After Swell Maps dissolved, Nikki Sudden launched a solo path before launching the Jacobites as a parallel project. Far more rooted in classic forms than his former band had been, the new group allowed Sudden to indulge his taste for direct yet elegantly wasted rock & roll, pulling primarily from the Stones and the Faces while folding in touches of singer/songwriter introspection from Neil Young and Bob Dylan alongside the crunch of British glam acts such as T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, and David Bowie. Following his first solo album in 1982, Sudden assembled the Jacobites in 1984 alongside his brother, former Swell Maps drummer Epic Soundtracks, and guitarist Dave Kusworth; bassist Mark Lemon completed the original lineup. The band’s self-titled debut appeared on the independent imprint Glass that same year, accompanied by the EP Shame for the Angels. Their follow-up, Robespierre's Velvet Basement, surfaced in 1985 and earned both critical notice and a cult following; initially conceived as a double album, the sessions yielded enough extra material for a separate German release titled Lost in a Sea of Scarves.
Later in 1985 Soundtracks departed to join Crime & the City Solution, itself an offshoot of the Birthday Party. Two further EPs, Pin Your Heart to Me and When the Rain Comes, preceded Kusworth’s exit in early 1986 as he turned toward solo work. Although Sudden retained the Jacobites name for various backing ensembles over the ensuing years, the original spirit had effectively ended. Still, the 1986 anthology The Ragged School, issued on Twin/Tone at Paul Westerberg’s urging, brought the group’s recordings to American listeners, while the 1988 collection Fortune of Fame strengthened their standing.
In 1993, after additional solo projects, Sudden rejoined Dave Kusworth in a reconstituted Jacobites that also featured guitarist Glenn Tranter, bassist Carl Eugene Picôt, and drummer Mark Williams. A series of limited-edition releases followed—Howling Good Times in 1994, Old Scarlett and Heart of Hearts in 1995, and Kiss of Life in 1996—most of which remained hard to find in the United States and resonated more strongly across mainland Europe than in the band’s home country. The garage-rock label Bomp brought the reunited lineup’s fifth album, God Save Us Poor Sinners, to American shops in 1998, and in 2002 the Secretly Canadian imprint began restoring the Jacobites’ early catalog.
