history of the passage

‘passage’ was formed from the manchester musicians' collective in march 1978 by dick witts (former percussionist with the hallé orchestra and the dreamtiger ensemble, presenter at granada television and arts & dance officer for the merseyside arts association), tony friel (bassist and founder member of the fall), and lorraine hilton (keyboards). karl burns (also from the fall) joined the band for a short time as a second drummer

as a semi-professional band, in their first two years they made two warmly received 4-track eps, new love songs & about time, for object music, the song writing credits split evenly between dick and tony

tony joined the teardrops, and was replaced by lorraine's sister martine (bass) for live work, while dick continued to write new material for their debut album

dick recorded their first album, under the name ‘the passage’ in a week in july 1980. not long after, he was put out of action, as a passenger in a car accident. with the momentum lost, lorraine and martine left the band

still recovering, and in need of urgent help with promoting the album live, dick recruited joe mckechnie (drummer with activity minimal and modern eon), lizzy johnson (vocals) and andy wilson (guitarist with the spurtz)

object music released their debut album, pindrop, in november 1980 to critical acclaim, but a dispute with the record company caused the album to be deleted, after just 5000 copies were made

the passage started their own record label (night & day, published by dindisc/virgin), but only recorded one single, devils and angels, in december 1980, before lizzy left

a three-piece band again, they went back into the studio in february 1981, resulting in a single, a remake of troops out, and an album, for all and none

less than satisfied with the marketing of their album they signed with popular indie label cherry red records, and joe left for college. now a duo, dick and andy made a 12″ single, taboos, and started work on a new album

joined by paul mahoney (drums), the passage finished recording and went on an extensive tour in 1982, promoting new single, xoyo, and album, degenerates, in scandinavia, northern europe and america

after recording a new single, wave, paul left the band and they were rejoined by joe, keeping the momentum going for the recording of their fourth album at the end of a very busy year

their new album, enflame, and single, sharp tongue, were released in march 1983 and they continued with occasional live performances, as well as work outside the band, for the rest of the year

they ended 1983 with another bbc session and the release of a "best of" compilation called through the passage

after an abortive attempt at a new project, the passage was finally disbanded due to disillusionment, lack of success and greater interests in other avenues

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dick witts worked for various arts-based organisations, is a writer, and lectures on modern music in lon don and edinburgh

joe mckechnie joined benny profane after the passage, worked with wild swans, pete wylie and echo & the bunnymen, and works as the mindwinder and dj tempest in liverpool

andy wilson worked as a dj all over the world, and now works for radio cadena cien in ibiza

paul mahoney played with ludus & hurrah! (as damien mahoney), tried the police force, played with several manchester bands (including paris angels) and is now a steiner waldorf teacher in the republic of ireland

lizzy johnson continues to sing, and has worked in band promotion, has lived in australia, and now works for a children's charity in merseyside

tony friel produced for several manchester bands, including blue orchids, and recently played with the woodbank street band and the scavengers

please spot the mistakes and fill in the blanks
by e-mailing keith at passageweb@thepassage.co.uk