New album coming late 2021
Set the DeLorean to 1981, Banstead, Surrey, England.
Three school kids, Mark Duggan, Martin West and Steve Shillito are obsessing over bands like Kraftwerk and Thomas Dolby. A borrowed Roland SH-02 synthesizer sees the band known as ‘Don’t Mention It’ bleep and blink into existence.
The early 80’s see the boys renting synths, drum machines and a 4-track Portastudio to spend long bank holiday weekends improvising straight to tape. By the mid 80’s the synth wave band falls apart as the young men go their own way. Mark forms a record company; Martin plays bass in a brit-pop band and moves to New York and Steve goes on to form the New Wave band Sweet Machine.
Hit the gas to February 2020. Martin posts an old ‘Don’t Mention It’ track on Facebook which piques interest in reforming the band. Despite the geographic distance, the COVID 19 lockdown provides the breathing space to dust off the synths and record a comeback album 36 years later.
Honouring the days of vinyl, ‘Neon Highway’ has two distinct sides. Tracks 1-5 are song-focused and weave between the drama of Yello, Simple Minds and the dark funk of Duran Duran’s first album. Tracks 5-10 are more instrumental, reminiscent of Kraftwerk and early electronic music, with a side road to 90’s chill-out. And just like the old days, the band recorded an outro; a fun romp that thanks the fans.
Who knows where the road goes from here, but ‘Neon Highway’ is not the final destination. The future looks bright, neon bright.
