The Room was formed in 1979 with an initial line-up of Dave Jackson (vocals), Robyn Odlum (guitar), Becky Stringer (bass), and Clive Thomas (drums, percussion). Early releases on their self-financed independent label, Box Records saw the band compared to
Joy Division,
The Fall and fellow Liverpool band
Echo & the Bunnymen, They released a cassette album
Bitter Reaction in 1980 and two double A-sided singles, "Waiting Room" / "Motion" (1980) and "Bated Breath" / "In Sickness and Health" (1981) via Box. In 1982, the group signed to Red Flame Records, debuting with the single "Things Have Learnt to Walk That Ought to Crawl", followed by first vinyl album,
Indoor Fireworks. 1983 saw major changes to the line-up, with Odlum and Thomas departing to be replaced by ex-
Wild Swans drummer Alan Wills, guitarist Paul Cavanagh, and keyboard player Peter Baker. The new line-up released the mini-album
Clear! in late 1983. Brass player Phil Lucking was added to the line-up in 1984, but departed before the third album,
In Evil Hour, which was part-produced by
Tom Verlaine, who the band had played several dates with earlier that year, the remainder produced by
John Porter. An EP of tracks recorded for
Saturday Live and
Janice Long's
BBC Radio One programme proved to be the band's final release while still together, in 1985.
Clear! and
In Evil Hour were later reissued as a double-LP set, titled
Nemesis, and an EP of one of the band's four sessions for
John Peel's programme was issued by
Strange Fruit Records in 1988. Jackson and Stringer formed a new band, Benny Profane, in 1986, and later formed Dust and The Dead Cowboys. The Room's studio catalogue has since been issued on remastered CDs by
LTM, with sleevenotes by Dave Jackson. Jackson released his first solo album,
Cathedral Mountain in 2010, recorded with John Head (Pale Fountains and Shack) and Tim O'Shea (Send No Flowers). He is currently finishing a low-budget fantasy feature film called 'Violet City', and has a book of song lyrics called
Songs from Violet City due to be published by Headland in 2011. The book includes some Room lyrics and the accompanying CD includes rare Room tracks. ==Discography==