Flyscreen were an integral part of the Newport scene back in the mid-90s. Their niche was short, heavy, fast grunge-punk songs "about school, football and shagging" (in their words). To date, they have released a clutch of EPs and three studio albums, though there's been little activity from them since 2008.
I expect Webbie would be interested in their 'Size Five Leather' EP, which contained the songs Stamford Bridge, Carl Zeiss Jena[1], Your Phil Neal For My Willie Johnstone and Charlie George On Super 8. Difficult to find nowadays, though I will probably feature one of its tracks in a future post.
Today though, I've gone for a track that featured on the band's first EP 'Dapbag' in 1994, but was made over for their debut full-length 'Girls Can't Make Gun Noises' and subsequently released as the album's second single. It was around the time of this release that I booked the band I was managing at the time, Shrug, their first gig in Exeter. It was supporting Flyscreen and it was the most raucous and appreciative audience they'd ever played to at the time. 'Twas a cracking night.
This is the later version of She Smokes... that featured on the album. It's a good representation of the sort of noise that was coming out of Newport at the time.
[1] FC Carl Zeiss Jena: German football team. In 1981, Newport County (the previous season's Welsh Cup winners) enjoyed an unprecedented European cup run in the Cup Winners Cup. They met FC Carl Zeiss Jena in the quarter-final. County held the East Germans 2-2 in Jena, but lost the home leg 1-0. It is still remembered fondly in these parts as one of Newport's finest sporting moments, even though, in Flyscreen's words: "Carl Zeiss Jena broke our hearts."
I expect Webbie would be interested in their 'Size Five Leather' EP,
ReplyDelete*does happy dance*