Rikki and the Last Days of Earth (formerly Rikki and the Last Days on Earth) were an early British
punk group. They were chronicled in
Henrik Poulsen's book ''
77: The Year of Punk and New Wave''. ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' credited them with paving the way for 1980s
new romantic
The New Romantic movement was an underground subculture movement that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The movement emerged from the nightclub scene in London and Birmingham at venues such as Billy's and The Blitz. The New ...
acts.
History
The band was formed in November 1976 by vocalist Rikki Sylvan (whose real name was Nicholas Condron) and guitarist Valac Van Der Veene, joined shortly afterwards by keyboardist Nik Weiss, bassist Andy Prince (also called Andy Prinz) and drummer Nigel Bartle. In May 1977, Bartle was replaced by Hugh Inge-Innes Lillingston.
[ The band were managed by Frank Case.
Although the band seemed to be working class (a stereotypical characteristic for punk musicians), they had a middle-class (or even upper-class) upbringing. Sylvan lived in ]Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
and went to public school, Prince lived with his parents in Addlestone and Weiss went to public school. The son of a lieutenant commander, Inge-Innes Lillingstone lived in Thorpe Hall, near Tamworth, and attended Eton School.
The band's official live concert debut was at The Man in the Moon in Chelsea on 28 May 1977.[
In January 1978, the band released the single "Loaded", backed with a cover of the ]Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...
' song " Street Fighting Man"). That May, "Twilight Jack" was recorded as an acetate but never released commercially. Shortly afterwards, they released their excellent ''4 Minute Warning'' album, which according to one critic was "roundly ignored". While the band were recording a second album at the CBS studio in London, they were dropped by DJM and split up shortly afterward. Their records generally received bad reviews in the British press.[
]
Later, Sylvan mixed Gary Numan
Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two albums with the band, he released his d ...
's albums ''Replicas
A 1:1 replica is an exact copy of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without claiming to be identical. Al ...
'' (with Numan's previous band Tubeway Army
Tubeway Army were a London-based new wave band led by lead singer Gary Numan. Formed at the height of punk rock in 1977 the band gradually changed to an electronic sound. They were the first band of the electronic era to have a synthesiser-b ...
) and '' The Pleasure Principle''. He also released a solo album, ''The Silent Hours'', and then formed a band called 3AM with Steve Wilkin (guitar) and Derek Quinton (drums), both ex-members of Neo
Neo or NEO may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional entities
* Neo (''The Matrix''), the alias of Thomas Anderson, a hacker and the protagonist of the Matrix film series
* Neo (''Marvel Comics'' species), a fictional race of superhumans
* ...
. Van Der Veene became a journalist, interviewing new wave icons. Prince joined Random Hold
Random Hold were a British rock band, originally active between 1977 and 1980, with a reformed band under the same name active between 1981 and 1982.
History
The first line-up featured David Ferguson (keyboards) and David Rhodes (guitar and voc ...
, but also worked with his ex-bandmate Sylvan in the 1980s.
Legacy
According to AllMusic: "When the history of the new wave finally started to get written, Rikki and the Last Days of Earth were conspicuous by their absence. No one remembered; nobody cared. Yet without them, a lot of what is now taken for granted about the early '80s might never have occurred".[
]
Discography
Studio albums
* ''4 Minute Warning'' (May 1978, DJM Records)
Singles
* ''Oundle RocSoc'' (May 1977, self-released) (One Sided, No Picture Sleeve)
* "City of the Damned" (November 1977, (DJM Records) With Picture Sleeve
* "Loaded" (January 1978, (DJM Records) With Picture Sleeve
* "Twilight Jack" (May 1978, DJM Records) (Acetate Only, NO General Release)
* "Tokyo" (September 1978, DJM Records) Credited to Rikki Sylvan & The Last Days (Picture Sleeve)
References
External links
punk77.co.uk
- discography
- discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rikki And The Last Days Of Earth
English punk rock groups
Musical groups established in 1976