No Filler Music Podcast - A Warm Blanket: The Music of The Sundays

Episode Date: November 14, 2022

With Quentin back at the mic, we take a left turn from last week's grunge gaze with a little dream pop courtesy of The Sundays.  Goodbye I Feel Life & Soul On Earth Wild Horses This show is part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. And welcome to No Filler. The music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name's Quentin.

With me as always is my brother Travis. today we are covering a little band called The Sundays and we're going to play some songs off their 1992 record Blind and yeah this this group popped up on some spot it was probably my Discover Weekly and it just I think it was this song too

that so that that intro that we did was the only single I believe on this record it's called Goodbye that yeah that was the first time that I ever heard any of their stuff because I don't I purposely try to stay away so I could I could be you know going to this fresh right and yeah I think I think your your comparison last week to the cranberries was good like I can I can hear that a little bit and I feel like that's more in like the tone of the guitar maybe and yeah yeah the the riffs and kind of how how they approach

And I think like the The range of her vocals is kind of similar to O'wardian I always butcher her name But Dolores Dolores Orwardian I think her name is It's a tough one yeah I'm intrigued man I'm happy about this

I'm stoked and I think you're right This is a good This is a good fall vibe That they're putting out You know what I mean It just makes you conjure up warmth like you said right so yeah yeah you know i think i think last year maybe the year before we we we spun up uh cold plays parachutes because we kind of agreed that that was a good record that is an

autumn time of the year yeah yeah for sure well yeah let's get into it yeah and we're kind of just i'm just flying by the seat of my pants on this one dude so i don't have much research on them dude that's the only way we fly around here but guess what dude here's what wikipedia has to say So they were formed in the late 80s. It's an English alt-rock band. So we've got Harriet Wheeler. She's the lead singer. David Gavarin is the guitarist.

We've got Paul Brinley on bass and Patrick Hannan on drummer. On drums. And I am rusty, dude. I am rusty. Yeah. You know what, Q? We all, we all. We're not going to judge you.

Well, here's another thing, dude. Peek behind the curtain. We're recording this at, so it's 10.15 in your neck of the woods. It is. PM. PM, because this is the only time, you know, if I'm going to be able to record, it's going to be after we put Ronan down to sleep. So I'm not used to recording this late.

This is the after hours no filler that you're hearing right now. Yeah, exactly. My body's still not used to, you know, we moved our clocks backward, right? So my body still thinks it's at 11.15. Well, let's hope that this is the last time we have to do that. You know, it's on the table right. Yeah, I've heard. I've heard.

I actually like it getting darker outside sooner. I don't know why, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over. Well, I'm not going to be upset if we get rid of this, this, you know, archaic ritual. You know what I mean? Who is wanting this to continue? I don't know. Some farmer? Some sort of farmer.

No, dude, that's a total BS. I mean, that's the origin of it, right? No, it's not. It's, I forgot what the hell. No, dude, it's a, that's a, like a, it was some, some company, like. What? Of course. It's kind of like, it was kind of like that breakfast cereal brand that, that said that breakfast was the most important meal of the day.

Oh, so it's kind of stuck. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Always the case, dude. Don't quote me on any of that. But, anyway, it's moving on. Yeah, we're probably dead wrong on that. Anyway, the point you're trying to make is, you know,

maybe we're a little sleepy right now. And so we might say some stupid shit. But that's fine because this musical will wake us up, you know. That'll give us the energy we need. That's right, dude. And really, I don't have much else on these guys, you know? I got the roster for you. So you know their names, if anyone cares about that.

But really, we're just going to jump right in the tunes. Yeah, we don't, we just need, let's just get right to it, man. Let's do it. This music is going to speak for itself. Let's do it. All right, we're going to, we're going to jump right into track one, dude. Drop the needle, this is what you hear. All right, again, this is the Sunday's album.

This is their second studio album from 1992. It's called Blind. And this song is called I Feel. That that's a great song. And I have lots of feels. I listened to that song. Nice one. Well done.

Yeah, I was, you know, I had that formulated right when I, right when you told me the, it doesn't matter what the song, how I ended up feeling about it. Yeah, I was going to make a joke like that. But no, a lot of great things in that song. Like the, you know, obviously the chorus, you know, that sort of like vocal, the way the vocal is going to open up there, right? And then that really cool guitar breakdown that kind of sounded like a shoegazy kind of tone and an effect on the guitar there. And you know what, dude, they got the Dream Pop label on them. Yeah. And you know what?

Okay, well, this is a good way, I think, to do what we always do, right? And ask the question of like, what's the difference between Dream Pop and Shugase? I think when you listen to a band like this and you listen to my bloody Valentine around afterwards, it's pretty clear cut. You know what I mean? this is very dreamy. Yeah. This, this to me is dream pop.

