The Primitives are an English

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

from

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), 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 ...

, best known for their 1988 international hit single "

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

". Formed in 1984, disbanded in 1992 and reformed in 2009, the band's two constant members throughout their recording career have been vocalist Tracy Tracy and guitarist Paul Court. Drummer Tig Williams has been a constant member since 1987. Often described as an indie pop or indie rock band, The Primitives' musical style can also be seen as straddling

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 ch ...

, new wave and

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 ...

Early career and mainstream success (1986–1992)

The Primitives were formed in the summer of 1984 by PJ Court (born Paul Jonathan Court) (vocals, guitar), Steve Dullaghan (born Stephen Anthony Dullaghan, ex-Nocturnal Babies) (bass), Peter Tweedie (drums) and Keiron McDermott, ex-Nocturnal Babies (vocals). Vocalist McDermott was later replaced by Tracy Tracy (born Tracy Louise Cattell). Tig Williams replaced Pete Tweedie on drums in October 1987. McDermott left the band claiming that he could not work with new manager Wayne Morris, and so reformed the Nocturnal Babies. Needing a singer for an upcoming gig, Court wrote on a piece of scrap paper "male singer wanted" and posted it at the Coventry library. Tracy responded that afternoon. The band were part of the

indie music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to r ...

scene of the mid-1980s, alongside bands like

The Jesus and 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 ...

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie. The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simone Butler (bass), and Darrin Mooney (drums) ...

, My Bloody Valentine,

The Soup Dragons ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

and

The Wedding Present The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...

. Their major rivals within the 'blonde pop' scene were

Transvision Vamp Transvision Vamp were an English pop rock band. Formed in 1986 by Nick Christian Sayer and Wendy James, the band enjoyed chart success in the late 1980s, particularly in 1989. James, the lead singer and focal-point of the group, attracted medi ...

and

The Darling Buds The Darling Buds are an alternative rock band from Newport, South Wales. The band formed in 1986 and were named after the H. E. Bates novel '' The Darling Buds of May'' – a title taken in turn, from the third line of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18 ...

. They received valuable publicity when

The Smiths The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to emerg ...

singer

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

was photographed wearing a Primitives

t-shirt A T-shirt (also spelled tee shirt), or tee, is a style of fabric shirt named after the T shape of its body and sleeves. Traditionally, it has short sleeves and a round neckline, known as a ''crew neck'', which lacks a collar. T-shirts are general ...

. The band's early singles were released on their own Lazy Records imprint. In late 1987, they signed the label over to

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, who released the band's material from then until their split. The band's first album, '' Lovely'' (1988) reached No. 6 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

, and produced two top 40

hit singles A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

: "

" ( UK No. 5,

US Modern Rock Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

No. 3) and "Out of Reach" (UK No. 25). "Crash", and the band were described in ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' as "the perfect band who have made the perfect single". "Way Behind Me" was released as a single soon after, and was included on later versions of the debut album, as well as on the follow-up album ''

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''. 1988 was the band's peak year; in addition to the hit album and singles, the band undertook a sell-out tour of the UK, ending in two nights in May at London's

Town & Country Club The O Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England owned by MAMA & Company, and originally built in 1934. History The venue was built in 1934 and was originally used as an art deco cinema. After the cinema was clos ...

. The band's second album ''

'' (1989) was preceded by three singles - "Way Behind Me" (UK No. 36, US Modern Rock No. 8), "Sick of It" (UK No. 24, US Modern Rock No. 9) and "Secrets", (UK No. 49, US Modern Rock No. 12). In 1990, the band did a co-headlining tour of the US with

the Sugarcubes The Sugarcubes ( Icelandic: Sykurmolarnir) were an Icelandic alternative rock band from Reykjavík formed in 1986 and disbanded in 1992. For most of their career, the band consisted of Björk Guðmundsdóttir (vocals, keyboards), Einar Örn Bened ...

as well as a short tour of Japan. They split in 1992 following the commercial failure of their 1992 album, '' Galore''.

