The one good thing about music show Top of the Pops was the chance of eyeballing something special, something new, something you might not get the chance to see anywhere else. This could be David Bowie, or Motorhead ripping through their latest number, or Public Image Ltd. or Blondie or Siouxsie and the Banshees throwing pocketfuls of confetti onto the studio audience.

Sometime in early 1981, I was very fortunate to catch a new five-piece band from London called Department S who made a damned fine impression on me with their debut single “Is Vic There?” The track had been played a few dozen times on the radio but I was none the wiser to the who, what, when, where, why of the band.

Taking their name from a cult TV series, Department S looked assured, interesting, had a catchy first single and an iconic lead singer in Vaughn Toulouse. Their music was different to many of the angry disillusioned post-punk bands clogging up the charts—they were upbeat, thrilling, with an almost John Barry Bond-like riff countered by Toulouse’s vocal delivery.

Department S. came out of London’s punk and ska scene. Toulouse had been with a band called Guns For Hire. Guitarist Mike Herbage joined the band and wrote their only single. The group then evolved into Dept. S and was joined by Tony Lordan (bass), Stuart Mizon (drums) and Eddie Roxy (keyboards). In one early interview they described themselves as “not just a bunch of silly cults”—an oblique oblique reference to their crafted individualism.

There’s no particularly dominant member of the band, although Vaughn writes all the lyrics and mostly steals the limelight “Cos I’m the best lookin’ I s’pose.”

“We’re not a group as such,” he continues. “We’re five individuals that make Department S. It’s like a closed-circuit business-sort of a PIL set-up.”

 

 
“Is Vic There?” seemed to hang around the chart for ages—as if the public weren’t quite sure about the group, the song, or what to make of the strange attractive Gene Vincent allure of the lead singer—before eventually (thankfully) making it all the way to number 22.
 

 
Come summer: Dept. S were playing support and headline gigs around London and working on an album (Sub-Stance) when they released a second single “Going Left Right” on glorious 12-inch. While the B-side “She’s Expecting You” sounded like the same band who had recorded “Is Vic There?” the second single almost sounded like a completely new and different band. It led some music critics to describe Dept. S as “a tricky band to pigeonhole” while giving “Going Left Right” two thumbs up—calling it “far superior” to “Is Vic There?”
 

Department S - ‘Is Vic There?’ (1981).
 
Cut to the the fall of 1981: Department S released their third, best and very much last single “I Want.” This had instant classic written all over it. Witty, clever lyrics that captured the self-serving, greedy, post punk world of Thatcherite Britain:

Oh God I want Christmas all year ‘round
I want a swimming pool I don’t want to drown
I want a lot of money but I don’t wanna pay taxes
Unless it’s just a penny in the pound

I want a mini cooper, immune to endorsements
I want a place in the country and a penthouse apartment
I want a yacht to sail, I want a pass on British Rail
Guaranteed with my own compartment.

Add in a driving, pulsating riff—aided by the John Barry horns—and Toulouse’s monotone vocal—it was perfect. It should have catapulted Dept. S to the top of the charts—opened some doors, brought in more fans, or at least parted the Red Sea. Alas, it didn’t. So much is life.

Whether by its failure or various internal disagreements, Department S split.  Vaughn Toulouse made a brief solo career as singer and DJ before dying too soon and too young from an AIDs related illness in 1991.

Sub-Stance the album Dept. S recorded in 1981 was eventually released in 2003—which was a helluva wait to hear the quality of the band that could have been.

The file on Department S doesn’t stop there. Herbage, Mizon with Roxy on vocals reformed Dept. S in 2007. Gigs followed. A new and old fanbase grew. It brought forth a single. Now a brand new album When All Is Said is out later this month-more details here.
 

Department S. - ‘I Want’ (1981).
 

 

Department S. ‘Going Left Right’ (1981).
 

Department S. - ‘She’s Expecting You’ (B-side).