The Names are a Belgian

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 ...

band from

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, Belgium, formed in 1978 around bassist, vocalist and songwriter Michel Sordinia.

History

The early lineup of the band featured Sordinia, guitarist Marc Deprez and drummer/keyboard player Christophe Den Tandt; Robert Frankson and singer Isabelle Hanrez were briefly also members.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , pp. 434-5Kellman, Andy
The Names Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved 25 March 2013 After local gigs as The Passengers, they changed their name in time for their debut single, "Spectators of Life", released by

WEA The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the Miami Tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the ...

in 1979 to test the market for homegrown new wave music. The band were keen to sign to a British label, and connected with

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...

at a

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...

gig at the Plan K venue in Brussels. The Names, augmented by new drummer Luc Capelle, recorded "Nightshift" in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

in August 1980 with producer

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

. The single was representative of their overall sound: dark, controlled modern rock in the mould of

Magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

Comsat Angels The Comsat Angels were an English post-punk band from Sheffield, England, initially active from 1978 to 1995. Their music has been described as "abstract pop songs with sparse instrumentation, many of which were bleak and filled with some form ...

and Joy Division/early New Order. It peaked at No. 35 on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

.Lazell, Barry (1998) ''Indie Hits 1980-1989'', Cherry Red Books, , p. 157 In February 1982, the band recorded a session 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 ...

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, ...

show,Garner, Ken (1993) ''In Session Tonight'', BBC Books, , p. 275 later released in 2009 as the ''Radio Session 1982'' digital EP. The Names enjoyed a long and rewarding relationship with mercurial producer Hannett, who also oversaw their next single, "Calcutta" (

Factory Benelux A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. The ...

, 1981) and debut album ''

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

'' ( Les Disques du Crepuscule, 1982). Capelle was involved in a motorcycle accident, and Michel Silverstein replaced him while he recovered. Meanwhile, Sordinia sang on the single "Soul Kitchen" by side project By Chance, released in 1981 on

Crammed Discs Crammed Discs is an independent record label whose output blends world music, rock, pop, and electronica. Based in Brussels, Belgium, Crammed was founded in 1980 by Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and has since released around 375 albums and 275 ...

. The Names mostly played live in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: B ...

countries and France, including the ambitious Les Disques du Crepuscule multimedia package Dialogue North-South in February 1982. The group had also been booked to appear in Manchester in July 1980 as support to

A Certain Ratio A Certain Ratio (abbreviated as ACR) are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Flixton, Greater Manchester by Peter Terrell (guitar, electronics) and Simon Topping (vocals, trumpet), with additional members Jez Kerr (bass, vocals), Martin ...

at the Beach Club. When The Names were delayed, New Order stepped in for their first live performance after the end of Joy Division. A final Names single, "The Astronaut", appeared in 1982 on the

Les Disques du Crépuscule Les Disques du Crépuscule is an independent record label founded in Belgium. The label was founded in 1980 by Michel Duval and Annik Honoré. It also had a prominent associated sublabel, Factory Benelux. Both are now run by former employee Ja ...

label, again produced by Hannett, who had by then parted from Factory Records amidst some acrimony. However, the post-punk era was ending, and the band split. In 1985,

LTM Recordings LTM Recordings (originally les temps modernes) is a British independent record label founded in 1983, and best known for reissues of artists and music from 1978 to the present day, as well as modern classical and avant-garde composition. The la ...

issued an album (on cassette only) titled ''Postcard Views'', consisting of studio material on one side and compiling live tracks on the second side. Expanded editions of ''Swimming'', retitled ''Swimming + Singles'', were issued in 1991 by Factory Benelux and in 2000 by LTM Recordings. Factory Benelux reissued the expanded album again in 2013, simply as ''Swimming''; this 2013 edition included their 1982

radio session. In 1995, the original core trio of Sordinia, Deprez and Den Tandt reunited under the name Jazz, recording one self-released album, ''Nightvision''. A Names archive compilation titled ''Spectators of Life'', including B-sides and live material from 1979-1982 (as well as two further Jazz tracks from 1994-1995), was released by LTM in 2001. In December 2007 The Names reunited for live event A Factory Night, once again at the Plan K in Brussels. In April 2009, the band released a new album, ''Monsters Next Door'', via French label Str8line.Kalonji, Tshinza (2009)
The Names, The Breath Of Life et une ribambelle de souvenirs
, ''L'Essentiel'', 4 October 2009. Retrieved 25 March 2013 Den Tandt left the band in December 2009 and was replaced by Christophe Boulenger. Compilation album ''In Time'' was issued by Factory Benelux in 2014, gathering the best tracks from ''Nightvision'' and ''Monsters Next Door''. On 18 May 2015, as a quartet with new drummer Laurent Loddewyckx, The Names released their third album, ''Stranger Than You'', on Factory Benelux. Another compilation, ''In Mutation'', was issued in 2016 by Les Disques du Crépuscule, including a 1981 solo cassette single by Deprez and a 1982 live set.

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (1982,

) *''Monsters Next Door'' (2009, Str8line) *''Stranger Than You'' (2015,

)

Live albums

*''German Nights'' (2017, Factory Benelux)

Compilation albums

*''Postcard Views'' cassette (1985, LTM Recordings) *''Swimming + Singles'' (1991, Factory Benelux; 2000, LTM Recordings) *''Spectators of Life'' (2001, LTM Recordings) *''In Time'' (2014, Factory Benelux) *''In Mutation'' (2016, Les Disques du Crépuscule)

Singles and EPs

*"Spectators of Life" 7"/12" (1979,

) *"Night Shift" 7" (1981,

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

) *"Calcutta" 7" (1982, Factory Benelux) *"The Astronaut" 12" (1982, Les Disques du Crépuscule)

Compilation appearances

*"The Cat" - ''From Brussels with Love'' (1980, Les Disques du Crépuscule) *"Music for Someone" - ''The Fruit of the Original Sin'' (1981, Les Disques du Crépuscule) *"Tokyo Twilight" - ''Ghosts of Christmas Past'' (1981, Les Disques du Crépuscule)

as Jazz

*''Nightvision'' (1997, Pazz Records)

References

External links

Official website
(LTM)

(LTM) {{DEFAULTSORT:Names, The Belgian rock music groups Belgian post-punk music groups Musical groups established in 1978 Musical groups disestablished in 1984 Musical groups reestablished in 2007 Factory Records artists Factory Benelux artists