The Heart Throbs were an indie-rock band from Reading, UK. They released three albums on the One Little Indian label before splitting up in 1993. The Heart Throbs formed in 1986, initially by Rose Carlotti and Stephen Ward, both college students, who recruited Rose's sister Rachel DeFreitas and Mark Side. Rose and Rachel are sisters of the late Echo & the Bunnymen drummer Pete DeFreitas. The band released their first single in mid-1987 on Marc Riley's In-Tape label. They were then signed by Rough Trade, for whom they released two singles. After two further singles on their own label, Profumo (a reference to John Profumo), The Heart Throbs were signed by the UK record label One Little Indian Records.
Peel played the band's debut single in 1987 and continued playing their material until the mid 90's. When the band released their Total Abandon EP, Peel described it in a review for NME Singles Reviews published on 5th October 1991, as 'interesting but then so is being beaten up, I suppose.'
