1980
Formed in 1978-1982/LA
Randy Marsh:https://www.furious.com/perfect/mudcrutch.html
Mudcrutch, “Depot Street/Lost in Your Eyes”, 1975: https://youtu.be/wHPe2yPAQYY?si=FpXTaAzUsAdyYhMN
Dean Chamberlain monologue: https://youtu.be/hm5pOWM9Qok?si=xz2dsSGqXtxzsrcZ
Warfield Foxes ‘74-’75, “Every Day Star”: https://youtu.be/p6Lq8JUvnyA?si=IcYl6BR-2biSejll
The Motels ‘77-’78, “Counting” :https://youtu.be/vHOMq_ujC0U?si=BB15FKurMCxchXNc
The Dogs, “Slash Your Face”: https://youtu.be/Yf9iYbxE7u4?si=Uu0PkY__dssJFqqT
Gary Tibbs:http://alchemymusicgroup.com.au/garry-tibbs/
https://grokipedia.com/page/Gary_Tibbs
Ant Rap: https://youtu.be/B4z__lCCBX0?si=phHXHQdjR6kXIwmy
Dance Away: https://youtu.be/4nT1-eE2E0M?si=L-T8_h4vGA_cyYu2
Code Blue 1980, half-record. Some of the songs are blocked, doesn’t say why: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7oM2JIdhVQgymeDIWGeceT8SC-p2Vh7y&si=751uUo6b9MqLlYv_
Code Blue Live Show 2024:
Code Blue on Spotify, with 2002 remasters: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DZ06evO3fYiOZ
Nickel and Dime: https://nickelanddimerecords.com/
Bands of the Lost Video Link: https://youtu.be/nafJIb7wJHs?si=3AEE–rQ1-l0LR22
In 1980, three seasoned musicians put out a really good record, then called it a day.
Code Blue[pic] was an LA band without LA roots. Their self-titled Warner Bros debut did nothing on the charts, and didn’t carry a hit, but it is still a good record. And these guys did alright; before, during, and after Code Blue.
Drummer Randell Marsh{pic} grew up in central Florida, where there weren’t a whole lot of musicians to play with. He moved to Gainesville and became the drummer for a band called Mudcrutch. [pic] You probably recognize the band’s bassist. Mudcrutch grew quite popular around Gainesville and Lower Georgia. So in 1974, they moved to LA to try to get a record deal. Rejected by the larger labels, the band signed with Leon Russell’s Shelter Records and in 1975 they put out a single called “Depot Street.[pic]” Tom Petty wrote that song as well as the B-side’s “Lost in Your Eyes.” Listening to them, you can hear the beginnings of the talented songwriter Petty would become, but that reverb on the B-side is pure Leon Russell.
The single did nothing and Shelter let the band go, except for Tom Petty, who wound up forming another band called The Heartbreakers, without Randell Marsh.
At the same time, Dean Chamberlain[pic] was living in LA, having left the Bay area in search of a more vibrant music scene. In San Francisco, he was playing guitar in a band called the Warfield Foxes[pic] and now they were trying to crack into the LA club circuit. But clubs like the Troubedor and the Starwood wanted bands that were a big draw, or were already on a label. So the band, now called The Motels, settled for some festivals and weird-arty gigs, and eventually threw their[pic] own show with the punk band The Dogs. That show pulled enough people for the clubs to take notice.
Chamberlain described The Motel’s[pic] early sound as more like “Alice Cooper with a female lead singer and some Zeppelin guitar.” Their demo, “Every Day Star” is the only song from the Warfield Fox’s time, and it doesn’t sound like the Motels you know, even with Martha Davis on vocals. There was another demo called, “Counting” from about 1977-78 that is a bit more-future Motels, but you also get to hear Dean’s guitar close out the song.
After the demo, The Motels broke up, Martha took the name[pic], and Dean looked to start his own band. After seeing hundreds of musicians, Dean asked drummer Randell Marsh and bass player Michael Ostendorf to join him. The[pic] trio named themselves Skin, and by late 1978, they started playing around LA, even opening for a retooled Motels at Club 88.
By day, Dean was an A&R assistant at Warner Bros, and one night, his boss came to one of his shows. Afterwards, she commented, “You didn’t tell me you were good.” The next day, Warners offered the band a contract.
Warners urged the band to get some professional management and suggested a name change, hmmm {pic} that sounds familiar. Nigel Grey, [pic] who produced the first 2 Police records, signed on and suggested recording in London. But Michael Ostendorf was at odds with “the creative and business direction of the band,” which sounds like corporate speak[pic] for, “Warners wanted him gone.” So only Randell and Dean, now-named-Code Blue, left for England.
