Furniture (band)

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Furniture
Origin	London, England
Genre(s)	Pop Synthpop New Wave
Years active	1979 – 1991
Label(s)	Survival (1986) Stiff/ ZTT (1986 – 1990) Arista (1989 - 1991)
Associated acts	Transglobal Underground, The Transmitters, Because, The Flavel Bambi Septet, Groove Armada
Members
Jim Irvin Sally Still Maya Gilder Hamilton Lee Tim Whelan Larry N'Azone
Notable instrument(s)
voice, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, yanquin, percussion

Furniture was a British pop band, active from 1979 to 1991 and best known for their 1986 Top 30 hit "Brilliant Mind".

Since its break-up, the band has retained a certain cult appeal - partly due to the high quality of the songwriting and partly due to the band's career (noted for the bad luck and practical frustration that prevented them from making a long term-breakthrough). Several ex-members are notable for (variously) going on to form Transglobal Underground, becoming high-profile British music journalists, or contributing to the writing of several underground dance hits.

Contents 1 Overview 2 History 2.1 Formation 2.2 Record deals 2.3 Final year and breakup 3 Post-Furniture activities 4 Cover versions of Furniture songs 5 Discography 5.1 Singles 5.2 Albums 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Overview

The longest-serving line-up of Furniture, from 1983-1990, comprised Jim Irvin (vocals, percussion, occasional keyboards), Tim Whelan (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, yangqin etc.) and Hamilton Lee (drums, tuned and untuned percussion), Sally Still (bass, vocals) and Maya Gilder (keyboards). Larry N’Azone (saxophone) - the brother of Tim Whelan -was an occasional member during this period and often appeared with the band live.

Furniture’s chief success was in the UK but they also enjoyed a following throughout Eastern Europe where they toured in 1987 and 1988.

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

Furniture was formed in the Ealing area of London, England by Jim Irvin, Tim Whelan and Hamilton Lee. Simon Beaton (guitar) and Ian Macdonald (bass) joined shortly afterwards, and together Furniture played their first gig in 1979.

In 1981 Furniture released their first single, "Shaking Story"/"Take A Walk Downtown" on the band’s own independent record label (The Guy From Paraguay). Shortly afterward, Macdonald and Beaton left the band. Furniture remained a trio until new members Sally Still and Maya Gilder joined in 1983. Larry N'Azone also joined as a part-time member.

In 1981, Tim Whelan joined The Transmitters as lead vocalist. He would remain in The Transmitters until 1989 but would continue working with Furniture at the same time. (Hamilton Lee would also divide his time between Furniture and The Transmitters during 1988 and 1989).

[edit] Record deals

In 1983, Furniture released a mini-album entitled When the Boom Was On, on the Premonition imprint of the Ealing-based Survival record label.

Switching to the main label in spring 1984, they released their first single, "Dancing the Hard Bargain", produced by former Blue Zoo member, Tim Parry. This was followed in December by "Love Your Shoes", produced by Troy Tate (former guitarist for The Teardrop Explodes). A self-produced EP - "I Can't Crack" - followed in the summer of 1985. Much of the material on these releases was collected on a 1986 LP on Survival, called The Lovemongers.

In 1986 the band switched to Stiff Records and released the single "Brilliant Mind", which peaked at number 21 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] "Brilliant Mind" is the band’s most popular song. It has since featured on many 1980s compilation albums, and as TV incidental music (eg "World Shut Your Mouth" for the character with the cymbals). It is still played regularly on British radio and is a staple of BBC 6 Radio. Singer Boy George has named "Brilliant Mind" his favourite record of the '80s. A re-recorded version of "Brilliant Mind" featured in the John Hughes film, Some Kind of Wonderful.

The band's follow-up, a re-recorded version of the earlier single "Love Your Shoes" was a radio hit, but fell foul of a financial crisis at Stiff Records, who couldn't afford to press enough records to match demand. Advance orders for the album The Wrong People were fulfilled with a single pressing of 30,000 copies, which sold out quickly. Stiff Records went into liquidation shortly afterwards and was sold to ZTT, who pressed no further copies of the album, ensuring that Furniture could not build on their growing momentum.

The band spent three years extricating themselves from the Stiff contract. During this time they toured the world with the assistance of the British Council, playing shows in Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, Turkey, Romania, Greece, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia in 1987 and 1988.

In 1989 the band signed to Arista Records and recorded the album Food, Sex and Paranoia, which was produced by Mike Thorne and released in February 1990. The album was preceded in October 1989 by the single "Slow Motion Kisses". A second single "One Step Behind You" was released alongside the album.

[edit] Final year and breakup

Despite the departure of Maya Gilder early in 1990, the band began sessions for a third album, this time to be released on the Survival record label (who also managed the band). These were curtailed when the label's recording studio was shut down.

Following a series of gigs - one of which was a headlining slot on the second stage at the 1990 Reading Festival - Furniture decided to take some time off and to reconvene later. Instead, the band petered out and quietly split up. A retrospective compilation album, She Gets Out The Scrapbook, was released on vinyl and CD by Survival in 1991 (among other tracks, it included the last two tracks - "How I've Come To Hate The Moon" and "Farewell" - which the band had recorded at Survival Studios in anticipation of a third album).

