sound of the suburbs

The beginnings of That Petrol Emotion were in the ex Undertones home town of Derry in 1984 where some demos were laid down, Alan McGee heard these and invited the boys over to London to record a single. The band gelled together and started gigging under the name of Novacaine Combo with the vocal duties being handled by Sean O'Neill and Reamann O'Gorman. They were not happy with the results of the vocals on the recorded single and so started searching for a singer, and in walked the recently arrived from Seattle Steve Mack who passed the audition with flying colours. The band's name was changed to TPE and the vocals re-recorded for the single, 'Keen' that was released in September 1985. Strangely enough record companies were not queuing up at the doors to sign the band and so a second single, 'V2' was released on their own label. The following year saw their debut album 'Manic Pop Thrill' released under a one off deal with Demon, it was probably the good press that they were now generating that got them signed to Polydor, where they stayed for one album before jumping ship to Virgin where they were almost to find real fame and fortune but that's another story.