Pool Of Sound - It's Immaterial

John J. Campbell and Jarvis Whitehead met in Liverpool in the late 1970s having moved to the city to study Art and Architecture respectively. John on vocals had formed 'It's Immaterial', known to fans as 'Itsy', together with two other former members of 'Yachts' - Martin Dempsey on guitar and Henry Priestman on keyboards with Paul Barlow on drums joining them. Soon they were operating on the fringes of the DIY scene around legendary Liverpool venue Eric's, where Whitehead had seen Campbell opening for the Sex Pistols in 1976 with the ill-advisedly named 'Albert Dock and the Cod Warriors'.
On the 11th of November 1981, around the time of the release of the band’s third single, 'It's Immaterial', they recorded the first of four sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1, by which time Martin Dempsey had left the band. The track listing was 'A Gigantic Raft (in the Philippines)', 'Imitate The Worm', 'White Man's Hut', and 'Rake'. 'A Gigantic Raft' was featured on the soundtrack of Jonathan Demme's 2004 remake of 'The Manchurian Candidate'.

Here with Henry Priestman on guitar

By 1984, after Priestman's departure to form 'The Christians', the band had been reduced to a duo, John Campbell with Jarvis Whitehead on guitar and keyboards, who had joined in 1982.
Now working together under the moniker of  'It's Immaterial' they produced work for both radio, theatre and film and did record two well received albums entitled ‘Life's Hard And Then You Die' and 'Song'.
In April 1985 the band had recorded their fourth and final John Peel session with a track listing of: 'Rope', 'Hang On Sleepy Town', 'Space', and 'Festival Time'. In the same month the band's 'Fish Waltz' EP reached No.30 in the UK Indie chart.
Less than a year later the band had a hit single with 'Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune)'. ('John Campbell puts his foot down on the pedal – ever so gently – to cruise out along the M62 - a Mini-Midwestern road movie transported to Liverpool'). This song was their biggest hit and has since featured widely on TV Adverts.
Another minor hit followed, 'Ed's Funky Diner (Friday Night, Saturday Morning)', with an accompanying video, before the release of the band's debut album in September 1986, 'Life's Hard And Then You Die'.

It was in 1990 that they released their second album, 'Song'. As before, the music was of a subdued, understated nature, with wry wit in the manner of an indie 'Pet Shop Boys'. However the album was a commercial flop, despite receiving positive reviews in the music press.

A third album ‘House for Sale’ was originally intended for release in the early nineties but the multi-track recordings were misplaced in a studio move and only rediscovered in recent times. After restoration and remastering, the material finally saw the light of day as a result of a Pledge campaign on their Facebook page. The band had dropped off the radar around 1990 with many thinking they had broken up. But in 2013 they announced they had never really split up, but instead had retreated from the music business 'rat race' and spent time working on other projects. So, after overcoming many obstacles, 'House For Sale' was released in 2020 via the band’s own It's Immaterial label., their first new album in 30 years.

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