Epileptics – Spiderleg Records – 1981

Tube Disaster / Two Years Too Late

Target On My Back / What Have You Got To Smile About?

When Flux Of Pink Indians released the ‘Neu Smell’ 7″ single on Crass Records, there was a certain interest in the previous band that Flux had transformed from in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire called The Licks (the name of the band if you check their only 7″ single released in the bands lifetime on Harlow’s Stortbeat Records in 1979).

The Licks was a label friendly name used purely for non shock value. The band had been called The Epileptics, but the record label deemed this moniker too offensive to put on a cover of a punk record. The Epileptics performed rudimentary punk rock, a lot of the time at The Triad venue in the town, and generally supported by The Eratics from Waltham Cross, U Samples from Bishops Stortford and Urban Decay from Harlow.

Members of The Epileptics included at one time or another Steve Drewitt from Newtown Neurotics, Stan Stammers later on of The Pack / Theatre Of Hate, Sid from Rubella Ballet and most surprisingly Annie Anxiety. The Epileptics played with Crass at The Triad at least twice, but both bands performed together elsewhere in London several other times.

Crass would eventually support the soon to be named Flux Of Pink Indians through shared gigs and tours, releasing the first Flux single on the Crass record label. Crass and John Loder of Southern Studios also went on to give advice and help to start up Flux’s own label, Spiderleg Records.

The original Stortbeat copy of the first Licks 7″ single  ‘1970’s Are Made In Hong Kong’ was (and still is) a rarity. Stortbeat records either lost or refused to supply the master tapes for the tracks so Flux (as they band were now called) went into the studio with Penny Rimbaud of Crass sorting out the drumming duties, and recorded both the tracks that were available on that 1979 single again.

This rerecorded version of ‘1970’s’ was released as the debut release on Spiderleg Records at the beginning of 1981.

One other interesting fact was that The Epileptics performed at Stonehenge in June 1980, but the bikers would not appreciate the punk vibe on that day so started causing trouble, stopping Crass and Poison Girls from performing thier sets later on that night.  The Mob and The Snipers got away with performing sets earlier in the day though. A fair amount of people following the punk band’s that afternoon and night were badly hurt by the much older biker fraternity. This is ironic as both Crass and Poison Girls performed at Stonehenge  in June 1979 without any problems. From what I am led to believe, members of Epileptics had insulted some bikers from the stage which may have helped to ignite some of the trouble which was already brewing up.

The Epileptics (Colin Latter – vocals, Clive Griffiths – guitar, Derek Birkett – bass and Richard Coveney – drums) were originally going to be called The Epileptic Fits, a name suggested by Colin’s mum, but the band decided that The Epileptics sounded better. Early in 1978, the fledgling band practised in Clive’s bedroom. Self-penned songs such as “Dear Deirdre”, “I Wanna Give You A ‘69” and “Who’s Chasing Who” were soon put together, and the foursome announced their presence in their home town of Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire that summer with spray-painted graffiti.

Together with their name, they had a logo and a slogan – ‘Smash Guitar Solos‘ – which attracted my interest in a big way. I’d previously been guitarist with the band The Darlex, but as soon as I saw the Epileptics’ DIY publicity campaign I was impressed and wanted a part of their action. First, I had to find out who they were…

The Triad Centre was a great place to see bands and just hang around with other punks from Harlow, including members of the Sods and Newtown Neurotics, and surrounding areas. I asked around and was pointed in Col and Rich’s direction; I went over and said “If you ever need a guitarist, let me know.” Coincidentally, Clive was about to leave and go to college, so they told me to come along the following Saturday to one of their rehearsals. I did, and I was in!

They had already played two gigs – one at Triad in August, and one at London’s Covent Garden with Crass – but needed new material. Col and I reworked some of the older songs and changed the lyrics and titles, and collaborated on some new material too, such as “Tube Disaster”, and our first gig together was at the beginning of November 1978.

In January 1979 we got the chance to support Crass and the Poison Girls in Bradford, but the van we’d hired broke down on the way, and we reached the gig just as Crass were finishing their set. In March we recorded our first demo tape and started to attract a small following; thereafter we regularly played at Triad, as well as doing gigs in London’s Conway Hall with Crass.

For a while we changed our name to Epi-X, but then reverted to the Epileptics; our line-up also changed briefly in summer, when Stan Stammers replaced Derek on bass. (Stan would later go on to Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny.) After playing one gig under the pseudonym Acid Experience, with Derek back in, the Epileptics decided to take a break as personality clashes had been surfacing. In August, we were approached by Stortbeat Records to record a single, and – with a dubious change of name to The Licks – did just that in September.  

Having played just one gig as The Licks, the name reverted to the Epileptics again, but by November differences in how we thought the band should go led to Richard deciding to leave; Col and Derek decided to get Sid (from Rubella Ballet) to replace him, and within a week of their decision, I made up my mind to leave too. Two guitarists were brought in, Andy Smith and Neil Puncher (previously of the U. Samples), and the band continued to play local, London and other gigs – including Stonehenge Festival where they were bottled offstage.

During the middle of 1980 the band changed their name to Flux Of Pink Indians.

