The tale of the accidental band…..in 1978, aspiring mouth organ mangler Gaz Whitton, guitarists Alan King and Colin Butler decided to be a band after being thrown together as part of the musical side of a Peterlee Youth Drama Workshop production called ‘All Dressed Up and Nowhere To Go. Other participants, soon to become more well known: Malcolm Gerrie, future Executive Producer of ‘The Tube’, 15 year old Gina McKee, who took to the acting lark in a big way and Chris Cowie, future Producer of ‘Top of The Pops’. 

Gaz, Alan and Colin quickly recruited drummer Micky Reay and bass man Kenny Jobson and suddenly they were a band.So what’s in a name you ask…….they performed as ‘Sick Note’….their first gig was at Peterlee Leisure Centre as support to headliners ‘Penetration’ who were then at the height of their success. They changed their name to ‘The D.T.s’……….before finally settling on The Montgolfier Brothers. At this point they recorded the bunch of songs which now comprise the self-titled album and got the chance to play some gigs in Germany which established them as a hot live act. Kenny subsequently stepped down to pursue err other pursuits and in came chirpy bass man Robbie Ryan and the chaps continued to write songs and record them. In 1984 they auditioned to perform on a video for The Tube and their 15 minutes of fame was assured.