Biography
Nightmares in Wax served less as a stable performing unit than as an incubator for ambitious musicians from Liverpool. The short-lived project issued just a single EP, yet that lone recording proved impossible to forget, and the endeavor soon morphed into the far more prominent Dead or Alive. Having already watched one earlier project collapse, singer Pete Burns launched Nightmares in Wax after The Mystery Girls—whose lineup had also featured Pete Wylie, Julian Cope, and Phil Hurst—played their only show on November 4, 1977, supporting Sham 69 at Liverpool’s renowned punk club Eric’s. The group dissolved the same night, sending its members down separate paths. Wylie went on to form Wah!, while Cope joined the Teardrop Explodes. Burns resurfaced in February 1979 with Nightmares in Wax, whose personnel rotated so rapidly that even the most attentive observer would have struggled to track every change. Burns later stated that the band had set out to be the worst in existence. Still, a small but fervent crowd gathered around the group, consisting chiefly of what Burns called “real loonies.” One such follower, Pete Fulwell of the local Inevitable Records label, offered the act a recording contract despite its unsettled roster. The sessions featured Burns together with his former Mystery Girls colleague Phil Hurst on drums, keyboardist Martin Healy, bassist Walter Ogden, and guitarist Mick Reid. Released in February 1980, the resulting EP Birth of a Nation began with “Black Leather,” a thunderous salute to motorcyclists that musically echoed Iggy Pop’s “Sister Midnight.” Midway through the track the musicians abruptly shifted into K.C. & the Sunshine Band’s “That’s the Way,” a song Burns would later revive as Dead or Alive’s first hit single. Although the EP sold steadily, the lineup continued to fracture. Ogden departed first and was replaced by Ambrose, who soon moved on to Hollycaust, an early version of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Reid also left, and the vacancies were filled by ex-Upsets member Sue James, the musician known only as Mitch, and seasoned drummer Joe Musker, formerly of Merseybeat stalwarts the Fourmost. By this point Nightmares in Wax existed more as an idea than a working band. Nevertheless, in May 1980 the project received an offer to record a local radio session. Moments before taping began, Burns announced without prior notice that the group’s name had changed to Dead or Alive, explaining that he no longer wished to be linked with the arty Liverpool acts then in vogue, among them Echo & the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and Dalek I Love You. Nightmares in Wax thus ceased to be, and Dead or Alive’s ascent toward wider recognition commenced in earnest.