The Balcony Dogs - The Trip (1988)

The Balcony Dogs - Andy Eastwood (vocals) and Steve Johnson (guitar), Mooney (guitar), Gary Dwyer (drums, ex Teardrop Explodes, at the time occasionally playing with Black), Carl Washington (bass, ex Wah!) − in 1987 signed to Island recorded and band collected all their material onto an Lp.

About signing to Island records, Andy Eastwood recalls: ‘Really we needed to. Basically Pete [De Freitas] had ‘blown out’ a lor of money getting the whole thing going. Obviously, the controversy started when people started pinning labels on him that he’d ‘flipped’. We had just gone through severe poverty, even though people think you’re just pure decadent. We didn’t have any gear. Most of the geat that we used had to be borrowed and it just came to the point where we realized that we needed backing now, we needed somebody to believe that there was something there worth backing. We knew it, it’s just convincing the bastards to get the cheque books out. […] I’m quite glad that it turned out to be to be Island, because, as far as that bureaucracy goes, I think they are a less of a hassle to deal with, the less of the megabooks vibe.’ (Blast Off, Feb 1988 # 5)

The album was titled Trip (possibly referred to the experience/s in New Orleans that got things going). (Possibly Pete De Freitas played drums on some of the tracks.)

Balcony Dogs - The Trip (1988)
- Fluency 3
- Wheel of Fortune
- Good Little, Bad Little
- Shot to Earth
- Drug Planet #7
- Balcony Dog
- Charlene's Dream
- Rings of Saturn
- Underworld

After the split of the Balcony Dogs, many of the members joined the Divine Thunderbolt, formed by Tim Whittaker, featuring Jake Brokman, Andy Eastwood (vocals), Kate Milner (vocals), and at some point Pete and Frank De Freitas and Mike Mooney.

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