They also recorded a Peel Session on 12 February 1979, with a line-up of Casey, Broudie, Johnson and Budgie the session was broadcast on 6 March 1979. The unintentional consequence of the EP was the formation of the Zoo label, which went on to release early material by Echo & the Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes, amongst others. During their time, Big in Japan recorded four songs which were included in From Y to Z and Never Again EP, released afterwards to pay off debts. The band broke up after a last gig at Eric's on 26 August 1978. In the 1980s, Drummond became manager of Cope's band, The Teardrop Explodes. According to Cope's autobiography, "Of course, Bill Drummond was into the whole thing and told us we needed 14,000 signatures, then they'd split up. Displayed in local shop Probe Records the petition gathered numerous signatures, including those of the band themselves. Hatred of the band reached such a level that a petition calling on them to split up was launched by a jealous young Julian Cope resulting from a rivalry with the Crucial Three. In January 1978, Budgie (previously in The Spitfire Boys and later member of The Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees) replaced Allen on drums, and in early June, Johnson was sacked and replaced with ex-Deaf School Steve Lindsey, who was replaced in July by Dave Balfe (previously in Dalek I Love You), the last member to join. In October, Ambrose Reynolds joined to replace Ward who then left that December, but Reynolds himself quit shortly afterwards and was replaced by Holly Johnson. In August, the line-up grew, joining Jayne Casey (vocals), Ian Broudie (guitar) and Clive Langer (guitar), who quit in September, but not before the band recorded their first song released, "Big In Japan", which appeared in the 7" single compilation Brutality Religion and a dance beat, released the same year. Their stage show was unique: lead singer Jayne Casey would perform with a lampshade over her shaved head, guitarist Bill Drummond played in a kilt and bassist Holly Johnson performed in a flamboyant manner which he would later take further in Frankie Goes to Hollywood.Īs an initial idea of Deaf School's Clive Langer, his friend Bill Drummond (guitar, vocals), Kevin Ward (bass, vocals) and Phil Allen (drums), formed the band in May 1977, playing only three gigs, the first of them at Bretton Hall College, in Yorkshire. Drummond instigated the KLF and its many offshoots.Big in Japan began from the same Merseyside scene which would produce Echo & the Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, OMD, and Dalek I Love You.īig In Japan started off playing gigs around Liverpool, such as Ruffwood School in Kirkby along with Wah! Heat, but most notably at Eric's Club. Balfe joined Zoo's the Teardrop Explodes and started Food, an EMI subsidiary that introduced Jesus Jones and Blur to the world. Broudie moved through a handful of acts - Original Mirrors, Ellery Bop, Care, and the long-running Lightning Seeds - and produced dozens of bands across the '80s, '90s, and 2000s, including Echo & the Bunnymen, the Fall, Alison Moyet, and the Coral. Casey went on to the brilliant Pink Military, Johnson formed Frankie Goes to Hollywood, and Budgie became a Banshee. The group's membership, too, proved astonishingly far-sighted. Further material leaked out across various compilation albums and revealed just how far-reaching Big in Japan's musical ambitions were. Three months later, with Drummond and Balfe helming the Zoo label - which launched many of post-punk Liverpool's most storied bands, including Drummond and Balfe's Lori & the Chameleons project - an EP of four Big in Japan tracks was released as From Y to Z and Never Again. The petition failed to break up the band, but Big in Japan were not long for the world regardless Holly Johnson was evicted and replaced by David Balfe in early 1978 and, in August, the band broke up. Local producer Clive Langer was a firm friend and fan, however he produced the band's first single, released by the local Eric's label in late 1977 and featuring a track by the Yachts, under their Chuddy Nuddies alias, on the B-side. Violently theatrical, the band was dividing opinions almost from the moment it emerged, with Casey and Johnson particularly prone to flamboyance. never escaped the rehearsal room), and they were so furiously disliked on the local scene that the young Julian Cope circulated a petition begging them to break up.īig in Japan formed in late 1977 in Liverpool around guitarist Bill Drummond and several short-lived lineups that finally settled down around vocalist Jayne Casey, guitarist Ian Broudie, bassist Holly Johnson, and drummer Budgie. the major differences being that Big in Japan gigged and recorded with some success ( the London S.S. In the annals of Liverpool punk, Big in Japan occupy much the same legendary status as London's the London S.S.
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