| The Wake | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Genres | Post-punk, Gothic rock, Indie pop |
| Years active | 1982–1994, 2009- |
| Labels | Factory Records, Sarah Records, LTM |
The Wake were a British post punk and later indie pop band, founded in Glasgow in 1981 by Gerard "Caesar" McInulty (formerly of Altered Images), Steven Allen and Joe Donnelly, who was later replaced by Bobby Gillespie. Steven's sister Carolyn Allen soon joined, and remained in the band thereafter.
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The Wake released their first single on their own Scan 45 label, coupling together "On Our Honeymoon" and "Give Up". This single eventually caught the attention of New Order manager Rob Gretton, who helped the band sign to Factory Records in 1982 and record an LP (Harmony) at Strawberry Studio in Stockport. This was followed by a number of singles on Factory and its Belgian sister label Factory Benelux. In 1983, The Wake toured with New Order, and thus received critical attention but were often unfavourably compared to their more celebrated labelmates. Gillespie was asked to leave in 1983, subsequently playing drums with The Jesus and Mary Chain and achieving fame with his own band Primal Scream. Alexander 'Mac' Macpherson replaced Gillespie in 1983. That same year the band recorded a session on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 programme. The band toured extensively and scored an indie hit with their 1984 single "Talk About The Past" which featured Vini Reilly of Durutti Column on piano. The recording and release of their seminal 1985 album Here Comes Everybody marked the apex of their career. Further releases were few and far between: one more single "Of The Matter" emerged in 1985 before their last release for Factory, a 4-track EP entitled "Something That No One Else Could Bring" finally appeared in 1987.
In 1988, disillusioned with the lack of proper promotion and indeed apathy from Factory Records, The Wake left the label and signed to Bristol's legendary Sarah Records, releasing two singles and two LPs, the last being 1994's Tidal Wave of Hype. By this point, once again down to a three piece featuring McInulty, Allen and Steven, they also shared personnel with another Glasgow-based band on Sarah, The Orchids, with whom they had also played a few live gigs. When Sarah shut down in 1995, The Wake effectively dissolved.
Former bassist Alex Macpherson formed The Cat Club and signed to Jive Records. The Cat Club released "One Last Kiss / Wild" in 1987. Macpherson later formed Opium, releasing material on the Neuropa label.
For a few years, McInulty concentrated on other activities outside of recording music - notably writing scripts for plays that featured Allen in an acting role. McInulty and Allen eventually took up writing music again, and after a few tentative demos for possible new material later hooked up with Bobby Wratten ( The Field Mice / Northern Picture Library / Trembling Blue Stars ) under the name The Occasional Keepers. They released the albums "The Beauty Of An Empty Vessel" and "True North" on LTM, which also incidentally reissued the entire Wake, Field Mice and Orchids back catalogue on remastered CDs containing all the original albums and single/EP cuts collected together.
In autumn 2009, The Wake (McInulty and Allen) came together once again to record a new album, "A Light Far Out", set for release in early 2012.
On the 12 December 2009, The Wake performed a one-off concert, with other Factory labelmates such as Section 25 and A Certain Ratio, at the Plan K venue in Brussels.
On 28 February 2010, the band performed a 45-minute set at the London Popfest at the Islington venue, the Lexington. They were a last-minute replacement for another band who had dropped out. The set included early tracks such as "Testament", "The Old Men" and "Favour", as well as "O Pamela" and "Here Comes Everybody", from their Factory Records period, plus later Sarah Records recordings. Since then the group have also performed in New York and Paris.
In December 2011, the band revealed in an interview with Jacob Graham of The Drums that an as-yet-untitled new album is set for release in early 2012. [1]
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.[2]
as The Occasional Keepers: