|
Bookmark this
page
|
Secret Affair
Secret
Affair were Ian Page, David Cairns, Dennis Smith, and Seb Shelton.
They formed in 1978 and were one of the stars of the Mod
Revival movement of the late 70s and received early exposure by
supporting The Jam in England.
Their first single, Time For Action, was the perfect youth anthem for the time and certainly
one the most memorable and successful of the movement.
Ian Page was both a charismatic front man and a superb singer -
and together with guitarist David Cairns, he was also a talented
songwriter. Fresh from their days in The New Hearts, the pair
recruited drummer Seb Shelton (ex-Young Bucks) and bassist Dennis
Smith (ex-Advertising), together with occasional saxophonist Dave
Winthrop.
At the height of Secret Affair's Mod popularity, Ian Page was
often lauded as the spokesman for his generation. In an interview
with the NME at the time he said;
 "The size of the movement is now in its thousands, and
it's growing all the time. We've just sold 33,000 copies of Let
Your Heart Dance and it's number 29 in your chart. We have the
ability to change things. That's what the action is in Time For
Action. You have the power to do something simply by being
yourself."
"I
started off calling this Mod thing 'Glory Boys' which took away
all the idea of it being a revival, but we lost that battle.
Flower Power? It won't come back. I don't think we're in for a
sequence of revivals, just as I don't think Mod is a revival. But
I have no doubt that someone will try to do it. It would be better
than punk because it was all anti-violence. But I still hate it
because it's apathetic"
The band released its first album, Glory Boys, late in 1979 on
their own label, I-Spy (distributed by Arista in the UK and Sire
in the USA).
Both the album and their subsequent singles charted
but by the time 1980's Behind Closed Doors was released, the
revival was dissolving and they were too firmly rooted in the
movement to change their arrogant stance.
The band began to break up when drummer Seb Shelton left in
1980. He reappeared later in Dexys Midnight
Runners, while Dennis
Smith joined Nik Kershaw's band.
Secret Affair were probably Mod's most talented offering, but
somehow they lost their way. They held on until 1982, releasing
one more album, Business As Usual, to an uninterested public; the
members went their separate ways shortly after its release. Ian
Page put together a new band in the late 90s, simply called The
Affair.
 
Video Clips
|
Email
this page to a friend
Ian Page
Vocals, trumpet, piano, organ
David Cairns
Guitar
Dennis Smith
Bass
Seb Shelton
Drums
Dave Winthrop
Sax
Official
Website
|
