Tenpole Tudor

Tenpole Tudor were one the strangest and silliest groups on Stiff Records, a label that was known for its oddball clients. Led by Eddie Tudor (born Edward Tudorpole), a former actor who could barely carry a tune, the group played a mixture of punk, roots rock, pop, and British dancehall music, developing a thoroughly entertaining and ridiculous style. Tudor formed the band in 1974 with guitarist Bob Kingston, bassist Dick Crippen, and drummer Gary Long. Before recording the band's first album, Tudor appeared in the Sex Pistols' movie "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle", singing "Who Killed Bambi." After releasing a single on Korova Records, the group joined the Stiff roster, releasing "Three Bells in a Row." 

Tenpole Tudor released their debut album, 'Eddie, Old Bob, Dick and Gary', in 1981; it sold well, launching two minor singles in addition to "Three Bells in a Row": "Wunderbar" and "Swords of a Thousand Men." That same year, the group released its second album, 'Let the Four Winds Blow', which also performed well. The following year, Eddie Tudor broke up Tenpole Tudor; while he led a Cajun-inspired version of Tenpole Tudor, the rest of the band became The Tudors. After the new incarnation of Tenpole Tudor failed, Tudor left Stiff Records and began performing in jazz and swing bands, as well as returning to acting. New versions of Tenpole Tudor were assembled throughout the subsequent years, although Tudor chiefly focused on acting until 2009, when he released the band's third album. 'Made It This Far' was followed by a national tour, which the frontman deemed "an electronic one-man stadium show." [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Joe King Carrasco & The Crowns

Texas native Joe "King" Carrasco has devoted his career to re-creating the Tex-Mex, Farfisa organ rock & roll sound of such '60s groups as the Sir Douglas Quintet and Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs. After playing in a succession of bands around Texas in the late '60s and early '70s, Carrasco founded his band El Molino in 1976 and recorded Tex-Mex Rock-Roll in 1978.

 
By 1979, he had formed The Crowns and was calling his music "nuevo wavo," playing especially in New York, where he appeared on-stage in a cape and crown. He was signed to the U.K. Stiff label and Joe Boyd's Hannibal label in the U.S., and released 'Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns' in 1980. By 1982, he had moved up to major label MCA for 'Synapse Gap', followed by 'Party Weekend' (1983). He moved to Rounder for 1987's 'Bandido Rock', credited to Joe "King" Carrasco y las Coronas. During the '90s and 2000s, he added reggae and cumbia to his Tex-Mex stew, with releases on Royal Texacali and Anaconda. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Lew Lewis Reformer

When talking about the late ’70s British pub rock scene, Lew Lewis Reformer stands out as one of those bands with a strong underground reputation. Fronted by Lew Lewis, the group delivered a mix of rhythm & blues and early new wave with a rough, energetic sound that felt very much tied to the live pub circuit they came from. 

 
Before forming the band, Lew Lewis had already made a name for himself playing with Dr. Feelgood, one of the key acts in shaping pub rock. With the Reformer, he pushed that style further, giving the harmonica a leading role in a way that was unusual at the time. His playing came across as sharp and punchy, almost replacing the traditional lead guitar, while his vocals added a raw, slightly chaotic edge. 

 
One of their best-known tracks, “Lucky Seven,” captures the band’s identity pretty well. It’s driven by a tight rhythm section, bluesy hooks, and a slightly unpredictable feel that gives the song its character. The band never reached major commercial success, but their music carried a strong sense of authenticity that connected with audiences who preferred something less polished. 

 
Over the years, Lew Lewis Reformer has built a cult following among fans of pub rock and early new wave. Their place in music history sits somewhere between the back-to-basics R&B revival of the early ’70s and the more aggressive energy that would soon define punk. They may not be widely known, but their sound and attitude continue to resonate with listeners who appreciate that stripped-down, live-driven approach. 

 

Mickey Jupp

Like Dave Edmunds, guitarist/pianist/vocalist Mickey Jupp was a champion of traditional rock & roll during the late '70s, a time when it had been all but discarded. Unlike Edmunds, Jupp wrote the majority of his own material, which updated '50s rock & roll with a tongue-in-cheek irony. 

