C86 Show - Indie Pop

Morgan King in conservation with David Eastaugh 

https://morganking.bandcamp.com/

King's musical career began in 1979 as drummer for Manchester band Illustration, who were subsequently signed by the indie label, "Some Bizzare" featuring on the Some Bizzare Album. After several years immersed in the UK indie scene, King's musical direction changed considerably with the advent of house music in the late 1980s.

In 1988, King moved to Chicago and started writing with Kym Mazelle and Marshall Jefferson on Mazelle's first album, Crazy, which was released the following year. In 1989, King joined his third band, the Manic MCs who had a UK top thirty hit with their first release, "Mental".

Vince Hunt in conversation with David Eastaugh

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 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.

John Whybrew in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://portioncontrol.bandcamp.com/music

https://portioncontrol.net/

Emerging from the immediate post-punk musical landscape, Portion Control swiftly developed a raw, minimal sound utilising sequenced synthesisers, samplers and strident vocals built on driving, rhythmic structures. Their fiercely independent approach and experimental use of early technology positioned them as pioneers of the electro-industrial genre, as exemplified by their 1982 debut album, ‘I Staggered Mentally’, mini-LP ‘Hit The Pulse’ (1983) and second album ‘..Step Forward’ (1984), all formative works in the evolution of hard-edged dark electronic dance music.

Following a hiatus that began in the late ’80s, Portion Control staged their return in 2004. Symbolically plotted on the steps of the British Museum, they introduced a darker, tighter style that nevertheless retained their uncompromising edge. Releases such as ‘Wellcome’ (2004), ‘Filthy White Guy’ (2006), ‘Pure Form’ (2012) and the trio of ‘SEED’ EPs issued in 2020-25 documented this renewed phase, combining the band’s original aesthetic with contemporary production techniques.

Throughout their career, Portion Control have remained resistant to commercial pressures while continually exploring new directions in sound. Their body of work stands as a significant contribution to electronic music history, both for its originality and for its lasting influence on subsequent artists within genres such as industrial, EBM, techno and darkwave.

Gregor Gall in conversation with David Eastaugh 

Steve Addabbo in conversation with David Eastaugh

https://www.steveaddabbo.com

https://shelterislandsound.com

American record producer, songwriter and audio engineer, who helped launch the careers of Suzanne Vega and Shawn Colvin. He had a vital hand in Vega's hit single, "Luka" and Colvin's album Steady On.

He has produced and/or engineered for artists including Bobby McFerrin, Bob Dylan, Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas, Richard Shindell, Suzanne Vega, and Dar Williams.

Matt Eaton in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://www.facebook.com/pushthepram/?locale=en_GB

https://pram.bandcamp.com/music

Pram are an English post-rock band formed in Birmingham in 1988 by singer-keyboardist Rosie Cuckston, guitarist Matt Eaton, drummer Andy Weir and bassist Samantha Owen.

Subsequent lineups have changed frequently, most notably with Cuckston's departure in 2008. Their electronic pop sound, described as "equally quaint and unsettling," employs unconventional instruments and draws on stylistic influences such as krautrock, exotica, and dub.

The group signed to Too Pure Records in 1993, where they released their debut LP The Stars Are So Big, The Earth Is So Small... Stay as You Are. They later signed to Domino. Following the 2007 album The Moving Frontier, they took a lengthy hiatus, returning in 2018 with Across the Meridian.

Dave Jackson in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://theroomtheroominthewood.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Room-100063702032127/

The Room are a new wave band from Liverpool formed in late 1979. They released three albums and several singles before breaking up in 1985. Two of the band members went on to form Benny Profane, Dust, and Dead Cowboys. The band reformed in 2023.

he Room, returned in 2023. Original members Clive Thomas, Dave Jackson and Becky Stringer are joined by new bloods, Ethan Kyme and Darren Brown. They have since released two albums, Restless Fate (2023) and The Telling (2024) on 9x9 Records, will release their third album, Doom Pop! in September 2026.

Album opener, Drill, Baby, Drill is a response to the orangepig-who-would-be-king and his enablers. Nine new dark-tinged pop songs, plus a re-recorded version of their 80's John Peel favourite, Things Have Learnt to Walk that Ought to Crawl. Pressed on eco-vinyl giving each copy of the LP a random colour mix.

Brian Protheroe in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://brianprotheroe.bandcamp.com/

English singer, songwriter, narrator and actor. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", released in August 1974, which entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. 

n 1973 Protheroe was playing the part of a pop singer in a play called Death on Demand, when a representative from Chrysalis Records heard a song he had written for the show. His first single, "Pinball", was released in August 1974, and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. Then followed by an album of the same name. The follow-up single "Fly Now" made Capital Radio's "Capital Countdown" chart.

Tim Quirk in conversation with David Eastaugh 

https://wonderlick1.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Wonderlick/

Wonderlick is a Los Angeles–based indie rock band established in 2001 by Too Much Joy members Tim Quirk and Jay Blumenfield.

Quirk and Blumenfield originally formed the band in December 2000 to record free music for a website, entitled "Susquehanna Hat Company", which they had set up to sell Too Much Joy merchandise.

Jay Blumenfield's mother died two days before he got on a plane to Virginia to record this Wonderlick album. He went anyway. He and Tim Quirk — the two halves of Wonderlick, a band that's been making records since 2001 — had spent months planning this trip. Inspired by two wildly successful (artistically AND economically) house show tours and binge-watching Les Blank documentaries, they wanted their next LP to capture the sense of immediacy and abandon those acoustic house shows had fostered.

So they hired a mobile recording engineer and fiddler named Mike Mitchell in Floyd, Virginia, a tiny Appalachian town where every other citizen just so happens to be a virtuoso player of old-time music. Their original plan had been to arrive on a Friday night, when the Floyd Country Store hosts weekly jamborees, and hire some of the musicians they heard to record Wonderlick’s latest batch of songs in a cabin in the woods.

But Mike assembled a stellar crew of locals before they even arrived: banjo players, an upright bassist, a drummer, a clog dancer. He'd also secured a meditation center called the Shanti for the recording — a gorgeous open space with a wood-burning stove that, the band couldn't help noticing, felt a lot like the Black Lodge from Twin Peaks. They'd spent a week Googling the Nashville numbering system, because that's what the Floyd musicians wanted instead of chord charts.

The idea was to find out what happens when you teach old-time musicians your punk-y songs. Best case: invent a new genre that somehow sounds like it's been around for centuries. Worst case: waste all the money you earned on your last tour on embarrassingly unreleasable tapes.

So Jay flew east with his grief, and Wonderlick got to work.

The result is Wonderlick Loves You, an album that has all the immediacy and abandon they’d been reaching for, as well as an undercurrent of woe they hadn’t expected but probably should have been prepared for.

Tom Bailey in conversation with David Eastaugh

http://thompsontwinstombailey.co.uk/

Thompson Twins were an English pop band, formed in 1977 in Sheffield. Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the early and mid-1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States, and around the world. In 1993, they changed their name to Babble, to reflect their change in music from pop to dub-influenced chill-out. They continued as Babble until 1996, at which point the group permanently broke up.

At various stages they had up to seven members, but their best known line-up was as a trio from 1982 to 1986. The band became a prominent act in the US during the Second British Invasion, and in 1985 performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia, where they were joined on stage by Madonna.