Kev Hunter

Colour memories above, courtesy of Michael Mitchell.

Written memories above, courtesy of Kev Hunter from The Epileptics, ripped off for all the right reasons from punk77.co.uk site

Black and white memories below, courtesy of Tinsel and the Bowes Lyon House Stevenage.

Verbal memories below, courtesy of Sean ex Eat Shit and God Told Me To Do It. Many thanks to him for the text.

Ahhhhh, my youth revisited…..No one except Stortbeat ever called them The Licks. Derek used to sit on my mate at school to steal his fruit pastilles. The story of Dereks bass playing (as related by Colins little brother) was that when the lads decided to form a punk band, big Derek said “I’m not playing bass, bass is a morons instrument” picked up the waiting to be assigned guitar and promptly broke several strings, so bass it was to be. Funnily enough when a bass was acquired for him he immediately broke a string on that too. Sid of Rubella Ballet passed through the drum slot, as did Discharge skin thumper, Bambi Ellesmere. Stan Stammers was friendly to the young punkers hanging out in Saffron Walden (all three of us, I had school mates there) but Kirk Brandon was above being seen with us kids.

I first saw Crass with The Epileptics at Triad on a sunday night, it seemed strange to me then that no one made a fuss about bands of local notoriety playing on sundays. Stortford was quite lively punkwise, but there was a lot of mod violence early on, mainly by kids who had been punks the year before, the skinheads came later, mostly from Harlow. That town was a hotbed of NF/BM recruitment (the lyric “I’ve got a target on my back but i’m not a fucking mod” was poignent). On one notable occasion, when Conflict came to the Triad, some skinhead violence was nipped in the bud by Colin Jerwood who promptly smashed his mug of tea over the miscreants head. There was even a shortlived squat in Stortford in a condemned house at Hockerill but the coppers gave short shrift.

So many memories…One of my first girlfriends was from Debden, so “Last bus…” struck a chord.  Harlow was punky town, but lots of aforementioned skinhead violence. After a gig at the Square, three of us were chased until lost (easy in Harlow, it all looks the same) and had to take cover in an elderly couples house who offered us refuge and a phone to call mum. People will tell you these days that they were into the Neurotics, but most in Harlow considered them a bit naff.  Steve Drewitt will tell you that I was the only person to sport a big Newtown Neurotics logo on my leather.  Notable local band was Premature Death, who I think made it onto a Crass released ‘Bullshit Detector’  album. We tried squatting an old lock keepers cottage on the river Stort in Sawbridgeworth when I had run away from home (again) but the police went and borrowed my dads big bolt cutters (he was the local lorry engineer / pikey) and put an end to that, and I’ll put an end to this rambling off subject!

Sean Ridgewell

This post is dedicated with respect to Graham Burnett, who is celebrating his 50th birthday today. Happy birthday from all here at KYPP online. Hoping you are well and happy.

25 comments
  1. gabe
    gabe
    November 17, 2010 at 1:44 am

    finally something good for a change

  2. Nic
    Nic
    November 17, 2010 at 10:21 am

    A fun record, but not exactly guaranteed to set the world on fire…

    Many Happy Returns to Jah Ovjam (who gave me my first hearing of Flux of Pink Indians through his ‘New Crminals’ tape)…

  3. ruth hag
    ruth hag
    November 17, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    absolute classic, set my world on fire and still does now! yeah jahs responsible for a lot, all good x

  4. Trunt
    Trunt
    November 17, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    Brilliant single, brings back some good memories, and happy 50th Graham.

  5. dan i
    dan i
    November 18, 2010 at 12:45 am

    Wasn’t Spiderleg the Subhumans’ label? Or am I older than I think?

  6. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    November 18, 2010 at 1:31 am

    Dan, you are thinking of Bluurg records, although a few early Subhumans singles were released on Spiderleg as was the debut Amebix 7″ single featured somewhere on this site.
    Gabe, sorry you had to wait so long for anything to be uploaded onto this site which is of interest to you, but the KYPP site is a broad church of industrial, freefestival hipness, post punk, reggae and dub as well as anarchopunk and the odd lump of No Future UK82 punk.
    Hopefully other browsers would be supportive of the variety of material (that may not interest you as much personally) being made available on this site. I feel the site is a good mix of all kinds of genres that are vaguely interlinked in someway or another.
    About this release, I loved the Licks 7″ (which was lost or stolen from my collection many decades ago) and also thought this ‘cash in’ 7″ live release by Epileptics was great, played it to bits at the time esp when comparing it to 4 Sore Points EP by Anti Pasti that had a version of ‘Two Years Too Late’ among the other thumpers from that Derbyshire band. Caused a fair amount of a bad feeling between Flux, as they were called at the time and Anti Pasti as Flux thought they had been ripped off. Bloody punks huh?
    In hindsight and playing it again for the first time after many decades for upload purposes it sounds a little throwaway. But that’s probably because I am old and cynical now…

  7. luggy
    luggy
    November 18, 2010 at 10:51 am

    You mean you weren’t a hardened cynical bastard when you were a nipper? Hope you had a good break.

