The Cortinas

Biography

There are at least two bands named The Cortinas. 1. The Cortinas were a short-lived proto-psychedelic beat band from the United Kingdom, based around brothers Paul and Nigel Griggs (vocals/guitar and bass, respectively. They band formed in 1963, were initially Beatles-inspired and played live a lot. In October 1966 they attracted the intrerest of Mike Swain, who ran demo studio Hermitage Sound in Hitchin. The Cortinas recorded two songs there ('In The Park' and the Nigel Griggs-penned 'Sagitt...

There are at least two bands named The Cortinas.

1. The Cortinas were a short-lived proto-psychedelic beat band from the United Kingdom, based around brothers Paul and Nigel Griggs (vocals/guitar and bass, respectively. They band formed in 1963, were initially Beatles-inspired and played live a lot.

In October 1966 they attracted the intrerest of Mike Swain, who ran demo studio Hermitage Sound in Hitchin. The Cortinas recorded two songs there ('In The Park' and the Nigel Griggs-penned 'Sagittarius'), but the recordings were not released.

The band did eventually release a single on Polydor: 'Phoebe's Flower Shop' (1968), released shortly before they morphed into Octopus. Paul Griggs would score a few major hits in the mid-1970s cabaret band, Guys 'n' Dolls, while Nigel Griggs joined Split Enz.

2. The Cortinas are a 1970s Bristol-based punk rock band. Guitarist Nick Sheppard went on to play with The Clash. In 2001, the band's debut single, "Fascist Dictator" (originally released in June 1977), was included in a leading British music magazine's list of the best punk-rock singles of all-time.

Named after a car, the Ford Cortina, the band moved from R&B towards covering songs by punk forerunners like the New York Dolls and The Stooges. The band developed a large and enthusiastic following in their home town. Unfortunately, their growing popularity began to attract a great deal of crowd trouble.

The band were also frequent visitors to London and became one of the pioneering punk bands that played live in the first few months of the Roxy Club. They supported The Stranglers in January 1977 and then headlined twice the following month. The Cortinas headlined the Roxy again in March and April, supported by The Models on both occasions. In June 1977 they had their first headlining show at the Marquee Club. Later they played as support act for Blondie and Chelsea.

The Cortinas' first two singles both appeared on Step Forward, the label run by The Police manager Miles Copeland and Mark Perry. On 16 July 1977, a few weeks after releasing "Fascist Dictator", the band recorded a session at Maida Vale 4 studio, for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. The track listing was "Defiant Pose", "Television Families", "Having It", and "Further Education".

Later the Cortinas signed for CBS Records and released one album, True Romances. One critic described the album as "disappointing" but rescued from "bland oblivion" by "cheeky tracks such as "Ask Mr. Waverly" and "I Trust Valerie Singleton".' Another called it a mix of "rock'n’roll, R&B and pop-rock" and therefore "much more mainstream in style and delivery" than the Step Forward singles. This was a view echoed by Wilson Neate of Allmusic: "Having begun life under the spell of '60s R&B and garage rock, the Cortinas soon emerged as Bristol's premiere punk band, injecting a speedy, shouty, confrontational edge into their sound for their first two singles ("Fascist Dictator" and "Defiant Pose"). By the time of their 1978 debut album for CBS, however, they had re-embraced their formative influences and added a more pop-friendly dimension... True Romances sounds more befitting of a bunch of middle-aged pub rockers than five teenage punk rockers".
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