
Shoegaze: an oral history - Thevet
http://www.wonderingsound.com/feature/shoegaze-oral-history-slowdive-ride-lush/
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yabatopia
There's more shoegaze music now then ever before. An excellent place to start
is the blog When The Sun
Hits[http://whenthesunhitsblog.blogspot.be/](http://whenthesunhitsblog.blogspot.be/).
A good mix of "classic" shoegaze and new bands.

Shoegaze really defined my life. Taking a trip to London for an amazing Lush
concert, wandering the streets of London and sleeping on the floor in a train
station because I didn't have any money left for even a hostel bed (I did buy
some great and rare records though). Or organizing a shoegaze party at a local
bar, low attendance of course and ending up being kicked out by the manager
because "this isn't music!" What's wrong with Medicine? Good times.

~~~
Wanderer2
I wish I knew how to tag you @yabatopia

~~~
yabatopia
How do you mean?

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re_todd
Brings back memories ... hearing Shoegaze for the first time at Amoeba on
Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley, MBV's Loveless, and it totally blowing my mind.
That was the first time I ever asked a store clerk what they were playing.

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paulrpotts
My jaw kind of dropped when I saw the Lush/Ride ticket stub and realized -- I
was at that very show!

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tptacek
Something must be wrong with me, because both Slowdive (shoegaze) and Uncle
Tupelo (opposite of shoegaze) say Dinosaur Jr. was a key influence, and I have
in my life never been able to pick up a Dinosaur Jr. influence in anything. I
think I have a Dinosaur Jr. Appreciation Deficiency.

~~~
Q6T46nT668w6i3m
A few reasons:

1\. Everybody knows J. If you were involved in hardcore or underground metal
in the 80s, you knew J. It didn’t hurt that J sweats coolness.

2\. Likewise, everybody knows Lou. And most people LOVE Lou. Hell, I hung out
with Lou when I was 16 and it was incredible
([http://nmh.livejournal.com/3336.html](http://nmh.livejournal.com/3336.html)).

3\. J’s guitar playing broke punk. While he was a super competent guitarist in
era of less than competent guitarists, he still used the shitty Jazzmasters
everybody else was using. He was an inspiration from a technical perspective.

~~~
plug
Amazing guitarist. A friend (J's greatest fan incidentally) managed to
convince him to do a guest solo on one of his albums a few years ago. Pretty
amazing thing to strike off your bucket list!

I've never heard of anyone calling a jazzmaster shitty before though ;)
Amazing, beautiful machines.

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ilamont
Even if you have no interest in this type of music, I strongly recommend
checking out the documentary "Upside Down: The Creation Records Story" (
[http://www.upsidedownthemovie.com/](http://www.upsidedownthemovie.com/) ,
also available on Netflix). There are parallels between the music industry and
the tech startup scene, and the Creation Records story has lessons about
everything -- strong founder personalities, dealmaking, marketing, managing
costs, company culture, etc.

If you _do_ have an interest in this type of music, or want to learn more,
buy/download/listen to Swervedriver's _Mezcal Head_ right now ...

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skylerwshaw
I'm surprised that (The) Catherine Wheel didn't make this article. How do they
fit into the shoegaze puzzle?

Being my first and favorite shoegaze band, I discovered Slowdive, Dinosaur
Jr., My Bloody Valentine and others through The Catherine Wheel.

~~~
geargrinder
Yeah I was also surprised Catherine Wheel didn't make this article. I consider
their album Adam & Eve to be the pinnacle of shoegaze. Ferment and Chrome are
also prime examples of the movement. Maybe they weren't included because they
were a bit harder to interview? From what Rob has said recently, I would be
surprised if they have a reunion tour. They seem to have mostly moved on to
other things.

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evo_9
Short lived? What a wierd opening considering shoegaze is still going strong.
For example, My Bloody Valentine finally released their long overdue follow up
to Loveless to critical acclaim in 2013.

~~~
Joeboy
Shoegaze is still going strong in the same way that Mozart is still going
strong, despite dying aged 35 in 1791.

At least in the UK, the scene described in the article was fairly obscure even
in its heyday, and by the mid-'90s it was remembered mostly as a slightly
embarrassing pre-Britpop phase. Having watched it come and go the first time
around, its post millennial resuscitation feels pretty weird.

~~~
niklasni1
I only got into Slowdive a year or two ago so I can't think of it in terms of
scenes or who drank at which pub in 1993. But without that context I think
they made one good and one great record -- objectively so, as much as one can
say that about music -- and I don't see why there's anything weird about still
listening to them, or discovering them if you weren't there at the time.

