DESCRIPTION:
ROYAL FAMILY British Empire

Perhaps the most misunderstood band to record for Factory, The Royal Family and the Poor remain for many an (oc)cult enigma, releasing only four albums in two decades, and rarely performing live after 1984. In fact the oblique band moniker masks the identity of just one man, Mike Keane, whose chequered history is a complicated tale of perseverance in the face of adversity.

The first version of The Royal Family and the Poor formed in Liverpool in 1978, after Keane moved into a shared house in Toxteth with Arthur McDonald, an art graduate with an enduring interest in the avant garde and Situationism. I was about 18 at the time,' recalled Mike, 'and Arthur was a bit older than me, about 28. I was already pretty aware but he sort of introduced me to a lot of ideas which stimulated me. I got this old synthesizer and put it through a record player, which produced an horrendous noise. Then Arthur just started reciting texts over the top of it.

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/