The Wild Swans

Paul Simpson, one of the most gifted and underrated artists of the Liverpool Scene, began his musical career alongside Julian Cope in The Teardrop Explodes, providing the band with their name and sharing writing credits on their first two singles.He formed The Wild Swans in 1980, first recruiting James Weston (bass) and Justin Stavely (drums) ex-Teardrop Ged Quinn (keyboards) and ex-Systems Jerry Kelly (guitar). A year later, with Rolo McGinty now guesting on bass and Bunnyman Pete DeFreitas replacing Stavely on drums, they released the classic single The Revolutionary Spirit on Liverpool's Zoo label. When the song was included on the CD retrospective of the label's output, Bill Drummond singled it out as the best track Zoo ever produced (Drummond later went on to form The KLF).The original Wild Swans recorded two sessions for the BBC, including one of those chosen by John Peel to begin the Strange Fruit releases several years later, and did a few live shows which included supporting The Teardrop Explodes during the infamous "Club Zoo" in Liverpool during March 1981. This was immediately followed by a full UK tour supporting Echo and The Bunnymen.The band split in 1982 but reformed in 1986 with new member Joseph Fearon on bass. The group recorded a new Radio 1 session for long-time supporter Janice Long before signing a 2 album deal with Seymour Stein's legendary Sire Records. The first album, "Bringing Home The Ashes", was recorded in 1987 and, after Kelly's departure, Simpson and Fearon recorded "Space Flower" in 1989.The early Zoo and BBC material was issued on Renascent Records' 2003 release "Incandescent" and the 2 Sire albums are now available on Korova/Rhino Records in a 2CD set under the title of "Magnitude".In the summer of 2007 Paul began writing and demoing a new Wild Swans album. For news regarding the album title, track listing, band line-up and record label watch this space. The Wild Swans have also been booked to record a new BBC session for summer 2008.

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