Thursday, 11 June 2026

The Clouds

Back in February my friend Alan sent me a link to a song called Get Out Of My Dream by The Clouds, an 80's indie guitar band from Glasgow who only released one single. I'd heard their name, as Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub had played with them for a bit. But I didn't really know much about them.

Alan suggested that our sometime band Acer Trees (essentially Alan's band Broken by Rock, but with me singing!) cover the song at a charity night that the Teenage Fanclub Fanclub were putting on at The Doublet. I loved the song, so I was bang up for it.

We had a mere two rehearsals and after the first one Alan tracked down singer John Charnley - sending him a rough phone recording. John's feedback was lovely and he was thrilled that people were still discovering The Clouds. 

Glasgow is a small place. John and I used to play 7-a-sides with him for a good few years! He was a cracking player, a winger with a good left foot. Like many people I have played fives/sevens with over the years, I never knew John's surname, or that he used to be in a band. 

Anyway. I really fell for Get Out Of My Dream. It was great fun to play and sing. A little over 2.5 minutes of indie guitar pop perfection. Beginning with a guitar riff, 3 beats and we're into the first verse. The first of many hooks comes at the end - repeated twice for effect.

I'll go to a place where no-one else can go

I'll go to a place where no-one else can go

Then after the second verse, the hook is repeated again, leading to a glorious bridge that might as well be a chorus. It has a real Buzzcocks-y feel to it, new wave/punk pop, the energy leaps from it. The lyrics are absolutely perfect to sing as a teenager ... or in your 50's! Timeless!

And I don't know what's going on

And I don't know if I am right or I'm wrong

And every day I feel the same

And it's a feeling I just can't seem to explain

Super catchy ... and it gets better as another chorus comes on the back of it, complete with glorious ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba backing vocals.

Get out of my dream

Why do I always feel this way?

Wishing I was somewhere else

As I said before - absolutely perfect to jump about your bedroom to, playing air guitar or singing into a brush or deodorant can. I've listened to this song way more times than any other this year!

The Clouds, Rooftops in Glasgow
Photo by Jim Barr

I set out to write a blog on the song and The Clouds. However, there isn't really a great deal of information about The Clouds online, so I thought I'd email John some questions to find out more about his band. Rather than simply email back, John suggested a catch up and we had a fantastic chat about forming The Clouds as a teenager, all the way through to present day and John's new band Olympic State Choir. Check the live video of the beautifully dreamy Crash With Me at the end.

As a result, this might be the most extensive feature ever on The Clouds! 6,000+ words!

I greatly appreciate John taking the time to meet me for a catch up coffee and interview. As a music fan, this is an absolutely fascinating insight into the Glasgow music scene in the mid-80's, with bands like The Mary Chain and Primal Scream breaking through into the music weeklies and leading the way. Then there was the Splash One Club bringing people together and Stephen Pastel releasing music through 53rd & 3rd as well as his seminal band The Pastels. 

John was fresh out of school and suddenly in this world of possibilities, soaking up music, buying his first guitar and forming a band to record a demo. The Clouds only released one single and a flexi-disc. John has never stopped writing and recording music.

Read on ...

Interview - John Charnley

John - London 1988

The demo and Subway Records

We had recorded 4 songs, in about 4 hours on really old equipment in Archie Studio down in Scotstoun. We sent them to Martin at Subway. The Pastels had recorded there as well, I was talking to Stephen about it recently. It was old 60's kind of equipment. It was quite cheap! 

So we sent it to Martin Whitehead from Subway Organisation and he said - do you want to make a record?

As easy as that?

As easy as that! This was the thing about the 80's indie kind of thing. Nobody really planned anything, it was all done on the seat of your pants so to speak. So we were in there, it was me and my pals, my brother, a couple of guys we went to school with who had similar taste in music. A guy called Tom, he came from East Kilbride. It wasn't Norman at that point.

We went in, 4-hours, that was it done. Listened back to it - you could sort of hear things, the guitar, the drums ... that'll do. It sounds like ... live. So anyway, we sent it to Martin on the Monday and on the Tuesday he phoned up and said - do you want to make a record? It was done as quickly as that back then. So we said aye!

The compilation album and Get Out Of My Dream

Martin said - I've got this thing coming up, a compilation album for Subway bands. Could you do a song for it?

So I started writing this song. And it was kinda, not quite like what we had done with the demo. The demo was a lot faster. This was a lot more ... not laid back, it's not a laid back song, but in comparison to the demo it was a lot slower.

So we went to Hart Street. Again, it was all unplanned. We came out this way (we met for coffee in Uddingston) to pick up Norman who was living at his Granny's, with the amp. Somebody had recommended Hart Street in Edinburgh and Norman had said it was a good studio. So we picked him up with his guitar and his amp, Gino had his snare - which was a good thing! I'll tell you why.

We're sitting in the van and me and my brother are still working on lyrics. We get to the studio and the two engineers are sitting there. Remember the sound (synth/electronic) drum? These guys are just messing around with drum sounds for ages. Norman's tuning his Epiphone guitar. We're ready to go. We're paying for it, Martin had said don't spend any more than £100 on it, we ended up spending a lot more than that!

We're wondering what they're doing. It's a Sunday, we had to go back and get Norman dropped off, then go back to Carntyne ... so time is of the essence. 

So they say - this is what the kids are into these days.  And I say - that's not what we're about. And they say - well we've only got this and a kick drum!

Luckily Gino had brought his snare! So we basically set up the kick drum, a snare and a hi-hat and a ride. And away we went. And we just done it ... and it worked. We were still kind of writing lyrics and stuff like that.

