15 minutes of fame with ‘We have a Fuzzbox and we are going to use it’

10-05-2022

Somewhere in the early to mid-1980s (no one knows exactly when), four giddy schoolgirls got together and decided to do something with their lives in Birmingham instead of being destined to grace the checkouts of their local Tesco’s. Sisters Jo and Maggie Dunne (four years older) were enthusiastically learning to play lead guitar and bass respectively, while Vickie Perks only had eyes to be a mike-wielding leader and petite blonde Tina O’Neill, he already had drumsticks in his little grip ready for his first lesson. They didn’t really come up with any great ideas for a band name, one of them came up with the idea of ​​playing on one of the instruments they were now rehearsing on. A ‘Fuzzbox’, to describe it fully, is a guitar pedal used to create a distorted sound. It was first used by Jimi Hendrix and was an essential element in creating surround sound from fuzzy or ‘fuzzy’ noises predominantly in rock music. It was also, and still is, a certain piece of equipment used by many punk bands of the time to give the very essence of the punk rock sound. This is how ‘We have a Fuzzbox and we are going to use it’ was born…

Although with their brightly colored rags and market-cut image that was more Barbie than straight punk, they were attractive, if unfashionable. Gracing the independent charts was the best they could get in their early days. Too clean and well-made up for anything alongside The Slits, they took their place alongside other extreme makeup applicators, Strawberry Switchblade in pursuit of pouts, powders, ribbons and empty expressions. Now well equipped and with a full lesson on their respective instruments, they were ready to release their first single.

Signing up to Vindaloo Records (they were the first and only label willing to take a chance on the color blind quartet) they released the AA record ‘XX Sex/Rules And Regulations’ in April 1986. It was ‘Mickey’ by Toni Basil. ‘ all over again. It was racy, very girly, and pumped over the edge with too much bass, and certainly not glamorous enough to tame the record-buying public. His promotional video was an embarrassing arrangement of flirty scenes from an abandoned street and all the impressive gravitating shots of a little brother in too much Tizer. The single itself fell to number 41 and failed to climb any higher, but took the number 1 spot on the Indie chart. With their shrill chant ‘There must be more to life…’ it seemed like Fuzzbox was going to have to come up with something better if they really wanted to stay away from the food islands. However, it is one of those tracks that, since they rose to easy fame a couple of years later, we now sit down and analyze for deeper hidden meanings. ‘XX Sex,’ will be remembered as a shitty song. Their excessive use of screaming and screaming certainly wouldn’t place them firmly in the punk hall of fame, but it seemed that for a brief moment, they managed to achieve something of a retro teddy boy feel with ‘Rockin’. with Rita. Teaming up with mediocre ‘where are they now’, fellow nerds from the same label, Duane Eddy feels that he should certainly appeal to 70s Teddy Boy ravers, even if they were out of work. Once again the timing was bad and once again it’s a track we look back on fondly and we remember the days when we imagined the guy who worked at the Dodgems in Blackpool…

‘Love Is The Slug,’ was actually her second charting single and brought out all the elegance of girls in white stilettos reluctantly dancing around handbags in some cheap Saturday night club ( probably in Kidderminster). She was pure Siouxie Sioux with her boring, exhausting voices and no real imagination. However, it was typical of the time. She sounded dreamy and almost to the point that the band was being held hostage while she was recording it. It wasn’t until the bubblegum ‘What’s The Point’ that we felt a definite change in the way they reflected the music scene around them. Released in February 1987, it was time for the punk image to go and they made sure to start toning down its look without it being much of a surprise to the last remaining punk buyers. Strangely, but this time, they were creating an alternative to the ever-popular ‘The Bangles’, who were happily having a good time amidst the traveling charts. Meanwhile, Fuzzbox was rising through the ranks on the Indie scene. It is not an achievement of any female configuration so far. Surprisingly, this up-tempo rockabilly track failed to do anything higher than number 51. Although they were Indie Queens, it was really the commercial charts they were after…

They knew at the time that it wasn’t just their alternative, the working class, the struggling lyrics that would have to change. They couldn’t sing anymore about making out at the disco, having a pint with the boys, and doing the dishes. The green fishnet had to go as well as the tights and the pink and blue hair.

After falling out with the Vindaloo label, they switched to the UK section of WEA for their next single, and ‘International Rescue’ hit the charts in February 1989 after a fairly quiet two-year hiatus.
It was even more apparent on this track that Fuzzbox had a definitely humorous side to it. We all had to be aware of his antics, as his video performances so far had always been a bit risque and tongue-in-cheek. With this particular track, we see two of them dressed up as Thunderbirds along with the villain played by Adrian Edmundson. Quite an amazing piss shot, but we wonder which is stronger, the Thunderbirds piss or themselves. Either way, the trick had worked, they’d hit number 11 and were now on their way to creating another angle on ’80s pop music. Already regulars on shows like The Tube on CH4 and (who could forget?) The Old Gray Whistle Test! They were certainly about to have their most explosive 15 minutes of fame.

