Communicating With Rock Gods

Doesn't it seems like the real version of Napster was just a dream? Wasn't it just five years ago that I was stealing music with impunity, loading down my hard drive with the likes of Too Much Joy's cover of 2 Live Crew's "The F*** Shop" --- a song that once got the band arrested because they merely played it. But my fondest memory of the now illegal service was that it allowed you to communicate with fellow music freaks who downloaded the same stuff that you did. And sometimes, you'd run across people who actually made the music themselves.

I downloaded nearly every song possible by a mid-80's British pop band called The June Brides. The June Brides did this wonderful jangly guitar pop that was backed by a brass section. Their sound really stood out, even during an era when The Smiths were ruling England with their own brand of catchy meloncholy. But the June Brides never got a decent record deal and faded after doing about two albums worth of work. While downloading some of their now impossible to find stuff, I got a message from a guy whose screen name was "PWilson." Indeed, it was Phil Wilson, the former lead singer of the long forgotten June Brides. He thanked me for taking an interest in his band. And he said that he was now married with a kid and worked as a "tax clerk" or something equally non-musical and boring in London. I asked him if his band was ever going to release their stuff again and he said a deal was in the works.

Years later, that record deal finally came through. And the album contains every glorius song they ever recorded, included some stuff they did for the John Peel's legendary radio show.

In honor of Phil, who didn't bitch when I stole his music on Napster and actually thanked me for listening, I will soon purchase "Every Conversation: The History of the June Brides & Phil Wilson." And thanks for making genius music Phil.