Exactly 40 years ago today, back in 1981, the band released their sixth single ‘Jimmie Jones’ which was the second taken from their ‘Magnets’ album. It was backed with another track from the album, ‘Daylight Titans’, and was far more commercially accessible than its predecessor ‘Spiders’, despite the subject matter of a mass-murdering cult leader!
To boost the promotion of the release, EMI stumped up the cash for a video to be made and there’s a feature about the making of the video coming very soon. The band even secured an appearance on Top Of The Pops with the single which you can watch here. Sadly, neither the video nor the TOTP appearance helped the single rise above that fateful 44 chart position and the band called it a day within a few months of its release. Listen to Jimmie Jones on Spotify here
The band’s long-time roadie Tim Cox is also a keen mountain biker and he is cycling 200 miles off-road in May to raise money for Prostate Cancer UK. If you’re able to sponsor him for this worthy cause, you can find his fund-raising page here Thanks
The band marked their regrouping after a year apart by working on a 2021 remix of the first single ‘Together’ from the last album. Once again, they worked with the original producer Steve Levine on the remix and he added brass making it fresher & edgier. Together is now bigger, badder and brassier! Available from all major Download platforms April 16th
The band return to Guildford, their spiritual home, on the 40th anniversary of New Clear Days tour this autumn. They play at the Boileroom on Thursday 14th October and tickets are onsale now here
Sadly, due to the pandemic & subsequent lockdowns, it’s now exactly a year to the day since the band graced a stage. The last show was with From The Jam in Leamington Spa which beat the first lockdown by a few days. Hopefully, with the gradual easing of restrictions, life can get back to normality very soon and we will have the long-overdue return of live music. Now is a perfect time to grab your tickets for the autumn 40th anniversary of New Clear Days gigs (or a FTJ show) and details and links are on the left. See you on the road this autumn…
We have just been informed that the forthcoming May and June dates with From The Jam for the Settings Sons 40th anniversary tour have been postponed. So far, six of the nine dates have been rescheduled to later on this year although The Vapors are no longer supporting at the Loughborough gig. All tickets remain valid for the rescheduled dates and we will bring you info on the remaining three gigs (Hastings, Wrexham & Bury St Edmunds) when we have it. Updated 20th March– both Wrexham & Bury St Edmunds have been rescheduled although these shows are now Sound Affects gigs for FTJ rather than Setting Sons
Exactly 40 years ago today, on the 9th of March 1981, the band released their second album ‘Magnets’, a mere nine months after their debut ‘New Clear Days’. The 11 track album was produced by David Tickle, who was best known at that time for his work with Split Enz. The album featured two singles, firstly ‘Spiders’ which had failed to chart and the soon-to-be-released ‘Jimmie Jones’.
The album’s feel was generally darker and less poppy than its predecessor and the lyrics dealt with a range of bleak topics such as mental health, presidential assassinations and a mass murdering cult leader. Sadly, following scant promotion by their new record label Liberty, the album didn’t chart in the UK. The band went out on the road on a huge tour throughout that month under the name ‘Mad March tour’!
As with ‘New Clear Days’, ‘Magnets’ is packed with classic Vapors tracks including ‘Silver Machines’, ‘Live At The Marquee’, Ed & Steve’s ‘Isolated Case’ and the epic title track itself. So, sit back and listen to the album in all its glory on Spotify here
Read what the British music papers thought about the album below (and try to keep calm with the NME one!)
Exactly 40 years ago today, back in 1981, the band released their fifth single ‘Spiders’. It was the first single to be taken from their forthcoming album ‘Magnets’, the follow up to ‘New Clear Days’. The song hinted at the darker feel of the album to come and the shift away from the poppier sound was highlighted by the use of synthesisers. The single release was coupled with the track ‘Galleries For Guns’ on the flip side. For some reason, EMI’s promotions budget didn’t stretch to a making a video and that probably contributed to the single not charting. Listen to the single release on Spotify here
