Someone is looking for the Catburgers!

I was most surprised today to discover that the top search phrase leading people to this blog over the last few weeks has been "the catburgers." This is the name of the indie band I was in back in the late '80s (I sang and played guitar).

I can't imagine who might be looking for my old band, unless it is some kids in North Berwick who heard about the band through my son.

Whoever it might be, I'll take advantage of this opportunity to post up some mp3s from the good old days, both recorded in 1987.  I just realised that's 20 years ago!  Time for a reunion tour of the states... anyway here are "Children's TV" and "First Day of Spring" for your entertainment:

[audio:childrens-tv.mp3]

[audio:first-day-of-spring.mp3]

After all, you have to keep your visitors happy don't you?

Comments

  1. Alan Coady7 March 2007 at 23:14

    A nice couple of clips, Robert – very cheery and optimistic for the grim 80s. Is that someone playing a glockenspiel in the intro of “Children’s TV?” Now, that's what I call retro. I like the spirited, nihilistic drumming in “First Day of Spring” (from 0:57 – 1:02).

    ReplyDelete
  2. jonesieboy7 March 2007 at 23:33

    Cheers Alan. I'll be sure to tell Jeff that his drumming was spirited and nihilistic when I next see him :)

    It was indeed a glockenspiel. Funny things happen in studios sometimes.

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  3. kat from AH9 March 2007 at 19:45

    omg mr jones this is classic, is that you singing?? hehe! you have to let the class hear this on tuessday! most definatly

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  4. Bill Stephen10 March 2007 at 11:36

    Great stuff. I also used to play in a band in the early 80's but we were rubbish ! unlike your clips I think we have some recordings somewhere done in someone's kitchen with a fostex 4 track. I really hope they don't resurface.

    Really like the melodies - a reunion tour of East Lothian maybe?

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  5. jonesieboy10 March 2007 at 18:50

    Not a Portastudio Bill? A friend of mine had one of those back when we were at high school. I'm sure we have recordings of us playing "Transmission" by Joy Division over and over again - happy days (though not for my parents who had to endure the racket!).

    Kat - I'm not sure the school would consider it an effective use of our time in class to listen to old recordings of Mr Jones's band!

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  6. kat from AH11 March 2007 at 11:51

    As opposed to line rider and youaremighty?? mhmmm!!

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  7. jonesieboy11 March 2007 at 12:57

    ah...yes...well... line rider is physics, which is closely related to maths, and youaremighty is a valuable tool to boost the self esteem of students. Does that sound convincing? No? Well maybe we could give it a quick blast :)

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  8. Andrew from 3x12 March 2007 at 20:23

    This is great - you really have to play it to the class, really boosted my revision output this evening! An explantion of where you got the name "catburgers" from though would be reassuring.

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  9. Michael Kerr13 March 2007 at 09:02

    I remember The Catburgers!! They supported the TV Personalities if I remember rightly. They were around the same time as Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes, The Fizzbombs etc. Was Angus McPake in The Catburgers? He was in just about every other Edinburgh band at that time!

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  10. jonesieboy13 March 2007 at 17:18

    Hi Michael - your memory serves you well - we did indeed support the TVPs on several occasions. Happy days. We must surely have met - the scene was pretty small?

    Funnily enough, Angus was almost in the Catburgers - he drummed at a few rehearsals before we talked Jeff into drumming for us. I had a great time in the Edinburgh indie scene '86 to '88 - played lots of gigs, saw loads of great bands and DJ'ed at Speed 3.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Michael Kerr16 March 2007 at 21:16

    The "scene" was very small indeed, everyone was in everybody elses band or was that Elsie's band?. If Angus wasn't in it then Margarita almost certainly was. I was in and out of the Desperadoes, not biblically, more times than I care to mention.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Fraser Fulton30 December 2007 at 15:15

    Hi Mr Jones!

    This Is Brilliant! I was just looking for some artwork or something to put on my i tunes with your CD, saw a Yamaha 12 string and saw Fergus Written Below! I agree with Bill Stephen, you should tour East Lothian (apologies for insisting that you play at the scout hall, they are a bad audience and I wont do it again!)

    PS You really should post "Darkness Before the Dawn", its Brilliant!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ross14 March 2008 at 14:12

    Hello

    I think I've still got some pic's that I took of the Catburgers at the Onion Cellar (Jesse Garon ones as well)

    Was there also a song called "The Acid Tree" - I seem to remember that, then again me memory isn't what it used to be

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  14. jonesieboy14 March 2008 at 23:10

    Hi Ross - is that tall Ross that I knew from those days? Yes, we had a song called "The Acid Tree". It was recorded along with "Holiday House" and "Diving for the Brick" at a session produced by the legendary Jowe Head in London. The tracks never saw the light of day - Dan from the TVPs paid for the recording (or at least he said he was going to!) but this was around the time that he started going badly down hill.

