80's music Archives

Interview with Tony Shand (En-To-End)

10/12/2020

80's music, 80's Soul, Brit Funk, Intrigue, Street Soul

Boogie80: Hi Tony and thanks for accepting this exclusive interview for Boogie80 !

First of all, we’re are so grateful to have finally found a member of the original band End-To-End. We’ve been trying so hard to seek information on the internet with no luck until you came to us through our YouTube channel. Thanks again for reaching out to us!

Boogie80: How was formed End-to-End and what made you guys come to music and choosing the name End-to-End (or N-To-End and En-To-End to) ? What was the role of each member ?

Tony: I lived in a place called Enfield Town, and one of the many clubs I visited was in Southend, where I met a keyboard player who played me some of his tracks. One stood out to me, so I asked him if I could take a copy home, and write some lyrics for it. When I had done so, I took it back to him and asked if he wanted to record it with me. He declined. So I called my old school friend Dave Henriques (Tuccedo), as I knew he could play a piano/keyboards ,and although he was already in a band , he agreed to do so. We ended up recording ‘”Confuzzion”. It was originally going to be sung by a female , but I believe she wanted £80 . I could not afford that . So I said to Dave . “We will sing it !” . So we did !
En-To-End , was basically named after my original journey =Enfield to Southend . There was only the 2 of us.

Boogie80: As far as we know your very first releases were issued on the indie label TS Records. Who’s behind this label and how did you get the deal ?

Tony : There was no record deal. I paid for this out of my own pocket . My brother Gavin designed the label. I paid for the records to be printed. TS records is just my initials.

Boogie80: According to the company catalog on Discogs we can find releases #1 and then from #3 up to #6. Any idea of catalog release T.S.2 ?

Tony : This may have been a re-mix of “Confuzzion”

Boogie80: We know that you were also part of the London-based band Intrigue (Pressure, Music Power and Project Records). Can you tell us more about it? How did you get in touch with them?

Tony : I was a full time electrician working part time every other Saturday ,(to pay for my record addiction ! ), in a record shop called Music Power. Late one Saturday while the shop was closing, one of the managers walked in with these 3 guys who he introduced as Intrigue . They were a reggae band in their 30’s who were making soul music, and needed a dance routine for future personal appearances (PAs). They asked if I could help them with a few moves. What ?! Me ?! A 22 year old Soul Boy! I jumped at the chance. So myself and the manager would work out simple routines, and then practice with the band a couple of days after work. “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” , and ‘“Like The Way You Do It” , were the tracks .

We travelled up and down Britain, (5 of us in the managers battered old estate car). I do remember we did do lots of PAs. On the way to gigs the band would practice the tracks, I started to join in singing different harmonies, they liked what i sung, so I would do the same when we were on stage. Then, they recorded a track called “No Turning Back” and asked if I could do the same thing, which I did .The only time I went in the studio to record with the band was when the management changed. Mel the keyboard player, played some music he had written, and while listening, I started to write some lyrics, once again . He liked what I was doing, it was different to the songs they had been writing up until then, and they let me take a copy of the tracks home to complete. I wrote lyrics for 2 songs. I called the tracks “Heaven Made” and “Ropes”.

Our new manager had bigger ideas . We travelled in his top of the line Range Rover , and sometimes his big American pink Cadillac . He teamed up with a well known DJ called Steve Walsh , who got us bigger gigs. I do remember sitting and talking for quite a while with the members of Rose Royce in a famous Hammersmith music venue. They were nice.
As well as Rose Royce , I met The Fatback Band, Loose Ends, 5 Star, The Cool Notes, Odyssey and Phyllis Nelson. I have to admit there were many more that I can’t remember, but then Steve Walsh passed away. Our manager, who was an estate agent, got into financial trouble . End of Project records!!! I was working nights on London Underground stations, and so carried on, with what was paying the bills, while the band moved on, but i missed the buzz I got from being in a recording studio. Then I decided to make my own record. So I started saving money for studio time and that was how En -To – End came about.

Boogie80: Later releases came on UK Street soul specialised label Sure Delight. How did you move to this company ?

Tony : Because i wanted to write more songs , I needed more money. So I took Confuzzion to a record distributer called Jet Star Records . Although they dealt mostly with reggae artists , the main man Mr Palmer , liked it , but he wanted a club version , so agreed to pay for me to do a remix . We he distributed through their Sure Delight label.

Boogie80: End To End is a proper band of the late 80’s/early 90’s UK Street soul scene. Can you remember how this kind of music was received by the audience? Were you touring at this time? Did you get heavy rotation on dedicated radio stations back in time ?

