The Jags Redcar Coatham Bowl Sunday 28th October 1979
I went with a group of mates to this gig. We often drove down to Redcar on a Sunday night for concerts in the late 70s. The Jags were a new wave, cum mod, cum power pop, band who hit the charts with “Back of my Hand” (I’ve got your number, written on the back of my hand). That song, which is pretty catchy and very Elvis Costelloish, is the only thing I remember about this band. They dressed in sharp suits and the lead guitarist / singer played a Fender Telecaster. The gig at Redcar was good, as I recall, but the most memorable thing of the night, which sticks in my mind to this day, was the guitarist hitting someone down in the front of the crowd over the head with his guitar. I think the guy was either heckling him or spitting, not sure which, but he really whacked him with theat guitar! We all thought it great fun at the time, but I’m not sure the guy who was hit would have agreed. I also saw the Jags play at the Reading festival in the same year.
Posts Tagged ‘new wave’
19 Jun
The Jags Redcar Coatham Bowl 1979
5 Jun
The Sadista Sisters: Punk before punk at the Newcastle Festival 1976
The Sadista Sisters: Punk before punk at the Newcastle Festival 1976
Looking back through the programme for the 1976 Newcastle Festival, the gig that brings back the most vivid memories is the Sadista Sisters, who played a residency at the Centre Hotel. The Sisters were a right-on out-there feminist theatre cum rock cum punk act, with elements of cabaret and performance art, who had been a massive hits at the Edinburgh Festival the previous year. The Sadista sisters were Theresa D’Abreu,
Judith Alderson,
Linda Marlowe, and
Jacky Taylor. They wore outrageous costumes which blended gender, and their songs/performances were crazy and quite unsettling. And the programme says that their performance was sponsored by Pernod, and we all got a free glass! I also saw the Sadista Sisters perform at the Reading Festival that year, and in the same year they released their only album. They folded a few years later, having build up a cult following. They seem largely forgotten now, but at the time their performance was powerful and challenging stuff. Looking through the programme, I also attended Eric Burdon, supported by the Steve Brown Band, at the City Hall. There are a few gigs listed that, in hindsight, I wish I had gone to, including Diana Dors in cabaret, and in conversation at the Centre Hotel, and Larry Adler in concert. Now there are two gigs that I wish I had gone to!
4 Jun
Rock Against Racism Punk gig Newcastle Guildhall 1977
Rock Against Racism Punk gig Newcastle Guildhall 1977
This Rock Against Racism gig featured The Big G (aka Harry Hack and the Big G), Punishment of Luxury, The Press Studs and Speed. I remember The Big G and Punilux well. Both bands gigged regularly around the north east in the late 1970s, and they have both also recently reformed. I am afraid I don’t recall the Press Studs. The excellent bored teenagers site lists them as: “A very short lived Punk 5-Piece from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne who played fairly regularly at “Gatsby’s”. Speed were one of the first Punk bands to form in the North East, and were around in the early days along with Penetration. They were all very young at the time and used to gatecrash other peoples gigs, jump on stage and play! I am sure I saw this happen at a gig at Newcastle Poly one night. Rock Against Racism was a new concept in 1977, which organised quite a few gigs in the north east, including this one at the Guildhall, which I attended, largely to see Punishment of Luxury who were very impressive at the time.
![_DSC3285 [LR]](https://myvintagerock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dsc3285-lr.jpg?w=218&h=218)
Harry Hack and the Big G at the Guildhall
The Big G were: Rob Dixon: Harry Hack. Peter Howard: Walter Hack. Mick Emerson: Red Helmet. Anth Martin: EH Flash. Jane Wade: Kid Mutant. Norman Emerson: Mean Average.
In July 1977, the band were billed third at the Guildhall on Newcastle’s Quayside, supporting County Durham’s Penetration and punk pioneers The Adverts. Sixth on the bill were the little-known band Warsaw, formed the previous year in Salford, Manchester. “They were rubbish,” Peter remembers, but later Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division and won world-wide fame. (Newcastle Evening Chronicle).
Vocalist Johnny Fusion of Speed moved to London and went on to form Band of Holy Joy“Formed from the ashes of an unrecorded ’77 punk band, Speed, Band Of Holy Joy’s
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Speed at the Guildhall
Many thanks to Mark for the pictures of The Big G and Speed.
