The Glass Torpedoes - Tall Stories (1981)

The story of Glass Torpedoes up to 1982 was synthesized in Brekout Magazine (May 1982) as follows:

‘Formed in October 1978 they released a single on Rough Trade in June 79. This got to number five in the alternative charts and was played on the radio a few times. A line up change followed the single, the G.T. bass player leaving the band to form a band in which he now sings – China Crisis. The Glass Torpedoes went on to do a John Peel session in January 1980 and the following October went on tour with Gary Glitter.

‘The history of the Glass Torpedoes is certainly one that is full of problems. Every time things have looked up something has gone wrong. The demo for the single ‘Something Different’ was well received but the master and resulting single suffered from bad mixing and sound quality. Men in black coats from record companies came to see them play at the Masonic to confirm a recording deal, but the Torpedoes had lost their singer three days previously. The replacement forgot the lyrics and they heard no more from the record company! The tales of woe go on − most last year was spent waiting in vain for promises of tours and record deals to be fulfilled. At the end of 81 the Glass Torpedoes thought they had come to the end of the road as a band. Their hopes seemed more distant than ever and inspiration was low.’

By the end of 1981 the Glass Torpedoes line-up included Mark Coleridge (drums) as the only remaining original member, Paul Reason (guitars), from the formation that recorded the Peel Sessions and went on tour with Gary Glitter and John Milton, and new members Kate Gill (vocals) and Bernie Carroll (bass). The recorded their third and last single at the end of 1981 (then re-released in 1983), featuring as the a-side a re-recorded version of a number already performed during the Peel session of the previous year:

Tall Stories (1981)

- Tall Stories

- Call It Music

Paul Reason conceded at the time:

‘As far as we are concerned 1982 is the year when it’s all going to happen. We have definitely changed for the better, partly because we are more experienced, but also simply because you can’t keep on playing the same beat all the time, it just gets boring!’

In 1982 the Glass Torpedoes provided a few tracks for some compilations, namely ‘Communication’ and ‘Love Isn’t like That at All’ for the Crackin’ Up at the Pyramid compilation, and ‘Caught on Film’ for the Quest # 1 Liverpool tapezine. Nonetheless, by the end of the year the Glass Torpedoes were no more, Reason, Coleridge and Carroll joining the Ex Post Facto.

The Glass Torpedoes’ Tall Stories can be found here.

(Thanks to Bristolboy at the ‘My Life's a Jigsaw’ blog)

The Glass Torpedoes - Peel Session (1980)

The Glass Torpedoes recorded a Peel Session in January 1980 (producer: John Etchells; engineer: Nick Gomm). By that time the line up had completely changed, Barbara Donovan (vocals) and Mark Coleridge (drums) being the only original members left, joined by Gary Daly (bass, later China Chrisis) and Paul Reason (guitar, later Ex Post Facto).

Glass Torpedoes – Peel (1980)

- Forced a Smile

- Something

- Tall Stories

- This Is The End

Curiously, the track ‘Tall Stories’ will appear as the a-side on the band’s last single, in 1981. During the first part of the year 1980 the band toured supporting Gary Glitter. When Barbara Donovan and Gary Dale left, the band got re-shaped with the inclusion of David Maxwell (guitar, vocals), Bernie Carroll (bass, later Ex Post Facto) and spent the rest of the year as a the side band of John Milton (with the name John Milton + The Glass Torpedoes), releasing also a single (Unreal the Real / Running Wild).

g.t. peel

The Glass Torpedoes - Some Different (1979)

Glass Torpedoes originated by the encounter of the Germs and part of the Crash Course.

The Germs (not to be confused with the L.A. band of the same name) were formed in late 77 by Alan Cunningham (guitars) and Paul Cunningham (bass, vocals). According to Geoff of Probe Records, “they were a Buzzcocks-style punk band, they frequently played at Eric’s and had a smashing song called ‘London’ about people going to London to get famous!” In 1978 the Germs disbanded. In late 1978 Paul Cunningham joined the Crash Course, consisting of Pete Wylie, Rob Jones (later to form Wah!), Andy Eastwood (later Sex Gods / Balcony Dogs, Divine Thunderbolts) and Mick Reid (guitars). After the demise of the Crash Course in early 1979, and after Reid briefly joining Nightmare in Wax, Mick Reid and Paul Cunningham got together with Alan Cunningham to form the Glass Torpedoes, whose line-up was then completed by Mark Coleridge (drums, later Ex Post Facto) and Barbara Donovan (vocals).

