Category Archives: Singles Club Bands

Ex Popper: Lucy & The Caterpillar

Posted on May 23, 2013 by | Leave a comment

So… Another interview from one of our roving columnists, and this time it’s Alcopop! regular (and all round lovely chap) Josh – who’s speaking to the lovely Lucy & the Caterpillar, who we worked with back in 2007 (genuinely that long ago). Back then we were blow away by her delicious songs and penchant for red wine… But what’s she doing now? Here’s Josh>>>>

I first discovered Lucy & the Caterpillar when Jack sent over “I don’t want your stupid crisps” (taken from the Kings Cross E.P) with one of my purchases. I was drawn in by Lucy’s soft voice and sweet lyrics. Wanting to hear more I bought the “Kings Cross” E.P I enjoyed every bit from the cute mini disc to Lucy’s delightful songs. “Kings Cross” is like a short story of sorts ranging from the nervousness and excitement of meeting someone new featured in the song “Kings Cross” before moving onto the familiar “I don’t want your stupid crisps”. Second to last is the adventure tale of “Pirates! Pirates! Pirates!” before finishing with the excellently titled “Let’s mess about” which is a nice little keyboard solo. Wondering what she was up to now I emailed Lucy to catch up.

Josh: Hi Lucy, how are you?
Lucy: Hello Josh, I am rather good thank you. Really busy which I can’t complain about

Josh: Glad to hear it, how long have you been making music?
Lucy: I have been making music for about 12 years. I never knew I could sing until I was bought a guitar, I got more into the songwriting side of music before playing any instrument.

J: Who are some of your influences?
L: When I was 14 I loved The Smiths, they kind of influenced me melodically. I then discovered bands like The White Stripes, really loved the heavy guitars but kind of simple songs. I listen to The Beatles a lot & I love old 1970s folk music like The Roches, Karen Dalton, Stone Poneys & Laura Nyro. I’m not really a modern music fan, I find most modern music sounds like older music so why not listen to the original thing. Although, my most favourite songwriter is Feist. I also love anything by Iron & Wine and also Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros. I do think music is getting better which is really nice to know, haha.

J: How was your time on Alcopop?
L: It was great, quite a long time ago now. I did my single launch at The Social & we released these super cute E.Ps. Tiny!

J: What have you done musically since Alcopop?
L: After Alcopop I did loads of festivals, Latitude, Leeds ect… then decided to take a break & work on something else, I find if you’re really passionate about something you need to protect it & treat it nice, so my musicalness, needed a break. I do however write loads of songs & am wanting to start a fresh, release an album, do some lovely gigs & enjoy myself more.

J: I noticed you also run a boutique in Hebden Bridge, how long have you been making dresses and such and how long has the Boutique itself been going?
L: I have had the shop for 7 years now. It started as a hobby & has become a proper business. I find clothes fascinating, the way they are made so I decided to learn how to dress make. When I wore my frocks, people asked me where I got it from so I thought it was a good idea to start a collection of classic dresses. They sell really well & I’ve now started making wedding dresses! Never did I think I would be doing that!

J: If it’s not too personal, why did you leave Alcopop?
L: I think I kind of became a recluse up north, my management changed and taking time out was the answer, it was only a single release anyway so nothing too serious, I probably really annoyed them too, haha <Jack’s note: She totally didn’t :-) >

J: Where does the “caterpillar” come from?
L: It “was” my little guitar (which I still have) I am now under my actual name ‘Lucy Elizabeth” & I’ve kept the shop my old stage name which I think is important as I had lovely memories.

J: Can we expect a new album or EP soon?
L: YES! I have a whole collection of new songs that we are wanting to show to the world soon, we want to take our time to make sure it’s perfect. I’m so excited, I feel like my music has grown & people will hopefully see the real me instead of singing songs about sweets & being drunk… which of course, I don’t do anymore (NOT!)

Check out Lucy’s debut single ‘Red Red Wine’ here:

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Alcopop loves… Alcopop: (Stagecoach on 4 or 5 Magicians)

Posted on April 30, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Luke from Stagecoach on … 4 or 5 Magicians (by Dave Owen)

Hold the phone…. With that warm thing in the sky coming out (I think it’s called Sun) and the beer garden becoming habitable again, we’ve been out and about talking about PoP bands with.. well .. er… other PoP bands … and the results?

More PoP goodness, past and present, than you can shake an overly large stick at! First up, we caught up with Luke, from those loveable scamps Stagecoach to talk about his love for the dearly departed 4 or 5 Magicians.

Who should I be listening to again?

4 or 5 Magicians

Why?

