Sniff 'n' the Tears are a British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band best known for their 1978 song "

Driver's Seat A car seat is a seat used in automobiles. Most car seats are made from inexpensive but durable material in order to withstand prolonged use. The most common material is polyester. Bucket seat and bench seat A bucket seat is a separate seat ...

", a moderate hit in many countries (including No. 15 on the American ''Billboard'' Hot 100) (in September 1979). The band is led by singer/songwriter Paul Roberts, the band's sole constant member.

Formation and initial success (1973–1979)

An early version of Sniff 'n' the Tears had been gigging in England as early as 1974. They were unable to land a record deal and the band's singer/songwriter Paul Roberts decided to dissolve the group and move to France. A few years later, Luigi Salvoni, the drummer from a band called Moon, listened to some demos that he and Roberts had cut in about 1975 for a French record label. Hearing some potential in them, he contacted Roberts about approaching pub rock label,

Chiswick Records Chiswick Records was a British independent record label. Established in 1975, Chiswick was the "first true ' indie' label to be established in Britain for nearly a decade". The label has been described as "significant" in the "punk era". It rel ...

for a deal. Roberts, who had been concentrating on his career as a painter, agreed and Salvoni recruited some of the musicians from the demos to record ''Fickle Heart'', their debut album. When it became apparent that things were going well and that a band would be needed for live work and promotion, Sniff 'n' the Tears subsequently debuted in 1978 as a six-piece band, consisting of Paul Roberts (vocals, acoustic guitar), Loz Netto (guitars), Mick Dyche (guitars), Chris Birkin (bass), Alan Fealdman (keyboards), and Luigi Salvoni (drums & percussion). Both Salvoni and Netto had been in the band Moon, which issued two albums in the UK in 1975/76. This line-up recorded the band's first album, ''Fickle Heart'', which was produced by Salvoni. Guesting on the album as a backing vocalist was Noel McCalla, who had been Moon's lead singer. Though recorded in 1978, the album sat unreleased for over a year because Chiswick were in the process of changing their distribution. The band then had a substantial international hit with ''Fickle Heart''s lead single "

" in 1979, aided by its driving rhythm, catchy lyrics and a Moog solo contributed by guest musician Keith Miller. However, the band fractured almost immediately after the album's release; in a matter of months, Birkin, Fealdman, and Salvoni all left the group to pursue other interests. Nick South took over on bass and would become a permanent member of the band. On tour, Sniff 'n' the Tears were augmented by drummer Paul Robinson and keyboardist Keith Miller. When naming the 1973 band, Roberts suggested "The Tears", but their manager suggested "Sniff 'n' the Tears" because Roberts had

hay fever Allergic rhinitis, of which the seasonal type is called hay fever, is a type of rhinitis, inflammation in the nose that occurs when the immune system overreacts to allergens in the air. It is classified as a Allergy, type I hypersensitivity re ...

and sniffed a lot.

1980s

For the group's second album, 1980's ''The Game's Up'', the band's line-up consisted of Roberts, Netto, Dyche, South, and new keyboard player Keith Miller. At this point the group had no permanent drummer, and a variety of session drummers were used. ''The Game's Up'' yielded no hits, and Netto left the group to establish a solo career, taking Dyche with him. This left Roberts as the sole remaining original member of Sniff 'n' The Tears. He decided to press on, and recruited Les Davidson as the group's new guitarist and added Jamie Lane as the permanent drummer. This five piece line-up (Roberts, Davidson, Lane, South and Taylor) recorded two albums: ''Love/Action'' (1981), and ''Ride Blue Divide'' (1982). Again no hits were spun off from these albums, and after the contract ended with Chiswick Records, the group broke up in 1983. Singer and songwriter Paul Roberts went on to make two solo albums for Sonet Records: ''City Without Walls'' (1985) and ''Kettle Drum Blues'' (1987), while Loz Netto issued singles like "Fade Away" and "We Touch" (the latter song turning up in an episode of the ''Miami Vice'' television show).

Reformation (1992–present)

After a decade of inactivity, Sniff 'n' The Tears were unexpectedly revived in 1992, after the use of "Driver's Seat" in a European advertising campaign pushed the 13-year-old recording to the very top of the Dutch chart in mid-1991. Roberts took the opportunity to assemble a new version of Sniff 'n' the Tears, and took them out on the road in the Netherlands and Germany. This version of the band consisted of Roberts and Davidson, with new recruits Jeremy Meek (bass) (Ex Live Wire), Steve Jackson (drums) and Andy Giddings (keyboards). This line-up also cut a new studio album in 1992, ''No Damage Done'', which was the first new Sniff 'n' the Tears release in a decade. "Driver's Seat" was prominently featured on the soundtrack of the 1997 film ''

Boogie Nights ''Boogie Nights'' is a 1997 American drama film written, directed, and co-produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It is set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley and focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic ...

