Singer Ian Chambers, guitarist Andy Farley (aka Jeremy Albert Fox) and bassist Steve Mardy formed an un-named band in Manchester in 1978, playing their first gig at the Highland Laddie pub in Ashton-Under-Lyne. They became The Hoax with the addition of drummer Mike Joyce in 1979, recording the four-track EP Only The Blind Can See In The Dark in September of that year. By the time the EP was released on Hologramme in December, Chambers had already left the band and, with Farley seamlessly taking over the high-pitched vocals, they persevered into the 80s with three more EPs (all with pressings of just 2,000) and tracks on compilations.
This almost complete set of The Hoax studio catalogue opens with the Only The Blind… tracks, all redolent of the period with busy, boxy-sounding drums, piercing vocals and chugging guitars, taking us up to the much more hardcore Blind Panic EP, by which time Farley was the only original member.
It’s a shame that the compilation tracks Now We Are Heroes from No Peers Records’ Ten From The Madhouse and World War III from Manchester Music Collective’s Unzipping The Abstract couldn’t be included, but that’s a minor quibble.
