A CASE OF PRIDE E-Book

Mark Green

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 434

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

British Punk music has created a genre of simplistic but dynamic Rock 'n' Roll that shook the stiff establishment during dreadful years in 1976 to 1979. Skrewdriver was one of those protagonists on their quest for rebellion and fame. A band labelled as infamous, but their early Punk 'career' remained often nebulous. 'A Case of Pride' is the full story of young adventures told in an unstained and authentic way...

Leseprobe

A CASE OF PRIDE

Skrewdriver

Punk‘n‘Roll 1976-79

Impressum:

©2021 Mark Green

Author: Mark Green

Design & illustration: Mark Green

Publisher & Print: tredition GmbH, Halenreie 40-44, 22359 Hamburg

ISBN: 978-3-347-18679-8 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 978-3-347-18680-4 (eBook)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher and author.

A CASE OF PRIDE

Skrewdriver

Punk‘n‘Roll 1976-79

Mark Green

The Author:

Mark Green is a passionate music collector of early Punk, New Wave / Goth, Rock and Heavy Metal, 2-Tone and Skinhead music. Born in a faraway land and influenced by his international family upbringing, he experienced subcultural life himself from the mid-1980s onwards. He lives with his family in Germany and the book ‘A Case of Pride’ is his third publication.

sanctus pactum

Katja, Claire & Liam

“If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.”

George Orwell (1903 – 1950)

Contents:

Preface by Kevin McKay / Skrewdriver

Foreward & Acknowledgements

1976

- Poulton; Tumbling Dice; revelation in Manchester; Chiswick Records

1977:

January to July

- Little Bob Story; Steve Strange; Roxy; venues; The Police & missing teeth

- Your’So Dumb; Skinheads are back; Chelsea; Marquee & Peterborough

- Interview Madness ‘Nice band, shame about the fans‘ (NME, 1979)

- Stanley Park; Boomtown Rats; stolen van; The Damned; Sex Pistols & Bravo

August to December

- Generation X; Siouxie & the Banshees; Shakin‘ Stevens & Janet Street-Porter

- Interview Ian Stuart (Melody Maker, 1977)

- Interview Jesse Lynn Dean / The Wasps

- The Motors; Midlands; line-up change & cropped hair

- Interview Jimmy Pursey / Sham 69 (Record Mirror, 1977)

- The Rat Club; An-ti-So-cial; Manor House; Vortex riot; John Peel Session & retreat

- Interview Noel Martin / Menace

- All Skrewed Up; Blackburn gig; Punk goes international

- Interview Motörhead (Record Mirror, 1977)

- Interview Neil Richmond, Engineer & Producer (Rock, Reggae, Punk, Skrewdriver)

1978

January to July:

- The Highland Room incident & Pistols are dead; new (old) direction

- Interview Chris Cummings / Skrewdriver; Rock Against Racism & Red Army Fraction

- Interview Joe Strummer (German SZ-Magazin, 2001)

- Jamming in Blackpool; new players; JONLYN management

- Interview Gary Chammings / Skrewdriver; Compilations in Italy; Punk in Germany

August to December:

- Bitch; Scotland; Groningen; Leeds; Lemmy Kilmister; Punk in Portugal

- Catch A Wave; Interview Mick Priestley / Buffalo

- Mayflower; London; Birmingham; Pennine Sound Studio; The Lurkers & Slade

- Interview Glenn Jones / Skrewdriver

1979

- Warrington; Winter of Discontent; Built Up, Knocked Down

- Interview Alan Adler / Illustrator (TJM Records)

- Interview Anthony Davidson / TJM Records & TJ Davidson Rehearsal Studios

- Norbreck Castle Hotel; London Calling

- Young National Front; The Dublin Castle; Melody Maker; The Nips

- Interview Janne Borgh / The Moderns

- Interview Kevin McKay / Skrewdriver

- Impressions; Source & Index

Preface:

When Mark first got in touch with me by email over a year ago I wasn’t sure what his motives were for writing about Skrewdriver, as most of you probably know Skrewdriver has mostly been known for its connection to the far right, which started couple of years after I left the band. I have always been reticent to talk about my years with the group because of this. He suggested we have an online video meeting and we got together the following Saturday. It was great to talk about his interest in Skrewdriver and he only wanted to write about the early years when I was in the band. This was exciting for me as I had so many great memories from this period in my life. The more we spoke I came to realise how much research he had put into this project, even reaching out to Lemmy from Motörhead before he passed away. It took me back to when we started our earlier band Tumbling Dice, which morphed into Skrewdriver and the memories came flooding back. Unfortunately, two of the original band members have passed away and I have not been in touch with the other remaining one since he left the band early in our careers. I am still very close to my brother who was prominent in the years before we left for London so I do talk to him about some of the early events.

Looking through my scrapbook and speaking with Mark has me reliving the good and bad times, which has been a fantastic experience. I will always be in his debt as I come to realise how much this time meant to me. The sad part was that the book was only coming out in German, the pictures are great but I would like to have read the whole piece. When he told me he was going to bring out an English translation, I was delighted. I know this has been a lot of extra work for him but I think it is totally worth it for all the people who are interested in the early period of Skrewdriver.

Thank you Mark for all your hard work and also letting me write the preface, this means so much to me.

I hope you enjoy our journey as young men coping with the highs and lows of the early Punk years!

Kevin McKay

(Tumbling Dice / Skrewdriver 1976-1979)

February, 2021

(1)

Foreword:

Skrewdriver does not really need any introduction. In September 2020, I selfpublished the first version of ‘A Case of Pride’ in German only. At this stage, I was convinced not to go international with this book because it was just an extremely challenging project, but things changed by the end of last year after I spoke again with Kevin McKay and Glenn Jones from the Manchester line-up. I sensed that I could not end this journey without having an English version out…On top of that, I received many positive feedbacks (more than expected) about my book combined with numerous inquiries coming from people abroad asking about ‘A Case of Pride’. Therefore, what you hold in your hands is an updated translated version with additional never-seen-before pictures, flyers and more interviews.

