5 May 1977 – Siouxsie and The Banshees – Nag’s Head

The Banshees returned to The Nag’s Head on Thursday 5th May 1977 as they continued their first steps on the live circuit. Their appearance supporting Johnny Thunders at The Nag’s in March ’77 was only their 4th ever live outing – the May ’77 show in High Wycombe was still only their 8th venture in front of live audience.  Other dates in-between their two Nag’s Head dates included a show in Worcester and two gigs at London’s Roxy.

Siouxsie and the Banshees – March 1977
Steve Severin, Kenny Morris, Peter Fenton and Siouxsie Sioux

The Nag’s Head date was another low key affair promoted by Ron Watts.  There was with very little advance publicity and the audience was made up of the Nag’s Head Thursday ‘rock night’ regulars plus those curious to see a ‘punk’ band on their door-step.

Banshees bassist Steve Severin explained in Mark Paytress’s 2003 biography of the band, “We stepped into a void left by the Pistols because they weren’t allowed to play anywhere.  For a lot of people we were probably the first ‘punk’ band they ever saw live.  Musically we were very different from the Pistols, but then was a huge diversity of sound among all the bands.  No one sounded like Subway Sect, or Buzzcocks, or even The Clash, at that point.”

The Banshees line-up at the time still consisted of Siouxsie Sioux (vocals),  Steve Severin,  Kenny Morris (drums) and Peter Fenton (guitar).  Fenton was proving a problem in Sioux and Severin’s vision for the band.

Siouxsie (from the Paytress biog): “Fenton didn’t really fit in.  He had an orange lead on his guitar and that really annoyed me.  He was a real rock guitarist, always trying to put licks into songs and pulling funny faces when he played.  We spent most of the time trying to make him forget what he’d learned.”

Fenton would make his final appearance for The Banshees at London Dingwalls on 19 May 1977.  The guitarist was sacked on stage, Sioux explaining, “He’d gone into this terrible wailing guitar solo in the middle of a song, so I said, ‘That is f**king sh*t’ and pulled the lead out of his guitar. Afterwards we had this enormous fight backstage.  The management at Dingwalls told us, ‘You’ll never work here again.’”

There may have been fights backstage at Dingwalls but violence among the crowd and with band members were common place during the early days of ‘punk’ gigs.  The trouble was not necessarily caused by the teenage/early 20’s, ‘punks’ but typically by the older crowd struggling to come to terms with the new craze. The violence was often very tribal.

Severin recalls: “You could guarantee that at just about every gig there’d be a fight by the end of the third song. Someone would try to drag Siouxsie into the audience. She’d kick them, Kenny would jump over his drum kit and pile in, and it would all go off.”  But Severin remembers the Nag’s appearance as being slightly unusual: “At The Nag’s Head in High Wycombe they had the grace to wait until Kenny was clearing away his drum kit before they threw the first glass.”

John McKay would replace Fenton on guitar and played his first gig with the band at London’s Vortex on 11 July 1977.  It proved to be the final piece in the Banshees jigsaw – their sound dynamic changed overnight and by the end of 1977 were the one of the most popular live bands on the circuit but bizarrely, at a time when every marginally new wave act was being signed, were still without a record deal.  Even when Ron Watts brought them back to High Wycombe for a gig at The Town Hall in April 1978, they were still a month away from signing a deal with Polydor records.

This is a Banshees demo recorded in March 1977 of a track called ‘Captain Scarlet’ – a crowd favourite at the time.

29 April 1977 – The Jam release debut single – In The City

With a least one Nag’s Head performance to their credit, The Jam released their debut single, ‘In The City’, on Saturday 29th April 1977 on Polydor records.  The song took its title from the ‘B side’ of The Who single ‘I’m a Boy, released in August 1966.

In The City – cover of The Jam’s debut single released 29th April 1977

The Jam had appeared at The Nag’s Head earlier in 1977 but as the single gradually made an impact on the UK charts, you would have had another chance to see them at the High Wycombe venue on 12th May 1977.  They would also perform the single on Top of the Pops a week later.  The single reached No.40 in the UK charts.

The debut album, also titled ‘In The City’, would be released a week before their 2nd Nag’s Head appearance.

The YouTube clip below is The Jam performing In The City at Manchester’s Electric Circus in 1977. It shows the pure energy of their live performances at the time.

28 April 1977 – Otway and Barrett – Nag’s Head

Local duo John Otway and ‘Wild Willy’ Barrett hit The Nag’s Head stage in late April 1977 for a performance that pre-dated their brief rise to fame later in the year.

