Department S / Terry Edwards & The Scapegoats - My Coo Ca Choo / Cat People (Gasoline)

“Alvin sounding like Antmusic plus Bowie with a loping skank...”. Department S,  best known for their New Wave smash hit Is Vic There? have reformed and are gunning for glory with a new version of My Coo Ca Choo, the debut hit for Alvin Stardust! The line-up has original members Michael Herbage on guitar, Stuart Mizon on bass and synth player Eddie Roxy on vocals, filling the shoes of Vaughn Toulouse who is sadly not with us any more. The choice of song to kick-start Dept S in the 21st Century was a natural for them – Vaughn loved it, so it seemed the best place to start. This single – also available in limited edition “Romany Blood-Red” vinyl – sees the nucleus of the band assisted by Mark Bedford aka Bedders from Madness on bass and Terry Edwards the boss of Sartorial producing and playing the saxophone. When Marco Pironi, lead Ant in Adam & the Ants, heard the double drum-kit & glam guitars he immediately gave it his blessing – and signed up to play on the next Department S single. More of that below...The flipside of the record is a cover of Cat People, the David Bowie song (and a highlight of his 80s career!), given a ska reading by Terry Edwards & the Scapegoats. At Bowie’s Meltdown Festival in 2002 they were asked to consider playing some ska covers of the curator’s work and Cat People was a natural (the versions of TVC15, Boys Keep Swinging and Rebel Rebel were pretty out there, too!) – plus the Scapegoats kept it in their set to keep their fans on their toes. So here is the first coloured vinyl single on Sartorial, the first single by Department S for a good many years and the first of a series of split singles which will see the likes of Robyn Hitchcock, Serious Drinking and Tuner mixed and matched over the next few months. And the good news is that there’s more from Dept S in the pipeline including a reworking of Is Vic There? featuring the talents of Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, Marco Pironi and Brigandage singer Michele.

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