The Photos

Last updated

The Photos
Wendy Wu.jpg
Wendy Wu performing with The Photos, 1980
Background information
Also known asSatan's Rats
Origin Evesham, England
Genres New wave
Years active1977–1978 (as Satan's Rats)
1979–1981, 1983 (as The Photos)
Labels CBS, Epic, Rialto
Past membersSteve Eagles
Dave Sparrow
Olly Harrison
Paul Rencher (Satan's Rats)
Wendy Wu (The Photos)
Ché Zuro (The Photos)
Angus Hines (The Photos)

The Photos were an English new wave band fronted by Wendy Wu, who had a top 5 album in the UK Albums Chart in 1980.

Contents

History

The Photos were originally a punk band named Satan's Rats that formed in Evesham, Worcestershire in 1977, with the first stable line-up of Paul Rencher (vocals), Steve Eagles (guitar/vocals), Roy Wilkes (bass guitar), and Olly Harrison (drums). They released three singles as Satans Rats before Wilkes left, to be replaced by Dave Sparrow; and then Rencher left, after which the others deciding to expand the group with the addition of a female singer. They unsuccessfully tried to get Big in Japan's Jayne Casey to join, but convinced Wendy Wu (born Wendy Cruise, 29 November 1959), the former manager of pub rock band City Youth to join in 1979. [1] The Photos signed to CBS Records but moved on to Epic Records after one single. [1] They released a self-titled album (Epic, 1980) and number of singles. These included "I'm So Attractive" and "Barbarellas" (concerning the closure of a Birmingham nightclub). [2]

The album was successful, reaching number 4 in the UK Albums Chart, [3] and Wu's picture was briefly a regular item in the music press. Initial copies of the vinyl release of the album (with the exception of the US) came with a bonus album, The Blackmail Tapes, the additional tracks also included on the cassette release, and the album was supported by the group performing numerous concerts around the UK.

The album was later re-released in CD format, although only a limited number of copies were pressed. The CD was re-released in October 2007 by Cherry Red Records, the label originally due to have signed the band before they were contracted to CBS. The re-release includes some additional tracks including "I'm So Attractive."

They released several singles in the UK including "I'm So Attractive". which was added to the US album release. "I'm So Attractive" was not included on the CD that was released in 1999, along with eight additional tracks from The Blackmail Tapes.

At the height of their career, the band made a number of TV appearances. Their scheduled slot on BBC Television's Top of the Pops was cancelled due to industrial action, but their appearances on Top Pop in Holland (1980) and The Old Grey Whistle Test (1981) were broadcast. In 1981 they went on a stadium tour supporting The Police in Europe and headlined the Lyceum in London the same year supported by the Thompson Twins. [4] Their highest entry in the UK singles chart was "Irene" which reached number 56 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980. [3] The eponymously named first album got to number 4 in the UK Albums Chart, [3] although it was surrounded by controversy that the record company had hyped it (unbeknownst to the band).

A second album, Crystal Tips and Mighty Mice, was released in promotional form in 1981, but withdrawn before it reached the shops, and reissued by Cherry Red Records in 2008. Wu left the band in 1981, to be replaced by Ché Zuro, and The Photos split up later that year. [1]

Wu went on to release some generally poorly received solo singles during 1982 and 1983, and then joined Steve Strange to form the duo Strange Cruise in 1986. [1]

The Photos reformed without Wu, although this line-up only released one single, "There's Always Work", in 1983. Later, when Harrison had left the band, they reformed briefly with Angus Hines playing drums. They were joined by Wu for a one-off gig at London's Marquee Club, before finally disbanding. Steve Eagles became guitarist in Ted Milton's Blurt, and later formed Bang Bang Machine. [1] Oliver Harrison [5] went on to become a filmmaker.

In 2022, members of the original Satan's Rats collaborated with Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons frontwoman Puss Johnson as "Satan's Cats". [6]

Discography

Satan's Rats

Albums

  • What a Bunch of Rodents (2005), Overground – compilation of tracks from the singles plus 13 previously-unreleased tracks

Singles

  • "In My Love for You" / "Facade" 7" (October 1977), DJM
  • "Year of the Rats" / "Louise" 7" (December 1977), DJM
  • "You Make Me Sick" / "Louise" 7" (March 1978), DJM

Satan's Cats

(Puss Johnson & Satan's Rats):

EP

  • Satan's Cats (2022) Salamander, reissued by Dimple Discs (2023)

The Photos

Albums

  • The Photos (June 1980), Epic – UK No. 4
  • Crystal Tips and Mighty Mice (March 1981), Epic – withdrawn after promotional copies were released, issued by Cherry Red in 2008

