Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Performing live in 2004
Background information
Origin	Leeds, England
Genres	Gothic rock, post-punk
Years active	1981–1991, 2004–present
Labels	Red Rhino, Situation Two, Sparkhead
Associated acts	Chris Reed Unit
Website	www.red-lorry-yellow-lorry.com
Members	Chris Reed Dave Wolfenden Ding Archer Martin Henderson
Past members	Mark Sweeney Mark Chillington Martin Fagan Paul Southern Steve Smith Mick Brown Chris Oldroyd Gary Weight Martin Scott Leon Phillips Mark Hubbard Marcus Ellis

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, also known very briefly as the Lorries, are a post-punk band that were formed in Leeds, England in early 1981.

The band was formed by guitarist/songwriter Chris Reed and vocalist Mark Sweeney, along with bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown (who would later join The Mission). Sweeney left the band in late 1981 and Reed permanently took over as vocalist, with Martin Fagan joining as a second guitarist. The group's sound, featuring a numbing guitar drone, powerfully throbbing bass, pounding drum machine, and Reed's cavernous vocal tones, caused the Lorries (as their fans came to call them) to be quickly lumped into the then-developing gothic rock scene by pop journalists, although the band themselves denied they were ever associated with goth and preferred to cite Wire as an influence, and said they "were primarily inspired by MC5."

In 1982, the Lorries' manager Dave Hall provided independent record label Red Rhino with a cassette of the group's demos. Impressed by the quality of the songs, Red Rhino label head "Tony K" (Tony Kostrzewa) signed the band and immediately released "Beating My Head" unchanged from the demo as the band's debut single. The song made a strong appearance on the influential NME independent record chart. Fagan and Smith soon departed the band, to be replaced by Dave Wolfenden and Paul Southern respectively. Afterwards, bassist Southern was replaced by Leon Phillips. While numerous additional personnel changes would occur in the history of the band, Wolfenden became a mainstay and a frequent songwriting partner of Reed's during the band's most productive period. In 1983 and 1984, the band released several more singles (including "He's Read" and "Monkeys On Juice", which reached No. 9 on the NME indie chart). John Peel was an early supporter, and the band recorded two radio sessions for him in March and November 1983 (released on CD in 2014 as BBC Sessions 1983 - 1984, part of the band's 3-CD compilation See the Fire).