In this episode of Vinyl Vibes, Jack is joined by David Fenton, lead singer of The Vapors. Dave saw his first concert when he was Ten. It was The Beatles performing at the the Gaumont Cinema in in August 1963. He was hooked on music from this point onwards and got his first guitar in the same year. He started playing in various acoustic bands during his teenage years such as Magician and Ano Bunny. After doing a law degree in 1978, he formed his first electric group, The Vapors. The group were discovered by Jam Bassist, Bruce Foxton in 1979 and the group were soon playing alongside the Jam. In the same year the band were signed to United Artists. They released their first single "Prisoners" to no charting success in late 1979. In January 1980, with the release of their second single the band would top the charts.

Dave had written a song in late 1977/early 1978 called "Turning Japanese". Although written before their first single, the group held off on recording it for their first single and went with the less successful "Prisoners" instead. Recording with Jam producer, Vic Coppersmith-Heaven, the song took shape in the studio. The single would go to number 1 in Australia and number 3 in the UK. 

The band would go on to have two albums before disbanding in 1981. David would go back to being a lawyer after the band. After retiring, he got the band back together in 2016 and they released their first album in over 30 years in 2020, it is called Together and has 12 original songs written by Dave and the band. 

Jack Zoomed David to talk about his early musical beginnings, seeing the Beatles in 1963, his first guitar at age ten, his first bands Magician and Ano Bunny, his time studying law, the formation of the Vapors in 1978, the band's first gig at The Lakers Club, the band getting discovered by Jam bassist Bruce Foxton, his memories of playing alongside the Jam, the band's signage to United Artists, the writing of the band's first single 'Prisoners', the recording and success of 'Turning Japanese', The Vapors 1980 tour of Australia, playing on Countdown, the bands first tour of the US, the band's second album Magnets, the disbandment of the band in 1981, their reformation in 2016 and their newest album 2020's Together. 

"The lead guitar solo for example, rather then getting one dirty sound and playing it on one guitar, he made me and Ed sit opposite each other playing the same thing -playing the solo- with a clean sound and we did it six times, so there's twelve tracks of lead guitar...it sounded really big and powerful because they were on top of each other" - David Fenton on this episode of Vinyl Vibes talking about the recording process (with the producer Vic Coppersmith-Heaven) on the bands number one hit 'Turning Japanese'

Episode Hosted and Produced by Jack Hodgins

To hear the full on-demand version of this program, go to https://www.2nurfm.com.au/shows/vinyl-vibes

The website for Vinyl Vibes. 

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