The Flowers (sometimes credited as Flowers), active from 1978–1980, were a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, 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 s ...

band from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, part of the

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

scene which spawned bands such as

Scars A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natu ...

, Josef K and

The Fire Engines The Fire Engines were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The Fire Engines were an influence on many bands that followed, including Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture, with Meat Whiplash and The Candyskins both taking their names from Fire ...

. They are known for their feminist lyrics and "astringent" music. The band, and the musical scene of which they were a part, are profiled in the 2015 film '' Big Gold Dream''.

Biography

The Flowers formed in 1978, when local band The Dirty Reds split into two offshoot bands, The Dirty Reds Two and the group which would become The Flowers. This latter group included Dave Carson (later of

Boots for Dancing Boots for Dancing are a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland, active between 1979 and 1982. They reformed in 2015. History The band was formed in late 1979 by Dave Carson (vocals), Graeme High (guitar), Dougie Barrie (bass), and Stuart Wrigh ...

) on bass, Andy Copland on guitar, and drummer Russell Burn (later of

and Win). Carson invited Hilary Morrison to join as vocalist. Morrison was also the co-founder of two influential independent record labels,

Fast Product Fast Product was an independent record label, established in Edinburgh by Bob Last, his partner, Hilary Morrison and Tim Pearce in December 1977. Its first release was also the first single by the Mekons, released on 20 January 1978. The labe ...

and Pop:Aural, with then-partner Bob Last. The Flowers' music would be released on both of these labels. Within a year, founding members Carson and Burn had left. By the time of their first recording in 1979, the band had settled into the following lineup: * Hilary Morrison (credited as “HL Ray”) – vocals * Andy Copland – guitar * Fraser Sutherland – bass * Simon Best – drums The band played regularly throughout the UK, often opening for Human League and The Mekons, and also touring with The Beat and OMD. The Flowers played the 1980

Futurama Festival Futurama Festival was an annual post-punk and gothic rock festival held at venues in Leeds, Stafford and Queensferry between 1979 and 1983. A sixth edition was held in 1989. It aimed for a relaunch in 2021 but, after being postponed, was forced ...

in Leeds, which was headlined by Siouxsie and the Banshees and Gary Glitter.

Post-Breakup

Hilary Morrison went on to sing with several other bands in the Edinburgh post-punk scene, including Fire Engines and Restricted Code. In 1981, after the breakup of Fire Engines, she and Davy Henderson formed Heartbeats, whose song "Spook Sex" was included on the

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

compilation ''Racket Packet'' in 1983. Later, Morrison worked in theatre, and eventually became a community educator working with charities.

Recordings

The Flowers never released a full-length album, but between 1979 and 1980, eleven songs were recorded (including two different versions of two songs, “After Dark” and “Tear Along”), seven of which saw a formal release. The band made their recorded debut in May of 1979, when their songs “Criminal Waste” and “After Dark” were included on the first Earcom compilation, ''Earcom 1'', on Fast Product. John Peel played "Criminal Waste" on his 24 May show, and a member of the band called in to point out that what was apparently "surface noise" on the recording was actually an overdub of rain. "After Dark" has been described as a "revelatory" song which "dissect the rituals of the disco" from a female perspective. On 28 August 1979, The Flowers recorded a session for John Peel's show on

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, ...

. Their four tracks were “Living Doll,” “Tunnels,” “The Deep End Dance,” and “Tear Along”. This session was broadcast on 12 September 1979. Although it never saw a physical release, the broadcast can be readily found online. In December 1980, their single ''Confessions / (Life) After Dark'' was released on Pop:Aural. “(Life) After Dark” is a different version of “After Dark,” which had previously appeared on the first Earcom compilation. These tracks were later included on ''Mutant Pop 78/79'', a compilation of Fast Product and Pop:Aural songs released in North America. Other bands on this compilation included

The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their third album ''Dare' ...

, Gang of Four,

, and

The Mekons The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...

. Their second release on Pop:Aural, the ''Ballad of Miss Demeanour'' EP, was recorded in 1979 and 1980 and released on May 23, 1980. It consisted of three songs: “Ballad of Miss Demeanour,” “Food,” and “Tear Along.” This would be the band’s final release. None of the group’s full releases has been officially reissued on CD or in any digital format, although several of their songs have been included in compilations: "Confessions" appears on the ''Big Gold Dreams'' documentary tie-in CD box set, from Cherry Red Records; "After Dark" was included on the limited-run ''A Reference of Female-Fronted Punk Rock: 1977–89'' CD set; and "Ballad of Miss Demeanour" was included on Cherry Red Records' ''Make More Noise! Women In Independent Music UK 1977-1987'' compilation.

Discography

The below discography includes all releases issued during the life of the band. It does not include reissues of the group's songs on later compilations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flowers Scottish post-punk music groups Scottish indie rock groups