Biting Tongues were a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...

band formed in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England in 1979, whose members went on to join

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since the ...

, Yargo, and

808 State 808 State are an English electronic music group formed in 1987 in Manchester, taking their name from the Roland TR-808 drum machine. They were formed by Graham Massey, Martin Price and Gerald Simpson. They released their debut album, '' New ...

History

The band was formed in 1979 by

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

Howard Walmsley, initially to record a soundtracks for his film of the same name, recruiting Ken Hollings (vocals) and Eddie Sherwood (drums), and shortly afterwards

Graham Massey Graham Vernon Massey (born 4 August 1960 in Manchester) is a British record producer, musician, and remixer. Early career He was a member of experimental jazz rock group Biting Tongues, once signed to Factory Records. After recording with the ...

(guitar) and Colin Seddon (bass guitar) of local band the Post Natals.Keenan, David (2003) ''England's Hidden Reverse - A Secret History of the Esoteric Underground'', SAF Publishing, , p. 93Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 227Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, , p. 47Official bio
, bitingtongues.com, retrieved 28 November 2010 Their debut release was the ''Don't Heal'' album, released in 1981 on the

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing DI ...

subsidiary

Situation 2 Situation Two (a.k.a. Situation 2) was a British independent record label founded in 1981 by Peter Kent as an offshoot of the Beggars Banquet label. At the time, Beggars Banquet releases were often distributed by WEA; to appeal to the indie a ...

. They then released the ''Live It'' cassette on

Richard Boon James Richard Boon (born 6 July 1953) is the former manager of Buzzcocks and boss of the record label, New Hormones. Boon, a Leeds Grammar School friend of Howard Devoto, became the manager for seminal punk group Buzzcocks by default, after o ...

's New Hormones label, before their 1984 album ''Libreville'', which was recorded for New Hormones but released on the Paragon label due to the former label's financial problems. They then moved to

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...

, with Hollings and Sherwood leaving (the latter joining Simply Red), and Basil Clarke (vocals), Tom Barnish (trombone), and Phil Kirby (drums) replacing them. The new line-up recorded the soundtrack to their ''

Feverhouse ''Feverhouse'' is a film from Ikon FCL released in 1984. Plot summary ''Feverhouse'' is a film in which the story is told through the preoccupations of a smug thief, a renegade nurse and a blind archivist. Reception Colin Greenland reviewed ''Fev ...

'' film, which was released on video by Factory's video offshoot Ikon Video, and the ''Trouble Hand'' EP, before Clarke and Kirby left to form Yargo. Seddon left to form the Inner Sense Percussion Ensemble. As a trio of Walmsley, Massey and Barnish, they released a final EP for Factory, before moving on again. After three further twelve-inch singles, and the video album ''Wall of Surf'', the band split up in 1989 after Massey had formed 808 State, which became the focus of his efforts. Walmsley continued making films and videos, including videos for 808 State. Massey later performed as Massonix.Birchmeier, Jason " Massonix Biography,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, retrieved 28 November 2010 A final album, ''Recharge - Part 1'', remained unreleased at the time apart from promotional copies, due to the collapse of the Cut Deep label, eventually being released in 2003 by LTM.. The band reunited in 2003 to perform at the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

in London with a line-up of Massey, Hollings, Walmsley, Seddon and Sherwood, and reformed again in 2009 to play at the 'A Factory Night' event in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Discography

Albums

*''Don't Heal'' (1981),

*''Live It'' (1981), New Hormones *''Libreville'' (1984), Paragon *''

'' (1985),

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

*''Recharge - Part 1'' (1989), Cut Deep - promo only ;Compilations and CD reissues: *''Compressed: The Factory Recordings'' (2003), LTM *''Recharge'' (2003), LTM *''After the Click: Retrospective 1980-1989'' (2003), LTM

Singles, EPs

*''Trouble Hand'' EP (1985), Factory *"Compressor" (1987), Factory *"Evening State" (1988), Antler *"Evening State" (1988), Antler - split release with Tank of Danzig *"Love Out" (1989), Cut Deep

Video

*''Wall of Surf'' (1988), Ikon Video

References

External links

*
Biting Tongues biography at LTM2008 interview with Ken Hollings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biting Tongues English post-punk music groups Musical groups from Manchester Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1989 Situation Two artists Factory Records artists