Last week I thought it was a pretty tough choice (at least
between the first two options), but in the end it was a Beat down: the voting went almost unanimously to The Beat from Birmingham, with only Brian fighting against the crowd.
This week, I’ll be there forever and a day, to quote Jon By Jovi. Yes, it’s Always…
ALWAYS #1
Our first Always was the nom-de-plume of one Kevin Wright, who released a couple of romantic indie records in the late 80s before continuing in similar vein as Mr. Wright. Seemingly more successful in Europe than the UK, he continued crafting witty, literary indie songs for the next couple of decades, ploughing a similar furrow to Momus and Belle & Sebastian. No idea what he’s up to now, reports of his progress dry up in the mid-00s. This is from the sole LP released as Always, Thames Valley Leather Club.
ALVVAYS #2
You see what they did there? It does beg the question why we
call a W “double U” when clearly “double V” would be more accurate. Still, on
the odd occasion I’ve heard this band played on the wireless, they always get
referred to as Always, rather than Al-Vays, so that was good enough for me. Generally,
bands that muck about with the alphabet to make their names sound more edgy or
hip always annoy me. To be fair, this lot were originally called
Always (because “it had a shred of sentiment and nostalgia”, despite the danger
that they’d “be doomed by tampon-rock references forever”). And they only changed the spelling to avoid litigation.
Anyvvay, Alvvays hail from the unfortunately named Prince Edvvard Island in Toronto. Could be vvorse, they could come from Prince Andrevv Island. VVe all knovv vvhat goes on there. They’ve been kicking around for over a decade novv, quoting Camera Obscura, The Magnetic Fields and The Primitives among their influences. This is probably their biggest “hit” to date…
I did find another couple of artists who have taken this week’s name, but their work was so obscure or irrelevant, I opted to keep things nice and easy this week. So vote now for your favourite neverending band! Or I'll send Jon By Jovi round to serenade you forever and a day.
The dodgy spelling one for me please.You had me with the Camera Obscura reference.
ReplyDeleteIt really annoys me as does bands with capital letters. CHVRCHES ticks both boxes
About the only time auto correct comes in handy.
Edinburgh went through a phase of calling itself Edinbvrgh in publicity material - always bugged me.
DeleteAlvvays for me. I liked the intro of the Always track, but that was it.
ReplyDeleteYou milked there in the second para with the double Vs, but funny nonetheless. It's the band from Prince Edvvard Island for me too. Maybe it's just me, but Always #1 sounded off key/out of tune which was maybe intentional, but it annoyed me. The second lot sounded a lot better and I quite liked their song.
ReplyDeleteI've never met a joke I couldn't flog to death.
DeleteDefinitely Alvvays for me too. I can't help pronouncing it Alvays and suddenly become German.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Alyson that the first one sounds a little - but enough to irk me - out of tune.
Saw Alvvays a few weeks back.....and bloody good they were too! Having said that, the new album isn't as immediate in indie-pop friendly as the previous stuff, having a bit of a harder edge to it.
ReplyDeleteLoved the ways you milked the joke... it was very vvell done.