Curfew started in March 1991 and featured a different local band on the front cover each month, depending who had got the editor all hot and frothy at the time. In the year On A Friday made their first mark seven other bands graced the front cover. Who were they and what became of them?

April DEATH BY CRIMPERS
Who were they? Five crimped and dyed punk-metal goddesses who sounded like Janis Joplin fronting Motorhead - vicious slash’n’burn punk chords, tribal drumming and a voice to disembowel buffalo.
Were they any good? Hell yes - genuine star material; they bludgeoned bubblegum pop music into submission with killer riffs and spangled Docs. They were the first local band to prove that girls could rock better than boys. All the boys duly loved them and all the girls wanted to be them.
What happened to them? The usual story - NME and Melody Maker raved about them, they got signed, got fucked over, fell out and split up. Drummer Clare and guitarist Teresa formed the even-better Beaker; guitarist Lin is now in local gothsters Passion Play; bassist Jo has just formed a new band with erstwhile Ivy’s Itch singer Liz, while gravel-throated singer Karen left music altogether. Tragic.

May FLITE 118
Who were they? Spaced-out pre-grunge space rockers fronted by Spacemen 3’s original drummer. Were they any good? They had their moments, usually when crunching monstrous psychedelic guitar riffs under foot. Some occasionally dodgy hippy lyrics let them down.
What happened to them? Frontman Nick - no stranger to vast chemical intake - moved to Australia after a pagan wedding but has recently returned with a new project, Red Bamboo. Guitarist Tom and bassist Andy briefly formed Head On with Tim Darch, later of Skydrive and Callous, and Andy worked as stage manager at the Zodiac for a while. Multiply-pierced drummer Jason disappeared into a techno fug in south London long ago.

June THE JENNIFERS
Who were they? Four impossibly young psychedelic pop pups out of Wheatley, inspired by Ride and The Beatles. Featured a certain Gaz Coombes and a certain Danny Goffey in their ranks.
Were they any good? Oh yes. Bright, shiny and effortlessly fresh, they were the first genuinely post-Ride band in Oxford; they had the songs and the image and looked set for big things.
What happened to them? They got signed to Nude who - surprise! - messed the whole thing up and basically made the band split up. After a brief dalliance with ex-5.30 fella Tara Milton Gaz and Danny formed Supergrass and the rest, as they say, is history.

July FREAK!
Who were they? A classic power trio (originally a four-piece featuring Nigel Powell of Unbelievable Truth fame on keyboards), fronted by Nigel’s brother Adrian. Somewhere between INXS-style rock and EMF-style funk-pop. Were they any good? Funky stadium pop doesn’t sound good on paper but they had a way with a cracking pop song and on their day could’ve conquered America.
What happened to them? A split between Adrian and backing singer Beadi seems to have signalled the beginning of the end although the band continued under a couple of other line-ups. While Beadie went into TV production (including John Peel’s Sound of the Suburbs) Adrian has been playing with Interseed and more recently with another dance project, Nada.

August THE ANYWAYS
Who were they? The Godfathers of Oxford pop. Richard Ramage, Pete Lock and Alan Buckley, along with an ever-changing array of chums, formed in the late 80s, twisted The Go-Betweens’ pure pop and West Coast psychedelia to their own design and inspired Ride’s Andy Bell to pick up a guitar.
Were they any good? Possibly the most underrated band in Oxford’s history. Pure, unadulterated pop in all its pristine, lo-fi glory. One day someone will cover one of their dozen or so classic songs and make them retrospectively HUGE.
What happened to them? Always slightly nebulous they finally went their separate ways. Core members Richard and Pete formed The Relationships while Pete, along with Alan, also formed Blue Kite who released their second album late last year. As for the assorted others? Too many to mention.

September THE PURPLE RHINOS
Who were they? Meaty beaty big and very, very bouncy poppets with a brash, beaming, bouncing vocalist Anita and a mission to rid the world of the concept of ‘cool’. Also featuring Nigel Powell, Jason Moulster and Jim Crosskey, later of Unbelievable Truth, they sounded like a cross between The Buzzcocks and Altered Images. Were they any good? They were certainly fun. Theirs were some of the liveliest gigs in town while the band’s `any time, any place’ attitude to touring and adherence to the full steam ahead school of spunky, punk pop gained them a cult following.
What happened to them? The night the Rhinos split there were grown men and women weeping in a particularly packed Jericho Tavern. They simply ran out of steam. Anita went on to sing with Doctor and the Medics briefly while the rest of the band joined up with young Andy Yorke for some Unbelievable fun.

October HEAVENLY
Who were they? In short, the fall-out from Talulah Gosh, Oxford’s indie pop pioneers and cutie-core founders: Amelia, Pete and Matthew continued their journey into polka dot pop with new chums Rob and Cathy. Were they any good? Inspirational. Heavenly are directly responsible for everything from Riot Grrl to all manner of American and UK underground indie sweeties. Chiming guitars, honey-dripping vocals, songs about ickle birdies in the trees. Absolutely lovely.
What happened to them? A clutch of cracking singles (including genre-defining ‘P.U.N.K. Girl’) and three albums on the Sarah label cemented their reputation and they outsold most other indie bands with far higher profiles. It all ended tragically with Matthew’s suicide in 1996. A follow-on project, Marie Research, featuring DJ Downfall continued the legend but it all finally came to an end last year as the individual members drifted apart. Amelia recently sang with Hefner and joined Rob in Sportique; Pete continues to play in a dozen or so lo-fi bands while Cathy presents Channel 4’s Scrapheap Challenge.

November FIZZIKISSES
Who were they? Four unassuming lads from Banbury who named themselves after a Transvision Vamp song, sounded a bit like a cross between The Undertones and The Wedding Present and were absolutely huge in, er, Banbury. Were they any good? To be honest we can’t remember. They were okay in a high-energy indie-punk kind of way but never really threatened to set the world alight. Championed and managed by The National Band Register’s Pete Whitehead for a while, but they never amounted to much more than better than average indie.
What happened to them? Guitarist Ben dabbled with a couple of different bands throughout the 90s and is still spotted at numerous gigs in London. As for the others - Richard, Nick and John, who knows? Maybe they’re farmers or something.

December that’ll be ON A FRIDAY then…

BIRTH OF LEGENDS FIRST LIVE REVIEW FIRST DEMO REVIEW CLASS OF '91 TALKING HEAD WIN 'KID A' DISC

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