25 YEARS OF RECORD COLLECTING: MEMORIES 1982 - 2007

 

2. The Sultans of Ping FC

 

“Itchy! Wake Up and Scratch Me”

 

“My brother knows Karl Marx he met him eating mushrooms in ‘The Peoples Park’; he said what do you think about my manifesto? He said my manifesto put it to the test-o, took it right down to the anarchist's party, I met a groovy guy he was arty farty,”

 

“Eat natural foods! Bathe twice daily! Fill your nostrils up with gravy!

Don't drink tea and don't drink coffee.

Cover your chin in Yorkshire toffee”

 

. “Dancing at the disco Bumper to Bumper, wait a minute Where’s my Jumper, Where’s Me Jumper”

 

“You’re Stupid S-T-U-P-I-D-KID! S-T-U-P-I-D-KID! S-T-U-P-I-D!”

 

 

Seemingly named as a ‘ironic tribute’ to Mark Knopfler’s iconic 1980s classic track, the Sultans of Ping FC came from Ireland and were signed to an offshoot of the established dance label run by Martin Heath, Rhythm King Records. However this band’s sound was probably the furthest away that you could get, from acts like ‘the Beatmasters’, ‘S ’Xpress’ and ‘Bomb the Bass’, as rather indulging in the club sounds of the time this band was a spiky power punk act (even so I would say that in some indie clubs this was great music to dance to).

 

While the original singles were lo-fi in both recording and cover design, as time progressed the sound and marketing became much more slicker, especially when ‘Rhythm King Records’ entered into a joint venture with Sony’s ‘UK and Ireland’ label group.

 

For their second album, released through ‘Epic UK’, the Sultans of Ping dropped the FC part of their name and went for a Japanese theme in their new project (in a way that I suppose it’s similar to Gwen Stefani) releasing such quality tunes as ‘Mitacho’ and ‘Itchy wake up and scratch me’.

 

After that the band, just like Irish contemporaries ‘the Frank and Walters’, became more serious and less like the cartoon punks the charts had become accustomed to. A few years later they truncated their name even further, so that they were just called ‘The Sultans’ and unfortunately the dumper beckoned.

 

However after many years of in-activity and other projects, news came through to the pages of ‘hotpress’ that they were back, Back, BACK!, and now the band can be found playing on the 90s revival circuit alongside people such band as ‘Northern Uproar’ and ‘Cud’

 

"Where's Me Jumper" - It was a bit of a "College Days/Indie Disco" favourite that one, I have to admit... I actually went to one of their early gigs circa '92, singer Niall was a complete nutter onstage :lol: .. I wasn't too keen on their debut album though tbh, I never really thought they could sustain a whole album's worth of material, the energy they generated at their gigs just didn't really translate onto album, some of it was okay, but most of it was dire...

I remember Where's My Jumper being played on Round Table (early 1992 i think).

Still have that show on tape somewhere.

However after many years of in-activity and other projects, news came through to the pages of ‘hotpress’ that they were back, Back, BACK!, and now the band can be found playing on the 90s revival circuit alongside people such band as ‘Northern Uproar’ and ‘Cud’

 

 

I'm not sure if I like the sound of a "90s revival circuit" - it makes me feel so old! :cry:

I remember Where's My Jumper being played on Round Table (early 1992 i think).

Still have that show on tape somewhere.

 

I used to love recording Round Table as well.

Where's Me Jumper is a classic. I was always more of a fan of The Frank and Walters myself though. On one of the many times I saw them live they were supported by a little-known band from Oxford called Radiohead.

Wow. Do you remember 'The Pale' as well?

Where's Me Jumper is a classic. I was always more of a fan of The Frank and Walters myself though. On one of the many times I saw them live they were supported by a little-known band from Oxford called Radiohead.

 

Yep, I first saw Radiohead play a gig in a little dive in Dundee, supporting Ride of all people :lol: , this was when they'd done about two EPs and "Creep" hadn't gone supernova

 

Sultans of Ping FC are the support act to Carter USM this November at Brixton Academy.

 

I loved 'Casual Sex in the Cineplex' but 'Teenage Drug' and whatever that last album was called weren't so hot.

Their highest charting single was actually "You Talk Too Much" (No.26 in 1993), but they will be best remembered for "Where's Me Jumper".

 

By the way, "Sultans Of Swing" was not an '80s hit, it was 1979 :)

 

Well I must have been mixing it up with something from the ‘Brothers In Arms’ album or even ‘Private Investigation’ (from my ‘Kodak Video Hits’ collection circa. 1982). I was never a big fan of Mark Knopfler and his band as I always preferred Chris Rea (and if you would like to print that infamous joke go ahead, be my guest).

Chris Straits? I never did get that.

Wow. Do you remember 'The Pale' as well?

 

Er, no.

Yep, I first saw Radiohead play a gig in a little dive in Dundee, supporting Ride of all people :lol: , this was when they'd done about two EPs and "Creep" hadn't gone supernova

 

That must have been around the same time as I saw them supporting The Frank and Walters. They'd had two EPs - including the original release of Creep - at the time. I've got both of them and they're now worth quite a lot.

 

At around the same time I saw a band called The Jennifers supporting Thousand Yard Stare. They had one single (Just Got Back Today) which sounded very much like Ride. After a couple members had finished their GCSEs they re-formed under a new name - Supergrass

Ah, challenges. The best I can do was seeing Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand in the Blisters back in 1997. Jackie McKeown of the 1990s was playing that night too in his former band The Yummy Fur.

Er, no.

 

‘The Pale’ are a trio that released the singles ‘Shut Up Jesus’ and ‘Dogs with No Tales’ on ‘A&M Records’ in the early 1990s. I think it was in about 1992 or at least it was about the same time that ‘Cud’ was popular. They were slightly ‘Balkan’ sounding and used mandolins in their spiky indie-pop, and I think they, like ‘The Frank & Walters’, are still going today in Ireland.

Ah, challenges. The best I can do was seeing Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand in the Blisters back in 1997. Jackie McKeown of the 1990s was playing that night too in his former band The Yummy Fur.

Sounds like the basis of a thread there!

Sounds like the basis of a thread there!

 

will the thread be:

 

why aren't hasn't 1990s charted when their songs are cool and the enemy have and they are just as f*** ugly????

 

or

 

before they were famous????

 

think one is more suited to the retro area obv :lol:

The answer to your question is probably daytime radio coverage. Yes, the 1990s have written some of the best songs of the last year and they're not too different to Franz Ferdinand but the modern consumer is as thick as f***.

 

In related news...and this is the last one...I realise this has gone way off topic and way off retro...Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub has just joined the 1990s. How cool?!

Are ‘Teenage Fanclub’ still recording together?