[edit] Post-Furniture activities

Tim Whelan and Hamilton Lee went on to enjoy success with their subsequent project, Transglobal Underground, a groundbreaking world-dance troupe with an ever-changing line-up which they set up in 1992.

Jim Irvin and Sally Still have maintained their own partnership. After the demise of Furniture, both joined Melody Maker as journalists writing under pseudonyms - "Jim Arundel" and "Sally Margaret Joy" respectively. They have also continued to write songs together - most notably the Michael Gray international house music hit "The Weekend").

Irvin continued his journalism work by moving on to Mojo as the founding features editor, eventually becoming the magazine's senior editor. He compiled the acclaimed book "The Mojo Collection", the music bible which featured in the TV series "The Gilmour Girls". In the early 1990s he formed the keyboards-and-voice duo Because with jazz musician Chris Ingham, recording one album (Mad Scared Dumb and Gorgeous, released on Haven Recordings in 1991). Working with the Domino Recording Company, Irvin set up the Dusty Company imprint and released an album by the band Clearlake (which he also produced). He also collaborated with the band Gay Dad (co-writing songs which appeared on their 1999 album Leisure Noise). In 2002 he signed a new deal as a songwriter with Warner Chappell, initially specialising in dance music with acts Special Unit and Miami Ice. Irvin's songs have also been recorded by Groove Armada, David Guetta, Juliet, 10,000 Things and Jack McManus.

Sally Still was later involved in promoting, encouraging and managing female underground rock acts (partially inspired by the Riot Grrl movement). In addition to her ongoing songwriting work with Irvin, Still has written and sung on dance records including "Better Than Perfect" by Miami Ice.

After leaving Furniture, Maya Gilder became a producer at the BBC World Service.

An active fan forum, named "wrongpeople" after the band's album, has existed since 2002 on Yahoo, on which fans of Furniture discuss the band's music and exchange information and updates on re-releases.

[edit] Cover versions of Furniture songs

German pop singer Marian Gold (the lead singer of Alphaville) released a cover version of "One Step Behind You" as a single in March 1993 (which also appeared on his 1992 album So Long Celeste).

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

• 1981: "Shaking Story" (The Guy From Paraguay, serial number unavailable) b/w "Take A Walk Down Town"
• April 1984: "Dancing the Hard Bargain" (Survival Records SUR 023) b/w "Robert Nightman's Story"
• December 1984: "Love Your Shoes" (Premonition Records PREM 12002) b/w "Escape Into My Arms" and "The Script"
• May 1985: "I Can't Crack" (Premonition Records PREM 3) b/w "I Can't Crack" (Broken Mix), "Switch Off" and "Pause"
• May 1986: "Brilliant Mind" (Stiff Records BUY 251) b/w "To Gus" and "Brilliant Fragment" - UK #21^[1]
• October 1986: "Love Your Shoes" (Stiff Records BUY 254) b/w "Turnupspeed", "Me, You and the Name".
• October 1989: "Slow Motion Kisses" (Arista Records 112648) b/w "40 Hours in a Day", "Brilliant Mind" and "She Gets Out the Scrapbook"
• February 1990: "One Step Behind You" (Arista Records 112844) b/w "One Step Behind You" (Mark McGuire club remix), "It Continues" and "International People"

[edit] Albums

• September 1983: When the Boom Was On (Premonition Records 4C1)

Tracks: "Transatlantic Cable", "They're On Me", "Robert Nightman's Story", "I Miss You", "Why Are We In Love", "A Letter to Myself"

• June 1986: The Lovemongers (Premonition Records PREM 6)

Tracks: "The Lovemongers", "Throw Away the Script", "Love Your Shoes", "Escape Into my Arms", "What the Fog Said", "Dancing the Hard Bargain", "Bullet", "Talking Kitten", "Sang Froid", "I Can't Crack"

• November 1986: The Wrong People (Stiff Records SEEZ 64)

Tracks: "Shake Like Judy Says", "Love Your Shoes", "Brilliant Mind", "She Gets Out the Scrapbook", "I Miss You", "Make Believe I'm Him", "Let Me Feel Your Pulse", "The Sound of the Bell", "Escape Into My Arms", "Answer the Door", "Pierre's Fight"

• February 1990: Food, Sex and Paranoia (Arista Records 210377)

Tracks: "One Step Behind You", "Slow Motion Kisses", "Swing Tender", "A Taste of You", "A Plot to Kill What Was", "On a Slow Fuse", "Subway to the Beach", "Song for a Doberman", "Love Me", "Friend of a Friend", "Hard to Say"

• September 1991: She Gets Out the Scrapbook (Survival Records SURC13)

Tracks: "Brilliant Mind", "Make Believe I'm Him", "Farewell", "Song for a Doberman", "Dancing the Hard Bargain", "Love Your Shoes", "Robert Nightman's Story", "Slow Motion Kisses", "I Miss You", "How I've Come to Hate the Moon", "Bullet", "Turnupspeed", "One Step Behind You", "She Gets Out the Scrapbook"

(Two tracks, "Shake Like Judy Says" and "Brilliant Mind", can be found on the Stiff Records Box Set (4 CDs) )

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Allmusic.com: Furniture
• Brilliant Minds - The Furniture Story.
• The Wrong People - Furniture Yahoo group forum