We set up a microsite shrine for them back in the turn-of-the-century days when their brilliance was not a recognised fact, and after we were evicted from our former ilwtt.org home, Tom from indie-mp3.co.uk kindly put the content on his site, even persuading Martin Whitehead to let him post the "Splashdown" EP for download. We're not going to let you do that, but here's the blurb again, for old time's sake. On our original microsite we also put up the lyrics to the seven songs mentioned below, but I suspect you'll all know them off by heart now anyway. We certainly do.
Roque from Cloudberry did a nice interview with the band some years later which followed up a couple of things below, if we remember rightly...
"But on the minus there are groups like Bubblegum Splash! we played with them in Bristol, and they just summed up everything that was wrong in music just now. I mean they had one song that went la-la-la like Primal Scream and another with the bum-de-bum drumbeats a la Shop Assistants. It was just a joke."
- Stephen Pastel , 1987
the pastels were a fine band, but stephen was presumably just jealous, because Bubblegum Splash! are probably the greatest band that ever existed. they were a five-piece from salisbury, wiltshire, england, comprised of nikki barr (voice); dave todd (bass); jim harrison (guitar); marty cummins (tambourine and backing vocals) and "alan" (drums). their legend today is helped by the fact that as far as we can discern, they only ever recorded seven songs. beyond that, as you can tell, we know so little... but it's inconceivable we could ever shake from our heads their lyrics, the cool and rather offhand vocal delivery, the thudding anorak basslines and drums, the jangly guitars and even the occasional two-bar, three-note "guitar solos".
we don't just put down our devotion to Bubblegum Splash! to nostalgia for the age of fourteen, when the journey began with john peel playing "fast of friends". and we certainly weren't alone then, for at the time the fanzine "so naive", named after a rather wonderful song by erstwhile subway labelmates the rosehips, ran an interview with the band and put out a flexidisc, split with the slightly less endearing shop assistants copyists the darling buds. if you'd told us then that one of those bands would go on to top of the pops and a major deal... still, according to the cherry red website, splashdown did get to no 15 on the indie chart.
"I remember the day we heard the Splashdown EP went into the Indie charts as we were playing a gig in Salisbury aswell and couldn't understand why we had a crowd of about 10 whilst the Arts Centre where the Splashies were playing was heaving!"
- Andy Ware, then of Mrs Taylor's Mad
no, since 1987, life has been a futile attempt to come across anyone else who will acknowledge the truth. even now a host of college radio stations in the 'states will think nothing of dropping da Bubblegum bomb into their alt-rock playlists, albeit usually in what we english call "the alan partridge slot".
a lot of people, even at the time, took one listen to the formulaic shambling and dismissed it as identikit c86. that seems to us to both get, and spectacularly miss, the point. they were probably the perfect anorak band - the production, the playing, the melodies, the sentiments - and that should have elevated their status, not detracted from it. it doesn't take a leap of the imagination to relate to the lyrics to "fast of friends" or "someone said" - it really is for everyman. the music has the same attraction and appeal - people like us, no shallow celebrity status.
"the Splashies seemed to have this unique, kinda naive sound that was very original and you couldn't pin it on any band. Jim and Dave had a very eclectic mix of backgrounds in musical tastes and I guess whilst they weren't maestros with their guitars this kinda dictated the way they wrote and played songs. Ask Jim to play a Led Zeppelin solo and I don't think then anyhow he'd get past the first bar"
- Andy Ware
- Stephen Pastel , 1987
the pastels were a fine band, but stephen was presumably just jealous, because Bubblegum Splash! are probably the greatest band that ever existed. they were a five-piece from salisbury, wiltshire, england, comprised of nikki barr (voice); dave todd (bass); jim harrison (guitar); marty cummins (tambourine and backing vocals) and "alan" (drums). their legend today is helped by the fact that as far as we can discern, they only ever recorded seven songs. beyond that, as you can tell, we know so little... but it's inconceivable we could ever shake from our heads their lyrics, the cool and rather offhand vocal delivery, the thudding anorak basslines and drums, the jangly guitars and even the occasional two-bar, three-note "guitar solos".
we don't just put down our devotion to Bubblegum Splash! to nostalgia for the age of fourteen, when the journey began with john peel playing "fast of friends". and we certainly weren't alone then, for at the time the fanzine "so naive", named after a rather wonderful song by erstwhile subway labelmates the rosehips, ran an interview with the band and put out a flexidisc, split with the slightly less endearing shop assistants copyists the darling buds. if you'd told us then that one of those bands would go on to top of the pops and a major deal... still, according to the cherry red website, splashdown did get to no 15 on the indie chart.
"I remember the day we heard the Splashdown EP went into the Indie charts as we were playing a gig in Salisbury aswell and couldn't understand why we had a crowd of about 10 whilst the Arts Centre where the Splashies were playing was heaving!"
- Andy Ware, then of Mrs Taylor's Mad
no, since 1987, life has been a futile attempt to come across anyone else who will acknowledge the truth. even now a host of college radio stations in the 'states will think nothing of dropping da Bubblegum bomb into their alt-rock playlists, albeit usually in what we english call "the alan partridge slot".
a lot of people, even at the time, took one listen to the formulaic shambling and dismissed it as identikit c86. that seems to us to both get, and spectacularly miss, the point. they were probably the perfect anorak band - the production, the playing, the melodies, the sentiments - and that should have elevated their status, not detracted from it. it doesn't take a leap of the imagination to relate to the lyrics to "fast of friends" or "someone said" - it really is for everyman. the music has the same attraction and appeal - people like us, no shallow celebrity status.