We get home and we send it down to Martin Subway, Martin Whitehead, and he phones me up and he says - What have you done? I was like what? - what do you mean?

And he says - that's no representative of your sound. And I say - but it is representative of our sound, cause we've just done it. And he said he wanted something like our demo, but our demo was done in 4-hours, on really old equipment ... we wanted something that would last a bit longer. He said he wanted something that was cheap and nasty. I was like - well you've got that.

Get Out Of My Dream is so well structured. There are hooks that you think - is that a bridge or the chorus? Oh, is that another chorus? A series of choruses!

It wasn't your typical sort of structure to an indie record, where you come in with the chorus, or its verse-chorus-verse. It goes on, there are different parts. We thought that was quite a progression from what we were doing at the time. Of course Martin Subway has since changed his mind and said it's the best thing that Subway ever released! 

It's funny you were saying you didn't have the lyrics. As it gets towards the end and that last line - wishing I was somewhere else. That's a great line.

It was all done like that back in the day. We were all really young, like 18. We weren't that long out of school, none of us could really play - and still really can't! The more important thing was to get the feel right. Whatever that feel was, that was more important than the musicianship.

The Clouds 12-inch single
Tranquil b/w Get Out Of My Dream and Village Green
Photo by Gerry Millar

That's why a lot of these songs and records have stood the test of time. People are still interested in them, cause they've got that honesty.

Exactly, at the time the mainstream thing was all about, not exactly showing off ... but. I saw something yesterday with the Mary Chain talking about Eddie Van Halen. They were saying they hated him. they were saying that Peter Hook's bass lines for New Order meant more to him than Eddie Van Halen. And I totally agree with that. I was exactly the same.

Whereas at school, Dennistoun at that point was, and still is a bit rock. Back in the day it was heavy metal, then goth, then grunge, it's never really lost that thing. So all the guys that were at my school, all played like Eddie Van Halen.

Simply Thrilled fanzine feature
Photo by Kaori Laird, from her personal archive

That was the same at my school. It was all Megadeath, Metallica and Slayer - stuff like that.

Yeah it was like, you've got to be able to do this if you wanna be in a band. I was like - I don't know if I want to be in a band that sound like your Eddie Van Halen and that. He could play 100 notes in 10 seconds like it was an Olympic Sport!

So we just go in and jam it. We've got the song. You know how it should feel, you've got the idea. I remember saying to Norman - play it like a drone - and he just did it. What do you want to do with the intro? And you play it. There was something brilliant about that, cause you don't have time to think, cause you're not really a musician.

And you don't have the money to spend on a studio!

Exactly, we had like £100. So we just plug in, play and record and see what happens. There is something kind of brilliant about that.

The Jesus and Mary Chain, Bobby Gillespie and Splash One

The big one for us was The Mary Chain and Upside Down. I remember going down to my mates house. We were all into The Smiths and The Bunnymen, but they were all quite good musicians.

I remember going down to my mate Gavin's in the Calton and he said - wait 'til you hear this. And he'd taped it off the John Peel Show the night before and it was Upside Down by The Mary Chain. The alignment in his tape deck was a little off and it made it sound wwhhhhhoooosssshhhh.

And we're like - this is crazy! This is amazing! What is this?

William and Jim Reid

Obviously there's no internet or anything. We knew what Jim and Willie Reid looked like, but didn't really know about the rest of the band. I was working on a YTS scheme and I went down for my lunch and there's a guy standing there with his girlfriend, Doc Martens, multi coloured anorak, black straight hair with a big fringe over his face and he just stood out a mile, completely stood out. And I'm looking at this guy and I'm buying a bag of chips while he's saying goodbye to his girlfriend. I went round to see my pal and I said - I saw this guy today and for some reason I think he's the drummer in The Jesus and Mary Chain.

He said - I know who that is. Bobby Gillespie, he's in a band called Primal Scream. I read it in the NME.

So we went down that same week and bought All Fall Down by Primal Scream, flipped it over and there was Bobby Gillespie. It was him I'd seen. I could guess he was in a band from seeing him on the street. That's how small Glasgow was at the time.

That was a big influence on us. The Mary Chain were on the Old Grey Whistle Test and stuff and they could only play three chords as well. So that was a big thing for us. And that you could see Bobby walking down the street.

He was a pretty cool guy - amazing hair ... 

Gillespie was a massive part of it. And I don't think he gets the credit. Cause he moved away and he changed ... a lot of people resented that. But what he did with Primal Scream, Mary Chain and Splash One. We missed the first one, which was The Loft. We went down to the second one which was The Pastels .... and we went there and that was insane. 300-400 people who were all like-minded, all into the same thing as you.

It was brilliant, I remember standing there listening to The Ramones ... I think it was Blitzkreig Bop, Feel A Whole Lot Better by The Byrds, Nancy & Lee's Some Velvet Morning and The Loft Why Does the Rain ... and I'm thinking - you don't even hear this on the radio, never mind in a club environment. There was nothing for us at that point and this kinda brought everyone together. There was live bands like Felt and Sonic Youth and all that.

And that's how it all started. That's how you learned your trade. You were hearing this music at Splash One ... it was almost like having an older brother saying - check this out. You would go there once a month and hear stuff like Nancy and Lee ... all that kind of thing. You were just constantly finding new things.

Nowadays you can hear about something and check it online - but back then you had to really dig to discover these kind of records.

I like that you can make a Spotify playlist and send it to someone and it sends them off on a path. I've never been a snob about it. It should just be about the songs.

