Good morning from Huntington Beach, California everyone! The way back machine is in full effect today bringing you some luxurious, delicious synth-pop dance rock from the 80’s
Today’s West Coast Wednesday Video Of The Week is from a British synthpop band originating from Sheffield in the early 1980s. The trio comprised of Martyn Ware (keyboards), Ian Craig Marsh (keyboards) (both previously with The Human League) and Glenn Gregory (vocals). Although most of the band’s output was in the 1980s, they have occasionally reformed to record and perform since then, playing their first ever live gigs in 1997.
If you’re not sure who the band is just yet, I’ll share a little more background about them.
They took their name from a fictional pop group mentioned in Anthony Burgess’s novel, A Clockwork Orange, and formed when Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware split from their earlier group, The Human League, and formed the production company British Electric Foundation (BEF).
Ok, unless you’re a psycho 80’s nerd like me, then I’ll go ahead & tell ya. It’s Heaven 17 – one of my all time favourite UK bands of the 80’s.
What’s really cool about them is that they’ve joined La Roux to record a joint live session for the BBC which was shown on the BBC Red Button interactive channel (La Roux cite Heaven 17 as one of their main influences). The two acts also appeared live on stage at the War Child Brit Awards aftershow in February 2010.
In the run up to their 30th anniversary, Heaven 17 has announced several live dates in which they would perform their 1981 debut album Penthouse and Pavement live in its entirety for the first time (MOST Awesome!). The dates are scheduled for November and December 2010, but the band performed a couple of dates in March 2010, one of which was in Sheffield and was filmed and shown on BBC Two. And, an hour-long documentary about the making of the album was shown on BBC Two the following night.
But before I present you with this week’s West Coast Wednesday Video Of The Week and you’re thinking… Hey – I’d really like to get to know this Orange County Wedding Photographer that is on the bleeding edge of fashion, music and videos, feel free to contact me anytime.
I’m available just about 24/7 via Twitter, Facebook, the form on my contact page, or the old fashioned phone as well at 888.ESQ.PHTO (888.377.7486) or 562.225.5915.
So without further ado, I give you Heaven 17’s live performance of “Let Me Go” for West Coast Wednesday Video Of The Week. And, don’t just have an awesome West Coast Wednesday, but make it a totally positive one for someone else too – cheers!