The Armoury Show were a British new wave band, formed in 1983 and consisting of Richard Jobson on vocals, Russell Webb on bass guitar,

John McGeoch John Alexander McGeoch (25 August 1955 – 4 March 2004) was a Scottish musician and songwriter. He is best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Magazine (1977-1980) and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1980-1982). He has been described as one o ...

on guitar and John Doyle on drums. The band was named after The

Armory Show The 1913 Armory Show, also known as the International Exhibition of Modern Art, was a show organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors in 1913. It was the first large exhibition of modern art in America, as well as one of ...

, a famous 1913

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

held in New York. They released six singles and one studio album in their brief existence.

History

The band comprised Richard Jobson, Russell Webb,

and John Doyle. Each member had previously been in critically acclaimed and commercially successful bands; Jobson and Webb were in

The Skids Skids are a Scottish punk rock and new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Thomas Kellichan (drums) and Richard Jo ...

, whilst McGeoch and Doyle had been in

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 ...

pioneers

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 ...

. The Skids had dissolved in 1981 and Magazine in 1982, each following the release of their final albums (''

Joy The word joy refers to the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, and is typically associated with feelings of intense, long lasting happiness. Dictionary definitions Dictionary definitions of joy typically include a sense of ...

'' and '' Magic, Murder and the Weather'', respectively). John McGeoch had left Magazine in 1980, before the recording of their last album, joining

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts. ''Q'' magazine in ...

. He also replaced

Stuart Adamson William Stuart Adamson (11 April 1958 – 16 December 2001) was a Scottish rock guitarist and singer. Adamson began his career in the late 1970s as a founding member and performer with the punk rock band Skids. After leaving Skids in 1981, he ...

for a

Peel session 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 ...

recorded by The Skids in 1981. According to Russell Webb, in the sleeve notes of the 2013 re-issue of their album ''Waiting for the Floods'', the intention was not to be a band, but a collective of musicians getting together to write songs and make music in the studio. McGeoch persuaded his compatriots to take their songs on the road and, following a press showcase at The Venue in London, the band signed 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 ...

and

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 ...

America. Their debut single, "Castles in Spain", was released in 1984, followed later that year by "We Can Be Brave Again". Given the green light to record an album, the band spent four weeks at Manor Studios in rural Oxfordshire, with producer

Nick Launay Nicolas Launay is an English record producer, composer and recording engineer. He is one of the most sought after record producers in the world due to his success with recent albums by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Anna Calvi, IDLES, Black Re ...

at the controls. The resultant album, '' Waiting for the Floods'', and accompanying singles "The Glory of Love" and a re-release of "Castles in Spain" came out in 1985. Richard Jobson spent less and less time with the band. In 1986, following the tour to promote the album, both McGeoch and Doyle left the band, with the former joining

Public Image Ltd. Public Image Ltd (abbreviated and stylized as PiL) are an English post-punk band (and incorporated limited company) formed by singer John Lydon (previously known as the singer of Sex Pistols), guitarist Keith Levene, bassist Jah Wobble, and dr ...

and the latter working with former

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

lead singer/guitarist

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist in 1977 whe ...

. When Jobson returned from China, where he had been working as model, he reunited with Webb, calling on Dave Lockwood (guitar) and Ray Weston (drums) to record tracks for their next album. The singles "Love in Anger" and "New York City" followed, In 1988, it was announced that the band had split up, with what would have been their second album ''Monkey Cry'' promoted as Richard Jobson's solo debut ''Badman''. After a brief solo career Jobson became a television presenter and film director. Webb pursued a solo career before joining McGeoch in Public Image Ltd in 1992, making his live debut at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

. In 2019, it was announced that the band would be resurrected under the amended name The Armory Show with a new line up (Jobson being the only original member), featuring Nickolas Young & Rory Cowieson of Scottish shoegaze band Domiciles and Nick Hernandez of Foreignfox.

Personnel

* Richard Jobson ("The Captain" during the early days in 1983) – vocals, guitar *

("The Legend" during 1983) – guitar, vocals * Russell Webb ("Universe" during 1983) – bass guitar, vocals * John Doyle ("Doylie" during 1983) – drums * Ray McVeigh (ex- The Professionals) – guitar (replaced John McGeoch for a while in 1986) * Dave Lockwood – guitar (replaced Ray McVeigh) *

Ray Weston Ray may refer to: Fish * Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea * Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin Science and mathematics * Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point * Ray (gra ...

– drums (replaced John Doyle)

Discography

Bibliography

References

External links