The Front Room - Joe Public (1981) [Re-Up]

Obscure band which collaborated (consisted of?) such figures as Mike Percy (later Moderates, Dead or Alive), Dave Griffiths, Kevin Marr, Bolly, Mooey, Joe Riley, David Alton, Al Moneypenney, David Mathiesan. The band apparently recorded one only single in August 1981:


Joe Public (1981)
- Joe Public
- Camera


Merseysound reviewed the single as follows:
‘If title like ‘Joe Public’ suggests a down-right-sounding People’s Protest then the first single by The Front Room will come as a surprise. A continuous mesh of voices over a synthesized riff suggests nothing so much as The Games’ ‘Planet War’ from the recent Street to Street album. My complaint is that ‘Joe Public’ (‘written for the benefit of the kids in Liverpool’) seems to have something to say and this sophisticated treatment obscures most of it. The recent ‘We Want to Work’ single proves that you can be clear without being disastrously clumsy, and The Front Room should bear this in mind. The sound isn’t unattractive although it works less well on ‘Camera’, the B-side, where the synthesizer gets in the way of some Bowie-ish vocals and deadens the whole song. Well-meaning though.’ (Merseysound 18, September 1981)

In 1982 The Front Room changed their name to A Second Language.

front room

(thanks to our friend Multihit)

The Moderates - Yes to the Neutron Bomb (1981) [Re-Up]

After the release of ‘Fetishes’ the Moderates reconvened in the studio to re-work on ‘Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ for a single release.

Here are Tom Gould’s recollections:
‘We were offered a contract by Greensleeves records (biggest reggae label), as ska had taken most of their customers, so they wanted to sign some ‘white pop bands’. They set up a subsidiary label called ‘Hyped Records’ for ours and a band from Birminghams’ releases , and booked us into a 24 track recording studio in London. During the session we realised that they didn’t really know what they were doing, as previously they bought finished tracks from studio’s in Jamaica. This is where we recorded the second version of ‘Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ and ‘Bus Girl’ (Bus Girl was about taking late night bus journeys in Liverpool, as there always seemed to be a young girl standing at the front of the bus talking to the driver – bus groupies?).
Our experience in the studio was awful as we also had an engineer who thought he was the greatest producer in the world, but was more of a hindrance than any help, so the recordings were pretty bad. At the end of the original ‘Yes to the Neutron Bomb’ on ‘Fetishes’, the explosion was created by four of us holding the keys down on the keyboard, which was plugged into a guitar amp with the settings for distortion, reverb, presence and volume on full, so most of the noise was feedback. On the second recording (the one you have in the directory is the Fetishes version, not the one that ended up on the single), the engineer could not reproduce it, he used a pretty weak explosion from a sound-effects record instead which sounded really crap!’

Yes to the Neutron Bomb (1981)
- Yes to the Neutron Bomb
- Bus Girl

yes to the neutron bomb

White and Torch - Singles (1980-84) [Re-Up]

.
In 1977 Roy White was singing and playing with the Liverpool punk act Berlin, with Johnny ‘Riff’ Reynolds (guitar, later 3D), James Mealy (bass), Gerry Garland (sax, both later Victims of Romance, Bamboo Fringe), and Roy Banks. The band toured quite extensively, and got some positive reviews by Melody Maker and Sounds, and at a certain point was even about to be signed by Decca. When the record company dropped them for Slaughter and the Dogs, Banks left and was replaced by Brian Rawlins (later Liverpool Express, 3D, Keep it Dark) and the band changed the name to Fun. This ‘progressive rockband’ had one track released on the compilation Street to Street Vol. 1 in 1978, which was also their swan-song.
In the meantime, Steve Torch, a former engineer for Open Eye records, was working as a solo artist, and released one single (Live in Fear b/w Smoke Your Own). White and Torch worked together for the first time when Fun became Victims of Romance, and Torch and Hambi (former Tontrix) were added to the line-up. The partnership between the two became more solid when, in the same period, they collaborated with Jayne Casey (former Big in Japan , later Pink Industry) in the Pink Military (White and Torch are among the personnel playing on the Pink Military’s Blood and Lipstick Ep, Sept. 1979).
In 1980 Roy White and Steve Torch released as a duo (plus session musicians) their first single (Who’s Asking You? b/w Stand Alone – the latter in the folder here attached) on Open Eye. The single did not impressed the public and the press, and the duo would probably have disappeared if Chrysalis hadn’t decided to reissue the song with a different production and a different b-side:

- Who’s Asking You? (1980)
- Who’s Asking You?
- Guess Who

In the following years W&T released a series of singles:

Parade (Don’t Sleep with Him) (1982)
- Parade (Don’t Sleep with Him)

- Man to Man

Let’s Forget (1983)
- Let’s Forget

- No, Not I



Miracle (1983)
- Miracle

- Heartbeat
.

.

Bury My Heart (1984)
- Bury My Heart

- Whatever Happens on Sunday

.

