The Highliners

The Highliners is a British rock and roll / psychobilly band formed in London in 1984 by Luke Morgan, lead singer and Chris Finch on saxophone having met at Central School of Art and Design and Kev Feeney aka Stretch on bass. The name The Highliners came from the Mk2 Ford Consuls and Zephyrs they all owned and early line-ups included members of The Cropdusters and Simon Collins the Dean of Fashion at Parsons School New York. In 1985 Morgan, Finch, Feeney and new drummer Tim Potter took a pink split screen VW bus to France for a 3 month tour of the Riviera. Later drummers included Dean, Andy and Mikey Stafford until Roy Williams of Nervous Records introduced Ginger (Steve Meadham) from The Meteors, Ricochets and Guana Batz in 1986. By 1987 this four piece had a TV residency on the channel 4 show Comedy Wave Length with Paul Merton and Josie Lawrence

They were then joined by Ben Blakeman of The Cocteau Twins on lead guitar and regularly topped the bill at John Curd’s legendary psychobilly club, the “Klub Foot” in Hammersmith where their pink van became a landmark with the surfing skeleton on its roof.

They were recorded live at The Klub Foot on Saturday 16th Jan 1988 for the album series “Stomping at The Klub Foot” appearing on “Stomping at The Klub Foot 5” released in March 1988, their final head line show at the Klub Foot on Sunday 26 June 1988 formed part of the 13 night farewell to the club known as "The Final Curtain" before The Clarendon Hotel Ballroom was demolished.

This 5 piece had UK chart successes with “Double shot of my baby's love” reaching No. 15 (NME Independent charts 3rd Sept 1988) then “Henry The Wasp” on the Radio One and Radio Two play-lists and “The Benny Hill Boogie” that immortalized Jenny Lee-Wright “The Sexiest Stooge”. These hits were featured in a Radio One interview with Luke Morgan and the first album “Bound for Glory” was released in 1989 on Razor Records.

Rick Buckler from The Jam then replaced Ginger on drums having earlier worked with Mike Spencer on the final mix and production of the album, Buckler toured the UK and Europe with them in 1990 and is still involved with the band today. All-star line-ups have included Doyley (Klingonz), Russ Ward (Klubtastic), John Belknap, Steve Fishman (now with Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers), Lamma (Pronghorn), Kathy X, and Brendan and Gasty both from The Arousers.

Fanzines include artwork by Luke Morgan, Chris Finch and Vaun Richards of The Funday Times.

In 2003 Dave Deville from The Vulture Squadron and Optic Nerves joined the band on lead guitar and in 2009 Brendan joined on sax. In 2010 Ginger rejoined and had his first gig with the band for over 20 years at the Pineda De Mar Psychobilly Meeting.

Discography

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