Any trouble

Any Trouble was a British rock band that in 1975 in Crewe , England was founded. Their sound was somewhere between wave and pub rock , on a par with Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson , but also with elements of Bruce Springsteen (whose song Growing Up was part of their standard repertoire ). On the radio and at hundreds of live concerts, they have been very successful in the nine years of their existence; they released five albums, but they were not granted an official chart hit.

Band history

From folk trio to waveband

Manchester-based songwriter Clive Gregson ( guitar / vocals ) started the band when he was in Crewe High School. With Chris Parks (guitar) and Tom Jackson, the band was initially a folk trio for a short time . When punk came up, the band moved towards wave / rock . Drummer Mel Harley and Phils Barnes on bass joined them, Tom Jackson left. The four remaining Any Trouble members played in the pubs with great success . This line-up also recorded Any Trouble's first demo single in early 1980 . Yesterday's Love came on the desk of BBC cult DJ John Peel , who performed it on his show. A few days later the recording landed on Stiff Records ; here one recognized the potential of the band and signed them.

For the first LP , Stiff hired a renowned producer : John Wood , who had already pushed the controls for Fairport Convention , John Martyn , Nick Drake and Richard & Linda Thompson and who had recently very successfully contributed to the band Squeeze in the charts to establish. The result: Where Are All the Nice Girls? , an album that had all the ingredients for a new wave classic that (like the single, Second Choice ) received enthusiastic reviews - but did not reach the sales figures expected of it. It didn't help that Stiff sent the band (together with Joe King Carrasco , the Equators , Tenpole Tudor and Dirty Looks ) on the Son of Stiff tour all over the UK.

Second LP, first separation

As a supposed weak point, the drummer was replaced by Martin Hughes. Produced by Mike Howlett , Wheels in Motion came out in 1981 , which again contained some strong songs with hit potential; Musically, the band hardly moved away from the pure guitar sound of the first LP despite the increased use of keyboards , mandolin and saxophone - but the commercial success continued to fail. For Any Trouble, Stiff Records' time was almost up.

The band went on a short US tour promoting Wheels in Motion , but the tour was just under halfway over when they learned that Stiff had fired them. Without a record company they were stranded in America. The stress of clearing up this situation was too much and the band broke up for the time being.

New beginning and farewell

After a year and a half, Gregson reformed Any Trouble; Andy Ebsworth was on drums for Hughes, and Parks was replaced by Steve Gurl on keyboards - so an almost new band recorded the LP Any Trouble for EMI America in 1983 . Instead of guitars, the focus was now on synthesizers - but that didn't bring the long-awaited breakthrough either. In the summer of 1983 they came as opening act by Joan Armatrading on Germany - tour .

Gregson persuaded EMI to record a double LP as a farewell album. Wrong End of the Race brought Any Trouble's abilities to the point in 1984: on 19 tracks (new songs, new recordings of earlier fast hits and some cover versions ), guest stars from the folk and pub rock scene such as Richard Thompson and Ian Matthews provided support , Billy Bremner and the Sutherland Brothers formed the band. The single (in the US and Germany, however, the album was only released as a single record with eleven tracks.) Baby, Now That I've Found You (1967 in the UK, a No. 1 hit of Foundations ) at MTV played , the reviews were good - but the cult status remained without commercial recognition. In May Any Trouble were again in Germany (as opening act for Chris Rea ); At the end of 1984 the band was on stage for the last time before they finally broke up.

The fire and atmosphere of a live concert, which made up a large part of the band , was captured by the Stiff mobile recording device at The Venue in London on May 31, 1980. The concert as opening act for the 1960s hitmaker The Searchers was released as LP Live at the Venue in 1981 .

After the separation

Clive Gregson's band Richard Thompson joined, brought some solo albums out and later formed a folk-rock - duo with Christine Collister . He also worked as a music producer in the USA and Great Britain. Chris Parks was software - programmers . Phil Barnes went to television and produced music videos (including for Oasis ) and commercials . Andy Ebsworth worked as a lecturer at a music college in London.

Since 2002 (when the band members helped choose the songs for Girls Are Always Right ) there have been rumors that Any Trouble will play together again. In 2005 the band announced on their website a reunion with the line-up Gregson / Barnes / Parks / Hughes and a new album. After that, they met again for rehearsals, and Gregson has already recorded 23 demo songs that could be considered for the project. The album is to be produced again by John Wood.

Band members

Clive Gregson (born January 4, 1955 - vocals, guitar, mandolin, keyboard)
Chris Parks (guitar, until 1982)
Phil Barnes (bass, saxophone)
Mel Harley (drums, until 1981)

Martin Hughes (drums, 1981/82)
Andy Ebsworth (drums, from 1982)
Steve Gurl (keyboard, from 1982)

Discography

Albums

1980: Where Are All the Nice Girls
1981: Wheels in Motion
1981: Live at the Venue
1982: Touch and Go
1983: Any Trouble
1984: Wrong End of the Race
2002: Girls Are Always Right - The Stiff Years (compilation)
2007: Life in Reverse

Singles

1980: Yesterday's Love / Nice Girls
1980: Second Choice / Name of the Game (live) / Bible Belt (live)
1980: Girls Are Always Right / No Idea
1981: Trouble with Love / She'll Belong to Me
1984: Baby, Now That I've Found You

literature

J. Buckley & M. Ellingham (Eds.): Rock - The Rough Guide. London 1996, ISBN 1-85828-201-2 , pp. 27f.
Bert Muirhead: Stiff - The Story of a Record Label. Poole / Dorset 1983, ISBN 0-71371-314-3
Donald Clarke (Ed.): The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. London 1990, ISBN 0-14-051147-4 , pp. 491f.
EMI America Records (Germany): Press release on the LP Wrong End of the Race. 1984