No doubt, the entire biography of this band is exciting and as well controversial like no other group coming from the Punk environment, but hence also unique in the history of the alternative music scenes. Skrewdriver’s way from early Punk with an RnB touch, a talented singer and a bunch of catchy songs to eventually the most known (and infamous) Skinhead-Rock band in the world does cause mixed emotions either of passionate admiration or up to even intense dislike (or somewhere in-between). When writer Alex Ogg published his monumental encyclopedia ‘No More Heroes - A Complete History of UK Punk from 1976 to 1980) in 2006, he obviously struggled with this subject and excluded Skrewdriver’s notable role during the early Punk music movement…

This book ‘A Case of Pride’ dives deep into the first years of a band caught by the Punk whirlwind that raged in Britain and became (as we all know) a worldwide musical and subcultural phenomena. The later re-start of Skrewdriver is not subject of this publication and rather focuses on the very early time when four lads from Poulton-le-Fylde kicked off a band…and experienced a roller-coaster ride in London. ‘A Case of Pride’ also document in details their re-start in Manchester until Skrewdriver’s final release on TJM Records in 1979 and as well their impact on the early German Punk scene.

My sincere thanks goes to all that supported me in getting this book done during difficult times….

Mark Green

April, 2021

Acknowledgements

Kevin McKay * Glenn Jones * Chris Cummings * Neil Richmond * Jesse Lynn Dean (The Wasps) * Anthony Davidson (TJM Records, Manchester) * Noel Martin (Menace) * Mick Priestley (Buffalo) * Janne Borgh (The Moderns) * Alan Adler * Paul Burton * Gary Chammings * Martin Smith * Gary Callender * Katy MacMillan * Gert Plas (Poparchief Groningen) * Roy Weard (Dogwatch) * Nick Sack (Dogwatch) * Steve Fisher * Uhl Großmann * Detlev Rose * Geoff Clements (London Shoes) * Stephen Hawking * Frank Laux (aka Hellfire Franky) * …and special thanks to my brothers Steffen and Todd!

“If Skrewdriver had not taken a turn into RAC, they would have been noticed by mainstream Rock music critics and rockers today as Punk classics, and been named in the same sentence as The Clash, Ramones, and Sex Pistols.”(2)

In Memory

From the early Skrewdriver line-up:

• Ian Stuart Donaldson (1957-1993)

• John ‘Grinny’ Grinton (1957-2005)

• Ron Hartley (1956-2011)

Other influential musicians / persons during the early Punk days…:

• Keith Moon (1946-1978)

• Sid Vicious (Simon John Ritchie, 1957-1979)

• Johnny Thunders (John Anthony Genzale jr., 1952-1991)

• The Ramones (1974-1996)

• Wendy O. Williams (1949-1998)

• Joe Strummer (John Graham Mellor, 1952-2002)

• Lux Interior (Erick Purckhiser, 1946-2009)

• Phil Taylor (1954-2015)

• Lemmy Kilmister (Ian Fraser Kilmister, 1945-2015)

• Eddie Clarke (1950-2018)

• Pete Shelley (Peter Campbell McNeish, 1955-2018)

• Walter Lure (Walter C. Luhr, 1949-2020)

• Dave Greenfield (1949-2020)

My friends…never forgotten:

• Rex G. Sprague (1964-2004)

• Holger Kuttroff (1969-2010)

• Jürgen ‘TNT’ Kubelka (1968-2016)

“When we formed in 1977 all we wanted was money, girls and gigs…”

Ian Stuart, Skrewdriver(3)

‘Punk is the best thing since fish and chips!’

(4)

1976

It was early summer when an unusual heat wave reached Britain’s shores causing melting tarmacs and a drought that followed affecting greatly the agricultural industry. This weather phenomenon was a lifetime experience for millions of Brits, but simultaneously the harbinger of a musical youth revolution steered by a bunch of Londoners called Sex Pistols…

Until they sparked an outcry of public protest, they were an ignored band with an admittedly unusual name. Other groups dictated the sound for masses like Abba, Paul McCartney’s Wings, Barclays James Harvest and the disco-soul band The Real Thing who were occupying the top ranks in the English singles charts. The heroes of the 60s like the Rolling Stones were on their successful ‘Black and Blue’-European tour and played by early June in the sold-out Pavillon de Paris, but they appeared tame and adjusted. The same with The Who, who were also on tour to promote their seventh studio album ‘The Who By Numbers’ and were a long way off their prior aggressive stage performance.

It was a Friday on June 4th when in Manchester the Sex Pistols arrived at the venerable Free Trade Hall for their very first concert in the north-west. The 30 to 40 people, who witnessed the band’s show inside the smaller Lesser Free Trade Hall experienced a performance that ended for those who had attended in utter rejection or fascination (5). Particularly the singer with his sonorous stage name Johnny Rotten stood out with his hypnotic staring and provocations. No doubt, the Pistols made a lasting impression to a small crowd. Meanwhile rumors were circulating about this wild band led by Rotten and it was only a matter of time until the youth in sleepy county of Lancashire would hear about this apparently so outrageous gang.

In the town of Poulton-le-Fylde, people lived a modest and rather unspectacular life and majority of citizens likely never heard from a band with such a scandal-ridden name. The majority of inhabitants were even not bothered what happened beyond the city limits of Blackpool (except if it was soccer related). Before the Sex Pistols gave their debut concert on the November 6th, 1975 at Saint Martin’s School of Arts, five friends from Poulton’s Baines Grammar School kicked off a band in overcoming the dominant state of boredom. Tumbling Dice was born.

