Comet Gain

Throughout a lengthy run marked by frequent personnel shifts, switches between imprints, and evolving musical climates, Comet Gain have held fast to a pair of unchanging traits. Whether revisiting early releases such as the 1995 album Casino Classics, which fused rave-ups rooted in the 1960s with gentle indie-pop ballads, the boisterous punk-driven Realistes of 2002, or the gentle, fall-hued Paperback Ghosts from 2014, audiences could rely on words that struck directly at personal or political concerns and on music stripped of pretense yet rich in tunefulness. Issued 27 years after the group’s formation, the 2019 album Fireraisers Forever! retained the same inventive fire, indignation, and allegiance to their distinctive pop approach that had defined their earliest work.

The initial lineup coalesced in 1992 around guitarist and vocalist David Christian, who performed at times under the names David Feck and Charlie Damage, alongside bassist George Wright and drummer Phil Sutton. Wright departed shortly afterward and was succeeded by Jax Coombes, while vocalist Sarah Bleach and guitarist Sam Pluck also joined. This configuration shaped the band’s early fusion of punk, mod, and indie-pop elements, yielding the debut album Casino Classics, issued in 1995 on the influential Wiija label. Two years later Wiija put out the eight-song mini-LP Magnetic Poetry, which appeared in slightly expanded form in the United States on Beggars Banquet under the title Sneaky. Not long after that sophomore release, however, and before a follow-up could be completed, Christian and his colleagues parted ways over creative disagreements. The others launched Velocette while Christian recruited an entirely new Comet Gain featuring Rachel Evans on vocals, Woodie Taylor on drums, and ex-Huggy Bear member Jon Slade handling guitar and bass duties. This edition produced the energetic 1999 album Tigertown Pictures, released domestically by Kill Rock Stars and in the United Kingdom by Fortuna Pop.

The revised roster proved durable; once bassist Kay Ishikawa came aboard, the band delivered two further Kill Rock Stars albums, the lo-fi, scuffed-sounding Realistes in 2002, which included a guest spot from Kathleen Hanna, and the warmer, more polished City Fallen Leaves in 2005. In 2008 Christian compiled Broken Record Prayers, a 20-song collection issued by What’s Yr Rupture? that drew from numerous singles and compilation tracks. Keyboardist Anne Laure Guillain joined for the sixth album, 2011’s Howl of the Lonely Crowd, which benefited from production input by former Orange Juice frontman Edwyn Collins and the Cribs’ Ryan Jarman. After that record, Ishikawa left in 2011 and Slade followed in 2012; guitarist Ben Phillipson and Clientele member James Hornsey on bass stepped in. The refreshed unit issued the “Avenue Girls” single in 2013 before unveiling the subdued, autumnal Paperback Ghosts in early summer 2014 on Fortuna Pop. Several louder numbers cut during those sessions surfaced instead on the Fingerprint Ritual EP in early 2015.

Following a recording hiatus, the band resurfaced in late 2019 with the intense, emotionally charged Fireraisers Forever!, pairing Christian’s politically pointed lyrics with alternately vigorous and empathetic instrumentation. James Hoare of the Proper Ornaments captured the sessions in his living room, Taylor handled mixing, and the album marked Comet Gain’s first outing on the German imprint Tapete. In subsequent years Christian devoted considerable energy to solo projects, many issued as limited Bandcamp editions; the 2021 release For Those We Met On The Way, credited to David Christian and the Pinecone Orchestra, united the songwriter with current and former Comet Gain colleagues plus friends Gerry Love and Cosmic Neman for a set of characteristically heartfelt country- and folk-rock-inflected songs. He also mined the group’s archives for unreleased and scarce material. Three volumes of such tracks appeared on Bandcamp across 2022, while the strongest selections, including two songs from the never-released third album, were gathered on the 2023 compilation The Misfit Jukebox. Continuing the retrospective focus, Tapete issued Radio Sessions BBC 1996-2011 in early 2024, containing two Peel Sessions by the original lineup (including material from the unreleased second album) alongside a Peel Session and a Marc Riley session performed by the second incarnation of the band.