Local Heroes SW9 -

Local Heroes SW9 were an English post-punk trio that made the 1980/81 albums Drip Dry Zone and New Opium on Oval Music.

Members: Kevin Armstrong (guitar, vocals), Matthew Seligman (bass), Kim Barti (drums), Lennox Meade (bass), Thomas Dolby (keyboards)

Background

Local Heroes SW9 formed in London when guitarist/singer Kevin Armstrong and drummer Kim Bart teamed with serial bassist Matthew Seligman.

Kevin Armstrong first recorded with Deomon Preacher, an Islington punk band that cut the 1978 singles “Little Miss Perfect” (about beauty queen and alleged sexual abductor Joyce McKinney) and “Dead End Kidz.” Kevin and his sister, Janet Armstrong, performed in Normil Hawaiians, a sporadic Orpington collective led by Gary Smith.

Kim Barti played in The Demons, a London punk band that cut the 1980 single “Action by Example” (b/w “Wish I Woz a Dog”) on Crypt Muzic.

Matthew Seligman (b. July 14, 1955; Pentageia, Cyprus) got his start in Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club, whose 1979 album English Garden includes the first-released version of “Video Killed the Radio Star,” a song Woolley co-wrote with Trevor Horn in a proto-Buggles lineup. Seligman then joined the Soft Boys for their 1980 second album Underwater Moonlight.

‘SW9’ is the postal code of the South London borough of Lambeth, which covers the districts of Brixton, Stockwell, Clapham, and Oval. (This Local Heroes had no connection to the Rochdale punk quartet that cut the 1980 single “Blast the Pop!” (b/w “Tomorrow”).

They signed with Oval Music, a local label with a small new wave roster (Reluctant Stereotypes, The Secret, Shrink, Woodhead Monroe).

Drip Dry Zone

Local Heroes SW9 released their debut album, Drip Dry Zone, in 1980 on Oval Music.

Drip Dry Zone features ten songs by Kevin Armstrong, including two (“Bad Acting,” “Stabbed In the Heart Again”) with input by Barti and Seligman.

Musician Tom Bailey of a then-fledgling Thompson Twins plays clarinet and alto saxophone on select passages.

A1. “Hidden Meaning” (2:54)
A2. “Bad Acting” (2:20)
A3. “Stabbed In the Heart Again” (5:48)
A4. “Benzine Ballet” (4:47)
A5. “Exploitation” (4:17)
B1. “Cosmetic Sacrifice” (4:10)
B2. “Another Modern Romance” (3:38)
B3. “Drip Dry Zone” (3:42)
B4. “Bluebottle” (3:44)
B5. “Shelter” (5:01)

Sessions occurred at Mousehole Studio in Orpington, Kent, where Local Heroes self-produced Drip Dry Zone between Thompson Twins and Normil Hawaiians bookings. Fad Gadget soundman Eric Radcliffe co-engineered the album with Oval’s Pete Leggett, who co-mixed the tracks with Armstrong.

Drip Dry Zone sports design work by Tam & The Beatniks with flipside photography by Anna Arnone, whose visuals also appear on I Am Cold, the 1982 second album by Rip Rig + Panic.

Interim

Matthew Seligman cleared for bassist Lennox Meade, once of funk-rocker F.B.I., which made a 1976 self-titled album on Tony Visconti’s Good Earth label.

Seligman teamed with Irish singer Trevor Herion in the Fallout Club, an electro-pop combo that cut the 1980 single “Falling Years” (b/w “The Beat Boys”) on Secret Records.

Meanwhile, Armstrong played on Even When I’m Not, the 1980 debut solo album by ex-Squeeze bassist Harry Kakoulli.

New Opium / How the West Was Won

In 1981, Oval issued the split-record New Opium / How the West Was Won, comprised of a Local Heroes SW9 side (New Opium, Side A) and a Kevin Armstrong solo side (How the West Was Won, Side B).

New Opium contains four Amstrong band originals with input on two (“Hippy Street,” “Competition”) by Barti and Meade. The first two tracks feature keyboardist Thomas Dolby, a prior Camera Club bandmate of ex-SW9 Seligman. “New Opium” features keyboards by Tin Tin (aka Stephen Duffy, Simon LeBon’s precursor in the pre-fame Duran Duran).

A1. “Hippy Street” (3:18)
A2. “Love Is Essential” (3:05)
A3. “Competition” (2:34)
A4. “New Opium” (5:24)

How the West Was Won contains four self-performed originals by Kevin Armstrong.

B1. “How The West Was Won” (3:04)
B2. “Incentive” (4:20)
B3. “Oppression Style” (5:15)
B4. “Sublimation” (4:00)

Sessions occurred at Mousehole apart from “Hippy Street” and “Love Is Essential,” both recorded at Alvic Studios in West Kensington. Leggett produced the album, which sports artwork by musician Spizz.

Oval lifted “Love Is Essential” (b/w “Competition”) as an Australian single, billed as S.W.9. and distributed by Gap Records.

Post-Split

Kevin Armstrong joined The Passions for their 1982 third album, Sanctuary, and played on concurrent titles by Dolby, John Foxx, Gardening by Moonlight, and Splodgenessabounds. He regrouped with Lennox Meade in Bush Telegraph, which cut a 1984 single (“Turn Those Guns Around”) and a 1985 test-press LP (Wednesday In Arcady). As a producer, Armstrong groomed goth-rockers Alien Sex Fiend.

Thomas Dolby reunited with Seligman for the 1981 Fallout Club singles “Dream Soldiers” (b/w “Pedestrian Walkways”) and “Wonderlust” (b/w “Desert Song”), then launched his solo career.

Seligman played on The Golden Age of Wireless and joined Thompson Twins for their 1982 second album, Set. He also reunited with ex-Soft Boys bandmate Robyn Hitchcock for the singer’s 1982 debut solo album Black Snake Diamond Röle.

Discography: