Mo-dettes -

Mo-dettes were an English post-punk quartet that released five singles and the 1980 Deram album The Story So Far. Their cover of “Paint It Black” reached the UK Top 50, followed by a second chart entry with “Tonight.”

Guitarist Kate Korus hailed from an early lineup of The Slits. Drummer June Kingston went on to play behind Fun Boy Three, Everything but the Girl, and sing backup for Big Country, Microdisney, and The Woodentops.

Members: June Kingston (drums, vocals), Kate Korus (guitar), Jane Crockford (bass), Ramona Carlier (vocals, 1979-82), Melissa Ritter (guitar, 1981-82), Sue Slack (vocals, 1982)

Background

Mo-dettes formed in April 1979 in London around American-born guitarist Kate Korus (real name: Kate Corris) and bassist Jane Crockford. Korus played in the earliest Slits lineup and passed through a formative Raincoats. Crockford came from Bank of Dresden, an unsigned post-punk band with ex-101er Richard Dudanski. Swiss singer Ramona Carlier and drummer June Miles-Kingston completed the original quartet.

Miles-Kingston studied art and worked on The Great Rock ’n’ Roll Swindle before she bought a £40 drum kit from Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, who showed her how to assemble the kit. She formed Mo-dettes with Corris within several months. Mo-dettes supported Madness and The Specials within the first year.

“White Mice”

The Mo-dettes established Mode Records for their December 1979 debut single, “White Mice” (b/w “Masochistic Opposite”), distributed by Rough Trade. The Flying Lizards founder David Cunningham produced the record amid his group’s “Money” breakthrough.

A. “White Mice” — A sexually assertive woman sizes up an attractive young man, dismisses timidity, and invites him into a casual encounter. “No girl likes to love a wimp” turns flirtation into a demand for confidence.
B. “Masochistic Opposite” — A rejected lover abandons romantic pleading for anger and revenge, then admits that both partners share a capacity for cruelty. “You are sadist so am I” reduces the failed relationship to mutual emotional harm.

In the “White Mice” video, the Mo-dettes shuffle amid white, red, and pink back-screens. Ramona and June wear matching sleeveless gold tops while Kate and Jane coordinate in red/white stripe-top ensembles.

The backside sleeve presents the first installment of a hand-drawn romance-comic parody built around David, a self-described male groupie whose fixation on Mo-Dettes displaces work, respectability, and his relationship with Susan.

“Masochistic Opposite” presents the origin story. David tells Susan that he has seen several other women, quit his bank job, and grown bored with their relationship. Portrait panels identify Ramona, Kate, Jane, and June, but David ultimately leaves Susan to follow Mo-Dettes. Pink and pale-blue panels frame his rejection of conventional employment and marriage as a move toward “fun, thrills and music.”

“White Mice” appears on The Last Stiff Compilation, a 1980 collection with cuts by Anthony Moore (“Judy Get Down”), Any Trouble (“The Hurt”), The Cure (“Jumping Someone Else’s Train”), The Damned (“Smash It Up”), Dexys Midnight Runners (“Dance Stance”), Madness (“Bed and Breakfast Man”), and Motörhead (“No Class”).

BBC Radio One DJ John Peel aired “White Mice” eight times between December 5, 1979, and early April. On January 28, 1980, The Mo-dettes taped their first Peel Session, comprised of three eventual album tracks (“Norman (He’s No Rebel),” “Dark Park Creeping,” “Kray Twins”) and the upcoming b-side “Bitter Truth.” They signed with Deram, a division of Decca.

The Story So Far

Mo-dettes released their singular album, The Story So Far, in October 1980 on Deram.

The album presents singer Carlier with Korus, Crockford, and Miles-Kingston. Mo-dettes wrote nine titles as a quartet and shared “Fandango” with J. Carlier. The sequence also contains covers of the Rolling Stones (“Paint It Black”) and Édith Piaf (“Milord”). “White Mouse Disco” recasts the group’s debut A-side.

“Satisfy” romps through bright harmonies and teasing come-ons. “Dark Park Creeping” stalks a murky four-square beat while Carlier’s wail recedes through echo. “The Kray Twins” loafs through a downbeat, jazz-tinged blues narrative. “Paint It Black” prowls through sparse accents and a stark, spiky guitar figure. “White Mouse Disco” sprints through a quicker remake of “White Mice.”

“Bedtime Stories” seeps from a chilly dawn fade. “Foolish Girl” whirls toward a spiralling bass outro and quick-stepping close. “Sparrow” cools Carlier’s delivery into melancholy reserve. “Milord” bounds through buoyant French phrasing.

A1. “Fandango” (2:32) — Mo-dettes, J. Carlier; at a party, Ramona feigns indifference toward a former lover, then admits that memory and desire still hold her despite his lies. “I’ve got nothing left, just the memory of you” punctures her earlier defiance.
A2. “Satisfy” (3:54) — A self-absorbed figure studies reflections, clothing, and physical appearance until an unwelcome image provokes anger. “A mirror can never lie to you” turns self-admiration into confrontation.
A3. “Dark Park Creeping” (2:39) — A nighttime prowler stalks a park in search of intimidation and violence, moving from boredom to territorial menace. “There’s a fight coming to you soon” states the threat directly.
A4. “Kray Twins” (3:46) — A compressed crime biography recounts Ronnie Kray’s violence, Reggie Kray’s complicity, gangland murders, and the police operation that ended with their imprisonment. “Controlling half of London wasn’t enough” defines the scale of their ambition.
A5. “Paint It Black” (2:19) — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards; originated as a 1966 UK Stones single that appeared on US copies of Aftermath (in lieu of “Mothers Little Helper”).
A6. “White Mouse Disco” (3:05) — The album remake repeats the sexually assertive “White Mice” lyric, in which a woman appraises a younger man, rejects timidity, and proposes sex without conventional romance. “Young men always turn my head” states her preference without qualification.

