Whatever happened to the Mobiles?

Dateline 31 January, 1982
The Mobiles, a young group from the south coast of England enter the top ten with their debut single Drowning in Berlin. It goes on to sell a quarter of a million copies worldwide and overnight they go from playing pubs on the south coast of England to performing to 10,000 people at Wembley Arena and touring Europe.

Dateline 31 January, 2026
44 years later, new single Dangerous Illusion is releasedand gets to Number 1 in the Heritage Charts in May 2026! Fed up appearing on music quiz shows as the perennial “one-hit wonder” answer, Russ, Chris and David, the writers of Drowning In Berlin are back together with a strong resolve and a hatful of ideas, and in just six months they had over 20 new songs!

Their second album in 44 years ( it’s never good to hurry things!) called Mosaic, has a release date set for October 2026. Apart from a bunch of cracking new tunes there are also two new versions of Berlin - one orchestral that will feature in a TV programme about German art - more on that soon . . .

The other hot news is that the new Mobiles line-upfeature’s the incredible vocal talent that is Hasting’s own Sarah G, completing the new line up alongside Russ, Chris and David.

So whatever happened to 1982's first breakthrough group of the year?

Chris Downtown (guitars, vox) says:
”We all had careers. As I draughtsman, I'd not long finished collaborating on the design of the Lord Heskith motor bike. There were just too many conflicting priorities back then combined with the fact that Berlin was our first record and we just weren’t prepared for the mayhem and maelstrom that followed . The band broke up at the end of that year and while David, Russ and I fully intended to make more records, it's just taken us a little while longer to get to it - well, 44 years to be exact! . . .”

New member Sarah G (lead vox) says:
“I can't wait to get on the road and tour the new Mobiles songs we’re building up in the recording studio. We just had a great live showcase gig at the Piper in St. Leonards and the tunes, both new and old really came alive. You can hear some of the set on our YT channel. I'm now the face and voice ofthe Mobiles and with Mosaic coming out this year, and it’s sooooo exciting”.

David (bass, keyboards) explains:
“I live in Madrid and Russ lives in Orkney. We'd both been away for years but by chance we were all in Bexhill at the same time and we all met up. Chris has guitars, keyboard, bass and a digital studio in his house. We did the hugs, drank tea and Chris said why don't we go in my studio. To cut to the chase we wrote three songs in two hours. It seemed like we’d never been apart” . . .

Russ (guitar, keyboards) continues:
“It was like we were 19 again it was unbelievable! The songs just flowed out and two from that first meeting in yonks are on the new album Mosaic. We just kept looking at each other and saying “Why haven’t we done this before?!” . . .

The band has been working on the songs in both Madrid and in the UK, with legendary music producer Ike Nossel (who has previously worked with the likes of McCartney, Elvis Costello, Paul Young among hundreds of famous industry names) and completed the first four tracks from Mosaic, including a new version of Drowning In Berlin. Ike says:

”Not only are they all talented song writers and performers, they also helped me put some furniture together while in my studio as well bringing in a good supply of coffee and snacks. I loved working on “Untergehen in Berlin” , the orchestral version of Berlin and I’m so pleased to work with the Mobilesand help them realize their 2026 sound”.

The Madrid tracks, including the new version of Drowning In Berlin and their first 2026 release, Dangerous Illusion (see the video on the New Music page) were cut in Mpire studios owned by the incredibly talented Javi Ustara.

Drowning in Berlin is much-loved by followers of 80’s electronica and the band have cult status as one of the early bands to develop the sound. The new LP Mosaic will be released in October 2026 and out in June, LockedIn in support of Alzheimer’s Society with all net proceeds donated through Work For Good . More about this new single very soon. Keep posted . . .

Amor Amor!
the Mobiles