The Purple Hearts

Formed in Romford, in the east of London, The Purple Hearts took shape in the late 1970s in the wake of the British mod revival, after beginnings closer to punk under the name The Sockets. The band brought together Jeff Shadbolt, Simon Stebbing, Bob Manton and, from 1978, drummer Gary Sparks, replacing Nick Lake. The Purple Hearts then developed a nervous and direct sound, at the crossroads of power pop, new wave and the mod aesthetic, with short, melodic and taut songs. The band's first cycle revolves around the singles 'Millions Like Us' and 'Frustration' in 1979, then the Beat That! album in 1980, followed by 'My Life’s a Jigsaw' and 'Plane Crash' before a split in 1982. The Purple Hearts reformed in the mid-1980s, recorded the live album Head on Collision Time in 1985, captured at the 100 Club, then the second studio album Pop-ish Frenzy in 1986, before another hiatus. The band reappeared sporadically in 1999 and then returned to the stage from 2009, with concerts in the United Kingdom and Europe, and a new live album, Purple Hearts Live!, released in 2010. In the British mod landscape, The Purple Hearts remain associated with concise writing, straightforward guitars and an energy inherited as much from punk as from the English pop of the previous decade.