Photo by Paul Dean

I like what you're saying about Bobby Gillespie and his energy.

Splash One was a massive thing for Glasgow. It was like stepping into a different world. Everyone was like minded. Not just the music. The fashion. The films you went to see at the cinema. The books you were into. Politics. Everyone.

You would walk out at the end of the night and people would look at you like you were some kind of a freak. And you didn't care. You were at that age. You knew there was something happening. And you knew that Glasgow indie music was coming together. It was gonna be put on the map.

And it was. Fanzines really focused on Glasgow. And Gillespie played a massive, massive part in that. If it wasn't for him it might not have worked out as well as it did.

I think him and Stephen Pastel with his band and label were so important

I liked The Pastels and Primal Scream right from the start. They were blazing a trail for a lot of people like us. See what you're into, we're into it. We've got a club night, a gig, a fanzine.

When you're 17 and you're trying to work out who you are and what your band should sound like. That just kinda blazed a trail - that's perfect - that's exactly what I want to sound like and be part of.

The Pastels, Primal Scream, The Mary Chain were perfect for people of my age. 17 just getting out of school, just discovering all that kind of stuff. It was a perfect time. 

Forming The Clouds - The first guitar, demo and Get Out Of My Dream

When did you decide to form The Clouds? Was it you and your brother?

It was 1982 and me and my mate, we decided after seeing The Jam, we were 15 and coming back on the 51 bus to Carntyne we decided - lets start a band. We didn't have any instruments or anything! We were still at school. It was a couple of years before we could afford instruments. I had a paper round. We were determined to form a band. So we always had this in the back of our heads that this was gonna happen.

There was a shop in the Saltmarket, it was closing down, Greens? An old school music store ... my mate said - it's closing down and they're selling guitars for £5 or something.

Eugene won't remember this. Eugene Kelly was at my school, he was a year older. He was coming out when I was going in to get my guitar. We were both into Orange Juice and all that kind of stuff.

It was kinda just coming together about that time. At 16.

So that's shop got a big part to play in the Glasgow music scene?!

I know! It was closing down. Here, take these guitars for a few pounds. These cheap sounding guitars, but that was OK, you know? It was a guitar! And it wasn't like a Marshall or a Les Paul, it was cheap. There was a pal of mine, Mick Docherty, he said someone, a stoner, was selling an amp for a fiver.

So I had this guitar, a K or something, and it was cheap. But I could use it to write. 

So I go up to this guy's house in Riddrie to buy the amp and this guy comes out stoned out his box.

I says - I'm up to buy your amp off you.

He says - I'm not selling an amp.

I says - Mick Docherty said you were selling an amp.

He says - Oh did he? How much for?

I said - A fiver.

He said - OK

And I gave him a fiver and a took it down the road. And that was the start. I phoned up my mate Andy and said - remember how we were gonna start a band ... this was all done in the one day or something like that.

He went and got a bass. Out the Littlewoods catalogue. He paid like a pound a week. It was very wooden souding, but there was something quite good about that. Bruce Foxton's bass was wooden, so it was kind of The Jam, but we were kind of moving away from The Jam. We discovered the Mary Chain, we were listening to The Bunnymen and The Smiths. But that was too hard to play - you had to be a real guitarist to play that.

Too hard, yeah, Johnny Marr and Will Sergeant!

Way too hard to play, especially johnny Marr's guitar parts. He's a strange one, if you're gonna be influenced by Johnny Marr, you're gonna sound like Johnny Marr. Whereas other guitarists are not as distinctive sounding.

We were getting into distortion and reverb and that opened up a lot for us. We done Get Out Of My Dream.

Simply Thrilled fanzine feature
Photo by Kaori Laird, from her personal archive

Was that one of the first songs you wrote?

It was, we done 4 songs in the demo and it was all quite immediate. All done in the space of 4 weeks, I had written 4 songs for this demo. We went and recorded it, sent it to Martin and he sent us the money to go and record it.

It was all changing though.In the space of a month. You were hearing things all the time.

We wanted to slow it down. Martin wanted to speed it up!

If you speed it up 'cause you think it sounds a bit more 'indie', you're gonna ruin the song.

Get Out Of My Dream was one of the early ones and he said - you can put this on the album. Then we were going in to record the single and we changed our mind about what should be the A-side ... and by the time the single came out we'd kind of split up!

It all happened in the space of a couple of years. At that point a couple of years seemed like a long time.

Oh yeah, when you're young ...

Yeah, it seemed like forever. Now two years ago seems like yesterday. So we crammed a lot in. Get Out Of My Dream was good because it was a slower kind of song from what we'd been doing on the demo. I thought it worked really well. I still, when I listen to it, it's done well.

The back of the 12-inch
Photo by Gerry Millar

There's a freshness to it. It's got the hooks. It's a great pop song.

I think if we'd sped that up, we would have ruined the feel completely. So I'm glad we went - no that's the way it should be and we stuck to our guns.

Cause we never demo'd it. We just recorded it. I think he sent us £100 and we spent about £500 or something like that. And he wasn't too pleased about that! Then he got it through the door on cassette and he was like - that doesn't even sound like you.

And I was like - well it does now. The demo had been recorded months ago, like a lifetime ago.

But I'm glad we never demo'd it and we just done it that was. And that was the way it was in the 80's where you just ... there was no plan or anything. You just woke up and you just done it.


Gigs and the band name

What about gigs? It sounds like you went straight into writing and recording?

