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All Music Guide:
Fleetwood, England's One Way System formed in 1979 and shuffled through several differing lineups before settling into the quartet that would enable the band's first life. Vocalist Gavin Whyte, guitarist Dave Ross, bassist Gaz Buckley, and drummer Tom Couch found their first minor break in 1981 when No Future Records released their song "Jerusalem" on the compilation A Country Fit for Heroes, which helped get the group's debut EP, Stab the Judge, released on the Beat the System imprint shortly afterwards. They didn't release a full-length until 1983, when they moved over to Anagram Records. Anagram released All Systems Go on the strength of the single "Give Us a Future" and then followed it with another full-length (also in 1983), The Writing on the Wall. One Way System then released another EP, titled Visions of Angels (1984), which brought hopes of a U.S. tour with the band slated to open for legendary L.A. punks the Circle Jerks.
Unfortunately, the Circle Jerks' vocalist, Keith Morris, broke his neck just before the onset of the planned tour, and the shows were canceled. One Way System played two shows in the States in lieu of the unrealized tour before deciding to head home and call it quits. Ten years later, in 1994, the punk rock reissue specialists Captain Oi! re-released their two full-length albums, followed by Anagram releasing a best-of in 1995, which prompted a reunion. After the reunion, both Buckley and Whyte chose to move on and were replaced by bassist Andy Wilkinson and vocalist Lee Havok, respectively, and the new quartet recorded some new material for a couple of different labels followed by a tour of Japan in 1997.
Wikipedia:
One Way System is a street punk band formed in the Fleetwood area of Lancashire, England in 1979.
Career
One Way System had an initial line-up of Craig Halliday (guitar), Gavin Whyte (vocals), Tez Mcdonald (drums) and Gaz Buckley (bass). A demo of the song, 'Jerusalem' appeared on the A Country Fit For Heroes compilation album, released in January 1982 - Catalogue number Oi3 - reaching #4 in the UK Indie Charts. Shortly after this Beat The System Records, from Blackpool, released the Stab The Judge EP and after some early personnel changes (Tez Mcdonald joined The Fits) the band settled down as Gavin Whyte on vocals, David Ross guitar, Gaz Buckley bass and Tom Couch on drums.
In 1983, One Way System became the first signing on Cherry Red's Anagram Records with the release of their All Systems Go LP after the single 'Give Us A Future' did well in the indie charts and the band was featured on the front cover of UK national music paper Sounds (magazine). Between 1982 and 1984 the band had 5 Indie Chart hit singles and two Top Ten albums. The band stayed signed to Anagram until they broke up in early 1986 after an American West Coast tour along side Circle Jerks in 1984 was cancelled because Keith Morris broke his neck. However, they did manage to play one date with Suicidal Tendencies. In 1985 Gavin Whyte was replaced by Andy Gibson of The Genocides on vocals and enough songs were written for a third album but it was never released.
Tom Couch then spent 2 years with the UK Subs and has been voted one of the best punk drummers of all time. The band was resurrected in 1995 with Gavin Whyte returning after Captain Oi! re-released All Systems Go and Writing On The Wall in CD format. Gaz Buckley left the band to be replaced by Dave Brown for a ten date European Tour who was soon replaced by Andy Wilkinson and in 1996, Cleopatra issued a, 'Best Of' collection. In 1996 Whilst working on a new album, Gavin Whyte left the band and was replaced by long time fan , Lee Havok (real name Lee Pinkney). It was this line-up that undertook a tour of Japan. A new CD, Waiting For Zero was released through GMM in 1998 and Cherry Red released a 'singles collection' in 2003. The 2005 various artists compilation CD Give Us A Future (The History Of Anagram Records 1982-1987) took its name from the One Way System single of that name . More recently, Lee Havok was replaced by ukNige (ex-Pink Torpedoes, now of Sick 56) on vocals and he himself was replaced by Jay Susel. Couch and Wilkinson joined psychobilly band Boneyard Zombies in 2011 whilst remaining in the band and recording for a new One Way System album is already underway.
Selected discography
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.
