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Kit sings principal vocals on these Contessa's Party tracks:
Dirty City
Tuesday Morning
Marshall
Hain: Tip For The Top
Marshall
Hain isn't, as it might sound, a military gentleman – or
a refugee from a Western. It's a very talented musical duo whose
current (and first) single Dancing In The City looks like being the summer
disco hit of 1978.
Julian Marshall
and Kit Hain have known each other since their days at Dartington
Hall School. But although they were both involved in school bands
they didn't really play together. And when school days were over
Kit went to Durham University, while Julian pursued his music at
The Royal College of Music, London.
Although
Kit was studying psychology at university she also began to
write songs and singing folk music. She progressed to a jazz
rock outfit, after leaving college still had no thoughts of turning
professional. Spells as a worker in the probation scheme and
teaching infants followed – until one of the turning points
in her career.
'I
split up with a boyfriend and just had to leave town. London
seemed the only place to go ·'
In London she met Julian again. He'd been more involved in music
than she, having developed an interest in jazz and formed a band
which made an album called Quincicasm. But he soon became
disillusioned with the state of jazz in this country.
'There's
a lot of apathy about jazz in Britain, both on the part of
the musicians and the media. And I think it's terrible the way
it's become so disc-oriented. The music has been compromised·'
So he turned
to songs, and decided it would be good to team up with a lady vocalist.
When he met Kit again she seemed the obvious choice.
She'd
avoided the obvious choices of employment like being a temp
when she came to London, and earned living singing in pubs
and wine bars. In the summer of 1976 she and Julian started performing
and writing together. 'We thought of a lot of names for the
duo, but none of them really seemed to work. So we settled for
the combination of our two names.'
One day, Julian
walked into the sitting room of his home, and played a few chords
on the piano. That was the start of Dancing In The City.
'I'd got the
basis, but I didn't really know what to do with it. I thought it
sounded commercial and sensual at the same time. I tried to write
some words, but they didn't really work. Then Kit came along and
took it over. She wrote the actual tune and the words.'
That little
episode left them with a very unusual number. 'Although you can
take it at face value, as simply a song about dancing in the
city, we feel there's a certain element of mystery about it too.'
'The basis of
the song is the drumming, and we were very luck that drummer
Peter Van Hook had the same ideas and feelings about the song
that we did. And Christopher Neal, who produced the record, was
marvelous too.'
Dancing In
The City has become very much a summer record: the minute
the sunny weather started the number of times the record was
played increased several fold! In fact the duo have been astonished
at the amount of airplay their record's had, as well as its popularity
in the discos.
'
 That's
one element we'd never thought of at all. In fact it wasn't conceived
as a summer record: it was written in February! What's more,
when we originally did it, although the record was about 8 minutes
long it never occurred to us that it would be a disco record.
Even the unusual sound in the background originally happened
by mistake while we were recording, although we can now reproduce
it on purpose!'
With the success
of their first single, the future looks very bright for Kit and
Julian. Julian admits that he'd always wanted to be a professional
musician. 'When I was eleven I used to ring up record companies
and try to sell myself to them over the phone!'
Kit's ambition
was always there, but she says she could easily have become simply
one of those who listen to the radio, as she used to, and think
to themselves, 'I could do better than that.' It took an otherwise
unhappy event to galvanize her into doing it.
Julian agrees.
'Too many people get stuck in a comfortable job because it offers
security, and probably don't even enjoy it. Unfortunately people
in this country aren't brought up to be artists of any kind or
to express themselves. So it's simply not done to try when they're
older.'
'Kit
and I were lucky in that respect, because our parents are musicians
so they didn't necessarily think that way. My father is a conductor
and mother is a cellist – but although they're both classical
musicians they have nothing against pop music and are delighted
with what we're doing.'
Kit agrees, 'My
father is an opera singer, but it was something the family frowned
upon. So he understands. In fact, I think our families are our greatest
fans. They've certainly given us a lot of support.'
And obviously
the duo hope that support will continue. For they have their
first album out in July. 'We like to think people will recognize
it as our music, even thought they'll have only heard one thing
before. It's called Free Ride and contains most of the
elements of our music – including the humor which is so
much part of our relationship, and the work we've done together
live.'
 They're
also starting to put a backing group together so that they'll be
able to tour in a couple of months time. The scale of the tour depends
very much on their success in the meantime, but they currently intend
to do a small headlining tour around colleges and town halls.
It
may be your first chance to see them live – but it won't
be your last. They are two talented, intelligent people who
are determined to be a success and keep their feet on the ground
at the same time. If there's a formula for success in the music
business, surely that's it.
Kit sings principal vocals on these Contessa's Party tracks:
Dirty City
Tuesday Morning
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