To think that Terrorvision is an odd name for a band is almost forgivable, but it's
the peak of sensibility considering the names of bands they evolved from. In 1987, the
rhythm section of Vietnamese Babies,
Leigh Marklew and
Shutty, joined up with
Mark Yates, the guitarist from Electric Nosebleeds, and formed Spoilt Bratz -
glam rock by name, glam rock by nature - with singer and songwriter
Tony Wright, a man who can make the
Bradford accent sound more sexy than
Mel B can ever dream of. They changed their name to Terrorvision in 1990 and signed to
Total Vegas Recordings through
EMI.
While America was exporting angst-ridden grunge led by Nirvana, Terrorvision (and others at the time including The Wildhearts) offered a credible antidote with bubblegum pop metal, spiked with a sense of humour and more hooks than a butchers window. They built up a following through extensive touring (supporting the likes of REM, Motorhead and The Ramones) while at the same time being largely ignored by the UK music television and radio stations, with the possible exception of the Mint Royale mixes of Tequila. They also suffered another setback in being dropped from EMI after the release of Shaving Peaches and have since been signed to the indie label Papillon Records.
Not all bad news (just mostly), Tony has been a favourite guest of the BBC comedy pop-quiz show Never Mind The Buzzcocks with six appearances to date. Buzzcocks' team captain Sean Hughes even made a guest appearance in the promo video for Tequila.
Personnel
Tony Wright - vocals
Mark Yates - guitar
Leigh Marklew - bass
Shutty - drums
note: i think shutty's real name is ian shuttleworth but i could be wrong about that.
Discography
Thrive EP (February 1992)
My House (September 1992)
Formaldehyde (December 1992)
Problem Solved (April 1993)
American TV (June 1993)
New Policy One (October 1993)
My House (December 1993)
How To Make Friends And Influence People (April 1994)
Oblivion (April 1994)
Middleman (June 1994)
Pretend Best Friend (August 1994)
Alice What's The Matter? (October 1994)
Some People Say (March 1995)
Regular Urban Survivors (March 1996)
Perseverance (February 1996)
Celebrity Hit List (May 1996)
Bad Actress (July 1996)
Easy (December 1996)
Shaving Peaches (January 1999)
Josephine (September 1998)
Tequila (January 1999)
III Wishes (May 1999)
Good To Go (February 2001)
D'Ya Wanna Go Faster (January 2001)
Fists Of Fury (April 2001)
all good things...
Having suffered years of neglect from pretty much every media source with the exception of The Mighty Kerrang!, Terrorvision have decided to call it a day on the music business and leave small portions of the world with fond memories and an EMI-released 'Best Of' selection called Whales & Dolphins.
"Without doubt the best band ever to come out of Bradford (beginning with a 'T'), We, Terrorvision, have announced a set of dates which, as time will tell, will prove to be our last. The group have finally succumbed to the 13-year itch and decided to part ways in a very, very, very amicable fashion.
"A spokesman for the band said they were planning to melt down all the awards and gold discs in order to buy a large desert island just off the coast of Yorkshire, where they will, no doubt, enjoy the fruits of their not inconsiderable labours..."
www.terrorvision.com, 2001
The final tour, entitled 'Take The Money And Run' ended at Bradford Pennington's on Thursday 4th October, 2001 and it was, without a trace of exaggeration, one of the best live concerts it's ever been my pleasure to attend. Definitely in the top-three. As a single unit, they will be sadly missed but there's always the chance of the individual members resurfacing at some point in the future. I can't see them all getting office jobs, especially not Shutty. He's mental.
...come to an end.
16.04.05: The culmination of the temporarily-reformed band "For One Week Only", possibly mainly to promote the bands' other bands on the back of it (Mark Yates' 'Blunderbus', Leigh Marklew's 'Malibu Stacey' and Tony Wright's 'Laika Dog') but also because, dag nammit, why not? Once again I was there, gettin' into a very Mid To Late 90's state of mind. They're still doing their own bands, it's just that none of them really pull in the crowds like Terrovision used to. I've heard the Laika Dog and Malibu Stacey albums. They're very good.