The music of an unsigned 1980s pop band from London is to be released after being unexpectedly picked up by a German indie label thirty years since they split up.
The group Daniel Takes A Train called it a day in 1988 after four years of touring the capital in the hope of emulating the success of acts such as Spandeau Ballet.
After their big break failed to materialise the band’s lead singer Paul Baker embarked on a career in recruitment.
Baker, 58, and his bandmates later uploaded a video they made for one of their old songs to social media, in order to share their musical past with friends and family members.
Now, some three decades on since they gave up their pursuit of stardom, the video has finally got the band noticed – by Berlin-based record label Firehouse.
Baker told the Evening Standard: “We literally had these tracks that had been gathering dust in our bedrooms and lofts so we set this Facebook page up about a year-and-a-half ago.
“Then suddenly in March we got this message from this guy called Uwe in Germany saying, ‘I’ve heard this song I Don’t Want This Love and we’re doing a compilation album’. He said ‘We would like to put it on there’.
“Then I just thought we’ve got some really good songs so I said, ‘Can I send you a few more?’ and I sent him everything, 20 tracks in total, and they said they love them and want to use 17 of them and sign us up for an album.”
The album is called Style, Charm and Commotion and will be released on Friday August 3.
Daniel Takes A Train will be launching their previously unlikely debut LP with a show at The Troubadour venue in south-west London.
Commenting on the band’s surprising second shot at success, Walker said: “You couldn’t make it up.
“We tried really hard at the time. We played every stop on the Circle line at one point to try and get some publicity but it didn’t work out. Now the band has a proper legacy.”
