The Rezillos - History Part 1

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"If the Rezillos never achieved anything else, they created their own world, a universe where everything was instant, plastic and tackily flash, a cosmos where Dan Dare realised how cool he looked in his skin tight suit." Pete Silverton. Sounds 21.4.79

"We hate the whole set up of the music business. Its right out of your control...They lose touch with us. They just want to make the machine run when we're thinking of perfection." Fay & Eugene Sounds 9.12.78

Two quotes that sum up The Rezillos and their story.
From the ashes of the never gigged Knutsford Dominators arose The Rezillos, so named after a cafe in a marvel comic. Formed in Edinburgh their first gig was on Guy Falkes night 1976. Their image was fun and with a futuristic bent but with the energy of punk and featured two great front people Eugene Reynolds and Fay Fife. Originally a four piece with Eugene on drums they eventually expanded to an eight piece with saxophonist William Mysterious and backing singer Gail Warning.

They gigged around Scotland before attracting the attention of the newly formed Sensible Records who released Can't Stand My Baby / I Wanna Be Your Man (1977). They made the journey down to London playing the Roxy Club among other places before being snapped up by Sire records after being courted by Decca and CBS. In December they toured the UK as a five piece with labelmates The Ramones and were on the line up of the famous Ramones' Rainbow gig captured of course on 'Its Alive'.

So good were the band live that they scared the bejesus out of bands like The Ramones and Blondie.

In Feb 78 they travelled to America to record their debut album 'Can't Stand The Rezillos' which reached number 16 in the charts and was a mixture of three covers and ten originals. However while momentum was growing behind the band the label let it sit for 3 months before releasing. The band were deeply unhappy with the sound, their producer and their record company Sire. For those three months the band were left almost penniless.

"We'd walk into the record company, not having eaten in two days, and instead of them giving us the ten quid we needed...they'd take us out to posh restaurant for an £80 meal - which was the last thing we needed." Fay Record Mirror 30.12.78