man Blog favourites such as Stanley Road, The Past Tense and The Len Price 3 amongst others - but I was eager to find out more - and I wasn't disappointed. Wayne chooses a prime selection from all over the Globe, and we kick things off with a great track "If You Love Her" by Californian band Beyond Veronica. That's followed by a raw and punky "Open Book" from Milan's wonderful The Sensibles, then there's a blistering track, "White Capri", from my Retrosonic Podcast colleague Adam and his West London New Wave trio The Jetsonics, taken from their brand new E.P. Another British band next, and it's sunny sea-side popsters Phenomenal Cat and the latest in their series of a single-per-month releases "The Volume Police". We zoom over to Madrid for The Seasongs and a track from their "Out Of The City" album. You can probably get an idea of Budokan's influence in their band name, and the Canadian band offer up "The Queen's English", a powerful Cheap Trick style number. Holland's Marty Graveyard, the ex-Madd band-member, has a solo album out called "Summer Holiday" and here's the super-catchy "Do You Really Wanna Dance?". We stay on the beach for the beautiful shimmering harmonies of Denmark's Surf School Dropouts and their sublime "Run Away". Lyon's Mr Day provide some "Food For Soul", all fuzzy guitars and Hammond organ. Germany's Monkeeman, are next with the mighty "I'm a Lonely Guy" taken from 2008's "Life In The Backseat", one of a trio of must-have albums from the excellent song-writer Ralf Luebke. To finish off there is a track from one of Retro Man Blog's albums of the year "Things That Shine and Glow" from the fantastic Milwaukee based band, Trolley. So, as I mentioned, it really is an International scene and I hope you enjoy the tunes. You can contact Wayne at Ice Cream Man Blog by email and also check out, listen and download the Podcast totally free of charge at our Soundcloud site here:
Wayne has also started up a new Blog, it's called Power Pop T-Shirt, and it's devoted to the "band" T-Shirt. Contributions are welcome, so drop him an email with a photo of your favourite shirt, along with a short anecdote or back story as to why the shirt is special to you.
Here's the fun promo video to Wayne and his band, Wayne James & The Harry Evlar Experience, and their great cover of Teenage Fanclub's classic Power Pop track "Sparky's Dream".
Thanks to Wayne for his time, he will also appear in a forthcoming Swedish music special episode.
