Mutants - 1977-78 Recordings

Birkenhead band formed straight from school in the summer of ’76 by Keith Wilson (aka Keith 'Kid' Steele, on guitar, later of Geisha Girls) and Paul Codman (aka Paul Pleasant, on drums, later in Egypt for Now and Geisha Girls) inspired by the pub rock of Eddie and the Hot Rods and by raw approach of the Stooges and MC5. After several changes the official line-up included, besides Keith 'Kid' Steele and Paul Pleasant, Sweet William on vocals, Al Sation (aka Paul Brady later Crawl, Ulterior Motive) on bass, and Roddie Rodent (aka Roddie Gilliard, later Muffin Man) on guitar.
The Mutants played their first ever gig at Mr. Digby’s in Birkenhead (with Slaughter and the Dogs) and quickly established themselves as an easy target for music criticism: they were too spikey, fast and ‘punky’ for a rock audience and too ‘rocky’ for a punk audience. For this reason they were banned from the premier new wave venue Eric’s due to their ‘unsuitability’. (Apparently, they responded by covering the entire club exterior, doors and all, with hundreds of posters for their upcoming gigs at the Havanna. And later, Eric’s would attempt to book the band at double their usual fee but the band at this point refused the offer). Their London debut was at the Roxy in Covent Garden, supporting The Police.
The Mutants released their first single in 1977:


Bos sman (1977)
- Boss Man
- Backyard Boys’



The single got some favourable reviews and even peaked at number six in the ‘Sounds’ new wave chart in October ’77, even though the band were disappointed, as the record failed to capture the raw energy and excitement of their live sound. The band continue touring extensively through the North, but when the time came to go back into the studio, the lack of commitment from a major label and the subconscious awareness of their inability to realise that ‘mass-market break’ took its toll. Keith Wilson, left just before the band released their second single:


Schoolteacher (1978)
- Schoolteacher
- Lady
- Hard Time



After the release of the single the band continued for several months, but due to the diminishing enthusiasm the Mutants split in late summer ’78.

Mutants

(see also http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/mutants.htm
and http://whycontrol1977.blogspot.com/2008/03/bombsite-fanzine-1977-mutants.html thanks why control)

Accident on the East Lancs - 1979-81 Recordings

Formed in Rochdale, Accident on the East Lancs were fairly active in the Liverpool and Manchester area (the name of the band itself referred to the A 580, a road connecting the two cities). They formed in 1976, when Andy Sharrocks (vocals), Dave Addison (bass), Kieran Miskella (guitar) and Pete Kenyon (drums) set up a rather powerful act whose live-set would only include covers, mainly of the Stones, the Small Faces, the Velvet Underground, the Doors, and the New York Dolls. Very soon Sharrocks would start writing original material for the band and in 1979 AOEL recorded and mixed in one only day their first single, released through their own label Roach Records. It was a double a-side.

We Want It Legalised / Tell Me What Ya Mean (1979)
- We Want It Legalised (Sharrocks, Miskella, Addison)
- Tell Me What Ya Mean (Sharrocks, Miskella)


In Sharrocks words: “ [the single] would not get much airplay, it did not get much anyway, only John Peel and Dave Fanning of RTE radio in Dublin playing it as far as I am aware, John Peel however did say it was the most exciting record he had heard since the Sex Pistols, which was pretty groovy at the time. (John Peel obviously can't defend this statement, and I can't prove it but I was listening to radio that night, and I know what I heard).” (As one of the a-side’s title suggests, AOEL were strong supporters of the Legalise Cannabis Campaign).
Apparently Sharrocks’ songwriting was not much welcome by the band, and, also due to an obvious alck of commitment) all members quit to be replaced by Andy Schemmet (bass), Nor Pilling (guitars) and Phil O’Dell (drums). This line-up recorded the second single in 1980, also double a-sided:

The Back End of Nowhere / Rat Race (1980)
- The Back End of Nowhere (Sharroks / Pilling)
- Rat Race (Sharroks / Pilling)


In the same year AOEL recorded a cassette album called Shotguns And Hotshots featuring 12 original angry tracks, recorded in four days, and released in 1981 on Cargo Records. (This was re-released on vinyl two decades later in Germany, with Back End Of Nowhere and Rat Race added as bonus tracks).

