|
|
|
|
Bio:
THE STRAPS ARE BACK www.thestraps.co.uk< !-- --> --> The Straps were originally based in Battersea, South London, Jock shared a squat with Andi Sex Gang who played Bass for us in 78. The punks were always in battles with the local biker gang (Road Rats) who used to break in the squats & bash up the punks. Jock & Andi then relocated to Brixton (more squatting) that`s when Stan Stammers (T O H & S O Destiny) & Luke Rendle (Crisis & T O Hate) joined us in 79
Charlie Harper used to have a hairdressers in Tooting Broadway & used to cut my hair.
I was only 16 & our first gig was with the UK SUBS, Tickets, Security Risk at The Park Tavern Pub in Streatham 28/09/78 it went really well & Charlie was impressed with us & said to the crowd that we would go far, well he was nearly right !! We went on to play with The Subs & also with The Pack (Kirk Brandon) a lot after that. I really liked The Pack, i thought they were brilliant live. When they split & we swapped band members with Kirk, with Stan & Luke joining Kirk, & Simon & John Werner + Jim Walker (PIL) joining me & Jock & our other guitarist Andy Forbes joining The Wall with Rab Fae Beith who used to drum in The Pack before Jim
Straps early gigs were:
28/09/78: Park Tavern, Streatham (UK Subs, Tickets, Security Risk, The Straps)
13/11/78: 2000 club, Battersea (Uk Subs, The Pack, The Straps)
24/11/78: Wandsworth School (Uk Subs, The Straps, GBH) great British heroes
13/12/78: The Rainbow, London (Adam & The Ants, The Straps + other bands) See later quote.
I was living near Croydon & which had a great venue called "The Greyhound which put on punk bands every Sunday, the first punk band i saw was The Ramones with Talking Heads supporting, i also saw Gen X with The Cure supporting, London, 999, The Boys, Damned, Siouxsie, Buzzcocks, Adverts to name just a few. We had a local punk pub called the Leslie Arms in Croydon & we booked The Cure to play there !
It used to end up in a punch up quite often in there, it was a bit scary at times. We had our own gang called the CPL (Croydon Punks Ltd) who followed The Damned around the country. when we played in Derby with the Damned there was about 20 CPL who turned up for the gig & Captain gave them some money to get in, but they climbed in the toilet window & spent the money on booze.
Brixton had a lot of punks living there & i used to go around to Billy Duffy`s place & play guitar with him. We released a single about living there & it could only be written by someone who experienced it.
90% black & 10% white
it`s not the place to live in, but it`s all right !
life in Brixton, feel the heat
too much trouble on the streets
but i`m not gonna leave
if i go anywhere else, i`ve got nothing to achieve
A kentucky fried chicken & a few chip shops
there`s quite a few punks & too many cops
life in Brixton, feel the heat ........etc
Some of the faces that i remember being at our gigs & hanging around with were: Kirk Brandon, Boy George, Marilyn, Philip Salon, Sadie Frost, Liz Hurley, Johnny Moped, Slimey Toad, Captain Sensible, Billy Duffy & there`s loads more that i can`t seem to recall.
I used to hang around with Captain Sensible in Croydon, he was my drinking buddy & that's how we got on the "Damned Blackout Tour" 1980 it cost us ?2,000 to get on it & as you can imagine it was great fun (i was 18) & we had a few laughs on the tour bus, Rats favourite trick was to squirt lighter fluid up the aisle on the bus & up your legs & on to a newspaper that you were reading & then drop a match. You would end up jumping up & down trying to put the flames out while doing 70mph on the motorway.
We ended up getting a big following, especially in London & would pull up to 1500 people a night, we had a residency at the 100 club & also the Music Machine in Camden. Wherever we played we always sold out the venues with people turned away. We could have been a lot bigger than we was, but we had no proper management, no van, no agent & we did it all ourselves, i think that with the right people behind us & the right record release we could have achieved a lot more, but then again we didn't start out with the intention to be a big band & we stuck to our ideals. We had our own record labels & no money to promote them properly, (we recorded the album in 6 hours due to lack of funds) but they sold quite well considering & reached no: 2 in the indie charts. I think we should have released our version of "House Of The Rising Sun" as i think it would have done really well. The only other cover we did was a song that was released by Andi Sex Gang when he was in a band called The Panic Buttons called "News Of The Day" & all the rest were written by me (Dave) & Stan Stammers with Jock writing the lyrics. Dave Reeves July 2004.
The Adam & The Ants gig @ The Rainbow in 78 included The Slits, Mothers Pride (Girl Band) & Raped. The gig was cancelled as we were doing our sound check & we were told to get off stage & leave the venue immediately as Jock McDonald hadn't paid for the hire. There must have been at least 3 or 4,000 people outside waiting to come in.
While really entering the recording fray at the tail end of punk the Straps featured a wide array of members on route or from other bands including Andi Sex Gang - Bass, Pete Davies - Drums ( Ex UK Subs), guest appearances from Rat Scabies, Jim Walker (PIL) and members of The Pack, Theatre Of Hate , Epileptics and Crisis. Ald last but not least the comedian Lee Evans was drummer until Jock sacked him! Check out the rockabilly tinged excellent first single Just Can't Take Any More/ New Age on Donut Records 1980.
FIRST LINE UP: 77/78
STEVE MACINTOSH (GUITAR)
DAVE REEVES (GUITAR)
BRAD DAY (DRUMS)
HOWARD JACKSON (VOCALS)
GREEN (RIP) (BASS)
SECOND LINE UP: 78
DAVE REEVES (GUITAR) (DIESEL)
STEVE MACINTOSH (GUITAR)
JOHN GRANT (VOCALS) (JOCK STRAP)
GREEN (BASS) (DIED OF DRUG OVERDOSE)
ANDREW HAYWARD (BASS) (ANDI SEXGANG)
BRAD DAY (DRUMS)
THIRD LINE UP: 79/80
DAVE REEVES (GUITAR)
JOHN GRANT (VOCALS)
STAN STAMMERS (BASS) (EPILEPTICS/THEATRE OF HATE)
CLIFF (GLUEBAG) (DRUMS) (LATER REPLACED BY LUKE)
LUKE RENDLE (DRUMS) (CRISIS/THEATRE OF HATE)
ANDY FORBES (GUITAR) (THE WALL AFTER STRAPS)
FOURTH LINE UP: 80/82 (MOST SUCCESSFUL LINE UP)
DAVE REEVES (GUITAR)
JOHN GRANT (VOCALS)
SIMON WERNER (GUITAR) (DOA / THE PACK)
JOHN WERNER (BASS) (THE PACK)
JIM WALKER (DRUMS) ( PUBLIC IMAGE & THE PACK)
|
Members:
JOCK STRAP (JOHN GRANT) VOCALS/GUITAR
DAVE REEVES GUITAR
STU PHILIPS LEAD GUITAR
MARC HOBBS BASS
RAFFEYE DRUMS AND PRO TOOLS
|
Influences:
THE DAMNED,WIRE,KILLING JOKE,BUZZCOCKS, PILL, JOY DIVISION and THE SEX PISTOLS
|
Gear:
MARSHAL, FENDER,GIBSON,GRETCH,PRO-TOOLS
|
|
|
|
| | | | http://punkrock.org/thestraps | | | |
|
| |
| THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN |
|
| NEW AGE |
|
| |
|
|
|
a person |
Added: 03/05/2007 06:35:02
|
| yes iam ur first comment |
|
|
Only members can place comments. Please, login or register, if you want to submit a comment.
|
|
|
|
|
Sponsored Advertisements:
|
