Even As We Speak is an Australian indie band from Sydney. Formed in the mid-1980s, founding members Matthew Love and Mary Wyer were later joined by Rob Irwin (bass) Anita Rayner, Paul Clarke and Julian Knowles.
Nightingales are a British post-punk/alternative rock band, formed in 1979 in Birmingham, England, by four members of Birmingham's punk group The Prefects. They had been part of The Clash's 'White Riot Tour', recorded a couple of Peel Sessions, released a 45 on Rough Trade and, years after splitting up, had a retrospective CD released by US indie label Acute Records.
Shop Assistants were a Scottish indie pop band from Edinburgh, Scotland, formed in 1984, initially as 'Buba & The Shop Assistants'. After achieving success with independent releases they signed to Chrysalis Records sublabel Blue Guitar, releasing their only album in 1986. After splitting in 1987, with singer Alex Taylor moving on to The Motorcycle Boy, they reformed for two further singles in 1990.
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, also known very briefly as the Lorries, are an English rock band formed in Leeds in early 1981 by guitarist and songwriter Chris Reed, vocalist Mark Sweeney, bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown. After breaking up in 1991, the band reformed in 2003 and have released 5 studio albums over the course of their career.
David Westlake is an English singer/songwriter. He led indie band The Servants from 1985 to 1991.
Stump were an Irish-English indie/experimental/rock group consisting of Mick Lynch (vocals), Rob McKahey (drums), Kev Hopper (bass) and Chris Salmon (guitar). Their music has been described as a mixture of Captain Beefheart and The Fall, and they are best known for their influential, critically acclaimed, but poor selling 1988 album, A Fierce Pancake.
The Stupids are an English hardcore punk band formed in the 1980s by Tom Withers.
Bogshed were an Indie band formed in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, England, in 1985 by Phil Hartley (vocals), Mark McQuaid (guitar), Mike Bryson (bass) and Tristan King (drums). They released two albums, two EPs and two singles before splitting up in 1987.
Mighty Mighty are a British indie band formed in Birmingham, England, in the mid-1980s.
A Witness are an English post-punk/indie rock band, who were originally active in the mid-1980s alternative music scene. Their first EP Loudhailer Songs and début album I am John's Pancreas brought them to the attention of BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel, for whom they recorded four sessions. Their career was brought to a halt with the death of guitarist Rick Aitken in 1989. Founder member and songwriter Vince Hunt revived the band with a new line-up for a series of UK-wide dates in 2014 marking the 25th anniversary of Aitken's death, and the band continues to play live.
The Shrubs were an English rock music group, formed in Watford in 1985, releasing three albums before splitting up in 1989.
The June Brides are an English indie pop group, formed in London in 1983, by Phil Wilson and Simon Beesley of International Rescue. Influenced by Postcard-label bands such as Josef K and punk-era bands such as Buzzcocks, The Desperate Bicycles and The Television Personalities, their mix of guitar pop with viola and trumpet formed a blueprint for many of the indie pop bands that would follow.
Ron Johnson Records was a UK independent record label based in Long Eaton operating between 1983 and 1988. The label contributed five tracks to the NME's C86 compilation. Run by Dave Parsons, the label released records by artists such as Big Flame, The Shrubs, A Witness, The Great Leap Forward, Stump, The Mackenzies, Twang and The Ex. Despite the press attention and critical acclaim for the label's bands and releases, sales were insufficient to make the label profitable and financial difficulties brought it to an end in 1988.
The Mackenzies were a Scottish indie band from Glasgow, Scotland, active around 1986/87, who released two singles of jagged indie-funk on Ron Johnson Records. They contributed the track "Big Jim " to the NME 's C86 compilation. They also recorded two sessions for BBC Radio 1's John Peel, the first of which was repeated seven times, such was Peel's high regard for it. When the band split up, the drummer Paul Turnbull resurfaced in The Secret Goldfish.
Miaow were an English indie band from Manchester, England, active between 1984 and 1988. They were led by singer and NME writer Cath Carroll, formerly of the band Glass Animalsa, on vocals and guitar, with Steve Maguire (guitar), Ron Caine (bass) and Chris Fenner (drums). Their debut single, "Belle Vue", was released in December 1985, the 12"-version featuring the track "Grocer's Devil Daughter", a song about Margaret Thatcher. The band's next release was the "Sport Most Royal" track that they contributed to the NME’s C86 compilation in 1986. After supporting The Woodentops on their UK tour, two further singles followed in 1987 on Factory Records, the band also relocating to London. Carroll joined The Hit Parade and Miaow split up without releasing the promised album, titled 'Priceless Innuendo'. Cath Carroll subsequently married Big Black guitarist Santiago Durango and went on to a solo career in the 1990s.
The Servants were an indie band formed in 1985 in Hayes, Middlesex, England by singer-songwriter David Westlake. The band was the original home of Luke Haines.
Twang were an indie band from Manchester/Preston, England, signed to Ron Johnson Records. Their first release was a flexi-disc, "What's The Rub" in 1985 distributed with Debris magazine. Debut single proper, "Sharp" was released on the Stet label, and later released by Ron Johnson, reaching number 19 on the UK Indie Chart in 1986. This was followed by "Kick and Complain", which reached number 35. A final 12-inch release, "Snap Back", was issued late in 1987. The band were bracketed with other indie acts as part of the 'shambling' genre. However the band and similar hard edged label mates Big Flame and The MacKenzies somewhat disliked what they saw as lazy journalism.
Inca Babies are an English post-punk band from Manchester, initially active between 1982 and 1988, reforming in 2007 featuring founder member and original songwriter Harry Stafford. With a new line-up of Rob Haynes (drums) and Vince Hunt (bass) the Inca Babies have released four new albums and continue to tour extensively in the UK and Europe.
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based music genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as was recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 CD issue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop. In 2014, the original compilation was reissued in a 3CD expanded edition from Cherry Red Records; the 2014 box-set came with an 11,500-word book of sleevenotes by one of the tape's original curators, former NME journalist Neil Taylor.
The Great Leap Forward is a band formed by former Big Flame member Alan Brown, when his previous band split up in 1987. After several releases the project was put on hold in 1990, but revived in 2008 with subsequent album releases in 2008, 2012 and 2021.