After a few months of rehearsal, they began roaming the local area and applied for gigs at social clubs, pubs and discos to play their cover Rock songs. Indeed, they secured a number of bookings and played their sets in front of dozens of shy teenage girls and drunken boys. Some several months after they started, Tumbling Dice singer Ian Stuart Donaldson (mostly known as Don or Stu) from Carleton came across an article about the Sex Pistols, when he read the New Musical Express. His eyes not only caught the group’s name, but as well the writer’s description about their apparent appetite for destructive, ruthless behaviors.

Then by mid-July ’76, news spread across Poulton that the Sex Pistols would return to Manchester for a second gig…

There’s no point in asking - You will get no reply

Sex Pistols ‘Pretty Vacant’

Six weeks after their first show Glen Matlock, Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Johnny Rotten were back at the Lesser Free Trade Hall and this time the Poulton youth would not miss this chance. Some few hours before Phil Walmsley organized a car and picked up his band mates Ian Stuart and Sean McKay. They needed a strong hour to cover the southbound trip of 80 kilometers distance to Mancunian ground. At the destination, they parked the car, walked over to Peter Street, and spotted the first bigger group of youngsters gathering in front of the Free Trade Hall. Despite the Tuesday evening, a fairly decent crowd turned up and expectantly waited for the main act. Before the Pistols hit the stage, it was up to the Buzzcocks and Slaughter & the Dogs to entertain the audience. 19-year-old Ian Stuart followed the performance of the support acts closely and with a certain admiration. At this time, he would have loved to stand on a half-decent stage and perform in front of a bit more people than he experienced with Tumbling Dice. He was already thrilled what he saw and heard, but when the Sex Pistols finally stomped on stage and raged through their first songs, he and his mates were enthusiastic. Captivated by the music, energy and Rotten’s obsessive stage personality, they knew by now that this is what they wanted and desperately needed. The vast majority of kids in the room shared the same emotional outbreak like the Poulton trio. After the concert Ian, Phil and Sean streamed outside and headed back home full of adrenalin…

“Well, we were playing a lot of pub gigs, doing the circuits, and then we went to see the Sex Pistols in Manchester with Buzzcocks and Slaughter and the Dogs. We really enjoyed it ‘cos we thought it was a fresh, new sort of thing. So we did a tape more on that sort of line, sent it to a load of record companies.”

Ian Stuart, Skrewdriver(6)

“The experience that night was above all else the catalyst for what we did later.”

Phil Walmsley, Skrewdriver(7)

Before the Sex Pistols enlightened our Poulton friends, they focused on their initial heroes of The Rolling Stones. Their cocky and lascivious stage presence earned them full concert halls, girls and money. A great combination in fulfilling teenager dreams in a small town in Lancashire. Stones songs were not the only ones covered by Tumbling Dice, but Mick Jagger & Co. were certainly the main influence for this young band.

“After a couple of months without a band, Phil Walmsley was back in business with Tumbling Dice (late 1975). This new band developed Phil’s love of the Stones / Who/ Free in a much more earthy fashion than Warlock. His main partner was vocalist Ian Stuart (or Don as he was known at school). Don had been looking for a way into the scene for a while, his developing friendship and musical common ground with Phil provided the perfect opportunity.

Original drummer Grinny was fired after a falling out with Don and was replaced bySteve Gaulter from the now defunct band Paranoia. The McKay twin Kev and Sean, new to the music scene, were on bass and second guitar respectively….

In all honesty, Tumbling Dice were not very good and it all ground to a halt in the summer of 1976. Don was still very keen on a career in rock music, but was badly in need of a new direction and fresh impetus. The key moment was seeing the Sex Pistols second gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Phil and Don immediately set about transforming what was left of Tumbling Dice into a serious punk band. Steve Gaulter wasn’t keen, so Grinny returned, Sean McKay had decided to go to University, but brother Kev was still on board.”(8)

Stephen Yarwood(8)

Legendary Rolling Stones single “Paint It Black” (1966). (9)

Two weeks after the Pistols gig, Tumbling Dice gave their last concerts. These took place not in their familiar surroundings, but in Whitehaven, a town some 180 kilometers further north in Cumbria. They played two gigs at the Lowca Social Club and gave their best in front of an apparent enthusiastic audience. On the evening of August 1, 1976, they buried Tumbling Dice and the twin brothers Sean and Kevin McKay, Phil Walmsley, Steve Gaulter and Ian Stuart would never play again in this line-up formation.

It was quite an easy decision for the main protagonists Stuart and Walmsley to close this band chapter, because nothing had been the same since foul-mouthed Johnny Rotten and the Pistols spit life into the Manchester audience. By early autumn, they started frequent trips to Liverpool and explored the rise of a subcultural underground music and lifestyle scene at the recently opened Eric’s. Around the same time, during a visit in Manchester, they wandered to The Squat venue where they witnessed an impressive performance by The Stranglers. Punk was the new motivation and they embraced this movement with all their passion. By now, Malcom McLaren got the Sex Pistols into a recording studio with producer Dave Goodman and taped their first single ‘Anarchy in the UK’.

Concert-flyer: Tumbling Dice, The Tithebarn, Poulton

Lowca Social Club, Whitehaven

“Skrewdriver were formed because of boredom with work,” explained Ian, a Warbreck Hill civil servant of Hawthorne-Grove, Carleton.”

Blackpool Gazette(10)

Roger Armstrong, one of the managers of Chiswick Records, arrived at Euston train station in London early one morning. He purchased a ride heading to destination Blackpool, a distance of 386 kilometers, to meet an unnamed band who had caught his attention when he listened to their tape containing some noisy Garage Punk Rock songs.

