Back in 1985 a Scottish band released one of the most amazing records in the history of music.
Laden with distortion and feedback it was one of the noisiest records imaginable at the time. What set it apart from other noise records of the time, and since, is it's perfect sense of melody interwoven within that racket.
It was pure pop in the vein of the Beach Boys and the Ramones but in an almost self sabotaging attempt to not be heard, they drenched the songs in squalling, squealing feedbacking fuzz guitars.
The songs were simple, as most great pop is and once you acclimatised yourself to the noise, you realised that these songs were ... brilliant.
The Jesus and Mary Chain went on to record 6 more amazing records but Psychocandy was so primitive and unique at the time that like all great defining bands and movements, the rest of the world eventually caught up with them and made them more ... normal. While I love the JaMC absolutely, Psychocandy is the ground zero for this type of noisy pop for me. It is still to this day, an amazing piece of outsider art that ended up influencing so much in it's wake.
In 2016 the JaMC toured this record in Australia. They didn't however, come to Brisbane so I decided to have our own JaMC experience.
I assembled 14 local bands to come into Tym studios in the shop and reinvent this landmark album. I didn't want 14 JaMC soundalikes. The thing is, this album has reached out to so many genres and forms of music that it is now imprinted on genres it never could have dreamed of influencing.
14 bands were whittled down from over 100 applicants. That was no easy task but I stand by the choices I made. The album has been reassembled, in it's original track listing with these Brisbane bands interpreting how this album has influenced them.
1. "Just Like Honey" Don Kon Ten Shan
2. "The Living End" The Sea Shall Not Have Them
3. "Taste the Floor" Figures
4. "The Hardest Walk" The Creases
5. "Cut Dead" The Keepaways
6. "In a Hole" Grieg
7. "Taste of Cindy" Ultra Material
8. "Never Understand" BUDD
9. "Inside Me" Greyface
10. "Sowing Seeds" Seaplane
11. "My Little Underground" Pleasure Symbols
12. "You Trip Me Up" FOREVR
13. "Something's Wrong" Hound
14. "It's So Hard" Spirit Bunny
HUGE (huge) thanks to Greg Jard and Phil Wilson for engineering/mixing and mastering the songs. HUGE thanks to the bands who gave up their weekends to come and record. HUGE thanks to the Jesus and Mary Chain and Alan McGee for being so far ahead of everyone else in the world at the time.
All words and music by William and Jim Reed.
Album originally released by Blanco y Negro.
All songs were recorded live over two weekends at Tym studios in early 2016. Each band had one hour to complete their track. Some have overdubs. Most are first takes.
