Au Pairs -

The Au Pairs were an English art-punk/funk band from Birmingham that released two singles on 021 Records, followed by the 1981/82 albums Playing With a Different Sex and Sense and Sensuality.

Members: Lesley Woods (vocals, guitar), Paul Foad (guitar, vocals), Pete Hammond (drums), Jane Munro (bass, vocals, 1979-83), Nick O’Connor (bass, keyboards, 1983), Jayne Morris (percussion, vocals, 1983), Graeme Hamilton (trumpet, 1983), Cara Tivey (keyboards, 1983)

Background

Au Pairs formed in Birmingham in 1978 after guitarists Lesley Woods and Paul Foad began a folk duo from a partnership established at a Birmingham bus stop two years earlier. Woods studied philosophy and French at Birmingham University, then transferred to Keele University, where left-wing politics and feminism informed her lyric subjects. Foad brought school friend Pete Hammond into an early trio called End of Chat, and bassist Jane Munro completed the quartet.

The musicians rehearsed upstairs at the Earl Grey pub in Balsall Heath and entered Birmingham Rock Against Racism bills. Four weeks after Munro joined, Au Pairs began live work and later supported Gang of Four and Buzzcocks.

The quartet financed the September 1979 021 single “You,” backed with “Domestic Departure” and “Kerb Crawler,” recorded at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge. On October 9, the Au Pairs taped their first of four sessions for BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, whose 10/26 broadcast aired two exclusives (“Ideal Woman,” “Monogamy”), an eventual b-side (“Pretty Boy”), and “Come Again,” a live staple throughout their run.

On September 7, 1980, Au Pairs and Echo & The Bunnymen played London’s Lyceum Ballroom, where both acts were filmed for URGH! A Music War, a 1981 A&M double-album and concert film with thirty-six new wave acts. Au Pairs perform “Come Again,” an eventual album track. URGH! also features live numbers by 999, Athletico Spizz 80, Gary Numan, Klaus Nomi, The Members, Oingo Boingo, Orchestra Manoeuvres In the Dark, Pere Ubu, The Police, Skafish, Steel Pulse, Toyah Willcox, UB40, Wall of Voodoo, X, and XTC.

In December 1980, a follow-up paired “It’s Obvious” with “Diet” through 021 and Human Records, which carried Au Pairs into a debut-album contract.

Playing With a Different Sex

Au Pairs released their debut album, Playing With a Different Sex, in May 1981 on Human Records.

Different Sex contains nine group-written originals and the rearranged “Repetition,” a domestic-abuse tale from the David Bowie album Lodger. Woods addresses control within relationships and sexual exchange across the record. Other texts examine gender roles and state violence.

“We’re So Cool” jolts through a fast, angular pattern as a plunging bass figure collides with brittle chord work and Woods’s cool, declarative delivery. “Love Song” slows into a spare rhythmic sway as repeated “I love you” phrases interrupt a string of romantic clichés. “Set-Up” glides across a light, stripped-down dance figure beneath Woods’s husky phrasing. “Headache for Michelle” simmers in a downtempo dub pattern, with meandering figures and brief high-register flickers cutting across open intervals.

“Come Again” sprints through shuffling accents and swinging chord lines while Woods and Foad trade tense, sarcastic replies. “Armagh” marches on elastic figures and searing chord salvos beneath Woods’s repeated “We don’t torture” chant. “Dear John” loops a repeated name through playful, dissonant phrasing and terse epistolary address. “It’s Obvious” stomps through a playful military march as Woods sing-speaks blunt maxims; a skronking guitar break fractures repeated figures near mid-song.

A1. “We’re So Cool” (3:29)
A2. “Love Song” (2:51)
A3. “Set-Up” (3:21)
A4. “Repetition” (3:34) – credited on the LP label to Bewlay Bros., a reference to an earlier Bowie song; also used as a Bowie/Iggy production nomenclature on Lust for Life.
A5. “Headache for Michelle” (6:39)

B1. “Come Again” (3:54)
B2. “Armagh” (3:37)
B3. “Unfinished Business” (3:29)
B4. “Dear John” (2:57)
B5. “It’s Obvious” (6:19)

Sessions took place in April 1981 at Jacobs Studios in Surrey, where manager Martin Culverwell and engineer Ken Thomas co-produced with Au Pairs. Thomas began at Trident and Advision studios, then assisted Paul Hardiman on the 1979 Wire album 154 and engineered recordings for Public Image Ltd.

Culverwell and Rocking Russian designed the sleeve around American Magnum photojournalist Eve Arnold’s 1979 Inner Mongolia photograph. The front shows two women in pink dresses and white scarves running across a field as part of militia training; Arnold made the image for her In China portfolio.

021 and Human issued “It’s Obvious” in December 1980 (b/w “Diet”); the song reached No. 37 on the Billboard Club Play Singles chart. Human followed in August 1981 with the non-album “Inconvenience” (b/w “Pretty Boys”), which also appeared on a 12-inch with a “Headache for Michelle” remix.

