Whilst flicking through the latest edition of Electronic Sound magazine, I was intrigued to see this short review of an anthology issue by a band called Berlin Blondes. It was the cover artwork that initially caught my eye. Then I see the word “Glasgow” and my interest gets FULLY piqued!
It was a brief life for this band. Just the one full album.
On looking them up on the web, the Wikipedia entry for them seemed to suggest they had supported Simple Minds somewhere along their brief existence. I went and looked at the tour info on the Dream Giver Redux site, but I saw little evidence to back this notion up. I would ask Jim if he had any recollection of this, but I feel I am probably not ingratiating myself too kindly right now…for some reason, so I best not. Perhaps I will give Simon Cornwell (webmaster extraordinaire at simpleminds.org) a quick email, to see if he can shed any light on whether they did indeed support SM at any time.
Anyway, I shall give the album a listen tonight and see what I think. From what I’ve read they sound like they were quite…parodying the sounds of their influences a little too much. But, well, I shall see (hear) for myself.
FYI, the band also had two additional connections to Simple Minds: first off, their original bassist David Rudden (who played all the bass work on the album) left as soon as the album was recorded to form his own band called Endgames, which featured on drums original Simple Minds drummer Brian McGee, and when Rudden left the band the person who eventually replaced him was the bassist from the band the Cuban Heels, which was one of the two bands formed after the dissolution of Johnny and the Self-Abusers (the other one being… Simple Minds). BTW, the guitarist for the Berlin Blondes gained significantly more popularity as the guitarist for Altered Images.
Thanks for the extra info. Much appreciated ???
Yes they supported SM at the art college in Glasgow
Had this on non stop past two days now. really like it. great find. Im in glasgow but had never heard of them before.
You?re showing me up, Scott! I still haven?t got round to listening to them yet! I must do tonight! May even get around to asking Jim whether he recalls them supporting SM back in the day.
I actually tried to do a wee bit of research myself , looking for old tickets online etc but couldnt find anything other than quotes saying that they had supported SM.
never heard of them , but just stuck it on spotify. very obvious Roxy/Kraftwerk influence like an early SM. Enjoyed it .
Still yet to listen to them, but will be doing so shortly. ??