1979

A psychedelic/mod/pop trio that emerged from the ashes of cult Orpington band Max Headroom & the Car Parks (a post punk band that unravelled through unmusical differences and apathy). As the Car Parks Colin, Wilf, Chris & John Silcock continued to rehearse and write new material without any deliberate tailoring to fit in with any current fad youth movement.

As it transpired Colin’s love of early Who & Kinks records, Wilf’s emerging jangling guitar style (pre-Smiths), & Chris’ appreciation of the Buzzcock’s drummer provided a simple but strong recipe for straight forward, catchy verse/chorus/verse chorus pop songs.

Early Car Parks demo’s included Miss Selfridge, a song that quickly earned the band gigs on the South London circuit as well as interest from Virgin Records to record the band. From the resulting recordings Virgin’s A&R dept. selected Lies for a single….. , only to have a last minute change of heart due to budget constraints  (?!). Both songs became important cornerstones of the emerging set list. Gigs were often as the support for  acts including Wreckless Eric, Splodgenessabounds, The Belle Stars, Reluctant Stereotypes (with Paul King) etc.

1980

As the song writing developed, the band became more organised & efficient, with demo tapes sold at gigs to fund further recording. Gigs became more frequent, thanks to the alluring Glaswegian charm of Tam Balloch & the dedicated admin & organisation of Mick “Duck” Diamond. Gig venues included Dingwalls, Rock Garden, Ronnie Scotts, WAG, Acklam Hall, & with some intense canvassing further record company interest came from Decca & Magnet, along with a publishing contract with Heath-Levy.

Whilst record companies dithered the band decided to stimulate demand at the gigs for a vinyl record. The band recorded Go as a single for indie label Nothin Shakin. The single received a few plays on Radio 1, Capital & even charted with U.S.A’s radio station , reaching No.5 on their play list (just above Pete Townshend !)

Word of mouth through friends reached the Orpington Mods – Although not “pure mod” this band ticked a number of boxes for the mod audience, especially as The Kids Are Alright & My Minds Eye were regular  features of their live set list. A following of 70-100 mods became a regular feature of Heartbeats gigs, especially in Ilford (the Electric Ballroom), Orpington (Civic) & London’s Rock Garden.

Funny Anymore was also released by Nothin’ Shakin’ as part of the sampler album East of Croydon, the bands reputation and confidence further enhanced by positive music press reviews for this track (if not the whole album).

A publishing agreement with Heath Levy Music encouraged song writing and demanded demos of all new songs: New Uniform, Give Me A Reason, No Favours and Funny Anymore were recorded in their studio above Regent Streets shops (near Liberty’s ?). Producer Nick Nicely felt inspired to double track everything (how visionary), still, the performances and songs were good.

1981

Polydor decided that new psychedelia was going to happen.

The band played Alice in Wonderland@Gossips where The Doctor (of Medics fame) was DJ). You get the picture. Wilf & Colin were paid up members of the Groovy Cellar! Decca’s A&R attended 3 of the bands London gigs & planned for the band to record New Uniform as a single using their prestigious studio complex at Marble Arch (later re-named as SolidBond in the 80s). Adam Seif was the appointed producer. The single was recorded & everyone seemed pleased with the results. The band swapped studio shifts with the Jam (they were recording The Gift). A string arrangement was scored and paid for by Decca. Sadly Royalty Rate politics between the producer & A&R stifled, delayed & ultimately prevented the single from being released.

The Mod Xmas Party (400 modernists, Orpington Civic Hall) (December 24^th 1981) was the start of a very busy 12 month period. Over 60 gigs were played in 1981 & a following was building through support slots with Jnr. Walker & the Allstars at Ilford Palais & Hammersmith Palais, performing to over 2000 modernists !

Manchester gigs, Brixton Town Hall where female fans were invited to “dye their pubes to the sound of the Heartbeats” by the event promoters. No anecdotal evidence of any conversions.

Further recordings saw the band produce themselves for the first time – the session recorded Forever, Changing, You Don’t Know, You Keep Calling, Episode 14 (written about an episode of Grange Hill!), We Go Wrong, For Now, all in 2 days.

The recordings were made available at gigs via a second fund raising tape Indian Summer & sold over 1000 copies!

The year ended with a sense of disillusion & disenchantment, as a result of so many “nearly” situations with nothing to show.

A change of direction was sought, a brass section added, but it was never the same. Although still young, the moment had passed, but the memories & songs endure.

 Colin Donaldson