THE
GROOVE FARM
1986-1990
Andrew
Jarrett (Vocals/Guitars)
Jon
Kent (Guitars)
Ian
‘
Darren
Price (Drums 86 / 87)
Rupert
Taylor (Organ 87 / Bass 88-90)
Jeremy
Butler (Drums 88-90)
The Groove Farm were a garage band, with a strong DIY (lo-fi) attitude. Inspired by
Pebbles and Nuggets albums, and bands like The Milkshakes. Formed in mid 1986, it
was seeing The Flatmates second gig (Supporting The Wedding Present at the now
legendary Tropic Club) that inspired Andrew to "get out of the rehearsal room and onto
the stage" despite both himself and guitarist Jon, having barely learned four chords
between them!
Their first EP released in November 1986 saw them linked in with the C86 movement
that
was then sweeping
Live the band were occasionally a shambles, but also occasionally quite brilliant.
Sadly with recording budgets of £0.00, the records they produced were nowhere near as
good as seeing the band play live.
Even when they moved to The Subway Organisation record label, they had to contend
with studio engineers who didn’t ‘get’ what they wanted to sound like, and the records still
didn’t really cut it. In fact, the band thought the 'better' recordings were actually worse,
sounding slightly flat.
But try to look / listen beyond the not too good sound and you’ll discover some great
pop songs.
The band called it a day in 1990 and Beatnik Filmstars were formed.
In 2000 the second (and generally considered best) line up: Kent, Jarrett, Butler & Taylor,
re-formed for a one off show as part of the Mobstar Pop Frenzy weekender...
They have not ruled out the possibility of doing this one more time, if the right offer
comes along.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING:
Heaven Is Blue
It
Always Rains On Sunday
Nancy
Sinatra
No One Like You
Baby Blue Marine (Totally Total version)
Riot
On Sunset Strip
Basil
I'm
Never Going To Fall In Love Again
Driving
In Your New Car (Mini Mix)
AVOID
AT ALL COSTS! :
Alvin
Is King
Hate
Us & We’ll Love You To Death EP
DISCOGRAPHY
7”
SORE
HEADS & HAPPY HEARTS EP (Raving Pop Blast!)
heaven is blue / it always rains on sunday / God's tears / my feet keep slipping
BABY
BLUE MARINE (Kvatch Flexi Disc with The Sea Urchins)
baby blue marine (recorded on cassette at a rehearsal)
ONLY THE MOST IGNORANT GUTLESS SHEEP-BRAINED POLTROON CAN
DENY THEM NOW EP. (Raving
Pop Blast!)
in the summertime / surfin' impossible! / captain fantastic / couldn't get to sleep
SURFIN’
INTO YOUR HEART (Subway)
surfin' into your heart / me! me! me!
HEAVEN
IS BLUE 89 (Woosh Red Vinyl Flexi Disc with Esmerelda’s Kite)
heaven is blue 89 (recorded on cassette at rehearsal)
BAGISM
EP. (Raving Pop Blast!)
surfin' into your heart /Danny says /the best part of being with you /captain fantastic (all live)
12”
/ 10” EP
GOING
BANANAS WITH… (Subway)
surfin' into your heart / me! me! me! / what better way to be? / Hawaii 5 seconds /
turning me upside down /no friend of mine
THE
BIG BLACK PLASTIC EXPLOSION (Subway)
the big black plastic explosion (it's alright) / Nancy Sinatra /baby blue marine /
riot on sunset strip / red dress
DRIVING
IN YOUR NEW CAR (Subway 10”)
driving in your new car (mini mix) / epistle to Dippy / expanding reindeer /
i can't dance with you
HATE
US & WE’LL LOVE YOU TO DEATH EP (Raving Pop Blast)
cloud 8 / shine / she is so /strum / out of my mind (live)
PRESENT
(Raving Pop Blast!)
basil / everybody needs someone to love them while they're looking for someone to love /
stop! / close /just a silly phase i'm going through
LP
out of my mind (over you / an average day in the life / what better way to be? /
empty heart / back of my mind / timebomb / sad for you / driving in your new car /
the time is now / (i can't stand) another sunny day
PLUG
(THE STORY OF POP SO FAR) (Raving Pop Blast!)
i'm never going to fall in love again /i don't blame you /please don't make me
unhappy / world would die for you / number one / it's not that i can't it's just
that i don't want to / no one like you /it might not nean that much to you but it
means a lot to me /corrupt / drag me under / discotheque / i don't like you (but
i can't get used to it) / forever is a long time / plug.
CD
THE
BEST PARTS VOLUME 1 (Mobstar)
heaven is blue / just a silly phase i'm going through /baby blue marine (session) /
please don't make me unhappy / the best part of being with you / sad for
you (alternate version) / what better way to be? (4 track demo) / it always rains
on sunday /strum / captain fantastic (session) / baby blue marine (flexi) / surfin into
your heart (live) / big black plastic explosion (alternative version) / God's tears /
couldn't get to sleep / basil / crazy day sunshine girl / it might not mean that much
to you but it means a lot to me / Nancy Sinatra (alternative version) / turning me
upside down (session) / in the summertime / no one like you. (hidden tracks recorded
live at Glastonbury Festival 1987)
TOTALLY
TOTAL (Mobstar)
cloud 8 / captain fantastic / surfin' into your heart / baby blue marine /
don't you try that old routine on me / couldn't get to sleep / back of my mind /
crazy day sunshine girl / Nancy Sinatra / timebomb / heaven is blue / stop! / big
black plastic explosion / surfin' into your heart / surfin' impossible! / the best part
of being with you / it always rains on sunday (all live) Valleri / get out of my life /
turning me upside down /captain fantastic / heaven is blue / oh gosh! / surfin'
impossible! / step inside love / you can't deny it can you? / basil / something's
strange about the rain. (All demos) The recording quality on many of the tracks
here is rough!
There have been many compilations over the years that have featured Groove Farm tracks.
Some of the more interesting ones :
SURFIN’
IN THE SUBWAY (Subway)
THE
ROUGH TRADE SHOPS / INDIEPOP (Mute)
CD86 (Santuary)
"And I doubt that your intentions
are any more than selfish.
I think it's time we called it a day"