DR SLAGGS
CONFESSIONS

BAND INDEX

circa 1968
– 1969 Source Broadgate Gnome  – Blues /
rock

 Line up:
Arthur (Mode) Albrighton (bass, harmonicas), Paul Kennelly (vocals, guitar,
gags ! etc.) Pete Davoile and Dek Wilson

 Formed to
finish off dates from Peppermint Kreem’s 1968 diary. Lasted around a month.

 ‘Electric
music from…featuring harmonica king Archie’ (sic) gig ad CET January 1969.

Paul
Kennelly tells us ” Immediately after returning from the Scottish Tour ,
Paul Kennelly teamed up with Arthur Albrighton, Pete Davoile and Dek Wilson.
Primarily it was done to complete the outstanding Peppermint Kreem diary dates.
The whole thing was chaotic and there are no known images of the band ” on
stage “. All that has survived is a couple of photographs of the Flat and
a poster/business card. This is a reconstruction of the band poster. There is
no known original left. The poster was commissioned by the band from Terry
Illingworth and replicated by Paul Kennelly using the following images, in
1987.”

 Paul
Kennelly and Arthur Albrighton. Arthur has his famous Harmonica ” gunbelt
” and Paul holds Arthur’s bass guitar.

Arthur
” Modie ” Albrighton with the Doctor Slagg’s poster and Peppermint
Kreem poster, over the fireplace.

Printed by
Illingworth , this card does not even have a phone number !

The ”
sitting room ” …….. 188 Barker Butts Lane Coventry. December 1968. A
wonderful mural reflecting the fashions of the day ! … I guess it must be
Eric Clapton.

Pete
Clemons article on Peppermint Kreem gives some of the background to this band.

Music with a Minty Flavour!
Pete Clemons

OF all Coventry bands I have read about or researched none, for me at least, is more fascinating than that of Peppermint Kreem.

The story is actually a trilogy which takes the group from its beat band beginnings in 1968 through to their conclusion in 1987 but not before they had recorded a rock opera. Paul Kennelly has meticulously kept extensive notes over the years and it is these that I have plundered to pull this article together.

The roots of Peppermint Kreem can be traced right back to previous incarnations of the band beginning with Makeshift from around 1967 and then The Plague who existed between December 1967 and April 1968.

The Plague was formed when Paul Kennelly put an advert in the Coventry Telegraph. Arthur ‘Modie’ Albrighton was first to answer it. “We were hungry for work and would take anything.” said Paul. “It was a great way of learning the business and the band performed from The Benn Hall in Rugby to Harlaxton Manor in Lincolnshire.”

The line-up of The Plague was Paul Kennelly (vocals), ‘Modie’ Albrighton (bass guitar), Brian Griffiths (drums), Ray Haywood (lead guitar) and Bob Hopkins (keyboards) and they played their first gig at The General Wolfe on Friday, December 8, 1967.

Brian Griffiths left The Plague on January 25, 1968 to be replaced by Tom Ryan on drums. Bob Hopkins then left the band during April ’68.

At that point it was agreed to give the band a fresh start and a new name. Ray Haywood suggested Peppermint Creams to which Paul responded with a slight variation to Ray’s original idea. And so on April 26, 1968, they appeared as a four-piece at The Heart of England Club, Meriden, as Peppermint Kreem.

As covered by an article and various photographs for a Coventry Standard piece during May 1968 they bought a 15-seater bus from the Enterprise Club for the Disabled in Avon Street for PS24 and 10 shillings. This was used to carry their equipment.

1968 saw the band just ‘out there playing’. They were, not at that time, in to doing their own music. What they would do though was to rearrange numbers, speed them up/ slow them down and fill in with drum solo links. The band toured extensively and regularly appeared locally in venues such as The Navigation on the Stoney Stanton Road and The Walsgrave.

On July 13 Peppermint Kreem added keyboard player Dave Fairclough to the line-up. His first gig for them was on Saturday July 13, 1968 at the Hobmore Hotel, Yardley.

By late 1968, the band had been signed by Don Fardon, his own solo career had taken off, and Vince Martin, of Friars Promotions, stepped in as manager. A tour of Scotland, for impresario Albert Bonici, was booked for December which would take them as far north as Lossiemouth, Nairn, Aberdeen, Elgin and Arbroath.

