The Distractions

This Manchester, England new wave band was first formed in 1975 by college friends Mike Finney (vocals) and Steve Perrin-Brown (guitar), together with Lawrence Tickle (bass) and Tony Trap (drums). Restructured under the influence of the Buzzcocks towards the end of 1977, Finney and Brown stabilized the line-up with the addition of Pip Nicholls (bass), Adrian Wright (guitar) and Alec Sidebottom (drums), who had previously played with The Purple Gang in the 60s. Their live set included ‘Doesn’t Bother Me’, ‘Pillow Talk’, ‘Valerie’, and ‘Paracetomol Paralysis’, mixing the spirit of punk with a taste of the 60s. 

After supporting most of the main bands in the Manchester area, they made their recording debut in January 1979 with ‘You’re Not Going Out Dressed Like That’. This resulted in a contract with Tony Wilson’s Factory Records label, and the release of ‘Time Goes By So Slow’. Originally, the b-side, ‘Pillow Fight’, was to be the main track, but was flipped over at the last minute. Both good pop songs, they had the potential to climb the national charts, but failed through lack of radio play and promotion. At the end of September they signed to Island Records and released a re-recorded version of ‘It Doesn’t Bother Me’. In 1980 'Nobody’s Perfect' was issued, a mixture of new and old songs from their early live set, followed by the singles ‘Boys Cry’ -a remake of the old Eden Kane hit- ‘Something For The Weekend’, and the EP 'And Then There’s'. All received favourable reviews, but commercial success remained elusive, causing the inevitable split in 1981. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]