Department S

Department S took its name from a 1960s television series and grew out of the short-lived punk and ska outfit Guns For Hire. That earlier group’s core lineup comprised occasional Face contributor Vaughan Toulouse—born Vaughan Cotillard on 30 July 1959 in St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, and deceased in August 1991—on vocals, Mike Herbage on guitar, Tony Lordan on bass, Eddie Roxy—born Edward Lloyd Barnes—on keyboards until Mark Taylor replaced him in 1981, and Stuart Mizan on drums until Mike Hasler took over. Hasler, who had played with Madness during their Invaders period and managed the Nips, supplied the sole Guns For Hire single, “I’m Gonna Rough My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend Up Tonight,” issued on Korova Records. The addition of Mark Taylor and Stuart Mizan transformed the band into Department S, which made its first appearance onstage at London’s Rock Garden in July 1980.

Demon Records put out the group’s debut single, “Is Vic There?,” in 1981; former Mott the Hoople members Buffin and Overend Watts produced the track, whose modest success prompted RCA Records to reissue it on superior facilities. Bananarama supplied backing vocals for the B-side, “Solid Gold Easy Action.” Two additional singles appeared on Stiff Records, yet neither reached the charts, so plans for a full-length album were scrapped. Toulouse resumed disc-jockey work before returning as Main T on Paul Weller’s Respond label; when those subsequent releases also failed, his performing career effectively ended, aside from his contributions to Weller’s Council Collective project on the miners’-strike benefit single “Soul Deep.” He was further associated with the Style Council as one of the figures behind the Cappuccino Kid, whose writing appeared on the band’s record sleeves. Toulouse succumbed to a prolonged AIDS-related illness in August 1991. Of the remaining members, Lordan and Taylor were last reported working as a postman and a cab driver, respectively.