On This Day 18/10/1986 The Larks

On this day, 18 October 1986, English band The Larks, played Cardiff University.

The Larks were an English ska/punk group formed at Christchurch College, Canterbury in 1981. Despite the fact that neither Tommy Barlow (sax) nor Mark Bannister (guitar) could play their chosen instrument and despite their differing tastes in music, they decided to form a band. They performed Clash songs as a duo at a couple of college ‘folk’ nights before recruiting Dave Eastgate on drums. The trio bought a cheap bass guitar and gave it to Pete Walmsley to learn. The Larks’ first gig was at the Art College on June 16th 1981 where they performed fifteen cover versions. The band released their first single in 1986 and in total released three singles before splitting in 1988.

In an interview with the Fear & Loathing fanzine, guitarist Mark Bannister claimed that John Peel played their controversial track 'Maggie Maggie Maggie Out Out Out' on his roadshows and not on his radio programmes, due due to it's anti-Margaret Thatcher message:

"We were told that he used to play ‘Maggie Maggie Maggie Out Out Out’ at the end of his roadshows, and he played it once as part of a documentary about protest music or something. But I’m pretty sure he never played it on his evening show, and we never got offered a session or anything…"

However, Peel did play their track 'Billy Graham' in 1986 and in an interview with Jockles from the Turtle Breeder fanzine in 1988, he confirmed playing The Larks' 'Maggie Maggie Out Out Out' on some of his roadshows and thought it was a great record which he could not play on his regular radio programmes.

On This Day 17/10/1989 Joe Strummer

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On this day, 17 October 1989, former Clash frontman and punk legend Joe Strummer played Cardiff University with his band The Latino Rockabilly War on his Earthquake Weather Tour.

Earthquake Weather is the only album by former frontman of The Clash, Joe Strummer, released on 20 September 1989. The album was well received by critics, but was not a commercial success. The majority of the album was recorded in Los Angeles, California in 1988 and 1989, as evident from the cover photography and design by Josh Cheuse.

It was the first time Strummer had worked on his own musical project. In previous years he had worked with Alex Cox on the soundtracks of his films Sid and Nancy and Walker in 1986 and 1987. He also worked on the production of his former Clash partner Mick Jones' second album with the band Big Audio Dynamite in 1986.

Joe Strummer and the Latino Rockabilly War
Joe Strummer: Vocals and Rhythm Guitar
Zander Schloss: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Lonnie Marshall: Bass Guitar and Vocals
Willie MacNeil: Drums
Jack Irons: Drums

Setlist

Sleepwalk

Jewellers & Bums

Gangsterville

Sikorsky Parts

Armigedeon Time

(Willi Williams cover)

Highway One Zero Street

Trash City

(Joe Strummer song)

City of the Dead

(The Clash cover)

Tropic of No Return

(Joe Strummer song)

Slant Six

Nothin' About Nothin'

Junco Partner (Worthless Man)

(James Waynes cover)

What's My Name

(The Clash cover)

Police and Thieves

(Junior Murvin cover)

Shouting Street

Pressure Drop

(The Maytals cover)

King of the Bayou

London Calling

(The Clash cover)

Island Hopping

Brand New Cadillac

(Vince Taylor & The Playboys cover)

The Magnificent Seven

(The Clash cover)

I Fought the Law

(The Crickets cover)

On This Day 16/10/1989 Runrig

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On this day, 16 October 1989, Scottish Celtic rock band Runrig played Cardiff University.

Earlier in the month the band released their sixth studio album Searchlight which peaked at #11 in the UK album charts.

Formed on the Isle of Skye in 1973. From its inception, the band's line-up included brothers and songwriters Rory MacDonald (bass, vocals) and Calum MacDonald (percussion). The line-up during most of the 1980s and 1990s (the band's most successful period) also included Donnie Munro (vocals), Malcolm Jones (guitar), Iain Bayne (drums), and Pete Wishart (keyboards). Munro left the band in 1997 to pursue a career in politics and was replaced by Bruce Guthro. Wishart left in 2001 and was replaced by Brian Hurren. The band released fourteen studio albums, with a number of their songs sung in Scottish Gaelic.

Initially formed as a three-piece dance band known as 'The Run Rig Dance Band', the band played several low key events, and has previously cited a ceilidh at Kelvin Hall, Glasgow as their first concert.

Runrig's music is often described as a blend of folk and rock music, with the band's lyrics often focusing upon locations, history, politics, and people that are unique to Scotland. Songs also make references to agriculture, land conservation and religion.

On This Day 13/10/1986 The Housemartins

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On this day, 13 October 1986, Hull band The Housemartins played Cardiff University on their Think For A Minute Tour.

The band had recently released their fourth single Think For A Minute taken from their debut album London 0 Hull 4. The single was the follow-up to the highly successful Happy Hour and peaked at #18 in the UK charts.

The band was formed in late 1983 by Paul Heaton (vocals) and Stan Cullimore (guitar), initially as a busking duo.

Throughout his tenure with the band, Heaton billed himself as "P.d. Heaton". Heaton and Cullimore recorded a demo tape with Ingo Dewsnap and Sharon Green of Les Zeiga Fleurs which brought them to the attention of Go! Discs. They then expanded by recruiting Ted Key (bass), former guitarist with The Gargoyles. Their first live performance as a band was at Hull University in October 1984.

