Darlings of the Paisley Underground scene of the mid 80's, The Long Ryders were heavily influenced by the country sounds of The Byrds and Gram Parsons and the urgency and aggression of the punk scene....lead singer Sid Griffin formed the band after leaving L.A. punk band the Unclaimed and released the first Long Ryders E.P. in 1983 called 10-5-60 and within a year they were gracing the front cover of the N.M.E. and appearing on The Whistle Test...everywhere they played in the U.K. they were playing to sold out crowds leading to signing for Island Records who released in '85 the classic State Of The Union album....the following year they were headlining a Barcelona festival in front of 100,000 people and R.E.M. told them “soon as we get through making the Replacements famous you guys are next!” but sadly it was not to be....within a year the band had called it a day but luckily for us Sid Griffin continues to make some great music with The Coal Porters and there are strong rumours that The Long Ryders are to play some reunion shows in 2012....
If you can't wait that long you could do worse than pop over here and pick up a copy of their 2004 reunion tour DVD
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