Tony : We did not tour, or listen for radio play, because this was only done in my spare time as a hobby. I was an Electrician.

Boogie80:. Did you happen to meet other Street Soul bands back in time such as Soul Connection, Deluxe, Thomas Esterine, Dazzle, Rick Clarke, etc,… ?

Tony : The answer would be no, for the same reason as the last question.

We can notice that most of your releases were issued as white labels/promo records (except for the 7’’ version of “Confuzzion” released in ‘88). And as a matter of fact none is dated. Can you confirm the year of release for « Money Talks », « We Can Work It Out » and « Go To Get Away » for instance ? “Money Talks” has become an ultimate UK Street Soul anthem for all soul music lovers and a true sought after record for collectors all over the world since its appearance on our YouTube channel. Do you know how many copies were officially pressed back in time ?

Tony : “Money Talks” approximately 1989, “Nothings Happening” 1987 and “Got To Get Away” 1992. Although we know Jet Star were printing when they wanted , i was told only 1000 copies were printed.

Boogie80: When we listen to « Confusion » or « Money Talks » both tracks could be considered as « conscious » music. What led you to this kind of project when most of the records of this time were dealing with love and joy ?

Tony: You said it! most of the records were about love and joy . I wanted to tell what was happening, in the real world, which wasn’t all Love and joy. I was writing about what I was seeing, and personal life.

Boogie80: As we reached the 90’s, soul music was shifting to New Jack Swing and early house influences. « Got To Get Away » features Bryan Chambers lead vocals and he’s credited on the white label. How this collaboration came to reality ?

Tony: I stopped writing for a couple of years, after my marriage broke down, and I moved to Luton. When I returned to London, i ran a Jazz night at a wine bar called WKD in Camden town . It was at this wine bar where I met Brian Chambers, who agreed to sing the vocals on this track, because I did not consider myself to be a singer. I just wanted to write more songs again.

Boogie80: Tell us now what happened to the band after the release of « You Could Never Change » in the early 90’s ?

Tony: After “You Could Never Change”, my spare time was dedicated to my daughter. Dave also had a family, so life just went on.

Boogie80: Do you still meet up with David Henriques ? What are your projects today ?

Tony: I met Dave for the first time in 8 years last November, as we were approached for permission to remaster our material (lucky I kept the master tapes! ), and because of people like yourselves , I am now working on re-releasing some of our old songs.

Boogie80: Are you still collecting records ?

Tony: I stopped collecting records around 1999 I think, as CDs were starting to take over . Even though i had to sell a few over the years . I still have a small collection of around 3 to 4000.

Boogie80: What kind of music do you like ?

Tony: I have too much of a varied taste to answer this correctly. Biggie Smalls , Freddie Hubbard . Steely Dan , Barry White , Tania Maria , Teena Marie , Slim Shady, Loose Ends ,J Dilla but because I have more tracks of his than anyone else, and he was the first person i saw play live , ( ‘The Royalty ‘, in Southgate , North London ) , way back when!!!. My favourite Artist is Roy Ayers.

GOOD NEWS!

A reissue of “Money Talks” is coming soon on Backatcharecords

Interview with Alec Mansion on his boogie masterpiece LP (1983)

07/07/2017

Interviews

80's music, Alec Mansion, Belgian Boogie, eau de nice, French Boogie

In addition to the great interview conducted by our colleagues from Music Is My Sanctuary that you can read here, we also wanted to have a word with Belgium Boogie master Alec Mansion on his masterpiece album released on WEA Records in 1983.

What are the reasons leading you to produce « Laid Bête et Méchant »?

After my first album “MICROFILMS”, my producers Marc Moulin and Dan Lacksman came back from Paris with a contract at WEA (Warner Electra Atlantic). I was really inspired, at the time, by American music that I had discovered when I was in Chicago and Montreal.

I was particularly attracted by the combination of real piano, vocals and synths. I started to compose “Trop Triste” with a really basic equipment. The Roland Juno 60 and a 4 tracks Cassette recorder, in a little cabanon in the bottom of the garden of my friends in Montreal.
To me, Montreal was so inspiring that I wrote nearly 20 songs with that unbelievable small home studio. Back in Brussels, I played my demos to Marc Moulin and he loved the project. Together with him and Dan Lacksman, we developed it with many other keyboards such as the Korg MS20, the Minimoog,the Linndrum, OBX, Prophet 5 and even the Fairlight who just appeared at the time. It was good fun to play it all live as the midi system was only arriving with the Atari .

This LP turned out to be highly sought after: how can you explain that? Do you know how many copies were originally pressed?

In my memory, around 10.000 copies. But the thing is that so many people talked about it afterwards… I think that the interest of it could be sincerity, because I did it without any kind of pressure and with my own intuition.