It is very poppy. And dreamy. But the fact that, you know, you heard a little bit of that shoe gaze guitar sound, but it's just, it's used sparingly, you know what I mean? Yeah, no.

But like if, if for Dream Pop in the 90s, because that was the label that they slapped on pretty much anything that was in the shoe gaze vein, this is what I'm going to point to as, you know, a good representation of Dreampop in the 90s or maybe the Cocktow Twins. And then Djangle Pop is also referenced here as a genre.

Now that I can get behind as well. You know, coming off of last week's Grunge, Alt Rock kind of Shugge revival with SoulBlind. This is definitely a left turn. We've been heavier, on the heavier side of Grunge and Shugge. I think we need to. Which is my comfort zone, cue, you know. We need to get Dream. me.

Okay. And how about we do that by playing the next song? What do you say? Let's do it. Let's do it, sir. So the next one that I am bringing, track three on the record. So this one is called Life and Soul. The song is just beautiful.

It just repeats that line over and over and just fades out. Yeah, beautiful. I feel like I'm being rocked to sleep, you know? by an angel being rocked by the sea is that the name of the song no no but that's the last line there

that repeats it's all my sea all my blue it's singing about like the ocean shore and diving deep I gotta say that's a risk to play that song at 10.30 at 9 dude I almost fell asleep but that's a compliment

because that's yeah beautiful man beautiful and very like yeah, hypnotic, you know, especially the way that she repeats the line at the end. Yeah. And the guitar, you know, it really, it kind of sounds like a lullaby, you know. And you know a lot about lullabies right now, don't you?

Dude, don't get me started, man. Have you played this song for running yet? No, no. I've been doing a lot of Aurora Food Fighters. Oh, dude, I used to fall asleep to that song. Me too. Back when I was a kid. Maybe you both listed.

Yeah. I would put it on a repeat. Like, you know, back in the day with Walkman's, right? If you had a fancy one, there was a repeat button. Dude, are you stealing my memory? Because I used to do that. I put it under my pillow. I put it under my pillow.

I had one of the Zimpy3 players with speakers in it, and I put it under my pillow, so it would be quiet enough, but I could hear it. And I had on repeat. We had the same childhood cue, the same life, it seems like. Interesting. I didn't know you did that too, dude.

I did. And it was a reward, too. That's a really good lullaby. And you know what else is good, dude? Everlong. If you slow it down a little bit. Everlong's great.

It's a good lullaby. I agree. So here's the deal, dude. What's the deal, Q? They found out in early 93 that the Sundays was named one of Winona Ryder's favorite bands. I don't know.

I just want to throw that in there. That is relevant, I think. Because who doesn't like Winona Ryder? especially nowadays you know what I mean right thanks to stranger things so the

you know the hip alt rock aficionados versus were you know starting to pay attention once this second album came around

I assumed that one on a writer but it was a was an alt rock aficionado I don't know things that make you go hmm

you know what I mean I'm feeling loopy right now dude it's weird it's weird I'm off too and I think that song just put me in the right state of mind right now,

just to kind of float. Well, something really interesting, dude, and I got that one-known a writer information from this article from 93, where Ed Condren interviewed David. And guess what, man? I thought this was like, cool. It's kind of unconventional

in the way that they write their songs, but it's Wheeler and Gavron, who writes most of the songs. and Gavron says the way we write is I'll put down a lyric and Harriet will write the next line I admit it's kind of weird since I don't know how many other writers work that way but it works for us we like that a person can be writing a song one way and the other person can take it on a completely different tangent

that's dope dude so this amazing song that we just heard whoever put down the first line here dive below the other person wrote, Here I go. And they go on from there. We're on the shore, down by the sea, here I go.

Water under is cool. We're the life and soul. I mean, it's cool to think about, man. That is cool. It's coming from both of them. Yeah, that is cool. And then the last two lines, it's all my sea, all my blue.

So that's how they wrote the song? That's most of the song. Yeah, it says actually it's the only way we know how to write. Hmm. That's cool, man. They're kind of giving you their formula. Yeah, their formula. That's cool.

Well, with that in mind, dude, let's jump into my next pick, which is, you know what, I think we're just going to play it the whole track all the way through like we did with this one. It's just over two minutes long. This one is track five on the record. It's called On Earth. It's a perfect pop song, man. You know, it's, so this is 92, right?

