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I was invited by Max Hole a Warner Bros executive to come and listen to some demos of a band that he had signed. The band had just released a single, but both the band and the label wanted a more commercial chance of having a hit, their first single for Warner just was too esoteric.
The band came to meet with me at Redbus Studios where I was working at that time, we went for coffee, and almost immediately I was impressed with Gaz - the lead singer and saxophonist. After hearing the band rehearse, a unanimous decision was made to record 'Lonely Boy'.
At the time I was recording with Culture Club, but this was prior to Culture Club's world wide success, George was really into the Swinging Laurels from what he had heard, and read in the press. He popped into the studio one day for Culture Club business, but happened to hear the Swinging Laurels backing tracks and said he wanted to be involved in some way if appropriate.
In conversation with Gaz we decided that George could sing the counter melody to the outro choruses the phrase was "make way for the Lonely Boy" obviously very relevant.
After completing the vocals we added George prior to mixing. We all thought we had a hit on our hands. However, a few days prior to the release I had a call from Virgin who were absolutely adamant that George should not appear on the single. We replaced George's vocal with Gaz's, but the end result didn't have the same impact with Gaz singing all the parts - what worked really well before, was the combination of the two vocal sounds, the new mix didn't have the same impact as the first. The record came out but didn't get the necessary support from the record company and it almost disappeared without trace.
I continued recording with them for a few more tracks but in truth we felt the pressure from the record company had killed the vibe from the sessions. Gaz and I have worked on other projects over the years but sadly nothing came to fruition.
I think it is great that the band are still releasing material. They have my full support - maybe this time...
Steve Levine
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