The Members – At The Coach House Review September 2025

As I said to JC Carroll in the interview that goes with this review, I wasn’t that enamoured with their first album on Virgin At The Chelsea Nightclub. Yep, I loved Solitary, Suburbs, Fear On The Streets but for me the album songs seemed a little flat.

I was very surprised to find that a whole album of demos had been discovered. I mean, seriously who back then did a whole album of demos and in a day? And how did a band less than a year old be this tight with an already developed sound of twang and crunch, combining punk and reggae and the almost Hotel California-like Electricity.

I was even more surprised when I played the tracks on Soundcloud because, blow me down, they are absolutely fucking fantastic and on vinyl they leap out of the speakers at you!

Think of Motorhead’s first or even Black Sabbath’s first, which were done in a similar speedy fashion and I can’t imagine the production or feel of the songs being bettered on them either. They just capture the magic.

Same with this record. The bass has real depth, at times the frequencies are so low my books rattle in my bookcase as well as the fillings in my teeth. The guitars are crunchy, twangy, crisp, and clear, and the vocals are just perfect over the mix with the band sounding like a band on top of their game, which they were. Why oh why, except to put the band in penury, did Virgin get them to record it again?

In short, all killer and no filler, great production and if you’re a Members fan or a student of Punk rock – an essential addition to your punk rock library.

The vinyl comes suitably coloured in two options, there’s also a nice fanzine-style booklet of the band’s history and gigs to boot.

Buy it from Cadiz Records here

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