Cover of debut album by Otway and Barrett – re-issued by Polydor in 1977. Partly produced by Pete Townshend

Both born in Aylesbury (around 25 miles from High Wycombe), the eccentric performers were starting to ride on the coat-tails of the nationwide ‘punk’ explosion.  Otway (aged 24) had been performing since he was a teenager and had previously graced the High Wycombe stages as a solo artist.  ‘Wild Willy’ (real name Roger John Barrett) was two years older that Otway and had a then unique guitar style that could easily be described as ‘grunge’ –if that term had existed at the time.

The set list at The Nag’s Head gig would have included:

  • Really Free
  • Geneve
  • Beware of the Flowers (‘cause I’m sure they’re going to get you)
  • Cheryl’s Going Home
  • Racing Cars

The duo signed to Polydor records shortly after their performance at The Nag’s Head in a three year deal for a reported £250,000.  Early in the year they had signed The Jam for just £10,000.

In a interview with The Independent in August 2006, Otway said:

“It was a relief to me when punk started, with its reckless behaviour and musical incompetence. Because that was what I’d been doing for years. Suddenly I fitted in. The trouble was that eventually even the punks learnt how to play.”

It was their performance on BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test later in October 1977 that attracted the attention of TV bosses. Check out the YouTube  clip below for the full performance.

Really Free hit the singles chart shortly afterwards but proved to be their only success.  Otway would eventually concentrate on his solo career and would return to The Nag’s Head during the early 1990’s for a weekly residency to help out promoter Ron Watts.  Otway was quoted on the back of Watts’ biography ‘Hundred Watts – a life in Music’, saying:

“I had a perfectly good job as a dustman before I met Ron Watts. He put paid to that and I haven’t done a sensible say’s work since.”

Do you have any memories of Otway and/or Barrett at The Nag’s Head?

25 April 1967 – The Who – Town Hall

Tuesday 25th April 1967 – The Who – Town Hall.

The Who returned to High Wycombe for the first time since November 1965.  They had previously appeared at The Town Hall on four occasions during 1965 and their April 1967 return came during a period when their original ‘mod’ roots were seeing a decline in popularity.

The Who – High Wycombe Town Hall – 25th April 1967 – Bucks Free Press advert – enhanced for wycombegigs.co.uk

They had originally been booked to play at The Town Hall in February 1967 but it appears that a four date tour of Italy may have taken preference?  The 25th April 1967 appearance also took place a few days before dates in Norway and Sweden.

Released on the weekend before the date at High Wycombe Town Hall was the single ‘Pictures of Lily’.  Written by a then 21 year old Pete Townshend, it was described by The Who’s guitarist in an interview with NME published in May 1967, as ‘power pop’.

This is footage of Pictures of Lily being recorded:

21 April 1977 – Little Bob Story – Nag’s Head

Thursday 21st April 1977 – Little Bob Story – Nag’s Head.

French Rhythm ‘n’ Blues outfit Little Bob Story returned to the Nag’s Head for another headline performance.  Front by Roberto Piazza (AKA ‘Little Bob’), the band were formed in 1974 and released their debut album, High Time, in 1976. Two further albums followed in 1977 (Living In The Fast Lane and Little Bob Story).

Gig listings show they played had previously played at The Nag’s Head on 10th October 1976 and 10th February 1977 – this and the two previous shows were promoted by Blues lover Ron Watts who continued to put on his favoured brand of music alongside the steady stream of ‘punk’ and ‘new wave’ acts.

Bucks Free Press advert for gigs at Nag’s Head – April/May 1977

The Bucks Free Press advert for the gig shows Nuclear Rouge as support to Little Bob Story, while forthcoming gigs include John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett, Lew Lewis Band and the return of Bees Make Honey.

However, while Ron Watts’ was embracing the resurgence of the live music scene by promoting gigs at The Nag’s Head, the nearby Town Hall still had its doors shut to ‘rock concerts’.  It seems from another BFP advert that more popular at The Town Hall were the Wrestling events.

Bucks Free Press advert – Wrestling at The Town Hall – April 1977

On the same evening that Little Bob Story powered out their Blues riffs down The Nag’s you could have gone to a ‘Girls, Girls, Girls…Tag Thriller’, featuring Miss Mitzi Mueller and Sexy Suzy Perkins versus The Irish Colleens.  While the main event was The Horrific Masked Mummu?

If you favoured The Nag’s Head entertainment that evening, the YouTube clip below provides a taster.

9 April 1977 – Wayne County and The Electric Chairs – Nag’s Head

Saturday 9th April 1977 – Wayne County and The Electric Chairs – Nag’s Head.