3 Jun
Steven Severin The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Tyneside Cinema 2 June 2013
Steven Severin The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Tyneside Cinema 2 June 2013
On the face of it this seemed a strange sort of event. Certainly not the usual sort of gig I would normally go along to. From the Tyneside Cinema website: “Acclaimed solo artist and founder member of the legendary Siouxsie and the Banshees, Steven Severin returns to give audiences the rare opportunity to hear his electronic score for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Capturing the surreal and enigmatic nature of the original work, Steven Severin’s score provides a synthesised, highly atmospheric soundscape for one of the most important films in the history of cinema.” 
This was my second visit to the Tyneside Cinema this week, and Marie came along with me on this occasion. I have been a fan of the Banshees since the early days; I always thought there was so much more to their music than simple punk. There was a dark, discordant energy to the sound they made which also matched their image; and I would guess some of that was down to Severin as well as Siouxsie. I haven’t seen Siouxsie perform for some years now, and sadly I can’t make her performances in London this month. Anyway, I had been looking forward to this chance to see a Banshee perform in my locality. I am also a fan of horror movies, so coupling a classic film of the genre with a Banshee seemed pretty good for me. In fact, I’ve never seen the Cabinet of Caligari right through, so I was looking forward to the whole experience. The performance started shortly after the advertised time of 6pm, with the lights going down in the small cinema before Severin took his place at an Apple Mac on a table by the side of the stage. The film was shown right through in all its black and white and sepia glory, as Steven delivered his electronic score, which was as haunting and dark as the surreal and disturbing images which enfolded on the screen. The film lasts around 70 minutes, and at the end Severin left the theatre as the lights went up, and the audience applauded. He did, however, hang around to sign copies of CDs which were on sale in the foyer. A different sort of “gig”, which was a nice change, and which Marie and I both enjoyed.
2 Jun
Iron Curtain 30 June 1979 Spectro Arts Workshop Newcastle
Iron Curtain 30 June 1979 Spectro Arts Workshop Newcastle
“Iron Curtain, a new band formed by Gary Chaplain, who left Penetration early last year, present an evening of unusual events, including a reading from Tony Jackson, and their own debut performance.” Spectro Arts Workshop was an arts centre in Bells Court, off Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. This was guitarist Gary Chaplin’s first gig after leaving local punk heroes Penetration. His band was called Iron Curtain, and their music was quite poppy punk as I recall. This was the only time Marie and I visited the Spectro Arts Workshop; I remember it took us some time to find the venue. The evening also included a poetry reading by local poet Tony Jackson. I found the following entry on a message forum: “Tony Jackson (1945 – 1997). Tony was closely involved in the Newcastle poetry “scene” of the 1960s – a close friend of Tom and Connie Pickard at that time, active at the Morden Tower, and in the running of the Morden Tower Bookroom and Ultima Thule Bookshop. Adrian Mitchell’s poem “Tony Jackson Is A Walking Jungle” comes from this period… From the ’70s he worked extensively with the People Show, increasingly devising his own routines (in chains) as his movement became restricted by MS. He refused to give way to his illness as long as possible, with the courage so many MS sufferers show – worked for various MS groups, but refused to get typecast as such. His work over the years appeared from a number of presses including Writers’ Forum, Galloping Dog and Pig Press.”
1 Jun
Penetration Newcastle City Hall December 1978 and October 1979
Penetration Newcastle City Hall December 1978 and October 1979
Penetration played two memorable headlining concerts at Newcastle City Hall in December 1978 and October 1979. The 1978 concert was to promote their glorious first album “Moving Targets”. Support came from Punishment of Luxury and Neon. Punishment of Luxury were building their own following at the time, and were quite unique in their approach. Although their music undoubtedly grew out of punk, their spiky staccato art-rock had much more depth to it, and their performance were very theatrical (they had been members of a local theatre group), with use of masks and dance, lead by front men Brian Bond on vocals and Neville Luxury on guitar. Punilux (as they were known) had released the single “Puppet Life” in Summer 1978. Penetration were achieving national success at the time of this show, with Pauline and the guys often popping up in Sounds and NME. This concert was both a coming home and a celebration of their success, demonstrating that they were now of sufficient standing to headline the great hall where so many big acts had played, and where they had supported The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks only a year or so before. The set consisted of all the old favourites and tracks from the first album, including such great songs as: Life’s a Gamble, their cover of the Buzzcocks Nostalgia, Lovers of Outrage, and Movement. 
