The Magazine Spies
Encyclopedia
The Magazine Spies were an English
post-punk
band
from the town of Horley
. They were active during 1979 and 1980, and are notable for band members who went on to play in The Cure
, Fools Dance
and related projects. The Magazine Spies were also known as The Magspies and Mag/Spys; a wordplay on Magpies.
band Lockjaw
(1976–1978); Gary Bowe (vocals
), Simon Gallup
(bass guitar
), Stuart Hinton (guitar
), and Martin Ordish (drums
). They were joined by Matthieu Hartley
(keyboards
).
Their transition from Lockjaw to The Magspies coincided with the band parting company with Raw Records, and expanding from their punk
origins to explore post-punk and new wave
.
As they had done as Lockjaw, The Magspies continued to play regularly around Horley and Crawley
with The Cure
, among others.
Both Lockjaw and The Magspies were managed
and promoted
by bassist
Simon’s elder brothers Dave Gallup and Ric Gallup.
, however, The Magspies entered Morgan Studios
in London
as part of a recording session
for Cult Hero. Simon and Matthieu both performed
as members of Cult Hero during these sessions.
In between recording Cult Hero, Robert Smith
of The Cure and Ric Gallup produced
tracks
by The Obtainers and The Magspies for Ric Gallup’s new record label
Dance Fools Dance. Song
s recorded by The Magspies included Lifeblood, Bombs, Dishonour and Gary’s Gone to War. Simon performed bass on the Magspies recordings apart from 'Gary's gone to War' which featured Rik, but Matthieu’s keyboards did not appear. backing vocals
were provided by Simon’s then-girlfriend
Carol Thompsom(].
Rik Kite from Crawley. Rather than finding a new keyboardist
the band recruited second guitarist
Stuart Curran. Curran’s previous band CRIME had been performing around Horley and Crawley with The Magspies during 1979.
In March 1980, the new lineup of Gary Bowe (vocals), Stuart Hinton (guitar), Stuart Curran (guitar, keyboards), Rik Kite (bass/backing vocals) and Martin Ordish (drums) opened for The Cure at The Marquee Club
in London. Later in the same year members of The Magspies also traveled with The Cure for tour dates in France
.
by The Obtainers and The Mag/Spys, from the earlier Morgan Studios recordings. The record contained The Obtainers’ songs Yeh Yeh Yeh and Pussy Wussy on one side, with Lifeblood and Bombs by the Mag/Spys on the other. Only 100 copies
of the single were pressed, hand-packaged in paper
and sticker
sleeves
design
ed by Ric Gallup. Individual copies came with either red, yellow, green or blue stickers, and were sold by mail-order for 75 pence through The Cure’s official newsletter
Clinic.
Later internet
sources have dated the release to 1979 http://www.detour-records.co.uk/MAGSPYS.htm http://www.on-fiction.com/TheCure/cult_hero.htm http://www.picturesofyou.us/Obtainers-MagSpys/Obtainers-Magspys.htm, possibly due to having been recorded in 1979 with the original lineup.
In 1998 Lifeblood and Bombs by Mag/Spys reappeared on the UK punk compilation LP
England Belongs to Me, Vol II by bootleg label 77 Records.
In 1981 former Magspies Stuart Curran and Matthieu Hartley formed The Cry. Simon Gallup also joined in 1982, and after several lineup and name changes between 1981 and 1983 they became Fools Dance
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
from the town of Horley
Horley
Horley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
. They were active during 1979 and 1980, and are notable for band members who went on to play in The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, Fools Dance
Fools Dance
Fools Dance was a short-lived British rock band, formed in 1982 by Simon Gallup after he left The Cure, due to a conflict with Robert Smith. Initially calling themselves 'The Cry', the band played their first gig at the Covent Garden Rock Garden on the 19th April 1983...
and related projects. The Magazine Spies were also known as The Magspies and Mag/Spys; a wordplay on Magpies.
Origins
The initial lineup in 1979 comprised the original members of Horley punk rockPunk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Lockjaw
Lockjaw (band)
- Members :* Gary Bower - vocals* Stuart Hinton - guitar* Simon Gallup - bass* Martin Ordish - drums- Discography :* Radio Call Sign / The Young Ones in November 1977...
(1976–1978); Gary Bowe (vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
), Simon Gallup
Simon Gallup
Simon Jonathon Gallup is an English musician and bassist of the post-punk band The Cure.-Early years:...
(bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
), Stuart Hinton (guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
), and Martin Ordish (drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
). They were joined by Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley
Matthieu Hartley is an English musician born in Smallfield, England. He is best known as the original keyboardist for The Cure, but before that he and Simon Gallup were involved in two other bands called Lockjaw and The Magazine Spies....
(keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
).
Their transition from Lockjaw to The Magspies coincided with the band parting company with Raw Records, and expanding from their punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
origins to explore post-punk and new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
.
As they had done as Lockjaw, The Magspies continued to play regularly around Horley and Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
with The Cure
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
, among others.
Both Lockjaw and The Magspies were managed
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
and promoted
Promoter (entertainment)
An entertainment promoter i.e. music, wrestling, boxing etc is a person or company in the business of marketing and promoting live events such as concerts/gigs, boxing matches, sports entertainment , festivals, raves, and nightclubs.- Business model :Promoters are typically hired as independent...
by bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Simon’s elder brothers Dave Gallup and Ric Gallup.
