The Primitives emerged from the UK independent music scene of the mid-1980s, with a sound that distilled the shimmering guitar chime of The Byrds, the buzzsaw style of The Ramones and 60’s girl group melodies into two-and-a-half-minute pop gems.
After topping the indie singles chart several times, their widely acclaimed first album, Lovely, (released in 1988), made them one of the UK’s most revered alternative rock acts, while the international success of the single Crash saw them cross over to a mass audience. Further chart success followed, along with two more studio albums, Pure (1989) and Galore (1991), plus extensive tours of Europe and the US, before the band called it a day in 1992.
In 2008, Mojo Magazine named The Primitives’ second single ‘Really Stupid’ one of the top 40 greatest UK indie singles of all time. The band were reunited in 2009 by the untimely passing of their original bass player Steve Dullaghan, reforming to play a show in his memory later that year in their hometown Coventry; their first time on stage together for 17 years. Bolstered by the success of this and of a secret show in London, they went on to tour the UK in April 2010, followed by shows in the US and mainland Europe. The Primitives released the Never Kill A Secret EP through Fortuna Pop! in 2011 and, in 2012, a covers album Echoes and Rhymes, on Elefant Records.
An album of new original Primitives songs entitled Spin-O-Rama was released in 2014.
The Primitives went back into the studio in late 2016 to record tracks for the New Thrills EP, which was released in May 2017. Bloom! The Full Story 1985-1992, a 5 CD box set exploring the first wave of The Primitives’ career was released in 2020 on Cherry Red Records. In 2022 the band released the single Don’t Know Where To Start, their first new material in six years. The current line-up of the band includes original members Tracy Tracy (vocals), Paul Court (guitar/vocals) and Tig Williams (drums).
Don’t Know Where To Start is out now on Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records.