Still prefer the French version though! The band will be headlining this years Indie Tracks on the Saturday night. Tickets on sale from Saturday 1st March 2008.

The Parachute Men formed in 1985, with a line-up of Fiona Gregg (vocals), Stephen H. Gregg (guitar), Andrew Howes (bass), and Mark Boyce (drums).

After two years of gigging, the band were signed by large London indie label Fire Records in 1987. Their first release was a four-track EP with "Sometimes In Vain" as the lead track, in May 1988. This was followed in August of the same year by début album The Innocents, which made the NME top 50 albums of that year.

Howes and Boyce departed soon after, with the Greggs continuing as a an acoustic duo until they recruited Matthew Parkin (bass) and Paul Walker (drums). 1990 saw the release of the second album, Earth, Dogs, and Eggshells, preceded by the single "Every Other Thursday" (a reference to signing on to the dole). The album was released over a year after it was recorded, losing much of the momentum the band had built up. The band line-up changed again, with Canadian Colleen Browne replacing Parkin, but the band split in the early 1990s with no further releases. (via)

Leeds Station was the bands third single released on Fire Records in 1988.



The Parachute Men - Leeds Station

You can find both The Parachute Men's albums on digital music services such as 7 Digital and e-music. The Innocents is certainly worth picking up.

I must admit that I missed a lot of the US indie bands of the early 1990's. I wasn't listening to guitar based music for most of this time and I have been slowly catching up on those bands I missed. One such indie pop band was the Black Tambourine who featured Pam Berry, Brian Nelson, Archie Moore and Mike Schulman all of whom went on to appear in other bands including The Pines and Velocity Girl.

They didn't release much which has ensured some sort of cult status. Their singles output consisted of By Tomorrow (Slumberland 1991), Throw Aggi Of The Bridge (Audrey's Diary, 1992) and they also released tracks on various compilations.

The band were heavily influenced by the UK indie scene from the Jesus and Mary Chain to Creation Records as well as the Ramones. They have in turn influenced bands like The Pains Of being Pure At Heart. Slumberland Records compiled all their recordings on the Complete Recordings (1999) which is still available - they also have two mp3's up as well which saves me having to post any tracks!

Black Tambourine - Black Car
Black Tambourine - Throw Aggi Off The Bridge

[My Space link]

I mentioned the recent Mojo round up that was the top 50 UK indie singles of all time on indie mp3 here.

At number 50 was Her Jazz by Huggy Bear. I must admit to having an immense dislike of the band at the time but as years pass I have grown to appreciate their music and what they stood for. The band were considered the leading UK riot grrl band and had more in common with US bands such as Bikini Kill rather than what was going in the UK indie scene at the time. As the band stated "indie just became an abstract term for a style of music, not ideas or values, 'cause they were all signing to major labels".

You can read more about the band at wikipedia.

Mojo reckons Her Jazz is now unavailable and out of print so here it is. Oh and a video too.



Huggy Bear - Her Jazz

There are more tracks to download at the Huggy Bear unofficial My Space page.