The Wasps

'One day...an exciting new wave quartet will explode out of nowhere like Walthamstow with high energy music... but until then you will have to settle for The Wasps.'  From the back of 'Teenage Treats'

Its fair to say that The Wasps were a slight cut above the run of the mill punk bands and their story involves all the twists and turns that seem to come with rock'n'roll including management squabbles, legal writs, major record labels and so on..

Originally formed back in February 1976 The Wasps featured some competent musicians and were, according to Steve Wollaston, a punk band ahead of their time into The Stooges and Velvet Underground. However despite this as late as the middle of 1977 The Wasps  were motoring on like a hundred other London bands playing The Roxy and Vortex and releasing an independent single to mild acclaim. It was punk but it had a certain original style and power and they had in their set fine songs like J-J-J-Jenny an autobiographical story concerning a young Roxy punkette who is straight by day and a Punkette by night and who asked Jesse to write a song about her.

Top Right >> Gary Wellman, Jesse and Friend. Bottom Right >> Rich and Steve Wollaston

 

Del May above...Gary below.

Losing their original guitarist Del May, who thought punk would get nowhere, they replaced him with the 16 year old Gary Wellman who was their soundman and released the classic Teenage Treats single. However following its release they strangely took the step of of spending seven months in the rehearsal studio writing "a set of potential hit songs". Astute or silly? According to Jesse and Steve this was a management decision. Around this time a fan died at one of their gigs at The Bell Kings Cross London, so perhaps not such a dodgy decision as the band stepped back.

In the meantime their name was kept in the public eye by the inclusion of two of their songs on the Live At The Vortex album in late 1977 and a single release from it. At the same time Jesse waged war against the drubbing the album received in the music weekly Sounds and its letter pages.   See Cuttings  

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