Biography
Rema-Rema’s short run registered as a striking interruption both for their label and for post-punk itself, since the English group disbanded before 4AD could release the band’s only official recording, the 1980 EP Wheel in the Roses. Even so, the quartet of songs left a durable impression: This Mortal Coil and Big Black each covered two of the original tracks, while the five members dispersed into Adam and the Ants, Psychic TV, 4AD’s Mass and the Wolfgang Press, and Renegade Soundwave. Successive archival projects, above all the expansive Fond Reflections issued in 2018, have kept the name current and deepened its standing.
Bearing the name of a Polish machine builder, Rema-Rema comprised Michael “Mick” Allen on bass and vocals, Gary Asquith on guitar and vocals, Mark Cox on keyboards, Marco Pirroni on guitar, and Dorothy “Max” Prior on drums. Allen and Pirroni had already played together in the punk band Models, which issued its solitary single on Step Forward in 1977. The unstable, off-kilter project that followed caught the ear of 4AD co-founder Peter Kent after an early gig, prompting the group to cut an EP for the label. Wheel in the Roses, a four-track 12-inch that mixed studio and live performances of abrasive, opaque post-punk, was co-produced by the band and Wally Brill. Although the record reached stores in April 1980, Rema-Rema had already shared stages with Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and the Human League and had already broken up, accelerated by Adam Ant’s recruitment of Pirroni.
The former members pursued divergent paths. Later that same year Prior released a pop single on Throbbing Gristle’s Industrial Records that had been entered for Eurovision consideration and subsequently performed with several groups, among them a brief spell in Psychic TV. Asquith, Allen, and Cox formed Mass, which delivered a 1980 single and a 1981 album on 4AD; the latter two musicians then founded another 4AD act, the Wolfgang Press, while Asquith later co-established Renegade Soundwave. Rema-Rema material also continued to circulate through covers: This Mortal Coil, under 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell, reworked “Fond Affections” with Mark Cox on synthesizer, and Big Black recorded “Rema-Rema.”
After a 1984 repress, Wheel in the Roses remained out of print until a limited CD edition of 1,000 copies appeared nearly twenty years later. Two singles of previously unreleased tracks surfaced on Inflammable Material in 2014 and 2015. Four years after those releases, 4AD issued Fond Reflections, a substantial archival set assembled under Asquith’s guidance.
Bearing the name of a Polish machine builder, Rema-Rema comprised Michael “Mick” Allen on bass and vocals, Gary Asquith on guitar and vocals, Mark Cox on keyboards, Marco Pirroni on guitar, and Dorothy “Max” Prior on drums. Allen and Pirroni had already played together in the punk band Models, which issued its solitary single on Step Forward in 1977. The unstable, off-kilter project that followed caught the ear of 4AD co-founder Peter Kent after an early gig, prompting the group to cut an EP for the label. Wheel in the Roses, a four-track 12-inch that mixed studio and live performances of abrasive, opaque post-punk, was co-produced by the band and Wally Brill. Although the record reached stores in April 1980, Rema-Rema had already shared stages with Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, and the Human League and had already broken up, accelerated by Adam Ant’s recruitment of Pirroni.
The former members pursued divergent paths. Later that same year Prior released a pop single on Throbbing Gristle’s Industrial Records that had been entered for Eurovision consideration and subsequently performed with several groups, among them a brief spell in Psychic TV. Asquith, Allen, and Cox formed Mass, which delivered a 1980 single and a 1981 album on 4AD; the latter two musicians then founded another 4AD act, the Wolfgang Press, while Asquith later co-established Renegade Soundwave. Rema-Rema material also continued to circulate through covers: This Mortal Coil, under 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell, reworked “Fond Affections” with Mark Cox on synthesizer, and Big Black recorded “Rema-Rema.”
After a 1984 repress, Wheel in the Roses remained out of print until a limited CD edition of 1,000 copies appeared nearly twenty years later. Two singles of previously unreleased tracks surfaced on Inflammable Material in 2014 and 2015. Four years after those releases, 4AD issued Fond Reflections, a substantial archival set assembled under Asquith’s guidance.
Albums
Singles
