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Did you used to be in a band that never made it? |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tonbridge, Kent
Posts: 2,582
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Did you used to be in a band that never made it?
While reading the outstanding Killing Bono by Neil McCormick (about his band that weren't U2), it dawned on me how many hundreds of thousands of ex-bands that never achieved commercial success must be out there. I was in several. The other day I found a video I made of a band competition at the Mean Fiddler in 1992 - 6 really decent bands, all now utterly lost to obscurity, taking their songs with them. How many others are out there, really? Hundreds of thousands, probably. And amongst all the inevitable rubbish, you just know that there are real gems lurking in lofts and bedroom cupboards, that will never be discovered.
Never one to learn from past mistakes, I recently started a new band, After School Video Club, with one foot set in the 80s while the other roams wherever it likes. The debut single will be Lost Songs, a celebration of the forgotten people who poured their heart and soul into their own commercial failures in years gone by. We're crowd-sourcing a video to go with it, which will be full of bands who are no more, and never achieved what they wanted, a bittersweet montage of broken dreams. We're half way there already, but would love a few more. Any Digital Spy folks with videos of their old forgotten bands on YouTube? Or do you know anyone with any? We'd love to use just a short clip, and want to know your ex-band's name, where you played, when you existed and your favourite lost song. It could be a rehearsal room, a gig, a music video - pretty much any visual record of the band that were. Cold be from any era, any genre, anywhere in the world. You can hear Lost Songs and read up on the whole idea here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGl4s8zOPAg . Please do post here with your old videos (or those of folks you know) and give your lost songs an airing. If you'd rather, you can email me at afterschoolvideoclub@yahoo.com . |
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#2 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Manchester
Posts: 288
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My sister's friend was in the band Catch. They were so crap
. They released a few singles in the UK, but their album was shelved.
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Cuddling MyLee
Posts: 4,737
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Quote:
My sister's friend was in the band Catch. They were so crap
. They released a few singles in the UK, but their album was shelved. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tonbridge, Kent
Posts: 2,582
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(*cough* I thought Bingo was ok....)
Anyway, they're too big for my little thing really. They charted, they had a song I recognised. I'm really after those who perhaps never even got that far... |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 4,744
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Yes but my "band" never made it because I was 14 and me and my two mates at the time only did it for a laugh.
![]() We were called Whack! and our songs were basically what Pitbull has been doing over the years. Radio friendly chorus (sang by me and one of the other lads ) whilst my other mate was a wannabe Vanilla Ice (long before any of us had heard of Eminem). LOLI actually have an old cassette with songs we recorded (on a karaoke machine no less!!! ).Our musical influences were Outhere Brothers, Reel II Reel, Chaka Demus & Pliers and all the big Eurodance hits in the charts. A lucky escape?
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 9,918
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Managing Pain, Wormhole, Do-Re-U - most of my early bands dealt in shimmering guitar hooks and whipsmart irony. But after a couple of fraught winters rehearsing neo-blues in a deserted pie factory, my last band, the Stressed Young Bees went our separate ways.
No regrets. I'm in a theme park now and loving it. |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Belfast
Posts: 7,287
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Yes, I was in a band called Meanwhile in Czechoslovakia (MIC) in the 80s. It was mentioned once before on here. I have tapes but I don't know where the one video shot is these days.
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#8 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 477
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Quote:
Managing Pain, Wormhole, Do-Re-U - most of my early bands dealt in shimmering guitar hooks and whipsmart irony. But after a couple of fraught winters rehearsing neo-blues in a deserted pie factory, my last band, the Stressed Young Bees went our separate ways.
No regrets. I'm in a theme park now and loving it.
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tonbridge, Kent
Posts: 2,582
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Quote:
Managing Pain, Wormhole, Do-Re-U - most of my early bands dealt in shimmering guitar hooks and whipsmart irony. But after a couple of fraught winters rehearsing neo-blues in a deserted pie factory, my last band, the Stressed Young Bees went our separate ways.
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,121
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Does being a member of Menswear count?
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 9,918
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Oooh, no online video evidence of any of them is there?
Anal Justice had some success too. |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tonbridge, Kent
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Ok, try looking for evidence of Phlegm, Humdrum or Ineluctable Modality of the Visible.
