North East Punk

[riffraff]

I rehearsed once with a band called Incest, the singer was Toni Halliday latterly of Curve.
Washington Band Murder The Disturbed released the Genetic Disruption E.P.

While we’re here did anyone attend the festival in Backhouse Park around 73/74 with Brinsley Schwarz headlining?

I had the MTD EP. It like a lot of my rarer stuff dissapeared around the time of a rather wild London house party we held in 1988. Thieving bastards!

Durham book centre brought out an album back in the day which may jog some peoples memories.
I don't recall a full on punk scene but used to love watching the Toy Dolls back in their early days.

I’d forgotten all about that until a few days back when raking thru a few of the pricing websites.

Thats the one.
I've got it in the loft somewhere.
Zulu and the heartaches anrl.

High Speed Heroes anar iirc.

Seaburn Hall had a run of gigs in summer 77, I bought a ticket from Spinning Disc for the first one(I think) The Jam but got turned away for being under 18, apparently it was a bit naughty inside.
One of my favourites The Saints played as well and 999 I think.

We were turned away anarl. I nivver knew The Saints played there! Used to houseshare with a few Aussies years ago....that would’ve done me cred the world of good if I’d seen them.

 

[woollyback]

Patrick were a good local band, as were Red London.
The Bunker was f***ing class.

 

[riffraff]

Hi chaps. I’m looking more for people connected and maybe even IN bands that gigged around that time but didn’t maybe get to the level of yer Penetrations and the Upstarts, even yer Puniluxes, Dolls (for example) They’re already included. Lesser known acts and venues etc would be lovely. By all means reminisce about gigs and bands but owt else would be great.

There’s an occasional poster gets on here who was in a local punk band and a bunker regular. I go to a few gigs with him down here in London. I’ll point him this way though he may only PM you.

 

[Deleted member 40035]

Excellent. I’m sure that will find its way into the book. Can we use your name in the acknowledgments?

Yes.

 

[riffraff]

The band I used to follow.. 'Disorder' from Town End Farm..they supported the Revillos at Sunderland Poly..there's pictures of them with the Revillos on a site called 'Bored Teenagers' but it won't let you copy them..anyway while the Revillos were on stage one of the Disorder lads..rumour had it 'Leroy' the bass player..went into the Revillos dressing room and had a shite in the sink..apparently when singer Fay Fife went back in and saw the turd she ordered the band out and stormed off in a right huff.

I had disorders first single anarl. Bought directly from olly? Who was a mate of a mate. THAT was nicked at the aforementioned party anarl.

Patrick were a good local band, as were Red London.
The Bunker was f***ing class.

Wasn’t Patrick’s singer from Boro?
No one mentioned The Jubilee Mugs yet?

 

[Cheesy Feet]

Patrick were a good local band, as were Red London.
The Bunker was f***ing class.

I saw Red London with the Upstarts the other week at Independent..fkn superb.

 

[Tex]

I was a young punk living up Downhill and used to follow Town End Farm band 'Disorder'..i used to knock about with the lead singer 'Roughy'..my crowd included Frankie Warsaw of 'Leatherface' fame..i also used to come down to Monkwearmouth School to see 'Red Alert' play..i went to see 'Red Alert' the other week at Independent supporting the 'Angelic Upstarts'..there was a good scene in Sunderland back then although I was a bit young for the gig scene in 1977..i saw the Upstarts once at the Old 29 and the Toy Dolls in Le Metro or whatever it was called then..SLF at the Poly..i used to go to the Ivy House on a Thursday night for Tommy Hairs punk disco and Green Terrace School on a Friday for more of the same..Heros on Fawcett Street became a bit of a hang out for us all then the Mowbray and the Locarno..great times and I made some great friends some of whom I still see today.

[/QUOTE]
We moved in some similar circles.

Acts of Defiance was a fanzine made by Russ and Mick Dunbar and Raf Mulla..amongst others..they used to flog it at Tommy Hairs punk disco in the Ivy house on a Thursday night.

I went to Sheffield in 1984 and saw the Omega Tribe in the Leadmill. Had a funny feeling I was going to see someone I knew. Turned round and saw Rafa. Can’t say I was close mates with him but used to see him around - lovely lad!

