New Album APB THREE Click on image.See review at www.ripplemusic.blogspot.com
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APB formed in 1979 in the small rural town of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Ignoring their remote location the boys took inspiration from the punk do it yourself ethic of the burgeoning independent music scene. With a hard-working approach to writing, rehearsing and performing, George Cheyne (drums), Glenn Roberts (guitar) and Iain Slater (bass, vocals) became APB. Meanwhile in Aberdeen, a small independent record company called Oily had started to release records and they were impressed enough by the band's live shows to release a single in 1981.
The song was "Chain Reaction", which had long been a favourite at gigs. It was basically a two and a half minute punk/pop song with fuzzy distorted guitar and Scottish inflected vocals, but already the band was evolving with a sparser and more rhythmical sound. Bootsy, Clinton, GO4, ESG, Buzzcocks, Clash, were all filtered through three teenagers from Aberdeenshire and came out as infectious and rhythm-driven pure ! The change in sound first became evident with their second single for Oily, "I'd Like To Shoot You Down" (1981).The single did well and sold out its first pressing, with some copies finding their way to New York City. Soon it was regularly played at most of NYC's underground dance clubs.Unaware of the popularity of 'Shoot You Down' in the USA the band and Oily were busy pushing their third seven-inch, "Palace Filled With Love" (1982).
This is when the Radio 1 sessions began. Peel and Jensen ( and lastly Peter Powell) were playing the tunes nightly and offering sessions despite the lack of a major record deal. So, in between USA trips, the band travelled to London to record their first BBC session for John Peel. He was full of enthusiasm for the band and gave their next single "Rainy Day" (1982) loads of plays!
Nick Jones joined in 1982 playing percussion (Later to be replaced by Mikey Craighead) , adding another dimension to the proceedings. The band then went to NYC to record another single at PlazaSound On the 7th floor of Radio City. ( Sadlly not there any more!)