Wayne County and The Electric had played the Nag’s Head just over a month previous and the Bucks Free Press advert said they were ‘Back by demand!!’ and also confirmed they were ‘From New York!!’

Bucks Free Press advert April 1977

Support for Wayne County is billed as Rock Street Boys plus a ‘world debut’ of The Flobs.

I’ve been unable to trace any information on these two support acts.   ‘The Legendary Flobs’ were a band formed in High Wycombe around 1979 but this 1977 version appears to be unrelated. If you know any more please get in touch.

 

 

7 April 1977 – Crossfire – Nag’s Head

Thursday 7th April 1977- Crossfire – Nag’s Head.

Local band Crossfire played on one of the regular Thursday ‘rock’ nights at The Nag’s Head in April 1977.  They went on to play a couple of support dates at Aylesbury Friars later that year and were described in an Friars Newsletter from July 1977 as ‘High Wycombe and Chesham legends’, after finishing third in the Friars poll for ‘Best Local Band’ of 1976.

Bucks Free Press advert April 1977

The line-up for the Nag’s Head gig is believed to be Chris Dennis (lead and slide guitar/vocals), Chris Oldham (lead vocals/guitar), Roger Batchelor (bass/vocals) and Dave Gaylor (drums). Band members Dennis and Batchelor were also connected with High Wycombe Music shop Sun Records (on the Oxford Road and next to where Scorpion Records would pop up later in 1977).  Dennis’s guitar style was likened to Eric Clapton.  They also finished 6th in the 1977 Friars ‘Best Local Band’ poll.

Record Shop memories

My long-time friend ‘Martin63’ suggested that a page dedicated to the record shops of High Wycombe would be a great way of stirring memories – so here it goes.

For fans of live music, alongside the actual live music venues themselves and the pre-gig pubs, the next most significant places were probably the local record shops. High Wycombe has been blessed with a number of record shops over the years the names that spring to mind are; Percy Priors, Scorpion, Venus and most recently Counter Culture.

If you have any memories, pictures or memorabilia relating to the record shops in High Wycombe, please reply to this post or get in touch via the contact page.

By way of jogging some memories, this is what I can remember.

I’m assuming that the first record store in High Wycombe was Percy Priors in White Hart Street?  A picture from the SWOP website show this shop dating back to the mid 1950’s.

White Hart Street (circa 1957) with Percy Priors on the right – picture from swop.org.uk ref 33593

When the Octagon Shopping Centre opened in the late 1960’s, Percy Priors opened another shop on the upper floor specialising in instruments and sheet music.  The record shop continued in White Hart Street but later became Harlequin Records and then Our Price.

Elsewhere in the Octagon, there was Derek Records (this later became Venus Records).  This was situated in Octagon Parade and close to Mike Keen Sports.

There was also a record stall at the market held in an area behind the old bus station and next to the original location of Sainsbury, in the Octagon shopping centre.

Perhaps the most famous record shop in High Wycombe was Scorpion Records along the Oxford Road.  Scorpion opened in late 1977/early 1978 next to Sun Music.  Scorpion bought and sold second-hand records and cassettes but also quickly became the main outlet for tickets for local gigs – particularly Aylesbury Friars.  For high demand gigs it was not uncommon to have queuing along the pavement outside.

Another record selling outlet opened at a similar time to Scorpion. Rising Sun records was situated at the rear of Wycombe Fayre – a small indoor shopping area that opened in the middle of 1977 on the site of the original Woolworth’s store on Church Street.  Rising Sun was a regular meeting point for music fans and had a great selection of punk and new wave singles.  In 1979 ‘Rising Sun Records’ a released a double A side single featuring local punk bands The Xtraverts and Plastic People – that is now a collector’s item.  Rising Sun eventually closed, with Wycombe Fayre being replaced by The Chiltern Centre in 1987.

It was back in 2006 that Scorpion shop owner Jeff Amor was finally forced out to make way for an expanded Sainsburys.  Co-workers Stegg and Cheryl kept the independent flame alive with Counter Culture in Desborough Road but that was eventually hit by the trend towards digital downloads and closed down in 2015 – thus Wycombe was left without an independent record shop for the first time in more than 50 years.

Filmmaker John Rogers made a video in late 2004 documenting the existence of Scorpion Records. It is a wonderful piece of social history.

1 April 1977 – Adverts/Rats – Nag’s Head

Friday 1st April 1977 – The Adverts, supported by The Rats – Nag’s Head

Iconic punk band The Adverts played The Nag’s Head on 1st April 1977.  A crowd of less than 100 would see lead singer T.V. Smith burst on stage with his band and claim “This is the real thing”.

