Ian Mitchell
Just 16 years old when he was plucked from the obscurity of a Belfast club band and thrust into the fiery glare of the Bay City Rollers, Ian Mitchell was a member of Scotland's Scariest for just nine months, between March and December 1976. History records this era as the most successful in the group's history ("Saturday Night" topped the U.S. chart during his stint), but the tension and in-fighting were intolerable. Finally decreeing, "I had to get out before I put my head in the gas oven," Mitchell fled home to Northern Ireland, where he reconvened the band full of school friends he'd left behind at the start of his adventure.
Changing their name from the original Young City Stars to the more intriguing Rosetta Stone (lifted from a Barry Blue B-side), and retaining the services of Rollers manager Tam Paton, Mitchell initially seemed destined to maintain his high profile. Tours of Japan and Thailand were massively successful, while three singles -- covers of the '60s oldies "Sunshine of Your Love," "If Paradise Is Half as Nice," and "Sheila," plus their own "Try It On" -- all charted high in those same territories. Neither Britain nor the U.S. seemed to care, however, and after Rosetta Stone's debut album, Rock Pictures, crashed, a second LP (1978's Caught in the Act) did not even find a Western release.
Mitchell quit Rosetta Stone in February 1979, severing his ties with Paton at the same time. Plans for a new band, however, remained on ice until early spring, when he was taking a taxi across London one day and was recognized by the driver -- who just happened to be a guitarist. At that time, Paul Jackson was a member of the 20th Century Heroes, a group that grew out of the almost-was pop sensation Artful Dodger in 1978. The group was still struggling to coalesce: Jackson, together with former Dodgers Lindsay Honey (drums) and John Jay (bass), were the only full-time members, and when Mitchell suggested they try working together, it really wasn't much of a sacrifice. Joined by keyboard player Nicky Diamond, the newly named Ian Mitchell Band was launched in May 1979. Once again, the U.K. and U.S. didn't want to know; the Ian Mitchell Band played just one gig in Britain at a pub outside London. Tours of Europe and the Far East, however, were riotously successful and, over the next year, the band released three albums (Lonely Nights, Suddenly You Love Me, and Goin' Crazy) and four singles ("Lonely Nights," "Suddenly You Love Me," "Take Me Back," and "Peek-a-Boo Love"), all to varying degrees of precious metallic success. In June 1980, however, that old chestnut "musical differences" raised its head and, that month, Jackson and Diamond quit.
The search for a new guitarist ended with the arrival of Lea Hart, formerly of Slowbone and the Roll-Ups, while a second drummer, Kim Wylie (aka John Towe), was recruited from a virtual who's-who of classic punk bands (Chelsea, the Adverts, ATV, Generation X) and the band returned to Japan. That fall, however, the Ian Mitchell Band determined to try and break Britain, reinventing themselves as a softcore glam band and blitzing the capitol's pubs and clubs. "It was," Wylie later mused, "quite a comedown."
Attempts to land a record deal failed, although Hart, Honey, and Wylie alone scored a minor U.K. hit in April 1981, "Small Ads," with the novelty band of the same name. Two months later, the Ian Mitchell Band changed its name to La Rox and recorded Hart's "Photograph" as their own potential first 45, for the tiny FM label. The departure of Jay (for the Hitmen) that fall saw that track scrapped; with new bassist Murray Ward (ex-Downtown Flyers and the London Cowboys) on board, they cut a new single, a new version of Slowbone's "Can I Bring You Love." It did nothing, however, and the band began to crumble. Hart departed in early 1982, Honey and Towe followed. Mitchell and Ward continued working together for a time, but the magic of La Rox was never rekindled, at least not by the band's own members. Looking back, however, Mitchell is in doubt that "we certainly paved the way for the likes of Hanoi Rocks and Girl to break through, and all those other nice, clean rock groups who were frightened to take a chance."
Since that time, Mitchell has drifted between his own incredibly entertaining projects, and occasional Roller- and Rosetta Stone-shaped reunions -- albums include a 20-track Rosetta Stone anthology, and the Rearranged retrospective of solo and band work. Mitchell also contributed his own distinctive versions of Christmas hits by Slade, Wizzard, and Bing Crosby to the festively themed Gift collection. Ian Mitchell died on September 2, 2020 at the age of 62.
© Dave Thompson /TiVo
Discography
15 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Path Above the Dunes
Classical - Released by Métier on 9 Feb 2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bass Clarinet & Friends: A Miscellany
Chamber Music - Released by Metier on 21 Sep 2018
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Maxwell Davis, Peter: Ave Maris Stella
Chamber Music - Released by Metier on 10 Mar 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Homage: Chamber Music by Philip Grange
Gemini, Sophie Harris, Ian Mitchell
Chamber Music - Released by Metier on 20 Sep 2019
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Isn't This a Time?
Classical - Released by Metier on 11 Sep 2015
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Musique de chambre
Matthew Rickard, Ian Mitchell, Rupert Marshall-Luck, Sophie Harris
Chamber Music - Released by Toccata Classics on 27 Aug 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mandala 3
Gemini, Sarah Leonard, Aleksander Szram, Ian Mitchell, Sophie Harris
Classical - Released by Metier on 17 Feb 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grange, P.: Darkness Visible
Chamber Music - Released by Metier on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Some Space (feat. Amber Carrington)
Alternative & Indie - Released by Ian Mitchell Music on 4 Feb 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Too Good To Be True
Alternative & Indie - Released by Ian Mitchell Music on 9 Nov 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Kind of Life
Alternative & Indie - Released by Ian Mitchell Music on 12 Oct 2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Another Road
Alternative & Indie - Released by Ian Mitchell Music on 25 Oct 2021
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
That Guy
Humour/Spoken Word - Released by Ian Mitchell on 31 May 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remember
Alternative & Indie - Released by Ian Mitchell Music on 28 Sep 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
When It Doesn't Count
Alternative & Indie - Released by Ian Mitchell Music on 1 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo