Les Optic Nerve sont un groupe de la fin des années 80 de New York. Ils n'ont sorti que deux eps 45 tours à l'époque, avant que deux albums (une collection de démo et une compilation) ne soient édités dans les 90s (en 1993 et 1994 par Screaming Apple et Get Hip). Ils font parti des rares formations de l'époque à oser un folk rock mâtiné de country et de garage.
Forever and a Day fut enregistré sur le 8 pistes d'un petit studio de New York près de Time Square. Malgré deux eps réussis, ces 10 morceaux ne trouvèrent pas leur voie vers une sortie publique, une vrai tristesse, car la qualité est là. Ces chansons brassent sans complexes des influences allant des Byrds à Dylan, pour un résultat typiquement américain et franchement réussi. A vrai dire à aucun moment on a l'impression d'entendre des chutes de studios ou des titres enregistrés à l'arrache pour les fixer avant qu'ils ne disparaissent.
L'enregistrement semble avoir été pris au sérieux, et les chansons sont excellentes, le tout forme un ensemble cohérent et réussi. Il est dommage qu'à l'époque peu de gens aient été sensibles à cette musique peut être que le groupe était trop en retard (de quelques décennies) ou trop en avance pour la vague alternative-country des 90s (Jayhawks). Peut être pas au bon endroit aussi (New York serait-il trop loin de la Californie?). La production est propre et sobre, elle se contente de restituer au mieux et au plus proche la musique du groupe: c'est parfait, car elle n'a pas subit les outrages du temps de certains disques de la même époque.
Forever and a day n'est pas un disque parfait - certains morceaux sont moins réussis - mais c'est une œuvre cohérente et foncièrement honnête dans une époque pas prête à autant de sincérité. Quelques chansons sont formidables et mériteraient probablement d'être redécouvertes , notamment si vous aimez tout ce qui tournent de groupes comme les Byrds, Dylan, Buffalo Springfield, Jayhawks, Beachwood Sparks, The See See, Midwest Beat, The Sadies, Gene Clark, Long Ryders, Brinsley Schwarz, Goodnight Loving etc.
It's been quite a long time we haven't done an interview on this blog (2 months) and we're coming back with a great post. The story for me began a few weeks ago wheh i bought a 7 inches by the Lears on eBay because of the cover: it was looking cool. A couple of weeks later i've received the vinyl and put it on my little turntable, i was very nicely surprised by the music. I knew it would be probably be garagy but i didn't expect about those nice jangly guitars (12-strings are ace) and the great compositions. So i've ordered the cd "the Story so Far..." and i've discovered another bunch of great songs with those folk rock & garage (folk-punk would say Mr Expo67!) tones. So I decided to contact Dennis Dalcin, one of the main songwritters of the band (with Paul Mutchler) and he responded me very gently to my questions! So it's really a pleasure to me to talk about this band today, and the interview i think is very cool, i'll hope you'll enjoy it as i am!
Which band gave you the idea to create your own band?( to play music, and enjoy it.) Dennis: There's so many bands that I love that have made me want to form my own band. The first would certainly be The Beatles, then The Who, then The New York Dolls and a local Tampa band in the 1970's called Amnesia who played some incredible power pop originals alongside 60's garage punk songs. Did you have another band before the Lears? Dennis: Yes, I first had a band called The Look that was when I was still in high school , and was a weird mix of old rock 'n' roll from the 50's & 60's with some originals that were like the early Who. Then I formed a band called The Shades in 1978 and in 1980 we released our one and only single: Time For A Change b/w Shake It on my own Direct Hit Records label. The band was very much into the mod/power pop sound of The Who/Creation. When that band broke up I formed another band called Perfect Strangers that went through 3 distinct syle changes beginning with a kind of funky psychedelia - to electronic trio - to garage/psychedelia. That band split up in 1985 when I moved to Los Angeles, California. In 1989 I formed The Petal Pushers with future Romulans guitarist/vocalist Kevin Hagen. The band was a combo of 60's garage/psychedelia influences filtered through our original material. That band never played out, and split that same year.
