"Be Careful... I'm an Axe Victim!" - Be-Bop Deluxe Quiz

Answer: Yorkshire

Bill Nelson was born in Wakefield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the 18th of December 1948. It was whilst studying at the Wakefield College of Art that Nelson became interested in the work of French poet, novelist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau; work that was to influence much of Nelson's output both with Be-Bop Deluxe, and later with band project Red Noise as well as in addition to his later solo material. Nelson wrote and recorded a song dedicated to, and entitled, 'Jean Cocteau' on 'Futurama', the band's second album, released during 1975.

Answer: Public house

Be-Bop Deluxe made their first appearance as a band at 'Ye Olde Duke of Cumberland' a public house located in North Ferriby near Hull, Yorkshire, during August 1972. After rapidly building a reputation locally, Be-Bop Deluxe came to the attention of the great BBC disc jockey, John Peel and, after recording songs for Peel's show 'Top Gear' (No, not THAT 'Top Gear'!) they were signed by EMI Harvest records on the 22nd of February 1974.

A reference to the venue at which the band began their career, locally known simply as 'The Duke', is made by the band in the lyric to the title track of the band's first album, 'Axe Victim' which was released in 1974.

Answer: Skull

The original artwork used for the cover of 'Axe Victim' was designed and photographed by Mick Rock with the original painted artwork being produced by artist John Holmes. Rock, considered by many as 'The Man Who Shot the Seventies', has worked with the likes of bands Queen, Roxy Music, Lou Reed, Blondie and, more recently, The Chemical Brothers, Lady Gaga and Daft Punk. Rock's major claim to fame however is the fact that he had been official photographer to rock icon David Bowie and is responsible for taking the vast majority of the pictures that exist of Bowie's alter-ego, Ziggy Stardust. Guitarist Brian May of Queen has a custom built guitar based on the design of the 'Axe Victim'... Err, Axe!

Answer: Burning guitar

'Sunburst Finish', which was released during 1976 is Be-Bop Deluxe's third album and produced the band's most successful single release, 'Ships in the Night', which reached position 23 in the United Kingdom singles chart. The cover concept was credited to Bill Nelson and artist Mike Doud and, for some reason, was very popular with the young male rock fan when it was first released! Mike Doud, now deceased, was responsible for producing some of the most memorable record sleeve art of the last forty years having produced art for the likes of Supertramp (Breakfast in America), Led Zeppelin (Physical Graffiti) and Rick Wakeman (The Six Wives of Henry VIII) amongst many others.

Answer: New Zealand

Throughout their early career, Be-Bop Deluxe underwent a series of line-up changes. The original line-up of Bill Nelson (lead guitar), Ian Parkin (rhythm guitar), Robert Bryan (bass guitar) and Nicholas Chatterton-Drew (drums and percussion) lasted for the duration of the recording of the album 'Axe Victim' and for a brief promotional tour afterwards.

The line-up that followed and which comprised Nelson, Paul Jeffreys (bass guitar), Milton Reame-James (keyboards) and Simon Fox (drums and percussion) lasted only very briefly. New Zealander Charlie Tumahai, a bass player, vocalist and songwriter joined late in the year and remained with Be-Bop Deluxe until the band finally parted ways in 1978.

After returning to his native New Zealand in 1985, Tumahai joined 'Herbs', a reggae band.

It was during this period that Tumahai also became involved in Maori affairs and was working on a number of initiatives at encouraging young Maori people to embrace their own culture. On the 21st of December 1995 whilst working at a court building in Auckland on New Zealand's north island, Tumahai collapsed and died suddenly after suffering a heart attack. Tragically, former bass player Paul Jeffreys and his wife Rachel were killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 disaster on the 21st of December 1988 whilst travelling to their honeymoon.

Answer: Atlanta/Styx

Be-Bop Deluxe played their first ever US gig at the Electric Ballroom in Atlanta, Georgia. In an effort to break into the American market, Be-Bop Deluxe were billed in support of a number of high profile bands of the time which included the likes of Johnny Winter, Barclay James Harvest, Patti Smith Band and The Tubes. America made a great and lasting impression on Bill Nelson and many of his experiences there influenced his writing for the songs that would eventually appear on the band's 1976 recording, the album 'Modern Music', a musical view of the United States as perceived by Nelson. Sadly, just as Be-Bop Deluxe were beginning to receive the recognition that they so richly deserved, the band returned to the UK to find that the British explosion of 'punk' and 'new wave' movements were beginning to gain hugely in popularity; this was a great shame as, in this authors opinion, 'Modern Music' is a particularly fine piece of work...

A standard of musicianship and song writing that would be extended onto their next and final album 'Drastic Plastic'.

Answer: Metropolis

On its release in 1927, Fritz Lang's dystopian masterpiece, 'Metropolis' was the most expensive film ever produced up until that date. It is still considered to be a pioneer of the science-fiction genre and was this genre's first full length feature film.

As a child, Bill Nelson had been given a book with the robot Maria on its cover and he had been fascinated by the image ever since. During the shows at which 'Live! In The Air Age' was recorded, the scene from the film in which Maria rises from her chair and walks forward was projected onto a large screen behind the band, one of the earliest examples of a technique since popularised by acts such as Pink Floyd, Rush and Mike Oldfield during their live shows.

Answer: Electrical

"I speak to you through electrical language
Sometimes you hear me
When our frequencies meet
You try to listen
But you don't understand it
Turn up the rhythm
And you'll pick up the beat"

'Electrical Language', the opening song from 'Drastic Plastic' was one of only two songs taken from the album to be released as singles, the other being 'Panic in the World'. It was with this album that the band, or more accurately Nelson himself, attempted to direct Be-Bop Deluxe away from their earlier art-rock style and into a more electronic or new wave direction that would continue with Nelson's next band, Red Noise.

Answer: False

The song 'Superenigmatix' is about the fear of new technologies and how they appeared to be taking control of the world at the time that this album was recorded. 'Drastic Plastic', the band's final work, is the only album that the band recorded outside of the United Kingdom; being recorded at the Chateau Saint Georges at Juan-les-Pins, situated between Cannes and Nice on the Côte d'Azur.

The album took six weeks to record, work which took place, in the main, outside in the open air with the Rolling Stones mobile studio. Two songs that had been recorded as tributes to Walter Nelson, Bill's father who had passed away in 1976, were destined for 'Drastic Plastic' but only the track 'Islands of the Dead' finally made the cut; the other, entitled 'The Saxophonist' and which was an instrumental, was never mixed and is rumoured to be hiding away in the archives at EMI.

Answer: Red Noise

After Bill Nelson had dissolved Be-Bop Deluxe in 1978, he formed the band 'Bill Nelson's Red Noise', more usually known simply as 'Red Noise'. This band consisted of Nelson himself, former Be-Bop Deluxe band mate and keyboard player Andy Clark, Bill's brother Ian, a saxophonist like his father and musicians Rick Ford and Steve Peer playing bass guitar and drums/percussion respectively. Red Noise released a solitary album, 1979's offering 'Sound on Sound', with both single releases from this album 'Furniture Music' and 'Revolt Into Style' making little impact; Furniture Music reaching a highest position at number 59 in the UK singles chart while 'Revolt Into Style' fared no better, reaching its highest position at number 69. During 1981 Red Noise were disbanded and Bill Nelson embarked on his solo career.