A Flock of Seagulls

A Flock of Seagulls sounds like synthesizers stretched in time and guitars cutting through the air with surgical precision. Their music doesn’t ask for permission: it bursts in with an artificial glow that, in the eighties, sounded like a future stolen from a science fiction movie. Mike Score’s keyboard draws melodies that repeat like an echo in an endless hallway, while Ali Score’s drums mark the rhythm with almost military precision. It’s no coincidence that their image — crimped hair dyed in impossible colors and tight clothing — became a visual trademark: the band understood before anyone else that, on television, sound and aesthetics were one and the same.

The leap to fame came when Mike Score went from singing in the studio to demonstrate how he wanted a song to sound to becoming the band’s public face. The idea came from Frank Maudsley, who saw in his voice a potential that he himself couldn’t quite believe. The name, A Flock of Seagulls, was born from a shout at a The Stranglers concert in Liverpool: someone on stage mentioned the phrase as a call, and the three friends took it as an omen. Fate led them to change their name from Level 7 just as Level 42 released their debut album, and from then on, the name stuck to their sound.