Techno pop outfit Heaven 17 set to play The Apex next month

Taking their name from a fictional band in Anthony Burgess’s novel “A Clockwork Orange”, Sheffield’s techno-pop trio Heaven 17 grew out of the experimental dance project the British Electric Foundation, itself an offshoot of the electro-pop outfit Human League, and they are set to take to the stage at The Apex, in Bury St Edmunds, early next month

The core of Heaven 17 was originally comprised of Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, computer operators who first paired up in 1977 as the Dead Daughters, a duo that integrated synthesizer patterns and tape loops.

Soon, Ware and Marsh were joined by Philip Oakey and Adi Newton and changed their name to the Human League.

Marsh and Ware left Human League in 1980 and formed the British Electric Foundation – a record label and production project that employed a variety of musicians and singers.

They deconstructed the notion of a band and threw the door open to include everyone they admired, including Tina Turner, Sandie Shaw and Hank Marvin. Weird juxtapositions that made everyone look again.

The B.E.F.’s debut in 1980, “Music of Quality and Distinction, Vol. 1” also included vocalist Glenn Gregory, and the following year, the duo recruited Gregory for Heaven 17 (the most successful B.E.F. alter ego).

Within a week, they had written a new song, “(We Don’t Need That) Fascist Groove Thang”. 

The purely electronic template was modified with a funky slap-bass guitar and dance-floor piano.

Released as a single, it became NME’s record of the week. The song managed to mention the words “fascist”, “Hitler”, “Ronald Reagan” and “racist” and was promptly banned from being played by the BBC.

“One of the reasons the BBC said it couldn’t be played was they thought Ronald Reagan could sue them over it”, said Ian Craig Marsh in 1981.

The album “Penthouse and Pavement” followed the same year and remains a modern classic.

Side 1 fires off in the new, funky direction, whilst the all-synth Side 2 gives an idea of how a third Human League album with Ware and Marsh might have sounded – with tracks such as “Let’s All Make A Bomb” and “Song With No Name”.

By the release of 1983’s “The Luxury Gap”, the B.E.F. had fallen by the wayside and Heaven 17 had become Ware and Marsh’s primary focus; the LP proved highly successful, spawning the hit singles “Temptation”, “Come Live with Me”, “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” and “Let Me Go”.

 A defining feature of Heaven 17 was their artistic control over their music.

Martyn explains” “It was written into our contract that we had complete control over the content of what we presented. We were influenced by Kraftwerk because what they presented was this world view of which the music was an integrated part.”

The third album, “How Men Are” was another British hit, but Heaven 17 receded from view in 1988, and with Ware now a successful producer for the likes of Tina Turner and Terrence Trent D’Arby, Heaven 17 was put on hold.

In 1996, a re-formed Heaven 17 returned with “Bigger Than America” and embarked on a national tour; in 2006 Marsh disappeared from the group’s live line up, and by 2008 it was confirmed that he had left the band.

Glenn Gregory and Martyn Ware still continue to perform the hits from their overwhelming back catalogue, including “Temptation” and “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang”, along with unveiling their newer material.

Heaven 17 will play at The Apex on Saturday, July 5, at 8pm. Tickets available from The Apex box office on 01284 758000, or online at www.theapex.co.uk.