Comet Gain
Encyclopedia
Comet Gain are a British
indie pop
band, formed by singer-songwriter
and guitarist David Bower(aka David Feck/David Christian) in 1992, with influences including punk
, post-punk
and northern soul
. They have been cited heavily by current UK indie band The Cribs
as an inspiration.
The first full Comet Gain line-up released an EP
on Soul Static Sound, before signing with Wiiija
records for further EPs/singles and two albums
between 1993 and 1997. During this period Comet Gain cited and were often compared to Dexys Midnight Runners
; however their music ranged in influence and style from early-80s alternative pop through sixties girl-group sounds to pure punk. Partly as a result of these artistic differences, in early 1997 the majority of Comet Gain split and formed the band Velocette, remaining on Wiiija, leaving David Christian to continue Comet Gain with new members.
Joined by new vocalist Rachel Evans, alongside bassist Kay Ishikawa and guitarist Jon Slade (ex-Huggy Bear), Comet Gain released the comeback album Tigertown Pictures
in 1999, following a move to KRS
records. Guests on the record included John McKeown (The Yummy Fur). The follow-up record, Realistes
, saw Comet Gain joined by Chris Appelgren (The PeeChees
) and Kathleen Hanna
(Bikini Kill
) and showcased a more garage
influenced sound.
2005’s City Fallen Leaves
, released on Track and Field
records, saw the permanent addition as drummer of Woodie Taylor (ex-Morrissey
/The Meteors
) and presented a wider range of songwriting styles and a more expansive production including alt-country influences. Follow-up release Broken Record Prayers
compiled singles, Peel Sessions and unreleased tracks from 1998 to 2008 to further critical acclaim.
2010 and 2011 saw the release of a series of limited-edition singles to support new album Howl of the Lonely Crowd (Fortuna Pop!
records). Produced by Edwyn Collins
, with guests including Ryan Jarman
(The Cribs), the album cemented Comet Gain’s reputation as respected and influential indie-pop veterans. During this period, Comet Gain settled as a 7-piece band with the addition of Ben Phillipson (ex-Kicker, Eighteenth Day of May) on guitar and backing vocals and Anne Laure Guillain on keyboards and backing vocals.
Members of Comet Gain collaborate with tourmates Crystal Stilts
and others as Cinema Red and Blue, a long-term side project which released a single and an eponymous album in 2010. A follow up EP was released in October 2011.
Additional Members
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band, formed by singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
and guitarist David Bower(aka David Feck/David Christian) in 1992, with influences including punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
and northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
. They have been cited heavily by current UK indie band The Cribs
The Cribs
The Cribs are an English three-piece indie rock band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band consists of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The Smiths and Modest Mouse guitarist Johnny Marr who was made a formal member of the group...
as an inspiration.
The first full Comet Gain line-up released an EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
on Soul Static Sound, before signing with Wiiija
Wiiija
Wiiija was a British independent record label. It was founded in 1988 by staff from the Rough Trade Shop in Notting Hill, London. The name Wiiija is a corruption of W11 1JA, the postcode of the Rough Trade Shop in Talbot Street....
records for further EPs/singles and two albums
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
between 1993 and 1997. During this period Comet Gain cited and were often compared to Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....
; however their music ranged in influence and style from early-80s alternative pop through sixties girl-group sounds to pure punk. Partly as a result of these artistic differences, in early 1997 the majority of Comet Gain split and formed the band Velocette, remaining on Wiiija, leaving David Christian to continue Comet Gain with new members.
Joined by new vocalist Rachel Evans, alongside bassist Kay Ishikawa and guitarist Jon Slade (ex-Huggy Bear), Comet Gain released the comeback album Tigertown Pictures
Tigertown Pictures
Tigertown Pictures is the third album by British indie pop band Comet Gain. It followed a change of record label to Kill Rock Stars and introduced a new band line-up with the exception of frontman/songwriter David Christian.-Track listing:...
in 1999, following a move to KRS
Kill Rock Stars
Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
records. Guests on the record included John McKeown (The Yummy Fur). The follow-up record, Realistes
Réalistes
Réalistes is the fourth album by British indie pop band Comet Gain.-Track listing:# "Kids at the Club" - 4:14# "Why I Try to Look So Bad" - 2:54# "I Close My Eyes to Think of God" - 1:56# "My Defiance" - 3:17# "Carry On Living" - 2:51...
