Saturday, July 28, 2007

Janitors - The In Tape Years




Another interesting band that released some records on Marc Riley's In Tape label. Cool mix of noisepop and punkabilly.
The 'Chicken Stew' 7" was their first release but suffers from poor production. The sound is muddy and you can barely hear the drums. Follow-up is the 'Thunderhead' mini-album. The sound improved a lot as with their 'Good To Be The King' 7". After this release they left In Tape and released some records on Abstract: the 'Deafhead' LP, 'Family Fantastic' and 'Moonshine' 12"s and the 'Halfway To Happening' 7".
The Janitors were requested a long time ago by English Paul. It's possible that he will contribute some music from time to time on this blog so keep your eyes and ears open!


Chicken Stew 7"
(In Tape-IT 017-1985)
1. Chicken Stew
2. The Devil's Gone To Whitley Bay

Thunderhead MLP (In Tape-IT Twenty Eight-1986)
1. Thunderhead Johnny
2. Nowhere
3. Both Ends Burning
4. Really Shrinking
5. Mexican Kitchen
6. Wall Star
7. Track Eating Baby

Good To Be The King 7" (In Tape-IT 031-1986)
1. Good To Be The King
2. Wall Star

Janitors

30 comments:

John Liedown said...

Loved the Janitors. Great live as well. Nice post Curious thanks.

bookface said...

sounds awesome.
thank you.

Anonymous said...

This group were so underrated. I got into them because my brother played drums with them on a few gigs. I've tried to find their songs online for a long time, I had their last peel session on tape but I just can't find it , *weep*. Thank you for this post... made my weekend!!!

Curious Guy said...

Shared with pleasure! Anyone out there who has their Abstract releases?

michaeldustdevil said...

you are too good to us sir Rhodri... XXX

Anonymous said...

Take requests?

Artist: The Insane Picnic
LP: This is the Winter Darkness

record label: falling a

released sometime in the early 80s

Any idea where this might be on the blogosphere? have heard it compared to everything from The Fall to Joy Division to Killing Joke, depending on the song on it, but haven't heard it.

Anonymous said...

Hey, very nice blog. I found some really great songs here. You might want to check out The Bonaparte's - Shiny Battles, and Fall of Saigon. Both unappreciated bands that deserve more attention :)

Curious Guy said...

Michael, I'm not Rhodri but I'm wondering where he is as he deleted his multiply page. Do enjoy the Dustdevils :)
Oliver, never heard about them. Another one to look out for.
Erik, would like to know more French wave myself. The Fall Of Saigon has been posted on Mutant Sounds.

Anonymous said...

Looks like someone made an Insane Picnic myspace tribute page -- mp3s sound pretty cool:

http://www.myspace.com/theinsanepicnic

scissorkicks said...

I used to work with Tim, the Janitors drummer (at least for a time). Top man, and he used to book the bands at the Windmill in Brixton.

Mind you, I've just remembered he's still got my Gimme Shelter VHS video! The Janitors track on that is fun.

Anonymous said...

I've got quite some French wave for share on Soulseek if you like.

Curious Guy said...

Nice to hear from you Coach.
Erik, I'm not on slsk. But if you want to contribute, go ahead. Just ask for a decent rip with bitrate not under 192. And a cover scan off course.

Anonymous said...

The first 50 seconds of Wallstar are what music is about. [Only my opinion, like]

Crayola Sarandon said...

people asking after rhodri?
(my old flatmate, ex of the keatons, now in scritti politti) is a bit busy being a proper journalist for the independent amongst others.
never asked him why he deleted his multiply.
too many other things to do perhaps.
cx

Anonymous said...

Hey, i was uploading those two files for a friend and reminded you being interested in French 80's, so you might enjoy this too:

http://www.mediafire.com/?ctsvfym5u2h (actually, the last two songs are the best I think)

http://www.mediafire.com/?2dhtiy9gurz

If interested, cover scans can be found on http://www.french-new-wave.com/artist.php

By the way, I really enjoy the Cultural Decay - End of the Corridor song. Thanks for that.

Curious Guy said...

Thank you very much Erik!! Excellent quality as well.

Anonymous said...

What a blast from the past!

My brother went to see The Janitors live, on the back of Chicken Stew getting single of the Week in Sounds, back in late 1985.
He then seemed to disapear every weekend for the next couple of years, following The Janitors around the UK.

I saw then a couple of times when they suported Gaye Bykers On Acid on tour in 1987 & then a couple of times at the late, great Duchess of York in Leeds (sadly now a Hugo Boss shop) towards the end of the bands career in 1988

My brother recently bumped into one of the band in London (Craig?) who is now a guitar tech for Coldplay.

Alison Toon Photographer said...

Does anyone have a copy of the song/video that they did, titled something like "Halfway to Happening". Can anyone put me in touch with Denton or Craig?

Why? It's a long story...

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

'Halfway to a Happening' is off of the LP. It's awesome, Alison!

Love the Janitors, and have Deafhead on vinyl. Their 1987 gig in Plymouth was my 18th birthday - they blew me away and I bought the LP the next day. Fantastic. AND I was heavily into Industrial stuff at the time!

Curious Guy said...

Hello Eden263, thanks for enjoying stuff from this blog.

Anonymous said...

Blimey, I used to love The Janitors! Got into them c/o their terrific Peel sessions & still have ALL the vinyl (I think!) - I'll have a dig 'round next time I'm in "The Shed" & see what I can come up with... IBx

P.S. Yes, great live too.

Jim said...

3rd Peel Session

http://cliffrichardsneck.blogspot.com/2009/01/janitors-3rd-peel-session-20-1-87.html

billyonwheels said...

another great album find on your blog. you've got gooood taste, if i may quote the late, great lux interior.
I have thunderhead and family fantastic on vinyl, but can't see myself converting them to mp3 anytime soon. thanks again for the post.

Nick said...

Loved them, even had the thunderhead sun painted on the sleeve of a leather jacket for a while. Nice to find them out here!

Anonymous said...

The vocalist is now my history teacher. He is awesome, bit of a hardass if you are late with essays....

Anonymous said...

Found Thunderhead LP yesterday, could end up as my favourite album. A fan of Loop and Screaming Blue Messiahs, this is in the same class. What energy ... unbelievable! Makes me 20 years younger. Searching for the second album to listen to, and buy. Wish there were any live recordings.

eilivk

Strange-Times said...

Eilivk....I have a few Janitors live bootlegs but no way of transfering them from tape.

From memory I have Leeds uni 87 (supporting Gaye Bykers), Manchester Boardwalk also from 87 & one or two shows from Leeds Duchess in 1988.

If anyone can do the transfer I'm happy to post them on.

Curious Guy said...

New link. Enjoy!

Unknown said...

once again I've found something 6 years too late on here…:0) Would you mind re-posting this, please? Thanks!!

Curious Guy said...

New link. Enjoy!