Age Of Chance

Age Of Chance were a British alternative rock-dance crossover band from Leeds, England, active from 1985 to 1991. They were perhaps most known for their mutant metallic cover of Prince's "Kiss". Musically they were a sonic collision of punk, hip hop, industrial rock and Northern soul. Steven E provided a distinctive strident nasal vocal style, often employing a megaphone. He left the band during the recording of their second LP Mecca' forcing the rest of the band to recruit a new singer, Charles Hutchinson, in January 1989, and "re-vocal" the LP, which was released as Mecca in 1990. The main single from that collection, "Higher Than Heaven" reached No. 53 in the UK, despite being voted "record of the week" by BBC Radio One's breakfast show listeners. When Hutchinson left, band member Perry took on vocal duties briefly before the band split in 1991. Striking cover art visuals were a collaboration between the group and The Designers Republic, who would go on to graphic design fame. The band were contemporaries of Pop Will Eat Itself, whose music also featured rock guitar, dance beats and copious samples, and other early UK samplist groups such as Coldcut.

Links To Peel
Age of Chance first came to national attention in 1985, when their debut single, "Motorcity/ Everlasting Yeah" released on their own label, Riot Bible, was picked up and championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ, John Peel. A session followed, recorded at Maida vale studios and four songs, "Going, Going Gone Man, "Mob Hut", "The Morning After the Sixties" and "I Don't Know and I Don't Care" were recorded. "I Don't Know.." was re-recorded for Gunfire and Pianos, a compilation album released by Zigzag magazine. They released their second self-funded single, "Bible of the Beats" / "Liquid Jungle" in January 1986, which led to an invitation to contribute a track, "From Now On, This Will Be Your God" on the NME C86 compilation tape. The band made their London debut at the ICA Rock week in July 1986. A second Peel session was recorded in June 1986, with "Be Fast, Be Clean, Be Cheap", "From Now On, This Will be Your God", "Kiss" and "How the West was Won". "Kiss" was recorded for the John Peel session while the Prince single was still in the charts. The band then signed to the Sheffield independent record label, Fon, for "Kiss" and its remix 12"s and six track mini-LP Crush Collision. "Kiss" was No. 2 in the 1986 Festive Fifty.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * 1985 Festive Fifty: Motor City #30
 * 1986 Festive Fifty: Bible Of The Beats #27
 * 1986 Festive Fifty: Kiss #02

Sessions
1. Recorded: 1985-10-06. Broadcast: 29 October 1985. Repeated: 27 November 1985, 23 December 1985 2. Recorded: 1986-06-10. Broadcast: 23 June 1986. Repeated: 09 July 1986, 22 December 1986
 * Mob! Hut! / The Going Going Gone Man / The Morning After The Sixties / I Don't Know And I Don't Care


 * Be Fast Be Clean Be Cheap / How The West Was Won / From Now On, This Will Be Your God / Kiss

Other Shows Played
(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.)

1985 1986 1987 1990 1992
 * Peel 010 (BFBS): 'Motor City (7")' (Riot Bible)
 * 18 December 1985: Motor City (7") Riot Bible FF #30
 * 17 November 1986: Kiss (7") Fon
 * 26 November 1986: Kiss (7”) Fon
 * 02 December 1986: Kiss (7") Fon
 * 09 December 1986: Kiss (12") Fon
 * Peel 047 (BFBS): 'Bible Of The Beats (7")' (Riot Bible)
 * 24 December 1986: 'Bible Of The Beats (7 inch)' (Riot Bible) FF #27
 * 30 December 1986: 'Kiss (7 inch)' (Riot Bible) FF #02
 * 23 February 1987: Crash Conscious (cut)
 * Peel 051 (BFBS): 'Kisspower (12")' (Fon)
 * Peel 053 (BFBS): 'Be Fast Be Clean Be Cheap (12"-Crush Collision)' (Fon)
 * Peel 073 (BFBS): 'Hold On (LP-One Thousand Years Of Trouble)' (Virgin)
 * 26 October 1987: 'We Got Trouble (LP-One Thousand Years Of Trouble)' (Virgin)
 * 02 November 1987: Hold On (LP - One Thousand Years of Trouble) Virgin
 * 19 February 1990: Refuse To Lose (album - Mecca) Virgin
 * 31 October 1992: She Is Filled With Secrets / Motor City
 * 01 November 1992 (BFBS): She Is Filled With Secrets / Motor City