Jellyclouds came on with their mutant Jefferson Airplane/Fairport Convention sound. This was their first gig and allowing for such rough edges as you get from only one rehearsal, they were pretty powerful stuff. The Airplane/Convention likeness ain’t hot air. Like those two groups Steve bass playing is very strong, bodily lifting the music out of any rut it might want to fall into. The richness compounded by having THREE strong voices at the top of the sound. I can’t remember a local group ever with such a strong vocal line-up and it would be a crying shame if they weren’t to exploit this to the full potential. Christine’s rhythm guitar improves in leaps and bounds to be able to handle this kind of complexity after her grounding in basic Velvet Underground thrash. And Rod turning out for the first time as lead guitarist in his 25 year career, with a certain tonal boost from FX pedals, was surprisingly interesting and never let the momentum drop. The only disappointment was Simon Bewley’s drumming. He didn’t appear to actually know the songs.
They started slowly with “Midnight Train” and “To Tuesday” and lurched up in style, volume and tempo with “Catch Me”
Let me assure you Jellyclouds are a hell of a group. Vikki, Louise and Rod harmonising, Steve’s mammoth bass, a proper drummer. This group is going to go places.
Having kept an ear or two open during the evening I discover that the ‘clouds are playing Bristol on 30th June.
Once again I attend.
I look around. It’s a big pub and the gig is a late starter, which is just as well as at 9.00 PM the pub is almost empty. The Jellyclouds go on at 10.00 and by this time there are 30 or 40 people there. However the ‘clouds are used to playing empty venues supporting this band and once again they slam through their set pulling no punches with Rod and Lou giving it all they’ve got.
As I walked into the clammy Bristol streets I was just in time to see the Jellymobile puttering off into the darkness, leaking petrol and taking the band home to prepare for their next gig
Pete Bradley - Mardenbeat #24, July 1987
The Hallucination Generation
THE CROWN, BRISTOL 25TH July 1987
Once again I get on the case of those elusive Jellyclouds as they continue to gig with Bradenstoke’s *** ******. I thought tracking them down this time would be a cinch – poster up all around town advertising all the dates. No problem. But it wasn’t that simple. First gig was The Crown, Bristol. THE Crown. Only one Crown in the whole of Bristol then? Neat trick Steve.
However, as Mardenbeat’s ace roving reporter – expenses paid – I followed a hunch – but I managed to find the gig anyway (sorry Igor!)
When I entered the joint I felt slightly conspicuous – I wasn’t wearing a leather jacket, I had slept in a hedge the previous night, I didn’t have lank hair and I wasn’t clutching a bottle of Newcastle Brown. Hot damn! A bikers bar – full of greasy hoods and rockers. I threw back a vodka Martini and then ordered another – this time I drank it. Both the Jellyclouds and *** ****** went through their sets and were totally ignored by the audience. Before the show got underway there was some guy in a fig leaf trying to kiss a dame – this got a reaction. Somebody announced the next gig at Hollywood, Bristol and blew their cover. The poster said 4th August but they let slip it was the 5th.
Pete Bradley - Mardenbeat #24, July 1987
Darkness Weaves
HOLLYWOOD, BRISTOL, 5th August 1987
Hollywood, the smallest dive in the world and believe me I’ve seen a few. I went up to the bar, ordered a stiff drink and waited for it to relax. I look about – every wall is covered in mirrors – get three people inside and it looks crowded – hell it is crowded! I look out of place. I feel like a jerk but my weights are at home. The Jellyclouds set was spoilt by a bad sound mix. Me, I hung around trying to get out of the mirror maze and wondered if the Bradenstoke festival was a joke or if was the real deal
BRADENSTOKE FESTIVAL, 9th August 1987
It was both! I wandered around Bradenstoke for about twenty minutes (not an easy thing to do) before I found the site located at the far end of a field of forlorn looking cows. By the time I got there the Jellyclouds were halfway through their set. When I saw the pitiful sight in the field I almost turned around and went home. The groups (both of them) outnumbered the audience (and that’s if you count the cows). I stayed long enough to see the Jellymobile trundle off towards Calne then made same lame excuse and limped off the The Jolly Trooper to figure out why these gigs are being kept so secret.