"the Splashies seemed to have this unique, kinda naive sound that was very original and you couldn't pin it on any band. Jim and Dave had a very eclectic mix of backgrounds in musical tastes and I guess whilst they weren't maestros with their guitars this kinda dictated the way they wrote and played songs. Ask Jim to play a Led Zeppelin solo and I don't think then anyhow he'd get past the first bar"
- Andy Ware
the persistent rumours that jane from occupied europe are a post-splash! outfit, scarcely any longer lived, have now been confirmed - we believe they were the only one. most bands I loved from that era are still producing music today - listen to sportique, cinerama or of course the pastels - even (if you have to) primal scream. (JFOE, incidentally, included jim harrison and dave todd, and did a few records (much more detail here) including a cracking 7" called "ocean run dry" which we also treasure to this day. the fact that they were named after the second swell maps LP probably accounts for the fact that Bubblegum Splash! have been described as "swell maps"-influenced - save for the fact they were a bit d.i.y., this was never really true).
the only time we ever heard Bubblegum Splash! "in public" was back in 1990 when the DJ in the now-defunct islington powerhaus played "plastic smile" - that in itself would have made my evening. (in fact, it was merely a glorious omen, as the second support band that night, brighter, who were starting for the orchids and the hit parade, did the set which turned me into a brighter fan for life). but that's another story, and possibly another web page.
"The boys at ILWTT website have done a Bubblegum Splash! site - it’s the webzine equivalent of a 1 and a half minute flexi song, but ah, it reminded me of the flawed genius of the Splash!"
- Rachel Stevenson, 2003
and now ? well the rumours have it that ex-Bubblegum Splash! personnel are now residing in salisbury and bristol, and variously enjoying beer, teaching, football, music (but of course) and, in one case, motherhood... but we intend to fill out some of those details over time.
the only time we ever heard Bubblegum Splash! "in public" was back in 1990 when the DJ in the now-defunct islington powerhaus played "plastic smile" - that in itself would have made my evening. (in fact, it was merely a glorious omen, as the second support band that night, brighter, who were starting for the orchids and the hit parade, did the set which turned me into a brighter fan for life). but that's another story, and possibly another web page.
"The boys at ILWTT website have done a Bubblegum Splash! site - it’s the webzine equivalent of a 1 and a half minute flexi song, but ah, it reminded me of the flawed genius of the Splash!"
- Rachel Stevenson, 2003
and now ? well the rumours have it that ex-Bubblegum Splash! personnel are now residing in salisbury and bristol, and variously enjoying beer, teaching, football, music (but of course) and, in one case, motherhood... but we intend to fill out some of those details over time.
until then, if anyone, anywhere, knows anything about Bubblegum Splash! or has any photographs (or can correct the lyrics!) please please contact us at the address opposite, we will love you forever, just as much as we love them. or just write to let us know how brilliant you think the band were - trust us, you won't be the first and the network is international. someone once wrote into us claiming that they knew the ex-bass player, but our entreaties came to nothing - we guess people are always pretending they're mates with the rich and famous...
"I love them too! One chime of 18:10 To Yeovil Junction and I was hooked - they're everything that great pop music should be - kids with guitars who can't play to save their lives but who consequently make the most beautifully endearing music in the world."
- Chris Jones, fan
Discography
"splashdown!" 7" ep (august 1987, subway 13)
tracks: plastic smile / just walked away / fast Of friends / one of those things
split flexi (with so naïve fanzine, 1987)
track: if only. (split with the darling buds, track: spin).
"surfin' in the subway" (subway records compilation, november 1987, SUBORG 4)
tracks: someone said, the 18.10 to yeovil junction.
(also compiled on a CD of both subway comps entitled "take the subway to your suburb")
"just walked away" also appears on "whole wide world" (volume 2) compilation CD on subway organisation
*2019 update: "the 18.10 to yeovil junction" now also appears on both "the subway organization: 1986-1989" CD on cherry red records, and the "c88" box set on cherry red*
"I love them too! One chime of 18:10 To Yeovil Junction and I was hooked - they're everything that great pop music should be - kids with guitars who can't play to save their lives but who consequently make the most beautifully endearing music in the world."
- Chris Jones, fan
Discography
"splashdown!" 7" ep (august 1987, subway 13)
tracks: plastic smile / just walked away / fast Of friends / one of those things
split flexi (with so naïve fanzine, 1987)
track: if only. (split with the darling buds, track: spin).
"surfin' in the subway" (subway records compilation, november 1987, SUBORG 4)
tracks: someone said, the 18.10 to yeovil junction.
(also compiled on a CD of both subway comps entitled "take the subway to your suburb")
"just walked away" also appears on "whole wide world" (volume 2) compilation CD on subway organisation
*2019 update: "the 18.10 to yeovil junction" now also appears on both "the subway organization: 1986-1989" CD on cherry red records, and the "c88" box set on cherry red*
