Drinking Electricity were a

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

trio from

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

active during the early 1980s.

History

The trio comprised Anne-Marie Heighway (

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

), David Rome (

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, vocals), and Paul Edgley (

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

).Lazell, Barry (1997) "Drinking Electricity", in ''Indie Hits 1980-1989'', Cherry Red Books, Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Drinking Electricity", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 308 Rome had previously worked with Martin Lloyd in the band Analysis, which was later to evolve into Oppenheimer Analysis. They were signed by former Fast product boss Bob Last to his new Pop: Aural label. Their first two singles were both

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s, the first a version of Johnny Kidd's "Shaking All Over", and the second a version of The

Flamin' Groovies Flamin' Groovies is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965, originally co-led by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. After the Groovies released three albums, on Epic ('' Supersnazz'') and Kama Sutra (''Flamingo'' and '' Teenage He ...

' "Shake Some Action". Their third single was their own composition, "Cruising Missiles", and was the last for Pop: Aural, with Heighway and Rome setting up their own Survival label for subsequent releases. First release on their new label was "Subliminal" in 1981. It would be early 1982 before their next release, the band's debut album ''Overload''. The album was not well-received critically, with ''

Trouser Press ''Trouser Press'' was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow fan of the Who, Dave Schulps, and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" (a reference ...

'' describing it as "simple, rather plain synth-rock with a strong electronic beat and thin ancillary instrumentation".Robbins, Ira
Drinking Electricity
, ''

'' After two further singles in 1982, the band split up. The Survival label went on to become one of the premiere "minimal wave" labels of the 80s, with releases by the likes of Richard Bone,

Tik and Tok Tik and Tok are the robotic mime and music duo of Tim Dry and Sean Crawford. They began performing together with Shock, a rock/mime/burlesque/music troupe in the early 1980s with Barbie Wilde, Robert Pereno, L.A. Richards and Carole Caplin. ...

, Thirteen at Midnight, and Play, and several releases by

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Feathers from the bird were used to create the characteristic hat of the bersaglieri, an Italian ace infantry formation. ...

. "Good Times (Dance Mix)" was sampled by

Crystal Castles Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass. Crystal Castles was known for their chaotic live shows and lo-fi music, lo-fi melanc ...

on "Good Time" from their eponymous debut album in 2008.

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the ...

Singles

*"Shaking All Over" (1980) Pop: Aural (#43) *"Shake Some Action" (1980) Pop: Aural *"Cruising Missiles" (1980) Pop: Aural *"Subliminal" (1981) Survival (#48) *"Good Times" (1982) Survival (#50) *"Subliminal (radical mix)" (1982) Survival ;Split single: *

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early Punk rock, punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist ...

- "Witness the Change (Extended Instrumental)"/Drinking Electricity - "Superstition (Mirror Image Edit)" NYNX

Albums

*''Overload'' (1982) Survival

References

{{Authority control Scottish pop music groups