The Flys | |
---|---|
Origin | Coventry, England |
Genres | Punk rock |
Years active | 1976 | –1980
Labels | EMI, Parlophone |
Associated acts | Midnight Circus, The Lover Speaks |
Past members | |
Dave Freeman Joe Hughes Neil O'Connor Pete King Graham Deacon Lyn Dobson |
The Flys were a British punk rock band that originally formed in 1976 in Coventry, England. After the self-release of their initial EP, Bunch of Fives, they were signed by EMI Records. With EMI they released the albums Waikiki Beach Refugees and Own. In 1980 they changed labels to Parlophone and soon disbanded.
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Flys evolved from a band from Coventry, England named Midnight Circus. Midnight Circus was composed of Dave Freeman (guitar, vocals), Joe Hughes (bass), Neil O'Connor (vocals, guitar, keyboard),[1] and "a string of unnamed drummers".[2] In 1976 their manager's brother, Pete King, joined in on drums and Flys were born.[2]
Their career began by regularly opening for the English punk band the Buzzcocks.[2] In late 1977, with Lyn Dobson on saxophone, they self-released the EP[2] Bunch of Five with the tracks "Saturday Sunrise", "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", "Can I Crash Here?", "Me and My Buddies", and "Just For Your Sex".[1] The EP, particularly "Love and a Molotov Cocktail", caught the attention EMI Records, a label that rejected Midnight Circus,[3] who signed them to a deal.[2]
Their initial EMI release came on 20 January 1978, the EP Love and a Molotov Cocktail, which was a release of three of the tracks from Bunch of Fives; "Can I Crash Here?", "Civilization", and "Love and a Molotov Cocktail".[1][4] "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" would also be released as a single, "the first undisputed classic 45 of 1978".[2] In March they would release the single "Fun City" which had another Bunch of Five track, "E.C.4.", as its b side.[1]
The release of their first LP, Waikiki Beach Refugees, came on 17 October 1978.[5] It contained the previously released track "Fun City", the future single "Oh Beverly",[1] and the title track "Waikiki Beach Refugees" which EMI released as a single on yellow vinyl.[5]
They would spend early 1979 sharing the bills with such acts as The Psychedelic Furs,[6] the Pretenders,[7] and Black Slate.[7] It was around this time that Pete King, who would later join After the Fire, left the band and was replaced on drums by Graham Deacon.[1][2][8] In April EMI released a compilation of early punk 45s called The Rare Stuff that contained the three tracks from the EP Love and a Molotov Cocktail.[9]
Their second LP, Own, was released on 11 October 1979 and contained 14 new tracks[8] and would be their last release on EMI.[1] Own did not attract the attention that Waikiki Beach Refugees did[2][10] and the band moved to Parlophone Records. With Parlophone they released an EP, Four from the Square, and a single, "What Will Mother Say?", before disbanding.[1]
In the wake of the departure of Neil O'Connor, who joined his sister Hazel's band, the Flys disbanded in 1980.[1][2] In 1991 See for Miles Records released a Flys compilation album, The Flys Buzz Back,[1] and in 2001 Waikiki Beach Refugees was reissued with eight bonus tracks covering their brief history.[11] Also in 1991, "Love and a Molotov Cocktail" was covered by the German band Die Toten Hosen on their album Learning English, Lesson One.[12] Joe Hughes and David Freeman would work together again in the short-lived 1980s new wave band The Lover Speaks.[13]
Although they were rooted in the 1970s British punk scene and influenced by The Damned and the Buzzcocks their music did not always fall into that mold.[2] Pop punk, referred to as 'poppy punk'[14] and 'half-punk, half pop'[2] is closer to the style of their actual playing.