 

[Billy ballbag]

Peterlee's finest Uproar have been back doing the rounds again the past year or so.

I know the singer went to see them at the hearts last year was canny night even tho im not really a punk fan.

 

[Tex]

I had disorders first single anarl. Bought directly from olly? Who was a mate of a mate. THAT was nicked at the aforementioned party anarl.


Wasn’t Patrick’s singer from Boro?
No one mentioned The Jubilee Mugs yet?

I used to be matey with Glasgow Jerry the bald bass player in Patrick. Another very nice fella.
Funny how punks had a reputation for being anti social misfits but there were some top drawer lads who I was matey with.
Lost contact with most of them when I went away to college and soon after graduating moved over here long before the Internet age so didn’t keep in touch.

 

[Two million voices]

Do you have any recollections of the ‘punk’ era in the North East? By that I mean the ‘local scene’. Not famous, good, or bad, punk bands you may have seen or met but the LOCAL proponents, movers and shakers, musicians, and various ne’er-do-wells that were around and active between 1976 and 1980 that would have been considered ‘punk’

Were YOU in a band or around then, organising gigs, posting flyers, engaged in activity? Did you witness local punk bands ‘breaking through’, crashing and burning and/or making fools of themselves? Do you have tales to tell?

Let’s hear about it. Post on the thread or send me a PM if you want to protect your anonymity.

A book is in preparation that will feature contributions from all the local luminaries and those who went further afield or engaged in activity around that period. Glen Matlock and Steve Jones have offered comment and guidance but otherwise all the ‘names’ so far are NE based or originated.

No benefit will accrue and none is offered. Just a chance to reminisce.

I’m not the author.

You want to get in touch with Steve Smith from Red Alert, he’ll have enough stories and information for a book on its own.

 

[Cheesy Feet]

We moved in some similar circles.

I went to Sheffield in 1984 and saw the Omega Teibe in the Leadmill. Had a funny feeling I was going to see someone I knew. Turned round and saw Rafa. Can’t say I was close mates with him but used to see him around - lovely lad!
[/QUOTE]

We will have mate..i knew a load of the punk lads back then..Russ and Mick Dunbar..Christie..Booga..Jimmy Tate..Alf Dryden and his mates..Bondy..Raf..I was up Hot Rats the other week talking to a couple of the older lads..ended up in there an hour and a half.

 

[Tex]

We moved in some similar circles.

I went to Sheffield in 1984 and saw the Omega Teibe in the Leadmill. Had a funny feeling I was going to see someone I knew. Turned round and saw Rafa. Can’t say I was close mates with him but used to see him around - lovely lad!

We will have mate..i knew a load of the punk lads back then..Russ and Mick Dunbar..Christie..Booga..Jimmy Tate..Alf Dryden and his mates..Bondy..Raf..I was up Hot Rats the other week talking to a couple of the older lads..ended up in there an hour and a half.
[/QUOTE]
All names I knew of but I was t in the inner circle. @RichDevoto was in the middle of that lot.
One thing I disliked a bit was that I’d have a drunken night out (Carlton Bar for cheap beer then Drum Club) then go away to college in September - come back in December and the exact same faces were round the pool table in the Carlton like I’d just pressed ‘pause’ for three months. Got the feeling that there was a ‘dead end’ element to SOME of the crowd, no progress or ambition. SOME of them were very creative and have done well.

 

[Cheesy Feet]

We will have mate..i knew a load of the punk lads back then..Russ and Mick Dunbar..Christie..Booga..Jimmy Tate..Alf Dryden and his mates..Bondy..Raf..I was up Hot Rats the other week talking to a couple of the older lads..ended up in there an hour and a half.

All names I knew of but I was t in the inner circle. @RichDevoto was in the middle of that lot.
One thing I disliked a bit was that I’d have a drunken night out (Carlton Bar for cheap beer then Drum Club) then go away to college in September - come back in December and the exact same faces were round the pool table in the Carlton like I’d just pressed ‘pause’ for three months. Got the feeling that there was a ‘dead end’ element to SOME of the crowd, no progress or ambition. SOME of them were very creative and have done well.
[/QUOTE]

I know what you mean..i used to get stick off some of them because I worked for a nationalised industry down the shipyards..they'd be like 'you're working for the man'..'you're a slave to the goverment'..or whatever bollocks they'd heard Joe Strummer say the week before..all I knew was that gigs and beer cost money and I wanted a bit of both.

