The ”Lost UK Jewels” Vol.22 ; LAROCHE – Dancing After Midnight (2021) *0dayrox EXCLUSIVE*
Here’s in exclusive at 0dayrox another installment from Steelheart Memories Records ”The Lost UK Jewels series”: LAROCHE “Dancing After Midnight” pressed in limited 500 copies.
LAROCHE was a Welsh band that made its reputation as the English answer to GIUFFRIA and WHITE SISTER in the mid/late ’80s. After two demo tapes in 1987/88, the Welsh band released a 4 track EP entitled ‘Dance’ in 1989.
Despite the great reviews from the era, the band never managed to sign a contract with a reputable label. A shame, as “Dancing After Midnight” packs some of the best, unknown ’80s AOR melodies & hooks we never heard before.
All these awesome songs of this British pomp AOR act were finally put on CD here, carefully remastered from the original tapes.
To introduce all of you to the magic AOR / Pomp Rock sound of LAROCHE, here’s a never-seen video for the song “Long Distance Lover”. The video was edited together by Nixxi Gilbert, LAROCHE keyboards-player, using “old camcorder footage found in the drummer’s attic”. The original video picture quality was quite poor, but Nixxi worked on it, improving a bit and editing it together with the studio version of the song.
The wonderful name of LAROCHE conjures up all sorts of Pomp AOR imagery, a vision sound tracked by the keyboard-heavy landscape on the band’s various recordings, as their only official release, the 4-track EP called “Dance”, independently released in 1989, an undiscovered gem that promptly disappeared.
Composed by Nixxi Gilbert (Keyboards), Andy DeCroix (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Marti Lawrence (on Lead Guitar), Steevi Hayes (Bass) and Tony Jaye (Drums), the band recorded – before the EP – another great chapter, the song “At Night She Breathes” in 1987, and four songs in 1988.
With a stage show to match, a set of band names that should have decreed they were of royal blood at the very least, they were regal and sophisticated. Hailing from Monmouthshire in Wales, they delivered a blend of Pomp Rock that entrenched them firmly stateside, marking them down as a band to watch; the UK’s very own White Sister or Giuffria even.
Previous to their ‘Dance…’ EP in 1989, they cut another excellent set of songs the previous year which included the wonderful ‘High School Love’, an undiscovered pomp gem if ever we heard one…
Here was a band that had the musicality and chops to take on the Yanks at their own game, managing to hold their own on tracks like ‘Down The Tubes’ / ‘Seventeen’, ‘Dance… and the aforementioned ‘High School Love’ with comparative ease.
This is their story, a gilt edged tale of a band that deserved so much more. So roll over Greg Giuffria and somebody tell James Christian’s wig the news: there are new Pomp godz in town.
For the first time ever officially released on CD, this ”Lost UK Jewels” Vol.22″ features 9 songs, the entire material ever recorded by the band: the EP, the 1988 tracks and the first demo (good sound quality) as bonus track, with a full remastered sound. Hurry up, it’s almost out of print.
Another “hidden treasure” from the amazing ‘80s!
A Must
You’ve seen it first at 0dayrox
01 – Down The Tubes
02 – Seventeen
03 – Dance…
04 – Long Distance Lover
05 – High School Love
06 – Holding Back
07 – Living a Lie
08 – Rich Girls
09 – At Night She Breathes (bonus track)
tracks 1-4 : Dance EP 1989
tracks 5-8 : 1988 recordings
track 9 : 1987 recording
Hugh Jones – vocals, guitars
Nixxi Gilbert – keyboards
Marti Lawrence – guitars
Lyndon Hurford – bass
Tony Jaye – drums
Try here:
www.schmankerl-records.com/catalogue.php?ID=442015120ce0d2c932017febfee9a045&grpID=100
