Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club

Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club were an English new wave band that released the 1979 Epic album English Garden. Woolley co-founded the Buggles and co-wrote the hit “Video Killed the Radio Star.” The Camera Club also featured keyboardist Thomas Dolby, a subsequent solo star.

Members: Bruce Woolley (vocals), David Birch (guitar), Rod Johnson (drums, 1979), Matthew Seligman (bass, 1979), Thomas Dolby (keyboards, 1979), Nigel Ross-Scott (bass, 1980), Simon House (keyboards, 1980), Nigel Clocker (drums, 1980)

Background

Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club formed in 1979 when singer-guitarist Bruce Woolley assembled guitarist Dave Birch, bassist Marion Fudger, drummer Richard Wernham, and keyboardist Thomas Dolby.

Woolley was born Bruce Martin Woolley on Nov. 11, 1953, in Loughborough, Leicestershire. He attended Loughborough Grammar School, where he learned electric guitar and took up songwriting. Woolley played pubs and clubs from his home base in Shepshed. In 1974, he joined Ivor Kenney’s Dance Band at Leicester Palais and followed the group to Tiffany’s in Derby.

Early Activity

In 1976, Woolley moved to London under contract with Everblue Music in Piccadilly, where he formed a songwriting partnership with Rod Thompson. Their Everblue colleagues included rookie producer Trevor Horn and session keyboardist Geoff Downes.

Woolley and Thompson recorded as R.B. Zipper for the 1976 single “Cruisin’ with the Fonz” (b/w “Slipstream”), released on Alaska. Woolley next masqueraded as Fallen Angel & The T.C. Band for the March 1977 single “Don’t Come Back” (b/w “Make a Promise”), produced by Horn under the T.C. Horn moniker. R.B. Zipper returned in July with “Come Back Marianne,” a Woolley–Thompson number backed with Woolley’s “Lamplight Lady.” Under yet another moniker, Boogatti, they cut the September 1977 single “Come Back Marianne,” another Woolley–Thompson number backed with “Boot Boot Woman,” a Horn submission.

Horn recruited Woolley and Downes for the live backing band of Tina Charles, a London disco singer with three UK Top 10 hits. Woolley and Horn wrote “Clean, Clean,” then completed “Video Killed the Radio Star” with Downes; the trio also wrote “Baby Blue,” which Dusty Springfield recorded for her 1979 album Living Without Your Love.

Charles financed their 1978 demo of “Video Killed the Radio Star” and sang backing vocals on the recording. Woolley also developed the proposed punk musical Killer on the Dancefloor with Thompson and Horn. Recordings from the project surfaced in 1978 under the Killers name as “Killer (on the Dance Floor)” (b/w “No Surrender”), with Woolley on vocals.

Formation

Woolley left the Horn–Downes project after he secured a solo deal and formed the Camera Club. Birch, an old Loughborough Grammar schoolmate, played in a brief, transitory Vibrators lineup. Wernham, also known as Ricky Slaughter, came fresh-off a two-album Motors stint. Fudger filtered through the bands Lipstick, The Derelicts (pre-Passions), and the Art Attacks. They rounded out with Thomas Dolby, an early user of retail synths and a recent prospect for the post-Andrews XTC lineup.

In spring 1979, Woolley signed with producer Mike Hurst and manager Chris Brough, who secured a deal CBS Records. The Camera Club road-tested as an XTC support act, including a May 6 appearance at High Wycombe Town Hall. Before sessions commenced, Fudger cleared for bassist Matthew Seligman, a Cyprus-born Cambridge history graduate. Meanwhile, Wernham stepped down for drummer Rod Johnson.

English Garden

Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club released their singular album, English Garden, in November 1979 on Epic.

English Garden contains thirteen Woolley-led pieces, including the Horn–Downes co-writes “Video Killed the Radio Star” and “Clean Clean.” Stuart Gent shares “You Got Class,” while Graham Adcock co-wrote the epic closer “You’re the Circus (I’m the Clown).” Thomas Dolby co-wrote the brief instrumental “WW9” and joined Woolley and Dave Birch on “Get Away William.” Dolby and Birch alternate taut keyboard figures and guitar accents across the five-piece arrangements.

“English Garden” marches on a jumpy beat through a Moog break and octave portamento toward refrain. “Video Killed the Radio Star” surges from a muttered opening into stately organ chords and an ascending guitar figure over a constant beat. “Dancing With the Sporting Boys” lopes on a rolling beat beneath Woolley’s ascending phrases. “No Surrender” grinds through dense riff cycles. “Flying Man” sprints through fast-moving swing and compact, high-energy ensemble passages.

“You Got Class” careens through snaky lead figures, jangling keyboards and quick bass runs before manic refrain. “W.W.9” settles into an ominous piano elegy with fluid electronic passages before direct segue into “Clean Clean,” which stomps through mechanical rhythm patterns, a brief jazz break, air-raid sirens and a closing return to “W.W.9.” “Goodbye to Yesterday” pivots from a pounding opening pattern into a Rhodes-led jazz passage. “Goodbye to Yesterday (Reprise)” coils prior song material into a twisted restatement.

