The Avant-Gardeners

The Avant Gardeners operated as an experimental outfit from Okehampton, Devon, with Russell Murch supplying vocals and guitar, Martin Sanders on guitar, Nigel Rae covering bass and keyboards, and Only Ones drummer Mike Kellie participating subject to his schedule elsewhere. A locally produced demo reached Virgin Records, which issued the four-song Avant Gardener EP Gotta Turn Back in September 1977. Several years of inactivity followed before the group resurfaced in the early 1980s on Italy’s Apaloosa label, where The Avant Gardenerz appeared in 1980 and The Church of the Inner Cosmos followed in 1984.