Downstairs People

I just came across this old publication by Scarecrow Records from the late 1980s featuring a write up about a band I was once in called 'Downstairs People'. The publication features a plug for our first EP - 'a set of green boats' and also some nice words about our singer being much sought after by Paul Weller! The logo for Downstairs People was not the correct one - Scarecrow Records exercised some artistic license - it was just wrong!

The strange thing is, on the front cover of Scarecrow Records mag is a photo of Phil Littler who was in a band called 'Ole Veradi'. I had the pleasure of working on a CD cover for Phil last year and had no idea that we had a connection from the past. Phil is a bit of a guitar legend back in Stoke and also an accomplished sign writer.

What's 'Elsewhere' all about?

It all started a long long time ago in a distant place called Stoke-on-Trent. Once upon a time there was this band called "DOWNSTAIRS PEOPLE", and one of the guitarists was me, aka Johnny Elsewhere, a name that came about during a night out in Newcastle I think..? As well as playing the guitar it was my job to produce posters, flyers, cassette case inserts etc. The band sadly no longer exist, but I kept the Elsewhere name.
The images shown are the front and back cover of a 12" single that we put out in the early 90's. It was one of my early attempts at graphic design. The 'rage' name was hand drawn and all the type was done using an old IBM computer, pre-Windows. I seem to remember that the printers sorted out the colour scheme, that's how primitive it was.