All images are clickable
Furyo at Luton library theatre
"abbo smiles and eddie concentrates"
|
FURYO;
"Cavalcade to Obscurity ?"
Well
UK Decay ended and we all cried. But although it was sad , it
wasn’t a totally negative feeling as I think we all felt
Abbo would be back with something worthwhile. Maybe even better,
who knows? Those final gigs ended things on a real high and there
was no sense of a clapped out band outstaying their welcome, the
guys were still playing awesome gigs and seemed to have a whole
lot further to go. But where, that was the question?
|
| Like
naughty little teases, Abbo, Steve and Eddie sneaked out a couple
of low profile releases on compilation albums during the first half
of 1983. These turned out to be a useful appetiser for what was
to come, even though few probably realised it at the time. Both
featured an anonymous guitarist called Patrick who disappeared before
Furyo hit the boards, unaccredited and unloved. First came the track
“Slave Drive” on Dave Roberts’ “The Whip”
album, a near-instrumental featuring a barrage of Steve’s
drums and some very aggressive acoustic swooping on guitar. I recall
John Peel playing this and it sounded great on the radio, keeping
elements of the DK sound yet moving into fresh territory. I wanted
more….. |
"abbo's quiff in profile " Marquee |
|
Even
better was “Meat of Youth” on the “Batcave”
album, recorded by the same line-up. This was a much looser, funkier
track with Eddie basically playing lead bass and some proper Abbo
lyrics. Much the best track on a pretty disappointing album (James
T Pursey and various second division ‘Goth’ turns),
this is well worth tracking down.
(Notes for Record Collectors; the 2 vinyl albums above are long
deleted but the Whip has been re-issued on CD, naughtily crediting
Slave-Drive to UK Decay which it clearly isn’t. The Batcave
album was on Decca and I guess won’t ever be re-issued, which
is a shame. These 2 tracks were both played live by Furyo in their
first few gigs but had been dropped by the end. MOY was often the
encore and made a storming closer) |
Anyway,
Patrick missed the cut and
in came Albie de Luca, ex- of Gene
Loves Jezebel and one of several victims of that bands revolving
door recruitment policy. He’d played unaccredited on 2 singles
( “Screaming” and “Bruises”) but the Aston
twins seem like a difficult pair of guys , which may be why he seemed
so much happier working with Abbo & Co. This line-up stayed
constant throughout Furyo’s short existence.
So, after what seemed like ages but was only 8 months, Furyo announced
their debut gig ; 1st September 1983 at the Marquee. I was working
in Coventry for that summer and bunked off work to get a train down
to London for the occasion, no way was I going to miss the start
of it all. Although the publicity was minimal (with no mention of
the band’s past on the ads), the venue was rammed and its
usual sweatbox self. It was a fabulous atmosphere, loads of old
faces making the trip and a huge sense of expectation and curiosity
as to what we were going to get. |
Furyo at Luton library theatre
"abbo livens up the library" |
"albie strikes a chord" Marquee |
And
what we got was something very similar to UK Decay. Thunderous drums,
crashing guitars , Abbo weaving his spells. I thought it was great,
I recall “Sounds” were unimpressed and slagged it as
UK Decay minus the tunes. Bit harsh, I thought it showed some real
promise and it was so good to see Abbo back in action. The crappy
Marquee acoustics didn’t exactly help but I genuinely thought
they were heading somewhere exciting and I was looking forward to
the trip. Albie looked good too, playing very aggressively and strapping
on an acoustic for “Slavedrive” (and playing that just
as hard). I went away that night full of optimism; confident these
guys could maybe take things a lot further. |
| Now
unlike UK Decay, Furyo did not seem to think gigs were their lifeblood.
They only ever played maybe a dozen shows so the three I went to
were actually a fair proportion. Next one I saw was at Luton Library
Theatre in late October (oh how certain friends laughed. You saw
a band in a LIBRARY? That was Luton 1983 sad to say, very few suitable
venues to be found). This was (I think) the third or fourth show,
I was lucky enough to get to chat with Albie who I recall discussing
a couple of low key gigs they’d played since the Marquee show.
This was basically a small movie theatre, all seated, so a very
different venue to the ‘trad’ rock club that was the
Marquee. |
"abbo up close at the marquee"
Marquee club |
"red leather in luton #1" |
And
it was quite a different gig. Maybe they’d had a re-think
after the Marquee show, but it was all a lot less frantic and thrashy
with some slow numbers (that became the majority of the mini-LP)
bought into the set. This was quite a surprise for the (fairly punky)
crowd, stuff like “Vultures” was a long , long way from
“For my Country”. I liked it, but there was a sense
we were moving into some unusual territory. The acts who’d
supported UK Decay a year previously were now breaking through big
time but Abbo seemed to have no interest in cashing in with a SexCultSocietyofMercy
type act, he was a man on a mission to do things his way and part
of that was very much to do things differently this time. All the
talk in interviews was about keeping it positive, fresh, different.
