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Motors

The Motors were a British pub rock band, formed in London in 1977 by former Ducks Deluxe members Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster together with guitarist Rob Hendry (who was replaced in May 1977 by Bram Tchaikovsky) and drummer Ricky Slaughter. Their biggest success was with the McMaster penned song "Airport", a number 4 UK hit single in 1978. Garvey and McMaster dissolved the band in 1982. (more on wikipedia)

Links To Peel[]

Peel was an early and enthusiastic supporter of the Motors. In the 1977-02-19 edition of Sounds, he praised the band’s demo tape in his growing collection of recordings from unsigned bands:

“Nestling alongside the Fabulous Poodles tapes is one by a combo briefly called the Garvey McMaster Group, but now, I understand, known as the Motors. They have a song called “Bring In The Morning Light” which will drive you mad with pleasure and can remove all those troublesome stains, even blood, from your fabrics.”[1]

The Motors' debut live performance was at the Marquee Club in March 1977 and they recorded three songs as their first session the same month (on 22 March 1977).  By May they had been signed to Virgin Records, and recorded material for another session on 12 September of that year. At the end of the year, Peel made his own 1977 Festive Fifty, listing Dancing The Night Away as his favourite track of the year and including three other songs from their debut LP. However, on his show on 04 August 1978, Peel was somewhat disappointed that the Motors had taken a new musical direction towards more of an ELO sound, which was nevertheless the year when they had their biggest hit Airport: it reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.

It appears the band did not entirely forget his part in their brief moment of fame: a picture of him appears on the cover of their 1980 flop single That's What John Said, which, ironically, Peel appears never to have played. Fortnightly magazine Smash Hits ran a competition in their May 29 1980 issue in which readers were invited to fill in the speech bubbles which featured on the single picture sleeve, "in the most entertaining way you can". The first prize was lunch with John Peel.[2]

Festive Fifty Entries[]

Peelenium[]

Sessions[]

  • Both sessions available on The Virgin Years 4xCD, 2015 (Caroline International CAROLR010CD)

1. Recorded: 1977-03-22. Broadcast: 22 April 1977. Repeated: 11 May 1977, 27 May 1977, 25 August 1977

  • Emergency / Bringing In The Morning Light / Dancing The Night Away

2. Recorded: 1977-09-12. Broadcast: 21 September 1977. Repeated: 20 October 1977, 02 December 1977, 28 December 1977, 05 August 1978 (Paul Gambaccini)

  • Phoney Heaven / Freeze / You Beat The Hell Out Of Me / Dancing The Night Away

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.)

1977
  • 24 August 1977: Bringing In The Morning Light rough mix of version on forthcoming (album - 1) Virgin
  • 30 August 1977: Dancing The Night Away (LP - 1) Virgin
  • 30 August 1977: Freeze (LP - 1) Virgin
  • 30 August 1977: Phoney Heaven (LP - 1) Virgin (JP: 'And that little set also for Dave Marshall too, sorry I left your name out at the beginning, David....from their forthcoming LP, not sure of the date of it because this is a very early copy of the record, in fact it may even be slightly remixed before it gets into your homes, but get into your homes it certainly should, because I think it's an excellent record from an excellent band, and I was rather surprised by the only polite reception they got at the Reading Festival, but I enjoyed the Reading Festival anyway, although I don't think there were any amazing musical highlights. The Festival always reaffirms my faith in human nature in a way, because there were so many agreeable people there, like the lads sleeping in the van next to ours, the members of Motors in fact, and David Goughan and a whole host of other people. The list is considerable really, if you can be bothered to make one.')
  • PM033 (08 September 1977 or 09 September 1977) (Kid Jensen sitting in): Dancing The Night Away (album - 1) Virgin V 2089
  • PM033 (08 September 1977 or 09 September 1977) (Kid Jensen sitting in): Bring In The Morning Light (album - 1) Virgin V 2089
  • PM033 (08 September 1977 or 09 September 1977) (Kid Jensen sitting in): Whiskey And Wine (album - 1) Virgin V 2089
  • John Peel's 70's Mixtape 3A: Dancing The Night Away (7") Virgin
  • 16 September 1977: Cold Love (LP - 1) Virgin
  • 26 September 1977: Summertime (Is Calling) (LP - 1) Virgin
  • 15 November 1977: Be What You Gotta Be (7") Virgin VS 194
  • 15 November 1977: You Beat The Hell Outta Me (7" - Be What You Gotta Be) Virgin VS 194
  • 22 November 1977: You Beat The Hell Outta Me (7" - Be What You Gotta Be) Virgin VS 194
  • 23 November 1977: Be What You Gotta Be (7") Virgin VS 194
  • 21 December 1977: Bring In The Morning Light
  • 21 December 1977: Emergency
  • 22 December 1977: Bringing In The Morning Light (1977 Festive Fifty #56)
  • 26 December 1977: Emergency (1977 Festive Fifty #18)
  • 27 December 1977: You Beat The Hell Out Of Me (1977 Festive Fifty #03)
  • 27 December 1977: Dancing The Night Away (1977 Festive Fifty #01)
1978
1980s
1990s
Bram Tchaikovsky

See Also[]

External Links[]

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