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Shindig! Issue #180 – The Direct Hits

Straddling mod and the new psychedelia, THE DIRECT HITS’ emergence in the early ’80s breathed fresh life into both scenes. Their ambitious, finely-structured compositions were endowed with energy and excitement, and around them sprung up a cottage industry of fan-friendly product that kept their loyal supporters in the know.

IAN CANTY blows things up with co-founder Colin Swan

At the end of 1982, Paul Weller left The Jam. As well as instituting his new act The Style Council, he focused more on his Polydor-backed Respond imprint and was actively searching for bands to join its roster. The Direct Hits seemed to fit the profile that he was looking for, but sadly it wasn’t to be. “We submitted five numbers, which were rejected by Paul, who said, ‘Your songs are really good, just not my cup of tea’,” laughs Colin.

As ’83 began, The Direct Hits were working on their official debut album Blow Up at a studio in Sydenham. The band produced themselves, with Dan Treacy playing piano on ‘Too Shy’ and ‘The Old Curiosity Shop’ and even the band’s faithful roadie Colin Robinson managed get in on the act, adding some tambourine. It’s a record that still stands up today as a classic mod/psych collection, a rare example of how the ’80s may have actually improved on the ’60s. This naturally led to a run of dates to promote the LP.

“The Direct Hits spent most of ’83 playing mod gigs up and down the country,” recalls Colin, “gradually earning ourselves a good reputation as a live act. By early ’84, after Whaam! finally announced its plans to release a Direct Hits album, Buckmaster-Swan were crowned by Dan Treacy himself as ‘the Lennon & McCartney of mod’! In preparation for recording, we set about reviving a couple of old tunes and writing some new ones. The album Blow Up was released in the autumn and reviews from mod fanzines and the odd small column in Sounds/NME did just enough to create an interest.”

 

Sydenham’s studio wasn’t exactly where you would have expected to rub shoulders with future pop stars. “While we were recording Blow Up, there were three leather clad blokes more or less camping out there,” recalls Colin. “They would take up recording time that bands didn’t use, or never turned up for, and slept on the floor. We didn’t pay much attention to them, often berating them for just hanging around. They spoke with what we considered a Dutch accent. The producer on Blow Up said they were being put up there by a big label for the time being. We asked what they were called – they said A-ha. We said that was a crap name and they wouldn’t do anything here.”

Having now established themselves on the Whaam! roster, Geno and Colin decided to record some of their songs for other artists to cover. This led to several more releases from singers or bands that the duo found mainly in their South London neighbourhood. They liked these artists and felt they were perfect for their Direct Tape compilations. The most notable ones were Jenny Brett, The Northwoods, Tina Butler and The Open Door, along with some solo recordings by Buckmaster and Swan themselves. Some also came via the piles of tapes that Dan Treacy received, rejected, then passed onto Direct Tapes. Subsequently The Page Boys (later 1000 Violins) and The Mixers later recorded for Whaam!

To read the whole article order issue #180 here. For more on ’80s psych inspired  music grab Kaleidoscope here.