Our Daughters Wedding

A prototypical early-'80s synthesizer act, New York trio Our Daughters Wedding is best remembered for the 1981 disco crossover hit "Lawnchairs." Motivated by the punk revolution, the band formed as a standard guitar/bass/drums rock unit in 1977. Taking their group's name from the section divider in a greeting card display stand, members Layne Rico (synthesizers), Keith Silva (vocals/synthesizers) and Scott Simon (saxophone/synthesizers) kept the outfit running with its original instrumentation until 1978. In 1979, the three decided to re-form the band, using rhythm machines and synthesizers. Much like the group's most obvious sources of inspiration -- electronic trailblazers Kraftwerk and Suicide -- Rico, Silva, and Simon viewed their band as coming firmly from the rock tradition. In interviews, they claimed to have little in common with then-contemporary synth-driven acts like Depeche Mode and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who they decried as gimmicky fluff. On their own Design label, Our Daughters Wedding made their vinyl debut in the summer of 1980 with "Nightlife," a three-song 7." In November of that year, the band released its second single, "Lawnchairs," which quickly gained attention on college radio and in the dance clubs in major U.S. cities. Based on the strength of the record's showing, EMI America signed the group and re-released "Lawnchairs," which reached Number 49 on the British charts and peaked at Number 31 on the Billboard disco chart. The group followed up with a 12" EP., "Digital Cowboy" (1981) and an album, Moving Windows (1982). Unable to recapture the chart success of "Lawnchairs," the band broke up in 1983. ~ Peter Aaron, All Music Guide