The Freshies

The Freshies were an English punk rock band from Manchester, England, that formed in the late 1970s and dissolved in the early 1980s, fronted by singer and comedian Chris Sievey (later known by his character Frank Sidebottom).

The Freshies
Origin	Manchester, England.
Genres	Punk rock, power pop, new wave[1]
Years active	1978–1982
Labels	Razz, MCA, Stiff
Past members	Chris Sievey Martin Jackson Billy Duffy Barry Spencer Eddie Carter Bob Dixon Rick Sarko Mike Doherty Lyn Oakey Steve Hopkins Paul Whittall Paul Burgess Rick Maunder Barbara O'Donovan Chris Connolly Paul Taylor

Career

Chris Sievey had recorded since the early 1970s, and released two cassettes under his own name before starting The Bees Knees in 1972 with bass guitarist Paul Burke which they renamed The Freshies in 1974. According to Sievey, when the band were looking for a guitarist, a fourteen-year-old Johnny Marr appeared at his house wanting to join the band but was told that he was too young.[2] The Freshies EP, was released in 1978 on Sievey's own Razz record label, and was followed later that year by the hopefully titled Straight In at No. 2 EP.[3] Others who played with Sievey included, in the early lineup, Martin Jackson (later with Magazine and Swing Out Sister) and Billy Duffy (later with The Cult). In 1978 the band included Barry Spencer (guitar), Eddie Carter (guitar), and Bob Dixon (drums).[3] By 1979 the band was Sievey, Spencer, Rick Sarko (bass, ex-The Nosebleeds) and Mike Doherty (drums, ex-The Smirks).[3] Others who played in the band include Lyn Oakey (guitar), Steve Hopkins (keyboards), Paul Whittall(keyboards), Paul Burgess (drums), and Rick Maunder (bass).[4]

The band's biggest selling single and best known song is 1980's "I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Check-out Desk" renamed as "I'm In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Check-out Desk" on request from Radio 1 (a version with "Virgin" bleeped out to allow it to be played on the radio without being considered advertising was also released), which reached number 54 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1981 after being picked up by MCA, eventually selling over 40,000 copies.[5][6] At the time, the girl who was the subject of the song was frequently asked by fans to autograph copies of the single. The single's success prompted Richard Branson to undertake a search for the former checkout girl in question in 2006, wishing to invite her to the opening of the new Virgin Megastore in Manchester, in recognition of the role she played in the history of the original store.[6]

Sievey pre-dated the self-financing ethic of punk when he created his own record label Razz in 1974. Razz went on to release over sixty titles, including much of The Freshies material. They also produced the first multi-media single by including The Biz, a Sinclair Spectrum game, on the tape version of one of their singles, something which Sievey later did himself as a solo artist with his 45 RPM single "Camouflage"[3] (which included the Spectrum game Flying Train).[7]

The Freshies split up in February 1982.[4] Sievey continued with the Freshies name for a while, working as a duo with Barbara O'Donovan, and released the "Fasten Your Seatbelts" single (as the Freshies) in September 1982 and "Camouflage" (under his own name) in 1983. Sievey later found fame as Frank Sidebottom.

Three members of the Freshies in a 2019 documentary commemorating Sievey's work

Sievey died on 21 June 2010 in Hale, Greater Manchester, at the age of 54. He had been suffering from cancer.[8]

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Label	Notes
1978	All Sleeps Secrets	Razz Records
	Manchester Plays	Stick It In Your Ear!
1979	The Freshies Sing The Girls From Banana Island Who's Stupid Ideas Never Caught On In The Western World As We Know It	Razz Records
1981	London Plays		Demo Album
1985	The Johnny Radar Story	11:37	With Chris Sievey
	Studio Out-Takes		Outtakes

Compilations

Year	Title	Label	Notes
1982	In Love With...	Razz
1985	Early Razz	11:37	With Chris Sievey
2005	The Very Very Best Of... Some Long And Short Titles	Cherry Red
2013	Early Singles	1977	Box set of six 7 inches