But sadly, due to other commitments, only Paul and Dave were available. In order that the tour could go ahead, Paul and Dave hooked up with Glass Forest, a Welsh band who were based in Birmingham, the lineup being Paul on vocals, Dave on keyboards, Andre on guitar, Karl on bass and Byron on drums and the band performed as Peppermint Kreem.

And that was the end for this phase of Peppermint Kreem. Paul and Arthur (“Modie”) formed a band with Pete Davoile (Peppermint Kreem 2 and Seagull) on drums and Dec Wilson on guitar. Appearing as Dr. Slagg’s Confessions, they polished off the last few dates left in the old Peppermint Kreem diary. After that, they all went their separate ways, with Arthur replacing the bass player in New City Sounds, and Paul replacing Allen (“Sabu”) Parsons in The Motion.

Within days of Paul joining, the Motion changed their name to Revolution, and then eventually became Natural Gass. The line-up over this period was: Paul Kennelly (vocals), Dave Sutton (lead guitar), Reg Galland (bass), Granville Barber (drums), Bob Hopkins (keyboards), Pete Smith (ex-New City Sounds) on bass and Martin Lucas on lead guitar.

That wasn’t the end though for Peppermint Kreem. 1972 saw the band reform and they went onto to achieve many good things. The previous version of the band never got to record but this would all change with Peppermint Kreem mark 2. Paul admitted: “I had never got to write and perform my own material and it just seemed the right time. It wasn’t originally conceived as an opera. I just began to work up song ideas. What began as separate songs became a string of pieces, linked together. This was influenced by our standard set that was composed of varied material all tied together making a non-stop presentation.”

This time around Modie had switched to guitar with the rest of the band being Paul (vocals), Keith Jaynes (bass), Bob Hopkins (keyboards) and Pete Davoil (drums). “We recorded the opera at Bird sounds studio near Stratford-on-Avon and it was called Revelation 2001. Regrettably it was never released and I have no idea what became of the master tapes. We did play the whole thing live on carnival day at the War Memorial Park during July 1973. It was a fine summer’s day and we were set to go on stage at 9.30pm.

“For the first 20 minutes we played our versions of non-stop standards, then, after a short break we presented Revelation 2001. We held a respectable sized crowd for the standards show but I was not sure how they would react to the opera.

“You have to appreciate that the public were not directly paying for our performance, and could have drifted away at any time, but they didn’t, the melody, some of it haunting, held them spellbound.” That was last time that Peppermint Kreem played live together. However, in 1987 three of the band got back together yet again. Known as Peppermint Kreem 3, Paul Kennelly, ‘Modie’ Albrighton and Bob Hopkins, set about re-recording Revelation 2001 at Time Machine Studios in Earlsdon.

Sadly though it was never fully completed and although CD copies got ‘out there’ it remained unmixed. It is just made up of keyboards, guitar and Paul’s vocal. There are no drums or bass. Also, at Time Machine, Peppermint Kreem laid down keyboard and vocal tracks for another project called ‘Atlantis’. Again, this was never completed and remains unreleased.

Although there are no plans to complete these works it is still something that at least some kind of legacy of this wonderful story exists. ………………………………….

DROPS OF
BRANDY

BAND INDEX

circa 1971
– 79 – Source Hobo  – Pop/Rock

 Ted Duggan
(drums), Ray Harte (rhythm guitar), Ian McDonald (vocals), Neil Richardson
(bass), John Duggan (lead guitar).

Developed
out of Rogation Sunday / Acorn. Began rehearsing at the Coventry Arts Umbrella.

 Played four
nights a week residency at the Bloomers Club in Birmingham; RAF bases all over
the country; four months in Bradford; nine month residency at Tiffany’s
Liverpool for the Mecca organisation.

 ‘We play
strictly disco music, pop the kids can dance to’.

 They played
their way from Land’s End to John O’ Groats, to raise money for the Variety
Club of Great Britain children’s fund. Mecca provided them with a float and
played 30 gigs at pre-arranged venues and from the back of a lorry all the way.
Money raised from venues and street collections and sponsorships totalled £1000
and the marathon was covered by Granada TV.

