The Higsons were an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

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 ...

, who existed between 1980 and 1986.

History

Founded in 1980 at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England, The Higsons' first

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

was on the ''Norwich - A Fine City''

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 ...

. The Higsons' first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "I Don't Want to Live with Monkeys", was released in 1981. The band signed to the 2 Tone Records

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

, along with bands such as

The Specials The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English Two-tone (music genre), 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall (singer), Terr ...

, The Beat and Madness. The band's blend of high-energy funk and groove brought them some

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

success: their most remembered

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

was "Conspiracy", released in 1982, with the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

"Who stole my bongos?; Did you steal my bongos?". The band played their last gig in March 1986, disbanding by mutual consent.

After the break-up

Charlie Higson Charles Murray Higson (born 3 July 1958) is an English actor, comedian, author and former singer. He has also written and produced for television and is the author of the ''Enemy'' book series, as well as the first five novels in the ''Young Bo ...

found fame as a

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

writer and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

in ''

The Fast Show ''The Fast Show'', known as ''Brilliant'' in the US, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams (actor), M ...

''. Dave Cummings, after several years as a guitarist with Scottish rock band Del Amitri, re-joined forces with Higson as a scriptwriter on ''The Fast Show'', and continues to write for radio, TV, and film.

Terry Edwards Terry Edwards (born 10 August 1960) is an English musician who plays trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophones, guitar and keyboards. Biography Edwards gained a degree in music from the University of East Anglia in 1982, where he was also a founding me ...

joined Gallon Drunk in 1993, fronted his own band and became a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

. Simon Charterton formed the bands The Aftershave, Zook, Nitwood and Simon & the Pope. Terry and Simon play together in the Near Jazz Experience. Stuart McGeachin and Colin Williams got full-time jobs.

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

paid tribute to the band with the song "Listening to the Higsons" which acknowledged their song "Got to Let This Heat Out" in the couplet, "I thought I heard them singing "Gotta let this hen out"." Hitchcock used this mishearing as the title of his 1985 live album with the Egyptians.

Band members

*Charlie "Switch" Higson (lead vocals / harmonica / piano) *Terry Edwards (guitar / saxophone / trumpet / back voices / piano) *Stuart McGeachin (guitar / vocals) *Simon Charterton (drums / vocals) *Colin Williams (bass / vocals) * David Cummings (guitar / vocals)

Discography

Albums

*''The Curse of the Higsons'' (October 1984) *''Attack of the Cannibal Zombie Businessmen'' (reissue) (2007)

Cassette

*''The Higsons Live at the Jacquard Club, Norwich 11.2.82'' (limited edition of 4000) (April 1982), Backs Records / Chaos Tapes

Compilation albums

*''Attack of the Cannibal Zombie Businessmen'' (retrospective singles compilation) (1987), Waap Records *''It's a Wonderful Life'' (

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 ...

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, on the Hux record label) (1998)

UK singles

BBC Radio 1 in concert

A one-hour concert was recorded and broadcast from the Paris Theatre in London on 7 September 1983. The Higsons played the first half hour whilst the Norwich-based band

the Farmer's Boys The Farmer's Boys were a British band from Norwich, England. They formed in the early 1980s and were briefly called 'Bang Goes My Stereo' before changing their name to 'The Farmer's Boys'.Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Farmer's Boys", in ''The Grea ...

played the second half. *Tracks played: **"Gangway" **"Where Have All the Club-A-Go-Gos Went Went?" **"Born Blind" **"Music to Watch Boys By" **"Heat" **"Run Me Down" **"Clanking My Bucket" **"Push Out the Boat"

Videos

*Jacquard Club, Live February 1982 (released by MEI) NB this is a live audio-cassette only release, not a video. *The Camden Palace, Live 2 November 1984 (broadcast on

London Weekend Television London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

programme 'Live In London' 19.1.85) *I Don't Want To Live With Monkeys Live 006(released by Cherry Red - reissue of Camden Palace gig)

References

External links

2-tone artist profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Higsons, The English punk rock groups English funk musical groups Musical groups established in 1980 Musical groups disestablished in 1986 2 Tone Records artists