Pool Of Sound - The Cherry Boys

The Cherry Boys at Port Sunlight

 Wirral mod band 'The Cherry Boys' was formed in 1980 by John Byrne with a line-up of John Byrne (aka John Cherry) on vocals and guitar, James Hughes on vocals and keyboards, Keith Gunson on vocals and bass, and Howie Minns on drums. The 'Icicle Works' drummer Chris Sharrock was part of the band early on, and appeared on their first single 'Man to Man'.
They played original material only, appearing regularly at The Dolphin in Liverpool City Centre and recorded a demo tape at Open Eye studio in Liverpool, produced by a guy called Noddy Knowler.

Managed by Graham Jones, they achieved a significant local following and won the BBC Radio Merseyside award for Best Local Band in 1982. In the same year they also won best band, and individual musician awards, in the local popular magazine, 'The End'. Their 'live' performances were unmatched at the time with each member highly respected and their concerts were nearly always a sell out. The band signed with Satril and released four singles and an E.P. entitled 'Give It Rice'. They had two BBC sessions in 1982 for the late, great John Peel and 'Kardomah Cafe' was included in their first session.

It was written in honour of one of Liverpool historical meeting points on the corner of Stanley Street, close to the Cavern Club. Despite missing out on the top 50 in the UK, 'Kardomah Cafe', is still recognized today as one of the best songs written about Liverpool and proved popular in Spain, peaking at No. 6 in the Spanish charts in 1984. Manager Graham Jones throw some light on this, " We were a bit unlucky with 'Kardomah Cafe'. Our greatest champion was Janice Long and a couple of weeks before its release Janice took maternity leave from her job at BBC Radio 1. Her replacement never played the record. Howie the drummer had a bad accident when his hand went through a pane of glass. We had to cancel a lot of gigs and then used a stand in for some but it wasn't the same. The song stayed in the top 100 for 3 months but did not break through. It needed a big effort from the record company but it did not happen." More recently the song was featured on the compilation album 'Liverpool Cult Classics Unearthed - Volume Two' released by the Viper label in 2001 also appearing on the 5 disc set 'Scared To Get Happy: A Story of Indie-Pop 1980-1989' in 2013.

Their follow up single 'Shoot The Big Shot' released in 1983 turned out to be a commercial failure and didn't make the top 100 which left the band's future uncertain. As with a lot of bands they became frustrated with the record company and split to get out of their contract with them.

Following the band's split in 1984, Hughes and Minns went on to form 'Exhibit B' which released the 'It's Hypothetical' single, and 'Playing Dead album', which was re-released in Japan in 2007. Hughes became the main writer/musician in the 'James Clarke Five', whose album, 'Fly, My Pretties Fly!' was released in 2008.
John Byrne, the band's chief songwriter, joined 'The La's and played lead guitar on their international hit 'There She Goes' and was recognised as an acclaimed classical guitarist.
Chris Sharrock, the original Cherry Boys drummer, also joined 'The La's' at the same time. Sharrock had previously played with 'The Icicle Works' and subsequently. 'Lightning Seeds', 'The Robbie Williams Band' and 'Oasis'.
The Cherry Boys' manager, Graham Jones, became an author with his first book 'Last Shop Standing' published in 2009. The book deals with the demise of the independent record store, and features a chapter dedicated to his experiences managing both 'The Cherry Boys' and 'Exhibit B'.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2019/09/pool-of-sound-its-immaterial.html