The Monochrome Set

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The Monochrome Set
Bid, John Haney
Background information
Origin	England
Genre(s)	Post Punk Indie pop
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards
Years active	1976–1985 1990–1998
Label(s)	Rough Trade Cherry Red Warner Bros. Records

The Monochrome Set was a UK post-punk band originally formed in 1976 from the remnants of a college group called The B-Sides (whose members had included Adam Ant). The band is notable for its humorous lyrics, the laconic delivery of lead singer Bid and the idiosyncratically retrogressive playing style of original guitarist Lester Square.

1 Original band: 1976-1985
2 Reformed: 1990-1998
3 Discography (incomplete)
- 3.1 Singles
- 3.2 Albums
4 External links

[edit] Original band: 1976-1985

The original line-up consisted of Indian -born lead singer and principal songwriter Bid (real name Ganesh Seshadri), Canadian guitarist Lester Square (real name Tom Hardy), drummer John Haney, and bassist Charlie Harper. The band went through several bassists in the next few years (including Andy Warren of The Ants, a childhood friend of Bid).

Experimental filmmaker Tony Potts began collaborating with the band in 1979, designing slide shows and films to project during their live appearances. Because of this, he is often described as being the band's "fifth member."

They released several singles for the Rough Trade label before recording two albums for Virgin Records imprint Dindisc in 1980. In 1982, the band switched to Cherry Red to release their third full-length album, Eligible Bachelors. Lester Square and John Haney left soon afterwards, and were replaced by keyoardist Carrie Booth and drummer Nicholas Weslowski. This line-up recorded 1982 single "Cast a Long Shadow" for Cherry Red before Booth was in turn replaced by new lead guitarist James 'Foz' Foster. With this line-up, The Monochrome Set recorded the relatively mainstream album The Lost Weekend for major label Warner Bros. Records in 1985.

The Lost Weekend failed commercially, and after a few singles, the band officially broke up, though they served as Jessica Griffin's backing band on the first album by the Would-Be-Goods, The Camera Loves Me.

[edit] Reformed: 1990-1998

In early 1990, Bid, Lester Square and Andy Warren reformed the band, with the addition of keyboardist Orson Presence and drummer Mike Slocombe (who was quickly replaced bY Trevor Ready). The new band toured extensively--especially in Japan, where Bid had become a major star.

The band released several low-key albums for Cherry Red Records during the 1990s, and has been on haitus since 1998, though Bid has since recorded a number of albums with his new band, Scarlet's Well.