The Flys were a British punk rock band that originally formed in 1976 in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

, England. After the self-release of their initial EP, ''Bunch of Fives'', they were signed by EMI Records. With EMI they released the albums ''Waikiki Beach Refugees'' and ''Own''. In 1980 they changed labels to

Parlophone 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 ...

but soon disbanded.

History

Flys evolved from a band from

, England named Midnight Circus. Midnight Circus was composed of Dave Freeman (

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 strin ...

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 withou ...

), Joe Hughes ( bass), Neil O'Connor (vocals, guitar,

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

), and "a string of unnamed drummers". In 1976 their manager's brother, Pete King, joined in on drums and Flys were born. Their career began by regularly

opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

for the English punk band the Buzzcocks. In late 1977, with Lyn Dobson on

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, they self-released the EP ''Bunch of Five'' with the tracks "Saturday Sunrise", "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", "Can I Crash Here?", "Me and My Buddies", and "Just For Your Sex". The EP, particularly "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", caught the attention EMI Records, a label that rejected Midnight Circus, who signed them to a deal. Their initial EMI release came on 20 January 1978, the EP ''Love and a Molotov Cocktail'', which was a release of two of the tracks from ''Bunch of Five''; "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", "Can I Crash Here?", and a new track "Civilisation". "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" garnered some positive reviews, "the first undisputed classic 45 of 1978". In April they released the single "Fun City" with another new track, "E.C.4.", as its

b side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

. The release of their first LP, ''Waikiki Beach Refugees'', came on 17 October 1978. It contained a rerecording of "Fun City", the future single "Beverley", and the title track "Waikiki Beach Refugees" which EMI had released as a taster single on yellow vinyl in September. The group spent early 1979 sharing the bills with such acts as

The Psychedelic Furs The Psychedelic Furs are a post-punk band founded in London in February 1977. Led by lead vocalist Richard Butler and his brother Tim Butler on bass guitar, the Psychedelic Furs are one of the many acts spawned from the British post-punk sc ...

, the

Pretenders Pretenders may refer to: * The Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (le ...

, and

Black Slate Black Slate are a reggae band based in the United Kingdom, and formed in 1974. They toured heavily around London and backed Jamaican musicians such as Dennis Brown, Delroy Wilson, and Ken Boothe when they played in the UK. They toured the UK ...

. It was around this time that Pete King, who later joined

After the Fire After the Fire (or ATF) were a British rock band that evolved from playing progressive rock to new wave over ten years, while having only one hit in the United States (" Der Kommissar") and one hit in the United Kingdom (" One Rule for You" ...

, left the band and was replaced on drums by Graham Deakin. In April EMI released a

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

of early punk 45s called ''The Rare Stuff'' that contained the three tracks from the EP ''Love and a Molotov Cocktail''. Their second LP, ''Own'', was released on 11 October 1979 and contained 14 new tracks and was their last release on EMI. Like their debut album and all their singles it did not chart in the UK. The band moved 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 ...

and released an EP, ''Four from the Square'' which included two songs from the last album, and a final single, "What Will Mother Say?", before disbanding. In the wake of the departure of Neil O'Connor, who joined his sister Hazel's band, the Flys disbanded in 1980. In 1990

See for Miles Records See for Miles Records (SFM) was a British record label which was one of the first British re-issue specialists predating the emergence of compact discs. See for Miles reissued most of the records of many labels including Dandelion Records on C ...

released the compilation album, ''Love and a Molotov Cocktail'', that Q Magazine described as "angry, angsty, and splenetic guitar tunes with power chords". In 2001 ''Waikiki Beach Refugees'' was reissued with eight bonus tracks covering their brief history. Also in 1991, "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" was covered by the German band

Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. History The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...

on their album '' Learning English, Lesson One''. Joe Hughes and David Freeman later worked together again in the short-lived 1980s new wave band

The Lover Speaks The Lover Speaks were an English new wave duo consisting of David Freeman (vocals) and Joseph Hughes (arranger, composer). They wrote and sang the original version of the song " No More "I Love You's"", covered by Annie Lennox in 1995 on her ...

Influences and musical style

Although they were rooted in the 1970s British punk scene and influenced by The Damned and the Buzzcocks their music did not always fit that mold displaying considerable melody.

Power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and c ...

, and 'half-punk, half pop' is closer to the style of their actual playing.

Members

* Dave Freeman – guitar, vocals * Joe Hughes – bass *Neil O'Connor – vocals, guitar, keyboards * Pete King – drums * Graham Deakin - drums *Lyn Dobson – saxophone

Discography

*''Bunch of Five'' EP 1977 (Zama) *''Love and a Molotov Cocktail'' EP 1978 (

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 ...

) *''Fun City'' 1978 (

) *''Waikiki Beach Refugees'' 1978 (EMI) *''Waikiki Beach Refugees'' LP 1978 (EMI) *''Beverly (Edited Version)'' 1979 (EMI) *''Name Dropping'' 1979 (EMI) *''We Are The Lucky Ones/Living in the Sticks'' 1979 (EMI) *''Own'' LP 1979 (EMI) *''Four From the Square'' EP 1980 (

) *''What Will Mother Say'' 1980 (

)

References

External links