The Primitives
Fronted by indiepop blonde bombshell Tracy Tracy, The Primitives emerged from the UK independent music scene of the mid-1980s. Their sound distilled the shimmering guitar jangle of The Byrds, the buzzsaw style of The Ramones and 60's girl group melodies into two and a half minute pop gems. Regular session guests on John Peel’s radio show, with many an appearance in his Festive Fifty rundown, their career was boosted when Morrissey declared them one of his favourite bands.
A widely acclaimed first album, Lovely, made them one of the UK’s most revered alternative rock acts, while the huge success of the single 'Crash' saw them cross over to a mass audience. Further chart success followed, along with two more studio albums, Pure and Galore, plus extensive tours of Europe and the US, before the band called it a day in 1992. In 2008, Mojo Magazine voted The Primitives’ second single 'Really Stupid’ one of the Top 40 greatest UK indie singles of all time.
The band were reunited in 2009 by the untimely passing of their original bass player Steve Dullaghan, reforming to play a show in his memory later that year in their hometown Coventry; their first show together for 17 years. Bolstered by its success they went on to tour the UK in April 2010, receiving a rapturous response, followed by a headline slot at the Indietracks festival and shows in the US and Europe. In 2011 The Primitives released the Never Kill A Secret EP through Fortuna Pop! The record featured two brand new songs and two covers of female fronted pop obscurities, the latter two being a taster for the covers album Echoes and Rhymes, released on Elefant records in 2012.
An album of new original Primitives songs entitled Spin-O-Rama was released in 2014 and was showered with lavish praise. The general opinion being that it sounded like an alternative follow up to their classic 1988 album Lovely. The Primitives went back into the studio in late 2016 to record tracks for the New Thrills EP, which was released in May 2017. The current line-up of the band includes original members Tracy Tracy (vocals), Paul Court (guitar) and Tig Williams (drums) along with Raph Moore (bass), who joined in 2009.
