Pool Of Sound - The Real People

From an original line-up in 1987, consisting of Chris Griffiths on guitar & vocals, Tony Griffiths on bass & vocals, Dave Reilly on drums, (ex-'China Crisis'), Jay Norton on keyboards, (ex-'It's Immaterial'), and Gordon Morgan on guitar, (ex-'Black'), the group evolved. Tony Elson replaced Dave Reilly on drums and he himself was later replaced by Garry Ford. Gordon Morgan was replaced by Phil Coxon, then by Sean Simpson, followed by Alan Gillibrand, then by Ian 'Sitar'.

This lead to the formation of 'The Real People' in 1988 by the Griffith's brothers with Tony Griffiths on bass guitar & vocals, Chris Griffiths on guitar & vocals, Martin Lappin on guitar and Tony McGuigan on drums.
In the early days, the band initially was called 'JoJo & The Real People' and signed a management deal with local entrepreneur Mick Swift of Whitehouse Management, Bold Street, Liverpool in 1986. Influenced by the 1960s Mersey sound, they would influence the likes of 'The Stone Roses', 'Inspiral Carpets' and later 'Kasabian'. The band began playing in local clubs around the Bootle area and later toured as support act for 'Inspiral Carpets', 'Ocean Colour Scene', 'The Pixies'. 'Simple Minds', David Bowie and others over the next decade.
After Mick Swift had persuaded Eddie Lundon of 'China Crisis' to produce their demo debut single, 'One By One', they got their first 'one single' record deal in 1988 with Polydor Records and also signed a publishing deal with Polygram.
In 1989, now managed by Jeffrey Abbotts, they were then signed as 'The Real People' by CBS for their Columbia label, although CBS were subsequently bought out by Sony. During this time they toured extensively, including a major tour of the US, Japan, Europe, etc. They released their self-titled debut album 'The Real People' on the 6th of May 1991 with all the songs written by Chris and Tony Griffiths. This reached No. 59 in the UK Albums chart after which they recorded a second album, 'Marshmellow Lane', for CBS, but although 'Believer', the first single from the album, charted at No. 38 and another single, 'Too Much Too Young', appeared soon afterwards, the album was never actually released.

 

It was in 1992, when he was roadie to 'Inspiral Carpets', that Noel Gallagher first met Tony Griffiths. With 'Oasis' determined to make a professional sounding 'demo', Noel contacted Tony to ask him to help record something to send out to record companies. The band helped them record their first demos at their own small Bootle studio. These demos helped 'Oasis' land their first record deal and Chris went on to pen 'Rocking Chair' with Noel, which became the 'B' side for 'Roll With It'.
Tony recalls, "Because we'd got our own eight-track studio we let them come down to the Dock Road and record there.They were quite naive about recording, so we'd show them how to play the songs, how to think about the structure of the songs and the dynamics. We were just helping them because that's what bands do in Liverpool." These eight demos – later dubbed the Live Demonstration tape – included many of the songs that eventually featured on the band’s first album, 'Definitely Maybe'.

Chris and Tony: The Real People.

 

Tony and Chris Griffiths went on to set up their own recording studio (Realistic Studios) in Birkenhead, Wirral, and started their own label Egg Records. 

Their next album, 'What's On The Outside', was released independently under their own label on the 4th of November 1996. It was critically acclaimed but failed to make the charts. Although another album called 'Closer' was reported to be in preparation in 2002, it was never released.

With a current line-up still of Tony Griffiths on bass guitar and vocals, Chris Griffiths on guitar and vocals, Martin Lappin on guitar and Tony McGuigan on drums, 'The Real People' enjoy cult status among their fans and from their more successful contemporaries from Liverpool such as 'The La's' and 'The Farm' as well as complimentary comments from Liam and Noel Gallagher from 'Oasis'. The band continue to perform gigs, recently performing at Jimmy's, Liverpool and the 100 Club in September 2021.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2019/12/pool-of-sound-boo-radleys.html