History

On January 1st 1984, Sarah, Steve, Jesus & Mark formed an unholy alliance, took a name from a novel by Graham Green and The Bomb Party was born.

Their 1st single "Ray Gun EP", incorporating "Harry The Babysitter" - a disturbing little number about the child care industry - achieved 'single of the week' in one music paper and was generally enthusiastically received.

With a growing reputation as a particularly and unpredictable live act the group released their 2nd EP "New Messiah" providing two classic crowd-pleasers in the title track and a two-minute explosion of energy entitled "Wasted".

With three tours of the U.K. under their belts - on with play Dead, one with Leather Nun, and one in their own right - a limited edition 7" anthem for the under-priveliged, "Life's A Bitch (When You Ain't Rich)", heralded the release of their first LP, "Drugs", which was to consolidate the roup's growing reputation. This no nonsense collections of songs, like "Kill Your Wife" and "Our Love Is Pushing Up Daisies", was again warmly received by the press. Tours of Germany, Holland and Denmark followed, culminating in a memorable appearance at the Futurama festival in Belgium.

A brief period of hibernation followed, broken only by the release of their 2nd LP "Liberace Rising" - prompting a 5-star review in Sounds - and a brief tour of Germany to break-in new member Leszek Rataj, and a new van. Leszek passed the test, but unfortunately the van had to be abandoned between Heidlberg and Cologne.

The Bomb Party's first release with the new line up, was a blistering re-working of the old bubblegum classic of the 70s, "Sugar Sugar", which featured the Voice Of The Beehive on backing vocals and production by Vic Mayall. it too, was chosen as Sounds 'single of the week'.

Following on the release of a new album "Fish" - a marriage of greater maturity and musical depth, with the energy, confidence and rock'n'roll panache that characterised their ealier work - The bomb Party again undertook a successful German Tour, culminating in a sparkling performance at the Lorelei Open-air Festival, along with New Model Army and The Jesus and Mary Chain, before a crowd of 10,000 people.

Their next single release - "Why Don't You Behave (More Like A Man And I'll Behave More Like A Woman)" - perfectly exemplified the band's growing pop sensibility and brevity.

In the Autumn/Winter of1989 they played a 13 date tour of England, plus a mini-tour of Germany, before performing what turned out to be their last ever gig, at the Mean Fiddler's Powerhaus in London, on the 17th December.

The following year they released their fourth album, "Nativity #3", recorded in Germany without Sarah, who had other commitments. This was to be their last recording, and the band effectively ceased to exist on it's completion...

(Taken from a press release in 1989)