B1. “Bedtime Stories” (3:55) — An absent lover leaves the narrator awake and fearful; she wants his voice to soothe her until morning. “Loneliness gets the best of me” identifies the source of her insomnia.
B2. “Masochistic Opposite” (3:11)
B3. “Foolish Girl” (3:02) — A satirical cautionary narrative follows a feminist who abandons politics for conventional femininity, marriage, and a potentially violent domestic arrangement. “You’ll find he has a nasty punch” gives the retreat its bleak consequence.
B4. “Norman (He’s No Rebel)” (2:30) — The narrator praises a shy, clean-cut man whose gentleness and social awkwardness conceal sexual confidence and sharp perception. “With his eyes he will undress you” overturns his harmless appearance.
B5. “Sparrow” (4:17) — A biographical sketch traces Édith Piaf from street poverty and exploitation to performance, with song as her means of survival. “Her youth sounds like a bad paperback” condenses the lyric’s account of hardship and notoriety.
B6. “Milord” (2:56) – Georges Moustaki, Marguerite Monnot; a portside woman recognizes an aristocrat abandoned by his glamorous companion, invites him inside, and tries to console him through song. “Je n’suis qu’une fille du port”—“I’m only a girl from the port”—defines the social distance between them.

Mo-dettes began recording in the final week of July 1980 at Horizon Recording Studios in Coventry with producer Roger Lomas and engineers Kim Templeman-Holmes and Moose.

Lomas entered the sessions after producing “On My Radio” by The Selecter and concurrent singles by Bad Manners. Horizon staffer Templeman-Holmes previously engineered the Selecter debut Too Much Pressure at the same studio.

The Story So Far appeared in a cartoon sleeve with brightly rendered portraits of the four members. Initial copies included a lyric sheet and an A4 die-cut group sticker.

“Paint It Black” appeared in June 1980 as an advance single with the standalone b-side, “Bitta Truth.” Some copies included a one-track “Twist and Shout” flexidisc. The backside sleeve continues the David saga.

“Bitta Truth” finds David working at a petrol station while following Mo-Dettes from place to place. Susan arrives in a sports car and reveals that she now plans to see the group herself. She rejects David, drives toward the M1, and leaves him behind with only his devotion to Mo-Dettes. Blue-tinted panels turn the reversal into the story’s final joke: Susan has adopted the freedom David claimed for himself.

“Paint It Black” reached No. 42 on the UK Singles Chart in a five-week run. The Mo-dettes performed their arrangement of the song on the July 5, 1980, broadcast of the Granada TV program Fun Factory.

In October, “Dark Park Creeping” became the second Deram single, backed with the exclusive “Two Can Play.”

Cherry Red remastered The Story So Far for a 2008 CD with the added tracks “Bitta Truth,” “Two Can Play,” “Tonight,” “Waltz in Blue Minor,” and “White Mice.” A 2019 Record Store Day edition marked the first vinyl reissue and restored the lyric sheet and die-cut sticker on a 180-gram pressing sourced from the original masters.

1981–82

Billed as the Bomberettes, the four women sang backing vocals on “Fighter Pilot” from the 1981 John Cale album Honi Soit. The group recorded the part on a visit to New York.

“Tonight”

In July 1981, the Mo-dettes released the standalone single “Tonight,” an appropriated Nancy Sinatra cover backed with “Waltz in Blue Minor.”

A. “Tonight” (2:57) – retains the melody, verse pattern, and structure of “The City Never Sleeps at Night,” a 1965 Nancy b-side written by Lee Hazelwood. The Mo-dettes replace the original lyrics with a sequence of teasing, faintly surreal questions and observations, including one verse in French. “How do you do, have you heard of voodoo?” captures its playful non sequiturs and sing-song phrasing.
B. “Waltz in Blue Minor” (3:17) – Mo-dettes

Chris Neil produced both sides following his work on the 1981 Sheena Easton debut Take My Time. Perry Haines of i-D devised the sleeve, which buyers could divide into individual postcards.

On the postcard backsides, each member states her likes, dislikes, and ambition. Ramona’s likes include strong men, black underwear, ballet, Lene Lovich, Bryan Ferry, old Roxy Music albums, Taxi Driver, and “dresses that make a noise when you touch them.” Her dislikes include stairwells, trousers, and mint sauce.

“Kray Twins”

Human Records issued a live Marquee recording of “Kray Twins” in July 1981, backed with the original version of “White Mice.”

On the backside sleeve, “White Mice” continues the breakup saga in black-and-white. David admits that he cannot stop thinking about Mo-Dettes and walks away from Susan. She seeks comfort from her father, who warns David against becoming a male groupie. David dismisses him, declares himself a new man, and prepares to see the group again.

Deram subsequently asked Mo-dettes to add a second guitarist. Melissa Ritter joined in August 1981 and made her first appearance with the group within four days.

Postlude

Carlier left in February 1982, prompting Crockford to handle lead vocals for several months. Sue Slack assumed the role in May, and Mo-dettes disbanded in November.

Miles-Kingston played drums and sang backing vocals on “Our Lips Are Sealed” by Fun Boy Three. Her subsequent credits included records by Everything but the Girl, Feargal Sharkey, and The Communards. She released the 1984 solo single “Say You” and later performed as a jazz singer.

Discography: