The Dukes of Stratosphear

The Dukes of Stratosphear were an alter-ego band name put on by the British pop group XTC during the mid-80s. Basically, it’s like if The Beatles actually ran with the concept behind Sgt. Pepper’s and actually recorded a couple albums' worth of material as the Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The band was a pastiche of 1960s psychedelic pop bands like Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, Tomorrow, The Pretty Things, The Zombies, The Hollies, The Byrds and The Beatles.

Andy Partridge, lead singer and bandleader of XTC, had been yearning to record this album for a long time. As a child, he wanted to play in a psychedelic pop band just like the ones he heard over the radio. In 1978, shortly after the recording of Go 2, Partridge approached future XTC guitarist Dave Gregory and proposed that they make a 60s psychedelic pastiche record. Unfortunately, due to the hectic touring and promotional schedule required of Partridge by XTC, the project never materialized until 1984.

At this point, XTC had already stopped touring due to Andy Partridge’s nervous breakdown during the English Settlement tour – so they had more time than ever to focus on their studio efforts. Partridge, in his spare time, was constantly writing songs for the project and knew he couldn’t keep it in any longer. In 1984, he found some blank time in his schedule and got the band together to finally record his dream project.

The members of XTC all put on pseudonyms for this project:

Andy Partridge became “Sir John Johns”, a name he took from a 1967 DC comic about a Martian detective.

Colin Moulding became “The Red Curtain” – a reference to his long hair.

Dave Gregory wanted to call himself “US of Arthur”, but discovered that it had already been done and settled on “Lord Cornelius Plum”.

Drummer Peter Phipps had left the band at this point, so drumming duties were handed to Dave Gregory’s brother, Ian. Ian chose the moniker “E.I.E.I. Owen”.

The band recorded two albums' worth of material, later compiled into the CD Chips from the Chocolate Fireball. Unfortunately, most of the group’s future plans for the band were nixed by their label, Virgin Records, straining relations and eventually leading to XTC’s severance of their relationship with Virgin. Andy Partridge recorded several other Dukes songs in the early 90s, and the group still rears its head up every now and then for the odd charity single, though they’ve been dormant since about 2009.