Sniff 'n' the Tears formed in 1978 and after releasing their first album Fickle Heart, had a worldwide hit with Driver’s Seat, which reached 15 on the billboard chart in the USA in 1979. The band toured extensively following the success of Driver’s Seat, including a two and a half month tour of the States, and performed and recorded together until 1982.

In the early nineties Driver’s Seat reached number one in Holland after being used in a car ad campaign which introduced it to a new generation and led to the band reforming for a European tour and to make another album. Hollywood films such as Boogie Nights and Anchor Man 2 as well as the series The Walking Dead have kept Driver’s Seat in the public eye, and it has become a perennial favourite loved by successive generations.

Although the band members have all been engaged with other projects in the intervening years, they have stayed in touch and continued to work together. Random Elements is the latest album with the full band.

In 2018, Paul Roberts and Les Davidson started performing together as an acoustic duo. The acoustic project marks a long-awaited return to live performance, and a new creative approach to Sniff’n’the Tears songs old and new. The latest Sniff’n’the Tears Acoustic album Jump, released January 2020, is about that discovery.

“Slice of life lyrics with a musical form that incorporates a distinct folk consciousness with rock, country twangs and synthesised shadings. The result is so irresistible that certain songs send chills through one’s body.”

— From a review of Fickle Heart, Billboard magazine, Ed Harrison 1979.

The band

Robin Langridge

Paul Roberts

Les Davidson

Paul Robinson

Nick South

The Sniff 'n' the Tears of today goes back to the early eighties. Only Robin did not play in the first incarnation, having first contributed to City Without Walls, Paul's first solo album for Sonet Records in 1985.

The Sniff 'n' the Tears story

by Paul Roberts, Sniff 'n' the Tears singer-songwriter

The first Sniff’n’the Tears was formed in 1973. I had access to the Rolling Stones rehearsal rooms in Bermondsey, London. Trevor Churchill was interested in signing us to the new Rolling Stones record label for which he was MD. We played the London pub and club scene at the time. Things were promising but fell apart when first the guitarist Eddie Farah left to return to his native Iran and nothing materialised with the record label. In the end the only thing they put out was Howling Wolf.

I decided after a disappointed romance to set off on an adventure trip with a friend to the South of France. We duly arrived penniless in St Tropez. Tried a bit of busking but ended up doing portrait sketches on the harbour side. Ended up staying about two months, during which time I met a French singer called Robert Frank. Robert an extraordinary character, said if I went to Paris he could get me a record deal. I went to Paris. Not only did he get me a record deal he got me a gig singing in a restaurant on the Isle St Louis, he got me somewhere to live in the ‘Chambre de bonne’ of a lovely French lady with four beautiful daughters in the center of Paris. The Record Deal was with another French singer called Jacques Monty. I was happy to sign with him as he was a nice guy but sadly he was not there for long, I suddenly had to deal with Jean Claude Pellerin who was not so nice. I made a single called “Give Me A Sign” which started off really well with some very good and suitable musicians. But suddenly the producer Jean Manuel De Scarano decided to make it more commercial with a four on the floor disco beat, which for me ruined it. I did get to work with Jean Luc Ponty who arranged strings for the B Side “Sing” which was great. Pellerin then asked me to make some demos that he could take to Midem (a sort of music trade fair in Cannes) where he would meet the head of A&M Record Jerry Moss. I made the demos in Pathway studios in London Jean Manuel in attendance. We did about 14 songs in an afternoon. Jerry Moss liked them and wanted to sign me to A&M, Jean Claude said no he wanted a licensing deal. No sensible person was going to do that, so back to square one.

Nothing really happened after that other than being asked to help with the lyrics for a band called ‘Paris Palace Hotel’ who were recording an album in Belgium. There were two main songwriters one was Patrick Hernandez the othe also called Patrick. Their English was not good so I was sent to Brussels to help out. The Lyrics were a joke some were a cut up of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass”. they had one song that I thought had Possibilities, called “Born To Be Alive”. So I stupidly wrote a lyric for it. One word was changed I wrote “Time was on my side when I was running doen the road my life to find.” He exchange Road for Street, in effect he went to the shops I went in search of adventure. When Pellerin realised I had written the lyrics he said to Patrick with me there, “if you use these lyrics you have to credit Paul.” Patrick said “I won’t use them.” He did of course use them. I only found out when it became a big hit for Patrick three or four years later. The original version was very influenced by the Doobie Brothers, the Hernandez version was pure Disco.

