Casual Affair Artist Bio

February 1992 saw the demise of one of the more popular progressive bands around, Casual Affair. Their history can be tracks all the way back to March 1984 when vocalist mark Colton (ex- Fair Exchange, Goliath and Famous Last Words) met guitarist Mike Mishra after placing an ad in a local record shop. They started writing together and the first two songs were “The Game” and “Auf Wiedersehen”. In June 1984 Mark Eckersley (ex-Red, Goliath) joined on drums and Neil Mathars (ex-Kudos) came in on bass. With Mark Neil both playing keyboards live, this line-up gigged as Liar (for just one gig) before changing the name to Dirty Trix (which lasted about a year) and recorded a demo. By May 1985 both Mike and Mark Eckersley had left the band, so Mark Law joined on drums with Graeme Wilde on guitar, together with Barry Nuthall on keyboards, and September that year saw them using the name Causal Affair for the first time. Mark Laws left in June 1986 (later playing in Jadis) and was replaced by Carl Sampson. In January 1987 a two-track cassette single featuring “Learning To Fly” and “Monday Mournings” was recorded, but it was June 1988 that was the real turning point for the band. Graeme decided to leave, and when wondering how to replace him the conversation turned to founding guitarist Mike Mishra. Mark got in contact with him, and the definitive Casual line-up was now in place. Mike and Mark had always written well together, and the band continued to progress. The first single was recorded in January 1989, with the songs being “Reflections” and “Perfect Timing”. The band continued to garner more support, and it was now being supported by press and radio airplay, but yet again pressures took their toll and Carl left. He was quickly replaced by Jason Clark, and it was finally time for the band to do some serious recording and the result was the tape, ‘Well, What Did You Expect?’.

The album was well-received by fans and media alike, and February 1991 saw the last line-up change as Jason left (later in Walking On Ice) to be replaced by Andy Bunker. Mark and Mike continued writing new material that found its way into the live set, but gradually they became more disillusioned with the setup and decided to break the band. Mark and Mike then formed Freewill, before Mark joined Chequered Past who changed their name to Credo.
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