Gary Daly, one half of the 1980s band China Crisis, has opened up about the band's career, admitting they never felt part of Liverpool's music scene despite rising to fame in the early 1980s.
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Daly, 64, formed China Crisis with his childhood friend Eddie Lundon in Kirkby. Growing up, he had no aspirations for a music career. He left school with no qualifications, feeling despondent. He told the ECHO: "My dad was a painter and decorator, my mum worked at Jacob's [bakery], my brothers are roofers, my eldest brother's a policeman. We all grew up in a home where you go to work and you do a good job."
After leaving school, he spent time at Eddie's house, where he discovered a bass guitar. "I thought 'hang on, I think I might be able to play that bass guitar', because I've had a go at guitar and that's how it happened," he said. They initially played in a cabaret band but were "rubbish." However, they had friends in punk rock bands like The Chameleons, which led them into Liverpool's emerging punk scene.
Rise to Fame
They started attending Eric's club, seeing bands like The Fall and OMD, and began writing songs. They got a drum machine, a gig, and soon signed with Jerry Lewis's label Inevitable Records. Their first single, African and White, was released in 1982. The band went on to achieve 11 top 50 singles in the UK, including Wishful Thinking and Black Man Ray.
Feeling Like Outsiders
Despite their success, Daly said they never felt part of the Liverpool scene. "People know us as a Liverpool band, but when it comes to legacy, and it being written about, or exhibitions about the Liverpool scene, we're not part of it," he explained. "We're not in the photographs, we're not in the story, because we weren't." He attributed this to their musical tastes: "We were quite happy with that little niche drum machine duo type thing. We really like that music. We love early Human League, OMD, Bowie's Low [album], Brian Eno, Talking Heads."
Continuing Success
Over 45 years since forming, the band shows no signs of slowing down. Daly said: "We still tour the world. We're in America in the summer. We'll have been in Spain three times this year. We're going back in September, we've already been twice. We've already been to Denmark, we're round Britain non-stop, Ireland. We'll be in Germany and Holland in December. We're a proper international, successful [band], but you'd never know it."
