The Revillos

Formed in the wake of the Scottish punk outfit the Rezillos’ abrupt dissolution, the Revillos carried forward a comparable blend of rapid-fire punk energy, 1960s pop melody, and girl-group charm while reveling in assorted kitsch artifacts. They intensified the earlier band’s fascination with low-budget science fiction yet otherwise produced 1980’s Rev Up and 1982’s Attack! in much the same vein as the two unreleased Rezillos LPs that might have followed. The unit disbanded in 1985, though it reconvened on multiple occasions for live engagements and the 2003 release Jungle of Eyes.

The Rezillos concluded their run in December 1978; three months later, vocalists Eugene Reynolds, born Alan Forbes, and Fay Fife, born Sheilagh Hynde, assembled the Revillos. Sire Records permitted the pair to exit their prior contract only on the proviso that the original band name remain unused, prompting the slight alteration in billing. Guitarist Hi Fi Harris, drummer Rocky Rhythm—Reynolds’s brother—and backing vocalists Jane White, Jane Brown, and Tricia Bryce rounded out the initial roster; within months the three singers gave way to Babs and Cherie Revette. The group’s first recording, the 1979 single “Where’s the Boy for Me,” echoed the preceding band’s strengths yet failed to match its commercial reach.

Persistent personnel friction hampered the collective’s promise, as guitarists, bassists, and singers rotated frequently while Reynolds, Fife, and Rhythm upheld their core aesthetic. Their debut album, 1980’s Rev Up, distilled the pumped-up fusion of girl-group, beat, and science-fiction elements, but Dindisc Records, operating through its Snatzo Recordi imprint under Virgin, deemed sales insufficient and severed ties. Unfazed, the band launched Superville Records for the follow-up, 1982’s Attack!, only for the label’s backers to issue an unfinished version that was promptly withdrawn; an authorized CD edition finally surfaced in 2002. Two arduous, self-financed North American tours yielded no further contract, and mounting pressures—exhaustive travel, continual lineup flux, and the dissolution of Reynolds and Fife’s personal partnership—led the group to dissolve in 1985.

A devoted Japanese following prompted a 1994 reunion tour; Live & On Fire in Japan captured a Tokyo performance and appeared the next year. Reynolds and Fife periodically reassembled the lineup for additional concerts, producing the live set Totally Alive, while 1999’s Wireless Recordings compiled BBC radio sessions and two anthologies, From the Freezer and Attack of the Giant Revillos, gathered singles and unreleased material. In 2003 Reynolds and Fife alone returned to the studio for Jungle of Eyes. They revived the Rezillos name in 2015 alongside guitarist and songwriter Jo Callis, mounting an international tour and issuing the album Zero. Further archival activity followed in 2019 with the remixed and expanded Live from the Orient drawn from the earlier Japanese recordings, a reissue of From the Freezer, and another rarities collection, Compendium of Weird, all issued by Damaged Goods. Cherry Red sustained the momentum in April 2020 by releasing the six-disc Stratoplay: The Box Set, encompassing the band’s complete studio output, two 1990s live documents, and audience tapes of two early-1980s concerts.