Biography
After a period of inactivity that followed the breakup of TV Smith's Party Line in 1983 and TV Smith's High in 1984, the singer who had fronted both the Adverts and the Explorers put together a fresh band in the middle of 1986. Bassist Andy Benney had already worked with Smith years earlier in Sleaze, the Torquay-based post-glam outfit active in the mid-'70s, while guitarist Mik Heslin arrived from Chaotic Dischord. Drummer Simon Budd completed the initial lineup.
Billing themselves as Cheap, the group made its first appearance at the Fulham Greyhound in October 1986, delivering raw garage punk that featured some of the most confrontational and politically charged material Smith had produced since his Adverts days. Their first recording appeared in 1987 when the track "New Ways Are Best" was included on the anti-fox-hunting compilation Mindless Slaughter. A series of benefit and charity performances followed until late 1987, when Budd departed and was succeeded by Martin Deniz, previously the drummer for Max Merritt & the Meteors.
At the start of 1988 the band taped a John Peel session, then embarked on the well-received Sleep on the Floor U.K. tour. Additional live dates coincided with contributions to several compilations, among them Grim Humour ("Luxury in Exile"), Dissident ("200 Blows"), and A Pox on the Poll Tax ("Silicon Valley Holiday"). In late 1989 Cheap signed to the Deltics label and released their debut single "Third Term." Around the same time Smith began performing solo; the B-side "Newshound" from the Third Term 12-inch marked his first solo appearance on vinyl, and that direction gradually became his primary focus.
Cheap disbanded in 1991 shortly after completing their debut album, Yeah Yeah Yeah. The record remained unreleased until 1993, when it finally appeared under the title RIP -- Everything Must Go.
Billing themselves as Cheap, the group made its first appearance at the Fulham Greyhound in October 1986, delivering raw garage punk that featured some of the most confrontational and politically charged material Smith had produced since his Adverts days. Their first recording appeared in 1987 when the track "New Ways Are Best" was included on the anti-fox-hunting compilation Mindless Slaughter. A series of benefit and charity performances followed until late 1987, when Budd departed and was succeeded by Martin Deniz, previously the drummer for Max Merritt & the Meteors.
At the start of 1988 the band taped a John Peel session, then embarked on the well-received Sleep on the Floor U.K. tour. Additional live dates coincided with contributions to several compilations, among them Grim Humour ("Luxury in Exile"), Dissident ("200 Blows"), and A Pox on the Poll Tax ("Silicon Valley Holiday"). In late 1989 Cheap signed to the Deltics label and released their debut single "Third Term." Around the same time Smith began performing solo; the B-side "Newshound" from the Third Term 12-inch marked his first solo appearance on vinyl, and that direction gradually became his primary focus.
Cheap disbanded in 1991 shortly after completing their debut album, Yeah Yeah Yeah. The record remained unreleased until 1993, when it finally appeared under the title RIP -- Everything Must Go.
Albums
Singles
