Among Bristol's punk-era outfits, the Cortinas stood out initially as the city's most prominent; they pioneered national media exposure for local punk acts via press and broadcasts, led the way with a debut single release, and became the first to issue an album on a major label. Throughout their brief existence the group anchored a local scene that also featured Social Security, the Media, the Pigs, and the Pop Group, whose rapid ascent by late 1978 overshadowed every other Bristol act.
The five musicians came together in 1976 while still attending high school in their mid-teens. Dexter Dalwood handled bass, Mike Fewings and Nick Sheppard played guitar, Daniel Swan sat behind the drums, and Jeremy Valentine supplied vocals; the band absorbed sounds stretching from American garage rock and 1960s British R&B through glam and pub rock.
Early the following year they moved beyond Bristol venues to London shows, including appearances at the Roxy throughout its celebrated opening period of roughly one hundred days. Their taut, sped-up R&B driven by confrontational, hollered vocals appealed to the first wave of punk audiences, prompting overtures from several labels until the group settled on Step Forward, the imprint owned by Miles Copeland and operated by Mark Perry, editor of the Sniffin' Glue fanzine and singer with Alternative TV.
Momentum accelerated quickly: the Cortinas secured higher-profile support slots for Television, Blondie, and the Stranglers, taped a John Peel session for the BBC, and saw Step Forward issue the debut single "Fascist Dictator"/"Television Families." A follow-up, "Defiant Pose"/"Independence," arrived before year's end. Although the sleeve was created by Hipgnosis—the design firm responsible for artwork for Pink Floyd, Genesis, and ELP—it endures as one of punk's most striking covers, showing a middle-class couple registering shock and disapproval as their teenage son vomits heavily across the kitchen table.
Ultimately the band moved to CBS for the 1978 release of their debut album, True Romances. The record marked a shift from punk's rapid, loud minimalism toward the style soon labeled power pop, yet reviewers judged it short of the standard set by the first two singles. One additional single, "Heartache"/"Ask Mr. Waverly," appeared before the Cortinas disbanded at the close of the year.
The members dispersed into fresh endeavors. Fewings joined Essential Bop. Swan later surfaced with the San Francisco power-pop band the Sneetches and subsequently with the Cuban Heels. Sheppard passed through the Spics and the Clash before landing in Head. Valentine collaborated briefly with musicians from the Glaxo Babies and Maximum Joy, then later taught in the Department of Media and Communication at Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh. Dalwood toured with XTC's Barry Andrews and achieved notable recognition in the 1990s as a painter.