    I'd love to see photos from the Onion Cellar days.

    Coincidentally, I was at Jeff Duffy's mum's funeral today [Jeff was our drummer and ran the Onion Cellar]. Time marches on :-(

    ReplyDelete
  15. Ross15 March 2008 at 20:39

    Hello

    I am tall and did go to most of the Onion Cellar gigs (and Speed 3 when they moved to the Venue) - those were the days - loads of great gigs to go to each week. I'll get the photos scanned in and post them up for you to see. I'm sure there are a few of the ones with Jeff, Stu Cant and yourself (Can't remember the full name of the band but it was something and the Hasbeens..... there was a tape of that one but Stu has it now and no-one gets to hear it)

    Cheers
    Ross

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  16. jonesieboy16 March 2008 at 17:52

    Hi Ross. Ah yes, those were the days indeed. Jeff's band was officially called the Mysterons, but amongst ourselves we always referred to ourselves as "Jeff and the Hasbeens" I think. We also insisted on referring to his songs by the titles of the songs by other artists that we reckoned he had ripped off!

    Can't wait to see the photos.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Ross17 March 2008 at 20:39

    Hello again

    Here are the Catburgers pics from the Onion Cellar (8 in total), I've scanned them in from the negatives, there are 4 pics of the Mysterons as well - more of those to follow.......... found all sorts in there, the Vultures, Jesse Garon, The Fizzbombs, Shop Assistants, The Dragsters - those certainly were the days

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/70555359@N00/sets/72157604143718095/

    Cheers
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  18. jonesieboy19 March 2008 at 16:52

    Brilliant Ross! I can't believe how skinny I was back then.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ross19 March 2008 at 18:26

    I know what you mean .... I sent Stu Cant some of the Mysterons ones and he was commenting on the darkness of his hair. I've started a Blog page and I'm going to put a few more sets up if you interested in seeing any of the other ones.
    It's at http://fixedgrin.blogspot.com/

    The Catburgers are the first entry on it

    Cheers
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  20. martin gemmell15 April 2008 at 19:41

    i am looking for Keith Burns who was I think in some line up of The Catburgers, apologies if I have misremembered. Drew blank on his legendary Rush tribute band and only got the guys I didn't know from Political Asylum where he was definitely the drummer. He moved out of edinburgh to east lothian a few years ago and I have lost his address. Sorry if this means nothing to you.

    Are the postings really from your students or are people kidding?

    cheers

    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  21. jonesieboy15 April 2008 at 19:50

    Hi Martin. Keith was indeed in the Catburgers, and is playing on the two tracks above. His Rush tribute band is call "Tobes of Hades" - you'll be able to get in touch with him via their Web site.

    They are real students:-)

    Robert

    ReplyDelete
  22. Richard Weir15 June 2008 at 14:22

    Hi there. Don't know if you listen to Gideon Coe, on 6 Music, but he's been doing a bit of a theme on 'Obscure Classics' of late. I suggested this week, amongst others, 'Holiday House'. I have a dreadful tape-hiss infested copy of it, on a trusty, dusty C90, which still plays....

    I heard it on 'Beat Patrol'/'Rock on Scotland', presented by the great Peter Easton, on Radio Scotland and loved it instantly. My over-zealousness with the pause button on the tape deck meant that I only just caught the name of the band and the title of the track and that's all I have ever known about either.

    By some dint of fate, a small web forum I occasionally contribute had me posting a snippet about lost tracks on cassettes and a reply lead me to this blog. If there's any way of posting 'Holiday House', I'd be mighty pleased.

    Great to see something about the band at last.....

    ReplyDelete
  23. Richard Weir15 June 2008 at 14:27

    Even better, if I can get a downloadable/hard copy of it.........

    Love 'Children's TV' and 'The First Day of Spring' aswell...... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  24. jonesieboy15 June 2008 at 15:06

    Hi Richard! How strange and wonderful that you remember Holiday House after all these years :-)

    I remember it being played on Radio Scotland, and of course imagined that this meant certain stardom for The Catburgers.

    I don't seem to have a copy of it. We recorded it in London in 1987 at a session that should have been paid for by Dan Treacy of the Television Personalities. As it turned out, Dan never showed up, but Jowe Head looked after us and helped out in the studio.

    By the time we finally got hold of the reel to reel from the session, it was in a hopeless mess (rescued off the floor of Dan's flat) so the best we might have is a good cassette. I'll ask around the other band members and see what we can come up with. I do have a rough demo done in 1986, but I'd like to explore all other options before unleashing it upon the world!

