From the booklet accompanying the boxset, Big Gold Dreams : A Story of Scottish Independent Music 1977 – 1989
When The Rezillos split in 1978, Eugene Reynolds, Fay Fife and Hi-Fi Harris formed the similarly trashy Revillos, while songwriter Jo Callis, bassist Simon Templar and drummer Angel Paterson, plus future Teardrop Explodes guitarist Troy Tate, became Shake.
Released as the lead number on a 10″ EP, their exuberant debut highlighted a Callis-penned song that had originally been part of The Rezillos live set – indeed it can be heard on Callis’ former band’s Mission Accomplished…But The Beat Goes On live swansong recorded at the Glasgow Apollo.
After a second single, Invasion of The Gamma Men, Callis embarked on a pop voyage that would ultimately lead to global domination with The Human League.
As I’ve previously featured the songs on that 10″ EP, I’ve gone digging to come up with the follow-up single:-
mp3: Shake – Invasion Of The Gamma Men
It’s a long way removed, musically, from Don’t You Want Me and yet with it being released in early 1980, it was just over a year prior to Callis penning songs which would appear on Dare.
1 hour 39 minutes of Jo discussing his career: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soE3QUu5p6k
“Gamma Men” is complete with sound effects and a BBC announcer giving tense narration that somehow meshes with the song proper to be exactly the nutty kick the cover was clearly aiming for. The B-side is a more restrained song about hitting the rock clubs after a day’s work. The Monk certainly remembers those years with fondness, but has moved on somewhat. The Ex-Rezillos [Jo Callis, Angel Paterson, Simon Templar] together with Troy Tate have made exactly the sort of record that Philip Adrian Wright of The Human League should have; though Callis would eventually join The League a year later.