The original line up
John Fitzsimons - lead vocals, guitar, writer
John Wilkinson - lead guitar, keyboards, backing vocals, writer
Mike Fitzsimons - bass, backing vocals
Norman Marsh - drums
The Papers: Bio
The New Papers
Ben Priest - Drums
Louis Hoadly - Guitar
Tom Staniford - Bass
The Papers views - politics and pop
The Papers were formed in 1979. We wanted to change the world - fast. At that time the world was a mess, Oh man we're talking about impending third world war using nukes! And there was a whole bagful of new planet problems - environmental issues - nuclear power plants that didn't work and went bang – Chernobyl, Three Mile Island. On top of that no one seemed to care – there was the new pre-occupation with consumerism and celebrity - what is that stuff??? have we all lost our minds???, Yeah we did not like Thatcher or Reagan - they were destructive assholes - they ended social cohesiveness and took a meat clever to civilised society – the usual septic vision - make money who cares who gets hurt!. The Papers stood for anything but this crap, and used contemporary pop music to incite their audience to take these issues more seriously - and to have some fun - after all what is life for?
The Papers were originally based in Brixton South London, the home of much musical carnage and wholesome partying. In 2006 we began 'regenerating' the band - why - well there is still a lot of bad stuff that needs changing - and there are a lot of young musicians who feel the same way – its their world now - so we're putting a new band together to carry on the good work. This time we're basing the band in Brighton, on the south coast of the UK. Now when it comes to a party town you wont find much to beat Brighton, but it is also a place of tolerance, debate, creativity, music, love, new ideas and political mash ups - just perfect – and Mike (harry) lives there.
The MUSIC – Twelve original tracks are featured on the 2006 CD 'Fahrenheit In A Centigrade World'. This includes the controversial debut single How Many More (For The Third World War) and Hello Oblivion, tracks that were set against a backdrop of cold war politics that was spiralling out of control. Reggae on the Radio - a comedic plot about police relations within the black communities, Miracle and Spacer highlighted the development of the 'consumer is king' culture - make anything they want and sell it - hang the consequences. Android and Telephone poke fun at the growing artificial nature of human relations – where has the love gone?? . Dead Mans Shoes points to the futility of 9-5 sheep like career ambitions – that can’t be anybodies dream??? And there’s a ton more and a new set of Brighton musicians to write the new material and perform it live.
So what's happened since then?
As ever the world didn't quite implode/explode and some good stuff happened as well as bad. However it came close and today many would say its getting worse. Perhaps the threat of a world war has receded, perhaps not but now we have terrorism writ large on every street corner. Violence and political wrangling in the Middle East and North East Africa is just appalling. Global economies are growing faster than ever, consumerism is off the rails, environmental issues are better understood but little has been done despite increasing disasters both in scale and impact. Humanity still finds it hard to get along with each other on the basis of politics, religion, economics, race, gender and sexuality. But it is not all doom. There are some good folks out there – Friends of The Earth and Greenpeace and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and many other organisations and some international politicians that are trying to bring a new balance to this fragile world.
The Papers music is unique uncompromising and committed. Has it dated since the 1980s? You will find synergies with todays issues, some frighteningly so. Eerily the music sounds closer to the new wave bands of today than the bands of the 1980s and the sentiments as current now as they were then. New material is on the way so climb aboard. Time to stop reading and start listening.
New track: Alien Planet available soon…
The Papers Story
The Papers were based in Brixton South London. The band oscillated between the music scenes in Brixton and Deptford Crossfields estate – the home of Dire Straits, Squeeze and many other fine bands. The scene was agitated, uncompromising, exhilarating - ripe for political protest and full of invention and unstoppable musical carnage. In the middle of this The Papers emerged with their strident tough-talking explosion of challenging agi-pop. Twin brothers John and Mike Fitzsimons were born in Orpington, Kent in 1951. The sons of Irish emigrants they graduated from Essex University in 1971 and directed most of their energies towards various music projects (Plod www.themightyplod.com, Targets, Stan Laurel Band, ...) until forming The Papers with John Wilkinson and Norman Marsh. Following an introduction by their good friends The Skunks (later The Craze) to Salamander Productions, within a year The Papers were recording their first single with Tony Taverner at Maison Rouge Studios in Fulham, London. Panache Music (Malcolm Forester) signed the band for publishing and produced the first two singles. The first single 'How Many More' featured the then US president Ronald Reagan (probably the world’s first ‘sample’). This single gained the band the reputation they wanted – political agi pop. The single rose to number three in the indie charts and was played by national BBC Radio 1. They were playing all over London and headlining major festivals. The bands journo-pop credentials were becoming very well known and CND's No Nuke Music booked them for their London South bank gigs. The tour followed – Cardiff, Exeter, Bristol and Glastonbury then back in time to play two sell out London shows. Journo Paul Strange from Melody Maker wrote a several positive reviews. Elton John’s producer Gus Dudgeon recording the band live at the east London Polytechnic. The follow up single ‘Reggae On The Radio' took the band further into the pop mainstream. The record has appear on seneral compilations since suvh as Heat from the Steets and Britsh SKA. The band expanded the line up to include sax (Bernie Hagley of Vanity Fair), vocals (Jenny Geraty) and percussion (Barry). In 1984 they released a third single 'The Only One I See', an anti war epic recorded at Mekon studios with Rob Doran (Hard Corps). Then the band went their separate ways. Mike joined the Piranhas in Brighton, John Willo became part of God Made Trouble (GMT). Norman and John went west. In 1999 John Fitzsimons re-engineered the unreleased recordings and issued 'Roxy Plays The Wild Card' - an 11 track album. Following the emergence of the new wave of British Bands such as Hard Fi, Futureheads and Bloc Party it was decided to digitally re-master and re-release some of the The Papers material as anew album. In 2006 Fahrenheit In A Centigrade World was released. This is available from CD Baby and on iTunes. But why stop there! The music and the message needs to be out there. In 2008 the band will be regenerated with new young musicians and will be releasing a new single in 2009. Keep up with developments at http://www.myspace.com/thepapersmusicuk Get ready for another dose of hard-nosed agi-pop – and learn to dance.