Shotguns and Hotshots (1981)
- Let's Take It To Extremes
- Tired, Broke And Lonely
- Wasted
- What's New
- The 1980s
- We Want It Legalized
- Back End Of Nowhere (7'') (Bonus)
- Teenage Runaway
- 20th Century
- Police
- Back End Of Nowhere
- Bad Lads
- Why Don't You Leave Us Alone
- Rat Race (Bonus)

In 1982 Andy Sharrocks quit the band and left Rochdale to deal with a raging drug habit: “I threw a few clothes and an acoustic guitar in the back of my van, intending to go back but never did.”

AOEL 1979-81

(see also: http://www.detour-records.co.uk/accident%20on%20the%20east%20lancs.htm )

The Spitfire Boys - 1979 recordings

After the Spitfire Boys mk I split in December 1977, and members went their separate ways (Ruthersford in the Opium Eater, Peter Griffiths in Nova Mob, Budgie in Nova Mob, Big in Japan, Opium Eaters, The Secrets, The Planets, then the Slits and ultimately the Banshees) David Littler (aka David Francis, David Jones) moved to London and played for a while with ‘The Photons’ (featuring Vince Ely on drums, later to become the Psychedelic Furs’ drummer, and Steve Strange, future Visage, on vocals), until he was sacked in September 1978. In November 1978 he moved to Cardiff where he joined The Nylonz then to be renamed The White Boys. With them he recorded a couple of tracks, Funtime and Trascendental Changing, which were only released in 1979 under the Spitfire Boys name:

Funtime (1979)
Funtime
Trascendental Changing

.
Here’s David Jones’s recollection of that time: "The second single came about with a totally different line up. I wrote, sang and recorded ‘Funtime’ whilst in Wales in 1979 with a scratch band. I did not want to use the Spitfire Boys name on it but was persuaded by the guy who financed it to use the name because he thought it would sell better. It only had a short run of a thousand copies. The original band was well finished at that point and I sort of owned the name as it was all my own making. Budgie was with the Banshees by then and the other two doing their own things."
After the single, Jones, Millman and Prasser formed Trier 3(December 1979), after which Jones would join the White Brothers.

Spitfire 1979

http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/spitfireboysdisc.htm
http://www.detour-records.co.uk/spitfireboys.htm

Faction - 1980-81 Recordings

“Faction formed in December 1980, the first of at least three Liverpool bands of that name. The two members were John Tuite, aka Nicky Hillon or Nicky Cool, one of the two founders of Pink Military. And Colm Redmond, aka Reg or The Enigmatic Reg or (by accident) Reg Redmond, previously of Psycamesh, Wah! Heat, and what proved to be the last of many lineups of Pink Military. With most of that band sacked and Jayne Casey on maternity leave, Tuite and Redmond started to work on their own and recorded an album's worth of material in 4 days at SOS Studios, Liverpool in Dec 80[17th and 18th] and Jan 81 [2nd and 3rd]. Guesting were: Pete Wylie (gtr, drums) and Joe Musker (drums, percussion) of Wah!; Pete Coleman (kbds) the studio engineer [see picture, at the mixing desk]; Alan Peters (trumpet, kbds) the studio owner [see picture, wearing sunglasses]; Miss [Karen] Li (vcls.) Unaware that Pink Military would never function again Tuite wanted to call his spare-time project The Pink Military Faction. Redmond disliked the terrorist overtones and cut it to Faction. The album was released cheaply as a so-called EEP (extended ep) in a plastic bag with an insert instead of a sleeve, to reflect the unfocussed, demo feel of some of the tracks.”

