Neo-rockabilly
band Restless have been on the scene, on and off, for twenty years and
with the passing of time have become a band with cult status. Their
earliest singles have become collectors items, mainly because they sold
woefully small quantities compared to what similar bands were selling at
the time. If they'd have cut an album with Dave Edmunds in the early
'80s like the Polecats and Stray Cats did I'm sure they could have made a
bigger impression. The main man of the group is undoubtedly singer and
guitarist Mark Harman. He's an exceptional guitar, rightly acclaimed as
one of the best in the rockabilly world.
The band formed in
Ipswich in the late seventies when teenagers Mark and his brother Paul
were joined by Ben Cooper who'd moved to the area from London. Whilst
the brothers had been picking away at the classics, Cooper pointed them
in the direction of the lessor known acts like Charlie Feathers and
Sonny Fisher. Depending who's story you listen to, the name Restless
came from either the Carl Perkins or Johnny Kidd and the Pirates song.
They
made their live debut in April 1980 at Springlands Social Hall in
Sudbury, Suffolk with Mark Harman suffering from stage fright. The next
gig came a couple of weeks later in Colchester but they were blown away
by the Rockin' Shades. Unperturbed, they continued to practise and write
some original numbers. Among their earliest efforts were Ghost Town,
Long Winding River, Hightime, Blackat, Leaving This Town and one of the
greatest rockabilly songs of the last twenty years, Ice Cold.
They
played a sort of audition gig for Roy Williams of Nervous Records at
the Royalty in Southgate, London, supporting the Deltas who were already
recording for Nervous. The net result was a single in 1981 (Ghost Town,
Leaving This Town and Long Winding River) being issued on the Sunrock
label of Sweden via a licensing deal with Nervous. With only 400 copies
pressed, the record sold out immediately and today sell for over Ł100.
Things were kicking off well so they started work on their debut album.
Roy
Williams remembers, "I was DJ at The Royalty. I was also running
Nervous Records, and had signed up and released an album by The Deltas. I
honestly can't remember them 'auditioning for Nervous' at The Royalty,
although they may well have backed up The Deltas there. I know they
played together on a Rockhouse festival, 'cos I went with them. A lot of
this is, I must admit, an alcoholic blur. I have a poor memory of the
period 1978-1984 ...
Restless were brought to my attention by a
guy I used to know called Bob Plumb who was playing double bass in a
band called 'Rockhouse' with Driftin Den on drums..... I'd produced a
couple of tracks by them for another label, and he told me about this
'new young group with a wizard guitarist'. He thought they'd be the kind
of thing that I liked, so I told him to tell them to send me a demo.
Most of that demo was later released as 'The early years' album. I
thought they were brilliant! I played the demos to a lot of people
including Tony Martin of Red Hot Records, who at the time was getting
involved with The Blue Cat Trio. He told me that the guitarist was 'too
busy going doo-lally with it'. This just made me more interested!
Anyway,
audition or not, I signed 'em up and made the first album in the same
studio that they'd done their demos in. It wasn't the best equipped and
was in a converted barn on the middle of nowhere, but it was one of the
easiest to produce and most enjoyable albums I've been involved with."
The
album, Why Don't You Just Rock! is a neo-rockabilly classic. I loved it
at the time and still play it on a regular basis. Despite the quality
of the album, the band felt that they didn't always get a fair crack of
the whip in some venues because of their percieved lack of respect for
the original 50's sound. To quote from their website, "Thankfully a
whole new scene, probably fronted by The Polecats and the new Bluecats
called NEO-rockabilly had exploded on the continent, especially in
Holland (where they did they first gig abroad for the now legendary
Rockhouse festival in Eindoven). Belgium, France, and Sweden also had a
growing 'NEO' scene so the band inevitably headed there. It was a good
time because fans across the water didn't care if Restless played their
own style of rock 'n' roll, they just got into it anyway. One minute the
boys could be playing Gene Vincent's "Pretty Pretty Baby", and the next
they could be ripping into Bens' "It's a scam!" This was freedom not
allowed in England 'till much later. Note perfect covers were still the
order of the day and it would only be much later that Restless would be
accepted and 'allowed' to bridge the gaps". They played the now
legendary venues like the Klubfoot, Brixton Academy, Hammersmith Palais,
Lyceum and the Town And Country supporting bands like The Damned, Spear
Of Destiny, The Pogues, The Clash and the Ramones.
After the
second Nervous album, Do You Feel Restless, brothers Mark and Paul fell
out, resulting in Paul leaving the group to be replaced by Jeff Bayly.
Mr Blues a cover of the Marvin Rainwater track, reached number 4 on the
independent chart, a fine achievement. The band's sound altered with the
addition of guitarist Mick Malone, who'd just toured with Dave
Phillips. They signed with ABC and their profile went through the roof.
They pushed the album After Midnight and the singles Somebody Told Me
and Just A Friend with appearances on Radio 1's Saturday Night. Despite
these minor successes it was obvious that they'd lost control over their
sound.
Further albums were issued and line-up changes took
place, including the addition of Frenzy's Steve Whitehouse on bass. The
trend has continued with the band disbanding then reforming. They have
toured all over the world and frequently release new product. Although
they play very few dates nowadays, their appearance is always a
guaranteed showstopper.
The Lost Sessions
This is a brilliant
straight ahead rockabilly outing with a dozen covers of much loved
classics that for the most part came to the UK's consciousness during
the 70's rockabilly revival. Mark Harman's vocals are spot on and his
guitar playing is mind-blowing. Listen to the playing on things like All
The Time, Break Up and Black Magic and soak up one of the genres best
at work. Picking a favourite is hard but I'd probably go for Morse Code.
It's an unrelenting album and is one to please both the rockers and the
psychos.
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Restless.html
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Restless fue formado en 1978 por Mark Harman (genio de la guitarra y
cantante principal, además de compositor), Paul Harman (el hermano) en
contrabajo, y Ben Cooper (batería y percusión). El nombre de la banda viene de una canción de Carl Perkins.
En 1981 sacan el EP «Restless», en una edición limitada de 400
ejemplares. Luego de publicar ‘Why Don’t You Just Rock!’, la banda
estuvo tocando en el circuito habitual del rock ‘n roll por todo
Inglaterra. Pero Restless tocaba con su propio estilo y fueron, sin
duda, una de las más influyentes bandas del Neo-Rockabilly británico.
Jeff Bayly reemplazó a Paul en 1984 y Restless copó los Charts independientes de Gran Bretaña con «Mr. Blues».
En 1986 Restless optó por una segunda guitarra, y así se sumó al grupo Mick Malone.
Luego de la partida de Bayly y Cooper, Restless quiso disolverse. Pero
la incorporación del ex-Frenzy/ ex-Sharks Steve Whitehouse (contrabajo)
los volvió a la ruta. En 1989 Rob Tyler, uno de los más conocidos
bateristas de rockabilly, también se unió a su compañero Mark Harman.
En 1998 Restless tocó su «último» show en Londres sólo para volver en
2002 CON LA FORMACIÓN ORIGINAL, que se había dividido en 1984.
