“The songs sounded a bit like Madness and The Jam,” Sonny suggests. “We got bass player Nigel Mogg in for a while, and another sax player as well.” Renaming the group as “The Tribe” it proved to be a productive period for writing new material, at least. “Daryl decided he would switch to the guitar and write songs,” explains Sonny. “The gigs stopped, Jane disappeared and I think Pete Shepherd decided to throw in the towel too having done a tour playing percussion.” As only Daryl and Sonny remained, there was no choice but to rethink. “When Hugh left the band in 1985, it was quite a shock,” admits Sonny. “She wasn’t very rock’n’roll, so to speak,” says Sonny.īut if things appeared to be evolving for the band musically, the departure of lead vocalist and guitarist Hugh Vivian later in 1985 was the first in a series of unfortunate events. To the band, Jane seemed more like a session musician than a full member. Recordings and live gigs now featured flautist and saxophone player Jane Keay. The band’s 1985 twelve-inch It’s a Hard Life would be Omega Tribe’s final vinyl release, and heralded a marked shift in musical direction. That year, guitarist and founder member Pete Fender (who also worked as producer on the band’s studio work) left. In 1984, Sonny Flint joined the band, taking over the drum stool from Pete Shepherd (who moved the role of percussionist). The band’s pairing, at different times, with both Poison Girls and with Conflict (and a whole lot of other artists) made for many a memorable gig. Omega Tribe’s proudly independent musical sensibilities provided an effective contrast with many of the other punk bands with which they shared a stage. The band played live and toured with artists from across (and beyond) the anarchist punk scene, with the group picking up many plaudits for their distinctive sound. Omega Tribe originally formed in 1981, as a four-piece releasing the celebrated Angry Songs EP on Crass Records in 1982 and the equally impressive No Love Lost LP on the Corpus Christi label the following year. News of the band’s reformation was announced on Facebook in mid-August and since then there’s been a steady stream of updates from the photo archives and details of the band’s first new live dates later in 2016. “Yes, overall it’s been a really positive response.” “It is definitely encouraging,” agrees drummer Sonny Flint. “I THINK THAT it’s lovely that people are still interested and enthusiastic about it and the music it’s really sort of humbling,” says Omega Tribe frontman and lead vocalist Hugh Vivian about popular reaction to the reforming of the much-admired 1980s’ anarcho band. “Angry songs and bitter words – have you heard it all before?”
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