Nylon (1979-81)

Nylon formed in 1979 by Ian Baker (keyboards, later Change to the East) and Mark Phythian (keyboards, later producer with Change to the East, China Crisis and Peter Coyle), who then were joined by David Owen (vocals, keyboards) - later replaced by Phil Bliss - and David Brophy (drums). Inspired and fascinated by electronic bands like Kraftwerk, Ultravox, Human League and OMD, Nylon followed Kraftwerk's ethos by building a lot of equipment themselves such as oscillators, filters and phasers.

This is how Ian Baker recalls his time with the band:

‘NYLON started with Mark Phythian and I at age 14 with a healthy interest in electronics. At the time Mark was obsessed with the works of BBC Radio Phonic Workshop, whilst I […] was mystified by a this German band, Kraftwerk, who rumour had it, actually built there own in instruments.

'I heard that ‘someone in school has a synthesizer’, so I tracked him down and arranged to go round to Mark’s house. I was expecting [a fully-fledged synthesizing machine] but what he had was [a two octave EDP WASP].
After I’d got over the initial disappointment, I realised the EDP WASP might be an entry-level synth but the sounds it produced completely blew me away and I was hooked!

‘Not long after, a friend of a friend introduced us to David Owen who not only also had a WASP was also willing to sing.
The three of us spent pretty much every spare moment at weekends or after school in Mark’s back bedroom or my loft, either trying to emulate popular songs of the day such as ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell or countless OMD tracks. Or we would write our own songs, and record them by sound on sound layering on a couple of standard hifi cassette decks. On many an occasion we had a stab at some Kraftwerk, but despite their seemingly simplistic nature, Kraftwerk’s songs are very complicated and the sounds they used were extremely hard to replicate (in hindsight that was probably down to their homebuilt equipment).

‘I don’t think we ever consciously thought ‘let’s start a band’ or ‘let’s write a song’ it was just something we all enjoyed doing; the electronics, the song writing, the playing etc…

‘No one person was responsible for songwriting, we all would come up with little sequences or melodies that somehow got linked together to make ‘songs’.

‘David Brophy was the sporty one at school, he was the top striker in the football team and the one the girls went for. I don’t remember how it happened but he brought along a single 10” tom and something called a ‘DrumSynce’ which clipped onto the rim and produced those 80’s ‘boooo’ and ‘chow’ sounds like on the very beginning of ‘All Stood Still’ by Ultravox. Consequently he was in – whether he could play or not, luckily he could! And band practice moved to his freeeezing cold garage.

‘Phil Bliss was last to join when David Owen freely admitted he had reached the limit of his vocal abilities.

‘Making music was a very organic process using anything and everything that made [a] sound;-
We would use old records and scratched across the grooves in the middle so when it was played it would simulate a rhythm
We would speak softly through a harmonica with paper over it to create a vocoda type of sound
We would put a sum into a calculator to make it flash an error message, then put it by [a] detuned radio, causing a rhythmic uh uh uh uh sound
We dismantled a DOD Phaser and soldered a potentiometer in so that we could set the phase position in one place instead of it sweeping up and down
We would make David B. hit a cushion instead of a drum because it had a good thud
We would put guitars, drums, vocals or anything through the synths.

‘On one occasion before we knew Phil, David B’s brother Steve wanted to sing, but couldn’t, and was quoted as saying ‘I’ll sing in whatever key I want’

‘We funded our equipment with various paper rounds. Mark was legendary in that he very rarely [was] alone, he always managed to coheres someone to go and help him.

‘We went to lots of gigs too, such as Talk Talk, Ultravox, OMD, John Foxx, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and of course David Owen would often go off to see his beloved Genesis.’ (Ian Baker, 2010)


As to the final days of the band Baker recalls:

‘In 1981 Philip Bliss joined on vocals, we changed the name to Silent Movement and I picked up the bass guitar, and Mark dabbled with the guitar. We had left school by this point, started gigging around Liverpool at The Venue and The Masonic Pub, supporting such bands as P.O.W, and The GamesAt some point in this year, (August I think) we actually recorded at the same studio where Woody [later guitarist with Change to the East] had done his YOP scheme some months earlier, although we never actually met each other then.By the end of 1982 people were drifting off to University and the band fell apart.’