Jupp began his career with the Essex-based British R&B group The Orioles in the early '60s. The band earned a devoted local following in the early '60s, yet they never had the opportunity to record. The Orioles broke up late in 1965 after Jupp was arrested for not making alimony payments to his wife. Three years later, he returned to music, forming Legend, who laid the groundwork for English pub rock of the early '70s. Following the release of their third album in 1971, Legend disbanded and Jupp took another lengthy break from music. When he was coaxed back into performing in 1975 by Lee Brileaux, the lead singer of Dr. Feelgood, pub rock was in its last days yet Jupp was well respected in the scene, since both Ducks Deluxe and Dr. Feelgood had recorded versions of his songs ("Cheque Book" and "Down at the Doctors," respectively). 

Jupp released his first solo single, "Nature's Radio," on Arista Records in 1978. The single led to a contract with Stiff Records, who released the "Old Rock 'N' Roller" single and the 'Juppanese' album in 1978; the bulk of 'Juppanese' was recorded with Rockpile and produced by Nick Lowe. Released the same year as his debut, 'Mickey Jupp's Legend' featured material from his previous band. Following the release of 'Juppanese', Jupp joined Stiff's Rail Tour, although he left the lineup before it hit the U.S. because he was afraid of flying. Shortly afterward, he left Stiff Records and signed with Chrysalis in 1979. The same year he released 'Long Distance Romancer', which was produced by 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme; like 'Juppanese', it failed to gain a large audience. Jupp moved over to A&M Records in 1982, releasing 'Some People Can't Dance'. After releasing one more record on A&M, 1983's 'Shampoo Haircut and Shave', he was dropped from the label. Jupp spent the rest of the '80s and '90s touring the U.K., releasing the occasional album on independent labels. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC] 

The Rumour

The Rumour are best known as Graham Parker's backing band during his heyday, but the band also took a stab at their own recording career. And even though they were overshadowed by their association with Parker and never received much attention for their efforts, they did manage to make three albums of really enjoyable music in the mold of a new wave-ish pub-rock band.

 
The Rumour consisted of pub-rock veterans Bob Andrews (keyboards) and Brinsley Schwarz (guitar/vocals) from the legendary Brinsley Schwarz, Martin Belmont (guitar/vocals) from Ducks Deluxe, and Stephen Goulding (drums/vocals) and Andrew Bodnar from Bontemps Roulez. The group formed in 1975 as Graham Parker's backing band, recording and touring with him off and on through 1980. In 1977, they signed their own deal with Phonogram and released their debut album, 'Max', the same year. They followed with 'Frogs Sprouts Clogs and Krauts' for Stiff in 1979 and 'Purity of Essence' in 1980, and also worked extensively as one of Stiff's house bands, backing up Elvis Costello on "Watching the Detectives," as well as Carlene Carter, Rachel Sweet, Nick Lowe, and Dave Edmunds. By the end of 1980, lack of real success on their own led to their breakup. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Rachel Sweet

At Stiff Records, nothing was sacred; often the label's slogans and unorthodox promotion were as memorable as the truly inspired music they released. With teenage Rachel Sweet, whom they marketed as a "jailbait" country singer (and later as a leather-clad child abductor), it would seem that their perverse humor had finally gone too far. One listen to her albums, however, and all questionable images and in-jokes fall into the background; "the little girl with the big voice" made some terrific music, holding her own on a roster that had no shortage of talent. 

 
Akron-born Rachel Sweet began her singing career at age six, doing everything from singing commercial jingles to touring with Mickey Rooney and opening for Bill Cosby's Las Vegas act. Between 1976 and 1978 she recorded a few failed straight-ahead country singles for the local Derrick label ("Any Port in a Storm," "Paper Airplane," and "The Ballad of Mable Ruth Miller and John Wesley Pritchett") and a handful of demos for songwriter Liam Sternberg, who shopped them to Stiff Records. Stiff signed the young singer and debuted her on 'The Akron Compilation'. She recorded her first album, 'Fool Around', with backing from The Rumour in 1978. She promoted the album on the Stiff package tour (The Be Stiff Tour) using The Records as her band. The album didn't sell particularly well, but it did receive a fair amount of critical praise. 

