Later that year the band was joined by Andy Hughson on trumpet, another De La Salle old boy.  The lads made regular appearances at Manchester’s popular venue The Gallery on Peter St.  One such gig on a Monday night saw the band accommodate a now famous support act at the eleventh hour.  After setting up the gear, The Gallery manager, the ubiquitous Peter Gresty asked the band if they objected to an eleventh hour switch to the programme; another band was coming up from London and it was suggested they should go on first.  The venue started filling up – unusual for a Monday night – and eventually the other band arrived.  They played for what seemed like hours to a full house of appreciative teenagers.  As time ticked by, Agency Music were just keen to get on and play in front of such a great crowd, and were privately looking forward to a decent pay day as they were on door money that night.  The band finished their set, but before Agency Music could take to the stage, the place emptied, leaving just a handful of hardy souls to play too.  Funnily enough, the door money never materialised either.  Oh, and the other band was none other than Marillion!

In early 1983, and after another stint in the studio (this time at Cavalier Studios in Stockport), the lads jumped in the back of Fergus’s transit van and took their demo tape comprising Stalemate, Parcel of Love, Red Balloon and Pulse down to London to impress the A&R men.  This proved fruitful and the band got what they thought would be their lucky break when they were enlisted to appear on the second series of the pop/rock music programme “The Tube”.

Tyne Tees Television paid for studio time in Stockport’s Strawberry Studios and the band recorded Together.  The cameras came to town one Saturday morning soon afterwards to film the band miming to the track at The Gallery.  To the utter disbelief of the band, the recording was never shown and the lads were told the film crew had screwed up the edit and their dreams now lay in shreds on the cutting room floor.  The band members each banked £125 for their trouble and wondered how they would bounce back from this bitter disappointment.

In an effort to regroup and adapt, the band decided to expand to a 7-piece, although this was all decided without the knowledge of singer Paul.  Andy recruited his mates from the City of Salford Youth Concert Band and new band members Ian Rouse (trumpet), Steve Ankers (trombone) and Dave Ellicot (percussion) rehearsed secretly for the band’s next gig at Smugglers.  When Paul arrived for the gig he wondered what all the extra gear was for, but was soon won over by the wall of sound that was Agency Music’s new brass and percussion section.

Spurred on by the new sound the band continued their quest for recognition.  Through their association with Yvonne, the sound engineer at The Gallery, the guys were introduced to Chris Nagle, who was at the time the in-house engineer at Strawberry Studios.  Chris secured some free recording time at Strawberry and the guys recorded Parcel of Love, Red Balloon and Pulse. 

More gigs followed as the new line up polished up their set list, and the band played at Salford University in the autumn of 1983.  Andy was currently attending the university studying for a business degree and secured the band a gig in front of a packed Student Union audience which was covered by the local press, providing the band with more exposure.

Whilst working with Chris Nagle at Strawberry Studios the guys had been introduced to local record impresario and founder of Rabid Records, Tosh Ryan.  Tosh produced a music video of the band at his house in Didsbury, featuring Pulse and Stalemate. 

In line with Tony Wilson’s succinct character assessment, Tosh moved in the right circles and was able to convince Steve Edney at London Records the band was worthy of some more studio time, and so the band found themselves back in Cavalier Studios.  Steve was sent the master tape and followed that with a visit to Manchester to see the band perform live at The Gallery. 

This was to be the band’s second chance to impress the “men in suits”.  It may have been the band’s dodgy cover version of Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White, or Yvonne’s excessive use of echo on the mix, but Steve Edney departed with encouraging words that were sadly not matched by his deeds, and another opportunity had apparently slipped the band by. 

Undeterred, the band continued plugging away and was rewarded with a return gig at Salford University, this time supporting British reggae outfit Misty in Roots in the Maxwell Hall.  This was perhaps the biggest crowd the band had ever played to, and they took encouragement from the appreciative audience. 

In a final push to gain national recognition, Annie Nightingale was invited to see the band play a hastily arranged gig at The Wendover Hotel in Monton.  Not your usual gig venue, the band filled the room with family and friends, and Ian’s brother Simon was despatched to Piccadilly train station to pick Annie up.  The train was delayed but with an impatient audience to please, the band started off their set.  With a sense of déjà vu, the audience were treated to some repeated numbers after Annie had finally arrived.  Perhaps it was the odd make-up of the audience, perhaps it was the odd venue, perhaps Simon had made a pass at Annie on the way back to the station, or perhaps it was Jimmy’s shorts!  Whatever it was, the lads had not done enough to impress the Radio 1 DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter. 

This final disappointment proved too much to bear, and Agency Music gradually disintegrated as band members left to pursue other interests.  Fergus was the first to leave, being replaced briefly by Dave Carroll of The Adorables.  Singer Paul left soon afterwards to concentrate on finishing his drama degree at Manchester University, closely followed by Jimmy, who left to take up a job with the Post Office. 

Did stardom follow for any of the band?