 

[Tex]

All names I knew of but I was t in the inner circle. @RichDevoto was in the middle of that lot.
One thing I disliked a bit was that I’d have a drunken night out (Carlton Bar for cheap beer then Drum Club) then go away to college in September - come back in December and the exact same faces were round the pool table in the Carlton like I’d just pressed ‘pause’ for three months. Got the feeling that there was a ‘dead end’ element to SOME of the crowd, no progress or ambition. SOME of them were very creative and have done well.

I know what you mean..i used to get stick off some of them because I worked for a nationalised industry down the shipyards..they'd be like 'you're working for the man'..'you're a slave to the goverment'..or whatever bollocks they'd heard Joe Strummer say the week before..all I knew was that gigs and beer cost money and I wanted a bit of both.
[/QUOTE]
Haha the irony of saying that while waiting for your Fortnightly giro ... from The Man!
Back then you could get a flat in Ashbrooke and furniture and pots and pans allowance all off the dole which seemed for a minute like paradise. More money than I earned a couple of nights a week in The Barnes, no grief off parents for coming in late and drunk and some privacy to bring a bewer back ... but then I’d wonder where I’d be in five or ten or twenty years, still waiting for me giro when I was impatient to kick start me life and get out of town and into the world. I had many more years of studenty poverty and a several less than lucrative jobs but worth it in the end!

 

[st.jude]

who was the band from boldon, i think that sang ' arseholes bastards ***** and f***ing pricks' ?

 

[Cheesy Feet]

who was the band from boldon, i think that sang ' arseholes bastards ***** and f***ing pricks' ?

That's the opening of 'Plaistow Patricia' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

 

[st.jude]

That's the opening of 'Plaistow Patricia' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

well i never, been hoodwinked for 35 years

 

[Cheesy Feet]

I know what you mean..i used to get stick off some of them because I worked for a nationalised industry down the shipyards..they'd be like 'you're working for the man'..'you're a slave to the goverment'..or whatever bollocks they'd heard Joe Strummer say the week before..all I knew was that gigs and beer cost money and I wanted a bit of both.

Haha the irony of saying that while waiting for your Fortnightly giro ... from The Man!
Back then you could get a flat in Ashbrooke and furniture and pots and pans allowance all off the dole which seemed for a minute like paradise. More money than I earned a couple of nights a week in The Barnes, no grief off parents for coming in late and drunk and some privacy to bring a bewer back ... but then I’d wonder where I’d be in five or ten or twenty years, still waiting for me giro when I was impatient to kick start me life and get out of town and into the world. I had many more years of studenty poverty and a several less than lucrative jobs but worth it in the end!
[/QUOTE]

Spot on mate..punk was great but some of the shite that got spouted by Strummer..Rotten..et al..i just think the ones back then who had nowt or had gotten the flats in Ashbrooke were happy living to the 'punk ideal'..and they were more than happy to drag you down with them if you'd let them.

 

[Butcher's Coat]

That's the opening of 'Plaistow Patricia' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads.

"Arseholes, bastards, f***ing ***** and pricks"

 

[Jonny G]

I was a young punk living up Downhill and used to follow Town End Farm band 'Disorder'..i used to knock about with the lead singer 'Roughy'..my crowd included Frankie Warsaw of 'Leatherface' fame..i also used to come down to Monkwearmouth School to see 'Red Alert' play..i went to see 'Red Alert' the other week at Independent supporting the 'Angelic Upstarts'..there was a good scene in Sunderland back then although I was a bit young for the gig scene in 1977..i saw the Upstarts once at the Old 29 and the Toy Dolls in Le Metro or whatever it was called then..SLF at the Poly..i used to go to the Ivy House on a Thursday night for Tommy Hairs punk disco and Green Terrace School on a Friday for more of the same..Heros on Fawcett Street became a bit of a hang out for us all then the Mowbray and the Locarno..great times and I made some great friends some of whom I still see today.

[/QUOTE]
[/QUOTE] superb past mate