Trax
Trax were a Power-Pop / New Wave band from Dunfermline in Fife Scotland, active between 1978 to 1980.
Personnel:
Willie Adamson (Will) - lead vocal
Neill Martin (Nobby) - keyboards
Derek Armstrong (Deke) - bass / backing vocal
Dougie Ross - guitar
Tony Taylor - drums
Later: Tony Whelan - Drums
To quote Gary Bushell of UK national weekly music newspaper 'Sounds' in an article entitled 'Scotland Uber Alles' dated November 3rd 1979: "TRAX are a punchy Dunfermline five piece labouring under a falsely ascribed Skids copyist label (the first single 'Home' is the most Skidsoian number in their set, honest). 'I saw them play the last night I was in Edinburgh - and their 13 song strong set was well-impressive. Sinewy modern rock is the aptest description for their driving, impressive, bursting, bruiser of a sound. One to catch."
Background
Trax were centred on Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland and first appeared in February 1978 with original drummer Neil Thomson, as 'Straits', playing a variety of Power-Pop covers and original tunes around Fife including three gigs as 'The Zips'. They played with other local band The Delinquents (later 'Delinx' - featuring a young Bruce Watson - later of 'Big Country') amongst others and support duties included several dates with another local band, 'The Skids'.
Stuart Adamson (of The Skids & Big Country) seemed to have an affection for Trax. After Ricky (Jobson) & Stuart saw them play a local gig, they offered the band the support slot for the Scottish dates of their forthcoming 1979 UK tour and a date at the famous Marquee Club in Wardour Street London on 8th February 1979. This was later expanded to all twenty dates of the tour and the decision was made to go professional. Unfortunately the drummer preferred to play Scottish Schools rugby and the tour was lost except for The Marquee, the two shows at Tiffany’s in Edinburgh on Monday 19th March and the Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline on the 25th March 1979, which unsurprisingly turned out to be Neil Thomson’s last show with the band.
It was on that momentous night at The Marquee, when cognisance of another band (five girls from York) called 'Straits' hit home just hours before the gig. Panic set in and a hasty name change saw them take the stage as 'Trax'.
Their touring schedule continued throughout 1979, totalling more than 70 gigs with new drummer Tony Taylor, who joined April 1979, having previously played with local rock outfit Charybdis.
The 'Home EP'
The 21st of September 1979 saw the first of two batches of 1000 self-financed three-track 'Home EP's released with picture sleeve (on their own indie label 'Lonely Records') following recording sessions at Cargo Studios, 16, Kenion Street, Rochdale on 14th July (coordinated by Johnny Waller who later wrote for 'Sounds').
Cargo Studios is famous for bands such as The Duritti Column, A Certain Ratio, The Gang Of Four, Dead or Alive, DAF, The Diagram Brothers, The Mekons, New Order, Nico, The Stone Roses, James & The Chameleons while Joy Division recorded 'Atmosphere' there and The Fall believe they recorded some of their best music there.
Trax' 7" 'Home EP' was engineered by the studio's owner, John Brierley and the first thousand pressings sold-out rapidly, swiftly becoming Radio Forth's Record Of The Week and enjoying three airings by John Peel at BBC Radio One. A further 1000 copies were hastily pressed and many sold through Rough Trade in London. Late delivery of the picture sleeves caused a considerable problem and an article appeared in the regular consumer column 'Fair Deal' in 'Sounds' on January 26th 1980. The 'Home EP' was seen recently for sale in at online shop for $200 (Aus) or £106!
Identity
They were often accused of being too similar to The Skids however, as can be seen from the quote above, by the time of Garry Bushell’s ‘Sounds’ piece, they had very largely emerged from The Skids’ shadow and had developed their own sonic identity. This perception was never particularly accurate anyway and stemmed from their shared hometown and press laziness when describing them, preferring to pigeonhole rather than write original, imaginative text.
Split
Several times the stage was shared with 'Delinx' and 'The Subject' (featuring Peter Wishart, later of 'Runrig'). Other notable gigs took place with 'The Fall' at the Astoria Edinburgh, 'Another Pretty Face', 'The Revillos', 'The Cuban Heels' & 'The Freeze' until personal differences and amateur management resulted in a protracted disintegration, which accelerated when Tony split in January 1980.
