The Stranglers

Biography

It has often been said that the Stranglers are probably the most enduring band of the UK punk/new wave era, while at the same time being the least celebrated. A number of current bands cite the Stranglers as an influence; concerts are packed; and the loyalty of their fans is legendary. Yet, at times, bad (or non-existent) press have made the Stranglers seem the unwelcome "Lepers of Rock".

The original Stranglers line-up gelled during 1974/75 and brought together four individuals with very different backgrounds and interests. This diversity was probably a main factor in keeping them together during the band's first phase (up until 1990).

In the early seventies, Jet Black was a successful businessman, who owned a fleet of ice-cream vans and ran an Off-License (Liquor/Beer Store) in Guildford, south-west of London, UK. Losing interest in the routine of the business world, Jet looked to music as an escape. A semi-professional drummer in his teens, he set out to find a suitable band. A "drummer wanted" ad in "Melody Maker", led to a meeting with Johnny Sox; upon joining, Jet persuaded the other band members to move to his Off-License, which had ample space for both rehearsal and accommodation.

Jean-Jacques (JJ) Burnel was introduced to the band through a chance hitch-hiking incident. Although an accomplished classical guitarist, he had never seriously considered a music career -- his main passion was Karate, and his ambition was to travel to Japan, in order to further his development in this martial art. Soon after this initial meeting, Johnny Sox disintegrated, as two of the original members left, leaving Hugh and Jet to pick up the pieces. Shortly thereafter, JJ was taken on as the bass-player (having bought an instrument from Hugh and getting quickly up to speed with it).

The Stranglers were (temporarily) completed, late in 1974 by guitarist Hans Warmling, a friend of Hugh's from Sweden. The band started gigging around the Guildford area, under a variety of names; at about this time, an American serial killer known as "The Boston Strangler" was grabbing headlines around the world, which, given the menacing atmosphere projected by the band, eventually led to the name "The Stranglers"……but then Hans decided to return to Sweden.

In July 1975, an advertisement in Melody Maker produced one Dave Greenfield, keyboard player. It was immediately obvious to the others that he was a natural addition to the Stranglers. The unusual inclusion of swirling keyboards at the time was to give the band a very distinctive sound, setting them apart from their contemporaries.

The band were almost constantly on the road, and this determination led to a deal with Albion, a London agency which gave them access to some of the City's most influential pub venues. In December 1976, the band signed a recording contract with United Artists.

So began the ever-changing recording career of the Stranglers. The punk/new wave scene was taking off in Britain and the band's style at the time fitted (if not neatly) into the genre; however, as this scene gradually died out, the Stranglers true colours started to show. The band's diversity had been clear from an early stage (and may have contributed to the difficulty in finding a record deal, as they could not be easily pigeon-holed). This flexibility and their experimental creativity were evident on an increasingly wide range of songs, with many stylistic twists and turns being showcased. New technology and techniques were happily embraced (as is clearly evident on such albums as "The Gospel According to the Meninblack") and new horizons were explored with the inclusion of a brass section (from "Aural Sculpture" to "10") and steel guitar (on "Dreamtime").

Through all this diversity, one image stuck to the band -- black. In the early eighties, the band's fascination with the Meninblack (mysterious visitors to UFO witnesses, possibly not of human origin, who tried to silence their victims) led to "The Gospel According to the Meninblack", which gave an alternative view to biblical happenings, from the perspective of alien intervention. Soon the band themselves were being dubbed "The Meninblack", further strengthened by the all-black dress adopted on stage.

By 1990, and the completion of the tenth studio album "10", Hugh Cornwell thought that the band could, artistically, go no further.

August 11th saw the last performance of the Stranglers with Hugh, at the Alexandra Palace In the aftermath, JJ, Jet and Dave concluded that they disagreed with Hugh's assessment of the band's fortunes and decided to continue, albeit in a new format. The first new recruit was John Ellis, an ex-member of the Vibrators and a long-standing friend of the band. John was the perfect choice as the new guitarist and he fitted neatly into the band.

This reincarnation of the Stranglers produced four albums: "Stranglers in the Night", "About Time", "Written in Red" and "Coup de Grace". As always, these albums showed a great musical diversity, blending in the new line up.

In March 2000, after nearly ten years with the band, John Ellis left to pursue other interests. He was replaced by "Small Town Heroes" guitarist Baz Warne. Baz is familiar to the Stranglers " tour in 1995, as his band Small Town Heroes provided the support. He was almost immediately thrown into the spotlight for live performances in Bosnia and several festivals around Europe.

In 2002 they celebrated the 25th Anniversary of Punk Rock for it was in 1977 that the four kings of the UK punk movement; Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Stranglers and The Damned started a long term grip on the Top 40 singles chart.

The Stranglers have, over the last 25 years, become the only band from the original four to continue with a successful recording career.

The group, re-issued their first seven albums with bonus tracks via EMI (which where among the best selling back catalogue releases of the year) and their next four via Epic (again with bonus cuts). They were the subject of a major Radio 2 documentary and had a DVD issued by EMI of all their video clips for hit singles, among the very first to be issued of any group by the company.

The band's repertoire has been in the spotlight with songs in 'Me Without You' and Tori Amos being nominated for 2 Grammy's after her success with 'Strange Little Girl'.

Adidas used 'Peaches' for their World Cup advertising campaign in May-June 2002 which led to EMI releasing a Greatest Hits album of the same name which charted in the top 20 UK album Charts.

The Stranglers may be over twenty five years old, but we can certainly look forward to plenty more exciting yearsinblack.