In 1984 White and Torch also recorded a Peel Session performing four songs performing their latest single, a couple of b-sides from previous single releases (No, Not I and Heartbeat) and a new song: Don’t Be Shot (the song in the folder is taken from a TV show).
According to the press, the duo managed (or at least tried) to combine the Bacharach and David sense of the melody and the Walkers Brothers’ sensibility for ballads with a Bowie-like voice.
In 1985 the due split and Roy White started working as a solo artist (mainly with the support of the same session musician who had worked with White and Torch, namely Jim Mealy (guitars), David Levy (bass), Charlie Morgan (drums),Jackie Robinson (vocals)).

white and torch (1980-84)

(see also:
http://www.boredteenagers.co.uk/berlinpage2.htm
http://groups.msn.com/DexysMidnightRunners/whiteamptorch.msnw
http://www.myspace.com/thetruemen
http://raidingthevinylarchive.blogspot.com/2007/08/white-torch-or-david-essex-showcase.html )

(thanks to our friend Mykeyten at Rip It Up - Fade2Grey)

DaVincis - Eating Gifted Children (1988)

Da Vincis (aka DaVincis): Guitar band formed in 1984 as The Dream Play by Paul McCormick (vocals, guitars), Martin Smith (guitars), Chris Stevens (bass, later with Mugstar, Cicada Falls, Rattlebus), Faith Moore (drums). They became the Da Vincis in 1985 when Smith was replaced by Martin Ward (former Redo Zebri later Mugstar, Rattlebus) and Faith by Iain Bickle (ex Fire). As to this change in the line-up Sara Cohen claims: “When the drummer of the Da Vincis was ousted from the band and a replacement brought in, the improvement in the social relationships within the band was reflected in the nature and competence of its stage performance. The band members looked as though they were enjoying themselves and there was more contact between them. They watched, smiled, glanced, and made faces at each other, moved more about the stage, and generally seemed more confident and relaxed.” (Rock Culture in Liverpool, 1991, 82)

The Da Vincis became part of the collective of bands working at the Vulcan Studios, together with the Jactars, Crikey It’s the Cromptons!, Ryan, Decemberists, One Last Fight. Curiously, some of these bands shared the same strategies to write songs: “The process could take several months, particularly since it involved so much repetition and experimentation and there was often lengthy discussion and disagreement over factors such timing, counting, and tuning. [This] method of composition and rehearsal partly arose from, and was hampered by, […] lack of musical training. […] A member of the Da Vincis […] described their music making as a process of ‘hit and miss’ or ‘trial an error’.” (Cohen, 141). “The lyrics of [other bands and] the Da Vincis were written by the vocalists [McCormick, ndr] and their meaning was cryptic and personal to them. The othe band members appreciated that and although they didn’t understand the lyrics they admired them and found them interesting. Nevertheless the lyrics were written on their behalf and did express their own feelings in a way or another” (Cohen, 177). A member of the Da Vincis said that “all bands comprised members with different tastes in music which was usually reflected in their music. However […] sometimes it can all come together and you can produce something that is an expression of the whole band” (Cohen, 186).

After providing a track for the Vulcan’s compilation Ways to Wear Coats, the band also contributed a song (Ava Gardner) for a Merseyside Musicians Bur. Compilation cassette in 1987. In the same year they recorded a Peel Session (which contained the songs New Ways to Wear Coats, parodying the title of this compilation) and released the mini-Lp Eating Gifted Children.

Eating Gifted Children (1988)

- When you're in
- Thoughtless
- Charlotte
- Thomas Wolfe
- Safe Locked Alone
- Chris Said

In 1988 a second Peel Session and a single (Pull) were recorded featuring Steve Ashton on drums. The following year Mike James replaced Martin Ward on guitar for a German tour (Nov/Dec89). They also toured France before changing several lead guitarists, operating as a three-piece for a certain period of time, then disbanding after playing their last gig in March 1990.

You can find the band’s mini-lp here (thanks to our friend Rushbo)

Killerwatt – Live at the Havana (12 July1978)

Steve Charnock (guitar) and Greg McGraw (bass) got together with Phil Rice (guitars) and Geoff Stalford (a.k.a. Stinkfoot [as in the Frank Zappa's song], drums, later Flashpoint) who replied to an ad in a music magazine, around September 1977 . (About their first meeting, Charnock remembers Stalford and Rice coming into the Black Bull one of them carrying a Santana LP so that McGraw and Charnock would recognize them.)

The Killerwatts, that’s the name they chose for the band, debuted at the Havana club (July 1978) supporting the Mutants, and did various gigs around Merseyside. Here’s a list of Killerwatt’s gigs:

HAVANA- 12/7/78

THE DALE- 23/7/78

THE MAYFLOWER-13/9/78

THE MAYFLOWER 26/9/78

ERICS-19/10/78

MASONIC-20/10/78

THE DALE-29/10/78

THE MAYFLOWER- 22/11/78

OSCARS-25/11/78

THE DALE 20/1/79 (the first with Keith singing)

ADMIRAL LORD NELSON-15/2/79

DUKE OF WELLINGTON-22/2/79

THE DALE- 11/3/79

THE BULLS HEAD- 7/4/79

killerwatt – debut at the havana (12-7-1978)

Ron François - If You Love Me (1982)

From Wikipedia:

‘Ron François was a founder member of The Sinceros (1978–1981), and former member of the London R&B band The Strutters. After the demise of The Sinceros in 1981, François joined The Teardrop Explodes and stayed with Epic Records releasing a solo single, If You Love Me, in 1982 before departing to live in Australia, where he has worked with local artists such as James Reyne, Wendy Matthews and the Eurogliders.