We had a guitarist called Tom Carroll and he lived in East Kilbride. He'd grown up with The Mary Chain and Meat Whiplash as friends. The Mary Chain then moved away.

Other people started using the Daddy Warbucks where Splash One was held to put on gigs.

Meat Whiplash had a single coming out on Creation and their pals decided to put on a night, The Jesus and Mary Chain did it as a favour, it was called the Psychocandy club. Just Like Honey was coming out and their said they would play it, even though they were selling out the Barrowland at that point.

Psychocandy had come out and Just Like Honey was the fourth single. We all went down and JAMC played this wee stage. The following month it was Meat Whiplash for their single that was coming out. Their pal and our pal asked us if we could get ot together to support them. 

We said, aye OK. So we did the four songs on the demo. This was before we'd recorded Get Out Of My Dream. The reaction was really, really good, it was a brilliant reaction. We weren't even gonna call ourselves The Clouds, it was my mate that decided that.

He said - call yourselves The Clouds, it sounds like a garage band. 

And I thought - I don't even know if I like that name!

Duglas (BMX Bandits) and all his mates were there, Sean and all that, and he shouted up - what are you called. And I said - The Clouds.

So you didn't really have a name?

No, not really! We were just there to support Meat Whiplash.

I think it's a good name!

I think it's alright. I remember at the time thinking - I don't know. I maybe needed a bit more time to think about it. But because I said it over the mic ...

That was it!

There was 400 people or something there. So that was it! It stuck. 

Norman joins the band

Then Tom left. He was a bit more mature than is. He was grown up, we were wee boys. He was finding it hard to play in a band where the songwriter was a couple of years younger than him.

So what were you at this point? About 18?

About 18, aye.

What a great time to be in a band! And hanging around all these other bands.

Aye, it was amazing. We were discovering things all the time. Discovering things just constantly. There had been nothing up until that point.

So Tom left and Duglas came up to us in Splash One and said - what are you doing with your band?

And I said - well our guitarist has just left.

And he went - I know a guy who is looking for a band. His name is Norman. I was in a band with him and he's a really good guitarist, do you want to hook up.

And we said - aye, brilliant.

We met Norman outside Virgin Records in Union Street. We went back up to my Mum's in Carntyne and we just jammed a few things. And he was into it straight away. We had very similar taste in music and ideas.

Pretty soon after, we went in to record Get Out Of My Dream. As I said, that was kind of how we did it. Oh by the way, we've got to do this record! 

Norman just said - pick me up in Bellshill. I'll have my Fender Twin.

None of us really knew how it worked.

So you didn't have a manager or anything?

No, none of us really knew what we were doing.

That's part of the fun of it.

Exactly, exactly. It's like ... indie music was in its infancy in a sense. Record labels, fanzines, bands ... we all just made it up as we went along. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.

Simply Thrilled fanzine feature

Photo by Kaori Laird, from her personal archive

Going on tour ... and breaking up

Then we got asked to go on a tour. The Chesterfields were a band from Yeovil, they were on Subway as well. That was for 2-weeks. At that point Norman had done a demo of a Boy Hairdressers song - Golden Shower. I think Stephen was gonna put it out on his label - 53rd & 3rd.

So he said - look I'm gonna leave the band. So at that point Gordon Keen came in who has gone on to play with Eugene.

He's played with a lot of people.

Aye, the Bandits and all that.

Then he left and then John Hogarty came in to play guitar. Who I have recently started working with again.

And at that point it was breaking up. You know we weren't quite sure what we wanted to do. The bass player Andy had left, Gino had left. We were just young... there was a lot of arguments and stuff.

It's the nature of the beast shall we say. If you're a teenager in an indie band in the 80's and you don't know what you're doing, if it works then it works really well and it if doesn't work and you start arguing - oh you've missed a beat there ... and stuff like that. Your singing is out of tune, the bass is out of time.

A lot of bands who make it have been in other bands before and learned lessons. You were really young.

I know, there's a part of me that thinks you should never really start a band until you're in your early 20's. But there's another part of me that thinks - no, make the mistakes in your teens and do all that ... and then give up. It's too much hassle! Then go and get a job in a bank!

It seems to me that it is really good fun discovering it all. Until there is a bump in the road. When there's a bump in the road there's no-one there with the experience to sort it.

We all knew each other from school. So we're best pals. We were really open with each other. Almost too open. No-one held anything back, so there was a few, almost, square goes in studios and rehearsals and things.

And your brother was in the band too.

Yeah and we were actually sharing a room

No time apart at all!

If he was one day older he would have been in the year above me. If I had been born a month later I would have been in the year below.

So you were really close and in the same year at school?

The same year at school and the same room ... I wanna play my album. I wanna play my record. One guitar there .. we formed a band ... we went to the same gigs ... played football at the same park ... went to the same places for nights out ... Of course when you're like that you get on each others nerves.

Oh yeah, I've got a wee brother as well!

14-months between us. What about you?

Just over 2-years. We shared a room with bunk beds, played football together, but then we would fight over things like who would get to read the sports pages first  from the Sunday Mail. Proper fighting!

We would do things like go for the shopping and then fight over who was carrying the bag of messages back, You know, that's 100 metres. It's your turn. We were too competitive. Too close.  We were in the same room, in the back of a van touring, studio, rehearsal, arguments, arguments, arguments.

Sibling rivalry!

We just ended up splitting up because of that. Just because you're too young.

So you released one single?

