Here’s a profile I first posted in October, 2009.
The English band Fingerprintz excelled at a variety of genres but somehow never achieved major success during a brief career that lasted from 1979 to 1981. They played punk on their debut, The Very Dab, moved on to power pop with Distinguishing Marks, and by the time they released Beat Noir, they were into techno. Through it all, lead singer-guitarist Jimme O’Neill seemed obsessed with matching disturbing imagery with irresistible melodies.
“Shadowed,” from the aptly titled Beat Noir, set intergalactic espionage to a pulsating dance club arrangement. There’s a breathless chase down dark streets involving “an alien presence” described by a frightened narrator. “Outside forces, foreign bodies in the atmosphere/I’ve got to shake them off and rub them out and get away from here.” Guitarist Cha Burnz added one of his many distinctive solos, while O’Neill’s echo-laden vocals evoke early U2. Especially if Bono had been into comic books and sci-fi movies. O’Neill and Burnz went on to form The Silencers UK and had a moderate hit with “Painted Moon.”
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