Cure, Cult Hero, recording
In October 1979 Simon Gallup and Matthieu Hartley left The Magspies to join the new lineup of The Cure. During the same monthMonth
A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, which was first used and invented in Mesopotamia, as a natural period related to the motion of the Moon; month and Moon are cognates. The traditional concept arose with the cycle of moon phases; such months are synodic months and last approximately...
, however, The Magspies entered Morgan Studios
Morgan Studios
Morgan Studios, also known as Morgan Sound Studios, were recording studios in Willesden, North London. The studios were notable for many recordings of the 1960s and 1970s by many British bands and artists such as Ten Years After, Yes, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Joan Armatrading, Cat...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as part of a recording session
Session
-Bureaucracy:*Executive session, a portion of the United States Senate's daily session*Legislative session*Session *Session , a governing body in Presbyterian polity*Court of Session, the supreme civil court of Scotland...
for Cult Hero. Simon and Matthieu both performed
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
as members of Cult Hero during these sessions.
In between recording Cult Hero, Robert Smith
Robert Smith (musician)
Robert James Smith is an English musician. He is the lead singer, guitar player and principal songwriter of the rock band The Cure, and its only constant member since its founding in 1976...
of The Cure and Ric Gallup produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
tracks
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
by The Obtainers and The Magspies for Ric Gallup’s new record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
Dance Fools Dance. Song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s recorded by The Magspies included Lifeblood, Bombs, Dishonour and Gary’s Gone to War. Simon performed bass on the Magspies recordings apart from 'Gary's gone to War' which featured Rik, but Matthieu’s keyboards did not appear. backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
were provided by Simon’s then-girlfriend
Girlfriend
Girlfriend is a term that can refer to either a female partner in a non-marital romantic relationship or a female non-romantic friend that is closer than other friends....
Carol Thompsom(].
The Magspies II
The Magspies later replaced Gallup with bassistBassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
Rik Kite from Crawley. Rather than finding a new keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
the band recruited second guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
Stuart Curran. Curran’s previous band CRIME had been performing around Horley and Crawley with The Magspies during 1979.
In March 1980, the new lineup of Gary Bowe (vocals), Stuart Hinton (guitar), Stuart Curran (guitar, keyboards), Rik Kite (bass/backing vocals) and Martin Ordish (drums) opened for The Cure at The Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
in London. Later in the same year members of The Magspies also traveled with The Cure for tour dates in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Yeh Yeh Yeh
In July 1980 the Dance Fools Dance label released the Yeh Yeh Yeh split-release 7’’ singleSingle (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
by The Obtainers and The Mag/Spys, from the earlier Morgan Studios recordings. The record contained The Obtainers’ songs Yeh Yeh Yeh and Pussy Wussy on one side, with Lifeblood and Bombs by the Mag/Spys on the other. Only 100 copies
Copying
Copying is the duplication of information or an artifact based only on an instance of that information or artifact, and not using the process that originally generated it. With analog forms of information, copying is only possible to a limited degree of accuracy, which depends on the quality of the...
of the single were pressed, hand-packaged in paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
and sticker
Sticker
A sticker is a type of a piece of paper or plastic, adhesive, sticky on one side, and usually with a design on the other. They can be used for decoration, depending on the situation. They can come in many different shapes, sizes and colours and are put on things such as lunchboxes, in children's...
sleeves
Record sleeve
A record sleeve is the outer covering of a vinyl recording. The sleeve is technically the paper covering that is closest in contact to the surface of the recording, as in "dust sleeve", "liner" and "album liner". The term has come to be synonymous with "record jacket" and "album jacket", which is...
design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
ed by Ric Gallup. Individual copies came with either red, yellow, green or blue stickers, and were sold by mail-order for 75 pence through The Cure’s official newsletter
Newsletter
A newsletter is a regularly distributed publication generally about one main topic that is of interest to its subscribers. Newspapers and leaflets are types of newsletters. Additionally, newsletters delivered electronically via email have gained rapid acceptance for the same reasons email in...
Clinic.
Later internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
sources have dated the release to 1979 http://www.detour-records.co.uk/MAGSPYS.htm http://www.on-fiction.com/TheCure/cult_hero.htm http://www.picturesofyou.us/Obtainers-MagSpys/Obtainers-Magspys.htm, possibly due to having been recorded in 1979 with the original lineup.
In 1998 Lifeblood and Bombs by Mag/Spys reappeared on the UK punk compilation LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
England Belongs to Me, Vol II by bootleg label 77 Records.
Aftermath
During the latter half of 1980, The Magspies disbanded.In 1981 former Magspies Stuart Curran and Matthieu Hartley formed The Cry. Simon Gallup also joined in 1982, and after several lineup and name changes between 1981 and 1983 they became Fools Dance
Fools Dance
Fools Dance was a short-lived British rock band, formed in 1982 by Simon Gallup after he left The Cure, due to a conflict with Robert Smith. Initially calling themselves 'The Cry', the band played their first gig at the Covent Garden Rock Garden on the 19th April 1983...
.