History
Named after the Easterhouse area of Glasgow, the band was formed in Stretford, near Manchester by brothers Andy and Ivor Perry, Peter Vanden, Gary Rostock and Michael Murray in the early 1980s. Andy Perry, intrigued by communism and inspired by Bob Marley's direct delivery of political content, was invited to join the band in order to improve its lyrical content. Easterhouse played their first gig on 30 August 1983 at Dingwalls in London as the support band for The Smiths after Ivor Perry convinced Morrissey to let them have the opening spot. Their Rough Trade singles "Whistling In The Dark" and "Inspiration" were both Top 5 independent chart hits. Their energetic first album, Contenders, featuring their signature song, 1969, has been compared to The Chameleons, New Model Army, and The Smiths. In July 1986, Easterhouse participated in the Festival of the Tenth Summer.
After Contenders, Ivor Perry left the band over differences with his brother to form The Cradle with Rostock and Craig Gannon a musical contributor to The Smiths. The band had a number 12 UK Independent Chart hit with "It's Too High" in 1987, but the band was put on hold when Johnny Marr left The Smiths. Perry was considered to replace Marr, and recorded some new material with the band, including an early version of "Bengali in Platforms" that was originally intended as the B-side of "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before", and later appeared on Morrissey's first album, Viva Hate. Perry was uncomfortable with the situation, stating "it was like they wanted another Johnny Marr", and the sessions ended with (according to Perry) "Morrissey running out of the studio". Perry instead resurrected Cradle with new singer Craig Davies, but when Davies signed a solo deal with Rough Trade Records, the rest of the band were dropped by the label. The band continued with another singer.
Andy Perry continued with Easterhouse and by the time the album Waiting for the Redbird was released in 1989, he was the sole remaining member of the original line-up. It produced a minor hit "Come Out Fighting" which had significant airplay in the US, and spawned a Justin Strauss remix version of the same song.
Rostock played drums on Buzzcocks Steve Diggle's 2000 release Some Reality. He relocated to the Czech Republic and releases rock and electronic music from the Internet. In 2005 the band got back together for a one off gig. Andy Rourke (ex-bassist, The Smiths) played with them.
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