The Girlfriends

Heidi Kruger (guitar), Sara Burton (bass) and Clare Henning (drums). Sara used to live in the flat below Sharon and I. She used to play Sinead O'Connor's first album a lot, and at one time went out with the now shaven-headed multi-pierced Steve Left. I seem to recall that the band wasn't very good.

Various members of this band were often seen (along with many others) cramming the stage at the arse-end of Coyote Trap/Thieves and Murderers/Fabulous Boots gigs singing "backing" vocals.

Heidi had been in Thin Ice prior to The Girlfriends. Here they are keeping the spirit of punk alive by not being very competent on their instruments, which is not necessarily a criticism in my book: You've given up hope

US Megachicks

I got an email from Paul wondering why I hadn't put his band on this website. He said he had been responsible for "debagging" me once in the doorway of the Adelphi. Sorry Paul, must have been someone else.

Nick Langley emailed me to remind me that one of their songs was all about a spaceship hurtling to earth at "100 miles per hour". This is, I'm sure you'll agree a remarkably slow speed for a spaceship to travel, and given that acceleration due to gravity is 9.8m/s2 (and that the terminal velocity of a human being is approximately 120mph), it would seem that this particular spaceship was positively ambling earthward.

Tough Guys Don't Dance

TGDD were a pretty professional bunch as I recall. They even set themselves as a local booking agent, and we played a number of gigs with them including one at the Mean Fiddler, Harlesden in 1987. Eight years later I began training as a solicitor with Alexander & Partners in an office overlooking the venue ( I appreciate that this is not especially relevant or of any interest to you, but it's my website). Did TGDD do a sort of Sade thing? Is that wrong? Perhaps they'll let me know. Anyway I can't remember much about them except that their percussionist Kofi was a bit of a dynamo. Here they are:-

The Bible Brothers

The Bible Brothers were a synth band that included Danny Shackleton on keyboards. The first time I saw them was upstairs at The Welly Club when they played with a Sheffield package consisting of Dig Vs Drill, Mr Morality, and Pulp. The whole shebang was compered by Henry Normal. Virtually the entire audience consisted of the other bands. I thought Pulp were good, Dig Vs Drill were best (shows what I know) and bought a tape consisting of two songs from each band (not including The Bible Brothers who, incidentally, I thought were crap). Here's a bit of them playing at the Tower in 1986: Jim Jim.

Teethmarks on the Bathroom Door

Great name. Erm...I can't remember them that well, apart from they were always playing (often with John the Monkey, I think). Luckily for us, ex-members Kevin Smith and John Willis took it upon them themselves to reminisce and argue about their genesis via email and send me copies. Therefore I am able to present the Definitive TotBD History. Take it away, John:-

Formed in 82, or maybe 83 by guitarist "Red" Kev Smith, with the clarion call "Lets practice for six weeks and do a gig at the Adelphi, nomatter how bad we are".  The first practice led to three pretty decent songs and we too were hooked.  Superstardom could only be a matter of waiting...and waiting..
The seminal band came together shortly afterwards with Kev on "lead", Mike Hemblade on bass, "Jim" on the drums, and me, "Bonzo" John Willis on lead shouting. This recipe of TOTBD peaked at the Tower in 95.  I great gig with the crowd geniunely asking for more.  Fuckin brillyant it twas! But not long after I left, and was replaced by Crissy.....bad news for me, but Mike and Kevin's songwriting blossomed with the more melodic female lead singer and things carried on for a good while until the
band imploded as Mike left to join "The Pressure Group"...and so to the present day...Sixteen years later, Jan 2001, and I was forty.  Lets get the band back together "for one night only".  Mike and Kev went through some songs, and I sang along with some tapes a whole 200 miles away.  We came together at 3pm, the gig was that very night.  We ran through six songs without a hitch. - Kev wants to do a UK tour now!

Hmm.. What do YOU say, Kevin?

