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| THE NUMBERS |
Nick McAuley
Angelo Bruschini
Wayne Kingston
Lee Gardener
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| Bowie influnced new wave - way ahead of their time. The band recorded for Heartbeat Records
,regrettably their only output was a track on the Avon Calling LP and another on the 4 Alternatives EP. Angello Bruschini later joined the Rimshots, The Blue Aeroplanes and currently plays guitar with Massive Attack.
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| THE X-CERTS |
Clive Arnold
Simon Justice
Phil Lovering (TAFF)
Neil Mackie
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LATER
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Clive Arnold
Kevin Mills
Chris Bostock
Neil Mackie
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| Clash influenced punk rockers. The original line-up recorded two tracks for Heartbeat Records and featured on Avon Calling and the 4 Alternatives EP. Taff left to join the Review but is best remembered for forming Disorder who released many records and became one of the leading 80's Punk bands. The line-up and style changed with the introduction of Kevin Mills and Chris Bostock from the Stingrays. The band are featured on the Bristol Recorder 3 and released a single for the excellent Recreational Records. The band spilt when Chris Bostock was whisked off to London to play with Johnny Britton who by then was managed by Bernie Rhodes the Clash's manager. The songwriter Clive Arnold became an actor, Neil Mackie joined the Crazy Trains before playing with Andi Sex Gang and Kevin Mills left for London to form the Specimen later to play with Flesh for Lulu.
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| JOE PUBLIC
Kevin Leadbetter
Rob Marche
Mike Smith
Shaun McLusky
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LATER
Kevin Leadbetter
Rob Marche
Mike Smith
Thos Brooman
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LATER
Rob Marche
John Shennan
Geoff Alsopp
Nick Sheppard
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| APARTMENT |
Alan Griffiths
Richard White
Emil
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Later to be
The Escape
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| Brilliant, weird, strange, secretive. Alan Griffiths very influenced by Television should have been massive but way ahead of his time. Recorded for Heartbeat Records, a single and a track on Avon Calling. Later Alan became the Escape signed to Phonogram and now works with Roland Orzabel from Tears for Fears.
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| THE A.T'S |
Dave Eccles
Stig Manley
Neil Deamer
Russ Crook
Paul Fennell
Later to be Umo Vogue
Debbie Marlow
Russ Crook
Stig Manley
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| Pop band, mostly from Bath, signed to Rialto Records and released one single. Neil Deamer is the brother of Clive who plays with Portishead amongst others. Stig and Russ released one single for EMI as Umo Vogue. Stig formed Crustation and released records for Cup of Tea Records, he is currently playing with Hazel Winter.
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| THE HYBRIDS |
Davey Woodard -
Guitar and Vocals
Chris Galvin - Bass
Jimmy - Drums
(Davey and Chris)
LATER TO BE
THE BRILLIANT CORNERS
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When someone asks you to look into the past and tell it like it was there's always a temptation to make it sound better, to re-invent, maybe make oneself sound more important than one was. I will do none of these things.
Everyone knows about 76, Punk!! It was also the year Chris persuaded me to buy a guitar. Naturally I did because he was in the brainy class and he must have had a good reason for asking me to do this.
The reason for having a guitar was to turn an amp up loud and pretend you were Hendrix and oddly enough for that time Ted Nugent. That's when I knew I would have to learn to write songs. What also inspired me was seeing this kid called Damon from school playing in a punk group called The Pigs. With a click of the fingers this non-descript lad from 4S was transformed into a god! And I wanted some of that! Bristol bands that meant something to me then were The Media and The Cortinas. By 78 Chris and myself and a 13 year old called Jimmy were in a band called The Hybrids. We were unashamedly Jam copyists with a bit of Kinks, Clash and Stones thrown in for good measure. There was this
great little pub called The Stonehouse where Bristol's handful of mod/skin/punks hung out to watch their mate's bands. We had no mates but because I would always smash my amp up people liked us. We began to play the place on a regular basis and to my surprise became quite popular. We used to play with a band called Thin Air who
really were like the Jam, many years later Thin Airs singer Paul Sandrone would play in the last line up of The Brilliant Corners. Fitting in a strange way.
Another band I remember back then was Concrete Contraption, now they could play proper but they were crap! Interesting to note that Si John of Reprazent fame started life in this band. You could see an interesting band every other day at The Stone house. Today it's an office block.
I can't remember exactly when or even if this is totally right but Jimmy who played drums left because his mum was either fed up of taking us to gigs, me and Chris throwing up in the van (Jimmy couldn't get drunk while his mum was around) or us buying a Doctor Rhythm drum machine.
When you're sixteen and playing live every other week you develop fast. In the space of a few years The Hybrids had become two boys and a drum machine not too surprisingly we sounded like Echo and the Bunnymen meets Joy Division. We played places called Mistys Nite Club and the Ace of Spades
where I snogged my first fan. She was very drunk and threw up in my mouth while we were wriggling tongues. We went to a gig every night. I don't know where the money came from; well I do actually, um, stolen goods. We discovered amyl nitrate, speed, dope, and sometimes sex.
When I left school I got a job as a lab technician. It was while doing this I met a lad called Dan who played in a band called The Glaxo Babies, they had a record out and had been played on John Peel. I was awe struck! Dan would bring his guitar into work and at lunch times he would show me things called dis-chords which totally blew me away. He also told me to check out Captain Beefheart which I did not get at all. Around this time I saw The Pop Group play which I did get, and Essential Bop and Art Objects and all those Fried Egg bands that people referred to as the Clifton
Scene. At that time I had a real problem relating to the so-called Clifton Scene. The people in those bands made me feel dumb me and Chris had working class chips on our shoulders. I would see these people in the Dugout but I had nothing in common with them. I never got invited to parties or happenings. This lot were educated and pretentious and boy were we jealous!
There were loads of bands hanging out at the Dugout but I think The Hybrids were the only ones that danced to soul at The Turntable Club and slid on our jackets at Romeo and Juliet's to James Brown, but that's another story.
Davey Woodward
(HYBRIDS, BRILLIANT CORNERS, EXPERIMENTAL POP BAND)
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