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Up to the point of 2006 the band in its umpteenth line up change
chose to part company with the then singer Jimmy Pursey. That
point the band was at its lowest with no shows and low turn outs
things had to change...both Dave Parsons and Ian Whitewood
recruited the now singer Tim V and set about reworking the
band..this took the form of Tim V and the band working the UK
righting the wrongs they inherited and touring as was the nature
of SHAM 69. That took them the length and breath of Britain and
within the first year they had toured the UK and the USA...and
released their first original album in years. From there word
got out and though it was tough on the fans to face change, like
many bands today it stood the test and saw them tour the world
tirelessly taking in countries such as Australia, Japan, Russia
and China. Also in this time they released 3 more original
albums and had made a movie which is still touring the Movie
Festival market. Of course things have changed but to many true
fans who know and have followed the band they still command
respect which still see's them touring and keeping the true
faith of what SHAM 69 original stood for!
Formed in 1984, Merthyr Punk Rock band Foreign Legion have
worked tirelessly to become a force to be reckoned with within
the music industry. Their powerful stage presence is renowned
for its raw energy and the band never fails to deliver a show
that absolutely rocks. Over the years Foreign Legion has shared
the stage with names like Johnny Rotten, Mick Jones and Joe
Strummer and acts like The Buzzcocks, PIL, The UK Subs and The
RUTS DC to name just a few. Foreign Legion are the only Welsh
Band ever to play CBGB’s in New York city and are proud to have
played a number of fundraising gigs for the striking miners back
in ‘84’. In 2003 their album, ‘What goes around comes around’
was produced by the legendary Mick Jones from The Clash. Foreign
Legion are Marcus/Vocals Si Bendon/Guitar Dave Linehan/Bass Greg
Boulton/Drums
Chron Gen are Glynn Barber (vocals/guitar), John “JJ” Johnson
(drums), Roy Horner (bass), Fraser Britten (guitarist) This is
the Age, but before that there was this: Chronic Generation was
born in a Hertfordshire school music room, one rainy afternoon
in 1977 and raised on a healthy diet of playing Pistols, Clash &
Damned covers with assorted mates on vocals. November 1979 sees
the Hitchin based Chronic Generation play their first gig at a
6th form party. Early 1980 the band start to pick up a local
following and drop half their name. 1981 - The band release
1,000 copies of their self financed debut EP Puppets of War on
the Gargoyle label. Later signed to Fresh Records it spends
almost ten months in the UK Independent Chart, peaking at number
4. Selling over 45,000 copies it was one of the top selling
Indie singles of the year. With the success of the EP, Chron Gen
go from local youth club to the Lyceum, London in front of 3,000
people and are invited to join The Exploited, Discharge and
Anti-Pasti on the now infamous Apocalypse tour in the UK in the
summer of 1981. The tour rips up all four corners of the country
and brings Chron Gen to the nations youth, gaining them many
column inches in the weekly music press, who can’t quite
categorise their more ‘tuneful’ approach to Punk songwriting!
They sign to Miles Copeland’s Step Forward label and release
‘Reality’ before moving to Secret Records, who issue the band’s
debut album, Chronic Generation, in March 1982, reaching number
53 on the UK Albums Chart. It is the last release to feature Jon
Thurlow, who is replaced by Mark ‘Floyd’ Alison. The band joined
The Anti Nowhere League on their UK ‘So What’ tour and then an
18 date tour of the United States in support of the album. After
a further single, Outlaw, Pete Dimmock left to join Chelsea and
is replaced by Liverpool’s finest bass player, Roy Horner in
1983. The band’s final studio release was the 1984 mini-album
Nowhere to Run, which was recorded be-fore Horner joined and
featured session musician Nigel Ross-Scott on bass. The band
split up in October 1984, subsequently reforming to play
occasional reunion shows. Floyd later joined The Occasional
Tables. He died on 31 October 1999. Pete Dimmock died on the
12th August 2011. 2016 . New album released & band are invited
to play Rebellion Festival !
