FOXDUDE RECORDS

"Specialists in indie music collectibles from 1977 to the present."

Welcome to our artist of the month page, from here you will be able to read what we hope will be in depth articles about some of the artists that we think are collectable.

Foxdude Records, PO Box 3, Rushden, Northants, NN10 0EZ, UK.

Caretaker Race Discography.   12 Somewhere On Sea/Angela’s Baby/All Love Offers/Man Overboard(demo)      (Roustabout - Rst 1t)                                                 10-87   12 Anywhere But Home/Gilda/The Things That Matter      (Roustabout - Rst 4t)                                                 07-88   12 I Wish I’d Said That/Fire In The Hold/One Rung Down/Her Shining Room      (Foundation - Tfl 2)                                                  07-89   12 Man Overboard/Grey Gardens/Squirrel Face Shoes      (Foundation - Tfl 6)                                                  07-90   12 Two Steel Rings/All Love Letters/Your Black Heart/Brightest Star      (Foundation - Tfl 8)                                                  10-90   CD Two Steel Rings/All Love Letters/Your Black Heart/Brightest Star      (Foundation - Tfl 8)                                                  10-90   CD Hangover Square (Foundation - Found 2)                                09-90   LP Hangover Square (Foundation - Found 2)                                09-90      All Love Offers/I’ve Seen A Thing Or Two/Two Steel Rings/Anywhere But      Home/Fire In The Hold/Gun Metal/Two Minutes By Train/Borrow My Car/      I Wish I’d Said That/You Always Hurt (The One You Kick)/Man Overboard.

Caretaker Race 1986-1990. Nowadays, a band’s "CV" is just as important (and in some cases more important) than the quality of the music they produce. Indeed, probably the best way of ensuring any band grabs attention is for the members to have a list of well known past accolades. The appearance of the Caretaker Race in 1987 came about when the band the Loft literally blew itself to pieces one evening in 1986. At the time the Loft were not exactly famous yet by indie music terms they were well on their to fame and were critically praised in many journalistic quarters.  Indeed, for years Andy Strickland had been an occasional music writer for Record Mirror and when Pete Astor split the Loft the journalist within Andy gave way to the impressive creative talent waiting underneath. The Caretaker’s first self financed single "Somewhere On Sea" appeared on their own Roustabout label and was followed a few months later by the highly impressive 3 track EP "Anywhere But Home." Later re-corded for the band’s LP this single probably stands out as their most impressive release.

The Caretaker Race took their name from a Star Trek paperback adventure and after the success of the first 2 singles they were signed to the Foundation label, home to the bands Bradford and Spin.

THE CARETAKER RACE

The Caretaker Race took a further year to release their 3rd single "I Wish I’d Said That", again produced by John Parrish it showed the band displaying a more polished sound than before. After the band’s 4th (and this time Stephen Street produced) single "Man Overboard" the band’s basist, Henry Hersom left to join fellow London indie pop band Bob. Henry was replaced in 1990 by Jackie Carrera and thus the team that recorded the remaining tracks for the LP were :

Andy Strickland : vocal & guitar                                                                 Dave Mew : drums                                                                 Andrew Deevey : guitar                                                                 Jackie Carrera: bass. Reviewing the "Hangover Square"LP in September 1990 Steve Morris quoted that "the Caretaker Race are sitting on a genuine pop goldmine" however not long after it’s release the band had sadly split up.