1) What were your influences?
All rock music mainly was an influence to me

2) Previous bands and what sort of music did you play?
John (drummer) Steve (bass,vocals) Gary (Guitarist,vocals) we played rock 

3) How, where and when did The Wasps come to be formed?
We formed in Leytonstone East London.

4) When did you first become aware of punk and what sort of bands did you rate and not rate and why.
We jumped on the Punk/New wave wagon like most bands then. We rated most music

5) You released a classic first single. What are your memories of this and how well did it do?
Teenage Treats is a classic, we recorded this track at pathway studios. Great memories of this session.

6) What are your memories of playing the Roxy club? What was the audience and atmosphere like ? Was it cliquey? How did they react to you there? I believe JJJJJJ-Jenny was written about a punkette at The Roxy.
Roxy was probably the scummiest, dirtiest venue any band could play, but it suited punk perfectly. The audience were the same weekly crowd. Yes j j jenny was written about a girl with a stutter, who Jessie (singer/songwriter) met and so the song was formed.

7) Was there cameraderie between bands or were they distant to each other? How did the bigger bands treat you?
There was no cameraderie towards each other as i recall there were no bigger better bands, we were all punk bands playing our own style of punk .

8) How important was fashion to punk?
Punk fashion not really important to us

9) You also played The Vortex and have two songs on the famous live album of the time including of course your classic Can't Wait ill '78. I recall in Sounds the album getting a trashing and Jessie writing in with an impassioned reply. Strangely though the next week a girl wrote in saying the album wasn't live but was recorded in front of a few people and was a fake? What do you remember of this and of the recording? How did the Vortex differ from The Roxy.
The Vortex was a good venue. plenty of energetic fans. The album was slagged by Sound journalist John Savage. Jessie retaliated and we got free publicity for a few weeks. The album was recorded live.

10) How would you describe Wasps sound and look then?
The wasps like most bands moulded their style, the 3 musicians wrote the music/melodies and the singer wrote the lyrics (very good too.)

11) How did you come to record a John Peel Session and what's your memories of that? Its a superb session.
John Peel and Alan Freeman played the Teenage Treats single and contacted us about a radio 1 session. Yes I agree with you, the original 1977 band line up sessions were excellent. Never met John Peel myself, but his producer Tony Wilson gave us a run of the radio one studios to create our own sounds.

12) Singing Can't Wait Till '78 As 77 turned into 78 what changes did you see happening in punk ie look, sound and audience. Did the Wasps want to get a way from the punk look and sound? What other songs were in your set that weren't recorded that you used to play?
I found punk was given a bad press because certain individuals would arrive at gigs to fight and riot. The last gig we performed a young guy was killed in the audience, to me punk also died that night.

13) When did Dadomo come on board as manager and what did he do for the band? I recall that some demo tapes were reported stolen from a car. Was this a scam?
Dadomo was never John, Steve, or myselfs manager, he was just a freelance journalist as far as i was aware. Our manager was Adrian Miller. Never heard the stolen tapes story.

My knowledge of the band here goes a little hazy so apologies.

14) You clearly had a bit more than other bands. How did your deal with RCA come about? In hindsight was it a good one? Were any other majors interested?
We had interests from various record companies, but signed with RCA, not a good move as they did bugger all to promote The Wasps.

15) The image also changed drastically. An interview in Sounds March 1978 shows you all dressed in pinstripe suits and mentioning that you have a load of new equipment and that you had been rehearsing for 7 months ? Whose idea was this ? Did you think punk was doomed? You also didn't seem to tour a lot. Is that a fair comment?
Yes our manager cleaned up our act and our appearance, he also invested large sums of monies into the band believing in our future. We rehearsed and rehearsed for several months, building the act and the set.

16) From releasing a single in late 77 why was there not another Wasps single put out till 1979? Do you think lack of a product cost you . What did you do in this time? Rubber Cars come out in 1979 and it seems that The band no longer sound or look like punk. In my view its not a good single. What was your take on it? Did you think it was a mistake. I think by then you were no longer in the band though.
John, Steve and myself didn't agree with our singers' choice of direction (very long story) so we original members split. RUBBER CARS IS SHIT... Jessie Lyn Dean continued under The Wasps name with 3 new members.

17) At some stage the whole band except Jessie leaves? Another John Peel session is recorded with him the only member on it? What lead to this drastic change? The second Peel session is pretty good. Were these old songs?
What Jessie did from there onwards we will never know, but he did kindly telephone me to apologise................. 25 years later!

18) What was the reaction to you in different parts of the country? How did the audience and reaction differ say from the Roxy and say in Manchester . Do you think Punk was essentially a London thing?
We never gigged at Manchester.

19) What was the gobbing violence like at gigs?
Refer to question 12.

20) Best moments/worst moments?
Best moments : Being 16 years old and out of school, same billing as the Police, BBC sessions, shooting videos and being chauffer driven etc..
Worst moments: Being deceived, served with a legal writ at 17, unpaid royalties for John, Steve and myself.

21) What did you get up after leaving The Wasps
John, Steve and myself went back to our trades with myself being a company director of my own business. (not within the music industry)

22) Finally Looking back what did punk achieve and what was the Wasps part in it? 
Punk produced many Great Bands and memories ,and I would like to think that The Wasps made a minor sting in this...(excuse the pun...)

Hope this helps with your curiosity
Thanks for your interest.

Gary

Gary Wellman