1977
March 12th Woodstock Road Birmingham,
Private Party. We got pissed, trashed our equipment and the party ended with
five police cars on the doorstep.
March 31st Rebecca's Night Club, Birmingham,
supporting Birmingham band Model Mania. We played a song called 'Birmingham's a
Shit-hole' (we were young then...) and the crowd threw beer glasses at us. After
the set, when we were standing at the bar, the glass-throwers came over to
menace us but when we they found out that we were from Birmingham, they suddenly
became firm fans. If we'd have been a London band they'd have decked us.
April 30th Barbarella's Night Club,
Birmingham's most famous punk venue. We supported the Suburban Studs, ageing
glam-rockers riding the punk band-wagon. Widely disliked on the Birmingham
scene.
May 5th Rebecca's again,
supporting the Buzzcocks.
May 9th Rainbow Theatre,
London, supporting The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Jam, and Subway Sect. We open the
evening with our seven-second, two-chord number called 'VD' whose entire lyrics
were 'Help me please help me I'm so weedy I've got VD please help me I'm so
weedy I've got VD'. John Peel witnessed this after having apparently sat through
a Genesis concert the night before during which no number lasted for less than
half-an-hour. He boasts about this to this day.
May 11th Barbarella's
again, but a private party with no PA system. A band called 'Dole Queue'
support.
May 29th Chelmsford,
supporting the Subway Sect, Slits, The Clash. We join the Clash's 'White Riot'
tour-bus for a couple of dates and get to stop in hotels just like all those
dinosaur rock stars we were supposed to hate.
May 30th California Ballroom, Dunstable.
Same line up as previous gig. The Subway's set ends with the Subways, Slits and
Prefects jamming the Velvet's 'Sister Ray' together. This session made its way
onto an obscure pre-release Slits record.
June 3rd Barbarella's.
Prefects headline, supported by the Motivators who were Joe Crow's band at the
time. Joe would later join the Prefects, and would even later release the great
single Compulsion/Absent Friends on Cherry Red records (the Nightingales'
label).
June 17th Wolverhampton Civic Hall,
supporting Slaughter and the Dogs and The Vibrators.
June 26th Electric Circus, Manchester,
supporting the Damned and the Adverts. The Electric Circus was Manchester's
finest venue, a great club. This was the first gig we'd ever played where a
crate of beer - extra-strong lager too - had been placed in our 'dressing room'.
I vaguely remember Paul (Prefects, later Nightingales drummer) trading
drum-riffs with Rat Scabies in the dressing room ('Can you do a paradiddle?'
'What's a paradiddle?' 'I dunno' etc) I was so pissed by the time we got on
stage that I spent most of the gig sitting on the front of the stage talking to
the audience. At one point I careered backwards at high speed and fell backwards
over the drum-kit. Days later, back in Birmingham, we were told be Endale
Associates that we were cult heroes in Manchester.
June 28th Tiffany's Nightclub,
Shrewsbury, supporting Ultravox.
July 5th Barbarella's
supporting the crass Wayne County and the Electric Chairs.
July 7th Westbury College, Bourneville, Birmingham.
We tried to blag our way into supporting Geno Washington and his Ram-Jam Band,
but the organisers told us we could only go on after Geno had finished his set.
After his roadies had cleared the stage, we quickly set up behind the curtains.
The dregs of the crowd were dancing to funky soul music when suddenly the
curtains opened to reveal the Prefects in full flight. For all of three songs -
then the plugs were pulled.
August 15th Vortex Club, London.
The Slits headlined, we supported and Tanya and the Tormenters (whose only
number seemed to be Blueberry Hill...) opened the set. Elvis died that night.
August 17th Bull's Head, Birmingham,
a pub venue, newly opened. We headline with the Motivators supporting.
August 20th Eric's, Liverpool.
The Spitfire Boys open the set, then us, and the Slits headline.
August 22nd Rebecca's, Birmingham.
