Under Construction 🚧
Seems like everywhere I go to in London there are works of some description either roads are being dug up or buildings being pulled down or being built, Even when I went for a stroll at lunchtime when I went into the office in London recently that was also marred by pathways closed due to some sort of digging going on. Sigh! It's like London is being overtaken by moles! For this post it's not so much to do with memories of going to places more like the delays in getting to them..
Even locally where I live they have been ripping up the roads causing buses to be on diversion to the local station tat take you well out of your way, a five minute bus ride becomes a fifteen minute ride, to be honest I usually walk! Nonetheless the whole thing just brought back some memories, I noticed the cones and lights that are used when the roads are being dug up and it just took me back to one of my old school chums who had several cones and of course the 'prized' flashing warning light obviously nicked from some road works (try getting one of those home under a leather jacket after a boozy night out!), the light used to be pretty effective as a kind of strobe light when we all used to go round to his and listen to some sounds. More recently my missus and I went to Walthamstow to an antiques fair they have at a place called 'Big Penny Social', whilst rooting through some of the items we encountered the very same style lamp my mate had, I have to say this one was in a right old state, rusty and knackered looking they still wanted about £20 for it though! Have a look at what they are like in better condition at the link to warehouse701 where they are selling for £40.
Anyway for this post I thought I would hit on a band that to honest I don't remember from back at the time, but a good few years ago I found one of their singles on line called 'Diving For Pearls' which I really liked, I then started digging around for some of their other stuff and a bit more about them and this is what I found...
Under Construction
1000 Mexicans were a post punk/electronic/new wave band that were formed in Greater London in 1982 and lasted until 1986. During their time they managed to knock out seven 7" Singles/E.P.'s and one formal album (excludes a demo cassette), all of their releases were on Independent Record Labels.
From the E.P. of the same name, released in 1984 on the Abstract Records Label
The Track Listing
- Under Construction
- Stars On Sunday
- Under Construction (thumping great Dance Mix)
- Short Back And Sides
Sadly they had some bad management decisions made for them which appeared to exacerbate their break-up.
The Band Were:
- Julian Griffin
- Michael Harding
- Andrew Hobday
They were multi instrumental each of the band members could swap vocal, synth, guitar duties easily. They reformed again in 2015 but sadly Michael Harding passed away in 2021.
Their first single 'The Art Of Love' was released in 1983 on the 'Whaam!' Record label, a record label that was set up by Daniel Treacy one of the core members of the band The Television Personalities and Edward Ball close friend of Alan McGee and worked with him at Creation Records.
Diving For Pearls
Check out the 1984 track 'Diving For Pearls' which was originally released on the 'Fire Record' Label, another Independent label releasing early material for bands like Pulp and Teenage Fanclub to name a few.
And also have a listen their first single at: The Art Of Love - Michael [email protected]
It appears they they were a very overlooked and underrated band and were perhaps not given as much notice at home (in the UK), they were nonetheless really very good. They did get some airplay on the John Peel Show mostly in 1983-84.
Finally you can check out another band on the same independent 'Abstract Records Label' posted on this site from way back in 2021 at the link 'A.W.O.L.' by alt rock band The Three Johns. Until next time ...😉🚧
Video & Photo Thanks
Video Source Many Thanks To: [email protected]
Photo by Pete Wright on Unsplash
Picture Source: Discogs.com
Photo By: 𝓐 𝓚ⅰ𝓬𝒌 Ìռძⅰ𝓮 𝓝𝒖ꚍⱿ
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