Can you share with us any particular moments/highlights during the recording of this album?

I remember that we used to share the studio with Thomas Dolby, who was already famous and I think the Sparks were around as well.
During the breaks, we used to play football in the garden and one day, of course, the ball would go in the neighbours garden.
Thomas would ring the bell and asked for his ball with his strong british accent, and the old lady who didn’t know anything about music told him: “never again, boy!”. I have lots of great memories of the sessions at Synsound studios. One day, because the minimoog couldn’t keep in tune for some reasons, I tried to play the bass line of “Dans l’eau de Nice” with my little Korg MS20. The sound was a little thin but the texture sounded great for us, so we decide to play every bass line of the album with it and to work on the EQ of it. This bass sound is quite unique mainly because it wasn’t made for that !

In studio with Marc Moulin and Dan Lacskman

Did it reach the charts and get any club airplay in European discos and radios back in time?

A lot of clubs in Belgium played the tracks, but I don’t think it was played anywhere else.

Can you tell us more on the track “Dans L’eau de Nice”? What was your inspiration for this song?

I was doing my first big trip with my old red 2CV Citroën from Liège (Belgium) to Nice. My aim was to meet the famous French singer Michel Fugain to ask his opinion on my demos and I did so. Once in Nice, me and my girlfriend would have a bath in the Mediterranean sea along the “la promenade des Anglais”. At the moment where we kissed sensually in that delicious warm water, a huge Boeing arrived for landing at the airport which is along the sea. We really thought it was our last minut as it was nearly touching the water.

Back in Liège, my 2cv died and I wrote that song relating all the little trips we made with it. Londres, Marseille,Brussels,Tyrol, Ostende,….

“Dans L’eau de Nice” was released on a 7inch format and is a nightmare to find!

Are there any unreleased material that couldn’t be included in the LP? The year ’83 is one the most appreciated by boogie lovers, especially because of the perfect combination between soulful voices and funky bass lines: did you think about releasing some kind of sequel to this album?

Even if I didn’t have any copy of the album until now, I kept every cassette and demo of the time. I have a few songs and demo that were on their way, some finished some not, and I should don an archelogogic mission to put them together. I’m open to do it but the quality could be variable.

Can you explain the artwork of the album ? Why are you walking on a roof by night ? Does it have a specific meaning?

I’ve always been fascinated by the roofs of Paris, the Aristocats of Disney, Mary Poppins, Chaplin and Fred Astaire. I had the idea of a picture made in aerograph to look “cartoon”. As this album was risky in terms of mixing french lyrics with boogie funk, I wanted to appear happy in a quite dangerous situation. The cats and the night light show the atmosphere of the songs: dark but full of hope.

What is your vision of the music industry during the early 80’s?

I didn’t think in terms of music industry at the time…I was only interested to write songs and my producers would follow the business part of it.But to answer your question, I would say that it was an exciting period, where nearly everything was to be discovered. The feeling I had with the new keyboards and synths that were appearing was that we felt like the master of the universe (joke!)

And now: what are you current and forthcoming projects?

I’m just finishing the shooting of a French movie called Stars 80 la suite. It ‘s the second film on the subject and I play my own character with different singers from that period. My studio project is a new album recorded in Brazil 2 months ago with 10 original songs.
Recorded with real good Brasilian musicians over there, I’m now busy creating textures in programming sequences and atmospheres on the top of the organic material.

Many thanks Alec for taking the time to run this interview with us!

Alec Mansion’s self-titled LP releases July 7, 2017

Order the record

We would like to remind everyone that this fantastic album has finally been reissued by our friends from Be With Records on a limited edition (1’000 copies) so don’t sleep on it!

Interview with Brit singer Isabel Roberts

03/26/2013

Interviews

80's music, 80's Soul, Brit Funk, Isabel Roberts

We managed to get in touch with Isabel Roberts. Those of you who are familiar with 80’s British Funk, will probably know Isabel for her stunning dancefloor classic “Rhythm Of Your Love” released on small label Hot Vinyl in 1986.

Boogie80: Isabel. First of all I would like to thank you for accepting to run this interview. Could you introduce yourself to those who don’t know you yet ? Let us know more about your career and your involvement in the 80′s Brit Funk scene.

