1979 - 1986
Where were you in the 80s?
NEW RELEASES! LIMITED EDITIONS!
Remastered Vivabeat CD and Album NOW AVAILABLE
BIG NEWS! Rubellan Remasters has just released the first-ever CD reissue of Vivabeat's 1980 album, Party in the War Zone, remastered from original master tapes and doubled in size to include 10 additional tracks culled from the band's personal archive, including several never before released. The album cover has been updated by founding member Marina Muhlfriedel and comes with a booklet including rare photos and lyrics to all songs. Strictly limited to 500 copies.
Going further, to celebrate Vivabeat's legacy, a new colored vinyl compilation LP titled The House Is Burning - The Best of Vivabeat 1979-1986 is now available.This newly remastered collection includes three tracks from Party In The War Zone, several archive recordings from a previous compilation making their first vinyl appearance, and two additional previously unreleased songs that are exclusive to this LP. The title track The House Is Burning (But There's No One Home) was featured in the 1984 Brian DePalma film Body Double and includes former Japan member Rob Dean on guitar. Blue Guitars and What We Talk About (When We Talk About Love) are recently unearthed versions featuring original vocalist Terrance Robay (previously released versions featured female vocalists) and were rescued from long-dormant multitrack tapes, remixed in 2023 by Earle Mankey with Blue Guitars featuring a brand new drum track performed by Clem Burke of Blondie. LP is Strictly limited to 300 copies on purple and blue vinyl.
Get your CD and album at: https://www.rubellanremasters.com/online-store
THe Vivabeat Story
Vivabeat was an LA-based techno-pop band that was active from 1978 into the mid-1980s. It was most well-known for being discovered and signed to its first record deal by Peter Gabriel, as the first American band on the British label, Charisma Records.
The band released one album on Charisma, "Party in the War Zone", which was produced by Jeffrey Lesser and included the band's most successful song, "Man From China". The song became a Top 20 dance hit in Europe, the US and in Asia.
A second release was an eponymously titled EP featuring the production of Earle Mankey and the guitar playing of Rob Dean. It featured the song "The House is Burning (but there's no one home)" which, along with its video, appeared in Brian DePalma's film "Body Double" and won an 80s music MTV Award for best video from a new band.
The band spent several years touring and playing shows with iconic groups like the B-52s, Depeche Mode, Gang of Four, Human League, R.E.M., The Thompson Twins and Wall of Voodoo, before slowly winding down in 1984.
In 2001, Permanent Press Records released a best of Vivabeat album titled "The Good Life 1979 - 1986" which also featured tracks from See Jane Run, a Vivabeat spin-off band.
Band Members
Original members included:
Terrance Robay - Vocals
Marina del Rey (Marina Muhlfriedel) - Keyboards and Vocals
Connie de Silva - Keyboards and Vocals
Mick Muhlfriedel - Bass Guitar
Alec Murphy - Guitar
Doug Orilio - Drums
Additional members. through the years. included: guitarists Rob Dean, Steve Lynch and Jeff Gilbert, vocalists Cindy Hope and Peggy Max, and drummer Chris Schendel
Three of Vivabeat's original members died of AIDS, Alec Murphy in 1986, Connie de Silva in 1991 and Terrance Robay in 1994. Original Vivabeat drummer, Doug "Bug" Orilio, passed away on January 13, 2021, from complications related to a motorcycle accident decades earlier.