Pool Of Sound - The La's

The La's

'The La's' were first formed around Mike Badger in 1983, with Lee Mavers joining as rhythm guitarist the following year. Mayers eventually gained songwriting prominence and emerged as the band's enduring figurehead. For most of the group's history, the frequently changing line-up revolved around the core duo of Lee Mavers on vocals and guitar and John Power on bass guitar and backing vocals. Bernie Nolan, an accomplished musician formerly of 'The Falcons', 'The Russian Rockabillys' and 'The Swampmen' was also in the band as the original bassist. Numerous other guitarists and drummers including Paul Hemmings, John 'Timmo' Timson, Peter 'Cammy' Cammell, Iain Templeton, John 'Boo' Byrne, Chris Sharrock, Barry Sutton and Neil Mavers were all involved with the band at different times.
By late 1986, as Mavers became a formidable creative force in his own right, personal tensions between the pair caused Badger to quit. Paul Hemmings was brought in as a guitarist to fill the void Badger left behind, on the recommendation of bass player John Power.
After the departure of Badger, with the band attracting the attention of several record labels after a series of performances in their hometown in 1986, demo tapes copied from a session at the Flying Picket rehearsal studio in Liverpool began circulating. One of these demo tapes was sent to 'Underground Magazine' where a journalist there, with the task of reviewing unsigned bands, gave the cassette to Andy McDonald at Go! Discs.

This led to the band signing to Go! Discs in 1987 and the start of them recording their debut album. Following the release of singles 'Way Out' in 1987, which received good reviews, and 'There She Goes' in 1988, which also had a positive press but didn't chart that well, and 'Timeless Melody' in 1990, and having aborted several recording sessions with different producers, the band released their debut album 'The La's' in 1990 to critical acclaim and modest commercial success.

Lee Mayers

Endlessly re-recorded, with a variety of producers at Lee Mavers's nit-picking behest, the album allegedly cost £1m to make. Although acclaimed as a musical genius, the behaviour of Mavers was. to say the least, eccentric at times. The album was disowned by the band on release. "We hate the album," Mavers told Smash Hits. "It never captured anything that we were about." He claimed that the entire album would be re-recorded and released again. Instead, 'The La's' vanished, save for a handful of sporadic and puzzling appearances during the 1990s. The importance of 'The La's' only LP can never be overstated, some say it is one of the most perfect records ever made, Noel Gallagher credits 'The La's' as the band that started Britpop and they must have been without a doubt one of the reasons most of the newer generation of Liverpool acts wanted to start a band in the first place.
John Power left 'The La's' to form 'Cast' and the group entered a prolonged hiatus in 1992 which lasted almost two decades. The group later reformed briefly in the mid-1990s, 2005 and 2011. However, no new recordings have been released.

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