The LP was essentially organized and put together by Martin Bowes, editor of the Alternative Sounds fanzine from Coventry. He managed to get the Cherry Red label interested in it and they helped by giving a manufacturing deal…
Coventry had a very vibrant music scene at the end of the 1970’s, partly a legacy of the tail-end of the 1960’s R&B boom and partly an extension of the 1970’s Punk explosion (The Pistols and Clash played a gig together in Coventry). The music scene was bolstered by a useful mix of large and small venues: large venues (like Coventry Theatre, Tiffany’s nightclub, Lanchester Polytechnic and Warwick University) catered for the big touring bands, while the smaller venues (the Climax, the Heath Hotel, Zodiac, Hope and Anchor, General Wolfe, the Matrix) catered for the local groups. The local independent record shops (including Virgin and Jill Hansen’s) were also useful in spreading the word and giving people a place to meet…
The bands featured on the LP were all popular local bands who played live regularly: as the sleeve notes explain, many of the bands shared members and the whole scene was quite ‘incestuous’ in a way. Musically, there’s an interesting mix of Punk and Pop (particularly with a disco-esque tinge which reflect the era) in tandem with a strong Reggae influence which reflects the multi-cultural aspects of the Coventry music scene in the 1970’s. It’s also quite interesting to note how many of the bands used keyboards and the prevalence of lyrics touching on atomic warfare…
The Urge were one of the most popular local bands, and were hotly tipped for success. They toured nationally with UK Subs and Specials, and released a D.I.Y. single (Revolving Boy) on their own Consumer Disks label before signing to Arista where they recorded demos with Dennis Bovell and released 1 other single (‘Bobby’) before splitting up…
Their singer – Kevin Harrison – had been in Transposed Men (with Brad (Specials) and Noel (Selector)): many of the bands songs went on to form the basis of The Selector set including the original version of ‘On My Radio’. He was good friends with This Heat (one of his live recordings of the group appeared on their first LP), and he also used Uncle Bill’s ‘Cut Up’ technique (extended from the original by Brion Gysin) to write a number of Urge’s lyrics…
Squad were the stars of the local punk scene, having formed in 1977 with Terry Hall (Automatics/Specials) as their early vocalist. They released 2 singles (£8 A Week / Red Alert and Millionaire / Brockhill Boys) and always seemed to play at Coventry Carnival. Their singer at the time of the LP often wore a kilt onstage (ala Adam?)…
The Wild Boys were a very popular local group, initially started by Roddy Radiation (Specials) with a name inspired by Uncle Bill. Their sound has a strong Only Ones influence, as well as some dubious lyrics on ‘Lorraine’…
The Clique songs sounds frighteningly like ‘I Could Be Happy’ by Altered Images: the album was released by Cherry Red, so perhaps someone heard the song…
The original singer of The Clique went on to sing for the Human Cabbages who are now mentioned regularly in the ‘Messthetics’ scene dedicated to obscure D.I.Y. Post Punk recordings from the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Then, the Clique’s singer on this LP went on to sing in L’Homme de Terre who had a track on the Coventry compilation EP ‘Boys and Girls Come Out to Play’ which featured The Human Cabbages…
The Human Cabbages drummer went to my school, their guitarist accompanied me to a Crass gig in 1981 with their guitarist, and the drummers sister was the first person to break my heart…
The album was recorded and produced by John Rivers at the famous Woodbine Studios in nearby town Leamington Spa which recorded many great bands (including Swell Maps) and is still going strong today…
The cover features photography by Rob Lapworth (bassist of The Wild Boys) which features images of many of the locations relevant to the local music scene, including The Wedge café which sold anarchist literature and fanzines upstairs…
The album came with a special issue of the popular Coventry fanzine Alternative Sounds which featured a page on each of the bands. The fanzine is available to view here:
http://coventrymusichistory.vox.com/sent-from-cov-alternative-sounds/
The editor of the fanzine – Martin Bowes – went on to form the dark electronic group Attrition.
This is very much a step back in time for me: I went to school in Coventry and consequently saw most of the bands on the LP play live at one time or another. Aspects like the dress sense of the bands help to give a real sense of time and place…
In 1980, inspired by the literature we were reading at the time (including fanzines like Tales of Dayglow, Vague, Toxic Grafity and Aftermath), Miles (other founder member of Napalm Death) and I started to write our own fanzine. With the naivety and arrogance of youth, we brazenly harassed many of the local bands and fanzine writers who (to their credit) put up with us and humoured our haphazard and shoddy attempts…
Particular thanks to Alan Ryder (Adventures in Reality) and Martin Bowes (Alternative Sounds)…
The editor of Alternative Sounds put us in touch with the bassplayer of the Wild Boys (who was a printer) and he printed some of the first few issues of our fanzine (and the last edition of Miles’ fanzine Twisted Nerve)…
It was at a Siouxsie and the Banshees concert in Coventry in 1981 that the editor of Alternative Sounds introduced me to the editors of Flipside fanzine who gave me a number of back issues of their magazine: the ‘Scene Reports’ from around the globe introduced me to some great American bands (and the delights of records like the Solger – ‘Raping Dead Nuns’ ep) and also to the emerging thrash scene from around the world, particularly Finnish thrash like Kaaos and Rattus…
Nic Bullen
Brian Hewetson
October 5, 2024 at 9:53 amI was also in The Clique but never really listened to Caron’s lyrics. I think she might still live close to Coventry (although she spent a long time in The Channel Islands). I will have a listen when I get back from Scotland and see if I can add anything.