The Moors Murderers - Conclusions Part 1

Conclusions Part 1

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So what have we got...... There was a definitely a band called The Moor Murderers. They played one gig and they recorded at least one song on a tape which was distributed to journalists and there were acetates. The name Popcorn Records is mentioned often in connection with the band. Was this is a real label and who owned it ? At the time of the recording we can presume that Chrissie Hynde was on guitar, Vince Ely was on drums. Steve Strange was on Vocals. We can now add another name into the frame courtesy of Mick Mercers Panache fanzine no 16 which was an issue entirely devoted to the Ants. Mark Ryan AKA The Kid guitarist in Adam & The Ants who left the Antz round a bout October 1977 which fits the time frame and funnily enough left early in the next year to form The Photons with Steve Strange.

Malcolm and Vivienne feature the Cambridge Rapist T shirt. Bad taste or provocative statement ? With their use of swastikas, crosses and iconic images such as the queen, images of Brady and Hindley would not have looked out of place.		Most of this is conjecture but here goes. Sue Catwoman and Steve Strange get the idea for a controversial punk band The Moors Murderers possibly from Vivienne Westwood. It has all the hallmarks of one of McClaren's & Westwood's ideas. Between them they get some lyrics going and perhaps ideas for the image and, as Gimarc's Punk Diary says, Strange approaches Chrissie Hynde at The Vortex and sings accapella a few verses of the song and the other ones we mentioned earlier. Chrissie desperate for a band goes along with it. At the same time they recruit Vince and the Kid as mentioned above.

While I think that the above is the most likely lineup to play on the demo and rehearsal I find it hard to believe that an incarnation played in July with the Slits . Not only is it a bit odd that a band named after two child rapists would be allowed to play at a school but possible players in the band don't exist at that time . The Holland Park gig by the Slits was actually in October /November 1977 and was featured in Zigzag 80 January 1978 and makes no mention of The Moors Murderers or even a support band. Yet the band member interviewed by 'Flex' mentions twice they played at the school .If they did play it would be certainly not under the name Moors Murderers. Also these are fairly reasonable musicians. Was the band for real ? Or a scam ? From the demos numerous cassettes were sent out to Journalists one of which was Jane Suck who worked for Sounds music paper w ho probably getting loads of them chucked it or taped over it not knowing its future potential worth !!! She in turn probably alerted Bruce Elder who ran the feature on them in Sounds early January 1978. There they were named as Vince Kray, Steve Brady, Christine Hindley and a fourth member not mentioned. They did the interview in plastic bags then removed them to play live the single for Bruce Elder.

I don't think they realised quite what they were getting themselves in to though as the shit hit the fan in the sunday papers they began to bail out. As the letters page from 21 January 78 from NME show Chrissie was already trying to distance herself and people were already expressing doubts. I expect that Chrissie wants to forget asking Bruce Elder if he wanted to photograph her being pack raped by the rest of the band !

Steve Strange from Smash Hits January 1981. "After I left home I went on the Anarchy tour with the Pistols- as a friend of the band. Then I came to London and one particular guy- I'm naming no names- got me involved in something called the Moors Murderers....I wanted to be in a band"

The Sunday Mirror 1978. "It frightened me off music. I regretted it very much, but at least I learned not to trust anyone who puts me in that kind of position again"

Yeah right Steve

With the violence shown by the public to the Pistols after God Save The Queen was released and the media publicity The Moors Murderers were already beginning to get the same. The interview from the Fanzine Flex (partly shown below) with a Moors Murderer shows what was already happening. My guess is the interview was with Vince Ely and he's not too happy with the violence being offered to him. He would have been known on the scene as a member of The Unwanted and a recognized face. The interview raises more questions than it answers tho with the existence of a manager and two bands. Was the second band the one Lee Wood mentioned earlier in Manchester ?

Well there you have it....what a story...what happened to all those bootleg singles ?? Who was the manager? Who was the 'person' that got Steve Strange involved ?? What was Dave Goodman's role in all this ??What happened to the demos and acetates ?? Who was the mystery man who ran the record company ??? We know Lee paid £50.00 to hear the acetate and promised not to reveal the mystery man. My guess is the tape demos were lost/thrown away (and will probably appear at a car boot sale one day) and the two acetates remain in the mystery mans possession as the publicity could be damaging to him .

Whatever the truth is I don't think we will know it coz noone who was involved would have the balls to stand up and say what really happened.