Endorphin
Bath & Todd E. Jones presents....
What do Close Lobsters Mean
To You?
Here are the emails and respones of people
who express their feelings on the music of Close Lobsters and The Official
Close Lobsters Home Page
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Todd,
It's pretty hard for me to explain how much I appreciate
the music of Close
Lobsters.Christ, I've only been online for about a week,and I just
typed in the name of the band on a whim,certainly not
expecting to find such a fine site totally devoted to the legend of
Close
Lobsters.
I reckon I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen
them perform live,but it must be around
fifteen or sixteen gigs - each and every one a sheer adrenaline rush.
The first single "Heaven"
(released in the UK in autumn '86),was a jangling classic, which I first
heard on a late night alternative radio show ,which I was immediately compelled
to purchase.The 'b' side comprised of 'boys and girls' and 'pathetik trivia'
which later surfaced on 'Foxheads'
under the guise of 'pathetique' That superb single was the
Lobsters only release at the time of my first experience of a live performance,which
came while supporting The Wedding Present at Newcastle University,Feb '87.My
mate "the lawman" and I used to travel all over the country following TWP,which
was soon to become the done thing for the Lobsters too.Successive gigs
followed in Glasgow and Edinburgh,and by the end of the Edinburgh gig,we
were pretty much addicted.
So, to cut a very long story short,this collection of
blokes from Paisley (town of pattern)gave me a
helluva good times,helluva drunken times and basically lit my life
up from that first gig to the last.It is
such a travesty that their genius wasn't appreciated by a greater audience.To
read of Tam Donnelly
suggesting a re-incarnation could be possible sends a shiver down my
spine,but realistically, I know It will never happen.
So all hail Andy,
Bob, Womble, Fadge and Tam. If I live to the year 3000, I'll never see,or
hear,their like again.
Regards,
Big Scott.
(Scott McKenzie from The United Kingdom)
Hi Todd,
I found your Close
Lobsters home page from a link while searching for some of their rare
records on Gemm. I must say, your page is probably the best I've seen for
any band. All I have by the Close
Lobsters are all three albums on CD. I wish I had their more earlier
non album hits....
... Modern indie pop just isn't the same. I found
in the 80's, the bands all had great vocal and musical talent. Their music
was never loud and annoying but rather, was very soothing, relaxing, romantic,
and even demonstrated a high degree of morality. Bring back the good old
days!!!! Anyway, I am thankful to come accross your site and I find myself
visiting it very often and I never find it boring. Please keep in touch.
...
Your web site is awesome and very informative. Here
are the reasons why I like Close lobsters:
1. Prophecy is an amazing song
2. I kiss the flowers is very relaxing
3. A violently pretty face is the best 2 minutes of music I have ever
heard.
4. From This Day On makes me just want to listen to the close lobsters
from this day on.
5. Andrew has a cool voice
6. The chiming, melodic guitars put me in a happy mood and I truly
see colours when I close my eyes.
7. anyone who doesn't think the close lobsters are good are just too
bloody stupid!!!!
8. There music is as great sounding today as it was 12 years ago.
9. They make todays indiepop bands sound like indiepoop bands.
10. my two brothers also think they are one totally cool, timeless,
talented, and extremely ntertaining
band.
Take care Dude! Keep the Lobster spirit alive!!!!!.
Your freind,
Kerwin
(Ken Allim)
Hi Todd,
I was just listening last night to a tape I made that compiled my favorite
tracks from Foxheads,
What
Is There To Smile About, and Headache
while accelerating through the 2nd act of Greg Egan's fantastic book Permutation
City, and while the echoes of the songs were still playing pinball in my
brain I thought I'd check the web again for info on the band and see if
there were any cds to be found out there in cyberspace. And I came across
your shrine, the heavens opened wide and a brilliant light shone done on
me at my workstation (cue blue flash), illuminating my cubical with an
unearthly crystalline glow as an ominous voice declared: how could you
have been so bloody stupid to think that you were the only one in the multiverse
still listening to the Close
Lobsters? Now I have seen the light, and I want to thank you for beating
me to the punch and giving the band a well-deserved and very well designed
sector on the web. What I like about the Close
Lobsters the most is that their songs still sound as fresh, dynamic,
eluding, and electric as the first time they burst into my eardrums. I
first played Foxheads back in 1988 when I came across the album (remember
vinyl?) in the record library of the radio station at my college in Rockville,
MD where I was a volunteer DJ and resident vinyl-worm of the music library.
After taking the thing home and bonding with it, the songs became regular
guests on my weekly radio show, in my walkman and on mix tapes, and I passed
on the glorious guitar gospel according to the Lobsters to many friends
of mine and so on, and so on. What Is There To Smile About was my soundtrack
to the summer of '88 and that 6 song loop has been auto-reversing in my
head ever since. Headache Rhetoric teased me from record store bins when
I didn't have the cash to spare in '89, and then leaped into my eager hands
which immediately plugged the tape into my walkman for about a year where
it first became part of the machinery, then achieved an integrated, vibrating,
particle-colliding whole-ness with the mechanism until I couldn't tell
the difference between the motor, the wires, the headphones, the control
buttons, the magnetic tape, and the music itself. A powderkeg indeed, with
subliminal instructions: get a job, get a job, get a job...Here it is 1999,
and
what could be a better time and place to be with a collection of Close
Lobsters songs close at hand? I Take Bribes still reverberates as true
as ever and I Kiss The Flower still sparkles like the lost link between
nature, indie bands, sunshine, starlight, moonshadows, dreams, and the
12 strings of Christmas.