 Tony Harte
Management. Ted was also in Purple Haze in the 60’s, Paris in the 80’s, Chevy
in the 80’s and The Mudsliders, Chevy, Smackee, Banco De Gaia, Dark Side of the
Moon and from time to time plays for the Two Tone Collective

Tim Constable says “In 1976 The line up changed to Ted Duggan (drums), Ray Harte (rhythm/ backing vocals), Steve Roberts (lead/backing vocals), Ian McDonald (lead vocals), Tim Constable (keyboards). Their main gig for several months was as resident band at Baileys in Derby, commuting four nights a week. in 1977 the band divided. I don’t recall the new Drops of Brandy lineup, but Ted, Steve and Tim formed PARIS to do original material written by Tim Constable and Clive Barnwell. Paris was completed with Pat Millar (vocals), Mike Harrington (bass, later replaced by Fran Pettifer). Ted was later replaced by Danny (?). Paris played around the Midlands, and continued until about 1982, including a residency at ‘The Red House’ pub (Stoney Stanton Road, now demolished).

Iain MacDonald

Update to what Tim Constable posted, the final line up of the band was the three original members, myself Iain MacDonald (notice the spelling), Ray Harte, Neil Richardson, with Clive Layton on keyboards, Des Beasley on lead guitar and Chris Peters on drums.

Iain.

Rogation
Sunday

Trev’s
recollections – I recall some of the members in earlier bands Acorn / Rogation
Sunday (a change of name) at the Umbrella club – at least Derek McConkey sent a
letter to the Umbrella requesting a gig at the Umbrella c 1970 (with Go Go
dancers!). I can’t remember if we actually had them on – I seem to recall they
split up before we were able to offer them a gig. I think Ted Duggan and Tony
Harte were the band (see letter).

 Neil
Richardson was in a band called Nak ed en with Loz Netto (later of Sniff and
the Tears) on lead/ rhythm guitar and 
Brad (later of the Specials) on drums and Neil Richardson played bass.
They practiced at the Umbrella. After they split, Neil joined with ex members
of Acorn to form a commercial pop rock band – Drops of Brandy – mostly covers
including 10cc’s I’m Not in Love. I saw them at the Ryton Bridge Hotel.
Although they were touring intensively around the country at the time, I’d bump
into either Neil or Ted in town and get an update while doing Hobo Mag.

Comments – A Facebook
User

Hi Iain, I
was one of the Dancers at Bloomers I remember you all, I later moved to the La
Dolce Vita.. it was good fun, say Hello to all the guys for me,

.

Dragster

BAND INDEX

Dragster on Reverbnation https://www.reverbnation.com/dragsterdiesel

Take a listen.

Dragster are a five piece punk rock n roll band who formed in the ghost town of Coventry
in 2005. They have a love of dirty, fast and energetic music, 50’s iconography
and sci-fi and B movie horror. Their first EP was produced by Rat Scabies of
The Damned and they were managed for a time by Jah Wobble of PIL.

Singer Fi
did a 40 date tour of the States fronting US collective Pigface with drummer
Martin Atkins (PIL, Ministry) and JS Claydon (Pitchshifter) amongst others.

Their first
EP “Trailer Trash” https://www.reverbnation.com/dragsterdiesel produced by Rat Scabies received rave reviews in the music
press and it got the band signed to London management team Scruffy Bird. Dragster released their first album “Step Into The Deathray” in 2006
on Noisemaker Records (Germany). The first pressing of the album sold out in
two weeks. The band released their second album “Here Come The Meat
Robots” in 2010 on Manchester punk label STP Records. The band are now on
the roster of the UKs best punk, psychobilly and ska booking agency, Hidden
Talent Booking.

 A new EP
and Video “Drink You Pretty/The Dead Are Out In Droves” is to be
released in March 2013 and a third album is set for release in summer 2013.

They have
toured the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Italy, Spain and Portugal with
over 300 dates under their belts. The band will be doing full tours of the UK
and Europe in 2013 as well as a planned US west coast tour. They are booked for
festivals including Rebellion, Inkfest & Boomtown.

This sleazy
rock n roll train looks set to continue on rolling for a few years to come.

