This is a short
and rather abruptly ending biography of Pink Military. I may
extend it in the future but, if you don't already know the story,
this will give you the gist.
In the late 1970s, there was a club/concert venue called Eric's. It was situated in Matthew Street, Liverpool, the same street as The Cavern. They put on shows by The Sex Pistols, The Clash and Siouxsie & The Banshees, and Liverpool's youth flocked to hear this new music. Many were inspired by what they saw, including the likes of Ian McCulloch, Julian Cope, Pete Wylie and Pete Burns, who subsequently pursued careers in the music business.
One of the most notable groups to grow out of the Eric's scene was Big In Japan. Members of the group included Jayne Casey, Ian Broudie, Holly Johnson, Budgie and Bill Drummond, all of whom went on to bigger things. Big In Japan played some gigs, recorded a couple of singles and then called it a day.
Jayne Casey then formed Pink Military Stand Alone. The group revolved around a nucleus of Jayne and Nicky Hillon who were then supplemented by a different group of musicians for each record. Their first release, on Last Trumpet records, was a live EP recorded at Eric's and included early versions of songs which would later appear on their only LP. They then signed to the Eric's label and released another EP, by this time dropping 'Stand Alone' from their name. They recorded sessions for the John Peel radio show on 26th November 1979 and 5th June 1980 and then came the excellent album 'Do Animals Believe In God?'. A slightly different mix of one of the tracks was released as a single, with a b-side which would have been worthy of inclusion on the album, had it been short of good songs. And then Pink Military were no more.
Jayne
continued the good work with Pink Industry who released several
albums.