Touring was one of the main reasons cited by Steve Perrin for leaving the group in 1980. Here's a couple of scans from City Fun courtesy of Jackie Wotie and Mike Noon: the first, a flyer for a pre-Factory Records gig; the second details a nationwide tour which may well have been one of the causes of the first Distractions split...
The Distractions played at Bowden Vale on April 25th 1979 with Private Sector supporting. This was a few months after the debut EP "You're Not Going Our Dressed Like That" and a few months before the release of FAC12 "Time Goes By So Slow." The rest of the gig list reads like a Who's Who... Scritti Politti, Motorhead, The Only Ones (featuring Mike Kellie - new Distraction!), Aswad, Iggy Pop, Magazine, XTC.
This gig guide includes some or all of the 1980 Distractions nationwide tour with The Members, which Island Records sent them on in support of "Nobody's Perfect":
Sunday May 4th - Stagecoach, Dumfries
Tuesday May 6th - Russels, Aberdeen
Wednesday May 7th - Murriots, Dundee
Tuesday May 8th - Caledonian Hotel, Inverness
Friday May 9th - Niteclub, Edinburgh
Saturday May 10th - Sheffield Uni
Monday May 12th - Wellington Club, Hull
Wednesday May 14th - Exit Club, Birmingham
Thursday May 15th - Porterhouse, Retford
Saturday May 17th - Newcastle Uni
The Direct Hits are listed a few times, and the groups' lead, Kevin Durkin (who was briefly a member of The Distractions in the mid-'90s) writes on the same page about their forthcoming album. Their LP, 'Collisions At Teen Junction', is even more difficult to track down than 'Nobody's Perfect' these days.
Dear Fun,
Once again, this is Kev of The Direct Hits keeping you up to date on what's happening with the finest band in the land. Our projected single has been canclled due to duff sound etc., and we will now be releasing an album in six weeks time. The LP will probably be called 'Collisions At Teen Junction', and will contain 12 songs. We recorded the basic tracks and most of the vocals yesterday at Bootleg Studios in Reddish, and there's a couple of dubs and mixing/editing to be done early next week. Twelve tracks in one day is pretty good going, but it's tiring! Instead of filling the mag with old schoolboys poems and bad language (not to mention bad grammar) why not print this?
Direct Hits / First LP 'Collisons At Teen Junction'
Side One
1. "The Feeling Has Gone"
If you're feeling dejected and it's raining, hum this, it is the saddest song ever written.
2. "Vanity Girls"
i.e. Most girls. Nice girls are scarce, it seems, vanity girls only let you down.
3. "Why Do People Fight?"
Fists turn into boots turn into knives turn into guns. Guns turn into H bombs but the battle's never won! Don't do it!!
4. "City Of Manchester"
An ode tot he fair city, written in my youth. Who shut down the Piccadilly Snack Bar?
5. "Rise From The Streets"
Don't be shy, get a guitar, form a band, and get up on stage and make a noise. Then you'll understand what this song's all about.
6. "All That Glitters"
...Is not gold. A bit of philosphy for you... very pessimistic too... don't say I didn't warn you!
Side Two
1. "The Waiting Game"
A pure pop sing... it's about us actually.
2. "Jenny Remembers"
Our Lennonesque epic. Contains hip references to the Electric Circus (!) and weird guitar solo of the year: The Byrds meet Joy Division meet pop art.
3. "Carnaby Arms"
This is about that I went down to London in October... I hate the place... Ended up having hallucinations in Victoria Coach Station.
4. "Real Tears"
More despair... real tears can never be wiped away.
5. "The Lamps Are Going Out All Over Europe"
This is the true story (the outbreak of the First World War) about "The Folly Of Men" for all the old dogs who wear their medals to church (don't call me Joan Baez).
6. "Never Been In Love"
While 'romantics' like Pete Shelley fall in love with someone new once a fortnight, some of us would like it to happen just once in a lifetime... I wonder what it's like?
So there's the details - the LP will be three quid or less. Thanks City Fun.
Kevin Durkin
P.S. I promise we'll take out a full page ad for the album.
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