Pre-Smiths Band Freak Party’s Lost Songs Unearthed, “Firefly” Shared: Listen

A lost 1981 studio demo from the band that became the Smiths has been uncovered and is slated for release this month, the Manchester Evening News reports. Before the Smiths formed in 1982, Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke were briefly in a group called Freak Party.

That band’s drummer Si Wolstencroft recently discovered a two-track studio demo the band recorded called “Kraak Therapy” in his cellar. He’s preparing to release remastered versions of the tracks. The first track, “Firefly,” will made available as part of a limited vinyl release on October 24 and a digital release on November 26 via Wolstencroft’s label, Funky Si Records. The second track “Don’t Push Your Luck” will be released at a later date. The vinyl will be available at Rough Trade shops and on Amazon. 

Below, you can check out a snippet of “Firefly” via the Manchester Evening News. It features vocals from Angie Brown as well as additional guitar from Craig Gannon, who worked with the Smiths on “Panic,” “Ask,” and their 1986 tour. 

Six months after the demo was recorded, Johnny Marr asked Morrissey to form a band with him, Andy Rourke, and Mike Joyce. Wolstencroft decided to leave the group, citing the band’s changing sound: “The music wasn’t funk any more, it was songs about the Moors murderers, and that wasn’t for me.” 

Read our “5-10-15-20” with Johnny Marr, and “The Smiths Were Way More Subversive Than We (and David Cameron) Care to Remember” on the Pitch

Watch Pitchfork.tv’s “Liner Notes” for The Queen Is Dead:

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