“I first started buying 7 inch singles when I was just 6 years old. The first single I bought was ‘Uptown Girl’ by Billy Joel which was quickly followed by ‘Two Tribes’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. It was the mid 1980s so pop music was at its peak and I absorbed it all like a sponge! The first LP that made a big impression on me however would be Tango In the Night by Fleetwood Mac.”
“There’s just this dreamy haze that pervades the record. The voices of Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie and Lindsey Buckingham interweave majestically to create these immaculate pop songs. I just connected with it instantly and still do to this day.
Most people’s favourite Pixies record would be Doolittle but mine would always be Bossanova. It was my first real introduction to the band and I remember being about 13 at the time and just being completely blown away by it. Black Francis’s voice on ‘Rock Music’ is just so brutal. I couldn’t imagine how it was physically possible to sing like that? Joey Santiago’s guitars frantically stabbing away in the background like the soundtrack to some slasher flick. I love the whole 50s sci fi, surf punk vibe of the whole record perfectly encapsulated on ‘Velouria.’
I remember spending a summer holiday listening repeatedly to Slanted And Enchanted by Pavement. So much so that the first week back at school I ended up engraving the lyrics to ‘Trigger Cut’ on my desk. It’s become one of those landmark indie rock records but at the time it was completely eclipsed by the grunge explosion. It was always far too abstract to ever be a mainstream hit—thank God!—which made it seem even more special to me at the time. I remember taking ‘Lorreta’s Scars’ to my guitar teacher and asking him to teach me how to play it. He just looked back at me very blankly!
Following discovering Pavement I became more and more interested in lo-fi bands. The whole DIY attitude to production seemed far more exciting than what was on offer in the mainstream indie world at the time. Guided By Voices’ Bee Thousand opened up a whole new world to me. It was the first record that not only blew me away, but also made me think that I could write and record music myself.
Bee Thousand is a magical world of ‘Hardcore UFO’s, Robot Boys, and ‘Hot Freaks’ without the slightest hint of art school pretension. Bob Pollard singing his skewed lyrics like his life depended on it. The songs don’t need big rock production values. They shine brightly through a beautiful chaotic mess of buzz sawing guitars and tape drop outs.”
—Joss Worthington
“A House” is taken from Postcards from Jeff’s debut EP out now via Alien Boutique.
