Dalek I Love You

Dalek I Love You were a synthpop group from Liverpool. At various points in their existence the band was also known as Dalek I. Record executives at Phonogram shortened the band's name without telling them for the "Freedom Fighters" single.

History

Roots: Mr. McKenzie and Radio Blank

By the mid 1970s, Alan Gill, Keith Hartley and David Balfe, three residents in Thingwall, Wirral, Merseyside, were in a band called Mr. McKenzie. In November 1976, as punk was emerging and influencing them, the group changed their name to Radio Blank, composed of Alan Gill on guitar and vocals, Keith Hartley on lead vocals and guitar, David Balfe on bass and Keyboards, and Stephen Brick on drums.

They played own material and, also, some covers, as "You've Really Got Me" and "Peaches". 5 of the 15 times they played live, were at the Eric's Club, in Liverpool. But Gill and Balfe, who through 1977 were becoming uninterested with punk, dissolved the band in October 1977 to form a more experimental project.

First years (1977–1980)

In December 1977, Gill and Balfe, influenced by Kraftwerk, formed Dalek I Love You, which came about as a result of a compromise between two of the members: Balfe wanted to call the band Dalek (after the Doctor Who villains) and Gill wanted to call the band Darling, I Love You. Other founding members were Dave Hughes (keyboards) and Chris Teepee (rhythm unit and tapes).

In mid to late 1978, Balfe left the group to manage other bands, and to eventually join Big in Japan and later The Teardrop Explodes. In August, the band were joined by The Worm, stage name of Gordon Hon, (on poems), Max The Actor (on poems), Martin Cooper (on sax), Andy McCluskey (on lead vocals and bass), who was previously in The Id, and Ken Peers; however, big part of that line-up lasted a brief time. In September, McCluskey quit to rejoin his former Id bandmate, Paul Humphreys, to form Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and in October only Gill and Hughes remained in the band. As duo, they signed to Inevitable Records and recorded there, although somewhat interested in attracting Phonogram, a demo called "Freedom Fighters". That interest was successful, so the latter label signed them.^[1]

However, in Phonogram there were some problems. The label shortened the name of the band as Dalek I, for the releases, and wanted to change the chords on "Freedom Fighters". On 16 July 1979, Dalek I released their first single, "Freedom Fighters", which contained the eponymous song and "Two Chameleons" (as b-side). It was followed by "The World" (2 October 1979) and "Dalek I Love You (Destiny)" (1 May 1980), released on the Back Door subsidiary, founded by The Blitz Brothers, New Wave duo composed of Chris Hughes and Paul Collister, then OMD's manager, who produced the singles under that name.

On 24 May 1980, Compass Kumpas, Dalek I's debut album was released on the Phonogram label, being critically acclaimed, but commercially unsuccessful^[2]. By the time of that release, Alan Gill was the only remaining member, maintaining the Dalek I Love You name. Soon, the project went on hiatus and Gill joined The Teardrop Explodes in July 1980, replacing Mick Finkler. Gill contributed two important things to the band; their most successful single, "Reward" which he co-wrote and LSD which he introduced to Cope. His stay with the band was short-lived however.

Reforming

By 1981, he reformed Dalek I Love You, although being the only member, with Hugh Jones on vocal harmonies, Chris Hughes on drums and Chuka Russo on vocal harmonies collaborating for the recording of a single, "Heartbeat", released on 28 February 1981.

By 1983, the band consisted of Alan Gill, Keith Hartley, Gordon Hon (who had previously performed with the original band as a poet called 'The Worm') and Kenny Peers. They released an eponymously titled album in November 1983. Gordon Hon left for London to study fine art.

Gill continued making and recording music with local artists, starting his own cassette only label, Bop-a-dub. In 1985, the band released the cassette only Naive, which is available as a free download here and effectively called it a day shortly afterwards, although Gill did release a single under the Dalek moniker in 1990.

In popular culture

The band inspired the title of Dalek I Love You, a radio drama which premiered on the British digital radio station BBC 7 on 11 February 2006. The story centred on a man obsessed with Doctor Who who falls in love at a science fiction convention.

The band also inspired the title of Dalek I Loved You, an autobiography by the journalist Nick Griffiths about his life as a Doctor Who fan, published in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Discography

Albums

• Compass Kumpas aka Compass kum'pəs (24-5-1980) UK #54^[3]
• Dalek I Love You (1983)
• Naive (cassette only) (1985)

The first and second album have been re-released on CD in a remastered and expanded edition.

Singles

• "Freedom Fighters" (16 July 1979 (1979-07-16))
  • 7": Vertigo/Phonogram DALEK 1
• "The World" (2 October 1979 (1979-10-02))
  • 7": Vertigo/Phonogram DALEK 2
• "Dalek I Love You (Destiny)" (1 May 1980 (1980-05-01))
  • 7": Back Door/Phonogram DOOR 005
• "Heartbeat" (28 February 1981 (1981-02-28))
  • 7": Back Door/Phonogram DOOR 10
  • 12": Back Door/Phonogram DOOR 10-12
• "Holiday in Disneyland" (15 July 1982 (1982-07-15))
  • 7": Korova/WEA KOW 25
  • 12": Korova/WEA KOW 25T
• "Ambition" (18 September 1983 (1983-09-18))
  • 7": Korova/WEA KOW 29
  • 12": Korova/WEA KOW 29T
• "Horrorscope" (1983 (1983))
  • 7": Korova/WEA KOW 31
  • 12": Korova/WEA KOW 31T

Various artists compilations

• Small Hits and Near Misses (featuring the demo version of "Freedom Fighters" made on Inevitable Records) (Inevitable/RCA 1984)
• Liverpool: All This and Heaven Too (featuring "Everything I Do") (1990)

Audio sample

	Dalek I Love You - "Horrorscope" excerpt An excerpt from "Horrorscope"
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

References

External links

• Dalekiloveyou.com - fansite
• Dalek I Love You - an annotated discography