I think, I want to say that the cranberry's first record, you know, we'll kind of put them on the map and stuff is, or what made them so, you know, they were just so refreshing compared to all the machismo and the testosterone. You know what I mean? Those coming out. And so, like, I'm getting the same, I think coming off of last week's episode, you know, it's just, it's just nice. This is a, this is like a palette cleanser, you know what I mean? I bet Ronona Ryder was into the cranberries. Oh, freaking 100%. All right.

So here's who I'm getting, who I'm reminded of. And this might just be because running up that hill blew up this year because of Stranger Things. But I'm getting Kate Bush Fimes. Talk about stranger things, huh? And I think Elizabeth Fraser too, since we talked about Cocktow Twins. Yeah. You know, let's just name all the female singers that. Right.

I think, you know, with Elizabeth Frazier or whatever, like she's one of the things that you always, you know, what she's known for or whatever is like how ethereal, like more traditional like singing style that was like, you know, sometimes operatic and shit. Not literally, but I mean just like more of a traditional singer. I get that vibe from her with the way that Harriet Wheeler sings. You know, it's a very pretty style of singing. that and their song structure is like for a you know a pop band their song structure is different right like that that last song on earth it really didn't have a verse chorus structure right it just kind of took you along kind of told this short little story and then it was over like it didn't really there was no bridge there was no circling back around to a verse you know like it didn't repeat itself in that way that most

traditional songs do and it was over before before i knew it right like i could have set in that vibe for way longer than two minutes and 22 seconds yeah it is funny because like it's a short song but it almost feels like it ended too soon you know yeah but it was but but it was so like complete too yeah it was it was definitely a like a finished thought or whatever but i at the same time it's like oh you know it's over i wish I wish it would keep going, you know what I mean? I wish there was another verse. Well, and they wrap it up with a nice pretty bill, right?

Because in the middle of the song, the questions asked, could a heaven on earth be ours here and now? And at the very end, it says, I tell you, when a heaven on earth is all ours, come on down. And a heaven on earth is all ours, but not now. This song reminds me of San Junipero. I think I've talked to you about this episode of Black Mirror. that it's a movie length episode.

It's probably my favorite out of the whole Black Mirror series. It's a love story. It's set in the... I can't give it away, dude. I was going to say it's said in the 80s, but it's not. That's all I'm going to say. Anyways, this song... This song fits perfectly in that story.

Anyways, let's play my last pick, dude. Let's get this over with, dude. We're all over the place. This is a weird one. Time to get to sleep, you know what I'm saying? Well, dude, I mean, not to call it weird, but this is definitely a very unique entry into the no-filler catalog. Like, we don't talk about bands like this very often. So it is different.

Like, it's funny that we're doing this at 11 o'clock at night because this band is very sleepy time. You know what I mean? I feel like I need to be that, yeah, I need to be that bearer on the sleep. Sleepy Time tea packaging right now with my little like pajama hat on and stuff. Yeah. You know, my PJs on like with this music with my, with my camo meal and stuff. Well, if I remember, dude, this last one that we're going to play, it's actually a little bit more lively. All right, good.

Let's pick it up here. All right. We're jumping down to track eight. This song is called What Do You Think? Yeah, this song had more like the guitar style had more of a, you know, it's funny because early 90s. a lot of guitar players, including the Cranberry's guitar player, like they still had their foot in like the new wave sound a little bit. And I feel like I'm hearing some of that in this guitar style here.

Like, you know, we're still, you know, one foot in the 80s or whatever. Does she, is she, what's, I'm trying to place the accent. They're from Bristol, England. Okay, okay, okay, cool. I like the, I like the pace of that. Like, I like the. That's what I get from this band is what I was, It stands out to me.

The pacing of their songs. The song structure. Very, very cool. Yeah, she and whoever else is coming up with the lyrics stuff. Really, really good. It's her and David, right? And they're doing their back and forth thing. And that's probably why we get these unique song structures.

Did they do that for every song? Dude, it says in that... Is that literally how they do every song? I mean, that's how... That's kind of what he's sitting at. He says here, actually, it's the only way we know how to write. Wow, man. that's really cool yeah i mean it's like a game of telephone or something or not telephone but

like a game of um there's some game dude that's how you do it you go back and forth um yeah with with somebody right there's just some game dude yeah but have you like have you heard of those like those things were like like madlibs yeah madlips maybe kind of like you write a sentence you pass it on to the next person yeah add on to that sure you know what i mean it goes to the next person but that's that's interesting and how they just spell it off for us too it's like yeah this is how we write songs would you put them anywhere near r em maybe maybe some of the maybe some of the guitar i mean there's that jangliness i mean that riam had a lot of jangly guitar yeah sounds especially rm murmur you know and that's probably just what i'm thinking of as murmur and the album after that

reckoning yeah the first two r em records which came out in the 80s which is what i was saying like that jangly pop kind of like sound that R&A and 80s, dude. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I can hear that, but not, I wouldn't say in the way that like Michael Stipe, you know, approaches his song structures and stuff. Like, you know, of course, he was very, very, like, unique in that, in that aspect of it. But yeah, I can hear it maybe in the, in the guitar, guitar stylings, you know. But yeah, I, you know, I feel like the one word I could say after listening to these four songs is like,

