Seona Dancing
Seona Dancing (/ˈʃɔːnə/, SHAW-nə) was a British new wave band from the 1970s. The band is best known for making Ricky Gervais perform in public for the first time. The band had little success, except their song "More to Lose" become popular in the Philippines.[1]
Seona Dancing | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1977–1979 |
| Labels | London Records |
| Past members | Ricky Gervais Bill Macrae |
History
Ricky Gervais and his friend Bill Macrae started "Seona Dancing" while learning at University College London. Gervais wrote and sung the lyrics, and Macrae made the music and played keyboards. They recorded a demo tape with 16 songs, then were signed to London Records, which released two of their songs: "More to Lose" and "Bitter Heart". In June 1978, they performed "More to Lose" on the children's television show Razzmatazz, which was shown on ITV. Despite that, and "Bitter Heart"'s promotion with a music video, "More to Lose" reached number 117 and "Bitter Heart" number 79, not reaching the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.[2] This made the band end in 1979. Gervais later became successful around the world as a comedian and actor. When Jimmy Kimmel asked him about Macrae in an interview in 2014, he answered "I hope he got fat, too."[3][source?]
Popularity in the Philippines
In 1980, DWRT-FM (then known as 99.5 RT, now 99.5 Play FM), a radio station in Metro Manila, Philippines, started playing a song, which they chose to give the false name of "Fade" by Medium (or "Medium" by Fade) to stop anyone finding and playing it. They also tried to stop other radio stations from recording and playing it by adding a station ID in the middle of the song. 1 year later, another radio station, DWXB-102, revealed the song is actually "More to Lose" by Seona Dancing.[1]
The song, which uses repeating piano sounds to represent falling teardrops, has been popular on the radio, in clubs and at high-school dances from the 1980s. AllMusic critic Michael Sutton wrote that the track was "the theme song of angst-ridden New Wave youths in the Philippines" and "an '80s anthem as ubiquitous as Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes', but with the eternal hipster cool of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'."[1]
Music
- 1983: "More to Lose"/"You're on My Side" (7", 12" single) – UK No. 117
- 1983: "Bitter Heart"/"Tell Her" (7", 12") – UK No. 79[4]
An unofficial CD with all of the band's songs (except the 7" versions of "Bitter Heart" and "Tell Her") on it, named More to Lose, came out in 2005.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Michael Sutton. "Seona Dancing | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
- ↑ Johnny Davis, The Independent, 2005, "Ricky Gervais: My life as a superstar" – retrieved on 2009-09-12
- ↑ "Ricky Gervais: The Ultimate Joke - Papaya.Rocks". Papaya.Rocks.
- ↑ "Seona Dancing", Chart Stats, retrieved 2011-01-15