The Wild Boys | Coventry Bands 1960’s to Now

The Wild Boys

The Wild Boys have a track Alternative Sounds album Vo 2 on Bandcamp

https://alternativesounds.bandcamp.com/album/alternative-sounds-volume-2

The Wild Boys were Coventry’s first Punk Band formed as early as 1975 by Roddy Byres aka Roddy Radiation, long before he joined the Coventry Automatics (The Special AKA).

Line up
Roddy Byres (Roddy Radiation) – Guitar / Vocals
Johnny Thompson (Replaced Roddy when he joined the Specials)
Mark Extra (Roddy’s brother) Guitar and vocals
Ron Lapworth – bass
Pete Davies – Drums (1st drummer I think c 1975)
Tony Lynch – Drums.

Roddy Byers
“My brother Mark Extra and his mates took over the Wild Boys name when I joined the Coventry Automatics/ The Specials”

Marco on Bass says

“The Wild Boys were a very popular local group, initially started by Roddy Radiation in 1975 and were Coventry’s first punk band. The band supported The Buzzcocks, but split up in 1977 just as punk was kicking off. Their influence on the city’s music scene was immense and provided the catalyst for the influential punk edge that would emerge later in The Specials. After Roddy left to join The Specials as lead guitarist, the Wild Boys’ name was taken over by Roddy’s brother Mark. A few months later their reputation was cemented as one of the main draws in Coventry. That reputation was soon to increase even more when they landed two tracks on the “Sent From Coventry” compilation album. The tracks ‘We’re Only Monsters’ and ‘Lorraine’ were both Roddy Radiation songs.”

http://marcoonthebass.blogspot.com/2008/12/sent-from-coventry-1980-compilation.html

Pete Chambers wrote in Godiva Rocks
“Johnny Thompson replaced Roddy when he left to join the Coventry Automatics (later the Specials). Roddy continued to write for the band after he left including We’re only Monsters and Lorraine – featured on the Sent From Coventry album 1979. They were always a great live band with great songs like Confusion / Personal Gift. Ron Lapworth left to become a photographer – he worked with Attrition and on the cover of Sent From Coventry. They provided two songs for Ron Hutchinson’s production of Risky City at the Belgrade Theatre – Risky City and Death of Eddy – released on cassette single only. When they split Extra and Lynch joined Roddy in the Tearjerkers.”

From Wiki”It was in The Wild Boys that Roddy started songwriting. His first was “1980’s Teddy Boy”, and later came “Concrete Jungle” which was recorded by The Specials for their debut album, Specials (1979). The Specials version of “Concrete Jungle” was eventually released as a single by Chrysalis Records.

Byers joined The Specials when the band was called The Coventry Automatics and wrote several songs for the band. The most successful was “Rat Race”, which peaked at number five in the UK Singles Chart in May 1980. Byers also wrote “Hey Little Rich Girl”, which appeared on The Specials second album, More Specials (1980). “Hey Little Rich Girl” was released as a single in Japan by Chrysalis in 1980. Byers sang the lead vocal on “Concrete Jungle” and the track “Bragging and Trying Not to Lie” which was released as a free single with initial copies of More Specials. “Bragging and Trying Not to Lie” was credited as Roddy Radiation & The Specials.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roddy_Radiation

Memories from Ron Lapworth
“I was in a band called the Wild Boys. The experience was incredible and the music scene brought us together with a common aim…I remember turning the radio on at home and we (The Wild Boys) were being played on Radio 1’s Emperor Rosco’s Round Table, it didn’t seem weird at the time…” http://www.bbc.co.uk/coventry/content/articles/2004/11/05/music_godiva_rocks_feature.shtml

The Wild Boys had two tracks on Alternative Sounds album Sent from Coventry in 1980

Lorraine and We’re Only Monsters.