Modern English are an English new wave/post punk band formed in 1979 in Colchester, Essex. With Robbie Grey (vocals), Gary McDowell (guitar, vocals), and Michael Conroy (bass, vocals), Modern English were originally known as The Lepers. The group expanded to “Modern English” when Richard Brown (drums) and Stephen Walker (keyboards) were added to the lineup of the band. After a single on their own ‘Limp’ label in 1979, the band signed to 4AD the following year; with two further singles released, and a session for John Peel of BBC Radio 1 recorded before the band’s debut album, Mesh & Lace, in 1981. In the band’s early days, they showed a strong Joy Division influence. A second Peel session was recorded in October 1981.
The second album, After the Snow (April 1982), was more keyboard-oriented and was compared to Simple Minds and Duran Duran. It was also released in the US the following year, where it reached No. 70 on the Billboard chart, and sold over 500,000 copies. Grey said of the album, “We used to think ‘God, we’ll never make a pop record. We’re artists!’, but things don’t always turn out as you planned and when you actually create a pop record, it’s so much more of a thrill than anything else”. The second single from the album was also a hit in the US, “I Melt With You” reaching No. 76. When he reviewed the album, Johnny Waller of Sounds described the track as “A dreamy, creamy celebration of love and lust, which deserves to be showcased on as 12″ single all by itself, with no B-side”. The band relocated to New York and worked on a third album, Ricochet Days, which again made the top 100 in the US, after which the band left 4AD and were solely signed to Sire outside the UK and Canada. The album Stop Start (1986) was the last Modern English record released by Sire, the band splitting up after its release. During 1983–1984, Grey, McDowell and Conroy were also involved with This Mortal Coil.
Grey re-formed Modern English with Conroy and Aaron Davidson in 1989 to record a new album, Pillow Lips, released in 1990 on the American TVT label. The album featured a re-recorded “I Melt with You”, which was released as a single, and saw the band again in the Billboard top 100. The band split up for a second time in 1991, after contractual problems with TVT, and Grey formed Engine. In 1995, with legal issues with TVT sorted out, Engine evolved into the next incarnation of Modern English and signed to the Imago label, with Grey and Matthew Shipley (keyboards). This lineup recorded the 1996 album Everything’s Mad.
Grey toured the US with a new Modern English lineup from 1998 to 2002. They travelled coast to coast across the US, and recorded a new album with Hugh Jones, who had been producer of earlier Modern English records. The songs written with guitarist Steven Walker (not to be confused with the band’s original keyboardist) and including Shipley came together on the road and back home in London between tours. After a few years on the shelf, this collection of songs, entitled Soundtrack, was released inMay 2010 on Darla, with Jon Solomon on drums.
The original lineup of the band (minus drummer Brown) re-formed in 2010 and toured the US in July and September and the UK and Paris in June the following year. They were invited by film director Mark Pellington to re-record “I Melt with You” once again for his movie of the same name. They recorded an album titled ‘Take Me To The Trees’ which was funded via Pledge with an originally planned March 2016 release date. The album was recorded, produced and mixed by Martyn Young from Colourbox and MARRS, who also adds additional keyboards. They also toured the Mesh & Lace album in the US in 2016.
