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Richard Jobson | |
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| Born | 6 October 1960 Kirkcaldy, Scotland |
| Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, television host, musician |
| Notable work | 16 Years of Alcohol (2003 film) "The Saints are Coming", "Into the Valley" (1979) by Skids |
Richard Jobson (born 6 October 1960) is a Scottish filmmaker (director, writer, producer) who also works as a television presenter. He is also known as the singer-songwriter of the band Skids. [1]
Jobson was born in Kirkcaldy and grew up in Crosshill [2] and Ballingry in Fife, [3] [4] [5] the son of a miner and a worker at Rosyth Dockyard. [3] He attended St Columba's Roman Catholic High School, Dunfermline. [4] His family were of Irish Catholic descent. [6]
Jobson is the lead singer with the punk rock group Skids, whose original run was from 1977-1982. [1] Jobson's singing-style with Skids was highly distinctive, and he wrote the lyrics, while Stuart Adamson wrote most of the music.
Scared to Dance , the first Skids album, included the 1979 hit single "Into the Valley", the group's most successful single. Jobson appeared on BBC Television's Top of the Pops singing it. "The Saints are Coming" was also on the album. Jobson said it was about the death of a friend in the British Army. Much of Scared to Dance featured local references, and also Jobson's fascination with the two world wars.
The fourth album by Skids, Joy , released in 1981, was almost entirely written by Jobson and Russell Webb, as the other two band members left, one of whom was Jobson's long-time songwriting partner Stuart Adamson who moved on to form his new band Big Country.
In September 2006 Green Day and U2 recorded a cover version of 'The Saints are Coming' for charitable purposes.
Skids including Jobson reformed from 2007 to 2010, and again from 2016 to present.
Jobson and Russell Webb both shared a common interest in the War Poets, a theme which was in evidence for Jobson's solo album Ballad of Etiquette and which bore a credit for 'Virginia & Josephine' (Wells). This album was released in November 1981, and peaked on the UK indie charts at number 24. At the same time Astley, Nicky Holland and Kate St John auditioned for Bill Drummond at the Zoo Club in Liverpool where they made their live debut.
In 1983, Jobson formed another band with Russell Webb and John McGeoch, called The Armoury Show [1] — named after a 1913 New York modernist art exhibition. Jobson and Webb also worked with Virginia Astley. Webb co-produced her first album From Gardens Where We Feel Secure .
Both Astley and Jobson did recording sessions for Les Disques Du Crépuscule,[ when? ] a Belgian record label, and Jobson made several albums for the label, usually of poetry readings with Astley as his accompanist. At the same time the final Skids album Joy was released, Astley and Nicky Holland appeared as backing vocalists; Astley also played flute on the single "Fields".
Jobson was doing poetry readings at Richard Strange's Cabaret Futura club, in 1981 and '82, and featured on an album of live performances recorded at the club. The album, Fools Rush In Where Angels Dare to Tread, was issued on the Martyrwell label by Strange and Nick Stewart via Island Records and was engineered by Astley's brother Jon Astley. Amongst a lot of strange-sounding and difficult music was the first ever recording by Kissing the Pink.
For Crépuscule's various artists compilation LP The Fruit of the Original Sin, Jobson performed a poem called 'Homage To Marguerite Duras' with music by Astley.
In the mid-1980s Astley and Jobson toured Japan to promote his album An Afternoon in Company. Much of Jobson's spoken-word material for the Cocteau and Crépuscule labels has been reissued on CD by the LTM label.
From the mid-1980s, Jobson became a prolific front man for music and arts programmes on the BBC, ITV and Sky.
Jobson became a presenter on arts magazine programme 01 for London [1] from 1988 to 1992, as well as being music reporter and interviewer across the same period for BBC daytime show The Garden Party. He was also a film reviewer for Sky Television, and in the mid 1990s presented a late-night ITV series Hollywood Report that aired in many of the network's regions. Katie Wagner worked as a reporter on the show.
In June 2013, Jobson was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Arts) from Edinburgh Napier University. [7]
| Year | Title | Label | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | The Ballad of Etiquette [8] | LTM Recordings (2006 reissue) | Album |
| 1988 | Badman [9] | Parlophone | 12" album |
John Alexander McGeoch was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977–1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980–1982).
Skids are a Scottish punk rock and new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson, William Simpson, Thomas Kellichan (drums) and Richard Jobson. Their biggest successes were the 1979 single "Into the Valley" and the 1980 album The Absolute Game. In 2016, the band announced a 40th-anniversary tour of the UK with their original singer Richard Jobson.
