The Secret were an English Punk/New Wave band formed by Benny Leopard (Barry Andrews) and Micky Modern in the mid-70's. Originally a full band, Modern and Leopard were the only remaining members by the time The Secret recorded their wacky self-titled album, a campy over-the-top pogo pop that sounds an awful lot like 70's-era Sparks fronted by a baritone Russell Mael. Micky Modern went on to manage 9 Below Zero and Nik Kershaw. [SOURCE: RATE YOUR MUSIC]
White Heat was a power pop band from Newcastle, UK active in the late 70s and early 80s. Bob Smeaton, later a Grammy winning producer and songwriter, was the frontman. The group also included Alan Fish (guitar), Colin Roberts (bass), Brian Younger (guitar), and "Little John" Roberts (drums). They made four singles, the second of which -"Nervous Breakdown"- hit #19 on the indie charts, and they released the album 'In the Zero Hour' in 1981. [SOURCE: LAST.FM]
"499-2139" was a number aspiring bands could call to submit demos to a then new label, and the number was used as the title of the album made up those songs. The label was Elton John's The Rocket Record Company, founded by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, Gus Dudgeon and Stephen Brown in 1972, and the LP also included The Lambrettas among others, as The Classics, formed by Mark Thursfield (bass, vocals), Jim Honeywood (drums), Paul Baverstock (lead guitar, vocals), Julie Suffield (lead vocals), and John Wootten (rhythm guitar, vocals). Their "Audio, Audio" is not only a great song, with one of the catchiest choruses you are likely to find, but it's also that great rarity, a UK power pop tune sung by a female. This was also issued as a split single with The Escalators.
Once labelled “the hardest working band in Britain” by Radio 1 (over 340 gigs in one year), the Manchester band The Cheaters built-up a massive UK fan base during the early 80’s, releasing three albums and 7 singles, including the airplay hit “Spirit In The Sky.”
Signing to the re launched Parlophone label in 81, the band recorded Radio 1 sessions for Mike Read, Kid Jensen, Janice Long, Tommy Vance and Mark Radcliffe (who was a young producer working at Piccadilly Radio). The 4-piece R&B band never troubled the charts, but played just about every live venue in the UK.
Apart form their UK following the band built up a massive Scandinavian fan base after the editor of a leading Norwegian music magazine put them on the front cover, proclaiming they were “better than Man United!” During one Scandinavian tour The Cheaters became the first UK band in over 10 years to play gigs above the arctic circle. [SOURCE: BAND ON THE WALL]
The Jolt were a Scottish band formed in Wishaw, Scotland in September 1976. At the time, Robbie Collins and Jim Doak were clerks in the civil service and Iain Shedden was a music journalist for a local paper. They had known each other from their schooldays at Wishaw High School and had been thinking about forming a band since the beginning of 1975. They started out playing 1960s covers and then sped up their music, playing a mix of punk rock and power pop. The lineup was Collins on guitar and vocals, Doak on bass and vocals and Iain Shedden on drums. The band built up its following playing at the Crown Hotel, Wishaw. They enjoyed moderate success during the punk and early new wave era. They moved to London, England and signed to Polydor Records on a reported four-year deal worth £90,000, making them the first Scottish punk/new wave band to sign with a major label.
The first single released was "All I Can Do" in September 1977, before releasing a cover of The Small Faces' "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" in April the following year. However, they flopped, as did the band's sole eponymous album, released in July 1978. Soon after the album's release, the band recruited a second guitarist, Kevin Kay. They had opened for bands such as The Jam, The Saints, Generation X and The Motors. Paul Weller of The Jam became a big fan of the band, and the two bands often collaborated, with The Jolt opening for The Jam, and Weller even wrote a single for The Jolt, "See Saw", released in June 1979 on the EP 'Maybe Tonight'. However, The Jolt were seen as poor copy of The Jam, always in their shadow, and the band split soon afterwards. They were precursors to the mod revival, which ironically came to fruition around 1979. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
The Monks were a British pop punk/new wave band, formed in the late 1970s by three former members of Strawbs -Richard Hudson (guitar), John Ford (vocals, guitars, synthesisers) and Brian Willoughby- along with Terry Cassidy (vocals and synthesisers) and Clive Pierce (drums).
Their first album, 'Bad Habits', was recorded and released in 1979 after the success of "Nice Legs Shame About Her Face", which reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart. The song was a demo that was not intended for release. It was offered to another band who turned it down before French record label Carrere Records released it in its original form. The album failed to produce further UK chart success, however -the British punk audience turned against the band, dismissing them as inauthentic punks, once it became widely known that they had been associated with the Strawbs.
In an appearance on the television programme Juke Box Jury, Johnny Rotten derided The Monks as "patronising rubbish" when reviewing "I Ain't Gettin' Any" and as a poor imitation of the Sex Pistols. The band had more significant success in Canada, pushing the single "Drugs in My Pocket" into the national Top 20. The single was an especially big hit in Toronto, peaking at #4 on the CHUM Chart. The Canadian audience lacked the Strawbs baggage, and, according to Ford, were thus more willing to "take the album for what it was".
