FRETS is extremely excited to announce that Clare Grogan will be bringing an acoustic line up of ALTERED IMAGES to perform at the Strathaven Hotel on Friday 28th January 2022.

Altered Images were formed by school friends, all of whom were inspired by the punk movement. Fronted by lead vocalist Clare Grogan, they were all members of the Siouxsie and the Banshees official fan club. When they learnt that the Banshees were going to play in Scotland, they sent a demo tape to the official Siouxsie fan club with a note asking to support the group, and Siouxsie offered Altered Images the support slot on the Banshees' 1980 UK tour. Altered Images's name referred to a sleeve Malcolm Garrett design on the Buzzcocks' single "Promises", (which was inspired by Buzzcocks vocalist Pete Shelley's constant interfering with the initial sleeve designs).

After being championed by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, for whom they recorded a radio session in October 1980, Altered Images garnered enough attention to be offered a recording contract with Epic Records. Their debut single was produced by Banshees' bassist Steve Severin, but mainstream success was not immediate as 'Dead Pop Stars', reached only number 67 in the UK Singles Chart.

Altered Images recorded their debut album, Happy Birthday (1981), largely produced by Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees. The band also worked with producer Martin Rushent for the title track, which became the band's biggest hit. The song reached number 2 in the UK (for three weeks) in October 1981, catapulting the band to fame. After a successful headlining tour, the band retained Rushent as their producer and released their second album, Pinky Blue, in May 1982. It reached the top 20 of the UK Albums Chart and provided three more top 40 hit singles with "I Could Be Happy", "See Those Eyes", and the title track.

Multi-instrumentalist Stephen Lironi (formerly of Restricted Code) joined the band for their third album, "Bite", the collaboration provided them with another Top 10 hit, "Don't Talk to Me About Love", in spring 1983. "Bite" was released in June 1983, with half of the album produced by Mike Chapman, and half by Tony Visconti, and the album is rightly considered a classic.