The Distractions, 1981. Pip Nicholls, Arthur Kadmon, Mike Finney,
Alex Sidebottom.
This is another of Alex's photos: "The front of a publicity pack we did ourselves just before the final EP (And Then There's...) came out. We had been royally screwed by our management and were managing ourselves. It ended (for me) not long after this and I was playing with a lot of other bands at the time. One of them was a mean Rockabilly outfit called The Renegades (hence the attempt at a quiff and the James Dean stare!)." The Renegades are described as "the legendary rockabilly outfit that headlined over New Order at the Video Workshop Benefit at the Squat (on Devas Street, near to The Academy, Oxford Road, nowadays)" [1]. This was Gillian Gilbert's first gig with New Order on 25th October 1980 [2], just weeks after they played at Hurrah's, New York. It was also the first time that their seminal track Ceremony was ever performed with Bernard Sumner on vocals [3].
Fittingly, today Steve Perrin touched down back in Blighty for more Distractions with Mike and guests. More on that later, but rather excitingly the artwork for the first Distractions EP since 1981 is almost ready (and looking superb) and mastering is about to be completed. All tracks stemming from the 1995 sessions, lead track, the epic Black Velvet, is backed with a new version of Still It Doesn't Ring, plus an incredible vocal from Mr Finney on the never-before-heard If You Were Mine. The EP (and fingers crossed, maybe some promo CDs) will be available from Occultation Recordings, ahead of the album Nothing, plus the new single which is being laid down next week...
2. Thompson D. (2005). True Faith: An Armchair Guide To New Order. London - Helter Skelter.
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