Isabel: I am from a Caribbean background mixed with Irish so music on both sides. My folks are from Trinidad whose music is primarily melodic soca and calypso so I grew up listening to that music in the home. My father was a great fan of Dionne Warwick and Otis Reading so classic soul was very much a part of what I heard played in the house as a child. In later years I was hugely influenced by the Jackson 5 growing up and the underground sounds of soul which nowadays they consider mainstream. Main artistes I admire are Tina Marie, Luther van Dross, Prince, Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan to name a few. I love jazz funk the original American outfits like Leroy Hutson, War and Cameo so literally my musical appreciation is right across the board. When we recorded Rhythm of Your Love in the mid eighties we went for the 80s production but with the melody and musicianship of the early funk masters that came before.

Boogie 80: How did you get your first soul record deal with Hot Vinyl which is known to specialise in reggae, ska and lovers rock music ?

Isabel: I initially started singing as a lovers rock singer with various producers and released a few lovers rock covers on white label (Cover of Hello Stranger by Carrie Lucas) to name one. Being Trinidadian I knew Smokey Joe DJ the owner of the then Hot Vinyl label. He was very good friends also with Steve Slavin who wrote Rhythm of Your love and other follow up tracks and basically Smokey wanted to have a soul artiste to enter in to the then dance mainstream.

Boogie80: “Rhythm of Your Love” is definitely a club classic. Do you remember if it charted back in time in the UK and in Europe ?

Yes the track reached 45 in the national charts in the UK and was at the time the only dance track amongst all the American releases at the time (namely Saturday Love Cherelle and Alexander O ‘Neal)….It reached worldwide distribution and did very well in Europe generally high on all the Soul Dance Charts.

Boogie80: 2nd Release is known to be the mid tempo duet with Robert Chandler “Love Situation” on the same label and by the same producer Steve Slavin. How did you meet each other ?

Isabel: Steve Slavin writer and producer is actually a family connection and has been in the business for some time; when he wrote these tracks he immediately wanted me to be the voice of his music. “Love Situation” was an English take on the Saturday Love track by Cherelle and Alexander Oneil and Robert Chandler was some one I knew who was just starting out at the time in the music industry. This track was really well received by the local pirate underground stations in the UK at the time and seen as a great party tune.

Theres a 3rd track recorded with Steve Slavin “I just Fall in Love”. This record is not dated When Exactly was this record released. Did this up tempo song come out before or after the other releases: “I Just fall in Love” stands as a collectors item among hardcore collectors. Do you know how many copies were initially issued:

“I Just Fall in Love” is the 3rd song recorded and released by Hot Vinyl label and a very small amount of copies were produced for distribution. Unfortunately Hot Vinyl as a label folded at this time and I suppose the reason “I Just Fall in Love” is so rare is there are some couple 1000 copies around which were directly distributed from Smokey Joe the DJ at his record shop in Hackney UK. Fall in Love is a real favourite of the three recordings for me as I felt with a little bit more push and marketing and finance this could have been a chart hit at that time.

Boogie80: In the 80s the UK Soul Funk scene was huge with Loose Ends Junior Second Image etc. What is your vision of the brit funk scene at the time. Did you ever meet or collaborate with other UK artists ?

Isabel: Yep the Brit Funk scene as its called came up to fill our charts when the Americans kind of lost their way and went down the rap route. We still wanted to hear good melodic funky good music . I worked at this time with David Grant and also Georgie B and Second Image and Total Contrast were another outfit recording featured vocals on their albums and releases. Right now 2013 is a resurgence of the Brit Funk appreciation with shows for artists all over UK from that era so the music has sustained. I am always asked to PA “Rhythm of Your Love” and the other songs I have released at tribute concerts and shows.

Boogie80: Do you have any current or future musical projects or planning to release new tracks or albums ?

Isabel: Yep I released a pure Jazz Album in 1991 which was really acclaimed as original and did well as Jazz Is something I am very fond of performing. I worked also in the late 90s with Ronny Jordan from UK Jazz Soul Fusion artist and featured as vocalist on his album The Antidote on Island Records with Guru on quite a few tracks. A release dance cover of So What (Miles Davis track) was covered by Ronny and reached number 10 in the UK charts at the time. I had the privilege of working with Ronny Gordon ( ten string bass player in Gill Scott Herons bands over the years) and collaborated on his own releases as well as having worked with the late Gill Scott Heron at the Jazz Café and UK last tour in London. I am writing and producing my own dance tracks currently as part of my own band SOUL INTENTION and again working with Steve Slavin on a possible remix of 3Rhythm of Your Love3 as so many people ask us to re release it. You never know it may chart bigger this time.

Please tell all my fans and people who appreciate my tracks that I thank them for their ongoing support. Love to come out there some time and PA the tracks to the die hard fans.

Isabel Roberts

80s-music

Interview with Tony Shand (En-To-End)

GOOD NEWS!

Interview with Alec Mansion on his boogie masterpiece LP (1983)

Interview with Brit singer Isabel Roberts