Jan
Dum spiro spero, which translates to “While I breathe, I hope”, is a Latin phrase of indeterminate origin. It is the motto of various places and organisations, including the U.S. state of South Carolina.
Next year I am going back to Manchester, I am very excited. I am going to see The Man from Delmonte at Band on the Wall on February 25. Will just be for a short time but I am hoping this time to see some of the sights. Last time I barely saw anything, it was too quick. Hope to see some friends too.
So far I am traveling solo, it seems not many indiepop kids from my generation are going to this gig. It seems the big crowd will be fans from the band’s heyday.
But today I want to talk about another band I’ve just discovered that hailed from the Manchester area.
Probably from Stockport, there was an 80s band with the name Dum Spiro Spero. They were formed by Simon Wroe on vocals and guitar, Isabel Keyes on vocals, James Michael on bass and Nick Berry on drums. To my surprise they released a 7″ in 1985 which makes them not as obscure as I thought they would be!
The “England Does Not Exist” 7″ came out on a label called Lizard Literature Records (LL 1). Probably it was their own, right? No other releases are listed for this label. Aside from the title song on the A side the record came with another track, the B side “The Hunter & The Hunted”.
The black and white sleeve shows headshots of all four members on the front, and on the back we find lyrics for the two tracks. We also find some credits, the band members names which I’ve shared and also that the record was engineered by Paul Machiavelli at Drone Studios in Manchester. The record is dedicated to Stephen Berry, and all songs are credited to Simon Wroe.
But then there’s the find… the tracks are online. They are on Isabel Keyes Soundcloud account. You can find both tracks from the 7″, “England Does Not Exist” and “The Hunter & the Hunted” as well as two other songs, “Tell Me” and “Looking for the First Time“.
One immediately wonders if these two extra tracks were a possible second single? Or maybe they were recorded as demos? Or even recorded at the same recording session of the 7” tracks?
There are no details.
What there is though are some other tracks from bands Isabel had been involved like two 80s bands The Blue Dolphins (the track “Secret” is very good) and Tortoise.
And that’s what I could find about them.
Maybe some of you have more details about this band who are categorized as a goth rock band on Discogs, but I didn’t think that was the case. But you tell me.
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