One single and a flexi disc. We did the demo, the flexi disc, I forgot about that. Then Get Out Of My Dream for the album. Then another two songs for the single, for the 12 inch. Again out in Edinburgh at Peer House. The Soup Dragons had recorded there and recommended that and Norman said - that's a good studio. It wasn't as good as Hart Street. I don't know if there was a lot of recording studios in Glasgow at that point. So we went out there. 

The Clouds - Jenny Nowhere (flexidisc)

We recorded Tranquil and Village Green. I think Get Out Of My Dream sounded better from Hart Street, slightly better production.

Do you have any unreleased material?

Not really no. We did a Janice Long session. But that was a bit of a nightmare. We went down overnight and I think Norman was playing with the Bandits that night ... we had to go and pick him up. Andy the bass player was driving, so none of us really slept.

We got to the studio and the band The Smithereens had problems with their amps or something ... so we didn't get to start recording until 4 in the afternoon and it was meant to be 10 in the morning. We're all falling asleep. We'd been up all night. The guy had to wake us up and say - do your vocals.

We ended up staying. Cause they'd messed up they gave us money for a hotel. We saved the money as we ended up staying at a mates girlfriends! So that was OK!

But if you listen to the recording it sounds like a bunch of guys that have been up all night. And falling asleep! I've never listened to it all the way through! It was on Medium Wave, it sounded a bit tinny.

So that was all we recorded. It was all done just like that. It was over.

Writing songs, Glas-goes Pop and Olympic State Choir

Did you keep writing songs?

Aye I've always wrote songs. And then last year I got a message out of the blue from Tita and Kenji from Glas-goes Pop. They had liked The Clouds and they had been talking to John Hogarty and he had told them that I had kept writing songs. John had given them a few 4-track things that I had done with him years and years ago.

And they said - could you put a band together and play Gas-goes Pop? That was in the January.

My brothers cancer had just come back. We weren't really sure how it was gonna go. He hadn't really been told anything yet. We just knew it was back. We didn't know how serious it was.

I met up with them one Sunday afternoon in the Sparklehorse bar for a coffee and I just said - I'll do it. And then I was walking along the street and I had a panic attack. I don't have a band. My brothers got cancer! 

So I texted John and said do you wanna do this? And he said aye. And then Finn from wor-kspace, my nephew Sonny is a brilliant bass player, my mate Duffy and then Jen on drums. So we done that.

I missed that! I always seem to be on holiday when Glas-goes Pop is on. So what name did you go under?

Olympic State Choir

Good name

I always wrote, I never stopped writing. I just never took the time to put a band together. So I'd just record in the house, whether that be a 4-track or logic.

Have you still got a 4-track Tascam?

I do, it's still sitting there and all the tapes. I put them on to mini-disc, remember them? They were the thing. I recently went through a lot. I got some, that were like 25-years old and I stripped them back to the bare bones and then sort of re-imagine them. It almost feels like you're covering your own song. And I really like that. I really like that approach.

So, the songs, no-one had heard them?

No. Nobody had heard them.

Kenji and Tita said themselves that it was the only band they'd booked that they had never heard. Cause it was Olympic State Choir. And we went on. And you didn't get a soundcheck or anything. You just walk on.

We managed to get 2 and a half rehearsals. i had never met the drummer. We were on the Saturday and I met the drummer the previous Monday! She met the whole band that night.

Photo by lab71Glasgow

So you were winging it in the 80's and it hasn't changed!

Exactly the same, exactly the same.

We went on stage  and it was like - this is real sink or swim stuff. Exactly like the Psychocandy club nearly 40-years previous to that. You're walking on like ... blind ... and 40-years later I'm still none the wiser and there's no soundcheck and you just go on and you just plug in and play and just see what happens. Which is kind of how it should be. It puts a rocket up you and makes you think.

But if you're playing with  good guys ..

They're all really good, good players and everybody understands the feel of the songs, what the song needs. They don't overplay, it's stripped back

I'll go on and check it out.

So that's where we are at the moment. So I'm seeing John next week to discuss dates for actually recording Olympic State Choir.

So are you gonna do home recordings?

No we'll probably go to La Chunky. Finn's son is gonna do it. It's kind of like a collective where different people can come in and play. It's gonna be a 9-track album.

Hopefully do a wee gig or two?

We did another one with Snowgoose at Oran Mor. We got 1.5 rehearsals for that! It was great, very basic and stripped back and it sounded great. That's what the album will be like. You walk on the stage without really knowing ... we'll walk into the studio without really knowing. You don't want to over rehearse, cause then you ruin it. You ruin the feel. If it works, it works. 9 times out of 10 it'll work. Don't do the vocals more than 3 times. 

We'll probably do 2 singles and the album. We'll get that out very early next year and start playing gigs as well.



Monday, 8 June 2026

Get Ready

Cover version of the month #121
Ella Fitzgerald and Ash cover The Temptations

Released on Motown Records in 1966, The Temptations Get Ready, written by Smokey Robinson, is a sub 3-minute gem, with horns, bass, strings and drums creating a driving energetic riff from the off. 

I never met a girl that makes me feel the way that you do (you're alright)

The relentless bassline is the engine for the song, with Eddie Kendriks taking lead vocals, instead of David Ruffin. Kendricks soaring falsetto is exceptional, soaring effortlessly above the collision of brass, strings and the driving beat.

There is an urgency to the song, exemplified by the title and the kiss off hook in the chorus get ready, cause here I come. The lift into the chorus is sublime. Get Ready is the sound of young America at its most vibrant, sounding full of confidence ... unstoppable.