, saw Comet Gain joined by Chris Appelgren (The PeeChees
The PeeChees
The PeeChee All-Season Sensations were a punk band formed in 1994 by Lookout! Records co-owners Christopher Appelgren , Molly Neuman , along with guitarist Carlos Cañedo , and bass player Rop Vasquez .The PeeChees...
) and Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna
Kathleen Hanna is an American musician, feminist activist, and punk zine writer. In the early- to mid-1990s she was the lead singer and songwriter of Bikini Kill, before fronting Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s...
(Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill was an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington in October 1990. The group consisted of vocalist and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement,...
) and showcased a more garage
Garage rock
Garage rock is a raw form of rock and roll that was first popular in the United States and Canada from about 1963 to 1967. During the 1960s, it was not recognized as a separate music genre and had no specific name...
influenced sound.
2005’s City Fallen Leaves
City Fallen Leaves
City Fallen Leaves is the fifth album by British indie pop band Comet Gain.-Track listing:# "The Fists in the Pocket" - 3:13# "Days I Forgot to Write Down" - 5:33# "Daydream Scars" - 3:00# "Bored Roar" - 2:53# "Seven Sisters to Silverlake" - 2:43...
, released on Track and Field
The Track & Field Organisation
The Track & Field Organization is a London based independent record label, founded in 1999 by Steven Drew and Paul Wright. The label's first release was Kicker's "Said and Done" / "Chancifer" single, in April 2000, and The Tyde's debut album, Once, in March 2001.-Artists:* Beatnik Filmstars* The...
records, saw the permanent addition as drummer of Woodie Taylor (ex-Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
/The Meteors
The Meteors
The Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre—which fuses punk rock with rockabilly—its distinctive sound and style...
) and presented a wider range of songwriting styles and a more expansive production including alt-country influences. Follow-up release Broken Record Prayers
Broken Record Prayers
Broken Record Prayers is a compilation album by British indie pop band Comet Gain.It was released in the UK on 28 October 2008 through M.J...
compiled singles, Peel Sessions and unreleased tracks from 1998 to 2008 to further critical acclaim.
2010 and 2011 saw the release of a series of limited-edition singles to support new album Howl of the Lonely Crowd (Fortuna Pop!
Fortuna Pop!
Fortuna Pop! is a British independent record label based in London, started in 1996 by Sean Price. It specialises in indie pop and indie rock music, released on 7" single, CD and vinyl....
records). Produced by Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Collins
Edwyn Stephen Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice...
, with guests including Ryan Jarman
Ryan Jarman
Ryan James Jarman is the guitarist and vocalist with English rock band The Cribs.-The Cribs:Ryan formed The Cribs in the early 2000s with his identical twin brother Gary and younger brother Ross....
(The Cribs), the album cemented Comet Gain’s reputation as respected and influential indie-pop veterans. During this period, Comet Gain settled as a 7-piece band with the addition of Ben Phillipson (ex-Kicker, Eighteenth Day of May) on guitar and backing vocals and Anne Laure Guillain on keyboards and backing vocals.
Members of Comet Gain collaborate with tourmates Crystal Stilts
Crystal Stilts
-History:Crystal Stilts was formed in 2003 by Brad Hargett and JB Townsend. After releasing one single and an EP, the pair expanded to five members before signing to Slumberland Records in the US and Angular Recording Corporation in Europe and releasing their debut, Alight of Night, in 2008...
and others as Cinema Red and Blue, a long-term side project which released a single and an eponymous album in 2010. A follow up EP was released in October 2011.
