The Loft

The Loft was one of the early bands on Alan McGee's Creation label. The band started out as The Living Room in 1980, with singer/guitarist Peter Astor, drummer Dave Morgan, bassist Bill Prince, and lead guitarist Andy Strickland as members. Upon realizing that they shared their name with a venue run by McGee, the Television-inspired band changed their name to The Loft. After meeting up with the club owner, they began playing there regularly and wound up on his label. The single "Up the Hill and Down the Slope" won the group and the then-fledgling label a good amount of attention, winning the group a spot on The Oxford Road Show, a television program on BBC2; along with The Jesus & Mary Chain's debut single, it also upped Creation's profile during their early lean period. 

While on a tour opening for The Colour Field, a major rift between the group grew extremely deep; there was the Morgan/Astor half and the Prince/Strickland half. Perhaps, not surprisingly, the former half was the second half to join upon the band's inception. Prior to a major show opening for The Colour Field at the Hammersmith Palais, Astor informed Prince over the phone of his wish to sack him and Strickland and continue with Morgan under the same name. After Prince told Strickland of the call, Strickland demanded that Astor be present for the gig. Astor showed; prior to the final song of the band's set, Strickland foiled the singer and told the packed crowd that The Loft would be no more after that show. 

Almost immediately after the dramatic public split, Astor formed The Weather Prophets with Morgan (he also released solo records and formed The Wisdom of Harry later on). Strickland and Prince went on to play in a couple of minor bands and also continued working sporadically as music journalists; Strickland also ended up managing the Dotmusic website. 'Once Around the Fair', a compilation of The Loft's material, was issued posthumously by Creation. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]