|
||
|
History 1979 Bay City Rollers decide that with a new lead vocalist and a new sound the name must be changed. The Rollers is born. Early in May they begin work with Peter Ker for 24 days in Dublin they record tracks for thier next upcoming album. The band returns to London in preparation for an upcoming European tour. Not entirely happy with the way the band is handled they fire Tam Paton. Next the Rollers are off to the US but more problems occur when the record company informs them the new album will not be released to coincide with the tour. In September Andy Trueman becomes thier new manager. A tour of Duncan's homeland South Africa occurred at the end of the year. The Rollers also workied on thier last album Voxx for Arista which ould be released the next year. 1980 The tour of South Africa continued. Barry St. Clair a film producer in South Africa approached Andy in having The Rollers returning to South Africa to appear in the movie Burning Rubber. Filming started on Feb 25 in Tarlton 60 miles north of Johannesburg. Eric was not involved in the filming as he had prior committments producing other artists in the studio. The movie starred Alan Longmuir in the lead role as a race car driver, Olivia Pascal as Alan's mechanic and Sacha Hein. Derek, Duncan and Stuart also had roles as Alan's friends. Throughout the movie you can hear Roller songs in the background. Although Eric was not in the movie a song sung by him New Beginnings was. This year also brought Doors Bars and Metal to Stuart, Derek and Duncan as they were jailed in South Africa for 4 days. As things turned out they were arrested for non payment of expenses on thier tour. As a result Andy was terminated along with Jake Duncan (tour manager). The band no longer had a record company and as a result the Soundtrack of Burning Rubber was never commercially released. Evetually it would become available through Eric's fan club. This was a shame as anyone who has listened to the Love Theme from Burning Rubber can attest too. The band signs with Epic Records. The band spends much of the rest of the year trying to untangle the mess of finances and record a new album. 1981 An album is released in Canada wrapped in a brown paper bag. All it says is Contains One Outstanding Album. Record buyers were told if they liked this album and wanted to have thier names appear on the inside cover when the band was revealled with the official release that they were to send in the card that came with album. The songwriters were identified as Tom, Dick, Harry and Sam. Many favourable reviews can forth and comparisons were made to other major artists like Phil Collins and Paul McCartney. When the album came out worldwide several critics were pleasantly surprised to find out it was The Rollers. For a change they didn't knock the band on this album, no longer bubblegum. A tour of the US occured. Alas this was the swan song for the band with finances in turmoil the band decided it was time to pack it in. Stuart and Duncan wanted to contnue but be based in LA were the rest wanted to return to the UK. The band quietly disbanded with Eric going solo, Alan and Derek retiring and Staurt and Duncan forming Karu based in LA. 1981 The band disbands |
||