Penetration returned to the City Hall almost a year later. I can’t fully recall who the support act was; my memory tells me it may have been local band The Angelic Upstarts. This time Penetration were promoting their follow up album, ‘Coming Up For Air’. This was part of a full UK tour which visited all of the major venues on the circuit. But things were not right within the Penetration camp, and on stage that night Pauline announced to our shock, “This is the last gig that this line up is ever going to do here… I think everything’s got to change after a while”. I was sitting a few rows from the front, but remember not quite catching what Pauline had said, and not wanting to believe that we were witnessing the end of Penetration. They played the rest of the set with a level of passion and emotion like never before, to a hall full of fans who were simply stunned by her announcement. Penetration went on to complete the tour, including another local gig at Dunelm House, Durham which I attended, and their final gig at The Nashville in London. And there you had it. The end of a very under-rated band who were much more than simple punk. Pauline returned to the City Hall a few years later as Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls, and in recent years Penetration have reformed. But for a couple of years Penetration were out at the front of the local and national music scene, and gave us some great gigs to remember. Setlist from a gig on the last tour: Shout Above The Noise, Life’s A Gamble, She Is The Slave, Life Line, What’s Going On, Movement, Lovers Of Outrage, Party’s Over, Too Many Friends, Killed In The Rush, New Recruit, On Reflection, Nostalgia, Come Into The Open, Danger Signs, Free Money, Don’t Dictate. The following songs were recorded live at Newcastle City Hall in Dec 78 and Oct 79 and appear on the official bootleg: Come Into The Open; Movement; Lovers Of Outrage; She Is The Slave; Too Many Friends; Killed In The Rush
30 May
Penetration Peterlee Leisure Centre July 14th 1979
Penetration Peterlee Leisure Centre July 14th 1979
This gig was one event during a weekend of activities held in Peterlee, as part of the Peterlee Festival. Penetration played two shows at Easington Leisure Centre, an afternoon and an evening show. Support came from local heavy rock band White Spirit, who were up and coming at the time, and were soon to find fame as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement. White Spirit featured Janick Gers who went on to play guitar in Gillan, and then Iron Maiden, who he plays with to this day. A strange pairing of acts, who both put on a great show. I went along to the afternoon concert, which was full of young punks. Penetration played a blinding set, as usual. I found the following entry on a message board, which I thought was interesting “…. a bunch of Hebburn Punks went to this gig. We got the bus from Newcastle but it broke down on the way. We thought we would never make the gig. However, the bus company sent another bus. We commandeered the top of the bus and changed the number and location to the 999 to No Place. We thought it was pretty appropriate considering, it was pretty cool watching peoples faces as we approached bus stops. Sean Halligan”
29 May
Penetration gigs in the North East 1977 and 1978
Penetration gigs in the North East 1977
In my opinion, Penetration were the best local punk band around in North East in the late 70s. Marie and I went to lots of their gigs, seeing many of their performances from early 1977 onwards. The gigs all blur into one now, but I remember seeing great gigs at Newcastle Poly, Newcastle Guildhall, the City Hall (as support and headlining), Middlesbrough Rock Garden (lots of times; Penetration were a big favourite there), Redcar Coatham Bowl, and probably some other places (maybe Sunderland Seaburn Hall, Newcastle University?) who knows….as I say its all a blur now. What I do remember are some great songs, and Pauline Murray’s performance which was always stunning. The early Penetration (and for me the classic line-up) featured Pauline, Gary Chaplin on guitar, Robert Blamire (R) on bass, and Gary Smallman on drums. I recall listening to them played on the radio for the first time; I think it was Duty Free Technology, and thinking how great it was that local guys had made it! And I got to know all the early tracks well before any were released on vinyl. Those early gigs included Don’t Dictate, Money Talks, Firing Squad, Never, Silent Community, VIP, Duty Free Technology, and of course their excellent version of Patti Smith’s Free Money. 
