Psychic Picnic Meets…….The Last Of The Lovely Days

As the 1980s progressed many things started to go wrong. Hair got too high. Trousers got too tight. Shoulders got too wide. Material girls were waking up before they go-go’d with the wild boys who would spin you right round baby right round. Everything was too loud and too sodding BRIGHT. 

The antidote to this was to ditch the Fairlight synthesizer and the pink hotpants, retreat behind your fringe, pull on your dad’s black roll neck and get out the guitars. MTV was out and the Velvet Underground was in, big time. In 1986 the NME released a cassette (of course!) called C86 to highlight this new generation of overachieving underachievers. Years later Primal Scream and Creation records founder Alan McGee would become bazillionaires. Indie pop was born. 

The Last Of The Lovely Days are a Brighton indie pop band with passion, great songwriting and a granite tough belief in the DIY ethic. With a new album out imminently, things look rosy for TLOTLD. Our intrepid reporter Gawain Greenside caught up with Annie and Jimmy from the band. 

Psychic Picnic: Your interviewer (that’s me) was a teenager in the 80s and has a big soft spot for that C86/Shambing bands aesthetic and approach. It was all photocopied fanzines, black roll necks, tweed jackets and Woolworths plimsoles. What’s the origin of your involvement with that sound? 

Annie: When I think of the ‘sound’ that is associated with C86 I can’t help going back a little further. My interest started in the very early 80s with bands like Dolly Mixture and The Marine Girls. As a 15 year old girl going to see Dolly Mixture play live was a revelation – here were three girls not too much older than me, dressed in charity shop vintage clothes like me playing amazing melodic songs. I thought they were so cool. They used to do really interesting, to me, covers and finding out who did the original would send me off on a journey of discovery. ‘Femme Fatale’ would be a good example of this. AND they were girls… 

Jimmy: I caught the tail end of punk and new wave as a child, I loved many bands at this time; two that come to mind are Buzzcocks and PIL.  I then got into post punk and alternative music in the 80s. As pop got more polished and mainstream I welcomed the DIY ethos returning with  C86. However, I was also massively into The Cure and New Order who were in the end quite mainstream but still had roots in a more alternative place. But also I remember buying the debut Primal Scream single ‘All Fall Down’and got massively into JAMC … whilst I love a bit of pop my heart is definitely more aligned with the alternative and DIY side of things. 

Psychic Picnic: It’s 2025 and DIY now means ‘Garageband and Bandcamp’. What do you think is the enduring appeal of guitars, drums and a general lofi do-it-yourself approach?  

Annie: One of the things that appeals about any do-it-your self culture is that it is motivating. Literally makes you believe you can, err, do it yourself. It makes the whole ‘let’s get a band together’ thing so much more achievable. That’s quite inspiring for people, you know, removing barriers. It also harks back to the game changer that was punk and all that came from that. 

As for guitars, drums and so on. It’s rock n roll, isn’t it, and despite everything else that crops up musically it’s always there in the background and keeps reinventing itself and popping up. 

Jimmy: I agree with Annie and I think and hope young people will always go back to basics and pick up a guitar and want to start a band. It’s so much fun and like having your own little gang. 

Psychic Picnic: Some of my faves from the classic indie pop era include basically anything on (New Zealand label) Flying Nun- particularly The Clean- the June Brides, The Bodines, The Mighty Lemon Drops……any particular bands and labels that stand out for you?

Jimmy: Well, The Shop Assistants would be a standout band for me. Also, I am a fan of Sarah Records, in particular The Field Mice, Brighter and Heavenly. And, Alan McGee’s Creation Records, stuff like House of Love and Razorcuts. I’ve got loads of records from this time, so for me they have endured.

Annie: agree about The Shop Assistants. Also Tallulah Gosh and The Vaselines. Though I got more into this kind of sound a bit after the fact. Then came bands like St Etienne who I really like. We recently saw Swansea Sound and they were great. They are like a C86 indie supergroup. So things are still happening 40 years on. 

