Blackpool-based experimental electronic rockers, Section 25 centred around brothers Vince and Larry Cassidy, who often supported Factory label-mates Joy Division on live dates during 1980.
With Paul Wiggin joining Larry and Vin on guitar, their debut 7″, Girls Don’t Count (1980), was released on Factory Records (as were all subsequent Section 25 releases until the demise of that label) and produced by Ian Curtis and Rob Gretton of Joy Division.
Their debut LP, Always Now (1981) was produced by Martin Hannett at Britannia Row studio and the three-piece group released a self-produced second album, The Key of Dreams in 1982.
Paul Wiggin then left the group due to his fear of flying, and while Factory supremo Tony Wilson tried to recruit then-unknown guitarist Johnny Marr as a replacement, the Cassidy brothers conducted their first European and North American tours with backing tapes and percussionist John Grice.
1983 saw a new five-piece line-up – including keyboardists/vocalists Jenny Ross (Larry Cassidy’s wife) and Angela Flowers – which undertook a lengthy second tour of North America in January 1985, where the single Looking From A Hilltop achieved a measure of club success.
Later in 1985, the single Crazy Wisdom was released as a 12″, but the group again splintered, leaving husband-and-wife team Larry Cassidy and Jenny Ross to complete a fourth album, Love & Hate (finally released by Factory in 1988). Bad News Week was also released as a 12″ single, remixed by Bernard Sumner.
Section 25 then fell silent for more than a decade, although their entire back catalogue was reissued on CD. In 2001 the band regrouped and started composing new material. Sadly, Jenny Ross died on 20 November 2004 at the age of 42 after a long fight with cancer.
The Cassidy brothers performed their first live shows in nearly two decades in May 2006 with Ian Butterworth on guitar and Roger Wikeley on bass and keyboards. A new studio album by the quartet, Part-Primitiv, was released in April 2007.
Wikeley left Section 25 in 2008 and was replaced by Stephen Stringer. Butterworth parted company at the end of the year and Stringer moved on to guitar, with the group’s sound engineer and programmer Stuart Hill joining as bass player.
The album Nature + Degree (2009 ) featured vocals by Bethany Cassidy, daughter of Larry and Jenny, who joined the group as co-vocalist and keyboard player.
Founding member Larry Cassidy (pictured below) died of a blood clot on 27 February 2010, aged just 56. The band have since continued to record and perform live.
Larry Cassidy
Guitar, bass, vocals Vin (Vince) Cassidy
Electronics, drum machine Paul Wiggin Guitar; Lee Shallcross Percussion Jenny Ross
Vocals, keyboards Angela Flowers Vocals, keyboards
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1983 saw a new five-piece line-up – including keyboardists/vocalists Jenny Ross (Larry Cassidy’s wife) and Angela Flowers – which undertook a lengthy second tour of North America in January 1985, where the single Looking From A Hilltop achieved a measure of club success.
