Artist

Section 25

United Kingdom • Formed 1977

Section 25 is a music group from United Kingdom, active since 1977. Their discography on Gatefold includes 8 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1977

Since

Biography

Section 25 was formed in Blackpool, Lancashire, United Kingdom in November 1977. Initially they were a duo, consisting of brothers Larry Cassidy (bass, vocals) and Vincent Cassidy (drums). In June 1978 they made their live debut, and in November were joined by guitarist Paul Wiggin. Their debut 7", Girls Don't Count, was released in 1980 on Factory Records, produced by Rob Gretton and Ian Curtis of Joy Division. All Section 25 releases would be released through Factory Records.

The Arc of Section 25

The pivots — what forced Section 25 to reinvent.

The Hannett Austerity
Producer Martin Hannett took the band into Strawberry Studios and applied his signature psychological warfare, forcing the Cassidy brothers to record in separate rooms to kill any natural chemistry. This resulted in Always Now, a record defined by vast, freezing gaps of silence and drums that sound like a hammer hitting a lead pipe. You hear the gear struggling against the cold—unforgiving bass lines and guitar feedback that feels surgically detached from the melody. It remains the peak of Factory’s obsession with sonic isolation.
The Roland Transition
By 1984, the band ditched the post-punk gloom for a Roland TR-808 and the heavy influence of Bernard Sumner behind the mixing desk. From The Hip moved the operation from the basement to the club, replacing the jagged guitar stabs with shimmering, arpeggiated synths. Looking From A Hilltop became an unexpected blueprint for the burgeoning techno scene in Detroit, proving that the Blackpool boys could actually write a hook when they stopped trying to sound like a haunted house. It was a total pivot from dirt to chrome.
The Family Heritage
After a long silence and the tragic loss of Jenny Cassidy, the band reformed as a literal family affair with Larry and Vin bringing in the next generation to handle the vocals. The production on the later LTM and Factory Benelux releases lost the high-budget sheen of the eighties, favoring a DIY electronic approach that felt more grounded and less aimed at the charts. It turned Section 25 into a living archive, trading the cold fury of their youth for a steady, rhythmic pulse that acknowledged their own survival.

Influences

Can — The Cassidy brothers explicitly cited the krautrock pioneers for their approach to repetitive, motorik rhythms. You hear it in the relentless, locked-in bass grooves of their early singles like 'Girls Don't Count.' It’s that same sense of building tension through endurance rather than chord changes.
Joy Division — Being on Factory meant they were in the direct orbit of Ian Curtis and company, often sharing bills and the same production desk. The skeletal, high-register bass lines on their debut are a direct response to Peter Hook’s style. They took that blueprint and stripped even more of the humanity out of it.
The Stooges — Before the synths arrived, the band was obsessed with the raw, nihilistic energy of Iggy Pop. That influence shows up in the sheer abrasive nature of their 1980 live sets, where they prioritized volume and confrontation over melody. It’s the garage-rock DNA buried under the Manchester rain.
Kraftwerk — The shift toward 'From The Hip' was fueled by an obsession with the precise, synthesized textures of Computer World. You hear the direct lineage in their move toward sequencers and the rejection of the traditional rock quartet setup. They traded the Blackpool grit for the Dusseldorf grid.
Public Image Ltd — Metal Box was a massive touchstone for the band’s early sonic architecture and their use of dub-heavy space. The way they let the bass carry the entire weight of a track while the guitar just slashes at the edges is straight out of the Keith Levene playbook. It’s all about the architecture of the noise.