The Motorcycle Boy

The band consisted of Alex Taylor (vocals, formerly of The Shop Assistants), with Paul McDermott (drums), Michael Kerr (guitar), and Eddy Connelly (bass) (all formerly of Meat Whiplash), and David "Scottie" Scott (guitar).[1] They were signed by Rough Trade Records, who issued their debut single, "Big Rock Candy Mountain", which reached number 2 in the UK Independent Chart.[2] The band were then signed up by Chrysalis Records, with two singles and debut album Scarlet that was never released, but failed to achieve great success despite considerable press attention.[3] The band then split with Chrysalis, with two further singles released on the Nymphaea Pink Sensation label in 1990, before the band themselves split up.[1]

The band oddly made the cover of the NME on September 19, 1987, despite only having a brief half-page feature. This was because the entire contents of a themed issue on censorship (which would have had a painting used on the Dead Kennedys' album Frankenchrist, then the subject of an obscenity trial in the United States, on the cover) had themselves been censored, with Stuart Cosgrove sacked from the paper, and a new cover had to be designed at very short notice.

Forgotten Astronaut Records have procured the licence for the unreleased album “Scarlet” and released the album in late 2019. It was released on both CD and vinyl with the CD containing two bonus tracks, the Flood produced Sweet Dreams Pretty Baby, and the Pat Collier produced Days Like These.

• "Shop Assistants, The Fizzbombs, The Motorcycle Boy" chapter in YinPop: Women in Indie and Alternative Rock, Vol. 1: UK Bands (2014), by S. White. Fly-By-Night Books, ISBN 978-0-9905386-0-8, pp. 131-148.