And I'm bringing you a love that's true

So get ready, so get ready

I'm gonna try to make you love me too

So get ready, so get ready

Cause here I come, I'm on my way


Fast forward three years and Ella Fitzgerald is recording a rip roaring version at Olympic Studios in London for her 1969 album Ella. It's an absolute revelation! Driven by Brian Bennett on drums, this is a sweat soaked funk jazz romp, with Fitzgerald sounding like she is having the time of her life. The Temptations original has urgency, but Fitzgerald really does ramp it up a notch or two.

The backing vocals are glorious, understated in the mix, still leaving plenty of room for Fitzgerald - as if she was gonna have it any other way! Her vocal performance is fantastic, fire-y and fierce. The horns help to anchor everything. The riff is just played with a little extra oomph. It's a glorious cover version.

Ash - Goldfinger 
Get Ready was a b-side

Fast forward again, this time almost 30-years and Ash, a trio of teenagers from Northern Ireland, are making a name for themselves with a string of singles. Goldfinger, in April 1996, was the final single to be released, leading to 1977, their debut album, the following month. One of the b-sides was Get Ready - previously released as a limited fan-club 7-inch.

Ash’s version of Get Ready sounds exactly like what it is: three mates in a sweaty studio with Tim Wheeler's fuzzed guitar cranked up to eleven. It's delicious raw garage rock/pop. You can't mess with a melody or riff as strong as the ones Smokey Robinson created. So Ash just put their own spin of teenage exuberance on it. Fuzz, distortion, crashing beats and Tim Wheeler's glorious bubblegum pop delivery. Punk pop perfection.

I am currently in love with this song, particularly the Ella Fitzgerald version, which prompted this blog. Somewhere in my loft is the CD single by Ash. While researching, I also discovered a 21-minute + cover version from 1968 by a band called Rare Earth. It's ... OK ... not as cool as a 20-minute version could be. It begins with a lazy jam before they head into the song, then off on a bass heavy jam to begin with. The beat and bass are probably ripe to be sampled. Organ kicks in and away they go. It's too long for me. Give me the Creedence take on I Heard It Through The Grapevine any day of the week. Rare Earth also released an edited single version, under 3-minutes long. 

The Temptations original and both the Ella Fitzgerald and Ash versions are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE

Previous covers of the month blogs

13. Hurt
39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
64. Lola
82. Drop
87. Indian Rope Man + bonus Strawberry Fields Forever + This Wheels On Fire
92. Valerie
101. Shout!

Monday, 1 June 2026

THIS T-SHIRT FUNDS MUSIC

My sister Carla played The Rum Shack on the Southside of Glasgow on Friday night. I don't say this lightly, but I think it was the best I have ever seen her play. I am in no doubt that it was the best audience response I have ever heard Carla generate. During the show was fantastic, but the ovation at the end was exceptional. I knew that Carla wasn't playing an encore, but the crowd literally demanded one. The roar was constant, until Carla came back onstage with Paul Kelly to busk a version of Ivor Cutler's I Worn My Elbows.

Carla and her fantastic band of Lesley McLaren (drums), Paul Kelly (bass), Thomas Woods (guitar) and Katie Lindsay (keys) played an energetic show, encompassing new album I Think That I Might Love You (though not in order) and "non-hits" Get Lost, Number One (Poster Paints) and a rip roaring finale of Lights In The Dark. They looked like they were having fun, lost in the music, creating waves and layers of sound, super confident in themselves and each other.

Between songs Carla was in good form, thanking support acts Clay Rings and Peak, before going on to say with typical self depreciating humour that "they make me feel like a f**king dinosaur!" There were tales of co-writes, touring in a heatwave and more. Towards the end Carla highlighted that it had been her first proper solo tour since 2018. The small matters of COVID, a Poster Paints album and Since Yesterday documentary definitely had a part to play in that. But Carla also took the opportunity to highlight that sales of records and T-shirts on the merch stall were crucial to helping her break even.

Carla places great emphasis on paying her band. Add in van hire, hotel accommodation and expenses ... touring a 5-piece band isn't cheap. Look at the rise in labels investing in singer-songwriters ... it's a lot cheaper to put them on the road. 

Part of Carla's new merch caught my eye. A Carolina blue T-shirt with black handwriting in capital letters proclaiming THIS T-SHIRT FUNDS MUSIC with Carla's signature underneath and a couple of star doodles. Straight to the point. Say it loud and say it proud! 

By the time I waited until the end, Carla was sold out of medium sized T's! Thankfully they are on pre-order from her Bandcamp page and I look forward to receiving it in time for my summer holiday.

Buying merch makes a huge difference to bands. So, if you ever needed a reason/excuse to get a new T-shirt, here is a cracker to consider. Or visit the online store of one your favourite bands/artists. 

CLICK HERE to read my review of I Think That I Might Love You




Monday, 25 May 2026

GIMIX- a mixtape by The Avalanches

25-years ago The Avalanches blew my mind with their Since I Left You single and album of the same name. Friends and I went to see them at The Arches. Memories are vague. After all, we ended up in Alaska on Bath Lane until closing. 

I stumbled into work at 11am the following day, with the excuse that I had broken my glasses at a gig and had to get them repaired that morning. My boss just smiled. He knew I'd had a night on it. Thankfully I played fives with him and we had a good relationship. Everything was cool!

I'd woken up that morning to discover I'd bought a mixtape at the merch desk. As I put it on, when I got back from work, memories came back of The Avalanches mixing in Madonna's Holiday, Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On and Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone early in their set. After that ... I seem to remember a lot of jumping and bouncing on stage and in the crowd. There were a lot of people in The Avalanches live set up. Later that year I went down to see two of them DJ at Sankeys Soap in Manchester. At one point they dropped in Queen's I Want To Break Free. Half the crowd went with it, while the other half paused for a moment to ask ... are they really playing ....?

