Joyous news for fans of the Medway sound - Damaged Goods will be reissuing the first three Solarflares albums (Psychedelic Tantrum, That Was Then... And So Is This, Can Satisfy You) on various shades of coloured/clear vinyl and Punk Girls by Thee Headcoatees (Can Satisfy You and Punk Girls will also be getting digital releases) on August 25 and September 29 respectively.

The Solarflares began life as a trio of Graham Day, Alan Crockford & Wolf Howard before expanding to a quartet with the addition of Parsley on keyboard duties for Can Satisfy You. All three albums contain gems of Day & Crockford's song craft with the first two having a classic rawness and the third expanding earlier songs and including the band's takes on 'Father's Name Is Dad' and 'Save My Soul' amongst other covers.

Punk Girls is 20 years old this year & well deserving of a reissue, being one of best examples of the work of Thee Headcoatees' as well as their fantastic choices in the covers department ('Teenage Kicks' & 'Ca Plane Pour Moi' amongst them). Holly Golightly, Ludella Black, Kyra Rubella & Bongo Debbie have all gone on to release numerous other singles & albums since the band broke up but Punk Girls is a classic document of their time together and a yardstick by which to measure much of what's come since in a similar vein.     

Ahead of this years Franklin Fest (where did the last 12 months go?), our very own girl in the garage has managed to have a good old fashioned gossip with few of the participating acts. They'll be an article each day this week leading up to the opening night - Thursday 29th  - so you can look forward to intimate tête-à-tête's with MFC Chicken's Spencer Envoy, Chrome Reverse's Lili Zeller and Los Coyote Men's Sir Randy 'Captain Dynomite' Hornknocker! no-less.

Up first is Erin Van Rumble, front woman and bassist of Leeds pop-punksters Nervous Twitch.

DS: ようこそ Erin, please introduce yourself..

EVR: We've been together for about four or five years and after a few lineup changes etc. we are currently a three-piece. Myself, Erin, on bass and singing, Jay on guitar and Ash on drums.

DS: Okay, and how did Nervous Twitch evolve, and did you know each other beforehand?

EVR: Jay and I are a couple and we met through music and going to gigs. Jay was in a different band at the time, and has been in bands since he was a teenager. I originally came on board as a drummer and it was my first proper band! In our early days we made the decision for me to move to bass which vacated the drummer position which is where we're introduced to Ash through a friend.

DS: So what kind of music drives the band?

EVR: We are all fans of various types of music but I think what we all share is a love of a catchy pop song and playing punk rock... so I think that's how we get our sound. Music that inspires our writing is bands like The Ramones, Billy Childish, Nobunny, amongst many many others!

DS: Care to mention a couple of tunes that have inspired you?

EVR: I would find it hard to pinpoint inspiration down to a particular song but album wise Nobunny Love Visions/First Blood (or maybe the song 'Chuck Berry Holiday'!) Ramones Rocket To Russia, or maybe just them all! Billy Childish has A LOT of great songs and far tooooo mannnnyyy albums ha ha!

Also big fans of '60s girl groups like Shangri-las and The Ronettes and the Girls In The Garage comps which has inspired our songs such as "Johnny's Got A Gun" 

DS: You certainly can't go wrong with a bit of Mr Childish. Any particular incarnation of his that you prefer?

EVR: I personally love The Delmonas. Today we had Thatcher's Children byWild Billy Childish & The MBE's on the turntable, which is awesome. Also a fan of the Headcoats, Headcoatees, Milkshakes, so most of his music! He just has a great knack with writing songs!

DS: Turning to output, how many releases to date?

EVR: Two Albums: both released on Odd Box Records on cassette, and then the first one “Get Back In Line” re-released on Vinyl on Middle Ear Recordings and our second “Don’t Take My TV” re-released on Vinyl on Odd Box Records. We’ve also had two singles out on Punk Fox Records and various CD EP's along the way.

DS: ..and what are the band up to at the moment?

EVR: Just finished album Number three “I Won’t Hide” (which we are all very excited about!) which will be released in October on Odd Box Records, as well as a single on Punk Fox!

DS: Will this be the first time you've played in Edinburgh?

EVR: We played in Edinburgh when we toured spring 2016. Awesome gig, so much fun! So we’re all excited to be back!

DS: Are you sticking around for the whole weekend, and who are you looking forward to seeing?

EVR: We are, and can’t wait to see all of the bands really! Sad to be missing The Fnords on the Thursday (I will catch them one day!) but otherwise looking forward to MFC Chicken, Coyote Men, Das Clamps, and The Sensation Seekers.

Many thanks to Erin for taking the time out to chat.

You can catch Nervous Twitch on Friday evening at The Franklin Fest 17. More information about the band can be found here.