  8. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    November 19, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    Ohh Mick, I was a fresh faced cute shy lad with a leather jacket, bleached jeans and boots a little too big for me as a nipper…I got more cynical around the time I started crimping my hair, having bits of string and bangles wrapped around my wrist and wearing black! 😉
    All good in the sun thanks…any meets coming up?

  9. Carl
    Carl
    November 19, 2010 at 4:31 pm

    Penguin. I am fairly certain that I share my birthday with you, even down to to the year !!

    The difference being, that I think I was a “cynical old tosser ” back in the old day’s.

  10. luggy
    luggy
    November 19, 2010 at 8:24 pm

    Nothing planned atm, Pengy although I found out today that Steve BBP has organised a 3 day festy at the Gaff on Holloway Rd in January with the likes of Zounds, Blyth Power, Citizen Fish & TV Smith. The Sunday night line-up looks the best to me.
    BTW Dread Messiah are playing a rare North London gig at The Gaff tonight.

  11. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    November 19, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    My birthday is –/–/1966 Carl so in 1980/81 I would not have even known what the word cynical even meant! A couple of years later though. Now you’re talking…Too late for the Gaff tonight Mick, just turned up at the nest…Will be up for the crack in January though.

  12. Carl
    Carl
    November 21, 2010 at 9:16 pm

    Yup, same birthday !!

    And yep I was cynical.. I got my English O level , you know !!!!!!

  13. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    November 21, 2010 at 9:49 pm

    Good work Carl, I had to suffer CSE’s.
    English I got a grade 5 CSE! 🙁
    I got a grade 1 History though (my only grade 1) which I was pleased with at the time but mainly I ended up with grades 2/3/4 and 5 for subjects I had to take…
    I have taken my birthday details off the comment above now cos I just put them up there for you to compare, don’t want my identity stolen (as if they would want to!) and maybe someone could with D.O.B details? Dunno if that is what happens…

  14. Carl
    Carl
    November 21, 2010 at 10:10 pm

    Grade 5 CSE..how bad was that…I am guessing that is virtually being able to do “joined up writing ” !!!!!

    And yep, take the details off the comment… we will just wish each other Happy Birthday on the day !

  15. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    November 21, 2010 at 11:24 pm

    I should probably make it known that I was not THAT dumb regarding english or english lit (I got a grade 4 CSE for Eng lit). I just did not apply myself that well at school esp at exam time…So maybe I was cynical after all, but without knowing it at the time??? I left school after my CSE’s and that was basically it for me ‘state education’ wise.

  16. Carl
    Carl
    November 22, 2010 at 11:56 am

    Never thought you were “THAT dumb” for a second !! You always come across articulate to me..

    So yeah..maybe you were cynical in the old days as well !!

  17. Dave Sez
    Dave Sez
    December 8, 2010 at 12:36 pm

    YESSSSSSSSS ! Been scouring these pages for years for this one – I’ve had the vinyl since back then but no means to transfer it to mp3, so today is a sneak preview of Christmas. Having got such great music from you in the past, Penguin (ATV, Here & Now, etc etc), how can I say thanks? Well, as you say above, the Licks’ Stortbeat 7″ is a bit of a rarity and you had your copy ripped off years ago … want it back? Having been one of the sweaty punters at Triad for the Crass and Epileptics’ gigs, I rushed out and bought two of the Stortbeat single, so in thanks for KYPP, if you’d like one, it’s yours. Just drop me a line soonest … cheers and thanks, Dave Sez.

  18. Penguin
    Penguin • Post Author •
    December 8, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Hi Dave how very gracious of you to offer your spare to be stored in my collection at Penguin Towes. Yes I would love to get the copy off you, and I will insist in paying you for it. I will private message you tonight after work, and I will look forward to listening to that record again. Very pleased that you enjoy the site so much. Certainly makes it all worthwhile. PS I will contact you on the hotmail email address you supplied with the comment above. You made a flightless bird very happy which is the polar opporsite to what I felt when it went walkies originally!

  19. Dave Sez
    Dave Sez
    December 8, 2010 at 1:53 pm

    Righty-ho Penguin, least I could do. I’ll read your message tonight … and if you were to have the time to up Here & Now’s “All Over The Show”, that would put another vinyl corpse back where it belongs, on my playlist … cheers till later, Dave Sez.

  20. Dave Sez
    Dave Sez
    December 8, 2010 at 8:57 pm

    Well, I’ve only got one spare copy of the Licks’ Stortbeat 7″, and it wouldn’t be fair to leave all the rest of you out in the cold, would it? So, hoping Penguin doesn’t mind, here ya go: both sides of the Licks, the sleeves that went with the various repressings, and a bonus, IMHO one of the best punk synth riffs ever, the Sods’ No Pictures of Us. Hope ya like it, cheers Dave Sez.

    http://www.mediafire.com/?2sdc7r6ig2mfmnn

  21. luggy
    luggy
    December 9, 2010 at 10:37 am

    Love The Sods’ singer’s rolling his r’s

  22. pinkpressthreat
    pinkpressthreat
    December 15, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    This Licks 7″ kicks arse..thankyou Dave,and thankyou Penguin (great name btw!).

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