1979: The End of A Decade

The Seventies are over. The three chord thrash of the punk rock brigade has all but fizzled out. I think Plastic Bertrand sealed their fate. Some of the original protagonists still remain but have already begun to reshape themselves for the next decade. Bands like Public Image Ltd, Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Psychedelic Furs are breaking away from the old guard and creating new and innovative soundscapes. But most importantly Tubeway Army are No 1 with 'Are Friends Electric?'... and for the next few years, the sound of the crowd will be dominated by one note, one finger, keyboard riffs.


It seemed to me that in the seventies the music industry was black and white. Totally. If you were black you did soul, disco and reggae. If you were white you did anything you liked. Even bad reggae. There was no place for anyone else. Also boys were boys, girls were girls and anything else was swept under Cliff Richard's carpet. But the stars of the new wave really changed all that. "The Day The World Turned Dayglo!" shrieked Poly Styrene, X Ray Spex's mixed race chanteuse. 'Hanging! Hanging! Get down on your knees.." wailed ice queen Siouxsie.  "There's a man outside, in a long coat grey hat smoking a cigarette.." intoned asexual Gary Numan. To me it's a new world, a new way of looking at things and a new way to present them. It's a clarion call to all outsiders who don't fit the bill. Girly girls, macho boys and the old black/white stereotypes are making way for people who look and sound different. There's a new dawn coming and I want to be there when it breaks...

IN THE BEGINNING...

Dee Iva was a founding member of British dance duo Flex who performed in London nightclubs in the early 1980s.

The original lineup was made up of two boys and one girl who took a portable stereo on to the streets of London and choreographed dance routines to an eclectic soundtrack. Tracy Mayall (the daughter of blues legend John Mayall) was flanked by Dee and Fritz, the two boys who became widely known for their skillful robotic dancing. In this incarnation the troupe were known as Sketch.

Renaming themselves Flex after Tracy left, Dee and Fritz went on to appear with eighties artists like Eurythmics, Paul Young and Bananarama and eventually guested with Top Of The Pops last ever dance troupe, Zoo - You Tube footage appears under Gary Byrd Experience/Zoo TOTP.

Dee disbanded the dance duo in 1983 and Flex was relaunched as an electro pop band consisting of Dee Iva (vocals, keyboards) and Nik Corfield (guitar, keyboards). Quickly becoming a regular fixture on the London club circuit, their brand of sinister electro was inspired by the darker side of pop music. Thundering drum machines, searing guitar riffs and atonal vocals combined with explosive visuals to deliver a band perfectly in step with the mood and melodrama of the mid eighties. In 1984 they renamed themselves Risqué and became a three piece with drummer Andy Belluso, an aspiring photographer. Despite numerous appearances at venues such as The Embassy and The Hippodrome, Risqué called it a day in 1985.

1986 saw Dee enlist Private Viewing's bass player Mark Reeves to form Diva, a cleaner and less gloomy duo whose melodic sound and dance driven beats produced a heady mix of pacey techno and introspective love songs. This led to performances with artists such as Bronski Beat, Divine and Jayne County.


Picture: Flex c1982

NOVEMBER 2009 - I HATE WIKIPEDIA...

I HATE WIKIPEDIA.... I really do. I've just been subjected to online bullying by various editors for not completely understanding their rules. Three years ago I created a Wikipedia page that detailed my time as a dancer and musician in the early eighties. It was a concise account, five paragraphs in total, no more than a five minute read. And to illustrate it I uploaded three pictures. For three years it lived quietly on Wikipedia. Occasionally someone would go in and tidy up my messy links but other than that it was never touched. All was well in the world...my cheekbones and 28" waist were there for all to see.

Today I checked my page for the first time in ages only to find that the pictures had been deleted. The reasons given were that I hadn't given the correct copyright and licensing information. So I put them on again and added photographer's permissions and copyright details. Almost immediately they were tagged for deletion because I hadn't used the right license. I have to admit it's a minefield and just working my way through the various options was exhausting. But I tried again and was once again set upon by terriers in sheep's clothing. No matter how I explained myself, the level of hysteria surrounding the use of my pictures was rising. It felt like being back in the playground at the mercy of the school bully and his hangers on.

Someone called for the page to be deleted and another threatened to block my account after I challenged their behaviour. It seemed quite bizarre. For three years no one had bothered this page at all and suddenly I was the town pariah. The end result was that I decided to remove all content from Wikipedia as I had no desire to be subjected to further harrassment by a bunch of librarians in bad shoes. Only people who wear bad shoes can be so mean...I was trying to follow the rules after all.

With bloodied nose and dented pride I reflected on what had happened and grudgingly realised that maybe, just maybe, I had unwittingly gatecrashed the party. A savvy gatecrasher should always leave before they're ejected and disappear into the night. Which is how I've ended up here.

So turn up that ghettoblaster and bring on the eighties....