The Vapors
Led by vocalist/guitarist Dave Fenton, The Vapors were a short-lived new
wave guitar group that is best remembered for the pop single Turning
Japanese.
Fenton formed the first version of The Vapors in 1978, yet he was the
only member to survive that line-up. In 1979, former Ellery Bops members
Ed Bazalgette (lead guitar) and Howard Smith (drums) joined the band and
bassist Steve Smith came aboard shortly afterward.
One of the band's first gigs was seen by Bruce Foxton (bass player in
The Jam) who asked them to perform on his group's Setting Sons
tour. Before long The Vapors were managed by Foxton and John
Weller, the manager of The Jam and father of that group's leader, Paul
Weller.
The Vapors signed to United Artists and released their first single, Prisoners,
at the end of 1979 but it failed to chart. Turning Japanese,
the band's second single, became a major hit, reaching number three on
the UK charts in March of 1980.
New Clear Days, the band's debut album, was released two
months later but did not sell as well as the single. Despite sounding at
times like Jam copyists, stand-out tracks included Spring Collection,
Waiting For The Weekend and News At Ten.
In 1981, The Vapors released the more ambitious LP, Magnets, which
explored the darker side of life, discussing the Kennedy assassination (Magnets),
police harassment (Civic Hall) and even cult leader/mass
murderer Jim Jones (Jimmy Jones, the failed single).
Musically the band was more sophisticated, taking the occasional
misstep in the arrangements by adding an annoying synthesizer in songs
like Spiders. The album was virtually ignored by both critics
and the buying public, and the group disbanded shortly after its
release.
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