Depressions, The - 1977 - Living On Dreams 7''

Depressions, The - 1977 - Living On Dreams 7''
download
.

In the mid-70's, this Brighton-based 4-pieces was, like so many of their contempories, searching for the rea soul in rock'n'roll, covering the songs of The Who, the Small Faces and the likes. When punk happened, Tonge, as they were known back then, presto changed their name to the more fitting-with-the-times The Depressions and focused on their own songwriting abilities. And the result wasn't long in the waiting, as the band soon found themselves snapped up by Chas Chandler's Barn label who relesed the first 7" "Living On Dreams"/"Family Planning" in October of '77. the first 5,000 copies were housed in a picture sleeve and was a joint 'Sounds' 'Single of the Week" along with the Sex Pistols "Holidays In The Sun". To celebrate the deal, Barnard and Smith went out to leterally paint the town red, and, as reported in the Daily Mirror, were arrested on the dot and fined for spray painting "The Depressions" on various city walls. Legend also has it that The Depressions during a live performance at the Vortex Club so impressed Keith Moon that he was pogoing and singing along. and they embarked on UK tour supporting Steve Gibbons and followed this up with support tours to The Motors and Slade. They also headlined a few gigs themselves.
"Living On Dreams" and their next 45s "Messing With Your Heart" and "Get Of This Town, which were both taken from their debut album "The Depressions", all showed up well in the indie charts. Soon after the Depressions changed their name to the DP's after an audience member got killed during fight betwen two groups of football supporters at Preston Poly, whilst they were supporting The Vibrators on UK tour. this incident also caused Frank Smith to leave the band. His replacement was ex-Joe Cool and The Killers guitarist Tony Mayberry.
They finally split in early 1979 when was a disappointing response to the DP's album "If You Know What I Mean". Dave Barnard went on to form the mod band VANDELLS and also toured with Steve Ellis Love Affair for a while. Later in 1983, he teamed up with Eric Wright to compose "The Goldstone Rap", a single written to commemorate Brighton and Hove Albion's run to the 1983 FA Cup Final.

.

source The Mod Pop Punk Archives (link)