Silent Running (Belfast band)

Silent Running are a Northern Irish rock band, who emerged from the Belfast punk scene and were originally called The Setz before changing musical direction in 1982. The original band members were Richard Collett (bass), Peter Gamble (vocals), Tony Scott (guitars) and Ian Gault (drums). Prior to signing to EMI the band recruited George Beavis on keyboards.

The band recorded tracks such as 'Speed of Life' for the proposed first album although Beavis was subsequently dismissed and replaced with Alex White. The resulting album was Shades of Liberty which received a five star review in Melody Maker headlined "Silent Classic". Despite 'near' top forty hits such as 'Young Hearts' and 'Sticks and Stones' the band never achieved the desired breakthrough.

The second album on EMI was prefaced with the release of the double A side single 'No Faith Is Blind'/'Business as Usual'. Despite massive airplay and appearances on television shows across the musical spectrum (including 'Cheggar's Plays Pop') the single failed to chart resulting in the band being dropped by EMI, which led to the situation of their second album on EMI getting cancelled long before its designated release date.

In a major coup the band were subsequently picked up by Atlantic Records, becoming the first British or Irish act to join the roster of this legendary American record label.

White left in 1985 to work with Joan Armatrading, resulting in the band relying on session musicians such as Adrian Lee (Mike + The Mechanics), Clive Gates (New Musik) and Ian Curnow (Talk Talk; he was not really a stranger to the band, since he had already played the keyboards on their 1983 debut single) to record the next two albums (Walk on Fire and Deep).

The first album on Atlantic (Walk on Fire) spawned a minor US hit 'Sanctuary' but again the band could not make the elusive breakthrough.

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