Across the pond, Gary Tibbs [pic] had been playing bass with The Vibrators. He was on 1978’s “V2”, but then left the band when Roxy Music lured him over for [pic] “Manifesto” and the supporting tour. By the time Code Blue was walking into Olympic Studios, Tibbs was riding a pretty high musical wave, so if Warners found a way to swap out Michael Ostendorf for Gary Tibbs, you kinda can’t blame them.
Recording the basic tracks was easy-enough, and then Nigel Grey suggested recording the overdubs in his studio in the South of England. There, something went wrong and the band took the tapes and themselves back to LA and didn’t work with Nigel Grey again.
But I don’t think Gary Tibbs went with. Everything I read only mentions Dean and Randell remixing the record with engineer Mike Stone,[pic] no mention of the bassist. But it didn’t look like Tibbs had a real commitment to the band other than providing a bass line, which he did very well. Then just as Code Blue’s US tour with Thin Lizzy was supposed to begin, Tibbs pulled out and was replaced with Joe Read from Bram Tchaikovsky[pic]
An experienced Tibbs may have sensed something because the tour didn’t go very well. The band’s quick tempoed tunes were coolly received by the rock crowd; Thin Lizzy wasn’t “Classic Rock” yet, but these are totally different bands with totally different fans. It is unfortunate because the record is pretty good. The timing just sort of sucked.
But, 1981 is a weird music year anyway, you had “Bette Davis Eyes” and The Theme from Arthur[pic] over here, “I Love a Rainy Night” and “9-to-5”[pic] over there, and all of a sudden, New Order’s putting out[pic] “Ceremony,” Wendy O William’s[pic] is getting arrested for masterbating on stage, and Fear[pic] is scaring the Hell out of NBC. In order to make any real mark, your record needed hits, and Code Blue didn’t have them.
The closest thing to a hit is probably “Whisper/Touch,” which also had a radio cameo[pic] in “Pretty in Pink.” I think it is good enough to be on a Pretender’s record. My husband disagrees. But, whatever, he’s wrong.
You can hear Nigel Grey’s Police-ish influence on the song “Burning Bridges”, “Hurt” is a tasty piece of pop candy, and Dean’s guitar gets to show off on “Somebody Knows” and “The Need.”
I think the difference between this record and others that don’t make it, regardless of era or genre, is that these songs are better. A lot of lost records have really good musicians but really bad songs[pic]. Code Blue had really good musicians but just good songs…Except “Whisper/Touch,” But it didn’t matter, because it wasn’t enough.
By 1982, Code Blue was toast, and Dean pulled the plug.
When Gary Tibbs quit Code Blue, it was to join Adam and the Ants[pic] for the record “Prince Charming” and that world tour. When Adam Ant went solo, Tibbs joined Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, and later played with Roger Daultry, Brian May, and others. He now lives in Australia and tours with The Fixx.
After Code Blue, Randell Marsh worked as a session guy and taught drumming. In 2007, Tom Petty reformed Mudcrutch[pic] and Marsh got to perform and record with his old friends again. In October of 2017, Tom Petty died of a heart attack and the band came to an end.
Randell Marsh and Dean Chamberlain still play together. They even did a show[pic] as Code Blue in 2024. I put the link to it on the website.
In 2025, Dean Chamberlain talked about his unhappiness with the speed of Code Blue’s debut. He felt Warners wanted to play into the skinny-tie-poppiness of it all, and there really wasn’t much he could do. And he was probably right. Dean knew the system, so he also knew when to say goodbye to Code Blue before his integrity went with it.
With the support from Nickel and Dime Records[pic], Dean was finally able to remaster the Code Blue songs as he felt they were meant to be, and the songs are available on Spotify.
But because I’m a luddite, I reached out to Nickel and Dime to ask if Code Blue would be out on vinyl.
They replied[pic] that they will be releasing “Live at The Mabuhay (MUH_BOO_HAY) Gardens – 1978”, on Vinyl, late Summer, and the other releases will be up on Digital.
But he capitalised the “D,” So I don’t know what that means.
Code Blue’s record is available but it may take some effort, possibly pay a couple bucks more.
It is on Discogs but that kinda takes the fun out of it.
I have a link to the songs that are available on BandsoftheLost.com along with other strange bits.
If you’d like to hear about records you may or may not have had, back in the day you can subscribe to Bands of the Lost YouTube channel or check us out at BandsoftheLost.com
Happy Digging
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