Support came from The Rats, a US based Stooges influenced outfit doing the London circuit.  The low key advertising for the gig would mean their audience numbered around 30 at a time when the punk scene was still very much underground in High Wycombe.

The Adverts – 1977

Formed in late 1976 after front man T.V. Smith and partner Gaye Black (both 20 years old at the time) moved from Bideford to London in order to part of the growing punk scene in the Capital.

They played their first gig at The Roxy, London on 15 January 1977 as support for Generation X. Their second gig at the same venue four days was recorded and the track ‘Bored Teenagers, was included on the live compilation album, ‘The Roxy London WC2’.

Another early gig was supporting The Damned at The Roxy and they signed for Stiff records shortly afterwards. In March 1977, they supported The Jam and Wayne County – again at The Roxy – a venue they played at ten times inside the first three months the iconic venue opened.

Their appearance at The Nag’s Head on 1st April 1977 is believed to their first outside of London but there is a possibility that they supported Wayne County at The Nag’s Head on 6th March 1977.

The March and April outings pre-dated any official studio recordings by a few weeks. Later in April they would record the first of four sessions for the John Peel show, while their debut single, One Chord Wonders’ was released on Stiff on 29 April 1977.

The Nag’s Head gig also came just four days before T.V. Smith’s 21st birthday, while the slightly younger Gaye (now Gaye ‘Advert’) was set to become one of the first female punk icons – with her very familiar ‘panda’ eye makeup and black leather jacket.

Other members of the band during what is believed to be their only appearance at The Nag’s Head were Howard ‘Pickup’ and Laurie ‘Driver’.

The gig was reviewed in punk fanzine of the time ‘The New Wave’, where the audience number is recounted as being barely 50.

The set-list includes: ‘One Chord Wonders’, ‘New Boys’, ‘Quick Step’, ‘On the Roof’, ‘New Day Dawning’, ‘We Who Wait’, ‘Bored Teenagers’, ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’, ‘Bombsite Boy’ and ‘Great British Mistake’.

Part way through the set Smith tells the audience what he thinks of their lack of life. However, in an interview after the gig Smith admits:

“A few people enjoyed it tonight”, adding: “What I didn’t like were the people standing at the bar, who were more interested in their pints than what was going on”. Drummer Laurie chipped in: “Why pay 60p to come here and drink?”

Smith went on:

“Go and drink in another pub if you don’t wanna hear what’s going on. People aren’t prepared to listen to anything that isn’t exactly what they expect.  That’s the problem – it’s gonna take time.  It’s not an instant thing…”

It may not have been instant but T.V. Smith’s song writing ability soon became a major factor in setting them apart from other ‘punk’ bands of the time. ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ quickly became a stage favourite but there was controversy when the story behind the lyrics was revealed – Gary Gilmore as a convicted US murderer who offered his eyes for medical science after his execution.  I wonder if Noel Edmunds knew this story when he introduced their appearance on Top of the Pops shortly after the track was released as a single in August 1977?

A quick word about support act, The Rats. Not much about their history on the internet at the time of this post but they appear  to have hailed from Brooklyn (USA) and included Soer (vocals), Mike Williams (guitar), Fred Wilde (bass) and Mouth (drums).  The New Wave fanzine commented: “The Rats don’t sound like any of the English New Wave bands – they draw most of their influences from The Stooges”. Their set-list included ‘Sick Friends’, Iggy cover, ‘Search and Destroy’, ‘You’re so dead’ and ‘Havoc’.

1 April 2017 – Useless Eaters – Three Tuns

Saturday 1st April 2017 – Useless Eaters – Three Tuns

The Useless Eaters play The Three Tuns in High Wycombe on Saturday 1st April 2017, in what will be one of the first gigs to be held at the venue formerly known as The Hobgoblin (and before that The Three Tuns!).  It was thought the conversion to a sports bar would mean the end of live music at the popular venue.  Leading punk tribute act, The Useless Eaters, had been booked to play The Hobgoblin the weekend it was suddenly shut-down for the conversion but now they are back and come highly recommended if you are into your old school punk.  Expect The Damned, Clash, Sex Pistols, Buzzcocks and anybody else you can see on their poster  below– plus some not so obvious or regularly heard covers.

Useless Eaters – Three Tuns, High Wycombe, Saturday 1st April 2017

Another quick look at their poster, also reveals at least ten faces who actually played High Wycombe in the punk hey-days of 1976/77. Can you spot them?

Please support this live music event in High Wycombe

Read more about The Useless Eaters on their Facebook page.