FRIENDS who share a passion for music normally end up in the same band but that has not proved to be the case with business partners Del Querns and Oliver Cherer.
Both are well known in Bexhill as joint proprietors of the town’s leading independent record store Music’s Not Dead, based in the De La Warr Pavilion foyer, but they have embarked on entirely different paths in terms of recording music and releasing records.
Del is the keyboard player of the intriguingly named Office for Personal Development (OPD) while Ollie is lead guitarist and joint vocalist of Aircooled.
Both bands already have a dedicated fan base and have recently released new records, both of which are available to buy from Music’s Not Dead and elsewhere.
First up, Aircooled whose second album, Eat the Gold, follows hot on the heels of their debut, St Leopards.
The band, comprising of Oliver on guitar, keys and vocals, Riz Maslen on flute and vocals, Katharine Wallinger on bass and Justin Welch on bass, have certainly come up with another belter.
The influences are clear to see yet at the same time they are new, adventurous and vibrant with the chugging rhythms bringing to mind Fela Kuti and the Afrika 70 in their pomp.
There are also echoes of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on Wish You Were Here but Krautrock, most notably Kraftwerk, Can and Neu, are clearly influences and that is no bad thing, quite the opposite in fact.
Often delving into the past to create something entirely new is the best way forward and that is certainly the case with Aircooled. It is worth attending one of their gigs to witness at firsthand what all the fuss is about.
Opener Airports sets the tone but the album is epic in scope with Oliver and Riz sharing vocal duties to winning effect.
The album does not have a duff track on it with No Reason to Lie utterly magnificent and Japanese Brute equally excellent.
The pace continues impressively on side two of the vinyl release with Star Rider and Transmission, Transmission the standouts. In short Eat the Gold, with its brightly coloured album cover featuring a resplendent budgie, is a triumph.
And so, to The Office for Personal Development and their debut album entitled Doing. Is. Thinking. No, my keyboard hasn’t suffered a glitch, the full-stops are deliberate and makes a powerful statement of intent to better yourself as a human being whether it be domestically or in the workplace.
To a large degree it is a concept album but certainly not in the style of bands such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer, so beloved of prog rock fans in the Seventies.
OPD’s members have clearly listened a lot to the likes of Human League, Heaven 17, Soft Cell, Japan and so forth but have also forged their own path, much to their credit.
The band comprises Trevor Deeble (vocals and guitar), Jenna Love (vocals) and Del Querns (keyboards).
See them live and Trevor is a flamboyant frontman, hurling himself around the stage like David Byrne of Talking Heads on steroids with the band providing excellent back-up.
Jenna’s vocals meld perfectly into a heady mix of sound, particularly evident on tracks such as Take Me Back, Best Days of Our Lives, Do It All Over Again and closer Invisible To Me.
Great stuff in short and as an added bonus the OPD album comes pressed on green vinyl and Aircooled on blue.
Both are worthy of inclusion in any music lover’s collection so get out and check them both out.
