The Apollinaires | |
---|---|
Also known as | The Volkswagens |
Origin | Leicester |
Genres | funk, 2 Tone |
Years active | 1981-1983 |
Labels | 2 Tone Records |
Associated acts | I Y A Volkswagens, The Swinging Laurels |
Past members | Paul Tickle, Tom Brown, Francis Brown, Kraig Thornber, James Hunt, Simon Kirk, Peter Millen, Laurence Wood, Paul Hood, Chris Freestone, Stephen Leonard-Williams |
The Apollinaires were a British 2 Tone/post-punk group from Leicester, England, signed to 2 Tone Records. [1]
The band formed in Leicester as a six-piece, composed of musicians from various local bands and students from the Leicester School of Art. [1] Four members of the band had previously been in an industrial band named I Y A Volkswagens, which had released one single on Rough Trade Records called "Kill Myself". [2] After the demise of that band they reformed as The Volkswagens, and as their sound moved from post-punk to a more dance sound, they worked with members of another Leicester band called The Swinging Laurels as their horn section. [1]
In 1982 the band signed to Coventry's 2 Tone Records and changed their name to The Apollinaires, expanding to a ten-piece at the same time with the addition an in-house horn section. [1] [2] They recorded their first single, "The Feeling's Gone" with Jerry Dammers, [1] featuring vocals from Rhoda Dakar of The Bodysnatchers. [2]
After this the band toured extensively in the UK with bands including The Higsons and The Beat, and also played concerts in France, recorded BBC Radio 1 sessions for John Peel and Kid Jensen, and released a second single entitled "Envy the Love". [1] Their TV appearances included Channel 4's The Switch. [1] They also released a third single in 1983 on a small Birmingham independent label entitled "Put People First". [1] Eventually, however, the band split up due to the difficulties of co-ordinating their large number of members. [1]
Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
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Two-tone or 2 tone is a genre of British popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused traditional Jamaican ska music with elements of punk rock and new wave music. Its name derives from 2 Tone Records, a record label founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers of The Specials, and references a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Thatcher-era Britain: many two-tone groups, such as The Specials, The Selecter, and The Beat featured a mix of black, white, and multiracial people.
The Selecter are a 2 tone ska revival band from Coventry, England, formed in mid-1979.
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Music in Leicester, England, has had a varied history.