The story of our intrepid Ghosties begins back in 1985 when Gary Marx made his departure from THE SISTERS OF MERCY in over the top style-atop the p.a. stack at Brighton Top Rank.

"As a songwriter it was a very frustrating period" explained Gary. "I'd written a lot of songs, but there was no outlet for them".

It was back in 1984 that Marx met Anne-Marie then singer with THE SKELETAL FAMILY who were supporting the Sisters. A friendship was struck although not an instant one.

"We never actually met until the end of that tour says Anne-Marie. "One day he came up to me and asked if I knew 'War' by Culture Club. He got me to stand on the table and sing it: he danced around the table a couple of times and walked out of the room! There was none of the 'Hiya!' type of thing. It was gradual".

"At the time. I was playing in a band called 'The Citroen Girls' in Wakefield" began Etch. "We were kind of antiheroes in the area. Gary Marx got in touch through some friends of mine and asked if he could come down and listen to what I'd been doing. The problem was he came round every night for a week and I was never in: I was night-fishing and during the day I was usually in bed. Eventually he caught up with me and I was in the band".

October 1985 and Marx and Anne-Marie began working on some songs in demo form helped out by a couple of friends. A permanent bass player was sought. Along came Etch, quite an infamous character in West Yorkshire.

On November 29th the band made its live debut in London accompanied by Pandora, a drum machine.

The first single was released in April 1986. "RIVER 0F NO RETURN" through the Karbon label which had been formed at the same time as the band. The single was a great success spending over three months in the independent chart. The band spent much of 1986 touring near continuously pausing to release a four track e.p. in July.

"HEART FULL OF SOUL" was the title and the lead track. The four tracks on the e.p. were cover versions: a brave move for a second release some may say.

"They were songs we'd been using to fill up the set in the early days explains Etch. "We didn't want to use our own material on a low-budget single, and people who'd seen us liked the covers and asked when we were going to release them".

Shortly after this, the band was joined by a permanent second guitarist. Richard Steel. Richard, a native of Ilkley in Yorkshire, had not long been out of school.

"I knew nothing about them at all", says Richard. "I wasn't listening to any of the things that they were, I was from a whole different planet. There were people coming from London for the job who were really into the band, so I guess they really hated me when I got it.

" This was obviously an advantage though ... "Richard was as far away as possible from my playing, explains Gary. "There were plenty of people coming along playing like me, but there was no point having a person that played exactly the same in the band. To have a different perspective was a real plus."

In August, Pandora was finally laid to rest. Her replacement was John Grant, previously part of Manchester's Factory scene, and a native of Scotland. Things were looking good.

"John's arrival made everything come together", says Anne-Marie. From then on, the band was a lot more solid".

In October "THE GRIP OF LOVE" was released, the first single to feature Richard, and the last to feature Pandora.

Again the single was a major success in the indie charts.

1987 started well. The readers of Sounds voted Anne-Marie their Best Female Singer poll and Ghost Dance were voted No 6 Best New Band. Touring continued, including sell out shows in London at the Clarendon and Riverside Studios, but it was August before a new record appeared.

"A WORD TO WISE" reached the lower part of the national singles chart, and was regarded as the finest of the band's four singles to date; "Ghost Dance get better and better with every release" said Music Week.

In October of that year, the band celebrated their second anniversary by playing their hundredth gig at London's Astoria - it was a sell out. At this time, a compilation containing the first three singles was released in Europe, called "GATHERING DUST".

1988 was hard work. The band left Karbon, and changed management. Touring continued, supports came with Balaam and the Angel and The Mission, and a headline tour came in June, culminating in a sell out show at the Hammersmith Clarendon, the last ever gig at that venue.

The summer was busy - festival appearances came at Milton Keynes, Reading and Green Belt, winning new enthusiasm and fans at each appearance. All of the time the band's loyal following was growing. "The Spook Squad" have become important to the band.

"They're great" smiles Etch. "When we played Paris last year there were seventy people who came over to France to see us, it was brilliant to see them all."

Anne-Marie echoes that. "Some of them have become really good friends. It's nice to be able to give them something in return."

At the end of October last year the band set out on a self financed month long tour of Britain. It was brave. No band had announced such an extensive tour that year, especially without the backing of a record company. Again, the band played a sell out London show, at the Town and Country Club. Then, a couple of weeks later they played to a full house at the Marquee.

It was November when Chrysalis finally signed the band, the nightmares and hard work had paid off.

"We'd been talking to record companies for nearly three years", smiles Anne-Marie. "I don't think any band has ever had to work that bloody hard for a deal"

The band have spent much of this year in London, Oxfordshire and Berkshire recording their first album "STOP THE WORLD", which will be out on September 25th. A single taken from these sessions "DOWN TO THE WIRE" grazed the top 40 earlier in the summer and on September 4th their strongest single yet "CELEBRATE" is released.

Finally success looks like it will come the band's way and deservedly so. Over the four years, the band has matured and they are brimming over with confidence.

"I know we're going to get somewhere - I've never been so sure of anything in my life", declares Anne-Marie, "We've put everything into it and I believe that if you put enough into something, no one can take it away from you. Its taken time but we've found our roots and we're in a position where people can't pigeonhole us. A lot of people won't like that - but you can't .."

Official Chrysalis Biography

1989