They dabbled with 1930s-style music in 1980 as High Society, before recording a follow-up Monks album, 'Suspended Animation', which was released exclusively in Canada in 1981. They supported the album with a 21-day tour of Ontario, with the most notable venue on the tour being a show at Toronto's Massey Hall. Chris Parren (keyboards) joined the band for that album, and Willoughby was replaced by Huw Gower during the supporting tour in 1982. 'Suspended Animation' went gold in Canada, while sales of 'Bad Habits' reached double platinum certification in 1982.
The band later recorded several tracks for a third album to be titled 'Cybernetic Sister', but the album was never released. A CD reissue of 'Suspended Animation' in the 1990s included six bonus tracks from the aborted recording sessions. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
The Headboys were a Scottish power pop band, formed in 1977 in Edinburgh, originally under the name of Badger. The band is best known for its single "The Shape of Things to Come", which entered the UK Singles Chart on 22 September 1979. The track spent eight weeks on the chart, reaching number 45. This secured the band an appearance on Top of the Pops on 11 October 1979; the debut show for host Andy Peebles.
The group released an album in 1979 on Robert Stigwood's RSO label, which was produced by Peter Ker (who also worked with The Motors and Bram Tchaikovsky).
The lack of any other UK chart hit left them labelled as one-hit wonders. In 2013, the band announced on their Facebook page that the ten tracks they had recorded for a follow-up album, but which remained unreleased, would be issued on CD under the title 'The Lost Album' by the American record label, Pop Detective Records. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]
The Young Ones (aka The Reputations) was a power pop/new wave group from London, England active in the late 70s (preceding the famous TV show of the same same). They are best known today both for the 1978 single "Rock n Roll Radio" released by Virgin as well as the fact that band keyboardist Wix Wickens went on to join Paul McCartney's solo band. [SOURCE: LAST.FM]
The Step were part of the early ‘80s Mod Revival, drawing a marked influence from Classic Soul records and having a similar style to early Dexys Midnight Runners. Releasing five singles with CBS, they also played gigs with The Kinks, Elvis Costello, and Secret Affair. The Step featured Paul Graham (vocals), John McSkimming (lead guitar, vocals), Steve Beard (rhythm guitar, vocals), Chris Copping (bass), Mike Seaman (drums), Tony Simon (saxophones) and Peter Simon (trumpet). "Love Letter" (1980) was a dance floor favorite and their first of five singles, signing to Epic in 1981 for the last two. They are also known for their renditions of R&B classics such as "Land Of A Thousand Dances" and "Knock On Wood".
Andy Arthurs attended the University of Surrey (1970-1974) where he was the first person to gain a recording degree in the UK. He began his professional career at AIR studios, London, (1971-75) working with the Beatles’ production team, and in particular George Martin. Since then he has gone on to produce successful records (the most recent being The Ten Tenors albums 'Tenology' and 'Larger than Life'). Blur obviously has Andy Arthurs's "I Can´t Detect You From 1.000.000 Miles" (1978) records in it's collection, produced by the legendary Martin Rushent (where have you heard that chorus before?). He went to produce many of the eras favorites, including The Chords, Stranglers and Tonight. He is now Professor and Head of Music at Queensland University of Technology.
The First Steps were originally named The Resistors, with the same line up but with Al Copperthwaite on vocals. Al moved away leaving the rest, Phil Thornalley on guitar and vocals, Chris Murrell on bass and vocals and Jem Murrell on drums. Phil's brother Jonny was in charge of everything else-management, marketing, setting up the English Rose' Label, beer purchasing and all other essentials.
The first single (E.R.1) was 'The Beat Is Back' and was released in November 1979. They pressed 1000 copies and it went really well and gained some really good reviews in the NME and Sounds. It received nightly plays on Radio One via John Peel and Mike Read and they sold them all within 2 months but the budget didn't stretch to do a re-pressing so that was that.
The second single (E.R.3) was 'Anywhere Else But Here'; was released the following year and they pressed 2000. It did OK but was less successful at the time. Then some 10 years later they sold all the remaining copies to an exporter supplying an inexplicable appetite for obscure English Powerpop in Japan.
The only other signing to the English Rose label was David Harris; they released the 'Harry's EP' (E.R.2) around the same time as 'Anywhere Else But Here'. Sadly, it was not a great success and that was about the end for the English Rose label.
Phil was the only one to pursue a career in music and has had great success as a writer and producer. Probably best known for the Natalie Imbruglia hit "Torn" but also for songs recorded by The Cure, Bryan Adams, Ronan Keating, BBMak, Melanie C, Shannon Noll and many other well known artists. He also has played in The Cure around the 'Pornography' album and has also been in Johnny Hates Jazz. [SOURCE: BORED TEENAGERS]
The Chicaynes (aka The Chicanes) was a three-piece from Glasgow in the early 80's. Band members: Malcolm McDonald (guitar / vocals, later on The Primevals) Alex Robertson (bass / vocals) and Malcolm Blair (drums, later the manager of Alesha Dixon). Featuring a West Coast pop influenced sound, The Chicaynes released one sole single, "Further Thoughts", and a split LP with american band The Patriots, both on the Bam Caruso imprint.
