Do The

This Distractions extract from the 1992 'Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music' by Colin Larkin is the basis of most historical summaries of the group. But it also mentions another forgotten Distractions track, one of their live tracks from the early days, 'Do The'...

Distractions

This Manchester, England new wave band first formed in 1975 by college friends Mike Finney (vocals) and Steve Perrin-Brown (guitar), together with Lawrence Tickle (bass) and Tony Trap (drums).  Restructured under the influence of the Buzzcocks towards the end of 1977, Finney and Brown stabilized the line-up with the addition of Pip Nicholls (bass), Adrian Wright (guitar) and Alec Sidebottom (drums), who had previously played ith the Purple Gang in the 60s.  Their live set composed of 'Waiting For The Rain' [sic], 'Doesn't Bother Me', 'Pillow Fight', 'Do The', 'Valerie' and 'Paracetemol', mixing the spirit of punk with a taste of the 60s.  After supporting most of the main bands in the Manchester area, they made their record debut in January with 'You're Not Going Out Dressed Like That'.  This resulted in a contract with Tony Wilson's Factory label, and the release of 'Time Goes By So Slow'. Originally the b-side 'Pillow Fight' was to be the main track, but was flipped over at the last minute.  Both good pop songs, they had the potential to climb the national charts, but failed through lack of radio play and promotion.  At the end of September they signed to Island Records and released a re-recorded version of 'It Doesn't Bother Me'.  In 1980 Nobody's Perfect was issued, a mixture of new and old songs from their early live set, followed by the singles 'Boys Cry' - a remake of the old Eden Kane hit - 'Something For The Weekend', and the EP And Then There's.  All received favourable reviews, but commercial success remained elusive, causing the inevitable split in 1981.

Album: Nobody's Perfect (1980).

The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Volume 1
Colin Larkin (1992)