Drinking Electricity 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 ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

trio from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

active during the early 1980s.

History

The trio comprised Anne-Marie Heighway (

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

), David Rome (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, vocals), and Paul Edgley (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

).Lazell, Barry (1997) "Drinking Electricity", in ''Indie Hits 1980-1989'', Cherry Red Books, Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Drinking Electricity", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 308 Rome had previously worked with Martin Lloyd in the band Analysis, which was later to evolve into Oppenheimer Analysis. They were signed by former Fast product boss Bob Last to his new Pop: Aural label. Their first two singles were both

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s, the first a version of Johnny Kidd's "Shaking All Over", and the second a version of The

Flamin' Groovies Flamin' Groovies is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965, originally co-led by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. After the Groovies released three albums, on Epic ('' Supersnazz'') and Kama Sutra (''Flamingo'' and '' Teenage Head' ...

' "Shake Some Action". Their third single was their own composition, "Cruising Missiles", and was the last for Pop: Aural, with Heighway and Rome setting up their own Survival label for subsequent releases. First release on their new label was "Subliminal" in 1981. It would be early 1982 before their next release, the band's debut album ''Overload''. The album was not well-received critically, with ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference to ...

'' describing it as "simple, rather plain synth-rock with a strong electronic beat and thin ancillary instrumentation".Robbins, Ira
Drinking Electricity
, ''

'' After two further singles in 1982, the band split up. The Survival label went on to become one of the premiere "minimal wave" labels of the 80s, with releases by the likes of

Richard Bone Richard Bone (born February 3, 1952) is an American electronic musician. Life and career Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Bone began his professional musical career creating soundtracks and scores for several off-Broadway companies working in experiment ...

Tik and Tok Tik and Tok are the robotic mime and music duo of Tim Dry and Sean Crawford. They began performing together with Shock, a rock/mime/burlesque/music troupe in the early 1980s with Barbie Wilde, Robert Pereno, L.A. Richards and Carole Caplin. ...

, Thirteen at Midnight, and Play, and several releases by

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...

. "Good Times (Dance Mix)" was sampled by

Crystal Castles Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, formed by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass, who later left and was replaced by Edith Frances. Crystal Castles were known ...

on "Good Time" from their eponymous debut album in 2008.

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

Singles

*"Shaking All Over" (1980) Pop: Aural (#43) *"Shake Some Action" (1980) Pop: Aural *"Cruising Missiles" (1980) Pop: Aural *"Subliminal" (1981) Survival (#48) *"Good Times" (1982) Survival (#50) *"Subliminal (radical mix)" (1982) Survival ;Split single: *

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist in 1977 whe ...

- "Witness the Change (Extended Instrumental)"/Drinking Electricity - "Superstition (Mirror Image Edit)" NYNX

Albums

*''Overload'' (1982) Survival

References

{{Authority control Scottish pop music groups