“When the Punk explosion occurred with the Sex Pistols and The Clash and people like that, we decided to do that sort of music, because we had a lot more energy to it. We particularly did not agree to the political content in it. All about ‘anarchy’ and all that….it was a laugh at this time, but we thought the energy in the music was great, so we started to do a little bit of music like that. Did a few demo tapes and sent them away to record companies. We had a little bit of interest back from London record companies, mainly from a company called Chiswick Records. They ended up taking groups like Motörhead and people like that on.

We went down to London, as we were invited to do a demo tape in a proper studio, Riverside Studios in Chiswick. We did the tape and as a result of that, we got a contract for one single. When we recorded the single, we decided to make the contract bigger for two singles and an LP. The record company actually named the band Skrewdriver, ‘cos we did not had a name at this time.”

Ian Stuart, Skrewdriver(11)

Chiswick Records entered the business world in 1975 (named after the neighborhood in the south-west London Borough of Hounslow). Ted Carroll, the main man behind the company, had been running the Rock On, a popular record store in Camden Town since 1971. Parallel he managed for a while Thin Lizzy, and was the one who suggested to them to have their cover version ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ recorded as a single, which became the well-known international hit (12). Lizzy’s frontman Phil Lynott seemed to have a stronger bond with the named record shop, as he immortalized the Rock On in his 1973 classic ‘The Rocker’:

‘I get my records from the Rock On stall Rock’n Roll, Teddy boy, he’s got them all’

“Small, but beautifully formed, Chiswick Records launched itself on an unsus-pecting world in 1975from a market stall selling second-hand records in London Soho. The world took very little notice, but we were quite excited by the idea. Ted Carroll had already been dealing in second-hand records from his lair in the Golborne Road for a few years, whilst managing Thin Lizzy. He baled out as their manager and hooked up with me and later Trevor Churchill, to form Chiswick Records, which has over the years transformed itself into Europe’s premier reissue label, Ace Records.

From 1975 to 1984 Chiswick Records issued a string of strange and wonderful recordsin the true spirit of independent record companies, despite spending three years licensed through EMI in the UK….”

Roger Armstrong, Chiswick Records(13)

Armstrong, 28 years old and Belfast breed, was Chiswick’s talent scout and producer. Before his encounter with Skrewdriver he was involved in the recordings of The Count Bishops (‘Speedball’), the side-burn rockers of The Gorillas (‘She‘s My Gal’), Little Bob Story and The 101ers debut single ‘Keys To Your Heart’ with John Mellor on vocals (before he transformed to Joe Strummer).

Despite the dreary weather in the north-west, the former Tumbling Dice musicians were on fire. They knew that they had the unique opportunity on that day, to make a lasting impression on a representative of a record company. They desperately wanted to embark on a new and more exciting musical path, but to enter such adventure it needed commitment from each group member. Drummer Steve Gaulter was one of those who could not go this way, so Ian Stuart replaced him with initial drummer Grinny…

“Grinny lived in Carleton somwhere near Ian and he used to drink in The Barn (Poulton). He used to hang around with the McKays and others of whom we knew. Grinny’s dad was a good musician and encouraged him a lot. … He was a bloody loud drummer, reminded me a bit of John Bonam (Led Zeppelin drummer).”

Stephen Yarwood(14)

They drove their guest to Cherry Tree Road in Marton (a suburb of Blackpool) where Ian’s father was running a small machine tool factory, the band’s rehearsal base. It was there where this still unnamed band wanted to impress Armstrong in playing their version of fast and rough Rock’n’ Roll…:

“He came to the factory and listened to us go through our stuff, and he was really impressed, I think we were all a bit taken aback. This guy knew the Pistols, he was part of the scene in London, things we'd only read about. It was fantastic really.”

Phil Walmsley, Skrewdriver(15)

John Grinton aka Grinny during Warlock days (pre-band of Tumbling Dice), 1974 (16)

“I think we played the following songs for Roger Armstrong: ‘You’re So Dumb’, ‘I Don’t Like You’, “Better Off Crazy”, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ and some other covers. Not sure, but probably ‘Get Off My Cloud’ by Rolling Stones.”

Kevin McKay, Skrewdriver(17)

After they escorted Armstrong back to the train station, the lads celebrated this exciting encounter with some drinks, although they still had no name for the band, but this was sorted out some few weeks later…

(18)

“In Australia there were a lot of riots at our gigs, but that was the crowd not us. They are the Punks, we are not!”Angus Young, AC/DC(19)

(20)

1977

Early photo shoot of Skrewdriver (21)

Ian Stuart – Phil Walmsley (standing) – Kevin McKay – John Grinton

(Photo was taken at the bottom of the sea wall in Blackpool at low tide)

February 12, 1977: Little Bob Story + Skrewdriver, University - Polytechnic / Manchester

While Leo Sayer was trilling off the radio with his top hit ‘When I Need You’, Ian Stuart, John "Grinny" Grinton, Phil Walmsley, Kevin McKay and a handful of supporters from home ground met on the campus of the Manchester University. To be more precisely, they gathered at the Cavendish House, a place known for concerts organized by and for students. This was the location where Skrewdriver’s first live performance took place. Roger Armstrong was the one who arranged this gig for the lads from Poulton, as he was on good terms with the French headliner Little Bob Story led by Italian frontman Roberto Piazza (Little Bob). A powerful band that discovered Punk back in August 1976, when they performed at the French Mont-de-Marsan-Festival next to The Clash, The Damned, Dr. Feelgood and others. Little Bob Story were touring regularly through England and had only played with The Jam in West Sussex (Crawley College) few days earlier.The Skrewdriver slot came at no surprise since Armstrong produced their recent single for Chiswick Records.

