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Picked
up by punk turned scout Mark P for Step Forward, and
featured at least three times in his mag Sniffin' Glue ,
they suffered the owners ( Miles Copeland's) success with
the Police getting sod all promotion. While The Cortinas
and Sham 69 went to majors Chelsea's moves all collapsed
and they stayed with Step Forward releasing sporadic
singles so that basically three years after forming they
released their debut eponymous album which Gene describes
as a "classic... everybody's
got their touch to it ".
Like
it or not I think events had passed them by to leave them
in the bywaters of postpunk which they happily and
successfully paddled in for a fair number of years !!! I
think line up changes , lack of records and promotion and
Music press interest basically gave them the low profile
they have today despite being one of the original punk
bands whereas other lesser bands have blagged the
acclaim. If this does anything to help it'll have been
worth it !!!!
Long history but three classic singles and the one album fall
in our time 76-79 ( all on Step Forward) - Right
to Work / The Loner
(1977) described
by Mark P as a 'rousing punk anthem with dodgy lyrics'
like
'I don't take drugs and I don't drink beer'!!!
Written not as a protest song but about Gene being pissed
off he couldn't get his equity card ! Hi
Rise Living / No Admission
(1977) and Urban Kids (written My Mark
P of ATV) / No Flowers
(1978). All this and more collected on various
compilation cd's that offer much more. Good footage on
Punk in London video of them doing
Right to Work. Gene
also appears in The Jubilee film playing 'Happy Days'
albeit briefly as he ends up being suffocated in plastic
after sex with Crabs !!!! (the character... stoopid !!!)
'Right To Work' is on the soundtrack.
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