After this I returned to London and got more involved with Painting again. I started showing with Nicholas Treadwell in 1976. When one of my paintings made the cover of the Observer Colour Supplement I got a call from Luigi Salvoni who had drummed on the demos as well as supplying the musicians. He asked if he could play the demos to Ted Carrol at Chiswick Records. Thus the second Sniff’n’The Tears was born. Ted would have put the demos out but Lou persuaded him to cut a new album. The album was Fickle Heart, and the first single Driver's Seat. To everyone's amazement Driver's Seat became a critical and commercial success around the world, reaching fifteen on the Billboard chart in the USA in 1979. Fickle Heart was made in a couple of weeks with a young engineer called Steve Lipsom. Sniff’n’The Tears was effectively Me and Lou as all the musicians declined to take a punt on forming a band. The touring band was paid wages.

This success meant tours in Europe and the USA, and also the departure of Luigi who disagreed with some of the things that were happening. Coming back from a two and a half month tour of America we went into the studio and recorded The Game's Up, many of the songs having been thoroughly played-in on the tour. Steve Lipson, who had engineered the first one, was now producing and the whole process was both creative and a lot of fun. Love/Action followed in 1981, with Mike Howlett producing and introducing us to a perhaps more diciplined approach. Mike had current chart success with ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark’ It was the 1980s and the sound Mike gave us was very eighties, not what I really wanted. In 2020 I remixed the album the way it should have been. We were by this point a band. Les Davidson on guitar, Mike Taylor on keyboards, Nick South bass and Jamie Lane on Drums. I think this band had real prospects but we were thwarted when the American label MCA had a new boss who decided to clear out the catalogue to put his personal stamp on things.

Our swan song for Chiswick was Ride Blue Divide in 1982. Hungry Eyes, Ride Blue Divide and Gold stood out. But the momentum had somehow passed and the band decided to call it a day.

The band in 1978

Alan Fealdman - Loz Netto - Mick Dyche - Paul Roberts - Chris Birkin - Luigi Salvoni

Sniff'n'TheTears, Archway, London, 1978

The band in 1979

ront Row L - R Mick Dyche - Paul Roberts - Luigi Salvoni Back Row L - R Nick South - Keith Miller - Loz Netto 1979

The band in 1980

L - R Nick South - Paul Roberts - Les Davidson - Mike Taylor - Jamie Lane. Photo : Brian Griffin

Sniff'n'The Tears play the Top Ten club Hamburg, 1981

Top Ten Cub, Hamburg, 1981

The band in 1982

Sniff'n'The Tears, 1992

Photo - Serge Krouglikoff

Since that time things refuse to stand still. In the early nineties, Driver's Seat was used in two highly successful advertising campaigns in Holland and Germany, catapulting it into the charts in these countries and reaching the No 1 spot in Holland in 1992. Hollywood films like Boogie Nights and Anchor Man 2 as well as The Walking Dead have kept Driver's Seat in the public eye, so it has become a perennial favourite seemingly loved by successive generations.

I went on to make a couple of solo albums, City Without Walls in 1985 and Kettle Drum Blues in 1987, for Sonet Records. Then in 1992 after a Sniff'n'the Tears tour of Germany and Holland a new Sniff album called No Damage Done. Unable to resist the lure of music making I've continued working on new records in my own home studio, unconstrained by the imperatives of commerce and enjoying the wonders of new technology. Happy to say, Les Davidson, Nick South, Richard MarcAngelo and Paul Robinson who all served time in the original band, all play on the new albums. Along with long time partner in crime, keyboard player Robin Langridge. These albums, Underground, Downstream and now Random Elements have been hugely rewarding to make and I commend them to you with pride.

From the various musicians who passed through the ranks of Sniff 'n' the Tears, I still speak to Luigi from time to time and we have remained friends. Loz Netto is still playing but sadly Mick died in 2018. Mick Taylor fell for a girl in Hamburg on one of our tours and now lives there with her. Alan Feldman has been working with Lou and Noel McCalla, and Jamie Lane is now a producer. Life goes on.

Paul Roberts