Europeans
Text taken from
'Keep Upright, Do not Bend' Issue No 2 Oct 1978
Jonathan Cole, Jon Klein, Steve Street and James Cole are 'Europeans'. Before February of this year, they all had different nationalities. Jonathan was a Colourtape, Jon was an Emergency Exit and Steve was a Public Enemy Number One. They formed simply because 'We didn't have a band' after meeting and jamming together in rehearsal studios.
The band is a good mixture of unusual personalities. Their musical tastes cross only occasionally and so 'There's a good balance.' Jon and Steve like heavy metal, whereas Jonathan, who listens to David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Roxy etc, hates it. James seems to be more of a blues person:- Rolling Stones, John Mayall.
Jonathan describes their music as 'new wave rock. Modern music for modern people. Clinical rock'n'roll.' A very apt description of them - especially in concert. Jonathan executes his movements and his playing in a clinical way.
Even if he is deliriously happy on stage, he tries not to smile (He was caught twice at the Locarno!!). Jon is the modern person, enjoying himself, leaping around. Jonathan's synthesiser plays the modern music, and James is the new wave: rock steady.
The songs are usually about anything; Jonathan does not write under one heading eg; love, politics etc....'a lot of them are in the first person' Fiction is mixed with auto-biography.
Their ambitions are natural - though perhaps presumptuous - and Europeans are one of the most likely Bristol bands to succeed because their music both appeals to a varied audience, and is original.
'Financially we want to be absolutely rolling rich, and musically we want to be huge; so we can be rolling rich.' Europeans want to appear on TOTP 'because it makes you lots of money and sells records.'....'We're going to be huge.'
But what about Bristol and it's infamous backwater? 'If you're good, you can come from anywhere and still make it. You've got to work at it.' It seems you're alright if you've got a good manager.
Their first single is now out on Heartbeat (which is, at the moment, a one off deal). 2000 have been pressed. Jonathan jovially pronounced, 'It'll be huge.' Simon Edwards (Heartbeat) said more soberly 'from a marketing point of view, it will be successful.' By the end of September they will only have played 4 gigs. 'It doesn't really matter how many gigs there were, whether there were 20 before it or none.'...'We've all gigged before in other bands...There are three parts to a band; There's the music, the presentation on stage and the management behind it. I mean, as much as you kid yourself, the music industry is exactly what it is. It's an industry. And like any other business, you've got to be good to succeed.'
'We're working a lot on presentation: visits to Moss Bros.'
Europeans. Let's hope they don't go away. Final note from Jon, 'Actually, we were going to be called 'The Noses.'
Text taken from 'Keep Upright, Do not Bend' Issue No 2 Oct 1978
