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Strawberry Switchblade was a Scottish indie pop rock female duo, sporting gothic sensibilities.
Formed in Glasgow in 1981, they were originally a quartet. By 1982 the band had been reduced to the duo of Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, though Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame and then-future Cure drummer Boris Williams both appeared on some songs. In 1983 they released the single Trees And Flowers (a song about Bryson's agoraphobia) on an independent label, with little success. In late 1983 they got signed by Bill Drummond to WEA records' subsidiary Korova. In early 1985, their first single release on that label, Since Yesterday, became a top 10 hit in the UK and met success in Europe and, specially, Japan . The track's opening fanfare came from Sibelius' Symphony No.5 and had also featured on the earlier hit "Beach Baby" by First Class. The girls' strikingly contrasting black and white wardrobe, including the polka dot rah-rah skirts worn for the sleeve of Since Yesterday, attracted some coverage at the time. Their somewhat "Gothic" appearance was also of note.
However, they attained little more than the unenviable title of one-hit wonders, when all subsequent releases to "Since Yesterday", failed to reach the Top 50 in the UK singles chart. By early 1986 the group disbanded.
Their cover version of "Sunday Morning" (originally by Velvet Underground) was released as an extra track on the 12 inch of "Since Yesterday". Although it was not included on any of the Strawberry Switchblade albums, it is regarded as one of their most beautiful songs.
In 2005, Warner Bros. Platinum Records released a career retrospective of the band, made up of sixteen different tracks from various recordings on one compact disc.
Albums
- Strawberry Switchblade (April 1985, reissued on cd with extra tracks in Japan in 1997) UK #25
- The 12" Album (1985, reissued on cd in Canada in 1995)
- The Platinum Collection (December 2005)