 
The attention was short-lived, though, and 'Protect the Innocent', released through Stiff/Columbia, went virtually ignored the following year. She switched to Columbia in 1981 for '...And Then He Kissed Me', an uneven album that nevertheless featured the Top 40 hit "Everlasting Love," a duet with Rex Smith. After one more album, 1982's 'Blame It on Love', Sweet retired from the music business to pursue an education, returning sporadically, most notably to sing the title track to John Waters' "Hairspray", as well as "Cry-Baby". Her focus later turned to acting. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Jona Lewie

While he wasn't one of the biggest names on Stiff Records, Jona Lewie was one of those irrepressible characters who gave the pioneering British indie label its utterly unique flavor. Born John Lewis, Lewie got his start in the early-'70s pub rock scene, playing keyboards for the Sussex group Brett Marvin & the Thunderbolts. Bizarrely, the group enjoyed its greatest success under the Lewie-helmed alias Terry Dactyl & the Dinosaurs, scoring a U.K. Top Five hit in 1972 with "Seaside Shuffle." However, subsequent releases under the name failed to duplicate that success, and Lewie departed the band. He resurfaced on Stiff in 1978 as a solo artist, singing pub rock and new wave tunes in a dry, deadpan, Ian Dury-ish voice. Most distinctive was his simultaneous taste for musical nostalgia (British music hall, skiffle, etc.), as evidenced on several cuts from his debut album, 'On the Other Hand There's a Fist'. Lewie also participated in the 1978 "Be Stiff" package tour (the label's second). In 1980, Lewie scored a Top 20 U.K. hit with the self-effacing single "You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties," which, according to legend, was backing vocalist Kirsty MacColl's first session for the label. Lewie trumped it several months later with "Stop the Cavalry," a strange blend of anti-war protest, brass band arrangements, and Christmas sentiment. Surprisingly, the single hit the Top Five and became something of a Christmas standard in the U.K., where it was trotted out every holiday season and featured on numerous Christmas compilations. Stiff rushed out another album, 1981's 'Heart Skips Beat', to capitalize, but lightning would only strike twice, and Lewie issued his last single in 1983. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Jane Aire And The Belvederes

Jane Aire & The Belvederes was one of several new wave acts discovered in Akron, Ohio, USA, by producer Liam Sternberg, and subsequently introduced to Stiff Records. Jane Aire (b. Jane Ashley, 2 December 1956, Akron, Ohio, USA) recorded initially for the 'Akron Compilation' LP in 1978 and became the first of the featured artists to release a single -‘Yankee Wheels’. Sternberg used a band called The Edge as both session musicians and tour band but renamed them The Belvederes (after a type of turret-like building). The Edge comprised former Damned guitarist Lu Edmunds (later in Athletico Spizz 80, The Mekons and PiL), respected session players Gavin Povey and Glyn Havard on keyboards and bass, respectively, plus drummer Jon Moss (b. 11 September 1957, London, England), who played with numerous punk bands including London and The Damned before finding fame with Culture Club. After the Stiff single, Aire was signed to Virgin Records to record an album that featured the above musicians plus Chris Payne (trombone), Ray Warleigh (saxophone) and backing singers Rachel Sweet and Kirsty MacColl. After marrying the Boomtown Rats’ Pete Briquette in 1980 and assembling a new bunch of Belvederes in Paul Cutler (guitar), Ian Curnon (keyboards), Sam Hartley (bass), Dave Ashley (drums) and former Deaf School saxophonist Ian Ritchie, Aire returned to Stiff to make a further single -a version of Dusty Springfield’s "I Close My Eyes And Count To Ten"- in 1982. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]

 

Tyla Gang

After the split of Ducks Deluxe in late 1975, guitarist and songwriter Sean Tyla didn’t hang around. He quickly pulled together a new outfit, Tyla Gang, carrying forward that gritty, no-frills pub rock spirit but sharpening it with a tighter, more melodic edge.

 
Tyla Gang came together at a time when the UK music scene was about to explode with punk, but they were still rooted in the pub rock circuit -raw, energetic, and built for small, sweaty venues rather than big arenas. Their sound mixed crunchy guitar riffs with catchy hooks, leaning into rock ’n’ roll traditions while keeping things punchy and modern for the mid-70s. 

