The Apollinaires were a British

2 Tone Two-tone, two tone, or 2 tone, etc., may refer to: Audio and sound * Two-tone analysis, in nonlinear system measurement * Two-tone attention signal * Two-tone chime, such as the "ding dong" sound of a doorbell * Two-tone sequential paging, sel ...

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 ...

group from

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, signed to

2 Tone Records 2 Tone Records was an English independent record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone. It was founded by Jerry Dammers of the Specials and backed by Chrysalis Records. History ...

History

The band formed in Leicester as a six-piece, composed of musicians from various local bands and students from the Leicester School of Art. Four members of the band had previously been in an industrial band named I Y A Volkswagens, which had released one single on

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

called "Kill Myself". After the demise of that band they reformed as The Volkswagens, and as their sound moved from

to a more dance sound, they worked with members of another Leicester band called The Swinging Laurels as their horn section. In 1982 the band signed to Coventry's

and changed their name to The Apollinaires, expanding to a ten-piece at the same time with the addition an in-house horn section. They recorded their first single, "The Feeling's Gone" with Jerry Dammers, featuring vocals from

Rhoda Dakar Rhoda Dakar (born 1959) is a British singer and musician, best known as the lead singer of The Bodysnatchers, who were signed to the 2 Tone record label. She also worked with The Specials and Special AKA, also 2-Tone artists. Career Dakar, bor ...

of The Bodysnatchers. After this the band toured extensively in the UK with bands including The Higsons and The Beat, and also played concerts in France, recorded

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

sessions for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

and Kid Jensen, and released a second single entitled "Envy the Love". Their TV appearances included

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

's ''The Switch''. They also released a third single in 1983 on a small Birmingham independent label entitled "Put People First". Eventually, however, the band split up due to the difficulties of co-ordinating their large number of members.

Personnel

*Paul Tickle, Vocals *Tom Brown, guitar *Francis Brown, Guitar (died 17 March 2010) *

Kraig Thornber Kraig Thornber (born 1961) is a British actor, singer and choreographer best known for playing the handyman Riff Raff in ''The Rocky Horror Show'' and Grandpa George in the musical ''Charlie and the Chocolate Factory''. He is a former member of t ...

, Drums *James Hunt, Bass *Simon Kirk, Percussion *Peter Millen, Alto Sax. Millen went on to run a design business in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. *Laurence Wood, Tenor Sax *Paul Hood, Trombone *Chris Freestone, Trumpet *Stephen Leonard-Williams, Flute

Singles

*"The Feeling's Gone" (2 Tone Records, 1982, produced by Jerry Dammers) *"Envy the Love" (2 Tone Records, 1982, produced by Warne Livesey) *"Put People First/Theme from Put People First" (B.F.W. / T.U.R.C., 1983, produced by Jo King)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Apollinaires, The Musical groups from Leicester Musical groups established in 1981 Musical groups disestablished in 1983 English new wave musical groups 2 Tone Records artists Second-wave ska groups