Little Bob Story –EP ’I’m Crying’, 1976

“It was very exciting. We had a few followers from Blackpool there, which made a difference to the reaction. We played a short set that went without hitches I think. Previously we had played quite a few gigs with Tumbling Dice so this was a little more intense. The crowd were appreciative. After the sound check, we went into Manchester before the gig and Grinny stole a plug from John Lewis department store toilets to enhance his stage gear! Little Bob Story did not speak much English, but they thought we gave a good show. They were very good, powerful and tight musically, even though their singer Little Bob was little. We saw them again whenthey played in Dingwalls in the summer (May 5, 1977).”

Kevin McKay, Skrewdriver(22)

The band returned to their home base, after their first successful concert. Now they had to prepare themselves for the next big step in signing a contract with Chiswick Records. The music press in the meantime announced a band portrayed as the new super punk rock group scheduled to play in Blackpool: AC/DC from far-off Sydney in Australia:

’FUCK YOUR PISTOL!’

(Bon Scott, AC/DC)

“In early 1977 (20 Feb) I went to see AC/DC at Blackpool’s Imperial Hotel on the - ‘High Voltage’-Tour, their first proper UK tour. I remember my mate shouting Sex Pistols to Bon Scott, to which Bon replied ‘Fuck your Pistol’. We were already into punk, the Ramones first album was out and all sorts of bands were releasing singles. So when we noticed these two Punks at the AC/DC gig in their DIY garb we went over for a chat. The one bloke who turned out to be Ian (Stuart) said they had a band. Straight away, we wanted to know when they were playing next, they had no gigs lined up, but we were welcome to come along to their rehearsal place in Blackpool. I phoned Ian a couple of weeks later to set something up and off we went. Musically they were good and way above a lot of the stuff of the time. I was 17 and by now totally converted to this new high-energy music.

I remember Kev (McKay) was playing a Burns bass and Phil (Walmsley) had some sort of custom guitar, which I had never seen before. Grinny played the drums, as I had never seen before and Ian put the vocals across with such intensity. If I remember rightly, they played ‘Your So Dumb’, ‘Anti-Social’, the Stones ‘19th Nervous Breakdown’, the Stooges ‘No Fun’ and the Who’s ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. After the rehearsal, they told us they had signed to Chiswick Records that week and were off to London for a couple of gigs. Chiswick also signed The Radiators from Space at the same time. Shortly after signing, they released their debut single ‘Your So Dumb b/w Better off Crazy’ and I got a free copy through the post…

I had often bump into Ian and Kev at gigs; they were at the Electric Circus in Manchester to see The Clash on The White Riot tour. I also remember them at Wigan hoping like the rest of us for the Pistols to turn up for a secret gig as the SPOTS, which they did not.”

Roy Hesketh(23)

London was now the next destination, but before the young ones faced potential grim looking Cockney Punks in smoky music pubs, they needed some support before even considering packing their bags. Euphemia ‘Effie’ Ryan was supposed to be the helping hand. She was a Punk rock girl from Birmingham and had lived in England’s capitol for some time. She already had good contacts with the Chiswick label, allegedly knew Johnny Rotten and was friend with members of the popular Pub Rock / Punk band Eddie & the Hot Rods, as well with Rat Scabbies, the drummer of The Damned (15). She was the one to organize regular gigs for the band and to advertise their name in the fast growing Punk music arena.

April 16, 1977: Johnny Moped + Skrewdriver, Roxy / London

The first Skrewdriver appearance in London took place in the legendary two-deck club Roxy, as the opening act for Johnny Moped (label colleagues at Chiswick Records). Moped started their music career already in 1974 and had illustrious members during their band history, such as Chrissie Hynde (later famous singer with The Pretenders, although she had only a brief involvement with the band) and Raymond Burns (better known as Captain Sensible, the later guitarist with The Damned).

Johnny Moped – backside debut album ‘Cycledelic’

“Escaping from a marauding bunch of Millwall Skinheads is a vivid memory of the Roxy Club”

Johnny Moped, Singer

(online interview Scanner Zine, 2016)

The Roxy venue was relatively small and around 100 Punks attended this gig on a Saturday evening. In the audience was also Danny Smith from the number one Punk fanzine ‘Sniffin Glue’, who felt quite thrilled about Skrewdriver’s show (‘…I felt triffic!’). In their April – May issue they reviewed the band pre-released first single ‘You’re so dumb’ (official release date was on June 15, ’77) next to Elvis Costello, Radio Stars, Blondie and others. They mistakenly stated that Skrewdriver hailed from Bristol instead from Blackpool…

Sniffin’ Glue’: Skrewdriver

“The Sniffin’ Glue office is next to the Step Forward (record label) office. It has no electricity, so a cable is fed out of the window along a ledge and into the SF office.”

Barry Cain, Journalist(24)

“The Roxy was probably the scummiest, dirtiest venue any band could play, but it suited Punk perfectly.”Gary Wellman, The Wasps(25)

The band survived their first London show and were now part of a growing ‘scene’. To ensure that they remained present, they had to quit their jobs (except for student Phil Walmsley) to concentrate fully on the music. The record company organized the accommodation for the band in the northern part of the city, which may sound in the beginning like the first step to Rock star heaven, but it turned out differently…

“Chiswick had this arrangement with a landlady in Tufnell Park. She owned a big Edwardian terraced house and we had one room for the four of us. No beds, a double mattress and two singles on the floor and barely space between them to tread, that was it! There was one bathroom between about eight people and one horrendous kitchen. We survived on a diet of potatoes and baked beans.

The landlady was called Nora she seemed a bit unhinged at times, she had two dogs and they weren't house trained so you had to watch where you walked! The place was filthy. Chiswick paid the rent and they paid us a wage £15 a week, that is all we got whatever we did. We could be recording, gigging, or anything else but we still got our £15.”Phil Walmsley, Skrewdriver(26)

A bizarre, but likeable lad from Cardiff, Wales by the name of Steven Harrington aka Steve Strange (1959-2015), lived in the same terraced house as the Skrewdriver group. At this time, he worked for Generation X, as their creative head and seemed to have good contacts with all sorts of people involved in the London scene. The Generation X crew had a plan where they wanted to go. This included building up an image, closing ties to music writers and promoters. Skrewdriver was to learn from their tactical approach through Steve Strange… Later he became a nightclub celebrity in the emerging New Romantics scene, known for its extravagance and fashion drive. His musical project with Visage earned him Golden Records in Germany and Switzerland for their celebrated song ‘Fade to Grey’.

