The Now
New York, NY's, The Now were caught in the New Wave rush in 1979. They were playing the Max's Kansas City scene when they signed to Midsong International Records and hooked up with producer de jour Bobby Orlando. An album was "produced, arranged, engineered and concieved" by Mr. Orlando and sold about 200,000 records - enough to warrant a second LP which the band started to record. Then the label literally disappeared from their New York City offices. The band never received a dime and that was the end of The Now. The band splintered off into various bands but none achieved any level of success.
A live disc recorded in 1979 was released on CD. Check it out here.
Thanks to Geoff Danielik for his patience and answering my emails. Geoff continues to record, write and produced. His company is Alter Ego Productions. Visit his website here and hear what he is up to at his myspace page.
The Now were:
Jeff Lennon - (Geoff "Lip" Danielik)
Mamie Francis
Robin Dee
Bobby Ore - (Bobby Orefiece)
Go to the download page to get The Now - "Can You Fix Me Up With Her"
Formed from the ashes of faux ska band Guns For Hire, and named after a tv detective spoof, London's Department S released three singles between 1980 and 1981 including "Is Vic There? ","Going Left Right" and "I Want" on Stiff Records. The band appeared on Top of the Pops and a Smash Hits cover. They were on the brink of a break out. They recorded an album called "Sub-Stance" with producer David Tickle who engineered Blondie's "Parallel Lines". The band experienced some line-up changes and a shift in musical styles. Then Stiff decided to stiff the band and didn't release the record. Increased friction between band members and lack of management support was the final undoing.
Though Chicago's Pezband formed in 1971, in 1978 retail giant Record World crowned Pezband “Most Promising New Act of the Year.” Perhaps that's because they got lumped into the resurging skinny tie power pop scene of the late 70's. They released 3 full length LP's (Pezband, Laughing in the Dark, and Cover to Cover), as well as two live EP's (30 Seconds over Schaumburg and Too Old Too Soon). Despite talent, great records and critical acclaim the band never sold a lot of records and quickly found themselves in the cut out bins. [I dug out my Pezband LPs and price stickers on the jackets revealed that I paid .25 cents for their debut and a buck for their second]. Being signed to South Plainfield NJ's Passport records certainly didn't help them much. They split up in 1980.
Edinburgh Scotland's the Headboys released an album of pop rock in 1979 on Robert Stigwood's RSO label. The first single, "The Shape of Things to Come" was a minor hit and the band planned a U.S. tour to support the album and join the New Wave craze that they reluctantly became a part of. But they soon decided that they were not ready for touring and retreated to the Scottish countryside to record another album. The album was not released and the band split up.
San Francisco's Our Daughters Wedding started playing in 1977 with bass, guitar and drums but in 1978 they quit. One year later they met in New York and decided to start all over again, this time using only rhythm machines and synthesizers. "We started playing at the Hurrah! club as supporting act to James Chance and Mi-Sex. At that time people did not like us and shouted 'where the fuck are the drums, why don't you use any guitars' and that kind of crap. But after a few years it became a fad, so it came as a surprise to us that it all of a sudden was okay to use synths" said a band member. They scored with the dance club hit "Lawnchairs" (1980 Design Records). Then they signed with EMI records and released the 5 song EP "Digital Cowboy" which featured a rerecording of "Lawnchairs", this time using real drums. In 1982 they released the LP "Moving Windows" but the band broke up not long after it's release.
San Francisco, California's The Units formed in 1978 and released their first EP in 1979. Through the years the band went through many lineup changes and brushes with the major labels. They signed with 415 Records in 1980 and after recording an album produced by Bill Nelson they had a falling out with the label and the record was never released. In 1983 they signed with Epic and once again recorded a full album with Nelson but only a six song EP, "New Way to Move" was released. The band split up in 1984. One of their greatest successes was "The Right Man" single (uprOAr, 1982). It's fitting that the record was released on the small New York uprOAr label. The song peaked at #18 on Billboard's Disco chart.
