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
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)
(Head On, 17)
They released two singles:
Gloria (1979)
- Gloria (Van Morrison) b/w
- Songs/Records (C. Hughes)
Rose Tattoo (1980),- Rose Tattoo (Bates / Hughes)
- Walking all alone (Bates / Hughes / Jones / Lovell).
(If uncredited, is possible to spot Alan Gill’s distinctive
high-pitch voice singing in the chorus of Walking All Alone.)
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’
The Blitz Brothers (mainly Hughes and Bates) were also responsible for the subsidiary Back Door, which first signed Dalek I Love You and released the Dalek I Love You (Destiny) track in may 1980. The blitz Brothers are also credited as producers of much of the DILY’s Compass album, to which Dave Bates also provided additional backing vocals, Chris Hughes some additional drums, percussion, and FX and Hugh Jones bass on the track Heat.
‘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’
The Blitz Brothers (mainly Hughes and Bates) were also responsible for the subsidiary Back Door, which first signed Dalek I Love You and released the Dalek I Love You (Destiny) track in may 1980. The blitz Brothers are also credited as producers of much of the DILY’s Compass album, to which Dave Bates also provided additional backing vocals, Chris Hughes some additional drums, percussion, and FX and Hugh Jones bass on the track Heat.
(Many thanks to Endorphin)
(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) )