 Dragster
are: Fi Dragster
(ex Pigface)-Vox, Diesel
– Guitar,

AC Speed
(Texas Terri Bomb) – Lead Guitar, 

Tom AK (ex
UK Subs, Criminal Class) – Bass, Alex Page
(ex Vice Squad) – Drums.

 NEW Article
and update by Pete chambers in Backbeat, Coventry Telegraph – here
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/backbeat-dragster-ready-first-gigs-11413643

Backbeat:
dragSTER ready for their first gigs in France as part of European tour

Band made
their mark many moons ago and their reputation for producing high quality
“in-your-face” punk-edged rock music is deserved

Coventry
rockers dragSTER continue to promote great city music on the world stage on
their tour of Europe.

 Having
recently opened the Punk and Disorderly festival in Berlin, they are about to
play their first gigs in France, including promotional radio sessions with
stations Birock Radio and IndieUnderground.

The band
made their mark on the local scene many moons ago and their reputation for
producing high quality “in-your-face” punk-edged rock music is richly deserved.

The
five-piece have accumulated quite a history over the years, including being
produced by Rat Scabies (The Damned) and managed by Jah Wobble (PIL).

Singer Fi
did a 40-date USA tour fronting US collective Pigface with drummer
Coventry-born super-drummer Martin Atkins (PIL) and JS Claydon (Pitchshifter)
among others.

The
dragSTER line-up has changed a lot over the years but married couple Fi and
Diesel remain at the helm.

Current
line up is: Fi (Fiona Friel) – vox, Diesel (Paul Friel) – guitar, Ben Kelly
(who was previously their bass player and rejoined them at famous Rebellion
Punk Festival in Blackpool in 2014) – lead guitar, Tom AK (Tom Hadsley)-Bass
and Ryan Murphy – drums.

Their
latest album release is ‘Dead Punk’, which can be listened to for free or
purchased here.

Dead Punk by dragSTER

 DON’T TALK WET

Sometimes musician friends from local bands or folk clubs backed me – especially members of

Fission – Johnny Adams (later guitarist with Squad), Ant Callaghan and Simon Lovegrove percussion, Mick Green harmonica, Phil Knapper (Older brother of Stu Knapper later of Riot Act) Andy Cairns and others. It was very ad hoc and I advertised for more permanent musicians but the work of Hobo Magazine and Workshop took over.

Listen on Bandcamp – 

Trev’s later recording band up on Teesside was Trev and the Collective Unconscious

with Steve Gillgallon (Bass, keys, synth) and Steve Ingledew (keys) Trev guitar / vocals and keys)

In August 1973 Don’t Talk Wet were asked to appear at The Windsor Free Festival through Rougestar Promotions and John Bargent (Bo) – in the end it didn’t transpire.

WINDSOR FREE FESTIVAL

Starts Saturday 25th August in Windsor Great Park, London and is expected to last over a

week with well over one hundred groups. There will also be poets, street-theatre, solo singers and everything a far fetched imagination can think of (including free food and beer).

Some of the more well known groups appearing are – Hawkwind / Pink Fairies / Skin Alley / Third Ear Band / Longdancer / String Driven Thing / Kraan (German Band) but to name a few. Coventry bands possibly appearing include – Trilogy (confirmed) / Fission / Just Jake / A Band Called George / Trev Teasdel and Don’t Talk Wet (I didn’t do it in the end -can’t remember why but it was it was nice to be asked!).In fact Fission were the only ones that ended up playing at Windsor.

Trev and Bo in the Coventry Evening Telegraph On the Scene supplement June 1973 for Hobo Coventry Music and Arts Magazine.

An early songwriting collaboration was with Pete Waterman in 1970 (before he was famous)

A LOTTA RAIN IS FALLIN’

©Trev Teasdel June / July 1970 Coventry

A lotta rain is fallin’ but the earth has moved aside

There’s a lotta bullets flying but the victim’s found somewhere to hide.

There’s a lotta rivers flowin’ but the seas learned how to fly.

There’s a lotta clouds a wondering which rockets nicked the sky.

Cos the roads are moving fast but the cars are standing still

And so much is happening, yet nothin’s ever done

Oh we want to see the light but we’re dazzled by the sun.

