The Rise and Fall of Rockpile

There once was a great band called Rockpile, who existed for years until they put out a record under their own name, after which they kind of fell apart. Having fallen in love with that record in high school, I was fascinated when I learned that the guys had been a fully functioning, recording band for four or five previous albums. I'll do my best to tell this tale quickly for those who don't already know the details.

Rockpile, from the inner gatefold of Seconds of Pleasure (1980)

Nick Lowe wrote the song, "(What's So Funny 'bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding", which was later a pretty big hit for Elvis Costello & The Attractions, when he was in a short-lived band called Brinsley Schwarz. Brinsley Schwarz broke up in 1975, and Lowe started working with Dave Edmunds on Edmunds' second album, Subtle As A Flying Mallet. 1975 was also the year that Stiff Records was born, and Lowe was the first artist ever signed to Stiff. 

 Edmunds, on the other hand, stiffed Stiff and signed with Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label in 1976 after Robert Plant was supposedly impressed with some of Edmunds' music. Edmunds had been working with a drummer named Terry Williams and, in 1977, brought in a rhythm guitarist / vocalist by the name of Billy Bremner. By Edmunds' fourth record, Tracks On Wax 4 (1978) the band that would come to be known as Rockpile had formed. 

Dave Edmunds - vocals and guitar

Nick Lowe - vocals and bass

Billy Bremner - vocals and guitar

Terry Williams - drums

The band then set up in London's Eden Studios to simultaneously record what would become two fairly popular albums from 1979; Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust and Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary. Lowe also married Carlene Carter in 1979. (Carter is the daughter of June Carter Cash and Carl Smith, making her stepdaughter of the great Johnny Cash.) In fact, video footage from Nick & Carlene's wedding was used to make Lowe's promotional video for the single, "Cruel To Be Kind." 

(photographs are of records from my collection, flaws and all)

By 1980, the guys were recording Edmunds' album, Twangin' (to complete his contract with Swan Song) and were the core band used to record Carlene Carter's Musical Shapes. By this time, Rockpile had been a working, recording band for five years and as many albums without a single one being credited to that name! 

Dave Edmunds' Twangin'... (1980)

Carlene Carter's Musical Shapes (1980)

A close-up of that promo strip

In the fall of 1980, the guys finally released an album under the name Rockpile called, Seconds of Pleasure, a title that Edmunds jokes "is an indication of Nick's sex life". The album was released on Columbia -- not Stiff or Swan Song -- and came complete with initial U.S. tour dates printed on the back of the record sleeve. This would be the band's first tour as headliners. 

The boys are officially Rockpile now!

A rather unique variation on the Columbia label

 

Initial U.S. tour dates printed on the back of the album sleeve

By all accounts, the tour was going well. In February of 1981 (40 years ago as of this blog post) Rockpile was on the cover of both CREEM and Trouser Press magazines. The articles inside contained glowing reviews of the shows and interviews that revealed no signs of the trouble that lied just briefly ahead.

February 1981 issues of Trouser Press and CREEM

The start of the Trouser Press article (Feb. 1981)

The start of the CREEM article (Feb. 1981)

Rockpile did not make it to the end of 1981 as a band. They broke up about the time I graduated from high school. The most common story has to do with strained relationships between Dave Edmunds and Stiff Records' co-founder Jake Riviera, to whom Nick Lowe remained faithful. Whatever the reasons, though, they sure went out with a bang. They gave us one damn fine rock record and, if you look closely, six altogether. 

Although my own concert "career" started in the spring of 1979, I never managed to see Rockpile perform live. To this day it is one of my big concert regrets. Some of the shows are now legendary.

Still gets time on the turntable, 40 years on. Such a great record!