PARAKEET

Aside from the one-off single Chew, Britain’s favourite 90s alt-rock revivalists Yuck have been pretty quiet this year. However, bassist Mariko Doi has been keeping busy with her new project Parakeet, formed with James Thomas of The History of Apple Pie. Parakeet share Yuck’s love of saturating their songs with gooey shoegaze fuzz, but with Doi at the forefront, their songs are more comparable to sparkly indie-pop than the floppy posture of slacker rock. Initially formed without a definitive guitarist, it was Kohhei Mastuda of London-based Japanese psych rockers Bo Ningen who played on Parakeet’s debut single Tomorrow, and according to James there’s a tight-knit network of musicians helping each other out in the capital, “A lot of us know each other, The Horrors helped record the History of Apple Pie album, Jerome from THOAP has recorded Novella and Boneyards, and Max from Yuck has worked with bands like Fanzine.” Parakeet initially emerged as a side project, but the success of their gigs suggests a demand for more material, “We supported The Walkmen and the reaction was great. But we also toured with DIIV and that was better, the crowds were much more raucous.” Although it’s good to hear that James and Mariko are set to resume duties with their primary bands, there’s talk of a Parakeet full length for 2013, and that’s a plan we fully endorse.

File Next To: Teenage Fanclub | Helium

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Words: David Reed