T W E L V E 8 8 C A R T E L

Twelve 88 Cartel were formed at Portsmouth College of Art and Design in 1984 and played their first gig at Portsmouth Polytechnic a year later.  The line up was myself, known then as IG: Synths, Programming, Bass - Chiaro (Tim Martin) Guitars -  Floyd (Ed Jobling) Vocals and Cornet.  

Apart from some compilations, all the releases were on the legendary Bite Back! label also home to Cranes and many others.

The band performed live many times alongside Cranes and also had support slots with The Redskins, Slab amongst others. 

Tolerate, a track from "Tension Crush EP" received plays on Mark Radcliffe's Radio One show and on the John Peel show where he revealed he"always though Twelve 88 Cartel was a somewhat cumbersome name for a band"  the video for Bell Song from the same EP also had plays on Paul King's 100 Minutes show on MTV. 

In 2015 I was contacted by the label Domestica who are based in Barcelona.  They specialise in high quality vinyl re-issues of 80s and 90s electronic music.

The track Flags On A Hill from the "We Encourage Resistance" album was included in their Domestic Landscape Volume 2 compilation which received airplay from Silent Servant on his NTS radio show.  Considering it was re-mastered from a cassette copy of the original master, they did a great job - the artwork is especially good.  We're still hoping the whole album will be released at some point.