Railcard & The Corner Laughers at The Betsey Trotwood London, Sunday 9th August 202

 

It’s my third Railcard gig already this year and I’m in danger of repeating myself, after all, there’s only so many ways of saying “I bloody love Railcard!” They are fast becoming our ‘Band of the Year’ and it’s not just us; the wind is undoubtedly in their sails as they cruise towards the release of their ‘proper’ debut album “Two Steps at a Time” in September. So, here we are for a Sunday afternoon matinee show at the Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon, it’s such a cool pub that the landlord is wearing a Felt “Me and a Monkey on the Moon” T-Shirt. There’s some Indie Royalty in the bright sunlit room, Railcard’s vocalist and guitarist Rachel Love’s former Dolly Mixture bandmate Debsey Wykes is there along with her partner Paul Kelly, once of Saint Etienne and Birdie. Jessica Griffin from Would-Be-Goods and Pete Astor of The Loft and The Weather Prophets are also present and correct. Yes, there’s a real buzz around Railcard now, so much so that they have even been acknowledged by British Rail, or whoever it is that runs the railways nowadays, with their very own official Railcard ‘railcards’. Handy for one of the best bits of band merchandise I’ve seen in a long while, the plastic Railcard railcard holder, I never leave home without mine. 

 

In fact, Railcard do have a pretty good imagination when it comes to their merchandise – the T-shirt on sale today sports a print of a mock rail network with the station stops replaced by this year’s tour dates and venue. This comes with a “You Are Here” button badge that you are meant to re-position on the shirt according to the gig you are attending at the time. There are also Rachel’s trademark berets in a variety of colours at the merch desk alongside a very fetching Tote bag and copies of their brilliant self-titled debut compilation album that gathered their previous three E.P.s in one glorious package. Last year they also produced some cool Northern Soul style patches together with the release of the “Northern Soul Dancing” E.P. They really seem to enjoy the creative process of coming up with inspired ideas for merchandise and it got me wondering just what new goodies they are going to dream up around the release of the new LP. 

Today’s set is quite different from their recent and rather splendid show at the Water Rats when they were supporting Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires alongside Jetstream Pony, which you can read all about here. They included “Revolutionary Calendar” and “Daydream” from the E.P. collection alongside new songs “Foxy”, which features on the excellent Skep Wax Records compilation “Pets Sounds”. There’s the excellent latest single “Unstable Neighbour” with some spaced out Psychedelic trumpet from Allison and the album title track “Two Steps at a Time”, which comes complete with a catchy whistle-along refrain. Drummer and vocalist Ian Button does his best to explain the background behind some of the songs; however, he is often reduced to amusing Robyn Hitchcock style flights of fancy as his bandmates try to interject and put him off. Rachel is all smiles and occasionally she cracks up when she catches Allison’s eye – it’s this wonderful chemistry between the band that warms the heart of even this cynical old gig-goer. They play a great new Peter Momtchiloff penned track called “Paper Thin” and of course, favourites such as “Railcard”, “Northern Soul Dancing” and the set closer, the hypnotic “Disco Loadout” make their appearance. 

However, sadly there’s still no place for my favourite “Born in ‘62” though, which is after all, the song that explains the catalyst behind the band’s formation, fingers crossed that maybe they’ll play it one day. Then it’s all over until, enthusiastically spurred on by Debsey, we all join in to call them back for a well-deserved encore. They don’t take the easy option, deciding to play another new song called “Inspector Sands”, and it is fun watching the band give it a go for the first time. This song Rachel explains, appears on the bonus 7” single that comes with the limited Dinked edition of the new LP. I’d recommend ordering it now, as it appears that some stores have already sold out in advance. Judging on the quality of the recent singles and new songs that I’ve heard them play live, I’m guessing that the new LP is going to be pretty damn good indeed. I’ll be there at The Lexington on Sunday 20th September for the matinee “Two Steps at a Time” launch party, which also features Gina Birch and an Indie-label record fair downstairs. Now, that’s ticking a lot of boxes for yet another very special Railcard event, can't wait!

 

 

Special guests on the day were The Corner Laughers from Redwood City, California, or half of them at least, as we were treated to an acoustic duo version of the band featuring Karla Kane on ukulele and lead vocals and Khoi on guitar and backing vocals. The connection between them and the headliners is that Railcard’s Ian Button released Karla’s debut solo album “King’s Daughters Home for Incurables” on his Gare Du Nord Record label and he invited them to play as they were over in the U.K. It was an inspired choice, as their beautiful pastoral Folk Pop songs and Californian melodies made for the perfect soundtrack to the glorious summer weather outside. Karla has a wonderful warm voice and Khoi’s backing harmonies complement her perfectly and they quickly endear themselves to the audience.