(Bridge)

And some people’s only sunshine

Is their Cornflakes in the morning time

And the age of Instant sunshine, in packets bright and gay

I know will be dawning, in some future day.

There’s a lotta tears a fallin’ and more are being cried.

There’s a lotta people trampled on as man takes another stride.

There’s a lotta smoke arising but the sky’s learned how to swim

There’s a lotta faces smiling but their hearts are feeling grim.

Cos a lotta tension’s forming and the bag’s about to burst

There’s gotta be an answer cos the world is getting worse.

A lotta help is needed to get that truck back on the road

Cos too many people are pullin’ too heavier a load.

(Bridge repeated)

BIRMINGHAM STREEPRESS / STREETPOEMS  AND BIRMINGHAM GIGS
The association with Birmingham Streetpress and Streepoems began in 1972 through to 74 I

sold copies of Streetpress and Streetpoems in Coventry and they showed me how to do layouts and encouraged me to do a Coventry magazine which became Hobo.

Letters from Streetpress regarding gigs in Birmingham

BAND INDEX

Members:
Charles Evans, Chris Sidwell, Dave Francis, Gordon Francis, Peter Hulbert, Ray Fullard, Steve Mayo

c 1979 –
Single – Don’t call us/ Orders from the C O – 1981 (source Rex Brough)

 Extinction
1979-1982 CD (Messthetics #207)

 Huh? CD
(Messthetics #209)

 Digital
Dinosaurs have a site – Here

More digital Dinosaurs on YouTube

They say of
their EP ‘HUH’

‘Huh?’ was
like a lot of ‘concept’ albums in that it didn’t really have a concept -at
least not then…

We’d been
listening to a lot of our favourite records –not just music. We’d decided that
we were going to make an album with links between the songs and try and make a
complete body of work rather than just a collection of different songs as we’d
done previously.
This completely took us over for a year –and it was meant to be our
masterpiece, although we were still learning the recording process… So we set
up all of our musical equipment (plus a television and record player) in John
O’Boil’s ‘Boiling Point’ Studio and worked for several weeks in the summer of
1980 on the recordings that were to become ‘Huh?’

Pete was
writing a lot of songs by now and one of his songs is pivotal to the album
(‘Superella’). He sang lead vocals on this for the first time and on another
song as well. I was still writing a lot of songs and also collaborating with
Pete and Gordon who was writing as well. So we had lots of songs and another
drummer called Joe but still no concept. It was only when I was compiling the
‘Extinction 1979-82’ CD that I realised just what the concept was and that we’d
not understood what we’d made with ‘Huh?’

The project
was only finally completed with ‘Little Russia’ which was a song that I wrote
the year after we’d finished ‘Huh?’ but sums up the album’s concept. The
‘ThreeE.P.’ tracks from the same period also dovetail nicely into the work.
We’d all been living through the horrors of Mrs. Thatcher’s 1980’s Britain.
These were oppressive, depressing, hopeless times when people’s only escape was
through the screen of a television, a disc on the record player or the
intervention of a super hero maybe …this was a job for ‘Superella’ though we,
now know, that ‘she’ never came…

Cassettes
by the Digital Dinosaurs: Earpop, New Needles, The Bedroom Tapes, Final Touch,
Three.E.P., The Hit Singles Collection, It’s Another Fine Mess from the Digital
Dinosaurs, When Again Men?…and Huh?:

 Below –
from Coventry’s  Alternative Sounds c
1979 – Fanzine

Dept of
Misinformation

BAND INDEX

Dept of Misinformation formed in the summer of 2021 when poet (Nick Knibb aka The Archbishop) joined forces with a punk band (Tin Fish) and decided to make music together. There was something of an inevitability about this as Nick and Steve Clarke had entered the music business back in 1979 after watching an underwhelming punk gig and had formed Alternative Noise. This band were later to slim down to a three-piece punk band called Noize and featured in reviews in Alternative Sounds after gigs in Birmingham as well as The Climax Club and Swanswell Tavern in Cov. 

Noize also recorded a track ‘All The Old Dudes’ which found its way onto the iconic ‘Tale of Two Cities’ CD; a collection of the best of punk rock and alternative music from Coventry and Birmingham at the end of the seventies. Coincidentally, another band featured on this release was The Accused with David Browne on guitar and who were later to bring in Steve Clarke on bass. 

