A Flock of Seagulls is a synthpop group originally formed by brothers Mike ( keyboards, vocals) and Ali Score ( drums), with Frank Maudsley ( bass) and Paul Reynolds ( guitar) that gained popularity and subsquently infamy in the early days of MTV with the video for their song "I Ran" which showcased the lead singer Mike Score's distinct haircut. To this day they remain firmly identified with the song, and the early '80s.
As with countless other groups of English origin, A Flock Of Seagulls was centered around two brothers, in this case Mike and Ali Score. The band started off in 1979 in Liverpool as a trio with Mike on the keyboards and vocals (and the occasional guitar) along with Ali on the drums and Mike’s friend Frank Maudsley on bass. Realizing quickly that their sound needed to be "filled out" a bit, the band brought aboard guitarist Paul Reynolds after a few months of looking around for a suitable addition and then went about the usual business of writing songs, playing clubs and trying to land themselves a record contract.
A striking aspect of the early A Flock Of Seagulls is that their music is quite simple in construction, and executed with little flash on behalf of the band. While the resulting clean, basic sound may well have been due to their limited abilities as players, it nevertheless made them stand out even more so from the rest of the emerging field, who tended to fill up the spaces in their music with sequenced arpeggios or extraneous electronic percussion effects. Rather than follow this lead, A Flock Of Seagulls chose to leave those spaces wide open, resulting in a sound that soared and conjured up visions of limitless night-time starscapes rather than fancy clothes and swanky night clubs.