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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 1d

Strawberry Switchblade, 1984/5. The person in their 1980s body warmer unintentionally serves to highlight the dramatic pizzazz of the band's aesthetic.

Outdoor photo, unposed, with Jill and Rose smiling at an unknown person. It's a sunny day, on the left is a person turned away from camera with long dark hair, wearing a red body warmer, checked shirt and blue jeans. In the centre is Jill Bryson with red back combed hair and a green strapless dress with black polka dots and black velevet sleeves. On the right is Rose McDowall in a white dress with black polka dots and ra-ra skirt.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 4d

If you want a deeper dive, we've revamped the Strawberry Switchblade fansite - hear all the music they released (& loads they didn't), read vintage press articles, specially done interviews, plus a YouTube channel with videos& TV appearances & more. Enjoy!
strawberryswitchblade.net

Home - Strawberry Switchblade

Welcome to the definitive Strawberry Switchblade fan site. Interviews, downloads, discography, photos and more.

strawberryswitchblade.net

Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 4d

If anyone wants a deeper dive, we've revamped the Strawberry Switchblade fansite - hear all the music they released (& loads they didn't), read vintage press articles, specially done interviews, plus a YouTube channel with videos& TV appearances & more. Enjoy!
strawberryswitchblade.net

Home - Strawberry Switchblade

Welcome to the definitive Strawberry Switchblade fan site. Interviews, downloads, discography, photos and more.

strawberryswitchblade.net

1

Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 4d

If anyone wants a deeper dive, we've revamped the Strawberry Switchblade fansite - hear all the music they released (& loads they didn't), read vintage press articles, specially done interviews, plus a YouTube channel with videos& TV appearances & more. Enjoy!
strawberryswitchblade.net

Home - Strawberry Switchblade

Welcome to the definitive Strawberry Switchblade fan site. Interviews, downloads, discography, photos and more.

strawberryswitchblade.net

1

Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 4d

If anyone wants a deeper dive, we've revamped the Strawberry Switchblade fansite - hear all the music they released (& loads they didn't), read vintage press articles, specially done interviews, plus a YouTube channel with videos& TV appearances & more. Enjoy!
strawberryswitchblade.net

Home - Strawberry Switchblade

Welcome to the definitive Strawberry Switchblade fan site. Interviews, downloads, discography, photos and more.

strawberryswitchblade.net

1

Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 6d

Absolutely vital work. With marginalised groups & counterculture, it's never going to be taught in the mainstream, if we don't write down then it will be lost. As we get older, our role increasingly becomes telling people what we've seen.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 7d

1 - First meeting at The Garage, Glasgow, late 1982

2 - St Christopher's Place, London, the day they signed a record contract, summer 1983

3 - With Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tokyo, 1985. Sakamoto was lined up to produce the 2nd album which was never recorded

📸©️ Peter McArthur, used with permission

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 7d

Happy birthday to David Balfe, ex-Teardrop Explodes keyboard player & Strawberry Switchblade manager. Balfey produced debut single Trees & Flowers & final single I Can Feel, played keyboards on tracks like Beautiful End, & co-wrote Black Taxi too.

(Pic captions in next post 🧵)

Black and white sepia toned photo of Balfe sat in a chair staring into space next to Jill and Rose.

Bright sunny day sat round an outdoor table at a cafe or restaurant. Balfe, Jill and Rose look surprisingly subdued for people who've just bagged a record deal. It has the air of 'we're restlessly waiting for our food, why are you taking a photo?'

Rose, Jill and Sakamoto sat at a restaurant table, Balfe stands beside it.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 10d

Here's an anomaly - 40 years ago this week Strawberry Switchblade were promoting their electropop cover of Jolene. They mimed to it on BBC TV's kids' show Cheggers Plays Pop. Thing is, it's a unique version - it isn't the 7", the 12", nor the BBC radio session version
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt9W...

Strawberry Switchblade - Jolene (different version) (Cheggers Plays Pop, 26 September 1985)

YouTube video by Strawberry Switchblade

www.youtube.com

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 12d

Personnel:
Rose McDowall – guitar, vocals
Jill Bryson – guitar, backing vocals
David Balfe – synthesiser
Drew McDowall (credited as Gunter Lemon) – drum machine

Recorded at BBC Maida Vale 5

Produced by Martyn Hales

The 3 non-covers were licensed from the BBC for commercial release.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 12d

41 years ago today Strawberry Switchblade recorded a Janice Long BBC radio session. Although they'd just completed their album they recorded 3 brand new atmospheric keyboard-based songs & a cover of Jolene. It's a peek into what the 2nd album would have sounded like.

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Strawberry Switchblade - BBC Janice Long session, September 1984 - YouTube

The band's fourth BBC session, recorded 27 September 1984. First broadcast 24 October 1984. Rose McDowall - guitar, vocals Jill Bryson - guitar, backing voca...

www.youtube.com

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 12d

This is from Strawberry Switchblade's February 1985 John Peel session - Since Yesterday was high in the charts & the album was imminent yet rather than promote that material they chose to do 4 brand new songs

youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Strawberry Swithblade - BBC John Peel session, February 1985 - YouTube

The band's fifth and final BBC session, recorded 5 February 1985. First broadcast 15 April 1985. Rose McDowall (guitar, vocals) Jill Bryson (guitar, backing ...

youtube.com

Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 13d

Alan Horne, head honcho of Postcard Records, interviews Viv Albertine of the Slits, while a pre-Strawberry Switchblade Jill Bryson looks on.

