Gee Mr Tracy Norfolk Indie — Photo by Liliane Limpens on Unsplash

July 15, 2022

Quirky Norfolk Indie Sounds

Gee Mr Tracy & Other Quirky Norfolk Indie.

Released 1986 on Backs Records. The band were from Norwich and consisted of Tom 'Brick' Smith and Vince 'Vince' Rogers, they appeared on Channel 4 UK music program called 'The Tube' back in the day and had quite a cult following.

Track List

A Side - Lava Man!

B Side - Mr. Unlucky

More information on the band on:

sofacom.co.uk
norwichmusic.fandom.com

The songs were always quirky, lo-fi electronic and lyrically seemed to be a lot about drinking alcohol. Have a listen to their first release from 1985 on the same record label called 'I wish the whole damn world was in a bottle'. And just for good measure 'Ooh Bop Sh'bam' also released in the same year.

They also feature on the compilation album called 'Good Morning Mister Presley' released in 1986 on the amusing entitled sub-label of Backs Records called 'Grunt Grunt A Go Go'. Have a look at the album track listing at RateYourMusic.com. The album includes tracks by Marc Riley & The Creepers, Yeah, Yeah Noh, Five Go Down to The Sea and Microdisney.

Backs Records & The Cartel

The Backs Record Label was originally started as a record shop in Norwich and progressed into record label as well as distributing records, evidently the shop itself closed in the 1990's, but the label continued and became part of 'The Cartel' as featured in my previous post 'Dead Beats & Kings Cross Indie 80's'. The record label released sounds by bands as diverse as Chron Gen, B-Movie and Bog Shed to name but a few.

The Fire Hydrant Men

Gee Mr Tracy also had links to another Norwich band called The Fire Hydrant Men (Featuring The Fabulous Fezettes), have a catch of the track 'Baby I'm A U-Boat' taken from the indie album 'The Sounds Of Leamington Spa 7 ' released on the Independent 'Firestation Records Label' and was part of the album 'Various – Still Mad At Me? (15 Years Firestation Records 1998 - 2013)'. The box set also contains tracks by other Indie bands such as The Nivens, Mighty Mighty, The Ogdens and The Wee Cherubs.

They Were:

Fez - Guitar
John Weaver - Keyboards
Chris Evans - Bass
Simon Lyne - Drums
Marie, Lesley and Pat - Vocals
As well as other contributions by Brick Smith, Dave Roberts and Steve McCabe.

Testcard F & Quirky Techno Pop

So, Tom 'Brick' Smith had links to The Fire Hydrant Men, whilst Vince Rogers was part of another quirky Norfolk outfit called Testcard F which were formed in 1981, they were a tad experimental and used early electronic percussion, evidently they built up quite a following, winning Norwich Battle Of The Bands and getting themselves a 'Peel Session' to boot as well that whole support thing for electronic pop act OMD back in the day.

They Were

Sue Hope - vocals
John Hartwell - electric drums
Pete Roberts - synth
Vince Rogers - organ

Get a load of their 'Peel Session' below, 'are you sitting comfortably?'

Testcard F Peel Session Recorded 18/12/1982

The link contains four songs:

Bandwagon Tango
Unfamiliar Room
Blanket Expression
Ransom

Must admit on some of the tracks they sound an awful lot like German synth pop band around at the same time called 'Trio' with their best known song 'Da Da Da'. You can listen and compare below...

Ahh! the sound of early 80's electronic music with the wonderful Casio VL-1 and a touch of Neue Deutsche Fröhlichkeit...you'll have to look that one up 😉