Turn Back the Clock with 80s Band Johnny Hates Jazz at Parr Hall

Iconic 80s band Johnny Hates Jazz will be visiting Parr Hall in December as part of a new tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of hit album Turn Back the Clock.

The duo will be performing their acclaimed debut album in its entirety to celebrate 30 years since its release on a full UK tour this December, with a visit to Warrington on 5 December.

In 1987, as the era of electronic pop and New Romanticism was reaching its culmination, Anglo-American group Johnny Hates Jazz, featuring Clark Datchler and Mike Nocito, were catapulted to success with the release of their single Shattered Dreams.

It became a Top 5 hit worldwide, reaching No.2 in the USA and Japan, and has since been played over 3.5 million times on American radio alone.

It was followed by other hits including the anti-war anthem I Don't Want to be a Hero, Turn Back the Clock featuring Kim Wilde and Heart of Gold.

Their debut album entered the UK charts at No.1, going double-platinum and selling 4 million copies in the process; it is arguably one of the definitive albums of the 1980s and is one of only two debut albums released by Virgin Records that immediately went to the top of the charts upon its release - the other being Never Mind the Bollocks by The Sex Pistols.

The band went their separate ways shortly afterwards, deciding to focus on other musical projects instead - over the next 20 years they completely lost contact with one and other.

But in 2010, original members Clark Datchler and Mike Nocito decided to come back together to write, record and produce a brand new Johnny Hates Jazz (JHJ) album.

Entitled Magnetized, the album was released in 2013 and the single of the same name became a huge radio hit in the UK and Germany.

Unfortunately, Clark collapsed in London shortly afterwards, and was diagnosed with a serious illness. All promotion came to an abrupt halt and he spent much of the following year recovering.

Johnny Hates Jazz began performing again at festivals in Europe and Asia and toured the UK in 2016, appearing at theatres across the country.

During this time Clark also joined forces with Genesis legend Mike Rutherford to co-write the new Mike and The Mechanics album Let Me Fly, released in April this year.

2017 began with JHJ being launched in China with a remix of the track Magnetized and a new video to accompany it; Clark and Mike are now back in the studio recording new material.

Tickets for the Warrington show go on sale this Friday, 14 July at 9am. A VIP package is also available for £89.

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