In 1978
the 17 year old punks Peter Bywaters and Del Strangefish founded
PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES in the small town of Peacehaven
near Brighton. After a couple of rehearsals they made their
first recording ‘Elvis Is Dead’ which appeared on the Vaultage
‘78 compilation of Brighton new wave bands. Radio 1 DJ John Peel
loved the song instantly and produced a John Peel session with
the TEST TUBE BABIES. The success was breath taking and PETER
AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES became one of the hottest unsigned
bands in the UK overnight. The first single ‘Banned From The
Pubs’ followed fast, and fans and press freaked out in equal
measure. From that moment everything went crazy, sold out
concert halls in England and Europe and their big success in the
media pushed their debut album Pissed And Proud to #1 in the
English independent charts. Directly after that The Mating
Sounds Of South American Frogs was released – a must have for
every record collection – and sold more than 100.000 copies,
resulting in invitations from far and wide. THE TEST TUBES
BABIES played shows all over the world and cemented their status
as one of the most brilliant and funniest live bands in punk
rock culture. They also had the honour to represent the United
Kingdom at the historical MTV East/West party to celebrate the
fall of the Berlin wall. A few bass players and drummers have
served their time in the band, but the songwriters Peter & Del
have always been the foundation of PETER AND THE TEST TUBE
BABIES and together wrote records like Soberphobia, and the
brilliantSupermodels, which brought them their comeback in 1995.
Around this time the DVD Paralitico (Spanish: crazy disturbed
perception, elicited by alcoholic and other suggestive excesses)
was released , followed triumphantly by the albums A Foot Full
Of Bullets and For A Few Bullets More with the guest appearances
of Campino ( DIE TOTEN HOSEN ) and Olga fromTHE TOY DOLLS. All
three products sold out worldwide. However, constant touring
around the world made it nearly impossible to record a new
record, until the day when Lars Friedrickson from RANCID told
Peter at the REBELLION festival and Campino told Del in a hotel
bar in Stuttgart: “I’m in need of a good, new Test Tubes album.”
Del and Peter didn’t need to be told twice. Recruiting Nick
Abnett and Sam Fuller on bass and drums respectively, was a
masterstroke giving THE TEST TUBES the impetus to create their
best album ever – the highly acclaimed That Shallot. Featuring
not just one, but two hit singles ( None of Your Fucking
Business and Crap Californian Punk Band ) , That Shallot is the
album that the critics are raving about and the fans are buying
in ever increasing numbers. Next year ( 2018 ) is the TEST TUBES
40th year , but nothing can hold them back from going on tour
again and presenting their new record That Shallot. The band
surprisingly now states: “We’ve actually held back our best
record until just before retirement and we’re more than happy
that we were able to create this.” Now THE TEST TUBE BABIES are
planning more and even bigger things. For example to celebrate
their 40th anniversary in 2018, the band will soon present their
own TEST TUBE BABIES festival. PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES
remain indestructible.
Micky Bones – vocals / Ollie Hoon – guitar / Ben Hanson– bass /
Kevin Nixon– drums Anti-Pasti’s street fighting punk’n’roll
anthems for the underdog strike a chord as relevant now as it’s
ever been. The industrial rumble of their Midlands home may have
given way to the sleek hiss of hi-tech engineering, but
Anti-Pasti’s thunderous locomotive rolls on untamed. “I like to
think of us as a socially aware band,” explains drummer Kevin
Nixon. “The new stuff has that certain power, as did the old,
but perhaps with a little more maturity and a wider world view.
