Back in 1990 I was cartoonist for The Lion Roars, the unofficial organ of Millwall FC fandom based in Catford, south-east London. I wasn't a huge fan of the magazine, despite drawing stuff they asked (and even paid) me to draw for them, but The Lion Roars was always redeemed by the contributions of one Reggie Spooner. His writing was always on point, funny, and he'd heard of the Photos - which scored big points with me. Also, unless I'm getting my wires crossed, he was friends with some bloke who managed a band, specifically this one, and they wanted someone to come up with a design for a T-shirt, so they asked me. I was supplied with a demo tape, a few bits of publicity material - press flyer, 8x10 glossies and so on - and I came up with the thing you can see above, hand lettered which is why the y looks a bit wonky.
They played at the Amersham Arms in New Cross around this time so I went to see them, and they were honestly fucking fantastic, so it was quite a pleasure to design something for a band I actually liked, plus I sort of fancied Anne, a bit. As you will hear if you download this stuff, they were a sort of er... powerpop thing, I suppose you would call it. They remind me of the similarly excellent and yet obscure Vivarama (formed by two ex-Cravats who weren't the Shend) who themselves were compared to Voice of the Beehive. I couldn't say for sure, not having knowingly heard anything by Voice of the Beehive (although I remember the name) but I gather you could probably say the same of the Bubble Eyed Dog Boys. I had the impression they were really going for the whole big time thing with record deals, promotionally speaking, but probably never quite got there, which is a shame, because I would have preferred this blasting out of the wireless to most of the stuff I did hear in 1990. I can't help think that Bubble Eyed Dog Boys was a terrible name, and maybe the road to international fame and fortune might have been easier to find with something a bit less comical. Never mind.
Actually, maybe it was because I mentioned liking the Photos to Reggie Spooner that he set me up with this lot, what with their being in roughly the same ballpark, musically speaking.
Anything else you might feel you need to know about the Bubble Eyed Dog Boys can probably be gleaned from the download. If the download sounds a bit funny, it's probably because you've ruined your ears with Macronympha and the like, and that strange thing with the different notes at different intervals is what is known as a tune.
Tracks:
1 - Understand Nothing
2 - 99 is Not Enough
3 - Turn Around
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