Media
Bright New Future (black)
The Media were a Portsmouth band formed in 1978, influenced by the UK punk explosion of 1977. The Media played loads of shows, honed their '60s beat meets '70s street/seminal suburban songs, got a bit good, built a large following, released two singles and by 1980 were featured in a youth TV series called 'Going Out'. What could possibly go wrong? Their debut EP 'No Darling I Love The Media' appeared in 1978 on their own Tearaway Records (Cherry Red Records distributed it). A second single, 'Southcoast City Rockers' and 'Back On The Beach' came out the following year on the Portsmouth collective Brain Booster Records. The single showed the band moving on musically, taking in elements of the UK's emerging ska scene (led by The Specials' Two Tone label) and the Mod revival inspired by The Jam. On the back of the money they were paid for the 'Going Out' TV series, the band went in the studio with the aim of recording songs for an album - 9 songs were completed. But, trouble at one of their support slots led to the cancellation of a series of gigs, including a prominent London show, and the band split in 1981. Fast forward 37 years and the master tapes from that album session were found by a band member in their loft. On the advice of Acid Attack's Dave Clarke the tape is sent to Paul Orwell at Love Child Records, who in turn played it to Adam Cooper of parent company Heavy Soul Records, both of these uber music fans gave it a massive thumbs up. So now 40 years after release of first Media EP the album 'Bright New Future' is now available!