~~~
Joeboy
> I don't see why there's anything weird about still listening to them

No, please listen to them. I should listen to more of them myself. I loved
Morningrise, but never heard much of Slowdive's other stuff simply because
getting hold of music was expensive and difficult at the time.

> or discovering them if you weren't there at the time.

That's the bit that feels weird. A couple of decades ago they seemed destined
for oblivion. Watching Lost in Translation with no advance warning was a very
odd experience.

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metaobject
I'm so happy to see this posted here ... it's not the usual kind of story I
see on HN. Slowdive is one of my favorite bands and remains in heavy rotation
on my ipod to this day. There were rumors a few months ago that they might be
getting back together for a tour. Although I enjoy Neil Halstead's solo
releases and Rachel's solo release, I'd love to see a new Slowdive album.

~~~
tragic
They did.[0]

My favourite album of theirs is Pygmalion, though, which is much more like
Talk Talk's late stuff or something like that. I'm guessing they're sticking
to the Souvlaki era stuff now, for top nostalgia-reunion value. Good band,
still.

[0]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowdive#Reunion:_2014-present](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slowdive#Reunion:_2014-present)

~~~
purephase
Agreed. Pygmalion was/is an incredible record.

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pistle
Chapterhouse - Pearl never left my playlist since it dropped... back when
second-hand CD shops had staff willing to frindly-sell you on 3 other things
you might like when they looked over what you were checking out at the
register. The OG "You might also be interested in..."

But who sampled Shoolly D - P.S.K. What does it mean? first in 1991?
Chapterhouse or Souxie and The Banshees?

~~~
__david__
> But who sampled Shoolly D - P.S.K. What does it mean? first in 1991?
> Chapterhouse or Souxie and The Banshees?

PIL used it on _The Body_ back in 1987...

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Did they maybe use it in a remix or something? The album version does not seem
to contain it:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr94K5VX0Q4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr94K5VX0Q4)

Although the drum beat is somewhat similar.

~~~
__david__
Yeah, you're right: looks like it was this remix, which appears to have came
out in 1988:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPR3Q4dkcLk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPR3Q4dkcLk)

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petsounds
Swervedriver are actually working on a new record, "I Wasn't Born to Lose
You", and have put out a few songs from it (more "Mezcal Head" than "99th
Dream", IMO):

"Setting Sun", "Days":
[http://open.spotify.com/album/0C0q7niaA3GxJpVQsWiiKz](http://open.spotify.com/album/0C0q7niaA3GxJpVQsWiiKz)

"Autodidact":
[https://soundcloud.com/blackandblueam/autodidact](https://soundcloud.com/blackandblueam/autodidact)

Sorry for the shameless plug, but: I play in a shoegaze-influenced dream pop
band called Weed Hounds, and we recently put out our first LP, for anyone
who's interested (think Pale Saints, Swirlies):
[http://open.spotify.com/album/0aABjwPh5l2UOM5yWWON11](http://open.spotify.com/album/0aABjwPh5l2UOM5yWWON11)

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Wanderer2
There is also this amazing shoegaze compilation that was just released. Thank
goodness it's a free download. There's like 30 bands here from all over the
planet and even Creation Records guru Joe Foster and a bunch of other first-
wave gazers (from Swervedriver, Swallow, The Telescopes and Slowdive) have
been supporting it. Now that is EPIC!
[https://eartoearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/revolution-the-
sh...](https://eartoearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/revolution-the-shoegaze-
revival)

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johntaitorg
I remember 1991 and shoegazer very well. I was a metal fan into Ride's Going
Blank Again and Spacemen 3.

It's a shame than stuff from the metal world like this
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fegt-
bD3q_k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fegt-bD3q_k) didn't cross-pollinate
and make a super-popular strain.

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cobralibre
It's interesting that the noun 'shoegaze' is dominant now. As a teen, I
followed the scene closely through Melody Maker and a fairly active discussion
group on Prodigy (!), and as I recall, the term 'shoegazing' was preferred
then. A Cmd-F through the article would appear to reinforce that recollection.