1993-1997
- David Charlie Feck (vocals, guitar, keys)
- Sarah Bleach (vocals)
- Sam Pluck (guitar)
- Jax Coombes (bass, keyboards)
- Phil Sutton (drums)
1997-
Main Band (As of 2011)- David Charlie Christian Feck (vocals, guitar)
- Rachel Evans (vocals, percussion)
- Ben Phillipson (guitar, vocals)
- Jon Slade (guitar, bass)
- Anne Laure Guillain (keys, backing vocals, percussion)
- Kay Ishikawa (bass)
- M.J."Woodie" Taylor (drums, production)
Additional Members
- Blair Cowl (guitar, bass) (1997–1999)
- Erik Brunulf (guitar, bass) (2001)
- Darren Smyth (drums) (1997–2001)
- Chris Appelgren (drums) (2002)
- Gary Jarman (live drums - one gig) (2008)
Singles & EPs
- "Holloway Sweethearts EP" (7" / 1994 / Soul Static Sound)
- "Million And Nine" (one sided 7" / 1995 / Wiiija)
- "The Gettin' Ready EP" (7" & CD / 1995 / Wiiija)
- "Say Yes! (To International Socialism) EP" (7"/CD / 1996 / Wiiija)
- "Strength" (7" & CD / 1997 / Wiiija)
- "Jack Nance Hair" (7" / 1998 / Mei Mei Records)
- "Mailorder Freaks Singles Club" [If I Had a Soul, He Walked By Night, Brothers Off the Block] (7" / Sept. 1998 / Kill Rock Stars)
- "Red Menace EP" (7" / 1999 / Piao! Records)
- "You Can Hide Your Love Forever" (7" / 2001 / Fortuna Pop!)
- "Beautiful Despair" (12" / Jul. 2006 / What's Your Rupture?What's Your Rupture?What's Your Rupture? is a New York-based independent record label that specializes in small-run vinyl releases. The label gained recognition in 2005 with the release of Love Is All's Nine Times That Same Song and a 12" release of Giddy Stratospheres from The Long Blondes...
) - "Love Without Lies" (7" / Oct. 2008 / Twee as Fuck / What's Your Rupture?)
- "Herbert Hunke Pt 1" (7" / Feb. 2009 / Germs of Youth)
- "The Weekend Dreams" (7" split with Hello Cuca / May 2010 / Doble Vida Discos)
- "I Never Happened EP" (7" / 2010 / What's Your Rupture?)
- "Working Circle Explosive" (ltd edition split 7" w/Crystal Stilts / 2011 / Fortuna Pop!)
- "An Arcade From the Warm Rain That Falls" [ltd edition 7" / 2011 / Fortuna Pop!]
Albums
- Casino ClassicsCasino Classics (Comet Gain album)Casino Classics is the debut album by British indie pop band Comet Gain. The liner notes were provided by Television Personalities frontman Dan Treacy.-Track listing:# "Footstompers" - 2:27# "Million and Nine" - 3:24# "Turnpike County Blue" - 2:53...
(CD & LP / 1995 / Wiiija) - Magnetic PoetryMagnetic Poetry (album)Magnetic Poetry is the second album by British indie pop band Comet Gain. The album had extra tracks added for its American release and was named Sneaky.-Track listing:# "Strength" - 3:05# "Raspberries" - 3:39# "Language of the Spy" - 1:22...
(CD & LP / 1997 / Wiiija) / "SneakyMagnetic Poetry (album)Magnetic Poetry is the second album by British indie pop band Comet Gain. The album had extra tracks added for its American release and was named Sneaky.-Track listing:# "Strength" - 3:05# "Raspberries" - 3:39# "Language of the Spy" - 1:22...
" (CD & LP / 1997 / Beggars Banquet USABeggars Banquet RecordsBeggars Banquet is an English independent record label that began as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin, and is part of the Beggars Group of labels...
) - Tigertown PicturesTigertown PicturesTigertown Pictures is the third album by British indie pop band Comet Gain. It followed a change of record label to Kill Rock Stars and introduced a new band line-up with the exception of frontman/songwriter David Christian.-Track listing:...
