Naked – Bluurg Records – 1983

One Step Forward / Alienn

Frightened / Smile / Evil Faces

Naked formed in Sheerness, Kent in early 1979, inspired by the first wave of punk bands. After a few months rehearsing their first gig in June ’79 was bizarrely in Holland. Over the next few years by many more gigs in Holland followed which became something of a home-from-home for the band.

Their first demo recorded in 1979 had a definite 70s DIY punk feel, however their sound developed with time and in 1981 they recorded 10 songs that were released as a mail-order cassette titled ‘1981’. Things really started to take off once Crass asked for one of the tracks ‘Mid-1930s Pre-War Germany’ to be included on the compilation album ‘Bullshit Detector II’. The track was easily the album’s standout and a Sounds review said of it “smacks of self-motivated sincerity as opposed to the usual predictable conformity”.

Gradually the band were becoming more politicised and soon became a part of the burgeoning ‘anarcho-punk’ scene. During 1983 they developed a friendship with The Subhumans and played numerous gigs with them. So in November 1983 Bluurg released the ‘One Step Forward’ 7″ which was a top 20 indie hit and stayed in the chart for 5 weeks. Another single was planned for Bluurg but for reasons now forgotten never happened.

The band continued writing and gigging until early 1987 when long standing vocalist Tony left and was replaced by Paula. However, post-Tony it was never the same and the band finally stopped in September 1987.

After 18 months of bravely fighting an aggressive brain tumour Chris Counsell, original guitarist of Naked that performed on this EP, passed away on 8th September 2009 leaving a wife and two young sons.

Thanks to Jonni M for the photograph of Chris Counsell performing with Naked, text from Naked’s myspace site.

6 comments
  1. Sir Head
    Sir Head
    November 15, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    I find it odd that the picture of Chris has also got Kev Arnold in it, I heard Kev died a few years back, yet no one can verify this. I used to go to school with Kev’s brother but havent seen him for years either. Their drummer after Kev, Carl Carrick (spelling) lived up the road from me and he disappeared around the end of Naked and no one seen him since either.
    The One Step Backward CD is well worth checking out too as it contains all the released work plus loads more.

  2. Jai
    Jai
    November 16, 2009 at 2:22 am

    Brilliant song, that one they had on the BSD 2 double LP

  3. Trunt
    Trunt
    November 16, 2009 at 6:54 pm

    Sad to hear about Chris, there is a piece about Chris on the Crass forum. Great band who seem to cross the first wave of punk with the anarcho scene. My cousin Lish even got his name on the back of the sleeve above, due to interviewing them for his Subactive fanzine. Yep the ‘One Step Backward’ cd from Overground well worth checking out.

  4. john y
    john y
    November 19, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    when i last saw carl “captain black” carrick he was a dustman, ironic considering the record cover has the road sweeper crossing the glorious river Medway. top single btw.

  5. Kent
    Kent
    November 28, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Brilliant thanks for posting this I’d not heard of Naked before but Love it, I saw it was on Bluurg Records it was gonna be good stuff, punk as you like.

  6. gabe
    gabe
    December 29, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    i fuckin love this ep

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