Scary Thieves were a short-lived English 1980s new wave band, best known for the hits "Tell Me Girl" and "The Waiting Game". Both songs are included on the ''Hardest Hits'' compilations, which focus on obscure new wave/

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

bands that have little to big cult followings.

History

Scary Thieves were formed by Phil Manikiza (vocals) and Chris Youdell (keyboards) in 1983. They auditioned

Clive Parker Clive Parker (born 1960) also known as Clive Parker-Sharp, is an English drummer, active in the punk, post-punk and new wave genres. He was a member of the bands The Members, Spizzenergi/Athletico Spizz 80, Big Country, and Scary Thieves. He ...

-Sharp (born

) (drums) in a small rehearsal room in Camden Town,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and later Ralph St. Rose (guitar). Parker was previously of bands

Spizzenergi Spizzenergi are an English punk/ new wave band led by vocalist/guitarist Spizz (real name Kenneth Spiers, born Solihull 1959). Formed in the late 1970s, the band changed its name every year, subsequent names including Athletico Spizz 80, Spizz ...

/Athletico Spizz '80 ( Rough Trade/

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

) and

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although it has retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music incorporated Scott ...

. Ralph St. Rose was previously lead guitar and co-founder of the French new wave band Notre-Dame. After a number of showcases for record companies, they signed to

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...

(

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

) by manager Andy Ferguson who also managed

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Feargal Sharkey Seán Feargal Sharkey (born 13 August 1958) is a singer from Northern Ireland most widely known as the lead vocalist of punk band The Undertones in the 1970s and 1980s, and for solo works in the 1980s and 1990s. His 1985 solo single "A Good ...

, Kevin Armstrong and

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

. The A&R person at EMI was Hugh Stanley-Clarke. Youdell and Manikiza shared a local authority flat in Camden Town where they wrote the songs together. The band recorded an album with Steve Nye, who was chosen for his austere electronic work with Japan. Recording the initial album was not an easy affair; some friction with Nye, and many changes of recording studio, including Abbey Road, Wessex, Martin Rushent's Genetic, Virgin's Manor Studios etc., prolonged the process. The use of electronic drums ( Simmons Drums) mixed with drum machines and acoustic drums, and layers of analogue keyboards was time consuming, and, along with Nye's fastidiousness caused tension and frustration, and the resignation of one sound engineer. The final record lacked the dynamism of the initial demos; nevertheless EMI went ahead with a set of releases and remixes, including extra productions with

Scott Litt Scott Warren Litt (born March 10, 1954) is an American record producer who mostly works with artists in the alternative rock genre and is best known for producing six R.E.M. albums in the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s during the band's most su ...

(producer of

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

), and

J. J. Jeczalik Jonathan Edward Stephen "J. J." Jeczalik () is an English electronic musician/record producer, co-founder of the electronic music group the Art of Noise. He taught Information technology, IT at Oxford High School, Oxford, Oxford High School unt ...

(

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and mus ...

). The band toured with

Nik Kershaw Nicholas David Kershaw (born 1 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Kershaw came to prominence in 1984 as a solo artist. He released eight singles that entered the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart during the ...

building a solid 'teenybop' following, and took advantage of their striking image with a series of pop magazine interviews and photo sessions. Differences led to the sacking of Clive Parker, and the band were dropped from EMI after poor material was presented for the second album and some dates at

The Marquee The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed whe ...

in London (with session musicians on bass and drums) didn't elicit the excitement of the original line-up. There is speculation that a complex relationship problem (Phil Manikiza seeing a record company executive's girl-friend) ultimately stymied the band's progress but this has not been verified by Manikiza. The album remained unreleased, and the band split up. Parker went on to play session drums for John Moore (ex-

Jesus & Mary Chain The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish alternative rock band formed in East Kilbride in 1983. The band revolves around the songwriting partnership of brothers Jim and William Reid. After signing to independent label Creation Records, they rele ...

) in the Expressway (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

), touring the US and UK, and wrote for his own folk-rock outfit Barra (Sony-ATV/Hi-Note Records). Chris Youdell joined Presence and

Then Jerico Then Jerico are an English rock band. They scored four top 40 hits in the UK during the 1980s. Career The band's early line-up included singer Mark Shaw, bassist Jasper Stainthorpe, drummer Steve Wren, and guitarist Scott Taylor. The band pl ...

. Phil Manikiza became an in-house writer at Hit & Run Music Publishing, writing for Rozalla and others. Ralph St. Rose formed a duo and signed a short-lived recording contract. In March 2015, A Scary Thieves album titled "Halloween" was released under Furry Records some 30 years later than the original release that was planned. It contain 10 tracks and 6 bonus mix tracks all remastered from the original tapes from 1984/85. Some videos were on Youtube but have been taken down with some others appearing in 2019.

Discography

Albums

;''Scary Thieves'' #"Inside the Night" (3:46) #"Game of Love" (4:19) #"Tell Me Girl" (6:37) #"The Waiting Game" (4:26) #"Halloween" (3:07) #"Live in Another Day" (2:55) #"Dying in Vain" (3:17) #"Fascination" (3:44) #"Somebody Somewhere" (3:54) #"Thieves of Virtue" (5:18)

Singles

*1984: "Tell Me Girl" (3:48)/"Only Fascination" (3:45) (7", Parlophone) *1984: "Tell Me Girl" (6:37)/"Tell Me Girl" (3:48)/"Only Fascination" (3:45) (12", Parlophone) *1985: "Dying in Vain" (3:11)/"Behind the Lines" (4:00) (7", Parlophone) *1985: "Dying in Vain" (Extended Version)/"Dying in Vain" (Remix)/"Behind the Lines" (12", Parlophone) *1985: "The Waiting Game" (Extended Version) (6:19)/"The Waiting Game" (Radio Version) (4:13)/"Live in Another Day" (2:55) (12", Parlophone) — first pressing with limited edition poster *1994: "Tell Me Girl" (Extended Version) (6:29)/"Tell Me Girl" (Radio Version) (3:54)/"Only Fascination" (3:45) (12", More Disco)

Compilation appearances

*1984: ''December 84 - Previews'' (DMC) — "Tell Me Girl" 12" *1991: ''Hardest Hits Volume One'' (SPG) — "The Waiting Game" 12" *1992: ''Hardest Hits Volume Two'' (SPG) — "Tell Me Girl" 12" *1998: ''Techno Pop 2'' (Contraseña) — "Tell Me Girl" 12"

References

{{reflist

External links

Scary Thieves on last.fmScary Thieves at Discogs
English dance music groups English new wave musical groups British synth-pop new wave groups