close lobsters
Info by Peter Hahndorf for the indiepop-list in October 1995
Close Lobsters started back in 1985 in Paisley, a suburb of Glasgow. They released their first song
'Firestation Towers' on the C86 tape in the summer of 86. This made them part of the whole C86 scene  which was hyped by the NME and others in eighty-six. They signed to Fire Records and released their first single (7"/12") "Going To Heaven To See If It Rains" in November.

They caught my attention when climbing up the indiecharts with that single in December. In 1987 the
released two more excellent singles "Never Seen Before" and "Let's Make Some Plans" plus the debut  album "Foxheads Stalk This Land". Along with all forthcoming releases on Fire Records. In Spring '88  Strange Fruit released their first Janice Long radio session from June 1986 on record. They did another  one for John Peel in December 1987.

Fans had to wait until September '88 for a new Close Lobsters record (What Is There To Smile About)  but meanwhile they toured a lot including the continent and I had the pleasure to see them in April. This  gig was tremendous, certainly one of the ten best I've ever been to.

Even early in their career the caught the attention of American college radio stations and in 89 finally
'made it' over there. They played at the New Music Seminar in NYC at toured quite a bit stateside.

Their 1989 releases "Headache Rhetoric" (LP/CD) and "Nature Thing" (7"/12"/CD5) lost their original  shambling sound and the songs became longer and slightly Amercianised .-) The band even lived in the  states for a while. Their last release was a 7" on the Caff label in fall '89 containing 1985
demo-versions of later released tracks.

I know they still played gig in Scotland around '91/92 and I never saw an official split-announcement but I doubt that they are still around.

By Peter Hahndorf for the indiepop-list in October 1995