Faction – Faction (1980-81)










.
a1. Jamaica Day (Hillon)
a2. Disney (Hillon)
a3. Ritual I (Hillon / Redmond) ( harmonizer: Redmond / Coleman)
a4. Faction(Hillon) (gtr / perc: Redmond; piano: Peters; synth / vx: Hillon)
a5. Far Away (Hillon / Redmond) (farfisa: Coleman; vx: Hillon / Miss Lee)
a6. Crazy People (Redmond / Hillon) (dr: Musker)
b1. Directive 59 (Hillon) (dr: Musker)
b2. Shanghi (Hillon) (dr: Musker, gtr: Redmond / Wylie)
b3. Ritual 2 (Hillon / Redmond) (dr / perc: Musker; harmonizer: Coleman)
b4. Burning Feet (Hillon / Redmond) (dr: Musker; trumpet: Peters)
b5. Vienna (Hillon) (piano: Pete Wylie; get: Redmond / Wylie)
b6. Tired of Love (Hillon / Redmond / Wylie) (dr: Wylie; synth: Hillon / Wylie)

Together with the musicians credited above, Hillon played synths and/or sang in all the songs (at least those featuring synths and vocals). Redmond played guitars, farfisa and some percussions).

“[The album] would have been no.1 in the indie chart in the first week of release, but was disqualified because it was sold for below the minimum price for an album. The reviews were either excellent or atrocious, mainly the latter. Manager Pete Fulwell's decision to market Faction as a kind of latterday supergroup in the midst of a campaign against such old-fashioned conceits [the so-called "race against rockism" ironically founded by none other than Wylie] didn't help their reputation. Meanwhile Grace Jones had heard the tapes and was keen to record the song Faction for her next album. The band decided to record a new version to release as a single themselves first, and went to Amazon studios in Kirkby, Liverpool for two days in Jan 81. With Musker again on drums and Redmond playing everything else (except piano by Wylie on Faction) they recorded four songs including both sides of the single. The single was notable mostly for the beautiful B-side Wrong Again [vx: Redmond / Hillon; synths: Redmond; piano; Hillon; dr: Musker] and for an early credit for now-legendary producer Gil Norton, then a house engineer at Amazon who recorded most of the session. Maybe not his first credit but probably the first time he got misspelt as Gill. The single again was badly reviewed and bombed. Jones never recorded the song: her previous album had not done well and the record company didn't give her the luxury of selecting her own material for the next. The band played a few of their songs live for the only time when they did a one-off gig with Wylie and Musker as The 21st Present, also performing covers ranging from Venus In Furs to Funkytown, and Roxy Music's The Bogus Man with Troy Tate of Teardrop Explodes on guitar. Several months later an album was in the can. Recorded in the two Amazon studios with first Gil Norton and later Geoff Higgins as engineers and co-producers with Tuite and Redmond, it contained what could have been, if not a hit, at least a calling card in the shape of a fierce cover of New York City's "I'm Doing Fine Now." Drums were variously by Musker and Dave Reilly, then of China Crisis. Tim Lever (Modern Eon, later of Dead Or Alive) played sax. Tuite did lead vocals, Redmond sang the rest, and played everything else. All concerned loved it, photo sessions were done and the sleeve was ready; but the album was an early casualty in negotiations between studio boss Jeremy Lewis, who was attempting to license his label and all its bands en masse, and the Virgin label. Gradually first Faction then Dead Or Alive and others were negotiated out of the deal until Virgin achieved their ill-concealed goal of signing China Crisis and the rest were forgotten. DOA survived of course but Faction's album was never released despite being hawked around numerous London A+R men and being praised to the skies by Malcolm McLaren; and the band ceased to exist. Only one track from the album ever saw the light of day. The Inevitable compilation album Small Hits And Near Misses contained a track ostensibly by Tuite's later band Venus Adore called Burning Arrows. It even credits Tuite and Rea, the other member of that band, as writers. But it is in fact Back Into Sound, the first track on the unreleased Faction album.”Special thanks to Colm Redmond.

Faction 1980-81

(see: http://www.minimal-wave.org/site/modules.php?name=topMusic )

Public Disgrace - Toxteth (1982)

Band featuring Tudor (guitar, later Reiner Chaos, Das Reiner, Dementia, Gone To Earth, Mr Toad & The Naughty Majorcans, Suicide Stars), Andy Harding (vocals), Dave Hammond (bass), Cally (drums). Before entering the band Cally had a fanzine ‘Anarchy’ - featuring interviews with Gary Dwyer (Teardrop Explodes) about the lack of violence at Eric’s - through which he helped organise the Eric’s protest marches when it was shut down.
When they formed, Geoff Davies would let them use the upstairs rooms at Probe to practice. The band released Toxteth EP about the Toxteth riots and this got them national press exposure. It was 1982.
.
Toxteth (1982)

