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The
Lurkers were formed in the summer of 1976 by four mates who were regulars
of the Coach & Horses pub in Ickenham,
West London and were Pete Edwards (aka Plug on Vocals), Pete Haynes (aka Manic
Esso on Drums) Nigel Moore (Bass) and Pete Stride (Guitar). The final
piece of the jigsaw came at the end of 1976 when the group recruited a new
vocalist Howard Wall with Plug stepping down to become the band's roadie
(and occasional harmonica player!)
Like many bands of the
time their primary influences were The Ramones, New York Dolls and The
Faces and their songs a mix of own compositions such as Shadow,
Love Story, Total War and
Freak Show and the odd cover version like
Then I Kissed (Kicked Her) - their take on the Phil Spector song. The overall
sound was very similar to the Ramones with Wall's garbled vocals and
Stride's frenetic guitar work and so the Hammersmith Ramones tag. |
Pete, Howard, Esso & Arturo
outside the Red Lion |
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Above. Supporting Generation
X at The Vortex late '77.
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Their
first gig was supporting Screaming Lord Sutch at Uxbridge Technical
College. In early 1977, prior to their first Roxy gig, Nigel Moore left the
band to join Swank and was replaced by Arturo Bassick (aka Arthur
Billingsley). Other gigs included the Vortex and even a handful dates on
the Isle Of Arran with no alcohol!
Hawking around a four track demo they got a management deal with Beggars Banquet, a record shop chain in whose basement the group
rehearsed, and who then formed Beggars Banquet Records as an outlet for
them. As a consequence,
Shadow/Love Story
became the first single to
be released on the label in the summer of 1977 and was followed by
Freak Show/Mass Media Believer
a few months later. The group also
contributed an early version of
Be My Prisoner
to the
Streets
compilation album. |
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| By the
time of their next single,
Ain't Got A Clue, in early 1978, the group
had seen Bassick leave to start his own band, Pinpoint. He was initially
replaced by Kym Bradshaw (ex-Saints) but Bradshaw didn't gel and by the
spring of 1978, Nigel Moore had returned to complete the classic Lurkers
line-up.
Backed by a strong promotional campaign,
Ain't Got A Clue
actually made
the national Top 50 as did its follow-up
I Don't Need To Tell Her. The
group also released their debut album,
Fulham Fallout, a superb
collection of amphetamine punk in a lavish gatefold sleeve (picks
Total
War, I'm On Heat, Be My Prisoner) which made the lower end of the
charts in the summer of 1978. (Contrary to popular myth, only Arturo their
bassist came from Fulham - the reason their debut LP was called
Fulham
Fallout was because they had a massive fan base there). |
Esso, Nigel, Howard & Pete.
Classic line up. |
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