| Europeans were a new wave band formed in Bristol, England in 1977. The line-up was Jonathan Cole (formally of Colortapes, on vocals, guitar and synthesizers), Jon Klein (ex-Emergency Exit on lead guitar), Steve Street (ex-Public Enemy Number One on bass guitar) and James Cole (drums and percussion). According to Klein, ‘we were going to be called 'The Noses.'
Their single "Europeans" / "Voices" was engineered by David Lord at his Crescent Studios in Bath and was the second release of Bristols' Heartbeat Records. This single was heard by Cherry Red Records and led to a licensing agreement between them and Heartbeat. The band later contributed the track "On the Continent" to the label's Avon Calling compilation album. The band split in 1979 when Rialto Records signed Jonathan Cole as a solo artist. Jon Klein went to London with Kevin Mills from The X-Certs to form Specimen (and was involved with the Batcave); he later joined Siouxsie and the Banshees and played on three of their albums. Steve Street joined Apartment, then Interview; he then moved on to recording bands as an engineer-producer, and later worked with Tears for Fears. The band had originally recorded an album's worth of material, but this was not released until 2008, when Bristol Archive Records brought out a downloadable album called Take Me To The Continent. This was followed in 2009 with a recorded live set, Live 1978 – Bower Ashton College, and a collection of demos, GBH Demos 1978. Post break-up Jonathan Cole – Signed to Rialto Records, his single "Keys to my Car" was never released. Jon Klein – formed Specimen, and later went on to record with Siouxsie & the Banshees. Steve Street – joined Apartment as bass guitarist, then Interview. He had originally recorded demos for The Pop Group and in 1978/79 the Glaxo Babies. He subsequently went on to engineer and produce a number of other Bristol-based bands including those on the Bristol Beat tape, Essential Bop, Electric Guitars, The X-Certs, Vice Squad and The Blue Aeroplanes. He was also involved in working with other bands like Tears for Fears. He currently works for Sugar Shack Records and its re-release subsidiary Bristol Archive Records. |
| The Europeans were a British new wave group formed in 1981 and disbanded in 1985. They released three albums, none of which achieved much in terms of chart position. In 1989, their former keyboard player and co-lead vocalist Steve Hogarth joined Marillion as lead vocalist. The Europeans should not be confused with the similarly named Europeans, a Bristol band that were active 1977-1979.
Line-up Colin Woore - guitars Ferg Harper - bass, lead vocals Geoff Dugmore - drums Steve Hogarth - keyboards, programming, lead vocals In 1980, a Scottish band called Motion Pictures (consisting of Harper, Woore, Dugmore) moved to London and advertised for a keyboard player. Steve Hogarth, who had recently moved to London from Doncaster, was chosen. The band rehearsed in Shepperton, changing their name to The Europeans in early 1981. Their first appearance on record was as the backing band on John Otway's All Balls and No Willy in 1982. They signed to A&M Records in 1982. Three singles were released before the first album Vocabulary: "The Animal Song", "A.E.I.O.U." and "Recognition". All lead vocals were handled by Harper, except "Kingdom Come" which was sung by Hogarth. Kiki Dee and Toni Childs were among the backing vocalists. Another single, "American People" was released, and the band toured extensively. The second album, Live was released in February 1984. The LP reached No. 100 in the UK Albums Chart. Later in 1984, the Hogarth-penned "Listen" was released as a single. A free promo single, "Acid Rain", was released to promote their second studio album (the third overall), Recurring Dreams, which became available in October 1984. Hogarth sang lead vocals on five of the eight tracks. When the Managing Director of A&M left the company a day after the release of the album, promotion took a nosedive. Hogarth and Woore left, forming How We Live in 1985 and signing to CBS. In August 2005, Recurring Dreams was re-released on CD by Marillion's label Racket Records. The re-issue features liner notes not included in the original 1984 vinyl release. |