Nick Halls, bass guitarist Karl Watson and drummer Bam completed the line-up. The Dogs D'Amour played around fifty live shows during this era and recorded two separate recording session demos. On the strength of the demos, the band was signed to a record deal with Kumibeat Records from Finland. However, shortly before the band was scheduled to record their first album, Christie left the band in late 1983 because of musical differences with guitarist Tyla. Another reason for the split was that Christie had recently started another band with Bam called On The Wire and had his own recording commitments scheduled with that band, around the same time that the Dogs D'Amour were due to record their own first album. The entire line-up with the exception of Tyla and Watson left the band during this time. The State We're In: Tyla rebuilds the band Tyla took over on lead vocals (while still playing guitar) to replace Ned Christie and recorded the band's first album, The State We're In, in early 1984. Dave Kusworth from The Jacobites and Paul Hornby from The Gunslingers were both brought in on guitar and drums to round out the complete band line-up. Hornby had been a founding member of another London band, The Quireboys, earlier in the year. The following year, the band returned from Finland to the UK and supported Johnny Thunders who was touring for the Que Sera, Sera album at the time. Original Dogs' drummer Bam came back to replace Hornby, and Jo "Dog" Almeida took over from Kusworth on guitar when he left to continue The Jacobites with Nikki Sudden. The Dogs D'Amour then signed a contract with a Japanese label Watanabe, but did not release any material with them. More changes came during this period when, bass guitarist Karl Watson left and was replaced by Mark Duncan. However, Duncan's stay in the band was only brief and he gave way for the Swiss bass guitarist Mark Drax for a tour in Paris, France. The classic era: late 1980s, early 1990s A more permanent bass guitarist was recruited by 1987. Steve James was part of what would be known as the "classic" Dogs line-up which also included Tyla, Jo "Dog" Almeida and Bam. This line-up signed a record deal with China Records in 1988. The band released its second album In The Dynamite Jet Saloon in 1988. Essentially, this is the