Forward Edge

Back in 1979 a group of young upstarts with no musical training got together to form the band that would become Forward Edge. Many in the know tipped them for wider success, but despite seminal shows the band imploded without ever releasing a record.



Individual members of the band went on to varying degrees of success in the following decades most notably with art-punk outfit the Vision Restrictors and the highly politicised Love Missile.

However, by 2008 the surviving members of the band had hit rock bottom. Singer and counter culture motor mouth, Mike Clark had descended into a dark opiated oblivion in Texas; the inspired maverick guitar of Mark Blythman was in alcoholic meltdown and the tormented workaholic bass player Pete Passingham had retired to middle management obscurity.



With the band disparate, desperate and dispersed around the globe it took personal tragedy to bring them back together. In late 2008, the death of Clark's younger brother enforced a move back to Britain and shortly after that Passingham's long time partner left him.

With two of the members on the dole and one dealing with the break up of his relationship the band began recording together in May 2009 with a very us against the world attitude. The culmination of their endeavours is this long overdue self titled début album which is a triumph of the human spirit over adversity.



Unsurprisingly, considering their recent experiences, lyrically this album inhabits the dark confessional denizens often frequented by the likes of Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. Passingham's break up is traced in songs like the bitter sweet missives Awful Memory and Summer Died, the latter including the lines "I never dreamt that you would run" and "You cruelly crushed my boyhood dreams." Singer Clark's narcotic battles are alluded to in the superstar drug fused Americana of S.B.H., "Crack cocaine celebrity, Detox wired libertine"; and Blythman's alcoholism is tackled in Gang of Four-esque Unhappy Birthday, "Drink myself stupid."



However, before you reach for the razor blades, the album is not all doom and gloom and is ultimately about redemption, a refocusing of ideals and bright new beginnings. Musically the album is swept along on a tirade of joyous power pop, with the odd touch of psychedelia, which is reminiscent of the of The Clash, The Sex Pistols and The Libertines to mention but a few. Even in it's darker moments the record is liberally sprinkled with the group's trademark humour, all-be-it a touch dark in places, as evidenced by the single Chlamydia Asbo, the story of a wanna be reality TV star who is famous for being famous and with no real talent, "The tabloids they love her the paparazzi go clickety click. She can do no wrong, even when she's violently sick." Katy Price anyone? - Unused press release. Brilliantly writen though, don'tcha think?