The band's membership changed considerably over the years. Key left at the end of 1985 and was replaced by Norman Cook (later known as Fatboy Slim). Drummer Chris Lang was replaced briefly by Dodger (Roger Wilde) on loan from local Hull band 3-Action! for their first few gigs as a 4 piece then by Hugh Whitaker, former drummer with the Gargoyles, who in turn was replaced with Dave Hemingway.

The band often referred to themselves as "the fourth best band in Hull", with the best three bands being Red Guitars, Everything but the Girl, and the Gargoyles

On This Day 12/10/1977 Steve Gibbons Band

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On this day, 12 September 1977, English singer-songwriter, guitarist and bandleader Steve Gibbons played Cardiff University.

With the Steve Gibbons Band, his cover of Chuck Berry’s Tulane had been recently become a hit peaking at #12 in the chart in August, taken from their second album Rollin On.

The first line-up comprised Gibbons together with Dave Carroll and Bob Wilson on guitars, Trevor Burton on bass and Bob Lamb on drums.

The new band worked the pub and club circuits until 1975 when they were spotted by Peter Meaden, former manager of The Who. This led to the Steve Gibbons Band joining The Who's management stable and recording their first Polydor album Any Road Up in 1975 (With John Entwistle of The Who playing on a few tracks).

This was followed in 1976 by a tour with The Who in the UK, Europe and the United States. Playing the concert arenas, they shared the stage with Little Feat, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Electric Light Orchestra, The J. Geils Band, Rufus, and Nils Lofgren.

On This Day 09/10/1993 The Lemonheads

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On this day, 9 October 1993, American alternative rock band The Lemonheads, played Cardiff University.

The band were about to release their sixth studio album Come on Feel the Lemonheads the same month.

Formed in Boston in 1986 by Evan Dando, Ben Deily, and Jesse Peretz. Dando has remained the band's only constant member. After their initial punk-influenced releases and tours as an independent/college rock band in the late 1980s, the Lemonheads' popularity with a mass audience grew in 1992 with the major label album It's a Shame about Ray, which was produced, engineered, and mixed by The Robb Brothers (Bruce Robb, Dee, and Joe).

This was followed by a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson", which eventually became one of the band's most successful singles.

Come on Feel the Lemonheads released on October 12, 1993 was again produced by The Robb Brothers with the band lineup consisting of Evan Dando (lead vocals, guitar), Nic Dalton (bass guitar) and David Ryan (drums), along with former bassist Juliana Hatfield singing backing vocals on several tracks.

The album was written by Dando and his songwriting partner Tom Morgan. Following the success of their prior album, It's a Shame About Ray, the band had attracted considerable media attention as alternative rock darlings, and some big-name guest musicians appeared on the album as well, including the Go-Go's lead singer Belinda Carlisle and funk musician Rick James. The song "Into Your Arms", a cover version of a song written and recorded previously by Dalton's former band, became the Lemonheads' biggest charting hit.

On This Day 06/10/1972 Electric Light Orchestra

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On this day, 6 October 1972, rock band the Electric Light Orchestra played Cardiff University to promote the bands first album

Formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters-multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of Beatlesque pop, classical arrangements and futuristic iconography.

After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. For their initial tenure, Lynne, Bevan and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.

It was during this tour that Roy and Jeff began to not get along. The problems were initially caused because of the attention Roy was getting over Jeff, especially with the press. Although Electric Light Orchestra was a completely joint venture with the two songwriters/producers/musicians equally splitting the tasks on the first album and during the tour, Jeff's songs were featured even more than Roy's songs.

However, at the time, Roy was the much bigger star, having had big chart success as a songwriter and more with The Move. Jeff, on the other hand, had experienced no chart success with the Idle Race and little to no chart success as a songwriter when he joined The Move. So at press events and many of the tour performances, it was Roy who was getting all the attention, with very little left over for Jeff.

According to many sources, they nearly came to blows at times and would stand at the edge of the stage on performance nights and argue who should be the last to go on to the stage. There are specific reports of this in Italy, so that "getaway" leg of the tour did little to allay the problem. Roy claims, and probably accurately, that manager Don Arden fomented the rivalry, with the goal of getting one to leave the band and then he would have two bands with talented musicians to manage, rather than one band with two talented musicians.

On This Day 05/10/1981 Hazel O’Connor

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On this day, 5 October 1981, British singer/songwriter and actress Hazel O’Connor played Cardiff University.

She became famous in the early 1980s with hit singles "Eighth Day", "D-Days" and "Will You?" She also starred in the 1980 film Breaking Glass.

O’Connor had just released her second studio album Close Plus, produced by legendary producer Tony Visconti, which reached #32 in the UK album charts. The album spawned 3 singles, most notably a version of The Stranglers “Hanging Around”.

O'Connor was born in Coventry, England. She is the daughter of a soldier from Galway who settled in England after the Second World War to work in a car plant. Her brother Neil later fronted the punk band The Flys, best known for their single "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", which she later covered.

Her film debut was in Girls Come First in 1975, where she was credited as Hazel Glyn. She became prominent as an actress and singer five years later in 1980 when playing the role of Kate in the film Breaking Glass. She also performed on the accompanying soundtrack.