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Back in 1984 funksters Feelabeelia were signed to an off-shoot of Island Records. Singer Mark Price, drummer Nick Murphy and keyboardist Andy Povall were was recording their second single, Feel It, at a state-of-the-art studio down south. Then the Motown legend's manager rang, asking if Stevie Wonder could borrow the studio for the day, as they were using the only mixing desk in the country compatible with the great man's studio back at home. Feelabeelia graciously made way and waited for Stevie Wonder to arrive after a gig at the NEC. Nick said: "We thought he would come down in a car with a couple of mates, but he pulled up in a coach with 60 people on it. It was absolutely fantastic. It turned into a massive party. "He did the vocals on I Just Called To Say I Love You. We kept nipping in and out to listen. It was unbelievable. He finished early on the Monday morning and said 'what are you doing?' So the producers put the tape up and said 'it's really good but you could use this, that and the other'. Being a cheeky Leicester chap I said 'well you do it then'. He just got Wonderlove (Stevie Wonder's female backup vocalists) in on the backing vocals, put some harmonica on and in half an hour he was gone." Stevie Wonder's record label immediately cracked down on Feelabeelia crediting him on the track. But there was no rule about keeping people guessing. And the band turned the mystery into a virtue, teasing inquisitive reporters with clues like "errr, it's not Larry Adler". Although Simon Bates A-listed Feel It, and played it to death, it peaked at 75 in the charts and Island soon dropped them. But it was a different matter overseas. Feel It reached number four in the charts in Italy and was in the German top 10. Nick said: "We were stars abroad, and on the dole here. It was quite weird". Quincy Jones stepped in and signed them to his Qwest label and the band jetted out to Los Angeles to finish their album East to West. Feelabeelia's career ended in bitter court wrangles with Qwest after they refused to release the follow-up album. Nick left to form Ska-Boom, Andy ran a studio in Leicester and is now in El Pussy Cat Ska and Mark is pumping gas in between writing children's books. |
London, 1979. From the rubble and ashes of punk a new youth cult was emerging. Divinely inspired by David Bowie, Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, a new tribe the press started labelling New Romantics, or Futurists, discarded punk’s old hat claims towards authenticity and protest, in pursuit of glamour, make up, dressing up and dancing. Their home was The Blitz Club, a tiny wine bar at the edge of Covent Garden and what went on there between 1979 and 1980 would genuinely change the world. The other name for this cult? Blitz Kids.
Without necessarily knowing it, The Blitz was birthing the next wave of British pop stars. A young Boy George ran the cloakroom, its host and doorman was a young Steve Strange, soon to be the frontman of Visage, Spandau Ballet played their first gig there and on a given night you might find yourself dancing next to a member of Ultravox. Fashion designers in Regency ballgowns mingled with secretaries in rubber, post boys dressed as Biggles danced next to art school kids dressed as Pierrot. David Bowie assembled his extras for the ‘Ashes To Ashes’ video from the Blitz kids. Mick Jagger was refused entry. Too square.
And the club had a mighty soundtrack, assembled painstakingly by its resident DJ Rusty Egan. Rusty’s sets brought together heroes like Brian Eno, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed cool European electronic pioneers like Kraftwerk, Telex and Yello, the electronic side of disco Cerrone, Hot Chocolate, Amanda Lear and cutting edge film soundtracks from the likes of Vangelis, Giorgio Moroder and Barry De Vorzon. Rusty also span the nascent sounds of Britian’s next new wave Japan, Landscape, the Human League, Visage, Ultravox, Fad Gadget…
Compiled exhaustively from his DJ sets, ‘Rusty Egan Presents The Blitz’ brings together the sounds of a night at the club circa 1980 on either 66 track 4CD or 36 track 4LP sets. Beautifully presented with contemporary photography from Sheila Rock, Peter Ashworth and Terry Smith, the booklets also contain sleeve notes from Alexis Petridis and Rusty Egan himself.
"Rusty Egan - Blitzed!" is out Friday, 28th June 2024 on Demon Records and available for pre-order now.
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HEARTSLAP single out now!
With GRAMMY nominee Mykal Kilgore!
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Fire up your Spotify / Apple Music / Amazon Music / Tidal etc today and you'll be able to hear my brand new duet with GRAMMY nominee Mykal Kilgore (also one of my best friends) HEARTSLAP and not only that, but the amazing DAVE AUDÉ REMIX that comes with it!
I've been a huge fan of Mykal since I first heard his voice on a track I wrote for Slow Knights, and he sang on 'Feel It' on my first album. He is a dream to work with and I really hope you like this new song!
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This is one of my favourite songs I've ever written. It was written & produced with Jon Shave who has also written on Charli XCX's new album, for Miley Cyrus, Zane and he wrote the keyboard riff on Girls Aloud's 'The Show' ...!!
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Bright Light Bright Light
c/o Club Cumming, 505 E. 6th Street, New York, NY 10009