I'll try to be as informative and unopinionated as possible:
Shoegazing: I talked with emma from LUSH 2 years ago and said, "so erm, are
you actually looking at your shoes or are you looking at the fretboard? She
replied, "the fretboard."
and then there was an interview with andrew sherriff from
CHAPTERHOUSE who said, "hell yes we look at our fretboards because we care
about what we're playing and playing it accurately." he said something
*like* that
Shoegazing began in London as was often referred to as "the scene that
celebrates itself." The most prominent example I can thin of from london is
LUSH(cds: gala and spooky), although I think MOOSE (cd: xyz)were also from london.
In reading (30 mi west of london) emerged SLOWDIVE (cds: just for a day, souvlaki) and CHAPTERHOUSE
((cds: whirlpool and blood music) who I personally believe embody
tthe shoegazing ethic. which would be... mumbling sad lyrics, having lots of
swirl or "oceans of feedback" in your music. From oxford came RIDE(cds:
smile, nowhere, going black again), and they too became known as shoegazers
although at least on "smile" their debut ep comp. their sound was harder.
"Going blank again" was very shoegazey however with song titles like chrome
waves, and time machine. Aside from SWERVEDRIVER (cds: raise, mescal head)
who were compared to RIDE on seroids, that's about all that there were. The
scene was so short lived that the bands didn't even have albums out by the
time the scene was dead.
Shoegazers were supposed to have taken their influences from My
Bloody Valentine and Jesus and MARY chain, but these two bands were around
before the word shoegazing arrived.
not shoegazers:
Stone roses: that's manchester, aka "baggy"
Catherine Wheel: though the sound is similar
one syllable bands: curve, suede, verve. each
different from the others.
That's about all I'm going to say except that shoegazing was a small scene
that in my mind had an amazing impact on music. However, new bands cannot
be shoegazing in the true sense of the word, because the scene is over.
Shoegazing bands probably don't shoegaze openly anymore, especially after
the british press attacked them so violently. many of the bands are in a
where are they now file (RIDE, LUSH, MOOSE) and will be missed by me. But a
lot of the former shoegazers have just put out new albums since summer:
Slowdive, Chapterhouse, Swervedriver.
my questions: where do the cranes fit in? Where are the Stone ROSES? Where
is RIDE? I miss the two terribly. Sorry about the weird spelling
inconsistency but my server is going slow and I don't wanna edit. See ya
later then
Stewart