EPs

Year	Title	Label	Note
1978	Washed Up / Moon Midsummer	Razz	Split 7" with Chris Sievey
1979	Straight In At No. 2
	The Men From Banana Island Whos Stupid Ideas Never Caught On In The Western World As We Know It
1980	Rough 'N' Ready		Mini-Album
	Oh Girl / No Money
	Wrap Up The Rockets
1984	Untitled	Virgin	With Chris Sievey

Singles

Year	Title	Label	Note
1980	My Tape's Gone / Moonmid Summer	Razz
	We're Like You		Split 7" with Chris Sievey
	Yellow Spot / If Its News
	I'm In Love With The Girl On The Manchester Virgin Megastore Checkout Desk		Charted at 54 in the UK Singles chart, February 14th 1981
1981	I Can't Get "Bouncing Babies" By The Teardrop Explodes / Tell Her I'm Ill
	Dancin' Doctors / One To One
	If You Really Love Me, Buy Me A Shirt / I Am The Walrus	CV
1982	Fasten Your Seat Belts / Best We Can Do	Stiff

VHS

• Razzvizz 2 (1981), Razz

Lineup

On The Freshies' first release, 1977's All Sleep's Secrets, Sievey was the only credited artist.[9] The earliest known line up of the band beyond just Sievey also consists of Barry Spencer on Voclas and Guitar, Paul Whittle on Keyboards, Richard Maunder on Bass, and Bob Dixon on Drums. This is the lineup featured on the 1978 promo cassette Manchester Plays.[10] The 1979 Banana Island album credits a similar line-up, minus Paul Whittle who is replaced by Sievey on keyboards.[11] In 1980 Bob Dixon was replaced by Neil Tomkinson on drums for the 'Yellow Spot'[12] and 'My Tape's Gone' singles,[13] before himself being replaced by Mike Doherty for the 'Rough N Ready' mini-album. Also replaced for the mini-album was Richard Maunder on bass guitar, who was swapped with Rick Sarko.[14] This line up would play on two 1981 singles Dancin' Doctors[15] and If You Really Love Me, Buy Me A Shirt,[16] before breaking up. In 1982 Sievey would release a single with Barbara O'Donovan under the name The Freshies, titled Fasten Your Seatbelts, In 1984 he released an untitled solo EP as The Freshies, and in 1985 would release The Johnny Radar Story, as The Freshies.

References

1. "Freshies | Biography & History". AllMusic.
2. Robb, John (2009) The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City (1977-1996), Aurum, ISBN 978-1-84513-534-8, p. 69
3. Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 72
4. Gimarc, George (2005) Punk Diary, Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-848-6, p. 212, 243, 579
5. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 215. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
6. Keegan, Mike (2006) "Branson Hunts Mystery Girl", Manchester Evening News, 18 November 2006
7. Bunder, Leslie B. (April 1985). "Sieving Through The Biz". Crash. Newsfield Publications Ltd (15). ISSN 0954-8661.
8. "The Dead Rock Stars Club January to June 2010". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com.
9. The Freshies - All Sleeps Secerets Credits - Razz Records, 1977
10. The Freshies - Machester Plays Credits - Stick It In Your Ear Tapes!, 1982
11. The Freshies - Sing The Girls From Banana Island Who's Stupid Ideas Never Caught On In The Western World As We Know It Credits - Razz Records, 1979
12. The Freshies – Yellow Spot Credits - Razz Records, 1980
13. The Freshies – My Tape's Gone Contributors - Razz Records, 1980
14. The Freshies – Rough 'N' Ready Credits - Razz Records, 1980
15. The Freshies – Dancin' Doctors Credits - Razz Records 1981
16. Chris Sievey And The Freshies – If You Really Love Me, Buy Me A Shirt Credits - 1977 Records, 2002

External links

• Biography
• Chris Sievey and The Freshies