Nightmares in Wax (a.k.a. Rainbows over Nagasaki), and early Dead or Alive

The 24/2/79 issue of the NME features an article about the Liverpool scene, mainly dedicated to the Pink Military (then Pink Military Stand Alone), but also mentioning other ‘promising’ bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, A Teardrop Never Explodes (sic!) and Rainbows over Nagasaki. On the top left of the page campaigns a picture of the leader of the latter band: Pete, aka Peter Burns.
In the mid-seventies Pete Burns was a local cult figure in the Liverpudlian post punk scene: he ran a series of boutiques in Liverpool and was quite popular for his eccentricities (dyed red hair and thoroughly shaved-off eyebrows, green foundation, bouffant wigs, black contact lenses, and pink latex costumes). In the fall of 1977, mainly due to his outrageous looks and blossoming cult status, Burns was recruited by Pete Wylie to form the Mystery Girl (with Wylie on guitars, Julian Cope on bass, Phil Hurst on drums), a band which lasted the time span of a gig, supporting Sham 69, and played mainly cover songs (I Can See for Miles, Wild Thing, Someone like Me, The Night Time Is the Right Time, etc.), with a couple of original songs thrown in, among which Julian Cope's "Bouncing Babies', later a hit for Teardrop Explodes.
It was through the experience of rehearsing with the group that Burns realized he did have a powerful, rough and throaty singing voice (not unlike Jim Morrison’s).
In 1979 he put together a new band, the post-punk and proto-Goth act Nightmares in Wax featuring Mick Reid on guitars, Martin Healy on keyboards, Pete Lloyd on bass, and former Mystery Girl Phil Hurst on drums. (Nightmares in Wax frequently played with their name, one of them being Rainbows over Nagasaki.)
Nightmares in Wax released one only recording, a three-track 7" EP titled Birth of a Nation in 1979/1980, featuring a gothic sound and blatantly homosexual lyrics.

Birth of a Nation - EP
Black Leather
Girl Song
Shangri-La
.


One year late Burns and keyboardist Marty Healey remodeled the band. Along the road of evolution to DOA, short-lived membership was given to Ambrose, who, thogether with Phil Hurst, joined Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood in his early group, Hollycaust, befor joinin forces with Wayne Casey in Pink Industry. Then, Bursn recruited guitarist Mitch (Adrian Mitchell) and bassist Sue James (both ex-Upset), drummer Joe Musker (ex-Fourmost), and renamed the band Dead or Alive, debuting in 1980 with the Ian Broudie-produced Doors soundalike I'm Falling (b/w Flowers)

I’m Falling - single



.
A few months later, in 1981, the same formation recorded their first Peel session.

Some nice articles about the band at this stage can be found here
http://www.deadoralive.net/newsite/press/articles/greene.html
http://franck.cnudde.free.fr/doa.fr/glamour.htm
http://franck.cnudde.free.fr/doa.fr/mortouvif.htm
http://franck.cnudde.free.fr/doa.fr/bop_eye.htm