The Business (band)
The Business were an English oi! band formed in 1979 in Lewisham, South London, England. The band lasted for four decades until their frontman Micky Fitz died from cancer in December 2016.
History
The band was formed in 1979 by school friends Steven Kent, Michael Fitzsimons , Nicholas Cunningham and Martin Smith. They played their first gig in front of friends in February 1980, and after taking on Lol Pryor as manager, began performing more often. The band's first release was the song "Out in the Cold" on the A Sudden Surge of Sound compilation album. They played their first Oi! concert in 1981, supporting The 4-Skins, and they became closely associated with the Oi! scene from then on. While the Oi! movement was labelled as far right and racist, The Business took a stance against political extremism with their Oi Against Racism and Political Extremism...But Still Against The System tour. Despite standing apart from the far-right, the band also criticized communists in songs like "Suburban Rebels."In November 1981, they released their debut single, "Harry May", which spent over three months in the UK Indie Chart, reaching No. 13. The initial line-up split up in late 1981, with Kent, Cunningham, and Smith forming Q-Bow, but Fitz carried on with Pryor, recruiting Graham Ball on guitar, Mark Brennan and Steve Whale from The Blackout, and John Fisher on drums. The new line-up made their live debut in January 1982, after which Ball and Fisher departed, leaving the band as a four-piece, with Kev Boyce of The Blackout on drums. The new line-up recorded the Smash the Discos EP, which was a No. 3 indie hit, and after a short tour, they recorded their debut album, which was to be called Loud, Proud, and Punk. The master tapes for the album went missing after disagreements between the band's label and the studio, forcing them to re-record the album, which was released as Suburban Rebels in May 1983. The album was remixed by their label, Secret, without them knowing, and Secret's financial difficulties limited promotion of the album. Frustrated by this, the band split up, with The Business members forming short-lived bands Chapter and Sabre Dance.
Pryor issued a retrospective album consisting of demos and live tracks on his Syndicate label, the success of which prompted the band to reform and record a what was to be marketed as a live album, Loud, Proud, and Punk. It was actually recorded in a studio, with crowd noise dubbed in later. Pryor renamed his record label Wonderful World and issued several Business albums in late 1985, with the Drinking and Driving tour following. The name of the tour caused controversy, with tabloid journalists accusing the band of condoning drunk-driving, although the title was tongue-in-cheek.
In late 1986, Brennan and Pryor founded Link Records, and with Brennan becoming increasingly busy running the label, the band split up again. In 1992, Fitz performed a few songs guesting with The Elite and he reformed the band to play a benefit concert for Bobby Moore, who had recently died of cancer. Brennan later started a new record label, Captain Oi! Records and did not join the reformed band. The band's line-up then became Micky Fitz, Steve Whale, Lol Proctor and Micky Fairbairn. The band released a new single "Anywhere But Here" and new album Keep The Faith in 1994. After a number of tours in Western Europe, the band played their first gigs in America in August 1994. In 1997 The Business released The Truth, The Whole Truth and Nothing But The Truth which was produced by Lars Frederiksen from Rancid. In 2000, the band joined together with Dropkick Murphys to release Mob Mentality. The band's final studio album, No Mercy For You was released in 2001. Their biggest hit song in recent times, "England 5 - Germany 1",, became a football anthem for England and even appeared in the 2004 teen comedy EuroTrip. Despite various line-up changes, the band's popularity continued to grow.
By 2006 Fitz had rebuilt his band after overcoming his alcoholism, this year saw the band take on a 2-month tour of the US with the line-up of Fitz, Robin Guy, Daniel and what would become long serving Trots. In September 2006, Fitz recruited long time friend Tosh to play guitar, shortly followed by Bundie on drums. The band took to the studio in Berlin and recorded three covers, this session featured Mitch Harris of Napalm Death guesting to record the title track 'Mean Girl', originally by one of Fitz's favourite bands Status Quo. This was released by Bad Dog records as an EP, the B side being a live set recorded at the legendary Marquee Club in London from 1982.
Led by a reinvigorated Fitz, the band continued to tour incessantly and broke new ground as the first British Oi! band to play in Chile in 2008, they also visited Australia and New Zealand alongside extensive European and US tours. As well as their touring they also returned to the studio and put out a split 7" with Control. The Mean Girl recordings and Marquee Tapes were combined with the split and a recording from Full Force Festival to make the US mini album 'Doing The Business'
In 2010 Tosh departed the band and after a short stint with rocker Johny Skullknuckles the band's final line-up was completed with Fish taking over on six string duties. Around this time the band had taken to the studio to record what would be their last release, 'Back in The Day', it saw the studio return of original guitarist and principal songwriter Steve Kent who performed guitar and backing vocals on the recording. The 7" was eventually released on Randale Records and Sailors Grave Records in 2014.
