The history of Raw records stems back to around 1973 when I was playing in a Cabaret band (shock, horror) around Pontins holiday camps. The money was good but my heart wasn't really in it. I grew up in the 60's and had always had a passion for music with energy. That's why I loved punk so much. I played in bands called The Antlers, The Pype Rhythms, The New Generation, The Sex, (why didn't we add Pistols?) and LSD.

I had always bought lots of obscure records and as I  toured the country in the Cabaret band I always visited junk shops to purchase vinyl. Usually these shops had records scattered all around in no order. But prices were usually between 10p and 25p each. I thought that if I opened a shop with all the records in sleeves and in good condition, people would be prepared to pay between 50p and £1 each. So I opened a stall in an indoor market. This expanded and I opened a shop at 48 King Street in Cambridge called "Remember Those Oldies". This was around 1974. We sold 60's stuff plus re-issues of early Bowie, Roxy Music, Led Zeppelin and other stuff. I found a couple of shops in London doing the same thing as me.

One was called "Rock On", based in Camden and run by a very nice Irish guy called Ted Carroll. By late 1975, he had started Chiswick Records and via him I met Larry Debay, a Frenchman who was importing things like Iggy & The Stooges, Flamin Groovies, Television, Richard Hell, Eight Eyed Spy (featuring Lydia Lunch) and other things. Also in 1973 I had read about an american fanzine called "Who Put The Bomp". I managed to get hold of a couple of issues and this turned me on to what was happening in the New York, CBGB's, Bowery scene. (It had a lot more but that's irrevent to this story)! Over this time the shop began to incorporate the new music as well as the 50's/60's stuff. I met Mark Perry who put together Sniffin' Glue fanzine and we stock it from the very first issue. We stocked Stiff records from the very first release. In fact we were the very first shop in the world to sell New Rose by The Damned. The record was going to be released on Friday. I visited their offices on the Wednesday morning and found Rat Scabies sitting there, putting the records into the sleeves by hand. I pushed Jake Riveria into giving me 20 of the Giant Posters promoting the single. By lunchtime I was back in Cambridge and the record was on sale. The first 20 people got a free poster. The best seller prior to this had been Eddie and The Hot Rods - Live At The Marquee EP. I used to lock people IN the shop and say "you're not leaving until you hear this. Then I'd turn the stereo up full blast! We stocked all the early punk records. The Saints, The Buzzcocks - Spiral Scratch EP, Eater and so on.

I liked the idea of starting my own record label, but I had no idea how to do it. Then one day, members of The Users, who had been in the shop before, asked me if I could spare the time to come and hear them rehearse. I went along and they were a five piece. The four you know plus a guitarist with a maple Fender Stratocaster who didn't fit in at all. They seemed to think they needed him and Chris Free was very unsure of his talent. I told the guitarist to his face that he didn't fit in (I don't like to piss around behind peoples backs), and told the others they should continue as a four piece. When I went back the following week, they sounded great. I can't remember the details but somehow we decided to make a record together. Spaceward Studios was located in Cambridge, in the basement of a small house. I'm sure it was a Sunday when we recorded there. We did four tracks. Three in the normal way of laying down backing tracks and then overdubs and vocals. Louie Louie was recorded 100% live, exactly as on "Raw Deal". No overdubs, nothing added at all. From Ted Carroll, I had found out some of the technical details to manufacturing a record. The first cut was a disaster. So even though it had cost a lot of money, I decided (much to the relief of The Users), that we would re-cut the record where Stiff records cut there records. So we contacted George Peckham, whose trade mark on the run-off of records reads "A Porky Prime Cut". We had more records pressed and put adverts in the local paper and in fanzines. Review copies were sent to John Peel, the music papers and fanzines. The record was recorded in March 1977. It was released on May 5th. To promote it, I organized a live gig. Top of the bill was Cherry Vanilla. Next were a band whom I paid £60 for the privilege of performing. They were called "The Police". The Users opened the show. I was on "the door" and didn't really get to see them live. However, a college from Bishops Stortford telephoned and asked to book the band. I organised things. I even hired the van and drove them to the gig. They were booked as Top  of the bill but wanted to go on first because they wanted to get home early because there was a late night programme on TV about the Rolling Stones history. They went on and were TOTALLY FUCKING AMAZING, both musically and visually. There is no doubt that with the right backing they should have been MEGA.

Changing the subject slightly. The name Raw Records came mainly from The Users love of Iggy Pop. They wanted the record to sound like an out-take from Raw Power. First we considered Raw Power records. Originally we had discussed this as a one-off project with the four members of the band and myself splitting everything five ways. When I thought about the label having other bands signed, I decided on Raw records. Chiswick records had The Gorillas on their label. Originally called The Hammersmith Gorillas, they had released a single in 1974 on the Penny Farthing label. I contacted them and after long negotiations leased the rights to it. It was released as RAW 2.

