Subterfuge

Graham Partington sent us this: "Subterfuge hailed from Haughton Green and Denton and were: Dave Thompson – Vocals; Graham Partington – Bass/Vocals; Phil Hartley – Guitar; Mike Barlow – Keyboards/Synthesiser; Kev Driscol – Drums We recorded a Demo at Cargo Studios in Rochdale in March 1979 and the Engineer John recommended us to Tony Wilson for a gig at his new punk/new wave venue - The Factory in Hulme/Moss Side. Thus, our first gig was supporting Patrick Fitzgerald at the Factory the week before we played the Wilton Street Chapel in Denton (opposite the Youth Club). Incidently, Tony Wilson mentions in his book – 24 Hour Party People that this was the gig at which his wife 'got off' with Howard Devoto (see film). We used to rehearse at Wilton Street Chapel in the attic – very spooky after dark. It has, of course, now been demolished. The gig at Wilton Street Chapel was quite eventful when a group of teenage bikers (?) led by Paul Birmingham (now deceased) chucked some eggs at us and ran off! The gig at Hyde Town Hall was attended by Mick Hucknall and Neil (Moey) Moss of the Frantic Elevators as well as various members of the Hoax (not sure if Mike Joyce was there but I remember talking to the Bass Player, a black lad, who lived in Haughton Green on Lancaster Road). Subterfuge subsequently played one other gig in Ashton at Waterloo Youth Club (now demolished) with punk group – The Closed. The band then split in two. Dave Thompson and Kev Driscol formed Electricity who played one gig and split up. Graham Partington, Phil Hartley and Mike Barlow formed the short-lived 'Pink Industry' with Ross Cain (ex-drummer of Abdominal Pain) and played I think, 2 gigs – one at a Heavy Metal pub in Oldham and one at Stockport College (I think). Graham, Phil and Mike then got a new drummer Neil MacDiarmid and formed – Night Patrol – changing their name to Twilight Zone. Twilight Zone played many gigs all around the area for about three years. Howie from Stockport Band Alien Tint joined as vocalist in 1981. Graham Partington and Phil Hartley continued with a drum machine in the 1980's as Hammer Into Anvil and played amongst other places the Hacienda. Eventually, around 1987 the band Thirteen was formed consisting of Graham Partington – Vocals, Phil Hartley – Guitar, Steve Redfern – Bass and Andy Duos – Drums. Andy Duos left the band to become the Drum Roadie for John Lever (Ex-Chameleons) who was then in The Sun and The Moon. He was replaced by Mike Barlow on Drums. Thirteen gigged extensively around the Manchester area playing the Boardwalk and Witchwood many times. Graham Partington and Phil Hartley are still recording and are currently working on an album as yet untitled. " (Submitted 15.04.08) Dave Thompson writes: Subterfuge was conceived with Graham Partington at school, although the inclusion of Phil Hartley and Mike Barlow (long term friends and close neighbours of Graham) was inevitable as they'd mucked about with tapes,guitars and stylophones before this. I met drummer Kevin Driskel socially and he completed the line-up. With no formal training we quickly developed our own unorthodox methods of working together.We never really thought about what the music would actually sound like when we started out. We all had diverse tastes although there was a growing mutual appreciation of some of the more interesting "New Wave" bands that flourished in the immediate wake of "Punk". We were driven by a combination of self-belief,naivity and determination and were very disciplined. As Graham said in his submission, we recorded a 7 song demo in February 1979 at Cargo Studios in Rochdale before we'd done any gigs. Tony Wilson heard the tape by chance when visiting Cargo and was impressed enough to offer us a gig at The Factory so our 1st ever public performance, at an average age of 17, was at Manchester's "most happening" venue in March 1979. I think of that period up to recording that demo as "SUBTERFUGE Mk 1" because in between booking the session and recording it I acquired an electric piano. This was always part of the plan and signaled a crucial change. We were all instrumentalists so we could all be vocalists. The rule was simple - whoever wrote the lyrics sung them. In the end Graham and I each sung about 45% of the songs each while Mike and Phil contributed a couple of lead vocal/lyrics each. As we progressed we started to grow in different directions musically. In September 1979 we split up. Graham,Phil and Mike carried on working together with a new drummer, while Kevin stayed with me. After a couple of years of trying to work with countless combinations of local "musicians" to no avail Kevin joined another band.