Psychic Picnic: You seem like you’re tapping into that tradition of female-led outsider pop that starts with The Shangri Las and goes through the Shaggs, the GoGos, the Shop Assistants, The Primitives and many others all the way up to Amy. Any of the current crop of female stars who are topping your pops? 

Annie: Glad you mentioned the Shanghai-Las I had a copy of ‘Leader Of The Pack/Remember, Walking In The Sand’ when I was about 12 and I was obsessed by it. I only had a handful of 7 inch records of my own then so it got played endlessly. I knew every word and every beat of both songs and so began my love of 60s girl-groups. Then ‘Denis’ by Blondie came along and so started another obsession and one that Jimmy and I share. I love the whole punk/new wave and 60s fusion of that period, be it Blondie or The Jam,  Buzzcocks, Elvis Costello… so not just female led bands. 

That said, I love female vocals- be that big 60s ballads by Dusty, Cilla etc or others such as Etta James, Billy Holiday and Bobby Gentry. And then all the Spector stuff and early Motown. There are  so many great female led songs out there,  right up to Amy Winehouse and there’s a link there, definitely, like a lineage. I also love male/female duos too, so June and Johnny, Nancy & Lee and my current favourites My Darling Clementine. 

But going back to more indie stuff Alvvays would stand out. We both love them. When I heard ‘Next Of Kin’ back in 2014  I instantly loved it and that hadn’t happened with an indie band for me for a very long time.  

We saw Rachel Love (of Dolly Mixture fame) recently too and love her stuff. Like going back full circle for me. 

Jimmy: as Annie says Alvvays are great. And we saw Arxx and Lime Garden earlier this year. They were both interesting and we bought their albums.Warpaint are good too. 

Psychic Picnic: What’s next for The Last Of The Lovely Days live and in the studio? Where can we see you live and buy your stuff?

Annie: We have just finished recording our debut album ‘No Public House Talk’ which will be released on Gare Du Nord Records in the autumn.

We are getting a limited vinyl run pressed so are busy working on the design for this now. As with our previous single and in the spirit of DIY, I will be designing the artwork. We both think the look of a record is important too. 

There are 11 tracks on the album and they showcase a wide range of influences. When we decided to record an album we knew we needed a full band and we were delighted when Michael Eyers (who you know all too well) joined us on bass and Paul Portinari joined on drums. They have been an important part of the story.  I mainly write the songs, sometimes with Jimmy but as a band and individually we all have quite eclectic tastes and I think this comes through on the album – it’s indie for sure but with post- punk, new wave and even country soul vibes. It’s pretty wide ranging  in terms of the inspiration but we all think it hangs together nicely as a body of work. 

Jimmy: it will be great to get some new music out there, after a bit of a hiatus since the first single back in 2017.  We will release a digital single or lead track in the summer too. 

Annie: we’ve also got a few gigs lined up including our London debut at The Betsey Trotwood on Sunday 13th April. We will be supporting the wonderful Keiron Phelan & Peace Signs (if you don’t know them, check them out) and it’s a matinee. So that’s exciting. 

Then, we return to Hove for a gig at The Brunswick Cellar on Saturday 31st May. This time supporting Brighton power pop trio Dirt Royal. We’ve been watching them live for years now so it’s great to be sharing the bill with them. 

Jimmy: Matt from Stanmore is also on the bill. He’s great and me and him going back to being in bands together in the ‘90s. 

Annie: then looking forward we will be doing an album launch gig in September and I’m writing new songs so I’m hoping we will get back in to the studio (Church Road Studios) again… it’s such fun and there’s plenty still to do. 

You can find us on Bandcamp, Instagram and Facebook if you want to keep an eye on what’s happening next and we always appreciate a follow.  Our album will be out in September so you can come to the launch gig and if you like what you hear you can buy a copy.