Although Anti-Pasti sit proud among the list of bands who rode
the wave of early Eighties punk, there have been qualities that
always set them apart. “Musically, we never thought of ourselves
as being like many of our contemporaries,” says Nixon. “We had
great arrangements and key changes although at the time that was
partly to hide musical limitations. “The nuclear countdown clock
was ticking loud in the early Eighties so of course that was a
hot topic and a lot of our lyrics were anti-war – you look
around the globe now and not a lot has changed. “We wrote songs
about the rising dangers of extremism and the corruption of
belief, but we dropped some of those back in the day as we were
worried that it may attract the wrong type of punk or skinhead,
because at the time violence and hooliganism were rife and we
didn’t want that label. “Our new material is very much the in
the same vein, using topics that provoke a bit of fury. This is
a new chapter … Founded in 1978 in Derby, Martin Roper on
vocals, Dugi Bell on guitar, Stu Winfield on bass and Stan Smith
on drums released their debut EP, "Four Sore Points", featuring
the all-time punk rock classic "No Government", on their own
Dose record label. Winfield and Smith were soon replaced by
Nixon on drums and Will Hoon on bass before the group signed to
Rondelet Records and re-released "Four Sore Points" and the "Let
Them Free" single in January 1981. The same year their debut
album, "The Last Call" reached number 1 in the Indie Charts and
spent seven weeks in the UK Album Chart, peaking at No. 31.
Third single, "Six Guns", reached number 1 in the UK Indie
Chart, as did the joint 12” single with The Exploited "Don't Let
'Em Grind You Down". The two bands and Discharge were part of
the legendary Apocalypse Now UK Tour in 1981. Single "East To
The West" was released in 1982, followed by the last Anti-Pasti
album and single, both titled "Caution In The Wind", which
featured Ollie Hoon, Will's brother, on guitar. A self-titled
singles retrospective surfaced a year later, but the group split
in 1983 following the departure of Roper. There was a reunion in
1995, mini-tours of the UK and Germany, and further shows in
2013 . 2014 saw a new era for the band with Martin departing
from the vocal duties to be replaced by GeZ Addictive. The band
recorded a third album RISE UP available early August 2016 and
parted company with their vocalist shortly afterwards. 2018 band
have a new singer called Mickey Bones…new material is currently
being written for future release !
Department S are back playing gigs for what is now the 9th year
since they reformed. Current line up features the legendary
Eddie Roxy and ex PiL, Cowboys International, Brian Brain bass
man Pete Jones…along with guitarist Phil Thompson (who also
plays for Bug) and Alan Galaxy on drums whose past credits
include SNIDE and The Wigs, he still plays for Lipstick Torpedo
when time allows. Department S evolved from a previous punk/ska
combo, Guns For Hire, and featured former Madness drummer John
Hasler, Mike Herbage joined them and wrote Guns For Hire's only
single - "I'm Gonna Rough My Girlfriend's Boyfriend Up Tonight"
which emerged on the Korova record label The group then became
Department S, with the addition of Eddie Roxy and Stuart Mizon.
They debuted at London’s Rock Garden on 24 September 1980. Their
first single, "Is Vic There?", was released in December 1980. It
was produced by former Mott the Hoople members Buffin and
Overend Watts, and reached number 23 in the UK charts aided by 3
appearances on Top Of The Pops. The group recorded a session for
the legendary DJ John Peel on 3 December 1980. The tracks laid
down were "Is Vic There?"; "Age Concern"; "Ode To Cologne
(Stench Of War)"; and "Clap Now".
HUNG LIKE HANRATTY are the most talked about band on the
circuit. They sing about every day life what people get angry
at, but say nothing. Like picking dog mess up. People riding
mobility scooters when there is nothing wrong with them. Etc.
They were voted as the best live band in 2016 by punk planet.
There album released in 2016 on the mighty FLICKNIFE RECORDS has
been a huge success world wide. There energetic hilarious stage
show will have you in stitches, Make a point of watching them.
You won't be disappointed. Heavily influenced by 1977 punk
attitude, and bands like Toy Dolls, macc lads, pork dukes,
damned etc, HUNG LIKE HANRATTY are top of there game. What you
see is what you get. |