The mixtape I had bought was entitled GIMIX, essentially a bootleg/alternate universe version of Since I Left You. The Avalanches weren't thinking about a commercial international release for the mix/album they were working on, they weren't documenting the samples (over 3,500) they were using, they were simply having fun and attempting to make the best and coolest music they possibly could. 

So on GIMIX, a promo release in 2000, The Avalanches weren't limited by the sample clearances that eventually stripped back the commercial album. Even they don't have a record of everything they used.

GIMIX was way ahead of its time. A couple of years ahead of As Heard On Radio Soulwax Pt II by Too Many DJ's that received a commercial release - albeit like an "official bootleg".

GIMIX begins with Since I Left You, complete with some extra dialogue that didn't make/wasn't cleared for the album. We then head off on the trip of a lifetime as The Avalanches take listeners on a ride through 80's pop, iconic 60's tracks, classic hip hop, The Smiths, Hendrix ... underground house and overground electronic dance by Detroit Grand Pubahs and Fatboy Slim, merging into Hall & Oattes, a dash of Sgt. Peppers - the guitar and then the song speeded up, Deee-lite ...

Flowing as one continuous, chaotic work of art, this mix is utterly magical. Vinyl crackles just add to the whole vibe and magic. The Avalanches skill to not only find and select samples to create new music and mix them all together is spell binding.

We veer back to Holiday by Madonna and some more music by The Avalanches, or samples that became the bedrock of songs on the album. A Different Feeling kicks in with even more euphoria than when it appears on the album. Michael Jackson's Billie Jean cuts like a knife, fleeting, then the groove comes back in. It hits the spot.

Closing with their own gloriously trippy Tonight May Have To Last Me All My Life into a fading Holiday by Madonna spliced with Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, you don't want it to end. GIMIX is 45-minutes of genius.

GIMIX is famously difficult to tracklist. However, here are the major landmarks and samples.

Listen to GIMIX on Soundcloud

GIMIX - A mixtape by The Avalanches

  1. The Avalanches - Since I Left You

  2. Madonna - Holiday

  3. Trini Lopez - A-me-ri-ca (Live at PJ's)

  4. Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

  5. The Avalanches - Stay Another Season

  6. The Avalanches - Two Hearts in 3/4 Time

  7. De La Soul - A Roller Skating Jam Named "Saturdays"

  8. Blowfly - Rapp Dirty

  9. Richard Pryor - Richard Pryor Dialogue (from Car Wash)

  10. Ol' Dirty Bastard feat. Kelis - Got Your Money

  11. Roy Ayers - Love Will Bring Us Back Together

  12. Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Stool Pigeon

  13. The Button Down Brass feat. Ray Davies - Quiller

  14. The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Crosstown Traffic

  15. Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

  16. Thomas Bangalter - Turbo

  17. Thee Maddkatt Courtship III - Excerpt: Welcome 2...

  18. The Smiths - The Boy with the Thorn in His Side

  19. Thomas Bangalter - Extra Dry

  20. Men at Work - Down Under

  21. De La Soul - Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey) (Party Line Mix)

  22. The Avalanches - Electricity

  23. A Tribe Called Quest - Electric Relaxation

  24. Daft Punk - Oh Yeah

  25. Detroit Grand Pubahs - Sandwiches

  26. Daryl Hall & John Oates - I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)

  27. Fatboy Slim - Fucking in Heaven

  28. Unknown - Unknown

  29. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

  30. Jurassic 5 - Jayou

  31. Deee-Lite - Groove Is in the Heart

  32. Gonzales - Real Motherfuckin' Music

  33. The Avalanches - Little Journey

  34. The Avalanches - Diners Only

  35. The Avalanches - A Different Feeling

  36. The Avalanches - Pablo's Cruise

  37. Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

  38. Paperclip People - The Climax

  39. Instant Funk - I Got My Mind Made Up (You Can Get It Girl)

  40. Fela Kuti and Ginger Baker - Ye Ye De Smell

  41. Electric Light Orchestra - Livin' Thing

  42. Mike Curb Congregation - Mickey Mouse March (from DJ Riz's "Live from Brooklyn, Part 1")

  43. Michael Wycoff - Looking Up to You (from DJ Riz's "Live from Brooklyn, Part 1")

  44. Os Tres Morais - Freio Aerodinamico

  45. Fern Kinney - Together We Are Beautiful

  46. The Avalanches - Tonight May Have to Last Me All My Life

  47. Fleetwood Mac - Dreams



Wednesday, 20 May 2026

Jolene and I Will Always Love You

Cover versions of the month #119 & #120 
White Stripes and Whitney Houston cover Dolly Parton

I have a list of songs and cover versions I intend to research and blog about when time allows. The White Stripes ferocious take on Dolly Parton's Jolene has been on that list for a while. As I set out to finally write about Jack and Meg White's ferocious garage band cover version, I stumbled across something astounding that made me decide to also write about Parton's I Will Always Love You.Whitney Houston's skyscraping version was number 1 for months in my youth.

The astounding fact is ... Dolly Parton, very likely, wrote both of these world class songs in one day! 

In 2017, Parton told a radio show that she had found an old cassette of some initial songwriting ideas/demos. Jolene and I Will Always Love You were on it, back to back! In a later interview with GQ in 2020, Parton said; 

If I didn't write them on the same day, it was during that same week, or that period of time when I had that particular cassette in my little player. It was very possible that it happened.

