George Shilling

The second of Sundae Club's EPs. Technostalgia is still the spirit of this EP. The perverse combination of up-to-the-minute technology with creaky old tat.

Why E-Pea? Well, it's an EP of course; the modern equivalent of one of those 7" records of yesteryear with four tracks on it, the groove modulation too small to offer much in the way of audio fidelity, but a satisfying object nonetheless. Many years ago, Island Records issued a "sampler disc". A 12" LP record with a selection of some their artists' works. A promotional tool to get obscure acts known off the back of the big sellers. In this case it was a double album and headliners like Traffic, ELP, Jethro Tull and Fairport Convention were included to entice buyers to listen to unknowns like Mountain, Bronco and Nick Drake. In the case of poor old talented-but-awkwardly-shy Nick it didn't work, and he sold hardly any records at all. Until he was dead. They called it "El Pea". Much later, the Acid-House movement pioneered by the likes of Baby Ford and 808-State invented drugs which looked like small aspirins which you had to take with lots of water whilst wearing a t-shirt with a Smiley face on it which sent you bonkers whenever you listened to dance music. They called it "E". Sundae Club are honoured to be in the position of having bought at least one member of Traffic a pint or two over the years, but the closest they ever got to Baby Ford was Hamstall borrowing his housemate's Mark 1 Fiesta. In commemoration of both, we bring you "E-Pea". (Island Records fans and aging ravers are encouraged not to buy this record. There's nothing for you here.)

Sundae Club's second album, 'British Summer Time' is available exclusively to download for your mp3-player gadgets and i-Tuneses, in which they take you on a Journey across Continents with their Travel Trilogy; you can savour the wholesome meaty goodness (chicken if you're vegetarian) of 'Pies'; spot the Bev Bevanesque drum solo in 'Honey Bee'; marvel as a moonlighting electrician from the Midlands ignores New Labour's green policy on tungsten light bulb usage and get slightly miffed as the new people move in to the flat above. It's all here, and Sam comes too. Rather different from their debut, 'Technostalgia', but a vastly expanded arsenal of vintage electronics and the trusty Mellotron guarantee the Sundae Club Sound. Influences: Reginald Perrin, Lea and Perrins, British Summer Time, Any Other Time, Vintage Ice-Cream Vans, Blustery days in Bognor Regis, BBC Trades Test Transmissions, Delia Derbyshire, Shipping Forecasts, Electric Light Orchestra, The Clark's Electronic Foot-gauge, Eastern European Radio Call Signs, Cars with mineral-based Brake Fluid, Fry's Five Boys Chocolate, Milo with milk, Home visits from Radio Rentals. Doorstep Milk Deliveries, Bakelite, Linoleum, Caddy-Matics, Joe Meek, Clocking off, VHF Television, pushing Button B on the Post-Office public telephone.

Technostalgia is Sundae Club's debut album released on the Technostalgic Tunes label on CD in 2004. The disc was packaged in a Digipak gatefold sleeve which when unfolded represented the wood-effect dashboard of an unidentified 1970s British saloon car. Dating from that year, this was the band's official description of the album: Inspired by all those little themes from BBC Testcard Tunes from the 1960s, Sundae Club's debut album TECHNOSTALGIA, has already been compared to Air, Lemon Jelly and more recently, The Real Tuesday Weld. Mainly instrumental, but with a smidgin of vocal contribution, it's a thoroughly English sounding record, recalling the spirit of British Leyland Industrial Action; the advent of Decimalisation; the days of Dual Standard 405/625 line TV, and the discovery of North Sea Gas. (RIP). The cracking 6-panel Digipak cover was designed by Ian Bilbey, the creator of those stylish posters for the VW Beetle Cabriolet and the stripes on a few of Paul Smith's socks. You will certainly be impressed by the simulated teak finish.

The lost Sundae Club album found whilst spring cleaning behind the Mellotron. Some of these tracks date back to Sundae Club's earliest days in 2001 and were conceived one Sunday evening on the upper floor of the Cheltenham branch of Pizza Piazza. If you were there, you would have witnessed Dr Mille playing a row of tuned Peroni Nastro Azzuro bottles, but since most of the other diners had left by that point, perhaps because of it, there are few witnesses. That night, Sunday Club (sic) was born. Hamstall and Dr Mille were christened (or at least something which nearly rhymed with it) and Ray Cathode was invented. The close derivation Sundae Club came a week or two later when it became apparent that Mondays were actually more convenient than Sundays for us to get together and lark around with synthesizers and old tat. Some of these were the tracks which led to a publishing deal with Taste Music, and probably also led to them dropping us a few years later. Most contain Mellotron, some contain Theremin and all are important little steps in the evolution of the Sundae Club Sound. These are the tracks which enabled you to Enjoy your World of Music more than Ever Before.

"Angels In The Sky" Sundae Club with vocal by Sam Holmes. This is a two-speed promo 12" (30cm) vinyl record in a plain white cover and a plain white label. One side was designed to be rotated at 33.333rpm and contains two chilled tracks, the other side is a 45rpm cut with massive compression and sounds great in a club. Loud. Originally released and sold out in 2005... Or so we thought. We recently found an unopened box of these white-label rarities, and decided we would flog them off as an additional fund-raiser for Haiti's Earthquake relief. For every vinyl single bought we will send a clear fiver (5.00 GBP... that's a whole £5) to our chosen Haiti charity which is http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org Here's how it'll work: Unfortunately, since we are not Simon Cowell, we cannot make these items VAT-free, hence you will be paying £5.88 unit price in the EU and UK and the additional cost of p and the UK's HMRC get 17.5%. I know, it stinks, but Haiti victims get a clear £5 and we make zilch, which is the good bit. If you don't have a record-player, then you can still buy the vinyl, we're not stopping you, but you may prefer to download the track(s) in your choice of hi-fi quality format, and we will donate the full amount less PayPal commission to the cause. Note that purchasers of the vinyl EP also get the digital download FREE. We are grateful to XRP Radio for help in the promotion of this record.