Still just as noisy, but now all the same color, they seemed to be a bit tame and would only admit to squirming on the floor during video sessions and concerts. Now they were even bigger, more glamorous and professional, miles away from their poorly designed but energetic amateur theme. The music now was more rock than indie. He had the edge, leg sex, and was wonderfully aggressive. The Spice Girls were a group of cabbage patch kids who were still growing to be babies compared to Fuzzbox. These girls were definitely all for girl power. Instead of a cozy night in and maybe a goodnight kiss; Fuzzbox would have worn you out and then kicked you out after ordering you to serve them breakfast in bed.

‘Pink Sunshine’, followed and stood quite ecstatically at number 14 in May 1989. One thing to say about this band was that they were songwriters, producers and masters in their own mix, they knew exactly how to control their market. Not releasing too many singles at once in a desperate attempt to win over the crowd, instead they sat and watched carefully, delegating what to release first. This particular song, ‘Pink Sunshine’, was, by her own personal standards, a song that should be released during the summer. A track full of joy and a true summer theme of bright sunshine and fun, they felt it would have been a better hit had it been released a month or two later. They were probably right, but we would never know.

Perhaps their biggest song was their last standout single release, though a couple more followed. A quick, and also uncredited solo from Queen’s legendary Brian May, ‘Self’, was definitely Fuzzbox coming off just as the album this song comes from suggests, with a ‘Big Bang’. Furiously grabbing issue #24 in August 1989, it was the summer that all the girls learned to successfully poke fun. It was as significant as petty. We hated everything that moved while listening to this song. The men cowered in fear at a thousand teenage boys growling with the force of a hundred PMTs. It was an awakening for both listeners and Fuzzbox themselves, but bitter resentments and disagreements between the label and band members meant that any future work would be limited.

In particular, the most poignant title, ‘Walking On Thin Ice’, which was originally by Yoko Ono, was released around 1990 as the band embarked on an epic tour of the Far East. It was a desperate track not only in its theme but it flopped dramatically and the bitterness became too much. The band decided to cut their losses and continue to tour, despite learning that Vickie longed for a break to examine a solo career. Something, even today, she is still trying to find.

They returned home, recharged and fairly flat in their sense of the band’s now dubious direction. A new album was supposed to be worked on, but the reconciliations between the band and the label did not pay off. From the unfinished album ‘Out Of This World’, a final single was released just at the time the band decided to split up. The significant title, ‘Your Loss, My Gain’, heralded the second line of ‘…and you know things will never be the same again…’ seemed to be the band’s swan song. It was time to connect everything and follow more personal plans. The Fuzzbox conundrum had come to a sad end and the four literally went their separate ways. Tina is now an art teacher, while sisters Mags and Jo have continued to write for other artists and DJ in the underground scene. (It must be really hard to maneuver the turntables on those escalators…)

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Looking back on this band, we wonder if it would have been possible for this band to continue. Leaving the scene on such a creative level, it always seems a shame when the band leaves when it seems like they could have had so much more to say. We had seen Fuzzbox grow and grew up with them, from their messy, embarrassing and over the top version of punk (almost an insult to true punk rockers) they were, only briefly, to punk what the Cheeky Girls were to pop music; It’s a petty insult, but they broke away, quite glamorously, from all of that and became the most girly group of the late ’80s, if only for a couple of years, hence the idea that they literally had 15 minutes of fame.

With no real melodic notes in their heads, they had certainly learned to play their instruments well considering they couldn’t play a note at first. They were so bad, it was great. They looked horrible, they couldn’t sing and their arrangements were as professional as the Mini Pops, but they still stick in our heads and the world of Indie pop is a very boring and uninteresting place even today without them. It’s been 16 years since we were made to reach for the remote to turn up the volume or the kettle in the kitchen. An attempt to make a comeback appeared once somewhere in 1998, but quickly fizzled out later that year.

It was time to ditch the sequins and hairspray and go back to listening to a terrible ‘Best Of 2006’ album. Somehow it doesn’t have the same feeling…

Fuzzbox were and always will be like this;

Vickie Perks – vocals
Tina O’Neill – drums
Jo Dunne – lead guitar
Maggie Dunne – bass

Albums to run away and elbow the old ladies;

‘Big Bang’, 1989

‘BBC Sessions’, 2002

“Look at the hits on that!” 2004

[http://www.fuzzbox.tv].

Record labels Vindaloo/WEA
©Michelle Hatcher (sam1942 on ciao and dooyoo) 2006

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