The Exits formed in 1977 around the Battersea and Tooting areas of south London and signed to Lightning Records (then riding high with Anthea & Donna's huge number one hit "Uptown Top Ranking"), scoring a top ten hit in the punk/independent charts with their lone 1978 single, "The Fashion Plague" b/w "Cheam". They quickly became something of a live draw in south London and played several high profile shows including one at the London Dungeon supporting Screaming Lord Sutch! Their set was largely comprised of songs written by bassist/vocalist Colin Swan and guitarist/vocalist Geno Buckmaster which evoked the best of Elvis Costello, Pete Townshend and Graham Parker but they also threw covers of Tommy James & The Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now" and Small Faces' "Tin Soldier" in for good measure. A second single, "Keep On Tryin'", was slated for release and an album's worth of high-quality demos laid down in early 1979. Gigs promoting the 'forthcoming album' showed great promise. Sadly, Lightning slowly backed away from the sounds of the new wave, preferring to concentrate on the lucrative soul/disco market and The Exits recordings were left in limbo... until now! Not surprisingly, the band soon folded with Swan and Buckmaster re-emerging a year later as '60s/mod pop heroes The Direct Hits. But that's another story..With the band's full co-operation we have unearthed those unreleased Exits album demos and are proud to present them on CD for the first time. Original unreleased recording s by cult British new wave act! Beautifully remastered in the usual Rev-Ola tradition! Featuring the band's story in their own words with previously unseen photos and memorabilia! These are the roots of The Direct Hits, one of the 1980s' great cult pop secrets!
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