The Birthday Party
One of the most creative and inspiring ‘alternative’ acts of the '80s, this Australian outfit had its roots in the new wave band Boys Next Door. After one album, the band relocated to London and switched names. In addition to featuring the embryonic genius of Nick Cave (vocals), their ranks were swelled by Roland S. Howard (ex-Obsessions, Young Charlatans; guitar), Mick Harvey (guitar, drums, organ, piano), Tracy Pew (bass) and Phil Calvert (drums). They chose the newly launched 4AD offshoot of Beggars Banquet as their new home, and made their debut with the impressive Fiend Catcher. Music critics and BBC disc jockey John Peel became early and long-serving converts to the band's intense post-punk surges. Back in Australia, they recorded their first album, a transitional piece which nevertheless captured some fine aggressive rock statements. Their finest recording, however, was Release The Bats. John Peel elected it the best record of 1981, though its subject matter unwittingly tied the band in with the emerging Gothic subculture populated by Bauhaus and Sex Gang Children. As Pew was imprisoned for three months for drink-driving offences, Barry Adamson (ex- Magazine), Roland Howard's brother Harry and Chris Walsh helped out on the recording of the follow-up, and the band's increasingly torrid live shows. After collaborating with the Go-Betweens on the one-off single After The Fireworks as the Tuf Monks, they shifted to Berlin to escape the constant exposure and expectations of them in the UK. Calvert was dropped (moving on to Psychedelic Furs), while the four remaining members moved on to collaborative projects with Lydia Lunch and Einsturzende Neubaten amongst others. They had already recorded a joint 12-inch, Drunk On The Pope's Blood, with Lunch, and Howard featured on much of her future output. When Harvey left in the summer of 1983, the band seemed set to fulfil their solo careers, even though he was temporarily replaced on drums by Des Heffner. However, after a final gig in Melbourne, Australia in June the band called it a day. Howard went on to join Crime And The City Solution alongside his brother and Harvey, who also continued in Cave's solo band the Bad Seeds.