Graham Day & The Forefathers - Good Things

Medway garage legends take a trawl through their own back pages on new album.

Don't look back. So have said such wise luminaries as John Lee Hooker, Bob Dylan and Oasis through rock's history. Admirable sentiments, but in their defence they probably weren't familiar with the recorded output one Mr. Graham Day. As a member of The Prisoners, The Prime Movers and The Solarflares, as well as more recently in The Buff Medways and Graham Day & The Gaolers, Day has lit up the garage rock firmament for over 3 decades.

For the Medway mod-rocker's latest LP he's teamed up with two of his old musical cohorts to breathe new life into some of the best songs of his 30-year career. New band Graham Day & The Forefathers sees Graham re-unite with bassist Alan Crockford (also ex-Prisoners/Prime Movers/Solarflares) and drummer Wolf Howard (Prime Movers/Solar Flares/James Taylor Quartet/Buff Medways).

After a debut single earlier in the year (Love Me Lies on State Records), the band are now releasing Good Things, an album that's made up of newly recorded versions of Day's songs from his time in The Solarflares, The Prisoners and The Prime Movers. There's also room for a couple of tracks from Day's most recent band, Graham Day & The Gaolers.

Good Things is the first LP on the newly resurrected Own-Up Records and is everything you'd expect from a Medway garage record. A mix of '60s R&B, mod-rock swagger, and incendiary power trio bite. With the backing tracks recorded quickly and live in one session and vocals added later via computer, (the one concession to modern techniques), it has that eternal raw garage feel that never seems to lose its appeal.

There's a rare level of intuitive playing and understanding between the trio that can only have come by having shared countless gigs. By covering songs from your own back catalogue there's always a danger of treading water, but there's more attitude and sonic attack on this album than most bands half their age could muster. Make no mistake, this is no half-arsed re-hash.

It's an album that works well as a alternative greatest hits set, though if this is your first experience of the Graham Day sound it will certainly whet your appetite for a more detailed delve into his previous records. You could argue that by re-visiting their own songbook Day & The Forefathers are resting on their laurels, but when the results sound this good frankly who cares.

Click here for more on Graham Day & The Forefathers.

The Galileo 7 - False Memory Lane (OUT NOW!)

Former Prisoners bassist Allan Crockford returns with third of album of softly psychedelic Britpop.

As bass player for The Prisoners, Allan Crockford's influence on British guitar music is assured. That the band never went on to mainstream success remains a mystery, but their legacy resonates still. And of course there are many ways to measure success, one being how much enthusiasm and desire one maintains to carry on making music. With this in mind you could say Allan Crockford and Prisoners' guitarist Graham Day are two of the most successful musicians around, though I doubt you'd recognize them on the street. And getting papped is probably not an issue for them. As Graham Day & The Forefathers they've just released a storming debut single (read about it here).

Crockford is a busy chap – along with bass-playing for the Forefathers, he's the main writer, vocalist and guitarist in his own band The Galileo 7, whose third long-player False Memory Lane has recently been released. Compared to The Forefathers material it's a record that's less about sonic attack, more about melody and harmony. It's altogether softer on the ear, subtler, though no less appealing. A satisfying blend of Medway mod, Britpop and home counties soft psychedelia, its key comparisons would be XTC, Martin Newell, and the much underrated Dodgy. With a catchy set of tunes, (driven by the sort of melodies Noel Gallagher would love to have written), plenty of bah-bah-bahs in the backing vocals, acoustic textures and vintage Mellotron upping the soft-psych quota, it's one of the summer's best under-the-radar releases.

It's worth noting the Medway towns are something of an anomaly, being out of step with the home counties general air of respectability and conformity. Rather than the Good Life's Margot and Jerry, its population is seemingly made up of vintage guitar wielding, retrogressive garage rockers intent on trying to recreate authentic '60s beat recordings. Sounds like heaven on earth doesn't it. Perhaps it's this desire to recreate that's behind the album's title. False Memory Lane would certainly be an apt street name for Rochester or Chatham. Town planners, you can have that one on Allan Crockford. The campaign starts here.

Click here for The Galileo 7's website.

Graham Day & The Forefathers – Love Me Lies (Ltd 7” - released 19th May)

Heavy slab of mod-rock from Medway legend. Part five in State Records' Soundgate Sound Acetate series.

State Records continue to release consistently good garage singles. As their tag-line says they release “records that sound like records”. Part six in their Sandgate Sound Acetate series could well be the best yet, and marks the vinyl debut for Graham Day's new band The Forefathers. The Medway garage legend is best known for his records with the Prisoners, the Solar Flares, and the Prime Movers. Though after these bands he's continued to put out some sterling music as leader as Graham Day &The Gaolers, along with his stint as bassist in The Buff Medways. Graham's new band the Forefathers sees him reunite with Prime Movers/Buffs drummer Wolf Howard,with bass player Allan Crockford completing the power trio line-up.

A-side “Love Me Lies” opens with piercing guitar feedback before the swaggering riff kicks in. It's the kind of ballsy mod-rock that recalls the best of Marriott, Townshend, and early Jimi Hendrix Experience, complete with a brash rawness rarely heard these days. Flipside “30-60-90” is a manic freakbeat instrumental which showcases just how tight a unit this band is. As a live group they must take your head off. This single is limited to 500 copies on heavy vinyl with hand-stamped sleeve. My guess is that it will sell out fairly quickly so get your pre-orders in early.

Click here for more on Graham Day & The Forefathers.

Click here for the State Records website.