“Very sad to hear about my friend Steve Strange’s passing. RIP mate.”

Billy Idol (public posting, Febr. 2015)

The former London Oi! group Combat 84 with ex-Punk and Chelsea Headhunter hooligan ‘Chubby Chris’ Henderson († 2013), had their very own view on Steve Strange, as they dedicated to him their song "Poseur" from the 1982 single ‘Order of the Day’:

Steve Strange, cover Visage ‘Fade To Grey’ (remix, 1993)

Steve Strange! - You was a Punk in '77 - And you was a Skinhead in '78 – You tried Mod but you were too late - Changing changing all the time…

“We got along with Steve Strange ok. He had a very high opinion of himself. For instance, we were out in the suburbs of London. He had bleached hair and he was wearing army fatigues. I remember that a family with two young kids took his picture from across the road, so he ran across and demanded five pounds from the dad for taking his picture or give him the camera.”Kevin McKay, Skrewdriver(27)

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Probably the first group picture in the press (29)

Sounds magazine, April 1977 – Punk poster (Skrewdriver, top right) (30)

Growing popularity: Standing in a queue to see The Stranglers, Cherry Vanilla and The Jam (The Round House, Camden / London, 19. April 1977) (31)

It was around mid-May that Skrewdriver moved down to London. Effie Ryan was busy in talking with concert promoters in securing further gigs. Meanwhile Punk progressed so dynamic that it was not only an isolated phenomenon in England. It spread to other metropolises such as Berlin and Paris, akthough on smaller levels. During this time The Clash were abroad on their ‘White Riot’ tour, giving three concerts in France and one in Brussels before they continued touring the UK.

“So you are les Punks de Paris? You look like a bunch of Hippies to me!”(

Joe Strummer, The Clash(32)

Before the Sex Pistols even started their ‘Anarchy in the UK’ tour on December 3, 1976, some promoters cancelled shows upfront, because they feared their reputation. While the mainstream media targeted the Pistols, it was up to The Clash to slip into the role of the socio-political protest band that somehow captured the Zeitgeist on the streets of England with lyrical prowess.

“That summer there was a sense of something new in the air, so tangible you could almost touch it, but it was not always positive. When Bob Marley and the Wailers played five nights at the Hammersmith Odeon in June the scale of mugging by black youth was a stark contrast to the evident cultural and moral miscegenation at Marley’s Lyceum show a year before. This aggression was a mere prelude to what happened a couple of months later: on the last weekend in Au-gust, at the annual Notting Hill carnival, black youth clashed violently with the police, with running street battles in Ladbroke Grove, around the area of the West-way. “I can honestly remember standing right there,’ Joe said to me, ‘and I swear to you that stuff happened right in front of our eyes, in that small road, just under the Westway…. The outbreak of street fighting at the Carnival inspired Joe to write the song ‘WhiteRiot’. At first often misunderstood as a White Power statement, ‘White Riot’ was in fact a plea for white youth to emulate the facility with which their black counterparts confronted the forces of law and order.”(33)

Chris Salewicz, Author

1976, Notting Hill riots (backside of The Clash’s debut album)

On an ungrateful Monday evening, Skrewdriver gave their second concert in London. It had been a month since their last appearance at the Roxy. Now it was time to enter the stage again and the chosen place was located in the northern part of city. At this stage the band had no roadie and basically had to set up everything by themselves.

May 18, 1977: Buster Crabbe + Skrewdriver, The Rochester Castle / Stoke Newington

In Stoke Newington (High Street), they played in the historic pub The Rochester Castle, a known place for its Pub Rock gigs with up to 300 people. Skrewdriver played a short set of around 45 minutes before the headliner Buster Crabbe with their singer Steve Van-Deller (‘Down at the club’) entered the stage, a band that played in all known venues around London.

“We have been playing together for several months and we saw the Sex Pistols four times before they hit the headlines with their behavior.”

Ian Stuart, Skrewdriver(34)

“SKREWDRIVER - Second generation quartet from Blackpool. A garage quality demo cassette accompanied by some muzzy Instamatic color shots of the boys leaning up against a wall of a warehouse were sufficient to fire the imagination of Chiswick Records producer Roger Armstrong.”

Sounds Magazine(35)

Five days later, Ian Stuart and his men returned to the Castle for a solo performance and were less nervous compare to the previous one…

May 23, 1977: Skrewdriver, The Rochester Castle / Stoke Newington, London

On this particular day The Ramones and Talking Heads played in Doncaster, The Clash were headlining a show with The Jam, Buzzcocks and others in Sheffield, and Blondie with beauty Debbie Harry entertained the audience with their colleagues from Television in the City Hall of Newcastle.

“Rochester Castle is not exactly pretty to look at, but it is incredibly cheap there and it has a modest sheen that reflects the spirit of the area very well.”‘(36)

While the Punk / Mod rockers of The Jam released in May their successful debut album ‘In the City’, Skrewdriver were gaining more live experience when they performed at the Brecknock Arms Pub on Camden Street on the following Tuesday. A small crowd of London Punks attended the gig and they were positively surprised about the band.

