Au Pairs (band)

Au Pairs

Background information
Origin	Birmingham, England
Genres	Post-punk
Years active	1978-1983

Members	Lesley Woods, Jane Munro, Paul Foad, Pete Hammond

Past members	Nick O'Connor, Jayne Morris, Graeme Hamilton, Cara Tivey

The Au Pairs were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1978 and lasted until 1983. They produced two studio albums and three singles. Their songs were said to have "contempt for the cliches of contemporary sexual politics"^[1] and their music has been compared to the Gang of Four and the Young Marble Giants.^[2] The band was led by Lesley Woods, who was once described as "one of the most striking women in British rock".^[3]

Career

Their first album Playing with a Different Sex is considered a post-punk classic with strong, sarcastic songs like "It's Obvious" and "We're So Cool" taking a dry look at gender relations. Other songs, such as "Armagh" with its refrain, "we don't torture" criticized the British government's treatment of Irish Republican prisoners in the then ongoing Troubles in Northern Ireland, which caused some controversy at the time. The band performed in 1980 for the concert film Urgh! A Music War.

The band's second album, Sense and Sensuality (1982), showed an even greater influence of jazz, soul, funk and disco on the band's sound, but was less well received.^[4]

Following the departure of Jane Munro in 1983, she was replaced by Nick O'Connor (who also played piano / synthesizers in the group). At this time the group were further augmented by Jayne Morris (percussion and backing vocals), Graeme Hamilton (trumpet) and Cara Tivey on additional keyboards. The band broke up in 1983, just before they were about to go into the studio to record an album with producer Steve Lillywhite.

Woods formed an all woman band called the Darlings in the late 1980s, but then left the music industry. She now works as a lawyer in London.^[5] Guitarist Paul Foad remains an active musician, playing with Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes, a Jamaican jazz band, and teaching guitar in and around Birmingham. He has also published a guitar technique book, co-written with Stuart Ritchie, titled The Caged Guitarist (2000). Bass player Jane Munro works as an alternative therapist (aromatherapy, reflexology and Indian head massage) in Birmingham. Pete Hammond also remains an active musician and teaches percussion in Birmingham.

Reception

In a review of the band's debut show at the Whisky-a-Go-Go, critic Richard Cromelin said "When the crowd at the Whisky kept calling Au Pairs back to the stage for encores Wednesday night, it was as if they were trying to tell the group's singer Lesley Woods that her band had done just fine and she could go ahead and loosen up a little." (Los Angeles Times, 1981)^[6]
Writing about their show at the Ritz, John Rockwell stated that Lesley Woods "and the band were able to build the insinuating monotones of the songs early in the set through street taunts into a rousing rock-and-roll climax." (New York Times, 1981)^[2]
Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way, as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual politics.^[7]

Discography

Albums

Playing with a Different Sex (Human Records, HUMAN 1, 1981) (No. 33 UK)^[8]
Sense and Sensuality (Kamera Records, KAM 010, 1982) (No. 79 UK)^[8]

Singles

"You" / "Domestic Departure" / "Kerb Crawler" (021 Records, OTO 2, 1979)
"It's Obvious" / "Diet" (021 Records, OTO 4, 1980) (No. 37 on the US Billboard Club Play Singles charts)
"Inconvenience" / "Pretty Boys" (Human Records, HUM 8, 1981)
"Inconvenience" / "Pretty Boys" / "Headache For Michelle" (remix) (Human Records, HUM 8/12, 1981)

Lives & Compilations

Live in Berlin (AKA Records, AKA6, recorded 1982, released 1983)
Shocks to the System: The Very Best of the Au Pairs (Cherry Red, CDMRED161, 1999)
Equal But Different - BBC Sessions 79-81 (RPM, RPM139)
Stepping Out of Line: The Anthology (Castle Music, CMQDD1338, released May 2006 in the UK)

Original members

Lesley Woods - guitar/vocals
Paul Foad - guitar/vocals
Jane Munro - bass
Pete Hammond - drums

Other members (1983)

Nick O'Connor - bass/keyboards/backing vocals
Graeme Hamilton - trumpet
Jayne Morris - percussion/backing vocals
Cara Tivey - additional keyboards

References

↑ Seaton, Matt (6 October 2011). "Old music: Au Pairs – It's Obvious". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
↑ 2.0 2.1 Rockwell, John (28 September 1981). "POP: PIGBAG, AU PAIRS". New York Times. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
↑ Lee, Craig (21 June 1985). "3 JOHNS AT FENDER'S ADD UP TO A VERY GOOD TIME". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
↑ Unterberger, Richie. "Sense and Sensuality - the Au Pairs". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
↑ "Barrister at Law London". Lesley Longhurst-Woods. 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2013-02-20.
↑ Cromelin, Richard (2 October 1981). "Au Pairs Debuts at the Whisky". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 18 September 2013.
↑ Gaar, Gillian G. (2002). She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock and Roll. Seal Press. pp. 203–204. ISBN 1-58005-078-6.
↑ 8.0 8.1 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 33. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.