Boyracer

Although leader Stewart Anderson is seemingly incapable of keeping a band lineup together for more than a couple of records at a time, his band Boyracer is one of the longest-running and most prolific bands of the '90s U.K. indie pop scene. Noisier and more aggressive than many of their rather twee contemporaries, Boyracer actually has more in common with more rocking American indie bands like Henry's Dress or Pavement than with any of their contemporaries on the estimable UK indie Sarah Records. Boyracer formed in Wetherby, England, a suburb of Leeds, in 1990, taking their name from the teenage boys who dragged the town's main street on summer nights. The first lineup was Anderson on guitar and vocals, Richard Adams on guitar and keyboards, Simon on bass, and James on drums (like many British indie bands of the era, Boyracer adopted the habit of listing its members by first name only on all releases and promo materials, and some members' last names remain mysteries), a lineup that only lasted long enough to record one single, "Railway" backed with "Reverse," released in April 1992, and half of a split single with the Louisville, KY, group Hula Hoop that July. Adams left the band to concentrate on his own electronica-oriented project, Hood, just before the release of the shoegazey three-track Naked EP in February 1993. The new three-piece lineup signed with Sarah Records that spring and released the quickly-recorded B Is for Boyracer EP in May. The songs started becoming shorter and punkier at this point, as shown both on the Sarah EP and on a 10" mini-album recorded with Hula Hoop entitled Louisville/Leeds TKO, released on A Turntable Friend in July 1993. Capping a seriously prolific year, the five-track From Purity to Purgatory EP, their second Sarah release, was...