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Cover of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry's 1985 debut album, "Talk About The Weather" [Red Rhino]

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry is a rock band that was formed in Leeds, England in early 1981.

The band was formed by guitarist/songwriter Chris Reed and vocalist Mark Sweeney, along with bassist Steve Smith and drummer Mick Brown (who would later join The Mission UK). Sweeney left the band in late 1981 and Reed permanently took over as vocalist, with Martin Fagan joining as a second guitarist. The group's sound, featuring a numbing guitar drone, powerfully throbbing drums, and Reed's cavernous vocal tones, caused the Lorries (as their fans came to call them) to be quickly lumped into the then-developing gothic rock scene by pop journalists, although the band themselves preferred to cite Killing Joke and Wire as influences.

In 1982, independent record label Red Rhino signed the band based on the strength of some of the group's demos. Their first single was "Beating My Head" later that year. The song made a strong appearance on the influential New Musical Express (NME) independent record chart. Fagan and Smith soon departed the band, to be replaced by Dave Wolfenden and Paul Southern respectively. While numerous other personnel changes would occur in the history of the band, Wolfenden became a mainstay and a frequent songwriting partner of Reed's during the band's most productive period. In 1983 and 1984, several more singles would be released by the band (including "He's Read" and "Monkeys On Juice"). In 1985, the band's debut album, Talk about the Weather, was released and reached #1 on the NME indie rock chart. The album, which most fans consider to be the band's best, received generally positive reviews and sold extremely well for a small label offering. "Hollow Eyes", a single taken from the album, obtained good sales as well, as did follow-up non-LP singles "Chance" and "Spinning Round", the latter of which is generally felt to be the Lorries's strongest song.

The band released one more album on Red Rhino (Paint Your Wagon) in 1986, a single (“Cut Down”) and a four track EP (“Crawling Mantra”, released as by The Lorries), before signing to Situation Two, an off-shoot of major label Beggars Banquet Records. Two albums followed, 1988's Nothing Wrong and 1989's Blow. Neither one of the Beggars Banquet albums appeared on any mainstream pop charts. Singles, including “Only Dreaming (Wide Awake)” and “Open Up” (which upon its release was chosen by NME as the magazine’s Single of the Week), also failed to chart, and the band was subsequently dropped by the label. In 1991, the band released Blasting Off on the tiny Sparkhead label. Despite the relative strength of the song "Talking Back" (released as a single prior to the LP), the album was considered a major disappointment by fans and sold poorly. Reed broke up what was left of the band at that point.

In 2003, Reed revived the name Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and released four new songs in 2004, available via internet download only on the band’s website. The band toured frequently in the UK during 2004 and 2005, but no additional Red Lorry Yellow Lorry material has subsequently appeared to date. In 2006, Reed released an acoustic-based album, Minimal Animal, utilizing the band name of "Chris Reed Unit" [1].

• Talk about the Weather (1985)
• Paint Your Wagon (1986)
• Smashed Hits (1987) Collection
• Nothing Wrong (1988)
• Blow (1989)
• Blasting Off (1991)
• The Singles 1982 – 87 (1994) Collection
• Generation (1994) Collection
• The Very Best Of (2000) Collection
• Nothing Wrong / Blow (2001)

• "Beating My Head" (1982)
• "Take It All" (1983)
• "He’s Read" (1983)
• "This Today" EP (1983)
• "Monkey’s On Juice" (1983)
• "Hollow Eyes" (1984)
• "Chance" (1985)
• "Spinning Round" (1985)
• "Walking On Your Hands" (1986)
• "Cut Down" (1986)
• "Paint Your Wagon" 7” Only (1986)
• "Crawling Mantra" EP, released as by The Lorries (1987)
• "Nothing Wrong" (1988)
• "Open Up" (1988)
• "Only Dreaming (Wide Awake)" (1988)
• "Temptation" (1989)
• "Talking Back" (1991)

• Gothic Rock Volume 2: 80's Into 90's (1995)

• Red Lorry Yellow Lorry official homepage
• Trouser Press: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry entry