Playing With a Different Sex reached No. 33 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 1 on the UK Independent Albums chart.

RPM reissued the album on CD in 1992 with eight bonus tracks comprising the early singles and two alternate mixes. Music On Vinyl returned the album to vinyl in March 2025 as a numbered turquoise pressing with an insert. The label added a standard black-vinyl edition in January 2026 to the catalogue.

Sense and Sensuality

Au Pairs released their second album, Sense and Sensuality, in June 1982 on Kamera Records.

Sense and Sensuality contains ten group originals, performed by the quartet with six musical guests: vibraphonist Milt Hampton, synthesists John Suddick and Keith Knowles, and three members of Pigbag — trumpeter Chris Lee and saxophonists James Johnstone and Olly Moore. Foad adds cello to the mix.

“Stepping Out of Line” prowls through icy, repetitive chord figures and compressed accents, then sparse synth traces give way to a hypnotic saxophone close. “(That’s When) It’s Worth It” loops auxiliary percussion beneath slightly dissonant horn charts, with recurring brass bursts breaking a dance-oriented pattern. “Instant Touch” quickens through taut club accents while Woods keeps laid-back phrasing.

“Sex Without Stress” shudders through insistent accents and hard, choppy guitar figures while Woods maintains a relaxed delivery. “Intact” pivots through angular, stripped-down dance figures with terse phrasing. “Tongue in Cheek” sways through retro-lounge phrasing and cabaret-like swing.

A1. “Don’t Lie Back” (4:30)
A2. “(That’s When) It’s Worth It” (2:36)
A3. “Instant Touch” (2:41)
A4. “Sex Without Stress” (4:12)
A5. “Fiasco” (3:27)

B1. “Intact” (3:02)
B2. “Tongue in Cheek” (2:47)
B3. “Stepping Out of Line” (5:34)
B4. “Shakedown” (4:02)
B5. “America” (5:25)

Sessions spanned April through June 1982 at Jacobs Studios in Farnham, Surrey, where Au Pairs and Martin Culverwell produced with Ken Thomas and Terry Barham as engineers. Barham boasted reggae credits with Wailing Souls (Wild Suspense) and Twinkle Brothers (Countrymen). He also engineered the 1982 Rico Rodriguez album Jama Rico for 2 Tone.

Citizen Bank supplied artwork, and Culverwell adapted the sleeve from Russian Constructivist El Lissitzky’s 1920 Proun design. Photographer Julie Knowles contributed the insert image.

Sense and Sensuality reached No. 79 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 49 in the Netherlands. The record also peaked at No. 30 in Sweden.

Music On Vinyl reissued the album in February 2025 on numbered silver vinyl with an insert. The label followed in June with a magenta-vinyl edition.

Final Lineup and Split

Jane Munro left after Kamera entered bankruptcy. Bassist–keyboardist Nick O’Connor replaced her as Au Pairs expanded with percussionist–vocalist Jayne Morris and trumpeter Graeme Hamilton; keyboardist Cara Tivey also joined the 1983 lineup. Another label offered the group a contract and a proposed album with U2 producer Steve Lillywhite, but Foad and Hammond declined. The original group ended after five years.

Live in Berlin

In 1983, A.K.A. Records issued Live in Berlin, a document of the June 20, 1981, Au Pairs performance at the Venus Weltklang women’s festival in Berlin’s Tempodrom.

The setlist features their two recent standalone a-sides and eight numbers from Playing With a Different Sex, plus the soul standard “Piece of My Heart,” originated by Erma Franklin and popularized by Janis Joplin. They altered the title of “Love Song” (“Love Story”) and the spelling of “Come Again” (“Cum Again”).

A1. “Diet”
A2. “Headache (For Michelle)”
A3. “Dear John”
A4. “Love Story”
A5. “Set Up”
A6. “Inconvenience”

B1. “Armagh”
B2. “Repetition” – Bowie
B3. “We’re So Cool”
B4. “Cum Again”
B5. “Piece of My Heart” – Bert Berns, Jerry Ragovoy

Au Pairs produced the concert tape captured at the Tempodrom. A.K.A. packaged the set in a monochrome sleeve built around a stenciled title, with no credited visual contributor.

Later Activity

Woods completed a law degree and entered practice as an immigration barrister. She later formed the all-woman Darlings. In early 2025, she returned with the self-released solo EP In the Fade.

RPM issued Equal But Different: BBC Sessions 79–81 in 1994 as a BBC-session collection. Cherry Red followed in 1999 with Shocks to the System: The Very Best of the Au Pairs. Castle Music issued the two-disc Stepping Out of Line: The Anthology in May 2006 as a retrospective set.

Woods revived the Au Pairs name for a January 2026 UK tour with Estella Adeyeri, Jem Doulton, and Alex Ward.

Discography: