"Chain Mail" is a song by

Mancunian Mancunian is the associated adjective and demonym of Manchester, a city in North West England. It may refer to: *Anything from or related to the city of Manchester or the county of Greater Manchester, in particular: **The people of Manchester (see ...

band

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, released in March 1986 by

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehr ...

, the first after the band defected from

Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order, A Certain Ratio, the Durutt ...

. The record is the band's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

after their first three EPs, and was released in two different versions, as

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separat ...

and

12-inch The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

singles, with different artworks by John Carroll and, confusingly, under different names. The 12" version was released as "Sit Down, three songs by... James", even though it did not contain the later James hit, " Sit Down", which in 1986 had not been written yet. The only difference between the two versions musically was the inclusion of the song "Uprising" on the 12" version. Neither song made it onto James's debut album, ''

Stutter Stuttering, also known as stammering, is a speech disorder in which the flow of speech is disrupted by involuntary repetitions and prolongations of sounds, syllables, words, or phrases as well as involuntary silent pauses or blocks in which the ...

'', although live versions of "Chain Mail" and "Hup-Springs" were later included in the live album ''

One Man Clapping ''One Man Clapping'' is the third album from English band James, a live album released in March 1989. The album was recorded at the Moles Club, Bath, UK on the 14 and 15 November 1988. The album was issued on their own One Man imprint of Rough Tr ...

''.

Band line up

Tim Booth Timothy John Booth (born 4 February 1960) is an English singer-songwriter, actor and dancer. He is the lead singer and co-founder of the indie rock band James, and co-wrote several of their hit singles including " Sit Down", " Come Home", and ...

- vocals *

Jim Glennie James Patrick Glennie (born 10 October 1963) is the bassist for and eponym of English rock band, James. He is the band's longest-serving member—having been there from the first line-up through to the present day—and now only remaining origi ...

- bass guitar *

Larry Gott James Lawrence "Larry" Gott (born 24 July 1957, Manchester) is an English musician, formerly of the Mancunian band James. He is also a designer. Music Within the band Gott mainly played guitar and provided backing vocals, but also featured on k ...

- lead guitar *

Gavan Whelan James are an English rock band from Manchester, who were formed in 1982. They had popularity throughout the 1990s, with four top 10s on the UK Singles Chart and nine top 10s on the UK Albums Chart. The band's best-known singles include " Come ...

- drums

Track listing

;7-inch single: # "Chain Mail" # "Hup-Springs" ;12" EP: # "Chain Mail" # "Uprising" # "Hup-Springs" 1986 debut singles James (band) songs 1986 songs Song articles with missing songwriters {{1980s-single-stub