…after weeks (feels like months) of not posting anything, miraculously, there’s finally something to add to the archive.
The Trashcans made over 75 appearances in 2005, touring in Scotland, England, Ireland, North America and Japan.
Here’s a promo poster for the early part of the UK tour – and very nice it is too.
Ticket stub from the Glasgow show…
January 2005
Now, write it out a hundred times!
Ah, takes me back to my school days when I was chucked out of art class for allowing the word ‘fuck’ to pass through my lips. My teacher proceeded to give me a lecture on said word and gave me 100 lines as well – I wouldn’t have minded that much, but I was in 5th year at secondary school! Crazy hippy teacher!
Anyhow, here’s a small advert which appeared in the NME to promote 9th single, ‘To Sir, With Love’
December 1996 NME Magazine Follow @fivehungryjoes
Filed under: Press | Tags: Concert, Gig, London ULU, NME Magazine, Press, They Might Be Giants, Trashcan Sinatras
Way back when the Trashcans were dipping their toes in the music business, they supported They Might Be Giants on a few early 1990 dates.
One of which was at London University’s Union – LULU for short. Here’s NME’s Stephen Dalton’s review…
3 March 1990 NME Magazine Follow @fivehungryjoes
Filed under: Press | Tags: NME Magazine, Press, Steve Lamacq, Trashcan Sinatras
In Steve Lamacq’s world they may well have drifted into the land of obscurity, but back in 1990 he wrote about big things to come for the Trashcan Sinatras.
Here’s what he had to say in his NME article from March 1990…
“Rock bands try and clobber you over the head with their image. Like Texas and Deacon Blue come in, ‘f___ing hell, it’s us, we’re like this, BUY US YOU STUPID BASTARDS!’ And people do. And you think, oh no, it’s happened again…”
“And yet there are bands who just meander along without shoving themselves down your throat. They just do their own thing and you kind of stumble upon it.”
You’ll have done well if you’ve stumbled across the TRASH CAN SINATRAS so far, seeing as their debut single, called (funnily enough) ‘Obscurity Knocks’ has been widely ignored by DJs in favour of bright new hopefuls like Yell and Cliff Richard.
To fill you in: the Trash Cans are a shy, subtle five-piece ‘pop’ group from Irvine, Scotland. They’ve just played some selected dates with They Might Be Giants and the single ‘Obscurity Knocks’ is out on Go! Discs.
Like in the FA Cup draws, the first person you heard from was guitarist John Douglas; the away team is drawn by other guitarist Paul Livingston.
“As a first single,” says John, “we thought it was a funny title, like tempting fate. It’s going to come true the way things are going.”
With more than a hint of self-depreciation, the Trash Can Sinatras are the first Scots band for a while to hark back (albeit unintentionally) to the charm and refreshing brightness of the Postcard era which brought you Orange Juice and Aztec Camera, almost a decade ago.
The Trash Cans wouldn’t have been out of place alongside fledgling Edwyns and Roddys, but with their singular, sad guitar strumming style they more importantly have a role to play now.
“Postcard just went away,” confirms John. “Before that, there was always a kind of muso scene in Glasgow which liked the American soul thing and then there was the wee punk guys who thought, ‘f___ this, let’s arse about’.
“But then there was the backlash to it and it faded out – Postcard was almost ignored in Scotland apart from the people involved in it: everyone else went back to soul music or (grimace) heavy metal.”
Having attracted the interest of the majors since birth, the Trash Cans slyly signed with Go! Discs, warning at the time that it’d take them a while to sort themselves out recording wise.
It did. They did the single, then they did it again. And then they did it once more, delaying it from last summer until now.
‘Obscurity Knocks’ is a camera snap-shot of the Trash Cans’ talents, starting off with a sprightly acoustic intro and leading through a series of reflective verses into a stumpy chorus.
In the same way that they like XTC, a very English pop group, there’s a definite Scottish flavour to the Trash Cans, a funny, natural bunch.
Straight in at number 8…
3 March 1990 NME Magazine Follow @fivehungryjoes
It’s a long way from sunny Irvine to Hollywood, but he made it.
I’m talking about Irvine in Scotland of course, as that’s where this little story started. Paul is slightly younger than me and was in the year below me at school (his older brother was in my class) and I got to know him through a couple of school mates when he became a member of a local band, The Shock Club (terrible name).
As with most bands in Irvine at the time, they would play as many gigs as pubs and community centres would allow them, throwing in a few cover versions to fill out their set – The Cult’s ‘Love Removal Machine’ was one if I remember correctly. The Shock Club didn’t play too many gigs. In fact before their final gig in Kilmarnock they had already changed their name to Hectic Circus (another terrible name). It wasn’t that they weren’t good enough, just that Paul had the chance to join another upcoming local band.
So a few others and I joined Paul one evening when he went along to Castlepark Community Centre to meet Messrs Reader and Douglas, who were playing that night. Forgive the cliché, but the rest, as they say, is history.
So when this sticker popped through my letterbox, I thought, “…he’s finally made it…” What could be better than your own wee sticker? Better than a No.1 single? Aye!
Inspired by drunken screams of “MORE PAUL!” at the 2010/11 Portland house parties, Shane Locke decided to design and produce this sticker – more as a joke – and apparently the band (and Paul) loved it.
The boy done good indeed 🙂
2010-2011
Five Hungry Joes - A pictorial archive of the Trashcan Sinatras. Legendary Scottish Band 