Original Mirrors

• Genres: Rock
• Representative Albums: "Heartbeat: The Best of Original Mirrors," "Heart Twango & Raw Beat," "Original Mirrors"

Biography

Original Mirrors are mainly remembered for one reason: future Lightning Seeds leader Ian Broudie was in the band. Original Mirrors formed in Liverpool, England, in 1980 after the collapse of vocalist Steve Allen's art rock group Deaf School in 1978. (Prior to the Original Mirrors, Broudie was a member of Big in Japan with Frankie Goes to Hollywood frontman Holly Johnson.) Including Broudie on guitar, the band also featured Peter Kircher (drums), Jonathan Perkins (keyboards), and Phil Spalding (bass). Recalling glam and power pop, Original Mirrors didn't even resemble Broudie's later '60s influenced work. The group's self-titled first album was released in 1980 with no commercial success; a similarly bleak fate met their next full-length, Heart Twango & Raw Beat, in 1981. The band then split up. Broudie became a producer for Echo & the Bunnymen and the Fall before joining vocalist Paul Simpson in Care in 1983 and then planting the Lightning Seeds in 1989. ~ Michael Sutton, All Music Guide