Formed in the early 80’s, Normil Hawaiians were a South London collective with an aesthetic informed by the social, economic and political context of the time. With an ever-changing line-up, Normil Hawaiians responded to and reflected on the state of the society then, under the harsh Thatcher government policies. With a couple of album releases under their belt, 1982’s More Wealth Than Money and 1984’s What’s Going On, the band went on to write and record a third album in the winter of 1985/86 called Return of the Ranters. Guy Smith, Simon Marchant, Alun ‘Wilf’ Williams, Noel Blanden and Jimmy Miller, who made up Normil Hawaiians at this time, had to go separate ways before the album ever got released. Thirty years on, Return of the Ranters is finally coming out. The project got the attention of Upset The Rhythm, who scoured the vaults for the original tapes to be remastered and will release the record for the first time on October 23rd. The effort is described as “lucid, candid, politically engaged, rarely metronomic but always humane, tired but still fighting”.
To celebrate the long-awaited release, Normil Hawaiians are reuniting for a one-off show at the Lexington in London on October 24th.
Here’s a great taste of what’s to come, the album’s opening track, ‘Sianne Don’t Work In A Factory’.

In other related good news, Upset The Rhythm are also working on reissuing Normil Hawaiians’s debut album More Wealth Than Money and its follow-up What’s Going On. These reissues will be paired with liner notes, bonus tracks, rehearsal takes, rarities and singles. We’ll keep an eye out for updates on this.