During summer 1976, Kev
Hunter and Mick Galvin had been practising on their
guitars with the intention of forming a basic rock band
together; influences being the Pink Fairies, Bowie, and early
AC/DC! After seeing the Sex Pistols' debut on "So It Goes", Kev,
Mick and another mate, Paul, were impressed enough to find out
more about punk, and Paul said he'd be interested in joining
them.
By November, having watched Janet Street-Porter's documentary
which featured the Pistols and the Clash, they were determined
to get that band going. A few days later, Mick rang Kev to say
that the Pistols were going to be on
ITV's "Today" programme.
Paul Robbins -
vocals; Kev Hunter - guitar, vocals; Mick Galvin - bass; Mike
Rophone - drums. |
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Having
witnessed that and the ensuing fall-out, Kev bought the Damned's "New
Rose" and the Pistols' "Anarchy In The UK" singles, and the three friends
decided to name their band "The Antichrist", after the first line in the
Pistol's song. Kev remembered a guy he'd known from college who played the
drums, so asked him if he was interested; he turned out to be more into
the Moody Blues than punk, but agreed to come along anyway. The four-piece
spent Sunday afternoons rehearsing their own compositions and a cover of
the Pistols' "I Wanna Be Me". Sadly, the drummer just didn't play fast
enough, so he had to be replaced. A young, keener drummer was brought in
for a few rehearsals but didn't prove to be what they were looking for
either and the band went through some name changes -
first to Dead City,
then the Dentists, then the Urban SS(!) - before being banned from the
village hall where they'd been rehearsing for annoying the neighbours. |
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A meeting with another like-minded local band called The Drop proved
useful; after a few pints at the local college bar, the Drop's drummer,
Mike, offered to sit in with them until they found a permanent member, and
the four-piece started to rehearse regularly, getting more original
material together.
Their debut gig was in Saffron Walden, Essex in August 1977 (where they
supported Babylon) and they went down well, even with the local hard nuts
who had earlier taken a dislike to them! The band decided on another name
change - to The Darlex, and further gigs followed in November and
December, including one in Bishop's Storford which was recorded and still
exists, albeit in poor quality; it has the band playing through a set of
all their own songs including "Terrorist", "Sod The Jubilee", "I Hate
Work" and "Born To Rule". |
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By the end of the year,
bassist Mick decided to leave and was replaced by Tim Webb, and the band
managed to find their own drummer at last, a giant redheaded bloke called
Bert Wells. More local gigs followed until May 1978; the band imploded
after a gig at a youth club ended in acrimony, broken guitar strings and
injured girlfriends! The band attempted a reformation that autumn, but Kev
had already seduced by the Epileptics graffiti campaign! |
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This
entry (text & piccies) kindly provided by Kev Hunter
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