Er John as you get older your memory plays tricks on yer but I think the following is : THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF TEETHMARKS ON THE BATHROOM DOOR After I finished University in 1982, my first band (LAST TABOO) broke up without playing a gig.I put together TEETHMARKS with John on vocals and Mike Hemblade on bass (who had made a tape with a bedroom band (EVERYWHERE CHAINSAW) that I had heard.Pretty soon we brought on board a drummer Chris Jones.I remember that with Mike and I writing the songs (with some help from John)we developed a set pretty quickly, though it took some time to tighten thesound, which I can only describe as thrash punk. We used to rehearse at ahouse (commune) on The Boulevard where I lived at the time.With this line up we headlined at The Wellington Club and also played The Tower as John has said though it was in June 1984 not 1985 and with Chris on drums not Jim. The Tower gig was really good and I think we just about broke even on it. I even played in the support band that night (the tremendous RAGING SIFF). The closest we came to stardom was to turn down a gig at Hull University supporting Phil Lynott ! Shortly after this, Chris left to be replaced by the talented Jim Delacey on Drums. With this line up we played the Trades and Labour Club before John
left the band (I think the winter of 1984). I still don't know why ! Teethmarks emerged again with Chrissy Chilinski on vocals to play initially Hull University in December 1985. During this layoff mike and I wrote a whole new set of songs to suit her greater vocal range though a number were still fairly raucous and Jim Delay filled out the sound with his more sophisticated drum beat. By now we were rehearsing at St Andrews Dock, which was a studio run by and for local musicians.With this Line up we also played the Adelphi (I think three times, once for a dock benefit) and The Wellington Club. Our last act was to record a 4 track tape (live) in June 1986 at St Andrews Dock. I have a tape of this. Chrissy left to travel and Mike to join The Pressure Group who actually put out a record. The Pressure Group were a great studio outfit, I thought they were a vere a bit like duretti column. Not a patch on us live though ! However Teethmarks carried on (no implosion) and emerged again in 1987, this time with Jane Murphy on Vocals and John Lyons on bass guitar. Again I wrote a new batch of songs, this time with help from Jim Delacey and Jane. The sound has now moved on again to be more bass and drum focussed as Jim's influence rose. Still fairy raucous though. With this line up we played The Adelphi three times to large audiences culminating in an Animal Rights benefit in front of a full house supporting CHUMBAWAMBA. Our final gig was in Hornsea in 1989. After this Jim went off travelling, not to be seen again. John Lyons went on to play with BACK TO BASE. I left Hull in early 1990 and I am not sure where Jane is. That was until John put the band back together for one night only in Jan 2001.

(Yawn..) Anything to add John?..

Er, you forget the inital Teethmarks practices with Wayne Oldfield on Bass and a kid who's name I cant remember on a great big drum kit in the University Bandspace.  Two practices or so with them we musta had? Chris was playing with another band at the time, LES YEUX.  Only after their breakup was he able to join us.  I remember we went for a while just the three of us without any drums.

The Pressure Group

Mentioned above, they were a university band in Joy Division/New Order type mode. Guitarist had "You are Scum" written on his strap. Kev Wade (rhythm guitar) emailed me to say that they had had a 4-track ep on Poltroon Records entitled "Only God is Perfect". I either did not know this or had simply forgotten it.

In 2006 I saw this piece of vinyl for sale on Ebay and bid on it. It finally sold for something like £110. Not to me I hasten to add.

They also did exchange gigs with Pulp, whereby Pulp headlined at The Adelphi with The Pressure Group supporting, and Pulp supported them in a return gig in Sheffield.

Rock Ripley & his 15 Cows

I'd never heard of this band, but Andy Phelan emailed me to say that they had played in 1985. He also kindly sent me a tape from the 1986 gig at The Tower at which lots of local bands played (from which I've borrowed freely). At the end of this tape he helpfully included a live recording of his band doing a cover (why?) of The Exploited's "Dead Cities". Thankfully the recording is of such poor quality that I decided not to put on here, but it does prove they existed.

Wail Nation

Matt Smith reminded me of his old band which I had until then recalled only as 'Alison Owen's Band'. I first saw them in about 1989 when they won the University Battle of the Bands competition. Alison had a fantastic voice, and they did a great version of Union City Blue. He says that the band were "admittedly far too commercial" for some tastes but they were tight and Alison was (and probably still is) an excellent singer.

Sharon Zamyatin and the New Dooleys

Another university band. Ex members Bruce Lawson and Jim Wharmby both emailed me with useful details about their old band. The best thing about them (as far as I was concerned) was their paean to Zelda Sladen, a politics undergraduate and prominent Socialist Worker Student Society member who once hissed "Fascist" at me because my DM's had white laces in. If you're reading this, Ms Sladen; fuck off.

Here are the lyrics:-

'Rodriguo The Llama':

I'm in love with a trotsky maiden,

and her name is Zelda Sladen,

a public school communist,

but she don't love me, well, what a SWSS/ swizz [geddit?],

marry me Zelda, or I'll die.

Let's organise and occupy!

Back in the USSR - I'd like to get into your bra.

Black September

Pouting Goth-Lite band fronted by local Lizard King Ian Hunter. I wasn't a big fan, but they had a sizeable following and could clearly play their instruments. This song is called I-Spy.