Pete Bradley - Mardenbeat #24, July 1987
Cloudyjellies
THE LINK CENTRE, SWINDON, 22nd August 1987
Stumbling onto the stage to the sounds of The Tryp overture, Jellyclouds took a while to sort themselves out. They’re obviously having problems with their sound on stage too – but to us punters it sounds ok, except that Christine Cotter’s guitar was nowhere to be heard. One thing that strikes me with Jellyclouds is that they’re all having a good time when they are playing. Even Steve who usually manages to maintain his stage persona of being utterly bored, fails to keep it up for the whole set. In any case he makes a good counterpoint to Christine standing stock still stage left.
It was while watching the Jellyclouds at Bradenstoke that the description ‘The Archies on Acid’ came to me. Has this anything to do with their plans to incorporate a cover of “Sugar Sugar” into their set?
Henry Race – Mardenbeat #25, September 1987
QUEEN MARY'S COLLEGE, BASINGSTOKE, 1st October
Tracking down the Jellyclouds is almost a full time occupation these days, ask Pete Bradley! Everything is conspiring against me - even Venue Magazine. I read there that Jellyclouds were playing Longacre Hall on Thursday, but when I arrived there was nothing happening – Jellyclouds were in Basingstoke – I was in Bath. I asked Jellyclouds Steve Lines what the gig was like:
SL:Don’t even ask! It was terrible. It took us nearly two hours to get there in the Jellymobile, breathing petrol fumes all the way (not as a recreational drug I might add). Then we had a tour of Basingstoke, which I’ve already had with Mark Angell on the way to Brighton, and I didn’t really want another. Finally we got to the College. As soon as we arrived we were ushered on stage and playing a set that was so bad I wished I could just leave my guitar feeding back and walk off the stage. No soundcheck, the PA was lousy, with no top on the vocals, and Rod, with new strings on his guitar, kept going out of tune.
MARDENBEAT: Why was it so bad?
SL:We were still high from petrol fumes. I was sober – I hadn’t had time to find the bar, and we just weren’t into it. We couldn’t hear any drums on stage – the woman on the mixing desk would turn them down while we were playing! It’s just as well we never made it. Where were you?
MARDENBEAT: I was in Bath
SL: That’s where we’re playing tonight.”
MARDENBEAT: Yeah I know!
Mark Weston - Mardenbeat #25, September 1987
Touch The Scream That Crawls Up The Wall
Magick Power
LONGACRE HALL, BATH, 2nd October
When I arrived at Longacre Hall it was full of about fifty or so very dirty looking punk/hippies and Jellyclouds were just getting ready to go on. The opted to play first due to the bad vibes running about the place. I thought this was paranoia, but I was proved to be wrong.
The band opened with a new song “Hideaway” which started amid a wall of feedback and fuzz, then into more familiar territory with “Memory Man” “Midnight Train” and “To Tuesday”. People were dancing and shouting during the set. Three girls kept shouting “faster!” and a stoned hippie at the front kept shouting for “Silver Machine”. Jellyclouds didn’t play any Hawkwind numbers and the girls left before the set picked up pace.
“Rhyme & Reason” another new song with its deceptively jolly beat hiding a depressing tale of suicide,and upped the tempo a bit, but a badly out of tune “Darkness Weaves” took it down again.After that it was all up tempo, beginning with “Sunny Daze” right up to the last song “Plastic Patterns”. The third new song in the set was 20th Century Girl”, a tribute to Marc Bolan which even steals the “20th Century Boy” riff for a couple of bars to leave you in no doubt as to its origins.