My personal highlights were “Changeling”, “Terra Mia” and two songs which hint towards their appreciation of the U.K. “Victoria Sponge” with handy lyrical recipe included, and the single “Rainbow Cardigan”, which even namechecks the Lake Districts’ Kendal Castle. As Karla explained, on record with the full band, they sound a bit different to today’s stripped back affair, but to be honest, it kind of suited the vibe of such an intimate, sun-drenched afternoon perfectly. I picked up a copy of their latest album “Concerns of Wasp & Willow” and bagged one of the last vinyl copies of “Matilda Effect”, which included a free CD version and left the venue with a very large and contented smile on my face. You can see more videos of both bands by subscribing for free to our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here.

 

With thanks to Karla and Khoi.

Joss Cope "Unrequited Lullabies" - New Solo Album Out Now on Gare Du Nord Records

Joss Cope "Unrequited Lullabies"

Joss Cope has just released a superb solo album entitled "Unrequited Lullabies" on Gare Du Nord Records and if you like uplifting Psych-tinged guitar pop then this will be right up your street. There are some beautifully crafted songs crammed into just under forty pure unadulterated melodic minutes. The album starts off strongly with the insanely catchy two-song salvo of "Learn To Float" and "Familiar Faces" which are both shot through with memorable guitar riffs and backing vocal harmonies. Next up is the dreamy "Cloudless Skies" which at first reminds me of Roxy Music's "In Every Dream Home A Heartache" before it builds and swells into a powerful crescendo. The moving, lovelorn "Your Broken Heart Is Not For Sale" really tugs on the heartstrings and is one of the album's highlights of which admittedly there are many to choose from. "Guy Like Me" and "What's The Plan" are both perfect upbeat pop songs that would trouble the top of any decent singles chart and "Started Something" has a twist of Syd Barrett. It's difficult not to mention the big brother as "Unrequited Lullabies" does indeed conjure up memories of Julian's excellent first two solo albums "World Shut Your Mouth" and "Fried" and if you like the intelligent pastoral Psych of acts such as XTC, Robyn Hitchcock, The Blue Aeroplanes and Stephen Duffy then I can certainly recommend this.

Joss Cope - Photo courtesy GDN Records

Here's some background info on Joss and the album and then you can enjoy the superb opening track "Learn To Float". Born in the Midlands at the start of the swinging '60s, Joss Cope followed elder brother Julian to Liverpool aged 14 and got rapidly sucked in to the nascent Post-Punk scene there, meeting and playing with such future musical luminaries as Les Pattinson (Echo & the Bunnymen), Peter Wylie (Wah Heat) and Mike Mooney (Spiritualized). He would go on to form the short-lived but influential Freight Train with Donald Ross Skinner and Barrett Douce (later of The Mighty Lemon Drops) before he moved to London in 1985 and became part of the emerging Creation Records scene playing with Crash, The Weather Prophets, Rose McDowell and Biff Bang Pow before putting out two albums of his own work with Something Pretty Beautiful. Joss also contributed to his brother Julian's albums "Fried" and "St. Julian" and co-wrote the songs 'Pulsar' and 'Christmas Mourning' with Julian and Donald Ross Skinner. In 1991 he formed psych band The United States of Mind with Ashley Wood (Chemistry Set), Dave Morgan and Greenwood Goulding (Rockingbirds). Only one eponymously titled album of blistering British psychedelia was released on the appropriately titled DyscFunctional imprint, before the band split in 1994. From the mid-90s to the noughties Joss art directed music videos for MTV, edited and voiced the BBC TV children's animated series Yoho Ahoy (2001) and, as a long term committed environmentalist joined Greenpeace as an online producer to work on key campaigns against over-fishing, deforestation and airport expansion. 

Joss Cope - Photo courtesy GDN Records

In more recent years he's played guitar with Psychedelic soulsters Dexter Bentley and bass with Sergeant Buzfuz, as well as becoming inspired to write songs for himself again. He spends part of each year in Finland with his current partner - cartoonist Virpi Oinonen - and in 2016 he began a collaboration with a trio of top Helsinki musicians: guitarist Veli-Pekka Oinonen (Nights of Iguana, Leningrad Cowboys), bassist Esa Lehporturo and percussionist Ville Raasakka. Early in 2017 the addition of Irish keyboardist O'Reilly O'Rourke (ex-Freak Outburst) completed the line-up, and the band went into Taajuusvarjostin studio to record with producer Arto Nevalainen. Unrequited Lullabies is the result. Here's what Joss has to say. What's it about? "The psychedelia of every-day life, for one thing. I don't think enough of us, enough of the time, appreciate just how miraculous and weird everything going on around us (including ourselves) actually is. Love songs to the children I never had is another, plus a few warnings about what to expect from the good and the bad of life in this magical place, wrapped up in melody and riff." What's it sound like? "It's been likened to Syd Barrett fronting The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, which is absolutely fine by me." Here's "Unrequited Lullabies" superb opening track entitled "Learn To Float"...

"Unrequited Lullabies" is released on Gare Du Nord Records and you can order the album on vinyl, CD or download from here. Thanks to Jon at No Other Publicity and Ian at GDN for the photos.