When The Tyrants in Therapy were making their dizzying assault on the dance music world back in the 80s and 90s, they were often accompanied by a couple of Bay City Rollers.
“Duncan Faure was like the 4th Tyrant in those days,” recalls The Tyrant Michael, who produced two dozen dance records by the Tyrants for L.A labels during their 12” singles heyday.
Faure, the former Bay City Rollers lead singer/lead guitarist, was living in Los Angeles at the time not far from the Tyrants in the San Fernando Valley.
“Duncan was like a long-lost cousin,” says AbbeAbbe, the female Tyrant, “He enjoyed hanging out in studios, and was a fixture at our sessions around Hollywood. He was enthusiastic, and really versatile. He had great pipes, like a combination of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. He could sing high and blend perfectly with me and whoever was the other girl Tyrant du jour, and when he sang low, he could meld with the Tyrant Michael’s backgrounds, like on “Boy,” and smooth them out, which really took some doing.”
“He’s all over our dance records,” says Michael, “including our biggest one, “Too Tuff to Cry.” Duncan, Abbe and Brenda X created those memorable choral blends that helped make it a hit. On “Sweet Magic,” he blended with Abbe and our favorite ex-Tyrant Stacy Carroll for those soaring ABBAesque vocals. And that’s him screaming on “Sex Bomb,” from ‘92, which turned out to be the final vinyl 12” record the Tyrants ever made.”
An excellent guitarist and keyboard player, Faure was often called upon by The Tyrant Michael to add a rock ‘n roll edge or classical influence to the Tyrants’ productions.
“He could do anything in the studio,” remembers Michael, “He’d bash out bruising electric guitar lines on “Paint It Pink” and “Too Tuff House Rock, and then turn around and play some gorgeous grand piano on “Sweet Magic” and “Springtime in Italy,” a track I produced for Splashgang. Duncan also sang background on “P-P-Power of Love,” “Matter of Time,” “Crazy Dreams,” “Big Pink House,” and “Call of the Wild.”
“Come to think of it,” Abbe adds, “On the new cd compilation of our classic dance songs “Dance with The Tyrants Vol. 1,” Duncan is on every single track except “Underground Girl,”and Woody played bass on that one.”
The Rollers’ bass player, Stuart “Woody” Wood, also lent a hand in the studio during the early days of The Tyrants.
In addition to “Underground Girl,” Wood played bass on “In the Shadow of Hitler,” and collaborated with the Tyrants on some wild and whimsical pop experiments like “The Box” and “The Happiness Factor,” which have yet to be released.
“Woods was totally cool in the studio.” says Abbe, “He’d been making records since he was 15, and our funky little sessions were a big deal to us, but a lark to him.”
“We were very tight with Woods when he lived in L.A.,” says Michael. “He was such a mellow, thoughtful guy who was taking a break from being a teen superstar before his next phase of life. The night we fired our co-founder Tyrant Carol, Abbe and I were shattered. So we brought over a bottle of Glenlivet Scotch to Woods’ apartment and drowned our sorrows with him until the wee hours.”
The Bay City Rollers connection was a result of The Tyrant Michael’s brief foray into managing other musical acts including Karu, the group that Faure and Wood formed in L.A. after the breakup of the Rollers.
“I knew Duncan long before he joined the Rollers” says Michael, “He’d come to L.A. after the breakup of Rabbit, a big pop group in South Africa that he and Trevor Rabin fronted. He auditioned to replace Les McKeown in the Rollers, got the gig, and went from sleeping on couches to staying at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in a matter of weeks.”
When we formed Tyrants back in ’84, the boys were back in town and living in Granada Hills not too far from us. We were lucky to have them around to help out on our early records. They really helped shape the Tyrants’ sound.”
by Michael J