May 24, 1977: Skrewdriver, The Brecknock Arms / Camden, London

Two days later, the northeners visited the same pub as guests and spent the evening watching the performance of Cock Sparrer from London East-End, who were promoting their first single ‘Running Riot’ on Decca Records. Led by their vocalist Collin McFaull, this classic Pub rock band played regularly across London. They had a gig in 1975 with at this time rather unknown Motörhead, and opened for big names such as Thin Lizzy and Slade. Like so many bands coming from the Pub rock background, Punk re-shaped bands musically and delivered a new confidence. Cock Sparrer’s single failed commercially, and consequently they broke up in spring 1978, but came back some few years later stronger than before…

What was your opinion on the other two bands that were being compared with you (Sham 69 & Skrewdriver)?(37)

“We were friends with Pursey and I liked Sham (Sham once said Sparrer were too good musicians to be Punks). He wrote nursery rhymes (John Lennon, I think, said that was the way to write songs) and that is the way we liked to write. Skrewdriver turned up at a Sparrer gig in Camden just after they came to London. We were wearing Martens, Sta-prest, braces and Shermans, but we were never Skinheads; they looked like hippies. Then the next time we saw them, they were Skinheads.”

Steve Burgess, Cock Sparrer.”

May 25, 1977: Wayne County & the Electric Chairs + Skrewdriver, Marquee / London

Skrewdriver’s next stop was the Marquee on 90 Wardour Street. The legendary venue where Stuart’s musical heroes, the Rolling Stones, played their very first gig (Jul 12, 1962) caused some upfront nervousness, but when the band entered the holy stage as the opener for the quite popular, though exotic Wayne County & the Electric Chairs with their US-singer Wayne Rogers (later Jane County) they forgot about the club’s history and concentrated on their songs. The Skrewdriver crew had numerous encounters with the American headliner at the known Punk venues across London. One of them was the Roxy where the Electric Chairs teamed up with The Adverts…

“Even the silently luscious Gaye Advert could not quell the anticipation of the Roxy regulars on Monday night. As the Adverts banged away at their relentless “Bombsite Boy” requiem onstage, the mezzanine buzzed with loose talk. Tonight, you see, was to be Wayne County’s first public appearance as a MAN (he usually rigs himself out in such a way as to make Blondie like the girl next door). He finally bounced onstage DRESSED quite soberly, but still wearing enough mascara to make the Sphinx look like Dusty Springfield and still have enough left over to paint the QE2. Unlikeseveral other 20th Century Geeks, there is life behind the rouge with Wayne County. People may come to gape, but they are fools if they don’t listen. The messages in his lyrics (…) may not inflict collective satori on the world, but his band play hard fast rock and roll with no punches pulled – even below the belt.”(38)

On the same evening, Motörhead played a few kilometers away in the Dingwalls Dance Hall, a location that the Poulton Punk rockers would experience themselves two days later…

The Dingwalls venue was a former warehouse known for its hustle and bustle of market vendors selling their products in front of the building for decades. By the early 1970’s, the construction was converted into a middle-sized entertainment venue. Skrewdriver’s first gig at this prestigious club was challenging as the dance hall was packed with over 500 mostly long-haired kids and a small group of Punks, but they stood their ground and performed a short, but intense set before the headliner The Movies hit the stage and played songs from their new album ‘Double A’. They did not fit into the Punk period, as The Movies was a successful and quite productive Rock band that released five studio albums on major labels over the span of six years (between 1975 and 1981).

May 27, 1977: The Movies + Skrewdriver, Dingwalls Dance Hall/ Camden

“I remember the gig with the Movies that was pretty early, a bit of a difficult one. The Movies were a Sad Cafe type band, melodic rock, really good musicians, fantastic gear and the place was full of their fans.”Phil Walmsley, Skrewdriver(39)

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Dingwalls was a good address and helpful for Skrewdriver, like for other bands at the beginning of their careers. Blondie for example gave their debut gig in England at this venue or the Aussie-rockers AC/DC included this location on their 1976 ‘Lock Up Your Daughters’ tour. More Punk-like is the story when members from The Stranglers and The Clash had a punch up in / outside the club (July 5, 1976):

“In 1976, we played with the Ramones: In those days, Paul Simonon had a nervous tick: he used to spit on the ground. He did this just as we came off stage at Dingwalls in London, so I thumped him and it all kicked off. We were thrown out by the bouncers and it continued in the courtyard. On one side were the Pistols, the Clash, the Ramones and a load of their journalist friends. On the other side was us, a few of our fans and me, nose to nose with Paul. Dave Greenfield (Stranglers, keyboards) had John Lydon against the ice-cream van.”

Jean-Jacques Burnel, The Stranglers(41)

Due to the popularity of The Movies, some writers of the main music magazines were in the audience including Julie Burchill from the New Musical Express (NME). Skrewdriver did definitely not win her heart, as in her later review she mercilessly tore the band in her known cynical and ambivalent way. For the very first time the young lads’ experienced the power emanating from (music) journalists, and they had to realize that no matter how well they judged their own performances, the last word had the press. Burchill progressed into a later successful, but also controversial book author. Her ex-husband Tony Parson commented in the public about her 2014 release of ‘Unchosen- The Memoirs of a Philo-Semite’:

“When I was married to Julie (Burchill) she was not only a philo-Semite, but a Stalinist who regarded the working-class as the chosen people.”Tony Parson, Journalist(42)

“Parson and Burchill (and many others) were created. They were allowed to exist because the bloated music press needed a firebreak between the old guard and what was happening on the streets in 77. They needed to sell copies of the NME and these common pseudo intellectuals would do nicely. These … were encouraged to set sail on a Punk journalistic journey to who knows where, but they quickly realized that we were real people, with real lives, doing real things and that stifled their corporate bullshit largely. They hated the fact that The Stranglers and the Finchley Boys would not be stereotyped as mindless thugs or senseless misogynist, although this was what they generally wrote about us.”Alan A. Hillier, Finchley Boys(43)

Although Burchills critic has shaken the band, they were grateful for the chance to play at Dingwalls. Effie Ryan wanted to get more bookings for Skrewdriver at the Roxy, as it was not the right audience for them at The Movies gig, but in May there were no free slots at the Punk club. However, it was anyway unclear if the Roxy would survive the upcoming months, as the landlord ended the contract with the club managers…

A day after the Dingwalls gig, Skrewdriver arrived at The Red Cow music pub on Hammersmith Road. Again a venue where AC/DC had played before (first time in England, April ’76). During the second show (they performed twice on the same day), Angus Young apparently climbed on the shoulder of a roadie, left the pub and played his solo to astonished city people, while the band kept hammering the tight rhythm sound. Now thirteen months later Skrewdriver gigged in the same pub in front of London Punks, who started supporting the band. Up in Lancashire they already had their local fans and one of them was the aforementioned Roy Hesketh who advertised Skrewdriver through his fanzine (‘Viva La’ Resistance’).