We would often run into Pauline and the rest of the band at punk gigs in Newcastle and the Rock Garden. The way in which they caught early Pistols gigs, and how that influenced them to form the band is well documented. Penetration in turn were a big influence on the North East music scene and on many local bands. They built up a solid following locally and gigged all over the country, becoming quite a “name” band, to the extent that they were one of the first punk bands to play the Reading festival in 1978 (another great gig). I remember their first gig with Neale Floyd, who replaced Gary Chaplain on guitar in early 1978. Fred Purser joined shortly afterwards and brought a heavier rock style with him. I recall going out and buying their lp Moving Targets (on luminous vinyl 🙂 ) when it came out in October 1978. All great memories. The ticket here is from a later gig at Redcar Coatham Bowl on 8th December 1978. Support act on that night were Teesside punk heroes (and Rock Garden regulars) Blitzkrieg Bop. The programme has a picture from their Reading Festival performance on the front cover, so must date from late 1978 or from 1979. I’ll reflect on some specific Penetration gigs over the next few days.
28 May
Rich Kids Newcastle and Redcar 1978
Rich Kids Newcastle and Redcar 1978
The Rich Kids were formed by Glen Matlock after he left the Sex Pistols (he was reportedly sacked for liking The Beatles 🙂 ), and featured front man Midge Ure (formerly of Slik and later to be of Ultravox), Rusty Egan (drums) and Steve New (guitar). The Rich Kids were early exponents of power pop, and were influenced by mod, The Small Faces and The Who. Their first single was the self-title Rich Kids. I was seriously into punk and the Pistols at the time, and I likes what I had read about the Rich Kids and their image, which seemed to blending elements of mod, punk, and 60s style. I went out and bought their debut single which came on red vinyl in a plain red sleeve, and when I saw they were playing at Newcastle Mayfair (on 24th February 1978) I went along with Marie to check them out. The Mayfair on a Friday night was still very much a heavy rock palace, and punk bands played there at their peril. I saw several punk acts soaked by beer and greeted by a hail of plastic glasses, including the Boomtown Rats, The Pretenders, Ultravox. Well the Rich Kids suffered a similar fate. As soon as they came on stage the glasses started flying. Midge was hit in the face by a full plastic pint glass, and the band left the stage during the first couple of songs, and didn’t return. I was pretty disappointed, as we had come along especially to see the band. Anyway, all was not lost, as the Rich Kids were playing at Redcar Coatham Bowl the following night. So, determined to catch a full show by Matlock and the guys, we drove down to the seaside on Saturday night. The Redcar Bowl was more of a concert venue, and if you went along you were probably going to see the band. So I figured The Rich Kids would get a better reception from the Redcar crowd. Support came from local band Neon. However, it seems I was fated not to see a full set by the Rick Kids. Many thanks to Mitch for reminding what happened that night: “They came on as scheduled but thirty seconds into their first song the PA cut out. Roadies then messed about for a while before the band attempted a restart……and the same happened again ! The Rich Kids then left the stage whilst the support bands amps were brought on and set up. The band returned, plugged in, got twenty seconds into the first song and the power cut out yet again. And that was it. Tickets were £1.25 and we were refunded £1 on the way out.” The Rich Kids’ set at the time included a cover of The Small Faces’ “Here Comes The Nice”, and The Pistols’ “Pretty Vacant”. My memory tells me that I saw them play both songs at a gig somewhere (but maybe it is playing tricks again….). I think I saw The Rich Kids once more, at a gig at Newcastle University Students Union on 20th October 1978, where I am pretty sure they managed to play a full set. The Rich Kids split shortly afterwards, with Glen going on to play with Iggy Pop, and Midge finding fame when he replaced John Foxx in Ultravox! There were a pretty hot band at the time, with a great image, the power of punk, and some catchy songs with great hooks. Their album “Ghosts of Princes in Towers” was released in August 1978, alongside a single of the same name.
27 May
Holidays in the Sun: The Sex Pistols at the Seaside: Scarborough Penthouse 24 August 1977
The Sex Pistols Scarborough Penthouse 24 August 1977
The Sex Pistols were banned from playing almost everywhere. I’d had a ticket for their show at Newcastle City Hall in December 1976 and was really looking forward to seeing them. The gig was cancelled, as was most of the rest of the tour, in the aftermath of their appearance on the Bill Grundy show. Foolishly I got a refund on the ticket; now there’s a stub I wish I had kept 🙂 By mid 1977 the Pistols had released three classic singles in a row: “Anarchy in the U.K.”, “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant”. Glen had been sacked and John’s mate Sid Vicious had been recruited as the new bassist.
