BIOGRAPHY
WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR MAGNIFICENT FOURTH ALBUM "BLACK SEA", XTC
ACHIEVED THE KIND OF POWERFUL AND ADVENTUROUS MATURITY WHICH CONFIRMED
THEM, AFTER BEING SO LONG THE BAROMETER BY WHICH OTHER GROUPS WERE
MEASURED, AS TRAIL BLAZERS FOR THE 1980'S.
THE PRESENT LINE-UP OF XTC WAS FORMED IN SWINDON, WILTSHIRE, EARLY IN 1979
WHEN KEYBOARDS PLAYER BARRY ANDREWS LEFT AND WAS REPLACED BY GUITARIST
DAVE GREGORY - FORMERLY WITH LOCAL GROUPS ALE HOUSE AND DEAN GABBER
AND THE GABERDINES - WHO WAS KNOWN TO THE OTHER MEMBERS AND
COULD ALSO PLAY KEYBOARDS WHERE APPROPRIATE.
PREVIOUSLY, GUITARIST ANDY PARTRIDGE, BASSIST COLIN MOULDING AND DRUMMER
TERRY CHAMBERS HAD WORKED TOGETHER, WITH OTHERS, AS STAR PARK, THE
HELIUM KIDZ, SKYSCRAPER AND SNAKES BEFORE BECOMING XTC IN 1976. PARTRIDGE
WAS BORN IN MALTA, THE OTHERS IN SWINDON. HE WORKED AS A TEABOY ON A LOCAL
NEWSPAPER, THEN ATTENDED THE ART DEPARTMENT OF A NEARBY TECHNICAL
COLLEGE. LIVING ON THE SAME ESTATE AS MOULDING, WHOSE SEQUENCE OF EMPLOYMENT
INVOLVED BEING A MILKMAN'S ASSISTANT, LABOURER AND COUNCIL WORKER. UP THE
ROAD AND OVER A BIT WAS CHAMBERS, SUSPENDED FROM SCHOOL AT 15 FOR RELIEVING
HIMSELF IN SOMEBODY'S GARAGE AFTER A CIDER BINGE. HE WANTED TO BE A
FOOTBALLER BUT SETTLED FOR BEING A PRINTER. THEY STRAYED INTO EACH
OTHER'S COMPANY.
BEGINNING IN THEIR HOME TOWN, THE GROUP SOON DEVELOPED A SUBSTANTIAL
FOLLOWING AND ARRIVED IN LONDON AT THE HEIGHT OF 1977'S PUNK INVASION,
CAUSING UNREST, NOT BY THE EMPTY RHETORIC OF MANY OF THEIR COUNTERPARTS
BUT BY THEIR HUMOUR, SHARPNESS AND VITALITY.
THEIR FIRST RECORDING AFTER JOINING VIRGIN WAS "3D EP" (LATER ABBREVIATED
TO A SINGLE "SCIENCE FRICTION"), WHICH APPEARED IN OCTOBER 1977. SINCE THEN
THEY HAVE HAVE RELEASED TEN SPLENDID SINGLES AND FOUR EXTRAORDINARY CHART
ALBUMS, AS WELL AS PARTRIDGE'S REMARKABLE LP "TAKE AWAY (THE LURE OF
SALVAGE)" AND MOULDING'S PSEUDONYMOUS SINGLE (AS THE COLONEL) "TOO MANY
COOKS IN THE KITCHEN".
ANOTHER YEAR OF TRIUMPH FRO BRITAIN'S MOST RESILIENT AND WIDELY TRAVELLED
GROUP HAS ALREADY BEGUN.