Big Flame were a post-punk/indie rock three piece band, based in Manchester, England, and active from 1983 to 1986. The members were Alan Brown, Greg Keeffe (guitar) and Dil Green (drums). After a debut EP ("Sink") on their own Laughing Gun label, they joined the Ron Johnson roster for a series of mid-1980s singles as well as an appearance on the NME's C86 compilation.
Lester Bowie was an American jazz trumpet player and composer. He was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and co-founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.
The Pop Group are an English rock band formed in Bristol in 1977 by vocalist Mark Stewart, guitarist John Waddington, bassist Simon Underwood, guitarist/saxophonist Gareth Sager, and drummer Bruce Smith. Their work in the late 1970s crossed diverse musical influences including punk, dub, funk, and free jazz with radical politics, helping to pioneer post-punk music.
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as well as the compilation album Pillows & Prayers. In addition to releasing new music, Cherry Red also acts as an umbrella for individual imprints and catalogue specialists.
The Monochrome Set are an English post-punk/new wave band, originally formed in London in January 1978. The most recent line-up consists of Bid, Andy Warren, Athen Ayren and Stephen Gilchrist.
Juvenal de Holanda Vasconcelos, known as Naná Vasconcelos, was a Brazilian percussionist, vocalist and berimbau player, notable for his work as a solo artist on over two dozen albums, and as a backing musician with Pat Metheny, Don Cherry, Jan Garbarek, Egberto Gismonti, Gato Barbieri, and Milton Nascimento.
Aldo Romano is an Italian jazz drummer. He also founded a rock group in 1971.
Helen McCookerybook is a British musician and singer-songwriter, who was the bass player and co-singer with The Chefs, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. She went on to form Helen and the Horns in the mid 80s. Both bands were admired by John Peel, recording six BBC Radio 1 sessions between them. After a long break from her music career, Helen McCookerybook started again as a solo artist in 2005. She regularly plays live gigs, releases recordings, and promotes occasional revivals of Helen and the Horns.
Peter Astor is an English songwriter and solo artist, known for his work with The Loft, The Weather Prophets, The Wisdom of Harry and Ellis Island Sound.
Love Zombies is the second studio album by English band the Monochrome Set. It was released on 17 October 1980, through record label Dindisc.
Strange Boutique is the debut studio album by English band The Monochrome Set. It was released in 1980, through record label Dindisc.
Eligible Bachelors is the third studio album by English band The Monochrome Set. It was released in 1982, through record label Cherry Red.
Dindisc was a UK record label, an imprint of Virgin Records but operating semi-independently, which issued new releases from mid-1979 through early 1982. It is no longer active, but CD reissues on Virgin still mention the label and have Dindisc catalogue numbers.
él is an English independent record label based in London that was founded by Mike Alway, later becoming a subsidiary of Cherry Red Records. Their musicians were characterized by a strong English sensibility, as well as the French influence stemming from in-house writer/producer Louis Philippe. During their original run, él received much interest from the press, but not a huge number of sales, except in Japan, where the label became an enormous influence on J-pop acts like Cornelius and Pizzicato Five. The label closed in 1989. In 2005, it was revived as a reissue label.
...And the Native Hipsters was an English experimental group formed in London, England in 1979. Centred on the nucleus of musicians William Wilding and Blatt, they are best known for their 1980 single, "There Goes Concorde Again", which attracted the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, and reached number five on the UK Independent Charts. The song was listed by New Musical Express in their "NME Writers 100 Best Indie Singles Ever" in 1992.
James 'Foz' Foster is an English composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the lead guitarist in the art-rock band, David Devant and his Spirit Wife, and in the 1983-5 incarnation of The Monochrome Set. Foster also plays guitar, musical saw and vibraslap in the house band of Karaoke Circus and occasional saw in Martin White's Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra. He plays ukulele and other instruments as part of the double-act, Foster and Gilvan, and is also musical director of Sawchestra – a band of musical saw players who perform Foster's compositions to accompany silent films.
Timo Blunck is a German composer, lyricist, producer, bassist and vocalist.
Spaces Everywhere is the twelfth studio album by English band The Monochrome Set. It was released on the 16th of March 2015, through German record label Tapete.
Jonathan Dee Lemon is an English-born American cartoonist and former musician. He is best known for drawing the Alley Oop comic strip.
Jesus Couldn't Drum were a 1980s eclectic, experimental synth pop duo from Watford, England. They were part of the 80s British loose guitar pop scene and described by Sounds as resembling “The Residents gone crazy in Luton on Eyeless in Gaza demos”. They incorporated humor and parody into their songs, similar to the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Their theme tune was "two parts Bo Diddley to one part Eighties rockabilly"
