The Avant-Gardeners

The Avant Gardeners were -- as the name suggests -- an avant-garde combo, based in Okehampton, Devon, and lining up as Russell Murch (vocals, guitar), Martin Sanders (guitar), and Nigel Rae (bass, keyboards), plus Only Ones drummer Mike Kellie, working around his commitments elsewhere. A demo recorded at a local studio found its way to Virgin Records, who released a four-song Avant Gardener EP in September 1977, Gotta Turn Back. The band then fell silent for several years, before re-emerging in the early '80s on the Italian Apaloosa label. Two albums, The Avant Gardenerz and The Church of the Inner Cosmos, were released in 1980 and 1984, respectively.
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