And 40 odd years and a lot of bands later, here we are. Dept of Misinformation grew organically from a songwriting project between Nick and Steve, to adding experienced musicians David, Ellie and Jake to complete the line-up. Steve, having played previously in bands with Nick, Ellie and David was the catalyst to make this happen. Ellie’s keyboard wizardry gives the band a full, dynamic sound – add to this the energy and power from the drums of Jake and there you have it; a combination of ages, talents and styles that have given them their distinctive style.

Dept of Misinformation and their mix of passionate positive power pop, ska songs and out and out rockers have already started to make ripples in the local music scene and are gaining momentum among local audiences at their live performances as well as on local radio. 

In January of 2022 they recorded their debut EP ‘Agenda’ at the legendary Woodbine Street Studios which is available on Spotify and Soundcloud with videos supporting the release on the Dept of Misinformation YouTube channel. 

Since their formation, Dept of Misinformation have played gigs all over Coventry and Birmingham and are always on the lookout for more.

The Band

Review for ‘Gotta Run’ by King City online

https://www.kingcity.online/post/dept-of-misinformation-gotta-run

Over a beer the other night and competing with the sound of someone shovelling their wages into the bandit, I tried to define the term ‘power pop’ to a group of mates as we discussed that era when punk rock had descended into parodic surgically sterile safety pinned headlines before the likes of Nick Lowe and the Rich Kids pushed it all aside and took centre stage to rescue us.

I shouldn’t have bothered trying; Dept of Misinformation have done the job for me in 2 minutes and 48 seconds of pure unadulterated unashamed rock n roll with ‘Gotta Run’. This song doesn’t subtly begin – it kicks down the front door, grabs you by the ears and drags you on to the dance floor. Tamlaesque bass guitar runs and fierce thumping drums drive this monster truck of a song along and nothing is going to get in the way.

Add to this a keyboard wall of sound, searing guitar, rasping vocals with more than a touch of the New York Dolls and a singalong chorus to die for and there you have it; Dept of Misinformation. This is the first release from the band and is available on YouTube for all to see. Their EP ‘Agenda’ will follow shortly and I for one, want more.

Stephen Pennell

BAND INDEX

From
Alternative Sounds 1979

James
(Jini) Phillips – Guitar   Jon Larsen
– Drums  Simon Bell
– Bass

 Stu Corner
– Guitar   Steve
Abbots – Vocals   Paul
Newbury – Oboe

 Rex Brough
says – Densa later became known as Act, and then Bop With McCow, with slightly different
line-ups.

 

 Del Chronics

BAND INDEX

URBAN PLAYGROUND:THE NEXT CHAPTER IN THE STORY OF THE DEL-CHRONICS

In 1697 William Congreve wrote in his play ‘The Mourning Bride’ that ‘music soothes the savage beast’ making reference to how a melody can calm an aggressive person, but what if the savage beast is actually the destructive force of addiction or mental health? Of course there is an element of this that must be true, but that the calmness and support comes from the strings of an orchestra playing compositions of Wagner or Beethoven, or maybe the tranquil lyrics of a song by Adele or Whitney Houston, and not the sound of The Ramones, Sham 69 and the U.K. Subs. But, whilst that is the case for most people, most people are not the Del-Chronics!

In 2009 a group of men who were in their thirties found they had a common bond, in that they all suffered through the shared issue of mental health, and wanted to do something together to support each other and to improve their personal lot in life. At the time there were several types of support mechanisms available for people like them who had mental health challenges although nobody else had looked towards the sounds of Punk Rock to provide the therapy they all needed, and so the Del-Chronics (or rather the Chronics U.K. as they were named at the time) formed.

The band originally consisted of Dominic Mulgrew (vocals) and Adam McCormick (guitar), supported by Dominic’s guitar teacher John Wilson – who is also a partner in One Nations Studio in Warwick. Whilst the music they wanted to make initially could have been described as formulaic, the lyrics written by Dominic certainly were not.

As Dominic says: “The way we work as a band is we all come up with the tunes, to which I add the lyrics. Really the songs come from my heart and my experiences in life, and cover subjects such as our freedom, drug issues, violence and mental health. My struggles with mental health problems have been well documented in my books ‘Is Anybody Listening?’ and ‘9 Years Later’. During what was meant to be a period of rehab for me, I made a lot of friends, and got drunk at weekends whilst also carrying on taking a number of drugs. While I was partying I found a new love… Punk Rock. This love led me to becoming a guest vocalist of Warwickshire Punk covers bands Betty Swollocks and the X- Piles. I was just about managing to survive helped very much by the music, until a few bad things happened that I don’t really want to go into right now. Although it was a terrible time in my life especially with my mental health challenges, my life was about to take a new direction when I met Adam who played guitar and the band started to take shape.”

With the genesis of what was then The Chronics formed, and with John helping Dominic and Adam bring the lyrics and music together, they asked a bass player called Darren Payne to join, together Darren’s friend Mike Murphy on drums. The next stage was to record some of the songs they were writing. To support the recording of what became the seven-track CD ‘The Chronics E.P.’ in 2014 at John’s One Nations Studio, the
band secured a grant from the U.K. Governments Direct Payments scheme. During the recording, Mike shared the drumming with Joe Morris. This really was a developing time for the band, where they played quite a few gigs in Warwickshire, and the members all started to feel that their health was improving as a result. Yes it is a fact you do not need Beethoven or Adele to help you with your mental health.

All you need is a good dose of Punk Rock! Not only was being in the band helping the men to deal better with life, they also found that the CD they had recorded was selling really well and they wanted to record more songs. Again with the support of Direct Payments the band went back into One Nations Studios in 2015 with John at the controls, and with Mike firmly in place on the drum stool to record the nine-track ‘Chronic Tales’ album.

Again the CD sold really well, and the whole act of forming a band, recording songs and playing gigs was proving to be excellent therapy for everyone involved. They all saw the art of making Punk Rock music as beneficial, and it definitely helped to improve their mental health.

Sadly though, making music and especially playing live was not for everyone, and Darren decided he did not want to continue being a Chronic, so a replacement bass player needed to be found. You would think it would be easy to find a replacement but it proved to be really difficult and they needed to continue with John taking on bass duties for a couple of years. This in itself proved to be very stressful, however they managed to play a few gigs as a four piece, but in reality they were now more of a rehearsal studio based band, but wanted to be so much more.

Eventually Nigel Meffen (previously with the bands Skeet, Simon Seachange, Spoofer and Prole Position) answered an advert, which had been put on the notice board in a music shop in Coventry many moons before. Now with Nige on board, the band had found its line-up, and they quickly transformed into a very tight live band. The only sticking point – well for Nige anyway – was the bands name:

“I really didn’t like the bands name, as searching the Internet I saw there were at least 12 other bands called the Chronics, so I suggested we change it. In honestly there wasn’t any objection, and after suggesting things like the Unchronics and the Sub Chronics, Adam came up with the Del-Chronics, and it stuck. It was important to keep faith with the chronic part of the name as it seemed perfect for the characters in the band.”

Although the original band members are still benefitting from being part of the Del-Chronics, the group have moved on considerably from the initial reason for forming and are now a well established Punk Rock band, even though COVID-19 could so easily have derailed everything! Actually the pandemic developed into a great period of creatively for the band, and they managed to remotely record
and release a four track ‘Lockdown Demos’ CD which quickly sold out (the tracks have now been included as bonus tracks as part of the 23 track ‘Urban Playground’ album which was released in 2022) and the track ‘Fright Night’ was donated to the ‘Gratitude Part 2’ compilation album released by Deadfall Management supporting the NHS. Additionally the track ‘Wrecking It Up’ appeared on the fourth
Alternative Sounds compilation CD, and ‘Knock ‘em Back’ features on the ‘Spirit Of DIY Vol 6’ Punk Rock release.

In September 2022 the band played the recently opened HMV Empire in Coventry City Centre for the second time, and that appears to have started a new era for the Del-Chronics. Adam has called time on his being a Del-Chronic and Nigel has taken a break to concentrate on his work with the band Cherry Joe and the Lightning Crew, but this is far from the end of Del-Chronics.

