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| NOT GREAT MENTHE GANG OF FOUR WEB SITE |
Dave Allen, the original bass player in Gang Of Four, left in 1981 to form Shriekback. playing on their first five albums, as well as a one-off single by Noise Abroad. He then formed King Swamp who released two albums (in 1989 and 1990). Following relocation to America and the founding of his own record label, World Domination, he instigated the reforming of Shriekback, before leaving again after one album. He then formed Low Pop Suicide with Rick Boston in 1992, before again leaving after one album, although they also recorded together under the name The Crash Baptists for the soundtrack to the film 'The Harvest' (1993, but not widely released until 1996). Since then, Dave has recorded as The Elastic Purejoy, essentially a solo project (releasing albums in 1994 and 1996). Dave has since left World Domination and is now involved in Emusic (more details and link to follow).
Hugo Burnham, drummer on the first three Gang Of
Four albums, left to join a band called Illustrated Man. They made
little or no impact, and split up after a few singles. Hugo takes up
the story:
"After G4, I played around for a couple of years with
everybody from ABC to Samantha Fox and Nona Hendryx... but just
wasn't enjoying being a 'gun for hire'. I started managing
Shriekback in July '85. I formed a partnership with my brother
Jolyon (our original roadie, who had gone on to bigger and better
tours and then management) as Huge & Jolly Management. We
became responsible in one way or another, for Julian Cope,
Thrashing Doves, Men Without Hats and Neil (Blancmange) Arthur. I
moved to New York in June '88, as so much of my work was US-based
anyway and I was sort of sick of London. Within 6 months
(Shriekback had essentially broken up by this point) I was asked
by Island Records in NY to do A&R and Artist Development for
them. Spent 2 years there. Then went to Terry (Chrysalis Records)
Ellis' new label Imago doing A&R - six months in NYC then to
LA at the end of 1991 for another year to run the West Coast
office for them. After that, went to Warner Bros./Qwest (Quincy
Jones' label) t do A&R... 3 years; then I went to EMI Music
Publishing (still in LA) for two years, before returning to
management. Huge & Jolly has resurfaced in the US (brother
Jolyon has been bashing away in London all this time) after 9
years! I moved back to the East Coast (just north of Boston) in
December of last year.
That's me (professionally) in a nutshell!"
- Hugo Burnham, March 1999.
Andy Gill, Gang
Of Four's guitarist (and occasional vocalist), released a solo single
in 1987 following the demise of the original Gang Of Four in 1984,
and before re-forming Gang Of Four in 1990. More recently he has
worked with the late Michael Hutchence,
co-writing and producing his solo album (released 1999). Andy has also
worked on a number of film soundtracks, as well as producing several
other artists' albums.
For more information on Andy Gill please see his own website, www.gillmusic.com.
Jon King, Gang Of Four's vocalist (and melodica player), formed a band called Mechanical Preacher. Steve Goulding, live drummer for Gang Of Four just before the 1984 split, also played drums for this band. Cathy Harrington played keyboards. They apparently recorded some material but none was ever released.
Since writing this page I've had two reports (possibly from the same
people!) that Mechanical Preacher definitely supported Siouxsie & the
Banshees in America in the mid-80s, and one report that they didn't! From
these various reports, the best I can come up with is this: Gang of Four's
farewell concert in New York was in May 1984, and the Banshees tour was
in July, without Mechanical Preacher. The Banshees next USA gigs were in
1986, and at this point Mechanical Preacher DID support them on many dates,
mainly in the Midwest / West Coast. They definitely played in Chicago, and
they definitely didn't play in New York. But when they did play, they did
so to rave reviews.
Thanks to those who have contacted me with this information, and sorry
for taking so long to update the site. I have one further lead to follow
which may lead to some more definitive information - stay tuned.
Jon later formed King Butcher which released one single in 1988. Also involved was Phil Butcher, who later played bass on some tracks on Gang Of Four's Shrinkwrapped.
Jon was involved in the early to mid '90s Gang Of Four revival, but has since left the music business altogether.
Sara Lee was previously a member of Robert Fripp's League Of Gentlemen, who released one album in 1981 but were mainly noted for their live shows (an official bootleg album was released in 1996). When Dave Allen left Gang Of Four to form Shriekback with Barry Andrews, also previously in the League Of Gentlemen, Sara Lee became Gang Of Four's bass player until the 1984 split. Since then she has worked with a number of artists including the B-52s, the Indigo Girls and Ani DiFranco.
Sara has recently completed her debut solo album, Make It Beautiful, also featuring Andy Gill on electric guitar. For more information (and a more complete list of other artists worked with) please visit her own website, basiclee.com. A review of the album and some further information can be found here.
Can anyone can fill in any more details on any of the above people?
The following people have also played with Gang Of Four at some point:
Can anyone provide suitable links or further information on the people listed?
I'm always on the lookout for additions / corrections to these web pages, as well as anything else which may be of interest. My email address is here. Thanks for visiting!