Rockpile | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Rock and roll,pub rock,rockabilly,power pop,new wave |
| Years active | 1976–1981 |
| Labels | F-Beat (UK),Columbia (US),Swan Song |
| Past members | Billy Bremner Dave Edmunds Nick Lowe Terry Williams |
Rockpile were a Britishrock band of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Noted for their strongpub rock,rockabilly andpower pop influences, they were a foundational influence onnew wave. The band consisted ofDave Edmunds (vocals, guitar),Nick Lowe (vocals, bass guitar),Billy Bremner (vocals, guitar) andTerry Williams (drums).
Rockpile recorded almost enough material for five studio albums, though only one (Seconds of Pleasure) was released under the Rockpile banner. Three other albums (Tracks on Wax 4,Repeat When Necessary, andTwangin...) were released as Dave Edmunds solo albums, and one more (Labour of Lust) was released as a Nick Lowe solo album. Scattered Rockpile tracks can also be found on a few other Lowe and Edmunds solo albums. Additionally, Rockpile served as backing group on tracks recorded byMickey Jupp in 1978 andCarlene Carter in 1980.
Guitarist/vocalist Edmunds had recorded a 1972 solo album titledRockpile, and on his tour in support of the album, he billed his band, which includedTerry Williams on drums, asDave Edmunds and Rockpile. However, the band broke up after the tour, and Edmunds returned to studio work. One of the artists that he produced was the pub rock bandBrinsley Schwarz, managed byDave Robinson and led by bassist/singerNick Lowe. Their 1974 album,The New Favourites of... Brinsley Schwarz, produced by Edmunds, pushed the band into a power pop mode and included the original version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding". Brinsley Schwarz broke up after the release of the album, and Lowe began doing session work with Edmunds, including Edmunds' 1975 solo albumSubtle as a Flying Mallet.[citation needed]
When Dave Robinson andJake Riviera co-foundedStiff Records, Lowe was the first artist signed to the label, and he and Edmunds recorded new material for release under Lowe's name. Stiff promoted its ties to Edmunds. However, the relationship between Edmunds and Riviera was always rocky, and in 1976 Edmunds signed a solo contract withLed Zeppelin'sSwan Song Records, rejecting Riviera and Stiff. With help from Lowe and Terry Williams, Edmunds recorded a new solo album,Get It. Lowe and Edmunds then formed a new version ofRockpile, with Williams returning on drums andBilly Bremner joining as a second guitarist and third vocalist.[citation needed]
Despite the pressures from having its two leaders signed to different labels, Rockpile toured in 1976-77 as the opening act for Edmunds' new labelmatesBad Company, and Edmunds also provided some archive tracks to Stiff for release on Stiff compilations. However, as Lowe and Stiff became increasingly popular, Rockpile went into an on-again, off-again status. In 1977, Lowe became part of the "Five Live Stiffs" tour without Rockpile. Only Terry Williams was intended to be included in Lowe's backing band, which was called 'Nick Lowe's Last Chicken in the Shop'. At the last minute, however, Edmunds also joined the band, and, although Bremner did not participate in this tour, Rockpile was soon back in business full-time.[citation needed]
Rockpile appeared as a backing band on one track of Lowe's debut solo album, released in March 1978 with different track listings and titles in the UK and the US. The UK version (Jesus of Cool) featured Rockpile on the live recording of "Heart of the City", while the US album (Pure Pop for Now People) featured the Rockpile studio track "They Called It Rock", credited as being written by Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds/Rockpile.[citation needed]
Meanwhile, Edmunds' 1978 solo album (Tracks on Wax 4) was the first album to be completely a Rockpile album; Edmunds sings all lead vocals. The album included the same live version of "Heart of the City," except with Edmunds' lead vocal overdubbed in place of Lowe's. Rockpile toured behind both the Lowe and Edmunds releases in 1978. The band also backedMickey Jupp on side one of his Stiff albumJuppanese, produced by Lowe.[1]
In 1979, Rockpile simultaneously recorded Edmunds'Repeat When Necessary and Lowe'sLabour of Lust. The recording process was the subject of the TV documentary[Born Fighters]. Jake Riviera left Stiff Records and, taking his artists (Lowe,Elvis Costello, andthe Yachts), moved toRadar Records in the UK (although Riviera Global Productions stayed withColumbia Records in the US). Edmunds' contract with Swan Song was unaffected by this change.[citation needed]
Rockpile (under solo artists' names) enjoyed hits in 1979 on both sides of the Atlantic with Edmunds' "Girls Talk" (a top 20 hit in both the UK and Canada) and Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" (top 20 in the UK, Canada and the US).Labour of Lust was awarded a gold album in Canada andRepeat When Necessary was awarded a silver album in the United Kingdom.[2][3] Rockpile also played in the 29 December 1979Concerts for the People of Kampuchea withElvis Costello & the Attractions andWings, where they were joined onstage by Led Zeppelin lead singerRobert Plant (co-owner of Swan Song). Robert Plant also joined when Rockpile played a UK university tour (at least Warwick University) at about this time. Two of the band's songs were included in theconcert album.
In 1980, Edmunds submitted the solo albumTwangin..., which was mostly a collection of outtakes from his previous solo albums, to complete his Swan Song contract, freeing Rockpile to record a true band record for Jake Riviera's new labelF-Beat Records. Released in autumn 1980,Seconds of Pleasure featured lead vocal turns by Edmunds, Lowe and Bremner, and spawned the minor hit "Teacher, Teacher", sung by Lowe.Twangin... was issued six months afterSeconds of Pleasure, and featured Rockpile on nine of its eleven tracks.[citation needed]
Rockpile also backed Lowe's new wifeCarlene Carter (Johnny Cash's stepdaughter) on most of her 1980 albumMusical Shapes.[4] In August Rockpile played the notedHeatwave festival near Toronto, which with 100,000 attendees was the first large punk or new wave music event, and where Rockpile were the most experienced of the several major bands. But tensions between Lowe and Edmunds led to the band's dissolution in 1981. As Lowe put it, "We got together for fun and when the fun had all been had we packed it in."[5] Edmunds said the breakup was due mainly because of his displeasure with the band's manager, Jake Riviera.[6]
Bremner and Williams appeared on several Lowe albums throughout the 1980s, but Lowe and Edmunds did not work together again until Lowe's 1988 albumPinker and Prouder Than Previous. Edmunds also produced Lowe's 1990 albumParty of One. In 2011, "Teacher, Teacher" appeared in the opening credits of the filmBad Teacher.[citation needed]
Since 2011, there have been a total of five different live Rockpile album releases, the most recent being in 2021.Live at Rockpalast from 2013 also includes a DVD of their 1980 live show. The listings for each of their live releases are in the discography section below.[citation needed]
| Year | Album details | Peak positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [7] | CAN [8] | US [9] | SWE [10] | ||
| 1980 | Seconds of Pleasure
| 34 | 29 | 27 | 8 |
| Year | Single | Peak positions | Album | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [11] | CAN [12] | US [13] | |||||||
| 1980 | "Wrong Again (Let's Face It)" | — | — | — | Seconds of Pleasure | ||||
| "Teacher, Teacher" | 83 | 31 | 51 | ||||||
| "Now and Always" | — | — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Ten of the 12 tracks featured Rockpile; the other two ("Ring of Fire" and "Too Proud") featuredClover as the backing band
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