Putting on the Writz


Variously known as Writz, Famous Names, Techno Twins, the Techno Orchestra and The Technos, this band was quite simply ahead of its time. Starting out life as a folk duo in the 1970s, founder members Steve Fairnie and Steve Rowles were competing with a number of other Christian folk duos of the time, including Malcolm and Alwyn, Ishmael and Andy, and later, Stewart and Kyle. But the two Steves employed no 'and' in their band name, preferring to be known as Fish Company, or Fish Co. Releasing an album Can't Be Bad in 1975 did their career no harm, but didn't really make much of an impact on the CCM scene either. 

The advent of punk and then new wave energised the duo. With Steve Fairnie's wife Bev Sage, the three formed a new band called Writz. They recruited several musicians into the band: Nick Battle on bass guitar, Jules Hardwick on lead guitar and the delightfully named Steve (Arry) Axell on drums. Their 1979 album release contained a number of memorable, avante garde tracks such as Night Nurse (a minor hit that was produced by 10cc's Kevin Godley and Lol Creme), Luxury and Movies, showcasing their musicianship and a talent for writing catchy pop/rock. Morphing into Famous Names, and replacing Nick Battle for Les Cargo, the band had limited success, even appearing in Dennis Potter's television production Cream In My Coffee with a minor speaking role for Fairnie.  The band finally split in 1981 with Fairnie and Sage going on to form the Technos.

To be continued...

Photo by Steve Wheeler





 




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