For some reason lately I’ve had mad Manchester on my mind & on my turntable as well. I posted up Inca Babies but have been listening to a plethora of others. I was listening to James today, which led me to James' drummer David Baynton-Power’s earliest band.
Dave Baynton-Power was born in 1961 in Kent, England. Although his first musical love & first drumming licks was prog-rock, he became a big fan of punk rock & was part of the post-punk scene with his first real band, The Modernaires from Holyhead & Llangefni.
This is their only LP, released in 1980. They played some decent sized gigs for a new band, but they soon split after moving to Chester, Cheshire, England as Brian Roberts, their original vocalist, who was schizophrenic, announced he was leaving.
The band soon re-formed. They realized that with the arrival of the Welsh TV station S4C, if they changed the lyrics of their songs from English to Welsh they might draw some attention to the band. They changed their name to Brodyr Y Ffin (Welsh for 'Brothers on the Border') as their house in Chester was right on the English-Welsh border. The plan worked & they quickly rose to the top of the Welsh scene. The band became extremely popular on the Welsh-language music scene, invigorating it with their modern sound. At the time they were regarded as pioneers & today they are still held in high esteem by Welsh musicologists.
One of the original members, vocalist & bassist Huw Hughes was killed in a house fire in 1985. He was only 29 when he died. A few years after Huw's death the band started to drift apart as many in the band went their own way. This is when Baynton-Power joined the Manchester band James.
On Way of Living, The Modernaires are: Brian Roberts – vocals; Phillip Bradley – vocals, guitar, & synthesizer; Huw Hughes – vocals, piano, kalimba, & bass; Lea Minshull – vocals, saxophone, & flute; & David Baynton-Power – vocals, bird whistle, & drums.
Side 3A –
The Urge
Wrong Words
Meandering
Traces of Tension
Something Going On (I Think There’s Probably)
Side 3B –
New Jazz Arguments
Ways of Living
Your Face
Life in Our Times
The Fringe
Enjoy,
NØ