The band’s lineup shifted a bit over time, but Sean Tyla remained the driving force, both creatively and stylistically. They released a couple of albums that have since become cult favorites among fans of the era, blending sharp songwriting with that loose, live-wire feel that defined pub rock. Even as punk started taking over, Tyla Gang held their ground with a sound that felt like a bridge between old-school rock and what was coming next. 

While they never hit massive commercial heights, Tyla Gang earned a loyal following and left a solid mark on the scene. For fans digging into the roots of British punk and new wave, they’re one of those “if you know, you know” bands -an essential piece of the story that connects the dots between the pub circuit and the revolution that followed. 

Roogalator

U.S.-born guitarist Danny Adler's Roogalator was one of the fixtures on the London pub rock scene of the mid-'70s, at the same time establishing themselves among the most un-pub-like bands on the circuit. Drawing deep from Adler's own experience on the Cincinnati club circuit of the late '60s, where he gigged alongside (and frequently jammed with members of) R&B legends Dyke & the Blazers and Bootsy Collins' Pacesetters, Roogalator offered an angular, minimalist funk sound which was utterly at odds with the country, blues, and early rock sounds normally heard on the scene. Even Kokomo, up to that point the most authentic attempt at a homegrown funk sound yet unveiled, trailed in Roogalator's slipstream. They, after all, simply followed the lead of the American masters. Roogalator prided themselves in escaping from it and in so doing, created the wholly distinctive blueprint for what would become the Britfunk explosion of the early '80s.

 
Adler had been resident in the U.K. since 1971, following a brief stint in New York City with Elephant's Memory. His first British band was Smooth Loser, formed with Chris Gibbons and fellow expatriate Jeff Pasternak to accompany Pasternak's brother DJ Emperor Rosco at road show events. The first incarnation of Roogalator formed following Smooth Loser's breakup in 1972 -that same year, Adler also recorded demos with 10cc's Graham Gouldman at Strawberry Studios. 

 
Roogalator Mach I broke up and Adler relocated to Paris to study jazz theory. He returned to London in 1974, where he formed a new Roogalator with keyboard player Nick Plytas. Several lineup changes followed in the months before the band played its first live shows in September, 1975 -the membership finally settled to include Adler, Plytas, drummer Dave Solomon, and former Chilli Willie & the Red Hot Peppers bassist Paul Riley. 

 
Lauded by the local press, Roogalator gigged through the end of the year, their apparently miraculous rise climaxing when they were invited to support Dr. Feelgood at the Hammersmith Odeon. The prestigious show was a disaster, however, and marked the end of the classic Roogalator lineup. Within weeks, both Riley and Solomon had departed, to be replaced (again after several short-lived changes) by drummer Justin Hildreth and bassist Julian Scott, brother of band manager Robin Scott. 

 
Roogalator made their recorded debut in April, 1976, with the Stiff Records classic "Cincinnati Fatback"; their influence on that label's own roster, meanwhile, was swiftly made apparent with the emergence of Elvis Costello -visually a dead ringer for Adler and no slouch when it came to fractured funk himself. Despite such applause, another year elapsed before Roogalator issued a follow-up, when Virgin released Plytas' "Love and the Single Girl." The group then shifted to manager Scott's own newly formed Do It label for their debut album, 'Play It by Ear', in mid-1977. 

 
Essentially little more than an opportunity to preserve the band's repertoire on vinyl before unleashing a crop of new material, the album was well-received but sold poorly. The departure of Plytas added to the group's woes; opting not to replace him, Roogalator continued gigging through early 1978 as a trio, cutting one more single, "Zero Hero," and demoing a second album. But when further lineup changes shook the group that summer, Adler realized the band had reached the end of the line. Roogalator officially disbanded in July, 1978, with many of the songs scheduled for their second album promptly being reworked for Adler's own solo debut, 'The Danny Adler Story'. He has continued recording and gigging regularly ever since. Roogalator's own repertoire has since resurfaced on the 'Cincinnati Fatback' compilation; the title track, meanwhile, is a regular inclusion on Stiff label anthologies. [SOURCE: ALLMUSIC]