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The Primitives
The eighties had been a good decade for Coventry music, The Specials, Selecter, Hazel O’Connor and King. As the decade came to a close, we would see the rise of yet another successful chart act that would win us over with their perfect pop sound, they were of course The Primitives. Pete Chambers investigates.
In 1985, the Primitives had begun life under the management of local T-shirt designer Wayne Morris from his shop European Son. The band were then fronted by male vocalist known only as Kieron. “We sounded like a Birthday party, 3 Johns, Gun Club type thing” Reveals Paul Court. “This was in 1984. After spending a night recording in cabin studio (London Rd) we realised we might need a new singer due to Kieron’s unconventional timing. We put an advert out but no one suitable answered. When Tracy turned up we were ready to jack it in. We didn’t want a girl singer and Tracy’s voice didn’t suit the songs, but we thought she showed a bit more promise than the previous Mick Hucknal wannabes that we had auditioned. So I wrote a couple of new songs with a poppier edge, just to see if it was worth continuing in a different direction. We got back together and decided it was”.
Tracy Cattell was born in Australia in 1967, her peroxide good looks were to forever equate the band with Blondie. Though they had more in common musically with The Modettes and Fuzzbox.. With other members Paul Court on guitar & vocals, Bassist Steve Dullaghan and drummer Pete Tweedie. The band released their debut single Thru the Flowers on their own Lazy Label in 1986. Its haunting melodies saw it climb to number one in the Indie’ charts, even getting an airing on The Wogan TV Show! I asked Paul what he remembered when things started to happen for them? “Getting played on John Peel the first time and then getting to do a session was a big buzz. Also having Morrisey rave about us, he even wore a Prims t shirt in a Smiths photo session. Then there’s the first time we got a cover of a music weekly ‘Sounds’, I think it was”.
Their jingle jangle indie style made them the darlings of Radio One, landing sessions for Janice Long, Andy Kershaw and John Peel. More singles followed that were to only cement their growing reputation including “Really Stupid” and their second indie number one “Stop Killing Me”. Following a European tour, Tweedie was replaced by Tig Williams. The Prim’s then signed their Lazy Record label to RCA (Echoes of 2 Tone to Chrysalis there). They recorded their album “Lovely” with produced by former Reluctant Stereotype Paul Sampson at London Road’s Cabin Studios. The album included their next single “Crash”, and this was the song that would really make the difference for this Coventry unit! Attaining a glorious number five spot, “Crash” was a prefect slice of what the band were all about. A happy-go-lucky sound juxtaposed with lyrics hovering over the dark side. Predictably, the striking lead singer Tracey became magazine fodder and got onto a plethora of glossy covers. “Crash was about the 3rd or 4th song I wrote, reveals Paul, “It was a fuzzed up Ramones thrash song back then and we later dropped it from the set as there was an abundance of that type of song. It was resurrected late 87 at the suggestion of either Paul Sampson or our manager Wayne Morris. Paul remembered the song from the earlier version and thought it was ripe for a revamp. We’d just signed to RCA Records and the new tarted up “Crash” got us a publishing deal and put us on Top Of The Pops, which was still a bit of an achievement in the late 80s”.
The album “Lovely” got to number six in its respective chart, shifting some 100,000 copies. The follow-up single “Out Of Reach” faired less well at number 25. For a time, the band continued to ride high on a wave of success, it was to be somewhat short-lived. Never the less a US tour followed, with bassist Dullaghan leaving replaced by their producer Paul Sampson for the Japanese leg of the tour, with bass duties were finally filled by Andy Hobson. The next album “Pure” followed and duly charted for them as did the singles “Sick Of It” and “Secrets”. It was however becoming evident that the band was now reaching its natural conclusion. Their last (and pretty good) album “Galore” was produced by the Lighting Seeds mainman Ian Broudie. It made the lower reaches of the album charts but From 1990 the band as Paul Court puts it “died a slow, lingering death that lasted about a year”. With their last single “You Are the Way” scraping the lower reaches of the charts. The end for the Primitives came in 1991.
When the band finally called it a day, Court and Williams along with Neil Chamion formed Starpower (Tracy was also to feature in the project). “Starpower was a secret side project operating at the same time as the early 90s Primitives, Said Paul. “It was essentially the same line up as the primitives with myself on lead vocals and Tracy doing guest vocals. It was a heavier, more psyched out affair than the Prims. We sent a copy of our version of Lee Hazelwoods ‘Some Velvet Morning’ to Mark Radcliff, with a toy flying saucer and absolutely no info about the band, and he went nuts over it, playing it on nearly every one of his ‘Out On Blue 6’ shows on Radio One. That was about the height of Starpower’s fame. We managed to con some money for studio time out of RCA who’d recently dropped the Primitives. They showed quite an interest in Starpower and sent an A & R man to wine and dine us. He was a new bloke and didn’t recognise us. The penny dropped when someone at RCA showed him a picture of the Prims and he noticed a striking resemblance. There was no way we could have signed to them, obviously”.
Despite their relatively short career, The Primitives sound & image has continued to inspire a wealth of future bands, including Coventry’s own Satin Dolls, and lets face it you can’t have a family disco without playing “Crash” at least once, some legacy that!
Trivia
For more Backbeat information go to www.covmusic.net
Contact Pete at backbeat@covmusic.net
You can hear Pete Chambers on Bob Brolly’s Friday Show every
Fortnight from 3.00 p.m. on the new BBC Coventry & Warwickshire