Any Trouble are a British rock band, originating from Crewe, England, best known for their early 1980s recordings.

In 1980, Melody Maker stated that Any Trouble were "the most exciting new rock 'n' roll group since the Pretenders".

Early days

Any Trouble's founding members Clive Gregson (guitar), Tom Jackson (vocals) and Chris Parks (guitar) met at Crewe and Alsager Teacher Training College in 1974. Soon after, Mel Harley (drums) and Phil Barnes (bass) completed the lineup.

Signed to Stiff Records

Airplay for Any Trouble's debut indie single "Yesterday's Love" led to interest from major record labels including WEA, Chrysalis, EMI and Stiff. Any Trouble selected Stiff "because they were our kind of people".

The band's second album Wheels in Motion, with Martin Hughes replacing Mel Harley on drums, was produced by Mike Howlett;

Despite frequent touring and the release of Wheels in Motion, Any Trouble's record sales failed to grow. The band were dropped by Stiff during a 1983 US tour supporting Ian Hunter,

Move to EMI America and break-up

After returning from their US tour without a recording contract Any Trouble took a long break, after which Gregson returned to making demos. He had a meeting with Ray Williams who persuaded him Any Trouble had a sufficient following to justify its revival and took on the role of manager. Gregson re-formed the band and, on the strength of the demos, Williams secured a contract with Gery Gersh at EMI America.

Re-formation

In 2007, following the re-release of several Any Trouble albums on CD, the group reformed with the Wheels in Motion line-up of Clive Gregson, guitarist Chris Parks, bassist Phil Barnes and drummer Martin Hughes. After playing a few live gigs, Barnes had to bow out of the reformed group due to other commitments.

With Mark Griffiths as a session musician on bass, the revived group recorded a new album which was released on the reborn Stiff Records label on 10 September 2007. The album was titled Life in Reverse and featured thirteen new Gregson-penned songs. It was produced by John Wood, and had unique artwork by the Stiff Records designer Tobbe Stuhre. The band played a headlining reunion gig at the Jazz Cafe in London, England to support the release.

After another period of inactivity, in November 2013 Cherry Red Records released the 3-CD set The Complete Stiff Recordings 1980-81, comprising the band's first two studio albums with assorted singles and B-sides, plus the Live at the Venue album, packaged in mini-sleeves. The band supported this by re-forming to perform a one-off gig at London's 229 Club. By now, Griffiths was a full official member, and the line-up consisted of Gregson, Parks, Griffith and Hughes.

Any Trouble stayed together in 2014 to record the new album Present Tense and played a short tour in England in December 2014, which included Band on the Wall, Manchester, on 2 December 2014, dates in Newcastle, Birmingham and the 229 Club in London; they also played at the Purple Weekend Festival, in León, Spain. Present Tense was released in November 2015 featuring 18 new songs written by Gregson.

Band members

Current members

  • Clive Gregson (vocals, guitar & keyboards)
  • Mark Griffiths (bass)
  • Martin Hughes (drums)
  • Chris Parks (guitar)

Former members

  • Phil Barnes (bass)
  • Andy Ebsworth (drums)
  • Steve Gurl (keyboards)
  • Tom Jackson (vocals)
  • Mel Harley (drums)

Members' current work

  • Phil Barnes worked producing music videos for bands such as Oasis and now produces TV adverts.
  • Andy Ebsworth is now a music technology lecturer at Croydon College, England.
  • Clive Gregson is still a full-time musician, touring countries including the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Japan. He formed a new band The Guilty Men in 2022.
  • Mel Harley runs a design and marketing company and property business.
  • Tom Jackson worked with Clive Gregson again in the Oatcake Brothers. He then left the music business and went into social work.
  • Chris Parks is now working in the UK as a music software developer.

Discography

Albums

  • Where Are All the Nice Girls? (1980, reissued in 2007), Stiff Records (produced by John Wood, Any Trouble, Bob Sargeant)
  • Wheels in Motion (1981), Stiff Records (produced by Mike Howlett)
  • Any Trouble (1983), EMI America (produced by David Kershenbaum)
  • Wrong End of the Race (1984), EMI America (produced by John Wood & Will Birch)
  • Life in Reverse (2007), Stiff Records (produced by John Wood)
  • Present Tense (2015), Cherry Red

Live albums

  • Live at the Venue (1981), Teldec (Germany only) (produced by Barry ‘Bazza’ Farmer)

Compilations

  • Girls Are Always Right - The Stiff Years (2002), Cherry Red (produced by Any Trouble, John Wood, Bazza, Bob Sargeant, Mike Howlett, Martin Levan)
  • The Complete Stiff Years (2013), Cherry Red

Singles

  • "Yesterday's Love" (7") (1980), Stiff Records
  • "Second Choice" (7") (1980), Stiff Records
  • "Girls Are Always Right" (7") (1980), Stiff Records
  • "Dimming of the Day"/"Another Heartache" (7", France only) (1981), Stiff Records
  • "Trouble with Love" (7") (1981), Stiff Records
  • "Touch and Go" (7") (1983), EMI America
  • "I'll Be Your Man" (7") (1983), EMI America
  • "Baby Now That I've Found You" (1984), EMI America
  • "Open Fire" (7") (1984), EMI America
  • "That Sound" (CDr) (2007), Stiff Records

References

  • Any Trouble at discogs
  • Official Stiff Records website
  • Official Stiff Records webstore
  • Ebsworth on Myspace
  • Phil Barnes' website