Blood Donor
Riki Legair – bass, vocals, Charlie Stevenson – percussion, vocals
Blood Donor came to most people’s attention in 1977 with their supporting of bands like The Damned and Johnny Moped but most prominently on the 1979 JJ Burnel Euroman Cometh tour where they and John Ellis’s band Rapid Eye Movement (themselves an art synth punk concept) were support.
Keith Hale, who had featured on the second album by the legendary folk psych band Comus in 1974, formed Blood Donor in 1977. The band itself was highly unusual in that it featured two synthesizer players, two percussionists and a bass player.
Check out the acid jazz psych sound that must have blown punk rockers’ minds!
They somehow landed management and a major deal with Arista Records, home of Patti Smith (and chuff all else punk/new wave) and worked with various producers including JOHN CALE.
They recorded their first album (tracks right) over a year with Tonto’s Expanding Head Band and Stevie Wonder producer and pioneering synth musician MALCOLM CECIL; John Bentley, the original bassist had departed to join Squeeze and was replaced by Riki Legair. Sadly, internal disputes between the record company and management meant that this album was never released, although two singles were “RUBBER REVOLUTION” and “RICE HARVEST”.
Rice Harvest
Chemical Babies
Rubber Revolution
Your Eyes
Memory Gland
Love Is A Disease
Walking In Circles
Room Hates
Something Happened
Heaven Blessed
While Rubber Revolution is an acceptable piece of new wave pop synthesizer frippery released on fashionably colored vinyl, Rice Harvest screams a record company saying goodbye. No picture sleeve and a choice of song that can only be described as commercial suicide. The song featured a Vietnamese children’s choir that seemed to take an age to get any momentum, no chorus only for it to stop. That said despite its uncommerciality, the story behind the doing is both moving and inspiring, especially in this time of people with negative views on boat people looking for a better life. See the story of the song here.
The band used to rehearse at Toyah’s warehouse, Mayhem whilst Toyah herself was forming her band and living there. This led to Keith’s long association with Toyah.
Keith co-wrote and produced Toyah’s first single, “VICTIMS OF THE RIDDLE”, which was used extensively in an episode of the BBC detective drama “SHOESTRING”, and played on and co-produced her first album, “SHEEP FARMING IN BARNET”.
In fact Blood Donor would appear uncredited on a couple of Toyah tracks and briefly appear in the background in the ATV 1980 Toyah doucmentary.
To top all that he replaced Tim Blake in HAWKWIND, and whilst recording with them on the Zones album, Toyah’s version of “IT’S A MYSTERY” (written by Keith and included on the E.P “FOUR FROM TOYAH”) reached No.4 in the UK singles chart and was also included on Toyah’s best-selling album, “ANTHEM”.
Riki Legair would later play in John Ellis’s band and appear on a remake of the Babies In Jars song that Johns band Rapid Eye Movement played when both bands supported JJ Burnel.
For more on Keith Hale and the early days of Toyah check out this essential site that was last updated in 1999 and is like a time capsule! I’ve used some of the content for this article.
TalkPunk
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