A lost band of my lost youth

The Decorators were one of the many bands I came across from listening to John Peel in my teens. After hearing their first single and seeing them live they quickly became one of my favourite bands along with The Gang of Four, Crass, Orange Juice and the Ruts.

Twenty years later all those bands, apart from the Decorators, can be found on the web, where they are discussed, praised and cited as major influences on bands X, Y and Z.

But not the Decorators.

No one remembers them, no one talks about them, they are only one of tens of thousands of lost bands.

Most of these bands are rightly lost and have returned to the obscurity they so richly deserve. Most were bandwagon jumpers, Johnny-come-latelys or just plain crap.

But amongst the lost bands there are some gems. There are some who, thanks to being in the wrong place at the wrong time, have been lost. One of these are the Decorators, who are still, twenty years later, one of my favourite bands.

Three reasons why I love the Decorators

1. Music. They come from the same forlorn, love sick, dark, gloomy, mystical stock as the the Velvet Underground and the Only Ones, two of my other favourite bands.

2. Mick Bevan's vocals, the odd things he does to words and syllables. When I listen to his voice I hear echoes of Lou Reed, Peter Perret, Edwyn Collins and Jim Kerr (circa 'The American' rather than the stadium rock tosh)

3. Lyrics. Like the Velvets moving from the intensity of Sister Ray to the sweetness of 'Sunday Morning' or 'I'll be your Mirror', the Decorators could step easily from the shadows to the sunlight. A dark, paranoid number ('The Infomer') can follow a simple, aching, pure-pop love song ('Twilight View') and I've not yet come across a band who could do something like mention Rimbaud and Baudelaire in a song (Mick's Girl), and not sound pretentious. They also had a sense of humour ('Red Skies over Wembley') something seriously lacking in bands of that era.

Four things for the future

1. Finish this page completely, write everything I know and remember down, I'll have to get hold of my old diaries and the band's vinyl, both sitting in someone else's attic.

2. Track down band members, interview them

3. Put a few tracks (MP3s, Real Audio) on this page for your listening pleasure, the world needs to hear this band. DONE

4. Release a compilation CD of the band's greatest tracks (yeah, like a long time goal this one!)