The Orchids are a Scottish band that achieved success with Sarah Records. Formed in Penilee in Glasgow in 1985, the Orchids released a series of underground singles on Sarah Records. The group's line-up comprised James Hackett (vocals), Pauline Hynds Bari (vocals), John Scally (guitar), Chris Quinn (drums), Matthew Drummond (guitar) and James Moody (bass). Their producer, Ian Carmichael, often played keyboards on their records. They changed their line up in 1993, when bassist James Moody left and Ronnie Borland, a long time collaborator and supporter of the band, took over on bass. They went quiet after their 1994 album release, their last on Sarah Records, only surfacing in 1995 to play at the Sarah Records farewell party. After that they took a break until 2004 when they got back together.
Angelic Upstarts are an English punk rock / Oi! band formed in South Shields in 1977. AllMusic calls them "one of the period's most politically charged and thought-provoking groups". The band espouse an anti-fascist and socialist working class philosophy, and have been associated with the punk and skinhead subcultures.
Loop are an English rock band, formed in 1986 by Robert Hampson in Croydon. The group topped the UK independent charts with their albums Fade Out (1989) and A Gilded Eternity (1990). Their dissonant "trance-rock" sound drew on the work of artists like the Stooges, Suicide and Can, and helped to resurrect the concept of space rock in the late 1980s.
The Go! Team are an English six-piece band from Brighton, England. They combine indie rock and garage rock with a mixture of funk and Bollywood soundtracks, double Dutch chants, old school hip hop and distorted guitars. Their songs are a mix of live instrumentation and samples from various sources. The band's vocals vary between performances: while live vocals are handled mostly by Ninja, vocals on record also feature sampled and guest voices.
Sun Dial is a British psychedelic rock band formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon.
Blue Orchids are an English post-punk band formed in Manchester in 1979, when Martin Bramah left the Fall, after playing on the band's debut album Live at the Witch Trials. Christened by Salford-based punk poet John Cooper Clarke the band recorded for Rough Trade and acted as backing band for the Velvet Underground's Nico before a 25-year period of intermittent activity and fluctuating line-ups.
The Mighty Lemon Drops were an English rock group active from 1985 to 1992.
The Brilliant Corners were a British indie pop band from Bristol who recorded throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s.
Dog Faced Hermans were a post-punk band that formed in Scotland in the mid 1980s and remained active through the mid 1990s. They emerged from the UK anarcho-punk scene with a guitar/bass/drums line-up, but also incorporated trumpet and other instruments not commonly found in punk music at that time. Their composition style incorporated many genres of music outside of rock, including folk, jazz, ambient and noise music with often unorthodox instrumentation.
King of the Slums were a British alternative rock band. Formed in Greater Manchester in the mid-1980s, the band specialised in a kind of electric violin and guitar-driven rock music, and released their debut single in 1986. Whilst the band earned some critical acclaim from the UK music press, commercial success eluded them and the group disbanded in the early 1990s following the release of their second studio album, Blowzy Weirdos (1991). An album of new material plus some older songs appeared in 2009 credited to both King of the Slums and Slum Cathedral User, which was the original name of the group. Three more albums followed, Manco Diablo (2017), Artgod Dogs (2018) and Encrypted Contemporary Narratives (2020) before the death of frontman Charley Keigher in 2021.
Disorder are an English street punk band that formed in the Bristol area of England in 1980, and has existed with varying line-ups. They are aligned with politically charged punk bands.
Glaxo Babies are a Bristol-based post-punk band, formed in late 1977. There were three distinct phases in the band's life and after initially breaking up in 1980, they reformed in 1985, only to finally break up again in 1990. The band reformed once again in 2015 for the Un-Peeled 2015 event with Steve Street on bass and Tony Wrafter's son Oscar on vocals.
Claytown Troupe are an English alternative rock band from Bristol, England who came to success in 1989.
Blow Up were a British indie pop/indie rock band active between 1986 and 1991.
Europeans were a new wave band formed in Bristol, England in 1977. The line-up was Jonathan Cole, Jon Klein, Steve Street and James Cole. According to Klein, ‘we were going to be called 'The Noses.'
Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981.
Live in Detroit is Thor's first live album, recorded live at Harpo's in Detroit, MI during the Only the Strong tour on Friday, May 24, 1985.
The Subway Organization was a British independent record label founded in 1985 in Bristol by Martin Whitehead.
Political Asylum was a Scottish anarcho-punk band formed in Stirling in 1982 and active until 1993. One of the most popular bands within that scene, they played hundreds of gigs across the U.K., Europe and America and were, according to author Ian Glasper, "an integral part of the fiercely independent underground that existed at the time."