In the folder from Nylon/Silent Movement’s gig at St.Steven’s Church Hall on 29 December 1981.
- Flexibility Maintained
- The Things That Dreams are Made of (Human League cover)


nylon


(see also: http://www.youtube.com/user/NYLONmusic1?ob=0#p/u
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lc43OFRry0&feature=related
thanks to our friend ian for all the information in this post)

The English (1980-1982)

Before becoming the English, the Moondogs – Ian Irvine (guitars, vocals, later Z Victor 1), Patrick Colohan (guitars, vocals, later Z Victor 1, X-Deceptive, In Cahouts), Dave Gough (bass, vocals, later Z Victor 1) and Tony Dolman (drums, later Z Victor 1, Lawnmower) – recorded a final track: When You Fly
‘This track was recorded the day John Lennon died, after whose first band they were named. […] The jangle on this suggests later period mop tops.’
(form Liverpool Cult Classics Unearthed, Volume 2)
The track would be featured as the b-side of the English’s first and only single in 1981:

Hooray for the English (1981)
- Hooray for the English
- When You Fly

‘Hooray for the English’ filled the airwaves with the help of Radio One and achieved moderate success.
(http://www.davidgough.co.uk/ )

About the band’s live performance Breakout Magazine (# 5, December 1981) commented:
‘The English have a very good following. ‘Hooray for the English’ is a local classic and should figure highly in the 1981 poll. Energy is their main ingredient and each song is delivered in a fast and furious pace. The crowd love it. […] Another strong point for the English is their vocals with three members of the band singing, it gives a good variation from song to song’

hooray

The Moondogs (1976-1980)

The Moondogs (not to by confused with the Irish band with the same name) were formed in 19876 Ian Irvine (guitars, vocals, later English, Z Victor 1), Patrick Colohan (guitars, vocals, later English, Z Victor 1, X-Deceptive, In Cahouts), Dave Gough (bass, vocals, later English, Z Victor 1) and Steve Plumber (drums), later replaced by Tony Dolman (later English, Z Victor 1, Lawnmower).
The band played mainly Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent cover versions and were chiefly influenced by the early Beatles (of the Hamburg era).

Ian Irvine about the band:
‘The Moondogs were formed in 1976. Their first gig was the Hope St. Fringe Festival in the summer of ’77. […] The Moondogs were given an unprecedented eight gigs at the new Eric’s club in Matthew St., after Roger Eagle heard them rehearsing in a warehouse known as the Liverpool School of Language, Music, Dream & [Pun], run by local poet Pete O’Halligan. They supported such local bands as the Darts, the Pirates and Billy Boy Arnold. Steve Plumber later left the Moondogs and was replaced by a young ‘teddy boy’ from Crosby called Tony Dolman. With Tony on drums they cut a single financed by Roger Eagle / Erics on their own ‘Moondog’ label, released in 1979 and produced by ex- Deaf School drummer Tim Whittaker. It was a pleasant enough ditty, but sounded weedy in comparison to the band live. The band had so many relatives, tat the single did reasonably well!!
There was also a gig at Erics filmed for TV, which was a support for Alexis Korner who was the main subject of the programme.’ (Ian Irvine, 1987)

'They looked like Hamburg period Beatles and were the only ’77 band to have the bottle to be really different.'
(form Liverpool Cult Classics Unearthed, Volume 2)



Heads I Win (1979)
- Heads I Win
- Two’s a Crowd



In 1980 the Moondogs became the English.

moondogs

The Blitz Brothers - Rose Tattoo (1980)

The Blitz Brothers formed in late 1979 and consisted of Dave Bates (vocals, former Dalek I and A&R manager for Phonogram), Chris Hughes (drums and FX, formerly of Virgin Records, later Dalek I Love You, Adam and the Ants), Steve Lovell (guitars, ex Tontrix, later Hollycaust, and with Julian Cope) and Hugh Jones (bass).