Slik were a Scottish pop group of the mid-1970s, most notable for their UK number 1 hit "Forever and Ever" in 1976. Initially glam rock, the band later changed their style to soft rock/bubblegum. It was the first band with whom singer and guitarist Midge Ure began to experience musical success, before joining new wave band Ultravox.
Scared to Dance is the debut studio album by Scottish punk rock band Skids. It was released on 23 February 1979 by record label Virgin.
Days in Europa is the second album by Scottish punk rock and new wave band Skids. It was released in 1979 by record label Virgin.
The Absolute Game is the third studio album by Scottish punk rock and new wave band Skids. Recorded in 1980 and produced by Mick Glossop, it was released in September 1980 by record label Virgin. It became their most commercially successful album, reaching No. 9 in the UK Albums Chart.
William Stuart Adamson was a Scottish rock guitarist and singer. Adamson began his career in the late 1970s as a founding member and performer with the punk rock band Skids. After leaving Skids in 1981, he formed Big Country and was the band's lead singer and guitarist. The group's commercial heyday was in the 1980s. In the 1990s, he was a member of the alternative country band The Raphaels. In the late 1970s the British music journalist John Peel referred to his musical virtuosity as a guitarist as "a new Jimi Hendrix".
Joy is the fourth studio album by Scottish punk rock and new wave band Skids. It was their first album after the departure of signature guitarist Stuart Adamson who went on to found Big Country. It represented a change of direction from rock towards folk music—amplifying the traditional Scottish element already hinted at in previous releases. This would be their last album until the release of Burning Cities over 36 years later.
Anna Domino is an American indie rock artist based in New York and Los Angeles who released several albums for Les Disques du Crepuscule and Factory Records in the 1980s and 1990s. Domino has collaborated with musicians such as Matt Johnson of The The, Stephin Merritt in The Sixths, Blaine L. Reininger and Steven Brown of Tuxedomoon, Virginia Astley, Luc van Acker and Ultramarine. She is also one half of the duo Snakefarm.
Les Disques du Crépuscule is an independent record label founded in Belgium in 1980 by Michel Duval and Annik Honoré. It also had a prominent associated sublabel, Factory Benelux. Both are now run by former employee James Nice.
The Armoury Show were a British new wave band, formed in 1983 and consisting of Richard Jobson on vocals, Russell Webb on bass guitar, John McGeoch on guitar and John Doyle on drums.
Virginia Astley is an English singer-songwriter most active during the 1980s and 1990s. Her songwriting career started in 1980. Her classical training influenced her, as did a desire to be experimental with her music. Although most popular in Asia, most notably Japan, she remains a cult artist in her native England.
"The Saints are Coming" was the third single by the Scottish punk rock band Skids, featured on their 1979 debut album, Scared to Dance. The song became an international hit when it was covered in 2006 by U2 and Green Day. It was covered again in 2008 by Von Thronstahl.
"Into the Valley" is a song by Scottish punk rock band Skids, released in 1979 as the second single from their debut album Scared to Dance. It is their best known song, appearing on a number of punk rock and Scottish music compilation albums. It reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart for the week ending 24 March 1979. It was written by Richard Jobson and Stuart Adamson.
Waiting for the Floods is the first and only studio album by British new wave band The Armoury Show. It was released in September 1985 and entered the UK Albums chart at number 57 that month.
Russell Webb is a Scottish new wave bass guitarist who was member of bands such as Slik, PVC2, Zones, Skids, The Armoury Show and Public Image Ltd and collaborated with Richard Jobson, Virginia Astley and The Who.
John Doyle is an English drummer, who was a member of new wave bands like Magazine and The Armoury Show. He reunited with Magazine for a tour in February 2009.
Zones were a Scottish power pop and new wave band founded in late 1977, following the demise of PVC2.
Charles EP, or simply named Skids, is the first disc and EP of punk rock band Skids, recorded in October 1977 and released on 24 February 1978 on the Scottish punk label No Bad. The lead track was originally planned to be "Test-Tube Babies," but between the recording sessions and the EP's release, the band felt their sound had moved on and was more properly represented by "Charles" and "Reasons." All music and lyrics were by Stuart Adamson, though the distinctive bass line in "Charles" later won Simpson plaudits from musicians such as The Edge and Peter Hook.
Nicky Holland is an English musician and singer-songwriter, notable for being a previous backing pianist/keyboardist, vocalist and co-songwriter for the band Tears for Fears during the 1980s.
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