PLAY 02; THE REZILLOS/REVILLOS Where's the boy for me?

PLAY 02: THE REZILLOS / THE REVILLOS – WHERE’S THE BOY FOR ME?

When punk rock hit in 1976/77, it wasn’t long before every British record company was frantically scrambling round in every pub in the motherland desperate to sign the next noisy bunch of anarchistic upstarts, whose hair could be sprayed into mo-hawks and whose outfits could be adorned with safety pins and spray painted slogans to be fed to the masses as ‘outrageous punks’.

However, one of the great side effects of the wholesale signing of bands with attitude meant a lot of bands got a chance that would have otherwise been denied them. Including I’m happy to say some of my favourite bands of all time. There was a clutch of bands that took punk attitude, but they married it to pop sensibilities, better musical proficiency, a good sense of humour and often a great visual element. I’m thinking of bands like SPLODGENESSABOUNDS or SPIZZENERGI (more of both them in later blogs) and I’m definitely thinking about THE REZILLOS.

Formed in 1975 they released their first single in 1977. I Can’t Stand My Baby



It wasn’t quite fantastic yet; it was noisy sped up boogie, owing a lot to the UK pub rock scene that was in some ways the fertile ground that punk first germinated in. It wasn’t long before THE REZILLOS had embraced over the top costumes, ranging from sixties go-go outfits to futuristic space suits and started singing about Flying Saucer Attacks and wanting to be on Top Of The Pops.



They have been called the UK’s B’52’s and while there are some similarities but the Akron band certainly had more runs on the board when it comes to chart success.

Driven by two great front people and a great guitar player the Rezillos were surfing the new wave before there was one. Straddling punk and power pop and being extremely funny with it. They were not a ‘joke’ band, but they were much more fun than a lot of the other bands round at the time. Those front people were Faye Fife and Eugene Reynolds. Great names I hear you say, but then everybody who was ever in the band had a great name. Hi-Fi Harris, Angel Patterson, Gail Warning, William Mysterious, Luke Warm (guitarist Jo Callis who later joined the Human League) along with their Lost in Space lyrics, costumes and cheap but groovy videos gained them quite a following in the UK.

They released only one studio album CAN’T STAND THE REZILLOS in 1978. And it is without doubt one of my all-time favourite records. There are three covers on it I Like It (Gerry & The Pacemakers) and Glad All Over (Dave Clarke Five) both get quirk punkified do-overs but the strangest and my favourite track is a cover of an obscure Fleetwood Mac b-side called Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight.

*I have absolutely no idea what the heck this video is. It is a home made fan video, but is the clearest version of the song I could find.



Other original songs, like Bad Guy Reaction and Getting Me Down are also fab. But my second favourite song is the quintessential Art School song. It should be played at the graduation of every arts class the world over.

I Love My Baby Coz She Does Good Sculptures, Yeah!



In 1979 Fife and Reynolds left the band, speculation was that they couldn’t work with some of the others but they were all under contract as the Rezillos. As they departed they released a last single the brilliant Destination Venus and a live album MISSION ACCOMPLISHED BUT THE BEAT GOES ON...



Within a year Fife & Reynolds were back as THE REVILLOS. The line had changed substantially and would continue to do so til their break up in 1985. Whatever Faye & Eugene thought was wrong with the Rezillos, they had certainly fixed it by the time they became The Revillos. The first REVILLOS singles Where’s The Boy for Me? is one of the most perfect records I have ever heard in my life. Thumping drums, Farfisa organ, off kilter guitar, 60’s girl group backing vocals, a perfect power pop lyric about wanting to find the right boyfriend (“One boy whose fairly handsome, Hope he has blonde hair” and “Want boy right now, ah gimme gimmee”). It is over thirty years old now and I can STILL never play this song once. I get to the end and I just hit replay immediately.



After that The Revillos could do no wrong for me. The follow up was an ode to motorbikes, called Motor Bike Beat



Then they went underwater for the mind-blowing Scuba Scuba (the 7” single had a breakneck sister song called Scuba Boy Bop).



Hungry for You Love, (What’s you Name?) Bongo Brain – a zombie love song and the monster classic She’s Fallen in Love with a Monster Man all followed.



In 1985 they called it a day and seemed to disappear into the ether. However somebody in Japan coaxed them into a reunion tour in 1994 as the Revillos, which lasted a couple of years. Then they were back as the Rezillos in 2001 and continue to tour and record to this day.

Still pumping out 60s-ish/high octane pop-esque songs like Cutie Dolls from 2008



I’ve been pretty lucky with seeing my favourite bands live, but I’ve not yet seen the mighty Rezillos. One day it will happen….one day.


Destination Venus

Destination Venus more than darkness lies between us
Twenty million miles of bleakness - human weakness
Holding my receiver I can feel you coming nearer
Probing through the airwaves clearer - clearer clearer

Destination Venus - My heart was never slow
Destination Venus - Where you are I'll always go
I hear your voice on the radio

Further modulation of the frequency rotation
Triggered waveband activation - near elation
Somewhere in the distance I could hear a voice one instance
Then it faded from existence - no persistence

Destination Venus - My heart was never slow
Destination Venus - Where you are I'll always go
I hear your voice on the radio

Destination Venus only darkness lies between us
Twenty million miles of bleakness - human weakness
Holding your receiver can you feel me coming nearer
Probing through the airwaves clearer - clearer clearer

Destination Venus - My heart was never slow
Destination Venus - Where you are I'll always go
I hear your voice on the radio
Destination Venus - My heart was never slow
Destination Venus - Where you are I'll always go

I hear your voice on the radio
I hear your voice on the radio
I hear your voice on the radio
I hear your voice on the radio