Reformation (2009–present)

Steve Dullaghan died in Coventry on 4 February 2009, following which, after nearly 18 years of dormancy, The Primitives re-formed, with new bassist Raphael Moore. Their first live shows were in Coventry and at the Buffalo Bar in London in October 2009. In early 2010, The Primitives toured the UK and also performed a single US concert at The Bell House in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York. The Primitives supported

at Koko in Camden, London on 13 December 2010 as part of that band's ''

Bizarro Bizarro () is a supervillain/anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy'' #68 (1958) ...

'' album 21st anniversary tour. The Primitives also went back into the studio with original producer Paul Sampson, recording the EP ''Never Kill a Secret'', featuring two original songs - the title track and "Rattle My Cage" - and two

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of lesser-known female-fronted songs - "Need All the Help I Can Get" (written by

Lee Hazlewood Barton Lee Hazlewood (July 9, 1929 – August 4, 2007) was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s ...

and originally recorded by Suzi Jane Hokom in 1966) and "Breakaway" (originally recorded by

Toni Basil Antonia Christina Basilotta (born September 22, 1943), better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer, choreographer, dancer, actress, and director. Her song "Mickey" topped the charts in the US, Canada and Australia and hit th ...

in 1966). The EP was released on 7 March 2011. The album ''Echoes and Rhymes'' followed in 2012, featuring 14 further recordings of lesser-known female-fronted songs. The Japanese edition of ''Echoes and Rhymes'' featured a further three bonus tracks, two of which are remix versions of "Need All the Help I Can Get" and "Breakaway". The third bonus track "Can't Stop the Want", also featured on the digital EP "Turn Off the Moon". A new original track featured on the Elefant Records Christmas

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

''A Christmas Gift for You from Elefant Records'' called "You Trashed My Christmas". An accompanying video for the track was also released. A compilation album was issued in March 2013 titled ''Everything's Shining Bright – The Lazy Recordings 1985 – 1987''. The compilation featured all of the Lazy releases, plus, from 1987, previously unreleased, different versions of songs that ended up on ''Lovely'', along with some 1985 demos and the 1987 ICA show, with

introducing the band on stage. A new single "Lose the Reason" was released on 18 February 2013, through Elefant Records. The group's fifth studio album, ''Spin-O-Rama'', was released on Elefant on 13 October 2014, and was preceded by the release of the title track as a 7" and download single. In April 2017, the four song collection, ''New Thrills'', was released. The first 1000 copies were personally autographed by band members. Included with the album was a code and instructions for digital download. Tracks were: 1. "I'll Trust the Wind" 2. "Squeak 'N' Squawk" 3. "Oh Honey Sweet" 4. "Same Stuff" The group toured

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in June 2017, playing at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. In April 2019, The Primitives visited

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan.

Members

Current members * Paul Court - guitars, vocals (1985–1991, 2009–present) * Tracy Tracy (aka Tracy Cattell) - vocals, tambourine (1986–1991, 2009–present) * Tig Williams - drums (1987–1991, 2009–present) * Paul Sampson - bass (1989-1991, 2020–present) Former members * Steve Dullaghan - bass, guitars (1985–1989; died 2009) * Peter Tweedie - drums (1985–1987) * Keiron McDermott - vocals (1985–1986) * Clive Layton - keyboards (1988–1991) * Andy Hobson - bass (1989) * Neil Champion - bass (1991) * Raph Moore - bass (2009-2019)

Discography

*'' Lovely'' (1988) *''

'' (1989) *'' Galore'' (1991) *'' Echoes and Rhymes'' (2012) *''Spin-O-Rama'' (2014)

References

External links

Primitives Facebook

"Buzz Buzz Buzz: Paul Court of The Primitives" - interview ''Rocker Magazine'' 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Primitives, The British indie pop groups English power pop groups English post-punk music groups English new wave musical groups Female-fronted musical groups Musical groups from Coventry Musical groups established in 1984 Musical groups disestablished in 1992 Musical groups reestablished in 2009 Elefant Records artists RCA Records artists