Out On Blue Six was a short-lived Manchester band. Their recorded legacy is limited to one single, two compilation tracks, two Peel Sessions, and a session for Capital Radio. The group was fronted by Kate Sekules (who is now a well-known author), and included Carl Marsh (guitar), Geoff Woolley (keyboards), Nigel Holland (bass) and Mike Daly (drums).
Nick Launay produced their 1981 single, "Party Mood" b/w "Johnny" and "Mogadon Sunday". There's scant information about the band online, but they "were being courted by labels like 4AD, Beggars Banquet and Rough Trade" before they broke up. Armageddon Records released two compilation LP's documenting the scene at the Moonlight Club, and Out On Blue Six had a track on each one. "Examples" (produced by Jon King) was featured on 1981's Moonlight Radio, and "Soft Sarcasm" was included on 1982's Fear And Fantasy compilation.
After Carl Marsh quit Shriekback, he and Geoff Woolley played together again in another short-lived band called Happyhead. In 2001 they made an instrumental album together called Sorted. Woolley has also released records under the aliases Kalei Da Scope, K-Scope, and K-Vision. I wonder if he is related to Bruce Woolley. The name Out On Blue Six was later used for Mark Radcliffe's radio show, and it became the title of a sci-fi novel by Ian McDonald.
There's some overlap between the studio tracks (320kps) and the radio sessions (128kps). but the dozen songs they left behind would constitute an album worthy of mention among any early 80's post punk classics (and would have fit perfectly in the catalog of Beggars or Rough Trade), if only Out On Blue Six had stayed together long enough to record it. Au Pairs is the obvious comparison, based on Kate Sekules' vocals and the barbed social commentary of the lyrics. But Au Pairs didn't have the wild and Woolley synths of Out On Blue Six, and Carl Marsh's brilliant guitar work makes clear why Barry Andrews and Dave Allen wanted him for Shriekback.