Classix Nouveaux

Classix Nouveaux
Sal Solo, onstage with Classix Nouveaux at The Lyceum Theatre in London, supporting XTC (1980).
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	New wave
Years active	1979–1985, 2021-
Labels	EMI Cherry Red Records ESP Records Liberty Records Parlophone Records
Members	Sal Solo Mik Sweeney B. P. Hurding Gary Steadman
Past members	Jak Airport Jimi Sumen Rick Driscoll Andy Qunta[1] Paul Turley Pandit Dinesh S Paul Wilson

Classix Nouveaux is an English new wave band. During a six-year career between 1979 and 1985 they released three albums and eleven singles, the most commercially successful of which was the single "Is It A Dream" that reached No.11 in the UK Singles Chart.

The band were successful in several other international territories including Portugal, Finland, Australia, Israel, Poland and Iceland.^{[2][3][citation needed]}

The break-up of X-Ray Spex triggered an advertisement placed in Melody Maker, searching for a new lead singer.^[4] Sal Solo (formerly with The News) answered the advertisement. Jak Airport and B.P. Hurding left X-Ray Spex to form Classix Nouveaux with Mik Sweeney and Sal Solo. Their first gig was on 25 August 1979 at London's Music Machine (which would later become the Camden Palace and is now called KOKO). With publicity growing for the band, their dramatic and heavily made-up image led to the music press associating them with the burgeoning New Romantic movement.^[4] Jak Airport was replaced by Gary Steadman during the same year.

In 1980, the band recorded a four track session for Capital Radio and one track, "Robot's Dance", was played regularly by DJ Nicky Horne. This attracted the interest of the United Artists record company (then part of the EMI group), but as negotiations dragged on, the band decided to release the track as their debut single on their own ESP label.^[4] They also performed for the first time on television on Thames TV in London. "Robot's Dance" spent eleven weeks on the UK Indie Chart, reaching #22, and became a popular alternative dance floor track. The group's second single, "Nasty Little Green Men", followed on 10 November 1980.

In 1981, the first Classix Nouveaux album Night People was released along with two moderately successful singles "Guilty" and "Tokyo". Both singles reached the UK Top 75, and "Guilty" reached the Top 20 in Sweden and #25 in Australia.^[5] The album itself peaked at #66 in the UK. The group filmed a colourful music video for "Guilty" directed by Russell Mulcahy, that caught the attention, and received airplay on MTV in America.^[3][6]

The second Classix Nouveaux album La Verité was released in 1982 and the single release "Is It A Dream" brought the group its only British Top 20 hit, peaking at #11.^[7] Even though they were not part of the 'Blitz Kids' scene^[8][9] the band were often seen as a New Romantic act due to their stark image.

Their next single, "Because You're Young", peaked at #43 in the UK, while the album itself peaked at #44. The album rose to #1 in Portugal, and the group toured Asia and India.^[10] After the tour supporting La Verité, Classix Nouveaux hired Finnish guitarist Jimi Sumen to replace Gary Steadman. Sumen had been a member of the support act at their Helsinki gig.

The third and final Classix Nouveaux album, Secret, was released in 1983, produced by Alex Sadkin. Several weeks into the recording, their A&R from their record company came to the studio and announced that the band had already spent their entire budget, and the recording wasn't even completed. Anne Dudley arranged an orchestra for the single "Forever and a Day". The record company didn't promote the album, and immediately fired the band from their contract.^[11][12] The album, and its singles, were unsuccessful in the UK, but the band had number one hit singles in Poland with "Never Never Comes" and "Heart from the Start". The band toured and played to 25,000 people in Helsinki, but by now Solo was the only original member remaining after Jimi Sumen was replaced by Rick Driscoll and BP Hurding was replaced by Paul Turley.

Classix Nouveaux broke up in 1985, by which time Sal Solo had already begun a solo career. He had a UK Top 20 hit with "San Damiano" which reached #15 in early 1985.^[13] He released an album, Heart and Soul, the same year, and further singles, "Music and You" (#52) and "Forever Be", but none of these were particularly successful. He went on to record and perform with the French space-rock and electronic band Rockets, before becoming heavily involved in Catholicism and releasing several Christian-oriented albums.

Mik Sweeney moved to Los Angeles where he built fretless bass guitars and did studio session work; he currently lives in Ireland. Gary Steadman went on to join A Flock of Seagulls for their 1986 Dream Come True tour. Jimi Sumen became a record producer in Finland and released a number of solo works there.

The first Classix Nouveaux compilation album was released in 1997 via EMI Records and was reissued with a slightly different track listing in 2003. Beginning that same year, the band's original albums saw reissue on CD by Cherry Red Records. In 2005 River Records released The River Sessions, a live album recorded at Strathclyde University in 1982 and, in February 2021, all the band's singles and associated B-sides saw release as The Liberty Singles Collection, again via Cherry Red Records.

In May 2021, the band surprised fans with a new single, which was a remake of "Inside Outside" from their first album.^[14] On 29 May 2022,^[15] their single "Fix Your Eyes Up" charted at number 10 on The Heritage Chart (as broadcast with Mike Read on Talking Pictures TV). On 17 November 2023 the line-up of Sal Solo, BP Hurding, Mik Sweeney and Gary Steadman released their first studio album in 40 years, "Battle Cry".^[16][17][18]

• List of Liberty Records artists
• List of new wave artists
• O.T.T.

• Classix Nouveaux at AllMusic
• Classix Nouveaux discography at Discogs