mean business
Mean Business
was formed by Wil Stapley and Chris Mines in July 1985, after their
previous band, Cats Under Pressure, split. "And Two Of Them Were
Blind" was recorded in April 1986 and by September that year the
band found themselves in Studio 99 in South London beginning work on
the sessions that were to become "Second Sight". The first
live dates happened in June and July 1987 and "Second Sight"
was released at the end of the summer. The year ended with a
triumphant headlining gig in Birmingham.
After a brief
sabbatical in 1988, the following year saw work begin on the third
album, "Sale", which was recorded in Wormley during
September. The release of "Sale" in January 1990 was
followed by live dates in Birmingham and Loughborough.
At this point
Mean Business decided to take a break from the band, although with
Wil having exiled himself in Japan, Chris recruited guitarist Dave
Lord, for a one off return to the Village Inn in Handsworth in April
1995. Later that year Chris recorded with Cambridge band "The
Haven" at The House in the Woods Studios in Surrey.
April 2001 saw
Wil and Chris start work on a new album, "Songs That Bring Me
Closer To You" intended for release at the turn of the year. An
E.P., "Back In Business" was released in July 2002 via
Vitaminic.com and a new double A-side single, "More Of The
Same/Song For Eleanor", will be released on-line this autumn.
There are also plans to re-mix, re-master and re-release material
from "Second Sight" and "Sale" during 2005/2006.
Chris is
currently putting the finishing touches to the Mean Business album
and doing some re-mixes of other artists, whilst Wil, having
relocated back to Japan, has released an album of solo material,
"If You Can Walk, You Can Dance. If You Can Talk, You Can
Sing" which can be sampled and purchased on his website, www.wilstapley.com.