The Vapors was formed around vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Dave Fenton, an ex solicitor. Other members were ex-hospital porter Edward Bazagette on lead guitar, ex-Sainsbury's man Howard Smith on drums and Steve Smith on bass (no relation)

Steve smith said in April 1980: "There's been a band called The Vapors around for a long time in the Guildford area. There were three bands in Guildford that mattered and the other two split up, which just coincided with a lot of people leaving The Vapors, or being thrown out; so we all came together like that."
"And then, Bruce Foxton saw us at Godalming, and he gave us a couple of supports. Then Bruce brought John Weller down to see us an they were interested in managing us and so it was agreed - and record companies are always interested in good management, it always helps. And we've gone on from there."

Their first single after signing with the Liberty label was "Prisoners" but their second single "Turning Japanese" became a huge hit all over the world, especially in the U.S. Successful tours to the States and Australia followed. "News At Ten", the follow-up single to "Turning Japanese", charted quite well. It was after the U.S. tour in late 1980 that the band began preparations for their second album with production by David Tickle (Splitz End). The first fruits of this partnership was the "Spiders" 45 released on January 1981. The album itself, "Magnets" was released on March and was supported by a full UK tour and attracted rave reviews from 'Record Mirror' and 'Trouser Press'.

A re-mixed version of one the albums stand-out tracks "Jimmi Jones" was released on May 18th. But later when John Weller informed the Vapors that he'd have to resign as their manager, In August 1981, about a month after the release of "Jimmie Jones", the Vapors called it a day.

Or as Dave Fenton remembers it: "The record company had booked the studio to begin work on our seventh single," he says, recalling the final moment. "It was a new song, "Red Flag, and the A&R guy came down to the rehearsal room to see what it sounded like. We ran through it on the Thursday and we were due to record it, and produce it ourselves, on the Saturday and Sunday. This guy took us down to the pub afterward and said, "Yeah, sounds brilliant, chaps". He took the tape away, but then pulled the plug on the studio on the Friday. Suddenly the sessions were off. I thought, "Sod this. I can't work with people who can't even tell me to my face if they don't like something". So that was it. I'd had enough."

Pär Engstrom