Having taken their name from an old children’s’ game, Sheffield indie/jangly/lo-fi “kids” All Ashore!, are more than a promising band! Why? Simply ’cause as the state they “…aim to recapture the breathless rush of fuzzy jangly lo-fi pop that captured our hearts the first time…”.

Make sure you catch them live along with legendary band The Suncharms, at Record Junkee, in Sheffield. But first, let’s get to know them!

Would you like to introduce us to the jangly/lo-fi universe of All Ashore!?

We’re all indie kids who first got into music back in the late 80s/early 90s when it was all fanzines, flexis, tapes and 7” singles. Making a CD was a sell-out and the internet didn’t really exist! We love bands like Bearsuit, Television Personalities, The Moldy Peaches, Buzzcocks, Ramones, Helen Love, 14 Iced Bears and so on. Indie pop and punk. We’ve all been in lots of bands before in the (often entirely mistaken) belief that it’s a sure-fire ticket to rock and roll good times!

What do you think of the late 80’s-early 90’s jangle pop revival with bands like The Groove Farm then? Do you think that jangle pop positivity is more than necessary nowadays?

Given how awful and heartless a lot of pop music sounds these days I would say a revival of something I like is just fine with me!

‘Silver’ & ‘Perfect Popsong’ are two memorable jangly indiepop fuzz tunes. How did these two tracks emerge?

‘Silver Ocean‘ is Meriel’s creation. I can’t say how she came up with it but it was more-or-less fully formed when she played it for us in a band rehearsal. I wrote ‘Perfect Popsong‘ by working out the Stereolab riff and recording it at home on my son’s laptop before we’d even got the band together. I sang what would become Meriel’s part in a comedy falsetto. This is ironic since on our rehearsal recordings it’s usually hard to tell which of our voices is which.

On June 16th you’ll be sharing the stage with legendary indie/shoegaze band The Suncharms. How did this come about? What are you going to present that night? Any hints?

When I came to Sheffield at the start of the 90s there seemed to be only a few indie pop bands around and only the Suncharms seemed to sound like they actually listened to The Pastels so I became a fan. The gig will be great fun. There’s going to be a retro indie/shoegaze ‘greatest hits’ soundtrack all night, free badges and The Suncharms lovehearts given away on the door and there might even be some new songs played! The venue is a record shop during the day, sited above a guitar shop so it’s a fitting place for this meeting of minds.

Checking your social media pages for this interview, the “game” element is more than obvious. Even your name come from a vintage board game! Please discuss…

We needed a name for the band and All Ashore! came up. It’s an old children’s’ game with a great box. Our record label is going to be called Don’t Miss The Boat! which is another old children’s game with a great box. I suggest checking out an image search from a well known search engine.

Describe a day in the studio with All Ashore!…

Lots of turning up late and having a good laugh!

Arctic Monkeys put Sheffield in the music map again back in mid 2000’s. Do you believe that this exposure and the success your fellow citizens have had, did help the scene in any way?

Arctic Monkeys have largely taken their fame and fortune away from Sheffield and out into the big wide world. They are most Sheffield folks’ favourite band now though and good luck to them! All their success really did was create a wave of copycat Arctic Monkeys bands. Thankfully most of these are long since gone. I suppose it does give people the idea that their little band of friends could go all the way and achieve worldwide fame, however unlikely that actually is!

When shall we be lucky enough to enjoy your debut release? Will it be an EP, an album? Within 2018?

Our recording debut will be a 7” single on our own label, split with Thee Mightees‘ Delicious Clam Records label with a track by each band.

All Ashore! ‘Perfect Popsong‘ and Thee Mightees ‘Record Store Day‘ will be out at the end of July 2018 to coincide with All Ashore!’s appearance at the Indietracks festival.

Check us out on Facebook, Bandcamp etc.

Thanks, Chris x

Photo credits: Peter Murray

Christos Doukakis