Fast Cars

Fast Cars were formed in 1978 by Stuart Murray and his brother Steven. They had been in a band together at Moorside High School in Swinton, Manchester (1974-76) but Steve was interested in forming a punk band while the rest were more into rock (Deep Purple, Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Bowie, etc.) so he went off, put an add in a music shop, and formed a band called The Sirens with Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon and Steve Hanley. They were not very good at that time (although they later joined The Fall and guitarist Marc 'Lard' Riley is now a Presenter for the BBC on Radio 1 and TV), so Stuart and Steve got their old mates together and formed Fast Cars. 

 

Their school days guitarist was Craig Hilton but he was doing something else, so our original line up was Steve Murray, vocals (and main songwriter), Haydn Jones on lead, Stuart Murray on bass and Tony Dyson on drums. After about 6 months Haydn left and Craig Hilton re joined them and that is who played on the single "The Kids Just Wanna Dance". They had two songs on 'A Manchester Collection' LP, released by Manchester's Object Records (bands from the Manchester Musicians Collective) that they had recorded at Cargo Studios in Rochdale with John Brierley. Their first single "Images of You" should have been released on TJM Records but they fell out with the owner, Tony Davidson, so it was never released.

 

They also did two tracks for 'Identity Parade' but they were removed before the final pressing. They eventually signed to Streets Ahead Records, based in Altrincham, Cheshire, and released the now very collectable "The Kids Just Wanna Dance" and "You're So Funny" which was recorded at Smile Studios, in Chorlton, Manchester, produced by the band and the owner Steve Foley, during 22/23 August, 1979. They recorded a follow up single for Streets Ahead, "Images of you" (SA 4) although it was never released, a few test pressings are in circulation. 

 

They played up and down England between 1978 and 1980 and had a good following. They supported The Jam, The Buzzcocks, XTC, The Rezillos, Dillinger, The Chords and Bram Tchaikovsky and played with bands including The Ruts, Joy Division, The Stiffs, The Extras, The Drones, Frantic Elevators, The Freshies, The Smirks, Ed Banger, John Cooper-Clarke, The Out, IQ Zero, Not Sensibles, Salford Jets, Two Tone Pinks, Sister Ray and others. They played at the Marquee in London and various Universities, Colleges and Clubs. They were nearly signed to Polydor (they actually made demos in their studios in London) and for a short time they were looked after by Dennis Munday who was A&R man to The Jam, but it never happened, so they eventually called it a day in January 1981. They reformed officially in 2001 and are currently giging and recording. [SOURCE: THE FAST CARS]