Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar) and Kevin "Al" Archer (vocals, guitar) Steve "Babyface" Spooner (alto saxophone), Pete Saunders (keyboard), Pete Williams (bass) and Bobby "Jnr" Ward(drums) "Geno" featuring new members, Andy Leek (keyboards) and Andy "Stoker" Growcott (drums) later member left from tension with Rowland but Paterson stayed with Rowland, who added Billy Adams (guitar/banjo), Seb Shelton (drums, formerly of Secret Affair), Micky Billingham (keyboard), Brian Maurice (alto saxophone), Paul Speare (tenor saxophone) and Steve Wynne (bass), Rowland then recruited fiddle players, Helen O'Hara (from Archer's new group, the Blue Ox Babes), Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff and a new bass player, Giorgio Kilkenny but Paterson, Speare and Maurice left to form The TKO Horns, while Kilkenny was replaced by Johnny Edwards on bass and Billingham left to join General Public. After a two year break, Dexy's returned in 1985 with the critically-acclaimed album, Don't Stand Me Down, featuring Rowland, Adams, O'Hara and Nicky Gatfield, Vincent Crane (ex-Atomic Rooster), Julian Littman and Tim Dancy (who had been Al Green's drummer) The group disbanded the following year after a brief return to the charts with the single Rowland made plans to reform Dexy's together with Big Jim Paterson, although these resulted in no more than a solitary TV performance in 1993
Dexy's Midnight Runners were formed in 1978 by singer/guitarist/songwriter Kevin Rowland and singer/guitarist Kevin "Al" Archer (who changed his first name to avoid confusion). Both had been members of the Birmingham, England, punk band the Killjoys, and Rowland, who was ethnically Irish, had split his childhood between London, Ireland, and Birmingham, and soaked up the influence of Irish folk and the so-called Northern soul music popular in the Midlands. Seeking a new direction, Rowland and Archer decided to put together a full-fledged soul outfit, and named it after the stimulant Dexedrine, a popular drug on the northern soul scene (despite the strict no-drinking-or-drugs policy Rowland later imposed on the band). The lineup eventually settled on trombonist Big Jim Paterson, tenor saxophonist Geoff Blythe, alto saxophonist Steve "Babyface" Spooner, keyboardist Mick Talbot (who replaced Pete Saunders, was once a member of the Merton Parkas, and later joined the Style Council), bassist Pete Williams, and drummer Andy "Stoker" Growcott (who replaced Bobby Junior). Acutely image-conscious, Rowland tried to reflect the band's working-class roots by dressing them as New York dockworkers, with a wardrobe lifted straight from the Martin Scorsese/Robert DeNiro film Mean Streets. The band struggled financially at first, especially given its large membership, and according to legend, Rowland organized (or at least encouraged) shoplifting expeditions to make ends meet.
Rowland and Paterson regrouped Dexy's, adding guitarist/banjoist Kevin "Billy" Adams (again renamed), drummer Seb Shelton (ex-Secret Affair), keyboardist Mickey Billingham, alto saxophonist Brian Maurice, tenor saxophonist Paul Speare, and bassist Giorgio Kilkenny (who replaced Steve Wynne). After the 1981 single "Plan B" (which featured a new wardrobe of boxing boots and ponytails), the new lineup left EMI and signed to Mercury. Their first single for the label, "Show Me," became a Top 20 hit, but the follow-up "Liars A to E" flopped, and Rowland considered modifying the group's approach. Allegedly, he heard a demo tape of Archer's folk-influenced Blue Ox Babes material, and decided to reinvent Dexy's in a similar fashion. He infuriated the Babes by not only borrowing from their sound, but recruiting violinist Helen O'Hara out of their lineup; he also added Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff on the same instrument. The second Dexy's album, Too-Rye-Ay, was released in 1982, and while their soul sound was still easily audible, it was now sitting alongside a strong Irish folk influence, making for a striking hybrid. The makeover was accompanied by yet another wardrobe change, this time to a scruffy gypsy/hobo image that wound up changing the standard of acceptable dress at many a restrictive London club. Dexy's introduced their new sound on the single "The Celtic Soulbrothers," which was a mild success; however, the follow-up "Come on Eileen" was a smash, becoming their second British number one. A few months later, helped along by the group's highly visual, MTV-ready appeal, "Come on Eileen" broke in America and went all the way to number one there as well. With their new, folky direction thus established, the entire horn section (even the loyal Paterson) departed in the summer of 1982, as did keyboardist Billingham. Unfortunately, at the peak of the group's success, the rest of the lineup proved unstable as well, due in part to rifts with Rowland; eventually, the core of the group was whittled down to Rowland, guitarist Adams, and violinist O'Hara.
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"It was never quite like this before. Not one of you's the same."
"It's that American voice again"
Now that Flickr has shut me down AGAIN I've decided to focus on my videos more than pictures for a bit and have started to make censored ones to reach more people.
I should be able to get about 40 more of these done when I find all of the right music. I have around 150 hours of footage sitting in a suitcase waiting. I'm ranting, as I do...
Youtube. com/thesupercult
And of course I rant in real time at
Twitter. com/chaselisbon
Thank you for helping me promote. I've done a terrible job of it in the past.
1/1
Chase Lisbon of America
Hello music lovers Napoleon's UK debut single, I Love My Baby (But If Anyone Touches Her I'll Kill Them), will be released Feb 16th. The song is already regularly played on BBC Radio 2 and has been chosen as this week's Record of the Week on BBC6 Music. http://www. bbc. co. uk/6music/shows/shaun_keaveny/rotw. shtml
Watch our beloved singer Johan Barrett get his ass kicked by some mean dogs in this new video!
