The setting was Cornwall in 1988 and the annual family holiday, my last with my Mum, Dad and siblings and one on which I now somewhat shamefacedly admit I was a complete and utter tosspot; arguments here, there and everywhere, teenage tantrums and sulks, storming off and "wanting to be alone"; hell, it's almost like I was the archetypal misunderstood Indie kid, and didn't I let everyone know it!
Anyway, the music. On one of my sojourns without the family, I visited a small local record shop just off the seafront in Penzance (the name escapes me, sorry). This was in my pre-CD purchasing days (I held off that until 1994 when I finally had to admit defeat & bought my first CD, Blur's 'Girls & Boys') and the majority of my purchases were on vinyl.
However, as I was on holiday, reliant on my Walkman and in need of some new tunes, on this occasion I purchased a cassette that looked mighty intriguing, both because of the album title and the name of the band: 'Foxheads Stalk This Land' by Close Lobsters.
Salvation had been found and, while I'm aware this may sound a tad melodramatic, I'm going to say it nonetheless; Close Lobsters saved my life and gave me direction (although what that direction is I've still to discover).
Sadly, as with many bands from that era, Close Lobsters never got the critical or commercial success that in my opinion they so richly deserved; although conversely, this does mean that happily they remain one of 'my bands', a little secret that none but a myself and a select few know about.
An EP (1988's 'What Is There To Smile About?) and a second album (1989's 'Headache Rhetoric') followed, but both were largely ignored by the media and public alike, with the band calling it quits not long after.
Close Lobsters had but a brief career, but all their musical releases were brilliant; in my humble opinion, they produced some of the best music of the late-'80s U.K. Indie scene.
Close Lobsters - In Spite Of These Times
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