The Invaders

Sid Sidelnyk – Vocals/Guitar, Martyn Taylor – Bass/Vocals, Howard Wilson – Drums 
Geoff Haran – Lead Guitar & Phil Manchester – Keyboards

The Invaders, from Bradford Yorkshire, and led by ‘Sid’ Slavko Sidelnyk, were typical of the more poppy keyboard-inflected new wave sound that was just one of the many strands that punk rock had mutated into.

What adds some spice to their story is being part of Jimmy Pursey’s (Sham 69) JP Productions, along with The Chords and Angelic Upstarts, which got them their deal with major label Polydor. The addition of Soo Lucas aka Soo Catwoman into the band who was going out with Sid, changed the dynamic and caused the band to split eventually.

The band managed four singles and an album and appeared at the legendary 1979 Futurama Festival. But out of the 3 bands signed to JP Productions they have become forgotten. They don’t even appear in George Gimarc’s encyclopedic list of bands in his Punk Diary. Surely time for someone to package up all their songs in a retrospective.


Feature first written September 2022 – Phil Manchester Punk77 Interview – September 2022 – Thanks to Phil for the images & PR kit

Polydor Press Release 1979 Born into the confusion of 1978 it’s no real surprise that the first concerts of the Invaders betrayed an incoherent but nevertheless exciting disordered mixture of influences and styles.

The band, led by Slavko, a 24 year old former computer systems analyst of Ukrainian Sidelnyk stock, were fortunate to be sufficiently removed from the mainstream just by living in Bradford. This gave them more time to build confidence, to find their feet before audiences sympathetic to local boys trying to make good. Then, armed with sufficient experience to make a few demos, the Invaders sent off a tape to the fledgling Jimmy Pursey Productions, who were discerning enough to see hidden qualities in what Slavko will now readily admit were not particularly well performed songs. Signed to the label, the band came down to London to play a few gigs, including a prestigious support with X-Ray Spex at Hammersmith just before Christmas.

That confidence already referred to helped them get through the last named gig, though it became immediately apparent to Slavko that they had a lot of work to do if they really wanted to compete with the modern world outside Bradford. The rapid honing process began there and then, applied with a ruthless discipline as it became clearer what the band wanted and what they had to do to get it.

In April 1979 Girls In Action/No Secrets was released and was Radio 1 DJ Kid Jensen’s record of that week. Its cover featured a Sci-Fi theme recalling films from the 1950s like Invaders From Mars and Invaders series.

These were high-profile gigs. They played twice with X Ray Spex – Erics and Hammersmith. Pursey Productions was Jimmy Pursey’s label affiliated with Polydor that included the Angelic Upstarts, Chords and The Invaders so a broad musical selection. Pursey’s Package was the Angelic Upstarts and Invaders doing gigs together which was a weird combination. The Invaders in the end supported the Angelic Upstarts once at Barbarellas Birmingham, then dropped off the tour and were replaced by Long Tall Shorty.

An altercation in the Polydor offices resulted in the Upstarts being dropped from the label and later signed to WEA. Following trouble at a Chords gig by the charismatic Pursey, they broke with his label but remained with Polydor.

Polydor Press Release 1979 Strengthened by a tough “Purseys Package” tour with labelmates the Angelic Upstarts, Slavko took his band back into the studios with renewed purpose. The change is enormous, the improvements immense.

Gone are all the unnecessary frills of the early Invaders, though all the endearing characteristics remain, those being strong melodies aligned to punchy, bouncy rhythms and entertaining, interesting songs.


Gone, two, is the mannered voice that Slavko once used, now replaced by his natural singing, which is immediately more appealing.

Gone, three are the didactic lyrics Slavko used to write. He says “I don’t know any answers and it would be pretentious of me to think I did. So now I write songs that mean more to me that I can enjoy playing and hopefully that enjoyment will transfer to the audience.”

Gone, four, is original guitarist Geoff Haran, whose approach was no longer suitable to the Invaders. He has been replaced by keyboards player Phil Manchester, leaving Slavko to carry out guitar duties.

Best Thing I Ever Did/ New Future Polydor April 1979 – Continuing the Sci-Fi influenced covers

The legendary Leeds Sci-Fi Festival 1979 featuring Joy Division, Pil, Hawkwind and more!

Phil Manchester takes up the story.

Phil Manchester I joined the band in Feb 1979 – the band’s sound engineer Dave King was a friend of mine, and they were looking for a keyboard player. I’m not sure how long the band had been going already. The Invaders was Sid’s band – he did all the song writing and “sort of ” managing the group.

My musical influences were originally from progressive rock (Rick Wakeman/Genesis/ELP/Deep Purple etc)  I was aware of a few punk bands at the time (Sex Pistols/The Clash/Stranglers etc)  Mainly I liked the Stranglers because of Dave Greenfield’s excellent keyboard playing! Punk 77 Interview, October 2022

The band consisted of

Sid Sidelnyk – Vocals/Guitar 
Martyn Taylor – Bass/Vocals 
Howard Wilson – Drums 
Geoff Haran – Lead Guitar
Phil Manchester – Keyboards

Unfortunately later on in the year around April, Geoff Haran and the bands manager Bob at the time, were given the sack by Sid for whatever reasons. So the band became a four piece then.

The band didn’t have much in the way of management really; Sid thought he could manage the band on his own and there may have been issues with the record company budgets at the time?