Around this time (May 1977), you could count the number of un-signed punk bands on your fingers. A club in a small town called March was running a weekly punk night. My wife Lizzy, a friend and I went there. There were eight people in the audience (including us), and on came The Killjoys. It soon became clear from the jeering that the other five people were Soul music lovers. Kevin Rowland gave as good as he got and for their entire set the band gave it everything they had. This impressed me most. We chatted afterwards and I agreed to meet them in London and watch them rehearse. A few days later, I met them near Euston. I found they came from Birmingham, but were staying in London. Five members were sleeping IN the van. The drummer slept either on top of, or underneath, depending on the weather. We arranged for them to come to Cambridge. I put them up in Bed and Breakfast and they spent a couple of days rehearsing in Spaceward studio. On the Sunday (the only day I didn't open the shop), we began recording. Again four tracks were laid down. The session was one of those rare "magical" occasions. On the track "Naive" we all pogoed round the microphone to add backing vocals. The band were a six piece at the time. The guitarist was going out with the female bass player and Kevin Rowland was going out with backing vocalist Heather. There was a "fifth" track (of sorts) with the band taking the piss out of me.

Johnny Won't Get To Heaven was our best selling record. I estimate it sold around 18,000 copies in total. It was issued with various label designs for those who collect trivia. After the Killjoys record was released in July 1977, demo tapes started to arrive. I put an advert in the classifieds of Melody Maker (in those days the main paper for musicians), and the telephone never stopped ringing. One of the phone calls came from a girl who called herself "Charlie". She worked for a record pressing plant in the West London area. In a call that probably lasted 45 minutes her personality was so sparkling that I agreed to record her band without ever seeing or hearing them. They were called The Sick Things!

Rather than go on and on (are you still awake?), I will just give a brief run-down of the other bands signed to Raw. The Creation - A legendary 60's band I loved and wanted to see re-issued. The Soft Boys - Cambridge based. I was asked to see them play in a local pub and was blown away as they were so different to any other band around. New Wave meets Psychedelia! Superb musicians. Robyn Hitchcock and I became great enemies. The Unwanted - totally untogether. I should have passed on them. Some Chicken - loved the demo tape Lockjaw - Again. A great demo tape Downliners Sect - Heroes of mine from the 60's  

I loved to help bands, so just about every Sunday I had a band in Spaceward studio. When it became clear we couldn't release them all I had the idea for the Raw Deal album. One of the bands produced themselves. Left and then phoned my assistant to say they had changed their name. We had no address or phone number. We never heard from them again. They never even phoned to say please send a free copy of the record. To this day I don't know who they were or where they came from!   The main problem with Raw was my naive belief that the people who write for the music papers actually care and spend time finding new talent. WRONG! I thought the papers would phone us and ask for interviews with the bands. At that time I didn't realise that you had to hire PR companies and bribe journalists to write about your bands (good or bad). Sadly because of my inexperience at that time, many of the bands who should have been bigger never got the backing they deserved. The Users, I didn't like as people but admired them as a band. The Killjoys. I KNEW Kevin Rowland would one day be a star. I've never met anyone so determined. You could read it on his face. The Sick Things deserved more, but it was their fault as much as mine. The one regret I have. I visited Spaceward studios one day and they played me a tape of a band called "(sorry, I've had a mental block on their name. I'll let you know)". The recordings were STUNNING. Especially "Back In Pissheadsville Again. I approached them but they had a manager called Sue Black who only wanted them signed to a big label. In the end they re-recorded the four songs and released in on Miles Copelands label. The re-recordings are total shit compared to the originals.

Raw Records always lost money. The record shop supported it for as long as it could afford. I never took a wage from the label. We spent too much on recording costs.   Raw policy: To sign bands I believed in. I must admit I went off the rails a bit.   We only had one unreleased artist who should have made it. A guy called Leonard Vice with a recording called "Elevenpenny Plums" ( are you sure about this Lee ????!!!). It was stunning. I was silly enough to lend my only tape to a friend.   I've already said that The Killjoys was our best seller. The worst. That is difficult. The Unwanted (Raw 6) certainly was very limited. And the later releases all suffered from poor promotion and marketing.   The wide mixture of our roster was really down to me. I didn't have a business plan. Or any other plan come to that. I liked Rockabilly. I liked the 60's.

  I went to see lots of bands. Both in Cambridge and elsewhere. London had such a great music scene. I've had nights were I started at the Roxy Club, then went on to The Marquee and later made my way to Dingwalls. The scene in Cambridge. Was about average to any town/city of the same size. I think The Users were probably the best band in town. When their record came out, I must have had about 200-300 really cool looking people coming in to buy their single who I had never seen before.  

Raw Records contribution to punk was very minor. We put out a few good records.   I think any label has a chance of making it. I used to see Alan McGee taking his early Creation label releases by hand, round to all the collectors shops in London. Now look at him! He worked hard. He obviously had a plan and he stuck to it.  

The Users. Yes, they were the Bloodclots. They didn't want the track released under their name. They thought it wasn't good enough. Someone suggested the name (I think it was David Jefferies, a local designer who did all our artwork) and I used it. The band didn't like it. I must admit I didn't ask them first.   I think the Acme Sewage Company were from Kettering in Northamptonshire. No connection to The Users.   The Killjoys. In 1978, Kevin Rowland asked me to produce some demos at Riverside Studios in Chiswick, London. We spent (I think), two days and produced a few tracks. One that stands our was: Definitely Down On The Farm. I had a copy but lost it. A great shame. Incidentally from that session. We finished a day earlier than expected and Kevin went home to Birmingham. From what I heard he found his girlfriend (Heather) in bed with someone else! These were the only other recordings that I am aware of.   I hope all this is of some use. Best Wishes Lee Wood.