In June of the same year the band released their first single, being one of the first Liverpool to release a single:

Someone Different (1979)

a1. Someone Different (Reid / Donovan)

a2. Morning, Noon and Night (Cunningham / Coleridge)

b. Heart Surgery (Reid)

That’s hoe NME reviewed the single:

‘This fluent maxi-single contains three catchily casual, tripping and sliding pop chats with lashings of wide guitar, pummelling drumming, baby bass talk and dry love-sick vocals fro Babra (sic) Donovan who reveals within the space of ten minutes that she has it within her grasp to be something special. Glass Torpedoes are a fizzy tonic. They’ve raised my eyebrows: try them.’

Soon after the release of the single, Andy Cunningham quit.

Reviewing one of their gigs (August 1979, supporting the Swell Maps), Mark Ellen of NME wrote:

‘They’re a loose power-rock four-piece led by the pony-tailed Barbara Donovan. They look young, talk Northern, and sound nervous as hell.

‘They too can turn a good tune − namely ‘Going Down’ and ‘Morning, Noon and Night’, which are both rock numbers wrapped around incongruous Blondie-type goofy melodies with lyrics that twitter with teen romance. They even remember how to solo, and keep diving into sections of thrashing drums, plodding bass and whining lead guitar that make you feel the late ‘60s are tapping you on the shoulder.

‘They try to sound tight and commercial when they’d probably rather just Dance This Mess Around. For now, they’re too cautious to swing either way.’

You can listen to the single here.

(Thanks to the wonderful ‘All I Want’ blog)

Crosstalk A/V (1981-1983)

Crosstalk A/V formed in 1981 when Mark Webb (bass, former Dead on Arrival) and Paul Clark (vocals, guitars) joined Tim (drums). This line-up recorded an eponymous three-track demo (Machinery / Bells / Deep Hole). In March 1982, Gillian Walker Joined on keyboards, and a few months later, in July, Tim was replaced by Mike Simkins.

Mark Webb about the forming of the band:

‘I used to be in a band called Dead on Arrival and Paul auditioned for Dead on arrival and was accepted. Then, a week later the band split up, Paul and §I thought we’d continue working together at Cargo Studios. The drummer left and then we found Jill and Mike’ (Breakout, August 1982)

Here’s an excerpt of the interview for Breakout:

‘Who are your main influences? […]

Mike: We all come from different types of backgrounds. I first got interested in the early punk scene.

Mark: So did I. We started off seriously then I was in various Micky Mouse cabaret bands and ‘orrible things like that.

What about the name Crosstalk A/V?

Paul: Well, I was angry one day and I started talking and I was watching Audio Visual and I merged all these things, and formed the name Crosstalk A/V. It seemed the obvious thing.’

As to the Liverpool scene Simkins (who was living in Manchester at the time) adds:

‘The difference between this Liverpool Scene and the Manchester Scene is unbelievable. At the moment theres very little going on in Manchester at all. There are just two gig places that are of any note. Which is. The Gallary [i.e., The Gallery] and The Band on The Wall.’

In November 1982 the band released the first and only single:

The Queue (1982)

- The Queue

- No Earthly Reason

- Dear Peter, As You Are a Nice Person…

The latter song featured the sampled voice of Sarah Green.

From Breakout:

‘Why HER voice?

Mark: Because some of our songs involve pre-recorded tapes. So we tape things from TV or whatever and some time ago there was some kind of scandal. Some kid wrote in to Blue Peter and complained that Peter Duncan, a presenter of the programme, dressed to scruffily. Five thousand kids wrote back saying that he didn’t. Sarah Green read a part of one’s kid’s letter, which went: ‘Dead Peter, because you are a nice person, it doesn’t matter what clothes you wear, it’s what you are inside that counts’, and she said it in such a really profound way, as if she really thought she was getting some great source of insight to human nature. Some great profound thought. […] She was saying this very banal thing in such a way as to imply that it was very profound and deep. It was ludicrous I’d thought we’d use it’

In 1983 Crosstalk A/V released other two demos, the first in January (featuring Room to Breath / Judas Hour / Half Past Nine) and the second in May (The Other People / Judas Hour / Room to Breath / Clock / Pathetic Brain) – the latter containing ‘the last and best recordings’, according to Mark Webb.

By late 1983 Crasstalk A/V was no more: Webb and Walker formed Hi-Tech (with Gary Jones, Gary Cooke and Billy Wright), Clark and Simkins – after a period of Simkins joinin Manchester-based Lavolta Lacota − were later to form Boys From Greese.

crosstalk a/v