14 Iced Bears - John Peel Sessions 26.11,96 and 27.07.87

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 8 / 6 / 2025

intro

Dave Goodwin reflects on two John Peel Sessions from indie band 14 Iced Bears which have been released on vinyl by Precious Recordings of London.

If you are unsure as to the sound of 14 Iced Bears, then it is difficult to describe. I would go down the road of the early Inspiral Carpets, The Soup Dragons and The Las road, but 14 Iced Bears were recording before any of them had got going. Indeed their track ‘Balloon Song’ was included in the comprehensive 1980’s indie compilation’ Scared to Get Happy’, which featured other like-minded bands such as The Stone Roses, Primal Scream and The Jesus and Mary Chain and was released by the wonderful Cherry Red Records. Associated also with the C86 music scene, 14 Iced Bears were formed in Brighton in 1985, by Robert Sekula and Nick Emery and the band itself featured a plethora of other musicians across their seven-year existence which saw them become more progressively more psychedelic in sound. Rob Sekula was the co-mastermind behind the band being the songwriter and vocalist along with guitarist/songwriter Kevin Canham. I referenced their sound as being of the Inspiral Carpets persuasion, but they also had a jangly indie pop fuzzy proto-punkish vibe which saw them receive modest critical acclaim in Britain's music press. It also prompted disc jockey John Peel to recruit them to record two sessions for his programme on BBC radio, hence both the lovely 10 inch vinyl records we have heare released by Precious Recordings of London.The 1986 session was recorded when they were a five- piece, with Nick Roughley contributing with backing guitars and features treats such as ‘Balloon Song’ and ‘Cut. On the 1987 session the band were a four-piece, and it features the wonderful ‘Spangle’. 14 Iced Bears released a handful of singles, including ‘Come Get Me’, and two full-length albums, the eponymous ‘14 Iced Bears’ in 1988, and ‘Wonder’ three years later. They reformed in i2010 for a couple of US coast tours, as well as some concerts in London.

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