Formed in 1983, Plague Of Fools consisted of 2 members, Tam and Stevie of local punkband The Sceptix.(correction: original members were: Stevie Ewing (Bass), Gary Mill (Guitar), Tam Ewing (Vocals) and Paul McCluskey (Drums)). They were impressed by Killing Joke when they saw them live so another sound was needed. First they would call the band The Hoax but changed it to Plague Of Fools. The first recording is a 3-track demo (Thaw, Fools All Day, Shove). Angry Al of Playlist Records offered them a deal to release a record on the Partizan Pestilenti offshoot. 'Fools All Day' was released in 1984. The band gigged alot in Edinburgh and around. They even made it to London and they also played in Holland.
'Heart Of Hearts' is the band's second and last release.
In 1987 they changed their name to Roman Ha as they were bored with the Killing Joke clone accusations. A 12" 'Castle In The Air' got released in 1987 and contains a new version of 'Heart Of Hearts'. The band decided to stop playing live. Roman Ha became a studio project with Gary and Stevie as the only original members, releasing the controversial 'Vision Of Linz' LP. A sort of Laibach-inspired record depicting Adolf Hitler on the sleeve.
Many thanks to Ken of which I took info from his write-up on Playlist Record & related bands/labels.
Fools All Day 12" (Partizan Pestilenti-PART 001-1984)
1. Fools All Day
2. Child's Play
3. Fools Dance
Heart Of Hearts 12" (Partizan Pestilenti-PART 002-1985)
1. Heart Of Hearts
2. Ragnarok
3. Another Day
Plague Of Fools
24 comments:
Brilliant stuff. The Killing Joke comparison is unavoidable though :)
Aggghhh! Too much stuff and my sound card is down!
Thanks for the posts, though. On deck for some rips when I can are the two Satan's Cheerleaders 7" singles with the recently deceased Vampira on vocals. Yes, Maila Nurmi, sang for the band on four tracks when she was in her late 60's or early 70's.
I also got a copy of the Bible For Dogs EP, and a record I tried to find 20 years ago by UK band Bob Hope To Die. The turntable will be happy tonight.
Always fine to hear from you Paul.
Fritz, hope your sound card problem gets fixed soon.
Bob Hope To Die, how do they sound?
Thanx for the links Curious much appreciated. RK
Noticed the midnight choir stuff. Anything on quite unnerving, also sheffield band?
Sorry can't help with Quite Unnerving. Did they release more than the track on 'Wargasm'?
Thanks, as always, for this one! Sounds like Fritz has some good stuff to come as well!
CG, Bob Hope to Die were hunted more for love of the name--they are not bad Post-Punk, but I need to listen a few times and see if they remind me of anyone.
I see you need the Voo-Doo Church 12" EP. I think I can post that in a few days. I need to scan the cover and insert sheet. Maybe the red vinyl as well. Oddly, thee turn up now and then sealed, which is how mine came.
Well I dl'd the Voo-Doo Church 12" from the now gone Klaustrophobia blog but the quality wasn't that good. If you rip at 128kbps the drums sound way too distorted, especially the cymbals. It hurts my ears and doesn't do justice to approach the original sound. So I'll be checking but take your time. Followed some copies on eBay but the biddings went skyhigh.
Killing Joke comparison is fair comment. I played keyboards with them for 3 years while still gigging, before Gary and Steve carried it on as a personal project...would be great to hear from Tam, Stevie, Gary or Paul if they read this
mark m
Killing Joke comparison is fair comment. I played keyboards with them for 3 years while still gigging, before Gary and Steve carried it on as a personal project...would be great to hear from Tam, Stevie, Gary or Paul if they read this
mark m
Link is broke and/or Zshare is.
New link! Enjoy.
Plague of Fools biog is wrong. I should know - I formed the band with Stevie Ewing in 1982. Original members were Stevie Ewing (Bass), Gary Mill (Guitar), Tam Ewing (Vocals) and Paul McCluskey (Drums). POF released three 12" singles - 'Fools All Day'(1984), 'Heart of Hearts' (1985) and 'Castles in the Air' (1987). The group toured Scotland, London and Holland. John Peel played the singles on his legendary Radio 1 evening shows. POF broke up in 1987. Whoever wrote the original biog, please correct. Many thanks.
Hi, just updated the line-up on my post. Got the info from someone of Edinburgh who was there at the time. Everybody makes mistakes I guess.
btw, great stuff you did. All the best.
Thanks for the biog update Curious Guy - much appreciated! The guy from Edinburgh who supplied you the original biog info (Ken) is my brother-in-law. Obviously he has the attention span of a mollusc.
By the way, some of us are still making music as songwriters (and getting chart hits believe or not!).
Saw Killing Joke with my two sons at Glasgow on 12th March 2012 - awesome!!!...the old bastards still rock!!!...that is until there was a power blackout after an hour. Still, good excuse to go and get pished. Which we promptly did!
All the best!
Gary.
Hi Gary, saw Killing Joke a few years ago and they were still as great as I saw them in 1983.
Could you be so kind to fix the link? Cause it doesn't work. :(( Thanks in advance!!
New link for Plague Of Fools. Enjoy!
Am tams and stevies nephew, my mum is toots. Am sittin with archaos right now, add me on facebook. Steven gordon thomas wakeley
Hello!
Could you re-up the link, please? Thank you in advance.
New link. Enjoy!
Link has expired...
Could anyone please reupload it?
Thank you!
New link. Enjoy!
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