Bands you adore that no one else has ever heard of...

[radiophonic 164]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1487333766' post='3239039']
Difficult to beat Hanoi Rocks, Tim, good call. Mike Monroes current material is also really good.
[/quote]

There's a name I haven't heard in a long while. I saw them live, supporting (unbelievably) Wishbone Ash (who had Trevor Bolder on Bass at the time). After the initial shock realisation that the singer was male, 95% of the audience just sat down with their backs to them. They lasted about 4 songs, which just goes to show.

[Bolo 916]

My favorite music genre, thrash metal, seems to be on a comeback. Oldies like Anthrax, Exodus, Testament and Kreator are touring like mad, but newer bands like Gama Bomb and Insanity Alert are terrific!

[skb558 640]

[quote name='grahamd' timestamp='1487280730' post='3238676']
Cardiacs

[media]http://youtu.be/sUNKO9QQ2Co[/media]
[/quote]

This I like!

[Monkey Steve 1,461]

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1487333766' post='3239039']
Difficult to beat Hanoi Rocks, Tim, good call. Mike Monroes current material is also really good.
[/quote][quote name='radiophonic' timestamp='1487334847' post='3239055']
There's a name I haven't heard in a long while. I saw them live, supporting (unbelievably) Wishbone Ash (who had Trevor Bolder on Bass at the time). After the initial shock realisation that the singer was male, 95% of the audience just sat down with their backs to them. They lasted about 4 songs, which just goes to show.
[/quote]

First band I ever went to see live - Guildford Uni on the Two Steps From The Move tour. I remember being most impressed that amongst his assorted drum hardware Razzle had a stand specifically shaped to hold a can of beer, like an alcoholic cup holder. No accidental spillage for these professionals!

[tauzero 1,203]

I have both albums by The Famous Jug Band. They're long gone now, though.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZ108oystk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzZ108oystk[/url]

[Nicko 1,433]

I was surprised to see Grammy nominations for Cage the Elephant. Great band who seem more well known in the US. I also love The Wombats who are bigger in Oz than here I think. Do Maximo Park count as obscure?

[LewisK1975 252]

[quote name='LewisK1975' timestamp='1487321739' post='3238870']
Certainly not [i]un[/i]known but a lesser known firm favourite of mine was a 70's band called Big Star. 3 albums released - #1 record, Radio City, 3rd album/Sister Lovers. Also been known to have a huge influence on such bands as The Posies, Teenage Fanclub and many more....

[url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Star"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Star[/url]
[/quote]
[quote name='stuckinthepod' timestamp='1487326197' post='3238932']
Good documentary about them on Netflix if anyone is interested.
[/quote]

Actually just watched that!

[Dood 1,594]

[quote name='Graham' timestamp='1487313420' post='3238803']
Who else is in Audioplastik? I remember seeing it advertised as a side project of someone I liked, but can't remember who, and had completely forgotten about it until now.
[/quote]

The very talented Dec Burke from *Frost, Darwin's Radio and his own solo band and also Simon Andersson from Pain Of Salvation who is a bonkers good composer and producer. He wrote and played 90% of the keys on the album I think.

[BassTractor 3,592]

Horslips and Gordon Giltrap were known to some in Holland - AFAIK only to music afficionados, who'd tend to know much more music than the average radio listener. Both were however played on the radio to some degree.
Me, I owned Giltrap's album "Perilous Journey", which AFAIK was the first album of his that got any attention in Holland.


As to my own:
[b]Mo[/b] (I disbelieve the WP claim they're called "The Mo"). I've posted them here before.

This is something as odd as post new-wave pop with prog leanings and a bassoon instead of a bass.
They were not on a regular record contract, but Philips had a backdoor for tiny acts, on their Backdoor label of course, and the band thusly were given three chances to release an album.

When, finally, a CD was released (24 tracks - 8 from each album), and I ordered it a few years later, the record company reacted: "What? That's the first time someone's ordered that CD!"


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEozWmF_YMw[/media]

Edited February 17, 2017 by BassTractor

[Hobbayne 663]

That Gordon Giltrap tune sounds like a theme tune from some obscure 70's sports programme.

[Monkey Steve 1,461]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1487341722' post='3239145']
That Gordon Giltrap tune sounds like a theme tune from some obscure 70's sports programme.
[/quote]

I believe it was the theme song for the BBC's Holiday programme.

I was dragged along to see him live once, back in the '80's playing with Ric Sanders, and he was pretty well know at that time. And he saved the theme tune for the encore because everybody knew it (even me and I knew nothing else he played all night)

[Cat Burrito 1,557]

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1487328580' post='3238966']Anyone else familiar with Birdeatsbaby? [/quote]

Hana the violin player was playing with my band at the same time. We did one album together before she moved on - all very amicable, she's rejoined us for a couple of shows and played on a couple of tracks from the last album.