A1. “English Garden” (3:03) – Woolley
A2. “Video Killed the Radio Star” (2:54) – Woolley, Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes
A3. “Dancing With the Sporting Boys” (3:27) – Woolley
A4. “Johnny” (3:02) – Woolley, Horn
A5. “No Surrender” (3:35) – Woolley
A6. “Flying Man” (2:50) – Woolley

B1. “You Got Class” (2:11) – Woolley, Stuart Gent
B2. “W.W.9. / Clean Clean” (3:50) – Woolley, Thomas Dolby / Woolley, Horn, Downes
B3. “Get Away William” (3:14) – Woolley, Birch, Dolby
B4. “Goodbye to Yesterday / Goodbye to Yesterday (Reprise)” (5:59) – Woolley / Woolley, Birch, Dolby, Rod Johnson, Matthew Seligman
B5. “You’re the Circus (I’m the Clown)” (3:31) – Woolley, Graham Adcock

Sessions occurred in 1979 at Eden Studios in London with producer Mike Hurst and engineer Richard Goldblatt, assisted by Nick T. Froom. Hurst worked in sequence on 1978/79 albums by Cilla Black (Modern Priscilla) and Shakin’ Stevens (Take One!). Goldblatt handled earlier orchestral and choral sessions for Electric Light Orchestra (Face the Music) and engineered the 1978 Paul Fishman project Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Other Great Space Music.

In North America, the album appeared as a self-titled release with a revised cover by Janet Perr. The front places a monochrome full-length Woolley portrait against yellow-green smoke with a narrow inset image at upper right. Perr also designed 1979 sleeves for Gary’s Gang (Keep on Dancin’), Mi-Sex (“Computer Games”), and the North American issue of Flash and the Pan.

Epic issued “Dancing With the Sporting Boys” on September 14, 1979 (b/w “Flying Man”). “Clean Clean” followed in November as a non-album UK single (b/w “Flying Man”). The song appears as an added track on the Columbia-issued Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club. In March 1980, Columbia lifted “English Garden” as a US/Canadian single (b/w “Flying Man”).

Meanwhile, the Buggles scored an October 1979 UK No. 1 with their version of “Video Killed the Radio Star,” which also became a Top 2 hit in nine other nations, including Australia, where the song reigned for eight weeks through the New Year. The Buggles hit reached No. 6 in Canada, where the Camera Club version peaked at No. 18 on the RPM. The Horn/Downes versions of “Video Killed the Radio Star” and “Clean Clean” appear on the 1980 Buggles album The Age of Plastic, which spawned further video hits with “Elstree” and the title-spun “Living in the Plastic Age.”

On August 1, 1981, the Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star” became the fist clip aired by MTV on the US cable channel’s first day of broadcast. The video features Horn and Downes along with Woolley’s replacement third-wheel, keyboardist Hans Zimmer.

Post-album Singles

CBS followed English Garden with “Trouble Is” and “House of Wax” under the Camera Club name before Woolley took solo billing for “Ghost Train,” all conceived for a second Camera Club album, which reached the working title Shadows before CBS cancelled the project.

In March 1980, CBS issued “Trouble Is,” a Woolley–David Birch number backed with the prior album track “Get Away William.” In September, they followed “House of Wax” (b/w “All At Once”), the final Camera Club single.

A. “Trouble Is” (2:51) – Woolley, Birch

A. “House of Wax” (5:03) – Woolley, Birch
B. “All at Once” (2:52) – Woolley

On May 29, 1981, Bruce Woolley made his solo debut with “Ghost Train,” a Dolby co-write backed with a club mix.

A. “Ghost Train” (3:48) – Woolley, Dolby
B. “Ghost Train (Club Version)” (4:31) – Woolley, Dolby

Ex-Gong bassist Mike Howlett produced the single, which reengaged Matthew Seligman, Dolby’s current colleague in Local Heroes SW9 and Fallout Club.

Postlude

When CBS mixed the second-album option, Woolley refocused as a producer/songwriter. Swedish singer Magnus Uggla adapted Woolley’s “Blue Blue (Victoria)” as “IQ,” a No. 2 national hit from his 1983 album Välkommen till folkhemmet. Woolley produced the 1984 Farmer’s Boys single “In the Country” and the Jody Watley solo debut “Where the Boys Are.”

Woolley reteamed with Trevor Horn behind contents for the 1985 Grace Jones album Slave to the Rhythm, functioning as a co-writer and multi-instrumentalist. He collaborated directly with Jones on her 1986 album Inside Story, a Nile Rodgers production. Woolley later co-wrote the 1992 Betsy Cook single “Love Is the Groove,” which Cher recorded for her 1998 comeback album Believe.

Woolley returned to group activity in 1994 with the Radio Science Orchestra, formed with former Camera Club bassist Matthew Seligman, arranger Chris Elliott, and multi-instrumentalist Andy Visser. The theremin-based ensemble issued Memories of the Future in 1996 and developed projects for film, radio, installations, and concert presentations. Woolley continued with the group as singer, guitarist, theremin player, and arranger.

Thomas Dolby pursued a solo career after Camera Club and retained Seligman as a recurring bassist through albums including The Golden Age of Wireless and The Flat Earth. Seligman also worked with the Thompson Twins and joined Dolby behind David Bowie at Live Aid in 1985; he died in 2020.

Cherry Red returned to the Camera Club archive in November 2024 with The Definitive Anthology 1977–1981, a three-CD set with 69 tracks. The collection paired an expanded English Garden with material from the vaulted second album and two period concerts, including 41 previously unreleased recordings.

Discography: