Department S were a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
new waveNew Wave is a genre of rock and pop music that emerged in in the middle to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and...
bandRock band redirects here. For the video game series, see Rock Band A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music...
formed in 1980, who took their
stage nameA stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
from the 1960s
TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
seriesDepartment S was a British spy-fi adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. The series lasted for 28 episodes, which aired in 1969-70. The series starred Peter Wyngarde as Jason King , Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan and Rosemary Nicols as Annabelle Hurst...
.
Department S evolved from a previous
punkPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
/
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
combo, Guns For Hire, and featured former
MadnessMadness are a British pop/ska band from Camden Town, London, that formed in 1976. In 2009, the band have continued to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s 2...
drummer John Hasler. Mike Herbage joined them and wrote Guns For Hire's only single - "I'm Gonna Rough My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Up Tonight" - which emerged on the
KorovaKorova is a record label, distributed by the Warner Elektra Asylum group of record companies.The imprint was founded in 1979 as an outlet for Echo & the Bunnymen, with its first album release being their debut Crocodiles...
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. The group then became Department S, with the addition of Eddie Roxy (later replaced by Mark Taylor) and Stuart Mizon.
They made their live debut at the Rock Garden,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, on 24 September 1980.
Department S were a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
new waveNew Wave is a genre of rock and pop music that emerged in in the middle to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, and...
bandRock band redirects here. For the video game series, see Rock Band A musical ensemble is a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music...
formed in 1980, who took their
stage nameA stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
from the 1960s
TVTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
seriesDepartment S was a British spy-fi adventure series produced by ITC Entertainment. The series lasted for 28 episodes, which aired in 1969-70. The series starred Peter Wyngarde as Jason King , Joel Fabiani as Stewart Sullivan and Rosemary Nicols as Annabelle Hurst...
.
1980s
Department S evolved from a previous
punkPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
/
skaSka is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
combo, Guns For Hire, and featured former
MadnessMadness are a British pop/ska band from Camden Town, London, that formed in 1976. In 2009, the band have continued to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s 2...
drummer John Hasler. Mike Herbage joined them and wrote Guns For Hire's only single - "I'm Gonna Rough My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Up Tonight" - which emerged on the
KorovaKorova is a record label, distributed by the Warner Elektra Asylum group of record companies.The imprint was founded in 1979 as an outlet for Echo & the Bunnymen, with its first album release being their debut Crocodiles...
record labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. The group then became Department S, with the addition of Eddie Roxy (later replaced by Mark Taylor) and Stuart Mizon.
They made their live debut at the Rock Garden,
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, on 24 September 1980. Demon Records subsequently released their debut
singleIn music, a single is a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats.-History:...
, "Is Vic There?", in March 1981. It was
producedIn the music industry, a record producer has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes...
by former
Mott the HoopleMott the Hoople are a 1970s English rock band with strong R&B roots and dominant in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The...
members Buffin and
Overend WattsPeter Overend Watts is a bass guitar player and founding member of 1970s rock band, Mott the Hoople....
, but its initial success led to the better-equipped
RCA RecordsRCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1983 and a partner from 1983 to 1986.-The RCA family of labels:RCA is the name of three different co-owned record...
picking it up. The single’s
b-sideA-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, a
coverIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of T.Rex's "Solid Gold Easy Action", featured
ThunderthighsThunderthighs were a high-profile UK backing vocal group, who quickly became artists in their own right.-Career:The female trio, consisting of Karen Friedman, Dari Lalou ,and Casey Synge, provided the backing vocals to Lou Reed's hit single, "Walk on the Wild Side"...
on
backing vocalsA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
.
The group recorded a
session for the
BBC Radio 1BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the BBC which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock or interviews. It is aimed...
DJA disc jockey is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, dis
k referred to phonograph records, while dis
c referred to the Compact Disc, and has become the more common spelling...
John PeelJohn Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004. He was known for his eclectic taste in music and...
on 3 December 1980. The tracks laid down were "Is Vic There?"; "Age Concern"; "Ode To Cologne (Stench Of War)"; and "Clap Now".
The follow-up single "Going Left Right", released on the
Stiff RecordsStiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976 by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
labelIn the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
fared considerably worse (while still managing to sell 60,000 copies), and their days were numbered despite a number 1 single in
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
("I Want"). Poor subsequent sales and differences of opinion with their record label, resulted in the band being dropped by Stiff, but not before £50,000 was reputedly spent on what was to be their debut
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
,
Sub-Stance (subsequently released on LTM in 2003).
Toulouse later worked as a DJ under the name Main T, before recording as a solo artist with a 1985 single "Cruisin' the Serpentine", and as part of
The Style CouncilThe Style Council were an English musical group formed in 1983 by ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent lineup grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee...
's
minerThe UK Miners' Strike was major industrial action affecting the British coal industry. It was a defining moment in British industrial relations, and its defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement...
's charity project the Council Collective. He died in 1991, from
AIDSAcquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus ....
related causes.
Revival
In February 2007, Department S
recordedSound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
their first new single for twenty six years, a
cover versionIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of
Alvin StardustAlvin Stardust is an English pop singer and stage actor.-Career:...