Dave Bates:
‘As a teenager, Bates left his native London to become a successful BBC Radio Journalist, DJ and promoter in Sheffield. The success of his local shows encouraged him to return to London and the heart of the music industry. His grasp of the singles market saw him recruited by Richard Branson in an effort to steer the fledgling Virgin Empire away from just album sales and hippy shops. Branson also felt that he was the man to organise an in-store radio station for the Virgin shops. The idea never saw the light of day, but it did get Bates working with Chris Hughes, (Then a colleague at Virgin). The two became firm friends, bonded together by a mutual obsession with music. It was the start of a relationship that abides to this day with Chris as Davids' partner at db. " From that point on," they admit, " our careers are inextricably linked." As Bates moved into to A & R, Hughes was given the opportunity to move into production.‘Bates joined Phonogram as an A & R scout in 1976, at the height of the punk scene. His first signing was Dalek I, a band that contained future members of Siouxsie and the Banshees [sic], OMD and The Teardrop Explodes. Two years later Bates' vision came into it's own when he persuaded Mercury to fly in the face of fashion and sign a gang of unkempt rockers he'd found back in his old stomping ground of Sheffield, known as Def Leppard.‘Bates' unlikely lads went on to sell over 40,000,000 albums, and David's reputation as a man the music business could ill afford to ignore was assured.‘Never one to miss an opportunity Bates made use of his record companies facilities to form and record a band called 'The Blitz Brothers' starring him and Chris Hughes. He sent the demo into Phonogram by post. When the label decided to sign them he was forced to admit his involvement. Two of the singles have appeared on many US 'New Wave' compilation CD's.‘Bates hit the USA for the first time in 1978. He had formed a relationship with Ork Records and was trying to do a deal that would enable him to sign Alex Chilton, The Cramps and Television. He needed to go to New York to close a few details. Assigned £1,000 for the whole trip he performed a minor economic miracle by staying for four months. In that time he saw bands that he both loved and championed including Devo and the B52's. To their cost Phonogram failed to share in Bates enthusiasm and when the last dollar was finally spent he came home older, wiser and manifestly ahead of his time.‘It was in Middlesborough,1979 that Bates instincts told him that he had found another star in Julian Cope and a seminal band called ' The Teardrop Explodes'. Under Bates auspices the band recorded two legendary LP's and he continued to work with Julian Cope as a solo artist on Mercury.The 1980's and Bates' next big score would come via a tape of songs offered to him by a publisher. Unimpressed by the idea of covering the songs, he inquired after the writers instead. They were two teenagers who had given themselves the name of 'Tears For Fears'. After two failed singles Bates decided to go out on a limb, and recorded an album.For the third single he switched the A side with the B side "Mad World'. It made No 3, and the LP sold 4 million copies. It was the start of a union that lasted until the early 90's and has accounted for some 20,000,00 albums to date.In the mid 80's David's instincts had acquired Phonogram what can be described as an embarrassment of riches. "Of the five of us on Phonograms A & R team we had nine of the top ten singles in one week. You suddenly think that you can do anything and that everything is possible". Bates has always looked to hide behind, even back in the 70's he had formed Back Door records, he released 'I'm the Face' by the Who's first incarnation, 'The High Numbers'. Another hit. Bates now decided to sift through world music for further inspiration and went onto form a label called The Mobile Suit corporation with David Claridge. As well as his established bands Bates also found one-off hits like Trio's ' Da, Da, Da,'. Following a bet with a colleague Tracey Bennet, he had a top ten hit with Monsoons 'Ever So Lonely'. David, it seemed could do no wrong.Back home his long and intimate relationship with Julian Cope (Bates and Cope had shared a flat together, and in his autobiography Cope devotes a whole paragraph to Bates' record collection.) was under strain. Cope's conceptual excesses in the face of declining public interest, meant that they no longer saw eye to eye and one of Bates closet and most fruitful partnerships came to an end. "I wanted him to be Jim Morrison, he wanted to be Iggy Pop" says Bates. Although they still remain firm close friends today.’
http://www.dbrecords.co.uk/davidbiog.php?lang=1

Julian Cope, talking about Dave Bates calls him ‘A genius and a lunatic’ (Head On)