When they were whispers that the Pistols might be playing some secret dates I was determined to see them. I picked up on hints of gigs through the press and the radio; there was no internet in those days. I also rang around local venues and managed to find out the location of most of the secret gigs. The tour is now referred to as the S.P.O.T.S Tour (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly) and took in Wolverhampton Lafayette (the Pistols were advertised as S.P.O.T.S); Doncaster Outlook (Tax Exiles); Scarborough Penthouse (Special Guests); Middlesborough Rock Garden (Acne Rabble); Plymouth Woods (The Hamsters); and Penzance Winter Gardens (Mystery Band of International Repute). The gigs all took place over the last week of August and the first week of September 1977. The most local gig for me was Middlesbrough Rock Garden, a venue which I often visited for punk gigs. But sadly I had a dilemma, as I had tickets for the Reading Festival that weekend, and the festival started on the Friday night, which was the night of the Rock Garden gig. And to complicate matters further I had a car load of mates who I had promised to take to Reading. I decided that the best solution was to go and see the Pistols on Thursday in Scarborough, drive home that night, and then get up the next morning and drive to Reading with my mates. And thats exactly what I did.
I rang Scarborough Penthouse, who would only tell me that a “Special Guest Band” would be appearing on Thursday night. They wouldn’t be drawn as to whether it was the Pistols, and when I asked the guy directly I was told that I would just have to come along and find out. But it seemed pretty obvious that the Pistols were going to play Scarborough. I figured that there might a lot of demand, and the venue wasn’t selling any advance tickets. So the only thing to do was to make sure we arrived early. So on Thursday morning, Marie, I and a mate set off for the seaside, and sunny Scarborough. We arrived around lunchtime and found the Penthouse, which was a small club in the town. There were a few punks hanging around but no queue yet. We went to find a chip shop and passed the Pistols walking down the street, which confirmed to us that the gig was indeed taking place. 
A few others arrived, so we formed a queue and waited. We must have stood for 5 or 6 hours until the Penthouse opened its doors, by which time the queue was right down the street. The Penthouse club was a pretty small venue, in an upstairs room as I remember, and it could only have held a few hundred people at the most. The stage was set up with large crowd barriers in front of it, to make it pretty impossible to climb on stage. The gig soon filled up, and by the time the Pistols took to the stage it was absolutely rammed. The atmosphere was electric and the Pistols were incredible. Sid was new to the band, and was just learning to play bass, but he looked great; just the part. John was amazing, sneering and snarling, hanging off his mike stand and at times covered in spit from the crowd. Steve Jones was the ultimate rock guitar hero, all swagger in his leather jeans, and Paul Cook was smashing away at his drums. And they were LOUD, and fast.
The set was quite short; they were on stage for less than an hour. They started with Anarchy and played most of the yet to be released Bollocks album. The setlist was something like: Anarchy in the U.K.; I Wanna Be Me; Seventeen; New York; EMI; Holidays in the Sun; No Feelings; Problems; Pretty Vacant; God Save the Queen. They definitely finished with No Fun. We braved it in the scrum down the front for some of the set, but I eventually bottled it and took up a vantage point at the back, standing on a chair. Too much spitting and pogoing down the front for my liking. My mate tried to tell some punks to stop spitting at John but they took no notice 🙂 The stairs were lined by the local police as we left; they were presumably expecting trouble, but there wasn’t any. Everyone started singing Pretty Vacant right into the face of the policemen as we left. Luckily the police took it all in good spirits.
We drove back home, getting back in the early hours of the morning. I had a few hours sleep, and then I got up, picked up my mates and drove down to Reading where the festival was headlined by Golden Earing, Thin Lizzy, and Alex Harvey. Not much punk on show that year (although Wayne County and Ultravox! played), but there was lots and lots of mud. Another mate went to see the Pistols at the Middlesbrough Rock Garden and said they were awesome. That was the last time I saw the Pistols until a reunion show at Brixton a few years ago, but the gig still sticks in my mind as a very special event. At the time there really was no other live band like the Pistols. The songs, the image, the energy, the volume, the secrecy of the event, all made their gigs occasions like no other. Another one for my time machine.
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