
After various changes of name and line-up, XTC formed in Swindon in 1976, signing to Virgin Records the following year. For the first two albums, guitarist Andy Partridge, bass player Colin Moulding and drummer Terry Chambers were joined on keyboards by Barry Andrews. His departure paved the way for guitarist Dave Gregory from 1979’s Drums and Wires onwards. After Chambers left in 1983, the now studio-based band recorded with a series of guest drummers until their 12th and final album, Wasp Star, in 2000.
Mark Fisher set up the XTC fanzine Limelight with his friend Paul Badger when they were still at school in 1982. It lasted ten years and was described by Andy Partridge as “an essential breathing tube” for XTC and a “lifeline to the world”. Mark returned to the fanzine in 2017 with the anthology The XTC Bumper Book of Fun for Boys and Girls. Two years later, he published What Do You Call That Noise? An XTC Discovery Book and, in 2020, launched What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast.
Find out more and meet fellow fans at the links below.
Limelight
- Limelight’s XTC channel on YouTube
- Limelight on Facebook
- Limelight on Twitter
- Limelight mailing list
- Limelight original blog
- What Do You Call That Noise? The XTC Podcast
Websites
- Ape the official online home of Andy Partridge
- Burning Shed XTC merchandise
- Chalkhills XTC online resource
- Guitargonauts Dave Gregory site
- Mark Thomas illustrator and cover designer
- Optimism’s Flames XTC fan site
- Ten Feet Tall XTC fan site
- X-sTatiC former cover-band site
- XTC Back Porch fan discussion forum
- Andy Partridge of XTC fan club Facebook group
- Chalkhills Facebook group
- Colin Mouliding of XTC fan group Facebook group
- The Little Express Facebook group
- TC&I Facebook group
- XTC (English band) – buy and sell and swap Facebook group
- XTC belongs in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame Facebook group
- XTC Convention 2021 Facebook group
- XTC fan appreciation society Facebook page
- XTC fans talk about the Beatles! Facebook group
- XTC, harmony in the UK Facebook group
- XTC – Ten Feet Tall Facebook group
- XTC true collectors Facebook group