Love In The Movies – Askari

Love In The Movies – Askari

When éVoid started singing about being a ‘fadget’ some would have immediately wondered if a ‘fadget’ had anything to do with Fad Gadget, the UK alternative synth band which was essentially a guy called Frank Tovey. However, as éVoid’s sound was too African, despite some of the bass synth lines sounding a little like something Fad Gadget would have done, there was not enough there to make the full link.

éVoid’s popularity peaked around 1983/84, then in 1985 the Windrich brothers decided to move to England to try their luck there. Around about this time Wayne Harker left the group and formed one called Askari with Rob Ashley and Ernest Milsom. The band’s name is the Swahili word for soldier and, as far as I can tell, they only recorded one single, ‘Love In The Movies’. Here one sees Harker losing the fadget and becoming more Fad Gadget. There is that slightly ominous synth bassline that persists throughout the song and the almost emotionless cold vocals that were Fad Gadget’s trademark.

Fans of éVoid may have been slightly disappointed with this change in direction for the ex-Voider, but there is something compelling about the coldness of the song that seems to suck you into a film noir kind of world. As Ernest Milsom sings, ‘There’s no love like love love in the movies’. The romance of Hollywood is a long way off what happens in the real world and leaving éVoid did not lead to a Hollywood type happy ending for Harker as his new venture barely caused a wave on the local music scene. Perhaps they should have chosen ‘Jive Monkey’, the b-side of the single as the a-side as it has more shades of éVoid to it, but then again, I can’t imagine he would have wanted to be an éVoid clone.

‘Love In The Movies’ is a sadly overlooked song from the 80’s. Drawing on the darker and less poppy synth sounds of the era, it lacked commercial appeal, but is well worth searching for and perhaps can be re-evaluated as a lost classic.

Where to find it:
Singles bins if you’re lucky

Videos:
Single version:

Live clip:

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