Sadly this Liverpool band from the late-80s might reside in the one-hit wonder files. "There She Goes" was a huge single and has been covered several times, playing the centerpiece of Mike Myer's underrated film "So I Married An Axe Murderer".
The band had trouble getting in the same frame of mind for a follow-up to their debut. Lead Vocalist and chief songwriter, Lee Mavers, has been reportedly working on a new La's record, but it has been nearly 15 years. The band lost several members during the extended hiatus, but has reunited in recent years to play small gigs and random opening shows for bands like Oasis, sticking mainly to Great Britain. 'Son of a Gun' is the first track on the CD and has a catchy guitar intro and a definite 'mersey beat', distinctive to the Liverpool sound made famous by those four lads in the 60s.
Guadacanal Diary was one of those great underground (and underappreciated) bands that followed out of the Athens/Atlanta scene in the wake of R.E.M.'s success to the mainstream. The Guad's had a great pop sound that mirrored the 'jangly guitar' southern alternative of the late 70s and early 80s. "Always Saturday" was their only top ten hit, reaching #7, but the album Flip Flop (and the earlier 2x4 record) were both popular on the college radio circuit in the mid-80s. The band's chief lyricist Murray Attaway had a penchant for songs that had a reflective-spiritual message, but also lively, fun pop songs as well. The band has an on-again, off-again relationship with recording- they initially folded in 1989, but then reformed after some spontaneous jam sessions, only to then disappear once more leaving their future unknown.
Editing this post now to include the new band picture. Here are the boys from Prize Fighter all gussied up and ready to play.
You can find them at their myspace site- http://myspace.com/prizefighterrock
The track you can hear is Fire & Snow, and don't worry you'll likely be getting a CD from me soon with that very track included.
With this nifty audio and and now flickr feature I can totally build a little story...
so here's a picture of The Machines in action and if you click the little audio link you can hear a song...
I put up some sweeeet tunes in the audio portion...this could totally rock
There's no getting around it...tonight I was just a miserable sonofabiscuit.
I'm getting nowhere with my research and was just frustrated by traffic and the ride home which normally I use to unwind. I got in and Shell had agonizing stories to tell me 1) the television didn't see to want to work- I tapped it on the side and it came on...now my wife thinks I'm The Fonz. 2) the computer is acting up, shutting down randomly which means it needs to be serviced...and who doesn't at this point...but I digress 3) the insurance company wants to write off the van because there was more damage that originally thought, however it is driveable, so we're getting it back, repaired at our expense, but with the insurance claim...so we'll net about $1700- the catch is we can't reinsure it fully with the company again- liability only...which I guess is okay since it's now in worse shape that before.
But all of that just sort washed over me in the midst of my intellectual blockage, the fact that I had a lousy doctor's appointment, and hardly saw the baby today.
I'm just feeling lonely. Separated from my friends and family, and I'm completely rudderless at times. Shell's really been pulling the load double-time and I feel like I don't give her back anything, or at least what she deserves (if I can ever really do that anyway). She pish-poshes me when I say that but my own neuroses say otherwise.
I just want to sit in a room with some friends and have a beer and chat about anything and everything- I'm a people person when it comes to cool people, and I am getting to know some really cool people...but as always they are too far away to share a sit-down with.
At some point we're just going to be forced to travel somewhere and see some of you because I can't stands it. But winter is coming. And with its snow, and cold, and ice..we lose traction of things we want to do and try to survive, spiritually hibernating.
Days like today I feel like a could of been somebody...instead of a bum...which is what I am..
But I can't blame my brother Charlie...I don't have a brother Charlie to blame. I should have been looking out for me, and I didn't. And now I've got a one-way ticket to palookville. But maybe the train will stop somewhere and I can get a gnosh.