Chris Hughes (a.k.a. Merrick):
‘Right from the start, Chris Hughes' musical career has been about diversity. Since he bought his first drum kit aged 13 his endeavours have spanned the musical spectrum, devoting himself chiefly to its most ancient (percussion) and modern (electronics) forms. […]
‘As a teenager Chris immersed himself in the classic pop of The Beatles and The Stones and spent his spare time drumming in bands with his schoolmates. In 1973, he joined Virgin Records as "a basic sweeper-upper". Whilst working his way through the retail end of the business his fascination with electronic music grew. He began to experiment with recording, using a mixture of feedback, tape-loops and outright noise in a (now industry standard) "bedroom studio" fashioned from early synths, valve equipment and quarter inch tape.His first outing as a producer (and an early Bates collaboration) was Dalek I's "Compass Kum-pas", which was a fusion of pop and electronics that would not only point the way for Hughes' future but the direction of pop music as a whole. ‘Other early work would include the Bates fronted Blitz Brothers and some primitive sequencer sessions at Ringo Starrs' house for the young Def Leppard.‘In 1978, Chris played drums in session for former Big Star main man Alex Chiltern at Olympic Studios in London. Chiltern was sufficiently impressed to take Chris with him as drummer on his US tour. Back in London Chris found himself in the offices of Do It Records, two rooms above a minicab office in Camden, listening to a cassette tape played on the telephone answering machine. The tape was by Adam and The Ants and Chris, spotting both their potential and his need for some work, agreed to turn his attentions to the masters. […] ‘The Hughes produced Kings Of The Wild Frontier was a No 1 album, a milestone in pop, singles like Dog Eat Dog and Antmusic fused the Hughes fashioned Burundi drum sound into the consciousness of a generation and Chris joined Adam on the bedroom walls of Britain.‘Leaving The Ants in 1982, Chris began to focus more on production. He made his mark almost immediately with Tears For Fears. His work as producer commenced with their first album The Hurting and has continued, on and off, ever since. However, it was never a smooth ride. "I got fired on a regular basis," he recalls.‘The 80's saw Chris further establish his production credentials with the outright pop of Howard Jones, Wang Chung and Red Box as well as shaping the sound of more tangible artists like The Cars' Ric Ocasek and Paul McCartney. The decade saw him back again at the nexus of pop and electronics producing avant-garde hits for Propaganda.’
http://www.dbrecords.co.uk/chrisbiog.php?lang=1


About Steve Lovell Julian Cope recalls:
‘This is the guy that we used to adore from afar in Liverpool. Before the Bunnymen, before the Teardrop, Will Sargent, Simmo (Paul Simpson, former Teardrop Explodes, Wild Swans) and I used to consider Steve the nearest thing to Tom Verlaine. Of course, Tom Verlaine was a guitar legend in Liverpool. And, though Steve had always played in crap bands, his guitaring had always been so pioneeringly emotional and truly nerve-shuttering that we always just listened to him.’
(Head On, 17)


They released a couple of singles: Gloria (1979, featuring: Gloria (Van Morrison) b/w Songs/Records (C. Hughes), see relevant post) and Rose Tattoo (1980, written by Bates / Hughes, b/w Walking all alone by Bates / Hughes / Jones / Lovell).


Rose Tattoo (1980),
- Rose Tattoo (Bates / Hughes)
- Walking all alone (Bates / Hughes / Jones / Lovell).


An article in Dark Star Magazine in 1980 (No. 25, Vol. 5) the Blitz Brothers are presented as follows:
‘Producres of [Dalek I], The Blitz Brothers seems to basically consist of Chris Hughes and Dave Bates and have so far produced two superlative singles for Vertigo, the first of which was an idiosyncratic near-disco revamp of Van The Man’s Gloria coupled with the polished, wistful ‘Songs / Records’. This was followed by a Left Banke-like original called The Rose Tattoo (Deerfrance). Both may be hard to come by but persistence will be rewarded’


(If uncredited, is possible to spot Alan Gill’s distinctive high-pitch voice singing in the chorus of Walking All Alone.)

rose tattoo


(see also:
http://www.chrishughesproducer.com/chrishughes2/OC5.html
http://www.dbrecords.co.uk/chrisbiog.php?lang=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hughes_(drummer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Jones_(producer) )