FOXDUDE RECORDS

"Specialists in indie music collectibles from 1977 to the present."

Welcome to our artist of the month page, from here you will be able to read what we hope will be in depth articles about some of the artists that we think are collectable.

Foxdude Records, PO Box 3, Rushden, Northants, NN10 0EZ, UK.

Passmore Sisters Discography.    7 Dance The House Down/Goodbye To The Girl/Shatter (Sharp - Cal 3)          11-85   12 Violent Blue/At Home With The Walls/Pretty But Hollow/      Love Songs Forever (Sharp - Cal 4)                                        07-86    7 Every Child In Heaven/Grim English Joke (Sharp - Cal 6)                   06-87   12 Every Child In Heaven(longer)/June In The Water/Difficult      (Sharp - Cal 6t)                                                          06-87    7 A Safe Place to Hide/All I Need Is Change/ (Sharp - Cal 7)                10-87   12 A Safe Place to Hide/All I Need Is Change/      Red Star Blue Heart (Sharp - Cal 7t)                                      10-87   LP First Love Last Rites (Sharp - Calp 1)         Difficult/Every Child In Heaven/Goodbye Billy Wild/Shatter/Sally Why/      A Safe Place To Hide/Dance The House Down/June In the Water/      Foundry Of Lies/Grim English Joke/Red Star Blue Heart/      All I Need Is Change. Tracks on Compliation :   LP V/A "Imminent 4" - Passmore sisters track = "Admission."   LP V/A "Worse Of The One In 12 - Vol 2"                       - Passmore sisters track = "Strong For Europe."   LP V/A "Let's Find Another Ideal Guest House"                       - Passmore sisters track = "Difficult."

Passmore Sisters 1984-1988. The area of West Yorkshire during the mid 1980’s was a hive of activity for what was mainly goth music. With the clear exception of the Wedding Present many of the young bands seemed to be heavily influenced by the Sisters Of Mercy. However in November 1984 one truly independent band by the name of the Passmore Sisters appeared.  Coming from Bradford and formed to write songs about "politics and girlfriends" the band’s first recording in September 1985 appeared on a 3-track EP titled "3 Love Songs." Spitting with anger all 3 tracks displayed a distinctive "cheap up-beat indie pop" not too dissimilar to that of fellow Yorkshire pop merchants, the Housemartins.

The band’s second EP/single included the lead track "Violent Blue" and featured the band sounding more poppy and with a lyrical touch not too dissimular to the Redskins, it sounded more angry than the 1st EP.  Released on 12 inch only format and with tracks not issued on the LP this EP has become the most collectable of the band’s releases. Doing the opposite of the Wedding Present the band moved from West Yorkshire to Manchester and by 1987 they consisted of Martin Sadofski - vocals, Brain E. Roberts - guitar & vocals, Howi - bass, Robert Grace - drums.  This was the line-up which recorded the 3rd single "Every Child In Heaven."

The Passmore Sisters

Beginning with a haunting rap, the line "This is the head Passmore speaking….let’s franchise" the 12 inch (and hence longer version) of "Every Child In Heaven" opens and begs for your ears!  During the 14 years since it’s release this slice of 80’s jangle pop has dated very little and just before it's release the band were very independent an very proud of the fact as is apparent from the following interview quote "Most bands aspire towards a major record company and then they fall apart, like the Shop Assistants.  We’d like to make a living out of what we do.  The management consists of a couple of our friends, the artwork is done by a school friend and we trust them.  It’s that level of independence we’re not prepared to let go of."

Unfortunately the single "Every Child In Heaven" was not a success and needing somewhere to hide the Passmore Sisters had one final stab at success. The single "A Safe Place To Hide" was released and being as good as the previous singles, it’s lead track featured an almost reggae beat underneath a jangly guitar sound. The apparent soothing tones of the song reflected a harsh statement against the homelessness of England in the late 1980’s and in true political nature the band donated all royalties of their final track "Red Star Blue Heart" to the charity Terrence Higgins Trust. The Passmore’s LP was released after the band slit-up, it coupled tracks from 3 of the 4 singles and included spare songs from the band’s 2 Radio One sessions onto one handy record.