Europeans (band)

Europeans
Cover of Europeans single on Heartbeat
Background information
Origin	Bristol, England
Genres	Post-punk, new wave
Years active	1977–1979
Labels	Heartbeat Rialto Records Cherry Red Bristol Archive
Past members	Jonathan Cole Jon Klein Steve Street James Cole
Website	Europeans info at Bristol Archive Records

Europeans were a new wave band formed in Bristol, England in 1977. The line-up was Jonathan Cole (formally of Colortapes, on vocals, guitar and synthesizers), Jon Klein (ex-Emergency Exit on lead guitar), Steve Street (ex-Public Enemy Number One on bass guitar) and James Cole (drums and percussion). According to Klein, ‘we were going to be called 'The Noses.'^[1]

Their single "Europeans" / "Voices" was engineered by David Lord at his Crescent Studios in Bath and was the second release of Bristols' Heartbeat Records. This single was heard by Cherry Red Records^[2] and led to a licensing agreement between them and Heartbeat. The band later contributed the track "On the Continent" to the label's Avon Calling compilation album. The band split in 1979 when Rialto Records signed Jonathan Cole as a solo artist. Jon Klein went to London with Kevin Mills from The X-Certs to form Specimen (and was involved with the Batcave); he later joined Siouxsie and the Banshees and played on three of their albums. Steve Street joined Apartment, then Interview; he then moved on to recording bands as an engineer-producer, and later worked with Tears for Fears.^[3]

The band had originally recorded an album's worth of material, but this was not released until 2008, when Bristol Archive Records brought out a downloadable album called Take Me To The Continent. This was followed in 2009 with a recorded live set, Live 1978 – Bower Ashton College, and a collection of demos, GBH Demos 1978.