Ski Patrol

Ski Patrol were a punk / post-punk band formed in Sunderland, north-east England, in autumn 1977 and were named after a track on John Cale's LP Slow Dazzle. Founder members Nick Clift (guitar) and Francis Cook (bass) were in experimental group The Debutantes, whereas Ian Lowery (vocals) had been expelled from his own band, The Wall, who had had several singles released on Small Wonder. After a spell with a Welsh drummer named Bruce Archibald, Alan Cole completed the line-up that recorded the band's one and only Peel session.
Goldmine describes their music as "firmly cast within the same kind of waters as Public Image Ltd., Killing Joke and Gang Of Four, all dark dub and fractured rhythms, shifting unease and the cardiac shuffle." They initially supported the Carpettes and Killing Joke, but fell apart due to internal divisions after only three singles (the projected LP never materialised). After the band broke up, Clift went to work for Rough Trade and Lowery (who died in 2001) formed F For Fake with Cook, and then the Folk Devils, a band that became a Peel session favourite. Clift supervised the compilation on which their Peel Session appears.
== Festive Fifty Entries ==
*None
== Sessions ==
*One session, available on Versions Of A Life (Recordings 1979-1981) (Dark Entries).
1. Recorded: 1981-01-19. First broadcast: 22 January 1981. Repeated: 10 February 1981, 12 May 1981. Featured on mixtape John Peel - Bow Wow Wow - 81.
*Extinguish / Where The Buffalo Roam / Cut
"The Peel Session was an incredible experience. I recently connected with the producer Tony Wilson (no relation to the Factory boss) and the engineer Dave Dade, and amazingly they remembered it. With Peel Sessions, you were always against the clock, and supposed to do four songs, which was standard, but we had this new piece called “Where The Buffalo Roam” which was barely rehearsed and Ian really wanted us to do it. It ran about seven minutes long, a tone poem almost, so Tony and Dale were very accommodating and we ended up doing three tracks but with a little more time spent on the production. I used a kitchen knife to create the slide guitar tones, and they then looped a lot of the guitar harmonics to create atmospherics. They also double-tracked the drums so Al’s performance is super tight and punchy. The session sounded amazing if a little under-rehearsed on our part, but what we lacked in planning we made up for in the studio." (Nick Clift). 
== Other Shows Played ==
*26 April 1980 (BFBS): Silent Scream (7" - Everything Is Temporary) Clever Metal VIN 1
*03 June 1980: 'Everything Is Temporary (7")' (Clever Metal)
*01 December 1980: Agent Orange (7") Malicious Damage MD2.45
*06 December 1980 (BFBS): Agent Orange (7") Malicious Damage MD2.45
*27 December 1980 (BFBS): Agent Orange (7") Malicious Damage MD2.45
*01 June 1981: Cut (7") Malicious Damage MD 3.45.
*07 June 1981 (BFBS): Cut (7") Malicious Damage MD 3.45.
*02 July 1981 (BFBS): Faith In Transition (7" - Cut) Malicious Damage MD 3.45.
*14 July 1981: Faith In Transition (7" - Cut) Malicious Damage MD 3.45.
*18 January 1988: 'Agent Orange (7")' (Malicious Damage)
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Facebook
*AllMusic
*Goldmine interview
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