The band ran from 1980 to 1985. The original lineup was me on guitar initially but soon switching to keyboards and backing vocals; Brian Baxter on bass guitar; Joe Mayne on lead vocals; Vinnie Mayne on guitar and backing vocals and Brian Marsh on drums.

After a year Brian Marsh left and Pete Cliffe took over on drums and backing vocals.

The band started with the intention of performing original songs but soon realised that it would be hard to interest the public and very quickly brought in a selection of cover songs to add to the program. Fortunately the songs we wrote were strong and the band soon attracted a following.

In 1983 Joe and Vinnie left and were replaced by Paul O'Hagan on guitar and Andy Fitzgerald (aka Solo) as front man and lead singer.

Andy's songs brought a harder edge to the band although it was not as unique as before since Andy was much more of a rock singer.

Live the band put on a good show with Andy jumping around like a jack-in-the-box without affecting his singing! We had a large PA system under the control of our manager Greg and a lighting rig operated by Phil Cornwell.

In 1985 a client of mine (I was still a lawyer at that time) who worked for CBS records, subsequently Sony, arranged a meeting for our manager Greg with their A & R man in London. He  expressed interest in the band and asked for more demos. Ironically, while we were waiting in a nearby cafe Andy had gone off to "meet up with some friends" elsewhere.

On the way back to Manchester he announced that he had been auditioning for a new band and had been offered the job. Sadly the rest of us did not relish the thought of looking for another lead singer and so the band broke up.

 

We did however have early videos of both versions of the band although over time the quality of the tape has deteriorated. I have managed to copy the two recordings onto DVDs.

We also had some live recordings and some studio recordings' Here is a small selection: On the left the top 2 from Brian's studio around 1981 and the bottom 2 from Strawberry Studio 2 around 1982 - on the right 4 recorded at a basement studio in Sale by (I think) Mike Bonwick?

Oddly, photographs are few and far between. I will be trawling through my records to try to find something worth putting on the page but there are some here.