The Verdicts open the set. Next up is Shock Treatment, starring a goofy nerd
called Nigel Taylor on bass. He would later re-emerge as contact-lens-wearing
John Taylor, bassist for Duran Duran and subsequently voted world's handsomest
man by some teen-girlie magazine, several years running if I remember aright.
It's a strange world...
September 1st Rafter's Nightclub, Manchester.
Buzzcocks headline, we support and the Distractions open the set. Paul Morley
interviews us for the NME.
September 5th Top of the World,
Stafford supporting Rich Kids, Killjoys, and Generation X.
September 14th Bull's Head, Birmingham
supporting the Slits.
September 25th Electric Circus, Manchester.
Slits headline supported by The Worst with the Prefects opening the set.
September 28th Locarno, Coventry supporting
Subway Sect and Ultravox.
October 1st We play the last night of the Electric
Circus, with Steel Pulse the only non-Manchester
bands on the bill which included Warsaw (shortly to become Joy Division), The
Worst, The Fall, The Negatives, Magazine, the legendary John the Postman, John
Cooper Clarke, and the Buzzcocks.
October 2nd Jenks's Club, Blackpool
supporting the Buzzcocks.
November 1st Ambassador Hotel, Dundee
supporting the Buzzcocks.
November 2nd Silver Thread Ballroom, Paisley supporting
the Crabs and the Buzzcocks.
November 4th Clouds, Edinburgh
supporting the Skids and the Buzzcocks.
November 6th Top of the World, Stafford supporting
the Flys and the Buzzcocks.
November 21st Tiffany's, Shrewsbury
supporting The Worst
December 5th The Golden Eagle, Birmingham.
We start a brief residency. Shock Treatment support.
December 12th The Golden Eagle
December 19th The Golden Eagle.
The Assassins support.
1978
January 2nd The Golden Eagle.
Birmingham band TV Eye support, along with out friend Butch who does his
amazing, dangerous fire-breathing act. For some reason, Rob shaves on stage. I
think it was his Dadaist phase.
January 7th Mr George's Nightclub, Coventry.
TV Eye support.
January 13th Huddersfield Polytechnic.
We support The Doll, The Fall, and Sham '69.
January 14th Sheffield Polytechnic.
We support The (sic), and Sham '69.
February 17th Dixieland Showbar, Colwyn Bay.
Paul the drummer's last gig with the Prefects. TV Eye support.
March 10th Huddersfield Polytechnic,
supporting Wire and with temporary drummer Stephanie. Joe Crow's first gig with
the band.
March 24th King's Hall, Derby.
We open the set, then the Slits, Patrick Fitzgerald and Buzzcocks. New drummer
Adrian's first gig.
March 25th Top Rank, Birmingham.
Same bill.
March 30th Victoria Halls, Hanley.
Same bill.
May 26th Mayfair Suite, Birmingham
supporting Buzzcocks.
June 10th Rafter's Nightclub, Manchester
supporting Subway Sect (and reviewed by Paul Morley for NME).
June 23rd Civic Centre,
Stourport.
August 11th Peel Session #1
(Things in General/Escort Girls/Bristol Road Leads to Dachau/Agony Column)
October 27th (? Can't
remember this gig!)
November 3rd, Eric's, Liverpool
supporting The Fall. Graham our bass-player doesn't turn up quitting the band
for personal reasons.
November 25th, Huddersfield Polytechnic
supporting the Mekons and John Peel. Peely offers us another session.
1979
January 8th Peel Session #2
(Faults/Motions/Barbarellas/Total Luck)
February 10th Fighting Cocks, Birmingham with
The Solicitors, Rebound, and Spizz Oil
March 27th - April 21st "4/4 Time: Scenes from the
Diary of an Unknown Musician" exhibition of photographs by Brendan Jackson
at the Holt Street Gallery, Birmingham. Joe Crow is the central figure, but the
Prefects are the featured also.
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