Direct Drive

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Anything?
  UK 67 12/22/1984 (8 weeks)
ABC (Falling in Love's Not Easy)
  UK 75 05/04/1985 (2 weeks)

Direct Drive was a British band that existed from 1982 to 1986 and can be stylistically assigned to the areas of disco , soul and electro-funk .

Band history

In 1982 Mick Ward ( bass ), Pete Quinton ( drums ), Bob Williams ( guitar ) and Bones alias Mick Hammond ( congas ) formed the band Direct Drive. Paul Hardcastle later applied as a keyboardist and added to the formation, which Derek Green also joined as a singer . After releasing the singles Don't Depend on Me and Time's Running Out (both 1982) on the London label Oval Records, Hardcastle and Green left the band and founded their joint project First Light .

In the following years Direct Drive hired various keyboard players for live performances, and Helen Rogers was won as a singer. Then in 1983 the single In the Middle of Spring was released by Nigel Wright's dance label Passion Records. In 1984 the band founded their own label Direct Drive Records and their own production company BPM and released the single Pass the Paper . With the single Anything? made it into the UK charts , where the song lasted eight weeks and rose to number 67. I Need Some Sunshine , released a little later, missed a chart position.

Because of the success of Anything? Direct Drive received a contract with Polydor , where the title was republished in January 1985. The Polydor sub-label Boiling Point released the single ABC (Falling in Love's Not Easy) in April 1985, which features a Paul Hardcastle remix and a Mark King remix of Anything? are located. The release reached number 75 in the UK charts. The band then separated from Polydor and reactivated their own label. This was followed in 1986 by the single Oh Yeah! , a feature with British jazz saxophonist Stan Sulzmann that went largely unnoticed. Direct Drive then dissolved.

Discography

Singles

  • 1982: Don't Depend on Me
  • 1982: Time's Running Out (release: April 16)
  • 1983: In the Middle of Spring
  • 1984: Pass the Paper
  • 1984: Anything? (Release: November)
  • 1985: I Need Some Sunshine
  • 1985: ABC (Falling in Love's Not Easy) (Release: April)
  • 1986: Oh Yeah! (feat. Stan Sulzmann )

compilation

  • 2001: Time Machine: The Best of Direct Drive & First Light 1981-82 ( Split album , 4 tracks DirectDrive, 3 Tracks First Light; Whatmusic.com 0003)

swell

  1. ↑ Chart data UK

Web links