States of Unrest

Hull's very own agit-prop group with banners and flags and everything. They were, and remain, angry about stuff in general, and very angry about US imperialism. This was of course the time of Ronald Ray-Gun and Bush-pere, so there was plenty to be cross about. And nothing has changed, of course.

Led by Mick Wilkinson (who kindly loaned me his copies of 'Now that's what we call Hull' and 'Tales from the Riverbank' from which I've pinched some of the audio clips featured here) they had a touch of The Fall about them. See for yourself on New World Order, recorded (according to guitarist Chris Malins) in a Doncaster studio (£48 for 50 tapes)

Mick sent me the photo of the band shown below. He says that they underwent a number of personnel changes (20+ in 4 years), and is therefore a bit unsure of the names. Mick is singing, Kay on drums, Simon Roberts is on bass, Chris Malins on guitar, and Lee-Ann is on his left playing guitar. She appeared at The Adelphi in about 1985 from Newcastle as a committed Housemartins fan. And just stayed.

Mick tells me that the band once toured 6 northern cities on an Educate The Masses tour, and lost £300.00 playing in front of about 40 punters in total. Commitment.

He also recorded a track as The Soledad Brothers which was featured on a (NME Indie) chart-topping compilation entitled We Don't Want Your Fucking War. He says it was shit. But it was FAME, Mick, FAME!!!

I assumed that SoU had gone their separate ways but I got an email from William Ward in November 2007 (which I found weeks later in my Junk Email folder) politely pointing out that the past tense that I had used was not appropriate in their case and they were still railing away. Good on 'em, I say. Their internet existence can be found here or here

The Mandelbrot Set

They came along as my band fragmented. Maybe they thought they had to boot us out of the way as local opposition. No chance. We were going nowhere fast. They got big draws at The Adelphi as I recall. Bit of a nerdy name, though. The following track was on the Tales From The Riverbank cassette. JB, their bassist, emailed me to say it was recorded at the Planet Wilson studio on the Avenues-but as he can't even recall the name of the singer ('It was a long time ago') I'm not sure of the value of his reminiscences. He also pointed out that the link to the clip wasn't working (which I have now rectified), but since he is the only person to mention this to me ever, it suggests that it isn't one of the more sought after recordings on the world wide web. Anyway, I've only put the first verse and-a-half on (which is great with a neat guitar line) but faded it out before the chorus because it is so lame. What were you thinking of, lads? Captain Chaos.

Dave Gibbons, one time manager and eventual bassist with the band sent me this potted history for your delectation:-

Thanks for that, Dave. We can be sure that this is (and forever will be) the world's most complete repository of information about The Mandelbrot Set.

England Under Snow

Tim Joseph was in this guitar-based duo. He was the Citizen Kane of Where? magazine that underpinned the early 90's Hull music scene, and put out local band compilations. Several people have emailed me to sing his praises.

I'm a bit embarrassed (again-someone who actually paid attention should have done this site) to say I can't remember much about EUS (as I've decided to call them). I think they put real records out. Sorry. This is what the Guestbook is about; people who know put it up themselves thus shielding me from my own sorry ignorance.

Flood of Lies

I think I thought they were good, but I was young and impressionable. The Weaver.

Quel Dommage

Local trooper Tommo was in this seminal early 80's Hull band. I saw them play at The Trades and Labour Club when The Unity Club was putting on shows there.

He's the man behind Cottingham punk label Xcentric Noise, The Tigers' footy anthem Going Up (they did), still plays in (or at least has something to do with) a band (Rinky Dink) and, as you can see if you follow the above link, he takes some stunning photos.

He's sent me some excellent cds over the past couple of years including a great compilation of Quel Dommage stuff entitled "Fielding One Hell of a Team, Jim".

With a line-up of Mike Farnill (bass/vocals), Dave Lofts (drums), Ian Muir (keyboards) and Tommo on guitar Quel Dommage lived from 1983 until 1986 when they shuffled off their collective mortal coil at The Adelphi.

Here is Fear of Gods. You may just be able to catch some Joy Division references....

Scared to Dance

I don't know much about Scared to Dance. But Sharon had a picture of them (wrongly credited as The Company in the Adelphi book) so here they are.

John Clayton helpfully emailed me more than once in an attempt to get me to update this and other entries. The lead singer Terry Chapman is now an actor and has appeared in soaps and stuff (appearing as Terence Mann). The guitarist, Shanny, still plays in punk group The Grip. Derick Wilson was on trumpet, Joe Casey played drums and John Alexander was the bass player.

Shanny kindly sent me the picture on the right. It shows Scared To Dance in Little Switzerland. If you were a Hull band in the 80's you had to be photographed in Little Swiss or you were nobody.