associated_acts years_active article_title background instrument birth_date genre origin name occupation
the teardrops , woodband streetband fall , contact , the passage , the 1976 -- present tony friel
 non_vocal_instrumentalist bass guitar , guitar 4 may 1958 punk rock , new wave , post-punk , synthpop birkenhead , wirral , england tony friel musician
tony friel

tony friel -lrb- born in birkenhead , wirral , cheshire , 4 may 1958 -rrb- is a bass guitarist known for his role in different new wave bands .
he attended heys boys secondary school , where he met martin bramah and got , along with him , art o level .
he and bramah shared many interests .
in the mid-1970s , they were introduced by their friend barbara smith to her brother mark e. smith and his friend una baines .
smith , baines , bramah and friel shared interests in music , and formed their first band , the fall .
friel remained until december 1977 , then he left .
after the fall , friel formed a project called contact and a band called the passage .
in late 1978 , he and his former fall bandmate karl burns joined the teardrops , a group which included buzzcocks bassist steve garvey .
they released the `` leave me no choice '' ep , and in 1980 , the `` final vinyl '' album , before breaking up .
in subsequent years friel played with r&b bands .
later he was member of the woodbank streetband .
