Indie pop pioneers Dislocation Dance formed in Manchester in November 1978, when bassist-lyricist Paul Emmerson met up with singer-guitarist Ian Runacres via a "musicians wanted" ad in a Virgin record store. They were joined by Andy Diagram (formerly of Diagram Brothers and The Pale Fountains, trumpet, vocals) and Richard Harrison (drums). Weaving a patchwork of minimalist new wave, '60s French pop, and jazz, with influences ranging from Orange Juice and The Pop Group to John Coltrane and Burt Bacharach, Dislocation Dance were immediately engaging though too eclectic for the tastes of big record companies and the pop mainstream. The group's influence can be seen in bands such as Stereolab.
Dislocation Dance's first EP, Slip That Disc!, launched their reputation and gained them a session with John Peel. Their debut album Music
Music Music (1981) set a new benchmark for eclecticism, with styles ranging from funk (Stand Me Up), bubblegum pop (Don't Knock Me Down), and be-bop (Take a Chance on Romance) to ersatz movie soundtracks (Vendetta). It earned a clutch of good reviews from the UK rock weeklies. In March 1982 the band supported like-minded Glasgow indie-popsters Orange Juice on a full tour of the UK, and in April completed a successful string of dates in North America.
That Dislocation Dance were hovering on the pop periphery is borne out by the fact that they were voted "band most likely to succeed" in a 1983 Smash Hits poll. However, their second album Midnight Shift failed like its predecessor to sell in large numbers. The band were dropped by Rough Trade, who judged their eclecticism too tough to market, preferred to put their money behind fellow Mancunian signings The Smiths. Feeling they had already peaked, and that their best days might already be behind them, the band began to lose momentum. Paul Emmerson left for an academic career, Kathryn Way focussed on acting, and Andy Diagram found himself increasingly busy as a session player and with the Pale Fountains. Ian, Andy and Richard carried on with new singer Sonja Clegg and shopped around for a new deal, but although RCA and Polydor expressed interest, nothing came of these overtures, and the band finally dissolved in 1987.
n 2000 the band reformed for a tour of Japan. The original members Runacres, Way, Harrison and Diagram were joined by Phil Lukes (previously in The Mancinis and Dutch Uncle). Lukes had also worked with Runacres on a project under the name 'Brightside'.
A new album, Cromer, was released by Vinyl Japan in 2005. This featured Runacres, Lukes, Diagram, and several other performers. The BBC sessions were released on CD by Vinyl Japan in 1999.
In 2007 Dislocation Dance played a couple of gigs in Manchester, at the Carlton Club in Whalley Range. The line-up consisted of Runacres, Lukes, Way and Harrison again. They were joined by Jon Board (trumpet) and Andrew Weaver (keyboards). Runacres, Lukes, Board and Weaver have been working on some new material during 2009. In 2009 they were joined by Chris Gravestock (drums). They have played a few low key gigs in late 2009/early 2010 and are currently working on a new album.
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