The Committee

     Similar to Hit Parade, The Committee were an unusual band from Harrow that was known for releasing interesting tapes were all four of the band members played guitar alongside keyboards. They began as four people that became inspired by the 1977 explosion of punk bands and possibly started around 1980 or even earlier than that(Their first cassette release was in 1981). They immediately began covering the first Clash Album, and took influences from several other bands such as the Fall, Raincoats, Cabaret Voltaire, Nightingales, Tracey Thorn, and also Crass. The punk attitude of 'get up and do it, anyone can' inspired the band members to carry on even though they were all guitarists. The Committee were brothers Mark and Adrian alongside their two other guitarists named Steve and Jaime. All the members were vegetarians,unemployed and had very political lyrics supporting anarchy(Adrian was the only member attending college at that time). 

     They managed to get a room for rehearsing above a fish shop, and quickly began rehearsing to released their first tape called 'Agenda' in 1981. Shortly afterwards, A second cassette was released called 'Resolution'. Sometime around '83/84' They released a third cassette called 'News From Nowhere'. In 1985, they released their only record: 'Open your Eyes and other ways of Saying No' on Fire records from Alaska Studios.

     It may have been around 1983 when the band decided to use drums and bass also. There was talk between the band members to go visit Crass and try to persuade them to release a single for them on Crass Records in the early eighties, but for some reason The Committee decided to avoid it. They may have split around 1985/1986 for unknown reasons.

I have no lyrics by this band. If anyone has any please post them in the comments.

Here is another interview for those who are interested in knowing more about the politics behind the band.


Interview from Noclass.co.uk


Downloads(I hardly have anything by them):

Resolution(?) 198?('Ring the Bell' is in it alongside 2 other similar tracks)
http://www.box.net/shared/fqenyph1msr0kve13joo
News from Nowhere cassette 198X
http://www.box.net/shared/su2m8b792su1gdku2ofd
Open your Eyes 1985 Fire Records
http://www.box.net/shared/0zs8hhv7s0pjj4zfdzv6