I'm just intrigued by these guys. There's something about them that's interesting and different. Yeah. So apparently this record is, the writer of this article says here, Blind was recorded with an array of overdubs and is significantly more Baroque than its bare bones predecessor. So this is when they kind of took a turn in the way that the overall sound of their albums felt, you know, like the vibe, more overdubs, more. Baroque. That's where that, you know, kind of jangly dream pop comes about. And then they had another

album after this one called Static and Silence, which brought them their most successful single. It's a song called Summertime, which made it to the top 15 in the UK. So, and then after that, they kind of went on hiatus. So they just got these three albums. And it was five years in between blind and static and silence. So yeah, I'm intrigued too, man. Now, I'm curious about what the bare bones sound is from this band with their debut. And I'm curious kind of where they take the sound after blind. Do they still make music? I mean, have they done when a bunch of 90s bands have done and kind of like how to

come back and whatnot? So it says on Wikipedia, you know, it's got it all broken down by the records and like the time frames between these records. And then it says 2014, possible return. It says in April 20, yeah, and that was back in 2014. No updates since then, so I guess not. It says they responded, first let's see if the music we're currently writing ever sees the light of day. And then we can get on to the enjoyable globe trotting meets concert planning stage.

So I guess I never saw the lot of day because that was in 2014. That was nearly a decade ago. And I don't see anything else on here about any other music from them past 1997. So that's a big no, dude. So this is all we got, these three records. But anyways, give this album a listen, dude. Press play on track one, dude. You will not be dissatisfied all the way through.

And to top it off, dude, we're going to outro out with this. The very last song on the record, which apparently only shows up on the US release, which was on Geffen Records. they cover the Rolling Stones wild horses, which is one of my favorite Rolling Stone songs. All thanks to Bojack Horseman. Shout out to the other Horseman fans out there.

This song shows up on that show, and they do it justice, dude. And they put their Sundays stamp on it. It's great. That's what we're going to fade out with. And that's all I got, brother. And I would like to wrap it up. It smells like my wife's making cookies, dude, so I got to get out there and get me a piece.

That sounds amazing. Anyway, who we cover next week? Are we going to do Cocktaught Twins? Who are we going to cover? Are you saying right here right now, dude, that you can commit to another 10 p.m. recording. Possibly. We'll see. I can't promise you.

I can't see doing a 10 p.m., dude. Or what time is it over in your next? Seven, eight? It's nine o'clock. Nine. But you know what, dude, most of the, you know, Usually I'm spending this time with Sarah because we finally get Ronan down and it's just us. Well, but maybe, dude, I might be able to.

That's fine. We'll see. Cocktail Twins? Yeah, I think cocktail twins can be good. Now, you know, can we get by without playing Heaven or Las Vegas? We'll see. I love that song. Do it as an intro.

We usually let singles slide on intros, you know? Yeah, I think there was a couple singles. Cherry Funk, right, cherry-colored funk, I know was one of them. Having to Las Vegas is the other one. Let's do that next week because I think that's a good, a good segue from the Sundays. And, you know, brings us a little bit closer to Shugays. You know what I mean?

It brings us back a little bit, but still, I think, stays true to this left turn that we've taken here. Yep, sounds good, dude. All right, cool. And then, hey, man, before you know, we're going to be doing our countdown of best, best of 2022. I can't believe it's already here, man. This was a great year for music, man.

It's going to be hard for me to narrow down my faves. Yeah. I'm with you. All right. Let's just, you know, let's get out of here, dude. It's time for me to go to bed. It's sleepy time. As always, you can find us on Twitter at No Filler Podcast is the handle.

I meant to say Instagram, my friends. Do not reach out to us on Twitter. I'm pretty sure we still have a Twitter handle. I might as well delete it at this point. Yeah, don't. Please don't. Message us on Twitter. Instagram is where you can find us at No Filler Podcast.

Reach out to us there. And as I promised, we're going to fade out with the Sunday's cover of the Rolling Stones' wild horses. So that's a song that was originally on their 1971 record Sticky Fingers. and this is the Sunday's rendition of it. That's how we're going to fade us out tonight. Thank you, as always, for listening. My name's Quentin. My name is Travis.

Y'all take care.