Early release of ‘Viva La’ Resistance’, April / May ‘77

May 28, 1977: 999 + Skrewdriver, The Red Cow

The Red Cow was also the place where Punk groups like Slaughter & the Dogs, The Damned and the truly exceptional Stranglers (known for their recognizeable sound) turned up. They were probably the only well known band that acted fast when they felt mistreated by music journalists and confronted them vehemently. Ex-Sounds writer Jon Savage received his bill when Strangler’s bass man Jean-Jacques Burnel punched him in The Red Cow…

Three days later, bass player Kevin McKay steered the van to High Street where Skrewdriver was booked to play at the historical Railway Hotel in the district of Putney. After they unloaded the gear, they made first contact with the musicians of The Police, who had released prior their debut-single ‘Fall Out’. Some 150 Punks and a handful of Skinheads came to the gig in this hotel building that hosted since early ’77 series of Punk concerts.

May 31, 1977: The Police + Skrewdriver, Railway Hotel / Putney

“It’s not entirely clear which band was the headliner, but the show has mysteriously disappeared from the Police’s chronology.”Chris Campion, Author(44)

Early Police line-up: Sting, Stewart Copeland, Henry Padovani

It was a rather unspectacular evening until Skrewdriver moved their equipment outside to load it back into the van. Drummer Grinny stated in an old interview that Teds from a nearby gig featuring Shakin’ Stevens were on a Punk beating mission, but Teddyboy Mr. Stevens and his band played on this night in Weymouth, some 3 ½ hours’ drive away from London. Fact is that a big group of Ted’s in a combat mode targeted the Punks that were leaving the Railway Hotel. Skrewdriver and their crew (Effie Ryan and Sean McKay) ended up being in the center of the storm while hails of fists and truncheons rained on the unprepared northerners. As best they could, they defended themselves (especially Ian Stuart), but they were clearly outnumbered. The attack resulted in a smashed up van and a drummer that ended in hospital.

This incident had a massive impact on the band and encouraged them to consider a harder image, which turned into reality when they became a Skinhead group some few months later…

“Every single Saturday there were running battles. I used to get personally involved with the fights when I would see six Teds beating up one Punk. I ran down the street and chased theses Teds off with a mallet. Punks used to come and hide in the shop because Teds were after them. Then next week you’d see six Punks chasing one Ted.”Don Letts, Film Director & Musician(45)

Teddyboy-Rockers ’77: Crazy Cavan ‘n’ Rhythm Rockers from Newport

I go down town on a Saturday night

looking for some Punks to have a fight

I hate them Punks, they’re really vile

kick ‘em in bollocks, that’s my style

Punk bashing boogie on a Saturday night

Punk bashing boogie, it sure is right

I kick ‘em in bollocks, kick ‘em in the head

I kick them punks until they’re dead

Don E Sibley & The Dixie Phoenix ‘Punk Bashing Boogie” (1979)

At least the beaten up Grinny gained some fame, as numerous music magazines started to publish small articles about this incident…

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Regardless how violent the clashes between both groups ended, Punk music was breaking through the society stronger than before and pulling more and more kids into this direction:

“See things have been getting out of hand. Instead of writing songs that mean something, all that’s dished up, is a lot of mindless crap. Now we are getting a natural revolution. It’s like going against what your mum and dad say, like at school with all its set rules. I’d just like to break down all that. Make your own rules. And it’s just the same with music. ….

It’s a case of every generation having its own cult and refusing what’s gone on before….Kids should make their mark on this generation otherwise it’s going to be too late. Youth was real important in the fifties and sixties but now it isn’t. Maybe the kids have seen all the cults, which have come to nothing and isn’t bothered.”

Paul Weller, The Jam(47)

Without the street fight happening, Skrewdriver would have played the following day in Newport, Wales (home of Teddyboy band Crazy Cavan) some three hours’ drive from London. The concert would have likely taken place at the Stowaway Club and not as announced at the Roundabout venue. It did not make a difference, as the band was anyway unable to play with their stitched up drummer…

June 1, 1977: Skrewdriver, The Roundabout Club, Newport /Gwent (cancelled)

The Stowaway Club by the way hosted a wide range of popular Punk bands such as Sex Pistols, The Clash, Generation X, Siouxie & the Banshees and Skrewdriver’s label mates of Little Bob Story and Radio Stars. The building that had the music club embedded went up in flames in June 2018.

Poor Grinny seemed to have only one day rest before they headed to Chorltoncum-Hardy in south of Manchester. The Oaks Hotel, built in 1911 and demolished in 1990, was a large multi-roomed building and a popular venue for the local Punk bands such as Slaughter & the Dogs and Ed Banger & the Nosebleeds, but as well for London based rockers like The Jam.

June 2, 1977: Skrewdriver, The Oaks Hotel, Chorlton-cum-Hardy

“I vaguely remember doing the Oaks in Chorlton (Manchester) that was a long way to go as we were based in London by then.”Phil Walmsley, Skrewdriver(48)