Tanz Der Youth
After leaving The Damned Brian James formed Tanz Der Youth (great name meaning Dance Of Youth) with ex-members of Hawkwind and Warsaw Pakt. He described the band as “Transmagical; the sound of the eighties.” The accepted wisdom is they failed or may have been ahead of time; You choose. Interesting start to their career when they supported Black Sabbath on a major tour. They lasted 7 dates before conceding defeat against missiles thrown by headbangers. I think they also played Reading Festival to a similar reaction.
One single on Radar Records I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry / Delay (1978) which is brilliant.
Brian James – Guitar & Vocals
Andy Colqhoun (ex Warsaw Pakt) – Bass
Allen Powell (ex Hawkwind) – Drums
Tony Moor – Keyboards
Tanz Der Youth recorded a fine session for John Peel broadcast 9.8.78 and featured Why I Die, Mistaken, Delay & I’m Sorry, I’m Sorry. Definitely a cross between the Stranglers, Magazine, Lords of The New Church and Hawkwind which isn’t a bad mixture at all! The music paper reviews didn’t seem to think so.
To be honest it’s amazing James managed to pull a band together so quickly after The Damned had split and get a set together, albeit with a couple of their songs in it.
TalkPunk
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Wow, what a fantastic 7″. I really liked the first two Damned with Brian James, and his short lived project is also good! Tanz Der Youth was definitely ahead of time, in 1978-1979 more and more new wave bands started to experiment with synths, such as Ultravox and Tubeway Army. The music of Tanz Der Youth already included the music of Brian’s later band, Lords of the New Church.
RIP Brian, he was a very talented guitarist.
I’m with you and surprised how good TDY were. I think he gave up on the band too early but the reaction was terrible!