News Flash From Firestation

Remember in 2013 when the seventh volume came out as part of Firestation Records' 'Still Mad at Me?' 15th anniversary box and you assumed there would never be another 'Sound of Leamington Spa' compilation? Well, the best purveyor of '80s and early '90s indie pop has blessed us with not one but two editions in 2018 with the news of a volume 9 set to be released Oct. 20. Looks like Uwe Weigmann has dug deep again. How does he do it? Like volume 8, you will have your choice of double-gatefold vinyl or CD, and as before, the vinyl will have one bonus track. Here is the tracklist. Preorders start Oct. 5. If this is series is your thing, you know not to dawdle.

The Sound of Leamington Spa: Volume 9
1. Flex - You Lose
2. The Persuaders - You Turn Me On
3. Chinese Gangster Element - Joey
4. Fragile - Time To Be Together
5. Moloko - Never Know What You've Got
6. Spish - Honesty
7. The Fontaines - I Want Everything
8. Public Address - James Dean
9. Queue Dance - Crumbling Town
10. Circus x 3 - Man Like You
11. This Certain Kind - Unfortunate
12. Daniel Takes A Train - Wonderland (Original)
13. Cajun Moon - In The Waves
14. A Game Of Soldiers - Big Bad Money World
15. Three Boys And A Girl - I'll Be Standing There
16. Ice Factory - Jerusalem
17. The Dancing Bears - The Lonliest Sound
18. Future World Moves - Wednesday
19. Work - That Certain Feeling
20. Ten Million Quentins - He's Not Smiling

And from the archives, here is a quick Q&A I did with Mr. Weigmann when he revealed his plan to resurrect 'The Sound of Leamington Spa.'

One more bit of news on the Firestation front. Of all the lost bands the label has unearthed in recent years, perhaps my favorite has been Candy Opera. If you're fortunate enough to see them perform at Firestation's big birthday bash in Berlin on Oct. 20, you will have first dibs on 'Rarities,' 11 more tracks of demos and unreleased recordings from Liverpool's unsung heroes. Any leftover copies on the extremely limited release, if there are any, will be up for grabs to the rest of us poor schlubs a week later. I'll keep my fingers crossed.