Jellyclouds have improved since I last saw them as The Bristol Bridge Inn. As the band finished there was a fight and as they were leaving the hall going down the stairs, all the local dealers were coming up the stairs to collect their money. I guess the band were right to demand to go on first. I followed them out.
Mark Weston - Mardenbeat #25, September 1987
TOWN HALL, SWINDON, 27th June 1987
As Mardenbeat’s roving reporter I have been on the trail of Calne’s very own Jellyclouds as they play their out of town gigs. Posters in this area have been minimal and it has been pretty hard to track them down. However with the resources available to me and a hefty budget from Mardenbeat I managed to pin them down at a gig in Swindon. Some wit suggested I read Mardenbeat to find out where they’re playing but I’m not to be fooled by such distractions.
Since last attending the Town Hall, Swindon, things have changed. Seats have been added and there is no drinking in the hall. The ‘clouds have hidden themselves away in their dressing room and I’m sent on a mission to find some beer.
We wait for the band, the audience and I. I look at the audience and I think I know him. Eliminating the main act (I so wish I could) and the sound crew there is an audience of maybe eight (not even the obligatory dog). Such is the pulling power of the band that Jellyclouds are supporting.
Finally the quartet emerge from their dressing room straight on to the stage and launch straight into their set, kicking off, as always with “Midnight Train”. A much more confident set than their Calne showings, with no uncertain pauses. They appear to be coming to terms with the drum machine very well.
Despite the lack of an audience, the band give it all they’ve got and play what is probably their finest gig to date.
Pete Bradley - Mardenbeat #23, 1987
THE LINK CENTRE, SWINDON, 30th May 1987
The first thing you notice when Jellyclouds take the stage is that there's only three of them - their ranks have been reduced by 50%. Apparently Simon Bewley and Vikki Sinclair were only drafted in for their debut show and vocalist Louise Allen is taking her exams and can't make the gig.
Still, they play an interesting set and it's fascinating to hear Rod sings those songs of Steve's that are normally sung by Louise. I didn't stick around to see the main act
Jim Xavier - Mardenbeat #23, 1987
THE LINK CENTRE, SWINDON, 22nd August 1987
Stumbling onto the stage to the sounds of The Tryp overture, Jellyclouds took a while to sort themselves out. They’re obviously having problems with their sound on stage too – but to us punters it sounds ok, except that Christine Cotter’s guitar was nowhere to be heard. One thing that strikes me with Jellyclouds is that they’re all having a good time when they are playing. Even Steve who usually manages to maintain his stage persona of being utterly bored, fails to keep it up for the whole set. In any case he makes a good counterpoint to Christine standing stock still stage left.
It was while watching the Jellyclouds at Bradenstoke that the description ‘The Archies on Acid’ came to me. Has this anything to do with their plans to incorporate a cover of “Sugar Sugar” into their set?
Henry Race – Mardenbeat #25, September 1987
THE FLEECE & FIRKIN, BRISTOL, 2nd September 1987
The final venue for this report is The Fleece in Bristol. I walk in. The lights are low, but that’s okay, I just duck. At the bar I spend twenty minutes trying to decide what beer to drink. This pub has more hops than a kangaroo. The Jellyclouds hit the stage to the psychedelic sounds of The Tryp and play a set to an actual audience! They go down pretty well (in fact a let better than the main act) their infectious and unpretentious brand of ‘jangle fuzz bubble pop’ getting the toes a tapping and the hands a clapping. I discover that the next gig, at Salisbury is off. And so am I . . .
Don’t even ask! It was terrible. It took us nearly two hours to get there in the Jellymobile, breathing petrol fumes all the way (not as a recreational drug I might add). Then we had a tour of Basingstoke, which I’ve already had with Mark Angell on the way to Brighton, and I didn’t really want another. Finally we got to the College. As soon as we arrived we were ushered on stage and playing a set that was so bad I wished I could just leave my guitar feeding back and walk off the stage. No soundcheck, the PA was lousy, with no top on the vocals, and Rod, with new strings on his guitar, kept going out of tune.