Dennis Dalcin, Paul Mutchler, Steve Rybka, Ken Chiodini
How was the Lears formed? Dennis: In 1990 I then got together with Paul Mutchler, from The Orlando band The Green Today, to help him with a solo project he wanted to record. When we played together we found it fit like a glove and that was the beginnings of The Lears. We decided to get Ken Chiodini (drummer/vocals with The Green Today) and Steve Rybka (bass/guitar) to help us get some demos together in order to find a permanent bass player & drummer. Those demo's are what ended up as The Lears - The Story So Far... CD on Get Hip Records in 1999. Paul & I moved to Orlando and found Mark Dewey (bass/vocals) and Suzi Dozier-Lamoureux (drums/vocals) who had just left a country punk band called Psycho From Texas there in Orlando. The first time we practiced together it was like magic! We knew then that the band was finally complete, and that we could get started playing live gigs. We played many shows as The Lears over the course of the next year. We recorded another batch of songs at Kingsnake Sturdios in Deland, Florida that we hoped to get out as our second CD. Unfortunately the band split up when first Paul then I moved back to the west coast of Florida. We later recorded a few more songs at Hitmakers Studio in Tampa with Paul playing bass as well as lead guitar on those tracks. Some of them have been released on various comps over the years. None of those recordings has ever been properly mixed. By 2000 the band was truly dead and gone as Paul moved back to Orlando. The name The Lears was taken from our love of flight and what better example of a flying machine in the 1960's then the Lear Jet! What were your main influences with the Lears, I suppose the Byrds and a few other great US band from the 60s (Leaves, Love?, early Turtles? ), Maybe some late 70s or 80's bands (Flamin Groovies or Rain Parade)? Dennis: That's a great question and very perceptive on your part. We loved The Beatles, The Byrds, Love and were friends with ex-bassist Ken Forssi, the Flamin's Groovies, The Long Ryders (we used to play the song "Ivory Tower" from the Native Sons album at live gigs, we loved that song and it fit right in with our originals), Rain Parade, The Creation, The Easybeats, Q65 and a whole host of other great 60's, 70's & 80's garage/folk/psychedelic bands.
Suzy Dozier-Lamoureux, Paul Mutchler, Dennis Dalcin, Mark Dewey
How was the scene in the early 90s? (in Florida, in USA) Dennis: The scene in the 1990's was great in Orlando and that's why we decided to move there to form the band. There were other great bands there like The Hatebombs, The Nicoteens, Rocket 88 and many others. There was also a number of great clubs to play in around the greater Orlando area. So we kept busy practicing 2-3 times a week as well as playing show each week. There was a number of cool bands throughout the USA in the 80's/90's that we loved, but Florida has always been a lousy place to see cool unknown garage/psychedelic bands. Hardly any bands in those styles come to Florida. Instead they play in Atlanta, Georgia then either go north to North Carolina or west to Birmingham, Alabama...all the while avoiding central Florida like the plague!
How were the Lears gigs? Did you play a lot? Dennis: We played out almost every week after the first couple of months beginning with a gig in North Tampa at The Stone Lounge, then a sold-out standing room only gig at Johnny's Rockin' Bistro just north of Orlando in Casselberry. Johnny (the owner Of Johnny's Rockin' Bistro) had to turn people away at the door because it was already too overcrowded! We never had to worry about finding gigs after that! You (Dennis Dalcin) and Paul Mutchler were the main songwritters, how did you share the composition? Dennis: Paul & I split the songs pretty much 50/50 with half being written by him and the other half by me. We only wrote one song together called Walking Around. I wrote the music and Paul wrote the lyrics and sang the song. We had different styles but somehow they managed to mesh together really well, and made us sound unlike all the other bands. How did you record your tunes? I heard (in the get hip comp' text) that it was mostly on a tascam 4track recorder.. Dennis: The entire Get Hip CD (The Story So Far...) was recorded on Paul's Tascam 4-track recorder in a friend of mine's garage practice space! The later tracks were recorded at either Kingsnake Studios (a 24-track studio) in Deland or at Hitmakers Studio (also a 24-track studio) in Tampa. None of those tracks has ever been properly mixed for release! All that has come out has been very quick rough mixes of those tracks. How did you get in touch with Misty Lane and Get Hip records? Dennis: I knew Masimo Del Pozzo of Misty Lane from when I put out my magazine Kaleidoscope. We had become friends through our mutual love of 60's garage/folk/psychedelia. He asked me if we'd let him release Her Magic Smile b/w Don't You Know as a single and we said yes. I knew Gregg Kostelich of Get Hip Records & The Cynics fame also from my magazine Kaleidoscope that I put out between 1986 - 1991. I had sent Gregg a tape of our demo's and he later contacted me about releasing them as an LP or a CD. Since by that time (late 1999) they had already been released as singles on a variety of labels around the world we really wanted them out on a CD instead of vinyl. When did the band split, and why? Dennis: By 2000/2001 the band was finally over with because we no longer lived in the same area. Paul had moved back to Orlando and I was in St Petersburg, which is about 2 hours away from each other. This made it too hard to continue. What did you do after the Lears? Dennis: I tried to find people to form a new band with but nothing seemed to work out. So I just put my guitar away and started writing a column called "DD's Garage" for the British music magazine Bucketfull of Brains, which I've now done for the past 8+ years. How do you see the Lears now? Dennis: I think The Lears was my ultimate band. We worked very well together and played a variety of different styles throughout the band's lifetime. We were fortunate enough to come in contact with a lot of like minded people throughout the world and it seems to have taken on a life of its own to this very day.
