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Blitz have become an almost forgotten about
part of the Punk rock story for the last 25 years. Yet they as much as everyone else deserve
their recognition for the albeit small part they played in its music and
other peoples lives. Punk77 is proud to be the first to put this right.
and tell the story of the band. If Jez or Ruth are reading this or
even if you remember seeing the band, this then please get in touch by
emailing me.
Here for the first
time is the story of Blitz, complete with rare photos and MP3 downloads
(click on the below) of
their unreleased demos courtesy of Big George:
1. Strange Boy -
demo MP3
2. London is for
Tourists - demo MP3
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Ruth
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How did the band start, where, when and why? How did you come to choose
the name?
A couple of months beforehand, I’d gone for an audition out of the
Melody Maker classifieds, with a band of pot head pixies playing space
music with lots
of twiddly bits. I didn’t get the gig, but someone in the band kept my
number. Later he called and asked me to come along and jam with his new
band. I did, and it was great. Afterwards the drummer and guitarist sacked
the bloke, called me and that was the start of it. We got a girl singer,
who was the ex-girlfriend of the other bloke. We started off trying to
sound like ABBA
in order to earn tons of money on the “chicken in a basket” cabaret
circuit, but after many months of rubbishing The Damned, Pistols, 101ers,
Ian Dury (we
must’ve really hated them to keep going back, eh?) the catalyst was
sitting in our Greenford flat, eating boiled rice and tomato ketchup
watching Bill Grundy vs the Pistols. That changed everything. |
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Members of the band and
instruments played? How old were you all?
Ruth Carr (from Mansfield) - Singer, Jez Hartley (from Leeds and
Bridlington) - Guitar, Ed Butler (from Hull) - Drums, Big George Webley
(Clapham Common and Uxbridge. I moved to Milton Keynes in 1978 and I love
it!) - Bass and Keyboards. We all lived in a flat along the Greenford
Road, where we rehearsed and got very thin indeed. Then we moved into
Kevin St John's house until the whole thing collapsed. We were all
teenagers when it started, but we grew up fast! |
Jez |
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Ed |
Were you involved with
any bands previously... type of bands?
I’d been in a fair few bands prior to this, one of which rehearsed at
Slough College, alongside Gary Numan and his Toothpaste Army (a long time
before he turned electric and still used a comb)
Influences?
Back then they were: loud music, having a laugh, getting girls, not
playing shitty working mens clubs and not being part of the stinking
progressive/regressive system.
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George |
Part 2 - The
Roxy & other gigs | Part 3 - Recordings |
Part 4 -Farewell To The Roxy Tour |
Part5 - The End
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