Another Tony (Whelan) was swiftly drafted in as replacement drummer in February 1980 but plans for a month-long UK tour in May via the 'Cosmos' agency collapsed. Their final demise took place on 14th July 1980, seven weeks after their last gig (with The Rude Boys) when Willie left followed by Deke & Tony following arguments over dedication to practice sessions. Unfortunately nothing came of attempts to regroup despite Bruce Watson auditioning for the position of bass player! (He then got a phone call from Stuart Adamson and embryonic sessions for Big Country got underway).
Neill, Willie, Deke, Tony & Willie Gardner of The Zones formed a band (almost called Geneva) but it never got off the ground.
Straits/Trax had three managers during their two years together: Ian Thomson (original drummer's elder brother) / Sandy Fenwick (co-editor of 'Kingdom Come' fanzine) & Mike Douglas (aka Pano) one-time Skids manager & now Slurpy Gloop).
Then...
Neill Martin went on to success with 'Baby Knives' (Neill Martin, Mike Peden, John Robertson, Billy Wilcox), The Happy Family (Nicholas Currie, Neill Martin, Paul Mason, Ronnie Torrance, & David Weddel), & Momus (Nicholas Currie & Neill Martin) and now 'Dr Martin' is a lecturer in Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Willie Adamson continued to pursue a musical career with '7 West' for a while and still lives in Fife.
Derek Armstrong now teaches English in Thailand and with fellow teacher, Mike Anderson, formed a band called 'Seua Suay' which is Thai for Beautiful Shirts. They have played a few gigs around Bangkok (even playing a few in Thai). The band at present consists of: Derek (guitar and vocals), Mike Anderson (vocals, tamboutine shakers, percussion) and Jock (who is Thai and plays various Thai instruments). They played a charity concert for Tsunami victims shortly after the disaster.
Gigs
Some notable gigs:
8th February 1979 - supporting 'The Skids' at The Marquee, Wardour St London
19th March 1979 - supporting 'The Skids’ British Tour at Tiffany’s (Edinburgh) – 2 shows.
25th March 1979 - supporting The Skids at The Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
3rd May 1979 - with The Visitors, The Fakes, TV Art & Delinx at The Unitas Hall Dunfermline (Members of The Skids were there and joined Trax on stage to play ‘Of One Skin’ with them).
10th May 1979 - supporting 'The Fall' at The Astoria (Edinburgh).
24th May 1979 - with Delinx / Insect Bites / The Subject / Activan / The Hibernating Bears / The Different at The Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
30th September 1979 - supporting The Revillos at The Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
20th November 1979 - at The Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
15th March 1980 - supported by Insect Bites & Everest The Hard Way at The Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
17th March 1980 - at The Kinema Ballroom Dunfermline.
13th Dec 1979 - with The Cuban Heels at Dundee College of Education.
Songs
During their short 2 1/2 year life, 'Trax'/'Straits' wrote around 40 original songs (of which 30 were recorded - the last two were never entitled) and covered material by The Pirates (All In Together), The Buzzcocks (Get On Our Own), The Motors (Bring In The Morning Light & Dancing The Night Away), The Stranglers (London Lady) & Dr Feelgood (Back In The Night). By far their most popular cover was the Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers song, 'One Track Mind'.
Straits/Trax original compositions included:
Better To Cry / David / Daylight / Desolation Area / Don't Believe / Don't Listen / Edith (Lonely Girl) / Gonna Be A Star (Straits) / Hand To Hold / Hangover / Home / I'm In Love With A Ugandan Asian (Straits) / Ignore Them / Late Night Call Out / London's Calling / Losin' Out / Lost For An Image (Straits) / My Baby & I (Straits) / Never A Day / Never Alone / Never Pass This Way / New World / Nights Of Fear / Nothing Part Time Pop Star (Straits) / Picture View / Richard Works / See You Later / Sex Symbols / Stuck On You / Such Foolish Things / Watching People Play (reworking of Never Pass This Way) / Weekend Hero (Straits) / You Don't Understand / Untitled #1 / Untitled #2.