In 1990, François toured with the band, Absent Friends (vocalist Wendy Matthews, guitarists Sean Kelly, Michael "Mick" King, drummer John Mackay, and keyboardist Geoffrey Stapleton), supporting INXS on an eight week European tour.’

If you Love Me (1982)

- If You Love Me

- I Like It

ron francois

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Larks in the Park (29 July 1982)

In 1982 Frankie Goes to Hollywood line-up was quite unstable. Holly Jonson and Peter Gill (a.k.a. Ped, drums) had just left the Sons of Egypt (see relevant post) and teamed up with Mark O’Toole (bass) to form a new band, FGTH, using the name of Johnson’s former band (with Steve Lovell, guitar, and Ambrose Reynolds, bass). At this point they started looking for a guitarist. Johnson recalls:

‘We tried out a few guitarists from the echelons of Mark [O’Toole]’s family. There were two brothers who could both play, Vinny and Ged, the latter becoming the guitarist for the first performances, though neither was a very important part of the sound which was dominated by the rhythm section. Ped and I had tried to get the guitarist fro the Jazz [a.k.a. Jass] Babies to join, but without success.’

(Holly Johnson, A Bone in My Flute, 142-43).

After having tried for a short period of time a female singer, Sonia M, Johnson finally replaced her with Paul Rutherford (former Spitfire Boys, English Opium Eaters). This line-up would eventually perform at the Larks in the Parks festival, in Sefton Park. These are Holly Johnson’s memories about the event:

‘Soon the Larks in the Parks, an annual open-air event for the local bands, came up. We made sure we got a place on the bill, and planned our appearance down to the last detail. We should have a delayed start when we would play car crash sounds from the Mad Max soundtrack which Paul provided. I wore a pair of old leather chaps with G string, which meant that my arse was exposed at the back, and I got someone to paint one cheek pink and the other blue with oil pastel crayons. A black-and-white publicity photo by John Stoddard of this mad it look as if my cheeks had been whipped with a riding crop.

‘Paul and I each dragged a Leather Pet on to the stage pulling at a chain attached to a dog-collar around their necks. The sisters from Kirkby (the Muscatelli sisters, Julie and Marie) posed as captive slaves for us. Slowly we chained them to the drum kit, then launched into ‘Two Tribes’ […]. We had only about eight songs at the time, if that. We sometimes did an impromptu version of the Mickey Mouse Club song to lighten things up a bit: ‘M.I.C. See ya real soon. K.E.Y. Why? Because we like you – M.O.U.S.E.’

‘I walked down the ramp on the lake during one of the first songs. When I turned to return to the stage there was an audible gasp from the audience, provoked by my exposed arse. Near the end of the set I asked the audience if we should release the Leather Pets. We did, and they came gyrating to the front of the stage. Dancing wasn’t their strong point we realised, so for subsequent shows we kept them tied up for as long as possible. People left the park bemused, but still talking about what they had seen.’

(Holly Johnson, A Bone in My Flute, 146-47)

Larks in the Park - Sefton Park, Liverpool (29 July 1982)

- Two tribes

- Welcome to the Pleasuredome

- Relax

- Disneyland

- The World is My Oyster

From an No.1 issue (21 September, 1985), here’s the O’Toole family’s recollection of that afternoon:

‘The first time Mark’s family saw Frankie play was at Sefton Park. Liverpool, three years ago in the annual Larks In The Park festival. At the time Mark’s brother, Jed, was still the guitarist and their dress was completely outrageous. By this time Holly had joined the group and singing with him was Paul Rutherford.

"Their appearance was atrocious," Mark’s dad reckons. "Musically… sound as a pound but their, er, look left a lotto be desired.

"Holly was outrageous. That first time he had just a G-string on. Good job he did, cos when he bent down you thought it was a cat looking at you."

Josie takes up the tale: "After the gig, we were walking around and we had to lend him a coat, cos he would have been arrested for indecent exposure!"

(http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?title=97)

From Uncut (July 2004):

‘Liverpool-born photographer John Stoddart chronicled such ramshackle beginnings from 1982. “That was when they were just a pathetic band on the pseudo-Bowie/Roxy gay scene,” he recalls today. “But they developed fast once Paul joined, and they looked terrific. I’m a witness to the fact they were better and had more raw energy before Trevor Horn got his hands on them. I saw them at Larks In The Park, in Sefton Park, when they had these secretary sisters called the Leatherpettes [Julie and Marie Muscatelli] who dressed in stockings. Paul and Holly whipped them with their arses hanging out. It sounds naff now but in 1982 it was like, ’Hang on a minute!’”

(http://www.zttaat.com/article.php?title=144)

larks

(see also: http://www.zttaat.com/search.php?search=larks )