And a direct link to their track Urban Play – below

BAND INDEX

The Defendants were a four (sometimes three) piece combo consisting of:-

Garry McManus : bass, vocals

Rich Trowbridge a.k.a. Rich T Bizkid: lead guitar, vocals

Dave Bartram : keyboard, rhythm guitar, vocals

Dick Burrows a.k.a. R J Teecha: drums, vocals

Victor a.k.a. Lord Scott: drums

Miguel D’Olivares : drums, vocals

Songs – Headmaster / Such a Spiv

The Defendants’ one and only vinyl release. Recording and production on 4 track by John Rivers at his original Woodbine Studios in Woodbine Street, Leamington Spa, 1978.

Headmaster – (Burrows, The Defendants) Dick vocals & drums, Rich lead guitar (Stratocaster), Dave rhythm guitar (Telecaster), Garry bass

Such A Spiv – (Bartram, The Defendants) Dave vocals, rhythm guitar (Telecaster) & keyboard, Rich lead guitar (Stratocaster), Dick drums, Garry bass

Previously Unreleased Recordings – again on the same link as above.

Woodbine Studios with Johnny Rivers Oct ’78

Recorded on the old 4 track system in Woodbine Street

Pleasure Turns To Pain – (McManus, The Defendants) Garry vocals & bass, Dave rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Rich lead guitar, Dick drums

Sous La Plage – (Bartram, The Defendants) Dave vocals, rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Garry vocals & bass, Rich lead guitar, Dick drums

Impatient Outpatient – (Burrows, The Defendants) Dick vocals & drums, Dave rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Rich lead guitar, Garry bass

Live Entertainment – (Trowbridge, The Defendants) Rich vocals & lead guitar, Dave rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Dick drums, Garry bass

EMI studios 27:9:79

Possibly a 16 track recording with Rob Townsend (Family: The Blues Band etc.) on drums

Violent World

Space Age

Highbury Hill

There are some live tracks from John Peel and Boogie House in Norwich also on the site

“Like so many bands The Defendants had several drummers over the years. Dick was
the original drummer and wrote and sang one track only, the single Headmaster, although he did supply backing vocals at times. Frustrated by the lack of a record deal he threw in the towel in March 1979.

The band’s next drummer was Victor who was previously drumming with The Homosexuals as Oscar B. Montague playing on their John Peel single of the week ‘Soft South Africans’. When the band decided to re-locate from Leamington Spa (a.k.a. Lemming Town, a.k.a. Twin Peaks) to the big city Victor simply evaporated. At the time none of us knew what happened to him. Thanks to the magic of The Web I can now reveal that he is still drumming while facilitating junk/re-cycled percussion workshops in schools and the wider community.

Dave Bartram was never a fan of London and so he decided to abandon ship leaving the band as just the core songwriting duo of Rich and Garry. After a depressingly long wait they were joined on drums by Mig, who was remarkably same as drummers go and blessed with a Latin sense of rhythm. At last The Defendants could gig again as a three piece.

The early 80’s saw the three piece defendants play gigs and pursue record deals with demo tapes made in Johnnie Rivers’ new Woodbine Studio in Leamington as well as various London Studios (Island, EMI, Pathway) and various producers notably Paul Riley, Dave Jordan and even Jerry Dammers stepped up to the desk to create an amusing re-mix of The Good, the Bad and the Plain Ridiculous.

After The Defendants finally disintegrated around 1982 Garry went on to play with several bands including The Rent Boys, Toucan and 3 Amazing Cats. He was perhaps best known for stepping in to play with The Specials when their original bass player Horace left during recording of their In The Studio album in 1984. (The Defendants had been friends with The Specials since they began as The Automatics). This led to television appearances on The Tube and TOTP and a photo on the front page of the NME. Garry sadly died in February 1999.

While Rich was an incredibly skilled and amusingly entertaining guitar player, he seems to have given up the music business when The Defendants folded. Last I heard he was selling cars in Germany – although that was a long time ago.

Stop Press!! Rich has contacted me (20080803) so expect many updates soon, including his current musical output – hurrah!.

Dave Bartram was rumoured to have returned to his past occupation as a market trader. (Although there are also rumours that he may have become a schoolteacher)

Dick Burrows left the band when they moved from the midlands to London in 1980/81. Last I heard he was a successful peripatetic music teacher in the midlands.”

from Alternative Sounds c 1979