11-1992 / Friends Of The Pastels newsletter / Katrina Mitchell... drummer

... and we are the other : Aggi - bass guitar/sing, David Keegan - guitar/inwardly sing, Stephen Pastel - guitar/sing/retarded haircut etc... Once we were Buba & The Shop Assistants but it was very secret s most of the records ended up under a bed in a Bearsden loft (not mine). There they remained, forever undisturbed by the earth-shattering events taking place out on the streets, or more accurately in other lofts, where local anarchists were striving to perfect a design for an anarchy stencil, keenly anticipating the great day when they would try it out on an innocent bus shelter.
My rebellion was, and is, The Pastels and I am inviting you to share in it by attending dates on our fothcoming tour, when we will be spectacularly unrestrained (within self-defined limits). A throbbing, pounding megaton. TRUCKLOAD OF T.R.O.U.B.L.E.? You bet! Support slots go to Huggy Bear, The Mc Tells, Jad Fair and St. Etienne. It is going to be incredible. Everything is so right - we even have our top speedway rider, David Walsh of the Berwick Bandits driving us round, so there'll be no turning up late for soundchecks, as David will no doubt be instilling in us a sense of his own superb professionalism. As he is also Merchandising Manager why not take the chance to collect his autograph for your Friends of the Pastels handbook?
Hopefully we can follow-on these live on-stage appearances (as promised!) with some further flung showcasing in France, U.S.A. (east-coast), Japan and Norway. Truckload of Trouble is out in February and we have recorded three beautiful new songs for it - state of the art valve, big-hearted and bountiful. Evreythings sounds better, unlike ÔA bit on the side' (good God!) which sounds worse than anything. Please don't buy this particular Pastels bootleg as the sound quality is terrible. There is also another 7'' going around that features a song that none of us play on! Truckload of Trouble and our brand new spanking L.P. will bury everything. O.K.
Rounding-up our peer groups (as though it were possible, they are all far too wayward) - Jad Fair is obviously making a very welcome return to Britain. Apart from the shows with us he has a very full itinerary of his own so if you've never see him you should - he is a true genius. Seems Marc Baines will be playing some guitar for him and hopefully inspiring the Oakfields to start up. Daniel Johnston may also be making a visit in February, although maybe we shouldn't count on it. The BMX Bandits are touring with Shonen Knife and have a new single called ÔSerious Drugs' on the Creation label. Hope Duglas gets taken seriously this time around - maybe the music papers could feature him just once instead of the guy from Suede. Their pals and ours Teenage F.C. are currently recording their follow-up ton Bandwagonesque. Katrina's going along to the studio tomorrow to make sure the sessions are up to scratch. I thing they will be. Some Velvet Sidewalk are the new Seminal Twang and Eugenius are in the U.S.
Best wishes,
Stephen Pastel