1."I Won't Remind You" / "A Flash Of Light" 7" single on Susstones records [Minneapolis, Minnesota] September 1993.
2."Coming Home Today" included on "A Web Of Mystery" EP Misty Lane Records [Italy] February 1994.
3."4 X 4 EP" (all are band originals) 4-song 7" EP on the Lollipop Shop Label [Germany] August 1994.
4."Coming Home Today" included on a compilation cassette with Issue #2 of SNAP!! Magazine [Spain] September 1994.
5."You Don't Believe Me" on a compilation of various bands covering the 60's British R&B band The Pretty Things called "Not So Pretty". On Shock Records [Australia] November 1995.
6."Her Magic Smile" / "Don't You Know" 7" single on Misty Lane Records [Italy] March 1996.
7."Is This Her Day" & "Her Magic Smile" are both included on the various artist compilation CD "Young Savage Florida" [USA] July 1996.
8."The Story So Far..." First CD for Get Hip Records [Pittsburgh, PA] February 1998.
9."Don't You Know" was included on the Bam Balam Explosion Vol V – USA Power Pop Compilation CD on Bam Balam Records [Spain] in September 1998.
10.“Words Weren’t Said” was included on the 21st Century BoB CD given away with Issue #55 of Bucketfull of Brains Magazine in 2000.
11.“The Byrd That Couldn’t Fly” included on disc one of the 2-CD tribute set to Gene Clark called Full Circle compilation on Not Lame Recordings in 2000.
12.“Then You Want” was included as an MP3 on the enhanced CD-ROM version of Timothy Gassen’s The Knight’s of Fuzz – The Garage and Psychedelic Music Explosion, 1980 - 2000 book in 2001.
13.A small portion of the band’s self-produced video for “ Her Magic Smile” was included on Timothy Gassen’s The Knight’s of Fuzz – The Garage and Psychedelic Music Explosion, 1980 to Now DVD in 2006 along with their audio track “Then You Want”.
14.“Beyond Our Dreams” appears on the “Peace Frog Rides The Rocket” compilation CD with Issue #2 of Greek fanzine Peace Frog. Another track “Chasing Time” by an earlier Dennis Dalcin band (The Petal Pushers) also appears on this CD. April 2008.
15.“Someone Else’s War (Electric Version)” appears on the free CD given away with Issue #4 of Greek fanzine Lost in Tyme.
Il y a 17 ans de cela, précisément (27 avril 1993 dixit allmusic) sortait le troisième album des Posies "Frosting on the Beater". Le groupe démarre autour de Ken Stringfellow et Jon Auer les deux membres permanents du groupe (à ma connaissance) à la fin des années 80 par un premier album sorti dans un relatif anonymat. Cependant en 1990 leur second disque, alors en production est pris par Geffen qui le sort. Dear 23 démontre déjà le gout des deux songwritters pour une certaine idée de la pop, mais la prod de John Leckie (qui a aussi bossé avec les Stone Roses et the Duke of Stratosphear) ne rend pas nécessairement justice à l'ensemble, disons que cela sonne trop poli aussi bien niveau prod que niveau compos pour vraiment convaincre à 100%. La vrai révélation c'est "frosting on the beater" sorti en 1993, en pleine vague Grunge. Les Posies viennent aussi de Seattle mais leur truc à eux c'est la Power Pop et difficile de le nier à l'écouter ce fabuleux disque. L'album sonne comme un gros pain dans la gueule, la prod est monstrueuse (elle est signée Don Flemming), et loin de se perdre là dedans le songwritting d' Auer et Stringfellow est au contraire magnifié et largement mis en valeur. Ce disque est vivifiant, une décharge d'énergie, mais le tout est servi par des mélodies fabuleuses, et les harmonies des deux sont parfaites, elles rappellent dans une certaine mesure les Hollies ... sous stéroïdes. Bref avec Frosting on the Beater les Posies gagnent leur place au panthéon de la POP, et signe un des meilleurs disques de rock de tous les temps, alliant un songwritting classique et parfait avec une production moderne excellente.