's 1973
hitA hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
"My Coo-Ca-Choo". It was released on Sartorial Records in October 2007. It included a guest appearance by
Mark BedfordMark Bedford , nicknamed 'Bedders', is a bass guitarist and youngest member of the British second wave ska band, Madness....
of
MadnessMadness are a British pop/ska band from Camden Town, London, that formed in 1976. In 2009, the band have continued to perform with their most recognised lineup of seven members, although their lineup has varied slightly over the years. They were one of the most prominent bands of the late-1970s 2...
on
bass guitarThe electric bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a plectrum....
. A re-recording of "Is Vic There?" and new tracks "Wonderful Day" "God Squad Saviour" and "Outside" have now been recorded, and include contributions from
Glen MatlockGlen Matlock is a bass guitarist most famous for being in the original lineup of the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Drummer Paul Cook has said that Matlock came up with much of the music for the band's songs, while lead singer Johnny Rotten came up with the lyrics...
,
Marco PirroniMarco Francesco Andrea Pirroni is an English guitarist and singer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie & the Banshees and many others in a career spanning the late 1970s to the present day.-Biography:Born in Archway, he lived with his parents in Camden Town, until at 15 years...
, Michelle Brigandage of Brigandage, Susie Honeyman of
The MekonsThe Mekons are a British rock band. Formed in the late 1970s, they are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands.- History :...
and
John KeebleJohn Keeble is a British pop musician, who is the drummer with the 1980s band, Spandau Ballet.Spandau Ballet disbanded in 1990, after their final studio album, Heart Like a Sky, failed to live up to the critical and commercial success of their earlier albums, such as True and Parade.In 1999, John...
of
Spandau BalletSpandau Ballet is a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles and four Top Ten albums in...
contributing drums to the latter two tracks. Live
concertA concert is a live performance, usually of music, before an audience. The music may be performed by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band. Informal names for a concert include "show" and "gig"...
dates were planned for September 2008, but were postponed until Spring 2010. In August 2008 drummer Stuart Mizon left the band due to family commitments, while former guitarist and songwriter from Back to Zero, Sam Burnett joined on a full time basis. An album is due out in April 2010, with a new single ('Wonderful Day') due for release in August 2009. Both releases will be on Sartorial.
Singles
- "I'm Gonna Rough My Boyfriends Girlfriend up Tonight" (as 'Guns for Hire') - (1980) Korova
- "Is Vic There?" b/w "Solid Gold Easy Action" - (1981) Demon - UK
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
#22
- "Is Vic There? (remixed)" b/w "Put All the Crosses in the Right Boxes" (1981) Stiff (US) U.S.
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
DanceBillboard's Hot Dance Club Songs chart is a weekly national survey of the songs that are most popular in U.S. dance clubs...
#67
- "Going Left Right" b/w "She's Expecting You" - (1981) Stiff - UK #55
- "I Want" b/w "Monte Carlo Or Bust" - (1981) Stiff
- "My Coocachoo" - (2007)Sartorial
- "Wonderful Day" - (2009) Sartorial
Albums
- Is Vic There? (1993) Mau Mau (compilation)
- Sub-Stance - (released in 2003) - LTM Records
Band members
1980s musicians
- Vaughan Toulouse (born Vaughan Cotillard, 30 July 1959, St Helier Jersey
The Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes the nearly uninhabited islands of the Minquiers, Écréhous, the Pierres de Lecq and other rocks and reefs. Together with the bailiwick of Guernsey...
, Channel IslandsThe Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
; died August 1991) - VocalistSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. A person who sings is called a singer or vocalist...
- Mike Herbage - Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as acoustic guitars, electric guitars, classical guitars and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :...
- Tony Lordan - Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
- 1980
- Jimmy Hughes
James Hughes is an English bassist who has played with many seminal Punk and New Wave bands and whose career as a rock musician and writer continues to this day....
- BassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
- 1981
- Eddie Roxy (born Anthony Edward Lloyd-Barnes) - Keyboards
A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
- 1980
- Mark Taylor - Keyboards - 1981
- Stuart Mizon - Drummer
A drummer is a person who plays drums, particularly a drum kit , marching percussion or hand drums. The term percussionist applies to a musician performing on any percussion instrument, but usually refers to one who plays classical or Latin percussion. Most bands for Rock, Pop, Jazz, R&B etc...
- 1980
- John Hasler - Drummer - 1981
2007/8 version
- Mike Herbage - Guitarist
- Eddie Roxy - Lead vocals
- Stuart Mizon - Drummer
- Terry Edwards
Terry Edwards is an English musician.Edwards gained a degree in music from the University of East Anglia in 1982, where he was also a founding member of The Higsons. He produced and played on the debut album by Yeah Jazz "Six Lane Ends"...
- SaxophonistThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
- Michelle Brigandage - Backing vocals
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
- Mark Bedford - Bassist
- John Keeble - Drums
- Susie Honeyman - Strings
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones. The most common string instruments in the string family are guitar, violin, viola,...
- Sam Burnett - Guitar
External links