English Rock: Spearmint's My Missing Days

Maybe you’ve already thought this while reading Music Spectrum, “Ben, doesn’t spending so much time trying to categorize music take away from the enjoyment?” Obviously, I am passionate about understanding how music fits together, but I’ve got to admit: this posting has been delayed by my need to figure out who this band sounds like and where they fit into The Spectrum.

Two months ago, hitBACK sent me a copy of Spearmint’s album, My Missing Days, and I was immediately taken with what I heard. Oh, the guitar pop was bright and shiny. The British talky-bits were just so fun. I sang along right away. I knew this was an album that needed to be talked about here on Music Spectrum.

Stand out tracks are: “Giving It Away,” a great hook, great bass line, and a long talky bit about odd things that you’ve just got to get rid from the junk drawer, etc. “Don’t Get Me Started” has that infectious Northern Soul rhythm. “The Start of It All” is one of those songs that gets me with the way it builds the sound—first the cymbal-smashing drum kit, then the guitar vamp, and then the bass and vocals. The track breaks it down again in the middle, and I want to cheer along with the crowd samples added to the track.

(By the way, “The Start of It All” is the last track, because the album is a backwards narrative. The band claims this is the first ever pop album to do this. It is really clever, because of the way that leads the music to a high point. While I’m still trying to discover all the pieces of the story, the first track, “A Happy Ending,” while hopeful, is definitely a concluding place. This leads back through the resolution, conflict, and then to the rising action. When we arrive at the end of the album, the beginning of the narrative is leaving us musically too with the rising action in the smashing drums of “The Start of It All”).

So I went on a research mission: where did other people think Spearmint fit in? What did fans say about the band? What were all of those influences I was hearing? All of that research just about paralyzed this posting from every being completed.

But the heck with it. I love this album. It’s got to be English Rock, and now it just comes down to where in English Rock it fits in.

I quickly came up with a jumbled list of English Rock comparisons. My first thought was the Blue Aeroplanes with the accent and talky bits. But actually, my collection lacks a full-length Aeroplanes album, so the comparison is hard to fully support.

The sensitivity and lyricism also brought to mind the Go-Betweens/G.W. Mclennan which maybe places them just ahead of World Party – near the front end of the English Rock section, nearby the sensibilities of Folk-influenced IRE/UK Rock but with the jamming features that crosses over into the English Rock section.

OR do they belong right after the Housemartins, kind of the next step to the Housemartins? There’s the acoustic, upbeat jangle at times even while facing some tough or sad subjects. (A quality I’ve always loved about the Housemartins). This placement would also place them near the Smiths which Spearmint fan, Eric Stephenson, mentioned as an influence. He also notes Edwyn Collins/Orange Juice, which would fall in this same area.

OR should they be right before the Stone Roses, in the quintessential English Rock section—near enough to Oasis but towards the end of the section since Spearmint doesn’t sound as earnest as Oasis/Coldplay (there’s too much fun here for that).

There’s also a thought to put them near Too Much Joy for the humour and quirkiness, an ability to poke fun even while really singing a very sincere love song. But this can’t be the best placement. Too Much Joy is in the Garage Rock section for their unpolished approach, and that’s not here in Spearmint. Plus, could I really put these blokes from Britian next to the band that sang against “Long-haired Guys from England”?

Well, given all of these options, it is the comparison to the Housemartins which ultimately rises to the top. There’s a great live quality to the sound, as if Shirley and the gang are kicking it right in my living room. That’s something I’ve always appreciated about the Housemartins’ The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death. The album pictures of the band playing live captured the essence of what the recording sounded like.

With Spearmint in the middle of the English Rock section, a few steps away from the heavy Beatles-influenced side and a few steps ahead of the Oasis/Coldplay area, The Free French land here as well. Rhodri Marsden (who is The Free French) produced My Missing Days, and there is definitely a similar sound and direction in these two bands. The Free French’s album, It’s Not Me, It’s You, really takes a lot more from XTC, especially on a song like “Vowels” with the chorus, “A, E, I, Oh, yeah.”

My band director, Dr. Earl C. Benson, back at Bloomington Jefferson Senior High School, in Minnesota, used to tell us that you could only be clever if you knew your music. This usually was a reference to my friend, Michael, and I trying out our new motions to the songs, swinging our alto saxes to the beat, or making some kind of joke during a jazz band song. Spearmint and the Free French are very clever in their words and songcraft, but they can back it up. They know how to play.

Thanks to Jill Mingo, hitBACK Records, Spearmint, and the Free French. Thanks also to Spearmint fans, Eric Stephenson and Andrew Farley.