[radiophonic 164]

And this lot. No bass player for the last couple of LPs though. The Ex just never settle down.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPWcf3U4oHs[/media]

[Deep Thought 8]

In the 80's I was and still am a big fan of the Three Johns, to my disgust I missed them when they played Ziggy's in Plymouth. I was also very keen on James King and the lone wolves, who I did get to see live twice. There was also the Rose of Avalanche, Care, Miracle Legion and another vote for the Chameleons.

[Gust0o 17]

Every year I go to Desertfest. Every year people ask me who I saw, and if I enjoyed it. And every year they inevitably ask "who?"

[Phil Adams 4]

[quote name='scrumpymike' timestamp='1487283868' post='3238715']
Late '60s / early '70s UK 'art-rock' band Audience. I've got two of their albums - House On The Hill and Lunch - that I still love playing. They really were quite unique. Enjoy - hope the links work!

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HClO5CK3MPU"]https://www.youtube....h?v=HClO5CK3MPU[/url]

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4xnPKf4I-8"]https://www.youtube....h?v=J4xnPKf4I-8[/url]
[/quote]

I bought the 7" of Belandonna Moonshine after being captivated by it listening to Fab Radio 208 Luxemburg while night fishing (until shutdown of course)!

[NancyJohnson 2,428]

Oh, my music collection is peppered with stuff that generally draws a blank.

Shudder To Think
Millicent Friendly
Summercamp
Sugarbomb
Tsar
The Trachtenburg Fanily Slideshow Players
Taxiride
Straw
Powder
The Drills
The Penfifteen Club
The JTG Implosion
Cider
Hot One
Farewell Continental
Bleu
The Major Labels

...want any more?

[BrunoBass 978]

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1487279520' post='3238664']
Árstíðir -- Icelandic folksters.
[media]http://youtu.be/e4dT8FJ2GE0[/media]

[/quote]

I love Arstidir. I've never met anyone else who has heard of them.

[BrunoBass 978]

I'm a big fan of The Boxer Rebellion. Their album 'The Cold Still' is a favourite of mine.

[Phil Adams 4]

Hows about The Handsome Family??

[BrunoBass 978]

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1487348577' post='3239214']
Hows about The Handsome Family??
[/quote]

Ha! I'm going to see them in Leamington on Sunday!

[KingPrawn 249]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w64pjXRCvbY

Edited February 17, 2017 by KingPrawn

[ROConnell 0]

Not a band but William Onyeabor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoUY_0-w9hQ

[discreet 2,770]

CAN were a huge influence not only on myself but many others. They were never just another band, for me they were almost a way of life and there was a period of around six or nine months - 1976, I think it was - when I wouldn't consider listening to anything else...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QLL2j8ZtxE[/media]

Edited February 17, 2017 by discreet

[BigRedX 2,820]

IMO too many of the bands mentioned in this thread are far too well known - especially those from the 70s and 80s who were all fairly regular fixtures on John Peel's shows.

So in the interest of featuring some bands who you really won't have heard of, but who all had records available to buy, I present some of my favourite bands from Nottingham in the early 80s:

[b]Medium Medium[/b]. In the early 80s this was the band who were tipped to put Nottingham on the musical map. Post-punk white boy funk. Got signed to Cherry Red and released a couple of singles and an album "The Glitterhouse" and then singer/sax player Rees Lewis left to form C-Cat Trance (who IMO are far too well known for inclusion here). The rest of the band soldiered on with a succession of guitarists and keyboard players as less than successful replacements until finally calling it a day in 1983.

[b]23 Jewel[/b]s. Their debut single "Playing Bogart" was a regular on John Peel's show, made Single of the Week in the NME and was covered by Any Trouble, but none of this was enough to make them famous. Two more singles followed to almost complete indifference and they split without releasing their 4th single "The Bomb Party"/"I Can't Think Of More Than One Thing At Once". Singer and songwriter, Nick Simpson is now a classical composer and conductor.

[b]One Million Fuzztone Guitars[/b]. Developed over the course of 2 singles and an album from a rather weird Stylophone and drum machine two-piece to a full-blown rock band. Very favourable coverage in the music press and Julian Cope was a fan, but still they got little interest outside of Nottingham.

[b]None So Blind[/b]. Debut single "My Favourite Eyes" was produced by Dave Stewart of The Eurhythmics and recorded in the same studio where they made the "Sweet Dreams" album, but it took almost a year from the recording session until the record was actually released, by which time the band had all but split up. Their record distributor going bust and all the unsold pressings getting destroyed didn't help either.

[b]The Howdy Boys[/b]. Started off life as a bunch of art students cavorting about to backing tapes dressed in charity shop suits covered in flour. Eventually morphed into complex improvised drum-machine driven post-punk funk pop. Regular fixtures on the Nottingham scene and released two singles, but like many bands of the era, their recorded sound failed to capture to energy and anarchy of their live show and by the time the second single had been released, the band was pretty much over.

[b]Splat![/b] Imagine The Birthday Party as a jazz-funk band if you can... These days they are far better known for running Ron Johnson Records (who brought you Stump and many other better known artists) than for any of their own music.

Edited February 17, 2017 by BigRedX