And when the album came out I think people finally got just how
different things were going to be. |
| Around
late 83/early 84 the band gigged sporadically, always in London
at small club venues. I was stuck at college in the Midlands so
I missed all these but reviews seemed to get much better with some
big fans in the press. Then in March came the debut mini-LP (just
called “Furyo”) and an accompanying gig at the Venue.
This was a really amazing release, in that I think it amazed everyone
who heard it one way or another. No trace of punk, no fuzz pedals,
lots of acoustic guitars and 4 of the 5 songs very slow and brooding.
Albie’s massed choruses of guitars underneath Abbo’s
theatrical lyrics, which were mainly about the ”joys”
of performance. I guess it was “Goth”, but in the sense
of some 1930’s Berlin cabaret rather than silly posturing
like the Specimen. Reviews were good, in as much as they had to
admit it was something incredibly different from what else was going
on back then. But I think really it was just way too different to
what people were expecting and they couldn’t really understand
what it was all about. It didn’t fit into 1984, and I think
it still sounds as out of time now as it did then. Which I guess
is saying it was something quite unique. Flawed, but unique. |
"abbo's quiff in profile and eddie
lurking"
marquee club |
"albie in red"
marquee club |
Did
I like it? In parts I think it really works (the gentle opening
of “Gold of our Lives”, the shrieking guitars of “Monster”,
the epic finale of “Opera in the Air”). But a track
like “Vultures” seems to collapse under the weight of
its intentions, the lyrics veering too close to pretentiousness
and the rhythm section nowhere to be seen.. Still, this was just
an opening gesture and I really looked forward to seeing it live
now I’d heard the tracks on vinyl. Nobody had given up hope;
it was just fascinating to guess how it would go from here.
I got my chance at St Albans in July, around the time of the release
of the “Furioso” 12” EP. I thought this was a
huge improvement over the album, much more accessible and together.
“Legacy” was the lead track, a great single with strident
vocals and the band playing much more like a unit. Even better was
the storming “Cavalcade”, built like a Luton Spaghetti
Western with some fabulous Steve Harle drumming and Albie’s
cod-Morricone guitars. Also on the bill was Lutons hugely underated
'Corpaelia', also “King of Hearts” which got some sniggers
as a sort of Goth “Greensleeves”, but if you ask me
that Henry V111 had some fine ideas. |
The
gig (supported by the excellent Corpaelia) was great, the band really
seemed to be going for it and were playing brilliantly. The old
Patrick tracks were ditched and a lot of new stuff added (I guess
tracks from the unreleased album). I think they played all the tracks
form “Furyo” and “Furioso”, and it all got
a great reaction from the crowd. I left the gig really impressed
that the band were taking it to a new level, and hoping to get the
chance to see it all again soon.
But…it never happened. The band played (I think) two more
gigs in autumn 84 (including a very badly received support to retro
rockers the Gun Club which I think was the final ever performance.
Very odd choice of acts to play with.) And then things just petered
out. Their was an interview in Sounds in Dec 84 where the band were
still talking positively, but apparently things got a bit sticky
and they called it a day early 85. An album was recorded but never
got released, it all ended with a whimper rather than any sort of
bang with no formal announcements or anything. . |
"abbo sings out"
marquee club |
"abbo livens up the library"
Furyo at Luton Library |
Such
a shame the album never got issued, it came out in a very limited
way (on tape from “Grim Humour” fanzine, I guess a bootleg
basically). It took things on from “Furioso” and I think
would have been a much bigger success, some of the later tracks
were really good. Not sure if the band or the label declined to
release it, but whatever it remains in the vaults to this day.
And
their legacy? Well Abbo moved on to become a very successful music
businessman and has seemed uninterested in re-visiting his career.
I’ve only ever seen one interview since Furyo ended (in
Mick Mercer’s excellent “Gothic Rock” book),
and whist he seemed to have a soft spot for UK Decay he was very
dismissive of Furyo.. Albie formed a very short-lived act called
De Luca Triangle (with the bassist of Play Dead and ex-Cult drummer
Nigel Preston). The demo I heard sounded like pub rock and was
best forgotten. Eddie joined Pete Murphy’s band and has
played on several tours and albums. Steve Harle sadly died in
1995, but was involved in several projects on the Luton “scene”.
|
Maybe
Furyo will be re-discovered some day and given some credit for what
they did. It would help if some of the material (particularly the
unreleased album) had been more widely heard, but it was all over
so quick I think it never had a chance to make an impression with
the public at large. Their whole career was less than 18 months
and they never got the momentum going to make things a success.
Another year and maybe they could have cracked it, but it wasn’t
to be.
Shame, there were some great moments in there that deserve to be
more widely heard.
Any further
info. would be much appreciated to fill in the gaps. Who knows,
that Furyo re-issue may be closer than you think…
P
August 2004
|
Albie
de Luca Links
GENE
LOVES JEZEBEL
De
Luca Homepage
Written by Paulrabjohn, Pics
also by PRJ
Web layout 'Shplonko'
Presented by UK Decay Communities
also thanks to SDZ web services
Level-one and Kacchina
|
