Most poeple's introduction to the music of racing cars would have come in the spring of 1977 when their single they shoot horses dont they? hit the top 20 of the uk singles chart, the song was inspired by the movie of the same name and nearly 30 years on remains a much loved record, although not by the man who wrote itmore on that later!
Two years before racing cars slipped into top gear morty was singing with a band called good habit who performed many of his songs, it was around this time that morty was reunited with his life long friend graham williams who had returned from london after playing with some of the biggest names in the industry at that time, and who in later years would go on to play with bo diddley, the sensational alex harvey band among others, morty was looking for a guitarist and graham was the obvious choice and good habit became racing cars.
In early '76morty and graham together with bassist david land, guitarist ray"alice" ennis and drummer robert james wilding moved to london and racing cars had begun a journey that was soon to take them to height's they'd previously only dreamt of, london was very much the place to be for a band of their calibre, the pub- rock movement was at its peak and in those days it was the music and not the image that was attracting the interest of the record companys a&r men, and racing cars were soon signed to chrysalis records.
The debut album downtown tonight comprised of eight songs all co written by morty and graham, exept one song written by morty alone which was they shoot horses dont they? morty was never that fussed on the song but was persuaded to put it on the album, ironically it was this song that brought the band their first chart sucsess, the hit record saw racing cars appear twice on top of the pops as well as on the old grey whistle test and sight and sound.
Before the decade was out racing cars had released two further albums on chrysalis, the first was weekend rendezvous and the last on the label was bring on the night, it was on this album that the band recruited the help of timothy b. Schmit on vocals, but as punk rock was becoming more and more the music of the moment, bands like racing cars found it increasingly difficult to carry on, and the band split in 1980.
The band reformed in 1988 and started touring the country and europe again, since the turn of the century the band have enjoyed a new lease of life, a couple of changes in personnel saw former van morrison side man colin griffin join on drums, and simon davies boards who had worked with squeeze, the saw dotors and midge ure among others, they released a new studio album in 2000 called bolt from the blue which was well recieved and played a sell-out show at st, davids hall cardiff to promote it.
In 2006 they were signed to AngelAir Records, and to celebrate their 30th Anniversary they released 76-06, 30th Anniversary Concert DVD which was well received by fans and critics alike,The live album 76-06: 30th anniversary concert wil be out on CD on 6 April 2007, And now they end 2007 with the release of Second Wind, their first studio album in 28 years, it will be launched with a very special show at the Point in Cardiff on February 23rd 2008, where the band will be joined by their old friends Sassafrass and very special guests Blackheart.
It is with great sadness that we have to announce the end of an era as far as Racing Cars are concerned, due to both Graham and Morty having health problems in the last few years we now feel that the time has come, we have enjoyed every second of every show over the last thirty years but we now feel it is time to call it a day, the individual band members will still carry on playing and recording in other projects, but Racing Cars will officially cease to exist at the end of our farewell show at The Parc and Dare Theatre in Treorchy on April 11th, 2009, we would like to thank every single one of you for supporting us during our long career, there are far too many of you to mention, but you will always be in our hearts and minds, this site will continue to bring you news and updates regarding all five members of the band whatever they are doing.
So it is with a heavy heart and a great deal of sadness we say goodbye, thank you so much for your support, love and kind words over the years, we couldnt have done it without you, may you stay forever young.
All The Best To You All,
Chris, Colin, Graham, Morty and Simon .
Racing Cars .
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