I remember driving home from band practice one Saturday and hearing them on the radio. They were in session on Huw Stephens. The lyrics grabbed me straight away, they were just totally honest and witty. The music was no thrills 90’s guitar rock but still rich with melody. I then delved deeper on Myspace and found they were on a relatively new, then Bristol based label called ‘Alcopop!’ I sent them our cd the following Monday thinking “well we’d sit quite nicely on a label next to those guys” We ended up becoming good friends with the band before eventually signing to Alcopop! ourselves.

You first heard what?

Forever On The Edge

Ah those memories…. Tell us about them!

We played lots of gigs with Dan Ormsby and his rotating band. There seemed to be a new line-up every time we gigged with them. Dan must be some kind of Hitler to work with (Joke, Dan!) I think my favourite memory of them was a Christmas party we did at the Windmill. Dan played the gig dressed as a Santa helper/elf. I just remember him in what was a white fur rimmed red skirt being crowd surfed around the room.

Their sweet music is for fans of:

Guided By Voices, Pavement, Nirvana, The Beatles, Superchunk, STAGECOACH??

Essential listening:

Empty Derivative Pop Songs (Smalltown America)

Get your mitts on …

Forever On The Edge. A stone cold Alcopop! classic released on 3” cd in true PoP style

Watch on the interwebz:

Here’s them playing with my favoured line up (minus now Virgin presenter and handsome faced Ivan Berry) at The Lexington. I almost feel emotional watching this. Lots of good memories. Preaching To The Conversed for Beatcast

 If they were a dinosaur they’d be…..

Tough. I’d go for Velociraptor because they were smart. Every lyric is considered.

Stagecoach have a shiny new album coming out very soon! ‘Say Hi To The Band’ is out on Alcopop! Records on May 13th. There will be cool pre order bundles and all that awesome jazz soon! They are also on tour in the UK throughout May – so go see ‘em!

And here’s 4 or 5 Magicians… We miss you Dan, and ever changing line-up!

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Today I got out of bed at 6pm…

Posted on April 11, 2009 by | 1 Comment

This is definitely cool, and has led me to feeling pretty smug about the scant few hours I’ve actually spent on my feet. Tomorrow however and it’s back to the grind – mail orders, emails, sorting out bots and bobs for the compilation… For while major labels slumber with a four day weekend. Life seems to go on for indies… Which is kinda cool J

Meanwhile though, I note that the rather acely namely ‘Die Shellsuit Die’ fanzine has nailed a pretty tasty review of the goFASTER>> ‘A Modern Education’ EP… They “paint huge scapes of totally pleasant and immeasurably radio friendly feel good pop in an entirely unapologetic way which is something pretty rare. Admittedly, no boundaries are pushed per sae, but actually; who cares? Combining punchy new wave indie with some genuinely impressive lyric writing; goFASTER >> seems on to a winner.”

Also, for those of you who haven’t seen – I noted, rather nostalgically, that Alcopop’s first ever act – Encyclopedia (ahhh – those old days) have slapped a couple of tracks on their MySpace, including a reworked version of ‘Get a drummer’ – which was one of the B-Sides on their ‘Emily’ single AKA Alcopop001 (which can still be purchased from the shop). Ace! Go and have a listen, cos they’re pretty super-ace power pop you should probably enjoy. Until then have a lovely weekend – and keep an eye on the blog as we’re announcing a very exciting new signing and release next week!

Happy Easter!

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Last chance for the mega-deal – and are 4 or 5 Magicians THAT band…?

Posted on April 8, 2009 by | 2 Comments

cartoon_crocodile_caricatureThe croc has crowed..! This is a quick final blog call to let you know that the mega-deal will be seeing its last possible purchase date as of today, so if you want a goFASTER>> EP (loved today by one of our favourite blogs – Come Pick Me Up), My First Tooth EP and limited edition T-Shirt for 16 sheets, do order within the next 14 hours or so, as come midnight (ish) the deal will be finishing.

This is partly because the EPs have now been released, and also the fact that we only have a few Tees left. You will look lovely in them I guarantee :-)

Incidentally – former Alcopop favourites (and by former favourites I mean they’re still favourite, but were formerly with us at Alcopop) 4 or 5 Magicians have been getting a whole lotta’ love from the NME, which is always nice.

“It feels like ages since a British guitar group came up that came from a proper independent background, really knew their indie and not only seemed to have a vision for where they wanted to go, but had the songs and style to take them onto the nether echelons of posters on walls and platinum plaques.

I dunno if 4 Or 5 Magicians are that band, but their album certainly brightened up my week. A band that you look forward to putting your headphones on for their song’s ebola-scale infectiousness, but don’t feel like you’re contributing to the walnut dashboard detail of some head A&R chump’s Hybrid Lexus by purchasing a copy of their record.”

Nice one Dan!

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