The Caretaker Race - Hangover Square - 1990

A very special episode for the Memorabilia Podcast - our first indie superstar guest in Caretaker Race singer/songrwriter and Loft guitarist Andy Strickland. Andy kindly took the time to speak to us for over 90 minutes about his band's superb 1990 debut album 'Hangover Square'. For the first time, we also have music clips to accompany the tales behind the songwriting and producing. Thank you Andy!

There's a lot packed in to the lengthy episode and some wonderful stories shared by Andy talking about his time in 'The Loft', the break-up they went through, subsequently hitting number 3 in the Netflix music chart above Glen Campbell, forming The Caretaker Race, getting signed to legendary producer Stephen Street's Foundation record label, and everything you could possibly need to know about the LP Hangover Square.

There's mentions for writer and broadcaster Danny Baker, Ian Dickson (the Australian Simon Cowell), Terry Hall, Johnny Marr, Lloyd Cole, Cherry Red Records, producer John Parish, journalist Jerry Smith, 6Music radio presenter Steve Lamacq, The Sundays, and why he realised he wasn't cut out for the world of business and being the owner of a record label.

We can't thank Andy enough for giving up his time and for his patience during the recording. The Leeds to the Isle of Wight connection was a little unreliable and we encountered a number of technical hitches forcing us to swtich recording platforms after just a few minutes of getting going, so apologies for the imperfections in the opening minutes of the interview.

Andy stayed with us to review the top 10 UK singles at the time of release for Hangover Square and finished with a brilliant story about a night out in Paris with the singer whose single from the movie 'Days of Thunder' was at the very top of the hit parade in September 1990.

Andy left us with a 'hot-tip' for a new band to listen and watch out for - the Isle of Wight's very own 'Wet Leg'. In fact, the tip was that hot that the tickets we were going to buy to see them in Leeds in April 2022 have already sold out!

Watch the video for Wet Leg's viral single 'Chaise Longue': https://youtu.be/Zd9jeJk2UHQ

Listen to the recording of The Caretaker Race live in Switzerland in May 1991: https://youtu.be/QJE2jYzO0p8

You can follow Andy Strickland on Twitter @AStrickland165

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