(CD & LP+7" / 1998 / Fortuna Pop! / Kill Rock Stars) - RéalistesRéalistesRéalistes is the fourth album by British indie pop band Comet Gain.-Track listing:# "Kids at the Club" - 4:14# "Why I Try to Look So Bad" - 2:54# "I Close My Eyes to Think of God" - 1:56# "My Defiance" - 3:17# "Carry On Living" - 2:51...
(CD & LP / 2002 / Milou Studios / Kill Rock Stars) - City Fallen LeavesCity Fallen LeavesCity Fallen Leaves is the fifth album by British indie pop band Comet Gain.-Track listing:# "The Fists in the Pocket" - 3:13# "Days I Forgot to Write Down" - 5:33# "Daydream Scars" - 3:00# "Bored Roar" - 2:53# "Seven Sisters to Silverlake" - 2:43...
(CD & LP/ 2005 / The Track & Field Organisation / Kill Rock Stars) - Howl Of The Lonely Crowd (CD & LP/ 2011 / Fortuna Pop! / What's Your Rupture?)
Compilations
- Broken Record PrayersBroken Record PrayersBroken Record Prayers is a compilation album by British indie pop band Comet Gain.It was released in the UK on 28 October 2008 through M.J...
(CD & LP/ 2008 / Milou Studios / What's Your Rupture?)
Compilation appearances
- Aliens At War & A Kind Of Loving on "Some Hearts Paid To Lie" (2x7" / 1993 / Wiiija)
- You’ve Been Gone Too Long (live) on Heartache fanzine tape (CS / 1995 / Heartache fanzine)
- Like A Sparrow on "Godz Is Not A Put-On" (Godz tribute) (LP+7" / 1996 / Lissy's Records)
- Dreams Of A Working Girl on "NME C96" (CD / 1996 / NMENMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
) - Pinstriped Rebel (Would Be Goods cover) on "All Done With Mirrors" (CD / 1998 / Le Grand Magistery)
- Asleep On The Snow on "A Christmas Gift From Fortuna Pop!" (CDEP / 2000 / Fortuna Pop!)
- I Close My Eyes To Think Of God on "Jackson's Jukebox" (CD / Kill Rock Stars)
- Look At You Now, You’re Crying on "Fields And StreamsFields and StreamsFields and Streams is a double CD compilation album released by the label Kill Rock Stars on May 7, 2002.-Track list:CD 1# "Memo From The Desk of the Quails - The Quails# "Sex Object - Manda & The Marbles# "Waste of Time" - The Coolies...
" (2xCD / 2002 / Kill Rock Stars) - Ann Don’t Cry on "Everything Is Ending Here: A Tribute To Pavement)" (2xCD / 2003 / Homesleep Records)
- Look At You Now, You’re Crying on "POW! to the people" (2xCD / 2003 / The Track & Field Organisation)
- If You Ever Walk Out Of My Life (Dena Barnes cover) on "More Soul Than Wigan Casino" (7" / 2005 / Fortuna Pop!)
- Beautiful Despair, Never Die & Mainlining Mystery on "Imagine The Shapes" (CD / feb. 2007 / What's Your Rupture?What's Your Rupture?What's Your Rupture? is a New York-based independent record label that specializes in small-run vinyl releases. The label gained recognition in 2005 with the release of Love Is All's Nine Times That Same Song and a 12" release of Giddy Stratospheres from The Long Blondes...
)
External links
- Comet Gain at Kill Rock StarsKill Rock StarsKill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in 1991 by Slim Moon and based in both Olympia, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, making it difficult to pigeonhole as having any one artistic mission...
- A Layer Of Chips 2002 interview
- Scaruffi discography (to 2005)
- March 2009 interview
- August 2009 interview
- Fortuna Pop! promo 2011
- Clash 2011 interview
- Fog Of Ideas album preview
- Stereosanctity overview (in 5 parts)
- Oct 2011 interview
- Oct 2011 interview
- Retrospective on first album