I must admit I thought we had a unique sound – almost akin to a new Stranglers sound I think (power pop)

We were already recording demos at Polydor Studios in London from March 1979 onwards and I remember Jimmy Pursey standing in the tiny control room at Polydor Studios and generally shouting and enthusing about the recording process. As to “production” I would say that was kind of left to the engineer at the time (Peter Wilson).

A buzz was building for the band with a lot of gigs and they featured on the legendary Futurama gig that had Joy Division and Hawkwind on the bill to name a few.

Phil Manchester Definitely – around June/July 1979 we were doing a lot of gigs around the UK and momentum was building nicely! I really liked the Futurama Festival; its a pity there is no video footage of it anywhere.

Incidentally – I think the best recordings we ever did were the BBC Radio 1 Sessions at Maida Vale Studios in September 1979 for The Mike Read Show which had 3 tracks in all : “Rock Methodology” – “No Secrets” – “Invasion Of Privacy”. – All as a 4 piece band.

At some stage in late 1979 the fortunes of the band take a strange turn as a surprise new member in the shape of Soo Lucas, aka ex Punk personality Soo Catwoman, enters the frame.

Phil Manchester So towards the middle/end of 1979 when we were recording at Polydor Studios, she turned up and instantly took a shine to Sid and they started seeing each other and became an “item”.

Sid & Soo – ahhh

This then altered the dynamic of the band as Soo became part of the band.

Phil Manchester It wasn’t a sudden change – this happened over many months from the day she met Sid – right up until everybody started getting “sacked” from the band. Her intention from day one was to be in the band/ use it as a vehicle for her own “pop” success getting in on the publishing deal (money) and then hoping that “Magic Mirror” or “Backstreet Romeo” would chart and Sid and Soo wouldn’t need the band anymore!

Image from back of the Test Card album with the band now featuring Soo

Following the two singles they got the go ahead for an album. That Polydor were willing to invest in this was a sign of the confidence of regular amount of gigs.

Phil Manchester I remember signing the full record deal with Polydor on the 9th January 1980 to start making the 1st album. So at this time the Invaders were still a 4 piece band! So the signing went like this: Sid – Howard and myself are the only people who actually signed to Polydor in 1980.

They also appeared on Polydor’s 20 Of Another Kind Compilation series. The covers and bands themselves show how far Punk had changed in two years.

Phil Manchester To be honest – I never really liked the studio we used (Sarm East) I did my keyboard parts in about a week or so and the rest of the time I was driving Sid and Soo to the studio because neither of them could drive! The recording took about 6 weeks altogether. I think the album is Ok but it’s a kind of watered down version of The Invaders of 1979. The BBC Sessions knock these recordings out of the water – IMHO!

Two singles were released from the album and the change was apparent as Soo now featured on the front cover and sang lead on the B side for Magic Mirror (August 1980) and for the second Backstreet Romeo (October 1980) had the lead vocal.

Both singles seemingly disappeared without trace and looked like Polydor had given up on the band. No videos were made either ,which seemed a little strange given the times.

Phil Manchester No videos whatsoever! Its a shame really, unless someone out there has footage of the Futurama Festival 1979?

It certainly didn’t help things; in those days you had to get on TOTP with some sales quick, or record companies got a bit “twitchy”!

Above – The 2 singles from the albumMagic Mirror August 1980 | Backstreet Romeo October 1980
Below Test Card album cover

What happened next was on appearances a calculated move to change the band and change it did because it finished the band!

Phil Manchester We did some gigs in August 1980 after making the album but it was all over and it didn’t end well.

Firstly I got “sacked” from the band. Sid told me “I don’t want to work on the next album with you” after we had done some gigs in August to promote the album which to be honest didn’t go very well at all.

Next Howard the drummer was “sacked” with the same excuse. Then the same thing again with David and Kevin. The whole band had been let go! (You see what’s happening here?)

The band didn’t take this lying down but by then the damage was done.

Phil Manchester After all this – myself and Howard went to Polydor and told (Dennis Munday – the guy who signed us) what was happening with all the sackings? After a few days Sid was hauled in to Polydor to explain what was happening with the group and told to put the group back together asap. So then, after Sid’s grovelling and apologies we all told him to get lost (or words to that effect!) There you have it; Sid and Soo had the total project to themselves! I myself went off to do some session gigs with The Edgar Broughton Band!

Except there was no project left with no band. Polydor dumped The Invaders. Post this Sid and Soo did anything that came to ought musically and split up as a couple. Soo would later appear on a Derwood song but that was it.

err I’ve been sacked! Me too! And me!

Phil Manchester Its a shame really; towards the middle of 1979 The Invaders were a really tight group with some great songs and plenty of ambition and promise. I would recommend the first two singles and the BBC Mike Read session as the best tracks to listen to. The album and two singles after are a bit wishy washy – ha ha! But we all know why. I’m still in contact with Martyn (the original bass player) he comes up to Huddersfield from London occasionally, and sometimes with Howard (Facebook). No idea about Sid. Nor do I want to know!

Sid is still about but to all intents and purposes off the map. Punk77 showed the update to his brother who replied.

If we’re being honest the band didn’t quite have what it took to make it. A few good songs and maybe they could have developed more, but through the circumstances told above that didn’t happen and they split up.

That said, it would be good to see a thorough compilation pulling together the demos, singles, album and radio session.



TalkPunk

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