SOME of Bristol’s lost 1980s pop gems are being given a chance to shine again on a new album being released this month.
The Bristol and Bath 80s Pop Explosion is being released by the Emersons Green-based owner of Bristol Archive Records, Mike Darby. He compiled the album with Dave Massey, who reported on the region’s music scene for music papers NME, Sounds and Melody Maker during the decade.
Recordings which had been gathering dust for 40 years have been restored and remastered by Mike’s brother-in-law Steve Street, who lives in Downend. Steve was the in-house engineer for Bath multi-platinum chart-toppers Tears for Fears and before that owned his own recording studio, SAM Studios.
The album features bands who gigged, made demos and records in the area, playing radio-friendly pop, but never made the leap to commercial success.
Mike fell in love with music through punk in the late 70s and formed his own band, The Rimshots, in 1980 while taking his A-levels at The Ridings school in Winterbourne.
They split up two years later and, after a short stint singing in another band, Mike started Sugar Shack Records in 1985 to get local talent into the shops.
He also managed bands Fear of Darkness, Love Jungle and Rita Lynch.
Mike juggled his passion for music with a career in finance and was later well-known to local golfers as the chairman of Chipping Sodbury Golf Club for nine years.
He founded two other labels, Bristol Archive Records and Reggae Archive Records, around 20 years ago, as the development of the internet made it easier to collect and save tracks, photos and memorabilia from the city’s music scene.
Mike said: “I’m lucky I’ve got a house big enough for three rooms full of records and master tapes.”
About six to nine months ago he and Dave, who also has a collection of recordings from the 80s, got together and started picking out songs they felt deserved to be heard again by audiences old and new.
They describe the songs as “worthy contenders to be heard on day-time radio, in a top line club, blasting out of a TV screen or from in a car with the windows wound down on a sunny summer’s day, and just listened to by any pop fan through whatever means they choose to enjoy their music”.
Fans who remember names like Bush & Clarke, The Sidneys, Vicious Circle and Great Naked, or those who are curious to discover what the local scene sounded like in the 80s, now have the chance to listen and wonder what might have been.
None of the bands are still going but some members went on to play with household names, including a member of Umo Vogue who is now in The Wurzels and a member of Bath-based Wadi Vision who performed with Queen’s Roger Taylor.
Kingswood band Hey Belaba’s Scott Davidson played keyboards with Bros and the Pet Shop Boys, before making a fortune founding classified ads paper Trade It and becoming chairman of Bristol City FC.
Some band members became college lecturers or were successful in other fields.
Mike said: “Music for a lot of people is the thing that defines them in terms of their personality.
“They got into a band and learned how to be something they wouldn’t have been if they hadn’t been in music.
“They’re used to striving for success. If the band doesn’t work out, they don’t fail, they just morph into something else.”
Mike tracked down former members of the bands on the compilation via Facebook and personal contacts – some of them still live locally but others have spread around the world.
He said: “In every band there will be one person who has kept everything – the key is to find that person.
“If you’ve got a really good memory like me, if you can’t find the singer you need to find the guitarist or drummer.”
As well as 80s pop, Bristol Archive Records has produced similar compilations of reggae, punk, post-punk, mod, goth and rock bands from the region, mainly on limited edition vinyl records and for download, although the 80s pop compilation will also be released on CD.
Mike says there’s “no real money” in producing the compilations and, after retiring as an independent financial adviser, music “is now my full-time expensive hobby”.
The Bristol and Bath 80s Pop Explosion is released on February 28 on limited edition 11-track vinyl, limited edition 18-track CD and download, via Bristol Archive Records.
For more details visit bristolarchiverecords.com or your local record shop.
