Eighties techno-pop band Vivabeat gets the album reissue treatment

Eighties techno-pop band Vivabeat will release remastered reissues of much of their back catalog via '80s-centric label Rubellan Remasters on March 1. Founding members Marina Muhlfriedel (Marina del Rey) and Mick Muhlfriedel spearheaded the projects, showcasing a treasure trove of tape masters they found languishing in the depths of a closet.

Rubellan is releasing two separate projects simultaneously — a dramatically elevated edition of Vivabeat's debut album, Party in the War Zone, including ten bonus tracks gleaned from the years after the original release, and The House is Burning, a limited edition, purple and blue colored-vinyl, best-of package, which includes four previously unreleased songs.

“We never stopped believing in the music we made back then, and when a Vivabeat fan reached out on social media last year, urging us to connect with Rubellan Remasters’ founder Scott Davies, we did,” says Vivabeat keyboard player and vocalist Marina Muhlfriedel. “Scott was enthusiastic about working together, and seeing these projects get a second chance 40 years on is a remarkable gift.”

“After transferring the tapes to a digital format, I remixed two of the songs, one with the support of legendary producer Earle Mankey,” says bass player and lead songwriter Mick Muhlfriedel. “Then, Scott Davies' expert remastering really breathed new life into the tracks.”

Vivabeat was formed in L.A. in 1978 as a hybrid of Los Angeles and Boston musicians playing in local punk/new wave bands and was active until the mid-1980s. Marina Muhlfriedel founded the seminal LA punk/pop band Backstage Pass; drummer Doug Orilio was in Boston’s Reddy Teddy, and Mick Muhlfriedel and Alec Murphy played with various Boston bands. When he joined the band, lead singer Terrance Robay was fresh off playing James Dean on the London stage. Connie DiSilva was a prodigy synth player and radio DJ.

Their debut album, Party in the War Zone, included the group's most successful song, "Man from China" — a tune that first captured Peter Gabriel and Charisma Record's attention. Its haunting whistle hook is said to have inspired Gabriel's "Game Without Frontiers." "Man from China" quickly became an underground classic and a Top 20 80s dance hit in Europe, the U.S., and Asia.

The band continued to record, including an eponymously titled EP featuring Earle Mankey's production and former Japan/Gary Numan/Sinead O’Connor guitarist, Rob Dean. It featured the song "The House is Burning (But There's No One Home)," which appears in the movie Body Double and has recently been licensed for Amazon Prime’s new animated series, The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy.

By 1982, Vivabeat found its footing alongside mainstream New Wave bands and spent a few years touring and playing shows with B-52s, Depeche Mode, Gang of Four, Human League, The Thompson Twins, R.E.M., Gary Numan, Wall of Voodoo, and others.

The CD and vinyl reissues serve as meaningful tributes to Terrance Robay, Connie DiSilva, and Alec Murphy, who died of AIDS, and to Doug Orilio, who succumbed to complications years after a motorcycle accident that left him as a paraplegic. Of the later members, guitarist Rob Dean, guitarist Jeff Gilbert (who also passed away), and drummer Chris Schendel figure most prominently in these recordings.

Marina is currently a writer living in Los Angeles. She occasionally performs with
a Backstage Pass reboot and hosts Our Lips Unsealed, a rock and roll storytelling show. Mick is the president of a large youth soccer non-profit, the Downtown L.A. Soccer Club, and is working on a second album with his experimental Buff Roshi project.

TRACK LISTINGS:

Party in the War Zone

1. Working for William
2. From The Bop
3. To The Heart
4. Not Dead Anymore
5. Popgirl
6. Man from China
7. Wild World
8. Enemy Fire
9. I Know Your Room
10. Jet Set
11. The House is Burning
(But There’s No One Home)
12. Tents
13. Angry Red Planet
(Previously Unreleased)
14. The Good Life
(Previously Unreleased)
15. What We Talk About
(When We Talk About Love)
(Previously Unreleased)
16. The Power of Love
(Previously Unreleased)
17. Man From China
(Alternate Version)
(Previously Unreleased)
18. On Patrol
19. Shine (Previously Unreleased)
20. Blue Guitars
(Previously Unreleased)

Vivabeat / The House is Burning: The Best of 1979-1986

Side One

1. Man From China
2. Working For William
3. The House if Burning
(But There’s No One Home)
4. Tents
5. From The Bop
6. Grey, Grey, Grey Side Two

Side Two

1. The Blue Guitars
(Previously Unreleased)
2. Angry Red planet
(Previously Unreleased)
3. What We Talk About
(When We Talk About Love)
(Previously Unreleased)
4. Henry James
5. Glisser le Rat
(Previously Unreleased)
6. The Last White Man
(Previously Unreleased)

ABOUT VIVABEAT:

Vivabeat was an LA-based techno-pop band that was active from 1978 into the mid-1980s. It is best known for being discovered and signed to its first record deal by Peter Gabriel as the initial American band on the British label Charisma Records. The band released one album on Charisma, Party in the War Zone," produced by Jeffrey Lesser. It included the band's most successful song, "Man from China." The song became a Top 20 dance hit in Europe, the US, and Asia. The band continued to record and spent several years touring and playing shows with iconic ‘80s groups like the B-52s, Depeche Mode, Gang of Four, Human League, R.E.M., The Thompson Twins, and Wall of Voodoo.

In 2001, Permanent Press Records released a best-of Vivabeat album titled The Good Life 1979 – 1986, which also featured tracks from See Jane Run, a Vivabeat spin-off band. In March 2024, Rubellan Remasters is re-releasing a remastered version of Party in the War Zone with bonus tracks and a limited-edition colored-vinyl LP, The House is Burning.