Singles

  • "I'm So Attractive" / "Guitar Hero" 7" (November 1979), CBS
  • "Irene" / "Barbarellas" / "Shy" / "Cridsilla" double-7" (April 1980), Epic – UK No. 56
  • "Friends" / "Je T'Aime" 7" (July 1980), Epic – withdrawn
  • "Now You Tell Me That We're Through" / "Je T'Aime" 7" (September 1980), Epic
  • "Life in a Day" / "More Than a Friend" 7" (February 1981), Epic
  • "We'll Win" / "You Won't Get to Me" 7" (July 1981), Epic
  • "There's Always Work" / "Work Phase" 7"/12" (April 1983), Rialto

Wendy Wu

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KC and the Sunshine Band</span> American disco and funk band

KC and the Sunshine Band is an American disco and funk band that was founded in 1973 in Hialeah, Florida. Their best-known songs include the hits "That's the Way ", "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty", "I'm Your Boogie Man", "Keep It Comin' Love", "Get Down Tonight", "Boogie Shoes", "Please Don't Go" and "Give It Up". The band took its name from lead vocalist Harry Wayne Casey's last name ('KC') and the 'Sunshine Band' from KC's home state of Florida, the Sunshine State. The group has had six top 10 singles, five number one singles and a number two single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Boomtown Rats</span> Irish rock band

The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geno Washington</span> American R&B singer (born 1943)

Geno Washington is an American R&B singer who released five albums with the Ram Jam Band between 1966 and 1969, and eight solo albums beginning in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DJM Records</span> Defunct British record label

DJM Records was a British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, including the US.

The Nolans were an Anglo-Irish girl group who formed in Blackpool in 1974 as the Nolan Sisters, before changing their name in 1980. From 1979 to 1982, the group had a run of hits, including "I'm in the Mood for Dancing", "Gotta Pull Myself Together", "Who's Gonna Rock You", "Attention to Me" and "Chemistry". They are one of the world's biggest selling girl groups. They were particularly successful in Japan, becoming the first European act to win the Tokyo Music Festival with "Sexy Music" in 1981, and won a Japanese Grammy in 1992.

Russell Allan Abbot is an English musician, actor and comedian. Born in Chester, he first came to public notice during the 1970s as the singer and drummer with British comedy showband the Black Abbots, later forging a prominent solo career as a television comedian with his own weekly show on British television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charly McClain</span> American singer-songwriter

Charlotte Denise "Charly" McClain is an American country music singer, best known for a string of hits during the 1980s. McClain's biggest hits include "Who's Cheatin' Who", "Sleepin' with the Radio On", and "Radio Heart".

<i>The Fine Art of Surfacing</i> 1979 studio album by The Boomtown Rats

The Fine Art of Surfacing is the third album by Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats, released in June 1979. The album peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Heyward</span> English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Nicholas Heyward is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first album, after which he continued as a solo artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sad Lovers & Giants</span> English rock band from Watford, Hertfordshire

Sad Lovers and Giants are an English rock band from Watford, Hertfordshire, England, which formed in 1980. Their sound blends post-punk, atmospheric keyboards and psychedelia.

Richard Anthony Hewson is an English producer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, who created the studio group RAH Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Don't Like Mondays</span> 1979 single by the Boomtown Rats

"I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979, and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, the piano ballad was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feels Like I'm in Love</span> 1977 song by Mungo Jerry

"Feels Like I'm in Love" is a song written and recorded by Ray Dorset with his band Mungo Jerry. It was a number-one hit on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in September 1980 for Scottish singer Kelly Marie.

Hughie Flint is an English drummer, known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Band.

The following is a comprehensive discography of the Stranglers, an English rock band.

The Look are an English pop band, who had a number six hit single in the UK Singles Chart with "I Am the Beat" in 1980.

"Nobody's Child" is a song written by Cy Coben and Mel Foree and first recorded by Hank Snow in 1949. Many other versions of this song exist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Harrison</span> English filmmaker

Oliver Harrison is an English filmmaker, artist and animator. His films have been shown at film festivals around the world including Cannes Film Festival, New York Film Festival, San Francisco Film Festival and the London Film Festival. His feature film The Fallen Word premiered at the BFI Southbank in 2013. Influential in motion graphics, particularly in kinetic typography, Harrison's work has been featured at Tate Modern, The Barbican Centre and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN   1-84195-335-0, p. 452-3
  2. ↑ Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Indie and New Wave Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 210/1. ISBN   0-85112-579-4.
  3. 1 2 3 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 426. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  4. ↑ "Poster for the Lyceum: The Photos supported by The Thompson Twins, Modern English and The Cuban Heels" . Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  5. ↑ "Oliver Harrison". Bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "Satan's Rats Team up with Puss Johnson to Become Satan's Cats". 12 October 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.