- Toxteth
- LSD
- Wars
.
Their gigs were mainly composed by blitzkreig bop and belsen covers plus tracks from the band’s only vinyl rlease.
Apparently, the live shows were all about promoting their number one fan OAKY (aka Oakey) - a legend amongst the Liverpool punk community - to legend status as the biggest mohican in the world! The guy also had the honour of being name-checked on the cover of the Toxteth ep. By 1983 the band was no more, and Tudor joined Reiner Chaos.


toxteth

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Singles (1984-85)

After the success of the infamous Relax turned the band into a media phenomenon, FGTH started to work on their first Lp with the producer Trevorn Horn. In the meantime they released three more singles, exploiting at full the possibility that 12” format offered for re-mixes (in the files you’ll find one of the many 12” releases for each single).
June 1984 saw the light of the band’s second single, a track that had become a live favourite and an anthem for FGTH:


Two Tribes (1984)
1. Two Tribes (Annihilation)
2. War (Hide Yourself)
3. One February Friday
4. Two Tribes (Surrender)


The track One February Friday was basically a follow-up of One September Morning, appeared as the bside of Relax. This time it is a rant on the part of the ‘lads’, Ped, Nash e O’Toole, about their vision of fame, success and the contemporary music scene.
In November of the same year the release of the Lp Welcome to the Pleasuredome was paralleled by the band’s third single:


The Power of Love (1984)
1. The Power Of Love
2. The World Is My Oyster
3. Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Pleasure Fix)
4. The Only Star In Heaven (Star Fix)


The World Is My Oyster appears here as a fully fledged song, as originally conceived by the band, whereas on the album it has been reduced to a simple snippet and combined with other fragments of songs as the lp opening track.
The last single to promote the album appeared in April 1985:


Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1985)
1. Welcome To The Pleasuredome
2. Get It On
3. Happy Hi (All In The Body)




Fgth 84-85

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - 1983

A few months after their first Peel session, in February 1983 FGTH werer asked to record a session for David Kid Jensen, another DJ on Radio One (which they did, performing new material, like The Only Star In Heaven, Welcome To The Pleasuredome, Invade My Heart, besides a new veriosn of their early composition, renamed for the occasion Relax -Shoot It In The Right Direction). Producer Trevorn Horn (ex Buggles) heard the show and,highly impressed by the raw energy of the band, revealed his interest in producing the band. A period of inactivity followed, as Horn fulfilled his production commitments with Yes. In the meantime ZTT (Horn’s record company) took full control of the FGTH affairs, getting the group into the studio to develop their sound. They were not allowed to play any more live gigs until Horn was satisfied they had the right sound he was looking for. The group would continue to practice and polish their act while Horn was working withYes on their 90125 album. In September 1983 FGTH finally entered the recording studio to record their first single, then released in October 1983.
.

Relax (1983)
- Relax
- One September Monday (7”)
- Ferry Cross the Mersey (12”)

.
The 12” was backed with a cover of Gerry and the Peacemaker, while the 7” version featured a weird piece of music and spoken words, actually an interview between journalist Paul Morley and the band (Johnson and Rutherford) about the beginning of FGTH, which is quite interesting: here it is:


