it's over
The single Der Kommissar was released in June 82, and made available in both 7" & extended 12" formats. Sensing a possible winner on their hands, CBS placed prominent advertising in the music press, claiming: "Here it is. Come and get it. It's the one you've been waiting for." It received favourable reviews. Sounds wrote:
"At last After The Fire start stretching their talents and putting themselves on the line. There's a meaty throb running through this song and a rapping edge to the vocals. It will surprise their loyal fans, but it's the best thing they've done."
From July 14th to October, ATF embarked on a three month tour of the US as one of the bands supporting Van Halen. Despite the length of the tour, most of it was actually spent travelling between venues. In fact, the band had so much time between shows they would rehearse to keep themselves up to standard. But opening to Van Halen was not generally an easy prospect. Audiences competed to see how quickly they could remove the support act by throwing objects onto stage, and some of the shows were tough as the band tried to play under a hail of coins and empty bottles. In Nashville, they held out, but the show in Phoenix, Arizona had to be abandoned after only four songs. Sometimes there was so much money on the stage, the road crew, who had to sweep it up, were making a sizable profit.
Back in the UK, CBS, having heard the ICC demo's, instructed the band to return to finish the next album, and withdrew their tour support. But the band were determined to finish the tour, and ended up financing it themsleves, putting themselves £36,000 in debt to Harvey Goldsmith in order to stay on the road.
In October, with morale in the band flagging, they returned to the UK exhausted, both physically and mentally, and for that matter, spiritually. They had toured over 61,000 miles during 1982, and the rewards seemed meagre. They were getting argumentative and polarised in their decision making, with the group splitting roughly down the middle with Piercy/Russell on one side and Banks/King on the other, some of the tensions that had arisen during the recording sessions earlier in the year became exposed. They no longer functioned as a unit, with the classic 'musical differences' problem beginning to pull them in opposing directions. The Piercy/Russell camp began to favour the AOR school in the mould of Springsteen, and even Motown, while Banks & King were keen to explore the more rhythmic side - The Buggles, Tubes, and their ilk. The pressures of debt and lack of recognition and been heaped upon them, and they had had enough. They felt it was time to stop.
In November, the venue for their Christmas Show in London was announced, and on 3rd December, ATF played what was to be their final UK show at the Dominion Theatre, in Tottenham Court Road. After a set from support band The Pinkees, ATF came on, free of the new romantic collars and cuffs, and looking more relaxed in jeans and T-shirts, they played their final show together. The set included the recent single Der Kommissar, and a lengthy improvised piece with a guitar-synth from Banks, leaving his keyboards, and stepping downstage to play it. After a well recieved set, they came back on for the encore, and Piercy announced to a numbed crowd that this was to be their last show. They finished with the old songs medley, and left the stage.
After ten years, ATF had come to the end of the road.
Adrian Gray, reviewing the show for Buzz, felt the decision to stop was the right one:
"There was too little variety, too many of Piercy's forced grins and no adventure. Few slow songs, nothing new. More show business than musical depth; silly hats and electronic diversion to keep the people amused, though really, the whole concert seemed to hinge too much on Andy Piercy's personality and stage presence."
"The old songs were dashed through at a great pace to give some value for money, but at the sad end was the sight of two men fighting over Piercy's shirt, something we can do without."
Their decision to give up, had meant, of course, shelving any plans for a new studio album. Not to be deprived of an oppertunity to get one more album, CBS hastily compiled a 13 track 'best of' album - entitled Der Kommissar to capitalise on the success of the last single - which was rushed out in December. Reviewed. Unexpectedly, the album is received favourably by the music press, who after years of caustic sarcasm, now seemed prepared for an objective analysis of the bands music. In Record Mirror, Chris wrote:
"I must note the fact that I have never heard so many imaginative introductions and subtle backing vocals. Perhaps even more I've rarely heard so much music on an LP since the good old days of the 60 minute chart compilations."
"After The Fire's rhythm section reminded me of The Pirates; fast and furious, strong and steady. However, neither is given prominence. This is reserved for keyboards and guitar which are often used to embellish the basic song. Vocals are standard rock, as are the lyrics: love, life and luck."
"The band have certainly done their work, it's a pity the record company didn't see fit to supply any details of producers, personnel or even the smallest sleeve note."
A late review of it in Sounds was similarly positive:
"Their 'healthy' kind of rock and roll may grate against those who prefer something more dismally meaningful from their heroes, but their bouncy, energetic and catchy pop songs have everything going for them except a fashionable bandwagon to hook them to."
"So CBS have packaged up their first three albums into a compilation which shows their deceptively simple style at it's best."
"As long as ATF don't start moaning about what could have been and keep at it, they'll strike lucky sooner or later."
The irony was that after suffering vilification at the hands of the press, now that they had decided to give up, the press were willing to acknowledge their worth. But that wasn't to be the only irony...
