18 May 1977 – Sex Pistols sign for Virgin Records

Two months after being sacked by A&M, The Sex Pistols finally agree a new record deal with Richard Branston’s Virgin Record Label for an ‘unspecified figure’. The deal was signed on Friday 13th May 1977 and made big news in the following week’s music press.

Johnny Rotten and Steve Jones grace the front of the NME – May 1977

The Pistols had played High Wycombe twice in 1976 prior to signing a deal, first with EMI, and then A&M. The well documented controversy surrounding the ‘Bill Grundy’ interview in December 1976 and other off stage antics had made record companies wary of taking them on.  While live venues were also reluctant to promote their gigs – although in many cases this was instigated by local authorities keen to set their ‘moral standards’ and Pistols Manager, Malcolm McClaren, keen to continue the myth that nobody wanted them to play.

Virgin were set to rush release the much delayed Pistols second single, ‘God Save The Queen’, on Friday 27th May 1977.  The NME also reported in their 21st May 1977 edition that the band had nearly completed work on an album, while a spokesman for Virgin described advance orders for both LP and single as ‘massive’.

A huge marketing campaign was also planned by Virgin to announce the new contract and forthcoming single. But plans to advertise on ITV were thwarted when both Thames TV and London Weekend rejected the commercial, even though it had been described by Virgin as ‘not offensive or controversial’.  Perhaps Thames TV were still smarting from the Bill Grundy episode?

The Pistols were also said to be looking at returning to gigging again but would have to overcome the number of alleged bans from venues and local authorities. After playing The Nag’s Head in September 1976, the band played around 25 further dates before the ‘Grundy’ moment on 1 December 1976.  Post ‘Grundy’ and until the day they signed for Virgin in May 1977 they had played less than ten further dates in the UK, plus a couple of dates in the Netherlands.  Just two of those dates had included new bassist, Sid Vicious – brought in during February 1977 for The Beatles loving Glen Matlock.

Local promoter Ron Watts’ connection with the band (he put them on ten times at The 100 Club between March 1976 and September 1976, plus the one-off show at The Nag’s Head), led to on-going rumours that they would return to the town for a secret gig. Later in the year, the infamous S.P.O.T.S (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly) would drive the rumour mill into top gear, with any remote connection to the word SPOTS and a Ron Watts gig being suggested as a possibly return to The Nag’s Head for the punk icons.

Did you go down The Nag’s Head on the off chance that the latest Ron Watts promotion may be the Sex Pistols in disguise?

16 May 1977 – XTC – Nag’s Head

Ron Watts gave Swindon’s XTC a Nag’s Head debut on Monday 16th May 1977.  The four piece consisted at the time of Andy Partridge (guitar and vocals), Colin Moulding (bass and vocals), Barry Andrews (keyboards and piano) and Terry Chambers (drums).

Their live performances in the early gigging days were noted for the antics of keyboard maestro Andrews.  He used a combination of piano and ‘open-top/stage tilted’ keyboards to mesmerise the audience.  In the days when punk was becoming the fashion, they were not necessarily the hippest people in town but they knew how to write a pop song.

But the rising punk scene had given XTC a foot into the door of the music industry and at the time of this Nag’s Head appearance several record companies were chasing their signature.  They had already recorded demo’s for CBS but they got cold feet – maybe after a number of abortive London gigs in early 1977? At a gig at London’s Rochester Castle on 14th April 1977, Andrew’s keyboards malfunctioned and they had to play as a trio, presumably with record company ‘suits’ looking on. “We had to play all the dumb stuff”, said Andy Partridge in a Sounds review of the gig.

The Nag’s Head appearance went a little smoother and they impressed Ron Watts enough for a repeat booking just a few weeks later. They would eventually sign for Virgin records in August 1977 – releasing their first single in October with the rapid fire, ‘Science Friction’.

XTC would re-pay Watts’ faith in the band a couple of years later with a headline performance at High Wycombe Town Hall – just at the point they were about to break into the UK single charts.

Here’s a sample of one of their early live shows- recorded in Swindon (around September 1977) – the not quite so poppy ‘Cross Wires’, complete with Barry Andrews going a bit crazy on keyboards.

Read more about XTC at the amazing http://chalkhills.org/ website.

 

13 May 1977 – Chelsea/Stukas – Nag’s Head

Gene October’s London punk outfit Chelsea were billed to appear at The Nag’s Head on Friday 13th May 1977 with fellow Londoners Stukas as support.

Bucks Free Press advert May 1977 for The Jam, Chelsea and Stukas at The Nag’s Head – plus early Step Forward promo pic of Chelsea

There may be a debate whether this gig actually took place as some listings have Chelsea down as playing a London date at The Winning Post on the same evening.  If you can confirm either way, that would be great.

Gene October (real name John O’Hara) had formed Chelsea in October 1976 along with Billy Idol and Tony James.  Idol and James went on to form Generation X in late 1976 but October stuck with a new look Chelsea that included Carey Fortune (drums) and eventually Henry Badowski (bass) and James Stevenson (guitar).

Later in 1977, this line-up would record the anthemic ‘Right to Work’ single, released on Step Forward records.

Meanwhile, The Stukas had performed their first gig around around Christmas 1976 at The Imperial Hotel, off Russell Square in London.  They consisted of Paul Brown (vocals), Raggy Lewis (guitar and vocals), Mick Smithers (lead guitar), Kevin Allen (bass) and John Mackie (drums).