Glasgow City Hall, 26 September 1979 - 46 years ago today.

📸©️Peter Anthony McArthur, used with permission

Black and white photo with Alan in the foreground on the left, looking down as if reading notes, Viv in the foreground on the right mid-speech, and Jill in the background in the centre, chin resting on hand, listening.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 13d

Looks like it was a brilliant day out - certainly well worth the entry price of nothing at all! If you're interested we've got audio of Strawberry Switchblade's set & music press reviews of the day over on the fansite

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14d

They might've thought it'd quietly go away but when their album was reissued in Japan, Ecstasy was added as a bonus track. Fast forward to the streaming era & the 1997 reissue has become the standard track listing for the album. Ecstasy is their 4th most streamed track on Spotify

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14d

It's not clear what the 'apple of my eye' bit is about, perhaps that was the original title before Rose wrote the new lyrics. Although in retrospect both Rose and Jill are at pains to disown it, they nonetheless closed the set with it on their March 1986 Japanese tour.

Poster for Strawberry Switchblade's 1986 Japanese tour

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14d

Rose hated the lyrics so wrote & sang new ones of her own. Jill Bryson didn't play on it at all. Rose told us 'The song was called Ecstasy, that was part of the joke of it. They don’t know what I’m talking about but I know what I’m talking about.'
strawberryswitchblade.net/rose-mcdowal...

Rose McDowall interview - Strawberry Switchblade

Comprehensive interview with Rose McDowall about Strawberry Switchblade - the music, the career and beyond - 29 January 2002

strawberryswitchblade.net

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 14d

40 years ago today Strawberry Switchblade released a single in Japan, Ecstasy (Apple of My Eye). A squeaky Motown pastiche written by Daisuke Inoue & Rumiko Varnes for a Subaru TV ad, Strawberry Switchblade were just paid to sing on it. In the end only Rose did
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK3O...

Strawberry Switchblade - Ecstasy (Apple Of My Eye)

YouTube video by Strawberry Switchblade

www.youtube.com

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 15d

Jill Bryson aged five & in an outfit presciently embroidered with the initials of Strawberry Switchblade. 'That must be 1966 or thereabouts. It's Sadie Simpson's dance academy, the letters look like Js but it's S's. We had to do tap dancing and ballet & all these stupid things'

Sepia toned black and white photo of a young Jill standing with her arms cruciform as if about to start ballet moves, smiling. She's wearing a black leotard embroidered with two large S letters on the chest.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 19d

Neither single became a hit. It would be a year until Erasure's 4th single, Sometimes, was a smash and started their epic success. Sadly, Strawberry Switchblade were headed the other way - Jolene turned out to be their last single in the UK.

The ocver of Strawberry Switchblade's Jolene single. Rose and Jill are in black, wearing big furry black hads, and the photo is surrounded in a wreath of flowers. The word Jolene is written vertically, with lines from the song between each letter.

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 19d

Both bands were on a promotional tour of personal appearances at night clubs and on this day they went together to two clubs 12 miles apart - Jars in Brechin and Smokeys in Arbroath.

Advert in the Broughty Ferry Guide and Advertiser for Strawberry Switchblade and Erasure live a Smokey's in Arbroath on Thursday 19 Septmebr 1985

Poster in red ink on pink paper for Strawberry Switchblade and Erasure live at Smokey's in Arbroath on Thursday 19 Septmebr 1985

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 19d

Strawberry Switchblade had released their electropop cover of Jolene two weeks earlier, the same day as Erasure's debut single Who Needs Love Like That. They were so unknown that they're billed in the advert as 'Vince Clark ex Yazoo and Andy Bell ex Depeche Mode'. 75p a ticket!

Adrvert from the Brechin Advertiser newspaper, 12 September 1985. Jars Discotheque is having a 'Top of the Pops' night. For 75p you can see Strawberry Switchblade and Erasure!

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 19d

Strawberry Switchblade and Erasure at Jars Discothèque, Brechin, Scotland on 19 September 1985 - 40 years ago today! 🧵

Yellowed photo of Vince Clarke, Andy Bell, Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall sat round a nightclub table. Between Jill and Rose are two young men, one of whom has his arm round Jill and is giving a thumbs up. Jill does not look impressed.

Taken a moment before or after the other photo, this has Vince Clarke, Andy Bell, Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall sat round a nightclub table. Between Jill and Rose are two young men, one of whom is talking into Jill's ear..

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 20d

We interviewed Robin Millar and John Cook for the fansite, where we also have recordings of three gigs with the band that you can hear and download for free.
strawberryswitchblade.net/john-cook-in...

John Cook interview - Strawberry Switchblade

John Cook interviewed about his musical career and his time as Strawberry Switchblade's bass player, 6 November 2024.

strawberryswitchblade.net

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Strawberry Switchblade fansite @strawfansite.bsky.social · 20d

They started recording an album produced by Robin Millar (Fine Young Cannibals, Sade). 2 tracks were finished before it was decided to take a different direction & they dispensed with the session musicians & started again with electro wizard David Motion
strawberryswitchblade.net/unreleased-t...

Unreleased Tracks - Strawberry Switchblade

Hear and download unreleased tracks by Strawberry Switchblade.

strawberryswitchblade.net

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