The Indie Charts from Melody Maker, 9th July 1988, with four new entries for Sarahs 7, 8, 9 and 10. I’ve no idea who most of the other people are. Though The Field Mice did once play with Fields of the Nephilim in Brittany. It was a sort of Field theme night. Note also Number 14. People used to make political records in those days…
Category Archives: Sea Urchins
Air Balloon Road (Simon Williams, NME)
Sarah Records launch gig (poster)
A poster from October 1987 advertising what was essentially a launch gig for Pristine Christine and thus the label itself, with the Sea Urchins and Poppyheads supporting Bristol’s Groove Farm (who designed the poster – I keep meaning to have a word about that missing apostrophe in “Bristol’s”) at the Tropic Club down on Stokes Croft, which is now all craft beer and cupcakes but back then was mostly secondhand furniture shops and ciderpunks trying to cadge 10p for UHU and Bulmers outside the anarchist squat in the old Volkswagen showroom on the corner of Ashley Road (see also: Have You Got 10p?, debut single by The Ejected on Bristol’s Riot City Records, home of Vice Squad). I’m rambling, but I thought you might like some context. I know I would.
A forest near Birmingham, 1987
l-r: Bridget, Robert, James,
Simon, Patrick, Darren
Kvatch poster
A poster for the last issue of Clare’s pre-Sarah fanzine Kvatch, which came with a flexidisc featuring Cling Film by The Sea Urchins and Baby Blue Marine by Bristol’s Groove Farm (see here for a picture of the flexi in its handpainted sleeve). The Sea Urchins are the band in the bottom half of the poster. Of the other bands mentioned on the poster, Mighty Mighty’s Throwaway was on the first Sha-la-la flexidisc, and Friends of the Family morphed into Pram.
Four bands at the Fleece & Firkin, Bristol, April 1990
Bit of a legendary gig, this, partly because of our own mad decision to try to have a 4-band line-up on a Sunday night when licensing laws meant that everything had to be done by 10.30pm. It was only Brighter’s second-ever gig, the Field Mice played as a duo of Bobby and Harvey as Michael couldn’t make it, and Action Painting! (who were in the audience) got into a fight with the Sea Urchins who carried on playing even after the lights had gone up… pretty good entertainment for £2.50, I think you’ll agree. Happy days.
Click here for the review in local listings magazine Venue.
End of Sarah (Peter Paphides, Time Out, August 1995)
Four New Seven Inches for Summer (1988 poster)
A poster to advertise the release of SARAHs 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the summer of 1988. Not quite sure what we’ve had done with this, to be honest, beyond sticking it on the wall in Revolver Records in Bristol…
The Sea Urchins & St Christopher @ The Fleece & Firkin, Bristol (Mike Gartside, Venue, April 1990)
Sarah Records launch @ the Tropic Club, Bristol
A flyer for the the label’s launch gig at Bristol’s Tropic Club in October 1987 (i.e. the Sea Urchins and the Poppyheads supporting Bristol’s own Groove Farm) and the release of Pristine Christine the following month; the flyer was handed out at an earlier gig at the Tropic. Impressively, it seems, people were already calling us Bristol’s favourite label. Or maybe that was just us…
Sha-la-la and Kvatch flexidiscs
These were the flexidiscs we released with our fanzines prior to setting up Sarah; the Sea Urchins appeared on two flexis, one with Kvatch (Cling Film), one with Sha-la-la (Summershine). The Orchids, Talulah Gosh and Poppyheads also had Sha-la-la releases (From This Day, I Told You So and the Postcard for Flossy EP respectively). It was important that all the flexis came in proper sleeves; they were throwaway, but weren’t meant to be thrown away. (In case you’re wondering, Sha-la-la was a flexdisc label, with the discs distributed via various fanzines, chiefly Are You Scared To Get Happy?, Simply Thrilled, Baby Honey and Trout Fishing in Leytonstone.)
Pristine Christine label artwork
SARAH 1 set the pattern for the first ten 7″ labels: on one side a photo of Bristol reduced to b/w by repeated re-photocopying (these days, you’d just use Photoshop’s “threshold” filter), on the other a 2-colour flower. Sadly, no one told us this would mean printing each side separately and using two Pantone spot colours, for which there was a £90 setting-up charge on each pressing; printing the labels often cost more than recording the songs. (The photo here is of Sea Mills.)
The Sea Urchins, Pristine Christine master tape
The original (digital!) master tape for SARAH 1, recorded in September 1987 at Rich Bitch Studios, Selly Oak, Birmingham, and handed to us at a gig at Sinatra’s. Sadly, no one told us that printing the labels for each side on different coloured paper was not possible, and that each colour would need to be printed separately…