Stukas debut single – reverse of picture cover with details of band members

Pre-Stukas, band members had been in a group called The Teenage Rebels.  Guitarist Raggy Lewis claimed in a Sounds interview published in June 1977: “The Teenage Rebels were before their time. We were getting banned from venues long before the Sex Pistols came along.”  Kevin Allen added: “That’s because we were bloody awful.”

The Stukas set-list at the time included: ‘Klean Living Kids’, ‘Position Number One’ and ‘Maxine’

Despite supporting the likes of Chelsea, Wayne County and Johnny Thunders, they were a band who tried to distance themselves from the rising ‘punk’ and ‘new wave’ scene.

Lewis explained in the Sounds interview:

“The punks seem to like us. Down at The 100 Club we even had a Ted pogoing! But I reckon we’re really aimed at the football crowds.”

Allen chipped in:

“We’re called the Stukas ‘cos if people don’t like us we come and drop bombs on their house.”

This is The Stukas first single, ‘Klean Living Kids’, released on Chiswick later in 1977.

This is a practice session for Chelsea’s first single,’Right to Work’, also released later in 1977, plus an interview. Chelsea would go on to release several more singles in the 1970’s and early 1980’s and continue gigging into the 2000’s and were still active at the time this article was first published.

12 May 1977 – The Jam/Wire – Nag’s Head

The Jam returned again to The Nag’s Head on Thursday 12th May 1977 supported by relatively new outfit Wire.

The Jam had released their debut single and album in the two weeks leading up to the gig and the local fan base of the band meant the busiest night down The Nag’s Head since the USA Rock Weekend in March.

Jam and Wire poster from Nag’s Head gig 12 May 1977 – image enhanced from fincharie.com

Wire were formed in October 1976 by Colin Newman (vocals, guitar), Graham Lewis (bass, vocals), Bruce Gilbert (guitar), and Robert Gotobed, real name Robert Grey (drums). Their recognised live debut with this line-up was at London’s Roxy on 1st April 1977.

Wire released their first single on EMI offshoot label, Harvest later in 1977 with three diverse tracks:  ‘Mannequin’, ‘Feeling Called Love’ and ‘12XU’. Their second single, ‘I am the Fly’ was apparently an early favourite of Jam lead singer Paul Weller.

In a interview with Rolling Stone magazine, ahead of their March 2017 release of LP Silver/Lead, leader singer Colin Newman quipped:

“We’re the most famous band you’ve never heard of. Our fans assume that Wire is massive – like, we’ve all got mansions. And then there are lots of people who know groups who are more successful than Wire who’ve been influenced by Wire – yet they’ve never heard of Wire. It’s a very strange kind of fame.”

Meanwhile, The Jam were on the road the fame, or at least an appearance on Top of the Pops.  Their performance of the single ‘In The City’ on Thursday 19th May 1977 (a week after their Nag’s Head) appearance is widely recognised as the first by ‘punk’ group on the BBC programme.  The arguments about whether The Jam are a ‘punk’ band, or not, will go on forever.

Paul Weller commented on the punk scene in the NME published on the day of The Nag’s Head gig:

“I don’t see any point in going against your own country. All this ‘change the world’ thing is becoming a bit too trendy. I realise that we’re not going to change anything unless it’s on a national scale. We’ll be voting Conservative at the next election.”

Weller later claimed it was a bit of wind-up and he went on to support the Labour party in the years ahead.

Since the above article was first published, local High Wycombe music fan, Dave Tapping, got in touch and sent the clipping below published in Sounds magazine the week before the gig at The Nag’s Head on 12th May 1977.

The Jam – Sounds Magazine preview – kindly supplied by Dave Tapping

The gig preview, says, ‘The Jam are at High Wycombe Nag’s Head on Thursday for a one-off before rejoining the White Riot ’77 tour next week. Try and catch them before they’re rich and famous!’ Dave says ‘indeed, I was glad I did!’.

Here’s Wire performing the punky ’12XU’ from their first single:

And here’s The Jam ‘punking it up’ on Top of the Pops.

Were you one of the punters who queued up the Nag’s Head stairs and paid £1 (75p for members!) to see these two hugely influential bands?

7 May 1977 – Bees Make Honey – Nag’s Head

Pub Rockers’, Bees Make Honey returned to The Nag’s Head for another headline performance on Saturday 7th May 1977.  The London based band had previously played on 24th March 1977.  Their prompt return suggests that promoter Ron Watts was suitably impressed with their crowd pulling power to warrant a rare Saturday night gig at the London Road venue.

Bees Make Honey

The following week would see The Jam, Chelsea and XTC take to the boards at The Nag’s Head as an explosion of gigs was set to run throughout the summer of 1977.

6 May 1977 – The Jam release debut album – In The City

Following on from their debut single in late April 1977, The Jam released their debut album, also titled, ‘In The City’, on Friday 6th May 1977.

In The City – The Jam – album cover – released 6 May 1977

At the same time as the album release, The Jam were set up as guests, along with Buzzcocks, on The Clash’s ‘White Riot’ tour.  They were set to play London’s Rainbow on Monday 9th 1977 it what turned out to a chaotic evening.  A rift between The Clash and The Jam, would soon see latter leave the tour and make their own way around the country.

The Nag’s Head on Thursday 12th May 1977 would be the chance to see them headline in their own right.

The YouTube clip below is an audio of The Jam’s 1st John Peel session recorded on 26the April 1977 and broadcast on 2nd May 1977 on BBC Radio One.

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?

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.