Back in 1978, South London’s pub-rockin’ poppers The Exits scored a top 10 New Wave Chart hit with The Fashion Plague, and promptly disappeared in a puff of smoke. The single and its B-side, Cheam, blended just a little bit of American power-pop sparkle – the accent, the backing vocals, the middle eight phaser – with a nice clunky beat, insistent piano and DIY dash reminiscent of North London contemporaries the Desperate Bicycles (now there’s a band that needs to be given a decent compilation).
The demos for a slated LP now re-emerge to chart the band’s mid- Atlantic consolidation in Costello/ Parker territory. This is loose, yearning barroom music that would have made brilliant sense on a Friday night in Battersea, back in the day. But instead, the band made a sharp exit.
Within two years, singersongwriters Buckmaster and Swan were back with freshly buffed Jam shoes as The Direct Hits, writing songs with titles such as Modesty Blaise.