'' and had another popular resurgence as a result. The song also appeared in episode 10 of the second season of ''The Walking Dead'', "18 Miles Out". The band's next release, 2001's ''Underground'', featured Roberts singing and playing almost everything. He was credited with vocals, guitars, mandolin, harmonica, keyboards, bass and drum programming. However, longtime group member Les Davidson also played guitar on the album, and new member Robin Langridge handled the bulk of keyboard parts. After another long hiatus, the band released their seventh album, ''Downstream'', in February 2011. The Sniff 'n' the Tears line-up for this album consisted of Paul Roberts (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboard), Les Davidson (guitars), Robin Langridge (keyboards), returning member Nick South (bass) and new member Richard Marcangelo (drums). Marcangelo had previously been a session player on ''The Game's Up''. Jennifer Maidman, who had played bass on Paul Roberts' two solo albums, also played bass on several tracks. A line-up of Roberts, Davidson, South, Langridge and new drummer Paul Robinson issued the album ''Random Elements'' in 2017. While Roberts remained the band's primary songwriter, for this album Davidson and Langridge also received co-writing credits on a number of tracks. Robinson had not only played on 'The Game's Up' but had toured with the group as their drummer in the late 1970s; this marked his official entry into the group 37 years later. In 2020, Sniff 'n' the Tears (now consisting only of Roberts and Davidson) issued the album ''Jump'', which consisted of new acoustic versions of a number of songs in the band's catalogue (including "Driver's Seat").

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Singles

Musicians

*Paul Roberts (vocals, acoustic guitar) (in 2001 played bass guitar,

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and additional keyboards) 1978–present *Les Davidson (guitars, background vocals) 1981–1992, 2001–present *Loz Netto (guitars) 1978–81 *Chris Birkin (bass) 1978–79 * Mick Dyche (guitars) 1978–81 died 2018 * Rick Fenn (guitars) 1980–81 *Nick South (bass) 1980–81, 2011–present *Jeremy Meek (bass) 1992 * Jennifer Maidman (bass) 2011 *Luigi Salvoni (drums) 1978, rejoined the band briefly in 1992 *Paul Robinson (drums) 1979, 2017–present *Jamie Lane (drums) 1981–82 *Steve Jackson (drums) 1992 *Richard Marcangelo (drums) 2011–2017 *Alan Fealdman (keyboards) 1978 *Keith Miller (synthesizer) 1978 *Andy Giddings (keyboards) 1992 *Robin Langridge (keyboards) 2001–present * Noel McCalla (backing vocals) 1978–80

Timeline

ImageSize = width:790 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:10 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/10/1977 till:01/07/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1978 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:2 start:1979 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:keys value:purple legend:Keyboards id:back value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_albums BarData = bar:Paul text:Paul Roberts bar:Noel text:Noel McCalla bar:Loz text:Loz Netto bar:Mick text:Mick Dyche bar:Les text:Les Davidson bar:Alan text:Alan Fealdman bar:Keith text:Keith Miller bar:Mike text:Mike Taylor bar:Andy text:Andy Giddings bar:Robin text:Robin Langridge bar:Chris text:Chris Birkin bar:Nick text:Nick South bar:Jeremy text:Jeremy Meek bar:Luigi text:Luigi Salvoni bar:PaulR text:Paul Robinson bar:Jamie text:Jamie Lane bar:Steve text:Steve Jackson bar:Richard text:Richard Marcangelo PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Paul from:start till:01/10/1982 color:vocals bar:Paul from:start till:01/10/1982 color:guitar width:3 bar:Paul from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1993 color:vocals bar:Paul from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1993 color:guitar width:3 bar:Paul from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2003 color:vocals bar:Paul from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2003 color:guitar width:3 bar:Paul from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2001 color:bass width:3 bar:Paul from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2001 color:guitar width:7 bar:Paul from:01/07/2010 till:end color:vocals bar:Paul from:01/07/2010 till:end color:guitar width:3 bar:Les from:01/04/1981 till:01/10/1982 color:guitar bar:Les from:01/04/1981 till:01/10/1982 color:back width:3 bar:Les from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1993 color:guitar bar:Les from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2003 color:guitar bar:Les from:01/07/2010 till:end color:guitar bar:Loz from:start till:01/04/1981 color:guitar bar:Loz from:start till:01/04/1981 color:back width:3 bar:Mick from:start till:01/04/1981 color:guitar bar:Mick from:start till:01/04/1981 color:back width:3 bar:Chris from:start till:01/06/1978 color:bass bar:Nick from:01/06/1978 till:01/10/1982 color:bass bar:Nick from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2003 color:bass bar:Nick from:01/07/2010 till:end color:bass bar:Jeremy from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1993 color:bass bar:Luigi from:start till:01/07/1978 color:drums bar:PaulR from:01/07/1978 till:01/07/1980 color:drums bar:PaulR from:01/07/2016 till:end color:drums bar:Jamie from:01/07/1980 till:01/10/1982 color:drums bar:Jamie from:01/02/1981 till:01/10/1982 color:back width:3 bar:Steve from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1993 color:drums bar:Richard from:01/07/2001 till:01/07/2003 color:drums bar:Richard from:01/07/2010 till:01/07/2016 color:drums bar:Alan from:start till:01/06/1978 color:keys bar:Keith from:01/03/1978 till:01/09/1979 color:keys bar:Mike from:01/09/1979 till:01/10/1982 color:keys bar:Mike from:01/02/1981 till:01/10/1982 color:back width:3 bar:Andy from:01/07/1991 till:01/07/1993 color:keys bar:Robin from:01/07/1999 till:01/07/2003 color:keys bar:Robin from:01/07/2010 till:end color:keys bar:Noel from:01/03/1978 till:01/02/1981 color:back LineData = at:01/05/1978 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/05/1980 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/1981 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/1982 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/1992 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/2000 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/2002 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/2011 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/2017 color:black layer:back width:1 at:01/07/2020 color:black layer:back width:1

References

External links

* * * * {{Authority control English new wave musical groups English soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1977 Rock music groups from London Provogue Records artists Second British Invasion artists Atlantic Records artists Chiswick Records artists