One September Monday

Holly Johnson: mmmmm
Paul Morley: What was the danger about Paul, Holly?
Holly Johnson: The danger about Paul?
Paul Morley: I mean what made you realise that here was someone you could work with?
Holly Johnson: I didn't until (pause) sometime this year in fact
Paul Morley: Really?
Holly Johnson: It didn't seem possible (pause) up to that point (pause) because we both shot off in different directions. I was heavily into the Big In Japan thing and he was like (pause) visiting London, giving it loads in that direction. So we had a big break (pause) from each other, and then he did this Hambi tour giving it much dance ooops
Paul Rutherford: (laughs) Holly Johnson: ergh, and he gave it loads right.
Paul Morley: yeah
Holly Johnson: and we were just starting, we got a few support dates with Hambi, through knowing Hambi
Paul Morley: That's Frankie
Holly Johnson: That's Frankie Goes To Hollywood, in fact. Which was (pause) you know (laughs) woooah (laughs)
Paul Rutherford: (laughs)
Holly Johnson: Oh yeah. Which was Mark, Ped and Ged and Sonia
Paul Rutherford: Sonia
Holly Johnson: Sonia Mazonda
Paul Morley: Why did you choose the name?
Holly Johnson: Ohh, not, it's not a too much of an exciting story, ahm (laugh). There was this old this, this old, this band I was in, I was just jamming with, in the reheasal room
Paul Morley: Jamming?
Holly Johnson: Yeah you know kind of learning, learning period. Erm we needed a name quick cos we had to get a gig you know and all that stuff and there was a (pause) a picture, a piece of the New Yorker magazine stuck to the wall in the reheasal room that said Frankie goes to Hollywood, and a picture of Frank Sinatra, getting ahh, mobbed (laughs) by, what were they called, what were they called (pause) oh you know Teenie Boppers or something like that (laughs)
Paul Rutherford: That's it (laughs)
Holly Johnson: Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Holly Johnson: We used to give it loads of 'Hey it's a movie' (laughs) and this is your audition, well that was it at the time.
Paul Morley: At this time it was complete nonsense really, weren't it?
Holly Johnson: Sorry?
Paul Morley: Complete nonsense really?
Holly Johnson: Yeah it was but it was entertaining nonsense, we thought. And that's whatcha got it good.
Paul Morley: Entertaining nonsense.
Holly Johnson: Well yeah. (pause) Dada! (laughs) No need to Dada. Zang Tuum Tumb an' all that. Oh when are we gonna have these parties then? (laughs) We've been promised parties.
Paul Rutherford: Where's these parties you've promised us?
Holly Johnson: You've promised us parties.
Paul Morley: I promised you four parties.
Paul Rutherford: Four? Ahh love.
Holly Johnson: I'm ahh (cut off).
Paul Morley: Why do you sing?
Holly Johnson: Sing?
Paul Morley: Yeah.
Holly Johnson: Why do? I could give it loads of 'it's something that comes from within' but, you know, it's just not that?
Paul Morley: So why do you sing?
Holly Johnson: It's just something I've always wanted to do.
Paul Morley: Yeah?
Holly Johnson: One of the things I've always wanted to do.
Paul Morley: Since when?
Holly Johnson: Since I was about four, I used to sing to the pigeons (laughs)
Paul Morley: Who do you sing to now?
Holly Johnson: Eh?
Paul Morley: Who do you sing to now?
Holly Johnson: ergh? I think it's dead important to sing to yourself really. You know what I mean?
Paul Morley: Yeah?
Holly Johnson: You gotta enjoy it firstly (pause) and it's a buzz if other people enjoy it.
Paul Morley: It's a what?
Holly Johnson: A buzz
Paul Morley: Yeah?
Holly Johnson: Do you ever think about who's gonna enjoy it?(pause)
Holly Johnson: I think about the people.
Paul Rutherford: Yes they crossed my mind once (laughs)
Paul Morley: I mean do you care about (muffled)
Holly Johnson: Do we really, do we really care?
Paul Morley: I mean do you (pause) like think about like competition?
Holly Johnson: Occasionally, occasionally, occasionally.
Paul Morley: like Culture Club or ABC or anything like that?
Paul Rutherford: No, no not like, erm, no not them
Holly Johnson: I don't them as competition 'cos it a completely different thing what we're doing
Paul Morley: What are you doing them?
Holly Johnson: oooh, well you'll just have to flip it over and see. (laughs)

[The interview on the b-sides ends here, the actual interview continues as follows]

