Welsh Wednesday #20

#20: I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well by The Pooh Sticks

A classic bit of twee indiepop for you today from Swansea's The Pooh Sticks, a band who were famously two-thirds fictitious! While Huw Williams and Steve Gregory were real enough, the other four 'band members' - Paul, Alison, Trudy Tangerine and Stephanie Bass-Drum - existed only as credits on the band's records; though there are 'full band' photos from the era (see above), my guess is some of them were just staff at the record label or mates. Oh, and thinking about it, Steve wasn't technically 'in the band' either. He ran the label, wrote the songs and produced the records.

John Peel championed their early releases, including this charming little track from 1988 which ridiculed the very indie scene into which they dived headlong. It still raises a wry smile all these years later. In fact, the Pooh Sticks weren't averse to taking the piss. Those early records were pressed in ridiculously limited quantities, recorded in mono and actually weren't very good, musically speaking. But that was probably the point as a lot of indiepop from that period sounded pretty terrible.

In the early 90s the Pooh Sticks became a proper band and changed direction, adopting an American power-pop sound before splitting in 1995. They remain fondly remembered.