Anal Justice had some success too. Humdrum? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqO60rbpdn4 (seems unlikely you'd be in both, but who knows?) No luck with the other two... |
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#13 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 477
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OK - Phlegm? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSdjwmfH1Bw
Humdrum? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqO60rbpdn4 (seems unlikely you'd be in both, but who knows?) No luck with the other two... Whoooooosh! |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,572
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Quote:
Does being a member of Menswear count?
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,572
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I'm still in a band that hasn't made it, though in fairness we've never really tried. We've been together for about 10 years and still make music together in my studio, mostly electronic, D&B, breakbeat type tunes. It's just a hobby really, but a good one for us all. The closest we've ever got to anything resembling success was doing the soundtrack for a PS2 game. That was just a one off, but it did give us enough cash to buy some nice bits of kit for the studio.
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Crawley
Posts: 614
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Quote:
Does being a member of Menswear count?
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 572
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Quote:
My sister's friend was in the band Catch. They were so crap
. They released a few singles in the UK, but their album was shelved. |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,121
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They did kind of make it didn't they? Daydreamer was a good track. Could have been worse, you could have been in Gay Dad.
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#19 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Manchester
Posts: 288
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If it was the same band I own and love their single, Bingo.
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Their first single was aired on ITV moments before the news bulletin about Lady Diana's crash. They were shit though, annoying.
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: London
Posts: 3,849
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Someone i used to go to school with was in an Electropop band that was nearly famous for about 5 mins.They got signed to a major and there first single got into the top 40 with minimal airplay. There second single started getting a lot of airplay got into the top 40 again, but then got disqualified from the charts due to sale irregularities.
It turns out that the dad of one of the band members had bulk bought a load of there singles to try and get them higher up the chart..they got dropped from the label straight after. cringe! |
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Tonbridge, Kent
Posts: 2,582
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Links to vids! I need links to vids!
I can't emphasize enough - the band can't be too unknown. If it's just playing in a rehearsal room or a local pub, that's fine. Synths in bedrooms - great. Just bands that never had their 15 minutes of fame, even. 6 views on youtube is more than enough, it really can't be too obscure.... |
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#22 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 4,456
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Quote:
Someone i used to go to school with was in an Electropop band that was nearly famous for about 5 mins.They got signed to a major and there first single got into the top 40 with minimal airplay. There second single started getting a lot of airplay got into the top 40 again, but then got disqualified from the charts due to sale irregularities.
It turns out that the dad of one of the band members had bulk bought a load of there singles to try and get them higher up the chart..they got dropped from the label straight after. cringe! |
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Derby
Posts: 7,366
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A couple of bands but we never came close, mainly due to rarely doing gigs/writing/recording anything.
First one was called the Undecided (mainly covers) then Deep Descent. I did more gigs as a solo artist. Also, I too own a copy of 'Bingo' by Catch. Great track. A sort of primitive Busted, but better. |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: arizona
Posts: 5,220
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Quote:
And amongst all the inevitable rubbish, you just know that there are real gems lurking in lofts and bedroom cupboards, that will never be discovered.
Here's a perfect example: https://soundcloud.com/mrkite77/sets...nerous-portion That album is by a San Diego band called Eucalyptus. They released an album back in 1996, then disappeared. These days, the *only* reference to that album online is that soundcloud link. No other reference to the band even existing is online... and yet I have their CD, properly printed and pressed. I really should put more albums on soundcloud.. just lazy I guess. As far as myself is concerned, I was in a band back in highschool, but we didn't master anything. There might be a couple VHS-C tapes out there that have recordings of some of our gigs, but I don't know if my friend kept those things, and he's dead now so who knows what happened to them. |
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#25 |
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Inactive Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 477
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Quote:
Yup. That's why I've tried to do my part and upload some of my rarer albums online.
Here's a perfect example: https://soundcloud.com/mrkite77/sets...nerous-portion That album is by a San Diego band called Eucalyptus. They released an album back in 1996, then disappeared. These days, the *only* reference to that album online is that soundcloud link. No other reference to the band even existing is online... and yet I have their CD, properly printed and pressed. I really should put more albums on soundcloud.. just lazy I guess. As far as myself is concerned, I was in a band back in highschool, but we didn't master anything. There might be a couple VHS-C tapes out there that have recordings of some of our gigs, but I don't know if my friend kept those things, and he's dead now so who knows what happened to them. |
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. They released a few singles in the UK, but their album was shelved.
) whilst my other mate was a wannabe Vanilla Ice (long before any of us had heard of Eminem). LOL