GIG ALERT! Our next Loudhailer Electric Company gig is coming up, Saturday March 18th opening for Wasted Youth at O’Rileys as part of their Still Wandering reunion tour. The East London post punk band come highly recommended! This is set to be a great night and it would be ace to see you there. Tickets and info here: http://bit.ly/3x1PG0i
The LECo’s Sonic Architect and Wasted Youth
In 1977 Loudhailer Electric Company’s Jeff Parsons was living in London and playing guitar with Hull new wavers Dead Fingers Talk. A major record deal with Pye was inked in January 1978 and an album, Storm the Reality Studios, was recorded with Mick Ronson in the producer’s chair.
By March 1979 it was all over and Jeff, DFT bassist Andy Linklater, DFT tour manager Pecky Tomlinson and ex-DFT bassist Rocky Norton formed a PA hire and sales company called Killerwatts. Among their clients was a new band from the East End of London, Wasted Youth. Jeff became their main sound engineer and over the next three years travelled the length and breadth of the UK and Europe with them, not only manning the desk but also driving the van.
Jeff became close with the band, especially drummer Andy Scott who sadly passed away before the band’s reunion in 2022. Adventures on the Psychedelic Furs’ Talk Talk Talk tour and in Berlin have passed into folklore.
Jeff was at the controls when the band supported The Cramps at the Lyceum in December 1980 and at the Rainbow for a hastily-arranged slot on the legendary 1981 CND benefit which The Jam headlined.
The band’s lifestyle echoed their name and at the end of 1982 they fell apart rather spectacularly. Rocco enjoyed success with Flesh For Lulu and Ken with the Low Gods. The death of bass player Darren Murphy in February 2012 put paid to a full reunion and the subsequent death of Andy Scott in May 2020 seemed to signal the end. But then, in 2022 the impossible happened and surviving members Ken (vocals), Rocco (guitar) and Nick (keyboards) came together on the London stage for a rapturously received return.
Sadly, ill-health has prevented Nick from continuing but Ken and Rocco are flying the WY Jolly Roger in fine style, having played several gigs in London and, in an echo of 1981, headed out on tour again as guests of the Psychedelic Furs.
We are thoroughly looking forward to opening for the band on March 18th at O’Rileys in Hull. It’s set to be a great night, and would be ace to see you there.