    I have about a dozen other Catburgers tracks, which I'll happily send you if you want.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Richard Weir15 June 2008 at 17:18

    That would be very welcome, I think you might have my e-mail address when I logged in, if not, let me know.

    Cheers.

    ReplyDelete
  26. jonesieboy16 June 2008 at 16:35

    I do have it Richard. I spoke to Jeff the drummer yesterday, and he has one of the original tape copies made at the studio. He's going to send it to me so I can digitise it.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Richard Weir16 June 2008 at 18:02

    Fantastic - looking forward to hearing all this stuff late 80s Scottish Indie lives on!

    Now, if I can just find out if the Hucksters ever did anything except 'Seventh Sense', I'll be sorted......

    ReplyDelete
  28. jonesieboy16 June 2008 at 18:48

    I don't know the Hucksters - perhaps you could furnish me with a sample :-)

    ReplyDelete
  29. Richard Weir16 June 2008 at 19:40

    Vinyl mini album, I'll see what I can do. Motherwell/ Hamilton based I think

    ReplyDelete
  30. Angus McPake20 August 2008 at 17:48

    Hi Robert, I could have sworn I did do 1 gig with the Catburgers -allthough I cant think where ()'Queen Margaret's? - I certainly felt a part of the band for a brief few months/weeks - until you realised just how poor my drumming really was. Recently bought a drum kit in fact so, if that US reunion tour (or should it be re-onion tour) ever comes off, and nobody else wants to play feel free to get in touch.

    In case you (or anybody else) is at all interested I'm currently still playing with the Thanes and true to form I'm in several other bands too.

    Nice to see Ross's pictures from the onion cellar - perhaps he could post the Desperados/Fizzbombs ones on flikr sometime too.

    Cheers

    Angus

    ReplyDelete
  31. jonesieboy20 August 2008 at 18:06

    Hi Angus. We certainly played Queen Margaret's, so maybe you did do a gig. I'm delighted that you would put The Catburgers on the extensive list of bands you've been in!

    Was your drumming that bad? It was definitely an improvement over Andy, the Socialist worker pavement artist. He had loads of enthusiasm but we all had to pause when he went for a drum break and start again when he began the next bar after an indeterminate amount of time had passed. Wonder where he is now. You out there Andy?

    I haven't seen The Thanes since Mal emigrated to Spain. Are you still gigging in Edinburgh?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Spanish Properties8 November 2008 at 16:48

    I don't rememeber that band in the 80's!!
    Lucy xx

    ReplyDelete
  33. Ross10 January 2009 at 18:40

    Hi Angus - I've managed to eventually get the Fizzbombs pics scanned in - 2 sets from the Onion Cellar and 1 from the Venue, I've added in the sign on the line video as well but if you want that removed let me know and I'll take it down

    http://fixedgrin.blogspot.com/2009/01/fizzbombs...

    Can't believe that was over 20 years ago

    Cheers
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  34. Phil15 October 2009 at 22:04

    With regard to Richard Weir's post about The Hucksters I can confirm that they were from Wishaw. Discography as follows;

    7" vinyl single "Way of the feeling" b/w "Good Confusion
    Vinyl Mini LP - "Seventh Sense" (remastered version on now available on itunes)
    LP "Hot Coals for Supper"

    Check out their webpage at www.myspace.com/hucksters

    Happy hunting Richard.

    Cheers

    Phil

    ReplyDelete
  35. Phil15 October 2009 at 22:06

    Sorry that last post should have read "...are from Wishaw". The guys are still writing and recording great stuff.

    cheers

    Phil

    ReplyDelete
  36. Ross16 October 2010 at 10:54

    Hello again

    Eventually managed to get more Onion Cellar photo's scanned in from the negatives (a bit scratched after all this time) 0 2 Jesse Garon & The Desperadoes sets

    http://fixedgrin.blogspot.com/2010/10/jesse-garon-desperadoes-andrew-tully.html

    Cheers
    Ross

    ReplyDelete
  37. The Cat11 December 2012 at 19:07

    Robert, I've just come across this blog while looking for The Catburgers. I notice you had the mp3s posted but they're no longer available. Any chance you could send me a copy of each? I was after "First Day of Spring" because Stuart Cant put it on a tape years ago and I loved it and I had an urge to hear it again.

    I saw One Thousand Violins twice at the Onion Cellar. Firstly in September 86, supported by The Fizzbombs, and then in February 1987 supported by Stayrkase, The Mysterons and Sherbet Tambourines. Happy days.

    Cheers, Misery Guts (jocknroll [at] gmail [dot] com)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Robert Jones11 December 2012 at 22:21

    Google soundcloud catburger and you'll find everything I have.

    ReplyDelete

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