About THE THE
The The are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with the singer-songwriter Matt Johnson as the only constant band member. The The achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles , and their most successful studio album, Infected , spent 30 weeks on the chart. They followed this with the top-ten studio albums Mind Bomb and Dusk .
While trying to get his band going, in 1978 Matt Johnson had recorded a solo demo album which he sold at various underground gigs on cassettes. In 1979, working with Colin Lloyd-Tucker Johnson recorded his first album proper, Spirits. This album remains unreleased, although the track "What Stanley Saw" was later licensed to Cherry Red Records for their Perspectives and Distortion compilation album, which also featured Virgin Prunes, Lemon Kittens, Thomas Leer, Kevin Coyne and Mark Perry.
In November 1977, Johnson had placed an advertisement in NME seeking "bass/lead guitarist" who liked the Velvet Underground and Syd Barrett. In 1979 he placed a second advertisement in the NME, stating his new influences as the Residents and Throbbing Gristle.
The The made their debut at London's Africa Centre on 11 May 1979, third on the bill to Scritti Politti and PragVEC, using backing tape tracks that Johnson created at his day job at De Wolfe studios for the drums and bass. The band at this point consisted of Johnson on vocal, electric piano, guitar and tapes and Keith Laws on synthesiser and tapes. It was Keith Laws who suggested the name 'the The' to Matt Johnson.
As the The was now getting underway, Johnson was simultaneously working with experimental synth-pop combo the Gadgets, a studio group he formed with Colin Lloyd Tucker, his colleague at De Wolfe recording studios.
Peter Ashworth, then known as 'Triash' and later to become a noted photographer, became the The's drummer in 1980, and Tom Johnston was added on bass. Although both Ashworth and Johnston were credited with appearing on the The's debut single on 4AD Records, neither actually played on the recordings, which were produced by Wire members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis. All instruments were played by Johnson and Laws. Johnston and Ashworth soon dropped out of the The and returned to their respective day jobs. As a duo , the The began performing concerts with Wire, Cabaret Voltaire, DAF, This Heat, the Birthday Party and Scritti Politti.
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