Red Lorry Yellow Lorry is a rock band that was formed in Leeds, England in early 1981 by guitarist/songwriter Chris Reed and vocalist Mark Sweeney, along with bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown (who would later join The Mission UK). Sweeney left the band later in the year and Reed permanently took over as vocalist, with Martin Fagan joining as a second guitarist. The group's sound, featuring a numbing guitar drone, powerfully throbbing drums, and Reed's cavernous vocal tones, caused the Lorries (as their fans came to call them) to be quickly lumped into the then-developing gothic rock scene by pop journalists, although the band themselves preferred to cite Killing Joke and Wire as influences. Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Leeds Coat Of Arms Map sources for Leeds at grid reference SE297338 Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in Yorkshire in the north of England. ... 1981 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Mission, known as The Mission UK in the United States because of a naming clash with a Philadelphia R&B band, is a Gothic rock band formed in 1986 by Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams (both of The Sisters of Mercy), soon adding Mick Brown (of Red Lorry Yellow... Gothic rock evolved out of post punk during the late 1970s. ... Lead singer Jaz Coleman dominates the cover of Killing Jokes 1986 release Brighter Than A Thousand Suns. ... A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, elongated strand of drawn metal. ...

In 1982, independent record label Red Rhino signed the band based on the strength of some of the group's demos. Their first single was "Beating My Head" later that year. The song made a strong appearance on the influential New Musical Express(NME) independent record chart. Fagan and Smith soon departed the band, to be replaced by Dave Wolfenden and Paul Southern respectively. While numerous other personnel changes would occur in the history of the band, Wolfenden became a mainstay and a frequent songwriting partner of Reed's during the band's strongest period. In 1983 and 1984, several more singles would be released by the band (including "He's Read" and "Monkeys On Juice"). In 1985, the band's debut album, Talk About The Weather, was released and reached #1 on the NME indie rock chart. The album, which most fans consider to be the band's best, received generally positive reviews and sold extremely well for a small label offering. "Hollow Eyes", a single taken from the album, obtained strong sales as well, as did follow-up non-LP singles "Chance" and "Spinning Round", the latter of which is generally felt to be the Lorries's strongest song. The concept of an independent record label is a record label operating without the funding of one of the major record labels, which are generally defined to be the handful of media corporations which have recently dominated the recorded music industry in the West. ... The New Musical Express (better known as the NME) is a weekly magazine about popular music published in the UK. It is unlike many other popular music magazines due to its intended focus on guitar-based music and indie rock bands, instead of mainstream pop acts. ... Cover of the NME dated October 1, 2005 See United States Department of Defense for the National Military Establishment. ... A record chart is a list of popular records, based on data such as sales of singles and requests to radio disk jockeys. ... Cover of the NME dated October 1, 2005 See United States Department of Defense for the National Military Establishment. ... Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music often used to refer to bands that are on small independent record labels or that arent on labels at all. ...

The band released one more album on Red Rhino (Paint Your Wagon) in 1986, a single (“Cut Down”) and a four track EP (“Crawling Mantra”, released as by The Lorries), before signing to Situation Two, an off-shoot of major-label Beggars Banquet Records. Two albums followed, 1988's Nothing Wrong and 1989's Blow. Neither one of the Beggars Banquet albums appeared on any mainstream pop charts. Singles, including “Only Dreaming (Wide Awake)” and “Open Up” (which upon its release was chosen by NME as the magazine’s Single of the Week), also failed to chart, and the band was subsequently dropped by the label. In 1991, the band released Blasting Off on the tiny Sparkhead label. Despite the relative strength of the song "Talking Back" (released as a single prior to the LP), the album was considered a major disappointment by fans and sold poorly. Reed broke up what was left of the band at that point. Situation Two, aka Situation 2, is a record label which began life in 1981 as an offshoot of the larger Beggars Banquet label. ... Beggars Banquet is an English record label that began as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin. ... Cover of the NME dated October 1, 2005 See United States Department of Defense for the National Military Establishment. ...

In 2003, Reed revived the name Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and released four new songs in 2004, available via internet download only on the band’s website. Although the band has toured frequently in the UK during 2004 and 2005, no additional material has subsequently appeared to date.

Discography

Albums

• Talk About The Weather (1985)
• Paint Your Wagon (1986)
• Smashed Hits (1987) Collection
• Nothing Wrong (1988)
• Blow (1989)
• Blasting Off (1991)
• The Singles 1982 – 87 (1994) Collection
• Generation (1994) Collection
• The Very Best Of (2000) Collection

Singles/EPs

• Beating My Head (1982)
• Take It All (1983)
• He’s Read (1983)
• This Today EP (1983)
• Monkey’s On Juice (1983)
• Hollow Eyes (1984)
• Chance (1985)
• Spinning Round (1985)
• Walking On Your Hands (1986)
• Cut Down (1986)
• Paint Your Wagon 7” Only (1986)
• Crawling Mantra EP, released as by The Lorries (1987)
• Nothing Wrong (1988)
• Open Up (1988)
• Only Dreaming (Wide Awake) (1988)
• Talking Back (1991)

External links

• Red Lorry Yellow Lorry official homepage
• Trouser Press: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry entry