Dress To Kill recorded all their original material on a 4 track cassette porta studio between 1986 and 1988. Now, in 2021, they’ve had their never before released recordings digitized, augmented and produced in collaboration with Ottawa mixing engineer Jason Jaknunas. Their authentic 80’s sound finally released.

Andi Cooper and Jim Doran. Two Generation X boys from Liverpool UK, brought up during the late 70's and early 80's golden era of post-punk, new wave, and electronic music/culture scenes. 

The two met in 1984 when Andi joined a local band as lead singer and Jim played bass synth. They quickly gravitated towards each other through their musical influences that included Fashion, Depeche Mode, Japan, and Gary Numan. 

Later that year, they branched off on their own to form Dress To Kill. Their aim was to produce their own kind of melodic electronic pop music, sometimes tongue-in-cheek and at times possessing darker undertones. 

After months of song writing and rehearsing, they recorded backing tracks (drums, bass synth) at The Pentagon studio in Widnes, without the use of sequencers or computers. They utilized their Moog Rogue monophonic synth, a Roland Juno 6 polyphonic synth, and two drum machines -- Roland’s TR-606 Drumatix, and a Yamaha RX11 -- to create the bigger sound they envisioned in their heads. Adrian Sleigh engineered the recordings. 

Dress To Kill performed their first gig to a sell out crowd at The System nightclub in Liverpool on November 15th 1985, with Andi’s brother Ian Cooper joining on guitar and Andy Flannery on bass. Listeners often compared the Dress To Kill sound to such notable bands as Ultravox, New Order, and The Human League. 

Fast forward to 1987, Andi and Jim holed up in Andi’s 12 x 12 bedroom in a Liverpool suburb determined to record their songs for demos and posterity. Ian returned on guitar. Together, with a Fostex 260 4 track porta studio, Moog Rogue and Roland Alpha Juno 1 synthesizers, a TR-505 drum machine and Boss digital reverb and delay units, they recorded their entire catalog of songs along with new material. Real life intervened, Jim moved to London.  Andi emigrated to Canada.  And the songs remained untouched and unheard for 37 years. 

Now, decades later, they’ve dusted off these recordings to give them new life for the next generation.  Rather than re-recording some parts and losing their authenticity, the songs have been augmented and produced in collaboration with Ottawa mixing engineer Jason Jaknunas.  Now their genuine 80s sound gets what it’s always been missing: a new audience.