The Wake are a British post-punk, synth-pop and later indie pop band, formed in Glasgow in 1981 by Gerard "Caesar" McInulty (formerly of Altered Images), Steven Allen (drums) and Joe Donnelly (bass), the latter replaced by Bobby Gillespie.
Gillespie was asked to leave in 1983, subsequently playing drums with The Jesus and Mary Chain and achieving fame with his own band Primal Scream.
The band toured extensively and scored an indie hit with their 1984 single "Talk About The Past" which featured Vini Reilly of Durutti Column on piano.
For a few years, McInulty concentrated on other activities outside of recording music – notably writing scripts for plays that featured Allen in an acting role.
McInulty and Allen eventually took up writing music again, and after a few tentative demos for possible new material later hooked up with Bobby Wratten (The Field Mice/Northern Picture Library/Trembling Blue Stars) under the name The Occasional Keepers.
The group marked Record Store Day in 2013 with a vinyl release of the album on the revived Factory Benelux imprint, and in July 2013 performed at the Indietracks Festival.
In late 2015 both Sarah Records albums by The Wake were reissued as remastered CDs, now expanded to include all tracks from the singles Crush the Flowers and Major John.