Wouldn't it be great to hear that initial demo?! Parton allegedly has a treasure trove of demos and unreleased songs. That would be some boxset!

Jolene was initially released as a single in late 1973, before becoming the title track of Parton's February 74 album. I Will Always Love You was then released as a single in March 74.

The picked guitar riff intro (by Chip Young) to Jolene is iconic - instantly recognisable. More subtle, is Wayne Moss playing the beautiful pedal steel guitar. Listen carefully, it is truly gorgeous. Headphones are recommended! Parton begins the song with the chorus, leaving the listener in no doubt about her concerns and the subject matter of the song through a heartfelt plea.

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

I'm begging of you please don't take my man

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene

Please don't take him just because you can

Parton becomes more poetic in verse as she sings of Jolene's beauty, hair, skin, eyes, smile and voice. She knows, and admits, that she cannot compete.

After the first verse, there are two shorter verses, with Parton admitting that her love talks about Jolene in his sleep, and how she knows Jolene could take him, but she doesn't know what he means to her. After a chorus, Parton is back delivering two shorter verses, highlighting that this is the love of her life and her happiness now lies in the hands of Jolene.

It's heartbreaking to see the lyrics written down in black and white and to listen to Parton's pleas. What a voice! Parton is in danger of being heartbroken and you can hear it.

The song was inspired by a red-haired bank clerk who flirted with Parton's husband Carl Dean, just after they were married. Parton revealed that Jolene's name and appearance were based on those of a young fan who came on stage for her autograph.

I Will Always Love You is breathtakingly good. I mean, songwriting doesn't really get much better than this. The delivery is extraordinary. Parton's voice is astonishing and when the choir comes in to back her up it hits like a punch. If you didn't have tears in your eyes, then you might have now.

The intro is heartachingly tender and then Parton comes in ... WOW - this must be one of the best vocal performances of all time. I have to stop writing every time I hit play on this song. Parton won Female Vocalist of the Year at the 1975 Country Music Awards for this song - deservedly so!

If I should stay, I would only be in your way

So I'll go, but I'll know

I'll think of you each step of the way

Then you hear the chorus for the first time, Parton's voice rising, full of love and heartbreak;

And I will always love you

I will always love you

Partron's portrays lost love with tender care and through beautifully poetic lyrics. The second verse ends with the devastating realisation;

Good-bye, please don't cry

Because we both know I'm not what you need

Followed by the two line chorus. Coming in on the back of those lyrics, it hits even harder. The love is still pouring out, despite the hurt. The third verse is spoken word, Parton over strings and gently strummed acoustic guitar. The heavenly backing vocals that come in behind her for the final chorus really tug on the heart strings. Gorgeous. 

Had I ever heard Parton's original before researching this blog? I must have! Maybe on news clips back around the time Whitney Houston was at number one forever. But this was pre-internet. You couldn't just look something up on Spotify or YouTube! Anyway, Parton's original has blown me away!

On to the covers by The White Stripes and Whitney Houston ...

The White Stripes electrifying and spine tingling garage punk cover version of Jolene is raw and raucous. Jack White is spitting out the lyrics with passion and fire, while you can hear his guitar buzzing from the start.  Meg's drums are pure primal, coming in to help add urgency at all the right times, also falling back to allow Jack's voice to lead at others.

The band covered loads of songs through their career, but seemed to have a real affinity with Jolene - originally releasing a studio version as a b-side to Hello Operator in 2000, and then a live version from Blackpool in 2004.




I was fortunate to catch The White Stripes play King Tuts back in the day and their performance of this song was a stand out. Jack White playing a battered guitar and switched between microphones, while Meg looked super cool, following his lead, catching his eye, totally in tune.

Research leads me to believe that the guitar White played, that looked like it was covered in paper mache - but it wasn't, was his 1950's Kay hollowbody - believed to be a Kay K6533 Value Leader. It was like nothing I had previously seen. Likewise, I hadn't seen any band with such a ferocious live energy as The White Stripes. Their distinctive look and colour scheme, raw and powerful sound and incredible energy were captivating and mind blowing.



Music fans of my generation will remember this cover. How could you not?! It was inescapable, number 1 for months, thanks not only to Whitney Houston's remarkable vocal range, but due to its feature in the Bodyguard film in which Houston starred with Kevin Costner.

Listening back, Houston's voice is mesmerising. Her 3-3.5 octave range was unique in popular music and it made everything seem completely effortless to her, extraordinary to us mere mortals. Starting off acapella for the first verse, Houston's voice is beautifully tender. Strings are introduced for the chorus and then Houston's voice starts to really shine. By the second chorus, she is reaching notes that most can't even dream of.

The instrumental section is more 80's than 90's (the song was released in 1992), indeed, listening back, the music is very 80's and doesn't really match Houston's soulful voice. There is A LOT of saxophone and it even makes a reappearance when Houston is soaring through the post instrumental chorus. Like, really soaring.

However, the music is a mere footnote in this cover version, it's all about Whitney Houston and her extraordinary voice. You can only imagine the version she could have recorded with a producer like Rick Rubin, or even Mark Ronson - think of what he produced with Amy Winehouse.

Parton's sublime originals and The White Stripes (studio and live) and Whitney Houston cover versions are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs listed below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE

Previous covers of the month blogs

13. Hurt
39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
64. Lola
82. Drop
87. Indian Rope Man + bonus Strawberry Fields Forever + This Wheels On Fire
92. Valerie
101. Shout!