Holly Johnson: Oh, I don't wanna get into anything dodgy like that. (laughs)
Paul Morley: What were you doing in Big In Japan?
Holly Johnson: I was playing bass
Paul Morley: You weren't singing?
Holly Johnson: I was doing, I was singing in, in my own way.
Paul Morley: What what kinda way was that?
Holly Johnson: er, stifled (laughs) Stifled in a very stifled way.
Paul Morley: So what's the difference between being stifled and being what you're are now?
Holly Johnson: Set free
Paul Morley: Set free?
Holly (laughs) mmm. Free your mind
Holly and Paul Rutherford: ...and your arse will follow
Holly Johnson: the kingdom of heaven is within
Paul Morley: When did'ya meet Paul?
Holly Johnson: Paul. We met in a nightclub. We were about 15
Paul Rutherford: We were nightclubbing
Paul Morley: A lot of grease involved there or a there was just a casual kinda meeting? I mean a lot of liquid kinda...
Paul Rutherford: Pardon.
Holly Johnson: Ah . We had a mutual friend.
Paul Rutherford: Mutual
Paul Morley: Lubrication
Holly Johnson: We had a mutual friend. Jayne Casey in fact.
Paul Morley: Jayne?
Holly Johnson: mmm
Paul Rutherford: Well we met a lot earlier then that, but, we didn't, we weren't knocking around together then.
Holly Johnson: True. I think we knew of each others existense.
Paul Rutherford: Existense.
Holly Johnson: It was dead strange in fact
Paul Morley: How did you know of each others existence?
Paul Rutherford: Sensitive vibes
Holly Johnson: Aha
Paul Morley: oh yeah
Holly Johnson: When you're, when you're in a town like Liverpool (laughs) you know what I mean and you go into town
Paul Morley: I don't know what you mean Holly? Tell me what you mean.
Paul Rutherford: It means you put one foot in and one foot out...
Holly Johnson: yeah
Paul Rutherford: ...and you see everybody on your way
Holly Johnson: ...and shake it all about (laughs)
Holly Johnson: I tell ya, I tell ya


Before the end of the year, in December 1983, almost one year after their fist Peel sesion, the band recorded another session for John Peel, performing some new material:

Peel session 03-12-1983
- Junk Funk (Get On Down)
- The Other Side Of Midnight
- The Power Of Love
- Get It On

Fgth 1983

This Final Frame - Recodings 1982-85

In 1978 Paul Skillen, Pete McAsey, Carl Henry and Paul Den Heyer (the latter two then to join Politburo at different times) were in a pop reggae band called TV12. When they disbanded in 1979, Skillen -- influenced by the post punk renaissance of music in Liverpool --decided to form a new band from the nucleus of TV12, this time without reggae rhythm and without the singer Den Heyer (aka Denheyer). Skillen (on guitar and vocals), McAsey (on bass) and Henry (on drums) were joined by Eamonn Sale (on keyboards) and Jim Short (on trumpet, quite a bizarre instrument in post-ponk and new wave music, but a distinctive feature of TFF sound). In 1980, the band made their first demo at Open Eye studios in Liverpool, whose constant playing on local radios eventually led to the band being signed by RCA/Scratch records. In 1981-82 TFF released their first single:
.

The Diary (1982)
a. The Diary
b. Discontent


.
The single received sustained national radio airplay and excellent reviews, and the band recorded a radio 1 session for Dave Jensen and a Granada TV appearance on Exchange Flags. In 1983 TFF recorded and released their second single:
.

The Mask (Falls Away) (1983)
a. The Mask (Falls Away)
b. Memories Are Stone


.
This single, too, sold well locally and reached the top 20 of the local charts, receiving strong regional airplay and a place in John Peel’s festive fifty. The band headlined the “Larks In The Park” music festival in Liverpool in the summer of 1984 and received further strong airplay for their track Monday’s Child on the well received Liverpool compilation album Jobs For The Boys (1984). The band recorded another Radio 1 session for Janice Long. In 1985 TFF released another single:
.

Take No Prisoners (1985)
a. Take No Prisoners
b. Eden


.
In the meantime Carl Henry had left the band due to health problems. The pressures of work saw the band starting to fragment. While Dave Reilly (China Crisis) took over on drums for live work, McAsey started to play with The Farm and The Balcony whilst Short was guesting on recordings for China Crisis and Black. The single started to go very well making several regional charts and the national top 100, which lead to the release of a fourth single:
.

Stories (1985)
a. Stories
b. Blue and Grey


.
The band split the same year, following a Granada TV appearance.

.
This final frame (82-85)

(see also http://www.myspace.com/thisfinalframe )