Pool Of Sound - Yachts

'Yachts' was formed in April 1977 by Martin Dempsey and Henry Priestman, art students at Liverpool Art College, and grew out of a typical sprawling 7-piece Art College band earlier known as 'Albert Dock', who had supported the 'Sex Pistols' the previous year. Slimming down to a 5-piece (later a 4-piece), they started writing their own songs. The idea was to be different, be it the way they dressed, especially initially. The initial line-up consisted of  John (J.J. Campbell on vocals, Martin Watson on guitar, Martin Dempsey on bass guitar, Henry Priestman on keyboards and Bob Bellis on drums. They wore short-sleeved pastel shirts, permapress trousers, deck shoes and haircuts only a mother could love.
Their first performance as 'Yachts' was at Eric's club supporting Elvis Costello and Henry says, "It was packed out with all these future bands, Pete Burns of 'Dead or Alive', Holly and Paul from 'Frankie Goes to Hollywood', 'Echo & the Bunnymen'. All the bands would have been there because we were all getting into this new thing, punk rock. Right, let’s see what it’s about. They were all coming up north. We didn’t have to go down south to see them." This led to a recording contract with Stiff Records where they released 'Suffice To Say' written by Priestman and Campbell. Following the release of a 2nd novelty single 'Brutality, Rhythm And A Dance Beat' under the alias  'Chuddie Nuddies', Campbell decided to move on and the partnership of Watson and Priestman took over vocal duties. They then joined the newly formed Radar label, along with Elvis Costello and others, and in October 1978 released 'Look Back In Love ( Not Anger )' which was followed by an initial recording session for John Peel at BBC Radio 1, the second session being recorded in June 1979.

Behind the geeky image lay a wry wit and the sound on their self-titled debut album was reminiscent of 'Squeeze'. A debut LP was recorded in New York City with Blondie producer Richard Goetteher of which one reviewer Robert Christgau wrote, "You have to hand it to a group that can give itself such a ridiculous name and then come up with credible songs called 'Yachting Type' and 'Semaphore Love.' Actually, most of these songs are pretty credible, even (or especially) the one structured around the word 'tantamount.' Funny boys, no doubt about it. But their biggest joke is a mock-snooty, mock-operatic rock crooning style that I'm not eager to hear again."
The band toured the USA and Europe with Joe Jackson and 'The Who' in 1979 and released their second album 'Yachts Without Radar' ( a homage to their former home of Radar Records ) with Polydor in the USA, produced by Martin Rushent. It appeared that they lost their way a bit with the second album, with the reviews and sales not being so good. The record company got cold feet and pulled the money for much of a proposed big US 1980 tour, and they suddenly found themselves without a deal.

Collage by Chase The Ace Design

The band recorded an album’s worth of demos but found no takers. And so, the Yachts enterprise capsized. With Campbell having left the group in 1978, Dempsey departed in 1980 during the recordings of 'Without Radar' and became a member of 'Pink Military', with the group finally splitting up in 1981. Campbell helped to re-assemble the band as 'It's Immaterial' before Priestman joined 'The Christians'. 

The label Cherry Red contacted Priestman about a Yachts box set while he was mulling a way to get the band's music out. He says, "I’m so thrilled that we collected it all together and it's getting four-star reviews and we never used to get those back in the day. So it's great. People are coming out of the woodwork saying they like it." The box set of Yachts' music is just one of Priestman's legacies from that era. The second is his now 42-years-marriage to Jackie, the girlfriend from long-ago who inspired him to write 'Suffice To Say'.

'Yachts' did not attempt to ride the punk bandwagon, but although they opted for lush power pop with harmony vocals and middle eights galore, they still played with enough spunk and fire to place them at the soft end of the punk spectrum. While they never achieved fortune or fame, the quality of their work is unquestionable and they have retained their cult status.
Sadly 'Yachts' will probably always remain one of the great underrated bands of British pop history.

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