Ski Patrol - Everything Is Temporary (1981)

For the last post of bands that recorded for the Malicious Damage record label we have Ski Patrol, who were formed in 1979 from the ashes of two Sunderland bands, The Wall and The Debutantes, by singer Ian Lowery and guitarist Nick Clift. Based in London at the time, they were inspired by the darkwave and punk-funk sounds of British post-punk bands like Joy Division, Gang Of Four, and A Certain Ratio, as well as being influenced by the Jamaican rhythms and politically charged environment in London. Their angular, moody songs fused Lowery's dark lyrical preoccupations with Clift's ringing, textured guitar chord phrasing, and after being joined by fellow North-Easterners Peter Balmer on bass and Bruce Archibald on drums, the band began playing shows on the London circuit opening for The Carpettes. By December 1979 they had recorded four songs at Alaska Studios in Waterloo, two of which became their first single 'Everything Is Temporary'/'Silent Scream', which was released in March 1980 on their own Clever Metal label. In early 1980, Archibald quit the band and was replaced by Alan Cole, and their reputation for explosive onstage gigs and angular songwriting soon captured the attention of Malicious Damage, a label that had already released music by Killing Joke and Red Beat. In June 1980, a second single 'Agent Orange'/'Driving' was released on the label, with the lyrics to the A-side referencing the defoliant used in the Vietnam War, and with synthesizer atmospherics being provided by Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman. In 1981, Peter Balmer had left to join Fad Gadget and was replaced by bassist Francis Cook, and the band recorded a session for the BBC's John Peel show, with a version of one of the songs becoming the band's third single 'Cut'/'Faith In Transition' in the summer. The band's final recording session in April 1981 yielded three new songs, 'Version Of A Life', 'Extinguish' and 'Concrete Eternal', none of which were ever commercially released, as the band finally fell apart later that year. One last single was released on Clever Metal Records in 1982, but by then Ian Lowery had moved on to form The Folk Devils, another fine indie outfit, and Ski Patrol left behind a legacy of just a dozen songs, eleven of which are complied here. Just one listen to 'Agent Orange' or 'Cut' will make you wish they'd stayed together long enough to record an album, as their compelling post-punk/dub sound really stood out from other bands of the era. 

Track listing

01 Everything Is Temporary (single 1980)
02 Silent Scream (b-side of 'Everything Is Temporary')
03 Agent Orange (single 1980)
04 Driving (b-side of 'Agent Orange')
05 Cut (single 1981)
06 Faith In Transition (b-side of 'Cut')
07 Extinguish (John Peel session 1981)
08 Where The Buffalo Roam (John Peel session 1981)
09 A Version Of A Life (previously unreleased)
10 Concrete Eternal (previously unreleased)
11 Bright Shiny Things (single 1982)

As a lot of these 80's post-punk bands will be an unknown quantity for most people, I've included a Youtube link for one of the songs for you to check them out.