The band continued on their way, returning to South America to play São Paulo, taking on a headline tour of Australia and New Zealand, and made a triumphant return to Japan in 2014, with a quick visit to South Korea while they were in the area.
In the summer of 2015 Fitz was diagnosed with cancer, as with his life he met the challenge head on and refused to let the public know of his diagnosis until after he had completed the final run of shows. The band performed what would be their final show in October 2015 in Badalona, Spain.
In April 2019, some of the classic line up joined by JJ Pearce on bass performed at the Punk and Disorderly festival in Berlin. Roi Pearce Sebi and Mike Brands appeared as guest singers. This marked the first time former members of The Business had performed without Micky Fitz playing The Business songs. The same line up, joined by Beki Bondage performed at Rebellion 2019. A toast was raised to Fitz's memory at both shows.
Death of Micky Fitz
In late 2015, Micky Fitz was diagnosed with cancer on the lymph gland and underwent radiotherapy. On 1 December 2016 it was announced that Fitz had died.Discography
Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.Studio albums
Singles/EPs
Compilation and live albums
Compilation appearances
- A Sudden Surge of Sound LP VU
- Carry On Oi! LP Secret
- Oi! Oi! That's Yer Lot! LP Secret
- The Secret Life Of Punks LP Secret
- Burning Ambitions: A History Of Punk 2 X LP Cherry Red
- UK/DK LP Anagram
- Defiant Pose LP Illegal
- Son Of Oi! LP Syndicate
- Oi! The Resurrection LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 1 LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 2 LP Link
- The Sound Of Oi! Link
- Oi!..The Picture Disc LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 2 LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 3 LP Link
- Oi!..The Picture Disc Volume 2 LP Link
- Oi!..That's What I Call Music LP Link
- Oi!..The Main Event LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 4 LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 5 LP Link
- Pop Oi! LP Link
- Oi! Chartbusters Volume 6 LP Link
- Punk On The Road LP Skunx
- The Oddities Of Oi! LP Link
- Heroes And Villains LP Step-1
- Oi! It's A World League LP Havin' a Laugh
- Nobody's Heroes Castle Communications
- The Punk Generation Castle Communications
- The Voice Of The Street Pub City Royal
- Kill Your Radio
- The Punk Rockers
- The Best Of Oi! LP Dojo
- Secret Records - The Punk Singles Collection Volume 1 LP Captain Oi!
- Punk & Nasty Emporio
- Real Punk - The Nasty Years Cleopatra
- England's Glory Cherry Red
- Punk Crazy Castle Pulse
- Anarchy From The UK - Volume 1 Dojo
- Secret Records - The Punk Singles Collection Volume 2 LP Captain Oi!
- The Great British Punk Rock Explosion LP Dojo
- Trouble On The Terraces LP Step-1
- The Best Of Oi! LP Dojo
- Punk & Disorderly LP Step-1
- Tribute To The Smiths Too Damn Hype
- Forever Blowing Bubbles Cherry Red
- Punk Power Emporio
- On The Streets We Bite
- Give 'Em The Boot Hellcat
- Oi! The Tine Harry May
- Box Or be Boxed Lonsdale
- Down To Margate Harry May
- 100% British Oi! Captain Oi!
- Cheap Shots III Burning Heart
- Lords Of Oi! Dressed To Kill
- Live Hate Music Collection
- The World Of Football - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly Of World Football Charlton
- Scene Killer Volume 1 Outsider
- Around The World In 80 Minutes Rotten
- The Greatest Punk Of All Time Dressed To Kill
- Punk Pegasus
- Oi! This Is England Dressed To Kill
- Cheap Shots IV Burning Heart
- The Worldwide Tribute To Real Oi! I Scream
- Spirit Of The Street Burning Heart
- Complete Burning Ambitions - A History Of Punk Cleopatra
- Punk-O-Rama 6 Epitaph
- Cheap Shots V Burning Heart
- Cash From Chaos - Complete Punk Collection EMI
- Without Warning - It's Punch Drunk IV TKO
- Addicted To Oi! Captain Oi!
- Riot Hepcat
- The Kings Of Street Punk G&R
- Oi! This Is Street Punk Volume Two Pirates Press