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ALL SCHOOLS ARE STRANGE were originally born out of Michael and Gary's love of Marc Bolan. They first met each other in 1981 in Southend, Essex at a Marc Bolan convention arranged by Gary.
Meeting regularly and finding that they had more in common than their love of Bolan, they began to write music together. After penning their first of many songs they formed the first All Schools Are Strange in August 1982. Along with Gary's friend Tony Peacher on drums and Michael's cousin Steve Gallagher on bass guitar they began to rehearse extensively and played their first gig on 30th September of that year (Bolan's birthday) at the Trebel Chance guesting as support band for The Pinkees who the previous evening had debuted on Top Of The Pops. Soon after the band played the first of many gigs at The Roundacre.
Playing regularly on the local scene and building up an appreciative following the band recruited a manager to organize the day to day running of the bands affairs. With an offer to take over the running of the Treble Chance venue the band saw a way of having a regular 'home' venue to play and quickly changed the name to 'The Strange House'.
It appeared that the bands manager was spending more time premiering other local bands and concentrating on the venue than on the band. The band was playing less and less and subsequently Michael and Gary decided to split completely with the venue. Soon after the band along with the venue, came to an end.
Finding it difficult to gain recognition from any major labels, they decided to form the 'Strange Music' record label. The first release was a solo single by Michael called 'Love Lives On'. Although written with and featuring Gary, it was predominantly a solo single for Michael.
Playing a 12 date tour and with the single a success as a promotional tool Michael and Gary found themselves committed to finishing their solo projects prior to any new developments with regards to All Schools Are Strange.
A meeting between Michael and Mick O'Halloran was to pave the way for the next project. Mick was the road manager for T.Rex from 1969 to 1977 and the meeting was originally set up to discuss a possible video release of Mick's time with T.Rex.
During that meeting Michael discovered that Mick's son Mark was a session drummer and was looking to join a band so a rehearsal was arranged on the Isle Of Wight and a new bassist and keyboard player was recruited to rehearse with the idea of recording a number of songs and to play live.
Shortly after the initial rehearsals, Homac Studio in London was booked. It was decided to change the name to 'Parix' (pronounced Paris) and with Mick O'Halloran now acting as the bands manager, the band played a number of gigs mainly on the Isle Of Wight at Rookley Hall and one sell out gig at The Roundacre, Basildon in Essex. After playing the 1200 seater Ryde Theatre, again on the Isle Of Wight, in 1990 the band decided to split and Michael and Gary were again left to continue together.
Shortly after the demise of Parix, Michael and Gary auditioned for yet another drummer and bassist and along with backing vocalist Cheryl Ashton Cox, decided to revert back to the tried and trusted name of All Schools Are Strange.
A series of gigs was arranged and it seemed that All Schools Are Strange were now beginning to make headway in their search for recognition within the music industry. The highlight of that time was the invitation to play support to Wet Wet Wet at their Exeter gig in 1991. The gig was not only the highlight of their careers so far, it also proved to be their biggest disappointment.
2 days prior to the gig their performance was cancelled.
Determined to carry on, Michael and Gary recorded 4 songs at Thames Studios playing all the instruments themselves but alas, no gigs were played to promote them. It was then, in 1992 that Michael decided to go to South Africa to escape the music industry altogether.
The sabbatical lasted just over 3 years and it was inevitable that one day he would return to take up where he and Gary left off in November 1991.
In February 1996, after meeting up again, they decided to abandon the idea of playing live concerts in favor of recording an album and in August 1996, All Schools Are Strange released their first album, entitled Beyond The Door.
Jonny Mannix was quickly recruited as the new bass player and along with guest drummer David Locke, rehearsals for the new album began in March.
Upon completion of the album in August of that year, Taking Your Heart was released as a single in September and the band embarked on a few live dates to promote their latest recorded offering. Dave Dowling was recruited as full time drummer in favor of David Locke and Steve Tarry was recruited on additional backing vocals along with Cheryl and the live dates were supplemented by various radio interviews including a live acoustic session for radio BBC in Chelmsford.
This is memorable because Michael, Cheryl and Steve were due to sing an acoustic version of Night Music from the album but Michael decided to sing a new song that he had written in the studio only a few hours previously. After a quick rehearsal and as the sound engineer was frantically working away putting their mics in place, they decided to give it a go and My Home Town got it's first airing.
The album was received favorably and the live dates were to be the best the band had played in a long time.
Unfortunately, after a gig at the Cliffs Pavilion, where 20 years previously Michael and Gary saw Marc Bolan play (prior to them meeting), the band went into meltdown. It was maybe a fitting end for the band to play their last gig on the same stage that T.Rex had played 20 years previously, but due to circumstances that no one could envisage, All Schools Are Strange played their last gig for a long time on November 12 1996.
There was no argument, no falling out or disagreement, it was just that even without talking it through they played their last gig and they said goodbye and went their separate ways. No one knew if they would ever speak again, let alone make music together. But as with all things, you can never say never !!
July 2005 and after a lengthy break apart, Michael and Gary met up for the first time in many years and decided it was time to get together again. The ever faithful Jonny Mannix was recruited on Bass and drummer Grahame Jenkins from the Cliffs Pavilion gig was recruited to begin rehearsals in November 2005.
The band recorded a number of demos but to this day, none of the tracks have been put on CD for release. The band prefer working with different drummers rather than one full time drummer and since the addition of Nina Adams on backing vocals and Miki Keys on keyboards, the band have taken on a whole new sound.
They have been featured heavily in the press and radio these last few years and the official band web site has enabled them to reach people throughout the globe with their music.
Playing the Bolantine Bop in London in February 2010, the gig was attended by people from the US, Germany, Sweden, Italy, as well as the 4 corners of the UK in what was to be a fantastic gig.
The band are currently rehearsing to headline 2 festivals this year. The Syd Barrett Memorial Festival in Cambridge and the Big Arvo Festival in Lincolnshire in August
There is the promise of a new album this year as well as many more gigs
I have been associated with the band for many years and it's nice to know that the band are once again playing their music and I for one hope they continue for a long time to come.
And the name All Schools Are Strange ?
It's a line from a song
By whom ?
Marc Bolan of course !!!
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