The Posies did with "Frosting of the Beater" one of the best lp of pop music ever done, it's a perfect blend of a very powerful production (courtesy of Don Flemming), and the great melodies of Auer & Stringfellow. A true masterpiece.
Pourquoi j'aime ce morceau? j'en sais rien, mais je le trouve charmant, léger et frais... les synthés sont terriblement datés mais cette guitare syncopée, et ce "funky beat" samplé, ça a de l'allure! Aux jeux des influences on citera pêle-mêle la scène écossaise autour de Postcard (Orange Juice) Françoise Hardy et les groupes indie assexués anglais..., mais Le Mans est plus que ça...elle est sûrement une des formations les plus connues d'Espagne dans les années 90, notamment en tant que représentant du sonido donosti, un style apparu à San Sebastian. Apparemment leur musique a eu quelques répercussions à l'étranger, notamment en Angleterre (via un article dans le NME) mais trop tard pour que le groupe en profite réellement! Dans tous les cas voici comment sonne de l'indie à l'espagnole.
This song is cute, even if the synth is cheap cheap, the whole thing sounds fresh! Le Mans were one of the best spanish indie band in the 90s, they were one of the leader of a local scene in San Sebastian called sonido donosti. Well give this song a change, it will grow in you even (or maybe because of) it had a lot of defaults, because un rayo de sol is charming and gentle. Le Mans - un rayo de sol
Les Boo Radleys démarrent leur carrière dans une veine shoegaze (le son de guitare qui transperce les tympans), avant de virer progressivement vers la pop plus classique et obtenir un certain succès en pleine vague brit pop. Giant Steps est peut être leur album le plus ambitieux, à la fois noisy, pop, et un peu tout ce qui se trouve entre les deux (sonorités dub, rythmiques de machines, morceaux se terminant en fracas bruitiste), il est un peu long, parfois bordélique, mais attachant, et gracieux dans les bons moments. Trois chansons explosent littéralement à la tête, le morceau d'ouverture "i hang suspended", le dr Jekyll and mr hyde "Barney (...and me)" combat entre la stratosphère et le magma, et le relativement plus sobre mais tout aussi inoubliable "wish i was skinny" que j'ai finalement choisi pour vous introduire à ce très beau et imparfait disque. écoute wish I was skinny
Red Kross est un groupe qui affiche plus de 20 ans de carrière, les membres fondateurs forment leurs premiers groupes alors qu'ils n'ont pas 16 ans vers 1978, en 1980 ils sortent leur premiers disques au départ orienté hardcore-punk, ils sont encore en activité de nos jours, entre temps ils ont pondu en 1993 l'excellent Phaseshifter. Peut être que certains d'entre vous se souviennent de Crazy World, qui avait à l'époque été utilisé dans un publicité pour Mars (avec des indiens), mais loin de se résumer à ce morceau l'album est rempli de pépite power pop évoquant les 60's (Beatles en tête) et les 70's. Les morceaux sont accrocheurs et en moins de temps qu'il n'en faut pour le dire ils rentrent dans le cerveau pour ne plus en sortir. Difficile alors de comprendre pourquoi ce disque à l'époque n'a pas connu plus de succès, et il semblerait qu'en 10 ans rien n'est été fait pour le réhabiliter. Il n'empêche, au moins la moitié des morceaux de Phaseshifter auraient trouver leur place dans la Children of Nuggets on citera pelle-mêle Jimmy's fantasy, Lady in the front row, Visionary ou encore Ms Lady Evans. Pour ma part j'ai choisi les excellentes Dumb Angel et Only a girl représensatives de l'esprit de l'album.
Red Kross start his carreer as an hardcore punk band in the early 80's, in the 90's they release album more pop oriented (but nice!) like Phaseshifter in 1993 an amazing disc of power pop tunes with strong Beatles influences. At that time the album didn't find the way of the mass-market, it's a shame, the tunes are so strong and catchy, about a half of the album could be released as a single.
Les Optic Nerve sont un groupe de la fin des années 80 de New York. Ils n'ont sorti que deux eps 45 tours à l'époque, avant que deux albums (une collection de démo et une compilation) ne soient édités dans les 90s (en 1993 et 1994 par Screaming Apple et Get Hip). Ils font parti des rares formations de l'époque à oser un folk rock mâtiné de country et de garage.
