As a follow up to last year’s three installments reflecting on Living and Growing, the Felt Tips debut album, I have been planning to say something about the reissue on vinyl (the very reason behind the blogs in the first place). If it took me a while to get round to it that’s because after being so busy with the release and gigs it was nice to have a break from the promo side of things. I also managed to lock myself out of this website. But I’m back in now, so here goes…
In 2024, while I was very much focused on my solo material, I stumbled on an online review of Living and Growing which I hadn’t seen before. Why? Because it had only been written a few weeks before I found it, which was a surprise given the album came out in 2010. In fact, we might not have picked up on it (at least for a few months anyway) if I hadn’t been searching for old reviews to help with the promotion of my solo material.
The review was by Simon White from Unspun Heroes and I quickly recognised that Simon was a bit different to the average music blogger in that he also liked to re-release some of the albums he wrote about. After quickly conferring with the rest of the band, I got in touch with Simon to ask if he might be interested in reissuing our album.
Happily, he was up for it, and we began discussing how the release would work. The unique premise of Unspun Heroes is that Simon releases, on vinyl, records he loves from the past that hadn’t been released on that format up until now. It has led him to put out a diverse collection of albums by some artists that, like The Felt Tips, most people will not have heard before.
I’ve linked to a couple of tracks from albums on Unspun Heroes that highlight this diversity. When Simon first agreed to release us, he was in the process of releasing James Varda’s Chance and Time. Reading the excellent Unspun Heroes blogs, I learned that James had died in 2015 and Simon tells the fascinating story about how he had to work with James’ wife and others to bring all the materials (the music, images and history) for the release. The love Simon puts into the label is self-evident.
It took about 15 months or so for our own record, Living and Growing, to be released on Unspun Heroes. This was partly due to Simon having to schedule his releases, but he also understood it would take a while to get everything in place. It’s not just about sticking an existing record onto vinyl. Apart from the re-mastering that needs to take place for an album to sound as good as it can on vinyl, there’s also all the other stuff – tracking down the artwork files which need to be reworked; telling the story of the record for the insert; bringing together photos for the design; and, of course, the promotion side.
There was a lot to do, in other words. I don’t know whether it was down to Simon being organised and diligent at reminding us what we needed to do, but I don’t think we’ve ever been so efficient and productive at working towards something as a band as we were for this reissue. Simon was working hardest though, doing his best to ensure this wasn’t just a reissue, more the beautiful record it always should have been. An example of the extra-yards Simon went to in order to make this happen is the make-your-own rose sculpture he got designed by Hey Kids Rock ‘n’ Roll for the now sold-out limited edition version.
Others helped us too. Over a videocall, Brian McNeil (who recorded us at CaVa studios) helped me to help identify which versions of the songs were the ‘final mixes’ to be remastered.
The artist who created the cover of the album, Emma Sanderson, was helpfully able to provide all the raw artwork files. The indiepop legend Roque Ruiz from Cloudberry Records (as well as Plastilina, the label who originally released Living and Growing), was kind enough to write something for the insert. And the well-known journalist and DJ, Pete Paphides, wrote a nice quote about the record to accompany the release. A huge thanks to all of them!
Things stepped up a bit in the summer, with a few months to go before the release. I set myself small tasks like writing a little (e.g. about the songs for the insert or answering emails) in the morning at weekends before breakfast. Another thing that helped was creating an action plan with all the things we needed to do along with the dates we needed to do them by. Rock and roll, I know.
Kev, Neil and I began rehearsing for the promotional gigs we were planning in Glasgow and London. Miguel couldn’t be there since he lives in London, but we weren’t worried since that’s been the arrangement since before our second album and we’ve managed ok. There were a few times when we had to listen back to the songs to remind ourselves what we did in them but the rehearsals went smoothly on the whole.
In the weeks leading up to the release there were emails between ourselves and Simon every other day and I was trying to reach out to at least one contact for promotional purposes per day. Some of it paid off, and the reissue got some very positive reviews by Rosy Overdrive, Bluesbunny and Clash magazine. We also made a radio appearance on the brilliant Scots Whay Hae! show on Camglen Radio and, in November, one of the tracks from Bought & Sold, was inducted onto the Indiepop Hall of Fame.
A friend of Simon’s, Jonathan from the band Assistant, got in touch to say he loved the record despite having missed it the first time around, and asked if we would like to be featured in his fanzine, In The April Sun. I’d already been writing a series of blogs, of which this is part, so Jonathan suggested we use these as the basis of an article for his fanzine – I was happy to oblige. Being featured in the fanzine was one of the highlights of the re-release for me, especially since Jonathan added an eloquently-written review of the record to the text I’d already contributed. The fanzine’s other content is excellent and I keep picking it up again and being accused of reading about myself. I’d recommend tracking down a copy.
In the end, the release went really well from the band’s perspective. It seemed to sell well in the first few days – there are copies of the release still available at the Unspun Heroes bandcamp – and we pulled off the 2 gigs as well, with the help of The Understudies in London and The Just Joans in Glasgow. Thanks to all who came along and everyone who helped organise them.
Sitting here on a wet Sunday afternoon in March thinking of what else to write, the main thought I have is how everything feels like it goes into a lull after the whirlwind of activity that accompanies a record release, especially when you’re in a band that has been in long-term semi-hiatus. You have so many conversations with people you’ve not met in ages, and with people you’ve met for the first time. Then everything settles back down again and you get a niggling sense of guilt about not being back in touch with anyone until you have to tell yourself it’s all just the course of things.
But the music keeps going, and you’ve not seen the last of both The Felt Tips and Pat’s Alternative Bus Tour. There will be some news later this year concerning a new Pat solo release and it’s fair to say that The Felt Tips might have a new lease of life after last year’s adventures. You can thank, or blame, Simon for the latter.
More stuff
- Buy Living and Growing on vinyl from the Unspun Heroes Bandcamp page
- Read more of Pat’s writings, including Living and Growing parts 1-3, here.