Vintage Tracks 5: The Three Johns - Demon Drink

The Three Johns comprised, as you might expect, by three guys named John and a drum machine called Hugo. Jon Langford from The Mekons played guitar, John Brennan was on bass and John Hyatt was the lyricist and lead singer. The band formed in Leeds in 1981 and began their recording career with a series of excellent singles, including "A.W.O.L." from 1983 and "Do The Square Thing" a year later (two of my favorite 12" EPs from that period, with the latter being my first introduction to the band). Their debut LP "Atom Drum Bop" came in August '84 and became one of my top albums of that year (as you can see here), alongside more well-known  releases by The Fall, The Smiths and Husker Du.

The track I’ve decided to include in the resurrected Vintage Tracks series (one of the many possible candidates, including the aforementioned singles, "Teenage Nightingales To Wax" and "Death Of The European", perhaps their most famous song, as it reached number 14 in John Peel's 1985 Festive Fifty)  comes from their second album "The World By Storm", which was released in May 1986. For more info on this album check out this post here, as well as the band’s unofficial site where you can listen to their Peel Sessions from the '80s plus a more recent BBC 6 Music Session from 2006.

The Three Johns - Demon Drink

The Three Johns MySpace page