Take care,
Tom Miller
"Every night I wake up a thousand times, walk in circles just to clear
my head"
Todd E. Jones,
Congratulations for the Close
Lobsters Home Page, especially because it's a rare and unique thing
on the internet. I appreciate your effort on putting all these informations
together not only for the band fans but also for those who want to discover
Close
Lobsters. You know, it's very difficult to find something about them.
I have the What
Is There To Smile About? record and recently have acquired Headache
Rhetoric. Next step, Foxheads
Stalk This Land. The music of Close Lobsters is much of the 80's, but
it's still nowadays refreshing and vigorous, reinforcing the simple and
intelligent song. Finally, thank you so much for the lyrics. It's
not usual neither easy to be a Close Lobsters fan in Brazil!
All the best,
Cassio.
Todd -
I checked out your site on the aforementioned band recently and was
surprised to read that many others like myself still hold this sadly forgotten
band to their hearts. I have a plethora of clippings reviews and photographs
that I can forward to you in due course, to include on the site if you
wish. ... In total I must have seen them about 7 or 8 times live and they
very rarely disappointed in the performances they gave. Their records also
appear to have that timeless quality to them in that even today they still
sound as fresh as they were when I first pulled the vinyl out the sleeve
of Foxheads all those years ago. Anyway enough of the nostalgia, I'll be
in touch in the not too distant future, but let me know if your interested
in including my information on you site.
Cheers Jim Barr.....
Hi, I just tried a search the other day, found nothing, was going back
through a old Felt page and somehow stumbled on your page... whew! I fell
in love with the Close
Lobsters around the time of foxheads and have been hooked ever since....
I managed to see them in high school at a small club in Cleveland Ohio
for the Headache
Rhetoric tour... There were about 6 people there and they rocked so
hard ... Burnett doing cool moves and fancy dancing,... wearing dogtags
if i remember correctly... They did a cool version of Hey Hey My My where
Burnett would spit "Rock'n' Roll is a pig-sty" to cancel out Neil Young's
orignal refrain. They seemed to be cutting on American pop a lot,... a
couple Madonna jokes here and there.... and the band was amazing to see
play... Just wanted to thank you for the page... it's really great... okay...
gonna run do run do run...
Take care and all the best,
Derek Gedalecia
Hi. Todd,
I notice you do the
official CLOSE LOBSTERS page. I am, myself, a rather large Close
Lobsters fan (in particular their early records on Fire). You may or
may not know how influential they have been in the indiepop community.
There is a new record label in Germany called Firestation Tower for instance.
(Peter Hahndorf, who wrote that piece on the Lobsters, is also very well
known in the world of indiepop.) Anyhow, thanks for the great site.
I agree that its hard for music to get much better than Foxheads.
And err...do you know anything about possible reissues of the early singles.
I have the song "never seen before" on a compilation and it is so incredible.
Unfortunately their early singles are hard to find in the states (they
have all been deleted by fire...).
Matt Neimark
Hi, Nice site! I also like Close
Lobsters very much ... especially "I Kiss The Flowers in Bloom"
in their 1st "Foxhead
Stalk This Land". It's a perfect song! I myself maintain a site about
Hurrah! of Kitchenware Records.
http://www.netjoy.ne.jp/~konishi
Regards from Japan,
Katsumi Konishi
Hi Todd,
I've asked tons of people what happenned to Close Lobsters and no one
really knows. Finally I find your Official
CLOSE LOBSTERS web site with all the lyrics and stuff. Wow!
now i can figure out the lyrics to the old songs. I saw Lobsters play in
Lawrence KS around 89 or 90 with Bob Mould. They actually blew Bob
away. The singer came out in shorts with suspenders and it wasn't
that warm out.. I was on the front row and all I can say is it rocked!
Thanks,
Mark Westfall
Todd,
thank someone for the net...I am so glad I found your site...I love
the CLOSE
LOBSTERS! I played their tape many times, so many I have worn them
out...I did find WHAT
IS THERE TO SMILE ABOUT?, last week in a used cd section of a mom
and pop music shop...I screamed out loud...I was so happy...I cannot find
FOXHEADS
STALK THIS LAND (my favourite!) anywhere... They are in my top 5 of
all time greatest bands!!!! .....foxheads do stalk this land...
thanks...
david leach
Hello,
I must first tell you that it was fantastic to stumble upon your Official
Close Lobsters page. What a great tribute to an incredible band. Once
again, fantastic site, thanks so much for creating it.
Sincerely,
Greg
Close
Lobsters webpage which incidentally is a great idea. i'll say more
in reply........... Best Regards
-Andrew Burnett (lead singer of Close Lobsters)
Hello Todd !
Aren`t The Close
Lobsters one of the best bands ever ?
-Malte
It would be my pleasure to help you out in building your Close
Lobsters Tribute Site...those guys deserve it.Let me know what I can
do.
Cheers and Foxheads!
Shawn Halfpenny
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
My Dearest Todd,
I love the Close Lobsters! You are the coolest cat on the web for finally
making a web page for them... especially since it is the "official" web
page! Rock on!
Monique
sscwon@bellatlantic.net